Sport & Story Daily March 5, 2024

Stay Ahead of the Game

March 5, 2024

Good morning! Despite years of attempts, mixing sports with the stock market is still an uphill climb

Bear Market for Sacks and INTs? The Difficult Road of Sports Stock Markets
As FOS’ Eric Fisher writes, “If there’s one truism of the sports industry, it’s that somebody at some point will again try to blend pro sports with elements of the stock market. And in nearly every instance, it’s been an uphill climb. 

For more than 20 years, a series of different companies have sought to use either the on- or off-field performance of athletes and turn that into some version of an investment-grade asset. The approaches have varied, with some veering closer to the realm of traditional fantasy sports or sports betting, others existing as a repackaging of other celebrity brand investment vehicles.” 
^{frontofficesports.com}

More on the Caitlin Clark Effect?
As Jacob Feldman tweeted, “DraftKings Chief Business Officer Marie Donoghue says college women’s basketball betting popularity is up 13x this year.”
^twitter.com

Drake, LeBron James Make PGA Tour Investment
As FOS’ Alex Schiffer reports, “Drake is trading his views from the six for the back nine. LeBron James is expanding his sports portfolio. 

The Canadian rapper and NBA star are among a group of celebrities who were part of a recent investment of as much as $3 billion into the PGA Tour but whose attachment was unreported before Monday. Additional investors: actor Chris Pratt, famous for his roles in Marvel and Jurassic Park franchises; James’s business partner, Maverick Carter; and James’s agent, Rich Paul. (James’s investment is reportedly separate from the investment by Fenway Sports Group, in which James owns a small stake.)” 
^{frontofficesports.com}

Clark's WNBA Announcement Draws Big Reaction Among Sponsors, Ticket Brokers
Per SBJ, Caitlin Clark's top NIL partners said they will remain with her when she turns professional. Conventional wisdom and what many expressed was that Caitlin Clark “should stay in college,” where she plays and collects piles of money from her NIL deals and sets TV viewership records…
^{sportsbusinessjournal.com}

Chiefs Place Non-Exclusive Franchise Tag on CB L’Jarius Sneed: Why Kansas City Made the Move
Per The Athletic staff: “The Kansas City Chiefs placed the non-exclusive franchise tag on cornerback L’Jarius Sneed, the team announced Monday, keeping him off the free-agent market. This was no surprise since the team informed Sneed in late February that this would occur without a long-term contract in place.

Sneed will be on a one-year deal worth $19.8 million if he signs the tender.”
^{theathletic.com}

Sources: Phillies, Zack Wheeler Agree to 3-year, $126M Extension
As ESPN’s Buster Olney reports, “Zack Wheeler has reached an agreement on a three-year extension that begins in 2025 and runs through the 2027 season with the Philadelphia Phillies, the team announced Monday, bypassing the possibility that the ace pitcher will become a free agent in the fall.

The deal is worth $126 million, according to sources.

With a salary of $42 million, Wheeler's deal is the most lucrative extension in baseball history in terms of average annual value. It also is in the neighborhood of the richest salaries for pitchers. Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander signed multiyear deals as free agents with the New York Mets that averaged $43.3 million.”
^espn.com

Best Places to Work in Sports 2023
Sports Business Journal is honoring 75 businesses in the industry’s first look at the Best Places to Work in Sports.

The honorees represent industry segments covering the spectrum of sports, from major league teams to behind-the-scenes companies, with workforces that range from seven people to 8,000 employees.

More than 12,000 employees from nearly 200 companies took part in a confidential employee satisfaction survey administered last fall by SBJ partner Omaha, Neb.-based Quantum Workplace.

The survey measured key areas that make up an organization’s culture, such as compensation, benefits, confidence in co-workers, and trust in senior leadership…

Agencies — 50 or more employees

WME Sports
Octagon
Playfly Sports
^{sportsbusinessjournal.com}

Amazon’s $115M Local Sports Rescue Mission
As Puck’s John Ourand writes, “If Amazon was serious about getting into the local sports business, it had a lot of options: The company could have waited for the bankrupt Diamond Sports to go belly-up before attempting to secure its local rights on the cheap, or it could have worked directly with the NBA and NHL to secure local streaming rights. Even MLB commissioner Rob Manfred appears more likely to do a deal directly with Amazon than by using Diamond Sports as a middleman. Instead, of course, Amazon wound up swooping in with a $115 million lifeline investment in Diamond Sports back in January—a move that still has a lot of the industry’s top executives scratching their heads. Even if $115 million is pocket change for Amazon, why would the company pursue a deal that props up an old and creaky legacy cable business? Amazon’s Andy Jassy is not known for doing stupid deals.

Ironically, it’s that old-school, legacy R.S.N. business—or, more specifically, the way that it’s structured—that most interested Amazon. Local sports rights are still valuable, even as the R.S.N. business model remains in crisis. And while there’s not a lot of money in local sports streaming right now, Amazon has long been a believer.”
^puck.news

NFL Player Team Report Cards 2024
From the NFLPA: “One of our core jobs as a union is to improve the overall working conditions for our players, which includes the daily experience of players at the team facilities away from the lights and cameras.

1,706 of our players provided information to share with one another about their current club, to not only help them make important career decisions, but also help raise standards across the league.

Our goals were to highlight positive clubs, identify areas that could use improvement, and highlight best practices and standards.”
^nflpa.com

NFL Scouting Combine: One Thing We Learned About All 32 teams in Indy
The NFL Scouting Combine is about far more than 40-yard dashes and the gathering of the top NFL Draft prospects.

While teams used the past week in Indianapolis to enhance their scouting reports, much more goes on behind the scenes as teams prepare for Tuesday’s deadline to use the franchise tag or next week’s start of free agency.

The Athletic’s team of NFL writers spent much of the week in Indy gathering intelligence on how their teams will approach the draft, free agency and everything else relating to building their rosters.
^{theathletic.com}

Jason Kelce’s Retirement Means the Departure of an Unexpected Eagles Epicenter
As SI’s Conor Orr writes, “Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce announced his retirement Monday amid a tear-soaked ode to the merits of hard work. Clad in a sleeveless T-shirt, the center aimed to leave the building in his default armor; as someone who could synonymously blend into the environment and also come to define it.”
^si.com

Antelope Valley Hoops Plays On As ‘Team Without a School’
As Sportico’s Daniel Libit writes, “The front of the players jerseys still read ‘UAV’ as they took the court Sunday afternoon, but the connection between the University of Antelope Valley basketball teams and the institution had all but elapsed.

‘They are on an island,’ Andre Harrell, the University of Antelope Valley’s sports information director, said. ‘They are a team without a school—and that is the tragedy of it.’

The hoops postseason voyage of the failed NAIA school—which has inspired national attention and a five-figure GoFundMe campaign—has now veered into truly unchartered territory: Can a college athletic program continue to compete for an institution that ceases to exist?”
^sportico.com

Over 10,000 players Opt In to EA Sports College Football 25
"The response to the athlete opt-in opportunity for EA Sports College Football 25 has been phenomenal," Daryl Holt, senior vice president and group general manager for EA Sports' Tiburon Studios and American football division, said in a statement to ESPN. "In the little over one week, over 10,000 athletes across the FBS have opted-in to the offer with more saying 'yes' every hour. We're excited to welcome more athletes in the weeks ahead and to debut this first class of athletes in the game when it launches this summer."
^espn.com

Preference Admissions/Treatment Listed as a Reason For Dartmouth’s Ruling That Basketball Players Are Employees
Sportico’s Michael McCann tweeted, “Preferential admissions was one reason cited by NLRB regional director Laura Sacks in determining Dartmouth basketball players are employees within the meaning of labor law. Colleges that do the same for their athletes should be mindful of that.”
^usatoday.com

Three Signing Days May Very Well Becoming to NCAA Football
ESPN’s Pete Thamel tweeted, “Couple more notes from NCAA Football Oversight Committee meeting this week. 1) The CCA will vote next week on the new idea of three Signing Days -- June, Nov and February. There's still debate if the June period could come into play in 2023. This was agreed on by the FOC.

There's still a ways to go and some potential roadblocks. But that idea is headed for the rules pipelines in the next few months.
^twitter.com

Irish Illustrated Insider: Exclusive Interview With Outgoing Notre Dame Director of Athletics Jack Swarbrick
Irish Illustrated Insider sits down with outgoing Notre Dame director of athletics Jack Swarbrick. Among the myriad topics discussed within this 45-min conversation are Notre Dame’s handling of NIL and transfer portal challenges, the expansion of the Guglielmino Center on campus, Marcus Freeman’s contract status, the hiring of coaches, the notion of a student-athlete versus employee, and the challenge of graduation in a transient college football era.
^spotify.com

Nike Put an Enormous Banner of Caitlin Clark Up in Iowa City 👇🏼

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