Endeavor has made a significant move with its sports assets, striking a $3.25 billion deal to sell On Location, Professional Bull Riders, and IMG to TKO Group Holdings, the parent company of World Wrestling Entertainment and Ultimate Fighting Championship. 

On one level, the move is simply a corporate shift from one related entity to another, as Endeavor is also the majority owner of TKO, which split off into a separate holding 13 months ago. But the transaction also consolidates the company’s key sports assets in a single, publicly traded company while the rest of Endeavor continues its ongoing process, dating to last year, to become private with the aid of private equity giant Silver Lake. 

That effort to go private stemmed in large part from a long-held frustration by Endeavor executives that the public equity markets have failed to recognize the full extent and strength of the company’s diverse business. But Endeavor now believes the sports assets will be better served, and more attractive to investors, bundled together in a larger, public holding. To that end, TKO stock, even before this transaction, is up by 57% this year. 

“PBR, On Location, and IMG are industry-leading assets that meaningfully enhance TKO’s portfolio and strengthen our position in premium sports globally,” TKO president and COO Mark Shapiro said in a statement. “Within TKO, they will help power the growth of our revenue streams and position us to capture even more upside from some of the most attractive parts of our sports ecosystem: media rights, live events, ticket sales, premium experiences, brand partnerships, and site fees. These assets were already built into our business strategy at TKO.”

Growing Focus

In addition to the prior combat sports emphasis of TKO, the latest acquisitions bring that company exposure into numerous other sports, particularly the NFL and Olympics through On Location, the live experiences and hospitality company. On Location has held a dominant position in the Super Bowl ticket market for many years.

The Endeavor-TKO sports deal is expected to close in the first half of 2025, subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals. Following the transaction, Endeavor will still own 59% of TKO. In addition to this deal, TKO’s board authorized a $2 billion share purchase program and a $75 million quarterly cash dividend. 

“This underscores our continued focus on delivering sustainable long-term value for our shareholders,” said TKO executive chair and CEO Ari Emanuel. 

There are other shifts happening within the overall Endeavor portfolio, too, as the company previously said it is seeking buyers for its sports gambling and technology businesses OpenBet and IMG Arena. Those operations do not align with the media and live events model central to the rest of the TKO assets.

With this TKO deal, both Emanuel and Shapiro have agreed to waive certain asset sale bonuses they each were entitled to potentially receive. Emanuel was previously in line for a $25 million bonus, and Shapiro was due $100 million. But those forfeitures reflect the internal nature of this overall transaction.

The National Basketball Association unveiled Thursday the floor designs for the second iteration of the Emirates NBA Cup, and while they’re just as distinctive as last year’s, there are still material changes—at least figuratively, if not literally.

As was the case last year for the event previously known as the in-season tournament, the floor designs for the upcoming Emirates Cup feature full-color motifs and no natural wood showing. Again utilizing a unified design template, the designs are aimed at creating a clear visual separation between regular-season games and these tournament matchups. That very different look became a defining element of the debut tournament last year, and it is poised to be so again in 2024. 

The new designs, created by artist Victor Solomon, tie in part into Nike’s NBA Statement Edition alternate uniforms that will be worn by home teams during the tournament games. Road teams will wear Nike NBA Association Edition uniforms. A trio of concentric circles in each individual team’s design denotes the three stages of the tournament: group play, quarterfinals, and then the semifinals and final. 

But while there are clear carry-overs from a year ago, the NBA is following through on planned efforts to address issues from last year with traction on tournament floors. Several players complained those floors were overly slippery, in part because of the heavy amount of paint involved. The three-point line in Denver’s Ball Arena also needed to be reapplied after it was wrongly measured for the tournament. 

Following the event, won last year by the Lakers, league officials vowed to review and adjust how the floors were designed, built, and installed. The league has employed a longer production runway for the second year of the tournament to help ensure quality control. The NBA also streamlined that development process, working this time with a single manufacturer, Ohio-based Robbins, one of its existing approved floor vendors. 

The NBA Emirates Cup begins Nov. 12 and will run through Dec. 17, again finishing up at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

LOS ANGELES — Change is never easy. But for fans attending their first event at the Intuit Dome, there is no choice but to embrace it. 

Everything about the fan experience at the Clippers’ new $2 billion arena is new—from the facial recognition used to buy concessions, to The Wall, a 4,500-seat area exclusive to Clippers fans.

Front Office Sports spoke to several people who attended Wednesday’s Clippers home opener against the Suns—from diehard Clippers fans to visiting Suns fans—to get real-time reactions to the experience at the NBA’s newest stadium.

The New Technology

It’s nearly impossible to function around the arena without downloading the “LA Clippers + Intuit Dome” mobile app. This is where fans can scan their face to enter concessions areas and team stores, and also input their payment information to be automatically charged upon exiting those areas.

“It’s a little bit of a hassle,” said Akhil Chopra, who was visiting L.A. from Chicago. “It’s not like we’re super [techy] here.”

Ryan Q., a Suns fan living just outside Los Angeles, said he thinks the features are “cool” but said he believes his parents would struggle.

“I’d have to teach them how to do everything,” Ryan Q. told FOS.

However, both Chopra and Ryan Q. believe the features should get better as time goes along and fans adjust to the nuances. Chopra said the arena’s other tech innovations were “awesome.”

“I think it’s really fan-friendly,” Chopra said. “The activities and all that stuff, they don’t do this in Chicago. … [The Intuit Dome] is a beautiful stadium.”

The Wall

Fan zones within arenas are not new, even in the NBA. But the Clippers are the first to have one take up around a quarter of the arena—and the only one where there are about 300 spots directly behind the basket in a standing-room-only area called the Supporters Section.

Reid Mitchell is one of the fans who bought a season pass to the Supporters Section—which costs $999 for all 41 games; a $24.37 rate per ticket. He cited the affordability of the tickets as one of the reasons he got it.

“I’m a very passionate fan, so I think it’s perfect for me, being able to stand—and it’s affordable to go to every game,” Mitchell told FOS. “To just be able to cheer the Clippers as they embark on this new era … I couldn’t miss being at the first season of the Dome.”

Rex Osagie, who was seated directly beside the Supporters Section, made the trip from Illinois because he wanted to witness the first Intuit Dome game in person. 

“I think it’s awesome. Honestly, I think something like this sets the bar so much higher, and we’ve seen a lot of the new arenas like Chase Center in Golden State,” Osagie told FOS.

The Restrooms

Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, who was dancing around in the Supporters Section during the opener, consistently bragged about the Intuit Dome having more than 1,100 toilets and urinals. He wanted fans to get back to their seats immediately.

Liam, a Kings fan, raved about how easy the restroom experience was.

“There were so many empty ones,” Liam told FOS.