This is your Morning Buzzcast for Monday, August 10th. I'm Abe Matcor. Well, there will be no action out of Congress saving college sports this month. The Protect College Sports Act was not voted on as the Senate adjourned for its August recess. They adjourned early Saturday morning without voting on the legislation. Now, yes, the legislation may be brought up once the Senate returns in mid-September, but there is no guarantee and it will be susceptible to more amendments and opposition as the weeks go on.
Over the last few days before the Senate adjourned on Saturday, you would be shocked or maybe not about all the different amendments that were tacked onto this bill or how it was thrown in with other omnibus legislation that would have made passage very, very difficult. But that's what happens on Capitol Hill. Everyone is looking for an edge and they all try to manipulate parts of the process. And the bottom line is that many of the supporters of the Protect College Sports Act fear. that a five-week-long break could impact the Bills' chances of final passage. So things certainly in college sports are on hold for the next four or five weeks. Staying with college sports, the 10 Football Bowl subdivision commissioners and Notre Dame Athletic Director Pete Bavacqua will meet today, Monday, to discuss the possibilities and logistics around a 24-team college football playoff.
Now, the meeting was originally scheduled to be in-person in Dallas, but it's been changed to a virtual meeting, according to The Athletic, because of the ongoing work that all these commissioners have. There are just so many pressing issues, it was easier to do this remotely. So what will be discussed today? Well, discussions will be focused on logistics, calendar, TV windows, the future of the Army-Navy game, and the impact of expansion on the regular season and conference championships, and of course, player health and safety. The CFP's media consultants will share research on all of these areas and give some sort of TV landscape projections, but no final decisions are expected. The big question is how much more media rights revenue could be generated, and those conversations likely will happen later in the fall.
Remember, ESPN has a December 1st deadline for the college football playoff committee to notify the network of any formal changes for 2027. So, yes, the clock is ticking. Today's meeting, more about logistics than decision making. But again, more conversations to be had in the future. Fenway Sports Group continues to invest in golf, and it shows how bullish it is on the Tomorrow Golf League. My colleague Josh Carpenter is reporting today that FSG has purchased a team that will compete in the soon-to-launch Women's League. That's called the WTGL. FSG already owns the Boston Common Golf Team of the TGL, and now it has acquired a women's franchise. It wasn't clear how much was paid for the team, though other teams in the new league reportedly have been going for about $20 million.
Now the WTGL will launch later this fall and it will run through the end of the year. And then the men's league, the TGL, will tee off in early 2027 with its third year. So that's the calendar for the women and the men. And so FSG, Fenway Sports Group, will join other TGL ownership groups in owning both a women's team and a men's team. So they'll join Arthur Blank in Atlanta, Steve Cohen in New York, Alexis Ohanian in Los Angeles, and the Hamp family in Detroit. Now, the WTGL currently has 14 players confirmed for the five teams. More announcements are expected. Also, they're still working on a media deal, although ESPN was seen as the frontrunner for those rights.
More news here to come. But the bottom line is Fenway Sports Group getting in both the men's and women's tomorrow golf league. Let's move on. You know, I have talked a lot about this subject on the Buzzcast because it is a story all my sources in the NBA are watching. And it seems, seems there could be a deal for the Trailblazers to stay in Portland as Multnomah County late last week agreed to contribute $100 million.
to the Blazers' proposed $600 million renovation of the Moda Center. Remember the Moda Center, one of the oldest facilities in the NBA? Now, this is not a done deal, but it does show the spirit of the talks are moving in a positive direction. So why do I bring this up? Well, it's because there has been great concern if owner Tom Dundon really did want to stay in Portland, or did he want to try to move the team? Portland is important to the NBA. The fan base in that market is solid. The team has a pretty rich history.
And while Tom Dundon is not winning any popularity contest in the city right now, a deal to move forward on a renovated Moda Center could offer a sense of starting anew for him in that marketplace with the Blazers fan base. Again, some more work to do, but progress is happening on contributions to a full renovation of... this facility in Portland. I want to talk about some big names in the news that you should be paying attention to. First, Linda Teeler. She is going to the University of Texas and joining Chris Del Conte's executive leadership team as deputy athletic director of strategic initiatives and administration. Now, she is very well regarded. She comes to Texas after serving the past two years as the NCAA senior vice president over championships. She oversaw 84 of the NCAA championships in that role. She will officially start at Texas on September 1st. And so why do I mention her? Again, well regarded.
incredibly tuned into all aspects of college sports. She spent nearly 30 years in college athletic administration. She was more than two decades at the University of Florida. She also worked for current SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey at the Southland Conference in the early 2000s. She served on several leadership positions on the NCAA, many council positions. She's a true power player in college sports. And the fact that she now goes to a storied, massive program like Texas shows how much...
She values the Longhorns' place in college sports and just how much regard Chris Del Conte has for Linda Teeler. So she'll join the University of Texas in a leadership position. And I mentioned it last week, but you can still go to sportsbusinessjournal.com and read our profile of another leader at the University of Texas, Chris Plonsky, who has been a leader on that campus for years. Rachel Axon writes a great profile of all her accomplishments. And now Linda Teeler will join Chris Plonsky at the University of Texas. And PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolap, he continues to recruit.
from his old employer to fill key roles at the PGA Tour, as he is named Will Dang as the PGA Tour's new SVP of media strategy. And Will Dang, yes, he comes from the NFL. He was head of corporate strategy. He had been at the league for more than 11 years. Dang is a 2021 40 Under 40 honoree, and he is from Penn, went to MIT for his MBA. He has been involved in so many of the NFL's major media moves, especially around streaming and really new media.
He is expected to split his time between New York and the PGA Tour's headquarters in Florida. This is an important role, as the PGA Tour, like all other leagues, look to develop its long-term media strategy at a time when the Tour is undergoing major changes to its schedule and structure, and at a time when the media landscape is so uncertain. So a big position. This is the third leader from the NFL that Brian Rollap has brought to the PGA Tour. There was, of course, communications head Paul Hicks and chief commercial officer Dhruv Prasad. And now Will Dang joins those two, leaving the NFL for the PGA Tour.
So my two takeaways from today's Buzzcast, number one, do not look for any help from Congress for college sports before mid-September. As the Senate adjourned for its August recess without acting on the Protect College Sports Act, we will see if they take it up when they return. Takeaway number two, the trailblazers future in Portland is starting to look more likely after county officials are close to financing and contributing to financing for a major renovation of the Moda Center. And I hope you will join me at Access Drive, September 22nd through the 24th in Indianapolis. We have a lot going on. We have a rare sit-down with Pacers Sports and Entertainment Chair Herb Simon. Also, Mike Plant and Derek Schiller from the Braves talk about how the Battery and Truist Park are celebrating its 10th anniversary in Atlanta. These two are the architects behind one of the most important developments in all of sports, and they will share lessons learned over the past decade from...
this transformative mixed-use development. I hope you will join me. Register now or let me know if you have any questions. And that is your Morning Buzzcast for Monday, August 10th. I'm Abe Madcore. Thanks for listening. Stay healthy. Be good to each other. I'll speak to you tomorrow.