Miami Grand Prix's successful 2.0; Not the storylines horse racing wanted; and Charlie Baker enlists Bain & Co. for a full business review
Major League Baseball continues to try to grow the game globally. As ESPN reported, the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres are expected to open the 2024 baseball season with a pair of games in South Korea. These games will be the first MLB games played in South Korea and will mark the eighth time since 1999 that MLB has played its first regular season games outside the United States or Canada. So baseball, looking to open next season in South Korea. And this is your Morning Buzzcast for Monday, May 8th. Good morning, I'm Abe Madkour. Hope everybody had a great weekend. A lot of sports over the weekend. We have the Sports Business Awards in just over two weeks, and the Miami Grand Prix is up for event of the year. And by the sounds of it, Sunday's Miami Grand Prix could be up for event of the year next year.
It seems to have been a very big success as the event sold out for the second straight year and about 270,000 fans were expected to attend over the full weekend. There was great buzz, there was star sightings. The race was good. Now what do you do differently if you're Formula 1 and the Dolphins who host the event? Well, they are reportedly thinking about ways to improve the race and keep it fresh. And one possibility could be following the lead of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, which will run its race in November at night. Dolphins CEO, Tom Garfinkel, admitted that they have started discussions about potentially racing the Miami Grand Prix in the evening. The biggest obstacle would be the time zone, which would make a night race in the Eastern Time Zone very difficult to watch for F1's European audiences, but they are looking at ways to keep the event new and innovative.
But it was a real star-studded affair. It seemed to be the place to go and be seen. You had Roger Federer, you had Serena and Venus Williams, yet Elon Musk, you had Jeff Bezos, you had Tom Cruise. All that star power certainly helps with buzz around an event. And the bottom line is, despite all the talk about the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix coming up in November, it's still the Miami Grand Prix that seems to be a hit, and it seems to be the place that people want to be in early May in Miami. So year two of the Miami Grand Prix certainly coming off as a success.
Let's move on to college sports. We've talked for some time that new NCAA president Charlie Baker would bring a new approach to the organization and it's starting to happen at cbssports.com. Noted that the NCAA has started a total business review, a top to bottom analysis of the association and has hired Boston based, Bain & Company to handle the review.
Now, it wouldn't surprise me if Charlie Baker looks to start a more concerted and focused commercial or properties division within the NCAA. Sources tell me that Baker, as well as a number of others, feel the NCAA hasn't fully commercialized its assets. Big East Commissioner, Val Ackerman, said she believes the NCAA would benefit from a clearly defined business unit that would be run by a CMO or a chief commercial officer, positions that don't currently exist at the NCAA. She said she would like to see something similar to NBA properties for the NCAA that could oversee sponsorship, merchandising and all sales. Now, Charlie Baker said he is looking forward to seeing what Bain & Company come up in their assessment, as he has done these types of full reviews at various stops in his career, and he said every time he has done one, it's created clarity to where the opportunities are and what needs to get better.
So Charlie Baker obviously looking to improve the processes at the NCAA. No timetable as to when this review by Bain & Company would be completed. On Saturday. I was at the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte and got back in time to watch the Kentucky Derby where Mage won the derby. But it came during a very difficult and tense day in horse racing, as there were two more fatalities before the race. The derby was run in front of a crowd of more than 150,000 fans on a warm and partly cloudy day at Churchill Downs. Most observers were relieved that there were no more medical issues around the derby as prior to the race on Saturday, there were seven horse deaths in 10 days and five scratches in three days. Two of the deaths and one of the scratches happening on Saturday. So Saturday was the first time in nearly 100 years that five horses scratched at the derby and rarely does that happen the morning of a race.
And frankly, I was surprised when I heard that Forte who was the favorite for the Kentucky Derby was scratched earlier on the day on Saturday. The New York Times reported that was so many negative storylines, Saturday at Churchill Downs was quote, "not a good day for a sport on life support." End quote. In fact, most of the news coverage last night that I watched on the nightly news editions were all about this latest crisis in horse racing, certainly not the story the sport wanted around its biggest race of the year.
Let's shift to the NHL, some crazy, crazy Stanley Cup playoff series. So let's take a look at some of the NHL's top jersey sellers and the Washington Capitals, Alex Ovechkin had the top-selling NHL jersey during the regular season while the Maple Leafs, Auston Matthews has the bestseller during the opening round of the playoffs. This is the second straight year Ove has led the regular season list and Auston Matthews certainly benefiting from his team winning a playoff series for the first time in 19 years.
Meanwhile, the Boston Bruins, who are of course out of the playoffs now, led both the regular season and first round in team jersey sales, but the full breakdown of jersey sales for the NHL regular season, Ovechkin, Crosby, Pastrnak, Hughes, Matthews. Full details on sportsbusinessjournal.com. There was an interesting story in the soccer world and some tension over the weekend between MLS and US Soccer. It came on Friday when MLS Commissioner Don Garber was openly critical of the state of the US Open Cup calling the event a poor reflection of what MLS is trying to do with soccer at the highest levels. Garber made his comments at a session of the US Soccer Federation Board of Director meetings that was held in Texas, and Garber made his comment after a presentation made by US Soccer Federation Chief Commercial Officer David Wright, who used to work for Garber, and Wright was outlining just how excited the US Soccer Federation was about the potential of the US Open Cup, which is a knockout cup competition in men's soccer.
Now, Garber wasn't critical and he noted that US Soccer was doing the best they could, but he said the games are hard to find for viewers and they are played on subpar fields. And he said they needed to do a better job around these events. Now, David Wright agreed and said they knew they still have a lot of work to do, but this was an interesting storyline because remember, US Soccer took in all of their rights and will operate them in-house. These used to be handled by Soccer United Marketing, which is under Major League Soccer, but not any longer as US Soccer brought their commercial rights in-house. This story has some legs, I believe, there are a lot of interesting angles to keep your eye on here.
Let's shift to some news out of Penn State. Get ready to see some major changes to Beaver Stadium as Penn State a final approval Friday to spend $70 million on just the first phase of renovations at Beaver Stadium. Now, this would be the first stage in making up to $700 million worth of changes to the stadium over the next four years, with the entire project set to be done by August of 2027. In addition, another $90 million in projects related to the athletic department we're voted on and approved on Friday. So you're going to see some real investment into Penn State Athletics. But the first step around the facility is to winterize Beaver Stadium, which will allow it to operate in cold conditions, meaning it should be able to host any potential college football playoff games when it expands to 12 teams. And remember, some of those first round games will be played on campus, but in the long-term, the full $700 million project will see a number of changes at Beaver Stadium. Major improvements across the board, it'll be one of the biggest projects in college sports. It will be paid for by the athletic department, not paid for by any tuition fees, but this is one project you're going to want to keep your eye on at Penn State.
And finally, a sad day as Cleveland Cavaliers' owner Dan Gilbert and his wife Jennifer, are mourning the loss of their son, Nick Gilbert. Nick Gilbert died of a genetic condition at the young age of 26. I am sure some of you, many of you remember Nick Gilbert. I certainly did. He was the Cleveland Cavaliers' representative at so many of the NBA Draft Lotteries. So he was a fixture at those events. And again, Nick Gilbert, dead of a genetic condition at the young age of 26, certainly thinking about Dan Gilbert and his wife Jennifer during this difficult time.
And that is your Morning Buzzcast for Monday, May 8th. I'm Abe Madkour, thanks for listening to the Buzzcast. Stay healthy, be good to each other. I'll speak to you tomorrow.