U.S. investors eye PGA Tour; Why Jazz+ matters and early names floated to succeed Bill Hancock at CFP
Okay, so it seems that Messi Mania has cooled. Lionel Messi was not in uniform Wednesday night at DRV PNK Stadium for the US Open Cup Final between Inner Miami and the Houston Dynamo. He is still dealing with an injury and the enthusiasm and excitement around him, and the team, and MLS has subsided a bit. It should be noted that inner Miami is still fighting for a playoff spot. I'll just say it's certainly more fun in sports business when Messi is playing. This is your Morning Buzzcast for Thursday, September 28th. Good morning, I'm Abe Madkour. Let's start with an interesting story that broke overnight, a lot of talk during the Saudi PIF's investment in the PGA Tour, focused on why or if the PGA Tour sought any US-based investment before moving forward with the Saudi deal.
Well, Bloomberg News was first to report that US investors are now being considered to help finance the PGA Tour's transaction with the Saudi PIF and LIV Golf. They hope any such US investment will ease political opposition to the deal. The PGA Tour said it's received unsolicited interests from investors and the tour will examine these opportunities. One, this doesn't surprise me. There was a lot of talk of a number of US-based investors who were interested in this type of deal earlier this year. Two, it's a smart move for the PGA Tour. As we know, there are a lot of politicians and officials concerned about the Saudis having too much influence over the tour with this recent investment. Remember it was said this deal would close by the end of the year, and reports are that while negotiations are intense, they still have a long way to go. Potential US investment could help get this deal over the finish line, but it seems there's still plenty of work to do.
Let's move on. The Utah Jazz have launched a direct to consumer service known as Jazz Plus that will stream all of the teams non nationally televised games this season and be a subscription-based compliment to their free over-the-air linear offering. Remember the Jazz are no longer with their local regional sports network. They did a local over the air deal with a Sinclair Broadcast network and now have introduced this direct to consumer option. The Jazz are one of the few NBA teams that produce their own broadcast in-House. The league is handling some of the backend technology work for this direct to consumer application.
All other teams and sports will be watching how the Jazz do this, how successful this is, because the future, as we know, of the regional sports networks is in doubt and more teams may be forced to follow the Jazz and launch their own direct to consumer product to recoup some of the money lost from the unraveling of the RSNs. Now, Jazz Plus will include more than 80 games, alternate broadcast and behind the scenes footage. The interesting element? The price point, it will be available for $125.50 a year, $15.50 a month, or you could buy a game by game for $5 each. Some interesting price points there for Jazz Plus. Again, many teams will be watching how this gets executed and the engagement level by fans.
Shifting over to college sports, earlier this week, we noted how the College Football Playoff Committee was meeting outside of Chicago at the Big 10 offices. But over the few days, there was no decision on any format changes to the expanded 12 team playoff field that will be begin next season. Officials have decided to wait and see what the future of the PAC-2, formerly PAC-12 will look like. They said it was too early to determine if the CFP would allow for an automatic birth for the winner of the two team PAC-2 conference or whatever it looks like in the future. Instead, most of the two days of the meetings were reportedly spent listening to potential television partners pitch their presentations. Remember, the rights fee for an expanded playoff should be quite lucrative. Officials also looked at future sites for the college football playoff championship. Remember the early games...
Not the early games, but the first few years are in Houston, Atlanta and Miami. Officials were looking at future sites for the playoff. While there was still plenty of business to do, no decisions were made on any format changes to the expanded 12 team field that will begin next season, but the clock is ticking and officials know it. Staying with the college football playoff, one of the most interesting positions to be filled is who will succeed outgoing CFP executive Director Bill Hancock, who was set to depart his job in 2025.
CBS Sports' Dennis Dodd notes that Hancock's replacement is expected to be in place by the end of this year, if not earlier. Who is the search group looking for? Well, officials said they're looking for someone who can grow the CFP, who can grow the event, scale the event. Think of the CFP on par with the Super Bowl. There's a lot to do in terms of building events around the CFP, but also this executive would have a big voice in college football. Dodd floats out several potential candidates, some interesting names that many of you know: Steve Bernstein, Alabama's athletic director Greg Byrne was floated, North Carolina's, Bubba Cunningham, Fox Sports' Mark Silverman, and Syracuse athletic director, John Wildhack, who, of course, has immediate background from ESPN among many other names floated by Dennis Dodd. Some interesting names, and this is one search we should all be watching.
We're going to end the Buzzcast around companies and people. First, FIFA is moving more than a hundred jobs from its headquarters in Switzerland to Florida. Remember, that's the headquarters for the 2026 World Cup. But this is still a surprise. We're going to have to watch if FIFA continues to move more and more jobs from Switzerland to the United States. FIFA's legal department and its audit, compliance, and risk management teams will move from Zurich to Florida and be in place by next August in the United States. We'll be watching to see if other positions get relocated from Switzerland to the US.
Also, Oakview Group will move its headquarters to Denver from Los Angeles. Colorado's Economic Development Commission presented Oakview with more than $5 million in job growth tax credits as a inducement to relocate to Colorado. Oakview Group has so far listed more than 30 jobs open in its Denver office. In addition to Denver, Oakview Group has divisions in L.A., New York, London, Philadelphia, and Toronto. Now, Oakview Group has a connection to Denver. Its founder, Tim Lewicki was president of the Denver Nuggets in the early nineties. Tim Lewicki was a key executive behind the development of the Pepsi Center, which opened in 1999. There's a real history between Lewicki and Denver. Oakview Group, moving its headquarters from Los Angeles to Denver, Colorado.
Brendan Donahue, who's well-known in sports business, especially in basketball, will step down as president of the NBA 2K League, a position he has had since 2017. Now, that league has continued to grow. Remember it was co-founded by the NBA and Take-Two Interactive. It was really seen as the first official eSports league operated by a US Sports League. It had 17 teams at launch. It's now up to 25 teams. Many of them are affiliated with NBA teams, but it also has international franchises in Mexico, China, Australia. It has grown, but we are obviously seeing changes in the eSports and the gaming business. It will be worth keeping an eye on how the NBA continues to see the future of the 2K League. But like I said, Brendan Donohue, well-known, well-regarded. Prior to running NBA 2K, he served in the NBA's TMBO offices. He also had positions at the New Orleans Hornets, the Milwaukee Bucks, and the Detroit Pistons.
Finally, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred joins SBJ's John Iran, and the New York Post's Andrew Marchand in the Marchand and Iran Sports Media podcast this week, a half hour interview, the commissioner talks about the future of local media, Apple, Peacock, the future of ESPN and the future of the Orioles in Baltimore, and the A's in Oakland. A lot of ground covered and it's a good listen. Check it out at sportsbusinessjournal.com or wherever you listen to your podcast. That is your morning Buzz cast for Thursday, September 28th. I will not be with you tomorrow. Joe Lemire will bring you the Buzzcast. I'll be back on Monday. Until then, stay healthy, be good to each other. Have a great weekend.