for the younger fans that did not experience the 90’s rivalry. 1 million — Number of Facebook followers the Indiana Fever now have, making them the first WNBA team to reach 1 million followers on any platform (X, 5/19)
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Kang rebrands Lyon women’s team, plans training center…MLB’s first Rivalry Weekend leads to massive crowds…PWHL unveils expansion teams’ signing rules, draft OL Lyonnes is a portmanteau of the French word for Lionesses and the club’s home city of Lyon. OL Lyonnes Kynisca Sports International Founder & CEO Michele Kang continues to shake things up in […]
Kang rebrands Lyon women’s team, plans training center…MLB’s first Rivalry Weekend leads to massive crowds…PWHL unveils expansion teams’ signing rules, draft
Kynisca Sports International Founder & CEO Michele Kang continues to shake things up in women’s soccer, rebranding one of the most historic and successful clubs in the sport’s history. The French club formerly known as Olympique Lyonnais Féminin (or OL Féminin) will now be called OL Lyonnes, a portmanteau of the French word for Lionesses and the club’s home city of Lyon. The new name comes with a new crest that features the team’s historic red and blue colors and a roaring lioness’ head.
“As the most successful team, they need their own identity, separate and independent from a men’s team or secondary to somebody,” Kang said.
OL Lyonnes also plans to build a new female-focused performance campus that in addition to female-specific training facilities will include Europe’s first club-led women’s football museum. The club has appointed architects F3 to lead the training center design project, which Kang said doesn’t have a price tag yet but “is not going to be cheap.”
Kang also announced OL Lyonnes will play all its home matches going forward at Groupama Stadium, a 59,000-seat venue where the team would previously only play occasionally. It previously played the bulk of its matches at Stade Gérard Houllier, a 1,524-seat facility located in the Groupama OL Training Center.
MLB’s inaugural Rivalry Weekend drove fans to ballparks across the country. Total attendance over the 45-game, May 17-19 weekend was 1,608,475 or 35,744 on average. Both those figures (total and average) mark MLB’s best weekend attendance prior to Memorial Day weekend since May 18-20, 2012 (1,652,935 and 36,732, respectively). For the Subway Series, the Yankees drew their three best crowds of the year against the Mets, including a season-high 48,028 on Sunday. Meanwhile, for the Freeway Series in L.A., the Angels did the same, including a season-high 51,997 against the Dodgers on Sunday. Booking.com was the sponsor of Rivalry Weekend, which featured 11 Interleague series and four non-Interleague matchups. 
The expansion teams in Vancouver and Seattle will get an exclusive signing window from June 4 to 8, with the expansion draft set for June 9. Getty Images The PWHL today unveiled key dates and rules for the “upcoming exclusive signing window and expansion draft” for its newest expansion teams in Vancouver and Seattle. The exclusive signing window will run from June 4 to 8, with Vancouver and Seattle being able to “add up to five players each.” The expansion draft will take place June 9, with Vancouver and Seattle allowed to “select a minimum of seven players to reach a 12-player roster.” The order of the selections will be “revealed at a later date.” The six inaugural teams will have to “submit player protection lists by noon ET on June 3 to determine three players they intend to keep from the expansion process.” Those teams will be able to “protect a fourth player once they lose two from their rosters” (CP, 5/19).
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