NASCAR teams collectively decided to not show up to today's Team Owner Council meeting with NASCAR, according to sources, a symbolic and escalatory boycott because they feel that new revenue talks with the sanctioning body are not progressing. Teams meet with NASCAR on a quarterly basis as part of the terms of the charter agreement, with the get-togethers back to being held in person in Charlotte after they went virtual during the pandemic. It’s part of the governance that teams negotiated into the charter system in 2015 to give them a more formal setting and say in discussing key short-, medium- and long-term initiatives with the league. NASCAR also has similar councils with its three car manufacturers and with tracks, and it’s continued to hold meetings with individual team owners in recent weeks.

However, sources say that teams effectively boycotted the regularly scheduled meeting today and that frustration is rising. That’s because they believe that there is a lack of progress in the discussions to grant teams more league revenue starting in 2025 when the sport’s new media rights agreements are slated to kick in. NASCAR agrees that teams deserve more revenue but the sides appear to disagree on how much and whether there’s progress being made in talks. Teams currently get 25% of traditional TV media, but NASCAR contends that teams wind up with closer to 40% of all industry-wide money when taking into account other buckets of revenue.The agenda of the Team Owner Council meeting today did not include the revenue talks, as that’s being handled by a sub-committee of team execs and NASCAR, so the move was largely symbolic. The sub-committee is made up of 23XI Racing investor Curtis Polk, Hendrick Motorsports Vice Chair Jeff Gordon, Joe Gibbs Racing President Dave Alpern and Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing President Steve Newmark. On NASCAR’s side of the negotiating table has been President Steve Phelps, COO Steve O’Donnell, EVP & Chief Legal Counsel Garry Crotty and SVP/Racing Development & Strategy Ben Kennedy.

Teams want NASCAR co-owners Jim France and Lesa France Kennedy to start attending the revenue talks, a source said. Nonetheless, with news of the boycott going public, it could ratchet up the tension in the sport and be a sign of more public stunts to come from teams. Still, talks to extend the charter agreement past 2024 weren’t originally due to start till later this year and NASCAR acquiesced last year to teams’ demands to start talks early, so there remains ample time for the sides to negotiate. NASCAR’s next race is at Bristol this weekend, and there doesn’t appear to currently be any sign of teams planning to boycott actual races.

NASCAR in a statement said: “NASCAR is committed to open and productive dialogue on a regular basis with all industry stakeholders. We remain committed to continuing discussions in the spirit of collaboration and with the shared goal of growing our sport for the benefit of all stakeholders."

The long-running “Inside the NFL” series is looking for a new home. This morning, CBS Sports execs told staffers associated with the show that it will not return to the Paramount+ streaming service. The NFL already has started shopping the show to other outlets. It could be a fit for streamers like Amazon Prime, which carries the NFL’s “Thursday Night Football” package or Google's YouTube, which recently picked up rights to the league’s out-of-market “Sunday Ticket” package. Apple TV+ and Netflix have found success with sports-themed programming. Plus, networks like ESPN and NBC already have deals with the NFL and could carry the show on their streaming networks.

Even though Paramount+ opted to pass on the show, the streaming service still is committed to sports programming, which execs have said is among the highest drivers of new subscription and retention rates in the streaming business. In addition to the UEFA Champions League, Paramount+ carries live NFL games and studio programming.

The series ran on HBO from its 1977 launch through 2008, when it moved over to Showtime. In 2021, CBS moved the show to Paramount+. The show runs each Tuesday during football season, using highlights and behind-the-scenes access from NFL Films. In an email sent to SBJ, a Paramount spokesperson confirmed the decision. “Inside the NFL will not return to Paramount+ next season. We thank the talented production teams at NFL Films, CBS Sports and Showtime Sports, along with the exceptional on-air talent, for their outstanding contributions over the years.” An NFL spokesperson said, “As one of the longest running sports shows on TV, we thank HBO and Showtime/CBS for providing a home for ‘Inside the NFL’ for more than 40 years. We’re excited for the continued evolution of this iconic program with a new partner as we look ahead to the 2023 NFL season.”

Klutch Sports Group has named Nicole Lynn its first President of Football to lead the division which represents more than 60 NFL player clients and employs five NFLPA-certified player agents. Lynn, a 2020 SBJ Game Changers honoree, joined Klutch from Young Money APAA Sports in 2021. She represents many star players in the league, including Eagles QB Jalen Hurts, Jets DT Quinnen Williams and Browns DE Myles Garrett. She is the first Black woman NFL agent to represent a top 3 NFL Draft prospect with Williams, who was the No. 3 overall selection in the 2019. In this April's NFL draft, Lynn represents several top prospects, including Alabama OLB Will Anderson and Texas RB Bijan Robinson.

MLB and Imagine Entertainment, the production company co-founded by Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, have agreed to a multiyear deal to create scripted and non-scripted film and television properties. The content partnership looks to produce programming that taps the expansive MLB Film & Video Archive to cover historical and cultural subjects while leveraging access granted by the league to also profile the storylines around the game today. The deal launches with a documentary on the 2023 World Series that will be directed by R.J. Cutler, whose recent directorial credits include a documentary on Billie Eilish for Apple TV+ and a documentary on John Belushi for Showtime. In a statement, MLB CRO Noah Garden said the partnership enables “a framework to produce unmatched content for fans.” The league is now officially using the label “MLB Studios” for these types of select and elevated production partnerships.

After going without a presenting sponsor in 2022, the NHL’s postseason Bracket Challenge will be presented by Geico in the U.S. this season. Early registration for the 10th edition of the annual contest opened today at noon ET ahead of the playoffs, which begin April 17. While the league has previously sold presenting sponsorships for the Bracket Challenge in Canada and other international markets, the contest won’t bear the name of a sponsor outside of the U.S. for the second straight season. This year, the NHL is adding a random picks option and making the contest available in three additional languages (Finnish, German and Swedish) in addition to the three in which it was available last season (English, French and Czech).

The NHL is also bringing back the Beat Gretzky TNT League, in which fans will be able to compete against NHL on TNT broadcast talent, including Hockey HOFer Wayne Gretzky. The league said the Bracket Challenge, which was developed in conjunction with U.K.-based game producer Low6, saw a 58% bump in unique users last season and a 91% surge in total brackets submitted.

NASCAR is partnering with RTIC Outdoors, which becomes the official cooler and drinkware of the sanctioning body and will start selling a new line of co-branded products today. RTIC -- pronounced “Arctic” -- will also sponsor qualifying for the two NASCAR Cup Series races at Talladega this year and will activate at several tracks through the duration of the 2023 season. Terms were not disclosed for the licensing deal. The hard coolers from the new line range in price from $199.99 to $269.99 while there are also soft coolers, tumblers and bottles that will be part of the collection. NASCAR has also worked in the past with Igloo Coolers on a branded line of the drinkware products. NASCAR SVP & Chief Sales Officer Jeff Wohlschlaeger and Senior Dir of National Partnerships Kara Terwilliger were among those on the league side who helped strike the deal.

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The Giants have struck a deal to install Dragon Seats’ climate-controlled benches into both bullpens at Oracle Park, becoming the first MLB team to utilize the technology. Cleveland-based Dragon Seats just finished its busiest football season ever in 2022, integrating its hybrid heating and cooling benches into a plethora of NFL and NCAA stadiums. But the integration into Oracle Park will be its first with MLB after an initial trial with the Univ. of Iowa baseball program in 2020. 

"We invested in baseball pre-COVID with Iowa, and then the world shut down and baseball seasons got cancelled," Dragon Seats COO Franklin Floyd told SBJ Wednesday. "And then we got so busy with football in the last two or three years that we kind of took our eye off the ball, if you will, with baseball."

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DRAWING EYES : “The Locked on Women’s Basketball Podcast” discussed the record ratings for the NCAA  Women’s  Tournament final featuring LSU and Iowa, with Bay Area News Group Editor Alex Simon saying the prediction before the game was it would break the previous ratings record, but it “shattered the record.” Simon: “It’s a number that the gravity of its largesse is probably shaking a lot of people’s mindsets out of whatever preconceived box they had put women’s sports in.” Simon noted the game was on ABC at 3:30pm ET on a Sunday, saying “it’s amazing what happens when you put something in a spot where it can be seen by a wider volume of people.”

LIV-ING FOR THE MOMENT: Masters week is upon us and the ongoing rivalry between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour meets head-on at Augusta National as players from both tours will compete for this year’s green jacket. Nick O’Hern, co-host of “Talk Birdie To Me,” noted LIV Golf Commissioner & CEO Greg Norman has “made it plain today that if a LIV player” wins the Masters, “all 18 LIV players in the tournament will be right there and they’ll be doing some kind of ‘thing,’ some kind of LIV celebration.” O’Hern said he was “not so sure” Augusta National Chair Fred Ridley is “going to be rapt if there’s some kind of mass production on the 72nd.”

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A spokesperson for the AHL Chicago Wolves said the club plans to play the 2023-24 season without an NHL affiliation, confirming a Sportsnet Radio report. The independently owned Wolves are currently the Hurricanes' top minor-league affiliate. Each of the AHL's 32 teams is affiliated with one of the NHL's 32 teams this season (Alex Silverman, SBJ).

Plant-based nutrition company Kate Farms has announced a partnership with PGA Tour players Hank Lebioda and Brandon Matthews, which will spotlight professional athletes with unique health conditions who use Kate Farms as part of their wellness and nutrition routines (Kate Farms).

The Hawks during their game tonight against the Wizards at State Farm Arena will spotlight their sustainability efforts as part of the overall game experience to celebrate Earth Month. Manufacturing company Novelis will provide the first 1,000 fans in attendance who enter at Gate 2 with free aluminum cups for unlimited re-use soft drinks throughout the game. The Hawks also will recognize 10 fans on the court at halftime in attendance through its activation in partnership with Novelis called Recycle and Win (Hawks).

“He said, ‘This is not a menu any nutritionist would have planned’” -- NBC’s Kaylee Hartung , on Scottie Scheffler ’s champions dinner at the Masters which featured cheeseburger sliders, ribeye steak, jalapeno cream corn and chocolate cookies ( “Today,” NBC, 4/5 ).

“You wouldn’t imagine this movie would be so compelling because it’s about a business deal, but it’s got a lot of energy and suspense” -- Actor Jason Bateman, on playing Nike marketing exec Rob Strasser in “Air” which chronicles how Nike signed Michael Jordan to his first sneaker deal ( “GMA,” ABC, 4/5).

“ Steve Cohen has become the George Steinbrenner now of baseball. He’s now going to make the Mets into the villain because they spend the most money” -- MLB Network’s Steve Phillips, on the Mets spending lavishly this offseason and topping MLB in payroll ( “MLB Now,” MLB Network, 4/5).

Follow the Mets clubhouse staff for a day at Spring Training and get a first-hand look at how the staff preps the locker room, fields, uniforms and more.

471  -- The number of consecutive home game sellouts for the Warriors after wrapping up the 2022-23 home schedule last night. The Warriors, who have sold out every home game dating back to Dec. 18, 2012, currently have the NBA's third-longest active streak of home sellouts behind the Mavericks (935) and the Heat (542) and the seventh-longest streak in league history (Warriors).