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Tom Mayenknecht: FIFA's Club World Cup is enduring a miserable inaugural tournament.
Published Jul 04, 2025 • 3 minute read
NBA
Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander celebrates after winning the NBA championship with a Game 7 victory against the Indiana Pacers on June 22 in Oklahoma City. Photo by Julio Cortez /AP
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Bulls of the week
Hamilton-born Shai Gilgeous Alexander didn’t waste any time in cashing in on his remarkable season of individual and team dominance as the straw that stirs the drink of the new NBA-champion Oklahoma City Thunder.
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The NBA and Finals MVP signed a record-breaking super max contract extension (US$285 million over four years) to help tip off the first few weeks of big spending in NBA and NHL free agency. The ESPY nominee as athlete-of-the-year will make US$63 million in his first season, but that will go up to as much as US$79 million in Year 4).
In Major League Baseball, the Toronto Blue Jays had a near perfect week, sweeping the New York Yankees in four entertaining and back-and-forth home dates at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.
The sweep turned what was a three-game deficit behind the Yankees into first place in the American League East and a 49-38 record; 11 games above .500.
What’s more, the Jays have erased what was an eight-game deficit behind the Bronx Bombers on May 28 on the strength of 22 wins in their last 32 starts. That’s second only to the win percentage of the Houston Astros of the AL West. It also marks the first time that the Jays have been in first place in the manager John Schneider era.
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Most important, the hot streak is selling lots of tickets in the prime summer months of July and August, all the more to showcase the about US$400 million in fan-friendly upgrades at Rogers Centre.
Expect home dates to attract a baseline of over 30,000 fans. Many weekend games will sell out in the 40,000 neighbourhood, especially if Toronto remains in the pennant race atop the AL East.
Meanwhile, Florida Panthers general manager Bill Zito Jr. is making it look easy. He already has two Stanley Cups and three consecutive Cup Final appearances in his five years on the job with the reigning champs.
The former player agent and attorney said he thought he could re-sign all three of his major free agents — Sam Bennett, Aaron Ekblad and Brad Marchand — and he did exactly what he promised.
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His recipe is enhanced by the value of zero-per-cent state income tax in Florida, but is as much the allure of winning, a warm-weather beach environment and training in modern, customized amenities in Greater Miami where players can go about their lives in relative privacy compared with Canadian-based or Original Six markets.
The only disconnect around Zito is he hasn’t yet won a GM-of-the-year award despite being nominated as a finalist four times (the last three times finishing second to Jim Nill of the Dallas Stars).
Bears of the week
The longer-than-expected injury time that’s sidelined Caitlin Clark has created a bear market for the superstar and her Indiana Fever.
It’s certainly taken the edge off the first two months of the WNBA campaign for the league, its broadcast partners and national sponsors.
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Meanwhile, the Chicago White Sox continue to be awful, going into the weekend playing .322 baseball (28-59 and 25 1/2 games out of first place in the American League Central).
Despite counting American-born Pope Leo XIV among their biggest fans, there’s been no divine intervention as of yet.
Unless that is you count the Colorado Rockies of the National League West as a heavenly distraction. The Rockies are serving as the ideal foil to the Chisox, setting new standards of haplessness with a 20-67 record. The Rockies are anything but mile-high, winning less than one out of every four games. An unfathomable 35 1/2 games out of first place, the only question is how early in August are they officially eliminated from contention.
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Yet it’s the FIFA Club World Cup that continues to struggle in finding an audience in the host U.S. as the newly expanded 32-team tournament heads into quarterfinal knockouts.
If there were more matchups like Paris St. Germain and Bayern Munich (on Saturday), the global club championship would have gained more traction outside of its traditional roots in Europe.
Yet for every PSG-Bayern UEFA feature, there’s been two less-recognized clubs in play, such as Fluminense of the Italian Serie A and Al-Hilal of Saudi Arabia today.
Tom Mayenknecht is the host of The Sport Market on Sportsnet 650 on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Vancouver-based sport business commentator and principal in Emblematica Brand Builders provides a behind-the-scenes look at the sport business stories that matter most to fans. Follow Mayenknecht at: x.com/TheSportMarket.
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