Power Four Hits Capitol Hill

Power Four Stakeholders met with Congress to “land some antitrust protection for some of the final vestiges of college athletics’ amateurism model.”

April 10, 2025

With NCAA Settlement Pending, Power Four Conference Stakeholders Lobby Lawmakers on Capitol Hill
AP News’ Stephen Whyno writes, “While a federal judge considers whether to approve a massive NCAA settlement that would pay athletes over $2 billion and pave the way for even more spending, a large group of industry officials returned to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to lobby lawmakers on legislation to land some antitrust protection for some of the final vestiges of college athletics’ amateurism model.

“Commissioners of the Power Four conferences, dozens of athletic directors from the SEC, ACC, Big Ten and Big 12, and even some coaches and players spent hours meeting with members of Congress. There was no firm conclusion to the talks, but multiple stakeholders involved came out of them with positive takeaways.”
^{AP News}

World’s Highest-Paid Golfers: Rahm, Scheffler Both Top $100M
Sportico’s Kurt Badenhausen writes, “The 10 highest-paid golfers earned an estimated $611 million in 2024 from prize money, bonuses, endorsements, appearances, royalties and course-design fees. Jon Rahm ($105.8 million) and Scottie Scheffler ($104.3 million) led the way after each won his tour’s year-end tournament and subsequent bonus of $18 million (Rahm) and $25 million (Scheffler).”
^Sportico

UNC Spending Nearly $12.5M on Staff Under Bill Belichick
The Univ. of North Carolina is spending nearly $12.5M in “total salaries for the assistant coaches, front-office department, strength and conditioning coaches, and other support staffers working under new football coach Bill Belichick,” according to Adam Smith of INSIDE CAROLINA via SBJ. This is on top of the five-year, $50M deal UNC gave to Belichick.
^{Inside Carolina via Sports Business Journal}

Sephora Signs Founding Partnership With Valkyries
The Golden State Valkyries and Sephora U.S. have reached a multiyear founding partnership. Sephora will be the naming rights partner for the team’s 31,800-square-foot, state-of-the-art Oakland-based performance center, rebranded as the “Sephora Performance Center,” and will be the presenting partner for the Valkyries Content Day and Training Camp.
^{Sports Business Journal}

Haas’ tariff Challenges Highlight Rising Concerns About Trickle Down to Racing
The memo from Haas Automation stated that U.S.’s tariffs “will have a significant impact” on the company and that it has “seen a dramatic decrease in demand for our machine tools” in recent days from both foreign and domestic customers. The company maintained that it is “optimistic that the Trump Administration will come up with solutions to provide relief for U.S. manufacturers,” but the note highlighted a rising concern within racing that any significant damage to the companies owned by motorsports power brokers like team owners and carmakers could eventually have a trickle-down effect to racing.
^{Sports Business Journal}

Audience Analysis: College Basketball Crown Tops NIT; Ovechkin Drives TNT, Monumental
Fox drew 822,000 viewers for the debut championship game for the College Basketball Crown on Sunday (Nebraska-UCF). That figure is 62% better than the 508,000 viewers that ESPN drew on Thursday night for the NIT championship (UT Chattanooga-UC Irvine). Even with an overtime game, the NIT title match was down 64% from last year’s Seton Hall-Indiana State game (lots of buzz around ISU’s Robbie Avila).
^{Sports Business Journal}

Scripps/ION Adds First Women’s College Hoops Ahead of Upfront
“We’re really enjoying our position in the distribution and visibility of women’s sports,” said Brian Lawlor, President of Scripps Sports, whose ION broadcast TV network already carries NWSL and WNBA games.

ION’s debut college hoops effort is a five-year deal to carry the Elevance Health Women’s Fort Myers Tip-Off, a Thanksgiving week tournament (the 2025 teams are TBD, but last year featured squads like South Carolina, Purdue, Michigan and Iowa State). The event previously aired on Fox Sports.
^{Sports Business Journal}

Titans Make Taylor Zarzour New Radio Play-by-Play Announcer
The Titans have hired Taylor Zarzour as their “next gameday voice,” replacing Mike Keith on the radio, according to Nick Suss of the Nashville TENNESSEAN. Zarzour comes to the Titans after years of calling SEC college football and SEC baseball on the SEC Network. Zarzour has been the play-by-play voice of the SEC Network’s team working alongside color commentator Matt Stinchcomb and sideline reporter Alyssa Lang.
^{Nashville Tennessean via Sports Business Journal}

X Games Hires Cohen, Senglaub as Top Financial Executives
The X Games has hired a pair of new executives, adding Cherie Cohen as Chief Revenue Officer and Keith Senglaub as Chief Financial Officer. Cohen joins from nearly six years as the global chief revenue officer for the World Surf League. Senglaub is a longtime financial executive who previously worked for sports and entertainment experiential firms RWS Global and Feld Entertainment.
^{Sports Business Journal}

Michael Malone Firing Creating Havoc In Its Wake 👇🏼
On Tuesday, we reported that the Denver Nuggets fired coach Michael Malone, less than two years after he led the franchise to its first NBA championship. The reverberations are still being felt:

Sportico: Michael Malone Firing Leaves Only 3 NBA Coaches Hired Pre-2020
Front Office Sports: Steve Kerr: ‘Billionaires’ To Blame For Run of NBA Coach Firings

LAFC Names Stacy Johns Chief Business Officer
LAFC has promoted COO Stacy Johns to Chief Business Officer as part of a restructuring of the club’s executive leadership team. Johns, a 2023 SBJ Game Changers honoree, joined LAFC as CFO in 2020 after 16 years with the Colts. The Indiana native left her hometown NFL team with the goal of one day running business operations for a major sports franchise.
^{Sports Business Journal}

Memphis OKs Tax Increase for FedExForum Reno
Another funding avenue for renovations to FedExForum “passed the Memphis City Council Tuesday evening,” as council members “unanimously passed an ordinance raising the city’s hotel-motel tax to 4%, the maximum allowed by the state.”
^{Memphis Commercial Appeal via Sports Business Journal}

LA28 Eyes Huntington Beach for Beach Volleyball After Unsuccessful Talks With Santa Monica
The 2028 L.A. Games have been engaged in “ongoing conversations with representatives of Huntington Beach” as they “look for a home for the Olympic Games beach volleyball competition after the local organizing committee broke off negotiations with Santa Monica,” according to Scott Reid of the ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER. This comes after a financial impact study commissioned by Santa Monica City officials revealed that hosting the event would leave the city with a $1.45M deficit.
^{Orange County Register via Sports Business Journal}

Cardinals Add to Premium Seating With Casa Roja
SBJ’s Bret McCormick writes, “The Arizona Cardinals continue to reshape State Farm Stadium’s high-end premium seating offering, with the latest project, Casa Roja at The Fifty -- A Sam Fox Experience, to be built this summer and unveiled before the 2025 NFL season. Casa Roja, constituting a club under the seating bowl with 500 adjoining leather seats grouped around the stadium’s east side 50-yard line, was developed, designed and curated by Arizona-based restaurateur and hospitality developer Sam Fox."
^{Sports Business Journal}

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Pro Volleyball’s Secret Weapon: College Stars Who Have Big Fan Bases
FOS’ Margaret Fleming writes, “Imagine a league structure in which incoming rookies who have massive clout coming out of school join the pro team closest to their college town. Cooper Flagg would head to Charlotte to play for the Hornets, Jayden Daniels would have joined the New Orleans Saints, and Caleb Williams would have stayed in L.A. with the Rams or Chargers. College sports fans would keep their stars close, and pro teams would automatically feel that love through ticket sales.

“It’s a model being tested by League One Volleyball (LOVB), one of several new women’s professional volleyball leagues popping up in the U.S.”
^{Front Office Sports}

Roster Limits Take Center Stage at House v. NCAA Final Approval Hearing
Multiple times during Monday's hearing, Wilken suggested a grandfather clause as part of a transition to new roster limits set under the agreement. If the settlement receives full approval, proposed rosters include football (105), men's and women's basketball (15), baseball (34), men's and women's soccer (28), softball (25) and volleyball (18).
^On3

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