A new episode of Sportico Sports Business Presented by Genius Sports premieres Tuesday night at 11:30 p.m. ET on the YES Network and the Gotham Sports App following the Yankees Postgame Show, featuring in-depth interviews with two leaders shaping the future of sports:
- Cathy Engelbert, commissioner of the WNBA, on the league’s hyper-growth phase, the Caitlin Clark effect, upcoming CBA negotiations and balancing higher player salaries with long-term sustainability.
- Mohamed A. El-Erian, president of Queens’ College, Cambridge, and chief economic advisor at Allianz, on the resilience of the sports economy, the scarcity value of franchises and why women’s sports are undergoing a valuation correction.
Hosted by YES Network’s Bob Lorenz, with interviews conducted by Sportico Editor-in-Chief Scott Soshnick.
KEY QUOTES:
Cathy Engelbert on the WNBA’s growth: “It’s now an asset class, women’s sports. We know that men’s sports and sports has become an asset class for some of these investors, but I think women’s sports…we’re growth stock. We’ve been in hyper-growth mode. That’s not going to last forever, so we’re preparing for what it looks like when you come out of hyper-growth mode. When you have triple digit increases in viewership and merch sales, and, you know, obviously, we got a great media deal. You have to figure out what the next step of just a normal growth mode is, which we intend to be in for a long time.”
On the Caitlin Clark effect: “Caitlin’s an amazing player and has brought in tons of fans, for sure, but I think the stepping stone, since we raised that capital in February of 2022, that $75 million, first league–women’s league to do that at that scale, and deploy that against our capabilities … like, we wouldn’t have been ready for Caitlin in 2022.”
On CBA negotiations: “When I was four days on the job, I walked into my first collective bargaining, and I said, ‘I want everything they want.’ Absolutely, we want to return as much as we can to the players, and we will. I have full confidence that we’re going to work out a great deal for them. But we have to balance that with a sustainable economic model, so that their legacy is not that the future of the league is at risk here.”
Mohamed A. El-Erian on the sports economy: “Sports fans are what economists is called inelastic, meaning they will watch sports, no matter what their circumstances are. So you’ve got a captive consumer base, and then the third issue is continued innovation on the part of sports. So all the little innovations are a way of engaging the audience much, much more. So sports, there are a few sectors in the economy that are immune from the general tendency.”
On increased franchise valuations: “I’m a buyer. It’s limited supply. Okay. And that’s really important. Totally limited supply. You can’t simply create another NFL team. It’s very, very hard to do.”
On women’s sports as an investment: “I think women’s teams were relatively undervalued, and people are recognizing. There’s a course correction going on there, but a few years ago, they were dirt cheap. And then people started to spot the potential, and that has changed really quickly.”
HOW TO WATCH:
- Watch Sportico Sports Business Presented by Genius Sports now on the YES Network and The Gotham Sports App
- New episodes premiere monthly following YES Network live sports coverage, and archived episodes are available on the Gotham Sports App
