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Sports Biz: Caps, Wizards to Stay in DC

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WASH DC – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – After exploring the possibility of relocation to Virginia, the Wizards and Capitals will be staying in Washington until 2050.

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Washington mayor Muriel E. Bowser and Ted Leonsis, who owns both franchises, signed a deal on Wednesday that would keep the Wizards and Capitals in town as long as the D.C. Council approves it.

Per the deal, the city will put $515 million into Capital One Arena — the home of both the Wizards and Capitals — over the next three years. Because of those renovations, Leonsis will sign a new lease that runs from 2025-50.

“We are the current home and the future home of the Washington Capitals and Washington Wizards,” Bowser said. “As Ted likes to say, we’re going to be together for a long time.”

Leonsis’ company, Monumental Sports & Entertainment, will also have the ability to expand throughout the city under the new deal.

Just three months ago, Leonsis had a handshake agreement with Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) in place for the construction of a new arena in Alexandria, Va. It would have been built in the Potomac Yard neighborhood of town as part of a $2.2 billion mixed-use development.

But Bowser and the DC Council then made moves that caught Leonsis’ eye, including the passage of a new crime bill and a plan to make downtown more vibrant, causing the owner to switch gears.

“It’s a great day, and I’m really relieved,” Leonsis said Wednesday. “This was not only the right thing for the community, the right thing for the city, the right thing for us, it’s a really smart business deal.”

–Field Level Media

Sports Illustrated Back in Biz

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LONDON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Sports Illustrated will resume publishing after its owner reached a new rights deal with digital media company Minute Media.

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Monday’s announcement comes nearly two months after owner Authentic Brands terminated its publishing deal with The Arena Group, which led to mass layoffs at the venerable sports magazine.

Minute Media, best known for its sports sites The Players’ Tribune and FanSided, said it reached a long-term partnership with Authentic Brands to “usher in the future of the SI brand.”

“Sports Illustrated is the gold standard for sports journalism and has been for nearly 70 years across both print and digital media. The weight and power of that distinction cannot be understated. At Minute Media, our focus will be to take that legacy into new, emerging channels enhancing visibility, commercial viability and sustainable impact, all while ensuring that the SI team is inspired to flourish in this new era of media,” Minute Media founder and CEO Asaf Peled said in a statement.

Authentic split with The Arena Group in late January after the latter missed a payment for licensing rights.

As part of the deal, Authentic will also acquire an equity stake in Minute Media.

–Field Level Media

O’s Owner Angelos, 94

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BALTIMORE – (Wire Service Report) – Longtime Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos died Saturday at the age of 94, the team announced.

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“Mr. Angelos had been ill for several years, and the family thanks the doctors, nurses, and caregivers who brought comfort to him in his final years,” the Angelos family said in a statement. “It was Mr. Angelos’ wish to have a private burial, and the family asks for understanding as they honor that request. Donations may be sent to charity in lieu of flowers.”

A successful trial attorney who made his fortune in class-action lawsuits, Angelos led a group of investors that purchased his hometown Orioles from Eli Jacobs for a then-record $173 million in October 1993.

In January, the Angelos family agreed to sell controlling interest in the team to a group led by billionaire David Rubenstein — and including Orioles legend Cal Ripken Jr. — for a reported $1.725 billion.

The Orioles, who have not been to the World Series since winning it in 1983, are coming off the winningest season (101-61) in Angelos’ tenure with the team. Baltimore made the playoffs six times in that span (1996, 1997, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2023).

–Field Level Media

MLB Investigating Ohtani & Interpreter

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NEW YORK – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Major League Baseball announced Friday that it has opened an investigation into the allegations involving Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara.

Two days after the Dodgers fired Mizuhara, the league said it has been gathering information about the incident. Mizuhara was accused of “massive theft” on Wednesday by Ohtani’s lawyers after it was learned that at least $4.5 million of Ohtani’s money had been sent through wire transfers to a bookmaking operation under federal investigation.

According to ESPN, MLB is expected to request interviews with everyone involved in the matter, including Ohtani and Mizuhara. But the league has no way to compel Mizuhara to speak since he’s no longer employed by a team.

Ohtani also has the right to refuse to speak with the league as a member of the MLB Players Association, and he may do so because of the ongoing criminal investigation.

When news first broke of the wire transfers, Ohtani’s lawyers said the Dodgers slugger had paid Mizuhara’s gambling debts but then accused him of making those transfers without Ohtani’s knowledge.

The IRS said Thursday that Mizuhara and the alleged illegal bookmaker, Mathew Bowyer, are being investigated by the agency’s Los Angeles field office.

Mizuhara has been interpreting for Ohtani since the two-way superstar debuted with the Los Angeles Angels in 2017.

Ohtani signed a record-setting 10-year, $700 million with the Dodgers in December after batting .304 with an American League-leading 44 homers and 95 RBIs in 2023, when he earned his second AL MVP.

–Field Level Media

Philly’s Jensen Honored by USBWA

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INDIANAPOLIS – (Staff Report from Official News Release) – The U.S. Basketball Writers Association honored Mike Jensen, longtime college basketball writer and columnist for the Phildelphia Inquirer, as winner of the Jim O’Connell Award for excellence in beat reporting. Jensen will be recognized April 8 at the association’s annual awards luncheon in Glendale, Arizona, site of the Men’s Final Four.

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Originally from Peekskill, N.Y., Jensen covered basketball for the Philadelphia Inquirer for 35 years, first on the high school beat, then colleges for 30 years as a beat writer and then a columnist. His 2017 Year of Philly Hoops Inquirer series spanned 55 parts with roughly 2,000 words appearing every Sunday in the Inquirer. He left the paper at the end of 2023 and now is writing a book on Philadelphia basketball.

“I’m way beyond honored by this,” Jensen said. “Jim O’Connell was a special man and a guiding light for how to conduct yourself in this business, in addition to being one of the funnier people on the planet.”

Jensen, a Vanderbilt graduate, won first-place Eclipse Awards for best enterprise or feature story in 2004 and ’06 for the sport of horse racing in a newspaper or magazine. He also covered soccer for the paper from 1989-2002, traveling to nine countries on five continents. Jensen recalls his best assignment, covering Temple under John Chaney for nine seasons, calling it “stealing money.”

“Mike is an original,” said USBWA President Brendan Quinn of The Athletic. “He arrived in Philadelphia as an outsider and ended up as a definitive voice on the city’s most parochial sport. No small task. Mike’s career combined dogged reporting with incredible writing and a high-level understanding of the game. He’s not only one of the best in the business, but also a better friend.”

The USBWA has annually recognized exemplary beat reporting each year since 2020 in the name of the late legendary Associated Press writer Jim O’Connell. The award is part of the association’s annual Best Writing Contest. Affectionately known as “Oc,” O’Connell was a USBWA president, is a member of the USBWA Hall of Fame and earned the Curt Gowdy Print Media Award, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame’s award given to media.

O’Connell served as the AP’s national college basketball writer from 1987 until shortly before his passing in 2018. He was a fixture at all the sport’s major events, from the Final Four to the Big East Tournament to the Maui Invitational. He covered eight Olympics and worked as a desk supervisor, overseeing the entire sports operation for the world’s largest news-gathering organization.

Jensen joins a list of other outstanding writers as a winner of this award that includes the late Terry Hutchens, Mike Waters, Emily Giambalvo and Geoff Grammer.

The U.S. Basketball Writers Association was formed in 1956 at the urging of then-NCAA Executive Director Walter Byers. With some 900 members worldwide, it is one of the most influential organizations in college basketball. It has selected an All-America team since the 1956-57 season. For more information on the USBWA and its award programs, contact executive director Malcolm Moran at 814-574-1485.

USBWA JIM O’CONNELL AWARD WINNERS
2020: Terry Hutchens
2021: Mike Waters
2022: Emily Giambalvo
2023: Geoff Grammer
2024: Mike Jensen

Sports Biz: FOX Friday Night Football

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NEW YORK – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Fox will broadcast a Friday college football game every week of the 2024 season, The Athletic and Sports Business Journal reported.

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College football’s TV schedule will not be ironed out until May, but the games eligible for the Friday night treatment will feature teams from the Big Ten, Big 12 and Mountain West conferences.

Once reserved for high schools, Friday night football is not new to the Big Ten, which started putting select games on Friday nights in 2017. The Big Ten Network and Fox Sports 1 (FS1) have carried those games in the past.

Now, games will be carried on Fox each week in the run-up to the network’s “Big Noon Saturday,” its weekly show that competes with ESPN’s “College GameDay” and highlights its best game of the week.

The college football games will fill an empty window after Fox did not renew its agreement for WWE’s “Friday Night Smackdown.”

–Field Level Media

SUPER LVIII: Most Watched in History

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LAS VEGAS – (Wire Service Report) – The Kansas City Chiefs’ overtime victory over the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday was the most-watched television program in U.S. history, according to preliminary data released by Nielsen and CBS on Monday.

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According to CBS, which broadcast the game, the Super Bowl averaged 123.4 million viewers across all platforms, breaking the mark of 115.1 million set during last year’s Super Bowl between the Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles.

CBS added that 202.4 million viewers watched at least part of the game, breaking the record of 184 million (also set last Super Bowl).

Though Nielsen’s final data will be released Tuesday, Monday’s figures made it clear the game was smash hit for CBS and the NFL. The 120 million viewers who watched the game on CBS was a single-network record. The Paramount+ audience made it the most-streamed Super Bowl, as well, CBS claimed.

The total of 123.4 million also includes viewers of simulcasts on Nickelodeon, Univision, Paramount+, NFL+ and other NFL digital properties.

While the game going to overtime played a role in audience retention, several storylines had much of the country buzzing long before kickoff.

The win was the Chiefs’ third in five seasons, placing quarterback Patrick Mahomes and coach Andy Reid among rare NFL royalty. Mahomes joined Tom Brady and Joe Montana as the only players with at least three Super Bowl MVPs, and Reid became the fifth coach with at least three Super Bowl wins as a head coach.

Las Vegas hosted the Super Bowl for the first time, with Usher performing at halftime. And the game marked the season’s culmination of the Taylor Swift-NFL juggernaut, as the superstar was in attendance to watch her boyfriend, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, catch nine passes for 93 yards for his third Super Bowl win.

Up next is Super Bowl LIX, scheduled for Feb. 9, 2025, at the Superdome in New Orleans. Fox will broadcast that game.

–Field Level Media

Caps’ and Wizards’ Move Met with Resistance from Virginia Reps

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ALEXANDRIA – (Wire Service Report) – A Virginia state senator does not want Washington Wizards and Capitals owner Ted Leonsis to use taxpayer money to build a new entertainment district in the suburb of Alexandria, Va.

Sen. Louise Lucas, a Democrat who is the chairwoman of Virginia’s senate finance committee, told reporters Monday a bill that would pave the way to move the NBA and NHL franchises from Washington to Alexandria is dead in her eyes.

“I will not allow a billionaire to build his company’s wealth on a taxpayer’s dime,” Lucas said, saying Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s “refusal to negotiate” left her to block the bill.

While Lucas declared the Senate bill dead after rejecting discussion of it at a meeting Monday, there is also a version of the legislation in the House of Delegates that passed through the house appropriations committee last week.

In December, Youngkin and Leonsis announced an agreement to move the Wizards and Capitals to a new $2 billion sports complex in Alexandria by 2028. The teams currently play in downtown Washington at Capital One Arena.

Underpinning the proposed move is legislation that would issue more than $1 billion in moral obligation bonds to build the complex. Virginia taxpayers would be on the hook if the site did not meet its revenue projections.

A spokeswoman for Monumental Sports and Entertainment, the Wizards’ and Capitals’ parent company, told reporters Monday that moving the teams to Virginia remains their “only” plan even after the District of Columbia offered $500 million for renovations at Capital One Arena.

Mayor Muriel Bowser said in a Washington Post op-ed Sunday that D.C. plans to require the Wizards and Capitals to play at the arena through 2047, per the terms of their lease. December’s announcement was also met with outrage from local sports fans who want the teams to stay put.

–Field Level Media

Goodell Welcomed Swiftie Effect

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LAS VEGAS – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has attended two Taylor Swift concerts with his two daughters and his wife, but chances are, he never thought his status as a “Swiftie” would bleed over into the workplace.

But it has.

Swift has taken the NFL world by storm due to her relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, and Goodell had nothing but good things to say on Monday about the couple’s impact on football.

“Having the ‘Taylor Swift effect’ is also a positive,” Goodell told reporters. “Both Travis and Taylor are wonderful young people, and they seem very happy. She knows great entertainment, and I think that’s why she loves NFL football.

“Obviously, it creates a buzz. It creates another group of young fans, particularly young women, that are interested in seeing why she is going to this game, why she is interested in this game. Besides (her relationship with) Travis, she is a football fan, and I think that’s great for us.”

Kansas City beat the Baltimore Ravens 17-10 in the AFC Championship Game on Jan. 28, leading some fans to believe that the outcome was pre-planned in order to have Swift draw more viewers for the Super Bowl. The 14-time Grammy Award winner is expected to be in attendance when the Chiefs take on the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, but Goodell made it clear that he is far from capable of cooking up such a storyline.

“I don’t think I’m that good of a scripter — or anybody on our staff,” Goodell said. “Listen, there is no way I could have scripted that one, let’s put it that way.”

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Swift has been spotted at 12 of Kelce’s games this season, with Kansas City coming out on top in nine of them. She first attended the Chiefs’ 41-10 victory over the Chicago Bears back on Sept. 24.

Of course, there has been some backlash from the NFL’s focus on Swift over the past five months, but Goodell is hoping that she sticks around.

“I think anybody in this society, when they’re in a public position, (is) going to be subject to criticism,” Goodell said. “Taylor is obviously a dynamo. Everything she touches, there are people following. So we count ourselves fortunate and we welcome it.”

–Field Level Media

Sports Law: Porter Reaches Plea Deal

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NEW YORK – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Former Houston Rockets guard Kevin Porter Jr. reached a plea deal Tuesday in his New York assault case involving former girlfriend and WNBA guard Kysre Gondrezick.

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Porter, 23, pleaded guilty in a Manhattan court to charges of reckless assault in the third degree and harassment in the second degree.

According to his attorneys, he will be able to withdraw the plea following the completion of a 26-week counseling program.

Porter was arrested at a New York City hotel on Sept. 11 after police initially said he fractured one of Gondrezick’s neck vertebrae in an alleged attack. Prosecutors later dropped one of his assault charges after finding insufficient evidence that Porter injured her neck.

Gondrezick told the New York Post in October that Porter “didn’t hit me.”

“The resolution will allow Mr. Porter to put this incident, which involved false felony allegations and false facts, behind him with no criminal record and move forward,” Porter’s lawyers said in a statement on Tuesday.

The Rockets traded Porter to Oklahoma City on Oct. 17 and the Thunder waived him the next day.

Porter averaged 19.2 points, 5.7 assists and 5.3 rebounds in 59 games (all starts) for the Rockets in 2022-23.

The 2019 first-round draft pick has career averages of 15.3 points, 5.0 assists and 4.3 rebounds in 196 games (146 starts) with the Cleveland Cavaliers (2019-20) and Rockets.

–Field Level Media