Sport & Story Daily December 6, 2023

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December 6, 2023

Good morning! Tiger Woods and Nike could be headed for the breakup of the century.

Are Tiger Woods and Nike Splitting Up? The Move Would Change Golf
Tiger Woods is not only the face of Nike’s golf business, but he has been synonymous with the brand through every major moment of his career, from his triumphs at Augusta to his unprecedented dominance at St. Andrews and beyond. 

That could all be changing soon.

While specific contract details have never been made public, Nike is believed to have paid Woods hundreds of millions of dollars since signing the superstar in 1996, when he was just 20 years old. But now, as the 47-year-old Woods approaches the twilight of his playing career, a surprising report is suggesting that he could split with Nike as early as this month.
frontofficesports.com

NBA Unplugged with Kevin Hart to Debut on ESPN2 for Inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament Championship Game December 9
ESPN, Hartbeat, and Omaha Productions today announced a collaboration on a new, NBA-focused alternate presentation called NBA Unplugged with Kevin Hart. It will star comedian, actor, and 4-time NBA Celebrity All-Star Game M.V.P. Kevin Hart and the Plastic Cup Boyz, Joey Wells, Will Horton and Na’im Lynn. The shows will capture the authentic way Kevin Hart and his friends watch the NBA with lively discussion, debate and banter – along with special guest appearances from top athletes and celebrities.

Unplugged with Kevin Hart is set to debut on Saturday, Dec. 9, at 8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2 for the inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament Championship Game. The traditional game broadcast will be available on ABC. Seven episodes of Unplugged with Kevin Hart will air throughout the season tied to marquee NBA games on ESPN platforms.
espnpressroom.com

SUPER BOWL 2024 ADS AND THE BRANDS BUYING THEM
As NFL teams battle to make the NFL Playoffs, brands are finalizing their Super Bowl ad plans for the Feb. 11 game in Las Vegas. CBS in early November reported that ad inventory was virtually sold out. Commercials are going for about $7 million for a 30-second unit, similar to the 2023 game. Ad Age’s definition of a Super Bowl commercial includes all national spots between the coin toss and end of play.
^AdAge.com

Ron DeSantis slams CFP, wants to sue over Florida State's snub
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis took the College Football Playoff committee to task on Tuesday, slamming its decision to exclude the undefeated Florida State football team from the four-team playoff.

DeSantis, speaking at a news conference to detail his proposed $114.4 billion budget for Florida, said he is asking for $1 million to let FSU sue the CFP committee even though the championship will be decided months before a budget is approved. The semifinals are set for Jan. 1, with the championship game to be played Jan. 8.
espn.com

TRAVIS KELCE BID ON NEW YORK METS WITH J-LO AND A-ROD
Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce plans to move from the field to the front office once his playing days are over, and a failed bid for the New York Mets may have set him on the path.

Kelce’s business managers, Aaron and André Eanes of A&A Management, described the two-time Super Bowl winner’s portfolio and approach at Sportico‘s Influence live event in New York on Monday. Kelce has approximately 27 different investments, according to André Eanes, which include A Shoc energy drink, a John Deere dealership, car washes and a stake in the Alpine F1 racing team. But his aspirations have always been high.
^sportico.com

Olympic Hosts Paris and Brisbane Grapple With Security Concerns, Soaring Costs
Two of the next three cities hosting the Summer Olympics are grappling with more and more issues, showing the strains the massive event can place on municipal resources. 

Already dealing with an extended series of organizational and local issues that have hampered Olympics preparations, the Paris 2024 organizing committee was rocked on Saturday by the stabbing death of a German-Filipino tourist near the Eiffel Tower, by an assailant French authorities described as an Islamist radical. 
^{frontofficesports.com}

Amazon Bounces Back With Record Viewership
Amazon’s presentation of the NFL on Prime Video is back on track after disappointing results from its first Black Friday experiment.

The Dallas Cowboys’ thrilling 41-35 win over the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday Night Football averaged 15.26 million viewers — surpassing Week 2’s Vikings-Eagles matchup (15.05M) as Prime Video’s most-watched game ever.
^{frontofficesports.com}

BARSTOOL SPORTS BOWL TO FEATURE PORTNOY CALLING GAME ON THE CW
The CW Network has announced it will be the exclusive broadcast home of the 2023 Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl, with the telecast to feature Barstool personalities including Dave Portnoy calling the game, per Deadline.

Now in its eighth year, the bowl game will feature two yet-to-be-determined teams from the Mountain West Conference and Mid-American Conference. It will air at 4 p.m. ET on Dec. 30 from Arizona Stadium in Tucson.
sportico.com

Why building 2024 A’s roster is a weird situation’ for GM David Forst
Imagine the Oakland Athletics’ sales pitch to potential free-agent targets.

“We’re interested in you. We like you. We think you could help us. We’d like to offer two years. But we have no idea where you’ll suit up in 2025. … Does that work for you?”

Unless a free agent is coming off a major injury or a rotten season, it seems far-fetched he would want to join the A’s on a multiyear deal. The A’s remain in limbo as to where they’ll play after their Coliseum lease expires next year and before their stadium opens in Las Vegas, supposedly in 2028.
^{sfchronicle.com}

Tulane coaching candidates to replace Willie Fritz: Alex Atkins, Jon Sumrall and more
Willie Fritz pumped much-needed life back into Tulane football, leading the Green Wave to a 23-4 run that included a Cotton Bowl win against USC last year, Tulane’s first major bowl in more than 80 years. It was quite the revival for a program that had only three winning seasons in the two decades since Tommy Bowden directed a 12-0 season in 1998.

But Fritz left after eight years to take the Houston job on Sunday. Tulane could have some interesting options in play to replace Fritz, a few of which have strong ties to the school.
^{theathletic.com}

2024 NFL Draft: Penn State star Chop Robinson declares, will skip Peach Bowl to prepare
Penn State defensive end Chop Robinson has declared for the 2024 NFL Draft and will skip the No. 10 Nittany Lions' upcoming Peach Bowl showdown against No. 11 Ole Miss. The two-year star for the Nittany Lions announced his intentions on social media following an injury-hampered season that still ended in exactly half of his 15 total tackles going for negative yardage.  

Robinson's bona fides go back to his recruiting days. He is still the second-highest ranked recruit to ever sign with Maryland out of high school in the 247Sports era. He joined the Terrapins in 2021 as a five-star prospect out of Gaithersburg, Maryland, and was the No. 2 edge rusher in his class. 
_{cbssports.com}

The NCAA president embraced common sense, so what's the catch?
For decades, the NCAA has effectively served two purposes: stage tournaments and keep college athletes from making money. That’s what made NCAA president Charlie Baker’s letter so shocking. All of a sudden, the leader of the governing body of college sports had done a complete about-face.

Even as it bent to the will of state governments and the courts and allowed name, image and likeness payments, the NCAA still worked to enforce rules that would keep athletes from making money. Even after it got skunked in the Supreme Court — which opened the floodgates for further antitrust action — college sports’ governing body dug in its heels, issued memos that it intended to enforce rules that seemed unenforceable and kept arguing in ongoing court cases that schools paying athletes would lead to the destruction of the enterprise.
^on3.com

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