Top Stories

  • The results of a vote by the NHL Players Association’s executive board on the 24-team playoff format proposed by the league for a return to play are expected today, according to sources. Approval would represent a significant step forward, but the NHL and its players must still reach agreements on issues like testing protocols, visas and whether the league intends to hold games in “hub” cities or have teams play at their home rinks. (Sportsnet)
  • The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee is eliminating 51 positions and furloughing 33 more as part of a cost-cutting effort aimed at reducing its budget by up to 20 percent to address shortfalls caused by the coronavirus pandemic and resulting postponement of the Tokyo Games. Combined with more than 30 employees of the organization who recently took buyouts, the national governing body will have seen its staff of about 500 being reduced by nearly one-fifth. (The Associated Press)
  • Vanderbilt University removed the interim tag from athletic director Candice Storey Lee’s title, making her the first woman to serve as a full-time athletic director in the SEC and the second black woman to lead a Power Five program. Lee, who will also hold the title of vice chancellor for athletics and university affairs, became interim AD on Feb. 4, after Malcolm Turner left the job following one year. (Nashville Tennessean)

Chart Review

Events Calendar (All Times Local)

05/22/2020
Spurs Sports & Entertainment – R&D Lab: Sports Analytics – Virtual
05/26/2020
Esports Insider Digital Summit Begins – Virtual
Slate – How to Start a Sports League with Tyler Steinhardt (PLL) – Virtual
05/27/2020
LEAD1 – Survive and Advance: Understanding the Legal and Cultural Impacts of COVID-19 on College Sports – Virtual
Sport Hiatus Office Hours – Investing for the Next Normal: VCSports Perspectives – Virtual
SportsPro Insider Series: Sponsorship – Virtual
The Aspen Institute: Coronavirus & Youth Sports: The Path Forward – Virtual
SportTechie – The Way Back: How Sports Innovate and Thrive – Virtual
View full calendar

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Media

Tom Brady getting ‘Last Dance’ treatment from ESPN with ‘Man in the Arena’
Justin Tasch, New York Post

On the heels of ESPN’s successful 10-part Michael Jordan series on the end of the Bulls dynasty, the network will air a nine-part series on the longtime Patriots quarterback in 2021 called “Man in the Arena.” The series is nine episodes, one for each of the new Buccaneers QB’s nine Super Bowl appearance.

Media Company Whistle Buys Marketing Firm to Capture Ad Spending by Streaming Services
Sahil Patel, The Wall Street Journal

Team Whistle, a digital media company known for its sports and entertainment programming on social platforms, has acquired the marketing firm Tiny Horse LLC, partly to capture more business from intensely competitive video streaming services. More than three-quarters of Tiny Horse’s revenue has come from marketing work on behalf of streaming services, the company said.

SNY ends shows, trims staff because of coronavirus impact
Andrew Marchand, New York Post

SNY ended its 5 p.m. programming that featured “The Thread” and “Loudmouths,” while trimming its staff of 20 production people as another result of the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact. SNY is de-emphasizing freelancers, but will still continue with “Baseball Night in New York” now and, when things are up and running, “SportsNite.”

With Live Sports on Hold, Broadcasters Have Dug Deep to Find Alternative Programming
Kelsey Sutton, Adweek

Most sports broadcasters point to March 11 as the day sports broadcasting would change forever. The NBA suspended its season abruptly after a Utah Jazz player tested positive for Covid-19. The next day, the PGA Tour pulled the plug on the Players Championship after one round.

NFL

NFL rule proposals include adding booth umpire, tech adviser for refs
Kevin Seifert, ESPN

The NFL is making plans to experiment in the 2020 preseason with new officiating positions that would be similar to a sky judge. The experiment would mirror proposals put forth by the Baltimore Ravens and Los Angeles Chargers to create a booth umpire and a senior technology adviser.

Sources: Square Lands SoFi Stadium Account
Don Muret, VenuesNow

Square, the mobile payment platform embraced by tech geeks while expanding its point-of-sale technology to sports venues, has landed its biggest account to date: the new $5 billion SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif. Legends Hospitality, the stadium’s food provider, will use the system for its operations at the 70,000-seat home of the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers, sources said. 

NBA

Nets’ Spencer Dinwiddie: NBA set to return on July 15
Michael Blinn, New York Post

The Nets scorer, replying to a tweet by sneaker designer John Geiger, wrote that the league’s bubble site games would begin on July 15, with practice starting up on June 21. Whether or not Dinwiddie was being serious or an actual return date has been decided upon, it’s a glimmer of good news in an otherwise bleak sports forecast, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic.

Analysis: The NBA seems on the cusp of a comeback plan
Tim Reynolds, The Associated Press

Several people familiar with the details of the conversations have told The Associated Press this week that players around the league are being urged to start getting mentally and physically ready for training camps that could be just a few weeks away. It might not be a unanimously approved notion, but 2-1/2 months into this pandemic-caused shutdown, the NBA finally seems on the cusp of being able to move forward.

Leon Rose’s awkward rebuild of Knicks’ front office applauded around NBA
Marc Berman, New York Post

However unorthodox, Knicks president Leon Rose has “upgraded’’ his basketball operations staff, according to multiple NBA sources. Rose decided to pick up the option on GM Scott Perry for next season but surprisingly is not expected to retain Perry’s two major scouting hires from 2017 — assistant GM Gerald Madkins and pro player personnel director Harold Ellis.

Giannis Antetokounmpo Files to Trademark ‘Greek Freak’ for Online Gambling Use
Darren Rovell, The Action Network

Agent Alex Saratsis’ team filed to trademark the phrase “Greek Freak” on behalf of his client Giannis Antetokounmpko, the Milwaukee Bucks forward and favorite to win this year’s NBA MVP, for use with an “online gambling website,” among other things. “With the way things are evolving, we’d rather get ahead of things than be behind,” Saratsis said. “If we can one day use it then we will, if not, we will move on.”

MLB

MLB’s San Francisco Giants Break Ground on $2.5 Billion Real Estate Project
Barry M. Bloom, Variety

Without fanfare or even press release, the Giants broke ground on the first phase of their $2.5 billion Mission Rock project across the inlet called McCovey Cove from Oracle Park in the Mission Bay area of “The City.” While MLB has remained idle because of the Coronavirus, the Giants have been working on the mixed-use development project with the City of San Francisco and Port of San Francisco. 

Pirates to furlough some non-baseball operations employees
Jason Mackey, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Pirates held the line for as long as they could, continuing to pay people even though the coronavirus pandemic has turned off the revenue spigot. But on Thursday, they finally had to make a choice, deciding to furlough about 20% of the organization’s employees for an undetermined amount of time starting on June 1.

NHL

31 Thoughts: Player vote underway on NHL playoff system
Elliotte Friedman, Sportsnet

The fact all the players aren’t voting is a good sign for approval. But nothing is done until it is done. The players wanted to know what they could be coming back to. The league wants some buzz. The Return to Play Committee’s met almost on a daily basis to hammer out a solution. Eventually, you have to stick out your neck.

College Sports

Rawlings Instrumental At Learfield IMG College Over Two Decades
Michael Smith, Sports Business Journal

Andy Rawlings feels it’s time for him to “breathe.” Rawlings, the 19-year veteran who touched nearly every aspect of Learfield IMG College’s business, stepped down today to take some well-deserved time off and “learn how to become an empty nester.” After helping guide Learfield through 9/11, a recession and multiple sales to private-equity owners, Rawlings, 50, decided that he’ll make a clean break on June 30

College Football’s Game of Chicken With State Officials
Laine Higgins and Louise Radnofsky, The Wall Street Journal

The most intense event in college athletics right now is a game of chicken among conferences, universities and state officials over whether they will reopen campus in the fall—and therefore unlock the ability to begin a football season. It’s a game that is playing out in wildly different ways across the country, suggesting that a chaotic run-up to the 2020 season is ahead. The decisions rest not with athletic directors, but university presidents and their bosses—the governor of each state.

Financial toll of coronavirus could cost college football at least $4 billion
Mark Schlabach and Paula Lavigne, ESPN

As more and more college athletic departments cut sports programs, the financial wreckage due to the coronavirus pandemic is becoming devastatingly clear — and that’s without factoring in a $4 billion loss if the 2020 football season is canceled, a development that would forever alter college-level sports.

If the games come back, which fans can come back?
Andy Staples, The Athletic

Athletic department officials universally hate the idea of playing with no fans because that would eliminate ticket revenue, but they acknowledge that unpleasant option would make the next few months far less awkward than limited capacity would. BOOSTER THUNDERDOME sounds like a thrilling reality TV show, but it would make for an unpleasant reality for the athletic department employees who must decide which donors get tickets and which don’t.

Soccer

Man Utd earnings slip into red as broadcast revenue slumps
Samuel Agini, Financial Times

Manchester United swung to a quarterly loss as its broadcasting revenue fell by more than half, pointing to the devastating impact of coronavirus on football clubs. As one of the few major listed football clubs, Manchester United’s earnings offer a glimpse into how the world’s most popular sport is dealing with the huge disruption to fixtures caused by the pandemic.

Twitter had a field day when FC Cincinnati published a photo that was supposed to be Jaap Stam. It wasn’t Jaap Stam.
Pat Brennan, Cincinnati Enquirer

Mistakes happen to all of us. FC Cincinnati had an untimely one on Thursday while it was rolling out the Twitter welcome mat for new head coach Jaap Stam. Fortunately, FC Cincinnati had the social-media savvy and good humor to go along with a momentary setback Thursday when one of its tweets regarding Stam appeared to feature, well, someone that was not Jaap Stam (although the likeness is somewhat comparable.)

US Soccer Federation chief legal officer Lydia Wahlke quits
The Associated Press

Lydia Wahlke has resigned as chief legal officer of the U.S. Soccer Federation, two months after she was placed on administrative leave. The federation announced her departure in a note to staff Thursday and said she will be a consultant through Sept. 15.

Racing

Indycar cancels two more races
Reuters

IndyCar cancelled two more races on Thursday, forced to tweak its schedule due to restrictions put in place by the novel coronavirus outbreak. Races in Toronto on July 12 and Richmond, Virginia on June 27 were cancelled while REV Group Grand Prix at Road America was rescheduled from June 21 to July 11-12, making a double-header at the icon road course near Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

Carmaker McLaren clashes with bondholders over emergency financing
Robert Smith, Financial Times

Efforts by UK sports car maker McLaren to raise emergency funding have triggered a spat with its bondholders, who say they already have a claim on a collection of classic cars it is trying to pledge to new lenders. McLaren, which owns a Formula One team in addition to making high-end sports cars, has this month sounded out hedge funds and other investors about a new bond deal of at least £250m, according to people familiar with the matter, and has hired JPMorgan to manage the deal.

Golf and Tennis

Adam Scott joins Fleetwood & Westwood in planning to sit out PGA Tour restart
Adam Schupak, Golfweek

International stars Adam Scott, Tommy Fleetwood and Lee Westwood have all expressed concerns about returning to competition. According to the Tour, they are among an estimated 25 players currently living outside the U.S., who would require a mandatory 14-day quarantine period before returning to competition.

Esports

Riot Games announces June 2 release date for VALORANT
Tyler Erzberger, ESPN

Riot Games announced Thursday that its 5-on-5 character-based tactical shooter VALORANT will launch for free on June 2 across a majority of regions worldwide. North America, Europe, South Korea, Brazil, Oceania, Japan and more will be able to play the game starting June 2 in a staggered rollout across the globe. 

Philadelphia Fusion adds Aim Lab as skills training partner
Andrew Hayward, Esports Insider

Overwatch League’s Philadelphia Fusion has announced an alliance with first-person shooter training solution Aim Lab as its new skills training partner. Aim Lab will develop custom training programs for Philadelphia Fusion by analysing players’ data and analytics, and the players will utilise the Aim Lab software as part of their training regimen.

General

Lace them up: Boxing set for June 9 return in Las Vegas
Tim Dahlberg, The Associated Press

Promoter Bob Arum said Thursday he plans to stage a card of five fights on June 9 at the MGM Grand, the first of a series of fights over the next two months at the Las Vegas hotel. A second fight card will be held two nights later, with ESPN televising both cards, kicking off twice weekly shows at the hotel in June and July.

Twin Cities venues lose their best source of funding
Nick Halter and Taryn Phaneuf, Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal

Three Minneapolis facilities — U.S. Bank Stadium, Target Center and the Minneapolis Convention Center — are dependent upon a suite of taxes for debt service payments, operations and maintenance. The city needs to collect around $60 million to meet those obligations and to pay for Meet Minneapolis operations.

USA Weightlifting’s woes paint familiar picture for Olympic NGBs
Bob Williams, SportBusiness

The fate of USA Weightlifting in the past three months helps shine a light on the opportunities and challenges faced by US Olympic national governing bodies following the onset of the global Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Games. The shutdown of live sports competition in the United States, coupled with a decline in consumer discretionary spending and widespread closure of gymnasiums and training centers, has had a devastating impact on the NGBs’ principal revenue sources.

Opinions, Editorials, Perspectives and Research

Making UCLA football relevant again needs to be at top of Martin Jarmond’s to-do list
Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times

Football is the problem. Football is a mess. Football is a train wreck engineered by Chip Kelly, a seemingly untouchable $23.5-million former genius who has done little besides losing games and alienating fans.

College sports should use this time to heal its self-inflicted wounds
Barry Svrluga, The Washington Post

We have time now to take a breath. After we exhale, could we ask the question: Do nonrevenue college sports teams from the Northeast really need to be spending five nights in Texas, all in the name of playing two conference games?

Morning Consult