The PGA Tour gets exactly what it wanted; WTA board set to vote on CVC investment; Steve Cohen making all the right moves and the sports community suffers another heartbreaking loss.
We have the start of the college football season and we have the start of the US Open. We have another tragic loss in sports business, but we'll start with the PGA Tour, which gets the finale it really wanted and needed. And this is your Morning Buzzcast for Monday, August 29th. I'm Abe Madkour, heading into the final week of August, hard to believe, but what a finish for the PGA Tour at East Lake, outside of Atlanta over the weekend. This had to be satisfying for PGA Tour Commissioner, Jay Monahan, and for Rory McIlroy, as McIlroy came back from six shots down to win a dramatic Tour Championship on Sunday, a huge statement for McIlroy who has been the strongest voice and defender of the PGA Tour in its battle against LIV Golf. He has been out front all year in support of the tour, easily its biggest and most public advocate.
And he has backed it up with excellent play and he backed it up with excellent play on the PGA Tour's biggest stage. Like I said, he rallied from a six shot deficit in the final round against the number one player in the world, Scottie Scheffler, and became the first three time winner of the FedEx Cup. It was certainly fun to watch two of the best players in the world going head to head. And it was a brilliant showcase for the PGA Tour, for its players, for its sponsors, for its media partners. It's exactly what Jay Monahan and Tour supporters wanted and needed to end their season. Let's shift to tennis, because the US Open tennis championship begins today. And the USTA is hoping for a grand two weeks. You have the storyline around Serena Williams, of course. And while you don't have Novak Djokovic, the tournament is fully bracing for a return to pre pandemic levels.
The USTA is seeing early signs that this year's event looks very much like 2019, which was a record breaking year for the USTA, in terms of fan attendance and in revenue. So this could be, and should be a very successful two weeks, as there are no restrictions on fans in terms of COVID protocols, and all signs point to it feeling a lot like prior successful years.
Meanwhile, the London Telegraph is reporting that the Woman's Tennis Association's board today will vote on whether to accept a $150 million investment from private equity firm, CVC. Now, CVC is proposing to buy a 20% stake in the commercial operations of the Tour. We have seen this from private equity with other sports organizations in the past. The deal is said to be favored by WTA CEO Steve Simon and other members of the board.
Now, part of CVC's mission with the investment is to increase prize money for women's events. So that would be a big step forward for women's tournaments. Now we'll have more on this later in the week, because this would be a big story and a significant investment in women's tennis. I think Steve Cohen is doing a lot of things right, as a team owner. And sometimes it's the little things that just go a long way. Here's one example, the New York Mets, we know they're playing great baseball, but the Mets brought back Old Timers' Day over the weekend and it was a big hit. It was the clubs first, Old Timers' Day since 1994. Yes, the previous owners, the Wilpons' stopped it and were never fond of really engaging with their alumni. But this year, Steve Cohen, he changed all that. And Saturday's event featured a three inning exhibition with fan favorites like Dwight Gooden, Keith Hernandez, and Pedro Martinez and Darrell Strawberry.
The fans loved it. The Mets have a great history and it's smart for Cohen to showcase it. And the New York Daily News stated that Saturday seemed like the definitive turning of the page from the Wilpons' to the Cohens'. So again, Steve Cohen getting a lot of high marks in New York. And again, sometimes it's the little things that really go a long way with fans. And that example of bringing Old Timers' Day back is another one of his smart moves.
Let's shift to some college sports, because I don't know if you watched it on Saturday, but Northwestern beat Nebraska in Dublin in front of nearly 43,000 fans. It looked great on television. It was a good game. Yes, I'm sure you've read. There was an internet outage at the stadium during the game, and that led to all concessions being entirely free of charge, including beer and cocktail, so that was quite a scene.
But outside of that, this event had to be considered a hit. And I think more and more schools will want to be part of this game in the future in Ireland, as this series will continue for the next few years. I heard from people who went and they raved about the atmosphere around the event. They raved about the production of the event. And you could imagine if Notre Dame ever decides to play, they were scheduled to a few years ago, but if Notre Dame was to play in Ireland, you would see a massive turnout and massive interest into that game. Staying with college sports, here's an interesting novel concept when it comes to name, image and likeness and that's players being paid to promote upcoming games. Baylor and Gonzaga's men's basketball teams will play in South Dakota on December 2nd and organizers will pay players on both teams who agree to help promote the game.
Players would be paid for participating in tune into the game promotions. It wasn't disclosed how much they will get paid, but this is an interesting concept that organizers of this game are out in the market looking for a TV partner. So they're in talks with media outlets. They are talking to players about paying them for participating in tune in promotional spots for that December 2nd basketball game. Staying with college sports. Auburn is looking for a new athletics director as the school and AD Allen Greene have parted ways.
This was not a surprise, as there's been a lot of speculation that Allen Greene wouldn't remain at the school. He was hired from Buffalo in January of 2018 by Auburn, becoming the school's first black athletic director. His tenure never really seemed secure. There was a lot of pressure on him, because he couldn't get the football program really heading in the right direction and that hurt him.
But the storylines at Auburn are a little odd, and while you would think this would be a very appealing job in the SCC, many don't see it that way. In fact, Tennessee Athletic Director, Danny White, actually congratulated Allen Greene for leaving Auburn. He tweeted, "Congratulations for getting the heck out of a crazy situation for greener pastures. I admire how you manage that chaos with class and integrity. Wow." So that's, quite a shot by the well regarded Danny White about the situation at Auburn.
And so we will follow how Auburn looks to replace Allen Greene as athletic director. Meanwhile, staying on campus, Texas Tech Athletic Director, Kirby Hocutt has signed a new contract that will run through the end of August 2030. Hocutt has served at Texas Tech since 2011, and he's become more and more influential across college sports. He recently completed a two year term as chairman of the college football playoff selection committee in 2017.
The well regarded Hocutt now signed to stay at Texas Tech through 2030. And finally ending the Buzzcast with some more sad news. I'm still struggling with the loss of former Texans' President, Jamey Rootes. And now we lose another key friend in the NFL. Dolphin, senior vice president of communications and community affairs, Jason Jenkins died suddenly on Saturday at the age of 47. He was a very well like member of the NFL community and took on key leadership roles for Stephen Ross and Tom Garfinkel. Jason Jenkins joined the Dolphins in 2019. He was named to his senior vice president role in 2015. He was the driving force behind many of the Dolphins industry, leading community outreach programs, including that Football Unites program, which is a very strong community effort. The team was seen as a model in integrating itself within the various parts of the South Florida community and that was all Jason Jenkins hard work.
In my dealings with Jason, he was incredibly kind, soft spoken, full of integrity. Jason Jenkins is survived by his wife, Elizabeth and their three children. Everybody here at SBJ is thinking about that family and certainly the members of his Dolphins, family who will miss him very, very much. So that, is your Morning Buzzcast for Monday, August 29th. I Abe Madkour, stay healthy, be good to each other. I'll be out for a couple days at the US Open. Managing editor, David Albright will bring you the Morning Buzzcast over the next few days. I'll speak to you again later in the week.