Pac 12 leaders stress unity, say new media deal imminent; Charlie Baker begins shaping his NCAA staff and does Marty Walsh make sense for the NHLPA?
We are just three weeks away from SBJ's Tech Week from March 7th to March 9th in New York City where the most forward thinking executives in sports will come together to celebrate, to network, and to learn about the latest in sports tech. Visit the event section of sportsbusinessjournal.com to register today. I'll be there and I'd love to see you. And this is your Morning Buzzcast for Tuesday, February 14th. Good morning. I'm Abe Madkour. Thanks for listening to the Buzzcast. While the early numbers are in for Fox Sports and Super Bowl 57 is on pace for the best Super Bowl since 2017 in terms of viewership. New England, Seattle, of course, is still number one. This Super Bowl 57 will also be the third best TV show in US history. That's according to SBJ's Austin Karp. Sunday's game drew 113 million viewers. These are preliminary fast national numbers.
Final numbers will come down today on Tuesday and the numbers are not expected to change much. Not surprisingly, Kansas City led all markets. Philadelphia was number two overall. The halftime show drew an average of 118 million viewers. That's the most watched Super Bowl halftime show since Katie Perry's performance in 2015. It is the second best halftime show on record. Remember last week an executive at Fox hinted he thought that the network could get the record, the most viewers for a broadcast ever more than 115 million viewers. And while they didn't quite reach that number, these are still very, very healthy numbers. And while we talk time and again about the death of linear television, these numbers prove that live sports still draws massive audiences in the current linear television landscape and I believe that will be the case for some time. Our Austin Karp will break down all of these numbers and more on sportsbusinessjournal.com.
I mentioned on Monday that I'll be attending my first ever Daytona 500 this weekend. If you'll be there, let me know and I will be in good company as Daytona International Speedway will see a complete sellout for Sunday's race and it marks the eighth straight year the race has sold out. So good numbers for NASCAR's biggest race and the start of its season. I want to shift to two consistent topics that were touched on during my conversations at the Super Bowl. I'll mention them both today. First, everyone was seemingly talking about the media rights for the Pac-12 as there didn't seem to be overwhelming interest among the media companies that I spoke with and no deal seemed imminent. So I found it slightly interesting that Pac-12 presidents on Monday released a statement addressing the media talks and saying they look forward to consummating successful media rights deals in the very near future, and they have had very positive conversations with multiple potential media rights partners over the past few weeks.
The statement is noteworthy because there have been reports and discussions of a possible fracture of the Big 12, but this statement of unity shows that the Pac-12 presidents are for now eager to remain together and dictate the future of the conference together. Now, any new deal would begin in the summer of 2024. The company most often mentioned is Amazon for the Pac-12, but ESPN is also brought up as a suitor for a possible package of games. Now all of this comes as the Pac-12 is considering expansion as SMU and San Diego State are the most frequently mentioned schools and multiple reports had Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff visiting SMU last week. So there is still a lot at play here with the Pac-12.
Every insider I'm speaking to are keeping their eyes on the Pac-12 media rights and possible Pac-12 expansion. Another consistent topic I had at the Super Bowl was the NFLPA search for a new executive director to replace the outgoing De Smith. And that process is still in the early stages. Some names have been floated, but there's no, I would say clarity onto timing or when a decision will be made. So I thought of that as news emerged that the NHLPA had really gone in a totally interesting direction in hiring US Secretary of Labor, Marty Walsh, as its new leader to replace the outgoing Don Fehr. So why is this interesting? Well, Larry Brooks of the New York Post who was in tune with labor sources reported over the weekend that the search firm hired by the NHLPA to handle the search, that's Russell Reynolds said it was told to find a candidate without any prior relationships with the union or NHL Commissioner, Gary Bettman.
Brooks also notes that Walsh was selected for the job really without detailing any formal plan or formal agenda for the union. Now, Marty Walsh is not a lawyer, but he was attractive to the NHLPA because of his political background and his lack of connection to the game or the leaders of hockey. So he comes with a blank canvas. While he hasn't been formally introduced and hasn't stated a course of action for the union, he will have some time as the next round of collective bargaining starts around 2026. But Marty Walsh would be an interesting fresh face for the NHLPA and Sports Union leadership. Speaking of newcomers to the sports business, incoming NCAA president, Charlie Baker has made his first big hire before taking over the governing body on March 1st.
He's bringing in his former chief of staff while he was governor of Massachusetts, Tim Buckley, who has over 15 years of government relation experience will join Baker as senior vice president of External Affairs. He will oversee government relations and communication efforts. Those are very important areas for the NCAA. The NCAA needs help in establishing better relationships in Washington and in state government as well as better messaging and public relations. So Tim Buckley was hired to do both, but like his boss, Charlie Baker, Tim Buckley is really a government and political executive. He has no formal experience in sports. He begins alongside Charlie Baker at the NCAA formally on March 1st. But that will be a very interesting turning of the page for the NCAA as they bring in new leadership. And finally, I found this interesting in that Madison Square Garden Sports Corporation is investing up to $10 million in Xtract One Technologies.
Now what is that? Well, that is an AI powered frictionless security screening tech company that is based out of Canada but has begun to gain traction in the North American sports scene. Now this is the system that allows fans to walk directly into a facility. It is frictionless and it really improves the pace of ingress and sports teams love it. You've seen these at major sports facilities and Xtract One is one of the companies. Now they recently changed the company's name from Patriot One Technologies to Xtract One in December. Their systems are deployed at the SAP Center, the Moody Center, Acrisure Arena and Rupp Arena. They will continue to get new business. They compete against the likes of Evolve, CEI OpenGate and Liberty Defense. Most of you attending events have seen these systems. The teams and the buildings love them because of how quickly they're able to get fans into a facility.
So I believe you're going to see more deals and more investment in this space because it really does help the fan experience and it really does help teams and venues. You see Madison Square Garden Sports Corp investing $10 million into Extract One Technologies. Again, this is a space we are keeping our eye on. And yes, I spoke to a few of you loyal Buzzcast listeners in Phoenix who are not subscribers to Sports Business Journal, and I said I'd come up with an appealing subscription offer to SBJ. So here it is. Go to our website, use the code Insider19, all one word, Insider19, and receive your first month of SBJ Insider for only $19. You'll become incredibly informed with our daily newsletters and weekly coverage.
That is Insider and the number 19 on our subscribe page and get your first month of SBJ Insider for only $19. This offer ends February 19th. And yes, if you love the Buzzcast, you will love being a subscriber to Sports Business Journal. And that is your Morning Buzzcast for Tuesday, February 14th. I'm Abe Madkour. Thanks for listening to the Buzzcast. Thanks for spreading the word on the Buzzcast. Stay healthy, be good to each other. I'll speak to you tomorrow.