Advertisement - scroll for more content
The NBA and ESPN Productions are poised to receive seven-figure payouts from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) when the public tourism agency votes on the sponsorship deals at its monthly meeting Tuesday. They are just the latest sports organizations and promoters receiving millions of dollars in public money from the LVCVA for holding their sports events in the Las Vegas market.
Gary Payton II launches skateboard league
NBA free agent Gary Payton II is launching a professional skateboard league, joining a growing movement of athlete-led leagues aimed at providing year-round relevance to Olympic and action sports. The Skate Board Association, a coed, six-team street skateboard league, plans to hold its inaugural 10-game season next summer in Big Bear Lake, California. Payton II, who last played for the Golden State Warriors, told ESPN he founded the league with partners Royce Campbell and Sheldon Lewis, because of his childhood love for skateboarding.
"Growing up, I always wanted to be a skateboarder. The skate park was right next to the basketball court," he said. "I'd skate there with my friends and they'd skate the park and I'd hoop." When his partners proposed the league, "I was like, 'Why hasn't there been a professional league like the NFL, NBA or NHL for skateboarding?'" Payton II said. "'Let's change the sports game and the skateboard game.'"
Payton II said he wants to see the SBA expand into an NBA-style league with multiple venues around the country, training facilities and an annual draft combine. "Skaters put more of their body on the line than athletes in most sports other than football," he said. "Why don't they get the same treatment as NBA players when they're taking more risks than we are?"
The National Basketball Association (NBA) has opened a new flagship NBA Store at Universal CityWalk Hollywood in California, marking the league’s first West Coast retail destination.
Advertisement
The new store is the NBA’s fourth flagship location in the U.S. It now operates more than 200 branded retail stores and attractions worldwide, including flagships in New York City and London, both run by Lids.
Marc J Spears: Warriors free agent guard Gary Payton II is a co-owner and investor in The Skate Board Association. The SBA will announce the launch of the world’s first co-ed, equal-pay professional skateboarding league on Monday in Big Bear.
The agreed-upon purchase price is $4.25 billion, according to a source who has knowledge of the deal but is not authorized to discuss it publicly. How the buyers group plans to assemble that mountain of cash remains a mystery. Here’s what we know. Do the buyers have the money? The source said financing isn’t a hurdle — if it were just a matter of cash, the source said, the sale could close tomorrow. That’s backed up by the financial savvy at the disposal of the Paul Allen estate, which owns the team and surely has closely scrutinized the bidders’ assets before making a tentative sale agreement.
Sportswriter John Canzano, a former columnist for The Oregonian/OregonLive, reported Tuesday on the possibility Arizona car magnate Ernest Garcia II, or his son, Ernest Garcia III, or both, are helping fund the deal. Almost as soon as Dundon’s bid was first reported, speculation to that effect was passed among multiple high-level local observers. One source told The Oregonian/OregonLive that they believed Garcia III was a “significant player” in the group. The Oregonian/OregonLive was unable to confirm those claims. The source familiar with the deal said the Garcias are not involved.
Zahr’s Blue Owl is one of the private equity firms allowed to invest in NBA teams. It has stakes in the Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets, Sacramento Kings and Minnesota Timberwolves, said Lauren Anderson, director of the Warsaw Sports Business Center at the University of Oregon’s Lundquist College of Business. Blue Owl could invest in the Blazers, but Zahr is participating in the deal as an individual investor, according to multiple sources, including one with direct knowledge of the deal. If Dundon’s group wants to bring in private equity, it won’t have trouble finding it, said multiple sports business experts.
Advertisement
What’s the timeline for closing the deal? Dundon’s group has an exclusivity agreement with the Allen estate, according to the source close to the deal, which The Athletic also reported on Wednesday. That means the Allen estate isn’t talking with other bidders. Dundon’s group hopes to finalize a formal purchase agreement by September.
The city’s August sales tax revenue check was a whopping 12% higher than one year ago, thanks in part to the Oklahoma City Thunder. “We don’t have all the details to know exactly where all it is — I know utilities also helped us — but clearly the NBA finals had a significant effect,” City Manager Craig Freeman said Tuesday in his sales and use tax report to the City Council.
Prime Video’s live sports offering, which took a major step forward with the addition of NFL Thursday Night Football in 2022, is expanding further this fall with the notable addition of weekly NBA games. The arrival of the NBA helped spur “incremental volume growth,” the spokesperson said.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement