The draw of Caitlin Clark; the PWHL's big week; Ishbia's portfolio continues to grow and collectible company Mantel in beta-mode
While the legend lives on, Caitlin Clark is just eight points away from setting the NCAA women's career scoring record. Should happen tonight, Thursday night, and the interest is, real tickets for the game, we're going for an average of nearly $400 on the secondary marketplace, which would make those tickets the most expensive ever for a women's basketball game, college, or pro. Also, the Caitlin Clark Media Effect, if you read SBJ yesterday, you saw Austin Carps report that Fox set a network record for women's college basketball with the Iowa Nebraska game last Sunday, 1.7 million viewers. And yes, that topped Fox's record set just the week before for another Caitlin Clark game. So yes, the legend lives on, and will hit another milestone tonight. This is your Morning Buzzcast for Thursday, February 15th. Good morning. I'm Abe Madkour.
I do have to mention we are thinking of the city of Kansas City, the Chief's organization, and all the chiefs fans. How a day of such celebration could turn so tragic is unimaginable. It's heartbreaking that most of the wounded yesterday in Kansas City were young children celebrating their football team. Just an awful, awful event. Let's move on. I said yesterday I was going to be speaking with the Atlanta Sports Council, and while I did, the subject of the growth of women's sports came up. One of the big challenges mentioned about the continued growth in that space is that there has to be more corporate support. We need to see more and more brands jump in to support women's sports. Well, while not a new brand getting in, Discover Financial Services will continue its sponsorship of professional women's hockey by supporting the Professional Women's Hockey League.
The PWHL Discover previously sponsored the Premier Hockey Federation, but now they will put their logo on the helmets of the PW L'S Minnesota team. The company will also have in arena exposure at games in Minnesota and Boston and New York, so they'll be present. The size of the deal couldn't be determined, but regardless, this is the type of investment needed to continue the growth in women's sports, and a couple of other elements. The PWHL also is getting more exposure. They'll be on the Women's Sports Network starting Thursday night. The Women's Sports Network is a streaming network launched a couple of years ago. Also, the big PWHL night is on Friday when nearly 20,000 fans are expected to attend the Toronto and Montreal game at a sold out Scotiabank arena in Toronto, of course. That will be a big event, as the game is expected to break the world attendance record for women's professional hockey.
So another milestone, which will be a very good mark for the PWHL. Staying on this subject, we know that all leagues talk about growing their audience of female fans, and in the NFL, I know they pointed to the Taylor Swift effect, but something seems to be working, because the league is seeing a nice increase in female viewership. The New York Post reported that the Super Bowl on Sunday was watched by nearly 60 million women, the most ever, the most ever, and an increase of 9% from last year. Like I said, a record and up 9% from last year. Women made up more than 47% of the total game audience. That is the highest percentage ever for the Super Bowl. Not only did the NFL draw more female viewers, it also drew younger viewers to the Super Bowl. So that's the perfect mix. The Super Bowl was up 6% in the 12 to 17 demographic and up 10% in the 18 to 34 demographics.
So once again, NFL seeing viewer increases for the Super Bowl. For women and young audiences, that's what they were certainly looking for. Let's shift to some NBA news. Well, this is larger than NBA news, because Matt Ishbia will certainly be in Indianapolis this weekend for the NBA festivities. He also made some news in launching Player 15 Group, which is an operating and investment company for his sports and real estate holdings. That's the NBA Sons, the WNBA Mercury, the Footprint Center. They're also building a huge headquarters in campus in Phoenix. There's a new Mercury practice facility, and as of yesterday, they also have brought on an NBAG League franchise, so the Suns become the 30th and final NBA team to own and operate a G League franchise. It'll begin in just a few months for the '24/'25 season, so they will not have a lot of time to get this team ready and they will play at a undetermined venue in the Phoenix Metro area.
So Player 15 Group, what is it? Well, it's like we've seen in other sports organizations. Just like the Spurs Sports & Entertainment Group, Pacer Sports & Entertainment, monumental Sports, Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment, of course, Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment. So a lot of groups are doing these operating companies. What does the Player 15 group name mean? Well, Ishbia was a walk-on basketball player at Michigan State. He was the 15th man, and he wore Jersey number 15. That's the significance of the name for Player 15 Group. Matt Ishbia is putting together an impressive sports portfolio in one of the fastest growing regions in the country. Get ready for a new venture around sports collectibles. Yes, sports memorabilia and trading cards, and it's backed by some familiar names in the sports business. Alexis Ohanian's Venture Firm Seven Seven Six, and the media firm, Wheelhouse, have partnered to launch Mantel. Mantel is a new community and content platform dedicated to collectibles.
It will be led by Evan Parker, who's the former GM of the Athletic, and he will be CEO of Mantel. Evan Parker was honored in SBJ's 40 under 40 class in 2021. He had a long stint at NASCAR before joining The Athletic. There are some other big names behind Mantel. There's former Action Network, CEO, Patrick Kean. There's Gary Gary Vaynerchuk. There's Candace Parker, and there's the institutional investors, Courtside Ventures, all investing into Mantel. So what is the focus? Well, the site will serve as a social media platform, focusing on sports cards, sports memorabilia, and other trading card games. But it will seek to grow community with chats, discussions, and original content. It's in the beta phase right now and will launch fully later. And yes, Mantel the name, it's a tribute to the late great Yankee, Mickey Mantel. Finally, we'll end with this, another 40 under 40 honoree, Wade Martin, has been named CEO of Josh Harris and David Blitzer's Youth baseball portfolio.
So what do they have? They have Ripken Baseball, Cooperstown All Star Village, the Baseball Factory, the Softball Factory. So Josh Harris, David Blitzer, really bullish, obviously, on youth sports, particularly youth baseball. So Wade Martin will look to grow and expand those facilities, and they have tournaments, and they also have training and player development platforms. So that's his mission, to grow those businesses. Wade Martin has worked in the event brand and experience space for years. He was at Powder. He was at Snowbird. He was at the [inaudible 00:08:19] Tour and NBC Sports, so Wade Martin now becomes CEO of Josh Harris and David Blitzer's Youth Baseball Portfolio. And so I'll be in Indianapolis on Friday for the NBA's Tech Summit, but I will be back and speaking to you on Monday, so that is your Morning Buzzcast for Thursday, February 15th. I'm Abe Madkour. Thanks for listening to the Buzz Cast. Stay healthy, be good to each other. I'll speak to you on Monday.