SBJ Morning Buzzcast
SBJ Morning Buzzcast: June 27, 2024
Start your morning with Buzzcast with Austin Karp: Big executive news at the PGA of America and USOPC; NBC Olympic ad sales keep humming; Burke Magnus praises Stephen A. Smith and Pat McAfee; Excel Sports leads all agencies during the first round of the NBA Draft; and the Mighty Duck logo is back.
- Duration:
- 9m
- Broadcast on:
- 27 Jun 2024
- Audio Format:
- mp3
(upbeat music) Rise and shine. This is your morning buzz cast for Thursday, June 27th. I'm Austin Karp, back at it again. Some important news at the highest ranks of sports executives broke late Wednesday afternoon. Let's start with the PGA of America. CEO Seth Waugh announced he is leaving the organization after a six year run at the top. There was a huge uptick in golf participation during his run there, PGA membership also grew by a ton. The PGA of America built a new headquarters in Frisco, Texas. Waugh's contract was up for renewal this Sunday and he decided not to renew. But he's gonna stay on with the PGA of America and a senior advisory role. The organization said it has begun a search for a new CEO, including candidates from inside and outside the association. Back in 2018, the PGA used RSR partners to help Landwell, no word yet on what firm, if any, is gonna be used this go around. In his role, Waugh helped the PGA signed an 11 year TV deal with CBS and ESPN that started back in 2020. He was also there for the PGA championships move from August to May, which I think has given the major a little more importance on the golf calendar. But a key role in sports business is up for grabs. We're gonna be paying attention to which exec lands down in Frisco. The other piece of executive news on Wednesday afternoon was that the US OPC has locked up CEO Sarah Hershland for another five years. That takes her through the LA 28 games. Hershland has been CEO since August of 2018 when she came over from the USGA. She was an SBJ 40 under 40 honoree in 2008. Hershland has led the Olympic government body in this country through congressional inquiries, lawsuits and reforms following sexual abuse scandals at several NGBs. Hershland's now gonna be playing a big role in making sure those LA 28 Olympics are a huge success. She'll obviously be very visible in Paris next month. Beyond LA 28 in Paris, Hershland is gonna be instrumental for the 2034 winner games as well, which looked to be a lock for Salt Lake City when the IOC votes on those games on July 24th this year. It's a big run for the Olympic movement here in the US over the next decade as the movement looks to create a new generation of Olympic fans. And for now, Hershland is gonna be a big part of that at the helm of the US OPC. Let's stick with the Olympics for a minute. As my colleague, Molly Kayling reports, NBC Universal is still on pace to have its best Olympic ad sales yet. In April, executives said the company was on pace to break the $1.25 billion ad sales record it's set for the Tokyo games in 2021. And sales now continue to pace toward that goal. Dan Levenger, president of Olympic and Paralympic partnerships at NBC said that airlines, beverages, CPG in retail, the top four growth categories and pharmace also performing very well. NBCU will again enable some of its programic capabilities that were first deployed for the NFL on Peacock this past season. This means giving ad buyers the option to buy for digital ad inventory in real time using automated tech. So a great spot for NBC Olympic ad sales just one month out from Paris. If you haven't already checked out the interview that ESPN's Burke Magnus did with Richard Deitch, be sure to give that a listen. Magnus hit on a range of topics related to ESPN. He hit on Stephen A Smith's feature, calling Smith a bona fide superstar. Magnus was highly complimentary of Stephen A, who almost, almost let Bob Myers get a word in during first round draft coverage last night around the NBA especially when the Knicks were picking. There have been reports of an $18 million annual salary offer on the table for Stephen A. Magnus pointed out, Stephen A has really built up first take and is the star of that show. But more interesting to me came from Magnus's comments related to Pat McAfee. And the deal ESPN has with the outspoken talent. McAfee has put his foot in his mouth on a number of occasions so far during that ESPN deal, especially with recent comments about Kaitlyn Clark. But I gotta give credit to Magnus for saying McAfee doesn't have a free pass forever. He noted that he and ESPN chair Jimmy Pitaro talked to McAfee regularly. And it sounds like Pat isn't going anywhere. Magnus praised the former NFL punter's talent as a media personality, his appeal to younger demos, the range of guests he gets, and how he sets the conversation for a huge number of sports fans. So I'd expect McAfee to be on the set of college game day in the fall. Magnus, in the interview with Deitch, also hit on topics like the WNBA, JJ Redick, give that podcast a listen if you have a chance. I caught a good chunk of the NBA draft last night. And while it didn't have quite the buzz or star power of past years, there certainly was a lot of front office work being done. 12 picks were traded either before or during the draft. No big names at the top, like a Victor Webb and Yama last year to really bring in viewers to the draft. However, I'm not saying players like that or the players that were drafted aren't going to become bad big names. If anyone outside the box front office tells you that they knew Giannis was gonna be a star when he was drafted as a wirey kid from Greece, they're selling you something. SBJ is gonna have viewership figures for that first round later this afternoon. And we'll see where ABC, ESPN landed on that. And this was again the first time that the first round had the night to itself. But another element from last night that stood out to me was the global appeal of the NBA. France became the first country outside of the United States with three of the top 10 picks in the modern era. France had four in the first round overall. And none of these kids are even on the French national team yet that's gonna be playing in Paris next month. When you factor in talent like Victor Webb and Yama, the French are gonna be a force to be reckoned with for years to come on the international basketball stage and in the NBA ranks. You once again have to go back and give lots of credit to David Stern and the NBA for getting that dream team over to the Barcelona Olympics in '92. It has really opened up a whole new world for basketball, really great to see. Excel Sports Management collected the most first round picks last night in the NBA draft with six that was followed by WME Sports with five, Wasserman with four and CAA Sports with three. That's according to SBJ's dynamic duo of Olivia Green and Travana Williams. Excel has now led the NBA draft first round or tied for the lead in three of the last five drafts. Last year, that was WME. The new stack groups, Doug Neustad, reps the number one overall pick. France's Zachary Riesashe while WME Sports amassed the most top five and top 10 picks with the number two, number five and number 10 picks. Bill Duffy led all agents for the second year in a row, either repping or co-representing all five of WME Sports picks that was at number two, five, 10, 13 and 23. One player that didn't get drafted yet, as expected, was Bronnie James. I think that may actually help the audience a little bit for today's round two. That's gonna be four PM ESPN. Let's steal a page from PTI and get to our own big finish. Rams players are gonna be getting plenty of sleep at training camp this summer. SBJ's Terry left in reports that sleep number is gonna provide smart beds for players at camp at Loyola Miramount, long gone to the days of bunk beds and uncomfortable sleeping for players at training camp. naming rights at Old Trafford. Reports says Manchester United is considering such a move at the 114-year-old venue to help create new revenue streams. To me, this would be like slapping a name on Fenway or MSG or the Rose Bowl or Lambo. Never say never, but this always felt like one of those venues that wouldn't go down the naming rights path. The NHL and Fanatics on Wednesday unveiled the uniforms players will wear next season. The first under a 10-year deal between the league and the sports apparel company that was announced last year. As part of the rollout, the Ducks unveiled a team and uniform rebrand bringing back that mighty duck logo, one of my favorites in all the sports. The Ducks also will be the first NHL team to wear orange helmets during a game next season. That was three to four years of design work for the Ducks. I like it a lot, kudos to the team out there in Anaheim. NBC unveiled a new AI-powered feature for Paris Olympics coverage called Your Daily Olympic Recap on Peacock. The feature will offer Peacock subscribers personalized video playlists of Olympics coverage from the day narrated by a generator of AI recreation, a broadcaster, Al Michael's Voice. The narration scripts are generated by pulling from NBC sports clips and Michael's delivery was trained using his past appearances on NBC. I'll need to give this new tech a try before I pass any judgment, but color me intrigued for sure. Well, the coyotes look to be done in Arizona. Diamondback CEO Derek Hall said the MLB club is making progress on a lease extension to stay at Chase Field in downtown Phoenix. The current lease is set to expire in 2027, and the club has been engaged in discussions with local governments to secure funding for significant renovations to that ballpark. All said, the club does not necessarily definalize that sort of deal before it inks a lease extension. If the over-under tonight for viewership of the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden is around 30 million, I'm going slightly under that number. I think it's gonna be more than the 25 million for something like the Michigan Washington CFP National Championship, but less than around the 31.4 million that the NFL wildcard round averaged earlier this year. So that is your morning buzz cast for Thursday, June 27th. Abe Madcore is back on the call tomorrow to wrap up the week. I hope everyone has a fantastic day, make good choices out there, and I will speak to you all again soon. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)