Weekly Roundup: Business of Athletes, Sports, & NIL (January 1-15th)

Dropping sports participation rates = rising obesity, Joe Burrow buys farm land, and some major sports tech acquisitions.

Listen on Spotify. Listen on Apple Podcasts.

Audio Timeline:

(0:40) - Feel good stories

• Florida State offensive lineman Dillan Gibbons has raised over $500,000 through NIL for his charity "Big Man, Big Heart."

• Damar Hamlin’s charity hits $8.8M in donations.

(2:10) - Business of Athletes

• Michael Phelps, Odell Beckham Jr, Jeremy Lin, & more invest in Major League Pickleball (MLP).

• Alex Rodriguez has exercised his option alongside Marc Lore to buy a second 20% stake in the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx.

• Blake Griffin, Joe Burrow, Khris Middleton, Kemba Walker, Anders Lee, and 20+ pro athletes are buying $5M in Iowa farmland.

• Patrick Mahomes has acquired an ownership stake in the women’s soccer team, Kansas City Current.

• WNBA star Lisa Leslie has joined the ownership team at Jelenew, a women’s cycling brand.

(5:45) - Name, Image, and Likeness

• Tiger Woods's son, Charlie Woods, will not be eligible for NIL money under Florida law should he attend high school there (currently in 8th grade).

• NIL Collectives, such as at Michigan, are raising funds to help pay athletes to return to their schools.

• NC State cornerback, Shyheim Battle, became the first athlete to ever sign an equity deal with Obsesh, an all-in-one athlete engagement platform.

• Florida’s $13 million NIL deal with 5-star football recruit Jaden Rashada may head to the courtroom.

(09:35) - Future of Sports

• 32 Equity, the NFL’s venture fund, invested in upstart apparel and footwear brand NOBULL.

• The Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) has completed a $30 million Series B funding round led by Divergent Investments.

• Runna, a coaching app for runners, has raised $2.3M in funding.

• East Asia Super League (EASL) has secured US$40 million in its Series C fundraising round.

• Clive Mayhew has invested $1.2 million to launch Play Today, a web3 golf company.

• Teamworks, a sports management SaaS, has acquired 4 new companies: Smartabase, Retain, Grafted, and NextPlay.

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Interesting Stat

Sports participation rates are dropping…

And you know what’s rising?

Obesity rates.

• 1990: zero states with obesity rates above 20%

• 2018: zero states with obesity rates below 20%

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Short Passage of The Week

Most people think that leadership is telling people what to do.

What leadership really is:

• Use of influence and power

• Actively listening to understand

• Integrity and developing a vision 

• Practicing empathy and vulnerability

• Self-awareness and empowering others

"Leadership is not about titles or the corner office. It’s about the willingness to step up, put yourself out there, and lean into courage.

The world is desperate for braver leaders. It’s time for all of us to step up."

Passage by Brené Brown

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Podcast 🎙

Steven Farag is the founder and CEO of Campus Ink — a merch platform that recently raised $2 million to expand its NIL offerings to colleges.

Fascinating convo touching on:

• Getting Mark Cuban to invest

• State of NIL and college sports

• The hardest thing about the apparel business

• How much college athletes are making from selling merch

• And much more…

Check it out:

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Tweet

Investments often take many years to materialize.

Kobe Bryant pulled off one of the best of all time (6,600% return).

Andrew Petcash @AndrewPetcash

Kobe Bryant may have made the BEST athlete investment of all time. Turning $6M into over $400 million. Here's the fascinating story:

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Business Jargon

Venture Capital firms are typically the first institutional money early-stage companies receive.

Here’s how they’re structured:

Limited partners: provide the capital and assume a passive role

General partners: run the investment funds day to day operations which includes spotting opportunities and providing value to current portfolio companies

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Quote

"My biggest motivation? Just to keep challenging myself. I see life like one long University education that I never had — every day I’m learning something new." - Richard Branson

Thanks for tuning in today!

Peace,

-AP