A big day for the Buffalo Bills; Another big day for Rose Zhang; Jody Allen still not engaging on team sales and from intern to Big Ten COO.
A big day for the Buffalo Bills; Another big day for Rose Zhang; Jody Allen still not engaging on team sales and from intern to Big Ten COO.
I am headed to Chicago for SBJ'S Brand Innovation Summit and will be there most of the week. But I know that Wednesday night I need to get back to my hotel room early enough to watch Oklahoma play Florida State in the NCAA Women's College World Series Finals for the second time in three seasons. This best of three series is a rematch of the 21 series. I find this competition incredibly compelling and I will certainly be watching. Let me know if you've been hooked by the Women's College World Series and this is your morning Buzz cast for Tuesday June 6th. Good morning, I'm Abe Mad Cor. Hope you're doing well and off to a good week. The Buffalo Bills are off to a big week. They had a very big day on Monday as the team broke ground on its new stadium and agreed to a new naming rights deal with Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield of Western New York to put the company's name on the team's new stadium that is scheduled to open in 2026.
Highmark has the naming rights to the team's current stadium, which has been the bill's home since 1973. However, the new long-term deal is reportedly greater in value, though no deal specifics were shared, but Bill's officials were present at the groundbreaking ceremony for the new 63,000 seat venue that is projected to cost 1.4 billion. Legends help secure the bills deal with Highmark and Legends is deeply involved in the new stadium handling project development as the owner's rep. They're handling sponsorship sales, premium sales, retail and ticket sales. And of course it was recently announced they will handle food and beverage at what will be called new Highmark Stadium until the venue opens in a few years and the current one is demolished, then it will just be called Highmark Stadium. Highmark's initial naming rights started in March of 2021. That deal included an option for Highmark two title sponsor any new stadium that the bills built.
Those talks happened in recent months. Wrapped up quickly. Highmark said it wanted to continue its association with the bills as they have seen brand awareness increase significantly in Western New York since the Bills partnership began. It was a big day for the bills, but also a big day for the NFL to be able to keep a team that has such a hold on the community in Buffalo N f NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell himself from that region called it one of the more memorable groundbreakings he has ever attended. The new stadium, of course, will be located across the street from the current Highmark Stadium. So all in all a very big Monday for the Buffalo Bills. Let's move on. We're always asked about which teams are the next to possibly be for sale and one team in the N B A that is frequently mentioned is the Portland Trailblazers and interest in the trailblazers resurfaced.
On Monday after two reports that Nike founder Phil Knight made additional offers to purchase the trailblazers that were for more than the 2 billion plus he reportedly offered last summer. Despite increasing the offer and the interest. Blazer's chair, Jody Allen, who is the sister to the late Paul Allen, didn't engage or express any desire to sell the team. Her actions seem to indicate the Blazers are not for sale and the estate of Paul Allen is not under any pressure to complete the sale within a specific timeframe. Phil Knight, of course, loves basketball. He would love to be an N B A owner. He wants to keep the team in Portland and he and his partners have big plans to revitalize the Rose Quarter, which is home to the team's arena and they wanna do a mixed use development in that area. Now the team's future arena home will be a key point of discussion as the team's lease expires in October of 2025.
That will clearly be a decision making point for the franchise. But for now, it still seems Jodi Allen has no interest in selling either the Blazers or the N F L Seattle Seahawks, which of course her late brother owned as well. So some intrigue around the Blazers and the Seahawks and Jodi Allen moving to baseball don't punch the a's move to Las Vegas as completed just yet. Yes, it's moving quickly, but there is still work to do as the Nevada legislature ended its spring session without passing a Senate bill that would have funded the team's planned Las Vegas ballpark. The session ended at midnight on Monday. That means state leaders will have to meet in special session to consider public financing for the ballpark. Now that's not unheard of, but it does add a timing obstacle. Remember the bill that was introduced in the Senate would have earmarked up to 380 million in public funds for the construction of the A'S 30,000 C 1.5 billion ballpark.
That's to be built on the site of the Tropicana Las Vegas Resort. So a special session again, could be called at any time including this month or over the summer, but this does slow some of the fast track momentum that's behind the as possible. Relocation from Oakland to Las Vegas. You know, I was watching, uh, ESPN's, pardon the interruption Monday afternoon and looking at their news crawl along the right side of the screen and it featured subjects to be discussed like the NBA finals, the Stanley Cup final and the third item was Rose Zang. And I thought, we don't see that type of coverage for the L P G A often and that speaks to day two of the Rose Zang era and most agreed the future seems very, very bright for the 20 year old saying, but also could mark a new era for the L P G A.
Now, wouldn't it be fascinating to be a fly on the wall at the L P G A offices or at Excel Sports Management who represents saying as they discuss how to build on the 20 year old's amazing success from over the weekend, what is the right approach and how do you manage it successfully? Certainly not an easy game plan to determine as we are potentially seeing the arrival of a generational talent in women's professional golf. Meanwhile, the L P G A is looking to improve its ticketing operation by starting a partnership with SeatGeek. This will be the first time the L P G A has a national ticketing platform. The L P G A believes that having a consistent platform will help drive sales as prior to this SeatGeek partnership. Ticket sales for L P G A events have been handled by the individual tournaments.
So a big business deal on the ticketing side between the L P G A and SeatGeek. And you know, we mentioned the work Legends is doing for the Buffalo Bills earlier in the Buzz Cast, they have picked up some other work. They landed a multi-year partnership with San Diego's new MLS team that we've talked a lot about on the buzz cast. So Legends will help sell partnerships, premium seating and ticket sales for San Diego's new MLS team. That team will begin or kick off in 2025. And finally a name in the news, a big promotion at the Big 10 conference. As new commissioner Tony Petitti puts together his executive leadership team, Carrie Kenny, who has been senior vice president for television media analytics and emerging platforms will now be Chief Operating Officer. Carrie Kenny will be based in Chicago and report directly to Petitti. Carrie Kenny was a key player in the Big tens.
Recent media deals with Fox, cbs, B S and N B C and now he'll of course oversee more departments including HR and finance. Kerry Kenny has deep roots with the Big 10. Here's a great story. He joined the conference as an intern in 2008 and now in 2023 he is named Chief Operating Officer Kerry Kenny is also a member of SB J'S 40 under 40 class for 2023. And that is your morning buzz cast for Tuesday, June 6th. I made mad Cor. Thanks for listening to the Buzz guys. Thanks for spreading the word on the buzz. Guys. Stay healthy, be good to each other. I'll speak to you tomorrow from Chicago.