What does Kevin Warren's move mean for the Bears and Big Ten? Goodbye (Mark Emmert), Hello (Charlie Baker) at the NCAA Convention
Netflix new tennis series, Break Point debuts tonight, Friday night they drop five episodes and let's just say there are a lot of people in tennis who hope this series will boost the sport of tennis like Drive to Survive did for Formula One. Netflix hosted a special preview screening and party for the series at the Australian Open on Thursday. As a tennis guy, I know I'll be watching Breakpoint. If you watch it, let me know what you think. And this is your morning Buzzcast for Friday, January 13th. I'm Abe Madkour. Thanks for listening to the Buzzcast.
Well the Big Ten is back to square one looking for a new commissioner as Kevin Warren will leave the conference to become President and CEO of the Chicago Bears. Now, Kevin Warren has been with the Big Ten just more than three years, but once word leaked in December that he was in the mix for the Bears job, insiders knew he was gone. First, what does this mean for the Bears? This is a high profile premium position with great, great upside. The Bears are embarking on major ambitious plans. They're pursuing a massive new mixed use development and new stadium at Arlington Park outside of Chicago. Kevin Warren has significant experience in new venue development. He was the Vikings Chief Operating Officer for 15 seasons, and he was key behind the development of the US Bank Stadium and the Vikings really state-of-the-art headquarters at Eagan Park.
The Bears also have a lot of cap room and they have money to spend and they have the number one pick in the NFL draft and Kevin Warren will oversee both the personnel side and the business side, making him one of the most powerful team executives in the NFL. In addition, the Bears are, in my mind, a massively under leveraged brand, and he can easily move that team way up in overall revenue and make it one of the high revenue, optimally performing clubs in the NFL. Just think of the strength of that Chicago Bears brand and just how much stronger it can become.
Now for the Big Ten, Kevin Warren's legacy will be a bit mixed. He did have some big fans. He finalized a record setting media rights deal worth more than $7 billion in August. The Big Ten also, of course, expanded getting USC and UCLA, which will join the league in 2024. But I don't know if Kevin Warren really ever loved being in college sports. There was tension between Kevin Warren and athletic directors and with the university presidents. Some have noted that the Big Ten really made no reported major efforts to keep Kevin Warren since the news originally broke of him talking to the Chicago Bears.
I think Kevin Warren is just much more comfortable in the NFL. He likes the mantle of leading the Bears. I think he sees big challenges ahead for college sports and I think he just saw this as too good an opportunity to pass up at his age of 59. No natural successors for Kevin Warren are clear at this point for the Big Ten, but you'll begin to see some names floated as early as today. Bottom line, the Bears have a new CEO, the Big Ten looking for its next commissioner.
Let's move on. Friday night, we should see a new NBA record set for attendance of a regular season game. The San Antonio Spurs are expecting as many as 65,000 who will see the team take on the Warriors at the Alamodome. Now the record to be is just over 62,000. That was set by the Hawks in a 1998 game against the Michael Jordan led Bulls at the Georgia Dome. But the biggest crowd in NBA history was an all-star game, 2010. That was AT&T Stadium. They had just over 108,000 for that game. But this is a big game. If they get 65,000 in the Alamodome, that's a great number.
The Spurs are doing a bit of a throwback as the team is recalling some of its roots by returning to the Alamodome. Remember, the Spurs played in the Alamodome from 1993 to 2002 before they moved into their current arena, AT&T Center in San Antonio. So a big night ahead for the NBA and the San Antonio Spurs.
We talk about media rights all the time on the Buzzcast, well the NWSL media rights have hit the open market, and this will be a great indicator of interest in the Women's League. CBS's exclusive negotiating window for a renewal of their media rights deal with the NWSL has lapsed. And so the league will begin talks with other networks and other media companies immediately. Endeavor's Hillary Mandel and Karen Brodkin are representing the NWSL in negotiations. Currently, the NWSL has a deal with CBS. It's reportedly worth just over $4 million over its three year term. That will expire at the end of this upcoming season. The NWSL obviously is looking to increase revenue. I'm sure they want to increase reach and distribution in any new deal, but this is a real interesting time because the NWSL should announce expansion markets in the coming weeks. Remember, they're adding two new teams for the 2024 season. So how the league fairs with its media talks will be a real indicator of how bullish the marketplace is on the NWSL.
I want to close the loop on something we talked about earlier in the week, and that is the potential site of the AFC championship game and Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta will host that championship game if the Bills and the Chiefs are meeting in it. The Chiefs and the Bills are the AFCs top two seeds, but they played an uneven number of games. And remember, the NFL determined that if both advanced to the conference championship, the game would be held at a neutral site to avoid any competitive advantage. The AP noted that Atlanta is close to equal distance between Kansas City and Buffalo. That was news to me. Season ticket holders who already committed to purchase tickets in their respective cities will have a right of first refusal to buy tickets to the championship game in Atlanta.
And I want to end where we began, around college sports because the NCAA convention in San Antonio finishes up this week and outgoing President Mark Emmert, he really said goodbye to the membership after 12 years in his role. And I believe Mark Emmert has to be one of the most relieved and happy executives in sports as he now departs the NCAA for a new, I would say, less stressful life.
Meanwhile, incoming NCAA president Charlie Baker introduced himself to the NCAA members in San Antonio. And while he doesn't officially start until March 1st, he was on what he called a listening tour and met with staff, NCAA staff and other leaders while on the ground at the convention. Now, Charlie Baker, remember, is the former Republican Governor of Massachusetts. He was brought on to lead the NCAA because of his reputation as a consensus builder in a mostly democratic state. He left his role as Governor as one of the most popular Governors in America.
I spent 30 minutes with Charlie Baker over Zoom last month and to get a better sense of his style and how he may lead the NCAA, I also read his book called Results: Getting Beyond Politics to Get Important Work Done. After reading the book, my takeaway is Charlie Baker is a collaborator and consensus builder who wants multiple points of view. He'll use the best ideas no matter who has them. He'll really encourage listening, but he wants people to really be open to feedback and that should win over many who feel the NCAA office out of Indianapolis doesn't listen to leaders on campus.
Charlie Baker, in the book, comes across time and again as a how-to detail-oriented problem solver who loves the why and the how of policy, like he relishes in getting things done. He calls it, grinding it out, and making steady progress. And that's just going to be a new point of view from the NCAA office. Overall Baker comes across as commanding and very clear in his positions, and this will please so many college leaders who bemoan the lack of clarity coming out of the NCAA National Office.
Bottom line, I believe that Charlie Baker offers the promise of commanding, aggressive yet steady leadership essential at this time for the NCAA. It'll be very interesting to watch. And that is your morning Buzzcast for Friday, January 13th. I'm Abe Madkour. Thanks for listening to the Buzzcast. Have a great weekend, stay healthy, be good to each other. I'll speak to you on Monday.