Morning Buzz

Kroenke Sports & Entertainment will welcome up to 3,500 Avalanche and Nuggets fans to watch each of the teams’ home playoff games outside Ball Arena. The new fan zone and viewing area will be known as Avs Alley for Avalanche games, with Key Bank serving as the presenting sponsor, and Base Camp 5280 Fan Zone for Nuggets games, with UMB and Ibotta serving as presenting sponsors.

The stretch of Chopper Circle between 9th Street and 11th Street, which will be closed to vehicle traffic, will feature live game broadcasts on a 20-foot video board, along with DJs, food trucks, beer and hard seltzer carts, giveaways, partner activations and appearances by team mascots and dance teams. General admission to the viewing area will be free for the first two rounds of the playoffs, but digital passes will be required for entry. If either team advances to the conference finals, an admission fee will be instituted, with all proceeds benefitting Kroenke Sports Charities.

“The point of Avs Alley is to not only elevate the experience of people coming to the game but also give other fans a low-cost place to gather and celebrate the team,” Avalanche Senior Dir/Marketing Megan Boyle said.

Outdoor fan zones have become popular across the NHL and NBA during the playoffs in recent years as an opportunity to engage fans who aren’t able to secure tickets while driving additional revenue through sponsorship and the sale of concessions and merchandise. Prior to 2018, the NHL limited the number of watch parties that teams could hold to protect its broadcast partners, but it has since embraced the concept fully.

ESPN saw healthy viewership growth in Q1, and a 14% increase for its studio shows was a big part of that. “The Pat McAfee Show,” “Get Up” and “NBA Today” also saw record Q1 audiences, as well as the 2pm ET and late-night Scott Van Pelt-helmed windows of “SportsCenter.” Studio shows since September have seen a noticeable bump from Nielsen Big Data – perhaps even more so than live events.

The record for Van Pelt comes amid his decision to not take over the 5pm ET window. That program, which SVP has hosted since 2015, averaged 868,000 viewers over the first three months of the year, which is up 22% from the same period in 2025 and the best average audience for any of ESPN’s regular studio shows. The 5pm “SC” averaged 477,000 viewers in Q1, up 10% from “Around the Horn” drew in the same slot last year.

“NBA Today” averaged 360,000 viewers for Q1, while “Get Up” averaged 464,000. Figures for “The Pat McAfee Show” included linear and YouTube viewership and could not be broken out.

Other superlatives for ESPN studio shows in Q1 include:

• “PTI” (777,000) and the Saturday morning “SC” (449,000) each had their best Q1 averages since 2019.
• The 6pm “SC” (533,000) had its best Q1 since 2016 (Christine Williamson joined co-anchor Kevin Negandhi in March).
• “NFL Live” (469,000) had its best Q1 since 2015.
• “First Take” (524,000) and the Sunday morning “SC” (455,000) each had their best Q1 since 2024
• The midnight “SC” (non-SVP editions, 443,000) saw its best Q1 since 2022.
• The 7am “SC” (270,000) was at its best figure for Q1 since 2020.

ESPN play-by-play commentator Mark Jones received “multiple tributes” during Sunday’s Magic-Celtics game, which marked his “final” game for ESPN. Jones was joined by longtime colleague Doris Burke for the game. The first came “moments before tip-off.” Burke said, “I just want you to know, everybody involved in the truck, here courtside, we are honored to be here with you.” A more elaborate tribute followed midway through the fourth quarter, “recapping Jones’s impressive ESPN career over the last 36 years.” Jones, with a crack in his voice as Burke also held back tears, said, “I am so grateful to be able to take this journey with you and so many of my other wonderful colleagues at ESPN for 36 years. I couldn’t do anything and wouldn’t do anything differently. Thank you” (SI, 4/12).

Jones, posting to Bluesky, confirmed Saturday that the Sunday broadcast would be his last with the network. He wrote, “As I move on to my next chapter I believe my best work is yet to come. I’ll be out there cookin’ hotter than fish grease!” (BLUESKY, 4/11).

Rory McIlroy made history Sunday in Augusta, becoming just the fourth player to win the Masters in back-to-back years when he outlasted Scottie Scheffler by one shot. All three of the network morning shows this morning touched on the feat in their opening segments. CBS’ Amanda Balionis, who was part of the net’s coverage of the Masters, appeared live from Augusta National and showed clips of an interview she held with McIlroy following the final round (“CBS Mornings,” 4/13). NBC’s Kaylee Hartung noted, “For a tournament with a history of thrilling finishes, the 90th Masters took us for a wild ride and delivered the drama” (“Today,” NBC, 4/13). ABC’s Lara Spencer noted McIlroy was “keeping fans on the edge of their seats until the last hole” (“GMA,” ABC, 4/13).

The Southern Conference and CBS Sports are slated to announce an expansion and extension of their deal through the 2031-32 season. Exact terms of the six-year deal were not available at press time, while an official announcement is expected on Monday.

CBS Sports Network will televise 10 SoCon regular-season men’s basketball games annually, doubling the previous annual commitment.

This agreement comes on the heels of the SoCon announcing an extension of its broader media deal with ESPN. That deal will see the league’s men’s basketball tournament championship game telecast on ESPN for multiple years of the deal, among other measures.

TrailRunner Sports and its team of Jamie Zaninovich, Maddie Kraft and Bryan Brush assisted on the deal.

Basketball HOFer Kevin Garnett made his “long-awaited homecoming” on Sunday when he returned to the Target Center in Minneapolis for the “first time since 2018.” Garnett had had a "rift with former owner Glen Taylor," but that is "over with new leadership." Garnett is officially a team ambassador and is ”part of the family again." Garnett caused the arena to “tremble from noise as he emerged from a tunnel right before tip-off of the regular-season finale.” He walked “slowly onto the court” and “repeatedly tapped his heart as fans showered him with a standing ovation.” The game was delayed shortly when Garnett and T’Wolves G Anthony Edwards met “along the baseline for a hug” between the franchise’s “past and present faces” (MINNESOTA STAR TRIBUNE, 4/13).

As significant as the identity of the No. 1 player selected in tonight’s WNBA Draft is, her rookie salary might be a bigger a storyline. Under the terms of the new CBA, the top overall pick will make $500,000 at the top of the rookie scale.

G Paige Bueckers, last year’s No. 1 pick by the Wings, was slotted at $78,831 and G Caitlin Clark, chosen No. 1 by the Fever in 2024, was slotted at $76,335, according to contracts website Spotrac.

Under the revised first-round scale, the top eight picks are scheduled to make more than $300K as rookies; players selected from No. 9 to 15 make $289,133. Second- and third-round selections make the $270,000 base salary as rookies.

Players scheduled to play under their rookie contracts this season have had their salaries adjusted for the remaining lengths of their deals. Bueckers will make $500,000 in Year 2 and Clark will make $528,846 in her third season after collecting $78,066 in her second season.

Read More >>>

The World Sevens Football women’s soccer tournament will hold its third edition this May at Brentford FC’s Gtech Community Stadium in West London.

The latest iteration of the seven-on-seven competition will include eight teams from England’s Women’s Super League, the first time the event has included teams from just one league. The Manchester United and Aston Villa women’s sides are the first participants to be announced.

NJ/NY Gotham FC minority owner Jennifer Mackesy launched World Sevens in 2025, with the first two editions of World Sevens were held last May in Portugal and last December in Ft. Lauderdale, with Bayern Munich and the San Diego Wave, respectively, emerging victorious. The competition features a reduced‑size natural‑grass pitch, 30‑minute games and rolling substitutions.

While the first two editions each featured $5M prize pools, the prize pool for the upcoming London edition will be $1.5M.

The National Lacrosse League’s Philadelphia Wings won their final home game on Sunday at Xfinity Mobile Arena, drawing “one of the team’s largest crowds (9,913) in recent memory” and selling out the arena’s lower bowl. The team’s owner, Comcast Spectacor, announced on March 30 that it would be “pulling its ownership of the Wings,” noting that the team “no longer aligned with its ‘strategic direction.’” The rights to the box lacrosse franchise “now belong to the NLL until the league finds a suitable owner.” The team is “expected to move outside of the city.” The Wings were one of the original four NLL teams when it was established in 1987 (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 4/12).

What’s on Heather Brooks Karatz’s mind? The founding partner of Third Space Capital explains why stadium‑adjacent real estate development is one of today’s most compelling opportunity zones.

In this week’s issue:

• In a market known for everything from baseball bats to bourbon, Louisville has used teams and events to build its profile in the sports industry. SBJ’s David Broughton reports on the Top American Market.
• SBJ’s Ben Portnoy and Rachel Axon wrap up the men’s and women’s Final Four, where Michigan and the Big Ten flexed their muscle and UCLA won its first title in a tournament that showed the strides the NCAA has made on the women’s side.
• Sports venues are reimagining the upper deck, using everything from smaller capacities to greater amenities to make the spaces more appealing. SBJ’s Bret McCormick has the details.
• SBJ’s Terry Lefton highlights a meeting of former Heisman Trophy winners where a new effort was unveiled to make the honor more relevant with consumers and build on the legacy of those athletes.
• Tour the NWSL’s new digs in New York City as SBJ’s Rob Schaefer shows how the space reflects the league’s growth and offers some surprises along the way — how about the turf-carpeted area with bleacher seats?

Good Karma Brands are looking for a VP/National Partnerships. The N.Y.-based position is responsible for leading national business strategy and growth efforts for the Radio Network and Podcast business within the audio marketplace, including identifying, prioritizing and converting revenue growth opportunities (Good Karma Brands).

FIFA World Cup is looking for a PMA Logistics Manager. The Foxborough-based position is responsible for delivering the PMA logistics operations in the designated host city, within venues including stadiums, airports, team base camp training sites and hotels to ensure efficient delivery of logistics services throughout the tournament (FIFA World Cup).

Oak View Group is looking for a VP/Ticketing-Moody Center. The Austin-based position is responsible for overseeing creation, configuration and management of all event builds within Ticketmaster, including manifest integrity and inventory controls (Oak View Group).

The Jets are looking for a Manager/Partnership Service & Activation. The Florham Park-based position is responsible for managing the day-to-day relationships, strategic planning, and the execution of the contractual benefits for corporate partners (Jets).

Read More >>>

“A river named for the sacred lotus flower flows toward this 839,000-square-mile body of water.”