Opinion
After the whistle blows: Why culture, not winning, is the real asset in youth sports
Youth sports has quietly become one of the most discussed sectors in private equity. What was once a fragmented, community-driven ecosystem of local clubs and volunteers is now attracting serious institutional capital.
Leagues must solve media access puzzle to ensure fan base growth
This era is both the best time and the worst time for fans to watch sports. Fans can watch games from around the world on devices they carry in their pockets, but it’s never been more costly and difficult to find games. As media becomes more fragmented, streaming services can offer lucrative deals f...
How many arms does YOUR octopus have?
Editor’s note: This column is updated from the print edition.
Madkour: People and team deals to watch
The changing face of golf’s leadership continues, as the PGA of America named longtime UnitedHealth Group executive and PGA Board member Terry Clark its CEO. I have never met Clark, but was surprised how many bent my ear about his hire during Super Bowl Week in San Francisco.
Breaking the cycle: How colleges can rein in the coaching carousel
By December 2025, universities had committed nearly a quarter-billion dollars in buyouts to football coaches they no longer employ — a record high that reflects structural flaws in how coaching contracts are negotiated. Long guarantees and broad termination language leave athletic departments vulner...
College athletics is facing a Deloris Jordan moment
Forty years ago, Michael Jordan’s mother insisted her son receive a share of every shoe sold with his name on it — not just a standard endorsement deal. Despite that such an arrangement would give the athlete an unprecedented stake, Nike saw the value in a true partnership with Jordan. It signed the...
The ‘Headset Arbitrage’: Why the market still misprices NFL coaching assets
In 1997, Garry Kasparov stared across a chessboard at IBM’s Deep Blue and realized the game had tilted on its axis. The greatest mind in chess was rendered inferior by a machine that “made moves beyond anyone’s mind.” The NFL has undergone a similar, violent correction. For decades, the league hired...
Youth Sports: Prioritize diversity of movement, not specialization
There is a growing gap in playability for young athletes who show unique skills. They are singled out to join traveling teams and elite squads before they know how to tie the laces of their hyper-expensive athletic footwear.
Pivotal 1994 World Cup set the stage for soccer’s rise in U.S.
Editor’s note: The following excerpts are from “The Big Bounce: The Surge That Shaped The Future Of U.S. Soccer,” by Alan Rothenberg (Triumph Books, Feb. 10, 2026).
Madkour: The issues swirling in college sports
I was at NACDA’s annual Mid-Winter Meetings in Florida recently, speaking to practitioners in college athletics. While interest is up across the board in college sports, so is the angst and frustration among its leaders. Outside of issues specifically around NIL, eligibility, scheduling and the tran...
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Quote of the Day
We can take as many games as we want from any club in the national package with a majority vote of the clubs. I don’t necessarily need 30 (teams’ rights) wall-to-wall to get where I want.-- MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, on pushing for a larger slate of national TV games whether all teams agree or not.
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