🏟️ The WNBA's Huge Bidding War

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Welcome to this week’s edition of Sports Industry Weekly as we share insights from the top business headlines in the sports industry like:

⚽️ This global soccer superstar has become the most followed person in the world on all social media platforms.

💣 A sports reporter officially announces his retirement from the media as he transitions into a college basketball GM role.

🏈 This SEC school is adding a 10% price increase to its college football tickets to share revenue with its student-athletes.

👟 A momentous CEO shakeup was just announced at one of the industry's biggest sneaker and apparel brands.

The WNBA's Huge Bidding War

The WNBA faces an exciting challenge as it determines the next city to host the league’s 16th franchise.

With Portland confirmed as the league's 15th franchise, there are currently between 12 and 15 active bidders vying for the 16th spot.

Bids are coming in from ownership groups across markets like Philadelphia, Nashville, Denver and Miami.

The league will introduce the Golden State Valkyries next year in 2025, and then the new Toronto and Portland franchise in 2026.

This 16th team will enter the league in either 2027 or 2028.

I have 3 very important questions to ask you:

🍁 What should be the name of the Toronto franchise?

🌹 Same question but for the Portland franchise?

📍 What market should get the 16th WNBA team?

Reply and let us know your answers and we’ll share our favorites!

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📈 Cristiano Ronaldo became the first person in history to reach 1 BILLION total followers across social media! His audience includes 639M on Instagram, 160M on Facebook, 113M on X, 60M on YouTube and over 21M on Chinese platforms Weibo and Kuaishou.

💣 Woj dropped his own Woj bomb! ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, known for breaking NBA news, announced his retirement from sports media and will now serve as the GM of St. Bonaventure’s Men’s basketball program.

🎰 With a $20 million investment in the visually stunning UFC 306 event at The Sphere in Las Vegas, Dana White’s company reaped a $22 million return from ticket sales alone. The 10-fight showcase sold out all 16,024 available tickets, showcasing the undeniable success of the production.

💰 Weekly NIL Roundup:

• The University of Tennessee announced their 2025 football ticket prices will increase about 10% to provide a revenue share “talent fee” for the student-athletes.

• Ohio State freshmen WR Jeremiah Smith became the first collegiate athlete to sign an NIL deal with Red Bull.

• The Mark Cuban invested NIL Store reported their August sales data: Paige Bueckers lead all collegiate athlete jersey sales and Purdue lead all team store sales.

• All the latest college football marketing trends and data across visibility, NIL deal analysis and more are available for free in Out2Win’s 2024-25 College Football Athlete Marketability Report.

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📺 September 30 marks the start of NBA Media Day, and the pre-season buzz is already building as basketball fans saw Netflix’s official Starting 5 trailer and leaked photos of Nike’s NBA City Edition jerseys.

🏟️ The University of Oklahoma has embarked on an ambitious $1 billion project to create the Rock Creek Entertainment District, a state-of-the-art arena that will host basketball and gymnastics events. Meanwhile, FC Dallas has revealed a significant $182 million upgrade to Toyota Stadium, enhancing the home field for the club.

✅ Nike announced that their CEO, John Donahoe, is retiring from his position, and company veteran Elliott Hill is returning to take on the role. Hill worked at Nike for 32 years, starting as an intern, before retiring in 2020. Nike’s stocks have been down more than 25% this year, and the company has faced significant backlash, with competitors recently gaining consumer market share. It will be interesting to see how Hill steers Nike back on track.

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