October 9, 2024

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Multiple proposals for a super league in college football have come to light over the past few weeks. The idea is fascinating, as some influential people are pushing for very big changes. But there are also a few reasons a super league is unlikely to form this decade.

— David Rumsey [[link removed]], Eric Fisher [[link removed]], A.J. Perez [[link removed]], and Colin Salao [[link removed]]

Why College Football Super-League Proposals Are Likely Doomed [[link removed]]

Butch Dill-Imagn Images

Leaders from the Big Ten and SEC are meeting in Nashville on Wednesday and Thursday to discuss more ways they can work together in the shifting college sports landscape—particularly around football scheduling.

No formal deals are expected to be struck this week, but ideas are being tossed around. And as college football continues to change—from NIL (name, image, and likeness) to the transfer portal—more and more businesspeople are trying to capitalize and cash in.

College football super leagues are the latest fascination of stakeholders—some inside but many from outside the sport—looking to reshape the game.

Last week, a group called College Sports Tomorrow unveiled a proposal for a College Student Football League that would pool together 136 FBS programs split into two leagues [[link removed]], with promotion and relegation. Backers include Browns owner Jimmy Haslam and influential professional and college sports search firm executive Len Perna, as well as several Power 4 athletic directors who are listed as “ambassadors.”

On Tuesday, a separate proposal came to light: Project Rudy, as Yahoo Sports reported, would overhaul scheduling, the postseason, and media rights for the Power 4 conferences [[link removed]]. More than 25 athletic directors from power conferences have reportedly seen the presentation that is being led by former Disney executives Evan Richter, Kevin Mayer, and Tom Staggs, who all now work at investment firm Smash Capital.

Reality Check

The biggest revenue driver, and therefore most powerful part, of college football remains media rights. The biggest entities have deals running through the end of this decade, and in some cases longer:

ACC: ESPN through 2036 SEC: ESPN through 2034 College Football Playoff: ESPN through 2032 Big 12: ESPN and Fox through 2031 Big Ten: CBS, Fox, and NBC through 2030 Notre Dame: NBC through 2029

Any shift away from the current conference makeup would require full cooperation from network partners. Could a college football super league work one day in the future? Never say never—but don’t expect one anytime soon.

Tropicana’s Down, Now the Hard Part: Funding the A’s $1.5B Vegas Ballpark [[link removed]]

GGG Demolition

The Tropicana Las Vegas resort is no more, elevating the focus and pressure on the A’s to complete their vision for a new, $1.5 billion ballpark along the famed Las Vegas Strip.

The 67-year-old hotel—an icon of the city’s prior, Rat Pack era—was imploded in the early-morning hours of Wednesday [[link removed]], bringing a dramatic finale to site demolition efforts that began in July [[link removed]]. In classic Las Vegas style, the 22-second implosion included a fireworks display and a show with 555 drones to add a heavy layer of spectacle to the proceedings.

The site will now be cleared with an eye toward beginning formal construction on the ballpark by the second quarter of 2025. Before that happens, though, the A’s must still finish several agreements with the Las Vegas Stadium Authority, and key elements such as finalizing the ballpark design are still incomplete.

Where’s the Money?

Most pressing, though, is the need for A’s owner John Fisher to finalize the private financing for the ballpark. The A’s will tap into $380 million of previously approved taxpayer funding [[link removed]], but say they plan to leave about $30 million of that in reserve to help with finishing the project. Beyond that, though, about $1.15 billion in debt and equity financing is still required, an effort that could involve bringing in additional team investors [[link removed]].

Specific details on that private financing are expected in the coming weeks, including during a scheduled Oct. 17 stadium authority meeting. Officials for that public body recently reviewed Fisher’s finances, at least to some degree, and came away confident that the money to fund the project is there. Accessing the taxpayer funds for the stadium will require finalizing the private financing.

“It is clear that the Fishers have the ability to provide the financing for the stadium, period,” said Steve Hill, stadium authority president and CEO. “They just have it, and it is there.”

Fisher, for his part, called the hotel implosion “an important milestone” in the process of moving the A’s to Las Vegas.

The overall demolition effort will leave a 9-acre site for the A’s ballpark that will be among the smallest footprints of any MLB facility. Should the stadium ultimately not be built there—as is the hope of some, such as Las Vegas mayor Carolyn Goodman [[link removed]]—the site will easily be among the most coveted in town, potentially for another casino.

In the meantime, the A’s are also planning to spend three interim years in Sacramento, a period that could include a player payroll increase for MLB’s lowest-spending team [[link removed]].

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For Jess Sims, that support has come from many places, but none more significant than her high school coach, Jim Ridley. His belief in her potential helped shape Jess’s path from a three-sport high school athlete to a beloved Peloton instructor, inspiring countless people with her energy and resilience.

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Utah Among NHL Teams Navigating RSN Decline, Rights Negotiations [[link removed]]

Rob Gray-Imagn Images

SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Hockey Club’s inaugural regular-season game against the Blackhawks was seen—at least mostly [[link removed]]—by a sellout crowd inside Delta Center. Watching the team from home is a more complicated proposition for the NHL’s newest market, especially for customers of the state’s dominant cable company.

Utah HC is one of five NHL teams with a hybrid local distribution model that includes free over-the-air broadcasts and paid streaming offerings that have evolved in the wake of widespread RSN collapse. In this setup, teams—who are footing the bill for production and distribution costs—want their games on cable and satellite providers for them to reach the broadest audience.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said before Tuesday’s game he was “disappointed that Comcast Xfinity is declining to carry Utah 16,” a rerun-heavy station owned by Utah’s broadcast partner, Scripps Sports, that hasn’t been picked up by Comcast. Comcast is being asked to pay a retransmission fee to carry Utah 16 (a station Comcast has never carried), a source with knowledge of the discussions tells Front Office Sports.

“I’m hoping that there’ll be a groundswell of demand that will perhaps cause them to reevaluate that position or there are other alternatives,” Bettman said.

The current agreement between Scripps Sports and the Utah HC was made with the Arizona Coyotes before the offseason relocation to Salt Lake City.

This is the new frontier of distribution disputes, not dissimilar to those between RSNs and cable, satellite, and streaming providers that have plagued sports fans for years. In fact, the new Chicago Sports Network [[link removed]] RSN—which carries the White Sox and Bulls as well—also hasn’t been picked up by Comcast in the Chicago market.

FOS asked Bettman whether he was concerned that these carriage and retransmission disputes would take a hit on the NHL’s bottom line ahead of negotiations toward a new collective bargaining agreement with the players that will begin in a few months. The current CBA expires after next season.

“No,” Bettman says. “We set a revenue record last year. We anticipate doing it again this year based on the number of clubs and with their arrangements. What we’ve been able to do is to substitute market by market; we think our clubs are going to be fine.”

STATUS REPORT Two Up, One Down, One Push

Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Ryan Fitzpatrick ⬆ The former NFL quarterback told The Athletic he’s signed a three-year extension [[link removed]] to remain a football analyst on Amazon Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football crew. The 17-year NFL veteran joined TNF in 2022 and has worked various studio roles alongside Charissa Thompson, Tony Gonzalez, Richard Sherman, and Andrew Whitworth.

NFL ⬆⬇ In data released to ESPN, the league showed player arrests have been cut in half over the past decade [[link removed]]—or since the case of Ray Rice. In September 2014, footage of the former Ravens running back beating his then-fiancée during a February 2014 incident was released. The NFL handed Rice an indefinite suspension and changed its personal conduct policy to include severe punishments for domestic violence offenders.

Fanatics Sportsbook ⬆ The sports betting arm of the sports merchandising giants has agreed to a nonexclusive licensing agreement with the MLB Players Association [[link removed]], according to Sports Business Journal. It is the first licensed sportsbook of the MLBPA. The deal comes despite the union filing a lawsuit in September [[link removed]] against several other sportsbooks, including FanDuel and DraftKings, over wrongful usage of MLB players’ image and likeness.

Chicago Sports Network ⬇ The new regional network, which launched last week [[link removed]], aired the Bulls’ first preseason game Tuesday night—but the network’s broadcast went viral for the style of its score bug [[link removed]]. CHSN’s graphic is a vertical shape on the upper left side of the screen—unlike most that are shaped horizontally and placed on the bottom of the shot—and, at times, would cover players.

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Conversation Starters Jessica Campbell, an assistant coach for the Kraken, made history Tuesday as the first woman to coach in the NHL [[link removed]]. FOS Explains broke down the business behind MLB’s biggest contracts, from Shohei Ohtani’s $700 million deal to Aaron Judge’s nine-year contract. Watch it here [[link removed]]. USC women’s basketball star JuJu Watkins signed a contract extension with Nike [[link removed]], which is one of the largest shoe deals in women’s basketball, according to Shams Charania. Editors’ Picks Jim Trotter, NFL Settle Racial Discrimination Lawsuit [[link removed]]by Alex Schiffer [[link removed]]The reporter first sued the league last year. Duke Men’s Basketball GM Explains How She’d Avoid UNLV NIL Disaster [[link removed]]by Alex Schiffer [[link removed]]Rachel Baker was one of the first hires as a college GM. Why Mark Cuban Sold the Dallas Mavericks When He Did [[link removed]]by Alex Schiffer [[link removed]]Cuban sold his majority stake to the Adelson family in December 2023. Advertise [[link removed]] Awards [[link removed]] Learning [[link removed]] Events [[link removed]] Video [[link removed]] Podcast [[link removed]] Written by David Rumsey [[link removed]], Eric Fisher [[link removed]], A.J. Perez [[link removed]], Colin Salao [[link removed]] Edited by Matthew Tabeek [[link removed]], Or Moyal [[link removed]], Catherine Chen [[link removed]]

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