Washington Commanders' owner Daniel Snyder's continues to lose favor with other NFL owners; the NCAA's search to replace Mark Emmert is heating up; the Boston Celtics move forward after suspending their coach and the President's Cup provides business boom for PGA Tour.
Just two weeks to sign up as Sports Business Journal will be hosting the CAA World Congress of Sports in New York City on Tuesday and Wednesday, October 11th and 12th. It will be held at The Times Center on 41st Street, and you will hear from Tim and Tod Leiweke, CEO Michael Rubin, commissioners Jessica Berman, Gary Bettman, and Rob Manfred, Fox Sports' Eric Shanks, NASCAR's Steve Phelps, and the UFC's Dana White. SBJ will also host its Esports Rising Conference on Thursday of that week, and attendees can also take in Riot Games' League of Legends competition at the Hulu Theater that evening. It promised to be a productive and inspiring week. You don't want to miss it. Register today at worldcongressofsports.com, and this is your Morning Buzzcast for Monday, September 26th. I'm Reginald Walker filling in for Abe Madkour.
A very interesting story from The Washington Post over the weekend, which reported that a number of NFL owners believe serious consideration may be given to attempt to oust Commanders owner Daniel Snyder from the league's ownership ranks, either by convincing him to sell his franchise or by voting to remove him. In talking to owners, The Post reported that the feeling among owners regarding Snyder's ownership of the Commanders has "shifted significantly recently," and they are growing less and less patient with him. This, obviously, would be significant, as this just doesn't happen in the National Football League, and it speaks to growing frustration among owners over the controversies that surround Snyder and the Commanders and the inability to secure public financing for a new stadium, which, of course, impacts all teams and the overall revenue in the league. Dan Snyder is not popular among ownership, and he has cost his fellow owners both reputation damage and financial shortfall by the inability to get a stadium. Many owners would love to see Snyder sell voluntarily but would likely take a more forceful rebuke among ownership to really impact Snyder.
All this comes as Commanders COO, Greg Resh, among the early hires to President Jason Wright's leadership team in 2020, is leaving the organization after less than two years. He said that he is taking a new opportunity in his hometown of Baltimore, where his family resides. Resh played a key role in the team's business operations and its search for a new stadium location, but now he will depart after less than two years with the organization.
Let's move on to the NCAA search to replace Mark Emmert. We've stated all along that candidates would begin to emerge this fall, and the search is expected to accelerate during the next two to four months with the goal of naming a replacement for Emmert by early next year. One member of the search committee, University of Georgia President, Jerry Morehead, said all options are open in the search, as it could be a college president, commissioner, or an athletic director, but it could also be someone outside of collegiate sports.
The NCAA posted a job description for the presidency this week, which was developed after a comprehensive listening phase that included months of stakeholder feedback led by search firm TurnkeyZRG. The description seeks a "once-in-a generation transformational leader, one who believes in education, believes in intercollegiate athletics, and believes in themselves. Part navigator, part unifier, part visionary." Quite the qualifications, for sure.
As NBA training camps open today, a very challenging time for the Boston Celtics as they have suspended Coach Ime Udoka for the season. The story is complicated, and Boston Celtics CEO, Wyc Grousbeck, and President of Basketball Operations, Brad Stevens, discussed the move to suspend Udoka for an inappropriate consensual relationship with a female employee, but they did not shed many details. The team first learned of the situation over the summer and hired a law firm to conduct an investigation, and they found more than one violation. Grousbeck pushed back on calls that the suspension was too harsh. He said, "This felt right, but there is no clear guidelines for any of this. This is conscience and gut feeling."Meanwhile, President of Basketball Operations, Brad Stevens, was visibly angry Friday when speaking about the damage that social media speculation did to uninvolved women in the organization, saying a lot of people were dragged unfairly into the story.
There's so much we don't know here, and more and more will come up, but here's what we do know. This incident puts more pressure on teams to conduct more thorough background checks and personal evaluations on coaching candidates. We also know this comes as the NBA is still dealing with the negative headlines and fallout from Robert Sarver's behavior and the toxic workplace conduct in Phoenix.
We keep talking about the growth of women's sports, and we saw more evidence over the weekend as Women's Super League club Arsenal beat Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday in front of a record crowd of 47,367 at Emirates Stadium. That number smashed the WSL attendance record, with the previous number of 38,262 set at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in 2019. Arsenal had sold over 50,000 tickets for the match before Saturday.
We can confidently say that Charlotte, North Carolina, does golf well and does it right. If you're Jay Monahan, President's Cup Chair, Johno Harris, and Executive Director, Adam Sperling, you should feel good today as this event was a resounding business success. The President's Cup concluded Sunday at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte with the American team beating the international team. The event had a lot of positives in terms of a business hit. The venue was magnificent. It had roughly 200,000 fans on the grounds over the span of the tournament. The variety and sheer number of hospitality tents was off the charts, literally surrounding the course. You had people in the merchandise shop all weekend, making for significant revenue for the PGA Tour, and you had two former U.S. presidents on the grounds, as former U.S. presidents, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, made appearances at the venue on Friday afternoon. Looking ahead, Charlotte will be able to show off its goods again when Quail Hollow hosts the PGA Championship in 2025. All in all, a very successful President's Cup for the PGA Tour.
As we wrap up, look for more attempts at producing successful documentaries and storytelling around sports. The Premier League has been approached by the film company behind Netflix's F1: Drive to Survive to propose a series focusing on the league's top teams. Talks will begin to see what type of project this could become, as the production company behind the plans is U.K.-based Box To Box Films, which has produced Drive to Survive. Box To Box is said to have been in touch with individual Premier League clubs, as well. Once the details are confirmed about the scope of the series, including how much access clubs will need to provide behind the scenes and rights to the highlights, then a decision will be taken by the 20 clubs about if they'd like to move forward with it. If everything syncs, this could be very powerful programming.
So that is your Morning Buzzcast for Monday, September 26th. I'm Reginald Walker filling in for Abe Madkour. Thanks for listening to the Buzzcast. We'll see you back here tomorrow morning.