Sport & Story Daily April 17, 2024

Stay Ahead of the Game

April 17, 2024

Good morning! WNBA Expansion Time

For Caitlin Clark and Other Rookies: Now a 29-Day Sprint to WNBA Debut
There are only 37 days between the women’s NCAA national championship game, which featured No. 1 pick Caitlin Clark (Indiana Fever) and No. 3 selection Kamilla Cardoso (Chicago Sky), and the start of the WNBA regular season, with an even shorter 29-day sprint from the draft to debut day.
^{Front Office Sports}

College Football ‘Super League’ Pitch Deck Details Breakaway Plan
Sportico recently obtained a “confidential” pitch deck that contains a number of previously unreported details, including a specific plan for sharing broadcast revenue with players, a 40-game spring football “festival,” and a preliminary look at how the Super League’s 70 permanent members might be arranged in seven geographically aligned leagues.
^Sportico

The NBA's New Participation Rule Has These 14 Stars Ineligible For End-of-Season Awards
The NBA now requires players to play in at least 65 games to be eligible for some of the league’s end-of-season awards for the first time in league history. If a player can’t meet that requirement, that player isn’t eligible to win prestigious awards. That includes MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, All-NBA teams, All-Defensive teams, and the Most Improved Player award.
^{USA Today}

ACC Senior Associate Commissioner for Football Visits On the Fly Podcast to Discuss the ACC Expansion
Michael Strickland, the ACC Senior Associate Commissioner for Football, joins On the Fly Podcast host Gene DeFilippo for a discussion on the complexities of scheduling to accommodate for the expansion of the ACC.  The conversation offers an in-depth look at the strategic considerations behind creating a balanced and equitable football schedule that mitigates travel concerns for teams, ensures competitive equity, and caters to the needs of teams, student-athletes, fans, and broadcast partners.

WNBA's Engelbert Talks Charter Flights, Expansion
There are more back-to-back sets this season, with the WNBA taking a long break for the Olympics in late July and early August. The league spent $4M on charters in 2023 and "will do the same this year." Engelbert also said she "hopes to have 16 teams in the league by 2028," up from the current 12.
^{Sports Business Journal}

Chevron Championship Increases Purse to $7.9M
The Chevron Championship, the first major of the year in women’s golf, is "growing its total purse" to $7.9M, up from $5.2M last year, in a deal that will keep the title sponsor in place through 2029, according to sources. The elevated purse at the Chevron "continues a trend of record payouts in the sport, particularly at the five major championships." This season’s majors are on track to award $45.4M, an increase of 97% since 2021 (WASHINGTON POST, 4/16).
^{Sports Business Journal}

Caitlin Clark Smashes Another TV Record as WNBA Draft Draws 2.45M
Per Sportico, Caitlin Clark’s impact on women’s basketball ratings has broken through to the next level. A record 2.45 million viewers tuned in to ESPN Monday night to watch as the Iowa star was selected No. 1 in the 2024 WNBA Draft by the Indiana Fever. Monday night’s telecast was up nearly five times versus the year-ago draft (512,000 viewers), during which the Fever selected South Carolina’s Aliyah Boston as the first pick.
^Sportico

Does Golf TV Have a Scottie Scheffler Problem?
Some are calling Scottie Scheffler “ratings poison.” As FOS’ Michael McCarthy reports, “CBS’ TV audience for Sunday’s final round plunged 20% to 9.589 million viewers from 12.058 million in 2023. It was Scheffler’s third win in his last four tournaments.”
^{Front Office Sports}

Engelbert Names Possible Cities for WNBA Expansion
The Dunk Central tweeted, “WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert has announced that the league is considering Philadelphia, Toronto, Denver, Nashville, and South Florida as potential cities for WNBA expansion, per @YahooSports.”
^{Yahoo Sports via Twitter}

JMU Eyes Eastern Kentucky’s Matt Roan For AD Opening
Yahoo! Sports’ Ross Dellenger tweeted, “JMU is targeting Eastern Kentucky AD Matt Roan to be its next athletic director, sources tell Yahoo! Sports. Roan, a Virginia native, was AD at Nicholls State before being hired at EKU in January 2020. He’s got a law degree from Kentucky.”
^Twitter.com

Michigan Given Three-Year Probation, Recruiting Penalties by NCAA for Football Violations
Michigan and five current or former staff members of its football program have reached an agreement with the NCAA on recruiting violations and "coaching activities by noncoaching staff members that occurred within the football program, and the appropriate penalties for those violations." Michigan will be on probation for three years, face a fine and restrictions to recruiting, and the penalized coaches will have one-year show-cause orders.
^{Yahoo! Sports}

Mountain West Adds Washington State in Baseball and Women's Swimming
The Mountain West Conference announced today that Washington State University will become an affiliate member for baseball and women’s swimming for two years, beginning with the 2024-25 academic year. The Cougars will be eligible for postseason MW championships and awards in both sports and the league’s automatic NCAA bid in baseball.
^{The Mountain West}

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