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0:06 spk_0
Welcome to Yahoo Finance Sports Report, a unique look at the business of sports brought to you by Yahoo Finance and Yahoo Sports. I’m your host, Joe Pompeano, and I’m here to coach you through the financial game. Today, we’ve got FIFA 2026 Chief venues and Operations Manager Bill Squire stopping by the show to talk about all things World Cup and so much more. Let’s huddle up and get right into it.We are kicking off this week with POM’s Playbook. Why take a look at some of the biggest headlines in sports that you and your portfolio need to know? First up, Dick Sporting Goods announced last week that it has acquired Foot Locker for $2.4 billion. Dick is paying $24 per share in cash for Foot Locker, which is a 90% premium on Foot Locker share price today. Foot Locker shareholders also have the option to receive 0.1168 shares of Dick’s common stock in exchange for shares of Foot Locker stock. Now Dick says that Foot Lock.will continue operating as its own business unit within its portfolio of companies, which also includes the Golf Galaxy and Public lands retail brands. Foot Locker is also the owner of the retail chain Champ Sports. However, purchasing Foot Locker will expand Dix’s business outside the US with Foot Locker’s global presence and increase its retail locations to 3200 stores worldwide. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2025, and Dick’s plans to finance a Foot Locker acquisition with a mix of cash and new debt.Next up, the San Francisco 49ers are selling a 6% stake in their franchise at a record $8.5 billion valuation.The 6% stake will be split up between three Bay Area families with 3.1% going to the family of Vinod Khosla, the managing director of Coastal Ventures. Another 2.1% will go to the family of Byron Dieter, a partner of Bessemer Venture Partners, and 1% will be purchased by William Griffith, a partner at Iconic Capital. Now selling a 6% stake in the franchise enables the 49ers to access capital whileKeeping majority control within the York family who have owned the Niners for nearly 50 years. And if the minority stake sale is approved by the NFL, Jed York will still control about 91% of the team moving forward. The cash from the sale also comes at a great time for the 49ers, who officially made Mr. Irrelevant Brock Purdy, their franchise quarterback after shining him to a 5-year, $265 million contract extension last week.To round things out, billionaire Mark Cuban will become a general partner of a new sports-focused private equity fund called Harbinger Sports Partners. The former Dallas Mavericks majority owner and Shark Tank star will join forces with venture investor and Atlanta Falcons Limited partner Rashaw Williams, as well asFormer AMB Sports and Entertainment CEO Steve Cannon on the new venture. Harbinger Sports Partners is planning to raise $750 million by 2027 and will look to secure around 15 minority stakes in franchises across the NFL, NBA, and MLB.These three leagues are key for Harbinger Sports, as each one now allows minority investments in their franchises from private equity funds. Now Harbinger Sports still needs to be approved by the NBA, MLB, and NFL for minority investments. However, given the strong experience in Atlanta sports ventures between Williams and Cannon and Cubans’ ownership tenure with the Dallas Mavericks, I expect Harbinger Sports to be approved by each league sooner rather than later.This week for the deeper dive, where I give you a play by play analysis of news in the sports world and its significance to your bottom line? We’re talking about the Portland Trail Blazers. Now, the Portland Trail Blazers were recently put up for sale by Jodi Allen, the sister of late billionaire Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. Allen purchased the Trail Blazers for $70 million in 1988. And while Portland may be one of the NBA’s smallest markets, recent sales for teams like the Boston Celtics at $6.1 billion and the Phoenix Suns for $4 billion combined with theThe NBA’s new $76 billion media rights package may push the Blazers’s final sale price closer to $3.25 billion or maybe even $4 billion. However, the most interesting part about the Trail Blazer sale is the potential domino effect that it could have on the Seattle Seahawks. In addition to the Blazers, Paul Allen bought the Seattle Seahawks in 1997 for $200 million. But when Allen died in 2018, he wasn’t married and didn’t have any kids, so he left both the Blazers and Seahawks to his sister, Jody.There was a catch though. Paul Allen’s will explicitly stated that Jodi Allen couldn’t keep the teams. She had to sell the teams and donate the money to charity.The will didn’t include a specific timeline for each sale, but listing the Trailblazers for sale now makes sense given that the league’s new broadcast deal will elevate the team’s enterprise value, and other recent high priced NBA franchise sales have enhanced price discovery. The Seahawks are a more complex situation, however, Jody was never going to sell the team before 2025 because she would have had to pay 10% of the sale price back to the state of.Washington. This is because Paul Allen’s initial offer to buy the Seahawks was contingent on the team partnering with the state to build a new stadium. So the state of Washington included a ghost equity provision in the deal that said that the state would be guaranteed 10% of the sale price if the Seahawks were sold within 25 years of the stadium’s bonds being issued. This obviously disincentivized Jodi Allen to sell the Seahawks before that date.Now that the ghost equity provision has expired, a sale could happen at any point. So keep an eye on the Seattle Seahawks, because once Jodi Allen puts the team up for sale, every American billionaire will be watching. NFL franchise valuations have appreciated that 15% annually over the past decade. And with the NFL expected to opt out of its media rights package in 2029, owners are in line for another $100 billion payday.We’ve made it to the one on one, a conversation where I get to break down news and sports with a key player in the industry. This week we’re talking to Bill Squires. Bill, thank you so much for joining the show today. Now, I want to mainly focus on the 2026 World Cup. You have a ton of experience over the last couple of decades designing, constructing, and operating some of the biggest sports stadiums in the country. Now, they’ve obviously selected a number of stadiums in North America specifically for this tournament.Can you talk us through how they selected these stadiums, but also if you think they’re the right stadiums to be selected to host the World Cup.
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Sure, um, I mean, it goes back to 2017 when the, uh, the bid was put out, the United States, Canada, Mexico, and, you know, every city, it really kind of United States had an opportunity to bid on it. And there were multiple bidders, and some of them decided not to continue with the bid where 11 did and uh they selected 11 stadiums, which happened to be all NFL stadiums, uh, which means it gives you great capacity, uh, throughout various parts of the country. So I think they did. I think they selected 11 very pon facilities.
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And these facilities, can you just talk us through some of the changes that they may have to make? I know the Kansas City Chiefs are undergoing a renovation right now. There’s a few others that are going to have to do similar renovations to get ready for FIFA standard World Cup games.
6:43 spk_1
Well, because I’m on a New York New Jersey host committee, I, I could speak specifically to MetLife Stadium and uh one of the things we had to do was we had to uh modify the corners to accommodate the international soccer standards. Uh, the, the soccer international soccer dimensions are 105 m by 68 m. So we had to cut out the four corners to accommodate the corner kicks.Uh, also, because we are a synthetic third field, we’re gonna have to put in natural grass surface, and we did that back in 1994. And I think, I believe 6 of the 11 stadiums that are hosting World Cup matches in 2026 are all have synthetic tur, so they have to do the same thing. So there, there definitely are some modifications, some venues have to make.
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How much does it cost to replace synthetic turf with natural grass for just 11 event or a few games at a time?
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Well, we do a lot of friendlies, so international friendlies will lay natural grass over the synthetic curve, uh, which is not that expensive when you think you have an 80,000 seat capacity and you’re selling tickets at a pretty good, uh, you know, uh, cost, uh, but you know, for a, uh, World Cup we actually active actually have to put in a system we have irrigation, we have a subair system that blows air, sucks air, so it becomes a a much, much more involved process.I’m not sure if I want to share the actual cost, but I will say it’s in millions of dollars.
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OK, yeah, that’s my expectation, uh, or at least what I was expecting to hear, but one of the reports that we’ve seen over the last number of months leading up, and I’m sure we’ll continue to see as the 2026 World Cup approaches, is that the US travel and transportation infrastructure may not be ready to handle what it’s going to have to handle during this tournament. Do you have concerns around that, or do you think that it’ll be ready and ready to go by the time this tournament rolls around?
8:25 spk_1
Well, it’s not like we could, we, we have an opportunity to build any new railroads or any new roads. So, I mean, this was actually taken into consideration when we, we been on the project. Like I said, back in ’94, we had World Cup soccer, and we did, we did, we did have a train station at the Metlife sports complex. Uh we do now. Uh but there, there, you know, transportation, everything is a concern. Safety and security are primary concern. Transportation is, is absolutely actually a concern, butI will tell you, we’ve been dealing with stakeholder. I’ve been on the project now since December of 2023, and the meetings we have uh we have I have 4 or 5 calls every day, whether it be security related, transportation related, practice facility rated.Uh, you know, they’re, they’re related. I mean they’re, we’re, we’re talking to everybody, so we are just, just in New York, New Jersey, you think of the Mass Transit Association in New York on the Jersey Transit, uh, um, Amtrak. I mean, every, every different transportation authority you possibly think of highways, roads, uh, we’re talking to ferries, you know, you know, ferry systems, everything. So what we know, um, we 80,000 people for every match.Uh, we know we’re getting a lot of people that have never been to the stadium before, uh, so we have to look at that. And also, uh, a challenge for us is, you know, although we have 24, about 500 parking spaces at the Metli Sports Complex, half of those will be take up with activations and security and broadcast compounds, so we will not be able to park normal uh number of cars that we do for a concert or a giants or a jet ski. So we have to accommodate that. I mean, it’ll be shuttle buses, there’ll be parking rides.Um, but I will be prepared. There’s no question about it. I hope and I believe that our sister venues throughout, you know, Mexico and the United States and and Canada will be as well.
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Yeah, that’s a very interesting point regarding the activations that probably many people don’t think about. But based on your experience working on the 1994 World Cup, I guess two questions out of that, right? I, what did you learn from that that has to be applied to this to make the tournament a little bit better, but also just generally, what is needed for the US to hold a successful event in 2026 in your eyes?
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Great question. So, you know, one of the things we’ve, we’ve, uh, we’ve talked about a lot with FIFA, and, and I know this because I did work ’94 World Cup, one of those, I think one of the few uh of the 11 venues or even the country that work in their second World Cup in United States. But you know, the fans are different. We, we know that they’re, we, yeah, yeah, everybody has to understand they’re different than a Giants or a Jets fan or, you know, people come to a concert, they know their way around the venue, they’ve been there. In most cases, they all speak we all speak English.Uh, so we, we have to be prepared for everything. Uh, you know, I, we prepared for everything in ’94, we expected the worst, but we actually got the best. We had very, very, very few issues. I, I, I recall one in particular, but it wasn’t really that much of an issue, and, and we hosted seven matches along with the semifinal, which is Bulgaria and Italy. So, um, you know, we’ll we’ll be prepared and and it’s.You know, we’ve, we’ve, we’ve had people take trips to Europe. We have, uh, you know, to look at the Europe championships, uh, so we, we know what takes place over there, and we expect the same thing here. There’s no question about it. We expect an additional million people just in the New York metropolitan area, and these are people with and without tickets, so we have to prepare for them for fan fest and pop up watch parties and whatnot. So listen, we, I think every venue has been that that was awarded uh the opportunity to host these games.Uh, really knew what they were getting themselves in for, but the economic impact is absolutely huge for every area. Um, and, you know, you know, the NFL talks about 135 million people watching the Super Bowl. Great numbers. We’re expecting 3 billion people, 3 billion people. It’s like 30% or 35% of the planet to be watching the final at MedLife Stadium on July 19, uh, 2026.
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Yeah, that’s amazing. And can you just explain a little bit more about the economic impact of the actual, let’s talk about the final, right? Because I think a lot of people when they hear economic impact, they, they sort of throw the number in the wind and they think that it’s sort of made up to some degree or maybe it’s inflated because it’s sort of hard to calculate. But in my experience, especially for these premiumEvents like the World Cup Final or a Super Bowl. Uh, sometimes it’s actually really accurate. Again, it’s hard to determine what goes into it and what actually makes sense, but it’s a huge number. Uh, so if you could just give us a little insight into how those numbers come about, but also what the expectation is for the match in the final in New York.
12:51 spk_1
Right. Well, listen, FIA does their homework. They, they were able to tell us exactly, not exactly, but, you know, pretty fair of what countries will still spend as how about how much time we’ll spend in each area. Now, right now we don’t know what we know the dates of the event of the matches, we don’t know who the teams are yet, don’t even know what times they’re gonna play, but there’s, you know, there’s there’s good estimates they can provide.So you’re talking about a million people. I mean, I listen, I’ve worked in Super Bowls. I know about the economic impact, and that’s over maybe a 456 day period. We’re talking 39 days in the New York, New Jersey metropolitan area. So, you know, you talk about hotels, you talk about airfare, you talk about, you know, just taxes on food and and whatnot. I mean the people that come here will probably will not rent cars will probably take Ubers or take mass transit.So I mean there’s a way to really kind of calculate that, but I think the numbers are coming up that they are pretty, pretty um they’re I mean they’re and we’re talking about billions and billions and billions of dollars across the country, and I think that uh I think that they’ll be pretty active.And and answer your last question, to make it successful, I think we have to have buy-in from, we have, you know, one thing I know we’ve been doing here in New York, New Jersey, and I believe, uh, on the other venues as well, we’ve really got, um, we’re really meeting with stakeholders. I mean, there’s more sta I’ve been doing this for 38 years and we’re talking to people I never even thought I would talk to, uh, and the level of cooperation across, I mean, everybody is getting it. This is, this is a monumental event. I mean, it’s gonna be the most watched.Uh, you know, most watched sporting, but the history of the world because we have 48 matches rather than 32. So that, you know, we’re very proud to have the final at MetLife Stadium. We had the semifinal and then the ’94. I still think we should have the final, but they had at the Rose Bowl and Rose Bowl had 100,000 seats, uh, giant stadium at the time only had 80. So, but I think they picked the right venue, and I think we’re gonna, there’s no doubt in my mind we’re gonna beready.
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All right, we’ve got to take a quick break, but we’ll be back with more of my conversation with Bill Squires right after this.Welcome back to Yahoo Finance Sports Report. I’m your host, Joe Pompeano. I’m here with the right stuff owner and former general manager of Yankee Stadium, Bill Squires. Moving outside of the World Cup specifically, one of the trends that we’ve seen over the last number of years are these mixed-use developments for sports stadiums.In and around the venue, right? A lot of people seem to be trying to maximize income through real estate holdings. You have the battery in Atlanta, you have Ballpark Village in Saint Louis, Texas Live in Texas, and so forth, right? There’s a bunch of them now. What is your expectation of how that trend will evolve over the coming decades?
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I I think it’s a must. Um, you know, I’ve worked at many venues and, you know, uh some of the venues only hosted maybe 1015, 20 events a year. Uh, I worked at Yankee Stadium, of course, back then, you know, we had 81 games and we weren’t really that good when I worked there in the late 80s, so we didn’t be playoff matches games, but, you know, when I worked at Disney, you know, we looked at the ESPN world of sports as being acted every single day.And that the goal was to be, you know, to have all 9 different venues active every day doing something, uh, pretty much impossible, but that was our goal. And I think that, uh, you know, whereas in the past where the venue was the attraction to come to the area, if you look at the battery in Atlanta, I think, which is a perfect example.Even Patriot place up in New England, people go, you know, they’re 365 days a year to eat, sleep, to meet, to shop, uh, and then actually there’s an event going on at Gillette Stadium or or or down in, uh, you know, Trust Park, you know, I go to a ball game or go to a football game or a concert. So I, I think that’s definitely the trend. I think you’re seeing that play out a little bit maybe in in Chicago where, you know, they want to build a $4.5 billion.05 billion dollars stadium, uh, dollar stadium.You know, right there on the lakefront, but you know they have Arlington Park, which is, you know, it’s they can build a stadium and all and everything else they want to build. So I think that is if, if, you know, I, I teach a course at Columbia and talk about this a lot. If you’re building a structure just for sports and you’re not, you’re not not using the land properly in the area around then I think you’re making a big mistake.
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Yeah, and I’m glad you brought up the Bears because I was gonna ask you about that. It feels like they flip flop back and forth between the downtown stadium in Arlington Heights a number of times over the last few years, even now at this point. Uh, but the latest news is that they’re refocusing on Arlington Heights. It sounds like you think a big piece of that is their ability to build infrastructure around the stadium, even though it’s not downtown and maybe it’s a little bit more of a hike for people.
17:22 spk_1
Uh, I think, I think that’s the case, but I think also I think the, uh, the politics in Illinois are playing a large role in whether or not it’s gonna be able to get the money to build it in Chicago. I mean, I’m reading everything that you’re reading, and uh it does seem like they’re kind of leni Arlington Park. Now I’m not, I have no inside information, uh, but I, when I think about, you know, the question you ask, you know, if you want to use it 1520, 30 times a year, do you want a site that you can use 365?
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Yeah, and the last question is, how do you think about public money being used to build stadiums? One of the debates we’ve seen rises certainly over the last number of years is taxpayer money used to fund stadiums. My experience, it makes sense in some cases, maybe some cases it doesn’t, but how do you approach that topic generally?
18:04 spk_1
Well, uh, once again, uh, because I, I work, uh, I work with the Giants and I worked with the Jets and you see MetLife Stadium was, uh, privately funded.$1.6 billion each team, you know, pulling up $800 million to build, build the venue. Uh, so it can be done, it can be done, but I understand that there are, you know, there are some venues. I just read an article about the the new arena in Oklahoma City, where, you know, there’s gonna be a lot of publicly funded dollars to build that place, but, you know, they made the comment that we need, we need the uh OC, you know, the team more than they need us. So, you know, it’s all all comes down to is the leverage.Um, as a taxpayer, I don’t know that I’d really want to spend money on a sports venue, but, you know, when you look at, you know, the economic impact and all the things that come along with it, the pride of the city and the pride of the region, then, you know, that’s kind of changes the dynamic a little bit.
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Certainly, we’re gonna see what happens in Washington DC, but that’ll be one to watch. Thank you so much for joining us today, Bill.
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Joe, thank you.
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The clock is winding down here, but we have just enough time for some final buzz. So let’s talk about the NFL’s Thanksgiving TV strategy. NFL VP of broadcast planning, Mike Norris, said some interesting things on a recent episode of the Ross Tucker Football podcast. Here’s the clip.
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93 of the top 100 most watched games, good chunk of those are Cowboys and Chiefs games. Put them together, put them on Thanksgiving. Maybe we can get Taylor to sing the national anthem. You know, we can get people involved beyond just, you know, us avid hardcore football fans. Let’s see if we can’t really set a record that day. Cowboys, Commanders a couple of years ago, Cowboys, Giants, whatever it was, 42, 43 million on Thanksgiving.I think we got a shot at pushing 48, 49, maybe
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50. Now, Norris’s words are intriguing to me because he said the quiet part out loud in two ways. First, he confirmed that the league is banking on its top two draws in the Chiefs and Cowboys to help deliver a record Thanksgiving Day audience. But secondly, Norse’s tease of a possible Taylor Swift national anthem showed that the league wants to leverage Swift’s relationship with Chief Superstart and Travis Kelsey for a few million more viewers. Now, I’m not sure if the NFL will be able to convince Taylor Swift to sing.The national anthem at a Chiefs away game in Dallas, especially after she got booed by Eagles fans at the last Super Bowl. But it’s clear that the league is set on at least pondering the idea, and it could result in NFL television history if they can pull it off. Also, a fun fact, Swift actually sang the national anthem on Thanksgiving Day in 2006 before the Lions Dolphins game in Detroit. And now we’ll see if she makes a return to Thanksgiving football in 2025, or if she tells the NFL we are never ever getting back together.We’re all out of time, so it’s officially game over for this week. Thank you so much to Bill and for all of you for joining us. Please make sure to scan the QR code below to follow Yahoo Finance podcast for more videos and expert insights and catch us every Thursday wherever you get your podcast. I’m your host, Joe Pomliano. See you next time.This content was not intended to be financial advice and should not be used as a substitute for professional financial services.