Tempe votes on Coyotes' plan; NBCUniversal doubling down on Peacock and an influential sports sponsor steps away
The Sports Business Awards are next Wednesday night, May 24th at the Times Square Marriott Marquee. Very, very limited seating is still available. It's a celebration of the sports industry and a room you really want to be in. Go to our website or let me know if you'd like some more information.
And this is your morning Buzzcast for Tuesday, May 16th. Good morning, I'm Abe Madkour. Good to be with you on the Buzzcast.
While the final four of the respective NBA and NHL playoffs are set in the NBA. You have Boston/Miami in the East, Lakers/Nuggets in the west. That starts tonight Tuesday. And let's just say I bet there are a lot of Lakers and Celtic fans in the league office and at Disney.
For the NHL, the story is quite different and quite interesting. As for the first time in history, the final four teams in the NHL playoffs are all located south of Pennsylvania.
You have the Dallas Stars against the Golden Knights in the Western Conference final. You have the Hurricanes and the Florida Panthers in the Eastern Conference final. Those match-ups are harder to discern which teams will draw more viewers, but all in all good storylines all around.
Well, if you don't subscribe to Peacock and you're a big fan of the NFL, you may need to, as the NFL has signed a one-year deal for NBC's Peacock streaming service to carry a Wild Card playoff game exclusively on the streaming service for this coming season.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the news and cited sources as saying NBC will pay in the range of 110 million dollars for that game. The game will be in primetime on a Saturday night, January 13th, Wild Card weekend. Yes, playoff games have been simulcast on streaming services in the past, but never shown exclusively as this marks the first time viewers will mostly have access only through a streaming service.
Only the markets of the two teams competing in the Wild Card playoff game would receive the game through a local television affiliate. But this is just another indication of the emphasis that media companies, well most media companies, are putting on their streaming platforms and how live sports, live sports will be a linchpin to drive signup and adoption of these streaming services.
Our John Ourand noted in his SBJ Media newsletter last night that this will mark a big month, or that month of December/January will be a big time for NBC Universal as Peacock will carry its exclusive game, like we said, on that Saturday night at 8:00 PM immediately following a Wild Card game on NBC that will be simulcast on Peacock that Saturday afternoon.
NBC will be the first media company to carry three NFL playoff games in one weekend, as it also has the Sunday night Wild Card game.
And just a few weeks earlier, Peacock will carry its first exclusive regular season NFL game, a Bills/Chargers matchup on December 23rd, again, exclusively on Peacock. So NBCUniversal certainly going all in with sports on Peacock. And so let me know your thoughts on this deal and if it would drive you to subscribe to the Peacock streaming service.
Let's shift back to hockey because the Arizona Coyotes have a big day today. On this Tuesday, they will learn the fate of a proposed entertainment district that would include a new arena for the team. Residents in Tempe are voting on a referendum today, Tuesday, that will determine weather plans for a 2.3 billion dollar entertainment district will move forward. It could be a key day in Coyote's history because if the vote does get passed and the arena and this entertainment district does get built, the Coyotes would finally be able to call Arizona home after moving through various facilities in their time in that region. So today marks a very big day for the Arizona Coyotes as voters go to the polls.
Let's shift to baseball because the Oakland A's are seemingly moving closer and closer to relocating to Las Vegas as they have reached a deal to build a ballpark on the Tropicana Hotel site along the Las Vegas strip. It'll be a 30,000 seat ballpark. It'll sit on 35 acres. The project is expected to cost about 1.5 billion dollars and the A's are asking for nearly 400 million in public support. And that could be determined as early as this week. The team reportedly likes this location as it is closer to the Las Vegas strip. It is in within walking distance for fans from major casinos and hotels. But the key to me is public funding. And like I said, we want to keep our eye on the state legislature as they will vote likely this week on 400 million in public assistance.
So this deal is moving quite quickly. As you can imagine, this isn't playing very well in Oakland as the A's played a home game on Monday night. And the team announced a paid attendance of just over 2000 fans as the team lost to the Diamondbacks. It marked the smallest non-pandemic restricted crowd in Oakland since 1979. Since 1979, as only 2000 fans attended the A'S game on Monday night.
Speaking of Monday, we noted that Monday was the deadline for binding bids for the Ottawa Senators and local reports in Ottawa suggest that four groups submitted bids and one of those was for at least a billion dollars for the team, that's in US dollars. The bids were submitted to Galatioto Sports Partners, which is handling the sale for the Melnick family. And by all indications, the bids were strong with no shortage of competition. So as part of these bids, the team has to remain in Ottawa. Now, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and Galatioto Sports Partners will review the bids and take it from there. But it does seem that the Senators sale is coming close to having a decision.
And we'll end the Buzzcast around a couple of names. First, one of the most powerful marketers in sports is leaving his position as longtime Verizon CMO Diego Scotti will depart after nine years at Verizon. And so why is this important for the Buzzcast? Well, because of the scale that Verizon brings. Verizon is the largest spender on US sports media. And they are among the biggest sponsors in sports, and that was largely driven by Diego Scotti. Verizon's portfolio is one of the sports industry's largest. They have big league deals with the NFL, the NHL, they have an IndyCar team deal with Team Penske. They have a dozen deals with teams and athletes and venues. They have naming rights at the Sun's training facility in Phoenix. SBJ's Terry Lefton cited sources that Scotti had been under pressure for some time to cut Verizon's sponsorship budget and that Verizon is exploring a more decentralized marketing structure. No word on any replacement for Diego Scotti, but it likely means more will be put on the plate of Nick Kelly. Remember Nick Kelly, just four months ago, was named Vice President of sponsorship and partnerships at Verizon.
And finally, if you talk to people in the NFL or those in the agency world, one name always comes up as one of the good guys in sports, and that's quarterback Matt Ryan. People who have been around him just rave about his humor, his kindness, his approachability, and just being an all-around good person. Well, while he is still technically a free-agent quarterback, you will likely see him more in the broadcast booth than on the field this upcoming season as he is reported to be CBS Sports' newest NFL studio and game analyst.
Now, Matt Ryan has stressed, he isn't retiring from the league as a player quite yet, but I expect him to be offering his opinion on air a lot this coming NFL season. And I predict he will do well in either the studio or during a game. So Matt Ryan, likely leaving the playing field and heading to the booth starting at CBS Sports.
And finally, give your summer interns an advantage with Sports Business Journal. Our on-campus and university program are giving leagues and teams and agencies a chance to boost their intern's knowledge of the sports industry with a discounted subscription option to SBJ. For more information, contact College Help at sportsbusinessjournal.com. That is College Help at sportsbusinessjournal.com. And that is your morning Buzzcast for Tuesday, May 16th. I'm Abe Madkour, thanks for listening to the Buzzcast. Stay healthy, be good to each other. I'll speak to you tomorrow.