March 24, 2023

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The NWSL season kicks off tomorrow — and the league has a lot riding on it. In the latest Front Office Sports Today, we preview what promises to be the most high-profile campaign in NWSL history with commissioner Jessica Berman, then hear from Amanda Christovich on the Sweet 16 and what makes Princeton’s run so special.

Listen and subscribe on Apple [[link removed]], Google [[link removed]], and Spotify [[link removed]].

Real Estate Pickleball Plans New York City Takeover This Summer [[link removed]]

CityPickle

The pickleball craze is coming to the Big Apple’s most famous outdoor space.

New York City-based CityPickle [[link removed]] will transform Central Park’s Wollman Rink into a 14-court pickleball venue that will be open to the public from April 7 to Oct. 9. The company will begin taking reservations this coming Friday.

The courts will allow for 196 hours of available playing time each day.

Players can book a court for $80 per hour at off-peak times and $120 per hour at peak times. CityPickle will also offer paddle rentals for $6 each, but players are welcome to bring their own.

“Right now, the way many people play is they bring their own nets to scraps of pavement around the city,” CityPickle co-founder Erica Desai told the New York Times [[link removed]]. “They can’t schedule ahead. They’re playing on surfaces that are cracked. In Wollman, not only will we be able to accommodate a lot of people, they’ll be playing on a professional surface.”

Major League Pickleball — a 24-team pro league — also plans to hold exhibition matches at the Central Park location this summer, per Bloomberg [[link removed]].

Wollman Rink was operated by the Trump Organization from the 1980s until 2021, when then-NYC mayor Bill de Blasio moved to end the city’s contract with the company.

Wollman — which operates as an ice skating rink in the winter and warm-weather recreation space in the summer — is now run as a joint venture between Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, the Equinox Group, and Related Companies.

Retail Adidas Reportedly Parting Ways With Another Big Name: Beyoncé [[link removed]]

Adidas

Adidas appears to be backing off its strategy of aligning its brand with entertainers.

The German sneaker giant and Beyoncé have mutually agreed to end their global business partnership for the singer’s Ivy Park lifestyle brand, according [[link removed]] to The Hollywood Reporter.

The decision will end a collaboration between the Grammy-winning singer and German sneaker giant that began in 2019. It comes only weeks after The Wall Street Journal reported [[link removed]] that revenue from Ivy Park plummeted 50% last year.

The brand’s sales tumbled to $40 million last year — well below a projected $250 million. Adidas pays Beyoncé about $20 million annually, according to the WSJ.

“There has apparently been major creative differences between Ivy Park and Adidas, and Beyoncé is excitedly looking to reclaim her brand, chart her own path, and maintain creative freedom,” according to The Hollywood Reporter exclusive.

When she signed the deal nearly four years ago, Beyoncé called it the “partnership of a lifetime.”

Meanwhile, Adidas is also stuck [[link removed]] with $1.3 billion worth of Yeezy products after cutting ties with rapper Kanye West in 2022.

Adidas pulled West’s line from retail shelves after the rapper made antisemitic comments. The entertainer, who goes by the name Ye, originally signed with Adidas in 2013, then released his first signature sneaker in 2014.

Before falling apart over West’s antisemitic outbursts, the Yeezy deal [[link removed].] was a big success, generating $1.7 billion — roughly 8% of Adidas sales in 2021.

PRESENTED BY PITCHBOOK

Investing in Soccer in Silicon Valley

Introducing Driven with Michelle Wie West [[link removed]], a new video series from Front Office Sports in partnership with PitchBook, where the former golf pro sits down with some of her favorite athletes to discuss their journeys as investors and what it takes to win.

In the third and final episode, Michelle sits down with former U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team Member, Co-Founder of Hustle Beauty, and Co-Leader of #NWSLToTheBay, Leslie Osborne [[link removed]].

Learn how Osborne’s post-playing career has evolved from investor to entrepreneur and, most recently, co-Leader of a group that has successfully fundraised and bid to bring an NWSL expansion team to the Bay Area.

Watch the full episode [[link removed]] now.

Leagues NFL Owners Agenda Reportedly Doesn’t Include Commanders [[link removed]]

Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

The focus of this year’s NFL owners’ meetings in Phoenix will be on something off the official agenda.

Some have theorized that Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder could announce a winning bidder for the franchise at the meetings. But Snyder — at least for now — is on his own timetable selecting a bidder for what is expected to be at least a controlling stake in the team.

The three known frontrunners have remained the same for weeks: Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils owner Josh Harris, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta.

One reason topics related to Snyder and the Commanders aren’t on the agenda is that Mary Jo White, the former head of the SEC, hasn’t released the results of her investigation.

Minus the final report of the outside NFL probe that has spanned more than a year, league officials are reluctant to hold any official discussions about Snyder and the team’s future.

What’s On The Agenda

On Tuesday, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s contract extension will be presented to all the NFL owners for a vote. ESPN reported [[link removed]] that the deal is expected to run for three more years.

Owners will also be asked to approve flex scheduling for Amazon’s “Thursday Night Football,” according [[link removed]] to Sports Business Journal. If approved, all three weekly prime-time games will have some form of flex scheduling to bump up Sunday afternoon games later in the season.

Conversation Starters Los Angeles Rams QB Matthew Stafford and his family have joined [[link removed]] the NWSL’s Angel City FC as investors in the team. Check out UCF’s new renderings [[link removed]] for its “Football Campus.” Despite a small budget and decades since its last Sweet 16 berth, Princeton’s men’s basketball team is flourishing. The Ivy League school isn’t an unorthodox Cinderella just because of its rich basketball history — it faces several unique challenges that the average D-I school doesn’t experience. In this week’s Pro report, Amanda Christovich explores how [[link removed]] Princeton built a team.

SPONSORED BY WSC SPORTS

Employing Content as a Growth Lever for Engagement

“WSC Sports can analyze announcer audio to mark plays with three, four, and five-star ratings for us to filter by. Just really smart stuff.” – Jeff Kallin, Clemson’s Associate AD of Athletic Communications in a recent interview [[link removed]] about how the school employs content as a growth lever for fan engagement.

You can’t provide the best experience without automation. Your most creative people need time to craft stories for fans.

WSC Sports [[link removed]] automates the instant creation and distribution of video highlights by giving you access to sport-specific machine learning technology for over 20+ sports.

In addition to Clemson University, over 300 partners, including the Pac-12 Conference, Conference USA, University of Pittsburgh, BYU, Rice University and more rely on WSC Sports for the premier modern fan experience.

Stay ahead of the curve and click here [[link removed]] to learn more.

SPONSORED BY POINTSBETWhat to Watch

The Miami Hurricanes will take on the No. 1-seeded Houston Cougars in the Sweet 16 of the men’s NCAA tournament at Kansas City’s T-Mobile Center.

How to watch: 7:15 p.m. ET, CBS

Betting Odds [[link removed]]: Hurricanes +7.5 || ML Hurricanes +314 || O/U 139.5

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