Sport & Story Daily February 20, 2024

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February 20, 2024

Good morning! The future of AI in sports is here…and it’s kinda creepy

Adam Silver Demonstrates NB-AI Concept With Victor Wembanyama
NBA commissioner Adam Silver demoed a potential future for how NBA fans will use AI technology to watch basketball action at the league’s Tech Summit Friday. The proposed interface is set to be named NB-AI.

As Sportico’s Jacob Felman reports, “Silver presented a situation where he could speak with an NBA trained digital assistant that had the powers to personalize a fan’s live game viewing experience on the NBA app. At one point, Silver asked the tool to take a live basketball game and recreate the action ‘as if it were a Spider-Man movie.’ The result quickly recreated a play, turning the players into cartoon characters while adding dramatic music and digital effects more familiar to comic book fans than sports diehards.

Spurs rookie sensation Victor Wembanyama contributed to the demonstration, which also included ways for fans to view and buy the sneakers a certain player is wearing in real time, or identify close contests happening in the moment.”
^sportico.com

Suns Become 30th NBA Team to Have a G League Squad
The Suns organization, now under the umbrella of owner Mat Ishbia’s Player 15 company for his sports and entertainment ventures, became the final NBA team to have an affiliated team with the league. A location for home games and a team name have both yet to be determined, though the name will be decided through a fan contest with the winner getting $1,000. 
^{frontofficesports.com}

NBA All-Star Game Again Faces Questions Around Future After Lack of Intensity
The NBA All-Star Game “again feels at a crossroads” following the highest-scoring game in the league’s history, as attempts to make yesterday’s event "more competitive fell flat,” according to Dan Woike of the L.A. TIMES.
^{sportsbusinessjournal.com}

Rosenthal: Royals’ New Additions Offer a Singular Vision — Contend in the AL Central
The Royals ended up spending $109.5 million on seven free agents, then signing shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. to an 11-year, $288.8 million extension and adding reliever John Schreiber from the Red Sox on Saturday in a trade. The projection systems to this point are unimpressed. Fangraphs has the Royals winning 76 games, PECOTA 70. But the club’s new additions offer a singular vision, saying they expect the team to contend.
^{theathletic.com}

Arizona Hires AD Desireé Reed-Francois Amid Budget Woes
As ESPN’s Pete Thamel writes, “The University of Arizona has hired Missouri athletic director Desireé Reed-Francois as the school's next AD.

Reed-Francois has agreed to a five-year deal. The hiring, announced Monday, gives Arizona's athletic department, which is replete with financial struggles, a veteran leader who has spent nearly three years leading Missouri.

The jump from the SEC to Arizona, which is entering the Big 12 in the 2024-25 academic year, is an unexpected one within the college sports industry. Sources told ESPN that Reed-Francois' ties to Arizona, which include graduating from law school there in 1997, helped lead to the decision.”
^espn.com

College Football Playoff Has Not Yet Agreed to New TV Contract, According to Commissioner on CFP Management Committee
“Several news outlets are reporting that a new six-year television deal has been concluded for the College Football Playoff,” Steinbrecher wrote in an email dated Feb. 13. “Be advised, these reports are incorrect. Neither the Management Committee (commissioners) nor the Board of Managers (presidents) have reviewed a draft agreement nor has any vote been taken.”
^{sports.yahoo.com}

Rangers OT Win Caps Memorable MetLife Stadium Outdoor Weekend
“The ice was fine. They did a good job with everything,” said Mika Zibanejad of the Rangers, whose power-play goal with 1:29 to go sent the game into overtime. “It gets you back to the good old times when you played outdoors. The puck was a little bouncier. It got a little more difficult as the game went on.”  

As Sportico’s Barry M. Bloom notes, fans “eagerly” packed the football stadium in the Meadowlands that’s home to the New York Jets and New York Giants despite the elements.

“To think about the fact that we’re going to have 140,000 for two games here is absolutely incredible,” said NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, who’s now overseen 41 outdoor games, before the festivities began.
^sportico.com

Pushback From NHLPA, Local Unions Could Kill Coyotes’ Last Chance in Arizona
As Front Office Sports’ A.J. Perez reports, “The Arizona Coyotes’ latest attempt to build a new arena is facing a fresh obstacle: the NHL Players Association. 

Earlier this month, NHLPA executive director Marty Walsh said he was ‘extremely disappointed’ with owner Alex Meruelo and team president Xavier Gutierrez about their not keeping the union apprised of the team’s plans to acquire roughly 100 acres in north Phoenix for a privately financed $3 billion mixed-use arena project with roughly 17,500 seats. But Walsh’s public statements are just part of the Coyotes’ issues with unions that could hamper the team’s latest—and potential final—push to keep the club in Arizona.”
^{frontofficesports.com}

Mike Krzyzewski and Jay Wright Blast Ohio State Buckeyes For Chris Holtmann Firing
"After three years at Duke, I'd be fired," Coach K said in a recent episode of Basketball & Beyond on Sirius XM. "Part of building a culture is going through adversity. We were fortunate to be allowed to do that. Our schools were fortunate because we were allowed to build a culture. Our culture is still there at Duke. That's what you want to keep going."
^si.com

Joe Parker out as Colorado State University athletic director
The school has not yet publicly announced the move, and no interim or replacement has reportedly yet been named.

As The Coloradoan’s Kevin Lytle writes, “CSU had large success in many Olympic sports during Parker's tenure but consistently struggled in football, which is the driver of all the recent realignment in college sports. The Rams went 40-63 in football under three different head coaches during Parker's tenure.”
^{coloradoan.com}

College Football Coaching Isn’t Nearing an Apocalypse. It’s Changing, Like Every Other Job.
“The two weeks after we beat Rutgers was the two toughest weeks I’ve ever had as a college coach because of this portal, NIL, you know, your third-team tailback coming in saying I need $100,000 or I'm going into the portal," Maryland coach Mike Locksley said last week during a radio interview with 106.7 FM in Washington, D.C.

As USA Today’s Dan Wolken writes, “Chip Kelly’s departure from UCLA last Friday to become the offensive coordinator at Ohio State marked the fourth time since the end of the season that a head coach willingly left a highly-paid position to do something other than lead a college football program.” 
^usatoday.com

Mailbag: Pac-12 Presidents’ Double Fail, Kliavkoff vs. Yormark, Cal and Stanford vs. the ACC’s Future, Bowl Bids, NIL and More
As The Mercury News’ Jon Wilner writes, “Kliavkoff took charge of the Pac-12 before it was gutted and faced a lineup of presidents with competing agendas, wandering eyes, little desire to expand and a desire for the most lucrative media rights contract possible.

Even after the L.A. schools departed — and Kliavkoff certainly bears some responsibility for that — the difficult dynamics remained: The Pac-12 still had two schools valued by the Big Ten (Oregon and Washington) and an array of presidents who prioritized cash over survival.

Kliavkoff failed to properly manage the process, but it was more complicated and challenging than the situation Yormark inherited.

Put another way: Kliavkoff was dealt a bad hand and played it poorly; Yormark was dealt a good hand and played it well.”
^{mercurynews.com}

From Twitter 👉🏼 "We screwed up college sports with the NIL thing... Can you get together with the NCAA? Because, No. 1, the NCAA, they're boneheads..." - Charles Barkley to Adam Silver

South Carolina Wins Record 43rd Straight SEC Regular-Season Game
"I'm just proud of the former players and the current players to put together some of the most historical stretches in this league," South Carolina women's basketball coach Dawn Staley said. "It says something to be able to do that because this is a hard league."
^espn.com

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