July 31, 2024

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The WNBA could add more partners to an already record-setting media deal. … The NFL Sunday Ticket saga remains unsettled. … Bob Costas and Al Michaels are back on NBC again. … Plus: More on Adidas, Kylian Mbappé, The Rock, and the Cowboys.

— Colin Salao [[link removed]], A.J. Perez [[link removed]], and Michael McCarthy [[link removed]]

WNBA’s Media-Rights Deal Could Surge to $3 Billion with New Partners [[link removed]]

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

The WNBA’s historic media-rights deal [[link removed]] may end up much larger than previously announced if the league is able to add additional partners.

The signed deal between the NBA and Disney, NBCUniversal, and Amazon is worth $77 billion for 11 years, with $2.2 billion of the deal, or about $200 million per year, assigned to the WNBA. But the WNBA could end up with as much as $3 billion in rights fees by the end of the 11-year term, according to ESPN [[link removed]].

A source confirmed to Front Office Sports that the league is expecting to extract more than $260 million per year from its broadcasting fees—greater than four times its previous deal—due to additional partners. CBS and Scripps Sports are the likely newcomers as both currently have deals with the WNBA. Both companies signed deals with the league that expire in 2025, just as the WNBA’s next deal kicks in.

CBS and Scripps did not respond to requests for comment when contacted by FOS.

The addition of more partners would follow the WNBA’s previous deal, which began as a partnership with ESPN valued at around $40 million per year, then added Amazon, CBS, and Scripps over the last few years to bring its yearly media-rights revenue to $60 million.

The $260 million annual price tag is more than double the valuation [[link removed]] Endeavor’s media consulting group gave to the WNBA. While this speaks to the league’s unprecedented growth since the arrival of rookies Caitlin Clark (above, right) and Angel Reese, the WNBA also has the opportunity to sell more games to its rights holders.

The league is expanding to 13 teams next season, and then to 14 by 2026. It’s also expecting to see its regular-season schedule grow from 40 games to 44. More teams and games means more content to sell to broadcast partners, particularly those hoping to jump on the WNBA’s rise in popularity.

Going Solo

The WNBA’s rise has brought up the question of whether it can fully detach itself from the NBA.

While the WNBA is growing, it can’t decide its independence on a whim. The NBA has invested— and lost [[link removed]]—significantly on the WNBA over the last few years, so it wouldn’t make much sense to let go of the WNBA as it begins its ascent. Moreover, five of the 12 WNBA teams are owned by their NBA counterparts.

There are still benefits to the WNBA partnering with the NBA. The media-rights deal is proof of that, as there’s no assurance that it would have received a deal this large if not for its attachment to the NBA.

“I don’t like how we’re somehow confusing the WNBA’s increase as though it’s merit-based versus being on the tail of the NBA,” former MLB executive David Samson said on Pablo Torre Finds Out [[link removed]].

Though former ESPN president John Skipper, who helped negotiate the network’s past NBA and WNBA media deals, said on the same show that the WNBA sees the benefit of staying tied to the NBA.

“Certainly [the WNBA] could do it on their own,” Skipper said. “They, together with the NBA, decided that they had the likelihood of getting more money this way, and they did.”

WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert has suggested staying tied to the NBA is the league’s best option for now.

“There’s no other set of two sports leagues that can offer that live programming and sports to a streamer like that,” Engelbert said [[link removed]] in April. “I would say probably in that case we need the NBA because we have a smaller footprint with only 40 games, and it’s nice to go to market together.”

But whether that’s the best option for the WNBA moving forward is a contentious question. In October, Larry Gottesdiener, managing partner of the Atlanta Dream, one of the franchises not owned by an NBA governor, told FOS [[link removed]] that while he thinks WNBA teams having shared NBA owners was “necessary” in the beginning, it may not be what’s best for the league anymore.

“But now, for the long-term health and viability of the players and the league … there needs to be more independent, dedicated ownership,” Gottesdiener said.

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NFL Sunday Ticket Case: Judge Yet to Rule on $14 Billion Judgment [[link removed]]

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The NFL—and millions of consumers—will have to wait for a federal judge’s multibillion-dollar decision in the NFL Sunday Ticket case.

Judge Philip Gutierrez didn’t immediately rule on the NFL’s motion to overturn last month’s $4.7 billion jury verdict [[link removed]] against the league at the conclusion of a hearing that spanned about three hours in a Los Angeles federal courtroom Wednesday.

The damages in the case could be tripled under U.S. antitrust law, meaning the NFL may conceivably be on the hook for more than $14 billion—more than the league takes in each year in U.S. broadcast and streaming revenue.

Gutierrez also has the option to reduce the damage award or order a new trial. Gutierrez is expected to make his decision in the coming weeks.

The NFL vowed to fight the verdict immediately after the jury’s decision was handed down June 27, including an appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.

“Today we asked the district court to set aside the jury’s verdict in this case, which is contrary to the law and unsupported by the evidence presented at trial,” the NFL said in a statement. “We will continue to pursue all avenues in defense of the claims brought in this case.”

If Gutierrez does retain the verdict and triple the damages, each NFL team would be on the hook for about $400 million. The NFL would also face the possibility that it’d have to come up with the cash before mounting an appeal.

In a filing [[link removed]] before this week’s hearing, the NFL argued the damages imposed by the jury had “no evidentiary or legal basis” and were tabulated “nonsensically.”

“[The] plaintiffs’ improper trial conduct provides a clear explanation for how the jury lost its way,” the NFL lawyers wrote. “Throughout trial, [the] plaintiffs exploited every opportunity to interject the concept of price-fixing, contrary to the law and to their prior representations to the courts.”

Lawyers for the plaintiffs argued the jury had the authority to levy more than $7 billion in damages.

“It is hard to imagine a more blatant antitrust violation than the one the jury concluded Defendants committed: ‘Restrictions on price and output are the paradigmatic examples of restraints of trade that the Sherman Act was intended to prohibit,’” the plaintiffs’ lawyers wrote in a July 17 filing [[link removed]].

The litigation started back in 2015 when the owner of the Mucky Duck, a sports bar based in San Francisco, alleged in a lawsuit that the NFL broke antitrust law in how it bundled the out-market-games into its Sunday Ticket package.

That case was dismissed [[link removed]] in 2017 before it was reinstated on appeal two years later. Eventually, it became a class action suit [[link removed]] that included millions of bars, restaurants, and consumers who subscribed to Sunday Ticket from June 17, 2011, through Feb. 7, 2023. DirecTV was the exclusive home for Sunday Ticket from 1994 through 2022.

In a trial that spanned three weeks in June, it was revealed [[link removed]] that ESPN sought to offer Sunday Ticket for $70 and Apple was also in the mix to take over for DirecTV after the 2022 season. Either giant taking over may have caused an explosion in subscriber count with a lower base price for Sunday Ticket, which could have agitated the streaming and broadcast companies that pay the NFL more than $10 billion a year.

“We’re not looking to get lots of people,” Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who is chair of the NFL media committee, said in a deposition [[link removed]] played for the jury. “We want to keep it as a premium offering.”

Google’s YouTubeTV [[link removed]] became the new home of Sunday Ticket starting in the 2023 season as part of a seven-year, $14 billion deal, a huge spike over the $300 million per year that DirecTV paid in the final years of its contract. Sunday Ticket currently goes for $449 annually for non–YouTubeTV subscribers and $349 a year for YouTubeTV subscribers.

Bob Costas, Al Michaels Set to Appear on NBC Olympic Coverage [[link removed]]

Erik Williams-USA TODAY Sports

NBC Sports is planning an Olympics surprise.

The network plans to bring back legendary broadcasters Bob Costas and Al Michaels for surprise on-air appearances during its coverage of the 2024 Paris Olympics. The move represents a reconciliation after both Costas and Michaels left NBC under something of a cloud.

The duo is synonymous with Olympic TV coverage. Costas served as prime-time host of a record 12 Olympic games from 1988 to 2016. Michaels delivered the most famous TV call in Olympic history, exclaiming “Do you believe in miracles?” at the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid when Team USA hockey edged out the Soviet Union.

On Wednesday, Costas and Michaels were seen kibitzing with NBC guest commentator Snoop Dogg at the beach volleyball venue under the shadows of the Eiffel Tower. The pair also joined a CEO panel conducted by sister network CNBC.

Costas split with NBC in 2019 after 40 years as its biggest star. Michaels gave up his Sunday Night Football announcer role to Mike Tirico in 2022, with NBC giving him an “emeritus” title. He then moved to Amazon Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football. Now it looks like NBC and the two broadcasters have set their differences aside. Michaels already agreed to let NBC use an artificial intelligence version of his iconic voice to narrate Olympic highlights from Paris.

“They’re icons in this industry, and it would be great for viewers,” NBC spokesman Greg Hughes told Front Office Sports. “We expect to make that happen.”

STATUS REPORT Two Up, Two Down

Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Adidas ⬆ The German sportswear brand continues its recovery [[link removed]], as it announced a net profit of $205.5 million for 2024’s second quarter, a 125.8% increase over the same period last year. The company credits the Euros and Copa América tournaments for the increase, with the winners of both, Spain and Argentina, respectively, outfitted by Adidas.

Kylian Mbappé ⬆ The 25-year-old French soccer star is now a professional team owner. Real Madrid’s newest superstar purchased 80% of the Ligue 2 club Caen through his investment fund Coalition Capital for $16.2 million, making him the youngest active soccer player to own a professional European club. Mbappé nearly signed with Caen back in 2014 but chose Monaco. He became eligible to invest after leaving French club Paris Saint-Germain.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson ⬇ The Army signed an $11 million deal with Johnson’s UFL earlier this year with the goal of attracting more recruits, but it’s now trying to recoup around $6 million [[link removed]] of the contract after the deal failed to bring in a single recruit. The report said Johnson (above) did not fulfill his role in the deal, which included creating social posts to promote the partnership. The Army also claims it lost 38 enlistments due to its funds being used for this deal instead of being put elsewhere.

Cowboys ⬇ Several NFL teams hold their training camps in California, but “America’s Team” is the only one not based in the state allowed to promote practices to fans. However, during Tuesday’s practice, the team’s first in pads, it looked almost as if the team faced the same penalty as the Raiders and the Saints as the stands were devoid [[link removed]] of spectators. Even running back Ezekiel Elliott noticed [[link removed]] the lack of fans: “Normally the first couple of days, the camp would be packed.”

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Conversation Starters Despite protests and delays, Olympians actually swam in the Seine on Wednesday. Take a look [[link removed]]. U.S. women’s rugby scored two wins Tuesday—a bronze medal and a $4 million donation [[link removed]] from Michele Kang. Billionaire John Tyson, owner of Tyson Chicken, is one of Arkansas’s biggest donors. His company is launching [[link removed]] a new chicken product called Razorback Nuggets. Editors’ Picks Adidas Has Surprisingly Strong Second Quarter After Months of Controversy [[link removed]]by Alex Schiffer [[link removed]]It’s been a tough year for big sports apparel brands. Major League Cricket Is Luring the World’s Top Stars With Cash and Connections [[link removed]]by Mike Jakeman [[link removed]]English cricket is scrambling to keep its best athletes. Facing Legal Risks, DraftKings Shutters NFT Arm [[link removed]]by Alex Schiffer [[link removed]]DraftKings is the latest company to face a lawsuit over NFTs. Advertise [[link removed]] Awards [[link removed]] Learning [[link removed]] Video [[link removed]] Podcast [[link removed]] Sports Careers [[link removed]] Written by Colin Salao [[link removed]], A.J. Perez [[link removed]], Michael McCarthy [[link removed]] Edited by Matthew Tabeek [[link removed]], Or Moyal [[link removed]], Catherine Chen [[link removed]]

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