NBA tipoff; Ballmer's DTC vision; TNT locks in its talent; and breaking down an early outline of Titans' stadium deal.
Well, the NBA begins its new season tonight with two games on TNT. Remember next week is our GameChanger's Event Wednesday October 26 at MetLife Stadium. You can register today at sportsbusinessjournal.com. And the ACC was officially welcomed to Charlotte, North Carolina last night, Monday night at a reception at Uptown Charlotte as the city's leaders welcomed Commissioner Jim Philips, school presidents, and athletic directors who are in town for conference meetings. The ACC announced last month it is moving its headquarters from Greensboro to Uptown Charlotte over the next year.
And this is your Morning Buzzcast for Tuesday October 18th. Good morning I'm Abe Madkour. Thank you for listening to the Buzzcast. Let's start with the NFL.
Because owners will meet this afternoon in New York for their regular fall meeting with a vote to resolve payment of the $790 million legal settlement with the city of St. Louis headlining the agenda. No action meanwhile is expected on Commanders owner Dan Snyder but several sources have said it is highly probable his situation will be discussed among owners as owners gather in person for the first time since early August. But the details of the St. Louis plan are still unknown and still very intriguing. Remember this comes from the NFL's decision to pay the city of St. Louis $790 million rather than go to trial over the Rams relocation to Los Angeles. Most owners had believed that Rams owner Stan Kroenke said he would pick up the tab, that he would indemnify owners but at last year's fall meetings Stan Kroenke surprised owners by saying he expected help in paying for the settlement. So there is still a question of who will pay and how much they will pay. So this issue certainly bears watching.
Meanwhile Dan Snyder will not be at today's meetings but his wife Tanya Snyder will appear as she has at all league meetings since Dan Snyder stepped away from day-to-day operations last year. Now there'll be some other issues discussed. They'll look at an update on NFL Plus. They'll talk about the latest on the NFL's Sunday Ticket negotiations and they'll speak about workforce diversity and football operations. So a pretty heavy agenda today as owners gather in New York.
Let's stay with the NFL because there was a big deal for Tennessee Titans as the team and the city unveiled details of a potential $2.1 billion deal to build a new Titans stadium. Now this new stadium would be enclosed and it would be funded through a mix of private contributions and state and local revenue bonds with $840 million coming from the Titans, PSL sales and the NFL. So that means the public sector would fund about %60 of the $2.1 billion or roughly $1.2 billion which would be the largest subsidy yet for an NFL stadium but as a percentage of the total cost it would be below average for small market stadium projects since Nissan Stadium was built.
But the Nashville stadium includes three major financing mechanisms. First like we said $840 million from the team including loans from the NFL's G4 stadium program and PSL sales, $500 million in Tennessee bonds and $760 million from revenue bonds issued by the Metro Sports Authority. Now those bonds would be paid off by a new 1% hotel tax and sales and use taxes generated at this new stadium. So three major mechanisms to fund this stadium. Now this proposed stadium will be covered by a translucent roof along the lines U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. This would significantly improve the city's chances of hosting a Super Bowl and, uh, future Final Four's. Now there's still work to be done but this is a significant step forward for the Titans in landing a new stadium and I'm sure it's going to result in a number of new story's about public subsidies of sports facilities.
Let's step over to the NBA. We said the league tips off tonight. And here's some news around TNT's Inside the NBA. They have signed long-term contract extensions to all of their talent beyond the networks current NBA deal. So sources told our John Ourand that Charles Barkley has signed a 10-year deal to remain with TNT. While the length of new contracts for Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, and Shaquille O'Neal are unknown. Now remember the NBA's current deal with TNT ends after the '24/'25 season but these renewals of top talent does send a clear message that Warner Bros. Discovery Sports will be aggressive as it negotiates to stay in business with the league. Now news of the new deals should put an end to any rumors that Charles Barkley could be moving to another outlet. Remember he had flirted a little bit with LIV Golf. Now Inside the NBA is widely considered one of the best studios shows on television and that talented on-air team stays together for the foreseeable future. Very good news for NBA fans, very good news for TNT.
Staying with the NBA we talk a lot about the innovation around Steve Ballmer and what he brings to the Clippers. Well, here's something that everyone will be talking about. The Clippers will launch a direct-to-consumer platform ClipperVision that will stream more than 70 games live in that Los Angeles market starting this season. It's a platform that the Clippers are calling a first for the NBA. It will offer various viewing experiences and launch with six different streaming options. You can see, uh, BallerVision which has live commentary from personalities like Barron Davis, and Paul Pierce, and Matt Barnes. There'll be the traditional Clippers broadcast. There'll be ClipperVision in Korean, there'll be ClipperVision en español. So a lot of different programming options and Steve Ballmer of course is bringing innovation to the table.
He sees a day where the teams local broadcast rights are all on his own streaming service and not on a traditional cable-based regional sports network. But right now Steve Ballmer has a good mix of offerings. There'll be games locally on KTLA. There'll be a lot of games on Bally Sports, there'll be the national network games and now there'll be games on ClipperVision. But make no mistake about it, ClipperVision is not free. So the service will cost $199 for a full season and it's limited to only viewers in the Los Angeles viewing zone. But that Los Angeles viewing zone stretches from Bakersfield, California to San Diego, even to Los Vegas. But outside of that area you will not be able to subscribe to ClipperVision. You'll have to buy the NBA's League Pass. But a very innovative media offering by Steve Ballmer.
Let's end the Buzzcast around three names in the news. First Bronny James the son of LeBron James has signed a deal, a name, image and likeness deal with Beats by Dre. He will be a brand ambassador for the company. Now Bronny James he'll be featured in future campaigns. And this builds upon the name, image and likeness deal that Bronny James signed with Nike recently. LeBron James of course signed with Beats by Dre in 2008.
Shifting to football. The Jack Easterby era is over in Houston as the Texans have dismissed their executive vice president of football operations. Now the Houston Texans hired Jack Easterby in 2019 and he has a major voice in the organization and his influence has always been a point of controversy because of his background and his experience. He joined the franchise after six seasons as the character coach with and New England Patriots. He started his NFL career as the chaplain with the Kansas City Chiefs but Jack Easterby became more and more powerful at the Texans. He was making key decision on football operations and he became a lightning rod, uh, for people within the organization and outside the organization especially the media. Not a lot of media members are sad that Jack Easterby is no longer with the Houston Texans.
And finally, we'll end with this. The Big 12 attempts to get cooler and hipper. They have hired creative agency Translation to help it attract a more, uh, youthful and diverse fan base. Now Translation is the advertising agency founded by Steve Stoute and they are best known for their work across a number of sports and entertainment brands. They've done work for the NBA, the NFL, State Farm, Beats by Dre. Uh, Steve Stoute and Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark, uh, have a history of working together and Brett Yormark has said time and again that he wants to make the Big 12 younger, hipper, and cooler and connect with pop culture in a different way. And so certainly hiring Translation is a clear move in that direction by the Big 12 and Brett Yormark.
So that is your Morning Buzzcast for Tuesday October 18th. I'm Abe Madkour. Thanks for listening to the Buzzcast. Stay healthy, be good to each other. I'll speak to you tomorrow.