June 6, 2022

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Phil Mickelson is joining [[link removed]] the inaugural LIV Golf Invitational Series. The six-time major champion will compete in the series’ first event, which starts Thursday at the Centurion Club near London.

Rob Walton Reportedly Lassos Broncos for $4.5B [[link removed]]

Walmart Corporate

Second-round bids for the Denver Broncos are due by 5 p.m. ET on Monday, and Forbes reported that a group led by Rob Walton will become the team’s next owner.

Walton’s bid will reportedly [[link removed]] be worth around $4.5 billion — the most ever spent for a U.S. team and second-most for any professional sports team. A consortium led by U.S. billionaire Todd Boehly purchased [[link removed]] the Premier League’s Chelsea FC for $5.4 billion last month.

A source with knowledge of the process cautioned declaring Walton, son of Walmart founder Sam Walton, the team’s new owner since the report came before any of the four expected groups submitted their final bids.

With an estimated [[link removed]] net worth of $59.1 billion, Walton has more spare change than his competition.

Josh Harris, an owner and founder of Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment — the company that owns the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils — is leading a bidding group. Harris’ reported [[link removed]] net worth is $5.6 billion.Clearlake Capital co-founder Jose E. Feliciano and his business partner Behdad Eghbali are leading another group. Each carries a net worth of $3.4 billion.The fourth presumed finalist is a group led by United Wholesale Mortgage CEO Mat Ishbia, who has an estimated [[link removed]] net worth of $4.6 billion. Tight Timeline

As of 11 a.m. Monday, [[link removed]]no official bids had been made as the groups are expected to wait until closer to the deadline. It’s expected the winner would be chosen “in the very near future,” a source told Front Office Sports.

Big 12 to Dish Out Record $426M to Members [[link removed]]

Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports

The Big 12 Conference will distribute a record $426 million in revenue to its 10 schools for the 2021-22 academic year.

The record revenue follows the return [[link removed]] of fans to stadiums amid the pandemic.

2021-22 marked the first [[link removed]] growth in revenue for the Big 12 in two years.It is nearly a 25% increase in revenue compared to the year prior.

The good fortune comes on the heels of imminent changes within the Big 12. The conference is losing Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC in 2025 but is preparing to add four new members.

In September 2021, the Big 12’s continuing members voted [[link removed]] unanimously to invite four schools to join the conference: Cincinnati, UCF, Houston, and BYU.

Three of the Big 12’s newest programs — Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF — are working on a settlement [[link removed]] to leave the AAC on July 1, 2023, which would be a year ahead of schedule. The group was initially scheduled to join the Big 12 on July 1, 2024, due to AAC bylaws that require schools to provide a 27-month notice and a $10 million fee to join another conference.

The settlement could range between $17 million and $20 million, per [[link removed]] the Action Network.

New Leadership

In April, Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby announced [[link removed]] he would step down from his position later this year after accepting the role in 2012.

The Big 12 hopes to have a new commissioner by mid-July, when the conference hosts its media days for the upcoming football season.

SPONSORED BY TICKETMASTER

East vs. West: NBA Finals Tickets

The NBA Finals [[link removed]] are here. The battle for the Larry O’Brien championship trophy is on between the Boston Celtics and the Golden State Warriors — and you can be there for every bucket.

As the Official Ticket Marketplace of the NBA, Ticketmaster is your source for scoring the best seats [[link removed]] to catch all the action live and in the stands.

In this winner takes all, best of seven series, get ready for edge-of-your-seat action on the hardwood.

Head to Ticketmaster [[link removed]] for all the info and to score tickets to this year’s finals.

Brady-Backed Media Company Raises $50M [[link removed]]

Michael Strahan/Twitter

Tom Brady’s NFL career isn’t over, but his entertainment endeavors are expanding.

Religion of Sports, the media company founded by Brady, NFL Hall of Famer Michael Strahan, and filmmaker Gotham Chopra, has raised $50 million in a Series B funding round, bringing the company’s total funding to $66 million.

Shamrock Capital led [[link removed]] the round with participation from Cerro Capital, Elysian Park Ventures, and Advancit Capital. The latter two were also part of the company’s $13 million Series A round.A valuation was not announced, but CEO Ameeth Sankaran said that reports that the company was now worth $100 million were “far low.”

“What Shamrock brings is a level of operational depth and experience in the media space that we don’t necessarily have on our current senior team or board,” Sankaran told Front Office Sports.

Creative Edge

“We feel like relative to our competitors, we’re differentiated by being a creator-friendly place,” said Sankaran. He added that some of the fresh capital could go toward “acquiring businesses that have a similar creative point of view and voice.”

Religion of Sports has partnered with Netflix, ESPN, Showtime, Apple+, and Amazon, among others. The funding round could help the company take more creative control over its content.

“We’re working with a particular athlete, for example, and invest in two years of filming great content, and then have something that we’re really proud of that we bring to market and have a lot of control over the shape and creative narrative,” said Sankaran.

Conversation Starters In The Leadoff, NBA commissioner Adam Silver taps the brakes on expansion talk, FC Barcelona is reportedly in talks to sell media rights to Bank of America, the Oakland A’s battle with port groups over plans of a new ballpark, and Ohio State football Ryan Day believes it will take $13 million in NIL money to keep his roster competitive. Click here to listen [[link removed]]. Minjee Lee took home $1.8 million — the biggest [[link removed]] payout in women’s golf history — from an LPGA-record $10 million purse for winning the 2022 U.S. Women’s Open title. The Golden State Warriors held the Boston Celtics to just 88 points in Game 2 of the NBA Finals on Sunday, its lowest [[link removed]] point total since Dec. 29, 2021. The Tampa Bay Lightning are vying for a third straight Stanley Cup with the same core group of stars, and the limelight usually avoids veteran Ondrej Palat [[link removed]] — until he comes up big. On Sunday, the 31-year-old winger scored his 10th career postseason game-winning goal. Subscribe to Scoreboard for more [[link removed]].

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The Impact of Crypto on the Sports Industry

Historically, professional sports teams and leagues have always been relatively slow to adopt change because they are rooted in tradition. In the last few years however, the mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies, NFTs and blockchain technology has forced the sports world to take notice.

Sports leagues, teams, athletes and fans have quickly embraced crypto and its resulted in significant impacts on sponsorships, fan engagement, experiences and so much more. To learn more about the impact, Front Office Sports has partnered with Coinbase [[link removed]] for its latest course, Crypto in Sports Essentials [[link removed]].

This five-lesson course will help those looking to deepen their understanding of the growing connection between the blockchain and the sports industry. Participants will earn a digital verified badge to display on their social channels upon completion.

Sign up [[link removed]] for the course today.

Market Movers

U.S. stocks experienced gains across all three major indexes on Monday. Here’s a look at how sports-related stocks performed:

(Note: All as of market close on 6/6/22) What to Watch

The Colorado Avalanche face the Edmonton Oilers on Monday night at Rogers Place. The Avalanche lead Western Conference Finals series 3-0.

How to Watch: 8 p.m. ET on TNT

Betting Odds: Avalanche -1.5 || ML -135 || O/U 7

Pick: Expect the Oilers to force a Game 5. Take Edmonton on the moneyline.

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Written by Abigail Gentrup [[link removed]], Justin Byers [[link removed]], Owen Poindexter [[link removed]] Edited by Matthew Tabeek [[link removed]]

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