The Washington Commanders’ only route toward a taxpayer-financed new stadium was officially shelved Thursday. 

A day after Front Office Sports reported the stadium bill’s chances of passage looked grim, legislators announced that the bill would not be put on the floor for a vote before the current session ends in January 2023. 

One of the original bills introduced last January would have called for as much as $1 billion in public funding for the $3 billion domed stadium project. As it went into a conference committee in March, the number was cut to around $300 million. 

• Maryland passed a bill that would allow for up to $400 million in public funds to revitalize the area surrounding FedEx Field, but none of that money could be used to construct a new stadium. The team’s current lease for the stadium runs through 2027.
• The site of the dilapidated former home of the Commanders, RFK Stadium, remains an option, although public officials have stated the team would get no direct financial support for construction, and other political hurdles remain. 
• The Commanders have an option to purchase 200 acres of land near Woodbridge, Virginia. It’s not immediately clear if that $100 million option will be exercised with the stadium bill on hold indefinitely. 

Commanders’ ‘Image’ Issues

“I think there would need to be a lot of rehabilitation on the part of the team’s image for Sen. Saslaw to bring the legislation back up for consideration,” State Del. David Reid (D-Loudoun County) told FOS.

Fanatics-owned Topps is going to college.

The trading card and collectibles company has struck NIL deals with nearly 200 student athletes and more than 100 colleges and universities for rights to produce trading cards, digital cards, and NFTs.

• The company is currently focused on top football and basketball players including 2021 Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young of Alabama, Stetson Bennett of Georgia, and Aliyah Boston of South Carolina.
• “Over time, we expect that to grow across more sports and more athletes,” Derek Eiler, executive vice president of Fanatics College, told Front Office Sports.
• Eiler said that athlete compensation is based on “factors that would drive consumer demand and collector demand,” including social following, draft status, and playing position.

Topps has exclusive, multiyear deals with a majority of the Power 5 conference schools, including Alabama, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Oregon, Penn State, and Texas A&M, with deals commencing between 2023 and 2025.

Other school pacts with the company are nonexclusive.

Topps will begin releasing cards in the fall through its Bowman U brand.

Double Deal

Through its separate deals with players and schools, Topps has rights to both player name, image, and likenesses, as well as the logos and trademarks of their schools.

Each player deal was struck individually, but “as the category grows, we will contemplate broader group licensing solutions,” said Eiler.

Products will also include autographed cards and player-worn memorabilia.

Cleveland’s city council can’t legally change the name of the stadium where the Browns play, but they made it clear how they feel about it.

The council passed a non-binding resolution 16-1 that the team should remove FirstEnergy from the NFL team’s home field, after the energy company admitted its role in a bribery scandal.

• In 2019, the Ohio legislature passed a $1 billion bailout for Perry and Davis-Besse nuclear power plants.
• FirstEnergy was ordered to pay $230 million in July 2021 after an investigation implicated the company in a bribery scheme.
• FirstEnergy bought the naming rights for the stadium in 2013 for $107 million in a deal that runs through 2030.

The Browns defended FirstEnergy, saying “they have taken meaningful action to address the issues that transpired in 2019-20.”

The issue has not stopped the council from supporting the facility in other ways: This week, it approved $10 million in subsidies to repair pedestrian ramps and other fixes.

QB Pressure

The figure of $230 million may make Browns fans cringe for an additional reason: It’s the total sum of quarterback DeShaun Watson’s fully guaranteed, five-year contract.

Watson is facing at least 24 civil lawsuits for sexual misconduct. The Houston Texans, Watson’s former team, have been added as defendants to the lawsuit by attorney Tony Buzbee, who is representing a group of women accusing Watson.

“We believe the Texans organization was well aware of Watson’s issues, but failed to act,” wrote Buzbee. “They knew or certainly should have known.”

This year’s Wimbledon tournament will have record compensation for players, with winners of its two single championships taking home $2.5 million each. 

The record amount of cash up for grabs comes as Wimbledon plans to host full-capacity crowds for the first time in three years at London’s All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club. 

• Total prize money will be $50.4 million, an 11% increase compared to 2021. 
• It also represents a 5.4% increase from 2019’s pre-pandemic tournament.
• Players who lose in the first round will pocket roughly $63,000.
• Runner-ups of the two single championships will take home more than $1.2 million. 

There had been speculation that this year’s tournament could have a reduced prize pool after players from Russia and Belarus were excluded due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. However, the return of full-capacity crowds has propelled it to record levels.

Wimbledon will be played from June 27 to July 10. Last year’s winners — Novak Djokovic and Ashleigh Barty — took home $2 million each out of a prize pool of just over $43.7 million. 

More Coverage

In July 2021, Wimbledon extended its media rights deal with Disney for another 12 years. As part of the pact, Disney-owned ABC will air matches, while its ESPN+ streaming service will have coverage from all courts starting in 2024. ESPN+ reported 22.3 million subscribers in fiscal Q2.