Related Stories

The Virginia legislature will "not consider a stadium bill" for the Commanders when it reconvenes to consider the governor’s budget amendments and vetoes. Its sponsors said today that they will "leave the bill in its conference committee until the legislative session ends, instead of bringing a final version to the House and Senate for a vote." Any further action "would have to take place in next year's General Assembly with a new bill." Virginia state Sen. Dick Saslaw, who sponsored the Senate bill, said he continues to support the project but "it's become clear that there are issues to be resolved." He noted the Congressional hearings into team Owner Dan Snyder and the Attorney General investigation into the team's finances as obstacles that "should be resolved before further consideration" (RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH, 6/9).

Saslaw indicated that comments made yesterday by Commanders assistant coach Jack Del Rio about the Jan. 6 insurrection "were the last straw for the stadium bill." Del Rio had called the storming of the U.S. Capitol building a "'dust-up' compared to the racial justice protests that followed the death of George Floyd in 2020" (WASHINGTON POST, 6/9).

Wimbledon has announced “record prize money for this summer’s tournament as it seeks to avert a player boycott after being stripped of ranking points over its ban on Russians and Belarussians.” The total purse will be $50.6M, up 11% from ’21 and 5.4% from ’19, the last edition with full capacity. The two champions will earn $2.5M each. Naomi Osaka, John Isner and Lucas Pouille have all “publicly indicated they could skip Wimbledon after it was stripped of ranking points” (London TELEGRAPH, 6/9).

Meanwhile, Sue Barker will "step down as the host of the BBC’s Wimbledon coverage" after 30 years. Barker said, "I will miss it terribly but after 30 years I feel the time is right for me. I’ve worked with the best of the best” (LONDON TIMES, 6/9).

Justin Thomas today said he is "pleased" with PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan's sanctions that he handed down to LIV players. Thomas said of the Tour's suspension of LIV players, "I’m pleased. I think anybody that’s shocked clearly hasn’t been listening to the message that Jay and everybody’s been putting out. They took that risk going into it, whether they thought it was a risk or not." He added, "Like I’ve said the whole time, I have great belief and great confidence in the PGA Tour and where we’re going and continuing to grow to, and those guys just aren’t going to be a part of it” (GOLFWEEK.com, 6/9).

Rory McIlroy: "Jay's been pretty transparent. .... All he's doing is basically going by the book." He noted he thinks the majority of the membership "really appreciate this. ... I think he's done the right thing." McIlroy on if he would watch the LIV events: "Like everyone else I'm intrigued and a fan of golf. ... So, yeah of course I'll see it and watch it and see what all the fuss is about."

Meanwhile, Golf Channel's Todd Lewis said he was hearing there would be a court case "by LIV players" against the PGA Tour as early as next week ( "Golf Central Pregame," Golf Channel, 6/9).

Golf.com's James Colgan analyzed the start of the inaugural LIV Golf event in London today, noting in the first 30 minutes of the broadcast, there were "60 shots shown." That number did not include tap-ins. There were "no commercials" and two pre-produced packages. Comparatively, for the first 30 minutes of the PGA Tour Live broadcast from the RBC Canadian Open, ESPN+ showed 33 shots, had one commercial break and "11 pre-produced packages." For LIV, this "shows the benefit of the shotgun start format." The PGA Tour broadcast "killed a *lot* of time waiting for guys to get on the course." LIV got "started quickly and stayed moving" (TWITTER.com, 6/9).

Longtime golf reporter Robert Lusetich: "Thoughts on @LIVGolfInv broadcast: this is what my old boss, David Hill, meant by 'Fox Sports attitude'. Sharp, colorful, pacy, unconventional, non-stop action, 'Don't Blink'. He left before US Open came and Mark Loomis, now at Golf Channel, didn't exactly embrace Hill's vision." 

Oak View Group officially broke ground today on its $200M renovation of Baltimore Arena. OVG is renovating the 60-year-old arena in partnership with Thirty Five Ventures, Maryland native Kevin Durant’s investment firm with his business partner, Rich Kleiman, Fundamental Advisors, The Baltimore Development Corporation and singer Pharrell Williams, whose involvement was announced Thursday.

OVG, Fundamental Advisors and Thirty Five Ventures are fully funding the project through a combo of private debt and equity, and will lease the arena for the next 30 years once the project is completed. The project financing included Harbor Bank of Maryland, a Black-owned bank headquartered in Baltimore, which participated in the loan syndication led by Truist Bank.

OVG Chair & CEO Tim Leiweke indicated that there is at least a half dozen other possible projects across the country where investment in an entertainment venue could lift an overlooked community, like the west side of downtown Baltimore where the arena is based. “It’s easy to figure out building a new arena in Seattle and Austin, the two-fastest growing markets in the United States,” he told SBJ. "Baltimore takes guts and takes vision. People look at Baltimore today and say why would you do this? We dream of what Baltimore could be tomorrow and say, ‘why would you not do this?’”

OVG is selling the arena’s naming rights and just hired Mike Silberstein from the Commanders as a new VP of sales, running point on Baltimore arena sales efforts. The project initially was budgeted at $150M but a combination of inflation and project add-ons grew the price tag to $200M. Clark Construction Group is overseeing the renovation project, with targets of 27% minority business involvement and 10% women-owned business involvement. The reimagined Baltimore Arena was designed by SCI Architects.

Read More >>>

Just Women's Sports has "raised $6 million in a funding round" that was led by Blue Pool Capital, the family office of Nets Owner Joe Tsai. Bolt Ventures, the family office of HBSE's David Blitzer, investment firm SC Holdings, Billie Jean King, NWSL Washington Spirit Owner Michele Kang and Dapper Labs also participated in the round. The startup is "now valued" at $36M. Other "new investors" include Allyson Felix, Abby Wambach, Sam Kerr, Lynn Williams, Paul Rabil and Apolo Ohno (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 6/9).

SportTechie offers daily updates and analysis on all the latest happenings that crossover between the sports and technology industries. Here are some of today's top headlines:

• USFL Announces Élevé Health as Official Recovery Therapy Provider

• Ex-Catapult SVP Karl Hogan Joins Smart Mouthguard Startup Prevent Biometrics

• Future of Sport Lab Accepts Eight New Startups Into Incubator Program

• Former NFL Star Vernon Davis Invests in Smart Home Gym JAXJOX

Sportfive has signed golfer Jacob Bridgeman, who recently turned pro after four years at Clemson. Sportfive said it secured apparel and equipment deals for Bridgeman with both Adidas and TaylorMade (Sportfive).

The Arena Group is hiring Chris Pirrone as Senior VP and GM of Sports Illustrated Media Group. He comes to the newly created role from USA Today where he was Sports Media Group GM (SBJ).

'That’s the first question that comes out of everybody’s mouth. ‘How are you going to get it done in Antarctica?’ One of our team members … worked really, really hard on making that happen and they’ve been engaged at the military base down there so they’re going to do a small iteration of Play Ball” -- MLB Chief Development Officer Tony Reagins, on MLB’s Play Ball Weekend with events on all seven continents to get more youth players involved in the sport ( “High Heat,” MLB Network, 6/9).

“This story gets uglier by the day, it gets more sordid by the day, it becomes a bigger and bigger problem for this league in its decision of what to do with Deshaun’s ability to play or not play next year” -- FS1’s Skip Bayless, on the Texans being added as defendants in the civil case against Browns QB Deshaun Watson ( “Undisputed,” FS1, 6/9).

20% -- Amount of entertainment screen time millennials spend on TV, compared to 52% for baby boomers (SPORTS BUSINESS JOURNAL, 6/6 issue).

SBJ facilities reporter Bret McCormick and soccer reporter Alex Silverman say five U.S. cities are locks to host World Cup matches in 2026. But they have different ideas when it comes to the rest of the field.