Sport & Story Daily February 6, 2024

Stay Ahead of the Game

February 6, 2024

Good morning! The cost of Super Bowl LVIII tickets and suites has tongues wagging

The Most Talked About Thing For Super Bowl LVIII Actually Isn’t Taylor Swift—It’s the Ticket Price
As Joe Pompliano tweets, “This luxury suite [pic above] at Allegiant Stadium is currently listed at $2.5 million for the Super Bowl. • 20 tickets • 2 parking passes • Food & beverage included…that's $125,000 per person.”
^twitter.com

Super Bowl and AI—How the Tech is Shaping Brands’ Creative and Social Strategies
As Ad Age’s Asa Hiken writes, “While some of these platforms were available for Super Bowl 2023, the degree to which brands have adopted them in just the last year makes 2024 a more official coming-out party. The impact that AI can now have at nearly every stage in the development of an ad—from brainstorming to editing—speaks to its undeniable value for marketers. But the Super Bowl is still advertising’s biggest night, and brands are nowhere near ready to risk it all on a spot clumsily generated by ChatGPT. Ad Age’s own tests, while better than last year’s, weren’t exactly award-winning.”
^adage.com

Lionel Messi’s Global Tour With Inter Miami Has Been Very Messy and a PR Nightmare
“The marketing hype in promoting the event to global fans creates high expectations, coupled with government subsidy of the event,” John Grady, a sports law professor at the University of South Carolina, told The Associated Press. “This also raises the expectations that marquee players will appear as advertised.”

As AP News’ Stephen Wade points out, “Through five games, Inter Miami has been outscored 12-7 and won only once. And that was Sunday in Hong Kong, where a 4-1 victory over the local team was overshadowed by angry fans holding up signs demanding a refund and booing since neither Messi nor Suarez played — both out injured and aging.
^apnews.com

The NBA Unveiled a Jaw-Dropping LED Court for All-Star Weekend and the Future is Here
USA Today’s Brian Kalbrosky reports: “Although the NBA All-Star Game will be held at Gainbridge Fieldhouse (the home of the Pacers and the Fever) and will not feature the LED court, the rest of the weekend festivities will be at the NFL stadium where the Colts play.

That means the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game, the Skills Challenge, the 3-Point Contest, and the Slam Dunk Contest will all take place on an amazing LED court.”
^{ftw.usatoday.com}

Billionaire Chip Wilson Makes Outsized $324M Amer Sports Buy
As Sportico’s Brendan Coffey writes, “Chip Wilson doubled down on his investment in Amer Sports, buying $324 million worth of shares at the company’s IPO, according to the final prospectus filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission Friday.

Wilson, best known for founding Lululemon Athletica, bought 24.9 million shares of Amer Sports at its IPO price of $13 a share. The billionaire had previously indicated he would buy up to $220 million worth during the offering, meaning he upped his bet by 50%, taking advantage of a perceived bargain as Amer’s IPO fell short of expectations. The executive already owned 79.1 million shares of Amer ahead of the IPO.”
^sportico.com

Kurt Warner is Preparing for the Super Bowl on Westwood One
“It’s the pinnacle of what we do,” Kurt Warner, whose 12 years in the NFL earned him an induction into the Pro Hall of Fame, said. “Just like playing, you want to be in the game; you want to play in that game because it separates you [and] it’s historical. This is going down in history. No matter how it plays out, it’s going down in history.”
^{barrettsportsmedia.com}

The NFL Long Had Shunned Las Vegas. Now the City Will Host the League’s Biggest Game
“The relationship developed very quickly,” said Jay Kornegay, vice president of race and sports operations at Westgate Las Vegas. “To us, it felt like it was a 180-degree turn. For decades, it was a precarious type of relationship. We talked to each other a number of times over the decades, but it was very clear their stance on sports gambling, and we certainly respected that.”
^apnews.com

Super Bowl Opening Night Extravaganza in Las Vegas Could Be the Wildest One Yet
“It’s exciting. It’s all exciting stuff,” Kansas City’s star tight end Travis Kelce said. “It builds and sets the tone for the whole week. It’s the biggest stage in the world. Monday night is going to be where it starts for everybody. At this point, I just love it, it’s an exciting time. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime type of thing that I’ve been able to enjoy a few times.”
^apnews.com

Welcome to this year’s ranking of the top 100 prospects in baseball. I’ve been compiling and writing such rankings for 17 years now, and those of you who’ve read them before will find the format here similar to those from the recent past. My farm reports covering at least 20 prospects in each team’s system, and notes on prospects who might appear in the majors this year, or who might be breakout prospects for the 2025 rankings, will appear starting the week of Feb. 12.

Top 100 MLB Prospects 2024: Keith Law’s Rankings, with Jackson Holliday at No. 1
As The Athletic’s Keith Law writes, “This year’s list has more players from the most recent draft than any top-100 I’ve ever done (I think), with 20 percent of the list — that’s 20 players, if you’re struggling to do the math here — on this list being 2023 draftees. That’s a combination of what might be the best draft class of my career since I left the Blue Jays and a high degree of turnover from the 2023 top-100 list.”
^{theathletic.com}

Despite Phoenix Progress, Salt Lake City Looms in Coyotes’ Arena Efforts
The Arizona Coyotes’ long-planned effort to build a new arena and mixed-use development has taken another step forward. But that hasn’t stopped the rumor mill from discussing the idea that a move to Salt Lake City might be the preferable outcome. 

As FOS writer Eric Fisher reports, “The NHL team has filed an application to buy about 200 acres of state trust land in north Phoenix, advancing on recent interest in that area and signaling that the location could be the project’s new home after voters in Tempe, Ariz., rejected building there. The Coyotes confirmed the application, but said other sites remain in consideration, and the team signed a letter of intent last August on a separate parcel in Mesa.”
^{frontofficespors.com}

Analysis: Year 25 for Andy Reid Might be the Best Coaching Job Yet for the 2-time Super Bowl Champ
“Coach Reid just challenging every single person in this building to up the ante just one more step and just keep taking it up a notch every week from here on out,” Travis Kelce said. He “does a great job of re-channeling that mindset every single week and presenting a challenge against the defense or the offense or just the team we’re going against in the near future. This week, no better time to challenge everybody in that building. He’s got everyone fired up.”
^apnews.com

Optimism Is Growing for Labor Judge to Rule College Athletes Are Employees
On Friday, the second session in a months-long labor trial over college athlete employment status concluded at a National Labor Relations Board regional office in Los Angeles. 

“I feel like we’re in an extremely strong position,” Ramogi Huma, the executive director of the organization arguing on behalf of athletes, tells Front Office Sports. “I think we’re going to win.”
^{frontofficesports.com}

National Labor Relations Board Deems Dartmouth Basketball Players Employees
Today, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Regional Director in Region 1 (Boston) issued a Decision and Direction of Election ordering a union election for men’s varsity basketball team players at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH, to vote on representation by SEIU Local 560.

As Steve Berkowitz reports on Twitter, “The Regional Director concluded, “Because Dartmouth has the right to control the work performed by the Dartmouth men’s basketball team, and the players perform that work in exchange for compensation, I find that the petitioned-for basketball players are employees within the meaning of the [National Labor Relations] Act.”
^twitter.com

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