Welcome back to MoneyCall, The Athletic’s sports-business cheat sheet. (Want to receive MoneyCall conveniently via email? Easy sign-up here.)
Name-dropped today: YouTube TV, Nvidia, Joe Davis, Jerry Jones, Tom Brady, Junie Brady, Sir David Beckham, Dick Vitale, Daisy Duke, Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs, Raj Murti, Kalshi, Pete Rose, Buzz Williams, the All Blacks and more. Let’s go:
Driving the Conversation
Why this YouTube TV-ESPN standoff feels different
If last week’s edition of MoneyCall was all about “many things can be true at once” and the complexities of our lived experiences, this week is pretty straightforward: This protracted impasse between YouTube TV and Disney (which has currently dropped ABC, ESPN and all of its networks) has gone from annoying to aggravating.
I’m with Andrew Marchand, who wrote earlier this week that the biggest loser in their ongoing negotiation is … the fans, 10 million of whom can’t access ESPN games despite paying $80-plus per month (that includes me, an early YouTube TV adopter).
I totally get the business disagreement, because it’s been the same issue ad nauseam since the cable bundle ascended more than four decades ago: Disney wants X dollars per subscriber from YouTube TV, and YouTube TV would like to pay less than X.
What makes this iteration of the age-old battle between content company and distributor a bit different? In short, neither of these sides currently needs a deal to happen.
YouTube TV’s parent company Alphabet (market cap $3.35 trillion) doesn’t really need YouTube TV at all. (It’s a “nice to have, but not Nvidia,” so to speak.)
Disney (market cap: $200 billion) is in the business of selling its content to the broadest audience possible, but its revenue from YouTube TV isn’t existential. (Check back in five to 10 years.)
It’s worth noting that ESPN does pay the NFL around $2.7 billion per year for its game rights and makes hundreds of millions in revenue related to those rights, so losing out on a couple million potential viewers for a “Monday Night Football” game isn’t an ideal ROI.
And so those of us who generally like the YouTube TV offering are left hanging. We’re not necessarily switching (although there are very viable options), but a flimsy $20 credit from YTTV after a nebulous “extended period” of missed games didn’t really help me last Saturday during that inaccessible SEC football tripleheader.
They will eventually resolve this negotiation, but it isn’t like previous ones, which wrapped up before the blackouts really started.
We are one missed college football Saturday, one missed NYC Marathon, one missed “Monday Night Football” game (and “ManningCast”) and one CFP fake-bracket reveal into this, and there might be more misses to come in the week (or two?!) ahead, which I would not have predicted a week ago. We’re in “unstoppable force meets immovable object” territory.
One of the two of them (or both) needs to say “Uncle!” because frustrated fans are already there. Speaking of the television value of live sports …
What’s your view? Take this 45-second poll below, then get the rest of this week’s jam-packed MoneyCall right under that.
Get Caught Up
World Series ratings soar, plus: Coach acknowledges AI use
Big talkers from the sports business industry:
Boffo World Series TV ratings: More than 27 million people in the U.S. watched Game 7 on Saturday night, the most-watched MLB game since 2017. (Highly recommended: Fox play-by-play announcer Joe Davis had a great conversation with Richard Deitsch, with some wonderfully candid quotes.)
As for Canada, Game 7 peaked with *45 percent of the country watching.* You get the sense this is a sports heartbreak that will define generations (plural) of Canadian fans.
WNBA labor battle update: And now we wait. Chances the two sides come to an agreement during the 30-day extension through this month? Low. Significant salary increases seem likely, per our reporting, but revenue-sharing remains the sticking point.
NCAA vs. Kalshi: The NCAA sent prediction market Kalshi a letter asking for a bit of clarification on the company’s platform nomenclature, capabilities and intentions w/r/t college sports’ presence on the Kalshi platform. As a relative newcomer into sports contracts, Kalshi has an incentive to be polite, but the NCAA has no real say about the industry.
NHL bringing ‘27 Stadium Series to Dallas: It’s gotten to the point where you’re not a Real Event in the U.S. if you don’t make a stop in Jerry Jones’ AT&T Stadium. Great idea by the NHL, which will be coming off an exciting Olympic year in ‘26.
Feds investigating MLBPA x youth baseball relationship: So many elements of youth sports are already sketchy enough without this. (h/t to friends of MoneyCall Don Van Natta and Jeff Passan.)
Related: Congrats to my daughter on earning a spot on a well-regarded local club volleyball 14U team. This will be my first time as a club volleyball parent, so any advice is appreciated!
NWSL coach uses ChatGPT for tactics: (Sigh.) A few things:
• She’s probably not the only coach to do it. Just the only one to admit it. (FWIW, I’m quite sure many sports team front offices use AI to parse large data sets.)
• If you’re wondering when a minor-league team will have “AI Night,” yup, that happened two months ago (kudos to the Oakland Ballers!).
• This newsletter was not created with AI, although I do love an em dash, and AI’s propensity to use em dashes is — to be sure — problematic for em dash fans.
The Tom Brady clone dog: As a dog owner, I get it. Really, I do. This is also possibly the most “Tom Brady” thing ever.
Other current obsessions: Welcome back, Dickie V … college football’s “Daisy Dukes” uniform trend … Cadillac heading into its first F1 season … the return of college basketball … Sir David Beckham …
What I’m Wondering
‘Battle of the Sexes’ reboot gives … the ick?
Tennis loudmouth Nick Kyrgios will play women’s world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in Dubai, live on Netflix on Dec. 28, in what is being billed by the players’ agency (which is organizing the match) as a modern-day homage to the original “Battle of the Sexes” between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs.
I’m wondering: The original BJK-led “Battle” is one of the most iconic sports events of the past 100 years. Doesn’t this shtick feel a little … hollow?
I liked this analysis from my colleagues Matt Futterman and James Hansen:
“The previous iterations of these sorts of stunts took place when the politics of tennis meant that they could mean something.
“It is not clear what is at stake in this match. Women and men mostly seem to have moved beyond discussions of athletic superiority and focused more on matters of equal pay and marketing throughout the sport. The U.S. Open’s star-spangled mixed doubles event was predicated on the singular appeal of the best players in the world, men and women, playing on the same courts in competitive encounters. It is something that tennis holds over almost every other sport.”
Grab Bag
Name to Know: Raj Murti
No business role in sports has been as fascinating over the past year or so as “college football general manager.”
We have launched a new series profiling some of the most interesting ones, and our kickoff is about North Texas’ 24-year-old wunderkind Raj Murti, who has helped position the Mean Green as a CFP contender. Really interesting profile.
Data Point: 72
That’s the number of holes LIV will now be using at its tournaments, bringing it on par with the PGA. (Zing!)
Election Results
Voters in San Antonio approved a ballot measure that paves the way for a new $1.4 billion arena for the Spurs in the city’s downtown. It was technically called “Proposition B,” but it might as well have been “Prop Wemby,” for the Spurs’ superstar Victor Wembanyama.
Investor of the Week
Monarch Collective, the $250 million fund focused exclusively on women’s sports, expands into Europe with a meaningful stake in fast-rising FC Viktoria Berlin. Monarch holds stakes in three NWSL teams: Angel City, San Diego Wave and Boston Legacy.
Branding
In: Aston Martin x “Toy Story”
Out: Champions League x Heineken
Peak of the Week: Handwritten notes
Maryland basketball coach Buzz Williams is totally right (if possibly over-committed) — they’re amazing to receive (and, honestly, to write).
Beat Dan in Connections: Sports Edition
Puzzle #408
Dan’s time: 00:44
Play here!
Worth Your Time
Great business-adjacent reads for your downtime or commute:
“Our players understand the performance standard. They understand what the jersey means when you pull it on. It’s not yours. We don’t have names. You are a custodian. You leave it in a better place.” — Megan Compain, New Zealand All Blacks business manager, from Adam Crafton’s excellent piece on why the team’s jersey is the most iconic in sports.
Two of my favorite stories all week:
“There are definitely things about him that lead us all to believe that he missed out on certain things.” Twenty-five years after the film’s release, the chimps from “MVP” feel the lingering efffects of a life in show business.
“People watch us like we’re in a snow globe.” Ira Gorawara with a fascinating look at the intersection of Alabama football and sorority influencers.
Back next Wednesday! Reach out if you want to get in touch: moneycall@theathletic.com. If you enjoyed MoneyCall, please forward this to a couple of friends or colleagues with your recommendation to subscribe! And, as always, give a try to all The Athletic’s other newsletters (always free).
