The Los Angeles Clippers expect their new arena in Inglewood to open for the 2024–2025 NBA season. The team is hoping it will have a name well before that.

Dubbed the Inglewood Basketball and Entertainment Center, the Clippers and CAA Sports, the agency selling the naming rights to the venue, believe that it will come with a record price tag.

The current record is held by Scotiabank, which will pay $639 million over 20 years to have its name on the home arena of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Raptors.

Recent Naming Rights Deals

Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, between $20 million and $25 million per year, term unknown

Climate Pledge Arena (Amazon) in Seattle, between $15 million and $20 million, term unknown

SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, $400 million total, 20 years

UBS Arena in New York, $300 million, 20 years

Chase Center in San Francisco, between $300 million and $400 million, 20 years

Stadium concessionaires are among the hardest hit by leagues resuming without fans. Last June, there were about 182,000 people directly employed by the spectator sports industry. 

This year, that number was 87,000. Early on in the pandemic, a variety of athletes and teams pledged to pay game-day employees through the end of the 2020 seasons. 

A recent Washington University in St. Louis study found NHL, NBA and MLB game-day employees would lose at least $680 million from canceled games in 2020. NFL workers could lose another $100 million. To date, 12 NFL teams have announced they will start the season without fans in attendance.

Sheryl Swoopes thinks it’s time for a successor to her Air Swoopes signature shoe legacy. While WNBA legends Rebecca Lobo, Dawn Staley and Chamique Holdsclaw all had signature shoes and current stars like Candace Parker, Maya Moore and Elena Delle Donne have exclusive apparel deals, none have had the same impact. Air Swoopes had seven runs, beginning in the mid-1990s.

Current trends show Swoopes might be spot on with her timing. Recently, a WNBA orange hoodie was the top-selling item on Fanatics. No. 1 overall WNBA draft pick Sabrina Ionescu, one of the most heralded basketball players coming out of college ever, signed a multi-year deal with Nike after being courted by every major sneaker brand.

In June, Nike announced the Swoosh Fly apparel line, which is specifically designed for women basketball players. No signature shoe was attached, but Ionescu and A’ja Wilson were both consulted during the line’s creation. Nike has also seen double-digit growth in the women’s category recently.

Women’s Apparel Sales Highlights

— U.S. women’s national soccer team World Cup kit became the top-selling soccer jersey ever sold on Nike’s website in one season.

— World Cup-related apparel sales increased 150%.

— Ionescu’s Oregon replica jersey sold out in less than 24 hours.

Allied Esports is pushing into sports betting, entering a partnership with data provider GRID. As an esports event and content production company, Allied expects it can be one of the major content providers for the esports betting market, which is projected to be worth approximately $20 billion in the near future.

Bullishness on esports betting isn’t new, as last week DraftKings CEO Jason Robins said it’s when, not if, esports betting will be a “huge category.”

The news of the partnership came a day after Allied announced it had 1.6 million live views on Twitch for the six-day Allied Esports Odyssey, a Riot Games’ Valorant competition. Allied shares are up 38% this week.

Last week, Allied released its earnings report for the quarter ending in June, which included a 37.6% year-over-year decline in revenue to $4.6 million. The drop resulted in a $10.9 million net loss during the quarter, compared to a $2.8 million loss in the same period last year. Allied did pivot to hosting online events during the pandemic, something the company expects to continue.