SBJ Unpacks: Silver Says NBA "Running Out Of Time" For Pre-Christmas Tip

Tonight in SBJ Unpacks: Adam Silver says the NBA is running out of time to hit the desired pre-Christmas tip in a meeting with general managers.

• NASCAR looks to put a bow on 2020 season 
• NFL grapples with COVID issues in Week 8
• Bryson DeChambeau becomes DraftKings' first golf endorser
• Teams, sportsbooks navigate the emerging sponsorship market
• WSJ goes deep on management style of Apollo's Josh Harris
• Pandemic takes its toll on youth sports industry
  
  

• This free newsletter keeps you up to date on the biggest challenges facing sports. Click here to sign up to receive nightly updates on the industry's winding road to recovery.

SILVER: NBA "RUNNING OUT OF TIME" FOR TARGETED START DATE

• The NBA league office had a call with team GMs today where the league reiterated "that there’s still no timeline agreed upon" with the NBPA to start the 2020-2021 season, per sources cited by ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. Talks "continue with (the) union, but there's an increasingly short window to get an agreement in place for a pre-Christmas tip."
  
  
• With training camps presumably needing to start within a month for the targeted Dec. 22 start date, Commissioner Adam Silver told teams today: "We're running out of time." 
  
  
• Wojnarowski reports the union is "engaged with conversations with players on the issue of the start date of the season -- December or January -- and also continues to negotiate with the league on a number of financial amendments to the CBA needing resolution" for the start of the season.

NASCAR RIDES INTO CHAMPIONSHIP WEEKEND HAVING NAVIGATED PANDEMIC

• NASCAR heads into its championship weekend at Phoenix Raceway after having taken a road less traveled in sports this year: Its return to action post-pandemic break did not include widescale coronavirus testing, writes SBJ's Adam Stern.
  
  
• Despite not having what has proven to be the key cornerstone of many sports’ returns, NASCAR has seemingly avoided the sort of mass outbreak that the testing is designed to help prevent. Only two Cup Series drivers felt the need to get tested after experiencing symptoms or being in close contact with a positive person and then got a positive result themselves. Hendrick Motorsports this past weekend ran a backup pit crew for the No. 24 car driven by William Byron after multiple members of the usual crew got the virus. But a larger outbreak within the garage has been avoided. 
  
  
• This weekend is the last time the sport will congregate together en masse until next February. The usual postseason awards gala has been scrapped, so the sport will seemingly be in the clear on its 2020 season as long as it gets through this weekend.
  
  
• NASCAR President Steve Phelps told SBJ over the summer that NASCAR’s decision to not test was not about saving money. Instead, it was a reflection of how the sport felt its policies, mixed with how racing is different than contact stick-and-ball sports, would get the job done properly while avoiding confusion from false positives.

NFL GRAPPLES WITH COVID ISSUES IN WEEK 8

• The NFL continues to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, with several new positive tests results popping up as Week 8 draws to a close.
  
  
  • The Cardinals had "two positive COVID-19 tests from the weekend," coach Kliff Kingsbury confirmed. The team was on its bye, and subsequent tests Sunday "came back negative."
    
    
  • The Browns, who are on their bye this weekend, conducted meetings remotely today after a player "reported that he is experiencing COVID-19 related symptoms." The Browns "have not had a player or staff member test positive" this season.
    
    
  • The Packers are "holding virtual meetings in place of in-person activities" following a "new positive COVID-19 test from one of its players." 
    
    
  • Ravens CB Marlon Humphrey "announced his coronavirus case on social media." The Ravens said that they were "conducting contact tracing in cooperation with the NFL while operating under the sport’s intensive protocols."

DRAFTKINGS NAMES DECHAMBEAU FIRST GOLF ENDORSER

• DraftKings announced a multiyear deal with golfer Bryson DeChambeau, who will sport the DraftKings logo on his hat starting with The Masters next week. DeChambeau will become the first active professional golfer to represent the brand. He will become the face of DraftKings golf via an integrated brand, content, marketing and VIP-centric collaboration.
  
  
• DeChambeau told Golfweek, "The whole fantasy golf space, the whole betting world, is getting bigger and bigger and I want to be associated with a brand that is growing the game and exposing the game in different areas." Part of the partnership "provides fan opportunities such as playing a round of golf or receiving golf lessons from the big-hitting pro." DeChambeau also endorses Cobra/Puma, Rolex, FlightScope, Bridgestone, NetJets and Bentley Motors, among others.

HARRIS SEEKS TO REVAMP APOLLO'S "CUTTHROAT REPUTATION"

• Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment co-Founder Josh Harris is "trying to revamp" his private-equity firm Apollo Global Management away from its "cutthroat culture and rough-edged image, which has long been seen as synonymous with the men who founded it 30 years ago," per the Wall Street Journal.
  
  
• Former employees describe Harris as a "micromanager who is known to call people numerous times in a day to discuss a small investment and spend an entire meeting rehashing unresolved questions from his previous one." This approach has "helped to make Apollo an investing giant" with $433 billion in assets. 
  
  
• But now Harris is "trying to modernize" Apollo's corporate structure, creating a "broader shared power arrangement that could one day form the basis of a succession plan." But even those who say that Harris has "made progress on a revamp of the firm’s culture acknowledge his personality is perhaps most reflected in Apollo’s public image -- aggressive, intense and fiercely competitive." 
  
  
  

SPORTSBOOKS: ON A ROLL

• Two years after the launch of New Jersey’s first online sportsbook, a sponsorship market that started out white hot with the NHL’s Devils taking in nearly $5 million from the category in 2018-19, seems to be settling into an equilibrium, writes SBJ's Bill King.
  
  
• In this week's print issue, SBJ identified 22 teams with a combined 33 sportsbook sponsorship deals across the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL, counting only teams in states that have legalized sports betting. That does not include deals in border states such as New York, casino deals that don’t include online sportsbooks, or DFS deals that do not specifically include the FanDuel or DraftKings sportsbooks. 
  
  
• Though financials have not been disclosed, sources at leagues, teams and sportsbooks said deals typically range from $350,000 to $500,000 annually for nonexclusive agreements and up to $4 million annually for exclusivity in a larger, competitive market.
  
  
• For the full story on sportsbooks, click here.

OUTSIDE CONTRIBUTORS: THE NEXT GENERATION

• Tonight's op-ed contribution is from CSM Sport & Entertainment's Peter Honig, who writes under the header, "Youth Sports: Now What?"
  
  
• Honig: "The COVID-19 pandemic arrived as a perfect storm for the youth sports industry. Participation rates, which were already on the decline (16% drop over the last decade), are now being squeezed even further. Job losses, remote learning, and the cancellation of after-school programs have created a massive challenge for parents seeking to keep their kids active."
  
  
• To read the full contribution, click here.

SPEED READS

• Although there were no conversations either internally or with MLB ownership in which the league seriously contemplated pausing its COVID-impacted season, Commissioner Rob Manfred privately had serious doubts that the sport would not be at least temporarily interrupted. “In terms of my own thinking, I had become very nervous that at some point we would have to talk about it,” Manfred said last week. “I had really gotten nervous about our ability to keep going. But things started to improve, and we got past that point.” For more from Manfred on the 2020 season, check out Eric Prisbell's piece in this week's print issue of SBJ.
  
  

• The Colts "will maintain their attendance capacity" for the Nov. 22 home game against the Packers, per the Indianapolis Star. The team "increased fan attendance at Lucas Oil Stadium through the season -- they allowed 2,500 fans for the Sept. 20 home opener -- and allowed up to 12,500 fans on Oct. 18" against the Bengals. The Colts also host the Ravens on Nov. 8. Below are attendance numbers for yesterday's NFL games where fans were allowed: 
  
  

Download the NFL Attendance Week 8 2020

• A big move in the restaurant space, as Atlanta-based Inspire Brands, which is part of private equity firm Roark Capital Group, will buy Dunkin' Brands in a transaction valued at approximately $11.3 billion, per the Atlanta Business Chronicle. Will the Dunkin’ name still be on a pair of minor-league buildings in the long term? Dunkin’s deal for the AHL Providence Bruins’ arena is up May 1, while its deal for the Hartford Yard Goats’ ballpark runs through 2025, per info from SportsAtlas. Roark Capital has other brands in its portfolio that play in sports, but none with a large venue entitlement deal (brands include Arby's, Hardee's/Carl's Jr., McAlister's Deli, Moe's Southwest Grill, Schlotzsky's Deli, Jimmy John's, Buffalo Wild Wings and Sonic.
  
  

• In SBJ Media tonight, John Ourand asks former Hulu CEO Randy Freer when Big Tech will finally get serious with sports rights.
  
  

• SI's Michael Cohen spoke to championship-winning athletes and team staffers who made the trip to the White House during President Trump's first term and "asked them to re-create a visit under No. 45." Cohen: "Those memories capture their host’s hospitality and character, his jabs at rivals and bogeymen, and an experience that visitors, regardless of politics, won’t soon forget."

• Check out the most recent editions of our SBJ Unpacks podcasts:
  
  
  • SBJ Research Director David Broughton joins Bill King to break down political campaign spending around sports broadcasts.
    
    
  • Religion Of Sports CEO Ameeth Sankaran breaks down the outfit’s content strategy and its projects past, present and future.
    
    
  • Athletes Unlimited's Jon Patricof on the outfit’s inaugural softball season, plus the impacts and implications of its new league model.
    
    
    

NEWS YOU NEED FROM SPORTS BUSINESS DAILY

• During this crisis impacting the sports business, we want everyone to be up-to-date on the latest news and information. Select stories from Sports Business Daily are free, outside the paywall, for the foreseeable future. Below are the headlines.
  
  
  • Excitement Abounds As Steve Cohen Is Approved As Mets Owner
  • Sources: NBA Fears Devastating Revenue Losses With Jan. Start
  • SCOTUS Denies NFL, DirecTV Appeal To Dismiss Antitrust Lawsuit
  • Phillies President Confirms Post-'21 Departure, Could Leave Sooner

SBJ offers must-read newsletters covering Betting, College Sports, Esports, Football, Marketing, and Media. To stay in the know, read SBJ’s newsletters online or manage your newsletter subscriptions.

Not a subscriber? Sign up for a free trial to read our newsletters.

Something related to sports business catch your eye? Tell us about it. Reach out to Thomas Leary (tleary@sportsbusinessdaily.com) or Richard Bush (rbush@sportsbusinessjournal.com) and we'll share the best of it.