Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker's administration continued to call the Bears' $4.7B proposal to build a domed stadium on a reimagined lakefront a "non-starter" following a meeting yesterday between team execs and top Pritzker aides. The message "echoed much of last week's rhetoric from Pritzker and other state leaders" after the Bears proposed building the project with help from the public. The statement after the meeting "reflected all of the same skepticism Pritzker projected on the proposal" last week. It also "reflected his stated attitude for years" that Illinois "should be wary of using public funds to build private stadiums." The meeting was the "first tangible move" by the Bears since last Wednesday when the team, alongside a supportive Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, publicly laid out plans. Sources said lawmakers are scheduled to be briefed today "about unanswered questions regarding the stadium plan" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 5/1).

The Bears have been told by leaders in Springfield they "don’t have the votes for state legislation" and they're "unlikely to materialize before the current session closes" at the end of May (CRAIN'S CHICAGO BUSINESS, 5/1).

In Chicago, Rick Morrisey reacted to the news under the header, "Take it from the source: Bears do not have a right to taxpayer money" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 5/1).

If Warner Bros. Discovery is shut out from the NBA’s next media rights deal -- and Comcast’s NBCUniversal has reportedly bid $2.5B annually to potentially take Turner’s place -- then TNT’s Charles Barkley said he has an out in his contract to leave WBD.

In an appearance yesterday on ESPN Cleveland’s “The Really Big Show,” Barkley said he put an opt-out in his contract, knowing Turner could lose its NBA package after the 2024-25 season.

“I covered my ass, to be honest with you,” Barkley said. “I just signed a 10-year-deal two years ago, but one of the things I did was I put an opt-out in a couple years because I wanted to cover my ass when it comes to the situation.’’

Barkley told the show he long suspected a streaming entity would steal the NBA package from WBD, leading to his out clause. He said he never considered NBC to be a threat and sounded as if he would stay at Turner if WBD could hammer out a deal with the NBA. WBD CEO David Zaslav is said to be contemplating whether to match NBC's offer or take a smaller Thursday night-only package.

It is unclear if Barkley’s other co-hosts on TNT’s “Inside the NBA” studio show -- Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal -- have similar opt-outs.

Visa plans to leverage the Inter Miami brand in key international markets under a new multi-year sponsorship deal with the MLS club. The agreement, terms of which were not disclosed, designates Visa as the club’s official international payment services partner and entitles the brand to use Inter Miami IP around the world. Markets of emphasis will include Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay in South America; Mexico in North America; Costa Rica and Panama in Central America; Dominican Republic and Jamaica in the Caribbean; and France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain in Europe. 

Visa cardholders will have access to exclusive merchandise and in-person experiences, such as attending training sessions and pre-game warmups, post-game photos on the pitch at Chase Stadium and tours of the stadium and training center. Visa said it will soon unveil promotions for fans around the world. 

The global deal -- Visa’s first with an MLS club -- is the latest example of how the signing of Lionel Messi has made the Inter Miami brand relevant both domestically and abroad. The team has recently signed lucrative partnerships with blue-chip companies such as kit sponsor Royal Caribbean, stadium naming-rights sponsor Chase and sleeve sponsor The Fracht Group. The club also embarked on an unprecedented preseason tour saw the club play exhibitions in El Salvador, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong and Japan.

Clif Bar will pay former U.S. Olympian Alysia Montaño a medal bonus after a recent doping disqualification from the 2012 London Olympics has put her in line for a bronze medal in the 800 meters.

Clif, which didn't start sponsoring Montaño until last year, didn't release the dollar amount but said it is in line with what it has awarded athletes for similar wins in the past.

Montaño stands to see her finish upgraded after the Athletics Integrity Unit banned Russian Ekaterina Poistogova-Guliyev for two years and stripped her silver medal in that event. Poistogova-Guliyev finished third in the race in London but was upgraded to silver after Russian Mariya Savinova was found guilty of doping and lost her gold medal. 

“Clif Bar has a history of working with world class athletes who aren't just champions in their sport, but champions in their community. Alysia has been a powerful advocate for equity in women’s sports, and seeing her navigate this challenge with so much grace and integrity has been inspirational to us as a brand," said Brooke Donberg, Dir of Partnerships & Activation. "Regardless of when we brought her on as a partner, we reward our athletes when they have significant accomplishments and we couldn’t be more proud to stand with Alysia and give her the reward she deserves.” 

U.S. Soccer has added two new C-Suite execs, hiring Carlos Kuri as Chief Legal Officer and Lisa Buckingham as Chief HR Officer. Kuri previously worked for SXSW conferences and festivals, serving as Chief Strategy Officer & General Counsel. In a prior role with Red Bull North America, Kuri established the legal department for the Red Bulls MLS franchise and Red Bull Arena. Buckingham most recently served as president of the Ellig Group, a DEI-focused exec search firm based in N.Y. She has previously worked for Lincoln Financial and Thomson Reuters.

StubHub announced its sales for WNBA games as of yesterday "were up 93% compared with last season." The increase followed StubHub’s record sales for the women’s NCAA Tournament and for the 2023 WNBA Finals, spokesperson Adam Budelli said. The highest ticket demand "was for the Aces," who host three of the top 10-selling games. A total of six Aces season tickets, starting at $906 for 20 home games, remained. Overall sales for the Aces "have nearly tripled" (up 190%) compared with this time a year ago. The N.Y. Liberty were the "second-most in-demand team" with sales up 30%. The Indiana Fever, which drafted Caitlin Clark No. 1 overall, are the "top trending team" on StubHub -- with more than 500 tickets for games involving the Fever sold since Tuesday (AP, 5/1).

A headline in yesterday’s Daily incorrectly stated MLB’s attendance trend through the first month of the season. 
 
The average attendance of 26,927 to start the season is the most since 2017, according to MLB figures. MLB cites a 0.9% increase in comparing the first 448 games this season to the same number of games in 2023. 
 
MLB is coming off a season in which average attendance increased 9.1% compared to the 2022 season, according to SBJ data. 

ESPN Digital properties performed well again in March, reaching two-thirds of U.S. adults, per new data set to be released today from comScore. Some of the highlights:

• 25 straight months as No. 1 in the sports category (11.7 million unique fans)
• 67% of U.S. adults reached by ESPN Digital, ESPN on YouTube and ESPN social media (175.1 million unique fans in March). That includes 43 million uniques on its YouTube channel watching 762 million minutes of content (+75% year-over-year)
• 33 straight months leading the sports social media category (680 million fan engagements in March)
• 25.7 million unique fans engaged with the ESPN mobile app
• No. 1 in mobile sports app category
• No. 1 in fantasy sports app category (4.5 million uniques).

Mike Gorman, the voice of the Celtics for 43 years, signed off his final broadcast last night, as the Celtics' 118-84 series-clinching win over the Heat became his final game on the microphone. An emotional Gorman said after the game, I don’t know what to say, really. For the past 43 years it has been an honor and my distinct pleasure to be the voice of the Boston Celtics. I’ll be forever grateful to this ownership for treating my family as they treat their own." Gorman: "Special thanks to all who welcomed Tommy [Heinsohn], [Brian] Scal[abrine], and me into your homes all winter long. When it was a cold night going on outside you turned us on and it couldn’t have been better. There’s no place I’d rather have been. So Boston, thank you. Goodnight." Gorman’s final words "followed a montage of Celtics and announcing greats" including Paul Pierce, Brad Stevens, Doc Rivers, Danny Ainge, Mike Breen, Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley and Reggie Miller. Gorman "received a long standing ovation before the game from the full house" at TD Garden (BOSTON GLOBE, 5/1).

Fan engagement technology company LiveLike is the latest member of Infinite Athlete’s Partner Network, with access to the data distribution company’s FusionFeed. The goal is to further equip teams with the ability to personalize content and other experiences, just as both companies are already doing in separate integrations within Chelsea FC’s app through LiveLike’s Play Predictor and Infinite Athlete’s Match View X. The partnership will enable both firms to enhance the audience experience for new and existing mutual customers.

LiveLike offers a wide range of interactive products such as polls, quizzes and prediction games, as well as tools for building community and rewarding loyalty. Among its other existing partners are NASCAR, the Warriors and the YES Network, as well as a recent partnership with Venuetize. Infinite Athlete, whose AI syncs all video and data at the moment of creation to aid developers create downstream products, works with the NFL and NFLPA as well as Chelsea and Colorado. Infinite Athlete has roughly a dozen members of its Partner Network, including Gemini Sports Analytics, Dizplai and StreamLayer.

Athlete lending business Sure Sports has partnered with Keller Williams Sports + Entertainment to launch a new pilot program to better enable athlete clients to sell their homes. The Real Estate Transition for Athletes Program, or RETAP, will typically work with athletes moving to new cities, oftentimes as the result of a trade or contract signing. The nationwide program will give participating athletes a 60% upfront payout on their home’s estimated value, determined using a drive-by appraisal and local market comps, with the remaining 40% being held in escrow to cover any potential repairs, upgrades or fees related to the home sale.

The remainder will be paid to the athlete after the house finally sells. Eric Tomasini, Sure Sports’ Dir of Marketing & Business Development, said the initial idea for RETAP grew out of a conversation with an Atlanta-area real estate agent whose NFL player client was still trying to sell his home a year after leaving the market. “We kind of uncovered an opportunity that seems poised to be extremely popular and in-demand,” Tomasini said.

Sure Sports and its lending partners will take an underwriting fee of 7% of the home’s final purchase price, while KW Sports + Entertainment, which will manage the sale process, gets the sell-side real estate agent fee. Tomasini said Sure Sports expects an average home price of $2M and conservatively estimates the RETAP program will manage 30-50 home sales in the first year. 

ESPN+ will stream featured group coverage of the LPGA's Cognizant Founders Cup next week, amounting to around 40 hours of coverage from Thursday-Sunday. The streams will feature an all-female broadcast team, led by Amy Rogers (LPGA).

The U.S. SailGP Team has engaged Sportfive to lead its global partnerships relationship development. Sportfive will provide the U.S. SailGP Team with comprehensive sales and marketing services to help grow its roster of corporate and brand partners and secure new revenue opportunities (SailGP).

Collegiate summer baseball club Tri-City Chili Peppers will introduce Cosmic Baseball at four games this season, with those games played under black lights with UV reactive baseballs, bats and uniforms rather than under regular stadium lights (Chili Peppers).

The WASHINGTON POST dives into Stephen A. Smith's podcast and YouTube show under the header, "Stephen A. Smith would like even more of your attention." Smith launched the show last year through his production company, Mr. SAS Productions. Between the control room and the studio, a staff of 15 -- "including graphics editors, a social media manager, a writer, producers and a director" -- gathers here and in L.A. three times a week to produce each episode. The objective, Smith said, "is simple: growth in every way." More audience, "more clout, more money." It’s why, on top of this and his ESPN duties, he regularly appears on CNN and Fox News with his friend Sean Hannity "to talk politics" and why he guest-hosted Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night talk show a few years ago. With his ESPN contract expiring next year, the exposure "will, in theory, make him the highest-paid talent at the network" -- somewhere north of around $20M a year.

Also:

• NASCAR and its race teams fight over the sport’s future.
• A year later, racing is still trying to make sense of Churchill Downs deaths.

Erica Wheeler and NaLyssa Smith let Caitlin Clark borrow their chains for our night time photo shoot 🥶 pic.twitter.com/3zQvNJqPoH

— Indiana Fever (@IndianaFever) May 2, 2024

It helps that he goes way back with Carson Daly, but this is about as good/comfortable as I’ve ever seen Tiger on TV. Great segment. pic.twitter.com/0cQWIqwiI0

— Alex Myers (@AlexMyers3) May 1, 2024

think Nick is probably right, but despite it being a divisional game, I'm rooting for Chargers/Chiefs for the Harbaugh's first game factor. I'd rather see Ravens & Bengals later in the year.

Either way, happy NFL schedule season! https://t.co/Q6k50EQULK

— Sports TV Ratings (@SportsTVRatings) May 1, 2024

Interesting equipment news at the CJ Cup with Ben Griffin putting a MaxFli golf ball (MaxFli’s Tour X) into play after weeks of testing. He's picked up distance and said the ball is more stable in the wind.

— Rex Hoggard (@RexHoggardGC) May 1, 2024

"On Nov. 15, 1961 JFK suspended the 8-hour workday at this agency, saying its work needed to proceed 'with all possible speed.'"

"What is NASA?"