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Afternoon Edition

November 26, 2024

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The Rays’ 2025 season is set to look very different, with major changes to their schedule and home ballpark. After nearly three decades of playing in a dome, the team will now host games outdoors.

As a result, MLB has shifted several matchups in anticipation of Florida’s unpredictable weather. On top of that, they face a deadline on stadium plans just as public funding falls into question.

— Eric Fisher [[link removed]], David Rumsey [[link removed]], and Colin Salao [[link removed]]

Rays Facing Schedule Shake-Up, Outdoor Adjustments, Political Drama [[link removed]]

Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

The Rays and MLB are now adjusting to the team playing the 2025 season at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, and in the case of the schedule, literally so.

Less than two weeks after a deal was finalized [[link removed]] for the Rays to play their home games next year at the Yankees’ spring training complex, MLB has changed two parts of the schedule to account for the outdoor locale. A home-and-home series with the Angels in April and August was flipped in which the earlier games will now happen in Tampa and the later ones in Anaheim, Calif. The same reversal was also done with a separate set of home-and-home series with the Twins in May and July.

The shifts now further concentrate the Rays’ 2025 home schedule to the very beginning and end of the season, when the likelihood of extreme heat and rain in Florida is lower. The Rays will now play 47 of their first 59 games overall at home, and then go on the road for 69 of the final 103.

The extreme nature of that schedule will no doubt put a premium on the team getting off to a strong start competitively. But in the club’s nearly three decades of play, it’s never played home games outside of a domed facility, and MLB said “these proactive schedule adjustments have been made to optimize the number of games played in the best weather conditions given the Rays’ transition to an outdoor ballpark.”

Steinbrenner Field is also the home facility for the Tampa Tarpons, a Yankees minor league affiliate. That club has had to deal with the vagaries of Florida weather playing outdoors, and with the Rays’ arrival next year, will shift to a back field at the Yankees’ complex.

Other planned modifications by the Rays at Steinbrenner Field include covering up much of the existing Yankees signage at the ballpark and potentially tweaking some game start times to avoid some of the worst of Florida’s rainy season.

Political Tension

Those activities, meanwhile, are happening while the relationship between the club and Tampa-area public officials continues to deteriorate. Earlier this week, Pinellas County, Fla., commission chair Kathleen Peters issued an ultimatum [[link removed]] demanding the team detail in writing by Sunday its intentions on a proposed $1.3 billion stadium.

That stance closely follows both the county and city of St. Petersburg delaying votes to issue public-sector bonds [[link removed]] covering nearly half of the stadium cost, and the retraction of an appropriation to replace the Tropicana Field roof shredded by Hurricane Milton.

Rays co-president Brian Auld responded to the county’s demand with a fairly noncommittal statement, saying, “We are eager to work with all partners on a solution for the 2029 season that keeps Major League Baseball in Tampa Bay for generations to come. As we always have, we will maintain contact with the city and county as we navigate our future.”

Bears $4.7B Dome Plan Takes Hit After Deal With Chicago Suburb [[link removed]]

Daniel Bartel-Imagn Images

As the Bears prepare for a Thanksgiving Day matchup in Detroit [[link removed]] against the NFC North rival Lions, the team’s quest for a new stadium in Chicago continues to take twists and turns.

On Monday, the Bears and the village of Arlington Heights reached a tentative agreement to settle a longstanding property tax dispute that prevented the team from moving forward with plans to build a new stadium on the 326 acres it owns on the site of an old horse racing track.

In April, the Bears unveiled a plan to build a $4.7 billion dome [[link removed]] adjacent to their current home, Soldier Field, in downtown Chicago. They are seeking more than $2 billion in public funding, which would need to come from the state of Illinois, and is far from being approved [[link removed]].

After Monday’s news, the Bears in a statement [[link removed]] said they “remain focused” on efforts to build said dome in Chicago, but they left the door open for other options.

“That being said, we remain significant landowners in Arlington Heights and establishing a framework for potential future development planning, financing and property tax certainty has been a priority since the land was purchased,” the statement read in part. “We continue to have productive conversations with the village and school districts and are aligned on a framework should we choose to explore a potential development.”

Arlington Heights officials in their statement said they “continue to believe Arlington Heights remains an incredible opportunity for the Chicago Bears” and that they “look forward to future conversations.”

The earliest any state funding for a new Bears stadium could even start to move toward being approved would be the spring of 2025.

A potential move to Arlington Heights would see the Bears follow in the footsteps of the Browns, who are focusing their efforts on building a $2.4 billion dome in a Cleveland suburb [[link removed]], as opposed to renovating their downtown stadium or building a new one nearby.

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ONE BIG FIG Soccer Surge

Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

11,250

The average number of fans at NWSL games this season, which is a record number and a 6% increase from 2023. Angel City FC led the way with an average of 19,313 fans per game, followed by the Portland Thorns and San Diego Wave FC, who each averaged more than 18,000 fans per game. Four teams saw increases of at least 30% in attendance: the Chicago Red Stars, NJ/NY Gotham FC, Orlando Pride, and Washington Spirit.

The league announced earlier this month that it had breached more than two million in total attendance this year [[link removed]], smashing its previous record of 1.4 million in 2023. This season, each team played 26 matches, four more than last season, as the NWSL grew from 12 to 14 teams.

STATUS REPORT Two Up, One Down, One Push

Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

Mack Brown ⬇ North Carolina announced Tuesday that the College Football Hall of Fame coach will not return next season. Brown will coach the Tar Heels’ regular-season finale against NC State on Saturday—though it’s not clear whether he will be on the sidelines for the team’s bowl game. His total compensation is $5 million, which includes a $900,000 annual base salary. He also reportedly has a buyout clause worth $2.8 million if “fired without cause” [[link removed]] by Dec. 1. In 2005, Brown guided Texas to a perfect 13–0 season, a No. 1 ranking, and a national championship victory over USC in the Rose Bowl.

Dick’s Sporting Goods ⬆ Continuing to stand out as one of the strongest stories in U.S. retail, and not just in its own category, the company reported fiscal third-quarter results that included a 0.5% increase in revenue to $3.06 billion and a 13% rise in net income, beating analyst expectations on both fronts. More dramatically, Dick’s also raised its full-year 2024 guidance to a sales growth range of 3.6% to 4.2%. The company boasted a strong back-to-school shopping season that it now expects to provide momentum for the all-important holiday period.

Athletes Unlimited ⬆ The women’s professional sports league is launching a softball league in 2025, its first team-based league since it was founded in 2020. The Athletes Unlimited Softball League will have four teams playing 30 games each and be led by senior advisor Kim Ng, the former Marlins GM. Athletes Unlimited has held several competitions over the past few years across basketball, softball, volleyball, and lacrosse, though players, not teams, would be rewarded with the championship.

FIFA ⬆⬇ Two U.S. senators are advising FIFA to not select Saudi Arabia [[link removed]] as the host country for the men’s 2034 FIFA World Cup. Democrats Ron Wyden of Oregon and Dick Durbin of Illinois sent a letter to FIFA president Gianni Infantino citing the human rights atrocities in the Middle East country as the reason the federation should look elsewhere. Saudi Arabia is currently unopposed by another nation in a bid for the tournament in 2034.

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Conversation Starters JuJu Watkins signed an NIL (name, image, and likeness) deal with State Farm [[link removed]]—making her the second NCAA athlete to sign with the company, following Caitlin Clark last year. The Saints plan to unveil a fully renovated cafeteria with a barista, pizza oven, and views of the team’s indoor practice field as part of a $12 million upgrade. Take a look [[link removed]]. The Players Era Festival, the first non-conference college basketball tournament that will pay athletes, starts Tuesday in Las Vegas. Learn more [[link removed]]. Editors’ Picks Baker Mayfield Sues Father’s Company for $12 Million [[link removed]]by Margaret Fleming [[link removed]]The suit says money transfers happened “without authorization.” Padel Is Sparking a ‘Gold Rush’ in the Crowded Racket Sport Space [[link removed]]by Asli Pelit [[link removed]]The racket sport space is crowded, but investors see an opening. Who Is Scott Turner, Ex-NFL Player in Trump’s New Cabinet? [[link removed]]by Margaret Fleming [[link removed]]Turner appeared in 101 NFL games before turning to politics. Advertise [[link removed]] Awards [[link removed]] Learning [[link removed]] Events [[link removed]] Video [[link removed]] Podcast [[link removed]] Written by Eric Fisher [[link removed]], David Rumsey [[link removed]], Colin Salao [[link removed]] Edited by Matthew Tabeek [[link removed]], Or Moyal [[link removed]], Catherine Chen [[link removed]]

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