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March Madness is only a week away, but Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark is already thinking about the future—and saying 76 is the right number of tournament teams. We explore why he’s advocating for expansion, and what network heads had to say.
—David Rumsey, Eric Fisher, and Colin Salao
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Count Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark as a fan of expanding March Madness—if the price is right.
“I’m in favor of expansion to 76,” Yormark said Tuesday ahead of the Big 12 men’s basketball tournament beginning in Kansas City. “I think that’s the right number.”
The men’s NCAA tournament has included 68 teams since 2011 (and the women’s since 2022), but further expansion has become a major topic in recent years. Yormark said he expects leaders to make some decisions over the next few months.
“I think the economics, candidly, have to work,” he said. “CBS and TNT have a marquee asset with the tournament. I know they know that, but in order for us to expand, they have to come to the table and provide the right economics.”
CBS and TNT Sports parent companies Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery are collectively paying roughly $870 million annually for men’s March Madness rights through 2032. ESPN has rights to the women’s tournament, which is valued at $65 million annually, for the same time period.
While Yormark is confident that at least men’s March Madness should expand, the heads of the tournament’s network partners aren’t so sure.
“No one wants to do anything that’s going to negatively impact the tournament, and that’s where the focus is,” CBS Sports president and CEO David Berson said Tuesday morning during a March Madness preview call before Yormark’s comments.
“If it’s something that makes sense for the fans and the tournament we’ll be supportive,” TNT Sports chairman and CEO Luis Silberwasser said.
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Florida Times-Union
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan praised the efforts of President Donald Trump in negotiations with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, and said that some aspects of LIV Golf could be integrated into the PGA Tour during his annual press conference ahead of the Players Championship.
The PGA Tour’s flagship event tees off Thursday at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra, Fla., with another record $25 million purse and 48 of the top 50-ranked golfers in the world, but the field is still missing stars like Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm who are tied to LIV Golf until a long-awaited deal to reunify the men’s professional sport gets done.
Last month, Monahan, Trump, Tiger Woods, Adam Scott, and PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan—the top decision-maker for LIV Golf—met at the White House in an attempt to progress discussions that have been ongoing since the infamous framework agreement (which many thought meant a PGA Tour–LIV merger) was announced on June 6, 2023.
“The talks are real, they’re substantial, and they’re being driven at the top levels of both organizations,” Monahan said Tuesday. “Those talks have been significantly bolstered by President Trump’s willingness to serve as a facilitator. President Trump is a lifelong golf fan. He believes strongly in the game’s power and potential, and he has been exceedingly generous with his time and influence to help bring a deal together. He wants to see the game reunified. We want to see the game reunified. His involvement has made the prospect of reunification very real.”
Before November’s election, Trump said he could get a PGA Tour–PIF deal done in “the better part of 15 minutes.”
Next month, the week before the Masters, LIV will play the first U.S. event of its 2025 schedule in Miami at Trump National Doral—where the tour has played each of its first three seasons, and where the PGA Tour used to have a long-standing tournament until 2016.
Monahan said there is not another meeting with Trump and Al-Rumayyan currently scheduled, and that no concrete deadline for a deal has been established.
LIV looks and feels very different than PGA Tour golf (although its shorts policy is changing). Tournaments last three days and 54 holes, not four and 72, and players compete individually as opposed to in teams of four.
It’s unclear whether LIV will no longer exist after a PGA Tour–PIF deal, but Monahan indicated some of the rival league’s most notable features may live on. “We believe there’s room to integrate important aspects of LIV Golf into the PGA Tour platform,” he said. “We’re doing everything that we can to bring the two sides together. That said, we will not do so in a way that diminishes the strength of our platform.”
Monahan was asked multiple follow-ups about what parts of LIV could be integrated into the PGA Tour, but he declined to provide further details.
The Columbus Dispatch
Dick’s Sporting Goods should be celebrating after posting the largest sales quarter in the company’s 77-year history. Instead, there is rising concern due to a trade war initiated by U.S. President Donald Trump and a diminished revenue forecast stemming from it.
The Pittsburgh-based retailer said Tuesday it generated $3.9 billion in sales for the quarter that ended Feb. 1, a 0.5% increase in a period that included the critical holiday sales period, to set the new company record. Net income also increased slightly to $300 million, above analyst projections. The results for the full fiscal year were even better, as sales rose 3.5% to $13.4 billion and net income jumped 11% to $1.17 billion.
Both Dick’s itself and investors, however, were focused on sales and profit forecasts for the upcoming year that are well below Wall Street expectations, particularly a tepid projection of sales growth of 1% to 3%.
“There is a lot that is still evolving and that is still unknown from a tariff perspective,” said Dick’s CFO Navdeep Gupta in an earnings call with analysts.
The issues surrounding Dick’s are very similar to those facing manufacturers in the sports apparel and footwear space, as well as with many retailers in other categories. Even as Dick’s says its exposure to Canada, China, and Mexico—the primary targets of Trump’s trade ire—is relatively low, the issue directly affects consumer confidence, which in turn hits sales.
“I do think it’s just a bit of an uncertain world out there right now,” Dick’s executive chairman Ed Stack said on CNBC. “What’s going to happen from a tariff standpoint? You know, if tariffs are put in place and prices rise the way that they might, what’s going to happen with the consumer?”
Shares in Dick’s fell by more than 3% in early Tuesday trading, adding to a monthlong decline that has reached 16%. Over the past five years, though, Dick’s has been one of the big success stories in American commerce, regardless of industry, and its stock has grown by 660% during that time.
Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
$244 million
Amount spent by TV advertisers on women’s sports in 2024, based on a report by TV marketing firm EDO, according to CNBC. The figure marks a 139% increase over 2023, in line with a 131% increase in women’s sports viewership. The report noted that women’s basketball received the most investment among all sports.
Some brands that spent the most on women’s sports TV advertisements were State Farm, AT&T, and Nike—which, last month, dropped its first Super Bowl ad since 1998, and it featured women athletes exclusively.
Kyle Terada-Imagn Images
49ers ⬇ San Francisco has lost seven players in free agency who have signed new deals with other teams totaling $258.5 million. The team also traded star Deebo Samuel to the Commanders and is expected to release four more players (as of Tuesday afternoon). The new league year and free agency begin Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET.
Unrivaled ⬆ The women’s professional 3-on-3 basketball league announced Tuesday that NBA star Steph Curry is investing in it. Unrivaled said Curry was part of a Series A investment round in December that brought in $28 million. Curry, who will be the assistant GM for the men’s basketball team of Davidson, his alma mater, joins a star-studded list of Unrivaled investors that includes fellow NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Australia ⬆ The NBA’s Pelicans will play two preseason games in Melbourne against NBL teams, the first time the NBA will participate in the country. The two contests will take place Oct. 3 and 5 at Melbourne Park. NBL teams have played 24 preseason games against NBA teams in the U.S. since 2016.
March Madness viewers ⬆ The NCAA men’s basketball national championship game next month will tip off at 8:50 p.m. ET, 30 minutes earlier than its traditional start time. CBS is airing this year’s Final Four from San Antonio.
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