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Good Thursday Morning. A bit under the weather the past few days, so bringing you an abbreviated, “snack size” version of SBP this week.

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

#1: The first NFL private equity dominoes fall

🗯️ My thought bubble: These are two logical choices for the first clubs to get involved. Stephen Ross has owned the Dolphins since 2009 and has had essentially 100% ownership of the club.

During that time, he’s invested heavily in both the team as well as the surrounding properties (i.e., Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Open tennis tournament, Miami Grand Prix F1 race), and he’s seen the organization’s value jump significantly to a reported $8.1 billion. This ~13% sale allows him to cash in and become more liquid while still having significant controlling interest.

On the Bills’ side, they sold nearly 21% of the club, with the Pegula family still maintaining controlling interest. This sale is likely stemming from the need to pay for the new stadium that is coming online in 2026. The stadium was originally set to cost $1.5 billion, with just over half being covered by taxpayers and the rest by the Bills, with the club being responsible for cost overruns.

And cost overruns there have been. Due to inflation, additions, and other factors, the projected cost of the stadium has ballooned to $2.1 billion, and the Bills are on the hook for that additional $600 million. The reported $927 million in liquidity from the sale will help to address those additional expenses.

#2: Hard to dispute this one

#3: Bill Belichick is heading to…mid-level college football?

 💭 My thought bubble: Not going to lie — this one is a bit of a head scratcher. After retiring from the Patriots last year, it was expected that the 72-year old Belichick would be biding his time for a return. He has received rave reviews for his work in sports media/commentary this year, and the rumors were that NFL teams interested in signing him would have to bring a compelling offer/team trajectory to make him leave the cushy gig he now has.

So, going to rebuild a program at a historically basketball-focused school in the midst of potentially the biggest shakeup in college athletics history definitely feels out of left field.

There is some speculation that the NFL market was soft for his services, but I find that hard to believe given the expected number of coaching vacancies with marquee franchises coming after this year. Here are my best guesses as to why we ended up with “Chapel Bill”:

• Legacy: Belichick’s father was an assistant coach at UNC in the 50’s, and he wants to finish his career at a place that was meaningful to his dad.

• Opportunity to Build: Belichick is taking over a middle of the pack program that hasn’t won an ACC title since 1980. He’s really starting from scratch here. UNC is proud of its sports, and they will likely give Belichick every resource he asks for, including activating the donor base to get the NIL funds flowing, to be successful.

• Control: Building on the above point, he’ll likely be handed the keys to the kingdom. This is something he did not have as much of the last few years at the Patriots as the team declined post-Brady, and my hunch is that he wants to be back in the driver’s seat acting as CEO. Of course he’s not going to be doing day-to-day recruiting or scripting out game plans. But in his mind, he will be able to build a machine that will recruit and build teams that play in his preferred image. It will be very interesting to see how that

#4 Can’t stop won’t stop with the Status Pro NFL breakdowns. I’d pay to watch a whole show of this

#5: Hahahaha

Until next time, sports fans!

-Alex