The Woman Who Got Fans to Pay $3,900 for a WNBA Ticket
When Jess Smith took over as president of Golden State's WNBA expansion franchise in early 2024, fans approached her with one request: Please make it cool.
'They wanted the premier sports experience—in women's sports,' Smith said. No minor-league vibes. No being overshadowed by the men's team.
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Chicago Tribune
39 minutes ago
- Chicago Tribune
Paige Bueckers has cashed in on sponsorships. Can she help her WNBA teammates do the same?
DALLAS — After winning the NCAA championship with UConn, Paige Bueckers says she placed a giant Wingstop order with DoorDash: $540 for 400 wings and fries, the receipt showed. 'It's probably my most-used app on my phone,' Bueckers said from the orange carpet the night of the WNBA draft, when the Dallas Wings selected her with the first pick. 'No. 1 fan. I love you, DoorDash.' Social media users suggested she partner with DoorDash, and the company took note, naming Bueckers its first athlete creative director just before she made her pro debut. With just six professional games on her resume, Bueckers recently picked up another honor. The rookie was named to Ad Week's 2025 Most Powerful Women in Sports list. The Wings have certainly felt her impact. As of May, the organization had sold merchandise in all 50 states and 23 different countries since drafting Bueckers in April, Wings CEO and managing partner Greg Bibb told The Dallas Morning News. The Wings had earned more revenue from individual ticket sales in the month leading up to her pro debut than the organization did all of last season, which was a record year for Dallas. DoorDash is one of the latest sponsors in the portfolio Bueckers started building in college. When her UConn career culminated in April, her NIL Valuation — a measure sports media site On3 uses to estimate an athlete's value and marketability — was $1.5 million. The three-time unanimous first-team All-American has both driven and benefited from the women's basketball boom, which corresponded with the dawn of NIL. It's largely because of that new appetite, and the opportunity to capitalize on her star power, that Bueckers began her professional career having earned seven figures. '[Without NIL] you don't get to start building your wealth, building your networking, the relationships that you have. It would start at a later date,' Bueckers told The News after a recent practice in Arlington Getting that head start has set up Bueckers for success in the WNBA, whose players must market themselves aggressively to make up for low pay, unlike in other leagues where seven-figure salaries are the standard. Deals don't come as easily for WNBA players who have contended with limited media coverage and typically pull in less viewership than other major leagues, including the NCAA. While some of the sport's biggest stars have inked lucrative deals as pros, those opportunities aren't always available to everyone. 'The NIL landscape has reinforced certain beauty standards that endorse 'blonde-ballers' and created an inequitable market for those who do not meet those standards,' according to the 2025 Politics in Sports Media report from UT-Austin's Center for Sports Communication and Media. In a time when the WNBA is cracking down on online hate, Bueckers has been outspoken about the attention she receives as a white athlete, compared to her Black peers. 'There's not ever equal coverage,' Bueckers said in a recent interview with Time. 'I feel like I've worked extremely hard, blessed by God. But I do think there's more opportunities for me. I feel like even just marketability, people tend to favor white people, white males, white women.' Bueckers reportedly will make about $348,000 on her four-year rookie contract and about $79,000 in her first season with the Wings, but she also leans on a robust sponsorship portfolio that includes Gatorade and Bose, to name two of her brand deals. The WNBA league minimum is about $65,000 and the player super-maximum hovers around $250,000. Those figures have led some of the sport's superstars to remain in college, where they can make more money from NIL deals than a pro salary. Sponsorship opportunities exist for professional women's basketball players, but they need to cultivate a presence off the court. Is Chicago Sky vs. Indiana Fever a rivalry? Fans at a packed United Center think so. 'It's good for basketball.'Wings All-Star guard Arike Ogunbowale, a pre-NIL era athlete who signed to Nike after going pro in 2019, recently started a YouTube channel. 'I think before that, people didn't really know me too much. I mean, they might not know me still,' Ogunbowale told The News. 'But I think they have a little bit more glimpse of my personality and just my lifestyle.' DiJonai Carrington, one of the Wings' new guards and the WNBA's Most Improved Player in 2024, has cultivated a unique online persona that has led to work with brands such as EOS, Savage Fenty and Reebok. 'With endorsements, it's completely supplemented my lifestyle and being able to not go overseas and with the current CBA, being able to still sustain for the other six months when we're not receiving a check,' Carrington told The News. 'It's really important to build your brand as a person.' Wings forward Maddy Siegrist, who is signed to Puma and credits her agent for much of her sponsorship success, inked NIL deals when she starred at Villanova from 2018-23 and has also landed partnerships since the Wings drafted her in 2020. 'You get a lot of opportunities as a professional,' she told The News. 'I think you have a little more freedom in your offseasons to do more things as well, but obviously everyone's journey is different.' Earlier this year, Bueckers landed a GQ cover and the Chicago Sky's Angel Reese was featured on Vogue. The Sky's Hailey Van Lith and the Los Angeles Sparks' Cameron Brink appeared in Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit Edition. Caitlin Clark, Time's Athlete of the Year in 2024, signed a $28 million Nike deal shortly after turning pro. Their lives don't represent the reality of most athletes in the WNBA. 'There's not necessarily equal opportunity in marketing and branding depending on your following and your global image,' Bueckers, who has 2.6 million Instagram followers, told Already one of the biggest draws in the WNBA, Bueckers said she wants to use her opportunities to help others who don't have the same visibility. Bueckers also took this approach at UConn, where she included her teammates in NIL deals and used her influence to create pathways for minority content creators and advertisers. As conversations about pay equity continue and Bueckers lifts the Wings to new heights, expect the superstar to uplift her teammates in Dallas, too. 'When I met with the agency, I told them my values. I talked about giving back, using the partnerships to do something bigger than myself. It's really important for me to involve as many teammates as I can,' Bueckers told 'It's not just something that's transactional to where [sponsors are] just getting something out of me and I'm getting something out of them, but how can we get something out of trying to make this world a better place within our partnership?'
New York Times
43 minutes ago
- New York Times
The Big Ten's 10 biggest offseason moves, from Penn State returnees to key QB additions
Having 18 teams means the Big Ten's offseasons are bigger, too. This was a quiet year for coaching changes, as Purdue (Barry Odom) is the only Big Ten program with a new head coach. That doesn't mean Big Ten teams have been standing still since Ohio State raised the national championship trophy in January. New quarterbacks and new coordinators are prime movers for Big Ten teams hoping to build on last year's success and those trying to join the College Football Playoff crowd. Advertisement Narrowing the list of offseason moves to the 10 most significant is no easy task, but that's why we're here. These are the portal pickups, coaching changes and recruiting battles that will shape the Big Ten race in 2025. Other big offseason moves: ACC | Big 12 In a down year for quarterbacks, Allar could have been one of the top players drafted had he turned pro after his junior season. His decision to play another year at Penn State cemented the Nittany Lions as a national title contender and the potential preseason Big Ten favorite. Penn State has cycled through quite a few offensive coordinators before hitting on a combination that worked with Allar and Andy Kotelnicki. In his second season as starter, Allar completed 66.5 percent of his passes with 24 touchdowns and eight interceptions while leading Penn State to the College Football Playoff semifinals. His shot at a signature drive ended with an interception that propelled Notre Dame into the national championship game, making Penn State the official 'Unfinished Business' team for 2025. That worked out well for Ohio State in 2024 and Michigan in 2023. Players like running backs Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen and defensive linemen Dani Dennis-Sutton and Zane Durant also made key decisions to return, while Penn State brought in Devonte Ross (Troy), Kyron Hudson (USC) and Trebor Pena (Syracuse) via the transfer portal to reboot Allar's receiving corps. The saga of Iamaleava leaving Tennessee and transferring to UCLA would have made the perfect storyline for a Big Ten 'Hard Knocks'-style documentary. A quarterback who led his team to the CFP held out for a better NIL deal, ended up in the transfer portal, then signed with the rebuilding Bruins. To complete the quarterback swap, Tennessee signed Joey Aguilar, the Appalachian State transfer who was set to play for UCLA until Iamaleava came on board. Advertisement UCLA, which finished 5-7 in DeShaun Foster's first season, could afford to gamble on a talented quarterback who came with some strings attached. Anyone who tuned out on the Bruins after a 1-5 start missed a 4-2 finish that included wins against Nebraska and Iowa and a competitive loss to USC. Iamaleava should upgrade UCLA's passing game, though his most recent taste of Big Ten football, a 42-17 loss to Ohio State in the CFP, wasn't particularly pleasant. Whatever else it accomplished, this move got people talking about the Bruins. Speaking of 'Hard Knocks'-style drama, how about Ohio State's defensive coordinator joining a conference rival days after winning a national championship with the Buckeyes? Despite Knowles' success in Columbus, there was an undercurrent of tension that came to a head after the CFP championship game. Knowles did what he was hired to do and delivered a championship-caliber defense for Ryan Day. Now he's making more than $3 million per year to deliver the same results for James Franklin at Penn State. It's not as though Penn State's defense has been the problem. The Nittany Lions were second in the FBS in defensive yards per play in 2023 under Manny Diaz (now the head coach at Duke) and sixth last season under Tom Allen (now the defensive coordinator at Clemson). Knowles' job is to maintain that standard of success while finding a replacement for Abdul Carter, the No. 3 pick in the NFL Draft. Michigan had the Big Ten's most unstable quarterback situation last season in averaging 129.1 passing yards per game — more than only Air Force, Army and Navy in the FBS. The solution? Sign the No. 1 quarterback recruit in the country, who grew up a few miles from Michigan's campus but originally committed to LSU. Michigan pulled out all the stops to flip Underwood, getting help from Tom Brady and billionaire Larry Ellison. It appears the Wolverines won't have to wait long for their investment to mature. With Fresno State transfer Mikey Keene sidelined by an injury, Underwood took starter's reps in the spring and showed he can lead the team. He'll have to hold off Keene in preseason camp, but all signs indicate he'll be on the field sooner rather than later. The pairing of Underwood and new offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey will go a long way toward determining whether Michigan can get back to the CFP. Advertisement This was the corresponding move after Knowles left for Penn State, and it's a consequential one for the Big Ten race. Patricia is a former New England Patriots defensive coordinator who, like many ex-Bill Belichick assistants, flamed out as an NFL head coach. Hiring him to fill one of the prime coordinator jobs in college football is bound to invite scrutiny. Detroit Lions fans don't have many fond memories of Patricia, but Ohio State didn't hire him to be its head coach. His job is to run a defense that lost some key pieces but returns one of the best players in college football in safety Caleb Downs. The Buckeyes may need their defense to shoulder the load while a new quarterback, likely former five-star recruit Julian Sayin, gets comfortable. The Ducks are reloading after winning a conference championship in their first season in the Big Ten. They have a lot to replace, especially if top wideout Evan Stewart misses significant time with an injury. The drop-off shouldn't be too big thanks to a deep portal class that's been hailed as one of the best in college football. Oregon beefed up its offensive line with transfers Isaiah World (Nevada), Emmanuel Pregnon (USC) and Alex Harkey (Texas State). Running back Makhi Hughes rushed for nearly 2,800 yards in two seasons at Tulane, and safety Dillon Thieneman is a tackling machine who was the Big Ten's freshman of the year at Purdue in 2023. Oregon also signed a pair of well-traveled talents in defensive lineman Bear Alexander (formerly of Georgia and USC) and wide receiver Malik Benson, a junior college star who had stops at Alabama and Florida State. The players Oregon added on offense should make life easier on quarterback Dante Moore, one of the top players in last year's portal class. It's not the posts themselves, it's what they represent. Whether he's dunking his face in a bowl of cucumber water, needling his rivals or taking jabs at the SEC, Bielema is posting with the confidence of a coach who just signed a contract extension after leading Illinois to one of its best seasons in a quarter-century. Day 1,558 as @IlliniFootball head coach (spring practice 4 prep) — Bret Bielema (@BretBielema) March 26, 2025 Going 10-3 at Illinois and beating South Carolina in a bowl game is proof that happiness exists outside of the CFP bubble. Illinois has its sights set even higher this season with the return of Luke Altmyer, one of the top quarterbacks in the Big Ten. Whatever happens, let's hope Bielema keeps posting through it. If you've wondered what Iowa would look like with competent quarterback play, you might finally get an answer. The Hawkeyes have subjected their fans to some brutal offensive football in recent years but took a baby step last season with the hiring of offensive coordinator Tim Lester. Now Iowa has its quarterback in Mark Gronowski, an FCS All-American from South Dakota State. Advertisement Iowa's defense, running game and special teams have been elite, but the passing game has been atrocious. Maybe Gronowski can fix that. A quarterback who threw for more than 10,000 yards and won a pair of national championships at the FCS level should be a clear upgrade. We'll see if that's enough to raise Iowa's ceiling beyond the Citrus Bowl. The ice is getting thinner for Lincoln Riley. The Trojans finished 7-6 in their Big Ten debut, a second consecutive underwhelming season for Riley. In somewhat curious timing, Riley parted ways with strength coach Bennie Wylie after spring practice and hired Trumain Carroll from Kansas State. Wylie, like ex-DC Alex Grinch before him, was part of Riley's staff at Oklahoma. Parting with another longtime staffer could be a tacit admission that USC needs to build its team differently to compete in the Big Ten. Losses at Michigan, Minnesota and Maryland took the air out of USC's season and exposed the Trojans' issues in the trenches. A partial offseason with a new strength coach won't make a massive difference, but it should show whether the Trojans are any closer to contending in the Big Ten. Curt Cignetti worked wonders last year with Kurtis Rourke, the Ohio transfer who led the Hoosiers to an unexpected run to the CFP. So what can Indiana do with a quarterback who's showing up in the first round of the early 2026 mock drafts? Mendoza flew under the radar at Cal, but draft evaluators like his size and his arm. Plugging him into an offense that ranked No. 2 in the FBS in scoring makes a ton of sense for both sides. The Hoosiers won't sneak up on anybody this season, but plenty of people viewed Indiana as a Cinderella team that benefited from a favorable schedule before getting smacked with reality in the CFP. Cignetti seems to thrive on that kind of skepticism. Another strong portal class and a big year from Mendoza could put the Hoosiers right back in the CFP chase. (Top photo of Nick Singleton and Drew Allar: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
2025 U.S. Open golf tournament: How to watch, full TV schedule, tee times and more
If you buy something through a link in this article, we may earn commission. Pricing and availability are subject to change. Scottie Scheffler will play at the 125th U.S. Open this week. Here's how you can tune in to the Open when it begins on June 12. () The 125th U.S. Open golf tournament will take place from June 12-15, 2025, at the Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pennsylvania, marking the tenth time the club has hosted the competition. This year's field of 156 competitors includes last year's winner, Bryson DeChambeau, along with top players like Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickelson, Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele competing for the Jack Nicklaus Medal. Fans can tune in to the action across several channels and platforms, including NBC, USA and Peacock; here's a comprehensive rundown of how to watch the 125th U.S. Open when it begins this week. How to watch the U.S. Open: Date: June 12-15, 2025 Advertisement TV channels: NBC, USA Network Streaming: Peacock, DirecTV, Hulu + Live TV and more When is the 2025 U.S. Open golf tournament? The U.S. Open runs from June 12-15, 2025. Where will the 2025 U.S. Open be held? The U.S. Open will be held at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pennsylvania this year. What channel is the 2025 U.S. Open on? The U.S. Open will be broadcast USA and NBC. How to stream the U.S. Open without cable: You can catch most of the tournament's biggest moments this year on Peacock. If you've cut the cord but don't have a Peacock subscription, NBC and USA are also available with subscriptions to Hulu + Live TV, Fubo, and DirecTV. U.S. Open Broadcast Schedule (All Times ET) Advertisement Thursday, June 12 6 a.m.-5 p.m. (USA) 7 a.m.-8 p.m. (Peacock) Friday, June 13 6:30 a.m.-1 p.m. (Peacock) 1-7 p.m. (NBC) 7-8 p.m. (Peacock) Saturday, June 14 10 a.m.-12 p.m. (USA) 12-8 p.m. (NBC) 10 a.m.-8 p.m (Peacock) Sunday, June 15 9 a.m.-12 p.m. (USA) 12-7 p.m. (NBC) 10 a.m.-8 p.m. (Peacock) U.S. Open Round One tee times: All times are ET. 6:45 a.m. (1) : Matt Vogt (a), Kevin Velo, Trent Phillips 6:45 a.m. (10) : Zac Blair, Scott Vincent, Alistair Docherty 6:56 a.m. (1) : Chandler Blanchet, Alvaro Ortiz, Doug Ghim 6:56 a.m. (10) : Jacques Kruyswijk, Jordan Smith, Eric Cole 7:07 a.m. (1) : Evan Beck (a), Maxwell Moldovan, Justin Hicks 7:07 a.m. (10) : Tom Kim, J.J. Spaun, Taylor Pendrith 7:18 a.m. (1) : Harris English, Keegan Bradley, Tommy Fleetwood 7:18 a.m. (10) : Ludvig Åberg, Adam Scott, Hideki Matsuyama 7:29 a.m. (1) : Xander Schauffele, Bryson DeChambeau, Jose Luis Ballester Barrio 7:29 a.m. (10) : Ben Griffin, Andrew Novak, Maverick McNealy 7:40 a.m. (1) : Matt Fitzpatrick, Wyndham Clark, Gary Woodland 7:40 a.m. (10) : Shane Lowry, Justin Rose, Rory McIlroy 7:51 a.m. (1) : Akshay Bhatia, Matt McCarty, Robert MacIntyre 7:51 a.m. (10) : Patrick Cantlay, Si Woo Kim, Lucas Glover 8:02 a.m. (1) : Cam Davis, Davis Thompson, Thomas Detry 8:02 a.m. (10) : Cameron Smith, Brian Harman, Phil Mickelson 8:13 a.m. (1) : Richard Bland, Trevor Gutschewski (a), Lanto Griffin 8:13 a.m. (10) : Niklas Norgaard, Brian Campbell, Justin Lower 8:24 a.m. (1) : Edoardo Molinari, Sam Stevens, Ryan Gerard 8:24 a.m. (10) : Davis Riley, Jackson Koivun (a), Johnny Keefer 8:35 a.m. (1) : Thriston Lawrence, Noah Kent (a), Thorbjørn Olesen 8:35 a.m. (10) : James Hahn, Mark Hubbard, Michael La Sasso (a) 8:46 a.m. (1) : Jinichiro Kozuma, Cameron Tankersley (a), Chase Johnson 8:46 a.m. (10) : Joakim Langergren, Mason Howell (a), Chris Gotterup 8:57 a.m. (1) : Philip Barbaree, Riley Lewis, Brady Calkins 8:57 a.m. (10) : Zach Bauchou, Jackson Buchanan, Lance Simpson (a) 12:30 p.m. (1) : Frederic LeCroix, Emiliano Grillo, Sam Bairstow 12:30 p.m. (10) : Will Chandler, Andrea Pavan, Takumi Kanaya 12:41 p.m. (1) : Byeung Hun An, Joe Highsmith, Ryan Fox 12:41 p.m. (10) : Bryan Lee (a), Guido Migliozzi, Preston Summerhays 12:52 p.m. (1) : Victor Perez, Jacob Bridgeman, Adam Schenk 12:52 p.m. (10) : Erik van Rooyen, Max Greyserman, Matt Wallace 1:03 p.m. (1) : Min Woo Lee, Justin Thomas, Brooks Koepka 1:03 p.m. (10) : Russell Henley, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Nick Taylor 1:14 p.m. (1) : Sam Burns, Nico Echavarria, Denny McCarthy 1:14 p.m. (10) : Jordan Spieth, Jon Rahm, Dustin Johnson 1:25 p.m. (1) : Viktor Hovland, Collin Morikawa, Scottie Scheffler 1:25 p.m. (10) : Tyrrell Hatton, Sungjae Im, Sepp Straka 1:36 p.m. (1) : Corey Conners, Jason Day, Patrick Reed 1:36 p.m. (10) : Cameron Young, Tom Hoge, J.T. Poston 1:47 p.m. (1) : Joaquin Niemann, Bud Cauley, Daniel Berger 1:47 p.m. (10) : Jhonattan Vegas, Michael Kim, Matthieu Pavon 1:58 p.m. (1) : MacKenzie Hughes, Tony Finau, Chris Kirk 1:58 p.m. (10) : Marc Leishman, Aaron Rai, Nick Dunlap 2:09 p.m. (1) : Ben James (a), Rasmus Højgaard, Stephan Jaeger 2:09 p.m. (10) : Matthew Jordan, Yuta Sugiura, Carlos Ortiz 2:20 p.m. (1) : Rasmus Neergaard-Peterson, Justin Hastings (a), Laurie Canter 2:20 p.m. (10) : Ryan McCormick, Trevor Cone, Zachary Pollo (a) 2:31 p.m. (1) : Frankie Harris (a), Emilio Gonzalez, Roberto Díaz 2:31 p.m. (10) : James Nicholas, Tyler Weaver (a), Riki Kawamoto 2:42 p.m. (1) : Grant Haefner, Joey Herrera, George Kneiser 2:42 p.m. (10): Austin Truslow, Harrison Ott, George Duangmanee a=amateur 1 or 10=starting hole More ways to watch the U.S. Women's Open:
