July 22, 2024

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As Netflix continues to dive deeper into sports, its financial outlook is soaring. … Professional cricket is establishing a growing presence in the U.S. … Xander Schauffele won the Claret Jug and its $3.1 million prize. … And Front Office Sports Today examines the return of EA Sports’ College Football franchise in the name, image, and likeness era.

— David Rumsey [[link removed]], Eric Fisher [[link removed]], and Colin Salao [[link removed]]

Netflix Reigns Supreme: NFL Deal, Robust Earnings Highlight Q2 Report [[link removed]]

Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

Even in a period of accelerating change both internally and externally, the king of streaming still rules the market.

Netflix’s latest earnings report shows the extent to which it is maintaining its industry dominance, with sports increasingly at the center of that position. The company reported an updated subscriber total of 277.7 million for the second quarter, by far the largest such base in the industry. The figure is up 3% from 269.6 million in the prior quarter [[link removed]] and up 16% from 238.4 million a year ago.

Revenue grew 17% in the quarter to $9.56 billion, while net income increased 44% to $2.15 billion. The company’s members with ad-supported plans grew by 34%, showing the increasing role of that dual-revenue stream in its future. Netflix additionally raised the low end of its full-year guidance, and it expects 2024 revenue to grow by 14% to 15% from last year.

Perhaps most notably, the market unease stemming from Netflix’s April announcement that it will no longer disclose subscriber numbers beginning with 2025’s first quarter has since eased, if not dissipated altogether. Shares in Netflix closed Friday down 1.5% to $633.34 each, but have increased 14% since the prior earnings report in April.

“There was strong performance across the board,” Netflix chief financial officer Spencer Neumann said on an investor call. “[There was] good momentum across the business, strong revenue growth, member growth, and profit growth. … We’re also continuing to get better and better at translating improvements in our service into business value.”

Netflix’s ‘Event Model’ Around Sports

Perhaps the biggest news for Netflix during the quarter was the company’s three-year deal [[link removed]] with the NFL to show exclusive Christmas Day games, beginning with a doubleheader this year. But sports-related programming continues to be a growing driver for the company, including a major deal in January with WWE [[link removed]] for its weekly flagship show, Raw.

“We’re in live [content] because our members love it, it drives a ton of engagement, and it drives a ton of excitement,” said Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos. “Those things are very valuable. So the good thing is that advertisers like that, too, and they like it for the exact same reason.”

More recently, The Roast of Tom Brady [[link removed]] attracted what Netflix described as its “largest live audience yet,” with 22.6 million views. It’s all part of a broader push by Netflix to create a series of big events on its platform that allow the company to operate in sports, but still avoid the bigger and more costly rights investments that it has long resisted.

“When you offer [leagues] this event model that we’re building on, we’re really excited about our opportunity to do that without the [financial] risk that you’re talking about,” Sarandos said.

After World Cup Buzz, Major League Cricket Finds Its Footing in the U.S. [[link removed]]

San Francisco Unicorns

After many U.S. sports fans got their first taste of elite cricket during this summer’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup hosted [[link removed]] partially in Florida, New York, and Texas, the country’s burgeoning professional competition is making noticeable strides in its second season.

Major League Cricket will finish its 21-match schedule this week before a four-team playoff crowns a new champion. While the league has six teams from coast to coast, all matches have been played at two cricket-specific venues in Texas and North Carolina. Still, attendance is tracking to potentially surpass the 70,000 fans who showed up for the inaugural season in 2023.

MLC’s media rights are held by a niche cricket-focused channel called Willow by Cricbuzz. But the broadcaster struck deals with mainstream regional sports networks in each team’s market in an effort to attract more fans.

Dallas: Bally Sports Southwest Los Angeles: Bally Sports SoCal Washington, D.C.: Monumental Sports Network San Francisco: NBC Sports Bay Area Seattle: Root Sports New York: YES Network

Willow took a similar approach [[link removed]] during the T20 World Cup to get more exposure.

Money Game

Teams in MLC operate under a $1.15 million salary cap. While that’s well under the roughly $12 million that franchises can spend annually in the world’s richest cricket competition, the Indian Premier League, it’s not far off from other global leagues like Cricket Australia ($2 million) and The Hundred ($1.3 million) in the U.K.

“The money is good. But also the product’s good,” says Liam Plunkett (above, far right), a bowler for the San Francisco Unicorns who was a member of the England team that won the 2019 Cricket World Cup. “I think if the product wasn’t rolled out and the standard wasn’t good, people wouldn’t be that interested in coming across.”

Plunkett has remained impressed with the quality of play two seasons in. “I think there were a lot of teething problems leading up to it, but when the competition started, it felt like you could be playing anywhere in the world,” he says.

Big Ambitions

Before this season, San Francisco made a splash when it signed Australia national team captain Pat Cummins to a four-year contract. Have those moves been difficult to make? “Surprisingly not,” Anand Rajaraman, a co-owner of the Unicorns, tells Front Office Sports. “I think everybody in the cricket world is excited about the possibility of the U.S. market.”

Plunkett echoes that sentiment. “There’s definitely opportunities,” he says of being in the U.S. “Are you looking to play some good cricket? But also, are you looking to do some business deals and build yourself even further as a brand?”

Moving forward, Rajaraman says the next major step for MLC will be building stadiums in every market. The league’s schedule is growing [[link removed]] to 34 games in 2025, and plans to expand to 10 franchises are in the works.

SPONSORED BY CHAMPS SPORTS

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FRONT OFFICE SPORTS TODAY NIL Comes Full Circle

The Oklahoman

EA Sports’ College Football video game franchise went away because of a name, image, and likeness lawsuit, and it is returning alongside the biggest NIL deal in history with College Football 25. Front Office Sports reporter Amanda Christovich joins the show to explain how that history informs this moment and how things could change going forward.

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

ONE BIG FIG A Major Low

Jack Gruber-USA TODAY Sports

$3.1 million

Prize money for Xander Schauffele (above) for winning the Open Championship at Royal Troon Golf Club in Scotland. That figure is about 18% of the event’s $17 million purse, which is the lowest among the four major championships in men’s golf and lower than the $20 million individual purses at PGA Tour signature events and LIV Golf tournaments.

Despite the relatively low prize pool, The Open’s purse has increased [[link removed]] by more than 50% since 2021. Martin Slumbers, outgoing CEO of the Open’s governing body, recently expressed concern [[link removed]] over the financial stability of the tournament and said that he doesn’t believe the prize money will continue to rise.

Schauffele, the No. 2 player in the world, took his second major of the season after failing to secure a major title since turning pro in 2015. He’s surpassed $15.8 million in earnings for the year—though he’s still $12 million short of the top-ranked Scottie Scheffler.

SPONSORED BY CHAMPS SPORTS

Despite an ugly finish to Copa América in Miami, the $72 million tournament and its European counterpart shattered several international soccer viewership records Stateside. After Argentina and Spain won their respective finals on July 14, the audience numbers show that Fox Sports aired the most-watched Copa América and UEFA Euros in U.S. English-language TV history.

Check out [[link removed]] the Summer of Soccer hub to read the full article and stay up to date on all the action.

Conversation Starters The Chicago Fire have revealed renderings for their new $100 million headquarters. Take a look [[link removed]]. Sprinter Issam Asinga was banned for four years after failing a PED test—and now he’s suing Gatorade because of it. Learn about [[link removed]] why he’s going after the sports drink giant. The Rays’ $1.3 billion ballpark has been approved by the St. Petersburg’s city council. Check out [[link removed]?] the renderings. Editors’ Picks The Road to the Return of ‘EA Sports College Football’ [[link removed]]by Amanda Christovich [[link removed]]This summer, the biggest development in college sports is virtual. O No Canada: The Next Big Sports Betting Scandal Could Erupt North of the Border [[link removed]]by Michael McCarthy [[link removed]]‘It’s open-season for match-fixing up there.’ A Year Into Josh Harris Era, Commanders Unable to Fully Break From Past [[link removed]]by A.J. Perez [[link removed]]It’s been one year since Dan Snyder sold the Washington Commanders. Question of the Day

Have you watched a sports-themed show or live event on Netflix?

Yes [[link removed]] No [[link removed]]

Friday’s result: Only 27% of respondents said that every golf major should offer equal amounts of prize money.

Advertise [[link removed]] Awards [[link removed]] Learning [[link removed]] Video [[link removed]] Podcast [[link removed]] Sports Careers [[link removed]] Written by Eric Fisher [[link removed]], David Rumsey [[link removed]], Colin Salao [[link removed]] Edited by Matthew Tabeek [[link removed]], Catherine Chen [[link removed]], Or Moyal [[link removed]]

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