🔎📈 2023 May Recap: Djokovic's Smart Patch. Apple AR/VR Vision Pro Headset is Here. NASCAR's Mixed Reality. $255M Raised From Sports Tech Startups, down -1.9% from April 2023.
Dear Colleague,
May 2023 was another great month for all the sports enthusiasts. In June 2023 in the coming weeks, we, at Upside, plan to make a new major announcement which will help bring the industry (teams, vendors, investors..) closer together, and better connect with world’s class pro teams, VCs/investors and vendors. We have been working hard on this and we can’t want to tell you more about it soon. Stay tuned!
With that being said, in pro soccer, the season of the major European soccer leagues (Laliga, Premier Ligue 1, Bundesliga, Ligue 1, Calcio..) came to an end with Manchester City, PSG, Bayern Munich, Napoli, Barcelona FC, wining the title in their respective leagues. The clubs are now busy in the offseason reshaping their squad for the upcoming season.
In the MLS, Cincinnati are now leading the Eastern division (12-3-1), ahead of Nashville SC (9-4-3) and the Philadelphia Union (9-3-4) while St Louis (9-1-4) are leading the Western conference, ahead of the Seattle Sounders (8-3-6) and LAFC (7-4-1).
The Women’s Soccer World Cup in New Zealand and Australia is kicking off next month and as shown in the picture below, the USA hit the board as a +275 solo favorite and is looking to become the first World Cup squad (men or women) to win the prestigious tournament three times in a row. A collection of usual suspects are hot on their heels, however, as nations like England, Spain, and France look to win it for the first time.
In the world of pro basketball, in the NBA playoffs, the Miami Heat and Denver Nuggets are now tied 1-1 in the NBA Finals. In the NBA draft, the Spurs got yet another lucky lottery bounce, winning the 2023 NBA draft lottery and the right to select French super-prospect Victor Wembanyama with the No. 1 overall pick. "It's going to be unbelievable," Spurs owner Peter J. Holt said at Chicago's McCormick Place Convention Center.
Picture: Victor Wembanyama
Ime Udoka has been hired as the new coach of the Houston Rockets. Former Toronto Raptors coach Nick Nurse has also been hired as Philadelphia's new head coach. The Phoenix Suns also plan to hire Frank Vogel as their next head coach, multiple media outlets reported. Vogel will receive a five-year, $31 million deal, the Arizona Republic writes.
In the world of American Football, Tom Brady reiterated that he has no plans to play in the NFL again after retiring in February, but he hopes agreeing to buy into the Las Vegas Raiders will allow him to be involved in the league for the rest of his life. The Bills and Ed Oliver agreed to 4-year, $68 million extension, source says.
Picture: Tom Brady, Mark Davis
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 started. The Rays continue to lead the AL East division (43-19), ahead of the Orioles (37-22) while the Braves (35-24) are ahead of the Marlins (33-28), and the NY Mets (30-30) in the NL East division. The Pirates are leading the NL Central division (32-27), ahead of the Brewers (32-28) while the Diamondbacks are tied with the LA Dodgers (35-25) in the NL West division.
In the world of pro golf, Brooks Koepka claimed his fifth major championship when he outlasted a swarm of stars at Oak Hill Country Club near Rochester, N.Y. Brooks Koepka's coach also blasted the media, and bashed Brandel Chamblee for the treatment of LIV Golf players.
In the world of pro tennis, we are right in the middle of Roland Garros. Prior to the tournament, Rafael Nadal announced that he was pulling out of the French Open because of a lingering hip injury that has sidelined him since January and that he expects 2024 to be the final season of his tennis career.
In the world of pro hockey, the NHL playoffs are now in full swing. The Golden Knights Panthers now lead 2-0 against the Panthers in the Stanley Cup Finals.
In the AR/VR/NFT/Metaverse/Crypto/Blockchain space, Apple announced yesterday its first AR/VR headset called the Apple Vision Pro for $3500. Apple is expected to sell 900k Apple Vision Pro units per year. By comparison Microsoft sold 300k Hololens units since its launch. Check out our take on the Apple Vision Pro in the AR/VR section down below.
Picture: Apple Vision Pro AR/VR glasses
ESPN also released its AR Mini Games to enhance its digital hockey show. Sports Illustrated also launched its NFT Ticketing Platform on Polygon. NASCAR also unveiled new Mixed Reality experience, and Meta announced its Quest 3 VR headset, which will cost $499.99.
Picture: Meta’s Quest 3 VR headset
In the world of AI/Generative AI, Nvidia plans to partner with Taiwanese firm MediaTek to enhance infotainment systems, which could bring features such as artificial intelligence (AI), video streaming, and gaming and bring it to cars.
Picture: Nvidia, MediaTek
Pixellot also launched the Show S3 camera for AI-automated sports video production. ESPN is also leveraging Disney’s automated AI captioning tech to enhance viewer experience. In addition, the French Open introduced an AI tool to curb social media abuse against players. Laliga teamed up with SportBoost to launch an AI-driven ‘Meet LaLiga’ startup accelerator program. Ashton Kutcher, Guy Oseary’s Sound Ventures also launched a $240 Million AI Investment Fund.
Picture: Ashton Kutcher
In the world of sports performance and wearables, Manchester celebrated its title in style by using Mindfly’s bodycam. During games, Djokovic was also seen at Roland Garros wearing a smart patch which is a mix “acupuncture and light therapies”. Google also unveiled a new Pixel Watch features drop - as Wear OS gains momentum.
In the world of sports tech investments, investment in May 2023 reached $255M. 37% of funding came from AI/generative AI startups. This was slightly down -1.9% 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: Cardiac Arrest & Neurologic Recovery: Insights from the Case of Mr. Damar Hamlin
🔥Upside: AMS Ecosystem Analysis: Key Trends, Vendors and Recommendations to Teams (2nd Edition)
🔥Upside Chat: Jared Green, Former NFL Player (Dallas Cowboys, Panthers, Raiders) & CEO of Strides.ai.
🔥Upside Chat: Dr Ron Dick, Duquesne University, Ex NBA/NCAA Exec on the NBA Playoff/NBA Draft, Jokic, Erik Spoelstra, Wemby & The Spurs, Brooks Koepka, the NHL Playoffs, ACC, Vinicius Jr, and More
🔥Upside Chat with Female Sports Experts: Laura Matthes (VivoSensMedical), Mélanie Pauli (Swiss Football), Kirsten Legerlotz (Humboldt), Saba Shakalio (FC St Pauli) on Female Research and More.
🔥Upside Chat: Garrett Salpeter, founder and CEO of NeuFit, A Leading Provider of Direct Current (DC) Therapy Equipment
🔗 Apple Vision Pro first look: the mixed reality future is (almost) here
🔗 NASCAR goes all in with Mixed Reality
🔗Meta announces its Quest 3 VR headset, which will cost $499.99
⌚Djokovic’s latest innovation: Smart patch
⌚New Pixel Watch features drop - as Wear OS gains momentum
⌚ The best gym trackers and wearables to work out smarter
💸 Startup investment recap (April 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
⭐ Sports Tech Accelerators of the Month
🔥 AO StartUps opens second round of innovation
Applications have opened for the second round of AO StartUps – the pioneering program that helps startup companies pilot their cutting-edge technology at AO 2024 and across other areas of Tennis Australia’s business.
Seven companies were part of the inaugural cohort at AO 2023 including Cape Bionics, Equidi, Calyx, MATCHi, Amperfii, Recut and YBVR – with each of them creating new initiatives across various aspects of the sport.
A reminder to all founders wanting to make amazing things happen in sport or at the Australian Open to submit their AO Startups pitch.
Startups can apply until early june 2023.
🔥 Laliga Launches “Meet Laliga program” for startups
LaLiga and SportBoost have launched the ‘Meet LaLiga‘ program, aimed at discovering startups from around the globe that harness the power of AI to optimize processes, enhance productivity, and drive innovation within the sports industry. Startups can apply to the program from May 8 to June 16, 2023.
⭐Upside Studies of the Month
📈 🏈 Upside Studies: Cardiac Arrest & Neurologic Recovery: Insights from the Case of Mr. Damar Hamlin
Whereas the overall survival after OHCA and particularly after a coma following OHCA, was historically low, the case of Mr. Damar Hamlin should inspire hope for patients and families that when the Chain of Survival is in place and executed well, favorable outcomes can be achieved. Much work is required to close the gap between the survival outcomes observed in clinical trials and the outcomes experienced by most communities.
As neurologists, we can have a greater positive impact on patients with cardiac arrest by avoiding premature and overly pessimistic neurologic prognostication, supporting the early brain recovery process by avoiding and treating secondary brain injury, and helping to develop long-term brain directed rehabilitation for meaningful recovery. For the health care providers and researchers in this area, this was a call to both implement what we know and address the many gaps where we need to know more.
⭐ Upside Report of the Month
🔥Upside: AMS Ecosystem Analysis: Key Trends, Vendors and Recommendations to Teams (2nd Edition)
AMS systems, also known as Athlete Management Systems, have become one of the most common types of technologies used by pro teams today. With 20+ AMS vendors out there the space has become extremely competitive and fragmented over the years with sometimes teams using and testing multiple AMS systems at the same time. It has now become a bit overwhelming for teams to pick and choose the right AMS system due to the myriad of vendors out there. The space is now moving towards AMS systems capable of preventing injuries and better analyzing the data.
In this analysis, we will discuss the current and future market trends, VC/M&A investment trends, the AMS vendor ecosystems, and the key AMS vendors. We will also provide recommendations to pro teams looking to adopt an AMS solution.
⭐ Upside Podcast Interviews of the Month
🔥Upside Chat: Jared Green, Former NFL Player (Dallas Cowboys, Panthers, Raiders) & CEO of Strides.ai.
This week we interviewed Jared Green, former NFL Player (Dallas Cowboys, Panthers, Raiders) now turned entrepreneur. He is now the CEO of Strides.ai.
Jared Green played college football for Southern University and for the University of Virginia. He signed with the Carolina Panthers as an undrafted free agent in 2012. He had brief stints with the Panthers, Dallas Cowboys and Oakland Raiders before retiring from professional football in 2014 to pursue his business and philanthropic dreams.
🔥Upside Chat: Dr Ron Dick, Duquesne University, Ex NBA/NCAA Exec on the NBA Playoff/NBA Draft, Jokic, Erik Spoelstra, Wemby & The Spurs, Brooks Koepka, the NHL Playoffs, ACC, Vinicius Jr, and More
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 NBA Playoffs, Jokic, Erik Spoelstra, the NBA draft, Wemby going to the Spurs. Then we discussed the WNBA and Wittney Griner’s return. We also touched on the NHL playoffs, the success of the new rule changes in the MLB. We also discussed the PGA with Brooks Koepka winning a major again. Then we touched on the NFL draft and schedule released, the ACC implementing a new revenue distribution model. Lastly we spoke about Vinicus Jr, a Real Madrid player who was victim of racism against Valencia FC.
🔥Upside Chat with Female Sports Experts: Laura Matthes (VivoSensMedical), Mélanie Pauli (Swiss Football), Kirsten Legerlotz (Humboldt), Saba Shakalio (FC St Pauli) on Female Research and More.
We interviewed a group of female sports performance experts: Laura Matthes (VivoSensMedical), Mélanie Pauli (Swiss Football Association), Kirsten Legerlotz (Humboldt University), Saba Shakalio (FC St Pauli).
Through this interview, we touched on some reports saying that only 9% of sport science research focuses on female athletes and how we can improve that. Then we touched on some studies suggesting that female athletes need more sleep. Then we discussed whether or not women sports teams have a more diverse staff than men's teams. Lastly we we touched on their approach towards injury prevention, and what the best practices are.
🔥Upside Chat: Garrett Salpeter, founder and CEO of NeuFit, A Leading Provider of Direct Current (DC) Therapy Equipment
We interviewed Garrett Salpeter, founder and CEO of NeuFit, known for the Neubie device, a direct current device used by many pro teams, universities and private clinics around the world.
Through this interview, we touched on his background, his role, his company and product, the benefits for sports organizations to use his product. We also talked about his plans for the next 12 months.
🎮 NFTs/Metaverse/AR/VR/Blockchain News
🔗 Apple Vision Pro first look: the mixed reality future is (almost) here | Via : The Verge
What does the Apple Vision Pro look like? Imagine a pair of ski goggles. The fanciest, most sci-fi ski goggles you’ve ever seen. There, you’ve got it. Apple just announced the Vision Pro headset at its WWDC developer conference, during which executives spent a long time detailing both how the hardware works and how you’re meant to use it. After the event, we were able to take a brief look at the $3,499 Vision Pro itself — we couldn’t use it or even touch it, but we could gaze upon its metallic wonders in a demo room at the Steve Jobs Theater.
Based on the little bit we’ve seen, it’s a dramatically better-looking device than any other AR or VR headset we’ve seen. The actual headset itself is quite thin, and most of the device’s heft and size is from the fabricky shield around it and the big, plushy band around the back. The goggles are slightly curved and should wrap around most faces fairly nicely. The whole thing is a nice silvery color, down to the cable coming out the left side and the iPhone-sized battery pack at the bottom that provides its two hours of battery life.
⬆️ The Upside: We expect the Apple Vision Pro to do well for several reasons: Apple can convert a small portion of its 1B+ iPhone users to the Apple Vision Pro to create its next $ Billion opportunity. In fact, according to Bloomberg, Apple apparently expects to sell 900k ($2.7B+) Apple Vision Pro units per year which would be 0.1% of its 1B+ iPhone install base. This should not be a problem for Apple given its strong brand and customer’ loyalty, and the highest multiple device ownership rate than any other vendors today. By comparison Microsoft allegedly sold 300k Hololens units since launch..so again 900k is not an unrealistic expectation for Apple.
Now we were a bit underwhelmed by the limited number of use cases (Gaming, 3D pictures and video viewing..) presented by Apple yesterday. That being said Apple will be able to leverage its large install base of iOS developers to come up with innovative apps and use cases. Lastly we expect competing vendors (Meta, Google, Samsung..) to come up with Apple Vision Pro look alike AV/VR headsets. At that point, vendors will enter a price war which will be good news for consumers. It is worth point out that in 2021, unit sales of virtual reality (VR) headsets worldwide were forecasted to amount to 6.1 million units, bringing the total cumulative installed base to 16.44M units. Ultimately the launch of the Apple Vision Pro will help create a mass market for AR/VR consumer headsets.
Picture: Apple Vision Pro AR/VR headset
🔗 NASCAR goes all in with Mixed Reality
The Famous Group partnered with NASCAR at yesterday’s Coca-Cola 600 and used Mixed Reality to celebrate 75 years of racing. Airing live on FOX Sports, 3 tracked cameras including a drone were a part of this special celebration that highlighted some of the iconic moments in the sport’s history. Special thanks to NASCAR, FOX Sports, Zoic Studios and The LiveYard for helping bring this to life.
⬆️ The Upside: This should not come as a surprise to see NASCAR launching a mixed reality experience like this for several reasons: (1) NASCAR has a history of innovation: In 2018, Coca-Cola & NASCAR teamed up with Coca-Cola to launch a new AR Experience For Fans. In 2022, NASCAR launched first virtual reality experience for Meta Quest 2 in Meta Horizon Worlds. NASCAR also launched a ROBLOX experience. (2) NASCAR has one of the most fast growing online fan base. Across the three major social media platforms – Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter – NASCAR boasts a combined 10.49 million followers. According to a recent Forbes article, one in three U.S. adults, or 75 million people, is a NASCAR fan.
🔗Meta announces its Quest 3 VR headset, which will cost $499.99 | Via : The Verge
Meta has officially announced its Quest 3 VR headset in a post on Mark Zuckerberg’s Instagram. The headset is coming this fall with a 128GB version available for $499.99 plus “an additional storage option for those who want more space” at an unspecified price. Compared to its predecessor, the Quest 2, the Quest 3’s design is lighter and more comfortable, with a “40 percent slimmer optic profile” (without taking its foam facial interface into account), while a new Snapdragon chip inside has twice the graphics performance.
⬆️ The Upside: We think it makes sense for Meta to introduce the Meta 3 in its quest to lead the VR/metaverse space. Meta has sold nearly 20M Quest headsets, and Meta continues to lead with 47.8% share although it did lose ground to Sony's PSVR 2, which captured 35.9% share in 1Q23. That being said, the company continues to struggle with keeping customer using VR and with Apple set to soon introduce its Mixed reality headset Meta is likely to further lose market share. For more info, you can also check out our sports metaverse ecosystem analysis here.
🚑 Wearables, Health, Nutrition News
⌚Djokovic’s latest innovation: Smart patch
Novak Djokovic was seen sporting an unusual coin-shaped patch underneath his shirt at Rolland Garros last Wednesday that left tennis fans scratching their heads. Theories had floated around as to what the object was but it has now been revealed to be a nanotechnology device used to boost sports performance.
Djokovic flashed the device while changing his top in the middle of his third-round French Open triumph against Hungarian Marton Fucsovics. He was also seen receiving a similar circular object and changing it over later in the match. Former world No1 Jim Courier, who was commentating on the match for the Tennis Channel, noticed the device and compared it to the Arc reactor worn by Marvel comic-book character Iron Man. “Something is taped to Novak," he said.
“Have you ever seen Robert Downey Jr. (plays Tony Stark in Iron Man) in the same room as Djokovic? Maybe Novak is Iron Man?”
⬆️ The Upside: It should not come as a surprise to se Djokovic wear this type of smart patch. He is all about the details (nutrition, performance training, sleep & load management…). The patch is a mix “acupuncture and light therapies” in statements dating from 2021. The device is called Taopatch and is produced by an Italian company named Tao Technologies. It can help with different symptoms from improving posture, balance and flexibility, to boosting athletic performance and focus, and reducing stress, anxiety and chronic pain. We expect other tennis players and athletes to follow suit and adopt similar technologies to give them an edge during games.
⌚New Pixel Watch features drop - as Wear OS gains momentum | Via : Wareable
Google announced its June drop of new features across its product suite, and it included some juicy additions to the Pixel Watch. First up, the company has added new, closer integrations with Spotify. It's launched new tiles and face shortcuts from the Spotify for Wear OS app, to enable users to jump straight to podcasts or favorite playlists – or what’s in their rotation.
The company has also expanded SmarTrip and Clipper cards for Google Wallet, so users can tap and ride on Washington DC and Bay Area transit services. And Google Keep now has new tiles so you can pin single notes, such as a shopping list, making accessing information you need from the watch easier.
⬆️ The Upside: We think this is a good move by Google and a nice incremental improvement. That being said we don’t expect this new watch to help Google increase its market share in the smartwatch market. According to a new report by Canalys, Google captured 8% of the wearables market share with its Pixel Watch in Q4 2022. Compared to this, Apple has a dominant 27.5% market share, while Samsung has a 5.9% share and is placed 5th on the list. Of note, the revenue in the Smartwatches segment is projected to reach $44.91B in 2023. User penetration will be 2.74% in 2023 and is expected to hit 2.89% by 2027.
Picture: Google Pixel smartwatch
⌚ The best gym trackers and wearables to work out smarter | Via : Wareable
Fitness trackers and smartwatches have been notoriously underwhelming for gym-goers, but there's a new breed of wearables designed for strength, Crossfit, HIIT, and gym-based workouts. The latest gym-focused wearables can guide you on your form, exertion, and reps to help you get the best results faster – and focus on the recovery you need to hit your goals.
Whether you're a die-hard gym bunny that loves spinning, or you're just looking for a way to add accurate information from your sessions to your daily activity tracking, there are wearables out there to better suit you. Below are some of our favorite wearable gym aids, whether it's for HIIT, weights, spinning, treadmill training, CrossFit, and even boxing.
⬆️ The Upside: We believe that the competition in the fitness tracker and smartwatch market is set to intensify in the coming years with the emergence of new vendors that will disrupt the market in different shapes and forms. Of note, the global wearable fitness tracker market size was valued at $45B in 2021. It is projected to reach $192B by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 17.5% during the forecast period (2022–2030).
💸 Sports Tech & Health Investment Recap - May 2023
Here is the recap of the major sports startups’ investments in May 2023. Total sports tech investment in May 2023 reached $255M. 37% of funding came from AI/generative AI startups. This was slightly down -1.9% from $259.9M in April 2023.
Source: Upside, Confidential, May 2023
New Tech fund & M&As:
A group, including Magic Johnson, agreed to buy Washington Commanders from Snyder family for record $6B.
Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani has submitted a final, improved bid in an attempt to buy Manchester United for up to $6B.
Ashton Kutcher, Guy Oseary’s Sound Ventures launched a $240 Million AI Investment Fund.
The German FA (DFB) has signed a three-year deal with Google to become the official sponsor of the national women’s team with its Google Pixel brand.
Leeds owner Andrea Radrizzani completed the takeover of Italian side Sampdoria, with the Italian expected to sell his majority stake in the relegated Premier League club to American co-owners 49ers Enterprises.
Tom Brady has agreed to purchase an ownership stake in the Las Vegas Raiders, marking his entry into sports ownership.
Everton have reached an exclusivity agreement with New York-based company MSP Sports Capital for investment in the club.
Australia’s Aristocrat plans to buy Israel’s NeoGames in deal worth $1.2B.
Fanatics buys PointsBet’s US operations for $150M to expand sports betting, i-casino market share.
📊 Key Tech Sports Stats of The Month
$7B: A seminal figure in turning the Golden State Warriors into a sports colossus has stepped down as president and general manager after 12 years. A prominent player agent before moving into team operations, Bob Myers was the architect for four NBA championship teams and a two-time NBA Executive of the Year.
With the foundation of sustained on-court success built by Myers, the Warriors became the NBA’s most valuable franchise and one of the world’s leading sports brands with an estimated team value of $7 billion. The Warriors also led the league in road attendance this season and routinely rank among NBA merchandise sales leaders.
$6B: American soccer teams are quickly becoming some of the most valuable in the global game. Forbes’ 2023 list of most valuable soccer clubs rightfully highlights European giants Real Madrid and Manchester United — each of which surpassed the $6 billion mark for the first time — but also includes three Major League Soccer teams in the top 20 after none last year.
LAFC ranked 17th on the list and first among its domestic rivals with a $1 billion valuation. That puts the defending MLS champions just below Serie A stalwarts Inter Milan ($1.03 billion) and above Premier League clubs like Crystal Palace and Newcastle United. The LA Galaxy ($925 million) were just behind their Southern California counterparts in 18th, while Atlanta United ($850 million) was 19th.
$1B: Sports and entertainment giant Endeavor — the parent company of UFC, Professional Bull Riders, and the IMG and WME agencies — strongly considered a $1 billion investment in LIV Golf before backing away, according to company chief executive Ari Emanuel.
Speaking on Freakonomics Radio, Emanuel said Endeavor was approached by LIV Golf stars Bryson DeChambeau and Phil Mickelson about funding the upstart golf property, and the company began internal discussions for a $1 billion investment. Endeavor’s support would have replaced LIV Golf’s backing from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which started in 2021.
$1B: Work is officially underway on a new $1 billion stadium project for Indianapolis’ professional soccer teams. A groundbreaking ceremony was held for Eleven Park, a new development in the city’s riverfront neighborhood to be built around a 20,000-seat venue that will host the Indy Eleven teams. The Indy Eleven men’s squad currently competes in the USL Championship, while the women’s squad will play in the USL W League this year before joining the new USL Super League next year.
$500M: Leeds majority owner Andrea Radrizzani has been in talks with minority shareholder 49ers Enterprises, also the ownership group of the San Francisco 49ers, about taking full control of the soccer club. With Leeds moving down to the Championship, any deal would need to be reworked according to a lower valuation of the club. Leeds had once been valued at more than $500 million.
The Athletic reports Radrizzani offered to use Leeds’ Elland Road stadium as collateral for a $32.6 million loan to help finance the Sampdoria purchase. Radrizzani owns Elland Road, but the 49ers group — which owns 44% of Leeds — was apparently unaware of the stadium being used as collateral, which could complicate matters. The next steps in the sale process will be determining a new valuation and a decision from the 49ers group as to whether it still wants to move forward with a takeover deal.
$250M: Roland Garros typically sees upwards of 600,000+ spectators across two weeks, and it’s estimated that they bring in more than $250 million in total revenue.
French Open Financial Breakdown (*estimated)
Total revenue: $256 million
Revenue per day: $18.2 million
Revenue per hour: $761,904
Revenue per minute: $12,698
100M: The Men’s French Open Final between Rafael Nadal and Casper Ruud only averaged 1.487 million followers on NBC last year, which is less than the average NBA game. But the French Open pulls in significantly more viewers outside the United States. For example, Roland Garros says the French Open averaged 5.2 million viewers on France TV last year and reached over 100 million people via CCTV in China.
$75M: The ongoing legal battle between Adidas and Ye has taken another turn. A federal judge denied a request from the athletic apparel company to refreeze $75 million worth of funds it paid to Ye, formerly known as Kanye West. A months-long freeze on the money was lifted last week. Adidas claimed the $75 million is at risk of never being recovered, citing reports that Ye may be headed for insolvency and therefore unable to pay the money back.
12.4M: The NBA came tantalizingly close to the first Finals rematch in over a decade between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers — one of the greatest rivalries in all of sports. While the 2023 clash between the Denver Nuggets and Miami Heat looks comparatively underwhelming, the NBA and media partner Disney still hope to extend their Finals audience growth to a third straight year. After sinking to an all-time low of 7.45 million average viewers for the pandemic-adjusted Finals between the Lakers and Heat in 2020, Disney’s ABC boosted Finals ratings in both 2021 and 2022, reaching an average of 12.4 million viewers last year for Golden State’s six-game triumph over the Celtics.
150: To date, there has never been a successful comeback from a 0–3 series deficit in the NBA. Of the 151 NBA teams that have fallen into a 0–3 deficit, only four of them (~3%) have forced a game 7, with all four losing in game 7.
90%:: After years of exorbitant transfer fees and wages, European soccer finally seems serious about limiting how much clubs spend on players. UEFA is planning on setting a cap on player wages and transfers in a single season, rules which would impact competitions including the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, and Ligue 1, according to The Times. No monetary figures have been seriously discussed, but the potential cap would complement the existing Financial Fair Play regulations that limit European clubs’ operational spending to 90% of revenue this year, 80% next year, and 70% in 2025.
📸 Snapshots & Videos of the Month.
NASCAR goes all in with Mixed Reality: The Famous Group partnered with NASCAR at yesterday’s Coca-Cola 600 and used Mixed Reality to celebrate 75 years of racing. Airing live on FOX Sports, 3 tracked cameras including a drone were a part of this special celebration that highlighted some of the iconic moments in the sport’s history. Special thanks to NASCAR, FOX Sports, Zoic Studios and The LiveYard for helping bring this to life.
Kylian Mbappe leads PSG players and fans in show of support for Sergio Rico. Players and fans of Paris Saint-Germain showed their support for Sergio Rico during Saturday's game against Clermont. This was PSG's first home match since goalkeeper Rico, 29, suffered serious injuries while on a pilgrimage in Spain last month.
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🔥 Upside Chat: Dave Hancock, CEO, Apollo (Leading Athlete Management Systems (AMS) vendor)