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Leagues and Governing Bodies

Sources: NBA, Union Struggling To Agree On Lowering Minimum Age

The NBA and NBPA are "struggling to reach an agreement on lowering the league's minimum age to 18, differing on the league's desire to attach two conditions to ending the one-and-done NBA draft era," according to sources cited by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com. Sources said that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is pressing NBPA Exec Dir Michele Roberts to "require that player-agents furnish all teams with medical information on draft prospects." The sources added that the league also "wants to mandate players' attendance and some level of participation in the pre-draft combine." The NBA still "hopes to reach an agreement with the NBPA and allow graduating high school seniors to enter the league" starting with the '22 draft. Sources said that the union has felt "significant pressure from the agent community to resist the NBA's push on ceding control of medical information." Wojnarowski noted agents have long "used the leverage of withholding medical information from teams to try to steer players to preferred draft destinations." The absence of that medical data "creates greater uncertainty and risk for front offices tasked with making personnel decisions on young players." The NBA "isn't necessarily pushing for every team to have direct access to independently examine a player." Sources said that they want a "mechanism where teams can minimally get pool doctor reports shared among several organizations." Sources added that talks between the league and union have been "ongoing and are expected to continue soon" (ESPN.com, 10/20).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: May 9, 2024

WNBA regular season games to be available on Disney+; Candace Parker's new role at Adidas; Rory McIlroy will not return to PGA Tour Policy Board and Theo Epstein's role with the PGA Tour moving forward.

Phoenix Mercury/NBC’s Cindy Brunson, NBA Media Deal, Network Upfronts

On this week’s pod, SBJ’s Austin Karp chats with SBJ NBA writer Tom Friend about the pending NBA media Deal. Cindy Brunson of NBC and Phoenix Mercury is our Big Get this week. The sports broadcasting pioneer talks the upcoming WNBA season. Later in the show, SBJ media writer Mollie Cahillane gets us set for the upcoming network upfronts.

SBJ I Factor: Molly Mazzolini

SBJ I Factor features an interview with Molly Mazzolini. Elevate's Senior Operating Advisor – Design + Strategic Alliances chats with SBJ’s Ross Nethery about the power of taking chances. Mazzolini is a member of the SBJ Game Changers Class of 2016. She shares stories of her career including co-founding sports design consultancy Infinite Scale career journey and how a chance encounter while working at a stationery store launched her career in the sports industry. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

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