Sporticast 339: Goodbye to the Arizona Coyotes, Caitlin Clark Jerseys
On the latest Sporticast episode, hosts Scott Soshnick and Eben Novy-Williams discuss some of the biggest sports business stories of the week, including the end of the Arizona Coyotes as an NHL team—at least for now.
The league’s executive committee earlier this week approved the $1.2 billion sale of the team to the owners of the Utah Jazz, an agreement that still needs the go-ahead from all NHL owners. The Smith Entertainment Group, led by billionaire Ryan Smith and his wife Ashley, will be buying the players and hockey operations from the Coyotes, and spinning that into a new NHL franchise. Current Coyotes owners will keep the team’s name, logo and other IP, with the possibility of resurrecting the team in the future.
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The hosts talk about the $1.2 billion price. It’s almost double the league’s last expansion fee ($650 million in Seattle), and roughly double the team’s most recent Sportico valuation ($675 million). That said, it is way less than the “$2 billion or $2.5 billion or $2.7 billion” that league commissioner Gary Bettman recently told The Hockey News could be the league’s next expansion fee. They also discuss SEG’s growing sports portfolio, which includes the Utah Jazz, the Delta Center, the Utah Royals and Real Salt Lake.
Next they discuss the continued frenzy surrounding Caitlin Clark. The WNBA draft earlier this week drew a record TV audience, but fans looking for her No. 22 jersey will need to wait until August. That’s because Nike needs more time to ramp up production of the blank jerseys to meet demand. It’s a familiar delay for sports fan—a similar issue arose last year with Adidas Inter Miami jerseys following the arrival of Lionel Messi in MLS.
They close by discussing Jontay Porter’s NBA ban for gambling violations, and new details about the proposed college sports “Super League.”
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