This year’s Ladies Sweet 16 and Elite 8 were held two cities instead of four for the first time – and reaped storms of enthusiasm from Final Four coaches who appreciated the atmosphere and logistics of the new regional setup. The stats support her view: The Regionals broke an all-time NCAA attendance record with over 82,000 fans.
McKenzie Long/USA TODAY NETWORK
DALLAS — LSU forward Angel Reese isn’t just leading her team to the Final Four. She also directs all esports in name, image and likeness deals.
According to a recent report from SponsorUnited, the 2023 ` All-American has completed 17 NIL deals in total. Only four other Division I athletes have more than her — and none of them play basketball.
Reese has an estimated earning potential of $392,000 which ranks sixth in DI women’s basketball. She previously said her NIL earnings exceed the value of a WNBA contract.
In addition to more traditional sports partnerships with companies like Bose and JanSport, Reese has partnered with brands that reflect her “Bayou Barbie” image, like luxury fashion brand Coach.
Juggling NIL and tournament play is not easy.
“It was a lot,” she told reporters Thursday, explaining that she had to adhere to a strict posting schedule. For example, Reese’s last post before the game was Thursday at 1:00 p.m. ET.
NIL support staff
Reese isn’t the only Tigress with ZERO success — her teammate Flau’jae Johnson has a burgeoning rap career and a contract with RocNation.
But unlike other teams, LSU head coach Kim Mulkey is not involved at all. “I don’t want to deal with that,” Mulkey told reporters. “It’s too much. I just want to coach.”
Instead, Mulkey appointed an assistant coach to help players navigate NIL.
Mulkey’s Tigers meet Virginia Tech in the first semifinals at 7 p.m. ET on Friday. Iowa meets South Carolina in game two with a tip scheduled at 9 p.m. ET.
If Jim Ratcliffe’s bid for Manchester United is successful, he will likely have to give up his stake in another European football club.
The British billionaire and his company INEOS – which he founded in 1998 and of which he is Chairman and CEO – have a stake in Ligue 1 club OGC Nice.
Current UEFA rules state that an owner can only have one club in a European club competition at any given time – meaning the club would risk being left out of the Champions League or Europa League if Ratcliffe lost the race for the Buying Man United wins Nice was also to qualify.
Therefore, according to ESPN, Ratcliffe could be forced to sell his stake in Nice should his bid for the chance to buy United win. Ratcliffe, a lifelong Manchester United fan, would likely be happy to oblige.
In early March, UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin said the federation was considering relaxing its rules on shared ownership in its competitions.
Ratcliffe has also been able to demonstrate that there is enough segregation between his clubs to justify allowing them to play in the same competition, as Red Bull did with its Leipzig and Salzburg clubs in 2017.
It is far from certain that Ratcliffe will even win the bidding war for Manchester United. Qatar’s Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani has reportedly made an “at the stadium” bid for the $7.4 billion price tag the Glazer family is asking for the club – but not Ratcliffe.
As Northwestern University prepares to potentially build a new $800 million stadium to replace the old Ryan Field, it is facing significant opposition from the venue’s surrounding neighborhood.
Northwestern has proposed plans to demolish Ryan Field and build a modern, small-capacity stadium on site.
The $800 million project would be privately funded and allow the venue to host games, concerts and other events, according to @CrainsChicago. pic.twitter.com/twKhL7UmHc
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) September 28, 2022
The university is seeking a zoning move from the city of Evanston that would allow it to host concerts and serve alcohol in the stadium — something 47,000-seat Ryan Field, 96, can’t.
More than a thousand Evanston residents have signed a petition urging city leaders not to authorize construction of the stadium, which is funded entirely by private funds. Dissidents fear the addition of alcohol to the stadium’s concessions will lead to drunken disruption to the neighborhood as well as “official crimes” late into the night.
Petition organizers have pointed out the hypocrisy of Northwestern Board of Trustees Chairman Peter Barris, who urged local government officials in Martha’s Vineyard to halt construction of a hotel across the street from his vacation home in 2021.
“The emergence of this personal circumstance, which differs markedly from Northwestern’s proposal, is an attempt to detract from our goals – to transform a centuries-old stadium into a common good that will benefit all of Evanston and create one of the finest stadiums in the country.” , Barris told the Wall Street Journal.
The new stadium is just the latest development for Northwestern, which has spent approximately $1 billion over the past 10 years building its athletic facilities on its private stretch of Lake Michigan.
Chelsea’s previous owner had deeper tentacles in European football than previously known.
Roman Abramovich, the Russian oligarch forced by the UK government to sell his Premier League club after Russia invaded Ukraine, reportedly secretly financed the takeover of Vitesse Arnhem, a top division club in the Netherlands.
The oligarch funded the Dutch club for years, lending them $127.6 million by 2015.
That financial arrangement came to light in the so-called Oligarch Files, a cache of leaked data from a Cyprus-based offshore service provider called MeritServus.
Former Georgian player Merab Jordania, who is friends with Abramovich, bought Vitesse Arnhem in 2010. Chelsea loaned many players to Vitesse Arnhem over the next decade.
Jordania, who own Maltese club Valletta FC, left Vitesse Arnhem in 2013 and was replaced by another of Abramovich’s associates, Alexander Chigirinsky.
Another Russian oligarch close to Abramovich, Valeriy Oyf, became the controlling shareholder in 2018. In March 2022, Oyf said he would step down from the team’s board and sell his shares in light of the Russian-initiated war.
The Royal Netherlands Football Association investigated the team’s ties to Chelsea in 2010 and 2015, but found no evidence of management influence at the Dutch club.
Chelsea was acquired by the UK government and sold to a group led by Los Angeles Dodgers, Lakers and Sparks co-owner Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital in a deal worth more than $5 billion, with the team buying itself and promised investments were taken into account.
For the first time in its 147-year history, Major League Baseball will be at a pitch clock. FOS Senior Reporter Michael McCarthy delves into the literally game-changing implications of the league’s new rules.
The New York Yankees are asking MLB if they can stop spending Jersey numbers to coaches – because after retiring a record 22 jerseys they are running out of numbers for players.
The Red Sox is new state-of-the-art clubhouse includes custom maple lockers, LED lighting and sound systems, and 16 TV displays that combine to form two mini jumbotrons. Check out the video tour.
“Hopefully the players aren’t in the absurd trouble they were in. You hear stories of people pooling money to buy really basic groceries at Walmart and making a living off it for a week. It brings with it a level of decency and dignity that should have been there a long time ago… It’s overdue.”
– Evan Drellich, Senior Writer for The Athletic, covering Major League Baseball on the impact the new collective bargaining agreement will have on minor league baseball players, in the latest episode of Front Office Sports Today.
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