🔎📈 2023 July Recap: Messi Shakes Up the MLS. Apple to soon offer AirPods with Brain-tracking for sleep and meditation? $65M Raised From Sports Tech Startups, down -50% from June 2023.
Dear Colleague,
July was another exciting month in the sports of sports and tech. At Upside, we are actively getting ready for our annual Upside Sports Tech Summit which will take place at City Field, the home of the NY Mets (MLB) on November 15, 2023. We are also already working on putting together our 2024 annual Upside Tech Summits with more teams, vendors and investors so stay tuned!
Right now for our NY sports tech summit we are now we have an early bird special which gives a 33% discount on the regular ticket price so hurry up and get your ticket(s) now before this special deal expires.
We have 40 speakers confirmed, and our speaking slots are almost all sold out and we only have one booth left, so if you are interested in sponsoring our event, exhibiting or speaking at our event click on the button below or email us ASAP at julien@sportsouncilsv.com before it is too late.
With that being said, July was another exciting month for the world of sports and tech. In pro soccer, all the major European soccer leagues (Laliga, Premier Ligue 1, Bundesliga, Ligue 1, Calcio..) are getting ready to start their new season. The clubs are also busy in the offseason reshaping their squad for the new season. The Saudi Arabian clubs are shaking up the trade market, attracting some big names of football in their league.
In the MLS, the biggest news was Leo Messi’s debut with Inter Miami fc. Messi is off to a great start as he already scored 7 goals in 4 games. Cincinnati are now leading the Eastern division (15-6-2), ahead of New England Revolutions (12-7-4) and the Philadelphia Unions (12-4-7) while St Louis (13-2-8) are leading the Western conference, ahead of the LAFC (10-7-6) and the Real Salt Lake (10-7-7).
In the world of pro basketball, one of the biggest news was the MLB draft and the MLB trade deadline. Most notably, the Los Angeles Angels decided to keep Japanese sensation Shohei Ohtani instead of banking on trading the MLB's best player, who is a free agent, before the MLB's trade deadline on August 1. Justin Verlander also returned to Houston in the biggest deal on deadline day Tuesday. Mets teammate Max Scherzer fits the former category, as he was traded to Houston's American League West rival Texas prior to Verlander's move.
In the world of American Football, the NFL teams kicked off their NFL training camps. Panthers Rookie quarterback Bryce Young will start Saturday's preseason opener against the New York Jets, coach Frank Reich.
In the world of pro rugby, Ireland sustained its No. 1 spot in the men's World Rugby rankings followed by New Zealand (2), who edged out France (2) after beating the Wallabies twice recently. South Africa and Scotland remain in 4th and 5th place.
In the world of pro baseball, the MLB season is now in full swing. The Rays continue to lead the AL East division (58-35), ahead of the Orioles (54-35) while the Braves (60-29) are ahead of the Marlins (53-39), and the Phillies (48-41) in the NL East division. The Reds are leading the NL Central division (50-41), ahead of the Brewers (49-42) while the Diamondbacks (52-38) lead over the LA Dodgers (51-38) in the NL West division.
In the world of pro golf, Brian Harman won the British Open in his first major championship. At age 36, he is the oldest first-time major winner since Sergio Garcia was 37 when he won the Masters in 2017.
In the world of pro tennis, Carlos Alcaraz, the 20-year-old world number one, beat Novak Djokovic, the 36-year-old reigning champion, 1-6, 7-6 (8/6), 6-1, 3-6, 6-4.
In the world of pro hockey, NHL teams were busy with trades during the NHL offseason. For example, the Leafs signed Tyler Bertuzzi and Max Domi. The Blackhawks added Taylor Hal. The Colorado Avalanche signed Miles Wood to a six-year, $15-million contract, averaging $2.5 million per season. The Red Wings also signed Kostin to a two-year, $4-million deal.
In the AI/AR/VR/NFT/OTT/Metaverse/Crypto/Blockchain space, Manchester City launched a new holographic animation. NHL also announced a strategic partnership with MVP Index.
MogulX.ai also announced a dedicated community product created by LootMogul to drive collaboration and AI development in the sports tech industry. Chelsea fc also used Tempus Ex’s Match View X AI tech to deliver personalised broadcasts. Last June, Eurovision Sport, a division of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), used an AI voice to provide recaps in between live commentary at the European Athletics Team Championships in Poland. And this month, the U.S. Open will also use the tech, according to Noah Syken, IBM’s vice president of sports and entertainment partnerships. IBM collaborated with the Masters and Wimbledon to create AI commentary.
In the world of sports performance and wearables, BoAT teased its new budget smart ring for India. Apple could also build brain-tracking AirPods for sleep and meditation. A new wearable tech startup called Yopi to build factory for ‘wearable’ that tracks oxygen consumption through sweat.
Picture: Yopi wearable tech device
In the world of sports tech investments, investment in July 2023 reached $65M. 62% of funding came from web 3.0/metaverse startups. This was down -50% from $129M in June 2023.
As a reminder, Upside Global is a 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.
Upside launched the Upside Tech Scouting platform, the world’s first platform providing granular anonymized team data on specific teams (NBA, NFL, MLB, NCAA, Premier League, Laliga, Ligue 1, Bundesliga, national teams, Olympic teams, pro rugby, pro tennis..). For each team profile, users can see critical information provided by teams such as their annual sports performance budget, the vendor(s) that they are currently using, their rating per vendor and the price range that they are paying for each vendor. Now keep in mind that each team profile has been anonymized as we take data privacy of teams very seriously.
Here is a video providing an overview of the Upside scouting platform.
The Upside Tech Scouting Platform is currently trusted & used by leading sports organizations, and VCs to help them discover new cutting technologies and do their due diligence on emergence technology vendors. Leading vendors are also using it to better understand the needs of leading pro teams and generate new leads.
Here is a post explaining the benefits for teams to join the Upside tech scouting platform, how we gathered the survey data from teams. If you want to sign up for Upside Premium which gives you access to the Upside Tech scouting platform please click on the bottom below:
If you have any questions regarding Upside Global, or the Upside Tech scouting platform, please contact us at julien@sportscouncilsv.com
📰 Top Stories We’re Reading This Month
📈 Upside Studies: In-Game Workload Demands of Position Players in Major League Baseball
🏟️ Upside Trip Recap: 2023 NBA Summer League & NBA Tech Expo: Key Trends & Takeaways
🔥 Upside Featured Article: More Newcastle players hit 2,500 minutes than any other team in a top Euro league – can they do it again?
🔥Upside Chat with Female Sports Experts: Joelle Muro (New York Liberty/WNBA), Allison Schmitt (Olympic Champion), Laura Matthes (VivoSensMedical), Mélanie Pauli (Swiss Football), Kirsten Legerlotz (Humboldt)
🔥Upside Chat: Dr Ron Dick, Duquesne University, Ex NBA/NCAA Exec on the NFL Training Camps, the NBA Free Agency, Mbappe, Magic Johnson, Jason Tatum, Messi, Shohei Ohtani & the MLB Draft.
🔥Upside Chat: Upside Chat with Heather Sloan and Li, co founders of Heali Medical, a Health and Wellness Company Focusing on Natural Healing & Recovery.
🔗 Manchester City launches holographic experience
🔗 AO joins forces with Gaming Tech company Livewire to support gaming events
⌚ Google Pixel Watch 2: Latest rumors and possible release date
⌚BoAT teases budget smart ring for India
⌚Apple could build brain-tracking AirPods for sleep and meditation
💸 Startup investment recap (July 2023)
📊 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 Studies of the Month
Upside Studies: In-Game Workload Demands of Position Players in Major League Baseball
Athletes who are well prepared for the physical demands of competition are less susceptible to injury. Defining and then preparing athletes for these in-game demands is critical to athlete health and performance. The injury burden within Major League Baseball (MLB) is significant and differs by position. Despite its importance, the workload demands have not been described for position players in MLB.
That running demands would be significantly higher for outfielders, followed by infielders, and catchers, respectively, while batting and baserunning metrics would be similar across positions.
⭐Upside Trips
🏟️ Upside Trip Recap: 2023 NBA Summer League & NBA Tech Expo: Key Trends & Takeaways
In July 2023, we attended the 2023 NBA Summer League and NBA Tech Expo in Las Vegas. As part of that we had the opportunity to catch up with NBA teams and sports tech startups. Overall we thought that the 2023 NBA Summer league was a great event to attend. Load management, sleep management, injury reduction continue to be top priorities for the majority of NBA teams we talked to. We also came across some innovative sports tech startups in Las Vegas.
AI is becoming more prominent in the sports tech industry. Advanced wearables with advanced sensors continue to emerge, and there is a growing interest towards mental health and cognitive training systems. In the next 24 months we expect to see the emergence of new innovative startups with capabilities that we have never seen before. It will also be interesting to see whether or not the NBA will start allowing the use of wearable technologies during live NBA games. We have been talking to NBA teams about this for years and we have yet to see this materialize. We are looking forward to be back next year at the 2024 NBA Summer league.
⭐Upside Featured Article
Upside Featured Article: More Newcastle players hit 2,500 minutes than any other team in a top Euro league – can they do it again?
Last season nine of Newcastle’s outfield players appeared in over 2,500 league minutes. At no other Premier League side did as many players reach that total. In the last five seasons, only Wolverhampton Wanderers matched it, in 2018-19. And Newcastle were not just domestic standouts: no other club in Europe’s top five leagues achieved the feat. The nine players were Kieran Trippier, Fabian Schar, Sven Botman, Dan Burn, Bruno Guimaraes, Joelinton, Joe Willock, Miguel Almiron, and Sean Longstaff.
⭐ Upside Podcast Interviews of the Month
🔥Upside Chat with Female Sports Experts: Joelle Muro (New York Liberty/WNBA), Allison Schmitt (Olympic Champion), Laura Matthes (VivoSensMedical), Mélanie Pauli (Swiss Football), Kirsten Legerlotz (Humboldt)
We had the honor to interview a group of female sports performance experts:
Laura Matthes, the head of sports and research at VivoSensMedical, a German small innovation and female health company producing and distributing OvulaRing.
Joelle Muro, the Head physical therapist of the New York Liberty (WNBA).
Allison Schmitt, a 10 time Olympic medalist and multiple world champion in swimming (Team USA), and consultant with Orreco a leading sports data company.
Mélanie Pauli, Best Player on the Pitch & Athletic trainer at the Swiss Football Association.
Kirsten Legerlotz, Professor at the Humboldt University.
Through this interview, we touched on the 2023 Women soccer world cup and how women teams plan to measure their athletes' menstrual cycles to improve performance and reduce injuries. Then we discussed a Deloitte report whose forecasts suggest that the women’s sports industry will generate more than $1 billion in revenue in the years. We also talked about whether or not Women's physiology is overlooked. Lastly we touched on the fact that some leading vendors that were historically focused on men teams and athletes, are now launching products tailored for women teams.
🔥Upside Chat: Dr Ron Dick, Duquesne University, Ex NBA/NCAA Exec on the NFL Training Camps, the NBA Free Agency, Mbappe, Magic Johnson, Jason Tatum, Messi, Shohei Ohtani & the MLB Draft.
We interviewed again Dr. Ron Dick, associate professor of sports marketing at Duquesne University in the school of business. Ron also worked for 20 years in sports, including 15 years in the NBA with the Sixers and the Nets, and then five years in the NCAA.
Through this interview, we touched on the new Netflix TV show called the Quarterback, the NFL training camp, Shohei Ohtani & the MLB draft. We also discussed the NBA Summer league, Wemby, and the NBA free agency. We also touched on the college campus coming alive early august with fall sports starting. Lastly we talked about Messi's arrival to the MLS at Inter Miami fc, Mbappe’s situation at PSG, and Magic Johnson’s new ownership into the Washington Commanders (NFL).
🔥Upside Chat: Upside Chat with Heather Sloan and Li, co founders of Heali Medical, a Health and Wellness Company Focusing on Natural Healing & Recovery.
We interviewed Heather Sloan, and Li , co founders of Heali Medical, a health and wellness company focusing on natural healing and recovery.
Through this interview, we touched on their backgrounds, their company and product, the benefits for sports organizations and athletes to use their product. We also talked about their competitive advantage, business model and plans for the next 12 months.
🎮 NFTs/Metaverse/AR/VR/Blockchain News
🔗 Manchester City launches holographic experience
Earlier this month Manchester City uploaded footage of their busses traveling the streets of Tokyo with a particularly innovative and impressive activation that has racked up millions of views on social media across Twitter and TikTok.
As the world of sports continues to embrace globalization, Premier League teams have been quick to recognize the immense potential in tapping into new markets, especially in Asia. In recent years, we have witnessed an increasing number of English football clubs venturing into the continent for their pre-season tours. Teams such as Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, and Manchester City have embarked on these tours, and the impact has been significant in terms of expanding their user reach and boosting merchandise sales.
⬆️ The Upside: Wee think it is a great initiative by Manchester City. A number of teams have used holographic displays (Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid..) before. It is a nice way for Man City to increase fan engagement and brand activations. We expect other teams to adopt a similar strategies in the coming months. You can check out our full analysis on the technologies in soccer (trends, vendor ecosystem, recommendations to teams) here.
🔗 AO joins forces with Gaming Tech company Livewire to support gaming events | Via : AO
The Australian Open will join forces with Livewire to support the AO Summer Smash featuring Fortnite, a global competitive Fortnite event run during the tournament’s final week. The AO Summer Smash is a core part of the AO’s innovation strategy, which aims to diversify the event’s audience and reach, and 2024 will be the sixth consecutive year the AO has produced Fortnite tournaments. Livewire, a global gaming tech company, has an expansive background connecting some of the world’s biggest brands into the gaming ecosystem.
“The AO Summer Smash featuring Fortnite is a huge part of our organisation’s innovation strategy, allowing us to connect with new fans, and helping us to promote the event in the digital and gaming sphere, beyond the traditional sporting realm,” Machar Reid, Tennis Australia’s Head of Innovation said.
“We are really excited to be partnering with Livewire, who have extensive experience connecting brands with the gaming and tech industry, which will help to amplify our event further and support our overall strategy,” Reid continued.
⬆️ The Upside: This is a nice move by the Australian Open tennis. The Australian open tennis has been a pioneer when it comes to web 3.0/gaming experiences so it is not a surprise to see them offering another Fortnite type experience. It should help increase the fan engagement, while leveraging the growing interest for gaming/web 3.0 experience. Feel free to check out our full analysis on the sports metaverse/web 3.0 vendor ecosystem here.
🚑 Wearables, Health, Nutrition News
⌚ Google Pixel Watch 2: Latest rumors and possible release date | Via : Wareable
The Google Pixel Watch may have only arrived in 2022, but attention has already turned to the Pixel Watch 2 that's expected to arrive later this year. And after a hit-and-miss debut, anticipation for the second-gen Google smartwatch is high. There were some elements Google knocked out of the park with the first Pixel smartwatch, like the classy design and strong Wear OS performance, but it also had some catastrophic lows.
Disappointing battery life holds it back from even being the top smartwatch for Android users - a title we'd still give to Samsung's Galaxy Watch 5 series - let alone the best smartwatch on the market. We're expecting Google to remedy some of the sore spots with the Pixel Watch 2, and this guide details six ways the company in which the company can bounce back.
⬆️ The Upside: It should not come as a surprise to see a leak of the Google Pixel Watch 2. But will it be enough to help Google take share away from Apple and Samsung in the highly competitive smartwatch market? Right now Google managed to capture 8% of the wearables market share with its Pixel Watch in Q4 2022. Apple dominates the global market share of smartwatches, taking the largest share of 26% among smartwatch vendors.
⌚BoAT teases budget smart ring for India | Via : Wareable
Indian tech giant BoAT has unveiled its first smart ring, which will bring the form factor a huge new audience. If you haven't heard of BoAT, the company has boomed in India and offers basic smartwatches for around RS3,000 or less – which is around $30. The smart ring market has boomed in 2023, with Ultrahuman, Ringconn, and Movano all set to unveil devices. And now BoAT has joined the party.
India has had it rough with smart rings, and market leader Oura doesn’t sell its Ring 3 there. But BoAT, which has been killing it with budget basic smartwatches in India, has teased its new ring – and it’s far from a basic alternative.
The BoAT ring will feature a ceramic and metal build, 5ATM water resistance, and will pack in a heart rate sensor, SpO2 monitor, and feature sleep tracking and period tracking. And there will be even more advanced sensors with body temperature tracking and Whoop/Oura style analysis of heart rate variability (HRV). What's more, it will offer the ability to control certain smart home devices. There's no word on price or availability yet – and BoAT is likely gauging the reaction before pressing on with the release. But it shows what an important form-factor that smart rings are becoming.
⬆️ The Upside: It should not come as a surprise to see a low cost Indian company launching a low cost smart ring. Will it be enough to disrupt the fast growing smart ring market? The market is currently dominated by the likes of Oura, Samsung. Now we believe that if BoAT hits the $30 mark they have a chance to gain traction in the Indian market simply because smart rings are usually available in the $200-$300 range. Of note, the Global Smart Rings Market was worth at $125.60M In 2022 and is expected to reach $747.4M by the end of 2030, with a CAGR Of 25.8% between 2023 And 2030.
⌚Apple could build brain-tracking AirPods for sleep and meditation | Via : Wareable
The Apple AirPods could soon read your mind, if the innovation revealed in a new patent sees the light of day. The filing reveals how the in-ear headphones could measure brain activity via electrodes. It comes hot on the heels of news that next-gen AirPods could get body temperature and hearing aid features.
The patent (spotted by Patently Apple) references electroencephalography (EEG), electromyography (EMG), and electrooculography (EOG) sensors that could monitor brain signals. The filing also talks about how the device may need to be customized to each user's ear for a proper fit – something Apple has experimented on with its fit test. Electrodes on the tip of the AirPod-looking device could pick up on brain activity. But why?
⬆️ The Upside: We think this would make perfect sense for Apple to introduce AirPods with such EMG/EEG sensing capabilities. Quite frankly this is what Apple does. They usually build a large install base and when it reaches a critical mass with a product they introduce new capabilities to help improve the stickiness of such product. this is the case here with the Apple AirPods. Of note, Apple sold 19.3M units of AirPods in Q1 2022 alone, according to Canalys. All true wireless (TWS) headphones shipments in the third quarter of 2022 are 76.9 million units, with 4.2 million units representing the latest Apple AirPods Pro 2. In the TWS market, AirPods had a 30.9% market share in Q3 2022.
Picture: Apple Air Pods
💸 Sports Tech & Health Investment Recap - July 2023
Here is the recap of the major sports startups’ investments in July 2023. Total sports tech investment in June 2023 reached $65M. 62% of funding came from web 3.0/metaverse startups. This was down -50% from $129M in June 2023. This is the second consecutive month where we see sports tech investments declining month over month.
Source: Upside, Confidential, July 2023
New Tech fund & M&As and other financial sports tech news:
Fanbase, a ticketing technology company inspired by rugby, has secured a £1 million investment.
Saudi Arabia has reportedly made a staggering offer of $1.1 billion to sign Kylian Mbappe, the French football superstar.
TitletownTech, formed by the Packers and Microsoft, has closed its second fund to bring its total capital to $95M.
Barcelona’s commercial revenue for the 2022-23 season has set a record, increasing by 4% from pre-pandemic levels. New sponsorship deals with Spotify, Whitebit, Stanley, Scotiabank, Bimbo and Herno contributed to the €97.6m made in sponsorship fees.
The Raine Group, a sports-focused investment firm, has raised $760 million for its fourth fund. The Raine Group has been involved in some of the biggest deals in sports history, including the sale of Chelsea FC and the takeover of WWE.
Greenfly, a digital content management platform, acquired Miro AI, an AI startup that uses tech to identify athletes and logos in photos and videos.
📊 Key Tech Sports Stats of The Month
$6B: The NFL owners voted unanimously to approve the sale of the team to a group led by billionaire Josh Harris that includes Johnson, the five-time NBA champion. The group is taking ownership of the Commanders from embattled owner Daniel Snyder for a record $6.05B.
$1.5B: Manchester United and Adidas are extending the most lucrative jersey collaboration in international soccer. The German brand has re-upped as Man United’s uniform supplier after agreeing to pay the Premier League club at least $115 million a year through 2035. That’s an EPL record and a significant increase from the current annual figure of around $95 million.
In 2022, Manchester United reclaimed the top spot in worldwide soccer jersey sales with more than 3 million — thanks in large part to the brief return of Cristiano Ronaldo, which sparked more than $200 million in sales in just 10 days. Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Liverpool, and Barcelona rounded out the top five.
$1B: Expansion within Formula 1 has been a topic all year long, but the matter could be settled by the time the series returns to the States for October’s U.S. Grand Prix and the inaugural Las Vegas GP the following month. Influential American racing figure Michael Andretti has shown heavy interest in starting an F1 team via a partnership with Cadillac, while the U.K. racing group Hitech is also seen as a major player for expansion. Recent comments from FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem suggest a resolution will be reached soon. “I think the final decision will be made within four-to-six weeks,” said Ben Sulayem, whose organization governs F1 and other racings bodies.
The current 10 F1 teams could stand to split more than $1 billion if two expansion teams are approved. The FIA originally set an expansion fee of $200 million per team, but F1’s recent popularity growth could push that figure past $600 million.
Last month, F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali pushed back on the need to expand beyond 10 teams and said takeover offers surpassing $1 billion were being turned down.
860M: MLS can tap a global pool of 860 million Apple subscribers on 2 billion connected devices. Via Apple TV+, MLS is offering fans all MLS and Leagues Cup matches in one place — with no blackouts. Eight out of 10 MLS fans already stream one sporting event per week, according to internal research. The number of female MLS fans has grown 42% year over year.
With an average age of 37.4 years old, MLS already boasts the youngest fan base of the big five U.S. pro leagues. They also poll No. 1 on whether live sports offerings influence streaming purchases, and 61% of the MLS fanbase is under 45 years old per Nielsen data. By the end of Year 1, MLS-Apple can perhaps chart its progress by the yardstick of Amazon’s 11-year, $11 billion deal to exclusively stream “Thursday Night Football.”
$500M: Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno is likely making — at minimum — a $500 million bet that he can retain one of baseball’s most transcendent talents and transform his lagging franchise. After weeks of back-and-forth speculation, the Angels have pulled two-way phenom Shohei Ohtani off the trade market, believing the team can both better compete this year and improve its chance to retain the Japanese star when he hits free agency this winter. The decision will have massive implications across the franchise.
The Angels haven’t reached the postseason since 2014, tying the longest active drought in the league, and they still sit outside of playoff position — a situation that irks Ohtani. The club also is 10th in MLB attendance with a per-game average of 33,637, a ranking and figure that would plummet with an endorsement magnet like Ohtani gone and star teammate Mike Trout still injured.
$70.8M: Life for the Baltimore Orioles is as good as it’s been in nearly a decade. The upstart team’s long-term future, however, remains a source of rising local frustration. Despite fielding MLB’s third-smallest payroll at just $70.8 million, the Orioles have the American League’s top record, the product of a multiyear roster development plan that has served as a counterpoint to the high-spending but highly disappointing New York Mets.
The city of Baltimore, unsurprisingly, has responded to the Orioles’ surge. A recent weekend series against the New York Yankees drew 114,816, the team’s best three-game draw since 2016 and part of a 29% overall boost at the gate this season — the fifth-best percentage growth in MLB.
82,026: Despite the historic growth of Major League Soccer — only accelerating with the arrival of Lionel Messi — U.S. fans are proving yet again that there’s nothing quite like seeing the best players in the world. A record crowd of 82,026 showed up at the home of the Dallas Cowboys — AT&T Stadium in Arlington — on Saturday for an exhibition installment of Spain’s legendary El Clásico rivalry between La Liga’s FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. Far from a one-off, the match is part of global investment firm Sixth Street’s Soccer Champions Tour to capitalize on American fans’ desire to fill NFL and college football stadiums to see top European players.
An exhibition doubleheader featuring Premier League teams Newcastle-Chelsea and Brentford-Brighton drew a sold out crowd of 70,789 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Wednesday night in Atlanta. Even with MLS expansion, new stadiums, record attendance, and growing franchise values, the league still isn’t a No. 1 global destination for top players in their primes — unlike most other major North American pro leagues.
150%: FIFA’s efforts to make this year’s Women’s World Cup larger is exemplary by selling out its sponsorship packages, with a 150% increase in partners for the event, rising from 12 in 2019, to now 30 partners. The football governing body has set a target of two billion global viewers for this year’s tournament, which will vastly eclipse the record-setting 1.12 billion figure the 2019 competition set.
5: Karim Benzema and Leo Messi are offer to a great start with their new clubs. Leo Messi scored 5 goals in 3 games with Inter Miami fc (MLS) while Karim Benzema has scored 3 goals in 3 games with Al-Ittihad fc.
5: Tom Brady gifted himself another addition to his expanding pro sports ownership portfolio on Thursday, the seven-time Super Bowl champion’s 46th birthday.
English soccer club Birmingham City FC announced that Brady has purchased a minority stake in the team and will serve as chairman of a new advisory board. This is the 5th sports organization that Brady is investing in.
Last season, Birmingham finished 17th in the second-tier EFL Championship, where it has played since 2011 after being relegated from the Premier League. Brady will be involved in most areas of the club, from sports science to marketing and sponsorship.
Brady’s sports ownership portfolio now includes:
NFL: Las Vegas Raiders (minority stake)
WNBA: Las Vegas Aces (minority stake)
EFL: Birmingham City FC
Major League Pickleball: Las Vegas Night Owls (ownership group)
E1 Series: Electric boat racing (team ownership)
Perhaps the move shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, given Brady’s association with Birmingham’s ownership group, Knighthead Capital Management. The MLP team Brady is a part of is owned by a Knighthead-led group, and the private equity company is a major investor in Hertz, one of his biggest commercial partners.
📸 Snapshots & Videos of the Month.
Lionel Messi golazo wins it in stoppage time on Inter Miami debut! Messi’s first goal for Inter Miami fc was a master piece. check it out!
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🔥 Upside Chat: Dave Hancock, CEO, Apollo (Leading Athlete Management Systems (AMS) vendor)