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Good Thursday Morning. Bringing you an abbreviated, “snack size” version of SBP this week.

Five Interesting, Funny, and Touching Things that Happened in Sports This Week

#1: A tale of two deals for Warner Brothers Discovery

If interested in learning more about the WBD vs. NBC rights battle, here is my analysis from a few weeks ago.

🗯️ My thought bubble: WBD is supposedly lawyering up to fight this NBA deal, but it’s also preparing for a post-NBA world with this CFP agreement. It speaks again to the existential nature of live sports for these legacy cable brands and how they continue to need to overpay for rights to stay afloat.

The saddest piece of this story: with the NBA reportedly leaving WBD in 2025-26, next season will likely be the last year of TNT’s beloved Inside the NBA, at least in its current form.

Bonus: here’s how this media rights deal impacts the players. The salary cap is calculated as a percentage of league revenue, so this major new media rights deal means major dollars for player salaries.

#2: Speaking of the NBA, the Timberwolves’ Anthony Edwards ”Bring Ya Ass!” quip to Charles Barkley after the team advanced to the Western Conference Finals has gone viral, and the state of Minnesota has jumped all over it.

#3: We are on the cusp of entering a new era of college athletics.

🗯️ My thought bubble: The writing has been on the wall with this one for a long time given the expected defeat in court if it went to trial, but it’s still surreal to see the NCAA — the lone institution that has defended the increasingly ironic (read: ludicrous) concept of amateurism for the past several decades — voting to pay athletes.

While this is the “right” decision in the eyes of many (myself included) in terms of finally compensating the players for their value, it does not mean this new paradigm will be easy to figure out. There are landmine legal issues everywhere, the economics of college athletics will have to shift significantly, and it has the potential to drive an even deeper wedge between the schools and conferences across Division I.

It’s also unsurprising to see more private equity firms and investment funds beginning to circle the industry (see below). Given the potential impact of the redistribution of revenue on schools, they will likely need access to capital, and fast.

#4: Bryce Harper. Man of the people

#5: NWSL attendance continues to impress

🗯️ My thought bubble: Caitlin Clark and the other members of the heralded rookie class entering the W have taken much of the spotlight in women’s sports the past few weeks, but the NWSL is continuing to flex its muscles.

It’s a testament to the quality of the product and the clubs’ abilities to tap into their local markets that they are able to show strong attendance numbers without a generational player entering the league or another compelling event driving the main narrative.

This sustained growth is exactly what is needed for further investment and interest, and the flywheel will continue to pick up speed.

Until next time, sports fans!

-Alex