New era for Commanders; Are you ready for more on the Lakers "Legacy"? And more woes at Soldier Field
As we head into the last two weeks of August, I have to ask, where did the summer go? This is your Morning Buzzcast for Monday, August 15. Good morning, I'm Abe Madkour. Thanks for listening. Let's start with some stories and sports business you need to know.
First, Hulu's Legacy: The True story of the LA Lakers premieres tonight, Monday. It's a 10-part documentary series that chronicles the happenings of the Laker franchise through the eyes and voices of the Buss family and other key executives. Remember, we've had a lot of content on the Lakers this year. We had HBO's Winning Time, we had They Call Me Magic on Apple. The issue was Winning Time did not have the Lakers and Buss family's participation, and we know not everyone was pleased with how they were portrayed. Legacy will be through the eyes of the Buss family. It'll begin with Jerry Buss's 1979 purchase of the Lakers. It will run chronologically through multiple eras, culminating with the team's 2020 NBA title, in which Jeanie Buss became the first female owner to win an NBA championship. Tonight, Monday, offers the first two parts of the 10-part documentary, and episodes will be released or dropped every Monday from here on out. Legacy: The True Story of the Los Angeles Lakers premiering on Hulu tonight.
Let's shift to some NFL news. First, the Washington Commanders had their first preseason game under the new team name. While they announced more than 44,000 at FedEx Field, there were certainly far fewer fans in the stands. While despite some maybe tepid enthusiasm for the brand change, there is a tough narrative around this team, even with all the changes the team is making to the brand and to the fan experience. But Commanders' president, Jason Wright, over the weekend painted a positive picture of the team's business performance, saying that the team has already sold more tickets for this season than it did during the entire 2021 campaign. He added that the team's overall renewal rate on season tickets is up 15% and the renewal rate on suite is up almost 30%. President Jason Wright, I would say, describing a positive business picture for the Commanders. We'll have to see how that translates going forward for the rest of the season.
Let's look at the Bears, because as the Bears look at possibly relocating to Arlington Heights, the situation that took place over the weekend, doesn't help the city of Chicago in trying to keep the team. The playing surface at Soldier Field on Saturday was widely criticized throughout the Bear's preseason game against the Chiefs. If you looked at social media, you saw divots and patches of missing grass, NFL PA president, JC Tretter tweeted and questioned why the league even allowed the game to happen with the field in such a poor state.
Now, the Bears hosted this preseason game just eight days after an Elton John concert at Soldier Field, and that left the condition of the field obviously damaged, and this isn't the first time. The conditions at Soldier Field have long been a source of frustration for players and coaches on the Bears, as well as other teams, even the Chicago Fire. The facility is owned by the City of Chicago and the Chicago Park District and it's operated by ASM Global, but incidents like this just increase the tension in the relationship between the city and the Chicago Bears. Certainly a story to keep your eye on.
Let's shift to baseball. I get asked a lot about the possible sale of the Washington Nationals, and I hadn't heard much news about a potential deal, but the Washington Post reported that at least five interested parties have looked through the Nationals' financials and have met with team personnel. Now, the Lerner family owns the Nationals. They will seek initial bids before the end of the regular season. What they'll do is they'll look at those bids and they'll see if the value of the franchise of the potential bidders meets the value of the franchise of the Lerner family. People around the team expect a resolution by the beginning of next season. That doesn't mean the team will be sold by next season, the Lerners may decide not to sell, but it does seem like the process is moving forward, five interested parties looking at the financials. We could see some bids before the end of the regular season.
Staying with baseball, how disappointed must Padres owner, Peter Seidler, and team president, Erik Greupner, be? They have done everything they can to give the city of San Diego a winner. Padres fans were showing up and there was real enthusiasm because shortstop Fernando Tatis was expected to return to the team and they were supposed to be loaded. But then, on Friday, Tatis was suspended for 80 games after a violation of baseball's policy on performance enhancing drugs. He hasn't played this season, like I said, they were expecting him back. This has to be a great disappointment, especially if the team doesn't make the playoffs.
The team is drawing very well, they're ranked fifth in MLB attendance, only the Dodgers, the Cardinals, the Yankees, and the Braves are out drawing the Padres. The Padres are playing to more than 90% capacity at Petco Park, that's very strong. Season ticket demand is so strong, according to the New York Times, that the Padres are considering capping them for next season, which is really unheard of, but again, all of this was contingent, not contingent, but there was great hope that this team would have a deep playoff run. Now, Fernando Tatis and his suspension puts all of that at risk.
I found this data point interesting. What are some of the best markets for sports talk radio? Bill Shaikin from the Los Angeles Times noted that ratings for the Los Angeles market, sports talk radio in LA, were lower than in any other top 10 market in the United States this year. Basically, he's insinuating that LA is not a good town for sports talk radio. He drew the example, in the fall of 2021, with the Dodgers and the playoffs and the Rams and the Chargers also on track for the post-season, LA sports talk stations combined to attract just 3% of the radio audience in that much coveted 25 to 54-year-old bracket, an age demographic. That is a quite low number.
As comparable numbers, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Washington, DC, that figure was at least 7%. Remember in LA, it was 3%. In Atlanta, Dallas and Philadelphia, the total audience was at 10%, and in Boston, the sports talk radio audience was at 28%. Some interesting data that shows that Boston is certainly a very strong sports talk radio market, Philadelphia, Dallas, Atlanta, also strong, but not surprisingly, Los Angeles, not very strong in terms of drawing an audience on sports talk radio. That story by Bill Shaikin is well worth your time, it's a pretty interesting read.
We're going to end the Buzzcast around people. NASCAR's 2311 racing has been a widely talked about story, widely talked about NASCAR team. On Friday, 23XI signed Bubba Wallace to a multi-year extension. That builds off when Bubba Wallace became the team's first driver in 2020. Wallace is represented by Rod Moskowitz of Pro Sport Management. This has been a very positive story for Bubba Wallace, for Michael Jordan, for Denny Hamlin, and for NASCAR, Bubba Wallace staying at 23XI racing.
Finally, a note of condolence. I first met Mike Hazen when he worked in the personnel department of the Boston Red Sox, before he moved on to become general manager of the Diamondbacks, where he is now in his fifth season. Well, on Saturday, hundreds attended services to celebrate the life of his late wife, Nicole Hazen, who died on August 14th at the young age of 45 after more than a two-year battle with glioblastoma, a very, very aggressive form of cancer. Now, she left behind four sons between the ages of 12 and 16. Mike Hazen, on Saturday, reportedly delivered emotional remarks at the funeral the Arizona Republic called powerful and heartfelt remarks, much of which were aimed at his boys. A very, very sad and difficult time for the Hazen family, certainly thinking about Mike Hazen and his entire family.
That is your Morning Buzzcast. It is Monday, August 15th, I'm Abe Madkour. Hope everybody has a good start to their week. Stay healthy, be good to each other. I'll speak to you tomorrow.