November 30, 2023

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Sports Illustrated’s Sportsperson of the Year award may not hold the same cultural currency it used to for many fans. But the 2023 selection of Colorado football coach Deion Sanders shows the perils of locking in to early narratives — and making concrete events and publishing plans based around those narratives. The massive hype around the Buffaloes’ 3-0 start ultimately faded into a 4-8 campaign and last-place Pac-12 finish. Meanwhile, the SI award overlooked the more tangible success of the likes of Novak Djokovic, Lionel Messi, and Patrick Mahomes.

— Eric Fisher [[link removed]]

PGA Tour Expects To Add Another Investor To Pair With Saudi PIF [[link removed]]

John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

Nearly six tumultuous months after the PGA Tour announced a framework agreement with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to reshape professional golf, it appears the controversial sovereign wealth fund still has a solid future in the sport.

Following months of uncertainty over the deal with the financial backers of LIV Golf, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan pointed to a probable scenario that includes the PIF and at least one other outside investor partnering with the PGA Tour.

“When this gets finalized, the PGA Tour is going to be in a position that I talked about earlier, where again, the athletes are owners in their sport, and you’ve got not only the PIF, but you’ve likely got another co-investor, with significant experience in business, in sport and brand,” Monahan said [[link removed]] at the The New York Times’ annual DealBook Summit.

The list of additional investors being considered had reportedly been narrowed [[link removed]] down to five. But according to a new report [[link removed]], one of those five groups has dropped out: the Friends of Golf Group, a collection of financial titans and Wall Street veterans with a shared love of golf.

Monahan is planning to meet in person with PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan next week to expedite negotiations on a definitive agreement. “The [Dec. 31] deadline for our conversations with PIF … is a firm target,” he said.

Clock Ticking

The update from Monahan is crucial, as PGA Tour members and golf fans alike have been mostly in the dark regarding the PGA Tour’s negotiations with the PIF.

Multiple reports have suggested a final deal won’t be completed by the Dec. 31 deadline, while others have suggested that the additional potential investors could ultimately replace [[link removed]] PIF’s involvement altogether.

Earlier this week, Tiger Woods spoke in depth about the PGA Tour-PIF negotiations, making it clear that other options [[link removed]] are being considered. The 15-time major champion echoed a desire to hit the Dec. 31 deadline, but also acknowledged that it could be pushed back.

Pittsburgh Seeks the Spoils of NFL Draft Traveling Road Show [[link removed]]

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Pittsburgh almost certainly will not host a Super Bowl, thanks in part to Acrisure Stadium’s lack of a dome.

But the Steelers are pushing for the NFL’s next best thing.

The team and city of Pittsburgh have formally submitted an application to host the NFL Draft in either 2026 or 2027 — just as the event continues to expand from a smaller, theater-based event designed primarily for television into a multi-day fan extravaganza.

“We believe our city will be an excellent host to showcase the great history that connects Western Pennsylvania to the early roots of professional football and the evolution of the game through the decades,” said Burt Lauten, Steelers senior director of communications.

A Pittsburgh-based NFL Draft would be based on the city’s North Shore, particularly in those areas near Acrisure Stadium and PNC Park that continue [[link removed]] to see new development.

New-Look Event

After years being staged in New York theaters, the NFL Draft has existed since 2015 as a traveling road show and receives heightened emphasis as the league’s biggest offseason, fan-facing event.

The 2023 NFL Draft in Kansas City drew [[link removed]] more than 312,000 fans, the second-largest attendance ever for the event, and generated an estimated $164 million in economic impact, according to local officials.

Economic impact studies surrounding major sports events are frequently the subject of their own debate and scrutiny. Despite that, there is no denying the sizable influx of visiting fans around the country that descend on the NFL Draft host city each year, which has made hosting the event increasingly attractive for teams.

The Pittsburgh bid also looks to extend a run of Rust Belt host cities for the NFL Draft that also stand largely outside the Super Bowl rotation, with Detroit set for 2024 and Green Bay [[link removed]] in 2025.

A decision on the 2026 draft is set to be made at league meetings in May 2024.

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Brisbane’s Big Build: $1.8B Super Stadium For 2032 Olympics [[link removed]]

Brisbane 2032

The centerpiece venue of the 2032 Summer Games in Brisbane is now set to be demolished and rebuilt, further accelerating a wave of stadium development across much of Australia, as well as Europe.

The publicly owned Brisbane Cricket Ground, commonly known as The Gabba, will be torn down and replaced with a new $1.8 billion venue that will represent one of the most expensive stadiums in the world.

The conversion will replace a 128-year-old, 36,000-seat venue with a new one seating up to 80,000. The project more directly reflects the ambitions of Brisbane, not only for the Olympics and their Opening and Closing Ceremonies, but broadly across sports, entertainment, and the city’s overall redevelopment.

“It will be a well-connected stadium, but — most importantly — it will trigger the urban renewal that we want to see,” said Queensland deputy premier Steven Miles. “It will be one of the best parts of the city to live in.”

Work on the new stadium will stretch from late 2025 to 2030.

Push To Rebuild

The Brisbane work extends a run of redevelopment and demolition of Australia’s and Europe’s aging facilities, some of which are also more than a century old.

The new Sydney Football Stadium — described as a “stadium in the park” — played a key role [[link removed]] in the 2023 Women’s World Cup. The Premier League [[link removed]] — including prominent clubs such as Chelsea, Everton [[link removed]], Fulham, Liverpool [[link removed]], and Manchester City — and AC Milan and Inter Milan in Serie A [[link removed]] are among those that have advanced what has been a heightened push to introduce modern facilities more in line with those commonly seen in the U.S.

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