Las Vegas' sports profile continues to expand; The intrigue around the PGA Tour/PIF deal and Jay Monahan's future and Peacock spends marketing dollars at LA Live
Well, we made it to Friday and this is your morning Buzzcast for Friday, June 16th. I'm Abe Madkour. Thanks for listening to the Buzzcast. Well, another step for the Oakland A's getting closer to Las Vegas, as Nevada Governor, Joe Lombardo signed the bill that will provide $380 million in public funding to bill a $1.5 billion ballpark in Las Vegas on the strip for the A's. In signing the bill the governor said Las Vegas's position as a global sports destination is only growing and that Major League Baseball is another tremendous asset for the city, he said. Well, that is certainly true. It's amazing what Las Vegas is becoming as a sports hub and destination for sports commerce. Major League Baseball commissioner, Rob Manfred, said, "Any timing of whether owners approve of the A's relocating to Vegas depends in part on how quickly the A's can get their formal relocation application together, which will be reviewed by a relocation committee appointed by Manfred." He would not speculate on any timeline.
Meanwhile, Manfred acknowledged he felt sorry for the fans in Oakland and said he didn't like the outcome. That sounded almost like the move was a fait accompli. He said MLB wasn't sure what the city of Oakland was prepared to do and that there was no offer from Oakland. He said at some point you come to the realization it's not going to work or happen. Meanwhile, don't look for Manfred and Oakland officials to do any social events together anytime soon as the Oakland's mayor office responded to Manfred's comments calling them totally false and that the city did present a very concrete proposal and had gone above and beyond to clear hurdles. So obviously some bruised feelings in Oakland. Now we look to Las Vegas. Exact timeline for any move is not sure. Now in Vegas the A's would play at the AAA Las Vegas Aviators Ballpark.
That is a fairly new ballpark. It seats about 10,000 So the A's could also expand their market by playing some regular season games in Reno during that time. So you could be playing at the Aviators Ballpark. There's a facility in Reno they could play at. The A's Lease in Oakland expires after next season, so October of '24. But the A's in the city of Oakland could agree to end the deal after this season and the A's could relocate rather than having to play a lame duck season in Oakland, which would not be really good or positive for anyone. So still some moving pieces, but no doubt the A's relocation from Oakland to Las Vegas becoming more and more likely as the days go on.
Meanwhile, there is more news in Las Vegas as Oak View Group's, Tim Leiweke spoke in the city on Thursday and said he is planning to build a $1 billion NBA-ready arena and will develop it without asking for any public money. That's the key takeaway. Leiweke saying that they will ask for no public funding for this arena. He said the strategy is to get the 20,000 seat arena built and available for an NBA franchise, should the league choose to expand or relocate a team. A timeline for the project has not been established, but the arena should be ready by 2026 or could be ready by then and that is the year that NBA commissioner, Adam Silver, has hinted about possible expansion timelines.
Here's how a number of people I've talked to are viewing this, the NBA just completed its CBA. So the CBA is done now. It's talking about its next media deal. As soon as its media deals are done in the next year or so, they move toward expanding to 32 teams with Las Vegas and Seattle, two clear front-runners for possible expansion. So that's how many are seeing this long-term plan shaping out with NBA expansion with Vegas and Seattle, the clear leaders in the clubhouse. So we will see, but obviously a lot of news out of Las Vegas and it shows what a sports hub that city is.
Let's move on. I know a lot of us will be watching the US Open all weekend. There's so much news around golf. The US Justice Department has begun to examine the deal between the PGA Tour and the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund to determine whether it violates antitrust statutes. Now the inquiry is in the early stages. It's not clear yet whether the Justice Department would take any action. A probe like this certainly alleges some form of monopoly with this newly formed group. Too much leverage in dictating when and where and for how much the world's top golfers play and compete. So there's obviously some monopoly concerns here while both sides, the PGA Tour and the Saudi PIF knew this was likely, it is still challenging when the Justice Department gets involved and this is certain to prolong any details coming out or the plans for this merger.
Meanwhile, Dustin Johnson, who of course plays for LIV Golf, said that he has been told by Yasir Al-Rumayyan that LIV Golf will be back in business through 2024 despite this new merger plan and there still hasn't been clarity about whether LIV Golf continues and whether the brand continues and in what capacity it continues. But Dustin Johnson said he has been told LIV Golf coming back for '24. What was also interesting to me was longtime golf reporter Alan Shipnuck really publicly wondering aloud whether PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan will return to his role. Now as we know, Jay Monahan took a step back this week due to health concerns and Shipnuck hinted surprisingly to me that this could be the, "Beginning of a graceful exit." Shipnuck alluded that Monahan could cite health concerns, that he negotiated this merger and then passed the rest of this onto some somebody else, a another leader.
So the bottom line from Alan Shipnuck is that sports business insiders shouldn't assume Jay Monahan is coming back. That was one report that really made me stop and think and so a lot of news in the golf world. Certainly there must be incredible buzz and talk in Los Angeles on the ground at the US Open and we will circle back on this story next week.
We have talked a lot about the big run of global events coming up the World Cup in '26, maybe a Woman's World Cup in the United States in '27, the Olympics in '28. We have talked about Salt Lake City possibly bidding for the '30 or '34 Winter Olympics. And a lot was dependent on if there were any other bidders for the '30 Winter Games, as the preference of Salt Lake leaders and most Olympic leaders in the US was to look at hosting the games in 2034. Well now it looks like Sweden could step up as it's moving closer to submitting a formal bid to host the Winter Olympics for the first time for the 2030 games. Sweden reportedly sees an opening because of Salt Lake's interest to '34 and even Sapporo, Japan's interest in '34 and IOC officials have been clear saying, "No other cities are really interested in the 2030 Winter Games." So there you have it. Sweden could step up, be the almost exclusive preferred host for the 2030 Winter Games, while the US and Salt Lake target 2034. But this is still fluid, still moving and a story we will continue to watch.
And speaking of the big events, as we look toward '26 and '28 in Los Angeles, one company has made a big bet for more exposure in that Los Angeles market as the Peacock streaming service by NBC Universal did a deal with AEG for naming rights at LA Live's theater and plaza renaming it, Peacock Theater and Peacock Place. That replaces the previous name of the Microsoft Theater and the Xbox Plaza. So Peacock becomes LA Live's exclusive streaming partner. They're going to launch a content studio at LA Live. This is Peacock's first naming rights for an entertainment venue and it really shows how the media companies are putting marketing dollars behind their streaming service.
We've seen sports deals for other streamers. Now comes this deal with Peacock and AEG. It shows that Peacock sees the benefit in advance of LA's hosting World Cup matches and the Summer Olympics to get some broad exposure in downtown LA, around some of the biggest global events in sports. And I anticipate you're going to see more streaming companies spend dollars in marketing and sponsorship around sports.
And that is your morning Buzzcast for Friday, June 16th. I'm Abe Madkour. Hope everybody has a great weekend and enjoys the US Open. Stay healthy, be good to each other. I'll speak to you again on Monday.