May 30, 2024

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An iconic NASCAR team is shutting down and offering a rare peek inside the sport’s financial system. … The WNBA keeps setting TV records, even without Caitlin Clark. … Another NBA coach is getting paid big-time. … And Front Office Sports Today looks at Indiana’s busy sports scene.

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

Racing Team’s Closure Reveals Intricacies of NASCAR ‘Franchises’ [[link removed]]

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

The dissolution of one of NASCAR’s biggest teams is set to provide the biggest look yet into its complicated charter system, which is the sport’s version of franchises.

Stewart-Haas Racing is one of only three Cup Series teams that employ four full-time drivers. But this week, the organization announced it would close operations after the 2024 season. “The commitment needed to extract maximum performance while providing sustainability is incredibly demanding, and we’ve reached a point in our respective personal and business lives where it’s time to pass the torch,” SHR co-owners Tony Stewart (above) and Gene Haas said in a joint statement.

Now, not even 48 hours since SHR’s announcement, the sale of its charters, which represent four of the 36 available, appears to already be underway. Charter spots guarantee entry into, and prize money from, all NASCAR Cup Series events. On Wednesday, Front Row Motorsports announced it had acquired another charter, in addition to its existing two. Although no price or seller was disclosed, multiple reports linked the deal to SHR.

Beyond existing teams, SHR could also sell its charters to new investors looking to enter NASCAR. And the deals could come at a steep price: Previously, the most recent single charter sale went for $40 million when Spire Motorsports bought one from Live Fast Motorsports last fall, according to The Athletic [[link removed]], and the top of the market is projected to be north of $50 million.

That means SHR could fetch more than $200 million if it sold its charter at premium rates. And that’d be quite the return, given that NASCAR teams paid nothing for the charters when they were created in 2016.

End of an Era

Stewart-Haas Racing was officially launched in 2009 when Stewart, then a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, became a driver-owner for a team owned by Haas that had been operating as an offshoot of Hendrick Motorsports. Stewart won the ’11 title driving for SHR, which earned one other Cup Series championship in ’14 with Kevin Harvick.

Harvick retired after the 2023 season, in which he was the best driver at SHR, finishing 13th in the Cup Series standings. This season, no SHR driver is currently in the top 15: Chase Briscoe sits at 16th, followed by Josh Berry (19th), Noah Gragson (21st), and Ryan Preece (28th). While SHR’s charters will live on at new teams no matter what, its drivers are not guaranteed to find new homes next season.

Nearly Every WNBA Broadcaster Has Set a Ratings Record This Season [[link removed]]

Grace Hollars-USA TODAY Sports

Imagine a sports league is drawing up a game plan to set a bevy of new viewership marks across nearly all its broadcast partners. It’s highly unlikely they would plan to rely on a rookie leading a team with a lone victory and the second-worst record in that league one-fifth of the way through the season.

But that’s reality for the WNBA, which simply can’t stop drawing record TV audiences this month. It began with Caitlin Clark’s debut, which was the league’s most-viewed game in 23 years [[link removed]], and hasn’t slowed down since. Over Memorial Day weekend, three more networks drew their biggest WNBA audiences ever, and it wasn’t even all due to Clark, according to Sports Media Watch [[link removed]].

Spreading the Ball Around

So far, six different TV networks have broadcast the most-watched WNBA games ever on their channels, respectively:

ESPN2: Fever at Sun, May 14, 2.1 million ABC: Fever at Liberty, May 18, 1.71 million ESPN: Sun at Fever, May 20, 1.56 million Ion: Fever at Sparks, May 24, 724,000 CBS: Liberty at Lynx, May 25, 704,000 NBA TV: Fever at Aces, May 25, 333,000

ABC also averaged 1.34 million viewers for Sparks at Aces on May 16, the network’s third-highest WNBA audience of all time. Indiana and Clark have also played one game on Amazon Prime Video, which doesn’t release viewership figures, and one game not on national TV. CBS gets its first crack at a Fever game June 16, and ESPN has multiple games featuring Clark in July, when there will be no NBA or NHL to compete with.

Even More Ahead?

Despite the phenomenon that is Caitlin Clark and the overall increased interest in the league, more work remains to be done in order to set all-time WNBA viewership records. No game this season has cracked the league’s top 10 broadcasts [[link removed]], which feature audiences between 2.46 million and 5.04 million on NBC in the WNBA’s inaugural season and early years.

SPONSORED BY WENDY’S

Wendy’s New $3 English Muffin Deal

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With Wendy’s $3 English Muffin Deal [[link removed]], 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 How Indiana Became a Sports Hub

Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

Indiana hosted the 2024 NBA All-Star Game and is a regular stop for the Final Four, Big Ten Football Championship Game, Big Ten basketball games, and other major sporting events. This summer, the state will host Olympic swimming trials in a football stadium. Indiana Sports Corp president Patrick Talty joins the show to discuss how the state has actively sought to bring in big events and how they evaluate whether one is worth the time and money to host.

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

ONE BIG FIG Cold Hard Cash

Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

$14 million

Total annual salary of Clippers head coach Ty Lue, who just signed a five-year extension with the team, according to multiple reports. That puts Lue, 47, among the highest-earning coaches in the NBA [[link removed]] and continues a run of big coaching contracts. Warriors coach Steve Kerr is said to be making $17.5 million annually, with Spurs coach Gregg Popovich close behind at $16 million. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra comes in at $15 million per year, and Pistons coach Monty Williams at $14 million, like Lue.

TIME CAPSULE May 30, 1911: ‘Gentlemen, Start Your Engines!’

Indianapolis Star / USA Today

On this day 113 years ago: The first Indianapolis 500 was staged, though it did not start with that name. Initially run as the 1911 International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race, the event was designed to help consolidate several smaller auto races into a single competition capable of capturing the attention of competitors and manufacturers from both Europe and the U.S.

The core tenets of the race—200 laps around a 2.5-mile track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway—remain to this day. But virtually every other element has changed dramatically. An average speed of 74.6 miles per hour for initial race winner Ray Harroun is now a fraction of the 167.8 miles per hour for this year’s champion, Josef Newgarden. Harroun earned a $10,000 purse for that initial win, coming out of retirement to compete in the race and immediately returning to it. Newgarden, by comparison, received [[link removed]] $4.29 million. A total purse of $27,500 for the 1911 race—at the time the largest sum offered in auto racing—was just 1.5% of this year’s record purse of $18.45 million. And an attendance of about 90,000 for the inaugural event was less than one-third of what the race now regularly draws.

But stretching through the popularization of radio, the introduction of television and the internet, and the development of new race car technology—all of which have also transformed how the race is run and shown to fans—the Indy 500 remains a Memorial Day weekend fixture and an iconic part of U.S. sports culture.

SPONSORED BY WENDY’S

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Nebraska volleyball coach John Cook, after 24 years leading the Huskers, has agreed to a five-year extension [[link removed]] that includes a raise to $825,000 and a unique $70,000 retention bonus to help buy a horse he’s been eyeing instead of an escalating salary. After missing a last-second kick against the Chiefs last season, Bills kicker Tyler Bass deleted his social media. Since then, fans from the two teams as well as other NFL teams have donated [[link removed]] more than $400,000 to his charity, Ten Lives Club. As a result, the nonprofit will now build the Tyler Bass Adoption Center in his honor. The French Open is underway in Paris and 14-time champion Rafael Nadal lost in the first round to Alexander Zverev. With 19 appearances at the tournament, Nadal has taken home $23.7 million, or 7.9 million of Wendy’s $3 English Muffin Breakfasts. This accounts for approximately 18% of his total career earnings of $134.7 million.

Breakfast Fun Fact

Rafael Nadal can attribute much of his Grand Slam success to the work he puts in off the court, particularly his training and diet. A typical matchday breakfast for Nadal includes fresh bread and Iberian ham with olive oil, providing a mix of protein and carbohydrates, along with a glass of juice.

Editors’ Picks Discredited Boxing Organization Vows to Award Prize Money to Paris Olympians [[link removed]]by Margaret Fleming [[link removed]]The IBA, unrecognized by the IOC, vowed $50,000 to boxing gold medalists. Controversial NFL Aggregator Had an Asking Price for X Account [[link removed]]by A.J. Perez [[link removed]]Dov Kleiman was seeking $75,000 for his account in December. Mets Owner Steve Cohen’s Parking-Lot Casino Hopes Are Dying [[link removed]]by Alex Schiffer [[link removed]]The state senator announced she won’t introduce legislation required to advance the project. 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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