What's next for Coyotes? And for Bob Myers? And for Marc Lasry?
Team of the Year, League of the Year, Executive of the Year, all will be announced live at the Sports Business Awards next Wednesday, May 24th at the Times Square Marriott Marquee. Limited seating still available. It's a great celebration of the industry and a room that you want to be in. Go to our website or let me know if you'd like to learn more. I'll be in New York all week next week. It would be great to see you. And this is your Morning Buzzcast for Thursday, May 18th. Good morning, I'm Abe Madkour. Thanks for listening to the Buzzcast. I got a number of notes yesterday about the outcome of the vote in Tempe and how voters there overwhelmingly rejected the Coyotes $2.1 billion arena and mixed use development plan. None of the people who emailed me were surprised. Many saying that the public doesn't see the need to fund projects for sports owners or sports teams.
These public referendums are always a challenge, and most times the team's initiative does get defeated. But I do believe that insiders were a bit surprised by the overwhelming outcome, as I was told that the NHL and the Coyotes felt pretty good about their chances as late as early May, but obviously they weren't reading the room right and the votes certainly didn't go their way. Now there is more uncertainty about the team's future in that region. The NHL said yesterday that it expects the Coyotes to play next season at Mullett Arena. Same place they played this year on the campus of Arizona State. And yes, you will see the speculation about the Coyotes relocating possibly to markets such as Houston, Kansas City, Quebec City, as early as next season. All of them are viable and don't sleep on Salt Lake City. Salt Lake City is an interesting proposition.
Jazz owner Ryan Smith has big sports ambitions for that market. He would love to add the NHL to his NBA and NWSL portfolio, but for now, it looks like the Coyotes will play next season at Mullett Arena as they assess their future. Let's move on. The PGA Championship begins today, Thursday in Rochester, New York, and so far the story has been the weather and not in a good way. There are very cold temperatures today, on Thursday. There was a freeze warning up to Thursday morning, but temperatures should warm up into the sixties and Friday should hit 80 degrees. Sunday looks to be a good golf day. The PGA Championship should do well from a business standpoint. Overall ticket demand has been high as the tournament returns to Oak Hill for the first time since 2013. The tournament is officially sold out for all four days.
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday tickets have been sold out for nearly a year. Officials expect about 40,000 people per day on the course for each of the rounds. So PGA Championship starts today in Rochester. Shifting to the NBA, let's just say I didn't expect the heat to steal game one in Boston on Wednesday night. Kind of speaks to the unpredictable outcomes that we've seen around the NBA playoffs and boy have these playoffs and has the NBA drawn strong viewership over the last couple of weeks, and not just for the games. SBJ's Austin Carp reports that ESPN drew its best audience for the draft lottery since 2019. Hard to believe more than 3.2 million viewers watched on Tuesday night. That led into game one of Lakers nuggets, that averaged more than 7 million viewers on ESPN.
That's the best NBA conference finals game one since 2019. So overall, the NBA is having its best playoff viewership since 2011, 12 years with an average of 4.25 million viewers through the conference semi-final round. So that's the aggregate so far of the playoffs. Its best playoff viewership since 2011. That was LeBron James' first post-season with the heat. So it just shows you the energy that the NBA has right now. Playoff games are up 15% compared to last year at this time. And you don't think that the NBA is secretly hoping for a Celtics-Lakers final. That would certainly draw some interesting viewership numbers, but right now it's easy to say the NBA pretty hot. While we're on the NBA, keep your eye on the future of Golden State Warriors president of Basketball Operations, Bob Myers.
He is one of the top executives in the game. He's also one of the most well-liked and well-respected individuals out there. It's been known that Bob Myers's contract with the Warriors is over June 30th and the athletic reported that there have been no substantial contract talks in months, and it's likely that Myers will leave the organization. So why is this important? Well, first, if he leaves, it would mark the end of an era at one of the most successful organizations in sports. He joined the Warriors in 2011, and the team has won four NBA titles over nine seasons. And it would also allow Meyers to explore new opportunities. He loves the sports business and he has reportedly received a number of other team offers likely to run the whole organization. And he could be a player in the number of private equity shops who would welcome someone of his expertise as they look to invest in sports teams and other sports entities.
So Bob Myers has a lot of value. There's also the possibility that Bob Myers could work in media. He's already doing some podcasts and he's very good in sharing his point of view about sports. So the bottom line is Bob Myers is talented. He is still young, he's only 48, and he has a long runway and is one person to keep your eye on. Bob Myers is expected to formally announce his decision on his future in the next few weeks. And finally staying with basketball. The WNBA got a nice endorsement yesterday as CarMax elevated its partnership with the W to become one of the new Changemaker partners. That is the highest level of sponsorship around the WNBA, and it's really a group of sponsors and brands who are looking to fortify and amplify women's sports. So this is a very good indication that CarMax feels very strongly about the future of the W and the future of women's sports.
Other Changemaker sponsors include AT&T, Deloitte, Google, Nike, and US Bank. You can add CarMax to that. And like we've talked about on the Buzzcast, it's always a positive to see corporate brands stepping up to support women's sports. Moving on, there was an interesting interview with former Bucks co-owner, Marc Lasry on Bloomberg Business TV. Marc Lasry is held in high esteem among his peers for his financial acumen. Remember, Marc Lasry sold his stake in the Bucks just last month. Many people wondered why, but don't think Marc Lasry is not bullish on sports. He is bullish on sports. And he said in the interview that the value of sports teams and sports entities are still going up. He wants to raise a sports fund and while he thinks there are great opportunities across sports, he especially sees opportunity in smaller teams. I found that interesting.
He said he is looking to invest in sports in Africa, Europe, and Asia, and especially in women's sports. This is a similar theme that I've heard from some leaders across the business. Investors definitely seeing the value of sports going up, but the opportunities now could be in the smaller teams and smaller organizations. So one trend to potentially keep your eye on. And finally, I'll end with this. Two teams introduce stunning new premium club spaces at their facilities yesterday. And if you haven't checked them out, go to sportsbusinessjournal.com where you can see the renderings and the images. First, the Denver Broncos went to market selling its new Breckenridge Bourbon Club. It's a field level club at Empower Field at Mile High. It looks stunning and this comes of course with seats connected to the lower bowl. Meanwhile, monumental sports and entertainment is creating a new premium seating option this season called the Wizards Courtside Lofts.
And this is continuing a trend we're seeing in some NBA arenas. These lofts sit on elevated tiers behind one of the basketball goals at Capital One Arena. So you're really right on the floor right behind the basket. Annual leases start at $128,000 for a four top table, and a six top table is priced at $180,000. So again, very premium, very high end, in the case of monumental right courtside. So go to sportsbusinessjournal.com and take a look at these impressive new premium areas as I'm sure a number of teams will aim to replicate the look and feel of these type of spaces. And so that is your Morning Buzzcast for Thursday, May 18th. I Abe Madkour, thanks for listening to the Buzzcast. Stay healthy, be good to each other. I hope to see you in New York next week and I'll speak to you again on Friday.