Tottenham Hotspur have been dealt a major blow just weeks before the new Premier League season starts, casting a dark cloud over the English soccer team.

Joe Lewis, the British billionaire and majority owner of Tottenham, has been charged in the U.S. with insider trading. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan accused the 86-year-old of giving tips to friends, associates, and romantic partners from 2019 to 2021.

Lewis owns Tottenham via his investment company ENIC, along with Daniel Levy — the club’s executive chairman and minority investor. Tottenham is the ninth-most valuable soccer club in the world at $2.8 billion, according to Forbes, and Lewis himself is worth more than $6 billion.

The team had no comment for the New York Times, calling the situation “unconnected to the club.” Should the situation worsen for Lewis, the club’s ownership structure could come under scrutiny. 

Last year, Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich was forced to sell fellow EPL club Chelsea due to U.K. sanctions stemming from his close ties to Vladimir Putin. Dodgers co-owner Todd Boehly emerged from a long list of suitors to acquire the club for $5.4 billion.

If Tottenham hits the market, expect similar interest from the world’s wealthiest figures, including strong bids from more Americans. During the Chelsea bidding, the Ricketts family (owners of the Chicago Cubs), Jets owner Woody Johnson, and new Commanders owner Josh Harris all showed interest in the club.

Chicago Blackhawks owner Rocky Wirtz died at the age of 70, leaving a deeply complicated legacy — and big questions for the iconic Original Six NHL franchise. 

After taking the reins of the Blackhawks in 2007 from his late father, the infamous “Dollar” Bill Wirtz, Rocky significantly modernized the franchise and helped steer the team back to glory. 

In addition to getting the team’s games back on local TV and radio and leading a 13-year sellout streak at the United Center, he oversaw a dramatic on-ice revival for the Blackhawks, culminating in Stanley Cup titles in 2010, 2013, and 2015. 

But the final chapter of Wirtz’s ownership tenure badly tarnished his reputation, as the Blackhawks were found to have grossly mishandled prospect Kyle Beach’s allegations that he was assaulted by then-video coach Brad Aldrich. The NHL fined the team $2 million, and Wirtz compounded the damage by berating reporters asking about the issue at a 2022 town hall. 

Following the session, Wirtz largely retreated from public appearances.

Chicago At Crossroads

A fourth-generation Wirtz — Rocky’s son, Blackhawks CEO Danny — will now lead the team. After winning the rights to draft top-overall pick Connor Bedard, one of the NHL’s most popular teams hopes to repair its bond with fans after a spell in which it has missed the postseason five of the last six seasons.

“Our dad was a passionate businessman committed to making Chicago a great place to live, work, and visit,” Danny Wirtz said. “His passing leaves a huge hole in the hearts of many, and we will miss him terribly.” The team hasn’t released medical details regarding Wirtz’s death. 

The Chicago Cubs are the latest MLB team to make a sizable move toward direct-to-consumer local streaming — but they’re taking a far different approach from recent emergency moves by the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres.

One of the league’s most famous franchises and their Marquee Sports Network completed long-discussed plans to introduce a local streaming subscription offering the team’s live games, studio programming, documentaries, and other content for $19.99 per month.

The Marquee streaming element resembles that of other team-owned regional sports networks such as the New York Yankees’ YES Network and Boston Red Sox’s NESN, both of whom have started selling digital in-market plans, albeit at higher monthly prices.

The collaborative effort is a stark contrast from the situations in Arizona and San Diego. 

With relatively little notice, MLB took over production of those teams’ games due to the ongoing bankruptcy proceedings of Bally Sports parent Diamond Sports Group, with a temporary structure offering games for a local streaming fee of $19.99 per month.

As cord-cutting continues to fundamentally reshape the entire U.S. media landscape — slashing the number of traditional pay-TV households from 102.1 million in 2014 to 63.2 million in 2023, but without replacing the lost revenue from linear TV — teams continue to search for answers on how to reach fans.

“Ultimately, I hope the league comes up with a system where any fan can watch any game anywhere, but there’s legacy systems we’re going to have to work out,” Cubs owner Tom Ricketts said.