August 22, 2024

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The NWSL just became the largest U.S. pro league to eliminate its draft. This is a big win for players—but it could deal a significant blow to competitive balance.

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

The NWSL Is Picking Players Over Parity. How Will Fans Respond? [[link removed]]

EM Dash-USA TODAY Sports

Player drafts in pro sports have been a particularly U.S.-based concept centered on promoting on-field competitive balance. The NWSL is abandoning that—in dramatic fashion—in service of much bigger aspirations.

The league’s newly signed, four-year extension of its labor agreement [[link removed]] with the NWSL Players Association eliminates both the draft and player trades without consent, and arrived two years before the expiration of the current term. In doing so, the NWSL became the largest U.S. pro sports league to eliminate its draft. But the decision to end the draft brings the league much closer with the rest of pro soccer around the world, and is aimed in part in better positioning the NWSL as the location of choice for the very best women’s player talent.

“Given our vision to be the best league in the world, we determined that this was the right time to align with global standards and achieve long-term labor peace,” said NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman. “This CBA gives us agency over our business, and gives the players agency over their careers.”

The move also positions the NWSL in line with FIFA’s “ Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players [[link removed]],” and is premised fundamentally on granting unrestricted free agency to all players.

The NWSL even received plaudits from those outside the sports world, including the AFL-CIO, the largest federation of labor unions in the U.S. Players unions in several major U.S. pro sports, including the NWSLPA, are part of an AFL-CIO sports council.

“This game-changing collective bargaining agreement sets the gold standard for all professional sports and affirms what workers in unions can accomplish when we stand together,” said AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler.

Downside Risk?

As the NWSL more closely resembles other international pro soccer leagues, it also separates itself from most major U.S. properties, including Major League Soccer. The draft is seen as such an important tool to promote competitive balance that MLB in its most recent labor agreement joined the NBA and NHL in introducing a draft lottery to discourage tanking. It also prohibited teams receiving revenue-sharing funds from gaining a lottery pick in more than two straight years.

The NBA, meanwhile, continues to wrestle [[link removed]] with its own long-standing issues around alleged tanking for better draft picks, even with a decades-old lottery.

The extensive focus on competitive balance, and draft rules within that, is directly tied to a belief and underlying business model that overall fan interest and revenue are greatly boosted when every team has a regular shot at winning a title. MLB, in particular, has aggressively marketed the fact it has not had a repeat World Series winner since 2000—a streak almost certain to continue this year.

Conversely, men’s soccer leagues in Europe have been rife with dominance by just a handful of economically powerful clubs. Manchester City has claimed the last four Premier League titles, as well as six of the last seven, and only six clubs overall have won that league in the last 30 years. In the same time frame, just five clubs have topped LaLiga, and only six have done so in Serie A. Paris Saint-Germain has won Ligue 1 in 10 of the last 12 seasons.

As the NWSLPA called the draft “an antiquated model that treats people as property,” the NWSL, amid its ongoing and meteoric growth, will need to guard against a similar rise of superteams.

SPONSORED BY AT&T BUSINESS

Explore the Future of Fan Experiences

The 2024 AT&T Innovation Exchange [[link removed]] in Las Vegas offered a visionary look at the future of fan experiences in sports and entertainment.

Key figures, including L.A. Clippers Chairman, Steve Ballmer and AT&T CEO John Stankey, unveiled how cutting-edge technologies—like AI-driven fan engagement and immersive VR—will transform arenas like the Intuit Dome. Panels featuring leaders from the NBA, Disney Parks, and Cosm emphasized the importance of blending innovation with emotional connection, ensuring fans remain at the heart of every experience.

The event also spotlighted the explosive growth of women’s sports, with the WNBA leading the charge. Discover how AT&T is enabling the next generation of sports fandom.

Read [[link removed]] the full story.

Ronaldo’s YouTube Launch Fuels Athlete Content Creator Trend [[link removed]]

Yukihito Taguchi-USA TODAY Sports

Cristiano Ronaldo added more than 20 million subscribers to his YouTube channel in the first 24 hours after launching Wednesday morning. As of Thursday afternoon, the subscriber count had surpassed 24 million.

The global soccer superstar’s YouTube arrival furthers the trend of professional athletes monetizing their popularity on the streaming platform that has roughly 2.7 billion users worldwide [[link removed]]. Ronaldo has already posted 12 videos, generating more than 82 million total views, as well as seven YouTube Shorts that each have been watched more than a million times, and counting.

Ronaldo, 39, is diving head-first into the content game as he may have played his final international match for Portugal at last month’s Euro 2024 tournament. His $200 million contract with Saudi Pro League club Al Nassr is due to expire in 2025.

Watch and Learn

While Ronaldo’s immediate success on YouTube isn’t surprising—he already had more than 700 million followers across Instagram and X—it does showcase a new off-field path for the most well-known players across sports.

Bryson DeChambeau, winner of golf’s U.S. Open in June, has 1.39 million YouTube subscribers, for whom he posts a variety of golf-related videos when he’s not competing on LIV Golf or at major championships.

Brothers Travis and Jason Kelce have 2.42 million subscribers to the YouTube channel for their popular podcast, New Heights, which posts full episodes, as well as podcast clips and Shorts.

Other active professional athletes like Heat forward Jimmy Butler, baseball pitcher Trevor Bauer, and Colorado football two-way star Travis Hunter have previously found some success on YouTube, but not to the degree of Ronaldo, DeChambeau, or the Kelces.

In a League of His Own

FOS graphic

In a little more than 24 hours, Cristiano Ronaldo’s YouTube channel [[link removed]] has surpassed every other professional soccer channel’s subscriber count. FIFA was the previous leader with 21.5 million, while other soccer teams and leagues rounded out the top 10, including FC Barcelona, Manchester United, and Paris Saint-Germain.

Ronaldo still has a ways to go before surpassing the most-subscribed YouTube channel with a sports tag, which is the WWE with 103 million. But the soccer superstar is closing in on the most-subscribed soccer-specific channel, independent creator Celine Dept [[link removed]], who has 35.3 million subscribers.

STATUS REPORT Three Up, One Down

Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports

Iowa ⬇ The Hawkeyes’ football head coach Kirk Ferentz and wide receivers coach Jon Budmayr have both received one-game suspensions [[link removed]] for transfer portal violations pertaining to the recruitment of quarterback Cade McNamara (above). It’s unclear whether the suspensions were handed out by the NCAA or the university. They are expected to miss the team’s home opener against Illinois State on Aug. 31.

Disney succession ⬆ The ESPN parent company named existing board member James Gorman to chair its succession planning committee. Current Disney CEO Bob Iger is due to step down at the end of 2026, and ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro has been among those mentioned as a potential candidate [[link removed]] to assume the role. Gorman previously led a succession process at Morgan Stanley, where he is executive chairman.

Paramount ⬆ As expected, media executive Edgar Bronfman Jr. raised his bid for the CBS Sports parent company to $6 billion. In response to Bronfman’s overtures, a special committee of Paramount’s board has extended its “go-shop” period—during which it can consider additional acquisition offers—by 15 days, with the new deadline set for Sept. 5. Before Bronfman’s bid, Paramount agreed to merge with Skydance Media [[link removed]], and could still do so.

Peacock ⬆ The NBCUniversal streaming service generated 2.8 million signups during the first six days of the Paris Olympics last month, according to industry research firm Antenna [[link removed]]. The subscriber bump is very similar to the one Peacock received [[link removed]] in January after an exclusive stream of an NFL wild card game in January. But the big issue for the platform will still be long-term retention and minimizing churn [[link removed]], particularly after the most recent quarterly earnings revealed [[link removed]] slight attrition for Peacock.

FRONT OFFICE SPORTS EVENTS

The Event for All Things Sports Media

On Sept. 10, Front Office Sports is bringing together leaders within the sports media space for our inaugural sports media summit, Tuned In [[link removed]].

Join us as we sit down for intimate conversations with some of the industry’s biggest newsmakers. Speakers will represent organizations from ESPN, the BIG EAST Conference, Roku, NBCUniversal, and more. Conversations will cover a plethora of topics including:

Future of media rights Sports streaming Rise of talent Athletes turned media moguls Women’s sports Sports betting Convergence of legacy and new media

With enriching discussions, elite networking, and exclusive insights, you won’t want to miss out.

Registration is filling up quickly— register now [[link removed]] to ensure your spot!

Conversation Starters LSU unveiled new LED display upgrades [[link removed]] in Tiger Stadium. They now have 16 displays, including a 5,600-square-foot main end zone videoboard. FC Barcelona’s newly renovated $1.6 billion arena Spotify Camp Nou revealed its overhaul, which includes an aerial walkway. Take a look [[link removed]]. FS1 unveiled its new lineup of daily studio shows weeks after Skip Bayless left Undisputed. Check it out [[link removed]]. Editors’ Picks Rory McIlroy Part of Group Buying $250M Majority Stake in TickPick [[link removed]]by David Rumsey [[link removed]]The golfer’s Symphony Ventures is part of the landmark capital raise. Marketing Stunt Had Major Cycling Race Start In Grocery Store [[link removed]]by Alex Schiffer [[link removed]]The Vuelta has a history of creative stage kickoffs. Fans Are Waging War on VAR. Can the Tech Survive the Backlash? [[link removed]]by Mike Jakeman [[link removed]]VAR’s place in international soccer is hanging by a thread. 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]]

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