Closing Bell

Lon Rosen, who began his career as a Lakers intern and has deep ties to the franchise’s Showtime era, was named Thursday as the team’s president of business operations, replacing Tim Harris. Rosen has been the Dodgers’ EVP & CMO since 2012 after helping his longtime confidant and associate Magic Johnson and Mark Walter’s Guggenheim Baseball Management Group purchase the MLB team for roughly $2B. Walter’s recent purchase of the Lakers at a $10B valuation, plus Rosen’s longstanding relationship with Lakers Governor Jeanie Buss, led to the job move.

In a statement, Buss cited Rosen’s “deep understanding of both sports and entertainment” and “true feel for where this business is headed.”

Rosen was a Laker intern while in college at USC, and then, from 1980-87, served as director of promotions for the Lakers, Kings and the L.A. Forum’s Special Events. He broke away to launch First Team Marketing, with Johnson as his initial client and later business partner.

In his time with the Dodgers, the team has led MLB in attendance every season since 2013 and broadened its revenue -- with Rosen specifically capitalizing on DH/P Shohei Ohtani’s global appeal. His roots in the L.A. market and familiarity with Walter’s TWG brand made him a likely contributor to the Lakers when Walter formalized that purchase. Rosen said in a statement that his job is “figuring out how to do right by our employees and our partners while ensuring that the Lakers continue to provide an unparalleled experience for our fans in Los Angeles and around the world.”

Indiana lawmakers have “struck a deal” to potentially locate the Bears’ new stadium in northwest Indiana, “pending the passage of a bill that provides the framework for a financial package and any due diligence at the proposed Hammond site.” The team’s departure from Chicago “isn’t a done deal” and Indiana Gov. Mike Braun made that clear in his statement, calling this a “framework for negotiating a final deal.” While “nothing is official yet,” Braun said on social media Thursday that officials had located “a promising site near Wolf Lake,” adding that a finalized deal would “lead to the construction of a world-class stadium in Hammond.” Indiana leaders say the Bears are “willing to put” $2B toward stadium construction, and Senate Bill 27 “outlines the other financial pieces that would make up the multi-billion-dollar puzzle to secure the deal, should the team follow through on their verbal commitment” (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 2/19).

A Bears spokesman said, “Hammond is the site we are focused on. Work to be done.” The Indiana bill would “empower a newly created Northwest Indiana Stadium Authority to build a stadium for the Bears and sell it to the team for $1 once the 40-year bonds are paid off.” The Bears would also “have the option to buy the Indiana stadium sooner by retiring the outstanding debt.” In the meantime, the Bears would “sign a 35-year lease that would allow the team to retain all revenues generated by the stadium” (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 2/19).

As Indiana “moved swiftly” to get its deal done, Illinois lawmakers on Thursday morning “canceled a hearing in Springfield on proposed legislation that could help keep the Bears in Illinois.” A spokesman for Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker in a statement on social media said that the Bears “requested the Illinois meeting be paused” (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 2/19).

NASCAR ended up with 7.5 million viewers for the Daytona 500 on Sunday afternoon on Fox, which is the race’s best figure since 2023, and best for any NASCAR event since that race. The race was moved up an hour to avoid inclement weather later in the day, and that was likely a 5% hit on the audience number (the Daytona 500 has now had rain-related issues in five of the last seven years). Fox also had competition from the Milan Cortina Winter Games (2-5pm ET) and NBA All-Star Game on NBC (5-5:45pm).

Fox was up 11% from last year’s Daytona 500, which had rain delays before ending in primetime. The race in 2024 was rained out and run on a Monday afternoon. Fox peaked at 9.2 million viewers on Sunday at the end of the race.

Among the notables in attendance for Daytona and shown on Fox were Nate Bargatze, Miranda Lambert, Diplo, Kurt Russell, Puka Nacua, Marshawn Lynch, Chris Stapleton, Dustin Lynch, Jon Gruden and Bert Kreischer.

ESPN plans to use its Sunday primetime slot in the summer -- which was previously occupied by “Sunday Night Baseball” -- to “launch ‘Women’s Sports Sundays,’ a hub for top match-ups from the WNBA and NWSL.” The program represents “one of the biggest investments in women’s sports programming by a major sports-media provider,” and follows a “surge of interest in both leagues, as well as other women’s-focused entities.” ESPN plans to run nine weeks of “Women’s Sports Sundays,” and expects to “surround the games with bespoke studio programming that could rely on talent already assigned to coverage of either league.” There are “some hopes” of running a “similar destination during other times of the year when pivotal women’s sports events take place.” Disney has worked for months to “build women’s sports programming -- and woo sponsors to it.” Financial-services firm Ally had struck a deal with Disney to have “90% of its ad dollars allocated to women’s sports programming.” Ally is “likely to support the new Sunday program.” ESPN plans to announce matchups, talent, and surrounding programming “in weeks to come” (VARIETY, 2/19).

IMAX and Apple TV are bringing F1 “live to select big screens across the U.S. for the first time” in 2026, when five Grands Prix -- Miami, Monaco, Silverstone, Monza and Austin -- “will be available across at least 50 IMAX locations.” The new deal is aimed at “amplifying the inaugural season” of Apple TV as F1’s official U.S. broadcaster. The announcement also builds on IMAX and Apple’s “successful collaboration” on F1: The Movie, which was filmed for IMAX and was the top grossing Imax Hollywood release of 2025 at $97.6M worldwide. IMAX also re-released it on 50 screens Jan. 30 after an Oscar Best Picture nomination. Distributed by Warner Bros., it has a global box office take of $654M, an “all-time record for ... the sports movie category” (DEADLINE, 2/19).

In addition, DirecTV has inked a deal with Apple TV that will make the 24-race F1 circuit available nationwide to customers inside their homes, on the go or at any of the 300,000-plus commercial venues served by DirecTV For Business. DirecTV’s agreement also renews the same customers’ access to Apple TV’s coverage of MLB’s “Friday Night Baseball” doubleheaders throughout the 2026 season, as well as with a new season of MLS starting Saturday (DirecTV).

Apple TV also earlier this week struck a deal with EverPass Media aimed at making its live sports offerings more accessible in commercial establishments like bars, restaurants and casinos (Alex Silverman, SBJ).

CVS Pharmacy has signed a pair of sponsorship agreements with U.S. Soccer and the NWSL, a significant expansion of the pharmacy chain’s involvement in women’s soccer. The brand is also adding team-level deals with the NWSL’s Seattle Reign and K.C. Current after serving as the front-of-kit sponsor for the Washington Spirit since 2020.

Octagon represented CVS in negotiations with the properties. Terms of the agreements were not disclosed.

CVS is U.S. Soccer’s first-ever sponsor in the retail pharmacy category, and its addition brings the firm’s roster of corporate partners to 25 with the men’s FIFA World Cup in North America four months away. CVS will serve as the presenting partner for the U.S. Soccer Female Player of the Year Award and the SheChampions Mentorship Program.

With the NWSL, CVS will be designated as an official health and wellness partner. The brand will receive entitlement rights for NWSL Youth Clinics and support the NWSL Combine and Youth Combine. CVS will also have virtual signage exposure across all NWSL matches and collaborate with the league on a new social content series designed to translate health expertise into practical guidance for fans, families and young athletes.

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The Arizona Cardinals on Thursday broke ground on a 30-acre, $200M training facility and HQ in north Phoenix that “will replace the NFL team’s longtime headquarters in Tempe.” The team’s current practice facility was built in 1990 and has been “criticized in recent years as being among the worst in the NFL by players anonymously polled” through the NFLPA’s annual team report cards. The Cardinals’ new facility, which nearly doubles the current location, is “likely to help the team become more competitive in luring free agents and retaining players.” It will feature three outdoor grass fields and an “indoor fieldhouse with a full-sized turf field and modern amenities” (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 2/19).

On this week’s Sports Media Podcast, SBJ Olympics and women sports reporter Rachel Axon details the brutal travel required to cover a decentralized Olympics -- mountains, buses, trains, taxis and long commutes between venues. A great behind‑the‑scenes look at the reporter grind many fans never see.