May 17, 2024

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The Preakness Stakes arrives with the chances of another Triple Crown winner emerging alive and well. … But it’s not cheap to enter the race at Pimlico Race Course. … Several pro leagues are voicing their frustration with the reorganization efforts of Diamond Sports Group. … And we look back at a transformative moment that helped solidify the historic NFL-AFL merger.

— David Rumsey [[link removed]] and Eric Fisher [[link removed]]

Preakness in Spotlight: Chance of a Triple Crown Winner Bolsters Status [[link removed]]

The Courier-Journal

The sometimes-overlooked middle part of horse racing’s Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes, is poised for a big jump in prominence, both in the short and long term, further signaling a revival for the sport after the troubles of last year’s health-related issues.

Saturday’s 149th running of the race at Baltimore’s Pimlico Race Course will feature the Kentucky Derby winner, Mystik Dan (above, far right), after initial concern from trainer Kenny McPeek about the turnaround from the previous race May 4. The potential path for victory for Mystik Dan then opened up earlier this week when the prior betting favorite in the race, Muth, was pulled by trainer Bob Baffert after spiking a fever. Mystik Dan is now the favorite at 5–2 odds.

Retaining the potential of a Triple Crown win—something that has happened only 13 times in racing history—could also provide a meaningful boost to NBC Sports, which will show the race and saw big results [[link removed]] earlier this month for the Kentucky Derby. The Preakness purse, meanwhile, was boosted [[link removed]] this year from $1.5 million to $2 million.

McPeek won this race in 2020 with filly Swiss Skydiver, run in October that year in the height of the pandemic, and with no fans in attendance. This year’s race will again be operated with no such restrictions.

“This is what you want. You want this atmosphere,” he said. “You want people here. You want them connected to it all and seeing all of it.”

Bigger Changes to Come

The upcoming Preakness Stakes, meanwhile, will be the beginning of the end of the current era at Pimlico as Maryland Gov. Wes Moore recently signed into law a long-discussed [[link removed]] $400 million state bond issue to renovate the 154-year-old Pimlico, a facility that in many ways is showing every bit of that advanced age. In the deal, ownership of the facility will transfer from the privately held Stronach Group to a new state-run nonprofit, the Maryland Thoroughbred Racetrack Operating Authority.

The agreement will shift the 2026 Preakness to nearby Laurel Park before returning to Baltimore the following year.

The funding, meanwhile, represents the second major sports-related deal in the last five months for Moore, who also helped oversee a new stadium lease agreement for MLB’s Orioles [[link removed]].

The last leg of the Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes, will be held June 8, and with its own renovation and temporary relocation as it will be held [[link removed]] in Saratoga, N.Y., this year and next as its Long Island home, Belmont Park, undergoes a $455 million upgrade [[link removed]] that is set to be completed by 2026.

ONE BIG FIG Time to Pay Up

Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

$30,000

Total amount of entry fees [[link removed]] an owner of a horse running in the Preakness Stakes must pay. The initial cost is $15,000, with another payment of that same amount owed if their horse makes the starting gate. Like most races in the U.S., a maximum of 14 horses are allowed to run the Preakness, although last year there were only seven, after a slew of horse deaths around the industry. The Kentucky Derby is an outlier, allowing up to 20 horses at Churchill Downs.

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DSG’s Path to Revival Faces Major Pushback from MLB, NBA, and NHL [[link removed]]

Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

The bankrupt Diamond Sports Group says it remains confident in its ability to successfully reorganize and emerge as a newly viable company. Several major sports leagues, however, have serious reservations about that, and there is now a heightening battle against the clock to resolve the difference.

The stakes around an already-tense situation for DSG were raised further in a status conference Wednesday before the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. MLB doubled down in the hearing on its prior rebuke [[link removed]] of DSG, particularly in light of the ongoing blackout [[link removed]] of the regional sports networks on Comcast, with league attorney James Bromley saying, “I think it’s important, from the perspective of Major League Baseball, to understand how devastating it is to lose carriage on Comcast.”

The NBA and NHL, meanwhile, made their first formal remarks on the developing reorganization plan and echoed the baseball-related sentiment.

“We simply cannot afford to have our next season disrupted by the uncertainty as to whether Diamond will or will not have a viable business,” said NBA attorney Vincent Indelicato. NHL attorney Shana Elberg added, “The day-to-day approach of whether or not a professional sports team’s games will be broadcast doesn’t work for us, and can’t continue.”

Critical To-Do List

Among the issues that likely still need to be addressed before a confirmation hearing on the reorganization plan that is still scheduled for June 18:

Satisfy these concerns from the leagues and shore up what will be the company’s future base of programming. Receive and address any formal objections to the reorganization plan that could come from the leagues, or any other party. A May 22 deadline for those objections to be filed with the court has now been moved to June 5. Strike a new distribution agreement with Comcast, the No. 2 cable carrier [[link removed]] in the country. DSG attorney Brian Hermann said he is “optimistic” of ultimately reaching a new deal and called that situation “fluid.” But industry sources tell Front Office Sports there has been no material movement recently in talks with Comcast.

Many of DSG’s programming and distribution issues have been a constant presence [[link removed]] during a bankruptcy period now in its 15th month.

“How in the world are we going to be able to have a [confirmation] hearing—which I think is going to be contested—and [conduct] discovery … when we are just over 30 days [out] and we have simply no information?” Bromley said. “Everything right now is up in the air.”

Judge Christopher Lopez, for his part, is still preaching patience—despite the winnowing amount of time.

“I get where we are. And I know the debtors understand where they are as well,” Lopez said. “We’ve got some work to do. We should all be a little smarter, [with] a little bit more information in the early June time period. … There’s been a lot of good work done, and I don’t want to lose sight of it.”

FRONT OFFICE SPORTS TODAY Diamond in a Rough Spot

Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

Speaking of the turmoil surrounding Diamond Sports Group, Evan Drellich, senior MLB writer for The Athletic, joins the show to break down what each of its league partners wants and the future of local sports broadcasting.

🎧 Watch, listen, and subscribe on Apple [[link removed]], Google [[link removed]], Spotify [[link removed]], and YouTube [[link removed]].

TIME CAPSULE May 17, 1969: Pivotal Realignment

Malcolm Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

On this day 55 years ago: The NFL’s Steelers, Browns, and then Baltimore Colts agreed [[link removed]] to join the 10 AFL teams to form a 13-team American Football Conference, beginning with the 1970 season. The AFL and NFL agreed in ’66 to its historic merger—still one of the most impactful business deals ever in sports—with a planned, four-year transition period. But as the completion of the union approached, the conference realignment loomed as a critical, incomplete element. None of the NFL’s 16 teams at the time volunteered to switch and balance the conferences. The three teams ultimately agreed to the move, lured in no small part by a $3 million payment they each received, a significant sum back in those days. Steelers owner Art Rooney said in a later biography of the funds, “That’s the first time we had real money to work with.”

The Steelers and Browns then formed a new AFC Central division with the Houston Oilers and Bengals, both prior AFL teams. There, the Steelers quickly built a ’70s dynasty that featured four Super Bowl wins in six years. That success, and two other Super Bowl wins that decade by the AFC’s Dolphins, did much to erase a notion of supposed superiority among the original NFL franchises joining the National Football Conference. Much later, the Colts moved to Indianapolis, as did the Browns to Baltimore, and a new Browns franchise was then born. But the geographic core of that AFC Central division lives to this day in the current AFC North with the Bengals, Browns, Ravens, and Steelers.

FRONT OFFICE SPORTS AWARDS

Final Call: Get Your Nominations In

Rising 25 is back and it’s time to nominate an up-and-coming young professional changing the game in the business of sports.

The Front Office Sports Rising 25 Award [[link removed]] celebrates the careers of the brightest young stars in the business of sports. To date, we’ve honored 175 individuals and we’re looking for our next group of young stars.

Today is the last day to submit nominations—nominate by 11:59 p.m. ET tonight. Winners will be announced in June.

Don’t wait, nominate now [[link removed]].

Conversation Starters Mark your calendars: EA’s College Football 25 is set for an official release [[link removed]] July 19. The regular edition will cost $69.99, while the deluxe edition will set you back $99.99. In 2027, New York City FC will unveil its highly anticipated $780 million stadium project. The 25,000-seat stadium, located adjacent to the Mets’ Citi Field, will serve as a focal point for the Major League Soccer club. The 23-acre project in the Willets Point neighborhood also includes housing, a new public school, retail spaces, and a hotel. Check it out [[link removed]]. The ICC has completed [[link removed]] its pop-up cricket pitch in Nassau County, N.Y., featuring 34,000 seats and grandstands from the Las Vegas Grand Prix, and it will host men’s T20 World Cup matches, including the much-anticipated India-Pakistan clash, one of the world’s most-watched events. Editors’ Picks NFL-Netflix Deal Could Set Stage for Mother of All Cash Grabs [[link removed]]by Michael McCarthy [[link removed]]The NFL’s leverage with streamers and broadcasters is only increasing. Ted Leonsis Still Wants to Buy the Nationals, Add to D.C. Portfolio [[link removed]]by Alex Schiffer [[link removed]]Leonsis tried to buy the team in 2023, but the Lerner family opted not to sell. How the Golden State Valkyries Are Walking the Fine Line of Their Warriors Connection [[link removed]]by Alex Schiffer [[link removed]]The WNBA expansion team revealed a new name and logo Tuesday that align with—but don’t mirror—the NBA’s Golden State Warriors. Advertise [[link removed]] Awards [[link removed]] Learning [[link removed]] Video [[link removed]] Podcast [[link removed]] Sports Careers [[link removed]] Written by Eric Fisher [[link removed]], David Rumsey [[link removed]] Edited by Matthew Tabeek [[link removed]], Catherine Chen [[link removed]]

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