February 16, 2022

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Could Tom Brady be back under center in 2022? According to at least one report, those close to the seven-time Super Bowl champ believe Brady still wants to play — and possibly with a new team.

ViacomCBS Changing Name to Paramount, Revenue Rises to $8B

UEFA Champions League/Design: Alex Brooks

ViacomCBS saw revenues rise 16% year-over-year in the fourth quarter of 2021 to $8 billion, and the company announced a major rebrand.

As of Wednesday, the company is changing [[link removed]] its name to Paramount, aligning its brand with flagship streaming service Paramount+.

Football was once again key to the media conglomerate’s performance.

“The ‘NFL On CBS’ averaged over 18 million viewers, more than any prime-time television sports, entertainment, or news series on any network this season,” the company declared.

Streaming revenue leapt 48% from Q4 2020 to $1.3 billion. The company added 9.4 million streaming subscribers to reach 56 million. ViacomCBS noted that its local sports rights, such as Australian soccer’s A-League, helped fuel global growth in Paramount+.

The company missed revenue estimates, and its stock dipped around 6.1% in after-hours trading immediately following the earnings release.

Big Game Rights

ViacomCBS will pay the NFL around $2 billion each year from 2023-2033 for broadcast and streaming rights, plus a place in the Super Bowl rotation, with its next turn coming in 2024.

CBS is one of the main broadcasting partners for the PGA Tour. In 2020, it won the English-language rights to the UEFA Champions League. CBS and Univision reportedly paid a combined $150 million for the three-year package.

The company has multiple partnerships with Comcast-owned Sky on jointly-owned streaming services across Europe. Their SkyShowtime venture will launch in over 20 European countries encompassing 90 million homes later this year, according to the company.

A-Rod Group Buys Trump D.C. Hotel

Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports/Design: Alex Brooks

Alex Rodriguez is making a major real estate investment in one of the most controversial properties in the U.S.

The baseball star-turned business mogul is a lead investor in a group buying [[link removed]] the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C.

The property is being purchased [[link removed]] for $375 million by a fund launched by CGI Merchant Group, which A-Rod joined in December 2020.

The $650 million Hotel Opportunity Fund targets properties with values devastated by the pandemic with the intention of rebranding them. The D.C. hotel will scrub the Trump name and be managed by Hilton’s Waldorf Astoria group.Rodriguez has been involved in real estate since 2003 when he founded Monument Capital Management, which has made over $750 million in property acquisitions across 14 states, according to its website.The star player signed a record 10-year, $252 million contract with the Texas Rangers in December 2000 and made [[link removed]] $399.3 million over his playing career — the most in MLB history. Wolf Pack

The “Shark Tank” panelist and ESPN television analyst purchased the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx with tech entrepreneur Marc Lore for $1.5 billion last year.

Prior to that, the duo made a failed bid for the New York Mets.

A-Rod’s SPAC, Slam Corp., called off a deal to merge with sports card and collectibles company The Panini Group at a valuation north of $3 billion, after Panini did not renew licensing deals with the NBA and NFL.

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Owners of Dolphins, Commanders Could Face Removal

The Palm Beach Post/USA TODAY NETWORK/Design: Alex Brooks

There are reportedly serious discussions among NFL team owners as to whether Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross and Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder should be forced to sell their teams.

Ross allegedly incentivized losing games, and Snyder was accused of sexual harassment and workplace misconduct. Each owner’s removal would require [[link removed]] a vote from three-fourths of the 31 other owners, a league source confirmed to the NFL Network’s Ian Rapaport.

The allegations against Ross came to light in Brian Flores’ lawsuit [[link removed]] against the NFL over its hiring practices and for racial discrimination.

In 2019, Ross allegedly offered Flores up to $100,000 for every loss, aiming for a better draft spot. The league has launched an investigation into the claims, but Ross has denied [[link removed]] the allegations.Flores was fired despite leading Miami to back-to-back winning seasons.

Snyder’s team was fined [[link removed]] $10 million in July after a 10-month workplace misconduct investigation due to allegations of inappropriate behavior. More have since surfaced, and the league said it will conduct a new investigation. The initial investigation’s full findings have not been released.

PFT Live’s Mike Florio reported [[link removed]] “there is a sense among ownership that the time has come for Dan Snyder to move on.”

Ownership Timeline

Since 2008, Ross has purchased [[link removed]] 95% of the Dolphins for a total of $1 billion. The team is now worth $3.42 billion. Snyder purchased the Commanders, now valued at $4.2 billion, in 1999 for $800 million. He bought [[link removed]] the remaining shares for $875 million last year.

Julia Marino Withdrawal Puts IOC Actions Into Question

Jack Guber-USA TODAY Sports

The International Olympic Committee is facing scrutiny over whether it caused Team USA’s Julie Marino to injure herself by mandating changes to her Prada snowboard.

Marino won the silver medal in women’s slopestyle on her stylish red-and-white snowboard, but Prada’s not an IOC sponsor. The IOC demanded the seven-time X Games medalist cover the Prada logo on her $3,600 snowboard.

Did It Cost Marino A Medal?

Marino was apparently so distracted by the controversy she crashed and injured herself during a practice round for the women’s big air event.

The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee argued Marino’s case to the IOC to no avail. In a letter obtained by Front Office Sports, USOPC vice president Dean Nakamura warned that covering the logo was not a “feasible” option.

“The logo is molded to the board, and altering it would cause drag and interrupt the surface intended to glide. For these reasons, we ask the IOC to reconsider its position and allow Julia Marino to use the board used during the Snowboard Slopestyle competition,” he wrote. The IOC still said no.Marino then drew over the Prada logo with a Sharpie, but the alterations slowed her run down. The 24-year-old got hurt again, forcing [[link removed]] her to withdraw from the Olympics.

Marino explained her decision in an Instagram [[link removed]] post: “Decided not to risk further injury even [though] that didn’t appear to be the top priority of the IOC.”

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Conversation Starters In its latest labor offer to the MLB Players Association, Major League Baseball has reportedly [[link removed]] asked for the ability to eliminate hundreds of minor league playing jobs. Wynn Resorts, which owns WynnBet, reported $1.05 billion in fourth-quarter operating revenue on Tuesday, a 53.5% year-over-year increase. This year’s NFL Players Association Community MVP Program was a super(hero) success with $2.2M donated, and each weekly winner transformed into a superhero action figure illustration [[link removed]] by HEARTLENT Group.* Brands like Degree, Gopuff, Pepsi, Foot Locker, Nike, SoFi, and so many others are diving headfirst into the NIL market. Download [[link removed]] our latest white paper to learn how your brand can leverage NIL in 2022.*

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Today's Action

NHL

07:38 PM

Panthers (+115) at Hurricanes (-135)

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NHL

10:08 PM

Avalanche (-110) at Golden Knights (-110)

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NHL

07:08 PM

Wild (-145) at Jets (+125)

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*All times are EST unless otherwise noted.

*Odds/lines subject to change. T&Cs apply. See [[link removed]] for details.

Question Of The Day

How do you mostly watch sports?

Streaming [[link removed]] Linear [[link removed]]

Tuesday’s Answer

49% of respondents have watched a Premier League match this season.

Written by Owen Poindexter [[link removed]], Abigail Gentrup [[link removed]], Michael McCarthy [[link removed]]

MORE FROM FOS:

The Leadoff [[link removed]] - Daily Business of Sports Podcast

Front Office Sports Insights [[link removed]] - The most promising opportunities where sports meets industry

Front Office Sports Scoreboard [[link removed]] - The biggest stories in sports and the numbers behind them

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