NBA's ticket sales strength; WNBA takes another step on travel arrangements; Flyers-76ers relationship worth watching and Steve Cohen sees red about jersey patch
I hope everyone is doing well. Good to be back with you on the Buzzcast after I was traveling back to Charlotte on Monday. Yes, I caught the latest very surprising episode of Succession catching up on Monday night, let me know what you think of that episode. One week from today will be the CAA World Congress of Sports. Hotel Rooms at the J.W. Marriott at LA Live are nearly sold out. We are near record attendance for the event, and we certainly hope you can join us. Let me know if you have any questions or go to worldcongressofsports.com to register today. It's an event you will really enjoy. This is your morning Buzzcast for Tuesday, April 11th. Good morning, I'm Abe Madkour. Thanks for listening to the Buzzcast.
It is playoff time for the NBA, as the Play-in Tournament begins Tuesday night. Miami Heat take on the Atlanta Hawks on the early game. Lakers match up with the Timberwolves on the lake game that will be followed by two games on Wednesday night, and it will conclude Friday. AT&T is the title sponsor of the AT&T NBA Play-in Tournament, part of the innovation we've seen across different leagues. As the NBA begins its playoffs. The league reported that it drew record attendance this season, drawing more than 22.2 million fans, besting the previous high of 22.1 million fans, but that was as far back as 2017, 2018. Teams this year average just over 18,000 fans per game. That's up 6% compared to last season and the first time ever teams have averaged over 18,000 fans. 64% of the games across the season were sold out. That is another league high. What helped drive this is constant renewal revenue as the NBA's 88% season ticket renewal rate during the off season was its highest ever and that gives you a great base to build on.
Teams are just smarter and smarter, and better and better at selling tickets. 12 teams, almost half the NBA played to full capacity or better. Now, did all fans show up? Of course not, but those tickets were distributed so it shows with the new technologies, the new data mining and just getting to know their fans better, NBA teams like so many across sports are better at moving tickets better than ever before.
Let's shift to the WNBA, because just before last night's draft, the league stated that it will add charter flights for the entire playoffs and back-to-back regular season games this year. We know that WNBA players have asked for better travel arrangements and charters over some time now. The league has pushed back, citing the cost of charter flights and the league's current revenue situation, while this year the league is moving ahead in a limited capacity and the cost is expected to be around 4.5 million for the league. Remember last year the league chartered flights for the WNBA finals, as well as for the road team in the Commissioner's Cup championship game. But they are expanding the program this year for the entire playoffs and back-to-back, and that is because of an improving situation around the league's revenue and finances.
They're just bringing in more money, and they have more ability to spend. Now, it's not where the players want it to be yet. They want consistent charters all season, but this change for the back-to-back games will result in five charters during the regular season. But the WNBA clearly trying to take steps to improve travel conditions for players.
I'll finish our basketball segment with this. Let me know when or if you have seen the movie Air yet, and let me know what you think about it. I haven't caught it yet, but it's turning into one of the critical hits of the year and it's also performing well at the box office. The Ben Affleck film that chronicles Nike's deal with Michael Jordan grossed just under 14.5 million for the three-day weekend in the US, and over 20 million for the five days, that beat expectations. Overall globally, the film has already brought in 30 million, so Air performing quite well at the box office and received very high critical marks.
Let's shift to golf because the post-Masters buzz certainly was about the performance of players on the LIV Tour. The connected Jim Nugent of Global Golf Posts, who was at the Masters all week reported that there are two conditions that must be met before PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan would entertain serious discussions with LIV officials about any kind of detente or coexistence between the PGA Tour and the LIV Golf Tour.
There are two. The first one is that LIV Golf Commissioner Greg Norman must leave his role. The second condition, all lawsuits must be dropped. Now, we know that Greg Norman has been a consistent thorn to the PGA Tour. There is no love lost and there is no trust between Norman and the tour. That's a condition that's kind of expected. The legal issues and the lawsuits continue to work their way through the courts, but there is a feeling that the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund may be open to dropping all legal action to avoid any legal scrutiny. But those are both the two key issues apparently holding up any possible discussions about a coexistence between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf. Greg Norman must move on and all legal lawsuits must be dropped.
We have talked about the situation in Philadelphia, where the 76ers are exploring a new arena and that has caused some tension in their relationship with their landlord, Comcast Spectacor, which owns the Wells Fargo Center where the 76ers currently play. While new Comcast Spectacor chair Daniel Hilferty, who is one of the more connected people in that region, is adamant that he wants the 76ers to stay at Wells Fargo Center, he went on to say he'd be open to working with the 76ers on shared business and entertainment opportunities, which includes potentially selling part of the Wells Fargo Center to the 76ers.
But so far, the 76ers have been focused on developing their own venue in a different part of the city. There is concern that the city of Philadelphia doesn't need two arenas that would compete with each other and both likely be impacted. Now, Hilferty added that the Flyers will not be sold. There has been some buzz in the sports business community that the 76ers intent on building a new arena was to try and force Comcast Spectacor to sell the hockey team, which we know the hockey team has been struggling on the ice. They've had some management changes, but Hilferty says the Flyers are not for sale. A lot of moving parts in Philadelphia, and it's becoming one of the key markets to watch.
Let's stay on the Atlantic Coast, because you may have missed this over the weekend, but I found it to be a fun story. I'm really enjoying watching Steve Cohen's ownership of the Mets. He's just a passionate fan of the team, willing to spend, willing to break some eggs once in a while. We also know how much Jersey patch inventory there is across sports, and this story hits on both of those issues. The New York Mets debuted their New York Presbyterian patch on Thursday on the Jersey sleeves, and they are already planning changes. Yes, the Jersey patch was criticized, especially on social media because of its colors. Steve Cohen admitted the red border and the red letters look too much like the colors of their arch rival, the Philadelphia Phillies. They have decided with New York Presbyterian to make the patch more Mets appropriate, so they will change colors and patterns around the patch. Steve Cohen acknowledged that it was a complicated deal with a lot of moving parts, so maybe the patch color slipped through, but the team and the sponsor taking quick steps to fix it.
Let's end the Buzzcast today with a name in the news. The Big South has a new commissioner, Sherika Montgomery will lead the Big South Conference. She was formally Missouri Valley Conference Deputy Commissioner. She becomes the fourth commissioner in Big South conference history. She'll officially begin on May 15th. She replaces Kyle Kallander who was retiring after 27 years. Now, Montgomery is a former women's basketball student athlete and she worked at the Big South from 2010 to 2017. She's going back to the conference. The Big South is a Division 1 conference, which has 10 member institutions such as Campbell, Charleston Southern and UNC Asheville, just to name a few. Now, the Big South has a new commissioner in Sherika Montgomery. That is your morning Buzzcast for Tuesday, April 11th. I'm Abe Madkour, thanks for listening to the Buzz Cast. Stay healthy, be good to each other. I'll speak to you tomorrow.