Closing Bell

The first exclusively women athlete-focused research, training and medical facility is opening its doors in Boston to support active girls and women of all ages. The Women’s Health, Sports & Performance Institute is supported by a $50M donation from David and Jane Ott to build on top of existing work from the Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance, a $220M global initiative.

Dr. Kathryn Ackerman, a Harvard Medical School professor who founded the Female Athlete Conference, will lead the WHSP. She already served as the director of the Wu Tsai Female Athlete Program with Boston Children’s Hospital as her home base while working in tandem with scientists and doctors across the globe. The WHSP will consolidate a lot of those disparate centers.

“This is really a one-stop shop,” Ackerman said. “We’ll still be doing all of that collaborative research, but it’s allowing this to be the first hub of its kind really focused on women.”

Previously, she added, patients had to go all over for their care, but the WHSP is an interdisciplinary clinic with research labs, a training facility, physical therapy facilities, a metabolic kitchen and more.

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ESPN’s coverage of Brooks Koepka’s PGA Tour return on Thursday looked and felt much the same as the tour’s usual PGA Tour Live broadcasts. ESPN is simulcasting PGA Tour Live’s “Main Feed” on Thursday and Friday from noon-3pm ET.

The broadcast came on the air at noon with Koepka warming up on the range before his first round at the Farmers Insurance Open (he didn’t tee off until 12:32pm). The telecast then pivoted to host John Swantek and analyst Billy Kratzert breaking down what to expect from Koepka. Swantek and Kratzert, as is the case every week on PGA Tour Live, were broadcasting from PGA Tour Studios in Ponte Vedra rather than being on site in San Diego.

At 12:05, the feed showed highlights from Koepka’s news conference earlier this week and had reaction from Swantek/Kratzert. There was a brief breakdown of the day’s tee times and featured holes, at which point the broadcast went back to Koepka on the driving range. It cut to its first commercial break -- a Farmers Insurance/TGL ad -- at 12:08pm. ESPN returned at 12:10 for the first group of the day: Chad Ramey, Denny McCarthy and Michael Thorbjornsen, before transitioning to a discussion about the tour’s Returning Member Program, as well as reaction from other players to Koepka’s return. Swantek also threw it to on-course announcer Gary Christian for a report on the vibe around Koepka’s group.

The network went to commercial break again at 12:26 before returning at 12:30 to show Koepka’s first shot, a drive that found the right side of the fairway of the first hole at Torrey Pines South. PGA Tour Live typically has three 2 1/2 minute commercial breaks per hour, but added one more for the noon-3pm hours on Thursday and Friday.

The Fiesta Sports Foundation will “host the first-of-its-kind national championship for Division I women’s flag football.” The two-day showcase “will be staged April 18 and 19 on the campus of Arizona State.” The Fiesta Bowl Flag Football Classic presented by Oakley will “feature eight teams from the Division I NCAA ranks, the majority of whom currently sponsor women’s flag football at only the club level.” Alabama State is the “only program invited that is committed to launching the sport at the varsity level.” The other club teams invited are Arizona State, Charlotte, Florida, Georgia, Grand Canyon, UCF and USC. The event will feature a “multi-day championship format, with three-game pool play on the first day leading into a title game playoff bracket on the second day.” The Fiesta Sports Foundation will “provide accommodations, meals, ground transportation, gifts and a player hospitality lounge” (USA TODAY, 1/29).

New court filings “lay bare the desperation that gripped” Grand Slam Track in its debut season, revealing “total debts” of $40.68M compared to $831,385 in assets. GST in December filed a voluntary petition for relief under Chapter 11. As of now, “only half of the money meant to be paid out to athletes has been received,” with dozens of them “owed five and six-figure sums” including Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone ($268,750), Kenny Bednarek ($195,000), Gabby Thomas ($185,625), Melissa Jefferson-Wooden ($174,375) and Marileidy Paulino ($173,125). GST recorded that over $640,000 has been “incurred so far in costs related to the bankruptcy and restructuring to law firms, consultants and agencies.” There are “340 creditors who are collectively owed,” including American Express, Penn Athletics, sports marketing firm Two Circles, U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and World Athletics. GST “brought in only” $1.8M in revenue in the entirety of 2025, “suggesting the league failed to land major sponsorships or lucrative media-rights contracts” (THE ATHLETIC, 1/29).

Like many, FanDuel is watching what happens with Main Street Sports Group and the 29 teams in the NBA, NHL and MLB unsure of their TV homes in their local markets.

Like many, FanDuel won’t have much influence on the end result, whether DAZN (or perhaps a mystery bidder or financier) decides presumably by the end of this week whether to buy and rescue Main Street from shuttering.

“The naming-rights deal has been great for us,” FanDuel President Christian Genetski said on the SBJ Sports Media Podcast this week, regarding his company’s entitlement deal. “But this obviously has nothing to do with our role as a naming-rights partner. It’s a challenged space and there’s a lot of evolution. We’re very close to the leagues -- the NBA, NHL, MLB -- that rely on regional sports networks and it’s really between Main Street, the leagues and the teams to try to figure out what the right answer is.

“And it’s obviously part of a much bigger evolution in cord cutting and where are we going to get to eventually with streaming versus linear content rights. We want to make sure that it’s still delivering a great experience for fans who are watching the network that bears our name. Other than that, we’re closely monitoring but we’re not a big driver on what the outcome will be.”

On this week’s Sports Media Podcast, FanDuel President Christian Genetski breaks down how the company is viewing the evolving RSN landscape, its naming‑rights partnership with FanDuel Sports Network and why cord‑cutting and streaming are reshaping the future of local sports distribution.

Fever G Sophie Cunningham has hired 3 Arts for her representation off-the-court. The WNBA star will continue to be represented by her current agent Perry Rogers, the founder & CEO of sports management and corporate consulting company PRP. Though 3 Arts didn’t specify if a specific agent will be working with Cunningham, it’s another step in the right direction for 3 Arts’ nascent sports division.

3 Arts launched its sports division less than eight months ago after acquiring sports and entertainment management firm A&A Management Group, which brought them clients like Chiefs TE Travis Kelce, Warriors F Jonathan Kuminga, T’Wolves G Nah’Shon “Bones” Hyland and Browns CB Denzel Ward. Since then, 3 Arts has added Browns DE Myles Garrett thanks to their hiring of former Klutch Sports Director Dr. Shey Olaoshebikan as its EVP. Olaoshebikan helped broker the deals which made Garrett into a Nike Jordan brand athlete and a minority owner of the Cavaliers. A few months later, Olaoshebikan helped add Commanders QB Jayden Daniels to the agency’s roster for off-the-field representation.

Though 3 Arts doesn’t have any league certified agents, they may be in the perfect position to help a name like Cunningham extend into off-the-court ventures. 3 Arts was founded in 1991 to manage writers, directors, and performers in film and TV. But it has since boomed. Film and TV production titan Lionsgate took a majority stake in the firm in 2018 and 3 Arts has since helped produce some Lionsgate’s shows like “Mythic Quest,” “Manhunt,” “The Serpent Queen,” “The Hunting Wives” and “Julia.”

Cunningham has been growing her profile off-the-court in recent months. After signing a deal with Colin Cowherd’s media company, The Volume, she launched her own podcast, “Show Me Something,“ last July, where she said she was eyeing making an appearance at the next Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. She’s also one of the most popular and perhaps marketable WNBA players at 1.7 million followers on TikTok and 1.3 million followers on Instagram. Currently, she has brand deals with Adidas, Arby’s, Sun Cruiser and home security firm Ring.