AC Milan and Inter, Milan's two big football clubs, showed their new shared stadium on Thursday. [1] It will be called Generali Stadium, after Italy's largest insurance company. [2] Generali will pay 650 million euros, about $725 million, over 20 years for the name. [1] That is a record for a stadium's name, says Sportico, a sports business news site. [3] Crypto.com pays $700 million and SoFi $625 million for Los Angeles arenas, also over 20 years. [3] The stadium will seat 71,500 people and replace San Siro, the clubs' home since 1947. [4]

The two clubs expect the new stadium to cost them about 1.2 billion euros. [2] Building is due to start in 2028, and the first match is planned for 2031-32. [1] It will have 13,000 premium seats, sold at higher prices. [3] Lord Norman Foster and David Manica, who worked together on London's Wembley Stadium, designed it. [1] The end stands will rise as steep walls, at slopes of up to 37 degrees. [1]

San Siro opened in 1926 and is the biggest sports stadium in Italy. [2] Inter moved in beside AC Milan in 1947, so the rivals have shared it ever since. [4] San Siro has hosted four Champions League finals, Europe's biggest club match. [4] But UEFA, which runs European football, took the 2027 final away from San Siro in 2024. [3]

The clubs first planned a new 60,000-seat stadium in 2019. [4] That plan stalled because Italy's heritage rules protect old buildings, and some politicians opposed it. [4] Last year Milan's city council voted to sell San Siro to the two clubs. [4] The clubs paid 197 million euros for the stadium and the car parks beside it. [2]

RedBird Capital, a US investment firm, bought AC Milan in 2022 for $1.3 billion. [3] Inter is owned by Oaktree, a lending fund that Brookfield, a Canadian investment group, bought. [3] AC Milan's chairman, Paolo Scaroni, sat on Generali's board from 2007 until 2014. [4] Juventus, another Italian club, extended its own stadium name deal in 2020 for 103 million euros. [4]

More than half of Serie A's teams play in stadiums at least 90 years old. [3] Italy will host the 2032 European Championship with Turkey, which needs modern grounds. [1] Inter fans' banner read: 'you will never extinguish the lights at San Siro'. [2] San Siro will be pulled down only once the new stadium is ready. [5]

Why it matters. A modern stadium should raise both clubs' match-day money, which trails their European rivals. [1] Building stadiums in Italy is hard, and Generali's deal suggests it expects this one built. [4] The plans now go through design and planning approval before building starts in 2028. [1]

Utah filed felony charges on Wednesday against Kalshi, a US app for betting on events. [17] The charges also name its co-founders, Tarek Mansour and Luana Lopes Lara. [17] Each faces 14 counts, and if convicted could face up to 75 years in prison. [16] An undercover agent placed 12 sports bets on Kalshi, staking $114.87 and losing $25.10. [16] Kalshi says it is regulated by the US government, so state gambling laws do not apply. [17] A federal judge ruled in September that Utah may still enforce its own gambling laws. [16] The CFTC, the US regulator of these markets, has sued 10 states, including Utah. [16]

Why it matters. Kalshi called the charges 'a crazy overreach'. [17] Analysts expect the US Supreme Court to settle the fight, now in about 20 states. [17]

The Chicago Bears traded for Jeffery Simmons, one of the NFL's best defensive linemen, on Thursday. [18] The Bears gave the Tennessee Titans their first-round draft picks in 2027 and 2028. [19] Chicago also sent a 2027 fourth-round pick and got a 2028 fifth-round pick back. [19] Simmons made 11 sacks, tackles of the quarterback, last season. [19] All the Bears' inside defensive linemen together made 10.5. [19] The Bears won their division last season for the first time since 2018. [18]

Why it matters. The Bears are 5-2 this season and play the Seattle Seahawks on Monday. [18] ESPN's Bill Barnwell warns such trades have a poor record, and one star limits spending elsewhere. [20]

The Atlanta Dream beat the Golden State Valkyries 80-69 to level the WNBA Finals at 3-3. [21] It is the first WNBA Finals to reach a Game 7 since best-of-seven began last season. [22] The arena was sold out for the midday start on a working Thursday. [22] Atlanta led by 25 points before half-time. [23] Allisha Gray scored 23 points and Rhyne Howard 21 for Atlanta. [21] The game moved to 12:30pm to use a 17,000-seat arena, not a 3,500-seat one. [24] The cheapest resale ticket rose from $32 on Wednesday to $106 on Thursday. [24]

Why it matters. Game 7 is in San Francisco on Saturday, and neither team has won a title before. [21]

UEFA, which runs European football, is close to choosing a candidate to challenge Gianni Infantino. [25] Infantino is president of FIFA, which runs world football, and wants a fourth term. [25] UEFA could pick its challenger as early as next week, the Guardian reports. [25] Candidates must confirm by 18 November for the March vote in Rabat, Morocco. [25] A winner needs 106 votes, so Europe needs support from Asia, Africa and North America. [25] Lise Klaveness, head of Norway's football federation, has been named as a possible candidate. [26]

Why it matters. FIFA has until Monday to answer UEFA's 42 questions about how it is run. [25]

South Africa picked Durban on Thursday as its main city for the 2036 or 2040 Olympics. [27] Durban is South Africa's third biggest city, with about 4 million people. [27] No African country has ever hosted the Summer Olympics. [28] The bid centres on the 56,000-seat stadium built for the 2010 football World Cup. [27] Durban lost the 2022 Commonwealth Games after it could not give the money guarantees needed. [27] Seven countries, including India, Qatar and Germany, want the 2036 Games. [27]

Why it matters. The International Olympic Committee will choose the 2036 host in mid-2029. [27]

Scotland's football league has invited TV offers that could include every match live. [10] British TV may not show football live between 2:45pm and 5:15pm on Saturdays. [10] The ban began because clubs feared live TV would keep fans away from grounds. [10] A UEFA rule allows it only when 50% of top-two-division matches kick off together. [10] Most other European leagues spread kick-off times, so the rule no longer applies there. [10] Only 36% of Scotland's 228 top-flight games are shown live now. [10]

Why it matters. The new deal starts in 2029-30, and 8 of the 12 clubs must approve it. [10]

Celtic and Rangers lost appeals against playing Scottish Cup home games without their own fans. [14] The ban follows trouble after last season's quarter-final at Ibrox, Rangers' stadium. [14] Fireworks were thrown, police officers were hurt, and 43 people were arrested by 25 August. [14] Each club must also pay 100,000 pounds to the visiting team in its home cup ties. [14] An independent review said it came 'within a very small margin' of mass violence. [14] A suspended ban for any further trouble was set aside. [14]

Why it matters. Celtic called it 'excessive and disproportionate punishment'. [14]

World Series Game 3 drew 8.33 million viewers on Fox, the fourth-lowest ever. [8] American football's Monday Night Football drew 18.8 million the same night on ESPN. [8] That Monday had games in all four big US men's leagues, plus a WNBA Finals game. [8] Game 4, a 12-inning game, drew about 13.5 million. [8] Fox did not release Game 3's audience on Wednesday, as had been expected. [8] The Brewers won in 5 games, so Games 6 and 7 were never played. [29]

Why it matters. Broadcasters earn much of their advert money from those last games, so Fox lost out. [29]

NFL Network's four Sunday-morning games in Europe averaged 7.1 million US viewers this October. [9] That is up 18% from 6.2 million last season. [9] CBS's pre-game show averaged 3.63 million without morning games and 2.95 million with them. [9] Quarterback Aaron Rodgers had proposed one week holding all international games together. [30] League officials and owners rejected it, sources told Front Office Sports. [30] One said: 'You'd be competing against yourself'. [30]

Why it matters. This season's nine international games are spread across nine different weeks. [30]

The NBA's nine national TV games in opening week averaged 3.24 million viewers. [31] That was up 15% on last year and the best opening week since 2012. [31] The league added NBC and Amazon as broadcasters last season and dropped TNT. [31] A rare 3pm opening-day game drew 2.5 million viewers. [31] Amazon's Prime Video drew 2.14 million for its Friday games, up 83%. [31] Media expert John Kosner said midday is 'time on the calendar that's fairly fallow'. [31]

Why it matters. Stars including Anthony Edwards and Jalen Williams are already out injured. [31]

Major League Baseball's 30 teams earned a record $2.12 billion from sponsors in 2026. [6] That is up 7.3% from $1.98 billion in 2025, says SponsorUnited, which tracks sponsorships. [6] The number of deals rose 17% to 3,732. [6] The average deal was worth $590,000. [6] All 30 teams now sell a sponsor's logo on their shirt sleeves. [6] Each deal now includes 8.32 sponsor items on average, up from 7.08 in 2022. [6] SponsorUnited said most of baseball's big sponsor spaces are already sold. [6]

Why it matters. Banks and other money firms spent about $349 million on team sponsorships. [6]

The PGA Tour, the main US men's golf tour, found a late sponsor in Austin. [7] Good Good, a group of golf video makers, quit on 27 August over a criticised advert. [7] Compliance Solutions, a Florida tax services company, will now be the presenting sponsor. [7] It is paying less than the $6 million Good Good was due to pay. [7] Practice starts in 11 days, leaving little time to advertise the new name. [7]

Why it matters. With so little time to promote it, the deal is worth less than full naming rights. [7]

Whoop, a fitness tracker company, signed LeBron James to star in its adverts. [32] James started wearing one in 2015, as one of its first 100 members. [32] He holds the record for most NBA seasons and signed a two-year, $8 million Philadelphia deal. [32] Whoop's early marketing gave its trackers to trainers who worked with top athletes. [32] James's trainer, Mike Mancias, introduced him to it, with no paid deal involved. [32] Whoop has 3.5 million paying members. [32]

Why it matters. Investors valued it at $10.1 billion this year, and it plans to sell shares publicly. [32]

Texas Tech paid a film studio $999,999 to make a series about its football team. [33] The four-part series, The Program, was made by Skydance Sports and shown on Paramount+. [33] Usually it is the other way round: studios pay schools for access. [33] The studio got access to players, medical rooms and coaches' meetings. [33] Campfire, another studio, paid LSU $1 million for a series about its athletes. [33] Keeping the fee under $1 million avoided a Texas rule for big contracts. [33]

Why it matters. That rule could have needed approval from the university's governing board. [33]

A Republican Senate aide warned college leaders to back a sports bill before the elections. [12] Brad Grantz runs the staff of the US Senate's Commerce Committee. [12] He wrote that a Democrat version would make athletes employees with bargaining rights. [12] Under 2 hours after the 31 July memo, the SEC and Big Ten backed the bill. [12] The US Senate passed it 77-22 in September, but the House has not voted. [12]

Why it matters. Sports-business experts said investors will wait for clear national rules before buying into college sport. [34]

Baseball's free agency began on 29 October, the day after the World Series ended. [11] After a five-day window, free agents can talk to and sign with other clubs. [11] The labour deal between owners and players ends at 11:59pm on 1 December. [11] Owners are expected to lock players out on 2 December. [11] Owners want a salary cap, a limit on what each team spends on players. [35] Pitcher Dustin May turned down his $20 million option with the champion Brewers. [36]

Why it matters. Most of the Brewers' winning team is signed for next season. [37] In 1994 a strike cost baseball 1,200 games and the World Series. [11]

South Korean schoolboy Ha Hyun-seung turned down a $3 million offer from the New York Yankees. [38] He both pitches and hits, and is compared to the Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani. [38] He chose to stay and play in South Korea's own league instead. [38] The Kiwoom Heroes took him first in the Korea Baseball Organization's rookie draft. [38] His 1.6 billion won signing bonus beat the record of 1 billion won, set in 2006. [38]

Why it matters. He said he wanted to prove himself in Korea first. [38]

Skydance, a US media company, removed several sports TV executives after buying Warner Bros. Discovery. [39] Warner Bros. Discovery owned TNT Sports; Skydance already owned CBS. [39] Out are TNT Sports' finance chief, Sophia Constantinides, and CBS production head Harold Bryant. [39] David Berson, who runs sport for Skydance, announced the changes in a memo on Thursday. [39] Craig Berry, a TNT Sports production boss, stays on as chief content officer. [39] RedBird, which also owns AC Milan, is an investor in both Skydance and Front Office Sports. [39][3]

Why it matters. TNT Sports' former chief executive, Luis Silberwasser, had already said he was leaving. [39]

Borussia Dortmund, a German football club, is rewarding fans who stay off their phones. [40] A 'fan mode' in the club's app counts how often each fan unlocks their phone. [40] Fans earn points for each minute and can win signed shirts and shop vouchers. [40] Its stadium held 81,365 people for last Saturday's win over Frankfurt. [40] Influencers film the famous crowd and sell the footage, which annoys regular fans. [40] At tennis's US Open, an umpire stopped play to get a ring light switched off. [40]

Why it matters. Two German clubs, Hertha Berlin and Dynamo Dresden, have banned influencers' commercial videos at games. [40]

Burnley, relegated from the Premier League last season, are in the second tier's bottom three. [41] They have hired Fabio Celestini as coach after sacking Nicky Hayen. [41] Burnley also named Diego Lopez as chief football officer. [41] A 'double drop' means falling from the top division to the third in two seasons. [41] It has happened 4 times in 14 seasons, including Luton and Leicester recently. [41] Leicester's fall was sealed by a 6-point penalty for breaking spending rules. [41]

Why it matters. A pundit, Jobi McAnuff, blamed clubs keeping players who did not want to stay. [41]

Everton beat Newcastle 3-1 in the League Cup and play Fleetwood Town in the quarter-finals. [42] Fleetwood Town, of League Two, knocked Arsenal out of the same cup on Tuesday. [43][44] Newcastle had 28 shots to Everton's 11 but lost. [42] Almost 8,000 Newcastle fans travelled to watch. [42] Everton left out Jack Grealish for what it called a breach of club discipline. [15] He is understood to have missed Monday's training without permission. [15]

Why it matters. Grealish is on loan from Manchester City, which paid 100 million pounds for him in 2021. [43]

Manchester City women drew 1-1 with Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on Thursday. [45] Khadija Shaw scored a penalty in the 85th minute. [45] PSG equalised 3 minutes later through Tara Elimbi Gilbert. [45] City have drawn all three of their European games this season. [45] City missed half a dozen big chances at the Joie Stadium in Manchester. [45]

Why it matters. The top four go straight to the quarter-finals, and City's chance of that looks slim. [45]

The Green Bay Packers beat the Carolina Panthers 27-19 on Thursday night. [46] Receiver Christian Watson was hurt in the first half and taken to hospital in an ambulance. [47] He had coughed up blood, but tests found no bleeding inside. [47] He came back in the third quarter and played again. [47] Jordan Love threw three touchdown passes. [46] Milwaukee Brewers players, the new baseball champions, jumped into the crowd during a TV break. [48]

Why it matters. Green Bay are now 5-3 and Carolina 3-4. [46]