SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 20, 2026

Connect Partnership Group drives revenue through smarter partnerships, creating sales and consulting solutions across sports, music, entertainment, and mixed-use real estate to create meaningful results-driven brand partnerships. [Music] A stunning number, at least to me, considering all the change we've seen in college basketball and college sports over the last handful of years. You know, I was chatting on a group text with four buddies on Thursday, all four of us sports nuts but also all in our mid to late 30s with young children at home, and only one of us had even filled out a bracket. So to me, that 26.6 million number, along with all the other bracket options out there, just shows the power of March Madness. The tournament is underway, some great games already this week. Shout out to my good buddy and SBJ Motorsports reporter, Adam Stern on that stunning comeback win by his BCU Rams over UNC last night. But let's quickly shift over to baseball and the World Baseball Classic. A big night for Fox Sports as they announced on Thursday, a whopping 10.7 million viewers watched the finale of the World Baseball Classic on Tuesday night. Between Venezuela and the United States. The game peaked at 12.1 million viewers and is the most watched World Baseball Classic game ever. The WBC finale also topped six of the seven NBA finals games last season, and was better than what ESPN drew for the Canada US finale at the four nations face-off last year, which drew 9.3 million viewers. For the event as a whole, the WBC average nearly 1.3 million viewers, making it the tournament's most watched in its 20-year history since it started in 2006. But even with the tournament thriving MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred is on the record now, as saying there's a possibility, it could be moved to the middle of the Major League Baseball season. Since the WBC's inception in 2006, it's been played during spring training. Tournament rules include pitch count restrictions and teams can demand tougher limits or deny players permission to participate. But now Manfred noted MLB's contractual All-Star Game deal with Fox is through the 20-28 season, but in an interview with the Associated Press, he hinted that the WBC could move later in the season in later years. Manfred said, quote, "As the game continues to evolve, we have talked about mid-season tournaments in general, and certainly if we decided to get serious about this, about a mid-season tournament, this would be an ideal opportunity." Well, along with the NCAA tournament, there was one other story that felt like it dominated my timeline yesterday, MLB's deal with Polymarket. Our Bill King reported that MLB is working with federal regulators on their oversight and a commercial deal that will make Polymarket the exclusive prediction market exchange of the league. The agreement with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission calls for that group and the league to share information and an effort to police prediction market exchanges for indications of insider trading or market manipulation. A kin to the suspicious wagers that have led to criminal charges against MLB, NBA, and college players over the last year. The CFTC also will consider the league's assessment of which contracts listed on its exchanges presented similarly to sports bets on apps from operators that include Polymarket, Colchey, and more recently draft Kings and Fandool come with higher integrity risks. Though it doesn't mandate any action by the CFTC or MLB, the deal represents a first step toward corralling an increasingly popular version of sports betting offered outside the regulatory framework crafted in legalized states. MLB's deal with Polymarket largely mimics the structure the league put in place when sports betting was legalized, crafting commercial agreements that include integrity, guardrails such as the use of official data to settle bets, and a say in which markets are offered. While Polymarket and the exchanges at powers will be the only ones granted use of MLB and club marks on its app, a second tier of yet to be designated authorized operators will be able to sign team sponsorships and advertise during national and local game broadcast if they agree to MLB's integrity provisions. I do want to take a few minutes today and talk about the LPGA, which is back from its early season swing through Asia and is holding its Fortinet Founders Cup in Northern California this week. Why is this week important? This is the week that the LPGA is rolling out a handful of broadcasts enhancements that should really improve the viewing experience for its fans. We reported on this back in November when the deal was announced, but the LPGA signed a five-year agreement with Trackman that will bring a number of enhancements to the Tours broadcast. The Tours also announced a deal with commercial insurance provider FM that will help bring those enhancements to life. Chief among the enhancements are more camera tracers. Shot tracing in golf is something that's become expected on every broadcast. A shot feels odd if it doesn't have a tracer on it, but the LPGA had fallen a bit behind with that technology in recent years. Now via this new deal with Trackman, the LPGA has virtually tripled the amount of tracer cameras it will have at its events. The week at the Founders Cup Golf Channel will have six tracing cameras compared to just two at LPGA events last season. The plan, according to Trackman officials, is to have those enhancements in place at all North American tournaments this season with an expansion in future years. But as I mentioned, the tracers aren't the only enhancements you'll see this week. There are added microphones, more player interviews, and more slow motion replays among other assets. Why is all this important and why is it happening now? We've talked at length about new Commissioner Craig Kessler's vision to put the LPGA more on the same level as men's professional golf. That's through broadcast enhancements, player storytelling, and much more, and this is Kessler following through on that plan. You also might notice that player storytelling taking on a different tone this year. That's because Kessler just a couple of months back hired a new Chief Marketing Officer for the tour, Chad Colman. Chad is someone who's extremely well thought of in golf circles for his time running social for Callaway Golf. But he's actually spent the past six years building out Dude Perfect, one of the most popular fun brands in the world. And so he'll be bringing that attitude to the LPGA. There's just a few things to look out for the LPGA this weekend at the Fortinet Founders Cup, 6 PM Eastern Time Friday, Saturday, and Sunday on Golf Channel. An SBJ Programming Note. This week on the SBJ Sports Media Podcast, host an SBJ Media writer Austin Cart breaks down the momentum that college basketball carries into the men's and women's NCAA tournaments due to strong regular season and conference tournament viewership. Carp also examines the WNBA's healthy prospects after a new CBA and how the WBC delivered big numbers for Fox Sports. Finally, NBC Sports, John Fanta joins the show for a look ahead to the NCAA tournament and provides a glimpse into what NBC has in store for the NBA playoffs and beyond. All that and more on the SBJ Sports Media Podcast. Make sure to like and subscribe, available now wherever you get your podcast. Now I'll put a wrap on today's SBJ Morning Buzzcast. I'm Josh Carpenter. Hope you all have a great weekend. Enjoy the NCAA tournament and we'll see you down the road. [Music] Connect Partnership Group is a leading boutique sponsorship sales and consulting agency helping brands and properties unlock revenue through strategic partnerships. With experience across sports, music, entertainment and mixed-use real estate, connect aligns, assets, audiences and brands to drive measurable growth. Learn more at connectpartnershipgroup.com.