Tom Friend

6 days ago | sportsbusinessjournal.com | Tom Friend |Alex Silverman

For decades, the NBA and NHL have each allowed playoff teams’ local broadcast partners to air first-round playoff games that were also being shown by the leagues’ national media partners. That practice is set to end in the NBA next season when the league’s new national media rights deals with ESPN/ABC, NBC and Amazon kick in, ensuring those partners all get domestic viewership of the first round while stripping regional sports networks and local stations of their most lucrative inventory.

1 week ago | sportsbusinessjournal.com | Tom Friend

The Fever have extended their local over-the-air TV contract with Tegna-owned WTHR in Indianapolis, creating an 18-game package with an undisclosed rights fee even though 41 out of the team’s 44 regular season games will still be nationally televised. The deal means that 15 of those local broadcasts -- airing on Tegna’s NBC affiliate WTHR and its MeTV affiliate WALV -- will go head-to-head with national telecasts.

1 week ago | bizjournals.com | Tom Friend |Ryan Sharrow

Preview this article 1 minShe joins the NBA franchise after a decade in politics. The Philadelphia 76ers have hired Jacklin Rhoads as vice president of corporate communications, joining the NBA franchise after a decade in politics. Rhoads most recently worked in communications for Gov. Josh Shapiro, holding the title of director of public affairs and marketing.

1 week ago | sportsbusinessjournal.com | David Broughton |Tom Friend

The NBA averaged 18,147 in attendance this past season, its second-best ever following a 2023-24 season that set benchmarks in every attendance category. For the second time in league history, total regular-season attendance exceeded 22.3 million fans and regular-season average attendance exceeded 18,100 (the other instances were both during the 2023-24 regular season), NBA arenas filled to a 97% capacity for the third time ever.

1 week ago | sportsbusinessjournal.com | Tom Friend

The luxury handbag brand Coach will sponsor the Orange Carpet at tonight’s WNBA draft, the beginning of a multiyear partnership that also makes the global fashion house the presenting partner of the league’s LGBTQ+ initiative WNBA Pride. Throughout tonight’s WNBA Draft Orange Carpet presented by Coach, the company will debut storytelling around five prospects: Paige Bueckers of UConn, Hailey Van Lith of TCU, Aneesah Morrow of LSU, Kiki Iriafen of USC and Sonia Citron of Notre Dame.