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San Francisco Chronicle
12 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Can schools like St. Bonaventure and FIU thrive in college athletics without the big bucks?
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — As schools prepare to begin sharing millions with their athletes, there is no avoiding the reality that if you're not a Power Four school, you're at a disadvantage. With major conferences running the show, St. Bonaventure and Florida International don't even have a seat at the table. FIU and St. Bonaventure aren't necessarily worried about a head-to-head fight over top players with deeper-pocketed schools. The priority has become survival and finding a balance between athletics ambition and financial sustainability. Adrian Wojnarowski spoke candidly about the challenges he faced during his inaugural season as the general manager of the St. Bonaventure men's basketball team. Solidifying a recruiting class that would improve the team and embrace the school culture was not easy. After July 1, when lucrative paychecks will pretty much become mandatory for blue-chip prospects, it's not going to get any easier. With some 2,000 undergraduate students, the Bonnies are outnumbered in resources and revenue when competing even against other Atlantic 10 teams like VCU, Dayton, and Saint Louis. Wojnarowski, ESPN's former lead NBA reporter, thinks he has identified a formula for locating the ideal prospect. To him, St. Bonaventure is a landing spot for international players adjusting to a new culture and college life, transfers who may have fallen short at a high major and need development, or those looking to move up to a mid-major. He admits the school upstate New York could be a pit stop on a player's journey. 'I want them to see that our environment, our coaching staff, our small school, especially for international players coming over, what I really try to sell is your adjustment to American college life," he said at the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics and Affiliates Convention this week. 'I think for a lot of kids, it's easier in a school with 1,900 students than a school with 19,000. And you'll come to have two great years with us, and then you'll probably end up at schools with 19,000 or 29,000,' he said. "And so you're selling, for us, we're your first step on the way to somewhere else, or the other one to me is we're the place to come when you've got to get the basketball right.' If the plan goes awry and a recruit slips away, one thing the former NBA insider refuses to do is blame the money. 'Fundraising is hard, creating new revenue streams is hard, but the one thing that I try to stay away from with us is not saying, 'Oh, we didn't get him because they offered more money,' and using that as a crutch all the time. I really examine when we lost a player,' Wojnarowski said. 'Are we being honest with ourselves in saying that we did everything outside the economics to make our case to this person?' FIU has more than 40,000 undergraduates, but the athletic department is using a similar philosophy, pinpointing advantages and opportunities to come from the settlement instead of the negatives. Similar to St. Bonaventure, FIU doesn't expect to come close to the $20.5 million revenue-sharing cap available over the next year. For a competitive edge, unlocking new revenue streams is fundamental. 'To compete, from a revenue standpoint, you have to think outside the box of your conventional fundraising and targeting donors,' senior associate athletic director Joseph Corey said. 'That's why you're looking at concerts being held at different venues, different festivals to generate extra revenue to bring in, different revenue streams, and not just fundraising going after the same donors. You've got to go beyond that in order to be able to compete.' Being based in Miami has its perks. Proximity to celebrities is one of them. In August, FIU secured a 10-year partnership with Pitbull, the singer and rapper who coins himself 'Mr. 305.' 'We did the partnership with Pitbull – Pitbull Stadium. He's on tour, but part of the deal was that he would be collaborating with us and doing events for us from a fundraising standpoint," Corey said. "You've got to think outside the box. Especially in a city like Miami, it's about the experience too.' Schools unlocking creative revenue streams is something that can be expected. FIU competes in Conference USA alongside teams like Liberty, Louisiana Tech, UTEP, Kennesaw State and Jacksonville State. The football team went 3-5 in 2024, finishing sixth in the conference. The men's basketball team finished last with a 3-15 conference record. It's hard to sell donors on losing teams. 'Let's call it what it is, FIU's not going to be able to keep up with the Alabama's of the world, the Georgia's, Michigan, or Texas, but what can we do? We can be the best in our conference. That is our goal,' Corey said. 'Let's be the best in our conference and really compete there because once you're at the top of your conference, that means more revenue in other areas. Everyone wants to donate to a winner.'
New York Times
23 minutes ago
- New York Times
Crystal Palace: Group including Jimmy Butler expected to make offer for stake in Premier League club
A consortium of sport and entertainment executives, which includes the NBA star Jimmy Butler, is expected to make an offer in excess of $200million to purchase Eagle Football's 43 per cent stake in Premier League soccer club Crystal Palace, sources briefed on the proposed deal have told The Athletic. Advertisement The group is led by former Morgan Stanley sports executive Bejan Esmaili and former Roc Nation attorney Wajid Mir, with the pair having previously agreed in January a period of exclusivity with John Textor — the largest shareholder in Eagle Football and one of Palace's four primary owners — which they allowed to lapse. The Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd had formed part of that consortium but instead chose to join the ownership group of fellow Premier League side Everton in April. Now Butler, a six-time NBA all-star who has been with the Golden State Warriors since February, has become part of the wider group. Eagle and Butler, via his representatives, have been approached for comment. Previously backed by two Saudi Arabian businessmen, Haider and Mansoor Syed, the original group opted to allow its 30-day period of exclusivity to end and instead sought alternative funding. The new consortium, sources added, is backed by an American group which has experience investing in soccer clubs. Should the group's expected offer be accepted, it would value Palace — which won the English FA Cup, the world's oldest soccer cup competition, for the first time in May — as a whole in excess of $465million (£343m). Other recent investments in Premier League clubs include Sir Jim Racliffe's purchase of a 28.9 per cent stake in Manchester United for $1.6bn in December 2023, the Todd Boehly-Clearlake Capital takeover of Chelsea for $3.02bn in May 2022 and the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF)-backed takeover of Newcastle United for £305m in October 2021. Sources also added that Woody Johnson, owner of the New York Jets, has also made an offer for Eagle's shares but has yet to meet Textor's valuation. The Athletic has approached Johnson for comment, via the Jets. Sportsbank, a sports investment group advised by the former Everton director and experienced football financier Keith Harris, was granted exclusivity to invest in Eagle in January, but that exclusivity also lapsed and it no longer has an active offer, although remains interested in investing should Eagle complete its initial public offering (IPO). Advertisement The expected offer from the new U.S. consortium comes amid concerns over Palace's eligibility to compete in next season's Europa League despite qualifying as FA Cup winners, due to Eagle's ownership of French side Lyon, where it holds a majority stake, putting them potentially at odds with UEFA's rules around multi-club ownership. Textor had hoped fellow Palace co-owners Josh Harris, who owns the NFL's Washington Commanders, and David Blitzer, the two American businessmen who together make up the other general partners alongside chairman Steve Parish, would purchase Eagle's shares but no deal has been agreed. They have the right of first offer to buy Eagle's stake in the south London soccer club and have been approached by Textor, but according to sources familiar with the situation, their proposal fell short of being accepted. Textor believes it would be the easiest way to remove doubt over Palace's Europa League participation. Textor, the fourth general partner at Palace as a representative of Eagle, is the chairman of the group but after more than a year shifting between being open to selling Eagle's stake and seeking to buy a majority, appears to have settled on selling, especially with Palace's place in Europe in question. UEFA's rules restrict teams from multi-club groups playing in the same competition. While there may still be ways around this, the deadline set by European football's governing body to address any multi-club ownership issues passed on March 1 — the day Palace beat Millwall in the fifth round of the FA Cup. Lyon qualified for the same competition through their league standing and due to finishing higher than Palace in their respective league, they have precedence to be admitted to the competition. All four of Palace's general partners met with UEFA in Nyon, Switzerland, last week to present their case that Textor does not have control or influence at Palace. There is some confidence that they would be able to convey a lack of decisive influence but the decision on whether to admit Palace to Europe remains in the balance before it is communicated to the club, which is expected later this month. The U.S. consortium is expected to now come back to the table. Should it make the offer and it be accepted by Eagle, as their previous offer was in December, then the deal will be subject to Premier League approval. It remains to be seen whether UEFA would be satisfied by a binding agreement for Eagle to sell its stake, or whether any deal can reach that stage before the committee makes its decision. Should the consortium be successful in buying out Eagle, it may subsequently look to carry out a full takeover of Palace in due course in order to have full decision-making power. In May last year, Textor told The Athletic that he was actively looking to sell Eagle's stake in Palace and he had hired investment banking firm Raine to find a suitable investor to purchase the group's share in the club. 'We've reached the point where we have a significant investment in a club we hold in the minority (in Palace),' he said. 'We're having extreme success in Brazil and early on in France, (and) to not have that same level of integration with our partner in the UK… it just becomes more and more clear that that level of collaboration we want and need works.' Advertisement Eagle Football 'is simply not a perfect fit for Crystal Palace,' he added. Textor originally purchased 40 per cent of Palace in 2021 for £87.5m (now $114m), helping to fund a successful transfer window and complete the redevelopment of the academy, before increasing that stake by around five per cent with an additional £30m. Further investment has come from capital calls. There have been failed attempts by Textor to purchase a controlling stake in the club, which is also owned by fellow general partners Parish, Harris and Blitzer, who each have 25 per cent of the voting rights. Over the past four years, Textor has struggled to make headway into purchasing a controlling stake and disagreed with Parish over the direction of the club, in particular with his multi-club model which includes controlling stakes in Lyon, Brazilian top-flight club Botafogo and Belgian club RWD Molenbeek, which he recently renamed Daring Brussels. Now, he appears to have accepted it is time to sell up at Palace. Additional reporting: Anthony Slater (Top photo of Crystal Palace players celebrating their FA Cup win in May:)
USA Today
28 minutes ago
- USA Today
The Boston Celtics could look to trade up in the 2025 NBA Draft
The Boston Celtics could look to trade up in the 2025 NBA Draft The Boston Celtics hold the 28th and 32nd picks in the 2025 NBA Draft. Brad Stevens and the front office have already begun holding pre-draft workouts with players that could potentially fall within that range. Since taking the President of Basketball Operations role, Stevens has leaned toward long-tenured collegiate players, as they're often more polished and capable of contributing at the NBA level. Given the Celtics' precarious cap space situation and the potential for multiple roster changes this summer, the upcoming draft could be an important one for Boston. While not a usual Celtics source, Grant Afseth of RG has reported that Boston is exploring moving up in the draft, as they look for a long-term solution at the point guard position. "The Boston Celtics are quietly conducting due diligence on point guard prospects and evaluating trade-up scenarios ahead of the 2025 NBA Draft, league sources told RG," Afseth reported on June 11. "Boston's interest in the position comes as veteran guard Jrue Holiday remains the subject of trade interest around the league. The Celtics have not shut down trade talks centered around Holiday as the team prepares to potentially reconfigure its long-term cap table. The possibility of adding a point guard prospect to begin developing should not be overlooked." It remains to be seen what type of guard the Celtics could be interested in. Trying to replace Jrue Holiday is a tall order. The veteran guard is a genuine three-level scorer and one of the best perimeter defenders in the NBA. However, if the opportunity to add a high-potential guard to the rotation becomes available, the Celtics would be wise to explore it. Should the Celtics acquire another guard via the draft, it will be interesting to see how that impacts JD Davison, who finally got his first full-time NBA contract late last season. The 2025 G League MVP could quickly find himself glued to the bench if Joe Mazzulla is given a remit to develop a draft talent ahead of Jayson Tatum's return in 2026. The Celtics are expected to make multiple roster moves in the coming months. The rotation will likely look very different by the start of the new season. If that means there's a new rookie to cheer for, the fanbase will likely get behind their development. For now, though, all eyes will be on what happens in the trade market, along with what could happen on draft night. Watch the "Taylor Talks Celtics" podcast on: YouTube: Website:
