Welcome To The SprungStack
I’ve had a deep, obsessive love for sports ever since I could remember. In second grade, my parents passed up on a chance for me to show off my encyclopedic sports knowledge on the “Late Show with David Letterman.” And when I realized in high school that I had a love and a gift for writing, I knew a career in sports journalism was for me. I started blogging in high school and college and my year studying abroad, publishing regular newsletters and blog posts at SprungOnSports.com even before I realized what I was doing.
After a nearly five-year run at Boardroom publishing a weekly newsletter that amassed more than 200,000 subscribers discussing the inner workings of sports business with columns, profiles, features, news, insights and analysis, that hunger spark, drive and desire for storytelling and sharing my outlook and perspective still hasn’t left me. I’m tired of sitting on the sidelines, so now I’m here to bring my brand of newsletter writing directly to the people.
I’d like to write 2-3 times a week and get a regular cadence going, but you may have to bear with me until I get settled into a routine. I’m still trying to figure out the business model, whether it’s some pieces for free or everything behind a paywall. Regardless, I hope you like what I have to offer and I’ll do everything in my power to ensure that I earn your subscription with the dedicated, quality content I’ve put out for decades now.
In each edition, you’ll have a lead story/angle and some items on news and other topics I think you need to know about, which I’ll call “On The Radar.” Sometimes, I’ll even throw in some movie and music recommendations too. Let’s stay informed, engaged and have some fun in the process.
In short, welcome to The SprungStack!
This should be the end for Gianni Infantino
FIFA President Gianni Infantino has never had a sterling reputation of sparkling integrity during his decade leading sports’ most important and impactful governing body.
Though he didn’t award the 2018 and 2022 men’s World Cups to Russia and Qatar, that was his infamously corrupt predecessor Sepp Blatter, Infantino accepted a medal from Vladimir Putin, overlooked and defended human rights abuses surrounding the 2022 edition that he moved to the winter, facilitated and defended astronomically high prices during the current World Cup and paved the way for Saudi Arabia and all its human rights abuses to host the 2034 tournament. In 2017, Infantino spearheaded an effort to remove two independent co-chairmen of FIFA’s ethics committee who were actively investigating Infantino himself.
Yet Sunday’s decision to suspend the one-game red card ban of U.S. forward Folarin Balogun, allowing him to play in Monday’s round of 16 match against Belgium on American soil at the behest of U.S. President Donald Trump— the winner of Infantino’s first ever FIFA Peace Prize earlier this year— was brazenly corrupt even for FIFA. Trump admitted Monday that he directly spoke with Infantino about reversing the red card, which blatantly broke FIFA rules prohibiting “undue political or government interference” that have led to suspensions of countries like Nepal, Pakistan and India over the last five years.
The baffling Balogun decision, one that hadn’t been made in the World Cup since 1962, even before the red card suspension in the competition was codified by law, has made a joke and a mockery of FIFA’s yellow and red card disciplinary systems, with England and France already considering appeals of their own since it’s now open season on soccer’s rule of law. Every team that gets a questionable card now has proper grounds to ask if its disciplinary punishment can also be postponed. Infantino’s decade-long body of work has been riddled with graft, malfeasance, suspicion and ineptitude, but this stunning breach of law and ethics should lead to his removal from the position when the World Cup ends in two weeks’ time if he doesn’t resign on his own, which he won’t.
If anyone can put pressure on this necessary decision, it’s UEFA, Europe’s governing body and the sport’s second most powerful entity. One of its members, Belgium, was just victimized by this astonishing decision, though it didn’t prevent it from thrashing the physically and mentally overwhelmed U.S. team 4-1 Monday night.
“A minimum automatic suspension of one match following a red card is not a discretionary option and does not require the decision of a competent body to be enacted,” UEFA said in a statement Monday that called the decision crossing a red line. “It is a principle embedded in regulations, which cannot be made subject to exceptions, let alone in the middle of a tournament…When the certainty of rules is no longer guaranteed by its guardians, the integrity of the game is at stake and the credibility of a competition is undermined…We express our disbelief at such an unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable decision.”
Newly appointed German national team head coach Jürgen Klopp added, “this is our sport, not theirs. If Donald Trump and Gianni Infantino really sorted this out between themselves, it is madness; it calls everything into question.”
Even Blatter, himself one of the most corrupt sporting executives to ever live, expressed his disbelief, tweeting that “red cards are not overturned by political phone calls” and “football must never become a playground for political power.”
London football journalist Martyn Ziegler put it well on why Infantino crossed the line here, which could and should lead to lead to his eventual ouster:
On The Radar
A couple of weeks ago in the shower, I wondered whether the World Cup would negatively impact MLB attendance. But since MLB doesn’t freely release these figures in one place, I went through every box score from when the tournament started on June 11 through June 30 of 2025 and 2026 and input the data into an Excel spreadsheet, which took way longer than I’d like to admit (there will be no further questions on this). What I found was that average attendance was slightly higher this year than last, 30,447 to 30,404. Teams welcoming foreign fans like Scotland’s amazing takeover of Boston’s Fenway Park likely helped because as the Tartan Army proudly sings to the tune of “Seven Nation Army,” “no Scotland, no party.” Baseball will try to continue this positive momentum going into All-Star week in Philadelphia.
Donovan Mitchell reportedly just received a four-year, $273 million supermax contract extension from the Cleveland Cavaliers that will see him earn $75.3 million on the last year of his deal in 2030. We’re inching closer to a player making $1 million per NBA regular season game. But as we’ve just seen with Boston’s stunning Jaylen Brown last week, teams are realizing they probably can’t win with two of these max contracts on their roster, constituting 30-35% of the salary cap per player. Next season, Mitchell and All-Star teammate Evan Mobley will earn 60.8% of the Cavs’ cap total, per Spotrac. That number is expected to balloon to 68.9% of the cap by the 2029-2030 season. Can teams win championships this way? The Celtics clearly decided that long term, they couldn’t.
NWSL champion Gotham FC announced Tuesday that it will be leaving Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, NJ for Queens’ Etihad Park for the 2028 season. MLS’ NYCFC will move into the newly-built stadium next to Citi Field in the fall of 2027, finally erecting a permanent home after a dozen nomadic seasons. Gotham announced will trade its New Jersey fan base for a potentially larger New York City one a week before it faces the Washington Spirit at Citi Field, where it’s reportedly already sold nearly 38,000 tickets. While it’s a positive move for the club, I do feel for local fans who will have to travel further to access their favorite sporting stars.
On The Ringer’s Game Over podcast last week, Klutch super-agent and entrepreneur Rich Paul brought over a whiteboard laying out potential destinations for his client and business partner LeBron James (you may have heard he’s a free agent).
While five contenders made up a predictable inner circle led by the Cleveland Cavaliers, Philadelphia 76ers and Miami Heat, the Internet took notice of what it said under the Dallas Mavericks and its new lead basketball executive Masai Ujiri: “Oil, golf, Macau, Africa.” You may notice that none of those things are basketball players, but potential reasons to join as perhaps a business partner down the line. Items like this are why this section is called “On The Radar,” because interesting things are going on in sports that catch my attention and make my eyes and ears perk up.
NCAA President Charlie Baker told CBS’ Face The Nation on Sunday that he wants to “dramatically limit” prop betting in college sports and how it’s impacted the student athletes. Like the NBA, college basketball is facing a series of betting scandals that to some degree undermine the sport’s overall integrity. As college basketball and football become professional sports, what Baker shouldn’t be doing is hiding behind the facade that athletes are just kids and need to be protected. If they’re being paid millions like the pros, they should be equipped to deal with what comes with those responsibilities.
After partnering with them last year on its cup final in New York City, Kalshi announced a multi-year deal with the Pro Padel League as the rising league’s official prediction market. The league opens its five-event North American season from July 9-12 at Manhattan’s Hammerstein Ballroom.
MLB announced its All-Star starters and reserves on Saturday, and ESPN’s Jorge Castillo pointed out that as of right now it would be the first time there are no Puerto Rican players in the Midsummer Classic since 1988. Right now, the development of star players in PR, or lack thereof, is one of the many things currently on my radar.
That’s a wrap for the first edition of The SprungStack. Go listen to the new Madonna album “Confessions II” if you haven’t listened yet, particularly “One Step Away,” and go tell your friends, family, acquaintances and frenemies to subscribe by using the link below!
