NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said the league plans to hold its 2023 All-Star Game in Salt Lake City despite Utah's passage of a bill prohibiting transgender students from competing in girls' sports that Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith has publicly opposed. Silver said that the situation in Utah is different from the one that prompted the league to move the event out of Charlotte, N.C., in 2017, when the NBA was in a position to help prevent North Carolina lawmakers from passing a bill mandating that transgender individuals use public restrooms corresponding with their birth sex. (The Washington Post)
The attorneys general of New York, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington threatened to launch a broad investigation of the NFL if the league doesn't take steps to remedy a workplace culture that former employees alleged is "overtly hostile to women." The letter comes amid a congressional inquiry into the alleged sexual harassment of female employees within the Washington Commanders organization. (The New York Times)
Sports leagues, players associations and franchise owners now own about 10 percent of Fanatics Inc. after the NFL, NFLPA, MLB, MLBPA, NHL and several sports franchise owners each increased their equity in the company as part of Fanatics' recently reported $1.5 billion funding round. The NFL led the round, which valued Fanatics at $27 billion, with a $320 million investment. (Sportico)
COLLEGE SPORTS
Simmons Bank naming rights deal worth millions, includes provisions about Liberty Stadium's future Jason Munz, Memphis Commercial Appeal
The agreement, which stipulates that the 57-year-old facility will be renamed Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium, is worth $6,821,009 over the course of the next 10 years. The contract also contains clauses related to potential stadium renovations as well as the possibility of a new stadium being built either by the city or the University of Memphis.
As NIL takes hold, the Pac-12 fights for survival on the recruiting trail Jon Wilner, The San Jose Mercury News
The Pac-12 is drifting ever closer to an existential crisis. It has nothing to do with conference realignment — with poaching by the Big Ten or SEC — and everything to do with talent acquisition. With recruiting elite prospects in the era of NIL.
