NFL Second-Round Picks DOA?

FOS notes: "All but two of the NFL’s second-round draft picks remain unsigned after the first pair taken received fully guaranteed contracts in May."

July 14, 2025

30 NFL Second-Rounders Still Unsigned With Camps Set to Open
FOS’ Margaret Fleming writes, “On Saturday, Chargers rookies will report to training camp in El Segundo, Calif., the earliest group of NFL players to officially begin preparing for the 2025 season. One rookie could be notably absent. Wide receiver Tre Harris out of Ole Miss still hasn’t signed a contract with the Chargers, despite having more than 75 days since his draft night to put pen to paper. Harris’s camp tells Front Office Sports they’re still negotiating with Los Angeles on a deal, and the wide receiver won’t report unless he has a signed contract.”
^{Front Office Sports}

Wimbledon Makes Half a Billion Dollars Over Two Weeks Each Year
Sportico’s Brendan Coffey writes, “Quaint Wimbledon traditions like tennis whites, strawberries and cream, and the overnight queue for affordable same-day tickets overshadow one fact: The tennis tournament is a money-making blockbuster. Wimbledon will generate well more than half a billion dollars in revenue in this year’s two-week annual championship ending Sunday. Last year the London finals pulled in £409 million, or $555 million at current exchange rates. That’s up 7% from 2023 and is 162% greater than a decade ago…”
^Sportico

Source: F1 Aiming For F1 TV to Continue Under New U.S. Rights Deal
SBJ’s Adam Stern reports: “Formula One Management is aiming to continue F1 TV in the U.S. under its next media deal, according to a source, raising the possibility that two OTT streaming services will be available to watch the series next year. The London-based, Liberty Media-owned property created F1 TV as a product in 2018. The service offers viewers the ability to stream all sessions of race weekends including the grand prix themselves among other features. While often not addressed in media reports, that means ESPN has been competing for viewers against F1’s own in-house streaming service in the U.S. in recent years. But ESPN has more of a linear focus than Apple and its AppleTV service, which is reportedly now in pole position to pick up F1 rights.”
^{Sports Business Journal}

Nationals Take HS Star Willits No. 1 in MLB Draft, Eye Potential Savings
FOS’ Eric Fisher writes, “The remaking of the Nationals has taken another critical step, as has MLB’s push to get its top prospects to the majors as quickly as possible. Washington selected Oklahoma high schooler Eli Willits with the first pick in the 2025 draft Sunday night. By selecting the 17-year-old, switch-hitting shortstop, the Nationals stunned many experts who predicted the team would choose LSU pitcher Kade Anderson, who led the Tigers last month to their second College World Series title in three years and was the event’s Most Outstanding Player. Anderson went No. 3 to the Mariners.”
^{Front Office Sports}

Finally in Charge, A-Rod Says Timberwolves Need New Arena
Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore have been the Timberwolves and Lynx majority owners for a couple of weeks, but they are already planning a new arena for the organization. The duo were formally introduced to the media Friday at NBA Summer League in Las Vegas as the majority owners after an 18-month legal battle with former owner Glen Taylor.
^{Front Office Sports}

Sources: Josh Pyatt Joins WIN Sports Group
Patrick Whitesell’s new football representation venture, WIN Sports Group, has added 2018 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree Josh Pyatt, industry sources say. The recent WME departee is joining the firm in an undisclosed role. Pyatt, who had helped represent big names across sports such as LeBron James, Michael Strahan, Peyton Manning, Dale Earnhardt Jr., ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith and many more, had reportedly been seeking other opportunities
^{Sports Business Journal}

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House v. NCAA Counsel Gets $515M in Legal Fees Approved by Court
Sportico’s Daniel Libit writes, “On Friday, U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken issued an order approving class counsel’s petition for $515.2 million in fees, plus $9.4 million in litigation expense and court costs, deeming the request “fair and reasonable” in light of the $2.78 billion settlement the lawyers helped orchestrate. For the House case, class counsel sought $395.2 million—representing 20% of the $1.98 billion NIL Claims settlement fund—plus $60 million in fees from a separate $600 million compensation fund. An additional $20 million was awarded for injunctive relief, bringing the total to just under half a billion dollars.”
^Sportico

Bipartisan Lawmakers Introduce SCORE Act bill For National College Sports Rules
A bipartisan group of lawmakers from the U.S. House of Representatives announced yesterday that they have introduced a bill that “would establish a set of national rules for college sports,” according to Steve Berkowitz of USA TODAY via SBJ. Dubbed the SCORE Act (Student Compensation And Opportunity Through Rights and Endorsements), the bill “includes language that specifically would allow the NCAA, and potentially the new Collegiate Sports Commission, to make operational rules affecting schools and athletes in areas that have come into legal dispute in recent years and in areas that the NCAA wants to shield from future legal dispute.” The bill would “put into law the fair-market-value assessment” of athletes’ NIL deals with “entities other than schools provided under the settlement and an annual per-school limit on NIL payments that come directly from the schools.” In addition, schools would be allowed to “prevent athletes from having NIL deals that conflict with school sponsorship deals.”
^{USA Today via Sports Business Journal}

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