Iger's stunning comeback; early story lines in Qatar; the future of the Women's Final Four and Beane's next move.
Iger's stunning comeback; early story lines in Qatar; the future of the Women's Final Four and Beane's next move.
I hope everyone has a fantastic Thanksgiving week. We will bring you the buzz cast today through Wednesday, and then we will be off for the holiday. In addition, I hope to see many of you at our Media Innovators discussion next week in New York City at the Western Times Square, we have ESPN's, Jimmy Pitaro and NBC Universals, mark Lazarus with us, and it should be enlightening conversations at a very interesting time in sports media. And this is your morning Buzz cast for Monday, November 21st. Good morning. I made Mad Core. Thanks for listening to the Buzz Cast. Well so much for a quiet week. Last night around 10:00 PM Eastern Time, Sunday night, I began getting text messages from sources alerting me with the shocking news that in a Sunday night, stunner Disney has brought back former CEO, Bob Iger to be company CEO and has pushed out his handpicked successor, Bob Chopek, who has been CEO for less than three years to many, this is a surprise.
After leading Disney for 15 years, Bob Iger handed over the reigns to Chek in February of 2020. Remember, Bob Chap had led the Parks and Entertainment Division, but while Bob Iger had reportedly handpicked Chopik as his successor, Chex Run was first marred by C and then it was filled with misstep after misstep and a poor financial performance by the company. There have been stories and whispers and rumors about how upset Bob Iger was with the performance of his successor and with the performance of the company he loves and feels so strongly about. So while there was a perceived dispute between Iger and Shapeek, I still didn't think it would mean Iger would return as ceo. But Disney's recent performance, including a massive billion dollar loss in its streaming business, appears to have been the key indicator that led to Ousting Chek and bringing back Iger.
This year, shares of Disney are down 41% and that certainly upset the board. And Disney's stock saw its biggest drop in two decades earlier this month. But don't forget, Disney's board also voted in June, just in June to extend Bob Jpx contract for three years. And while we all know how talented Bob Iger is, the 71 year old signed only a two year contract and Disney and Iger will still need to find a successor. But the bottom line is Bob Iger is back, and that will certainly make investors happy. And I bet many sports leaders very, very happy as Bob Iger has always been a huge, huge proponent and advocate of sports. Let's move on to the World Cup cuz the US men's national team will play its first match of the tournament Monday against Wales, 2:00 PM Eastern Time on Fox. The US men's team, of course, did not qualify for the previous World Cup, so this will be their first tournament match in eight years.
Now the World Cup is a day old in Qatar, and we know it's the first World Cup to be held in the Middle East. It's the first one held in November. Uh, but certainly it's not the first World Cup held amid controversy related to the host country. Remember, Qatar beat out the United States, uh, years ago when they won this bid, and that's when the US really believed they had the winning bid. And the undercurrent of human rights issues certainly has been a storyline and will continue to be a storyline throughout the World Cup. Qatar officials understand the concerns surrounding the event, and they have asked people just to be respectful of the culture in the country. Remember, Qatar put a lot into the World Cup. They have built seven new stadiums. They have renovated an eighth stadium. They have built new roads and infrastructure and rail lines to get people around the country.
It's really being called an entirely redeveloped country. And the cost is hitting 220 billion to rebuild Qatar, and that's where the recruitment, of course, migrant workers comes in. And that's been a constant controversy around the World Cup. Here's an interesting fact. So concerned about a negative narrative around the World Cup. World Cup organizers have recruited what they are calling fan leaders from around the globe. They pay their airfare, they pay their lodging and their tickets and exchange. They ask for some positive messages, positive storylines, positive social media posts about the event. So that's an interesting dynamic to keep your eye on. Meanwhile, the business around the World Cup and the business around FIFA remains very strong. FIFA earned record revenue of about 7.5 billion for the four years leading up to the Qatar World Cup. That is all in commercial revenue. That's a billion dollars more than the previous World Cup in 2018.
And the money's only gonna get bigger. It is likely to approach 10 billion in commercial revenue leading up to the 2026 World Cup in the us, Canada, and Mexico. So again, the business of soccer, the business of fifa, very strong. Now I will say the decision to remove beer from the general seating areas surprised many in the sports business I spoke with over the weekend. Nobody could believe that FIFA and Qatar would make this move just two days before the start of the games. FIFA President Gianni Infantino said over the weekend that the decision, it wasn't a significant one, and there were various reasons for not allowing beer sales in the stadiums. Now, he said that the beer band was made jointly by QAR officials and fifa, but many insiders believe this was more of a decision made by the government and government officials wanting to respect the culture in the country.
Infantino did downplay the decision saying it wasn't a big deal, that fans should be able to survive a three hour match without beer. Now, non-alcoholic beer will still be sold at the eight stadiums while champagne, wine, other alcohol will be served in these, uh, luxury and hospitality areas of the facilities in the stadiums. Now, Infantino said that the decision not to sell beer in the general area will not have any impact, will have no impact on FIFA's longstanding relationship with Anheuser Busch in Bev. Remember, Anheuser Busch in Bev pays roughly 75 million for the exclusive rights every four years around the World Cup. Infantino said they've been partners for decades and they look forward to being a partner for the future. But an interesting story here, we haven't heard AB side of it, but this will be a storyline that will continue throughout the World Cup.
I'm sure we're gonna talk about the World Cup a lot on the Buzz cast in the days ahead. But now let's shift to college basketball because looking to the future of the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament, the NCAA committee reviewed a study into the potential benefits of moving the Women's Final Four to a different weekend than the Men's Final Four, but have decided right now to stay the course and keep the existing schedule. Now, the committee did announce that seven cities have bid for the next five women Final four sites to be awarded from 2021 through 2031. The list includes two cities that have never hosted the event, so it shows the interest in the event Portland, Oregon, Sacramento, California. Those are two new bidders. The other cities that bid are Columbus, Dallas, Indianapolis, San Antonio, and Tampa. Now the Women's Final Four schedule is set for Dallas this coming year, followed by Cleveland in 24 Tampa and 25 Phoenix in 26.
The Women's Final Four will continue with a Friday and Sunday schedule. It will stay on the same weekend as the Men's Final Four for the foreseeable future. So some interesting dynamics there on the dates, the site locations, and the schedule around the future. Women's Final Four. And finally we'll end the buzz cast around people. Mr. Moneyball is getting a different role. Yes, Billy Bean, who has has done so much to change the face and the game of baseball as an executive is moving into a new role as a senior advisor to a's owner John Fisher. Now Billy Bean will provide John Fisher with guidance on broader organizational matters and non-baseball issues. Um, we all know that Billy Bean has a lot of sports interest outside of baseball, specifically including soccer. He has ownership interest in a Dutch soccer club and another club in France. He's also involved with a data analytics company and a cricket team in India. So Billy Bean has brought interest in sports and he'll advise a's owner John Fisher on a number of sports business matters. So Billy Bean moving into a new role as senior advisor to a's owner John Fisher. And that is your morning Buzz cast for Monday, November 21st. I'm a Mad core. Thanks for listening to the Buzz Cast. Stay healthy, be good to each other. I'll speak to you tomorrow.