Tying a bow on the WBC; why the women's basketball tourney is seeing nice gains and NASCAR's Chicago race gets a key sponsor.
Tying a bow on the WBC; why the women's basketball tourney is seeing nice gains and NASCAR's Chicago race gets a key sponsor.
Abe Madkour:
The sale of Manchester United seems to be heating up even though the deadline for bids has been extended, leading to some questions and confusion. But bottom line British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, is planning, reportedly, to make a bid that would value Manchester United at more than $6.16 billion, a record price for a sports team. But Ratcliffe is not alone. He does have competition from a group of Qatari business executives. So, this deal heating up, one to watch.
And this is your Morning Buzzcast for Thursday, March 23rd. Good morning, I'm Abe Madkour. Thanks for joining me on the Buzzcast. We talked about how the NCAA men's tournament is down 1% in viewership going into the Sweet 16, starting today, Thursday, averaging just over 9 million viewers through the second round. SBJ's Austin Carp reports the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament is seeing a nice uptick, up 28% in viewership heading into its sweet 16 as the second round was up 20%, after the first round was up 27%.
So, the women's tournament across Disney Networks is averaging just under 400,000 viewers to date. And why are the numbers up? Well, the women's Tournament continues to get broad exposure on broadcast TV with games on ESPN last weekend. You also have the Buzz and Marquee brands around the women's tournament, including the high profile, really successful South Carolina team. So yes, there are a couple of big programs that have already been eliminated, but there is definitely more promotion, more exposure, and more coverage of the women's tournament, and that is fueling the increased viewership. I have said it before on the Buzzcast, but Mo Green would be proud as the city of Las Vegas is officially NCAA-worthy, and that means big time. Yes, Las Vegas host an NCAA regional for the first time. Starting today, Thursday, they will host the West Regional semi-finals. They'll be played at T-Mobile Arena, UCLA against Gonzaga, Arkansas, facing Connecticut.
And yes, this is just a start. We obviously know attitudes towards sports events in Las Vegas have shifted dramatically. We know the city is a great host for sports events and we know that the NCAA also awarded the 2028 Men's Final Four to Las Vegas. This of course, is a dramatic shift. As for years, the NCAA wanted nothing to do with the city. And it should be noted that there have been plenty of other college basketball tournaments in Sin City as the PAC 12, the Mountain West and a few other conferences have all held their conference championships in or around Vegas. But this is the full embrace, as we have the regionals this week, we have the Frozen Four in 2026, and like I said, we have the men's basketball Final Four in 2028. So the NCAA is all in on holding events in Las Vegas.
We had some executive leadership meetings at Sports Business Journal in Charlotte all day yesterday, and at the start of the meetings around 8:00 AM in the morning, about half of the group of 20 were talking about one person, Shohei Otani, who clearly emerged as the star of a very heavily covered, high-profile World Baseball classic. If there was one storyline that I saw coming out of the event, which baseball was super pleased with, had to be the play and the star power of the Angels pitcher and designated hitter, Otani. And the sports and baseball media had a pretty straightforward and clear message: more and more sports fans need to watch this special talent as the game has rarely seen anything like Shohei Otani. Everyone wants to see Otani get more exposure, get into the postseason, be in a major market, and be on television more. We know that he will likely be a free agent after this season.
Most of these observers really hope Otani will land at a big market successful team that will regularly compete in the postseason, therefore allowing more and more fans to see his special talents. Now, the Angels haven't been able to get to the postseason. Arte Moreno, the owner, said he doesn't want to trade Otani, but we'll have to see how this season unfolds, how this storyline unfolds, because this will be one of the most watched storylines throughout baseball season. And I want to put a bow on the World Baseball Classic because the viewership showed that people did care. People were interested and people did find the broadcast. SBJ's Austin Carp reported that the World Baseball Classic posted viewership numbers on par, or bigger than many October MLB playoff games. That alone is saying something pretty significant. Fox Sports won average just about 4.5 million viewers for Japan's victory.
And that was more than any Wild Card game and really on par with League Divisional series. And it even topped some of the championship series viewership numbers. So for a spring tournament for the World Baseball Classic on FS1, that's pretty strong. It was also easily the most watched WBC game on record, nearly doubling the just over 2 million viewers that watched the 2017 final. That was on MLB network that also featured Team USA. And if you're asking how it compared to other programs on Tuesday night, the WBC drew the third biggest US TV audience on that evening, trailing just the voice on NBC and FBI on CBS. It even topped programming that was on the Fox broadcast channel. And remember this was on FS1, the cable channel. So very good numbers, a great way for baseball to go into its regular season. And I want to thank Austin Carp for breaking all that down.
I want to shift to motorsports. NASCAR is putting a lot of investment into its July street race in Chicago. And what I mean by that is money. It's costing a lot and it needs support, and it got a blue-chip brand to step up and sponsor the race. McDonald's has become a founding sponsor of the summer race. It's the first major partner for the event. Terms were undisclosed, but SBJ's, Adam Stern reported that NASCAR had been seeking four founding partners with an asking price of roughly $2 million a year, and that included ad time on NBC Sports. NASCAR is seeking three-year deals that will match its commitment to the city of Chicago and was looking for companies local that were headquartered in or around Chicago, or that had a major presence in Chicago.
Well, it's certainly found that in McDonald's, which of course is Chicago-based, McDonald's can bring a huge megaphone for any event. It's a great mainstream sponsor to have as a partner. And of course, McDonald's is currently a sponsor of 2311 racing. So McDonald's, a brand that fits with the street race, don't overlook, again, what NASCAR is investing into this race. That'll include an Xfinity Series race on July 1st and a Cup Series race on July 2nd. It's a huge endeavor, and so everybody in NASCAR is talking about the July Chicago street race. Now, McDonald's is on board as a founding sponsor.
And my last call: fans of Succession, many reviews are in for the final season of Succession, and it's getting a perfect 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. That's amazing! So the final season of the show begins Sunday. If you have a theory on how this show will end, email me by the end of today, Thursday amadkour@sportsbusinessjournal.com We'll run everybody's theory about how Succession will end on sbj.com.
And that is your Morning Buzzcast for Thursday, March 23rd. I'm Abe Madkour. Thanks for listening to the Buzzcast. Thanks for spreading the word on the Buzzcast. Stay healthy, be good to each other. I'll speak to you on Friday.