Sports briefs 8/5
WNBA
Cleveland’s WNBA expansion team had three priorities for the franchise’s name.
It had to have its own identity and not be related to the Cavaliers. It needed to tie into Lake Erie. And fans wanted something progressive.
The Cleveland Sirens think they accomplished all three Tuesday when they introduced the name and branding during an event at Rocket Arena.
The WNBA’s 16th team will begin play in 2028.
College basketball
Kansas has signed a five-year contract for the Jayhawks to participate in the Players Era Festival, tying one of college basketball’s storied programs to one of the more innovative, forward-thinking tournaments in the sport.
The Players Era began in Las Vegas in 2024 with the idea of funneling at least $1 million toward each participating school’s name, image and likeness fund. Oregon wound up beating Alabama in the finale of the eight-team competition.
The tournament expanded last year to 18 teams, when it went from an elimination-style tournament to a pool-based system where margin of victory mattered. The Jayhawks beat Tennessee in the third-place game of the men’s event, while eventual national champion Michigan routed Gonzaga to win the championship.
The Players Era is expanding again this year to 24 teams, but it is splitting into an eight-team tournament and a 16-team event. Both will be played in Las Vegas over two weeks in November; the Jayhawks are part of the eight-team bracket along with Florida, Rutgers, Notre Dame, UNLV and Big 12 rivals Houston and West Virginia.
WVU gets jersey patch partnership
West Virginia athletics has announced a jersey patch partnership deal with Antero Resources for all 18 home and away uniforms in the department. The deal is a five-year partnership with the company, marking the first jersey partnership in the school’s history.
“This is an historic day for West Virginia Athletics, and I am grateful that Antero is part of the Mountaineer family,” athletic director Wren Baker said. “More than 500 Mountaineer student-athletes proudly wear the West Virginia jersey, competing and representing the University and the state in front of millions each week on the national stage. Now, Antero shares that jersey with us and will play a key role in our future success.”
The jersey patches will have the Antero Resources logo above the Nike logo and will have different colorways to “ensure visibility” on all iterations of the home and away jerseys. The Big 12 also inked a $20 million multi-year deal with Monster Energy this summer, making it the brand entitlement partner for football and basketball in the conference. Part of that deal includes a jersey patch sponsorship.
Antero Resources is one of the largest producers of natural gas and gas liquids in the United States. The company is now based out of Bridgeport, W.Va.
Tennis
The Williams sisters are back on track to playing doubles tennis ahead of the U.S. Open.
Serena and Venus Williams are set to take part in the Cincinnati Open, which begins next week. Organizers announced they had received a wild-card entry into the doubles field.
They last played a doubles match together at the 2022 U.S. Open.
Venus Williams, 46, is set to play mixed doubles at the U.S. Open later this month in New York alongside Alexander Bublik. She and her younger sister playing at Cincinnati is the latest step in Serena’s comeback at age 44 after losing at Wimbledon in her first singles match in nearly four years.