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Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Why this professor says WNBA revenue model is 'almost criminal'
This week on Yahoo Finance Sports Report, host Joe Pompliano takes a look at some of this week's biggest headlines in the sports business world that you and your portfolio need to know. From WNBA players' push for equal pay, to Trump's threats over the Commanders $3.8 billion stadium deal, to Snoop Dogg's investment in Swansea City A.F.C., the world of sports is being transformed by big financial plays. Yahoo Sports Senior Writer Jordan Shusterman joins the show to talk about the latest coming out of the MLB, including the $1.7 billion Tampa Bay Rays sale. Plus, Washington University in St. Louis Sports Business Program executive director Patrick Rishe stops by to talk about everything from the WNBA, to the House vs NCAA settlement rollout, to even which professional sports he thinks have the most growth potential in the coming years. Yahoo Finance Sports Report with Joe Pompliano, a vodcast brought to you by Yahoo Finance and Yahoo Sports, looks beyond the latest sports business headlines and analyzes all the need-to-know news—the teams, trades, and billion-dollar deals—so you and your portfolio will win BIG. Welcome to Yahoo Finance Sports Report, a unique look at the business of sports brought to you by Yahoo Finance and Yahoo Sports. I'm your host, Joe Pompeiano, and I'm here to coach you through the financial game. Today we've got Yahoo Sports senior writer Jordan Shusterman coming on the show to discuss the latest coming out of MLB, as well as Washington University and Saint Louis's sports Business program executive director and sports impact founder and CEO Patrick Ribb to break down some of the latest headlines. Let's huddle up and get right into kicking off this week with Pop's Playbook, where I take a look at some of the biggest headlines in sports that you and your portfolio need to know. First up, WNBA players made a bold statement at last week's All-Star Game amid ongoing collective bargaining negotiations between the league and the WNBA Players warmups of last Saturday's WNBA All-Star game, players entered the court wearing shirts that said, pay us what you owe us as a negotiation tactic for CBA tolls. The shirts, of course, went viral across social media and sparked a discussion around fair pay for the W's players, as well as the league continues to explode in popularity and expand its number of there is still plenty of time for the WNBA and the Players Association to strike a deal before the current CBA expires on October 31st. However, it's evident that both sides of the negotiation table are far apart, and the players have said that they're willing to enter a work stoppage as a last result. But one thing is clear, negotiations have officially entered the court of public opinion, and these next few months will define the WNBA for the next up, President Donald Trump wants the Washington commanders to change their nickname back to the former Redskins moniker, and he's threatening to pull the franchise's new stadium deal in Washington DC if the change isn't made. Trump posted to his true social account on Sunday saying, quote, The Washington Whats should immediately change their name back to the Washington Redskins football team, end quote. Then a few hours later, Trump doubled down on his statement and posted aAnd to True Social, saying that he won't make a deal for the team to build their new $3.8 billion stadium in DC unless the change is done. However, it is unclear if there's any way for Trump to derail the commander's plan to build a new dome stadium at the former RFK site, as Congress gave full control of the RFK land of the city of Washington DC last December before the control was officially signed into law by former President Joe Biden in the meantime, the commanders are seeking approval from the DC City council for the multi-billion dollar stadium project, which includes over $1 billion in public up, Fox Sports has signed a massive agreement with Barstool Sports to feature Barstool shows and personalities on its sports programming. According to multiple reports, Barstool sports founder Dave Fortnoy will become a regular commentator on Fox's Big Noon kickoff football show starting this fall. As part of the deal, the Barstow College Football Show will also air before Big Noon kickoff on Fox Sports' digital platforms and 2B, and Portnoy and other Barshall personalities like Dan Big Cat Cats will be part of a new two-hour studio show produced by Barshall that will air on the the network's popular midday show, The Herd with Colin Coward. Now this move comes after Fox canceled its 2 FS1 morning shows, Breakfast Fall and the Facility, as well as one of its afternoon show, Speak, early last week due to low ratings. However, Fox is now betting that Barstool can help as FS One's morning programming and big noon kickoff show better compete against ESPN fixtures like GetUp, First Take and College Game week's money shakeups continue, but this time on the baseball field, the Tampa Bay Rays are changing ownership in a deal that could reshape the franchise's financial future. Here to help break it all down is Yahoo Sports senior writer Jordan Shuchman. Jordan, thank you so much for joining the show today. I want to start with exactly is the Tampa Bay Rays sale, $1.7 billion to a Jacksonville developer. The team is reportedly going to be staying in Tampa Bay, but we had a stadium deal over the last number of years. Obviously, they're playing in the minor league stadium now. What do you think about just the sale in general and what it means for the future of Tampa Bay's Rays team? Yeah, I mean, this is a, a really important story that goes really beyond St. Petersburg and Tampa Bay, just because, you know, Rob Manfred, as he kind of heads towards the commissioner, as he heads towards kind of the end of his tenure, uh, at the top Major League Baseball, you know, expansion is a major priority for him and a big part of that has been settling the stadium and kind of ownership situations in both, with both the A's, as we know, they are, uh, very slowly moving towards Las Vegas and thenAlso the Rays, who have, of course, had a lot of upheaval, some of which under their control, some of which, you know, out of their control because of what happened with the hurricane and, uh, the damage done to Tropicana Field, their home where they're unable to play this year. So this is an important, uh, of course, bit of news for the franchise itself, but it is also in the big picture, a, a very big goal for the league office. Yep. Speaking of Rob Manford, uh, he was at the All-Star game, of course, and he did a media session where he touched on a bunch of different things between different interviews, everything from, uh, ending blackouts to media rights negotiations to, uh, essentially saying that the MLB MLB hasn't done a good enough job working with content creators over the years, like some other sports leagues have what did you just take of his kind of appearance in general, and, and I preface all of this with, uh, after all of that, I think it was Alex Rodriguez said that he belongs in Cooperstown. So there obviously claims to be, you know, differing opinions on, uh, whether people think he's doing a good job or a poor job. But what is your just kind of 30,000 ft view on how good of a job he's doing, if it is a good job, and then some of the comments that he said specifically during the weekend. Yeah, I, I think, you know, some of the stuff that A-Rod was referring to, I mean, a lot has changed in Major League Baseball over the last half decade. And, and also, again, some out of necessity, and some out of just very big, bold decisions, you know, changing what the, how the game is played with stuff like the pitch clock with, uh, soon to be, you know, a, the ABS challenge system with, with balls and strikes. So this commissioner has changed so much about the sport, and a lot of these haverousing successes, and I think attendance and ratings do say that, but the media landscape is a totally other different discussion. And that's something that is very, I mean, I'm less well versed in, in the exact numbers and financials of those as, as maybe someone like you are, but I do know that these are also big decisions that are going to shape what the sport looks like and what the financials are for, for owners who, for a long time were relying, you know, on uh, local sports revenue, uh, TV revenue that is not necessarily the same because of how these rights are being split up. And so that is going to determine, I think, kind of the spending power for some of these markets. Some of these markets are completely impervious to this because they have these massive TV deals and other smaller ones, this is going to make a big difference on the kinds of money that they're going to be bringing in, uh, via TV revenue over the next few years. So these are big decisions that the league clearly has to make. Yeah, during the CBA negotiations, there's been a lot of talk about uh salary caps, salary floors, you know, implementing some system that looks more like the NFL, NBA, etc. Um, do you think we'll ever get there? There's, there's an argument, right, that uh the players obviously don't want it because they can get as big of salaries as they can command right now, but they also sometimes, uh, depending on the math and the year, sometimes sharing a smaller percentage of total revenue than some of the other sports leagues do. So what is, what is your feeling around kind of what ends up happening there? Yeah, I mean, that, that is the ultimate question as we head towards these new CBA negotiations is, you know, the, the players, I think, uh, especially baseball in this union that has managed to avoid, uh, a salary cap for so long, I think that that really is the number one non-starter. I think a lot of fans want to see a salary floor to get some of those smaller market teams to be a little bit more competitive. Now, we are always going to have imbalance in baseball, and that is always going to be a reality of this, no matter what exact financial structure is put of just how disparate the spending, not just the spending power, but the spending willingness. I mean, this is the other thing. We do see teams spend when they want to. A lot of these teams are more capable than they're actually showing off. And so maybe they aren't all capable of spending like the Mets and the Dodgers, but we know that they have a lot more money that they're spending, uh, than, than, than what we have seen. And so I think that is the crux of the issue that teams can spend to be more competitive, and the owners, who, of course, Rob Manfred is explicitly working for, they're trying to find ways to keep spending down and to, in theory, level the playing field when ultimately they're just finding ways to spend less, uh, to remain more competitive. And so that is a very difficult issue. This is of course going to be the headlining of the CBA negotiations upcoming after next season. Yeah, it's gonna be interesting. I mean, if you put it in a salary cap, you got to have a floor just makes more sense, but uh the owners obviously want to keep costs down as much as they can. But Jordan, thank you so much for joining us got to take a quick break, but when we come back, we've got Washington University and Saint Louis's sports business program executive director, Patrick Risch joining the back to Yahoo Finance Sports Report. I'm your host, Joe Pagliano. We've made it to one on one, a conversation where I get to break down news and sports with the key player in the industry. This week we're speaking with Patrick Risch, executive director of the Sports Business program at Washington University in St. Louis and founder and CEO of Sports Impact. Patrick, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for joining me today. Now, I want to talk about a few different topics and a few different sports.I think the most logical place to start with is the WNBA. I think everyone saw last weekend, the players protesting during the middle of their CBA negotiations, wearing shirts that basically said, go pay us what we're worth. Now, you've probably, I assume, looked at this economic model for a long period of time as the league has grown with Caitlin Clark entering the league. What can you tell us about some of the challenges or what we might eventually see during the CBA negotiation? Well, it is challenging and it's also interesting, and, and the fact that if you look at the history of collective negotiations and all these other leagues, I think there are lessons to be learned from that as well. The players currently in the WNBA are earning roughly 9 or 10%.Of the revenue generated from the league. So you look at that in comparison to all the other more established leagues, and you said, well, that's, that's almost criminal because most of these leagues have now reached, I guess you could call a steady state where the players and the owners are of league revenues. So I think that's a place where we eventually are likely to see this end up. Now, whether that gets there in this particular round of negotiations or in the next CBA is, you know, remains to be seen. I think my biggest concern, as it relates to the growth of the WNBA is, is making sure that we're growing at a rate that is bringing in these expansion franchises, I believe, the last round of expansion with Cleveland, with Detroit, with Philadelphia, each franchise, they're paying $250 million. Part of the benefit of that for the other league owners is that money is now shared, those expansion fees are now shared across the league, buttressing some of the annual losses that the league has sustained operating loss over the growth, I think that's the key. Now, the other thing that you've got Joe, is huge in media revenue where the league starting next year is gonna be making, I believe it's $200 million per year, which is 4 times larger than where they've been. That obviously is going to help from an operating profits perspective for all the teams. So, fascinating. I don't know if they're gonna get to a 50/50 split on this particular round of negotiations, but I do anticipate that the players will, at the, at minimum, probably get up to 40% share of league revenues after this round of negotiations. Very interesting. I want to change gears here for a second and roll over to the House for NCAA settlement. I mean, this was a groundbreaking moment in sports history and certainly collegiate sports history, where through the House versus NCAA settlement, there's now going to be essentially this revenue sharing program with the schools and their athletes. Schools are going to be able to spend up to $20.5 million starting this year on their student athletes. They're gonna be able to sign of that stuff. There's also going to be a clearing house that's gonna kind of monitor all the existing and future NIL deals to make sure that they're actually NIL. So theoretically we should see, uh, you know, some of these collectives take a step back and more traditional NIL with revenue share mixed in. Now, that is to be determined what that looks like, but I'd love to get your opinion on just sort of the rollout, what that might look like, and sort of where we go from here. The lawyers are licking their chops. Uh, you know, look, I think there should be a clearing house, and I do like the fact that there is more, you know, kind of monitoring the types of engagements that are taking place and partnerships that are being done we opened this era of name, image and likeness, the part of the perspective was players have to do deals where they're actually receiving, uh, and providing services in return for, uh, the resources that they're being given. Uh, I think we got away from that and we got back to kind of this old school under the table collectives were creative way of getting around more traditional sponsorships and endorsement deals just to find ways to kids money. Uh, I, I, I really hope that we can, can kind of rein that in a bit. However, uh, I think that the house settlement obviously is changing and professionalizing collegiate sports in a way that we've never seen in the I do think that, uh, some of these schools where football is their main sport, they're gonna have to make some very interesting resource allocation decisions, right? Because most of that money, reports that I'm reading, you know, of 20.5 million, 1617 million of that may be spent on football. So now the non-football schools, uh, may have the opportunity to be a little bit more competitive in, let's say men's and women's basketball, because they can allocate those resources more so to those particular, uh,Revenue drivers for their school. Joe, it's gonna be absolutely fascinating as I, as I let off. There are going to be some legal challenges because lawyers typically with respect to student athlete rights, they want to give their athletes freedom to be able to choose and earn as they wish. So I, I, I, I think it's going to be still a degree of wild wild west, and we'll see if the government is gonna step in and create some kind of national legislation. I think that's gonna be more trouble than it's worth. Yeah, to your point, it's gonna be interesting to see when that first school sort of goes over that bumper and tries to navigate the rules, uh, in a different manner and what that punishment is, because I think that's gonna be sort of a watershed moment for the, for the industry as a whole to really see what the punishment is. But time will tell, probably in the next couple of years here, if I had to imagine. But Patrick, you recently released a study, uh, an economic study on the 2025 NFL draft in Green Bay. And I want to dig into this a little bit if we these events are really interesting from a finance perspective, because everyone looks at events and they say, oh, it brings this huge economic impact. And sometimes maybe that's true, a lot of times it's probably not. But Green Bay is sort of a unique area where they weren't going to be able to get a Super Bowl. They built out this Title Town district, basically an entertainment district around the stadium. So then they were given the NFL draft. Now, this is still a big event in a small market. Tell me a little bit about what you were able to determine through this study. Sure, you know, the NFL draft is interesting and, and yes, you're bringing in a lot of fans. Now granted, you're bringing in a lot of, let's say regional fans or fans from bordering states, unlike, let's say the College World Series in Omaha, where you truly are getting people from all over the country and it's a higher percentage. For the NFL draft, and I've done the study now the last couple of years, last year in Detroit, this year in Green Bay, you are still getting a lot of non-locals, people that are not from the immediate, let's say, surround uh the host city, but it tends to be more regional in the sense that maybe you'll get people from other parts of the state, Milwaukee, Madison, and then bordering states like Minnesota, Michigan, uh, Illinois and the like, but they're coming in, regardless of how far away they're coming. They are coming in, they're spending money at hotels, and they're also getting a chance to kind of, in in some cases, experiencing Green Bay for the first time, and that could lead to future tourism. Uh, you, always fascinating when you're doing the survey research as we do on site, and then you just have these anecdotal conversations with people. Man, I've never been up here before. I look forward to coming back at some point, whether it's for a Packers game or, oh wow, this title town was amazing. Uh, I'd love to come back here when there's not a football game. So it's that kind of anecdotal feedback that shows you, yeah, yeah, there's, there's a lot of value, um, that these communities receive from hosting these events, and it also builds up a profile, uh, so it serves as a great marketing pitch for the community. Yeah, I think that's, uh, spot on, and we saw it in Detroit, and we certainly saw it in Green Bay as well. Switching gears to, uh, FIFA. FIFA did the Club World Cup this past, uh, summer, this summer, and we're going to be hosting the World Cup across North America next year. What was your general feedback on sort of how the Club World Cup was run and what do you think that says for the future with the World Cup coming next year? Well, I think we need to understand, uh, they got a lot of bad press because a lot of the matches were not well attended. And uh people have to understand, I think part of the whole reason why this was put on was it was a dry run for next year's World Cup in terms of logistics. And yes, maybe you can't gauge the logistics of how you're gonna operationally run a World Cup match when you have only half the audience that you're going to have next summer, but it' a dry run to ensure that, OK, when we host the World Cup in 2026, what are the things operationally, logistically on site we need to think of day of security, entry, flow, all these logistical operational issues, uh, that you just have to think about when you are running an event at a particular property. So I, I think that's the main takeaway from, from the Club World Cup is, you know, it's hard to it's apples to oranges in terms of the magnitude and the, and the crowd sizes and so forth. But I think at least hosting this, you at least have an initial sense and a feel for what groups, when I say groups, uh, a venue and property owners are gonna have to do to run those events at SOI in Miami, in Kansas City, at, at the GHA Field, uh, all these places that are hosting World Cup matches next summer. Yeah, and the last thing I'd like to talk about is just kind of overall the sports industry and where things head over the next few years. As someone who looks a lot at, uh, virtually every sports league, I imagine, and certainly the ones here in North America, are there any specific sports leagues, uh, that stand out to you, maybe one or two of them that you think are poised for growth over the next couple of years? You know, there's been so much focus on the WNBA and NWSL and of course, of the women's professional sports leagues, those are the leagues that, you know, arguably carry the most gravitas and most attention, uh, for a variety of reasons. But I think that when it comes toTo the the love volleyball league as well as women's softball, you know, women's sports generally, as we all know, has really picked up momentum in the last several years for a variety of reasons, more love from media, more love from corporate partners, and those two kind of flow I, I, I actually think that women's softball is going to be a growth sport because if you look at the women's College World Series, all the ratings continue to grow, uh, the attendance is usually sold out there in Oklahoma City, but I think that's an area where, you know, the games are faster, the action is fast, and that and volleyball, I are two areas that are going to see more growth, more expansion, as more people want to get into the ownership of pro sports but are priced out, you know, there, it used to be that people would get into, uh, the NWSL and the WNBA because they were priced out of being in the NBA or in the NFL. Guess what? Those franchise increased so rapidly in women's basketball and women's soccer that now the next tier of ownership could be those sports volleyball and softball and, and quite frankly, again, we've seen the ratings, the college level have grown, so I do think this is a growth opportunity for many, uh, for many markets and also many people that want to invest in women's sports. Very interesting. I love those two picks with uh softball and volleyball, but thanks so much for joining us, Patrick. I had a great time talking to clock is winding down here, but we have just enough time for some final buzzs. So let's talk about Snoop Dogg. Snoop Dogg famously keeps his mind on his money and his money on his mile, and now he's putting some of that money toward a new ownership stake in soccer club Swansea City. Last week, Swansea City confirmed that the American rapper is joining its ownership group as a co-owner and investor, but financial terms were not disclosed. The 53 year old will join an all-American ownership group led by Andy Coleman, Brett Kravitt, and Jason Cohen, who collectively own the Football LLC. Snoop Dogg said in a statement released by the team, quote, The story of the club in the area really struck a chord with me. This is a proud working class city and club, an underdog that bites back, just like me, end quote. Snoop also helped Swansea City launch its 2025 26 jersey kit a few days before the official announcement by wearing its home shirt in a social media post from the club. Now Swansea City competes in the EFL championship, which is the second tier of the English Football League behind the top flight Premier club last played in the Premier League in the 2017-2018 season before being relegated to the championship, where the team has played for the last seven seasons. But this coming season, Snoop Dogg will have fellow American celebrity owners to compete against. Wrexham AFC, the now famous Welsh club owned by actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElaney, were promoted to the EFL championship after finishing 2nd in the 3rd tier EFL League One last and Swansea City will also battle against seven-time Super Bowl champion quarterback Tom Brady, who is a minority investor in Birmingham City, which secured promotion to the championship with Wrexham after winning League One in 2025. Now it's time to see if Snoop Dogg, Macklin, Reynolds, and Brady can have their soccer investments pay off bid by securing promotion to the Premier all out of time, so it's officially game over for this week. Thank you so much to Jord Patrick and all of you for joining us. Please make sure to scan the QR code below to follow Yahoo Finance podcast for more videos and expert insight and catch us every Friday wherever you get your podcast. I'm your host, Joe Polianaa. See you next time. This content was not intended to be financial advice and should not be used as a substitute for professional financial services. Related Videos VW CFO on US Auto Tariffs, Electric Vehicles, Earnings Tether CEO on US Stablecoin Policy, US Dollar Hegemony, Staying Private Alphabet posts Q2 earnings beat, but boosts spending outlook German Exporters Can Live With 15% Tariff, Ifo Says Yahoo Finance Sports Report is developed and produced by Lauren Pokedoff. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
18-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Apple races ahead in epic $150M F1 media rights bid
Apple (AAPL) is putting their pedal to the metal in their race for F1 media rights. This week on Yahoo Finance Sports Report, host Joe Pompliano takes a look at some of this week's biggest headlines in the sports business world that you and your portfolio need to know. From Apple's $150 million bid for Formula 1 media rights to FanDuel's $31 billion valuation, sports business is being transformed by big financial plays. Yahoo Sports Senior Writer Frank Schwab joins the show to talk about NFL training camp and what to expect for the league heading into the 2025-26 season. Plus, Learfield CEO Cole Gahagan stops by to discuss college sports marketing and how Learfield is helping schools build revenue in a world of NIL, stadium naming rights, athletic fees, and more. Yahoo Finance Sports Report with Joe Pompliano, a vodcast brought to you by Yahoo Finance and Yahoo Sports, looks beyond the latest sports business headlines, analyzes all the need-to-know news - the teams, trades, and billion dollar deals - so you and your portfolio will win BIG. Related videos Warren Buffett has set alarm bells ringing on Wall Street These 4 FTSE 100 stocks are currently yielding more than 8%! Restaurants suffer 'devastating' job losses after Reeves tax raid Workers could access pension savings at any age under Labour Yahoo Finance Sports Report is developed and produced by Lauren Pokedoff. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Sports betting industry braces for Trump's 'Big, Beautiful Bill'
Trump's new bill signals a bold pivot in the politics of sports gambling. This week on Yahoo Finance Sports Report, host Joe Pompliano takes a look at some of this week's biggest headlines in the sports business world that you and your portfolio need to know. From the impact of President Trump's "One, Big, Beautiful Bill" on the sports betting industry, Texas Tech's $5.1 million revenue sharing deal with their latest football recruit, to the money behind the Tour de France, the financial plays shaping the sports business are ones to watch. Yahoo Sports Senior Writer Jake Mintz joins the show to break down the latest news coming out of the MLB, including a look ahead to their collective bargaining agreement negotiations. Plus, Matchroom Sport chairman Eddie Hearn stops by to discuss the sports promotion company's partnership with DAZN as well as the global growth of professional fighting. Yahoo Finance Sports Report with Joe Pompliano, a vodcast brought to you by Yahoo Finance and Yahoo Sports, looks beyond the latest sports business headlines, analyzes all the need-to-know news - the teams, trades, and billion dollar deals - so you and your portfolio will win BIG. Welcome to Yahoo Finance Sports Report, a unique look at the business of sports brought to you by Yahoo Finance and Yahoo Sports. I'm your host, Joe Popriano, and I'm here to coach you through the financial game. Today, we've got Yahoo Sports senior writer Jake Mintz coming on the show to discuss all things baseball, and British boxing promoter Eddie Hearn joining us to discuss Mattroom's growing business around the world. Let's huddle up and get right into are kicking off this week with POM's Playbook, where I take a look at some of the biggest headlines in sports that you and your portfolio need to know. First up, the recently passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act includes a tax provision that could quietly destroy professional gambling in the United States. Right now, gamblers can offset 100% of their losses against winnings. However, starting in 2026, that deduction will be capped at 90%.That means if you win $100,000 in a year and also lose $100,000 in the same year, you'll be taxed as if you made $10,000 in profit, despite the fact that you really didn't make any seemingly small change could collapse the foundation of legal sports betting. Professional gamblers who help set efficient lines and fund prize pools will flee to offshore markets. Without their volume, sports books will reduce contests, wide odds, and raise fees on casual players. Daily fantasy sports prize pools will shrink, betting markets will get legal gambling will start to spiral. Ironically, some sports books may welcome this. Professional gamblers eat into their profits, and this bill could push them out of the system entirely. But state governments stand to lose the most. They build big budgets around gambling revenue. If activity goes offshore, tax revenue dries up, not just federally but locally isn't the first time excessive gambling taxes backfired. It happened in the US in 1951 in the UK before the 2000s. So, unless Congress steps in to fix it, we could see history repeat up, Texas Tech just pulled off one of the biggest recruiting wins in college football history, and it comes with a massive payday. On the 4th of July, 5-star offensive tackle Felix Ojo, the #6 overall player in the 2026 class and the top recruit in Texas, committed to Texas Tech over Blue Bloods like Texas, Oklahoma, and Ohio this wasn't just a football decision, it was a business one too. According to reports, Ojo signed a fully guaranteed revenue sharing deal with Texas Tech worth $5.1 million over three years. About half of that is guaranteed, with the rest tied to incentives and renegotiation clauses. He's set to earn $1.2 million in year 1 $1.6 million in year two, and $2.1 million in year three. Numbers previously unheard of for an offensive lineman at This all became possible thanks to the House for NCAA settlement, which took effect on July 1st and officially allows schools to share revenue directly with athletes. Texas Tech has already been making waves in the transfer portal, but this solidifies their emergence as a serious national player. Ojo becomes the highest rated commitment in school history and headlines would shaping up to be a top 25 class. It's a new era in college football, and Texas Tech is wasting no time jumping in last on PO's playbook today is news that ESPN just landed a major win with NFL analyst Dan Orlowski set to stay with the network for several more years. After weeks of speculation, Front Office Sports is reporting that Orlowski and ESPN have agreed to a long-term contract extension. The former NFL quarterback is set to continue on his roles on NFL Live, SportsCenter, First Take, GetUp, and as lead analyst for the ESPN's #2 Monday Night Football broadcast team along Chris Fowler and Lewis deal brings stability with the NFL preseason just around the corner and shuts down any potential move to CBS, where Dan Lawsky was reportedly on tap as a top candidate for the college football coverage. His popularity has even sparked coaching rumors with reports that he's spoken to NFL teams and expressed interest in a future on the sidelines. But for now, ESPN gets to keep one of its rising stars just in time for what's shaping up to be a big 2025 right, everyone, let's talk baseball. July is a big month for Major League Baseball. We're halfway through the season. The All-Star game is a week away, and the trade deadline is set for July 31st. So today we're bringing on Yahoo sports writer Jake Mintz to cover all the bases. Pun absolutely intended. Jake, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for joining us today. Let's start with just what your top storylines for MLB so far this year are. Hm, good question. Uh, I think it is the Los Angeles Dodgers versus the world, just the staggering amount of money that that organization has decided to spend on players, uh, is really have kind of, you know, been sleepwalking through what has been a dominant first half. They are up by a comfortable margin in the National League West, uh, and the storyline moving forward is can anybody challenge them come playoff time, and then in Newand the Big Apple, you have the Yankees and the Mets, two other big market teams, kind of scuffling a little bit through June, starting to maybe find their footing as they move towards the trade deadline, which will be a good opportunity for them to reinforce their rosters. Yeah, as a Yankees fan, the last couple of weeks have been tough, especially with pitching injuries and everything else, but hopefully they clean that up. I mean, the Dodgers have had some injuries too, so, uh, the fact that they're, they're doing so well is is uh quite impressive. But let's talk about, uh, the CBA. One of the things that I think is fascinating is that the, um, the CBA is going to be renegotiated, I think in uh at the start of 2026, it's up and need to sign a new of the things that keeps popping up is that uh the idea of a salary cap. Now, this has been talked about for a long time, owners obviously would like it, uh, players do not want it. What do you see happening here? Will there be a lockout? Do you think it'll actually get approved, or do they just kind of go business as usual and keep things status quo? So, everything that I've heard rumblings about the next round of CBA negotiations is that it's going to be pretty adversarial, and there is an expectation that some games may be missed, um, hopefully a full lockout is avoided. I do think you're right that the salary cap is going to be a major time that the CBA gets negotiated, the union will not agree to a salary cap without a salary floor would be my assumption. I think that the spending that the Dodgers have undergone over the last few years has made a salary cap a more interesting proposition for so you're seeing more of a push for that from the public side. How that actually impacts negotiations remains to be seen. Are there anything else, uh, within the CBA that you're hearing would be of interest to either the owners of the players that might be sort of like a um uh a point of emphasis that could cause a lockout or something like that? Um, I think the, the last CBA negotiation, the big conversation was about competitive balance and incentivizing small market teams to spend, right? What the union wants is for the owners of these teams to see their uh as an investment in a local institution, and not necessarily as some something that makes money for the sake of making money, that there are other, you know, areas and avenues for these business people to go ahead and do that. And I think Steve Cohen, the owner of the Mets, hasMaybe, uh, not created some discord within the group of owners, but showed that there's kind of a different way. Like he is spending money on the Mets because he grew up a Mets fan and he wants them to win the World Series, and I think that is what fans want to see owners acting like instead of a larger kind of, you know, investment group coming in and using the organization as more of a, you know, an an investment opportunity. And lastly, I'd love to just get your opinion quickly on uh just the state of Major League Baseball. I mean, the year started with ESPN backing out of its deal with MLB. I think maybe they might even regret that to a degree. The numbers are obviously really good this year and the sports appears to be doing rather healthy. There's a lot of young stars, etc. Like, what is your general impression of where baseball is today versus where it was maybe 5 years ago? The rule changes that Commissioner Rob Manfred implemented a couple years ago have been very successful, most notably the pitch clock. The games move faster, they end earlier, and for a younger generation that is more distracted than ever, that is a big deal. Numbers are up in terms of viewership, numbers are up in terms of attendance, but when itcomes to the national stage, it is still a very localized sport, more than any other sport in our country, and that is part of the hold up with the negotiations with ESPN, right? ESPN would like more of a local focus in that package, because that's where the viewership numbers are. I believe 25%.Around uh of the total revenue comes from these local TV packages across the entire league. Um, and so ESPN is a little bit less interested in the national stuff during the regular season, because it doesn't really move the needle. Local is king when it comes to baseball. But as far as the sport is concerned as a whole, I do think it's in a really healthy spot compared to where it was 5 years ago. Yep, I've really been enjoying this season so far. Jake, thank you so much for joining us. It's a pleasure. Thank you for having me. All right, we've got to take a quick break, but coming up we've got an inside look at the man turning boxing matches into blockbuster events, not just in the US or UK but all over the back to Yahoo Finance Sports Report. I'm your host, Joe Pompeiano, and for today's one on one, I'm joined by one of the most powerful men in boxing. He's promoted more than 1000 fights, filled stadiums around the world, and never turns down a microphone. This week we're talking to Mattroom Sport chairman Eddie Hearn. Eddie, thank you so much for joining the show today. For people that are listening to this show that maybe aren't as familiar with boxing as a sport or you in general, uh, can you just explain a little bit about what Mattroom does specifically? Yeah well, Metrom is a, a big sports global promotional company. So we are delivering sports events globally around the world across a multitude of sports. Boxing probably the most famous of those, and certainly with the highest profile as well. Um, trying to explain boxing is very difficult. Uh, trying to explain a sport with no barriers to entry, um, you know, all these different governing bodies, all these different promoters, all these different networks, all these platforms is very difficult, but essentially boxing is, you know, the, the prize fighting sport that spans back decades with, you know, steeps of history and a huge amount of hype and noise every time there's a major event the peaks and troughs of the sport of boxing, one thing remains, the, the desire of platforms and broadcasters and, and money men and fans to become involved in the major events, and right now, boxing's seeing a major boom in the market. Yeah, one of the things that we've noticed over the years specifically is, uh, the type of boxing has changed, right? I think in America specifically, we've become accustomed to some of these more celebrity driven fights where uh the boxers themselves have become celebrities, but we've seen crossovers from UFC uh with Conor McGregor. We've seen some of the YouTube personalities start to box as well. What makes like a good fight in your opinion, to where you're gonna be able to draw a good viewership number? I think really it's about narrative, you know, it's about the promotion, and one of the reasons that these crossover fights work is because of profile and the self-promotional ability of those individuals. I mean, Conor McGregor's a great example. Jake Paul is obviously another example as well. So it's really about the, you know, the, the drawing power of the individual, the followers that they have, and the narrative that they can sell. For us, we're a pure boxing promotional company. I, I probably started the YouTube mess by doing KSI against Logan Paul 2 in in Staples Center. We made a lot of money, but I really didn't enjoy it because it was just know, I'm a, I'm a hardcore boxing fan, you know, so we're trying to bring the great fights back. And I think what Is the big event, of course, is a great product, which is a great fight, but also great storytelling, great narrative, and, and, you know, that's when you know you've got a great fight and you can build a huge audience. So, yeah, right now the boxing world, you know, like I said, sometimes it's a little bit like the wild west in terms of the, the product but certainly the key for me in driving a big event is pre-event hype, build up, and a great narrative, great storytelling, and really that's my job as a promoter, to tell the fan base the story of this fight. And I'm sure you've been asked about this a million times, but you mentioned earlier how kind of, uh, segregated boxing is, right? There's no barrier to entry. There's all these different organizational bodies, and it's really difficult to comprehend for new fans. One of the things that I think American sports fans have probably heard of over the last few months is, uh, the new entity that is now popping up to sort of be like a traditional sports league for boxing between TKO Group, Saudi, Turkey, etc. What is your overall just opinion on what that looks like and its chances of success? I think it's great for boxing, you know, I mean, firstly, you have to ask yourself why is Dana White trying to enter the space? The answer is right now, I think boxing he is much hotter than MMA, you know, for, for a long period of time, it hasn't had the big events, it hasn't had the profile, it hasn't had the hype, and now you're seeing that with promoters stepping up with Turkey la Sheikh and Saudi Arabia investing a huge amount of money in the sport. For Dana and those guys, I think they're gonna find it very difficult in boxing because they're a business that's built out of for me, boxing is actually out of control, which in a sense makes it quite fun. But, you know, I think their plan is to go in and try and build young talent and and those middle line prospects and kind of create that ownership where you fight whoever you're told to fight. And in boxing, probably to the detriment of the sport, sometimes you're individually negotiating every single fight of a multi-fight that's something you're not doing in UFC. You sign a, you know, you sign a contract, you're told when you're fighting, your purse is already set. The UFC had complete control over the fighter, the talent, and that's what they'll be trying to do in boxing, and I don't think that's necessarily going to wash. It's definitely not gonna wash with the big guys, because I think, you know, every fighter has a manager, a lawyer, an they want to navigate the career correctly, ultimately their job is to take the easiest fights for the most amount of the promoter's job is to pay the fighter the right money for the biggest fights possible. I think that's a very fair way to look at it. Those people are obviously very uh smart and have done a great job with the UFC, but you can't just simply take that model and move it over to boxing, right? Even if you look at the UFC, the most popular fighters that would be able to demand the most money, they've had a lot of issues with those fighters, right? Because you get to a point where those fighters don't want to be told who to fight, when to fight for this amount of money. They want to be able to negotiate their and they know their values. So, uh, I'm totally aligned on that. But one of the things that I think Matchroom specifically has uh done that's interesting is, uh, from a streaming perspective. I know that you guys have this broader partnership with the global streamer Dione, and you were one of the first global promoters to really dive into that from a linear TV to a streaming perspective. Why did you decide to do that initially and how do you think it has gone so far? And what do you think the future looks like for that versus uh linear television goingforward? I just think we noticed that the, you know, the habits of the viewer were changing, you know, from that of traditional linear TV to streaming. I mean, you know, obviously the, the growth of Netflix and and other apps like that is, is easy to, to identify. But from a sports perspective, I, I just think that people now, they want variation and they want the ability, because I think their attention span is drifting and they're multitasking during during I think really we wanted the ability to stream direct to mobile phones, to tablets, and we saw that growth many years ago, and our deal with the zone started 6 years ago, and it's incredible the rise. I mean, people don't necessarily understand in America, perhaps the size of the in terms of the multitude of sports rights that it acquires. In America, really, you know, I know they've got the FIFA Club World Cup, of course, and, and other products as well. But it's, it's notoriously known as a boxing service, and it is now the global home of boxing. But, you know, Joe, when I launched with the Zone 6 years ago, I was going to these fighters pitching them and trying to have a conversation to explain that it's time to leave HBO or Showtime because they'll be leaving the space and you need to go with a streaming know, I laugh now at the conversation, so, so you're telling me it's an app. I'm like, yeah, it's an app. But I, you know, this is the future of broadcast and it's the future of boxing, and they've got there now, they're in a tremendous place. I mean, I think it's over 80 odd shows a year on the zone. Every major fight is on the platform. And we got ridiculed for a long time from our rival know, calling the, the app or what's the fight, who wants to fight on an app, you know, it's dead zone, it's not the zone, trying to make sure the fighters didn' there. Now those same promoters are phoning up the platform trying to get a rights deal with the platform and trying to place their product there. So it's been a huge success and luckily we got that one right, you know, with with with streaming. And it was a long while back, it was a big move, cos we went from our traditional broadcasters like Sky Sports and HBO who I had a deal with at the time in America, and made the move globally to Dizone. And what was important with that was as market we had an individual rights deal with, and it's a very mixed message. So when I'm out across social media trying to explain to the global fight fan where you can find the product, you know, it's on Sky Sports in the UK it's on HBO in America, it's on Fox in Australia, it's, it's on via sat in Scandinavia. Now there's one place where you can find Mattro's product, globally, anywhere in the world, and that's on the zone, and it's been a, been a big success for our business. Yeah, very interesting and certainly the right decision. Last question for you, Eddie, is around uh just global expansion. I know Matchroom is expanding globally, US, UK, etc. but Saudi Arabia and the Middle East specifically has become a major player in boxing over the last number of years. Is this something that you think is sustainable or is it more of a short term kind of a gold rush? Yeah, for us individually, I mean, we're the only global promotional company in the world, and what I mean by that is we're the only promotional company that is the lead promoter in all these different territories. So we have major rights deals of course in the UK, in the US, in Mexico, 6 shows a year, 6 shows a year in Australia, Italy, Spain, um, and of course Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan throughout Eastern Europe. I mean we're that's been great for us. The growth in Saudi Arabia has been very interesting. I mean, they're probably, they're coming up to 2 years deep now in boxing. A lot of people felt that they would have left by now, but Turkey al Sheikh has a very good vision and is also very intelligent as well. And they are spending a huge amount of money, and I mean, I think it's really benefiting the sport cos we're seeing the big fights being made, but they no signs of slowing down. Also, their partnership with us, their partnership with the zone. You know what I mean, this weekend you've got a Ring magazine card coming up uh in New York, fantastic card next weekend. We're in Texas with Jesse Vargas, so, uh, Jesse Rodriguez. Last week we're in Manchester. It's like a global tour with the zone and the Saudis are really, really investing in the sport, not just in terms of paying up for, for, for the fights, but investing in the know, Turkeyala Sheikh's acquisition of the Ring Magazine as well, making that a very powerful platform for the sport. So that's helped the profile of boxing, and as I said, it's made, in my opinion, boxing now much bigger than MMA and it's even made the guys in MMMA Michaelri it over to boxing. So I think at the moment, the property is red hot, the zone is red hot and uh long may it continue. Very interesting. Yeah, boxing doesn't seem to be slowing down at all, especially in Saudi Arabia or anywhere else. Eddie, thank you so much for joining the show clock is running down here, but we have just enough time for some final buzz. So let's talk about the business behind the Tour de France. It all started in 1903 when French newspaper Elato created the tour as a marketing sun to boost circulation, and it worked with sales doubling immediately. Today, it's owned by Amari sport organization, or ASO, a private company that also runs the Dakar Rally and other events, but the Tour de France is their crown jewel, accounting for more than half of ASO's annual how does it bring in that kind of money? Well, first is sponsorships. Roughly 50% of tour revenue comes from corporate sponsors. There are over 40 official partners, including LCL Bank and Continental. Even the iconic jerseys, the yellow, green, polka dot, and white, each have their own dedicated up is meteorites. The tour is broadcast in over 190 countries and attracts up to 3.5 billion cumulative viewers. ASO reportedly earns more than $80 million annually from global broadcasting deals. Then there are hosting fees. Towns pay between $70,000 and $120,000 to host the stage start or finish. Why? Well, because the tour draws tens of thousands of tours, global media attention and value. ASO then uses that money to fund the race's prize pool. The total purse is around $2.5 million with the winner taking home about $540,000. But unlike other sports, riders usually split that money with their entire team, including mechanics, chefs, support staff, and other riders on their team. That's why most riders rely on salaries and sponsorships more than prize money. Top cyclists can earn between$2 million.05 million dollars annually through team deals and endorsements. In simple terms, the Tour de France is much more than a bike race. It's a three-week traveling roadshow with 4500 staff members, team buses, helicopters, and production crews coordinating a new city each day. It's also a global marketing platform. Sponsors don't just put their logos on jerseys, they set up villages, run caravans, and interact with millions of fans lining the next time you see a pack of riders charging up a mountain, remember behind every pedal stroke is a century old business model that's still spinning out all out of time, so it's officially game over for this week. Thank you so much to Jake, Eddie, and for all of you for joining us. Please make sure to scan the QR code below to follow Yahoo Finance podcast for more videos and expert insight and catch us every Friday wherever you get your podcast. I'm your host, Joe Pompeiano. See you next content was not intended to be financial advice and should not be used as a substitute for professional financial services. Yahoo Finance Sports Report is developed and produced by Lauren Pokedoff. 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Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Sports betting industry braces for Trump's 'Big, Beautiful Bill'
Trump's new bill signals a bold pivot in the politics of sports gambling. This week on Yahoo Finance Sports Report, host Joe Pompliano takes a look at some of this week's biggest headlines in the sports business world that you and your portfolio need to know. From the impact of President Trump's "One, Big, Beautiful Bill" on the sports betting industry, Texas Tech's $5.1 million revenue sharing deal with their latest football recruit, to the money behind the Tour de France, the financial plays shaping the sports business are ones to watch. Yahoo Sports Senior Writer Jake Mintz joins the show to break down the latest news coming out of the MLB, including a look ahead to their collective bargaining agreement negotiations. Plus, Matchroom Sport chairman Eddie Hearn stops by to discuss the sports promotion company's partnership with DAZN as well as the global growth of professional fighting. Yahoo Finance Sports Report with Joe Pompliano, a vodcast brought to you by Yahoo Finance and Yahoo Sports, looks beyond the latest sports business headlines, analyzes all the need-to-know news - the teams, trades, and billion dollar deals - so you and your portfolio will win BIG. Yahoo Finance Sports Report is developed and produced by Lauren Pokedoff.
News.com.au
22-06-2025
- Climate
- News.com.au
‘Never seen that': America reacts to unusual changeroom scene at Club World Cup
If you can't handle the heat, head to the sheds. Borussia Dortmund defeated South African team Mamelodi Sundowns 4-3 in their FIFA Club World Cup match on Sunday (AEST) to move into second spot in Group F. Watch every game of The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup LIVE on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited time offer. The expanded Club World Cup is being held in America and the summer heat at Cincinnati's TQL Stadium proved too hot to handle for some of the players. Substitute players from German side Dortmund retreated to their changerooms during the change to escape the heat, watching the game on a TV screen. Temperatures reached 30.5 degrees celsius (87 degrees fahrenheit) in Cincinnati during the game, but the sight of Dortmund's bench players seeking refuge from the heat took some fans by surprise. American sports commentator Joe Pompliano said: 'I've never seen that before.' Borussia Dortmund's bench is watching their Club World Cup match from the locker room because of the heat. It is currently 87 degrees (30.5 degrees Celsius) in Cincinnati, Ohio where the match is being played. (via @BVB) — ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) June 21, 2025 One person commented: 'This is normal weather. Euro countries can't handle this is too funny.' A second said: 'Humidity over 50 per cent as well. Feels like 96 degrees according weather app.' A third said: 'Lol, just came back from my men's league game, it's 100 (degrees) right now.' Another said: '30.5 degrees and they are acting this way. They shouldn't come to Africa.' Players were doing their best to stay hydrated during the game and applied ice packs to their necks in an effort to stay cool. Next year's FIFA World Cup will be held in the USA, Canada and Mexico in July to July. For the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the stadiums used an airconditioning system to maintain comfortable temperatures for players and fans despite the desert heat. As for the game itself, Dortmund held off Mamelodi Sundowns to win a seven-goal thriller. Jobe Bellingham got his first goal for Dortmund as his new club overcame stifling heat in Cincinnati to beat Sundowns 4-3 and move to four points from two matches in Group F. The South African champions had taken a surprise early lead through a fine solo goal from Lucas Ribeiro. However, Sundowns goalkeeper Ronwen Williams handed Dortmund their equaliser on a plate, passing the ball straight to Felix Nmecha, who stroked home. Serhou Guirassy gave Dortmund the lead with his 35th goal since the beginning of the season. English midfielder Bellingham, who this month followed older brother Jude's footsteps in joining the German side from Sunderland, started for the first time for Dortmund and made it 3-1 just before the break. Khuliso Mudau's own goal made it 4-1 before the hour mark, but Sundowns salvaged some pride by reducing the deficit through Iqraam Rayners and Lebo Mothiba. 'I'm sweating like I've just come out of a sauna,' said Dortmund coach Niko Kovac when asked about the conditions in a game which started at midday local time. 'It was tough going for both teams, but the opposition are used to it. We certainly didn't give our best performance, but that wasn't possible today.' Sundowns will still go into their final game in Group F with a chance of qualifying for the last 16. 'The boys made a wonderful performance … it was a hell of a match. I'm not happy but very proud,' said their Portuguese coach, Miguel Cardoso. Mbappe release from hospital Meanwhile, Real Madrid star Kylian Mbappe was released from hospital after undergoing tests and treatment after suffering gastroenteritis, before later being released. Mbappe did not travel to Charlotte for the team's Club World Cup match against Pachuca, but could be back for the final group stage game, coach Xabi Alonso said. 'He's doing better, he's back from the hospital and is recovering. We're optimistic about having him against Salzburg,' Alonso said. Madrid face Salzburg in the final game of Group H on Thursday in Philadelphia. Mbappe, 26, missed the opening game with the same illness as Madrid were held 1-1 by Al-Hilal in Xabi Alonso's debut as coach. Madrid B-team player Gonzalo Garcia, 21, started in Mbappe's stead and opened the scoring for Real Madrid against their Saudi Arabian opponents.
