January 22, 2024

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An amateur winning a PGA Tour event for the first time in 33 years creates financial windfall for the pros he beat. … An upcoming NFL Sunday Ticket trial will involve many of pro football’s most powerful figures, with billions of dollars in potential damages on the line. … And one of the world’s biggest—and yet still relatively unknown—sporting goods companies files for an IPO seeking a valuation of nearly $9 billion.

— Eric Fisher [[link removed]]

First Amateur PGA Tour Win Since ’91 Is a Nice Payday for Everyone Else [[link removed]]

Desert Sun

Normally, a bunch of professional golfers losing to a college student would be a tad bit embarrassing. But Nick Dunlap’s historic victory at The American Express ended up being a financial boon for the other 66 golfers that earned a piece of the $8.4 million overall purse for making the cut.

Dunlap, a 20-year-old sophomore at Alabama, became the first amateur to win a PGA Tour event since Phil Mickelson in 1991, but was not allowed to accept the $1,512,000 winner’s check since he hasn’t turned professional yet. That sum went to Christiaan Bezuidenhout, the 29-year-old South African pro who finished in second place. Everybody else also got a little more than they would have if an amateur had not won on Sunday in California’s Coachella Valley. Here’s what some of the top finishers won, thanks to Dunlap’s amateur status (and would have otherwise won):

2nd place: Christiaan Bezuidenhout $1,512,000 ($915,600) Tied for 3rd: Kevin Yu $635,600 ($445,200) Tied for 3rd: Xander Schauffele $635,600 ($445,200) Tied for 3rd: Justin Thomas $635,600 ($445,200) Tied for 6th: Sam Burns $310,800 ($283,500) Tied for 6th: Michael Kim $310,800 ($283,500) Tied for 6th: Adam Hadwin $310,800 ($283,500)

While the full allotment of prize money was still paid out in lieu of Dunlap’s win, no one in the field received the 500 FedEx Cup points available to the winner of The American Express.

Will Amateur Turn Pro?

Dunlap’s victory gives him full membership status on the PGA Tour through the 2026 season, but after the tournament he said he wasn’t sure when he would officially turn professional. He was already set to play this week’s Farmers Insurance Open under a sponsor’s exemption.

No matter what he decides, Dunlap will be playing at the Masters in April. He had earned an invite by way of his U.S. Amateur win last summer, but that was contingent on him not turning pro. His PGA Tour victory on Sunday secured his spot at Augusta, pro or amateur. Dunlap also has an NIL deal with Adidas.

🗣️ LOUD AND CLEAR

Shopping Spree 🤑

“We’re ready to burn some cash.”

—New Patriots coach Jerod Mayo on Monday, on his plans [[link removed]] to go acquire some new players for New England, which currently has $65 million in available salary cap space, fourth-most in the NFL.

They Make Sports Balls—and They Could Be Worth Almost $9 Billion [[link removed]]

USA TODAY Sports

One of the world’s biggest—and yet still relatively unknown—sporting goods companies has filed for an initial public offering in the U.S, looking to raise as much as $1.8 billion.

The Helsinki-based Amer Sports is anything but a household name, but it owns Wilson Sporting Goods, makers of the official NFL and NBA game balls, as well as tennis rackets for numerous leading pros, including women’s No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka and men’s No. 7 Stefanos Tsitspias. The company’s expansive portfolio also includes the Louisville Slugger, Salomon, and Peak Performance brands, among others. An IPO registration filed Monday details a planned listing of 100 million shares at $16 to $18 each. If the top end of the range is reached, it would imply a valuation of $8.7 billion for Amer Sports. The filing represents one of the first major IPOs of the year across any industry.

“Our vision is to be the global leader in premium sports and outdoor brands,” Amer Sports said in its registration statement. “While our brands have established heritage and market leadership today, significant runway remains ahead.”

The fundraising, however, is happening in what remains a choppy market [[link removed]] for sporting goods, footwear, and apparel. Other companies in the category to see various earnings and revenue challenges in recent months include Nike [[link removed]], Under Armour [[link removed]], Adidas [[link removed]], and Puma [[link removed]]. The upcoming reporting season for the fourth quarter of 2023 will provide a further look into the current state of the market, including details on performance during the holiday shopping season.

Amer Sports says it generated $3.1 billion in revenue for the January-September 2023 period, up 30% from the comparable period in 2022. But the company’s net loss grew from $104.4 million to $113.9 million, following on net losses also posted in 2020 and 2021. Amer Sports, however, is leaning heavily into technology for the development of its latest products, including the use of artificial intelligence to design baseball bats [[link removed]] with larger sweet spots and a 3D-printed, airless basketball [[link removed]] prototype.

Founded in 1950, Amer Sports’ roots lie as a multifaceted conglomerate with prior operations as varied as tobacco and publishing.

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Sports Illustrated’s Future in Doubt

Sports Illustrated laid off large swaths of its staff on Friday, leaving the future of the revered publication in doubt for the first time in its 70-year history. Senior Reporter A.J. Perez—our reporter who broke the story—joins Front Office Sports Today to explain how SI found itself at this point, and what comes next.

🎧 Listen and subscribe on Apple [[link removed]], Google [[link removed]], and Spotify [[link removed]].

Huge Names. 2M Plaintiffs. Billions at Stake. NFL Sunday Ticket Trial Is Set [[link removed]]

USA TODAY Sports

NFL Sunday Ticket has moved on to its new home [[link removed]] of YouTube, and, by nearly all respects, is flourishing in that new spot. But the dust still hasn’t settled for NFL Sunday Ticket at the product’s prior exclusive home, DirecTV, and a lawsuit surrounding the out-of-market game package is now set to involve some of the biggest names in pro football.

A class-action lawsuit dating to 2015—alleging that the collective and exclusive packaging of teams’ out-of-market rights in NFL Sunday Ticket violates U.S. antitrust law and creates artificially high prices—has slowly made its way through California and federal courts, reaching its current status early last year. A trial is now set to begin Feb. 22, and witness lists filed Friday include NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, and outgoing CBS Sports chair Sean McManus.

Barring a settlement or other adjustment in the proceedings, those prominent names and many others will testify on the current state of the NFL’s broadcasting business and the league’s out-of-market strategy.

If the certified classes of plaintiffs—amounting to more than 2.4 million residential subscribers and 48,000 commercial ones—are successful, NFL teams could be freed to strike their own individual and market-specific out-of-market rights deals, and consumers would likely get the freedom to purchase individual games or team-specific packages. The NBA and MLB each offer single-team packages for out-of-market games, with those offerings spurred in part by legal action. The NHL’s out-of-market games are now streamed as part of ESPN+ in the U.S.

Damages in the NFL case are also projected at about $6.1 billion, if the plaintiffs win, setting up the possibility of a blockbuster financial outcome from the case.

The dispute also sets up another test of the NFL’s tolerance for potentially messy public disclosures. In a trial setting, powerful figures such as commissioners and team owners are no longer in control, and it’s a dynamic the NFL and other major leagues have often sought to avoid. To that end, the NFL’s $820 million settlement [[link removed]] with St. Louis officials over the Rams’ relocation to Los Angeles was struck about six weeks before a scheduled trial there.

Conversation Starters Formula 1 has launched the world’s first F1 karting experience. Three tracks have been built in London. Check [[link removed]] out the experience. Ohio State has lost three straight years to Michigan and then watched its rival win a national title. See [[link removed]] how the Buckeyes are trying to rectify the situation. Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce is not only a future Hall of Fame football player, he is also becoming a high-level pitchman. During the Chiefs’ divisional-round game on Sunday, he appeared [[link removed]] in three different commercials.

SPONSORED BY CHEAT CODE

They Make Sports Brands Go Viral

Cheat Code Agency [[link removed]] is taking over sports media.

With unparalleled experience running some of the most-viewed social brands on Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube, co-founders Grady Rains and Ben Gallagher have amassed billions of views and millions of followers for the companies they’ve created and operated.

Both Grady and Ben have been included on recent Forbes 30 Under 30 lists for their accomplishments as media executives.

Founded in 2023, Cheat Code Agency specializes in high-viewership [[link removed]] content production, distribution, and brand growth strategy. The agency works with marquee sports leagues, gaming companies, and premiere entertainment media organizations.

Cheat Code is looking for sports and entertainment partners interested in game-changing social growth and viewership in 2024.

Learn more [[link removed]].

Editor’s Picks Tara VanDerveer, Who Came Up in a Different World of College Basketball, Is Your New All Time Wins Leader [[link removed]]by Margaret Fleming [[link removed]]Stanford’s coach since 1985 took the record from Duke’s Coach K. The NCAA’s Existential Question: Can You Pay Players and Still Call Them Amateurs? [[link removed]]by Amanda Christovich [[link removed]]The NCAA may not be able to stop the employment model. Sports Illustrated’s Publisher Guts Staff. Future Unclear [[link removed]]by A.J. Perez [[link removed]]Authentic purchased Sports Illustrated for $110 million from Meredith five years ago. Advertise [[link removed]] Awards [[link removed]] Learning [[link removed]] Video [[link removed]] Podcast [[link removed]] Sports Careers [[link removed]] Written by David Rumsey [[link removed]], Eric Fisher [[link removed]] Edited by Matthew Tabeek [[link removed]]

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