4-Nations Face-Off = Old Hockey

Fights, political tension, and boos during “The Star-Spangled Banner”—The 4-Nations Face-Off delivered old-school hockey

February 17, 2025

U.S.-Canada Delivers Classic at 4 Nations Face-Off
SBJ’s Alex Silverman writes, “The 4 Nations Face-Off delivered a signature moment for the NHL on Saturday night, as the U.S. defeated Canada 3-1 in a fast-paced, hard-hitting game at a raucous Bell Centre in Montreal. The first ‘best-on-best’ meeting of the world’s two hockey superpowers since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey put many of the NHL’s top stars on display for national audiences on ABC in the U.S. and Sportsnet and TVA in Canada.

“Recent political tensions between the U.S. and Canada permeated the media narrative heading into the game, adding weight to an already highly anticipated matchup. As expected, boos rained down from the sellout Canadian crowd during the Star-Spangled Banner prior to puck drop. The first nine seconds of the game featured three fights…”
^{Sports Business Journal}

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is Facing Numerous Issues, But He Won't Stop Trying to Improve the Game
“I try to read it [the media] all, frankly, and we try to absorb it at the league office,” Silver said during his annual news conference at All-Star Weekend inside Chase Center. “I think the state of the game is excellent. I think it’s the media’s role, the fans’ role, it’s perfectly appropriate to be critical of the game, and I find it very helpful. I’m not one of those people who said I don’t read criticism.”
^{Yahoo! Sports}

Appeal Could Delay T’Wolves Sale to Lore, A-Rod
An arbitration ruling last week that essentially greenlit the $1.5B T’Wolves sale to entrepreneur Marc Lore and former MLB All-Star Alex Rodriguez is on hold indefinitely until current owner Glen Taylor decides whether to pursue a federal appeal. Although NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Saturday night at an All-Star Game press conference that he suspected a sale to Lore and Rodriguez would be approved by the Board of Governors, the process is more complicated than originally thought.
^{Sports Business Journal}

Cleveland Likely to Be Awarded Next WNBA Franchise for 2028
The approximate bid is worth a league record $250M. The sources put Cleveland’s expansion chances as high as 90%, and said the WNBA has re-thought its original plan of adding just one team and could award one or two more franchises to bring its league total to 18 clubs. The presumed leaders for the second and third teams are Philadelphia, Houston, Nashville, Detroit and Miami.

Cleveland is expected to join the league for the 2028 season playing at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. They will be reprised as the Cleveland Rockers, an original WNBA franchise that folded after the 2003 season when former owner Gordon Gund could not sell the team due to tumbling revenue and erratic attendance.
^{Sports Business Journal}

Green: ‘Players Will Lose’ Second Tax Apron Challenge
SBJ’s Tom Friend writes, “Just a week after the stunning trade that sent the Mavericks’ All-NBA guard Doncic to the Lakers for perennial All-Star center Anthony Davis, both Green and Commissioner Adam Silver on Saturday were still knee deep in the ramifications. Green, convinced the Mavericks unloaded Doncic to avoid the second tax apron (which carries monetary penalties and potentially a lost draft pick), said: “You’re going to see more of that.’’ Earlier in the week, he likened the apron to a “hard cap’’ and, doubling down on Saturday, said: “It’s an issue for players, and it’s an issue for owners. It’s an issue for everybody. It’s wrong for everybody.”
^{Sports Business Journal}

ESPN to Exit F1 Media-Rights Deal; Netflix, NBC Could Be Landing Spots
ESPN is “getting out of the F1 business” as Bristol execs told the racing series that they will "not renew the company’s rights package, meaning the racing circuit will have a new U.S. media partner next year," according to John Ourand of PUCK. ESPN has carried F1 races since 2018, and its current $90M per annum deal for U.S. rights “ends this year.”
^{PUCK via Sports Business Journal}

Penn State Hires Former Temple Coach Stan Drayton as Running Backs Coach
Drayton went 9-25 in three years at Temple before getting fired last November with two games left in the season. His long history of coaching running backs also includes stints at Mississippi State (2004), Florida (2005-07 and 2010), Tennessee (2008), Syracuse (2009) and Ohio State (2012-14). He also coached Ohio State’s wide receivers in 2011 and was the Chicago Bears’ running backs coach from 2015-16.

Drayton will work with a Penn State backfield that returns Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton, who each rushed for over 1,000 yards during the Nittany Lions’ run to the College Football Playoff semifinals.
^{AP News}

LIV Tour Commits to Adelaide Tournament Until 2031
LIV Golf has secured its foothold in Australia, with Adelaide retaining hosting rights for its tournament until 2031, despite increasing speculation of a reunification of the PGA and LIV tours and what that could mean for the sport’s landscape. Sunday’s announcement signals LIV’s ambitions to remain a prominent player in world golf despite increasing efforts to reunify the PGA and LIV Golf tours, which included PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan meeting with President Donald Trump last week.
^{AP News}

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NBA ‘In Discussions’ On Tourney Expansion
A decision is expected to “come in the next few months,” according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel. The “more likely option” for the number of teams the tournament would expand to “would be to 76.” Adding eight teams would be the “biggest jump in what the tournament looks like since 1985.” However, the “logistics of what that could look like have not been set yet.” It is “likely that an additional site,” similar to the use of Dayton for the First Four, “would be added,” with the thought that it would be a “place outside of the eastern time zone.” If the men’s tournament expands by eight teams to 76, the women’s tournament “would expand as well.”
^{ESPN College GameDay via Sports Business Journal}

Sources: SEC, Big Ten Building Momentum to Further Expand College Football Playoff to 14 or 16 Teams
Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger writes, “Within the SEC and Big Ten, momentum is building to further expand the playoff to 14 or 16 teams, assign multiple automatic qualifiers per league — as many as four each for themselves — and finalize a scheduling arrangement together that may fetch millions in additional revenue from TV partners, sources told Yahoo Sports.

“The playoff format change would clear the way for SEC administrators to, finally, make the long-discussed move to play nine regular-season conference games and would trigger, perhaps, all four power leagues to overhaul their conference championship weekend.”
^{Yahoo! Sports}

NBC’s Chris Simms: College Football ‘Messed Up’ With NIL Era
Former NFL quarterback turned NBC host Chris Simms doesn’t think the era of NIL (name, image, and likeness) deals was such a smart idea for college sports—just maybe not for the reason you’d think.

“College football messed up with this NIL,” he told Front Office Sports during an interview at Radio Row in New Orleans before the Super Bowl. “They messed up because nobody’s got more money than Texas. Texas and Notre Dame are going to be like, ‘NIL? Sure. We can print money at these schools.’”
^{Front Office Sports}

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