Closing Bell

Chinese-American billionaire tech entrepreneur Lin Bin has a deal in place to acquire 1% of the Miami Dolphins and its affiliated businesses at a valuation of $12.5B, sources familiar with the deal said.

Bin, 64, worked at Google and Microsoft before joining six other co-founders in 2010 to launch Xiaomi, a consumer electronics company that is the third-largest smartphone vendor behind Apple and Samsung. His wealth is estimated at $11.9B, according to Bloomberg.

The valuation for the enterprise is a new high-water mark for deals including stakes in NFL teams, surpassing the N.Y. Giants’ sale of 10% at above $10B last year. Bin’s deal includes the Dolphins, Hard Rock Stadium, the F1 Miami Grand Prix and the organization’s interest in the Miami Open tennis event.

It’s the latest in a string of limited partner stake sales for the Dolphins, and the price tag tells the story of rapidly appreciating NFL franchises. In December 2024, the Dolphins sold 10% to Ares Management and a combined 3% stake to Nets owner Joe Tsai and Nets minority owner Oliver Weisberg; those deals valued the team at $8.1B.

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Verizon discussed “pulling back on or even exiting” its NFL sponsorship, according to sources cited by the WALL STREET JOURNAL. The sources said that discussion about revising the decadelong deal, struck in 2021, “has since cooled,” as amending the contract is not “easy and exiting the deal would likely include having to pay a penalty fee.” The sources added the deal was “worth more than” $1B, and it made Verizon the NFL’s official 5G network and secured the right to use league branding in its advertising. Sources indicated that Verizon’s total annual spending on such sponsorships, including deals with the NFL, FIFA, individual sports teams and iHeartRadio, “exceeds a quarter of a billion dollars” (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 3/3).

Univ. of Kentucky AD Mitch Barnhart will retire from his role in June before taking on a new role with the university (Univ. of Kentucky). Barnhart, SBJ’s Athletic Director of the Year in 2019, is the longest-tenured AD in the country, and he “oversaw massive changes in college sports” across 24 years at UK. He was hired as the school’s 10th AD in July 2002, and his most recent contract allowed him to “transition to an ambassador on July 1.” Barnhart at UK has hired “some of the most successful coaches in program history but also drew criticism for multiple hires in the school’s highest-profile programs.” Several of his top lieutenants at UK went on to lead other programs, including current ADs Greg Byrne (Alabama), Rob Mullens (Oregon), Scott Stricklin (Florida), Mark Coyle (Minnesota), John Cohen (Auburn), DeWayne Peevy (DePaul) and Kevin Saal (Wichita State). Those connections mean the list of candidates to replace Barnhart “could be long” with current UK Deputy AD Mark Hill “expected to be the top internal candidate” (LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER, 3/3).

FC Cincinnati has “thrown its hat in the ring for Ohio’s trove of unclaimed funds,” asking the state for $136.3M to “improve TQL Stadium and its surroundings.” The club in January submitted its application to the Ohio Sports Facility Performance Grant Program. FCC in its application “put the total estimated cost for what it called the ‘TQL Stadium Expansion Project’” at $545.2M. FCC’s project would “enhance and modernize” 5-year-old TQL Stadium in part to support “higher-profile events,” according to the application. The club wrote that the project would “elevate the guest experience and increase stadium capacity and functionality.” TQL Stadium today can seat 26,000. Stadium expansion would feature a “new public plaza designed for daily activation and community programming” (CINCINNATI BUSINESS COURIER, 3/3).

Mavericks CEO Rick Welts said that there is “no deal, no project and no leverage tied to Dallas City Hall’s fate,” as the site is a possible location for a new arena for the team. Welts added that the team is “not driving the debate over whether to repair or abandon the aging building.” Welts: “There’s no project to talk about until the city would signal to us that there’s something to talk about.” Welts said the “dominoes will fall based on what is being decided there,” and that “will determine if there’s an opportunity” for the city and the Mavs to engage and talk about it, “but that hasn’t happened yet.” Council members will vote Wednesday on whether to “direct staff to seek redevelopment proposals for the site and search for new locations for emergency service call centers.” Welts said that city officials are “aware the team wants to stay in Dallas and wants to begin crystallizing the whereabouts of a new home starting in July” (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 3/3).

Ex-WME MLBPA certified agents Braden Looper and Matt Nimer are joining CAA’s baseball division. Both will report to CAA’s co-heads of baseball Andrew Nacario, Matt Ricatto and Ryan Hamill. Nimer will be based out of N.Y. and Looper will be based out of Chicago.

Both have had an extensive history in baseball, with Looper being a former MLB pitcher from 1998-2009 with the Cardinals, Marlins, Mets and Brewers. He was a key reliever for the Marlins when they won the 2003 World Series and later appeared and helped the Cardinals win the 2006 World Series. He eventually became an MLBPA certified agent shortly after his retirement, working with firms like Hendricks Sports Management -- which previously represented him while he played in the league -- and eventually WME Sports.

After working in the Yankees clubhouse for nearly two decades, Nimer moved onto WME Sports in 2021, where he became an MLBPA certified agent.

Looper and Nimer’s addition to CAA Baseball bolsters a division which is already a powerful player in MLB representation. Among the players CAA currently represents are Dodgers P/DH Shohei Ohtani, Red Sox P Garrett Crochet and Phillies SS Trea Turner.