Sport & Story Daily October 6, 2023

Stay Ahead of the Game

October 5, 2023

Good morning! The WNBA is looking westward as the league prepares for its next round of expansion, tapping not only the Bay Area for a new team, but also looking to the NW…

WNBA expansion team awarded in Bay Area to Golden State Warriors to begin play in 2025
The Golden State Warriors officially became the recipients of a WNBA expansion team, which will begin play in the 2025 season, making it the first new franchise to join the league since 2008. The new team will be owned and operated by Warriors Co-Executive Chairman and CEO Joe Lacob and Co-Executive Chairman Peter Guber, and will play home games at Chase Center in San Francisco. Meanwhile, multiple reports state that Portland is poised to be next in line for an announcement. Read more here.

ESPN will broadcast new Tiger Woods/Rory McIlroy indoor golf league
ESPN picked up rights to carry all installments of next year's Tiger Woods/Rory McIlroy-backed indoor golf league TGL across ESPN and ABC. Competitions will begin in January, and will run for 15 regular-season weeks plus playoff while players will compete in three-man teams before a live audience, with every player miked up. ABC will air a preview show on Dec. 30. Regular-season matches will take place on Tuesdays inside a two-hour window. Read more here.

NHL, NHLPA renew North American partnership with Enterprise
Enterprise and the NHL locked in a multiyear extension of their North American partnership. In addition to maintaining its exclusive status as the official rental car partner of the NHL and NHLPA. As part of the partnership extension, the Enterprise brand will continue to have a national marketing presence across all League touchpoints, including the NHL's digital and social channels, camera-visible in-arena inventory during games and events, and broadcast integrations across TNT and ESPN. Read more here.

Dick Butkus, NFL legend and TV star, dead at 80
RIP to former Chicago Bears linebacker Dick Butkus, who died Thursday at the age of 80. Appearing in both movies (such as Brian’s Song and Longest Yard) as well as TV (My Two Dads and Hang Time), his career with the Bears spanned from 1965 to 1973. He also famously appeared opposite fellow NFL star Bubba Smith in a series of commercials for Miller Lite in the 1970s, making “tastes great, less filling” a household phrase. Read more here.

Arizona Coyotes agree to Diamond exit, sign new broadcast TV deal with Scripps Sports
The last professional team left on Bally Sports Arizona has departed, agreeing to depart the struggling channel and signing a broadcast TV deal with Scripps Sports for over-the-air games on KNXV.2. Sportico reported that Diamond was looking to drop the Coyotes, a week ahead of their regular season opener. Read more here.

Right to left: - Peter Jacobsen – Chairman, World Champions Cup; - Charlie Besser - Founder and CEO, Intersport; Miller Brady – President, PGA TOUR Champions; Bruce Cassidy – President, The Concession Golf Club; Bill Galvano - Former President, Florida State Senate Credit: Intersport/World Champions Cup

Q&A with Peter Jacobsen - Chairman, World Champions Cup
With the Ryder Cup and Solheim Cup in the books, a new team event is on deck to take the golf world by storm as the inaugural World Champions Cup debuts Dec. 7-10 at The Concession Golf Club in Bradenton. The event will pit players from Team International, Team Europe, and Team USA in a first-of-its-kind international team competition with each team composed of six golfers, is officially sanctioned by PGA TOUR Champions and set to air on ABC and ESPN. Sport & Story asked Peter Jacobsen - Chairman, World Champions Cup – about the dynamics of orchestrating the event.

Jacobsen on founding the event: Putting together an event like the World Champions Cup is something that my friend Charlie Besser – the CEO and Founder of Intersport – and I have been talking about for a number of years now. Intersport has been very successful at creating and operating events across a number of sports, so I knew they could pull off something big like this. Between their expertise in running large-scale events and my relationships in the golf world, I think we make a pretty great team.

On serving as Chairman: I’m excited about my role as Chairman of the World Champions Cup. An event like this that essentially combines the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup for PGA TOUR Champions players is long overdue. We'll have some of the greatest players in the world out there – guys who are Hall of Famers and who have won multiple major championships. I know for a fact that the competitive desire never leaves these guys, and playing for something more than themselves if going to stoke that competitive fire inside them.

On the biggest obstacle: I think one of the reasons an event like the World Champions Cup hasn’t existed before is just that nobody had really been ready to try putting on a tournament with three teams – Team International, Team Europe and Team USA – all competing in the same event, and nobody had thought do it with players from PGA TOUR Champions. Another reason is that the Intersport team really wanted to get the right television partner to launch this event in a big way. Our vision is to become the fourth global “Team Major” in golf - joining the Ryder Cup, Presidents Cup and Solheim Cup as a legacy event in the sport.

On the pitch to advertisers: We have secured deals with a number of official sponsors, and expect to make some announcements soon. Our pitch has been centered around the opportunity to be part of something totally unique in the golf and sports world, as well as the opportunity to get in on the ground floor with an event that we expect will become one of the game’s most prestigious legacy events – just like the Ryder Cup, Presidents Cup and Solheim Cup.

On the long-term vision: Our plan is to make this a legacy event that is in the same discussion as the Ryder Cup, Presidents Cup and Solheim Cup. And one of the things that really makes us unique compared to those events is that the World Champions Cup will be played annually, helping keep fans engaged and building an audience year after year. I think we have all seen over the last couple weeks with the ladies in Spain and the men in Rome just how thrilling these events are and the passion that fans all across the globe have for events like these where professional golfers come together in a team format.

NASCAR announces new partnership with iRacing for 2025
Since 2018, NASCAR's video game branch has been handled by Motorsport Games, which has put out fan favorites like NASCAR Heat 5 and NASCAR Rivals. However, the racing juggernaut announced today that a new company will be taking over in 2025. While the new partnership hasn't announced a new game yet, NASCAR revealed that it will be partnering with iRacing for a new "simulation-style console" racer.
motorsport.com

SiriusXM and Lowe’s team up this NFL season
Lowe's has teamed up with SiriusXM and Mood Media to help weekend shoppers stay close to the NFL action by providing live, in-store audio of SiriusXM’s The Sunday Drive at all Lowe's locations nationwide for the regular NFL season. In a first-of-its-kind deal for SiriusXM, Lowe’s is the first major retailer to offer its customers sports talk radio during their in-store shopping experience.
sportsbusinessjournal.com

Old El Paso continues NFL partnership
The campaign will encourage NFL fans to enjoy the snacking occasion the sport brings, with classic Old El Paso Nachos being the go-to snack of choice for game day. Highlighting the brand’s classic Nachos range with the ‘Make Some Noise for Crunch Time’ tagline – a nod to NFL lingo, the strong connection between nachos and game day snacking, and its Make Some Noise brand ethos.
talkingretail.com

F1 Academy finale to be broadcast live in over 100 territories
The all-female F1 Academy series will broadcast its season finale in Austin, Texas, live in over 100 international territories. The finale at the Circuit of The Americas will be offered through Formula One’s over-the-top (OTT) platform F1 TV. For countries where the platform is unavailable, F1 Academy will be shown through the relevant media rights holder. Coverage will also be available on Formula One’s YouTube, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook channels. Both qualifying sessions and all three races will be broadcast in full.
sportspromedia.com

NFL reportedly asked its TV partners to show Taylor Swift movie ads for free
The NFL isn't dumb when it comes to making money. And it knows the Taylor Swift crossover has been a boon. The NFL has seen ticket prices and television ratings go up for the couple of games Swift has attended. She is in a relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
yahoo.com

Riding ratings high, Amazon to bring back ‘The Shop’ alt-cast
Amazon Prime Video is bringing back “TNF in The Shop” for a second season, Front Office Sports has learned. The alternate stream will return on Oct. 12 during Prime’s coverage of the Kansas City Chiefs vs. Denver Broncos game, according to Paul Rivera, co-creator of the Emmy Award-winning show and chief brand officer at SpringHill Company.
frontofficesports.com

SiriusXM NHL Network Radio returns with live coverage of the 2023-24 NHL season
SiriusXM announced comprehensive coverage of the 2023-24 NHL season, right through the Stanley Cup® Final. SiriusXM NHL Network Radio (ch. 91) will bring subscribers across North America compelling insight, expert analysis, special programming, interviews, and live-play-play of every game starting Tuesday, October 10.
radiofacts.com

Suns, Mercury owner Mat Ishbia to spend $100 million on Mercury practice facility, employee campus
Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia announced on Thursday he’s spending over $100 million to construct a dedicated practice facility for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury as well as a downtown campus for Suns and Mercury employees.
nba.com

Wisconsin hearing considers $614M plan to fund Milwaukee Brewers stadium repairs
The chief architect of a plan to hand the Milwaukee Brewers more than $614 million to cover stadium improvements defended his proposal Thursday in front of a legislative committee, promising the deal will keep the team in Milwaukee for another generation without new taxes.
apnews.com

NWSL shakes up league office, with Haddon overseeing marketing, commercial
NWSL Commissioner Jessica Berman has tapped 2023 SBJ Game Changers honoree Julie Haddon to oversee all marketing and commercial activity for the league as part of an organizational restructuring at its N.Y. office.
sportsbusinessjournal.com

Former Disney exec Jason Reed to lead production studio Skydance Sports
Skydance Sports on Thursday named former Walt Disney executive Jason Reed as head of the production studio, which is a joint venture between Skydance Media and the National Football League (NFL). Reed, who has produced films such as "Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes" and the live-action film adaptation of Disney's "Mulan", will lead overall operations and the development and production of the studio's sports-driven content.
reuters.com

On This Day in Sports History:

1882: Game one of first World Series
1991: Orioles' last game at Baltimore's Memorial Stadium
1993: Michael Jordan announces his retirement from the Bulls
1995: Colorado Avalanche play first NHL game
2017: Vegas Golden Knights make their NHL debut

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.

Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here!

And feel free to read our Privacy Policy.

Sept72