Playing for time; NCAA has decision to make on women's tourney rights and Pickleball gets main stage exposure
The first quarter of 2023 is officially coming to a close. Can you believe the year of 2023 is about to enter April? Seems like we're all playing for time. And this is your morning Buzzcast for Friday, March 31st. Good morning, I'm Abe Madkour. Thanks for joining the Buzzcast today. We are all interested so let's get right to it. The early numbers from baseball indicate that the rule changes we saw in spring training continue to have an impact and they impacted opening day MLBs 15 games on Thursday on opening day averaged two hours and 45 minutes. That was 26 minutes shorter than last year's average. Last year's opening day saw seven games played and they averaged three hours and 11 minutes this year, two hours and 45 minutes. By our count, there were four games that were played at two hours and 30 minutes or less. 10 of the 15 games were done in less than three hours. So it's early and we will continue to monitor this, but those early signs are encouraging for baseball.
We know it's a big basketball weekend, so I have to bring in my producer Reggie Walker to give us his insight cuz he's the expert. Reggie, I know your men's bracket has to be busted, but how are you looking for the entire weekend? Well, let's start with the women's side of it. Three of the four teams I still have in the final four. The only one I didn't have was Virginia Tech. I have a champion in South Carolina. I expect the undefeated run to continue. On the men's side, all four teams are teams that I did not have in the Final Four. I'm gonna go with San Diego State. Brian Dutcher, his experience, remember he's the coach that was an assistant with the Fab Five all the way back at Michigan, so he understands these type of runs. Give me San Diego State this weekend.
And that's why I lean on Reggie Walker for his great expertise. Great insight as he noted. The Women's Final Four starts tonight, Friday and we will see if it can continue to draw a record number of viewers. As Reggie mentioned two matchups tonight you have LSU Virginia Tech on ESPN at 7:00 PM followed by what many are considering the marquee matchup tonight - Caitlin Clark's, Iowa versus Aliyah Boston's South Carolina at 9:00 PM. The NCAA has some good timing when it comes to women's basketball as they will need to make a decision about what to do with the women's basketball media rights in the next few months as its media rights come up for bid. Remember, the current contract with ESPN expires in 2024 next year, and that is a bundle agreement that includes the broadcast rights to many sports including women's basketball. The NCAA has retained endeavor to look at the market and study options to see if the Women's basketball tournament is best served by being pulled out of that bundle and sold on its own.
Then the NCAA would sell the other rights, hockey, lacrosse and other sports as a package we will see. But these talks come as interest in women's sports continues to increase another indicator of that interest demand for the Women's Final Four in Dallas this weekend is higher than ever on the secondary market with prices more than double compared to 2022. So again, we are seeing some very interesting trend lines around women's sports.
Speaking of trend lines, this weekend will be an interesting test case on the appeal of pickleball. Yes, we're talking pickleball on the buzzcast. Starting today, Friday, nearly 200 amateur pickleball players will go to Florida and be at PLANTATIONS Central Park, which is about an hour north of Miami. The players there will compete for a $10,000 payout and the chance to play against Andrey, John McEnroe, Andy Roddick and Michael Chang because the amateur tournament, which concludes on Saturday, will be the lead in to Sunday's Pickleball Slam, which is an exhibition event during which those tennis stars will take to the pickleball court and play during a national broadcast on ESPN. They will contend for a $1 million purse and they will also play the top amateur team. Now this event is the brainchild of Horizon Sports and Experiences, which is co-founded by David Levy and Chris Weil and those two executives are placing a big bet around pickleball as a sport that is prime for development. Levy is the former president of Turner and said he was following some of the same instincts that led him to create the concept around the match golf event where top players played against celebrities. Now the pickleball event is clearly one of the most high profile pickleball events we've seen on tv. It will also serve as the lead in to the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship game on Sunday. So this is great exposure for pickleball. Now this Pickleball Slam Event, which is what it's called, is independent from the various professional pickleball leagues we have talked about on the buzzcast. But the bottom line is we'll look at viewership, we'll just look at the overall interest in the event, but it is one of the most high profile pickleball events we've seen so far.
Let's move on. While every sports league is seemingly lining up for its own version of a Netflix documentary series like Drive to Survive, one Property has reportedly declined the offer. The Athletic is reporting that the Premier League will not move forward with plans for a Netflix series. The league had been talking with the film company regarding a behind the scene series for many months, but in the end the league has decided not to move forward. So that's an interesting news piece right there because again, most love those type of series for its exposure.
Speaking of exposure, Steph Curry got some yesterday as he and Under Armour are betting on each other for the future. Curry has signed a new long-term extension with Under Armor that will extend beyond his playing days into retirement. It could end up being a lifetime deal with the company. And this extension is not just a formality as multiple reports state that it could be one of the richest ever endorsement deals in sports once all of the various elements are factored in. Now Curry signed with Under Armour in 2013; he launched the Curry brand in 2020. He will now have the title of President of the Curry brand and will receive additional resources such as executives and such as financial resources and other backend technology resources to grow that Curry brand. We know that Under Armour has had some challenges over the years, but Curry acknowledged that he believes in the Under Armour brand. He believes that the two share a vision for big ideas in the future and it's also about equity; and with shared equity, the two are incentivized to build the brand together and Steph Curry has a lot of equity in this Curry brand and now we can see how they can together try to build that Curry brand to rival of course the main brand, the Jordan brand in the future. So Steph Curry, under Armour betting on each other for the long term.
And an interesting venture created by the NFL and private equity firm. Redbird Capital Partners as the two are launching a venture to stream NFL games and other live sports to commercial establishments like restaurants and bars. Think of the next generation of DirecTV. This new venture is called Ever Pass Media and it will be the commercial distributor for the NFL's Sunday ticket. It will be led by two industry veterans. Derek Chang is executive chair Alex Kaplan is CEO. They have over 25 years of experience in sports and entertainment and yes, they also both have some knowledge of the space as they both worked at DirecTV. Now Ever Pass Media believes that after delivering Sunday ticket to restaurants and bars, it will lead to deals with other sports leagues. So keep your eye on Ever Pass Media as we are really seeing a change in media distribution.
And finally, we'll end the buzz cast with a name to know as the UFC has elevated Grant Norris Jones to Senior Vice President of Global Partnerships. That is the group's top sponsorship position. Now Paul Asencio, who many of the listeners know who has held that title for the past five and a half years and is a sports industry veteran, is leaving the UFC to become Chief Revenue Officer of the Williams Racing Formula one team in April. Again, we're seeing more and more interest in Formula One. Grant Norris Jones has been with the UFC since 2017. He previously was at FanDuel and the NBA and he sees continued growth and sponsorship around the UFC. He is targeting traditional categories of auto, quick service, restaurant and insurance as categories he is looking to fill for the UFC.
And so that is your morning buzz cast for Friday, the last day of March, March 31st, heading into a great basketball weekend. I'm Abe Madkour, stay healthy, be good to each other. I'll speak to you on Monday.