Happy Father’s Day! Shoutout to all the fantastic dads in the world, especially mine!

How long do NFL players actually play per game? An average NFL game lasts 3 hours and 12 minutes, but if you tally up the time when the ball is actually in play, the action amounts to a mere 11 minutes.

NEWS: This past week, the Nevada governor signed a bill into law to fund the Las Vegas stadium for the Athletics. This happened the same week fans did a [successful] reverse boycott. Over the past few days, a lot has happened with the [currently] Oakland Athletics. We broke down what happened with the trending franchise day-by-day.

ICYMI… the Denver Nuggets Won: You probably already know, but in case you missed it, the Denver Nuggets won their first NBA championship title in Game 5 victory over the Miami Heat. Nikola Jokic adds NBA championship, Finals MVP to impressive resume.

Also, Congrats to the Golden Knights: the Vegas Golden Knights Won the 2023 Stanley Cup on Tuesday for the first time in franchise history. They also made history by surpassing the Philadelphia Flyers as the fastest team in history to win a Stanley Cup following expansion.

Headlines for the week:

• Michael Jordan Agrees to Sell Majority Stake in Charlotte Hornets

• Athletics Reverse Boycott and One Step Closer to Move to Vegas

• Jude Bellingham is joining Real Madrid

Michael Jordan Agrees to Sell Majority Stake in Charlotte Hornets

Michael Jordan has reached an agreement to sell his majority stake for $3 billion in the Charlotte Hornets, the NBA team announced on Friday. This is a big win for, perhaps the greatest player of all time, Michael Jordan. Jordan bought his majority stake in the Hornets in 2010 for around $275 million, which means Jordan is receiving a 10X return after 13 years as owner. Forbes values the Hornets franchise at $1.7 billion, which ranks 27th out of 30 NBA teams.

In the deal, Jordan will still keep a minority stake in the Hornets. The majority stake will be acquired by a group led by Gabe Plotkin, the founder of Tallwoods Capital LLC. Gabe is a current minority owner of the Hornets.

This deal leaves the NBA with no longer any majority African American ownership in a predominately Black NBA. For context, the percentage of current NBA players who identified as Black or African American in the league was 71.8% during the 2021-22 season. The only two people of color who now have majority ownership in any NBA teams are the Sacramento Kings’ Vivek Ranadive (Indian) and the Brooklyn Nets’ Joe Tsai (Taiwanese).

Athletics Reverse Boycott and One Step Closer to Move to Vegas - It’s a long week

The Oakland Athletics have had a very busy week as the Nevada governor signed a bill to fund the Las Vegas stadium for the Athletics. This happened the same fans did a [pretty successful] reverse boycott. We know that the past week has been very jam-packed for the Athletics, so we decided to break down the big events that have happened with the Oakland A’s.

Tuesday:

• Season-high 27,759 fans show up for Reverse Boycott surpassing the 26,805 who showed up on Opening Day. This was a big win for the Oakland Athletics fan base as they protest for John Fisher to sell the A’s. In case you don’t know what the Reverse Boycott is: it saw over 27,000 people pack the Coliseum to prove that there is a fan base in Oakland, they’re just not choosing to support bad ownership. For context… the Athletics are averaging the lowest attendance in the MLB with 8,555 fans per game this season.

• Athletics win their seventh game in a row against the Tampa Bay Rays. If someone decided to place a standard $100 money-line bet the Athletics would’ve had a seven game win streak, they could’ve won $175K.

• Nevada Senate Passes Athletics Vegas Stadium Funding Bill (SB1) after several amendments were added by Nevada Senators.

Wednesday:

• Nevada Legislature Passes Athletics Vegas Stadium Funding Bill (SB1) which means the organization has crossed a major hurdle in their expected move away from Oakland.

• The Athletics lose to the Rays by 3 runs ending a historic seven game winning streak. Entering the streak, the A's had a .194 winning percentage. The last time a team with below .200 winning percentage was in in 1985.

Thursday:

• Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo signs the Athletics funding bill which pledges $380M in public funding for a new Las Vegas ballpark. The Athletics moving to Las Vegas is much more likely to happen.

• MLB Commissioner Manfred attends the Oakland Athletics game and says he feels “sorry” for the fans of Athletics. Manfred said the team must submit a relocation application explaining its efforts [to stay] in Oakland and why Las Vegas is a better market. Some fans seem to be very upset with Manfred.

What are the next steps? The Athletics must undergo a rigorous process with the MLB in which they can successfully convince a committee that Las Vegas is a better market than Oakland. So far, the Oakland Athletics are 0-3 in trying to move to potential host cities, striking out in the pursuit of a new ballpark in Oakland, Fremont, and San Jose. A vote by major-league owners on the Oakland Athletics relocating to Las Vegas could happen by end of June if everything goes right for the Athletics.

Jude Bellingham is joining Real Madrid

Jude Bellingham is joining Real Madrid. He gave his emotional transfer speech on Thursday in front of the club and everyone watching online. The 19-year-old player’s first words as an official Real Madrid player were “This is the proudest day of my life.”

Bellingham claimed he was proud to play for the club because it was the ‘greatest club in the world’. Just two years ago when Bellingham was 17 he signed with Borussia Dortmund for $32M. Now, the star will is 19 years old and he is transferring for a six year $111.67M contract. Bellingham said that the transfer felt natural and that he was excited to extend the club’s legacy and not try and make a new one.

Bellingham is the sixth English men's player to sign for Real Madrid. Jude Bellingham is now the second most expensive signing for the club of all time, beating out Christiano Ronaldo who comes in at fourth. The English footballer is second only to Eden Hazard who transferred for a salary of $130 million. Jude will be wearing the number 5 on the back of his jersey to pay homage to club great Zinedine Zidane (a French professional football manager and former player).

Sen Ted Cruz and Colleagues seek to strip MLB of antitrust exemption

Several Republican Senate lawmakers outlined legislation aimed at ending Major League Baseball's antitrust exemption. The move comes in response to the relocation of the All Star Game from Atlanta in 2021 and the controversies surrounding the Los Angeles Dodgers Pride Night celebration.

The four Republican Senators (Cruz, Rubio, Hawley, and Lee) also delivered a joint statement in the press release:

"The time has come to strike out the outdated and unequal treatment that has long benefited the MLB. Just as teams fiercely compete on the diamond, every sports league should operate under the same antitrust regulations. Our bill will level the playing field, removing the century-old exemption that has given the MLB an unfair advantage. It's time to bring baseball in line with other leagues, fostering a competitive environment that sparks innovation, drives excellence, and keeps fans on the edge of their seats."

What do the antitrust exemptions do for the MLB? From a 1922 Supreme Court ruling, it states that the business of MLB did not constitute “interstate commerce,” thus making it exempt from the Sherman Act, which prevents businesses from conspiring with one another in an effort to thwart competition. In other words, the antitrust exemption allows Major League Baseball to control where its teams are located, preventing them from moving without the league's approval.

Will it go anywhere? Not sure yet. It’s too early to tell, but if GOP Senators work with Democrat Senators, then there might be a possibility to turn this bill into a law. The MLB has an office in Washington DC, and they’ve lobbied before, they aren’t afraid to do it again.

Required Reading

Why Josh Allen and Other Superstars are Investing in American Farms (Front Office Sports)

Tampa Bay Lightning Selling Stake at NHL Record $1.4B valuation (Sportico)

Diamond Sports keeps broadcast rights to Rangers with on-time payment (SBJ)

Nike Responds to Ja Morant’s 25-Game Suspension (Yahoo Life)

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