Closing Bell

Paramount Skydance Corp. says its streaming service averaged 6.1 million viewers in the U.S. for the card that featured Conor McGregor’s short-lived return to UFC action on Saturday night in an event that had an anticlimactic ending but big commercial metrics.

The event at T-Mobile Arena was one of UFC’s most high-profile cards in years because it was the first action since 2021 for the property’s biggest ever commercial draw. But the main event ended up lasting a little over a minute due to an apparent knee injury for McGregor, giving the TKO win to his opponent Max Holloway. Nonetheless, Paramount reported Thursday afternoon that, according to Nielsen data, Paramount+ got 6.1 million viewers in the U.S. plus another 400,000 in Latin America for a total of 6.5 million. That compares to 7.0 million in the U.S. for the UFC Freedom 250 card at the White House last month.

However, with McGregor taking part in the main event around 11:30pm ET, UFC 329 wound up having a higher peak concurrent number than any other UFC event this year and now ranks second to Super Bowl LVIII in Paramount+ history. UFC 329 peaked at 8.295 million viewers, while the White House card came in at 7.925 million and the Super Bowl at 11.523 million.

UFC 329’s 6.1 million figure is comparable to the audience that Mavericks-Warriors got on Christmas Day on ABC/ESPN in the 5:00pm ET window, according to SBJ’s Austin Karp.

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The MLB regular season returns Thursday night with one game, and the Mets-Phillies matchup is a window that ESPN pushed to keep when negotiating a new media-rights deal coming into 2026.

“When we were building out and trying to look at how we wanted to focus on our linear schedule, we always find tentpoles important because it gives you … something to talk about,” said Ashley O’Connor, ESPN’s VP/Programming & Acquisitions. “The second-half opener is our second tentpole this season [after Memorial Day]. You’ve just gotten off the excitement of the All-Star Game, trade deadline’s right around the corner and it’s really a renewed time to say, ‘OK, let’s go.’”

O’Connor said ESPN is enjoying its flexibility with the new deal after years of primarily having “Sunday Night Baseball” during the regular season. That has included having games on ABC, such as a Yankees-Red Sox Saturday afternoon window in June.

“We’re able to pivot and really make sure that we’re following the storylines and the teams that are relevant right now,” O’Connor said, “and you can only do that with the flexibility that we were able to work with baseball to achieve in this schedule.”

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A triumvirate of some of most powerful players in sports licensing -- Fanatics, Disney and the NFL -- on Thursday debuted an apparel line that combines NFL indicia with Disney-owned I.P., including characters from Star Wars, Marvel, along with Toy Story and other Pixar characters.

Launched Thursday at Fanatics Fest, the line of T-shirts and sweats will carry a Champion label and debut with eight teams: the Bills, Cowboys, Raiders, Patriots, N.Y. Giants, N.Y. Jets, Buccaneers and Commanders. The Disney/Champion NFL Collection was available for purchase today at Fanatics Fest. Retail price points are $30 to $130.

Further availability is slated for August at retailers including Fanatics.com, NFLShop.com, DisneyStore.com, and some Lids stores.

Knicks G Jalen Brunson said that he is “in the process” of building more of a media brand while discussing his off-court business at a Wall Street Journal Sports conference on Thursday in N.Y. Brunson said the past month has been long and busy after leading the franchise to its first NBA championship in 53 years but that he was “forced to relax now” after undergoing wrist surgery a short while ago. When asked if he was interested in building more of a media presence beyond his popular podcast -- “The Roommates Show” with teammate Josh Hart and co-host Matt Hillman -- Brunson said it was something he hadn’t previously considered but that the podcast success “opened a lot more opportunities. It’s in the process, and we’ll see how it can grow.”

Appearing on stage with WSJ columnist Jason Gay and JP Morgan Wealth Management CEO Kristin Lemkau -- Brunson is part of the JPMorganChase Athlete Council she started -- he explained that he has been diligent in saving his earnings, even still calling his parents before major financial decisions. He added that endorsement deals have been great, but he’s now looking at longer-term commitments with more upside.

“At this point now I’m going forward, I am looking for equity deals,” Brunson said. “I am looking to further my business outside of basketball, prepare myself for life after basketball.”

Gay also asked whether sports ownership was something that interested him to pursue someday, to which Brunson replied, “It does. Haven’t truly sat down and thought about it yet. It has an appeal, for sure.”

Univ. of Illinois AD Josh Whitman on Thursday received a contract extension “that will keep him in charge of the Illini until 2036 ... at least.” Whitman, 47, is already in his 10th year as the Illinois athletic department, and “will receive a significant pay upgrade, too,” with his base salary for the 2026-27 school year starting at $2.15M. His base salary “will increase by $100,000 during the next nine years, topping off at” $3.15M for the 2035-36 school year. The total compensation, “just on his base salary alone, will pay Whitman” $26.1M during the length of this extension. That number will increase to $31.1M “based on his annual $500,000 retention payments.” The agreement “could also be extended by up to three additional one-year increments if ‘certain triggering events related to football and men’s basketball competitive success are satisfied.’” His buyout in the “event of his termination without cause will be an amount equal to 100 percent of his base salary, subject to a cap of” $15.5M. Whitman is the fifth-longest tenured AD among Power 4 conferences (Champaign NEWS-GAZETTE, 7/16).

Most Valuable Promotions is “bringing the first-ever championship boxing bout to TikTok,” with Amanda Serrano defending her unified title against contender Lucrecia Manzur. MVP co-founders Jake Paul and Nakisa Bidarian said in a statement the TikTok deal is the latest move by the the promotion to challenge “the traditional boxing model” by “finding new ways to bring the sport to fans around the world.” They added, “Partnering with TikTok to deliver the first-ever championship boxing event on TikTok Live is another example of that vision to grow the audience for boxing and make world championship fights more accessible than ever.” MVP hopes the event will further activate its “loyal fanbase among hard-to-reach Gen Z and Gen Alpha audiences,” demographics the promotion says it “has consistently reached better than anyone else in the sport.” TikTok has previously hosted boxing matches, but none “with this much on the line” (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 7/16).

FIFA has been “hit with an injunction by a German court ordering it to stop ‘manipulative processes’” in the sale of World Cup tickets. The Frankfurt regional court has “granted a request for a preliminary injunction from Ticombo,” an online ticket resale site based in Germany, which has instructed FIFA to be “more transparent regarding its secondary ticketing sales by disclosing the identity and address of any commercial sellers.” The injunction applies “only in Germany and is unlikely to have any effect” on FIFA’s operations for the tournament. FIFA did not appear before the court in Frankfurt, with Ticombo “now seeking to take its case to Switzerland, which will take some time.” Ticombo “accepts the injunction has come too late to make any difference at this World Cup,” but wants to “keep pressure on FIFA to alter its practices” before the next men’s tournament in 2030, the majority of which will take place in Spain and Portugal (London GUARDIAN, 7/15).

On this week’s Sports Media Podcast, SBJ’s Austin Karp and Josh Carpenter discuss how Bundesliga’s new U.S. rights agreement is one of the most unexpected media deals of the year. Here’s what’s behind the move, how fans will watch and why the industry is paying attention.

Canadian golf fans hoping to watch the first round of the Open Championship Thursday morning on Golf Channel were “greeted by golf instruction content instead” after several cable providers failed to flip their feeds over to the tournament. The Open was “even listed on Golf Channel’s schedule as airing,” but “several local affiliates simply forgot to switch over to the Open feed.” Some viewers on X claimed that their “outage lasted for up to five hours before it was fixed, while others said it was the third year in a row they had experienced such issues.” Rogers’ IT account on X posted that they had “alerted their various affiliates and promised more fixes would be coming before Friday’s second round.” This “isn’t the first time this has happened,” with the exact same phenomena reportedly occurring last summer as well (GOLF DIGEST, 7/16).

The Wings’ home game against the Liberty, originally slated for Thursday, has “been postponed to Monday” due to “mechanical issues with the Liberty’s charter flight.” All tickets purchased for Thursday’s game “will be honored” for Monday’s 8pm ET tipoff (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 7/16). Liberty G Pauline Astier first shared the travel disruptions on her Instagram story “around 10:25 p.m. Wednesday.” The Liberty “switched planes once before deboarding around 12:30 a.m.” (N.Y. POST, 7/16).

The Wings “became aware shortly before midnight” that the Liberty were having plane issues and the game “could be affected.” While the stated cause of the postponement was charter flight issues, heavy rain and thunderstorms in north Texas “led to hundreds of flight delays as the Federal Aviation Administration issued a ground stop at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and Dallas Love Field” on Wednesday. Thunderstorms also swept across the greater N.Y. area late Wednesday afternoon, “triggering delays at the city’s three major airports” (THE ATHLETIC, 7/16).

Ares Management has been “floating around … as a potential investor” in the National Rugby League’s Melbourne Storm, as the owners of the Australian rugby club are putting a partial stake for sale, according to sources cited by the AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW. Sources said that N.Y.-based bank Jefferies is “currently running point on negotiations with several potential bidders.” Ares “doesn’t have a presence in Australian sport,” though it does have stakes in both the Dolphins and Premier League club Chelsea FC (AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW, 7/16).