Sunday Forum: The McDonald’s deal everyone is talking about

Good morning. Hope to see many of you in New York City, as we will have more than 1,100 people and plenty of bold-face names at the Sports Business Awards on Wednesday night. But first, a few things to start your week …

• Less than a month out, what I’m hearing on the World Cup
• Two AD openings: Are Wisconsin and Virginia Tech good jobs?
• Deal of the week: All the talk about McDonald’s deal with the Fire
• This week’s Forum: Analyzing the media coverage of the WNBA

In conversations with executives over the past month, my stock question has been: On a scale of 0 (inept, terribly unsuccessful event) to 10 (a flawlessly executed/uber successful event), where will the World Cup land? The answers have ranged from 7.0 to 9.0, and these are people in the weeds around the event every day. But they all consistently believe once the ball is dropped on the pitch, the event will run smoothly and many of the distractions around pricing/cost, logistics and even politics will subside.

The problem is that there are too many stories like the one below that are such a bad look for FIFA, and these stories suck the energy, anticipation and excitement leading up to a global event like the World Cup. From the Boston Globe:

The state of Massachusetts awarded $10M in grants to support World Cup “celebrations in more than two dozen communities, hailing them as an opportunity for more people to share in the excitement without having to buy tickets to Gillette Stadium.” The grants aimed to support World Cup-related events in 25 cities and towns, but FIFA “has so far granted public viewing licenses to just two of the 17 organizations.” Without approval, towns can’t show the matches in public. It’s now “unclear whether many of them will take place at all.”

A brand executive who has sponsored and attended numerous World Cups said of all the cities he has visited recently, Atlanta had the most enthusiasm around the upcoming event. He said between promotions and signage, from the airport to around the city, he could tell he was in a World Cup market. The two markets that he feels have the biggest work ahead are Boston and Seattle, where support and fundraising just hasn’t hit goals. A well-connected source in Seattle admitted that the excitement of months ago has tamped down significantly. They sense the general population feels priced out of the event, and suggested to me, “It’s more anxiety than excitement at this point.”

In speaking to three FIFA brand partners, their biggest frustration was about tickets — not getting them, but their location. Sponsors, of course, have tickets as part of their package, but a month out, they don’t know where their seats are in the venue. Yes, they may know they are in “Category 1,” but that doesn’t indicate exactly where the seats are in the stadium, and that offers no clarity or comfort when inviting their highest-level VIPs. One told me they were paralyzed, uncomfortable inviting top CEO clients when the seats could be less than what were expected.

→ The biggest deal and biggest surprise of the week was McDonald’s acquiring naming rights to the Chicago Fire’s new soccer stadium set to open in 2028. This had everyone’s attention, because it was so rare for the market-leading QSR to do a deal like this. The teams I spoke with were understandably thrilled, thinking the brand was going to be a bigger player in sports. Here’s what else I heard:

First off, I couldn’t determine if there was an existing connection/relationship between McDonald’s execs and Fire owner Joe Mansueto — as that can always be the impetus to a deal like this. Don’t sleep on Mansueto, who is privately financing this $750M venue and is an aggressive owner who is very well-regarded in MLS circles.

Second, McDonald’s hasn’t been a big player in recent years on the sports marketing scene. The last real sports sponsorship executive they had was John Lewicki, who left in 2019 after 11 years at the company. So, is this a strategy to do more sports or a local play? Are they planning more of these types of restaurant outlets as new venues come on line? Some wondered if this was a more local, corporate citizen angle, as McDonald’s and the city of Chicago have had a tense relationship for a few years.

Finally, many brands like McDonald’s largely stay away from title deals or naming rights due to team rivalries. What if fans love their own team and certainly are not fans of the Fire? Would that affect their perception of McDonald’s? It’s one thing to be a sponsor. It’s different when you put your name on the building.

All of those reasons and more were why this was so widely-talked about.

→ I was speaking to a Power Four athletic director last week, and when I asked how they were doing, they said, “I really miss being an AD.” When I pushed, they replied, “When are our leaders going to understand the costs are just skyrocketing and getting out of control?” That gets to the constant demands of revenue generation with no cap in sight, NIL compliance, future of athlete rights, possible collective bargaining, congressional action and all the other new elements of the job that frustrate so many of today’s ADs. It’s why we’ll see steady churn on AD roles; the job has become too demanding and, for many, unpleasant.

I bring this up because there are two fairly high-profile AD roles open: Wisconsin and Virgina Tech, and I wondered if these were appealing, attractive jobs. They both have a solid market share in appealing states, and have loyal fan bases that just need to be re-energized. Both have attractive locales: Madison and Blacksburg are strong, family oriented markets. From my conversations, I can say they are both good, but not elite jobs. One key element is that they both face transition at the presidential level, which always is a cause for concern for any AD.

Overall, Wisconsin is seen as more attractive with Big Ten resources, large fan base and historical success in football and basketball. It’s been surprising to many that coach Luke Fickell has struggled in football, and this will be a pivotal season for him. Many also question the role of longtime Wisconsin leader Barry Alvarez. Virginia Tech is a bigger challenge; while there has been a welcome plan to boost athletic funding by nearly $230 million over four years, and increase the budget to help fund NIL and football, that is predicated on successful fundraising, which is unpredictable. James Franklin has excited the base, and his hire should help raise money, but they have big numbers to hit to be competitive.

Bottom line: solid opportunities but hard jobs. Expectations around football and the success of the past likely outpace current opportunities, so there’s a real uphill climb. It will take a very aggressive commitment to execute a dramatic makeover. A new leader for either program would need to assert a contemporary mindset driven of revenue generation where alignment across the board is critical.

→ Hat tip to my friend Debbie Antonelli, who last weekend completed the eighth iteration of her “24 Hours Nothing But Net” fundraiser — a 24-hour free-throw shooting event benefiting the Special Olympics. This year, she raised over $200,000 and now has raised $1.6M in eight years for this great cause. She shoots 100 free throws at the top of every hour for 24 hours, which takes about 10-15 minutes and then there is programming that is livestreamed the rest of the time. Her shooting percentage is ridiculously strong; in the first seven years, she made 16,800 free throws at a 94% clip. This year, she shot her best, 96%, over the 24 hours, making 2,400 and missing only 103. You can’t imagine the toll it can take on a body, but here’s a great piece that looks at how it all started and the impact it’s had. Congrats to Debbie, who is getting closer to $2 million.

→ Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr has frequently called Steph Curry the most joyous athlete he’s ever been around; and that’s quite a compliment. I’ve always admired Curry’s comportment and pleasant manner, and was struck last week when Curry, his alma mater, Davidson College and the Oakland Unified School District announced a scholarship program allowing 5-10 students every year to earn a full scholarship to Davidson. The smart hook is that Curry is connecting where he is playing now to where he honed his skills, as the program will target students from lower-income communities in the Bay Area who will receive a full ride and a trip to Davidson in their senior year in high school, with a guest, to visit the college. Curry always seems to be very thoughtful in what he stands for, what he says and how he contributes to his communities.

→ This week, SBJ started distributing the Leaders Worth Knowing newsletter to all of our subscribers. This is a fantastic read by my colleagues in London, James Emmett and David Cushnan — a sports industry diary that takes a global view and focuses on the people running sport around the world, the trends they’re setting and the dynamics that are driving them. It’s well-established: They’ve been putting it together from London in various forms for the best part of a decade, and we hope it’s helpful to you as guide to what’s important each week in the international sports industry. If you have questions or have not received it, please let me know.

→ If you missed Morning Buzzcast, check out this week’s episodes here.

→ Check out SBJ Inside the Industry on SBJ TV, as the latest episode focuses on the evolution of sports venues, from next-generation stadium design and premium experiences to how technology and mixed-use development are redefining the role of the arena. Watch the full episode, along with the rest of the series, on SBJ TV.

→ Remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel.

This week’s Forum analyzes the change in media coverage of the WNBA, as the league is seeing a run of very positive press attention …

More than a decade ago in our Charlotte office, our editorial staff met with officials from the NBA, and over the course of our conversation, they argued that the WNBA should be getting more coverage in our publications. A healthy debate ensued, as some from SBJ’s newsroom countered the coverage fit the W’s standing in the U.S. sports landscape at the time.

It’s a conversation that has been revisited many times with the league, and I thought of those discussions in looking at the amount of coverage the league received over its opening weekend earlier this month. On Sunday, May 10, we pored through hundreds of clips in the SBJ office and reviewed the weekend news from the NBA and NHL playoffs to MLB and MLS regular seasons to developments in college sports, golf and team sales. But it was the volume and tone of the coverage around the WNBA that stood out, and in that Sunday’s Weekend Rap, the first four stories were all glowing, positive takes on the league, its players and fan following.

Seeking some context, I decided to look back at the league’s opening week during select years of the last decade, and doing so, you can see the tremendous gains the W has made in media attention and its place in pop culture. Let’s start with May 2016, when the main piece in SBJ Daily noted the WNBA was starting its 20^th season with new President Lisa Borders focused on increasing attendance, growing revenue and increasing “visibility for the league.” USA Today said the league was looking to improve “stagnating attendance and television ratings.” Former WNBA President Val Ackerman told Newsday that despite a leveling of interest, the quality of play had improved dramatically, stating, “The quality of play in the WNBA is really at a zenith. … There’s a great game happening.”

The opening week two years later saw more questions, as in May 2018, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver hinted at possibly shifting the schedule of the WNBA from May-to-August to the fall/winter because it was hard to draw fans in the summer. He was “particularly frustrated that we have been unable to get young women, girls to attend those games.” He added, “We still have a marketing problem and we have to figure out … how to do a better job connecting to young people and get them interested in women’s basketball.”

A year later, SBJ Daily wrote the W opened its season with its first commissioner, as Cathy Engelbert took over a league that had a new logo and a marketing approach aimed at a younger audience, but the biggest challenges was still attendance. It was after COVID when we saw a change, and in May 2023, there was a noticeable shift in tone, as the Washington Post noted “positive trends” in the W, which looked to “build off a women’s NCAA tournament that had the most viewers on ESPN.”

But it was May 2024, opening its 28^th season with the addition of Caitlin Clark, that interest surged. The AP reported the WNBA was getting “unparalleled attention,” with the challenge of “translating the hype and hoopla into a movement and not just moment.”

Now, two years later, the storylines are even more positive — just look at the headlines over this month’s opening weekend: First, the Portland Fire set a W record for an expansion team’s season opener with more than 19,300 at Moda Center. The expansion Toronto Tempo opened to a standing-room-only crowd in an event called “historic … both on and off the court.” A third story noted more than 17,000 watched two of the league’s most popular teams, the Dallas Wings and Indiana Fever, open their season in Gainbridge Fieldhouse, which was “filled with fans and storylines.”

For more context, in 2016, SBJ featured 12 stories in the first three weeks of the W’s season; in 2024, we had 40 over the first two weeks, and in 2026, we have had close to 40 just in the first seven days of the season. So, what’s my point? First, the increased coverage comes as media companies have significantly pared back on staff and beat writers — so many sports have to fight for inches and attention and now the W is receiving more resources. Two, the placement of the news, not buried in agate sections, but across print, digital, television and audio — from sports, business and style sections. Three, and perhaps most striking, look at the tenor, and how it’s shifted so dramatically from hand-wringing, dour takes on empty seats, lagging viewership, marketing challenges and failure to connect with young fans. Now, coverage of the league, its players, the product and the atmosphere is almost breathless.

There are plenty of reasons for this significant progress: A lot of work by players, the league, teams, partners and fans, and skilled use of social platforms. Everyone connected to the league will tell you there is still a long way to go, but to this observer, it’s beneficial to step back and take in how the coverage, storylines, perception and appreciation of the WNBA has dramatically improved.

Abraham Madkour can be reached at amadkour@sportsbusinessjournal.com.