Illinois Unveils Surprising Sports Betting Tax Hike | Chicago Fire Beat the White Sox on Land Deal

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Jerry Reinsdorf, Justin Ishbia agree to deal on potential sale of White Sox Just when things were looking like a lost cause, with another season here of watching the Sox in the AL Central cellar, a surprising announcement sent a jolt of hope into every Sox fan. The announcement isn’t as surprising as the timing. Reinsdorf is 89 and has already instructed his family to sell the team after his passing. Ishbia is based in Chicago as the managing partner of investment firm Shore Capital Partners and has been public about his desire to own the Sox in the future. So, in the middle of what could be a 3rd straight 100-loss season for the South Siders, why make this deal now? For one, Ishbia pledged to make capital infusions into the team this year and next as a minority partner, which will help improve the team’s operations. Another big one is the Sox’s stadium push. Reinsdorf is notorious for balking at big spending, some would say worse than Scrooge, and wants a new stadium but with heavy public subsidies. This has stalled talks in Springfield. Ishbia, as co-owner of the NBA’s Phoenix Suns, doesn’t show any of those issues as the Suns are 3rd in the NBA in Total Cap Allocations, while the Sox sit second to last in the MLB. A stadium push under Ishbia could have renewed hope, but fans are hoping that will extend to play on the field, too. The Sun Times breaks down the agreement and details when Ishbia could take control of the team.

Silicon Valley VC, Chicago billionaires team up on UChicago startup fund UChicago’s budding tech startups will receive a vital lifeline during turbulent times. With federal funding dangling by a thread and high interest rates increasing risk and costs, MFV Partners is hoping to keep some of the brightest minds in Chicago. Even though MFV Partners is based in Silicon Valley, Managing Partner Karthee Madasamy is an alum of UChicago’s business school, where he honed his business acumen. Madasamy says that keeping some of the excellent research happening at UChicago in-town will prevent entrepreneurs from feeling like they must leave the city to secure the funding they need. The fund targets quantum computing and AI-based startups, with a goal of investing in 40 firms over the next 3 years. With the backing of some of Chicago’s prestigious billionaires, MFV Partners has established an exclusive cooperation agreement with UChicago. It’s already making its first investments to potentially launch the next generation of groundbreaking tech startups, aiming to rival what has happened on the West Coast. Crain’s discusses how much the fund has raised and which Chicago billionaires are investing in the firm.

DraftKings and Flutter dip after Illinois unveils surprise tax hike targeting top sportsbooks Big-name sportsbooks can’t catch a break in Springfield. They’ve seen their tax burden increase from 15% to 50% in under 2 years. The bill that hikes their tax burden is just one of the new taxes introduced that target nicotine products, out-of-state and foreign business income, and now sports betting. There are only two bigwigs in Illinois in sports betting, DraftKings and Flutter (FanDuel’s parent company), who rightfully feel singled out. Both companies could face nine-figure hits in their bottom line from the legislation and have warned that passing on the costs to consumers would embolden their smaller competitors. If you’re an executive at one of those two companies, you have to be thinking about the pros and cons of continuing to operate in the state. If Illinois wants to ease its budget issues (education, public transit, pensions, to name a few) by using sports betting as a scapegoat, it could be worth the analysis. Especially if, in a year or two, a 75% effective tax rate comes next, if and when its other budget issues aren’t resolved. Find out how much DraftKings and Flutter could lose from the bill here.

Chicago Fire plan to build $650M soccer stadium at The 78 in South Loop Finally, one of the major local teams is making progress in their stadium talks. It’s a bit ironic, though. The Fire were tired of being treated as second-class tenants at Soldier Field to the Bears, who have been itching to get a stadium deal elsewhere for much longer. But the Fire have gotten a stadium deal worked out first. The deal still requires approval from the City Council, but that seems to be a foregone conclusion, given that the Fire will privately fund the entire construction costs. Part of its plans include a 22,000-seat stadium, a natural grass pitch, and luxury suite options. The Fire look to be the anchor tenant that The 78 and developer Related Midwest have desperately wanted since 2016 to transform the underutilized space. Time will tell if the Sox will join them on the 62-acre site based on their own stadium hopes, but unlike the Fire, theirs is highly dependent on securing public funding. The Tribune reports on the specifics of the new stadium and future plans for development on the 78.

What led to Chicago Sports Network-Comcast deal? Here are four possibilities It’s finally here. The deal everyone expected to happen months ago. We’ve instead been tortured with misleading updates and, at times, public spats between the two sides. Instead of rejoicing — being honest, coverage of the Bulls, Hawks, and Sox is something no one has celebrated for years — this article explores what took the negotiations eight months to achieve and which side caused the most problems. The biggest sticking point in talks leading up to the resolution seemed to be CHSN’s resistance to placement on an Ultimate Tier, which would result in a $20/mo price hike for customers. The reality was more about cutting back on some over-the-air access that CHSN provided, which would compete with Comcast's coverage. It’s hard to declare any true winners in this news since Comcast didn’t really lose much to begin with, CHSN lost their fight to keep customers on a lower-priced tier, and over a million loyal fans get to watch their teams again, who haven't been winning for years.

ESPN facing pressure over future ‘Inside the NBA’ handling ESPN can feel like an out-of-touch aunt trying to keep up with the times, blasting songs that came out 5 years ago like they just premiered today. ‘Inside the NBA’ developed a cult-like following during its 35-year run on TNT, and like any purists, they expect the show to keep its same flavor even on a different network. But critics are skeptical based on ESPN’s history of trying to keep advertisers and Disney happy with lukewarm, non-controversial programming. Bill Simmons went so far as to say that, “I think ESPN is gonna f*** the show up” due to its tendency to have executives tinker. The fact that ESPN hasn’t been able to showcase a respectable rival show to ‘Inside the NBA’ despite hosting a large number of NBA games each season is evidence enough for naysayers. Based on the send-off the ‘Inside the NBA’ crew received after the Pacers beat the Knicks to head to the NBA Finals, fans will expect more of the same on a new network or unleash that same passion on ESPN for tainting a good product. Sports Business Journal presents quotes from respected industry insiders who doubt the move will have the intended effect.

Here's how Cooper Flagg cleared a staggering $28 million in NIL contracts during his one season at Duke The double-edged sword of the NIL era strikes again. It’s both an incredible achievement by Copper Flagg’s agents and a slap in the face to traditional college students. The average cost of attending a 4-year university is between $28,500 and $46,000 per year, depending on whether students are in-state or out-of-state. Flagg’s $5 million NIL valuation for his sole year at Duke means he made $2,400/hr to attend college, based on a 40-hr workweek. Even with the House vs NCAA settlement finally passing, collegiate athletes can still prioritize financial incentives over academic considerations when choosing between schools in a way regular students will never be able to. It’s changed the way college sports operate at a fundamental level, for better or for worse. It makes some people very uncomfortable when they hear numbers like what Flagg supposedly earned in college. See what deals paid him what and what Bob Costas says about NIL deals.

UTSA Baseball’s NCAA Tournament Run Is Moneyball in Action If you haven’t seen Moneyball, first shame on you, it’s a great movie. Second, Brad Pitt’s portrayal of Billy Beane of the Oakland A’s ushered in an era of hyper-reliance on data in Major League Baseball that continues today. The college version plays out similarly, with the Yankees and Dodgers replaced by the SEC and Big 12. Small fries like USTA shouldn’t stand a chance against an SEC powerhouse like Texas. Texas is second only to Ohio State in total revenue across all sports and outspends USTA 1.3 times in baseball. Yet, they were sent home by a school that has, as of yet, never made it to the College World Series. Everyone loves a good old underdog story, and with the way college sports are headed, we won’t get too many of these. It’s always been a battle between the big schools with superior resources and smaller schools armed with pride and scrappiness instead of dollars. Hopefully, USTA can extend their run instead of coming up short like Billy Beane’s A’s did in Moneyball. Here are more numbers behind the staggering disparity between USTA and Texas.