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Year End

2014 by the numbers

Some of the figures, big and small, that defined the year

Photo by: Getty Images
$325 million
Value of a 13-year contract for Miami Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton, the largest total value for a player contract in North American sports history.

88,600
Number of regular-season and playoff games (give or take a few) played under the watch of MLB Commissioner Bud Selig and NBA Commissioner David Stern. Stern retired in February and Selig’s official last day is Jan. 24, 2015.

3.49 million

Photo by: Getty Images

Bobbleheads distributed by MLB clubs across 146 giveaway dates, the most such dates in any year since we began tracking teams’ promotional efforts in 2005.

$14.53 million
During the general election cycle, spending by politicians and PACs during sportscasts in the 23 battleground markets that are home to a big league team.

$38.4 million
Amount raised during this year’s Boston Marathon by people running on behalf of nonprofit groups, smashing the prior year’s total and supporting more than 300 organizations.

32
New or extended naming-rights deals signed, the most ever in one year. Among the more than $676 million pledged was college football’s biggest average annual payout, a $1.5 million annual agreement from Texas Dow Employees Credit Union over the next decade to name the University of Houston’s new stadium.

Photo by: University of Houston
$738 million
College stadium construction projects underway, completed or approved in 2014 — in Texas. New stadiums opened at Houston (left) and Baylor, a $450 million renovation at Texas A&M wraps up next summer, and major projects are in the works at Texas and Texas Tech.

$40 million
Reported price that Palisades Arcadia Baseball paid to acquire the Class A Midwest League Dayton Dragons, a record for a minor league affiliate.

$51 billion
Reported expense of Sochi, Russia, to stage the 2014 Winter Olympics. Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., will each give their official presentations to the USOC this week as part of their bids to host the 2024 Summer Games. Each bid is expected to propose spending less than $5 billion.

$70-$80

Photo by: Don Muret / Staff

Price range of the Wow Burger at Time Warner Cable Arena, home of the Charlotte Hornets. The “market-priced” giant sandwich weighs in at 8 pounds and features 14 8-ounce burger patties spread across two huge buns.

2
Records set by U.S. sports fans. Kansas City Chiefs fans hit a level of 142.2 decibels at Arrowhead Stadium during the team’s Sept. 29 defeat of the New England Patriots, the loudest crowd roar ever at a stadium. The Aug. 2 Manchester United-Real Madrid friendly at Michigan Stadium drew a crowd of 109,318, the most ever to attend a soccer game in the U.S.

16
Name changes among this winter’s college football bowl games, compared to a year ago, the biggest such year-to-year turnover ever.


What made 2014 such a big Deal

Biggest facility projects started in 2014

Project Cost Scheduled completion
Atlanta Falcons stadium $1.1 billion 2017
Golden State Warriors arena $1 billion 2018
Minnesota Vikings stadium $975 million 2016
Atlanta Braves ballpark $672 million 2017
Detroit Red Wings arena $650 million 2016

Top U.S. team sales

Team Price Principal buyer(s) Seller
Los Angeles Clippers $2 billion Steve Ballmer Donald Sterling
Buffalo Bills $1.4 billion Terry and Kim Pegula Estate of the late Ralph Wilson
Milwaukee Bucks $550 million Wesley Edens, Marc Lasry Herb Kohl
New York Islanders* $485 million Jon Ledecky, Scott Malkin Charles Wang
Arizona Coyotes** $152 million Andrew Barroway IceArizona

* Wang will continue as majority shareholder and governor of the Islanders, with the Ledecky/Malkin group transitioning to majority owner by the beginning of the 2016-17 season.
** Barroway agreed to buy a majority stake of the franchise Oct. 10, with approval from the league expected by the end of the year.

Top media rights deals

Network(s) Sports PROPERTY Terms
ESPN/ABC NBA Nine-year deal worth $12.6 billion that runs through the 2024-25 season
Turner Sports NBA Nine-year deal worth $10.8 billion that runs through the 2024-25 season
DirecTV NFL Eight-year deal worth $12 billion for the NFL Sunday Ticket package that runs through 2022
NBC IOC $7.75 billion deal for six more Olympic Games that runs through 2032
CBS NFL One-year deal, worth at least $275 million, to air eight Thursday night NFL games in 2014
ESPN, Fox, Univision MLS Eight-year deals that begin in 2015. ESPN and Fox are paying a combined average of $75 million per year while Univision is paying an average of $15 million per year average of $15 million per year.

Venture capital deals of note

FanDuel: The New York-based daily fantasy sports provider received a $70 million round of Series D funding in September. Investors include Shamrock Capital Advisors, NBC Sports Ventures and KKR & Co.
DraftKings: The Boston-based daily fantasy sports provider received a $41 million round of Series C funding in August. Investors include The Raine Group, Redpoint Ventures, GGV Capital and Atlas Venture.
SeatGeek: The New York-based ticket search firm received a $35 million round of Series B funding in August. Investors include Accel Partners, Causeway Media Partners, Melo7 Tech Partners, Peyton and Eli Manning, Mousse Partners, Stanford University, Shane Battier and Mike Dunleavy Jr.
ScoreBig: The Los Angeles-based discount ticket outlet received an $18 million round of Series D funding in October. Investors include Hearts Ventures.
Oyo Sports: The Acton, Mass.-based maker of sports-related toys received a $3 million seed round of investment in June and an $11 million round of Series A funding in September. Investors include Mandalay Sports Media, Boston Seed Capital and Atlas Venture.

Source: SportsBusiness Journal research


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