Fanatics' eye-popping valuation | The highest-paid female athletes | MLS's new media partners

Plus: The executive taking Washington out of the Redskins era

Sports Business

The pandemic hasn't slowed Fanatics: The online sports retailer has completed a Series E round that values the company at $6.2 billion. A source tells us that Fanatics initially wanted to raise $250 million but that the deal was oversubscribed, leading to the final $350 million raise.

Major League Soccer signed a deal with Bleacher Report to create content and share match highlights—potentially a prelude to a live streaming deal. In the meantime, Amazon is the latest company to dive into MLS's streaming landscape, partnering with the Sounders.

Early in MLB's pandemic-shortened season, ESPN is seeing significant increases with younger viewers, particularly young women and Hispanic viewers.

Pro Football

The Washington Football Team hired Jason Wright to be the first Black team president in NFL history—and set him to the task of transforming the franchise. For Wright, every decision will be data-driven. "You can measure things like culture," he tells us.

Pro Basketball

The WNBA is seeing considerably more 3-pointers this season, but the trend doesn't extend to the Aces. Still, old-school Las Vegas is dominating. Here's why.

Soccer

If Manchester City has top-notch lawyers and believes Der Spiegel's damaging reports stem from an "illegal hacking," why isn't it suing the German newspaper? The answer may lie in a chicken slaughterhouse.

Boxing

Jake Paul, the YouTube star who has been dabbling in boxing, is set to face a professional athlete in the ring for the first time: former NBA star Nate Robinson. Paul hears the criticism—and dismisses it. "People will have to start respecting me," he says.

Golf

Mark Hubbard, 42nd in the FedEx Cup rankings headed into this week's Northern Trust at TPC Boston, has a new sponsor. He has his last name to thank.

Cricket

The pandemic could incentivize the cricket powerhouses of Australia, India and England to focus on playing one another, which would deal a painful financial blow to smaller cricket nations that count on hosting series against those teams. "We feel we're doing the right thing by the sport and supporting other nations, and we want the solidarity reciprocated," Cricket West Indies' chief executive tells us.

Featured Story

Nine of the world's ten highest-paid female athletes make their living in tennis. They can thank another group of nine aces who came before them: the Original 9, who protested the dollar difference between male and female prize money and in 1970 established the precursor to the WTA. The sport has come a long way, indeed: The nine tennis players on this year's earnings list made more than $130 million combined over 12 months. See the full list—including the one non-tennis-playing member—here.

Hot Reads

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Fresh Off Winning First WTA Title In Kentucky, American Jen Brady Is Eyeing A Deep U.S. Open Run

What Rose Lavelle's Trade To OL Reign Says About The American Soccer Landscape

Ana Crnogorcevic Can Make Barcelona The First Club To Win Men's And Women's Champions League

Upon Further Review

Kyle Larson's public use of a racial slur in April resulted in a mass exodus of sponsors and dismissal from his team, Chip Ganassi Racing. But a return to Nascar is possible—and it even appears he'll be a sought-after free agent. Could that keep him on the list of Nascar's highest-paid drivers? When we ran the numbers ahead of this season, Larson came in at No. 9, with $8.8 million.

The Last Word

“I’ve been amazed by how the architects of the bubble have thought of so many of these different variables.”

Dr. Benedict Nwachukwu

No NBA players have tested positive for the coronavirus since play resumed in the league's bubble in Florida. Overseeing the medical effort on the ground are doctors like Benedict Nwachukwu, a sports medicine surgeon and a medical consultant for the NBPA, who tells us what his days at the Disney campus look like and why the NBA's setup—including an MRI center—is so impressive. Also check out our explainer on the newly authorized coronavirus saliva test the NBA helped develop.