Closing Bell

HOK has acquired Rossetti for an undisclosed sum, a deal that will raise eyebrows in the sports architecture world.

HOK is one of sports architecture’s handful of large and prominent practices based in K.C. (HOK itself is actually headquartered in St. Louis), while Rossetti, led by its namesake, Matt Rossetti, has a smaller but strong practice based out of Detroit, with major sports clients including the USTA.

The deal solidifies the family-owned Rossetti’s future, while increasing its opportunities through HOK’s bigger scale. And the acquisition gives HOK a major presence in Detroit’s rebounding market, while deepening the firm’s sports practice talent pool following the exit of several designers last year.

The combined firm will operate as HOK + Rossetti while integrating, though it’ll eventually just be known as HOK.

Read More >>>

The Phillies fired manager Rob Thomson amid a 9-19 start to the season. Bench coach Don Mattingly will take over for Thomson on an interim basis through the 2026 season. The Phillies are off to their worst 28-game start since 2002. They have slid to 10 1/2 games behind the NL East-leading Braves, their largest deficit in the division in April since 1997. It was not “what anyone, least of all owner John Middleton, expected” from a $317M roster. The walls “seemed to close in on Thomson over the weekend” when President/Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski invited three trusted lieutenants -- pro scouts David Chadd, Charley Kerfeld and Brad Sloan -- to meet the team in Atlanta and “encouraged them to spend time in the dugout and the clubhouse before and after games.” And the noise around Thomson “only grew louder” Saturday night after Alex Cora got fired by the Red Sox. Dombrowski hired Cora with the Red Sox in October 2017, and they remain close (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 4/28).

Cora was officially offered the Phillies managerial job on Monday afternoon but “rejected it” to instead “spend time with his family,” according to sources. Cora, who is in the second year of a three-year, $21.75M contract, is expected to “sit out now for the rest of the season.” When asked if he plans to stay home the rest of the summer, Cora said in a text message: “Full-time dad” (USA TODAY, 4/28). The connection between Cora and Dombrowski “may come to the forefront again” if the Phillies find themselves in the market for a manager at season’s end (THE AHTLETIC, 4/28).

The PWHL concluded its third regular season on Saturday and saw average per game attendance increase by 28% from the previous campaign, including playoffs, and 71% from the league’s inaugural campaign. Through 120 games, it totaled 1,116,497 fans in the stands for an average of 9,304 per game. The PWHL played 120 games in the 2025-26 season compared to 90 in 2024-25, and had eight teams after only six the campaign prior. Average attendance across all primary home venues grew by 35% season over season. The league and team partnership portfolio grew 35% season over season to 81 corporate partners. In-arena sales of PWHL gear doubled compared to last season. Online merchandise sales increased more than 50% season-over-season. During the 2025-26 regular season, live YouTube viewership increased 77% season over season (PWHL).

Donna Brothers, the former champion jockey who joined NBC Sports in 2000 to work as the track reporter for coverage of the Triple Crown races and Breeders’ Cup World Championships, among other major events, announced this week that Saturday’s Kentucky Derby will be her last on horseback for NBC. (She will also work the Preakness before stepping away.)

Savvy horse racing viewers have long appreciated the professional work of Brothers. Given her role, it was Brothers who was the first to interview victorious jockeys after their historic Triple Crown victories in the Belmont Stakes including American Pharoah (Victor Espinoza) and Justify (Mike Smith). She is the only member of the current announce team to work all 26 of NBC Sports’ Kentucky Derby presentations.

“It’s been 26 years and it has been such a fun ride,” Brothers told SBJ. “I’m really grateful for every bit of it. Because of NBC Sports I’ve had the pleasure of going to Geneva, Switzerland to cover show jumping and Aachen, Germany to cover the World Equestrian Games. The job has taken me all over the United States. But I turned 60 this year and 60 felt like a nice round number. I think I was 42 when [her predecessor] Charlsie Cantey retired. She was 60. I thought, “Why would she retire now? She’s still so good. She looks great.” Then by the time I hit 50, I thought I don’t know if I can make it until I’m 60. But I have made it till 60. When I started covering horse racing for NBC Sports, I had just stopped riding three years prior. I retired from professional riding in 1998, then started working for NBC in 2000. I don’t want to be there so long that all the jockeys on the racetrack never rode with me and didn’t know me as a jockey. I think it’s just time to pass the baton.”

NBC’s Kentucky Derby week coverage includes the Kentucky Oaks Undercard this Friday at 4pm ET on Peacock and NBCSN and the Kentucky Oaks at 8pm on NBC and Peacock. Then on Saturday’s Derby Day, the coverage begins at 2:30pm on NBC and Peacock.

Read More >>>

The NBA and EuroLeague ramped up discussions Tuesday about a potential NBA Europe collaboration, with sources saying the NBA reiterated its blueprint of how EuroLeague franchises can join the prospective start-up.

During a joint meeting between FIBA, the NBA and EuroLeague in Mies, Switzerland, sources said the NBA -- represented by its manager director of Europe and Middle East George Aivazoglou -- outlined the two ways EuroLeague clubs that haven’t already submitted bids can opt in. First, Aivazoglou told them it is not too late to bid to become a permanent franchise at launch, despite an original March 31 submission deadline. And second, EuroLeague teams can still be part of NBA Europe by qualifying through merit-based competition.

Aivazoglou, according to sources, also updated the EuroLeague on continent-wide interest in the project, describing how more than 120 prospective investors -- including existing basketball and football clubs, peripheral investment groups and individual benefactors -- have reached out about NBA Europe.

Overall, the NBA and FIBA have received more than 20 bids from those existing basketball and football clubs, with several coming from undisclosed EuroLeague teams. Those sources said the NBA expects bids to be in the $500M to $1B range, and early indications show that bids in that vicinity have arrived.

Read More >>>

All of WWE’s NXT Premium Live Events will now air exclusively on The CW. Beginning with The Great American Bash later this summer, The CW will broadcast 20 PLEs in their entirety live over the next several years, including Stand and Deliver, Deadline and Vengeance Day. The CW also is now the home for all NXT programming, airing weekly live NXT installments every Tuesday night. WWE will continue to produce all PLEs. The CW entered a five-year deal with WWE in October 2024 to bring NXT to broadcast TV for the first time in the show’s history (WWE).

Women’s Super League club Brighton and Hove Albion have unveiled plans to “build the first ⁠purpose-built women’s football stadium in Europe.” With “at least 10,000 seats,” the new soccer ground next to the men’s team’s American Express Stadium is slated to open “no later than” the 2030-31 season, subject to planning approvals. Once completed, the ground would “be one of only three dedicated women’s football stadiums globally,” alongside NWSL clubs K.C. Current’s CPKC Stadium and Denver Summit’s planned venue (London TELEGRAPH, 4/28). A bridge “will link” the planned stadium with Amex Stadium and facilities will “include recovery rooms suited for women and changing rooms with the same considerations.” For fans there will “be more women’s toilets and spaces for families to accommodate the different demographic found at WSL matches versus the men’s equivalent.” The move to the new stadium could “double” Brighton’s women’s team spectator capacity (CITY AM, 4/28).

The proposals for the venue were first approved by the local council in October 2023, but “delays meant the club have not been able to proceed with the plans until now.” Brighton had initially wanted the ground to “be ready for the start of the 2027/28 campaign.” Brighton owner and Chair Tony Bloom said that he would “not be seeking outside investment” to fund the stadium. CEO and Deputy Chair Paul Barber added that the project would “cost between” $101M and $108M (SKYSPORTS.com, 4/28).

Adidas has “agreed an investment” of $116.8M into the Bundesliga, where the deal is “intended to support the growth of the leagues and the development” of its 36 member clubs. The investment will be used to support the league’s “central marketing objectives and allocated according to agreements between the executive board of the Deutsche Fussball-Liga (DFL),” who operate the two leagues. Adidas’ existing agreement to start supplying the match ball for the Bundesliga and 2.Bundesliga from the 2026-27 season onwards until 2030 has now “been extended until 2034.” The funds aim will be to “support long-term growth initiatives,” which allow the league and its clubs to “develop and compete outside Germany.” Adidas owns 8.33% of Bayern Munich, is a long-term sponsor of the German champions and also supplies the kits of some of the biggest clubs in the country. For seven decades, Adidas was also the supplier for the German national team. That agreement will end in 2027 (THE ATHLETIC, 4/28).