The Messi move adds to a already historic week and takeaways from Brand Innovation Summit in Chicago.
The Messi move adds to a already historic week and takeaways from Brand Innovation Summit in Chicago.
Every year it seems we get a week where the news just doesn't stop and it's historic. And this second week of June is clearly one of them. From the live golf p g A tour merger to now Messi, coming to Major League Soccer, it has been a knockout. And this is your morning Buzz cast, A special morning buzz cast coming to you from Chicago. On Thursday, June 8th, I made Madhur. Thanks for listening to the Buzz cast. And let's get right to the big news. Leon Messi confirmed he is going to Miami. He declined an offer to play in Saudi Arabia, deciding instead to play with Enter Miami and Major League Soccer. What a huge boost to MLS and enter Miami. He will reportedly receive 40 million per season for three years with an exit clause at the end of the first two years, of course, into Miami's owner David Beckham was key in landing.
Messy and messy will bring more attention to US soccer than anybody really could. It does remind me of when David Beckham landed at the LA Galaxy in 2007. I believe that was huge. This is going to be, I think even bigger. The Miami Herald splashes the messy news above the fold of its front page. Today, the New York Times has messy all over its newspaper. Under the headline, A major coup for Inter Miami. This is the star power. They needed to really amplify that club that has struggled at time to really find its home and its space and its profile. Now they have it to make this deal work. Enter Miami and Major League Soccer, structured a very complex agreement, which includes an ownership state in the team once Messi's playing career is over. There are also unique revenue sharing agreements with Apple and Adidas two companies.
Messi has long relationships with, and two companies that are of course partners with Major League Soccer. Those deals would be linked to increased sales for Adidas and to increased subscription sales for Apple tv, which of course this year acquired the rights to broadcast m MLS games. Apple will also produce a multi-part documentary about Messi. So this is a huge shot in the arm. Just look at the business jolt. He gave one visiting team. Enter Miami is playing Charlotte FC in October at Bank of America Stadium. Yesterday. Charlotte FC sold 10,000 tickets for that match just in a few hours. This is a massive boost for Major League soccer and a massive boost for soccer in America. We'll have plenty more on this as the days and weeks continue. As I mentioned, I'm in Chicago for SB J'S Brand Innovation Summit at the Ritz Carlton. A few key takeaways that the audience of more than 500 executives took from the discussion yesterday.
They continued today. First, there was more talk about the growth and interest of women's sports from the brand side and the agency side than I can ever remember. Two, there was more discussion about the power of the athlete brand and how young people in particular value athletes over teams, and that's influencing brand decisions about where to put their sponsorship and partnership dollars. Number three, there was continued talk about the personalization of the sports experience for fans. Number four, a lot of focus on purpose-driven marketing and partnerships where brands and sports can align to help society. And number five, there were specific cases, specific case studies of where sports partnerships have really driven business for challenger brands in particular. So those were five key takeaways for me. More to come today, I'm sure. Meanwhile, allies, Andrea Bremer, who handles the marketing and branding for that financial services brand gave a compelling presentation yesterday morning where she laid out ally strategies for elevating women's sports.
We know that Ally has been incredibly supportive of the N W S L, the N W S L Players Association, but they're also sponsors in NASCAR and in MLS with Charlotte fc. So they have a diversified portfolio, but she is focused right now on women's sports. Ally's goal with growing women's sports is breaking what Andrea Brimmer called the Vicious Cycle that is stifling the growth of women's sports. That vicious cycle includes, well, it starts with the lack of media coverage and then the lack of sponsor support and then the low pay for the female athletes. That's what she calls her vicious cycle, and she is aiming to break that by saying that the corporate sponsors need to step up first. And that was part of her presentation where she also announced Ally's latest efforts around women's sports. Introducing the Ally Tipoff that will take place.
November 9th Ally will be a title sponsor of a new event in Charlotte, North Carolina. Were two high profile women's college basketball teams, Iowa and Virginia Tech, a pair of Final four teams last season. And of course Iowa with Caitlin Clark. They will play in Charlotte to really tip off their individual seasons. Ally is the title sponsor. The Charlotte Sports Foundation will organize the game and Brimmer said the game fits nicely with an allies initiative known as the 50 50 pledge, which started in May of 2022. And that's the company's five year plan to reach media equity, meaning that its marketing and media spending will be the same across men's and women's sports during that time. So this is another step that Ally is taking to help amplify women's sports and it was a very compelling presentation. What else from the event? Pickleball. Pickleball was a topic throughout the Brand Innovation Summit as a lot of brands and agencies are still looking to find the best ways to capitalize on its momentum and participation.
But one major brand is taking the leap as Major League pickleball announced yesterday at the event it assigned Toyota as its official automotive sponsor. So that is the automaker's first pickleball sponsorship. The deal will promote the 2023 Prius and the deal came together over the last five or six months as Toyota saw the growing popularity of pickleball. So we see a major brand in a major category, step up to sponsor pickleball. That is certainly a good sign for the sport. What else was talked about was a lot of talk about NASCAR's Chicago Street race that will take place in early July. And all the work that is going in to put that event on this will be a massive lift for the sport. It's taking over an entire city and there are always challenges, both political and community challenges to something of that scale. But NASCAR is optimistic.
This event can really draw new fans. The sport is also looking for other markets in the future to do something similar. SB j's. Adam Stern reported that NASCAR is in discussions with entities in Montreal about bringing NASCAR back to that city as soon as next year. NASCAR held events in Montreal from 2007 to 2012. That was the Xfinity series, but a return this time could be involving the Premier Cup series Negotiations are said to be ongoing and not yet complete. NASCAR has been working on making several big changes to its 2024 schedule, which they expect to release sometime over the next month or so. And of course, all the attendees at the event were talking about the live and P G A tour merger and still trying to somehow make sense of it or sort it out. Yesterday p g a tour commissioner Jay Monahan promised that golfers who rejected the offers to join Lib Golf and remained loyal to the PGA Tour will be compensated in some form.
He just doesn't know how yet. Meanwhile, the PGA tour had some damnit control to do around this deal with fans. As a new survey shows that among fans, hardcore fans, AVID fans who follow Men's Golf ferry or somewhat closely, 47% strongly oppose the P G A tours merger with Lib Golf. A civic science survey of 1200 people shows that only 21% of those who follow pro golf vary or somewhat closely, strongly support the move. So early fan reaction, not positive to this historic merger and shows that the P G A tour will have some work to do. And finally, a name in the news well regarded University of Texas athletic Director, Christ El Conti, whose name has been mentioned in connection with the opening athletic director role at the University of Southern California. He said that he is staying in Austin, so that would take one quite high profile name out of the running. Obviously the opening at the University of Southern California is the most high profile athletic director opening right now in college sports. But Christelle Conte says he is not interested. And that is your morning buzz cast for Thursday, June 8th. I may. Mad cor, a special morning buzz cast coming to you early from Chicago. Hope everybody has a great day. Stay healthy, be good to each other. David Albright will bring you the buzz cast tomorrow. I'll speak to you again on Monday.