Read in Browser [[link removed]]

Afternoon Edition

December 31, 2024

POWERED BY

The Browns want to build a new $2.4 billion stadium in the city’s suburbs. Cleveland city leaders are hoping a targeted state law can keep that from happening.

A note to FOS readers: We are off Wednesday for New Year’s Day, but check your inboxes Thursday as we go through the CFP quarterfinals and any other pertinent news. Happy new year!

— Eric Fisher [[link removed]] and Colin Salao [[link removed]]

Cleveland vs. the Browns: How ‘Modell Law’ Could Keep Team in City [[link removed]]

Cleveland Browns

The Browns’ planned move to the suburbs is quickly becoming just as contentious as Cleveland’s loss of an NFL team nearly three decades ago.

The city of Cleveland sent formal notice to the Browns on Monday that it intends to enforce the local “Modell Law” to help prevent the development of a planned $2.4 billion domed stadium and mixed-use development in Brook Park, Ohio [[link removed]]. That 28-year-old law—colloquially named for the late former Browns owner Art Modell, who moved the original iteration of the team to Baltimore after the 1995 season to become the Ravens—states that a pro team in Ohio playing in a publicly supported stadium cannot move without giving the city in question six months’ notice and an opportunity to buy the franchise.

Before this invocation of the Modell Law, the Browns filed a federal lawsuit against the city [[link removed]] in October, seeking to have it ruled unconstitutional. As that legal matter continues, the city is pressing ahead to assert its rights.

“The Browns have not provided the city or others with the opportunity to purchase the team, as required by law,” Cleveland mayor Justin Bibb wrote in a letter to Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam. “If that opportunity were provided, the city intends to take a leadership role in assembling an ‘individual or group of individuals who reside in the area’ in purchasing the team.”

The letter seeks a response by Jan. 9, and failing that, Bibb said “the city intends to take appropriate legal action.”

The 3-13 Browns, finishing another ugly season Saturday against the Ravens [[link removed]], said the city’s latest move further complicates what it already viewed as significant uncertainty surrounding the Modell Law. That measure is now being fully tested for the first time in its existence.

“The statute and the city’s action create uncertainty and do not serve the interest of greater Cleveland,” the Haslam Sports Group said in a statement. “As the city knows, after the 2028 season, we will have fulfilled our lease obligations at the current stadium. We are determined to create a project to solve our long-term stadium planning by building a new enclosed [stadium] and adjacent mixed-use development, resulting in a substantial increase in premier, large-scale events and economic activity for our region.”

Even if the Browns prevail in this issue related to the Modell Law, broader concerns remain with the financing of the planned Brook Park project. A specific funding plan has not been released, but the Haslams have said they want half of the development costs covered by public money. Both Bibb and Cuyahoga County executive Chris Ronayne, however, are opposing the planned departure from the current Huntington Bank Field in downtown Cleveland.

SPONSORED BY SIGNIANT

Learn from Top Broadcasters, Leagues & Teams

The sports industry is experiencing an unprecedented content explosion. From prerecorded segments to real-time highlights, the demand for efficient content delivery has skyrocketed.

BEFORE the game: Discover how industry leaders such as NBC, ESPN, the NFL, and the NHL deliver pre-recorded segments and graphics packages seamlessly into their productions. DURING the game: Learn from remote editors who create and distribute highlights worldwide at speed. AFTER the game: Quick shutdown is essential to efficiently archive footage while fulfilling the modern demand for immediate content.

The Signiant Sports Collection [[link removed]] is a game-changing resource of articles, videos, infographics, and checklists to help transform your content workflows.

Read all about it here. [[link removed]]

The Roki Sasaki Race: MLB Teams Made Films, Books to Court Bargain Phenom [[link removed]]

Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

The high-profile Roki Sasaki sweepstakes [[link removed]] are heating up, and it appears the star Japanese pitcher is already starting to winnow the field of suitors.

The 23-year-old Sasaki is widely seen as the best pitcher still available, particularly after the Diamondbacks’ recent signing of Corbin Burnes [[link removed]], and he will come at a massive financial discount to MLB clubs [[link removed]] given his current status as an international amateur free agent.

Sasaki’s agent, Joel Wolfe of Wasserman, said Monday that 20 of MLB’s 30 clubs have expressed interest in signing the phenom, but meetings have only happened with “a set few number of teams” over the past several weeks. Sasaki is set to make a decision between Jan. 15, when MLB’s next international signing period opens, and Jan. 23, when his posting window from Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball closes.

Wolfe added that traditional indicators driving the preferences of MLB free agents, such as market size or team history of winning, won’t necessarily apply in the same way for Sasaki.

“He doesn’t seem to look at it in the typical way that other players do,” Wolfe said. “He has a more long-term, global view of things. I believe Roki is also very interested in the pitching development and how a team is going to help him get better, both in the near future and over the course of his career.”

High-End Presentations

The identities of any of the teams that Sasaki and Wolfe met with at Wasserman’s Los Angeles office have not been confirmed. Six clubs, however, are reportedly on that list including the market-leading Dodgers, Mets, and Yankees [[link removed]], along with the Cubs, Giants, and Rangers. The Padres are also still believed to be under serious consideration. Wolfe did say the interested teams sent in a wide variety of highly polished presentations.

“I mean, it was like the Roki film festival,” Wolfe said. “There were highly in-depth PowerPoint presentations, short films. Some teams made actual books. They had people that clearly spent hundreds of hours researching Roki and his personal background, his professional background.”

Sasaki is seen as a potentially generational talent, having already put up a 2.02 career earned run average and 524 strikeouts in just 414.2 innings in four seasons of pro experience.

“He is a guy that wants to be great. He’s not coming here just to be rich or get a huge contract,” Wolfe said. “He wants to be great. He wants to be one of the greatest ever. I see that now.”

WWE Pulls Out All the Stops to Open Netflix Partnership [[link removed]]

The Des Moines Register

Pro wrestling is one of the most polarizing sports products in the world, but the WWE may ultimately lay some groundwork for the future of sports consumption.

WWE’s flagship show Raw bid farewell to cable on Monday night after 31 years as it aired its final episode on the USA Network. Raw premieres on Netflix on Jan. 6, the first live show in a 10-year, $5 billion partnership the two sides announced in January, which was the streamer’s first live sports media-rights deal [[link removed]].

The deal includes the rights to stream WWE premium live events like WrestleMania and SummerSlam in several international markets. NBCU holds WWE PLE rights on Peacock in the U.S. until 2026 after a five-year, $1 billion deal signed in 2021—and the Wrestling Observer noted PLEs will likely move to Netflix when the deal expires [[link removed]].

Netflix has successfully dipped its toes in streaming tentpole live sporting events, including the Mike Tyson–Jake Paul bout [[link removed]] and the Netflix Christmas games [[link removed]], and while the former suffered from significant buffering issues [[link removed]], both set viewership records.

With WWE Raw, Netflix can get its first taste of how to operate a weekly sports product without veering away from its core principles. Pro wrestling’s scripted nature keeps it classified as sports entertainment, in line with Netflix’s sports strategy, which has focused on documentaries.

“WWE Raw is sports entertainment, which is right in the sweet spot of our sports business, which is the drama of sport,” Netflix’s Co-Chief Executive Officer Ted Sarandos said in an earnings call in January [[link removed]'%20statement.].

The WWE deal could become the bellwether for Netflix acquiring other sports media rights that air with more consistency. Its biggest competitors like Amazon and Peacock have a head start with Thursday Night Football and the Premier League, respectively, but Netflix’s domestic and international reach—with over 280 million global subscribers and nearly 85 million in the U.S.—could be more enticing to sports leagues.

The WWE will not pull tens of millions of fans with regularity like the NFL does, but Raw viewership this year averaged about 1.6 million viewers [[link removed]]—which puts it in the ballpark of nationally televised NBA and MLB games.

WWE’s Master Plan

The WWE’s deal with Netflix came as a surprise, not only because of Netflix’s prior reluctance to acquire live sports rights, but also because it came as the wrestling promotion dealt with controversies surrounding its founder, Vince McMahon [[link removed]].

However, the deal comes with some protection for both sides. It includes an opt-out clause in five years [[link removed]]—which could be used in case the partnership is not working out—but also an extension clause for an additional 10 years, according to Variety.

The WWE is already investing heavily in its Netflix product next year. This time of year is usually when the company builds up to the Royal Rumble, but it was moved to February for the first time ever and its match bookings for the Raw premiere are similar to those of a PLE. Raw will also return to a three-hour show starting Jan. 6 after condensing to two hours earlier this year.

WWE also scheduled 16-time World Champion turned Hollywood star John Cena to return at the Netflix premiere—which will be held at the new Intuit Dome in Los Angeles—marking the beginning of his yearlong retirement tour from professional wrestling.

The WWE even opened a “transfer window” earlier this month that allows superstars to shuffle between Raw and its other flagship brand, SmackDown, which continues to air on USA Network, presumably to allow some of its biggest stars like Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes to be available for the Netflix audience.

NFL Christmas Day Global Viewership

Days after Netflix announced a streaming record for its Christmas NFL games, the streamer announced its global average minute audience (AMA) [[link removed]]. The first game between the Chiefs and Steelers drew 30 million while the second game between the Ravens and Texans averaged 31.3 million viewers. Both gained a little more than 4 million U.S. viewers.

The lift in global viewership pales in comparison to the Tyson–Paul fight, which Netflix said had 108 million concurrent streams worldwide to a 38 million average in the U.S., highlighting the gap in popularity between the domestic and international popularity of the NFL.

SPONSORED BY COLLECTORS

Get $25 Off Your First PSA Submission

Grade with the industry standard. PSA [[link removed]] is the leader when it comes to authenticating, grading, and preserving your most valuable sports and TCG cards. Today, backed by leading expertise and the industry’s best customer guarantee, more collectibles are submitted to PSA than any other grading service.

New to grading? For a limited time only, Front Office Sports readers will get up to $25 off [[link removed]] their first online grading order at psacard.com [[link removed]] or the PSA mobile app. Use code FOS25 at checkout [[link removed]].

Loud and Clear Down to the Wire

Detroit Free Press

“It just doesn’t get any better than this. This is fairytale stuff.”

—Lions coach Dan Campbell, speaking about the team’s upcoming Sunday Night Football matchup against the Vikings [[link removed]] that will decide both the NFC North division title and the No. 1 seed in the conference. The league placed the clash of 14-2 teams in its featured “Game 272” broadcast slot on primetime TV to close out the regular season on a high note. “You couldn’t write a better scenario. You couldn’t come up with this,” Campbell added.

Status Report One Up, Two Down, One Push

Detroit Free Press

Niners ⬇ San Francisco fell to 6-10 following a loss to the Lions on Thursday Night Football. Quarterback Brock Purdy left in the middle of the team’s final drive due to a right elbow injury. While the injury appears to be minor—head coach Kyle Shanahan said after the game that he doesn’t believe it’s a long-term concern—Purdy tore the UCL in the same elbow at the 2023 NFC Championship Game. The last pick of the 2022 draft is making under $1 million this year, and is eligible for an extension on Jan. 6 [[link removed]].

Naomi Osaka ⬆⬇ The four-time Grand Slam champion said Sunday ahead of the ASB Classic in Auckland that she won’t “hang around” tennis for long if she doesn’t start performing better on the court. The 27-year-old, who last played in the China Open where she suffered a back injury, won her opening match in New Zealand. The former World No. 1 has over $22 million in career earnings, but made under a million last year [[link removed]]. Her current ranking is No. 57.

Emma Raducanu ⬇ The 2021 US Open champion withdrew from the ASB Classic due to a back injury. The 22-year-old has struggled with injuries since her lone Grand Slam breakthrough when she won $2.5 million—more than half of her total career earnings. However, due to her various off-court endorsements, she was still ranked as the sixth-highest earner among female athletes in 2024 [[link removed]] by Forbes, ahead of Nelly Korda and Simone Biles.

Ipswich Town ⬆ The club won its first home game in the Premier League in nearly 23 years after defeating Chelsea, 2–0, on Monday. Ipswich Town was relegated from England’s top division in 2002 and fell to the third division in 2019. But the club returned to the Premier League this year after back-to-back promotions. In 2021, a majority stake in Ipswich Town was purchased by American holding firm ORG. Earlier this year, Cleveland-based firm Bright Path Sports Partners purchased a 44% stake in the club [[link removed]].

Conversation Starters In the latest episode of FOS Explains, multimedia reporter Derryl Barnes looked at the biggest contracts across the major U.S. sports. Watch it here [[link removed]]. UNLV, which has a club hockey team instead of a varsity program, shocked Denver, the NCAA defending NCAA national champion, after winning a penalty shootout. Check it out [[link removed]]. Boise State plans to build a $300 million athletics village which will have a new Olympic sports arena and a soccer stadium. Take a look [[link removed]] at the renderings. Editors’ Picks Dartmouth Men’s Basketball Players Withdraw Petition to Unionize [[link removed]]by Amanda Christovich [[link removed]]The athlete-employment movement suffered a major blow—but isn’t dead yet. Boise State Is the CFP Outlier Doing ‘More With Less’ [[link removed]]by Amanda Christovich [[link removed]]“We are blue-collar,” Broncos athletic director Jeramiah Dickey tells FOS. Two Big Pirated Sports Streaming Sites Go Dark [[link removed]]by A.J. Perez [[link removed]]ESPN’s Adam Schefter once unknowingly shared a MethStreams clip on X. Advertise [[link removed]] Awards [[link removed]] Learning [[link removed]] Events [[link removed]] Video [[link removed]] Podcast [[link removed]] Written by Eric Fisher [[link removed]], Colin Salao [[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