Go to Source Author: Andrew Cohen Facilities for FC Barcelona pulled $169 million in total revenue for the 2022-23 financial year, driving a year of “record figures in the commercial area,” the club announced. Facilities revenue was 18% more than what Barcelona budgeted at the start of the season and 4% more than recorded during the 2018-19 season, the last complete year before the Covid-19 pandemic. The figure considers venues for Barcelona’s men’s and women’s teams across soccer and basketball.The club’s historic soccer stadium, Spotify Camp Nou, made a record-breaking $106.7 million for the 2022-23 season as the men’s team won the La Liga title. It was also the first season in club history with over 1 million tickets sold for men’s matches,

Go to Source Author: Eric Fisher Some of the most powerful media executives in the U.S. are expanding their duties and nearing new contracts in moves poised to impact the sports media landscape significantly.On Thursday, Comcast enlarged the roles of NBCUniversal executives Mark Lazarus, Donna Langley, and Cesar Conde. Lazarus, previously chairman of NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, will be chairman of the NBCUniversal media group in a role that will include oversight of NBC Sports, the company’s other TV networks and streaming platforms, and advertising and distribution.The shifts follow the April departure of former NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell, as well as the exits in the last two months of NBC Sports chairman Pete Bevacqua — who will be Notre Dame’s director of

Go to Source Author: Andrew Cohen LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne, the highest-paid female NCAA athlete, has partnered with NIL collective Bayou Traditions to launch The Livvy Fund dedicated to helping her fellow LSU female student-athletes secure deals for their name, image, and likeness.Brands On3 and Accelerator Active Engey have already contributed to The Livvy Fund. A report earlier this year from Opendorse found that only 34% of NIL collectives offered compensation to women athletes. At the same time, the majority went to males, a discrepancy that led the 20-year-old Dunne to launch her new fund.“The collectives mostly go to the men’s sports here at LSU, and I just want to fight for equal NIL opportunities,” Dunne told Sports Illustrated. “It’s very important

Go to Source Author: Andrew Cohen This WNBA season’s opening night viewership on ESPN platforms was up 103% over last year, but two-time MVP Candace Parker thinks the league needs to do a better job of avoiding conflict with other sports on TV.“I think just in terms of continuing to raise visibility and making sure that our games aren’t in competition with huge NHL playoff games, or even putting one of the biggest [NCAA] games in South Carolina and LSU on the same day as the Super Bowl. There’s some stuff that I wish we would make it make sense,” Parker said after FOS asked her about what she’d like to see changed in the WNBA.The Las Vegas Aces forward referred to

Go to Source Author: Amanda Christovich Consumers hoping the EA Sports College Football game will come out on time — in the summer of 2024 — just got great news.On Friday, a federal judge denied The Brandr Group’s request for a temporary restraining order against EA, which would have paved the way for the court to prohibit EA from doing business with schools and athletes at issue in the lawsuit. It was the most likely way for the lawsuit to hold up the game’s summer 2024 release.

Go to Source Author: Andrew Cohen Jalen Rose has been let go by ESPN, ending his 16-year run at the company since 2007.Rose, an NBA player from 1994 to 2006, has been a studio host for “NBA Countdown,” the pregame show that aired before game telecasts on ESPN and ABC. He also co-hosted the Jalen & Jacoby talk show that ran from 2011 until November 2022, following David Jacoby’s departure from ESPN.Other ESPN shows to feature Rose included “Get Up” and “SportsCenter,” as well as ESPN Radio programming. He played 13 seasons in the NBA for six teams— the Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, New York Knicks, Chicago Bulls, Toronto Raptors, and Phoenix Suns. Before the NBA, Rose played collegiately for the University of

Go to Source Author: Andrew Cohen After 16 years as a top NBA analyst for ESPN, Jeff Van Gundy has been laid off as part of a reduction of 20 on-air personalities at the World Wide Leader.Van Gundy joined ESPN as an NBA analyst in 2007 after the Houston Rockets fired him as its head coach that same year. He regularly called NBA games for ESPN and ABC, including playoffs and Finals games, and contributed to NBA Draft coverage.  The commentating trio of Van Gundy, Mark Jackson, and play-by-play man Mike Breen will no longer form ESPN “A team” NBA broadcast crew. This recent NBA Playoffs on ESPN was the network’s most-watched playoffs since 2019, with 6.39 million average game viewers. “Jeff Van Gundy

Go to Source Author: Michael McCarthy The painful downsizing at ESPN is unfortunately not over by a long shot. While he likely won’t be part of today’s layoffs, NBA analyst Vince Carter could be leaving ESPN this summer, sources told Front Office Sports.Once ESPN finishes Friday’s stunning layoff of talents such as Jeff Van Gundy, it will closely examine the rest of its long-term talent deals. In a separate exercise that could take as long as 12 months, ESPN management will examine which long long-term talent contracts it wants to keep – and which it will let expire for cost-cutting reasons.  The 46-year-old Carter’s contract is up in September, said sources. He probably won’t be offered a new deal after three years at ESPN.Carter

Go to Source Author: David Rumsey Los Angeles Dodgers controlling owner Mark Walter is consolidating the top women’s professional hockey in North America into a new, unified league with substantial support from the NHL.For the past several years, two entities had been vying for premier status after top players broke away from the Premier Hockey Federation — formally the National Women’s Hockey League — and formed the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association.The Mark Walter Group and Billie Jean King Enterprises had been supporting PWHPA efforts that included event collaborations with NHL teams. The PHF boosted teams’ salary cap to $1.5 million this past season, had a media rights deal with ESPN, and also worked with NHL teams.Now, Walter and his wife Kimbra

Go to Source Author: A.J. Perez Sage Steele is one of the highest-paid employees at ESPN, a network undergoing another round of mandated cuts to on-air talent. However, the “SportsCenter” anchor’s lawsuit against ESPN and Disney could put her multiyear deal off limits during the ongoing cost-saving measures. “There’s always the potential to add a new claim for retaliation,” employment law attorney Hillary Lynch told Front Office Sports. “It could be seen as a continuing violation of what she’s already asserted.”Steele sued ESPN and Disney in April 2022 for allegations her free-speech rights were violated when she claimed she was suspended for two days after her comments on former NFL quarterback Jay Cutler’s podcast. Steele described Disney’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate as “sick and scary”