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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 Pompriano, 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. This week we're talking about unrivaled success in year one. The Buffalo Bills plan to host the NFL draft and Wrexham AFC's impressive financials. I'll also be joined by 2311 Racing's Denny Hamlin and Robin Hood's Steve Cork to discuss their recently announced partnership. Let's huddle up and get right into it.All right, it's time for this week's Poms playbook. Why take a look at some of the biggest headlines in sports that you and your portfolio need to know? Let's kick things off with unrivaled's impressive inaugural season. Unrivaled, the new 3 on 3 Women's basketball League, reported over $27 million in revenue during its first season, nearly achieving a break-even point. This financial success is largely attributed to a lucrative media rights deal with TNT Sports and a lineup of corporate partners.These deals allowed the league to invest over $7 million in player salaries, offering an average of $200,000 to its 36 founding athletes. Throughout the season, unrivaled averaged 221,000 viewers for regular season and playoff games. Notably, the championship game between Rose BC and Vinyl BC attracted 364,000 viewers, while the February 14th matchup between the Lunar Owls and M peaked at 377,000 viewers.Merchandise sales contributed significantly to the total, generating approximately 1.4 to $1.5 million. This boost followed a licensing agreement with the WNBA players Union, enabling unrival to sell player-specific merchandise. And to further capitalize on this revenue stream, league executives aim to increase efficiency with the goal of potentially doubling or tripling merchandise sales next year. Ticket sales also played a crucial role with the league hosting games in their 8.50 seat arena and selling out each of them, surpassing seven figures in ticket revenue. Plans are already underway to increase seating capacity by removing certain areas to accommodate more fans, thereby boosting ticket sales next year. And looking ahead, unrival intends to expand its reach by hosting games in two additional cities beyond its Miami base. Adjustments to roster sizes and player strategies are also being considered to optimize team performance and maintain the league's competitive edge.Next up, let's discuss the Buffalo Bills pushing for the 2029 NFL draft. The Buffalo Bills are actively pursuing the opportunity to host a future NFL draft at their new venue, High Mark Steady, set to open in the summer of 2026. Chief Operating Officer Pete Gulley revealed during the recent NFL meetings that the organization has been in regular communication with the league, emphasizing Buffalo's potential as a prime location for the event.The team has formally applied to host the draft in either 2028 or 2029, with 2029 appearing more feasible given the preparations required. To gain insight into organizing such a large scale event, the Bills plan to send representatives to Green Bay, which, as a comparable small market city is hosting the draft this year.This initiative aligns with the NFL's recent trend of awarding major events to cities that invest in new stadiums. While hosting a Super Bowl in Buffalo is unlikely due to the cold weather and the stadium's open design. Securing the NFL draft would be a significant achievement for the team and the community. The new Highmark stadium is being constructed directly across from the current facility on Abbott Road in Richard Park. Once the new stadium is operational, the existing one is scheduled for demolition in March 2027.Nothing is guaranteed, but the Bills didn't build a new $2 billion stadium for nothing. My guess is they will eventually get themselves in NFL draft.And let's close out Palm's playbook today with Alex Ovechkin breaking Wayne Gretzky's all-time NHL goal record. This past Sunday, Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin made NHL history by scoring his 895th career goal during a matchup against the New York Islanders at UBS Arena. This significant milestone allowed Ovechkin to surpass Wayne Gretzky's long-standing NHL record of 894 goals, solidify.His legacy as the league's all-time goal scorer. Anticipation for this historic achievement dramatically impacted ticket prices, leading to an unprecedented demand. Standing room only tickets soared to $229 each, while lower level seats commanded prices exceeding $30,000 in some cases. Even less desirable nosebleed seats still fetched around $500 with premium lower bowl seats ranging between $700.To 2800. Ovechkin's record breaking feat also substantially boosted interest in his collectibles. The Islanders, recognizing the event's historic nature, offered attendees the option of purchasing physical tickets for $45 each, catering to collectors and fans seeking tangible memorabilia. Fanatics also quickly capitalized on this milestone by launching a series of exclusive items, including autographed pucks, framed photographs, andCommemorative apparel, specifically celebrating goal number 895. Upper Deck also released a limited edition Great Moments trading card set, capturing pivotal moments throughout Ovetskin's illustrious career. This combination of surging ticket prices and collectible sales underscores the profound market impact resulting from Ovetkin's record setting achievement, marking an extraordinary moment in sports history with lasting effects on the sports memorabilia market.This week for the deeper dive, where I give you a play by play analysis of news in the sports world. The insignificance here, bottom line, we're talking about the A's and Rays moving to minor league ballparks this season. Now, it's no secret that the Tampa Bay Rays and the athletics, two of MLB's small market teams, face unique stadium challenges in 2025. The Rays are temporarily relocating due to hurricane damage, while the athletics have moved after failing to secure a new stadium deal in Oakland. Tropicana Field, home of the Rays, sustained severe damage from Hurricane Milton.Losing its fiberglass roof and other critical infrastructure. Although some people suggested playing without the roof, persistent rain and inadequate drainage systems made that impossible. That's why the Rays struck a $15 million.01 year lease with the Yankees to use George M. Steinbrenner Field, a recently renovated spring training facility in Tampa for the 2025 season.This stadium was recently upgraded with a $50 million renovation, but it still seats just 10,000 fans, significantly fewer than Tropicana Field's 25,000 seats, or the Rays average 2024 attendance of 16,500. To ensure readiness, Ray's groundkeepers shadowed Yankee staff during spring training games, familiarizing themselves with the facility's irrigation, even field covering systems, because obviously it doesn't rain inside their dome.However, the real challenge began after the Yankees' last spring training game on March 203. With just 4 days until opening day, a team of 80 Ray's employees and over 50 contractors converted the stadium, replacing all of the Yankees logos, signage, converting the locker rooms, and even improving broadcast infrastructure for regular season games.While revenue losses from reduced seating and fewer concessions are significant, MLB has tried its best to mitigate these issues. MLB has adjusted game times in June from 7:05 p.m. to 7:35 p.m. to help avoid rain delays, especially since Tampa received over 80 inches of rain last year. Additionally, the Rays will play 37 of their 1st 54 games at Steinburner Field, minimizing weather disruptions. Meanwhile, the Athletics relocated from Oakland after 57 seasons due to unresolved state.Negotiations temporarily settling at Sacramento's Sutter Health Park for at least 3 seasons with an option for 1/4 before their stadium is ready in Las Vegas. Unlike the Rays, the A's shared this minor league stadium with the Sacramento Rivercats, meaning the facility will host over 150 games this season. Sutter Health Park, seating just 14,000 compared to the Oakland Coliseum's 47,000, is notably smaller but suitable given the athletics' historically low attendance. In fact, season tickets for 2025 have already sold.Out with a waitlist for 2026, recognizing the extended timeline, the athletics invested significantly in upgrades. They built a new two-story clubhouse enhanced with modern facilities such as the cafeteria, weight room, sauna, and cryotherapy chambers. Dugouts, bullpens, and hitting tunnels also received renovations, and the athletics even installed a much larger video board in the outfield. However, there are some challenges. Opening night saw a scoreboard outage. No clubhouse to dugout tunnel forces players to pass through a.In left field and press conferences occur in a makeshift shed that shakes in the wind. Visiting players like Cubs reliever Ryan Brasser openly criticized playing in a minor league stadium when a major league facility in Oakland was still available. Despite these issues though, the athletics revenue should remain stable due to strong ticket sale. Still, uncertainties loom regarding their long-term Las Vegas stadium plans. The A's lease in Sacramento is temporary, and construction delays in Las Vegas could soon raise concerns about the franchise's future.We've made it to the one on one, a conversation where I get to break down news and sports with a key player in the industry. This week from my one on one, I'm joined by 2311's Denny Hamlin and Robin Hood's Steve Quirk. Welcome to the show, Denny and Steve.Congrats guys on this new partnership that you recently announced and appreciate both of you joining the show today. Steve, maybe we'll start with you on Robin Hood's side. I know Robin Hood has been doing more marketing in sports over the last number of years, particularly in the NBA, but I'm curious from your aspect, why NASCAR, what excited you about doing some business in NASCAR?

Sure. Uh, thanks for having us. Um, we have, we're Robin Hood's relatively new to sports marketing. Um, what we've done thus far has been largely regional. Um, we started with one NBA team, the Wizards, and then we, we worked to two more, um, the Grizzlies and the Heat. Um, but this is really the first, um, instance where we're doing something that I'll, I'll call more on a, on a more national scale.Um, with, uh, 20311, and I think, um, what, what excites it about us about it is like when we look at the alignment of, you know, of our customer base, we're about 25 million customers, um, average age is just over 30, very diverse, um, but they're very passionate about, you know, they're investing in their investments, and they're very passionate about sports and in particular,Um, they're very passionate about NASCAR. They, they would be 4 times as likely to be NASCAR fans as a non Robin Hood client. So it's really a, a very natural progression for us to move into this realm. And I, I think, you know, the way that that 2311 operates and the, you know, that just the way that, um, um, that they're pursuing.Their success is very similar to, I think what our customers resonates with our customers, so we're pretty excited about it.

Yeah, and Danny, you've obviously sat in sort of a unique spot over the last number of years as being a driver, obviously an incredibly successful there, but also now a team owner. So you've sort of seen both sides of this, right, as, as the driver kind of wearing the sponsorships and dealing with them on a day to day basis, but now as a team owner, probably more involved on the business side and brokering more of these deals as well. What, what is the kind of divide between that? Like, is there anything that surprised you from the ownership level when you started looking at uh sort of brokering some of these deals rather than on the driver side?

Yeah, I mean, for me, the, the, the difference has been very, very big because as a driver of the 11 car for Jacob's racing, which I do on Sundays, um, my responsibility is solely to be the driver of that car and do the best that I can behind the wheel and, and kind of show everything that they did to make that car fast and you know, I have to go out there and execute it.Um, as a team owner, what I've learned about the sports marketing side, right, and the sponsorship side is that, you know, how do these companies find value, right? It, it's more than just, um, a, a logo that's on a car, right? There's there's way more that goes into it. How do you activate that at the racetrack, you know, how do you engage your, your, your core fans, how do you engage new fans?And making sure that our partners find value in the sponsorship that they do with the race teams and the relationships that it builds and, and also beyond that, what kind of B2B can, can we connect between our partners and so that's always been a big part of it. And um you know, companies like Robin Hood who have a very similar fan base as what ours is, especially at 2311, thatYou know, we're a younger, more diverse fan base than any other race team that the numbers prove that. And so this is that, that is their core um users and, and it certainly lines up perfectly with what we have.

Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up because it's sort of this weird dilemma where I feel like um a lot of times you're kind of pitching brands about why they should partner with you, right? You're going to get this exposure, these are the assets you're going to be able to get.But 2311 is sort of in a unique spot too, where you have this cool brand, uh, you're obviously partnering with Michael Jordan. I imagine a lot of brands want to be associated with that because of it. It sort of goes both ways for sure, but I'm curious what kind of elements or um details you look for in brands and particularly when it comes to someone like Robin Hood.

Well, I, I think the really important thing that happens first is, you know, Michael's group, um, and their, their whole business side and the business side of 2311 thinks about, does this align with what our values are, uh, is this, is this company aligned with us and, and, and what we're about? And it was very easy with Robin Hood to, to say yes. Um, but really beyond that it's, it's, you know, yeah, there's some connections that happened through that relationship with Michael. He has his own brands that he, he brings to the table and like, you know, how can weYou know, form up a partnership here, how can they help the race team? And then beyond that, it's, you gotta have cars that are fast and you gotta have ones that run up front because those are the ones that are getting exposure and, and so we have done a really good job in just 5 years building a championship contending uh organization in such a short amount of time and that, that alone has helped us open a lot of doors for us with new partners over the last few years.

Yeah, and Steve, you were talking a little bit earlier about how Robin Hood has been more active and started to build out this sports marketing division at a higher scale. How are, how is Robin Hood uh measuring success of of the partnerships, but also activations that you're doing?

I think we might well well we're we're a very data driven company, um, so that's why we sort of have been slowly moving into these partnerships because we want to make sure that they resonate with our customer base, our current customer base, but there's also an opportunity to create awareness and uh consideration with future customers, whichWe've been pretty successful in doing in the partnerships that we have, and we anticipate we'll be very successful doing here as well. I, I think the, uh, the alignment that Danny was talking about, it's, it's really strong because what Robin Hood has been very successful doing is opening the door to, uh, the greatest wealth creation vehicle on the planet, which is the US marketplace. And, you know, we sit at like close to 60% of US households are now in the market.Now, you can argue that could be a good or bad thing with the last couple of days, but in general, you know, for people, when they start investing in a younger age, in the long run, 99 times out of 100, it's gonna benefit them, and so creating the opportunities, creating financial literacy, and then partnering with, with firms like 2311.That also want to open the door to many more cus many more um um uh fans of of NASCAR is kind of cool,

actually. We've got to take a quick break, but we'll be back with more of my conversation with Danny and Steve right after this.Welcome back to Yahoo Finance Sports Report. I'm your host, Joe Pompeano. I'm here with Denny Hamlin and Steve Quirk, and Danny, maybe this is a question for you, given you're staying in the sport over such a long time period, but I've always been curious how the paint schemes work. Like, who's deciding those? Are there specific rules that you can and can't do things?

Well, it, it, it is interesting and it's different with each partner. Some of them like to have their own interior designers of, of, you know, and to make sure their logo looks a certain way.It's very, very different because the logo is going on a car, right? And that car has shapes and movement and, you know, how can you, there's a very big difference between creating an effective billboard and and creating an effective paint scheme on a on a race car. Um, the two are very, very different, so it's gotta come from a combination of both the team and the brand to figure out what what still aligns with, you know, their kind of their, their palette.And, and their, their logo itself and then what will you see when it's on the racetrack. And so, um, it's a very unique thing. Um, it's, it's kind of a blank canvas that you can start from scratch, but, um, you gotta have certain places, uh, certain things in certain places for it to show up when you got 40 other cars around you racing. So, um, I have no question that the, that the, the neon green is just gonna be fantastic on that race car. I know.

I could tell you a quick funny story. I got to spend a day doing some media with Bubba, and he, he told me that his spotter is gonna love it

because be able to a car very easily. That's right.

Yeah, and Denny, so I, I call it a paint scheme. I think that's how how most people refer to it, but is it actually paint or is it a rack?

No, it's a wrap. It, it, it was paint for many, many decades ago, but it, the, the series itself has transitioned into wraps probably.I don't know, 78 years ago somewhere in that range. They just found that

because of weight or is it, yeah, it's

weight. Yeah, it's, it's a little bit lighter and certainly a lot easier to just rip off and, and we reuse these cars. We only get 7 cars per season per team, but you know, as you reckon you get new ones, but, but that one car will probably race uh a matter of 4 or 5 times throughout the year. And so we got to be able to flip them over and get it ready for the next race pretty quickly.

All right, so Steve doesn't get to keep Bubba's car when the race is over. He, he's got to give itback.

I, I mean, hopefully I get the victory lane. Yeah, if he takes it to victory lane, it, it might be a keeper, so we have done that.

I love that. Uh, Steve, real quick, you mentioned earlier about some of the data, uh, specifically with 2311 racing and NASCAR in general. Can you just explain that a little bit around the data and the trends that you guys are seeing, maybe with NASCAR as a whole, and then 20311, uh, that really that that got you interested in partnering with the team, but also the sport.

Yeah, I'd say so. I think I, I use, I mentioned this, but, you know, we, we know, um, you know, we have a pretty good relationship with our customers and we understand their interests. And as I mentioned, you know, they're 4 times as likely to be NASCAR fans as a non Robin Hood customer. Um, but then we look at consideration and then we measure, you know, their, um, involvement and their passion for those brands and ours included.And I think that's, that's what we look at, and then we kind of look at opportunities. So like, are there specific opportunities when we're the primary, I think we're, we're the primary for 4 races where, you know, we have a suite of, of products in our offering outside of investing, we have a credit card, we have some banking, we have yield products, we have a retirement account.And are there opportunities for product specific things when we do um have a primary at at one of these races, and I think we'll measure that and determine, you know, the success of of being able to attract new customers there or engage the customers of ours that are already there watching, um, to do more with us.

Have you already started thinking about potential paint schemes, Steve?

The paint scheme? Yeah, it's already in the works, yeah, it is, OK,

yeah,

yeah, because when is the first race, it's not paint. Yeah, rap. The first one you guys are doing is next month.

Yeah, it's OK, yeah, Kansas, yeah, we do Kansas, Chicago, Bristol, and Vegas.

Amazing. Those are 4 good races. Well, thank you all so much for joining Chicago

right now. So yeah, I,

yeah, well, this is awesome, guys. Thank you so much for joining us and congrats on the partnership. I look forward to seeing the, uh, I would call it a paint scheme, but the rap in uh in Kansas and the other races as well.The clock is winding down here, but we have just enough time for some final buzz. So let's talk about everyone's favorite Welsh soccer club, Wrexham AFC. Wrexham AFC, co-owned by actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob Maclin, experienced substantial financial growth in the 2023, 204 season, with annual revenue reaching approximately $34.4 million up 155% from about $13.5 million the previous year.This dramatic increase is largely driven by the club's expanding international popularity, particularly in North America, thanks to the successful documentary series Welcome to Rexa. Over half of total revenues now come from outside the UK, with North America representing over 52% of the total. Despite revenue growth, Wrexham reported a net loss of around $3.5 million improved from approximately $6.5 million in losses the previous year.The wage bill rose significantly to about $14.2 million reflecting increased investment in players' salaries. Commercial income soared to roughly $17 million from $2.5 million the previous year, while matchday revenue increased to $6.5 million up from $4 million the previous year. On the field, Wrexham earned their second straight promotion, returned to League One after 19 years, and currently competing strongly for promotion of the championship, a league they last participated in.During 1982. Additionally, Wrexham repaid approximately $20 million in loans and interest to Reynolds and McElaney, becoming debt-free. Plans to redevelop their stadium, the Racecourse ground, with a new cop stand expansion have been approved. The women's team has also progressed significantly, reaching the FAW Cup final and becoming semi-professional. And now Reynolds and McElaney are currently seeking additional investors to support future Premier League ambitions.We're all out of time, so it's officially game over for this week. Thank you so much to Denny Hamlin and Steve Quark and 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 Pomliano. 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.