July 28, 2023

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The Angels have just over two months to earn a postseason spot and give Shohei Ohtani a strong reason to not leave town in free agency this winter.

Meanwhile, another California MLB club is designing its new, out-of-state home, Barcelona gets a major financial boost, and the value of NFL running backs continues to dominate training camp storylines.

— David Rumsey [[link removed]]

Angels Run Big Risks Opting To ‘Roll The Dice’ On Keeping Ohtani [[link removed]]

Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno is likely making — at minimum — a $500 million bet that he can retain one of baseball’s most transcendent talents and transform his lagging franchise.

After weeks of back-and-forth speculation, the Angels have pulled two-way phenom Shohei Ohtani off the trade market, believing the team can both better compete this year and improve its chance to retain the Japanese star when he hits free agency this winter.

The decision will have massive implications across the franchise.

The Angels haven’t reached the postseason since 2014, tying the longest active drought in the league, and they still sit outside of playoff position — a situation that irks [[link removed]] Ohtani. The club also is 10th in MLB attendance [[link removed]] with a per-game average of 33,637, a ranking and figure that would plummet with an endorsement magnet [[link removed]] like Ohtani gone and star teammate Mike Trout still injured.

But Moreno — who has been continually beset with ownership [[link removed]] and stadium [[link removed]] issues — believes the Angels’ best chance to retain Ohtani long-term is to not let him go in the first place.

Beyond 2023 loyalty, though, keeping Ohtani will likely require [[link removed]] a MLB-record contract of at least $500 million — an outlay arriving at a time when the link between player spending and on-field success is being inverted [[link removed]] like never before.

“We’re going to roll the dice and see what happens,” said Angels GM Perry Minasian. “Whether it works or it doesn’t, I can go to bed at night and say, ‘You know what, we did this for the right reasons.’”

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🎙️ They Said What?

“Success follows you anywhere. Whether college or overseas — wherever you are across the world — you’ll end up getting what you want out of that.”

— Zaire Wade, guard for the Cape Town Tigers of the Basketball Africa League and the son of NBA legend Dwyane Wade, on choosing to pursue a professional career out of high school instead of college and potential NIL deals. To hear more from Wade, download the latest episode of Front Office Sports Today.

🎧 Listen and subscribe on Apple [[link removed]], Google [[link removed]], and Spotify [[link removed]].

NFL’s Running Back Pay Debate Heats Up, Could Spark Big Changes [[link removed]]

Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports

The growing conflict regarding compensation for NFL running backs is only intensifying — and could ultimately need formal talks to settle.

After a series of bitter contract negotiations involving several top backs sparked [[link removed]] outcry among numerous players, the issue has now reached the NFL Players Association, which has discussed [[link removed]] potentially pursuing a new franchise tag system without position assignments.

Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay recently said such a move — and the broader unrest among running backs — is unwarranted.

“We have negotiated a CBA that took years of effort and hard work and good faith by both sides,” Irsay tweeted [[link removed]] on Wednesday. “To say now that a specific player category wants another negotiation after the fact is inappropriate. Some agents are selling ‘bad faith.’”

The comments prompted immediate pushback from Malki Kawa, agent for Colts star running back Jonathan Taylor, who tweeted [[link removed]] back, “Bad faith is not paying your top offensive player.”

Irsay is one of the league’s most outspoken and influential owners whose comments [[link removed]] presaged the ultimate departure [[link removed]] of former Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder. That influence will square up against newly appointed [[link removed]] NFLPA executive director Lloyd Howell, who also has separate issues [[link removed]] involving his prior employer, consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton.

Howell has been involved in the conversation among running backs as salaries soar [[link removed]] to unprecedented levels for quarterbacks.

“There’s a ton that we can do,” said the Los Angeles Chargers’ Austin Ekeler. “One is controlling the narrative. We’re starting to put out this narrative that’s kind of combatant against what’s been out there so far.”

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Stadium Renderings Stoke Excitement, But A’s Say They’re Garbage [[link removed]]

A rendering that the Oakland A's shared of their proposed Las Vegas stadium.

The Oakland A’s used a series of stadium renderings to help land $380 million in public funding last month toward a new Las Vegas ballpark.

Now, the team says those images are literally trash.

Just weeks after landing [[link removed]] Nevada state funding for a $1.5 billion stadium along the Las Vegas Strip, the A’s have told architectural firms that the initial renderings have no basis in the project’s future reality.

“We told the groups, ‘You saw the renderings in the newspaper, but wad those up for now,’” Brad Schrock, A’s director of design, told [[link removed]] the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

It’s long been common knowledge in the sports business that initial stadium and arena renderings frequently have marked differences from their finished versions. Early drawings are often used to generate public excitement and win political support and public dollars.

But the first Las Vegas drawings showed a particularly rushed effort, with many features simply unfeasible for the A’s project.

The renderings show a traditional retractable roof that would be all but impossible to build on the tight, 9-acre Tropicana Hotel site pegged for the project. Oakland’s MLB-leading foul territory — a product of the Oakland Coliseum’s 60-year-old design and not present in any modern ballpark — was also carried over to the Las Vegas drawings.

The A’s intend to pick a stadium architect in November.

Barcelona Gets $65M Cash Injection Just Before La Liga Season [[link removed]]

FC Barcelona

Barcelona received a major financial boost a few weeks before beginning its first La Liga title defense since Lionel Messi departed in 2021.

The Spanish club is getting a $65.83 million payment from reselling a portion of its media production arm Barca Studios, according [[link removed]] to El Confidencial. The cash injection is vital to complete signings of key players.

A German private equity company is buying two 8% stakes in Barca Studios from existing investors Socios [[link removed]] and Orpheus Media [[link removed]] — who both initially paid more than $100 million each for 24.5% stakes in the outfit. However, Socios and Orpheus had delayed [[link removed]] $30 million-plus payments due to Barcelona, causing the club to seek new funding.

As it stands now, Barcelona itself owns 51% of Barca Studios, while Socios, Orpheus, and the new German company each own about 16%.

UEFA has permitted Barcelona to play the upcoming Champions League season despite an investigation into a potential scandal involving $7 million paid to a referee — a case that could eventually be reopened [[link removed]].

Problems Off The Pitch

In Italy, bids for Serie A domestic media rights aren’t reaching the $1.1 billion annual threshold the league seeks for a deal to begin next year. Discussions had taken place with DAZN, Sky Italia, and MediaForEurope.

Another update is scheduled to be announced in October.

Conversation Starters USC QB Caleb Williams is backing [[link removed]] Monarch Collective’s new fund focusing on women’s sports. The firm has raised $109 million to target assets in teams, emerging leagues, and rights. “There hasn’t necessarily been as much support as there should be in women’s sports,” Williams said. Liberty — the second-youngest Division 1 school in the country — has some elite facilities. Take a tour [[link removed]]. Together, Justin Herbert and Lamar Jackson will earn more cash [[link removed]] in 2023 than all 32 projected RB1s combined, per Spotrac.

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Editor's Picks Colorado Regents Vote Unanimously to Join The Big 12 in 2024 [[link removed]]by Amanda Christovich [[link removed]]They'll rejoin the Big 12 after more than a decade in the Pac-12. Sen. Blumenthal Requests PIF’s Yasir al-Rumayyan to Attend September Hearing [[link removed]]by Andrew Cohen [[link removed]]PIF governor Yasir al-Rumayyan is again being requested to testify. US-Netherlands Sets Women’s World Cup Group Stage Ratings Record [[link removed]]by Andrew Cohen [[link removed]]Wednesday's USA-Netherlands match drew 6.43 million viewers on FOX. Question Of The Day

How many pairs of sunglasses do you own?

0 [[link removed]] 1-2 [[link removed]] 3+ [[link removed]]

Thursday’s Answer

77% of respondents plan on attending college sporting events in the next 12 months.

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