March 5, 2024

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Dartmouth men’s basketball players make history with their vote to unionize, which could ultimately lead to the end of the NCAA’s amateurism model. … Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch tamps down expectations around the country’s new sports-oriented streaming venture with ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery. … There’s been an overlooked consideration in Caitlin Clark’s decision to declare for the WNBA draft. … Plus: More on LIV Golf, WNBA expansion, women’s-soccer-focused investment company Mercury 13, and the Nationals.

— Eric Fisher [[link removed]]

Dartmouth Men’s Basketball Players Vote to Unionize: What’s Next

Doug Austin - Dartmouth Athletics

The NCAA’s business model of amateurism took another major blow Tuesday, when the Dartmouth men’s basketball team became the first in NCAA Division I history to officially vote to unionize. The vote, which went 13–2, follows a February decision [[link removed]] from the National Labor Relations Board regional director that players are classified as employees under U.S. labor law.

The historic vote, which took place on Dartmouth’s campus during a cold and rainy afternoon, is the next step in a long case going through the NLRB that was first filed in September by the players with representation from the Service Employees International Union Local 560 chapter.

“Today is a big day for our team,” Cade Haskins and Romeo Myrthil, two players leading the effort, said in a statement. “We stuck together all season and won this election. It is self-evident that we, as students, can also be both campus workers and union members. Dartmouth seems to be stuck in the past.

“It’s time for the age of amateurism to end,” they said.

If players unionize, they could bargain for everything from wages to limits on hours and overtime pay, as well as become eligible for workers’ compensation—a benefit the NCAA has spent decades trying to keep players from qualifying for. Haskins, a junior, noted he also hoped for extra health insurance benefits to cover costs related to injuries.

A successful union petition could set a new precedent that suggests all D-I basketball players—and potentially all varsity athletes—at private schools could be reclassified as employees. The NLRB doesn’t have jurisdiction over the public sector, but the NCAA may need to allow D-I players at public schools to be employees in order to keep the NCAA intact. (Another NLRB case [[link removed]] taking place in California over USC football and basketball player employment status could result in giving the NLRB official jurisdiction over public school D-I athletes, however.

After the vote concluded, the university filed its official appeal of the entire ruling to the NLRB’s national board, a process that could go all the way up to the Supreme Court. “Classifying these students as employees simply because they play basketball is as unprecedented as it is inaccurate,” Dartmouth said in a statement. “We, therefore, do not believe unionization is appropriate.”

While the path to college athlete employment remains long, the players at Dartmouth seem committed to seeing it through.

Read Amanda Christovich’s entire story here [[link removed]].

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Lowered Expectations? Fox’s CEO Tamps Down New Streamer Hype [[link removed]]

The Columbus Dispatch

There have been all sorts of lofty expectations placed around the forthcoming sports-oriented streaming service [[link removed]] from ESPN, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery. But apparently not so much from Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch.

Speaking Monday at Morgan Stanley’s technology, media, and telecommunications conference, Murdoch said he is targeting the service to reach five million subscribers by 2029, a point five years after the projected debut of this fall.

“This is a pro-consumer package,” Murdoch said. “What this bundle does is put a majority of sports into one bundle. It’s an easy place for sports fans to come to.”

The “majority” part of Murdoch’s comments remains debatable as the absence [[link removed]] of Comcast’s NBCUniversal and Paramount’s CBS in this streaming alliance leaves out about half of the NFL, as well as large swaths of college sports, golf, tennis, soccer, and horse racing. But more broadly, Murdoch’s subscriber projection is already quite low in today’s context of major streaming services, and even more so when considering a half decade from now. Among the current customer bases for services that could be competing with the new alliance or consumers and dollars:

ESPN+: 25.2 million Peacock: 31 million Max: 97.7 million (number is inclusive of all of WBD’s streaming services and not broken out individually by company) Paramount+: 67.5 million

To be fair, Murdoch compared the planned service more to other multichannel streaming services such as YouTubeTV, which currently has more than eight million subscribers, or Hulu + Live TV, which has 4.6 million.

“Some of the talk around this being in the teens or 20 million subscribers, we don’t think that’s the case,” Murdoch said.

Why So Low?

So why is Murdoch tamping down expectations for the new sports venture? Some of it may be a classic maneuver of under-promising and over-delivering, allowing the companies to celebrate if and when the five million mark is passed. Another possibility could be an attempt to lower tensions surrounding the new venture, as the companies’ announcement last month caught a number of key constituencies, including league partners, completely by surprise.

FuboTV, meanwhile, is continuing its lawsuit [[link removed]] against ESPN, Fox, and WBD, challenging the new venture on antitrust grounds. Last week, FuboTV CEO David Gandler said in a company earnings call that the legal effort was a “duel to the death. … We’re fighting for our customers. We’re fighting for the tens of billions of dollars that are wasted annually on consumers paying for the same content multiple times.”

THE FLIP SIDE The Decision: Blowback to Clark’s WNBA Move

Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports

The run of Caitlin Clark records continues to expand, as Fox said [[link removed]] Tuesday that the Iowa superstar’s final regular-season game was the most-watched nonplayoff women’s college basketball game on any network since 1999. The average audience of 3.39 million viewers also set a network record.

Some Think Clark Should Have Stayed Put: That history-making ability to attract mass audiences and Clark’s recent announcement of her decision [[link removed]] to declare for the WNBA draft has sparked a wide range of opinion pieces and sports-talk discussion about whether Clark would benefit by staying in college for a fifth year. She would be eligible for an additional year since she competed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and many have argued [[link removed]] she would be better off financially by receiving continued name, image, and likeness money at Iowa than a WNBA salary.

We Don’t Know What Fueled Her Choice: The debate ignores a critical human element as well as her own perspective and personal autonomy. Clark, like any other elite athlete, certainly is considering the financial implications of any major decision such as this. But finances are not the sole factor in this decision, which stand alongside other competitive and life goals. Clark herself spoke to this before Sunday’s game, saying, “I think I’m ready for the next chapter in my life.”

—Eric Fisher

STATUS REPORT Three Up, One Down

Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

LIV Golf ⬇ The controversial league has abandoned its efforts to secure Official World Golf Ranking points, formally withdrawing its application for accreditation, as first reported by Sports Illustrated [[link removed]]. LIV has faced an uphill battle for OWGR points since its inception in 2022 due to its limited fields, lack of expansive qualifying methods, and 54-hole, no-cut format. The Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, which has financially backed LIV with billions of dollars, is still in discussions to invest in the PGA Tour. Should that deal be completed, future seasons of LIV could have an easier time gaining OWGR accreditation in correlation with the wider PGA Tour schedule.

WNBA expansion ⬆ Toronto’s bid to join the league now has the backing of one of Canada’s most influential sports moguls: Larry Tanenbaum, chairperson of multiclub parent company Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, according to CBC Sports [[link removed]]. MLSE’s portfolio includes the Maple Leafs, Raptors, and Toronto FC, but Tanenbaum is pursuing the WNBA team separately through his company, the Kilmer Group. Last year, Toronto drew a huge crowd for a WNBA preseason game and has been seen as a front-runner for expansion after Portland’s bid for the league’s 14th team fell through [[link removed]].

Mercury 13 ⬆ The company that launched last year with $100 million [[link removed]] in financial backing and a goal of building a multiclub women’s soccer portfolio has made its first acquisition [[link removed]]: FC Como Women of Italy’s Serie A.

Nationals fans ⬆ This season, D.C. residents can purchase [[link removed]] up to four $5 tickets per game in an expansion of the MLB club’s discounted-ticket program. Previously, Washington made roughly 400 day-of-game $5 tickets available in the upper deck, typically from its unsold inventory.

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What’s Next for College Athletics

The business of college sports [[link removed]] is reaching new heights.

Historic media rights deals have networks and streaming paying billions for the privilege of broadcasting college football. NIL came along, let players get paid, and changed the entire culture on campus overnight. Women’s college sports are setting attendance and viewership records in rapid succession, not to mention the transfer portal and conference realignment.

Join us [[link removed]] on March 13 at 1 p.m. ET for the Future of Sports: College Athletics virtual summit, presented by Magnifi. This eye-opening conversation includes four panels designed to dive into the billion-dollar spectacle that encompasses everything from March Madness to the College Football Playoff and everything in between.

Register now [[link removed]].

Conversation Starters The video game MLB: The Show is introducing a new mode called Road to the Show: Women Pave Their Way, allowing users to create and play as a female ballplayer for the first time. Take a look [[link removed]]. Caitlin Clark is expanding [[link removed]] her NIL portfolio with a multiyear deal with Gainbridge, a sponsor of the Fever, where she will extend the partnership into her WNBA career. New renderings [[link removed]] of the A’s $1.5 billion ballpark in Las Vegas have surfaced after months without an update. Editors’ Picks EA Sports: Who’s in the Game? (Not Arch Manning, for One) [[link removed]]by Margaret Fleming [[link removed]]More than 10,000 players have opted in—but there remains pushback against the process, and one of the biggest-name QBs took a pass. FIA President Under Investigation for Alleged F1 Race Tinkering [[link removed]]by Alex Schiffer [[link removed]]Mohammed Ben Sulayem is being scrutinized for his role in overturning a crucial penalty at F1’s 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Utah Bill Would Mandate School Approval of NIL Deals, Ban Ties to Alcohol, Betting, More [[link removed]]by Margaret Fleming [[link removed]]The proposed NIL rules would be the strictest in the country. Advertise [[link removed]] Awards [[link removed]] Learning [[link removed]] Video [[link removed]] Podcast [[link removed]] Sports Careers [[link removed]] Written by Amanda Christovich [[link removed]], Eric Fisher [[link removed]] Edited by Matthew Tabeek [[link removed]], Catherine Chen [[link removed]]

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