⚖️ Equality Has Ruined the WNBA

I just got back from Europe, but don’t worry I’m not going to become one of those guys who sign their emails off with ‘Cheers’ or calls soccer ‘football.’

But I did include some pictures from my trip at the end if you care…

Meanwhile, here’s what’s on tap this week:

🗞 The Big Story: NFL’s Turf Wars

📉 Biggest Loser: Equality Ruined the WNBA

🏆 Winner’s Circle: EA Sports Ditches FIFA (and won)

⬇️ Listen: Can you name the top 10 most-followed American athletes? Find out on this week’s episode of Sportonmics:

🗞 The Big Story

FIFA could save the NFL from losing another billion-dollar lawsuit…

But the NFL is refusing to give in.

Background: Some of the league’s highest-profile players are once again calling out the NFL to stop using artificial turf because of an increased risk of non-contact injuries.

So far this year we’ve already seen a number of season-ending non-contact injuries:

• Aaron Rodgers (NYJ) - Torn Achilles

• JK Dobbins (BAL) - Torn Achilles

• Mike Williams (LAC) - Torn ACL

• Trevon Diggs (DAL) - Torn ACL

• Tre’Davious White (BUF) - Torn Achilles

Scientists Agree: Over the past 11 seasons, 10 have had higher rates of non-contact injuries on artificial turf surfaces as compared to natural grass.

NFL’s Denial: In the one season (2021) where injury rates on both playing surfaces were relatively similar, the NFL put on the full-court press stating that artificial turf was, in fact, safe.

But this pattern of denying clear fact patterns while players get injured is eerily similar to the league’s CTE Scandal of the early 2000s, which ended with the NFL playing hundreds of former players $1 billion in 2013.

Enter FIFA: The tune of the NFL and many of its owners have suddenly changed when it comes to replacing artificial turf fields after FIFA announced it’ll be hosting 2026 World Cup matches in a number of NFL stadiums across the country.

FIFA bans the playing of its matches on artificial turf, which is a problem for:

• AT&T Stadium - Dallas Cowboys

• Mercedes Benz Stadium - Atlanta Falcons

• Gillette Stadium - New England Patriots

• NRG Stadium - Houston Texans

• MetLife Stadium - New York Giants & Jets

• SoFi Stadium - Los Angeles Chargers & Rams

• Lumen Field - Seattle Seahawks

Temporary Changes: While owners like Jerry Jones have already committed to spending $350M on stadium upgrades ahead of the World Cup, none of the owners have committed to making the change to natural grass in their stadiums permanent.

Reports estimate that permanently making the switch to grass across the league would cost less than $12 million.

📉 Biggest Loser

The WNBA is destroying itself but the solution is actually way more simple than you might think.

On the Rise: The WNBA is likely going to set attendance, viewership, and revenue records this year. Not to mention, after the league’s most recent CBA in 2020, players are now making more than ever before (upwards of $215,000).

The Problem: In that recent CBA, player salaries and the salary cap didn’t increase at the same rate:

• Salary Cap (per team): $996,000 → $1,300,000 (+30.5%)

• Maximum Player Salary: $117,000 → $215,000 (+94%)

That means the cost to pay players nearly doubled while the budget to pay those players increased by less than a third.

The Consequences: This has led many WNBA teams to be unable to even fill out a full roster.

It also inhibits the growth of the game from the college level, as young talented players are getting cut as cost-saving measures. Even the league’s 2020 Rookie of the Year was cut by her team just two years later so that they could stay under the cap.

The Solution: The WNBA needs to ditch their notion of equality in their league in favor of promoting more competition.

I explain my solution to this problem more in-depth in my recent YouTube video. Even if you don’t care about the WNBA, the implications here could effect literally every other sport!

Watch the video now.

🏆 Winner’s Circle

EA Sports just screwed over FIFA, and they’re making hundreds of millions more because of it.

The Beef: For over a year now, the relationship between EA and FIFA has been rocky.

EA didn’t think FIFA provided enough value to their game and FIFA was demanding that EA pay them double their previous contract ($300M) to retain the use of their brand.

So the two companies didn’t renew their contract ahead of the game’s 2023 release.

Separate Ways: FIFA didn’t like that EA had basically called their bluff and they’ve come out stating that “the only authentic, real game that has the FIFA name will be the best one available for gamers and football fans.”

But that didn’t stop EA from still releasing a soccer video game last week called EA Sports FC, which has been a smashing success:

• 6.8 million paid sign-ups for pre-release access

• Up 25% from last year

EA’s Genius: The video game studio wisely holds separate licensing contracts with more than 700 teams, 19,000 players, 100 stadiums, and 30 leagues across both men’s and women’s soccer.

So all they lose out on from FIFA are the four letters and any reference to the World Cup.

FIFA’s Fallout: EA Sports was previously FIFA’s second-largest commercial partner, at $150M. And now their name isn’t on the world’s most popular video game.

⏱ In Other News

• Travis Kelce is over the Taylor Swift hype.

• The NHL is getting a Redzone-style show called ‘Frozen Frenzy.’

• Baseball has a new World Champ.

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👋 I’m working with a new editor on longer-form YouTube videos!

My new goal is two videos per month. The only reason I’m saying it here is so that you can all hold me accountable 🙃.

Happy Friday!