A possible price tag on the Suns; a rarity - three sports teams officially on the market; Norman faces Congressional criticism and President's Cup tees off amid record revenue.
A possible price tag on the Suns; a rarity - three sports teams officially on the market; Norman faces Congressional criticism and President's Cup tees off amid record revenue.
SBJ all in takes place today on Thursday from eight 30 to 5:00 PM Eastern time from Cleveland, Ohio. As more than 25 diversity equity and inclusion champions will provide insights, best practices and tactics for change. You can still sign up as a virtual registration is complimentary go to sports, business journal.com and our events page to learn more and to register. And you can also watch these sessions on demand S SPJ all in taking place today. And today is Thursday, September 22nd. Good morning. I made mad gore. Thanks for listening to the buzz cast. Well, another sports team is on the market. As Robert server has begun the process to sell both the Phoenix sons and the Phoenix mercury. The pressure has been on Robert server to sell for some time as he was suspended one year and fined 10 million last week after an NBA investigation found that he had engaged in behavioral misconduct and mistreated employees.
For years, Sarver bought the teams in July of 2004 for about 400 million. Now he has approximately one third ownership of the team, but sources told ESPN that even though server does not own the sons in full, he does have the authority to sell the team in full. Now most believe the franchise is valued at about $2 billion, but could be sold for close to 3 billion. The people I spoke to last night after hearing about this sale, all put the 3 billion figure on a possible price tag. While many including server believed he could hold onto the team. After the NBA's punishments, the pushback among team sponsors, players and fans certainly fueled his decision to sell the team. Now, there will be great interest in this team. It's in a growing market. The team recently renovated its arena. We know the team on the court is good, so there will be no lack of interest in this team and it will go.
It will sell for a lot of money. Now think about this. You also have a pretty unique marketplace right now. The NATS are for sale. The angels are for sale, and now the sons are for sale. Rarely is there such a supply available for teams? And we will see how the marketplace responds, especially during a time when the fed again, raised interest rates, and there are more concerns of recessionary headwinds, but the Phoenix son's Phoenix mercury to be sold by Robert Sarver. And like I said, there will be plenty of perspective. Suitors interested in those franchises today on Thursday, I'll be heading out to the quail hollow club for the first day of the president's cup here in Charlotte, North Carolina. And this is setting up to be the biggest president's cup in history. Charlotte does golf very well. And while interest may be lessened a bit with live golf poaching, many players on the international team, the business here will be big.
The number of corporate clients has tripled compared to the previous president's cup, which was played in the United States. Last in 2017 ticket sales have doubled, and the event has already surpassed previous revenue records. So they will cash in big time. This week, the event should draw roughly 200,000 fans over four days, nearly 50,000 fans a day on the course, and you'll wanna see the physical structures and almost the theater type setup for fans to watch the action. Now, the hospitality around the course is reaching record levels as well. There's an endless variety of hospitality, clubs and suites, which of course are driving revenue. And there are more than 800 companies expected to be entertaining clients and prospects at quail hollow over the next four days, finally, more than 500,000 square feet have been built out for this event. It's about 65% larger than that, of any previous president's cup.
So you see the scale that they're doing here, a new type of event, a new type of feel around this president's cup. And the PGA tour is set to break a number of records over the next few days here in Charlotte, let's stay with golf live golf commissioner. Greg Norman went to Capitol hill on Wednesday and met with lawmakers to lobby on behalf of live golf, which of course is backed by Saudi Arabia's public investment fund. And let's just say Norman's message. And Norman himself were met with very mixed reviews from politicians. Here are a couple of examples. Representative Tim Burett of Tennessee. He walked out of Norman's lunch meeting with the Republican study committee and he described Norman's lobbying efforts as propaganda representative chip, Roy of Texas accused Norman of pimping, a billion dollars of Saudi Arabian money and said, Norman tried to avoid talking about live golf's ties to Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, Norman said that the goal of the meeting was to give lawmakers an idea of what live golf is all about. About 75 members of Congress attended the meetings with Norman Norman spoke for about 20 minutes. He also met with select members of the us Senate, and of course, Norman and live golf would like Congress to examine antitrust issues related to the PGA tour. The us department of justice has opened an investigation into whether the PGA tour is illegally trying to squash competition. The PGA tour has denied this allegation, of course, but Norman and live golf would like to see Congress, at least look into some antitrust allegations against the tour. But Greg Norman, going to Capitol hill on Wednesday and being met with very mixed reviews, always good to see more and more players get involved in team ownership and former player Buster Posey has purchased a small stake in the San Francisco giants where he's been incredibly popular.
He will serve on the team's board of directors. Posey joins a group of more than 30 partners with stakes in the giants. They did not reveal the size of his stake in the team. It's surely to be a small stake, but the 35 year old Posey will be the youngest member of the giants board of directors, and will be the first former giants player to join the team as an owner. So again, always good to see former players take a step up into the ownership ranks and let's end the buzz cast around people. Hendrick Motorsports, vice president of marketing. Pat Perkins is well known in motor sports circles and he is leaving his longtime role with the team, but we'll continue as a senior advisor to the company. Now, pat Perkins has been with Hendrick Motorsports for more than 20 years, and he's served in his current role since 2007.
You know, he's made himself into a very, I would say, influential marketing executive in the sport. He's brought in a number of new partners, Pepsi, uh, lows, the national guard, uh, nationwide insurance. All those have done deals with Hendrick Motorsports and pat Perkins. Now pat Perkins will work remotely on special projects. He'll split his time between Austin, Texas, Charlotte, North Carolina, Hendrick Motorsports is expected to fill that marketing role eventually, but pat Perkins moving on from Hendrick Motorsports. So that is your morning buzz cast for Thursday, September 22nd. I made Matt gore again. Thanks for listening to the morning. Buzz cast, stay healthy, be good to each other. I'll speak to you tomorrow.