Disney CEO Bob Iger and his wife Willow Bay are “close to completing a deal" for majority ownership of NWSL club Angel City FC that would value the team at $250M, "nearly doubling the value of the most valuable women’s sports franchise in the world.” The deal, which was first reported by Puck, “could be completed quickly, with Bay and Iger replacing Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian as the team’s controlling shareholder.” The club was founded in 2020 with a majority of investors being women, giving the club the “largest female-led ownership group in pro sports history." That made Bay’s role in the investment “particularly important to many of the owner/investors who had to sign off on the deal” (L.A. TIMES, 7/2).

 

The Las Vegas Aces and Indiana Fever drew the largest WNBA crowd in 25 years last night, as "a record-breaking" 20,366 fans saw the Aces earn an 88-69 win at T-Mobile Arena. The attendance was "not only a new franchise record, smashing the previous one by nearly 3,000 people," but also the "the fifth-largest crowd all-time." It was 308 fans shy of the WNBA record, which was set in 1999 between the Washington Mystics and the Cleveland Rockers. It was also the "first WNBA game to surpass 19,500 fans that wasn't at the Verizon Center/Capital One Arena in Washington or Madison Square Garden." Aces coach Becky Hammon said that "there were times where she felt like the building was going to explode" (LAS VEGAS SUN, 7/2).

The Fever have "become accustomed to big crowds at home and on the road this season," as the popularity of G Caitlin Clark has "helped the Fever drive up their attendance." Sunday's Fever-Mercury game in Phoenix drew 17,071 fans, the "largest crowd at Footprint Center since 1997." There have been eight games in WNBA history to draw at least 20,000 fans. Four came in the opening years of the league, from 1997-99, and there were two from 2000-23. Two "have come this year, both Fever games" -- last night and June 7, when the Fever and Mystics drew 20,333 in Washington. The Aces typically play at Michelob Ultra Arena at Mandalay Bay, which "holds about 12,000" (ESPN.com, 7/2).

Mortenson met with the Rays regarding a new ballpark for the first time in 2009 when Rays execs toured Target Field in Minneapolis (a Mortenson-built venue) on an inspiration-gathering trip. Mortenson has been engaged with the Rays on stadium possibilities in earnest for the last seven years, a period that’s included all kinds of iterations -- such as building separate smaller venues in St. Petersburg and Montreal at one point. The firm’s patience paid off as the Rays officially hired it late last weekend to build the club’s potential new ballpark in St. Petersburg.

The Rays’ $1.3B project -- a new stadium and 86-acre mixed-use development at the former Gas Plant site in St. Petersburg that would replace the Tropicana Dome as the Rays’ home -- needs final approval from the city, with a vote set for mid-July. The Rays are contributing about $700M to the project, with the city of St. Petersburg and Pinellas County contributing the rest. The surrounding mixed-use neighborhood would be developed by Houston-based real estate giant Hines and include roughly 5,000 new homes in addition to retail and entertainment. Hines and the Rays will select a different contractor for the roughly 10- to 15 years-worth of construction that would follow the completion of the new stadium, including an office building that would house the Rays’ new team HQ.

The new ballapark would be one of the smallest in MLB, with capacity for 30,000. It’ll feature a rectilinear design by Populous, instead of a traditional curved one. This approach is more cost effective; it’s cheaper to build straight lines than curved ones, Hardy said. The Rays also have high aspirations for incorporating sustainability into the design, though that’s not been fully defined yet.

Mortenson already has a team on the ground in the St. Petersburg/Tampa area ready to go if the project is fully approved in the next few weeks. The contractor doesn’t have an office in Florida but has done billions of dollars’ worth of work in the state, concentrated in solar farms and wind energy projects. Local firms Beck, Envision and Arenda Collective are working with Mortenson on the project.

Should it be approved, Rays stadium would give Mortenson two significant, simultaneous MLB projects, alongside the A’s’ new ballpark effort in Las Vegas. That project is moving through schematic design with HNTB and Bjarke Ingels Group, while demolition of The Tropicana resort, which sits on the site of the A’s future stadium, has begun. The team, Hardy said, has also begun filing paperwork with the county to commence the entitlement and permitting process.

Oriole Park at Camden Yards got “one step closer” to a $400M renovation yesterday when the Maryland Stadium Authority, which owns the ballpark and M&T Bank Stadium, “selected an architect and a construction firm for an upcoming ballpark facelift that will include both fan experience and infrastructure upgrades.” Populous has been selected as the architect for the renovations and Rhode Island-based Gilbane and Maryland-based WarrenBuilds will “provide construction services as a joint venture.” Despite the decision, there is “still a long road” before the 32-year-old ballpark “will receive improvements.” The team’s lease extension lists “dozens of potential stadium upgrades,” including a “few high-priority changes” like upgrading or replacing the chiller plant along with “jumbotron and sound system renovations.” The stadium authority also approved a motion to “permit the Orioles to explore and analyze land surrounding the ballpark” for development (BALTIMORE SUN, 7/2). 

NBA 2K League CEO Andrew Perlmutter held a town hall with the league staff and management yesterday, where he "announced massive layoffs" and "laid out plans for the league’s big revamp." The GM for Heat Check Gaming, one of the teams in the league, posted on social media after the town hall that Perlmutter "fired everybody in 10 minutes and got off." Other league employees went live on Twitch and "claimed the league would be going on a hiatus, effectively leaving them and many pro players out of a job, for the next 18 months to revamp." The NBA 2K League released its update following the town hall, saying it is "reimagining" the league into a "global digital entertainment business." The league will become "social-first" to "reflect a style that 'younger fans understand.'" It’ll also have "live events that aim to be 'immersive experiences' in 'playful environments'" (DEXERTO, 7/2).

HBO debuted the first episode of "Hard Knocks: Offseason with the New York Giants" last night, and while the episode "bounced around to a number of offseason issues," the departure of RB Saquon Barkley "played a central role throughout." The HBO cameras "captured a frank discussion" between Giants owner John Mara and GM Joe Schoen "over what franchise tagging Barkley would really accomplish and whether there would be a trade market for Barkley if they decided to go that route." It was during that moment that Mara "expressed a desire" to still bring Barkley back. Barkley signed a three-year, $37.75M deal with a guaranteed $26M with the Eagles at the opening of free agency (N.Y. POST, 7/2).

The clip that "hit social media hours leading up to the first episode" was one of the "initial conversation between good friends" Schoen and Panthers GM Dan Morgan at the Senior Bowl about LB Brian Burns. This "ultimately is the start of the dialogue" between the two GMs that ended up sending Burns to the Giants in a trade. We'll "undoubtedly know more likely in the next episode or two about how exactly the trade goes down" (Bergen RECORD, 7/2).

Enterprise AI firm Veritone has inked a new multiyear content licensing agreement with Tennis Australia, the national governing body of tennis on that continent and operator of the Australian Open, that will permit Veritone to license archived Australian Open footage to content buyers in North America.

Veritone’s aiWARE system automatically tags archived multimedia content, improving its discoverability and adding monetization avenues for rightsholders and content buyers alike. Veritone facilitates licensing agreements for properties including Augusta National, the USGA, the Big Ten, U.S. Soccer and multiple tennis Grand Slams on the rights-holder side as well as ESPN, Nike, Rolex and Netflix on the buyer side.

“A lot of [sports properties’] priority these days is so squarely focused on preserving and managing the live rights, because those are by far the most premium asset that these properties have,” said Veritone’s Sr. Dir/Advertising and Sports Partnerships Craig Caruso. “Therein lies our opportunity to manage the archival side of things. We’re digging into the archive. We’re ingesting a lot of the content. We’re using some of the tech, that is proprietary and at our fingertips, to enhance searchability, whether that’s specific moments, specific athletes.”

One example, Caruso noted, is a content buyer seeking shots of tennis balls flying “down the line,” which Veritone can identify and pull from its archive using audio transcriptions generated by AI. Face and logo recognition can also be used in that process.

With Tennis Australia aboard, Veritone now works with three of the four tennis Grand Slams, as it has existing partnerships with the USTA (U.S. Open) and French Tennis Federation (Roland Garros). Caruso called the new deal a “natural fit” because of Veritone’s prior work in tennis, but also a practical one because of the intricacies of pulling and licensing event-specific content.

“Let’s say [a content buyer] wants to pull Coco Gauff winning last year’s U.S. Open.” Caruso said “They may not be a [U.S. Open] sponsor, which is OK. They can still tap that content use it for their production. But most likely, [the property will require the content buyer] to pull content from other Grand Slams, as to not imply a greater relationship with the US Open. This is very much a dynamic that we see across the board.”

Caruso declined to comment on the terms of the Tennis Australia deal but noted Veritone’s licensing agreements are royalty-based, with stakeholders sharing revenue from licensing deals.

Total wagering and purses for the recently completed spring meet at Churchill Downs "set records this year" by "surpassing the old marks by double digits." The figures were "buoyed by record-setting wagering numbers for the Kentucky Derby and its supporting card." Handle on Churchill's races after Derby week "was up" 17.2%. In addition, total wagering on last weekend’s Saturday night card, "anchored by the Grade 1 Stephen Foster Stakes, was a record" $18.8M, up 35% "compared to the last time the Stephen Foster was held at Churchill" in 2022. All told, total wagering for the 43-day meet was $708.3M, an average of $16.47M per day. That was up 15.2% over the total wagering in 2022 of $614.8M over 42 days, the previous record. Churchill closed the 2023 meet after running 23 live race cards (DAILY RACING FORM, 7/2).

On this week’s pod, SBJ’s Austin Karp and football writer Ben Fischer dive into the verdict from the ‘Sunday Ticket’ case, and what’s next for the NFL. Hockey writer Alex Silverman gives us his POV from last week's NHL Draft at the Sphere. Our media writer Mollie Cahillane debriefs us on her conversation with ESPN's Jimmy Pitaro and then later in the show we hear from Univision's Lindsay Casinelli as Copa America heads into the knockout rounds.

 

Budweiser has been named the official beer sponsor of the first-ever NFL game in São Paulo, Brazil. As part of the partnership, Budweiser will release an exclusive 350ml collectible aluminum bottle with designs inspired by the matchup between the Eagles and Packers at Corinthians Arena on Sept. 6 (NFL).

The Premier Lacrosse League unveiled today that its 2024 All-Star Game and Skills Competition will for the first time feature professional women’s lacrosse athletes in the PLL All-Star Skills Competition. Charlotte North, Izzy Scane, Dana Dobbie, Alex Aust Holman and Emily Hawryschuk are set to compete alongside the PLL All-Stars in accuracy, shot speed and relay challenges (PLL).

Dufresne Spencer Group, the largest licensee of Ashley furniture stores, is now the exclusive furniture and mattress partner to the Red Wings and Tigers -- joining the brand’s partnership roster alongside the Cowboys, Texas Rangers and Grizzlies, among others (Ilitch Sports + Entertainment).

The TORONTO STAR goes with the header, "Making Paris bearable for athletes despite heat and bacteria looks to be an Olympic task." Descriptors like "sweatier, stinkier, slimier" have "replaced Citius, Altius, Fortius -- Faster, Higher, Stronger -- as the Olympics motto," at least for Paris 2024. The City of Light is "having more than a moment of dark doubts," although Games organizers "remain stalwartly confident, in that shoulder-shrugging Gallic way: They ne regrette rien." Sweltering temperatures are "nary a bead of perspiration condensing on tall foreheads." A "septic" River Seine -- "C’est la vie." Twenty-three days from the opening ceremony, the city "can only cross its manicured fingernails and pray not for rain."

Also:

• The 1999 MLB All-Star Game: The night they saved Fenway Park.
• NHL free agency shows teams in states with no income tax have an advantage.
• Cedric Golden: Why the SEC needs the Texas cachet to keep the football party going.
• Dick Vitale is in another fight against cancer. For the fourth time, it’s his own.

NBA 2K League CEO held a meeting “firing everybody” and logged off

The future of the league is unclear pic.twitter.com/dtCB76K1oZ

— Dexerto (@Dexerto) July 2, 2024

Earning Rookie of the Month honors, Angel Reese has been putting in work with consistent double-double performances ✅

She broke the record with a streak of 10, averaging 14.5 PTS, 13.2 REB and 1.8 AST per game#KiaROTM | #WelcometotheW pic.twitter.com/xh7vpRzeVi

— WNBA (@WNBA) July 2, 2024 

"Matt Crocker is attached to Gregg Berhalter." - @AlexiLalas on the "review process" that will be conducted by the USSF following a disappointing Copa América 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/u6YjXMrfmj

— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) July 3, 2024

A fan in Oakland made sure that his "SELL" sign got seen during Tuesday's game. pic.twitter.com/SqIokJe6Km

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) July 3, 2024

"Acquitted of shooting her lover in 1924, Beulah Annan was the inspiration for this character in a play, film & musical."

"Who is Roxie Hart?"