Sport & Story Daily April 29, 2024

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April 29, 2024

Good morning! Draft Reverberations Run Deep

NFL Rookie Signing Bonuses Up 4% for Biggest Gain Since 2020
As Sportico’s Kurt Badenhausen writes, “The top of the 2024 NFL Draft didn’t offer much suspense as Caleb Williams was -50000 to be the first pick, meaning a $50,000 bet would net $100. The Chicago Bears followed script and selected the USC quarterback, and the Washington Commanders drafted their presumed top target, LSU QB Jayden Daniels, with the second pick.

“Williams is in line for a four-year contract worth $39.5 million, including a $25.5 million signing bonus. The signing bonus is up 3.8%, marking the first uptick of more than 1% in rookie bonuses since the 2020 NFL Draft.”
^Sportico

Winners and Losers From 2024 NFL Draft: Eagles, Steelers Stand Out; Why Did Raiders Pass on QB?
As The Athletic reports, “Teams will round out their rosters with undrafted free-agent signings over the next several days. But the puzzles largely have been put together. The experimentation will begin in a few weeks when minicamps and offseason practices begin. And some questions will remain unanswered until training camp and the preseason.

“But for now, we’re evaluating which teams appear to have helped themselves the most following the draft and which teams fell short in their quest to position themselves to contend.”
^{The Athletic}

How NIL is Affecting the NFL Draft
“With respect to the NFL Draft, [NIL has] definitely resulted in guys who maybe in the past would have entered the draft staying in school,” said Kennyhertz Perry attorney Mit Winter, a leading voice in the NIL space. “Especially if you’re talking about potentially late-round picks, mid-round picks where you’re not guaranteed [a spot].”

NFL Open to Expanding Season, Moving Super Bowl
“I’m not a fan of the preseason. I don’t think we need three preseason games,” said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. “I’d rather replace a preseason game with a regular-season (game) any day. That’s just picking quality. If we got to 18-and-2, that’s not an unreasonable thing.”
^{Sports Business Journal}

NBA's Viewership Steady in Regular Season Compared to Recent Years
While NBA national network viewership was flat, the audience among RSNs for the regular season was up 8% from the 2022-23 campaign and the best figure since 2018-2019, reports SBJ's Austin Karp. Those gains come as a few teams had substantive changes in their distribution this season following the bankruptcy of Diamond Sports Group.
^{Sports Business Journal}

Report: NBA, Prime Video Have Framework Deal for Broadcast Rights
The NBA and Amazon's Prime Video have the “framework of a deal that will make the streaming service one of the main homes for the league’s games,” in what will be a “landmark move in sports media history,” according to sources cited by Andrew Marchand of THE ATHLETIC. It is expected that Prime Video’s package will include “significant regular-season and postseason games, perhaps even some conference finals."
^{Sports Business Journal}

Just Like We Drew It Up? Stadium Renderings Can Excite, Confound, and Anger
“In that early stage of a stadium project, people often get very interested about renderings entering into the public realm,” Christopher Dunlavey, president of Brailsford & Dunlavey, a Washington, D.C.–based development advisory firm active in sports venue projects, tells Front Office Sports. “These images, when communicated correctly, can be a very powerful marketing tool and help generate a groundswell of interest.”
^{Front Office Sports}

Candace Parker Teases Business Future in Retirement Post
WNBA legend Candace Parker announced her retirement from professional basketball via Instagram on Sunday afternoon and teased some details about an expanded future in the sports business world.

“This is the beginning … I’m attacking business, private equity, ownership (I will own both a NBA & WNBA team), broadcasting, production, boardrooms, beach volleyball, dominoes (sorry babe it’s going to get more real) with the same intensity & focus I did basketball,” Parker wrote in her post.
^Sportico

Thunder's Mark Daigneault Wins NBA Coach of the Year Award
As Yahoo! Sports’ Sean Leahy reports, Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault won the 2023-24 NBA Coach of the Year award, the league announced on Sunday. Chris Finch of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Jamahl Mosley of the Orlando Magic were the other finalists. Daigneault won in a landslide, securing 89 of a possible 99 first-place votes from media.
Yahoo! Sports

Colorado Spring Game 2024: Deion Sanders Says He Won't Follow Sons to NFL, Insists 'I Love it Here'
When asked what he tells recruits in the 2025 and 2026 cycles, Sanders said "I tell them the truth. ... I tell them I'm a father, not a baby daddy. I don't follow my kids. I pave roads for my kids. I build generational wealth for my kids. I lead my kids. I don't follow my kids. So, I do not plan on following my kids to the NFL. But I'm thankful, I'm glad that you already pretty much put them in the NFL. That means you believe in them wholeheartedly."
^{CBS Sports}

Iowa Athletes Sue State, Citing ‘Unconstitutional’ Tracking of Gambling
Per FOS, last spring, state investigators announced investigations into wagering by 26 athletes at Iowa and 15 at Iowa State. Most of the athletes pleaded guilty to underage gambling and paid a fine to dismiss counts of identity theft. But a few who didn’t accept a plea deal had all charges against them dropped in March due to misuse of tracking software by investigators.
^{Front Office Sports}

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