Morning Buzz

After a successful Welcome Reception, programming at the CAA World Congress of Sports begins Wednesday at the JW Marriott Los Angeles L.A. LIVE. More than 1,200 attendees are registered for the event. Guests for one-on-one conversations scheduled for Wednesday are MLS Commissioner Don Garber (interviewed by SBJ Publisher & Executive Editor Abe Madkour), Netflix Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria (hosted by Netflix host Elle Duncan), Fanatics founder & CEO Michael Rubin (by MLB Deputy Commissioner, Business & Media, Noah Garden), Fox Sports CEO & Executive Producer Eric Shanks (by The Herd host Colin Cowherd), WWE President and TKO board member Nick Khan (by Madkour). Also for Wednesday, sessions on CMOS in the Spotlight, biggest issues facing the industry, the 2026 Class of SBJ Champions luncheon and roundtable, two sessions on creators, and a panel on women’s sports to cap the day. See the event’s full agenda.

CBS averaged 14 million viewers on Sunday for Rory McIlroy’s win in the Masters, the best viewership total for the final round in 11 years, dating to the same figure for Jordan Spieth’s win in 2015. CBS was up 8% from the final round of McIlroy’s first win last year (13 million). This was the first year in which the Masters had the benefit of Nielsen Big Data and full out-of-home measurement.

Sunday peaked at just more than 20 million viewers as McIlroy became only the fourth player ever to win back-to-back green jackets. The peak was the largest for the event since 2013, as McIlroy held off some big names like Scottie Scheffler and Justin Rose, who was last year’s runner-up. CBS averaged 8.1 million viewers for Saturday’s third round, its highest figure in seven years.

Earlier in the week, ESPN averaged 3.1 million viewers for the first two rounds of the event, which is ESPN’s best figure for Thursday/Friday since 2022 as McIlroy raced out to a six-stroke 36-hole lead. That’s up 16% from last year. Friday’s second round averaged 3.5 million, up 14% from 2025, while Thursday’s first round averaged 2.7 million (+19%). Those increases came after ESPN on Wednesday saw its second-best figure on record for the Masters Par 3 Contest.

The viewership figures for CBS are a positive note to cap the tournament following widespread criticism for how the network handled coverage over the weekend.

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Tuesday night’s Prime Video broadcast of the Hornets-Heat play-in tournament game “cut out for nearly two minutes with less than a minute left in OT” due to “technical difficulties.” The interruption “occurred with the Hornets holding a three-point lead with 48.1 seconds left on the clock.” For several seconds, “nothing appeared before the truck was able to slate a ‘TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES’ banner on the screen.” The feed was “down for roughly one minute and 47 seconds before it came back with the game clock down to 26 seconds and the Hornets now leading 125-120.” The Hornets “held on” for a 127-126 win (N.Y. POST, 4/14).

A Prime spokesperson said the issue was caused by “a hardware failure in our production truck.” The spokesperson added, “Our teams restored the feed as quickly as possible to ensure fans could watch the conclusion of the game. We are conducting a thorough internal review to determine the cause of the outage.” Prime Video has exclusive rights to all six games in this year’s play-in tournament (AP, 4/14).

SI’s Ryan Phillips wrote “despite the technical issues, viewers were treated to a phenomenal game.” Phillips: “Prime Video is lucky it was able to get back on the air to see the finish of what was an outstanding game” (SI, 4/14).

Fubo has become an 11th-hour suitor of the 13 NBA teams that have just exited Main Street Sports Group, multiple sources told SBJ, with a hybrid direct-to-distributer and direct-to-consumer model that would include rights fees likely in the vicinity of $10M or slightly below.

Sources said over the past week that Disney-owned Fubo has pursued the Hawks, Hornets, Cavaliers, Pistons, Pacers, Clippers, Grizzlies, Heat, Bucks, T’Wolves, Thunder, Magic and Spurs with the idea that if enough teams opt in, it would create a short-term RSN not too dissimilar from Main Street. Fubo would then campaign to be the NBA’s centralized streaming hub in perhaps 2027-28 or whenever the league launches its long-awaited aggregated platform.

Until now, most of those 13 NBA teams have been weighing offers from DAZN and Victory + or deciding whether to go to an over-the-air local channel through Gray, Scripps or Nexstar (which recently acquired Tegna) while launching a simultaneous direct-to-consumer product through ViewLift or Kiswe. But a source familiar with the bidding said Fubo “sort of came out of nowhere” and is being strongly considered by “a lot of NBA teams.”

Those decisions could crystallize as soon as Friday. According to industry sources, the NBA hopes to know by the end of this week whether their preferred choices Amazon and YouTube TV are ready to bid for and house the league’s national streaming RSN in time for the 2026-27 season. Those sources said if Amazon and YouTube TV waffle -- entirely possible if the league can’t guarantee 20 teams will opt into the platform by next fall -- then the NBA will almost certainly delay an aggregated streaming platform another year until the 2027-28 season to provide more time to launch the venture.

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UCLA on Tuesday tapped late Baseball HOFer Jackie Robinson‘s granddaughter, Sonya Pankey Robinson, to unveil the uniforms the team is wearing to commemorate Jackie Robinson Day, which is celebrated throughout baseball on Wednesday. UCLA’s Robinson tribute uniforms “go for a classic, throwback-style look: a simple white-colored base with navy trim and ‘BRUINS’ in bold lettering across the chest.” The caps will feature “an old-school script ‘B’ logo.” And, “of course, jerseys also all come with the same number: 42” (ESPN.com, 4/14). Pankey Robinson “threw the ceremonial first pitch” for Tuesday night’s UCLA game, where the team debuted the tribute uniforms against UC Santa Barbara. UCLA “will also wear the uniforms” for their three-game Big Ten series against Minnesota from Friday through Sunday. The university announced in 2014 that it was retiring No. 42 “in all sports” (MY NEWS L.A., 4/14).

Meanwhile, the Dodgers unveiled their celebration plans for Wednesday night. This year’s scheduled guests at the Dodgers-Mets game at Dodger Stadium include Jackie Robinson Foundation scholars and Robinson’s granddaughters, Sonya Pankey and Ayo Robinson, along with Negro Leagues Baseball Museum President Bob Kendrick. The UCLA women’s basketball is set to “throw out the first pitch.” In addition to wearing Robinson’s No. 42 like all 29 other clubs, the Dodgers will “take it a step further by swapping out their interlocking LA for the Brooklyn B on their hats.” In addition, a commemorative No. 42 jersey will be “given out to fans in attendance” (USA TODAY, 4/15).

T-Mobile Arena and Tito’s Handmade Vodka have signed a multiyear deal making Tito’s an official venue sponsor of the arena. The deal, brokered by AEG Global Partnerships, will see Tito’s get naming rights to a new hospitality area and lounge on the arena’s upper concourse, now known as the The 1997 Lounge -- a nod to the year the first case of Tito’s was sold. As an official venue sponsor, Tito’s also will collaborate with T-Mobile Arena on in-venue activations and digital campaigns. Tito’s and T-Mobile Arena will launch community-driven programs, including an annual donation to a mutually agreed charity (AEG).

One of the PGA of America’s top officials is taking a new sponsorship job with GSE Worldwide. Bryan Karns, a senior official at the PGA who ran last year’s Ryder Cup as well as prior PGA Championships, is joining GSE as a VP of golf sponsorship sales.

Karns wore multiple hats at the PGA. His most recent title was senior director of championship revenue, overseeing commercial for events like the Ryder Cup, PGA Championship and KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. But he also has extensive experience on the operations side. Karns was the championship director for the PGA Championship in both 2022 and 2023, a rarity on the operations side.

“It just felt like there was an opportunity with GSE to stay in the golf lane, but also have a chance to cross the aisle and go oh, there’s something else big over here on the agency side,” Karns said. “I was never going to leave the PGA for anything that wasn’t a home run.”

Karns, whose first day was Tuesday, will report to GSE President Andrew Witlieb and be mostly responsible for helping sell GSE’s golf player endorsements. GSE represents around 30 men’s players across both the PGA Tour and LIV Golf.

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With as many as 23 free agents already earning million-dollar contracts, the WNBPA has partnered with JPMorganChase to launch a year-round financial education initiative for its player membership. The arrangement, facilitated by the union’s licensing and sponsorship rep OneTeam Partners, debuted at this week’s WNBPA’s Rookie Premiere and will give players access to JPMorganChase advisors. The individualized consultations will center around financial planning, wealth management, business development and entrepreneurship. Players will then share tips and insights on social media, shining a light on the multiyear deal that makes JPMorganChase Bank the official Financial Education Partner and Financial Services Sponsor of the union -- at an opportune time.

With the league’s supermax salary now at $1.4M this season (up from $249,244) and the average salary between $580,000 and $600,000 (up from $120,000), union Exec Dir Terri Jackson said JPMorganChase’s platform will “ensure the women of the W can protect what they’ve earned and build generational security for themselves and their families.”

Just in the last few days alone, for instance, the Dream signed three players (Allisha Gray, Rhyne Howard and Brionna Jones) to separate three-year deals worth a combined $10.1M. “Every player in this league is building something bigger than a career -- we’re creating stability for ourselves, our families, and the players who will follow,” said Brianna Turner, WNBPA executive committee treasurer.

Not only did OneTeam Partners -- and its President Frank Arthofer -- carve out the JPMorganChase sponsorship, earlier this year it helped players secure $9.25M from trading cards deals, jersey sales, video games and other licensed apparel. All players, for instance, who suited up during that 2020-25 window will earn a payout, depending how many seasons they played. The union expects to share that money to its player membership by June 1 -- another reason why this access to JPMorganChase is pertinent.

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GameRun, a startup using AI to analyze athlete movement and performance, has raised $4M in funding. The investor group consisted of former athletes, professional team owners, college coaches and ADs, according to GameRun founder & CEO Kapil Rathi.

The funding will go toward expansion across the sports that GameRun currently serves (baseball, basketball, hockey, and soccer), along with team expansion and product development.

Users of GameRun can upload game film and turn it into a performance report. That breakdown provides a detailed analysis featuring metrics that score different skills, training suggestions for improvement, and flags any concerning movement for potential injury mitigation. GameRun has a client list of more than 40 sports-related organizations, like universities, leagues, and training programs. The platform is used by USA Baseball regional directors as part of their National Team Identification Series.

The startup was founded in 2024. Rathi’s background includes decades of work in fintech.

Balius Partners invested $1.5M in BASE Sports Group as part of a $2.5M funding round, backing a company focused on selling sponsorship and advertising opportunities across the youth sports market. BASE works with youth sports operators, facilities and events that often lack the resources to build and manage sponsorship portfolios, positioning itself as a third-party sales and marketing partner in the estimated $40B youth sports marketplace.

Balius partner Chris Goulakos said the firm was drawn to BASE’s leadership and pointed to what he sees as untapped upside in youth sports sponsorship. Goulakos said, “It’s starting to institutionalize,” describing youth sports as a market where sponsorship has not yet matured the way it has in college and pro sports. He added that BASE’s aggregated venue network gives the company national scale to pursue larger brands and budgets. Goulakos said the investment was made through Primetime, a new sports holding company launched by Balius.

BASE co-founder Carrie Gamper said the capital will be used to scale the company’s sales and operations teams, expand fulfillment and management capabilities, and further build out its data and measurement tools. BASE also plans to accelerate hiring and invest in new technology. Gamper said, “We’re building an AI tool we never would’ve had otherwise.”

Existing investors in BASE include former Learfield CEO Greg Brown, former Cleveland Cavaliers and Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse CEO Len Komoroski and former Learfield COO/CFO Temple Weiss.

SBJ’s CAA World Congress of Sports kicked off Tuesday in L.A. with a welcome reception for attendees.

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The PGA of America is looking for a Dir/Treasury. The Frisco-based position is responsible for reviewing, preparing and approving cash flow projections and reporting, and investment strategies to ensure the organization’s financial stability (PGA of America).

Fanatics are looking for a Senior Manager/Business Operations. The Sunnyvale-based position is responsible for evaluating, scoping and strategic analysis of potential operations initiatives and drive end-to-end execution and ensue value capital (Fanatics).

Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is looking for a Sports Business Development Manager. The Las Vegas-based position is responsible for driving annual sales goals for incremental hotel room nights by identifying, pursuing and securing new sports and special event opportunities from professional, collegiate and amateur organizations (LVCVA).

PlayOn Sports are looking for a VP/Revenue Strategy. The N.Y.-based position is responsible for leading development and operationalization of monetization strategy for the company’s National Ad Sales division (PlayOn Sports).

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“‘Stop Fuming and Fretting’ & ‘I Don’t Believe in Defeat’ are Chapters 6 & 8 in this book.”