On the latest Sporticast episode, hosts Scott Soshnick and Eben Novy-Williams discuss some of the biggest sports business stories of the week, including a business preview of the NBA Finals. The series between the Miami Heat and Denver Nuggets begins Thursday night on ABC.
It’s just the second NBA Finals in the past 13 years that doesn’t feature either LeBron James or Steph Curry, an opportunity for another NBA player to grab the spotlight. That will most likely be Nuggets center Nikola Jokić, a two-time league MVP. A Nuggets victory could do for Jokić what the Milwaukee Bucks title did for Giannis Antetokounmpo in 2021.
It would also add to a historic few years for Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke, whose various sports teams have all found recent success. The NFL’s Los Angeles Rams won the Super Bowl in 2022, followed by titles for the NLL’s Colorado Mammoth and the NHL‘s Colorado Avalanche. This year, Arsenal finished second in the Premier League, tied for the team’s best finish in the past two decades, and the Nuggets are favored to win their first NBA ring.
Next the hosts discuss the Stanley Cup Final, which begins on Saturday. The matchup between the Vegas Golden Knights and Florida Panthers is lacking major star power, and it will be the first Stanley Cup broadcast on Turner’s networks.
Lastly, they talk about the latest in the Diamond Sports Group bankruptcy. The company has chosen not to deliver their most recent payment to the San Diego Padres, and MLB has taken over broadcasting the team’s games. The Padres contract paid the team $60 million annually, creating a big hole in the balance sheet that the Padres will need to fill elsewhere.
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