The Denver Nuggets capped off a dominating playoff run on Monday night, winning their first NBA Finals with a 4-1 series victory over the Miami Heat.

For Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke, it’s the fifth championship won by a team he owns since the beginning of 2022.

The Colorado Avalanche won last year’s Stanley Cup after the Los Angeles Rams claimed victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI. Kroenke’s Colorado Mammoth won the 2022 National Lacrosse League Cup and one of his esports teams, the Los Angeles Guerrillas, took home a title in the Call of Duty League last year as well.

The NBA title also marks a seminal moment for Nuggets center Nikola Jokić, who won back-to-back MVP awards in 2021 and 2022, and now adds a championship ring and Finals MVP to his long list of accolades since entering the league in 2014.

Whether the 28-year-old Serbian has received proper recognition for his play in recent years was a hot topic among media pundits throughout the playoffs.

The Nuggets win ends a Cinderella run of sorts for the Heat, who became the first eighth-seed and play-in tournament team to advance to the Finals.

The NBA moves into the offseason set to welcome another international superstar in Victor Wembanyama, the French teenager that has already energized the San Antonio Spurs fan base after the franchise won the NBA Draft lottery.

One of the biggest players in streaming video could finally be shifting toward live sports content.

Netflix — which has forged a prominent position in documentary-style sports content with series such as “Drive to Survive” and “Full Swing” but has not acquired live sports rights  — is nearing a deal to live stream a celebrity golf tournament this fall with both golfers and Formula 1 drivers, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The event would be held in Las Vegas and feature celebrities from both docuseries. Talks regarding the project are described as preliminary. But even this more controlled effort would mark a strategic shift for Netflix, which ended 2023’s first quarter with 232.5 million subscribers and holds sizable sway over the entire business of streaming.

The tournament is seen in part as a trial balloon for the company without incurring the heavy cost and multiyear commitment of top-tier live sports rights. Prior Netflix bidding efforts for live rights to sports properties such as F1 ultimately lost to more aggressive competitors.

“We’re not anti-sports, we’re pro-profit,” said Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s co-CEO, at an investor conference late last year.

The tournament also marks a further opportunity for Netflix to build an advertising business that remains in its infancy, and represents another piece of fresh content for the streamer while the Writers Guild of America remains on strike from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

The Jacksonville Jaguars’ planned stadium renovation could temporarily move the team’s home games to one of motorsports’ most famous venues.

The Jags are set to meet soon with Daytona International Speedway officials about potentially playing there.

The NFL team’s proposed overhaul of TIAA Bank Stadium — an effort dubbed “the Stadium of the Future” and projected to cost more than $2 billion after related development — hasn’t clarified where the team will play during a construction period that could last between two and four years.

Initial candidates for a temporary venue include Orlando’s Camping World Stadium and Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville — the Florida Gators’ home better known as “The Swamp.”

Now, the site of the Daytona 500 is joining the list. The 101,500-seat venue’s existing schedule and layout for racing each present challenges, but both sides remain intrigued with the possibility.

“If the stars align where we could host one game or multiple games, we would be very proud,” said Frank Kelleher, DIS president, to the Daytona Beach News-Journal.

Orlando Stadium Push

Camping World Stadium’s bid to land the Jaguars could receive a boost if Florida Citrus Sports lands $800 million in public funds for facility renovations.

The nonprofit organization that stages several college football games and other events at the stadium has made a new pitch for tourism tax funds to complete venue upgrades started in 2014.

The facility also currently hosts the Orlando Guardians of the revamped but struggling XFL.

Despite huge financial losses and layoffs after its first season in a revamped format, XFL co-owners Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Dany Garcia remain bullish on the spring football league’s future.

Forbes reports the XFL lost $60 million in 2023 but expects to rake in $100 million in revenue next year — but in May, the league cut several full-time positions in what it calls a transition to seasonal employment.

The XFL’s optimism stems from capital commitments through Year 4, including ESPN’s $20 million annual rights payment and sponsorship deals with Progressive and Under Armour.

“We’re extremely well-capitalized for the long-term,” said Garcia.

“This is not just an endeavor that’s going to fill up a portfolio and one day we flip it and we’re out,” Johnson added. “This is legacy. This is the long game.”

This season’s XFL championship game drew 1.43 million viewers on ABC after ratings steadily declined throughout the regular season. The league is battling for spring football supremacy with the USFL, which will wrap up its second season under Fox’s ownership on July 1.

The rival leagues are resorting to different strategies. With teams in eight different markets, the XFL is looking to capitalize on local fan bases, while the eight-team USFL — which counts NBC as another media partner alongside Fox — is playing this season entirely in hub cities Detroit, Memphis, Canton and Birmingham after playing every game in Alabama last year.