Tim Bontemps Close Tim Bontemps ESPN Senior Writer Tim Bontemps is a senior NBA writer for ESPN.com who covers the league and what’s impacting it on and off the court, including trade deadline intel, expansion and his MVP Straw Polls. You can find Tim alongside Brian Windhorst and Tim MacMahon on The Hoop Collective podcast. […]
Tim Bontemps
Tim Bontemps
ESPN Senior Writer
Dave McMenamin
Dave McMenamin
ESPN Staff Writer
It’s not every day that an NBA team is sold. And, prior to Wednesday afternoon, no NBA team had ever been sold for $10 billion — or anywhere close to it.
But no NBA team is like the Los Angeles Lakers, which is what made Wednesday’s news from ESPN’s Shams Charania that the majority stake in the franchise would be sold by the Buss family to businessman Mark Walter for a record $10 billion valuation such a massive story, to go along with a massive number.
There is no bigger brand in the NBA — and possibly all of North American sports — than the Lakers, whose purple and gold colors are worn around the world and are synonymous with some of the sport’s biggest names and most iconic teams. Since Jerry Buss purchased the team in 1979, the Lakers have won 11 titles and won more than 60% of their games, both the best of any NBA franchise over that span.
But there is also no team that has been more identified with the past, from an ownership standpoint, than the Lakers, who haven’t confirmed the sale and have declined to comment on it. Buss’ six children — led by the team’s governor, Jeanie, whom sources told ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne will remain the governor for “at least a number of years” — have tried to carry their father’s legacy forward as the sport has changed around them.
“This is a good move,” one league source who has frequent interactions with the franchise said. “The Lakers can finally be run like a real business.”
For a team whose identity centers around prestige and glamour, the Lakers, under the Buss family’s ownership has, in many ways, operated like the biggest mom-and-pop shop in sports, with all the constraints that come with it.
“Look at the guy across town from them,” said another league source.
Steve Ballmer, who purchased the cross-city rival LA Clippers for a then-record $2 billion in 2014 — and who then spent and additional $2 billion on the Intuit Dome so the Clippers no longer had to share an arena with the Lakers — happens to be the eighth-wealthiest person on the planet, according to Forbes, with a net worth north of $130 billion.
What made the Lakers unique, in comparison to virtually every other NBA team, is that for the Buss family, there was no other family business. Or, more to the point, no significant additional revenue stream.
The Lakers, under the Buss family, ran on the revenue generated by the team. Despite all of the natural advantages Los Angeles enjoys, that presented a challenge in a league where ownership groups led by people such as Ballmer or the Adelson family (who bought the Dallas Mavericks at a $4 billion valuation in 2023) have the ability to pour many more resources into their teams than the Lakers have been able to — or have done.
“Most of these owners now, this is a part of their portfolio,” a league executive said. “It’s not the only thing in their portfolio.”
What has allowed the Lakers to keep up with the rest of the NBA has been their massive local television rights deal with Spectrum — a package that pays Los Angeles a staggering $3 billion over 20 years, beginning in 2012. That deal dwarfs what other teams are bringing in.
But relying on a fading business to fund the team was always a perilous long-term plan as regional sports networks have folded. And, despite that massive yearly infusion of cash, the Lakers couldn’t compete dollar-for-dollar with Ballmer and other deep-pocketed owners, causing them to lag behind in ways known — and unknown.
That won’t be a problem anymore.
“It makes sense,” an executive said of the family’s decision to sell the controlling stake in the franchise. “With the way the league is going, I don’t think they could afford to be in this business. It just costs too much day-to-day.”‘
1:16
Shams: The Lakers are the now the highest valued franchise in sports history
Shams Charania reacts to the breaking news of the Buss family agreeing to sell the Los Angeles Lakers to Mark Walter for approximately $10 billion.
The timing of the sale is not, however, an indictment of the Buss family’s ability to run a successful, money-making enterprise.
The Lakers still operated a profitable business in recent years as the salary cap grew exponentially, sources said. Since Jeanie Buss became governor in 2013, the Lakers have spent more than $1.5 billion in salaries and tax, eighth in the league in that span according to ESPN NBA front office insider Bobby Marks, and won their 17th title in 2020. The only team with more championships since Jerry Buss left the franchise to his children is the Golden State Warriors and their dynastic run of four.
But in the NBA, teams endlessly scheme to discover every little advantage they can, and the relatively cash-poor Lakers struggled to keep up with the arms race.
In 2019, negotiations with Tyronn Lue to become their next head coach stalled in part over money, with Lue seeking an annual salary of $7 million over five years — commensurate with the other coaches in the league with championship experience at the time. L.A. offered an annual salary of $6 million over three years.
In 2021, negotiations with free agent guard Alex Caruso also crumbled because of money. The Lakers, citing luxury tax concerns, offered a three-year deal worth $21 million, sources said. Caruso signed with the Chicago Bulls instead for four years, $37 million. He is now a critical part of the Oklahoma City Thunder and last year signed a four-year, $81 million extension with the franchise.
Until the Luka Doncic deal in February, when L.A. committed to adding $55,000 in salary, the Lakers hadn’t taken back money in a trade since 2013.
Instances of the Lakers’ miserly traits are wide-ranging.
• An assistant coach was not approved to stay at the same hotel as the player he was traveling to work out with in the offseason because the room was too expensive.
• Former assistant GM Ronnie Lester’s contract was not renewed during the NBA lockout in 2011, a financial decision and one of many in a rash of layoffs or nonrenewals.
• The team applied for federal relief through the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program during the COVID-19 hiatus. After considerable backlash, they later returned the $4.6 million to the government.
• They were the only NBA team without a representative at the Sloan Analytics Conference in 2013 because they didn’t have much of an analytics department to speak of. While the team has committed more resources recently at the behest of coach JJ Redick, it was an area the Lakers had long lagged behind compared to the rest of the league.
Walter’s reputation as an owner is the opposite.
Game 1: Pacers 111, Thunder 110
Game 2: Thunder 123, Pacers 107
Game 3: Pacers 116, Thunder 107
Game 4: Thunder 111, Pacers 104
Game 5: Thunder 120, Pacers 109
Game 6: at Pacers, Thu., June 19, 8:30 p.m.
Game 7*: at Thunder, Sun. June 22, 8 p.m.
* If necessary | All times Eastern
And as soon as he purchased a minority stake of the Lakers in 2021, this sale was a possibility, if not an inevitably. “Somebody of the magnitude of Mark Walter comes in,” a league source said, “it was probably a foregone conclusion at some point in time.”
Walter’s success since acquiring another iconic Los Angeles franchise, the Dodgers, from the McCourt family back in 2012 is a window into how he operates.
There are plenty of meaningful differences between Major League Baseball and the NBA . There is no salary cap in baseball, and there is one in basketball. There’s a full minor league system in baseball, there’s only a limited one in basketball, with far fewer privileges to control rights over developed players.
Still, when Walter and his partners — including, it should be noted, Lakers legend Magic Johnson — bought the Dodgers, they did far more than simply go pay for the best players and watch wins appear on the field. Instead, they have poured considerable resources into every level of the franchise — something that, with no cap on off-court spending in the NBA, they could replicate with the Lakers.
The Dodgers hired Andrew Friedman, seen as one of the best executives in baseball, away from the small-market Tampa Bay Rays — a franchise that had succeeded for years, despite having a low payroll, by winning in every way on the margins.
In a little more than a decade, Walter and his group built an organization that rivals any in baseball, using that financial might to build out analytics and scouting staffs, causing the Dodgers to become a behemoth across all fronts so that they could not only sign Shohei Ohtani as a free agent, but also use their minor league system to acquire other stars such as Mookie Betts.
“It will be interesting to see if the Lakers can become what everyone thinks they have been, which is this cash cow, spend money at all costs, do whatever it takes to win,” one league source said.
“The Yankees and Lakers have always been put in the same class, but it’s not the same. I’ve never worked in baseball, but they’re not the Yankees.”
And, in many ways, and as painful as it might be for Lakers fans, they can look at Ballmer and the Clippers as an example of what the future of this franchise could be.
Ballmer spent years crafting the Intuit Dome, his new home for the Clippers, and has invested heavily in building a massive front office under the leadership of president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank and general manager Trent Redden.
Expanding the front office for the Lakers under Walter is a no-brainer.
“For years it was Mitch Kupchak and that was it,” a league source said of the Lakers’ former GM. “And now it’s Rob Pelinka, and no disrespect, and that’s it.”
Following the Dodgers’ model, even if Pelinka, who recently signed a multiyear extension and was promoted to president of basketball operations, stays on, more brain power will be added to the room.
“Who is their Andrew Friedman?” a league source asked. “Is it Bob [Myers]? Is it Masai [Ujiri]? Is it Sam Presti?”
And now they will have the compensation available to go after the best in the business.
“When Ballmer bought the Clippers, you’ve seen how he’s invested in the organization at every level,” another source said. “Has it won a championship? No, but they’re a great organization. They’re top five in the NBA in wins over the last 10 years and they’ve had a streak of making the playoffs when they never used to make them at all.
“The on-court is not where this is going to get the most impact. It’s going to be off court. “
This will do nothing to slow down the talk about expansion coming to the NBA, multiple sources said. For months, sources had said the sale of the NBA’s other iconic franchise, the Boston Celtics, was holding up the process, and particularly the final figure.
That figure turned out to be a record $6.1 billion — a staggering amount that, sources said, was particularly surprising given the Celtics don’t own their arena, TD Garden. That number was 50% higher than the previous record of $4 billion that was paid by Mat Ishbia in 2023 to acquire the Phoenix Suns.
Now another team without control over its arena — the Lakers — is about to be sold at a valuation 65% higher than that record (the deal could be finalized as soon as next month’s board of governors meeting in Las Vegas).
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At that same news conference earlier this month, Silver not only said that expansion will be a topic at next month’s meeting, but that there will likely be a recommendation to create a committee to formally study the topic — the next official step toward potential expansion.
“There’s been no lack of interest,” Silver said. “I essentially have said to people from several different cities, ‘We’re just not engaging in that process right now.’ I want to be fair to everyone. So I don’t want to have meetings with some and not others. So if we were to say yes, we’re now going to move into a more formal exploratory phase. “
These prices should mean the expansion fees could get into the range of $6 billion per team, sources said — meaning the current 30 owners, if there are two expansion teams, would each receive a check for roughly $400 million.
1:47
Why Windy isn’t surprised by Lakers’ $10B valuation
Brian Windhorst joins Scott Van Pelt to explain what it means that the Lakers sold for approximately $10 billion to Mark Walter, who owns the Dodgers.
While it will take some time for this sale to be finalized, the fact it is happening at the beginning of a critically important and consequential offseason for the Lakers is another marker of the franchise moving into a new era — one that started back in February, when they made their stunning acquisition of Doncic.
There are several significant items on the Lakers’ to-do list as the franchise tries to build on last season’s surprising 50-win season in Redick’s first year as head coach, which ended with the Lakers losing to the Minnesota Timberwolves in five games in the first round of the playoffs.
The biggest of those questions is the future of Doncic in Los Angeles.
Doncic can sign a contract extension on Aug. 2 for as much as four years and $229 million, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks, but he also could agree to a two-year extension, to get him to 10 years of service in the summer of 2028, when he could sign a five-year max contract at 35% of the salary cap to maximize his earnings.
Or, he could choose to wait until next summer and hit unrestricted free agency. At that point, he could sign for as much as a five-year, $296 million deal to stay with the Lakers long term, per Marks — or he could leave.
A source close to Doncic said that Walter’s deep pockets, combined with his results with the Dodgers, makes L.A. that much more appealing for the 26-year-old superstar.
The Lakers are an amazing organization. I’m looking forward to meeting Mark and excited about the future. I am also grateful to Jeanie and the Buss family for welcoming me to LA, and I’m happy that Jeanie will continue to be involved. I look forward to working with both of them…
— Luka Doncic (@luka7doncic) June 19, 2025
“You always want the wealthiest owners, so that speaks for itself,” the source said. “And his track record speaks for itself. … [Doncic] wants to win. This owner’s proven that he wants to win. So this is a plus-plus.”
Doncic isn’t the only item on the agenda for Pelinka and the rest of L.A.’s front office. LeBron James has a $52.6 million player option for next season, which Charania has reported he is likely to opt into.
At this point, James — now 40 and the league’s oldest player — is taking a year-by-year approach, and while there is no expectation of him going elsewhere, there is a level of uncertainty over which path he will take.
While James’ decision is still pending, a source close to James suggested that Walter could be a valuable resource for James as he pursues his post-playing career goal of one day owning an NBA franchise, too.
And then there’s the rest of the roster, which the Lakers hope to simultaneously upgrade around Doncic and James while also trying to find ways to grow with Doncic, 26, for the next several years.
Dorian Finney-Smith, another midseason trade acquisition and a Doncic friend from their time together in Dallas, has a $15.3 million player option for next season that has to get sorted out. Then there’s the team’s glaring hole at center — one the Lakers briefly looked like they had filled at the NBA’s trade deadline, only to later void their deal with the Charlotte Hornets over concerns over the physical of Hornets center Mark Williams.
So not only do the Lakers have to try to find the kind of lob-catching center Doncic desires, as well as adding more shooting to a roster that lacks it, but they have to do it with minimal salary cap flexibility and trade assets, with only the $5.7 million taxpayer’s mid-level exception to offer to free agents if James opts into his deal. They also own just one tradable first round pick (either 2031 or ’32) to put in a potential deal for upgrades.
This is where Walter, and his billions, can’t help.
It’s a challenging starting point for a team that, if it hopes to compete, has to try to catch up to the Thunder, who are armed with a burgeoning young core led by 26-year-old Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, this year’s MVP, plus oodles of future draft capital to further strengthen the roster.
The irony of Wednesday’s news is that, for the past two weeks, the NBA Finals have been a showcase for two small-market teams — the Thunder and Indiana Pacers — and the methodical team-building processes that have slowly made them contenders.
And so while the two of them fight for the Larry O’Brien Trophy, the Lakers are embarking on a new era in the franchise’s history — one they hope will lead them back to the place they’ve been 17 times before.
[Screengrab] A video circulating on social media showing a young man pushing an elderly man into a fountain in the Old Town of Rhodes, apparently as a joke, has sparked public outrage in Greece. The footage shows the youth approaching the older man before forcefully shoving him into the water. He then walks away, laughing. […]
[Screengrab]
A video circulating on social media showing a young man pushing an elderly man into a fountain in the Old Town of Rhodes, apparently as a joke, has sparked public outrage in Greece.
The footage shows the youth approaching the older man before forcefully shoving him into the water. He then walks away, laughing.
Locals told state broadcaster ERT that the victim is a homeless man known in the area who often collects coins from the fountain to survive.
Earlier this summer, Fox Sports CEO Eric Shanks jetted into Nantucket for a three hour meeting that would reshape the lineup of Fox Sports 1, and shake up its Big Noon Kickoff college football show. Shanks’ brief visit to the New England vacation destination was to help close a deal with Dave Portnoy and his […]
Earlier this summer, Fox Sports CEO Eric Shanks jetted into Nantucket for a three hour meeting that would reshape the lineup of Fox Sports 1, and shake up its Big Noon Kickoff college football show.
Shanks’ brief visit to the New England vacation destination was to help close a deal with Dave Portnoy and his digital media brand Barstool Sports. Portnoy’s $42 million compound on Nantucket (the most expensive home ever sold in the state of Massachusetts when he bought in 2023) overlooks the harbor, where ferries bring visitors and residents in and out from the mainland all day. All paid for by his self-described “pirate ship” of a media brand, which he had sold to Penn Entertainment for $551 million, and bought back just a couple of years later for $1.
Shanks’ visit underscores how the sands have shifted in media. It wasn’t that long ago that talent would be summoned to meet with execs in their New York offices or Los Angeles studio lots. Now when there is talent in demand, the executives will go where they need to, even an island 30 miles out in the Atlantic Ocean.
Fox had been chatting with Portnoy for “five or six months,” the Barstool founder said on his company’s Unnamed Show on July 17, culminating in the deal announced the same day, which will see Portnoy appear weekly on Big Noon Kickoff and Barstool creating a live two hour show for FS1, as well as social content.
“We had that ESPN deal, they didn’t even want to talk to me, right? They couldn’t stomach the sight of my face,” Portnoy said on the podcast, referencing Barstool Van Talk, the ESPN2 series that was canceled after one episode after the network became uncomfortable with comments made by talent on social media. “[Fox] wants our audience, they know what audience we have, and we’re going to try to come up with a bunch of things with them. And it’s a wide-ranging relationship.”
Dave Portnoy & his dog Miss Peaches during an interview with host Jimmy Fallon on July 16, 2025.
Getty Images
The world of media has changed, and authenticity rules. Being outspoken is even better, and with cord-cutting wreaking havoc on TV viewing, traditional TV players that used to develop their talent in house are increasingly turning to outsiders to help give them relevance to an audience that might otherwise bypass their content.
“Dave has built a one-of-a-kind brand that connects with a new generation of sports fans – authentic, bold, and original,” said Shanks in a statement. “[Barstool’s] unique voice and loyal fanbase makes them a natural fit for our evolving multiplatform content strategy.”
A lot has changed since ESPN canceled its Barstool show in 2017. Look no further than ESPN’s deals with NFL player turned radio and podcast host Pat McAfee (who cut his teeth in digital media at Barstool, no less).
McAfee has occasionally found himself in hot water, like when he accused ESPN executive Norby Williamson of “sabotaging” his show, or when recurring guest Aaron Rodgers made unfounded claims about Jimmy Kimmel and Jeffrey Epstein. Earlier in July, McAfee apologized to an Ole Miss student who was named in a viral but false internet scandal (Portnoy also apologized for some of Barstool’s talent spreading the false report).
Pat McAfee is seen on the set of The Pat McAfee Show along Radio Row on February 05, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Getty Images
Sitting on a panel in ESPN’s commissary in Bristol, Connecticut last year, McAfee exuded confidence as he parried questions from skeptical journalists about his deal, which sees ESPN license The Pat McAfee Show, an unusual arrangement for a daily program.
“We haven’t been kicked off ESPN yet, I view that as a success. Now, granted, we would still just continue doing business on YouTube and on our TikTok and everything like that, and we’re very lucky to be on ESPN,” McAfee said. “Whenever people in here have tried to get me fired for taking clips out of context or quotes out of context, and misrepresented everything that I’ve said, and the human that I am and the deal that it is, we know that we’re good. So you can fire us, you can try to kill us, you can do whatever you need to do. But our success is the fact that we have a following, and they’re going to ride with us.”
ESPN chief Jimmy Pitaro said that he has been laser focused on the problem of “how can we resonate with younger people?”
“If you look at my kids, Netflix, Instagram, TikTok, Fortnite, they’re incredibly distracted. So how is it that we can make programs like Get Up and First Take resonate with younger people? Obviously, Pat McAfee is very, very helpful there,” Pitaro said. “I was just in a research meeting where our folks presented to me the response that younger people have had to Pat McAfee, and it’s been staggering and really helpful to our brand in its entirety.”
The talent benefits too. Portnoy told his company’s podcast that they are already thinking about how Fox talent like Greg Olsen and Tom Brady could participate in Barstool segments, while McAfee says that “we got legitimized by ESPN.”
“Some suits that wouldn’t let their clients come on our show before, because we were just an internet show,” he said.
Sports media, with its hot takes, fierce debates and big personalities has been a natural proving ground for TV’s digital creator era (consider Omar Raja, the House of Highlights founder who also joined ESPN in 2020), but there are signs that TV news is the next frontier. Brett Cooper, a popular YouTube creator who blends entertainment and cultural commentary with conservative values, was signed as an on-air contributor to Fox News.
“It’s about connecting with the audience, first and foremost,” says Lauren Petterson, president of the Fox Nation streaming service and head of talent development for Fox News. “Brett does that through her cause – which is culture. And the way she does it is also unique, through thoughtful discussion and persuasion. She is also a very direct person: she’s consistent with what she says and what she’s doing in her own life. She’s the same person on the screen as she is in person. That kind of authenticity appeals to people of all ages.”
Fox also recently cut a deal to license the Ruthless podcast, with executive Porter Berry adding oversight of new media as the company seeks out other digital deals.
And Skydance has held conversations with Bari Weiss about possibly acquiring her Free Press, perhaps bringing the outspoken former New York Times columnist into the CBS News fold when it takes over Paramount, in a bid to expand its digital footprint (or maybe to comply with promises made to the FCC).
“Skydance has made written commitments to ensure that the new company’s programming embodies a diversity of viewpoints from across the political and ideological spectrum,” FCC chairman Brendan Carr said in a statement approving the deal. “Skydance will also adopt measures that can root out the bias that has undermined trust in the national news media.”
Weiss, a frequent critic of the mainstream media, could fit that bill.
And both CNN and MSNBC are in the midst of a podcast expansion push, with MSNBC hiring executives to beef up its digital business ahead of its spinout into Versant later this year.
Both cable news channels are leveraging their own talent, of course, but there are signs they are looking elsewhere too.
Last year, podcast hosts Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway (someone also known for his hot takes) held talks with CNN about moving their show into its orbit, before reupping with their current partners Vox Media.
There is connective tissue between all of these conversations and deals. Cultural currency is more likely to be found these days on YouTube or Spotify, and viewers of live linear TV tend to skew older. With news and sports the last content standing, bringing over some of that more youthful audience could be a way to extend the lifespan of linear TV as executives grapple with a saturated and splintered streaming environment.
And with YouTube increasingly taking over the TV set, news executives are beginning to grapple with a world where the shows are just one of thousands being fed algorithmically to viewers. Perhaps its better to have those creators that figured out how to make that model work inside the house, before the whole thing collapses into itself.
This story appeared in the July 30 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
The US Southern California Chinese American Youth Water Polo Team embarks on a five-day visit to Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] The US Southern California Chinese American Youth Water Polo Team arrived in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, on Monday and started a five-day friendly visit in the southern […]
The US Southern California Chinese American Youth Water Polo Team arrived in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, on Monday and started a five-day friendly visit in the southern metropolis.
On Wednesday and Thursday, they will have two Double-Fish Cups matches against the Guangzhou Youth Water Polo Team each day.
They will also join table tennis competitions, experience Lingnan (South China) intangible cultural heritage projects, visit the headquarters of science and technology companies in Guangzhou and the Los Angeles Garden in Yuexiu Park, as well as plant friendship trees with Guangzhou youths.
The visit aims to further develop youth exchanges between China and the United States.
Guangzhou, known as a millennium commercial capital, became a sister city with Los Angeles in 1981.
Over four decades, the two cities have maintained close exchanges and cooperation in various fields of economy, trade, culture, education, and sports.
The US polo team will also visit other cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area after ending the Guangzhou visit.
Story Links IRVING, Texas – UTSA baseball standout James Taussig and South Florida soccer star Georgia Brown have been chosen as the 2024-25 American Conference Scholar-Athletes of the Year, as chosen by the conference’s Academic Committee. Taussig, who was chosen as the American’s Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and Brown, the American’s […]
IRVING, Texas – UTSA baseball standout James Taussig and South Florida soccer star Georgia Brown have been chosen as the 2024-25 American Conference Scholar-Athletes of the Year, as chosen by the conference’s Academic Committee.
Taussig, who was chosen as the American’s Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and Brown, the American’s Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year, will each receive a $4,000 postgraduate financial scholarship.
Taussig and Brown were chosen from a group of 22 individual sport Scholar-Athletes of the Year who received $2,000 postgraduate scholarships. The 23 Scholar-Athletes of the Year include 16 individuals who won individual conference titles or earned all-conference accolades during the 2024-25 season.
Taussig, a native of Houston, becomes the first UTSA student-athlete and the fifth baseball player to be named as the American Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Taussig led the Roadrunners to their most successful season in program history in 2025 as he hit .344 with 10 home runs and 65 runs batted in to help UTSA to a win in the NCAA Austin Regional and its first appearance in the Super Regionals. He was named as Most Outstanding Player of the Austin Regional and was a first-team all-conference selection in the American.
Taussig graduated with a 3.94 grade-point average as a double major in finance and real estate finance and development. He was a four-time Dean’s List selection, a three-time President’s List honoree and was named the Will and Mary Hathaway Male Academic Athlete of the Year in 2025.
Brown, who hails from Highworth, England, becomes the third South Florida student-athlete to be chosen as the American Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year, joining 2021 winner Georgina Corrick (softball) and 2023 winner Dulcy Fankam- Mendjiadeu (basketball). She is the first women’s soccer player to earn the American’s top academic honor.
Brown is a two-time College Sports Communicators. Academic All-America selection, including a first-team choice in 2024, when she earned first-team all-conference honors. A standout defender, Brown also contributed four goals and two assists in 2024 on her way to a second consecutive all-conference selection
Brown earned a 4.00 grade-point average as an undergraduate, completing a bachelor’s degree in biomedical sciences.
Selections for the 22 Scholar-Athlete of the Year awards, as well as the Male and Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors, are made by the Academic Committee on the basis of academic credentials and athletic performance. Each conference school may nominate one student-athlete per sport who has achieved senior academic standing as determined by the institution. A winner is chosen from each of the conference’s 20 sponsored sports in addition to at-large selections from sports not sponsored by the conference.
Scholar-Athletes of the Year
The American Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year awards are among of a number of scholarships presented by the conference during the academic year.
The conference has presented individual sport Scholar-Athletes of the Year in baseball, men’s basketball and women’s basketball since the 2013-14 season. The conference has presented individual awards in all other sports beginning with the 2017-18 season.
2025 American Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year
James Taussig, UTSA (Baseball)
2025 American Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Georgia Brown, South Florida (Soccer)
2025 American Scholar-Athletes of the Year
| Sport | Student-Athlete | School | Highlights |
| Baseball | James Taussig | UTSA | First-team all-conference; NCAA Austin Regional Most Outstanding Player |
| Men’s Basketball | Xavier Bell | Wichita State | First-team all-conference; averaged 15.2 ppg in 2024-25 |
| Women’s Basketball | Synia Johnson | East Carolina | 112 career games; Most Outstanding Player of 2023 American Championship |
| Men’s Cross Country | Ryan Adkins | Tulane | Member of 2024 American Championship team; placed 29th |
| Women’s Cross Country | Amelie Attenborough | Rice | Registered top-25 finish at 2024 American Championship |
| Football | Bryson Daily | Army | American Offensive Player of the Year; Sixth in Heisman Trophy voting |
| Men’s Golf | Jake Peacock | South Florida | Two-time American Player of the Year and conference champion |
| Women’s Golf | Lovisa Gunnar | Tulsa | Two-time all-conference; member of 2025 American championship team |
| Women’s Lacrosse | Gianna Cutaia | Charlotte | First-team all-conference; led the American in ground balls per game |
| Men’s Soccer | Logan Longo | Memphis | All-conference second team selection for 2024 regular-season champion |
| Women’s Soccer | Georgia Brown | South Florida | First-team all-conference in 2024; 2023 Academic All-America selection |
| Softball | Lauren Lucas | Wichita State | Three-time first-team all-conference; 2023 All-America selection |
| Women’s Swimming and Diving | Andrea Zeebe | Tulane | American champion in 800 freestyle relay in 2025 |
| Men’s Tennis | Danijal Muminovic | UTSA | Runner-up at American Individual Championships |
| Women’s Tennis | Darya Schwartzman | Rice | All-conference selection for nationally ranked Owls |
| Men’s Indoor Track and Field | Hudson Bailey | Wichita State | 2025 American heptathlon champion |
| Women’s Indoor Track and Field | Destiny Masters | Wichita State | Most Valuable Performer at 2025 American Championship |
| Men’s Outdoor Track and Field | Joakim Genereux | Wichita State | Honorable mention All-America in 4×400 relay at 2025 NCAA Championships |
| Women’s Outdoor Track and Field | McKyla van der Westhuizen | Rice | Two-time American champion in javelin throw |
| Women’s Volleyball | Lara Kretschmer | Charlotte | Played 127 career matches; named to CSC Academic All-District Team |
| Men’s At-Large (Gymnastics) | Joseph Buselmeier | Army | USA Gymnastics All-America; All-ECAC selection on floor and rings |
| Women’s At-Large (Beach Volleyball) | Olivia Stant | UAB | First-team all-conference after going 26-7 on top court |
In the seventh of the summer series of articles on the new teams who will join the NVL for the 2025-26 season, Farnborough Phoenix speak about their Division 3 South West prospects. Year formed: 1997. NVL Coach: Nigel Spierts. Social media handles: farnborough_volleyball_club (Instagram). Farnborough Volleyball Club- FVC (Facebook). Website: Click here. After two hugely […]
Year formed: 1997.
NVL Coach: Nigel Spierts.
Social media handles: farnborough_volleyball_club (Instagram). Farnborough Volleyball Club- FVC (Facebook).
Website: Click here.
After two hugely successful seasons locally and regionally, Farnborough Phoenix are relishing playing National League volleyball and testing out just how good they can be at that level.
Things certainly bode well for the Hampshire club, given recent achievements, having won Division 1 of the Berkshire League for the last two years running and also twice finishing as SEVA winners during that time.
Alongside that, in last year’s National Shield competition, the team also enjoyed success where they swept to a 25-17, 25-13, 25-20 victory at the Last 64 stage over a Cheltenham and Gloucester side which had just been promoted to NVL Division 2 West.
Farnborough also put up a fight at the Last 32 stage before being edged out in five sets by Portsmouth, who completed a reverse sweep on the south coast (21-25, 18-25, 25-23, 25-14, 15-12).
From the autumn, they can look forward to the new challenge of facing the likes of Bedminster 2, Plymouth, Plymouth Mayflower, Portsmouth, Weymouth, Southampton 2, City of Bristol and Bristol 2 in NVL Division 3 South East.
“We are consistently winning everything we can on a local and South East level,” said Head Coach Nigel Spierts. “We want to take it to new levels and see how far we can go.
“We want to finish as high as possible in our new league. A top-three finish is the ambition, but we’ll be happy with playing our level consistently and peaking towards the end of the season.
“Playing different teams with different styles and players is going to make things very interesting and we would love to have a good run in the Shield to go with our league matches.”
While it is the highest-ranked women’s side that is making the foray into the NVL, Farnborough is an active club from top to bottom.
It operates two men’s and two women’s teams, as well as a number of junior teams that play in a combination of the Berkshire Volleyball League and Surrey Volleyball League.
In addition, the U18 boys team entered in the national Junior Grand Prix Series for the first time last season.
With a main indoor venue for training and matches at Samuel Cody Sports College (GU14 8SS), the club welcomes people from year seven to adults who want to train, enjoy competitive volleyball and potentially play in a team.
Nigel added: “It started as some friends coming together to play, but quickly expanded to form the club as it is now.
“The last three years has seen significant changes with the club growing from 84 to 178 members we have to date (junior and adults).
“There’s lots being done in the junior setting to develop things, with the club part of the Thames Valley High Performance Training (TVHPT) programme.”
Phoenix will go into the NVL season with a 14-player squad who Nigel says are all important and have the potential to impact the game.
In fact, he cites the strength of the bench as one of the key components to its ongoing success.
“The experience and leadership of Carly Lane and Ramona Dienel will be important to us, as ex-Super 8s players, as well as the versatility and quality of captain Weronika Korkosz,” said Nigel.
“The strength of this team comes from a deep bench which are alert and ready to step in at any stage.
“One to watch is 13-year-old Maria Smolinska who played at the U15 Inter Regional Championships in May and is part of the national team pathway.”
Find out more about the NVL by clicking here.
Story Links CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Big South Conference announced the nominations for the Big South Woman of the Year this afternoon. Nominees for the annual honor are submitted by the league’s member institutions, and a Selection Committee of Conference Administrators will determine the Big South Woman of the Year, who will […]
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Big South Conference announced the nominations for the Big South Woman of the Year this afternoon.
Nominees for the annual honor are submitted by the league’s member institutions, and a Selection Committee of Conference Administrators will determine the Big South Woman of the Year, who will advance as the Conference’s official nominee for the national NCAA Woman of the Year Award.
A total of 10 individuals comprise this year’s institutional nominees, seven of which are the official candidates for Big South Woman of the Year — Charleston Southern golfer Odette Font Garcia (Mallorca, Spain), High Point lacrosse player Esprit Cha (Ellicott City, Md.), Longwood soccer player Alex Dinger (Fredericksburg, Va.), Longwood softball player Er’ron Burton (Suffolk, Va.), Radford volleyball player Meredith Page (Murfreesboro, Tenn.), USC Upstate track & field athlete Rachel Davis, and Winthrop lacrosse player Maddy Hodgson (Lebanon, Ohio). Also among the institutional nominees from non-sponsored Big South sports were Presbyterian top/tumbler Abigail Katz (Columbia, S.C.), Presbyterian wrestler Chiara Barbieri (Brampton, Ontario) and UNC Asheville swimmer Riley Edmundson (Flower Mound, Texas).
Davis, a Management major, participated in the USC Upstate Gospel Choir, was a teacher for kids aged 8-14 at Emmanuel Anglican Church, and volunteered as a basketball coach at Drayton Mills Elementary School.
Head Coach Carson Blackwelder stated, “Rachel is the perfect candidate for this award. She embodies all the qualities you think of for Woman of the Year.”
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