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National Hockey League (NHL) commissioner Gary Bettman has said the organisation wants a share of gambling profits if its intellectual property, data or video from games are used.
The National Basketball Association (NBA) became the first major US sports league to sign with a betting sponsor earlier this week when its commissioner Adam Silver announced a partnership with MGM resorts. The NBA deal has fuelled talk of further ties between the gambling industry and US sporting bodies in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling back in May that essentially gave the green light for legal sports betting in the country.
Now Bettman wants to ensure that ice hockey does not miss out on the action.
“We've historically been opposed to extending sports betting on our game, and emotionally I don’t think that's changed,” Bettman said. “It is a fact of life that in light of the Supreme Court's ruling, and it'll be up to states to decided whether or not they're going to enact sports betting.
“From our standpoint, we believe that, whether its our intellectual property, our data, whether its video of our game, we have important assets and if somebody is going to avail themselves or want to avail themselves of those assets in order to conduct their business, then we're going to need to have a negotiation.”
Sponsorship
The National Football League's (NFL) San Francisco 49ers have designated Mountain Mike’s Pizza as their official pizza in a multi-year agreement beginning with the 2018 season.
Major League Baseball's New York Yankees have renewed their sponsorship deal with digital real estate portal Realtor.com for the remainder of the 2018 regular season.
Sports bookmaker Bwin has secured a trio of three-year sponsorship deals with soccer clubs in Germany. 2. Bundesliga's St Pauli, Union Berlin and Dynamo Dresden have all added Bwin to their partnership portfolios.
In England, second-tier Leeds United have announced a two-year partnership cleaning firm Astonish that sees the locally-based business become the official sponsor of the West Stand at Championship club's Elland Road home.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has signed a five-year deal with organic meal delivery service Trifecta Nutrition worth a reported US$10 million with an option to extend for another five years.
The Italian Cycling Federation (FCI) has named domestic sportswear brand Errea as its official technichal supplier.
Des Moines-based MidAmerican Energy have agreed a ten-year, US$15 million naming rights deal to sponsor the field at National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) division one Iowa State University's Jack Trice Stadium.
Matchroom Multi Sport has announced that ManBetX will title sponsor snooker’s Champion of Champions tournament for the next two years.
Media Rights
Portuguese commercial broadcaster TVI has concluded a deal with domestic rights holder Eleven Sports for a free-to-air sublicense to top continental soccer competition the Uefa Champions League. The contract is initially for just the 2018/19 season and includes ten games.
Investment
The Arizona city of Glendale has extended AEG Facilities contract to run the Gila River Arena, home of the NHL's Arizona Coyotes, for another five years, keeping in place the team responsible for bringing in events to the facility at a cost of US$5.6 annually.
Liga ACB basketball team Valencia Basket is set to gain a new home, after plans were revealed for a new €192 million (US$223 million) 15,000-seat arena in the Spanish city.
Bidding & Hosting
Woburn Golf Club was announced today as the venue for the 2019 Women’s British Open with Royal Troon making its debut on the Championship roster in 2020.
Politics & Governance
For the second consecutive year, EA Sports' Madden NFL video game appears to have edited a song on its soundtrack to exclude the name of quarterback Colin Kaepernick, the former 49ers quarterback in a legal battle with the league in connection the natioanl anthem protest movement. EA Sports apologized in a statement for omitting Kaepernick’s name, and called the song’s alteration “an unfortunate mistake.”
Dance of the Day
Performance clothing brand Mizzen+Main has released its first ever television advertising spot and it features brand ambassador Phil Mickselson dancing. That is all you need to know.
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NHL commissioner wants in on betting cash
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