Los Angeles Rams owner Stan Kroenke has a hefty legal bill coming his way.

During league meetings on Tuesday, NFL owners planned to charge Kroenke $571 million – the remainder of a settlement over the team’s relocation from St. Louis in 2016, sources confirmed to Front Office Sports. The league will raise the owner’s allowable debt limit to help him finance the charge.

• The city of St. Louis sued over the Rams’ departure, seeking more than $1 billion.
• The two sides eventually agreed on a $790 million settlement. 
• The NFL has reportedly paid off $219 million to help cover the settlement.
• In May, the league deducted about $7 million from the 31 other teams’ revenue-sharing payment, according to The Athletic.

Some owners expressed anger over having to pay anything toward the Rams relocation – Kroenke had previously agreed to cover legal fees, but later argued that the settlement fell outside that commitment.

NFL Pluses and Minuses

League officials also discussed their new streaming service, NFL+. Overall, the league is pleased with the product, sources familiar with the matter told FOS.

Technical issues and unmet fan expectations to watch out-of-market games marred its rollout. Users were able to watch preseason games, but are only able to listen to out-of-market regular-season radio broadcasts.

Also under discussion are the sales of a stake in NFL Media and NFL Sunday Ticket rights, the latter of which is complicated by restrictions on the product negotiated into the league’s contracts with CBS and Fox.

The NBA will tip off a new season Tuesday night with three franchises worth more than $5 billion. 

Based on Forbes’ most recent list of the most valuable NBA franchises, the New York Knicks lead the pack with a $5.8 billion valuation, a 16% increase from the previous season.

The NBA’s 30 teams head into the season worth an average $2.48 billion — up 13% year-over-year — based on the 2021 list. Forbes has yet to unveil its 2022 rankings.

• Joe Lacob and Peter Guber’s Golden State Warriors are the second-most valuable in the NBA with a $5.6 billion valuation.
• The Los Angeles Lakers — owned by a group that includes the Buss Family Trusts, Mark Walter, and Todd Boehly — are the third-most valuable at $5.5 billion.
• Jerry Reinsdorf’s Chicago Bulls round out the top four with a $3.65 billion valuation, an 11% increase year-over-year. 

A first for the league: All five Christmas Day games will be shown on ABC. Viewers can watch them all on ESPN as well. 

Big Deals 

NBA owners also secured a record $1.46 billion in sponsorship deals for the 2021-22 season.

Introduced during the 2017-2018 season, jersey patch deals are projected to bring in more than $225 million this season for the NBA’s 30 teams.

In September 2021, the Lakers secured a five-year jersey patch deal worth more than $100 million with South Korean food line Bibigo, while the Brooklyn Nets landed an agreement with brokerage platform Webull worth roughly $30 million per year.

Fubo Sportsbook is no more.

When FuboTV announced its preliminary third-quarter results on Monday, the sports-focused streaming platform revealed it’s closing its Fubo Gaming subsidiary, as well as operations of its Fubo Sportsbook, effective immediately.

The announcement follows the company’s strategic review of the division. 

FuboTV claimed that “while multiple parties expressed interest in the business, none of these opportunities would have allowed Fubo to lower its funding requirements and generate sufficient returns to shareholders.”

• Fubo Sportsbook launched last year and, as recently as June, reportedly said it still planned to launch live odds this year.
• In August, it announced the expected launch of Fubo Sportsbook in two additional markets but revealed it would no longer pursue independent wagering. 

The company’s earnings call in November is expected to provide more details.

FuboTV’s Finances

While gambling may have proven unsuccessful, the rest of the company seems to be doing just fine.

FuboTV expects third-quarter revenue in North America to grow 34% year-over-year to at least $210 million, with Rest of World revenue — which includes Molotov, a French live TV streaming service that FuboTV acquired in December for $190 million — reaching at least $5.5 million. The company’s previous North America revenue guidance was $200 million-$205 million. 

The company expects its paid subscribers in North America to surpass 1.22 million, a more than 27% year-over-year increase, and ROW paid subscribers to reach around 350,000.