Go to Source Author: David Rumsey Lionel Messi’s sensational debut at Inter Miami has the MLS club pushing for its long-awaited $1 billion stadium project.Miami Freedom Park — a 131-acre development built around a $350 million soccer-specific stadium — is now scheduled to open in 2025. Messi is signed with Inter Miami through that year, when he will turn 38. During Miami’s nine-game win streak since Messi’s arrival, its four home matches have been played at the 21,000-seat DRV PNK Stadium. The new venue at Miami Freedom Park will have a slightly larger capacity of 25,000.It’s unclear if the new stadium will be open in time for the start of the 2025 MLS season, which will likely begin in late February. Construction has

Go to Source Author: David Rumsey The 2023 U.S. Open will look to break another attendance record after drawing 776,120 fans in 2022 — the most ever for the main draw of the event.Despite full capacity in 2021, that pandemic-affected edition didn’t break the previous record set in 2019, and fans weren’t allowed in 2020. Although last year’s U.S. Open attendance was higher than this year’s Wimbledon and the French Open, it was lower than the 2023 Australian Open’s draw, which was nearly 840,000.Ticket revenue brought in $167.4 million for the USTA in 2022, according to the organization’s financial report. The majority of that figure comes from the U.S. Open but also includes ticket sales from the 2022 Western & Southern Open

Go to Source Author: A.J. Perez Brett Favre is joining Jason Whitlock’s weekly show on conservative media outlet The Blaze, but don’t expect to hear the three-time NFL MVP’s thoughts on the Mississippi welfare scandal. Favre remains under a gag order in a lawsuit filed by the Mississippi Department of Human Services. He’s among more than 40 defendants in a civil case that seeks to recoup millions of misspent welfare funds.Former NFL defensive player of the year Warren Sapp will also be joining Whitlock’s “Fearless,” a source confirmed to Front Office Sports. Messages left with The Blaze were not immediately returned on Friday. The New York Post was the first outlet to report the additions of Favre and Sapp.In June, attorneys for Favre requested the gag

Go to Source Author: A.J. Perez Bally Sports eliminated its national desk, a decision that cost most of the employees on it their jobs.Eight employees were informed of the cuts on Wednesday, a person with knowledge of the situation told Front Office Sports. The move was part of a new localized video strategy for the embattled regional sports network.The layoffs included multiple veteran managers and writers who were hired in the years since Sinclair Broadcast Group’s heavily leveraged $9.6 billion purchase of the RSNs became official in August 2019. Two of those impacted posted on social media that they had been laid off: Brad Evans, who had been Bally’s executive producer of gaming, and writer Maggie Hendricks. “I am incredibly bummed, because I

Go to Source Author: Eric Fisher The days of college football games played in cavernous concrete bowls with metal benches are increasingly numbered as schools continue to outdo each other with facility renovations and state-of-the-art amenities.At least a dozen Power Five conference schools are currently in the midst of large-scale stadium upgrades, along with a growing number of smaller-conference universities and independents. And rather than attempting more modest renovations, many of the projects are extending well into nine figures — despite wildly different circumstances.A $700 million overhaul to Penn State’s Beaver Stadium, which will stretch over the next four years.$400 million in improvements to Florida’s Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (a.k.a., The Swamp), one of college football’s toughest places for visiting teams.A $337 million

Go to Source Author: David Rumsey Lionel Messi has already made a drastic impact on American soccer, but he still has a key debut ahead.After eight games in the Leagues Cup and U.S. Open Cup competition, Messi will play in his first regular-season MLS tilt on Saturday night when Inter Miami visits the New York Red Bulls.It’s expected to bring in two-to-three times the revenue of an average match, Red Bulls president and GM Marc de Grandpré told Front Office Sports. “It’s our largest-ever MLS gate since we’ve been at Red Bull Arena,” de Grandpré said.The match’s timing involved some luck — the Leagues Cup run delayed a Miami home game — and strategic planning. “The process started when we heard he may be

Go to Source Author: Eric Fisher Oakland A’s owner John Fisher has a blunt message for Bay Area fans frustrated with the club’s current state and forthcoming relocation to Las Vegas: You’re wrong.Normally one of U.S. pro sports’ most reclusive owners, Fisher granted a rare interview to the Las Vegas Review-Journal in which he attacked and denied a series of allegations and stated objections from A’s fans. Among the bigger revelations: He’s not selling the A’s, he’s not intentionally tanking the team’s on-field performance, and he insists the club’s league-low payroll is strictly a function of club revenue.“Nothing could be further from the truth,” Fisher said of the tanking claims. “The A’s this year will lose $40 million with a $60 million payroll.

Go to Source Author: David Rumsey Now in the second season of an 11-year, $11 billion deal with the NFL, Amazon is setting its sights on more live sports.The tech giant’s confidence stems from brisk ad sales for its exclusive streaming of “Thursday Night Football.”“We’re above our expectations at this point in the ad cycle,” Amazon global head of sports Jay Marine said recently on a “TNF” preview call. Marine also pointed to a noticeable shift of advertising funds toward live sports, particularly the NFL: “We’re acquiring more than our fair share of this increased ad revenue. We’re charting a successful course.”Amazon is gearing up to stream the Miami Dolphins-New York Jets game live for free on Black Friday — when it could

Go to Source Author: Eric Fisher The Cleveland Cavaliers are running into an increasingly common dilemma: They’re planning $24.4 million in upgrades to Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, but the public entity responsible for funding the work can’t pay for it.The Gateway Economic Development Corp. of Greater Cleveland — which owns both Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse and neighboring Progressive Field — has approved the renovation work to upgrade the arena’s broadcast systems, elevators, and escalators, in keeping with lease terms requiring it to fund major capital improvements in excess of $500,000.But that same body has acknowledged it doesn’t currently have the money, as cigarette and alcohol taxes that had helped to back prior construction and renovation expenses haven’t kept up with the facility’s needs. In the

Go to Source Author: David Rumsey As the Women’s World Cup final between England and Spain nears, FIFA president Gianni Infantino touted the tournament’s success and a bright future for the women’s game.Confirming FIFA broke even on the Women’s World Cup as it had projected, Infantino reported the tournament generated more than $570 million in revenue. “We didn’t lose any money,” he said. “And we generated the second-highest income of any sport besides, of course, the men’s World Cup, at the global stage.”Disparity in prize money between this tournament ($110 million) and the men’s World Cup in Qatar ($440 million) dominated headlines ahead of the event, and Infantino once again addressed the issue of equal pay, something he previously said he hopes