College commissioners head to DC for NIL help, SoonerVision strikes a new deal with ESPN+ and Fanatics adds to its BOD.
There was plenty of NBA and NHL Playoff action on Wednesday night, but let's recognize the Seattle Sounders, who made CONCACAF Champions League history by beating Liga MX side Pumas 3-0 in the second leg and 5-2 on aggregate to win the title in front of a crowd of better than 68,000 at Lumen Field. With the win, the Sounders become the first Major League Soccer side to win the federation's annual club competition in its new format, which started in 2009. Prior to that, there were only two other American teams that won a CONCACAF club crown, D.C. United in 1998 and the LA Galaxy in 2000, when it was known as the Champions' Cup.
Good morning. This is Thursday, May 5th. This is your SBJ Morning Buzzcast, and I'm David Albright filling in for Abe Madkour. SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey and Pac-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff will meet with United States senators in Washington, D.C. today to ask for legislative help surrounding name, image, and likeness policies. NCAA President Mark Emmert and other leaders in college athletics have been asking for federal lawmakers to step in and regulate NIL policies. There are currently no federal regulations around NIL, and state laws vary considerably. Kliavkoff contacted Democratic Washington Senator Maria Cantwell, whom he knows from their time working together at RealNetworks. He and Sankey will be meeting with Cantwell and Republican Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn, and are hoping to meet with other senators from both parties.
The meetings come on the heels of the Pac-12 spring meetings, during which athletic directors and coaches sought solutions to better control the NIL landscape. Kliavkoff told ESPN it's imperative to enforce rules prohibiting the use of NIL as a recruiting inducement or pay-for-play. It will be interesting to see how leaders try to put that toothpaste back in the tube.
Staying in the college space, ESPN Plus and Oklahoma have agreed to the most expansive media rights deal for an individual athletic program on the streaming service. ESPN Plus will carry more than 100 live Oklahoma events, including one football game each season, some men's and women's basketball, studio shows and archived content. As part of the agreement, ESPN Plus for the first time will create a landing page that directs viewers to SoonerVision on ESPN Plus. SoonerVision is Oklahoma's in-house production arm.
The new multi-year agreement will launch in August in time for the start of fall events, and will carry live OU home events that are not picked up by linear channels. This content previously ran as part of the Sooner Sports TV on Bally Sports Oklahoma and Bally Sports Southwest. Financial terms were not released, but Oklahoma AD Joe Castiglione told SBJ that, "It would be worth more than what we've had previously." The Sooners will join the SEC, which has all of its media rights with ESPN, no later than 2025.
Fanatics has made two key additions to its board of directors, bringing on SoftBank Investment Advisers Managing Partner Lydia Jett, and TwentyFirstCenturyBrand Co-Founder and Executive Chair Jonathan Mildenhall. Fanatics plans for both the veteran execs to play important roles as the e-commerce company continues its expansion into digital collectibles and online sports betting, among other areas. In addition to Fanatics, both Jett and Mildenhall serve as members on several company boards.
Digital fan engagement company Socios is continuing its fast foray North American sports via a League level partnership with MLS that also includes deals with 26 of the League's 28 clubs, reports our Alex Silverman. It is Socios' first League level sponsorship in a team sport in the US. Charlotte FC and D.C. United are the only two clubs that aren't partnering with the company. Socios is best known for its efforts with European soccer clubs to create and sell blockchain backed fan tokens, which allow their holders to participate in various low level team decisions and access exclusive experiences.
Bears quarterback Justin Fields, and Broncos safety Justin Simmons are among the newly announced equity holders in AI-powered strength training machine Speede Fitness, reports SportTechie's Andrew Cohen. Speede has raised $2.5 million in its over-subscribed seed round. The company's Speede Challenger cable machine allows for push and pull exercises while workout data is tracked on its built in display screen. The machine can generate up to 2,000 pounds of resistance and its concept is similar to the LeBron James and Serena Williams backed Tonal device that uses an electromagnetic motor to create force.
The fast TV ratings start to the NBA Playoffs and the NHL streaming-focused regular season are two of the topics that New York post Andrew Marchand and our John Ourand tackle on this week's episode of the Sports Media Podcast. They also dive into how the networks handled the NFL Draft, look into the timetable Fox Sports is on to secure a top NFL game analyst, preview Peacock's first exclusive MLB game, and provide an update on LIV Golf. You can download the Sports Media Podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
We'll end on a quick programming note. Tune into Strictly Business on Twitter Spaces ahead of the F1 Miami Grand Prix. Join us to discuss the race today at 2:00 PM Eastern. For more details and updates, be sure to follow Sports Business Journal on Twitter @sbjsbd. And that's your SBJ Morning Buzzcast for Thursday. Hope everyone has a great day, and we'll see you back here tomorrow morning.