TV sports ad revenue continues to set records, the Big 12 and Pac-12 decide not to dance and Tom Glick officially takes over the day-to-day at Chelsea.
Congratulations to Washington national star, Juan Soto for winning last night's Home Run Derby at Dodgers Stadium and taking home the $1 million prize. If you can't get enough of the Derby then hope for a tie after nine innings in tonight's All-Star game. If that's the case, three players from the AL and NL will each take three swings to decide the winner of the game. On yesterday's Buzzcast we mentioned that football was just over the horizon even though you're still enjoying summer. Want more proof? Rookies for the Bills and Raiders reported to training camp on Monday and that's followed by rookies for the Falcons, Ravens, Chargers, Dolphins, Patriots, Saints, Giants, and Jets reporting to training camp today.
Good morning. It's Tuesday, July 19th and this is your SBJ Morning Buzzcast. I'm David Albright filling in for Abe Madkour. TV sports executives tell our John Ourand they are not experiencing any negative effects from either inflation or recession fears. Example one, Fox is setting a revenue record with tonight's All-Star game. Fox Sports will make 30% more ad sales revenue from this game than it's ever made from baseball's All-Star game. The record revenue haul comes from 25 new advertisers, some of which are paying more than 700,000 for a 30 second spot, a record high rate for the Midsummer Classic. The rate is up a double digit percentage over last season. New brands that bought time in the game include Airbnb, Bank of America, Intel, Qatar Airways, and Samsung. Tech has been the fastest growing category. Last year the tech category accounted for 2.5 million in ad spending. This year it's more than 7 million.
Example two, Disney closed what it is calling the strongest upfront in company history. Disney provided the latest example that the crunch of inflation and the threat of recession is not affecting its ad sales market yet either. Company described the 2022-23 upfront as the strongest in its history, saying that it sold nine billion in advertising commitments, live events and the Disney+ ad tier drew the most interest. It saw double digit increases in sports volume and pricing for the second year in a row. It highlighted women's sports as a significant driver of those increases. Advertisers committed 40% of the upfront revenue to streaming and digital. Top categories are diversified consumer services, financial services, median entertainment, pharmaceutical, retail, tech, and telecom.
Talks about a partnership between the Big 12 and the Pac-12, which had been discussed extensively the past two weeks, have officially ended, sources told ESPN. Officials from the Big 12 told Pac-12 officials on Monday that they're no longer interested in exploring the partnership. A Big 12 source said that the deal didn't work for the conference for a multitude of reasons, which included the fact that any potential deal wouldn't have driven much revenue for the league. A Pac-12 source briefed on the conversation, said that the Big 12 had expressed interest in possibly exploring a full merger. The Big 12 source said of the three options laid out by the Pac-12, pooling rights, a scheduling concept, or fully combining the leagues, the only scenario that could've potentially driven value because of the sheer numbers of the schools and population areas was a full merger of the leagues.
In some people news, Chelsea have appointed Tom Glick as their new president of business. Glick's last role was as president of the NFL's Carolina Panthers, and he also created the foundation for the successful launch of Charlotte FC this season. Previously worked at New York City FC and the City Football Group, and was chief executive at Derby County in the 2000s. Glick will oversee the day-to-day running of Chelsea with chairman and co-owner Todd Boehly still acting as an interim sporting director. It's believed that Glick agreed to take the role last month, but the club waited to finalize his appointment in order to concentrate on completing the signing of Raheem Sterling and other transfer business. Glick was a member of the SBJ Forty Under 40 classes in 1999 and 2000.
C360, the computer software company that has brought technology such as PylonCam to NFL broadcasts has hired former NBC Universal and AOL sports executive, Carlos Silva as CEO. Silva's digital and computer science background, as well as his experience as CEO of World TeamTennis and Professional Fighters League is a fit for C360, which delivers immersive live video to OTT platforms, direct to consumers, and to broadcast networks, such as ESPN, Fox, CBS, and NBC. The company also provides streaming and video solutions for leagues such as the NFL, MLB, NHL, NASCAR, and UFC.
TurnkeyZRGs, Rick Alessandri headed C360s recruitment of Silva, who arrives after serving as president of MDE Sports, which owns Washington DC's Citi Open Tennis Tournament, the Washington Justice esports team, the City Paper, and the Washington Kastles of World TeamTennis. Spurred by the trend of declining participation in community youth sports organizations, the NBA and WNBA launched what league executives call their most expansive grassroots basketball initiative ever in the US, writes our Eric Prisbell in the current issue of Sports Business Journal.
Junior NBA leagues and national network of youth basketball leagues announced last week for boys and girls ages six to 14 is aimed at specifically addressing access and equity issues that were exacerbated during the pandemic. What they bill is a best in class recreational basketball experience will tip off in November with leagues across 11 markets. The vision, begin this initiative in a diverse mix of markets and then expand nationwide in the coming years. Log on to sportsbusinessjournal.com to read this story and more in the July 18th issue of SBJ. And that's your SBJ Morning Buzzcast for Tuesday. I hope everyone has a great day and we'll see you back here tomorrow morning.