Sport & Story Daily November 6, 2023

Stay Ahead of the Game

November 6, 2023

Good morning! A quartet of rising stars took center stage as NASCAR crowned a champion, with Ryan Blaney ultimately stepping up for Penske

Ryan Blaney earns first career NASCAR championship and gives Roger Penske back-to-back Cup titles
A new generation of NASCAR stars made the most of the spotlight on Sunday as NASCAR found its champion in Ryan Blaney, who banged past fellow contender Kyle Larson in the closing laps at Phoenix Raceway, hands Team Penske back-to-back Cup titles. Read more here.

Report: Sinclair offering $850 million to buy back Diamond Sports Group out of bankruptcy
Sinclair Broadcast Group offered to pay "roughly" $850 million in a move to buy back its former regional sports networks subsidiary, Diamond Sports Group, according to The New York Post. DSG is facing liquidation in a Texas bankruptcy court and a buyout would come in partnership with Bally's Corp. owner Soo Kim. Bankrupt Diamond Sports Group is still suing Sinclair for $1.5 billion, claiming the broadcast station group extracted management service fees and dividends from the subsidiary, even though it knew it was insolvent. Read more here.

Thursday Night Football continues big run
The Thursday Night Football franchise averaged a 5.5 rating and 11.52 million viewers on Amazon Prime Video for last week’s game, up 48% in ratings and 47% in viewership over last year’s tally. With numbers in, all eight Thursday Night Football games this season have posted a double-digit increase in viewership, and seven of eight games have averaged at least 11 million viewers. Read more here.

PGA Tour slices list of potential investors to five
The PGA Tour has narrowed down the list of potential partners down to five for its new for-profit entity. Golfweek reports that the five companies still under consideration are: Fenway Sports Group (FSG), Liberty Strategic Capital; Acorn Growth Companies; Eldridge Industries; and a group of influential individuals being referred to as Friends of Golf. Read more here.

USA Pickleball unites with nearly 30 countries to launch the Global Pickleball Federation
USA Pickleball, the National Governing Body for the sport of pickleball, is aligning with pickleball federations across 28 countries to create the Global Pickleball Federation. The mission of the GPF is to grow and promote pickleball internationally from the amateur to professional levels with integrity and purpose. Priorities for the GPF include gaining recognition by the International Olympic Committee as the International Federation for the sport of pickleball and securing inclusion for pickleball in the Olympic and Paralympic sport program. Read more here.

Tiered RSN package could help solve teams’ local economic puzzle

Several professional sports teams have pivoted from the regional sports network model that has thrived for the last three decades. The reasons and their plans for local distribution moving forward vary (see: Padres, Suns, Jazz, Diamondbacks, VGK, Coyotes).

A few were forced to find a new strategy because Warner Bros. Discover CEO David “Zaslav decided the three RSN's WBD owned weren't additive to the larger channel businesses anymore,” media consultant Patrick Crakes said. Diamond Sports relinquished others’ broadcast rights as part of their ongoing bankruptcy proceedings, and some clubs “were worried about the amount of economics promised in the future, [didn’t get along with their existing local distribution partner] and recognized the need to find a new route.”

Major League Baseball offered to help affected clubs stand up, operate, and distribute newly branded RSNs in local markets, and backstopped losses ensuring the teams received at least 80% of anticipated revenues in 2023.

The NBA and NHL teams referenced have instead chosen to pursue various ‘stream and beam’ approaches (a combination of over-the-air broadcast and direct-to-consumer streaming).

All of clubs remain optimistic –at least publicly– about their local distribution plans.

But what if the new systems fail to increase reach and/or replace revenues as expected?

Read the rest of this piece at JohnWallStreet.

Formula 1’s business momentum continues with Las Vegas GP on deck
The economic rise of Formula 1 this year was on full display in Liberty Media’s latest quarterly earnings, and even bigger prizes await the motorsports property and its parent organization. Liberty Media reported a 24% rise in F1 revenue to $887 million compared to the same period a year ago, while operating income rose 67% to $107 million.
frontofficesports.com

New TV deal needs to come before charter agreement – NASCAR's Phelps
NASCAR president Steve Phelps says that the next television deal needs to be done before the industry can finalize a new charter agreement. The business of charters and media rights are amongst the biggest matters NASCAR is navigating. Both the current charter agreement and media rights deal with Fox Sports and NBC Sports end after the 2024 season.
racer.com

DraftKings’ revenue soars as mobile sports betting continues to expand
The beginning of football season further solidified DraftKings’ strong standing in its battle with FanDuel. In its most recent fiscal quarter ending Sept. 30, revenue hit $790 million — a 57% increase from the same time period in 2022. Average monthly unique paying customers rose to 2.3 million, a 40% bump from a year ago.
cnbc.com

Quaker launches new pregrain Tour inspired by NFL
Quaker is celebrating this football season with its first ever Quaker Pregrain Tour, which includes a tailgate truck that will visit select NFL stadiums, the introduction of a new digital Quaker Playbook featuring a collection of 32 recipes inspired by each NFL team, and a $250,000 donation to GENYOUth, a nationally recognized youth health and wellness nonprofit organization, to help tackle hidden hunger.
prnewswire.com

Brazil government gives FIFA assurances in bid to host 2027 Women’s World Cup
Brazil’s government gave FIFA assurances Saturday about officially bidding to host the 2027 Women’s World Cup. Latin America has never hosted any of the nine editions of the tournament. Brazil’s government said on its social media channels Saturday night that the document is signed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and it gives FIFA the seven assurances that are requested in such bids. Among those are guarantees of especially assigned tax exemptions, work permits and visa procedures.
apnews.com

Arnold Schwarzenegger to appear on ESPN’s ‘Manningcast’
Arnold Schwarzenegger is hoping to be useful to Peyton and Eli Manning. The Terminator and FUBAR star is heading to Manningcast on Monday night as Justin Herbert’s Los Angeles Chargers take on Zach Wilson’s New York Jets. He is the latest big-name star to appear on the Omaha Productions show after the likes of Barack Obama, Will Ferrell, Jon Stewart, Condoleezza Rice, Lebron James, and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.
barrettsportsmedia.com

First Things First sees large viewership gains for FS1
FS1 reported viewership data for the month of October and highlighted gains across the board, including First Things First. The program moved from mornings to afternoons and just attained its second most-watched month ever, up 97% year-over-year.
barrettsportsmedia.com

LL COOL J and The Roots reimagine ‘Mama Said Knock You Out’ for NBA In-season Tournament anthem
The National Basketball Association revealed that LL COOL J, collaborated with hip-hop act The Roots to reimagine the legendary song “Mama Said Knock You Out,” which will serve as the official anthem for the inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament. It is now the musical backdrop for the stages of the In-Season Tournament, starting with Group Play involving all 30 teams and progressing through the single-elimination Knockout Rounds, culminating in the Championship.
nba.com

MLB commissioner confident new St. Pete stadium will be boost for Rays
Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred said he is confident the Rays’ planned new stadium near the current Tropicana Field site will lead to increased support for the team. Manfred, who previously expressed a preference for a Tampa site but acknowledged location wasn’t the only factor, said in a Sirius XM radio interview last week he trusts Rays principal owner Stuart Sternberg’s decision to make a deal in St. Petersburg.
yahoo.com

Braves revenue up again despite early playoff exit
The Atlanta Braves’ 2023 playoff bid ended quickly and unexpectedly, part of an upset-laden MLB postseason. But a banner end of the regular season fueled another robust quarter for the Braves financially. Following strong earnings in the second quarter in the club’s first financial disclosure since spinning off from parent Liberty Media, the Braves reported an 11% jump in revenue for the third quarter to $272 million.
frontofficesports.com

49ers strike NFL international deal first with Foliatti Casino
The San Francisco 49ers has claimed a National Football League first, after unveiling Mexico's Foliatti Casino as its first casino partner as part of the NFL's international commercial program.
sportbusiness.com

Arena Football League taps Mike McCoy to serve as league’s deputy commissioner
The Arena Football League (AFL) has appointed Mike McCoy as the league’s new deputy commissioner, where he will be responsible for guiding and growing the league’s business operations. McCoy joins the AFL after previously serving as the commissioner of the Champions Indoor Football (CIF) league and brings 20-plus years of experience in professional sports.
sportico.com

Los Angeles Dodgers hire Lorenzo Sciarrino as senior vice president of global partnerships
The Los Angeles Dodgers hired Lorenzo Sciarrino as their senior vice president of global partnerships in what marks a return to the franchise. The role calls for Sciarrino to lead the team’s global sponsorship department, supervising and engineering franchise partnerships with businesses domestically and internationally.
yardbarker.com

Pot-weekend Pic Puzzle
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Sport & Story Daily and Sports & Story College are the sport industry’s daily resource for business news. In addition to serving up exclusive trends, Q&As, and columns, the newsletter connects reads to top platforms and stories from across the sports landscape.

Chris Pursell is the founder of staple industry events such as the Cynopsis Sports Business Awards, the Esports Business Summit, the CMO Exchange, the Tempest Awards, and the Esports Newfronts. He was previously a reporter and editor for publications such as Variety and The Los Angeles Times and launched leading business publications for Cynopsis and PromaxBDA.

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