Patriots' Kraft: PE > Stocks

Patriots’ Kraft Says NFL ROI is Better With PE ⇢ What Coach Will Be Fired Next?

November 6, 2024

Good morning! NFL ROIs, more coach firings likely, and the Caitlin Clark Era

Patriots President Kraft Expects NFL ROI to Beat Stocks
Sportico’s Kurt Badenhausen reports: “In August, the NFL approved new ownership rules that allow private equity firms to buy passive minority stakes in franchises. The decision came after franchises appreciated nearly 40x over the past 30 years and reached $5.93 billion on average, according to Sportico’s calculations.

“‘These funds can get liquid in six years,’ Jonathan Kraft, New England Patriots president, said at Sportico’s Invest in Sports Event at Nasdaq. ‘You probably won’t get 3-4x your money, but my guess is you’re going to get returns that beat the stock market over that period and without taking that much more risk.’”
^Sportico

Arbitration For T’Wolves Ownership Dispute Begins 
SBJ’s Tom Friend writes, “At issue is a tiered sales process that contractually allowed prospective owners Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez to purchase 80% of the T'Wolves for $1.5B through a trio of payments over a three-year period. T'Wolves owner Glen Taylor eventually voided the sale on March 28, claiming that Lore and Rodriguez missed a series of deadlines, including a March 27 date to pay a final installment of $600M.” 
^{Sports Business Journal}

Scrutiny Around Brady's Performance for Fox Continues as NFL Hits Midseason
The chatter and, let’s face it, scrutiny around Tom Brady's first year in the Fox booth continues as the NFL season hits the midway point, and SI’s Liam McKeone wrote Brady did a “great job, by and large, of communicating what he was seeing to the viewers” during Sunday's Lions-Packers game. When Packers QB Jordan Love threw an incomplete pass while “trying and failing to create something out of nothing,” down 24-6 with 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter, Brady gave a “quality explanation” of the context of the moment and why Love's process “wasn't optimal.”
^{SI via Sports Business Journal}

FIFA Seeking U.S. Bids for 2027, 2031 Women's World Cup Media Rights
According to SBJ, FIFA has invited media companies to bid on the rights to carry the 2027 and 2031 Women’s World Cups in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. It marks the first time the broadcast rights to the women’s event are being sold separately from the men’s World Cup rights in the U.S.

Fox and Telemundo have held the rights to both the men’s and women’s events in English and Spanish, respectively, since the 2015 women’s edition, with their deals set to expire following the 2026 men’s World Cup in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Bids are due to FIFA by Dec. 3.
^{Sports Business Journal}

Colorado Football Audience Half of What it Was in 2023, But Well Above 2022
SBJ’s Austin Karp reports: “In its first season back in the Big 12, Colorado has averaged 3.7 million viewers for eight games across Fox, NBC, CBS and ESPN. That’s down around 49% from the same point last season, when a hot start for Colorado helped the team to an average of 7.3 million viewers (seven games across ABC, Fox and ESPN). But the Buffs are up big (+424%) from the same point in 2022 season, when the team was averaging just 706,000 viewers during a one-win season.”
^{Sports Business Journal}

Two NFL Head Coaches Have Already Been Fired This Season. Who Else Might Be on the Hot Seat?
The Athletic’s Mike Jones writes, “[Dennis] Allen will not be the last NFL head coach fired this season. Through nine weeks of action, nine of the NFL’s 32 teams have only two victories apiece. Fifteen teams have losing records. Time is quickly evaporating, and without sudden rebounds, some of these losing teams will likely follow the lead of the Jets and Saints and turn their attention to the future.”
^{The Athletic}

Raiders Reportedly Bringing in Veteran Coach Norv Turner as Offensive Assistant
Following the firing of offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, the Las Vegas Raiders are reportedly hiring Norv Turner as an offensive assistant, according to NFL Network via Yahoo Sports. The 2-7 Raiders will also likely move Turner's son, Scott, from passing-game coordinator to interim offensive coordinator for the remainder of the season.
^{Yahoo! Sports}

Top NGBs Looking to Fill Vacant Leadership Posts With LA28 Looming
SBJ’s Rachel Axon writes, “For a handful of the organizations that lead sports in the Olympic and Paralympic movement, the post-Games period has been filled with leadership transitions. Four have openings for their top jobs, with USA Swimming, U.S. Figure Skating, US Sailing and USA Badminton looking for CEOs. And two more—USA Volleyball and USA Water Polo—recently filled those roles.”
^{Sports Business Journal}

Santa Clara Supervisors to Vote on Earthquakes Facility Term Sheet
The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors is soon voting on whether to approve a non-binding term sheet with the Earthquakes and the city of San Jose outlining the MLS club’s plans to build a soccer complex that includes four private training fields and a performance center, along with four turf fields for public use, on a 26-acre portion of the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds. According to the SBJ, the term sheet stipulates that the Earthquakes would put $12M toward the construction of the public fields, and the city of San Jose would contribute $6M toward the construction of the public fields.
^{Sports Business Journal}

Manchester United to Delay Decision on Demolishing Old Trafford
The Telegraph’s James writes, “Manchester United have put back a final decision on stadium development until next summer. Delivery of a new 100,000-capacity stadium as the centrepiece of a huge regeneration project would be boosted if United could secure additional land around their existing Old Trafford home. While both redevelopment and new-build options are still on the table, a recent survey sent to around 500,000 United supporters established that some 52 per cent of fans were open to the idea of a new-build.”
^{The Telegraph}

Inside the Decades-Long Struggle That Made the Caitlin Clark Phenomenon Possible
The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand and Scott Dochterman write, “Last April, the NCAA women’s national championship game between undefeated South Carolina and Iowa in Cleveland drew nearly 19 million television viewers, the largest audience in women’s college basketball history, and the most-watched basketball game— men’s or women’s—since 2019.

“Why the interest in women’s basketball spiked is no mystery: the immense popularity of Caitlin Clark, the former Iowa and current Indiana Fever star. ‘There’s (Michael) Jordan, Tiger (Woods) and Caitlin,’ said Fox president of insight and analytics Mike Mulvihill.”
^{The Athletic}

Pac-12 Still Awaiting Clarity on Media Rights, Conference Membership Decisions
It could be a “few months” before the Pac-12 gets clarity on its media rights package and final membership decisions, according to sources cited by sportswriter John Canzano. The new-world Pac-12 has until July 1, 2026, to add at least one school that plays all sports. Canzano noted the conference “can’t wait that long to make an addition,” as new members “will need transition time,” but that is the deadline. Canzano expects the Pac-12 will know “by the spring” who the next school to join will be.
^{John Canzano via Sports Business Journal}

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