SBJ Morning Buzzcast

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: November 30, 2022

Episode Summary

Disney completes its acquisition of BAMTech, the Coyotes proposed arena deal will go to a vote and the Race Team Alliance is looking into exhibitions outside of NASCAR.

Episode Notes

Disney completes its acquisition of BAMTech, the Coyotes proposed arena deal will go to a vote and the Race Team Alliance is looking into exhibitions outside of NASCAR.

Episode Transcription

Greetings from New York City where Sports Business Journal kicks off its Media Innovators Conference Today, the two day event brings together the individuals and companies reshaping the media industry and attendees will hear from the likes of Jimmy Pitaro, mark Lazarus, Lewis Silver Wasser, and Ray Warren. Plus, we're doing a live taping of the Marcian and Orran Sports Media podcast. If you're not here, make sure to check out the highlights on sports business journal.com. Good morning. It's Wednesday, November 30th, and this is your SJ Morning Buzz. I'm David Albright filling in for a Mad Corps. Disney is officially acquired 100% of BAMTech, the streaming video tech company that it acquired majority ownership of in 2017 from mlb. According to a footnote in the company's annual report, which it filed Tuesday, Disney paid MLB 900 million for its 15% stake in the company now known as Disney streaming. Earlier in November, Disney and MLB had the right to force a buyout of the stake based on its fair market value.

Beginning earlier this year, Disney had bought the NHLs 10% stake in BAMTech for 350 million last year. BAMTech powers Disney plus Hulu and Disney's other offerings and has become a critical part of the company's streaming infrastructure. Voters will decide the fate of the Arizona Coyote's 2.1 billion development deal during a May 16th special election. The Tempe City Council on Tuesday unanimously called for the election after accepting the team's development plan and listening to dozens of public speakers, the vast majority of whom were in favor of the deal and the council's decision to send it to the ballot. And HL Commissioner Gary Bettman was among those attendance along with Coyote's owner Alex Morere and Team CEO Xavier Gutierez. The final iteration of the Coyote's proposal will involve building nearly 2000 apartments, an NHL arena and an entertainment district on 46 acres of Tempe own land that has been used as a landfill and currently houses a municipal operations yard.

The Race Team Alliances deepening its relationship with Wasserman to have the sports marketing agency look into the possibility of holding exhibition races, potentially stunning development that suggests that NASCAR's biggest teams could organize their own events in the off season. Wasserman Managing Director of US Will Pleasant confirmed to SJ on Tuesday that the agency has been hired to explore exhibition race opportunities both domestically and internationally. The RTA is a coalition of NASCAR teams who come together to meet and address issues and opportunities in the sport. Every team that owns one of the sports 36 charters are now RTA members. Waserman was already working with the RTA to help the coalition understand its media value heading into NASCAR's upcoming right cycle for which formal negotiations will start in early 2023. The exhibition Exploration is a new incremental edition to the deal with Wasserman. Teams are interested in this because they're struggling to turn a profit and are looking to find any possible new revenue stream sources said the events would likely occur in the off season and apparently would not involve nascar.

NASCAR's teams have certain rules that they have to abide by as part of the charter agreement with the sanctioning body, and those include not starting competing racing series. That agreement runs through 2024. However, it does appear that teams feel they have the legal standing to do some form of exhibition races as long as they compete in non NASCAR race cars and non-branded apparel. If the RTA found an interested suitor, the exhibition races could start as early as the 2023 off season. One of the sources told our Adam Stern College football playoff leaders issued an ultimatum to the Rose Bowl this week, giving a self-imposed deadline of today to determine whether the CFP can expand in time for the start of the 2024 regular season. If the Rose Bowl cannot agree to the terms, it is possible it could be excluded from the New Year's six bowl rotation in the next contract.

That's according to espn. There's mounting pressure to make the decision this week with the self-imposed deadline of Wednesday issued because the host cities are running out of time and have been over backward to accommodate the CFP to this point, and they will try to work out the details. While the Rose Bowl's position in an expanded CFP isn't the only obstacle that slowed the process, it is the last and most complicated. The discussion centered around the Rose Bowl wanting to maintain its exclusive broadcast window on January 1st at 2:00 PM Pacific in years that it would also host a CFP semifinal. One month after NBC Sports Chicago came out with plans to have four betting themed alternate telecasts around Bulls games. This season, NBC Sports Philadelphia is announcing a similar initiative with the 70 Sixers. The RSN will partner with points be on the telecast, which start with this Friday's game against the Grizzlies Games will be carried on NBC Sports Philadelphia Plus, which is essentially the RSNs overflow channel.

The telecast will feature live odds from points be this Friday, Michael Barkan will host with Jim Leham and Jake Crouch or his analyst other Sixers games that will have the bet cast will be the Pistons on December 21st, the magic on January 30th and the Pacers on March 6th. We'll close on a programming note as there's just one week left to register for the Sports Business Journal Intercollegiate Athletics Forum presented by Learfield. The form will be held December 7th and eighth at the Bellagio Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. The event will include 13 conference commissioners on the current and future state of their leagues, and four student athletes who will discuss the challenges and opportunities of being an elite athlete in college athletics. Join us and learn more@intercollegiateathleticsforum.com, and that's your SJ morning buzz cast for Wednesday. I hope everyone has a great day and we'll see you back here tomorrow morning.