Morning Buzz

The NWSL’s BOG is expected to “vote later this month on whether to flip the league’s calendar to a fall-to-spring season‚” according to the sources cited by ESPN.com. The NWSL season currently kicks off in March and ends in November, but a “change -- one that has been debated for years and previously voted down -- would see the season start in late summer and end in late spring.” That would “align the NWSL with many of Europe’s top leagues” and soon, with MLS, which will make the transition to fall-to-spring next year. A flip of the calendar was “narrowly voted down” in late 2024. Sources mentioned that another vote on the calendar “could happen at the upcoming board meeting,” although the agendas to such meetings “change frequently, and the terms of potential proposals can be altered right up until voting begins.” Even if there is a vote that successfully passes a calendar change -- which is “not guaranteed, since support of the idea is not unanimous -- it could take years to implement.” Sources added that there is also a “belief among some board members that there is less competition for prime TV time in late spring and that the NWSL playoffs could have a larger audience in that window” (ESPN.com, 4/16).

 Apollo Global Management, Ares Management and Sixth Street Partners are in early discussions to help fund the NBA’s expansion into Europe, according to sources cited by BLOOMBERG NEWS. Talks remain at a preliminary stage and may not lead to deals. Sources added that as “many as 120 different prospective investors, including basketball and football clubs,” have shown interest in the bidding process. Private capital has been building an “increasingly significant presence” in U.S. basketball as Sixth Street acquired the Celtics and owns a stake in the Spurs. Apollo co-founder Josh Harris co-owns the 76ers alongside David Blitzer. Ares and Apollo co-founder Tony Ressler is a co-owner of the Hawks, alongside Blue Owl that owns a small stake (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 4/16).

The Nuggets and Pacers will play in the 2026 NBA Mexico City Game at Arena CDMX on Nov. 7. The Nuggets will be playing their second game in Mexico, while the Pacers will be making their Mexico City debut. The matchup, which will mark the league’s 35th game in Mexico since 1992, will take place during the week of Día de Muertos celebrations locally for the third consecutive year, and the theme will be showcased through a variety of in-arena activations during the game, including a specially themed basketball court and several fan engagement initiatives. The NBA Mexico City Game 2026 will air on ESPN. The roster of marketing partners for the game and surrounding events include Amazon Web Services, AT&T, Farmacias Similares, Hellmann’s, Jordan Brand, Mazda, Michelob Ultra, Sprite, Tissot, and Wendy’s as well as Zignia’s associate partners Banco Azteca and Elektra (NBA).

LIV Golf players and staff have been told that the Saudi funding is “only guaranteed until the end of the season,” leading to “fears that the breakaway circuit will have to look for outside investment to remain in operation.” LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil insisted in his message to the staff that it was “business as usual” and that the “season continues at full throttle.” However, after previously claiming that PIF had assured finance until at least 2032, O’Neil this time did “not mention a timeline.” But it is understood that in private, it was revealed that this funding has “only been confirmed for the remaining eight events of this year” (London TELEGRAPH, 4/16).

O’Neil said that LIV Golf is “preparing to make structural changes that ‘might surprise some people.’” He said, “I talked about some structural changes. They’re coming.” O’Neil: “I rolled out the plan. We have one, and it is ... it might surprise some people.” The Saudi PIF is estimated to have spent around $5B on LIV Golf. But at a five-year plan presentation this week it said that it would “focus on ‘increasing the efficiency of investments.’” O’Neil said Thursday that the LIV Golf tour “would ‘probably’ have to raise money” (YAHOO SPORTS, 4/16).

The Mexico City LIV Golf event was being streamed on the Fox Sports app as well as LIV’s YouTube channel, but about “20 or so minutes in, the feed was lost” and a message came on the screen saying: “Please stand by. Technical issues.” A live camera shot “did come on the screen for a few minutes but then the telecast” went back to “the full-screen error message.” At 5:42pm ET, LIV put a message out on social media to address the issue, its first such of the day. Then after 6pm ET, the feed came back. That coincided with FS1’s scheduled live coverage of the first round (GOLFWEEK, 4/16). Though LIV’s statement “attributed the feed disruption to a local power outage,” the music at the ground “blared from speakers at the event while television screens displayed throughout the venue remained operable” (THE ATHLETIC, 4/16).

In the opening, commentators Arlo White and David Feherty discussed the reports of their league’s demise. White: “Reports of the imminent demise of the LIV Golf League were, in fact, greatly exaggerated. It must be exhausting trying to will the LIV Golf League out of existence. Take the day off everybody. Enjoy the golf” (GOLF DIGEST, 4/16).

City of Arlington officials are “planning to spend up to” $273M to keep the Cowboys in town. The City Council will discuss a lease extension at the city-owned AT&T Stadium next week to “ensure the football team stays put through 2055″ as their current leases runs through 2040. It would also give the city the ability to use $273M “for stadium upgrades, operation and maintenance over two decades using venue taxes the city already collects.” Arlington Mayor Jim Ross said that the $273M is “money the city kept collecting and is reimbursing the football team for their share” of the $1B upgrades to the stadium for the next 20 years. The Cowboys will “invest at least” $750M toward the sports complex and will “draw from the city’s account for reimbursements.” They have until 2043 to complete the upgrades (DALLAS MORNING NEWs, 4/16).

More than 6,000 PSL owners for the Ravens filled the Merriweather Post Pavilion as the team “finally revealed the new uniforms.” An “all-black matte helmet featuring a two-toned front-facing Ravens logo that accentuates the red eyes,” paired with their “black jerseys and pants, was the biggest showstopper among the four combinations.” Though not a complete overhaul, the remaining changes to the motif “stood out.” The new uniforms feature “color-shifting material to match a raven’s feathers, talon-striped pants, a wing pattern on the collar, and a new matte-black ‘Darkness’ helmet.” The team now sports “Baltimore” on the “front of its white jerseys, while the back collar of the purple, black and Purple Rising jerseys also includes the ‘Baltimore’ name.” Since the franchise relocated from Cleveland in 1996, most of the changes “have been minor” (BALTIMORE SUN, 4/16). Ravens SVP/Marketing Brad Downs said that the designs of “The Next Flight” “took three years to finalize and included at least 15 jersey iterations and even more helmet iterations” (BALTIMORE BANNER, 4/16).

The FBS Oversight Committee on Thursday recommended standardizing the football regular season to 14 weeks, during which teams could schedule 12 games. The season would begin on the Thursday of what is now designated Week 0 and end on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The proposal, which would begin with the 2027 season, also would eliminate exceptions for teams to play before the designated season opening date. A 14-week regular season annually provides two open dates, flexibility for potential changes to the postseason and preserves standalone weekends for conference championships and the Army-Navy Game. The D-I Cabinet, which would have to adopt the legislation for the proposal to become official, is scheduled to discuss the recommendation in June (NCAA).

Bet365 launches its sportsbook app in Michigan Friday behind a Tigers sponsorship that includes in-park and virtual signs, odds integrations as presenting sponsor of Tigers broadcasts on Detroit SportNet and promotion on team radio and digital channels.

Bet365 also signed on as sponsor of the Red Wings and 313 Presents, the live entertainment joint venture by Tigers and Red Wings owner Ilitch Sports and Entertainment and Pistons owner Tom Gores.

The addition of Michigan expands Bet 365’s U.S. footprint to 17 states.

With the FIFA World Cup taking place in the U.S. this summer, RFK Racing has aligned with its sister property Liverpool FC to help promote the Premier League team and its joint sponsor Trimble in NASCAR.

The sides are set to announce Friday morning that they will unveil a Liverpool/Trimble shared paint scheme on RFK’s No. 17 Ford at a “Premier League Mornings Live” fan festival this weekend in Tampa before driver Chris Buescher gets in the car for the Cup Series race at Sonoma Raceway in late June.

Trimble is a Colorado-based infrastructure hardware/software company that first signed on with RFK last year before later reaching an understanding with Liverpool. Given that Trimble sponsors both teams, the teams felt that brand made sense to work with on the project, which will also involve a licensed merchandise line.

The June 28 race at Sonoma will take place two weeks after the World Cup begins. The paint scheme will be shown off at the “Premier League Mornings Live” traveling road show put on by the property and NBC Sports. The NASCAR team is jointly owned by Fenway, NASCAR HOFer Jack Roush and 2012 Cup Series champion and continuing driver Brad Keselowski.

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Netflix “topped Wall Street expectations for earnings and revenue” in Q1, but the streamer’s shares “still took a dive in after-hours trading Thursday.” Revenue rose 16% from the year-ago period to hit $12.25B. But despite the beat, Netflix shares -- which have “risen 15% in 2026 to date -- fell as much as 10% in after-hours trading.” Netflix in its quarterly letter to shareholders said that its “full-year guidance remains unchanged.” The company “called out the World Baseball Classic in the letter,” which drew 31.4 million viewers in Japan and spurred the biggest single day of subscription signups in the country. The quarterly filing was Netflix’s first since it bowed out of a deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery’s studios-and-streaming unit (DEADLINE, 4/16). Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, during an earnings call on Thursday, acknowledged the importance of the NFL and said the company is “in discussions right now, because we think there’s an opportunity to expand the relationship” (SBJ).

With SBJ’s CAA World Congress of Sports wrapping up in L.A. on Thursday, here is a list of topics and stories that have come out of the event over the past three days:

• Garber pushes back against MLS skepticism at World Congress
• Bela Bajaria lays out Netflix’s thinking around sports content
• Inflation, industry issues discussed at CAA World Congress of Sports opening
• WCOS: Execs dish on what it takes to build out successful big events
• Fox’s Eric Shanks goes deep on World Cup, landing Zlatan Ibrahimovic
• Nick Khan peels back curtain on TKO’s drive to elevate properties, grow business
• CAA World Congress of Sports: Women’s sports needs new narratives to continue growth
• CAA World Congress of Sports: Leagues, brands lean into creator content
• Fanatics’ Michael Rubin touts ‘massive growth’ potential in collectibles, global and prediction markets
• New Balance, Samsung CMOs outline new playbook built on risk and collaboration
• Chelsea owner Behdad Eghbali: Regulation is beneficial for European soccer
• The value of brand sponsorships comes from ‘building’ with customers
• The Team holds its annual women’s event at World Congress of Sports

SBJ’s CAA World Congress of Sports wrapped up on Thursday with more panels and discussions with industry leaders.

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N.Y. Red Bulls are looking for a Manager/Social Media. The Harrison-based position is responsible for building a unified social media presence that brings together team performance, stadium experiences and year-round programming into a cohesive, fan-first content ecosystem (Red Bulls).

PBR is looking for a Senior Dir/Tour Operations. The Fort Worth-based position is responsible for end-to-end event operations, including logistics, arena transformation, livestock coordination and back-of-house execution (PBR).

Santa Barbara Sky FC is looking for a CRO. The Santa Barbara-based position is responsible for owning the full commercial vision of the club while directly driving revenue growth across all channels, including corporate partnerships, ticketing, premium hospitality and emerging revenue streams (Santa Barbara Sky FC).

Premier Lacrosse League is looking for a Dir/Partnership Marketing. The N.Y.-based position is responsible for strategizing and executing details of partnership activations across all platforms while developing partnership strategies that both exceed partner KPIs and advance PLL/WLL business objectives (PLL).

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“In 2005 a church begun in 1882 became the tallest building in this city.”