The W's critical next few years; A big decision in tennis is a boon to Ohio and bummer for NC and Baker and Petitti head to Capitol Hill for key hearing
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Yesterday was a tough day to hear the news that ESPN's Barry Melrose is stepping away from the network amid a battle with Parkinson's. Barry Melrose is a beloved member of that ESPN crew, and as Wayne Gretzky said, Melrose brought the game to life for millions of viewers. Steve Levy noted that Melrose has been the forever face of hockey on television in America, selling the sport to everyone he's ever come in contact with, and that there's been no better ambassador for the game of hockey than Barry Melrose, and his presence will certainly be missed.
This is your Morning Buzzcast for Wednesday, October 11th. Good morning, I'm Abe Madkour, thanks for listening to the Buzzcast.
Game two of the WNBA finals tonight Wednesday, 9:00 PM on ESPN. Liberty vs Aces, and they look to build on a very successful game one, which scored strong ratings on ABC on Sunday. ABC drew its best WNBA finals game one, since 2000, drawing nearly 730,000 viewers in that 3:00 PM Eastern Time window. That is up 31% from last season's game one on ABC, which featured the Aces taking on the Connecticut Sun. So the W will look to build on that ratings momentum. And WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert believes there is no better time to be part of the WNBA as the league continues to see growth on and off the court. And Engelbert needs to continue to grow the league, especially over the next few years as 2025 is a critical year for the W.
The league will see the new Bay Area franchise launch as well as another franchise, to give the League 14 teams in 2025. And that is the year when the WNBA's television rights deal with ESPN expires. And as the W is coming off its most viewed season in 21 years, this year, the league will be looking to see a significant increase in its rights fee. So again, 2025 a critical year, but certainly a finals like this year, between the Aces and Liberty helps bring more awareness and attention to the WNBA.
Meanwhile, we talked about the Bay Area franchise and how I thought that would be a super successful launch, well the team began accepting ticket deposits for season tickets last week and receive 2000 deposits in the first five hours. So again, early response in the Bay Area to the WNBA, very strong.
Let's stay with women's basketball because there are big expectations this season for Iowa Guard, Caitlin Clarke, and we should be seeing more of her commercially. She has just been signed by State Farm as part of a multi-year deal. It makes her the first college athlete to join State Farm's roster of athletes. That includes Patrick Mahomes and Chris Paul. So expect to see Caitlin Clark in commercials and in social media posts. Caitlin Clark has quickly become one of the most recognizable and popular players in women's college sports. Her social media following includes more than 740,000 followers on Instagram and more than 150,000 on X. So Caitlin Clark showing her popularity, now becoming part of State Farm's athlete roster and expect to see her quite frequently on air in State Farm commercials.
I want to talk about tennis because yesterday a decision was made that is a big boost to Ohio and a big disappointment to my hometown, Charlotte, North Carolina. As the Western and Southern Open, really one of the top tennis tournaments in the world, is staying in Ohio as the event's new owner, Beemok Capital, decided to stay in that region after they will see more than $200 million being invested in improving the tennis facilities where that tournament has been played since 1979. Remember this tournament's future was uncertain. It's been in Cincinnati, but be Beemok Capital flirted with Charlotte and talked about relocating the event to Charlotte, to a proposed $400 million, 40 court tennis complex. Beemok Capital purchased the event from the USTA in 2022. They were looking for a lot of public assistance. They were looking to reenergize the tournament. And founder Ben Navarro seemed to successfully play Ohio and North Carolina off each other and the leaders in Ohio stepped up enough for Ben Navarro to stay in that community, where the event is a really big deal. It's a big event.
There was a sense here in the Charlotte market that the continued increase in the cost to build a new complex in Charlotte was just too much for Beemok Capital, because in Ohio they were asking for $200 million of state and county funding. And here in North Carolina, they were looking for the state, the county, and the city, to cover a third of a total 400 million costs of the project. So you see the difference in the finances. And again, this is a big event. In 2025, the tennis tournament will expand to two weeks. It's both men's and women's. It's a prime lead into the US Open. They always get a very strong draw. It's the perfect time of the year for this event, and now it will stay in Ohio for the long-term future. Western and Southern Open staying in Ohio, not relocating to Charlotte, North Carolina.
We continue to see more and more renovations at established venues. Scotiabank arena will soon be 25 years old. I remember it was part of a wave of venues built in the late 1990s, 1999 to be exact. So Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment is putting in $350 million into the building over the next three years.
But starting tonight, Wednesday night, the Maple Leafs will open their season in a refreshed arena following the first phase of the renovation. Fans will see changes mostly in the 200 level area, featuring new pieces of artwork and a newly redesigned MasterCard lounge, which will have theater style seating and a rotating menu designed by top chefs. This will be quite the premium area as membership in the MasterCard Lounge will include food, not alcohol, and costs $60,000 a seat for all Leafs and Raptors regular season games, including the first round of the playoffs. So that's phase one of the renovation.
Next summer, the venue will undergo renovations on the 100 level, including a new concourse. And after that work will begin on the 300 level areas. So again, MLSE trying to keep a 25-year-old building relevant, strong, viable. This building has a great location with good bones. And so this $350 million renovation should certainly make this a productive venue for at least the next 15 years.
Shifting to college, a lot of movement and efforts around name, image, and likeness. Next week, NCAA President Charlie Baker and Big 10 Commissioner Tony Petitti will testify in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill. This is a hearing on NIL and the future of college sports. And this should be must watch television, because Baker and Petitti, I'm sure will bring their A game. Several bills have been introduced on Capitol Hill about NIL, but there's been little movement towards getting this legislation through. So while Congress is studying it more, the NCAA has introduced several proposals to bring more transparency to NIL transactions and oversight. They could be voted on as soon as January. So the message I'm seeing is pretty clear from the NCAA and Charlie Baker. If Congress doesn't act, the NCAA is ready to implement some uniform measures that would apply across all states and for all students, sometime in early 2024.
We'll end on a couple of quick hitters. I've been watching this TGL from Tomorrow Sports, the new golf league, while Arthur Blank's team competing in this new golf league now has a name and it will be called Atlanta Drive Golf Club or Atlanta Drive GC. The team will feature four yet to be named players who play on the PGA Tour. They'll play of course, in that specially built studio in Florida. The TGL will start on January 9th on ESPN. I'm looking forward to seeing some of the other brands being rolled out around the other teams in the TGL.
And we'll end with this. The NFL has a big hire in its sponsorship division naming Ingrid Petri as its Vice President of Strategy and New Business. So she will be charged with developing and closing new sponsorship deals. She comes from AEG where she was Vice President of Global Portfolio Sales, but she was at the NFL from 2005 to 2011. So this is her second stint at the league. She will report to Tracie Rodburg, and so she will be out in the market looking to close more sponsorship deals for the NFL. She believes the league still has strong potential in deals related to health and wellness, diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and international brands. Also, she said that flag football, which was a proposed addition to the '28 Summer Games, is providing new opportunities to raise revenue. An immediate priority she said, is to explore potential sideline deals. That is the most precious inventory, of course, for any sport. Remember coaches headsets, they have been unsponsored or unbranded since Bose left in 2022. So Ingrid Petri has big plans to round out the NFL sponsorship categories and sponsorship roster.
And so that is your Morning Buzzcast for Wednesday, October 11th. I'm Abe Madkour. Thanks for listening to the Buzzcast. Stay healthy, be good to each other. I'll speak to you tomorrow.