Closing Bell

Fox drew just over 17 million viewers for Türkiye-U.S. in the third game of the FIFA World Cup group stage on Thursday night, and the 10pm ET match is now the second-best World Cup telecast ever in English, behind only the USMNT match against Paraguay to open the tourney. That opener did just over 18 million on Fox alone. The second USMNT match against Australia on a Friday afternoon did 16.2 million on Fox. Türkiye-U.S. also had head-to-head competition on FS1 from Paraguay-Australia.

Türkiye-U.S. peaked at 19.5 million viewers in the first half from 10:30-10:45pm. K.C. once again led all markets, followed by San Diego, St. Louis, Denver and Dallas-Fort Worth.

After the first two USMNT games had double-digit percentage jumps from preliminary numbers to Big Data figures (highlighting out-of-home), this game saw only a 7% increase with the 10pm ET start.

The 17 million viewers for Türkiye-U.S. beats out other big events like the most recent SEC Football Championship (16.9 million viewers), or Games 1 and 2 of the Knicks-Spurs NBA Finals (16.9 million and 16.4 million, respectively). Türkiye-U.S. just missed beating out the Indiana-Oregon CFP semifinal on ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU (18 million), but beat out the Miami-Ole Miss semi (15.8 million).

CAA topped the NHL Draft’s first round leaderboards as the agency represented four first round selections, the most of any other agency. The L.A.-based mega-agency also had the distinction of representing the first overall pick with the Maple Leafs’ selection of Penn State LW Gavin McKenna. CAA Hockey co-head Pat Brisson led the way for the agency by representing three first rounders with McKenna, Kamloops LW JP Hurlbert and Moncton D Tommy Bleyl. They were selected 23rd by the Red Wings and 31st by the Predators, respectively. CAA also secured another pick within the top ten with J.P. Barry client Djurgardens C Viggo Bjorck’s eighth overall selection to the Jets. CAA was the only agency to have two picks within the top 10.

Newport Sports Management and The Team tied for second place with three first round selections. While The Team had to wait till the 21st pick to begin to see its clients get picked, Newport’s Pat Morris and Ed Ward represented the Predators’ 10th overall selection of USNTDP LW Wyatt Cullen.

Last year’s winner, Quartexx, took a step back in the first round with only two selections. Still, the boutique agency was able to repeat its top-five pick fortunes from last year with the Canucks’s third overall selection of Brantford C Caleb Malhotra. Malhotra, represented by Quartexx’s Dir of Player Relations Paul Capizzano, is reuniting with his father, Manny Malhotra, as he takes over as the Canucks’ new head coach.

Agencies that didn’t have a first round pick last year but made their way onto this year’s chart include AC Hockey, 4Sports Hockey, KMJ Sports, Magnuson Hockey Agency, Maloney & Thompson Sports, Moliver Sports Management, Octagon and Titan Sports Management. In total, 17 different agencies had a first round pick and 31 different agents have a hand in representing all 32 picks.

Red Bull has created a NASCAR-related limited-edition can to be sold at retail for the first time in 15 years, with the new product featuring the likenesses of Trackhouse Racing drivers Connor Zilisch and Shane van Gisbergen. With good timing following van Gisbergen’s NASCAR Cup Series win on Sunday at Sonoma Raceway, the can will start being sold Monday exclusively at Circle K stores in 8.4- and 12-fluid-ounce sizes. Zilisch will be on the front of the 8.4-ounce version, while van Gisbergen will be on the front of the 12-ounce can.

It’s unknown how many of the cans Red Bull is making, but a drinks company could make millions of units for sale in a special release with athlete endorsers. Images of the can were leaked on social media in recent weeks, but the official announcement is just being made by Red Bull, which got back into NASCAR last year. The company had been out of NASCAR since it shut down its team after 2011, but decided to return in part because it was already aligned with van Gisbergen, who switched from Australia’s Supercars in 2024, and signed the highly rated Zilisch.

Red Bull recently held its first event sponsorship at a track owned by NASCAR Holdings since returning to the sport, serving as the official energy drink of the San Diego naval base race despite Monster Energy remaining as the official energy drink of NASCAR. Red Bull gives part of the space on its primary paint schemes to its retail partners like Circle K, and the C-Store chain posted a graphic of a Trackhouse car in April around the Talladega race.

Based in Austria for global operations and in California for U.S. business, Red Bull has also put Max Verstappen and other Red Bull Racing F1 drivers on cans sold at retail. Trackhouse had a clean sweep of all NASCAR and MotoGP action this past weekend, coming in first and second place in both MotoGP races (sprint and Grand Prix) and finishing first in both the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and Cup Series events.

Paramount+ has greenlit a docuseries following Texas Tech’s football team. The four-episode docuseries is produced by Skydance Sports, directed by Micah Brown and has been in production since January 2026, with an expected premiere ahead of the 2026 college football season (Paramount). Second Wind Creative, producing the docuseries with Skydance, will follow the team and coach Joey Maguire as they “prepare for a key campaign after a high-profile betting scandal rocked the program this year” (DEADLINE, 6/29). College football analyst Josh Pate said he “witnessed this while I was in Lubbock last month,” and added the access the producers had during the Brendan Sorsby saga was “pretty surprising & could lead to some fascinating content” (X, 6/29).

Father-son duo Mike Golic Sr. and Mike Golic Jr. will return to ESPN Radio under a multiyear agreement as the co-hosts of “The Golics,” a new morning show from 10am–noon ET. The show, which debuts Aug. 3, will also be simulcast live on the ESPN App, with each episode available on podcast platforms following its live broadcast. In addition to hosting “The Golics,” both will make appearances on shows across ESPN platforms (ESPN).

“The Golics” lands in the slot that Clinton Yates vacated in March when ESPN restructured its midday programming. After leaving ESPN -- where Golic Sr. had spent 25 years, first building “Mike & Mike” alongside Mike Greenberg, then transitioning to “Golic and Wingo” with Trey Wingo and Golic Jr. before that show ended in 2020 -- the duo took their act to DraftKings, where they launched “Golic & Golic” in 2023. When DraftKings opted not to renew, they moved to FanDuel Sports Network for what turned out to be a 10-month run that ended when FanDuel TV announced a 20-month wind-down (AWFUL ANNOUNCING, 6/29).

A federal indictment released on Monday revealed that former NBAers Malik Beasley and Ed Davis and an NBA agent are among six defendants indicted on “charges related to an alleged sports gambling scheme that targeted at least four games during the 2023-24 season.” A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of N.Y. said that Davis and co-defendants Rob Gorodetsky, Ernesto Plascencia and William Brown “were arrested Monday.” Beasley and defendant Paolo Zamorano, who was Davis’ agent, “were not in custody as of Monday morning.” Steve Haney, Beasley’s attorney, said that they have “coordinated with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the ex-player to voluntarily surrender this week.” Sources said that Monday’s indictment “does not appear to be directly connected to similar gambling indictments” from the Eastern District of N.Y., involving former NBAers Jontay Porter and Damon Jones, and free agent G Terry Rozier (ESPN.com, 6/29).

WTA No. 14 Naomi Osaka walked onto the court at the All England Club for her first-round match at Wimbledon Monday “in a custom white creation inspired by Japanese ceremonial dress.” Osaka worked with Tokyo-based designer Hana Yagi on the all-white, kimono-style outfit, which featured embroidered cranes, cherry blossoms and a “dramatic trailing bow ... giving the silhouette an almost weightless quality before its layers peel away to reveal the Nike kit beneath.” The outfit was “finished with a traditional kanzashi hair ornament and Mikimoto jewelry.” Osaka’s longtime creative director, Marty Harper, said that Wimbledon’s “traditions provided the conceptual foundation for this year’s look” (BRITISH VOGUE, 6/29). The outfit was “inspired by a combination of influences equal parts serious and fun, artistic and poppy.” She “drew from Japanese ceremonial dress -- and also the assassin-slash-crime boss character Lucy Liu plays" in “Kill Bill” (THE ATHLETIC, 6/29).

Osaka “has made a habit of creating a buzz with her creative outfits,” and the latest ensemble “turned plenty of heads.” The outfit “drew a rave reaction from the crowd, many of whom were eagerly waiting with their phones aloft to record her entrance” (AP, 6/29). Osaka’s Wimbledon outfit is “just the latest in what’s shaping up to be a Grand Slam of fashion this year.” She started the year with a “vibrant ‘jellyfish’ ensemble” by Robert Wun at the Australian Open, followed by “sweeping ‘court-ure’ Germanier ensembles” at Roland Garros (ELLE, 6/29).