Rumors

The owners of the NBA's Bulls and NHL's Blackhawks got the go-ahead to transform the area surrounding the United Center on Wednesday after the Chicago City Council approved a $7 billion plan to replace the parking lots with green space, mixed-income housing, a music hall and more. The 1901 Project, touted as the largest private investment in Chicago's West Side, is being spearheaded by the Reinsdorf and Wirtz families, who own the arena. It is to be built in phases on more than 55 acres of privately owned land over about a decade-long period.

ESPN

In some ways, it was mystifying that NBC Sports Chicago was bottoming out. “That’s the third-largest media market in the country, so if you can’t do it in Chicago, what’s that tell you?” an NBA team executive said. But Jerry Reinsdorf and Michael Wirtz — craving a TV home for their Bulls, Blackhawks and White Sox — pooled resources. With their NBC Sports Chicago contracts expiring in October 2024, they launched their own RSN in triplicate, branded Chicago Sports Network, all while ignoring the lesson of Monumental and Space City: Have airtight distribution.

Sports Business Journal

While Michael Jordan and LeBron James receive high praise from Shawn Marion, while chatting on Scoop B Selects, Marion also shared love for the late great, Kobe Bryant. Marion shared that Bryant was one contemporary that he wished was his teammate. “I used to want to play with Kobe,” he shared. “I almost had a chance there too, but I really wanted to play with Kobe. Why not go to the Lakers in La-La Land? The Lakers and when you think about organizations in each sport, there are at least two organizations in each sport that stand out above everybody and that’s of course the Lakers and the Boston Celtics because of the rivalries they had history and then you go football, it’s the [Dallas] Cowboys and maybe the [New York] Giants and baseball it’s the Yankees and the Dodgers. And then you can look at hockey — I don’t know because I’m a Blackhawks fan, so I don’t care about all the other hockey teams that are supposed to be the “it” hockey teams! So you know, but every sport has the team ‘That always wins championships’ and they have more championships than others and those are teams that stand out more than everybody.”

ScoopB.com

After inking a five-year contract extension with the Utah Jazz during the offseason, Lauri Markkanen participated in the inaugural ceremonial puck drop of the Utah Hockey Club in Delta Center on Tuesday evening, strengthening his bond with Salt Lake City. An expansion team debuting in the 2024-25 edition of the NHL, the Utah Hockey Club will share the same home with the Jazz. A win, 5-2, against the Chicago Blackhawks combined with Markkanen’s appearance to the delight of the fans.

EuroHoops.net

The newly-formed Chicago Sports Network (CHSN) announced an agreement with Millenial Telecommunications on Monday to broadcast Chicago Blackhawks, Bulls, and White Sox games over-the-air beginning this October on Millenial’s WJYS digital broadcast channels. The deal comes after the trio of Chicago teams chose not to renew media rights agreements with NBC Sports Chicago.

Sports Media Watch

Julia Poe: NEW: The Chicago Bulls will have a new local broadcast home for the 2024-25 season — the Chicago Sports Network, which will launch this fall. The network will also carry local broadcasts for the White Sox and Blackhawks.

Twitter

Michael Jordan is expected to make a rare United Center appearance this weekend for the jersey retirement of his longtime friend and Chicago Blackhawks great Chris Chelios. Chelios said on WSCR-AM 670 on Wednesday morning that the Chicago Bulls legend is one of the guests he expects to be in attendance for the raising of his No. 7 to the UC rafters, which will take place during a pregame ceremony Sunday afternoon before the Hawks play and the Detroit Red Wings.

Chicago Tribune

Marc Stein: Popeye Jones has emerged a strong candidate to join Mike Malone’s coaching staff in Denver, league sources say. Jones had a successful playing stint in Denver and just saw his hockey-playing sons Seth Jones and Caleb Jones team up in Chicago via two trades by the Blackhawks.

Twitter

The Hawks also have a link to Milwaukee sports history that perhaps only longtime Milwaukeeans might know. The Hawks used to call UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena their home court. They were the Milwaukee Hawks 70 years ago. "The Hawks came here in 1951, they transferred from Tri-Cities, Moline, Rock Island and Davenport where they were known as the Blackhawks," Milwaukee sports historian Dennis Sell said.

wisn.com

For the first time in the arena’s history, the United Center will serve as an “Election Day Super Site” for the 2020 General Election on Nov. 3, the Chicago Board of Elections announced Thursday. Chicago voters will be able to register to vote, drop off mail-in ballots and vote in person at the home of the Bulls and Blackhawks from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m CT on Election Day. The facility isn’t open for early voting.

NBC Chicago

He tagged the Washington Redskins and the NFL’s official Twitter accounts in the tweet, which included a photo of six names crossed out representing two MLB teams (Atlanta Braves, Cleveland Indians); two NFL teams (”R*dsk*ns,” Kansas City Chiefs); one NHL team (Chicago Blackhawks); and one NBA team (Warriors). “Eliminate all native mascots,” the image said.

syracuse.com

As Illinois goes through this together, the United Center, home of the Chicago Bulls and Chicago Blackhawks, is proud to be playing a critical role with our city, state and federal response to the pandemic. As announced on March 25, our arena and outside campus will be transformed into a logistics hub where we will be assisting with food storage for hunger relief, first responder staging and the collection of critically needed medical supplies.

unitedcenter.com

Standing alone at a lectern in an empty stadium that can comfortably seat more than 60,000 fans, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced a first-of-its-kind awareness campaign, called "We Are Not Playing." All of Chicago's professional sports teams -- including the Bears, Blackhawks, Bulls, Cubs, Fire, Red Stars, Sky and White Sox -- have agreed to use their platforms and athletes to encourage residents of the city and surrounding area to comply with stay at home restrictions during the COVID-19 crisis.

ESPN

The United Center ownership and the Chicago Bulls and Chicago Blackhawks, on behalf of our front offices and players, will pay day-of-game employees through the remainder of the originally scheduled season. Our employees, whether they be front office staff, or our approximately 1,200 day-of-game staff, are family, and we will navigate this unprecedented situation together.

NBA.com