Caitlin Clark BREAKS PRESEASON RATINGS RECORD On ION! Project B LIKELY FOLDS As Saudi DROPS LIV Golf

Welcome to the Benzano podcast. What

we're calling A SPADE A SPADE. Great to

be here with you guys today. The ratings

are in for Saturday's preseason game.

Indiana Fever, the number one viewed

team in the WNBA against the New York

Liberty at New York. The New York

Liberty nicesized fan base.

I would say probably the second most

watched team in the WNBA. The ratings

are in for that game. We have a new

addition to the injury list. Not just

Aaliyah Boston, not just Lexi Hall, not

just Ty Harris, but there's another one

just announced a few minutes ago that

you can add to the list. Somebody we all

want to see on the team. And Project B.

Project B might be done before it even

gets started over what's in unfolding

over there in Live Golf. Let's get right

into it, shall we? Like the video, hype

the video. Let me know your thoughts in

the comments section below and subscribe

to the channel. I would greatly

appreciate it. Let's start at the top.

Aaliyah Boston lower leg. Ty Harris

knee. Lexi Hull hamstring are out as

expected against Dallas tomorrow.

Justine Pat, lower leg, a new addition

to the injury list, is also out for

tomorrow. Somebody we all want to see

make the team. Somebody we all want to

see play with Caitlyn Clark. Someone we

all want to see splash threes. We want

to see her get her shot. See her in the

rotation. She's out tomorrow with a

lower leg injury. What is going on over

there in Indiana?

lower leg. What the What the f? As

expected, I wasn't expecting. Me

neither, legend. Guess we won't be

seeing them till the regular season at

this point. Justine Pat is now added to

the injury list.

You can't make this up. Moving along,

Sportico, the WNBA on ION's telecast of

the first preseason game of the year

between the Indiana Fever and New York

Liberty on Saturday, April 25th,

delivered an average audience of 743,000

viewers. That is an increase of up 76%

over Ion's preseason game last season.

And if you go back to the second game

last season, it's up 129% versus last

year's second preseason game. Neither of

those games are compared to Indiana

Fever games. There is a Washington

There's a there's a Dallas Wings game in

there. There's a Chicago Sky game in

there. There's Las Vegas Aces game in

there. There's a national team game in

there. None of these team none of these

games that they're comparing it to are

Indiana Fever games. Okay.

743,000

viewers.

Very nice when we compare it to

everybody else. I did a little bit of

digging. Kaylin Clark's preseason debut,

WNBA 2024 preseason debut. We were at

657,000

on NBA TV. Last year, I believe she sent

out the first preseason game against the

Mystics. Came back against the Brazil

national team on ESPN. 1.3

million views.

Hands up, don't shoot. 7:43

seems a little bit lighter than I was

expecting.

A a little bit later than I was

expecting. Now, did the WNBA market this

preseason game correctly? Did they

announce that Kaylen Clark's actually

back in action properly? Um, does this

have to do with what we saw last year?

Does this have to do with the type of

offense that we saw last year? Is this a

Is this a

um a Stephanie White issue?

Is this all

repercussions of the Stephanie White

offense? People weren't as glued to

their TV as they usually are. Again, 743

is good when we compare it to the rest

of the league. However, we're talking

about the anomaly here. Personally, I

was expecting maybe a 950, a 1 million

number. I know it's just preseason, but

come on. Caitlyn Clark hasn't played

WNBA basketball in nine months now. It's

been a little bit over a month and a

half since we saw her play in FIA.

So, I I I was expecting a higher number,

especially on ION. You know, it's not

NBA TV, it is ION. But, we will see um

what tomorrow's numbers are going to

look like. 743,000.

Project B.

Project B might be cooked, man.

Project B might be over before it even

gets started.

Breaking. After weeks on life support,

Liv Golf has lost the funding of its

Saudi backers, sounding the death nail

for the upstart league that split pro

golf. the Saudi backers,

the public investment fund,

excuse me. Liv plans to tell players and

staff by Thursday that Saudi Arabia's

public investment fund would end its

funding for the Upstart League, but the

PGA Tour isn't yet ready to welcome back

those who jump ship. Now, we're not a

golf channel over here. We don't talk

PGA golf, but we do talk women's

basketball. We talk WNBA. And although

Project Basketball says it has no Saudi

funding, when you take a dive into this

article and you look around, they might

say they have no Saudi funding. While

Bernett denies Project B is funded in

any way by Saudi Arabia, including in

the form of promised money if the league

hits certain investment thresholds,

there is a connection. Cella, a

subsidiary of the Saudi public

investment fund, is an event partner of

the league. We have partnerships with a

lot of companies around the world.

Bernette said, "Cella is one event

partner that we pay money to. We do not

have any dollars coming from them." Wink

wink. It's a wholly owned subsidiary

based in London that has done a ton of

events globally, including the most

recent big boxing events, the America's

Cup, a bunch of other global sporting

events. They are a global partner of

many people around the world. If you

think Representative Forcella did not

respond to a request for comment, I'm

not going to lie to you. We're giving

them money. We we'll let them continue

to act like we're not giving them

dollars, but we're giving them dollars.

Live golf, the uh the Saudis were not

getting the money that they thought that

league would generate.

They thought that there if they get all

these big PGA players over there and

they just give them tons of money,

somehow viewership will turn and

advertisers will turn and they'll start

raking in the big bucks.

WNBA is a much smaller niche than golf.

Like it or not, women's basketball is a

much smaller niche than golf. And

women's basketball that doesn't have the

commitment of Kaitlin Clark, that

doesn't have the Kaitlin Clark name

attached to it, smaller than that.

So, Ano Gumay, I know Kelsey Mitchell

and Sophie Cunningham reaffirmed their

commitment to Project B. You ladies may

want to get your money now because

Project B isn't going to last long.

They thought they weren't getting a

return on their dollars with Lift Golf.

They damn sure

damn sure aren't going to be getting a

return on their investment with his new

project B travel the world international

women's basketball league.

It It's the sad truth but it is what it

is.

Justine Pat added to the injury list.

Indiana Fever the largest preseason

audience on ION ever.

743,000 up 76% over last year's game. Up

129% over last year's second preseason

game. 743 does seem a bit light.

And I would be asking whose fault is

this? And the people and the person that

I'm looking at is

Amber Cox,

Kelly

Crossoff,

and Stephanie

White. Let me know your thoughts in the

comments section below. Like the video,