Closing Bell

NASCAR is “gearing up for a potential announcement about a 2027 return” after pausing its downtown Chicago street race for 2026. The race will “move away” from Fourth of July weekend and “instead possibly take place after Sueños Festival” under its remaining one-year extension of NASCAR’s existing city contract. Race organizers previously said that “they ‘hit pause’ on 2026 to explore a new potential date for the race and further optimize ‘operational efficiencies,’ with a ‘goal’ to return to Chicago in 2027.” Grant Park Advisory Council President Leslie Recht indicated that NASCAR Chicago Street Race President Julie Giese “met with the group over the weekend to discuss the race’s return, saying a deal was still being finalized.” Shifting the race’s date “could be a good thing for the event,” which has been interrupted or delayed by thunderstorms almost every year (BLOCK CLUB CHICAGO, 6/2).

The NWSL championship “is returning to Audi Field in Washington, D.C.,” for the second time since 2022. The 2026 championship game “will take place at the home of the Washington Spirit on Nov. 21,” according to sources. Spirit President of Soccer Operations Haley Carter said that the news follows the team’s latest sellout crowd for the Spirit’s 2-1 win over the Seattle Reign on Saturday -- “19,365 people attended in the highest-grossing match” in club history. This is the first repeat championship venue in the past five years. For the NWSL, awarding the championship to Washington is “as much a recognition of the city’s passionate fan base as it is a bet on the league’s continued growth.” With the Spirit “regularly drawing some of the largest crowds in club history” and Audi Field “emerging as one of the league’s premier atmospheres,” the nation’s capital has become one of women’s soccer’s “strongest markets heading into the 2026 postseason” (THE ATHLETIC, 6/2).

The NHL heads into Game 1 of Tuesday’s Golden Knights-Hurricanes Stanley Cup Final coming off one of its least-watched championship series on record in 2025 with Panthers-Oilers. But with the series moving to ABC this year after being on TNT/truTV in 2025, the NHL is almost assured a healthy viewership uptick. There also will be the added benefit of Nielsen Big Data for the first time. Execs at ESPN and the NHL will be looking to top the average of 2.52 million seen back in 2022 for Avalanche-Lightning, which is the best average for a Cup Final under the current rights deal.

The Lakers named Yao Williams II VP and head of global partnerships. Williams will lead the Lakers global partnerships team, overseeing sponsorship sales and activations. He most recently co-led global partnerships at Elevate Sports Ventures and has held roles with the Yankees, NBA, Premier League club Manchester City and Athletes First (Lakers).

The hiring of Williams is the Lakers’ latest exec move since Lon Rosen was brought on as president of business operations. The team has also hired Rohan Ramadas as assistant GM of strategy and data systems, Michael Spetner as chief strategy and growth officer and Ryan Kantor as VP/global partnerships (SBJ).

The Predators are hiring Avalanche GM Chris MacFarland to “be their president of hockey operations and general manager.” MacFarland has spent the past 11 season with the Avalanche, and he will “take over the duties” performed by GM Barry Trotz, who announced his retirement on Feb. 2 but stayed on in an advisory role. MacFarland began working with the Avs in 2015 as an assistant GM after 14 seasons with the Blue Jackets. He moved up to GM in 2022, taking over from Joe Sakic, who was elevated to Avalanche president of hockey operations (Nashville TENNESSEAN, 6/2). Sakic will be Colorado’s interim GM (DENVER POST, 6/2).

EA Sports on Tuesday revealed the covers of EA Sports College Football 27 ahead of the game’s full reveal this Thursday. Oregon QB Dante Moore, Miami WR Malachi Toney and Ole Miss RB Kewan Lacy are on the Standard Edition cover, while they are joined on the Deluxe Edition by Texas LB Colin Simmons, Notre Dame CB Leonard Moore, USC QB Jayden Maiava, Indiana coach Curt Cignetti, several mascots and gameday gear, celebrating the breadth of successful programs (EA Sports).

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) continues to speak to media outlets about the Protect College Sports Act that he and Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) have proposed, as he talked to CNBC this morning about the bill. He noted the bill “tries to bring order to the chaos” currently in college sports and said, “If we don’t act, I think we’re on a path where within five years there will be 30-50 colleges that have college sports, and it will basically be a mini NFL.” A hearing on the bill is taking place Wednesday morning, with Notre Dame AD Pete Bevacqua, Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould and former football coach Nick Saban among the witnesses.

Cruz was asked what made this bill different from the SCORE Act, which also attempted to instill guardrails for college athletics but failed to draw a vote. Cruz said, “The SCORE Act played out as mostly a partisan bill, mostly as a Republican bill, so it had much larger anti-trust immunities. It was unequivocal that student-athletes are not employees. I agree with both of those -- I would happily vote for the SCORE Act. The problem was the SCORE Act can’t pass the Senate.”

The Protect College Sports Act was introduced last Wednesday, and Cruz said, “In the few days since we announced this bill, we have seen conference after conference, university after university endorsing this bill, saying, ‘Yes, please act.’ This is a time where Congress, we can’t even agree on what time of morning it is. I hope we can put that partisan disagreement behind us and solve this problem” (“Squawk Box,” CNBC, 6/2).

SBJ’s Ben Portnoy as part of the latest SBJ College newsletter talks to Cantwell about the bill and what it hopes to accomplish. That will be released Tuesday evening.

SMU’s commercial revenue generation division Mustang Partners has signed a multiyear partnership with digital engagement platform Krida, which will see the launch of the SMU Mustang Coin as a new fan engagement platform. The partnership introduces interactive elements to the SMU game-day experience, along with additional fan engagement opportunities. It also includes a significant NIL component for SMU athletes. A cohort of 125 students from SMU’s Sport Business Society will receive SMU Mustang Coin to gain experience with digital engagement platforms and emerging technologies. The partnership was secured in collaboration with SMU Athletics by multimedia rightsholder Learfield (SMU).

The deal involving a digital coin is “believed to be the first in the fast-evolving college sports landscape.” It reflects the “increasing need for college athletic departments to explore and tap into new revenue streams during a time of unprecedented demand for more money to recruit and retain” athletes. SMU Exec Deputy AD Brian Ullmann said that the “majority of the revenue generated from this partnership will go ‘right back into supporting student athletes.’” Krida founder Bhavesh Kalia, an SMU alum, said that the “target audience is the Gen Z and Millennial demographics” (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 6/2).