🔎📈 2023 June Recap: Global Sports Tech Market to Grow by $29.9B from 2022 to 2027, $129M Raised From Sports Tech Startups, down -50% from May 2023.
Dear Colleague,
Last month we announced that on November 15, 2023 we will host our annual Upside Sports Tech Summit at City Field, the home of the NY Mets (MLB). The response from teams, vendors and VCs, has excited our highest expectations.
Right now 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 nearly 40 speakers confirmed, and 3 booths and a few speaking slots 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, June was another exciting month for the world of sports and tech. In pro soccer, Manchester United won the Champions League against Inter Milan. All the major European soccer leagues (Laliga, Premier Ligue 1, Bundesliga, Ligue 1, Calcio..) are now getting ready for the next season. The clubs are now busy in the offseason reshaping their squad for the new season.
In the MLS, the biggest news was Leo Messi’s move to Inter Miami fc. Messi’s first gam is scheduled for July 21. Cincinnati are now leading the Eastern division (13-6-2), ahead of Nashville SC (11-5-6) and the New England Revolutions (1-7-4) while St Louis (12-2-7) are leading the Western conference, ahead of the Seattle Sounders (10-5-7) and LAFC (9-6-6).
In the world of pro basketball, in the NBA playoffs the Denver Nuggets beat the Heat in the finals. In the NBA draft, the Spurs picked Victor Wembanyama who was the No. 1 overall.
Picture: Victor Wembanyama
In the world of American Football, Tom Brady lost millions in the collapse of cryptocurrency company FTX, for which he served as an "ambassador," The New York Times reported.
Under an agreement the retired NFL quarterback made with FTX in 2021, he received $30 million in now-worthless stock for his work pitching the company in television ads and at its conference. In step with him at the time was his then-wife, Gisele Bundchen, who received $18 million in stock, per the report.
In the world of pro rugby, Ireland sustained its No. 1 spot in the men's World Rugby rankings followed by France (2), New Zealand (3), South Africa (4) and Scotland (5).
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, in a stunning “about face” that shocked the sports world, on June 6, 2023, the PGA Tour announced that it would team up with its bitter rival, LIV Golf, and enter into a merger.
In the world of pro tennis, Novak Djokovic won his 23rd Grand Slam title by beating Casper Ruud in the French Open final. We are now in the middle of Wimbledon.
In the world of pro hockey, The Western Conference champion Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Eastern Conference champion Florida Panthers four games to one in the best-of-seven series to earn their first championship in their sixth season.
In the AR/VR/NFT/OTT/Metaverse/Crypto/Blockchain space, Wimbledon launched on Fortnite. Netflix could be planning to livestream a sporting event, which would feature professional golfers and Formula 1 drivers participating in a celebrity golf tournament.
This year, as part of the 2023 NBA Finals, ESPN is upped the locker room championship experience with customized ‘Victory Goggles’, celebratory locker room bottles.
In the world of AI/Generative AI, Eurovision Sport is partnering with European Athletics to launch an AI based sports commentator. ISG and TGI will soon introduce Supponor-based virtual advertising in Ligue 1. Wimbledon also teamed up with IBM to offer AI-generated audio commentary and captions in its online highlights videos.
In the world of sports performance and wearables, Oura jumped into glucose with the support of CGM. Many women national teams are also set to launch menstrual cycle measurement as a way to help reduce injuries and improve performance at the 2023 Women soccer world cup in New Zealand at the end of the month.
In the world of sports tech investments, investment in June 2023 reached $129M. 62% of funding came from AI/generative AI startups. This was down -50% from $259.9M in April 2023
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, 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.
If you have any questions regarding Upside Global, please contact us at julien@sportscouncilsv.com
📰 Top Stories We’re Reading This Month
📈 🏈 Upside Studies: Nutritional Strategies in the Rehabilitation of Musculoskeletal Injuries in Athletes: A Systematic Integrative Review
🥽 Upside Analysis: How the Apple Vision Pro Could Change the World of Sports for Ever
🔗 Apple Vision Pro first look: the mixed reality future is (almost) here
🔥Upside Chat with Derek Lawrance (USMNT), Jason Han (LAFC/MLS), Athanase Kollias (KINVENT), Quin Sandler (Plantiga) on Athletes' Rehab and Return to Play
🔥Upside Chat with Alexi Pianosi (Penguins/NHL), Pierre Barrieu (MLS / EPL), Adam Quigley (MLS / NFL), Karam Al-Hamdani (CF Montreal / MLS), on Muscle Injuries, Sleep, Messi's Move to the MLS & More
🔥Upside Chat: Upside Chat with Dmitri Leonov, CEO of Taopatch USA, a Wearable Nanotechnology Device Combining Light Therapy with Acupuncture.
🔥Upside Chat: Upside Chat with Anna-Carin Månsson, CEO, and Ola Eriksrud, co-Founder, 1080 Motion, A Leading Professional Grade Digital Motorized Strengths Training Company.
🔥Upside Chat: Richard Southall, Professor & Director, University of South Carolina (NCAA), on the NIL's Progress, Current Issues & How to Make it Better for College Athletes
🔗 Wimbledon launches on Fortnite
🔗 ESPN Taking NBA Finals Celebrations to Next Level
⌚ Monumental change’: football tackles the impact of periods on performance
⌚Oura jumps into glucose with CGM support
⌚Why Apple’s Workout API was the most exciting aspect of watchOS 10
💸 Startup investment recap (June 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: Nutritional Strategies in the Rehabilitation of Musculoskeletal Injuries in Athletes: A Systematic Integrative Review
It is estimated that three to five million sports injuries occur worldwide each year. The highest incidence is reported during competition periods with mainly affectation of the musculoskeletal tissue. For appropriate nutritional management and correct use of nutritional supplements, it is important to individualize based on clinical effects and know the adaptive response during the rehabilitation phase after a sports injury in athletes. Therefore, the aim of this PRISMA in Exercise, Rehabilitation, Sport Medicine and Sports Science PERSiST-based systematic integrative review was to perform an update on nutritional strategies during the rehabilitation phase of musculoskeletal injuries in elite athletes. After searching the following databases: PubMed/Medline, Scopus, PEDro, and Google Scholar, a total of 18 studies met the inclusion criteria (Price Index: 66.6%).
⭐Upside Analysis
🥽 Upside Analysis: How the Apple Vision Pro Could Change the World of Sports for Ever
The Apple Vision Pro has been on of the most talked about topics in the world of tech in the past 2 weeks. With 1M Apple Vision Pro units expected to be sold annually initially, Apple has the opportunity here to create a mass market for consumer AR/VR glasses which is what OEMs / Tech companies (Microsoft, Magic Leap..) have not been able to do. So as part of that, I thought it would make sense to focus on some key areas such as Apple’s future multi price tier strategy, the use cases and future sports experiences that Apple is likely to offer over time for the Apple Vision Pro.
⭐ Upside Podcast Interviews of the Month
🔥Upside Chat with Derek Lawrance (USMNT), Jason Han (LAFC/MLS), Athanase Kollias (KINVENT), Quin Sandler (Plantiga) on Athletes' Rehab and Return to Play
This week we had the honor to interview again a group of sports performance experts.
Jason Han, Head of Rehabilitation / Team Physical Therapist., LAFC (MLS team).
Dr Derek Lawrance, Head Athletic Trainer, U.S. Men’s Soccer National Team.
Athanase Kollias, CEO of Kinvent, a company that helps sports and rehab professionals assess progress and build engagement and motivation.
Quin Sandler, CEO of Plantiga, a smart insole system for analyzing movement in the real world.
Through this interview, we touched on the current issues/challenges with the tools used for rehabilitation of athletes. Then we touched on the importance of the use of data as part of the rehabilitation process. Then we discussed the best practices that they identified when it comes to rehab/return to play of athletes. Lastly. we touched on the future of rehabilitation of athletes from a tech perspective.
🔥Upside Chat with Alexi Pianosi (Penguins/NHL), Pierre Barrieu (MLS / EPL), Adam Quigley (MLS / NFL), Karam Al-Hamdani (CF Montreal / MLS), on Muscle Injuries, Sleep, Messi's Move to the MLS & More
This week we had the honor to interview again a group of sports performance experts.
Alexi Pianosi, S&C coach for the Pittsburgh Penguins (NHL).
Pierre Barrieu, an experienced high performance director in the MLS (LA Galaxy, LAFC, Toronto FC, NY Red Bulls, etc.), Premier League (Leeds United FC) and FIFA expert.
Karam Al-Hamdani, the Head Athletic Therapist at CF Montreal (MLS team).
Adam Quigley, an experienced athletic trainer in the MLS (LA Galaxy), NFL (Saints) & US Soccer national teams.
Through this interview, we touched on muscle injuries and nutritional strategies, and the correlation between athletes' dehydration and soft tissue injuries. Then we discussed the best strategies for sleep management. We also touched on the best strategies for athletes' recovery and associated treatments. Lastly, we discussed Saudi Arabia's big push into sports as well as Leo Messi’s move to the MLS at Inter Miami FC.
🔥Upside Chat: Upside Chat with Dmitri Leonov, CEO of Taopatch USA, a Wearable Nanotechnology Device Combining Light Therapy with Acupuncture.
This week, we have the honor to interview Dmitri Leonov, CEO of Taopatch USA, a wearable nanotechnology device that combines light therapy with acupuncture.
Through this interview, we touched on his backgrounds, his company and product, the benefits for sports organizations and athletes to use their product. We also talked about Taopatch’s competitive advantage, business model and plans for the next 12 months.
🔥Upside Chat: Upside Chat with Anna-Carin Månsson, CEO, and Ola Eriksrud, co-Founder, 1080 Motion, A Leading Professional Grade Digital Motorized Strengths Training Company.
This week, we have the honor to interview Anna-Carin Månsson and Ola Eriksrud. Anna Carin is the CEO of 1080 Motion, recognized as the world leader in professional grade digital motorized strength training equipment.
Through this interview, we touched on their backgrounds, their roles, their company and products, the benefits for sports organizations to use their product. We also talked about their plans for the next 12 months.
🔥Upside Chat: Richard Southall, Professor & Director, University of South Carolina (NCAA), on the NIL's Progress, Current Issues & How to Make it Better for College Athletes
This week we have the honor to interview Richard Southall, Professor and Director – College Sport Research Institute, Department of Sport and Entertainment Management, at the University of South Carolina.
Through this interview, we touched on his background. Then we discussed the NIL, and if we are making progress there. We also touched on major issues with the NIL that he is currently seeing, and what he would do to make the NIL better for college athletes.
🎮 NFTs/Metaverse/AR/VR/Blockchain News
🔗 Wimbledon launches on Fortnite | Via : Wimbledon.com
Wimbledon announces an array of digital experiences to reward its current fans and attract new ones, including launching on Fortnite and a rebrand of its gamified tennis experience, Wimbledon Smash, set on the virtual SW19 Grounds.
The All England Lawn Tennis Club has today announced its entry to online gaming platform Fortnite, with the launch of Race to Wimbledon. The announcement is accompanied by an array of digital experiences for Wimbledon fans that have been released today, including new features on its Roblox experience WimbleWorld, a new gamified tennis app Wimbledon Smash, and a collaboration with leading mobile game Tennis Clash.
Players of Race to Wimbledon – which is presented in partnership with American Express – will run, drive, parkour and fly past London landmarks, including Big Ben and the London Eye, through Wimbledon village and past Andy Murray’s golden letterbox, navigating around larger-than-life obstacles such as giant strawberries and tennis rackets, to make it to Wimbledon’s Centre Court in the fastest time.
⬆️ The Upside: In our opinion, it is a bit underwhelming to see Wimbledon launch a Fortnite type experience. Many other teams and leagues have adopted a similar strategy. As we said before, Fortnite only appeals to specific demographics (young demographics) so it is a limited strategy. It feels more like a checkmark for Wimbledon. Will this deal be a fairly big revenue generator for Wimbledon? Probably not. You can check out our full analysis on the NFT sports market (trends, vendor ecosystem, recommendations to teams) here. You can also check out our sports metaverse ecosystem analysis here.
🔗 ESPN Taking NBA Finals Celebrations to Next Level | Via : ESPN Press Room
The 2023 NBA Finals presented by YouTube TV are set, and so are ESPN’s plans for the league’s biggest stage. ESPN is launching a variety of activations on-site from inside the winning team’s locker room to new music from international stars, and more, all to celebrate the NBA Finals, which begin Thursday, June 1 in Denver.
Crowning an NBA champion happens on the court, but the celebration continues well into the locker room.
This year, ESPN is upping the locker room championship experience with customized ‘Victory Goggles’, celebratory locker room bottles, and winning team t-shirts through a collaboration with growing beer brand Michelob Ultra and graffiti artist Futura.
The Victory Goggles will have “2022-2023 NBA Champions” laser-etched into all player/coach editions with the NBA on ESPN logo on the outer band. More images here.
⬆️ The Upside: This is a nice move by the NBA. NBA fans who love VR and collectibles probably loved it. This fits into the NBA’s VR partnership with Meta. Of note, In January 2023, the NBA, and Meta announced a new partnership extension. The multiyear extension will feature a new virtual reality experience for fans. It is worth pointing out that according to a recent report, 19% of adult consumers in the US were VR users at some point. This represents a 16% increase compared to 2019. It's far more significant to mention the fact that these consumers are using it often. In fact, 31% said they used it at least monthly.
🚑 Wearables, Health, Nutrition News
⌚ Monumental change’: football tackles the impact of periods on performance | Via : The Guardian
Midway through the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France, several members of the United States team came together for a selfie – taken by star striker Alex Morgan. Gathered on the pitch during a familiarisation session, the players each held up four fingers. To an outsider, this might have signalled the team’s winning intent – the Americans would go on to win the World Cup for the fourth time.
The signal was in fact far more personal. Due to a cutting-edge sports science program, the players knew that they were in the fourth phase of their menstrual cycle – a phase which can be disruptive to peak physical performance. But by deploying tailored interventions backed by scientific research, the US women’s national team had sought to gain the upper hand – over rival teams and their own bodies.
“Obviously a lot has happened in four years.” That is the immediate reaction from Dr Georgie Bruinvels, a senior sports scientist and female athlete lead at consultancy Orreco. Bruinvels worked with Scott to deploy the American team’s approach to managing the menstrual cycle during the 2019 World Cup, and has been at the forefront of applied research and innovation in the area ever since. “The game has massively grown, particularly in Europe with England winning the Euros,” she says.
Many of the top teams at this year’s Women’s World Cup will deploy strategies similar to those used by the US in France – Bruinvels and Orreco are consulting to a number of national teams, and clubsides in Europe and North America (she is also working with Fifa on projects across many international member associations). But the willingness to tackle the potential impact of periods on performance is not universal.
“I do know one [national] team whose ethos is just to put all of their athletes on a pill that delays menstruation, during the World Cup, so they don’t need to worry about periods,” Bruinvels says. “That’s just crazy.”
⬆️ The Upside: It should not come as a surprise to see a growing number of women national soccer teams using cutting edge technologies and measuring athletes’ menstrual cycles to help athletes’ reduce injuries and improve performance. Companies like Orreco, or OvulaRing, are leading vendors in such fast growing area. Women national soccer teams who do not use advanced technologies (AMS, advanced wearables) to do so are set to be at a clear disadvantage in the upcoming Women Soccer World Cup in New Zealand. You can check out our recent monthly group podcast with top female execs (coaches, ATs, researchers, tech vendors..) to learn more.
⌚Oura jumps into glucose with CGM support | Via : Wareable
Oura is cozying up to a host of consumer CGM services and aims to connect the dots between activity tracking and blood glucose. The company has announced integrations with January, Supersapiens, and Veri – all of which use continuous glucose monitors (CGM) to track your body’s response to certain food.
That means that users of those services can use an Oura smart ring to augment the blood glucose data from the CGM, and provide more context. Exercise, activity, and sleep can affect blood glucose changes, so wearable data can play a huge part in making sense of CGM data. And we’ve already spoken to January, which uses AI to replace the CGM hardware. Wearable data becomes an essential part of the January process – which relies on knowing how much exercise you’ve done to estimate how your body will react to different food.
⬆️ The Upside: It should not come as a surprise to see Oura team up with other vendors like Supersapiens and Vri. Oura is ding this for several reasons: (1) Increase the stickiness of its smart ring offering (2) Triangulate its sleep data with additional data to provide better insights to users. We expect Oura to continue to forge similar partnerships in the future. We also expect Oura’s competitors to follow suit.
⌚Why Apple’s Workout API was the most exciting aspect of watchOS 10 | Via : Wareable
While eyes will be drawn to the new design language and the Smart Stack widgets in watchOS 10 – there was a much bigger change further down the billing. watchOS 10 is one of the biggest shifts in the UI for a long time, but its Workout APIs could end up being much more transformative.
Developers have long had access to the full line-up of biometric information served up in Apple Health. That meant that running and fitness apps have been able to take heart rate data and use it as part of their own algorithms. But now Apple is enabling them to access the raw data from the motion sensors, to build their own apps. And the quality of that sensor data is exciting.
With the addition of Fall Detection on Series 6 and Car Crash detection on Series 8/Ultra, Apple has seriously upgraded the accelerometer. And that means it’s capable of being leveraged for applications beyond most smartwatches.
⬆️ The Upside: We think this is well overdue for Apple to open up its API. But that’s what Apple does. They are in no rush to launch new features. They have a very clear roadmap. They don’t worry too much about competition. This move will enable devs to create more advanced types of apps fully leveraging its sensor data for the Apple Watch.
Picture: Google Pixel smartwatch
💸 Sports Tech & Health Investment Recap - June 2023
Here is the recap of the major sports startups’ investments in June 2023. Total sports tech investment in June 2023 reached $129M. 62% of funding came from AI/generative AI startups. This was down -50% from $255M in May 2023.
Source: Upside, Confidential, June 2023
New Tech fund & M&As:
Michael Jordan sold his majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets for $3B.
The Tampa Bay Lightning are reportedly set to sell a minority slice of the franchise to private equity group Arctos Sports Partners at an NHL record valuation of $1.4B, according to Sportico.
Renault Group has agreed a $217.8M deal to sell 24 per cent of its Alpine Formula One team to a group of investors including Wrexham co-owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.
New York-based investment firm Tiger Global is poised to invest about $40M in the Indian Premier League’s Rajasthan Royals, according to multiple reports.
DraftKings offers to buy PointsBet’s U.S. business for $195M, or 30% premium over existing offer from Fanatics
Chelsea launched multi-club project by buying majority stake in Strasbourg. Chelsea paid £65m for close to 100% stake in French side.
Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund (QIA) proposed to buy a minority stake in Monumental Sports & Entertainment, a parent company of the Washington Wizards (NBA). According to sources of CNBC, the fund put forth by Qatar suggests buying a 5% stake in Monumental as part of a $4.05 billion deal.
MSP Sports Capital raises $165M in Everton fc investment bid.
Pro golfer Rickie Fowler is looking to become an investor in Leeds United, with fellow American golfers Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth also potentially being involved with the club; 49ers Enterprises recently agreed to buy the majority stake in the team from Andrea Radrizzani.
📊 Key Tech Sports Stats of The Month
$650B: The next step in Saudi Arabia’s aggressive global sports strategy appears to be a new investment company focused entirely on athletic entities. So far, Saudi Arabia has made major investments in sports through its Public Investment Fund — valued at $650 billion — but will now launch a multibillion-dollar entity dedicated solely to sports, according to the Financial Times.
Current Saudi sports investments include:
At least $2 billion of funding to back LIV Golf
Majority ownership of Newcastle United ($409 million purchase)
Saudi Arabian Formula 1 Grand Prix
16.7% stake in Aston Martin F1 team
Saudi Pro League ($75 million annual contract for Cristiano Ronaldo)
$29B: The global sports technology market size is estimated to grow by $29.9B from 2022 to 2027, according to Technavio. The market is estimated to decline at a CAGR of 23.36% during the forecast period. Europe is estimated to account for 36% of the global market during the forecast period.
Picture: Technavio
$3B: Michael Jordan will end his ownership of the Charlotte Hornets with a major return on his initial investment — despite just three playoff appearances during his 13-year tenure. The Hornets’ $3 billion valuation, according to ESPN, is more than 10 times the $180 million Jordan paid for the franchise in 2010. That figure is much higher than Forbes’ most recent valuation of the team ($1.7 billion) but lower than the NBA record $4 billion the Phoenix Suns sold for last year. In 2020, Jordan sold a minority stake to Gabe Plotkin, who is becoming one of the team’s new governors alongside Rick Schnall, who is selling his minority stake in the Atlanta Hawks.
$1B: The Ottawa Senators play in one of the NHL’s smallest media markets, ranked 25th in average attendance this season, haven’t reached the playoffs since 2017, and have regularly posted operating losses. Before Tuesday, the idea that the club would sell for a record price seems admittedly farfetched.
But the robust health of the league, the promise of a new downtown arena, and competitive bidding led to a sale worth nearly $1 billion to Montreal Canadiens co-owner Michael Andlauer, a new NHL highwater mark. The deal tops the $900 million Fenway Sports Group paid for the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2021. In December, Forbes estimated the Senators’ value at $800 million — good for only 24th in the league.
$760M: One of the foremost behind-the-scenes investors and dealmakers in sports just got a big pot of new money for more large-scale activity. The Raine Group — a backer of major entities such as DraftKings, Premier Lacrosse League, and TelevisaUnivision, and a broker on record-setting team sales such as Chelsea FC — has closed on a new, $760 million fund focused on growth-stage companies in sports, media, entertainment, and gaming.
$500M: Brazil’s pro soccer teams — which historically have lagged far behind the global success of the country’s national squads — are getting a massive financial boost, in part from U.S. money. The New York-based Serengeti Asset Management and Brazil’s Life Capital Partners are collectively purchasing a 20% stake in the commercial rights of most clubs in Liga Forte Futbol, a collective including teams in Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, B, and C. The 50-year deal, valuing the stake at about $500 million, will see the investment firms aiding in LFF’s revenue-generating efforts, including a pursuit of larger international media rights.
$400M: The University of Florida is embarking on a major renovation of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium that will give The Swamp a makeover costing at least $400 million. Florida announced it is preparing to select an architect to begin the design phase of what will be the largest athletic facility project in the school’s history.
Improving the fan experience will be the project’s main goal, from upgrades to the concourse, entry gates, seating, concessions and restrooms to enhancements to video board and sound system. Florida says there will be an “aggressive fundraising campaign” to finance construction.
$150M: Men’s professional tennis appears to be the next sport of interest for Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. The PIF has already invested in golf, Formula 1, soccer and the WWE. ATP Tour chair Andrea Gaudenzi told the Financial Times he’s had “positive” discussions with the PIF about potential investment.
No. 1-ranked Carlos Alcaraz said on Sunday he has “no doubts” he will eventually play pro tennis in Saudi Arabia after winning the Queen’s Club Championship on the road to Wimbledon next week. Alcaraz acknowledged the country’s “power to have a lot of tournaments.” Last June, the WTA confirmed Saudi Arabia had reached out to the tour with interest in investing. But in March, the women’s tour announced a $150 million investment from CVC Capital partners.
70M: With 70 million users added, more users signed up for Meta’s Threads in 2 days than what Instagram added for the whole year. Meanwhile Twitter lost 25M users.
$50M: One of the NFL’s most powerful and prominent team owners is getting the Netflix star treatment, and boosting the streamer’s sports ambitions in the process. Netflix is reportedly paying $50 million for the rights to produce a 10-part documentary series on Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. In beating out rival entities such as ESPN and Amazon, Netflix will gain another prominent piece of sports content, which has already drawn comparisons to highly regarded series such as the Michael Jordan-focused “The Last Dance.”
-$30M: Tom Brady lost millions in the collapse of cryptocurrency company FTX, for which he served as an "ambassador," The New York Times reported. Under an agreement the retired NFL quarterback made with FTX in 2021, he received $30 million in now-worthless stock for his work pitching the company in television ads and at its conference. In step with him at the time was his then-wife, Gisele Bundchen, who received $18 million in stock, per the report.
6.8M: Homegrown French stars will loom large in the next wave of ticket sales for the upcoming Paris 2024 Summer Olympics. Organizers put tickets for soccer, basketball, handball, and sailing competitions being held outside of Paris on sale Wednesday. Fans are expected to clamor to see Victor Wembanyama, recently selected first overall in the 2023 NBA Draft by San Antonio, and Kylian Mbappé, who led France to the 2022 FIFA World Cup final and is one of the world’s highest-paid athletes.
More than 6.8 million tickets have already been sold so far for Paris 2024 during two prior rounds. The tickets for soccer, basketball, handball, and sailing — all competitions set to be held at least in part in various regional locations around France — were originally scheduled to be sold later this year, but organizers accelerated the timetable for this third round of sales amid the strong demand.
8.5M: Lionel Messi’s arrival has had a tremendous impact on Inter Miami’s Instagram following, which has skyrocketed from 1 million to an impressive 8.5 million and continues to rise.
$300k: Wimbledon was still completing first round matches on Day 3 of the tournament as rain has wreaked havoc at the All England Tennis & Lawn Club — forcing delays and frustrating fans.
With a record purse of $56.5 million this year, Wimbledon has already issued refunds totalling more than $300,000 in light of Tuesday’s rainfall that pushed back all but eight of the 77 scheduled matches. It was the biggest washout at Wimbledon since 2004.
82,110: The ongoing growth of pro soccer in the U.S. has hit another major milestone. MLS’s Los Angeles rivalry of the L.A. Galaxy and reigning league champion LAFC drew 82,110 on Tuesday at the Rose Bowl, setting a single-game league attendance record. The total easily surpassed the 74,479 Charlotte FC attracted in March 2022 for its first-ever game as a league expansion franchise, and was widely described as a playoff-type atmosphere. The L.A. game — widely known as El Tráfico in a nod to the famous Spanish El Clásico rivalry between Barcelona and Real Madrid — was rescheduled from February due to heavy rain and wind at the time in Southern California.
4,000: The San Antonio Spurs surprised no one with the first overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft on Thursday night, selecting French sensation Victor Wembanyama, the league’s most hyped prospect since LeBron James. After the team generated more than 2,500 new season-ticket membership deposits immediately following last month’s NBA Lottery draw, Spurs officials told Front Office Sports that the number of new deposits is now in excess of 4,000 and still rising.
The new sales will undoubtedly push the Spurs above their 25th-place ranking in NBA team attendance — the club drew an average of 16,937 this past season. And even before entering the league, Wembanyama last season garnered 350 million views on NBA social media channels, ranking eighth among all players.
23%: Wemby is transforming one of the sleepier parts of the NBA’s calendar. The fan frenzy over rookie Victor Wembanyama, the San Antonio Spurs’ No. 1 overall draft pick, has created unprecedented levels of ticket sales for the NBA Summer League, a developmental event growing quickly in stature but historically followed by only the most avid of basketball fans.
Prominent ticket marketplace Vivid Seats has resale listing prices for Friday’s game reaching $106 — 23% higher than the prior event record set in 2019 for Zion Williamson’s debut for New Orleans. Courtside seats for Wembanyama’s debut are now surging toward $1,200 each as demand grows.
4%: NBA players can now invest in independent WNBA teams and sports betting operators thanks to a new collective bargaining agreement. The league’s newly signed seven-year labor deal with the National Basketball Players Association — memorialized in a 676-page document — will impose big changes on how the sport operates.
The agreement also details many other, lesser-known elements:
Individual players can own up to 4% of WNBA clubs not owned by a NBA team owner, and up to 8% of such a team collectively.
On behalf of all players, the NBPA can invest in private funds acquiring equity stakes in NBA teams, with the union investment capped at 5% of the fund’s aggregate capital.
Players may hold passive, non-controlling interests in sports betting or fantasy companies. Those equity stakes are limited to 1% for companies offering NBA-related bets or contests, and players can’t promote NBA-specific betting.
📸 Snapshots & Videos of the Month.
There is a new shiny object in Vegas. Sphere, a new Las Vegas venue, lit up for a trial run of its LED light display on the 4th of July, ahead of its official opening in September. The company behind the venue say it’s the world's largest spherical structure at 516 feet wide and 366 feet tall and will be able to host events for up to 20,000 attendees.
Here is a video explaining how the technology works:
Saudi Arabia to soon launch a new type of tennis experience. Here are some pictures of the proposed tennis courts in Al-Ula in Saudi Arabia.
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🔥 Upside Chat: Dave Hancock, CEO, Apollo (Leading Athlete Management Systems (AMS) vendor)