The UFC continues to attract more mainstream brands as sponsors, now bringing on Verizon’s Total Wireless prepaid cell service as the MMA outfit’s “Official Wireless Provider.” A source with knowledge of the deal described it as one year, plus options.

Nonetheless, bagging a Verizon sub-brand as the UFC’s first wireless sponsor in around five years continues momentum from when the UFC brought on IBM as “Global AI” and “Official Technology’’ sponsor in November.

“We’ve been looking hard at this category for years, but we’re very judicious, because [cell service] has become one of sports’ most valuable categories,” said Grant Norris-Jones, EVP & Head of Global Partnerships at TKO Group, the Endeavor unit which owns both WWE and UFC. “With WWE now, we can bring sponsors more young, male fans than the NFL, so we’re making headway.”

The domestic rights deal includes octagon branding, programming integration -- including title sponsorship of the “Fighter Walkouts” -- and custom content, along with digital and social media inventory. Pass-through rights for potential cell hardware brands are also included, along with access to a “Brand Ambassador” program that will tie in UFC athletes.

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Charlie Baker has known nothing but turbulence since becoming the NCAA’s president in 2023, though there might be a path toward stability. Baker addressed the NCAA Convention on Tuesday evening in Nashville with a tone that preached optimism amid shifting tides.

“Modernizing our model had to happen,” Baker said, referencing the proposed House settlement. “For years, the needs of student-athletes were evolving faster than the support they received. That had to change.”

Highlights include the NCAA running debt-free for the first time in decades, while operational costs at the national office had declined from 16% of revenue to 12% of revenue over the past two years. It's also on track to generate an additional $100 million more in ticket sales -- a 48% increase -- and TV revenue was up $180 million.

“I know all schools are facing financial pressures,” Baker said. “That’s why we worked so hard to cut costs, drive new growth, reduce impact and preserve the student-athlete experience.”

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Cleveland city officials have filed a lawsuit against Browns over the team’s planned move to Brook Park after the 2028 season, seeking to “ enforce the so-called ‘Modell Law,’ a state law that puts certain restrictions on professional sports teams that intend on leaving a city that supported it with taxpayer money,” according to Adam Ferrise of the Cleveland PLAIN DEALER. The Browns are looking to build a new, $2.4B domed stadium surrounded by an entertainment district. The lawsuit was filed in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court after Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb gave Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam “10 days to start the process laid out by the law” -- which is a requirement for the team to “give Cleveland six-months’ notice before leaving town and give residents a chance to buy the team first,” among other provisions -- or face litigation. That time elapsed last week. The city’s statement said that the Haslam’s “violated” obligations by “failing to notify or offer Cleveland residents a chance to buy the team.” The filing states that the Browns are “abandoning” the city after Cleveland taxpayers “for more than two decades poured some” $350M into the current stadium (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 1/14). 

The Celtics' ownership group will receive "the first round of bids from prospective buyers" on Jan. 23, according to a Tuesday letter from the Grousbeck family to the rest of the Boston Basketball Partners and Boston Championship Basketball stakeholders. The letter states that the investment banks that were retained to manage the sale-- JP Morgan and BDT & MSD -- "have been engaging with prospective buyers for several months," and that the Grousbecks are "pleased with the broad level of interest that has emerged." The group is "targeting a 'first close' this spring." When the sale was announced last July, the Grousbeck family said it intended to sell 51% of the team in late 2024 or early 2025, with the balance closing in 2028 (BOSTON GLOBE, 1/14).

The PGA Tour is launching a campaign today that puts a big emphasis on its history and player legacy. The campaign, “Only Happens Here,” is 30 seconds long and will air across broadcast, social and the tour’s FAST channels starting this week at the American Express. The initial 30-second spot highlights players including Arnold Palmer, Tiger Woods and Scottie Scheffler, while also showing courses including Torrey Pines, Pebble Beach and TPC Sawgrass.

The spot features taglines including:

• “The PGA Tour is where generational talent comes to play.”

• “Where the views are instantly recognizable.”

• “Where champions are within reach.”

• “Where iconic moments are etched in history.”

There will be multiple iterations throughout the season, said Andy Weitz, the tour’s chief marketing and communications officer and EVP of investor relations. A longer version will run on social, and different 30-second spots will be tied to the tour’s Signature and full-field tournaments.

Weitz said the campaign was borne out of responses from the tour’s Fan Forward survey. He also noted that fans are “clearly telling us that it’s about more than money, it’s about meaning.”

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The Texas Rangers are "expected to announce, as soon as Wednesday," an agreement with streaming service Victory+ for a direct-to-consumer model for the 2025 season. While Victory+ will continue to carry Stars games for free, the Rangers' portion "would carry an annual subscription fee." The agreement "could be the first step in a multi-phase process to widen access for Rangers fans." It’s also "possible" the Rangers could seek to once again "put together a small package of over-the-air broadcasts to further widen access" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 1/14).

Former NBAer Jamal Crawford, a current part-time Knicks analyst for MSG Networks, "will join NBC Sports as a lead game analyst" when the network begins carrying NBA games as part of the league's new media rights deal next season. Crawford received "positive reviews as a TNT analyst" last season and "is committed to a career in media." He is "expected to work one or more games per week for NBC starting in October" (NEWSDAY, 1/14). Meanwhile, Amazon Prime Video is "closing in on a deal to make Kevin Harlan its No. 2 NBA play-by-player" when it begins coverage of the league later this year, according to sources (SBJ).

Bobby Marks, whose role at ESPN has expanded since Adrian Wojnarowski exited the network in September, has reached a multiyear contract extension to remain a studio analyst and front office insider.

A former executive with the Brookly Nets, Marks said over the past three months he has broken “more news than I have in my whole [seven-year] tenure with ESPN’’ -- including the Karl-Anthony Towns trade from the T-Wolves to the Knicks.

“How the relationship with Woj worked was he was certainly our primary news breaker, and then I would kind of come out on the top and say, ‘How does this impact the team? How does this impact the player? What is next with the team?’’ Marks said. “And I'm still doing that; that role hasn't changed at all here. But there is also an element where I am more comfortable, and certainly, as we've seen since he left in September, where I can go out and break news.’’

Marks -- who leveraged insider posts on Twitter into a full-time job at Yahoo! Sports with Wojnarowski before heading to ESPN in 2017 -- said network executives approached him about signing the four-year extension six months before his contract was set to expire this June. As he did with Wojnarowski, Marks will aid Shams Charania (Wojnarowski’s replacement) with his insight and leaguewide contacts.

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NC Courage and North Carolina FC will become Jump’s first pro sports clients in a deal announced this morning with their parent club, North Carolina Football Club. Jump, a startup fan experience platform, will handle the NWSL Courage and USL Championship NCFC’s primary ticketing and other e-commerce and fan experience aspects, including merchandise and food and beverage, through enterprise software featuring tools to easily enable seat upgrades and other personalized offers for fans. More of the revenue and all the fan data stay with the clubs. And fans will only need one account to buy tickets, replica jerseys, or F&B without fees or surcharges on match days. The clubs previously used Ticketmaster for their ticketing needs.

For three years, Jump, which has raised $35M and is backed by Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez, has been building its direct-to-consumer ticketing and e-commerce software that it hopes can upend the traditional ticketing market.

“There is a lot of interest in a company that’s redefining the landscape, this technology ecosystem. There are incentives that are misaligned and it’s a massive market that’s growing around the world,” said Jump CEO Jordy Leiser, whose company is up to 45 employees. “It’s a great category but just hard to break in. People want to see can Jump break in, can they execute, can they sign deals? So, this is the beginning of starting to tell that story.“

Jump built the two clubs a new team app and e-commerce website landing pages and, in addition to primary ticketing services, is providing no-fee ticket resale, giving fans the option of reselling their Courage or NCFC tickets within the team’s environment (it’s not required) without the fees that secondary ticketing marketplaces charge to buyers or sellers, or both, while preventing the teams from losing track of their customers to a third-party ticketing marketplace. The Courage and NCFC will be able to create more custom ticketing and fan experience packages, including in-game seat upgrades, through Jump’s tech. With Jump handling so many aspects of the two clubs’ e-commerce and ticket sales, the number of third-party companies and back-end tech integrations the club must juggle is lessened.

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Online powersports marketplace MX Locker has raised a $700,000 seed round from BAM Ventures and LEAD. Along with an earlier friends-and-family funding round, MX Locker has now raised a total $1.4M to date.

MX Locker founder & CEO Ryan Amolis said the company’s need for funding stemmed from its recent expansion from motocross into the broader powersports category, which includes ATVs, UTVs and snowmobiles. As a result, MX Locker has seen a seven-fold increase in the number of product listings. The company now has nearly 300,000 active listings at any time, more than 250,000 active monthly users and around 200 orders a day. MX Locker takes a 10% cut of every transaction, with average order value hovering around $250.

“We were looking for value-add investors. … We had to educate people on what powersports was. When they realized it’s one of eBay’s largest categories, it kind of turned some heads,” Amolis told SBJ. “This is an underserved market that’s very fragmented and that not a lot of people are in.”

Amolis, an avid motocross rider, launched MX Locker in 2021 to solve for challenges finding used gear and equipment, a process that typically required scouring non-specialized platforms like eBay and Facebook. While powersports is already a big business for eBay, Amolis said MX Locker is more specialized and offers customizable tools, like one that lets buyers know whether a part would fit their bike.

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Monumental Sports Network and Sports Business Journal announced today the launch of the TV series “Sports Business Journal: Inside the Industry,” which will be seen on the D.C. regional sports network.

The program, scheduled to debut Jan. 27 at 6:30pm ET, will provide viewers with insight and analysis of the rapidly changing business of sports along with in-depth look-ins around trends, leaders and innovations shaping the industry.

Monumental Sports reporter Tarik El-Bashir will host each episode and provide exclusive access behind the publication’s robust annual conference lineups and commentary from its editorial team.

New episodes of “Inside the Industry” are scheduled to release the final Monday of each month. “Inside the Industry” will also use Monumental’s RSN studio and production facility in D.C.

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The Alameda County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday "agreed to enter into a 30-day negotiation period" with the African American Sports and Entertainment Group for the developers to buy Alameda’s share of the 112-acre Coliseum complex. AASEG had already struck a deal with the A’s, who were in process of buying the county’s share, but Alameda "needed to lend its approval for the deal to go through" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 1/14).

OKC for Soccer has launched its "Name the Team!" campaign, which features a poll where fans can provide suggestions for team names and colors for OKC’s professional men’s soccer team, set to begin play in 2027 (OKC for Soccer).

The WASHINGTON POST went with the header, "The Commanders are a case study in toxic ownership -- and its reverse." Over 24 years in Daniel Snyder’s hands, the Commanders were "mired in pathological losing and degeneracy, so distressed it seemed practically covered in pigeon droppings." Just 18 months later, "briskly refreshed" by GM Adam Peters and coach Dan Quinn, the team "is a matter for pure elation, with loose young jolts of energy and a flair for great finishes that have carried the audience beyond all shockability." The "clinical conclusion: One-man rule never works in the NFL." When a city is "saddled with a Commodus, a devotee of pomposity who prefers to be the central figure on a losing team because he can’t stand to be a marginal figure on a successful one, it cannot win anything big."

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• Can fire-torn L.A. handle the World Cup, Super Bowl and Summer Olympics?

• 'It's terrifying': Meet Will Buxton, next voice of IndyCar. (He's never attended an Indy 500).

• Dom Amore: Meet the CT student who has lent his voice to Notre Dame football’s championship chase.

• PSR is not perfect, but the Premier League’s shock therapy has had an effect.

• Swanson: Lakers lose 1st home game amid devastating fires – and that’s OK.

• Column: With embarrassing loss after embarrassing loss, is the Chicago Blackhawks rebuild leaving emotional wreckage?

"'Bilady, Bilady, Bilady', its national anthem, replaced a more militaristic one following a 1979 peace treaty."

"What is Egypt?"