NWSL lands Berman; Jordan Brand preps for Jumpman; TIcketmaster expands deal with Kraft Sports and people on the move.
Well, I took in the Boston Celtics-Charlotte Hornets game last night for a networking event for the Charlotte Sports Business Community, and there are a number of strong sports entities in Charlotte. While at the game, a group from Jordan Brand was on site at the Spectrum Center for a two day scouting trip in preparation for Charlotte's new college basketball tournament, the Jumpman Invitational. That will be held in late December presented by the Charlotte Sports Foundation.
Remember, that event will feature both the men's and women's basketball teams from the original four schools to sign deals with Jordan Brand. That's Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, and Oklahoma. I bet it'll be a hit. I'm looking forward to it. Jordan Brand officials on site in Charlotte to do their prep work. This is your Morning Buzzcast for Thursday, March 10th. I'm Abe Madkour. Hope everybody is doing well. A sign of optimism in baseball.
Long-time baseball follower Tim Verducci of SI is predicting a labor deal between the players and management is within reach and the latest union counter proposal could lead to a deal he believes perhaps even by midday today, Thursday. Reports yesterday all suggested the two sides are very close on many of the economic issues with the international draft remaining one key point of contention. Commissioner Rob Manfred did say the league was removing 93 more games, appearing to cut-off the chance to play a full 162 game schedule.
But it should be noted that Manfred didn't portray these games as canceled. That word wasn't used. The games could be made up. It does mean the two sides, labor and management, would have to work over the next few days on how they would try to get in 162 games. And if they couldn't, what that would mean service time and back pay. But the bottom line is, these two sides are closer to a deal than ever before. We speak frequently about player rights, data rights, who owns them, and a very interesting deal in the college space put that topic in the spotlight again.
The Mid-American Conference side and a statistical deal partnership with Genius Sports, making it the first NCAA conference to establish such a partnership. Like it does for other leagues, Genius Sports will manage and market the conference's game data and they'll also pay a rights fee for that data. But now the interesting part is it could also include the future sale of that data for sports betting operators. And I say future because that isn't allowed right now. The MAC consists of 12 schools, each of which is located in a state that has or will soon have legal sports betting.
We're talking Mid-America, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New York, Ohio. It reportedly took the conference more than a year to be comfortable with such a deal. Right now, the NCAA also has a deal with Genius Sports, but it prohibits the sale of data to sports books. The MAC is the first individual conference to sign with Genius. This could eventually result in the firm selling official MAC game data to the sports betting operators. Bottom line, again, it's a new revenue stream for conferences. I could anticipate other conferences to signing such a statistical deal with other operators.
The MAC out front in its deal with Genius Sports. We talked earlier this week about how SBJ will honor Robert Kraft with our Lifetime Achievement Award in May for all the progressive leadership that Kraft has displayed over the years. Well, here's another unique deal as the Kraft Sports Group and Ticketmaster have renewed their existing deal for an undisclosed length of time. That's according to our Bret McCormick. That deal will be announced today on Thursday. This continues a collaboration that dates back to when Kraft first bought the New England Patriots in the mid 1990s, 1994.
As part of the extended deal, the Main Plaza leading up to Gillette Stadium will be renamed Ticketmaster Gate. This is part of a very extensive $225 million renovation at Gillette Stadium that will really remake much of that 20 year old facility. The Ticketmaster Gate will include the introduction of new and innovated ticket scanning and security technology. This is kind of the latest technology that Ticketmaster will deploy. That will be deployed at the Ticketmaster Gate at Gillette Stadium. The renovation at Gillette Stadium is scheduled to be completed prior to the 2023 football season.
Again, a major renovation at Gillette will include the Ticketmaster Gate, which will feature some really leading edge ticket scanning and security technology. While the big news that broke right after I recorded Buzzcast yesterday was that the National Women's Soccer League has named Jessica Berman as the league's new commissioner. They announced that move on CBS Mornings in an interview between Berman and the CBS news team. Remember, CBS has a right deal with the NWSL, so that made sense. It's a great and welcome hire.
Jessica Berman is very well regarded in sports business circles. She has been deputy commissioner of the National Lacrosse League since 2019. She was a 2014 member of SBJ's 40 under 40 class. She will begin her four year term on April 20th where she will oversee all the league's operations. Who is Jessica Berman? Well, she went to the University of Michigan. She is a labor lawyer. Before joining the National Lacrosse League, she worked at the NHL for 13 years. She was deputy general counsel. She also worked in the league's community development and the NHL Foundation area.
She started her career at Proskauer in their sports law group. Executive search firm James and Company led the commissioner's search process for the NWSL. Now, Berman will replace interim NWSL Commissioner Marla Messing, who, of course, joined the league in October, following the resignation of Lisa Baird. Messing will help Jessica Berman. In the transition, she'll stay as a senior advisor until May 31st. Under Marla Messing's leadership, the league did stabilize. Marla Messing oversaw the league's first collected bargaining agreement.
She oversaw the sale of the Washington Spirit. That was for an NWSL record $35 million. Jessica Berman walks into a better situation than just a few months ago. Like I said, they've been able to handle a collective bargaining agreement. They are investigating the behavior of some of the coaches that were in the news recently. Things are stabilizing. Berman and her leadership team can now focus on growing the game of women's soccer. Jessica Berman is the new commissioner of the NWSL. Congratulations to her.
Staying with soccer news, US Soccer will announce later today that Ann Seeney is its new chief people and diversity officer. That is a newly created position for US Soccer. She'll oversee all of human resources in addition to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. Seeney will report to CEO Will Wilson. Now, she's been in the business for more than 20 years. She was most recently vice president of human resources for the St. Louis Cardinals. She has also been a key leader of the Pro Sports Assembly. That, of course, is a leading group in sports on DE&I.
Executive search firm Nolan Partners led the search process for US Soccer. And finally, the New York Mets have hired a new CMO, Andy Goldberg. He joins the Mets after nearly three years at American Express. He was on the brand content side. Prior to American Express, Goldberg worked for more than eight years at GE. Someone with a non-sports background, a very unique background, to join a baseball team as CMO. He'll report to Mets President Sandy Alderson.
He'll begin March 23rd and fills the void left by David Newman, who is segueing into consulting for the Mets after two plus years as the team's chief marketing, content, and communications officer. Andy Goldberg, the new CMO of the New York Mets. That is your Morning Buzzcast for Thursday, March 10th. I'm Abe Madkour. Hope everybody has a great day. Stay healthy. Please be good to each other. I'll speak to you on Friday.