Speculation about the Pac-12’s future has been rampant since Arizona, Arizona State, Oregon, Utah, and Washington made formal decisions to depart the conference after this academic year, leaving just four schools remaining.

Those schools — The University of California, Stanford, Oregon State, and Washington State — are tasked with forging new paths, as they now have no full conference schedule in 2024, and bowls with Pac-12 affiliations are exploring other options.

Cal’s regents will meet Tuesday to discuss its future affiliation amid reports that the ACC could look to add both Cal and Stanford. But one other idea also picking up steam is a sort of merger between the Pac-12 and Mountain West Conference. 

Cal, Stanford, OSU, and WSU could opt to join the 12 Mountain West teams to form a 16-team football conference that could operate under the Pac-12 name. That scenario could play out if the four remaining Pac-12 schools can’t secure moves of their own to the likes of the Big 12 or ACC. 

An unlikely alternative would be to handpick other West Coast schools like Boise State and San Diego State to bring the Pac-12 back up to at least 10 teams — Mountain West schools have exit fees of more than $30 million if they leave in 2024, and no new Pac-12 media deal would conceivably cover the costs to make that worth the move.

The Mountain West’s current media rights deal is with CBS and Fox, which are paying a combined $45 million annually through 2026 — a fee that would likely be renegotiated if schools were added.

As the Women’s World Cup Round of 16 wraps up Tuesday, the tournament in Australia and New Zealand has already cruised past the highest previous attendance in the event’s history.

The latest edition of the tournament officially surpassed Canada’s previous record of 1.35 million fans in 2015 on Sunday, which saw the USWNT’s shocking — and costly — loss to Sweden in Melbourne. 

Ahead of the knockout stage, FIFA had announced that more than 1.7 million tickets had already been sold — far above original expectations that were still projecting a record figure by tournament’s end.

Australia defeated Denmark on Monday in front of a sellout crowd of more than 75,000 at Sydney’s Stadium Australia — equalling the record attendance for its national women’s soccer team contest set by the Matildas’ WWC opener against Ireland. Australia plays its quarterfinal on Saturday at Brisbane’s 52,000-seat Suncorp Stadium.

Fellow co-host New Zealand narrowly missed out on the knockout round but garnered strong crowds during its three group-stage matches despite initial uncertainty about enthusiasm from fans in the country.

Already at a record pace, FIFA still has eight more matches to push the attendance even higher — and closer to what would be a staggering figure of 2 million.

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is taking the next step toward becoming an even bigger player in the business of sports. 

The PIF announced the formation and launch of SRJ Sports Investments, a sports investment company that aims to accelerate the growth of the sector in Saudi Arabia and MENA.

Reports of the PIF’s plan for a multibillion-dollar sports-focused entity emerged last month in the wake of Saudi Arabia’s bombshell agreement with the PGA Tour. Beyond LIV Golf, the PIF also has investments in Newcastle United, Formula 1, and its domestic soccer competition, the Saudi Pro League.

The PIF’s initial announcement didn’t say how much funding SRJ would start with or confirm whether its current sports ties will now fall under the new entity. There was also no mention of global sports investments beyond Saudi Arabia and MENA. 

Saudi Arabia will host the 2029 Asian Winter games and has considered bids for the 2030 Winter Olympics and 2036 FIFA World Cup.

Recently, the PIF has been in the news for holding discussions with the ATP Tour about getting involved in men’s tennis and for meeting with the R&A at last month’s Open Championship, its first inroads with an organizer of a men’s major golf championship.

The NBA, NHL, and MLS all allow investments from sovereign wealth funds — so there would theoretically be nothing stopping SRJ from buying a minority stake in one of those leagues’ teams, as the Qatar Investment Authority did with Washington Capitals and Wizards owner Monumental Sports & Entertainment.

The NFL is the latest sports league to turn to the U.S. Congress to help deal with one of its thorniest issues.

In a similar approach to the NCAA’s ongoing appeal for assistance with NIL issues, the NFL used an inquiry into its internal gambling policy to push for federal intervention.

“We believe that additional attention and resources are needed from lawmakers and law enforcement to address the illicit sports betting market, which still has the power of incumbency,” wrote Jonathan Nabavi, NFL vice president of public policy and government affairs.

Ten NFL players have been suspended this year for gambling violations, and Denver Broncos lineman Eyioma Uwazurike is facing a criminal investigation in Colorado. But the NFL’s pitch for federal help has frustrated lawmakers, particularly as the league didn’t answer congressional questions about the number of active investigations into suspicious betting activity, among other matters.

“It’s very disappointing that the NFL has declined to answer our questions and instead pivoted to illegal sports betting generally in their response,” said Rep. Dina Titus (Dem.) of Nevada, who co-chairs the Congressional Gaming Caucus. “It makes one wonder what they are trying to hide.”

New Genius Terms

Genius Sports, the NFL’s official data provider for sportsbooks and media outlets, has altered the terms of its recent three-year rights extension to provide cash payments instead of 4 million warrants in the company. The change is designed to be less dilutive to other shareholders and provide cost certainty for the company.

Cash terms weren’t disclosed, but Genius said it has a minimum of $832.5 million in future commitments for sports data and rights, and the NFL accounts for a “significant majority” of its data rights fees.

The NFL still has 18.5 million vested warrants in Genius collectively worth about $133 million.