Another marquee team hits the market; WTA Tour closes out season in Ft. Worth with uncertainty future; the finances around Flightline and AB InBev gets into pickleball.
Another marquee team hits the market; WTA Tour closes out season in Ft. Worth with uncertainty future; the finances around Flightline and AB InBev gets into pickleball.
It's election day and I'm encouraging all of you to get out and vote today, and let's not ever take for granted the precious right that so many others don't have. Also, in today's morning Buzz, you'll see a list of key ballot initiatives impacting the sports business. Also, while I will not be at deal Makers and Sports tomorrow and Thursday in Washington, it promises to be a great event with compelling speakers in that great city of Washington dc. If I can do anything for you beforehand, just let me know. And this is your morning Buzz cast for Tuesday, November 8th. Good morning. I may Mattor. Thank you for listening to the Buzz Cast. Let's start with the big news that another major franchise is Exploring a Sale. Yes, Fenway Sports Group is considering a sale of Liverpool and if sold, that would return a hefty number, but it's not clear whether or not a deal will eventually be done.
This has been talked about in business circles for some time, but Fenway Sports Group is testing the market and it could bring on outside investors. It could sell the team completely. It has retained Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to assist with the process. Now Liverpool is a very valuable franchise. Since Fenway Sports Group purchased the club in 2010. For 493 million, the team's value has increased to close to 4.5 billion. That's according to Forbes. That figure is higher than the value of the Red Sox, which of course Fenway Sports Group also owns. It should also be noted that Fenway Sports Group sold an 11% stake in the company Fenway Sports Group for 750 million to Redbird Capital Partners last year, and then bought a controlling stake in the Pittsburgh Penguin. So FSG quite diversified. So why would they be interested in selling Liverpool? Well, there are a few reasons.
First, don't discount the impact of the Super League here. Liverpool was one of six Premier League teams to commit to the Super League, and this has reportedly been a big, big I would say, Thorn in the side to John Henry as he was a big supporter of the Super League concept and was not pleased with the way it went down. In addition, the sale of Chelsea in May at such a robust figure, I believe was also a significant factor in Fenway sports group's decision to test the market and test interest in Liverpool. But here's the bottom line. We can add Liverpool to an already crowded list of teams for sale. Let's think about it, the nationals, the sons, the angels, the senators, the commanders, and now possibly Liverpool. So this is definitely a story to watch. Let's shift to tennis because the WTA tour completed its finals at Dickey's Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.
And while attendance was light, organizers said they would be interested in bringing the event back to that market in the future. The championship match on Monday night drew an estimated 6,000, which was by far the best number of the tournament, but more importantly, the players and the organizers felt both Dickey's Arena and the city of Fort Worth showed quite well given the circumstances. And what were the circumstances? Well, really the market had only five weeks to promote the event wta c Steve Simon know to generally a market would have 18 months or a year and a half, not just five weeks. So Steve Simon is comfortable with the venue. He called it a beautiful venue at Dickey's Arena, but he said it may be too big. It's a very big facility. He did say the event sold over 35,000 tickets for the week. But the return to Fort Worth, Texas for the WTA finals is uncertain.
The finals were originally scheduled to be played in China, but Steve Simon relocated the event to Texas because of Covid concerns in China and the lingering Punctu SHU issue that is still at odds between the WTA and China. The WTA has a 10 year contract with China for the WTA finals, but the organization will decide what to do with its 2023 finals. Sometime early next spring, they could return to Dickey's, but Dickey's had just a one year deal. So the WTA Tour Finals still kind of a free agent on where it will be played in 2023. Let's move to racing. We've talked about the interest in the Formula One race in Las Vegas, scheduled for next November, and now the race has a title sponsor and a name. Our friend Alan Snell at Las Vegas Sports Biz reported that Heineken will be the title sponsor of the Las Vegas Grand Prix next November.
And the race will promote its Heineken silver product and be called the F1 Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix. Book your plans now. The race is gonna be quite popular and it's set for November 18th, 2023 on the strip in Las Vegas. Let's shift a pickle ball. Yes, more interest in pickleball and now a major sports sponsor is getting involved. Anheuser Bush in Bev is the latest to make an investment in the sport. It will acquire the final team in the recent round of expansion for Major League pickleball. Now that Pickleball league is expanding by four teams to a total of 16 teams heading into next year. Now remember the other three franchises were acquired by some big names. First there was LeBron James and Maverick Carter buying one team, a group featuring Tom Brady and Kim Kleer bought another team and Kevin Durans 35 Ventures bought a third team.
So now here comes Anheiser, Bush and Bev. They reach a deal. They will become a league level founding partner in addition to gaining operational control of a franchise. So they're both a league sponsor and a franchise owner. Financial details were not available. Major League Pickleball has plans to host six events in 2023, and the discussions will continue. Is pickleball just a hot participation sport or is pickleball a hot business property that still remains to be seen, but more and more people and now a major brand making an investment in pickleball. Yesterday on the Buzz cast I talked about Flight Line. So let's put a bow around this amazing horse. We said it was the talk of Quinland during the Breeders Cup weekend. We know it's retired and on Monday, owners put up a rare 2.5% interest in the undefeated flight line, and that 2.5% interest was acquired for 4.6 million at auction in Quinland on Monday.
So what does that equate to? Will that share in the horse who has been compared to Secretariat? Puts flight lines total value at an eye-popping 184 million. That's just amazing. Now that fractional interest in Flight Line was offered by one of his ownership groups. West Point Thoroughbreds flight line was retired Sunday and will be put to stud at Lanes and farm in Kentucky. But an amazing story and an amazing valuation around a pretty special horse. And let's end around people. First, good news for a past game changer as USA Triathlon has named Victoria Brumfield as its new CEO. Now, Victoria Brumfield has been serving as interim CEO since September. That's when Rocky Harris, who served in that role, left as CEO to go work at the O P C. Now Brumfield has served as the USA Triathlon's chief of staff since 2018. She becomes USA triathlon's first ever female ceo.
She was a member of the SJ Game Changers class of 2020. So congratulations to Victoria Brumfield for becoming the first ever female CEO of USA Triathlon. And if you read Spj Media last night, you would've read that it's the end of an era at ESPN Public Relations as Dave Nagle, director of communications will retire on November 11th after 36 years in Bristol. Dave Nagle touched so many areas at espn, from ratings to motorsports, to tennis, to outdoor programming, and the America's Cup. He always worked first class, he was always a true pro, he was always patient and more importantly, always kind s Spj. Always enjoyed working with Dave Nale. We wish Dave the best as he moves on to hopefully quieter, more peaceful, yet very exciting days in the future. So that is your morning buzz cast for Tuesday, November 8th. I made Mad Core. Thanks for listening to the Buzz Cast. Stay healthy, be good to each other. I'll speak to you tomorrow.