Premium experiences sell big around U.S. Open in L.A.; Tepper Sports eyes understanding fans better by bringing on KAGR and breaking down two big hires
Everyone at Sports Business Journal wishes the best for PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan, who was recovering from an illness and that news broke yesterday, and that leads your morning Buzz Cast for Thursday, June 16th. Good morning, I'm Abe Madkour, hope everybody is doing well. We're going to start with golf because the US Open starts today. It is one of the most anticipated events in recent memory as it returns to the Los Angeles market for the first time in 75 years, so big time golf in the nation's number two market, and the news around the PGA Tour's proposed merger with the PIF has only added to the interest and energy and attention around the event. Merger talk has dominated storylines heading into the tournament of course, but NBC said it plans to walk a fine line in how it discusses it on air during tournament play and not overload viewers with discussion about the proposed merger.
Also heading into this week, it'll be a strong tournament for the USGA and Legends Golf, which the USGA contracted out to sell hospitality for the event this week. Under Legends, the US Open set a record for hospitality sales in revenue in what some on the ground are referring to as the C-Suite Open, a hat tip to the number of high level executives and other big-time hitters who will be in attendance. So premium golf in a market like Los Angeles is proving to be a good mix for business. With the event being on the West Coast, NBC is going prime time with its coverage. They'll go to 11:00 PM Eastern time on Saturday and 10:00 PM Eastern time on Sunday, and expect fewer commercial interruptions as USGA CEO Mike Whan announced that this year's weekend coverage on NBC will feature 30% fewer commercial breaks.
This came after complaints last year of too many commercial breaks during NBC's coverage. So NBC's weekend coverage will feature about 19 fewer commercial slots than last year's tournament. That's according to golf.com and that represents close to an hour of additional on-air time focused on golf over the two days. But despite the fewer commercial breaks, it will not result in fewer advertising dollars for NBC, meaning that NBC was able to sell spots at a higher ad rate or make it up in other sales inventory. But a lot of eyes on the US Open in Los Angeles, which tees off today on Thursday.
Let's move on. The Oakland A's, yes, they are moving closer to Las Vegas. We mentioned on yesterday's Buzz Cast that the Senate passed a bill leading the way for the A's to move. Now, Nevada State Assembly passed a bill. That happened on Wednesday. That will provide $380 million in public funding for a proposed $1.5 billion ballpark for the team on the strip. The A's are closer to leaving Oakland, their home since 1968, than ever before. Now like any legislative measure like this, there was reportedly a lot of lobbying in the last week by the club and that did help change a number of votes both in the Senate and the Assembly, and that led to passage of this legislation. One amendment that was added yesterday increased the A's annual community commitment to $2 million. Now the bill goes to Nevada Governor, Joe Lombardo, and he has 10 days to sign the bill, and Lombardo has indicated he would sign the legislation. So again, the Oakland A's moving very, very close to officially moving to Las Vegas.
Tepper Sports and Entertainment right here in my hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina, has signed a multi-year deal with KAGR in hopes of using analytics and data to better understand business opportunities around their fans. The Panthers will become the fourth NFL team to work with KAGR directly and Charlotte FC becomes the second MLS team to work with KAGR. Now KAGR is short for Kraft Analytics Group that was spun out of Kraft Sports and Entertainment in 2016. KAGR has been led since day one by Jessica Gelman. Tepper Sports will use KAGR's platform to improve customer engagement. They'll look at more than 25 consumer and operational data sources, including retail sales, concession sales. They'll also look at league-wide data from the NFL and MLS to really get a better sense and a better view of their fans. KAGR will also serve as a strategic consultant to Tepper Sports. Last week we reported that KAGR expanded its work with NASCAR, so KAGR works with NASCAR. It also works with the NFL, the Eagles, the Rams, the Patriots, and the New England Revolution and MLS. Now KAGR adds Tepper Sports and Entertainment as a client.
You know, when you make the rounds and talk to people about college sports and college athletic departments, everybody always focuses on the money, which is smart. And we get a glimpse today from USA Today about the revenue and expenses for fiscal year 2022 at some of these schools. In fact, all of the schools are listed in a USA Today directory if you go online, and it's certainly worth your time. Here are the highlights.
The school with the most revenue in college sports? You guessed it, Ohio State. It is the top earner bringing in more than $251 million in revenue in fiscal year 2022. That was followed by, you got it, Texas at $239 million. Number three. Can you guess? I bet you did. Yes, we got to think about the SEC as well, Alabama. $214 million. Number four, Michigan bringing in north of $210 million. After Michigan, number five is Georgia bringing in $203 million, number six, LSU bringing in $199 million, and number seven, Texas A&M bringing in $193 million. Now the full list is at usatoday.com. It also lists expenses. So for example, Ohio State we said brought in $251 million. Its expenses? $225 million. So again, a very interesting sortable database provided by USA Today about the revenue and expenses of college athletic programs for fiscal year 2022.
I want to end the Buzz Cast around some names in the news. First, Yahoo has hired longtime sports business executive Ryan Spoon to its newly created role as President of Yahoo Sports. He will report directly to CEO Jim Lanzone. Ryan Spoon has spent years in the business. He spent eight years at ESPN, eventually becoming Senior Vice President of Digital and Social. He also served as Chief Operating Officer of BetMGM. Most recently, he was COO at Sorare. That's the company that's involved in NFTs and fantasy sports. Now, Spoon was a recipient of SBJ's Forty Under 40 award in 2018 and 2020. He replaces Jon Shaw who has served as Interim General Manager of Yahoo Sports. But again, this is the first time that a person is President of Yahoo Sports. Jon Shaw will continue in a leadership role at Yahoo Sports reporting to Ryan Spoon.
And there is certainly a lot of buzz around Bay FC. That is the new NWSL team in the Bay Area that is backed by Sixth Street and a number of top female soccer players, and now the organization has made its first big hire and they bring this person from outside of sports. It's a very interesting hire. The team has hired Brady Stewart as the first CEO of the expansion club, and like I said, she's not from the sports business. She is a longtime executive at Levi Strauss & Co. She most recently served as Chief Commercial Officer of the beauty company, Forma Brands. But interestingly, at Levi Strauss, she led the growth of the company's direct to consumer business in the United States during her 14-year tenure at that company, and certainly that company knows a lot about branding and connecting with consumers. One source close to the hiring told me yesterday that Stewart is a rockstar and they suggested more big hires to come. That's why a lot of people are keeping their eye on Bay FC.
Stewart will report to a board that's co-chaired by Sixth Street CEO, Alan Waxman, and former US woman's national team player, Aly Wagner. Bay FC is expected to make its on-field debut just next year, 2024, so not a lot of time for new executive Brady Stewart to get this organization up and running, but a very interesting hire by one of the most talked about new teams in sports.
And so that is your morning Buzz Cast for Thursday, June 16th. I'm Abe Madkour. Everybody, have a great day. Stay healthy, be good to each other. I'll speak to you on Friday.