On the latest Sporticast episode, hosts Scott Soshnick and Eben Novy-Williams discuss some of the biggest sports business stories of the week, including the latest in the College Football Playoff. Both Alabama and Georgia cruised to semifinals victories last week, setting the stage for the two SEC giants to meet in next Monday’s championship game.
This year’s CFP looked similar to almost all the others—blowout semifinals in which the sport’s royalty advanced to the title game. Alabama has played in seven of the eight playoffs since the CFP was launched, and an SEC team has won more than half of them.
This year’s results have stoked further discussion of an expanded format, which was debated multiple times this year. An expansion to an eight- or 12- team format appears inevitable, though conference commissioners are yet to agree on how to assign automatic entrants to a number of those slots. One thing is certain: An expansion, especially to a 12-team format, would produce hundreds of millions of additional TV money.
Lastly, the hosts talk about the latest private equity deals in U.S. pro sports. Arctos Sports Partners recently closed on 10% of the Minnesota Wild, and an unknown minority stake in the two-time defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning.
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