LIV Golf’s potentially unconventional TV rights deal; an offseason of change for the Minnesota Twins and DAZN expands its portfolio in Europe.
LIV Golf’s potentially unconventional TV rights deal; an offseason of change for the Minnesota Twins and DAZN expands its portfolio in Europe.
Good morning everyone here at Sports Business Journal wishes to send our thoughts out to everyone in the path of hurricane. This is a dangerous storm and we hope that everyone comes out as safely and soundly as possible. And this is your morning Buzz cast for Wednesday, September 28th. I'm Reginal Walker filling in for Abe Mad Core. Let's start with live golf. That's right. Live golf is nearing a deal to potentially purchase airtime first tournaments here on US cable television with potentially Fox Sports one that's according to Golf Week. While media companies typically pay sports leagues a substantial rights fee to air products, this deal would not see live receiving payment. It would instead see live paying for air time on the cable channel. Two weeks ago, live Golf CEO Greg Norman said he was fielding interest from some media companies about broadcasting the live tournaments. At this point, no deals have been announced, but now we know that live golf is in discussions to potentially purchase airtime on Fox.
So that's something to keep an eye on for sure. One of the more intriguing owners in sports is Vinny Viola. Vinny Viola recently won praise across the NHL for his turnaround on the floor Panthers. Now Viola is continuing to build on his Sunrise sports and entertainment into additional sports as it has acquired eSports organization. Fly Quest from Bucks co-owner West Edens. As part of this deal, it also gets Viola access into a League Championship series slot into the franchise league for Riot Games League of Legends. So a major league team owner still sees great growth potential in eSports and with Fly Quest Viola gets a coveted spot in Riot Games League championship series, one of the most important and popular eSports circuits in America. Anytime you see a major sport team owner invest in e-sports or the eSports environment as a whole, it's worth keeping your eye on.
Let's move on to baseball. There will be some changes in Minneapolis over the off season for the twins as they have some new leaders on the business staff and now they'll make some changes to the brand. Undergoing a pretty significant rebranding of the 62 year old franchise twins, President Dave St. Peter said the team's uniforms are gonna try and move the brand forward. The new uniforms will be revealed after the season ends. They will also introduce a City Connect uniform in 2024. Expect to see changes at target field as the team will be installing new scoreboards, including a huge video board in left field that is significant. 76% larger. That's right, 76% larger than the current video board. The 30 million project will see costs shared by both the twins and the Minnesota ballpark authority. Now we don't talk a lot about Indie car on the Buzz cast, but when you look at the series, you wanna look at the schedule and the the footprint.
So it's noteworthy that IndyCar's 2023 schedule will feature the same number of races at the same locations as on the 2022 calendar. The only shift will be moving Detroit's race from Bellow to downtown Detroit. So that will be the only change in venue. IndyCar will again have 17 races, five ovals, and 12 road and street courses. So no change for IndyCar who will stay the course on its schedule and number of races for 2023, and it will remain close to its media partner. NBC Sports as 13 of the 17 races are scheduled to be seen on espn, which is always a boost for the most amplified exposure. De Zone becomes a bigger player in sports media as it acquired 11 groups global sports media business. With the deal, The Zone gets a broader portfolio of rights, including the top soccer leagues in Portugal and Belgium.
The Zone is already strong in Italy and Spain, so this acquisition gives them a wider coverage area. This deal also includes Team Whistle, a data driven social video platform. Team Whistle is an interesting component to a deal as it has more than 700 million followers across social channels, and it is a top 10 sports media property in the us. Bottom line, The deal makes the zone a larger player on global football and you can expect to see them delve further into sports betting and incorporate sports betting content into IT platform and launch more content and shoulder programming to compliment the live sports rights. 11 was founded in 2015 by Andrea Raza, the primary owner of Premier League Club Leads. United De Zone is owned by Lynn Blavatnik and also features former Disney exec Kevin Byer on its board and former 40 under 40 honoree Joe Markowski as its North American ceo.
Also in media. SI got deeper into golf by acquiring the golf site. Morning read from Buffalo Group. Morning Reed already had an editorial partnership deal with Sports Illustrated, which is operated by Arena Group to publish their golf tent on SI's website. The Arena Group has fully acquired the media asset, bringing their editorial team in content in house and rebranding it as SI golf. So obviously SI is feeling bullish on the golf business by broadening out its golf offering and will end with some housekeeping. Less than two weeks to sign up as Sports Business Journal will be hosting the CAA World Congress of Sports in New York City, Tuesday and Wednesday, October 11th and 12th. It'll be held at the Time Center on 41st Street s. BJ 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 promises to be a productive and inspiring week. You don't wanna miss it. Register today at world congress of sports.com. So that is your morning buzz cast for Wednesday, September 28th. I'm Reginal Walker filling in for a Mad Corps. Again, our thoughts are with anyone and everyone in the path of Hurricane Ian. Have a great day. We'll see you back here tomorrow morning.