Closing Bell

The White House is “pausing plans” for a commission on college sports, according to sources. The move is “possibly rooted in its potential impact in Senate negotiations over college sports legislation.” It is “unclear how long the pause will extend,” except to potentially give five U.S. Senators, led by Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.), “more time to possibly reach an agreement on federal legislation.” The senators have “met multiple times over the the last four months but hurdles remain.” The commission had “started to pool recommendations for membership, even offering member invitations to stakeholders.” Officials in the SEC and Big Ten “privately held concerns over the commission’s concepts” (X, 5/22). Texas Tech booster Cody Campbell and former Alabama coach Nick Saban were “set to hold prominent roles on the commission,” but Saban “pumped the brakes after he emerged as a potential co-chair.” With the commission on pause, “all eyes turn to the House v. NCAA settlement” (CBSSPORTS.com, 5/22).

The CFP Management Committee voted unanimously to move to a straight seeding model, ranking the 12-team bracket based on the CFP committee’s final rankings. The policy will still guarantee a place for the five highest-ranked conference champions but not longer features byes for the four highest-ranked champions. If one or more of the five highest-ranked conference champions are outside the top 12, that team or teams would move into the top 12. The committee is comprised of the 10 FBS commissioners and Notre Dame AD Pete Bevacqua (College Football Playoff). The group was “also expected to agree to a financial component” that will see a $4M payout coming with advancing to a quarterfinal in addition to $4M for reaching the playoff. Under this agreement, the four highest ranked conference champions “are still expected” to earn the combined $8M they would have “under the previous model” (ESPN.com, 5/22).

Warner Bros. Discovery EVP/AD Sales Jon Diament announced that TNT Sports has “sold out” its ad inventory for the 2025 French Open to “more than 80 sponsors -- which is no easy feat considering the breadth of coverage.” WBD has “planned 300 hours of linear coverage on TNT and truTV and will be streaming more than 900 matches on Max” for its first year of the 10-year U.S. distribution agreement. Roland-Garros ad buyers signed deals including “linear, streaming, and digital, which became a Parisian market of options for brands” (ADWEEK, 5/22).

Race fans in Charlotte, Indianapolis and Monaco will all be part of history this weekend as Goodyear blimps will be overhead to celebrate what the tire company has branded as the “Goodest Day in Motorsports.” Due to changes in the planned Grand Prix calendar in 2026, 2025 marks the last year the races will occur on the same day.

Goodyear is the only tire brand to win the Indianapolis 500, NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 and F1 Monaco Grand Prix in the same year (it’s happened 21 times).

Goodyear is NASCAR’s most-tenured partner.

Since a blimp’s maximum speed is 73 mph and direct flight from Monaco to Indianapolis to Charlotte is about 5,000 miles, the Akron, Ohio-based company is utilizing three of its 4 airships. That includes the German-based Hugo Eckener, named by the folks at Zeppelin who operate it in honor of Luftschiffbau Zeppelin’s German aeronautical engineer and the commander of the Graf Zeppelin, the first lighter-than-air aircraft commercial transatlantic passenger airship.

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World Rugby announced an exclusive, multiyear, multi-platform rights agreement with CBS Sports naming Paramount+ the U.S. home for all men’s and women’s World Rugby events through 2029. That will include the next three Rugby World Cups and all USA national team matches. Paramount+ will stream all matches live with select matches airing on CBS and CBS Sports Network. Paramount+ will stream CBS Sports’ exclusive live coverage of the Women’s Rugby World Cups in 2025 and 2029, the Men’s Rugy World Cup in 2027 and premium annual competitions. The agreement marks the largest multi-platform distribution for the sport in the U.S. (World Rugby).

Coca-Cola announced a three-year partnership with the Premier League, which will include exclusive fan activations, center circle experiences, access to tickets and becoming a partner of the Premier League Summer Series. The partnership will launch for the 2025-26 season with an exclusive on-pack promotion in stores across the U.K. and Ireland. The deal marks a return for Coca-Cola to the Premier League after it initially partnered in 2018-19 before splitting in 2022. Coca-Cola will activate sponsorships across multiple brands within its portfolio, including Coca-Cola Original Taste, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, Powerade and Smartwater (Coca-Cola).

SMAC Entertainment co-founders Michael Strahan and Constance Schwartz-Morini explained why Deion Sanders’ personality made Coach Prime the perfect candidate for a docuseries Tuesday at SBJ’s 4se in Manhattan.

SMAC produced the “Coach Prime” docuseries on Prime Video, with Strahan and Schwartz-Morini serving as executive producers.

“The hardest thing for people to do is be themselves in front of a camera,” Strahan said at SBJ’s 4se in Manhattan. “(Deion’s) himself all the time. I think he came out of the womb with a gold chain on.”

Schwartz-Morini said that when it comes to docuseries, “everybody wants the behind the scenes.” Additionally, a weekly series with “six to 10 episodes” is attractive, “where audiences want to keep coming back for more,” she added.

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LIV Golf is returning next month with more YouTube content, as a second edition of its “Duels” will take place around the league’s tournament June 6-8 in Virginia. Three more “Duels” competitions will air around LIV’s events in the U.K., Dallas and Chicago later this summer. LIV’s first edition aired in April around the league’s Miami tournament.

LIV players competing in the new round of “Duels” events include Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson, Jon Rahm and Henrik Stenson. Creators competing will include Grant Horvat, George and Wes Bryan, “Fat Perez” and Rick Shiels, among others. Wes Bryan, a card-carrying member of the PGA Tour, notably was suspended by the tour after he played in both the Creator Classic at TPC Sawgrass, as well as LIV’s Miami “Duels” event.

LIV’s Miami creator event aired on Horvat’s YouTube channel and had more than 1 million views in its first 24 hours. It currently has more than 2.3 million. The Virginia “Duels” will air on the Bryan brothers’ channel.

When accepting her award for Sports Executive of the Year at last night’s Sports Business Awards in N.Y., USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland continued looking ahead, telling the crowd at the Marriott Marquis Times Square that while the organization “had a hell of a year last year,” they’re “just getting warmed up.” Hirshland pointed to the next decade as key, with not only the Milan Cortina Games less than a year away but also with two domestic Games set for L.A. (2028) and Salt Lake City (2034).

“We’ve got a decade in front of us that’s gonna be amazing, not just what’s coming in Milan Cortina,” Hirshland said. “LA28 will be remarkable for sport in this country.”

Hirshland then took some time to honor the other executives in the crowd, saying that their collective work is what helps make the U.S. such a strong sporting nation.

“This room represents the top of the pyramid of sport,” Hirshland said. “I spend a lot of my time in the international community, and I will tell you, we are the envy of the world. We are the greatest sporting nation in the world. This is the top of the pyramid.”

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Clippers owner Steve Ballmer called Intuit Dome his “passion project” when accepting the award for Sports Facility of the Year at last night’s Sports Business Awards in N.Y., saying that his vision has always been for the arena to be “a place for basketball fans to be basketball fans.”

Ballmer pumped his fists and shouted while rushing up the red carpet, practically leaping on the stage to accept the award from Abe Madkour, followed by his staff and colleagues.

He displayed his trademark enthusiasm in passionately speaking about his vision for the arena.

“Our strategy from the start was get our fans to fill the building, be part of the energy and the heat and the passion,” Ballmer said. “In particular, our fans on The Wall -- 51 rows of fans, uninterrupted, no break. Loud and proud student section style.”

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Univ. of Tennessee AD Danny White in his acceptance speech for Athletic Director of the Year at last night’s Sports Business Awards in N.Y. stressed to those in the audience that college sports needs “help,” calling the current climate “a bit of a sh*t show.”

“We have to find a better ground in college sports,” White said to the capacity crowd at the Marriott Marquis Times Square. “It’s uniquely American. It’s so important to the Olympic movement.”

White noted the difference between football and basketball and the other sports that universities offer, saying that it’s important to find a solution that works for all parties -- including professional sports.

“We have an antitrust problem in football and basketball,” White said. “I hope that we can find a uniquely American ecosystem around football and basketball and partner together to get ourselves in a better spot and in a more organized place to continue to prosper, because I think it’s healthy for pro sports when college sports is healthy.”

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In accepting his Lifetime Achievement Award, David Hill specifically noted five individuals who helped shape his career: Roone Arledge, Paul Tagliabue, Rupert Murdoch, Chase Carey and Stan Honey.

In accepting the award for Best in Sports Media, NBC Sports’ Jon Miller took the stage and said, “Blessed are the brief, for they will be invited back.” He then acknowledged Hill, saying, “I remember when David Hill came to Fox in early 1994 when Fox acquired the NFL rights and Dick Ebersol, who was my boss at the time, said, ‘We have to step up our game.’ As much as we tried, I don’t think we were ever able to achieve what you were able to achieve at Fox. So David, you are quite a remarkable individual and we still follow in your footsteps every day.”

Miller also acknowledged Howard Katz, the longtime league executive who recently retired after 22 years, saying Katz has “been very important … and had a huge impact on everybody who loves sports in this world ... Howard, congratulations to you on a brilliant career and thanks for all that you have done.”

Midway through the show, host Curt Menefee said he had some “solemn news” and announced the death of Colts owner Jim Irsay and asked for a moment of silence.

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