📰 Basketball

The Athletic

17,099 fans attended a weekday-afternoon WNBA Finals game before the arena was cleared for an NBA game.

Women's sport

The Athletic

Villanova and Notre Dame open the college basketball season in Rome, a game born of a Villanova graduate becoming pope.

The Wall Street Journal

WNBA Finals Game 6 tipped off at 12:30 p.m. ET on a weekday to make room for the Atlanta Hawks.

Women's sport

The Athletic

A potential title-clinching WNBA Finals Game 6 tips off at 12:30 p.m. ET on a Thursday because the Hawks have the arena in prime time.

Women's sport

Front Office Sports

The NBA named Kalshi and Polymarket its preferred prediction-market partners, keeping final say over which markets are offered.

The Athletic

The Athletic calls the 12:30 p.m. Thursday start for WNBA Finals Game 6 a mishandling of the league's showcase.

Women's sport

Front Office Sports

WNBA Finals Game 6 in Atlanta still lacks a confirmed arena because State Farm Arena is booked.

Women's sport

Las Vegas Sun

Further reading from the day's section on What I'm reading next.

Yahoo Sports

The Atlanta Dream sold out 17,044-seat State Farm Arena for Game 3 of the WNBA Finals.

Women's sport

OffBall

OffBall went inside a Brooklyn WNBA Finals watch party hosted by Sydney Colson and Theresa Plaisance.

Women's sport

Defector

Defector argues Angel Reese has dominated the WNBA Finals, shutting down the Valkyries' best options during a decisive Game 2 run.

Women's sport

The Athletic

The Athletic calculates it costs a typical fan $703 across services to follow the NBA this season.

The Athletic

The NBA added an afternoon game in Detroit to opening day.

Front Office Sports

The Atlanta Dream sold out 17,044-seat State Farm Arena for WNBA Finals Game 3 after moving from their 3,500-seat home venue.

Women's sport

Front Office Sports

NBC says Game 1 of the WNBA Finals drew 2.1 million viewers, a record for a Finals opener.

Women's sport

SportBusiness

Further reading from the day's section on Sports Business: Private Equity, Pricey Seats, and Prediction Markets.

JohnWallStreet

NBA, NHL and MLB teams are cutting season-ticket inventory to sell more seats game by game.

Front Office Sports

The Golden State Valkyries became the first WNBA team to reach $100 million in annual revenue and a $1 billion valuation.

Women's sport

Front Office Sports

Further reading from the day's section on Sports Business: Tickets, Fans, and Who Pays.

Front Office Sports

The Valkyries–Dream WNBA Finals could become the most expensive in league history.

Women's sport

Front Office Sports

The Golden State Valkyries' home crowd at the Chase Center has become the WNBA's best home-court advantage.

Women's sport

Front Office Sports

After rejecting the NBA's initial proposal, EuroLeague announced a 10-year plan with an $8.98 billion valuation target.

Front Office Sports

The NBA told its sportsbook partners to stop offering some prop bets, including first-basket wagers.

Sports betting

Front Office Sports

Get-in prices for WNBA Finals Game 1 are up more than 500% from last year.

Women's sport

Front Office Sports

The Atlanta Dream moved WNBA Finals Games 3 and 4 to the 17,000-seat State Farm Arena, and FIFA's development fund hit $6.35 billion.

Women's sport

The Athletic

The Dream moved WNBA Finals games to the larger State Farm Arena, working around a concert and Hawks games.

Women's sport · Labour

Front Office Sports

The WNBA moved the Atlanta Dream's Finals home games to the 17,000-seat State Farm Arena.

Women's sport

The Athletic

The London Lions face the Portland Trail Blazers in a historic game.

SportsPro

The Valkyries became the first women's team to pass $100 million in annual revenue.

OffBall

The Atlanta Dream reached the WNBA Finals 364 days after Angel Reese tweeted about making it.

Women's sport

The Guardian

The Golden State Valkyries became the first women's pro team to pass $100 million in annual revenue.

The Athletic

The second-year Valkyries swept the champion Aces and meet the Atlanta Dream in a Finals with neither the Aces nor the Liberty.

Women's sport

Front Office Sports

DAZN, which picked up local rights to 19 teams in six months, says it will ramp up acquisitions.

M&A

Front Office Sports

WNBA semifinals opened with 1.15 million average viewers, up 10% despite NFL competition.

Women's sport

Just Women's Sports

WNBA regular-season attendance rose 20.5% to 3.79 million, led by Golden State.

Women's sport

NBA.com

Further reading from the day's section on What I'm reading next.

SportBusiness

The NBA narrowed its Las Vegas expansion race to three groups, with the winning bid expected at $12 billion to $13 billion including an arena.

ESPN

The Miami Heat will host a Grand Theft Auto 'Night in Vice City' with Rockstar Games on November 18.

Front Office Sports

EuroLeague turned down the NBA's first collaboration proposal, in part because it undervalued EuroLeague, sources said.

The Athletic

LeBron James will make nearly four times as much promoting Polymarket as he will playing basketball.

Front Office Sports

Steve Ballmer no longer has the lawyer who called the NBA's Clippers probe a witch hunt.

Front Office Sports

Steve Ballmer dropped the lawyer who called the NBA's Kawhi Leonard investigation a witch hunt.

Yahoo Sports

Three ownership groups remain, with final bids of $12 billion to $13 billion including a new arena and play beginning in 2028-29.

Yahoo Sports

Games averaged 771,000 viewers, up 17 percent, with 51 broadcasts topping a million against 19 last season.

Women's sport

Front Office Sports

The WNBA declined additional discipline, clearing Wilson to play Game 3 between the Aces and Fever.

Women's sport

The Stadium Business

Alibaba becomes the official cloud and technology partner of the Brooklyn Nets and Barclays Center from the 2026-27 season.

OffBall

A vibes-based first-round bracket lands on Las Vegas after the Liberty stole Game 1 from the Lynx and the Aces crushed the Fever.

Women's sport

Front Office Sports

Baseball's new cap matches the NBA, NHL and MLS, with private equity barred from exceeding the controlling owner's stake.

Private equity

The Athletic

A profile built around the gap between what everyone wants Clark to represent and what she wants to be.

Women's sport

Business Insider

Curry talks about infrared sauna sessions as his recovery method heading into the NBA season.

Front Office Sports

The league's first season under its new collective bargaining agreement set records for both attendance and viewership.

Women's sport · Labour

Front Office Sports

A Vancouver group is seeking about $500 million Canadian to cover a $250 million expansion fee and a practice facility, targeting 2031.

Women's sport

Front Office Sports

MLB lifted its per-club private equity cap from 15% to 20%, matching the NBA, NHL and MLS, with firms barred from exceeding the controlling owner's stake.

Private equity

Front Office Sports

A Vancouver group wants to be the WNBA's 19th franchise in 2031, though a source says the league has no expansion plans beyond the 18 teams announced.

Women's sport

Front Office Sports

A group led by retired executive Bill Bakk is pursuing a WNBA expansion team in Vancouver for 2031.

Women's sport

The Athletic

Further reading from the day's section on The Sports Desk Gets Expensive and Hot.

Defector

The WNBA's Miami Sol folded in 2002 despite good attendance and a playoff appearance after the Heat declined to fund the team under a league restructuring.

Women's sport · Labour

Sports Business Journal

Adam Silver said the decision turns on the bidding group rather than the arena, which he called NBA-ready.

Basketnews

A Las Vegas expansion franchise could fetch $10 billion or more and a Seattle team around $7 billion as the NBA moves toward 32 clubs.

Yahoo Sports

EuroLeague owners expect a formal NBA proposal for a controlling stake and will discuss it at their October 5 meeting.

Puck

Eriq Gardner reports a federal criminal inquiry arising from the Aspiration affair changed Steve Ballmer's calculus about fighting the NBA.

Yahoo Sports

Ballmer accepted a $30 million fine, a one-year suspension and the loss of five first-round picks rather than contest the league's findings.

Front Office Sports

The WNBA players' union called it deeply disappointing that the NBA left the group off a joint letter to state betting regulators.

Women's sport · Regulation · Labour

Front Office Sports

Steve Ballmer accepted a one-year NBA ban, a $30 million fine and five forfeited first-round picks over the Kawhi Leonard cap investigation.