With Super Bowl LVII in the books, the hype is already rising for next year’s Big Game.

Super Bowl LVIII will take place in Las Vegas at Allegiant Stadium, which tagged in after a planned game in New Orleans was pushed back one year to avoid conflict with Mardi Gras.

While Super Bowl LVII was played at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, hundreds of thousands of visitors made the trek to Las Vegas over the weekend to enjoy the game.

Around 50 members of the Las Vegas Super Bowl Committee traveled to Phoenix to meet with media partners, NFL officials, and Phoenix officials.

More Big Games Coming?

The city hopes the Super Bowl will show what it can offer as a host of major sporting events.

“It’s the tentpole event that all other events look at,” committee executive director Sam Joffray told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “If you can host a Super Bowl, you can host a College Football [Playoff] championship game, a Final Four … the sports economy in Vegas in the long haul is going to be robust.”

The city will host a Formula 1 race this November. Clark County has signaled a willingness to host the race for a decade or more.

Las Vegas also will host the 2028 NCAA Men’s Final Four and a handful of other NCAA championships in the coming years.

FC Barcelona’s Spotify Camp Nou is set for a $1.6 billion revamp.

The club is looking to raise the funds from private debt investors and courting investors in the U.S. private placement market, according to Bloomberg. Goldman Sachs Group and JPMorgan Chase are reportedly arranging the sale.

Stadium renovations are part of a broader project called Espai Barça.

Earlier this month, the club signed an agreement with Limak to take charge of the stadium’s construction set to begin in June.

Club president Joan Laporta said Limak was the sole bidding company committed to achieving “the time targets set by the club,” which are returning to the stadium before December 2024 and a completed project before June 2026.

“Every season we are away means a loss of around [$99.3 million] for the club,” he said.

Football Financing

The financing plan includes three tranches of senior notes — around $533.6 million each — maturing in 2032, 2045, and 2052, according to Kroll Bond Rating Agency.

Laporta said that with a financing structure in place and the work of Limak, Barça “will finally have a world-class stadium with the capacity to generate a lot more revenue.”

The Chicago Bears are getting blocked by the state of Illinois.

Gov. JB Pritzker said he wasn’t in favor of a plan that would provide tax relief for the team regarding its proposed stadium and development in Arlington Heights.

State Sen. Ann Gillespie, who represents Arlington Heights, filed a bill that would freeze the team’s property assessment for up to 40 years.

“I love the Bears,” said Pritzker, “but it is a private business, and I honestly do not think the public has an obligation to fund, in this major way, a private business.”

The Bears are intent on moving to the town northwest of Chicago after agreeing to buy the Arlington Heights Racetrack in 2021 for $197 million. The team is planning a $5 billion entertainment district centered around a $2.2 billion domed stadium.

School District Enters the Field

The school district based in Arlington Heights voted to hire a lobbyist to represent the district in state government on “mega projects” such as the Bears’ proposed development, particularly in regard to tax breaks the team might access.

The team hasn’t secured public funding from state and local governments, nor has it struck deals for land use, transportation, or other related issues.

There’s a new sports investment firm on the block.

Former WWE co-presidents George Barrios and Michelle Wilson, partnering with 10-time NBA All-Star Carmelo Anthony, announced they will launch a firm called Isos7 Sports Investments.

“We have a shared vision for how a new wave of diverse investors will identify global growth opportunities and impact the marketplace,” said Barrios and Wilson.

Of the $750 million of expected fresh capital, the firm hopes to provide between $50-$100 million per investment to a global list of sports entities, from leagues to teams.

The firm will also donate 1% of profits “to support underrepresented populations and underserved communities.”

Barrios and Wilson previously founded Isos Capital Management.

A Seasoned Pro

Anthony is no stranger to investing.

He co-founded a company called Melo7 Tech Partners with media bigwig Stuart Goldfarb in 2014. Major sports companies from Overtime to DraftKings have benefited from the company’s capital.

“I’m excited to build on my experiences as an athlete, entrepreneur, and investor, and move to the next level of league and team ownership opportunities globally,” Anthony said of the new venture.