The numbers may have been juiced by jingoism and a healthy dose of fisticuffs, but when international hockey is as good as what the U.S. and Canada served up Thursday night, it’s going to do numbers. ESPN’s telecast of the 4 Nations Face-Off championship game averaged 9.25 million viewers, making it the fourth most-watched NHL …
ESPN Broke Up With MLB Because the Money Just Didn’t Add Up
The calculus behind ESPN’s decision to walk away from its longstanding partnership with Major League Baseball may have been a bit knottier than a simple cost-benefit analysis would otherwise suggest—nothing’s ever simple when so many terminal zeroes are involved—but you don’t need an advanced economics degree to intuit that Disney’s departure was inevitable. For ESPN …
Padres Stay in NL West Spending Race Despite Ownership Chaos
PEORIA, Ariz. — It’s another season of the San Diego Padres’ usual soap opera, replete with ownership chaos and payroll intrigue. But Erik Greupner, the team’s longtime chief executive, insists this version of All My Padres won’t affect the club on the field. The Padres’ ownership experienced an offseason of turmoil as the Seidler family publicly …
San Diego FC Owner Brings Rare Academy-First Portfolio to MLS
Since MLS’ founding in 1996, more than 50 people have bought control stakes in its teams. None have come to the league with a soccer portfolio quite like billionaire Mohamed Mansour. Mansour is the majority owner of San Diego FC, which makes its MLS debut Sunday as the league’s 30th club. He also owns Right …
Going, Going, Gone: ESPN, MLB Opt Out Portends Industry Changes
Major League Baseball and ESPN announced Thursday that their national television deal would be cut short after this season, with baseball rights now on the market for the following three years. In a letter to owners first published by The Athletic, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred specifically cited “new broadcast and/or streaming platform(s)” as the ideal …
Club Sportico: What’s the Deal With the Cavaliers’ ‘Diff’ Graphic?
This week’s Club Sportico investigates a unique element of Cleveland Cavaliers TV broadcasts. Starting this season, FanDuel Sports Network calculates the score differential of games in real time, with a pop-up metric, “The Diff,” telling fans how much the Cavs lead or trail. The Diff has earned ribbings from Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr and …
NBA Teams Ask SCOTUS to End ‘Discovery Rule’ in Copyright Law
Eight NBA teams that are being sued over their use of licensed music in social media posts filed an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday. They urge the Court to reject the “discovery rule”—which doesn’t start the three-year statute of limitations clock for a copyright holder to sue for infringement until they …
The Shot That’s Becoming a Reliable Offensive Weapon in the NBA
Throughout the 2024-25 NBA season, fans and media members have bemoaned another spike in 3-point attempts. Old heads proclaim that there’s no creativity in the game anymore. Yet not all 3s are the same. A new approach is adding a subcategory to the deep ball while countering the notion that imagination is dying out in …
49ers Exploring 10% Sale, Discuss Stake in Rangers FC
The San Francisco 49ers could be the next team to strike gold from private equity’s rush into the NFL. The team is exploring selling a roughly 10% stake, according to someone with direct knowledge of the details. The 49ers are valued at $6.86 billion in Sportico’s most recent rankings, good for fifth in the NFL. …
NFL Salary Cap Expected to Increase $22M for 2025 Season
The NFL informed teams on Wednesday that the per-team salary cap will increase at least $22 million for the 2025 season, falling somewhere between $277.5 million and $281.5 million. That is a notable increase from last season’s cap of $255.4 million, previously a record. According to a memo issued by the NFL, the exact number …
Inside MrBeast’s $100K, 100 Million View NBA All-Star Stunt
YouTube powerhouse MrBeast’s viral stunt in the middle of Sunday’s NBA All-Star Tournament has already earned the league more than 100 million views on its own social channels, in the latest example of online creators shining on sport’s biggest stages. Nine-time All-Star Damian Lillard and Jaren Barajas—a fan chosen from the stands an hour before …
MLB Expects Rays’ Steinbrenner Field Expenses to Hit $50 Million
PHOENIX — Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred couldn’t put an exact price on how much it’s going to cost to bring Sutter Home Park in West Sacramento up to Major League standards for the Athletics this season. But he was pretty explicit about the cost to get Steinbrenner Field in Tampa up to par …
Wemby Leads Pro Basketball Players in PSA Card Grading Requests
If you’re an NBA card collector, here is your dream team. Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA), one of the leading readers of sports cards and other collectibles, tallied the 10 most-collected cards of current pro basketball players, creating a list of nine NBA stars and one WNBA star. Collectors have sent nearly 269,000 cards total of …
NBA Endorsement All-Stars: Stephen Curry, LeBron James, Kevin Durant
The NBA’s biggest stars are in the Bay Area this weekend for the 2025 All-Star Game, which will reunite three players who starred on last summer’s U.S. Olympic gold medal team. The trio has also dominated the basketball narrative for the past 15 years—or 21 in the case of LeBron James. Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant …
Yankees Reveal Steinbrenner Field Revamp Ahead of Rays’ Takeover
The New York Yankees unveiled millions of dollars in upgrades Thursday to their training and spring facilities at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Fla. The two-year project is separate from the upgrades being made to the 11,026-seat stadium in preparation for the Tampa Bay Rays, who will be using Steinbrenner Field as their home field during …