SBJ Morning Buzzcast
SBJ Morning Buzzcast: July 19, 2024
(upbeat music) The countdown to the Paris Olympics, one week from today, opening ceremony next Friday evening, and we will have a lot of news on the morning buzz gas, because we will have SBJ's Rachel Axon on the ground in Paris. And this is your morning buzz gas. For Friday, July 19th, I made Matt Corps a very big day yesterday for the Tampa Bay Rays, a very big day. The St. Petersburg City Council approved the Rays 1.3 billion ballpark and mixed-use development project. And this vote ends the team's long-running efforts to replace Tropicana Field. It should secure the team's future in this market, because this team's new ballpark will be built on the Tropicana Field site. It will be part of a huge mixed-use development totaling over 86 acres. Everything should be open around 2028, but yesterday was a seismic vote for the team and the region. The Rays are contributing close to $700 million to the project with the city of St. Petersburg, more than 400 million, and the county more than 300 million. So the Rays are responsible for all cost overruns on the ballpark. They'll deal with insurance and maintenance and repairs to the stadium. Yes, they will keep all revenue from tickets and concessions and naming rights, of course, but this secures as it should their future in this market. Now, the covered ballpark will be one of the smallest in baseball with about 30,000 capacity when it opens. But again, this is a team that's future has been uncertain. There's been talk about taking the Rays to Montreal, to Nashville, to other markets, but now it will be in St. Petersburg and part of a huge mixed-use village. And again, the stadium still needs to be approved by the County Board of Commission, and that should take place later this month. And this is part of this building boom we keep talking about on the buzzcast. Think of all the new facilities out there or the renovations that are taking place between Buffalo, Tennessee, Jacksonville, Carolina. We're talking about Las Vegas and the A's going there. And now we have St. Petersburg building a huge 1.3 billion mixed-use development and ballpark for the Rays, and they'll set to move in in 2028. And this certainly solidifies baseball's map if they can keep the Rays in St. Petersburg. And if the A's do get to Vegas, Rob Manfred knows his markets and can plan expansion likely after the next round of CBA talks. Let's stay with baseball 'cause MLB continues to build off the popularity of Shohei Otani. Has baseball will open its season next year, next March in Japan at the Tokyo Dome. The Dodgers will play the Cubs in a two-game regular season series, and this is the first time Otani will play big league games in his home country since coming to MLB in 2018. This is going to be a big, big event for baseball and Otani. And I've been with people who utterly rave about the profile, Shohei Otani has in Japan and in Asia. He will be bigger than a rock star. This will be a big revenue and interest driver for Major League Baseball. And the games in March will be the sixth time that baseball has staged regular season games in Japan, and it will actually mark the 25th anniversary of baseball's first game in Japan in 2000. That's when the Cubs and the Mets met at the Tokyo Dome. So next March, baseball season opens at the Tokyo Dome Dodgers Cubs. Let's move on from baseball. Jason Wright will leave the Washington commanders after the season. Now he was president of the commanders. He will continue to serve as senior advisor until his departure, and there will be a search for a new president of the commanders. And of course, that will be led by Josh Harris, who is the owner, also Tad Brown, who is CEO of Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment. And this job, president of the commanders, will be highly sought after. It's a very high profile position for a legendary team in a marquee market. Now Jason Wright was hired in August of 2020 by former owner, Dan Snyder. And he was the first black NFL team president in history. And Jason Wright was hired to bring stability to a very difficult situation. And he was asked to direct the franchise during the eventual ownership transition. Now he came in when the team's reputation was at an all time low. And he was charged with lifting morale, lifting the team's season ticket base, being the face of the team to the corporate community and the DC market. And during this time, he also helped lead the name change for the organization. So Jason Wright, bottom line, had a very difficult job. But he always carried it out with class and composure. And I'm pretty sure he will land a high profile role in sports business in little time. There has been a lot of discussion about Jason Wright's long-term future with the commanders for quite a while. It was known that his contract was set to expire this summer. He had previously interviewed to be CEO and president of the Green Bay Packers, but did not get that job. But again, Jason Wright will be heard from here shortly in sports business and the commander's opening will be one of the hottest openings in all of sports business. Let's move on to the big weekend for the W as it holds its all-star game weekend in Phoenix. And as we look back at the first half of the league, it has to be considered one of the most successful few months in the history of the WNBA. Let's look at attendance. Overall, the W's average attendance so far this season is more than 9,600 fans per game. That is 56% up over the full 2,023 season average, 46% up. That's impressive. The league also has 93 sellouts just so far this season. That's more than triple compared to the same point last year. Who's driving this number? Yes, the Indiana fever and Caitlin Clark. They are averaging nearly 17,000 fans per game. That's up more than 300% for the team over last year. The fever's road game average on the road, the fever are averaging 15,000 fans per game. So you see the draw that Caitlin Clark is. So while the league is averaging north of 9,600 fans per game for non-fever games, for games without Caitlin Clark and the fever playing, the average is 8,200, still a very healthy clip over last year's average attendance of 6,600 fans per game. Every WNBA team is seeing double digit increase in average attendance so far this year. And so the bottom line, very healthy and positive numbers for the W so far this season. There should be great energy as the league celebrates its all-star weekend in Phoenix. And speaking of Phoenix, we know one of the biggest initiatives around the growth of women's sports is around facilities and developing new facilities specifically for women's teams and leagues. So we have one more when it comes to that. As the Phoenix Mercury opened up, it's $100 million practice facility and headquarters for the Mercury on Thursday. And that was part of the team's celebration before all-star weekend. This facility is the real deal. Two full-size basketball courts. There's strength in cardio training areas. There's indoor and outdoor training spaces, team meeting rooms, offices, saunas, dining rooms, kitchens, so many amenities. This is done by Matt Ispia and his player 15 group. And so they are trying to really invest in the Mercury. And this is a strong statement of that investment. 'Cause when we look at facilities for women's sports, the Kansas City Current, the Las Vegas Aces, the Seattle Storm, and the Utah Royals have all built and opened training facilities focused on their women's pro teams during the last year. And now you can add the Phoenix Mercury with a $100 million practice facility now open in Phoenix. And finally, we all know the tradition of the Little League World Series at Williamsport. We know what that has done for baseball. We know the custom and annual tradition of the Little League World Series. Well, now the NFL wants to start its own tradition around flag football. And you will see it this weekend on ESPN, starting today, Friday, nearly 3,000 young kids and teenagers will be in Canton, Ohio for the NFL Flag Championships. And these games will be on ESPN and other platforms. The finals on Sunday will be seen on ABC as well. This is not a new property. NFL Flag has run national championship tournaments generally as a lead up to the Pro Bowl, but now they are giving it its own weekend in Canton. They're putting major promotional energy behind it. They want to build this event in July around its own weekend to give it more attention. And of course, the NFL sees flag football as critical to building younger fans and a more diverse fan base. And remember, flag football also becomes an Olympic sport in 2028. So the NFL's big push around flag football continues this week in Canton. So look for coverage on ESPN and ABC on Sunday because the NFL Flag Championship, trust me, you're only going to hear more and more about this initiative in the future. I will be an SBJ's thought leader retreat and our thought leader tech retreat all next week in San Diego. My colleagues will bring you the morning buzzcast. I'll bring you a special buzzcast later in the week from San Diego and give you a recap of our off the record retreat where we'll talk about some of the major issues impacting sports business. And so that is your morning buzzcast for Friday, July 19th, I made Mancore. Stay healthy, be good to each other. I'll speak to you down the road. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)