Chris Smith

SAN DIEGO -- More than 25,000 fans turned out to San Diego’s Snapdragon Stadium for the NWSL Championship on Saturday, with Gotham FC winning the title over OL Reign 2-1. For many, the focus was on the end of an era, with stars Megan...

OL Groupe, which owns French soccer club Olympique Lyonnais and the NWSL’s OL Reign, is refinancing around $342M in debt. The refinancing covers the majority of OL Groupe’s total debt, which stood at some $410M at the end of June, and will enable it to repay stadium-related obligations, government-guaranteed...

According to Wednesday’s quarterly filing from Endeavor, the agency now holds just a 1% interest in Learfield -- down from its prior 42% stake -- following the collegiate commercial giant’s recent recapitalization. Two months ago, Learfield restructured some $1.1 billion in debt , leaving it with $500...

Healthcare giant Humana has signed on as the official healthcare sponsor for the Association of Pickleball Players, the Professional Pickleball Association, U.S. Senior Pickleball and Major League Pickleball’s D.C. Pickleball Team. The wide-ranging suite of pickleball sponsorships gives Humana exposure across nearly the entire pro pickleball space, and Humana...

The National Lacrosse League will today unveil UnBOXed, a new grassroots initiative to deploy market-specific branding for, and provide equipment and physical education resources to, schools in markets without an NLL team. The NLL will throughout this week unveil branding for the first nine such markets -- Baltimore, Charlotte,...

Few, if any, sports business executives boast a résumé that can stack up against that of Dave Checketts. In a career that spans more than four decades, Checketts has been the president of two NBA teams, president and CEO of Madison Square Garden, owner of the St. Louis Blues...

Immersive sports and entertainment company Cosm has hired Corey Breton to be its first-ever Head of Venues. In the newly created role, Breton will oversee venue operations, including hospitality and food and beverage, for Cosm’s first two locations slated to open in L.A. and ...

Meadowlark Media John Skipper (co-founder and CEO) Deirdre Fenton (executive director, unscripted) Carl Scott (executive director, audio) Former longtime ESPN boss John Skipper knows a thing or two about sports storytelling, having...

UTA Rich Paul (co-head, UTA Sports; founder and CEO Klutch Sports) Andrew Thau (COO, UTA; co-head, UTA Sports) Danny Barton (vice president of sports content, UTA) When Hollywood talent agency UTA acquired Rich Paul’s Klutch Sports in 2019,...

HBO Bentley Weiner (vice president, HBO Sports Documentaries) Bentley Weiner has been at HBO since 2000 and overseeing its sports documentary programming since 2017. Across that time, she’s been instrumental to maintaining the network’s reputation as the home for premier sports storytelling. ...