October 21, 2024

Read in Browser [[link removed]]

POWERED BY

MLB’s winningest franchise is back in the World Series.

The Yankees’ five-game ALCS victory over the Guardians ended a 15-year pennant drought during which they paid players nearly $3.5 billion. Optimism is sweeping through New York—including at the league office, which will benefit from the franchise’s enormous fanbase opposite that of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Beyond October, however, the Yankees will soon be faced with their most expensive on-field decision yet.

— Eric Fisher [[link removed]] and Margaret Fleming [[link removed]]

Yankees, Soto Make World Series As Superstar Eyes Huge Payday [[link removed]]

David Richard-Imagn Images

The Yankees are finally back in the World Series, but it certainly didn’t come cheap, and the team’s path could soon grow even more expensive.

The club, by far Major League Baseball’s most successful team with 27 World Series titles, clinched the American League pennant on Saturday, closing out the Guardians in a hard-fought, five-game series. For all that historical success, 15 years had passed since the Yankees’ last pennant, tied for the longest such stretch in franchise history.

In the intervening decade and a half since its 2009 title, the Yankees have paid nearly $3.5 billion in total player payroll, consistently ranking among the league’s top spenders, including a $309 million outlay this year that ranked second only to the crosstown Mets [[link removed]]. Before this year, though, the Yankees continued to come up short on the field, including four AL Championship Series losses between 2012 and 2022 that often frustrated fans and failed to meet their lofty expectations.

The Yankees’ big contracts over that time ranged wildly from bona-fide hits such as the nine-year, $360 million deal for star outfielder and likely AL MVP Aaron Judge to outright busts such as a separate, $153 million pact over seven years for oft-injured former outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury. In the pennant celebration at Cleveland’s Progressive Field, though, such fiscal matters were at least temporarily far from the mind of Yankees ownership.

“This has been an incredible year, and it’s an incredible group of guys,” Yankees managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner said of the team during the AL championship trophy ceremony. “We had our ups and we had our downs, but they never had a doubt. They never panicked. Every day, they went out and did their job, and that’s why we’re here.”

The Yankees are now set to face the National League champion Dodgers, giving MLB a dream matchup and continuing what has been a scintillating MLB postseason [[link removed]]. The World Series is scheduled to start on Friday.

Market Watch

The big hero in Saturday’s clinching Game 5 against the Guardians was Yankees outfielder Juan Soto, acquired last offseason in a trade with the Padres. Soto hit a clutch three-run home run in the 10th inning [[link removed]], providing the final margin of victory for New York to clinch the pennant.

He will be a free agent after the World Series, and after another excellent season in an already-legendary career, Soto was already expected to receive the second-largest contract in MLB history [[link removed]], trailing only the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani. The latest dramatics have only amplified that anticipation. Prior projections of a multiyear deal beginning at $500 million may soon start at $600 million, or more. Fan chants imploring Steinbrenner to resign Soto were quite noticeable during Saturday’s trophy ceremony [[link removed]]. And even Soto’s teammates were quickly imploring Steinbrenner to dig deep to retain the star.

“Pay my guy! Pay Juan Soto!,” third baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. said on the YES Network [[link removed]], suggesting a $700 million deal that would match Ohtani.

The WNBA’s Breakthrough Season Gets Its Perfect Ending

Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

A franchise-record 18,090 fans packed the Barclays Center for the league’s first Game 5 in a Finals series since 2019, the winner-take-all matchup of what had already been a playoff series for the ages. Sabrina Ionescu’s last-second dagger to win Game 3 [[link removed]] carved out a space in the annals of basketball history. The Lynx, led by Napheesa Collier, Courtney Williams, and Kayla McBride, had played a brand of basketball somehow both unbelievably smooth and electric.

New York clinched its first-ever WNBA title, with Jonquel Jones earning Finals MVP honors. The WNBA’s record-shattering season came to an end on the tails of a magnificent Finals series and deciding game.

“I think this has been just great basketball, just so entertaining,” Collier told Front Office Sports before the game. “Objectively, this is a really fun series. When you’re in it, it’s very nerve-wracking, of course, but I think it’s great for the sport.”

The superb play has been reflected in viewership. With 1.35 million and 1.39 million average viewers, Games 2 and 3 respectively rank as the ninth- and seventh-most-watched WNBA Finals games of all time [[link removed]], with the rest of those records all happening in 2001 or earlier. (Friday’s Game 4 viewership data won’t be released until Monday.) The number to beat is 3.25 million viewers for the Finals record, or 5.04 million viewers for the all-time viewership record [[link removed].].

Whether they reach those figures or not, these Finals are significantly outpacing last year’s [[link removed]] and drawing their largest audiences in more than two decades, all while competing with the NFL, MLB playoffs, and college football. Game 5 will also be limited in some ways by being on ESPN instead of ABC, which aired 1993’s Hocus Pocus instead of the game.

Yes, Caitlin Clark had a huge impact on the league’s business growth this year, especially when it comes to attendance and viewership. Her games dominate records in both categories [[link removed]]. But the Finals reinforce the truth [[link removed]] that rabid interest in the league and extremely high-level basketball do not end with the Rookie of the Year [[link removed]].

“In the end, it just shows the level of the talent that we have in the WNBA,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said about making it to Game 5 (though “I wish it didn’t” reach the winner-take-all, she admitted). “I thought this was one of the strongest seasons I’ve ever been a part of. I’ve been in this league for a long, long time as a player and a coach. …I think it’s great for women’s basketball. We’re getting a lot of eyes on us, I think that’s fantastic.”

You can read Margaret Fleming’s full story on the fitting finale to this record-shattering WNBA season here. [[link removed]]

SPONSORED BY MAGNIFI

Expand Reach and Fan Engagement With AI

As the sports world expands, the ability to localize and regionalize video content is crucial.

Explore how AI is reshaping sports content in our upcoming webinar [[link removed]], Engaging Global Sports Fans With AI, presented by Magnifi and moderated by NBC Sports reporter and journalist Zora Stephenson.

This webinar will discuss how cutting-edge AI technologies enable sports leagues—from global giants like the NFL and NBA to emerging teams—to customize content for diverse audiences. Discover how AI can help expand your reach, deepen fan engagement, and maintain cultural relevance across borders.

Join the conversation Oct. 22 at 1 p.m. ET to learn about the potential of AI-driven localization and how to adapt content for different cultures and languages while prioritizing fan engagement.

Register now [[link removed]].

Texas Fined for Fans Throwing Trash on Field in Georgia Loss [[link removed]]

Syndication: Austin American-Statesman

Austin’s big sports weekend, filled with excitement and expectation going into it [[link removed]], ended instead with unexpected fan conduct, recriminations, apologies, and even a fine.

The hometown Texas Longhorns, college football’s No. 1 team heading into the weekend, lost on the field 30-15 to No. 5 Georgia on Saturday night, sinking the top ranking to a No. 5 slot in new polls released Sunday. It was much worse in the stands, though, as Longhorns fans littered the north end of Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium with water bottles and trash to protest a pass-interference penalty that wiped out a defensive interception for Texas.

Officials soon reversed the call, and the Southeastern Conference later confirmed that there was no penalty on the play. But that’s hardly the end of the story as both the conference and University of Texas officials condemned the behavior and the SEC levied a $250,000 fine on the Longhorns. That amount is consistent with a conference fine on Tennessee in 2021 for similar fan behavior after former Volunteers coach Lane Kiffin returned to Knoxville while coaching Ole Miss.

“The throwing of debris and resulting interruption of play that took place Saturday night cannot be part of any SEC event,” conference commissioner Greg Sankey said in a statement.

Additionally, Texas will be required to identify individuals, where possible, who threw debris and ban them from university athletic events for the remainder of the 2024-2025 academic year. The Longhorns also must review their game management procedures and alcohol policies.

Prior to these sanctions, Georgia coach Kirby Smart went further, suggesting fans are now emboldened in a new way to protest game officials’ decisions.

“I will say now we have a precedent that if you throw a bunch of stuff on the field and endanger athletes, you’ve got a chance to get your call reversed,” he said after the game.

The conduct and the loss bring an unfortunate turn to Texas’s season in which it achieved its first No. 1 ranking since 2008, coinciding with the university’s first campaign in the SEC.

“While we deeply appreciate the passion and loyalty of our fan base at the University of Texas at Austin, we do not condone the unsportsmanlike conduct that was exhibited by some fans,” said several school officials, including president Jay Hartzell and athletic director Chris Del Conte, in a statement.

Race Matters

Formula One’s U.S. Grand Prix Sunday at the Circuit of the Americas, conversely, was a much calmer affair, with Charles Leclerc claiming the race. Fellow Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz finished second. Lando Norris originally finished third, but was assessed a five-second penalty for forcing Max Verstappen off the track, allowing the current F1 leader for 2024 to instead claim the spot for the race.

Final attendance numbers for the three-day race weekend have yet to be released. But strong crowds were seen throughout, and the total is likely to at least challenge last year’s 432,000, if not surpass it. In addition to the motorsports action itself, race festival events included headlining concerts by Sting and Eminem.

FRONT OFFICE SPORTS AWARDS

The Employee Survey Is Open

Whether it’s great leadership; focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion; or commitment to employee well-being, the Front Office Sports Best Employers in Sports Award [[link removed]] recognizes organizations that do right by their employees.

How do we determine who wins the award? We don’t—employees do! The award is based entirely on anonymous survey results from sports industry professionals.

Responses will be evaluated in collaboration with our primary research partner, Canvs [[link removed]], using patented AI technology free from all subjectivity and human bias. There is no word count limit and you can even use slang, text abbreviations, sarcasm, and emoji to complete the survey.

There are just 16 days remaining to take the free 2024 employee survey! Complete the survey [[link removed]] by Nov. 6 for a chance to recognize your company as one of the best in the business.

LOUD AND CLEAR Patriots Problems

Peter van den Berg-Imagn Images

“We’re a soft football team across the board.”

—Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo, speaking after his team’s sixth consecutive loss. New England gave up 171 rushing yards to the Jaguars in London Sunday morning. Rookie QB Drake Maye provided room for optimism despite the team’s skid, throwing for 276 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. But New England has fallen far from the dynastic status it maintained during the Tom Brady era.

Front Office Sports Today Re-Telling Sports Stories

FOS illustration

Mark Messier and Danny DeVito, executive producers on Prime Video’s “Game 7,” join the show to discuss the biggest moments in sports and the art of re-telling those stories.

Also, three-time gold medalist Gabby Thomas discusses the reverberations in the track world following the Olympics and how new leagues such as Athlos and Duael can help keep the momentum going.

Plus, bidders for the Celtics are emerging (including Jeff Bezos’s half-brother), a carriage dispute in Chicago is denying Blackhawks and Bulls fans access to games, and the NBA patched over its weakest point when it comes to preventing betting-related corruption.

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

Conversation Starters A drone show revved up fans at this weekend’s Georgia–Texas game. Take a look. [[link removed]] Who are the highest-paid college football coaches? Check out the list here. [[link removed]] Tony Bennett says it’s time for college athletes to get paid. Watch the clip from his retirement press conference. [[link removed]] Editors’ Picks Kansas Paying Up to $845K Per Game to Play Football at Arrowhead [[link removed]]by Jeff Benson [[link removed]]Unredacted contract details show how much KU actually pays to play at Arrowhead. The Kennedys Wanted to Buy the Dodgers and Put JFK in Charge [[link removed]]by Alex Schiffer [[link removed]]A little-known historical twist almost changed the trajectory of the Dodgers. Big Stars, Big Markets, Big Numbers: MLB Got Its Postseason Groove Back [[link removed]]by Eric Fisher [[link removed]]Long-awaited viewership gains and palpable buzz—with perhaps more to come. Question of the Day

Do you agree with the academic-year ban for fans who are identified throwing things onto the field at Texas?

Yes, it's a fair punishment [[link removed]] No, the punishment should be more severe [[link removed]] No, the punishment should be less severe [[link removed]]

Friday’s result: 27% of respondents said they’re more interested in watching F1 races since this year’s standings are seeing greater competition.

Advertise [[link removed]] Awards [[link removed]] Learning [[link removed]] Events [[link removed]] Video [[link removed]] Podcast [[link removed]] Written by Eric Fisher [[link removed]], Margaret Fleming [[link removed]] Edited by Or Moyal [[link removed]]

If this email was forwarded to you, you can subscribe here [[link removed]].

Update your preferences [link removed] / Unsubscribe [link removed]

Copyright © 2024 Front Office Sports. All rights reserved.

460 Park Avenue South, 7th Floor, New York NY, 10016