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Boardroom is a sports, media and entertainment brand co-founded by Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman and focused on the intersection of sports and entertainment. Boardroom’s flagship media arm features premium video/audio, editorial, daily and weekly newsletters, showcasing how athletes, executives, musicians and creators are moving the business world forward. Boardroom’s ecosystem encompasses B2B events and experiences (such as its renowned NBA and WNBA All-Star events) as well as ticketed conferences such as Game Plan in partnership with CNBC. Our advisory arm serves to consult and connect athletes, brands and executives with our broader network and initiatives.

Recent film and TV projects also under the Boardroom umbrella include the Academy Award-winning Two Distant Strangers (Netflix), the critically acclaimed scripted series SWAGGER (Apple TV+) and Emmy-nominated documentary NYC Point Gods (Showtime).

Boardroom’s sister company, Boardroom Sports Holdings, features investments in emerging sports teams and leagues, including the Major League Pickleball team, the Brooklyn Aces, NWSL champions Gotham FC, and MLS’ Philadelphia Union.

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July 17, 2026
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The Odyssey is finally here, and it’s well on its way to dominating the summer box office. The film — which stars a heavy-hitting round of A-listers including Matt Damon, Robert Pattinson, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Anne Hathaway, and Lupita Nyong’o — has made $17.6 million in previews so far. That narrowly tops the $17.5 million earned by Toy Story 5, making it the highest-grossing film for preview screenings in 2026. For comparison, Oppenheimer made $10.5 million in previews when it opened opposite Barbie during peak “Barbenheimer.” The Odyssey is expected to bring in between $90 million and $100 million this weekend, which would mark Nolan’s biggest opening since The Dark Knight Rises made $160 million in 2012.

On Monday, attorney generals from 12 states filed a lawsuit to challenge the $111B Paramount-Warner Bros. merger, citing concerns about antitrust laws and reduced competition in the film and television industries. The states are seeking a temporary restraining order that would bar the transaction for 28 days. The hearing took place today, and while the judge did not yet issue a ruling on the emergency motion, she said she plans to by Wednesday, July 22nd, which is around the time that the European Union is set to deliver their decision as well. 

For the first time in the tournament’s 96-year history, the winners of Saturday’s World Cup final between Spain and Argentina will be gifted bespoke championship rings, following in the footsteps of other American major leagues like the NFL and NBA. One half of the ring will feature the FIFA World Cup trophy, while the other will be customized to reflect the identity of the winning team. Only 2,026 individually numbered pieces will be created, with 30 reserved for the winners and the other 1,996 available to fans for purchase.

WNBPA leaders are set to meet with commissioner Cathy Engelbert and other league leadership about the recent uptick in online harassment. “It’s literally a temperature check of everything from the first half of the season,” said WNBPA Vice President and New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart, citing the “negative effects of sports betting and the league’s growth as contributing factors for the increased vitriol online. The meeting follows a controversial play between Caitlin Clark and Alyssa Thomas, which resulted in the latter’s one-game suspension.

Disney is entering its sports era. On stage on Thursday at Fanatics Fest in New York City, the entertainment giant announced a new apparel line created in partnership with the NFL, in which each of the league’s 32 teams is paired with and represented by an iconic Disney, Star Wars, Marvel, or Pixar character. Only eight pairings have been revealed so far, but “most” of the collection will be available to shop online in August. The timing is apt, as Disney prepares for its first NFL season broadcasting the Super Bowl in over two decades. 

After seven seasons with the late-night sketch show, Chloe Fineman, frequently lauded for her impressions, has announced she’s leaving, marking the first departure during the show’s offseason. Meanwhile, Sarah Sherman, who has been with SNL for five seasons, has signed with WME, “with an eye toward helping her expand her footprint across film, television and beyond, as she continues developing her own original projects,” as Deadline reports. The SNL cast is usually finalized in early September, but no word yet on if there will be any new additions for season 52.

Fox Sports broke its own FIFA World Cup viewership record for the second straight day as Argentina’s 2-1 semifinal win over England averaged 15.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched English-language Men’s World Cup semifinal ever. The thriller peaked at 22.2 million viewers and surpassed Tuesday’s Spain-France matchup, which had set the record just one day earlier with an average of 11.5 million viewers.

Gil’s Arena, the popular basketball podcast co-hosted by NBA veteran Gilbert Arenas and Josiah Johnson, will have a new home on Playmaker come this August. The move follows a rather public breakup with Underdog, which bought 50% of the show back in 2023. Arenas left the show in May, and then earlier this month, Underdog scrapped its original content offerings in order to focus on prediction markets and daily fantasy gaming. Playmaker is already home to the Roommates Show by Knicks stars Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart, and Shaquille O’Neal’s Big Podcast With Shaq.

Worn by a 17-year-old Pelé during Brazil’s 5-2 win over Sweden, the iconic No. 10 jersey sold at Sotheby’s for $4.88 million on Thursday. Pelé scored twice in the 1958 final as Brazil secured its first World Cup title, becoming the youngest player to appear and score in the tournament’s championship match.⁠ The sale set a new record for any Pelé collectible and made the jersey the second-most expensive soccer shirt ever, behind Diego Maradona’s $9.28 million ‘Hand of God’ jersey.⁠

In other Odyssey-related news, Travis Scott and James Blake released their new song, “When I’m Home” today. The track, which plays over the film’s end credits, also features production from Oscar-winning composer Ludwig Göransson. Scott, who also appears in the film, previously collaborated with Blake on multiple tracks from his 2023 album Utopia.

On Thursday, President Donald Trump delivered a 25-minute speech on election veracity, including claims about China accessing millions of voter files, which are public. Both NBC and ABC declined to broadcast the address live, however, both featured it on their streaming channels. In the aftermath, Trump has called for both to lose their broadcasting licenses. A step further, the FCC and its chairman Brendan Carr has already ordered ABC to put the licenses of its stations up for an early renewal. ABC called the move an “extraordinary demonstration of power and coercion.”

Image: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Universal Pictures

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Boardroom Staff