Sporticast: Nike’s Controversial Running Ad

(Lorenzo Gordon)

On the 545th Sporticast episode, hosts Scott Soshnick and Eben Novy-Williams discuss some of the biggest sports business stories of the week, including the looming sale of the San Diego Padres for a record price and a marketing controversy involving Nike.

Billionaire José E. Feliciano and his wife Kwanza Jones have reached an agreement to purchase the MLB team for $3.9 billion, Sportico reported last week. It’s by far the most ever paid for control of a baseball team, eclipsing the $2.4 billion that Steve Cohen paid for the Mets in 2020.

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The hosts talk about why the Padres, who play in one of the league’s smaller markets and recently lost their local TV partner to bankruptcy, are worth so much. For starters, the Padres are a rare MLB team that doesn’t have an NFL or NBA team in its home market. The club finished second in attendance last year, behind the Los Angeles Dodgers, despite steep increases in ticket prices in recent years. There’s also an upcoming labor battle that could result in some increased cost certainty for owners. The weather, believe it or not, is also a factor.

Next the hosts talk the Boston Marathon, which was held Monday. Both the men’s and women’s pro winners were also the defending champions, which hasn’t happened in more than 30 years. Kenyan Sharon Lokedi, the women’s winner, is sponsored by Under Armour, which is scaling back its sports marketing. Separately, Nike apologized this week for ad copy at the race that many thought was exclusionary.