Fox's big Thanksgiving weekend buffet; Add ManU to the list of teams in play? Vegas/Detroit in on Men's Final Four and Atlanta United gets a new leader.
Well, Tuesday night in my hometown of Charlotte, I was fortunate to meet a new sports business connection who happens to be a fan of the Morning Buzzcast. So it was great to get to know him, but also serve as a great reminder on this Thanksgiving that we are very thankful and grateful for all the listeners of the Morning Buzzcast. Our audience continues to grow, and I know I appreciate all of your support. And if you enjoy the Buzzcast, hope you continue to spread the word. This is our final one of the week. We will be off for the holiday and looking forward to it. My brother is joining me from Huntsville, Alabama, and he will do the cooking after I run the Turkey trot. What are your plans? I hope you have a great, great Thanksgiving. I'm sure it's gonna be happy, safe, and surrounded by friends and family.
So on behalf of everybody here at SBJ, happy Thanksgiving and this is your morning Buzzcast for Wednesday November 23rd. I am Abe Madkour. Thanks for listening to the buzz this morning. What a big sports weekend. Coming up. We of course have three NFL games on Thursday. You have the Bills at Detroit for the early game on CBS, Giants-Cowboys on Fox, Patriots-Vikings is the late game on NBC. Fox has to be particularly fired up about the next few days in particular. You know, on Thanksgiving day they had that rare uh, giants ad cowboys, late afternoon matchup that should draw very well in terms of viewership. On Friday, Fox has the World Cup headline by of course US versus England. And then on Saturday, there is the game, Ohio State, Michigan. And then of course they will have the NFL on Sunday. So a strong four days for Fox in particular on Saturday.
The game between the undefeated teams, Michigan and Ohio State should end up to be the most viewed college game of the year. Now the game with the highest viewership so far this season is Tennessee, Georgia. That drew about 13 million viewers on CBS during week 10. But for context, last year's Ohio State, Michigan game, drew nearly 16 million viewers. And our ratings expert Austin Karp, is projecting viewership on Saturday north of 18.5 million viewers, which would be a very, very strong figure for Fox. And Fox will pull out all the stops to hype the game with a special three hour edition of the big noon kickoff leading up to the 12 o'clock start. So again, big, big expectations for Fox. How big overall could this weekend be for Fox? Our friends at Axios reports that Fox estimates roughly 120 million people will tune in to its sports coverage across Fox and FS one this weekend.
So the bottom line is a very, very big and classic sports weekend coming up, and it could mean big viewership and big business for Fox in particular. Let's move on. Could another marquee franchise be for sale? While multiple reports today have Manchester United owner, the Glazer family preparing to examine outside investment, and that could include an outright sale of the club. It's not really clear if the Glazers are likely to move ahead with a full or a partial sale or whether they're looking for just strategic investment from a third party. But this has been speculated for years that the Glazers may look to exit. We all know the trouble and the controversy the club has phased over the years. The Glazers took control of Manchester United in 2005. They bought the club for 940 million. And let's just say this will be one of the most, uh, valuable sales in sports.
Easily over 5 billion, uh, any sale would attract the most high profile wealthiest names around the world. And just think of this marketplace right now. How many bidders will there be for potentially Liverpool and Manchester United? In addition to all the teams that are for sale in the United States, I have never seen such a fluid marketplace when it comes to team sales. Let's shift to college sports. You know, we talked about the NCAA Women's Final Four schedule earlier this week on the Buzz Cast. Well now the men's Final Fours have been announced and there are a couple of surprises and omissions. The surprise Vegas is in the most notable omission to me is Atlanta is out. Atlanta was set to host the Final Four in 2020. It didn't because of the pandemic, there was a lot of expectation that they would get a, not a make date, but a date in this round from 27 to 30, but they did not get one.
So the final fours that were announced yesterday go to Detroit, Las Vegas, Indianapolis, and North Texas, Arlington, Texas, Las Vegas hosting a Final Four is significant because we all know through the years the NCAA never wanted anything to do related to Las Vegas or the gaming industry. But that of course has changed over the years. The PAC 12 and other conferences have held their championships in the city, and Las Vegas is seen as one of the best at hosting big events and it's a very attractive destination city. Also a surprise, maybe with Detroit, as the city continues its rebirth by landing the Final four in 2027 and that marks just the second time. Detroit will host a final Four. So here's the setup for the foreseeable future Houston in 23, Phoenix in 24, San Antonio in 25, Indianapolis in 26, Detroit in 27, Las Vegas in 28, back to Indianapolis in 29, Arlington, Texas in 2030.
2031 is TBD, and that could be where Atlanta gets slotted in. But the Men's Final Four schedule laid out and confirmed for the next few years. And let's end the buzz cast as we do around people. A big move in Major League Soccer as one of the most respected team leaders is shifting franchises as Atlanta United made a big hire yesterday in naming sound's general manager and president of soccer, Garth Lager Way as the club's new president and CEO. Now, lager Way is one of the most successful MLS team presidents in the league. Just look at the sustainable success he led in Seattle. The founders won MLS cups in 16, in 19, and they played for two other titles under his leadership. Now he replaces Darren Eels, who resigned of course to become CEO of New Castle in August. Darren Eales did some great things at Atlanta United, but Atlanta United has always wanted to win.
Arthur Blank wants to win, and United has been one of the most successful teams in MLS, but the team has not made the playoffs in two of the past three years despite having a very substantial payroll. So there'll be pressure on Logger way to turn this around. One big attraction for him to move from Seattle to Atlanta is that with United, he will oversee every aspect of the organization. He only had control of soccer with the Sounders. With Atlanta United, he will get oversight of business and soccer. So a very big role. Atlanta United gets a new leader in the well-respected Garth Lagerwey. So that is your morning buzz cast for Wednesday, November 23rd. I'm Abe Madkour . Thanks for listening to the Buzzcast. Have a great, safe and happy Thanksgiving. Stay healthy, be good to each other. We'll speak to you on the other side of the holiday.