Closing Bell

Oklahoma is “targeting” Illinois Deputy AD/COO Roger Denny to be the school’s next AD, according to sources cited by ESPN’s Pete Thamel. Denny has “interviewed on campus twice, and a deal is expected to be completed in the upcoming days.” OU officials were “attracted to Denny’s legal background and saw a skill set for the new era.” That includes “experience with collective bargaining, private equity and mergers and acquisitions” Sitting AD Joe Castiglione is retiring at the end of the 2025-26 calendar year. In addition to bringing in Denny, OU is “expected” to keep Chair of Football Randall Stephenson, who led the AD search, "as part of the athletics leadership team” (X, 1/23).

The U.S. Department of Transportation continues to push IndyCar for a “street race to be added on the National Mall in Washington D.C. this year.” The race “would be tied to President Donald Trump’s celebration of the country’s 250th birthday.” Congress “must pass a bill to allow the race to happen” and there is a ban on “advertising on Capitol grounds, which IndyCar vehicles would be in violation of.” Despite that, the DOT “still has faith that a race will occur” (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 1/23).

Race organizers are “targeting Aug. 21 for the event,” which would start “at the Supreme Court and cover a full lap around the National Mall, including the Lincoln Memorial.” Pit row “would be by the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.” However, Congressional Democrats “aren’t thrilled about the idea” and are “unlikely” to approve the race. Several Democrats indicated that it “seems absurd for Congress to OK an IndyCar race in D.C. when lawmakers won’t even extend health care subsidies for millions of Americans” (PUNCHBOWL NEWS, 1/23).

McLaren Racing and Arrow McLaren were awarded more than $12M in damages in the UK Commercial Court case against IndyCar driver Alex Palou for breach of contract. The decision by Justice Simon Picken marked the “first substantive ruling in a case that began nearly two-and-a-half years ago.” McLaren Racing said that it will “pursue interest on those funds as well as reimbursement of its legal expenses.” Palou has “long been understood to have backing” from Chip Ganassi Racing in the lawsuit. Despite the financial penalty levied against him, Palou noted that the fact the court did “not honor McLaren’s Formula 1-related claims, which once stood around $15 million, showing, he believed, that those costs and losses to have been ‘completely overblown’” (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 1/23).

The final hour of Sunday’s American Express golf tournament will be commercial free on Golf Channel thanks to a sponsorship from Callaway Golf. Callaway is promoting its new Quantum Drivers and will sponsor the final hour of the PGA Tour event, which will begin around 6pm ET on Golf Channel.

Callaway has sponsored the final hour of The Sentry -- the opening tournament of the PGA Tour season -- in recent years, but the Hawaii tournament was canceled this year due to water delivery issues near the golf course. Callaway also has sponsored a similar commercial-free hour at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. Rolex has had similar activations around major USGA events in past years.

On Sunday, Callaway will have a welcome message at the top of the hour, as well as graphic placements throughout promoting the new equipment. The AmEx’s final round will go head-to-head with the AFC and NFC Championship games on CBS and Fox.

The PWHL “returns to Ball Arena” in Denver Sunday for the first of two games in this season’s Takeover Tour, with the Vancouver Goldeneyes set to play the Seattle Torrent. The second matchup will come on March 15, with the N.Y. Sirens facing the Minnesota Frost. The league last year set a “since-broken American attendance record for a women’s professional hockey game” when 14,018 fans took in the game in Denver. The record has been set multiple times since then, including most recently last weekend in D.C. (DENVER POST, 1/22).

If the PWHL can bring more than 14,000 to the game on Sunday, it will “be even more impressive” this year. It begins at 4pm MT, right as the Broncos and Patriots are “wrapping up the AFC Championship Game down the road at Empower Field at Mile High.” Sunday may be the “city’s chance to prove it deserves” to a PWHL team. The Nuggets and Avalanche also have games scheduled on Sunday, so if the PWHL can “sell tickets on a day three major sports teams are playing, there really is an appetite for a PWHL team in Denver” (Colorado Springs GAZETTE, 1/22).

Real Madrid’s flirtation with NBA Europe has escalated to “direct, high level talks,” FIBA Europe President Jorge Garbajosa said Friday, amid rampant speculation overseas that the historic Spanish club will be the first to commit to the fledgling league.

Appearing on COPE’s Tiempo de Juego sports radio program, Garbajosa said, “We know that Real Madrid has shown interest, and the NBA is in direct, high-level talks with the club. We know it’s an interesting option for them, as it is for other clubs, as [NBA Commissioner] Adam Silver said the other day.”

Along with Real Madrid, indications are ASVEL from Lyons, France (owned by former NBAer Tony Parker) and Istanbul’s Fenerbahçe are poised to pay franchise fees between $500M and $1B to join NBA Europe. All three have missed a soft deadline to re-up with EuroLeague for another 10 seasons, and all three have been in advanced talks with the NBA for months. But Real Madrid would lend the most credibility of all, considering it launched its basketball platform nearly 100 years ago (in 1931), has won a record 11 EuroLeague titles and has over the years housed players such as Arvydas Sabonis, Dražen Petrović and, most recently, Luka Dončić.

Although Silver has said the fiscal returns from NBA Europe may take decades to appear, Garbajosa said Friday that EuroLeague has not produced any financial windfall itself, saying teams “lose an average of 20, 25, or 30 million a year without any kind of return.”

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Indiana’s win over Miami in the 2026 CFP National Championship Game set a record for on-site merchandise sales at Hard Rock Stadium. Sales rose 18% from last year’s Ohio State-Notre Dame title game in Houston. Top-selling items at the CFP Shop included national championship-branded, school-specific merchandise, matchup gear, a limited edition merchandise collaboration with musician Pitbull, Die Cast cars and Lusso luxury bags and jackets. Legends Global has managed omnichannel merchandise for the CFP since the 2021 season (Legends Global).