Weekend Rap

Pittsburgh set record attendance for the NFL Draft as the event drew 805,000 over three-days, with people “between Point State Park and outside Acrisure Stadium on the North Shore, besting the previous record of 775,000, set in Detroit” in 2024. The event “added up to what local officials called a one-time opportunity to reintroduce Pittsburgh to global audiences.” Pittsburgh “spent months prepping for the limelight,” and it seems to have paid off. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro noted all the corporate CEOs visiting over the three days and said, “As a result of CEOs coming here for the first time, you will see them place bets on Pittsburgh. You will see them invest in Pittsburgh” (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 4/26). Saturday’s Day 3 drew 176,000 fans despite rain falling in the city (THE ATHLETIC, 4/26).

Pittsburgh “smashed draft attendance numbers … as crowds filled area hotels, packed public transit and flooded city streets.” The city “not only joined the pantheon of host cities but managed to one-up everyone else in the process.” Crime “was nearly nonexistent” and traffic “was minimal” (TRIBLIVE, 4/26).

This all comes while NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said there were representatives from 10 different cities in Pittsburgh scouting out the draft. Goodell added the growth of the event means that “we’re going to probably have to start allocating the drafts a little further in advance” (“The Pat McAfee Show,” ESPN, 4/24).

President & CEO Sam Kennedy and Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow will “address the media in Baltimore before Sunday’s game” on why the team fired manager Alex Cora and six coaches on Saturday (BOSTON HERALD, 4/25). It was the first in-season managerial change under Fenway Sports Group since it purchased the team in 2002. Triple-A manager Chad Tracy was named interim manager. Cora’s 620 victories are third in franchise history. Owner John Henry, Breslow and Kennedy were in Baltimore on Saturday and “informed Cora of his firing at the team hotel” after the team’s game (BOSTON GLOBE, 4/25). Cora was in his second year of a three-year, $21.75M contract extension he signed in July 2024 that made him one of the highest-paid managers in MLB. The deal expired after the 2027 season (ESPN.com, 4/25).

In Boston, Dan Shaughnessy wrote he is “all for shaking things up, and understand that you can’t fire all your players in late April, but put me down as one who did not think Cora was the problem with this Fenway F Troop.” Shaughnessy: “It’s the roster. It’s the 26 guys Henry and Breslow gave Cora. That’s the problem” (BOSTON GLOBE, 4/25). Also in Boston, Mac Cerullo writes for the Red Sox, it is “all on Craig Breslow now.” What happened on Saturday will “go down as one of the most stunning days in Red Sox history.” The “full-scale gutting of the coaching staff is unprecedented in recent franchise history.” Breslow’s “consolidation of power within the Red Sox hierarchy is complete, and there is no debate about who is calling the shots now” (BOSTON HERALD, 4/26). ESPN’s Buster Olney: “This is a full flex by Craig Breslow … He didn’t hire Cora, and now he is firing him. In the long and storied Red Sox ‘Game of Thrones’ in owner John Henry’s tenure, Breslow comes out on top; this is his organization, unequivocally” (ESPN.com, 4/26).

New NASCAR CEO Steve O’Donnell met the media Saturday and said he wants to stress to fans that NASCAR is a “badass American sport.” O’Donnell and new COO Ben Kennedy were introduced at Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday and O’Donnell said he wants to “make some moves” that will return the storied racing series to its roots, adding, “We lost that in recent years.” SBJ reported Friday that Jim France stepped down as NASCAR’s CEO but will remain chair, and his majority ownership stake will not change. O’Donnell “will become the first person outside the France family to hold the CEO title” (AP, 4/25). That O’Donnell “finds himself in this position isn’t surprising.” He is in his 31st year at NASCAR, and his “path to the top has been apparent to those familiar with the league’s inner workings.” Last spring, he was named NASCAR’s president, and before that, he was COO (THE ATHLETIC, 4/25).

Univ. of Miami AD Dan Radakovich is “retiring” and the school is “eyeing former Florida Panthers president Michael Yormark as the successor,” according to sources. Yormark was president of the Panthers from 2007 through 2013 and has been working on the business side of Roc Nation since then. A source said that Yormark “has been offered the UM job.” Some members of UM’s Board of Trustees were informed Friday that Radakovich “will be retiring soon,” but they were “not told that Yormark is the targeted candidate.” Radakovich’s contract runs through the end of the calendar year, but after several weeks of discussions with UM President Joe Echevarria, he “decided to retire now” (MIAMI HERALD, 4/25).

Incoming Padres owners José Feliciano and his wife, Kwanza Jones, will join club minority owner Alfredo Harp Helú “in his box for the finale of the Padres’ Mexico City Series” against the D-backs on Sunday. Harp Helú, an original member of the ownership group that bought the team in 2012, owns a 15% stake in the club, the second-largest share held by any of the Padres’ minority owners. Their meeting this weekend is “expected to result in Harp Helú remaining part of the ownership group.” Harp Helú owns the Mexico City Red Devils Diablos Rojos and Oaxaca Guerreros of the Liga Mexicana de Béisbol (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 4/25).

The D-backs brought a “large traveling party of more than 200 that includes players’ and coaches’ families, corporate sponsors and club ownership.” Team President & CEO Derrick Hall said that the club’s security team has been “working with MLB’s to ensure safe passage.” The D-backs are giving up two home dates at Chase Field to facilitate the series. Hall added that MLB will “‘replace the revenue that we would have otherwise seen’ by calculating the average of what they had made in comparable series in the past.” Hall: “They’re just trying to make us whole” (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 4/25).

The Padres won 6-4 in the opening game of the Mexico City series on Saturday. The crowd at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú had “fervor rivaling any place the Padres have played, including Petco Park” (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 4/25). The D-backs were “technically the home team,” but they “were not treated as such by the decidedly pro-Padres crowd.” Yet everyone “came away raving about the atmosphere, about the lively and loud crowd” of 19,630 on Saturday (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 4/26).

Dozens of Padres “lingered a little longer than planned” with players from Liga Infantil de Beisbol Olmeca A.C. on Friday, “making memories alongside the 250 or so baseball and softball players ages 4 to 17″ from Mexico City’s youth baseball league. The Padres “high-fived till their hands were sore.” They “praised, joked and teased in broken Spanish” (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 4/24).

Patriots coach Mike Vrabel was reportedly “not in communication” with the team as it selected six players during the NFL Draft’s third round on Saturday. Vrabel said he would miss Day 3 of the draft to attend counseling with his family after photos emerged of him and former The Athletic journalist Dianna Russini. Patriots Exec VP/Player Personnel Elliott Wolf said, “We were not in contact with Mike [Saturday] other than some just, ‘Hope everything’s going OK,’ kind of texts early this morning.” ESPN’s Peter Schrager had reported on air Saturday that Vrabel would be in contact with his staff via phone or text, which contradicted Vrabel’s previous statement. Schrager later corrected himself, tweeting, “I’ve learned that in the end, both Vrabel and the team ultimately chose not to interrupt him and his family” (THE ATHLETIC, 4/25).

RELATED: Growing Vrabel scandal forcing Patriots to react, sometimes questionably

IndyCar will stop letting open entries compete in races other than the Indy 500 after this season, in a move the series hopes will help suppliers plan better but could also assist in raising charter values. The Indianapolis-based open-wheel racing series informed its industry stakeholders about the decision in recent weeks and confirmed the news when contacted by SBJ. Taking a page from NASCAR, IndyCar introduced a charter system last season to help team owners accrue enterprise value for their organizations. There are 25 charters held by 10 teams under the current model; that will increase to 27 in 2028 after Honda and Chevrolet each receive one when the sport debuts its new car and engine. While there aren’t many open entries that compete in races in IndyCar outside of the 500, there has been at least one example since the charter system started. That was Prema Racing, which competed last year in every race despite not holding one of the franchise slots. But starting in ’27, a team such as Prema would either need to buy a charter or it could only compete in the Indy 500.

IndyCar told SBJ in a statement on Saturday: “Beginning with the 2027 IndyCar Series season, entry fields at all races outside of the Indianapolis 500 will be limited to chartered teams only. This decision was reached after thoughtful consideration with key stakeholders and, in particular, series suppliers who are making plans for the upcoming season as all parties look to build the series’ health and on-track competition.” IndyCar communicated to teams that this move will help its two carmakers, Honda and Chevrolet, along with other downstream suppliers, with planning. But it could also have the effect of motivating non-chartered teams to buy one of the 25 already existing charters because they could only compete in one race a season without one. Theoretically, that would raise the demand for charters and increase the selling price. Fully shutting down open entries outside of the Indy 500 is a step further than NASCAR has gone with its system, which was first implemented in 2016. In NASCAR, there are 36 charters but 40-car fields, meaning up to four open entries can compete in every race. No IndyCar charter has been sold since the system was introduced.

The WNBA came to Sioux Falls for the first time on Saturday, and it “couldn’t have been a bigger hit.” The Mercury defeated the Sky 108-104 in a preseason exhibition before a sellout crowd of 3,357 at the Sanford Pentagon. The Mercury are coached by South Dakota native Nate Tibbetts, and most of the fans in attendance were “decked out in either purple or orange.” This was “more than a basketball game.” It was a “homecoming for Tibbetts,” but also a “historic moment for women’s sports in South Dakota.” The WNBA has never been to South Dakota (SIOUX FALLS LIVE, 4/26). Lines went “out the door more than an hour before tip-off.” Basketball fans “traveled from around the region to take in the game and witness history” (DAKOTA NEWS NOW, 4/26).

Berj Najarian is joining the Univ. of Michigan’s football program as an Assistant GM. He will report to GM Dave Peloquin as part of an expanded football front office. Najarian was Dir of Football & Head Coach Administration for the Patriots under Bill Belichick for years, and most recently served as Chief of Staff under Bill O’Brien at Boston College the last two seasons (MLIVE.com, 4/24). ESPN’s Pete Thamel was first with the news and noted Najarian will help Michigan coach Kyle Whittingham with the program’s “contracts, negotiations and strategy for the new college sports landscape” (X, 4/24).

The LPGA made headlines when it added a pool adjacent to the 18th green at this week’s Chevron Championship, and the water feature turned into a new, sponsorable asset for the tour.

Yuengling, a tournament partner of the Chevron Championship, is sponsoring the FLIGHT by Yuengling Deck, which surrounds the pool. The deck has seating and Yuengling-branded umbrellas, and is free and open to the public.

Yuengling is the official beer partner of the tournament and also has digital branding and hospitality on site at Houston’s Memorial Park Golf Course.

The pool is meant to keep the tradition going of the tournament winner jumping into a greenside pond, which started in 1988 when Amy Alcott won the event and jumped into “Poppie’s Pond” at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif.

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The Univ. of Nebraska Board of Regents voted to “proceed with the ‘Big Red Rebuild’” for $600M in major renovations to Memorial Stadium. That includes $200M in “deferred maintenance NU says is mandatory.” The project is expected to “reduce seating from about 85,000 seats to 80,000 and be done in time for the 2028 season.” NU estimates it could drive $1.1B in “statewide economic impact and boost annual stadium revenues” to $95M, a 40% increase. NU President Jeffrey Gold said that “no state funds or tuition dollars will be used.” NU leaders expect funding through $250M in private philanthropy and $350M in private bond financing. Construction will begin after the 2026 football season. Regent Jim Scheer and Gold mentioned that the changes could “also attract new talent to Nebraska, both in student-athletes and for Nebraska generally” (NEBRASKA EXAMINER, 4/24). The plans include a “new south scoreboard, a connected student section, premium west-side seating and a full concourse around the stadium” (1011NOW.com, 4/24).

UFC CEO Dana White was “just a few feet away” from President Trump when members of the Secret Service and local police “rushed into the ballroom at the Washington Hilton after a shooter opened fire ahead of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday.” White attended the event as a guest of Trump, and he was “seated at a table alongside representatives from Paramount Skydance.” White said that he “didn’t exactly know what was happening at that moment.” White added, “Inside, the whole event just started getting noisy, tables getting flipped over, guys running in with guns and they were screaming ‘get down!’” White: “I didn’t get down. It was f*cking awesome. I literally took every minute of it in. It was a pretty crazy, unique experience” (MMA FIGHTING, 4/26).