Closing Bell

Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark covered plenty of ground Tuesday at Big 12 Media Days, “touching on everything from the conference’s newest corporate partnership and international ambitions to College Football Playoff expansion, private equity and the future makeup of the league.” If there “was one theme that kept resurfacing throughout Yormark’s opening remarks, it was globalization.” The commissioner “again emphasized the conference’s commitment to expanding beyond” the U.S., “highlighting this year’s international schedule” that includes TCU opening the season in Dublin against North Carolina and Arizona State facing Kansas in the first-ever college football game at Wembley Stadium. When asked about the possibility of further expansion, he “made it clear the priority is no longer adding schools but continuing to strengthen the 16-member league already in place.” That does not “necessarily close the door on future expansion,” but it “signals a notable change in philosophy” (247SPORTS.com, 7/7).

During the Q&A portion of his opening address, Yormark was asked whether the commissioner “supported Texas Tech football during the initial stages” of the Brendan Sorsby saga and “when that may have changed.” Yormark said, “Today’s not the time to address that issue.” During his opening remarks, Yormark said that sports gambling “remains ‘an industry-wide concern’ and that the league is extending its partnership with IC360 to monitor activity.” Another member of the media “tried to go about the question in a different way, asking Yormark about the hope of settling such issues outside of the courtroom.” Yormark “again sidestepped the context of the question, offering a general thought instead.” Yormark: “Integrity for the game is critically important, for all sports in this conference” (LUBBOCK AVALANCHE-JOURNAL, 7/7).

As for CFP expansion, Yormark “doubled down” on his desire to see it move to 24 teams and “acknowledged that it could mean the loss of conference championship games.” Yormark: “When 24 became part of the conversation, we’ve done our own conference due diligence around it, and we think it might be a great fit for us. ... We do need to understand the economics. Is there a marketplace to go to 24? We have to understand the scheduling dynamic and what that means, and the unintended consequences, as it relates to our championship game. That’s a huge tent pole event for us” (DESERET NEWS, 7/7).

While Yormark “was encouraged by changes in college sports,” he also “acknowledged the challenges the industry faces.” He “praised recent efforts, especially by” U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), for “helping to craft bipartisan legislation to create a more consistent national framework for college athletics.” He also “praised the recent drive to address issues surrounding eligibility and transfer portal issues” and “expressed optimism about the future of the College Sports Commission” after its first year (SI, 7/7).

The IOC will allow Russian athletes to compete again following a decision by its executive board on Tuesday to provisionally lift the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) that has been in place since early 2022, when the country invaded Ukraine. The organization had maintained that suspension through the Paris and Milan Cortina Olympic Games.

The IOC ended the suspension after it said its legal commission determined that the ROC no longer included regional sports organizations that would be governed by Ukraine’s national Olympic committee.

The decision has been expected as other sports organizations, including World Aquatics and World Gymnastics, have allowed Russian competitors back into the fold, and as the IOC has moved to a more neutral stance under Kirsty Coventry.

During the session last month, which marked the first anniversary of Coventry taking office, the IOC changed the Olympic Charter to further emphasize political neutrality, a move largely seen as a precursor to allowing Russians back into the Games.

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The IOC executive board on Tuesday voted to change the Winter Games program for 2030 to add three new disciplines and 16 events while cutting Nordic combined. It approved adding freeride for ski and snowboard and synchro9 for figure skating, moves that would make the French Alps 2030 the first gender equal Winter Games.

As the IOC reviews disciplines in each version of the Games as part of President Kirsty Coventry’s “Fit for the Future” reforms, the additions could blunt some of the criticism likely to come from cutting Nordic combined. The discipline had been in every Winter Games going back to their start in 1924, but only for men. Several top women athletes had pushed for its inclusion for women.

In cutting the discipline, the IOC cited its study of 14 popularity indicators that it conducts during each Games -- which include broadcast coverage, digital media and ticketing -- saying Nordic combined ranked lowest among all disciplines at the past four Games. In the Milan Cortina Games earlier this year, it ranked last in 11 of the 14 indicators.

IOC sport director Pierre Ducrey said the data did not show “a progress that would justify keeping the discipline.”

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The PWHL Boston Fleet are “relocating within Boston city limits” to Agganis Arena, which will be the Fleet’s “primary home venue for the 2026-27 season” after the team played the majority of its home games in Lowell during the league’s first three seasons. While the Fleet “often commended the Tsongas Center for its hospitality,” the venue “created logistical challenges for fans who live in Boston or south of the city.” In the past two seasons, the Fleet “played six games at Agganis Arena.” Four drew sellout crowds, a “promising sign for the team’s future in Boston,” at the arena on the campus of Boston Univ. On weeknights, the Fleet “struggled to fill the seats at Tsongas, likely because commuter rail service is infrequent and rush-hour traffic.” The team’s average announced attendance at the Tsongas Center this season was 4,938, including the team’s two playoff games -- 5,867 for four weekend dates and 4,320 on six weeknight ones. At Agganis Arena, which hosted four PWHL games this season, the Fleet averaged 5,238 fans overall and 5,205 on weeknights. Agganis’s capacity for hockey is 6,150 -- “about 350 seats smaller than Tsongas, but on par with the team’s average attendance this season” (BOSTON GLOBE, 7/7).

A power struggle within the Professional Tennis Players Association continued this week, as a new lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Monday night between executives affiliated with the organization.

The suit provides a counter to versions of events described in a complaint filed in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in late June, which pit the actions of alleged “fake” and “lawful” PTPA executive committees against one another -- mainly, that one fired the organization’s executive director, Romain Rosenberg, while the other terminated its general counsel, Wajid Mir.

The PTPA (as defined by the defendants in the previous suit, including Rosenberg and the PTPA’s former executive director, Ahmad Nassar) and Winners Alliance (the commercial arm of the PTPA and a defendant in the first complaint) are the plaintiffs of the new complaint. Mir is the defendant.

Mir was hired as the PTPA’s general counsel & SVP/player engagement in late 2022 and, according to the new suit, fired on June 4. The complaint alleges that Mir organized a “coup” to take over the PTPA after being passed over for the executive director role earlier this year, when Nassar stepped down -- “to focus on Winners Alliance,” of which he is CEO -- and Rosenberg was appointed. It also claims that Mir disparaged the PTPA and Winners Alliance, including via “fake social media accounts,” and has been falsely holding himself out as a representative of the PTPA in conversations with tennis players, agents and other officials. As an example of the latter, the suit claims that ATP Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi “recently informed members of the ATP’s tournament council that the ATP was progressing toward a settlement” of the PTPA’s antitrust lawsuit against several tennis governing bodies -- but that “the PTPA has had no recent settlement discussions with the ATP,” implying that Mir “may be communicating, directly or indirectly, with the ATP” about the litigation.

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Rogers Sports & Media is “closing” Vancouver-based CISL-AM, the sport radio station has operated since 2017. The Canucks had renewed with CISL as the team’s official radio station, but where team radio broadcasts will land now has not been confirmed. However, they “will continue on a Rogers-owned station.” The loss of CISL “would be a devastating blow to local sports media.” Vancouver-based CKWX-AM is “also closing,” along with “four other stations across the country including a sports talk and news station in Calgary and news stations in Halifax and Kitchener.” Licenses for all six stations are “being returned to the CRTC,” Canada’s broadcasting regulator (Vancouver PROVINCE, 7/7).

R&A officials “will consider an earlier than normal finish” for next week’s Open Championship at Royal Birkdale if England is playing in the World Cup final later that day. The final pairing in the Open generally starts at around 2:30pm local time on the Sunday, but that means the conclusion would leave “little time for fans to find a place to watch the football,” which kicks off at N.Y. N.J. Stadium at 8pm. The potential for a clash “will increase if the Open goes to a play-off.” Nothing has been confirmed and “any changes will be unnecessary” if England lose to Norway in the quarter-finals on Saturday or go out at the semi-final stage (London TIMES, 7/7).