Morning Edition<\/p>\n<\/td>\n An Instagram photo of LeBron on a boat, posted with a cryptic caption by the European agent of Nikola Joki\u0107, drew a lot of scrutiny last week. FOS can report the meeting was not about the Nuggets or Lakers, but about the new international basketball league Maverick Carter is working to launch.<\/p>\n \u2014Ben Horney<\/a>, Daniel Roberts<\/a>, Alex Schiffer<\/a>, Eric Fisher<\/a>, and Colin Salao<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tr>\n Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n The mysterious boat meeting last week in France between LeBron James, his business partner Maverick Carter, and Nikola Joki\u0107\u2019s European agent was about the planned international basketball league<\/a> being spearheaded by Carter, multiple sources tell Front Office Sports.<\/p>\n The photo, posted to Instagram<\/a> over the weekend by Joki\u0107\u2019s European agent Mi\u0161ko Ra\u017enatovi\u0107, caused speculation about whether the trio was talking about James joining the Nuggets or Joki\u0107 joining the Lakers.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sources familiar with the situation tell FOS it was not about the Nuggets or Lakers.<\/p>\n Eurohoops.net first reported<\/a> the Carter-backed league was the \u201cpossible reason\u201d for the meeting.<\/p>\n The caption of the post\u2014which listed Saint Tropez, France as its location\u2014teased, \u201cThe summer of 2025 is the perfect time to make big plans for the fall of 2026.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Bloomberg first reported<\/a> about the upcoming league, writing in January that a group of investors advised by Carter was seeking to raise $5 billion. The league\u2019s plan is to have a touring model with six men\u2019s and six women\u2019s teams playing in eight cities. FOS reported at the time<\/a> that Carter was spearheading the effort and that James was not a part of it<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ra\u017enatovi\u0107 is a power player in European basketball. His BeoBasket agency\u2014based in Belgrade, Serbia\u2014has a partnership with Joki\u0107\u2019s American agency, Excel Sports Management, and has represented countless well-known European players, including Clippers center Ivica Zubac.<\/p>\n The upstart league scored funding<\/a> from investors including the Singapore government, SC Holdings, Riyadh\u2019s Public Investment Fund, UBS, Skype founder Geoff Prentice, and former Facebook executive Grady Burnett, the Financial Times<\/a> reported in February.\u00a0<\/p>\n FT also reported that the league expects to be a \u201cfull-time\u201d responsibility, unlike the upstart women\u2019s league Unrivaled, where the scheduling allows players to participate<\/a> in both the new league and the WNBA. That means NBA players would not be able to play in both.\u00a0<\/p>\n Like Unrivaled, players are expected to receive equity in the Carter-backed league. Current NBA rules bar players from having ownership stakes in teams, a rule Celtics star Jaylen Brown has said he would like to see changed<\/a>.<\/p>\n Carter\u2019s league has been compared to LIV Golf or Formula One, where teams would play in one city for a week or weekend before moving to another.\u00a0<\/p>\n The NBA itself is also considering a new league in Europe. Commissioner Adam Silver said in March<\/a> that the NBA is \u201cready to go to the next stage\u201d and explore a new league in Europe with FIBA, the global governing body for basketball, as partners. But the NBA would likely have teams in European and U.K. cities, which would be a different format than Carter\u2019s.\u00a0<\/p>\n Silver and NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum met in London on Wednesday with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer as they seek out \u201cpotential stakeholders in a new NBA Europe league,\u201d Marc Stein reported on Wednesday<\/a>. The NBA is taking steps as it explores the new league, including announcing Wednesday<\/a> that the Grizzlies and Magic will play two regular-season games in Europe in January 2026, one in Berlin and a second in London.<\/p>\n EuroLeague CEO Paulius Motiej\u016bnas is not in favor of a new NBA league. In a Tuesday Q&A<\/a> with The Athletic, he talked about a meeting held earlier this year between the NBA and the EuroLeague, saying, \u201cWe said to them, like we said publicly, we don\u2019t believe that the new league is something that would help the market.\u201d<\/p>\n Ra\u017enatovi\u0107 and Carter did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n WASHINGTON \u2014 Though not one of the key teams in the NFL\u2019s still-legal Tush Push<\/a>, the Commanders are looking to move their proposed $3.8 billion stadium project<\/a> over the goal line with a sweetened offer to District of Columbia officials.\u00a0<\/p>\n As team officials, including team president Mark Clouse, testified before the council Wednesday in a five-hour, sometimes contentious hearing, the club detailed in writing an enhanced proposal for the planned project at the site of RFK Stadium.<\/p>\n The new commitments from the team for the stadium and mixed-use development include:<\/p>\n \u201cWe have approached this process with humility and a spirit of collaboration,\u201d Clouse testified. \u201cOver the last several months, we\u2019ve engaged directly with fans, neighbors, elected and community leaders, and small businesses\u2014and we\u2019ve listened carefully. We\u2019ve had open conversations with District officials, shared information proactively, and worked in good faith to refine our proposal.\u201d<\/p>\n Council Reaction<\/strong><\/p>\n The team\u2019s enhanced commitments generally drew a positive reaction, even from council members who had previously expressed skepticism over the project.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we\u2019ve made progress with this commitment letter,\u201d from the Commanders, said council member Charles Allen, who has frequently spoken out against the stadium agreement.\u00a0<\/p>\n Still, the team and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser were pressed by the council, and Allen specifically, about the project\u2019s transportation plan and the significant influx of car traffic that is set to arrive\u2014suggesting that more changes in this area are coming. The stadium area has generally not seen large-scale traffic since the Commanders, playing under their former name, left RFK Stadium after the 1996 season, and Major League Soccer\u2019s D.C. United followed suit in 2018.\u00a0<\/p>\n Many of the individual exchanges, however, also exposed existing political tensions between Bowser and certain council members.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mayor\u2019s Corner<\/strong><\/p>\n Bowser testified Wednesday alongside the Commanders, and she stressed the potentially transformative opportunity to remake the long-blighted and neglected RFK Stadium area.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cTo borrow a phrase, this is a BFD. Very big,\u201d she said. \u201cThe time is now to act and not miss our chance.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The council is set to take the first of two scheduled votes on the stadium funding Friday, with a second to follow in September. Passage is expected as council chair Phil Mendelson has marshaled additional support after recently restructuring the bill<\/a> in advance of the Commanders\u2019 latest commitments.<\/p>\n Postgame Pronouncements<\/p>\n After the two long days of hearings, Bowser was emphatic that the votes are there to pass the stadium bill, echoing Mendelson\u2019s confidence.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a great project. We have the right partner. It\u2019s the right time. Everyone\u2019s been heard. And now it\u2019s time to vote,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n A nickname controversy recently resurfaced by U.S. President Donald Trump<\/a> was scarcely mentioned during the hearings, and Bowser said the District\u2019s focus remains squarely on completing the deal.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019re spending any energy on that [issue],\u201d Bowser said in response to a Front Office Sports question. \u201cWe remain focused on what we can do as a city. \u2026 It\u2019s also important to note that everybody\u2019s kind of ready to go and are waiting on the approval.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n David Butler II-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n It\u2019s been widely established that Caitlin Clark is the WNBA\u2019s biggest viewership draw. However, Clark has missed 13 of the Indiana Fever\u2019s 26 games this year\u2014many of which have been on national television<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n That hasn\u2019t stopped the league from continuing to see tremendous viewership growth across all of its networks.<\/p>\n The WNBA is averaging 794,000 viewers through 56 games this year across all national networks, according to Nielsen data, a source told Front Office Sports. That number is 21% higher than the league\u2019s 2024 full-season viewership average.<\/p>\n The raw viewership number is being driven up by Fever games, which have drawn 1.26 million viewers through 19 games this year. However, that number is just 7% higher than the 32 Fever games that aired last year\u2014likely due to the absence of Caitlin Clark in some high-profile contests.<\/p>\n Non-Fever games are drawing significantly fewer viewers, but there has been a drastic growth compared to the full 2024 season.<\/p>\n The non-Fever calculation is based on 37 games this year versus 66 games for all of last season. It\u2019s worth noting nearly every Fever game is a national broadcast<\/a>, and they tend to land on the league\u2019s biggest networks\u2014CBS, ABC, and ESPN.<\/p>\n The trend mirrors the 2025 WNBA All-Star Game<\/a> two weeks ago, which drew 2.19 million viewers\u2014a 36% dip from last year, when Clark played, but also 52% more than any previous All-Star Game.<\/p>\n Up Across the Board<\/strong><\/p>\n The WNBA is seeing viewership growth across all of its broadcast partners. ESPN, the league\u2019s biggest partner, is up 3% year-over-year across all its networks\u2014including ABC and ESPN2. This includes the most-watched game of the year so far: the season opener between the Fever and the Chicago Sky (2.7 million viewers).<\/p>\n CBS is averaging 1.3 million viewers through six games this year, up 5.5% compared to this point last year. The network has two games that have breached 1.9 million viewers, and both involved the Fever (one with Clark, one without).\u00a0<\/p>\n While none of its other four games have breached a million viewers, they\u2019ve averaged 906,000, which is 33% higher than the three non-Fever games CBS aired at this point last year. That number would also smash the 729,000 average viewers of the 2023 WNBA Finals.<\/p>\n Ion, which follows a different distribution model than other networks<\/a>, is averaging nearly 600,000 viewers on its linear network\u2014up 4% from year-to-date. That\u2019s considering Clark appeared in four games on Ion at this point last year compared to one so far this season.<\/p>\n NBA TV has the lowest raw viewership average (339,000), but it\u2019s experiencing the most growth. The network is up 58% compared to this point last year, when it averaged just 214,000 viewers for all WNBA games.<\/p>\n The WNBA will have a new partner next year as NBC Sports joins through the 11-year, $2.2 billion media-rights deal it signed in conjunction with the NBA. ESPN will stay on as a partner.<\/p>\n Amazon has been airing WNBA games for several years, though its streaming numbers are unclear. Scripps Sports, the parent company of Ion, signed a multiyear deal<\/a> with the league last month.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n $3.2 billion (\u00a32.4 billion)<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n Valuation of the Aston Martin Formula One team following a minority stake sale. Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings announced Wednesday that it agreed to sell a minority stake in its F1 team for $146 million (\u00a3110 million).<\/p>\n According to Bloomberg, Aston Martin CEO Adrian Hallmark said the buyer has signed a binding letter of intent<\/a>, though the identity of the buyer has not been revealed. The valuation is about a 33.3% bump from its previous valuation of $2.4 billion (<\/b>\u00a31.8 billion) following stake sales to a pair of U.S. investment firms last year.<\/p>\n Aston Martin currently sits eighth out of ten teams in the F1 constructors\u2019 championship, a drop-off from fifth-place finishes in 2023 and 2024.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tr>\n Should more stadium projects include things like dog parks, skate parks, and green space for public use?<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Wednesday\u2019s result: 57% of respondents were surprised that the Fever-Sky game without Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese was still one of the WNBA\u2019s most-watched games of 2025.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tr>\n<\/td>\n![\"Front](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/FOS-TheMeme-Black-Outline.png\"\/)
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<\/a><\/td>\nThe cable channel is a new media-rights partner this season.\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n ![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/asdfsdf-scaled.jpg\"\/)
<\/a><\/td>\nMorris made roughly $107 million across 13 NBA seasons.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n ![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/USATSI_26729422_168416384_lowres-scaled-e1753826437465.jpg\"\/)
<\/a><\/td>\nUnrivaled was cofounded by Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tr>\n \n \n \n \n \n