2026-09-17
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Finance & Investments
The sporting organization will let regional boards sell shares in local teams, beginning with an outright sale of the Melbourne Renegades franchise.
Organizers hope to raise $710M from international private equity groups and wealthy owners from India's highly lucrative Premier League cricket tournament.
The plan faces delays because the Australian Cricketers' Association, the sport's national players' union, is demanding a 27.5% cut of all sale proceeds.
The federal and provincial governments are providing $100M to build a state-of-the-art training hub at Humber Polytechnic, a prominent Toronto college.
Canada currently boasts 23 NBA players, and this six-gym center gives those scattered athletes a centralized home to train for international medals.
The project guarantees 32K hours of annual community use, ensuring local youth have access to the same premium courts as top professionals.
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Media, Broadcasting & Sponsorships
The five-year agreement with soccer club Liverpool costs $80M annually, making it the most expensive shirt sponsorship in the English league's history.
Major carriers like Turkish Airlines use massive sports deals to build brand awareness because global soccer reaches diverse audiences across multiple continents.
To sell flights, the airline must advertise beyond the club's digital channels, which only reach 90M of Liverpool's 450M total global fans.
The tournament's top game drew 1.26M viewers, smashing the previous 446K record set in 2022.
This marks a successful debut for US broadcaster TNT Sports, which signed a new rights deal with FIBA earlier this year.
The women's tournament also easily beat the men's 2023 World Cup, which peaked at just 334K viewers.
The match outdrew every men's final since broadcaster ESPN began airing the tournament in 2009, despite competing with the NFL's opening Sunday games.
German star Alexander Zverev beat American Ben Shelton, 23, whose semifinal win averaged 3.1M viewers, ESPN's largest men's semifinal audience.
The women's final averaged 2.7M, up 13% from last year, and ESPN's full tournament coverage averaged 1.2M, its biggest audience since 2022.
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Teams & Leagues
Laura McAllister, vice president of European soccer body UEFA, says the challenger can be non-European but must be a reformer capable of winning.
Infantino's failed plan to sell investors up to a 20% stake in FIFA tournaments, including the World Cup, sparked his presidency's biggest challenge.
Infantino appears to retain enough support for re-election in March, though several European national soccer associations, most recently Greece's, have withdrawn their backing.
More than 102K girls played the sport in 2025-26, a 551% jump in four years, according to the national high school sports federation.
Today, 23 states and Washington, D.C., recognize it as an official varsity sport, nearly double the 12 states that did in 2024.
The NFL, the top US pro football league, has invested millions in high school programs, and flag football will debut at the 2028 Olympics.
Breakaway league LIV Golf would add 18 players to its 57-player events and introduce its first cut, which sends trailing players home early.
New Monday qualifiers would let outside players earn spots, part of CEO Scott O'Neil's push to fit LIV into pro golf, not rival it.
LIV entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Sept. 8 to restructure its debts, aiming to exit in early 2027 if the court and stakeholders approve.
Sprint weekends add a short Saturday race before Sunday's main event, raising costs for local organizers but letting them sell significantly more tickets.
Monaco, Australia, Japan, Bahrain, and Abu Dhabi will host sprints for the first time, while Portugal and Turkey return to the 24-race calendar.
Race postponements from the Middle East conflict mostly drove F1's April-June revenue down to $764M from $1.22B, and the conflict threatens 2027's opening races.
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Miscellaneous
Sports collector Ron Firman bought the 1951 image used for Mantle's famous 1952 baseball card through auction house Hunt Auctions.
The $3M private sale more than doubles the previous $1.47M record price paid for an autographed sports photograph.
First-generation sports photos are incredibly scarce, driving up demand from wealthy investors for items tied to legendary baseball cards.
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