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Afternoon Edition

March 26, 2025

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The Yankees’ season begins Thursday, but their local home—YES Network—could end up blacked out on Comcast. What’s at the root of the struggle drawing notice from New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, and how does it tie into wider cable challenges?

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

Yankees RSN Faces Comcast Blackout Threat Ahead of Opening Day [[link removed]]

Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Comcast’s large-scale effort to reposition regional sports networks around the country is now clashing with one of the top local sports channels in the U.S.

A contract between YES Network, which airs MLB’s Yankees and the NBA’s Nets, and the No. 2 U.S. cable carrier expires after 11:59 p.m. ET on Thursday night, industry sources said. Without a deal, the channel will go dark for subscribers in the country’s largest media market. The two sides have reached a lengthy series of short-term extensions and are still talking, but according to industry sources, they remain far apart on several key issues.

Over the past two years, Comcast has placed nearly two dozen other RSNs on more expensive premium cable tiers. That effort has included the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network [[link removed]], SportsNet Pittsburgh, Root Sports Northwest in Seattle, and Altitude Sports in Denver, among other prominent outlets—and the company is attempting to do so again with YES Network, perennially one of the most-watched RSNs in the entire industry.

If the YES Network goes dark on Comcast, the first Yankees game impacted would be Saturday for a home contest against the Brewers. ESPN will show the teams’ Opening Day matchup [[link removed]] Thursday in a special broadcast featuring Monday Night Football star Joe Buck.

Comcast and the YES Network have a prior and lengthy history with carriage battles, as the RSN was dark on the system between November 2015 and March 2017. The distributor has also kept the separate MSG Networks in the New York area— YES Network’s partner in the Gotham Sports app [[link removed]]—off its systems since October 2021 amid a still-unresolved dispute there.

Sinclair, a commercial agent of the YES Network, is handling the carriage negotiations for the RSN. Notably, the tiering issue is rising once more with Comcast, but not yet for SportsNet New York. One of the area’s other RSNs, SNY, shows MLB’s Mets and is partially owned and operated by Comcast. SNY’s current carriage deal with Comcast is not at expiration, which according to industry sources, is why the attempted tiering hasn’t happened there, but it will bear watching whether a similar effort ultimately unfolds there.

The situation surrounding YES Network also brings into particular collision Comcast’s more universal stance on RSNs with the unique elements of the New York media market. Not only is it the country’s largest, but YES Network is the only RSN there to have year-round, top-tier live programming. The channel is fronted by arguably the most notable team brand in the entire business, and it has reached carriage deals with all the other leading linear distributors in the region.

Political Attention

The ongoing YES Network–Comcast dispute has already garnered the attention of several political leaders across New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut—perhaps most notably New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who called for a prompt resolution.

“Both broadcasting parties need to stay at the table and resolve this dispute without impacting fans,” Hochul said in a statement. “As your governor, I am prepared to take further action if this is not resolved.”

Among the potential steps she cited were public hearings, a securing of refunds for service disruptions, and “whatever else it takes.”

“We agree with the elected officials,” a YES Network spokesperson said in a statement. “We just want to get Comcast back to the table and negotiate in good faith. We are not going to turn off our signal, and we hope that Comcast will not take us off its lineup.”

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This is a partnership for the ages. As many of you know, Formula One is defined by high-stakes teamwork and innovation—and both Atlassian and Williams Racing were founded on those same principles.

For more than 20 years, Atlassian has been working alongside the highest-performing teams in the world developing and refining a System of Work for modern teams to work more effectively together. And now, in partnership with Williams and as part of a global community of F1 fans, we’re ready to turbo-charge teamwork on the racetrack.

StubSnub: Former Ticket Company CEO Erased From History in IPO [[link removed]]

Austin American-Statesman

Founder drama surrounds the planned initial public offering for ticket resale company StubHub.

As the Viagogo-owned StubHub, a prominent entity in the secondary market for sports tickets, seeks to go public [[link removed]], company cofounder and former CEO Jeff Fluhr is openly wondering why he wasn’t a part of an initial registration issued to potential investors.

The StubHub prospectus, an S-1 form filed with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission and detailing the company’s results and corporate plan, contains a lengthy corporate history that discusses Viagogo CEO Eric Baker founding StubHub in 2000 while a student at Stanford Business School. The document repeatedly refers to Baker as a singular founder of StubHub and does not mention Fluhr at all.

The company’s formation, however, was a combined initiative between Baker and fellow Stanford student Jeff Fluhr. As the company developed, Fluhr dropped out of school to be the company’s CEO and led key efforts such as fundraising and the signing of initial sports team and league partners that gave StubHub a critical early stamp of legitimacy. Baker finished his studies at Stanford and later rejoined StubHub as president.

The pair, however, ultimately disagreed about company strategy, had a falling out, and Baker left the company in 2004. Fluhr stayed and helped lead a sale of StubHub in 2007 to eBay, which held the company until an acquisition by Baker and Viagogo in 2020.

“In an attempt to rewrite history, Eric has erased me from the story and written me out of the S-1,” Fluhr, now a venture capitalist, wrote in a lengthy LinkedIn post [[link removed]]. “At a time when we should all be celebrating StubHub’s success, it appears old wounds are deep enough to lie about the company’s founding story.”

Other former senior StubHub colleagues also came to Fluhr’s defense.

“I give full credit to Eric and the current team for navigating the post-COVID waters and getting the business to where it is today. I am still an active and loyal customer,” wrote [[link removed]] Greg Bettinelli, a former eBay executive critical to the 2007 deal. “With that, I think it’s super petty to not recognize and celebrate what Jeff did for the business from the very beginning.”

StubHub, through a spokesperson, declined to comment.

The planned StubHub IPO, while it doesn’t yet have a target date or projected pricing, is aimed at elevating a major entity in ticketing, both within sports and elsewhere in entertainment.

NBA Cap: Max Increase

FOS graphic

The NBA will raise its salary cap by 10% for the 2025–2026 season [[link removed]], taking the cap number from $140.6 million to $154.6 million, with the luxury tax projected to be $187.9 million, according to ESPN. The 10% increase is the largest percent increase allowed due to the salary-cap smoothing rules in the collective bargaining agreement. ESPN front office insider Bobby Marks wrote on X that the maximum increase was “no surprise.” [[link removed]]

Read more [[link removed]] about the implications of the salary cap increase from reporter Colin Salao.

Women’s March Madness Attendance Drops 30% After Caitlin Clark Era [[link removed]]

David Butler II-Imagn Images

Attendance for the opening rounds of women’s March Madness dropped from the record numbers seen the previous two years when Caitlin Clark spiked interest in the tournament while leading Iowa to consecutive Final Fours.

This year, 224,972 fans attended first- and second-round games at the campuses of the top four seeds in each region of the bracket, according to figures the NCAA provided to Front Office Sports. That’s down 30% from last year’s record attendance of 292,456 and slightly below the previous mark of 231,677 in 2023.

Last year, Iowa City was the most-attended site during the opening rounds, drawing sellout crowds totaling 28,764 fans as the Hawkeyes easily advanced to the Sweet 16. This year, Iowa did not host any games as a No. 6 seed and lost to Oklahoma in the second round.

While attendance is down from the Caitlin Clark era, it’s still higher than at any point before she broke onto the scene two years ago. This year’s opening-round numbers represent the third-most-attended first and second rounds on record.

Following the Ratings Trend

The tournament attendance trend is similar to what is happening on the TV ratings front.

Both the first and second rounds were down in viewership on ESPN platforms [[link removed]] compared to 2024 but up from 2023, when Clark’s stardom blossomed as March Madness entered its later stages.

For the remainder of the tournament, the women’s tournament will be played at neutral sites, as is traditionally the case, culminating at the Final Four in Tampa.

STATUS REPORT Three Up, One (Tush) Push

Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Tush Push ⬆⬇ A proposal from the Packers to ban the short-yardage play that the Eagles have perfected with quarterback Jalen Hurts is reportedly getting mixed reactions [[link removed]].

Yuki Tsunoda ⬆ Red Bull is promoting the 24-year-old driver from the Racing Bulls, its junior team, and he will replace Liam Lawson at the Japanese Grand Prix, according to multiple reports. Lawson, who replaced Sergio Pérez this season, did not score and failed to make it out of the first round of qualifying in the first two race weekends this year. Red Bull sits third in the constructors’ championship.

Women’s sports ⬆ Deloitte projects a global revenue of at least $2.35 billion this year [[link removed]]—a 25% increase from the $1.88 billion generated in 2024. Last year’s final number smashed Deloitte’s original projection of $1.28 billion.

Club World Cup ⬆ FIFA announced the first-place prize for this summer’s revamped and expanded tournament will be $125 million, as top teams from around the globe compete for a portion of the record $1 billion purse.

SPONSORED BY ATLASSIAN

A Little Bit More About Atlassian

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Atlassian, now the Official Title Partner and Official Technology Partner of Atlassian Williams Racing [[link removed]], is on a mission to unleash the potential of every team. As the makers of industry-leading, AI-powered collaboration software like Jira, Confluence, and Loom—Atlassian is no stranger to developing innovative solutions to help all types of teams work more effectively together.

Whether it’s helping explore outer space, designing electric vehicles, or fixing bugs in code, Atlassian knows anything worth doing is impossible alone.

See how Atlassian can help your teams at Atlassian.com [[link removed]].

Conversation Starters The Astros brought in the family of 22-year-old Cam Smith to inform him that he made the team’s Opening Day roster. Watch it here [[link removed]]. Kansas has unveiled new changes to its football team’s facilities, including a creative studio and an improved equipment room. Take a look [[link removed]]. Mets home games at Citi Field this season will include a mascot race among the five boroughs. Take a look at each representative. Check it out [[link removed]]. Editors’ Picks TGL Debut Season Ended With $21M Payout. Now Expansion Looms [[link removed]]by David Rumsey [[link removed]]Atlanta Drive Golf Club won the $9 million championship prize. UFC Fighters Suspended Over Roles in Fight-Rigging Scheme [[link removed]]by Dennis Young [[link removed]]One fighter called his three-year ban “insane.” LeBron James Slams Stephen A. Smith Over Bronny Comments [[link removed]]by Michael McCarthy [[link removed]]James slammed Smith while appearing on ESPN’s “Pat McAfee Show.” Advertise [[link removed]] Honors [[link removed]] Learning [[link removed]] Events [[link removed]] Video [[link removed]] Shows [[link removed]] Written by Eric Fisher [[link removed]], David Rumsey [[link removed]], Colin Salao [[link removed]] Edited by Matthew Tabeek [[link removed]], Or Moyal [[link removed]], Catherine Chen [[link removed]]

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