Good morning, all! I hope your weekend is off to a terrific start!
Weather is going to impact this weekend’s NFL Division playoff games. I break it all down in the above video with meteorologist Brad Field.
Here are some other thoughts, as I pang for the days of the baseball of my youth:
In case you are wondering what it is like for an MLB franchise to be owned by a hedge fund operator, take a look-see:
Well that was certainly some 11th hour move engineered by the Mets, once Kyle Tucker brushed them off for the Dodgers. Multi billionaire Mets owner Steve Cohen pulled the rug out from under the Phillies and signed free agent Bo Bichette, after the Phils had met Bichette’s demand for a seven-year, $200M deal. The Mets came along and gave Bichette a three-year deal worth $42M per or more than what Aaron Judge makes per season. Plus, Bichette gets to opt out of the contract, following each season.
Let’s put this in perspective. Cohen is paying Juan Soto and Bichette a combined $92M per season, or just $8M less than the entire Miami Marlins payroll.
If we are to believe MLB owners will push for a salary cap in negotiations with the MLBPA, they have a strange way of making their point, they way they are doling out these huge contracts.
How big is the NIL to college sports? Sports Business Journal is reporting the University of Tennessee’s athletic department produced $304M in revenue last fiscal year, the largest amount for the school in decades. They turned a $15.7M profit. If you drill it down more, however, you find the football team brought in $151.4M in revenue and turned a handsome $77M profit. The times, they are a-changing.
Best wishes to golfer Sir Nick Faldo, who underwent successful open-heart surgery at the Cleveland Clinic two weeks ago. Reports are Faldo was discharged Friday from the Cleveland, OH hospital and is returning home. His plans are to be at the Masters, where he will be remembered for his stunning fourth round comeback to beat Greg Norman and win the green jacket 30 years ago.
ESPN has an excellent piece on Mike Tomlin’s last day as Pittsburgh Steelers coach. It reminds us that coaches are not robots and bleed like the rest of us. Here is the link.
That is going to do it for today’s newsletter. Thank you for being a subscriber. It means so much to me.
DAN
