A Super Bowl rematch could kick off the NFL season for a second consecutive year. In other news, NBA franchise valuations keep rising, and Sports Illustrated is launching a docuseries on athlete crime.
NFL Expected to Open Season With Another Super Bowl Rematch
- The NFL is expected to schedule a Falcons/Patriots Super Bowl rematch for opening night of next season, Sports Business Journal reported Monday. It would be the second straight Super Bowl rematch to kick off the following season. In other scheduling news, the NFL has also reportedly discussed adopting moving some late season Thursday Night Football games to Saturday night and adopting the conference championship schedule of 3:00 and 6:30 PM ET windows for Sunday Divisional Round games. (SBJ 2.13)
Franchise Values Keep Rising For NBA Owners
- The average NBA franchise is worth an estimated $1.36 billion according to Forbes‘ annual list of franchise valuations, up 9% from last year ($1.25B) and up 24% from 2015 ($1.10B). Compared to 2014, the last set of valuations before the NBA reached its $2.6 billion/year TV deal with ESPN and Turner, the average franchise value is up a whopping $115% from $634 million. By comparison, Forbes estimated that the average MLB franchise was worth $1.3 billion last year, though given the exponentially rising value of sports franchises, MLB could easily pull back ahead when its estimates are released later this year. (Forbes 2.14)
SI Developing Series Focused on Crimes Committed By Athletes
- Sports Illustrated is developing a crime-focused documentary series based on its “True Crime” journalism franchise, it was announced Wednesday. The series would focus specifically on athletes, particularly those “involved in criminal activity and misdeeds” (or “Athletes Turned Criminal,” as touted in the press release subhed). SI is partnering on the project with Jerry Bruckheimer TV, the company behind several of the crime procedurals commonplace on network television. (BusinessWire 2.15)
