Closing Bell

Preconceived ideas that the strategic partnership between the Big Ten and SEC is a precursor to a runaway league may be overstated -- at least in SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey’s mind.

“Stop seeing shadows in the room that aren’t there,” Sankey said Friday during a visit to Columbia, S.C., when asked his message to those who suggested this notion. “We have some very big issues to be dealt with and we identified those. Legal issues, legislative issues, that’s the focus.”

Announced Feb. 2, the "advisory group" -- a classification Sankey said was very specific and thought out -- created ample prognostications about the future of college football as it marked one of the first public recognitions between the enterprise’s two most powerful leagues that they should operate and think about things in unison.

“There's definitely common ground there,” incoming Ohio State AD Ross Bjork said earlier this month. “And whether that's TV ratings, whether that's athletic department budget sizes, whether that's stadium sizes across the board of the biggest brands, that common ground is there [between the Big Ten and SEC]. I think that's where both commissioners finally said, ‘Let's take some action and let's look at some different models and figure out the future.’”

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The F1 Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix will put cheaper tickets on sale for the second edition, one of several notable changes coming as Liberty Media dials in its promotion of the event. Last November’s inaugural race was one of the most exciting of the 2023 F1 season, featuring a rare instance when champion Max Verstappen nearly lost and had to work hard for the win. Liberty Media spent $600M to pull off the event, though a large part of that was for a permanent mixed-use development that doubles as garages for F1’s 10 teams.

While the inaugural event drew a combined weekend attendance of 315,000 and helped set several records for associated resort partners, F1 Las Vegas came under criticism for having highly priced tickets. CEO Renee Wilm has revealed that resort partners have asked for more pricing options this year, included some at lower price points, as the event looks to bring in more middle-class consumers.

The cheapest tickets in 2023 were the $500 general admission passes, but many fans complained on social media that they never got a chance to purchase such a pass, and Wilm later told CNBC that fewer than 1,000 were made available. Other three-day ticket price points last year included reserved grandstand seats at the Sphere for $2,000, East Harmon grandstand seats for $2,500 and North Koval hospitality passes for $8,000.

For 2024, “we’re going to be making a significantly higher number of GA tickets available with a brand-new GA zone to accommodate the greater number of fans who want to participate at different price points,” Wilm said. She declined to disclose the exact prices, citing an upcoming announcement, but added that “we heard that feedback (on ticket prices) and learned a lot going into Year No. 1 and are looking forward to creating opportunities for more fans to participate in the race weekend.”

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The Trail Blazers announced today that they "seek to enter into what they are calling a 'bridge agreement'" with the city of Portland for their lease at the Moda Center that will "provide at least five additional years to continue working toward a long-term lease while also allowing the Blazers to move forward with plans to renovate both the 28-year-old arena and the Rose Quarter." The Blazers' arena lease expires in 2025 and the two parties "have not been able to hammer out a new long-term lease" to this point. The plan will be presented before the Portland City Council on Wednesday during a public hearing. Blazers President of Business Operations Dewayne Hankins said "details within the lease are outdated" and the team wants to "negotiate a new agreement more in line with lease agreements reached by other NBA teams and their respective cities" (Portland OREGONIAN, 2/23).

The extension is "nonbinding" and "acts as a green light for the city and team to work toward finalizing a deal by the summer." The proposal also "comes with the ability to be renewed for another five-year term after 2030," but "the goal is to hammer out a much longer-term lease by that point" (OPB.org, 2/23).

Warner Bros. Discovery and its stock are "in Wall Street’s focus" today as analysts "dissected its fourth-quarter and 2023 earnings report and management’s lack of outright 2024 guidance." Before the market opened, the Hollywood conglomerate reported that it managed to turn a profit for its DTC unit, which houses its streaming business, for the full year at $103M. But its latest overall company earnings "fell below Wall Street expectations." On the earnings call, management "expressed more confidence about the road ahead," but "didn’t detail 2024 financial guidance." As of 3pm ET, shares of the entertainment giant were $8.61 after "hitting a 52-week low and its lowest point since the merger that created it" in April 2022 earlier in the trading session -- $8.25 (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 2/23).

The IOC reiterated that the bobsled track for the Milan-Cortina Games "has to be ready by March 2025" and that there "will be no compromise." Italy is going ahead with a controversial, $90M plan to rebuild the historic track in Cortina for the 2026 Games, "despite fierce opposition from the IOC." Work finally started on the century-old track this week, "less than a year before IOC-mandated test events." No sliding track has been built recently "in such a short timeframe" and organizers are "continuing negotiations for an eventual Plan B in a neighboring country." The track has to be ready by March 2025 "in order to guarantee the safety of the athletes" (AP, 2/23).

Meanwhile, the Russian Olympic Committee "has lost an appeal against its suspension" by the IOC. The Court of Arbitration for Sport said today that it had "dismissed: the ROC’s appeal against the suspension imposed in October. The IOC "objected to the ROC incorporating four sports bodies representing regions of eastern Ukraine," which it calls "a breach of the Olympic Charter" (AP, 2/23).

Nets owner Joe Tsai said the NBA is "in a very good place" in its relationship with China, four years after Beijing took games off air following remarks about the 2019 Hong Kong protests by Daryl Morey, who at the time was GM of the Rockets. At a sports convention in Macau today, Tsai said the league and China, home to 300 million NBA fans, "have mended their relationship" and the NBA would "love" to bring the games back to China and Macau. Tsai: "I think just having the fans have real, in-person sort of interaction with the stars. I think that's going to be important." The NBA used to organize pre-season games in China before the 2019 incident, "but these have yet to resume" (REUTERS, 2/23).

Music City Baseball has drafted Mortenson to "help identify a site" for a future Nashville MLB stadium. Mortenson will do "site and market analysis, site development assessments, cost estimates, schedules and phasing plans for at least" five sites. The firm is "working with Populous, CSL, Moody Nolan and Barge Design among other sports and real estate development consultants." Once complete -- "in roughly three months -- Music City Baseball will share the findings with the MLB and city and state leaders" (NASHVILLE BUSINESS JOURNAL, 2/23).

Former Patriots coach Bill Belichick "is now looking into opportunities other than being an NFL head coach" as his son, Univ. of Washington defensive coordinator Steve Belichick, confirmed his father is "looking at getting a media job" (BOSTON GLOBE, 2/23).

WME has signed several players in the upcoming NFL Draft class for representation -- Michigan QB J.J. McCarthy, Georgia TE Brock Bowers, Georgia CB Kamari Lassiterand Clemson DL Ruke Orhorhoro (WME).

PBR Teams is expanding from 8 to 10 teams with the N.Y. Mavericks and the Oklahoma Wildcatters joining the league that begins its third season in July. The N.Y. Mavericks are owned by The Avenue Sports Fund, led by former Bucks owner Marc Lasry, while the Oklahoma Wildcatters are owned by LIV golfer Talor Gooch’s FJS Ventures (PBR Teams).

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UFC flyweight Brandon Moreno is making his "This is SportsCenter" commercial debut in "Elevator." The spots debut across ESPN platforms ahead of his fight tomorrow night during UFC Fight Night: Moreno vs. Royval2 on ESPN+ and ESPN Deportes. 

$255.4M, $30.6M  -- The NFL's salary cap will increase to $255.4M in 2024, an increase of $30.6M from last year. The unprecedented jump is the result of big media rights income gains and repayment of the pandemic-related adjustments in 2020-21 (Ben Fischer, SBJ).