
How a Carolina Panthers legend is elevating a football team he now owns
Charlotte remembers Ryan Kalil as the Carolina Panthers center — the man who snapped the ball to Cam Newton. Today, the retired NFL All-Pro player has traded his helmet and pads for the role of team owner.
Why it matters: American football is huge stateside, but passion for the game is growing in other countries, too.
Catch up quick: Earlier this year, Kalil and retired NBA All-Star Blake Griffin acquired Osos Monterrey, a professional Mexican football team playing in Liga de Fútbol Americano.
Context: Mexico's passion for football (soccer) isn't a secret, but its love affair with football, the type with helmets and pads, isn't as widely known.
Attendance ranges from 6,000-12,000 per game and it's a short season. Tickets range from $25-$50, Kalil says.
They rebranded the team and had roughly three months to figure out the business side, Kalil says.
Yes, but: The highest level of the sport in Mexico isn't a full-time job, Kalil tells Axios. Players are there because they love the game, but they still have day jobs.
The goal is to elevate their team and the league to a point where it can be a full-time gig — including everything from league exposure to fields and equipment.
The latest: That starts with outfitting players with better helmets. The team is working with LIGHT Helmets, which as the name implies, is a lighter helmet intended to keep players safe without impeding performance.
"We need better exposure for [players], more resources for equipment, and honestly, that's part of our partnership with LIGHT Helmets," Kalil says. "It's that first step."
Kalil says this is a sign for the players and the league as a whole that resources are coming.
What we're watching: Kalil and Griffin are working on a documentary (akin to "Welcome to Wrexham") on Osos. Details including the timeline for its release and where you'll be able to stream it are TBD. It's expected to be released in either late 2025 or early 2026.
The documentary will focus on Osos, but it will also look at the state of the league.

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44 minutes ago
One year from World Cup opener, FIFA leaves questions unanswered on tickets and security
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U.S. President Donald Trump's travel ban on citizens from 12 nations exempted athletes, coaches, staff and relatives while not mentioning fans. Vice President JD Vance made what could be interpreted as a warning on May 6. 'Of course everybody is welcome to come and see this incredible event. I know we'll have visitors probably from close to 100 countries. We want them to come. We want them to celebrate. We want them to watch the game,' he said. 'But when the time is up they'll have to go home. Otherwise they'll have to talk to Secretary Noem,' he added, speaking alongside Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem. The 1994 World Cup sparked the launch of Major League Soccer with 12 teams in 1996, and $50 million in World Cup profits seeded the U.S. Soccer Foundation, tasked with developing the sport's growth. MLS now has 30 teams, plays in 22 soccer specific stadiums and has club academies to grow the sport and improve talent. Next year's tournament will include 104 games, up from 64 from 1998 through 2022, and the 11 U.S. stadiums are all NFL homes with lucrative luxury suites and club seating. It also will be the first World Cup run by FIFA without a local organizing committee. 'The legacy initiative of 2026 is around how we ensure that soccer is everywhere in this county," U.S. Soccer Federation CEO JT Batson said. "How do we ensure that every American can walk, ride their bike or take public transit to a safe place to play soccer? How do we make it to where every school in America has soccer accessible to their students? And how do we make it to wherever every American can truly see themselves in the game?' Interest in soccer has vastly increased in the U.S., with England's Premier League averaging 510,000 viewers per match window on NBC's networks last season and the European Champions League final drawing more than 2 million viewers in each of the past five years on CBS. However, CBS broadcast just 26 of 189 Champions League matches on TV in 2024-25 and streamed the rest. MLS drew about 12.2 million fans last year, second to 14.7 million in 2023-24 for the Premier League's 20 teams, but MLS has largely disappeared from broadcast TV since starting a 10-year contract with Apple TV+ in 2023. Apple spokesman Sam Citron said the company does not release viewer figures. In a fractured television landscape, different deals were negotiated by FIFA, UEFA, MLS, the NWSL, the USSF and the five major European leagues. 'You basically have over 2,800 game windows per season aired in the United States and so that requires distribution largely on streaming platforms like Paramount+ or ESPN+, but it's difficult for new fan adoption and it makes reach kind of challenging,' said Gerry Cardinale, managing partner of RedBird Capital Partners, which holds controlling interests in AC Milan and Toulouse and owns a non-controlling stake of Fenway Sports Group, parent of Liverpool. 'Kids today are getting weaned on Premier League football and Serie A football, and when you watch that as a product, it's hard for MLS to compete.' The 1994 World Cup, a 24-nation tournament, drew a record 3.58 million fans for 52 matches. Ticket prices ranged from $25-$75 for most first round games and $180-$475 for the final at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. FIFA, which has about 800 people working at an office in Coral Gables, Florida, says it will announce information on general tickets in the third quarter. It wouldn't say whether prices will be fixed or variable. Hospitality packages are available on FIFA's website through On Location. For the eight matches at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, including the final on July 19, prices range from $25,800 to $73,200 per person. FIFA appears to be using variable pricing for this year's Club World Cup, played at 12 U.S. stadiums from June 14 to July 13, and some prices repeatedly have been slashed. Marriott Bonvoy, a U.S. Soccer Federation partner, has been offering free tickets to some of its elite members. Asked about Club World Cup ticket sales and team base camp arrangements, Manolo Zubiria, the World Cup's chief tournament officer, hung up four minutes and five questions into a telephone interview with The Associated Press. Brendan O'Connell, the publicist who arranged the interview, wrote in an email to the AP: 'The guest was not prepared for those questions.' FIFA's media relations staff would not make FIFA president Gianni Infantino available to discuss the tournament. Ahead of the 1994 World Cup, FIFA announced in May 1992 the draw would take place at Las Vegas on Dec. 18 or 19, 1993. FIFA has not revealed plans for this year's draw but appears to be planning for Las Vegas on Dec. 5. Regular ticket sales began in February 1993 for the U.S. soccer family and general first- and second-round sales started that June. Fans submitted lottery applications in October 1993 for games from the quarterfinals on. While not detailing ticketing plans for next year's tournament, FIFA is spreading it beyond the host cites and lists about 60 possible base camps for teams to use, paired with hotels. Some are fancy — The Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia — and some more Spartan — the Courtyard by Marriott Mesa at Wrigleyville West in Arizona. Thousands of arrangements must be coordinated. Major League Baseball is drawing up its schedule to ensure that the four teams whose ballparks share parking lots with World Cup stadiums — in Arlington, Texas; Kansas City, Missouri; Philadelphia; and Seattle — won't play home games on the dates of tournament matches. Boris Gartner, CEO of La Liga North America, a joint venture of the Spanish soccer league and Relevent Sports, said the 2026 World Cup should be viewed as just another step in the sport's long-term growth in the United States. 'If you have a clear understanding of the market and the audience, a clear understanding of the value that these properties bring to media companies, and you mix content with a commercial strategy, with the right media distribution strategy, this is something that will continue to grow over the next two decades," he said. 'If more people are watching the NWSL, more people are going to be interested in soccer that could potentially end up watching a Bundesliga game or La Liga game.'


Fox Sports
an hour ago
- Fox Sports
Mexican driver Daniel Suarez has all the pressure heading to home race
NASCAR Cup Series Mexican driver Daniel Suarez has all the pressure heading to home race Published Jun. 10, 2025 11:20 a.m. ET share facebook x reddit link Racing in his home country alone would put pressure on Daniel Suarez. Daniel Suárez waves to the crowd during introductions prior to the running of the NASCAR Cup Series Cracker Barrel 400 Entering the NASCAR Cup Series debut in Mexico City sitting 28th in the standings and without a contract for next season just adds to the pressure the Trackhouse driver will face Sunday at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. "It's not the first time that I've been in this position. Definitely the first time with the Mexico race, but it's not the first time that I've been in the position that we have to win or in the position that we have a contract negotiation in the middle [of the season]," Suarez said. "It's definitely a distraction. I won't sit here and tell you that it doesn't really matter. I'm trying to be as smart as possible and to put all this stuff on the side and just do my thing on the track." ADVERTISEMENT The 33-year-old Suarez, who grew up in Monterrey, is the only Mexican-born driver to win a NASCAR national series race. He has won two Cup races, three Xfinity races and one truck race. He is the only foreign-born driver to win a NASCAR national series title, which was the Xfinity Series in 2016. Daniel Suarez walks onstage wearing a Lucha Libre mask during driver intros prior to the NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway The Xfinity Series raced at the Mexico City track but with a different layout from 2005 through 2008. But this will mark the first Cup race in Mexico City and the first Cup points race outside the United States since 1958 when the Cup Series raced in Toronto. Cup held exhibition races in Japan from 1996 through 1998. The Mexican fans obviously have someone to root for in Suarez, who has been to Mexico six times in the last year to promote the race. He went to a premiere of the NASCAR series on Netflix there, and fans who had been following him since he drove in the NASCAR Mexico Series from 2010 through 2014 showed up. Suarez believes those who followed him 15 years ago and those who just will see there is a Mexican driver competing will cheer for him. "There are going to be the new fans, the fans that don't really know me and they just love racing and they know that there is a Mexican driver. They're going to be there with me and there is going to be these fans that they've been supporting me in all my journey," Suarez said. For those who have followed Suarez's career, they have seen him go through the ups and downs of driving for four different Cup teams. He has been at Trackhouse Racing since 2021 and signed a one-year extension last year. The year so far has been disappointing for Suarez, who won the second race of the year in 2024 and advanced to the second round of the playoffs. His average finish of 21st is three spots worse than last year. He has averaged 10 top-10 finishes a year the last three years but is on pace for seven this year with three in the first 15 races. Suarez is determined not to let those struggles or wondering where he will race next year ruin the Mexico race experience. "The Mexico race is something that I've been hoping and waiting on for many, many years, and I'm not going to let anything else from outside take that week and that moment from myself," Suarez said. "We have to just continue to put one foot in front of the other and continue to move forward. I think that in Trackhouse, we have found some decent speed in the last few weeks, so that's promising, and hopefully we can continue to move in that direction." 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"With that being said, I have to protect my space for the competition stuff because if we don't do the competition stuff, everything else, it doesn't really matter. "We have to put a balance on everything. ... [So by] Friday, I can try to focus as much as possible only on racing. I'm going to have still a few things here and there, but for the most part, it is going to be racing." Suarez will have Mexican communication company Telcel on his car. "For many years, I never had a sponsor deal with a company from Mexico because I wasn't racing there," Suarez said. "So right now that we're going to be having an event down there, it opens a whole new world of opportunities and that's great, not just … obviously for me, but for the entire sport." Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass. share


NBC Sports
an hour ago
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Alex Hall leads first four skiers to make U.S. Olympic team for 2026 Milan Cortina Games
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