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Welcome to Yahoo Finance Sports Report, a unique look at the business of sports brought to you by Yahoo Finance and Yahoo Sports. I'm your host, Joe Pompeliano, and I'm here to coach you through the financial game. We'll look beyond the headlines, analyze all the latest sports news, the teams, trades, and billion dollar deals, so you and your portfolio will win big.We we're talking about the Boston Celtics' record breaking $6.1 billion sale, a massive lawsuit in professional tennis, the sports business legacy of George Foreman, and so much more. I'll also be joined by Yahoo Sports senior reporter Caroline Fenton to discuss March Madness and all things college basketball. Let's huddle up and get right into it.All right, it's time for this week's POs playbook. Why take a look at some of the biggest headlines in sports that you and your portfolio need to know. First up, we're talking about the Caitlyn Clark effect on Indiana Fever away games. On our show two weeks ago, we covered the Chicago Sky moving their home games against the Indiana Fever to the United Center to provide more seats for the Caitlyn Clark Machos. Well, yet another team has joined the Sky in moving their away games to an NBA arena.The Dallas Wings recently announced that their June 27th game against the fever will be moved to the American Airlines Center, home of the Dallas Mavericks. The Wings are now one of 6 teams that have moved their Indiana Fever games to larger arenas, joining the Atlanta Dream, Las Vegas Aces, Chicago Sky, Connecticut Sun, and Washington Mystics. But that's not all. CBS is also taking advantage of Caitlyn Clark's superstardom this coming WNBA season.The network announced last week that the Chicago Sky versus Indiana Fever games on June 7th and August 9th will be broadcasting Saturday night prime time on CBS. This isn't shocking considering that Caitlin Clark and Angel Rees are the top rivalry in the WNBA today, and the Sky versus Fever game on June 23rd last season averaged 2.3 million viewers on ESPN. So whether it's bigger arenas or mainstream TV slots, Caitlin Clark effect is still very real.Next up, we're discussing the Boston Celtics' record breaking franchise sale. Last week, the Celtics' ownership group led by Wick Grossbeck, announced that it was selling the team to private equity billionaire William Chisholm for $6.1 billion. The sale will break the record for the most expensive sports franchise sale in NBA history, beating out Matt HBS's $4 billion purchase of the Phoenix Suns in 2023.It will also break the record for the most expensive sports team sale in North American history, eclipsing the $6.05 billion paid by Josh Harris and his ownership group for the NFL's Washington Commanders in 2023. Now Bill Chisholm seemed to be a no-brainer pick as the team's next owner. He grew up in Boston and is a diehard Celtics fan, telling ESPN that he quote bleeds green. But the underlying story here is what the Celtics sale means for the NBA's future business. With theCeltics price tag set at $6.1 billion. We will see NBA expansion talks heat up for new franchises in Las Vegas and Seattle. That's because the Celtics' valuation will likely be used as a benchmark for the Vegas to Seattle expansion fees. And if NBA commissioner Adam Silver can get the $6 billion fee for each of its new franchises, the league's 30 other NBA owners would see a $400 million windfall as a result. Last up on Palm's playbook, we're looking at a major lawsuit in.Tennis. Last week, the Professional Tennis Players Association, or PTPA for short, filed a lawsuit against the ATP Tour, WTA Tour and the International Tennis Federation for anti-trust violations. The PTPA was co-founded by 24-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic and is backed by billionaire Bill Ackman and is looking to establish itself as a players' union for professional tennis athletes. The lawsuit also includes a dozen current and former players like Nick.Kyrgios and Serran Cristelo. While the suit claims anti-competitive practices, including limits on endorsement income, controlled working conditions, restricted competition among rival tournaments, and invasive anti-doping investigations. The most significant allegation is about player pay. The lawsuit claims that tennis' governing bodies, including the four Grand Slams, unfairly limit prize money as players only share less than 20% of the billions of revenue generated by the sports annually.This revenue share is in stark contrasts to other professional sports leagues like the NFL or NBA which share about 50% of their revenue with their players. Now, this legal process is just beginning and we'll need time to play out in court, but I'll be keeping an eye on this story as it progresses, and it could lead to major changes in the long-standing business model of professional tennis.This week for the deeper dive, where I give you a play by play analysis of news in the sports world and its significance to your bottom line. We're looking at how the Los Angeles Dodgers became Japan's favorite MLB team.It's opening day for all Major League Baseball today, but the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs got the season started two weeks ago with the Tokyo Series in Japan, drawing more than 25 million viewers in the country for the opening game. And while the Tokyo Series highlighted 5 Japanese MLB players for both LA and Chicago, the series was really a celebration with the Dodgers, becoming Japan's favorite MLB team. You see,LA has strategically worked to turn Japanese baseball fans into Dodgers faithful over the last few years. Operation Paint Japan Blue ramped up in December 2023 when the Dodgers signed Japanese superstar Shohe Otae to a record-breaking $700 million contract, which included $680 million in deferred payments. Later that same month, Los Angeles also signed highly coveted Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu.Yamamoto to a 12 year, $325 million contract, the largest deal for a pitcher only in MLB history. After Otani and Yamamoto helped deliver a World Series title for the team in 2024, the Dodgers tripled down on Japanese talent by signing pitching sensationRoki Sasaki this past offseason. Since Sasaki is younger than 25 years old, he's considered an amateur international free agent.So while the Dodgers still gave Sasaki a $6.5 million signing bonus, his status gives LA 6 years of club control and only requires a rookie salary of $780,000. Many MLB fans will say that the Dodgers can only afford these contracts because they have a massive local market TV deal worth $334.million dollars per year. But that notion completely ignores reality and doesn't give the Dodgers credit for signing Japanese players to create a cultural shift that has swayed fandom in Japan. Because while the Dodgers made these moves to create a championship caliber roster, they also handed out these massive contracts knowing that they'll make even more money in the long run.The Dodgers today are by far and away the most popular MLB team in Japan, and their focus on signing Japanese talent, including the world's most popular player in Shohei Atai, is already paying off massive dividends. Otani merchandise accounted for 57% of all MLB merchandise sales in Japan last year, and I've been told that Otani was worth over $100 million to the Dodgers last year, to not only increased ticket sales and in stadium merchandise purchases, but dozens of new Japanesesponsors. In fact, the team ran out of inventory so quick that Japanese brands were buying ads in other ballparks for Dodgers away games. Japanese tourism agencies were also sending hundreds of people to every Dodgers home game, and the LA Tourism Board estimates that 80% to 90% of all visitors from Japan stopped by Dodger Stadium at least once during their trip to LA. And Major League Baseball absolutely loves what is happening in Los Angeles. The league's domestic and international media.It expire simultaneously in 2028. And with MLB fandom increasing across all of East Asia, Commissioner Rob Manford has already floated the idea of selling an international package of games. That opens the door for a streaming company like Netflix to pay big money for a global package of games and unlock MLB's next major growth channel. So I'd say Operation Paint Japan Blue is already a massive success for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and now MLB may soon reap even larger benefits because of it.This week for my one on one, I'm joined by Yahoo Sports senior reporter Caroline Fenton. Welcome to the show, Caroline. I know you cover a wide variety of sports for Yahoo, but since it's March Madness, I figured that we should specifically talk about this tournament, both the men's and the women's side today. And I'd love to get your opinion on just how you think things are going so far. There's been a lot of conversation about a lack of upsets or a potential expansion to the tournament, but just what is your kind of 30,000 ft view on what March Madness has been so far?

This has been a unique version of the tournament, because there haven't been as many crazy upsets or Cinderellas that you are accustomed to seeing year over year in the NCAA tournament. It's part of the reason why we love the NCAA tournament. It feels like the everyman's tournament, that a 16 seed can upset a 1 seed that a team like Saint Peter's2022 that had never won an NCAA tournament game in the history of the program, made it to the Elite Eight. We fall in love with those stories. But this year, all top four seeds, so 1 through 16, won their first round game. And in the Sweet 16, we only have 4 conferences represented, and they are the power 4 conferences, the SEC, the big12, the Big 10 in the ACC. This is the fewest number of conferences ever represented in the Sweet 16. The least, the last fewest was 77, and now we're down to 4. So it's begged a lot of questions about the current culture and climate of college sports that has NIL and the transfer portal killed these Cinderellas. And it's a fair theory to have given howLittle representation there is from the quote unquote small guys in the postseason of the tournament. However, I don't necessarily subscribe to that, because last year in 2024, we had Yale, a 13 seed beat a 4 seed in Auburn, which is now the number one overall seed in the tournament. Last year we had Duquesne and 11 seed beat BYU as 6 seed. I just referenced Saint Peter's in 2020.We had Oakland upsetting Kentucky last year. Kentucky, one of the Blue Bloods in the sport. All of those upsets happened in the post-NIL era. And this isn't the first time that we've seen all top 6, 16 seeds win in the first round of the tournament. It happened in 2015, well before the NIL era in the current era of the transfer portal. I think the biggestculprit is probably conference realignment. I remember a time when Houston was in the AAC. I remember a time when BYU was in the WCC. Now both of those teams are Big 12 members. So what would have felt like maybe a few years ago, pre-conference realignment, mid-majors making a run in the tournament. Well, now it just feels like more runs from powers that be. So it's a little bit of a different look this year.But we still got Mc Neese upsetting Clemson. We still got Drake upsetting Missouri, who's represented from one of the deepest that the deepest and most competitive conferences that we've ever seen in college basketball from the SEC this year. So it feels and looks a little bit different this year, but it's not unprecedented, and I don't think that we are gonna see the end of Cinderella's in March Madness, at least I hope we don't, because we all love them.

Yeah, I totally agree, and it's a very interesting point. I had seen a stat on Twitter that uh 2023 when FAU made it to the Final Four, their top three scores are now back in the Sweet 16, but on three different teams, right? So the argument is that NIL and the transfer portal combined, people can come in and take your best players from a mid-major program and go to the bigger schools, butI think it sort of feels like an anomaly to your point because we saw the same thing last year. If Colorado State beats Maryland on the buzzer beater or doesn't allow the buzzer beater, then maybe it's a different story as well. So there's some things there that maybe don't uh come out when you look at just the numbers, but you mentioned McNeee State there for a minute, and I want to go back to that because they were sort of a weird team in this year's NCAA tournament as well, because rumors had emerged during the tournament or even before the tournament that their head coach Will Wade was leaving.The tournament or after the tournament to go to NC State to become their head coach. This is obviously a super unique situation where you essentially have to go and start recruiting out of the transfer portal immediately when the tournament ends for your new school. Obviously, he's going to be taking some players with him. But do you think that had any impact on them as a team this year? And what do you think that process looks like going into the future? Will we see any kind of amending to the rules, uh, to make sure these coaches are finishing out their season with their schools?

I, I do think it had an effect, but it had an opposite effect than I initially thought. When the news came out that Will Wade was leaving McNee for NC State, my initial thought was this is going to be a distraction in the locker room, that these players are going to be thinking about.the future. OK, well, if coach is leaving, then where am I going? Will I still have a place at McNee next year, that anytime there's any sort of outside conversation surrounding anything but winning this basketball game, normally it's a negative thing.Instead, I think it was a galvanizing factor for this team, that this team came together and said, this is our last run. This is our last run together as a team, this is our last run with coach, so let's go out with a bang. Let's go out on a high note. So I really do think that it was a positive thing for this team, and it's unorthodox to see that announcement come before the tournament even starts when you have a coach that is still actively coaching in the tournament.But Will Wade said in a press conference that he was incredibly open and honest with his locker room, not just now, but has been since the beginning. He told the players that he recruited at McNeice, and this is coming from him, he said, I'll be here for 2 years. I don't expect to be.for the rest of my career. He told the team when he started interviewing with other programs. He kept the team updated with the fact that, hey, things are going really well with some of these interviews. I think I'm going to be gone at the end of the season. So when the announcement came,I don't think that the locker room was blindsided. I think the locker room and those players expected this announcement to come. I was excited for their coach, was excited that their coach got a bigger opportunity and said, well, if you're gonna be gone, let's go out on a high note.

One ofthe storylines of March Madness over the last few years, it feels like we've been.is the potential expansion of the tournament to 72 or 76 teams. There's been some discussion around what this would do for revenue sharing and different things like that. And obviously the TV networks, I think, would be excited about it too, given the more inventory and things like that. Is this something that you would be a fan of or you think right now we have the perfect number?

I hate it. I think right now we have the perfect number. I'm of the belief that if it's not broke, don't fix it. And what we have right now with the product in March Madness is a really, really good one. I'll go back to the college football playoff expansion. I thought overall, that was a positive thing, because we've got more games that mattered. And if you look at this past year, a team inOhio State that won the national championship, and a 4 team playoff would have been excluded. They would have won the been on the outside looking in. And if you watch the college football playoff, you probably didn't want to see a playoff that didn't include Ohio State. So I was pro expansion in the college football playoff, but in the college in college basketball, we have enough. We'll let 70 at 71st, 72nd team that just barely gets.Into the tournament, illegitimate national title contenders. It feels a little bit crowded when you add more. My question is, why? What does adding more teams do? All it does is create more revenue, more ad space, and more games. So from the business aspect of things, from the people whose pockets will benefit from more games, of course, it's a positive thing. More games.Equals more revenue. But from a basketball perspective, it feels a little bit too crowded. But if there's one thing that I've learned from the changes in college sports over the last 5 to 10 years, if we're hearing whispers of things happening, if we're hearing that the powers that be are considering making this change, more often than not, it's a change that's going to be made. We've heard that through conference.Expansion. We heard that through college football playoff expansion. We heard that from the birth of NIL and we're hearing it now with college basketball postseason expansion. I don't see the benefit from a basketball or a fan experience, but if there's a financial incentive, more often than not, that's usually what wins out. What makes more money is what's gonna happen.

We've got to take a quick break, but we'll be back right after this with more of my conversation with Caroline Fen.Welcome back to Yahoo Finance Sports Report. I'm your host Joe Pompoanaa. I'm here with Yahoo Sports senior reporter Caroline Fenton. Caroline, I'd love to get your opinion on just the state of women's college basketball because we've talked a lot about men's, but last year women's basketball, the national championship game outrated the men's from a viewership perspective, and we know what Caitlyn Clark mean to the women's college game. She did exactly the same thing in the WNBA this past year, but there's this new crop of players.Obviously you have a Page Becker who's been in college for a few years now at UConn and maybe headed to the WNBA. You have a Juju Watkins who actually got hurt. We're recording this on Tuesday. She got hurt last night, unfortunately, but they really seem to carry the game this year. Now the ratings aren't necessarily where they were with Caitlyn Clark, but they're still significantly higher than they were a few years ago before Caitlyn Clark arrived at Iowa. What do you think of just the general state of popularity of the game today and how healthy it is?

I don't think the game has ever been healthier. Caitlin Clark is obviously a massive reason for that, because she was someone that people could fall in love with. It was a storyline that was incredibly palatable and relatable that this person, this athlete was doing something that we haven't seen done before or at least haven't seen in a very long time. I don't care what sport it is, whether it's women's basket.or football, or if it's cricket or whatever it is, it is if someone is doing something revolutionary, people, sports fans, they fall in love with that and they want to be part of that. I think one big thing that Caitlyn Clark did, not just growing the popularity, but it opened the door to a completely new fan base. So now that fan base is falling in love with the page backers of the world and the Juju Watkins of the world, and that injury just hurt.My heart, I hate to see an NCAA tournament that will not involve Jui Watkins, but we also have Hannah Hidalgo at Notre Dame. We also have Flage Johnson at LSU. I think that's a big reason why the women's game is growing is because there are personalities and characters and stories that resonate with fans. That's because there is much more retention on the women's side than there is on the men's side.The biggest star in men's basketball right now is Cooper Flag. He'll be gone next year. He's one and done. On the women's side, we've gotten to see Paige Beckers grow and mature and build the game over 5 years. We got to see 4 years of Caitlin Clark at Iowa. We get to see these players return and grow, create rivalries.And create storylines over time, and those are so much easier to fall in love with, rather than a new crop of players and a new crop of stars year over year over year. There are a lot of maybe negative things that NIL has brought into college sports, but I think one positive thing that NIL has brought to college sports is that it is keeping good players around.Longer. Now, I think the biggest question looming surrounding women's college basketball is, where is that next Caitlin Clark, or where is that next crop of stars, so that it's not just a small boost in popularity, and then the viewership starts to decline.

Definitely. Well, my brackets haven't been completely busted yet, so we'll see this weekend if that ends up happening. But Caroline, thank you

so the lucky ones.

Yes, I am, for now, for now. Thank you.

Thank you so much.

The clock is running down here, but we have just enough time for some final boil. So let's talk about the sports business legacy of superstar boxer George Foreman.Last week we sadly lost George Foreman at 76 years old. Foreman was obviously a boxing legend with a 76-5 record, two heavyweight championships, and an Olympic gold medal. But I wanted to take some time to highlight Foreman's career outside of the ring as one of the biggest accomplishments in sports business history. You see, in the 1990s, Foreman became known for his signature TV infomercials on the George Foreman lean mean grilling machine. The George Foreman Grill was an innovative product at the time, enabling quick, smokeless.Grilling indoors at home for consumers caught up in the middle of the health craze of the 90s. Foreman began pitching the grill after signing in the dorsum deal with manufacturer Sultan Inc. in 1994, the same year he won the heavyweight title at age 45. Through paid infomercials, the Foreman Grill product line became a household hit and is one of the most successful cases of athlete marketing that we've ever seen. Foreman was a natural on screen, and his infomercials were actually pretty entertaining, and consumers responded. The Foreman Grill sold 100.Units in its 1st 15 years in business and still has multiple Amazon bestselling products today. That success meant a massive payday for the boxing legend. Foreman told AARP in 2014 that he made more than $200 million from the George Foreman grill line and was making as much as $8 million per month at the height of its sales. And what's even crazier is that the grill was almost endorsed by WWE wrestler Hulk Hogan instead. Hogan told Conan O'Brien in 2008 that he missed a phone call from Salt I to endorse the grill.However, Foreman answered Sultan's call right away, and Hogan endorsed the lender instead, which was eventually discontinued. The world lost a legend in George Foreman, and his legacy will live on, not only as a Hall of Fame boxer, but as a member of the unofficial Sports Business Hall of Fame. We're all out of time, so it's officially game over for this week. Thank you so much to Caroline and for all of you for joining us. Make sure to tune into Yahoo Finance Sports Reports on Thursdays at 5 p.m. wherever you get your podcast. I'm your host, Joe Pompeliano. See you next time.

This content was not intended to be financial advice and should not be used as a substitute for professional financial services.