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Afternoon Edition

July 23, 2025

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The ACC is carefully weighing new revenue streams, commissioner Jim Phillips told Front Office Sports, with sports betting partnerships and private equity still on the table but being approached with caution.

— David Rumsey [[link removed]], Eric Fisher [[link removed]], and Colin Salao [[link removed]]

Jim Phillips: ACC Cautious With Sports Betting Deals, Not Sold on PE [[link removed]]

Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

CHARLOTTE — As the business of college sports continues to evolve, the ACC continues to cautiously explore two potential revenue streams that not that long ago would have been taboo: sports betting and private equity.

Tuesday’s announcement that the ACC will require teams to publish public availability reports for players’ game status is an “important one from a financial standpoint,” commissioner Jim Phillips told Front Office Sports. “The gambling and sports wagering landscape has blown up in a way where you see it everywhere now, and it’s really expected.”

Phillips said that development could eventually lead to the ACC bringing on a sports betting partner. “We’ve looked at it from a little bit of a distance,” he said. “But I think we have to be really serious, and we have to be diligent and thoughtful in any process there. But yeah, it’s like any category: You look at where you may be able to monetize your operation.”

Earlier this year, the NCAA expanded its deal with Genius Sports to start providing sportsbooks with official data from its championship events. But that type of deal has yet to come on a conference level.

Waiting on Private Equity

When it comes to private equity, the ACC—like most other conferences—has yet to be sold on a proposal to inject new capital into the league.

“Our group is very educated about it, and there just hasn’t been anything that really has made sense for the ACC, similar to others,” Phillips said. “It’s good for us to continue to think broadly and openly and progressively in all of that, including private equity and revenue. If you ever got to a place where it made sense, I’m sure somebody would do that.”

That falls in line with how the SEC [[link removed]] and the Big 12 [[link removed]] have been approaching the PE space lately, too.

Phillips said he still gets pitched by PE groups, although not as often as he once did. “Occasionally, yes,” he said. “Maybe not with the same frequency that we had a couple of years ago. But I think those conversations just end up being like anything else—they end up being a conversation, and they continue.”

SPONSORED BY RBC WEALTH MANAGEMENT

Messi Drops Out of MLS All-Star Game

The Front Office Sports Today crew is live from the RBC House presented by RBC Wealth Management in Austin at MLS All-Star weekend, with the breaking news that Lionel Messi will not be participating or attending the game. We get instant reactions from Apple TV broadcaster Jake Zivin and soccer insider Tom Bogert, and we hear their thoughts on the state of the MLS broadcast deal.

Baker Machado and Renee Washington are also joined by former players Justin Morrow and Jalil Anibaba. They explain the evolution of All-Star festivities over time and whether current players are being paid enough. Content creators Elischa Edouard and The Give N Go podcast hosts Reynoso and Soltero discuss the keys to creating content for a younger, untapped audience.

Watch the full episode here [[link removed]].

TKO’s Boxing Ambitions Get Boost From New Bipartisan Bill [[link removed]]

El Paso Times

The bid from UFC and WWE parent company TKO Group Holdings to create a new boxing venture could gain key legislative support as a bipartisan group of House of Representatives members has introduced a federal bill to establish a new framework for the sport separate from existing sanctioning bodies.

More than four months after TKO unveiled its plan to create a new boxing venture [[link removed]], the newly filed Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act seeks to create a parallel path in which other entities—including, but not limited to, TKO—can establish their own boxing efforts. Led by Rep. Brian Jack (R., Ga.) and Rep. Sharice Davids (D., Kans.), the proposed legislation calls for the formation of unified boxing organizations (UBOs) to provide an alternate path for boxing hopefuls.

“Boxing in America is dying, and most of the premier fights now happen overseas,” Jack tells Front Office Sports. “That presented a challenge, but also an opportunity, to address some of the issues within the sport and help return boxing to where it once was. I believe that the more people that enter this space, the greater the chance there is for boxing to flourish again.”

Unlike many other sports, Congress has direct oversight in boxing. Regulation began in the 1950s to help protect the sport from organized crime, and current federal laws are largely designed to ensure health and safety standards. The new bill would seek to update the Ali Reform Act of 2000 to create the UBOs, as well as establish a national minimum-payment structure of $150 per fighter, per round, for all pros, and provide better access to health insurance.

Hill Matters

While Jack and Davids introduced their bill Wednesday, and it is expected to be referred to committee-level review shortly, nothing substantive beyond that will happen on the proposed legislation until after Labor Day. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, seeking to avoid votes on the Jeffrey Epstein matter [[link removed]], adjourned the chamber early for its August recess, and after Wednesday, it will be out until September.

Once the legislators return, the boxing bill will be fighting for attention among many other matters. Jack, however, believes the bill can still break through and gain full consideration.

“This has bipartisan support, and I think there’s definitely an interest and appetite to move this forward,” he says.

The bill also has the support of Ali’s widow, Lonnie. Davids, meanwhile, has an MMA background, competing briefly as a professional before moving into politics.

“This is a thoughtful solution that preserves the original Ali Act of 2000, while providing boxers with more choices and opportunities, greater health and safety protections, and better pay for up-and-coming fighters,” TKO said in a statement.

Separately, UFC is also continuing its effort with U.S. President Donald Trump to bring a high-level MMA event to the White House grounds [[link removed]] next year in conjunction with celebrations tied to the country’s 250th anniversary of its independence.

Rockies Sign Ethan Holliday to Record High-School Bonus [[link removed]]

The Oklahoman

The Rockies, trying to avoid an ugly feat on the field this season, have made history off of it.

The MLB club has reached a contract agreement with Oklahoma high-school shortstop Ethan Holliday, the No. 4 pick in last week’s draft [[link removed]], that will include a $9 million signing bonus. The bonus is the highest in league history for a high school player, the fourth largest for any draft pick, and also beats the recently signed $8.2 million deal for Eli Willits [[link removed]], picked at No. 1 by the Nationals.

Holliday is the son of former Rockies star Matt Holliday, and the brother of Orioles infielder Jackson Holliday, who was picked No. 1 in the 2022 MLB draft and received an $8.19 million signing bonus.

Team Matters

The youngest Holliday will form a key part of a Rockies rebuild as the club seeks to avoid the worst season in modern MLB history [[link removed]]. Colorado, 25–76 after Tuesday night’s win over St. Louis, is on pace to lose 122 games this year. Such a mark would just push past last year’s White Sox, who finished with a 41–121 mark, for the new standard in baseball ignominy.

Of the three players with higher signing bonuses in MLB history than Holliday, one is minor league outfielder Charlie Condon, selected by the Rockies last year at No. 3. Holliday, meanwhile, is potentially poised for big things in Denver’s higher elevation.

“The raw power is stupid,” Rockies senior director of scouting operations Marc Gustafson said last week after selecting Holliday. “I’ve not scouted a high schooler that’s ever displayed that type of power to all fields.”

The Rockies’ deal with Holliday also slightly exceeded the $8.77 million slot value for the No. 4 pick. While the slot values provide guidance for the signing bonuses, and there are penalties for extreme overspending beyond a team’s overall bonus pool, the deals are not entirely locked in like NFL and NBA rookie-level contracts.

Tyrese Haliburton Says His Achilles Tear Wasn’t Caused by Workload [[link removed]]

Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

Tyrese Haliburton’s magical run in the 2025 NBA playoffs came to a sudden halt when he tore his Achilles [[link removed]] tendon during Game 7 of the NBA Finals.

The injury raised concerns about the league’s growing number of Achilles tears [[link removed]]. Haliburton was the third player to tear his Achilles during the 2025 NBA playoffs—following Jayson Tatum and Damian Lillard—and the seventh player during the 2024–25 season. Three were on the Pacers.

Many have pointed to the NBA’s 82-game regular-season schedule as a culprit for the injuries, but Haliburton doesn’t buy that claim. Speaking on The Pat McAfee Show [[link removed]] on Tuesday, the Pacers star chalked up the injuries to “bad luck.”

“I think that there’s like a notion when guys get injured or when this has happened so many times that everybody thinks that they have the answer as to why this is happening. Everybody thinks we play too many games; we play too many minutes. All those things could be true, but I don’t think that is what’s causing these injuries,” Haliburton said.

Haliburton said that a lot of the Achilles tears are “freak injuries” because players do not feel any signs before sustaining the injury. He said that wasn’t the case for him, as it was well documented that he was dealing with a calf injury during the NBA Finals.

Indiana confirmed earlier this month that Haliburton will miss the entire 2025–26 season due to injury. The 25-year-old’s injury reportedly played a factor in Pacers center Myles Turner choosing to sign with the Bucks [[link removed]].

To sign Turner, Milwaukee used the stretch provision on Lillard—who, last week, agreed to return to Portland [[link removed]]. Lillard tore his Achilles in late April in a playoff game against Haliburton and the Pacers, and he is also in jeopardy of missing all of next season.

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STATUS REPORT Two Up, Two Down

The Register Guard

Maryland ⬇ Terps head coach Mike Locksley admitted he “lost” the locker room last football season as NIL (name, image, and likeness) tensions over which players to compensate damaged the team, contributing to a 4–8 finish—Maryland’s worst record since 2019. The Terps lost five straight to end the year despite having six players drafted to the NFL.

Rogers Communications ⬆ The Canadian media giant parent company of many of the country’s top pro sports teams boosted its full-year 2025 revenue outlook to a range of 3% to 5% growth, up from a prior expectation of finishing the year flat to up 3%. The heightened projection comes in large part from the recent closing of a $3.46 billion deal to boost its stake in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment [[link removed]] to a controlling 75%. “We took meaningful steps to unlock value for shareholders by … making our transformational investment in our world-class sports teams,” said Rogers president and CEO Tony Staffieri.

Cowboys ⬇ All-Pro pass rusher Micah Parsons is frustrated without having a new long-term deal in place as he enters training camp in the final year of his rookie contract. The 26-year-old Penn State product has racked up 52.5 sacks in four seasons, and he is slated to earn roughly $24 million in 2025. Myles Garrett and T.J. Watt have reset the pass-rusher market this offseason, each earning around $40 million on an average-annual-value basis. If Parsons gets paid, Dallas could have the highest-paid offensive player (Dak Prescott) and defensive player in the NFL.

Oakland ⬆ An affiliate of the African American Sports & Entertainment Group has acquired Alameda County’s 50% stake in the Oakland Coliseum for $125 million, giving AASEG full control of the 112-acre site. The group is planning a $5 billion redevelopment including sports venues, entertainment, and a hotel to revitalize the East Oakland neighborhood, according to Bloomberg [[link removed]].

Conversation Starters Bears fans gave Chicago-born Pope Leo XIV a shirt that reads “Da Pope.” Check it out [[link removed]]. The New York Jets just revealed their updated locker room, complete with a barber shop, massive sauna, video nameplates, and more. Take a look [[link removed]]. The Angels’ minor league team is hosting a game [[link removed]] on July 23 with … absolutely nothing, which means no announcers and no admission fee. Just baseball. Editors’ Picks Fenway Park Workers Say They’ll Strike Friday Without a Deal [[link removed]]by Andrew Goodrich [[link removed]] and Margaret Fleming [[link removed]]The Red Sox host the Dodgers this weekend. [[link removed]] UFL Relocating Four Ex-USFL Teams to New Cities: Reports [[link removed]]by Alex Schiffer [[link removed]]The league called reports of moving half its franchises “unauthorized speculation.” [[link removed]] California Tribes Sue Kalshi and Robinhood [[link removed]]by Ryan Glasspiegel [[link removed]]This is the latest in a series of lawsuits the prediction exchange is facing. DISCLAIMER

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