THE DAILY each Friday offers our take on the performances over the past week of people and entities in sports business. Here are this week's newsmakers:
WIN: NIKE -- Big week for the Beaverton behemoth with Q4 earnings up 14% and the company saying it is ahead of schedule in terms of reaching revenue projections for ’15. With every Nike brand category seeing gains last year, the company also increases the future earnings projections it had set for FY '15. Nike is able to tout a strong FY performance from Converse, which had the largest growth among the company’s subsidiaries. The growth is being used as a springboard to expand price increases across a wide array of products starting this spring.
LOSE: NBA -- Coming off its most successful season in years, climaxing with a captivating postseason that earned terrific TV ratings, DAVID STERN's basketball league joined the NFL as the second major pro sports league locking out its players. Less than three weeks after handing the Larry O'Brien Trophy to the Mavericks, has the NBA erased the goodwill it took years to establish? All signs point to a painfully long work stoppage that very well may extend into the '11-12 season -- or beyond. There's no doubt the league's financial model needs fixing, but let's hope the two sides can work out a new agreement before fans forget why they care again.
DRAW: YANI TSENG -- Four major wins by age 22. Two wins this season in golf's biggest events. Tseng has taken the LPGA by storm, winning her last event by 10 strokes. But has anyone taken notice? Tseng is dominating tournaments in a way the sport of women's golf hasn't seen since LORENA OCHOA and ANNIKA SORENSTAM retired. LPGA Commissioner MICHAEL WHAN has been clamoring for a star the tour can ride back into the national sports conscience, but the little-known Tseng may not propel her sport to new heights like MICHELLE WIE could. There's no doubt Tseng is a good thing for the LPGA; there is doubt, however, that people are paying attention.
