NCAA settles: Big payday for college athletes

From Warner Bros. Discovery's (WBD) corporate shake-up to the high-stakes US Open Golf Championship and even actor Ryan Reynolds' continued big bets on global sports, the financial plays shaping the sports business are ones to watch.
This week on Yahoo Finance Sports Report, host Joe Pompliano takes a look at some of this week's biggest headlines in the sports business world that you and your portfolio need to know.
Plus, Sportico Legal Analyst and Senior Sports Legal Reporter Michael McCann stops by the show to break down everything you need to know about the House vs. NCAA settlement.
Yahoo Finance Sports Report with Joe Pompliano, a vodcast brought to you by Yahoo Finance and Yahoo Sports, looks beyond the latest sports business headlines and analyzes all the need-to-know news—the teams, trades, and billion-dollar deals—so you and your portfolio will win BIG.
Yahoo Finance Sports Report is developed and produced by Lauren Pokedoff.
Welcome to Yahoo Finance Sports Report, a unique look at the business of sports brought to you by Yahoo Finance and Yahoo Sports. I'm your host, Joe Pompeiano, and I'm here to coach you through the financial game. Today, we've got Sportico legal analyst and senior sports legal reporter Michael McCann joining us to break down the House NCAA settlement and so much more. Let's huddle up and get right into it.We are kicking off this week with Pop's Playbook. Why take a look at some of the biggest headlines in sports that you and your portfolio need to know. First up, Warner Brothers Discovery announced earlier this week that it will split into two separate public companies by 2026. 1 company will be a streaming and studios business that will house WBD's film and TV properties and its streaming service HBO Max, and the other company.will be a global networks brand that will include TNT Sports, Bleacher Report, and multiple other networks. Now, this book will impact the distribution of WBD sports rights in the US as TNT Sports major events are often available to stream on HBO Max. In a call with Wall Street analysts on Monday, WBD CFO said, quote, The US sports rights will reside at global networks, and itManagement team will determine the streaming and digital rights over time, end quote. But WWE's statement still leaves a few questions. Will TNT sports events continue streaming on HBO Max once WBD splits, or will the new global networks company look to sell the streaming rights for TNT sports events to a different partner? We'll see how the details shake out when WBD completes its split next year.Next up, the 125th US Open takes place this weekend at Oakmont Country Club outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and will have significant economic implications. Founded in 1903, Oakmont Country Club is one of the most historic venues in golf and will host the US Open for a record 10.This weekend. However, Oakmont is also one of the most exclusive clubs in the country, with a reported $200,000 initiation fee and $10,000 annual dues for its members. Big money will also be on the line for the 156 golfers competing at this year's US Open. The prize pool for the 2024 US Open at Pinehurst number 2 was worth $21.5 million with champion Bryson DeShambe earning $4.3 million for his second major win.And the event will be a major economic driver for the Pittsburgh area. 200,000 people are expected to attend the US Open at Oakmont, and the United States Golf Association estimates that the event will have a $200 million economic impact on the local economy through direct and indirect spending. To finish out, Wrexham AFC, the Welsh soccer club owned by actors Rob McElaney and Ryan Reynolds, is looking to sell a minority stake in the team at a $475 million.valuation, according to Bloomberg. Wrexham, which was recently promoted to the EFL championship, is reportedly seeking to raise funds so it can upgrade its roster and be a real competitor in its new league, which sits just one tier below the top flight English Premier League. Bloomberg also noted that Wrexham seeks additional capital to fund the construction of a new 7000 seat stand, which will increase the capacity of its home stadium to over 18,000 seats.Now, talks to sell a minority stake in the club are reportedly still in the early stages, and Wrexham hasn't yet found a new investor. But if the club can sell a stake at a $475 million valuation, the sale would represent a 19,000% increase in value from the $2.5 million that McElaney and Reynolds paid for Wrexham in 2021. I'll also have an update on another sports investment from Ryan Reynolds here in a few moments.This week for the deeper dive, where I give you a play by play analysis of news in the sports world and its significance to your bottom line, we're talking about the rise of Sail GP. Now, last weekend I was in New York City watching 12 50-foot catamarans race each other in front of the Statue of Liberty for Sail GP, the fastest growing sports league you've never heard of. Sail GP was founded by billionaire Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, and America's.Cup legend Sir Russell Coots in 2018 to bring sailing out of the yacht club and into the mainstream. And even though the league is in just its fifth season, Sail GP has already built a thriving business model. Now think of Sail GP as the Formula One of sailing. There are 12 nation-based teams that compete in 13 Grand Prix events around the world, featuring several 15 minute sprint style races each weekend. TheseTeams compete for millions of dollars in prize money, with the season-long champion taking home a $2 million prize alone. However, unlike Formula One, where teams with the most resources regularly win races by building the fastest courses, every sail GB team uses the same 50-foot catamaran. These sailboats reach top speeds of 60 MPH and are powered by 78-foot wing sails, turning each race into an even competition.Sal GP is also one of the most innovative TV products in sports, with augmented reality overlays that track the speed and distance of each boat, and drones and chase boats supplying incredible footage with 4K stabilized cameras. The league is broadcast in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, has a broadcast agreement with CBS Sports in the US, and drew 1.78 million viewers for last year's race in Spain on CBS. Now, while Sal GP's TV and in-person products are outstanding, its business.It is even more fascinating. In just 7 years, CellGB has expanded from 6 teams completely owned by the league to 12 teams and has gone from 5 races to 13 races today. 10 of the league's 12 teams are now privately owned, with teams selling for $50 million or more to investor groups that include celebrity owners like soccer superstar Kean Mbappe, actress Anne Hathaway, and entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk. And just last week, actors Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds became co-owners of the Australian LGB team.Additionally, Sale GP is expected to generate more than $100 million in revenue for 2025 through a diverse set of revenue streams. The league commands six-figure host fees from cities to host Sale GP events, with Auckland, New Zealand paying over $1 million to host the Grand Prix in January of this past year. And Sale GP.Receives millions each year from sponsors, including high-end luxury brands like Rolex, Emirates, and Accora Hotels. Now, Sale GP still has a long way to go if it wants to match Formula One's global appeal and commercial success, but don't count them out and keep an eye on their growth in the coming years because this once niche sport might just be the next big thing.We've made it to the one on one, a conversation where I get to break down news and sports with the key player in the industry. This week, we're talking to Sportico's senior sports legal reporter, Michael McCann, about the recent NCAA versus House settlement, which will pave the way for universities and colleges to directly pay their student athletes starting this year. Michael, thank you so much for joining the show today. I want to start right there. I mean, there's plenty that we could talk about with the settlement, but if you could just do a quick explainer for people who may not know exactly what happened.
Yeah, so last Friday, Judge Wilkin, the judge in the case, approved the settlement. The settlement is a game changer. It will have a couple big pieces to it. One is that athletes who played over the last eight years, Division One athletes will be paid over 10 years, about $2.8 billion. Now, most of that money is gonna go to football, it's not equally distributed, but it basically compensates athletes for NIL deals they could have gotten money for broadcast, video games that were never published.So there's a remedy portion to the settlement in terms of damages. That's not as controversial as the other piece. The other piece that's really gonna change college sports noticeably will be the injunctive relief, and specifically,Colleges going forward can opt into a system where they can share revenue with athletes. This is totally new, right? All the years of amateurism, that's gone. Colleges and those in the power conferences will do it, others probably will not, but they can pay players a share of revenue up to what amounts to $20.5 million total. Now, schools that give most of that money to men could run afoul of Title IX, wouldn't surprise me to see.Title IX litigation. The other piece to this is that there are no more limits on scholarships, so every athlete could conceivably get a full ride, which is great for the athletes, and there are now a roster limits, so the roster sizes in some cases will be a little bit smaller. College football teams are traditionally about 120, now they're going to be 105, so some walk on athletes are gonna lose the spot that they would have had.The other piece is NIL review. So deals that are in excess of $600 will be subject to neutral review. NILO will be a new service that will basically try to figure out if the deals are in fact reflecting fair market value. If not, the athlete can dispute that in arbitration.So there's a lot going on. If you're a college athlete, here's the thing, you now can get NIL deals plus a full ride plus a share of revenue. So, so for this is why we're seeing athletes now sue to stay in school, right? Traditionally people want to leave school and go to turn pro. Now people want to stick around.
Yeah, so Michael, my first question off of that, and I have plenty, is how do collectives fit into this, right? Because I think people over the last number of years have heard a lot about collectives, and the traditional college football fan especially probably views collectives as this organization that is essentially funneling money from boosters to athletes to.For their school. Now some of these collectives are a little bit more legitimate where they're actually sourcing and sort of acting as an agency, but now that the school can pay you directly and those collective kind of like boosters deals are taken out of it because they have to be legitimate NIL deals, where does that leave the collective industry today?
Yeah, you hit it, Joe. So the work that collectives were doing is now essentially shifting to the schools and athletic departments. Some of these collectives will be folded into athletic departments. Some of the people might be brought into the athletic departments, we'll we'll have to see on that. So the collectives now, as you say, could still do NIL deals, but they'll be subject to this review process. They can't be paid for play, so that's gone.Uh, now what they could do is marketing, they could do, uh, perhaps brand development. I mean, there are a lot of folks with in collectives that are really talented at business dealings, they may be able to provide some assistance, but their role will probably shrink being honest about it. Now, there may be some collectives that still do what you said, that they still try to funnel money in, and, you know, this will, this will be a good test of how the enforcement process works.Because we could certainly see a scenario where NIL collectors, even if they're not operating as a collective, they're just operating more in the traditional what we grew up with sort of money going to athletes uh under the table. I, I don't know if that's gonna happen, but we'll have to see.
So how are schools actually gonna be paying this money, right? Where is it gonna be coming from? Because if you think about the big conferences, the SEC, Big 10, whatever, ACC, those schools can afford it based on the money that they're getting from the conferences every year from media rights, but there's a bunch of smaller conferences sort of on the longer tail, that maybe can't afford $20.5 million especially just for a football team. How are schools thinking about funding this and how many schools do you think will actually reach that limit?
Yeah, I, I think many will opt in but not go to 20.5 million, and Joe, you're hitting at a real set of problems for colleges right now, cause it's not just this, it's not just coming up with 20.5 million or whatever fraction of that. It's also the fact thatThe population pool is going down for colleges over the next several years, there's the enrollment cliff hitting universities where there will be fewer US aged kids that will be applying to college, so there's going to be more competition for students, meaning more uh scholarships and other ways of trying to entice students to go. And then there's the fact that grants are being cut off, right? We know the federal government uh disposition is now to be more scrutinizing of grants or just cutting them off.Uh, also, if it's a more difficult entry point for international students who tend to be full tuition payers, they're having more difficulty now under the current administration. So there's a lot of pressure points hitting schools. What are they gonna do to come up with this money? They're gonna, I, I, you know, we'll see what it would be raising student activity fees. I know that's unpopular, but colleges sometimes do that as a way of making money. They may have to,
what does that exactly mean? What, what, what do you mean by student activity fee?
It means if you and I are classmates at a college and we're paying $38,000 now we get a fee tacked on that used to be $600 and is now $1200 and our parents complained to us saying, why are we spending all this money, you better be studying, right? So it's that fee, it's that, it's that fee that goes on the student, that's one possibility and restructuring.I mean, this is gonna happen regardless of 20.5 million. We're gonna see with lower enrollment, colleges, I think, go into serious restructuring where they need to maybe cut some departments, maybe even cut schools. I, we don't want to see that happen, but there there are certain realities kicking in.
Yeah, it's sort of a difficult situation because if you look at the schools that are successful, like really successful in football, even schools that just have a lot of attention around them, like in Colorado or in Alabama, of course, or schools like that, the football program, uh, drives a lot of money for the school from enrollment and all that kind of thing, especially with out of state students that are charged more money. All right, everyone, we've got to take a quick break, but we'll be back with more of my conversation with Michael McCann after this.Welcome back to Yahoo Finance Sports Report. I'm your host Joe Pompriano. I'm here with Sportico legal analysts and senior sports legal reporter, Michael McCann. I'm curious how you think about new revenue opportunities, right? Like, uh, I think it was last year, or maybe even 2 years ago at this point, we saw Tennessee implement the, uh, the tax on tickets, basically saying that this money was going to be used to fund NIL activities.And a lot of the fans actually seemed quite OK with it, right? Like if you're paying a tax, at least you know what it's going for. A lot of them are probably donating to NIL collectives anyways, at least in a smaller amount. So a 5% tax or whatever it ends up being on the ticket, uh, wasn't a deal breaker for them. But I'm curious if you think we'll see either more schools implement that or any other ideas that you've heard that they might be be implementing as well.
Yeah, I mean, you're right, the tax was surprisingly not, I didn't receive a hostile reaction, at least from what we could tell. I, I do worry that that that model may be unpopular, or if we see it play out at other schools, the idea of paying a tax, I could see some objections to now, maybe it doesn't matter, maybe the sports are so popular thatThey can just raise fees. Uh, you know, other ideas, I think better media rights deals is part of it, right? How, how is college sports being monetized in terms of not just TV but streaming? Are there avenues left unturned? Are there opportunities for really better negotiations and, you know, we're seeing now general managers hired by schools. Part of that, part of their job is gonna be coming up with ways of expanding the revenue pool.So we're gonna see some business folks brought in, uh, as you know, athletic departments have traditionally been run by, uh, you know, people like me, lawyers or compliance folks, and now I think we're seeing some more business people brought in that may have creative ideas, particularly with licensing, particularly with with monetizing intellectual property rights, there's all sorts of ways, stones that maybe there's low hanging fruit as well, but there are certainly stones that haven't been all turned.
Yeah, we may be getting the NFL model where there's select games on Netflix and Peacock for the SEC and other conferences like that. Um, but Michael, I would love to hear just your thoughts on how sustainable the $20.5 million dollar number is, right? Like, are we gonna go substantially higher than that, or do you think it'll stay sort of there for a while?
It's projected to grow gradually about 10 to $12 million over the next 10 years, and it's based on a formula. It's based on a formula that the settlement has. So, I mean it could grow, right? It could grow if revenues go way up. And if, and if it turns out that college sports is worth a lot more than it's generating, which some people believe, some people believe that that college sports should be.You know, if, if they had the, the insights of the NFL, they would be able to generate more revenue. Maybe that's true. But I think the expectation is that it will be a fairly slow growth of that figure, which is also interesting because think about it, that's 20.5 million for everyone in the athletic department, right? I mean, there are a lot of, a lot of athletes in that department. Does the quarterback say, I, I want 5 million andYou know, or does a school say, let's put all of our eggs in the best running back. Let's go all out for a running game. Or maybe a school says, we want, we want basketball to be our focus. We think we can put together a great team, forget the football team. We know we're not great at that. We're gonna put together the best basketball team, and we're gonna use that 20.5 million on that. There are all these really interesting permutations that it that it seems like pro sports, right? This sort of sounds like uh pro sports.
Yeah, it's sort of an interesting look at it because it's almost like Moneyball, right, where you're trying to find where you get the best return on your investment, whether that's specific players or whether that to your point with the basketball, uh, analogy there, whether that's an entirely different team where you're competing kind of as a bigger fish and smaller pond. It'll be really interesting to see and, and again, to your point, uh, it's part of the reason.Why a lot of these schools are hiring GMs and capologists and different things like that. But I, I would love to just double click on one thing you mentioned earlier in this conversation, which was some of the, uh, alternative sports teams, some of the Olympic sports, some of the non-revenue generating sports, and just get your feedback and insight on on how those uh teams might be uh impacted by the settlement.
Yeah, I mean may expect that they will be adversely impacted by the settlement, that the settlement will funnel more money towards the revenue generating sports. Now, let's remember, most colleges are not going to opt into the system. So in a lot of schools, the world's not changing. The Ivy League is not changing. They're keeping the same model. They're not paying players. So, you know, in a way at the top schools, it's possible that some sports, particularly the Olympic sports, particularly the sports that are played by men.Because Title 9 remains, remains an important law that will ensure that there are equal opportunities for women athletes. Uh, that, that may make it harder to say cut a women's team than, uh, depending upon which men's team we're talking about to bring a number of roster spots. So yeah, I mean, I, I, I think the expectation is that the money will, I mean, it's already mostly for certain sports, but I think that effect will be amplified.
Yeah, it's sort of an unfortunate situation because if you're looking at a team that, you know, spends $2 million a year on salaries and expenses and other things like that, that's $2 million that could go towards this for the football team that's bringing in a lot of academics and things like that from a monetary standpoint, it certainly makes sense. Um, the, the last thing I want to touch on there is just the NIL go portion, right? You mentioned earlier that deals that are legitimate NIL deals, the Doctor Peppers of the world and other businesses like that.Those have to go through and get approved by NILO. Where do you think the line is drawn on this? So like, first off, who's actually enforcing this? And then second off, like, where is that line gonna be drawn between what's legitimate and what isn't? Because as we know in college sports, there's, you know, car dealerships in the hometown that uh are sort of legitimate, but also sort of not legitimate.
Yeah, so Deloitte is the key player in this arrangement. They're gonna be running NILO with the College Sports Commission. They're gonna have authority. So what is, what is fair market value? Some would say fair market value is whatever the market will pay you, right? So if that car dealer wants to offer you, Joe, $2 million you're worth 2 million. I mean that that that's a not illegitimate argument.Now, that, that argument though is not one the NCAA would embrace. The NCAA would say, well, that money is really going to Joe because we want Joe to come to our school. He, his actual value in terms of his image, his likeness, uh, that's not nearly worth that much. What we're really paying him is because Joe's this great football player that we want in our school. So this new entity will look at data points. They'll look at, for instance, what other athletes in the same position.Would get an endorsement deal, and that car dealership, well, what have they paid in the past for endorsement deals? If they pay 10,000 bucks and they're on local TV and then suddenly they're offering you $2 million that that's gonna raise some questions about the legitimacy of that transaction. And the smart thing that they did with this settlement is they have arbitration.That that is, that cannot be stressed more.
Yeah, it sounds like we're gonna have a lot less legitimate NIL deals whether people aren't just gonna want to file them in time or whether they're gonna get denied, it could be either, but uh certainly seems like there will be less. But thank you so much for joining us today, Michael. I learned a lot and I'm sure everyone else did too.
Thanks, Gerald. Appreciate it.
The clock is winding down here, but we have just enough time for some final buzz. So let's talk about the trading card market for Oklahoma City Thunder superstar Shai Gillis Alexander.The NBA finals are in full swing, with Game 4 between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers taking place tomorrow night at Game Bridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. And while there has been plenty of action to discuss on the court, one player in the finals is dominating the collectibles market off the court. According to data shared at Yahoo by professional sports authenticator, Oklahoma City Thunder superstar Shai Gillis Alexander is the most.Player in this year's NBA Finals. Now, it's not necessarily a surprise that the 26-year-old guard is popular among collectors. The Thunder have a chance to win their first ever NBA championship after a historic 68 win season. And SGA won his first NBA MVP award last month with 71 out of 101st place votes. But SGA isn't just PSA's most collected NBA Finals player.year. He's the most collected player by a wide margin. PSA's top three most collected 2025 NBA Finals players include SGA at #1, his Thunder teammate Chet Holmgren at #2, and Pacers superstar guard Tyrese Halliburton at #3. However, PSA's data says that SGA has nearly doubled the cards graded than any other 2025 NBA Finals player this season.And what's even crazier is that SGA alone has 2 times the number of cards greater than the entire Indiana Pacers roster combined. Now, this NBA final series is far from over. If Tyrese Halbburn keeps making buzzer beaters and the Pacers pull off a championship upset, Halliburton could skyrocket his value among card collectors. But as of right now, there's a huge gap between SGA and every other NBA Finals player, and that gap could become even bigger if he adds an NBA championship to his resume this season.We're all out of time, so it's officially game over for this week. Thank you so much to Michael and for all of you for joining us. Please make sure to scan the QR code below to follow Yahoo Finance podcast for more videos and expert insights and catch us every Thursday wherever you get your podcasts. I'm your host, Joe Pompeliano. See you next time.
This content was not intended to be financial advice and should not be used as a substitute for professional financial services.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Yahoo

3 days ago

• Yahoo

Red Sox shake-up: Was Devers trade a smart business move?

From high-profile trades to high-stakes media rights, the dollars behind the games are moving fast. This week on Yahoo Finance Sports Report, host Joe Pompliano takes a look at some of this week's biggest headlines in the sports business world that you and your portfolio need to know. From the Red Sox Rafael Devers trade, to Netflix's Canelo Alvarez versus Terence Crawford superfight, to the WNBA's broadcast rights extension with Scripps, the financial plays shaping the sports business are ones to watch. Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin stops by the show to tease 2025 Fanatics Fest, which takes place from June 20-22 in New York City. Plus, F1 Arcade US President Jon Gardner joins Pompliano to talk about the world's first Formula One entertainment venue as well as the racing league's recent growth within the United States. Yahoo Finance Sports Report with Joe Pompliano, a vodcast brought to you by Yahoo Finance and Yahoo Sports, looks beyond the latest sports business headlines, analyzes all the need-to-know news - the teams, trades, and billion-dollar deals - so you and your portfolio will win BIG. Yahoo Finance Sports Report is developed and produced by Lauren Pokedoff. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data

Yahoo

3 days ago

• Yahoo

Red Sox shake-up: Was Devers trade a smart business move?

From high-profile trades to high-stakes media rights, the dollars behind the games are moving fast. This week on Yahoo Finance Sports Report, host Joe Pompliano takes a look at some of this week's biggest headlines in the sports business world that you and your portfolio need to know. From the Red Sox Rafael Devers trade, to Netflix's Canelo Alvarez versus Terence Crawford superfight, to the WNBA's broadcast rights extension with Scripps, the financial plays shaping the sports business are ones to watch. Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin stops by the show to tease 2025 Fanatics Fest, which takes place from June 20-22 in New York City. Plus, F1 Arcade US President Jon Gardner joins Pompliano to talk about the world's first Formula One entertainment venue as well as the racing league's recent growth within the United States. Yahoo Finance Sports Report with Joe Pompliano, a vodcast brought to you by Yahoo Finance and Yahoo Sports, looks beyond the latest sports business headlines, analyzes all the need-to-know news - the teams, trades, and billion-dollar deals - so you and your portfolio will win BIG. Welcome to Yahoo Finance Sports Report, a unique look at the business of sports brought to you by Yahoo Finance and Yahoo Sports. I'm your host, Joe Pompeiano, and I'm here to coach you through the financial game. Today we've got Fanatics CEO Michael Ruben joining the show to discuss Fanatics Fest and also F1RK Global president of development John Gardner to discuss all things F1RK, the world's first Formula One entertainment venue. Let's huddle up and get right into are kicking off this week with Pop's Playbook. Why take a look at some of the biggest headlines in sports that you and your portfolio need to know? First, in a shocking move earlier this week, the Boston Red Sox traded star DH Raphael Devers to the San Francisco Giants in exchange for pitchers Jordan Hicks and two prospects. The Giants will also pay the remaining $250 million on Denver's contract that runs through 2033. Now, there have been some tensions between Devers and the Red Sox after he was moved from third base to DH to accommodate free agent signing Alex Bregman earlier this Dever's trade to the Giants was still a surprise considering how valuable he has been to Boston's lineup this season, and the fact that the Red Sox signed him to a 10 year, $313.5 million contract in 2023. However, whether Boston fans and baseball pundits think trading endeavors was a bad idea or not, it's now on Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow, to put the $250 million that the team is saving from his contract to good up, Netflix struck a deal last week to stream the upcoming Canelo Alvarez versus Terence Crawford boxing Super Fight. The match, which will take place on September 13th in Las Vegas, will be available to over 300 million Netflix subscribers at no extra cost, a massive bargain for boxing spending $80 or more for a fight of this caliber. It was also confirmed that the fight will be promoted by UFC President Dana White, Turkeyala Shah of Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority, and the Saudi Arabian events company Sello as part of TKO Group Holding's new boxing while this is a huge fight for TKO's new boxing promotion, it's an even bigger gift for Netflix as it brings more premium live sporting events onto its platform, like the Jake Paul versus Mike Tyson fight and Christmas Day NFL games. But Canelo versus Crawford will easily be the biggest sporting event to stream on likely surpass the 108 million viewers that the Paul versus Tyson fight drew last November. Last up, the WNBA extended its broadcast deal with Scripps' I on network earlier this week. The WNI on Network have entered into a new multi-year agreement that will start with the 2026 will continue airing regular season WNBA games on Friday nights in the New Deal, and while contract terms weren't made public, the WNBA's previous deal with ION was worth $13 million per year. Now, the WNBA has done well for ION. The network's WNBA games averaged 670,000 viewers in 2024. That's a 133% increase from the 2023 season. And Ian's opening Friday night doubleheader in May saw.121% increase from the 2024 season with 612 average viewers. The extension with Ion also continues great momentum for the WNBA's future broadcast revenue. The WNBA signed an 11-year broadcast deal with ESPN, NBC, and Amazon Prime Video last year worth $200 million annually, and they could sign more broadcast deals to bring its total media package to nearly $3 billion through the year weekend, we're recording Yahoo Finance Sports Report live from Fanatics Fest at the Javits Center in New York City. To preview what that event will look like, I was able to sit down with Fanatics founder and CEO Michael Rubin last week. Here's what he had to say. You guys started this, uh,Uh, this last year, 70,000 people over 3 days, you're doing it again this year. Seems like it's gonna be bigger and better based on everything that I've seen. But let's start with like, why did you even decide to do this? I mean, there was nothing else like this in sports. It feels connected to your main business, but also a little bit different given its events. Just tell me through the the the idea and why you decided to do it. You know, I've been to so many music festivals. I've been to Coachella a bunch of times and always had an amazing time, and I'veBeen to South by Southwest. I've been to Comic-Con, and when we got in the trading card business, I went to something called the National, and I had two feelings when I went there. The first was like, it's pretty incredible. There's 150, card they're also passionate. They're the most incredible sports fans in the world. The second feeling I had was it kind of felt like it wasn't so different than like 30 or 40 years ago when I went to high school. It's like a lot of people set up like you in a flea market, just, you know, it, it just felt like sports fans deserve better. And so I went back to Comic-Con. I'm like this is pretty incredible. Why don't we have this for sports? And I kind of said to my where are these in the world? They said there are no it's just the trading cars, there's there's no sports festivals. I'm like, what do you mean? And so I then realized that we were the only company that had, you know, look, we pay next year I think we pay close to $2 billion out to sports properties, athletes, players, players associations, and so that really gave us the ability to, you know, bring people together in a way like no other company could. So for us, um, this is really about to give back to sports know, we, I think this year we'll probably have 150,000 people come if I had to guess. Um, we take the entire Ja, it's the biggest convention center in New York City. We do it over 3 it's, it's pretty surreal. So there's gonna be 300 athletes, celebrities, artists. I don't think there's another place that brings people together like this, and it's really just to get back to sports fans. If you go through the guest list, like, you just can't even start naming people because you'll leave out people that you should have included. The guest list is so incredible. I mean, when you think about Jay-Z, Travis Scott, Tom Brady, Victor Omiyama, James Harden, Kevin know, Kevin Hart, Derek Jeter, you know, Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, just ramble off stuff man, so, so many incredible people. So I think that the amount of athletes, celebrities, are coming this year, there's like 3 times the amount of last year, that's pretty insane. Fanatics games is, I think what's gonna be the most interesting. So I want to figure a way to make it super exciting for each athlete, artist, celebrity, and fan to go through each league activation. So we came up with a little game and of see how competitive my friends are. So we basically said we're gonna have 8 games. One is a throwing accuracy competition in football. The second is throwing accuracy in baseball. Third is, uh, how many pucks do you hit into a washer and dryer in hockey. 4th is um NBA shooting competition. Then you've got a WWE walkout, judged by uh WWE judges, UFC how hard can punch, golf closest to the team to sporting goods, and accuracy competition and kicking, kicking the soccer ball. And the way it works, you take your 6 best scores, you drop your worst 2, and then we're gonna have 50 athletes, celebrities, artist, biggest people in the world, try it, Travis Scott, Kevin Hart, you know, Tom Brady, Micah Parsons, uh, Kevin Durant, James Harden, you know, biggest athletes, celebrities artists in the world, 50 sports fans. Top prize, a million bucks in cash, cash from Fanatics prize is a $500,000 Ferrari. Third prize is a $250,000 rookie LeBron James tops 2003 rookie card. All the athletes, celebrities, artists, fans can do it in front of everybody, um, and so they rotate through, takes like less than an hour to do it. It's like a, you know, Olympic style competition. I can't wait to see wins that. My goal is that we own the internet and social media for like 5 days straight, the 3 days that this goes off and the 2 days after, and anything less than that, that I've been a complete failure. I love it. That's worth every penny. Michael, thank you so much for doing this. I can't wait to uh come experience it for myself. I hope everyone else has a chance to do it made it to the one on one, a conversation where I get to break down news and sports with the key player in the industry. This week we're talking to F1 Arcade global president of development, John Gardner. John, thank you so much for joining the show, and I'd love to start with just an overview of what F1 Arcade actually is. I mean, I know you guys have been building out new locations in the UK and certainly across the US, but for people that are listening that haven't been to one of these venues yet, what can they expect? Joe, they have me on, um, absolutely. F4 arcade is a completely new experience that people haven't haven't had before, so it's bringing the glitz and glamour of Formula paired with exceptional food and beverage, uh, with that, that all pairs together to come to create an experience as I said, that you not had before. So it's taking the thrill and adrenaline of simulator racing, that's meant for 7 years old all the way up to expert sim then pairing that with beautiful design, um, music, DJs on Friday nights with an amazing champagne cocktail bar and again some exceptional food uh paired with us, all those things come together to create an experience you've not had before. How do you think about how F1 arcade fits into the sport more broadly, right? If you think about Formula One, obviously you have the races, those are the premium events, they're broadcast on TV, tons of people attend, you have merchandise businesses, licensing, all of that kind of stuff, like, what experience does F1 arcade add to the overall sport? Yeah, I think again, F1 in terms of sport, there's only 20 drivers a year they get to experience what it's like to get behind one of those cars of those, those machines. And I think what's what's adding to the sport itself is allowing everyone to get a sense and appreciation to feel what it's like behind that wheel. And again, with the adrenaline and with um being able to understand and be fully in control of that machine and driving into it, it just brings a whole new context to life of exactly all the different feelings and emotions and things that brings to get to experience that and most people don't get to. All right, we've got to take a quick break, but we'll be back with more of my conversation with John Gardner from F1 Arcade right after back to Yahoo Finance Sports Report. I'm your host, Joe Pompeliano. I'm here with F1RK Global president of Development John Gardner. One of the things I'm always fascinated about is sort of the real estate aspect of these, uh, these businesses, right? And you guys, like I said, I've opened locations in the UK but are certainly expanding here in the US as well. I'd love if you could just talk to us a little bit about how that's gone so far, just how many locations you already have, where you expect that to go, and then a little bit of insight into how you pick some of these locations and what boxes need to be checked for you guys to go all in on one. We got 5 locations uh globally right now, 2 in the UK, and then we got 3 just up in Philadelphia, uh, this year in the US, so, um, we're, we definitely have expansive growth plans, um, really focused on the US I would say. F1 is a brand and a concept as well is really focused on the US, um, in terms of, in terms of how they see their sport growing popularity in terms of also their core demographics and things and how that comes what we, we've got many more sites, 3 more actually this year are planning to open, which is exciting with um Vegas opening Denver and then Atlanta. And then we've got a whole pipeline for next year. Um, we definitely go through a process, Joe, in terms of how we choose the locations. You know, I think this is also an important part. This is not just for F1 fans. Yes, if we want F1 fans to come here, but this is for people that want a new experience and uh to try something I had before. You might not be at all, but again, the beautifully uh, menu that we've done, or NA cocktail menu that we've got, that might be something that's for you or you just want a bit of food, uh, paired with that cocktail or date night, group events, social events, all those things come together. So I think that's where we're looking at locations. We're not just looking at core F1 locations. We're looking at where we think we involved in the cities as well or the territories, as again, we're a very long term lease in those areas so that our brain connects to what we look after in terms of the whole experience that we bring, all those different factors which we could spend all day talking about all the different things we look at from a data perspective but also from site visits and how we delve into all that data. Yeah, so there's obviously a financial benefit to this business in these locations, right? If you're able to open them, they're busy, they make money, that's great for everyone involved. But there's also these tangential benefits which you alluded to there, which is getting people to become interested in the sport overall, right? Maybe someone visits F1 arcade for the first time, they're not a racing fan, but they enjoy a cocktail, they're with friends, they try simulator, next thing you know, they're checking out the Netflix series or going to a race or something like that. Are there any metrics or data that you guys are tracking on that side of things to be able to tell you if it's successful or not? Yeah, I mean there's many metrics that we do track. I what I would say is, you know, one thing that we're of the F1 concept, um, as part of that, and they've been exceptional partners, but again, creating in the F1 paired with the exceptional hospitality is how we've really found our niche within that. So yes, financially in terms of revenue and things that we're driving is definitely a key, key factor of how we're successful, but also the NPS scores, how people are enjoying the experience. We focus a lot of our attention detail on the guest experience and how do we make somebody a um not only want to come back, we give them something they not had I think all those metrics that how that comes together, how we expand the brand and continue to work through what success looks like, um, that's evolving, but again, I think people really remember how you feel when you leave and when you experience things like this, and I think that's what we continue to work on and constantly tweak how people are interacting with the brand. Very interesting. I would love to hear more about the simulators themselves that are at these venues, right? Like, how accurate are they? How real are they and what are you actually able to do on them? We just launched a new simulator which is exciting. So we've um we've rehauled the the in terms of the actual system itself. So there's a lot of it, um, updated features, I would say as part of it, a few tweaks and a few things to make it even better and more immersive, I would say, as you do when you're getting in the simulator and you're adjusting your seat, the pedals and all the things that's there, it's supposed to feel like you're in an actual F1 car. So it's you're sat, you're sat back in the seat, almost molded into your body, you've got the steering wheel, it's actually crafted that from an F1 steering wheel. The pedals you're using both both feet actually to drive within that. And then you've got screens, 2 screens, one's for you, one's in a spectator screen above. So the whole element with um speakers actually in the in the seats themselves, so you're hearing the music, you're feeling the vibrations of the taking that first turn, you're revving the engine, you feel all those tweaks. If you're, you take a wrong turn, you only have a few bumps, you're feeling that as it goes. You bump Lewis Hamilton around that first corner, you're gonna feel interact with all of that. I think so that's, that's the physical experience you're seeing with that, the beauty of the game, the game is actually done in-house with our internal ticket, so it's actually AI enhanced as well. So if I do bump Lewis and from that first term, he may come bump me back, um, to show some aggression. So there really are no two races that are the same when you do it. And and how do you think about Formula One's role? Like, even if we, Liberty Media is obviously attached to this too, but if we leave them out of it for a second, we just think about Formula One as a sport. How do you think about their role in promotion and marketing of F1 arcade and vice versa, right? Like, obviously you guys are doing a lot to be able to help and market the sport. What are they doing in return to make sure people are coming through your doors? As you said, they've been exceptional partners, but I think the US is the biggest untapped market. I think Formula One has is working to unlock right now. I mean, it's, it's definitely ingrained a little bit more in Europe and Asia and those places, people are aware of F one a lot more and follow that where I think this new era with Drive to Survive, as you mentioned, the F1 movie with Brad Pitt coming at the end of the month, I think all those things are in the headwinds, um, should the tailwinds to really focus on the US market. I think people are really getting involved with the brand. I think there's other ways to get involved with the brand as well. That's part of this. Torres Lewis Hamilton as an example, you know, he's definitely into fashion, right, you know, in terms of how he does that, I think that I lost a whole another world in terms of you and you might connect through that through the fashion of, of that. He's also got a charity that he goes with that. He's also got a non-alcoholic tequila. That's actually very good. So again, I think the drivers are personalities of themselves to where you might not be interested in Formula One, but you might be interested in the driver or what they're interested in, and then that's your gateway into this. How so I think that helps in general, but I think how thethat would be, you know, the F1 betting big on the US with the Miami Grand Prix being fairly new. Vegas only been open 2 years. They own and operate the Vegas Grand Prix. They're putting a lot of resource and capital behind the US. I think they see us as a matter of funnel for them, attracting the F1 fans with the non-F1 fans who again, might want a night out, I want to do something fun, and they're not done before, and that that creates again, more interest than the overall sport. So I think F1's been on how they've looked at other avenues to build uh the core audience for that. Is part of the strategy trying to uh put these facilities in areas where people may have a more difficult time reaching Formula One races, like, obvious, you said the US is the main focus. I agree with that. It's been tremendous what Formula One has done. But if you look at Philadelphia, which you guys,Opened. Philadelphia is pretty far, uh, from Miami, Austin, and Las Vegas, but there's probably a coalition of people there that watch Formula One and would like to go to an arcade and experience some of that, but we'll never make it to a race. Is that part of the process when you think about the locations for these venues? I think it's in the back of our mind always, Joe, as we think about it, but I wouldn't say that's a key determining factor for us in terms of how we choose our locations. We, again, because the experience is so unique that you've had, and again, there's so many reasons of why you come to Arcade, you know, with families, date night, guys night out, girls' night out, uh corporate events, social events, celebration moments in life, organs, things of that. I think that's where we've really focused a lot of our attention is to understand how we memorable experience for you, and I think F1 is an amazing piece of that to and that's a, that's a nuance that you can't do that anywhere else within any in the world. So all those elements coming together to create that is how we focus more on bringing that to the markets that we're in and more, you know, Miami, New York, um, Vegas, we're opening Vegas, but again, we, we don't in Austin, we don't shy away from markets where F1 is by any means, but it's also being looking where the right location is in the right time is, you know, we have big sites and they're not the easiest to find as it goes through it. So finding the right partners from a landlord, finding the right deal structure, and then finding the right uh area that we feel like we can get involved in in a deep way, all those things come together to create where we end up. Yeah, and the other thing I'm curious about too, just from an opinion perspective is like F1 arcade is obviously in this, this entertainment space adjacent to sports and luxury and hospitality and food and beverage and things like that. But we've seen a number of these different venues and projects pop up over the years, whether it's F1 or K, you obviously have Top Golf, which was several years ago at this point, but even Roy McIlroy's puttery, you have a bunch of different businesses that are sort of emulating that of F1 arcade, like, where do you think this industry goes? Is there enough support to be able to have, you know, 5 or 10 of these concepts in every major city? No question, I think this industry is just getting started. That's a really exciting point about this, to where he's mentioned Top Golf and Pottery and Potshack and Flight Club, all those other concepts. I think we can co-locate and we've done that very successfully in the past, but I also want new experiences. I think attention spans are getting shorter. People want to be able to interact and they're not going to the office as much as they used to, people are finding ways to connect with colleagues and their partners and find something to do while they're having a drink or having food. So I think this, this really fills a gap that's only going to continue to widen for people that again, with wanting something to experience and do and have a meal or have a I what I'd say to wrap that up is I think we're just getting started, and I think again, you know, we people come back and that's people is very important to us, but ultimately, they're not coming back to us 30 times a year, right? So they come back to us, you know, 34 times a year. That's amazing, but they're, they're going to fill their other weekends and other date nights out, going other places. So I do think creating destinations, hubs of these types of things together, we've seen a lot of success in that. And I'm very excited to see in the future where um where the space goes. Very cool. That makes a lot of sense. And I'm excited to go check out the one in Vegas because I know it's, uh, I've heard really good things about most of the venues at this point, but uh I know that one's going to be about 2 times bigger than your previous one. So congrats on all the success you guys have had so far, and thanks for joining us today, John. We appreciate it, J Bill. Thanks for the time. The clock is winding down here, but we have just enough time for some final bus. So let's talk about Saquan Barkley's popularity with NFL Eagles superstar running back Saquan Barkley has taken over Patrick Mahomes as the NFL's most popular player, at least when it comes to player apparel sales. According to the NFL Players Association's year-end top 50 player sales list, Barkley was the top selling player in the NFL for online and in-store retail sales last season, which includes sales for jerseys, apparel, bobbleheads, accessories, figurines, backpacks, drinkware, and other items. Barkley was the first running back to top the NFLPA's list since Ezekiel Elliott in 2017, had the jersey based on cumulative sales of all NFL players and dethroned Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes from the top spot in the rankings. Barkley was also joined by Mahomes, fellow Eagles teammate Jalen Hurts, rookie of the Year Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels, and Texans quarterback CJ Shroud to round out the top five of officially licensed player products sold last season. Now Barkley is truly having a banner year since signing with the Eagles in the 2024 offseason. The running back ran for over 2000 yards last season, was named NFL First Team All-Pro, won a Super Bowl in season with the Eagles and signed a two year $41.2 million contract extension with $36 million guaranteed this past offseason with Philadelphia that made him the highest paid running back in NFL history. Barkley also recently had more commercial success off the field when he was named the cover athlete of EA Sports' Madden NFL 26 and became a member of the game's 99 Club for player ratings. Not too bad for your first year on the job with a new team, and I wonder if New York Giants owner John Mara is still losing sleep over letting Barkley go to his NFC East all out of time, so it's officially game over for this week. Thank you so much to Michael, John, and for all of you for joining us. Please make sure to scan the QR code below to follow Yahoo Finance podcast for more videos and expert insight and catch us every Thursday wherever you get your podcasts. Plus, check us out this weekend at Fanatics Fest, located at the Javits Center in New York City. I'm your host, Joe Pompeliano. See you next time. This content was not intended to be financial advice and should not be used as a substitute for professional financial services. Yahoo Finance Sports Report is developed and produced by Lauren Pokedoff. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data

Axios

4 days ago

• Axios

Tampa Bay Rays in talks to sell team

The Tampa Bay Rays are in discussions to sell the team, officials confirmed in a statement Wednesday. Why it matters: The potential sale raises more questions about the future of the team just a few months after plans to build a new stadium in downtown St. Petersburg fell apart. State of play: The discussions, first reported by Sportico, are with a group led by Patrick Zalupski, a Jacksonville home builder; Ken Babby, who owns the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp minor league baseball team; and Bill Cosgrove, the CEO of an Ohio-based mortgage firm. Unnamed "prominent Tampa Bay investors" are also part of the group, per the Rays' statement. "Neither the Rays nor the group will have further comment during the discussions," it goes on to say. The intrigue: The potential deal values the team at $1.7 billion, per the Sportico report. The sports business news outlet also reported that Zalupski had signed a letter of intent to buy the team. Current owner Stuart Sternberg bought the team in 2004 for $200 million. Between the lines: The stadium plan's unraveling put Sternberg at odds with local elected officials, making the odds of a deal revival appear slim to none.