The Kingdom's tennis play; John Fisher's PR strategy, Takeaways from 23XI Partner Summit and where do you take in your Buzzcast?
Well, I certainly feel for Shohei Ohtani. Let me know if you think his elbow injury will seriously impact his payday in free agency. Also, someone asked me recently, find out where people listen to their Buzzcast. So if you have a good answer or story, let me know where or how and when you listen to your Morning Buzzcast. And this is your Morning Buzzcast for Friday, August 25th, the final Friday of August, hard to believe. Let's get right to the news.
Saudi Arabia getting deeper into sports, and specifically tennis, as the Kingdom will host the men's tennis tours Next Gen ATP finals in Jeddah through 2027. This marks the latest investment into sports by the Kingdom. It is the first time an official ATP event will be held in Saudi Arabia and continues this run of Saudi Arabia's interest in sports. Now, this comes as reports continue to surface of the WTA Finals possibly being played in Saudi Arabia. So the Next Gen ATP finals in Jeddah through 2027.
Let's move to baseball. A's owner, John Fisher, is finally going public, giving his first national interviews in more than a decade to talk about the future of his franchise. He's admitted the A's have submitted their application for relocation to Major League Baseball as the future location and the future home of the franchise now sits before baseball's three person relocation committee, that consists of Royal's owner, John Sherman, Philly's owner, John Middleton and Brewer's owner, Mark Attanasio. Those three will review and make a recommendation to Commissioner Rob Manfred and MLB's executive counsel. But then of course it takes three quarters of MLB's 30 owners to approve any relocation.
So the A's strategy of finally having Fisher speak publicly is interesting. Like I said, he hasn't conducted a national interview since he bought the team in 2005. He did say he could not reach a deal with the city of Oakland and he criticized the city for not being able to meet it's part of a deal on a proposed ballpark at Howard Terminal. He didn't believe the city had sufficient money to cover the commitment it made to him. The city, of course, pushed back on this narrative. And perhaps more importantly, Fisher did acknowledge that MLB's collective bargaining agreement has a deadline that required the A's to have an agreement on a new ballpark by January of 2024 or the team would lose its revenue sharing, which is a major source of funding for the team. And Fisher said such a loss of that revenue would be "hugely detrimental to the organization." So John Fisher speaking publicly and now the A's future sits before MLB's three person relocation committee. No timeline is given on any decision.
Let's talk about a national governing body we don't talk about a lot on the Buzzcast. That's USA Gymnastics that's in the news for a couple of reasons. First, USA Gymnastics is looking to centralize its national training programs before the '28 summer games. Now, 12 cities have expressed interest in the project and it would serve as a training and wellness headquarters for the entire organization. There is no timetable for when a site will be chosen, and it's not known if USA Gymnastics would move its national headquarters from Indianapolis to where the training center is built. But the training center would host all the national camps. Right now, the national camps for various programs are scattered across the country. So this would centralize that. And like I said, over 12 cities have expressed interest in the project. No timetable for when a site will be chosen.
Now, I touched on this in SBJ, but there's a good turnaround story at USA Gymnastics. Remember, that was fighting for survival after the disturbing sex abuse scandal nearly led to its demise seven years ago. USA Gymnastics has really been out of sight, out of mind really since then. But earlier this month, its surprise industry observers by announcing a significant sponsorship with Nike through the 2028 summer games. That's said to be the most lucrative, both in the annual and overall value in the governing body's history. So this is a big deal with Nike. That was followed by a deal with Comcast, and that marked the fifth new partner for USA Gymnastics this year.
So why do I bring that up? Well, to me, that is proof that corporate sponsors are comfortable reinvesting in really what had been seen as a toxic property. It's also a boost for CEO Li Li Leung, who was hired in 2019 from the NBA to join USA Gymnastics, and she came in during the organization's really darkest days. It hasn't been an easy transition, but she deserves credit for rebuilding this organization, finding her footing, and convincing big brands that USA Gymnastics has bright days ahead. And I do keep hearing about the depth of the women's gymnastics talent on college campuses. And we are about to witness the next generation of female gymnasts that should perform very well on the global stage. And so, like I said, it's a pretty good turnaround story at USA Gymnastics.
If you go to Crypto.com Arena next spring in Los Angeles, you'll see a new statue outside the arena. This February, a statue of Kobe Bryant will be unveiled next to the ones that currently stand there, Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, Chick Hearn, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, and Shaquille O'Neal, all in front of Crypto.com Arena. The Lakers will host the Nuggets on February 8th when they will unveil the statue. It'll be the first in a series of tributes by the organization to Kobe Bryant.
I mentioned yesterday on the Buzzcast that I was speaking at the 23XI Racing Partner Summit in Jupiter, Florida on Thursday. It had about 60 top executives hearing about trends in society and sports. It was really a fascinating morning. My topic was themes in sports that Sports Business Journal was keeping our eye on. And after running through a quick list of topics that we talk a lot about on the bus cast, there were a number of great questions from the group. One of the first questions I received was whether Netflix will be a player for live rights. My answer was that in the near term, Netflix is not a serious player for live sports rights and that the docuseries were a more affordable and appealing option for Netflix right now.
The other question was, where does Formula 1 sit right now in terms of appeal in the United States? My answer was that we are seeing some leveling off of viewership on ESPN of Formula 1 as the dominance by Max Verstappen could easily be affecting interest. But I said F1, for lack of a better word, is really quite sexy in the United States right now. And there is increased mainstream attention focused on the sports growing presence in US pop culture. You have a Brad Pitt movie on Formula 1 coming out next year, and sponsors are still very interested in F1. Every brand, every agency, and every top sports business executive I speak with, they're eagerly anticipating the Las Vegas Grand Prix in November, which will be a huge hit when it comes to corporate hospitality on par with a Super Bowl. So bottom line to me, while Formula 1 viewership may be leveling off, enthusiasm and interests from the business community doesn't show any signs of slowing.
And finally, we talked a lot about the challenging media models and the challenging media marketplace today. The other element that we brought up was new tech enhancements around the fan experience of the future. First, you're going to see more personalization. Teams, brands, leagues, they're all using data to personalize the fan experience. You'll see that more and more. Second, technology upgrades and integrations at venues. We talked about the Go-Ahead Entry at Citizens Bank ballpark earlier this week, but you're going to see more type of these upgrades and enhancements. You're going to see it around ticketing, security, food and beverage. All of this will make the effort and the experience of going to a sports event hopefully more seamless and more enjoyable.
And finally, for the at-home fan, we talked about how the fan will control their game broadcast. You're going to see that going forward. More viewing experiences will be determined by you, the fan at home. You'll be the director of your sports experience and get your own custom video feed of what you want to watch. So those are some of the things that we talked about. A very informative and worthwhile morning at the 23XI Racing Partner Summit in Florida on Thursday.
And so, that is your Morning Buzzcast for Friday, August 25th. I'm Abe Madkour. Have a great weekend. Stay healthy, be good to each other. I'll speak to you on Monday.