Welcome back to MoneyCall, The Athletic’s weekly sports business cheat sheet.
Name-dropped today: Sebastian Sawe, Tigst Assefa, Brendan Sorsby, Allyson Felix, Diego Pavia, Zohran Mamdani, Hannah Vanbiber, Eric DeCosta, Steve Cohen and more. Let’s go:
Driving the Conversation
It’s gotta be the shoes? Well …
In a mega sports year that was supposed to be dominated by the Olympics in Italy and World Cup in North America, the clubhouse leader for 2026’s most astonishing sports result just happened on a spring Sunday in London.
Sebastian Sawe of Kenya broke the two-hour marathon barrier — 1:59:30 — while obliterating the men’s world record by a minute.
Take your pick for the second-most mind-bending stat: that Ethiopian runner-up Yomif Kejelcha ALSO broke the sub-2 barrier or that it was Kejelcha’s first competitive marathon. (Third-place finisher Jacob Kiplimo also had a time that would have broken the world record, a heck of a footnote.)
Women’s marathon champ Tigst Assefa of Ethiopia also set a world record for a women’s-only marathon (previously held by … her).
Adidas was another big winner: Its new Adios Pro Evo 3 super-shoe, weighing in at an absurdly light 3.42 ounces (97 grams), was on the feet of Sawe, Kejelcha and Assefa. Less than half the weight of lots of high-end marathon shoes.
The shoe’s $500 sticker price didn’t stop a near-instant sellout for a limited release on the day after London (spotted for $1,800 on eBay yesterday).
I checked in with a Friend of MoneyCall, Daniel-Yaw Miller, whose SportsVerse newsletter is my go-to for the intersection of sports and culture, about the marathon’s impact on Adidas.
💬 “There couldn’t have been a better way for a sportswear brand to launch a new $500 shoe, especially in the running category, than for two athletes wearing it to break such a monumental record. When it goes on wider release in the fall, it will no doubt sell out. But the real commercial benefit will be the halo effect it has on the rest of Adidas’ running assortment, which is equally popular and more reasonably priced, too.”
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about the race result? Even bitter Adidas rival Nike tipped its cap to Sawe, posting an ad that said, “The clock has been reset. There is no finish line.”
(More insight about this shoe situation in “What I’m Wondering,” fewer than 60 seconds of skimming below …)
Get Caught Up
Big talkers from the sports business industry:
College football’s massive new gambling issue: One of January’s most-sought transfer QBs, Texas Tech’s Brendan Sorsby, checked himself into rehab for a gambling problem. This begs so many questions beyond “Will he play next season?” Jason Kirk’s Until Saturday newsletter yesterday helped me understand this a lot better. Justin Williams covers a slew of really good Qs, but I’ll go with: “Is the NCAA even remotely ready for what’s coming?”
March Madness expanding to 76? I know this news will be polarizing, but every expansion in tourney history (Men’s: 8 ➡️ 16 ➡️ 22 ➡️ 32 ➡️ 40 ➡️ 48 ➡️ 64 ➡️ 65 ➡️ 68) has arguably made it better. If you enjoyed VCU crashing the Final Four in 2011 as an inaugural participant in the much-derided “First Four” — and who didn’t? — why not keep an open mind? (Valid counterpoint: “Worrying.”)
MLS relocation? The Vancouver Whitecaps are not long for Canada, in the absence of new ownership that wants to keep investing there. Instead, the franchise looks like it is inevitably headed to the U.S., with Las Vegas a leading contender. (Vancouver’s mayor: Rightfully upset!)
WNBA TV FTW: The league will offer unprecedented national TV exposure, with 216 games airing nationally across eight networks, including a seven-day-a-week strategy:
Monday: Peacock or USA
Tuesday: ESPN
Wednesday: USA
Thursday: Prime Video
Friday: ION
Saturday: ABC or CBS
Sunday: NBC, CBS, ABC or ESPN
Notably, every single one of Caitlin Clark’s Indiana Fever games will air on national TV. Speaking of women’s sports on TV …
Launching today: Rose City Sports Network, a Portland-area over-the-air regional sports network focused on live games featuring the city’s WNBA and NWSL teams.
LIV Golf cancels New Orleans event in June: Not exactly CEO Scott O’Neil’s “exactly as planned, uninterrupted and full throttle” statement two weeks ago. (Yesterday’s statement from the league called it a “strategic decision.”)
NASCAR impresario Jim France steps down as CEO: Current NASCAR president Steve O’Donnell will replace him, which our Jeff Gluck calls “major for NASCAR, even if it’s not radical change.”
My colleague Jordan Bianchi talked with O’Donnell about the transition, getting his thesis: “We chased some other sports. And the reality of it is, we have an unbelievable sport right now, and we need to be ourselves.”
Yankees’ jersey brouhaha: We get it — “white with pinstripes at home and gray on the road.” But if players want to mix it up with an alternate road jersey that is a simple navy (already worn in spring training), not only do I think fans won’t mind, but I think the jerseys will sell. Also, to Aaron Judge’s point, the Yankees’ current uniforms have ads on the sleeves, so how precious about all this can anyone actually be?
(You know which team’s alt-uniforms rule? The Braves. I’m not saying “look good, play good” is a guarantee, but given the standings, more teams should follow Atlanta’s model.)
Other current obsessions: Carson Hocevar, NASCAR’s Next Big Thing … Allyson Felix’s 2028 Olympics comeback attempt … the World Cup tailgating scene in Boston, revived … the NFL future of Diego Pavia … the Washington Spirit’s lucky plastic coyote … the NHL’s league-wide fondness for the word “grind” … Maryland and DC approve state-wide HS girls’ flag football varsity status … YouTube TV (finally) announcing complete make-your-own-quad-box multiview functionality …
What I’m Wondering
But WAS it the shoes?
I’m no biomechanical engineering PhD like my father-in-law, but I would imagine that significantly reducing weight on a running shoe, along with the fancy carbon-plate tech, all compounded over 26.2 miles, could yield enough energy adjustment to help account for SOME of a sub-2 marathon result.
But — to paraphrase Nike’s Mars Blackmon — was it the shoes? I jumped on Slack, accounted for the time change between D.C. and the U.K., and pinged my colleague Liam Tharme, who covered Sunday’s race, to ask for his expert take:
💬 “They played a part. These Adidas shoes (the third iteration of the Pro Evo model) are the best design, and the data they’ve presented (assume in-house testing) is really good. But it was also down to good weather conditions, phenomenal athletes (Sawe has run 2:02 on repeat, Kejelcha is second-best in the half marathon all-time) running together deep in the race.”
Don’t miss Tharme’s interviews with Sawe and Assefa.
Grab Bag
Data Point: 805,000
That’s how many people converged on the NFL Draft compound in Pittsburgh over three days last week, a record that seems to get broken during every year of the league’s emphasis on turning the draft into the year’s biggest football festival. Coming next year: D.C., with early estimates that a million people could come through.
One more: 1,116,497, the PWHL’s record-setting attendance during the 2025-26 season, the first time the league has gone over 1 million fans. It felt like the PWHL’s single-game attendance records were a constant presence in MoneyCall, a testament to its “Takeover Tour” barnstorming strategy. Arrow up on this league.
Name to Know: Robert Lopez
He is the head chef at Churchill Downs, ultimately responsible for the food experience for the 150,000 people who will come through on Saturday for the Kentucky Derby. That includes 17 full-service kitchens and more than 100 executive chefs.
More Derby: 2026 fashion trends
“Every expert we spoke to said this year’s look is all about ‘main character energy’ — this intentional type of maximalism is showing up on runways, trickling down to red carpets and events like the Derby.” — Hannah Vanbiber, with a must-see Derby fashion preview
Case Study: Affordable tickets
The partnership between the NWSL’s Gotham FC and NYC mayor Zohran Mamdani to release 1,000 game tickets priced at $5 — which sold out nearly instantly, as you’d expect — is a spin on the wider “affordability” story that more teams should embrace. Getting new fans in the door through low-cost tickets is a great way to engage.
MoneyPoll: Running shoe budget
Assuming not many of us are ready to spend $500 on a pair of running shoes, what ARE you willing to spend? (Get MoneyCall via email to vote in our featured poll on Wednesdays.)
Last week’s MoneyPoll results: 35 percent of respondents weren’t watching the NFL Draft on TV *or* following on their phone. (TV ratings were down a bit this year, and that was with rolling up every network it was available on.)
Beat Dan in Connections: Sports Edition
Puzzle No. 583
Dan’s time: 00:34
Try the game here!
Worth Your Time
Great business-adjacent reads for your downtime or commute:
Management case study: Draft week with Ravens GM Eric DeCosta. There were more than a half-dozen details in this awesome behind-the-scenes reporting from Michael Silver that had me mesmerized. I think the best one is at the end — no spoilers, but the Ravens owner puts his GM hat on.
Two more:
Has Mets owner Steve Cohen been a disappointment? That’s Ian O’Connor’s thesis. Given Cohen’s willingness to spend profligately on this team — which sets him apart from many owners — I’m inclined to say that, in this case at least, the problem ain’t the big boss.
What happens to Tottenham’s finances if the club is relegated? Chris Weatherspoon dug into the answer (and it’s as bleak as you would imagine).
Back next Wednesday! Text your colleagues this link so they can get MoneyCall every week for free. And check out The Athletic’s other newsletters, too.
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