PARIS – Salt Lake City’s decades-long effort to bring the Olympics and Paralympics back to Utah crossed the finish line this morning, with a vote of the IOC awarding the Winter Games in 2034. Though the vote has long been a formality, concerns about U.S. criticisms of WADA loomed over the presentation by bid leaders at the IOC session before the start of the Paris Games later this week.

Though the vote left little question, with Salt Lake City winning 83-6, it came after repeated assurances from Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and USOPC officials that they would support WADA. That included a change to the host city contract that would allow the IOC to terminate it if WADA is undermined.

Salt Lake City came into the session as the preferred host for 2034 and the IOC had no other candidates, having already targeted and worked alongside bid leaders for several years.

Relying on venues that it has maintained since it hosted in 2002, the last time the United States had a Winter Games, Salt Lake City has long been ready for their return.

“We want to thank you for your kindness and generosity today. This has been a long process for us,” said Cox. “In 2002, you, the Olympic and Paralympic movement, did something for us. You gave us something very special. You gave us an opportunity. You put us on the world stage for the first time. “Now it is our turn to give something back to you,” he added. “Now the journey begins for us.”

France was "conditionally picked" to host the 2030 Winter Games today, but "must now deliver key financial guarantees in the coming months," according to the IOC. The bid earned "84 of 88 votes." The French Alps bid has been "the preferred choice since June," but recent election results in France and a "caretaker government" had been unable to "deliver the necessary state and regional financial guarantees in time." The IOC said, France must have the guarantees signed by its prime minister "by Oct. 1 and have them ratified by parliament no later than March 1, 2025." French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with the IOC prior to the vote "in a bid to ease any concerns and show his support for the candidacy." France has previously hosted the Winter Games three times: Chamonix in 1924, Grenoble in 1968 and Albertville in 1992 (REUTERS, 7/24).

The full settlement agreement of the antitrust lawsuits involving the NCAA and college sports' wealthiest conferences "is expected to be filed with a federal court by the end of the week." Hagens Berman attorney Steve Berman said he expects the to file the "framework" of a $2.77B settlement on Friday. There were still "plenty of details to work out for the revenue sharing plan, most notably roster limits for sports that will replace scholarship limits." Conferences have been working "separately and together" to determine the roster limits. The expectation stated by "three power conference athletic directors" is that the "roster limit for football will land at 105 players," up from the current scholarship limit of 85 (AP, 7/23). 

RELATED: Report: NCAA to potentially pay more than $2.7B in antitrust suit settlements

Much of the North American soccer industry arrived in Columbus on Tuesday as MLS All-Star festivities picked up steam and official business meetings got underway. In the boardroom, MLS Club Performance Officer Chris McGowan led a meeting of chief business officers from around the league. The subset of owners who comprise the Sporting & Competition Committee also convened ahead of today’s full Board of Governors meeting.

The presence of a delegation representing the city of Indianapolis has been a hot topic among execs mingling in downtown hotel lobbies. Indy Mayor Joe Hogsett, Chief Deputy Mayor Daniel Parker and longtime soccer exec Tom Glick, who is leading the city’s MLS expansion effort, attended an MLS owners reception ahead of last night's Skills Challenge presented by AT&T. MLS, which will have 30 active franchises when San Diego FC makes its debut in 2025, hasn’t officially opened itself up to further expansion.

Several MLS investors who spoke with SBJ questioned whether Indianapolis makes sense as an expansion market for the league given the glut of MLS teams in the Midwest – there are four existing MLS markets within 250 miles of Indiana’s capital (Cincinatti, Chicago, Columbus and St. Louis) – and a metro population that would put it toward the bottom of the league. One also suggested the league would be best served to wait until after the 2026 World Cup before considering any expansion overtures given the potential for the event to increase the value of MLS franchises.

While no groundbreaking news is expected from today’s owners meeting, rules governing the construction of rosters continue to be a highly anticipated topic of discussion. There are mixed opinions among the board on whether the league needs to make more significant moves to loosen restrictions on spending and roster construction to propel the league’s growth. Proponents of substantial reform believe failure to do so promptly could prevent the league from fully capitalizing on the broad surge in soccer’s popularity ahead of and following the World Cup. MLS billed three roster rule modifications announced last week as “significant,” but a sizable cohort of owners and high-level club execs view them as nominal. 

Commissioner Don Garber will hold a press conference prior to tonight’s All-Star Game presented by Target against a team of top Liga MX players at Lower.com Field. A few tickets were still available for the match as of last night. The Skills Challenge drew a light crowd to the downtown Columbus stadium, where the Crew have sold out 28 consecutive home matches (including the postseason).

Kraft Analytics Group (KAGR) has a new partnership with AC Milan that will focus on evolving the Italian soccer club’s consumer understanding and engagement strategies. The deal, for which financial and duration terms were not disclosed, will be formally announced today.

“Obviously, they [AC Milan] have just a massive fanbase around the world. But how many of those [fans] are known customers of theirs?” KAGR CEO Jessica Gelman said of the impetus behind the partnership. “There’s a difference between being a fan and then someone who’s engaging with them and part of their ecosystem.”

KAGR has predominantly partnered with North American sports properties, but Gelman noted there is unique opportunity in 125-year-old AC Milan’s storied and global brand. She called the club “ahead of the curve” in understanding the need to diversify interactions with fans outside of live events, citing as one example the flagship store it recently opened in the heart of Milan. Its upcoming US tour – which stops in NYC, Chicago and Baltimore for matches against Manchester City, Real Madrid and Barcelona, respectively – is another. KAGR’s services will help AC Milan investigate more.

“It’s pretty amazing and phenomenal to think about pouring gasoline on top of a team that has this tremendous history and is really just getting into this personalization and engaging their fans with the right product, at the right time, through the right channel, with the right message,” Gelman said.

AC Milan adds to KAGR’s high-profile client roster, which includes the NFL, NCAA, New England Patriots, Sacramento Kings and NJ Devils, among other notable teams, leagues, venues and vendors.

The Rose Bowl has "requested to be left out of the College Football Playoff semifinal rotation moving forward so it can continue playing its game annually on Jan. 1." The game is already scheduled to be a Jan. 1 quarterfinal as part of the new 12-team CFP for the next two seasons. However, a new six-year deal with ESPN begin in 2026, and the future bowl rotation has yet to be announced. The Rose Bowl wants to host a quarterfinal “every year to maintain its traditional date rather than host one of the semifinals a week later" (THE ATHLETIC, 7/23).

The Southern Conference is adding a new strategic partner.

The conference is set to announce it is working with TrailRunner Sports on its media rights process and basketball tournament-site planning.

“We're just super excited to start work on these two projects,” said TrailRunner Managing Director Jamie Zaninovich, the former commissioner of the WCC and COO of the Pac-12. “Both are really important for the Southern Conference and have a lot of potential for helping them extend their exposure and drive awareness of the league.”

The SoCon media rights deals with ESPN, CBS Sports and Nexstar each run through 2026, while ESPN has the most significant portion of that package. Commissioner Michael Cross told SBJ conversations will begin in earnest over the coming academic year.

“[We] had had some ongoing conversation going back to my first few months in the role here,” Cross said. “We started talking about things that are coming up -- strategic planning, all these types of things -- and ultimately, I felt like the timing to get into this was right about now. I didn't want to go through [our last year of the TV deal] without clarity about where we're going to be with TV and where we're going to be for our championship.”

On the basketball tournament side of things, the existing agreement with the Asheville Buncombe Regional Sports Commission to host the men's and women's basketball tournaments at the Harrah's Cherokee Center-Asheville expires after the 2026 events.

“[TrailRunner’s] ability to have conversations with people in different spaces,” Cross said, “and learn what the views are of the various parties that aren't just in a silo of television, or aren't just in a silo of a venue selection can open up some ideas and some concepts related to things that we might do differently and how we could think about the variety of things we do.”< br/>

Nutritional products brand Cheribundi is adding five Team USA athletes as brand ambassadors ahead of the Paris Games -- Gold Medal-winning swimmer Ryan Murphy, beach volleyball player (and former NBAer) Chase Budinger, Silver Medal-winning diver Delaney Schnell, triple jumper Keturah Orji and sprinter Courtney Lindsey. The five will amplify brand messaging across their respective social platforms to create original content and continue serving as spokespeople after the Olympics as well. Cheribundi already provides products to 11 U.S. National Teams and the U.S. Olympic Training Center. Cheribundi did not use an agency to strike the deal with the athletes. There are no TV spots planned for the brand and the athletes. The brand in the past also sponsored Olympic athletes like Gold Medal-winning speed skater Erin Jackson.

The paternity trial involving Cowboys owner Jerry Jones came "to a sudden conclusion" yesterday on just the second day of "what was expected to be a week-long trial at a federal court in Texarkana." The terms of the conclusion "were not made immediately clear." The conclusion also "came on a day Jones was expected to testify." Jones was countersuing a mother and daughter over "a breach of contract of a settlement the mother reached in 1998 regarding paternity." Jones said he will "now focus on heading to" Oxnard, CA for Cowboys training camp where he is expected to hold his annual training camp press conference on Saturday" (FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 7/23).

Day 2 of SBJ's Thought Leaders Retreat, held this year at the Grand Del Mar in San Diego, featured speeches from Retired Lieutenant Colonel DR. DAMON FRIEDMAN, a one-on-one discussion between Leaders Group CRO Eileen Silvergleid and Fox Sports & CBS Sports broadcaster ALY WAGNER and a virtual discussion session with NBC News Chief Political Analyst CHUCK TODD.

 

What’s goes into protecting the biggest sporting event in the world from cyberthreats? Find out during today’s SBJ Live where we will host a one-on-one conversation between at Check Point Software Technologies’ Americas CISO Pete Nicoletti and SBJ’s Rob Schaefer. The two will cover the potential effect of cybersecurity breaches on the systems involved in global sporting events, including broadcast and streaming, facilities operations and ticketing systems, while making recommendations for ways sports teams, leagues and event organizers can detect and react to threats. The event takes place at 12:30 ET; register here.

On this week’s pod, the NBA rights deal is coming into focus and SBJ’s Austin Karp and Tom Friend break down the latest. Plus, with the Paris Games Opening Ceremony coming up on Friday, 5-time Olympic gold medalist Missy Franklin chats with Karp and 3-time Paralympic gold medalist Mallory Weggemann catches up with SBJ’s Mollie Cahillane, with both talking about their Olympic experiences and new roles during these Games.

Rock Entertainment Group and the Cavaliers have named Allison Howard as Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer. Howard most recently served as the President of the NWSL's KC Current. She will begin her role with the organization on August 1 (Cavaliers).

"Yeah, it is a bit different. Is there more miles? Yeah. But we're going to be comfortable. We're going to leave early, we've got a big plane, we've got Gatorade and water. Air travel is amazing. They'll be more comfortable than they are sitting right now" -- Cal football head coach Justin Wilcox, on the long distances his team will travel to compete in the ACC (YAHOO SPORTS, 7/23).

"Boxing is one of the oldest sports - it was in the ancient Olympics - and to see it maybe not be in the Olympic games is honestly terrifying" -- Australian boxer Harry Garside, on boxing being eliminated from the list of competitions for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles (Melbourne AGE, 7/24).

The BOSTON GLOBE notes some in Boston feel that their failed bid for the 2024 Summer Games over a decade ago could have greatly helped the city. Former mayor Marty Walsh believes the city would have been a "fantastic host." Walsh: "I think it was a huge missed opportunity. We would have legacy projects all over the city of Boston, all over New England quite honestly, whether it’s a stadium or open space, whatever it might be, that we created. There’s so many, so many legacy benefits that we won’t see."  

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Yee-Haw named Tennessee’s exclusive craft beer. Vol Lager is “a good ol’ premium lager, born in the Tennessee hills, Vol Lager will taste like Home Sweet Home to Volunteer fans & rival SEC fans who come to Knoxville in the years ahead. Full of flavor, yet drinkable” pic.twitter.com/bWHx6scjX5

— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) July 23, 2024

Bryson DeChambeau’s YouTube video with Donald Trump has more than 1.8M views around 8 hours after its posting earlier today.

It’s currently the #1 trending video on YouTube pic.twitter.com/vBCNJJeplg

— Josh Carpenter (@JoshACarpenter) July 24, 2024

Great shot from tonight's storm around Wrigley Field by Chicago Tribune photojournalist @chris_sweda: pic.twitter.com/8yGdJqsMdd

— Meghan Montemurro (@M_Montemurro) July 24, 2024

The moon aligned perfectly with the Olympic Rings at the Eiffel Tower 😍🌕

( 📸: Loic Venance) pic.twitter.com/vqWx3bxQ5I

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) July 24, 2024

This is who they’re taking the A’s away from pic.twitter.com/yDi7Fh4DlX

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) July 24, 2024

Opening Ceremony Flag Bearer @CocoGauff. 🇺🇸

The moment Coco got the news from her teammate @chris_eubanks96… 🫢#ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/yjIWPjm6J1

— Team USA (@TeamUSA) July 24, 2024

"Known for a fabled event of 1881, it housed an auto repair shop after the disappearance of the horse & buggy."

"What is the O.K. Corral?"