The Phoenix Suns vice chairman is calling on the team’s owner to resign and sell his stake over findings of racism, misogyny, and a toxic workplace.

Jahm Najafi penned an open letter to the team’s employees and players “calling for the resignation of Robert Sarver,” who reportedly owns around 35% of the team. Najafi holds the second largest stake.

• The NBA fined Sarver $10 million and suspended him for one year, following an investigation into his conduct.
• NBPA executive director Tamika Tremaglio called for a lifetime ban of Sarver on Friday.
• LeBron James said there should be no tolerance for Sarver’s behavior and that the “league definitely got this wrong.”
• Suns’ star Chris Paul concurred, saying “the sanctions fell short in truly addressing what we can all agree was atrocious behavior.”

NBA commissioner Adam Silver said that he doesn’t “have the right to take away his team,” and that the five-person commission that investigated Sarver found his use of slurs was not driven “by racial or gender-based animus.”

Patch Problems

The investigation stemmed in part from an ESPN report from November, 2021, which detailed repeated misogynistic behavior and racially insensitive language.

PayPal, the Suns’ jersey patch sponsor, said it would not renew its contract with the team, which runs through next season, if Sarver remains with the team.

The NFL is strengthening its international presence through a deal with the German Bundesliga.

The pair will collaborate on production, broadcasts and programming, digital innovation, and marketing — primarily in the U.S. and German markets — expanding on a relationship where both sides have shared expertise on various topics since the beginning of the pandemic.

In May, the NFL announced the Seattle Seahawks will play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Nov. 13 at Allianz Arena — home of Bundesliga’s FC Bayern Munich — marking the first NFL regular-season game played in Germany.

• In July, game tickets hit more than $33,000 each.
• Between Munich and Frankfurt, Germany will host one regular-season NFL game for the next four years.

“Tom Brady and the Bucs facing the Seahawks in November will be the biggest sporting event in Germany in 2022,” an NFL spokesperson said.

International Agenda

The NFL’s agreement with the Bundesliga is the latest part of the league’s plans to grow its international business to $1 billion in the next 10 years.

In April, the league assigned general managers to the U.K. and Australia — the league’s first-on-the-ground presence in the latter.

In December, teams were granted approval to market and commercialize in eight countries across 26 International Home Marketing Areas.

The sale of a Ligue 1 team is coming down to the wire, as its prospective buyer scrambles for funds.

John Textor is looking for tens of millions of dollars to complete his purchase of a majority stake in Lyon.

• Textor agreed to buy around 66% of the club for $798.9 million, taking on the shares of film production company Pathé, investment firm IDG Capital, and the majority of those held by Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas’ holding company Holnest.
• The former executive chair and CEO of fuboTV has sought to build a mutually beneficial network of soccer teams. He holds a roughly 40% stake in the Premier League’s Crystal Palace FC, 80% of Belgium’s RWD Molenbeek, and a 90% stake in Brazil’s Botafogo.
• His bid for Lyon is backed by Cannae Holdings, controlled by Vegas Golden Knights owner Bill Foley.

Textor’s team holdings are held by his company Eagle Football Holdings, which incorporated in January. Should he purchase Lyon, his soccer holdings would total around $1 billion in value.

Tapping the Network

Textor is reportedly working his connections to come up with several tens of millions of dollars before the sale deadline in two weeks.

Prior to helming Fubo (formerly FaceBank Group), Textor founded Wyndcrest Holdings, a technology and entertainment-focused investment firm.

The largest owner and operator of bowling centers in the world exceeded expectations in its latest earnings report.

Bowlero Corp. generated $267.7 million in revenue in fiscal Q4 — a 68.3% increase year-over-year — surpassing estimates of $195.2 million for the quarter.

• The results were driven by growth in event and walk-in retail revenue.
• Bowlero operates more than 300 bowling centers in North America.
• It posted $911.7 million in revenue for FY2022, up 130.7% compared to FY2021.
• Net loss for FY2022 reached $29.9 million compared to $126.5 million for the year prior.

Bowlero — which sees more than 26 million people bowl at its centers each year — opened four new locations in fiscal Q4, bringing its total of new bowling centers to 29 for FY2022.

The company will continue to expand as it plans to target some of the 3,500 independently owned bowling alleys in the U.S. for takeover acquisitions, per president and CFO Brett Parker.

A Strike

In December 2021, Bowlero went public through a merger with blank-check company Isos Acquisition Corp., valuing the combined entity at $2.6 billion. The deal included a raise of around $450 million through a private investment in public equity from institutional investors.

The raise included Apollo Global Management, Wells Fargo Asset Management, and others.