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SBJ Unpacks: Titans Face Fine, But No Further Discipline From NFL


Tonight in SBJ Unpacks: The Titans face a potential fine following the NFL and NFLPA's protocol investigation, but the team avoids individual discipline and the loss of draft picks.

  • Update on J.J. Watt's interest in Utah Soccer Holdings
  • Tiger Woods' 2020 Hero World Challenge canceled 
  • Inter Miami CF sees high engagement rate on social in first season
  • Slate co-founders break down new investments
  • NBA begins meeting with TV partners on plans for next season
  • U.S. Figure Skating gets creative with return to ice

 

TITANS FACE POTENTIAL FINE FOLLOWING NFL INVESTIGATION

  • The NFL and NFLPA this afternoon informed the Titans that their review into the team's COVID-19 outbreak has concluded, and while the organization "will face a potential fine," individuals will not be disciplined and there is "no discussion of forfeiture of draft picks," reports ESPN's Adam Schefter

  • Schefter reports the league found the Titans' facility to be "in compliance" with league mandated protocols. But there were "incidents of people not wearing masks" and also "insufficient communication" regarding the controversial workout at Nashville's Montgomery Bell Academy on Sept. 30.

  • NFL Network's Tom Pelissero reports the Titans were "fully cooperative with the review, providing documents and video and helping to facilitate interviews." However, CBS Sports' Jason La Canfora reports "many other teams believed stern penalties" were in order with "so many around the league already fined."

 

FANS FACE STEEP PRICES FOR LIMITED CAPACITY WORLD SERIES

  • Fans wanting to attend tomorrow’s World Series Game 1 between the Dodgers and Rays will need at least $1,178 to get into Arlington’s Globe Life Field, according to last minute event ticket company Gametime. The most expensive ticket for Game 1 comes in at $17,874, reports SBJ's Karn Dhingra. Last year, the Houston Chronicle reported the average ticket price for the first two World Series games at Minute Maid Park was about $950. 

  • Prices for subsequent games increase with a get-in price of $1,464 for Game 2. The get-in price for Games 3-5 averages $2,288. The most expensive ticket for Game 4 is $6,803 while the most expensive ticket for Games 3 and 5 is $3,627 and $2,857, respectively. 
     
  • Game 6 has a get-in price of $1,473, with the most expensive ticketing coming in at $2,188. Game 7, should it be necessary, has the widest range in prices with a get-in of $484, while the most expensive ticket is $21,776.

 

SOURCE: WATT REMAINS INTERESTED IN UTAH SOCCER HOLDINGS

  • Texans defensive end J.J. Watt and his representatives remain interested in finding a way for him to be involved in the sale of Utah Soccer Holdings, regardless of who the future buyer might be, a source familiar with the situation tells SBJ’s Mark J. Burns.

  • Watt, whose wife Kealia Ohai Watt is a Utah native and plays for the Chicago Red Stars (NWSL), initially expressed his interest on Twitter in late August. Utah Soccer, which includes Real Salt Lake (MLS) and other pro soccer teams and related properties, is currently for sale after reports surfaced two months ago alleging racism and inappropriate behavior by Owner Dell Loy Hansen and Chief Business Officer Andy Carroll.

  • Last month, SBJ reported early-stage talks around the sale of Utah Soccer Holdings were beginning around $500 million.

 

TIGER WOODS' 2020 HERO WORLD CHALLENGE CANCELED

  • Tiger Woods' Hero World Challenge has been canceled for 2020, reports Golf Digest's Joel Beall.

  • The event, played the last five years in New Providence, Bahamas, was scheduled to begin Dec. 3. However, current COVID-19 restrictions and quarantine protocols in the Bahamas "made hosting the tournament an impossibility." 

  • Woods has "hosted his charity event since 2000, with the proceeds going to his TGR Foundation." The 44-year-old has won the competition five times. Though it is "not considered an official event by the PGA Tour, the Hero has awarded Official World Golf Ranking points since 2009." The tour will tee it up that same week with the Mayakoba Golf Classic in Quintana Roo, Mexico on Dec. 3.

 

 

INTER MIAMI CF FINDS SOCIAL SUCESS IN INAUGURAL MLS SEASON

  • Inter Miami CF might be in the bottom third of the Eastern Conference in their inaugural MLS season, but the club is tops among MLS clubs on social media, writes SBJ’s Mark J. Burns. From March 15 through Oct. 14, the first-year expansion club has the highest engagement rate on Twitter and Facebook at 1.22% and 1.93%, respectively. Trailing Miami on Twitter specifically are FC Cincinnati (0.98%), Minnesota United FC (0.97%), Columbus Crew (0.91%) and Chicago Fire (0.91%).

  • On Facebook, Inter Miami is third in engagement rate at 8.86%, only behind the Philadelphia Union (8.99%) and Minnesota (9.5%), according to Zoomph, a Reston, Va.-based company that specializes in social audience intelligence and sponsorship measurement.

  • Over the last seven months, Atlanta United has generated the most impressions (2.69 billion) on Twitter, followed by Orlando City SC (1.51 billion) and the Seattle Sounders (1.22 billion). The L.A. Galaxy led on Facebook with (53.49 million impressions) as well as Instagram (79.96 million) during the same time frame.

 

SLATE CO-FOUNDERS BREAK DOWN NEW INVESTMENTS 

  • Earlier this month, mobile-first content-creation platform Slate announced seed investments from TitletownTech, a joint venture by the Packers and Microsoft, and WISE Ventures, owned by the Vikings’ Wilf family.

  • Slate co-Founder & CEO Michael Horton told SBJ’s Andrew Levin on how the investments came together, “We definitely had a leg up with both of them in that the Minnesota Vikings and the Green Bay Packers were both already customers of ours when we started these conversations, so it was really easy for them to do due diligence.”

  • Co-Founder & COO Eric Stark said Slate plans to utilize the investments to “kick start the development that we see as kind of the next step of where we can really expand.” He cited bolstering the company’s tech side to be able to continue to innovate and make updates. Stark -- the former NFL Director of Int’l Marketing & Content Strategy -- also listed pursuing expansion with league deals and expanding globally. He said, “We think there’s opportunity for league deals that come with some of the technology that we’re building that will help make it easier for leagues to manage assets across all their teams.”

  • Stark added that Slate already has some customers in the Premier League and Bundesliga. “We’re really looking to ramp that up, especially across Europe,” Stark said.

  • For more insights from Horton and Stark on Slate, check out today’s episode of “SBJ Unpacks: The Road Ahead” podcast.

 

SOURCES: NBA MEETING WITH NETWORKS THIS WEEK ABOUT 2020-2021 SEASON

  • The Ringer's Bill Simmons cites sources as saying the NBA will have meetings with its TV partners this week to decide on the start date for the next season, with the consensus leaning towards "sooner rather than later" in order to keep the 2021-2022 season on track.

  • Simmons, on his eponymous podcast, said: "The thinking is, this next season is screwed now. Fans aren’t going to be back till god only knows. They have to preserve the season after. ...The move, which I think they’re starting to talk themselves into and I know they have talks about it this week with the networks, you bite the bullet. You start it sooner than later. You go like 70 games, get rid of the All-Star Break. … You try to get it done by mid-July. … They need to preserve the next season." 
  • Simmons also said the long-rumored Christmas Day season start date likely lost traction amid the 37% viewership drop for the postseason. "The thing that they learned is that nobody watches television in August, regardless of whether there’s a pandemic or not. The ratings just aren't going to be as good. Then September was just a catastrophe going against football and then the election. You know what really worked? Having the Finals in June, the offseason in July. You own those two months. They want to get back to that, or some version of that."

 

U.S. FIGURE SKATING PLANS TAPED EXHIBITION FOLLOWING RETURN TO ICE

  • The return of top-tier figure skating to American soil this weekend will be followed by a taped exhibition performance, reports SBJ’s Chris Smith. This weekend’s Skate America will be broadcast live on NBC and NBCSN Friday-Sunday, and on Monday the event’s competitors will perform in a recorded, two-hour “skating spectacular” to be aired on November 1, filling the broadcast window initially planned for the canceled Skate Canada event.  
  • U.S. Figure Skating CMO Ramsey Baker said the NGB had strategized the backup plan well in advance of the calendar changes. “That was something we already were working on, with the idea being that we wanted to have safety nets,” said Baker. “That’s been part of that contingency planning of not waiting for something, but being ready for something when it doesn’t work.”

  • For more on this weekend's Skate America event, check out Smith's latest in today's print issue of SBJ.

 

SPEED READS

  • NBC Sports NHL announcer Mike Emrick today announced he is retiring from his role, but he "will remain a member of NBC Sports by occasionally writing and narrating video essays for its NHL coverage," according to the Detroit News. Emrick "combined an unabashed excitement for the game with a long and unique vocabulary of words while describing the action -- a characteristic that appealed to hockey and non-hockey fans alike." For more Emrick tributes from around the industry, click here.

  • Wyndham has dropped its sponsorship of the PGA Tour’s Wyndham Rewards Top 10 program, reports SBJ's John Lombardo. The program pays $10 million in bonuses to the 10 players who ranked in the top 10 of the FedExCup standings during the Tour’s season. The Tour will continue the Top 10 program and expects to announce a new sponsor in the coming months. Wyndham began its sponsorship in the rewards program in 2019. The company will continue to keep its title sponsorship of the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro.

  • The Minneapolis Star Tribune collected public statements under the header, "What They're Saying About Sid Hartman." Among those to salute the longtime sports columnist, who passed away over the weekend, were MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, MLB Commissioner Emeritus Bud Selig, Vikings co-Owners Mark and Zygi Wilf and T'Wolves Owner Glen Taylor. Be sure to read SBD's full story on Hartman here, and look for a tribute from John Ourand in SBJ Media tonight.

 

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