The 76ers’ planned arena in downtown Philadelphia is no more.

Less than four weeks after the city council there approved the NBA team’s long-controversial arena and mixed-use development, 76 Place at Market East, the franchise has dramatically pivoted—instead striking a large-scale deal with Wells Fargo Center owner Comcast Spectacor to stay in the South Philadelphia sports complex, Front Office Sports has confirmed.

The far-reaching deal, quickly coming together over the recent holidays, contains at least three major components:

The 76ers and Comcast Spectacor will enter a 50-50 partnership for the development and ownership of a new arena in the existing sports complex. Comcast Spectacor had long offered this deal during downtown arena deliberations that roiled the city for several years, but until now, the 76ers had resisted it. In the current Wells Fargo Center lease, the 76ers are a tenant and have a less robust financial presence there.
Joint pursuit of a WNBA expansion franchise.
A separate, non-sports development to be built at the 76 Place at Market East site, near Philadelphia’s Chinatown.

It’s been eight years since the North American Soccer League—which operated between 2011 and 2017—sued the U.S. Soccer Federation, accusing it of violating antitrust law and demanding an injunction that would have forced U.S. Soccer to recognize NASL as a Division II league. The case, which has grown to include Major League Soccer as a co-defendant, will head to trial this week in a Brooklyn federal court following jury selection.

The case centers on U.S. Soccer’s oversight of pro soccer leagues and how U.S. Soccer applies standards to determine whether a league has earned recognition as a Division I, II or III league.

As NASL sees it, U.S. Soccer and MLS illegally conspired to insulate MLS (Division I) and the USL (Division II) from competing with NASL in ways that harmed the relevant markets for sanctioning soccer in the U.S. and Canada. NASL blames U.S. Soccer and MLS for “driving it out of business” and “preventing it from obtaining the profits it would have received as a league competing in Division I or II.”

New York Knicks game in 2017 has sparked a disagreement between Oakley and Madison Square Garden Networks over MSG’s access to medical records related to Oakley’s alleged injuries.

Last week, U.S. District Judge Richard J. Sullivan ruled that Oakley is not compelled to turn over medical records from an orthopedist or his communications with a psychotherapist, but instructed Oakley to provide the full name and contact information of a licensed massage therapist Oakley has only identified as “Darra.”

Oakley cites three medical providers (an orthopedist, psychotherapist and massage therapist) as treating his alleged injuries. Sullivan reasoned that since Oakley isn’t in possession of medical records related to the orthopedist, Oakley isn’t compelled to produce those records. The judge noted MSG can subpoena the orthopedist for the records, and if the orthopedist refuses, MSG can petition Sullivan to compel the orthopedist to comply.

A federal judge on Thursday struck down the U.S. Department of Education’s interpretation of Title IX that would have made gender identity, as well as biological sex, a protected class under the statute.

While the rule—and the judge’s decision—don’t directly apply to equity in athletics, it does have indirect implications for what counts as gender discrimination on sports teams. The ruling also bolsters the ability of the incoming Trump Administration to enact restrictions on transgender athlete participation.

“The Final Rule and its corresponding regulations exceed the Department’s authority under Title IX, violate the Constitution, and are the result of arbitrary and capricious agency action,” the U.S. District Court judge for the Eastern District of Kentucky, Danny Reeves, wrote in a 15-page opinion.

The lawsuit was brought against President Biden’s DOE in April by the attorneys general for Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, and West Virginia. At the center of the case: Title IX, the 50-year-old statute that prohibits any educational institution that receives federal funding from discriminating “on the basis of sex”—and is the statute used to require equal sports participation opportunities and resources for women’s sports at all school levels.

The Department of Education released Title IX interpretations in April that would extend the statute’s sex discrimination prohibition to protecting against discrimination based on all gender identities. Among other things, it theoretically would have provided protections to transgender students by allowing them to file complaints if they felt they faced prejudice at school, or perhaps even on sports teams. (While the DOE doesn’t have the ability to rewrite laws, it can publish interpretations of them that vary from administration to administration.)

The rule, which went into effect in August, was challenged by several state AGs in federal court in two separate cases. Judges blocked the DOE from enforcing the rule in 10 states, but it wasn’t until Thursday that a judge had struck down the rule from a national perspective.

“The court’s ruling is yet another repudiation of the Biden administration’s relentless push to impose a radical gender ideology through unconstitutional and illegal rulemaking,” Tennessee attorney general Jonathan Skrmetti said in a statement. “Because the Biden rule is vacated altogether, President Trump will be free to take a fresh look at our Title IX regulations when he returns to office next week.”

President-elect Trump has vowed that his DOE, which he appointed WWE cofounder Linda McMahon to lead, would reverse these interpretations (though now, he won’t have to). He’s also pledged to ban transgender athletes from playing women’s sports through executive action.

The DOE had previously considered a sports-specific Title IX interpretation that would have awarded significant protection to transgender athletes who wanted to play sports on teams that aligned with their gender identity, rather than their assigned biological sex at birth. But the DOE rule withdrew the proposal in December, citing both pending court cases on the issue and the number of public comments they received.

Meanwhile, the Republican-led House has made it a priority to vote on a bill that would ban transgender athletes from women’s sports by rewriting Title IX altogether. The “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act” would add language to the statute defining sex discrimination as only related to a person’s biological sex at birth. The law would prevent protections for transgender people via Title IX and help pave the way for a ban on transgender athletes playing women’s sports in virtually all educational settings.

The future of the San Diego Padres is at stake in a lawsuit brought on Monday by Sheel Kamal Seidler, the widow of late team owner Peter Seidler.

Expect the defendants—two of Seidler’s brothers, Bob and Matt Seidler—to not only argue that they have fully performed their fiduciary duties as trustees but also that their sister-in-law is misconstruing the wishes of her late husband and their late brother in ways that undermine his legacy. Matt said some of this already, not in a legal filing, but in a public letter addressed to fans on Tuesday.

Because the case involves sharply conflicting retellings of meetings, discussions and personal intentions, witness testimony will prove crucial. Among the witnesses who could be called to provide testimony are MLB officials and Padres employees—including players—who interacted with the Seidlers, particularly with respect to which person(s) appeared involved in important club decisions and what Peter Seidler indicated about his wife and brothers. Central to the case is whether Sheel Seidler was unlawfully denied a chance by her brothers-in-law to succeed her late husband as the Padres’ control person, who is the person regarded by MLB as the club’s decision-maker.

As the College Football Playoff semifinals play out—Notre Dame beat Penn State 27-24 on Thursday night to advance to the title game—each of the remaining coaches is not only fighting for his first national championship but also potentially a big salary bump.

Friday night’s Cotton Bowl features the two highest-paid coaches of this year’s final four, with the Longhorns’ Steve Sarkisian and the Buckeyes’ Ryan Day each earning more than $10 million this season. Sarkisian received a raise and contract extension in February 2024, while Day’s most recent deal was signed in 2022.

While this year’s CFP runs have already resulted in six-figure bonuses for some coaches, a national championship victory could extend the winning coach’s salary even higher.

In 2022, Georgia gave head coach Kirby Smart a raise of more than $3 million annually, from roughly $7 million to $10.25 million, after his first national championship in 2021. Smart’s pay was bumped again in 2024, and he is now the highest-paid coach in college football, making more than $13 million each year.

In 2020, LSU boosted former head coach Ed Orgeron’s salary from $4 million to $6 million after the Tigers won the 2019 national title. However, not even two full seasons later, LSU paid Orgeron a $17 million buyout, firing the coach midway through the 2021 campaign. After Dabo Swinney won his first national championship at Clemson in 2016, he saw his annual salary jump by more than a million to $6.5 million. He now makes more than $11 million per year.

Notre Dame announced a contract extension for head coach Marcus Freeman in December. Since the university is private, his salary is not public information like others. However, Irish Illustrated reported his pay was being bumped from roughly $7 million to more than $9 million.

In 2021, Penn State signed James Franklin to a 10-year extension that pays him $8.5 million annually.

The business arm of the MLB players’ union has dropped its lawsuit against the parent company of the Pittsburgh Pirates and convenience store chain Sheetz.

In August, MLB Players, Inc. filed a complaint in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh against Sheetz and the Pirates claiming the chain used its jersey patch deal with the team to post images of players on social media far above the limit established in the $100,000-per-year sponsorship agreement. The suit said Sheetz “wrongfully exploited” Pirates players Paul Skenes, Oneil Cruz, Andrew McCutchen, Nick Gonzales, Carmen Mlodzinski, and Connor Joe by overusing their name, image, and likeness without union approval.

The next day, the two sides reached a verbal agreement, and a Pirates spokesperson told Front Office Sports at the time that the team anticipated the complaint would be withdrawn.

MLB Players, Inc. dropped the lawsuit Dec. 23.

The long-running legal battle between Fubo and Disney over the formation of Venu Sports is over—and in perhaps the most dramatic way possible—as the ESPN parent company is acquiring a majority stake in the rival streamer to create a potentially market-shaking joint venture.

Disney will merge its own Hulu + Live TV service with Fubo’s operations to form a new entity with more than 6.2 million North American subscribers. The new venture will be held by 70% of Disney shareholders, with Fubo owning the rest and running operations. The deal also includes a $220 million payment to Fubo from the Venu Sports partners—Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery—as well as a $145 million loan from Disney to Fubo scheduled for January 2026.

With Altice, the owner of the Optimum cable system, and MSG Networks at odds in the New York metropolitan area, two state legislators have made it clear that they want both sides to resume negotiations to bring Knicks, Rangers, Islanders and New Jersey Devils games back to their customers.

Assemblywoman Michaelle Solages, who represents the 22nd Assembly District in Long Island’s Nassau County, and state Sen. Jamaal Bailey, who represents parts of The Bronx and Westchester County, were among the first local officials to call attention to the impasse. They’ve remained in contact with both sides since the blackout went into effect at midnight on New Year’s Day.

A new carriage deal will be appreciated by their constituents, but it’ll be critical for both carrier and channel. Both Bailey and Solages’ districts represent over a half-million residents, all within Altice’s coverage map, and as is the case around the country, many of them have already cut the cord in recent years. The operator closed out Q3 with 1.94 million video subscribers, down 13% vs. the year-ago 2.23 million.

The ownership transition of the Padres, recently thought to be a straightforward process, is now anything but, and threatens to heavily alter the team’s immediate future.

Two weeks after John Seidler, the older brother of late Padres owner Peter Seidler, was set to become the team’s new designated control executive, Peter’s widow, Sheel, has filed a lawsuit that, among several other claims, alleges two other brothers-in-law have wrongly “schemed to solidify their control of the Padres” and have “falsely cast themselves as Peter’s true heirs.”

The 97-page action against two other Seidler brothers, Matt and Bob—filed in probate court in Travis County, Texas—alleges multiple breaches of fiduciary duty, fraud, and gross negligence, as well as racism against Sheel Seidler, who is of Indian descent. In particular, she alleges several members of the extended Seidler family engaged “in multiple racist, profane, and hateful communications directed at” her because of her ethnicity.

The NWSL has found its 16th franchise.

A group pining for an expansion team in Denver has won its bid with a $110 million expansion fee, more than double the previous NWSL record set by Bay FC, and already made its first payment to the league Tuesday, according to Sportico.

Denver was chosen over groups from Cleveland and Cincinnati. Caitlin Clark joined the Cincinnati bid, which NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman called an “honor.”

A representative for the NWSL told Front Office Sports that “the expansion process is ongoing, and we look forward to sharing more later this year.”

The group is led by future controlling owner Robert Cohen, the CEO of IMA Financial Group, who was also part of Denver’s WNBA bidding group who courted league execs with venue tours in August 2023.

The Denver fee demonstrates just how quickly women’s sports have exploded. In April 2023, the NWSL awarded a team to the Bay Area for a $53 million expansion fee, though the ownership group there did commit a total of $125 million for more resources. Boston won an expansion bid for the same price in September 2023. The next month, the WNBA picked its first in a series of expansion teams, awarding Golden State a team for a reported $50 million fee. In 2024, the league chose Toronto and Portland, both of which each paid similar expansion fees to Golden State but made nine-figure commitments to the league in total.

Expansion teams aren’t the only way the NWSL is attracting a boatload of new investors. In July, Bob Iger and Willow Bay shattered the league’s valuation record by purchasing Angel City FC for a deal valuing the club at $250 million. The record it dwarfed—March’s San Diego Wave sale valuing the team at $120 million—was also double the previous high of $63 million for Portland last January.

The New York Racing Association on Thursday filed a motion to dismiss itself from a lawsuit recently filed against the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) and others in a Kentucky federal district court.

The case will not end, however, as Churchill Downs Inc. remains a plaintiff against HISA, a private regulatory organization that Congress vested with power to oversee the sport

The lawsuit contends HISA’s application of its fee assessment methodology violates the U.S. Constitution and the Administrative Procedure Act. The Federal Trade Commission, which reviews HISA proposed rules and regulations, is also a defendant. HISA has refuted the claims and argues the plaintiffs have simply refused to comply with a fee assessment methodology approved by the FTC.

The HISA Act, which President Donald Trump signed into law in 2020, created the regulator. Both Republicans and Democrats, including act sponsors Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Rep. Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.), supported the idea that national and uniform safety standards would prove more effective at addressing racetrack safety, competition, transparency and other horseracing problems than had varied state standards.

Last month, HISA released a report showing a substantial drop in racing-related equine fatality since HISA launched its anti-doping and medication control program in 2023. The fatality rate dropped by about 21% year-over-year. “As safety and integrity continue to improve,” HISA CEO Liza Lazarus stated, “we’re reminded that our mission to protect the well-being of horses and riders will preserve the sport for generations to come.”

The lawsuit doesn’t challenge the lawfulness or wisdom of HISA’s measures to make the sport safer and enhance its integrity. In fact, even in suing HISA, NYRA emphasized it was “strongly supportive” of HISA’s regulatory mission. The lawsuit is instead a narrow objection over how HISA calculates fees. The plaintiffs argue the HISA Act contemplates an assessment based on starts but that the method used by HISA blends starts and purses, meaning total prize money paid to race winners.

In a statement responding to NYRA and HISA resolving their dispute, NYRA president and CEO David O’Rourke said in a statement he was “pleased to have reached this agreement.” He added, “HISA’s ongoing work and overall mission are critically important to the future of thoroughbred horse racing.”

The battle between Cleveland and the Browns over the city’s intent to invoke Ohio’s “Modell Law” and keep the team from relocating to the suburbs is likely just beginning. Team owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam, however, are still moving forward with their ambitious plans to build a $2.4 billion domed stadium and mixed-use development.

The Haslams officially executed a clause Thursday to purchase 176 acres of land in Brook Park, Ohio, where they intend to build the stadium complex. The move arrived just three days after the city sent a formal notice regarding the Modell Law—named for late former Browns owner Art Modell—stating that a pro team in Ohio playing in a publicly supported stadium cannot move without giving the city in question six months’ notice and an opportunity to buy the franchise.

Together, the two moves further show how divided the team and city leaders are on the Brook Park proposal. The Browns have already sued the city, seeking to have the Modell Law ruled unconstitutional, while mayor Justin Bibb is just as determined to protect Cleveland’s rights. The Haslams, however, made no reference to that ongoing dispute in its announcement of the land acquisition, and instead have also made several other related moves—including naming a development partner and an architect for the project as they proceed toward a planned 2029 opening.


“While work remains with our public partners on the project, this is a key step in our efforts to create a responsible, long-term stadium solution that delivers a world-class experience for our fans, attracts more large-scale events for our region, and positively impacts our local economy,” Haslam Sports Group COO Dave Jenkins said in a statement regarding the land deal.

The Browns have not finalized a financing plan for the effort, but have said they intend to have the public sector cover half the development costs.

Jimmy and Dee Haslam on Monday threatening legal action via Ohio Revised Code 9.67—more popularly known as the “Art Modell law”—unless the Browns provide “the City or others with the opportunity to purchase the team, as required by law.”

Bibb wrote the Browns have until Jan. 9 to respond or face unspecified legal action. One potential action would be Cleveland petitioning a court for an injunction to stop the NFL franchise from taking relocation-related steps. The Browns could contest that petition and argue the city lacks the legal justification for an injunction.

In October, the Browns sued Cleveland in an Ohio federal court. The lawsuit contends that the Modell Law violates several provisions of the U.S. Constitution and that, even if the law is found to comply with the Constitution, the Browns have followed it.

Two weeks ago, the Methstreams owner told Discord members that one of their domain names had been locked amid the ongoing battle between rightsholders and those circumventing distribution deals. Around the same time, anti-piracy organization The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) announced that it had helped shut down hundreds of websites, many based in Vietnam, that had attracted more than 800 million visits in the past year.

Media companies pay billions for exclusive rights to broadcast live sports, and advertisers in turn pay billions to reach the fans that are watching. The NFL’s current media deals, for example, are worth more than $125 billion; the NBA‘s most recent round is worth $77 billion. The illicit streams often come via foreign feeds, meaning the broadcasts (and the ads) are frequently not intended for U.S. audiences. In severe cases, that lost revenue could threaten the solvency of sports organizers and the events they put on

Finding that use of a “puck shaped object” predictably and naturally flows from ideas about hockey and is thus not protected by copyright law, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held last Friday that Fanatics didn’t infringe on a hockey puck-shaped cavity memorabilia product that is “filled with melted rink ice from noteworthy hockey games” and called “Slice of the Ice.”

As summarized in an opinion authored by Judge David J. Porter, William Grondin has designed several versions of the Slice of the Ice. The sculpture resembles the Stanley Cup trophy and contains water that is, in fact, melted rink ice from noteworthy NHL games, usually Stanley Cup games. Grondin negotiated licenses with the NHL to obtain the ice and later sold his sculptures to NHL teams which in turn sold them to fans.

The failure of the slimmer government funding bill backed by President-elect Donald Trump and meme-wielding billionaire Elon Musk pushed the federal government closer to a midnight Friday shutdown. But it also gave new life to D.C.’s efforts to lure the Commanders back to their ancestral home.

“We aren’t dead yet,” a congressional source told Front Office Sports after the House voted down an alternative spending bill, 174–235, Thursday night.

The RFK Stadium bill and the continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government through March was put in doubt after Musk uncorked a series of tweets about the size of the bill along with proclaiming a potential stadium for the Commanders in D.C. “should not be funded by your tax dollars!”

Ultimately, the RFK provision—which would let D.C. develop the land where the stadium is still being demolished—was removed from the most recent, slimmer funding bill.

Since it was introduced in the House in July 2023, the RFK Stadium bill has never had any funding attached to it. In fact, the version that exited the House Oversight Committee and was approved by a 348–55 vote in the GOP-controlled House in February already included language that guarded against the very thing Musk called out. “The District may not use federal funds for stadium purposes on the campus, including training facilities, offices, and other structures necessary to support a stadium,” the bill states.

Netflix will enter 2025 with a drastically bigger sports footprint than it entered 2024 with.

On Friday, the company announced it had reached an agreement with FIFA to stream the 2027 and 2031 Women’s World Cup.

The competition is the first one to be acquired in full by Netflix and will provide U.S. fans with access to every match in addition to studio shows. The deal also includes Puerto Rico, covers all languages and will include dual telecasts for both English and Spanish broadcasts in the country. Netflix also plans to produce documentaries that detail the lead-up to the World Cup, which will feature some of the world’s top players and explore the global growth of women’s soccer.

The deal ends a 12-year run for Fox, which held the English-language rights for the tournament since the 2015 Women’s World Cup. It will mark the first time that any World Cup matches, men’s or women’s, will be broadcast by a streaming service and not linear television.

“This is a landmark moment for sports media rights,” FIFA president Gianni Infantino said in the release. “As a marquee brand and FIFA’s new long-term partner, Netflix has shown a very strong level of commitment to grow women’s football.”

Professional sports figures across the country have become targets for home break-ins this fall.

The string of burglaries began in mid-September in Minnesota and has since expanded across the country. Burglars are most often planning attacks during games when they know athletes will be out of their homes. Many of the residences that were targeted did have alarm systems, but in most cases, they weren’t turned on.

“It’s clear there’s some organized fashion here that we hope that the FBI and the authorities can handle,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said last week.

Until Sunday, all the incidents had occurred in the Midwest. Two athletes have been hit in the Minneapolis area, which is having its own string of high-end home break-ins that included Twins owner Jim Pohlad’s mansion in October 2023. Also in 2023, Los Angeles Dodgers players Freddie Freeman and Max Muncy experienced home invasions.

U.S. District Judge Margaret M. Garnett, who in August granted FuboTV’s motion for a preliminary injunction to bar Walt Disney, ESPN, Fox, Warner Bros. Discovery and Hulu from moving forward with their sports-centric streaming platform dubbed Venu Sports, denied the defendants’ motions to dismiss the lawsuit on Monday.

The ruling, which followed the parties’ oral argument held before Garnett last Friday, was expected since Garnett previously expressed skepticism toward the defendants’ arguments when she issued the injunction. The parties have been ordered to complete fact discovery by March, and the case is currently scheduled for a three-to-four-week trial in the fall of 2025.

De’Vondre Campbell’s 49ers career is over—and likely at a discount cost.

The team is suspending Campbell for the final three games of the regular season after he refused to enter Thursday’s game against the Rams in the third quarter, according to multiple reports. Campbell had been the team’s starting linebacker all season but saw his role reduced after teammate Dre Greenlaw returned from a torn Achilles, which he suffered in February’s Super Bowl. His refusal to play will end up costing him more than $800,000.

The NCAA on Thursday scored a significant legal victory when the Supreme Court of Mississippi ruled for the association in a case brought by former Ole Miss assistant athletic director Barney Farrar that challenged the constitutionality of the NCAA’s sanctions against then-coach Hugh Freeze’s football program.

NCAA v. Farrar strengthens the NCAA’s longstanding legal position that, as a private membership organization where member schools and conferences voluntarily join, it has the contractual right to adopt and enforce compliance rules that govern the conduct of member institutions and their staff.

Brewers CEO Rick Schlesinger is optimistic that the district board will vote Wednesday to approve an amended ballpark lease that would keep the team in Milwaukee through 2050.

A year ago, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers signed a bill to provide $550M in public funds for future renovations at American Family Field over the next three decades. The amended ballpark lease will align with the already approved legislation, and include $110M in additional financial responsibilities by the Brewers.

A federal lawsuit accusing the American Hockey League and nine AHL teams of music theft is entirely off key, the AHL insists in a newly filed court document.

The AHL on Thursday answered a complaint brought in September by Associated Production Music (APM), a production music company with a catalog that includes the famed theme songs for Monday Night Football and The People’s Court and more than 650,000 other tracks. APM accuses the AHL and teams of using licensed songs without APM’s permission or paying for a license. The complaint cites more than 230 videos on team-affiliated Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and other social media platforms that allegedly use copyrighted songs.

Last Friday, Adidas filed an amended complaint against Aviator Nation and Mycoskie in an Oregon federal district court. Adidas and Aviator Nation have litigated for years and in this new filing, Adidas argues Aviator Nation has infringed on its trademarks by selling “sweatshirts, sweatpants, hoodies, shorts, and related apparel featuring parallel-stripe designs that are confusingly similar” to Adidas’s three-stripe mark. According to Adidas’ complaint, the two companies signed settlement agreements in 2012, 2013 and 2022. As Adidas tells it, Aviator Nation agreed to stop selling certain kinds of apparel that allegedly infringes the three-stripe mark.

Two U.S. senators sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department about concerns that DraftKings and FanDuel are conspiring to maintain a duopoly over the sports gambling and daily fantasy markets.

Senators Mike Lee (R., Utah) and Peter Welch (D., Vt.) penned a letter Thursday to FTC chair Lina Khan and assistant attorney general of the DOJ’s antitrust division Jonathan Kanter, which Lee posted to social media Friday. The letter says it “seems that FanDuel and DraftKings have arguably acted as one company” since the FTC, state of California, and Washington, D.C., sued in 2017 to block their merger attempt, and the companies called it off. The legislators ask the regulators to “undertake any investigative or enforcement actions necessary” to make sure the companies aren’t violating antitrust law outlined in the Sherman Act.

The Dodgers star, who is seeking baseball cards valued at more than $325,000 his former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara fraudulently purchased, will be getting them once Mizuhara is sentenced in January. Ohtani requested a hearing in California’s Central District court late last week as part of the restitution in the federal case against Mizuhara for stealing more than $17 million from Ohtani to pay off millions in sports gambling debts.

Once Mizuhara is sentenced, the government will move for an order “to reflect Ohtani’s superior interest in the property.”

The legal fight over ownership of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx likely won’t be resolved until January, at the earliest, according to multiple people familiar with the ongoing arbitration process.

The legal teams for current owner Glen Taylor and prospective buyers Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore are scheduled to answer final questions of clarification with the three-person arbitration panel in early January, said the people, who were granted anonymity because the matter is not public. The arbitrators are expected to finalize their opinions after those answers are provided.

A federal judge in Puerto Rico last week dismissed Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) claims, as well as tortious interference with a contract, abuse of process and breach of fiduciary duty claims under Puerto Rico law, against FIFA, which the Puerto Rico Soccer League (PRSL) accuses of illegally suppressing economic competition on the island.

But U.S. District Judge Raúl M. Arias-Marxuach denied FIFA’s motion to dismiss PRSL’s antitrust claim, meaning the case will remain in litigation and enter pretrial discovery where the parties will provide testimony and share evidence.

The fallout over Warner Bros. Discovery’s failure to retain its NBA broadcast rights has led to more litigation.

An investor lawsuit seeking class action status was filed in a New York federal court Monday, alleging WBD “made public misrepresentations or failed to disclose” the economic fallout of the NBA negotiations. WBD took a $9.1 billion write-down in value for TNT and other WBD cable channels after Amazon secured the “C” NBA package, leaving TNT without regular or postseason broadcast rights for the first time since the 1988–1989 season.

Los Angeles–based attorney Brian Schall wrote in the complaint that WBD’s “boilerplate risk warnings” were “not tailored to WBD’s actual known risks” of losing the NBA in violation of federal securities laws.

“As a result of defendants’ wrongful acts and omissions, and the precipitous decline

in the market value of the company’s securities, plaintiff and other class members have suffered significant losses and damages,” Schall wrote in the complaint. As of now, the lone plaintiff is Richard Collura. In addition to Warner Bros. Discovery, CEO David Zaslav and CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels are named as defendants.

If class action certification is granted, the lawsuit would cover investors who “purchased or otherwise acquired WBD securities” between Feb. 23 and Aug. 7 of this year. WBD stock slipped 11% during that period to $7.71. WBD stock has since recovered and traded above $10 over the last week.

A WBD spokesperson referred a Front Office Sports inquiry to the company’s sports division. WBD Sports has not responded to a request for comment on the lawsuit.

The NBA’s new 11-year, $77 billion domestic broadcast and streaming pact that begins next season was agreed to over the summer. Amazon will pay $1.8 billion per year for the “C” package. (WBD paid $1.2 billion annually under its current deal.) Disney’s ESPN secured the “A” package for $2.6 billion per year, and NBCUniversal is on the hook for $2.45 billion annually for the “B” package.

After WBD failed to retain broadcast rights for the NBA, the company sued the NBA in July. In the breach-of-contract lawsuit, WBD alleged the league didn’t provide it with a chance to match Amazon’s offer in violation of the current rights agreement between WBD and the NBA.

That lawsuit was settled earlier this month. As part of the settlement, WBD will have rights to NBA highlights as well as the ability to broadcast some NBA games internationally.

Separately, WBD and ESPN agreed on a deal to license TNT’s Inside the NBA. The popular show featuring Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith, and Ernie Johnson will air regularly on ESPN and ABC starting next season.

Tyreek Hill’s traffic citations from a viral arrest in September were quietly dropped Tuesday after the officers failed to appear in court.

His lawyer says, though, that Hill is still seeking more documentation before proceeding with a planned lawsuit.

The officers who issued the citations against the Dolphins star wide receiver, in what became a viral moment before the team’s September season-opener, failed to appear in court Monday, which led to their dismissal. Hill was ticketed for careless driving and failing to wear a seat belt on his way to the stadium. The stop escalated after police pulled Hill from his car, forced him to the ground and handcuffed him, all while he was on the phone with team security.

“Where all the internet cops now,” Hill wrote Tuesday.

Miami-Dade’s police department told Front Office Sports that the officers failing to appear in court was not planned, and was an “oversight.”

“The Miami-Dade Police Department is aware that a docket of citations issued to multiple individuals including the non-criminal citations issued to Mr. Tyreek Hill have been dismissed because the officer did not attend the hearing,” the department said in a statement to FOS. “A citation dismissed due to this reason does not indicate that the citation held no merit. An internal review as to why the officer did not appear in court has revealed an oversight on his behalf. This matter will be handled administratively.”

Danny Torres, the officer who pulled Hill from his car and forcibly handcuffed him, was placed on administrative leave shortly after the video went viral.

Stephanie Daniels, Miami-Dade PD’s director, announced an internal investigation to review the incident, the day it occurred.

“I’m committed to transparency and accountability to the community with any situation involving my officers,” Daniels said in a statement. No outcome of the investigation has been released yet.

Hill had previously called for Torres to be fired.

“Each action that a law enforcement official takes is governed by standard operating procedures,” Hill said in a statement two days after the arrest. “We are of the opinion that the officer’s use of force was excessive, escalating, and reckless. We are demanding that the officer be terminated effective immediately.”

Hill’s attorney, Julius Collins, told FOS the Dolphins star still plans to pursue legal action against the department.

“We are still waiting for additional documentation from MDPD and information from internal affairs from their investigation before we proceed with legal action,” Collins said.

“As anticipated, the traffic citations against Tyreek Hill were dismissed,” Collins said Tuesday in a statement with fellow attorneys Devon Jacob, Stephen Kelly, and Jeffrey Neiman. “Police officers should not issue citations unless they are willing to testify in court, under oath, with respect to same. Officer Torres and [Manuel] Batista’s absence from court today evidences their knowledge of wrongdoing. These officers should be disciplined for their failure to appear. Mr. Hill was entitled to have his day in court and the officers failed to appear.”

Video from the incident shows officers dramatically escalating the traffic stop. After pulling over Hill for allegedly speeding, officers pulled him out of the car. They then shoved him to the ground, placed a knee on his back, and later put in a bar hold. The video also shows an officer threatening to break Hill’s car windows if he didn’t get out of the car.

“The events that occurred on Sunday, September 8, 2024, are just a reminder of the realities of the many injustices that people of black and minority communities face at the hands of law enforcement,” Collins said in a joint statement with Hill days after the incident. “While we are in no way accusing the officer of being racist, we are accusing the customs and practices of law enforcement from a historical standpoint of being discriminatory and oppressive to black and minority communities. We cannot ignore this fact and remain silent on the issue just because it’s a tough conversation.”

“If I wasn’t Tyreek Hill, worst-case scenario, we would have had a different article — ‘Tyreek Hill got shot in front of Hard Rock Stadium,’” Hill said the day of the incident. “That’s worst-case scenario. Or ‘Tyreek Hill put in handcuffs and taken in and booked.’”

The Dolphins called Miami-Dade’s police’s treatment of Hill “overly aggressive and violent conduct” in its statement after the incident while adding the organization has “a strong and positive relationship” with the police department.

“Everyone is behind Tyreek,” Drew Rosenhaus, Hill’s agent told Dan Le Batard days after the detainment.

Rosenhaus previously told FOS in an email, “We are working with the Dolphins to reach out to local enforcement leaders to set up a discussion with Tyreek and other Dolphin players.” Collins said a discussion did eventually take place.

What would a PGA Tour vs. LIV Golf battle be without a little cash up for grabs? Actually, a lot of cash.

Next month’s made-for-TV team golf match in Las Vegas will see Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler compete against Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka for a purse of at least $10 million, Front Office Sports has learned. And the purse will be paid in crypto.

On Tuesday, a new title sponsor was announced that will see the event officially named the Crypto.com Showdown. The announcement said the match would feature “a multimillion-dollar purse to be paid in CRO cryptocurrency,” which is the native token of the Cronos blockchain created by Crypto.com.

A spokesperson told FOS it is an eight-figure purse, but would not share details about exactly how it will be distributed among the winning and losing teams.

A figure of at least $10 million makes the prize money for the four-player event larger than most standard tournaments on the PGA Tour (outside of major championships and signature events), which typically range from roughly $8 million to $9 million, with winners taking home first-place checks of more than $1 million.

When U.S. District Judge Frank D. Whitney denied a motion for a preliminary injunction sought by Michael Jordan-owned 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports in their antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR earlier this month, the judge explained that Jordan’s group failed to establish what specific harm or harms would occur without an injunction.

The Rays have suffered yet another serious hit to their hopes of building a $1.3 billion ballpark and staying in the Tampa area, as the St. Petersburg, Fla., city council voted Thursday to delay issuing bonds funding part of the construction. But it’s the team itself that likely has rendered the largest amount of damage to the pursuit.

The decision by a 5–2 margin puts on hold $287.5 million of bonds—nearly half of the planned public-sector contribution toward the new stadium. The council also approved and then later rescinded its approval of $23.7 million in appropriations for repairs to the Tropicana Field roof, which suffered major damage last month from Hurricane Milton and represents the largest and most critical part of an estimated $55.7 million bill for initial stadium restoration.

The city vote on the bonds for the new ballpark closely followed and mirrored Tuesday’s move by the Pinellas County commission to delay for a second time its consideration to issue bonds supplying another $312.5 million toward the stadium. Like the county’s consideration, city leaders are grappling with using taxpayer funds for a new stadium during a time of extreme local need because of the storm.

“I need to know more. There’s too much that’s vague with our infrastructure needs,” said city council member Gina Driscoll.

A case that threatened to upend the marketplace for college sports apparel ended Tuesday when a federal jury in Pennsylvania ruled in favor of Penn State in its lawsuit against online retailer Vintage Brand.

Penn State proved that Vintage Brand, which sells vintage T-shirts, throwback hats, retro tees, socks, magnets, koozies, mugs, cutting boards and similar products associated with sports teams, infringed PSU’s trademarks by selling products bearing the school’s imagery without permission. The jury awarded Penn State $28,000 in damages, but the verdict’s real value is in a judicial finding that infringement occurred. That finding upholds a longstanding relationship between trademark law and college sports merchandise.

Penn State sued in 2021, noting that Vintage openly sells products that “free ride” off the university’s fame by using logos and imagery. Consumers may have wrongly believed they found a licensed seller for products that Penn State sells. The products at issue were sold from 2018 to 2021 and, according to Vintage, generated less than $25,000 in revenue.

Penn State v. Vintage Brands has been a focal point of attention among intellectual property law professors over the last few years. Of particular interest has been Vintage’s defense and how it could disrupt conventional understanding of trademark law.

Vintage unsuccessfully argued that its use of historic images—which Vintage argued are already in the public domain as documented history—ought to be viewed as lawful under trademark law. The company, which stressed it used a disclaimer to tell consumers that its products were not licensed by Penn State, noted that a trademark is not intended to serve as an ornamental or decorative feature. A trademark should instead identify the source of a good and distinguish it from other goods. As applied here, consumers might not believe that Vintage products using imagery from Penn State’s storied athletic history were made or authorized by Penn State. Instead, the use is merely ornamental or decorative.

Had that defense prevailed, it would have provided more confidence to Vintage and other online retailers that draw from the historical accomplishments of college athletics programs in designing and selling vintage products. Penn State is not alone in suing Vintage. Purdue, Arizona, Arizona State, Cal Berkeley, UCLA, Colorado, Oregon, Oregon State, USC, Stanford, Utah, Washington and Washington State have also filed suit. They have raised essentially the same set of arguments and complain that unauthorized use undermines their sales. Unauthorized sales also diminish the value of licenses colleges sell to apparel and merchandise companies that produce jerseys, collectibles and other products.

Vintage can appeal the ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Although the ruling is also not binding precedent on cases in other federal districts, it is a victory for colleges and their official licensees.

Bryce Underwood became the second five-star quarterback to flip his commitment this week, spurning LSU for his hometown Michigan Wolverines on Thursday.

Before Underwood officially flipped, reports were swirling that Michigan was preparing a massive offer. On3 reported last week that Michigan offered Underwood $10.5 million over four years, while ESPN Louisiana radio host Matt Moscona said Thursday the figure reached $12 million.

Underwood is the No. 1 recruit in the nation for the 2025 class, according to ESPN’s rankings. He hails from Belleville, Mich., just a half hour’s drive from the Wolverines’ campus in Ann Arbor. Coincidentally, former Wolverines staffer Connor Stalions is an assistant coach at Belleville High School. Stalions infamously was at the center of Michigan’s sign-stealing scandal during its 2023 national championship season.

Regardless, it appears the figure was several multiples of LSU’s offer. The Tigers offered Underwood around $1.5 million per year, according to the multiple reports. Had Underwood stuck with his commitment, he would have been LSU’s highest-paid player, according to The Advocate.

Underwood’s flip came a day after Julian Lewis, who is ranked right behind Underwood in ESPN’s rankings, committed to Colorado days after backing off his pledge to USC.

This summer, Jalen Brunson essentially gave the Knicks a nine-figure discount by agreeing to a four-year, $156 million extension instead of waiting a year to sign a five-year, $270 million deal. In the same offseason, the team promoted Jalen’s father, Rick, a longtime NBA coach, to its lead assistant role after Johnnie Bryant left for the Cavaliers.

The NBA is apparently investigating whether Rick Brunson’s promotion was an illegal benefit to the Brunson family, and the Knicks took that personally. Before any story was even published, MSG Sports issued a statement Monday night.

The RFK Stadium bill advanced out of a Senate committee Tuesday, leaving one more significant step before it heads to President Joe Biden’s desk.

The legislation—which would make D.C. a player for the next home for a new Commanders stadium—passed the Energy and Natural Resources Committee by a 17-2 margin after Sen. Steve Daines (R., Mont.) backed off his opposition to the legislation that would give D.C. control of the federally controlled land where the team played for decades. That leaves about a month before Congress is expected to adjourn on Dec. 20—the deadline to pass legislation to avoid a government shutdown—to get the bill through the Senate.

A group of business executives with ties to the state of New York have a deal in place to buy 10.6% of the Bills alongside Arctos Partners, sources said, which will take 10% of the team if NFL owners approve the deal as expected.

Both the Bills’ proposed transaction and the Dolphins’ plans to sell 10% to Ares Management -- the first two deals permitted under the NFL’s new policy allowing institutional investment in teams -- are on the agenda for Tuesday’s NFL finance committee meeting, indicating a high probability of winning final approval from owners in December.

Angel City FC and NYX Professional Makeup reached a multiyear deal to showcase the makeup brand on the sleeve of the home and away jerseys of the NWSL club starting with the 2025 season.

NYX replaces women’s footwear company Birdies, which had been the sleeve partner since Angel City’s started play as an expansion team in 2022. Financial details were not disclosed.

An ongoing dispute between a former Suns employee and the team has made its way to court.

Andrea Trischan, the team’s former program manager of diversity, equity, and inclusion for 10 months between September 2022 and July 2023, is suing the organization alleging harassment, racial discrimination, retaliation and wrongful termination. In the lawsuit, she also alleges financial misconduct, sexual misconduct, and racial discrimination by current and past team executives.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Phoenix. The suit, which was reviewed by Front Office Sports, is asking for unspecified damages and a jury trial. A Suns spokesperson told ESPN that Trischan is seeking $60 million. A Suns spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Sheree Wright, Trischan’s attorney, also did not respond to a request for comment.

Trischan joined the organization in 2022, just days after an ESPN story detailed a toxic workplace environment in the team offices, which started with former owner Robert Sarver. The report detailed instances of Sarver using racially insensitive language around employees, misogynistic behavior, and included a story of him pantsing an employee. In September 2022, the NBA suspended Sarver for one year after its own investigation and fined him $10 million. Sarver sold the team to mortgage lending tycoon Mat Ishbia for $4 billion in February 2023.

In her role, Trischan was supposed to help address the workplace issues the ESPN report highlighted under Sarver, one of which was an NBA requirement that the team improve its diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, the lawsuit states.

A federal lawsuit filed against the Mountain West Conference, league commissioner Gloria Nevarez, and others over a purported transgender volleyball player at San Jose State could impact the conference’s upcoming postseason tournament.

A dozen women—including SJSU assistant coach Melissa Batie-Smoose and co-captain Brooke Slusser—requested an injunction as part of the lawsuit filed in a Colorado federal court Wednesday to prevent the player’s participation in the MWC championships. The plaintiffs also seek an injunction that would restrain the MWC from using the current standings—which includes SJSU’s forfeited wins attained after Boise State, Wyoming, the University of Nevada-Reno, and Utah State refused to play the Spartans—to determine the six-team tournament that begins Nov. 27.

The lawsuit named the purported trans player, but the athlete in question has never publicly discussed their gender identity. The university has never said the athlete is transgender. Batie-Smoose has been suspended indefinitely by SJSU, according to the lawsuit.

“This lawsuit is an extremist attack that weaponizes and distorts the language of women’s rights to justify discrimination and bigotry,” Shiwali Patel, senior director of safe and inclusive schools for the National Women’s Law Center, said in a statement to Front Office Sports. “These anti-trans extremists are relying on disinformation and attempting to misuse civil rights laws to force illegal discrimination against women and girls who don’t conform to their stereotypes, in ways that would violate Title IX and the Constitution, and also reinforce anti-LGBTQI+ stigma and bigotry in our society.”

The attorney for the athletes suing the Mountain West said that the women’s First Amendment rights were being violated.

“Recently, the MWC, SJSU, and the other defendants have collectively manipulated MWC rules, diminished sport opportunities for women, spread inaccurate information, used their positions to chill and suppress speech with which they disagree, and punished dozens of female collegiate volleyball student-athletes for taking a public stand for their right to compete in a separate sports category, all in a concerted effort to stamp out debate over women’s rights in sport,” William Bock wrote in the civil complaint.

or more than 50 years, schools have been required to provide equal opportunities to women’s sports athletes thanks to a law called Title IX. Enacted in 1972, it prohibits any school (including universities) receiving federal funding from engaging in discrimination on the basis of sex. It requires educational opportunities to be equitable across genders, and has been interpreted to adjudicate sexual misconduct claims in an academic setting.

Title IX isn’t foolproof, but it’s had a major impact on the sports world. It’s given hundreds of thousands of athletes opportunities and created a robust women’s sports pipeline serving as the bedrock for professional women’s sports leagues, as well as Team USA

But under President-elect Donald Trump, that could change.

Trump wants to eliminate the Department of Education, which enforces Title IX. His policies could weaken the federal government’s ability to ensure equal opportunities and resources for sports participation, slowing the progress of women’s sports, experts tell Front Office Sports.

Trump has also said he wants to ban transgender athletes from playing women’s sports. Reinterpreting or even rewriting Title IX could be a way for his administration to achieve this goal.

The coalition of St. Louis and Kansas City pro teams that spearheaded a ballot referendum to legalize sports betting in Missouri saw it narrowly pass last week, though with a framework that could drastically diminish the value of the licenses they secured as part of it.

Missouri gambling regulators will offer online and retail sportsbook licenses to six major pro sports franchises, as well as each of 13 casino locations across the state. It also will allow “untethered” online-only licenses to two operators that choose to enter the state without striking a market access deal with a team or casino.

After nearly two years of turbulence and many pronouncements of its impending demise, this is the week when Diamond Sports Group finally learns whether it will become a viable company once again.

The regional sports network operator is scheduled to go before a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge in a hearing starting Thursday to determine whether its reorganization plan can be confirmed. If the plan is approved, the FanDuel Sports Network parent will have a new lease on life, marking a major turnaround after first filing for bankruptcy in March 2023.

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry on Monday defended his push to add a live tiger to the sideline of LSU football games and brushed aside the concerns of animal rights groups.

This past weekend, at Landry’s behest, LSU brought a tiger named Omar Bradley to its stadium for a game against Alabama, despite the animal’s handler facing federal scrutiny. PETA has accused the caretaker, Mitchel Kalmanson, of not meeting the standards of the Animal Welfare Act, and published federal citations given to Kalmanson including a lack of proper documentation for animals, insufficient protections during events, and animal abuse and neglect.

Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel is leading a buyout of his company’s sports betting assets—IMG Arena and OpenBet—for $450 million.

The sports and entertainment giant, which is in the process of being taken private, announced Monday afternoon that it had reached an agreement to sell the two assets to OB Global Holdings LLC, which is backed by Emanuel. A number of OpenBet executives, including CEO Jordan Levin, are participating as well.

Endeavor bought OpenBet in 2022 for $800 million ($750 million in cash and $50 million in stock)

Penn Entertainment met expectations in the third quarter—but the next few months are a critical period for the success of its sports betting partnership with ESPN.

The company reported Q3 2024 revenues of $1.64 billion, about a 1.2% increase from the same period in 2023, and nearly in line with Wall Street’s $1.66 billion projection. The company’s stock was up 5.15% at the closing bell Thursday.

Penn’s interactive segment, driven by ESPN Bet, recorded $244.6 million in revenues, up 24.6% compared to the same period last year, but also nearly doubled its EBITDAR loss in the segment to $90.9 million.

Revenue growth was driven by the sportsbook’s growing user base. Penn reported 3.9 million digital users, an 85% increase in the last year, and a No. 3 ranking among all sportsbooks in weekly active users, behind the two sports betting giants, FanDuel and DraftKings. ESPN Bet also launched in New York in September, the company’s 19th state.

“Prior to the start of football season, we released several product enhancements and ESPN integrations to our ESPN Bet offering. These product improvements helped contribute to a higher parlay mix and sportsbook hold during the third quarter,” Penn CEO Jay Snowden said.

Florida gifted Billy Napier some job security.

Athletic director Scott Stricklin posted a statement Thursday morning supporting Napier, who has a 15–18 record coaching the Gators over the last three seasons. The team is currently 4–4 on the year and 2–3 in the SEC, most recently losing 34–20 on Saturday to rival Georgia, currently ranked No. 2 in the nation.

Stricklin referenced “times of change across college athletics,” and wants Napier at the helm as the landscape “evolves,” he wrote. “I am confident that Billy will meet the challenges and opportunities ahead. We will work alongside him to support any changes needed to elevate Gator football.”

The school is—at least temporarily—shutting down questions by placing trust in Napier, as midseason firings in college football and the NFL have skyrocketed in recent years. But it’s also a financial decision. If fired, Napier’s buyout would be more than $26 million, which would make it the second-largest buyout in college football history. His contract with Florida runs until Jan. 31, 2029, and he’s guaranteed 85% of the remaining amount on his deal if fired.

Florida has some of the highest revenues in all of college athletics, but a potential Napier buyout could be the least of their concerns. It’s possible that power conference schools will start paying athletes directly as early as next year as part of the House v. NCAA settlement, which outlined revenue-sharing payments of about $20 million every year—though it’s unclear how the money would be distributed among athletes. Still, that could factor into Florida’s decision not to pay Napier’s buyout in addition to the cost of hiring his replacement.

University of Texas forward Trinity Byars signed with the San Diego Wave, the club announced Thursday. What would normally be a routine line on the transaction wire marked a historic moment: Byars is the first player to choose her pro team directly out of the college system without a draft in the way.

The NWSL and its players’ union agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement in August that abolished its draft, making all amateur players true free agents.

In addition to scrapping entry and expansion drafts, the new CBA banned trades without player consent, added charter flights, increased player salaries, guaranteed all contracts, made all current players free agents at the end of their contracts, and introduced revenue sharing. The current average salary of $56,000 will land roughly between $135,000 and $159,000 next season, and grow both with the introduction of revenue sharing and as the deal progresses. Parts of the deal—which runs through 2030—began July 11, while the rest kicks in Jan. 1, 2025.

In August, NWSL Players Association president Tori Huster told Front Office Sports that taking away the draft removes some of “the anxiety that comes along with not knowing where you’re going to land.”

NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman said in August that removing drafts helps the league “align with global standards and achieve long-term labor peace.” The 2026 expansion team in Boston—which botched its brand rollout so badly the club had to issue an apology—will be allowed to sign only free agents. Those discussions can begin six months before their existing deal ends.