The Suns make a media rights move and the Messi Effect in Miami; the Mountain West to make a decision on the league's future and Jay Monahan returns.
Well, that is a men's final that people will be talking about for a long time, and I'm sure they'll be talking about it this week when I attend SBJ's Thought Leader Retreat at the Ojai Resort in California. Looking forward to talking a lot about that amazing match on Sunday. Also, David Albright will bring you the Buzzcast the rest of the week. And this is your morning Buzzcast for Monday, July 17th. Good morning. I'm Abe Madkour.
We continue to see major changes in the team media business. Big news out of Phoenix on Friday is that the Suns and Mercury Meteorites will go to Gray Television. That's after Diamond Sports opted not to match the deal that was originally announced in late April. Suns and Mercury owner, Mat Ishbia, noted it as an industry-shifting partnership, and it could be as Gray Television gives more than 2.8 million homes across Arizona access to Suns and Mercury games as part of its over-the-air coverage.
SBJ's John Iran reported that Diamond could not match that distribution coverage with its RSN, and the Suns and Mercury also have an in-house ad sales team that also benefited the deal for Gray Television. Remember Ishbia did announce the deal in late April, but a bankruptcy judge voided the deal, saying that the team had to allow Diamond Sports a chance to match. Diamond Sports owns and operates Bally Sports Arizona and had carried Suns and Mercury games, but they couldn't or didn't want to match the offer.
So why is this important? Well, this deal is unique as it was the first team that sold all of its media rights to a local over-the-air broadcaster. Team executives have voiced the belief that this type of deal could be the start of a trend. Last month we saw the Utah Jazz cut a similar local TV rights deal with the Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owns local channels in Utah. So a compelling angle for the teams is the wide distribution that these over-the-air broadcasters provide. And these over-the-air broadcasters are emerging as serious players in sports media, and certainly Gray Television is one of them.
Well, the Messi era has begun as Inter Miami welcomed Lionel Messi on Sunday night with a ceremony at the team stadium, which was televised on Apple TV. Messi's contract will run through 2025. A source noted his total compensation package will be between $130 to $150 million when all is said and done. That includes equity in Inter Miami after his playing days are over. Now Messi is expected to make his debut Friday, July 21st, and he is expected to meet the press today on Monday with his first practice with the team expected on Tuesday. This is a big deal as there were reportedly so many requests for Messi's introductory press conference on Monday that the event was moved offsite to accommodate more reporters and photographers.
So how is the team preparing for this? Well, one, they will beef up security at the stadium and their training grounds. The team added 100 new VIP field level seats. New bleachers were also added immediately, taking capacity from 19,000 to around 22,000. There will be more points of sales for food, beverage and merchandise, and the press box is being expanded from 37 to 52 seats as the team is expecting more and more media coverage. So yes, they're paying him a lot, and Inter Miami needs to monetize Messi as much and as soon as possible.
I would argue one of the most or more interesting franchises right now in all of sports are the San Antonio Spurs. We know who they landed with their number one draft pick. We have seen the team broaden its marketing throughout Texas and into Mexico. The Spurs won an ESPY last week, taking home the Sports Humanitarian Team of the Year Award. And so they are doing a number of interesting things, and now comes a report that the Spurs are exploring the idea of developing a downtown arena, and it would come at the same time as the AAA San Antonio Missions new owners are also looking to build a new ballpark in the city core. And the buildings ideally could be built next to each other. The Holt family, which owns the Spurs, also owns a stake in the Missions, and the belief is that by having the buildings side by side, you could create a real hub of business activity in that part of the city. It's early, but it shows the team's thinking. And the Spurs' lease at AT&T Center, which is 21 years old, expires in 2032.
It was a very strong weekend for the WNBA in Las Vegas. A lot of buzz around Sabrina Ionescu's performance during the three-point contest on Friday afternoon. She converted 20 straight threes and scored a record 37 out of a possible 40 points. That's a record for any NBA or WNBA three-point contest. She lit it up. Her performance was so strong, but there were some questions about why more people didn't get to see it, as both the three-point contest and the skills challenge were televised by ESPN Live. But at 4:00 PM Eastern Time, 1:00 PM local time in Vegas on Friday, the NBA Summer League received the more coveted evening primetime slots for those games. According to sources, the afternoon time slot was agreed upon months prior, but I am sure there'll be talk about adjusting the schedule for next year.
Meanwhile, there was some pushback from WNBA players who felt this year's All-Star Game was almost inconvenient because of the short All-Star break. Most teams played Tuesday before traveling to Vegas for Friday's All-Star Game practice. The league resumes play tomorrow on Tuesday. So players were bringing up that it wasn't much of an All-Star break, and next year will be even more challenging from a scheduling perspective as the schedule will be condensed to make room for a break for the Paris Summer Olympics in August. So some challenges around the WNBA All-Star Game. And speaking of next year's All-Star Game, it will be held in Phoenix, which had been coveted. The game had been coveted by Matt Ishbia. This will mark the third time Phoenix has hosted the WNBA All-Star Game.
So this is a pretty heavy, busy weekend around college sports. The Mountain West today and its board of directors will have a video conference Monday, today, to determine the status of San Diego State. The board will likely determine the fate of the school. It's possible that the school could be out of the conference effective July 1, 2024, or the board could decide to keep them with some penalties perhaps. Remember, San Diego State had written notice that it planned to leave the Mountain West Conference effective at the end of June next year or an agreed-upon later date.
It was believed at that time the school was interested in joining the PAC-12 once the PAC-12 secures a new media rights deal and will consider expansion. But San Diego State said later that it hadn't left the conference. So this meeting today will discuss and maybe determine the status of its membership in the conference. I would believe the two sides come to an agreement. I don't believe any money will get withheld from San Diego State. I would predict San Diego State remains in the conference for the next two years, but we will have to see the temperature of the Board of trustees and how they approach it.
Meanwhile, Mountain West Commissioner Gloria Nevarez will meet the media during its football media days on Wednesday. Thursday, we will hear from PAC-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff, where you know he will face a number of questions about that pending media deal. SEC media days take place in Nashville for the first time. Beginning today on Monday through Thursday, we will hear from Commissioner Greg Sankey today, Monday. We will also be seeing Sankey in his role for some time as Sankey and the SEC have agreed to a contract extension through 2028. Greg Sankey is in his ninth year as the SEC's Commissioner. He is the eighth commissioner in conference history, and he is clearly one of the most influential leaders in college sports, if not the most influential.
And finally, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan is scheduled to return to his job today on Monday after his recent absence due to an undisclosed health issue. There will be a number of questions about his leadership, as Golf Week reported over the weekend that how long Monahan will be in his role is a quote, matter of feverish speculation, end quote. Golf Week also reported that Monahan doesn't have a lot of support or trust among policy board members, and we know players have a ton of questions for him and about his leadership. Now Jay Monahan does have a lot of friends and advocates. He is well-liked, but the question of whether that likability has given him enough capital to stay in the job for the long-term is in question.
And so that is your morning Buzzcast for Monday, July 17th. I am Abe Madkour. Again, David Albright will bring you the Buzzcast for the rest of this week. I'll speak to you again next week. In the meantime, stay healthy, be good to each other and have a great week.