Chinese company Wanda Sports Group held its IPO in the U.S. on Friday, listing on NASDAQ. Wanda Sports initially sought to raise $500M from its IPO, according to an SEC filing last month, but ended up raising $190.4M, with 23.8 million shares selling at $8 each. Wanda Sports is a subsidiary of Dalian Wanda, one of China’s biggest multinational conglomerates. It hosts global sports events and offers marketing and media platforms. Wanda Sports has close to $2B in debt, according to NASDAQ. Wanda Sports said in its SEC filing that a portion of the IPO proceeds will go to paying down that debt. At presstime Friday, shares of Wanda Sports Group were trading at $5.57, down 30% from the $8 starting price.

The IPO was big news for Wanda Sports’ World Triathlon Corp., which puts on the Ironman Triathlon and has spent the last few years solidifying its position as the world’s mass participation event industry leader. “Being a public company is going to provide a vehicle to, over time, potentially enable us to be even more ambitious about growth,” WTC CEO Andrew Messick said.

The mass participation event industry had long been characterized by fragmented, individual operators. WTC’s acquisitions in recent years, including Lagardere Sports’ stable of 21 endurance events, the Cape Epic South African mountain bike race and Competitor Group’s Rock ’n’ Roll Marathon series, have put the company in possession of 10% of the market, according to Messick. Total participation in triathlons has dropped from 527,168 in '13 to 356,159 last year, according to data from USA Triathlon. Messick said WTC is still focused on growing in North America, citing recent purchases of events in Tulsa, Des Moines and the Finger Lakes region in New York. “Nothing that happened today changes that,” he said.

Saturday's WNBA All-Star Game "should sell out" at the 12,000-seat Mandalay Bay Events Center, and the game "has typically been a big draw" for the league. Though the Aces are only in their second season in Las Vegas, they "have already taken root" in the city. The team "currently boasts the best record in the league, a top-notch" home arena and a "fan base that only figures to grow" (LAS VEGAS SUN, 7/25). Ancillary events include the WNBA All-Star Fan Fest Friday and Saturday at Mandalay Bay's Islander Ballroom and All-Stars walking the "Orange carpet Friday night," followed by a beach-themed party (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 7/26).

The WNBA is adding a "few experimental rules" for this year's game, including a 20-second shot clock "instead of the usual 24." There also will be a "hockey-style live substitution rule," with each team "allowed once per quarter to have a player sub in on offense." The sub "can only be made by the team on offense and a player can't substitute the person holding the ball." The player leaving the court can "tag the player coming in" (AP, 7/25).

The MLL Chesapeake Bayhawks host the league's All-Star Game for the first time on Saturday at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. To "help promote the event, the City of Annapolis has hung commemorative banners from all the lampposts along Main Street." An MLL spokesperson said that there will be a "fly-over of fighter jets following the national anthem while the Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon will perform at halftime." Incoming Naval Academy Superintendent Sean Buck "will serve as an honorary captain" (Annapolis CAPITAL, 7/23).

McLaren Racing has been talking to IndyCar teams in recent weeks about possibly partnering on a car next year, sources said, and CEO Zak Brown today confirmed he is back to considering a full-time entry in the series. This comes after Brown a couple months ago had downplayed the chances that McLaren would join the NTT IndyCar Series full-time after the team’s infamous exit at the Indy 500 in May. One team that is an option for McLaren to partner with is Arrow Schmidt-Peterson Motorsports, which shares a common major sponsor in Arrow Electronics.

The Phillies are bringing back their all-burgundy uniforms for Saturday night's home game against the Braves, donning the look for the first time since '79. The uniforms debuted in May '79, but after a loss to the Expos, players "threw their uniforms into the center of the clubhouse, and made sure that the team's most infamous uniform would last just one night." The new jerseys "look just like the ones worn" 40 years ago, including "zippered fronts instead of buttons." The Phillies originally planned to "wear the burgundy uniforms every Saturday at the Vet" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 7/26).

The Rams have "agreed to extensions" with coach Sean McVay and GM Les Snead through the '23 season (SPORTINGNEWS.com, 7/26).

ACC Network will be available for Comporium customers upon the net's launch on Aug. 22 (Comporium).

Oil brand Havoline is "back in NASCAR this weekend as a team sponsor after an 11-year absence." It will be a sponsor on Ben Rhodes' No. 99 ThorSport Racing Ford "for the next three Gander Outdoors Truck Series races" (NBCSPORTS.com, 7/26).

Off Media is producing a new documentary on Baseball HOFer Yogi Berra titled "It Ain't Over" (THE DAILY).

"I’m a big fan of young guys coming up out of the minor leagues to get big-league broadcasting jobs. I’m not a fan of hiring a guy because he had a .310 lifetime batting average, that he had 500 home runs. That automatically makes him a broadcaster? No freaking way it doesn’t" -- Reds play-by-play broadcaster Marty Brennaman (THEATHLETIC.com, 7/26).

"In the minds of many of my fellow Americans, baseball is a horse-and-buggy sport in a rocket-fueled world. Its demographics do not bode well for its future" -- The BOSTON GLOBE's Bob Ryan, in a column posted Friday afternoon on the paper's website (BOSTON GLOBE, 7/26).

"It's an opportunity to bring people together. Generation X, millennials -- they don't like to sit in their seats for an entire nine innings. They want to go up, have a beer, look at the river" -- Wichita Baseball Managing General Partner Lou Schwechheimer, on the many gathering places included in the design of the upcoming ballpark that will house a still-unnamed Triple-A team (BIZJOURNALS.com, 7/26).

Re: the abrupt stoppage of today's @Letour stage. French towns pay a lot (around $100,000) to be the endpoint of a @LeTour stage. Tignes will not get that benefit this year (though I'm sure tourists showed up anyway). #SportsBiz

— Eben Novy-Williams (@novy_williams) July 26, 2019

The Patriots are making Nick Caserio available to the media tomorrow. That’s a new one. We usually only hear from him once a year, before or after the draft

— Ben Volin (@BenVolin) July 26, 2019

Lasting memory of my friend, Skip Prosser, was a 14-hour flight Kuwait to DC after visiting our troops with Operation Hardwood. Talking hoops, history & life was something he was great at. We ate, slept & talked. A few weeks later he was gone.

— Fran Fraschilla (@franfraschilla) July 26, 2019

To the many people in our lives who have reached out, my brother Don and I appreciate every expression of love and kindness prompted by my dear, sweet mother's passing last night in Chicago after 93 glorious years. We are grieving but grateful for her life and every facet of it.

— Michael Wilbon (@RealMikeWilbon) July 26, 2019

Hearing Megan Rapinoe's book deal is worth in excess of $3 million. https://t.co/dFm1UkNXpz

— Grant Wahl (@GrantWahl) July 26, 2019

If you see a tweet we will not want to miss, send it to us at editorial@sportsbusinessdaily.com.

A bill to award Willie O'Ree the Congressional Gold Medal was introduced to the U.S. Senate by @SenStabenow and @SenatorTimScott.

Contact your member of congress to encourage their support! #HockeyIsForEveryone pic.twitter.com/EDMtBnMiZg

— NHL (@NHL) July 25, 2019

Sunday

The National Association of Sports Officials' annual Sports Officiating Summit begins at The Davenport Grand in Spokane, Wash. The event runs through Tuesday.

This video from the Irish Independent examines Adare Manor being chosen as the '26 Ryder Cup host, with a focus on what makes the course unique.

409,000 -- Average viewers on CBS last Sunday for the World TeamTennis match between the Vegas Rollers and Philadelphia Freedom. That is the series’ most-watched telecast in its 44-year history (first telecast on CBS broadcast network) (THE DAILY).