The SBD/SBJ editorial staff compiled the top sports business stories of '15, in no particular order. Today, we present our remaining five.
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Manfred proved skeptics wrong with his fresh
approach and focus on youth initiatives. |
MANFRED MAN: Prior to the election of Rob Manfred as MLB commissioner, the arguments both for and against him rested heavily on the widespread assumption that he would simply be a thematic continuation of Bud Selig’s tenure. It turns out both camps were wildly wrong. In less than a year, Manfred has transformed baseball’s HQ with an entirely new level of energy. He unified the sport’s business operations, and then moved on to creating a much deeper level of involvement with individual team owners, and a significant focus across all of baseball on youth engagement. Plenty of serious challenges loom ahead, including a labor negotiation with players in '16 and questions on how Manfred will handle domestic violence issues. But the new commissioner has quickly put his own stamp on the sport.
KICKING & SCREAMING: The U.S. women’s national soccer team captured the hearts and minds of the country on their road to winning the '15 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Led by tournament standout Carli Lloyd, the team’s victory in the final over Japan attracted more than 26.7 million U.S. television viewers, making it the most-watched soccer game in American history. The U.S. welcomed the team home with a ticker-tape parade in Manhattan, the first time a team of female athletes has received that honor.
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Blatter was recently suspended by FIFA for eight
years, a ban he plans to vehemently fight |
FIFA UNDER FIRE: FIFA found itself in the crosshairs of the U.S. Department of Justice, with an ongoing investigation into corruption, racketeering and conspiracy completely shaking up the global football organization and the soccer-governing bodies that operate under the FIFA umbrella. With sponsors calling for massive reform, a special election on Feb. 26 set to replace now-suspended President Sepp Blatter, and even more stones likely to be overturned by the investigations, '16 will be a crucial year for FIFA and its future.
HELP ME, RONDA: She came in like a lion and went out like a lamb. Ronda Rousey emerged as the UFC’s top drawing card in '15, proving equally adept at landing movie roles and selling pay-per-views. But in the circuit’s second biggest-selling PPV ever, in front of a record crowd of 56,214 in Melbourne in November, the seemingly invincible Rousey finished the night bloodied and broken, KO’d by a kick to the side of the head. The good news for Rousey and the UFC: The much-anticipated rematch against new champ Holly Holm figures to be the most lucrative MMA show in history.
THE OLD COLLEGE TRY: The inaugural CFP national championship between Ohio State and Oregon at AT&T Stadium delivered beyond expectations with a cable TV-record audience of 33.4 million viewers, the first cable broadcast with an average audience to surpass 30 million viewers. With the help of the two semifinal games, the playoffs accounted for the top three most-viewed programs in cable history.
