Billionaire developer Stephen Ross is nearing a deal to buy a roughly 45% stake in the Miami Open, one of the most prestigious annual tennis tournaments outside the Grand Slams, people with knowledge of the matter told Front Office Sports. 

The 85-year-old Dolphins owner is in advanced discussions to buy the stake as part of the Miami Open’s sale by Silver Lake-owned Endeavor to a consortium led by Ari Emanuel, the people said.

Representatives for Emanuel, Ross, Silver Lake, and Endeavor declined to comment.

Ross, the founder and non-executive chairman of real estate firm Related Companies, last year sold 13% in the Dolphins and South Florida-based sports and entertainment assets—including the Hard Rock Stadium, which has been home to the Miami Open since 2019— and the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix, to funds overseen by Ares Management and Brooklyn Nets owners Joe Tsai and Oliver Weisberg. Ross previously had a profit-sharing agreement with Endeavor focused on the operations of the Miami Open, but didn’t previously own intellectual property or equity, one of the people with knowledge of the matter said.

The 2025 Miami Open, held in March, drew more than 405,000 attendees, a tournament record, and revenue from ticketing, sponsorships, and hospitality also set records, a person with knowledge of the matter told FOS.

Emanuel’s group, including RedBird Capital Partners and Apollo Global Management, outbid rivals and has been in advanced negotiations to acquire the Miami Open and Madrid Open from Endeavor, Bloomberg News reported in April, though the deal has yet to be announced. Both Miami and Madrid are ATP 1000 and WTA 1000 tournaments, making them among the most coveted titles on the tennis tour’s calendar due to the ranking points and prize money on offer. There are nine ATP 1000 events and ten WTA 1000 events, respectively, and only the Grand Slams and year-end ATP and WTA Finals offer more points.

Emanuel has been a keen buyer of assets from Endeavor and was CEO of the company until it was taken private by Silver Lake in March. In May, Endeavor said it would sell Frieze Art Group to Emanuel in a deal reportedly worth almost $200 million, and in April, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Endeavor’s WME was poised to spin off its basketball representation business to a group owned by Emanuel, media executive Mark Shapiro and agent Bill Duffy. Last year, Emanuel was on the other side of another Endeavor divestiture, agreeing to a $450 million management buyout of sports betting OpenBet and sports data provider IMG Arena.

Ross has continued to expand his global sports holdings. Earlier this year, Relevent Sports, which Ross owns alongside CEO Danny Sillman, was awarded global commercial rights for UEFA’s men’s club competitions including the Champions League.

— Ben Horney contributed reporting.

Editors’ note: RedBird IMI, of which RedBird Capital Partners is a joint venture partner, is the majority owner of Front Office Sports.

The NBA free agency season, though relatively lacking in star talent, is about to begin—once again reshaping the league’s profile and balance of power—with a pair of major developments leading off the period. 

Quickly following last week’s draft that included the expected No. 1 pick of Cooper Flagg by the Mavericks and plenty of movement after that, the league’s free agency period will begin in earnest Monday at 6 p.m. ET when teams can begin negotiating deals with all eligible players. Contracts cannot become official until July 6 at 12:01 p.m. ET, but between now and then, there will be numerous reports of anticipated player movement. 

Already, teams have been able to negotiate with free agents on their own rosters, and there have been some notable initial signings among that pool of players, such as the Rockets re-signing team captain Fred VanVleet to a two-year, $50 million extension and the Timberwolves nearing a three-year pact worth as much as $100 million to keep Julius Randle.

Similarly, Clippers star James Harden declined a player option for next season worth more than $36 million, but he is working on a new, two-year pact with the team worth $81.5 million. 

The free-agent market could have been radically altered if Lakers superstar LeBron James declined to pick up his player option for next season at $52.6 million. But the 40-year-old did opt in on Sunday, as was widely expected, and will again lead a Lakers team that will be majority owned by Mark Walter in a deal valuing the team at $10 billion. James will enter a record-setting 23rd NBA season, with the timing of his eventual retirement still uncertain. 

“LeBron wants to compete for a championship,” James’s agent, Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul, told ESPN. “He knows the Lakers are building for the future. He understands, but he values a realistic chance of winning it all.”

The rest of the NBA free agent pool is led by names such as the Pacers’ Myles Turner, Bucks guard Kevin Porter Jr., and Pistons guard Malik Beasley. The free agency market for Beasley, however, could be considerably altered as the U.S. District Attorney’s office is reportedly investigating him for gambling-related allegations involving NBA games. Such claims, if proven, could lead to his lifetime expulsion from the league, as was the case with former Raptor Jontay Porter, with Beasley a far more impactful player on the court than Porter was.

Beasley’s attorney, Steve Haney, told ESPN, “An investigation is not a charge. Malik is afforded the same right of the presumption of innocence as anyone else under the U.S. Constitution. As of now he has not been charged with anything.”

While generally bereft of major stars, the free agent class is full of role and bench players who can often make or break a team’s championship hopes. While the league champion Thunder were led by superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the regular season and NBA Finals MVP, the team gained critical contributions throughout a deep roster in its run to the title.

The free-agency activity will unfold as the NBA’s salary cap will rise to $154.6 million for the coming season, up from $140.6 million, representing the largest possible percentage increase allowed by the collective bargaining agreement.

The 138th edition of Wimbledon begins Monday with a record prize pool, a galvanizing top-tier rivalry in men’s singles, and a wide-open women’s field that continues a trend of unpredictability there.

The oldest of the tennis majors will feature a 2025 prize pool of nearly $73 million, a tournament record and up by 7% from a year ago. Men’s and women’s singles champions will each take home close to $4.1 million, up 11%. More notably, the total tournament prize pool is twice the level of a decade ago, as players have successfully lobbied for greater shares of tournament profits.

“We’re immensely proud of the fact that if you look back 10 years, you can see the increase over that period and has 7% this year,” All England Club chair Deborah Jevans said. “We have listened to the players, we have engaged with the players.”

The Wimbledon purse, though eclipsed by the $75 million the US Open awarded last year, will be increased for 2025, and remains an important influence on player compensation throughout tennis. 

“The focus on just the prize money at four events, the Grand Slams, does not get to the heart of what the challenge is for tennis,” Jevans said. “The challenge with tennis is the fact that the players don’t have an offseason which they want, they have increasing injuries that they’re speaking about, and we’ve always aid that we, as Wimbledon, are willing to engage and talk with the tours to try and find solutions, and that remains open.”

Competitive Factors

In the men’s bracket, two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz will enter as the No. 2 seed, fresh off his epic title win over top rival Jannik Sinner in the French Open. Sinner is the No. 1 seed and still the top-ranked men’s player in the world. The deepening rivalry between Alcaraz and Sinner has helped bring the sport into a new era after a prior one led by Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, and Rafael Nadal. Alcaraz and Sinner have combined to win the last six Grand Slam tournament titles. 

If Alcaraz wins a third-straight Wimbledon title, he will be just the second player in the Open Era of tennis after Bjorn Borg to win both the French Open and Wimbledon in consecutive years. 

Djokovic, however, is hardly out of the mix as the seven-time Wimbledon winner is the No. 6 seed in the tournament this year. He is on the same side of the bracket as Sinner and in line to face the Italian in the semifinals. 

The women’s field, meanwhile, is led by top seed Aryna Sabalenka and No. 2 Coco Gauff. The last six Grand Slam titles, however, have been claimed by four different players. A wide-open field is made more so as defending champion Barbora Krejcikova, back as the No. 17 seed,  is battling a thigh injury, and her effectiveness is uncertain.

Separate from the competition or the prize money, there is a rising local battle over the All England Club’s ambitious effort to triple its footprint.