Menu
Sports Business Awards

Sports League of the Year

American Athletic Conference
Why it could win:
  • Success on the field spun the turnstiles; seven schools averaged better than 30,000 fans last season.
  • Big season for Temple, Memphis and Houston, capped off by Houston’s resounding Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl win over No. 9 Florida State. Around the conference, Memphis sold out the Liberty Bowl for its win against Ole Miss, while Cincinnati opened historic Nippert Stadium after an $86 million renovation.
  • Behind the powerhouse at UConn, the American continued its dominance in women’s basketball.
Major League Baseball
Why it could win:
  • Successful reorganization of business operations under Commissioner Rob Manfred and Bob Bowman as president of business and media that also yielded a heightened commitment to youth engagement.
  • Record league revenue of $9.5 billion.
  • Audience increases across much of the sport’s media profile, including increased TV ratings for the regular season, divisional playoff round, World Series and Home Run Derby, and record digital consumption.
Major League Soccer
Why it could win:
  • Record average attendance — an increase of 12.7 percent year over year — and a record in the total number of sellouts.
  • New domestic media rights deal led to the most television viewers in league history, a 50 percent increase in total viewership.
  • Successful debut of clubs in Orlando and New York.
NASCAR
Why it could win:
  • New ownership charter system that is designed to increase enterprise value for current owners and entice new owners to come into the sport.
  • Averaged 5.1 million viewers over the course of a 36-race season; most-viewed season finale in 10 years.
  • Major growth across digital, social and mobile.
NBA
Why it could win:
  • Set records for regularseason attendance (21.9 million), sellouts (700 games) and average arena capacity (94 percent).
  • 2015 NBA Finals were the most-viewed Finals on ABC.
  • Signed an eight-year, $1 billion apparel deal with Nike, expanded apparel rights with Under Armour, and signed new deals with Pepsi, Verizon and Tissot.
PGA Tour
Why it could win:
  • Launched PGA Tour Live over-the-top subscription network to increase early-round tournament coverage.
  • Overall television ratings increased by 22 percent.
  • Another big year for multiyear sponsorships, closing many new deals and renewals.

ADDITIONAL SECTIONS
PODCASTS

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: May 8, 2024

Start your morning with Buzzcast with Austin Karp: The NFL sets a date for its 2024 schedule release, while also dropping hints that it could soon approve private equity investment in teams; WNBA teams finally land charter flights; the F1 Miami Grand Prix delivers a record on TV; and Elevate lands in Happy Valley.

Phoenix Mercury/NBC’s Cindy Brunson, NBA Media Deal, Network Upfronts

On this week’s pod, SBJ’s Austin Karp chats with SBJ NBA writer Tom Friend about the pending NBA media Deal. Cindy Brunson of NBC and Phoenix Mercury is our Big Get this week. The sports broadcasting pioneer talks the upcoming WNBA season. Later in the show, SBJ media writer Mollie Cahillane gets us set for the upcoming network upfronts.

SBJ I Factor: Molly Mazzolini

SBJ I Factor features an interview with Molly Mazzolini. Elevate's Senior Operating Advisor – Design + Strategic Alliances chats with SBJ’s Ross Nethery about the power of taking chances. Mazzolini is a member of the SBJ Game Changers Class of 2016. She shares stories of her career including co-founding sports design consultancy Infinite Scale career journey and how a chance encounter while working at a stationery store launched her career in the sports industry. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.
SBJ TV

Sports Media Podcast April 24 Whos Up Whos Down

4 mins

Sports Media Podcast April 17 2024 The Big Get Molly Solomon

5 mins

Sports Media Podcast March 27 2024

29 mins

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2016/05/16/Sports-Business-Awards/League.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2016/05/16/Sports-Business-Awards/League.aspx

CLOSE
You have 0 articles remaining this month.

Register for a free SBJ account to unlock one extra article per month.

© 2024 Leaders Group. All rights reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Leaders Group.