The student athlete vs. employee debate continues, Wimbledon levels its finals ticket pricing and blockchain will make its Super Bowl ad debut.
David Albright:
You have more Winter Olympics coverage on tap, but there's another option for your viewing pleasure tonight, and it's unique. ESPN is producing the first nationally televised NBA game led by all women, both on camera and in pivotal roles behind the scenes, when the Golden State Warriors face the Utah Jazz at 10:00 PM Eastern. Calling the game will be Beth Mowins, Doris Burke and Lisa Salters. In addition, the broadcast will be comprised of all women-led production and operations teams. In total, 33 women who are ESPN staff and personnel will occupy the pivotal roles on site in Salt Lake City and in the control room at ESPN's Bristol campus. Hats off and good luck tonight, ladies.
Good morning. It's Wednesday, February 9th and this is your SBJ Morning Buzzcast. I'm David Albright filling in for Abe Madkour.
The National College Players Association has filed unfair labor practices charges against USC and UCLA, alleging football players and men's and women's basketball players, both schools have been misclassified as student athletes. The NCPA has also alleged that the schools' media policy violates labor law. Charges filed Tuesday with the National Labor Relations Board's regional office in L.A.. The Pac-12 and the NCAA are also named in each charge filed against the two schools. The charges are filed, at least in part, in response to a memo issued by NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo last year declaring certain college athletes "our employees" and saying she may pursue a charge of misclassification against schools that use the term "student athletes" to describe these players, according to the NCPA.
The NWSL Washington Spirit have finalized a new ownership structure with Michele Kang acquiring the interest of other team owners Bill Lynch and Steve Baldwin. Kang will be the controlling owner, working with other investors in a new ownership group. The team now has a locally-based, female-led ownership group that plans to invest substantially into staff, operations and infrastructure.
The blockchain category will make its Super Bowl debut on Sunday as three cryptocurrency exchanges, FTX, crypto.com and Coinbase are set to run their first commercials during the Rams-Bengals game. No details have been revealed about any of the spots, but the ad buys come following major sponsorship pushes by all three brands over the last year. FTX signed a $135 million naming rights deal for the Heat's arena, along with deals with MLB, the Warriors and Monumental Sports & Entertainment among others. crypto.com took over the naming rights to Staples Center in a reported $700 million, 20-year deal, and also signed deals with the 76ers, F1 and UFC among others. Coinbase signed on as the NBA's first crypto sponsor. Check back with SBJ's daily edition throughout the rest of the week on the latest regarding new advertisers and new creative for the Super Bowl, as well as a rundown on where each advertiser will have spots during the game.
TV ratings weren't the only thing that were up at the Busch Light Clash exhibition race at the L.A. Coliseum last weekend, as NASCAR is crowing about merchandise sales at the event handled by Legends. NASCAR Managing Director of Licensing and Consumer Products Paul Sparrow said sales on Sunday were three times those of the last full-capacity Clash race, held in Daytona in 2020. Top sellers were a commemorative black Clash T-shirt and cap sourced directly by Legends. Using a non-NASCAR venue for the race is thought to be a springboard to similar events in the future, much in the same way that the Michigan-Michigan State Cold War hockey game at Spartan Stadium in 2000 was a catalyst for the NHL outdoor games at stadiums. NASCAR holds options to repeat the event at the Coliseum in 2023 and 2024.
Ticket prices for this year's Wimbledon men's and women's singles finals are the same for the first time since 1991, after the All England Club decided to end a long-running discrepancy in the face value of center-court seats between the two matches. In recent years, tickets have been sold at a cheaper rate for the women's final, with spectators paying $271 to attend the 2021 women's championship match compared with $325 for the men's. This year, a top price of $325 is being charged to attend the women's final on Saturday, July 9th, the same cost as the men's final the following day.
In case you missed it, nominations for the 94th Annual Academy Awards came out Tuesday, and several sports titles were among the films honored, including King Richard, which was nominated in six categories. The movie looks at the father of Venus and Serena Williams and is among 10 films in the Best Picture category. Will Smith, who portrayed patriarch Richard Williams, was nominated for Best Actor, while Aunjanue Ellis, who played Venus and Serena's mother, Oracene Price, was nominated for Best Supporting Actress. The film also was nominated for Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing and Best Original Song. Meanwhile, The Queen of Basketball was nominated for Best Documentary Short. The film, which chronicles the life of the late Basketball Hall-of-Famer Lusia Harris, counts Shaquille O'Neal as an Executive Producer.
We'll end on a quick programming note. This week's edition of the Marchand and Ourand Podcast features Al Michaels, who delivers a gem of a story on the legendary Howard Cosell, and also talks about his plans after his NBC contract ends following Sunday's Super Bowl as he's being pursued by both Amazon and ESPN. You can listen to the Marchand and Ourand Podcast on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. That's your SBJ Morning Buzzcast for Wednesday. I hope everybody has a great day, and we'll see you back here tomorrow morning.