Joe Pompliano

Major League Baseball (MLB) was facing an existential crisis.

Youth attention spans had dropped 70% since the introduction of the iPhone, and baseball went from being America's most popular sport to its 3rd most popular sport — behind football, basketball, and soon-to-be soccer.

So MLB executives analyzed the data.

They discovered that MLB games had drastically increased in length, and fans wanted shorter games, more action, and a better ballpark experience.

Average Length Of MLB Game
1975: 2 hours and 25 minutes
2021: 3 hours and 10 minutes

So Major League Baseball took a controversial stance.

They implemented several new rule changes, including a pitch clock, larger bases, shift banning, and more.

And the diehard baseball fans HATED this.

They said it ruined America's pastime and would only accelerate MLB's decline.

But the early numbers are in, and they look GOOD.

MLB games are now 30 minutes shorter on average. And there is more action, too, with batting average, stolen bases, and runs per game all up year-over-year.

Pace of Play
2022: 3:07
2023: 2:37

Batting Average
2022: .230
2023: .250

Runs per game
2022: 8.0
2023: 9.4

Stolen Base Success Rate
2022: 74%
2023: 80%

And this has a direct impact on fan engagement.

For example, attendance is up for 20 out of 30 teams, and MLB says this past Saturday was the league's most well-attended Saturday in 8 years, with eight different games bringing in crowds of 40,000+ fans.

So shoutout to Major League Baseball (MLB) for analyzing the data and having the courage to make drastic changes.

The numbers are undeniable 👏

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This year's beach volleyball court might be the most aesthetically pleasing Olympic venue of all time 🤯

The WNBA has released a report saying...

• Attendance is up 156% from last year, and more than half of all WNBA games this year have been sellouts.

• About 400,000 fans have attended WNBA games this season, filling WNBA arenas to 94% capacity.

• This year's televised games (ABC, ESPN, etc.) are averaging 1.32 million viewers, nearly triple last season's average of 462,000.

• WNBA Countdown is averaging 741,000 viewers, a 211% increase from last year's full season average.

• The WNBA's online merchandise store has already set a single-season sales record (with 4+ months left in the season), and sales are up 756% compared to last year.

• The WNBA's social channels garnered 157 million video views through the first week of the season, an all-time high and up 380% compared to last year.

• The WNBA set an all-time high for League Pass subscriptions last month with a 355% increase vs. last season.

So, in simple terms, business is booming 📈

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Scottie Scheffler has won The Memorial Tournament, taking home the $4 million first-place prize.\n\nThat means Scheffler has officially set a new single-season PGA Tour earnings record for the third straight year.\n\n2022: $14 million\n2023: $21 million\n2024: $24 million\n\nEven crazier, there are still 3+ months left in the season.\n\nThis guy is on an entirely different planet right now.\n\n#sports #linkedinsports #sportsbiz

Yasir Al-Rumayyan has a ridiculous resume:

• Governor of Saudi's $900B investment fund
• Chairman of oil giant Saudi Aramco
• Board member at Uber & SoftBank
• Right-hand man to Crown Prince MBS

Now, Al-Rumayyan has become one of the most powerful men in sports, with Saudi Arabia allowing him to spend over $10 billion on leagues and teams in an effort to divert the country's economy away from oil and towards tourism.

Today's video breaks it all down.

This is super interesting, even if you don't care about sports.

WATCH: https://lnkd.in/e5qQ9rUv

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Apple is reportedly considering a $2 billion PER YEAR offer for the exclusive global broadcasting rights of Formula 1.

There are some challenges — many of F1's current TV deals run for another 5+ years — but I also think this would be a home run for Apple.

Here's why 👇

1. The Lionel Messi-MLS deal shows the power of sports content.

MLS Season Pass gained more subscribers in Lionel Messi's first month than in the previous nine months combined, including 110,000 new sign-ups on the day of Messi’s debut alone.

But more importantly, 20% of those people also subscribed to Apple TV+, leading to the platform’s best month ever with 833,500 new US customers in July.

2. Formula 1's audience is perfect for Apple — huge, young, and global.

The NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Ligue 1, and Serie A are all big — but none of them are truly global like Formula 1.

This is important because Apple is a global company, too, with 500+ stores in 26 countries and billions of dollars in revenue from the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, China, India, Germany, France, and others.

F1's audience is also much younger than other sports leagues.

Average Fan Age By League
MLB: 57 years old
NFL: 50 years old
NHL: 49 years old
NBA: 42 years old
Formula 1: 32 years old

This is an ideal audience for a company like Apple.

3. Apple can leverage F1's valuable intellectual property.

Apple is already working on two F1 projects: a Lewis Hamilton documentary and an F1 movie starring Brad Pitt with Joseph Kosinski of Top Gun directing.

We also all know how popular F1: Drive to Survive is on Netflix, and there are countless other projects that could be valuable to Apple.

4. This partnership could be huge for F1, too.

A $2B bid is double what F1 currently makes in annual broadcast fees and it would represent 77% of the business's $2.573 billion in revenue last year.

But more importantly, it would give F1 more control.

Since Liberty Media purchased F1 for $4.4 billion in 2017, they have made an effort to take more control over their product.

Take Las Vegas, for instance. F1 signed a 10-year deal to race down the Las Vegas strip and have already committed $500 million to the operation.

But instead of allowing someone else to come in and promote the race (think ticket sales, sponsorships, etc.), this is the first race where Liberty Media will do it themselves.

F1 also recently acquired the company that runs trackside hospitality at their races for $313 million — and a partnership with Apple would provide them with even more control.

So we’ll see what happens.

Part of me thinks this is silly because moving from open-end broadcasting deals to a closed-end streaming deal is the quickest way to stunt growth.

But part of me also likes the idea because, if you’re already an F1 fan, having all the content in one central place is an increasingly important luxury.

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The Clippers new $2 billion arena will host its first regular season NBA game tonight.

The Intuit dome is instantly one of the world's most technologically advanced arenas, and owner Steve Ballmer spared no expense when it comes to the fans.

Here's what you need to know 👇

1. Knicks owner James Dolan filed a lawsuit to stop the arena's construction because he thought it would impact concerts at The Forum, which he owns.

So, rather than arguing about it in court, Steve Ballmer bought The Forum for $400 million, and the problem disappeared.

2. The Clippers signed a 23-year, $500 million naming rights deal with Intuit before the arena even opened.

3. The arena has 1,160 toilets—that's three times more than the average NBA arena, and it means that there is one toilet for every 15 seats.

4. All concession stands have the same menu to minimize decision-making, and fans will do contactless checkout via grab-and-go (like Amazon Go stores) to get fans back into their seats as soon as possible.

5. The Clippers spent millions to upgrade the city's traffic control system. This will allow the city to manage traffic signals around the arena from a central command center, making it easier for fans to enter and leave the arena on game day without hitting traffic.

6. The Intuit Dome has already secured several big events, like the 2026 NBA All-Star Game and the 2028 LA Olympics (basketball).

7. The Clippers built student-section-style seating on one end of the floor. It has 51 rows of uninterrupted seating from floor to ceiling with no suites or tiers. Fans aren't allowed to cheer for the other team or wear opponent apparel, and season tickets are $32/game.

8. The Clippers visited more than 100 venues around the world (Wimbledon, Tottenham, etc.) to get inspiration for the Intuit Dome.

9. The double-sided, 360-degree scoreboard is the size of an acre and will display advanced stats and analytics throughout the game.

10. Arena seats are heated, have USB ports to charge phones, and have massage settings. There are also controllers built into the seats so fans can answer trivia questions for prizes during TV timeouts.

It'll be interesting to see how fans enjoy the experience, but this feels like a look into the future of sports venues.

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Tiger Woods has announced that he is leaving Nike.

• 27-year partnership
• $500 million in payments
• Billions in sales generated

One of the most lucrative endorsement deals in sports history is officially over.

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The NFL's collaboration with Disney's Toy Story was really well done.

The NFL has a computer chip in each player's shoulder pads to track movement, and then they combine that with Hawkeye optical tracking (like tennis) to animate the game in real time.

The kids love it — and you introduce a new demographic to the sport.

Great work 👏

As part of its recent $3 billion fundraising round, the PGA Tour will start issuing equity payouts to its top players today, according to The Telegraph.

Top projected payouts
• Tiger Woods: $100 million
• Rory McIlroy: $50 million
• Jordan Spieth: $30 million
• Justin Thomas: $30 million

These equity payments will vest over eight years, with 50% coming by year four, another 25% in year six, and the remaining 25% in year eight.

The payments are small compared to what LIV has handed out—Tyrrell Hatton has a $60M+ deal with LIV—but they represent an essential step for the PGA Tour.

These payments will help the PGA Tour retain talent by locking up big-name players with multi-year equity vesting agreements (like a startup would).

There will be little to no liquidity in the secondary market, so players can't take the payment, sell shares, and then jump to LIV later on for a larger check.

And it could even expedite the PGA-LIV merger.

For example, many people have said it wouldn't be fair for LIV golfers to collect a huge check and then be allowed to join the PGA Tour again with no consequences, especially because some big-name PGA Tour players turned down nine-figure contracts with LIV Golf.

But this makes it more fair, opening the door for LIV golfers to potentially rejoin the PGA Tour, with the idea that they could keep their LIV golf money because they won't be getting upside in the PGA Tour's new for-profit entity.

There is still a long way to go to make that happen.

But this is unlike anything else we have seen in professional sports.

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