Morning Buzz

The get-in price for the USMNT’s match against Australia remains high at $1,878, but it has seen a slight 15% dip in the past three days, per TicketData.com. That price is still a 45% increase over the past seven days and 65% jump since the tournament began. Other matches for Friday have also seen lofty prices. The get-in price for Scotland-Morocco sits at $1,140, which is down 8% over the past three days but up 58% over the past seven, while Brazil-Haiti sits at $1,594, which is an 11% dip from three days ago but a 50% increase over the past seven. Paraguay-Turkey is the cheapest of the day, but is still at $735, up 1% over the past three days and up 41% over the past seven. SBJ has partnered with TicketData.com to track get-in prices and trends for upcoming games. For additional information on games, visit the World Cup page at TicketData.com.

Canada routed Qatar 6-0 Thursday night at BC Place, “sending the sold-out stadium into celebration” over the team’s first World Cup victory. But the “excitement surrounding the game had begun long before kickoff.” National pride was “on full display, with Canadian flags mounted on hockey sticks bobbing above the crowd and bursts of red smoke billowing overhead.” The World Cup atmosphere also “extended well beyond” BC Place to “watch parties scattered across Metro Vancouver” (Vancouver PROVINCE, 6/18). The announced attendance at BC Place was 52,497 (SBJ). It was “Vancouver’s greatest sporting moment.” The game result, a “dominant win for the home team, setting up a titanic encounter with Switzerland next week, was all the better.” Canada “marched to the stadium with expectation and the players delivered.” More fans are “sure to be won by this game, by this day, by this tournament” (Vancouver PROVINCE, 6/18).

The run-up to the ⁠World Cup in Vancouver “has been a difficult one for the sport in the city, dominated by discussions around the future of the Whitecaps” and whether the franchise “might be set for a move to Las Vegas.” But on Thursday, “all ​that faded into ⁠the background,” and the win “put Canada top of Group B on goal difference ahead of Switzerland.” Should they emerge victorious from the group, they will stay in Vancouver for the first knockout round (REUTERS, 6/18).

If the 1994 World Cup, the first held in the U.S., “forever altered the direction of American soccer,” this summer’s tournament “has the potential to do the same” for Canada. This tournament is “already the most successful on the field for Canada,” which had lost all six previous World Cup games it had played. Now the team is “poised to advance to the knockout rounds for the first time ever.” And while that success on the field -- “costly or not -- is significant,” former Canadian Soccer Association President Steve Reed, who “was instrumental in bringing the World Cup to Canada, said the real goal wasn’t to win games as much as it was to win over the public” (L.A. TIMES, 6/18).

Meanwhile, three-and-a-half years after “its biggest failure on the World Cup stage in half a century,” the Mexican national team “needed only two games to advance to the knockout round of this year’s tournament” as winner of Group A after taking down South Korea by a score of 1-0 Thursday night at Guadalajara Stadium in front of “a fiery announced sellout crowd” of 45,522 (L.A. TIMES, 6/18). San Pedro Square in San Jose drew “hundreds of people” to watch the Mexico-South Korea match (San Jose MERCURY NEWS, 6/18).

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore’s administration matched Churchill Downs‘ $85M offer to buy the Preakness Stakes’ intellectual property, meaning the state “will own the rights.” Moore’s decision “ends the shuffling of ownership among racing properties.” The Preakness has “moved between state entities and 1/ST Racing,” which operated this year’s race at Laurel Park because of renovations at Pimlico Race Course. Historically, Maryland has leased the intellectual property rights, including all branding and trademarks, though that arrangement has “left the state in a vulnerable position.” The acquisition will be “funded through a tax-exempt revenue bond issuance by the Maryland Economic Development Corporation (MEDCO), and no General Fund tax dollars will be used.” The debt service will be “backed by future revenues from the Preakness Stakes and the Black-Eyed Susan, including wagering, ticketing, and sponsorship streams.” Next year’s Preakness is expected to return to Pimlico (BALTIMORE SUN, 6/18).

Between $6M and $7M a year in “revenue from the racing industry will pay off those bonds over 30 years,” totaling about $200M. State officials are “confident” that the Preakness will “generate enough money to annually pay that amount and break even.” If it is unable to, the Maryland Jockey Club is “backstopped with state money generated by slot machines that typically funds horse racing purses” (BALTIMORE BANNER, 6/18).

The course for NASCAR’s inaugural Anduril 250 at San Diego’s Naval Base Coronado this weekend “will be 16 turns and 3.4 miles in length,” and it is “expected to be one of the toughest tests for drivers, regardless of experience level.” The drivers “will not see the full course for the first time until it is completed ahead of Friday’s activities.” But the course “has been available to drivers on simulators, and as of last week, iRacing has added it to their system.” All three national series are in action this weekend (RACER, 6/17).

Organizers and residents are “preparing for the logistical challenge of moving tens of thousands of race fans on and off the peninsula.” NASCAR officials “acknowledged traffic to Naval Air Station North Island will likely be one of the biggest challenges” of the weekend. Attendance is “limited to 25,000 for Friday’s Navy Community Day and 50,000 on both Saturday and Sunday.” Organizers are also “encouraging fans to stay after races to help ease departure congestion.” NASCAR “plans to keep fan zone vendors open for extended hours, with post-race entertainment on tap to distract the crowds as people gradually clear off the base” (TIMES OF SAN DIEGO, 6/18).

The UFC Freedom 250 from the White House Lawn on Sunday night delivered 7 million viewers on Paramount+, marking the first time Nielsen-measured figures have been released for a live event on the streaming platform (in combo with Adobe Analytics, similar to how NBC measures Peacock). Paramount Skydance claims that the audience is a record live number for Paramount+. While not publicly released before, UFC and Paramount+ are claiming that UFC 324 back in January -- the first bout under the new media-rights deal -- drew 5 million viewers and was the prior record.

UFC Freedom 250 outdrew the clinching Game 6 of Hurricanes-Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup final on Sunday night, as that ABC telecast drew 5.9 million viewers head-to-head.

The UFC bout is even with what some NBA Conference Semifinals game drew, including Game 4 of Cavaliers-Pistons on NBC and Game 5 of Spurs-T’Wolves on NBC in mid-May. It’s also even with NBC’s Game 7 of the Cavaliers-Raptors series in the NBA First Round this year.

Despite claims from some politicians, the UFC audience was over 117 million viewers short of the Super Bowl figure from earlier this year. The only NFL games the UFC card would have topped were some morning games European games (9:30am ET kickoffs) on NFL Network, like a Broncos-Jets game from London in early October.

UTA and its private equity backer, EQT, on Thursday “were removed ... from the auction” for The Team, the sports agency/management company formerly known as Wasserman. Sources said they “balked at the price,” which included the “fee that founder Casey Wasserman is demanding to sign noncompete and nonsolicitation agreements with his soon-to-be-former company." Other bidders are “still in the mix,” including New Mountain Capital, founded by Steven Klinsky, a former partner of late IMG CEO Teddy Forstmann (PUCK, 6/18). Letters of intent were due last week, with reports saying at the time that bidders Excel Sports Management/Goldman Sachs, the U.K.’s Primera and Swiss P.E. firm Partners Group were still in the mix alongside UTA. The Team founder Casey Wasserman, along with majority owner Providence, have final say over who buys either all or part of the company (SBJ).

MSP Sports Capital, the private equity firm founded by veteran sports investor-operators Jahm Najafi and Jeff Moorad, has acquired a majority stake in SailGP’s New Zealand team, the Black Foils. Financial terms of the sale were not disclosed, but, in an interview with SBJ, SailGP Managing Dir Andy Thompson said the valuation is a new high for the sale of a majority stake in a SailGP team. The previous known high in such a transaction is $60M, achieved in the sale of SailGP’s Danish team to Doug DeVos’ American Magic.

“In terms of awareness across all of our markets around the world, the [general population] awareness of the Black Foils is far and away the highest ... There’s huge value to that,” Thompson said. “We’re really fortunate to have Jahm and Jeff come in. They’re a great caliber of sports executive. Having them around the table for us helps us take that next step. These guys have been there, been in the room in Formula 1, MLB, other major sports. That experience is why we wanted to bring them in.”

The New Zealand team was previously owned by SailGP. Its sale means all 13 of SailGP’s teams are now majority owned by private third parties, a long-stated goal for the upstart league, which launched under a single-entity ownership model.

SailGP did retain a minority stake in the New Zealand team in the transaction -- as did its co-CEOs Peter Burling and Blair Tuke -- but Thompson said the league could divest its ownership within the next year (as it is currently doing with minority stakes in its Brazilian and Italian teams).

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On this week’s Sports Media Podcast, SBJ’s Austin Karp and Josh Carpenter break down Fox’s potential $22B Roku acquisition and why it’s all about controlling distribution -- not content. They also discuss how the Paramount-Skydance-Warner Bros. Discovery merger is an even bigger move, creating a true content powerhouse.

America Business Forum is looking for a VP/Partnerships. The remote-based position is responsible for owning partnerships revenue strategy and performance across ABF’s global portfolio and setting and delivering annual and multi-year revenue targets across all partnership verticals (America Business Forum).

American Business Forum is looking for a Senior Partnership Dir. The remote-based position is responsible for cultivating long-term relationships that drive commercial growth, partner engagement, and organizational impact (America Business Forum).

DAZN is looking for a Manager/Strategy & Business Development. The N.Y.-based position is responsible for supporting strategy and commercial analysis across the U.S. regional sports business from building and maintaining financial models to evaluate rights opportunities, deal economics, and business performance (DAZN).

ESPN is looking for a Senior Analyst/Subscription Finance. The N.Y.-based position is responsible for building and maintaining financial models for content acquisitions for ESPN Unlimited, ESPN’s direct-to-consumer live sports streaming service (ESPN).

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“The only places in mainland Africa where the Euro is official currency are in territories of this nation.”