“I didn’t leave a very good job as the CMO of a prominent NFL team to take a step down." As the WNBA exploded in recent years, the W and its teams have rapidly added new roles. And they're competing for top talent. How a front office gig in the WNBA became the hottest job in sports:

2026 WNBA draft rookie salary scale (vs 2025) per sources: 1: $500,000 ($78,831) 2: $466,913 ($78,831) 3: $436,016 ($78,831) 4: $407,163 ($78,831) 5: $380,219 ($75,643) 6: $355,058 ($75,643) 7: $331,563 ($75,643) 8: $309,622 ($75,643) 9+: $289,133 ($72,455) 2nd+3rd round: $270k (new minimum)

Happy WNBA Draft Day. Tonight’s crop of rookies will be best paid in W history, with the No. 1 pick eligible for a $500k base salary. The only question is who will get it? @sportico.bsky.social has the draft rookie scale breakdown: www.sportico.com/leagues/bask...

"For the first time this century, figure skating has minted a mainstream, global celebrity in Liu" - @germanotes.bsky.social Read more: wp.me/pc2RuA-1lzsO0

Scoop: the WNBA regular season is poised to expand from 44 regular season games in 2026 to 52 games over the life of new CBA, per verbal agreement with terms still to be ratified. www.sportico.com/leagues/bask...

To Americans, the Italian baseball team seems cartoonishly Italian. To Italians, they're "bizarre and cheerful." The 4-0 Azzurri are sparking new debates about who, exactly, is Italian. Coincidentally, their WBC success comes as Italy debates who can be a citizen: www.sportico.com/leagues/base...

New story on Olympic figure skating music drama. Tomas Guarino said he submitted his "Minions" program to ISU's approved third-party, ClicknClear in August. But ISU tells @sportico.bsky.social it has no "contractual relationship" with ClicknClear. www.sportico.com/leagues/olym...

Scoop: the largest operator of U.S. youth sports clubs is for sale www.sportico.com/business/spo...

FYI this feed is going to be 70% figure skating news for the next month. My Sporticast debut discussing all things Alysa Liu, our Winter Olympics preview, and much more: www.sportico.com/podcasts/spo...

First story for @sportico.bsky.social: NBC pulls Olympic champion ice dancer Gabriella Papadakis from Milan Olympics commentary for "conflict of interest" with ex- skating partner Guillaume Cizeron. www.sportico.com/personalitie...

Hello! I’m now covering sports business for @sportico.bsky.social. Send all tips, ideas, fun banter and Olympics gossip to [email protected].

In 10+ years of covering the sports industry, nothing has broken my brain more than the intersection of sports betting & prediction markets. How everything became a sports wager + why the Supreme Court might decide the most consequential event contract of all www.theinformation.com/articles/spo...

Serena Williams says she “is NOT coming back” to tennis. But by re-entering the testing pool, she highlights a fraught discussion in anti-doping: Should GLP-1s be banned in sports? Ozempic and Serena’s shot of choice, Zepbound, are currently in WADA purgatory www.theinformation.com/articles/can...

It’s giving

The most important thing you need to know about this article is that The Offspring are thrilled that Diana Davis and Gleb Smolkin are skating to their music, lol #figureskating

About 2mo from now, you'll see a lot of figure skating at the Winter Olympics set to the Spice Girls, Madonna, and The Offspring. Some will even have AI music. Before they go viral, here's the crazy backstory to the complex world of music licensing in sports www.theinformation.com/articles/fig...

Exclusive: Versant, Comcast’s planned spinoff of its cable channels, is exploring a sale of its youth sports app, SportsEngine. Read more from @germanotes.bsky.social 👇 https://thein.fo/4p1oibL

Curious sports business trend alert: the NFL, NBA, and venture capitalists are now taking their ambitions to Berlin. Why? It's the rare European capital without a successful globally recognized sports team, and US bigwigs want to change that: www.theinformation.com/articles/nex...

Thank you for the validation, New Yorker

Clara Wu Tsai is building the first $1 billion WNBA team: The New York Liberty governor believes the team's recent $450 million valuation is just the start, with multiple teams potentially reaching the milestone in the next 5-10 years. Full story here: https://thein.fo/49sLV8E

Recently a friend told me, “you’ll never believe how many apps I’ve had to download to take my son to soccer.” That got me digging into the $12 billion market for youth sports tech: apps that schedule, score, and stream kids’ games. It’s Moneyball for minors www.theinformation.com/articles/mon...

Expanding on the issue of wealth inequality among sports owners with @mikevorkunov.bsky.social : why the net worth of your team’s owner matters more today

The @pablotorrefindsout.bsky.social reporting that Steve Ballmer may have circumvented the NBA salary cap underscores one under-covered trend: the exploding wealth inequality between (already super rich) sports owners. Since 2019, the wealth gap between Ballmer and the bottom tier has grown >3X

The Arena: Can Tennis Connect With Young Fans Through the Metaverse and TikTok? Read more from @germanotes.bsky.social 👇 https://bit.ly/41vjn9X

This was the inevitable next step after Paris 2024 opened the floodgates to product placement www.ft.com/content/4db4...

One of the biggest stories in the sports industry that not enough people are talking about is the recent trend of major leagues (NFL, NBA, MLB, MLS) establishing their own, in-house venture capital funds. I spent a month digging into it: www.theinformation.com/articles/spo...

Say hi if you’re in the arena: [email protected] 🙃

I reported an offensive Caitlin Clark fake video on X to try and get it removed. Instead, I saw how deeply the platform is letting women down. My story on one of the most disturbing issues affecting women in the age of AI, and X's failure to curb it: www.sportingnews.com/us/wnba/indi...

In May, I wrote about the proliferating scourge of online hate speech against athletes, particularly in the WNBA. That day, one of the owners of the Chicago Sky emailed me, asking to be introduced to some of the security experts I interviewed. Today, they announced a partnership:

Big Nike news: the company is going *back* to internal organization by individual sports, 5yrs after ex-CEO John Donahoe streamlined into men's, women's, and kids silos. In short, new CEO Elliott Hill is undoing everything Donahoe implemented. I wrote about these risks in '21

This week, Faith Kipyegon will try to become the first woman to break the 4-minute mile, an almost unthinkable athletic feat. Behind the race is Nike, which is using the stunt to further its own impossible goal: making athletic gear entirely via 3D printing www.theinformation.com/articles/com...

When a gambler harassed her at a track meet this week, Gabby Thomas got him banned from FanDuel. After exiting Roland Garros, Jessica Pegula shared a cascade of death threats on her IG. Athletes in individual sports have to fight online abuse alone. And betting is making it worse ⬇️

The WNBA says it has “not substantiated” allegations of racist fan behavior at Gainsbridge Fieldhouse during the Sky-Fever game. Regardless, the allegation itself led to actual abusive discourse on social media, according to experts who are independently reporting it to the platforms

The WNBA spent its offseason boasting of a new program to combat hate speech. Then came the Caitlin Clark-Angel Reese foul and a maelstrom of alleged fan racism. I spoke to service providers who work w/ Team USA, the NCAA and others to fight athlete harassment. Why the W isn't doing enough:

The WNBA spent its offseason boasting of a new program to combat hate speech. Then came the Caitlin Clark-Angel Reese foul and a maelstrom of alleged fan racism. I spoke to service providers who work w/ Team USA, the NCAA and others to fight athlete harassment. Why the W isn't doing enough:

Huge retail news. Nike is coming back to Amazon, years after breaking up with the ecommerce giant because it didn't crack down on counterfeiters. Now, as Nike is trying to rebound from slumping sales and a failed DTC strategy, the swoosh needs the everything store. Scoop w/ @theowayt.bsky.social

Creator Economy: Sports Influencers Edge Into Journalists’ Turf Influencers are increasingly crowding into the space once dominated by sports journalists. That’s good, but there are drawbacks, writes our columnist @germanotes.bsky.social. Read more👇

Remember when sports leagues would vigilantly police people sharing game highlights on social media? Nowadays, the sports establishment is cozying up to YouTubers, Instagrammers, and TikTokers, hoping content creators can convert distracted Gen Zers into dedicated sports fans ⬇️

The WNBA Draft kicks off tonight, and with it some of the highest demand for jersey sales. Last year, the W was caught flat-footed without enough Caitlin Clark gear. I spoke with sources in front offices and at retailers to get a fuller picture of what's different this year:

The WNBA has a bittersweet problem: the league is growing too fast to keep up with fan demand for jerseys, hoodies, and everything Big Ellie. Inside details on what teams are asking the W and Nike for (hint: white jerseys) + how everyone is prepping for the 2025 draft ⬇️

Figure skating and basketball are actually similar sports. You want to see people hit their jumps/ shots, and of course who wins and loses. But at their best, they’re about watching people get in a flow state and put on a show. Like Steph Curry in the gold medal game. And Alysa Liu last night.

New: Nike is collaborating with Alex Morgan & Sue Bird's startup Togethxr to release their "Everyone Watches Women's Sports" apparel, underscoring demand for women's sports merch as well as Nike's continued bet on collabs with emerging brands (ie NikeSkims)

Who's that paying a record $6.1B for the Boston Celtics? Presenting @theinformation.bsky.social power list of tech moguls who own sports teams. It's a snapshot of how tech money is flowing into sports, and our corresponding feature reveals the intersecting influence of both industries⬇️

Spring cleaning and found a real piece of OG tech (!!)

New York City bodegas are trying to keep prices of bacon egg and cheeses down by using liquid eggs. Patrons are NOT having it. Platonic ideal of a local economic story. www.nbcnewyork.com/new-york-cit...

Today is going to be a hall of fame day on WFAN

This year’s NBA All Star broadcast was a reflection of the chaotic media era we are in: a bittersweet farewell to TNT and cable and the concept of a coherent 3-hr broadcast; the injection of YouTubers and celebrity analysis and a format primed for bite-size highlights.

Has anyone bought these, what’s happening here

Adam Silver says the reason that the Steph-Sabrina 3pt shootout didn’t happen this year is because “we just weren’t feeling it….it just felt forced.”

Welcome, Weekenders! In this edition of Weekend: tech’s AI-driven nuclear dreams; a vibe shift in nuclear investing; plus the NBA invades tech’s turf. Read more from @germanotes.bsky.social👇