The NBA season begins Tuesday, and commissioner Adam Silver estimates the league will record $10 billion in revenue following two shortened seasons with limited fan attendance.

Media rights make up roughly $2.6 billion of the league’s annual revenue, and sponsorships brought in a record $1.46 billion last season.

Despite those impressive hauls, the NBA has still taken a hit financially the last two years.

• Revenue dropped from $8.8 billion in 2018-19 to $8.3 billion during the 2019-20 season. 
• Numbers for the 2020-21 season have yet to be announced, but Silver said that revenue was down about 35% last season.

The NBA’s next media rights deal will start in 2025 and could be worth more than $75 billion across nine years — more than $8 billion annually.

Tuesday marks the start of the league’s 75th season, and the return of an 82-game format, with the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks set to play the Brooklyn Nets on TNT.

The league had its most-watched opening week since 2012 last year and averaged 2.9 million viewers during its opening night doubleheader. It was the most-watched opening night since 2017.

The Premier League voted to temporarily ban teams from signing sponsorship deals with entities associated with their owners, the latest move in the fallout from Newcastle’s change of ownership.

The ban lasts for one month, providing a period in which the league will negotiate permanent restrictions on owner-connected sponsors.

The vote passed 18-1 in an emergency meeting on Monday, with Newcastle voting against and Manchester City abstaining on advice from their legal counsel that the vote was illegal.

While league officials were already considering such a move, the ban was spurred by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund’s purchase of Newcastle for $409 million earlier this month.

• The country’s Public Investment Fund manages an estimated $500 billion in assets.
• Its diverse range of investments includes a $3.61 billion stake in Activision Blizzard, $2.04 billion in Electronic Arts, $1.1 billion in Live Nation Entertainment, and $998.4 million in Take-Two Interactive as of June 30.
• The PIF owns 80% of Newcastle, with the remainder split evenly between PCP Capital Partners and billionaire brothers Simon and David Reuben.

Premier League owners said they were concerned that Newcastle could sign sponsorship deals at inflated prices with Saudi state-owned companies to allow for more spending on players. 

The league’s fairness-of-play rules cap team losses at $144.9 million over a rolling three-year period. Revenue from sponsorships and other sources negate losses, allowing teams to devote more funds to player salaries and transfer fees.

Existing deals made by Manchester City, Leicester City, and Everton will not be affected by the ban.

Sony Pictures Entertainment has sold GSN Games — a division of its Game Show Network cable channel — to mobile gaming publisher Scopely in a deal valued at $1 billion.

Sony purchased AT&T’s minority stake in Game Show Network for just over $500 million in 2019, giving it 100% control of the network.

It will retain a minority stake in the studio behind free-to-play titles like “Scrabble Go” and “Star Trek Fleet Command” after the sale to Scopely.

While one subsidiary offloads GSN Games, Sony Interactive Entertainment has been expanding its gaming reach through a series of acquisitions intended to strengthen PlayStation Studios.

• The company acquired Housemarque, the studio behind PlayStation 5 hit “Returnal,” in June. 
• In July, it bought Netherlands-based Nixxes Software.
• The company bought video game developer Bluepoint Games in September. 
• The same month, it acquired Liverpool-based gaming company Firesprite.

Sony Corp. posted a record operating profit of $2.57 billion in fiscal Q1 — a 15% increase year-over-year — thanks in large part to the PS5, which at 10 million-plus global units since November 2020 is the fastest-selling console in Sony’s history.

GSN Games’ new owner Scopely was last valued at $3.3 billion after raising $340 million during a funding round in October 2020.