On the latest Sporticast episode, hosts Scott Soshnick and Eben Novy-Williams discuss some of the biggest sports business stories of the week, including the start of the U.S. Open. The fourth and final Grand Slam of the tennis season kicked off on Monday in New York, with Novak Djokovic and Coco Gauff defending their singles titles
The two-week event has become a huge money-maker for the USTA, which organizes the U.S. Open. The event reported $514.1 million in revenue is 2023, on just $259.2 million in expenses. The hundreds of millions in operating profit go toward funding the USTA’s other business endeavors. The governing body is also looking to invest more as it continues to right-size its business coming out of the pandemic.
The hosts talk about the star power on both the men’s and women’s sides, the weird financial incentives that often lead to the tournament’s biggest names playing until 1 in the morning, and a potential historic moment on the men’s side. If Novak Djokovic doesn’t win the tournament, this will be the first year since 2002 that the “Big Three”–Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer–failed to win a Grand Slam.
Next, the hosts talk about the NWSL‘s radical new CBA. The labor accord eliminates the player draft, guarantees its contracts and grants no-trade clauses across the league. They talk about why owners would agree to a deal that pays players more and makes them harder to move–primarily because it puts the contract offerings on par with those available to star female players in Europe.
Lastly, they talk about the NFL‘s private equity vote. Barring something unexpected, NFL owners will vote Tuesday in Minnesota to approve some minor changes to the league’s ownership rules to allow institutional funds to buy passive, minority stakes in teams. The NFL is the only major U.S. league that has yet to open its doors to PE, and the impact could be major across the league.
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