Unrivaled's Quest For Caitlin

Unrivaled’s Quest For Caitlin Clark; More WNBA Coach Firings

October 24, 2024

Good morning! Unrivaled goes in big for Caitlin Clark

Unrivaled Preparing ‘Lionel Messi–Like’ Offer for Caitlin Clark
FOS’ Michael McCarthy writes, “The new Unrivaled women’s basketball league is considering a sweeping ‘Lionel Messi–like’ offer to entice Caitlin Clark to play in the league’s inaugural season, sources tell Front Office Sports.

“The start-up league’s ‘full-court press’ to recruit Clark is similar to the push by Major League Soccer’s Inter Miami CF to woo Messi in 2023. The club knew that salary alone was not enough to land the global superstar. So Inter Miami constructed an unprecedented package that included a contract valued at $150 million, partial ownership, and other financial incentives.”
^{Front Office Sports}

Nashville Group Seeks to Land NWSL Expansion Team
Per The Tennessean, sports agent Lonnie Murray is leading efforts to bring a National Women's Soccer League team to Nashville as the managing partner of HerGame Nashville, which went public this week. The group is bidding for an expansion franchise, the league's 16th club.

From its newly launched website, HerGame wants to "transcend barriers and set new standards of excellence in women's soccer."
^{The Tennessean}

Yankees-Dodgers World Series is a Recipe for High Ticket Prices. How Much Does it Cost to Go?
The Athletic’s Rebecca Tauber reports: ‘As of Tuesday evening, the cheapest single tickets to Game 1 in Los Angeles and Game 3 in New York are going for around $1,100 to $1,300 on StubHub’s resale market. As of 10 a.m. ET on Tuesday, the average ticket price for this year’s World Series was $1,667 on the resale site.”
^{The Athletic}

F1 Upgrades American Express’s Official Partnership
American Express is upgrading its official F1 sponsorship, moving from a regional partner to an official partner of the global racing property. The new status will be announced this morning with terms undisclosed, but SBJ understands it represents a significant upsell for F1 and that AmEx’s deal now has assets that should take it well into the eight figures in annual rights fees to F1.
^{Sports Business Journal}

UFC Antitrust Lawsuit: Judge Approves $375 Million Settlement for Former Fighters
Yahoo Sports’ Jack Baer writes, “A 10-year legal battle appears to finally be over, as a judge approved a $375 million settlement between the UFC and its former athletes in the Le v. Zuffa lawsuit on Tuesday.

“The lawsuit in question was an antitrust case where the UFC was accused of using its position as MMA's top promotion to suppress fighter wages between 2010 and 2017. Had the UFC not settled, it would have faced a court date on Feb. 3, with a potential liability ranging in the billions.”
^{Yahoo! Sports}

Audience Analysis: ESPN Sees Gains in Austin For UGA-Texas, 'GameDay,' F1
Per the SBJ, the move of the SEC broadcast TV package to ABC continues to be a boon for ESPN, with Georgia-Texas on Saturday night serving as the latest example. That game delivered 13.2 million viewers on ABC, marking the best college football primetime game on any network since 2014 when Notre Dame-Florida State drew 13.3 million on ABC.
^{Sports Business Journal}

MLB Net to Debut ‘World Series GameDay’ Show
Per the SBJ, MLBN will debut MLB Tonight: World Series GameDay, presented by Evan Williams Bourbon, on Friday at 9 a.m. ET, before Yankees-Dodgers Game 1 at Dodger Stadium. Matt Vasgersian will host the show alongside network analysts Jake Peavy (Games 1-2), Sean Casey (Games 3-5), and Dan Plesac (Games 6-7) in a “casual two-person conversation” out of MLBN’s Studio G.
^{Sports Business Journal}

Remezcla and The NFL Partner to Boost the League’s Hispanic Reach
ADWEEK’s Mark Stenberg reports: “The digital media firm Remezcla Media Group partnered with the National Football League Wednesday in a bid to help the league grow its Hispanic fan base and sponsorship offerings. The tie-up is the latest in a series of efforts from the NFL to expand its viewership by tapping into new markets and demographics, a particular point of emphasis as the league looks to grow the international appeal of football.”
^ADWEEK

Washington Mystics Part Ways With Coach Eric Thibault and GM Mike Thibault
The Washington Mystics are parting ways with coach Eric Thibault and general manager Mike Thibault.

As AP News’ Doug Fineburg reports, “Eric Thibault is the fifth WNBA coach to be let go this offseason, joining Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago and Los Angeles. He took over for his father after the 2022 season. He spent 10 years as an assistant coach with the Mystics, including four as associate head coach. The Mystics finished this season 14-26, just missing the playoffs. Washington started the year with 12 straight losses and dealt with injuries to Shakira Austin and Brittney Sykes.”
^{AP News}

Arkansas' John Calipari, Ohio State's Jake Diebler Among Coaches Set for Success in Year 1 at New School
CBS Sports’ David Cobb writes, “Of the 12 first-year coaches at the major conference level in the 2023-24 season, only two reached the NCAA Tournament in Year 1 on the job. One of them, Rodney Terry of Texas, had the benefit of spending much of the 2022-23 season in the interim chair before taking over on a full-time basis.

“The other was Grant McCasland of Texas Tech, who arrived from North Texas and quickly led the Red Raiders back to the Big Dance. But there were 10 others, including big-name coaches and coaches at brand-name programs, who didn't necessarily capture lightning in a bottle to begin their tenures.”
^{CBS Sports}

Intuit Dome Prepares For First NBA Game in Clippers’ Opener
The Clippers will host their first regular-season NBA game Wednesday at the Intuit Dome, whose “$2-billion-plus construction bill” was footed by Ballmer, according to Andrew Grief of the LOS ANGELES TIMES via SBJ. For 40 years, the Clippers “lived a fragmented existence,” with their business office downtown, a “short walk” from Crypto.com Arena, while their basketball staff worked and the team practiced 14 miles away, in Playa Vista. When it “came time to build their own arena, the owner ordered up outdoor plazas and community spaces on the arena’s 26-acre site in an attempt to recreate the feel of a campus, where fans can and want to visit even on days without games.”
^{Sports Business Journal}

NCAA’s Charlie Baker Says PE Has a Place in College Athletics, But Not a Seamless Fit
“It’s usually kind of a three- to five-year window that most people think about,” NCAA President Charlie Baker said. “Colleges make decisions on a much broader timeframe than that; they’re usually thinking, sometimes, 10 to 20 years. You have to figure out on your table or risks and resources how to make a private equity piece fit into a model that’s not used to being designed to deliver returns in three years or five years.”
^{Sports Business Journal}

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