College hoops business is booming despite quiet tourneys. Plus, is MLB in a healthy place?

New York Times

26-03-2025

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Welcome back to MoneyCall, The Athletic's weekly sports business cheat sheet. Name-dropped today: Derik Queen, JuJu Watkins, Amir Khan, TGL, Juan Soto, Rob Manfred, Warren Buffett, Caitlin Clark, Paul Skenes, Morning Routine Guy and more. Let's go:
Is the NCAA Tournament in trouble? Is college basketball broken? No, wait: Is Cinderella dead?!?!
Short answer: Please. Get a grip.
There has been a hysteria this week about men's college basketball — about zero Cinderellas in the Sweet 16, about four power conferences taking up all 16 spots, about a record-smashing gazillion players jumping into the transfer portal (more than 1,000 since it reopened this week).
While a smidgen of the magic of March might be missing this week, the business of college hoops is totally fine:
Meanwhile, the biggest adjustment is still coming up this spring: the pending House settlement to a class-action lawsuit that would allow each DI school to share $20 million of revenue with players.
Any with big football programs will put most of the bag toward that, but the basketball-first schools (like the Big East and many mid-majors) will spend it on hoops, theoretically flattening the big-school advantages. What St. John's was able to do with a billionaire's bankroll will now be more accessible to the Georgetowns and Gonzagas.
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(If you love a team in a power conference, don't worry: NIL collectives can — and will — still pay well beyond an NCAA-sanctioned $20 million floor.)
The portal opened Monday, transfer rules are lax and it makes NFL, NBA and MLB free agency look stodgy. NIL budgets are skyrocketing, and players and coaches alike are all on year-to-year deals — now, we just don't have to use NCAA-avoidant euphemisms or 'bag men' or burner phones.
As disruptive and uncomfortable as that might seem, it actually feels healthier than the old system.
Big talkers from the sports business industry:
Related: Azzi Fudd decided to forego being a WNBA first-round pick to go back to UConn, where she can benefit from another year of NIL and set herself up to make more money as a pro after the next collective bargaining agreement takes effect.
Other current obsessions: 'Morning Routine Guy' satire … BreakingT's offerings immediately after Derik Queen's buzzer-beater … the energy in the Chinese Grand Prix F1 fan zone … God Shammgod profiles … wondering if Amir Khan's aura remains intact if he leaves McNeese for N.C. State …
Last week's Japan series aside, the new MLB season officially starts tomorrow. Very excited to hear Joe Buck back in the baseball TV booth for the Yankees opener on ESPN.
Weird vibes for the season ahead: The cash-flowing, free-spending Dodgers are seemingly unstoppable. Juan Soto moved from the Bronx to Queens for a mere $765M. The 'Las Vegas' (nee Oakland) A's are playing in a minor-league park in Sacramento, as are the Rays in Tampa. And do you really know how to watch your team play on TV?
Here's what I'm wondering: Is baseball in a healthy place? I checked in with my colleague Chris Strauss, The Athletic's MLB managing editor, for his perspective:
💬 'Well, that's a loaded question. If we're talking about the sport on the field — the rule changes that made the game more watchable, generational stars like Ohtani and Judge, the influx of young talent — there's still so much to love about baseball. But it's hard to say that where we are right now is ideal for the long-term health of the game.
'Everyone in the sport is warily eyeing the end of the 2026 season, when the current CBA runs out. Both Rob Manfred and Tony Clark spent much of the offseason foreshadowing a potential work stoppage.
'Fans are frustrated with teams like the Dodgers spending as much as they are, but there's an equal anger at teams like the Rockies, Pirates and Marlins who are barely spending anything. And all of the changes in the landscape of the regional sports networks seem to have widened those gulfs.'
I'm not entirely sure how the sport gets healthier — especially as the CBA clock ticks down — but I do know that we'll be covering it from every angle along the way.
Meanwhile: The Athletic's MLB preview coverage has been outstanding, and you can see it here. (And be sure you are signed up for The Windup, our free daily MLB newsletter.)
$1 million
The payout from Warren Buffett to the Berkshire Hathaway employee who nailed 31 of the 32 first-round picks of the NCAA Tournament, including 29 straight without a miss to start the tournament, which was the tie-breaker with 11 other employees who picked 31 of 32 games correctly (and got $100K each).
41
The number of Caitlin Clark games (featuring the Indiana Fever) that are going to be available to watch nationally, either on TV or streaming, next season. Keep in mind, that's out of a 44-game regular season, which begins in May. Credit to the league for recognizing CC is the biggest draw and leaning all the way in.
The game to circle? Saturday, June 7 — Clark vs. Angel Reese on CBS in prime time, which has the potential to be the most-watched regular-season WNBA game ever. Last year's Clark-Reese game in June got 2.25M viewers on CBS. Take the over!
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$40M
Fanatics' merch sales in Japan during the Dodgers-Cubs series, a record for the company at major events. Combine that stat with the 25 million people who watched the series in Japan, and it's clear that market will play a massive role in the future of MLB (and its TV rights negotiations).
$225K
The delta between Paul Skenes' 2025 salary ($875K) and the price his MLB Debut Patch card was bought for ($1.1M) by Dick's Sporting Goods. I love this as a marketing coup for Dick's, which is based just outside Pittsburgh.
2.6 seconds
How quickly I can grab the remote and hit the mute button when the Geico 'squealing pig' ad comes on during NCAA Tournament games.
70.3% / 97.6%
Where I stand in the men's and women's tournament-picking pecking order nationally, compared to the other 24M+ brackets.
But wait! Let's do a 'Second Chance' Sweet 16 challenge (same group name: 'MoneyCall March'). Enter the men's version and the women's version.
Beat Dan in Connections: Sports Edition
Puzzle #184
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🟡🟡🟡🟡
🟢🟢🟢🟢
🟣🟣🟣🟣
⏱️ 00:21 (PB!)
Try the game here!
Great business-adjacent reads for your downtime or commute:
What is the story with Knicks owner James Dolan and his constantly combative posture with the league? Mike Vorkunov dug into it.
Two more: