RedZone Hits College Football?

Sport & Story Daily August 13, 2025: Per SBJ, people are connecting the dots between the wildly popular ‘RedZone’ and its potential to extend to the college ranks.

August 13, 2025

Per SBJ, people are connecting the dots between the wildly popular ‘RedZone’ and its potential to extend to the college ranks.

August 13, 2025

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Could ESPN Expand ‘RedZone’ to College Football?
SBJ’s Ben Portnoy writes, “There’s no inherent tie between the NFL’s massive new media rights deal with ESPN announced last week and college football, but plenty of people are connecting the dots between the wildly popular ‘RedZone’ name and the potential for expanding it to the college ranks.”

“Maybe they were ahead of their time or the market is now in a place to receive it more favorably now, but it’s not that it hasn’t been tried before -- particularly tried by ESPN,” said Octagon SVP/Global Media Rights William Mao.
Sports Business Journal

A UFC Fight at the White House? Dana White Says It’s Happening as Part of Deal With Paramount
“It’s absolutely going to happen,” White told The Associated Press. “Think about that, the 250th birthday of the United States of America, the UFC will be on the White House south lawn live on CBS.”
AP News

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LVCVA Approves Sponsorship Deal for F1 Las Vegas GP Through 2027
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority on Tuesday approved a $20M “race sponsorship agreement” that extends the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix “through at least 2027,” according to Mick Akers of the LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL via SBJ. The LVCVA Board of Directors voted unanimously to approve spending $10M per year to “sponsor the 2026 and 2027 races.”
Las Vegas Review-Journal via Sports Business Journal

TKO, Paramount Stocks Hit Highs After UFC Deal
SBJ’s Adam Stern reports: “Wall Street is showing its approval to TKO Group Holdings of its new UFC media rights deal with Paramount, with the company’s stock hitting an all-time high during trading today. After increasing more than 10% yesterday on the heels of the announcement that UFC would be doubling its annual media rights revenue starting in 2026, TKO’s stock popped another 3.2% heading into the close of trading today. It hit an all-time high of $186.34 before paring those gains slightly to $185.87.”
Sports Business Journal

Laura Rutledge Elevated to ESPN’s Lead ‘Monday Night Football’ Broadcast Team
The Athletic’s Richard Deitsch writes, “ESPN’s ‘Monday Night Football’ will have a new look on its sidelines this season — longtime NFL host and reporter Laura Rutledge will join Lisa Salters as a permanent sideline reporter for all 20 games that the top team of Joe Buck, Troy Aikman and Salters will call this season. The move sets up the on-air talent roster for what will be ESPN’s most important live broadcast ever: Super Bowl LXI on Feb. 14, 2027, the company’s first-ever Super Bowl broadcast.”
The Athletic

ESPN Scores Little League, ‘SNB’ Gains Over Weekend
SBJ’s Adam Karp writes, “ESPN had an impressive weekend on the diamond, with another big audience for “Sunday Night Baseball,” a record audience for the Little League Softball World Series, and big gains for the regional round of the Little League World Series. ABC aired the championship game of the Little League Softball World Series on Sunday afternoon -- Johnston (Pa.)-Floyds Knob (Ind.) -- and it drew 1.44 million viewers, which is the most-watched Little League Softball game ever.”
Sports Business Journal

Taylor Swift on ‘New Heights’ Could Test Sports Podcast Ceiling
FOS’ Margaret Fleming writes, “Taylor Swift’s episode of New Heights could be the most-consumed podcast episode of all time. On Monday, the popular podcast by Jason and Travis Kelce announced the latter’s popstar girlfriend would appear on the show Wednesday evening. In the early hours of Tuesday morning, the New Heights account revealed the title of Swift’s upcoming twelfth studio album: The Life of A Showgirl.”
Front Office Sports

NBAE via Getty Images

Report: Grousbeck Won’t Remain Celtics Governor
Wyc Grousbeck will “no longer stay on” as Celtics governor as part of the $6.1B sale of the team to Bill Chisholm, according to sources. Grousbeck had been expected to remain as governor and CEO of the club through 2028. However, sources said that the NBA BOG “was informed in recent days that Chisholm will now assume the governor title moving forward.”
ESPN and Boston Herald via Sports Business Journal

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Revamped Tulane and Veteran-Laden Navy Look Primed to Challenge for American Conference Supremacy
AP News’ Brett Martel writes, “With aggressive moves in the transfer portal, second-year Tulane coach Jon Sumrall appears to have revamped his roster well enough to make the Green Wave an American Conference favorite again -- although Navy, Army, UTSA, Memphis or South Florida could have something to say about that.

“With 52% of Tulane’s roster comprised of players who never previously wore a Green Wave uniform, Sumrall concedes that his team entered August camp with ‘a lot of uncertainty’ about which transfers or recruits might emerge as prominent players.”
AP News

Title IX Issues Continue to Loom After House Settlement Approval
The House settlement was to “bring some parameters and guardrails” to college athletics, but “overlooked has been the elephant in the room: Title IX,” according to Chip Alexander of the Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER. The $2.8B in back pay to former athletes has been paused, as eight female athletes “appealed that part of the settlement approved in a California court, saying it violates Title IX.”
Raleigh News & Observer via Sports Business Journal

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