SBJ Morning Buzzcast
SBJ Morning Buzzcast: July 10, 2024
(upbeat music) We are certainly thinking of our friends in Texas and the Houston area, suffering through the damage of Hurricane Barrow. I checked in with some over the last few days and certainly hoping the worst is behind all of them. And this is your morning buzz cast for Wednesday, July 10th. Good morning, I made Mad Corps. It is certainly the week of soccer around the world. MetLife Stadium site of the 26th World Cup Final saw more than 80,000 fans on Tuesday night for one of the COPA semi-finals. MetLife had an overwhelmingly pro Argentinian crowd as Argentina, beat Canada, and yes, Canada had a few sections of hardcore supporters there. Meanwhile, I live in Charlotte and I've seen families of fans from Columbia and Uruguay walk the streets of the city's downtown as a crowd of nearly 70,000 is expected Wednesday night tonight as those two square off at Bank of America Stadium. Remember, the COPA finals will be Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium. Meanwhile, a few sources were texting me from Munich where Spain beat France in front of more than 60,000 fans. And of course, Spain is chasing a record fourth Euro title. They will play either England or the Netherlands in the final on Sunday in Berlin. Bottom line, a very big week showing the global strength of the game of soccer. You know, I was sitting with a college official yesterday here in Charlotte and much of the conversation was about increasing revenue on campus. That's the focus of every college administrator out there as they need more and more money to pay the players with the new college model coming into existence. So do you need more proof? Well, how about Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark saying time and again during his remarks at Big 12 Media Day on Tuesday that the conference is looking for as many revenue streams as possible. And one of those potential revenue streams could come from putting commercial patches on the uniforms of officials at sporting events. That is not allowed at the NCAA as of now, but Brett Yormark expects that to change soon. That was just one specific way to increase revenue. He also referenced the conference selling naming rights. He referenced taking on private equity all without going into great detail, but he acknowledged private equity will be investing in college sports at some point. And so the Big 12 is exploring what that might look like. Yormark also noted that Big 12 is eyeing more events in Las Vegas. Remember their media days are in Las Vegas and the Big 12 has an interest in moving some of their bigger events more to the west coast of the United States. So again, Brett Yormark with some big visions for the Big 12. You know, let's stay with revenue growth on campus as Florida State is bringing on a new partner. They believe can help unlock new revenue as the school which has been in the news for so many things this year is set to announce a new 10 year multimedia rights deal with legends today on Wednesday. The deal was done by athletic director Michael Alford at Florida State and legends president of college Mike Bihan. So Mike Alford acknowledged that he was impressed with the vision and how legends successfully works with other properties to grow revenue. And legends has made significant gains in the college space recently. They have multimedia rights deals with Notre Dame, Miami, Georgia Tech, among others. And they also have a current deal with Florida State where they are helping the school on premium seating sales for the renovation of Campbell Stadium and they manage hospitality for FSU athletics. So they're really building on an existing relationship. And this new deal includes putting 10 to 12 staffers just in sponsorship sales and services. And that's nearly double what previously existed for Florida State. So like I said, Florida State is in the news quite a bit. We know they are locked in a lawsuit with the ACC stemming from a dispute over media revenue and disparities between other conferences. And they've also reportedly been talking about exploring private equity investment. So Florida State in the news, today they announce a new 10 year deal with legends. Florida State previously worked with Learfield as its multimedia rights partner. You know, a few days ago, I was referencing a report where John Henry said the Fenway Sports Group was likely to stop any further acquisitions or M&A because they had their hands full with the Red Sox, with Liverpool, with the Penguins, with Signature Sports Group and the PGA Tour with racing and real estate and other ventures. And most people I spoke with didn't really believe that. And here we are just a day or two later and the report emerges that Fenway Sports Group is in talks to buy the French League Club Bordeaux which would add of course to Fenway Sports Group's soccer portfolio that includes Liverpool. No deal is done. But Bordeaux is seen as one of French soccer's most popular clubs. They have struggled in years. And they've been relegated to the second league. But sources said that Fenway Sports Group is interested in potentially an affordable deal where they would not have to invest in a major turnaround, but be quickly able to return Bordeaux to one of the French League's top clubs. Again, the bottom line here, Fenway Sports Group will continue to build out its portfolio, one of the most impressive portfolios in global sports. An interesting and intriguing story in the business is the state of Nike. We don't talk about it a lot on the buzz cast, but it's worth talking about today. Nike's soft performance, both in the marketplace and on Wall Street, is getting a lot of attention for the wrong reasons. And it's something to certainly watch because it could impact the leadership in Beaverton. And Sarah Germano of the Financial Times, who has covered Nike for years, reports now that pockets of Wall Street are calling for a change in upper management. And much of that attention focuses on CEO John Donahoe, who has struggled to really get Nike moving in a positive direction. He came on with great hopes. I know people who have worked with him, and he was widely praised for his leadership and his style, and was seen as a new type of leader at Nike. But Donahoe just hasn't been able to get the brand going in the right direction. There have been two pretty significant reorganizations, and layoffs and product sales have suffered. And we're not seeing the consistent performance that we used to see from the brand. Many cite Donahoe's decision to break up departments around each sport. Nike used to be very focused on sport, Nike football. Nike baseball, Nike basketball. Now it works more horizontally across men's lines, women's lines, children's lines, and many believe that's hurt the company's efforts. There's also, let's face it, more competition. On, very popular, new balance, Hoka, all of those brands have taken market share. So we know the performance on Wall Street has been brutal. Shares are down more than 30% in Nike year today. Yes, more than 30% through the first six months, year to date on Wall Street. So how can Nike stabilize? And will that be done under current leadership is certainly a valid question. And here's a name to know at one of the biggest operators in sports. Jamal LaSane at Madison Square Garden Sports Company has been promoted. He was formerly executive vice president and general counsel. He now becomes chief operating officer. He will oversee the business. He has served as interim COO following the departure of Dave Hopkinson in April. We talked about when Hopkinson moved on, but LaSane will move into the role now on a permanent basis. He will oversee all business operations for the Knicks, the Rangers, for MSG. He joined MSG in 2008. He was from the legal side. He came from HBO. He was at Covington and Burling. He got his undergrad at Yale and his law degree at Harvard. So he has a history on the legal side. So a legal mind now running the business operations at MSG Sports. And this comes a few days after we talked about a new deal for MSG chair, Jim Dolan, who now has Jamal LaSane as MSG Sports's chief operating officer. And finally, mark your calendar July 24th. That's when the IOC will vote on whether to name Salt Lake City, the host of the 2034 Olympic Games Utah organizers are already planning to livestream the meeting in Paris to live watch parties in Utah very, very early in the morning on July 24th. It could be a day of great celebration. And so that is your morning buzz gas for Wednesday, July 10th. I'm Abe Madcore. Thanks for listening to the buzz gas. Stay healthy. Be good to each other. I'll speak to you tomorrow. [MUSIC PLAYING] (upbeat music) (upbeat music)