Sport & Story Daily March 21, 2024

Stay Ahead of the Game

March 21, 2024

Good morning! Reddit Eyes Sports Pre-IPO

Reddit Sports Data Seen as Revenue Stream Ahead of $6.58B IPO
As Sportico’s Brendan Coffey writes, “ Expected to price Thursday and value the business at $6.5 billion, Reddit gives a couple of hints in its prospectus that sports could be in its future…

It’s a fast-growing business—Reddit revenue jumped 65% the past two years to $804 million in 2023, according to data in the prospectus. Despite that growth in what has been a difficult advertising market overall, the business doesn’t make money: Reddit lost $90.8 million in 2023.”
^sportico.com

Ohtani’s Dodger Debut Also Advances MLB’s Global Ambitions
The official beginning for Shohei Ohtani in Dodger blue begins Wednesday, and it happens to coincide directly with a key business initiative for MLB. The South Korea games, announced last summer as this year’s schedule was completed, are MLB’s first there and represent a key element of the league’s fast-rising international ambitions. 
^{frontofficesports.com}

Comscore Beats Nielsen to MRC Accreditation for TV Measurement Using Big Data
Comscore has gotten Media Rating Council accreditation for total household and average audience measurement in national and local TV, making it the first measurement company to get the approval for using “big data” measurement nationally on TV.
^adage.com

Your Vision Insights: NCAA Basketball Men’s and Women’s Fans: Which fan base reacts to sponsors?

With March Madness kicking off this week, we wanted to take a look to see which fan base (Men’s vs Women’s) is most likely to respond positively to sponsor activation that will be in full swing this time of year. Interesting to see that NCAA Women’s Basketball fans lead the way in every category, including likelihood to purchase sponsors’ products.

Basketball Forever Raises $4M in Series A Funding
Digital media startup Basketball Forever has raised a $4M Series A round led by Yolo Investments, an Estonian VC firm focused on gaming and fintech startups. Beyond its media offerings, Basketball Forever also operates free-to-play and real-money gaming, and the new funding is partly intended to fuel the company’s recent push into the North American sports betting space.
^{frontofficesports.com}

J.P. Morgan Creates Sports Investment Banking Division
“With top sports franchises in the U.S. and Europe now valued at more than $400 billion in total, sports have become an increasingly large asset class, attracting more and more institutional investors,” said Fred Turpin, J.P. Morgan’s global head of Media and Communications Investment Banking.
^sportico.com

LeBron James, JJ Redick Team for Basketball-Focused Podcast
According to The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand, the concept of the program is "meant to be a departure from talk shows like ESPN’s 'First Take.'" Those shows "regularly debate subjective opinions about sports," while James and Redick plan to "delve deeper into the actual game of basketball."
^{sportsbusinessjournal.com}

Netflix to Release ‘Receiver’ Series Featuring NFL Stars Davante Adams, Justin Jefferson, More
Netflix’s popular “Quarterback” show is getting a sequel. Its next iteration—titled “Receiver”—features five-star NFL pass catchers. The series chronicles the players on and off the field through the 2023-24 season and will premiere this summer, Netflix announced Tuesday. Like “Quarterback,” “Receiver” is produced by NFL Films, Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions and Mahomes’ 2PM Productions.
^{theathletic.com}

Why MLB is Hosting its First Regular-Season Games in South Korea
The hope is to use it as a potential jumping-off point for not just drawing attention to the games but also forming connections with the local fan base so they continue following MLB.

“We just need more and more appetite for baseball in this market both from a live event perspective and wanting us to be here, but also from merchandise sales, business sales and watching our games on the different platforms,” Jeremiah Yolkut, Major League Baseball’s vice president of global events said.
^{theathletic.com}

Md. Lawmakers Discuss Plan to Take Over Pimlico
Per SBJ: The architects of the deal that would allow Maryland to take ownership of Pimlico Race Course, renovate it, and run thoroughbred races there "made their case for legislation to enable the agreement" to a House of Delegates committee yesterday. The Stronach Group, which has owned Pimlico for more than two decades, has signed a deal to transfer the track to the state as soon as this summer "if all goes to schedule."
^{sportsbusinessjournal.com}

Fired NCAA-Bound Coach Won’t Get Job Back, Long Beach State Says
You might recall that Monson was fired last week after 17 seasons at Long Beach State but was allowed to coach through the postseason. His team won the Big West tournament as a four-seed, punching a ticket to the NCAA tournament for just the second time in his tenure.

As Sportico’s Eben Novy Williams writes, “The unique situation became a viral national story, but it likely won’t have the happy ending many hope.” A spokesman was asked whether this might cause a reevaluation, and this person gave a definitive “No.”
^sportico.com

What Does Clemson's Lawsuit Against the ACC Mean? Here Are 4 Key Questions on Move That Could Have Massive Implications
As Ross Dellenger writes, “A court permitting their exit sets precedent for all other such claims and could render void other grant of rights in other leagues. Not only that, but it puts the ACC closer to a complete collapse not dissimilar to that of the Pac-12. The league, currently at 17 members, is required to have 15 members to satisfy the ESPN agreement. Falling below the number opens the door for the network to end the contract…”
^{sports.yahoo.com}

Matt Rhule Describes What Nebraska Needs in Next Athletic Director
“I really want somebody who has unbelievable urgency,” Rhule said. “We spend a lot of time talking about the transfer portal and NIL, this is like one of the most pivotal times in college athletics. We just need doers. We need people who just figure it out and work so I love the fact in Trev that I had an athletic director that was here at 7:00, 7:30 every morning in a suit and tie. He was a worker. Pat Kraft who I worked with at Temple, now at Penn State, was a worker. They were right there with you.”
^on3.com

Sources: Troy Dannen to Replace Trev Alberts as Nebraska AD
Piggybacking on the post above, ESPN’s Pete Thamel has reported that “Nebraska is finalizing a six-year deal to make Washington athletic director Troy Dannen the school's new athletic director…” This “gives the school an experienced athletic director who brings a strong football background and both Midwest ties and immediate familiarity with the Big Ten.”
^espn.com

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