Good afternoon, here’s what we’re following at SBJ Today:
- Learfield enters new era with TPG, private equity backing
- JPMorgan Chase signs IOC TOP sponsorship, LA28 deal
- Report: LIV Golf event in New Orleans to be postponed
- Plus: NBA in talks with feds on prediction markets, Oregon clears hurdle for public funds for Trail Blazers’ home and more.
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THE BIG STORY
Learfield enters new era with TPG, private equity backing
If you’ve talked to CEO/President Cole Gahagan in recent years, you’ve likely heard a familiar refrain: Learfield is no longer just a multimedia rights company. It’s in technology. It’s in ticketing. It’s in data. It’s in NIL — a full-service operation built to adapt to college sports’ rapidly evolving business model.
Learfield’s short-term future came into focus earlier this month as it announced it is finalizing a sale to private equity firm TPG. The transaction caps 18 months of talks long rumored across the industry and is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026, subject to customary approvals.
The deal — worth $1.8 to $2 billion, sources said — makes TPG Learfield’s fourth ownership group in the last decade. It is, however, the first time in that stretch the company will operate with just a single majority shareholder — “without a doubt, the biggest advantage,” Gahagan said.
Still, the sale brings up two simpler questions, writes SBJ’s Ben Portnoy: Why is this any more transformative than those of the past 10 years? And what does reinvention of the 54-year-old company actually look like?
5 STORIES WE’RE WATCHING
1. JPMorgan Chase signs IOC TOP sponsorship, founding partner deal with LA28: JPMorgan Chase is buying into the Games, signing deals with the IOC and LA28 that will see the U.S. financial services firm backing the Olympics and Paralympics for the near term, reports SBJ’s Rachel Axon.
2. Report: LIV Golf event in New Orleans to be postponed: The LIV Golf event in New Orleans set for the last week of June may not happen, per sources cited by New Orleans-based WDSU-NBC, following weeks of turmoil about its financial backing.
3. Silver says NBA in talks with CFTC on prediction market partnership: NBA Commissioner Adam Silver on Monday said that the league is in talks with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission that could result in a deal with prediction market operators.
4. Oregon governor signs bill setting contribution toward Moda Center renovations: Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek on Monday signed a bill that cements joint ownership of Moda Center (the home of the Trail Blazers and Fire) between the city and state and permits Oregon to contribute $365 million toward renovations through public bonds.
5. Insurance broker Marsh to tout recent rebrand through new F1 deal: Marsh wants to use a new partnership with Formula One Management to promote its recent rebranding as the U.S.-based insurance firm looks to the global auto racing series to build its business.
ON THE MOVE
- USA Volleyball named Bari Greenfield as its new COO. Greenfield, who starts May 18, will report to USA Volleyball President and CEO John Speraw. Greenfield most recently served as VP/enterprise partnerships at MLS (Mary Gaughan, SBJ).
- USL Super League club Carolina Ascent FC named Margaret Gramann as president/business operations. Most recently, Gramann served as CCO at Crenshaw Associates (Carolina Ascent FC).
- NBA VP and Head of U.S. Business Development Jared Blechman announced on LinkedIn that he will be moving on from the league office after 13 years. Blechman first joined the league in 2013 (SBJ).
- The FAST channel ReachTV named Rachel Jacobson as its next CEO. Jacobson was previously president of the Drone Racing League. She will report to Ben Berentson, CEO/owned media at Stagwell, which owns ReachTV (Austin Karp, SBJ).
NAMES IN THE NEWS
- Five-time U.S. Olympian Allyson Felix, a sprinter who won seven gold medals and 11 overall, is coming out of retirement to attempt to run in her sixth Olympic Games at LA28 in her hometown. No American sprinter has ever competed in the Games in their 40s (TIME, 4/27).
- A yacht captain is accusing former Spurs controlling owner Peter M. Holt of “pressuring him to smuggle drugs across international borders.” Holt calls the allegation “fabricated and part of an extortion scheme” (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS, 4/27).
- Attorneys for Phillies 3B Alec Bohm’s parents, Daniel and Lisa Bohm, last week “moved to dismiss Bohm’s lawsuit” seeking to recover alleged funds they squandered while managing their son’s money and opposed an injunction seeking them to pay $500,000 in legal fees (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 4/27).
- Twenty minority investors in the WNBA’s Sky do not support a lawsuit brought against principal owner Michael Alter and investor Steven Rogers (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 4/27).
HOT READS
The Louisville COURIER JOURNAL went with the header, “Will the first Saturday in May ever be the same without D. Wayne Lukas?” For the “first time in half a century,” the Kentucky Derby will be without D. Wayne Lukas, who died in June. While this day — “Kentucky’s most legendary horse race running without its most legendary horseman — was inevitable, it doesn’t make the answer to this question any easier: Who will carry the sport of horse racing for the next half century?”
Also:
- University of Chicago student contest tackles the city’s sports stadium funding debate.
- Italian teenager Kimi Antonelli is taking the Formula One racing world by storm.
- NBA Draft lottery proposals don’t address the underlying reason behind tanking.
- Future of this North Texas tourist destination and DFW staple is, at best, cloudy.