During a busy year in the sports business, the Paris Olympics put a new shine on rings, franchise valuations continued to skyrocket and a tsunami of women’s sports reshaped the industry. We record everything in Sportico. Here are our favorite data visualizations from the last 12 months.
Sex, Snacks, and Videotapes: A History of the Super Bowl Commercial Breaks (February 11)
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Automakers, snack makers, breweries and movie studios take up much of the advertising inventory available for the Super Bowl, although fluctuations in macroeconomic conditions often lead to spasms of category saturation. In the so-called Dot-com Bowl of 2000, for example, no fewer than 14 Internet startups came to the fore before the bubble burst just a few months later.
The NBA West dominates the East, except in balance (February 28)
Western Conference teams have won 17 of the 26 NBA championships since 1999, and there have been more Western players selected to All-NBA in each season during that span. Between the 1999-00 and 2020-21 seasons, the West had a worse record in intraconference matchups only once, when the East barely edged it out in 2008-09 by winning 51.3%.
UConn bets on basketball value in football-driven NCAA (March 26)
UConn is the only school to win both Division I basketball titles in the same season, which it accomplished in 2004 and 2014. It is also the only public FBS school in Sportico’s database to spend more money on basketball than in football, and is one of only 12 to earn more ticket revenue from basketball than soccer.
List of Olympic sports: What are the new sports for the Paris 2024 Games? (April 18)
The Olympic Games are considered steeped in tradition, but only four sports disciplines (athletics, fencing, swimming and artistic gymnastics) have been included in every Summer Olympic Games since 1896. Those first Olympic Games featured 43 events, in which that only men competed. Last summer in Paris, 329 gold medals were awarded to a much more diverse group of athletes. Things have changed quite a bit over the years.
No A players in attendance: Oakland trails a whopping 553 U.S. teams. (May 7)
More than a month into the 2024 MLB season, the Oakland Athletics were averaging just 6,410 fans per game during their final year at the Coliseum. At the time, Sportico’s unofficial research found that 553 professional and college teams in U.S.-based leagues averaged more fans per home game than the A’s. On that list were three Indoor Soccer League franchises, two college wrestling teams and a professional women’s volleyball team.
Jokic joins Elite Company with third NBA MVP award (May 8)
Nikola Jokic’s third win in 2024 means the last six MVP awards have gone to international players, compared to just four in NBA history before 2018. This year, the four top vote-getters were born outside the United States .
NBA’s 81 Olympic players highlight league’s global investment (August 3)
At the 1992 Olympics, there were 12 players with NBA experience on the non-US men’s basketball teams. This year, there were 69. Squads across the board in Paris reflected the global development of the sport.
Browns announce stadium naming agreement with Huntington Bank (September 3)
The Cleveland Browns and Huntington National Bank have agreed to a 20-year naming rights deal for the team’s current stadium, which is now known as Huntington Bank Field. The deal came just a week after the Washington Commanders landed a new stadium naming rights partner in Northwest Federal Credit Union. More than half of the NFL’s naming rights sponsors are in the banking or insurance industry.
Shohei Ohtani is worth every penny and hits the 50/50 mark (September 19)
Shohei Ohtani set the all-time record for home runs and stolen bases in a season when he surpassed the 43/43 mark over Labor Day weekend, and finished the year with 54 home runs and 58 steals. At first glance, he appears to be the best bargain in Major League history, as the cash value of his contract this season was $2 million, with the remainder of his salary deferred.
Highest-paid NFL coaches in 2024: Reid, Payton and Tomlin lead (October 18)
Head coaching pay has increased in the NFL, but salaries are still a fraction of what stars make. Andy Reid is the highest-paid coach in the league with an average annual value of $20 million, but 75 players will make at least that total this season, according to Spotrac. Mike Macdonald’s $9 million a year deal with the Seattle Seahawks is matched or surpassed by 255 players.
3 is a crowd: Expect even more NBA shots from beyond the arc (October 22)
The Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks entered the 2024 NBA Finals as very different teams united by one strategic goal: shooting away from center. They ranked first and second in the NBA last season in 3-point attempt percentage, and now other teams are preparing to emulate them. Two months into the 2024-25 season, the league has attempted 42.4% of its shots from beyond the arc. That figure had never before exceeded 40% in a season.
Missouri approves sports betting as FanDuel and DraftKings beat Caesars (November 5)
When the Supreme Court struck down the federal ban on sports betting in May 2018, dozens of states were poised to legalize sports betting within the next two years. What remains is a handful of jurisdictions that could take a while, including massive markets in Texas and California. Currently, about 65% of the American population lives in a state where gambling is legal. At the end of 2021, that figure was already 49%.
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