Tag: Forbes

Saints’ Who Dat Nation ranked among top-5 most-passionate fan bases

Fans of the New Orleans Saints were listed among the most passionate fan bases in America’s major sports leagues by a recent Forbes ranking.

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The New Orleans Saints fan base is a group that punches above its weight class. While their television market might be one of the smaller you’ll find around the NFL, Saints fans have an unmatched appetite for football — often turning in the nation’s highest ratings for prime-time games, whether the black and gold are involved or not.

But Saints fans do more than tune in when a game is on. According to a list put together by Forbes staff writer Christian Settimi, the Who Dat Nation ranks fourth among America’s most-passionate fan bases. That puts them shoulder-to-shoulder with supporters of the Green Bay Packers, New England Patriots, and the Pittsburgh Steelers. and ahead of the leaders in other sports like the NBA’s Golden State Warriors and MLB’s Boston Red Sox.

Settimi considered factors like team value (the Saints are estimated to be worth $2.275 billion), social media following (5.4 million between Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook), and average home game attendance (with 73,082 spectators packing the Mercedes-Benz Superdome). She also noted that New Orleans throws a ton of hometown support behind its team:

A full 75% of New Orleans residents identify as Saints fans—second in the NFL to Green Bay’s 82% with the Packers—helping to make the “Who Dat” nation’s social media following four times as big as the city’s population of 1.3 million.

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Classic fight replays — led by Ali-Frazier trilogy — do strong ratings on ESPN

ESPN’s replay of the “Thrilla in Manila” was the sixth-most-watched sports-related show of the past week.

Fans are watching boxing even when there’s no boxing.

ESPN’s replay of the third fight between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier in 1975 – The “Thrilla in Manila” – was the sixth-most-watched sports-related show of the past week, according to ShowBuzzDaily. An average of 699,000 people watched the fight, Forbes reported.

As Forbes pointed out, that figure is higher than the 683,000 who viewed the Wednesday episode of the new professional wrestling outfit AEW Dynamite.

Classic boxing shows made up eight of the 20 most-watched sports programs this past week. That also included Ali-Frazier I, Mike Tyson-Michael Spinks and Oscar De La Hoya-Julio Cesar Chavez.

An ESPN boxing analyst Tweeted: “Amazing numbers on ESPN Linear. … Boxing Library works amazing! Perhaps better than any other Sport.”

ESPN devoted 11 hours to boxing on Saturday, including the first time the first Ali-Frazier has been televised since 1991. That fight had an average audience of 641,000. The second Ali-Frazier fight averaged 607,000.

The only live card on ESPN this year — headlined by Eleider Alvarez vs. Michael Seals — averaged 704.000 viewers.

Live sports have been sidelined as a result of the corona virus pandemic.

Panthers owner David Tepper urges more donations to combat coronavirus

Tepper has donated $22 million of his own money to help relief efforts so far.

Some things are much bigger than football and that’s never been more clear than right now as the coronavirus pandemic ravages the United States and countries around the world. Panthers owner David Tepper is urging people who have the ability to give to step up with more donations.

Here’s what Tepper said, according to Forbes.

“Here, it’s people losing their ability to make money, and that time period doesn’t have a certain end, which also creates a specific challenge for what you do with any kind of philanthropy… We hope that everybody steps up. . . I think in general, in times of need, people have to step up if they have the ability to step up. Period.”

Tepper has donated $22 million of his own money to help relief efforts so far. His net worth is around $12 billion, per Forbes. 

Players have also gotten involved in the fight. All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey has started a funding program called 22 and You, pledging funds for healthcare providers in both North and South Carolina. 

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Texans’ McNair family doesn’t crack Forbes’ list of top-20 richest sports owners

The McNair family wasn’t listed among the top-20 of the richest owners in sports, according to a recent Forbes list.

The McNair family may be richer than King Midas, but they still aren’t among the upper crust of sports owners.

According to a recent list from Forbes of the world’s richest sports team owners, the McNair family that owns the Houston Texans failed to crack the top-20.

There were seven NFL owners on the list including the Carolina Panthers’ David Tepper, the Los Angeles Rams’ Stan Kroenke, the Dallas Cowboys’ Jerry Jones, the Jacksonville Jaguars’ Shahid Khan, the Miami Dolphins’ Stephen Ross, the New England Patriots’ Robert Kraft, and the Buffalo Bills’ Terrence Pegula. The AFC South was represented only by Khan’s Jaguars.

According to estimates from Forbes in Sept. 2019, the Texans are worth $3.1 billion, making them the ninth most valuable NFL franchise. That is not a bad jump from the $600 million the late founder, Bob McNair, paid to start up Houston’s second NFL franchise.

Fun fact: the Texans won a playoff game in 2019 while each of the teams among the top-20 list did not.

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Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao still lead the way

Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. are still the biggest names in boxing, according to new data from ListenFirst.

Boxing is a long way from escaping the collective shadow of Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.

Mayweather is retired (for now) and Pacquiao may be on the back end of his career, but they are still dominating the boxing conversation, at least in the digital universe. That’s what the latest numbers pertaining to social media suggest, according to Forbes, which drew its conclusion from data culled by ListenFirst, an analytics firm that tracks social media engagement.

As of Dec. 31, 2019, Mayweather’s total audience across his social media platforms measured 44.5 million. Likewise, on the same date, Pacquiao had a total audience of 20.6 million.

Compare that to Canelo Alvarez, arguably the most bankable star in the sport today. The Mexican star had a total audience of 11 million on his social media accounts as of Dec. 31. Gennadiy Golovkin tracked at 5.27 million.

According to Forbes, you have to look outside of boxing to find anyone who rivals Mayweather’s reach. UFC’s Conor McGregor had a social media fan base of 48.9 million on the last day of 2019.

Of course, both Mayweather and Pacquiao have seen their influence on social media diminish since their ballyhooed matchup in 2015.

ListenFirst’s Fan Growth score, which measures the increase of a person’s digital audience — Facebook page likes, new Twitter followers and more — shows that Pacquiao’s score dropped from 5.9 million in 2015 to 735,892 in 2019; similarly, Mayweather’s Fan Growth score dropped from 8.7 million in 2015 to 45,861 in 2019. Again, Mayweather is retired while Pacquiao is still active.

And yet, ListenFirst claims that a rematch between Mayweather and Pacquiao remains an attractive possibility, despite some moans and groans from hardcore boxing fans. ListenFirst’s Chief Marketing Officer Tracy David says that as far as mainstream appeal goes, there is no bigger fight in boxing despite the drop off in popularity for both fighters and the fact that Pacquiao’s team recently suggested that Mayweather-Pacquiao II isn’t realistic.

“…[T]hat Mayweather and Pacquiao both have more of a social media following than younger stars like Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin speaks to why there’s still so much anticipation around a potential rematch,” David told Forbes. “Even at a diminished popularity level, Manny and Floyd remain the biggest names in boxing, and a sequel to their 2015 fight would likely be a PPV draw, despite questions about how much each fighter has left in the tank.”

Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather: Almost $500,000 per punch landed in 2010s

Floyd Mayweather made $499,181.67 for every punch he landed in the 2010s, according to Forbes and CompuBox.

Floyd Mayweather was an economical puncher – in more ways than one.

Forbes reported that “Money” was the world’s highest paid athlete of the 2010s, earning $915 million in 10 fights during the decade. In those fights, according to CompuBox, he landed 1,833 punches (of 4,270 thrown).

Dan Canobbio of CompuBox did the math: That’s $499,181.67 for every punch landed ($214,285.71 for every punch thrown).

That’s making the most out of your punches.

By comparison, according to the Census Bureau, the median American household income in 2018 was $63,179 – or 13 percent of what Mayweather made for landing a shot in the 2010s.

Of course, we shouldn’t begrudge Mayweather his fortune. Millions wanted to see him fight and he delivered. His fights against Manny Pacquiao and Conor McGregor alone generated  more than 9 million combined pay-per-view buys.

But almost half a million dollars for every punch landed?

Floyd Mayweather tops Forbes’ list of highest-paid athletes in decade

Floyd Mayweather earned $915 million in the decade, more than any other athlete in the world, according to Forbes.

Never has Floyd Mayweather’s nickname been more appropriate.

“Money” earned more cash than any other athlete in the world over the past decade, according to Forbes Magazine.

Mayweather made $915 million during that period, $115 million more than the next highest-paid athlete, soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo. And remember: Mayweather fought only once – against MMA star Conor McGregor – after 2015, which means he left a lot of money on the table.

The former five-division titleholder reportedly made a good portion of his total – around $500 million – in two fights, against rival Manny Pacquiao in 2015 and against McGregor. Those fights generated more than 9 million pay-per-view buys.

Forbes reported that Mayweather generated $1.7 billion in pay-per-view revenue in his last 15 fights, beginning with Oscar De La Hoya in 2007.

His march toward ungodly riches began when he split with promoter Top Rank in 2006 and started his own company, Mayweather Promotions. He had to pay $750,000 to opt out of his contract. He soon dropped his “Pretty Boy Floyd” nickname, adopted “Money” and then made financial history.

Pacquiao landed at No. 8 on Forbes’ list for the decade at $435 million. No sport had more than two representatives on the list. According to Forbes, Pacquiao generated 20 million buys and around $1.3 billion in 25 pay-per-view fights.

What did Mayweather have to say about the news? He Tweeted simply, “Congratulations to every athlete on this list!”

Here is the Top 10:

$915 million – Floyd Mayweather (boxing)
$800 million – Cristiano Ronaldo (soccer)
$750 million – Lionel Messi (soccer)
$680 million – LeBron James (basketball)
$640 million – Roger Federer (tennis)
$615 million – Tiger Woods (golf)
$480 million – Phil Mickelson (golf)
$435 million – Manny Pacquiao (boxing)
$425 million – Kevin Durant (basketball)
$400 million – Lewis Hamilton (car racing)

Bobby Wagner makes Forbes’ 30 under 30 list in sports category

Seattle Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner was named to Forbes’ 30 under 30 list in the sports category, thanks to strong financial literacy.

Seattle Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner was recognized by popular business magazine “Forbes” on its list of 30 sports figures under the age of 30.

Wagner has always prioritized being financially savvy, and he has always encouraged other athletes to learn those skills as well.

“We should take the time to learn and understand how to make money work for us,” Wagner told Forbes. “Versus working for money.”

Wagner has invested in a handful of startups, including Denali Therapeutics and the Cultural Leadership Fund. He also negotiated his own contract extension, a three-year, $54 million dollar pact that made him the highest-paid inside linebacker of all-time.

Wagner is using a lot of that money to continue investing and growing his business acumen, but he’s also very willing to give back to his community – as evidenced by his recent decision to buy groceries for low-income families at a Safeway in West Seattle last month.

Wagner will look to build on his strong 2019 season when the 10-2 Seahawks take on the Rams in Los Angeles on Sunday night.

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