July 10, 2024

Read in Browser [[link removed]]

POWERED BY

The battle between Kansas and Missouri for the Chiefs and Royals is heating up. … LIV Golf influenced Tiger Woods’s decision not to serve as U.S. Ryder Cup captain. … A new women’s soccer club is getting some key investors. … We look back on the demise of an MLS predecessor. … And Front Office Sports Today explores Nike’s next moves after recent stock struggles.

One more thing: We’re giving away two copies of EA Sports College Football 25 video games. Reply to this email with which team you’ll use in the dynasty game mode for a chance to win. See rules here [[link removed]].

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

Missouri Steps Up Efforts to Keep Chiefs, Royals From Moving to Kansas [[link removed]]

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The Kansas City–area border war that many officials in the area were hoping to avoid is heating up as Missouri is heightening its efforts to retain the NFL’s Chiefs and MLB’s Royals in the wake of new legislation from Kansas.

Less than three weeks after the Kansas legislature approved [[link removed]] bonding to help build new stadiums for the two teams, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson (above) met this week with key figures including Kansas City mayor Quinton Lucas and Jackson County, Mo., county executive Frank White Jr. about stepping up their efforts to retain the Chiefs and Royals. Senior officials for both teams, meanwhile, held separate sessions with other Missouri leaders, including House majority leader Jonathan Patterson.

“We just need to have a plan in place and to move forward, and I think there’s a real opportunity to do that,” Parson said.

Patterson went even further, telling The Kansas City Star [[link removed]] that “I do think, before all this is said and done, Jackson County is going to have another vote” on public funding for facilities for the Chiefs and Royals.

Such a move would represent returning to the same voters who soundly rejected [[link removed]] a sales tax measure for stadium funding back in April.

Different Strategies

As expected, the revived Missouri consideration of stadium funding for the two teams is based in part on evaluating the needs of the Chiefs and Royals as separately as possible. In particular, the Royals’ situation would likely need to be reconsidered, as a prior ballpark plan for Kansas City’s Crossroads neighborhood ran into local opposition beyond the broader voter concerns about the funding.

“The Royals are going to have to figure out what it is they want to do, and what that site selection [is],” Parson said. “Site selection for the Royals is a big issue.”

White, meanwhile, remains another obstacle. The former Royals star second baseman, who has been estranged [[link removed]] from the team for many years, has renewed his prior objections about supporting the two teams with a large outlay of public dollars.

“I made it clear to Gov. Parson—as I have to the public before, during, and after the recent stadium sales tax campaign—that before I can support any new proposal, it must offer clear and significant benefits to the taxpayers of Jackson County,” White said. “Maintaining the current financial arrangement is not in the best interest of Jackson County and its residents.”

Tough Talk?

Despite the rival push from across the border, Parson joked he has plenty of time to complete a stadium deal with the teams before the end of his term in January.

“I’m not too worried about Kansas at this point. I’ve got six months. How much more time do you need?” he quipped.

More seriously, he added that “it’s a big business deal. It’s a big adventure for what we’re trying to do, but … we’re going to try to compete, and we will.”

With Tiger Focused on PIF, U.S. Turns to Netflix Star to Lead Ryder Cup [[link removed]]

PGA of America

LIV Golf has disrupted almost every aspect of the sport, from major championships and the PGA Tour to broadcasters, sponsors, and more. Now, Team USA’s hopes of Tiger Woods captaining a Ryder Cup team can be added to that list, too.

The PGA of America selected Keegan Bradley (above) as captain of the 2025 U.S. Ryder Cup team after Woods declined the opportunity due to his role in ongoing negotiations with LIV’s financial backers at the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia. “With my new responsibilities to the Tour and time commitments involved, I felt I would not be able to commit the time to Team USA and the players required as a captain,” Woods said. “That does not mean I wouldn’t want to captain a team in the future.” At the U.S. Open, Woods said [[link removed]] the PGA Tour and PIF were exploring how they could reach the “endgame.”

Bradley said Woods can be as involved as he wants to be. “I think it shows you how much he cares by turning this position down, because he didn’t feel like he could put in what he needed to do,” Bradley said. Despite LIV’s presence preventing a Woods captaincy, Bradley said players from the offshoot tour are fair game for the U.S. Ryder Cup team: “I’m going to have the 12 best players on the team. … I’m not worried about the LIV stuff.”

Netflix Bump?

The selection of Bradley, who is 38 and still a full-time member on the PGA Tour, is an unexpected change of pace. Recent Ryder Cup captains have typically been older players who are often considered past their playing prime and usually not competing on a weekly basis. Bradley, a two-time U.S. Ryder Cup team member, won the 2011 PGA Championship and is currently ranked No. 19 in the world.

But Bradley was the first man left off last year’s U.S. team, a situation that was captured by Netflix cameras and eventually played out on Season 2 of Full Swing. The golfer’s composure and relatability led to rave reviews [[link removed]] for his episode of the docuseries. Bradley said he had an “unbelievable experience” with the show, but he pushed back on the notion that it led to his unconventional captaincy. “I couldn’t imagine that they would decide based on how Netflix portrayed me in filming,” he said.

Looking ahead to next fall, when the U.S. will host the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black in New York, Bradley said it’s too early to say whether the U.S. players will allow Netflix cameras to film inside their team room—something they didn’t do last year in Rome.

SPONSORED BY GOLFSUITES

Your Ace in the Hole ⛳

You care about the business of sports—that’s why you’re here. Well, that interest may have uncovered the perfect opportunity …

Golf’s growth is one of sports’ biggest trends, especially away from traditional courses and into entertainment venues. You’ve probably seen them popping up nearby or even played at one.

Now you can become an early investor in the only company with a golf venue for every market.

Meet GolfSuites [[link removed]]. Or as Kevin Harrington, an original Shark Tank investor, calls it, one of his “favorite opportunities [[link removed]]right now.”

Why?

Its versatile model brings golf entertainment to the smaller markets that Topgolf can’t. And every GolfSuites has reached profitability. Now it’s ready to expand to more than 200 potential cities.

Be part of GolfSuites’ next phase [[link removed]] by investing before it scales across the country.*

FRONT OFFICE SPORTS TODAY The Story Behind Nike’s Collapse

Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Nike is laying off hundreds of employees, especially in leadership positions, after seeing its stock tumble more than 20% recently. Now the sneaker and apparel giant is reworking its playbook to try to reach its previous heights. Front Office Sports newsletter writer Eric Fisher joins the show to explain what caused the Swoosh’s downturn and how it can recover.

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

ONE BIG FIG Staying Local

Jaime Valdez-USA TODAY Sports

3

Number of NWSL Seattle Reign FC players investing [[link removed]] in a new USL W League expansion team in the city, Ballard FC, which will launch in 2025. Lauren Barnes (above), Jess Fishlock, and Olivia Van der Jagt, as well as Gotham FC’s Sam Hiatt, are believed to be among the first professional soccer players to invest in a USL W club. The competition is a pre-professional league, but under the same umbrella as the USL Super League, which is set to launch [[link removed]] next month with the same Division 1 status as the NWSL.

TIME CAPSULE July 10, 1992: End of an Era

Scott Rovak-USA TODAY Sports

On this day 32 years ago: The Major Soccer League, known for most of its existence as the Major Indoor Soccer League, folded after 14 often-influential years. Debuting in 1978 on the heels of the Pelé-fueled heyday of the outdoor North American Soccer League, MISL quickly forged a solid presence for itself—averaging more than 12,000 in per-game attendance at its peak—and ultimately outlasted both NASL itself and NASL’s indoor tournaments. For a period of time, MISL was the highest level of pro soccer in the U.S., and several of its franchises routinely outdrew NBA and NHL franchises that shared the same arenas. Prominent team owners such as the Lakers’ Jerry Buss and the DeBartolo family, who controlled the NFL’s 49ers and NHL’s Penguins, also held MISL franchises.

MISL’s influence would be seen in several other ways as well. Stars such as Tatu and Preki were one-named fixtures of the league, and popular indoor soccer shoes such as the Adidas Samba became a broader fashion statement [[link removed]'t%20happen%20overnight.] and nearly 40 years later are again seeing a cultural resurgence. MISL also played a key role in the original formation [[link removed]] of the Arena Football League, showing how sports beyond hockey and basketball could work in arenas.

The early 1990s, however, brought several challenges and the end of the league. Rising costs to recruit and retain players and turbulence in several local markets—32 teams played in 26 cities over the history of the league—ultimately caught up to the organization, which in ’90 renamed [[link removed]] itself as the Major Soccer League in an ill-fated goal of eventually expanding to the outdoor game. Several other indoor soccer entities have since been attempted, including a separate operation using the MISL name that ran from 2001 to ’08. Today, the sport in North America exists in entities such as the Major Arena Soccer League and Major League Indoor Soccer.

SPONSORED BY WSC SPORTS

Build Team Content Strategies

Keeping fans happy and engaged is a 24/7 task. The best social and digital teams use WSC Sports [[link removed]]’ suite of team and club products to personalize and monetize content for every fan you have.

Create: Automatically create thousands of video variations [[link removed]], in and around the game, by player, team, game, or action. Set rules to repeat tasks, and apply length, transitions, aspect ratios, overlays, thumbnails, and more.

Manage: Store all content created on the WSC Sports platform or uploaded with metadata tags applied, and access a variety of content management features.

Distribute: Automatically distribute content to more than 100 destinations. Schedule and review planned content within the publishing hub.

Learn more [[link removed]].

Conversation Starters Wonder what the University of Oregon’s Autzen Stadium looks like in EA Sports College Football 25? Look here [[link removed]]. In 2007, 20-year-old Lionel Messi posed [[link removed]] for a Barcelona charity calendar with 6-month-old Lamine Yamal, who 16 years later became the youngest scorer in men’s Euros history as Spain defeated France on Tuesday to reach the final. The Red Sox–Yankees game Sunday averaged 2.36 million viewers on ESPN, marking the largest [[link removed]] Sunday Night Baseball audience in two and a half years. Editors’ Picks $2 Million of Memorabilia Stolen in Dallas Baseball Card Heist [[link removed]]by Dennis Young [[link removed]]The thieves pulled off a sophisticated heist at the Dallas Card Show. NFLPA Report Cards Have Become the ‘Talk of the Locker Room’ Across Pro Sports [[link removed]]by Alex Schiffer [[link removed]]NFLPA report cards have become the ‘talk of the locker room.’ Arch Manning Will Be in EA’s ‘College Football 25’ After All [[link removed]]by Dennis Young [[link removed]]The NCAA’s most famous backup had previously opted out. Question of the Day

Do you think the Chiefs and Royals will stay in Missouri instead of relocating to Kansas?

Yes [[link removed]] No [[link removed]]

Tuesday’s result: 52% of respondents plan to watch at least one of this week’s Copa America semifinal matches, despite the early exits of USA, Brazil, and Mexico

DISCLAIMER

*Disclosure: This is a paid advertisement for GolfSuites 1 Inc Regulation A Offering. Please read the offering circular at invest.golfsuites.com [[link removed]].

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]]

If this email was forwarded to you, you can subscribe here [[link removed]].

Update your preferences [link removed] / Unsubscribe [link removed]

Copyright © 2024 Front Office Sports. All rights reserved.

460 Park Avenue South, 7th Floor, New York NY, 10016