Top Stories

  • The NBA spent $180 million to facilitate its return to play in a bubble at Walt Disney World Resort in Kissimmee, Fla., an effort that sources familiar with the league’s finances said enabled the preservation of $1.5 billion in potential lost revenue tied primarily to media rights and league-level sponsorships. The league is currently in the process of reviewing the finances of all 30 teams to determine the extent of the revenue shortfall for the 2019-20 season, which will establish the amount of basketball-related income that will serve as the basis for next season’s salary cap. (Sports Business Journal)
  • The NBA is meeting with its national broadcast partners, ESPN and Turner Sports, this week to determine when to begin its upcoming season, and decision-makers are inclined to start back up “sooner than later,” according to sources cited by Bill Simmons on his podcast. Simmons said the league is not optimistic about the possibility of hosting fans in the near future and therefore is not inclined to wait to start the season, which he projected could begin “somewhere between Christmas and Martin Luther King weekend.” (RealGM)
  • The UK National Cyber Security Centre and U.S. authorities found in a joint investigation that Russian military intelligence services were planning a cyberattack aimed at disrupting the Tokyo Olympic Games prior to their postponement and confirmed that Russia was behind an attack on the opening ceremony of the Pyeongchang Games in 2018 that prevented spectators from printing out tickets and crashed wifi in the stadium. The Russians, who were said to be motivated by their athletes’ exclusion from the Games due to state-sponsored doping offenses, allegedly targeted Olympic organizers, logistics services and sponsors in their reconnaissance work ahead of the Tokyo Games. (The Guardian)
  • Fenway Sports Group LLC is partnering with the D’Angelo family, which owns sports apparel company ‘47 Brand, and WS Development on a five-acre development project in the neighborhood outside Fenway Park that would feature office space, apartments, retail stores, public art, green space and possibly a hotel. The developers have begun extensive planning on the project, which the principals have batted around for more than a decade, but have yet to determine the project cost or the mix of retail, residential and commercial space. (The Boston Globe)

Chart Review

Events Calendar (All Times Local)

10/20/2020
espnW: Women + Sports Summit Begins – Virtual
X Investor Series: Gaming/Digital Media Investor Conference – Virtual
Hashtag Sports 2020 Begins – Virtual
Association of Luxury Suite Directors – Welcome Back Fans and Students: COVID Attack Plans – Virtual
10/21/2020
Sports Innovation Lab – Data-Driven Sponsorship: A Live Event Featuring Google and Coca-Cola – Virtual
10/22/2020
SportBusiness+Professional Body of Sports Leadership – Is Sport Fit for the Future? – Virtual
View full calendar

New Report: What Consumers Want Companies to Say and Do in a Year Like No Other

Driven by a dwindling economy, an unfolding pandemic, significant social unrest around racial injustice and an imminent election, 2020 has been defined by a quickly changing consumer environment.

Our new report, What Consumers Want Companies to Say and Do in a Year Like No Other, brings together our latest insights to help brands strike the right tone in messages and communications. Download the report.

Media

Mike Tirico can’t be ruled out as potential Mike ‘Doc’ Emrick replacement
Andrew Marchand, New York Post

Kenny Albert, 52, could very well be the next man up, as he is NBC’s No. 2 NHL play-by-play man, having done conference finals and the Olympics for years. But Mike Tirico, the face of NBC Sports, figures to be in the discussion when its network executives decide what to do next.

CBS adds new Champions League highlights show and hires Nico Cantor to host ‘Golazo Show’
World Soccer Talk

CBS Sports today announced additional details of its multi-platform coverage of the 2020-21 UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League Group Stages, with CBS All Access streaming all matches. For all UEFA Champions League Group Stage match days, beginning on Tuesday, Oct. 20 and Wednesday, Oct. 21, CBS Sports’ eight hours of live coverage, including new programming across platforms, will feature an expanded roster of talent.

Chicago, Pittsburgh, Nashville Highlight Week 5 Markets
John Ourand, Sports Business Journal

NFL broadcasters saw several positive ratings developments from Week 5, with several important markets posting season high ratings, according to local numbers. The best story for Fox came in Chicago, where the 5-1 Bears posted a 28.9 local rating for its win over the Panthers — a season high for the market.

Avocados From Mexico is Skipping the 2021 Super Bowl
Jessica Wohl, Ad Age

Avocados From Mexico plans to sit out the Super Bowl in 2021 after a six year run in the Big Game with commercials featuring humor and celebrities. Avocados From Mexico’s decision to skip the ad industry’s biggest day marks the first confirmation from a prior Super Bowl advertiser that it doesn’t plan to buy ad time in the Super Bowl scheduled for Feb. 7, 2021.

NFL

Source — Tennessee Titans face potential fine as NFL concludes COVID-19 review
ESPN

The NFL has informed the Tennessee Titans that its review of how the team handled its coronavirus outbreak has concluded. The organization will face a potential fine, a league source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Individuals will not be disciplined, and there was no discussion of forfeiture of draft picks, according to Schefter.

Panthers working virtually on Monday, Tuesday as guard Michael Schofield goes on COVID list
David Newton, ESPN

The Carolina Panthers have instructed players, coaches and other staff to work virtually from home on Monday and Tuesday after receiving an unconfirmed positive test result for COVID-19. The person with the unconfirmed test was retested Monday.

NBA

Aramark planning temporary, permanent layoffs at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse
Mary Vanac, Cleveland Business Journal

Aramark, the food service provider for Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, will temporarily or permanently lay off 358 of its employees at the downtown arena “for an undefined period of time” due to the coronavirus pandemic. The fieldhouse, home to the Cleveland Cavaliers basketball team and Cleveland Monsters hockey team, has been largely closed since mid-March because of the pandemic except for a handful of special events, such as youth summer sports camps in July and August.

MLB

The World Series Matchup Is a Referendum on Baseball’s Economics
Jared Diamond, The Wall Street Journal

These two franchises, who operate on opposite ends of the sport’s disparate financial spectrum, now find themselves in the exact same place: squaring off for a championship in the World Series after posting the best records in their respective leagues. At the most precarious moment for baseball’s fragile labor relations in a quarter-century, with the threat of a work stoppage after the 2021 season looming large, this matchup between the Dodgers and Rays serves as an inadvertent referendum on the game’s economics.

Tweets on Baseballs Highlight MLB’s Social Initiatives for the 2020 World Series
David Cohen, Adweek

Tweets from fans cheering on the American League champion Tampa Bay Rays and National League champion Los Angeles Dodgers will be selected by the league and laser-engraved on baseballs to be used during batting practice prior to Game 1 on Tuesday night. Fans who are lucky enough to have their tweets chosen will receive the baseballs engraved with their tweets.

Ex-Astros GM Jeff Luhnow again denies role in Houston Astros’ sign-stealing scandal
ESPN

Luhnow, in his first public comments since issuing a statement after being fired in January, told Houston TV station KPRC he got access to 22,000 text messages from Astros video room personnel after he was fired because of the scandal. He said the messages clearly show the scope of the cheating and exonerate him from wrongdoing.

NHL

Tampa Bay early voters got a taste of the Stanley Cup
Bailey LeFever, Tampa Bay Times

Lord Stanley’s Cup held court from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. so Tampa residents could bask in its glory on their way to and from the voting booth. It was the first time hockey’s most-prized trophy visited an active voting location.

College Sports

NCAA Asks Supreme Court to Review Scholarship Cash Limits
Michael McCann, Sportico

In an expected but unpromising move, the NCAA and 11 conferences last week petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to grant review of the grant-in-aid class action led by former West Virginia running back Shawne Alston and former Cal center Justine Hartman. The case concerns the argument, brought under antitrust law, that the NCAA and its members have conspired to unlawfully cap the value of athletic scholarships.

William & Mary will reinstate three women’s sports: swimming, gymnastics and volleyball
Eddie Timanus, USA Today

Women’s programs in swimming and diving, as well as gymnastics and volleyball, will continue. As of now, four men’s sports  – indoor and outdoor track, gymnastics and swimming – will still be eliminated at the conclusion of the 2020-21 academic year.

Title IX complaint against University of Iowa demands new women’s sports like wrestling, rugby
Vanessa Miller, The Cedar Rapids Gazette

Female athletes pushing — via federal Title IX complaint — for the University of Iowa to reinstate the cut women’s swimming and diving program have expanded their demands, asking now that a court also force the Hawkeyes to add more women’s sports teams, like wrestling and rugby. The new student demands expand on those outlined in an original Title IX complaint filed last month on behalf of four UI female swimmers who learned in August the campus will cut men’s and women’s swimming and diving, men’s tennis, and men’s gymnastics after this academic year.

Pac-12 sets COVID-19 cancellation policy for games, determines tiebreakers for seven-game season
Jon Wilner, The San Jose Mercury News

Teams must have at least 53 scholarship players available each week, or a game could be declared a no contest or be postponed. The minimum includes specifics for three positions: Each team must have at least seven offensive linemen, one quarterback and four defensive linemen.

Soccer

MLS Launches Series of Social Justice Initiatives
Torrey Hart, Front Office Sports

MLS is launching a series of initiatives to combat racism, advocate for social justice and increase diverse representation in the sport, it announced. Among the efforts is a $1 million donation from owners to Black Players For Change, the group of more than 170 players that first banded together in June. 

Racing

Kyle Larson reinstated to compete in NASCAR in 2021
Jenna Fryer, The Associated Press

Kyle Larson can return to NASCAR competition next season following a long suspension for using a racial slur while playing a video game. He was suspended in April after he used the n-word while playing an online racing game in which viewers could follow along and was subsequently dropped by his sponsors and fired by Chip Ganassi Racing.

Chase Briscoe lands childhood hero Tony Stewart’s No. 14
Jenna Fryer, The Associated Press

Chase Briscoe earned job security for the first time in his career with a well-deserved promotion to the Cup Series to cap a season that has so far been storybook. Briscoe on Tuesday was named the replacement for Clint Bowyer in the No. 14 Ford at Stewart-Haas Racing, the team co-owned by Briscoe’s childhood hero.

Atlanta Motor Speedway to go cashless next year
Eric Jackson, Atlanta Business Chronicle

Atlanta Motor Speedway is planning to make the transition to cashless payments next year. The 1.5-mile track located in Hampton has big plans for next season, highlighted by its getting to host a second NASCAR Cup Series race.

Golf and Tennis

The Match 3 golf tournament set for Nov. 27 to benefit Black colleges
Jabari Young, CNBC

Turner Sports’ The Match 3 is officially set. The popular celebrity golf outing will feature Phil Mickelson, Charles Barkley, Stephen Curry and Peyton Manning and air on WarnerMedia’s TNT network on Nov. 27 at 3 p.m. ET.

World No. 1 Dustin Johnson out of second event after COVID-19 diagnosis
Rex Hoggard, Golf Channel

World No. 1 Dustin Johnson has withdrawn from this week’s Zozo Championship a week after testing positive for COVID-19. Although he was eligible to play this week’s event at Sherwood Country Club, because it would have been more than 10 days since the onset of symptoms, his manager said he opted for rest.

Ryder Cup, Solheim Cup will be played in back-to-back weeks in 2023
Julie Williams, Golfweek

The list of pandemic shake-ups is growing, and the Solheim Cup and Ryder Cup are just another addition to that ever-expanding scroll. For the first time in 2023, professional golf’s most important team events will be played in back-to-back weeks.

USGA adds US Open dates at Pinehurst as part of North Carolina expansion
Lauren Ohnesorge, Triangle Business Journal
The USGA announced Wednesday it plans to establish operations at Pinehurst Resort as part of an investment that could reach $36 million. And USGA Executive Director Mike Davis said it will hold four U.S. Open tournaments at Pinehurst between 2029 and 2047 — Pinehurst No. 2 had already been named the site for the 2024 U.S. Open.

Esports

Riot Games details VALORANT First Strike North America Qualifiers format
Billy Studholme, Esports Insider

Riot Games has announced the qualification format for its First Strike VALORANT tournament in North America, with Nerd Street Gamers (NSG) and Engine Media/UMG Gaming both staging separate qualifiers. Riot is partnering with NSG after the latter produced a string of successful Valorant tournaments with the Ignition Series.

TOP Esports attracts Beats Electronics jersey sponsorship
Cody Luongo, Esports Insider

Despite inking a deal, TOP Esports players won’t be seen wearing Beats by Dre headsets at League of Legends global events. In September, Riot Games announced a multi-year deal with Bose, naming the audio manufacturer the official partner of the 2020 World Championship, Mid-Season Invitational, and All-Star Event.

General

ISL still targeting profitability within three years despite Covid ‘disaster’
Adam Nelson, SportBusiness

The International Swimming League is still targeting profitability “within three or four years” despite being heavily impacted by the pandemic, its managing director and head of commercial operations, Hubert Montcoudiol, tells SportBusiness. The start-up team-based swimming competition, which is bankrolled by Ukrainian billionaire Konstantin Grigorishin, launched last year to much fanfare – and controversy – with the aim of bring the sport into the 21st century, with refreshed formats and a slicker, more accessible presentation intended to attract a new fanbase. 

Opinions, Editorials, Perspectives and Research

Friedman’s Series: Built Rays, then left to build Dodgers
Ronald Blum, The Associated Press

The Dodgers’ president of baseball operations since October 2014, he helped build Los Angeles into a power that reached the World Series for the third time in four seasons. He had been Tampa Bay’s executive vice president of baseball operations since 2006, building a team that reached the World Series in 2008, overseeing the acquisition of Kevin Kiermaier, Blake Snell and Diego Castillo and a staff with many holdovers still in place.

It’s been a marvelous career for the retiring Doc Emrick
Mike Harrington, The Buffalo News

Emrick has to be the most popular man among hockey people. And the reason is that he’s so human. There’s not a hint of celebrity in him. When he walked into the arena, you knew it was an important day. But he treated everyone with grace and he wasn’t too important on his own. It’s what made him unique.

Morning Consult