August 12, 2022

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Talk about a bargain-basement deal: Tickets for the Washington Commanders’ preseason opener are selling [[link removed]] for as low as $1. Last season, the Commanders’ 64.3% attendance rate was far and away the NFL’s worst — the second-place Detroit Lions still managed 79.9%.

Barcelona Rushes to Offload Media Stake for $102M [[link removed]]

Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

FC Barcelona is once again selling a stake in Barca Studios, the club’s media production arm, for $102.6 million in a last-minute effort to alleviate debt and register players ahead of its La Liga opener — on Saturday.

Barcelona — the second-most-valuable soccer team in the world at $5 billion, per [[link removed]] Forbes — will sell a 24.5% stake in Barca Studios to audiovisual production company Orpheus Media.

The deal gained approval [[link removed]] by board members in October 2021.It will help Barcelona alleviate more than $1.5 billion in debt reported last year.

The sale comes after Barcelona agreed [[link removed]] to offload a 24.5% stake in Barca Studios to investment fund GDA Luma earlier this week, according to Spanish daily newspaper Sport. However, talks stalled [[link removed]] between Barcelona and GDA Luma, leading the club to search for fresh capital.

Barcelona had a major sense of urgency due to an inability to register players ahead of its first La Liga matchday against Rayo Vallecano at Spotify Camp Nou.

Earlier this month, Barcelona secured [[link removed]] a deal with fan engagement company Socios.com to sell a 24.5% stake in Barca Studios in a pact also valued at around $102 million.

Economic Levers

Barcelona has used other “economic levers” to alleviate debt.

In June, Barcelona secured a deal [[link removed]] with private equity firm Sixth Street to sell a 10% stake in its TV rights worth up to $278 million. The club doubled down in July after selling an additional [[link removed]] 15% stake in its TV rights to Sixth Street for $326.5 million.

LIV Golf Denies that Prizes Subtracted from Bonus Money [[link removed]]

Jonathan Jones-USA TODAY Sports

LIV Golf is pushing back against an allegation that it is not as generous as advertised.

In a U.S. District Court hearing on Wednesday in San Jose, California, an attorney representing three LIV Golf players implied [[link removed]] that prize money won by players counts against their initial bonuses.

Responding to a point made by Judge Beth Labson Freeman that players receive bonuses just for showing up to the first tournament, attorney Robert Walters replied, “Well, they do, but then they have to win money in order to recoup against the contract.”Many LIV golfers, including Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, and Cameron Smith, have received bonuses of at least $100 million. Tiger Woods turned down an offer of $700 million to $800 million, per LIV CEO Greg Norman.

LIV Golf was quick to deny Walters’ claim.

“Prize money is of course separate from the contractual monies that players earn,” said LIV COO Atul Khosla. “As you already know, prize money is not subtracted from a player’s contractual earnings.”

Bubba Resigns

Two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson announced his resignation from the PGA Tour to join LIV Golf. Watson is reportedly securing [[link removed]] a bonus of around $50 million to join the Saudi-backed league.

Watson is recovering from a torn meniscus and is not playing this season. He has earned [[link removed]] $48 million across his PGA Tour career, per Sportrac —15th all-time.

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What drives your favorite athletes, celebrities, and executives?

Find out in My Other Passion, our newest podcast, presented by Netsuite [[link removed]]. Each week, Ernest Baker, Editor in Chief of Front Office Sports, sits down with some of the most influential people in sports and entertainment to explore how their passions define them and impact everything from their decision-making to how they see the world.

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Black NFL Retirees Now Qualify for CTE Payouts After Retests [[link removed]]

Kiyoshi Mio-USA TODAY Sports

Nearly 650 Black NFL retirees have had their dementia tests automatically rescored, after the NFL announced last year it would no longer assume that Black players have less cognitive abilities when assessing brain claims.

Previously, hundreds of Black retirees were denied payouts in a $1 billion concussion settlement with the league. The dementia tests previously used “race norming,” making it harder for Black players to prove they had a cognitive decline.

So far, the change in testing qualified 61 Black NFL retirees for moderate-to-advanced dementia award — averaging [[link removed]] $600,000 — with nearly 250 showing early signs of dementia, according to the Associated Press. The latter will receive up to $35,000 in medical testing and treatment.

The former players had already met other criteria, including hours of validity testing.Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Lou Gehrig’s disease, and deaths before April 2015 involving chronic traumatic encephalopathy also qualify for awards.

Since the 2016 settlement, the NFL has approved more than $1 billion in claims, totaling about $916 million after appeals and audits. The Associated Press states the results will add millions to the league’s total payouts.

Past, Present, and Future

The tests’ discrimination went relatively unnoticed until a 2020 lawsuit [[link removed]] was brought by former Pittsburgh Steelers Kevin Henry and Najeh Davenport.

The process has slowed — nearly four in 10 claims are now audited [[link removed]] by the claims administrator BrownGreer, despite the involvement of program doctors and expert opinions, according to the Associated Press.

Other Black retirees can continue to seek new testing.

Conversation Starters In The Leadoff, Tom Brady becomes the NFL’s top earner for the first time, La Liga expands its reach in North America, Endeavor reports $1.3 billion in revenue in Q2, and Life Time sees revenue rebound to $461.3 million in the company’s latest earnings report. Click here to listen [[link removed]]. A judge has granted preliminary approval [[link removed]] for a settlement regarding an equal pay lawsuit by the U.S. women’s national soccer team. The American Gaming Association reports [[link removed]] that Q2 2022 saw the commercial gaming industry accumulate $14.8 billion in revenue — a new quarterly record.

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At the Top of Their Game

Front Office Sports presents The C-Suite, a weekly LinkedIn Live interview series where Chief Content Officer Lisa Granatstein sits down with sports leaders who are driving global business and changing culture.

The series continues on Tuesday, August 16 [[link removed]] with Jessica Berman, Commissioner of the National Women’s Soccer League. Get an inside look at how she’s changing the game for women’s soccer.

Visit Front Office Sports’ Upcoming Events [[link removed]] page to attend and be notified when events go live.

Market Movers

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

ATVI [[link removed]]

Activision Blizzard Inc

[[link removed]]

$80.80

[[link removed]]

+0.12%

[[link removed]] FL [[link removed]]

Foot Locker Inc

[[link removed]]

$31.37

[[link removed]]

+0.87%

[[link removed]] RCI [[link removed]]

Rogers Communications Inc.

[[link removed]]

$46.47

[[link removed]]

+0.96%

[[link removed]] GCO [[link removed]]

Genesco Inc.

[[link removed]]

$64.25

[[link removed]]

+1.58%

[[link removed]] LULU [[link removed]]

Lululemon Athletica inc.

[[link removed]]

$321.07

[[link removed]]

-0.19%

[[link removed]] (Note: All as of market close on 8/12/22) What to Watch

The New York Liberty (14-20) face the Atlanta Dream (14-20) on Friday night at the Gateway Center.

How to Watch: 7:30 p.m. ET on CBS Sports Network

Betting Odds: Liberty -2 || ML -130 || O/U 162.5

Pick: Expect the Liberty to build on Wednesday’s win. Take New York to cover.

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

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