Morning Buzz

The USTA is extending its relationship with IMG as the governing body’s representative in U.S. Open media rights negotiations on a multiyear basis. Parties declined to specify the length.

IMG has worked with the USTA since 2011, primarily focusing on international efforts, but will now add brokerage of domestic media rights to its purview. The group advised and represented the USTA in its recent domestic renewal with ESPN, which starts in 2026, runs through 2037, and is worth north of $2B total.

A key tentpole there is the revolutionized Mixed Doubles Championship, which will move from the second week of the U.S. Open main draw to Fan Week and feature a $1M prize. IMG and the USTA hope increased attention on the event will further expand international deals.

IMG also represented the French Tennis Federation last year in its 10-year, $650M domestic deal with TNT Sports to air the French Open, and is partnered with AELTC (Wimbledon), ATP Media and WTA Ventures.

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Cleveland Soccer Group is launching a franchise in a new professional women’s soccer league just months after missing out on an NWSL expansion franchise. Instead of waiting for the next round of NWSL expansion, the investor group led by Gravitas Ventures’ Michael Murphy and Nolan Gallagher is joining WPSL Pro, a proposed Division II league set to launch in 2026.

WPSL Pro, a startup professional league from the longtime operators of the amateur Women’s Premier Soccer League, was initially proposed as a Division III league but has instead decided to seek Division II sanctioning from U.S. Soccer. It would become the third women’s professional league in the U.S., joining the NWSL and the recently launched USL Super League. Other WPSL Pro markets so far include Atlanta, Dallas, High Point, N.C., Oklahoma City, Sioux Falls, S.D., and the S.F. Bay Area.

Cleveland was one of three finalists to receive an NWSL expansion franchise for the 2026 season alongside Denver and Cincinnati. When NWSL awarded its 16th franchise to Denver in January, Cleveland Soccer Group reexamined its plans for women’s soccer.

“Obviously, it was disappointing,” said Murphy, co-founder and CEO of Cleveland Soccer Group. “We put a lot of effort into that bid to be number 16, but at the end of the day, our goal was to bring professional men’s and women’s soccer to downtown Cleveland, and we just took a step back and said, ‘Well, what assets do we have?’”

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The city of Oakland has “reversed course on what remained of a plan to dramatically speed up the sale of its Oakland Coliseum share,” as one official said that it places the deal back onto a “more conventional” timeline. City leaders now plan to finalize the $125M sale of their Coliseum stake “when Alameda County closes a deal to sell its own half of the massive property by the end of June 2026.” Oakland City Council on Monday voted unanimously to delay until spring 2026 a $95M payment that the land buyers had been “expected to complete by May 30 of this year.” The African American Sports and Entertainment Group has “received another year to square away its purchase of both the city’s half of the Coliseum and the other half that the county was in the process of selling to the A’s.” With full ownership of the 112-acre property, AASEG “promises to transform the stadium, arena and sprawling parking lots into a new hub of live events, restaurants, retail, hotels and housing” (San Jose MERCURY NEWS, 4/14). The deal “hit a snag” when Alameda County, which must separately approve the A’s sale of the other half of the property, began “meeting directly with AASEG three months ago” (S.F. CHRONICLE, 4/14).

The Wild are seeking a new arena naming-rights sponsor for the first time in franchise history. The team’s existing naming-rights sponsor, Xcel Energy, has had its name on the team’s home venue in St. Paul, Minn., since the team’s inaugural season in 2000–01. The electricity and natural gas delivery company will remain a team sponsor going forward under a multiyear renewal but is not retaining its naming rights beyond the expiration of its deal at the end of the 2024-25 season.

The Wild retained Oak View Group to sell the naming rights beginning in 2025-26.

Restaurant chain Chipotle has agreed to a multiyear renewal of its North American sponsorship deal with the NHL and formed a new marketing relationship with the NHL Players’ Association. The renewal announcement coincides with the return of Chipotle’s annual “Wear Your Hockey Jersey” promotion, a buy one, get one free offer for customers who wear their jerseys to participating locations after 3 p.m. on Monday.

Chipotle has been the NHL’s official Mexican-themed quick service and fast-casual restaurant since 2021. Financial terms of the renewal were not disclosed. The brand will continue receiving corner in-ice branding during all U.S. and Canadian playoff games, as well as virtual ads during playoff and tentpole telecasts.

Adding NHLPA rights to its marketing portfolio now enables Chipotle to work with players on future brand campaigns and content series. The promotional video for this year’s hockey jersey promotion features Kraken C Matty Beniers, Stars C Wyatt Johnston, Utah Hockey Club C Logan Cooley and Sharks C Macklin Celebrini, along with non-hockey Chipotle endorsers such as golfers Max Homa and Maverick McNealy, Knicks G Josh Hart, Knicks F Mikal Bridges and T’Wolves G Anthony Edwards.

The NHL’s other restaurant partners include Jersey Mike’s as its official sub sandwiches sponsor in the U.S. only and Tim Hortons for coffee, tea, iced cappuccino, breakfast and donuts in Canada only.

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NWN has been named the Official Technology Infrastructure Partner for the Kraft Group, including the company’s sports interests -- the Patriots, Revolution, and Gillette Stadium. The five-year deal, which includes a sponsorship element, will see NWN upgrade and transform the technology framework underpinning the entire Kraft Group, including overhauling the existing IT infrastructure at Gillette Stadium and establishing a state-of-the-art infrastructure foundation at the new Patriots training facility.

“With the amount of projects we have that are lining up over the next 5 years or so, we were looking for a larger partner that could have the depth of a bench that could support all these initiativces at once, can support multiple brands, and is agnostic,” said Kraft Group CIO Michael Israel. “If we’re reevaluating WiFi, looking at further implementing AI, who can support and move fast with us?”

At Gillette Stadium, Kraft Group and NWN are upgrading current networks, expanding coverage, and strengthening the connectivity backbone supporting ticketless stadium entry, in-venue mobile purchases of products and services, the expansion of the stadium’s IPTV network, and development of an AI-driven wayfinding application that will reside within the Gillette Stadium app. The wayfinding application will sit atop the Gillette Stadium digital twin that was used by the Kraft Group construction team during the recent $250M renovation of the venue.

At the Patriots’ under-construction training facility that opens in spring 2026, NWN is working with Kraft Group to support the AI-powered apps used to keep players informed and engaged in team activities and schedules, serving them updated meeting times, adjusted training schedules based on coaching feedback, playbook content delivered directly to a team member’s device.

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WSC Sports, an automated sports video provider, has acquired Infront Lab’s Engines 365 streaming solution to extend its offering from shortform clips to full-length live services.

This was the first acquisition for WSC Sports; terms of the deal were not disclosed. Infront Lab was the digital and technology division of Infront Sports & Media, a Swiss sports marketing company. A list of Engine 365’s clients on the website consists primarily of European properties but also includes CBS Sports.

Through the agreement, WSC Sports will add two products to its portfolio: Stream Engine, which is the OTT platform, and Content Engine, a social media management and publishing system. Those join its growing portfolio of products headlined by its AI-powered video editor and publisher.

“By combining these proven technologies with our AI-powered platform, we’re expanding our ability to help some of the world’s biggest sports entities adapt — giving them more control, better data, and more holistic solutions,” Daniel Shichman, co-founder & CEO of WSC Sports, wrote about the deal.

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ESPN Bet operator Penn Entertainment has rolled out a new Mint Club designation that rewards those who link their ESPN and ESPN Bet accounts with access to weekly members only promotions and giveaways.

Mint Club benefits include deposit bonuses, profit boosts and merchandise, along with access to new product features, including a favorites ticker that uses their ESPN app preferences to surface relevant bets and scores. Mint Club users also will be able to track their bets on the ESPN app.

Mint Club is free and available to all ESPN Bet account holders who link to their ESPN.com accounts.

“The poet Albius Tibullus called a city this in the late 1st century B.C., some 700 years after its traditional founding.”