The U.S. Soccer Federation will "conduct a comprehensive review" after the USMNT was eliminated from the Copa América last night with a 1-0 loss to Uruguay in the group stage. With the 2026 World Cup in the U.S., Canada and Mexico just two years away, coach Gregg Berhalter’s position as head coach is "now under considerable pressure." A statement from USSF read: "Our tournament performance fell short of our expectations. We must do better. We will be conducting a comprehensive review of our performance in Copa America and how best to improve the team and results as we look towards the 2026 World Cup." After his side’s elimination, Berhalter said, "We know we’re capable of more and in this tournament we didn’t show it, it’s as simple as that." Team captain Christian Pulisic added, "We had a good start and brought a lot of energy, but at the end of the day just not enough quality. I felt like we gave it everything, but we just couldn’t find the solution to score" (THE ATHLETIC, 7/1). 

The U.S. "played hard and they played well," but they "did not do enough" to get the win in front of 55,460 at Arrowhead Stadium. The USMNT entered Copa América "intent on proving its mettle" two years before hosting the World Cup. It "wanted to show how much its young players have grown" under Berhalter and, "in a fabled South American tournament, that it could go toe to toe with the sport’s heavyweights." But instead, it was "a gutting exit" for the U.S. team. It was "also a blow for Berhalter," who "sought to strengthen his credentials under increasing fan criticism and growing questions about whether he is the right man for the job" (WASHINGTON POST, 7/1).

Fox Sports was "forced into a public explanation" after the USMNT's Copa América game against Uruguay last night "saw television viewers left angered by the camera angle used on the broadcast." The game was being played at Arrowhead Stadium, and viewers were "questioning the position of the main broadcast camera before it was altered" towards the end of the first half. All television pictures "come via the world feed for the game, a general broadcast taping controlled by tournament organisers CONMEBOL and therefore out of the individual broadcasters' control." Behind the scenes, shortly after kickoff, "furious" Fox Sports producers "immediately recognized the issue and were on the phone with HBS and Copa officials to rectify the problem," according to sources (THE ATHLETIC, 7/1).

CONMEBOL maintained that the playing surface at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium “will be in great shape” for the Copa América final on July 14 amid “complaints during the group stage about grass at other fields used for the tournament.” The grass surface at the stadium was removed Sunday for concert on July 6 and installation of a new surface will begin on July 8. South American Football Confederation Agricultural Engineer Maristela Kuhn said that Miami “will be the only stadium to undergo changes to its grass” and that the switch “was planned before the start of the tournament.” Turf conditions have been a point of discussion during Copa América, starting with the June 20 opener at Mercedes-Benz Stadium -- when both Argentina and Canada “criticized the grass field.” Following Brazil’s win over Paraguay at Allegiant Stadium on Friday, Brazil F Vinícius Júnior said the Copa América “is always difficult because of the pitches” (AP, 7/1).

Celtics co-Chair Steve Pagliuca is "officially making it clear that he would like to be a candidate to take over majority ownership" of the team when majority owner Wyc Grousbeck sells off his stake in the franchise in the coming years. Pagliuca following the announcement yesterday said, "I hope to be part of the Celtics moving forward and will be a proud participant in the bidding process that has been announced today." A league source said there have been "indications that Pagliuca’s existing relationship with the Grousbeck family would help," but added that it is "far too early in the process to know how it will unfold." Pagliuca, 69, owns the largest stake in the Celtics outside of the Grousbeck family and is the "second-most prominent and front-facing member of ownership." He "helped Grousbeck recruit members for their initial investment group" 22 years ago, and the two have "made it clear they have a strong relationship" (BOSTON GLOBE, 7/1).

RELATED: Why potential sale of Boston Celtics could be coming at opportune time

Longtime senior NASCAR exec Daryl Wolfe will retire from the company at the end of this season, in a move that could herald broader changes coming to the racing property’s marketing and sponsorship operations. This year, Wolfe reached 30 years of service to the France family companies after he first joined International Speedway Corp. in 1995. He currently serves as EVP & Chief Revenue Officer, but SBJ has learned that Wolfe sent a memo to colleagues this week alerting that he will step down after 2024 before moving into a consulting role for NASCAR. It was unclear whether Wolfe’s role will be directly replaced, but NASCAR could take the opportunity to reshuffle roles in the revenue department as part of his retirement. His position entails overseeing revenue generation across sponsorship, licensing and ticket sales plus partnership marketing and fan experience.
 
Over the decades, Wolfe has risen the ranks in ISC and NASCAR, becoming one of the most powerful marketing execs in the sport after originally starting with roles like director of publicity for Daytona International Speedway. Along the way, NASCAR was routinely ranked by MarketCast data as the No. 1 sports league in fan loyalty to sponsors, and Wolfe helped set up the premier partnership model that the NASCAR Cup Series moved to in 2020 after decades of running on a title sponsor system. He graduated from Florida State in 1992 and lives in Port Orange, Fla., near Daytona.

 

After almost 10 years without a D.C./Baltimore pro sports sponsorship, AAA has signed on as an Orioles corporate partner for its Mid-Atlantic region. What was described as a multiyear deal includes Orioles radio inventory and stadium signage, along with tickets and “stadium experiences” for AAA members. 

Additional activation will include presenting sponsorship of the Orioles Food and Funds Drive, during the July 12-14 games against the Yankees. AAA will also sponsor a gate premium -- the City Connect Rope Cap Giveaway on Aug. 15 -- during the “Battle of the Beltway series between the Orioles and the Washington Nationals.

Marc Bluestein’s Aquarius Sports & Entertainment handled the negotiations as AAA’s longtime sponsorship agency.

Bluestein described the key objectives of the sponsorship as brand awareness, membership rewards and community engagement.

Other regional sponsorships for AAA include the Eagles, Flyers, Virginia Tech and several minor league baseball teams.  

 

ESPN Digital in May once again led the U.S. sports category in unique visitors (100 million), marking the 27th straight month it has led the category, per new data being released today by comScore. ESPN reached two-thirds of the U.S. adult population in May across its digital, YouTube and social media platforms (166.9 million uniques). 

The ESPN app remained No. 1 in the mobile sports category for the month with 23.3 million unique users -- a figure that is better than the next seven competitors combined. The No. 2 app for the month was TeamSnap at 3.76 million uniques. Rounding out the top five were MLB At Bat (3.51 million), CBS Sports (3.33 million) and MLB  Ballpark (2.95 million). ESPN Fantasy was No. 8 at 2.7 million.

ESPN’s social media accounts saw 663 million engagements in May -- the 35th straight month leading the way in the sports category. 

LEAD Sports and Health Tech Partners will today announce the addition of Danny Cortenraede and his InStudio Ventures as LEAD’s newest general partner. LEAD sits over a collection of accelerator programs and investment funds, giving shareholders in the firm exposure to sports and health tech investments from the pre-seed to growth equity levels. Cortenraede, who founded the L.A.-based InStudio in 2022, is a serial entrepreneur who previously led U.S. operations for Dutch brand agency Wannahaves. He and LEAD co-founder & CEO Christoph Sonnen first began discussing a partnership while participating in Harvard’s Business of Entertainment, Media and Sports program.

RELATED: Finance: Taking the LEAD -- and the next steps -- in sports tech and health investing

Day one of Wimbledon at the All England Lawn Tennis Club was disrupted by campaigners against the organization’s expansion as well as pro-Palestine groups, who “staged separate protests as bumper crowds arrived” for the tournament. Locals against the new development held up placards declaring “green space, not concrete” and “berry angry” as the tournament neared capacity at the All-England Club. Meanwhile, pro-Palestine groups protested tournament sponsor Barclays because it has “financed companies supplying arms to Israel.” Both protests “were carried out peacefully.” All England Lawn Tennis Club CEO Sally Bolton said that she “was aware of protests,” but maintained she was “happy with the level of consultation by the All England Club” (London TELEGRAPH, 7/1).

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign organized a protest that drew "more than 100 people" outside Gates 3-5, where protesters chanted and had signs targeting Barclays’ sponsorship of Wimbledon. A statement from Barclays, which became Wimbledon’s official banking partner at the start of 2023, read, “We are proud of our partnership with Wimbledon which supports the growth of the championships and opportunities for young people across the UK through the Wimbledon Foundation. ... Like many other banks, we provide financial services to companies supplying defence products to the UK, NATO and its allies” (THE ATHLETIC, 7/1).

New Zealand Rugby has signed partnership agreements with Fanatics that run through the 2027 Men’s Rugby World Cup and the 2029 Women’s Rugby World Cup. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Under the terms of the partnership, Fanatics will become the exclusive worldwide operator for New Zealand Rugby’s official ecommerce store and will deliver the in-stadium retail experience at home game in New Zealand and across the world. Additionally, Fanatics will become the master licensee for New Zealand Rugby consumer products, selling a range of All Blacks and Black Ferns merchandise (Fanatics). 

SBJ’s Alex Silverman gives an inside look at the 2024 NHL Draft from the Sphere in Las Vegas. 

 

On the first day of NHL free agency yesterday, teams "committed a record" $1.12B in contracts as more than 100 players changed teams. The total was "the most ever spent in any single day of free agency" (TSN.ca, 7/1).

Former Raiders coach Jon Gruden lost a bid yesterday for three Nevada Supreme Court justices "to reconsider" whether a lawsuit he filed against the NFL over emails leaked to the media before he resigned as coach of the Raiders "should be heard in court or in private arbitration" (AP, 7/1). 

USA Basketball has reached a partnership with Glossier to become an Official Beauty Partner of USA Basketball, marking the first USA Basketball partnership exclusive to the USA Women’s National Team program since 1996 (USA Basketball).

The N.Y. TIMES goes with the header, "Chris Evert Beat Cancer. Then It Came Back. So She Beat It Again." Chris Evert’s schedule is "packed again." Six months after announcing for the second time that she had cancer, Evert, "one of the greatest champions in sports history, is back to work" as a tennis commentator, coach and charitable fund-raiser. She "seems to have beaten cancer again." She was at her home in Florida last week "for less than a day," a stopover before a flight to London, where she will work as a broadcaster at Wimbledon for the next two weeks. In that brief window at home, Evert "grabbed some sleep, attended to the charity she works for, then packed for her trip." Work, travel and especially family "take up her time now, instead of chemotherapy."

Also:

• Long time coming. Oklahoma's move to the SEC was 10 years in the making.
• Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin open ‘Airspeed,’ new home of 23XI Racing, in Huntersville.

Confetti is still falling from TD Garden🤣 pic.twitter.com/MdaQETNqcg

— Justin Turpin (@JustinmTurpin) July 2, 2024

RECORD SHOPPING SPREE 💰

This is the first time in NHL history that over $1B in contracts have been signed in a single day (as of 5p ET) 🤯

(via @CapFriendly) pic.twitter.com/jY6jrBzcu6

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) July 1, 2024

"This is not good enough from Gregg Berhalter... We can't afford to be embarrassed, and we can't afford to arrive in the summer of 2026 with a team that has not progressed, that has not evolved, and has not improved." 🇺🇸

- @AlexiLalas pic.twitter.com/9u03yHamaS

— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) July 2, 2024

Every single sponsor that hopes to sell soccer to this country over the next 40 years needs to be doing whatever it takes to get the right manager in charge of the USMNT as soon as possible.

— Bill Barnwell (@billbarnwell) July 2, 2024

First published in 1812, this anthology included “The Water Nymph” & “The Booted Tom Cat.”

"What is Grimms’ Fairy Tales?"