Sport & Story Daily February 8, 2024

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February 8, 2024

Good morning! Sportico on the number of women on the highest-paid athletes list: “Zilch”

Women Shut Out From Highest-Paid Athletes Despite Investment Boom
On this, National Girls and Women in Sports Day (NGWSD), Sportico’s Kurt Baudenhausen writes, “Sportico’s annual feature on the world’s highest-paid athletes published Wednesday and featured zero women in the top 100. None. Nada. Zilch. An expanded look at the 200 top earners would have produced the same result.

Coco Gauff, 19, was the highest-paid female athlete in 2023 with $22.7 million, but that fell nearly $10 million short of the $32.5 million cutoff to make the top 100. Cristiano Ronaldo ranked first at $275 million.

Disappointed, surprised and terrible were a few of the fit-for-print reactions.”
^sportico.com

Playfly Expands into Europe by Acquiring London-Based Evolution Sports
Playfly is making its initial foray into Europe by acquiring London-based boutique consultancy Evolution Sports. "We see tremendous opportunity in Western Europe, and we were impressed by Evolution’s relationships and the quality of their thinking," said Playfly President Craig Sloan.
^{sportsbusinessjournal.com}

Range Sports Expands in Women’s Basketball, Signing WNBA Trio
On the other hand, there’s news from Variety Sports that “Range Sports is branching out into the realm of women’s basketball with the signing of WNBA stars Isabelle “Izzy” Harrison and Dearica Hamby, in addition to 2024 WNBA draftee Elizabeth “Liz” Kitley.

The interest in WNBA athletes by a Hollywood management-production company is a sign of how much the prospects for female athletes have changed in the past decade.”
^variety.com

How ESPN, FOX And Warner Bros. Discovery’s New Streaming Service Could Impact Advertisers
“People who are sports fanatics—who I would believe this is intended for—have already figured out how to get their sports,” said the second buyer. “Until this offers something new or different, I don’t know what the incentive is going to be for people to add on another proposed $40 to $50 per month for stuff that they currently get” through other platforms.
^adage.com

Variety also got in on the chat above 👆🏼, saying the cost is going to be the make-it-or-break-it factor…

Fox Sees Revenues Dip 8% in Q2 Earnings Report
Fox saw revenue dip 8% last quarter to $4.23B on "weaker advertising due in part to tough comps from the year before." Affiliate fee revenues increased 4%, "driven by 10% growth at the television segment." Other revenues increased 14%…
^{sportsbusinessjournal.com}

Super Bowl Picks: Experts Predict 49ers-Chiefs Score, MVP
Per ESPN staff, “We asked ESPN's NFL analysts, writers, commentators, columnists and pundits to make predictions for the big game. More than 60 experts picked the winner of 49ers-Chiefs, the final score of the game and who they think will earn the Super Bowl MVP Award.”
^espn.com

Your Vision Insights: Top 10 Largest NFL Fan Bases

America’s Team…Chiefs Kingdom…Cheeseheads…Steeler Nation. These official/unofficial monikers have been given to these NFL fan bases for a good reason. They’re absolutely enormous and not confined to the geographic regions that these teams play within.

These are the NFL fan bases that have the largest followings across the United States among NFL fans aged 13+.

Chicago Fire Finalizing Deal for Kellyn Acosta - Sources
As ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura reports, “Chicago Fire FC is finalizing a deal to sign United States men's national team midfielder Kellyn Acosta, sources told ESPN.

Acosta, who has appeared 34 times for the U.S. over the last three years, including twice at the World Cup in 2022, was one of the most sought-after free agents in Major League Soccer after his deal with LAFC expired after last season.”
^espn.com

Netflix to Produce Two Red Sox Documentaries With Latest Pivot Into Sports
The streaming service announced it will produce two documentaries related to the Boston Red Sox, the first of which is what Front Office Sports Alex Schiffer is calling “a Hard Knocks–esque embedding with the team for the entire 2024 season, the first of its kind in the baseball space.” The series will air in ’25 and will have unprecedented access from the field and up to the front office. 
^{sportsbusinessjournal.com}

FOX Eyes 60M Non-Cable Homes as Market For Joint Streamer
“This is a blockbuster deal that will further decimate the traditional US pay-TV sector,” wrote Tammy Parker, GlobalData’s principal analyst of global telecom consumer services. “For many viewers, sports has been the thread keeping them attached to pay TV, but that thread frays a bit more every time a streaming video provider gains control of popular live sports programming. Having ESPN, Fox and WBD combine their vast portfolios of sports content into a single streaming service will make sports fans think twice about subscribing to pricey linear programming bundles offered by cable and satellite-TV providers.”
^sportico.com

How One Hotel’s $40,000 Mistake Birthed the Super Bowl’s Radio Row
“Seventy-five radio producers begging you for five minutes of [your time].” As Front Office Sports’ Daniel Kaplan writes, “That’s how San Diego radio personality Darren Smith describes the frenzied scene when a VIP ambles through the Super Bowl’s Radio Row—or Media Row, as it is now known, given new mediums such as podcasts and the inundation of influencers.

The five-day event is both a longstanding tradition and a crucial part of the economic engine that drives business for the NFL and the Super Bowl host city, as a parade of athletes and celebs (almost always with something to sell), agents and league officials trample through dozens and dozens of stations in the media center. Agent Leigh Steinberg says he personally did 71 interviews last year.”
^{frontofficesports.com}

Cowboys Interview Former Jets, Bills Head Coach Rex Ryan for Defensive Coordinator Opening
As CBS Sports’ Cody Benjamin reports, “Rex Ryan hasn't held an NFL coaching job for the better part of a decade, but the former New York Jets head coach is on the Dallas Cowboys' radar, recently interviewing for the team's defensive coordinator opening.

First reported by CBS Sports HQ Senior NFL Insider Josina Anderson, the news marks the latest in a growing list of big names on Dallas' radar, with the Cowboys also recently linked to former Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer.
^{cbssports.com}

National Signing Day: Big 12 Poised to Finish Outside Top 20 in Recruiting Rankings Amid Texas, Oklahoma Exits
As CBS Sports’ David Cobb reports, “College football's traditional National Signing Day passed Wednesday without a single Big 12 recruiting class finishing among the top 20 in the 247Sports Team Rankings.  It marks the first time in the 247Sports era that the league failed to produce a top-20 class.”
^{cbssports.com}

North Carolina-Duke, Caitlin Clark Drive Saturday Hoops Numbers for ESPN, Fox
ESPN drew 3.2 million viewers for the latest Duke-North Carolina matchup Getty Images North Carolina’s win over Duke on Saturday night saw viewers return for what is traditionally college hoops’ most-watched regular-season matchup.
^{sportsbusinessjournal.com}

After Dartmouth case, why stakes are higher in NLRB trial against USC, Pac-12, NCAA
As On3’s Eric Prisbell writes, “Here’s one reason why it is potentially more consequential than the Dartmouth case: The National Labor Relations Act applies to private institutions. But because the Pac-12 and NCAA are charged with being joint employers, the outcome could potentially open the door for athletes at public universities to be deemed employees of their conference or the NCAA.
^on3.com

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