Jeff Vinik's generous gifting and impact; What's next for Endeavor and business predictions around the World Series.
Jeff Vinik's generous gifting and impact; What's next for Endeavor and business predictions around the World Series.
Abe Madkour:
The most anticipated World Series in years starts tonight, but let's start with some hockey news. This is your Morning Buzzcast for Friday, October 25th. Good morning. I'm Abe Madkour.
There is a reason Lightning owner, Jeff Vinik, is one of the best in sports, so I will not bury the lead. Jeff Vinik is paying out approximately $20 million in bonuses to the organization's more than 300 employees after selling a majority of his equity in the team in a deal that values the club at $1.8 billion. So yes, let's break it down.
Full-time employees of Vinik Sports Group were informed this week that they would each receive a gift from Vinik of between 50,000 and $66,000. Vinik thanked employees for their hard work and dedication and told employees that together they built something special. And this comes after Vinik sold a portion of his team to a group of investors led by Blue Owl Capital co-CEOs, Doug Ostrover and Mark Lipschultz. Under the deal, Vinik will remain in control of the team for three years before transferring control to the two partners.
Now, in terms of Jeff Vinik, he is truly one of the best owners in sports and of course in the NHL. How he took the Lightning, which was one of the worst clubs in the league when he bought them in 2010 for $93 million and turned this club into one of the jewels of the NHL. It's been such a great story for the league. The team has been a playoff contender. It won back-to-back Stanley Cups. It became a top 10 club in overall revenue. Amazing when you think about what he's built for the NHL in a southern market.
But most of all, Jeff Vinik has been extremely active and generous in the community. He's played a major role in the redevelopment of the downtown area around Amalie Arena. He's really helped transform Tampa.
Now, Jeff Vinik is not going anywhere soon. Like I said, he will remain in control for three years. But I do hope people step back and appreciate exemplary ownership in sports like Jeff Vinik.
Let's move on. The selling of assets by Endeavor accelerated this week as TKO Group acquired professional bull riders on location and IMG in a deal valued at north of $3.2 billion. The deal should close in the first half of next year. So yes, it's moving things around from one Endeavor group that is going to go private to another Endeavor-led group, TKO, that is public. Endeavor's ownership and TKO group will increase from 53% to 59%. We know that private equity firm, Silver Lake, wants to take parts of Endeavor private, so they are shedding some of these assets. So now TKO Group is really an event, entertainment, hospitality, and media company, and UFC and WWE will still be the big revenue drivers of this group.
Now, Wall Street didn't love the deal as shares of TKO Group were down almost nine percent on the news on Thursday. We'll have to see how they perform today, Friday. So what else is for sale? Well, Endeavor said it would look to sell the Miami Open and the Madrid Open to tennis tournaments, and do not overlook the Saudis' interest in those tennis events. What else? They will likely sell the data company, Openbet. We know Endeavor wants to keep talent, so WME will likely stay with Endeavor. There is still the question of what happens to Fashion Week and 160/90, the consulting arm. So there are still some elements to shake out in terms of what the future makeup is of Endeavor.
Well, what can you say about this World series that starts tonight? Everyone I know seems to be talking about it or asking about it or predicting about it. It's a great story for baseball and the business metrics, I think, will be a fantastic test for the sport. And of course they are two of baseball's most popular teams. So combine that with the global appeal of Shohei Otani, and there are already predictions of record business metrics.
Let's look at merchandise. Fanatics is selling more than 50 unique World Series specific products. One longtime licensing leader told SBJ's Terry Lefton that no one is really sure how big the demand will be, but there has been as much player demand across the country as there has been team demand. That is significant, and most expect this World Series to beat the record merchandise sales from when the Cubs won the World Series in 2016. And we are already hearing about the lines waiting outside the MLB store this week in New York City even before it opened in the mornings.
So again, strong, strong merchandise sales expected on the TV side. Yes, Fox will see very strong ad sales for viewership, baseball and Fox would love, love, love to see average viewership north of 15 million viewers to start the series. Remember, the last few years the World Series has averaged around 11 million viewers, but those weren't Dodgers, Yankees. This series will be a really good litmus test for the appeal of baseball, because it has so much going for it.
My colleague, Austin Karp, and I were going back and forth yesterday, and if it goes six or seven games, Austin would expect to see the numbers north of 20 million viewers for Fox. It's likely not going to average the 23 million viewers like Fox had for the Cubs, Indian series in 2016. The media world, I believe, has changed too much, but it still should rate very strong. And let's see, that's the fun part of all of this, as this will be a real scorecard for baseball in the sports landscape.
Let's move on. MLS is going all out to promote Lionel Messi's first ever MLS Cup playoff match. It begins tonight, Friday night. Inter Miami plays Atlanta United on Apple TV. The match will be available for free in front of the paywall associated with MLS season pass. There is a school of thought that this match could be the most watched MLS match ever on Apple.
Now, it will also be broadcast in Times Square in New York City. It'll be seen at Apple stores around the world. MLS is also offering TikTok users a special player spotlight on Messi, where the cameras will be focused solely on him. This marks the first time TikTok has streamed an entire live match with a single player focus.
In addition, the match will be provided at no additional cost to all DirecTV residential and business customers. So again, MLS and its partners going all out to try to get as many eyes on Messi's first ever MLS Cup playoff match.
We'll finish up with two things. First, I had a call yesterday from a source who wanted more clarity on the two unrivaled groups that are out there. One is the Youth Sports Play by Josh Harris and David Blitzer. And the other unrivaled is the upcoming three on three Women's Basketball League, which will launch in January in Miami and broadcast by Warner Brothers Discovery. Well that basketball league finalized names and branding for its six teams. You'll see the Laces Basketball Club, the Mist Basketball Club, the Phantom Basketball Club, the Lunar Owls Basketball Club, the Rose Basketball Club, and the Vinyl Basketball Club. I think you see some consistency.
The teams are owned by the league. There is no geographic home. All games will be played in Miami, but there could be the future sale of teams and potential home markets. So they left that open in the team branding. But again, Unrivaled set to launch in January in Miami.
And finally, yes, the NBA has brought back the graphically enhanced basketball courts for its in-season tournament. These courts, they're not subtle, they're very bright, and each of the 30 teams this year has some local flavor on the design. For example, the T-Wolves will have subtle images of trees on their court. The Trail Blazers, yes, a bed of roses on theirs. The Lakers have the LA skyline, and the Wizards have a cherry blossom theme. Some people love the courts, other fans, not so much. But the courts became part of the storyline of the in-season tournament, and the NBA and its teams obviously feel the investment, because they aren't cheap, is worth it. So look for these courts during the upcoming Emirates NBA Cup in-season tournament.
I hope to see many of you next week in Washington DC for our DealMakers conference. Still time to register. If you'll be there, let me know. I'd love to say hello.
That is your Morning Buzzcast for Friday, October 25th. I'm Abe Madkour. Thanks for listening to the Buzzcast. Stay healthy. Be good to each other. I'll speak to you on Monday.