Sport & Story Daily July 1, 2024

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July 1, 2024

Good morning! Just Do It…Or Don’t

Nike Shares Drop Nearly 20%, Worst Day on Record
Nike shares on Friday “tumbled nearly 20%” after the company said that it expected sales to decline in its new fiscal year. Per SBJ, it was the “biggest one-day drop in Nike history,” wiping out roughly $28B in shareholder wealth. This marks the “worst trading day in the company’s history since its IPO in Dec. 1980” (CNBC.com, 6/28).
^{Sports Business Journal}

NFL Won’t Hold Supplemental Draft This Year: Sources
The staff at The Athletic is reporting that the NFL informed teams this week that there will not be a Supplemental Draft this year, league sources confirmed.

As The Athletic reports: ”The Supplemental Draft, which is typically held each summer, was installed in 1977 as an option for draft-eligible players who did not declare for the regular NFL Draft. Normally, players who declare for the Supplemental Draft do so because of unexpected eligibility issues in college (academic or discipline). A player hasn’t been selected in the Supplemental Draft over the last five years — the longest drought since its inception.”

Magic Johnson, Dwyane Wade, Tom Brady Among the Former Pro Athletes Who Have Become WNBA Owners
“They know the game is exploding, they know this is the right time,” Magic Johnson said.

Sportico valued four teams at over $100 million. Ownership groups of the expansion teams in Golden State and Toronto that will begin play in 2025 and 2026 anted up over $100 million that included record-breaking expansion fees, investment in the player experience, best-in-class facilities, and start-up business operations costs.
^{AP News}

NBA Salary Cap for 2024-25 Set Slightly Lower Than Projections
Per The Athletic, the NBA announced salary-cap levels for the upcoming season, and they came up a bit short of earlier projections.

The salary cap for the 2024-25 season is set at $140.588 million, with the luxury tax set at $170.814 million. The first apron will be $178.132 million, with the second apron set at $188.931 million. Those numbers provide some certainty to teams as they determine their financial position going into the offseason.
^{The Athletic}

Tour de France’s Out-of-Country Starts a Lucrative Proposition
As Sportico’s Eben Novy-Williams writes, “Foreign cities pay race organizer Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) a hosting fee, which in recent years has topped $5 million. The bid winners also foot the bill for the preparation—clearing roads, repaving asphalt, routing traffic, insurance and crowd infrastructure—which typically more than doubles the cost. When Brussels hosted the 2019 Grand Départ, as an example, the city reportedly paid ASO about $5.7 million (€5 million), then spent another $6.82 million (€6 million) on the actual hosting.”
^Sportico

Sources: ESPN Will Give Up NBA Regular-Season Games for International, Digital Rights
SBJ’s Mollie Cahillane reports: “For ESPN to secure those international and digital rights, the company needed to concede some regular-season games once the new media rights deal begins in the 2025-26 season. That means Disney will broadcast fewer regular-season matchups in the next deal so the NBA can secure its other two packages with NBCUniversal and Amazon. However, sources said ESPN does not view the concession as ‘really meaningful.’”
^{Sports Business Journal}

NBA Draft Ratings Stay Strong Despite Lack of Star Power
FOS’ Alex Schiffer writes, “According to Sports Media Watch, the first round of the draft, which aired Wednesday, averaged 4.4 million viewers across ABC and ESPN, peaking at 5.5 million. It’s an 18% increase from the 2023 draft, which averaged 3.7 million viewers. 

“But context is key: 4.9 million viewers watched the first round of the 2023 draft, per SMW, before many tuned out for the second round.”
^{Front Office Sports} 

Success of NHL Draft May Delay Decentralization
As SBJ’s Alex Silverman writes, “A top hockey operations executive for an NHL team approached Mayer as he sat for an interview with SBJ to congratulate him on a ‘terrific job.’ The first sports-related function at the buzzy $2.3B venue drew a sellout crowd of 14,220 fans for Friday night’s first round, along with hundreds of league, team and media personnel. It also created numerous viral images and moments that garnered attention far beyond that of a typical NHL Draft.

“While the 2023 NHL Draft in Nashville was a successful live event -- albeit less spectacular than this year’s at Sphere -- it was perceived by many hockey operations people as a logistical hassle, largely due to inclement weather.”
^{Sports Business Journal}

Pistons Set to Hire J.B. Bickerstaff, Recently Fired by Cavaliers, as New Head Coach
According to Yahoo Sports' Vincent Goodwill, the Detroit Pistons are hiring J.B. Bickerstaff to replace Monty Williams as head coach. Bickerstaff was recently fired by the Cleveland Cavaliers after leading them to two consecutive playoff appearances. Over five years in Cleveland he had a 170-159 coaching record.
^{Yahoo! Sports}

Trail Blazers Tap Galen Davies as EVP & CRO
The Trail Blazers have hired Galen Davies as EVP & CRO, where he will be responsible for leading strategic planning, ticketing and commercial partnerships -- with the goal of increasing revenue streams and diversifying customer segments. Davies joins the organization after 15 years with Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, where he was most recently VP/Brand and Commercial Strategy.
^{Sports Business Journal}

Playfly Unveils Playfly Max for Revenue Generation
SBJ’s Ben Portnoy writes, “College athletic departments are in need of new thinking around generating revenue -- and Playfly has ideas.

“The company is set to launch ‘Playfly Max,’ a service for schools centered on better monetizing existing revenue streams and exploring new ways to add dollars to athletic department budgets.

“Penn State, Baylor and LSU are slated to be the first athletic departments to use the service…

“‘Change is going to continue in this space,’ said Playfly President Christy Hedgpeth. ‘NIL is here to stay. That toothpaste is out of the tube -- and that's great -- but schools are never going to need less revenue. And that is our entire mindset.’”
^{Sports Business Journal}

As Conference Realignment Becomes Official, the Power 5 Era Is Over
FOS’ Amanda Christovich reports, “Over the summer, the upper echelon of college sports will consolidate from five power conferences to four. The SEC and Big Ten, armed with the two biggest conference media deals and several incoming members, have begun to pull away as the NCAA’s two super leagues. To remain competitive, the Big 12 will add four new members, and the ACC will add three. The Pac-12 will continue with just two schools—and without ‘power’ status or a clear future. This wave of conference realignment is yet another indicator that college sports have become more commercialized than ever.”
^{Front Office Sports}

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