Rose Zhang delivers; Bears to run counter play? Horse racing's time of reflection and weekend must-reads
I will be in Chicago at SBJ'S Brand Innovation Summit this week. We will take in a WNBA game on Tuesday night, and the conference is Wednesday and Thursday. If you're going to be in Chicago and be at the conference, please let me know, I'd love to say hello. And this is your Morning Buzzcast for Monday, June 5th. Good morning, I'm Abe Madkour. Hope everybody is doing well.
Around 5:30 PM on Sunday, I was checking out a few sports events and it hit me; how was Rose Zhang doing in her professional debut? I quickly saw that she was atop the leaderboard at the Mizuho Americas Open at Liberty National and action was still taking place. So I turned on the golf channel and watched her win a playoff, as she lived up to all the pre-tournament hype as the next great women's golfer. It's really an amazing story, as the two-time NCAA champion became the first player in 72 years to win on the LPGA tour in her pro debut. Think about that for a moment.
Her win came only 13 days after she won the individual NCAA championship for the second time, and it really puts some wind at the back of the LPGA. Here you have an incredibly talented 20 year old who played at Stanford and she has won all along her journey. She was the top ranked women's amateur for 141 weeks. She won the US Women's Amateur, the US Junior Girls, the NCAAs and the Augusta National Women's Amateur. So she is the real deal. Sunday's victory earned her more than $400,000, and also an automatic LPGA tour membership. Now Rose Zhang, she'll make the media rounds. She'll appear on Monday on the Today Show and on ESPN Sports Center during the 11:00 AM hour. So a very good story for the LPGA and Women's Golf. Rose Zhang is going to be one of the most talked about athletes all week and moving forward with her impressive, impressive professional debut.
I mentioned Chicago at the top of the Buzz cast. Speaking of Chicago, we have talked about the Bears and the team's plans to potentially relocate outside the city of Chicago to Arlington Heights, but don't put that move ink quite yet. The Bears may be thinking about all their options and also looking for a little bit of leverage, as the team met with city leaders in Naperville on Friday and discussed the possibility of dropping their plans in Arlington Heights in favor of building a mixed use development in Naperville, which is a Western suburb. But Bears executives say they will continue to work on the Arlington Heights site, but admitted now, it's not their only focus, i.e. they are giving themselves some optionality. The reason for the shift; well, the Bears are not pleased on recent tax hikes on the former Arlington Park racetrack, and they believe the resulting tax increases would just be too onerous for them as the project developed. Now, Naperville is the fourth-biggest city in terms of population in Illinois. Most believe it's an actual viable option for the Bears. So the bottom line is that the Chicago Bears are looking for options and also probably want to gain a little bit of leverage in looking at additional locations for a possible relocation.
Let's move on. The sport of horse racing celebrates its final Triple Crown race on Saturday at the Belmont Stakes, but wow, we would all agree, it hasn't been the best time for the sport this year and more challenges came over the weekend with news that Churchill Downs is now suspending racing operations at the track, starting this week, moving the remainder of its spring meet to Ellis Park. This comes after 12 horses have died at Churchill Downs during the past six weeks. So races were held at Churchill Downs over the weekend. They will move to Ellis Parks, which is about 130 miles west in Henderson, Kentucky. They'll race at Ellis Park from June 10th through July 3rd. Churchill Downs said it needs more time to review all of the issues surrounding what may be causing these horse tragedies. Of the 12 deaths at Churchill Downs during the past six weeks, nine were breakdowns on the track. So they're looking very closely at the surfaces and the track. The difference between Ellis Park and Churchill Downs; well, Ellis Park's capacity is about 6,000. Churchill Downs of course can host more than 150,000, but these issues have certainly been a major concern and it's a real threat to the viability of the sport of horse racing. The entire enterprise is being criticized and questioned, and so this is a response by the leaders to try to take some action and figure out just what is happening.
There were two must reads out of the New York Times over the weekend, if you get a chance. First, a report broke late Friday and it outlined the plan of Saudi Arabia to become a soccer powerhouse around the world. Yes, while we're all still focused on Liv Golf, Saudi Arabia is aiming to sign some of the world's best known soccer players. They want them to join Cristiano Ronaldo in its National League and Saudi clubs are already approaching players around the world, with some of the highest annual salary offers in sports history. The deals could in all total more than a billion dollars for some 20 players who have been targeted. The goal by the Saudis is to turn the country's domestic league, the Saudi Domestic League, into a destination for top talent. It also is intended to increase the influence of Saudi Arabia within the sport of soccer, and they want to increase its profile as it bids for the 2030 World Cup. So again, Saudi Arabia seeing sports as a very high profile element to grow and to amplify its image. We've seen what they've done with Liv Golf. Now they are also targeting global soccer.
Another must read from the New York Times was on Sunday, when Benjamin Mullin looked at former CNN executive Jeff Zucker, who reportedly has made no secret of his unhappiness with the terms of his exit from CNN or his low regard for the performance of its current leader, Chris Licht. Now Jeff Zucker is also working on his next act, which is starting a new venture called RedBird IMI, that is with Gerry Cardinale, and he has a billion dollars to spend. He is looking for deals within the media, entertainment, sports and news space. Many believe that Zucker is looking closely at potentially investing across the sports or media or entertainment landscape. It's certainly a company, and Zucker is certainly a person, to keep your eye on. But the story has a lot of information. There is a lot in it, including the fraying of the relationship between Zucker and David Zaslav, who were once very close friends now, not so much. So it's a good read, in Sunday's New York Times, about Jeff Zucker and his next act.
Speaking before game one of the Stanley Cup final on Saturday, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman reiterated that the league will explore all options to have the Coyotes remain in Arizona, even after voters last month defeated the team's plans to build a new arena as part of a $2 billion entertainment district. Gary Bettman remains very bullish on the Arizona market. He called it a terrific market and a growing market with a lot of sports fans. The NHL also outlined an ambitious and exciting outdoor game concept, that could be one of the biggest in NHL history. Two games, back to back, at MetLife Stadium in February. First you'll have Devils, Flyers on February 17th and then Islanders and Rangers the following day. It's all part of the NHL stadium series.
They are going big with this concept. The NHL expects more than 75,000 fans per game. It'll be a big festival with entertainment, with youth hockey and music. ESPN will broadcast both games and the games will be sponsored by Navy Federal Credit Union. The plan for the games is to emphasize the culture of New York, New Jersey and so this will be a big stadium series. Again, more than 75,000 expected for both games on February 17th and February 18th, outdoors at MetLife Stadium. And finally, Gary Bettman noted that the NHL is nearing a record $6 billion in hockey related revenue for this season. So a lot of little nuggets coming out of the NHL State of the League press conference before game one of the Stanley Cup final.
We'll end on a couple of quick hitters. Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark said that expansion was discussed at last week's spring meetings, and the conference has a clear plan going forward. One source said that Yukon and Gonzaga were talked about probably the most during the meetings, but the presidents and chancellors are in a holding pattern on expansion until the Pac-12 announces its new media rights deal. But Yukon would bring the Big 12 football, Gonzaga, obviously a strong basketball powerhouse for potentially a relocation into the Big 12.
And finally condolences to Chiefs Nation and the NFL and the entire sports business as a real legend, who has seen so much in the sports business, Norma Hunt, the wife of Chief's founder and sports legend, Lamar Hunt, and the only woman to attend every Super Bowl has died at 85. Now, Norma Hunt worked for the Chiefs when it was known as the Dallas Texans. She was side by side with Lamar Hunt so many years. They were the pioneers in so many areas in the sports business. Norma Hunt saw the merger of the AFL and the NFL. She saw the formation of Major League Soccer. She saw the formation of World Championship Tennis, the North American Soccer League. They were founding investors in the Chicago Bulls. Norma Hunt, like I said, had seen it all. Her two sons, Clark Hunt and Dan Hunt remain in the sports business, our thoughts are with them, but we lost a graceful leader with the death of Norma Hunt at the age of 85.
And that is your Morning Buzzcast for Monday, June 5th. I'm Abe Madkour. Hope everybody has a great start to their week. Stay healthy, be good to each other. I'll speak to you tomorrow.