{"id":269656,"date":"2025-10-01T17:00:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T17:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/269656\/"},"modified":"2025-10-01T17:00:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T17:00:09","slug":"a-surging-pro-sports-league-suddenly-finds-itself-in-crisis-moneycall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/269656\/","title":{"rendered":"A surging pro sports league suddenly finds itself in crisis: MoneyCall"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome back to MoneyCall, The Athletic\u2019s weekly sports business cheat sheet. (Want to get this emailed to you? Subscribe here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Name-dropped today: Napheesa Collier, Cathy Engelbert, Jurgen Klopp, Chad Powers, Paul Finebaum, Matthew Ball, Bad Bunny, USA Network, Cody Campbell, FC Kairat, Tony Reali, Aspercreme, Uncle Dennis, Steve Cohen, Snoop Dogg<\/strong> and more. Let\u2019s go:<\/p>\n

Driving the Conversation<\/p>\n

\u201cWorst leadership in the world\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

With a blistering opprobrium from one of its biggest superstars, the WNBA is about to head into its 2025 finals \u2014 and most important offseason ever \u2014 engulfed in controversy.<\/p>\n

Two years of unmatched league momentum<\/strong> \u2014 the arrival of Caitlin Clark, consistently high TV ratings (including big new deals),<\/a> quarter-billion-dollar expansion fees, skyrocketing team valuations, enthusiastic sponsor interest \u2014 were abruptly disrupted by Napheesa Collier, one of the league\u2019s biggest stars<\/strong> (and co-founder of Unrivaled, one of its biggest, well, rivals). At her Minnesota Lynx exit interview with the media Tuesday, she blasted commissioner Cathy Engelbert<\/a> and earned kudos of solidarity from her peers on social media.<\/p>\n

Forget the fact we are on the eve of the WNBA Finals; more critically, we are on the eve of a labor battle between the league and its players<\/strong> over the way the two entities should split the spoils of newfound financial power.<\/p>\n

Why now? A combination of simmering tension spiked by the past week\u2019s league issues with playoff officiating, player injuries (including Collier) and punitive actions for rhetoric (including Collier\u2019s coach being suspended during the playoffs<\/a>) \u2014 along with the media spotlight of a star\u2019s exit interview.<\/p>\n

With October here, the WNBA\u2019s tenuous labor situation reaches a crisis point on Halloween, when the current collective bargaining agreement expires. Few think the league and union will figure it out by then<\/a>; plenty worry they won\u2019t have it figured out by the start of next season, either.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a tough spot when the biggest storyline heading into the 2025 WNBA Finals is: Might there not be a 2026 WNBA Finals?<\/p>\n

Get Caught Up<\/p>\n

MLB\u2019s resurgence and Finebaum\u2019s political turn<\/strong><\/p>\n

Big talkers from the sports business industry:<\/p>\n

MLB: Reaching new popularity?<\/strong> Just in time for the start of the playoffs, the leading indicators of MLB\u2019s health are robust<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Attendance? 71,409,421 fans. Up for the third straight year.<\/p>\n

TV viewership? Up across the board (despite that midseason snafu with ESPN).<\/p>\n

Average game time? A brisk 2 hours and 38 minutes, the third straight year under 2:40.<\/p>\n

Average age of a single-game ticket buyer? Forty-three (down from 46 two years ago), and if you dip into the secondary market, the average age falls below 40. Millennials FTW!<\/p>\n

(And 2026 is already off to a promising start, with Opening Day now being aired exclusively on Netflix<\/a>, per Andrew Marchand, part of the streamer\u2019s strategy of \u201ceventized\u201d sports.)<\/p>\n

NBC vs. YouTube TV<\/strong>: Extension reached to keep negotiating<\/a>.<\/p>\n

EA Sports goes private in record $55B buyout<\/strong>. Interesting<\/a>. EA is such a powerful brand in sports culture (see: Madden, the FIFA brand, College Football 26) but has struggled in recent years. Does a huge new debt load make things better?<\/p>\n

Bad Bunny headlining Super Bowl LX halftime<\/strong>. The league gets to keep its Taylor Swift halo effect AND bring in one of the world\u2019s other most popular entertainers to headline the Super Bowl<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Paramount keeps making deals<\/strong>: In the same quarter it did a billion-dollar deal for UFC, the film giant teamed up with TKO Holdings to bring TKO\u2019s Zuffa Boxing to Paramount+<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Paul Finebaum, U.S. senator?<\/strong> Stephen A. Smith isn\u2019t the only ESPN personality with at least some political ambitions. The legendary college football yakker, 70, sounds like he is willing to be tapped to run for U.S. Senate in Alabama<\/a>. (And he\u2019d probably win!)<\/p>\n

Other current obsessions<\/strong>: Field storming by college kids<\/a> \u2026 Real Madrid playing in Kazakhstan<\/a> \u2026 Snoop Dogg back at the Olympics<\/a> \u2026 Islanders management being cool with facial hair<\/a> and weird jersey numbers \u2026 Indiana football as a classic management turnaround story<\/a> \u2026 TA\u2019s ranking of Fanatics\u2019 wild soccer-style NFL jerseys<\/a> \u2026<\/p>\n

What I\u2019m Wondering<\/p>\n

Does the latest \u2018Lasso\u2019 wannabe hold up?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Like \u201cTed Lasso,\u201d \u201cChad Powers\u201d started as a small bit, then got green-lit into a TV series. Hulu\u2019s \u201cPowers\u201d won\u2019t match the zeitgeist-defining success of Apple\u2019s \u201cLasso,\u201d but my colleague Hannah Vanbiber has a must-read feature<\/a> this week talking with star Glen Powell, co-creator Eli Manning and explaining what it\u2019s all about. I asked Hannah:<\/p>\n

Powell is a likable actor. The premise of the older QB\u2019s college comeback seems a little thin, but I\u2019m willing to give it a try. You\u2019ve watched the entire series. Got a mini-review for MoneyCall readers?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hannah: Watching \u201cChad Powers\u201d had me like that Kombucha Girl meme: One second I\u2019m like, \u201cThis is terrible??\u201d The next I\u2019m like, \u201cGlen Powell (as Russ Holliday) is delicious!?\u201d It veers so deeply into the cartoonishly ludicrous that it won\u2019t be to everyone\u2019s taste, but brief flashes of thorny emotional resonance made it linger longer than I expected.<\/p>\n

Grab Bag<\/p>\n

Name to Know: Uncle Dennis
<\/strong>Read the definitive profile of Kawhi Leonard\u2019s uncle<\/a> and an intriguing personality near the center of the NBA\u2019s (and Pablo Torre\u2019s!) ongoing investigation into the Clippers\u2019 situation with Aspiration.<\/p>\n

Related: Really interesting reporting from my colleague Joe Vardon about how the rest of the league handles the intersection<\/a> of team sponsorships and side deals with players.<\/p>\n

Three more: Zayu, Maple and Clutch<\/strong>.
Those are the new 2026 World Cup mascots. Let\u2019s overanalyze them<\/a>, obviously.<\/p>\n

What next: Tony Reali<\/strong>
When we last checked in, Reali was hosting the finale of the long-running \u201cAround The Horn.\u201d After a few months off, he recently launched a new daily newsletter called \u201cI Love Everything About This!\u201d<\/a> with more programming to come.<\/p>\n

After subscribing, I texted him to ask why he started with this. He replied: \u201cI think we need more spaces that aspire to be joyful, human and real.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quote of the Week: Steve Cohen<\/strong>
\u201cWe didn\u2019t do our part.\u201d<\/p>\n

As bad as Mets fans feel about the team\u2019s epic collapse to miss the MLB playoffs, imagine having paid $340 million for that experience. To be sure: Mets fans deserved an apology, so let\u2019s credit Cohen for offering one<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Executive Q&A: Jurgen Klopp<\/strong>
Now managing Red Bull\u2019s soccer operations, the former Liverpool manager talked with my colleague Adam Crafton about the new experience<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcdd He jokes about the realities of everyday corporate existence, going through \u201cfive million different people\u201d to get things done.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcac \u201cI come from a world where I say I *need that* and it happens. Now I may hear, \u2018I heard you say that,\u2019 and it doesn\u2019t mean anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcdd He seems charmed, rather than exasperated, by such occurrences.<\/p>\n

Elevator Pitch: 64-team World Cup<\/strong>
As my colleague Martin Rogers smartly puts it: It\u2019s still way better than 48.<\/p>\n

Peak of the Week: Pick it up!<\/strong>
In my long career as a youth-sports coach, I would argue that the single most important life lesson we can teach kids is to clean up their bench area after their game. Loved this Rustin Dodd piece about how Vandy\u2019s football program is leading by example<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Endorsement Deal: Aspercreme<\/strong>
Kudos to Aspercreme, a pain relief product, for signing<\/a> 58-year-old college football player Tom Cillo to the most clever NIL deal of the season. (Previous No. 1: Deion Sanders\/Depend after his bladder cancer surgery.)<\/p>\n

Expansion Watch<\/strong>
We talk a lot about the excitement of cities getting expansion franchises from pro leagues. That\u2019s why I found Julian McKenzie\u2019s reporting about Quebec City\u2019s fizzling hopes of regaining an NHL team to be so interesting.<\/p>\n

Investor of the Week: Chris Paul<\/strong>
The NBA veteran took a stake in Angel City FC, joining their all-star investor roster. Once the Clippers are through the awkward Aspiration stuff<\/a>, we\u2019ll try to sit down with CP3 to talk about his enthusiasm for women\u2019s soccer.<\/p>\n

Question the Week: Best IRL sport?<\/strong>
Inspired by MLB\u2019s surging attendance numbers, I\u2019m curious what you think the best major U.S. pro sports league is for attending a game in real life. Take 10 seconds to fill out this one-question poll?<\/a><\/p>\n

Beat Dan in Connections: Sports Edition<\/strong>
Today: 01:12
Tricky!
Try the game here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Worth Your Time<\/p>\n

Great business-adjacent reads for your downtime or commute:<\/p>\n

Luke Smith had me at \u201c3,000 lobsters.\u201d<\/strong> That\u2019s just the start of this tour through Formula 1\u2019s catering setup for its VIPs<\/a> in a typical race weekend.<\/p>\n

Two more:<\/p>\n

\u2022 What\u2019s it like on a cross-country NWSL road trip? Tamerra Griffin went behind the scenes with Bay FC<\/a> (right after their coach announced he would step down at the end of the season and just before Bay FC parted ways with their CEO \u2026 yikes?).<\/p>\n

\u2022 We launch the Victor Wembanyama beat with Jared Weiss diving into the \u201cConstraints-Led Approach,\u201d a coaching method that a lot of successful orgs have adopted to improve individual performance, like the training being used by Wemby<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Back next Wednesday! If you enjoyed MoneyCall, please forward this to a couple of friends or colleagues with your recommendation to subscribe! (It\u2019s free \u2014 they don\u2019t have to be subscribers to The Athletic.) And, as always, give a try to all The Athletic\u2019s other newsletters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

(Photo: Christian Petersen \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Welcome back to MoneyCall, The Athletic\u2019s weekly sports business cheat sheet. (Want to get this emailed to you?…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":269657,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[62,222,67,132,68,232],"class_list":{"0":"post-269656","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-sports-business","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us","13":"tag-wnba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115299983194880030","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=269656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269656\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/269657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}