Sport & Story Daily October 20, 2023

Stay Ahead of the Game

October 20, 2023

Good morning! Superteams supercharged ESPN’s coverage of the WNBA Finals, setting a new precedent as the Aces claimed the crown…

Aces/Liberty wraps with record WNBA viewership
ESPN drew all Aces with the 2023 WNBA Finals, capping a big season with the most-watched Game 4 of all time. An average of 889,000 viewers watched the Las Vegas Aces take home its second consecutive championship. Viewership was up 124% over Game 4 in 2022. Overall, the entire 2023 WNBA Finals Presented by YouTube TV on ESPN platforms averaged 728,000 viewers, making it the most-watched WNBA Finals in 20 years, and up 36% from 2022. Read more here.

TGL unveils San Francisco team ownership team led by Marc Lasry, Steph Curry
TGL golf, the indoor golf league founded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, continued to line up heavy hitters amongst investors and team owners. The latest announcement sees Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala join an effort led by Marc Lasry, Avenue Capital Group Chair and CEO, to purchase the San Francisco TGL team. Read more here.

Messi pushes MLS to record attendance and revenue
As Major League Soccer wraps up the regular season on Saturday, the league is punching record numbers off the field in 2023. FOS reports that attendance will approach the 11 million mark, easily besting last season’s record of 10 million. The addition of Lionel Messi to the mix also helped the league score record revenue. Read more here.

Tennis Channel taps Sportradar to launch streaming service
Tennis Channel is turning to Sportradar to help deliver a new direct-to-consumer streaming platform, that is slated to launch early next year. The platform will serve up Tennis Channel’s linear channel as well as live and on-demand matches and other original programming. Read more here.

Paris 2024 Olympics headquarters, event management firms raided
Organizers of the Paris 2024 Olympics saw their headquarters raided this week by the country's national financial prosecutor and a judicial source said the raid, which also targeted event management firms, were part of an ongoing probe into alleged favoritism. Reuters reports that the raids were part of a probe opened into suspicion of "illegal taking of interest, favoritism and concealment" in the award of several contracts. Read more here.

Exclusive Q&A: X Games’ Valerie Ryan
The X Games evolution continues. The long-running event hit the summer with its first summer iteration since the beginning of the pandemic, returning to SoCal and featuring new owners and new management. The result saw sellout crowds pack the venue to see the world’s best action sports athletes. Before hitting Aspen for the Winter X Games, the company is making a pitstop, hosting a star-studded Vert Jam at the festival grounds of When We Were Young, the sold out pop-punk music festival in Las Vegas. The event will serve up daily skateboard Vert demos, where fans can watch the world’s best skaters ride between musical performances. We chatted with Valerie Ryan, vice president, fan experience & hospitality at X Games, to talk about the state of the company.

Ryan on X Games California: This year’s X Games summer event was proof that not only are fans hungry for in-person, large-scale X Games competitions and festival experiences, but also proof that staging the event in Southern California - specifically the city of Ventura - was the perfect choice. Our Saturday tickets sold out, we sold out of event merchandise, and our hospitality passes were wildly popular; it was a massive response to our first in-person event since 2019. And we couldn’t have asked for a better host than the city of Ventura, who really leaned in on activating the community to welcome both X Games and the athletes.

On surprises: The dominant nature of our young X Games athletes! Reese Nelson, at only 10 years old, set a record for the youngest X Games medalist of all-time, winning a silver medal in Women’s Skateboard Vert. And Arisa Trew, who’s only 13, smashed Shaun White’s 20-year record as the youngest-ever X Games double gold medalist, winning both Women’s Skateboard Vert and Park.

On Aspen preparations: Aspen is setting up to once again be the biggest show on snow, bringing together the world’s best snowboard and ski athletes, along with some fun new fan offerings, cool new digital integrations, and maybe even a new competition. Stay tuned for a wider announcement in the coming weeks, and start booking your travel now to Aspen for January 26-28th!

On engaging at When We Were Young: The bands playing When We Were Young harken back to the time when skateboarding and X Games were exploding in popularity. Some of the same artists performing at WWWY also performed onsite at X Games events. It just seemed like a natural fit to slam-jam down memory lane with the WWWY fans by staging an X Games Vert Jam at the festival. How do we measure success? Catching fans who grew up on X Games relive their youth cheering on the best X Games Vert skaters as they do what they do best!

MLB team sponsorship revenue grew to $1.5 billion in 2023, report shows
Major League Baseball teams earned 23% more in sponsorship revenue in 2023 than the year before, a new report shows, an important boost as the league looks to increase total revenues and stem potential losses should teams' media rights deals decrease. The report by SponsorUnited, a global sports and entertainment intelligence platform, shows that among the 30 teams sponsorship revenues increased to $1.5 billion, or +23% over 2022.
forbes.com

UFC and the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi extend partnership to 2028
UFC and The Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi will continue their existing partnership which sees the MMA organization bring one numbered event featuring a championship bout to the Emirate every year. The new partnership will also expand to include additional Fight Night events, which will take place across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
ufc.com

NHL, Fastenal announce multiyear global partnership extension
Fastenal Company and the National Hockey League sealed a multiyear global partnership extension. The renewed partnership expands Fastenal’s international NHL presence to include presenting sponsorship of all NHL Global Series European games, as well as the NHL’s primetime international broadcast series NHL Saturday and NHL Sunday. In North America, Fastenal will continue their support for tentpole NHL events, including NHL Heritage Classic, NHL Winter Classic, NHL All-Star Weekend, and NHL Stadium Series.
nhl.com

NBA and Clutch announce multiyear marketing partnership in Canada
The National Basketball Association (NBA) and Clutch, Canada's largest online used car retailer, today announced a new multiyear marketing partnership that makes Clutch the official online car retailer of the NBA in Canada. The collaboration tipped off with an interactive fan event in downtown Toronto last week in which one of the iconic red Clutch flatbed trucks was transformed into a portable basketball court, giving fans the opportunity to take a "Clutch shot" and win prizes, including NBAStore.ca gift cards and co-branded basketballs. newswire.ca

ESPN NHL ratings up big from last season
The 2023-24 NHL season continues to deliver record viewership on ESPN. The Buffalo Sabres' 3-2 overtime win against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday averaged 525,000 total viewers and 246,000 between ages 18-49, up 11 percent and 14 percent respectively from last season's comparable games. The second part of ESPN's doubleheader on Tuesday, a 4-1 win by the Colorado Avalanche against the Seattle Kraken, averaged 513,000 viewers, including 260,000 from 18-49, up 51 percent and 55 percent from last year's comparable games.
nhl.com

Vizio provides more football with addition of NFL App
Vizio is giving viewers more football by launching the NFL app on its smart TVs. The App will give users access to NFL Plus, the league's direct-to-consumer subscription streaming service. Vizio also has the NFL channel as part of its WatchFree Plus service.
nexttv.com

The National Football League celebrates international diversity with NFL Heritage Program
Meanwhile, the NFL is celebrating players' and coaching staff's cultural origins this season with its NFL Heritage program, with all 32 teams represented. Across weeks 7 and 8 of the 2023 season, over 330 players and coaches will return to the field wearing international flag decals - with players adding flags to their helmets and coaches wearing patches on jackets - to represent the ever-growing pool of various nationalities and cultures that make up the League. nflcommunications.com

Jaguars now considering a single season outside Jacksonville during proposed stadium remodel
The Jaguars are working to shorten the amount of time they would play outside Jacksonville during a potential $1.4 billion stadium renovation. Team president Mark Lamping has a proposal that would reduce the number of seasons the Jaguars are away from EverBank Stadium from two years to one.
apnews.com

NFL owners raise debt limit to $1.2 billion for new buyers
NFL owners have voted to raise the league’s debt limit in a move that could make it easier for new buyers to finance billion-dollar team acquisitions. During meetings in New York City this week, the league raised the cap on debt existing owners can have against a team from $600 million to $700 million. That will also increase the amount of debt allowed for new buyers from $1.1 billion to $1.2 billion.
sportico.com

KC Current announces groundbreaking stadium naming rights partnership
The KC Current's new stadium officially has a name: CPKC Stadium. Cofounder and co-owner Angie Long announced the partnership with Canadian Pacific Kansas City in a press conference this morning in front of the new stadium on Kansas City's riverfront. CPKC Stadium is the first stadium in the world built for the sole purpose of housing a professional women's soccer team, though the location will also be used for concerts and variety of other entertainment endeavors.
kckingdom.com

Red Bulls and Provident Bank extend partnership
The New York Red Bulls announced today the extension of their partnership with Provident Bank, the club’s Official Banking Partner. The multi-year deal will continue to be centered around the New Jersey- headquartered bank’s naming entitlement to the Provident Bank Suite Lounge located at Red Bull Arena.
newyorkredbulls.com

EJ Stewart named executive producer of CBS Sports Radio’s Maggie and Perloff
EJ Stewart has been named the new Executive Producer of CBS Sports Radio’s new morning show featuring Maggie Gray and Andrew Perloff. In an announcement made on X, formerly Twitter, Stewart shared his excitement for the new role on the national morning show.
barrettsportsmedia.com

On This Day in Sports History:

1963: Jim Brown sets NFL single-season rushing record, 1,863 yds
1968: "Fosbury Flop" debuts in men's high jump
1988: The Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Oakland A’s to win the World Series in five games.
1992: First baseball World Series game is played outside United States at SkyDome in Toronto, Ontario
2004: Red Sox eliminate the Yankees in Game 7 as the 1st team in MLB history to come back from a 3-0 series deficit

Thanks for reading!

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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