December 3, 2021

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Analysts estimate that the metaverse could become an $800 billion market by 2024, and Adidas is doubling down on its ambitions with a four-way collaboration. The sportswear brand is joining forces with crypto investor Gmoney, NFT brand Bored Ape Yacht Club, and NFT comic series Punks Comic.

Amazon Enters Collectibles Market with Dibbs Investment

Dibbs/Amazon/Design: Alex Brooks

Amazon is investing [[link removed]] in trading card platform Dibbs, showing faith in the collectibles boom as a long-term trend.

Dibbs had raised around $16 million prior to Amazon’s investment, namely through a $13 million Series A round [[link removed]] in July led by Foundry Group.

That round was joined by Tusk Venture Partners, Courtside Ventures, Founder Collective, and athletes Chris Paul, Kevin Love, Channing Frye, DeAndre Hopkins, Kris Bryant, and Skylar Diggins-Smith.

Terms of Amazon’s investment were not disclosed.

Founded in October 2020, Dibbs allows users to buy fractional shares of sports cards using a blockchain-backed system. Alongside Thursday’s announcement of Amazon’s investment, the company rolled out a peer-to-peer marketplace for users to sell to one another directly.CEO Evan Vandenberg said that Dibbs will soon expand into other card collectibles like Pokemon and Magic the Gathering. It is also looking into non-card categories.

The total sports memorabilia market was estimated [[link removed]] by Collectable.com at $5.4 billion in April.

Amazon has not focused on collectibles, but eBay hosted [[link removed]] over $2 billion in trading card sales in the first half of this year.

Nashville Paving Way For NASCAR Return

Sanford Myers, The Tennessean/Design: Alex Brooks

Nashville Mayor John Cooper has agreed to renovate Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway in a proposal by Bristol Motor Speedway that would bring NASCAR back to the city after a 20-year hiatus.

“The partnership will result in a modernized track that meets NASCAR series standards and transform Fairgrounds Speedway into a true multipurpose venue,” Cooper said [[link removed]].

The proposal still requires approval by Nashville’s Metro Sports Authority, Board of Fair Commissioners, and Metro Council to be finalized.

Bristol Motor Speedway would operate, manage, and lease Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway for 30 years.Nashville would issue about $75 million in revenue bonds for the renovations, up from a previous target of $50 million in March. The proposal comes amid current renovations of Nashville Fairgrounds, which is also the site of an under-construction stadium for MLS’ Nashville SC.The renovated speedway will mitigate noise and expand its grandstand to seat approximately 30,000 fans, essentially doubling capacity.

NASAR went from a public to private company in 2019 after buying [[link removed]] the balance of International Speedway Corporation for roughly $2 billion in a deal that included iconic Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.

Its circuit of tracks lost [[link removed]] between $150 million and $175 million in combined ticket revenue for the 2020 season due to limited fan attendance during the pandemic.

Cooper projects [[link removed]] the revitalized speedway will bring in $100 million annually to Nashville’s economy.

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Zee Strikes 10-Year Rights Deal With UAE T20

ICC/Design: Alex Brooks

The UAE T20 League, a cricket league expected to launch next year, has announced a broadcasting rights deal and a number of franchise owners in a matter of weeks.

Zee Entertainment signed a 10-year broadcasting deal with the league, reportedly [[link removed]] worth between $100 million and $150 million. The Economic Times of India reported that Zee will include coverage on at least three-to-four TV channels.

The deal comes two months after Sony’s Indian entertainment group announced [[link removed]] it planned to purchase a 53% stake in Zee Entertainment for $1.6 billion.

The deal hasn’t closed, but reports [[link removed]] have suggested the combined entity will bid on broadcasting rights for the Indian Premier League cricket tournament.Zee signed [[link removed]] a five-year non-compete clause with Sony in 2017 when it sold its sports business, TEN Sports.

The UAE T20 League will start out with six teams — each reportedly sold for between $40 million and $60 million.

In the last week, Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries Limited — which owns the Indian Premier League’s Mumbai Indians — acquired a franchise, as did [[link removed]] Lancer Capital, which is owned by Avram Glazer, Manchester United co-chairman and co-owner of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers — who recently lost a bid for an IPL expansion team.

Skechers Investor Proposes Aggressive Share Buybacks

Skechers/Design: Alex Brooks

A high-level Skechers investor proposed corporate changes to bring more funds to investors.

The Tremblant Capital Group, which owns [[link removed]] 5.1% of Skechers, stated that the sneaker company should engage in an aggressive share buyback program with some of the $1.18 billion Skechers held in cash and cash equivalents at the end of Q3.

Tremblant proposed that Skechers simplify its dual-share structure and offer only one type of shares.

The Greenberg family currently owns 60% of the voting power in Skechers.

The changes, according to Tremblant, would align shareholders with management so that “unease around the founding family dynamics will dissipate, driving the multiple higher and creating tremendous value for shareholders.”

The investment firm predicted that its recommendations could add $4 billion in value to the Greenbergs’ $1.1 billion stake over 10 years.

Skechers’ sales reached $1.55 billion in the third quarter, a 19.2% year-over-year increase.The company is reportedly considering [[link removed]] an IPO of its Asia segment that could raise $1.5 billion.

Skechers promotes its brand with a host of current and retired athlete endorsers, including pitcher Clayton Kershaw, golfer Brooke Henderson, and sports legends Wayne Gretzky, Joe Montana, Tony Romo, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

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Changing the Game of College Recruiting

Nielsen Sports [[link removed]], the leading source of sports sponsorship measurement and analytics around the world, is taking its expertise to college athletics.

Following the NCAA’s landmark ruling this year allowing college athletes to benefit from their own name, image, and likeness, Nielsen launched a new solution to help universities recruit student-athletes — the Nielsen Impact Score (NIS) [[link removed]].

The NIS database shows the marketing value of each athletic program by comparing them across three key inputs: National Exposure, Local Market Impact, and Social Media Engagement.

Coaches can pull their program’s rankings at the local or national level to help recruiting efforts and showcase strengths in their own programs, as well as advantages over other programs.

Read more about Nielsen’s latest marketing solution here [[link removed]].

Conversation Starters 23XI Racing, owned by Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin, is paying $13.5 million for the NASCAR charter [[link removed]] it purchased from StarCom Racing. French soccer authorities are asking [[link removed]] for a larger share of the solidarity payments to French clubs that don’t compete in UEFA competitions, which is split equally between the top five associations: England, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. A recent report reveals [[link removed]] that MLB used two different kinds of baseballs during the season without letting players know about it. Following the expiration of MLB’s collective bargaining agreement, owners voted [[link removed]] unanimously to force the fourth lockout in MLB history and first since 1990. Click here [[link removed]] to subscribe to Sports Section, a free daily newsletter. Today's Action

NHL

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Devils (+150) at Jets (-175)

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Oregon (+115) at Utah (-135)

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Clippers (0) at Lakers (0)

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Question Of The Day

Would you like to see NASCAR return to Nashville?

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Thursday’s Answer

58% of respondents think an independent regulator would be good for the Premier League.

Written by Owen Poindexter [[link removed]], Justin Byers [[link removed]], Abigail Gentrup [[link removed]]

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