Padres fans support Peter Seidler's strategy and the White family college legacy continues
Netflix released the first trailer last night for Bill Russell: Legend, offering an early glimpse of its upcoming documentary which is directed by Sam Pollard. It will be in two parts. First part will be released on Netflix February 8th. Trailer dropped last night, check it out. Tonight, I'll be at the 23XI Racing and Charlotte Hornets Crossover Night as the Hornets host the Chicago Bulls, and then I'll be at Marco Island at the NACDA Winter Meetings this weekend. If you're at either event, please stop by, say hello. Also, David Albright will bring you the Morning Buzzcast Friday and Monday. This is your Morning Buzzcast for Thursday, January 26. I'm Abe Madkour. Thanks for listening to the Buzzcast. I want to start with a name in college athletics that continues to get noticed. The University of Tennessee is obviously pleased with the work that athletic director Danny White has done as they have agreed to a contract extension with White starting at $2.2 million a year with a six-year rolling term.
Now the Volunteers had been looking for someone strong and stable to offer leadership within the athletic department for some time, and Danny White has delivered. The football program has certainly rebounded. The men's basketball program, I believe, is in the top five in the country, and the women's basketball program is consistently strong. In fact, ESPN's College GameDay is in Knoxville tonight for the University of Connecticut versus Tennessee and the annual We Back Pat event honoring the late Pat Summitt. But back to Danny White. He's overseen a department that's won six SEC titles in two years and he's had a record fundraising round in the '21-'22 calendar year. SI reports that the deal at $2.2 million a year is believed to make Danny White the highest paid athletic director in the SEC and among the top eight nationally. He joined the University of Tennessee from the University of Central Florida.
Danny White, of course, comes from a long line of Whites in college athletics. His father, Kevin White, was the longtime athletic director at Duke. His brother Mike White is head basketball coach at the University of Georgia. He has another brother Brian, who is athletic director at Florida Atlantic, and his sister Mariah is assistant athletic director at SMU. So quite a family in college sports, indeed, with the White family. Danny White staying at the University of Tennessee with a new contract extension. Let's move on. Listeners of the Buzzcast know how much I admire what the San Diego Padres are doing, have done, and continue to do, spending on players and the really strong, relentless pursuit of a World Series Championship. I find owner Peter Seidler to be one of the most impressive owners in all of sports. He has said time and time again that if he invested in the team and increased payroll, he believed it would be supported by the fans.
Well, he seems to be right, so much so that they are capping season ticket sales this year and implementing a wait list for the first time in the team's 54-year history. Remember, these are the San Diego Padres we're talking about. The Padres are already over 23,000 full season equivalents for the upcoming season, and that's already broken the season ticket sales record it set last year when it sold about 19,000 full season equivalents. So the team wants to keep some inventory back for single game buyers. They believe they'll probably cap off at about 24,000 full season tickets and that season ticket number is really strong. For context, it puts the San Diego Padres at number three in baseball, behind only the Dodgers and the Braves. I really don't know how many of us would have believed the Padres would be number three in season tickets in all of baseball or number one in new full season ticket sales this off-season, which they are ranked right now.
Remember, Seidler's had quite a run. They traded for Juan Soto. They signed Xander Bogaerts. Those two were added to a lineup that already included Manny Machado and Fernando TatÃs. Peter Seidler has stepped up and the fans have certainly followed and the Padres are one of the most interesting stories in all of baseball. A quick shift to the NBA because look for the Phoenix Suns to have a new owner shortly as Mat Ishbia's purchase of a majority stake in the Suns and the Mercury valued at about $4 billion is expected to become official in the next two weeks, ESPN reporting that Ishbia is likely to assume control before the February 9th NBA trade deadline. So that'll be interesting to see if he gets in and makes any immediate moves. Now remember, he agreed to purchase controlling stakes in both teams on December 20th, so new leadership coming soon to the Phoenix Suns.
A major move in international sport as the IOC is clearing the way for Russian and Belorussian athletes to compete in the '24 Paris Summer Olympics. They will compete as neutral athletes despite the ongoing war in Ukraine. Russian and Belorussian athletes would be classified as neutral and in no way represent their state or any other organization in their country. You know that we're seeing some issues at the Australian Open with the presence of Russian symbols and flags and that would be banned at the Olympics. But the IOC did add that athletes who have been active supporting the war in Ukraine could be excluded from the Paris games. So this is an ongoing story, one to watch. Russian athletes have not competed under their country's name in an Olympics since the 2016 Rio Games during a dispute over doping. So this is a story that's been going on for some time, but the IOC, bottom line is they want these athletes to compete and so that's what we'll keep our eye on.
Let's end the Buzzcast around some names you might want to know. First, Heather Davis is the new full-time CEO of the Portland Timbers and Thorn after serving as the Timbers' top executive in an interim capacity since October. She'll oversee all business and operational aspects of the Timbers, the NWSL Thorns, and their facility Providence Park. Prior to joining the Timbers organization last May, she spent nine years at the NFL league office where she was senior counsel. Remember, owner Merritt Paulson plans to sell the NWSL Thorns while retaining ownership of the MLS Timbers. Now, Heather Davis is one of five women currently overseeing business operations for an MLS club as president or CEO. So again, we're seeing a more diversified ranks among leadership in Major League Soccer.
Finally, ticketing platform and tech company Logitix has named AEG Sports senior vice president of business operations and strategy, Aaron LeValley, as chief strategy officer. Now LeValley is pretty well-known in the sports business circles. He's a 2021 SBJ 40 under 40 honoree. He joined the LA Kings and AEG from the Oakland Raiders in 2009 after completing his MBA in sports business at Arizona State. Aaron LeValley is well-known in sports business analytics circles. He is seen as one of the leaders in business intelligence. Now he is going from AEG to Logitix. So that is your Morning Buzzcast for Thursday, January 26th. I'm Abe Madkour. Thanks for listening to the Buzzcast. Remember, David Albright will bring you the Buzzcast Friday and Monday. Until I speak to you again, stay healthy, be good to each other, have a great rest of the week.