Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Long gone are the days when New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago produced much of the talent we saw on NBA courts. Today, players come from all over the place, creating new millionaires across the globe. We’ve delved deep into NBA salary information …
Long gone are the days when New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago produced much of the talent we saw on NBA courts. Today, players come from all over the place, creating new millionaires across the globe.
We’ve delved deep into NBA salary information (our data goes back to 1990) to identify the highest-paid players born in each major basketball hotbed – from Seattle to Melbourne, Belgrade to Los Angeles, and everywhere in between.
Take a look below:
Here are the full salaries for 2024-25 in just one page. Every player currently under contract, from All-NBA superstars to two-way youngsters, is included. (You can return often as this will be constantly updated).
Here are the full salaries for 2024-25 in just one page. Every player currently under contract, from All-NBA superstars to two-way youngsters, is included. (You can return often as this will be constantly updated).
Groundbreaking plans will be announced in the coming months.
The nine-hole Sweetens Cove – ranked by Golfweek’s Best as the No. 1 public-access golf course in Tennessee – announced this week that it will collaborate with Reef Capital Partners to introduce a new par-3 course and much more.
Plans also call for stay-and-play cabins, a new winding putting green, a fishing dock, a skeet range, a restaurant and a distillery at the famously laid-back facility in South Pittsburg, about a 30-minute drive west from Chattanooga. Groundbreaking plans will be announced in the coming months.
Sweetens Cove had a tough 2024, closing for several months to replant greens and fairways after a particularly bad winter killed off much of the playing surfaces – its operators opted to shut down for repairs instead of presenting sub-standard conditions. The course reopened this fall with new grass that has grown in well, and the layout should regain its often fiery and bouncy playing conditions in 2025.
Besides excelling as a nine-hole layout, Sweetens Cove is different than most courses in many other ways. Operators started several years ago offering all-day passes instead of traditional tee times, with players going round and round the course as often as they like. The dress code is basically non-existent, and music typically blasts from a patio overlooking the first tee and ninth green. The clubhouse is named the Shed because it is one, and it’s packed with much-loved merchandise sporting multiple logos. A patio built around a tree has been tagged as the heckle deck.
There have been discussions about expansion for years, with the biggest concern among die-hard fans being that the facility retains its vibe.
“Sweetens Cove grabs you the moment you step onto the course – there’s an energy here that you won’t find anywhere else,” Jared Lucero, CEO of Reef Capital Partners, said in a media release announcing the new partnership for which terms were not disclosed. “It’s not just about golf; it’s about the experience, the people and the simplicity of spending a day out here.
“We aim to preserve that unique charm while adding a place to stay, a bit more to do, including Sweetens at Night, and some amazing food and drinks. Those things will only make every visit even more memorable, whether you’re playing the course for the first time or the hundredth.”
Sweetens Cove opened in 2015 on the site of a former course, which was erased as a new course was laid out by the team of Tad King and Rob Collins. It quickly gained a following among Golfweek’s Best course raters and catapulted into the top 100 modern courses in the U.S., where it now is No. 90.
King and Collins soon took over operations of Sweetens Cove from its founding family, and investors have come onboard including sports stars Peyton Manning and Andy Roddick. The ownership group also has released a bourbon named for the course, with the planned small-batch distillery an extension of that.
“I’ve been with Sweetens Cove from the beginning, from designing and building the original course with Tad to being responsible for its operations and management for the last 10 years,” Collins said in the media release. “It is thrilling to me and everyone involved with Sweetens Cove to see how the expansion builds on that foundation and brings to life every big dream we ever had for the place.”
Reef Capital Partners’ has been expanding in golf with its development of Black Desert Resort in Utah, which opened in 2023, jumped to the No. 1 spot among that state’s public-access courses and recently hosted an eponymous PGA Tour event. The company also is developing Marcella Deer Valley, which will include Tiger Woods designing his first mountain course.
“Reef Capital Partners has an incredible vision for this expansion,” Collins said in the media release. “They came to Sweetens to play the course and by the seventh fairway they had drawn up a model, envisioning a par-3 short course that offers flexibility and creativity. It’s not just a regular short course – you can play each hole in multiple ways, adding a cross-country style that you won’t find anywhere else.”
Sweetens Cove tee times are coveted and sell out incredibly quickly each year, a testament to the layout’s architecture as much as its atmosphere. King-Collins Golf Design has gone on to lay out several other courses around the country including Landmand, which opened in 2022 in Nebraska and has jumped to the No. 1 spot in that state’s ranking of public-access layouts.
“Sweetens Cove is a golf anomaly,” GM Matt Adamski said in the media release. “We’ve created a place where you can play all day with no tee times, no dress codes and no pressure. It’s a giant adult playground, where everyone can find something to love.
“(The expansion) will maintain our unique culture and enhance guest experience. The demand is incredible – we’re sold out through the end of the year. But even with this expansion, we’re maintaining our focus on a quality experience by keeping a limit on the number of daily passes to ensure that Sweetens Cove remains the special place people love.”
” … we have been disappointed in our stock performance for some time.”
Topgolf Callaway Brands Corp. announced Wednesday that its board of directors intends to pursue the separation of its two primary businesses, Topgolf and Callaway, making them two independent companies.
In March 2021, Callaway Golf Co. acquired the remainder of Topgolf Entertainment Group that it didn’t already own, valuing the driving range chain at approximately $2 billion. The joint company was renamed Topgolf Callaway Brands Corp., but starting in March of this year, rumors began to swirl that a breakup could be coming.
In August, Topgolf Callaway reported that its second-quarter revenue was $494 million, while its first six months’ revenue exceeded $917 million. While those numbers represented increases, they came almost exclusively from the creation of new venues because the same-venue sales were down 8 percent. At the time, Topgolf Callaway reported that traffic to existing Topgolf locations slowed.
After that announcement, Topgolf Callaway CEO Chip Brewer said, “We remain convinced Topgolf is a high-quality business with significant future opportunity. At the same time, we have been disappointed in our stock performance for some time, as well as more recent same-venue sales performance.”
Topgolf Callaway Brands, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol MODG, has seen its value steadily decrease since reaching a high of $36.92 per share in May 2021. On Aug. 30 it finished at a low of $9.94. On Wednesday it closed at $10.76 per share before the announcement was made.
In a release, John Lundgren, chairman of the board of directors of Topgolf Callaway Brands, said, “Today’s announcement is the result of a thorough strategic review conducted by the board of directors and the management team. The creation of two independent companies, each with a distinct focus and proven business model, is intended to drive continued momentum in both businesses and deliver value to all our shareholders.”
Callaway will consist of the golf equipment part of the business, along with Toptracer and lifestyle brands TravisMathew, OGIO and Jack Wolfskin.
Topgolf will concentrate solely on its entertainment business, which includes more than 100 driving range-entertainment centers worldwide. Topgolf plans to reduce its new venue development for 2025 to a number in the mid-single digits, the release stated.
Brewer said on Wednesday, “We believe that separating Topgolf will best position both companies for success. Topgolf and Callaway have different operating models and capital needs, and this split allows each to maximize their potential.”
The company announced that it expects to spin off of the Topgolf business to Topgolf Callaway Brands’ shareholders in a transaction that is intended to be tax-free to both the company and its shareholders for U.S. federal income tax purposes. While the company expects that a spin-off of Topgolf into a stand-alone public company is the most likely separation path, the company will continue to evaluate other options for separation to maximize shareholder value.
The separation of the brands is expected to be completed in the second half of 2025.
The Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) sets out the terms and conditions, and respective rights and obligations of NBA teams, players, and the league. On average, a new CBA is negotiated every 5 to 7 years – with the latest taking effect in July …
The Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) sets out the terms and conditions, and respective rights and obligations of NBA teams, players, and the league. On average, a new CBA is negotiated every 5 to 7 years – with the latest taking effect in July 2023 and extending to the end of the 2029-30 season. The CBA defines everything from how income is distributed between the teams and players, to how player contracts are structured, pension benefits, fines and penalties, trade rules, and much more.
Cabot keeps growing with move into France.
Stick another pin in the global map for Cabot, the Canadian-based golf resort operator that in recent years has expanded to properties in Scotland, the Caribbean, the U.S. and soon to western Canada.
This week, Cabot co-founder and CEO Ben Cowan-Dewar will announce the company’s expansion to France with the purchase of Golf Du Médoc Resort in Bordeaux. The resort, home to two golf courses designed by Bill Coore and Rod Whitman, will be rebranded Cabot Bordeaux.
Those course designers’ names are extremely familiar to Cowan-Dewar, who employed Whitman then the team of Coore and Ben Crenshaw to build the 36 holes at Cabot Cape Breton in Nova Scotia. It was there the company got the off the ground with the introduction of Cabot Links in 2012 and Cabot Cliffs in 2015. Both those courses have achieved high acclaim with rankings among the best courses in the world – Cliffs is No. 11 on Golfweek’s Best ranking of courses outside the U.S., and Links ties for No. 43.
Cabot Cape Breton was not the first example of Whitman and Coore design layouts at the same site, however. Before partnering with Crenshaw, Coore opened the Chateaux (Castle) Course in 1989 at Golf Du Médoc Resort. Whitman’s Vignes (Vines) Course followed in 1991.
“Both courses are just really, really wonderful golf,” Cowan-Dewar said. “It’s just a beautiful, idyllic setting. …
“The courses are really quite even, so we’re pretty excited about that. People will debate, as they do in Cape Breton, over which is their favorite course. And that’s a mighty good problem for us. There’s nothing better than people finishing their trip and trying to decide which one they liked better when there is no obvious choice.”
The resort sits less than a half hour’s drive northwest of Bordeaux, considered the wine capital of the world and around which live some 1.4 million people. Not far inland from the Bay of Biscay, Bordeaux is some 320 miles south of Paris.
Cowan-Dewar said he had traveled to France several times but never the Bordeaux region until visiting Golf Du Médoc Resort last year. It was the golf that caught his attention.
“It’s entirely site specific,” he said when asked about the move into France. “I’ve long heard about it, and Rod and Bill would talk about it a fair bit. So you think how small a world it is, this is the only place in the world they worked side by side before Cabot. And with 36 holes of Ben and Rod’s work, it just seemed a little like fate, right?”
Cowan-Dewar explained that Golf Du Médoc Resort was founded by two French titans of industry, one of whom has passed away. The other turns 90 years old this year and is still friends with Coore and Whitman. The opportunity to take the reins at such a property was too great to pass up, Cowan-Dewar said.
“As you can imagine, with Bill and Rod the golf architecture was terrific, as was the entire destination,” he said. “I think the city, the destination and the region were all amazing.”
Cabot Bordeaux will include a preexisting 79-room hotel, an upscale restaurant showcasing regional cuisine and a world-class spa. Cowan-Dewar said additions to the 400-acre property might include the two- and four-bedroom style of cabins and cottages that have proved popular at other Cabot properties. The hotel was built in 2007 and was recently updated, and Cabot will undertake various projects to ensure the property remains fresh with updated location-specific activities and expanded amenities.
The courses will receive polishing as Cabot takes its cues from Coore and Whitman, with the work most likely focused on the typical updates needed for drainage and playing surfaces at any 35-year-old courses. The resort also has two driving ranges, one of which includes the Bernard Pascassio Training Center. Cowan-Dewar said one of the ranges will be converted to a par-3 course, a move that has become a staple at top resorts in recent years as players look for more golf than 18 holes a day.
“It’s almost impossible to have a property like that now without a par-3 course,” he said. “They’ve become such demand drivers that converting a driving range into a par-3 course seems like a win right off the bat.”
It’s all part of a rapid expansion for Cabot, which has gone from 36 full-size holes of golf to 90 in recent years, with another 54 on the books to open soon.
In 2022 Cabot purchased the Scottish Castle Stuart and its 18-hole links course designed by Gil Hanse and Mark Parsinen. That property was rebranded as Cabot Highlands with plans to add 18 new holes by Tom Doak next year.
The company then completed Cabot Saint Lucia’s Point Hardy Golf Club to great acclaim in 2023, including several of the most scenic golf holes in the world designed by Coore and Crenshaw on cliffs above the Atlantic Ocean.
Later in 2023 the first 18-hole course, named the Karoo and designed by Kyle Franz, opened at Cabot Citrus Farms in Florida, with another 18 slated to open this year. That property is a rethink of the sandy site’s former World Woods Golf Club, and it also includes two short courses.
Also in the works is Cabot Revelstoke in western Canada, with Whitman designing the mountainous 18-hole layout there.
“It’s a little overwhelming to think about, you know, but it’s very exciting,” Cowan-Dewar said of the expansions. “It’s all driven by the golf. We have found that if we focus on great golf, the rest just follows naturally.”
In the span of three years, Cabot will have gone from a famous but regional player to a worldwide force in the golf industry, and more additions to the brand are likely. Cabot Bordeaux will certainly add a French sophistication to the company’s newfound international flavor.
“Anyone playing Cabot Bordeaux is going to enjoy a distinctly French experience,” Coore said in a media release that will be released to announce the news. “Going from Cabot Cape Breton to Cabot Highlands to Cabot Saint Lucia to Cabot Bordeaux offers experiences that are as different and as varied as you could ever imagine.”
With the TV deals going up and the popularity of the NBA continuing to rise, it should not be shocking that player salaries have exponentially grown since the 1990s. Accounting for inflation, we looked at the 50 highest-paid players in NBA history.
With the TV deals going up and the popularity of the NBA continuing to rise, it should not be shocking that player salaries have exponentially grown since the 1990s. Accounting for inflation, we looked at the 50 highest-paid players in NBA history.
For hundreds of former NBA players, the ball didn’t stop bouncing when they lost their spot in the association. Whether looking for a comeback from the G League or balling in competitions all over the world, those hoopers continue to make a living …
For hundreds of former NBA players, the ball didn’t stop bouncing when they lost their spot in the association. Whether looking for a comeback from the G League or balling in competitions all over the world, those hoopers continue to make a living playing the sport they love.
As we did for the 2023-24 season, we’re tracking their moves around professional leagues outside the NBA. We’ll add every movement involving any player who appeared in at least one official NBA game or whose draft rights belong to a franchise.
Buffalo Groupe has a wide-ranging list of clients across the golf and travel industries.
The wide-ranging marketing company Buffalo Groupe – which has a large client list in various parts of the golf industry – has been acquired by ClubWorks, a Florida-based company focused on the club, leisure and hospitality industries.
Based in Charleston, S.C., Buffalo Groupe will retain its identity as a wholly-owned subsidiary of ClubWorks. Kyle Ragsdale will remain as CEO, and Emily Clark was promoted to president and chief marketing officer of Buffalo Groupe. Both will join ClubWorks’ board of directors.
Buffalo Groupe was founded more than two decades ago and was spun out of Billy Casper Golf as Buffalo Agency in 2019 before being rebranded as Buffalo Groupe with clients in golf, travel and real estate. With a roster of some 100 employees nationwide, its clients have included the USGA, fitting company Club Champion, Casa de Campo resort in the Dominican Republic, Omni Hotels, Golf Channel and many others.
“Buffalo Groupe was founded on the premise that golf and other highly engaged ‘escape’ industries represent an incredible marketing vehicle,” Ragsdale said in a media release announcing the acquisition. “Our roster of clients and passionate team members have validated our strategy.”
ClubWorks was formed in 2022 as a professional services platform with subsidiaries that now include Peacock + Lewis, JBD JGA Design and Architecture, Private Club Films, Visionary Spectacle Studios and GGA Partners.
“Our portfolio of companies is purpose-built, assembling best-in-class firms with focused expertise to meet the diverse needs of club, leisure and hospitality businesses,” Michael Leemhuis, chairman and CEO of ClubWorks, said in the media release. “With the addition of Buffalo Groupe, we’re elevating our offering with industry-leading expertise in creative, digital marketing, events, public relations and research as a significant value-add to existing clients and prospects.”
NBA superstars make millions of dollars yearly, not only from their respective teams but also through endorsements, sneaker deals, and events. Michael Jordan, who ranks No. 1 on the list of the wealthiest NBA players, has a reported net worth of …
NBA superstars make millions of dollars yearly, not only from their respective teams but also through endorsements, sneaker deals, and events.
Michael Jordan, who ranks No. 1 on the list of the wealthiest NBA players, has a reported net worth of $3.2 billion as of April 2024. However, it’s interesting to note that he’s only made 2.93 percent of his total net worth from his NBA contracts.
We present the Top 12 wealthiest NBA players in the history of basketball.
