FIFA shifts opener of World Cup; MLB shows well in Iowa; Broncos tab a new president and Boehly retains sports venue design pioneer.
FIFA shifts opener of World Cup; MLB shows well in Iowa; Broncos tab a new president and Boehly retains sports venue design pioneer.
Speaker 1: (00:06)
The apprehension around the FIFA world cup and Qatar will only be enhanced by news yesterday that the event will begin a day earlier than originally scheduled in a move to allow the host nation to play the first game. So there are already questions about the preparations, the logistics around the event, and now FIFA throws everyone a curve ball to begin the world cup on November 20th, instead of November 21st, three games were originally scheduled to open the games on November 21st. So all those 100 days to the world cup signs, while they're now inaccurate a strong read in today's New York times about the state of the event that I encourage you to read, but the world cup quickly coming upon us now one day earlier, and this is your morning buzz cast for Friday, August 12th. You made it to a Friday in August. Hope you enjoy the weekend.Let's get right to the news, the narrative around Thursday night's field of dreams game. Maybe that it didn't match the excitement or suspense of last year's inaugural version. And maybe that's correct, but MLB still scores with this game. They scored major points because we all have to understand the complexities of putting on such an event. Sure. The matchup between the Cubs and the reds wasn't ideal for this year, but I couldn't take my eyes off the game or the settings. The visuals last night were so great. And the broadcast by Fox, I found spectacular. It was another post guard, perfect night for baseball, and it just shows so well on TV as an event production and MLB again, had the perfect touches. It seemed if you watched the beginning, when Ken Griffey Jr. Her father came out of the outfield or the cornfield to replay the scene from the movie.And then the younger Griffy asked his dad for a game of catch. And as they played, uh, more parents and kids joined them on the field to play catch. And then the two teams came out and they of course wore their, uh, historical uniforms that looked great. And I just thought that set the scene so well, I love the intimacy of the full 8,000 fans in that park who are right on top of the action. So the Cubs beat the reds four to two and, and the players love, love this experience. So you can't discount that. So while major league baseball, won't go back to Iowa next year will watch to see where and how they take this concept, how they innovate on it for next year. But again, I still think a very successful field of dreams game for baseball last night in Iowa, while the NFL opens its preseason formally this weekend, there were two games last night.So let's shift to some news around the league. First, leave it to the Dallas Cowboys to make the NFL's first big push under the league's new global marketing program. Our Ben Fisher reports this morning that the Cowboys have reached an expansive deal with Spanish language media company, Tel Avisa Univision, who will handle the team's local media rights in Mexico and become the team's exclusive commercial agent in Mexico. This is the biggest deal in the leagues. Developing international marketing program. Tel Avisa is a major media company in Mexico. They'll air three Cowboys preseason games they'll produce other Cowboys related shoulder programming. Its sales division will also sell Cowboys commercial inventory. And the Cowboys are by far the most popular NFL team in that country. So this should have great potential. Now the Cowboys are one of nine teams with international marketing rights in Mexico, but they are the first to make such an expansive deal.So again, the Cowboys, a first mover in the league's new international marketing program, continuing with the NFL, we said this week, that sports business insiders were all talking about who could be the new president of the Denver Broncos and the team's new ownership group move very swiftly in hiring NFL international CEO Damani leach as the team president. Now Damani leach will start his post with the Broncos. At the end of August, he will report to the newly named CEO, Greg Penner, who of course is a owner in the franchise. He is an owner with the second most equity in the team. Leach will lead the business side of the Broncos. He'll oversee the business side around in power field at mile high. Uh, it always makes me proud to say this Damani leach is an S SPJ 40, under 40 honoree. He received the award in 2014.He is very well regarded in sports business circles. Now he has served in his current position at the NFL since 2019. He's been with the league since 2015. We honored him when he was at the NCAA. He spent 17 years with the NCAA's national office for those young listeners, or for those in college who are listening to the buzz cast and who dream of running an NFL team, it should be noted that Damani leach began his sports business career as an intern. Yes, he started at the PGA tour as an intern in 1998. Then he went to the NCAA as an intern and he continued to move up the ladder. So congratulations to Damani leach and taking over as president of the Denver Broncos. You know, one story we've been talking about on the bus cast is Chelsea's new ownership led by Todd Boley. We know they have big plans for that franchise.Well, first off our plans to upgrade Stanford bridge, and that includes a renovation of the west stand. And they're gonna put new murals around the stadium. They're gonna put new L E D screens around the stadium almost immediately. The interesting news here is Boley has retained one of the best in the business. He's retained Janet Marie Smith, who was honored as an S BJ champion of sports business a few years ago. And Janet Marie Smith is a legend in the architecture business. She helped design Camden yards. She handled renovations at Fenway park at Turner field, and most recently Dodger stadium. She is to put it bluntly, one of the best in the business. And this is just the start as Todd Boley and his group led by Tom GGL plan, a total redevelopment of Stanford bridge over the next few years. So this is a story. A lot of people are keeping their eye on.And finally, we'll end with this. The NBA made a great move, made public their plans to honor the late bill Russell. First, the league made the historic move of retiring number six, meaning no team and the NBA can issue a number six Jersey after the league retired at an honor of Russell, who of course he wore that number during his 13 year career. Now players who are currently wearing number six, uh, LeBron James does, and there are 25 NBA players in total who wear that number will be grandfathered in, but no new issuing of number six. And bill Russell becomes the first player in NBA history to have his Jersey retired. League-wide he joins an exclusive club, MLB retired, Jackie Robinson's number 42, the NHL retired Wayne Gretzky's number 99. Now bill Russell's number six, joins them. Additionally, all NBA players will wear a patch on their jerseys next season in honor of Russell and every court will display a, uh, Shamrock shape logo with Russell's number six on the sideline, and it will be near the scores table. So the NBA laying out its plans to honor one of sports, all time greats in bill Russell. So that is your morning buzz cast for Friday, August 12th. Thanks for listening. I made mad core hope. Everybody has a great weekend. Stay healthy. Be good to each other. I'll speak to you on Monday.