Morning Buzz

The Univ. of Florida overcame a 12-point deficit Monday night to “will out” a 65-63 victory over the Univ. of Houston “in an NCAA title-game thriller” at the Alamodome in San Antonio. This “marked the fourth comeback in six March Madness wins” for the Gators (36-4). They led this game “for a total of 64 seconds, including the last 46 ticks of a contest that was in limbo until the final shot that never came.” Florida fans can “celebrate a win on one of college sports’ grandest stages for the first time since Tim Tebow was playing quarterback for the football team in 2008." This was the first hoops title for the SEC since Kentucky in 2012, and it was “the outcome the power conference was hoping for (expecting?)” after placing a record 14 teams in the tournament (AP, 4/8). There were 66,602 fans in the Alamodome to witness the title game Monday night (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS, 4/7).

Florida’s “brilliance” all year was “lost in the shadow cast by the many title contenders” in the SEC. It was a “dominant regular season” for the SEC, resulting in a record 14 teams chosen for the tournament, four teams in the Elite Eight and a pair in the Final Four. Florida’s win “was a fitting way to end the year,” ending a “painful drought” for the SEC (USA TODAY, 4/8).

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey “can puff his chest out from now until next March,” as the “best conference in the country this basketball season reigns supreme in the end.” Sankey: “It feels like [validation] to a certain extent, but if you asked me if we lost, I would say we had a great year no matter what.” SEC Associate Commissioner for Men’s Basketball Garth Glissman added, “At the league office, our job is to serve our teams. To create a level playing field from a scheduling standpoint, from an officiating standpoint, from a marketing and promotion standpoint, so that ultimately the cream can rise to the top” (SI, 4/8).

Gainesville “experienced a pulsating, sold out watch party” at the O’Connell Center on Florida’s campus. Seating 11,355 UF students and Gator fans, the arena “rocked as the orange-and-blue nation stomped, clapped their hands and did the gator chomp.” But “not every Gator fan had the opportunity to experience the momentous occasion” at the O’Connell Center, as at about 5:45pm ET, “all of the tents set up early near the Swamp Restaurant had been struck down.” Despite a $20 cover charge, The Swamp “already was swamped with mostly UF students and Gator fans who had secured a seat at the popular establishment.” Nevertheless, a “line of over 100 would-be attendees patiently waited to just get a glimpse” of the game. While thousands of fans “most likely joined the unofficial ‘orange and booze cruise’ parade,” University Avenue “was closed off for Gator fans to enjoy a rare occasion” (GAINESVILLE SUN, 4/8).

SAN ANTONIO -- Walter Clayton Jr. stood atop the ladder, glanced out at the crowd and Gator chomped toward the Florida faithful lining the railings.

The Gators’ do-it-all guard and all-world performer over his previous two games struggled throughout Monday night’s title game, but delivered down the stretch as Florida nabbed its third title this century with a 65-63 win over Houston.

Blue and orange confetti rained on the hardwood at the Alamodome as the Gators players invaded the court following Houston’s ill-fated final possession; another second-half comeback for head coach Todd Golden’s squad that has made such efforts their M.O. in recent weeks.

The win puts a cap on one of the most successful seasons in SEC history and gives Commissioner Greg Sankey another feather in his league’s increasingly stuffed cap.

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Some 6,000 fans gathered at UConn’s Gampel Pavilion for the Huskies women’s basketball team’s national championship rally Monday and “waited in a steady drizzle for an hour and a half outside the team’s on-campus facility to show their appreciation for everything the Huskies accomplished this season.” The players “mingled with fans in the front row” afterward “to sign a few autographs and take a few pictures.” They also “threw hundreds of T-shirts and mini basketballs into the stands.” The university “tried to create a great atmosphere for the fans,” as the school’s pep band and cheerleaders “were on hand to keep the fans in a festive mood.” A DJ “played music as everyone waited for the team’s arrival,” and the national championship trophy “was on display on the stage.” After the players stepped down from the stage to mingle with fans, they “took turns carrying around the trophy and showing it off to the crowd.” The players all wore national championship hats, and they “personalized them by tying to the back of them their own snippets of the Amalie Arena nets that they cut down” (NEW HAVEN REGISTER, 4/7).

Sunday’s NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship audience fell 54% from last year’s Caitlin Clark-fueled figure and dropped 13% from Clark’s appearance two years ago, but it still maintained an audience good enough for the third-best women’s title game on record.

ABC and ESPN combined to average 8.6 million viewers on Sunday afternoon for UConn’s ninth NCAA women’s title, a rout of South Carolina that wasn’t really close after the first quarter (that figure includes the “Bird & Taurasi” alt-cast on ESPN). The Gamecocks’ win over Iowa last year in the same game in the same window drew a record 18.9 million viewers, while LSU-Iowa two years ago was 9.9 million.

Prior to the last three seasons, no women’s title game had topped 6 million viewers since EPSN began airing the event in 1996. Beyond being the third-best championship number, UConn-South Carolina is the fifth-best women’s tourney game on record (also behind Iowa’s Elite Eight and Final Four matchups last year).

The title game peaked at 9.8 million viewers on Sunday.

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A group of former Northwestern football players has “agreed to settle a series of lawsuits against the school that allege hazing and abusive behavior on the team.” Settlement documents are “in the process of being finalized.” Attorneys revealed in a court hearing via videoconference Monday that “master settlement agreements” have been signed. Details about the terms of the settlement “were not immediately available,” but a spokesperson for Northwestern said the agreement “will fully resolve the student plaintiffs’ claims” against the school and former football coach Pat Fitzgerald (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 4/8).

As part of FIFA’s first expanded Club World Cup this summer in the U.S., the governing body plans to deploy a legacy fund for host markets. Each of the 11 host markets will receive $1M to go toward the fund, and a primary goal of that is to build the development of soccer pitches for local denizens (likely a combo of small and regular-sized fields). FIFA will use a third-party after the Club World Cup to help deploy the funds.

FIFA is playing up the lucrative prize pool as a key attraction for the 32 teams from 20 nations in the event, particularly among the marquee players and clubs coming to the U.S. Overall, there will be a $1B prize pool for all of those participating, with the winning team’s players being able to take home $125M (a pool topping what was offered to the UEFA Champions League winning players).

When asked whether top players would in fact suit up for their clubs in the offseason for the event, FIFA Senior Football Advisor and former French national player Youri Djorkaeff went into discussions he’s had with top players and their desire to be a part of something historic like this event. Djorkaeff cited the “competitive nature” of top global players, even for a new event like the Club World Cup.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino added that players like “big games,” and this event brings that in spades. Infantino, discussing the offseason timing, said the format of real competition (complete with a new Tiffany-designed trophy) would make this different than friendlies that have come to the U.S. in the prior years. On the flip side, FIFA Chief Football Officer Jill Ellis discussed how smaller clubs see the event as an opportunity to prove themselves.

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General ticket sales for the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will “resume” on Tuesday, with “demand seen high despite the cost involved.” The lowest ticket price will be $32.90 (all figures U.S.), while “57% of tickets will be sold at prices of up to” $109.36. For the 2024 Paris Games, around 50% of tickets were sold for $54.67 “or less.” The closing ceremony, to be held in the city of Verona, “will be the most expensive event of the Winter Games,” with prices ranging from $1,038.68 to $3,170.80. Tickets for the opening ceremony in Milan “will range from” $284.28 to $2,215.20. But the cost “has not dampened enthusiasm so far.” The success of the first phase of sale in early February, when “limited numbers of tickets were available,” led organisers to “add a second sales window in late February” (REUTERS, 4/7).

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Augusta National Golf Club yesterday offered refunds to fans who had tickets for the Monday Masters practice round after most of the day was washed out due to heavy rains in the area.

ANGC opened its gates at 8am ET on Monday but had to evacuate fans from the property just more than three hours later due to the inclement weather. Around 3pm, the club announced it wouldn’t reopen to patrons for the remainder of the day.

The club said patrons would be sent refunds in May, and also will offer them the chance to purchase the same Monday practice round tickets in 2026. Augusta National took a similar approach with ticket buyers in 2020 when the Masters was postponed due to Covid-19.

The woman who helped build bridges between legal sportsbooks and the U.S. sports establishment will take a crack at doing the same for N.Y.-based Kalshi, a federally regulated futures exchange that has caused a firestorm of late by bringing what it calls event-based prediction markets to sports.

Sara Slane, who served as SVP/Public Affairs at the American Gaming Association for five years before launching a sports betting consultancy in 2019, has joined Kalshi as Head of Corporate Development, a role that will include public affairs, government relations and liaison work with the sports leagues. She will report to co-founder & CEO Tarek Mansour.

Kalshi functions similarly to a sportsbook, allowing account holders to predict the winner of a game and purchase futures contracts that back that prediction at prices that fluctuate similarly to odds, using an exchange regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Though online sports betting remains illegal in 28 states that are home to about 40% of US over-21 adults, Kalshi operates in all 50 states.

That approach, and the increased profile that came when Kalshi offered its Super Bowl and March Madness derivatives through high-profile online broker Robinhood, has brought cease-and-desist letters from gambling regulators in at least four states: Nevada New Jersey, Illinois and Ohio. Kalshi has defied those orders.

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Indie production firm Fremantle is “pushing hard into sports content” with the launch of a new division, Fremantle Sports, to “focus on non-scripted and factual documentaries, as well as digital formats.” Owain Walbyoff has been appointed to the new job of Dir of Sports at Fremantle, “charged with expanding the company’s sports content offering.” The division “will tap production subsidiaries already in the Fremantle fold,” including the likes of 72 Films, Germany’s UFA’s, Fremantle Australia and Italy’s Wildside. The launch of Fremantle Sports is “part of Fremantle’s overall growth strategy,” which has seen the company expand its drama and film division -- through multiple acquisitions -- in a bid to strengthen “its position on the global market” (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 4/8).

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Hero MotoCorp has signed new ambassador deals with golfers Akshay Bhatia and Sahith Theegala ahead of the Masters later this week. Both players are signing three-year deals with Hero. Bhatia will wear the Hero logo on his left chest.

Hero’s ties to golf run relatively deep. Tiger Woods has been a “Global Corporate Partner” of the company since 2014, while Hero also sponsors Woods’ Hero World Challenge and the DP World Tour’s Hero Indian Open and Hero Dubai Desert Classic.

Bhatia is repped by Tommy Riehle of Sportfive, while Players Group Management’s Lynn Roach manages Theegala. Hero is headquartered in New Delhi. Both Bhatia and Theegala are of Indian descent.

Major League Pickleball has agreed to a three-year sponsorship deal with Japanese materials manufacturer Toray. Financial terms were not disclosed. As part of the agreement, Toray will receive on-court, in-kitchen branding at MLP events and title sponsor rights to the first round of MLP’s playoffs in San Diego (where Toray has a facility). The two sides will also work together to study pickleball paddle properties, as Toray’s carbon fiber is used as the paddle face material by several prominent manufacturers.

“They’re already a leader in the [paddle manufacturing] space,” United Pickleball Association CRO George Killebrew said in an interview. “They’ll be an important partner, not just from a financial aspect, but the other things they can do around the sport.”

MLP says Toray is its first Asia-based corporate partner (of 20 total). The league signed DoorDash as its new title sponsor last week.

Toray has a four-decade history in racket sports through its title sponsorship of the WTA’s Toray Pan Pacific Open, a 500-level tournament held annually in Tokyo.

“His 1821 novel was inspired by stories told to him by John Jay of Jay’s experiences with spies during the Revolution.”