Morning Buzz

Browns officials, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and “about 500 others gathered under a tent” on the edge of the team’s new Brook Park stadium site Thursday afternoon “for a ceremonial groundbreaking.” Foundation work is “scheduled to begin in late May,” with the stadium “opening in time for the 2029 NFL season.” The design by architect firm HKS includes “the latest innovations,” including a roof that “will be more translucent than others now in use, providing clearer views of the sky.” In addition, the “configuration of the roof and seats will make for greater crowd noise.” Capacity for football games is “anticipated at 67,500,” but the stadium is “being built so it can be reconfigured for events from 6,000 to 75,000 people.” Much of the focus during Thursday’s event “was on the new Dawg Pound being built at a steep, 34-degree angle to almost form a wall at one side of the field” (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 4/30).

There are “still a couple of questions to be answered,” even as construction commences. The $600M that the state of Ohio has committed to the project is “on hold” due to a class-action lawsuit, which argues that the provision the state budget that took $1B from the state’s Unclaimed Funds Account to help fund sports facilities in Ohio violates “constitutional prohibitions against taking people’s private property for government use.” DeWine “did not know if the litigation would be settled by the time he leaves office in January after two terms.” The city of Brook Park also “still has not approved” its $245M funding plan for the stadium. Haslam Sports Group is “covering most of the costs” at $1.76B along with any cost overruns (AP, 4/30).

As to “whether or not a Super Bowl would ever find its way to Cleveland,” Goodell was “clear on what he thought of the new facility being built.” Goodell: “This stadium is certainly Super Bowl-quality.” But while Goodell was “diplomatic, he seemed less committal, citing an issue that’s previously come up when discussing Cleveland’s readiness to host the big game” -- the number of hotel rooms (CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS, 4/30).

The F1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix kicked off on Thursday, as the race weekend officially got underway with a program of media activities and community engagement at the Miami International Autodrome. Thursday’s schedule included a series of Q&As with F1 drivers alongside industry professionals such as Miami GP President Katharina Nowak. The F1 drivers also joined Dolphins players for a crossover challenge on the field at Hard Rock Stadium. There was also the debut of the first-ever official Miami Grand Prix Fan Fest at Lummus Park -- a free five-day event that has already drawn big crowds. The action gets underway Friday with the biggest on-track schedule in the five-year history of the Miami GP. Ahead of the racing, an invite-only business leadership forum will take place at Hard Rock Stadium, featuring conversations with McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown, General Motors CEO Mary Barra, F1 President & CEO Stefano Domenicali, and Miami GP Managing Partner Tom Garfinkel. In a first for an F1 Grand Prix, the Autosport Business Exchange has partnered with Miami to host the event (Miami Grand Prix).

FIFA President Gianni Infantino “leaned heavily into the theme of unity” during his opening remarks at the FIFA Congress in Vancouver Thursday, “but the charitable mood quickly soured later in the event, after Palestine Football President Jibril Rajoub refused to take part in an unplanned photo op with his counterpart” -- Israel Football Association VP Basim ⁠Sheikh ⁠Suliman -- in a “heated moment that played out in front of the world.” After an “impassioned speech to applause from the delegations,” Rajoub “gave way to Suliman.” Infantino later “called Rajoub back to the stage and tried to get the two to shake hands for a spontaneous photo, to which Rajoub vigorously objected in an extended on-stage discussion with Infantino” (Vancouver PROVINCE, 4/30).

After the two men left the stage at the Vancouver Convention Center, Infantino “thanked them for addressing the delegates and made an appeal.” Infantino: “President Rajoub, vice-president Suliman, let’s work together. Let’s work together to give hope to the children. Let’s work together for that” (London TELEGRAPH, 5/1). As they were leaving the venue, Rajoub and Shalabi were “targeted by protesters who were demanding that FIFA ⁠should ban ​Iran from the World Cup on the grounds that the team, they say, ​represent the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps” (REUTERS, 4/30).

THE ATHLETIC cited sources as saying that “a photo opportunity involving Rajoub and Suliman was pre-planned before the night.” However, “no one was prepared to back that up in the mixed zone after the event on the record.” Rajoub was “pressed multiple times” on whether the handshake was pre-planned, but he “declined to state specifically whether or not he was going to be asked to shake hands with Suliman.” Yariv Teper, the IFA’s acting general secretary, “denied it was pre-planned.” But he said, “I think it was a missing of opportunity.” Asked whether the moment was pre-planned, FIFA’s secretary general Mattias Grafstrom “twice declined to comment” (THE ATHLETIC, 4/30).

Iran was the “only nation not in attendance” at the Congress, marked as absent as the other 210 FIFA members confirmed their attendance. Despite that, Infantino “passionately assured Iran’s participation” in this summer’s World Cup. In addition, Infantino announced that he will run for re-election in 2027. He also “proudly shared that FIFA expects to make” $13.1B in the first 48-team World Cup this summer, and that, “as a non-profit, those profits will go towards the 211 member nations” (SI, 4/30).

Numerous sources familiar with the NFL’s thinking consider Minneapolis-St. Paul a clear favorite to win hosting rights to the 2028 NFL Draft. The NFL’s events committee is scheduled to meet next week to discuss the matter, with an ownership vote expected at their May 19-20 meeting in Orlando.

In March, the Vikings and Minnesota Sports and Events announced a bid, with a plan that would make U.S. Bank Stadium the center of the draft weekend, with events also in St. Paul, the Mall of America and the Viking Lakes development around the team’s Eagan HQ. While NFL officials believe the modern Draft is best suited for cities without Super Bowl aspirations, and Minneapolis has hosted two Super Bowls before, nobody expects a third in the foreseeable future. The Vikings and NFL declined to comment.

Also, sources said, it’s possible the NFL looks to award two drafts at the same time, or in relatively short order. If that happens, some sources said Cincinnati has the inside track for 2029, but there is less clarity around whether the NFL is prepared to do that now. Commissioner Roger Goodell told Pat McAfee last week “we’re going to probably have to start allocating the drafts a little further in advance” due to the event’s size. Nothing is final, sources cautioned, and the Minnesota selection could still change in the weeks before a vote.

The traveling NFL Draft routinely draws hundreds of thousands of fans to a free, festival-like environment that comes at an opportune time for weather in most of the country, making it an ideal platform for civic promotion. It’s also a highly flexible event, capable of being customized to lots of stadium area and civic footprints. Ten teams had representatives at last weekend’s Draft in Pittsburgh to learn and develop their own hopes of hosting, Goodell said.

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Premier League club Aston Villa reached a sponsorship deal with Sports Illustrated Tickets. The 12-year agreement makes the company the club’s official fan experience partner starting with the 2026-27 season. The deal includes naming rights to the Sports Illustrated Warehouse, a new 3,500-capacity venue the club built at Villa Park. Fans will get their first look at space on Sunday. Aston Villa plans to use the warehouse for pre- and postgame activities, premium hospitality, as well as concerts and other shows. The club is also deploying other fan spaces called Club SI and Sports Illustrated Tickets Plaza.

Sports Illustrated Tickets CEO David Lane and Aston Villa Chief Commercial Officer Adrian Filby negotiated the deal. Sports Illustrated Tickets CMO Joe Flores and Aston Villa COO Ben Hatton assisted, along with outside agency MSM. Financial terms of the deal were not shared with SBJ.

Lane told SBJ that it gives his brand a chance to be a recognizable piece of Villa Park’s growth. “What you’re seeing there in them just doing expansion and development is what you see in the headlines from all the professional stadiums,” Lane said. “So Villa is just, again, committing this capital, improving their infrastructure, creating new opportunities for fans 365 days a year -- not just on match dates.”

Aston Villa joins fellow Premier League side Tottenham and crosstown rival Birmingham City FC as Sports Illustrated Tickets customers. SeatGeek is the primary ticketing provider for Aston Villa, extending that relationship in 2024.

Marshall is set to become the first school in the Sun Belt Conference to agree to add a corporate jersey patch. The school is slated to unveil a five-year deal with Marshall Health Network that will see the company’s logo appear on all Thundering Herd athletic uniforms beginning in 2026-27, a source told Sports Business Journal.

As part of the agreement, which was brokered through Learfield and its local affiliate, Thundering Herd Sports Properties, Marshall Health Network will also become the official health care provider of Marshall athletics.

Marshall Health Network has previously been involved with the school’s athletic programs, including through the Marshall Sports Medicine Institute and its presenting sponsorship of Marshall Women’s Athletics. It also leads Marshall’s athletic training program in collaboration with the Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine.

Marshall becomes the 11th school in the country to add a corporate jersey patch for the coming season in the wake of the NCAA relaxing restrictions on such assets. It is also one of just five Group of Six schools to sign such a deal, along with ULM, New Mexico State, Wyoming and South Florida.

On this week’s Sports Media Podcast, Churchill Downs Inc. CEO Bill Carstanjen explains why the Kentucky Oaks airing in primetime on NBC is such a meaningful moment for the sport.

Apollo Sports Capital, Apollo Global Management’s sports-focused fund, is leading a $225M investment into Pickleball Inc., which will combine its pickleball retail, software, media and construction assets with the pro-level PPA Tour and Major League Pickleball -- the latter of which previously sat within a holding company called the United Pickleball Association. Neither the size of Apollo Sports Capital’s stake in the new entity, nor the valuation of Pickleball Inc., were disclosed, and a Pickleball Inc. spokesperson declined to comment.

Pickleball Inc. noted, however, that Tom Dundon and PPA Tour Founder Connor Pardoe will remain majority shareholders of the business, and that the newly combined verticals generated more than $140M in total revenue in 2025. MLP Commissioner Samin Odhwani previously told SBJ that the UPA’s revenue (i.e., the PPA and MLP combined) was in the $70M range last year, and that that entity was on track to be profitable by 2027.

In prepared remarks, Apollo Sports Capital CEO Al Tylis called the investment, “a unique opportunity to support the combination of these assets, effectively reimagining how to create a professional sports league under a single ecosystem and platform for growth.” Tylis previously backed the PPA and MLP’s merger in 2024 and sat on the UPA’s board; is the co-owner of MLP’s Brooklyn Pickleball Team; and will now join Pickleball Inc.’s board, along with Jason Stein (another backer of the 2024 merger and UPA board member), Zubin Mehta, Brian Levine and Pardoe, who will continue as Pickleball Inc.’s CEO.

Pickleball Inc. now consists of the following:

• PPA Tour and MLP: The leading professional pickleball tour and team-based league, respectively, which in 2025 combined to host 33 events; employ more than 150 players; and dole out more than $33M in prize money.
• Pickleball Central: Pickleball equipment, accessories and apparel retailer with more than 100 pro shops across the U.S.
• Pickleball Play Solutions: Pickleball tournament management platform that services the PPA/MLP and thousands of amateur events and leagues, and purports to draw 5M monthly visits.
• Just Courts: Pickleball court installer that services PPA/MLP events, as well as schools, community centers and other facilities.
• Pickleball.com: Web hub for pickleball scores and news, in addition to other digital offerings (merchandise, tournaments, etc.) under the Pickleball Inc. umbrella.
• Pickleball TV: A joint venture with Tennis Channel that airs every PPA/MLP event and other pickleball programming (and is available on YouTube TV and as a FAST Channel with other distributors).

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The Pro Padel League held its first auction-style player draft at the SHiFT Midtown event space in N.Y. Thursday evening, roughly two months before beginning its third full season of operation. Representatives from ownership groups of PPL’s 10 teams, as well as league executives in PPL CEO Mike Dorfman and CCO Diane Gotua, were in attendance. Miami-based television reporter Kristin Sanchez hosted. Dorfman told SBJ that, while the league did not stream or broadcast the event live, it would emphasize near real-time social media coverage and release video content afterwards, including highlights from the draft itself and interviews with team and league representatives. The PPL retained Whittingham Sports to aid its digital content efforts, Mobrox for video production, and Underdog & Co. for event production.

“We do see this eventually being a live broadcast product,” Dorfman said of the draft, adding that the league also hopes to host fans and players for the event in the future. “It’s an exciting moment in leagues offseasons to tell stories about new players. ... We want to keep building this event into a thing we can eventually put live.”

Twenty-one athletes were drafted across the PPL’s 10 teams, some of which entered the draft with players already rostered because they were signed prior to the PPL instituting reforms to its player compensation/contract model last month. The auction format produced one bidding war, between the L.A. Beat and Florida Goats for 27-year-old Spaniard Julia Polo Bautista (which the Beat won). Players self-selected “tiers” for themselves prior to the draft, which delineated minimum annual salaries for them to begin bidding. Those tiers ranged from $15,000 in tier five to $45,000 in tier one; Polo Bautista, for example, registered as tier three with a minimum of $30,000, but had her salary bid up to $36,000. Teams were given a salary cap of $150,000 for the draft.

The PPL begins its 2026 season in July with an event in N.Y. and will stage four more between then and December before scaling to 10 events in 2027. It recently raised a $15M Series A led by Hornets co-owner Rick Schnall and has secured multiyear sponsorship deals with Paddletek, Franklin Sports, Frederique Constant and Engine in recent months.

The United Soccer League and the USL Players Association have “reached a tentative agreement on key terms” of a new CBA. The agreement will “cover the USL Championship and USL Premier, which is expected to launch in 2028, pending final ratification.” USL League One “has a separate agreement.” The announcement “followed negotiations that extended 21 months.” The USL Championship opened its 2026 season in March without a new agreement. USLPA members “overwhelmingly authorized a strike, but players chose to start the season” (SOCCER AMERICA, 4/30).

Cosm is looking for a GM. The Detroit-based position is responsible for all aspects of managing the operation of the overall business, including guest experience, event innovation, financial performance, revenue generation and delivering ROI to key stakeholders (Cosm).

Fiesta Sports Foundation is looking for a VP/Partnerships. The Scottsdale-based position is responsible for developing and executing an overall revenue-centric strategic plan aimed at growing partnership revenues seeking to optimize the portfolio of relationships and accounts and ensures that each partner receives the level of service to meet their expectations (Fiesta Sports Foundation).

PBR is looking for a VP/Brand Strategy & Marketing. The Fort Worth-based position is responsible for defining and leading the PBR brand and integrated marketing strategy to drive growth, engagement and long-term brand equity (PBR).

NYCFC is looking for a Manager/Projects & Facilities. The Flushing-based position is responsible for the support and delivery of all projects and facilities management services and processes that support the operation of Etihad Park Stadium, Etihad CFA N.Y. and Manhattan office (NYCFC).

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“In 2026 a New Year’s Day college football game featured these 2 team names that are both Gene Hackman movie titles.”