Sixth Street, the investment firm that owns a 20% stake in the Spurs, is "planning to raise its first fund dedicated to the sports ecosystem," according to sources. The S.F.-based firm "has held preliminary talks with potential investors" about the vehicle, which will "seek to invest in sports teams and leagues, media rights and related businesses." Sixth Street, led by CEO Alan Waxman, has made more than $2.5B in sports-related investments, "primarily through" its $29B TAO platform. In addition to its ownership in the Spurs, Sixth Street -- which manages more than $75B -- co-founded NWSL club Bay FC; owns stakes in some of Real Madrid's stadium operations and Barcelona’s LaLiga TV rights; and owns a majority stake in sports-experience firm Legends (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 5/3).

This weekend is the biggest of the year for premium experiences purveyors Quint, which will have 15,000 guests at Churchill Downs for the 150th Kentucky Derby and another roughly 3,000 at the F1 Miami Grand Prix. Yesterday saw Quint CEO Brian Ruede driving from Cincinnati to Louisville for the Derby, which is one of Quint’s most important and oldest clients (they’ve worked together since 2008). Owing in part to the importance of this Derby, he’ll remain in Kentucky the whole weekend.

“We’ve got an unbelievable management team,” said Ruede, whose company is owned by Liberty Media, parent company of F1. "This is one of those where we try to divide and conquer.”

Quint will have around 75 full-time employees at Churchill Downs, which has undergone a huge spate of premium renovations and additions during the last decade. That only helps Quint’s business, which provides customers with tickets to events, but also airfare, lodging, access to private events, and other add-ons. For the Derby, Quint offers roughly 70 packages with another 30 hotel, transportation, and special event add-ons available. The 15,000 Quint customers will be a company record for a single event.

SBJ's Bret McCormick: Investing $530 million in premium renovations allowed Churchill Downs to cater to high-end fans, elevate revenue

Google Chrome is using its partnership with McLaren Racing to pull off marketing promotions around artificial intelligence during F1 Miami weekend. The tech titan’s web browser brand enlisted Colombian rapper Maluma to shoot a music video that uses sounds from the engine of McLaren’s race car to help form the beat. Furthermore, the video -- which was posted on Maluma’s official YouTube page -- serves as the basis for a contest that McLaren is doing with F1 race tickets. In the nearly four-minute video, Google says it has hidden clues that, if scanned using Google Lens in Chrome, will enter the user into a contest for race tickets. Google Lens is the Silicon Valley company’s image recognition app that scans pictures using AI to identify or translate items in a photo or screenshot. 

The video has signs hidden in English and Spanish, with additional entries being unlocked if someone watching the video scans the ones in Spanish. The contest started yesterday and runs through late June, with the grand prize being a $30,540 trip for three to the F1 Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix in November. Meanwhile, McLaren’s F1 Academy driver, Bianca Bustamante, shared on social media the helmet she’s using this weekend that was created with themes made by generative AI features that can be used on Google Chrome. The video had nearly 105,000 views on YouTube as of presstime. The moves to promote AI products during the F1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix weekend comes amid major investments and media attention around the technology, with corporations around the world looking at how they can implement it into their operations. 

A day after industry sources said Ernie Johnson is committed to TNT even if Warner Bros. Discovery loses its NBA package, Charles Barkley said the iconic studio show "Inside the NBA" can never be replicated even if co-hosts Barkley, Shaquille O'Neal and Kenny Smith land together at another network such as NBC.

"I don't know how that works without Ernie, to be honest with you," Barkley said Friday during a radio interview with Dan Patrick. "And I can't speak for NBC. I don't know if they want all three of us. [But] our show won't be the same without Ernie. Ernie is the most important person on our show."

Barkley reiterated Friday that he inserted an opt-out in his WBD contract two years ago, knowing TNT's deal with the NBA was up after the 2024-25 season. Various reports have Disney offering $2.6B annually, Amazon $1.8B annually and NBC $2.5B annually to create a broadcast triumvirate worth over $70B for the next 10 years. WBD has the right to match the supposed NBC bid in terms of money and broadcast windows -- which industry sources said they may not be able to do -- which has led to what Barkley called "nerve-wracking" times.

"They [WBD] don't need me, Kenny," Barkley said. "Ernie, he does other sports. He does baseball and things like that….But us other three are screwed basically. Not necessarily screwed, but we won't have a job."

Pro Football HOFer and NFL Network analyst Michael Irvin’s contract "will not be renewed" at the net as the league-owned channel "undergoes a round of cost cuts." Irvin had been an analyst at NFL Network since 2009 and has "played a major role" in the Sunday football pregame show, "GameDay Morning." Irvin was sent home from NFL Network’s 2023 Super Bowl coverage after he was accused of making lewd comments to a woman in a Phoenix hotel. He denied wrongdoing and was reinstated to NFL Network’s programming last season. Meanwhile, the network's "NFL Total Access" will air its final show "later this month." The nightly news program had been a part of the network’s lineup since 2003 (N.Y. POST, 5/3).

The decisions are all taking place "with the backdrop of continued negotiations with ESPN" over a deal in which the Disney-owned network would take on the network and other NFL Media properties and in exchange, the NFL would receive a minority stake in ESPN. Discussions have continued with ESPN, while the NBA "also is a potential player for an equity stake" -- though those talks "have been tabled until after the NBA completes its TV rights negotiations" (THE ATHLETIC, 5/3).

IOC President Thomas Bach suggested during a media roundtable today that rather than offering prize money to gold medal winners at the Paris Olympics, World Athletics "should focus its funding on supporting athletes at the other end of the spectrum." Bach claimed that it was not "the role of an international sports federation" to provide payments to athletes "for Olympic success," saying it was instead up to "sponsors, governments or private institutions" to do that. World Athletics "broke with a 128-year tradition" last month when it announced it would offer its athletes prize money. The announcement was "welcomed by many athletes," but was met with "sharp criticism from other international sports federations." WA President Sebastian Coe said, "I can't just keep standing up and saying 'we're growing the sport and we're bringing new sponsors on board.' The athletes have to see some connection between growing the sport and their own wellbeing and welfare" (REUTERS, 5/3).

Vice TV has picked up a new "unscripted basketball docuseries" produced with Uninterrupted, the athlete storytelling brand founded by LeBron James' and Maverick Carter's SpringHill Company, and MY Entertainment. The eight-episode series, titled "Uninterrupted: The Real Stories of Basketball," explores "iconic moments, players and stories from inside basketball." Vice TV is set to premiere the series on June 4. The docuseries will "highlight stories through firsthand accounts" from Basketball HOFers, NBA champions and all-stars including Jason Kidd, Bill Laimbeer, Gary Payton, Bill Walton, Shawn Kemp, Richard Jefferson, Kenyon Martin, Detlef Schrempf and Spud Webb. The series will be narrated by former NBAer and current basketball analyst Matt Barnes (VARIETY, 5/3).

The Indiana Fever will move their lone home preseason game "up one day" to Thursday, May 9, at 7pm ET "to accommodate the Pacers' playoff schedule" -- they will play Game 3 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Knicks Friday, May 10, the Fever's originally scheduled exhibition finale (USA TODAY, 5/3).

When the Nationals and Orioles face each other for the first time this season next week, they will do so while both wearing their respective City Connect uniforms as part of the 2024 Beltway Series: Cities Connected. Both teams will wear the uniforms for Game 1 of the Beltway Series presented by INOVA at Nationals Park on Tuesday, May 7 (Nationals).

Liverpool Manager Jurgen Klopp has launched a "full-throttle attack on TNT Sports' meddling with fixtures," calling his side's "recent schedule a 'crime worthy of investigation by Amnesty International.'" He has been a "long-time critic of the 12.30pm kick-off slot on Saturdays," especially for those sides with UEFA commitments and an overload of midweek games, and he has claimed TV broadcasters are "partially responsible for English clubs' failure in European competition" this season (London TELEGRAPH, 5/3). TNT Sports' response to Klopp:

The sales efforts for the new Barça Hospitality offerings that FC Barcelona unveiled last October have been very well received, and 90% of the first products that were launched -- the 20 VVIP Suites and the 96 Boxes in the future Spotify Camp Nou -- have already sold out. To support sales efforts, a new sales office will soon open which will showcase an expansive, interactive replica showroom of VIP products. Legends partnered with FC Barcelona to lead premium sales for the future stadium (Legends).

England Women's Cricket has been using AI to "help with team selection" in a move that "could help shape the future of the female game." Coach Jon Lewis named his white-ball squads for his side's upcoming T20 and ODI series against Pakistan and revealed "how AI played a pivotal role in team selection during his side's record-breaking Ashes series last summer" (London TELEGRAPH, 5/3).

I want to thank everyone for their kind words and support. I am humbled. Patrick Beverley just called me and apologized. I appreciate it and accept it. The Bucks also reached out to apologize. I've been in news for over 40 years and kindness and grace always win.

— Malinda Adams (@MalindaAdams) May 3, 2024

Multiple sources have told ESPN former veteran coach Mike Riley is expected to be named to the CFP selection committee. He would replace Pat Chun.

— Heather Dinich (@CFBHeather) May 3, 2024

Ryan Field is just about gone 😢 pic.twitter.com/0QWHFntJtE

— College Football Campus Tour (@CFBcampustour) May 3, 2024

Agreed to terms on a lifetime contract with the @Mets, with a signing bonus of extra biscuits. I will now open it up for questions. pic.twitter.com/74f7WHM1Yh

— Buddy (@MetsVetDog) May 3, 2024

Payton Pritchard on why he wears Sabrina Ionescu’s shoes:

“Me and Sabrina are in the same class, and we went to Oregon together as freshmen. Her shoes are probably the most comfortable out right now. It’s light. I like it.” pic.twitter.com/rbROb4F1MU

— Noa Dalzell 🏀 (@NoaDalzellNBA) May 3, 2024

Comedian Jerry Seinfeld stopped by The Rich Eisen Show today to discuss a host of topics, including the Mets TV booth, his "idol" Keith Hernandez, the infamous "Marine Biologist" episode of Seinfeld and much more.

 

2 -- Horse trainer Larry Demeritte is the second Black trainer since 1951 to be saddling a horse in the Kentucky Derby, which has its 150th running tomorrow. The other, Hank Allen, finished sixth with Northern Wolf in 1989 (AP, 5/3).