Morning Buzz

The Premier Lacrosse League has raised a $100 million Series E funding round led by Joe Tsai and funds of Ares Management. Tsai, the Alibaba co-founder who owns the Nets and Liberty, first backed the PLL in 2019, while Ares has joined as a new investor. Other returning investors in this round include ESPN, which increased the stake it first acquired as part of its PLL media rights extension last year, and David Blitzer’s Bolt Ventures family office.

New investors include actors Rob Mac and Glen Powell; the Tisch family’s Next 3, which also has stakes in League One Volleyball and Gotham FC; Jon-Erik Borgen’s FirstTracks Sports Ventures, which previously invested in Austin FC and Denver Summit FC; Jed Hart, the head of Europe for Centerbridge Partners and a USA Lacrosse Foundation board member; and Shumway Capital founder and Hornets minority owner Chris Shumway, among others.

Paul Rabil, the league’s co-founder, president and chief creative officer, told SBJ that the new funding represents a sort of “turning point” for the league as it prepares to evolve to a new business model. The PLL currently operates as a single entity with eight league-owned teams, but league leadership is eyeing potential new structures, including the sale of those teams to external investors. New investment would come at the cost of total control. Rabil said all options remain on the table.

“What makes our business very attractive to investors also makes a business that’s very difficult to run, because we are a team sports league that’s fully owned as if it were the UFC or the WWE,” Rabil said. “As we look to explore various forms of growth to profitability or liquidity for shareholders, or a potential model shift to having [team] investor-operators, like the MLS calls them, those are all in the future.”

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After decades of three- and six-year contract renewals, the Seattle Mariners and Sodexo Live have finally committed to each other long-term. They’ve struck a 25-year renewal of a food and beverage relationship that began in 1997 at the Kingdome and will continue until 2051 at T-Mobile Park.

The 25-year extension defies an industry trend in which food and beverage providers were working with shorter and shorter contracts, often with mid-term opt-outs increasingly being activated.

“It’s the best proof point, that you can actually maintain long-term partnerships and be given the chance to do it again,” said Sodexo Live CEO Belinda Oakley, who said the deal shows that the sports F&B business is “not as fickle as people might think. That’s a good impact for our whole business.”

Sodexo Live and the Mariners maintained their business relationship through a litany of three-year extensions of the original agreement (struck with Sodexo Live predecessor Centerplate), until finally, the six-year extension in 2020. The Mariners, according to Malcolm Rogel, the team’s VP/Fan Experience, believed the short terms would hold Sodexo Live accountable.

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The Univ. of Wisconsin is slated to announce an expansion of its sponsorship deal with Culver’s to include a jersey patch for football, men’s basketball and men’s hockey. Exact terms of the deal were not immediately available. An official announcement is expected to come on Tuesday.

“We started with one little restaurant in Sauk City, Wisconsin,” said co-founder Craig Culver. “I was 34 at that time. I just turned 76, but I never dreamt when we opened that first little restaurant in Sauk City, a town of about 4,000 people at that time, that someday we’d be able to put our logo on the floor of the basketball court or on the jerseys or things.”

Wisconsin has been among the nation’s most active schools in monetizing new commercial assets across its athletic department. The school re-negotiated its deal with Learfield, which helped broker the Culver’s deal, in January. That was followed by a new-look apparel deal with Under Armour that included a carve out around potential jersey patch inventory.

Those agreements were followed by a groundbreaking jersey patch sponsorship deal with UW Health for a handful of its women’s sports programs.

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Paraguay “pulled off the most stunning upset of the World Cup” to this point on Monday evening, knocking off Germany in PKs at Boston Stadium. The “fans of ‘La Albirroja,’ who didn’t stop dancing and singing throughout the two-hour match, remained in the stands long after the final PK, celebrating the biggest win in their country’s history.” Paraguay President Santiago Peña “promptly declared Tuesday a national holiday.” Germans “had the dominant fan advantage in the seating bowl,” yet “Paraguay’s fans outdanced and outsang the Germans despite sitting in just a handful of sections” (BOSTON GLOBE, 6/29).

The PK madness continued late into the night, as Morocco knocked off the Netherlands following a “bonkers penalty shoot.” Following the winning PK, “Moroccan journalists in the media tribune abandoned all pretence of impartiality, hugging, cheering and banging their desks.” The “noise in the stadium was thunderous and prolonged” (SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST, 6/30).

Thousands of Dutch fans “flooded the streets of Monterrey, Mexico,” ahead of the match (REUTERS, 6/29). However, Fox’ John Strong said, “There’s really only a handful of pockets of fans wearing orange. It’s a very different looking stadium because these are all tickets that were bought really in the last couple days when the matchup was set” (“Morocco-Netherlands,” Fox, 6/29).

Extreme heat will “greet fans and players this week” at the World Cup, as “an imposing ‘heat dome’ settles over the central and eastern United States -- plus parts of Canada -- as the knockout rounds progress.” The weather phenomenon “could lead to dangerously high ‌temperatures, with heat indices set to hit 105 to 115 degrees Fahrenheit in parts of the Midwest and East Coast,” with matches ​from Toronto to K.C. to N.J. and Philadelphia “all feeling the heat.” FIFA did not immediately respond to a request for comment on “any additional measures that could be taken for player or fan safety during the expected period of intense heat.” Toronto, which will host a Round of 32 match between Portugal and Croatia on Thursday, “put its ‘Heat ​Relief Strategy’ into effect after ​Environment and Climate Change Canada ⁠issued a heat warning that runs from Tuesday through Friday” (REUTERS, 6/29).

Meanwhile, Philadelphia’s FIFA Fan Festival is “shifting its hours this week in response to the incoming heat wave.” The outdoor World Cup watch party will “open later in the day” on Thursday and Friday, when temperatures “could surpass 100 degrees.” It will also “start later Tuesday and close slightly earlier on Saturday, shuttering at the conclusion” of the 1pm ET holiday match rather than at 4pm. The rescheduling “means fans will not be able to watch several knockout-round matches at the free Lemon Hill festival this week” (PHILLY VOICE, 6/29).

The World Cup Round of 32 match between Mexico and Ecuador on Tuesday at Mexico City Stadium is by far the hottest ticket of the day despite ticket prices dropping slightly over the past three days. The get-in price for the 9pm ET kickoff is set at $2,764, which is down 11% from three days ago but up 2% from a week ago -- and up 101% from the start of the tournament, according to TicketData.com. It is also the hardest ticket of the day to get, as there is limited to no availability currently. The downward trend in ticket prices that fans saw for Monday’s three Round of 32 matches continued the other two matches set for Tuesday -- Cote d’Ivoire-Norway at Dallas Stadium and France-Sweden at N.Y. N.J. Stadium. The 1pm kickoff in Dallas has 210 tickets still available, with a get-in price of $662 -- which is down 16% from three days ago and down 51% from a week ago, but up 17% from the start of the tournament. France-Sweden, set for a 5pm kickoff, has even more tickets available (685), with a higher get-in price of $791 -- down 11% from three days ago, down 57% from a week ago and down 4% from the start of the tournament. 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.

Last-minute asking prices for tickets on the secondary market for Cote d’Ivoire-Norway “have dropped significantly compared with prices for earlier matches at Dallas Stadium.” Prices for Tuesday stand “in sharp contrast to last-minute prices for Saturday’s Argentina-Jordan match.” Even with “questions surrounding how much Lionel Messi would play, if at all, it cost more than $2,000 for the cheapest seat and a chance to see the global superstar," (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 6/29).

Meanwhile, ticket prices for Thursday’s Round of 32 World Cup game in Vancouver between Switzerland and Algeria have “plummeted since it became clear Canada wouldn’t be playing there” -- but “it’s a whole different ball game in Toronto.” Fans there will “get to see two highly rated teams,” as Cristiano Ronaldo and the Portugal squad take on Croatia on Thursday, and prices are “around four times higher than at BC Place.” TicketData says the “cheapest tickets for BC Place ... plunged” from around $2,100 on Wednesday to about $700 on Monday. The lowest Portugal-Croatia entry price was “around $2,550” (TORONTO STAR, 6/30).

Free agency opens in the NBA at 6pm ET on Tuesday evening, with F LeBron James’ future “atop the list of most intriguing storylines.” His “options would figure to include staying with” the Lakers, “returning to Miami or Cleveland ... or even thinking about moving elsewhere like” to the Warriors and teaming up with G Stephen Curry and F Draymond Green “to chase one more title.” Once 6pm hits, “deals could be flying not long afterward.” In “most cases, any new deals cannot be executed until at least the end of the NBA’s offseason moratorium on July 6” (AP, 6/29).

The Warriors will be one of the teams to watch on Tuesday, from their pursuit of James to their potential interest in F Anthony Davis. Green declined his player option with the team, which “might be the first in a series of moves that could eventually bring James to the Warriors, something that has always seemed far-fetched. Until now.” It “seems likely that Green ... would re-sign a contract” with the Warriors at a lower number. According to reports, James and the Lakers “have not had any meaningful contract talks yet.” Meanwhile, Green and James “are extremely close and share the same agent, Rich Paul," who also represents Davis. One of the “reasons that it’s not such a far-fetched idea stems from what happened in Paris two summers ago” at the Olympics. The U.S. won a gold medal and the “chemistry between icons James and Curry was obvious.” Davis was also on that team, and Warriors coach Steve Kerr was the coach of that team (S.F. CHRONICLE, 6/29).

Houston-based consultancy Deutser is formalizing its growing work in sports by launching Deutser Sports, a dedicated division that goes inside franchises and athletic departments to rebuild culture, leadership systems and physical spaces, often in tandem with Excel Search and Advisory group.

The move follows years of assignments with teams like the Texans, Arizona Cardinals, University of Washington and SMU, where Deutser has been hired to reset or reimagine how organizations operate internally. The new division will package that work into a sports-specific practice led by Dr. Kara Allen, the former Chief People, Impact and Belonging Officer at Spurs Sports & Entertainment, and supported by an integrated team of social scientists, data specialists, management consultants and designers.

Deutser works as the embedded consulting, culture and design partner to Excel Search and Advisory, the executive search arm of Excel Sports Management. Excel handles identifying and placing leaders for teams and leagues, while Deutser comes in alongside those hires to diagnose organizational issues, rebuild culture and redesign facilities and leadership programs to support the new leadership’s vision over the long term.

As the company approaches its 25th anniversary and works across multiple industries, sports have become a bigger piece of the portfolio over time. The company’s strategy is, when organizations face internal cultural issues, to interview and survey people across the team, codify a clear culture and people strategy, redesign facilities to match that story, install leadership and learning programs, and track retention, engagement and performance over time.

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In this episode of On Stage, Bela Bajaria, Chief Content Officer at Netflix, joins Elle Duncan, Lead Host of Sports and Live Events at Netflix and studio host for USA Sports, for a wide-ranging conversation on the future of entertainment, storytelling and live sports.

Recorded in April 2026 at the CAA World Congress of Sports presented by Sports Business Journal, the discussion explores how Netflix continues to evolve from a streaming pioneer into one of the most influential players in sports and live entertainment.

Throughout the conversation, Bajaria shares insights on:

• The Power of Great Storytelling: Why compelling characters and authentic stories remain at the center of every successful piece of content.  
• Netflix & Live Sports: How the company is approaching live events and sports programming while staying true to its broader content strategy.  
• Building Global Franchises: What it takes to create content that resonates across cultures and audiences around the world.  
• Creative Partnerships: How Netflix works with leagues, athletes, creators and producers to develop distinctive programming.  
• Leading at Scale: Bajaria’s philosophy for managing one of the world’s largest content organizations during a period of rapid industry transformation.  

From documentaries and scripted series to live sporting events, it’s a fascinating look at how one of the world’s most influential media companies is thinking about the future of content.

Golf tech company Full Swing has signed a multiyear extension of its agreement with PGA Tour player Jordan Spieth, who’s been repping the brand since 2015.

Full Swing is the official licensed simulator of the PGA Tour and last year signed a renewal as an official tech partner of TGL. It also has deals with other golfers, including Jon Rahm, Jason Day and Xander Schauffele. Tiger Woods has been an investor and endorser of Full Swing since 2015.

Spieth also has sponsor deals with Under Armour, Rolex, Titleist, AT&T and more. WME’s Jay Danzi has been Spieth’s longtime manager.

“This word for a specific type of knight is derived from the site upon which Rome was said to have been founded.”