Fisher’s (l) portfolio also includes ownership stakes in the Earthquakes and Scottish club Celtic FCGETTY IMAGES
A's Managing Partner JOHN FISHER "would like to buy" a 30-35% stake in Serie A club AC Milan. If successful, it would "add another sports franchise to Fisher’s portfolio," as he also owns the Earthquakes and Scottish club Celtic FC (MERCURYNEWS.com, 6/18).
BREAKING THROUGH: Tigers Baseball Operations Analyst MAGGIE O'HARA, 23, is the "only woman on the Tigers’ 14-person analytics staff." A scan of publicly available front-office directories "appears to turn up fewer than 20 women listed as full-time staffers in team baseball analytics departments." O’Hara is "one of 22 recipients of MLB’s inaugural Diversity Fellowship -- though she had already been working for the Tigers as an intern." The program is "meant to 'recruit talented professionals of diverse backgrounds,' and, even as an entry-level staffer, O’Hara is taking it a step further by helping to build a network for other young female analysts" (THEATHLETIC.com, 6/15).
CASE CLOSED: The two sides in Ploetz v. NCAA "reached a settlement" on Friday -- the third day of the trial. DEBRA HARDIN-PLOETZ "sued the NCAA on behalf of her deceased husband, GREG PLOETZ," who played football at Texas from '68-71. He "never played professionally and, according to the lawsuit, suffered from a variety of later-life maladies, including depression and memory loss" (WASHINGTON POST, 6/16).
HONORABLE MENTIONS: Former NFL Dir of Football Communications RANDALL LIU will receive the Jack Horrigan Award from the PFWA -- awarded to a league or club official for "displaying qualities and professional style in helping the pro football writers do their job." Liu, who worked at the NFL for 18 years and recently joined CBS Sports as VP/Communications, is the "eighth person who has worked for the league to receive the honor" (AP, 6/15)....CAROL CULLEN, who served as an executive assistant for the Eagles' coaching staff from '85-'14, received a Super Bowl ring from the team. Cullen had been fired by the Eagles during former coach CHIP KELLY's second year (ESPN.com, 6/16).
NAMES: Pistons G REGGIE BULLOCK is set to become the first active NBAer to ride on the Pride float during the NYC Pride March. Bullock last season hosted an LGBTQ Pride night for the Pistons and appeared on a transgender visibility awareness panel in N.Y. in March (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 6/18)....Minneapolis Star Tribune columnist SID HARTMAN was honored on Friday by Vikings Owner ZYGI WILF and NFL Commissioner ROGER GOODELL at the team’s new facility in Eagan when the team unveiled the Sid Hartman Interview Room (STARTRIBUNE.com, 6/15)....Actor PETER BILLINGSLEY recently produced a new esports documentary called “GAMECHANGERS: DREAMS OF BLIZZCON.” The film “follows two of the world’s best ‘STARCRAFT’ players, MUN SEONG WON and JANG MIN-CHUL, over the course of a year culminating in their appearance at BlizzCon” (NYPOST.com, 6/15)....Portuguese Prime Minister ANTONIO COSTA and N.J. Gov. PHIL MURPHY watched Portugal’s first World Cup match against Spain together at Sport Club Portugues in Newark with about 200 fans (N.Y. TIMES, 6/15)....Chiefs WR TYREEK HILL on Saturday took nine boys from the Boys & Girls Club to Academy Sports in Overland Park and gave “each of them $100 gift cards” (KANSASCITY.com, 6/16)....Bills QB JOSH ALLEN and Jets QB SAM DARNOLD were at the U.S. Open over the weekend (BUFFALONEWS.com, 6/17).
