Sports With a Side of Themes

SBJ writes, “This summer alone, there were pregame or halftime concerts at the final of the FIFA Club World Cup, the MLB Speedway Classic and even regular-season WNBA games.”

September 11, 2025

Star Wars Was Just the Start for Teams Using Trending IP on Theme Nights
SBJ’s David Broughton writes, “Typically, such promotions with entertainment brands include a venuewide takeover, complete with walk-up music for the players, video board graphics, roaming costumed characters and postgame fireworks or a drone show synced with a soundtrack from the night’s theme.

“But somewhere in the venue there is often a small group of fans — typically 1,000 to 2,500 — who paid for an experience that, depending on the theme, might include hanging out with a Wookiee and receiving an item, such as a bobblehead, that is exclusive only to them. The number of premium package offerings linked to a non-sports IP has more than doubled since 2017, according to SBJ research, to more than 100 games.”
^{Sports Business Journal}

Legends Global Reveals New Name After ASM Global Acquisition
Sportico’s Jacob Feldman writes, “Legends has gone global. The services provider for sports venues, events and brands founded by Dallas Cowboys and New York Yankees ownership in 2008 will now be known as Legends Global, it announced Wednesday, following its 2024 acquisition of ASM Global.

“Investment firm Sixth Street acquired a majority stake in Legends in 2021, valuing the company at $1.35 billion. Legends initially announced its acquisition of ASM in 2023. At the time, ASM managed more than 300 venues from London to Hong Kong, making it the world’s largest venue management company. Legends reportedly paid more than $2.3 billion in the transaction.”
_Sportico

American Express in ‘Cornerstone’ Deal With MetLife Stadium for 2026
SBJ’s Terry Lefton writes, “Early evidence of that forecast is now emerging: AmEx is buttressing its NFL league rights with a pricey ‘cornerstone’ sponsorship at MetLife Stadium, the New Jersey facility which is home to the two NFL teams which call themselves ‘New York’: the Jets and Giants. Like its NFL league deal, AmEx’s Meadowlands sponsorship, which includes Jets and Giants rights, won’t take effect until next season. It’s a hometown flag-planting of a sort. AmEx’s corporate HQ in lower Manhattan is about 11 miles from MetLife Stadium.

“Other MetLife corner sponsors, paying up to $9 million a year for those rights: Moody’s, HCLTech, and Verizon. Sources said AmEx is paying more than any of those sponsors, adding that those deals are usually sold in five-year increments.”
^{Sports Business Journal}

Momentous Sports Launching Sports Real Estate Investment Vehicle
Momentous Sports is launching a $100M fund this fall to invest in sports teams and real estate. Momentous is led by founder & CEO Marley Hughes and its early investors include Pro Football HOFer John Elway, former NFLers Tim Tebow and Blake Bortles, Chick-fil-A CEO Andrew Cathy -- the grandson of Chick-fil-A founder Truett Cathy -- and John Shain, former co-founder of FS Investments (now Future Standard).
^{Sports Business Journal}

‘Thunder On’ Doc Tells the Story of SMU’s Resurgence, 15 Years After Popular ‘Pony Excess’
The Athletic’s Sam Khan Jr. writes, “There’s a new story to tell on the Hilltop, one that [billionaire oil tycoon and former SMU basketball player David] Miller had a significant hand in. ‘Thunder On: Resurgence of the SMU Mustangs’ is a sequel that tells the story of the university’s and football program’s rise from the ashes, including the school’s move to the ACC and berth in the 2024 College Football Playoff. The hour-long documentary, produced by Texas Crew Productions in conjunction with Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions, premieres at 3 p.m. (ET) on Sept. 21 on ESPN.”
^{The Athletic}

New Data Helps NFL Week 1 Sunday to Gains
SBJ’s Austin Karp writes, “The first NFL Sunday with Big Data and full out-of-home measurement from Nielsen was a boon to CBS, Fox and NBC. The Bills’ come-from-behind win over the Ravens on “SNF” delivered 24.7 million viewers to NBC, which is the network’s best Sunday night opener since 25 million watched Buccaneers-Cowboys back in 2022. Alongside the weather-delayed Cowboys-Eagles NFL Kickoff game on Thursday, NBC averaged 26.5 million for its Week 1 doubleheader, which is the network’s best start to the season since 2015 and second-best figure since taking over the package in 2006.”
^{Sports Business Journal}

Sling TV’s Day Passes Spark Another Sports-Centric Legal Battle
FOS’ Eric Fisher writes, “Sling TV is once more in the legal crosshairs of a bigger media entity, as TNT Sports parent company Warner Bros. Discovery has filed a lawsuit challenging a new $4.99 “Day Pass” offering short-term access to a set of channels that includes TNT and TBS. WBD is alleging a breach of contract in an existing carriage agreement and is seeking an injunction blocking the Sling TV effort. The legal action is the second lawsuit against Sling TV parent company Dish Network in as many weeks, as Disney also sued along similar grounds.”
^{Front Office Sports}

Mark Shapiro Talks UFC Media Rights, TKO’s ‘Execution Story’
“We set our sights on talking with everybody else, from Warner Bros. Discovery, to a lesser extent Apple, Amazon in a big way, YouTube in a big way, Netflix in a big way, DAZN in a big way,” Shapiro said. The decision to go with Paramount, which is paying $7.7B over seven years, was partly a bet on the Ellison family, who Shapiro described as “visionaries” at the “forefront of technology and content merging.”
^{Sports Business Journal}

Unrivaled Women’s Basketball League Expands With New Clubs and Development Pool
AP News’ Alanis Thames reports: Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart’s 3-on-3 women’s basketball league Unrivaled is adding two more clubs — Breeze Basketball Club and Hive Basketball Club — for its second season. The league announced the expansion Wednesday, saying it also will bring in six players for a season-long development pool and add a fourth night of games. That brings the league to eight teams and 54 players, up from six teams and 36 players who competed in its inaugural eight-week season that wrapped up in March.”
^{AP News}

Raleigh Could Be Intriguing MLB Expansion Contender
“He has done the Blazers deal with the intent to still do baseball,” Hurricanes CEO Brian Fork told SBJ Tuesday. “We’ve got an owner in Tom Dundon who is very much interested in owning a baseball team, (and) he wants to do it in Raleigh. We’ve got local leadership from the political levels that is interested in making it happen. And we think we’ve got the market to support it.”
^{Sports Business Journal}

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College Football Picks: Sooners, Cyclones, Utes Among Power Four Teams Making Rare Visits to G5 Foes
AP News’ Eric Olson writes, “Athletic directors are now crafting future nonconference schedules with an eye toward creating the best path to the College Football Playoff, where strength of schedule now matters more. The common template is for P4 teams to play a home or away game against a P4 opponent, one G5 team at home and one Football Championship Subdivision opponent at home.”
^{Sports Business Journal}

College Sports ‘House of Cards’: Republicans, Lobbyists Work to Secure Votes to Pass SCORE Act
FOS’ Amanda Christovich writes, “Since 2019, the NCAA and power conferences (including the Pac-12) have spent millions on Capitol Hill lobbying for a law that would allow them to keep college athletes’ status as amateurs and win back control to set and enforce rules in college sports.  The overarching goal of the NCAA and conferences is to gain antitrust protections that would allow them and the new College Sports Commission to enforce rules around compensation, transfers, and eligibility without fear of lawsuits. They also seek a federal standard for NIL (name, image, and likeness) deals overriding state laws, and a guarantee that athletes would never be university employees. 

“The SCORE Act satisfies those demands. It also puts in place new regulations for agents, minimums for how many sports programs a school must sponsor, and codifies the revenue-sharing terms of the House v. NCAA settlement. The bill made it through two committee markups along party lines before the August recess.”
^{Front Office Sports}

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