October 18, 2024

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Good morning. Austin is the center of the sports world this weekend, as top-ranked Texas hosts No. 5 Georgia for the first time in 66 years—and the city welcomes Formula One for a crucial late-season race. There’s enormous momentum around both events, and the impact on residents, airlines, hotels, and networks is palpable.

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

Football Meets F1: The Sports World Descends Upon Austin This Weekend [[link removed]]

The Oklahoman

Austin is preparing for its biggest weekend ever thanks to the perfect storm of two major sporting events—at least that’s what the billboards around town say.

On Saturday, top-ranked Texas hosts No. 5 Georgia, for the first time since 1958, in the Longhorns’ first home game as a member of the SEC. On Sunday, the U.S. Grand Prix begins a six-race conclusion to Formula One’s most competitive season in recent memory.

Last year, 432,000 fans attended the Circuit of the Americas over the three-day F1 race weekend. And Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium can fit a crowd of 100,000. Those two combined figures alone represent more than half the estimated population of Austin, which is just under a million.

Why Is This a Big Deal?

This isn’t the first time Texas has played a home game during an F1 weekend, but both parties are riding a wave of unprecedented momentum.

Before this season, the Longhorns hadn’t been ranked No. 1 since 2008. And F1 enters its final leg of 2024 with close races in both the drivers’ and constructors’ championships—a welcome sight for the sport after the recent dominating run by Max Verstappen and Red Bull.

Put it all together, and it’s set to be a wild sports weekend.

The average nightly hotel price this weekend is about $500 [[link removed]], tourism site Visit Austin told local news station KXAN-TV, with revenue already averaging 13% higher than 2023. Austin’s airport is bracing for a potential record 44,000 departures Monday.

The mixture of football fans and racing spectators could also make for an interesting combination around Austin’s lively nightlife scene.

“I could not think of more opposite clientele,” Toby Atkins, managing director of Austin-based sports travel company Bucket List Events, tells Front Office Sports. “I’m sure the bars downtown are going to be confused as all get out.” Bucket List Events sold out its allotment of 100 tickets to Georgia-Texas six months ago and doesn’t sell F1 packages.

Lights, Camera, Action

For sports fans not in Austin this weekend, Disney has been planning for months [[link removed]] to capitalize on the FOMO, as ABC is broadcasting both the football game and the race, which will of course be complemented by shoulder programming on ESPN, like College GameDay on campus and live SportsCenter from the racetrack.

While F1 director of media rights Ian Holmes would love to capture some driver-player interactions at the stadium or track, the logistics remain a work in progress. But whether Pat McAfee tries to get behind the wheel of an F1 car or not, there’s hope Sunday’s race can reverse a downward TV ratings trend for the U.S. Grand Prix over the last two years.

Last season, Verstappen had already clinched the drivers’ championship before the Austin race. This year, he holds just a slight lead over Lando Norris, whose McLaren team has passed Red Bull in the constructors’ fight.

“Let’s be honest. The beginning of the season was a tiny bit of a worry, in that Max was making it look perhaps a little bit easier than we would prefer,” Holmes tells FOS. “Obviously, we’re very neutral, we don’t support anyone. … [But] you want the stakes to be as high as possible as late as possible.”

Blow to Cleveland: Browns Move Forward With $2.4B Suburban Plan [[link removed]]

Cleveland Browns/HKS

Cleveland’s hopes of preventing the Browns from moving out of their downtown stadium and building a dome in the suburbs have been dealt yet another blow.

On Thursday afternoon, the NFL franchise announced it would focus its efforts on a proposed $2.4 billion plan to build a dome in suburban Brook Park. The city of Cleveland was offering to provide nearly $500 million in funding for renovations to the newly renamed Huntington Bank Field.

“Our most impactful investment for our region is to focus on making a dome stadium and adjacent development in Brook Park a reality,” Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam said in a statement on the team’s website [[link removed]]. Cleveland mayor Justin Bibb called the decision [[link removed]] “frustrating and profoundly disheartening.”

The Browns’ downtown lease expires in 2028, and the team is seeking up to $1.2 billion in public funding support for its dome project. Should building the dome be too difficult, Bibb said he and his staff would be ready to reengage talks with the Haslams about stadium options downtown. “Our door is not closed,” he said.

How We Got Here

In August, the owners of the Browns released renderings of their dome proposal, indicating it was their preferred option [[link removed]]. “The more we have explored the Brook Park option, the more attractive it has become,” they said in a letter to fans.

But it didn’t take long for the pushback from local officials to pop up [[link removed]]. Two county executives said they remained committed to helping keep the Browns downtown.

Despite this latest development, the Browns building a dome is far from a done deal. As evidenced by other stadium projects around the league—like Chicago [[link removed]] or Kansas City [[link removed]]—NFL franchise owners getting public money for new stadiums is often a long and arduous process.

SPONSORED BY UBS

A New Era of Naming Rights

In the latest installment of our Future of Sports [[link removed]] series, presented by UBS, we discuss the evolving landscape of sports venue sponsorships and naming rights. This engaging conversation features industry leaders discussing the trends, strategies, and innovations shaping this dynamic space. From immersive on-site partnerships to media-driven brand visibility, we explore how venues and brands collaborate to create memorable experiences and maximize value.

Key sessions cover the shift to fully integrated marketing partnerships, the race to elevate fan experiences, and the broader economic and community impact of major sports venue partnerships. Don’t miss this opportunity [[link removed]] to gain valuable insights and learn from key players shaping the future of naming rights in sports.

Watch now [[link removed]].

Netflix Shares Rise on Strong Earnings As Christmas NFL Games Lie Ahead [[link removed]]

Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

Netflix delivered another strong set of results during the third quarter. The fourth quarter, however, will present the biggest test to date for not only its sports ambitions but also its overall live-events business.

The company reported third-quarter financial results Thursday that included a 1.8% increase in subscribers to 282.7 million, a 15% lift in revenue to $9.8 billion, and a 41% boost in net income to $2.4 billion. Each of those figures beat Wall Street expectations. The subscriber total, though it will not be a part of future Netflix earnings reports beginning with 2025’s first quarter, remains by far the largest in the streaming industry.

The results, following up on a similarly bullish report in July for the second quarter [[link removed]], were yet another strong show of Netflix’s market dominance, and investors responded as such, elevating the company’s stock by 5% in after-hours trading. But to close out the year, Netflix will begin its new three-year deal for Christmas Day NFL games [[link removed]], and also show the rescheduled Mike Tyson–Jake Paul fight Nov. 15. Those events additionally serve as forerunners to a 10-year agreement for live rights to WWE’s Raw [[link removed]] beginning in January.

This year’s Christmas Day NFL games include a matchup between the Chiefs and Steelers, followed by one with the Ravens and Texans. All four teams reached last season’s playoffs, and are currently in line to do so again this year.

Those games are part of a broader notion that Netflix executives sought to convey to analysts Thursday that not all streaming hours are created equal—and live ones are typically more valuable across many parts of the business, including with both subscription and advertising revenue.

“We have about 200 billion hours [of content] every year on Netflix. Very few of them are actually live,” said Ted Sarandos, company co-CEO. “But they all promise to be extremely high value, particularly the excitement of the Tyson-Paul fight, which is growing every day, and certainly Christmas Day NFL football is going to be a blast all day on Netflix. We’re really excited that we’re going to be capturing even more of the excitement that comes when the whole world gets together to watch something.”

Beyond the stock bump late Thursday, Netflix shares have soared by 47% this year, and that tear has included the establishment of several all-time highs.

More Good Times Coming

Further buoyed by the bullish third-quarter performance, Netflix also said in its guidance that 2024 full-year revenue will come in at the high end of a prior target of 14% to 15% growth. Within that, the company expects that ad sales will quickly become a more impactful part of the overall business, with ad-tier membership growing by 35% quarter over quarter. Even before this latest report, Netflix disclosed in August that it generated a 150% rise in upfront ad sales compared to last year [[link removed]].

Live events—and specifically live sports—are a fundamental component of that increased lean into advertising as a means to diversify Netflix’s revenue.

NIL WATCH Blocking Technique

Gary Cosby Jr.-Imagn Images

Front Office Sports keeps you updated on the latest NIL (name, image, and likeness) deals shaping college sports. Here’s who is cashing in now:

Athletes: Kelvin Banks Jr., Tyler Booker, Tristan Leigh, Addison Nichols, Rocco Spindler Sport: Football Schools: Texas, Alabama, Clemson, Arkansas, Notre Dame Brand: Duke Cannon Supply Co.

The deal: The maker of premium men’s grooming goods signed five of the top offensive linemen in college football, and it created a documentary-style content series [[link removed]] to highlight the men in the trenches. Each of the five players star in their own roughly 10-minute episode.

FRONT OFFICE SPORTS TODAY Ogwumike: ‘Living the Dream’

FOS illustration

Chiney Ogwumike inked a new contract extension with ESPN, as did Kendrick Perkins, Monica McNutt, and Tim Legler. The deal makes Ogwumike the first female broadcaster to work full-time across NBA Countdown and WNBA Countdown. She joins the show to discuss her work at ESPN, the WNBA Finals, and the growth of the league.

Plus, Colts running back Jonathan Taylor discusses life on an NFL team, Front Office Sports reporter Colin Salao breaks down the coming CBA negotiations likely on the horizon for the WNBA, James Dolan strikes a deal with Abu Dhabi, and an NWSL expansion team flubs its rollout.

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

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Keeping fans happy and engaged is a 365-day-a-year, 24/7 task. The best social and digital teams use WSC Sports [[link removed]]’ suite of team and club products to personalize and monetize content for every fan you have.

Create: Automatically create thousands of video variations, in and around the game, by player, team, game, or action, set rules to repeat tasks, and apply length, transitions, aspect ratios, overlays, thumbnails, and more.

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Conversation Starters Kirk Herbstreit is #Globetrotting once again, sneaking in his son’s football game Friday between Thursday Night Football in New Orleans and College GameDay in Texas. Take a look [[link removed]]. Front Office Sports Today discussed the new multiyear deal of the Unrivaled 3-on-3 women’s basketball league, which is also chasing the services of Caitlin Clark. Watch it here [[link removed]]. Tuesday’s episode of The Pat McAfee Show, featuring Aaron Rodgers and a surprise appearance from Davante Adams, was its most-watched episode [[link removed]]—with 50 million views across all platforms. Editors’ Picks FCC Proposes $146K ESPN Fine for Using Emergency Tones in NBA Promo [[link removed]]by Margaret Fleming [[link removed]]The network has paid $300,000 before for the same reason. Tom Brady’s $220 Million Raiders Stake Is Messing With His $375 Million Day Job [[link removed]]by Dennis Young [[link removed]]Brady’s prep for Fox broadcasts is heavily constrained. Unrivaled Preparing ‘Full-Court Press’ to Recruit Caitlin Clark [[link removed]]by Michael McCarthy [[link removed]]The new Unrivaled women’s basketball league is thinking big. Caitlin Clark big. Question of the Day

With this year's F1 standings seeing greater competition, are you more interested in watching races?

YES [[link removed]] NO [[link removed]] I'M NOT AN F1 VIEWER [[link removed]]

Thursday’s result: 75% of respondents think another NBA player will receive a lifetime ban for betting in the next two years.

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

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