Heading into the Women's Rugby World Cup, the business of Ilona Maher is booming. From DWTS to brand deals, magazine covers to runways, she has built her platform & ascended to cultural relevance atypical of Olympic athletes. My SBJ story. www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/202...

In a first for the Olympic and Paralympic movement, LA28 will sell naming rights to venues for its Games - with a nine-figure price tag. My SBJ story on how the IOC changed policy on this, which venues could be sold and how. www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/202...

"Pay us what you owe us." WNBA players making a statement at All-Star Game with t-shirts they had under their warm-ups. This event is surely a celebration of the league and its success, but the CBA has been the focus of this weekend.

Interesting data from @rachelaxon.bsky.social and @blinkfire.com about the high social-media engagement of women's sports fans: www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/202...

If you're reading about this news today, I'd encourage you to also read this 2021 story from @rachelaxon.bsky.social and @schrotenboer.bsky.social -- which, for my money, is one of the most thorough investigations that have been done on this issue to date. www.usatoday.com/in-depth/new...

📰In the latest SBJ women's sports newsletter, we've got: 📣 New research from The Collective digging into fan behavior 🎾 The lack of prime time spots for women at The French Open 👟 Startup footwear brands creating new models for female athletes www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/sb-blogs/new...

USA Gymnastics CEO Li Li Leung will step down at the end of the year. In six years at the NGB, she has led it out of crisis, instituted reforms and returned it to commercial and competitive success. www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/202...

LA28 continues its momentum in 2025 in a big way, signing Honda as its automotive sponsor. It's the sixth new sponsor this year, matching the total for all of 2024, and first tier-one sponsor in nearly four years. My SBJ story. www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/202...

LA28 has signed Snowflake as its official data collaboration provider, giving it a fifth new sponsor this year. www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/202...

You already know the news, but we've got some more details on our Sports Business Journal women's sports newsletter and how we're expanding our coverage overall. www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/202...

🚨 Big news 🚨 We're launching a women's sports newsletter! Sports Business Journal subscribers can find it in their inboxes every other Tuesday, starting May 13. I am beyond excited to spearhead this effort, but it's going to leverage the expertise across our newsroom. 🧵

U.S. Ski and Snowboard... and Surf and Skateboard? Applications for both sports would have the winter NGB taking over the Olympic teams in the summer sports. But USA Surfing wants to govern its sport, opposition from IFs & legal considerations remain. www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/202...

Great to see this. Can't wait to see what Alicia, Nancy and the team do here.

USA Swimming has hired Greg Meehan as its national team managing director. www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/202...

The IOC approved the sports program for LA28, allocating more than half of the quota spots to women for the first time in Olympic history. My story. www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/202...

If you want to read about a person who played as big a role as anyone for the growth of women's college basketball in the United States, read this from @rachelaxon.bsky.social on Carol Stiff. www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/202...

That feeling of having too much and not nearly enough reporting...

More than history bound Anita DeFrantz and Kirsty Coventry, the former the first woman to run for IOC president and the latter the first ever to win it. A look at what the historic win meant for both and the women in the movement. www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/202...

IOC president Thomas Bach says decisions during transition will default to president-elect Kirsty Coventry. "No decision will be taken over her head. This will happen in full consultation, and if there are different opinions between her and me, her opinion will prevail."

Kirsty Coventry becomes the first woman to head the International Olympic Committee. Winning on the first round, she becomes the IOC's 10th president.

Stunning. A result on the first vote. Name of new IOC president coming in 30 minutes...

We're on IOC time, which usually means not the schedule. Vote now set for 4:30 p.m. local/10:30 a.m. ET.

IOC election is 30 minutes away. With seven candidates in the field, the favorites remain Sebastian Coe, Kirsty Coventry and Juan Antonio Samaranch. No IOC election (whose votes we have recorded) has gone past the 2nd round. But with the biggest field of any election, might we see that today?

In a few hours, the IOC will elect a new president. So, time for some election math! There are 109 members, with three absent. But 106 is not the max for a couple reasons. First, president Thomas Bach will not vote unless the final two candidates have been tied for two rounds.

A little livelier IOC session than normal. Vote in just a little more than 24 hours.

In just about 48 hours, a new IOC president will speak from the dais. Stay tuned for updates from Greece.

NBC will remain the U.S. home of the Olympics and Paralympics through 2036, with the IOC and Comcast NBCUniversal announcing a $3 billion extension. NBC's current deal had been through 2032, and the extension comes as IOC President Thomas Bach has four months left in his tenure.

LA28 has added its first sponsor of the new year, signing Pennymac as its official mortgage supporter. www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/202...

The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Foundation has secured its biggest gift ever, aiming to use $100M from hedge fund CEO Ross Stevens to support athletes decades after they compete in the Games. www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/202...

CEOs in the Olympic and Paralympic movement have jobs calling on skills common to others in the wider sports industry. But their pay, though increasing, lags behind their peers. My SBJ story on a deep dive into the data. www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/202...

NEWS: USA Swimming will not have Chrissi Rawak as its CEO, reversing course due to "unforeseen personal circumstances" just more than a week after it had announced hiring the Delaware AD. www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/202...

In a stunning reversal, USA Swimming now says it will not have Chrissi Rawak as its CEO. The organization announced last week that it would hire the Delaware AD.

Spent some time at the LA28 partner summit this week, where new leadership, a successful Paris Games and a ticking clock with three years to go have organizers and sponsors deep into planning for the first U.S. Olympics and Paralympics in a generation. www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/202...

AB InBev extends its deal with the IOC through 2032, adding another quad to the initial four-year deal it announced last year. www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/202...

TCL is joining the TOP program, giving the International Olympic Committee its first new global sponsor since losing four last year. The Chinese company will have the home audiovisual equipment and home appliances category, and it brings the IOC to 12 TOP sponsors.

USA Swimming announces Chrissy Rawak as its new CEO, hiring the former collegiate swimmer to lead the NGB. Rawak has been AD at Delaware since 2016. www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/202...

The rollback of guidance requiring NIL to comply with Title IX will shortchange women athletes. Where's the outrage on that from the “protect women’s sports!” mob? www.usatoday.com/story/sports...

The Milan Cortina Games are just under a year away, and it will feel like it across NBCUniversal on Wednesday. A look inside the marketing activation as the company looks ahead to 2026. www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/202...

With five weeks to go until the IOC elects a new president, three candidates have emerged as favorites. My SBJ story on the state of the race and the issues facing whomever succeeds Thomas Bach. www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/202...

Today marks one year from the opening of the Milan-Cortina Olympics, kicking off a final stretch of preparations for the most spread out Games in recent memory. My SBJ story on how the movement is readying for an event spread around the Dolomites. www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/202...

You won't catch me under-reporting a story, exhibit 521. (This is for a 2,000-word story. 🙃)

The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee is merging international and government relations efforts into one team, Global Engagement & Government Affairs. The changes are meant to better align efforts with the USA hosting two Games in the next decade. www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/202...

In the wake of the plane crash that took the lives of 28 skaters, coaches and parents, U.S. Figure Skating is launching a family support fund. www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/202...

In a closed session of the IOC's members, the candidates made their case for why they should be the organization's next president. My story on the next, opaque step forward on the path to the March election. www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/202...

U.S. figure skaters were among the passengers on an American Airlines flight that collided with an Army helicopter outside of Washington. www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/202...

"It will probably just hurt worse next time." Oooof, if @williamfleitch.bsky.social didn't just nail what it's like to be a Bills fan.

Donor fatigue is real, but the worry that NIL would lead to declining donations to FBS athletic departments has largely not come to pass. My SBJ analysis of data from 2019-23 found 74.5% of public FBS schools had their best fundraising years under NIL. www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/202...

Between the two stories I have going this week and next, my spreadsheets have combined 42 tabs. It's excellent.

When my coffee consumption outkicked the coverage on what was needed to get through five interviews and a 2,000-word story so heading to bed like...

Am reminded of the brilliant work that @rachelaxon.bsky.social and @schrotenboer.bsky.social did on anti-trans bills like this in 2021. "USA TODAY could find few transgender athletes participating [in sports] and even fewer complaints about them." www.usatoday.com/in-depth/new...