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 from around the NFL. The Super Bowl is five days out, but the league is making headlines for a number of other reasons: including a lawsuit alleging racial discrimination and testimony on Capitol Hill accusing an NFL owner of sexual harassment.
First: the Super Bowl. Ticket prices are soaring for Sunday’s game between the hometown Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals. The matchup is tale of two very different businesses—the Bengals ($2.4 billion) are the least valuable team in the NFL, according to Sportico‘s rankings, while the Rams ($4.7 billion) are the third highest. The Bengals are worth about half of what it cost Rams owner Stan Kroenke to build the stadium hosting the Super Bowl.
Beyond the game itself, the NFL is still dealing with the fallout of the discrimination lawsuit filed last week by former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores, and new accusations of sexual harassment committed by Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder. A handful of former Washington employees testified in front of a House committee last week regarding what they called a history of rampant workplace misconduct, including a new accusation that specifically involved conduct by Snyder. The NFL launched an investigation into the team in 2020 and eventually fined the franchise $10 million, but never revealed details of the investigation.
Lastly, the hosts discuss a new $75 million investment into the WNBA, which values the league and its teams at $1 billion.
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