July 18, 2025 • 44 mins
Join hosts Michael Barr, Damian Sassower and Vanessa Perdomo for a look at some of the latest headlines and stories in the business of sports.
Apple is expected to win the rights to stream Formula 1 races on Apple TV+ in the United States thanks to a $150 million bid, rights currently held by Disney’s ESPN, according to a report by Business Insider. Bloomberg Intelligence Senior Media Analyst Geetha Ranganathan breaks down what this means for Apple moving forward.
Then, Bloomberg News Global Business of Sports reporter Randall Williams on NBA officially beginning the process to expand for the first time in more than two decades. Why Las Vegas and Seattle are favored
Plus, MLB Network Insider Jon Morosi on the pending sale of the Tampa Bay Rays, the upcoming trade deadline and more.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 7 (00:39):
Hello, this is the Bloomberg Business of Sports, where we
explore the big money issues in the world of sports.
I'm Michael Barr, along with my coll leagues Damian Sasaur
and Vanessa Perdomo. Coming up on the show, we take
stock of the MLB season at its midway point with
MLB network end signer John Morosi.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
The idea of this is entertainment, and I would challenge
anyone who even remotely likes baseball that if they spent
their evening on Tuesday watching the game and turned it off,
that anybody would have said, Ah, nothing entertaining about that.
Speaker 7 (01:14):
Plus, the NBA is looking to expand for the first
time in more than two decades. We get the latest
and find out which cities are the early favorites to
land a new NBA franchise. All that is on the
way on the Bloomberg Business of Sports. But first, Apple
is diving into F one racing. Beyond the new movie
with Brad Pitt, the iPhone maker is set to win
(01:38):
the rights to stream Formula one in the US for
one hundred and fifty million dollars a year, a figure
up almost two times from the currently F one deal
with ESPN. For more on this and some of her
other recent reporting, we welcome back Bloomberg Intelligence senior media
analysts Geeza rackenoffin Giza. Welcome back to the Bloomberg Business
(02:01):
of Sports.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 7 (02:04):
The movie that came out with Brad Pitt F one,
the movie has it kind of supercharged the TV rights
here in the US for F one Racing.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
I definitely think so. I think the success of that
movie has been kind of instrumental for really kind of
jolting this whole bidding process. Because we know that the
F one rights have now been on the market for
quite a while, everybody was kind of kicking the tires.
Speaker 7 (02:32):
Right.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
The rights are currently held by ESPN Disney's ESPN, which
is being about eighty five million dollars a year. These
are only for US telecast rights. We know Netflix was interested,
They probably looked at it. Amazon probably looked at it.
Warner Brothers said that they were probably interested, and you know,
we had some rumors or some inkling about Apple also
(02:54):
being interested. But I think after the F one movie
came out and performed as well as it did. By
the way, it's grossed about four hundred million dollars globally,
so it's you know, by is that all any account? Yeah,
it's done really really well. And this is considering that
the movie was produced by Apple, which by the way,
has had a pretty disastrous track record at the box office.
(03:18):
So you know, this movie really kind of surpassing expectations,
doing really well and kind of speaking to you know,
the popularity of the sport. It's a global sport. I
think that's what kind of really emboldened Apple to kind
of make that commitment and bid. What we've heard right
now about one hundred and fifty million dollars per year
(03:39):
just for the US rights for Formula one. So that's
a pretty healthy step up from what ESPN was paying.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Well, Githa, we know that Formula one was looking for
something on the order of one hundred and eighty million
dollars a year. Do we have any color as to
what Apple is has offered them with what they settled on.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
The range has been anywhere from about one hundred and
fifty to two hundred million. That's what Apple is said
to have offered the final reports that have come in
and again nothing is official so far from either Formula
one or from Apple, but Business Insider and some of
the other new sources were reporting that they have offered
one hundred and fifty million, which is again a pretty
(04:16):
good step up. That's almost an eighty percent increase from
what ESPN is currently paying, which again is really healthy
because when you kind of look at the Formula one
bidding process, Yeah, initially there was a lot of excitement.
I mean, this is, you know, a global racing circuit.
People are interested it's a younger audience. There's a lot
of female interest that has been growing, so obviously it
(04:38):
would be a coveted property. But then you know Disney's ESPN,
which is the incumbent right now it holds the rights,
has been taking a very very measured approach, so they
have you know, they kind of let the exclusive period,
a negotiating period expire with Formula one. They did the
same thing with the UFC. They dropped out of the MLB,
(04:59):
So the making a very hard look when it comes
to renewing sports rights. And then you had you know,
obviously Netflix and Amazon and everybody. But I think what
happened with those streamers is they really wanted global rights.
I mean, this is a global racing circuit. Obviously it
makes sense to have global rights. And because this is
only a domestic rights package, I think the bidding process
kind of cooled down quite a bit. So what happened
(05:21):
as investors were resetting their expectations, They were thinking that
maybe you know, Formula one is not going to be
able to get the increase that it was looking for.
Maybe the increase would be more in like the thirty
to forty to fifty percent range. But the fact that
Apple went out and got this, uh you know, basically
bid eighty percent over it just shows that again sports
(05:41):
market is healthy, Formula one isn't a good place. And
for Apple, of course, this is just a drop in
the bucket.
Speaker 8 (05:47):
I mean, one hundred and fifty million dollars a year
really is in that much when you take a look
at a lot of the other you know, properties, even
in motorsport, NASCAR's deals seven billion for seven years. So
why is Formula one so much further behind there?
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Do you think?
Speaker 8 (06:03):
Is it just newer in the US or why is
it seen as a big deal just for one hundred
and fifty million.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Yeah, it's definitely a much smaller kind of circuit when
it comes to the US. I mean, this is much
bigger popularity in Europe. So you know, we've been actually
kind of tracking the rise in popularity of Formula one
and how liberty Formula one has really been kind of
cashing in. Actually the launch of the Netflix series Drive
to Survive that really kind of broadened the appeal of
(06:32):
the sport. So I think in many ways that was
kind of instrumental. So if you just kind of Venessa,
if you just kind of track viewership just a few
years ago for Formula One races in the US, you know,
we're looking at about half a million. So today, with
all of that increased awareness, it's closer to about almost
one and a half million. So they've managed to almost
(06:53):
double to triple their audience space. But again, this is
small potatoes when you compared with some of the viewership
number in the European market.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Well, you know, Githa, I mean the implications looking ahead
here for the UFC, right, because they're up next. I mean,
and UFC is a bit of a different animal, right,
I mean, that's year round programming and they don't have
you know, the European you know, media rights aren't spoken
for already. You know, what can we look through? What
can we expect the UFC to get for for for
its service?
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Yeah, so right away, you know, when we kind of
saw these numbers, our first knee jerk reaction was this
is really good news for the UFC. So we know
that currently again ESPN is the incumbent Namian for the
UFC as well. They're paying roughly about five hundred million
dollars for two separate packages. One is broadcast, one is
on you know, ESPN plus what we think is going
(07:42):
to happen since they've kind of walked away from the
exclusive negotiating period. We think UFC has by the way,
demanded at least a billion dollars, so they're looking to
double their fees. We think the UFC can easily get that.
And again, you spoke to all of these you know,
plus points with the UFC right again, you have a
year round programming, you have a global audience base, you
(08:04):
have this whole rise in this super fan base, if
you will, and all of that. There's so much engagement
that we're seeing right now in terms of you know,
fans for combat sports, and so UFC kind of ticks
all of those boxes. We see, you know, week after week,
we see WWE RAW doing really well on Netflix. You know,
(08:24):
anytime you open up Netflix Top ten, you see that
doing really well. But what we think is going to
happen with the UFC rights process is we think that
this is really going to be split up into multiple packages.
We saw that happen with the NBA, you know, the
NBA creating more packages and basically scoring almost a tripling
(08:44):
in their rights fees just by kind of introducing Amazon
and NBC into the mix, and so we think something
very similar is going to happen with the UFC as well.
You know, you probably will have a streamer like a
Netflix or an Amazon kind of get into the bidding
process here, and you'll have ESPN also kind of hold
on to at least one of the packages.
Speaker 7 (09:06):
Well, what Apple is banking on from people like old
Man gearhead Bar and many others like me, is that
you got to get the Apple service to get the
streaming and pay for it. And likely yes, I'm now
going to pay for Apple, And that's what I think
Apple is banking on.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Either, You're absolutely right. I mean Live Sports is you know,
some of the most important program for streaming services. I mean,
time and time again, we've seen that premier sporting events
can drive subscriptions like nothing else. So you know, you
think about Peacocks during the paras Olympics. You think about
Peacock having that one NFL Wildcard game getting almost three
(09:46):
to four million subscribers just in a few hours. Or
you even think about Netflix with WWE eraw paramount plus
with UEFA Champions League. So all of these sporting sporting
you know, events really drive subscrib Amazon has seen the
same thing with you know, the NFL and now hopefully
with the NBA. So yes, absolutely Apple is banking on
(10:06):
the exact same thing too. The only thing that I
would add here, Michael, is that Apple has dabbled a
little bit in sports. So they did take the MLB,
the Friday night games, they did take the MLS. We
don't think that, you know, any of those have been
a game changer, if you will, And a lot of
that is just because Apple TV plus still is kind
(10:28):
of a laggard, just when you compare all of the
other streamers. So they have an estimated forty five million subscribers,
but you compare that to the big dogs out there.
You think of a Netflix over three hundred million subscribers.
You think of you know, an Amazon Prime about two
hundred and seventy five million, Disney well over one hundred
and fifty million. So Apple, I think the problem for
them is going to be reach. But you're absolutely right, Yes,
(10:51):
they are going to use this property to basically boost
subscriptions to basically not just boot subscriptions, also retain subscribers
as well.
Speaker 7 (11:02):
One's a great product. There were concerns though, that the
bidding process wasn't very competitive. Why is that.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Yeah, So they're just a whole different set of reasons
for you know, why it wasn't competitive. One is that
the incumbent, which is you know, Disney's ESPN, is really
on this cost cutting drive. So just a few years ago, Michael,
their content budget was thirty three billion. After Barb Bieger
came back, they basically, you know, said they're all about
(11:33):
riding the ship. They're all about kind of really cutting
down the fat, cutting down the bloat, and so they
are actually they committed to a content budget of about
twenty three billion dollars. This means that any sports rights,
anything that comes up for renewal, they are taking a
very very hard look at it, which is why they
didn't go jumping, you know, to renew the UFC, they
didn't go jumping to renew the Formula one. They've opted
(11:56):
out of MLB, so they're, you know, they are really
on this cost cutting drive. And then in terms of
the other streamers, like you know, in Netflix or Amazon,
I think what they really wanted was global rights. And
with the fund, what we're seeing is this is only
the US rights package, So it's just a small sliver
of the you know, the entire property, and we don't
(12:17):
think Netflix was necessarily interested in that because you know,
this is a global racing circuit. You do want to
have global rights to to kind of be able to
get that reach, to get that engagement, and so that's
why we think that the bidding process kind of lost
a little bit of momentum. But I think again the
movie came and it really kind of jolted that whole process.
Speaker 7 (12:37):
Our thanks to KEITHA. Raghanoff, and she is Senior Media
Analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence. Up next, we turn to the
NBA and its plans to expand for the first time
in decades. Amian sasaur and Vanessa Berdomo. I'm Michael Barr.
You're listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberger
Radio around the world.
Speaker 6 (13:02):
This is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 7 (13:07):
This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports where we explore
the big money issues in the world of sports. Michae L. Barr,
along with Damian Sasawer and Vanessa Bernomo, the NBA de
eyeing expansion for the first time since two thousand and four,
and here to take us through what we know and
which cities might get a new NBA team soon. Is
Bloomberg US sports business reporter Randa Williams Randall, Welcome back
(13:33):
to the Bloomberg Business of Sports.
Speaker 5 (13:35):
I appreciate you all for having me. As always, we.
Speaker 7 (13:38):
Got to talk about, first of all, the NBA and
your story. Looks like the league is going to have
its first expansion in twenty years unless you know, unless
something changes. But there's been a lot of heavy chatter
about it. Randall.
Speaker 6 (13:54):
Look, I spent a couple days in Vegas and that
was the biggest topic of the week was with the
NBA officially now expansion, and they did just didn't happen
in the way that I think a lot of people
expected it to. When you announced expansion, people think like, oh, well,
I can put my bin in tomorrow. I want to
be in Nashville, I want to be in Seattle, I
want to be in Las Vegas. And that's not what
the league did. The league said, look, we're starting the
(14:16):
expansion process. We have to analyze things both economic and
non economic. So you have people excited, but not the
level of excitement. Did you think, Well, here's the thing.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Let's just say, for example, it's Las Vegas against Seattle, right,
and it had to go to one of the two,
you know, or Nash whatever.
Speaker 7 (14:32):
But you know, here's my question.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
You've got, I mean the money behind the Las Vegas team.
I mean, I'm talking Lebron, James Fenway Sports Redbird, I
mean the full smash. And then you know, I don't
know what's going on in Seattle, but wouldn't it be
awesome to see Sean Kemp and Gary Payton and those
old supersonic jerseys back. I mean, like, I mean, like,
how do you compete against Las Vegas?
Speaker 6 (14:50):
Well, I think that those are two completely different situations.
In Seattle, you have Samantha Holloway who's the daughter of
David Bonderman, and she owns the Seattle Kraken and also
has the stadium ready to go. And then in Las Vegas,
as you said, there's the Fenway, Redbird and Lebron group.
There is Bill Foley, and then Mark Lazari is also
(15:13):
in the hat as well. But I'm told that they
are not the only people who are interested. There's plenty
more people involved. And what it becomes is, you know,
what is the expansion fee going to be last summer?
People told me they expected it to be between four
and five billion, But that was before the Celtics sold.
That was before the Lakers sold, And so now it's
a thing of like if the floor and reminder that
(15:35):
the Lakers and Celtics sold without owning their arena, meaning
they don't make money from these concerts and things like that,
the same way it's let's say, you know, Madison Square
Garden would with that in mind, what in the world
would is this expansion fee going to be and who's
going to be priced out of it?
Speaker 9 (15:50):
So the question there that is interesting to me is
if there's this bidding war going on in Vegas, does
that mean the expansion fee for Vegas or whatever is
going on there can be different than if Seattle gets
a team and it's just given to Samantha Holloway or whatever.
Speaker 6 (16:05):
It's still to be determined. That's the best answer I
can give. I would imagine that this Seattle, if Seattle
is chosen, that Seattle would go for less than Vegas,
just because I think competition is going to drive that
Vegas price way way up. I wrote like last summer
that that team could sell for seven billion, and people
(16:26):
looked at me like I was crazy in large part
because you know, there's Team Mobile Arena there, but there's
no guarantee that someone doesn't want to build their own
arena and doesn't want to strike a deal with Bill
Foley and the people who operate Team Mobile Arena. And
so you know, you look at what stadiums and arenas
are going for today, they're two to three billion dollars,
and you know, it could be a five billion dollars
(16:47):
mansion fee, it could be a four billion dollars mansion fee,
and that cash is just very, very steep. And something
we also haven't mentioned is what are the Trailblazers sell for?
That could be the floor of this.
Speaker 7 (16:57):
And keep in mind too and lant As, you guys
have mentioned that Samantha Holloway as co owner of the
NHL Seattle Kraken, and she is probably a very pivotal
part in getting the team, or at least bringing a
team back to Seattle. And I think they should just
(17:18):
use the SuperSonics team name, just bring it back.
Speaker 6 (17:20):
Yeah, I think that's likely to happen, but it just
begs the question again of like what's the price going
to be? Because the reality is that there can be
people priced out of this.
Speaker 5 (17:31):
There are some looks.
Speaker 6 (17:32):
All billionaires are very rich, but you're talking about if
it's six billion or five and a half billion, that's
a lot of cash. And I mean you think about
what the Commander is sold for a six point five
and Celtics is six 't one.
Speaker 5 (17:46):
But this expansion fee is huge. It's huge.
Speaker 6 (17:49):
And the longer that this process goes on, the NBA's
process of evaluating things and doing this analysis that Adam
Silver has spoken of, I think the price is going
to continue to grab.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Julie Rise, well, you know, Randal, I mean, when you
just look at the average NBA team's full year twenty
three twenty four revenue, you're talking something on order of
what three hundred and eighty eight million dollars per year,
you know, so there's still a lot of untapped inherent
value in there at yet. Yet you know where I
get a little bit confused is you know, there's no guarantees,
as you rightly point out, there's no guarantees there's a stadium,
(18:20):
there's no guarantees that they're going to do their job creative,
you know, franchise values, create a brand, get people to
reach into their pockets and pay for those tickets. There's
no guarantees of anything, so there is you know, some
modicum of risk here, right, And I would imagine that
risk is a little bit greater in smaller mockerts like
Seattle or Nashville. I'm just comparing to Las Vegas. I mean,
or am I mistaken there?
Speaker 5 (18:41):
Now?
Speaker 6 (18:41):
I think that the risk really for the league is
that you have some owners who are interested in that
expansion fee, because you have to remember that this expansion
fee is split between all of the owners. Of course,
so if it's you know, let's say six billion, it'll
be split between.
Speaker 5 (18:59):
The thirty are the owners.
Speaker 6 (19:00):
But Adam Silver has pointed out some really good points,
and you know the RSN issue, which is, you know,
the regional sports networks, and then of course.
Speaker 5 (19:09):
Like does it dilute the talent? When can they start playing?
Speaker 6 (19:12):
All of these things that the NBA is going to
have to analyze and figure out is this the best
economic driver or do we have some other issues that we.
Speaker 5 (19:20):
Need to solve first.
Speaker 6 (19:21):
So if you're an investor who's been waiting for this
since Adam Silver, I believe he first mentioned it maybe
in twenty twenty or twenty twenty one. This was the
moment that you thought he was going to be like, yes,
like we are expanding, this is it, and that's not
exactly it. Yes they are expanding, but he's also said
that there is no guarantee that after the analysis that
they come back and say, eh, you know, maybe we
(19:43):
don't want to expand just yet.
Speaker 5 (19:45):
There's no guarantees with anything.
Speaker 8 (19:48):
And the interesting thing too about you're saying there's no
guarantees and we're almost talking about if they do expand,
it feels like Vegas and Seattle are unlocked and they're
already there, but before there, you know, uh, there's men
of expanding into Mexico internationally and all of that. Is
that kind of closed off or is there stills potential there?
Speaker 6 (20:08):
I think that Las Vegas and Seattle are the overwhelming favorites.
Seattle because they have a stadium set up, they owned
a team, there was a team there previously, and then
Las Vegas, like that team is just going to go
for such a price that you're going to have everyone
both domestic and internationally interested in that team. I do
(20:29):
think that if there was a city that could potentially
rival these, it is Mexico City. It's the largest city
in North America. But who's gonna who's going to raise
their hand from that? Who's going to want to compete
against Seattle and Las Vegas? Who are these favorites? And
of course there's the issue there's like political issues. I
got it, Mexico. You know, there's there's a lot of
(20:51):
things to figure out there. But other cities like Nashville,
Kansas City come to mind, maybe Vancouver, but it's a
steep hill to climb to get over Seattle in Las Vegas.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
Well, you know, Randall, I mean, just to your point.
You know, again, if you look at just regular old
sportc data, you know, the average NBA franchise value was
something on the other four point six billion. And that
was a while ago. They ran these numbers last year.
You know this, and you're and I think you're spot
on here because you know, if you just look at
the Lakers at that in that analysis, they were at
like eight billion, they just went for ten. You know,
you look at the Celtics, they were like five and
a half. They just went for six point one. So
(21:23):
I mean, you know, seven billion is is I dare
I say?
Speaker 7 (21:26):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (21:27):
And that may just be like a median estimate. You know,
it could be even hot. I mean, it's pretty unbelievable,
these numbers. It's just it's kind of mine numbing.
Speaker 6 (21:34):
I mean, if you look at One of the things
that's interesting to look at is if you look across
sports in the bigger leagues, the NFL, NBA, and MLB,
and you compare the valuations of the professional franchises there.
So you compare the Knicks to the Yankees, of the
Giants to the Jets, all of those, the Mets, of course,
you compare those franchises and they're all in the same ballpark.
Speaker 5 (21:58):
In Las Vegas.
Speaker 6 (21:59):
There's a little bit less of that just because the
Raiders are there, you have the aces there, the athletics
aren't playing there yet, and so then you have the
NBA coming in and whoever owns that franchise is not
going to have any trouble selling luxury suites. You're not
gonna have any trouble selling courtside tickets.
Speaker 5 (22:15):
Pretty much the.
Speaker 6 (22:16):
Exact same thing in Seattle because they have tech, the
tech presence there.
Speaker 5 (22:20):
But with that in mind, that's going to bring in
the big investor pool.
Speaker 6 (22:24):
It's like everybody is going to want that last golden Goose,
which is Las Vegas. Because I don't know if any
of you have been to a Raiders game, but Allegiance
Stadium is very nice and they have crazy fans, and
Las Vegas is a basketball town. I mean, if you
go into the March Madness history and their event hosting there,
it's it's going to be crazy.
Speaker 7 (22:44):
Well that brings me to Goofy question number two forty
five A and about Las Vegas, and then hear me out,
why can't Las Vegas have two NBA teams? We got
two NBA teams here in the New York area, two
NBA teams in the Los Angeles area. Why can't Las
(23:05):
Vegas have two NBA teams? Because yeah, I get it.
You know, they're they're growing, but they're expanding fast, and
you're talking about a city that's on the runt.
Speaker 5 (23:16):
I mean, I think it's a good question. I just
think it's unlikely.
Speaker 6 (23:19):
And the reason for that is because, yes, like you
look at all the markets out there that own or
have two teams, and it's basically LA and New York
and Las Vegas does have the capabilities of it.
Speaker 5 (23:31):
But does the NBA want to put.
Speaker 6 (23:33):
Two teams there versus Seattle, and you're thinking about it
from a market perspective, Seattle might do a little bit
more than two teams in Las Vegas. And then, of
course you have the split between who's let's say it's
the Las Vegas Outlaws versus the Las.
Speaker 5 (23:47):
Vegas Rattlesnakes or something.
Speaker 6 (23:49):
You split a fan base and don't I don't particularly
think that's why that would be wise of the league.
But could Las Vegas sustain it and could they make money? Yes,
but I think they would cannibalize each other. I think
that one team would be more successful, and then it
would be sort of the relationship between.
Speaker 5 (24:06):
I wouldn't say that Nixon the Nets.
Speaker 6 (24:07):
Because I think that the Nets have the liberty and
the liberty pack out stadiums arguably more than the Nets do.
But it would be it would create a situation where
I think people would point at one team and be like, oh,
you're lame for liking them, and rally towards the other team.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
I mean, you, Mike, you're asking about two teams in
Las Vegas when the Moines doesn't dwin, Iowa doesn't even
have one. I mean, come on, grow up.
Speaker 7 (24:30):
I mean, you know, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Then by Damien Sassara and Michael Barry can see it.
Speaker 6 (24:40):
What would do more?
Speaker 7 (24:41):
Team Luxury Boxes?
Speaker 6 (24:43):
What would you all name the Las Vegas team? The
oh pretty good?
Speaker 7 (24:51):
I was thinking the Las Vegas seven out line away team,
but that's another story. That's what I hear all the time,
right williams Man, I love you, Thank you so much
for joining us once again on the Bloomberg Business of Sports, Budd.
Speaker 5 (25:06):
I appreciate you all for having.
Speaker 7 (25:07):
Me hop Next, the MLB is officially back from its
All Star break. We'll take a look at some of
the biggest headlines from the first half and more for
Damien Sasaur and Vanessa Berdomo. I'm Michael Barr. You are
listening to Bloomberg Business of Sports Bloomberg Radio around the world.
Speaker 6 (25:31):
This is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 7 (25:36):
Thanks for joining us on the Bloomberg Business of Sports,
where we explore the big money issues in the world
of sports. I'm Michael Barr along with Damian Sasauer and
Vanessa Berdomo. The MLB season is back earned away after
taking its All Star break. Now it's swing off, baby,
to the postseason with a lot of teams looking to
bolster their rosters ahead of the July thirty first trade deadline.
(26:00):
Here to take a look back at the first half,
preview was to come and the trade deadline. We welcome
MLB Network insider John Morosi. Hey there, John, Welcome back
to the Bloomberg Business of Sports.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
Damian Michael Vanessa. Great to be with you. Happy second half.
What an All Star game this witnessed on Tuesday.
Speaker 4 (26:20):
How about that?
Speaker 7 (26:21):
You know, I want to start with that all right now,
and I listen. There's some high points and some low
points about it. I loved that we went back to
the uniforms for each team instead of, you know, one
for the National League and one for the American League,
because as the Detroit Tigers fan, I wanted to see
(26:43):
the old English d.
Speaker 5 (26:44):
Out tag the Tiger Rhodes.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
Now, you know, I got to tell you, Schwarber doing
Schwarber things right. And the coolest thing about it, I
have to say was you've got Braves fans cheering for him,
you know, like out of their seats, and you know,
Mets fans too. You know, it was kind of cool
to watch. But I guess from the negative side, I mean,
and John, correct me if I'm wrong. It's almost like
penalty kicks or like a shootout hockey, right.
Speaker 4 (27:04):
But I thought it was the way to do it.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
And listen, it's it's not a regular season game.
Speaker 4 (27:10):
It does not determine home fult advantage.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
For the World Series any longer. So the idea of
this is entertainment. And I would challenge anyone who even
remotely likes baseball that if they spent their evening on
Tuesday watching the game and turned it off, that anybody
would have.
Speaker 4 (27:29):
Said, Ah, nothing entertaining about that. That was a complete dudge.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
J John, you must be talking about Showhea Tani and
Aaron Judge, who actually left the stadium. I mean, what's
up with that?
Speaker 3 (27:38):
By the way, that that and again I cannot confirm
DENI speak to wherever anybody was during the course of
the latter.
Speaker 4 (27:45):
Innings of the game.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
I will say this, It has been standard procedure for many, many,
many years that once a regular player is out of
the game, they typically travel home or to their next destination. Because,
in fairness, they played the game on Sunday, they traveled
Sunday to the All Star site, they did the Derby
and all associated festivities on Monday, media obligations, et cetera.
(28:10):
They played the game Tuesday, and their All Star break
lasts for about twenty four hours. And so I never
have an issue with once you're out of the game,
that you that you go and and.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
So I will never criticize and some of the pitchers
who were still when they came out in their street clothes,
how cool is that?
Speaker 2 (28:27):
You know?
Speaker 1 (28:27):
I mean I wanted it too.
Speaker 5 (28:28):
It was awesome, And.
Speaker 3 (28:29):
That was awesome, And again every player is in a
different circumstance. It probably was the case that the Tigers
guys were all traveling together and there were six of them,
so School was probably waiting around for his buddies to
finish their obligations.
Speaker 4 (28:41):
Again, that was that was all cool, And.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
So I and listen when the drama was unfolding. Zero
issue for me that it wasn't necessarily judging Otani there.
Speaker 4 (28:51):
It was just it was a different group.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
And now you're gonna have College Warber beloved by that
many more people. And and Brent Rooker for the American League,
who started things off then an amazing job. And so
I've got zero issue. They're all all stars they all
belong there, and so I'm not going to bemoan that
it wasn't Judge versus Otani. We have seen they have
both fulfilled their obligations to the game as far as
(29:15):
I'm concerned.
Speaker 8 (29:15):
So do you think that, you know, this sort of
excitement that we saw for the All Star Game and
all of that, like, was it enough for All Star
games in general that like haven't really been doing well.
People don't watch them, they're not as excited for them.
How do you categorize this year's All Star Game?
Speaker 4 (29:33):
I think there was plenty of buzz Vanessa.
Speaker 3 (29:34):
And part of the issue now is how we look
at the ratings. For me, in my opinion, when you
look at whatever the linear television ratings are, I get
that they still exist and on some level there are
advertisers who care about it, but so much now is
via streaming, It's consumed in different ways, social media, different apps,
(29:55):
et cetera. That the linear TV rating to me means
less than it did twenty years ago, certainly even two
years ago for me, because there's just war ways in
which it's it's capturing, it's capturing the attention. And I'll
say this, all I know is that when I and
I did. I went on AX, I went on Threads.
During the latter stages of the game. Swing off was
(30:19):
just like trending across the world, okay, like everybody wanted
to talk about it. Of course by then it's morning
in Japan, and you got so many fans around the world.
So to me, yes, ratings are relevant on some level,
but they are not as relevant as the overall engagement
with the product. And if you if you were on AX,
(30:40):
if you were on Threads that night Instagram, there was
plenty of engagement I think with the global audience for
that game, and I think it was really a pretty
remarkable way to end that particular All Star experience.
Speaker 7 (30:54):
And remember too, the according to Nielsen, almost seven point
two million viewers watched the All Star Game. And now
I have to admit, because I'm an old coot and
I remember the days when Pete Rose was on the
field and all of this. So I didn't know at
(31:14):
first what the swing off because this was brand knew
what was going to happen. And then I started thinking
about it as I was driving into work and driving
home and this that whatever the whole point of the
All Star Game and it still is relevant to this day.
Is if you could get the local games in your area,
but you couldn't see a Pete Rose play at that time,
(31:37):
or you couldn't see the other players unless they made
the playoffs. And that's the essence of the All Star Game.
And like you said, John, I guess everybody enjoyed that
swing off because you got to see the.
Speaker 4 (31:51):
Players you did.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
And I think to that point you think about the
big picture and Kyle Stowers, Randy or Rose, Arena, Jonathan Aranda.
There are players there that were that maybe were not
household names, but they they get their chance now and
you get to see them and understand their stories a
little bit. And that's empirically a good thing for the
(32:15):
game of baseball, and is to then give them that
moment to have the conversation about them and to take
their turn in the spotlight. I think we right now
have a tremendous amount of great players and great stories
in baseball that go beyond Judge and Otani. Yes, those
are the number two, number one and number two players
(32:35):
that we talk about, but you had the starters and
Scooble and schemes, and it was a great story that
was done by Tom Ronaldi on the pregame show with
Fox about the two of them, Jacob Mazarowski.
Speaker 4 (32:44):
Throwing a million miles an hour on the mound, which
was a lot of fun to watch too.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
So we have a lot of great stars, and I
think I want to give credit to to the Fox
Sports production and Joe Davis and John Smoltz that the
tie breaking mechanism was reveal field almost in a really
creative and subtle way. Uh, there was a bit of
a tease there about what was going to happen, and
that's all good. That's I realized. We all knew it
(33:10):
was part of the rules, and and on some level
we probably should have been we as fans should have
been more prepared for what was going to happen at
the end.
Speaker 4 (33:18):
But it's it was perfect. We don't have enough surprises
in life anymore. Everybody.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
We kind of have randomness of spontaneity and and delight
and unexpected things are great, and so we we sign
up for this life to do this, and and certainly
sports give us that experience. In the microcosm of why
we love sports so much is we don't know what's
going to happen and so the the the unknown and
(33:44):
the the newness of it. I remember there was actually
an interview that James would uh the outstanding prospect of
the Washington Nationals, gave that night with Fox Sports Radio,
and he basically said, we in the nationalague dugout didn't
know exactly what was going on. That's unexpected. Things are cool,
and I think that leaning into the magic of the
(34:06):
unexpected conclusion is part of why we love sports. And
I think it was another demonstration of why this is
the greatest.
Speaker 4 (34:13):
Of all the All Star Games and.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
Why this is also the greatest of all the sports
because of everything that unfolded, And certainly I don't want
to go any further without mentioning the Hank Aaron tribute
was just beautiful in every possible way, and having Billy
Aaron there and there was a beautiful image of her
watching it unfolding the ballpark. I get goosebumps talking about it,
and I was watching it with my wife at that point,
(34:36):
who was not a sports fan, and I was explaining
some of the significance of why that home run was
so special and what that call meant, and that the
way the fans greeted Hank Aaron.
Speaker 4 (34:45):
After all, he had endured all the.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
Hatred he endured and racism along that journey to then
setting this greatest of American records. I just think was
a beautifully done moment by MLB in the city of
Atlanta to John.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
You know, I love that your reference another friend of
the show, John's Molten.
Speaker 7 (35:00):
There.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
You know, John came in second in the American Century
Golf Championship. I mean, I know he's pretty hard on himself, Michael,
so he's probably upset that he only came in second
there but a shout out to him. But you know,
I just want to switch gears on you.
Speaker 7 (35:10):
John.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
I think we just saw another sale here in Major
League Baseball. I think I think the Tampa Rays are
going to sell for if I'm not mistaken, one point
seven billion to Jacksonville developer Patrick Zelupski. So I guess
that means they're going to stay in town. But I mean,
my goodness, this is the I mean, based on Sportico data, John,
this is the twenty ninth of thirty Major League Baseball
teams in terms of valuation, or at least it was
(35:32):
going into this and it was what I mean, I
think they are. I mean you covered the Harvard Crimson
hockey team. I think there are fourteen NHL teams that
have a command the higher valuation, even at one point
seven billion, if that's indeed the number, talk to us
a little bit about this sale. I mean for what again,
for one of the I guess least valuable Major League
Baseball teams to go at a premium to what the mark,
(35:54):
This has to be good for the sport, for the league, right.
Speaker 3 (35:58):
Yes, I've often said, Damian, I I will never do
live math on the radio because I often make mistakes.
And then and by the way, when I make a mistake,
the response is always great job, Morosi, you went to Harvard,
and you can't do that. I'm not gonna calculate percentage
right now, other than to say that's a pretty big
percentage increase of what Stu Sterberg bought the race for
(36:22):
and what the reported sale.
Speaker 4 (36:23):
Price is going to be.
Speaker 3 (36:25):
That to me, again, we talk about different investments, and
I realized what we're We're on the Bloomberg Show, so
I can reference this. You think about some of the
best investments in the American business world over the last
quarter century, sports teams have appreciated quite nicely. Yeah, in
that in that time, it's a pretty good investment. And
and this even even a team without a an assured
(36:49):
long term home. You're buying a team for the for
the right to then sit there and have a negotiation
with with different governmental entities in Florida about where you're
gonna try to build a stadium. This is not exactly
a glide path to to to an easy profit year
over year, but the macro the franchise appreciation tells you
(37:10):
all you need to know. And the Minnesota Twins are
also up for sale. The commissioner talked a bit at
the All Star Game about where that process is going
in again, the Rays have basically set the floor here
and and it's it's a floor with a fairly it's
not like a floor, it's a trampoline in terms of
how high the valuations are going.
Speaker 4 (37:30):
So it's a it's a really good situation for the game.
Speaker 3 (37:33):
It shows how much interest there is in what the
long term place of baseball is going to be. It's
really important, I think, for the game's health as we
enter a new CBA negotiation period. This is a nice
bit of news for everybody.
Speaker 4 (37:48):
Listen.
Speaker 3 (37:49):
It helps the players to know that the franchise has
a great valuation. That means investment in players, in capital,
and the overall mechanics of the organizations should be very
very strong, and certainly from a macro level. If you're
Rob Manfred within now several years left in his tenure
as commissioner, he's got to say that if the Tampa
(38:09):
Bay Rays are selling for close to two billion dollars,
that he's done a pretty good job in his stewardship
of the game.
Speaker 8 (38:15):
Yeah, unbelievable. And you had mentioned it there about how
they still have so many questions to really settle on
where they're going to be playing and all of that.
But now with new change in ownership and obviously the
deal flying apart in Saint Pete, but everything that happened there,
where is this stadium going to be built? When will
they really have a real home, like a real new home.
Speaker 4 (38:36):
Yeah, it's a great question.
Speaker 3 (38:38):
And obviously they've been playing outdoors at Steinberner Field, the
Yankee spring training facility for this year because of the storm.
Did the hurricane damage the Tropic Canna field. The belief is,
as the commissioner said, there's still a pretty good optimism
that the field's going to be ready, the Tropic Canna
field's going to be ready for twenty twenty six opening day.
But obviously, as you point out, that is not the
(38:58):
long term home. It does seem to me that with
the success of albeit a short term solution in Tampa,
that that may revive and reopen the minds of people
on the Hillsborough County side of the bridge to the
potential of having the team their long term. The Tampa
Bay Lightning, in a non traditional hockey market, have become
(39:19):
something of a model franchise.
Speaker 4 (39:20):
They've won Stanley Cups, They've.
Speaker 3 (39:22):
Got one of the most respected coaches in the game,
They've got elite talent on the ice and have for
a long time. So there's a lot to like about
Tampa as a sports market. Rob Manford is on record
as saying he hopes the team stays in the area,
stays in the state. So I think that this franchise ownership,
whenever it changes over, it will reset things a little bit.
(39:45):
And as we all know, when it comes to a
new stadium being built, a lot of it has to
do with the political dynamics of a particular place, how
well the owner negotiates and navigates the various municipalities, the governor,
the county, the city government. This to me feels like
a reset to where the new ownership group will come
(40:06):
in and certainly helpful that that, again, based on the reports,
if it ends up being this group that closes the deal,
there's a lot of real estate, a lot of a
lot of know how in this particular area of of
franchise operations, where you're going to build and and what's
going to happen next. So I think this particular ownership group,
I would say Vanessa's very well equipped to handle this conversation,
(40:29):
and I would expect that it does give a bit
of a boost to the notion of the Rays staying
in Tampa Bay for the long term.
Speaker 8 (40:36):
Yeah, do you think that the new ownership coming in,
like you said, has a reset sort of value that
maybe the public has more you know, faith in them
even just creating a better team, putting more money into
the team, that makes them more willing to say yes
to public funding.
Speaker 4 (40:51):
It's a great point, and I think it could.
Speaker 3 (40:53):
And and that's where you know, public funding for franchises
has been been a hot topic and it's somewhat dependent
upon where and how and in what fashion you ask
for that money. Uh where it's it's a complicated question
based on wherever you're you're asking, uh that that request
for for for public money. But I do think in
(41:15):
general that the manner in which you are a steward
of the organization and and how much you spend. I
think if a team comes in, depending on how the
how the deal has structured, how much debt there is,
how much cash they have on hand, I would hope
that that the idea would be from a standpoint of
of MLB, make sure we pick a team, pick an
ownership group that has good cash on hand that can
(41:36):
infuse some capital in the roster and make this a
more competitive team to bring in some stars.
Speaker 4 (41:43):
And I've often said this. Sports fans are smart. They
pay attention. They know what's going on.
Speaker 3 (41:47):
With their team with other teams, and they can look
at the payroll numbers and say, Okay, are we spending
like we should spend or not.
Speaker 4 (41:53):
Tampa is a big market.
Speaker 3 (41:55):
It's not the biggest, but it's a big market and
a growing market. And in Florida, if especially if you
if you sort of add in the area is going
east a bit towards Polk County, and they are in
Orange County in.
Speaker 4 (42:07):
Florida along I four.
Speaker 3 (42:09):
There's a lot of fans there, and so if you
do it right in Tampa, you're gonna have a very
well supported franchise, and I hope that's the case for
the long term.
Speaker 1 (42:18):
John, you totally now that. I mean, let me remind
our audience that the Tampa Bay Devil Rays still generated
three hundred and eleven million dollars in full year twenty
twenty four. That's a thirty four percent rise over the
three year period before that. So I mean, you know
clearly that it generates a lot of money, Michael Bark.
But let's also remember that of the next what thirty
seven almost forty games in the Major League Baseball season,
(42:39):
less than half of them or maybe half of them,
are only played at home. And there's still you know,
three in the three and eleven slide or whatever slide
they're in, and you know they've got to work cut
out from the five and a half game a head
of first as of right now.
Speaker 7 (42:50):
MLB Network insider John MOROSEI, man, I'm gonna give you
this tune. I'm going to sing to you, man, We're
all behind our baseball team. Go get him, Detroit Taggers,
Go get Him Taggers.
Speaker 3 (43:05):
That is a classic from the from the sixties. They're
well well done, Michael, I love it.
Speaker 4 (43:11):
Mike Detroit Free Press right there, Yes, right, my.
Speaker 3 (43:16):
Parents, they're gonna be listening to the segment and loving,
loving the sound of that song. They've got the best
record in baseball as the second half begins, so let's
see if the old English tea can find a way
to play the final game of the season. They're right
around Halloween and Detroit where you know, if you all
come up and join us, just you know, bring a
couple of layers. You never know, you might have snow
around that time, but we'll be ready and eager to
(43:38):
welcome all the baseball community to the great state of
Michigan that time of year.
Speaker 7 (43:41):
John Morosi, we love you, man. Thank you for joining
us on the Bloomberg Business of Sports. We appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (43:47):
Great to be on the show. Thanks so much for everything.
Speaker 7 (43:48):
Take care though. Our thanks to MLB Network insider John
Morosi for joining us. And that does it for this
edition of The Bloomberg Business of Sports. Man, it goes
so fast. If you've missed any part of it. Catch
it on demand now with the Bloomberg Business of Sports podcast.
Find it on Apple, Spotify or anywhere else you get
your podcasts, and while you're there, find the latest bonus
(44:11):
episode on the Business of Soccer as we make our
way to the fief of World Cup in twenty twenty
six for Vanessa Bernomo and Damian Sassaur. I'm Michael Barr.
You're listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports Bloomberg Radio,
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Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
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Hello, this is the Bloomberg Business of Sports, where we
explore the big money issues in the world of sports.
I'm Michael Barr, along with my coll leagues Damian Sasaur
and Vanessa Perdomo. Coming up on the show, we take
stock of the MLB season at its midway point with
MLB network end signer John Morosi.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
The idea of this is entertainment, and I would challenge
anyone who even remotely likes baseball that if they spent
their evening on Tuesday watching the game and turned it off,
that anybody would have said, Ah, nothing entertaining about that.
Speaker 7 (01:14):
Plus, the NBA is looking to expand for the first
time in more than two decades. We get the latest
and find out which cities are the early favorites to
land a new NBA franchise. All that is on the
way on the Bloomberg Business of Sports. But first, Apple
is diving into F one racing. Beyond the new movie
with Brad Pitt, the iPhone maker is set to win
(01:38):
the rights to stream Formula one in the US for
one hundred and fifty million dollars a year, a figure
up almost two times from the currently F one deal
with ESPN. For more on this and some of her
other recent reporting, we welcome back Bloomberg Intelligence senior media
analysts Geeza rackenoffin Giza. Welcome back to the Bloomberg Business
(02:01):
of Sports.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 7 (02:04):
The movie that came out with Brad Pitt F one,
the movie has it kind of supercharged the TV rights
here in the US for F one Racing.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
I definitely think so. I think the success of that
movie has been kind of instrumental for really kind of
jolting this whole bidding process. Because we know that the
F one rights have now been on the market for
quite a while, everybody was kind of kicking the tires.
Speaker 7 (02:32):
Right.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
The rights are currently held by ESPN Disney's ESPN, which
is being about eighty five million dollars a year. These
are only for US telecast rights. We know Netflix was interested,
They probably looked at it. Amazon probably looked at it.
Warner Brothers said that they were probably interested, and you know,
we had some rumors or some inkling about Apple also
(02:54):
being interested. But I think after the F one movie
came out and performed as well as it did. By
the way, it's grossed about four hundred million dollars globally,
so it's you know, by is that all any account? Yeah,
it's done really really well. And this is considering that
the movie was produced by Apple, which by the way,
has had a pretty disastrous track record at the box office.
(03:18):
So you know, this movie really kind of surpassing expectations,
doing really well and kind of speaking to you know,
the popularity of the sport. It's a global sport. I
think that's what kind of really emboldened Apple to kind
of make that commitment and bid. What we've heard right
now about one hundred and fifty million dollars per year
(03:39):
just for the US rights for Formula one. So that's
a pretty healthy step up from what ESPN was paying.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Well, Githa, we know that Formula one was looking for
something on the order of one hundred and eighty million
dollars a year. Do we have any color as to
what Apple is has offered them with what they settled on.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
The range has been anywhere from about one hundred and
fifty to two hundred million. That's what Apple is said
to have offered the final reports that have come in
and again nothing is official so far from either Formula
one or from Apple, but Business Insider and some of
the other new sources were reporting that they have offered
one hundred and fifty million, which is again a pretty
(04:16):
good step up. That's almost an eighty percent increase from
what ESPN is currently paying, which again is really healthy
because when you kind of look at the Formula one
bidding process, Yeah, initially there was a lot of excitement.
I mean, this is, you know, a global racing circuit.
People are interested it's a younger audience. There's a lot
of female interest that has been growing, so obviously it
(04:38):
would be a coveted property. But then you know Disney's ESPN,
which is the incumbent right now it holds the rights,
has been taking a very very measured approach, so they
have you know, they kind of let the exclusive period,
a negotiating period expire with Formula one. They did the
same thing with the UFC. They dropped out of the MLB,
(04:59):
So the making a very hard look when it comes
to renewing sports rights. And then you had you know,
obviously Netflix and Amazon and everybody. But I think what
happened with those streamers is they really wanted global rights.
I mean, this is a global racing circuit. Obviously it
makes sense to have global rights. And because this is
only a domestic rights package, I think the bidding process
kind of cooled down quite a bit. So what happened
(05:21):
as investors were resetting their expectations, They were thinking that
maybe you know, Formula one is not going to be
able to get the increase that it was looking for.
Maybe the increase would be more in like the thirty
to forty to fifty percent range. But the fact that
Apple went out and got this, uh you know, basically
bid eighty percent over it just shows that again sports
(05:41):
market is healthy, Formula one isn't a good place. And
for Apple, of course, this is just a drop in
the bucket.
Speaker 8 (05:47):
I mean, one hundred and fifty million dollars a year
really is in that much when you take a look
at a lot of the other you know, properties, even
in motorsport, NASCAR's deals seven billion for seven years. So
why is Formula one so much further behind there?
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Do you think?
Speaker 8 (06:03):
Is it just newer in the US or why is
it seen as a big deal just for one hundred
and fifty million.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Yeah, it's definitely a much smaller kind of circuit when
it comes to the US. I mean, this is much
bigger popularity in Europe. So you know, we've been actually
kind of tracking the rise in popularity of Formula one
and how liberty Formula one has really been kind of
cashing in. Actually the launch of the Netflix series Drive
to Survive that really kind of broadened the appeal of
(06:32):
the sport. So I think in many ways that was
kind of instrumental. So if you just kind of Venessa,
if you just kind of track viewership just a few
years ago for Formula One races in the US, you know,
we're looking at about half a million. So today, with
all of that increased awareness, it's closer to about almost
one and a half million. So they've managed to almost
(06:53):
double to triple their audience space. But again, this is
small potatoes when you compared with some of the viewership
number in the European market.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Well, you know, Githa, I mean the implications looking ahead
here for the UFC, right, because they're up next. I mean,
and UFC is a bit of a different animal, right,
I mean, that's year round programming and they don't have
you know, the European you know, media rights aren't spoken
for already. You know, what can we look through? What
can we expect the UFC to get for for for
its service?
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Yeah, so right away, you know, when we kind of
saw these numbers, our first knee jerk reaction was this
is really good news for the UFC. So we know
that currently again ESPN is the incumbent Namian for the
UFC as well. They're paying roughly about five hundred million
dollars for two separate packages. One is broadcast, one is
on you know, ESPN plus what we think is going
(07:42):
to happen since they've kind of walked away from the
exclusive negotiating period. We think UFC has by the way,
demanded at least a billion dollars, so they're looking to
double their fees. We think the UFC can easily get that.
And again, you spoke to all of these you know,
plus points with the UFC right again, you have a
year round programming, you have a global audience base, you
(08:04):
have this whole rise in this super fan base, if
you will, and all of that. There's so much engagement
that we're seeing right now in terms of you know,
fans for combat sports, and so UFC kind of ticks
all of those boxes. We see, you know, week after week,
we see WWE RAW doing really well on Netflix. You know,
(08:24):
anytime you open up Netflix Top ten, you see that
doing really well. But what we think is going to
happen with the UFC rights process is we think that
this is really going to be split up into multiple packages.
We saw that happen with the NBA, you know, the
NBA creating more packages and basically scoring almost a tripling
(08:44):
in their rights fees just by kind of introducing Amazon
and NBC into the mix, and so we think something
very similar is going to happen with the UFC as well.
You know, you probably will have a streamer like a
Netflix or an Amazon kind of get into the bidding
process here, and you'll have ESPN also kind of hold
on to at least one of the packages.
Speaker 7 (09:06):
Well, what Apple is banking on from people like old
Man gearhead Bar and many others like me, is that
you got to get the Apple service to get the
streaming and pay for it. And likely yes, I'm now
going to pay for Apple, And that's what I think
Apple is banking on.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Either, You're absolutely right. I mean Live Sports is you know,
some of the most important program for streaming services. I mean,
time and time again, we've seen that premier sporting events
can drive subscriptions like nothing else. So you know, you
think about Peacocks during the paras Olympics. You think about
Peacock having that one NFL Wildcard game getting almost three
(09:46):
to four million subscribers just in a few hours. Or
you even think about Netflix with WWE eraw paramount plus
with UEFA Champions League. So all of these sporting sporting
you know, events really drive subscrib Amazon has seen the
same thing with you know, the NFL and now hopefully
with the NBA. So yes, absolutely Apple is banking on
(10:06):
the exact same thing too. The only thing that I
would add here, Michael, is that Apple has dabbled a
little bit in sports. So they did take the MLB,
the Friday night games, they did take the MLS. We
don't think that, you know, any of those have been
a game changer, if you will, And a lot of
that is just because Apple TV plus still is kind
(10:28):
of a laggard, just when you compare all of the
other streamers. So they have an estimated forty five million subscribers,
but you compare that to the big dogs out there.
You think of a Netflix over three hundred million subscribers.
You think of you know, an Amazon Prime about two
hundred and seventy five million, Disney well over one hundred
and fifty million. So Apple, I think the problem for
them is going to be reach. But you're absolutely right, Yes,
(10:51):
they are going to use this property to basically boost
subscriptions to basically not just boot subscriptions, also retain subscribers
as well.
Speaker 7 (11:02):
One's a great product. There were concerns though, that the
bidding process wasn't very competitive. Why is that.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Yeah, So they're just a whole different set of reasons
for you know, why it wasn't competitive. One is that
the incumbent, which is you know, Disney's ESPN, is really
on this cost cutting drive. So just a few years ago, Michael,
their content budget was thirty three billion. After Barb Bieger
came back, they basically, you know, said they're all about
(11:33):
riding the ship. They're all about kind of really cutting
down the fat, cutting down the bloat, and so they
are actually they committed to a content budget of about
twenty three billion dollars. This means that any sports rights,
anything that comes up for renewal, they are taking a
very very hard look at it, which is why they
didn't go jumping, you know, to renew the UFC, they
didn't go jumping to renew the Formula one. They've opted
(11:56):
out of MLB, so they're, you know, they are really
on this cost cutting drive. And then in terms of
the other streamers, like you know, in Netflix or Amazon,
I think what they really wanted was global rights. And
with the fund, what we're seeing is this is only
the US rights package, So it's just a small sliver
of the you know, the entire property, and we don't
(12:17):
think Netflix was necessarily interested in that because you know,
this is a global racing circuit. You do want to
have global rights to to kind of be able to
get that reach, to get that engagement, and so that's
why we think that the bidding process kind of lost
a little bit of momentum. But I think again the
movie came and it really kind of jolted that whole process.
Speaker 7 (12:37):
Our thanks to KEITHA. Raghanoff, and she is Senior Media
Analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence. Up next, we turn to the
NBA and its plans to expand for the first time
in decades. Amian sasaur and Vanessa Berdomo. I'm Michael Barr.
You're listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberger
Radio around the world.
Speaker 6 (13:02):
This is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 7 (13:07):
This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports where we explore
the big money issues in the world of sports. Michae L. Barr,
along with Damian Sasawer and Vanessa Bernomo, the NBA de
eyeing expansion for the first time since two thousand and four,
and here to take us through what we know and
which cities might get a new NBA team soon. Is
Bloomberg US sports business reporter Randa Williams Randall, Welcome back
(13:33):
to the Bloomberg Business of Sports.
Speaker 5 (13:35):
I appreciate you all for having me. As always, we.
Speaker 7 (13:38):
Got to talk about, first of all, the NBA and
your story. Looks like the league is going to have
its first expansion in twenty years unless you know, unless
something changes. But there's been a lot of heavy chatter
about it. Randall.
Speaker 6 (13:54):
Look, I spent a couple days in Vegas and that
was the biggest topic of the week was with the
NBA officially now expansion, and they did just didn't happen
in the way that I think a lot of people
expected it to. When you announced expansion, people think like, oh, well,
I can put my bin in tomorrow. I want to
be in Nashville, I want to be in Seattle, I
want to be in Las Vegas. And that's not what
the league did. The league said, look, we're starting the
(14:16):
expansion process. We have to analyze things both economic and
non economic. So you have people excited, but not the
level of excitement. Did you think, Well, here's the thing.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Let's just say, for example, it's Las Vegas against Seattle, right,
and it had to go to one of the two,
you know, or Nash whatever.
Speaker 7 (14:32):
But you know, here's my question.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
You've got, I mean the money behind the Las Vegas team.
I mean, I'm talking Lebron, James Fenway Sports Redbird, I
mean the full smash. And then you know, I don't
know what's going on in Seattle, but wouldn't it be
awesome to see Sean Kemp and Gary Payton and those
old supersonic jerseys back. I mean, like, I mean, like,
how do you compete against Las Vegas?
Speaker 6 (14:50):
Well, I think that those are two completely different situations.
In Seattle, you have Samantha Holloway who's the daughter of
David Bonderman, and she owns the Seattle Kraken and also
has the stadium ready to go. And then in Las Vegas,
as you said, there's the Fenway, Redbird and Lebron group.
There is Bill Foley, and then Mark Lazari is also
(15:13):
in the hat as well. But I'm told that they
are not the only people who are interested. There's plenty
more people involved. And what it becomes is, you know,
what is the expansion fee going to be last summer?
People told me they expected it to be between four
and five billion, But that was before the Celtics sold.
That was before the Lakers sold, And so now it's
a thing of like if the floor and reminder that
(15:35):
the Lakers and Celtics sold without owning their arena, meaning
they don't make money from these concerts and things like that,
the same way it's let's say, you know, Madison Square
Garden would with that in mind, what in the world
would is this expansion fee going to be and who's
going to be priced out of it?
Speaker 9 (15:50):
So the question there that is interesting to me is
if there's this bidding war going on in Vegas, does
that mean the expansion fee for Vegas or whatever is
going on there can be different than if Seattle gets
a team and it's just given to Samantha Holloway or whatever.
Speaker 6 (16:05):
It's still to be determined. That's the best answer I
can give. I would imagine that this Seattle, if Seattle
is chosen, that Seattle would go for less than Vegas,
just because I think competition is going to drive that
Vegas price way way up. I wrote like last summer
that that team could sell for seven billion, and people
(16:26):
looked at me like I was crazy in large part
because you know, there's Team Mobile Arena there, but there's
no guarantee that someone doesn't want to build their own
arena and doesn't want to strike a deal with Bill
Foley and the people who operate Team Mobile Arena. And
so you know, you look at what stadiums and arenas
are going for today, they're two to three billion dollars,
and you know, it could be a five billion dollars
(16:47):
mansion fee, it could be a four billion dollars mansion fee,
and that cash is just very, very steep. And something
we also haven't mentioned is what are the Trailblazers sell for?
That could be the floor of this.
Speaker 7 (16:57):
And keep in mind too and lant As, you guys
have mentioned that Samantha Holloway as co owner of the
NHL Seattle Kraken, and she is probably a very pivotal
part in getting the team, or at least bringing a
team back to Seattle. And I think they should just
(17:18):
use the SuperSonics team name, just bring it back.
Speaker 6 (17:20):
Yeah, I think that's likely to happen, but it just
begs the question again of like what's the price going
to be? Because the reality is that there can be
people priced out of this.
Speaker 5 (17:31):
There are some looks.
Speaker 6 (17:32):
All billionaires are very rich, but you're talking about if
it's six billion or five and a half billion, that's
a lot of cash. And I mean you think about
what the Commander is sold for a six point five
and Celtics is six 't one.
Speaker 5 (17:46):
But this expansion fee is huge. It's huge.
Speaker 6 (17:49):
And the longer that this process goes on, the NBA's
process of evaluating things and doing this analysis that Adam
Silver has spoken of, I think the price is going
to continue to grab.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Julie Rise, well, you know, Randal, I mean, when you
just look at the average NBA team's full year twenty
three twenty four revenue, you're talking something on order of
what three hundred and eighty eight million dollars per year,
you know, so there's still a lot of untapped inherent
value in there at yet. Yet you know where I
get a little bit confused is you know, there's no guarantees,
as you rightly point out, there's no guarantees there's a stadium,
(18:20):
there's no guarantees that they're going to do their job creative,
you know, franchise values, create a brand, get people to
reach into their pockets and pay for those tickets. There's
no guarantees of anything, so there is you know, some
modicum of risk here, right, And I would imagine that
risk is a little bit greater in smaller mockerts like
Seattle or Nashville. I'm just comparing to Las Vegas. I mean,
or am I mistaken there?
Speaker 5 (18:41):
Now?
Speaker 6 (18:41):
I think that the risk really for the league is
that you have some owners who are interested in that
expansion fee, because you have to remember that this expansion
fee is split between all of the owners. Of course,
so if it's you know, let's say six billion, it'll
be split between.
Speaker 5 (18:59):
The thirty are the owners.
Speaker 6 (19:00):
But Adam Silver has pointed out some really good points,
and you know the RSN issue, which is, you know,
the regional sports networks, and then of course.
Speaker 5 (19:09):
Like does it dilute the talent? When can they start playing?
Speaker 6 (19:12):
All of these things that the NBA is going to
have to analyze and figure out is this the best
economic driver or do we have some other issues that we.
Speaker 5 (19:20):
Need to solve first.
Speaker 6 (19:21):
So if you're an investor who's been waiting for this
since Adam Silver, I believe he first mentioned it maybe
in twenty twenty or twenty twenty one. This was the
moment that you thought he was going to be like, yes,
like we are expanding, this is it, and that's not
exactly it. Yes they are expanding, but he's also said
that there is no guarantee that after the analysis that
they come back and say, eh, you know, maybe we
(19:43):
don't want to expand just yet.
Speaker 5 (19:45):
There's no guarantees with anything.
Speaker 8 (19:48):
And the interesting thing too about you're saying there's no
guarantees and we're almost talking about if they do expand,
it feels like Vegas and Seattle are unlocked and they're
already there, but before there, you know, uh, there's men
of expanding into Mexico internationally and all of that. Is
that kind of closed off or is there stills potential there?
Speaker 6 (20:08):
I think that Las Vegas and Seattle are the overwhelming favorites.
Seattle because they have a stadium set up, they owned
a team, there was a team there previously, and then
Las Vegas, like that team is just going to go
for such a price that you're going to have everyone
both domestic and internationally interested in that team. I do
(20:29):
think that if there was a city that could potentially
rival these, it is Mexico City. It's the largest city
in North America. But who's gonna who's going to raise
their hand from that? Who's going to want to compete
against Seattle and Las Vegas? Who are these favorites? And
of course there's the issue there's like political issues. I
got it, Mexico. You know, there's there's a lot of
(20:51):
things to figure out there. But other cities like Nashville,
Kansas City come to mind, maybe Vancouver, but it's a
steep hill to climb to get over Seattle in Las Vegas.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
Well, you know, Randall, I mean, just to your point.
You know, again, if you look at just regular old
sportc data, you know, the average NBA franchise value was
something on the other four point six billion. And that
was a while ago. They ran these numbers last year.
You know this, and you're and I think you're spot
on here because you know, if you just look at
the Lakers at that in that analysis, they were at
like eight billion, they just went for ten. You know,
you look at the Celtics, they were like five and
a half. They just went for six point one. So
(21:23):
I mean, you know, seven billion is is I dare
I say?
Speaker 7 (21:26):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (21:27):
And that may just be like a median estimate. You know,
it could be even hot. I mean, it's pretty unbelievable,
these numbers. It's just it's kind of mine numbing.
Speaker 6 (21:34):
I mean, if you look at One of the things
that's interesting to look at is if you look across
sports in the bigger leagues, the NFL, NBA, and MLB,
and you compare the valuations of the professional franchises there.
So you compare the Knicks to the Yankees, of the
Giants to the Jets, all of those, the Mets, of course,
you compare those franchises and they're all in the same ballpark.
Speaker 5 (21:58):
In Las Vegas.
Speaker 6 (21:59):
There's a little bit less of that just because the
Raiders are there, you have the aces there, the athletics
aren't playing there yet, and so then you have the
NBA coming in and whoever owns that franchise is not
going to have any trouble selling luxury suites. You're not
gonna have any trouble selling courtside tickets.
Speaker 5 (22:15):
Pretty much the.
Speaker 6 (22:16):
Exact same thing in Seattle because they have tech, the
tech presence there.
Speaker 5 (22:20):
But with that in mind, that's going to bring in
the big investor pool.
Speaker 6 (22:24):
It's like everybody is going to want that last golden Goose,
which is Las Vegas. Because I don't know if any
of you have been to a Raiders game, but Allegiance
Stadium is very nice and they have crazy fans, and
Las Vegas is a basketball town. I mean, if you
go into the March Madness history and their event hosting there,
it's it's going to be crazy.
Speaker 7 (22:44):
Well that brings me to Goofy question number two forty
five A and about Las Vegas, and then hear me out,
why can't Las Vegas have two NBA teams? We got
two NBA teams here in the New York area, two
NBA teams in the Los Angeles area. Why can't Las
(23:05):
Vegas have two NBA teams? Because yeah, I get it.
You know, they're they're growing, but they're expanding fast, and
you're talking about a city that's on the runt.
Speaker 5 (23:16):
I mean, I think it's a good question. I just
think it's unlikely.
Speaker 6 (23:19):
And the reason for that is because, yes, like you
look at all the markets out there that own or
have two teams, and it's basically LA and New York
and Las Vegas does have the capabilities of it.
Speaker 5 (23:31):
But does the NBA want to put.
Speaker 6 (23:33):
Two teams there versus Seattle, and you're thinking about it
from a market perspective, Seattle might do a little bit
more than two teams in Las Vegas. And then, of
course you have the split between who's let's say it's
the Las Vegas Outlaws versus the Las.
Speaker 5 (23:47):
Vegas Rattlesnakes or something.
Speaker 6 (23:49):
You split a fan base and don't I don't particularly
think that's why that would be wise of the league.
But could Las Vegas sustain it and could they make money? Yes,
but I think they would cannibalize each other. I think
that one team would be more successful, and then it
would be sort of the relationship between.
Speaker 5 (24:06):
I wouldn't say that Nixon the Nets.
Speaker 6 (24:07):
Because I think that the Nets have the liberty and
the liberty pack out stadiums arguably more than the Nets do.
But it would be it would create a situation where
I think people would point at one team and be like, oh,
you're lame for liking them, and rally towards the other team.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
I mean, you, Mike, you're asking about two teams in
Las Vegas when the Moines doesn't dwin, Iowa doesn't even
have one. I mean, come on, grow up.
Speaker 7 (24:30):
I mean, you know, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Then by Damien Sassara and Michael Barry can see it.
Speaker 6 (24:40):
What would do more?
Speaker 7 (24:41):
Team Luxury Boxes?
Speaker 6 (24:43):
What would you all name the Las Vegas team? The
oh pretty good?
Speaker 7 (24:51):
I was thinking the Las Vegas seven out line away team,
but that's another story. That's what I hear all the time,
right williams Man, I love you, Thank you so much
for joining us once again on the Bloomberg Business of Sports, Budd.
Speaker 5 (25:06):
I appreciate you all for having.
Speaker 7 (25:07):
Me hop Next, the MLB is officially back from its
All Star break. We'll take a look at some of
the biggest headlines from the first half and more for
Damien Sasaur and Vanessa Berdomo. I'm Michael Barr. You are
listening to Bloomberg Business of Sports Bloomberg Radio around the world.
Speaker 6 (25:31):
This is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 7 (25:36):
Thanks for joining us on the Bloomberg Business of Sports,
where we explore the big money issues in the world
of sports. I'm Michael Barr along with Damian Sasauer and
Vanessa Berdomo. The MLB season is back earned away after
taking its All Star break. Now it's swing off, baby,
to the postseason with a lot of teams looking to
bolster their rosters ahead of the July thirty first trade deadline.
(26:00):
Here to take a look back at the first half,
preview was to come and the trade deadline. We welcome
MLB Network insider John Morosi. Hey there, John, Welcome back
to the Bloomberg Business of Sports.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
Damian Michael Vanessa. Great to be with you. Happy second half.
What an All Star game this witnessed on Tuesday.
Speaker 4 (26:20):
How about that?
Speaker 7 (26:21):
You know, I want to start with that all right now,
and I listen. There's some high points and some low
points about it. I loved that we went back to
the uniforms for each team instead of, you know, one
for the National League and one for the American League,
because as the Detroit Tigers fan, I wanted to see
(26:43):
the old English d.
Speaker 5 (26:44):
Out tag the Tiger Rhodes.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
Now, you know, I got to tell you, Schwarber doing
Schwarber things right. And the coolest thing about it, I
have to say was you've got Braves fans cheering for him,
you know, like out of their seats, and you know,
Mets fans too. You know, it was kind of cool
to watch. But I guess from the negative side, I mean,
and John, correct me if I'm wrong. It's almost like
penalty kicks or like a shootout hockey, right.
Speaker 4 (27:04):
But I thought it was the way to do it.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
And listen, it's it's not a regular season game.
Speaker 4 (27:10):
It does not determine home fult advantage.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
For the World Series any longer. So the idea of
this is entertainment. And I would challenge anyone who even
remotely likes baseball that if they spent their evening on
Tuesday watching the game and turned it off, that anybody
would have.
Speaker 4 (27:29):
Said, Ah, nothing entertaining about that. That was a complete dudge.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
J John, you must be talking about Showhea Tani and
Aaron Judge, who actually left the stadium. I mean, what's
up with that?
Speaker 3 (27:38):
By the way, that that and again I cannot confirm
DENI speak to wherever anybody was during the course of
the latter.
Speaker 4 (27:45):
Innings of the game.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
I will say this, It has been standard procedure for many, many,
many years that once a regular player is out of
the game, they typically travel home or to their next destination. Because,
in fairness, they played the game on Sunday, they traveled
Sunday to the All Star site, they did the Derby
and all associated festivities on Monday, media obligations, et cetera.
(28:10):
They played the game Tuesday, and their All Star break
lasts for about twenty four hours. And so I never
have an issue with once you're out of the game,
that you that you go and and.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
So I will never criticize and some of the pitchers
who were still when they came out in their street clothes,
how cool is that?
Speaker 2 (28:27):
You know?
Speaker 1 (28:27):
I mean I wanted it too.
Speaker 5 (28:28):
It was awesome, And.
Speaker 3 (28:29):
That was awesome, And again every player is in a
different circumstance. It probably was the case that the Tigers
guys were all traveling together and there were six of them,
so School was probably waiting around for his buddies to
finish their obligations.
Speaker 4 (28:41):
Again, that was that was all cool, And.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
So I and listen when the drama was unfolding. Zero
issue for me that it wasn't necessarily judging Otani there.
Speaker 4 (28:51):
It was just it was a different group.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
And now you're gonna have College Warber beloved by that
many more people. And and Brent Rooker for the American League,
who started things off then an amazing job. And so
I've got zero issue. They're all all stars they all
belong there, and so I'm not going to bemoan that
it wasn't Judge versus Otani. We have seen they have
both fulfilled their obligations to the game as far as
(29:15):
I'm concerned.
Speaker 8 (29:15):
So do you think that, you know, this sort of
excitement that we saw for the All Star Game and
all of that, like, was it enough for All Star
games in general that like haven't really been doing well.
People don't watch them, they're not as excited for them.
How do you categorize this year's All Star Game?
Speaker 4 (29:33):
I think there was plenty of buzz Vanessa.
Speaker 3 (29:34):
And part of the issue now is how we look
at the ratings. For me, in my opinion, when you
look at whatever the linear television ratings are, I get
that they still exist and on some level there are
advertisers who care about it, but so much now is
via streaming, It's consumed in different ways, social media, different apps,
(29:55):
et cetera. That the linear TV rating to me means
less than it did twenty years ago, certainly even two
years ago for me, because there's just war ways in
which it's it's capturing, it's capturing the attention. And I'll
say this, all I know is that when I and
I did. I went on AX, I went on Threads.
During the latter stages of the game. Swing off was
(30:19):
just like trending across the world, okay, like everybody wanted
to talk about it. Of course by then it's morning
in Japan, and you got so many fans around the world.
So to me, yes, ratings are relevant on some level,
but they are not as relevant as the overall engagement
with the product. And if you if you were on AX,
(30:40):
if you were on Threads that night Instagram, there was
plenty of engagement I think with the global audience for
that game, and I think it was really a pretty
remarkable way to end that particular All Star experience.
Speaker 7 (30:54):
And remember too, the according to Nielsen, almost seven point
two million viewers watched the All Star Game. And now
I have to admit, because I'm an old coot and
I remember the days when Pete Rose was on the
field and all of this. So I didn't know at
(31:14):
first what the swing off because this was brand knew
what was going to happen. And then I started thinking
about it as I was driving into work and driving
home and this that whatever the whole point of the
All Star Game and it still is relevant to this day.
Is if you could get the local games in your area,
but you couldn't see a Pete Rose play at that time,
(31:37):
or you couldn't see the other players unless they made
the playoffs. And that's the essence of the All Star Game.
And like you said, John, I guess everybody enjoyed that
swing off because you got to see the.
Speaker 4 (31:51):
Players you did.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
And I think to that point you think about the
big picture and Kyle Stowers, Randy or Rose, Arena, Jonathan Aranda.
There are players there that were that maybe were not
household names, but they they get their chance now and
you get to see them and understand their stories a
little bit. And that's empirically a good thing for the
(32:15):
game of baseball, and is to then give them that
moment to have the conversation about them and to take
their turn in the spotlight. I think we right now
have a tremendous amount of great players and great stories
in baseball that go beyond Judge and Otani. Yes, those
are the number two, number one and number two players
(32:35):
that we talk about, but you had the starters and
Scooble and schemes, and it was a great story that
was done by Tom Ronaldi on the pregame show with
Fox about the two of them, Jacob Mazarowski.
Speaker 4 (32:44):
Throwing a million miles an hour on the mound, which
was a lot of fun to watch too.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
So we have a lot of great stars, and I
think I want to give credit to to the Fox
Sports production and Joe Davis and John Smoltz that the
tie breaking mechanism was reveal field almost in a really
creative and subtle way. Uh, there was a bit of
a tease there about what was going to happen, and
that's all good. That's I realized. We all knew it
(33:10):
was part of the rules, and and on some level
we probably should have been we as fans should have
been more prepared for what was going to happen at
the end.
Speaker 4 (33:18):
But it's it was perfect. We don't have enough surprises
in life anymore. Everybody.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
We kind of have randomness of spontaneity and and delight
and unexpected things are great, and so we we sign
up for this life to do this, and and certainly
sports give us that experience. In the microcosm of why
we love sports so much is we don't know what's
going to happen and so the the the unknown and
(33:44):
the the newness of it. I remember there was actually
an interview that James would uh the outstanding prospect of
the Washington Nationals, gave that night with Fox Sports Radio,
and he basically said, we in the nationalague dugout didn't
know exactly what was going on. That's unexpected. Things are cool,
and I think that leaning into the magic of the
(34:06):
unexpected conclusion is part of why we love sports. And
I think it was another demonstration of why this is
the greatest.
Speaker 4 (34:13):
Of all the All Star Games and.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
Why this is also the greatest of all the sports
because of everything that unfolded, And certainly I don't want
to go any further without mentioning the Hank Aaron tribute
was just beautiful in every possible way, and having Billy
Aaron there and there was a beautiful image of her
watching it unfolding the ballpark. I get goosebumps talking about it,
and I was watching it with my wife at that point,
(34:36):
who was not a sports fan, and I was explaining
some of the significance of why that home run was
so special and what that call meant, and that the
way the fans greeted Hank Aaron.
Speaker 4 (34:45):
After all, he had endured all the.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
Hatred he endured and racism along that journey to then
setting this greatest of American records. I just think was
a beautifully done moment by MLB in the city of
Atlanta to John.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
You know, I love that your reference another friend of
the show, John's Molten.
Speaker 7 (35:00):
There.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
You know, John came in second in the American Century
Golf Championship. I mean, I know he's pretty hard on himself, Michael,
so he's probably upset that he only came in second
there but a shout out to him. But you know,
I just want to switch gears on you.
Speaker 7 (35:10):
John.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
I think we just saw another sale here in Major
League Baseball. I think I think the Tampa Rays are
going to sell for if I'm not mistaken, one point
seven billion to Jacksonville developer Patrick Zelupski. So I guess
that means they're going to stay in town. But I mean,
my goodness, this is the I mean, based on Sportico data, John,
this is the twenty ninth of thirty Major League Baseball
teams in terms of valuation, or at least it was
(35:32):
going into this and it was what I mean, I
think they are. I mean you covered the Harvard Crimson
hockey team. I think there are fourteen NHL teams that
have a command the higher valuation, even at one point
seven billion, if that's indeed the number, talk to us
a little bit about this sale. I mean for what again,
for one of the I guess least valuable Major League
Baseball teams to go at a premium to what the mark,
(35:54):
This has to be good for the sport, for the league, right.
Speaker 3 (35:58):
Yes, I've often said, Damian, I I will never do
live math on the radio because I often make mistakes.
And then and by the way, when I make a mistake,
the response is always great job, Morosi, you went to Harvard,
and you can't do that. I'm not gonna calculate percentage
right now, other than to say that's a pretty big
percentage increase of what Stu Sterberg bought the race for
(36:22):
and what the reported sale.
Speaker 4 (36:23):
Price is going to be.
Speaker 3 (36:25):
That to me, again, we talk about different investments, and
I realized what we're We're on the Bloomberg Show, so
I can reference this. You think about some of the
best investments in the American business world over the last
quarter century, sports teams have appreciated quite nicely. Yeah, in
that in that time, it's a pretty good investment. And
and this even even a team without a an assured
(36:49):
long term home. You're buying a team for the for
the right to then sit there and have a negotiation
with with different governmental entities in Florida about where you're
gonna try to build a stadium. This is not exactly
a glide path to to to an easy profit year
over year, but the macro the franchise appreciation tells you
(37:10):
all you need to know. And the Minnesota Twins are
also up for sale. The commissioner talked a bit at
the All Star Game about where that process is going
in again, the Rays have basically set the floor here
and and it's it's a floor with a fairly it's
not like a floor, it's a trampoline in terms of
how high the valuations are going.
Speaker 4 (37:30):
So it's a it's a really good situation for the game.
Speaker 3 (37:33):
It shows how much interest there is in what the
long term place of baseball is going to be. It's
really important, I think, for the game's health as we
enter a new CBA negotiation period. This is a nice
bit of news for everybody.
Speaker 4 (37:48):
Listen.
Speaker 3 (37:49):
It helps the players to know that the franchise has
a great valuation. That means investment in players, in capital,
and the overall mechanics of the organizations should be very
very strong, and certainly from a macro level. If you're
Rob Manfred within now several years left in his tenure
as commissioner, he's got to say that if the Tampa
(38:09):
Bay Rays are selling for close to two billion dollars,
that he's done a pretty good job in his stewardship
of the game.
Speaker 8 (38:15):
Yeah, unbelievable. And you had mentioned it there about how
they still have so many questions to really settle on
where they're going to be playing and all of that.
But now with new change in ownership and obviously the
deal flying apart in Saint Pete, but everything that happened there,
where is this stadium going to be built? When will
they really have a real home, like a real new home.
Speaker 4 (38:36):
Yeah, it's a great question.
Speaker 3 (38:38):
And obviously they've been playing outdoors at Steinberner Field, the
Yankee spring training facility for this year because of the storm.
Did the hurricane damage the Tropic Canna field. The belief is,
as the commissioner said, there's still a pretty good optimism
that the field's going to be ready, the Tropic Canna
field's going to be ready for twenty twenty six opening day.
But obviously, as you point out, that is not the
(38:58):
long term home. It does seem to me that with
the success of albeit a short term solution in Tampa,
that that may revive and reopen the minds of people
on the Hillsborough County side of the bridge to the
potential of having the team their long term. The Tampa
Bay Lightning, in a non traditional hockey market, have become
(39:19):
something of a model franchise.
Speaker 4 (39:20):
They've won Stanley Cups, They've.
Speaker 3 (39:22):
Got one of the most respected coaches in the game,
They've got elite talent on the ice and have for
a long time. So there's a lot to like about
Tampa as a sports market. Rob Manford is on record
as saying he hopes the team stays in the area,
stays in the state. So I think that this franchise ownership,
whenever it changes over, it will reset things a little bit.
(39:45):
And as we all know, when it comes to a
new stadium being built, a lot of it has to
do with the political dynamics of a particular place, how
well the owner negotiates and navigates the various municipalities, the governor,
the county, the city government. This to me feels like
a reset to where the new ownership group will come
(40:06):
in and certainly helpful that that, again, based on the reports,
if it ends up being this group that closes the deal,
there's a lot of real estate, a lot of a
lot of know how in this particular area of of
franchise operations, where you're going to build and and what's
going to happen next. So I think this particular ownership group,
I would say Vanessa's very well equipped to handle this conversation,
(40:29):
and I would expect that it does give a bit
of a boost to the notion of the Rays staying
in Tampa Bay for the long term.
Speaker 8 (40:36):
Yeah, do you think that the new ownership coming in,
like you said, has a reset sort of value that
maybe the public has more you know, faith in them
even just creating a better team, putting more money into
the team, that makes them more willing to say yes
to public funding.
Speaker 4 (40:51):
It's a great point, and I think it could.
Speaker 3 (40:53):
And and that's where you know, public funding for franchises
has been been a hot topic and it's somewhat dependent
upon where and how and in what fashion you ask
for that money. Uh where it's it's a complicated question
based on wherever you're you're asking, uh that that request
for for for public money. But I do think in
(41:15):
general that the manner in which you are a steward
of the organization and and how much you spend. I
think if a team comes in, depending on how the
how the deal has structured, how much debt there is,
how much cash they have on hand, I would hope
that that the idea would be from a standpoint of
of MLB, make sure we pick a team, pick an
ownership group that has good cash on hand that can
(41:36):
infuse some capital in the roster and make this a
more competitive team to bring in some stars.
Speaker 4 (41:43):
And I've often said this. Sports fans are smart. They
pay attention. They know what's going on.
Speaker 3 (41:47):
With their team with other teams, and they can look
at the payroll numbers and say, Okay, are we spending
like we should spend or not.
Speaker 4 (41:53):
Tampa is a big market.
Speaker 3 (41:55):
It's not the biggest, but it's a big market and
a growing market. And in Florida, if especially if you
if you sort of add in the area is going
east a bit towards Polk County, and they are in
Orange County in.
Speaker 4 (42:07):
Florida along I four.
Speaker 3 (42:09):
There's a lot of fans there, and so if you
do it right in Tampa, you're gonna have a very
well supported franchise, and I hope that's the case for
the long term.
Speaker 1 (42:18):
John, you totally now that. I mean, let me remind
our audience that the Tampa Bay Devil Rays still generated
three hundred and eleven million dollars in full year twenty
twenty four. That's a thirty four percent rise over the
three year period before that. So I mean, you know
clearly that it generates a lot of money, Michael Bark.
But let's also remember that of the next what thirty
seven almost forty games in the Major League Baseball season,
(42:39):
less than half of them or maybe half of them,
are only played at home. And there's still you know,
three in the three and eleven slide or whatever slide
they're in, and you know they've got to work cut
out from the five and a half game a head
of first as of right now.
Speaker 7 (42:50):
MLB Network insider John MOROSEI, man, I'm gonna give you
this tune. I'm going to sing to you, man, We're
all behind our baseball team. Go get him, Detroit Taggers,
Go get Him Taggers.
Speaker 3 (43:05):
That is a classic from the from the sixties. They're
well well done, Michael, I love it.
Speaker 4 (43:11):
Mike Detroit Free Press right there, Yes, right, my.
Speaker 3 (43:16):
Parents, they're gonna be listening to the segment and loving,
loving the sound of that song. They've got the best
record in baseball as the second half begins, so let's
see if the old English tea can find a way
to play the final game of the season. They're right
around Halloween and Detroit where you know, if you all
come up and join us, just you know, bring a
couple of layers. You never know, you might have snow
around that time, but we'll be ready and eager to
(43:38):
welcome all the baseball community to the great state of
Michigan that time of year.
Speaker 7 (43:41):
John Morosi, we love you, man. Thank you for joining
us on the Bloomberg Business of Sports. We appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (43:47):
Great to be on the show. Thanks so much for everything.
Speaker 7 (43:48):
Take care though. Our thanks to MLB Network insider John
Morosi for joining us. And that does it for this
edition of The Bloomberg Business of Sports. Man, it goes
so fast. If you've missed any part of it. Catch
it on demand now with the Bloomberg Business of Sports podcast.
Find it on Apple, Spotify or anywhere else you get
your podcasts, and while you're there, find the latest bonus
(44:11):
episode on the Business of Soccer as we make our
way to the fief of World Cup in twenty twenty
six for Vanessa Bernomo and Damian Sassaur. I'm Michael Barr.
You're listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports Bloomberg Radio,
a round world
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