March Madness Update, MLB's Big Money, & A Masters Preview

Welcome to the latest episode of the Full-Court Finance podcast from Zacks Investment Research. On this week’s episode, we dive into NCAA March Madness ratings ahead of Monday’s championship game. We then take a look at the money that fuels Major League Baseball, before diving into a Masters preview.

Time Warner’s Turner (NYSE:TWX) and CBS (NYSE:CBS) have seen their ratings fluctuate throughout the 2018 March Madness college basketball tournament, despite some favorable storylines. Meanwhile, MLB’s opening day has already come and gone in the shadow of college hoops.

But as baseball’s popularity on a national level continues to decline, MLB is more profitable than ever. The New York Yankees are worth nearly $4 billion, and the average opening day salary was roughly $4.5 million.

These big contracts come from ticket sales, as well as large local and national television broadcast deals. MLB teams around the country consistently post some of the best primetime ratings in their local markets, which is why Fox Sports (NASDAQ:FOXA) , Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) , and others spend billions on multi-year deals.

MLB has also been on the cutting edge of streaming technology, as demonstrated by Disney’s (NYSE:DIS) majority acquisition of BAMTech. Furthermore, the league will continue its partnership with Alphabet’s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) YouTube TV during the 2018 season.

Shifting gears one last time, we turn our attention to the Masters. Golf’s biggest tournament tees off this week on ESPN and CBS. The first major of the year has potential to be one of the sport’s biggest events in recent memory due to Tiger Woods’ return.

Still, aside from the small amount of commercial time split between Delta (NYSE:DAL) , UPS (NYSE:UPS) , AT&T (NYSE:T) , IBM (NYSE:IBM) , and Mercedes-Benz, the week-long event at Augusta National is known more for its lack of commercialism.

Can Hackers Put Money INTO Your Portfolio?

Earlier this month, credit bureau Equifax (NYSE:EFX) announced a massive data breach affecting 2 out of every 3 Americans. The cybersecurity industry is expanding quickly in response to this and similar events. But some stocks are better investments than others.

Zacks has just released Cybersecurity! An Investor’s Guide to help Zacks.com readers make the most of the $170 billion per year investment opportunity created by hackers and other threats. It reveals 4 stocks worth looking into right away.

Download the new report now>>