Rixon Sports Report - Fri. May 9th, 2025

Nick Saban co-chairing the President's Commission on college athletics (CBS Sports)

Mike Florio on why congress should stay out of college athletics (Pro Football Talk)

LA28 announces venues for the opening and closing ceremonies (Reuters)

Manny Pacquiao is coming out of retirement (ESPN)

Around the Horn with a cool behind the scenes moment for a fan (@AroundTheHorn).

We've got an American Pope!

Transcript

Good morning, my name is Joe Rixon and this is the Rixon Sports Report, the fastest three minutes in sports business, with your headlines for Friday, May 9th, 2025.

Former Alabama football Nick Saban is expected to co-chair President Trump’s commission into college athletics a source confirmed to CBS News.   This was pretty much expected considering Trump met with Saban back on May 3rd to discuss NIL reform.  Texas businessman Cody Campbell, the founder of Texas Tech’s NIL collective and chairman of their board of legends is expected to serve alongside Saban.

The commission has been tasked to take a look at the serious issues facing college sports such as the transfer portal, unregulated booster compensation and Title IX.  It’s been reported President Trump is considering some executive orders aimed at addressing some of the issues around NIL, but President of the NCAA Charlie Baker has stated that any executive orders will still likely require some action from congress.   Good luck with that. Cameron Salerno with the story on CBS Sports.  Mike Florio from Pro Football Talk with an opinion piece as well out today on why he thinks the government should stay out of it.  Both are certainly worth the read and links to all the stories are always available at RixonSports.com

The Los Angeles 2028 Olympic committee announced the venues for the Olympic opening and closing ceremonies.  The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and SoFi Stadium out in Inglewood will serve as the venues for the opening ceremony on July 14th, 2028 in what is being described as a “duel-venue celebration”.  The goal is to use the Coliseum to and pay homage to the city’s olympics sports history and SoFi to highlight the cutting edge future of LA.  Both venues are pretty remarkable and if you are in LA you should check them out.  The Coliseum will host the closing ceremony on July 30th.  Full story available at Reuters.

Andreas Hale from ESPN is reporting that Manny Pacquiao will officially end his 4-year retirement to face Mario Barrios for WBC welterweight belt in July in Las Vegas.  Rumors have been flying over the past year of his return and has been tied to Barrios for since June.  WBC President Mauricio Sulamain let the cat out of the bag over the weekend when he confirmed this to Boxing King Media, we were just waiting for the Pacquiao camp to confirm.  

A timeline cleanser worth watching.  ESPN's Around The Horn with a really cool behind the scenes look at how they spotted a fan outside with a sign thanking Around The Horn as it heads into its final 10 episodes.  Tony Reali sprinting out across the pier outside their Seaport Studios to invite the fan upstairs, even giving him a chance to touch the board and mute Justin Tinsley.  You can see the clip on X @ AroundTheHorn

And last but not least, we’ve got an American Pope!  Pope Leo the XIV is The first American in the history of the Catholic church and a proud Villanova alumnus.  There is no way the Knicks lose this series now, right?