Weekly Roundup: Business of Athletes, Sports, & NIL (April 3-9)
Weekly Roundup: Business of Athletes, Sports, & NIL (April 3-9)
The Caitlin Clark effect at Iowa, NBA player launches healthy candy, walk-ons awarded $25,000 NIL deals, and more from this past week.
Hope everyone is having a great Easter weekend. No weekly roundup podcast today (but lots of great content you’ll enjoy).
Business of Athletes
NBA and NBPA reached a new collective bargaining agreement (major cannabis updates, 65 games min. for awards, and players can invest in teams)
Jayson Tatum launched a candy company called Small Wins with his son in mind.
The average MLB salary is up 11% YoY (~$4.9 million).
NIL/College Sports
Five walk-ons awarded $25,000 NIL deals by Degree Deodorant during the NCAA Tournament.
Oklahoma lawmakers have passed a bill that would protect a student athletes’ ability to make money from their name, image, and likeness.
The NCAA is facing another lawsuit from former student-athletes and the law firms that handled the Alston case (I dive deep in the podcast).
The CBI contributed $25,000 in NIL money to the Charlotte 49ers after winning the post-season tournament.
The University of Iowa had to pause ticket sales for the 2023-24 season due to overwhelming demand (6,700 new inquiries). Caitlin Clark is prime time.
Sports Business
Endeavor purchased the WWE at its valuation of $9.3 billion.
Sixth Street Partners becomes the first institutional investor to a majority owner of a professional US sports franchise committing $125m to buy an NWSL team.
Shorepower, an Oregon-based firm, has gone public via a reverse merger with the United States Basketball League, which operated between 1985 and 2008.
Interesting Stat
2022 was a record year for sports mergers & acquisitions.
And 2023 is off to an even hotter start…
Penn Entertainment buys final stake in Barstool Sports ($551M total)
Endeavor acquires WWE ($9.3B)
Short Passage of The Week
“Find Your Focus Own Your Attention”
Your attention can be like a flashlight. Where you point it becomes brighter, highlighted, and more salient:
Multitasking or, more specifically, task switching is terrible for our performance, accuracy, and mood.
In a day when you do a lot of task switching, you'll start having less integrity in any of the states your attention is in, which can lead to becoming slower, more error-prone, and emotionally worn down.
Passage by Dr. Amishi P. Jha, Peak Mind
Interesting Stat #2
UFC and WWE agreed to form a new company with a combined enterprise value of $21.4 billion.
The UFC-WWE marriage would place second, behind Liberty Media and ahead of Kroenke Sports and Entertainment, among the most valuable sports empires.
Tweet
Ownership is the key to real wealth:
Business Jargon - “Fundraising”
Fundraising is critical as it provides startups with the necessary capital to develop and scale their products or services.
Several ways companies can raise funds:
a. Bootstrapping: Entrepreneurs can use their own savings or personal funds to get their venture off the ground.
b. Crowdfunding: crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter, Indiegogo, or GoFundMe enable companies to raise funds from the public in exchange for early access to products, rewards, or equity.
c. Angel Investors: Wealthy individuals or experienced entrepreneurs might invest in early-stage sports tech startups in exchange for equity or convertible debt.
d. Venture Capital: Venture capital firms specialize in providing funding to early-stage or high-growth companies in exchange for equity.
e. Government Grants: Startups can seek government grants, which may be available for projects related to sports, technology, or innovation.
Quote
“The problem is not people being uneducated. The problem is that people are educated just enough to believe what they have been taught, but not educated enough to question what they have been taught." - Richard Feynman
Thanks for tuning in today!
Peace,
-AP