Classy Andreescu, baseball giants fetch respect in dog days of summer
Credit to Author: Gord Kurenoff| Date: Fri, 16 Aug 2019 21:22:38 +0000
These dog days of summer represented a big week for winners in the business of sport.
First of all, although there’s plenty of Major League Baseball still to be played — almost one-quarter of a 162-game regular-season schedule and then the small matter of wild card, divisional and league playoffs — the US$4.6 billion New York Yankees and US$3.3 billion Los Angeles Dodgers continue to make the case for an October Classic matchup for the ages.
With a combined enterprise value of US$7.9B, they’re both playing .659 baseball at 81-42 heading into weekend action. Fans of the Houston Astros may have other thoughts,but a rematch of the 1980 World Series between the Dodgers and Yankees would bring together the two largest markets in North America and be a ratings winner on multiple levels.
It’s also been a week to remember and cherish for Mississauga teenager Bianca Andreescu. The 19-year-old Ontario athlete became the first Canadian winner of what is now known as the Rogers Cup since Faye Urban of Windsor, Ont. defeated Vicki Berner of Vancouver to win the 1969 women’s title 50 years ago.
It sure wasn’t the way she — or any of us — had imagined that moment would come, with American tennis superstar Serena Williams retiring down 3-1 after only 19 minutes of play in the final.
That was a huge disappointment for paying ticket holders who were settling in for what they thought would be a terrific final — not to mention a headache for Rogers Cup organizers and the corporate partners and broadcast rights holders of Tennis Canada — but it still made history.
Serena Williams of the United States wipes tears away from her face while speaking with Canadian Bianca Andreescu following her withdrawal from the final match of the Rogers Cup on Aug. 11 in Toronto. (Vaughn Ridley photo/Getty Images)
Now ranked 14th in the world on the WTA Tour, Andreescu won first-prize purse money of US$519,000, bringing her career earnings to north of US$2.2M, almost all of it in a 2019 season that has seen her win 38 of 42 matches despite a nagging shoulder injury last spring.
Whether the milestone moment in Canadian tennis also proves to be one of the pivotal passing-of-the-torch moments for 23-time Grand Slam singles champion Williams will come into clearer focus later this month at the U.S. Open and the season-ending tour championships this fall.
No matter what remains for Williams, the image of Andreescu — half of the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion’s age — comforting her at her chair on court will be a moment etched in time.
Yet there was no one more bullish in the business of sport than ecommerce billionaire Joseph Tsai of Alibaba and the NBA he upped his investment in this week.
Tsai takes over from previous controlling owner Mikael Prokhorov as governor of the Brooklyn Nets of the NBA by parlaying his original 49 per cent minority interest into 100 per cent of a franchise now valued at US$2.35B. On a pro-rated basis, it’s the most expensive franchise sale in North American pro sport history.
It also adds the Nets to a nascent portfolio that also includes the New York Liberty of the WNBA and the San Diego Seals of the National Lacrosse League. In one fell swoop, Tsai also bought the Barclays Center, which hosts the Nets and carries one of the biggest arena naming rights deals in the U.S., at US$20M per year.
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