Morning Buzz

Turkiye on Thursday night scored a goal deep in stoppage time to notch a 3-2 win over the USMNT, “spoiling the Americans’ unbeaten start” in the group stage of the World Cup. With the USMNT “having already locked down a spot in the knockout stages,” coach Mauricio Pochettino “emptied his bench” for the Turkiye match, “making nine changes to his lineup ... and giving 21 players a start in the first round.” But that “roll of the dice didn’t work,” with Turkiye “getting its only win of the tournament on its last touch of the World Cup.” Whether the result “robs Pochettino’s team of the momentum it built” in the prior games “won’t be known until Wednesday,” when the USMNT faces Bosnia and Herzegovina, the third-place team from Group B, in its first elimination game in Santa Clara (L.A. TIMES, 6/25).

After the game, Pochettino “expressed his annoyance with what he perceived as disappointment in the result.” Pochettino said to reporters, “For you not say congratulations that we won the group, that is a little bit sad. ... We won first place in this group. ... We had other priorities. We wanted to win. We did want the victory, but there are other things we needed to balance out, and that’s how I made the decisions.” Pochettino “fielded nearly an entirely new lineup for this low-stakes game,” notably “resting all four key players who picked up yellow cards earlier in the tournament.” But the “game’s meaninglessness didn’t matter to the raucous sellout crowd that packed SoFi Stadium” (AP, 6/26).

The loss to Turkiye “comes with an asterisk,” as this version of the USMNT “wasn’t the one that dominated its first two games and won the group.” This version “was the B team.” Turkiye “also was chippy.” The “only thing they had to play for was pride,” but “that’s a pretty powerful motivator and they were bodying the Americans from the jump.” If the USMNT “starters had produced this result, then it would be time to panic.” Instead “it’s just ... an asterisk” (USA TODAY, 6/25).

Second Lady Usha Vance led the U.S. delegation at the USMNT-Turkiye game in L.A. and was shown on the broadcast at the end of the National Anthem. Media personality Paris Hilton, son Phoenix and daughter London handled the pregame delivery of the match ball.

Among other famous faces: former VP Kamala Harris and husband Doug Emhoff, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jessica Alba, Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Jamie Foxx, Ashton Kutcher, Colin Farrell, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Owen Wilson, Will Ferrell, Basketball HOFer Scottie Pippen, Soccer HOFers Mia Hamm and Julie Foudy, Rams WR Puca Nacua and QB Ty Simpson, Keegan Michael-Key, Mexican actor and singer Jaime Camil, Dodgers P Tyler Glasnow, former Olympic gymnasts Nadia Comaneci and Bart Conner, former soccer player Robbie Keane, singer Kelly Rowland, UFC fighter Brian Ortega, and TV personality Jennifer Affleck.

Singer Sabrina Carpenter was at N.Y. N.J. Stadium for the Germany-Ecuador match.

The World Cup has already set “a new all-time attendance record” in 2026, “thanks to an expanded bracket and some of the largest venues in the world.” The record for total attendance for a single World Cup was broken on Thursday with 3,605,357 fans -- “and growing -- so far.” That breaks the previous attendance record of 3,587,538 fans set at the 1994 World Cup, which also was held in the U.S. Stadiums have also “had a 99.7% occupancy rate so far,” which is “on pace to break another record.” With the attendance record already broken, the “final total will demolish the old record.” The expanded bracket to 48 teams in 2026 results in 104 total games, which is 40 more than the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The overall World Cup attendance record was set on Thursday evening after Ecuador’s 2-1 win over Germany at N.Y. N.J. Stadium (USA TODAY, 6/25).

The record total “does come with at least one caveat: With the larger, 48-team field in the 2026 World Cup, 56 games have been played thus far.” In 1994, the field was comprised of 24 teams and played 52 games in total. The number of teams playing in the World Cup increased to 32 teams in 1998, resulting in 64 games being played overall. Additionally, the “size of the stadiums in the U.S. where matches are being played includes a higher seating capacity than venues in previous countries that have hosted the World Cup” (YAHOO SPORTS, 6/25).

A pair of matches likely to determine group winners are the most expensive of Friday’s six World Cup matches. Norway-France in Boston, which determines the winner of Group I, has a get-in price of $1,562, according to TicketData.com. Meanwhile, Uruguay-Spain in Guadalajara, which most likely determines the winner of Group H, sits at $1,735. The remaining four games on Friday all come in below $700. Senegal-Iraq in Toronto is the highest at $667, followed by New Zealand-Belgium in Vancouver ($580), Egypt-Iran in Seattle ($580) and Cabo Verde-Saudi Arabia ($554). All get-in prices are down at least 20% over the past three days, and Egypt-Iran is the only match that has seen an increase over the past seven days (plus-11%), though all tickets are still up relative to the start of the tournament, with Cabo Verde-Saudi Arabia (plus-202%) and Egypt-Iran (plus-134%) seeing the largest spikes. SBJ has partnered with TicketData.com to track get-in prices and trends for upcoming games. For additional information on games, visit the World Cup page at TicketData.com.

The MLBPA on Thursday “proposed a ban on prop betting on individual players to help combat harassment from disgruntled gamblers,” according to a source cited by ESPN.com. In addition, the MLBPA “asked the league to clarify that players may engage in endorsements and sponsorships from legal betting operators, including prediction markets.” The source added that the union also “proposed adjustments to how sports betting investigations are handled and the process for players returning from gambling punishments.” Under the MLBPA proposal, players who are subject to betting investigations “would be put on administrative leave.” The union asked that players “punished for sports betting violations be allowed to go on a 15-day unpaid rehabilitation assignment in the minor leagues near the end of their suspension” (ESPN.com, 6/25).k

A federal magistrate ruled Thursday that multimedia rights companies that represent college athletic departments “can continue to be subject to the same rules governing millions” in third party NIL payments to players that are “reshaping college sports.” Northern District of California Magistrate Judge Nathanael Cousins “denied a request to rule that MMRs and third-party brand sponsors should not fall under the same reviews by the College Sports Commission as do collective and booster deals.” Plaintiffs attorney Jeffrey Kessler “argued that boosters and booster collectives, which have in some cases been replaced by MMRs as the key NIL negotiators, should be deemed associated entities but not the MMRs themselves.” The magistrate “disagreed, siding with the NCAA and power conferences named as defendants” (AP, 6/25).

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The NHL Draft kicks off at 7pm ET Friday with lessons learned from its inaugural year in the decentralized format.

Gone is the maligned “Draft House” that televised virtual interactions between draftees and front offices but was hampered by delays and other tech issues. Rightsholders will interview the draft picks from a high-tech set just off the stage that will be customized for each player, with family photos woven into the background.

With teams working remotely, the prime real estate directly in front of the stage where GMs once sat has been replaced with a collection of couches that will put prospects and their families front and center. NHL Central Registry will also have an increased presence, placed stage-right so that its work processing transactions in real time can replace some of the action lost with front offices no longer in the public eye.

NHL President of Content & Events Steve Mayer admitted to some minor surprise when clubs voted to keep the draft decentralized after last year’s foray. But he knew there were ways to improve the product and pick up the pace as the draft returned to an arena for the first time since 2023.

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The Big 12 is slated to add Monster Energy as the naming rights sponsor of the league’s 2026 Football Media Days, Sports Business Journal has learned. Exact financial details of the deal were not immediately available, while an official announcement is expected on Friday.

The event -- which will be branded as 2026 Monster Energy Big 12 Football Media Days -- is an expansion of the conference’s previous deal with Monster that began last year.

The event will feature a co-branded Monster Energy Big 12 Football Media Days logo on all signage, while Monster’s promotional team will be on site with samplings and giveaways. Monster effectively replaces Microsoft Copilot, which served as a presenting partner of last year’s Big 12 Football Media Days.

Big 12 Media Days are slated for July 7 and 8 at The Star in Frisco, Texas.

Gamecode, an AI-powered soccer performance startup, has created a new AI agent to help clubs access and analyze their data through a natural language interface. The platform’s backend infrastructure lets coaches develop custom metrics to best evaluate their particular style of play -- those who press and move aggressively downfield shouldn’t judge their players by the same datapoints as those who preach conservative ball control.

Already working with teams in the Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga and MLS, Gamecode is now publicly launching after six years of development. It also seeks to bridge the gap between match and training data through the development of its own lower-cost tracking data camera that can be installed on practice fields for more direct comparisons to the match.

Tobias Haupt, the former academy director for the German soccer federation, is now leading Gamecode as its CEO. He explained that the software draws on the Claude Opus LLM with custom enhancements to craft the analysis to meet a coach’s vision.

“The customers are able to measure their game philosophy for the very first time,” Haupt said, “and they’re able to measure things on a player and team level, like game intelligence, decision making on the pitch, and that was not measurable so far.”

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On this week’s Sports Media Podcast, SBJ’s Austin Karp looks back at Linda Cohn’s legacy after decades on “SportsCenter” and how massive her impact on sports media is.

The Athletics are looking for a Dir/Ticket Solutions. The Las Vegas-based position is responsible for executing long-term strategy to grow identified fans in attendance across all transaction types, including ticketing, concessions, merchandise, parking, mobile ordering and loyalty initiatives (Athletics).

Monumental Sports & Entertainment is looking for a Dir/Suite Sales. The D.C.-based position is responsible for generating contracted and single event revenue for Capital One Arena through the sales of premium hospitality products including annual suite leases, club memberships and single event suite rentals with a focus on providing outstanding customer service (Monumental Sports & Entertainment).

The NBPA is looking for a Licensing Manager/Trading Cards & Collectibles. The N.Y.-based position is responsible for working with licensees to ensure business objectives are achieved and rights granted to partners are properly implemented, as well as liaising with partners to approve product designs and marketing materials for products under license (NBPA).

Fanatics is looking for a Senior Associate/VIP Strategic Initiatives. The N.Y.-based position is responsible for building deliverables driving VIP decisions and strategic priorities: executive decks, financial models and ad hoc analysis (Fanatics).

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“After measuring the transit of Venus in 1761, this pair of astronomers was recommended by the Royal Society for a job in America.”