June 17, 2022

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It’s no secret that winning championships only adds to teams’ popularity, prestige, and overall value. By winning their fourth NBA title in eight years, the Golden State Warriors — No. 2 on Forbes’ list of most valuable NBA franchises at $5.6 billion — could very well surpass [[link removed]] the New York Knicks ($5.8 billion) for the top spot.

Former Governor Prepares to Take Over Predators [[link removed]]

Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

Former Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam is reportedly nearing a deal to purchase the Nashville Predators.

The NHL team is owned by Predators Holdings, a group composed of 17 owners and controlled by healthcare entrepreneur Herbert Fritch, who joined the ownership group in 2007 and was named chairman in 2019.

The Predators’ current ownership group purchased [[link removed].] the team for $175 million in 2007.

Forbes last valued [[link removed]] the team at $600 million, a 38% year-over-year increase, but the Predators are still No. 25 in the 32-team league and below the league average.

Haslam has a reported [[link removed]] net worth of $2.3 billion.

It’s not clear how much of a stake Haslam is interested in, but multiple outlets have reported he will acquire a majority stake over time.Haslam’s brother Jimmy owns the Cleveland Browns with his wife, Dee.

The Predators have reached the postseason in 15 of the last 18 seasons. Music City recorded the second-highest attendance percentage during the 2021-22 season at 100.6%, behind only the Vegas Golden Knights at 104.2%.

Ownership Switch

If the Predators’ sale goes through, Nashville would be the second NHL team to be sold in the last year. The Pittsburgh Penguins were sold [[link removed].] to Fenway Sports Group in late 2021 for $900 million.

The hockey club would also be the second major league sports team in Nashville to alter its ownership group this year. MLS team Nashville SC added [[link removed]] Reese Witherspoon, Jim Toth, and Derrick Henry to its ownership group in April.

Barcelona Strikes Deals to Narrow Debt [[link removed]]

FC Barcelona

FC Barcelona is the latest team to sell off some of its assets to recover from financial woes from the pandemic.

Delegates for the La Liga club approved the cession of up to 25% of income from the league’s TV rights for 25 years, as well as the sale of a minority share of its licensing and merchandising division.

Barcelona is estimated [[link removed]] to earn around $631 million for the deals, helping turn around its $506 million loss (after tax) during the 2020-21 season. The team is also redeveloping Camp Nou as part of a $1.6 billion project. At one point, the team had nearly $1.37 billion in debt.

The vote to make the financial moves wasn’t close.

The majority of delegates representing fans (88%) voted in favor of selling a 49.95% share of Barca Licensing & Merchandising. Offers must [[link removed]] have a repurchase option.87% of the delegates also voted for the TV rights deal — which could go to one or move investors — and/or obtaining financing based on the rights. See Ya, CVC

Barcelona did not partake in La Liga’s 2021 agreement with CVC Capital Partners, in which the firm invested $2.1 billion for an 8.25% stake in the league’s media rights for 50 years.

“We want to recover this asset in 25 years,” Barcelona president Joan Laporta said. “The [CVC] operation that was presented was collective, and Barca have their own special value.”

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Meet The Rising 25 Class of 2022

Now in its sixth year, the Front Office Sports Rising 25 Award [[link removed]] presented by Anheuser-Busch has become one of the most competitive and prestigious awards in the business of sports.

This year, we received over 400 nominations highlighting young professionals whose drive to succeed inspired us. They crushed it in the workplace and carried that spirit “off the field” by championing philanthropic causes and advocating for diversity and inclusion.

Check out the Rising 25 Class of 2022 [[link removed]].

NHL’s Salary Cap Rises for First Time in Three Years [[link removed]]

Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports

The NHL Salary Cap for the 2022-23 season will be set at $82.5 million, marking the first increase in three years.

Confirmed by the NHL and NHL Players’ Association, the increase for next season follows unfavorable profits for the league and its teams due to pandemic-related restrictions.

The cap increase represents a $1 million uptick compared to the 2021-22 season.For the 2022-23 season, the salary floor [[link removed]] for each team will be $61 million.Starting with the 2023-24 season, the cap could increase [[link removed]] by $2 million per year based on hockey-related revenue

The increase comes as commissioner Gary Bettman claims the league is set to generate record [[link removed]] revenue this season, bringing in at least $5.2 billion. During the 2018-19 season — the NHL’s last season with a full slate of games — revenue reached $4.6 billion.

Bettman has attributed [[link removed]] the record revenue to more scoring, leading to a boost in TV ratings.

Through the first three rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the games broadcast on ESPN and ESPN2 have averaged [[link removed]] 1.2 million viewers, up 30% compared to the same period last year.

All Eyes on Hockey

The NHL is benefiting from a pricey media rights deal with ESPN and Turners Sports. After a 16-year run on NBC Sports Network and other Comcast-owned channels, ESPN secured [[link removed]] a seven-year deal with the NHL in March 2021, which pays the league $400 million annually.

A month later, Turner Sports acquired [[link removed]] the “B” programming package for $225 million.

Conversation Starters In The Leadoff, FIFA announces 16 host cities for the 2026 World Cup, Formula 1 locks in the Australian Grand Prix through 2035, the Department of Justice asks a court to limit MLB’s antitrust exemption, and the NCAA digs into the University of Miami’s NIL deals. Click here to listen [[link removed]]. Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford has sold [[link removed]] one of his three Southern California properties for $21 million to an unidentified buyer. House Oversight Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney announced [[link removed]] legislation Friday to protect employees from abuse of non-disclosure agreements and the use of their images for illicit purposes — the result of an investigation into the Washington Commanders. Bayern Munich have taken a big step to cover the potential departure of star striker Robert Lewandowski — but is it enough? On Friday, Liverpool star forward Sadio Mane reportedly agreed personal terms [[link removed]] on a three-year deal to join Bayern. Subscribe to Scoreboard for more [[link removed]].

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Harnessing the Power of Athlete Influencers

It’s clear that athletes as influencers continue to be a powerful partnership [[link removed]] for brands, as three of the world’s greatest soccer players cracked the top 10 of the most popular Instagram accounts across the globe.

Brands that are able to curate the right combination of influencer, platform, content, and interest can create connections that drive engagement — and ROI.

To support marketers throughout the influencer marketing lifecycle, Nielsen [[link removed]] developed a data-driven solution focusing on key dimensions of portfolio management including:

Reach: Measures audience quality and total reach across digital platforms Relevance: Synergy between influencer’s audience and campaign target audience (socio-demo, interests, geolocation) Resonance: Measures engagement and sentiment of fan response to influencer content Return: Measures advertising value equivalent, branded content vs organic activity and forecasted media value

Learn more [[link removed]].

Entain Closes BetCity Deal for $895B

Find out exactly what’s happening in the private markets every week with highlights from our Front Office Sports Pro Deal Tracker.

We carefully monitor both public and private market data for a snapshot of the sports business landscape.

This week’s Pro Deal Tracker [[link removed]] highlights:

Pixellot, developer of broadcast video capture and production devices designed to provide an affordable alternative for live coverage of events, raised $161 million of Series D venture funding in a deal led by Providence Strategic Growth. BetCity, operator of an online casino and sports betting platform located in Amsterdam, Netherlands, reached a definitive agreement to be acquired by Entain for $895 million. American Ultimate Disc League, a disc sports league offering a version of the sport to stadiums in the U.S. and Canada, received an undisclosed amount of financing from Legends Hospitality. Teamworks, developer of an athlete engagement application designed to conduct sports teams in an organized manner, raised $50 million of Series D venture funding in a deal led by Seaport Capital, Delta-v Capital, and General Catalyst. VersusGame, developer of a prediction marketplace platform created to let everyone play and win from products they use and love, raised $25 million of Series A1 venture funding from Brightstone Venture Capital.

Try out the full Deal Tracker. [[link removed]]

Market Movers

U.S. stocks experienced gains across all three major indexes on Friday. Here’s a look at how sports-related stocks performed:

ARMK [[link removed]]

Aramark

[[link removed]]

$29.41

[[link removed]]

+0.58%

[[link removed]] RCI [[link removed]]

Rogers Communications Inc.

[[link removed]]

$45.29

[[link removed]]

+0.60%

[[link removed]] MTN [[link removed]]

Vail Resorts Inc.

[[link removed]]

$226.86

[[link removed]]

+2.10%

[[link removed]] T [[link removed]]

AT&T, Inc.

[[link removed]]

$19.39

[[link removed]]

+2.38%

[[link removed]] BYD [[link removed]]

Boyd Gaming Corp.

[[link removed]]

$51.67

[[link removed]]

+3.51%

[[link removed]] NKE [[link removed]]

Nike, Inc.

[[link removed]]

$107.36

[[link removed]]

-0.61%

[[link removed]] (Note: All as of market close on 6/17/22) What to Watch

The Tampa Bay Lightning face the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday night for Game 2 of the NHL Stanley Cup Final. The Avalanche lead the series 1-0.

How to Watch: 8 p.m. ET on ABC

Betting Odds: Avalanche -1.5 || ML -150 || O/U 6

Pick: Expect the Lightning to even the series. Take Tampa Bay on the moneyline.

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Written by Abigail Gentrup [[link removed]], Justin Byers [[link removed]] Edited by Matthew Tabeek [[link removed]]

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