Closing Bell

The Sun will play their second game at PeoplesBank Arena this season against the Wings and UConn alums Gs Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd on Thursday. This “figures to be a Sun home game in name only.” The Sun will honor former coach and current Wings GM Curt Miller as “one of their ‘Sun Legends’ on the banner to remain in the rafters at Mohegan Sun Arena after the franchise relocates to Houston.” The game “will be a sellout, or at least approach it” (HARTFORD COURANT, 7/1).

The 2026 All-Star Week slate will kick off with the fourth annual HBCU Swingman Classic on July 10 at Citizens Bank Park, with players from 19 different HBCUs being represented.

The teams will be led by former Phillies SS Jimmy Rollins and 14-year MLB vet Ricky Weekes. Players on the 25-man rosters are selected by a committee that includes Baseball HOFer Ken Griffey Jr., reps from MLB and the Players’ Association and scouts.

Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker will throw out the ceremonial first pitch, with all the players getting to visit City Hall beforehand and paying tribute to Octavius V. Catto, an HBCU alum who went on to become a civil rights activist and co-founder of one of America’s first organized black baseball teams.

“What the genesis of what this game is about is opportunity to play on a national stage and creating some excitement and experience for these players,” MLB SVP/Baseball Development Del Matthews said.

Bank of America is “launching new collectible beads for its viral BofA Fan Bands” to celebrate the World Cup. Starting during the Round of 16, new knockout round beads will be available “featuring custom colors for each host city.” Since the tournament began, Bank of America said that “more than 700,000 BofA Fan Bands have been distributed across the country.” The demand for the BofA Fan Bands “has been unprecedented.” It was previously reported that fans were “waiting in line for hours at Fan Fest to get these custom World Cup bracelets and charms.” To help “ensure a smoother experience,” Bank of America has “introduced a new wristband system that will allow fans to reserve a time to create their custom BofA Fan Band” (FOX4KC.com, 6/29).

The NBA announced Thursday that the “one free throw rule” will be “used at the summer leagues happening this month in Salt Lake City, Northern California and Las Vegas.” The rule -- “designed to speed up play” -- means “any foul that would typically result in the awarding of one, two or three free throws will instead result in a single free-throw attempt.” That attempt “will be worth the same total number of points as the free throws it replaces.” The G League has used this rule since 2019-20. The rule “doesn’t apply to the entire game.” Standard free-throw rules -- two shots for a two-shot foul, etc. -- will be “utilized for the last two minutes of fourth quarters and in all of overtime.” It is unclear if the one-free-throw rule will make it into NBA games, but Summer League has “been a proving ground for eventual rule changes,” including the coaches’ challenge, resetting the 24-second shot clock to 14 seconds in offensive rebound situations and the one-shot award for a transition take foul (AP, 7/2). In addition, the “connected basketball” will be “tested at the upcoming NBA summer leagues.” The basketball contains an embedded sensor that “detects contact with the ball.” Data collected from the ball “will support future officiating applications, such as last-touch out-of-bounds calls” (X, 7/2).

Omaha Productions is “making inroads into a slate tied to women’s sports,” with the new series, “Gamechangers: America’s Top 25 Female Athletes.” The series is executive produced by Basketball HOFer Sue Bird, former soccer player Alex Morgan, and Pro Football HOFer Peyton Manning and features commentary from Olympic medalists Adam Rippon and Alysia Montaño, comedians Fortune Feimster and Jared Freid, WNBA announcer Ryan Ruocco, Fox Sports soccer analyst Stu Holden, sports media personalities Katie Feeney and Katie Nolan, broadcasters Cari Champion and Hannah Storm, and others. Bird and Morgan also appear in the special, which “uses light banter and commentary to help viewers understand the athletes’ impact and achievements.” “Gamechangers” shows the company “using humor in a new way, enlisting comedians and others in a format that might hearken to VH-1 retrospective shows” like “Best Week Ever” or “I Love The 90s.” Omaha’s growing interest in projects tied to women’s sports “mirrors the broader attention being paid to leagues including NWSL, WNBA and others” (VARIETY, 7/2).

Negotiations on having South Korean tour players compete at an LPGA tournament on their home soil “have fallen through.” The Korea Ladies Professional Golf Association said that the upcoming BMW Ladies Championship, the lone U.S. LPGA event held in South Korea each fall, “will not be co-sanctioned with the South Korean circuit,” after the LPGA declined to accept the South Korean proposal of “having at least 30 homegrown players in the field of 78 players.” The KLPGA said that it had met with its LPGA counterpart on 16 occasions over the past eight months and insisted that “there would have to be a minimum 30 KLPGA players teeing off in order for the tournament to be co-sanctioned with the domestic tour.” However, the LPGA countered that it could “only accept up to 10 KLPGA players and the two sides were not able to come to a compromise.” KLPGA said that it was “willing to make concessions on other aspects of the tournament, including the schedule, operations and broadcasting, as long as it could send 30 players to the BMW Ladies Championship” (YONHAP NEWS AGENCY, 7/2).

Pick ‘em and predictions operator Betr has promoted Alex Ursa to COO, Alex Kuwada to CMO and Mike Denevi to Chief Content Officer. Ursa, the first hire when founders Joey Levy and Jake Paul launched the app as a regulated sportsbook four years ago, previously worked at FanDuel, as did Kuwada. Deveni came from Bleacher Report.

On this week’s Sports Media Podcast, SBJ’s Austin Karp and Josh Carpenter debate their favorite July 4th meals.