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 and the Big 12 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.”

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, 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, 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 next year in conjunction with celebrations tied to the country’s 250th anniversary of its independence.

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, 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, 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. 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’s magical run in the 2025 NBA playoffs came to a sudden halt when he tore his Achilles tendon during Game 7 of the NBA Finals.

The injury raised concerns about the league’s growing number of Achilles tears. 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 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.

To sign Turner, Milwaukee used the stretch provision on Lillard—who, last week, agreed to return to Portland. 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.