Closing Bell

The Bulls announced that Walmart heir Lukas Walton and wife Samantha have acquired a minority stake in the team and the United Center, home to the Bulls and Blackhawks. Walton bought out several existing limited partners. Neither the size of the stake nor the value of the transaction were disclosed.

Jerry Reinsdorf remains control owner of the Bulls, while the Reinsdorf and Wirtz families control the United Center. The deal does not provide Walton a path to control ownership, a la Reinsdorf’s sale of a stake in the White Sox to Justin Ishbia last year.

BDT & MSD Partners advised the Reinsdorfs, Wirtzs and exiting limited partners. Law firm Katten Muchin Rosenman advised the Bulls, Davis Polk & Wardwell advised the Reinsdorf family and Latham & Watkins advised the Wirtz family. Inner Circle Sports and Covington & Burlington advised the Waltons.

ESPN will continue to prioritize its direct-to-consumer app and ESPN Unlimited subscription plan during its upcoming coverage of Wimbledon. John Suchenski, who leads the day-to-day business management of the network’s tennis properties as Sr. Dir/Programming & Acquisitions, told SBJ that all of ESPN’s Wimbledon coverage will be made available in the ESPN Unlimited tier of the DTC app, a slight shift from the Australian Open, when some matches were also available on ESPN Select (i.e., ESPN+).

“We wanted to simplify for this event, and make it available all in one place,” Suchenski said. “We don’t want you to have to choose, or potentially need multiple services, or be confused about where one match is versus the other. I know we saw some of that during the Australian Open.”

STRATEGY SHIFTS: During Wimbledon’s early rounds, Suchenski said ESPN will focus the programming of its linear channels (ESPN, ESPN2) on “matches we know will resonate most with fans,” including by whipping around from court-to-court. All men’s and women’s singles matches from the quarterfinals forward will air across ESPN and ESPN2 -- with the men’s and women’s finals each on ESPN -- and the tournament’s “middle Sunday” (July 5) will have an ABC window from noon to 5pm ET during the Round of 16. Typically, ABC has shorter windows on Wimbledon’s middle Saturday and Sunday, but Suchenski said Disney’s 24-hour slate of America 250 programming on July 4 necessitated keeping Wimbledon on ESPN that day and expanding the ABC window on July 5.

GAUGING GROWTH: The ESPN Unlimited tier of ESPN’s DTC app can be accessed directly for $29.99 per month, or via authentication with MVPDs including Hulu + Live TV, DirecTV, Fubo TV, Spectrum TV, Verizon FiOS, U-verse, Cox and Comcast Xfinity. (Notably, YouTube TV remains absent from this list). Suchenski would not comment on subscriber numbers, but said the app is “growing every day, every month that goes by.” Suchenski: “Our highest priority is direct-to-consumer right now, and tennis is custom-made for that in that there is so much content going on simultaneously. We see the linear coverage as the primary means that reaches the broadest possible audience, but also there’s supplementary content -- if you want to watch individual matches or potentially a match we’re not covering on linear, we’re making that available.”

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Tennis player Novak Djokovic has joined private equity firm General Atlantic as the firm “dives deeper into sports investing.” Djokovic will “work closely with the firm’s leadership, portfolio companies, and investors in his new role as global strategic adviser.” General Atlantic plans to “lean on Djokovic’s connections to push further into the health and wellness sector.” Djokovic said that he would “consider teaming up with longtime rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in the hunt for knockout investments" (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 6/26).

Prime Video announced an Aug. 20 premiere date for “Novak Djokovic: The Wolf in Winter,” a feature-length documentary exploring the career of Djokovic. The documentary, from Words + Pictures, Sadoux Productions and director Jason Hehir, will premiere exclusively on Prime Video (Prime Video).

The NWSL has launched a “new footwear sponsorship framework that limits brand visibility to those who sign deals with the league.” Under the framework, “equipment manufacturers other than the league’s official outfitter, Nike,” will for the first time “have to pay for the right to have their cleats visible during league matches and meet minimum cash investment requirements for players.” The new framework “will take effect with Friday’s Challenge Cup” between Gotham FC and the K.C. Current. Players “whose cleat sponsors have not opted into the program will be required to cover their cleat branding during the match.” Adidas and Puma, the two companies “with the largest share of non-Nike athletes in the NWSL,” are the “first brands to opt into the program.” League officials are also “in discussions with several smaller footwear manufacturers that sponsor a handful of players.” The new initiative “formalizes a commercial model already used across major U.S. professional leagues,” including the NFL, NBA, WNBA, MLB and MLS (THE ATHLETIC, 6/26).

UFC Freedom 250 at the White House had a reach of 34 million viewers globally, according to figures released Friday by the MMA property, in what it says is one of its most watched events in its history. Following up on Nielsen figures released last week by Paramount showing an average of 7.0 million viewers tuning into the airing in the U.S., UFC said it cobbled together a global number by incorporating various forms of internal and external tune-in data from PPV buys to UFC Fight Pass viewership, depending on the markets. Those included the U.K., Latin America, India, China, South Korea, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Reach is different than average-minute audience figures in that a viewer only has to tune in for a short period of time to be counted. The 34 million is not a final aggregate, as UFC said some of its broadcast partners, including in Spain and France, won’t report their viewership until the middle of July at the earliest.

The card was distributed in 170 countries by over 50 broadcasters, according to UFC, which said the 7.0 million number in the U.S. made Freedom 250 its most watched event in the U.S. In terms of total media impressions, UFC said the card drew 64 billion with $1.1B in value, according to data from media monitoring firm Critical Mention.

On social media, UFC said Freedom 250 drew a combined 126 billion views and 5 billion engagements and added 536,000 new followers, while main event fighters Ilia Topuria and Justin Gaethje got 2 million and 420,000 new followers, respectively.

The U.S. Soccer Federation has “presented” USMNT coach Mauricio Pochettino with a “proposal to extend for a second World Cup cycle, running until 2030, but any decisions will be deferred until after the 2026 tournament.” His current contract will expire after the current World Cup. Sources cited by THE ATHLETIC said that conversations between U.S. Soccer and Pochettino have been “ongoing for several months, with an offer presented to Pochettino to renew for a further four years.” The proposal was made to Pochettino before the current World Cup, with U.S. Soccer making it clear they were “eager to continue the working relationship.” An extension would place his compensation “in line with the highest-paid international coaches in the world, which is also competitive with what he could expect to command on the open market at the top end of European club soccer” (THE ATHLETIC, 6/26).

White House World Cup Task Force Exec Dir Andrew Giuliani said that the U.S. could “consider making a bid to host the men’s 2038 World Cup.” FIFA is considering expanding the format further to 64 teams as early as 2030. Giuliani said, “When you think that this World Cup may at some point expand out to 64 teams, I think the United States can handle it.” However, he noted he wants to “get through this World Cup” before the U.S. makes “our pitch for 2038 or other ones.” The 2038 World Cup is the next one for which a bidding process will take place (BBC.com, 6/26).

Kroenke Sports & Entertainment is seen as the most valuable multi-team ownership group, with CNBC reporting it is worth $26.05B, up 23% over last year. KSE includes the Rams, Avalanche, Nuggets and Arsenal, among other properties. The Jones family ($17.6B), Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment ($16.91B), Fenway Sports Group ($15.37B) and MSG Sports ($15.33B) round out the top five. CNBC’s Michael Ozanian noted the big thing for KSE CEO Stan Kroenke is he “controls the real estate around the stadiums and the arenas.” Ozanian: “The economics you get from running through other events in those buildings really helps you” (“Squawk Box,” CNBC, 6/26).