Closing Bell

The Bears Board of Directors decided to “move forward with their plans to build a stadium in Indiana” during a meeting Thursday. Bears Chairman George McCaskey said in a statement the Hammond, Ind., site is “to be selected” (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 6/5). Bears officials cautioned that the board’s “vote does not mean a move to Hammond is a done deal.” The board approved the out-of-state move “less than a week” after the Illinois legislature adjourned without taking up a Senate bill that would have allowed Arlington Heights or Chicago to enter into a public-private ownership deal with the Bears (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 6/5).

Disney has sold out of advertising inventory for the NBA Finals ahead of Game 2 between the Knicks and Spurs on Friday night, which tips off at 8:30pm ET on ABC. The company said it has 88 advertisers for this year’s Finals (pre, postgame and in-game) and more than 200 sponsorship executions planned throughout. Disney is in the market selling for Games 5-7 should the series extend that far, with the Knicks holding a 1-0 lead heading into Game 2.

Danielle Brown, Disney’s senior vice president of sports streaming and brand solutions, said a number of factors led to the strong demand. First and foremost, the Knicks have a chance to win their first Larry O’Brien Trophy since 1973. But the Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama also brings an international flavor to the Finals, and “Inside the NBA” is now involved for the first time.

“Across the board, brands are really investing and want to be a part of the conversation,” Brown said.

She noted there’s a “really good mix” of longstanding and new brands around the Finals. AmEx, Eli Lilly and Kia are spending around Knicks-Spurs, while first-time brands have also come aboard, including PAZE, an online checkout solution and digital wallet. Overall, Disney has 24 new brands activating across the Finals.

The last leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown is set for Saturday afternoon, and Fox will aim to have the Belmont Stakes cross the 4 million-viewer threshold for the first time since it began airing the race in 2023. Nielsen’s Big Data should help the network achieve that mark this year.

Last year, Fox drew its best figure for the race, 3.8 million viewers, as Kentucky Derby-winner Sovereignty won. That was up 5% from 2025. This year’s Derby winner, Golden Tempo, is running at Saratoga on Saturday (that track is hosting the Belmont Stakes one last time before a renovated Belmont Park opens in 2027).

The high mark for the Belmont Stakes over the last decade is 12.7 million viewers on NBC in 2018, when Justify became horse racing’s last Triple Crown winner. That shows the promise of what the audience can be for the race, but that hasn’t come to pass many times since 2018, as Kentucky Derby winners have been skipping the Preakness at a much higher clip. Should the Preakness move back a week, as is expected, that would also raise questions as to whether Belmont, track/event operator NYRA and Fox Sports would do the same with the last leg of the Triple Crown.

Belmont on Saturday will lead into MLB regionalized action on Fox, and that window includes a popular Yankees-Red Sox game. Fox also will have an hour of coverage of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival on Friday night from 5-6pm ET.

Read More >>>

Eight Sports Capital “has claimed” it bought a 24.99% stake in Enic, the parent company of Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur, from the club’s former executive chairman Daniel Levy. The move “would leave Levy” with a 4.89% stake in Enic. He stepped down from his role with the team in September 2025. Eight Sports Capital’s CEO is American entrepreneur Brooklyn Earick, who led a consortium that aimed to buy the club last September. There have been “no details on the price” Eight Sports Capital paid for the stake (BBC.com, 6/5).

On this week’s Sports Media Podcast, SBJ’s Austin Karp and Josh Carpenter discuss how this year’s NBA Finals could explode worldwide.

The Argentina men’s national team will face Honduras at Kyle Field in a friendly Saturday in what will “likely” be the “biggest crowd” F Lionel Messi has played in front of in his career. The stadium seats 102,733 people, topping the 99,354 that Camp Nou, home of Messi’s former team Barcelona, holds. Argentina has “not confirmed that Messi will play in the match, though he was on the formal World Cup roster released this week” and traveled with the club to K.C. to train (CBSSPORTS.com, 6/4). The cultural weight of Saturday’s match “extends well beyond the scoreboard” as Texas has the the U.S.’s largest Honduran population (SI, 6/5).

Baseball HOFers Ken Griffey Jr. and CC Sabathia will team with former MLBer Harold Reynolds to co-host “Play Ball Live” powered by Zoom on MLB’s YouTube channel and X account at 4pm ET on Friday. The trio will host their stream at the Jackie Robinson Training Complex in Vero Beach, Fla. Special guests on the show include Dodgers SS Mookie Betts, Reds P Hunter Greene, Royals SS Bobby Witt Jr. and AUSL Portland Cascade MI Sis Bates. The stream is a segue into MLB’s Play Ball Weekend that will feature global events aimed at increasing baseball and softball participation (MLB Network).