AEG's massive overhaul of a landmark; Fenway Sports Group diversifies into music and remembering Jamey Rootes
Sports organizations continue to diversify. There are more rumblings of movement with the Big Ten and the sports industry has lost a great leader in my friend, Jamey Rootes. And this is your Morning Buzz Cast for Tuesday, August 23rd. Good morning. I'm Abe Madkour. Thanks for listening to the Buzz Cast. Let's start with major changes coming to Los Angeles's most popular and busiest sports venue. AEG will privately finance a nine figure three phase renovation that will represent a massive overhaul of crypto.com arena. Now, the project has been moving forward in stages. It began this summer, but in the end it will reimagine nearly every aspect of the EEG owned arena, the entryway, and the surrounding Xbox Plaza. This is a major, major renovation. The first phase will be finished just before the upcoming NBA and NHL seasons, then subsequent phases occurring over the next two years.
Surprisingly, the building won't have to close at any point during the project and its capacity won't significantly change. One overall goal of the renovation is to create more communal gathering spaces. You've seen that trend throughout sports, both in the premium and in the general admission sections. So you'll see a lot more changes to the club areas, more open spaces, more clubs, including one club that will look out over the city of Los Angeles. But it's not just about the clubs. Concourses will be totally redone. There'll be new LED displays. There'll be a campus wide security upgrade. There'll be more food and beverage grab and go markets installed. The locker rooms will be replaced and the roof will be replaced as well. So this is a major renovation to, well, like I said, one of the busiest sports venues in all the world.
So why now? Well, AEG has wanted to do this for years, but they were pushed back because of COVID. Now, if you've been to the building, the building and the complex still looks great, but remember it opened in 1999 and the marketplace is much more competitive now. You have SoFi Stadium, you have the Clippers building, the Intuit Dome. So there will be more competition for events and concerts. So with the Lakers, the Kings, and so many concerts, AEG knew it needed to modernize. And this will be one of the more compelling projects and really one of the more compelling cities in sports business in the months and years ahead. Another project people are talking about is what Fenway Sports Group is doing just outside of Fenway Park. They have developed and opened a live music venue, like I said, just outside of Fenway. It's called the MGM Music Hall.
It's right on Lansdowne Street behind the right field bleachers. It's an intimate 5,000 seat auditorium, and it will have up to 150 shows annually. So Fenway Sports Group owns and operates this MGM Music Hall. They believe it will represent a new, more intimate, exclusive model for the concert business. They are partners with Live Nation. The venue will be booked by the Fenway Music Company, which is a joint venture between Fenway Sports Group and Live Nation. So like I said, about 150 shows planned each year at the MGM musical hall. And what does this do? It represents another new line of business for Fenway Sports Group. It's another example of sports organizations diversifying their businesses.
And staying with that theme, I always like to see new and innovative uses of sports venues. And you'll see that at First Energy Stadium in Cleveland as the men's hockey programs from Ohio State and Michigan will play in the face off on the lake on February 18th. Now, this will mark the first hockey game at that stadium. So again, the Browns in the city looking for new uses of the stadium. Now, Ohio State and Michigan did play at progressive field in Cleveland in 2012. But like I said, the Browns and the city of Cleveland bring Ohio state and Michigan, the hockey programs to the stadium, in what will be a chilly February outdoor game, but a fun novel use of the facility. And again, a diversification of the Browns' business lines. Let's move on to some other news. Remember the reports of the Big Ten's media deal? Last week, there was an undercurrent that the conference was likely to continue to expand and grow. And Brett McMurphy reported on Monday that the University of Oregon has initiated discussions with the Big Ten to determine if the Ducks are compatible with the Big Ten.
Now, McMurphy was careful to report that these conversations have not included Oregon or Big Ten leadership, meaning not the Oregon president, not Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren, but these conversations are again in the early stages and obviously held at the lower level. But even after adding USC and UCLA, the Big Ten has been not shy about its plans to expand beyond 16 schools. And Kevin Warren sits with Bryant Gumbel on HBO's Real Sports this week. And he speculates the conference will get to 20 schools eventually.
We've got a couple of interesting deals and new advertising activations and new campaigns to talk about. So let's get right to them. First, the restaurant chain Hooters has signed 51 college football offensive linemen to name, image, and likeness deals from teams across the country. Now, Hooter said they had a strategy. They said that praise, attention, coverage never is on the offensive linemen.
So they wanted to change that narrative and give the players their share of the spotlight. So the deal will include these offensive linemen visiting Hooters locations, starring in social media campaigns, and encouraging fans to utilize Hooters for tailgate and viewing parties during the college football season. So this is a fun seemingly smart activation for Hooters and it's across the country. Like I said, signing 51 college football offensive lineman to NIL deals from teams across the US. One of the more popular college football brand campaigns is coming back as Forbes reported that Dr. Pepper is bringing back its Fansville campaign. This will be the fifth season of this effort. It's also signed Alabama quarterback, Bryce Young, to a name, image, and likeness deal. Now the Fansville campaign has been a fun fictional account of the impact on college football or the impact of college football on a community and its fans.
It's been one of my favorites for the last few years. So look for a lot of Fansville from Dr. Pepper this fall. And as we shift to the pro side, look to see more of JB Smooth, and the Manning family as Caesars Sports Book will bring them back for a fall campaign around the NFL. But Caesars said they are putting the breaks on much of its marketing and advertising spending. They will only have four different TV spots this year and they'll limit their national TV spending to ESPN and the NFL network and encouraging local media buys. So they'll obviously target markets where they want to grow market share and grow signups. But this is a notable shift for Caesars. Caesars is pulling back on its spending. And last year, it ran ads everywhere on most national TV networks. This year, they're targeting it to ESPN, NFL Network, and local buys, but do expect to see JB Smooth and the Manning family back for Caesars Sports book.
And finally, I want to end today's Buzz Cast on a sad and personal note. I last saw my longtime friend, Jamey Rootes at the Sports Business Awards in New York in May. We shared well over an hour a great time catching up. He was looking forward to joining Rice University's sports management department, where he was going to lead the school's newly created sports analytics program. It wasn't his dream job because we talked about his frustrations in leaving the Houston Texans, where he had been a brilliant leader for more than two decades. And he really wanted to get back into team sports. Well, Jamey Rootes was also battling mental illness and I'm sad and hurt to hear that he has died at the young age of 56, leaving behind his wife, Melissa, and two children in Houston. Now, many of you knew Jamey Rootes. He had amazing energy.
He had an infectious smile. He was the ultimate can-do executive. He graduated from Clemson where he played soccer. He earned his MBA at Indiana. He helped launch Ohio's MLS franchise, the Columbus Crew, where he served as that team's president and general manager. In 2002, he was hired by the late Bob McNair to be the team president of Houston's new NFL franchise. And the Texans went on to be a massive business success under Jamey Rootes. They had consecutive years of sellouts. The team won several marketing awards from the league during Jamey Root's 20 year tenure. And he did so much to build and promote the city of Houston.
He left the Texans in 2021 and that's when he went into teaching. Jamey Rootes was a two time honoree of SBJ's 40 under 40. He was an incredible supporter of this company. He was an incredible supporter of sports and sports business and of the city of Houston. Like I said, I'll miss his energy, his acumen, his smile, his laugh, and his kindness. Jamey Rootes, gone at the too young age of 56. And that is your Morning Buzz Cast for Tuesday, August 23rd. I made Abe Madkour. Thanks for listening. Take care of yourself, stay healthy, be good to each other. And I'll speak to you tomorrow.