The buzz around the NBA's In-Season Tournament; early takeaways from the World Series and a family affair at Rhone
I hope to see many of you at Media Innovators on Thursday at the Westin Times Square. Still time to register. If you're going to be there, let me know, love to say hi and spend some time together. Australia, today, on Tuesday, said it will not bid for the 2034 World Cup. That clears the way for Saudi Arabia to host the men's marquee tournament. So we will have US, Canada, and Mexico hosting in 2026, Morocco, Portugal, and Spain, to host in 2030, and likely, Saudi Arabia in 2034. And this is your Morning Buzzcast for Tuesday, October 31st. Happy Halloween. Good morning. I'm Abe Madkour. Thanks for listening to the Buzzcast. I watched about five innings of last night's Game Three of the World Series, which was a well-played crisp affair. I guess it was over and under three hours. The Rangers now lead the series two games to one. Game Four tonight, Tuesday night.
But the early national narrative around the World Series isn't entirely positive unfortunately. Friday's Game One, very exciting, a ninth inning game-tying home run, an 11th inning walk off, you think that would draw some major viewers? But that opening win by the Rangers on Friday night drew the lowest number of viewers ever for a World Series Game One, just over 9 million viewers. That's according to SBJ's Austin Karp. And the previous low was during the pandemic, Dodgers-Rays drew just over 9.2 million viewers. So again, I've been in the business a long time, long enough to know that, if you start an event in a hole on ratings, it's really hard to make it up. So we will see if baseball and Fox can build any momentum. I think it's a little doubtful, but we'll see the numbers from Game Two and later, Game Three and see if they can start to grow some viewership. But the limited national appeal of this series could become a key storyline all this week.
Let's shift to tennis. We talked about the WTA Finals being held in Cancun, Mexico this week and the issues surrounding finding a long-term permanent home for that event. Well, the WTA Finals are not off to the best start, as the tour was forced to defend the tennis court it built for the event, saying it met its performance standards. But this came after players complained about the temporary outdoor hard court in Cancun. One player said they didn't even feel safe playing on the court. This, of course, led to more players questioning the leadership of the WTA and the overall experience at the finals. This is a marquee event or it's intended to be a marquee event. So not the start the WTA wanted around one of its biggest events on the circuit. A storyline clearly to watch.
Moving over to the NBA. One of the latest league innovation starts this week. We've talked about it for a while on the Buzzcast. I'm intrigued enough about it. It's the inaugural in-season tournament. It will tip off this Friday. It will culminate with a championship on December 9th. The semifinals and championship will take place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, and the attention is building on what the NBA is starting. And on Monday, yesterday, the NBA unveiled the designs of its 30 in-season tournament playing courts. Mandatory changes that included fully painted floors for the first time. The courts also have an image of the NBA cup trophy at mid-court.
There are different colors from foul line to foul line, so these courts look different. And that was intended. Everything was intended to make this in-season tournament feel different, so fans at home and fans in the arena would know they were watching a different game, not just a regular season game. With these new courts, for example, the Celtics will play their first ever home game without a parquet floor. So there's some interesting storylines here. The in-season tournament is slated for every Tuesday and Friday in the month of November, minus election night. And again, wraps up two weeks after Thanksgiving, with a Final four in Las Vegas. Year one, I'm sure it's going to be a growth property, but it'll be interesting to see fan and player reaction and adoption of this new concept.
And staying with the NBA, one of the most read stories on SportsBusinessJournal.com on Monday was the news that SKIMS, the company co-founded by Kim Kardashian, has become the first underwear partner of the NBA, the WNBA, and USA Basketball. Now, this is a multi-year deal, but it also gives the NBA an equity stake in Kardashian's company. And you're seeing more and more leagues look into these type of equity ventures as growth opportunities. So after launching a men's line last week, SKIMS' deal will include branding during the in-season tournament, during the all-star games for the NBA and the W and other assets. So SKIMS will also have on-court virtual signage during national broadcast. So the NBA handled the partnership in-house. They finalized the deal in collaboration with Wasserman, who represented SKIMS.
A quick note on the TGL Golf League, Fenway Sports Group has landed on a name and branding for its TGL team, with Boston Common Golf slated to begin play in the league in January. So Boston Common Golf, what does it mean? Well, the team wanted something central to Boston, and that name, of course, hearkens back to the Boston Common, which opened in 1634 and is in the central part of the city. Beautiful spot, incredibly walkable. Meanwhile, the team also introduced a frog logo, and that is an ode to Frog Pond, which lies within the Boston Common boundaries. So at least 300 names were considered for the team. They finally decided on Boston Common Golf. The team's colors are green and white. And again, this league, TGL, begins play in January. There's one more team to announce and some more team names and brands to be unveiled, but this is all starting to come together.
And finally, let's end the Buzzcast around some names in the news. Perhaps you remember the name Alex Flanagan, probably best known as a sideline reporter for NBC's Notre Dame telecast and the pregame show, Football Night in America. But Alex Flanagan left broadcasting in 2018 and became a broadcast talent agent. She worked at the firm, the Familie, and she developed a client roster. And now, she is joining Veteran Agency Executive, Sandy Montag, who was hired Alex Flanagan to be a senior talent agent at The Montag Group. As my colleague, John Ourand, noted in his SBJ Media newsletter on Monday night, it's not every day you see on-air talent leave to work on the other side of the business. Alex Flanagan now becoming a senior talent agent at The Montag Group.
And finally, SBJ's cover story this week takes a look at longtime sports business executive Dave Checketts, whose career spans more than four decades. He's been president of two NBA teams, president and CEO of Madison Square Garden, owner of the St. Louis Blues and Real Salt Lake. He was chairman of Legends at one time. So yes, Dave Checketts knows a thing or two about running a business. Now, he is leaning in to work with two of his sons and a son-in-law at Rhone. Rhone is the successful men's active wear clothing line, that Nate and Ben Checketts and their brother-in-law launched in 2014. Now, their father, Dave Checketts, has become an investor, a member of Rhone's board, and an instrumental figure in assembling a new group of investors, that include such heavyweights as David Blitzer, who, of course, has ownership stakes in the Sixers and the Devils and the Guardians.
It also includes Hornet's co-owner, Gabe Plotkin, and the family office of late Jazz owner Larry Miller. So a very strong new investment group. They bought out private equity firm, L Catterton, and reasserted control of what they expect will be a Checketts family business for years to come. If you haven't heard of Rhone, you will. It's a buzzy company. People know about it, people talk about it, especially in the sports business. Recently, I saw a photo of Arnold Schwarzenegger on the cover of Men's Health wearing Rhone apparel. And like I said, a number of people in the sports industry, I know, wear it. And now, Rhone looks to continue to grow around this new financial investment and this new group of financial investors, as well as Dave Checketts working more closely with his sons. It's a good family story, and you can read it all this week on SportsBusinessJournal.com. And so, that is your Morning Buzzcast for Tuesday, October 31st. I'm Abe Madkour. Thanks for listening to the Buzzcast. Stay healthy, be good to each other. I'll speak to you tomorrow.