January 16, 2024

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The NFL’s wild card weekend was truly wild, from streaming records to snow storms and frozen mustaches. … Inter Miami is gearing up for an unprecedented preseason trip around the globe. … Minor league baseball teams are selling for incredible prices. … Caitlin Clark is a reliable seat-seller outside of Iowa. … And Arizona makes a call on potentially cutting sports before joining the Big 12.

— David Rumsey [[link removed]]

The NFL’s Wild, Wild, Wild Card Weekend [[link removed]]

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The NFL just wrapped up an unprecedented wild card weekend that made history around severe weather, new-age media, and postseason formatting.

On Monday, the Buffalo Bills-Pittsburgh Steelers game became the first NFL playoff matchup to be postponed by an entire day, in this case due to several feet of snow hitting the Buffalo area over the weekend. (In 2017, a Steelers-Kansas City Chiefs game was postponed from 1 p.m. ET to 8:20 p.m. because of wintry weather.) The Bills paid shovelers [[link removed]] $20 an hour ahead of the game to clear snow inside Highmark Stadium, and when the Steelers arrived in Buffalo, they required a snow plow to accompany [[link removed]] their typical police escort to their hotel. This weekend’s move also led to the first time the NFL has played a pair of playoff games on three consecutive days.

And that all came after the Chiefs’ victory over the Miami Dolphins on Saturday night made headlines for frigid temperatures. At -4°, the game in Kansas City went down as the fourth-coldest in NFL history (though it will be remembered, no doubt, for Chiefs head coach Andy Reid’s frozen mustache [[link removed]]).

Beyond the weather, Chiefs-Dolphins, which aired on Peacock, became the most-streamed event in U.S. history, averaging 23 million viewers, despite some fans’ outrage last week about the game being available [[link removed]] exclusively on the streamer. (That audience number does include viewership from local stations in Miami and K.C., as is standard in reporting for all exclusively-streamed NFL games.) The Chiefs-Dolphins stream beat out last year’s Saturday night wild card matchup between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Los Angeles Chargers, which drew 20.6 million viewers on NBC. Peacock paid [[link removed]] $110 million rights to this year’s wild card game, which will be up for auction again this offseason and intended for a streaming audience.

🗣️ LOUD AND CLEAR

EXIT STRATEGY

“Just like the business world, you make the best decision for your company. My company right now is my draft stock. … I’m putting myself in position to increase that.”

—Alabama wide receiver Isaiah Bond, on his opting over the weekend to transfer to Texas. Bond visited Austin in the immediate aftermath of coach Nick Saban’s retirement last week and attributed the move “one hundred percent” to the leadership change.

There’s Nothing Minor About MiLB’s Team Sale Trends [[link removed]]

Charlotte Knights

What was already a boom time for sales of Minor League Baseball teams is about to get another jolt.

The Triple-A Charlotte Knights, the top farm team of the Chicago White Sox, are officially up for sale, with current owner Don Beaver exploring a potential transaction. A deal for the Knights and Charlotte’s Truist Field could potentially reach $100 million, based on recent comps, which would set a new record for an MiLB team sale.

“A few prospective interested parties have inquired about the team and the ballpark,” the Knights said. “We want to vet the interested groups to see if a sale makes sense for Don Beaver and his family.”

The last several years have already seen an increasingly frothy market for MiLB franchises, which may not be the flashiest sports asset to own—but which have shown steady [[link removed]] attendance figures that have largely returned to pre-pandemic norms, as well as solid profit margins since MLB parent clubs pay minor league player salaries [[link removed]]. Among the top recent MiLB team sales:

An estimated $70 million deal [[link removed]] last month for the Triple-A Worcester Red Sox, part of an aggressive acquisition push [[link removed]] by Diamond Baseball Holdings, which now owns 29 MiLB teams—nearly a quarter of the entire affiliated minor leagues. A $90 million acquisition in 2022 of the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats and Sutter Health Park by Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadive and Arctos Sports Partners, believed to be the current standard-bearer for MiLB team sales.

The Knights look to push that further, based in part on a consistent standard as one of MiLB’s top draws (the team was 10th in attendance in 2023, with an average of 6,833 per game) and the 10-year-old Truist Field, located in quickly-developing uptown Charlotte.

The run of MiLB deals is also an outgrowth of MLB’s 2020-21 reorganization of the affiliated minor league, a dramatic move that resulted in the elimination of 40 franchises. That overhaul has arrived with a sharp upgrade in MLB facility requirements [[link removed]] for minor league affiliates, a demand resulting in some team relocations [[link removed]] and longtime owners deciding to sell.

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Inter Miami’s World Tour is Good For Business. Is it Good for the Team? [[link removed]]

Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports

Inter Miami will travel to El Salvador this week to kick off the club’s preseason international tour, which will require more than 23,000 miles of travel for six matches in five different countries across 20 days.

The schedule is unprecedented for an MLS team, but it’s the new reality for a franchise looking to capitalize on the legendary Lionel Messi in every way possible. Here’s what the next three weeks will look like for Inter Miami:

Friday: El Salvador national team, in San Salvador (1,018 miles from Miami) Jan. 22: FC Dallas, at Cotton Bowl Stadium (1,402 miles) Jan. 29: Saudi club Al-Hilal, in Riyadh (7,799 miles) Feb. 1: Al Nassr, in Riyadh Feb. 4: Hong Kong all-stars (4,233 miles) Feb. 7: Vissel Kobe, in Tokyo (1,794 miles)

After another 7,000-plus-mile flight home, Inter Miami will host one final preseason match on Feb. 15 against Argentine side Club Atlético Newell’s Old Boys, for whom Messi played during his youth career.

Only one other MLS team, Real Salt Lake, is scheduled to venture outside North America this preseason, with three matches on tap in Portugal. Last week, Inter Miami manager Tata Martino confirmed [[link removed]] that some of his club’s stars are required to participate in the international friendlies as part of the tour’s contracts. Both Martino and star midfielder Sergio Busquets acknowledged the challenges of balancing the “business side” of the preseason prep with getting in shape on the pitch.

It is unclear how much money the international tour will bring in, but Inter Miami executives have made no secret about their goal [[link removed]] to reach $200 million in revenue during 2024, after last season bringing in a record $120 million. Inter Miami begins its regular season on Feb. 21.

#️⃣ ONE BIG FIG

Ahead of the Pac

$137.5 million

Money in withdrawal fees that it would cost [[link removed]] for Oregon State and Washington State, operating as the Pac-12, to poach all 11 of the Mountain West Conference’s schools in any theoretical attempt to rebuild the Pac-12, according to a document obtained by Nevada Sports Net that details the conferences’ football scheduling agreement.

Financially-Hit Arizona Won’t Cut Sports—For Now [[link removed]]

Zachary BonDurant-USA TODAY Sports

Arizona Wildcats student-athletes who may have been worried about the future of their athletic program amid the university’s $240 million budget deficit can breathe easy—for the short term, at least.

As Arizona prepares to move from the Pac-12 to the Big 12 this summer, athletic director Dave Heeke recently gave a public update on school finances, saying that there are no immediate plans to eliminate sports, despite previously ominous comments from Arizona president Robert Robbins. In November, Robbins said [[link removed]] that “everything’s on the table in terms of dealing with athletics” and that “a lot of tough decisions” would be required.

Beyond Arizona’s university-wide concerns, a large issue stems from a yet-to-be-paid-back $55 million loan that the school provided to the athletic department during the pandemic. To combat the financial problems, Arizona athletics will continue a hiring freeze implemented last fall instead of cutting sports programs altogether. Additionally, all new major construction projects will be paused after the completion of a new golf center, and budgets have been pared back in other areas.

Arizona currently fields 23 varsity teams, six more than the Big 12 average. In its top revenue-generating sports, Arizona football finished 2023 with 10 wins and an Alamo Bowl victory over Oklahoma, while the men’s basketball team holds the No. 8 ranking in the country and is potentially poised for a deep run come March Madness.

COLLEGE ATHLETICS Caitlin Clark: Pleased To Seat You

Journal Sentinel

Five away games into the 2023-24 season, the reigning women’s Naismith College Player of the Year has already cemented herself as a bankable ticket mover on the road. Host teams have seen an average 149% spike in attendance when Iowa visits. According to ESPN, that looks like:

@ Northern Iowa: 6,790 (average: 4,513) @ Iowa State: 14,267 (10,011) @ Wisconsin: 14,252 (4,536) @ Rutgers: 8,000 (2,589) @ Purdue: 14,867 (4,826) Conversation Starters As Taylor Swift mania continues into the NFL playoffs, the pop star can add fashion promoter to her list of accomplishments: She went to Saturday’s Chiefs-Dolphins game rocking a customized Travis Kelce jacket created by Kristin Juszczyk, the wife of 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk. Check [[link removed]] it out. The Lions had not hosted a postseason game in 30 years until Sunday night. The result: It was the most expensive playoff ticket this weekend. (Average price: $722.) See [[link removed]] the scene for yourself. How is the city of Indianapolis celebrating its hosting role for next month’s NBA All-Star Game? The airport, for one, is allowing you to work [[link removed]] on your jump shot. Editor’s Picks How ESPN Revived ‘Monday Night Football’ and Won Over the NFL [[link removed]]by Michael McCarthy [[link removed]]'MNF' suffered from a strained relationship between its network and the league. Can a Paywall Work for the NFL Playoffs? Peacock Will Find Out [[link removed]]by David Rumsey [[link removed]]For the first time, an NFL playoff game was exclusively streamed. With FSU Infractions Decision, NCAA Attempts the Illusion of Control [[link removed]]by Amanda Christovich [[link removed]]The NCAA found that an assistant coach facilitated a meeting between a booster and a prospective athlete, who offered an NIL deal. SURVEYS

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