Half of the NBA's stars are hurt
Plus: A fight over beer prices, MLB creativity, and the curse of turf toe
Back by popular demand, here are six sports business items worthy of your attention at the start of the week…
What Caught My Attention 👀: Much remains uncertain about how Zohran Mamdani will use his powers as New York City mayor come Inauguration Day. But it seems notable to me that he and his transition co-chair Lina Khan have talked about targeting the price of concessions at sporting events, potentially using a 1969 law banning “unconscionable” business practices. Sports and politics seem destined to collide even more often come 2026.
The Word I Didn’t See Enough Last Week ⚾: “Eventize.”
MLB (finally) announced its new set of media rights deals following ESPN’s opt-out in February. NBC and Netflix join the picture, with ESPN retaining its own collection of games. What jumped out to me was the way MLB created marquee matchups for each package. NBC gets an Opening Day standalone primetime game, a “Roadblock” (?) of 15 exclusive games on Peacock/NBC on July 5, an exclusive Labor Day primetime slot, and—in 2027 and 2028—“Game 2,430,” the final, theoretically highest-stakes game of the regular season. NBC/Peacock will also get an MLB “special event game” (like its recent games in non-traditional venues such as an Iowa cornfield or Tennessee racetrack). Netflix gets a singular Opening Night game in each of the next three years plus its own “special event game” to go with the home run derby, the original MLB ~event~. ESPN now has the rights to Memorial Day game coverage and the second-half opener coming out of the All-Star break. I’m surely missing even more marquee dates set aside in the new contracts.
MLB has (for now) rejected the recent trend of using in-season tournaments to spice up its regular season inventory, but it’s clearly on the lookout for ways to elevate those games for fans—and paying broadcasters. I’m curious to see how many of these tentpoles begin to feel like traditional parts of the calendar and just how creative the league is ready to get when all of its rights become available again before the 2029 season.
What I’m Watching For 🏁: 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports’ antitrust case against NASCAR is headed to jury trial beginning on Dec. 1 if a settlement isn’t reached before then. Recent unsealed filings offer a taste of just how much we might learn about the racing business—and its leaders—if the battle goes the distance.
Sportico Story of the Week 🩹: As of Friday, 21 of the NBA’s 45 stars (players who made an All-Star Game or All-NBA team in the past three season) were hurt, Lev reports. Not good!
Hamstring and calf injuries have been up the last couple years in particular. The NBA is reportedly launching a league-wide biomechanics assessment program to study and possibly reduce those issues, though it does feel like the size and speed of NBA players could simply be unsustainable.
Non-Sportico Story of the Week 🦶: Meanwhile, so-called ‘turf toe’ continues to foil attempts from the world’s richest sports league to stamp out the nagging injury that has downed multiple NFL quarterbacks this year. Greg Bishop has a fun read in SI about the ailment’s history.
What I Don’t Understand 🏈: Daniel, Eben and Lev have a fantastic look into the wild world of UMass’ run of failures since jumping to FBS level play. It’s worth your time. But I’m going to need them to hit the pavement again to track down answers to why UMass’ final game of the year is tomorrow at 4:30 p.m.?? Did someone else need the stadium at night?
Club Sportico is a community organized by Sportico, a digital media company launched in 2020 to cover the business side of sports. You can read breaking news, smart analysis, and in-depth features from Eben, Jacob and their colleagues at Sportico.com, and listen to the Sporticast podcast wherever you get your audio. Contact us at club@sportico.com.