FOS PM: Readers’ 2024 Crystal Ball

December 29, 2023

In our final weekday edition of 2023, readers offer their predictions for the new year, including some bold ones involving college sports, media titans, and a certain Kansas City Chiefs player. … Meanwhile, the Pop-Tarts Bowl breaks new ground in college postseason marketing with its viral but somewhat dark postgame celebration.

— Eric Fisher

📬 We Asked, You Answered

Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports

We asked FOS readers what they think will happen in 2024 in the business of sports, and your responses touched on everything from the (bleak, it seems) future of college sports to the (suspected) Sin City ambitions of an NBA owner. Here are some of our favorite responses:

💰 Ownership

“[Mark Cuban] sells his interests in the Mavs now—only to lead an NBA expansion bid in Las Vegas [later] this year!” —Daniel V.

“What if the 20 richest American sports team owners—worth $382 billion according to Forbes—pooled 1% of their collective net worth and invested it in women’s sports? Not as a charitable act, but because that’s where the growth is. Imagine the impact … and the returns.” —Leela S.

📺 Media

“Sports media will continue to consolidate (i.e. Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery merger talks). College conferences will continue to consolidate for new money, not in 2024 but as soon as new media deals [are struck]. Streaming will bring bigger deals for media rights (expecting pushes from Apple and Amazon). ESPN will sell an equity stake to a professional league.” —Nuno B.

🎤 Pop Culture

“Taylor [Swift and Travis Kelce] will get engaged. I think that qualifies as a prediction. ;)” —Leela S.

🏟️ Venues

“FC Dallas will have a stadium renovation that will add a roof of some sort on the east side.” —Jose R.

🏈 College Athletics

“The SEC and Big Ten will break apart from the NCAA in football. They’ll add a few more members (potentially Florida State, Clemson, Notre Dame, and Miami) each to [become] the ‘Premier League of College Football,’ with approximately 40 teams. The ACC and Big 12 formally become a second tier of college football with about 30 teams. Then the third tier has about 60 ‘Group of 5’ teams. All the other sports remain in the NCAA with new conferences emerging based on geographic regions.” —Paul L.

“Intercollegiate athletics are separated from academic universities and become structured similar to the club system in Europe.” —David M.

“Four (give or take) teams from the West Coast Conference, including Gonzaga, will merge with the Big East Conference when the Fox Sports Network contract renews. As with the Big East Conference’s modus operandi, these teams from the WCC will be in or near major television markets.” —Reginald G.

“We will have the Haves and the Have Nots. … The elite will attend sporting events that the commoners will not be able to afford. Gambling will take over sports. People will lose their interest in following local teams. Older sports fans, who are used to watching games on local TV channels, will stop watching. Younger fans will be watching for gambling and fantasy league purposes. As for college [sports] … we will have one giant league with regional play. If they do not do this, all sports other than basketball and football will be in even more peril. All stadiums and arenas will become multi-use entertainment districts with restaurants, hotels, casinos, and businesses. Money continues to be the answer to all questions.” —Jim K.

“College athletics as we know it will be forced to make drastic changes in order for the current athletic scholarship structure to remain in existence. … We will soon see a split from the NCAA by the top 50 to 60 football powers so that they can control their own destiny and create a sustainable system. … And it doesn’t take a genius to forecast that we will soon see a student-athlete work stoppage occur right before a nationally televised broadcast to protest the inequities that are taking place within their own teams.” —Troy M.

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What’s an Edible Bowl Mascot Worth? Roughly $12.1 Million

Jeremy Reper-USA TODAY Sports

A minor college football game existing far outside of the College Football Playoff and the sport’s top powers has become a viral sensation, thanks to a successful rebranding of the event, supported by what was described as the first-ever edible mascot in sports.

On the surface, Thursday’s Pop-Tarts Bowl in Orlando was nothing particularly special, with No. 25 Kansas State defeating No. 18 N.C. State, 28-19, before 31,111 fans in a game between a pair of three-loss teams. But the matchup transcended into something else entirely, with the breakfast pastry brand Pop-Tarts supporting its new title sponsorship of the game with an over-the-top postgame celebration.

In a ritual that was at once surreal and perhaps a bit morbid, a Pop-Tart mascot descended into an oversized toaster prop on the Camping World Stadium field. From that replica toaster emerged an actual, giant-sized (and now non-mascot) Pop-Tart that Wildcats players and coaches began to eat. The game trophy also featured actual Pop-Tarts that were similarly consumed.

“After the game, he will be devoured, he will die, and he will be his own last meal,” ESPN announcer Anish Shroff said of the Pop-Tarts mascot during the game broadcast.

In the aftermath, Apex Marketing Group calculated that Pop-Tarts generated nearly $12.1 million over the past week alone in brand value from TV, radio, social media, and digital news exposure from the game.

“You’re looking at north of a 25% bump in value [compared to last year’s game] because of this creative activation,” Eric Smallwood, Apex Marketing’s CEO, tells Front Office Sports. “The execution from Pop-Tarts really elevated the conversation.”

Marketing Pivot

The Pop-Tarts Bowl existed in 2020-22 as the Cheez-It Bowl, where winning coaches were doused with a bucket of the snack food. But Kellanova, which owns both food brands, shifted its marketing focus for the game earlier this year, and then got to work on a post-game celebration that would break through the increasing noise of college football’s 43 bowl games. Cheez-It is now the title sponsor of the Jan. 1 Citrus Bowl.

In recent years, the Duke’s Mayo Bowl has achieved a similar breakthrough into the cultural zeitgeist with its ritual of pouring mayonnaise on the winning coaches. But the Pop-Tarts Bowl took it to another level, in turn raising the question of what will be next in the arms race of college bowl game marketing.

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