Sport & Story Daily June 12, 2024

Stay Ahead of the Game

June 12, 2024

Good morning! Women’s Sports Are Evolving

NWSL Expansion Bid Update: Who’s In, Who’s Out
The field of potential suitors for the NWSL’s 16th franchise is coming into focus following last Friday’s preliminary bid deadline. The league is working with N.Y.-based Inner Circle Sports to award the franchise by the fourth quarter of 2024. The new team would join in 2026 alongside the previously awarded Boston franchise.
^{NBC Boston via Yahoo! Sports}

USA Basketball: It Would Be 'Irresponsible' to Put Caitlin Clark on Olympic Team for Marketing Reasons
“It would be irresponsible for us to talk about [Clark] in a way other than how she would impact the play of the team,” Selection committee chair Jen Rizzotti, who is also president of the Connecticut Sun and head coach of the US women's 3x3 team, said via the AP. “Because it wasn’t the purview of our committee to decide how many people would watch or how many people would root for the U.S. It was our purview to create the best team we could for Cheryl [Reeve, head coach].”
^{Yahoo! Sports}

CBS Exploring Sale of MaxPreps, Popular High School Sports Site
Per Sportico, the company has retained Inner Circle Sports to assist with the sale, said the people, who were granted anonymity because the details are private. The process is still in its early stages, and there is no guarantee a sale is made. CBS bought the website in 2007 for $43 million, according to an SEC filing.
^Sportico

TNT Sports Reaches 10-year Deal to Carry the French Open Beginning Next Year
AP News’ Joe Reedy reports: “Warner Bros. Discovery and the French Tennis Federation made official on Tuesday what had been revealed over the weekend — the French Open will air on TNT Sports in the United States beginning next year.

“The 10-year agreement will average $65 million per year, a jump from the $25-30 million a year the French Tennis Federation had received from NBC and Tennis Channel for the U.S. rights.”
^{AP News}

Caitlin Clark and Other Rookies Draw Near-Record Crowds, Record Ratings for 1st Month of WNBA Season
Per AP News via the WNBA, the first month of the WNBA season drew its highest attendance since the league’s second season in 1998 and the best television ratings in its history.

Across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, CBS, ION and NBA TV, WNBA games are averaging 1.32 million viewers, nearly tripling last season’s average of 462,000, the league said on Tuesday.
^{AP News}

Fox Sports Kicks Off 2026 FIFA World Cup Ad Sales Efforts
“As the sales cycle for the World Cup begins, we’ll be engaging with FIFA partners that are currently supporting the event,” Mike Petruzzi, senior vp, Fox Sports ad sales, said. “That process will kick off in a 70-day exclusive window, and from there we’ll begin to engage with other partners that have either supported the FIFA World Cup events with us in the past or other new partners that come to the table over the summer as FIFA continues to add to their roster of clients.”
_Sportico

ESPN Extension Could Set Up Shannon Sharpe As Stephen A. Smith’s Successor
On Monday’s edition of First Take, ESPN announced a multiyear contract extension that will keep the 55-year-old Sharpe on the top-rated weekday morning debate show, and extend his commentary to other programs to be announced later. 
^{Front Office Sports}

U.S. Open Puts Golf House Pinehurst on Full Display
As SBJ’s Josh Carpenter writes, “The USGA is already seeing the benefits of its new Golf House Pinehurst campus that fully opened just a month ago, with more than 8,500 visitors passing through the combined facility that houses the USGA Experience and World Golf Hall of Fame.”
^{Sports Business Journal}

Snubbed by Their First Choice, the Los Angeles Lakers Must Resume Their Head Coaching Search
AP News’ Greg Beacham writes, “Dan Hurley met with the Lakers last week and then rejected their very public courtship Monday. The coach probably emerged from his dalliance with the leverage to finish a lucrative new contract at UConn.

But what’s next for the Lakers, a franchise with 17 championships, a world-renowned brand, two of the sport’s top players and no head coach?

They must resume a search that has stretched well into its second month since Darvin Ham’s firing May 3 and has yet to produce a slam-dunk choice.
^{AP News}

⇢ Interestingly enough, the SBJ also reports that high-ranking Connecticut state officials were “working behind the scenes” to make sure that UConn men's basketball coach Dan Hurley would stay at the school. Read more here.

NCAA President Charlie Baker Sounds Off on Ongoing Process in House Settlement
“The people who created the settlement are basically the people who've been arguing with each other for over 10 years,” Baker told a select group of reporters on Monday when asked if he thinks there’s doubt the framework agreement will hold up through legal proceedings to finalize its structure over the coming months. “The judge that's overseeing the case has been the judge that’s been overseeing these cases for over 10 years. So if you think the players on the field matter, we’ve got most of them.”
^{Sports Business Journal}

Thanks for reading!

Sport & Story Daily is the sports 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.

Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here!

Feel free to read our Privacy Policy