Rumors

Tom Brady has become the most notable athlete to branch out into the trading card space. CardVault by Tom Brady, of which he is a co-owner, has 17 locations across the country — and aims to reach 100-plus — and has become a hit within the sports and entertainment world. Brady has corralled new investors such as New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge, Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid, musician and entrepreneur Jay-Z, Fenway Sports Group owner John Henry, The Kraft Group, Boston Celtics CEO Wyc Grousbeck and UFC president and CEO Dana White. “You know, at the end of the day, it’s the industry, but we love sports,” Brady said. “And we love sports that bring people together, communities together. We’ve been sitting in stadiums for a long time watching fans of every economic background, race, religion, come to the stadiums to cheer us on. And I think sports in our communities, it brings people together in ways nothing else can. I want everybody to be a collector.”

New York Times

Enter Cunningham, the feisty, 29-year-old Fever sharpshooter, who’s embraced the role of Clark’s older sister/protector. NHL clubs have long used on-ice enforcers to protect their skill players. When Jacy Sheldon and Marina Mabrey of the Sun got physical with Clark last year, Cunningham reacted like Wayne Gretzky’s Oilers enforcer Dave Semenko. On a fast break at the end of the game, Cunningham yanked Sheldon down with a flagrant foul. When Sheldon jumped up to brawl, Cunningham put her in a headlock for good measure. A star was born.

Front Office Sports

Thread Sports Management, an NBA player representation firm owned by veteran agent Bernie Lee, has merged into Quartexx Group, a firm that is owned by Lino Saputo Jr., one of the richest people in Canada. Financial terms were not disclosed. But the basketball player practice will now be known as Quartexx Basketball. Quartexx Group is based in Montreal and is the parent of Quartexx Hockey, which represents many top NHL players, including Bruins center Patrice Bergeron, Coyotes wing Taylor Hall, Penguins defenseman Kris Letang, Maple Leafs wing Mitch Marner and Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse.

Sports Business Daily

Chase Hughes: Longest division title droughts by sport: NBA - Wizards - 38 years NHL - Oilers - 30 years NFL - Browns - 28 years MLB - Pirates - 25 years

Twitter

That is not the case in the NBA. Nor is there an obvious city that would make sense for expansion, as there was when the NFL made Houston -- which lost the Oilers to Tennessee in 1997 -- its 32nd team, in 2002. Even if there were, the Commish and Deputy Commish Adam Silver made it clear at All-Star weekend that expansion was not going to be a panacea for the Sacramento-Seattle dilemma. "I don't think the NBA wants a 31st team right now," a person with longstanding familiarity of the league noted over the weekend. "That's the problem. I suppose you could add another team. It confuses the schedule, but it's not that big a deal. But I don't sense there's any appetite for another team right now."

NBA.com

There are some clues on that last facet in the report. ICON/Taylor used five arenas as the basis of the Sacramento model: AT&T Center in San Antonio, Sprint Center in Kansas City, Amway Center in Orlando, FedEx Forum in Memphis and a complex under development in Edmonton, Alberta, for the NHL's Oilers. According to the report, all of these arenas used hotel and car rental fees, arena use sales tax, and (in Edmonton's case) a provincial tax to fund construction. The report also highlights the benefits of the entertainment and sports complex to the city and region: a project $556 million cash infusion to the region during construction and $25 million annually during operation of the building; $2.3 million in new local municipal revenue (aka, tax rolls bonus) during construction and $770,000 annually during operation. This is billed as one hell of a local stimulus project.

Sactown Royalty