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Thieves clear out suburban Chicago sports memorabilia store, use jammer to prevent getting caught Alex Tuidor represents the grit and determination that characterize this great city. His response after thieves took a gut punch to his dream? ‘I don’t want to be out of the game yet.’ It‘s tough to keep that perspective after a store he opened up to the community and worked tirelessly to grow was robbed by thieves using advanced tech. His security cameras were disabled due to the jammers, rendered useless as thieves pried open the front door with a crowbar. With the global sports trading card market double what it was less than 10 years ago ($5.4 billion in 2018 vs $11.52 billion in 2024), bad actors are looking for opportunities to cash in anyway they can. Out at least tens of thousands, Tuidor still has hope and a love for sports trading that will hopefully get him back into the industry. CBS Chicago talks about where Tuidor’s store is located and exactly how much the thieves took.

Jason Goff Out as Bulls Host at Chicago Sports Network A rough 11 months in business for CHSN have resulted in a wave of layoffs. It started with Alex Shapiro, the former Bears beat reporter, right after Labor Day. Goff became the second on-air talent the network has laid off since the beginning of the month. Cuts are expected to hit the editorial and digital sides as CHSN tries to restructure itself. After finally signing a deal with Xfinity over the summer, CHSN has been in damage control mode. It must repair the broken trust from viewers who will lose some OTA (over-the-air) access to games as part of the Xfinity agreement. It also has to try to retain the fans it just gained back, who are unhappy with CHSN going on Xfinity’s Ultimate tier. Bulls, Hawks, and Sox games are part of an Xfinity package that will cost fans $20 more per month. Pregame host for the Bulls for the last six seasons, Goff is another casualty of CHSN’s struggles. You can still catch him on his podcast, The Full Go, on The Ringer’s podcast network, but Bulls fans will miss the familiar voice once the new season kicks off next month. Find out what Jason Goff had to say about his exit.

Bears CEO invokes Super Bowl in latest bid to gain support for move to Arlington Heights Kevin Warren has never been afraid of the spotlight. He used the spotlight during the MNF home opener to make his latest push to get a stadium deal over the finish line. The October Illinois General Assembly session will determine if it worked. Warren and the Bears need Springfield to pass a bill that’ll freeze property taxes for its developers for decades. It could be the difference in whether construction ever starts. The bill hinges on whether the General Assembly votes on the tax issue during its fall veto session, even though it has publicly stated a Bears’ bill isn’t on its list of priorities. Perhaps a strong start to the season by the Bears will get lawmakers’ interest, but even that could fail them. Crain’s details the stipulations behind the Bears’ property tax proposal.

U of I nets $100M from megadonor in a record athletics gift In the NIL era, it pays more than ever to have alumni with deep pockets. Larry Gies has already shown his willingness to donate chunks of his substantial wealth to his alma mater. Gies donated $150 million to the school’s College of Business in 2017, 10% of his estimated $1.5 billion net worth. His latest donation to the athletics department blows the previous record away by over $50 million. Crains’ reporter Brandon Dupre calls it a financial arms race that has emerged out of the fateful legislation that legalized NIL. Gies is the founder & CEO of Madison Industries, Chicago’s largest private manufacturer, and an obvious proud alum of the Illini. Gies saw Larry Ellison’s $10 million donation back in December to rival Michigan and wanted to show just how much he wants his school to upend the power dynamics in the conference. He’s gotta be careful, though. Now that Ellison overtook Elon as the wealthiest man in the world, he could be awakening a sleeping giant.

Unrivaled women’s basketball league now valued at $340M million after landing more celebrity funding As if the number of celebrities tied to the upstart Unrivaled wasn’t enough, now Serena Williams has come on as an investor. Going into just its second season, which started as an exciting experiment, Unrivaled’s valuation could hit half a billion by the time Miami welcomes it back next January. If it were its own team, Unrivaled would be second only to the Golden State Valkyries as the world’s most valuable women’s sports team. It’s incredible to witness the electric growth of women’s sports interest and team valuations. It wasn’t too long ago that Brittney Griner was imprisoned in Russia for smoking a vape pen. She was forced to play overseas, like many WNBA players, in the offseason because of low WNBA wages. Unrivaled’s unprecedented pay structure for its players (about $220,000 per player plus equity in the league) and popularity will serve as an intriguing negotiating point for WNBA players. The WNBA CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement) expires on Halloween. There are no signs so far that the two sides will see eye-to-eye. The Tribune describes how Chicago’s own Angel Reese and others are leading the interest in Unrivaled.

Kelce brothers’ Garage Beer scores $200M touchdown, despite industry-wide booze slump It’s hard to scroll social media or watch a football game without seeing a Kelce nowadays. That extends to the beer aisle. Garage Beer’s latest funding round will allow it to invest in more marketing and expand. The brand is on pace to triple its revenue from 2024. Garage Beer leans into Americans’ shift to less heavy drinking, more mocktails, and light beer. It doesn’t hurt that Travis dates someone who was googled 34.6 million times last month, second only to Donald Trump. The Taylor Swift effect makes enough of an impact to capture younger drinkers who shun heavier alternatives. Imagine what sales will be like after the pair gets married? Unfortunately for the rest of the alcohol industry, sales have been grim. Only Michelob Ultra and Garage Beer have escaped the slump. They both offer a somewhat healthier way to get a buzz. Find out Garage Beer’s revenue numbers from 2024 and what it’s on track for in 2025 here.

Lee Corso’s Farewell Delivers Record ‘College GameDay’ Viewership ESPN scored a legendary sendoff for a one-of-a-kind legend. Labor Day weekend’s ‘College Gameday’ featured Lee Corso ending his trademarked headgear selection the way he started it almost 30 years ago: by picking Ohio State for the 46th time. 3.5 million nostalgic fans of the show tuned in, the first time it has ever drawn over 3 million viewers. The show would’ve probably still drawn plenty of viewers. It featured two top-five ranked teams to kick off college football in Ohio State and Texas, but everyone had to see 90-year-old Corso on TV one last time. Corso is a natural showman who made everyone he came across love him, even if he put on their bitter rivals’ headgear that week. ‘College Gameday’ will be fine without him, but there’s no replacing him or an exact way to measure his impact on college football. See how much this season’s ‘College Gameday’ kickoff show beat last year’s ratings.

The world’s biggest illegal sports streaming platform just got shut down $28 billion is the amount lost annually to illegal sports streaming. That’s $53,272 per minute, $3.2 million lost per hour, every year. Streameast had become the world’s largest illegal sports streaming site, temporarily holding a crown that has been passed around quite a bit. Right as football season began to crank up again, the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) shut down the site that even celebrities have turned to for illegal streaming. Based on the number of websites that have appeared in the past, this is only a minor setback in the fight against online piracy. Regardless of how threatening the punishment is for getting caught hosting one of these sites, a new crop of outlaws always seems to reappear where the void was left. It’ll take them some time to approach the estimated 1.6 billion site visits Streameast got last year, but it’s a safe bet they’ll get there. Track the different illegal streaming sites that have come and gone, as well as which celebrity was infamously caught illegally streaming a game.

Club Sportico: ‘Poverty Program’ Is the Hottest College Football Insult Sometimes, you have to be petty to make a point. College coaches are always looking for a way to motivate their teams, while occasionally taking shots at other coaches who stand in their way. It’s comical when a fellow Power 4 conference coach, with vastly more resources than a non-Power 4 school, claims that another Power 4 school has an unfair advantage against them. That’s just one example of the hottest new college football insult playing out as you would imagine it would. College football is the biggest revenue-generating college sport by far. Schools are seeking as many ways as possible to boost revenue and give their football teams a chance to win. More wins → more exposure → more endorsement opportunities → more revenue, rinse and repeat. ‘Poverty Program’ shows that fans and coaches have embraced the new reality of college sports and its profit-driven battle that plays out on the field on Saturdays. The insult is quickly becoming worse than calling a team soft. Here are some details on which big school coaches got into a war of words before their matchup.