Sport & Story Daily June 6, 2024

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June 6, 2024

Good morning! Paris, Snoop & The Big Gamble

Inside NBC’s Olympics Bet on Pop Culture in Paris, With Help From Snoop Dogg and Cardi B
“We have different perspectives and different views,” Snoop Dogg said of the recruited entertainers. “The world that we live in right now, it is appropriate for me to give our side of the story, because we’ve always been a great voice and a great instrument. But we’ve never been the conductor. Now I get to play the role of conductor.”
^{AP News}

Auriemma’s New UConn Contract Ups Cost to Leave for WNBA
As Eben Novy-Williams reports, “The new deal, which Sportico obtained via a records request, is worth a total of $18.7 million in base pay, starting at $3.34 million next year and ending at $4.14 million in 2028-29. Auriemma’s previous contract, signed in 2021, was set to pay him $3.1 million this upcoming year. The extension pushes him past LSU’s Kim Mulkey ($3.25 million) and South Carolina’s Dawn Staley ($3.2 million) as the sport’s highest-paid coach.”
^Sportico

Healthy Dose of Broadcast TV Boosts UFL Viewership Over USFL/XFL 2023
UFL regular-season viewership in 2024 was well above prior spring football efforts in recent years. Games across Fox, ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and FS1 averaged 816,000 viewers this season (ESPN and FS1 had only one game apiece, with broadcast TV getting a wide swath of windows).
^{Sports Business Journal}

NHL to Broadcast Stanley Cup Final Games in American Sign Language, a 1st for a Major Sports League
“This is a great first step of having representation, having deaf people on screen, having the Deaf community connect to people like them,” said Brice Christianson, the founder and CEO of P-X-P, which is doing the telecasts that will be available on ESPN+ and Sportsnet+. “For the NHL to sign off on this and to believe in this, it’s groundbreaking. It’s truly historic and also they’ve doubled down and said that they want to continue to do this.”
^{AP News}

Kansas Makes Timely Play for Chiefs Stadium: Why It Could Happen
“The rich tradition and history of the Chiefs are beloved across the entire Kansas City region and throughout Kansas,” Kansas House speaker Dan Hawkins and state Senate president Ty Masterson said in a joint statement. “The potential to establish a home for the Chiefs family here on the Kansas side of the state line is an opportunity that deserves a thorough conversation.”
^{Front Office Sports}

Manti Te’o Could Replace Jason McCourty on Good Morning Football
NBC’s Mike Florio writes, “As Good Morning Football remains inexplicably on hiatus as the production relocates from New York to Los Angeles, the “former NFL player” chair has been vacated.

“Gone, according to Andrew Marchand of TheAthletic.com, is former NFL defensive back Jason McCourty. He won’t be with the show when it relaunches in August from L.A. Per the report, former NFL players Manti Te’o and Akbar Gbajabiamila are under consideration to replace McCourty.”
^{Yahoo! Sports}

NBA Exec Portia Archer Named WTA CEO
The WTA has appointed NBA G League COO Portia Archer as its new CEO. Archer, an SBJ Game Changer in 2018, will take up her new position with the WTA on July 29 and will lead the day-to-day strategy and operations of the Hologic WTA Tour and the WTA’s relationship with its player and tournament members.
^{Sports Business Journal}

Browns Sign GM Andrew Berry, HC Kevin Stefanski to Multi-Year Extensions
Per Yahoo Sports, the Cleveland Browns have extended the contracts of general manager Andrew Berry and head coach Kevin Stefanski. Contract details weren't announced by the team, but it's reported to be multi-year extensions for both.

Berry, 37, and Stefanski, 42, were hired in 2020, and the Browns have made the playoffs in two of their four seasons together. According to the team, the .552 winning percentage (37-30) is the highest in franchise history "over a four-year stretch since 1986-89."
^{Yahoo! Sports}

Maple Leafs Add Lane Lambert to Craig Berube’s Coaching Staff: What’s His Appeal?
The Toronto Maple Leafs added Lane Lambert as an associate coach on Craig Berube’s staff, the team announced Wednesday. The Leafs also said assistant coach Dean Chynoweth will not return in 2024-25 after spending the last three seasons with the team.
The Athletic

College Football Playoff Releases Schedule For First 12-Team Playoff
After a decade of a four-team playoff, college football leaders voted to expand the playoff to 12 teams for the 2024 season. The top five conference champions in the CFP rankings will automatically qualify for the playoff, while the remaining seven teams will be chosen via the rankings.

The CFP released the dates and times for all 11 games of the expanded playoff format on Wednesday. The first game will take place on Friday, Dec. 20, a month before the national championship game on Monday, Jan. 20.

Two Circles Launching Legal Arm With Eyes On the NIL Space
SBJ’s Portnoy reports: “The NIL space is set for massive changes if/when the framework of a settlement is agreed upon for the House, Hubbard and Carter cases.

“For sports marketing agency Two Circles, that means opportunity, and now the company is angling to take on NIL business with its new college vertical, which will be formally rolled out in the coming days. ‘The school can create their NIL agency,’ explained incoming Two Circles College EVP Nick Garner. ‘And we can come in and we would work with the student athletes to activate.’”
^{Sports Business Journal}

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