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Sporticast 368: Are You Buying a Noah Lyles Sneaker?
On the latest Sporticast episode, hosts Scott Soshnick and Eben Novy-Williams discuss some of the biggest sports business stories of the week, including brash American sprinter Noah Lyles. The 27-year-old won the 100m dash at the Olympics this past weekend, then immediately said he wanted Adidas to build a sneaker brand around him. NBAers Won't Drop Noah Lyles' 'Champions' Line, Gold Medal or Not It’s not the first time Lyles has been outspoken about his talents, the public’s recognition of that talent, and his deserving of opportunities typically handed to stars in more popular team sports. He’s gone after NBA players...
Paris Olympics ‘Slow Pool’ Still Produces 21 Records
With just two days of swimming competition remaining at the 2024 Olympics, only one world record had been set at the Games—by Pan Zhanle of China in the men’s 100-meter freestyle event. NBAers Won't Drop Noah Lyles' 'Champions' Line, Gold Medal or Not The prevailing theory from experts was that the shallow depth of the temporary pool built for the Olympics was causing slower times than expected. With less space below the swimmers, the waves created were bouncing off the bottom of the pool and making the water unusually turbulent. At only 2.15 meters deep, the pool constructed in a converted...
Man United Could Sell Stadium Naming Rights to Snapdragon
Manchester United is considering selling naming rights to a redeveloped Old Trafford or an entirely new stadium in order to help finance its construction, according to an ESPN report.Real Madrid Posts Record $1.16B in Revenue for 2023-24 Season Qualcomm, which produces the semiconductor brand Snapdragon, could be interested in signing such a deal. The telecommunications company already signed a lucrative jersey sponsorship deal with the club last fall, and according to the company would consider expanding its relationship if the opportunity presents itself. Don McGuire, the company’s chief marketing officer, told ESPN that “Old Trafford is Old Trafford,” but indicated a willingness...
PrizePicks Names Ex-Blizzard Exec as New CEO
Daily fantasy sports startup PrizePicks has a new CEO, as the company announced the appointment of former Blizzard Entertainment president Mike Ybarra on Monday. Ybarra succeeds PrizePicks founder Adam Wexler, who is transitioning to an executive chairman position.Activision Sued by Call of Duty Players Over Antitrust Claims Ybarra comes from the world of video games, having worked within the Xbox division during a nearly 20-year stint at Microsoft. At Blizzard Entertainment, a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, Ybarra oversaw intellectual property including Warcraft and Overwatch. “I am impressed with the passion, positive energy and incredible team at PrizePicks and want to thank Adam...
Jet Set Sports Relies on Hospitality Without Olympic Ticket Sales
Alan Dizdarevic, the co-CEO of Jet Set Sports, has been to 18 straight Olympics. But this year’s Summer Games in Paris have been a different experience.Sporticast 368: Are You Buying a Noah Lyles Sneaker? For decades, Jet Set Sports was the exclusive middleman between the Olympics and Americans looking to attend the Games in person, either via standard tickets or pricey hospitality packages. Its hegemony, however, ended abruptly in June 2021, when the IOC fully overhauled how Olympics tickets are sold. The move presented an existential question for Jet Set. The bedrock of its business—direct access to the Olympic events—had disappeared,...
Sports Stocks Plunge With Market Over Interest Rate Cut Fears
Volatile global markets have pulled in sports stocks Monday as broad concerns about the U.S. job market and what that means for anticipated interest rate cuts sent the Sportico Sports Stock Index down 5% at the start of trading Monday, roughly in line with the drops in smaller- and tech-focused stock sectors that account for a bulk of sports-related shares. The sports index recouped some of the losses during the day- much like the broader market- and closed down 3% at 1,113, a three-month low. Fubo Q2 Results Lifted by Baseball, Soccer; CEO Hits Venu “Markets are clearly nervous about the...
Disney, FuboTV Near Showdown With Venu Sports in Balance
This Tuesday a federal judge at the Thurgood Marshall Courthouse in Manhattan will hold a hearing that will greatly impact whether Venu Sports will—as planned—launch this fall. Venu would be a streaming platform that features live sports and costs $42.99 a month.Fubo Q2 Results Lifted by Baseball, Soccer; CEO Hits Venu U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett will hear arguments from FuboTV, which seeks a preliminary injunction to block ESPN, Walt Disney, Fox, Warner Brothers Discovery and Hulu from proceeding with their joint venture streaming platform. Fubo sued those companies in February for alleged antitrust violations, including a purported plot to manipulate the market to the detriment...
Premier League Extends Genius Sports Data Deal Into 2029
Genius Sports has locked up the official data rights to all of English soccer through the 2028-29 season, as previously reported negotiations with Football DataCo over global rights to UK game data, including the Premier League, have successfully concluded.Fubo Q2 Results Lifted by Baseball, Soccer; CEO Hits Venu Genius has been the exclusive supplier of lightning-quick data from the pitches to the sports betting industry since 2019. The deal announced Monday in an embargoed release is another extension of the partnership that provides Genius official access to the EPL, the more populous English Football League and the Scottish Premier League. In...
Judges, Not Commissioners, Are Remaking Sports This Summer
Sometimes it’s easy to miss the forest for the trees. That could be happening in the sports industry this summer.Disney, FuboTV Near Showdown With Venu Sports in Balance In federal and state courtrooms across America, judges are transforming the business of sports and how fans consume them. These judges might not be sports fans or even knowledgeable about athletics, teams or leagues. Yet they’re redesigning sports with points of view sometimes at odds with powerful industry interests. It’s as if there are new commissioners and they all wear robes. This phenomenon was stunningly seen last Thursday. U.S. District Judge Philip S. Gutierrez concluded...
Noah Lyles Tells Adidas He Wants His Own Sneaker
U.S. track and field superstar Noah Lyles made his intention clear after winning a gold medal in the men’s 100-meter final on Sunday in Paris.Paris Olympics Average 30.7M Viewers on NBCU, Biggest Since 1994 “I want my own shoe. I want a sneaker … Ain’t no money in spikes. Even Michael Johnson didn’t have a sneaker,” he told reporters, referring to the U.S. sprinter who won four gold medals. Lyles, who crossed the finish line in 9.79 seconds, used the new personal best moment to place pressure on sportswear giants who have prioritized other sports like basketball and soccer more than lesser...
Noah Lyles Tells Adidas He Wants His Own Sneaker
U.S. track and field superstar Noah Lyles made his intention clear after winning a gold medal in the men’s 100-meter final on Sunday in Paris.Paris Olympics Average 30.7M Viewers on NBCU, Biggest Since 1994 “I want my own shoe. I want a sneaker … Ain’t no money in spikes. Even Michael Johnson didn’t have a sneaker,” he told reporters, referring to the U.S. sprinter who won four gold medals. Lyles, who crossed the finish line in 9.79 seconds, used the new personal best moment to place pressure on sportswear giants who have prioritized other sports like basketball and soccer more than lesser...
Michigan, Moore Face NCAA Sanction as Legal Battle Lurks
It was only eight months ago when Michigan and the Big Ten averted a courtroom showdown by settling a case that centered on the conference suspending then-head football coach Jim Harbaugh over an alleged sign-stealing scheme orchestrated by former Wolverines football analyst Connor Stalions.Judges, Not Commissioners, Are Remaking Sports This Summer But the possibility of legal drama resurfaced Sunday when ESPN reported that a tentative draft of the NCAA’s notice of allegations accuses new Michigan head football coach Sherrone Moore of deleting a thread of 52 texts with Stalions on the day the scandal broke last October. According to ESPN, Moore could face a show-cause...
Oracle Can Wait: NFL Fullback Is Miami’s Main Money Man
Amerant Bank installed a new core data processing platform and other key applications at the end of last year. To help its employees prepare for the internal transition, the Coral Gables bank holding company contacted Miami Dolphins fullback Alec Ingold.Bill Belichick to Launch Football Show With Underdog Fantasy “They developed a playbook,” Ingold said in an interview. “And who better to ask about playbooks than a football player?” Ingold, a team captain known among teammates for his financial expertise, has since established an ongoing partnership with Amerant, which is owned by parent company Amerant Bancorp Inc. (NYSE: AMTB). He’s been part of...
Olympics’ 81 NBA Players Highlight League’s Global Investment
“I don’t know anything about Angola, but Angola’s in trouble,” Charles Barkley said before the Dream Team’s dominant 116-48 victory to open the 1992 Olympics.Paris Olympics 'Slow Pool' Still Produces 21 Records Fast-forward to 2024, and the U.S. men’s basketball team needed a last-minute layup by LeBron James to stave off South Sudan 101-100 in exhibition play. International basketball competitions have become less predictable. Germany nearly defeated the U.S. in an exhibition game last month and knocked off a different roster of American NBA stars in the semifinals of the 2023 FIBA World Cup. Canada beat the U.S. in the bronze...
Kobe Bryant’s Locker Sold for $2.9M at Sotheby’s Sports Auction
A locker used by late Lakers legend Kobe Bryant sold for $2.88 million at a sports memorabilia auction on Friday after a flurry of late bidding closed sports week at Sotheby’s. The 23 lots included a Mickey Mantle batting helmet, a red F1 racing suit worn by Michael Schumacher in the 1998 Belgian Grand Prix and Patrick Ewing’s signed shoes from the 1992 Olympic “Dream Team” gold medal game. The relic of Bryant’s locker however, a staging area for some of the superstar’s greatest games, topped them all in a flurry of late bidding that exceed auction estimates.Olympics' 81 NBA...
Howard U Coach Pitches $100 Million Hoops Program PE Sale
Howard University’s men’s basketball coach has an ambitious plan for his program and the school to keep up with the professionalization of college sports.Mom and Pop Find Way Into Team Ownership as PE Draws Advisors According to The Washington Post, Kenny Blakeney has pitched a proposal to private equity firms and wealthy individuals to buy a 33% stake in the basketball program for $100 million. In return, the Bison head coach is offering a three-way revenue split between the prospective owner, the university and the team itself. The report says that Blakeney has not formally pitched the idea to the school, but...
Sportico Transactions: Moves and Mergers Roundup for Aug. 2
Welcome to Sportico’s transactions wire, a weekly rundown of personnel, partnerships and products across the sports business industry.Sportico Transactions: Moves and Mergers Roundup for July 26 PERSONNEL Wasserman Hires Private Equity Executive Steve Murray Sports, music and entertainment company Wasserman has hired Steve Murray as executive vice president of mergers & acquisitions and strategy. Murray joins Wasserman from Providence Equity Partners, where he was a principal on their investment team. Murray spent 12 years at Providence, including a stint at the company’s London office. He has extensive experience in the sports, music and entertainment industries, having collaborated with prominent organizations such as the NFL, MLS, Learfield, Real...
U.S. Olympic Sprinter Lands Charmin Deal After Porta Potty Mishap
U.S. sprinter Kendall Ellis faced what could have been a huge obstacle at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials in Eugene, Ore., back in June. A few minutes before the semifinals of the 400 meters, Ellis got locked inside a porta potty.Noah Lyles Tells Adidas He Wants His Own Sneaker “I’m in there panicking, and I’m banging on the door, trying to get help,” she told FanSided’s Adam Weinrib. “Thankfully a worker hears me, comes over and lets me out after 10 minutes. We managed to jimmy the lock and get me out.” Ellis went on to win that semifinal and...
Pro-NCAA Bill Sponsor Bob Good Benched From Congress
The NCAA is soon to lose if not its best man in Washington, at least a Good one.Michigan, Moore Face NCAA Sanction as Legal Battle Lurks Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.), who sponsored legislation earlier this year that would prevent college athletes from obtaining employee status, officially lost his primary race to state Sen. John McGuire following a court-certified recount. Good, the chair of the conservative Freedom Caucus, also served as a chair of the House subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions. A former college wrestler and athletic administrator at Liberty University, he introduced in May the “Protecting Student Athletes’ Economic Freedom...
DraftKings CEO Says Tax Surcharge Won’t Hurt Long-Term Business
DraftKings CEO Jason Robins says the company’s new “winnings surcharge” in high-tax states, a move to pass along the cost of doing business in places like New York and Illinois directly to its users, likely will not have a long-term impact on customer behavior.DraftKings Posts First Profitable Quarter, Plans High-Tax Surcharge He added that the move, which drew vocal disapproval on social media when it was announced on Thursday, could have its biggest impact among users that are less valuable to the company. “Absolutely, that’s the hypothesis,” Robins said Friday in an interview. “Right out of the gate, even if you’re somebody...
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