2025-09-29
💸
Finance & Investments
The transaction would become the largest leveraged buyout in Wall Street history.
An investor group including Saudi Arabia’s PIF, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners backs the bid.
EA shares surged 15% on Friday, lifting the company’s stock gains to 32% this year.
A US consortium reportedly plans a $4.4B bid with $1.6B for player transfers.
Majority owner ENIC recently rejected two takeover interests, stating the club is not for sale.
The reported $6B package would exceed the $5.6B sale of Chelsea in 2022.
The company plans to increase its Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (Raptors, Maple Leafs, Toronto FC, and other sports assets) stake to 100%.
Rogers will trigger an agreement to buy the remaining 25% from Larry Tanenbaum’s Kilmer Group.
It is also debating whether to take its sports assets public in the future.
📺
Media, Broadcasting & Sponsorships
A new agreement over programming pricing must be reached by next Tuesday to avoid a blackout.
At-risk content includes Sunday Night Football, NBA basketball, WWE wrestling, and the Premier League.
NBCUniversal claims YouTube TV wants to underpay for its Peacock service and keep subscriber data.
The Rio de Janeiro games will begin in 2026 at Maracanã Stadium.
São Paolo hosted a 2024 game with 47,627 fans and will host another in 2025.
In 2026, the league will also play its first-ever regular-season game in Melbourne, Australia.
🏆
Teams & Leagues
Master of ceremonies Heather McMahan stepped down after yelling an expletive at Rory McIlroy.
European captain Luke Donald stated that U.S. fans "crossed a line" with personal insults.
McIlroy, the world's No. 2 player, was the target of numerous profane fan chants.
Silver also suggested a future where top seeds from other leagues could join NBA playoffs.
The commissioner described NBA Europe as "virtually imminent" to boost overseas commercialization and arena development.
JPMorgan and the Raine Group are currently working to set franchise prices for the proposed league.
The Dodgers led MLB for the 12th straight year with a franchise-record 4.01M attendance.
The A's finished last, drawing just 768,464 while playing in a minor-league ballpark.
A special event game drew a record single-game crowd of 91,032 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
🎁
Miscellaneous
The game is scheduled for February 2026 in the Bay Area.
The NFL, Apple Music, and Roc Nation made the official announcement Sunday.
The selection follows widespread speculation that Taylor Swift would be the headliner.
If you have any comments or feedback, just respond to this email!
Was this email forwarded to you? Then sign up here to receive the Daily Playbook in your inbox every weekday.