February 10, 2023

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NFL commissioner Roger Goodell held his annual state of the league press conference, and senior reporter A.J. Perez — who is in Arizona covering Super Bowl LVII — joins us to break down the latest buzz surrounding the Big Game and much more in the latest episode of Front Office Sports Today.

Listen on Apple, Spotify, and Google.

Get-In Ticket Price for Super Bowl Plunges 30%

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

As the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles prepare for the big game at State Farm Stadium, Super Bowl tickets are becoming more affordable.

Since last Sunday night, the get-in price for the title game has reportedly dropped 30% from nearly $6,000 to around $4,200, per data from multiple secondary ticket markets.

An influx of ticket supply has this year’s Big Game possibly trending toward being one of the cheaper editions in recent memory.

  • The inventory of tickets available increased from 2,600 on Saturday to 3,400 on Tuesday, driving prices down.
  • The most recent average ticket price is $6,783 — just barely ahead of last year’s average of $6,750.
  • Average prices for Sunday were around $9,000 in the immediate aftermath of the conference championship games.

This year’s game is still currently the fifth-most-expensive Super Bowl ever tracked by online marketplace TicketIQ — though it was second for most of the last week-and-a-half.

Super Bowl Tickets Scams

The increase in supply could be related to the NFL’s renewed focus on stopping counterfeits.

The league switched to all-digital tickets at last year’s Super Bowl to combat scammers and scalpers — who may have moved to the traditional online markets.

“You can’t go to these dodgy websites and think you’re going to get legitimate tickets,” Jim Mancuso, director of the DHS’s National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center, told FOS. “You need to be a smart consumer.”

Adidas Expects Breakup With Yeezy to Cost Over $1B

Eric Seals/Imagn

Adidas’ separation from Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, may have a bigger fallout than initially anticipated.

The sportswear company revealed Thursday it’s expected to lose $1.3 billion in revenue and nearly $534 million in operating profit this year after ending the relationship with the rapper in October over his antisemitic comments on social media.

  • The new financial guidance “accounts for the significant adverse impact from not selling the existing stock.”
  • If the company doesn’t repurpose its existing Yeezy inventory and writes it off, Adidas’ operating profit would fall an additional $534 million.

Adidas also anticipates a one-off cost of up to $213 million.

“If all these effects were to materialize, the company would expect to report an operating loss of [$747 million] in 2023,” the company’s press release reads.

In October, Adidas expected that the decision to drop Ye would have a short-term hit of roughly $247 million on the company’s net income.

Rapper Royalties

Upon the termination of their relationship, Adidas immediately halted production of Yeezy-branded products and stopped all payments to Ye and his companies.

The company reportedly earned royalties of around 15% on Yeezy product sales from the partnership, which accounted for as much as 8% of Adidas’ sales, according to a report from UBS analysts.

SPONSORED BY TEMPLE UNIVERSITY'S SCHOOL OF STHM

How NIL is Impacting College Education in Sports

Since the NCAA passed its landmark ruling in July 2021 allowing college athletes to profit off their Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) the impact has been great and far reaching.

One area within this new frontier that has not been widely discussed, however, is how universities are creating opportunities within the classroom to learn more about NIL.

In our latest webinar, Owen Poindexter (Front Office Sports) sits down with professors Thilo Kunkel and Amy Giddings (Temple University), along with recent graduate and current NIL Agent, Matt Lupi, to discuss The NIL Effect: Inside & Outside the Classroom.

Learn how Temple’s School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management (STHM) is leading NIL research, reimagining course curriculum, and giving students new tools to pursue a career in the ever-changing, billion-dollar industry of sports.

Register now.

Manchester United Owners Reportedly Want Partial Sale Only

Manchester United FC

Two groups interested in Manchester United are reportedly skeptical that the team’s current owners, the Glazer family, are open to selling the entirety of the club.

The Glazers, who purchased the team in 2005 for a reported $942 million, hired the Raine Group to oversee a full or partial sale and had set a soft deadline of Feb. 17 for parties to register their interest.

But ESPN is now reporting that the family wants to secure a partner investor rather than sell in full — despite reports last month suggesting groups who had registered interest so far were more drawn toward buying the team outright.

Club co-chairmen Joel and Avram Glazer have accepted they can’t hold on to the team without outside investment, according to ESPN.

  • As of November, the club’s debt was at around $620.8 million.
  • Four of the Glazer siblings have recently narrowed their shares.

The team was last valued by Forbes at $4.6 billion, but if the Glazers are open to a full takeover, bidders could be looking at a price tag closer to $7.2 billion.

Partial Partners?

Currently, the only public bid is from billionaire Jim Ratcliffe and his company INEOS. Ratcliffe, a longtime Manchester United fan, has tapped Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan to help with his bid. 

Earlier this week, it was reported that a group of Qatari investors — separate from Qatar Sports Investments — would make a full takeover bid.

Conversation Starters

  • Brett Favre filed defamation lawsuits against Shannon Sharpe, Pat McAfee, and Mississippi State Auditor Shad White over allegations they made “false and defamatory statements” related to the former Hall of Famer’s ties to the Mississippi welfare scandal.
  • Nick Saban remains college football’s highest-paid coach for the third consecutive year.
  • Claiming to be the latest victim of “cancel culture,” Michael Irvin has filed a $100 million lawsuit against Marriott International and an unnamed Marriott employee who accused him of misconduct.

SPONSORED BY WIT SPORTS

How The Browns Field Design Went Viral

Every football fan’s dream is to play in the NFL… 

But if they can’t do that, having complete control over the field is probably a close second.

As they prepared to launch a new logo at the 50-yard line, the Browns tapped Wit Sports to help fans let their voices be heard with a Vote-to-Win Field Design Contest.

Wit worked closely with the Browns marketing team to whip up a turnkey digital experience that allowed diehard fans to cast their votes in just a few clicks. 

4 designs, 80K+ votes, and one epic field reveal later, the Browns walked away with one of the most exciting fan engagement efforts in recent memory. 

Read more to see how Wit can take your digital marketing to the next level.

What to Watch

The Kansas City Chiefs take on the Philadelphia Eagles at State Farm Stadium on Super Bowl Sunday.

How to Watch: 6:30 p.m. ET on Fox

Betting Odds: Eagles -1.5 || ML -125 || O/U 51

Win A Vegas VIP Hoops Package

We have teamed up with the Pac-12 Conference to provide a VIP experience to the Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Tournament in Las Vegas from March 8 to March 11, 2023.

One lucky winner will receive two (2) all tournament passes with club access to the tournament at T-Mobile Arena. The winner will also receive a hotel room at an MGM Resorts property for four (4) nights in Las Vegas, a $300 food and beverage voucher valid at MGM restaurants, and two (2) tickets to Cirque du Soleil’s Mad Apple show. For more information on the Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Tournament, visit Pac-12.com. See Official Rules for details.

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Written by Doug Greenberg, Abigail Gentrup
Edited by Matthew Tabeek, Brian Krikorian

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