Morning Consult Sports: Tampa Bay Rays Say MLB Denied Proposal to Split Home Games in Montreal
 

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January 21, 2022
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  • The Tampa Bay Rays said MLB officials rejected the team’s “sister city” plan, which proposed that the franchise split its home schedule between the Tampa Bay area and Montreal. Ownership saw the plan as the best path to increase revenue without permanently relocating the team, and owner Stuart Sternberg said the group would now “regroup and see where things are” before determining whether to revisit stadium talks in the Tampa Bay area or exploring full relocation. (ESPN)
  • An investment group led by The Najafi Companies and MSP Sports Capital has signed a letter of intent to purchase the X Games action sports events brand from the Walt Disney Co. in a deal expected to close toward the end of this year’s first quarter, according to a source familiar with the negotiations. The Najafi Companies, a private investment firm founded by Phoenix Suns Vice Chairman Jahm Najafi, and MSP reportedly see an opportunity to reinvigorate a widely recognized brand that has faltered in recent years. (Sportico)
  • ESPN scrapped plans to send four reporters to China to cover the Beijing Winter Olympics due to COVID-19 health concerns and potential pandemic-related restrictions. The announcement came a day after Olympic broadcaster NBC Sports said it would not send any of its announcing teams to the games, opting instead to operate remotely from company headquarters in Stamford, Conn. (The Hill)
 

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What Else You Need to Know

 
Media
 

Charles Davis will miss CBS’ Bengals-Titans broadcast over COVID protocols, with Trent Green stepping in

Andrew Bucholtz, Awful Announcing

Analyst Charles Davis will miss the Cincinnati Bengals-Tennessee Titans divisional round playoff game Saturday, with Trent Green filling in for him alongside Ian Eagle.

 

Kevin Frandsen added to Nationals TV broadcasts, replacing F.P. Santangelo

Jesse Dougherty, The Washington Post

Kevin Frandsen, will now be alongside Bob Carpenter on Mid-Atlantic Sports Network broadcasts. He spent the past four seasons as ananalyst for Philadelphia Phillies games on the radio.

 

Skydance Sports & Meadowlark Media Strike Co-Production Agreement, Set Docs On U.S.-Mexico Soccer Rivalry & WNBA Legend Diana Taurasi As First Projects

Matt Grobar, Deadline

Skydance Sports, the sports content division of Skydance Media, has set a partnership with Meadowlark Media for the production of unscripted sports content. The companies are co-producing Good Neighbors, a docuseries on the rivalry between the U.S. and Mexican men’s national teams.

 

Miller Lite Is Opening A Bar In The Metaverse For Super Bowl 2022

Asa Hiken, Ad Age

Miller Lite is building a bar in the metaverse to connect with fans around this year’s Super Bowl—without actually appearing on air during the game. The bar opening in virtual platform Decentraland will be the sole place where fans can watch Miller Lite’s “Big Game” ad. 

 

BMW Returns To The Super Bowl For The First Time Since 2015

E.J. Schultz, Ad Age

BMW will advertise in the Super Bowl for the first time in seven years. A U.S. spokesman for the German luxury auto brand confirmed the ad buy but did not share details.

 
NFL
 

NFL schedule 2022: League releases list of each team’s opponents for next season

The Athletic

The NFL released a complete list of home and away matchups for each team in the 2022 regular season Thursday. The full 17-game schedule for 2022 will be announced later this year.

 

COVID worries claim some key Super Bowl festivities

Ben Fischer, Sports Business Journal

The NFLPA is canceling all of its social activities in the week of Super Bowl LVI, including the Friday night VIP party and “Smocks and Jocks,” the long-running fundraiser/art auction typically held on Saturday. Also, EA Sports confirmed today it will not conduct a “physical event plan.”

 

NFL fines Dak Prescott for comments praising fans for throwing debris at officials

Mark Maske, The Washington Post

The NFL fined Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott $25,000 Thursday for the comments that he made about the officials following Sunday’s loss to the San Francisco 49ers. Prescott commended fans at AT&T Stadium when he was told during his postgame news conference that they’d thrown objects at the officials as they left the field.

 

Four NFL teams, 24 GM candidates: What Bears, Giants, Raiders and Vikings have in common

Mike Sando, The Athletic

It’s not yet known whether NFL teams will hire younger, more diverse general managers in greater numbers. What is known: The teams presently seeking new GMs are certainly interviewing them.

 
NBA
 

Jimmy Butler Confirms ‘JB’ Signature Logo

Nick DePaula, Boardroom

As the next expected member of the NBA’s elite signature shoe club, Miami Heat All-Star Jimmy Butler has confirmed the shoe’s signature logo. His namesake series with Li-Ning is set to debut this spring.

 
MLB
 

Sources: MLB Players Association to make counteroffer to league in Monday meeting

Jeff Passan, ESPN

The Major League Baseball Players Association plans to make an in-person labor proposal to the league on Monday, sources told ESPN, countering MLB’s offer last week that did little to loosen the gridlock that has gripped the sport after the league locked out the players Dec. 2. The gap between the players and league remains significant.

 

Robot umpires at home plate moving up to Triple-A for 2022

The Associated Press

Major League Baseball is expanding its automated strike zone experiment to Triple-A, the highest level of the minor leagues. MLB’s website posted a hiring notice seeking seasonal employees to operate the Automated Ball and Strike system.

 

Umpire Angel Hernandez’s discrimination lawsuit against MLB dismissed for second time

Daniel Kaplan, The Athletic

A federal court again turned away MLB umpire Angel Hernandez’s discrimination lawsuit against the league for failing to promote him to crew chief. The judge last March granted MLB’s pitch to toss the four-year-old case, but the umpire in April filed an objection arguing the jurist had misapplied the law.

 
NHL
 

Ontario sets timeline for indoor stadiums to gradually lift capacity restrictions

Sportsnet

The province of Ontario says it expects professional sports stadiums will be allowed to return to 100 per cent capacity in mid-March. The announcement came as part of a three-step plan the province outlined Thursday as it slowly re-opens from a strict public health lockdown imposed earlier this month.

 
College Sports
 

N.C.A.A. Reorganizes Around New Constitution That Shifts Power to Universities

Billy Witz, The New York Times

N.C.A.A. member schools and conferences voted Thursday to adopt a new, stripped-down constitution, the first step in decentralizing an organization that faces increasing challenges to its relevancy as the chief authority in college sports.

 

Arbitrator: UConn coach Ollie improperly fired; owed $11M

Pat Eaton-Robb, The Associated Press

An arbitrator has ruled that UConn improperly fired former men’s basketball coach Kevin Ollie and must pay him more than $11 million, Ollie’s lawyer said Thursday. Ollie was fired in the spring of 2018 after the school reported it was investigating numerous potential NCAA violations in his program.

 

Penn will work with NCAA to support transgender athlete Lia Thomas’ participation at swimming and diving championships

Katie Barnes, ESPN

Penn Athletics said in a statement on Thursday that it would work with the NCAA in support of transgender swimmer Lia Thomas regarding her participation at the 2022 NCAA swimming and diving championships in Atlanta in March. She has qualified for the NCAA swimming and diving championships in three individual events.

 

Illini supporters launch NIL collective Illini Guardians

Jeremy Werner, 247Sports

Attorney Adam Fleischer is one of the founders of a new name, image and likeness collective called Illini Guardians, a third-party organization that plans to raise and disperse NIL funds to Illini student-athletes in return for marketing and philanthropic appearances.

 
Soccer
 

Houston Dynamo, Fubo Gaming Ink MLS-Record Sports Betting Deal

Eben Novy-Williams, Sportico

Houston Dynamo FC has signed a multi-year deal with Fubo Gaming, a partnership that could be worth $178 million, making it one of the largest commercial deals in MLS club history. The partnership has two main parts: a sponsorship deal and a market access agreement, which could pave the way for Fubo to acquire a gaming license in Texas.

 

NWSL players won’t report to clubs without CBA in place: Sources

Meg Linehan, The Athletic

With no deal in place after more than a year of bargaining, the NWSL Players’ Association will now see if this new, unofficial deadline — now less than two weeks away — will help hammer out the finer details of the league’s first CBA by Feb. 1.

 

FIFA set to cap number of loan transfers from next season to prevent ‘player hoarding’

Reuters

FIFA is set to implement rules in which clubs will be limited in signing and sending players on loan internationally from next season so that more focus can be given to developing talent, world football’s governing body said on Thursday. Clubs will be limited to eight international loan signings in and eight loaned out from next season.

 
Racing
 

SRX hires Hawk as CEO to grow budding motorsports property

Jenna Fryer, The Associated Press

The Superstar Racing Experience named Don Hawk its first chief executive, a day-to-day role with a job description that covers just about everything for the made-for-CBS all-star summer series coming off a surprisingly strong debut.

 
Golf and Tennis
 

Australian Open: Defending champion Naomi Osaka knocked out as Ashleigh Barty advances

Sky Sports

Naomi Osaka said she’s “not God” after her Australian Open defence came to an end at the hands of Amanda Anisimova with the American fending off two match points to advance to a meeting with world No 1 Ashleigh Barty.

 
Esports
 

Activision Blizzard CEO addresses employees on layoffs, potential departure in ‘fireside chat’

Shannon Liao, The Washington Post

Kotick said during Thursday’s video call that “the transition is going to be smooth because [Microsoft is] committed to trying to retain as many of our people as possible.” Following the video call, several Activision Blizzard employees told The Washington Post the comment made them suspicious of upcoming layoffs.

 
General
 

China’s mandatory app for Winter Olympics athletes and visitors has a function to block words the Communist Party doesn’t like

Bill Bostock, Insider

China’s official and mandatory 2022 Winter Olympics app has the ability to block more than 2,000 words and phrases, a digital forensic analysis found. An analysis published Tuesday by CitizenLab at the University of Toronto, found that the app had security flaws and also contained a function named “illegalwords.txt.”

 

Ralph Lauren Debuts Team USA’s Opening Ceremony Designs for the 2022 Winter Olympics

Christian Allaire, Vogue

To debut the new uniforms, the label shot the pieces on several Team USA athletes, including Aja Evans (bobsled), Rico Roman (sled hockey), Hilary Knight (ice hockey), Maame Biney (short track speed skater), Jason Brown (figure skating), Jamie Anderson (snowboarding), Shaun White (snowboarding), Alysa Liu (figure skating), and Ryan Cochran-Siegle (alpine ski).

 

UFC partners with Dapper Labs for official NFT collection, profits to be split evenly with fighters

Kevin Iole, Yahoo Sports

Some of the greatest finishes in UFC history will now be available when the UFC releases collectible non fungible tokens (NFTs) called UFC Strike at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday. The NFTs will be $50 per pack and include three tokens, each of which will have short highlights from some of the UFC’s most memorable fights.

 

Roc Nation promotes Brett Yormark to COO

Liz Mullen, Sports Business Journal

Yormark first joined Roc Nation in ’19 as co-CEO of Roc Nation Unified and President of Business Operations & Strategy. Prior to that, Yormark was CEO of Nets parent company BSE Global.

 
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