Sunday Forum: A Conversation Over Dinner

Good morning. I hope you enjoy the World Cup final today, and congratulations to everyone who has worked so hard in making this event such a tremendous success. It’s a great outcome for the entire sports industry.

A few items to start your week, and I always appreciate your support and feedback.

• Themes from a dinner conversation with top NHL team executives
• MLB’s successful week in Philadelphia
• Readers chime in on whether team owners should do press conferences
• The Grand Slams are providing access; others should take note
• The excitable, insightful analysis of Andy Roddick
• This Week’s Forum: A hard cap is called the second apron in the NBA

I facilitated a dinner conversation at the restaurant Guard and Grace in Denver on Wednesday, held around the NHL Club Business Meetings and about 20 team leaders had a lot to share. Here are some of the themes discussed:

• What can U.S. properties learn from the energetic World Cup stadium environment? More than a few attended World Cup matches and brainstormed about ways they could replicate the fan behavior and enthusiasm, which really amplified the live event experience.
• Not surprisingly, team executives still aspire to own the fan experience from end to end, and there was a lot of discussion about embedding more assets into a traditional ticket, from better parking, F&B, merch, experiences and other enhancements.
• There was plenty of discussion on ideal start times for games. One NHL team exec said they lobby frequently for Saturday 6 p.m. and Sunday 2 p.m. starts, as they are ideal.
• Plenty of back and forth on player access and the opportunities, yet challenges, of getting that access. NHL players are seen as more open to these types of fan events, and many team execs focus on the lower half of their roster, saying they are the players who embrace the opportunities and effectively engage with fans.
• Interesting conversation about how many believe merchandise is an underutilized asset, and that there can be more merch pop-ups away from the venue as well as a desire to create limited merchandise items where fans have to sign up to get access to buy it.
• A lot of discussion on AI’s impact on their organizations as well as trends in recruiting, hiring and compensation.
• Team officials all shrugged their shoulders in saying that ownership is very open to hiring a fifth trainer or sixth quality control coach, but push back on hiring another sales manager … i.e. coaches get what they want, the business side, not so much.
• Going around the room, the stories people were watching ranged from the changes in the secondary ticketing market, to streaming/local media rights, to memorabilia and collectibles, to fear of government intervention in sports policies to the threat of sports betting on competition and integrity.

It was a very insightful evening. If your organization would ever be interested in co-hosting a dinner with SBJ, please let me know.

→ MLB is at its best producing big events, and that was clear this week in Philadelphia. The league and players should be very pleased with how well that event was orchestrated, produced and executed. In my opinion, it put the game and the players in the best possible light. From the Home Run Derby to the All-Star Game, Citizens Bank Park looked majestic and tremendous, the sights and sounds were first class, the fans were all in and thoroughly entertained, and the players all seemed to love the week. The connection to America 250 was classy, the play on “The Sandlot” may have played better on TV than in person, but it worked for millions of viewers, who saw players engaging with and enjoying the young fans. The “Stand Up For Cancer” moment continues to be one of the best in sports and the players and managers being miked up only added to the special access. All in all, the focus was clearly on making baseball contemporary and relevant, and not just a sport filled with nostalgia. Combine that with Fox’s excellent production, and I felt it was a week well thought out and well executed.

→ An MLB team executive complained that there should be no public sniping between labor and management around baseball’s business model during All-Star Week and argued the sides should have let the week be a genuine celebration of the game. But that is not how this is going to go. The two sides are going to run this CBA negotiation like a political campaign; they have messages to get out, and they will use every opportunity to share those messages with their constituents. They will do polling and message testing. They want the public and their members to understand the issues, and feel that in today’s environment, every point should have a counterpoint or rebuttal. The union realizes most of its members (the players) get informed from sports media outlets and social platforms, so that’s why they will be speaking very publicly. Get used to it: This is how it’s going to be until likely negotiations become more serious early next year.

→ My note last week about Boston Celtics owner Bill Chisholm meeting the media sparked a lot of feedback about when (and if) owners should speak to the media. Here’s a sampling:

“Owners shouldn’t ever do press conferences. They try to be funny. They are not. They try to sound so smart. It’s smug. They don’t understand what the fans want to hear. Just don’t speak!”

“I worked for an owner. I would try to work with comms team to offer ideas, talking points and let’s just say that never went over. They are incredibly confident in their ability and then wonder when they get hammed in the media.”

“They won’t take feedback or ideas. They won’t stick to a script, and I hate it the most when they try to be sarcastic or clever. Disaster.”

“I always argued to put our owner’s wife in front of the media. Much more on point, she smiled, she listened to feedback and she would actually think of the fan. But, no, that didn’t happen.”

“I feel badly when an owner speaks, tanks, and the comms team takes the heat. ‘I can’t believe they didn’t prep them, how could they put the owner out there like that, etc.” I bet 80% of the time the owner has been prepped, provided talking points, gets in front of the camera and goes rogue. Instead of sticking to messaging, trying to outsmart the reporters. It rarely ends well. Honestly the key is convincing the owner NOT to talk. That’s where most comms teams fall short. Most tell the owner what they think they want to hear instead of giving sound advice. So, if an owner wants to speak, they let them instead of advising against it. Owners tend to let emotions take over, make rash declarations, or try defend their actions. That’s usually when it turns badly.”

“There are many owners who fully understand the role and the value of media on every level. The ones who are successful usually come from businesses where their lead comms person had a seat at the senior management table from day one in those businesses, and it translates over into their roles as owners in sports.”

→ A theme today has been around access, and I have really noticed how the tennis Grand Slam events have been more open minded in giving tennis fans rare, behind-the-curtain coverage. I really started seeing this during Warner Bros./TNT’s great coverage of the French Open the past two years, but let’s focus on Wimbledon, where viewers benefited from the access ESPN sought and received. Among the scenes are players hitting during practice, talking to coaches on practices courts or in the locker rooms, you have coaches wired for sound and giving frank, insightful interviews, you see rare warm-up footage in the training room and workout areas, you see Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic jumping rope or using stretch bands, or Coco Gauff playing four square. At Wimbledon, you see players leaving the locker room, casually checking their phones before the match, nervously getting ready to take Centre Court and walking through the legendary Champions Row. It’s also great to see the bold face names, person by person, taking their seat in the Royal Box. It all adds up to making the viewer feel so close to the action and receiving very special VIP access.

→ ESPN adding Andy Roddick to its coverage was a fantastic move, as he is easily the best studio analyst I’ve encountered in years. Yes, he’s intense, excitable, almost jittery as he clutches a pen while he eagerly makes one point after another. His nervous energy drew me in, but other viewers found it distracting. If you love tennis, you really pick up pointers from his analysis — ranging from a player’s on-court/off-court habits, serve styles, where they stand on returns, to their mental approach during points. There are so many areas where he was just very informative. I will say when I mentioned my appreciation of Roddick on “Morning Buzzcast,” a few listeners chimed in — “He needs to slow down, he was too excited, he needs to sit up straight.” It shows you can’t please everyone, but this viewer stopped and watched every time he was on screen.

→ Photos of the week below include longtime Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment executive Jeff Gewirtz representing Team USA at the Maccabiah Games in Israel and earning a bronze medal in the Men’s Singles Masters Tennis Competition.

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

→ Check out the latest episode of SBJ Inside the Industry. I am joined by my colleague Austin Karp and celebrity chef Spike Mendelsohn to discuss the rise of premium hospitality experiences at sports venues, from immersive, personalized experiences to gourmet dining and ultra-premium suites. Sports execs featured include NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell; Jason Sinnarajah, president of the Washington Nationals; Nils Braude, managing director, Twickenham Experience Ltd.; and Jim Van Stone, president of business operations, Monumental Sports & Entertainment. The show won a Capital Emmy Award this past weekend for a Season 1 episode on new sports leagues, also featuring Austin, along with Kim Stone, CEO of the Washington Spirit. You can watch that episode, along with all of Season 1 and Season 2, on SBJ TV here.

→ Remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Enjoy our Early Access stories below, and then on to this week’s Forum, where I look at how the NBA’s second apron has turned into a mechanism so many other leagues covet: a hard salary cap.

Fear the second apron.

That is the message coming out of the NBA, where a mechanism to control player costs seems to be working so well that everyone is afraid of it. Management wants to control player costs, but when owners are citing the second apron as an obstacle to spending and team building, you know it’s working very effectively. We need to pay attention to this, as it will be a major negotiating point in the NBA’s next labor talks, with the league and the union having an opt-out after the 2028-29 season.

A bit of background: Aprons were approved in the collective-bargaining agreement in 2011 and are luxury-tax thresholds that govern roster building. The first apron, set at $209 million this coming season, is restrictive, sure — but the second apron, set at $221.7 million, is incredibly punitive, prohibiting certain trades and signings. Union officials, players, general managers and owners have all cited its impact, mostly in concerning or negative tones. New NBPA Executive Director David Kelly wants the second apron “softened” or removed. He took a not-so-subtle shot at previous NBPA Executive Director Tamika Tremaglio for agreeing to it, saying, “We did not propose the second apron. We should have done a better job of fighting back against the second apron. In the future … we will do a better job of fighting back.” Kelly also believes the apron system will hurt fans in the long run.

He’s not alone. Milwaukee Bucks forward Kyle Kuzma urged players to be ready for the next round of CBA talks, writing, “The first and second apron are starting to function like a hard cap on player value, team continuity, and player movement.” He added, “The owners and the league walk into these meetings with killers that continue to run circles around us time and time again. … Players deserve a PA that is just as sharp, just as prepared, and just as aggressive about protecting our upside.” You don’t need to read between the lines there. Management as killers? Running circles around labor leaders? I’ve rarely seen such public challenges of union negotiators. Kuzma added, “Teams are no longer making purely basketball decisions. They’re making fear-based apron decisions.” He feels that means teams lose their fan-favorite stars and the product suffers.

He may not be wrong about “fear-based apron decisions.” Just look at recent comments from owners. New York Knicks owner James Dolan, fresh off an NBA championship, said he is willing to spend to maintain his roster, but only to a point. “We’re willing to stretch, but there’s certain things in the NBA that you’d have to be suicidal to do. One of them is the second apron,” he told WFAN in New York. Suicidal? He also didn’t mince words in saying, “I’ll write as big of a check as possible, but I can’t write a check into the second apron.” Boston Celtics owner Bill Chisholm said after the team traded All-Star guard Jaylen Brown that it needed to avoid the second apron. “We would have gutted the team for our future had we not done these things. The second apron is a real thing,” he said, much to fans’ chagrin.

A number of team officials stressed to me that the second apron is affecting every decision they make on a roster and player costs. It will be very hard to build super teams, and once you cross into the second apron, it’s incredibly difficult to revamp an underperforming roster because there are so many punitive actions that limit options. The days of teams manipulating the luxury cap system are over. What is also over are the days of draft picks being worthless trade throw-ins. Accumulating draft picks is now critically important because it will be all about developing talent that’s locked in for four years, and even second-round picks are seen as currency because of their team-friendly financial parameters.

So, rosters will feature the haves and have-nots; the best players will get super lucrative deals, and the young players will get their league minimum. Most team officials expect the middle class to be squeezed. The result is what many love: parity, with eight different teams winning the past eight NBA titles. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver admitted the apron helps that parity, citing the Finals matchup between the Knicks and Spurs. “The storyline wasn’t big market versus small market,” he said. “That’s one of the things that we set out to accomplish with the system. And from that standpoint, it’s working.”

Owners love a hard cap; we are seeing how it can manifest in various ways and under different names. It’s what NBA owners seem to have now, and what MLB owners desperately seek. When asked if a hard cap was an unintended consequence of the second apron, Silver was almost giddy, declaring, “It’s certainly not an unintended consequence.” I wonder if Silver considered that a hard cap could go by the name of “second apron,” and how well it would work.

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