June 14, 2023

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Congratulations are in order for the second day in a row — the Golden Knights have won the Stanley Cup just six years after their first season. This is newsletter co-author David Rumsey [[link removed]] and today we’ll start things off with a look at what the championship means for the NHL team and entire city of Las Vegas. Plus, updates on the PGA Tour’s ongoing drama and next month’s Women’s World Cup.

Golden Knights Stanley Cup Win a Seminal Moment for Vegas Sports [[link removed]]

Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports

The Vegas Golden Knights are NHL champions — just six seasons after entering the league.

In 2016, Golden Knights owner Bill Foley paid an expansion fee of $500 million, and at the end of 2022, the team was already valued [[link removed]] at $965 million by Forbes — 16th in the NHL and just under the average franchise value of $1.03 billion.

The franchise’s value and appeal will only increase with the team’s 4-1 series win over the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup Final on Tuesday night, giving Las Vegas its first men’s professional sports championship. The WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces won [[link removed]] the 2022 WNBA title.

With their popularity on the rise, the Golden Knights will soon begin a multiyear deal [[link removed]] with Scripps Sports to air games for free in Nevada and four surrounding states.

Teams and leagues across sports have embraced [[link removed]] Sin City on an unprecedented scale in recent years.

After the Golden Knights began playing at T-Mobile Arena in 2018, the NFL’s Raiders moved from Oakland to Las Vegas in 2020, making the $1.9 billion Allegiant Stadium their new home. In November, Formula 1 will bring a third U.S. race to Vegas in what promises to be one of the most expensive [[link removed]] events on its schedule.

Meanwhile, the Oakland A’s continue to inch closer toward an official move to Vegas, which would give MLB a presence in Vegas if a ballpark deal [[link removed]] finally comes to fruition.

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— Ahmad Nassar, executive director of the Professional Tennis Players Association, on how financial instability led to the creation of a players association for tennis. Hear more on Front Office Sports Today.

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PGA Tour Commissioner Sidelined By ‘Medical Situation’ [[link removed]]

Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan is taking a leave of absence as he recovers from “a medical situation.”

The news comes a week after the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, and LIV Golf announced that they are merging [[link removed]] their operations into a single commercial entity.

The Tour leader came under intense scrutiny [[link removed]] as anger and frustration immediately swept through the ranks in different forms. Players like Wesley Bryan were partly upset to only learn of the news on Twitter — Monahan reportedly conducted a seven-week negotiation [[link removed]] aided by just two Tour board members.

Monahan’s announcement comes at the start of the U.S. Open this week in Los Angeles. The commissioner and PGA Tour Policy Board released a joint statement on the hiatus.

“Jay Monahan informed the PGA Tour Policy Board that he is recuperating from a medical situation. The Board fully supports Jay and appreciates everyone respecting his privacy.”

It appears that PGA Tour and LIV members alike are done trying to predict what the future of the professional game holds. Rory McIlroy canceled his media availability on Tuesday, while several other major champions made it clear they want answers as much as fans do.

“A lot of people feel a bit of betrayal from management,” 2023 Masters and 2021 U.S. Open winner Jon Rahm said.

Brooks Koepka, who won his fifth major at last month’s PGA Championship, wouldn’t speculate on the impending changes. “I’m not going to go into the future,” he said when Front Office Sports asked if he would want to bring LIV’s team golf concept to the PGA Tour. “I don’t have a crystal ball with me.”

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FIFA Nears Women’s World Cup Media Deals That Would Ease Blackout Threat [[link removed]]

Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports

FIFA is close to securing U.K. media rights deals with the BBC and ITV for the upcoming Women’s World Cup — a move that would ease prior threats of a tournament blackout in key European markets.

The agreements, according to Bloomberg [[link removed]], would see the broadcasters pay an estimated $9 million to $10 million to air the upcoming event, a figure totaling at most 6% of the comparable figure paid for the men’s 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino previously called initial rights bids for the tournament — some as low as 1% to 2% of bids for the men’s World Cup — “a slap in the face” given the ongoing growth in the women’s game. Those offers also presented a risk to FIFA goals for gender pay equity [[link removed]].

Infantino initially threatened a broadcasting blackout for the European “Big Five” of England, Spain, Italy, Germany, and France. It is hoped, however, that the BBC and ITV deals could help lead to similar agreements with other broadcasters on the continent.

A Hot Property

Fox Sports has already sold 90% of its ad inventory for U.S. coverage of the Women’s World Cup. Network ad revenues are pacing [[link removed]] ahead of the 2019 tournament by 50%, aided in part by a group-stage rematch of the final between the U.S. and Netherlands four years ago, which Fox Sports will show in prime time.

The U.S. Women’s National Team, which won both the 2015 and 2019 editions, will be looking for the three-peat starting July 20.

Rangers Next In Line As Diamond Faces Deadlines on MLB Rights Fees [[link removed]]

Raymond Carlin III-USA TODAY Sports

The Texas Rangers could be the next MLB team cut loose by the bankrupt Diamond Sports Group, accelerating the league’s reckoning [[link removed]] with regional sports networks.

Diamond’s Bally Sports has until Thursday to decide whether it will pay the full rights fee due to the Rangers after a recent court ruling [[link removed]] — or reject the rights, as it did in a similar [[link removed]] case involving the San Diego Padres last month.

DSG, which is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, signaled in a new court filing that the question is decidedly unresolved: “The debtors are in the process of determining whether to assume or reject one or more of the agreements. Those decisions are complex and involve numerous factors.”

The company must also decide by July 1 whether to pay the Arizona Diamondbacks, Cleveland Guardians, and Minnesota Twins money promised in their respective broadcast agreements.

The Rangers decision, however, will speak volumes to DSG’s larger reorganization plans, as the Dallas-Fort Worth media market is the country’s fifth-largest, easily outdistancing Phoenix (11th), Minneapolis (15th), and Cleveland (19th). If DSG walks away from the Rangers, more such rejections are almost certain to follow.

MLB has been producing and distributing Padres games for the last two weeks and would similarly step in for the other teams.

The Rangers — who are currently in first place in the AL West after six straight non-playoff seasons — are among MLB’s biggest surprise stories this year.

Conversation Starters WMT Digital [[link removed]], leader in sports technology, is partnering with Arkansas, Clemson, and Vanderbilt to bring AI to the sports industry with “The Six,” a proprietary software automating sports media and article generation.* Serbia has a total population [[link removed]] of 7 million people — about the size of Massachusetts — but has made an outsized impact on sports this week thanks to Novak Djokovic and Nikola Jokic, who both won championships. Drafted at No. 41 — and during a commercial — Nikola Jokic is the lowest draft pick [[link removed]] ever to win NBA Finals MVP. He is now responsible for more than $4.4 million in equivalent brand value for Taco Bell, per Apex Marketing Group. Lionel Messi’s move to Inter Miami is already a game-changer [[link removed]] for MLS — boosting ticket sales, as well as the league’s social media following.

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Editor's Picks Shannon Sharpe Departs ‘Undisputed,’ Exchanges Farewells with Skip Bayless [[link removed]]by Doug Greenberg [[link removed]]

After seven years, Shannon Sharpe’s run at FS1's "Undisputed" is officially over.

CFP Revenue Distribution To Reach $2B By 2027, Study Says [[link removed]]by Amanda Christovich [[link removed]]

The estimates are based on the expanded structure and media contract.

USF Approves $340M Football Stadium For 2026 Season [[link removed]]by David Rumsey [[link removed]]

The University of South Florida is ready to build an on-campus football stadium.

Question Of The Day

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Tuesday’s Answer

56% of respondents subscribe to Hulu.

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