coach families from across the country and world descending upon Williamsport, Pennsylvania for the Little League World Series, which is underway now and running through next Sunday.
The 11 day tournament typically injects between $35 million.40 million dollars into Pennsylvania's state and local economy, but that's peanuts and crackerjacks compared to the business of professional organizations.
Now at the professional level, we are seeing investments in NFL franchises.
Such as the Seahawks and Falcons fly high into the billions and joining us on this Friday morning to weigh in is TV sports business analyst Rick, good morning.
Happy Friday.
I do want to start off with the Little League World Series.
The tournament featuring 1011, and 12 year olds is running through next weekend and the Sunday night the pros are getting in on the action with the MLB Little League Classic.
So you couldn't fall in love with a sport like this.
Well, first of all, I fell in love with the opening that your producers did.
How creative was that flying high and all that.
That was wonderful.
We're getting better with age.
The Little League World Series and the Little League Classic with Major League Baseball, the game itself started in 2017.
This year is the Brewers and the Braves, and obviously a tribute to Hank Aaron, who played with both teams.
The series itself, you said $40 million from Williamsport.
ESPN is a $17 million annual deal.
Through 2030, needless to say, the money it injects into Little League Baseball because of that contract.
And then next, it's a regular event that's not the same as your normal 162 day grind.
Fox has the same thing with Field of Dreams next year, but keep it on the World Series.
Remember the name Kinley Rasmus.
She is blowing them away as a pitcher, and nobody says there shouldn't be girls in Little League Baseball.
This lady is tough.
A lot to look forward to indeed, Rick, but I do want to talk about the rise of investments when it comes to the sports world, and we're talking about quite a pretty penny here with so many deals.
So Jeff Bezos and Liverpool, the Yankees receiving 2.6 billion.
Financing from Apollo and an NFL of course deals involving the Seahawks and the Falcons and the Jets owner purchasing a minority stake in the Aston Martin F1 team.
So tell us why you think sports franchises are such a hot investment class.
Well, first of all, because there's only been one in the last 25 years that's been sold for less than it was originally bought for, and it's not really the greater fool theory because everybody buys and then gets it higher, for example.
When you look at these numbers, the other reason is because NFL and others, they want to increase the pool of investors.
And so at the end of the deal they allow private equity in even for small pieces, not for control, and. equity is looking for return.
That's why you have 234, 10% purchases.
And then you ascribe the rest of the value of the franchise.
All of a sudden you've got a big number.
And then finally, TV and streaming, $14 billion in total revenue in 2015 $29 billion last year, $37 billion by 2030.
It's guaranteed revenue, and that makes, as you know, investors very happy.
Yeah for sure and I do want to zoom in on the LA Lakers while I have you here.
The team is being sold to a group including Jared Kushner and Bob Iger, but Jeanie Buss is crying foul and also contesting for sibling sale of their stake in the team.
So will she be able to come up with a block.
Well, it all depends on the contract purchase price deal and the judge's ruling that her lawyers say is adamantly in her favor.
We're going to have to litigate that and see what it's like.
She really wants to stay with the Lakers.
Her siblings say she doesn't, and they don't.
This is the time.
They say to get out and remember the Walter deal bought it for 10, sold it for 12.5%.
There are a lot of issues as to motivation for that.
That's for another day.
But at the end of the day, the Lakers today are not like the Lakers of a few years ago.
Jeanie Buss is great, but at the end of this, will she have control?
We'll just have to see.
Yes, and Rick, it is earnings season here on Wall Street, and we're focusing on MSG.
So given what we've seen in the earnings report, can you break down the financial prospects for the owner of the world's most famous arena?
Yeah, two breakdowns.
One is Taylor Swift and Kelsey married in the building.
And second is the Knicks' unprecedented and unbelievable playoff run.
You know, the fourth quarter for MSG was nearly $300 million about a 37% increase over the comparable quarter last year, and about 66%, $66 million with a playoff increase, obviously because of the Knicks' amazing.
Run and what's happening, the Dolan entity is looking at financial strategy.
The Rangers, Wolfpack, their Hartford minor league team, and MSG all looking to be packaged separately and sold or creating an IPO as a separate entity.
So they may have two profit-making franchise slash entities instead of just one.
It's great to be a Knicks fan now, not so much 20 years ago, but look today.
Rick, as we head into the autumn months as well as getting back to back to school season, there are a lot of sports on people's diaries and also schedules.
So what are you most looking forward to as we head into the final months?
It is unbelievable that the NFL season starts in a couple weeks.
We're immersed in playoffs this year, the crazy playoff season in college, sports.
What about NHL, NBA, all of them starting soon.
You've got the President's Cup in golf.
You've got the NASCAR playoffs.
And oh by the way, let's circle December 1st.
Well, we have baseball after that because that's the day the collective bargaining agreement expires.
Let's flip a coin because anybody that says they know is lying.
Well, Rick, a lot to look forward to as we head into the cooler months.
I appreciate your time today.
Thank you so much for joining us and have a great weekend.
See you next week.
