March 9, 2023
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Bomani Jones joins us on Front Office Sports Today to discuss his new HBO show, “Game Theory with Bomani Jones,” as well as share his thoughts on the NFL, NBA, and more. We also delve into Adidas’ ever-deepening Yeezy problem.
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Deals New Billionaire Emerges in Commanders Sale Mix [[link removed]]
Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Another billionaire has entered the hunt to acquire the Washington Commanders.
Mitchell Rales, a lifelong resident of the Washington, D.C., area, has teamed with Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils owner Josh Harris in the latter’s effort to purchase the Commanders, a source with knowledge of the process told Front Office Sports on Thursday.
FOS previously reported [[link removed]] that Harris toured the team’s headquarters earlier this year, and sources said he’s been among the top contenders since owner Dan Snyder announced [[link removed]] the potential sale of the franchise in November.
The Commanders sales process appears to be inching along, as Snyder has been reluctant [[link removed]] to sell to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. The pace of the sale has frustrated [[link removed]] some owners around the NFL and renewed talk about the potential removal of Snyder as the team faces multiple [[link removed]] investigations.
Worth an estimated [[link removed]] $6.77 billion, Rales co-founded the D.C.-based industrial conglomerate Danaher with older brother Steve in 1994. Mitch Rales, 66, is among the most private billionaires in the region, typically only granting interviews for his art endeavors [[link removed]].
Last month, it was reported [[link removed]] that Rales donated $1.9 billion to the Glenstone Foundation, the museum and sculpture park founded by Rales and his wife, Emily, in 2006. It’s located in Potomac, Maryland — the same swanky town where the couple live, and where Snyder has a house listed [[link removed]] on the market for $49 million.
The Commanders declined comment when reached by FOS. ESPN [[link removed]] was the first outlet to report Rales’ interest in the Commanders.
Media March Madness TV Ad Sales Soar Past $1B [[link removed]]
Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
March Madness advertising sales are outpacing last season, with CBS Sports and Warner Bros. Discovery Sports “virtually sold out” of inventory, according [[link removed]] to Adweek.
Collectively, the two TV partners have “significantly” surpassed last year’s record haul of $1 billion in ad sales for the men’s NCAA tournament, WBD Sports executive VP of sales Jon Diament said Wednesday.
The NCAA’s media partners see mid-to-high-single-digit increases for the tournament, added John Bogusz, executive vice president of sales at Paramount Advertising. The NCAA March Madness Live app is also virtually sold out.
Most TV commercials [[link removed]] will be those of NCAA corporate partners such as Coca-Cola, Capital One, AT&T, Pizza Hut, Buick, and Nissan.
CBS will kick off the Big Dance with its annual Selection Sunday show at 6 p.m. ET. Greg Gumbel will host the annual bracket reveal, along with former Villanova coach Jay Wright and analysts Clark Kellogg and Seth Davis.
The 2023 tournament begins with the First Four games on March 14-15. The men’s Final Four is scheduled for April 1, followed by the NCAA Championship Game on April 3.
CBS and WBD Sports will team up for live coverage of all 67 games across CBS, TNT, TBS, and truTV.
CBS will air the Final Four and Championship Game. All games will also be streamed on NCAA March Madness Live.
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Commerce Yankees’ Ticket Sales Saw Major Spike With Judge’s Historic Season [[link removed]]
Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
The New York Yankees rewarded Aaron Judge for his historic 2022 campaign with a massive nine-year, $360 million contract in December [[link removed]] — and with good reason, according to recent bond-market disclosures.
The superstar’s American League record-setting 62-homer season provided a huge economic boost for the Bronx Bombers, who sold $344.7 million in tickets and suite licenses — a jump of more than $100 million from 2021, per Sportico [[link removed]].
Of that total figure, $100 million was collected in 2021 for the 2022 season, while $61 million was sold in the fourth quarter of 2022, likely as deposits for the 2023 season.
It also includes almost $73 million in postseason ticket sales — an undisclosed portion of which would have been refunded or credited for 2023 after the Yankees fell to the eventual World Series champion Houston Astros in the ALCS.
The team — worth $6 billion as of March 2022, per Forbes [[link removed]] — was required to disclose the data as part of the financing agreement with the state of New York for the new Yankee Stadium, which opened in 2009.
The ballpark attracted 3.16 million fans in 2022, per a report from Baseball Almanac, representing a big bounceback from pandemic-affected 2021, when partially restricted attendance limited ticket revenue to $230 million.
But 2022 was even an improvement from the last non-pandemic affected season: In 2019, the Yankees sold $336 million in tickets.
Conversation Starters Syracuse legend Jim Boeheim is retiring [[link removed]] as the longest-tenured coach in DI basketball, and the only one with 40+ years exclusively at their alma mater. Starting in 1962 — when he was an undergraduate — Boeheim has spent his entire adult life at the school. An 82-year-old man from Colorado was charged [[link removed]] with selling and trading fake Michael Jordan cards — a scheme that made him more than $800,000 in four years. Japan’s new Hokkaido Ballpark boasts a “Yu Darvish & Shohei Ohtani Suite” featuring signed jerseys from the Japanese legends on the walls. Take a look [[link removed]].
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What to Watch
The North Carolina Tar Heels (20-12) take on the Virginia Cavaliers (23-6) on Thursday at Greensboro Coliseum.
How to Watch: 7 p.m. ET on ESPN
Bettings Odds: Cavaliers -2.5 || ML -145 || O/U 129
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