Top Stories

  • UFC is moving all of its pay-per-view programming to ESPN+, the over-the-top subscription service for ESPN, which also extended its media rights deal with the mixed martial arts promotion — believed to be worth $300 million annually — for two additional years. The first card under the deal is scheduled for April 13, and the streaming agreement and media rights extension are set to run through 2025. (SportsBusiness Daily)
  • Dana White signed a 7-year deal with majority owner Endeavor to continue in his role as UFC president, a position he’s held since 2001. The 49-year-old remained with the organization following a sale by the Fertitta brothers to WME-IMG in 2016 and has helped the sports and entertainment property grow into a multi-billion dollar entity. (ESPN)
  • Due to an “unfortunate technical error,” ESPN leaked the 2019 NCAA women’s tournament bracket, resulting in information circulating online and the originally scheduled selection show being moved up two hours on ESPN2. The gaffe was similar to a 2016 mishap when the NCAA men’s tournament bracket was leaked online midway through CBS’ selection show announcing the field. (The Washington Post)

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Events Calendar (All Times Local)

03/19/2019
IEG World 2019
Penn State Sports Business Conference
Team USA Symposium
Game Developers Conference
03/20/2019
IEG World 2019
Team USA Symposium
Game Developers Conference
03/21/2019
Team USA Symposium
Game Developers Conference
03/22/2019
2019 AIM Sports Conference 8:30 am
Game Developers Conference
View full calendar

The State of the Democratic Primary

On a daily basis, Morning Consult is surveying over 5,000 registered voters across the United States on the 2020 presidential election. Each week, we’ll update this page with the latest survey data, offering an in-depth guide to how the race for the Democratic nomination is shaping up.

General

Japanese Olympic Committee head resigns amid bribery scandal
Stephen Wade, The Associated Press

Tsunekazu Takeda, the president of the Japanese Olympic Committee, is resigning amid a bribery scandal that investigators suspect helped Tokyo land next year’s Olympics.

The Athletic Is Acquiring the Count the Dings Podcasts
Ryan Glasspiegel, The Big Lead

The Athletic is acquiring the NBA-focused Count the Dings podcasts, The Big Lead has learned. The Daily Ding and Back to Back pods will both air behind The Athletic’s paywall, and are expected to debut there in April.

Women’s sport needs more women to tell the story, says Asher-Smith
Alan Baldwin, Reuters

British sprinter Dina Asher-Smith, a triple European gold medalist, would like to raise the profile of female athletes and believes the best way of doing that is to have more women telling the story.

The Telegraph launches female sports vertical with four new staff
Lucinda Southern, Digiday

The Telegraph is starting a new editorial vertical, Telegraph Women’s Sport, which will be staffed with a team of four, as well as a network of contributors like Judy Murray, triple European sprint champion, Dina Asher-Smith, and England football vice-captain, Jordan Nobbs.

MSG Networks Taking A Deep Dive Into Sneaker Culture With ‘Sneaker Week’ Programming
Kristi Dosh, Forbes

MSG Networks kicks off “Sneaker Week,” presented by Mountain Dew, today with a week’s worth of sneaker-themed programming examining the sneaker culture and the sneakers worn by athletes and celebrities. The all-week takeover will be featured across MSG Networks’ linear, digital and social channels.

NFL

New rules likely coming but not to replay
Arnie Stapleton, The Associated Press

In no sport but the NFL do players, fans, coaches and general managers annually debate the rules of the game, advocating ways to make pro football better, safer, fairer.

Blake Bortles signs with Rams on one-year deal to back up Jared Goff
Des Bieler, The Washington Post

If Jared Goff gets injured next season, the Los Angeles Rams will be able to call on the BOAT to keep their quarterback situation afloat. The team announced Monday that it signed former Jacksonville Jaguars starter Blake Bortles to a one-year deal.

‘Good Morning America’ Host Robin Roberts Will Anchor ABC NFL Draft Coverage
Bruce Haring, Deadline Hollywood

Ironically, a woman named after a baseball player will host ABC’s opening night presentation for the 2019 National Football League draft, marking its first coverage of the annual player dispersal.

Gettleman goes on offense over Odell Beckham deal and Eli
Tom Canavan, The Associated Press

After a week of being beaten up in the media over the trade of popular star receiver Odell Beckham Jr., general manager Dave Gettleman went on the offensive, saying the trade was in the best interests of the New York Giants and was a deal the organization could not refuse.

NBA

Nowitzki passes Wilt but Pelicans top Mavs 129-125 in OT
Dave Jackson, The Associated Press

For the 7-footer who has built a Hall of Fame career shooting from the outside, it was the perfect way to reach his latest milestone.

MLB

San Francisco Mayor and Civic Groups Call for Punishment of Giants C.E.O.
Liam Stack, The New York Times

The mayor of San Francisco endorsed a call by civic groups on Monday for Major League Baseball to impose a serious penalty on the chief executive of the San Francisco Giants for a public altercation with his wife that was caught on video this month.

How Phillies’ 2018 clubhouse issues caused by Fortnite led to a smashed TV
Jeff Passan, ESPN

When the Philadelphia Phillies lost their ninth consecutive game toward the end of last September, veteran first baseman Carlos Santana felt like he needed to send a message to his teammates who he said spent portions of the game against the Atlanta Braves playing video games in the clubhouse.

Clayton Kershaw is ‘motivated by greatness,’ but at 31, can his body keep up?
Dave Sheinin, The Washington Post

Nothing drives home the fleeting nature of athletic greatness quite like the ace pitcher entering the autumn of his career. Clayton Kershaw turns 31 on Tuesday, a year older than Sandy Koufax was when he threw his final big league pitch, the same age Pedro Martinez was when he had his last transcendent season.

Opening day intrigue: Ichiro keeps ’em guessing about future
Stephen Wade, The Associated Press

This is the Ichiro effect. Richard Snitzer had never been to Japan. What finally drove the Japanese-American to travel here from his home in Hayward, California, was Ichiro Suzuki.

Union head praises Jays for raising minor league pay by half
Jake Seiner, The Associated Press

Union head Tony Clark lauded the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday for giving minor league players a 50 percent raise, and he hopes other clubs do the same.

NHL

Tampa Bay Lightning are your 2018-2019 Presidents’ Trophy winners … obviously
Pete Blackburn, CBS Sports

The Tampa Bay Lightning have been the best team in hockey from nearly start to finish this NHL season and now they have their first piece of hardware to show for it. On Monday night, the Bolts locked up the Presidents’ Trophy as regular-season champions for the first time.

Soccer

Marketing group fined $1 million in FIFA corruption case
The Associated Press

A judge ordered a sports marketing group on Monday to pay a total of $1 million in fines in the FIFA soccer scandal. U.S. District Judge Pamela Chen fined Traffic Sports International and Traffic Sports USA at a hearing federal court in Brooklyn.

MM3rdQB: Detroit’s MLS expansion bid looks more dead than ever — for now
Bill Shea, Crain’s Detroit Business

You may have missed it last week, but the St. Louis Post-Dispatch printed what may be the obituary for Detroit’s chance at a Major League Soccer expansion team. The newspaper quoted MLS Commissioner Don Garber as saying the league still doesn’t like the Detroit bid’s plan to use Ford Field as a home pitch instead of building a soccer-specific stadium as originally intended.

ESPN extends International Champions Cup deal until 2021
ESPN

ESPN will show International Champions Cup (ICC) matches and summer friendlies in the U.S., Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean until 2021 after extending its agreement with Relevent Sports Group.

Racing

New billboard pressures IMS to abandon an Indy 500 tradition: the balloon release
Emily Hopkins, Indianapolis Star

A new billboard unveiled this week is taking on an Indianapolis institution: the Indy 500. Specifically, it’s calling on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to retire the decades-old tradition of releasing thousands of balloons on race morning.

Golf and Tennis

Relocated From a Park to a Football Stadium, the Miami Open Emphasizes Luxury
Cindy Shmerler, The New York Times

Stephen M. Ross swears he is not embroiled in a third-set tiebreaker with Larry Ellison, the billionaire co-founder of Oracle who bought the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif., a decade ago and transformed it into a tony desert party for tennis players and fans.

College Sports

John Calipari received $1 million from the producers of a docu-series. He says he’s donating the money
Tom Schad and Steve Berkowitz, USA Today

John Calipari made $7.45 million from the University of Kentucky for the 2017-18 basketball season — more than any other public-school coach in the country.

He also had more than $1.3 million in athletically related outside income, thanks in large part to a previously-unreported seven-figure payment from the producers of an all-access docu-series about the team.

Esports

The Road Ahead for VR Esports
Imad Khan, The Esports Observer

Virtual reality hasn’t taken over quite like Mark Zuckerberg was hoping when he bought Oculus Rift for $2B USD back in 2014. That’s largely due to the immense cost for consumers to jump into high-quality VR, requiring a beefy gaming computer and an expensive headset.

Activision announces Call of Duty: Mobile game
Preston Byers, Dot Esports

One of the most popular game franchises in the world, Call of Duty, will be available on mobile devices, Activision announced via Twitter today.

Opinions, Editorials, Perspectives and Research

Why You Should Pick Virginia—Yes, Virginia—in Your NCAA Tournament Bracket
Ben Cohen and Andrew Beaton, The Wall Street Journal

Virginia became the first No. 1 seed to lose to a No. 16 seed in the men’s NCAA tournament last year. You may have heard something about that.

I Love Duke. Please Forgive Me.
Jason Gay, The Wall Street Journal

March Madness is barreling straight at us, and I’m ashamed. I really like Duke.

Anthony Davis Might Be Too Melo to Be the Star He Thinks He Is
Justin Verrier, The Ringer

The Pelicans are aimless, and their best player in franchise history is also floating in space. Davis is desperate to force his way out of his middling situation and wrest control over his career, and he’s placed himself in limbo.

Morning Consult