Closing Bell

Olympic athletes will now be able to receive money for their participation in the Games, one of several reforms approved by IOC members at their session in Switzerland on Wednesday.

The changes, which include modifying the bidding process to host the Games, come as some of the most extensive steps under President Kirsty Coventry as she marks her first year in office.

Athletes commission chair Pau Gasol announced at the session that every Olympic athlete would be eligible for a $10,000 “Fit for the Future Grant.” The IOC will fund $140M per Olympiad, offering its first grants to athletes who competed in the Milan Cortina Games earlier this year.

The IOC expects around 14,000 athletes to be eligible per quadrennium, and they can receive the grant for each edition of the Games they compete in.

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In an anticipated leadership transition, the Cardinals Wednesday elevated Bill DeWitt III to CEO and Anuk Karunaratne to President of Business Operations. DeWitt III will oversee both baseball and business operations. Karunaratne will report to DeWitt III.

Bill DeWitt Jr., 84, who has owned the team since 1996, will remain chairman and principal owner, and will continue his involvement in significant team baseball and business matters, the team said.

“Well, nothing’s really changed,” DeWitt Jr. said at a news conference. “I stay in touch with Bill III, baseball stays in touch with me. Chaim (Bloom) and I talk all the time. I may or may not be here, but I’m here in spirit and available 24/7. I’m in touch with all the things we’re looking to do, and it’s working out pretty well.”

DeWitt III, 58, has served as president of the Cardinals for 18 seasons. Karunaratne, 43, joined St. Louis in 2024 as SVP/Business Operations. He was named to SBJ’s Forty Under 40 in 2023.

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Sony Pictures Entertainment is making a $100M investment in Cosm and taking a minority stake in the immersive venue operator, which shows live sports in LED dome theaters. The investment leads a larger Series C financing round into the company, according to a source, but a Cosm spokesperson declined to comment when asked for additional details. The size of the stake SPE will take in Cosm was also not disclosed. SPE Chairman & CEO Ravi Ahuja will join Cosm’s board.

Goldman Sachs and Allen & Company advised Cosm on the transaction, its first major influx of capital since raising $250M in mid-2024 in a funding round that valued the company at more than $1B. At the time, Cosm had opened its first immersive venue in L.A. and was preparing the cut the ribbon on its second in Dallas; since, it has opened the latter venue and another of its domes in Atlanta, plus announced forthcoming sites in Detroit (which will open this year) and Cleveland (2027).

The new funding will help Cosm continue to scale its venue network and technology initiatives, which the company’s CEO Jeb Terry hinted at in an interview with SBJ earlier this year. SPE said it will use Cosm to “explore new ways to extend its world-class IP” and “deepen audience engagement.”

The group of top tennis players lobbying for a greater share of Grand Slam revenue in prize money will continue their public push during Wimbledon. In a press release distributed by Teneo, a global communications firm retained by the group to lead its public messaging, the group announced Wednesday that it will limit its “contractual media commitments” at Wimbledon to 15 minutes per day for the first week of the tournament, following a similar action during the French Open’s pre-tournament media day last month.

Signatories of the player group, which is being advised by former WTA chief and former Pac-12 head Larry Scott, have varied since their lobbying effort began more than a year ago, but it is understood that the majority of the ATP and WTA’s top 20 ranked players intend to participate in the upcoming demonstration (with one notable exception Novak Djokovic, who distanced himself from the effort during the French Open). Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka and Jannik Sinner were among the notable players to participate in the first protest at the French Open.

The players chose 15 minutes as the cutoff point because, their representatives say, Wimbledon currently pays less than 15% of tournament revenues to players. The player group had sought what they say is 16% of Wimbledon’s projected revenues in the athlete compensation pool this year (£71M, or $93.4M), but Wimbledon’s purse for the 2026 Championships, despite representing a record for the event and rising 20% year-over-year, fell short of that at £64.2M, or $84.5M.

The players, who are also seeking contributions from each of the Grand Slams to welfare benefits and the formation of player councils for each event, plan to continue meeting with Grand Slam organizers separately, including the U.S. Tennis Association, which owns and operates the U.S. Open.

NASCAR has announced a new licensing deal with the Rolling Stones, a collaboration meant to put each other’s brands in front of their respective fan bases. The pact, which was revealed earlier Wednesday without financial terms, includes co-branded apparel, collector vinyl records and a special music-blaring show car that will be taken around the Chicagoland region as well as digital content.

NASCAR marked the start of the deal by releasing a video on its social channels with drivers Cleetus McFarland, Jesse Love, Connor Zilisch and Carson Hocevar trying out their acting skills for a fictional trip on tour as a rock band with the Rolling Stones’ song “In The Stars” playing in the background. That song is from the “Foreign Tongues” album that the band is releasing in July and involves the NASCAR deal.

Special co-branded collector vinyl records will be sold, and songs will be played in a specially made show car that will go to places around Chicago, including the Navy Pier, Plaza of the Americas and Chicagoland Speedway fan zone during the week before the July 3-5 race weekend.

The merchandise released Wednesday included three T-shirts between $32.99 and $34.99, a sweatshirt for $59.99 and a jacket for $169.99. NASCAR is returning to Chicagoland for the first time since 2019.

The NWSL will “will implement a series of rule changes beginning with this weekend’s Challenge Cup” between NJ/NY Gotham FC and the K.C. Current. Changes include a “new off-field treatment rule and a timed substitution rule.” The league also will “update its game day heat safety policy and expand its fan code of conduct to cover digital and social media spaces.” Under the new off-field treatment rule, players who remain on the ground and require medical personnel to enter the field after play is stopped “will be required to leave the field for a one-minute treatment period.” Players being substituted also will “now have 10 seconds to leave the field.” The NWSL “simplified its heat safety procedures,” with games “paused for 150-180 seconds” when the wet bulb globe temperature falls between 82.3°F and 92.1°F. The league expanded its “‘fan code of conduct’ to formally include digital spaces” (THE ATHLETIC, 6/24).

Representatives for California Community Foundation and Labor Community Services said that the Dodgers donated $1.1M to the two nonprofits. On June 20, 2025, the Dodgers unveiled their plan to donate $1M “toward direct financial assistance for families of immigrants impacted” by ICE raids that had occurred in the region. The California Community Foundation received $1M and worked with L.A. city officials to “distribute $1,000 in direct relief to 1,000 households impacted by the immigration raids.” The money was “distributed through cash cards.” The Dodgers also donated $100,000 to Labor Community Services, a partner of the L.A. County Federation of Labor, that provided “more than 4,000 families with food assistance with the team’s donation.” A Labor Community Services spokesperson said that “no other pro sports team outside the Dodgers made a similar donation to help impacted immigrant families” (L.A. TIMES, 6/24).

The Evolution Championship Series, the largest fighting-game circuit in esports, signed a multiyear deal with Visa for global events through early 2028. This marks the first deal with a major non-endemic brand for Evo since RTS, with backing from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, acquired full ownership of the series last year from its partner, India’s Nodwin Gaming (which acquired its slice of Evo from Sony in 2025). Visa and Evo worked together on the deal without any outside agencies.

This move sees Visa and Mastercard now sponsoring two crown jewels in esports. Mastercard has been a longtime sponsor of Riot Games’ League of Legends, and it added Valorant to its roster in 2023.

Visa’s debut at Evo is at Las Vegas, the series’ signature tournament, which runs Friday-Sunday at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Activations include a main stage exhibition match Friday featuring streamers Tyler “Tyler1” Steinkamp and Ludwig “Ludwig” Ahgren (facing off in Capcom’s Street Fighter 6); and Evo Flash Tournaments Presented by Visa, a new hourly event with pick-up tournaments that attendees may compete in. (Considering people attend Evo events to play against others, not just watch, this is a fitting addition and sponsorship opportunity for a brand such as Visa.)

Visa cardholders can also expect merchandise discounts. Additionally, Visa will receive signage inside the arena, on ribbon boards and on broadcasts.

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Sportway, an AI-powered streaming provider founded in Sweden, has raised a $22.7M investment round led by Gamma Waves Partners, an investment fund co-founded by two key figures in Juventus former chairman Andrea Agnelli and retired star player Giorgio Chiellini.

Amid a youth sports streaming boom estimated to be worth $10B in the U.S., Sportway offers a European alternative. Some of its clients include the Swedish Ice Hockey Associatio, Finnish Ice Hockey Association, Royal Dutch Hockey Association (KNHB) and the Norwegian Tennis and Padel Federation. In all, Sportway reports work in 15 sports with more than 70 federations and leagues in 20 countries, producing more than a quarter-million live sporting events annually.

In April, Sportway acquired an AI broadcast competitor, Studio Animated from the Netherlands, in collaboration with Broadcast Solutions, a German provider which also became a co-owner of Studio Animated.