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Morning Edition

December 3, 2024

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The English Premier League is surging, with interest soaring and media-rights payments up by a significant amount. However, as teams capitalize on that attention by raising ticket prices, fans have had enough, with high-profile protests sweeping the sport and asking owners in the world’s most popular soccer league to “stop exploiting loyalty.”

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

Premier League Fans Protest Soaring Ticket Prices Despite Financial Boom [[link removed]]

Jeff Blake-Imagn Images

The Premier League is once again consumed with fan unrest about rising ticket prices, a development that brings a dark undercurrent to an accelerating post-pandemic economic recovery.

Fans for several of the Premier League’s most powerful and valuable clubs—including current standings leader Liverpool, four-time defending champion Manchester City, Manchester United, and Everton—staged public protests this past weekend, coordinated under the slogan and online hashtag #StopExploitingLoyalty.

Nineteen of 20 Premier League clubs raised their prices this season, according to the U.K. fan advocacy group Football Supporters’ Association. That follows price hikes for 17 of 20 clubs ahead of the 2023–2024 season [[link removed]], creating similar levels of angst. But this year, the preseason jumps have been followed up by unprecedented midseason jumps for some clubs, notably Manchester United, bringing the issue to a new level of prominence.

“Tickets are the access point for match-going supporters,” wrote the Manchester United Supporters’ Trust in an open letter to club CEO Omar Berrada. “By exploiting them, you risk losing the goodwill and affinity which brings so much added value to the club, not just in support for the team but financially as well, both in terms of fans’ discretionary spend and also value for sponsors. The marginal gains in ticket revenue will be outweighed by the loss in these other areas.”

Though the rivalries between many of these clubs go back more than a century and are legendarily intense, there is rare alignment on the ticket pricing issue.

“We all go to games, love our club, and want to keep football affordable for future generations whilst protecting heritage and communities,” said FC58, another Manchester United fan group. “The only way we can achieve this is collaboration. This is our first step. This movement will grow.”

Far from simply complaining, fan groups in English pro soccer can often hold sizable influence on actual business operations—driven in part by a long-held notion of each club being deeply intertwined with that local community.

Bigger Backdrop

The current fan unrest arrives as the broader Premier League financial picture continues to improve, and the reliance on gate revenue continues to shrink relative to growth in the media sector. The Premier League said last week that its total commercial and broadcast revenue for the 2025–2028 cycle is set to grow 17% to $15.3 billion. International media rights are a particular driver of that growth.

That escalation, meanwhile, follows this past summer’s report from Deloitte in which the Premier League again topped Europe’s top pro leagues by far [[link removed]], generating $7.43 billion in revenue during the 2022–2023 season, the first operating without restrictions after the COVID-19 pandemic.

SEC’s $1.6M Field-Storming Fiasco: Fines Pile Up After Celebrations [[link removed]]

The Oklahoman

The SEC’s first college football season as a 16-team conference ended with $2.1 million in fines related to fans storming and throwing debris on fields.

While no SEC schools were involved in the flag-planting incidents that led to $100,000 fines [[link removed]] for Ohio State and Michigan—and likely punishments for others—during Rivalry Weekend, the conference had plenty of costly celebrations and disruptions on campuses during the 2024 regular season.

SEC rules—the most expensive in college sports—dictate a $100,000 fine for a first-time field or court storming, $250,000 for a second-time offense, and $500,000 for a third. There is also a separate $100,000 fine for storming the field before the game is over. That money is paid to the opposing school.

Eight instances this fall after major home victories resulted in $1.6 million in fines:

Ole Miss: $350,000 (Georgia, Nov. 9) South Carolina: $250,000 (Texas A&M, Nov. 2) LSU: $250,000 (Ole Miss, Oct. 12) Arkansas: $250,000 (Tennessee, Oct. 5) Oklahoma: $200,000 (Alabama, Nov. 23) Auburn: $100,000 (Texas A&M, Nov. 23) Tennessee: $100,000 (Alabama, Oct. 19) Vanderbilt: $100,000 (Alabama, Oct. 5)

Alabama takes home the most fine money, $400,000, as fans stormed the field after all three of the Crimson Tide’s losses this season. Georgia and Texas A&M are tied for second, receiving $350,000 each.

Additionally, Texas and LSU were each fined $250,000 for their fans throwing debris onto the field during losses to Georgia on Oct. 19 [[link removed]] and Alabama on Nov. 9, respectively. That money was paid to the conference, not the opposing schools.

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Rockets Look Like Contenders, but Payroll Questions Loom [[link removed]]

Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

The Rockets defeated the Thunder on Sunday in a battle between the top two seeds in the Western Conference, which moved Houston to just a half-game back of the No. 1 seed.

With just three nationally televised games this year (not including NBA TV), and none until the middle of January, the Rockets have flown under the radar despite being one of the league’s biggest surprises.

Their success can be attributed to the league’s second-best defense and a loaded roster. Houston has seven players who average double figures in scoring, but they’re one of just two teams in the league on which no player averages more than 20 points per game. The team also sports a young core group of players, as six of its top eight players in minutes per game are 23 or younger [[link removed]].

But it’s the depth and youth that also pose questions for the Rockets’ future. The team’s payroll for the 2024–2025 season is $160.29 million, good for 24th in the NBA—but is projected to shoot up to $188.1 million next season [[link removed]], which would be ninth, according to Basketball Reference. This bump is due to the contract extensions of Alperen Şengün (five years, $185 million) and Jalen Green (three years, $106 million) that kick in next year.

Fortunately for the Rockets, they still have space available before hitting the first apron, a salary threshold that enforces roster construction penalties on teams. That also means Houston isn’t sniffing the second apron, the threshold that troubles NBA executives [[link removed]].

However, there are a slew of young players and veteran stalwarts whose contracts could complicate Houston’s salary structure.

First is Fred VanVleet, the team’s 30-year-old starting point guard who dropped 38 points in the win over Oklahoma City. He has a $44.89 million team option [[link removed]] for next year. The 2019 NBA champion, who is extension eligible, said before the season that he wants to stay in Houston long-term [[link removed]]—but a deal similar to the three-year, $130 million contract he signed with the Rockets in 2023 would make it harder to sign other players.

The 6-foot VanVleet is also ahead of other young guards in the team’s rotation, particularly 2024 No. 3 pick Reed Sheppard. The Rockets could also strategically choose to sign VanVleet to a deal that would end at the same time Sheppard’s potential extension would kick in—which would be the 2028–2029 season.

The other major question for the Rockets is Jabari Smith Jr. The No. 3 pick in the 2022 draft is extension eligible this offseason—and he’s a significant contributor to the team despite his averages mirroring his first two seasons in the league [[link removed]]. An extension for the 21-year-old will likely raise his $10 million salary this year to north of $25 million or $30 million starting in the 2026–2027 season.

Other young players who could receive contracts in the coming years are Tari Eason (extension eligible this offseason), Amen Thompson, and Cam Whitmore (both extension eligible in 2026).

With all the players on its roster, Houston, despite being the No. 2 seed, could decide to make a consolidation trade at the deadline, dealing more players than it receives, before the money becomes a major issue. The team has the young players and draft capital— including several future picks from the Suns [[link removed]]—to swing for the fences and potentially solidify its future payroll.

Ultimately, it’s a good problem to have, especially for a team less than four seasons removed from trading franchise icon James Harden.

Ronaldo, Brady Among Athletes Riding MrBeast’s YouTube Success [[link removed]]

Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

Some of the world’s top athletes are looking to Jimmy Donaldson, known online as MrBeast, to build their social media presence, particularly on YouTube.

Donaldson—who has more than 334 million YouTube subscribers, the most on the platform— posted a video on Saturday titled “Beat Ronaldo, Win $1,000,000” [[link removed]] featuring top sports stars across several sports: Cristiano Ronaldo, Tom Brady, Noah Lyles, Bryce Harper, and Bryson DeChambeau. The video has amassed more than 75 million views as of 2 p.m. ET on Dec. 2.

The YouTuber pitted the star athletes in exhibition competitions with non-professionals for a $100,000 prize. The prize would go to a charity if the professionals won. The non-pros, who ranged from a high school football player to TikTok star Eric Justice Befumo, known as Big Justice, were given an advantage to even the playing field.

But as seen from the title, Ronaldo was the main attraction, and Donaldson called him “the most popular person I’ve ever had in a video.” The soccer superstar donned the jersey of Al Nassr FC, but lost a $1 million shootout to a fan named Khalid at Al-Awwal Park in Saudi Arabia.

The 39-year-old soccer legend, who is the most-followed person on Instagram, launched his YouTube account in August [[link removed]] and has already amassed 70 million subscribers. He posted a video with Donaldson [[link removed]] on his account on Nov. 21 that broke 50 million views and is his second-most-watched video. He posted another video with Donaldson [[link removed]] on Nov. 30 that showed the two facing off in a soccer exhibition and is his fifth-most-watched video with more than 21.5 million views.

Of the athletes featured in Donaldson’s video, DeChambeau has the largest YouTube following with more than 1.63 million subscribers. Lyles and Brady each have more than 200,000, while Harper does not have a personal channel. Lyles also featured MrBeast and IShowSpeed, another popular streamer, on one of his most viewed videos [[link removed]], while DeChambeau’s latest video was with Brady [[link removed]].

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Conversation Starters Colorado sent Heisman Trophy campaign packets for Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter to voters. Check them out [[link removed]]. More than $35 million has already been paid in buyouts for college football coaches. Take a look [[link removed]] at the top five. The Big Ten fined both Ohio State and Michigan $100,000 for the postgame brawl [[link removed]] Saturday in Columbus. Editors’ Picks IRS Says Tax Enforcement of Nonprofit NIL Collectives Is 2025 Priority [[link removed]]by Margaret Fleming [[link removed]]Many NIL collectives are registered as tax-exempt organizations. LPGA Commissioner Leaving After Brief Up-and-Down Tenure [[link removed]]by David Rumsey [[link removed]]Mollie Marcoux Samaan was hired in 2021. Schools Are Scrambling to Prepare for the NCAA Revenue-Sharing Era [[link removed]]by Amanda Christovich [[link removed]]In the post–House v. NCAA world, “everyone’s kind of on their own.” Question of the Day

Do you subscribe to any athletes’ channels on YouTube?

YES [[link removed]] NO [[link removed]]

Monday’s result: After watching Tom Brady call the Thanksgiving Day game, 55% of respondents think he has improved as a broadcaster in his debut season.

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The Nasdaq-100 Index® includes the 100 largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq. An investment cannot be made directly into an index. NCAA is a trademark of the National Collegiate Athletics Association. Invesco is not affiliated with the NCAA.

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