📰🏟️ When NIL > Pro Drafts

Good morning. EA Sports has chosen Alabama WR Ryan Williams and Ohio State WR Jeremiah Smith as the cover athletes for College Football 26, ensuring them videogame immortality (just ask any millennial sports fan which player graced the cover of Madden ‘04).

The game is slated for a July 10 release. Plan your “sick days” accordingly.

—Peter & Kyle

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🏀 Reverse Fever dream

POV: Indiana Fever ticket prices following Caitlin Clark’s injury

The Indiana Fever announced Monday that star guard Caitlin Clark would miss at least two weeks due to a quad strain. And, similar to your friends in the example used by moms everywhere in response to “but everyone’s doing it”, the team’s ticket prices subsequently jumped off a cliff.

Since the announcement:

• The get-in price for yesterday’s matchup against the Washington Mystics at CFG Bank Arena in Baltimore fell 83% (as of gametime) to reach $7, according to TickPick.
• Get-in tickets for the Fever’s June 7 game against the Chicago Sky at the United Center are down 74%, from $86 to $22.
• Overall, the average purchase price for the five Fever games until June 10—including two Indiana home dates—is down 42%.

The team and WNBA aren’t yet sweating it, however, since prices from the injury window-onward are still holding strong. The cheapest ticket for the first game Clark might be available to return is $147, while the Fever’s next four road games after that all have get-in prices of $100+.

But if she’s out longer than two weeks…

The league may start to feel some pain, given the very real and measurable Caitlin Clark Effect.

• CC was responsible for 26.5% of all WNBA revenue last year, according to an estimate from a financial expert at Indiana University Columbus that accounted for ticket sales, merch, and TV ratings.
• This year, with the expanded schedule, she’s projected to have an economic impact of ~$875M. And was off to a good start, with the season-opening showdown between the Fever and Angel Reese’s Chicago Sky turning in the most-watched WNBA regular season game in 25 years.

But…While the uplift provided by Clark may be stronger than that of a day-drinking bathroom Adderall bump, she’s not the only reason fans are paying attention. Six teams recorded an average attendance of 10,000+/game in 2024, something that hadn’t been done since 1998, the WNBA’s second season—while this year’s pro debut of #1-draft pick Paige Bueckers saw a TV viewership increase of 121% over 2024’s comparable matchup.

Looking ahead: The WNBA last year signed an 11-year, $2.2 billion media rights deal that’s slated to kick off in 2026. But a battle over this increased media moolah is brewing. The players union opted out of its collective bargaining agreement with the league last October, and will spend the upcoming months negotiating a new deal that could translate to higher pay. The WNBA has a current salary cap of ~$1.5M, translating into average player salaries of ~$100k/year.

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⏱️ Catch Up Quick

Headlines de la semaine

🏀 The NBA’s top playmaker never seems to have the ball. Star PG Tyrese Haliburton has led his Indiana Pacers to the brink of the NBA Finals, with his historic triple-double Tuesday night putting them up 3-1 over the Knicks. But contrary to other ball-centric superstars in the modern NBA, Haliburton prefers to do his damage without the rock in his hands. Over the regular season, Haliburton held the ball for just 3.7 seconds each time he touched it, per the NBA’s player-tracking system—fewer than 136 other players, and ~2 seconds below stars like SGA, LeBron, and Jalen Brunson.

⚾ Former player suing MLB team over career-ending injury. Ex-MLB player Darin Ruf, who played for four teams across nine MLB seasons, is accusing the Cincinnati Reds of failing to maintain safe field conditions—specifically, leaving a metal tarp roller unpadded near the playing field. It was this tarp which Ruf ran into two summers ago as a visiting player and seriously injured his knee, in what would be his last MLB game. The suit isn’t without precedent: former NFL RB Reggie Bush was awarded $12.5M for an effectively career-ending injury at the then-St. Louis Rams’ stadium.

🏏 Cricket rights are powering insane growth for new Indian streamer. JioHotstar is a new streaming service born out of the $8.5B merger between Disney India’s Hotstar and rival streamer JioCinema. JioHotstar currently owns both the digital and TV rights for Indian Premier League matches—which previously aired for free—leaving fans no choice but to subscribe to watch this year’s IPL action. Since launching in February, JioHotstar has amassed 280M+ subscribers, according to the Financial Times ($)—a figure that places it on par with global streaming leader Netflix (~300M), though JioHotstar subscriptions are far less costly, starting at $0.60/month.

⚾ COLLEGE BASEBALL

The weather cost Florida Gulf Coast a shot at the NCAA tourney

Walk down Lake Pkwy East in Fort Myers, FL, and you’ll probably see a Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) baseball player pounding his fists in the dirt and screaming at the sky. 

The team, which plays in the Atlantic Sun conference, won the last game of its conference tournament on Sunday—a victory that usually carries with it an automatic NCAA tourney bid—but, due to the weather, actually missed out on a shot to make the postseason.

What happened: Heading into Sunday, FGCU needed to beat Stetson twice to win the conference tournament and earn an NCAA tourney spot.

• FGCU was up 6-5 in the seventh inning of the first matchup when a rain delay came, which ended up lasting six-plus hours.
• The game was eventually canceled, with the Atlantic Sun afterward declaring both teams co-tournament winners, despite FGCU being named the winner of Sunday's game and no winner-take-all matchup taking place.
• Tiebreaker rules meant the one automatic postseason bid from winning the ASUN tourney was awarded to Stetson.

As for 64 teams not named FGCU…the Road to Omaha kicks off tomorrow. Every game will be available to watch on an ESPN network; see the full regional schedule here.

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💬 Word on the Street

Overheard

“The influx of NIL money has made it so that fringe first-round guys are less inclined to keep their name in the draft, thus minimizing the pool.”

Top college athletes are increasingly singing Billy Madison’s “Back to School” and opting to forgo pro sports drafts in favor of guaranteed NIL money.

• The latest example: Yaxel Lendeborg, a projected late first-round pick in the NBA Draft, who removed his name from consideration this week in favor of transferring to Michigan.
• While it’s unclear how much Lendeborg will receive, analysts say some college programs are starting to offer NIL contracts comparable to low-end NBA salaries, such as #1 recruit AJ Dybantsa’s reported $7M/year deal with BYU.

Reduced to NIL: Lendeborg isn't alone—the NBA has seen a sharp reduction in college players leaving early since NIL went mainstream. Just 106 players entered the NBA Draft early this year, the lowest figure since 2015.

It’s not just college hoops: This year’s NFL Draft had 69 underclassmen, down from 128 in 2021.

📰 News

What else is happening

• Tickets punched: In the NBA, the Thunder beat the Timberwolves last night to clinch the series 4-1 and earn a Finals berth. | In the NHL, the Panthers topped the Hurricanes to notch a place in the Stanley Cup Final.
• 17-year-old soccer sensation Lamine Yamal signed a six-year extension with F.C. Barcelona.
• The PGA Tour announced a new format for the season-ending Tour Championship.
• Cornell won its first NCAA men's lacrosse title since 1977, while UNC finished the season undefeated to win the women's lacrosse championship.
• Sumo wrestling has its first Japanese grand champion in seven years.

🤔 Trivia

One team, 124 possibilities

It’s time for Franchise Roulette. Below, you’ll find three facts about a professional sports franchise—and your challenge is to guess which franchise we’re talking about. Eligible franchises are those currently playing in the Big 4 (MLB, NHL, NFL, NBA).

Today’s team:

• Drew inspiration for its name from a team that played in the same city from 1880-1887—and also created its uniform and logo color scheme by fusing the colors from two separate (and still-existing) teams that used to play in the same city.
• Has won two championships in its history.
• Was on the happy end of one of the most famous MLB errors of all time.

🌐 Web Gems

Cool things to click

📖 Read: The hack that solved slow play at one of America’s top golf courses 

🐅 One city, two really good cat-themed teams: The five most astounding stats behind the 100-game stretch when the Tigers have ruled MLB.

⌚ Witness: Alexander Zverev, the world’s #3 tennis player and a Franchise Roulette enthusiast (probably), put his $250k roulette watch on the line in a bet on live TV.

🤔 Answer

The New York Mets, whose color scheme fuses Dodgers’ blue and Giants’ orange and is also a nod to the New York City flag. And if you’re wondering about the famous error—here it is (sorry Red Sox fans).