Closing Bell

Tim Leiweke is stepping down as Oak View Group CEO and transitioning to Vice Chair of OVG’s Board of Directors, though he will remain a shareholder of the company he co-founded with Irving Azoff in 2015. OVG’s board of directors appointed OVG360 president Chris Granger as the new CEO. The news was posted on OVG’s website and follows shortly after the U.S. Department of Justice today indicted Leiweke for bid rigging.

“It has been my great honor to help found and lead OVG as it has grown into the special, customer-oriented company it is today,” Leiweke said in a statement through OVG. “While I’m pleased the company has resolved its Department of Justice Antitrust Division inquiry without any charges filed or admission of wrongdoing, the last thing I want to do is distract from the accomplishments of the team or draw focus away from executing for our partners, so the Board and I decided that now is the right time to implement the succession plan that was already underway and transition out of the CEO role. In my new role as Vice Chairman of the Board and as an OVG shareholder, I remain as committed as ever to the long-term success of the company, and I know OVG, our valued partners and our customers are in great hands with Chris and the rest of our stellar leaders.”

Behind Leiweke’s drive, OVG grew into a global sports and entertainment venue services giant that also developed at least a half-dozen arenas, including Climate Pledge Arena, UBS Arena, and Moody Center. The latter was central to the DOJ’s indictment of Leiweke, which became public Wednesday and may have prompted the end of his time at the helm of the rapidly growing company. OVG was fined $15M. The maximum punishment for an individual for bid rigging can be as much as 10 years in prison and a $1M criminal fine.

A statement issued to SBJ on Leiweke’s personal behalf read: “Mr. Leiweke has done nothing wrong and will vigorously defend himself and his well-deserved reputation for fairness and integrity. The Antitrust Division’s allegations are wrong on the law and the facts, and the case should never have been brought. The law is clear: vertical, complementary business partnerships, like the one contemplated between OVG and Legends, are legal. These allegations blatantly ignore established legal precedent and seek to criminalize common teaming efforts that are proven to enhance competition and benefit the public. The Moody Center is a perfect example, as it has resulted in substantial and sustained benefits to the University of Texas and the City of Austin.”

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Uber has signed on to sponsor LA28 and Team USA, adding to the influx of partners announced this year. The deal makes Uber the official rideshare and on-demand delivery partner of the Games. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

It marks the eighth new sponsor that U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Properties, the joint venture between LA28 and the USOPC, has announced this year. The agreement will see Uber will use its rideshare operations to help Games stakeholders get around L.A. Focusing on mobility, that will include scooters, bikes and cars.

Uber Eats will help facilitate on-demand delivery to the Olympic and Paralympic villages. LA28 will use it for mobile ordering in-venue at select locations. The deal also includes a media buy with NBCUniversal, including its coverage of the Milan Cortina Games in eight months as well as LA28.

Adding Uber reflects the growing pace of sponsorship sales with the opening for the Olympics in L.A. nearly three years out. Among the eight new sponsors announced in 2025, USOPP has added Honda in the highest tier (its first deal at that level in nearly four years) and Uber joins Aecom in signing on to its second tier.

Suns Senior Advisor James Jones has been appointed NBA EVP & Head of Basketball Operations. He will report to President of League Operations Byron Spruell and will oversee all basketball operations matters for the NBA, including the development of playing rules and interpretations, conduct and discipline and policies and procedures relating to the operation of games. He will engage with players, coaches, team executives and referees on the state of the game, style of play and playing rules issues. He will replace Joe Dumars, who left the league office in April to become the Pelicans EVP/Basketball Operations. Jones joins the league office after working the last eight seasons in the Suns Basketball Operations group. He was hired as VP/Basketball Operations in 2017, officially named GM in 2019 and promoted to President of Basketball Operations & GM in 2022. In May, Jones transitioned to his Senior Advisor role (NBA).

Former NFLer Eli Manning is “no longer interested in buying a minority stake” in the N.Y. Giants, saying that he has “been priced out.” Manning said, “Basically, it’s too expensive for me. A 1% stake valued at $10 billion turns into a very big number.” In December, the Eagles “sold a minority stake in the team at a valuation” of $8.3B, while in May, the 49ers “sold a 6.2% stake at a valuation of more than” $8.5B. Manning said that he “doesn’t have interest in buying a stake in any other NFL team and that he believes the Giants are deserving” of a $10B valuation. He added that “other complications contributed to his decision to withdraw his name,” including that there “could have been conflicts of interest with his role on ESPN’s ManningCast.” Manning “still plans to be very involved in the Giants organization” (CNBC.com, 7/9).

MLB is adding the automatic balls and strikes challenge system to the All-Star Game next week in Atlanta, “knowing it could be a precursor to becoming a permanent part” of the league as soon as next year. The same process used this past spring training “will be used for the midsummer classic: Each team will be given two challenges with the ability to retain them if successful.” Only a pitcher, catcher or hitter “can ask for a challenge and it has to happen almost immediately after the pitch.” MLB’s competition committee “will meet later this summer to determine if ABS will be instituted next season” after the league tested the system throughout MiLB and spring training in recent years. MLB officials said that 69% of fans polled about ABS during spring training “said they’d like it part of the game moving forward” (ESPN.com, 7/9).

BYU basketball recruit AJ Dybantsa “signed an exclusive multi-year trading card and memorabilia deal with Fanatics.” The deal “begins immediately and will go beyond Dybantsa’s collegiate career.” Dybantsa’s trading cards will include “autographs, game-used jerseys and inscriptions.” He is “expected to appear in upcoming Bowman University products, including the print-to-demand Bowman U NOW program” (CLLCT, 7/9). Fanatics is “dubbing the pact one of the company’s ‘most significant NIL deals ever.’” Fanatics signing top NBA draft prospects to exclusive deals is a “continuing trend for the company, following agreements” with Spurs C Victor Wembanyama and Mavericks F Cooper Flagg. On the women’s side, Fanatics also signed USC G JuJu Watkins “to an exclusive deal earlier this year” (THE ATHLETIC, 7/9).

The Commanders introduced an alternate uniform for this season that “pays tribute to the franchise’s most successful years.” The “Super Bowl Era” alternates are “near replicas of the ones worn by Washington during its trio of Super Bowl victories (XVII, XXII and XXVI), in the 1980s and early ’90s.” The Commanders will “wear the uniforms for three nationally televised home games” this season: Week 9 against the Seahawks (Nov. 2), Week 13 against the Broncos (Nov. 30) and Week 17 against the Cowboys on Christmas. The Super Bowl Era helmets feature the “team’s current logo and not the one from its past.” The white jersey features a “burgundy neckline and burgundy numbers outlined in gold.” Burgundy and gold stripes “cap the sleeves and wrap around the white socks.” Gold and white stripes “line the sides of burgundy pants and the top of the helmet, which has a gold face mask” (WASHINGTON POST, 7/9).

The Saints also announced a new alternative helmet this morning, “ditching the traditional golden dome for a white helmet with the traditional fleur de lis mark on the side, a gold center stripe and a gold facemask.” The center stripe is “inlaid with subtle small fleur de lis details, and is bordered by black stripes.” The team has not yet announced when it will wear its new headgear (New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE, 7/9).

Sky F Angel Reese and former NBAer Carmelo Anthony will “decorate the WNBA and Superstar Editions” of NBA 2K26, joining Thunder G Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as cover athletes. All three “stand together on the Leave No Doubt Edition’s cover.” Reese called her appearance on the cover “a statement.” She said “it’s about representation and showing young girls they can be confident, bold, and take up space unapologetically.” Gilgeous-Alexander called being on the cover “iconic.” But he seemed to be “more thrilled about getting to work with developer Visual Concepts and 2K ‘to set the tone in-game from curating the tunnel fits to the playlist that players will ball to.’” NBA 2K26 will be released on Sep. 5, 2025 (ESPN.com, 7/9).

The return of Joey Chestnut helped the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest on July 4 to its best audience in 11 years. ESPN2 drew 1.62 million viewers for the event, which is the best audience since The Deuce drew 2.78 million in 2014 (which had the benefit of a lead-in from a FIFA World Cup game). This year is also up 95% from the 2024 audience.

The Hot Dog Eating Contest also marks ESPN2’s best non-football telecast for 2025 to date.

The following night, ESPN also drew a huge audience for the Savannah Bananas (the team’s first game on big ESPN), with that telecast from Fenway Park delivering 837,000 viewers. That’s well above the 460,000 viewers or so that had been watching on ESPN2 for prior games this summer. The audience for the Bananas also marked the most-viewed sports program in primetime across all of cable on July 5.

The United Pickleball Association has signed a partnership with electronic line-calling technology vendor PlayReplay and plans to implement its tech across the PPA Tour and Major League Pickleball, likely within the next two years.

Under its current rules, UPA players call their own lines and are afforded video-based challenges if playing on one of an event’s two main, camera-equipped courts. UPA CEO Connor Pardoe said the vision is for PlayReplay’s system to roll out across all eight competition courts the UPA utilizes per event, although it is still yet to be determined whether the courts would utilize PlayReplay’s technology for live line-calling, or uber-precise challenges.

“We think there’s a problem in general with pickleball line-calling,” Pardoe told SBJ. “A lot of the time, all four players are at the net and the ball passes you, and the question is, ‘Is that ball in or is it out?’ One team hit the ball and is biased and is watching their own ball. The other team is flipping their head around as quick as they can, trying to see if the ball is in or out. It makes line-calling even more controversial than what you would see in recreational tennis, junior tennis, maybe even college tennis.”

Pardoe said precise financial terms of the partnership are still being finalized, but that another appeal was PlayReplay being more affordable and lightweight than more established line-calling solutions like Hawk-Eye. The UPA-PlayReplay deal will also see the UPA become PlayReplay’s “official pickleball distributor,” according to Pardoe, meaning they will act as an extension of PlayReplay’s product distribution arm at pickleball clubs.

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