Bryson DeChambeau "turned in a virtuoso performance that came down to the final notes" yesterday, as an incredible bunker shot on the 18th hole helped him capture the U.S. Open title at a tournament that will be remembered as a "classic in most every way." DeChambeau "outdueled Rory McIlroy in a battle of heavyweights" that "wasn’t decided until the final hole." McIlroy began the day three shots behind but led by as many as two Sunday (WASHINGTON POST, 6/16).

It was "a credit to No. 2 and the lingering genius of Donald Ross that emotions ran so high and swung so wildly" during the final round. The "unique geography" of the layout meant that "even in different groups, DeChambeau and McIlroy were linked by proximity." They "battled with the wiregrass" and they "struggled with the crusty late-afternoon greens." And "if it wasn’t exquisite shot-making, it was exquisite torture." They "staggered home, two giants of the game, one desperately trying to recast his image, the other desperately trying to end a decade-long major drought." Pinehurst "got not only the finishing battle it deserved, and the tale that will be told until this tournament returns in 2029" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 6/16).

DeChambeau has "proven himself a different golfer and a different person than he was when he last won the U.S. Open" at Winged Foot in 2020, making this victory "feel less like a follow-up and more like a launching point for a star who can usher golf into its next era." Too often "the idea of DeChambeau the YouTube star is met with confusion by an older generation of golf fan that is neither consuming his content nor the intended audience for it." Still, DeChambeau "fed off hearing catch phrases from his YouTube channel yelled out by fans" and "delighted the crowd with gestures big and small -- from fist pumps and flexes to stopping and signing autographs for kids late into the evening on Saturday night" (CBSSPORTS.com, 6/16).

The Sounders’ ownership group and global investment firm The Carlyle Group officially announced their previously reported $58 million purchase of the NWSL Seattle Reign FC from France's OL Groupe. The Reign are the fourth NWSL club to share ownership with an MLS club, joining the Houston Dash (with the Dynamo), Orlando Pride (with Orlando City) and Utah Royals (with Real Salt Lake).   

Sounders owner Adrian Hanauer will serve as governor of Reign FC on the NWSL board, with Carlyle Head of Private Credit Alex Popov serving as alternate governor. Maya Mendoza-Exstrom, who most recently served as Sounders COO, will become the Reign’s Chief Business Officer under the new ownership group. 

Both the Sounders and Reign play at Lumen Field, the 69,000-seat home of the Seahawks, but a new soccer-specific stadium is a possibility going forward. The Sounders recently opened the Providence Swedish Performance Center & Clubhouse, which anchors a 158-acre site in Renton, Wash., colloquially known as Longacres. The Reign will continue to train a mile away at Starfire Sports in Tukwila, Wash., for the foreseeable future.  

The Sounders have identified a site on the Longacres property where they could eventually build a stadium. The MLS team’s lease at Lumen Field runs through 2032, but President of Business Operations Hugh Webersaid there are “some potential flexibility points” before that date and that the organization needs to decide its long-term stadium plans in the next 18 months. Adding the Reign to the organization makes building a soccer-specific stadium more feasible. 

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NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is scheduled to testify today in U.S. District Court in L.A. as the “Sunday Ticket” trial continues. Cowboys owner Jerry Jonesis also scheduled to testify early this week, possibly as soon as today. The plaintiffs claim the NFL’s tactic of bundling all rights to out-of-market games and selling them to a single entity, DirecTV (under the “Sunday Ticket” brand), violated antitrust laws and are seeking $7B in damages. The NFL has denied any wrongdoing. Among those who have already testified are NFL Chief Media and Business Officer Brian Rolapp and a deposition from Patriots owner Robert Kraft has been played for the jury. The jury trial is expected to continue through the end of June (SBJ).

Snowboarding legend Shaun White is launching The Snow League, a new snowsports property that will debut next March with a $1.5M prize purse across a five-stop global season. The league has institutional investment from Ares Management, David Blitzer’s Bolt Ventures, Ryan Ventures and Will Ventures, and it’s now pursuing deals with top broadcasters, sponsors and resorts. Though the initial season will largely be restricted to halfpipe snowboarding, White and his partners envision growing The Snow League into a multi-discipline property with as many as 15 events per year.

White has dreamt of a league-style snowsports property since first breaking onto the scene as a teenager in the early 2000s, when he was stunned to discover that even an undefeated season across multiple disciplines, from halfpipe to big air to slopestyle, wasn’t enough to earn him the title of world champion. The phenom rider would of course go on to collect more accolades than any in the sport, including three Olympic gold medals, but he’s spent his career wondering what a formalized league might look like. 

“It’s always kind of been looming there. And most recently you get inspiration from [leagues like World Surf League and Street League Skateboarding],” White said. “When you look at [snowboarding], you go wow, this is the perfect time and place to be doing this. Not only for myself personally, now that I’m retired, but within the sport we’re at a tipping point where there’s a real lack of events. It needs to have a new fire lit.” 

Many of the top pro snowboarding properties, like the Burton US Open, Dew Tour and X Games, have been downsized or eliminated over recent years. The snowboard halfpipe remains one of the most-viewed Winter Olympic sports but only happens once every four years.

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USA Swimming moved its Olympics trials to Lucas Oil Stadium, putting a 50-meter pool in an NFL venue for the first time in part to draw more fans. It took less than two days for that to pay off.

On Saturday night -- the first day in which athletes qualify for the Olympic team with wins in finals -- the national governing body set a world record for attendance with 20,689, eclipsing the roughly 16,000 record set during the Rio Olympics. 

During Sunday's prelims, USA Swimming set another record. The 17,697 in attendance on Father's Day set a record for prelims and represented a total that less than 24 hours earlier would have been the most ever at a swim event.

USA Swimming is hoping to see continued interest in Indianapolis this week with 32,000-seat capacity at Lucas Oil Stadium. Trials run through June 23 when USA Swimming will announce its whole roster of 26 women and 26 men for Paris. That will give the U.S. team a month to prepare and taper, with the Olympics opening July 26.

WME Sports is launching talent representation and brand consulting services for padel, the fast-growing global racquet sport, and the new division’s first signee is a significant one -- World Padel Tour’s No. 1 ranked player, Arturo Coello. 

Coello, 21, is the youngest player to ever top the WPT rankings. He will retain his manager, Miguel Sánchez. “WME Sports represents some of the most successful athletes across the globe and will allow me to take my brand to the next level,” Coello said in a statement.

WME Sports’ padel group will be co-run by directors Hernan Auguste and Daniel Dios. Auguste is a former No. 1-ranked padel player, and in his post-playing career has served as international manager of the WPT, chief padel officer at padel-focused conglomerate LeDap Group, and head of international relations for MejorSet Padel Courts. Dios has consulted for LeDap and served as international sales director for Notrick Planner and CEO of Padel Trainer. 

Auguste and Dios will report to IMG’s SVP/Head of Tennis Clients Max Eisenbud, as WME will leverage resources and synergies with IMG’s tennis vertical (part of WME Sports) to augment its padel offerings. The agency represents several top tennis players via IMG’s tennis division, including reigning French Open champions Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek.

The International Cricket Council is releasing an immersive viewing experience for the Apple Vision Pro that will give users the opportunity to watch T20 World Cup highlights in 3D.

Built using HyperReality technology from Quidich, a player- and ball-tracking provider for ICC broadcasts, the new app being released tomorrow is called ICC Immersive. It renders the cricket field, stadium and athletes and places the user on the pitch between the wickets to see accurate recreations of key plays.

"The thing that we were really focused on,” ICC head of digital Finn Bradshaw said, “was, 'Let's not just make it an experience where you're watching a video with a headset on. How do you use the capabilities there to create something that really gives fans some extra insight into the game?’ Credit to those guys, it's been about a six-week run time for them to get this up, and they've done a fantastic job.”

Quidich has been working with the ICC since 2020, first on an augmented reality product, and since 2021 on infusing broadcasts with new metrics derived from its tracking system, which collects data using a single, high-resolution camera perched atop the stadium. That includes fielder positioning and ball trajectory.

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UEFA "wants to keep Russian flags out of the stadium" when Ukraine plays its first European Championship game today after some were displayed in the stands at other matches. UEFA said security staff "will try to intercept and remove Russian flags from being displayed" at the Munich stadium where Ukraine plays Romania this afternoon in the Euro 2024 group stage. German authorities previously said they "only wanted to allow flags of the participating teams to be brought to stadiums and official fan zones" broadcasting games on big screens in the 10 host cities. That was seen also as a "protective measure to avoid likely provocations if Israeli and Palestinian flags were displayed." UEFA also has disciplinary rules against political messages at stadiums and "can punish teams if such are displayed by their fans" (AP, 6/17).

In this week's SBJ, SBJ celebrates the 25th class of Forty Under 40 with profiles of the honorees and why each achieved this prestigious distinction in this keepsake edition. Plus, Where Are They Now?: What every honoree in program history is doing these days. Publisher Abe Madkour takes you inside the selection process and SBJ’s Bill King looks back at the first awards gala. 

Also this week: 

• Why MLB is bringing a regular season game to Rickwood Field in Birmingham, long the home of the Negro Leagues.  

• Meet Tim Pernetti, the new American Athletic Conference commissioner who has bold plans amid uncertain times in college sports. 

• The Premier Lacrosse League has a new model, but the same enthusiasm from its leaders Paul and Mike Rabil.

The Senators and Penguins will meet on Sept. 29 in Kraft Hockeyville, the annual preseason matchup that "celebrates the community" of Elliot Lake, Ont. It'll be the ninth time the Senators will play in a Kraft Hockeyville game, while the Penguins will compete in their third. The community has received "$250,000 for arena upgrades plus $10,000 worth of youth hockey equipment from the NHLPA Goals and Dreams fund" (SPORTSNET.ca, 6/16).

Nebraska G Keisei Tominaga, nicknamed the “Japanese Steph Curry,” inked a multiyear deal with Curry’s signature line, "making him the first international athlete to do so." Tominaga is "in the midst of the NBA draft process." Tominaga will wear his new sneakers on the floor at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, where he will represent Japan (YAHOO SPORTS, 6/17).

The INDIANAPOLIS STAR goes with the header, "Blood, sweat and 2M gallons of water: The women behind largest Olympic swimming trials." The U.S. Olympic swimming trials were "a much-needed glimmer of hope" that "maybe, just maybe, things would one day be normal again" after the COVID-19 pandemic. As Sarah Myer helped with the bid, USA Swimming's Shana Ferguson was "dreaming of how incredible it would be to see Olympic hopefuls in front of 16,000 fans in a stadium breaking a trials world record for the largest swim meet ever." Community leader Karin Sarratt, IU Natatorium event coordinator Arlene McDonald and Indiana Sports Corp's Ashleigh Newbold "all had their own vital roles to play." Behind it all has been five key players -- "five women who gave it all -- late nights, long days, early mornings, blood, sweat and, ultimately, two million gallons of water piped into Lucas Oil earlier this month to fill the massive Olympic-sized pool and its accompanying warmup pool."

Also:

• Celtics clinching championship at home would be rare Boston occurrence.

• Kai Wagner calls out Union ownership as the season threatens to go off the rails.

• Cavalry FC aims to attract a World Cup team for base camp in Calgary.

MONDAY

• Game 5 of the NBA Finals between the Celtics and the Mavericks will take place at TD Garden at 8:30pm ET. 

TUESDAY

• SBJ's ALL IN -- which aims to amplify and elevate conversations about diversity, equity, and inclusion in the industry and drive positive change -- will present its second quarterly, one-hour interactive episode on the topic of "Leveraging the Power of Sports to Educate and Register Voters" from 12:30-1:30pm ET. The episode will examine how leagues, teams, organizations and athletes inspire civic engagement. Attendees will learn best practices for implementing similar programs at the micro and macro levels. Speakers include RISE CEO Diahann Billings-Burford, Cavaliers SVP & Head of Social Impact and Equity Kevin Clayton and CAA Foundation Exec Dir Natalie Tran. Register for the event here.

• MiLB's Birmingham Barons and the Montgomery Biscuits will play a regular season game at Birmingham, Ala.'s Rickwood Field, the oldest professional ballpark in the U.S. and former home of the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro Leagues, at 7:15pm ET. 

WEDNESDAY

• MLB and Uninterrupted will host "Barnstorm Birmingham -- A Juneteenth Celebration," an experience for the Birmingham community and beyond, centered on Uninterrupted Fam Jam -- a celebrity softball game that will be followed by an electric performance by artist Metro Boomin.

THURSDAY

• MLB will host its MLB at Rickwood game, where the Cardinals and Giants will play a regular season game at Rickwood Field at 7:15pm ET. 

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"Helping draft an executive order in 1961, Hobart Taylor Jr. almost used the word 'positive', but instead chose this alliterative phrase."

"What is affirmative action?"