May 22, 2024

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The NHL’s final four could produce a wildly entertaining Stanley Cup Final matchup. … Penn State’s $700 million football stadium renovation comes with some complications. … Front Office Sports Today breaks down the struggles in the Arena Football League. … The WNBA sets another viewership mark. … And it’s been three decades since an NBA expansion team unintentionally linked itself with Barney the dinosaur.

— David Rumsey [[link removed]] and Eric Fisher [[link removed]]

The NHL Season Could Wrap Up With the Biggest Market vs. the Best Player [[link removed]]

Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports

The NHL’s conference finals begin Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden, as the Rangers host the Panthers to get things started in the East, before the Oilers visit the Stars on Thursday night to begin the action in the West. And after last year’s steep viewership drop in the Stanley Cup Final, the league office will undoubtedly be hoping for a juicy matchup to attract the biggest TV audience possible.

New York is a slight series underdog to Florida at most sportsbooks, but having the nation’s largest media market back in the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in a decade would most certainly be the preferred scenario for NHL stakeholders. The 2023 Stanley Cup Final saw the Golden Knights defeat the Panthers in five games, with the series averaging [[link removed]] 2.6 million viewers across TNT, TBS, and truTV. That number was down 43% from ’22, when the Avalanche beat the Lightning in six games on ABC.

Must-See TV?

The Stanley Cup Final returns to ABC this year, and if the Rangers were to make it out of the East, a championship series against either team from the West could end up drawing big-time numbers on the Disney-owned network. Dallas–Fort Worth is the fifth-largest media market in the U.S., and the Stars are seeking their first Stanley Cup this century (the Minnesota North Stars relocated to Dallas in 1993).

Playoff series featuring Canadian teams often don’t draw as well for U.S. TV ratings, since viewership from their home market isn’t measured by Nielsen. But the Oilers have the consensus top current player in the NHL, Connor McDavid (above, right), who would be playing in his first Stanley Cup Final since being drafted with the No. 1 pick in 2015. That would be a great test case to find out whether the league’s top talent can draw casual fans on the biggest stage.

Penn State’s $700M Plan Signals an Intensifying Facility Arms Race [[link removed]]

York Daily Record

One of college football’s true bluebloods and most popular programs is getting a major facility upgrade. But all is not happy in Happy Valley, and the project further signals the growing pressures of college sports.

Penn State’s board of trustees on Tuesday approved a $700 million renovation of Beaver Stadium, with the iconic facility set to open in its new form in 2027. The project has been actively discussed since early last year, but only a preliminary, $70 million design phase [[link removed]] had previously been approved.

The planned work will see the 106,572-seat facility—the second largest in college football—receive a wide range of enhancements, including wider concourses, additional restrooms, new escalators, an upgraded videoboard and lights, more premium seating, and winterization enhancements to better allow for hosting late-year events such as early rounds of the College Football Playoff.

Also in the works is a new welcome center and 21,000-square-foot indoor facility at Beaver Stadium that will further cement the venue as the “front door” for the entire Penn State campus in State College, Pa. The project will be funded through Penn State’s athletic department, using a combination of loans, fundraising, and capital budget. Completion is targeted for 2027.

“This project is vital. It’s vital to substantially transform the fan experience and the community experience,” said Penn State president Neeli Bendapudi. “So many lives are dependent on the success of Penn State, and this [project] will set us up for a successful future.”

The vote among the Penn State governing body to green-light the project was 26–2, with three abstentions. But despite the overwhelming margin, a nearly two-hour hearing leading up to the vote was often combative, with critics of the project frequently alleging an overly short approval process and issues within the project’s financial modeling. An attempt by several of the critics to delay Tuesday’s vote to July 8 failed.

“The public should know that a $700 million item is being rushed [through] for no good reason,” said trustee Alvin de Levie.

Keeping Up

The vote arrived as Beaver Stadium last received a significant renovation in 2001. Since then, the entire business of college sports has turned over—multiple times—and Penn State is now part of a Big Ten Conference that is a coast-to-coast entity with ambitions to retain its status [[link removed]] as the top-earning conference, while a facility arms race [[link removed]] continues to overtake college football.

Fellow Big Ten member Nebraska recently pushed back [[link removed]] plans to renovate that school’s Memorial Stadium. But Penn State officials said there was a risk and urgency that mandated not waiting in their case.

“We are behind, both in fixing the necessary structural needs in the stadium, and [in] what we provide our fans,” said Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft. “It is time for Penn State to catch up to its peers. Beaver Stadium should be more than just average, more than just comparable to others. … Doing nothing is not an option.”

SPONSORED BY WENDY’S

Wendy’s New $3 English Muffin Deal

[[link removed]]

With Wendy’s $3 English Muffin [[link removed]] Deal, you get your choice of a tasty grilled sausage or applewood-smoked bacon English Muffin Sandwich with a fresh-cracked egg and gooey cheese. But wait! There’s more!

This breakfast wouldn’t be complete without a small side of crispy Seasoned Potatoes [[link removed]], which are truly worth waking up for. Oh, and did we mention you get all that for just three bucks? So, grab a proper breakfast with Wendy’s new $3 English Muffin Deal at your earliest, literally, convenience.

Limited time only. U.S. price and participation may vary. Select or request an English Muffin Deal [[link removed]] to obtain the discount. Not valid for à la carte or combo orders. Single item at regular price. Prices are higher in AK and HI.

FRONT OFFICE SPORTS TODAY A League on Life Support

The Tennessean

The relaunched Arena Football League has already lost five of its 16 teams one month into the season. Players have not been paid and have faced hardships such as getting kicked out of hotel rooms and paying for their own physicals. Reporter Robert Silverman takes us inside the troubled league on the latest episode of Front Office Sports Today.

🎧 Watch, listen, and subscribe on Apple [[link removed]], Google [[link removed]], Spotify [[link removed]], and YouTube [[link removed]].

AWARD

Front Office Sports has revealed the 2024 Best Venues Award winners. Check them out here [[link removed]].

ONE BIG FIG Another Record for the WNBA

Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports

1.71 million

Average viewership for the Indiana Fever–New York Liberty game Sunday on ABC. That marked the most-viewed WNBA game on the network ever. However, that number is below the 2.12 million people who tuned in to Caitlin Clark’s professional debut [[link removed]] on ESPN2 last week. The Fever, 0–4 so far this season, are back in action Wednesday night, taking on the Seattle Storm in a game that will be available on only WNBA League Pass and local channels in the competing teams’ markets.

TIME CAPSULE May 22, 1994: A Different Type of Logo

USA TODAY Sports

On this day 30 years ago: The NBA expansion franchise in Toronto announced [[link removed]] itself as the Raptors, complete with a cartoon-styled dinosaur logo [[link removed]]. Long before this announcement, the NBA eventually having a presence in Canada’s largest city was something of a foregone conclusion, with the former Toronto Huskies playing in the league forerunner Basketball Association of America, the former Buffalo Braves playing occasionally at Maple Leaf Gardens, and talk of an expansion franchise building in the late ’80s. That chatter then became official in late ’93, when a group led by Toronto businessman John Bitove paid a then-record expansion fee of $125 million for the team, which started play with the ’95–96 season.

Bitove, his partners, and the league went in a rather different direction for the team identity, unveiled about six months later after the expansion decision. Reviving the Huskies name was problematic, in part because of the similarity to the newly arrived Timberwolves in Minnesota. Instead, the chosen Raptors name tied into the massive popularity seen the prior summer for the Jurassic Park movie. The red dinosaur logo was frequently, and often derisively, described [[link removed]] as “the Barney design,” after the popular children’s show.

But despite the criticism, the look was an immediate hit, particularly with younger fans, with the team selling more than $20 million in gear in the first month of release, and the Raptors ended 1994 seventh in the NBA in merchandise sales—all many months before they played their first game. On the court, the Raptors struggled for years but, under the ownership of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, at last won an NBA title in 2019. A new, but much more traditional, logo arrived in ’15, and was updated [[link removed]] again in ’20.

SPONSORED BY WENDY’S

[[link removed]]

Manchester City has become the first club to be crowned English Premier League champions four years in a row. The club is expected to receive $79 million from the EPL’s system of merit payments, or 26.3 million $3 Wendy’s English Muffin Breakfasts. The Arena Football League is in the midst of a collapse. Four Georgia Force players told Front Office Sports [[link removed]] what the chaos was like inside the team’s final days. Double-dipping: The NBA and NHL conference finals are locked in, and Dallas is the lone city with a team in both showdowns. Listen here [[link removed]]. ESPN is streaming a new three-part series [[link removed]] on the evolution of sports media titled “Up for Debate,” featuring Stephen A. Smith, Troy Aikman, Mina Kimes, Molly Qerim, Shannon Sharpe, Michael Wilbon, Chris Russo, Jemele Hill, and Bomani Jones.

Breakfast Fun Fact

Coming off the PGA Championship, let’s take a look back at the menu at Valhalla during the tournament weekend. This event is often referred to as the largest all-inclusive event in the world, as tickets include one entrée, one snack, and one non-alcoholic beverage. For breakfast, attendees could choose from a sausage egg sandwich, a fried chicken breast on a biscuit, a glazed donut, or apples and bananas.

Editors’ Picks Nika Mühl Finally Set to Play in WNBA After Immigration Red Tape Kept Her Out [[link removed]]by Margaret Fleming [[link removed]]The Storm rookie has missed four games waiting for her work visa approval. Jalen Brunson Reportedly Considering Giving Knicks $100 Million Discount [[link removed]]by Margaret Fleming [[link removed]]He would sacrifice a huge amount of money by signing a deal this summer instead of next. Power Conferences, NCAA Mull Historic Settlement to Share Revenue With Players [[link removed]]by Amanda Christovich [[link removed]]The agreement would include $2.7 billion over 10 years to former D-I athletes. Advertise [[link removed]] Awards [[link removed]] Learning [[link removed]] Video [[link removed]] Podcast [[link removed]] Sports Careers [[link removed]] Written by David Rumsey [[link removed]], Eric Fisher [[link removed]] Edited by Matthew Tabeek [[link removed]], Catherine Chen [[link removed]]

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