A House committee yesterday "explored plans to redevelop Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in the District," a makeover that "could tempt the Commanders to return to the site." The D.C. Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Revitalization Act would "allow the area to undergo construction" that could include "the development of a new stadium, housing, and recreational or commercial facilities." The legislation, first introduced in July, would "extend the lease on the 190-acre site," which is currently set to expire in 2038, "up to 99 years." The possible upgrades "do not guarantee that a stadium would be built or that the Commanders would call it home." Commanders owner Josh Harris also "will be examining proposals from Maryland and Virginia." The bill is headed to "a review by the full committee" today (WASHINGTON TIMES, 9/19).

On the 50th anniversary of Billie Jean King's victory in the "Battle of the Sexes" against Bobby Riggs, King will "move toward becoming the first female individual athlete to be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal." Three U.S. senators will introduce a bill today that "would award the honor to King." Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) is "one of the bill’s leaders" in the Senate along with Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ). The Congressional Gold Medal has previously been given to athletes such as baseball players Jackie Robinson and Roberto Clemente, and golfers Jack Nicklaus, Byron Nelson and Arnold Palmer. Gillibrand "hopes it can be accomplished before the end of the year" (AP, 9/19). 

Fifty years later, the final score of King's win "hasn’t changed" -- 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 -- "but gender inequality has." Buoyed by Title IX, the Williams sisters, Brandi Chastain’s celebration and the recent Equal Pay for Team USA Act, King’s victory "was ground zero of an ongoing five-decade journey to female parity" (SPORTS BUSINESS JOURNAL, 9/18 issue).

New White Sox GM Chris Getz is "bringing in three outsiders with the aim of getting the Sox back up and running as quickly as possible." Getz is "reportedly hiring Josh Barfield," who has been the D-backs' Dir of Player Development since 2019, as the Sox's assistant GM. Getz is also "reportedly adding" Brian Bannister as Dir of Pitching and Gene Watson, who will work in player development. Bannister has been the Giants' Dir of Pitching since 2020 and before that was a scout and assistant pitching coach for the Red Sox. Watson is the Royals' VP/Major-League Scouting and assistant GM. He's also worked with the Angels, Marlins, Padres and Braves (Chicago DAILY HERALD, 9/19).

In conjunction with next week’s Ryder Cup, the PGA of America is debuting a  marketing campaign from Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions: “We Love This Game.” Golf pros appearing in the campaign, which will run on TV, social, and digital: Michael Block, the head pro at Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club in Mission Viejo, Calif.; Joanna Coe, the PGA of America Director of Instruction at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa.; Alison Curdt, the PGA of America Director of Instruction at Wood Ranch Golf Club in Simi Valley, Calif.; and Rich Jones, the PGA of America District Manager at Golf Galaxy in Bay Shore, N.Y.

Next month, espnW’s Women + Sports Summit will return to Ojai, Calif., for its 14th annual edition. The three-day program will showcase conversations with leading female sports executives and address subjects like selling and investing in women’s sports. Featured speakers include WME agent Jill Smoller, K.C. Current owner Angie Long, Monarch Collective managing partners Kara Nortman and Jasmine Robinson, Wasserman’s Shelley Pisarra and Lindsay Kagawa Colas and WNBA star Candace Parker, who will also provide a preview of upcoming ESPN Films documentary “Candace Parker: Unapologetic.” The event’s keynote is an interview with and performance by Regina Spektor, and athlete speakers include Gabby Thomas, Nneka Ogwumike, Kaillie Humphries and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. 

Oakland’s two professional soccer teams are "one step closer to building a temporary stadium near the Coliseum," as the City Council voted unanimously yesterday to "enter into an exclusive negotiating agreement" with the USL's Roots and USLW's Soul and Alameda County for a 10-year lease to host up to 10,000 fans on a property that is currently a lot used for overflow parking at the Coliseum. If the city and the soccer teams reach an agreement, Roots and Soul "would build a temporary outdoor stadium until they find a permanent home." The Roots and Soul teams have proposed "using modular and temporary structures, including movable bleachers, porta-potties and shipping containers," for the site. The teams have six months to reach an agreement with the city. Oakland Pro Soccer LLC, which owns the two teams, will "pay the city and the county $25,000 to enter the negotiations," with a price for the 10-year lease "still to be determined" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 9/19).

St. Louis Blues President and CEO of Business Operations Chris Zimmerman talks with SBJ’s Abe Madkour about what winning the 2019 Stanley Cup meant for him and the Blues plus what his leadership vision is for the organization. 

Monumental Sports & Entertainment President of Business Operations & COO Jim Van Stone talks about how premium seating could benefit from the “We Work” model. 

A bunch of breaking news dominates this week’s topics, from Bob Iger’s decision to simulcast most of ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” games on ESPN and ESPN New York’s decision to relinquish its 98.7 FM signal next year to Warner Bros. Discovery's plan to launch a live sports add-on tier via its Max streaming service and the XFL and USFL’s plan to merge spring football leagues. Hosts Andrew Marchand and John Ourand have reported on all these stories and dissect why they are happening and explain how these moves will alter the sports media landscape.

Now that we’re through two weeks of the 2023 NFL season, Marchand and Ourand dive into the biggest sports media storylines that have emerged, including YouTube TV’s debut with “NFL Sunday Ticket,” the potential for “NFL RedZone” to cut into YouTube TV’s subscriber numbers and the massive audience Amazon Prime brought to its first “Thursday Night Football” game of the season. Marchand and Ourand also tackle the impact Colorado coach Deion Sanders already has had on the college football landscape. Other topics include rights negotiation updates for the NBA, NASCAR, UFC and WWE. And Ourand pays homage to a week’s worth of great Orioles calls by MASN’s Kevin Brown.

The Padres set a "single-season attendance record at Petco Park" after drawing 42,062 for yesterday's game against the Rockies, which "upped the season total to 3,029,009." That broke the record of 3,016,752 set in 2004, the ballpark’s inaugural season (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 9/19).

Spain's Women's World Cup-winning team "agreed to end their boycott of the national team" early today after the country's football federation (RFEF) said it would make "immediate and profound changes" to its structure (REUTERS, 9/19).

The F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix and Clark County have "teamed up to offer a weekly SMS text update system" to "keep people up-to-date on construction work and related delays and closures" with the track. Participants will get a "week ahead" link in a text message every Sunday, "along with updates on any plan changes during the week" (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 9/19). 

“I’m going to personally hand-polish a pair and send it to him as a thank you. Hollywood couldn’t have scripted it any better. It was insane. You can’t buy this type of publicity. It’s not for sale” -- Blenders founder Chase Fisher, on how Colorado State coach Jay Norvell’s disparaging comment about Deion Sanders keeping his sunglasses on spiked company sales 1,000% (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 9/20). 

SI takes a look at possibly revamping the Solheim Cup, which is scheduled for this weekend in Spain, under the headline, "The Solheim Cup Deserves More Attention, Here's How They Can Get It." The Solheim Cup "never gets a proper buildup, in part because the Ryder Cup overshadows it." The Solheim Cup "needs a different date ... and an upgrade." The U.S. versus Europe "has had its thrilling moments, its controversies and its walk-off strokes of genius." But the women’s game has "gone global far faster than the men’s game." Worse, the women don’t have a Presidents Cup surrogate "so players from the rest of the world are excluded." This year's Solheim Cup "features nine of the top 25 in the Rolex Rankings." Half of the ranking’s top 10 "are ineligible" -- No. 1 Ruoning Yin, No. 4 Jin Young Ko, No. 6 Hyo-Joo Kim, No. 7 Minjee Lee and No. 9 Lydia Ko. Also missing are No. 11 Atthaya Thitikul, No. 12 Xiyu Lin and No. 13 Brooke Henderson. This is "like having baseball’s All-Star Game but only inviting the American League."

Also:

• The story behind New Balance’s ‘Call Me Champion’ campaign for Coco Gauff.
• Bling to wins: Deion Sanders has struck fear into the college football establishment.
• Load management has frustrated NBA, fans and TV partners, but will new rules help?
• The scheduling headache caused by college sports’ mega-conferences.
• The Pac-12 is having a moment, but even great football couldn’t have saved it.
• Betting inside a poke shop, he put D.C.’s sportsbook under attack.

USC professors aren’t teaching student journalists to close their eyes/ears when the football coach wants them to… are they?

Lincoln Riley picked on a journalist, tried to send a message, and is playing bully.

Weak. https://t.co/gwOC2NkT8O

— John Canzano (@johncanzanobft) September 20, 2023

#SouthBeachSessions returns this Friday
with a very special guest…🌴 pic.twitter.com/5X2BLb6f45

— Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz (@LeBatardShow) September 19, 2023

Stewie and Melo share a moment after the Liberty W 🙌

(via @WNBA)pic.twitter.com/C3lthJVwzR

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 20, 2023

Women’s. Sports. pic.twitter.com/s5vFbpvdc5

— Gigi Speer (@gigi_speer) September 19, 2023

Some personal news to share… pic.twitter.com/OcsPDXm5hA

— Rich Nairn (@RichNairn9) September 19, 2023

Heartbreaking news. Buddy was an iconic leader and coach with a clear vision on how to lead. Amazing legacy. He will be greatly missed. If we were all a little more like Coach Teevens, the world would be a better place! 🙏 https://t.co/xBsWB7PGT7

— Matt Hasselbeck (@Hasselbeck) September 20, 2023

Deion Sanders told his kids, Shilo and Shedeur, that they're not going to the NFL next season 😅

(via @WellOffForever, @DeionSandersJr) pic.twitter.com/vhHqZ6HqW1

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 19, 2023

“Of Spain’s colonial possessions in the Americas, this 3,400 square mile one in the Antilles never gained independence, but did change hands.”

Last night’s edition of “Jeopardy!” featured the category “The Asian Games.”
$200: “The Asian Games were first held in 1951 in this ‘New’ Indian city.”
$400: “The 2018 Games in Indonesia saw the debut of 3 on 3 half-court this in addition to full-court 5 on 5.”
$600: “In sepak takraw, or kick ‘this,’ teams of three use feet, knees, chests or heads but no hands to hit the ball over the net
$800: “This country dominated table tennis at the 2018 Games, winning every Gold Medal.”
$1,000: “2018 competition on these one-person runabouts took place at Indonesia’s Ancol Beach.”

“What is Puerto Rico?”

The correct responses to the “The Asian Games” category were:
$200: “What is New Delhi?”
$400: “What is basketball?”
$600: “What is volleyball?”
$800: “What is China?”
$1,000: “What are jet skis?”