Eyes on NFL leadership as league kicks off; Has game ever been stronger? WME Sports lands top sales exec and NBA CMO moves on
SBJ will be in Nashville next week for our access sports facilities, franchises, and ticketing symposium. Still, time to join us in what will be a great three days in one of the most exciting sports cities in the United States. If you're interested in registering for the event, go to our website or just let me know. And this is your Morning Buzzcast for Thursday, September 8th. Good morning. I'm Abe Madkour. Thanks for listening to the Buzzcast. We have to start with the NFL. NFL kickoff tonight, Bills at Rams at SoFi Stadium. And as you prepare for your NFL season, please read our cover story in SBJ that lays out what's ahead when it comes to leadership of the NFL. Of course, all eyes start on Commissioner Roger Goodell and ownership. In terms of Goodell, yes, he has more yesterdays than tomorrows, but he's not going anywhere soon and why should he? He has been that effective.
But at some point, the owners will look around and have to say, "Yes, Roger has done a great job, but we need to begin our succession process." Remember their ownership predecessors didn't have that foresight in 1989 when Pete Rozelle suddenly retired, owners were caught off guard, and it took six months to decide on a successor in Paul Tagliabue. So, we should all be watching to see how this succession process is started. One school of thought floated to me is a two-track approach where Roger Goodell puts internal candidates through a process and owners quietly hire a search firm to assist them in doing a search outside of the league office. There is still too little we know about the leagues plans here, but in our cover story, Ben Fisher touches on some of the names floated as a possible successor to Roger Goodell.
The other issue to watch on the business side is ownership turbulence, because as good as things are in the NFL right now, I've never seen a time like this. Dolphins owners, Stephen Ross has few friends among owners after the recent league sanctions against him. Dan Snyder has no allies. He's put the league in a really terrible position. The PR issues and ownership issues around the Haslams and David Tepper are well known. So, who are the future leaders to replace Jerry Jones and Robert Kraft and John Mara who will step up in those league first big-time roles? The Chiefs Clark Hunt could be that influential consensus builder, but he doesn't seem to relish it. The Steelers Art Rooney, he has all the clout, he does the hard work, he's clearly listened to, but some wonder if he wants to take on the political skills necessary. And the Cardinals, Michael Bidwill is really one to watch.
I believe he serves on about eight lead committees. But the bottom line, the forecast around team ownership and emerging leaders among team ownership is murky at best. And all of this comes as the game has never been better. The narrative a decade ago of the NFL's rapidly declining role and influence in society is clearly behind it, isn't it? Remember all those columns on football losing its hold on fans and declining in interest? Seems like those days couldn't be further from the truth today. Roger Goodell says every year, "The game has never been better on the field, and you almost have to give the league credit because this year it's really true." The league doesn't get the credit for stepping in and making massive investments in technology, research, and equipment to address the player health and safety issue. Roger Goodell knew if they didn't address this issue, it would have a trickle-down impact and negatively affect football at all levels.
So, remember they made these rule changes, changes to practice schedules, and many owners and coaches push back on, but they have made a real difference. And you could argue the game has never been better as it prepares to kick off tonight. So, those are among the issues I'm watching before heading the Super Bowl LVIII in Glendale this February. And speaking of Super Bowl LVIII, Fox said on Wednesday that it's broadcast of Super Bowl LVIII is about 95% sold with some of the highest price 32nd ad spots selling for more than $7 million." That's a record high. Most advertisers in the game are paying between 6 to 7 million for that 32nd spot and the strong sales of this game, they're indicative of strong ad sales across NFL programming, two other NFL notes. We all know the excitement and expectations are sky high around the Buffalo Bills this season.
Remember, the Bills are in the process of building a new stadium. I have heard early renderings for the plan facility, which will be built right across the street from Highmark Stadium, are innovative and very bold. It's fascinating to remember that if Andrew Cuomo was still governor of New York and not Buffalo Native Kathy Hochul, the team stadium plans may have been stuck in neutral. But Hochul is a Buffalo Native and a Bill's fan. She knew the value of the Bills to that region and there is a stadium deal done and a building ready to be developed.
And finally on the NFL, I did finish hard knocks last night and I enjoyed it. I don't know if Dan Campbell can coach, but boy, he's full of empathy and passion, which I admire. And maybe the show can help the Lion's business as the team has already sold more tickets this season than they did last year when they finished last in the NFL in home attendance. The team put about 1300 standing room tickets on sale for Sunday's season opener against the Eagles, and that is the first time they will have a standing room only crowd for a non-Thanksgiving game since 2017.
So, the Lions, a lot of energy in Detroit, the Lions getting some traction in that city, which is fun to see. So, a lot of great story lines as the NFL kicks off at season Thursday night. I want to move on and touch on a story and close the loop on a story, we talked about on the Buzzcast months ago. Fox Sports is Doug Gottlieb has acknowledged that he was wrong in tweeting about Excel Sports Management's Casey Close and that Close did not effectively represent Freddy Freeman during free agency. Remember, this was an interesting story because it dealt with possible libel and slander and information in the public domain. Gottlieb now says that his tweet that accused Casey Close, the MLB agent of not relaying the Atlanta Braves final offer to Freddie Freeman was wrong. This comes as Casey Close, and Excel sued Gottlieb in mid-July in a court alleging defamation by libel.
Gottlieb went on Twitter yesterday on Wednesday to say that he deleted the original erroneous tweet and that Casey Close did communicate all offers to Freeman, Excel and Close said, "With the public apology, they now consider the matter close," but a big vindication for Excel Sports Management and Casey Close and a significant blow to the reputation and credibility of Doug Gottlieb for spreading misinformation. You knew Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark was going to be really bold and aggressive in his new role and his boldness has certainly bristled some college leaders. We already saw where the Pac-12 fired back once at Brett Yormark's line that the big 12 was open for business. And on Wednesday, Brett Yormark again was not mincing any words. Speaking Wednesday in Cincinnati, Yormark sent a shot across the Pac-12 by saying, "The Big 12 would be interested in adding members from the Pacific Time Zone."
He said, going west is where he wants to be. He wants to enter a new time zone. He said, that the Big 12 is looking for a program that's nationally recognize, competes at the highest level in basketball and football, and is a good culture fit. Well, this surely will not please the Pac-12 members and Commissioner George Kliavkoff and his staff. And to that end, the Pac-12 had no comment when asked for a response to Yormark's remarks. Speaking of Brett Yormark, let's end around people in the news. The first of which has a tie to Brett Yormark. Mike Zavodsky, who has worked with Yormark for years at Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment, and Roc Nation, and was most recently Chief Business Officer at the Detroit Pistons will join WME Sports in their property solutions division. So, he will join WME's Joe Januszewski, who was brought on to lead the group in helping WME Sports sell big-ticket assets including naming rights, kit and jersey patch deals, the big ticket items.
Mike Zavodsky will be based in Miami, has a long history of sales. He was named to SBJ's 40 under 40 list in 2016. Shifting to the NBA, The NBA is on the search for a new chief marketing officer, it's third CMO in less than four years. Our Terry Lefton reported last night, Kate Jhaveri the NBA CMO for the past three years is leaving the league for another job. No word on where she is heading. Prior to the NBA, she was CMO at Twitch and she had marketing positions at Twitter, Facebook, Microsoft and Dell. Kate Jhaveri was named CMO in July of 2019 for the NBA. She replaced outgoing NBA CMO Pam El. Kate Jhaveri was also named in SBJ Game Changer Honoree in 2021. And finally, Reebok has a new CEO in longtime company executive Todd Krinsky. He succeeds Matt O'Toole who has been at the helm for the past 15 years.
Krinsky though is a 30-year veteran of Reebok. He said he will look to return Reebok to a true sports style brand as the brand is really no longer seen as a performance brand. He will call on Reebok's roots and style and fashion. Krinsky will continue to be based at Reebok's Boston headquarters. So, longtime Reebok executive Todd Krinsky gets the top seed as the new CEO. And that is your Morning Buzzcast for Thursday, September 8th, NFL kickoff day. I'm Abe Madkour. Thanks for listening to the Morning Buzzcast. Stay healthy, be good to each other. I'll speak to you tomorrow.