Sixth Street's surprising reveal about NWSL investment; Breaking down the street's reaction to Endeavor's acquisition of WWE and intrigue at The Masters
Well, a few of you asked what I thought of the first Pickleball Slam broadcast by ESPN on Sunday. You had Agassi, Roddick, McEnroe and Chang compete. Frankly, I found it kind of fun. I'm a tennis guy, but found the play entertaining and the back and forth with the players and the novel concept fairly amusing. I'd love to hear from you, what did you think of the Pickleball Slam and is pickleball a broadcast ready sport? Moving on, congratulations to the UConn Huskies who defeated San Diego State in the men's college basketball championship on Monday night. It marks the program's first title under fifth year Head Coach Dan Hurley, and the program's fifth championship since 1999. UConn has tied Duke for the most championships since 1985. Well done to the Huskies. I'm going to my producer Reggie Walker. Reggie, I know you watched more of the game than I did. UConn pretty dominant.
Yeah, they were dominant. Their length inside just made it really, really difficult for San Diego State. Not a great jump shooting team, San Diego State. They really struggled against UConn. Great game plan by Coach Hurley and UConn. They were able to get the win, so congratulations.
And Reggie, if you were looking to 2024 and one program that impressed you with a high upside, who would that be?
I think you've got to look around the country and you look at UConn as obviously an example, but also you start to think about all the different schools and the movement. That's where it gets scary in terms of finding more teams that are ready to do that. So right now, I'll say UConn. Other than that, we need to watch the transfer portal first. There you go, Reggie Walker with the inside point of view on college hoops. And this is your Morning Buzzcast for Tuesday, April 4th. I'm Abe Madkour. Thanks for listening to the Buzzcast. Thanks for making March one of the Buzzcast's biggest months ever in terms of listens. Appreciate the support. Well, let's get right to it. We wondered on the Buzzcast if Sunday's women's final on ABC could reach 10 million viewers, and it came in at 9.9 million, which marks the most watched women's college basketball game ever on record. It was the first NCAA women's basketball title game to air on broadcast TV. So obviously being on ABC helped. But the 9.9 million viewership figure is what ABC combined with The Bird and Taurasi show, that was an alternate telecast on ESPN2, that's what it averaged in that 3:30 Eastern time window.
Now for context, that number is on par with many NBA finals games, with World Series games. It topped the Daytona 500 viewership. It tops some bowl game viewership. It's a very strong number. The previous top game for women's basketball had been 5.6 million in 2002. So the 9.9 million figure was up 104% from the 4.8 million for South Carolina's win in the title game last year. That was on ESPN and ESPN2 on a Sunday night. Here's what's interesting, the game on Sunday on ABC and the alternate telecast on ESPN2, it peaked at 12.6 million viewers again. Incredibly healthy numbers. The record rating comes as the NCAA is deciding whether to separate the women's basketball tournament, or keep it as part of the championships TV package that includes around 20 sports, maybe more than 20 sports. That bundled contract expires next year, and the NCAA is expected to decide the next steps by the fall. But a very, very strong end of a very successful season in women's college basketball.
Let's stay with women's sports, because the National Women's Soccer League has officially awarded an expansion team to the Bay Area ownership group that is led by global investment firm, Sixth Street. SBJ's Chris Smith, cites a source saying the expansion fee was for $53 million. Now, this Bay Area team will begin in 2024 alongside the relaunch Utah Royals. Together, they'll bring the NSWSL to 14 teams. Now here's what's interesting, Sixth Street is a big, big player. They have a growing sports portfolio. They have investments in Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, and the San Antonio Spurs. It is led by CEO Alan Waxman. Alan Waxman told SBJ that the NWSL team was far and away, quote, "One of the most massively, structurally undervalued things we've seen across our entire investment deck." And this is coming from Sixth Street which sees a lot of opportunities.
So that is a pretty strong endorsement for the future prospects of the NWSL. Now, Sixth Street is joined by a number of other high profile investors. You've got Brandi Chastain, you've got Aly Wagner, you've got Sports Business veteran David Aufhauser, who served as interim president of the expansion effort for a couple of years and is transitioning out of his executive role, but will remain part of the club's ownership group. You have Rick Wells, who is so well-known in sports business circles. He will serve on the team's board of directors. Also, longtime San Francisco Giants executive, Stacy Slaughter will be on the clubs board. As well as Sheryl Sandberg, yes, the former Meta executive who is also an investor in the team with her husband. So you see the level of investors in this Bay Area NWSL team very high profile, but Sixth Street brings a lot of capital. And they are promising to invest to make this franchise top-notch.
But very good news for the NWSL. All anyone could talk about yesterday, on Monday, was Endeavor's acquisition of the WWE and its plans to merge it with the UFC to create a new public company. It will trade under the name TKO for now. Now the deal values the WWE at 9.3 billion and the UFC at 12.1, for a combined valuation at $21.4 billion. Now, Wall Street was a little tepid on the deal as shares in both Endeavor and the WWE were down on Monday. Much of the discussion from investors was the 9.3 billion for the WWE was a premium over the WWE's current 6.5 billion market cap. But there's a lot of interesting things to unpack. It was certainly interesting to see a new look Vince McMahon looking different and sporting a new mustache. Discussing the deal with Ari Emanuel, they both touted the synergies that a combined WWE and UFC could offer.
What I took from yesterday is that McMahon will continue to play a big role in that company. He will not be sidelined after the sexual misconduct charges that forced him to leave the company last year. He's staying as an executive chairman of the board, and it was clear by their back and forth that Ari Emanuel wanted him around. Now, they believe this combined company will be a big attractive proposition in this dynamic live entertainment space. And they think a combined entity will have more leverage as far as media rights, licensing, sponsorship, and other revenue opportunities. Now, it was interesting to hear Endeavor's Mark Shapiro, tell SBJ's John Ourand, they are going to run the successful UFC playbook with the WWE. And Shapiro believes Endeavor will be able to grow the WWE sponsorship, licensing, hospitality and ticketing business.
That's exactly what they did with the UFC. On the media front, the WWE's deals with Fox and NBC Universal are up at the end of 2024. So they see some opportunities there. So the deal is expected to close by the end of this year. And so a lot of moving parts. One thing I was asked about a few times yesterday was what to make of Endeavor with the UFC now being part of this new company. Investors are wondering what will happen to the rest of the company? What is the rest of Endeavor? It is WME. It is IMG. It is on location. It is the betting platform, OpenBet. And so most investors still think Endeavor as it is, is an attractive business based around live events content and betting. It also includes of course, tennis's Miami Open and the PBR.
But that is the new look of Endeavor. And that is a story to continue to watch and how the markets react to these new companies. I am heading to Augusta on Wednesday for a quick trip to see some executives, but I won't see too much golf. The early line from Augusta is the weather will be iffy. Thunderstorms expected in the Augusta area, Thursday, while Friday, Saturday and Sunday look like it will feature plenty of rain. Now tonight, Tuesday night should be interesting. There is the Champions Dinner, which features six former champions who play on the LIV Golf tour. So you have the likes of Phil, and DJ, and Sergio mixing with Tiger and Rory and others. There are 18 LIV golfers in the masters field. Now the LIV golfers will reportedly not wear any LIV Golf logos or branding on their bags, their clothes, their caps. But SBJ spies did see some players in the practice rounds, still sporting small LIV Golf branding.
So that is something that we want to watch as the week develops. And I'm fascinated to see the dynamic and any tension between the LIV Golf players and those who did not join the tour. And let's end the Buzzcast with some news on the team executive front, the Chicago Bulls have named longtime sports executive Patrick Sandusky, to the newly created role of Vice President of Communications. Sandusky has a long history in Sports NPR. He had roles at Points BET and MSG Sports. He also spent a decade at the USOPC where he acted as the Olympic organization's lead spokesperson. And finally, I want to give a hat tip to Rob McBurnett, who the Columbus Crew named as Vice President of Communications. Now, Rob joins the crew after 10 seasons with the Cleveland Browns. Remember, the Browns and the Crew both owned and operated by Haslam Sports Group.
He's moved up the ladder fast, as I remember Rob starting as a communications coordinator just 10 years ago, now Vice president of Communications at the Columbus Crew. Rob McBurnett, congratulations on the new role. And that is your Morning Buzzcast for Tuesday, April 4th. I'm Abe Madkour. Again, thanks for listening to the Buzzcast and all the support, and for spreading the word on the Buzzcast. It's obviously working. Stay healthy, be good to each other. I'll speak to you tomorrow.