🔎📈 July Recap: Oura Ring Adds SpO2. Atletico Madrid, Usain Bolt Enter the Metaverse. $178M Raised From Sports Tech Startups (61% came from NFT/metaverse startups).
Dear Colleague,
July was another great month for all the sports enthusiasts. The majority of the top soccer leagues (Laliga, Ligue 1, Premier League, Calcio, Bundesliga, etc..) are now back in action. It will be an interesting year as this is the year of the 2022 Soccer World Cup in Qatar so many soccer teams will miss their best players during the World Cup. The offseason also was very busy with top clubs such as Barcelona FC acquiring top players (Robert Lewandowski, Jules Koundé, Franck Kessie, Andreas Christensen and Raphinha) and raising almost €868M.
It is also worth pointing out that recently the soccer players' trade values have dropped significantly. For example Haaland got traded to the Manchester City for 60M Euros. A year ago his value was 176M Euros. Other players such as Neymar Jr saw their market value falling from 222M euros last year to 90M Euros currently.
England also won its first ever major women's championship in dramatic fashion, beating Germany 2-1 after extra-time in the Euro 2022 Final at Wembley Stadium.
In the world of pro basketball, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said the NBA league posted a record year for revenue with the 2021-22 season, surpassing $10 billion for the first time. In addition, ever since Kevin Durant expressed his desire to leave the Brooklyn Nets, there are been a lot of reports on his next destination (Miami, Phoenix, Boston…) but nothing has been finalized yet. Brittney Griner, a seven-time WNBA All-Star and two-time WNBA Defensive Player of the Year, was also found guilty on drug charges in Russia and sentenced to nine years in prison a few weeks ago.
In the world of American Football, NFL teams are now starting their preseason games. The Rock, who bought the XFL, also led the XFL training camp and hired some former NFL players to coach some of those XFL teams. The Rock made it clear that he wants to compete with the NFL. Will he succeed? That’s different story.
In the world of pro rugby, Ireland jumped to No. 1 in the men's World Rugby rankings following their historic 33-22 victory over New Zealand in July. The All Blacks also lost 26-10 to the Springboks in their Rugby Championship match in Mbombela 2 weeks ago. But the All Black then ended a three-match losing streak with a 35-23 Rugby Championship second-round win over the Springboks at Ellis Park in Johannesburg last weekend.
In the world of pro baseball, the NY Mets now lead the American League (74-40) as they edged out the Yankees which are now 72-42. The LA Dodgers lead the National League (79-33).
In the world of pro tennis, Novak Djokovic is set to miss out on the US Open this year because he is not vaccinated for COVID-19. World No. 33 John Isner, who reached the Wimbledon semi-finals in 2018, says it is "complete lunacy" that Djokovic will not be able to play at the Grand Slam the Serb has won three times. Rafael Nadal now has a chance to win its 23rd grand slam title.
In the world of pro hockey, the NHL offseason is also in full swing, with the 2022 draft finished and free agency which started on July 13. Teams are already busy making trades, especially the Chicago Blackhawks who shipped out forwards Alex DeBrincat and Kirby Dach on the first day of the draft. Some NHL teams such as the LA Kings also entered the metaverse as they became the first NHL team to use 3D volumetric technology.
In the NFT/Metaverse/AR/VR/Crypto/Blockchain space, the Los Angeles Rams became the first NFL team to partner with Dapper Labs, and the team’s Super Bowl LVI ring will be the first NFT released as part of the deal. The MLS Players Association and Splinterlands are also developing blockchain games. The NFLPA and SuperTeam Games also teamed up to launch blockchain-powered video game "STG Football". NFT Tech also announced a new partnership with Sony Hawk-Eye Innovations to connect sports to NFT.
Picture: LA Rams’ NFT, in association with Dapper Labs.
In addition, US-based move-to-earn NFT platform Runnera is set to launch the first-ever athletic competition in the metaverse with inaugural 100 meter race among 45 participants in December. Everton FC and Fancurve are also creating digital shirt NFTs for the metaverse. AC Milan and Sorare also teamed up for blockchain-based Fantasy football. Brazilian soccer club São Paulo also signed Giuliano Galoppo using cryptocurrency USDC stablecoin.
Picture: Everton FC’s digital shirt.
Dick's Sporting Goods also launched “School of Sport” virtual world on Roblox. Under Armour’s Curry Brand NFT strategy is also showing how to tap into real fan engagement in the metaverse.
Picture: Under Armour’s Curry Brand NFT
FC Barcelona also launched Johan Cruyff-themed NFT as a ‘work of art’ ahead of auction. Step App is launching a private beta of its fitness metaverse platform with eight-time Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt. Manchester City also launched a metaverse experience on Roblox. Nike also debuted some Smart Hoodies that come alive with AR. Atletico Madrid also announced the launch of virtual island, “Atletiverse”. Skateboarding legend Tony Hawk also entered the metaverse.
The NFL will also provide commemorative NFT tickets for 2022-23 season. Dubai also plans to target 40,000 virtual jobs as part of new Metaverse strategy.
Picture: NFL’s NFT tickets.
In the world of sports performance and wearables, the Fitbit Versa 4, Sense 2 and Inspire 3 images got leaked. Manchester City also also made a smart football scarf to track those big match feels. Oura also finally added SpO2 measurements.
In the world of sports tech investments, investments reached $178M, which was down -32% , compared to May 2022. 61% of funding came from Metaverse/NFT startups, up from 22% last month.
Lastly, if you have a sports tech product and startup and want us to review and do a full analysis of your sports tech product (e.g. sleep tech, wearables, biosensors, NFT/Metaverse..) that would be published here on our Upside newsletter and website, please reach out to us at julien@sportscouncilsv.com
As a reminder, we launched our Upside Global platform to bring together our sports, tech & health community of 6,000+ executives under a single web platform. Members include executives from the NBA, NFL, NHL, MLS, MLB, NCAA, Laliga, English Premiere League, Ligue 1, Bundesliga, Series A, Brazilian soccer league, Olympic teams, Pro rugby, Pro tennis, as well as representatives of startups, brands, VCs, and athletes.
If you are a head athletic trainer, CTO, CMO of a major sports team or league looking to connect with the most innovative startups or connect with your peers to network, or if you are a startup CEO looking to connect with top teams or investors, you can join our Upside community of executives from the NBA, NFL, NHL, MLS, MLB, NCAA, Laliga, English Premier League, Olympic teams, top VCs, startups (AR, VR, wearables, sleep tech..) and more!
Your opportunity for growth starts now, create your free executive profile today to join our online community and click on “become a member today” as a first step. It is free to join! It only take one minute to create your profile.
If you face any problems during the registration process, please contact us at julien@sportscouncilsv.com
📰 Top Stories We’re Reading This Month
🔥Upside Guest Writer: Now Is the Time to Play Offense, By Jeff Bussgang, GP & Co-Founder, Flybrid Capital Partners, Harvard Business School.
🔥Upside Guest Writer: 5 Wrong Ways to Reach Out to VCs, By Norman Winarsky.
⭐ Upside VC profile & Chat: Steve Quinn, CEO, Emerging Media Ventures.
⭐ ⌚ Upside: HRV Ecosystems Analysis: Latest Research, Trends, Key Vendors & Where We are Heading.
⭐Upside: Exclusive Web 3.0 (NFT, Metaverse) Strategy survey: 9 Key Takeaways.
⭐Upside: Top 12 Emerging Sports Performance Startups to Watch in 2H22.
🔗 FC Barcelona positions first Johan Cruyff-themed NFT as a ‘work of art’ ahead of auction.
🔗Manchester City to launch metaverse experience on Roblox.
🔗 Nike debuts Smart Hoodies that come alive with AR .
🎮 Atletico Madrid announce launch of virtual island, “Atletiverse”.
⌚ Fitbit Versa 4, Sense 2 and Inspire 3 images leak.
⌚ Manchester City made a smart football scarf to track those big match feels.
⌚ Wearables and temperature tracking – the whole story.
⌚ Oura finally adds SpO2 measurements.
💸 Startup investment recap (July 2022)
📊 Tech Stats of the month
📸 Snapshots & videos of the Month
Let’s jump right into the insights and upside for all of these top stories
🔥Upside Guest Writer: Now Is the Time to Play Offense, By Jeff Bussgang, GP & Co-Founder, Flybrid Capital Partners, Harvard Business School
This month our guest writer is Jeffrey Bussgang, General Partner and Co-Founder, Flybridge Capital Partners, and Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School. Jeff, in his piece entitled “Now is The Time to Play Offense” explained what startups CEOs and entrepreneurs should do in terms of hiring, fund raising, M&As, product management, R&D, process improvements, now that we are entering a challenging global economy. Read on here.
🔥Upside Guest Writer: 5 Wrong Ways to Reach Out to VCs, By Norman Winarsky.
This month our guest writer is Norman Winarsky, an Advisor to Startups, Author, and Angel Investor. In his piece entitles “The Five Wrong Ways to Reach Out to VCs” he gave us his insights on the most common mistakes made by startups when reaching out to VCs. Read on here.
⭐ Upside VC profile & Chat: Steve Quinn, CEO, Emerging Media Ventures
Emerging Media Ventures is the UK’s leading sports venture builder. As majority owner of the Rajasthan Royals, they are uniquely positioned to provide exposure to the global growth in cricket and the Indian economy. Within their role as a venture builder, they bring together their resources, infrastructure, network and experience to help support and grow business. Within this, they hold a range of specific capabilities including exposure to cricket, experience in India, sports expertise and venture build services. This month, we interviewed Steve Quinn, CEO of Emerging Media Ventures.
You can check out Emerging Media Ventures’ profile and listen to the podcast interview with Steve here.
⭐ ⌚ Upside: HRV Ecosystems Analysis: Latest Research, Trends, Key Vendors & Where We are Heading
HRV is a key metrics used by many pro teams these days. In fact, HRV guided interventions have been shown to improve health, wellbeing and fitness, but it has also helped reduce athletes’ fatigue, and even blood pressure. Pro teams are now using HRV devices in various shapes and forms (Smart rings by Oura, smart bands by Whoop, smart patch by Lief, etc). Similar to GPS, AMS or HR systems, pro teams and leagues have to pick the right HRV system that fits their requirements, use cases, budget, and requirements. In this analysis we will discuss the latest research focusing on HRV, the current and future market trends, VC/M&A investment trends, the HRV vendor ecosystems, and the key HRV vendors. We will also provide recommendations to pro teams looking to adopt a HRV solution.
To Read the full Upside analysis, click here.
⭐Upside: Exclusive Web 3.0 (NFT, Metaverse) Strategy survey: 9 Key Takeaways
The NFT/Metaverse space, which is part of the web 3.0 landscape, has been one of the most hyped topics in the past year. In the past 12 months we have talked to lots of sports organizations in order to try to understand what their web 3.0 strategy is. In parallel to that, we recently surveyed some top sports organizations operating across various leagues (Premier League, Ligue 1, Series B, Olympic organizations, etc..) and sports (soccer, basketball, tennis, rugby, golf, track and field..) to ask them their opinion and plan regarding their web 3.0 strategy.
To Read the full Upside analysis, click here.
⭐Upside: Top 12 Emerging Sports Performance Startups to Watch in 2H22
At Upside Global, we come across a lot of sports tech startups every year, but sometimes we find startups that we believe have a unique technology, a great product, a great management team, great traction with a growing install base of customers. In this analysis we identified 12 sports performance startups that we think fit those criteria and that are set to make an impact in the second half of 2022. For each company we explained why they made the list. Now we would also point out that non of those startups and their products are perfect in any way. There are always pros and cons for any products. Moving forward we plan to publish those types of reports on our top emerging sports tech startups in some specific segments. So here are our 12 top emerging sports performance companies to watch in 2H22.
To read the full analysis, click here.
⭐ Upside Podcast Interviews of the Month
🎮 NFTs/Metaverse/AR/VR/Blockchain News
🔗 FC Barcelona positions first Johan Cruyff-themed NFT as a ‘work of art’ ahead of auction | Via: SP
Spanish soccer giants FC Barcelona have detailed the launch of their first ‘art’ non-fungible token (NFT) ahead of a sale at auction house Sotheby’s in New York next week. The cash-strapped LaLiga club is positioning the digital collectible as a premium artefact, hoping that the artistic quality of the NFT, combined with the promise of exclusive benefits and the power of its brand will ensure it attracts a high price. The NFT is an animated ‘audiovisual digital artwork’ titled ‘In a Way, Immortal’ featuring the club’s Dutch icon Johan Cruyff ‘flying’ through the air to score a goal against Atletico Madrid in 1973.
The winner of the auction will become a ‘Barça digital ambassador’ with exclusive club access, the right to play at the Camp Nou stadium and hospitality rights for five years. On top of that, they will be allowed to participate in an official ball handover before a friendly game.
“Barça with more than 400 million followers in social networks is constantly opening new ways to connect with our fans, and we believe that with the clubs new NFT strategy we found a unique opportunity to continue growing and consolidating the Barça brand,” said Joan Laporta, FC Barcelona president.
⬆️ The Upside: We believe that this is a good move by Barcelona FC as they can tap into the growing popularity of NFTs, their large social media install base (400M followers), and their strong brand across the world. Johan Cruyff was an iconic soccer player at Barcelona FC. He scored 48 goals during his tenure at the club during the 1973-1978 period. In 1999, Cruyff was also voted European Player of the Century in an election held by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics, and came second behind Pelé in their World Player of the Century poll. He came third in a vote organized by the French magazine France Football consulting their former Ballon d'Or winners to elect their Football Player of the Century. For more info about NFT sports trends, you can check out our latest analysis on the NFT Sports market here. You can also check out our sports metaverse ecosystem analysis here.
🔗Manchester City to launch metaverse experience on Roblox| Via : SP
English soccer champions Manchester City have launched a new ‘Blue Moon’ experience in the metaverse through the club’s partnership with video game platform Roblox. City are the Premier League’s first team to launch an experience on Roblox, as the club takes its latest stride into the metaverse.
Last November, the Citizens revealed a partnership with Japanese technology giant Sony to develop new digital fan experiences, including a virtual recreation of the club’s Etihad Stadium. The ‘Blue Moon’ offering, launched in collaboration with virtual experiences company Karta, follows City’s first item release on the Roblox marketplace in May of scarves celebrating the team’s 2021/22 title win. City’s new experience follows the story of characters ‘Moonchester’ and ‘Moonbeam’, and features moon-themed visuals and interactive space-themed tasks.
⬆️ The Upside: This should not come as a surprise to see Manchester United team up with Roblox to offer a metaverse experience on Roblox. That being said, Man City is not the first sports organization to team up with Roblox. Other sports sports organizations such as the NFL, Wimbledon, Nike, or NASCAR just to name a few, forged partnerships with Roblox before. Now we expect other sports organizations to follow suit in the coming months. Generaly speaking sports organizations have teamed up with Roblox as a way to attract younger fans (e.g. teenagers) to their fan base and drive their top line.
Picture: Sorare, Mbpappe, Zidane.
🔗 Nike debuts Smart Hoodies that come alive with AR | Via : Designtaxi
When it comes to bringing fashion to the digital world, Nike is often at the forefront of innovation. The sportswear giant now seeks to amplify this with a hoodie that lets you wear AR. While there are plenty of options when it comes to buying a black hoodie, the RTFKT x Nike AR Genesis Hoodie stands out with a NFC (near field communication) chip embedded in its fabric.
The NFC chip includes augmented-reality trackers that accessorizze wearers with special effects invisible in the real world. You could scan the QR code on the hoodie via your phone camera to bring up options, such as adding digital angel wings. The NFC chip also enables the Nike-acquired Web3 platform RTFKT to add new features over time, like token-exclusive access to real-world events.
⬆️ The Upside: This should not come as a surprise to see Nike launch this type of web 3.0/AR offering. They can leverage the acquisition of RTFKT a web 3.0 startup that they acquired last year which is an expert in this type of experience. of note, RTFKT generated $100M in revenue in 2021. They teamed up with brands to launch avatars and digital versions of shoes. For more info, you can check out our latest analysis on the NFT Sports market here. You can also check out our sports metaverse ecosystem analysis here.
🎮 Atletico Madrid announce launch of virtual island, “Atletiverse” | Via : Everythingincrypto
The Atletico Madrid introduced its new title sponsor, Amber Group. For the next five seasons, the rojiblancos will wear the advertising of Whale Fin, one of its digital investment platforms. The event was attended by the president, Enrique Cerezo, the CEO of the company, Amber Group and the first team including the mattress coaching staff. A missed appointment Miguel Angel Gil Marin for an indisposition. Atletico Madrid also introduced its own metaverse experience.
With a new platform you can find Atletiverse Metaverse Atletico: “At Whale Fins, we’re not just finding the gateway to digital investment. Metaverse will give you digital access to this stadium. You can receive digital souvenirs and interact with coaches and other fans. This is all done digitally. It’s the main sport. Today, Atletico fans are on all continents around the world. They are very far away, but they can still be very close to the club. The goal is to make our community closer. We are creating the Atlético Metaverse so that we can join this stadium from anywhere in the world. Join and talk to other fans around the world. You can do it via your computer, application, or mobile. “
⬆️ The Upside: We believe this is a good move by Atletico Madrid. As we noted before many sports organizations have launched their own metaverse experience as a way to take advantage of the growing popularity of the sports NFT/metaverse space. Now what type of ROI with Atletico Madrid get? It is too soon to tell as we are in the first inning of the web 3.0 space. In fact according to our recent web 3.0 strategy survey that we conducted with clubs, 75% of respondents believe that we are still in the early stage of web 3.0 and that it is too early to assess the true potential yet. All respondents don’t know how to fully define their web 3.0 strategy yet. You can check out our full web 3.0 strategy survey here.
Picture: Atletico Madrid
🚑 Wearables, Health, Nutrition News
⌚ Fitbit Versa 4, Sense 2 and Inspire 3 images leak | Via : Wareable
Fitbit appears to be readying upgrades to three of its wearables after the emergence of alleged pictures showing of the Fitbit Versa 4, Sense 2 and the Inspire 3. Site 91mobiles says it's managed to get its hands on a host of what do look like authentic renders that seem to firm up previous reports that new Fitbit smartwatches are coming. This is the first we've heard about an Inspire upgrade though. The biggest things to glean from these latest images is that Fitbit does seem to be bringing back a physical button to its smartwatches and will now also add a color display to its cheapest fitness tracker for the first time.
The Sense is Fitbit's health watch and was launched in 2020. These alleged Sense 2 images show off that new physical button, while the watch face doesn't offer us any hints of new tracking features. We expect features like ECG and blood oxygen monitoring will once again be supported. The Sense 2 is expected to come in gold, graphite and platinum color looks.
⬆️ The Upside: We believe that Fitbit needs to double down on the biosensing capabilities of the new Fitbit devices by offering new capabilities like hydration, electrolyte assessment. Why? Because hydration/electrolyte assessment is set to become the new norm in the world of consumers and elite sports. Based on our market intell, we will see the emergence of a new wave of products (Apple Watch, FLOWBIO, Epicore, Nix..) offering such capabilities in the next 12 months.
Picture: Fitbit Versa 4, Sense 2 and Inspire 3 images leak
⌚ Manchester City made a smart football scarf to track those big match feels | Via : Wareable
Manchester City has decided the football scarf needs a modern makeover so it's created one that's capable of better understanding how supporters feel while watching games live. The Connected Scarf has been built with one of its technology sponsors Cisco and those smart tracking powers come via a bio sensor made by EmotiBit. That's a startup that popped up on Kickstarter and raised almost $120,000 for its open source sensor that's capable of capturing emotional, physiological and movement data. That EmotiBit sensor includes a PPG-style optical heart rate sensor, a medical grade temperature sensor, accelerometer motion sensor and an EDA sensor. That sensor array sits on the neck when the scarf is worn and can then track heart rate, emotional arousal and body temperature to better understand how supporters react to certain moments in a match.
⬆️ The Upside: We believe this is an interesting concept. That being said a few years ago a Laliga club created a similar smart scarf concept using NFC. We also think that Manchester City should go one step further and add an NFT feature which will allow fans to buy live NFT drops during live games. That would be a nice addition to their offering.
Picture: Manchester City’s smart scarf
⌚ Wearables and temperature tracking – the whole story | Via : Wareable
Several of the biggest names in wearables, including Fitbit, Oura and Whoop, have added temperature tracking to their devices. And rumors suggest that Samsung’s next Galaxy smartwatch and the Apple Watch Series 8 might be next. But what are the benefits? Wearable thermometers — also known as continuous thermometers — have been around for years in hospitals and medical settings.
“Temperature tracking wearable devices can continuously and seamlessly collect data and record temperature trends,” Professor Hossam Haick, an expert in nanotechnology and non-invasive disease diagnosis, tells us. “They automatically provide notifications when physician-specified high-temperature thresholds are exceeded.”
But outside of medical care, what’s the point of tracking your temperature 24/7? Why would we want a temperature sensor on our Apple Watch? We found out.
⬆️ The Upside: Some of those wearable measure skin temperature while other devices measure core body temperature (CBT). We believe that for elite teams measuring core body temperature is more valuable in general. Some next gen wearables like Kenzen built a smart armband capable of measuring CBT in real time and send real time heat alerts when users overheat so they can take the proper actions. The device also understands the baseline of each user. We think that this type of product could become valuable for many pro teams over time especially for teams (Brazil, Spain..) who train under high heat.
⌚ Oura finally adds SpO2 measurements | Via: Wareable
Oura has finally added SpO2 measurements to its Oura Ring 3 – as the final promised features land on the device. The Oura 3 launched way back last year, but some of its core features were delayed – including blood oxygen measurements. That caused some surprise, given that SpO2 tracking is a staple on wearables of all price brackets.
However, the implementation of the data and making it meaningful is more difficult than just slapping on a sensor – as some rivals have found out. And squeezing that into the form factor of a smart ring has clearly caused issues for Oura.
⬆️ The Upside: We think this is a great new addition for the Oura ring. We like the non invasive form factor of the Oura ring. We also think that Oura needs to go one step further and continue to add new biosensing capabilities (hydration, electrolyte..) which will make its product even more appealing to pro teams.
💸 Sports Tech & Health Investment Recap - July 2022
Here is the recap of the major sports startups’ investments in July 2022 reached $178M, which was down -32% , compared to May 2022. 61% of funding came from Metaverse/NFT startups, up from 22% last month.
Source: Upside, Confidential, July 2022
New Tech fund & M&As:
FC Barcelona has sold a 24.5% stake in Barça Studios, its digital content production arm, to crypto fan token platform Socios.com for $100 million in order to accelerate club’s production efforts across NFTs, digital collectibles and other Web3 projects.
Acon Investments has announced the closing of a single-asset continuation round worth around $700M to increase its stake in the New Era headwear brand.
NBA has taken a minority stake in 15 Seconds of Fame (15SOF) application, which allows spectators to download clips of themselves from broadcasts of sporting events.
📊 Key Tech Sports Stats of The Month
$12.4B: The video game industry took a step back in the first half of this financial year following a surge of interest and spending at the height of the pandemic.
Lackluster earnings by some of the largest companies in tech come in the context of issues plaguing the industry, including the ongoing semiconductor shortage. The tech industry has also been hampered by supply chain disruptions and the return of outdoor recreational activity.
U.S. consumers spent $12.4 billion on games in Q2 2022, a 13% dip year-over-year.
Microsoft saw gaming revenue fall by $259 million in fiscal Q4 2022.
Sony’s Game & Network Services segment reported a 2% decline in sales in fiscal Q1.
Mobile games, which have benefited from their availability, also took a hit in the first half of 2022. The mobile game market reached $11.4 billion in H1 FY2022, a 9.6% drop year-over-year.
$6.2B: The Premier League brings in far more revenue than any other European soccer league — and the gap may widen even further soon. The top-flight English league’s combined revenues climbed to a record $6.2 billion in the 2021-22 season, nearly as much as the next two leagues combined.
La Liga came in second among European leagues, with a total haul of $3.5 billion for the season.
Bundesliga followed with $3.1 billion.
Serie A made $2.3 billion, and Ligue 1 earned $1.7 billion.
The Premier League kicked off its 31st season on Friday. With a new slate of media deals kicking in this season, the Premier League is set to soar even higher. While teams scored a combined $1.7 billion in sponsorship deals and matchday revenue rebounded to $712 million from just $15.3 million in the pandemic-altered 2020-21 season, the bulk of the league’s revenue comes from media deals.
The league notched $3.2 billion from broadcast deals in the 2021-22 season. This season begins a new three-year cycle of rights deals, where the league will earn $12.1 billion — an average of $4 billion per season. It will be the first time that international deals, which total $6.1 billion, will eclipse domestic ones, due in part to NBC’s six-year, $2.7 billion deal for U.S. rights.
$1.1B: Take-Two Interactive reported mixed results in its latest earnings report, adding to a growing list of video game companies with underwhelming profits this year. The New York-based company — which owns major video game publishers including Rockstar Games and 2K — generated $1.1 billion in revenue in fiscal Q1, a 36% increase year-over-year.
Projected adjusted earnings per share range between $4.60 to $4.85 in FY2023.
Wall Street estimates expected an average of $5.37 per share, per Bloomberg.
The company has also seen its stock fall roughly 29% in 2022.
Take-Two will look to garner stronger results for the rest of FY2023 following the acquisition of mobile game developer Zynga for $12.7 billion in May.
The deal has already paid dividends for Take-Two, which reported $1 billion in net bookings in fiscal Q1 2023, up 40% compared to the same period the year prior. The company also saw recurrent consumer spending — 75% of net bookings — grow 48% during the quarter. As a result, Take-Two raised its full-year net bookings outlook, projecting a range between $5.8 billion and $5.9 billion, surpassing estimates of $5.42 billion.
€868M: The offseason was very busy with top clubs such as Barcelona FC acquiring top players (Robert Lewandowski, Jules Koundé, Franck Kessie, Andreas Christensen and Raphinha) and raising almost €868M.
$405.3M: Despite being one of the many sporting events affected by the pandemic, the Australian Open generated $405.3 million in economic benefit in 2021 and 2022, per Nielsen Sports. Over the past decade, the event has produced a total of $2.71 billion for the Victorian economy.
The Australian Open created more than 1,650 full-time jobs in 2021 and 2022.
Melbourne visitors’ daily spend in 2022 was $259, up 24% from 2020.
In 2022, the event generated $267.3 million of Real Gross State Product, compared to $138 million in 2021.
This year, viewership for the event reached 746 million hours — a 20% increase from 2021 — across 226 territories and 25 broadcast partners. Ashleigh Barty’s victory is the most-watched program in Australia so far in 2022, peaking at roughly 4.3 million viewers.
“These numbers are even more remarkable considering the conditions at the time,” tournament director Craig Tiley said. “Borders had recently opened, and international travel had barely restarted (..) This all augurs well for potentially the biggest return on record for AO 2023,” Tiley added.
In 2022, the event drew 346,468 attendees, up from 130,374 in 2021. Over the last 10 years, more than 6.34 million people have attended. In May, Tennis Australia extended its broadcasting deal with ESPN, which will see the tournament remain on the network until 2031. Nine is in the middle of a $300 million, five-year deal for rights in Australia. Stan also has Australian rights.
$350M: The Big Ten is reportedly nearing broadcasting deals with CBS and NBC, and an agreement could be reached by the end of the week.
The networks would reportedly split the conference’s “B” package, with each expected to pay around $350 million per year.
CBS would take games during the 3:30 p.m. ET window.
NBC would broadcast primetime games, streaming some games on Peacock.
Amazon reportedly bid on the package, but Sports Business Journal claims that NBC and CBS are “clear front-runners.” Apple has reportedly shown interest. Fox Sports reportedly entered a deal for the conference’s “A” package a few months ago, which includes a football game at noon ET, as well as football games on its FS1 and Big Ten Network. Sources told Front Office Sports earlier this month that the Big Ten hopes to bring in $1.5 billion annually from the deals, making it the richest rights deal package in all of college sports.
$102M: FC Barcelona has struck a deal to sell a 24.5% stake in Barca Studios, the club’s media production arm, for $102 million — marking its second minority stake sale this month.
The La Liga club — which reported more than $1.5 billion in debt in October 2021 — will sell the minority stake to investment fund GDA Luma, according to Spanish daily newspaper Sport.
The deal comes after Barcelona was unable to register players for the upcoming season.
In June, the club leadership said $535 million was needed to avoid financial devastation.
Barcelona’s deal with GDA Luma is the fourth transaction the club has made to alleviate its ongoing financial woes. Earlier this month, Barcelona agreed to sell a 24.5% stake in Barca Studios to fan engagement company Socios.com in a pact also valued at $102 million.
In June, Barcelona secured a deal with private equity firm Sixth Street to sell a 10% stake in its TV rights that’s worth up to $278 million. The club doubled down in July after signing a deal with Six Street to sell an additional 15% stake in its TV rights for $326.5 million.
$100M: A new soccer league plans to bring together top teams across Africa — and offer prize money far greater than the continent’s Champions League.
Confederation of African Football president Patrice Motsepe and FIFA president Gianni Infantino announced the launch of an African Super League on Wednesday. The tournament will offer $100 million in prizes.
The league will bring together 24 teams across 16 countries, with a maximum of three per country. Each team will get an initial $2.5 million to help cover travel and logistics.
The winner will receive $11.6 million. The Champions League winner currently receives $2.5 million.
The league will start in August 2023 and run to the following May.
The tournament is expected to generate $200 million, according to a presentation seen by the BBC. The Confederation of African Football lost $45 million in 2020-21.
1.7M: Netflix is all-in on gaming, but its subscribers haven’t gotten the message yet.
The streaming giant is making gaming an increasingly central part of its offering as it seeks to reverse a recent slip in subscribers.
The company has released 24 mobile titles, with plans to grow that figure to 50 by the end of the year.
It acquired indie game developers Night School, Next Games, and Boss Fight Entertainment.
However, only 1.7 million people – less than 1% of Netflix’ 221 million subscribers – engage with the company’s games on a daily basis, according to data from Apptopia obtained by CNBC.
The games have been downloaded 23.3 million times.
The company has both ported over popular titles and developed original games.
30,000: Over 30,000 tech employees lost their jobs as of July from Microsoft, Tesla, Netflix to Coinbase. Coinbase, laid off nearly 20% of its employees. The company went as far as rescinding job offers from new recruits. Last month, Tesla let go of more than 200 employees.
1,387%: Some Liv Golf league golf players have experienced major gains since joining the new Saudi backed golf league. The trio’s recent paydays support Freeman’s ruling.
Gooch (turned pro in 2014) made $9.5 million on the PGA Tour. In three LIV events, he’s made $1 million more per tournament (1,387%), according to Bloomberg.
Swafford (2010) had PGA Tour earnings of $10 million. His per-tournament winnings have increased more than $108,195 (243%) since joining LIV Golf.
Jones (2001) made $18 million on the PGA Tour. Jones’ average winnings are $147,922 more (311%) since he defected to LIV Golf.
640%: The women’s European Championship that ended on July 31 set attendance and viewership records for women’s soccer — but those aren’t the only historic figures the game produced. Fanatics, which sold official merchandise for the tournament and operates the official online England Store, reported that weekly sales of women’s soccer gear tripled since the start of the women’s Euros, and online sales of women’s merchandise spiked 640% in the four hours after England’s victory in last week’s final.
“More women’s merchandise was sold in just four hours following the final whistle than in the seven days leading up to the final,” Jack Boyle, Fanatics’ global co-head of direct-to-consumer sales, told Reuters.
Global sales of Fanatics’ women’s sports merchandise was up 28% last year. In 2018, the women’s sports apparel market was valued at $26.8 billion, per Euromonitor International, and the total sports apparel market was $80.1 billion. Merchandise sales weren’t the game’s only indicator of growing interest in women’s sports.
England’s 2-1 final victory drew more than 17.4 million viewers on the BBC and was the most-watched women’s soccer match ever in the U.K.
The final had the highest attendance ever for any men’s or women’s European national team tournament game with 87,192 fans.
UEFA expects to raise $60.9 million in sponsorship money from the women’s Euro tournament, with even more projected in the future.
📸 Snapshots & Videos of the Month.
Here's our monthly look at the performance of the big leagues' NFT platforms: From the stock markets to crypto to NFTs.
Sorare is the big winner as sales surged after signing Kylian Mbappé as investor and ambassador (see top 10 news).
NBA Top Shot and NFL All Day both increased sales (All Day even significantly), even though Top Shot had 30% less unique buyers than in the month before. Seems like a small pack of users went on a buying spree
UFC Strike and Candy MLB both saw declining sales, with UFC Strike at least adding more unique users
Leo Messi’s incredible bicycle kick. Last weekend Lionel Messi scored twice in PSG's 5-0 win over Clermont, with his second goal coming on an incredible bicycle kick.
You can watch Messi’s bicycle goal in the video below:
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