Tom Mayenknecht: bulls and bears of the sports market

Article content

Bulls of the week

Two words: Caitlin Clark.

Article content

By leading her Iowa Hawkeyes to a March Madness victory this week over West Virginia, she generated an average American television audience of 4.9 million on ESPN, the largest audience outside of an NCAA women’s Final Four.

Ice Cube invited her to play 10 Big 3 three-on-three basketball games for a whopping $5 million and USA Basketball invited her to their Paris 2024 training camp.

Article content

And all this before being drafted by the WNBA this summer.

Bears of the week

Major League Baseball hosted 13 home openers Thursday and attendance everywhere except Oakland was strong.

The A’s are, of course, in a kind of Twilight Zone, seeking a stadium deal in Las Vegas to make the relocation approved by the board of governors to Nevada.

Owner John Fisher’s legacy will not be popular in Oakland, as the team will see its Opening Day attendance drop from 44,815 in 2005, the year he took over operations of the A’s franchise, to 13,522 on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Carlyle Group billionaire David Rubenstein’s purchase of the Baltimore Orioles for a $1.725 billion valuation was officially approved this week, making it the fifth sale of an MLB franchise in 12 years. That compares to 12 franchise sales since 2013 in the NBA and NHL, and 16 in MLS.

The elephant in the room, however, remains the investigation into the Shohei Ohtani-Ippei Mizuhara betting scandal, which has overshadowed everything else in the baseball world since bizarre revelations were made at Seoul Series games on April 20 and 21 at the Gocheok Sky Dome. .

Article content

Article content

Even after Ohtani read a brief statement in Japanese at a tightly controlled “press conference” on Monday, there remain many more questions than answers on that front, including why no charges have been filed against Mizuhara if he did indeed steal $4.5 million. of dollars from Ohtani’s account. Bank account.

And average is the best way to describe MLB heading into the regular season. According to Sportico, the average MLB franchise is valued at $2.64 billion, roughly midway between the major men’s professional sports leagues in North America, where it ranks third among the big five.

The NFL is the enterprise value giant with an average franchise of $5.4 billion, followed by the NBA at $4 billion. The NHL remains in fourth place with $1.31 billion, while the MLS stands at $678 million.

It’s important to note that the NFL (which saw a 24 percent increase in its valuation year-over-year) and the NBA (33 percent) have widened the gap at the top of the charts. The MLB grew 12 percent, a good independent figure but last compared to the major leagues operating in the United States and Canada. The NHL grew year-over-year at 29 percent and MLS increased its average value by 16 percent.

Article content

If Ohtani is cleared of any wrongdoing, MLB will likely continue to grow at a reasonable rate or more for years to come. However, if the worst-case scenario occurs, that positive growth trajectory could be seriously affected.

However, as evidenced by the baffling situation surrounding Toronto Raptor Jontay Porter, no league or sport is immune to the potential for misconduct related to sports betting. That’s why in this era of legalized single-event betting nothing less than clear player education, meticulous oversight, and decisive enforcement of league rules are required.

Tom Mayenknecht hosts The Sport Market on Sportsnet 650 on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Vancouver-based sports business commentator and principal at Emblematica Brand Builders offers a behind-the-scenes look at the sports business stories that matter most to fans. Follow Mayenknecht on: twitter.com/TheSportMarket.

Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don’t miss the news you need to know – add VancouverSun.com and LaProvincia.com to your favorites and subscribe to our newsletters here.

You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber: for just $14 a month, you can get unlimited access to The Vancouver Sun, The Province, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Vancouver Sun | The province.

Article content