Morning Buzz

The SEC and Allstate are slated to announce a new multiyear agreement centered on women’s sports, Sports Business Journal has learned. An official announcement is expected on Thursday, while financial details were not immediately available.

The deal, which was brokered through Disney Advertising, is slated to include the creation of the Allstate SEC Women’s Champions Cup, a title sponsorship of next year’s SEC Nation bus and a presenting sponsorship of the SEC awards. The Allstate SEC Women’s Champions Cup will spotlight female athletes across the league, along with a year-long competition where schools earn points based on their teams’ performance in regular and postseason play.

The agreement would also see Allstate become the first title sponsor of the SEC women’s volleyball tournament and the broadcast presenting presenting sponsor of the SEC women’s soccer tournament on SEC Network. The company, too, is set to maintain its position as an official sponsor for all conference championship events.

With an SEC deal, Allstate would serve as the official insurance partner of all Power Four conferences. Its recent Power Four deals have also included a number of new title sponsorship plays like the ACC softball and men’s lacrosse tournaments and the Big Ten women’s basketball tournament.

New Trail Blazers owner Tom Dundon on Wednesday “showed no interest in putting money toward” the Moda Center’s expected $600M makeover, saying that “simply keeping the NBA franchise in Portland was enough of a financial sacrifice.” Dundon “expects taxpayers to foot the entire bill” of the project, which is “deemed by proponents as essential to prevent the Blazers from leaving town.” Dundon’s comments also came as numerous Portland lawmakers “made it clear that they want to see the franchise contribute a significant chunk of cash toward the arena renovation in exchange for the city’s own financial support.” Portland Mayor Keith Wilson had previously “pledged that the city would pour up to” $120M into an arena rehab. However, Portland’s 12-member City Council “must ultimately approve any financial commitment as well as the terms of a new lease with the team” (Portland OREGONIAN, 6/24).

In his “highest-profile appearance” since purchasing the Blazers, Dundon spoke before the Portland Metro Chamber’s 2026 Annual Meeting and “gave no hints as to what he’d do if public money from the city of Portland and Multnomah County doesn’t materialize.” Dundon said, “Given the age of the arena, the normal thing to do would be to build a new arena. ... We thought the easier way to solve the problem was to take these dollars that were generated here when you charge an incremental fee on a ticket ... and invest it back into the thing that helps generate the money relative to the market.” There was “no clarity on the big question” of whether Dundon “would move the team after its Moda lease expires in 2030 if local governments don’t provide” the $600M the team has said it needs to renovate the 30-year-old Moda Center (PORTLAND BUSINESS JOURNAL, 6/24).

Serie A club AC Milan has “rejected an approach” by NYCFC for USMNT F Christian Pulisic, with Milan “stating that the player isn’t available,” according to sources cited by ESPN.com. NYCFC is set to open a new stadium next summer, and “as such can expect a significant rise in revenues.” Pulisic’s current contract runs through June 2027, with a club option to extend that deal by a year. RedBird Capital founder & CEO Gerry Cardinale, whose firm owns AC Milan, has reportedly “made it clear that he wants to keep Pulisic as well as other star players” (ESPN.com, 6/24). THE ATHLETIC cited sources as saying NYCFC is “not the only MLS team that would chase Pulisic if Milan softened their stance.” Italian publication Gazzetta Dello Sport first reported NYCFC’s interest in Pulisic (THE ATHLETIC, 6/24).

Concacaf and Fox Sports are renewing an English-language media-rights deal that will now go through 2029. The deal, which Concacaf did directly with Fox, will see the biannual Gold Cup stay on Fox Sports (2027 and 2029). Also, for the for first time, the Nations League event will come to Fox Sports for the 2026-27 and 2028-29 cycles. Univision renewed its Spanish-language deal with Concacaf last month.

Last summer, Fox drew 3.73 million viewers for Mexico’s win over the U.S. in the final of the Concacaf Gold Cup on a Sunday night, marking the best Gold Cup match ever in English. The full Gold Cup across Fox, FS1 and FS2 in 2025 averaged 474,000 viewers (31 matches), marking the most-viewed Gold Cup since Fox originally acquired rights to the event.

The USMNT has clinched its spot in the Round of 32 regardless of what happens on Thursday, and ticket prices for the team’s final group stage clash appear to be reflecting that. The get-in price for USA-Turkiye sits at $1,594, down 1% from three days ago and 22% from seven days ago, though up 69% since the start of the tournament, according to TicketData.com. That price is slightly higher than tickets for the team’s opener against Paraguay ($1,129), but is lower than the tickets for the second match against Australia ($1,878). Two other matches on Thursday top $1,000 to get in with Ecuador-Germany at $1,140 and Japan-Sweden at $1,027. Paraguay-Australia comes in at $768 -- up 113% since the start of the tournament -- while Tunisia-Netherlands ($485) and Curacao-Cote d’Ivoire ($443) sit on the lower end of ticket prices. SBJ has partnered with TicketData.com to track get-in prices and trends for upcoming games. For additional information on games, visit the World Cup page at TicketData.com.

On this week’s pod, SBJ’s Austin Karp digs into the NBA Draft presentation, NASCAR’s debut in San Diego, the continued rise of NCAA Baseball and Linda Cohn’s “SportsCenter” legacy. Karp also delves into Telemundo having to make corrections to their early World Cup numbers. Finally, ahead of U.S.-Turkey to wrap the group stage, Fox Sports lead analyst Stu Holden breaks down the early portion of the tournament.

The International Tennis Federation’s rebrand to “World Tennis,” initially announced in October, is live effective Thursday. The name change includes a new logo, which the global tennis federation developed with U.K.-based creative agency Storm Brands. World Tennis CEO Ross Hutchins, who was hired from the ATP last year, said in a press briefing the rebrand is intended to establish a clear identity for the organization.

“World Tennis shows the global nature of us, shows the focal point of us as an organization,” Hutchins said. “And there are quite a few acronyms in our sport -- LTA, USTA, ITF, ATP, WTA -- but having World Tennis is something that differentiates [from] that and stands very tall in terms of what we believe we are here for.”

Hutchins also outlined five forward-looking pillars for World Tennis -- growing global tennis participation to 140M (from 106M) by 2035; expanding the professional pathway for players; enhancing the “nations competitions” World Tennis organizes (e.g., Davis Cup, Billie Jean King Cup); future-proofing the sport through innovations and evolving governance; and raising investment through new revenue streams and partnerships (though he clarified World Tennis is not considering outside investment). World Tennis has pledged to reinvest 85% of its income over the next decade to growing tennis through its 214 national tennis associations (e.g., the USTA).

“Above everything, we believe our job is to create engagement into tennis around the world,” Hutchins said. “Through our national associations, we need to give the opportunity for everyone to access our sports.”

The BBC has a “new deal with the All England Club to show Wimbledon until 2033,” meaning that the Championships “will remain on free-to-air television for at least the next seven years.” The Wimbledon men’s and women’s finals are “Group A Listed Events, which means they must be shown on terrestrial, free-to-air TV,” but “the rest of the tournament is Group B, which means it could be shown on subscription-based TV or streaming platforms if highlights were available on free to air.” It was reported in January that the BBC “was set to hold on to the broadcast rights for Wimbledon,” but the All England Club “had demanded a significant revamp of its coverage of the tournament.” The BBC has since “announced a number of changes” ahead of this year’s tournament. The BBC first broadcast Wimbledon in 1927 (London TIMES, 6/25).

Former tennis players Andy and Jamie Murray are launching their own YouTube channel called “The Set.” It will be produced by Prodigy Studios alongside IMG Tennis, which now sits within WME Sports. The channel will be a mix of expert masterclasses, challenges, road trips, behind-the-scenes access and personality-driven content. The first episode, “Can We Turn KSI into a Pro Tennis Player?”, debuts Friday on YouTube.

“The Set” has also secured backing from tennis’ major stakeholders in the U.K., including archival footage from ATP Media and the All England Lawn Tennis Club to be used on the channel to re-live old tennis moments. Broadcast partners of Wimbledon, like BBC Sport, will have access to the digital-first content created by the Murray brothers for use during the tournament. “The Set,” in the long term, will look to add live events, podcasts and sponsor-led opportunities.

Fifteen college basketball players filed a lawsuit in Ohio on Wednesday “seeking to prevent the NCAA from enforcing new rules” around playing eligibility. Division I college athletes now will be allowed to compete in five seasons over five years. Previously, athletes could play four seasons within five years and were allowed to sit out for a “redshirt” year. Attorneys for the 15 players are “seeking an injunction that would block the NCAA from preventing them from playing during the 2026-27 season.” Ryan Downton of The Texas Trial Group, who is “heading the litigation,” said the lawsuit is “the first of five he expects to file in different states surrounding the issue.” The lawsuit says that the rules “unfairly exclude athletes who graduated from high school in 2022, even though those athletes are within five years of enrolling in college for the first time” (CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, 6/24).

The Titans have picked Extreme Networks to provide Nissan Stadium’s Wi-Fi 7 network when the new venue opens in spring 2027.

“From the get-go, the key for us is ensuring that we’re building the most optimal fan experience,” said Andrew McIntyre, the Titans’ SVP/Technology. “That means having a very robust connectivity system throughout, whether on the cellular side or WiFi side of the house.”

The Titans are working with Verizon on their DAS 5G cellular network. The current Titans’ stadium uses Extreme Wi-Fi, one of the vendor’s 14 NFL stadium clients.

The Nissan Stadium Wi-Fi deployment -- total investment wasn’t disclosed -- will feature Extreme’s novel multi-beam wireless, a first-of-its-kind, 16-sector directional antenna system that delivers Wi-Fi capacity with precision using MatSing antennae. John Brams, SVP/Americas at Extreme Networks, said that a typical stadium design could have as many as 400 mounting locations but that the new multi-beam tech will bring that number down to between 25 and 30 at the new stadium.

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Presidio, an AI-driven digital solutions provider, has renewed its designation as an official technology innovation partner of the NHL. The league’s annual draft begins Friday, for which Presidio developed the app underpinning the recently decentralized process.

In the first three years of its relationship with the NHL, Presidio also spearheaded the creation of the Virtual Technology Operations Center, a cloud-based broadcast production tool, and the NHL Watch Comms App, the Apple Watch software used by 95% of on-ice officials to track the remaining time in the period and on penalties.

NHL CTO Peter DelGiacco described their collaboration as “building something genuinely differentiated” as the league seeks to “modernize our infrastructure, advance our AI capabilities, and deliver smarter experiences for our teams and fans.”

The draft app was first built in 2023 and has been upgraded in successive years. It again will be on display this weekend to provide real-time data to all the clubs, facilitating draft picks and trades across the disparate nature of the reimagined, decentralized process. Presidio also works with the NHL on security and confidentiality.

Social commerce platform FEVO has created a new AI agent called Gibson, which will launch officially in August at the company’s FEVO Fest. FEVO customers will be able to use Gibson to create and deploy ticketing offers through conversational chat, which in turn makes offer creation more straightforward and less time-consuming. Gibson can generate offers spanning group sales, season renewals, and premium offerings.

The technology will be beta-tested this summer by the Astros, Arizona Cardinals, Red Wings, Tigers and the University of Washington before rolling out to the entire client base in August.

FEVO works throughout the live entertainment space, with more than 800 clients that span the five major men’s North American leagues and the NCAA. It has integrations with Ticketmaster, AXS, and Paciolan.

Back in September, FEVO CEO Betty Tran sat with SBJ to discuss the importance of discoverability and the evolution of search to AI.

“Her aria ‘Un bel dì, vedremo’ says, ‘One fine day we will see…a strand of smoke over the far horizon…& then the ship appears.’”