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Welcome to our new weekly cadence-- to your inbox Monday-Wednesday-Friday morning with news and updates in sports, gambling, and media. On Thursday, takes directly from our text threads.

While so many industries slow down, ours often picks up at this time of year. You are undoubtedly familiar with the late Friday afternoon bad news dump. Well, bad news releases in the slow weeks around the holidays are often doozies. We can't wait to assess the damage. Until then.

In the email today:

1) The UFC's fight-fixing problem is not going away. 🤼‍♀️

2) Penn Entertainment authorizes a $750 million share buy back to stave off a potential takeover. 🎰

3) TNT again says its future as a prominent NBA broadcast partner is uncertain. 🗞️

Onto it.

1) TROUBLE FOR UFC 🥊

UFC president Dana White is known for a lot of things. The primary thing he is NOT known for is a lack of confidence. "Occasionally wrong but never in doubt" fits White like a four-ounce fighting glove. 

But what is happening to White's fighting company has the normally cocksure White a bit shook.

The biggest takeaways, per Marc Raimondi's feature for ESPN.com:

  • White conceded recently that fight fixing is a "huge concern" for his company.

  • The trouble started in the aftermath of a November 5, 2022 featherweight fight between Darrick Minner and Shayilan Nuerdanbieke. Minner appeared to have been injured before stepping into the octagon and was knocked out in less than 70 seconds. Word of Minner's pre-existing injury apparently got out, because Nuerdanbieke went from a -220 betting favorite to -420.

  • Separate investigations are now underway by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Integrity, a "Las Vegas firm that works with sportsbooks and gaming regulators to monitor the betting market."

White's tone is changing as the days pass and the investigative noose tightens. On November 11, he said that there was "absolutely zero proof" that anyone involved with the fight bet on it. 

In the Raimondi story, though, White definitely seems to be tiptoeing away from a full-throated denial. "We've always told the fighters, as all the gambling stuff started to heat up, stay away...we can tell people until we're blue in the face." White also called this situation "unfortunate" while trying to minimize it by saying it "has happened in every sport."

Karim Zidan's post for The Guardian noted that UFC has to a great extent created its own misery here.:"Prior to an amendment to its code of conduct on 17 October, the UFC did not place any restrictions on fighters and their teams from betting on fights, including their own." Additionally, fighters are still incentivized to hide injuries because a. if they don't fight, they don't get paid, and b. if they can claim an injury actually happened in a fight, UFC's health insurance will cover it.

The bottom line here is that UFC cannot afford to be perceived as the WWE in an octagon. If the fights aren't on the level, and if fighters are incentivized to manipulate outcomes, UFC could go the way of boxing.

2) PENN ENTERTAINMENT GETS DEFENSIVE 🎰

Penn Entertainment hasn't had the best stretch lately, either. The New York Times went out of its way to take down Barstool Sports founder David Portnoy in a lengthy, occasionally mean-spirited profile.

Penn Entertainment didn't avoid the slung mud, either. "Penn Entertainment is poised to take over Barstool, following a 2020 deal in which it bought a 36 percent stake." Eschewing an advertising blitz, Emily Steel noted, "Penn Entertainment's play was to slap Barstool's brand onto a new online sports-betting platform."

Its stock price has fallen almost five percent since November 15 and continues to either trend flat or down. There is blood in the water, and Penn Entertainment is thrashing:

Viktor Kimble's story for covers.com lays out the particulars. "Penn Entertainment announced on Thursday that it had authorized a new $750 million share buyback." 

Kimble also said the quiet part out loud in terms of why Penn Entertainment is taking this tack: "The share buyback may also be intended as a defensive maneuver against a possible takeover attempt by one of the larger sports betting sites."

As we recently reported, Penn Entertainment has struggled to keep pace with industry leaders FanDuel and DraftKings. How long Penn Entertainment can stave off its competitors is literally anyone's guess.

3) TNT IS NOT INCLINED TO OVERPAY TO BROADCAST NBA CONTENT 🏀

Warner Brothers Discovery Chief Executive David Zaslav continues his sword-rattling with the NBA around what the league will demand to renew its deal with TNT, and what Zaslav would be willing to pay.

Alex Sherman recounted one of Zaslav's most recent shots across the bow in a recent post for CNBC.com. "We don't have to have the NBA," said Zaslav on November 15. "With sport, we're a renter. That's not as good of a business." 

Sherman also speculated that Zaslav may have been overplaying his hand. "The problem for Zaslav is keeping legacy pay TV afloat may be his best way to keep cash flow coming, and putting NBA games on TNT may be his best chance to do that."

When the dust settles on this, we would be very surprised if TNT and the NBA aren't doing business together in 2025 and beyond. Renewing the entire "NBA on TNT" crew was not the move of a network with no plans to stick and stay. 

But Zaslav is wise to let NBA Commissioner Adam Silver know that there is a budget in play here.

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON 👓

  • The National Football League is no longer willing to have the game's integrity compromised by players faking injuries. The fines are real, and they're spectacular. 

  • In Massachusetts, Encore Boston Harbor edged out MGM Springfield and Plainridge Park Casino in getting state regulators to approve its sports betting license. It will take some time, but this made Encore "the first casino in Massachusetts to gain an initial greenlight." In-person betting could begin as early as 2023.

  • Grant Wahl's tragic death covering the World Cup in Qatar is going to make sports networks think long and hard about when it makes sense to cover sports in certain places and when it just doesn't. 

WHAT TO KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR BEFORE THE NEXT SEND 👁️

  • Jay Z and Roc Nation are now involved with the Caesars Entertainment bid to put a casino in Times Square. 

  • Ted Leonsis' plan to buy the Washington Nationals may run aground because the Baltimore Orioles own the Nationals' broadcast rights. 

This emailed was compiled today by the Raising Stake staff. Jason and Kyle contributed. Images from Getty.

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