The end of the work week signals the start of the sports week, and we’re here to get you ready. This week’s edition has:

🌸⛳️💲 The first sports event to ignore profits
👑🏀👧 New hoop regimes
🏆🥊🏟️ Pushin P(layoffs)

Don’t forget to share SportsBall with your link below. We’re sending out wedding invites soon so time is dwindling to get that 150 referral prize ⏱️

LEARNING MODULE 💡 

The Masters are for the fans

You don’t often stumble upon a sporting event that doesn’t fleece fans for a few bucks.

Whether you’re buying tickets from Ticketmaster with 30% fees, drinking an $18 beer at a ballgame, or spending $10 a month on 12 different niche streaming services,🤬 experiencing sports can leave a sour taste.

Enter The Masters.

Rooted in tradition, the first and most popular golf tournament of the year refuses to let the claws of profit-chasing take hold as they have with other sports. How?

🤑🎟️ Tickets are only $140 (if you win the ticket lottery that’s 4x harder than the Taylor Swift Eras presale). The tournament could easily charge double or triple that if they were focused on dollars and cents.

🎙️📺 The Masters doesn’t get paid for national media because they demand full control over the broadcast, including only 4 minutes of commercials per hour and free coverage to anyone through their app. It’s estimated that this decision cuts almost $100M in potential revenue every year.

🚫📰 The tournament has only 6 evergreen sponsors and the course doesn’t allow brand signage, prioritizing the visual perfection of the host vista and leaving an estimated $20 million on the table.

🥪💲 Concessions are famously cheap with no food item over $3 on the menu. The famous pimento cheese sandwich is still only $1.50. You can only imagine the revenue lift if they implemented the old $11 hot dog move like the MLB.

As the only major tournament played on the same course every year, Augusta National Golf Club is considered the mecca for golf fans. 🙏 While it’s hard to get tickets to watch the Masters, it’s infinitely harder to gain access to the club.

There are rumored only 300 members in total and there’s no waiting list. Invites are only doled out periodically to former presidents, billionaires, elite ex-athletes, and winners of the Masters tournament.

So if you aren’t one of those I wouldn’t hold your breath. 🧘

Rules 📋

If you’re lucky enough to visit Augusta as a spectator, you’ll need to adhere to strict guidelines.

🚫📱 No phones allowed
🚫🏃‍♂️ No running to move around the course, only speed walking
🚫🐒 No sitting or laying down on the course, you must have a lawn chair
🚫📣 No yelling any of the Masters restricted phrases

Course Perfection 🌸

Augusta National maintains a reputation as the most pristine golf course on the planet. There are over 60 groundskeepers responsible for maintaining the course, almost on par with the 89 players in the field this weekend.

If the precision of the grass length isn’t OCD enough, this quote from the New Yorker shines a light on the work it takes to maintain a perfect image ⬇️

Champions Dinner 🍽️

Winners of the Masters not only earn the iconic green jacket 🟢🧥 but are also tasked with hosting a dinner the next year for all living champions on the Tuesday before the tournament.

The reigning champion selects the menu, and Jon Rahm 🇪🇸, last year’s victor, chose an appropriate Spanish-themed menu for this past Tuesday's dinner.

Champions Dinner Data 🍽️📊

In an ill-advised attempt to analyze the culinary preferences of Masters champions, we visualized the menus from every Champions Dinner over the past 30 years.

Our network graphs reveal the connections between different hosts and identify the most popular menu items over the years. ⬇️

We’d prefer if no one audited this analysis as categorizing wild boar (Mike Weir-2002) and Argentinian asado sausage (Angel Cabrera-2010) resulted in some data… inconsistencies. Regardless, here are some interesting takeaways:

🥩 Steak and potatoes reign supreme. Both were menu items 15 times since 1990.

🥧 Whenever a UK bloke wins the title, they add “meat pie” to the menu.

🍔 In a situation where you decide any meal you want, Scottie Scheffler chose burgers and fries in 2023.

Here’s a video from this year’s feast.

🌸
🌸
🌸

Regardless of your golf fandom, Masters weekend is a sign that spring has sprung. Enjoy the weekend and watch as much golf as you ever have on the Masters app here.

THIS PAST WEEK ⏮

🏀📈 David vs. Goliath

The Final Four tournaments concluded last weekend, with Connecticut winning the Men's March Madness and South Carolina clinching the Women’s March Madness title. 🏆

The Women's championship, highlighted by the excitement surrounding Caitlin Clark and Iowa reaching the finals, attracted 18.9 million viewers. 👑 This marked a 27% increase over the Men's viewership, surpassing it for the first time.

THIS NEXT WEEK ⏭

🏒 NHL

1 week left in the season alert 🚨

The playoff push is here and this week has huge implications for teams on the outside looking in with hopes to make the postseason.

If you find yourself with a hankering for some puck, these are the games to watch. ⬇️

Detroit Red Wings vs. Pittsburgh Penguins: Tonight 4/11 4PM PST
Washington Capitals vs. Philadelphia Flyers: Tuesday 4/16 4PM PST
New York Islanders vs. Pittsburgh Penguins: Wednesday 4/17 4PM PST

🏀 NBA

Also, 1 week left in the season alert 🚨

In the NBA, a playoff race is heating up on the other coast in the Western Conference as 5 teams battle for seeding in the postseason.

Now, if you find yourself with a hankering for some ball, these are the games to watch. ⬇️

New Orleans Pelicans vs. Sacramento Kings: Tonight 4/11 7PM PST
New Orleans Pelicans vs. Golden State Warriors: Friday 4/12 7PM PST
Phoenix Suns vs Sacramento Kings: Friday 4/12 7:30 PM PST

Thank you all for reading and have a great weekend!

— Riley and Claire