The WNBA’s next national media rights package will see the league receive roughly $2.2B over the next 11 years -- an average of $200M a year -- "with an opening to earn more over that period," according to sources. ESPN, NBC and Amazon "will all have their own WNBA packages" in the new deal. The WNBA’s current media deals, valued at roughly $50M annually, "are set to expire" after the 2025 season, with Disney, Ion, CBS and Amazon as its media partners. Since the new deals "leave room for the WNBA to bring in new partners," the league "anticipates it will sell two other rights packages in addition to the ones it has already made agreements for, and projects to bring in another" $60M annually in total in those additional deals. There is also "an agreement between the league and the media partners to revisit the rights deals with good faith talks after three years that could reprice them to reflect the league’s growth" (THE ATHLETIC, 7/16).

LAS VEGAS -- The NBA’s BOG overwhelmingly ratified the league’s 11-year, $76B media rights deal last night -- with only the irascible Knicks likely voting no -- and, according to sources, frozen out incumbent Warner Bros. Discovery now officially intends to match Amazon’s "C" package in a matter of days.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced in an evening news conference that the BOG "did approve this stage" of media proposals, but also acknowledged cryptically that there was work to be done "with existing partners." Although Silver would not be specific or even mention WBD by name, the sequence of events is clear.

First, as soon as today, the league will turn over three written contracts to WBD -- ESPN’s reported $2.6B annual bid, NBCUniversal’s $2.5B bid and Amazon’s $1.8B bid-- at which point WBD CEO David Zaslav will have five days to match NBC or Amazon. Because Zaslav and Co. believe Amazon’s streaming deal (alternating conference finals, a Thursday package, Friday or Saturday games, NBA Cup, early round playoffs and international rights) is the most fiscally responsible, sources indicated yesterday they will match Amazon with their own streaming service, Max, while simulcasting games on TNT.

The NBA is expected to argue Max is not equal to Amazon (which has a 200M worldwide ad-supported reach compared to Max’s approximate 100M), likely leading to either an argument, a lawsuit, a cash settlement or, if WBD has its way, a fourth smaller package. Asked if he anticipates a treacherous ending to negotiations, Silver said, "I don’t have a sense of that. Much of it is outside my control. We’ll see."

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The AL beat the NL 5-3 in last night's MLB All-Star Game at Globe Life Field, as Red Sox CF Jarren Duran "turned some heads in his first All-Star Game, hitting a tiebreaking two-run homer" for the AL and being awarded the MVP trophy. Pirates rookie P Paul Skenes "pitched a hitless first" for the NL, twice hitting 100 mph, and Dodgers P/DH Shohei Ohtani "also went deep" with a three-run homer. Played in 2 hours, 28 minutes, it was the "shortest All-Star Game since 1988" (AP, 7/16). 

The 94th Midsummer Classic "provided exactly what a game of stars should." In a game "created for stars to shine, baseball’s biggest star shined the brightest." Ohtani "obliterated a no-doubt, 400-foot blast" to the seats in the third inning, "leaving the crowd of 40,000-plus fans at Globe Life Field stunned." No moment "was more anticipated" than Skenes "going toe-to-toe with the best hitters the American League has to offer." Fans "got the moment they most wanted to see" -- Skenes facing Yankees RF Aaron Judge -- though Judge saw just one pitch before  grounding into a fielder’s choice to end the inning (YAHOO SPORTS, 7/16).

Skenes didn’t get a strikeout during his one inning, "but threw 11 of his 16 pitches for strikes, topping triple digits twice" (TRIBLIVE, 7/16). Skenes left the game "after a clean inning, but the results were almost secondary to everything that surrounded them." The hype "never ceased," and Skenes "ran toward it, eager to prove it warranted" (ESPN.com, 7/17).

Ohtani "wowed" the 39,343-person crowd "the best way he knows how: smoking a no-doubt, 400-foot home run." The blast was Ohtani’s first home run in the Midsummer Classic, and he is now "the only player in MLB history with both" a home run and win as a pitcher in the event (L.A. TIMES, 7/16). The N.Y. POST's Mark Sanchez asked, "Was there any doubt that Shohei Ohtani, star of stars, would make his mark on the All-Star Game?" (N.Y. POST, 7/16).

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NWSL club Angel City FC has finalized terms for Disney CEO Bob Iger and his wife, Willow Bay, to acquire a controlling interest in the team. The deal gives the club an enterprise value of $250M, far and away a record for a women’s sports team, and will include a minimum of $50M in balance sheet capital to fund Angel City’s future operations. Angel City’s board, which has at times  been divided on business matters, unanimously approved the transaction. 

Bay and Iger’s total investment in the team will be worth at least $88M, as NWSL bylaws require that a franchise’s control owner hold at least 35% of the team’s equity. Multiple sources familiar with the transaction said the precise size of Bay and Iger’s investment will be determined in the coming months once Angel City shareholders are given the opportunity to sell existing equity in the team to the new control owners; one source indicated the total investment will likely wind up exceeding $100M.

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The Braves are expanding the Coors Light Chop House seating and introducing a new premium product called The Bullpen, both of which will be ready for the 2025 MLB season at Truist Park.

The Bullpen, located in sections 152 through 155, includes exclusive access to a private lounge located beneath the seats. Fans sitting in The Bullpen can enjoy complimentary ballpark classics and non-alcoholic beverages, upgraded seats with breathable mesh back and bottom and an enhanced viewing experience with TV monitors and side tables.

The Coors Light Chop House Seating, located in the multi-story building above Truist Park’s right field wall, will be expanded into sections 107 and 108, with in-seating food and beverage service, high barstool seats and a $15 credit for food, beverages, and merchandise. Both the expanded Chop House offering and The Bullpen will feature 4Topps seating products and furniture.

The Bullpen and Coors Light Chop House Seating are available as part of existing full season memberships with seats costing an average of $60 per game. Rossetti designed the premium seating upgrades, with Impact Development Management serving as a project advisor.

Adidas "upgraded its sales and earnings guidance for the year" after posting "better-than-expected results for the second quarter as customers bought more products despite less promotional activity." The company "now expects currency-neutral revenue to increase at a high single-digit rate" this year, compared with a mid-to-high single-digit rate previously. It also expects roughly $1.09B in operating profit, "up from a previous forecast of around" $765.25B. The guidance boost comes after Adidas said revenue grew 9% in the second quarter to $6.36B, "citing preliminary figures." The company said its underlying gross margin in the quarter had "strongly improved," reflecting what it said were "better sales across categories, reduced discounting and lower sourcing costs." Operating profit in the quarter grew to $378M from $192M a year prior (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 7/16).

LAS VEGAS -- While NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said last night that league expansion will be examined in the fall, he admitted for the first time that the league’s owners may have reason to hold off: the dilution of their incoming media rights money.

After ratifying the NBA’s purported $76B media rights deal last night, the league’s 30 owners are set to share the profits 30 ways over 11 years. But if the league expands by two more teams -- and the favorites appear to be Las Vegas and Seattle -- that would mean the media money (which doesn’t arrive until 2026) will have to be shared 32 ways. Considering the two expansion fees are expected to be approximately $4B each, or $8B split among the 30 teams, Silver insinuated that may not make up for spreading the media wealth 32 ways instead of 30. The new media deals total about $6.9B annually.

"I will say it’s a bit more complicated than is suggested sometimes because just think of the new media deals, for example," Silver said. "Once they’re completed, when you bring in new partners, you’re diluting those payments, of course, to teams. Sometimes it seems as if we’re printing money when we expand. Actually, it’s no different than selling equity in any business.

"I think there needs to be a fair amount of modeling at the league office, working with existing owners and really thinking through the long-term prospects, again not just economically but also for the potential of dilution of talent."

Union MF Cavan Sullivan could become the youngest athlete to ever play in a major North American sports league when he dresses for the MLS club's match tonight against the Revolution. If the 14-year-old takes the field before July 29, he would take that distinction from Freddy Adu, who made his debut for D.C. United at the age of 14 years, 306 days in 2004. 

The Union signed Sullivan earlier this year to the largest homegrown contract in MLS history, a four-year deal worth around $500,000 annually, and he is committed to move to Premier League club Manchester City when he turns 18 in 2027. Sullivan is represented by Wasserman EVP Dan Segal and is an Adidas endorser.

Nike this week sued L.A.-based custom sneaker business The Shoe Surgeon, seeking over $60M in damages for what it’s called an “egregious display of widespread [trademark] infringement that has even crossed into willful counterfeiting of iconic Nike products,” including the counterfeit of more than 30 Nike trademarks. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of N.Y., alleges that The Shoe Surgeon, led by founder and CEO Dominic Ciambrone, has sold counterfeit Nike products through online channels and brick-and-mortar locations in N.Y., L.A. and Las Vegas, as well as offering online classes that demonstrate how to craft counterfeit Nike shoes.

Nike has also accused The Shoe Surgeon of using Nike marks without authorization in brand collaborations with the likes of eBay, Ruffles and the Heat, among others, and of leveraging its past official work with Nike -- including the creation of a custom gold shoe to celebrate LeBron James scoring his 30,000th point -- to “create a false air of credibility.”  Nike is being represented in the case by DLA Piper.

MLB's Go-Ahead Entry facial authentication technology was designed for a faster, hands-free entry.  SBJ’s Joe Lemire walks us through this admission process at the 2024 MLB All-Star Game. 

On the pod this week, with strong viewership in the books for both the Euros and Copa América, SBJ’s Austin Karp brings in Fox Sports SVP Ben Valenta to break down numbers around the “Summer of Soccer.” NBC's Dan Hicks joins us from the Open Championship at Royal Troon to talk golf, plus his upcoming assignment at the Paris Olympics alongside his longtime TV partner and swimming gold medalist Rowdy Gaines. And SBJ's Mollie Cahillane also stops in as the NBA media rights deal gets closer to the finish line.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo swam in the Seine River this morning "in a bid to showcase of how clean the river is for the outdoor swimming events" at the Paris Games, which open in just nine days (X, 7/17).

The StaffDNA Cure Bowl is "finalizing a deal to bring the game back to Camping World Stadium." This would be the third time the game has been hosted at the downtown Orlando venue, following hosting in 2015-18 and 2020. UCF’s FBC Mortgage Stadium hosted the game last season (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 7/16).

Former Univ. of Houston AD Chris Pezman’s termination will "become effective Aug. 1." Pezman, who was fired June 20 after six years, will "continue to be paid, subject to mitigation, until Jan. 31, 2026" (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 7/16).

The WNBPA renewed its partnership with Priority Pass, the airport experiences program owned and operated by Collinson. This partnership will continue to provide Priority Pass memberships to all current players in the WNBA (WNBPA).

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The WASHINGTON POST goes with, "Horses, guns and swords: How cumbersome equipment gets to the Olympics." While Olympic organizers provide the "basic staging and infrastructure for each event, athletes compete with their own gear." It is "highly customized, costly, irreplaceable -- and often also large, cumbersome and maddening to transport." Some Paris-bound athletes face an "Olympian challenge in getting their equipment -- from boats to guns to horses -- overseas for these Summer Games." Many athletes travel in "constant fear of luggage mishaps." No single piece of sporting equipment is "quite like a 17-foot piece of carbon-fiber composite" used for pole vaulting and veteran competitors "know which airlines consider poles to be acceptable sporting equipment and which ones can be finicky." Equestrian athletes will "fly commercial to France while their four-legged teammates will fly on special cargo jets operated by the Dutta Corporation that are specifically outfitted for horse travel." 

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