The NFL’s rare air; Why the DMV is such a hot topic; A new leader emerges in golf and in SBJ’s newsroom.
How much bigger can the NFL get, as the separation between the NFL and all other sports and entertainment properties in America continues to increase? This is your Morning Buzzcast for Tuesday, February 13th. Good morning, I'm Abe Madkour. Thanks for listening to the Buzzcast.
And yes, the NFL set another record. Super Bowl LVIII drew more than 123 million viewers across all platforms on Sunday night, marking an all-time audience record in the United States. The Chiefs win over the 49ers drew 120 million viewers on CBS alone, and the other three million were across Paramount Plus, Nickelodeon, Univision, and some other platforms that carried the game. The game was 7% from last year's record-setting audience of 115 million. The 120 million for CBS is the largest figure on record for any telecast on any one network. What a season for the NFL. And what a year for CBS, as this number helped cement CBS' best NFL post-season since it began recovering the NFL before the 1998 season. Just look at these numbers and look at the historical significance of them. The question I have, how much more growth can the NFL see? The NFL's reach, and influence, and importance continues to grow.
Other Super Bowl nuggets. Research firm Vision Insights released data that showed Nike received the most and most valuable exposure during the Super Bowl broadcast. Nike had more than 2000 seconds of screen time during the in-game action. Not surprising, because it was on the uniforms. The others? Allegiant Stadium, State Farm, Apple Music and Bud Light. They all received significant exposure during the game.
Let's move on from the Super Bowl. Tiger Woods and TaylorMade Golf officially unveiled Sun Day Red, a new golf and apparel lifestyle brand backed by Tiger Woods, which comes after he split with Nike after 27 years. Now, I'm sure you get the significance of Sun Day Red, three words, and of course that is a play on the red shirts that Tiger wore on Sundays throughout his career. Now, it has a Tiger logo with 15 stripes, one for each of Woods' major championship wins. It was suggested that the logo would be redesigned should Tiger win another major. Take a look at the logo and let me know what you think. At first, it made me look twice, I wasn't sure what to make of it. But, it could grow on me. Interestingly, some of the most well known apparel brands for sports figures are around significant animals. You have the Rene Lacoste green crocodile. You have Greg Norman's shark. And now, you have Woods' tiger. Take a look, let me know what you think.
But this deepens the relationship that Tiger has had with TaylorMade. He began playing with TaylorMade clubs in 2017. Sun Day Red will operate as a standalone business. It will be based in San Clemente. It will be led by President Brad Blankenship, who previously oversaw Quiksilver. Sun Day Red merchandise will be available online in the US and Canada, beginning May 1st. While later expanding to retail locations and they'll add more product lines, a woman's line and a kid's product line. Sun Day Red now officially launched between Tiger and TaylorMade Golf.
While in Las Vegas, there was an awful lot of conversation about the Baltimore, Washington, Virginia market and all that is going on around the sports teams there. You have the future stadium of the Commanders being a big topic. You have the Oriole's sale. You have the Ravens investing more than $400 million into M&T Bank Stadium. And you also have the uncertain future of where the teams under Monumental Sports and Entertainment will play.
Yes, Monumental Sports has been very vocal about the intention to move the Capitals and Wizards to Northern Virginia. But a key Virginia State Senator and chair of the Senate Finance and Appropriations committee said that, "any proposed legislation to pave the way for the Wizards and Capitals to relocate to Northern Virginia is dead." Legislators have criticized Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, saying he has made a "series of mistakes in trying to push through a deal through the General Assembly, including not bringing in state leaders into the conversation earlier." Yes, this is a long process and even the Speaker of the Virginia House said the "plan remains viable, even though they have significant questions about it." But this does make me wonder how Ted Leonsis could and would try to make it work back in Washington, DC if this plan for an ambitious sports complex in Northern Virginia doesn't have enough political support. Fascinating story you're going to want to keep your eye on.
Last week, a lot of people wondered by the NBA announced that Emirates will be the title sponsor of the league's in-season tournament, thinking an announcement like that got totally lost during Super Bowl week, and many wondered why the league didn't announce it during All Star Weekend. Well, the NBA has another key deal, as SoFi has struck a multi-year deal to sponsor the NBA's play-in tournament. That is part of a deal that makes SoFi the official banking partner of the NBA. It will now be known as the SoFi Play-In Tournament. Remember, that's where teams ranked seventh through 10th in each conference compete for the final four playoff spots. You will see a co-branded Play-In Tournament logo, which will feature of course SoFi and the NBA. The NBA has rolled out two title partnerships in five days. Emirates around the in-season tournament, and now SoFi around the play-in tournament.
You will see changes to the PGA Tour's Waste Management Open, after the fallout from this year's event, as changes will be coming after a series of incidents last weekend involving fans and golfers. The course was too crowded. Remember, they stopped admissions and alcohol sales on Saturday. Leaders of the event said that the tournament is already looking to fix the issues that plagued the event, which is one of the biggest events on the PGA Tour all year. I expect to see some major operational changes of how they manage the entire week. Leaders of the event admitted they did not like what happened over this past weekend. They said, "Nothing is off the table, in terms of what they could implement to prevent the type of behavior that marred the event." You had organizers shutting gates. Like I said, they closed alcohol sales. Angry players clashed with fans on Sunday. Yes, the Waste Management is known as the party scene and the place to be, but it clearly went too far this year so look for some significant changes going forward.
Staying with golf, I was struck by the consistent theme I heard from sports business leaders in Las Vegas, who took some time last week to go to the Live Golf event in the city. I didn't make it out there, but the theme I heard was consistent. Attendees loved the build out. They loved the presentation. They were super impressed by the hospitality. But they were all surprised more fans weren't on the course, considering it was Super Bowl weekend and there was so many visitors in the marketplace. But overall, Live Golf did score high points for its presentation of the game.
I want to stay with golf, because the PGA Tour is turning to a seasoned sports executive to run the Cognizant Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, as longtime executive Todd Fleming is taking over as executive director later this year. Now, Todd Fleming was an SBJ 40 Under 40 honoree in 2018. He comes from Legends, where he was senior vice president of global sales. He'll officially take the role at the end of this year's tournament, and they'll continue to try to make or keep the Cognizant as one of the major stops on the PGA Tour. Now, Todd Fleming is based in Austin. He'll relocate to Palm Beach area, likely this summer. Like I said, he's been with Legends since 2010, had previous stops with The Heat, The Nets, the Cowboys, and the Bobcats. Todd Fleming, joining the PGA Tour as executive director of the Cognizant Classic in Palm Beach Gardens.
Finally, I do want to end with this, and I'll bring this up a couple of times on the Buzzcast, as we have some news from our home office. Josh Barnett will be joining Sports Business Journal as our new managing director of editorial. He joins us from the Buffalo News, where he had been the executive sports editor since 2017. He'll start at SBJ on Monday. He'll be based, eventually, in Buffalo, but will begin his stint by working out of SBJ's headquarters in Charlotte, for the first few months. He has a long history in newsrooms. The Philadelphia Daily News, USA Today, the Buffalo News. He's worked in big newsrooms and for respected publications in passionate sports markets, where readers demand news, expertise, accuracy and excellence, which are all tenets of SBJ.
I'd encourage you to reach out and introduce yourself to Josh, talk about how you read and use SBJ, and get to know him because I'm sure many of you will be working with him for years to come, pitching your thoughts and ideas his way. I'm very excited to have such an experienced pro lead our newsroom at such an important time in SBJ's history. You can reach him at jbarnett, B-A-R-N-E-T-T, @sportsbusinessjournal.com. Jbarnett@sportsbusinessjournal.com.
That is your Morning Buzzcast for Tuesday, February 13th. I'm Abe Madkour. Thanks for listening to the Buzzcast. Stay healthy, be good to each other. I'll speak to you tomorrow.