Despite mounting concerns of an economic recession, Walt Disney Co. announced its strongest upfront ever, securing $9 billion in advertising commitments for 2022-23.

Sponsor interest in live sports helped drive Disney’s advertising’s record results across ESPN, ESPN+, ABC, and other networks. 

The addition of more women’s sporting events sparked increases in ad volume and pricing, according to the entertainment giant.

• For the second year in a row, Disney posted double digits in sports volume and pricing. 
• 40% of the upfront dollars committed this year will go to streaming and digital properties such as ESPN+, Disney+, and Hulu.
• Big spending categories include: sports gaming, financial services, pharmaceuticals, and travel and leisure.

‘Strongest Upfront Ever’

Heading into this spring’s upfront season, Disney’s strategic priorities included sports and entertainment, streaming, multiculturalism, and inclusion.

“We delivered,” said Rita Ferro, president of advertising sales for Disney Media and Entertainment. “This marks a historic close to our strongest upfront ever, totaling $9 billion.”

Meanwhile, ESPN posted its best second-quarter viewership in prime time since 2014. Driven by live coverage of the NBA and NHL playoffs, prime-time viewership rose 22% to an average of 1.64 million viewers, while viewership for the NBA, NHL, Formula 1, WNBA, baseball, college softball, and lacrosse all rose.

Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormak declared last week that the “Big 12 is open for business.”

USC and UCLA announced last month that they would be leaving the Pac-12. With Texas and Oklahoma leaving the Big 12 before the 2025 season, a merger between the conferences is becoming more realistic. 

The Big 12 is adding four new schools next year, with another six Pac-12 schools reportedly interested. But even with the new schools, outgoing Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby testified last year that Texas and Oklahoma brought in 50% of the rights value to the league.

“Now you have the Pac-12, which has less of [a] valued rights deal than any Power 5 group,” said Bobby Hacker, a West Coast attorney and sports media consultant. “They’ve now lost the L.A. market.”

• In 2012, former Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott signed a 12-year deal, keeping the conference at below-market valuation.
• With the addition of USC and UCLA, the new Big Ten deal is expected to be $1.2 billion per year. The Pac-12 would have to increase their rights by around $600 million annually to receive half of the Big Ten’s earnings.

Media Matters 

“Both leagues would make more by working together than they would separately,” former Fox Sports executive Patrick Crakes said. The Pac-12’s media rights deal is up sooner than the Big 12’s.

Hacker believes the league is focused on media, claiming that “college sports is now completely controlled by ESPN and Fox.”

The 2022 UEFA Women’s European Championship has drawn a total of 248,075 fans, setting a new record for attendance and showcasing the soaring popularity of women’s sports. 

This year’s competition — taking place in England for the first time since 2005 — has sold roughly 500,000 tickets for a total of 31 games at 10 stadiums in nine cities. 

• The results come with 15 games remaining in the tournament.
• The draw surpassed a previous record of 240,055 fans in 2017 in the Netherlands.
• Through its first 16 games, the competition has averaged 15,505 fans per game.
• 68,871 fans attended the England-Austria opener, a women’s Euro record. 

The 16-team tournament, which has returned after a one-year pandemic-related delay, is projected to generate $65 million in revenue, according to English soccer’s Football Association. That would be nearly four times the revenue generated by 2017’s competition.

The projected increase is the result of higher ticket sales and media rights. 

This year’s tournament airs in 195 countries and is expected to draw in more than 250 million viewers, compared to 178 million in 2017. BeIN Sports, ESPN, and BBC all hold rights. 

Meteoric Rise 

Women’s sports are estimated to be a $1 billion industry in the coming years, according to a 2020 Deloitte report. New media rights deals are expected to be the driving force for growth.

The women’s March Madness tournament could have a market value of up to $101 million per year, per the Kaplan Report.

Binance is the latest cryptocurrency platform with sports ties to hit a roadblock. 

The largest global crypto exchange, which has deals with Serie A club Lazio and soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo, was given a $3.4 million fine by the Dutch central bank for offering its services in the Netherlands without registration.

• Lazio’s deal with Binance — the team’s main shirt sponsor — is reportedly worth around $34.8 million over two years with an option to expand for a third. 
• Ronaldo’s multiyear deal with the platform offers a series of exclusive NFT collections.

The central bank, which reportedly has daily spot trading volumes of $15.5 billion, said the breach took place over a “prolonged period” from May 21, 2020, to at least Dec. 1, 2021. Binance was given a warning in August 2021. 

Crypto Mania

Binance is one of the few crypto exchanges to be hit with a fine, but joins other platforms in a growing list of crypto-related setbacks.

FTX, which paid $135 million for naming rights to the home of the Miami Heat last year, ended discussions for a jersey patch deal with the Los Angeles Angels. Coinbase, which became the NBA’s exclusive cryptocurrency platform and paid an estimated $14 million for a Super Bowl ad, laid off 1,100 employees in June.

The most notable may be NWSL’s deal with Voyager, which was set to give the league’s players a portion of the deal. Earlier this month, the company filed for bankruptcy.