NWSL in the spotlight; Silver apologizes to Suns employees; F1 draws big at COTA and the passing of a sports visionary
I hope to see some of you at Game Changers this week. We have a fantastic lineup of speakers in New York. We will celebrate our Game Changer honorees as well. All of this will take place this Wednesday, October 26 at MetLife Stadium. Still time to register at sportsbusinessjournal.com and this is your morning Buzzcast for Monday, October 24th. Good morning, I'm Abe Madkour. Thanks for listening to the Buzzcast. Hope you had a great weekend. Let's start with Game Changers, because our Game Changers lineup and agenda is aligned perfectly around some key issues in the news, specifically the NWSL finals. So the finals are set for next Saturday, as the Portland Thorns beat San Diego two to one on Sunday in front of more than 22,000 fans. They advance to the championship match. They will play the Kansas City Current who beat the Reign in Seattle, also in front of more than 21,000 fans at Lumen Field.
So what's the connection to Game Changers? Well, we will have Kansas City Current owners, Chris and Angie Long with us speaking in New York. And Ally CMO Andrea Brimmer, who has been a very strong sponsor and advocate for the NWSL, and was key in having the finals be on CBS next Saturday in prime time, will also be speaking at our Game Changers event. But there's just a lot of issues to discuss, a lot of interesting storylines with of course, the Portland Thorns in the finals, Merritt Paulson's ownership of the Thorns will be discussed, because that's still a controversial subject in the Portland market, and was evident during the semi-finals on Sunday.
So a lot of storylines to discuss, including this one, FIFA doesn't feel broadcasters are showing enough respect for the Women's World Cup next year. On Saturday, FIFA President Gianni Infantino criticized broadcasters who he said, were refusing to acknowledge the value of women's soccer properties like the World Cup. Now he said broadcasters offer FIFA a hundred times less than what they offer FIFA for the Men's World Cup. Remember last week, Bloomberg reported that FIFA has rejected bids to show next summer's Women's World Cup matches in several European countries because the offers were too low. In the United States of course, the Women's World Cup will be televised by Fox Sports. But there is still an uncertain market for the Women's World Cup among European broadcasters, so that's something you want to watch. Now since the games will be played in Australia and New Zealand, most of the games will air well outside primetime in Europe. So that could be some reasons for the softer market, but that is certainly a story to watch.
Meanwhile, there was the Women's World Cup draw Over the weekend. The US Women's National Team will face the Netherlands, Vietnam, and a yet unknown playoff winner at next year's Women's World Cup. They will open against Vietnam on July 22nd. So the Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand next July.
Let's move to baseball. The World Series is set. It will start on Friday night in Houston, and you do have an intriguing matchup of the Phillies against the Astros. The Astros continue their post-season success. Remember, they went to their six straight American League championship series. They are 7-0 in this post season, and they will be in their fourth World Series in the last six years, quite a run.
Now the Philadelphia Phillies have been a great and refreshing storyline in the National League, and they are in their first World Series since 2009. These are good sports days for Philadelphia sports fans. The Phillies are clearly riding the momentum of Bryce Harper, who is the face of the franchise. He was named the NLCS's Most Valuable Player. So while Major League Baseball didn't get its coveted Dodgers, Yankees World Series, it does get a strong East Coast market with the Phillies and it gets the Texas market with the Astros. Length of series will surely determine viewership interest. But this series does have a lot of interesting storylines starting Friday night.
Let's move on to some other news over the weekend. Keep your eye on Magic Johnson. As reports surfaced over the weekend, he could buy a stake in the Raiders at a very lucrative price. This of course, would make him a partner with Mark Davis. It would also build out Magic Johnson's Sports Portfolio. He already is a limited partner in the Los Angeles Dodgers. Magic Johnson has reportedly been assembling a team of investors for a minority stake in the Raiders, and he apparently has long had an interest in owning a piece of the Raiders franchise. So Magic Johnson looking to buy a stake in the Las Vegas Raiders.
Meanwhile, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has reportedly apologized to employees of the Phoenix Suns for years of workplace misconduct under Sun's owner Robert Sarver. This was according to ESPN. Silver reportedly apologized to a group of hundreds of employees during a meeting, nearly an hour long address last week in Phoenix. Silver said that while he knew Robert Sarver was a difficult boss, he was not aware of issues in the team's workplace under Robert Sarver. Meanwhile, Sam Garvin, who has been a minority owner since 2004 and is currently acting owner, also apologized to employees on behalf of the team's ownership group. So Adam Silver speaking to Sun's employees and offering his apologies for those workers who had to endure years of workplace misconduct under Robert Sarver.
And we're going to end around Formula 1, because a big weekend for Formula 1 in Austin. We continue to see the growth of F1 in the United States. More than 440,000 tickets were sold to Circuit of the Americas. That's over the three days of racing. There were also 38 musical acts over the three days. The Red Bull team Max Verstappen won the race. And more on the significance of that a little later on the Buzzcast. Meanwhile, Formula 1 and ESPN used the event to formally announce their new television deal. SPJ first reported this in June. The multi-year renewal between F1 and ESPN is through the 2025 season. This deal would pay in the range of 75 million to 90 million dollars per year, a major increase for Formula 1. It just goes to show the amount of interest that is happening around Formula 1.
ESPN is averaging 1.2 million viewers per F1 race. That's up 30% from last year, which was a record at the time. And the TV numbers keep growing. ESPN is on pace for another record break season. Interestingly, Austin, which right now is one of two US sites, it will be one of three US sites hosting Formula 1 races, is a top 10 US market for Formula 1, often ranking number one in terms of the top draw of viewership of F1 in the United States. But ESPN continuing to see some strong results around Formula 1.
Finally, Red Bull, co-founder and owner Dietrich Mateschitz passed away on Saturday. The news was shared before qualifying in Austin at the US Grand Prix. There will be business studies and business classes around Dietrich Mateschitz in the future. He founded Red Bull in the mid 1980s, but he grew the energy drink into a market leader largely through sports, especially F1, as he created the Red Bull team in 2005. But he built the Red Bull brand largely through sports, motor sports, action sports. And now Red Bull operates soccer clubs, hockey teams, in addition to Formula 1 racing. He was ahead of the curve on action and extreme sports. He was a towering figure in motor sports. He also kept a very low profile.
Certainly whenever we tried to reach out to do any type of profiles or coverage of him, he always was very much not interested in publicity. But his leadership and influence should never be overlooked. And the Red Bull team honored him appropriately by winning the F1 race in Austin. So that is your morning Buzzcast for Monday, October 24th. I'm Abe Madkour, thanks for listening to the Buzzcast. Stay healthy, be good to each other. I'll speak to you tomorrow.