Closing Bell

NEW YORK — The NHL has signed a term sheet with Houston-based billionaire Dan Friedkin that grants him exclusive rights to bring an expansion franchise to either Houston or Austin. Friedkin and the league will jointly explore over the next six months which South Texas market is more feasible based in part on the capability to build a new arena.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, who informed the league’s existing owners of the news Tuesday at a board of governors meeting, said the total investment — including both the expansion fee and cost of building a new arena — would be $3.5 billion, declining to go into further detail.

Expansion would still require a board vote following the six-month exploration period.

“We have been in discussions for the better part of two years with the Friedkin family, principally about Houston as an expansion opportunity,” Bettman said. “But as we continued to focus with them, particularly on the need for a new arena in Houston, the discussions morphed into also a discussion about Austin, which would also need a new building.”

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NEW YORK -- The NHL’s Board of Governors voted unanimously Tuesday to approve Fenway Sports Group’s sale of a controlling interest in the Penguins to the Hoffmann family in a deal valuing the franchise at $1.7B. The transaction is expected to close in the coming days, six months after it was publicly announced in December. FSG will remain a minority owner for a brief period as part of a phased transition.

Geoff Hoffmann will serve as the team’s governor following the sale, with his father, David, and brother, Greg, serving as alternate governors. David founded the family’s investment firm, Hoffmann Family of Companies, whose portfolio now includes more than 200 acquired brands and properties and businesses employing more than 27,000 people. Geoff serves as the company’s CEO.

The Hoffmanns’ holdings include the Florida Everblades, an ECHL team that has won four of the past five Kelly Cup titles. The family purchased the team in 2019 from former Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos Jr. The Everblades’ affiliation with the Blues ended after the 2025-26 season, with St. Louis shifting its ECHL affiliation to the Worcester Railers.

No members of the Hoffmann family were present at the league’s Board of Governors meeting in New York on Tuesday. FSG Partner & CEO Sam Kennedy and Senior Advisor for Strategy and Growth Teddy Werner were in attendance.

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The NCAA on Tuesday approved a new eligibility model for D-I athletes that will “allow five seasons of competition over a five-year period that begins with their full-time enrollment or the academic year following their 19th birthday, whichever occurs first.” The D-I Cabinet approved the change from the longstanding model that “gave athletes five years to complete four seasons of competition with their eligibility clock starting at the time of enrollment, regardless of age.” The move will “all but eliminate waivers or redshirt years for extended eligibility except for religious missions, maternity leave or active-duty military service.” No longer will extensions be “considered for athletes who are injured.” The rules are “set to take effect this fall.” Currently enrolled athletes and those who are incoming freshmen this fall can “apply the age-based model or continue under previous eligibility rules” (AP, 6/23).

Oklahoma State is on the cusp of one of the more unique sponsorship agreements in college sports. The school announced a three-year deal with the Osage Nation that will feature an Osage jersey patch added for all OSU athletics teams beginning this fall. The involved parties declined to share specific financial information. An official announcement is expected on Tuesday.

“Every athletic department right now is looking for ways to generate revenue,” Brakston Brock, Oklahoma State Senior Associate AD/NIL Strategy & Revenue Generation, told Sports Business Journal. “There are some industries where sponsorships and logos on jerseys and fields and things are not new. It is new to college athletics, but [AD Chad Weiberg] likes to say ‘It’s just another lever that we can pull.’ It’s another opportunity to get us closer to where we want to be, make us more competitive on the field.”

The deal, which was brokered by Oklahoma State’s Learfield outfit, Cowboy Sports Properties, has been months in the making. The school initially vetted four or five private companies for a traditional sponsorship play before Brock and head football coach Eric Morris were introduced to Brian Parrish, CEO of the Osage Nation Gaming Enterprise.

Parrish, who died last month, met with Brock, Morris and Steve Keasler, OSU’s special assistant to the head coach, to talk through possible partnership opportunities -- jersey patch included. Parrish was interested and discussions continued from there.

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ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- After Bills owner Terry Pegula thanked the usual dignitaries and stakeholders present Tuesday morning at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the team’s new stadium, he paid unique respect to another group essential in the completion of the facility.

Pegula gestured to the new Highmark Stadium behind him and revealed that the name of every worker who had a hand in construction -- 5,369 and counting -- will be inscribed on an external stadium wall.

“I made a promise to our workers, our laborers, that somehow, someway we would have their name visible on this stadium, where their offspring and friends can come and look and see their name on the side of the stadium,” Pegula said. “So behind me is a wall with, right now, 5,369 names of you hard-working Americans who got this stadium built. It’s one thing to talk about it, it’s one thing to get the money; it’s another thing to get it done. So, thank you.”

Sure enough, a glass wall looking out at the Family Circle -- which will feature the stadium’s 27-foot-tall bison statues -- featured the words “We Built This House” alongside rows and rows of names in alphabetical order.

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QB Brendan Sorsby will not play in the NFL in 2026 as the league has “elected to not hold a supplemental draft.” NFL officials “felt it would ultimately become a distraction to teams as they begin to start training camp.” An NFL source said, “His application carries with it a lot of issues. Core of the game integrity issues.” Sorsby’s attorney, Jeffrey Kessler, said the NFL’s decision is a “violation of the CBA and the law.” He added, “We will pursue this immediately with the NFLPA.” The league’s letter to Sorsby said that the “‘sole reasons’ he sought entry in his petition were that he’d been declared ineligible.” The NFL has not held a supplemental draft since 2019. Sorsby would “potentially be able to play in the CFL.” He is currently ineligible to play under NCAA rules (ESPN.com, 6/23).

FIFA will “consider keeping hydration breaks for future World Cups” despite backlash to the extra stoppages in play at this year’s tournament. FIFA President Gianni Infantino “defended the decision to introduce breaks” at this World Cup. Infantino said that the breaks “may be providing more entertainment for fans.” He added that FIFA “would analyze what it will do in future tournaments ‘based on this experience.’” But after criticism that the breaks were a stealth way to insert advertising or American-style timeouts, Infantino suggested that the stoppages “have been positive.” The “biggest criticism has been the introduction of hydration breaks for all matches regardless of venue or location.” Infantino also insisted that FIFA was “making no extra money as a result of networks cutting to commercials because contracts had been signed before the decision to introduce hydration breaks” (AP, 6/23).

While much is being written about tension on the Fox Sports World Cup studio set between analysts Alexi Lalas and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Fox’s lead match analyst, Stu Holden, tells SBJ that “too much is being made” of the story. Holden said, “Off camera, these guys are all great professionals. They all get along. And I think they understand that this is TV.”

Holden attributes the tricky dynamic between Lalas, Ibrahimovic, Thierry Henry and Rebecca Lowe to that fact that they have never worked together before. Holden also notes that he often hears from people that they love the tension and drama that has been created. “It’s almost become something they look forward to tuning in and seeing -- how is Thierry going to react to what Alexi says? And is Zlatan going to bury Alexi today with a comment in the way that only Zlatan can do?”

Check out Holden’s views on Lalas in the video below, which is part of the SBJ Sports Media Podcast coming out Thursday morning.

Royal Bank of Canada and Canucks Sports & Entertainment signed a multiyear partnership naming RBC as the official bank of the organization. The partnership includes sponsorship and marketing rights across the Canucks, AHL affiliate Abbotsford Canucks, the NLL Vancouver Warriors, Rogers Arena in Vancouver and Rogers Forum in Abbotsford. The RBC logo will be featured on Canucks home jerseys beginning in the 2026-27 season. RBC will invite Avion Rewards members to use their Avion points to pay for tickets to all CSE events on Ticketmaster.ca -- an extension of a partnership with Live Nation Canada. RBC will be the presenting sponsor of the Canucks’ 2026-27 home opener and select Community Nights throughout the season (Canucks).

TNT Sports says that it has some fresh technology to introduce for its NASCAR coverage this season alongside its previously announced touched-up talent roster. The WBD-owned broadcaster is the third of NASCAR’s four-leg relay of media companies who now air its premier series annually, taking over from the second in Prime Video. The first broadcast on TNT and HBO Max is this weekend’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway in Northern California after the sport returned to Southern California last weekend at the Naval Base Coronado. Among the new or upgraded elements for this year will be 40 cameras spread across the track including ones with specialties like ultra slow motion technology. The network will utilize drones more at three of the events (Sonoma, North Wilkesboro and Indianapolis), and make all races available in 1080p HD. TNT says it will also equip its production team with more replay abilities and angles and add fresh NASCAR-related content to HBO Max. The other two races for TNT are Chicagoland and EchoPark Speedway.

The in-season bracket challenge is continuing for a second year in NASCAR during the TNT races. The top 32 drivers in NASCAR’s point standings are placed in a bracket and have a competition within a race over five events to see who can outlast the other eligible drivers. Both Prime and TNT have the same three-man booth members with Adam Alexander, Steve Letarte and Dale Earnhardt Jr. but they handle their own production. In league with what is becoming the standard in NASCAR, TNT will do ads in a double-box format, and it also will take advantage of Bleacher Report’s digital strengths.

Arctos has inked an agreement with RVX Ventures and Magellan Development Group to launch a platform targeting the sports-anchored development sector. The platform’s inaugural project is Neyland Entertainment District, a development around Neyland Stadium at the Univ. of Tennessee (Arctos). The joint venture is investing $288M in the Neyland Stadium project, which “includes a 24-story hotel, apartments, a private club, and 100,000 square feet of entertainment space,” and is “part of a growing trend of investors finding ways to invest into college sports” (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 6/23).

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