F1 and IndyCar start their seasons, the Rams partner with KAGR and Athletes Unlimited celebrates its anniversary with an expanded Nike partnership.
NASCAR rolls into Las Vegas on Sunday afternoon for a cup race that can be seen at 3:30 PM Eastern on Fox. But racing fans will have several options this weekend as both F1 and Indie car start their seasons. Mercedes-Benz will be the new presenting sponsor of ESPN's F1 race coverage with a three-year deal that starts this weekend and goes through 2025. The Bahrain Grand Prix goes lights out at 10:00 AM Eastern on Sunday morning on ESPN. And the indie cars Grand Prix of St. Petersburg gets the green flag on Sunday at noon Eastern on NBC.
Good morning, it's Friday, March 3rd. This is your SBJ Morning Buzzcast. I'm David Albright filling in for Abe Madkour. The Rams have a new deal with Craft Analytics group becoming the third NFL team to enlist Jessica Gelman's data and analytics team as the club looks to innovate and create new inroads in the LA sports and entertainment scene.
Cager also has a league-wide deal with the NFL for its SaaS data and analytics platform. The deal is just for the Rams at this point and does not extend to any other teams owned by Stan Kroenke, reports our Austin Karp. The Rams just wrapped up their seventh season back in LA and SoFi Stadium was at 104% capacity for home games, the team's second season at the venue with fans in the building. A figure that was second among all NFL teams.
Why Cager and why now? The Rams, like many LA teams, continue to look for ways to market themselves to a region with 18.5 million residents. The team also wants to grow its fan base beyond LA and it has secured marketing rights deals and countries like Mexico, Australia, New Zealand and China. The Rams are the only NFL team with marketing rights in China or Australia. The team also secured local media deals in those four countries.
Athletes Unlimited, which launched exactly three years ago today, is celebrating its anniversary and style with two major accomplishments. Expanding its partnership with Nike, while being named one of the world's most innovative companies by Fast Company, the first women's sports league to earn the honor. As the official uniform, athletic apparel and footwear partner of Athletes Unlimited, Nike provides uniforms and footwear for all athletes unlimited sports. In addition to other support for the organization, including the involvement in grassroots and community events.
Athletes Unlimited was recognized by Fast Company for creating a new model of pro sports and placing athletes in decision making roles while being proactive in shaping policies supporting the mothers that play in the league. In addition to its status as the first pro sports league to be organized as a public benefit corporation and the first US-based pro sports league to be committed to carbon neutrality.
ESPN has held conversations with major sports leagues and media partners about launching a feature on espn.com and its free ESPN app that will link users directly to where a live sporting event is streaming. That could include national or global streaming services such as Apple TV+ and Amazon Prime Video, or a regional sports service such as B-SPORT+ or MSG+. The actual media partners haven't yet been determined and there is no timeline on when such a feature would launch.
ESPN has considered a model in which it would take a cut of subscription revenue from a user who signed up for a streaming service through the ESPN app or website. If a customer already subscribes to a given service, ESPN would collect no money and just provide the link as a courtesy. FanDuel will be able to stream MLB.TV's free game of the day in its Sportsbook app and on its FanDuel+ OTT platform as part of a new deal that makes it the league's co-exclusive sports betting sponsor reports our Bill King. FanDuel joins BetMGM, replacing longtime MLB sponsored DraftKings. It has been an MLB authorized gaming operator since 2019.
MLBs ties to DraftKings dates back to 2013 when the league invested in the company. And while the daily MLB.TV free game is a locally produced broadcast, MLB and FanDuel will be able to customize it for betters using graphic overlays and odds and betting centric stats and perhaps alternate audio feeds that feature handicappers. From its earnings report on Thursday, FanDuel said it's increasing its US market share in sports betting from 42% to now 50% in the fourth quarter.
MGM Resorts International says that its Bellagio Fountain Grandstand packages are sold out for the F1 Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix. But it's now putting a second three-day package on sale for just over $11,000 per person. MGM rolled out the first package back in November when it said that only fans who stayed at MGM Properties would be able to access the grandstand.
The new package is being called the Bellagio Fountain Club and it includes race tickets, unlimited food and beverage from celebrity chefs and sommeliers, plus access to private hospitality decks. The club will be an elevated location over the lake at the Bellagio and those who buy the package will also get access to the paddock and a pit lane tour. That F1 Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix is being held in November the 16th through the 18th.
And that's your SBJ morning Buzzcast for Friday. I hope everyone has a great day and even better weekend. And we'll see you back here Monday morning.