Basketball fans who flock to televisions this week to watch the 2023 NCAA Men’s Tournament will notice fewer Under Armour logos on their screens. Baltimore-based Under Armour (NYSE:UAA) is the official jersey sponsor of 11 teams in this year’s tournament, which is 16% of the 68-team field, according to Apex Marketing. The 11 teams is five fewer than last year, when the company sponsored 16 tournament teams, or 23.5% of the field.

Silver Spring media company Urban One Inc. (NASDAQ: UONE) is cashing out of its longstanding investment in MGM National Harbor to the tune of nearly $146 million. On March 8, Urban One issued a “put notice” that requires MGM National Harbor LLC to repurchase Urban One’s share in the casino for cash within 30 days, according to a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Visit Baltimore is prioritizing efforts to bring business to the Baltimore Convention Center this year while Visit Howard County is working to attract business travel again, three years after the Covid-19 pandemic hit. The two agencies, along with Visit Annapolis and Anne Arundel County, shared insights on their local tourism challenges, recovery from the pandemic and what they’re working toward now during a BWI Business Partnership meeting on March 9.

The nation’s largest grid operator is warning that it might not have enough electric generation in the future to guarantee reliability. And it comes as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission convenes a forum on the multibillion-dollar capacity market PJM operates to ensure there’s enough power to meet demand even during grid emergencies, such as during Winter Storm Elliott last year.

Baltimore leaders imposed rare sanctions Wednesday on a longtime business partner for repeatedly failing to make timely payments to a West Baltimore company, a decision they hope sends a signal about the city’s commitment to upholding requirements for women- and minority-owned businesses. The city’s five-member Board of Estimates unanimously approved a two-year ban on contracts with the New Jersey-based Metra Industries for a series of late payments to a Black-owned subcontractor, and for misrepresenting the reason for these missed payments over a monthslong investigation.

Diamond Sports Group, the largest owner of regional sports networks, filed for bankruptcy protection on Tuesday, toppled by a more than $8 billion debt load. The company, which is an unconsolidated and independently run subsidiary of Sinclair Broadcast Group, filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Texas. The company said in a release it is finalizing a restructuring support agreement with a majority of its debt holders and Sinclair to wipe out its debt load.

 

The nearest baseball field to the New York Court of Appeals is a sandlot that will soon host a youth league, ages 4 to 6. But inside the Albany, New York, courthouse Tuesday, Big Baseball was taking place. Attorneys for two Major League Baseball franchises pleaded their cases in a dispute that has gone on for more than a decade over roughly $100 million in television revenue.

 

Next month, Difference 2-17 — a “skills enrichment center” in downtown Mount Airy for adults with autism — will open at a second location, in downtown Frederick. Difference 2-17 promotes life skills while letting the adults explore their interests on their own schedule. The new Frederick location will be at 106 N. Market St., an intentional decision by co-owners Donna Pidel and Adebayo Sodunke to be in the heart of the downtown. It is scheduled to open on Autism Awareness Day on April 2.

Mercy Medical Center Tuesday announced the opening of its new motility and breath testing suite, part of an 8,200-plus square-foot expansion of the hospital’s endoscopy center, located on the second floor of Mercy’s Mary Catherine Bunting Center. The new suite includes 10 GI preparation and recovery rooms, eight breathing testing chairs, testing for upper and lower motility, a biofeedback room, a smart pill room, multiple exam rooms and offices.

 

Cyber advisory company Optiv Tuesday announced it acquired Hanover-based ClearShark LLC and ClearShark Services Inc., an adviser and reseller of cybersecurity and modernization technology to the United States federal government. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The transaction more than doubles Optiv’s federal presence, while significantly deepening its bench of government expertise and expanding the breadth of its federal capabilities.