Morning Buzz

Members of the Illinois House “ran out the clock” on their legislative session early Monday “without passing a bill to entice the Bears to build a new dome in their home state rather than cross the border to the east, denying the team the property tax certainty” that the McCaskeys have insisted will decide the destination of their new dome. Illinois senators “tossed up a desperation heave” by passing a bill that would authorize Cook County municipalities with populations of at least 70,000 to “create their own financing authorities for publicly owned stadiums that would eliminate the Bears’ potential property tax bills.” But their House colleagues did not “take up the measure for a vote, leaving the stadium saga in limbo once again.” After the House adjourned shortly before sunrise Monday, Illinois House Speaker Emanuel Welch “ruled out calling a special legislative session to deal with the unfinished business surrounding the Bears.” After his late push for the legislation, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s office issued a statement saying that he “has always wanted the Bears to remain in Illinois and been open to a sensible deal, so the Governor’s Office needs to carefully review this new bill that was recently made public overnight” (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 6/1).

The USMNT beat Senegal 3-2 behind a goal and an assist from F Christian Pulisic in a “confidence-building” win on Sunday at Bank of America Stadium, the Americans’ next-to-last World Cup warmup before their June 12 opener. The team “fed off the emotion and energy of a pro-American crowd” of 57,741 in soccer-crazed Charlotte, home of this summer’s MLS All-Star Game (AP, 5/31). The win was the program’s second win over a Top 15 opponent under coach Mauricio Pochettino. The USMNT was technically ranked 16th while Senegal was ranked 14th in the latest FIFA standings. It also marks a “nice turn of events after the team’s last two friendlies left fans wanting more -- lopsided losses to Portugal and Belgium.” The Americans wrap up their friendly “send-off” series against Germany next weekend in Chicago before the World Cup begins against Paraguay at 9pm ET on June 12. Players and coaches alike “hope Charlotte is a catalyst for confidence” after the victory (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 5/31).

Scripps Local Media’s 54 broadcast stations across 36 Nielsen-designated market areas have been suspended beginning at 7pm ET Sunday, as the third-largest operator of ABC affiliates and DirecTV have “reached an impasse over retransmission rates with both sides laying blame at each other’s proverbial feet.” With dozens of television stations going dark, DirecTV noted the outage will impact voters ahead of key state and local primary elections in June and disrupt live sports events like the upcoming NBA finals on ABC and the U.S. Open golf tournament on NBC. Scripps operates 17 ABC affiliates, including Las Vegas-based KTNV-ABC, where the Golden Knights will face off against the Hurricanes in the Stanley Cup Finals (DEADLINE, 5/31).

National networks, including Ion, which carries WNBA games, are not impacted by the dispute because carriage of those channels falls under a separate, still-active agreement (THE DESK, 5/31).

Zee Entertainment Enterprises has secured Indian broadcast and streaming rights to 39 FIFA soccer events spanning 2026 to 2034, including the 2026 FIFA World Cup, 2030 World Cup and 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup. The deal, the first between Zee and FIFA, also “encompasses a portfolio of age-group and futsal tournaments across both the men’s and women’s game, as well as documentary series tied to each property.” Coverage begins June 11 with the 2026 World Cup opener, broadcast across four newly launched linear sports channels -- Unite8 Sports 1 and Unite8 Sports 1 HD in Hindi, and Unite8 Sports 2 and Unite8 Sports 2 HD in English -- as well as Zee’s streaming platform ZEE5. The deal marks a “significant development in what had been a protracted rights negotiation in India.” Financial terms of the current deal were not disclosed (VARIETY, 6/1).

Work is beginning at the Victoria Park site for the 2032 Brisbane Games stadium as the Games Independent Infrastructure and Coordination Authority “took over ownership of the land from the Brisbane City Council at midnight.” Premier David Crisafulli held a press conference Monday alongside representatives from the Brisbane Lions and Cricket Australia to celebrate the milestone for the 63,000-seat venue, which will also be home to AFL and cricket. It comes after days of protests against the stadium, including one on Sunday that “saw hundreds of people gather, with Save Victoria Park calling for the parklands and green space to be preserved” (ABC.net.au, 6/1).

GIICA CEO Simon Crooks added that there “was a long way to go before construction on the 63,000-seat Brisbane Stadium would begin.” But Crisafulli said that he was “confident it would be completed on time for the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games” (BRISBANE TIMES, 6/1).

Merchandise sales in the 12 hours after Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain’s UEFA Champions League victory were the highest in Fanatics history for an individual team win outside of the U.S. Sales on the official online PSG store on Saturday beat the previous international daily record by 60%, set last year following PSG’s first Champions League win. Sales on the official online PSG Store, which is operated by Fanatics, peaked in the hour after the club lifted the Champions League trophy. Between 9pm and 10pm on Saturday another record was broken, with more orders per minute than ever before across all Fanatics channels outside of the U.S., the most popular items being the Back2Back PSG home and away jerseys (Fanatics).

The final day of the SailGP event in N.Y. had a “carbon-crunching, three-way crash” on the start line of the final fleet race that “will dominate people’s memories of a mad” Sunday, making Australia’s victory of resilience somewhat of a “footnote at the end of a wacky weekend.” Team Italy, U.S., and Brazil crashed. There were no injuries, but the crash took the three teams out of the race. Following a crash in the Auckland, N.Z., race three months ago, SailGP said that they would “see a lot more ‘split fleets’ -- dividing the pack into two groups as a means of reducing high-traffic moments of risk.” Nathan Outteridge of the Swedish team said, “It was a cool event, but it was a shame we only got one day of racing” (THE ATHLETIC, 5/31).

The race is part of a spring and summer of major sporting spectacles in the N.Y. region that includes the Knicks’ march to the NBA finals and the World Cup in N.J. SailGP took over the harbor for an “exotic sailboat race that features high tech catamarans careening across the upper bay,” their “vivid colors stamped against some of the most recognizable scenery in the world.” The Coast Guard sent a notification on Thursday “alerting all mariners ... that it would establish an exclusion zone inside the harbor that is roughly the size of the Lower East Side, just west and south of Governors Island.” Spectators watched from the western edge of Governors Island (N.Y. TIMES, 5/31).

EA Sports is expected to reveal Madden 27 and College Football 27 at an event in Chicago on June 4, with rumors that Bears QB Caleb Williams could “become the first Bears player to be on the cover of Madden.” Rumors started circulating on social media Saturday with an image showing Williams performing his “Iceman” gesture (USA TODAY, 5/31). There is “little doubting Williams’ popularity” after a season in which he debuted his “Iceman” celebration and provided the NFL with “some of its most memorable moments” (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 5/31).

Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti is “front and center” on the deluxe edition cover of the new EA Sports college football video game. No individual coach had been on the cover of the game series since the 1990s (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 5/31).

What’s on RaShauna Hamilton’s mind? The VP of Fan Growth and Community for the Washington Spirit discusses how getting kids active is paramount in a world awash with screen access.

In this week’s issue:

• Eric Shanks has guided Fox Sports through some of the biggest moments in sports and now has the media company in position to score with the World Cup. SBJ’s Chris Smith recaps Shanks’ career and how he’s navigating the unique challenges the World Cup presents.
• SBJ’s Alex Silverman takes us to the 16 markets that will host World Cup matches and their varied approaches with fan experience. Silverman and SBJ’s Bret McCormick also provide market-by-market snapshots of what fans can expect.
• Plans to expand the College Football Playoffs are stuck in neutral as the debate lingers over whether the added game inventory would be enough to offset the disruption expansion would create. SBJ’s Ben Portnoy and Austin Karp break down the sticking points.
• SBJ’s Rachel Axon introduces us to Carolina Hurricanes executive Brian Fork, who is tasked with coordinating a major renovation of Lenovo Center and the development of an adjacent mixed-use project.
• Altius Sports Partners was founded on NIL, but now it wants more, pushing into broader college sports consulting. SBJ’s Ben Portnoy examines the strategy and where the agency has scored some early wins.

Legends Global is looking for a Sales Manager/Private Events. The L.A.-based position is responsible for generating private event revenue from sales through various outreach channels including their own network of contacts and incoming leads (Legends Global).

The Penguins are looking for a Data Engineer. The Pittsburgh-based position is responsible for designing and building data pipelines and ETL/ELT workflows using Airflow and dbt to deliver clean, reliable data to analysts and applications (Penguins).

The Rockets are looking for a Dir/Analytics & Strategy. The Houston-based position is responsible for creating and implementing the display and distribution of data, measurement and forecasting for company stakeholders (Rockets).

The Chiefs are looking for a Dir/Corporate Communications & Publicity. The K.C.-based position is responsible for leading and overseeing the strategy, development and execution of integrated communications initiatives that protect, position and promote the team’s brand (Chiefs).

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“A WWI internee created this form of exercise, adapting hospital beds as makeshift equipment to rehab injured soldiers.”