Morning Buzz

Longtime sports executive Dave Checketts and the Eccles family’s The Cynosure Group have teamed up to launch a new sports private equity firm, Cynosure | Checketts Sports Capital. The 50-50 joint venture is targeting a $1.2B debut fund that will take stakes in teams, emerging leagues, facilities, media, tech and other parts of the sports industry. The partners said their near-term focus will be largely on acquiring minority stakes in teams throughout the established leagues in North America, though they also see investment opportunities in European soccer, potential MLB expansion and women’s leagues.

“Above all, women’s sports right now, the games and the athletes have become better and stronger. And they finally have the investment they long deserved,” Checketts said. “So much about women’s sports is so interesting, and a lot of people are looking at women’s sports as an investment.” Checketts pointed specifically to recent momentum for the LPGA, NWSL, WNBA and Unrivaled.

Checketts has held leading executive roles with the Jazz, Knicks, MSG and Legends, in addition to previously owning the Blues and Real Salt Lake. He’s also an investor in his family’s Rhone activewear brand. He’ll be honored this year as a new member of SBJ’s Champions: Pioneers and Innovators.

The Eccles family is a newcomer to sports ownership, though it has long been involved with Utah’s sports industry. Spencer F. Eccles played a key role in the 2002 Salt Lake City Games and was awarded the IOC’s prestigious Pierre de Coubertin Medal. His son, Spencer P. Eccles, is on the board of the organizing committee for the upcoming 2034 Salt Lake City Games. “The investments that we’ve made [in sports] have been more in the nonprofit space and on the development side,” Eccles said. “So sports runs through our blood.”

Read More >>>

More than 1,300 are expected as SBJ brings the CAA World Congress of Sports to the Grand Hyatt in Nashville.

Festivities begin with a welcome reception hosted by Ticketmaster tonight with programming set to begin Tuesday.

Among the highlights of the event will be a featured interview with Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger conducted by ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro. Commissioners Adam Silver of the NBA, Rob Manfred of MLB and Greg Sankey of the SEC are scheduled to speak along with an event honoring the annual SBJ Class of Champions: Pioneers & Innovators in Sports Business. Brothers Bill and Jimmy Haslam will share the stage to talk about their differing paths to team ownership.

 The full agenda can be found here: Agenda - 2025 World Congress of Sports.

With 30,000 runners and about half a million spectators “ready to rally” for the 129th Boston Marathon today, top Boston officials “laid out the enhanced public safety plans” for the race. No “credible threats specific to the weekend’s events or Monday’s race have been identified,” according to Allen Davis, FBI Boston’s special agent-in-charge. However, Davis said the agency “does consider terrorism threats against Boston as ‘elevated’ given the city’s many patriotic and significant landmarks that could be targeted as part of the symbolic race.” There “will be a ‘myriad of physical barriers’ along the entire route,” said State Police Colonel Geoffrey Noble. Additionally, a “‘large number’ of uniformed troopers and both plainclothes and uniformed Boston Police officers will be stationed along the entirety of the 26.2-mile course” (MASSLIVE, 4/18).

WCVB’s coverage of the Boston Marathon began at 4am ET with pre-race coverage and will continue “through the race until concluding with a special edition of ‘Chronicle’” at 7:30pm. Anchors Maria Stephanos and Ed Harding “will host the professional race” from 9am-12:30pm “from the finish line photo bridge.” They “will be joined by” ESPN’s Hannah Storm, with the national, out-of-market broadcast airing on ESPN2. John Anderson, who retired as a “SportsCenter” anchor in 2024 but still hosts ESPN’s marathon and track and field coverage, “will call the race along with 2014 winner Meb Keflezighi, former Olympian Carrie Tollefson, and Paralympic medalist Amanda McGrory" (BOSTON GLOBE, 4/19).

The forecast shows Monday “looking like a great spring day with mostly sunny skies.” Temperatures will “end up somewhere between 55 and 60 Monday afternoon, with a cooler-than-average start to the day -- pretty good running temperatures for the race” (BOSTON GLOBE, 4/21).

WWE announced a two-day total attendance of 124,693 for WrestleMania 41 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, the city’s first time hosting WWE’s signature event since WrestleMania IX was held at Caesars Palace in 1993. The announced crowd for Night 1 on Saturday was 61,467 with 62,226 on Night 2. WrestleMania 42 is scheduled for April 11-12, 2026, at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.

The integration between WWE and UFC, which share parent company TKO Group Holdings, was apparent throughout the weekend. TKO President & COO Mark Shapiro was sitting in the front row. WWE President Nick Khan and family were perched in the front row on the end seats near the ramp where the wrestlers entered. UFC President Dana White began the Peacock broadcasts as the narrator of “City of Dreams,” a video highlighting why Las Vegas is the home of combat sports. White attended the event with UFC Chief Business Office Hunter Campbell. A number of current and former UFC stars were shown during the broadcast, including HOFer Daniel Cormier.

Rapper Travis Scott played a key role in the result of the main event between John Cena and Cody Rhodes. Among the celebrities and athletes spotted were 49ers TE George Kittle, Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs, Jelly Roll, Flavor Flav, Rich the Kid, Metro Boomin, Vanessa Hudgens, Rana Daggubati, boxer Terence Crawford, Quavo, Law & Order: Organized Crimes actor Dean Norris, comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, O’Shea Jackson, Saturday Night Live’s Michael Che, Lil Yachty and Stephen Amell. Bill Simmons was seated not far from TKO’s Shapiro on Night 1. Slayer (Damian Priest) and In Living Color (CM Punk) had live performances of wrestler theme songs (SBJ).

On Location sold out of premium inventory and Elite and Champion packages for WrestleMania 41 in Las Vegas, contributing to a 75% year-over-year increase in hospitality sales for the event (and a 140% jump since 2023).

On Location, which became WWE’s exclusive hospitality experiences partner in 2022, created new offerings for fans, including in-ring photo opportunities, superstar walkout experiences (which the company first created for UFC), and the Cody Rhodes Tour Bus Experience.

The Elite package included front row seating; private transportation to all events; all-inclusive hospitality with appearances from John Cena and WWE HOFer Bret Hart; in-ring and ringside photo opportunities; walkout with an announcer during one of the WrestleMania 41 nights; and tagging by WWE on social media posts.

The Champion package highlights included premium floor tickets to WrestleMania41, SmackDown, and Raw; all-inclusive pre-show hospitality before SmackDown and Raw; a four-night stay at Park MGM or a three-night stay a Resorts World; a three-day city transportation pass; dedicated stadium entrance and superstore express checkout line and entrance; two-day all-inclusive pre-show hospitality with an appearance by John Cena; a ringside photo opportunity; and Topgolf with The Miz and WWE superstars.

Read More >>>

Daktronics is building and installing a 37-display system totaling more than 77,000 square feet at the Titans’ new Nissan Stadium, which opens in 2027. That square footage total will be top-three in the NFL. Daktronics also becomes the Official Large Display Partner for the new venue.

Recently departed Daktronics CEO Reece Kurtenbach referenced an unnamed NFL project -- the Titans’ -- as a big win during his final investors call in March.

A display circling the entire upper bowl of the $2.1B stadium, called the “Ring of Fire,” will be a first of its kind, measuring 13 feet high and 2,275 feet wide with 10mm pixel spacing for crisp images. LED displays will be found on the stadium’s exterior, throughout the concourses, on vomitory entrances, and exits from the seating bowl, and within the bowl through ribbon displays and main end zone video displays.

The end zone video displays measure 41 feet high by 343 feet wide (1.6 times larger than the east end zone display at the current Nissan Stadium), with northwest and southwest displays 41 feet high by 136 feet wide. The east display will measure more than 14,000 square feet.

Read More >>>

The Crew drew 60,614 fans for their matchup against Inter Miami at Huntington Bank Field on Saturday, which “sets an attendance record for a Crew matchup” despite taking place nearly 150 miles away from Columbus. The number “failed to break the top-20 most attended MLS regular-season games.” Columbus moved the game from Lower.com Field to Huntington Bank Field, the home of the Browns, “due to the draw of” Inter Miami F Lionel Messi. The announced attendance is over 40,000 more than Lower.com Field’s 20,371 capacity (COLUMBUS DISPATCH, 4/19).

Messi fans “were plenty,” as the stands were “speckled not only with the pink and black of Inter Miami, but also with the iconic blue and white stripes of his legendary Argentina jersey.” But while Messi supporters “were numerous,” they were still “vastly outnumbered by the Columbus ‘home’ fans, who started chanting and cheering well in advance of the match’s start” (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 4/19).

SportsEngine Play, the streaming arm of NBC’s SportsEngine youth sports business, has agreed to a five-year extension with NXTPRO Sports’ Puma NXT and Puma Pro16 youth basketball properties. Under the deal, SportsEngine Play will carry live coverage of more than 10,000 elite youth-level games in 2025. In a new wrinkle, Peacock will also stream ten fully produced games this year.

SportsEngine VP/Video Operations Nick Busto said the elite-level basketball circuits have been a valuable property through SportsEngine Play’s early years.

“They were our first large-scale rights partner when we originally partnered with them two years ago,” Busto said. “They’ve grown probably over 200% a year for each of the past three years and have continued to show explosive growth. It’s a great partnership in that we’ve been able to grow and learn alongside each other.”

Busto has overseen streaming efforts since NBC Sports Next acquired his Rapid Replay streaming business in 2022. SportsEngine Play launched the following year.

Read More >>>

Italy’s top-flight soccer league Serie A has “postponed all of Monday’s fixtures” following the death of Pope Francis. The first Latin American leader of the Roman Catholic Church, who was “a lifelong soccer fan,” died Monday at age 88. The league said in a statement, “The date of the rearranged fixtures will be announced in due course” (REUTERS, 4/21). IOC President Thomas Bach praised the Pope for his support of the Olympic movement, saying in a statement, “With the passing of His Holiness Pope Francis, we are losing a great friend and supporter of the Olympic Movement. His support for the peace and solidarity mission of the Olympic Games and the many refugee initiatives of the IOC has been unwavering” (USA TODAY, 4/21).

In this week’s SBJ:

• With the rapid policy moves by the Trump Administration, the sports industry has needed a cautious approach to react to many unknowns. Sports Business Journal takes a look at how recent developments have had an unsettling impact.
• SBJ recognizes Power Players in Streaming, honoring the executives and companies changing the way we watch sports.
• There are still a number of obstacles for the A’s to overcome before they play their first game in Las Vegas in 2028. But the design details for their new ballpark focus on beating the desert heat and emphasizing the famous Strip, reports Facilities writer Bret McCormick.
• The NBA will take an all-national approach to TV coverage of the first-round of the playoffs next year. Will the NHL follow? NBA writer Tom Friend and NHL reporter Alex Silverman take a look.
• With the NFL Draft coming this week, columnist Terry Lefton writes that there is nothing “Irrelevant” about the “Class of Last” and now their is a marketing plan to prove it.
• Already a star on the college level, Travis Hunter now aims to be the NFL’s next marketing unicorn, writes Irving Mejia-Hilario.

“The year the Democratic nominee gave his ‘Cross of Gold’ speech, the GOP nominee was this man who backed the gold standard.”