Sport & Story Daily October 19, 2023

Stay Ahead of the Game

October 19, 2023

Good morning! At last, Roger Goodell and the NFL locked in their much-anticipated extension as the league climbs to new highs and goes where it has never gone before…

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell gets a contract extension through March 2027
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell landed a contract extension that will keep him as head of the league through March 2027. That long-expected extension reportedly includes clauses for extension or succession, according to the AP. “The Compensation Committee updated the full ownership today that an agreement has been reached to extend Commissioner Roger Goodell’s contract for three years, through March 2027,” the league announced in a statement. Read more here.

Peloton spins deal with NBA and WNBA
Peloton, the NBA and WNBA sealed a multi-year partnership, naming the company as an official fitness partner of the NBA and WNBA. The collaboration will make NBA League Pass, the league’s live game subscription service, available to stream across compatible Peloton devices in the fitness platform’s new Entertainment hub, which will launch during the 2023-24 NBA season, marking a first-of-its kind Peloton offering. Peloton will also develop NBA- and WNBA-themed classes across the brand’s fitness modalities throughout each league’s respective seasons. Read more here.

Ad sales for Paris Olympics pace ahead of previous Games, approach $1 billion
Total advertising spend for the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games are outpacing ahead of the previous event in Japan at this point f the process. NBCUniversal already sold all of its advertising inventory for its live coverage of the Opening Ceremony and for halftime slots during soccer, basketball and other team competitions, across its broadcast, cable, streaming and digital platforms, said company executives. Read more here.

How profitable is ESPN? Disney breaks out figures for first time
For the first time, Disney laid out the financials for ESPN. According to an SEC filing Wednesday that outlines a new financial reporting structure at the company, ESPN delivered $16 billion in revenue in fiscal 2022 and boasted profits of $2.9 billion. Most of ESPN’s revenues came from pay TV carriage fees ($10.1 billion), compared with advertising revenue of $4.4 billion. Read more here.

Report: 76ers’ Joel Embiid nearing deal to represent Skechers’ new basketball division
Skechers is entering the basketball shoe wars, and will launch a new basketball division in addition to being in “deep discussions” about adding 76ers star Joel Embiid, the NBA’s reigning MVP, to become Skechers’ star pitchman, per The Athletic. A deal has not been signed yet, but Embiid wore a Skechers shoe for the first time during 76ers practice Wednesday with the brand’s performance staff on site as he begins to test out the sneaker, sources said. Read more here.

Your Vision Insights: Who do you think had more impact on the sports world in the past month?

The sports world has seen quite a few big stories drop as of late with Messi entering MLS, Prime Time redefining what it means to be a head coach in NCAA football and TSwift setting Arrowhead stadium a blaze with her presence at games on Sundays.

The biggest takeaway were the differences as you breakdown respondents by age. While Taylor Swift's impact on sports was fairly consistent across all age groups, there was stark contrast visible when looking at Messi's impact on sports through the eyes of teens vs. Deion's impact among the 35+ cohort.

DraftKings, NBA partner for new apparel collection
The NBA and DraftKings have partnered for the 2023-24 season to bring fans co-branded hats, t-shirts and hoodies. The original designs featured in this collection merge DraftKings’ gold crown logo with NBA licensed team logos — marking the monumental moment of DraftKings becoming the first official sports betting partner of the NBA to launch co-branded merchandise with the league.
draftkings.com

How the NBA plans to remake TV deals and net billions of dollars for its stars
The stars of the National Basketball Association are taking to the court as a new season begins next week. Behind the scenes, the league has started talks to secure the billions of dollars in media-rights fees that will help pay their huge salaries. As the NBA enters its first media negotiations in a decade, its biggest partners, Disney’s ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery’s TNT—which together pay about $2.6 billion a year—aren’t looking to pony up big spending increases.
wsj.com

US Equestrian announces SI Tickets by Sports Illustrated as official ticketing partner
The United States Equestrian Federation struck a deal with SI Tickets as the Official Ticketing Partner of US Equestrian. This partnership will offer all USEF-licensed competitions a ticketing platform resource with the capability of serving the unique ticketing needs of equestrian events. In addition, SI Tickets will provide licensed horse shows with the opportunity to grow awareness of their events through targeted marketing to the SI Tickets audience.
usef.org

Relo Metrics, SponsorPulse measure value of NHL sponsorships
Relo Metrics said it is working with SponsorPulse to measure the value and performance of National Hockey League sponsorships. The new Impact Scores combine SponsorPulse’s consumer research with Relo’s exposure valuation data.
nexttv.com

ESPN BET logo unveiled
ESPN BET, a branded online sportsbook for fans in the United States, unveiled its new logo ahead of its November launch. ESPN BET will feature a custom content identity to live across the entire ESPN ecosystem, inclusive but not limited to in-app, digital, social, programming, and more.
espnpressroom.com

NBA considering changes to All-Star Game format, with East vs. West possible again
The NBA All-Star Game may soon return to an East vs. West format. Commissioner Adam Silver said Tuesday in a televised interview on ESPN that changes are coming to the All-Star Game — and while stopping short of saying any decision has been finalized, he hinted that the current format of top vote-getters serving as captains and drafting their own teams may be shelved.
apnews.com

The drivers will be at Austin's F1 race, the fans will be there, but will the TV viewers?
ESPN's College Gameday will converge this weekend on Columbus, Ohio, for Penn State-Ohio State, but the network will put the pedal to the metal in Austin for Formula One's Lenovo United States Grand Prix. Upwards of 10 hours of coverage will be available Friday-Sunday from Circuit of the Americas on a variety of ESPN channels, culminating with a 3½-hour production Sunday on ABC (KVUE).
statesman.com

PBR buckles in with Kid Rock for Kid Rock’s Rock N’ Roll Rodeo
PBR (and Kid Rock announced Kid Rock’s Rock N’ Roll Rodeo – a new team-formatted rodeo “infused with contemporary music designed to increase the sport’s entertainment value and appeal to a broader audience.” The event will debut on May 17, 2024, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, preceding the PBR World Finals Championship on May 18-19.
pbr.com

New York City FC reveals stadium plans
New York City FC revealed images of their planned 25,000-seater stadium in Queens, New York, across from Citi Field. The 25,000-seat stadium is expected to cost around $780million -privately financed- and would be built soccer-specific.
dailymail.co.uk

Timberwolves and CARE Counseling announce partnership
The Minnesota Timberwolves and CARE Counseling today announced a new partnership ahead of the 2023-24 NBA season. This exciting collaboration aims to promote a positive and engaging environment while providing mental health education and support to individuals within the Twin Cities community.
nba.com

Pawtucket’s $124M soccer stadium goes ahead with ‘mystery millionaire’
The biggest development projects in the history of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, appears to have cleared its last economic hurdle due to the generosity of a “mystery millionaire.” After struggling to completely fund Tidewater Landing — a $284 million mixed-use complex with a $124 million soccer-specific stadium at its center — an unidentified multi-millionaire investor has guaranteed to financially back the stadium’s completion, according to the Providence Journal.
frontofficesports.com

Sunset+Vine appoints Peter Angell as CEO
Sunset+Vine has appointed Peter Angell as chief executive officer. He joins the company on the 1 November. Angell has operated as an independent sports media consultant since 2020, following eight years in the role of SVP, global media production at Lagardére Sports (now Sportfive) where he was overall responsible for global media operations and productions.
broadcastnow.co.uk

Chess.com Thursday Challenge
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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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