Good afternoon, here’s what we’re following at SBJ Today:

• U.S. Soccer opens $250M National Training Center
• Leiweke, Francesca Bodie invest $117M in Italian soccer club Venezia
• Shapiro: TKO will continue to receive Saudi funding
• Plus: NHL’s salary cap bump, Seattle Kraken owner gets advisers for NBA expansion bid and more

Start your morning with Buzzcast with Joe Lemire: Remembering Ted Turner; PWHL expands to Detroit; FanDuel makes a leadership change. Listen >>

THE BIG STORY

U.S. Soccer opens $250M National Training Center

U.S. Soccer will officially open the Arthur M. Blank U.S. Soccer National Training Center (NTC) on Thursday, giving the federation a permanent training center and HQ for the first time in its history, reports SBJ’s Alex Silverman.

The $250 million complex in Fayetteville, Ga., represents a major milestone for the federation, which has long relied on rented training facilities. It brings the national governing body in line with top global soccer powers and is intended to centralize player development, coaching education, referee training and national team ops.

The NTC includes 17 outdoor playing surfaces — including 13 regulation-size natural grass fields — two artificial turf fields and two sand pitches for beach soccer. It also features a 115,000-square-foot indoor turf training facility and an indoor court for both futsal and powerchair soccer. It will also serve as its corporate HQ.

Read the full story and see photo gallery >>

5 STORIES WE’RE WATCHING

1. Tim Leiweke and Francesca Bodie invest $117M in Italian soccer club Venezia: Italian soccer club Venezia FC found new investors thanks in part to an intro from one of its owners, rapper Drake, as Tim Leiweke and Francesca Bodie inject $117 million into the club, reports SBJ’s Bret McCormick.

2. Shapiro: TKO will continue to receive Saudi funding, not turning ‘deaf ear’ to WWE criticism: TKO Group Holdings President Mark Shapiro said on the company’s Q2 earnings call that it will not be getting cut off from Saudi Arabian funding, like LIV Golf will, and touched on recent criticism of WWE, reports SBJ’s Adam Stern.

3. Report: NCAA basketball tournament expansion could come as early as Thursday: The NCAA is finalizing the process for expanding the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournaments to 76 teams, and it could be finished as early as Thursday.

4. NHL to bump salary cap to $104M next season: The NHL will bump the salary cap to $104 million next season — an $8.5 million increase -- and the maximum salary for a player will jump to $20.8 million.

5. Holloway hires investment banks as advisers in pursuit of Seattle NBA team: Kraken majority owner Samantha Holloway hired investment banks JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Moelis & Co. to advise her bid for an NBA expansion team in Seattle.

ON THE MOVE

• AMB Sports and Entertainment named Keith McCloat as VP and CFO of NWSL Atlanta 2028. McCloat joins NWSL Atlanta 2028 after spending the past nine years with the Mets (AMBSE).
• The PGA of America named Jason Soucy as championship director for the 2028 PGA Championship. This appointment marks Soucy’s second stint as a championship director for the event (PGA of America).
• The Greensboro Sports Foundation named Brad Hecker as VP/events and operations. Hecker most recently served as the ACC’s assistant commissioner/women’s basketball (Greensboro Sports Foundation).
• The Team is deepening its bet on creator‑led golf by acquiring boutique agency Provisions Golf. As part of the deal, Provisions founders Joe Gilliland and Josh Morgan are joining The Team as SVPs of the Creators division (Irving Mejia-Hilario, SBJ).

NAMES IN THE NEWS

• The D-III Dallas men’s basketball team said that they “are out $60,000 after a travel company filed for bankruptcy” following a series of payments the team made for a trip to London, but a $30,000 donation from Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban on Wednesday “may allow the trip to happen after all” (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 5/6).
• Browns owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam are giving $12.5 million to University Hospitals and an affiliated partnership to “support research and drug development into rare diseases, including a blood cancer Dee Haslam has.” Haslam was diagnosed in 2021 with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 5/6).
• Pacers G Andrew Nembhard “will ride in the two-seater” Saturday at the start of the Sonsio GP on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 5/6).
• Motorists driving from the East Bay to 24 Willie Mays Plaza and Oracle Park will “now do so on Willie Mays Highway” (S.F. CHRONICLE, 5/6).

HOT READS

THE ATHLETIC went with the header, “How the Commanders returned to D.C.: The wild, unlikely saga of a years-long journey home.” While “every modern stadium deal is challenging,” the Commanders’ saga is “especially illustrative of how far owners — and municipalities — will go to land a new stadium.”

Also:

• An appreciation of Ted Turner, a baseball maverick who used the Braves to conquer the world.
• A 24-team CFP? Just give in and hand out participation trophies already.
• What a Grand Slam boycott could mean for tennis, from prize money to tickets and the trophy.