Warner Bros. Discovery has until the end of today to match the NBA media rights bids from either Amazon or NBCUniversal, though possible "poison pills" in the Amazon package could mean the end of a 40-year relationship between the league and Turner Sports. Although sources close to WBD said they originally planned to use its streaming entity Max to match Amazon's annual $1.95B bid -- which includes the WNBA -- the Ringer's Bill Simmons reported that Amazon guaranteed the league a three-year upfront payment, worth about $5.85B, to scare off WBD.

Sources believe there could be other undisclosed details in the bid to prevent WBD from matching, such as possibly guaranteeing the league a streaming audience of 200 million worldwide, something Max cannot replicate. "When you've got a $2 trillion company [in stock market value] trying to get something away from a $20 billion company, it isn't really a fair fight," a sports industry source said Sunday, over-valuing WBD, which is actually worth roughly $17B.

WBD has long been averse to matching NBC's $2.5B annual bid, but could re-think that or, more likely, try to negotiate a settlement with the NBA. Some possible settlement scenarios are having Turner produce games for Amazon as a vendor or allow Turner to continue to run NBA TV or let Turner peddle the rights to its popular studio show, "Inside the NBA," to Amazon for significant money. A lawsuit would seem to be WBD's last recourse. "I'm hearing they want to sue and match," another sports industry source said over the weekend. 'Honestly, it makes no sense.  You sue and even if you win, you are now partners for [11] years, and the league doesn't want you. Plus, you are overpaying for less, and you can't put the games on TNT."

A key partner is sticking with the Big Ten and Big Ten Network.

The league and its network are set to announce a four-year renewal with Discover as the official credit card of the Big Ten, a source with knowledge of the situation told SBJ. An official announcement is expected today.

rEvolution sports marketing helped negotiate the deal between the Big Ten and Discover.

As part of the renewal, Discover will become the first ever title sponsor of the Big Ten Football Championship Game after serving as the presenting sponsor since 2017. It will receive on-air assets with each of the league's media partners, along with on-field and in-venue logos and activations at the game's Fan Fest and inside Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

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A number of networks yesterday made the decision to pivot away from sports coverage on their main broadcast channels to instead cover the "breaking news about President Joe Biden withdrawing from the presidential race." NASCAR Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway was scheduled to be broadcast on NBC, but viewers "who tuned into the network found something else." NBC made the decision to "briefly switch the telecast to USA Network," and the race also "finished on USA Network after the red flag stoppage, again because of the breaking news" (AP, 7/21).

At Fox, the decision was made to "bump" a Round of 32 game in The Basketball Tournament, which instead "only aired on the Fox Sports app and FoxSports.com for much of the contest." At CBS, the LPGA Dana Open tournament "shifted to CBSSports.com and Paramount+." And at ABC, the "much-hyped" NFL FLAG Championships "got bumped to ESPN2 (thanks to NBA Summer League games on ESPN)" (AWFUL ANNOUNCING, 7/21).

The Baseball HOF yesterday saw an estimated crowd of 28,000 -- "that mostly were Twins fans" -- standing on the lawn at the National Baseball HOF and Museum in Cooperstown to witness the inductions of 3B Adrian Beltre, 1B Todd Helton, manager Jim Leyland and C/1B Joe Mauer (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 7/21). It "seemed like half of the Twin Cities was there," with Twins fans "dominating the crowd" (USA TODAY, 7/21). The estimated crowd was "more than twice last year’s total" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 7/21).

On Saturday night, Tigers owner Christopher Ilitch "threw a massive party for Leyland" at a restaurant about 10 miles from Cooperstown. About 200 people showed up, "representing all four teams he managed." It "became a who’s who of the game," from MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred to former managers (including Tony La Russa and Ron Gardenhire) to players -- "even some he coached in the minors" -- and friends (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 7/22).

Cosm and Centennial Yards Company will today announce a long-term lease to bring a Cosm shared reality venue to downtown Atlanta, the immersive technology company’s third such facility in the US.

Spanning three levels and 70,000 square feet, the venue is the first addition to a planned 470,000-square-foot entertainment district Centennial Yards recently broke ground on, which will sit on a 7.5-acre site bordering State Farm Arena and Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

That district -- which Centennial Yards Company president Brian McGowan calls “fan zone” -- will be the “center of gravity” within the larger Centennial Yards mixed-use development, a $5B project to redevelop 50 acres of underutilized land being spearheaded by California-based developer CIM Group and an investment cohort led by Hawks owner Tony Ressler. Centennial Yards Company is a subsidiary of CIM Group, which was co-founded by Ressler’s brother, Richard.

“The project we’re building is a sports-adjacent, entertainment district,” McGowan said. “When we learned about the [Cosm] concept -- this cool experiential entertainment, shared reality type of sports bar -- we were like, ‘Oh my God, this is perfect for us.’”

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SkillCorner, which leverages AI to compile player and ball tracking data from broadcast or a single-camera viewpoint, has signed the Magic as its first basketball client. 

After starting in soccer-- with Liverpool FC as its first collaborator and growing to more than 200 clubs as clients -- SkillCorner began exploring other sports with a focus on basketball after its acceptance into the NBA Launchpad program in 2023. 

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Delaware North Sportservice recorded fan spending per-caps of $80 for the MLB Home Run Derby and All-Star Game last week at Globe Life Field. During the All-Star Game specifically, fans bought more than 30,000 beers and 20,000 sodas. 

For the entire All-Star week, DNC sold nearly 60,000 pieces of merchandise, including 22,587 “hardline” pieces, which entails anything that’s literally hard, like baseballs, bats, pins and pendants, and glassware. More than 15,000 pieces of headwear and 3,600 jerseys were sold, too. 

After hosting its first MLB All-Star game since 2016, DNC will handle next year’s as well, at Truist Park in Atlanta. DNC’s Globe Life Field team, represented by Executive Chef Cris Vazquez and GM Casey Rapp, officially handed off a ceremonial tomahawk steak to the Truist Park crew, represented by VP/Operations Shawn Mattox and Chef and Culinary Dir Antonio Prontelli.

The successful All-Star week continues a strong summer for Delaware North, which benefited from the Celtics’ NBA title run -- played at DNC-owned TD Garden -- and Copa America matches played at DNC-serviced MetLife Stadium. 

World Racing Group, which oversees six racing series and sanctions about 5,000 races annually, has switched the provider for its DirtVision streaming product to ViewLift.  

The direct-to-consumer DirtVision service carries upwards of 700 live races, including the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series and the Super Dirtcar Series, as well as other shoulder programming. Live coverage and some premium material are available through a paid subscription, although there is a free tier for some content. 

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In this week's SBJ, Stan Kasten, a member of SBJ’s Champions class for 2024, has been an executive for three MLB teams, an NBA team president and GM, and an NHL team president and helped form the PWHL. He owes his drive to a father who suffered unspeakable hardship and provided a stern lesson that has stuck with him on picking up the trash. Also, Dodgers P/DH Shohei Ohtani is proving to be a powerhouse on the field and in driving business across MLB; the Olympics opening ceremony makes for a unique security challenge with the event scheduled to run through the Seine River; and SBJ Abe Madkour explains how the N.Y. Giants benefitted from being on the debut of the offseason version of “Hard Knocks.”

Team USA F LeBron James has been "picked by his fellow U.S. Olympians to serve as the male flagbearer for the Americans" in Friday night’s opening ceremony for the Paris Games. He becomes the "third basketball player -- and the first men’s player -- to carry the U.S. flag at the start of an Olympics" (AP, 7/22).

 ACC Football Kickoff begins today at the Hilton Charlotte Uptown, where "coaches and players from 17 teams will participate in the four-day media event" (GREENVILLE NEWS, 7/22).

The Premier League and Nike have rolled out their official match ball for the 2024-25 season "in the shape of the latest incarnation of the Nike Flight." Rather than the "large golden Xs and vintage text" used last season, the new update of the Flight ball "sees an interesting neon yellow and purple graphic overlaid on the furrowed casing" (ESPN.com, 7/22).

"It’s an inside joke with (Burleson). This isn’t a political statement by any means. I don’t know where that came from" -- Cardinals DH Matt Carpenter, on how his team’s recent celebrations -- which mimicked former President Donald Trump pumping his fist following his assassination attempt -- were in no way a political statement (THE ATHLETIC, 7/22).

The CINCINNATI ENQUIRER goes with the header, "Meet Cincinnati's MSA Design: The firm behind many sports stadiums and practice facilities." The name Bill Baker"might not be familiar to the average Cincinnatian," but any sports fan can look around and see how the architect and the design firm where he is the managing partner, MSA Design, "plays a crucial role in local sports." The firm builds arenas, stadiums and practice facilities nationwide and in Greater Cincinnati. Baker and MSA Design were the design advisors for Hamilton County on Great American Ball Park. They designed FC Cincinnati's Mercy Health Training Center and the under-construction Univ. of Cincinnati indoor practice and performance facility. So what's the "magic elixir" when building any of the above, and in particular, a practice facility in 2024? Baker: "You have to have a wow factor." 

Also:

• Protecting Paris: Police snipers and AI cameras will watch over Olympic Games.

• How a UW alum’s Wiffle Ball league became a social-media sensation.

• 'Big help for a small town': Latrobe steels itself for Steelers training camp.

• As Angel Reese’s fame soars, she isn’t changing who she is.

• Behind the scenes: Check out the extensive planning for the Bengals to travel.

MONDAY

• SBJ will host its annual Thought Leaders conference at the Grand Del Mar in San Diego. Thought Leaders is a “by-invitation-only” retreat that brings together the sports industry’s most senior execs for a time of information sharing, dynamic speakers, outdoor activities and peer-level relationship building. Speakers this year include legendary sports agent Marvin Demoff, Kroenke Sports & Entertainment President/Team & Media Operations Kevin Demoff, NBC News Chief Political Analyst Chuck Todd, Bay FC co-Chair & Alternate Gov. Aly Wagner and more (2 days).

• ACC Football Kickoff begins at the Hilton Charlotte Uptown, where coaches and players from 17 teams will participate in the media event (4 days).

• The IOC Athletes Commission will hold its annual meeting ahead of the Paris Games.

• USA Basketball will play in a showcase in London against Germany at 3pm ET on Fox.

TUESDAY

• The American Association of Professional Baseball All-Star Game will take place at Legends Field in K.C.

• Comcast will release its quarterly earnings report.

• Spotify will release its quarterly earnings report.

WEDNESDAY

• Leaders in Sport will host the NBPA Performance Summit at the Higueron Hotel Malaga in Andalucìa, Spain. In collaboration with the WNBPA, the event brings together some of the most renowned experts, athletes, and decision-makers in the sports tech industry (3 days).

• Churchill Downs will release its quarterly earnings report.

THURSDAY

• Roku will release its quarterly earnings report.

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"The National Park Service says there are more statues of her, often with her infant son, than any other American woman."

"Who is Sacagawea?"