December 29, 2021

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John Madden, a man who will forever be synonymous with the game of football, died Tuesday at the age of 85.

A Super Bowl winning-coach with the Oakland Raiders who went on to win 16 Emmy Awards as a legendary TV broadcaster, Madden’s name and persona later helped Electronic Arts create the “Madden NFL” video game series that sold more than 130 million copies.

FIFA Plans Major Cut to Agent Compensation

FIFA/Design: John Regula

FIFA is making changes that will take a major chunk out of agents’ earnings.

The organization that oversees international competition in soccer intends [[link removed]] to limit agent commissions to 3% of player salaries and 10% of transfer fees.

Top agents have threatened legal action if FIFA goes ahead with the plan.

FIFA said that agents scored $500.8 million from transfer fees this year, a slight increase from 2020’s $497.5 million sum, despite total international transfer spending dropping from $5.2 billion in 2020 to $4.3 billion in 2021.In one unspecified incident, an agent earned [[link removed]] 118% of the transfer fee paid by a German club to a French one.FIFA president Gianni Infantino said that training clubs earned around 1% of global transfer spending in 2019, while agents took home 10%. Intermediaries Everywhere

FIFA also said that in 48 instances, both teams and players involved in a transfer paid a representative. On deals under $500,000, the median agent fee was 18.8% of the total.

The Premier League and European Club Association have both lobbied for more stringent rules on agents. FIFA had removed limits on agent compensation and other regulations concerning who could act as an intermediary — but is now reversing course.

Tokyo Olympics Cost $1.8B Less Than Previous Estimates

Yukihito Taguchi-USA TODAY Sports/Design: John Regula

The Tokyo Olympics faced a raft of problems related to the global pandemic, but the final bill came in well under previous estimates.

The Summer Games cost [[link removed]] organizers an estimated $13.6 billion, $1.8 billion below a prior prediction of $15.4 billion.

Much of the reduction was due to lower staffing levels, as no fans were permitted to attend. However, that same restriction cost the Olympics $800 million in ticket sales.

The Tokyo Organizing Committee predicted [[link removed]] a total cost of $6.4 billion when first making its bid for the Games in 2013. Those costs ballooned due to construction and the decision to postpone the event for one year.Japanese sponsors invested around $3 billion, and some have reportedly complained that they saw little to no return on their investment.The International Olympic Committee, which profits off broadcast rights and sponsorships, contributed $800 million, while an additional $500 million came from Olympic partners.

The organizing committee paid around $5.9 billion to host the games — roughly equal to total revenue.

Final Costs Still TBD

Organizers said that final figures would not be available until spring 2022 due to ongoing work on venues and certain contracts that need to be finalized.

The Tokyo Games were previously estimated to top London’s $15 billion spent in 2012 as the most expensive Olympics ever.

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Golf Industry Continues to Flourish Amid Pandemic

PGA TOUR Superstore/Design: John Regula

Golf’s popularity picked up during the pandemic, and nearly two years later, the sport is still swinging for the stars.

In 2020, golf had its biggest [[link removed]] net increase since 1997 at 60 million-plus rounds, with 3 million people taking the course for the first [[link removed]] time. Roughly 500 million rounds [[link removed]] were played last year.

This year, the National Golf Foundation found that the total number of rounds played in the U.S. will surpass the number of rounds played in 2020 by 4% to 5%.

Investing In The Sport

From professional golfers to local golf courses, businesses everywhere want a piece of the success [[link removed]].

The PGA Tour’s purse jumped nearly 14% for each event, totaling $427 million, thanks to new sponsors and broadcasting deals. The LGPA’s purse jumped 12% to almost $86 million.Lamborghini, known for its sports and luxury vehicles, announced [[link removed]] the development of golf carts in October.In November, SoftBank’s Fortress Investment Group purchased [[link removed]] Accordia Golf for $3.5 billion.

Companies already established in the golf industry are benefiting, too.

The PGA Tour Superstore, the industry’s largest retailer, told Forbes that its business has been up roughly 70% over the last two years. Last month, Callaway Golf reported [[link removed]] that its third-quarter revenue increased 80% year-over-year to $856 million.

COVID Surge May Stall Gym Industry’s Comeback

William Bretzger-USA TODAY NETWORK/Design: John Regula

The Omicron spike in COVID cases could spoil a pre-pandemic certainty for the gym industry: members flooding in to start on fitness-related New Year’s resolutions.

The seven-day moving average of COVID cases cataloged by the CDC is at its highest point since January 2021. Business tracking firm Placer.ai said gym visits trended upward between Thanksgiving and the first week of December compared to 2019, but recent preliminary data has shown a dropoff in foot traffic.

While the recovery of brick-and-mortar gyms [[link removed]] has been slow, it’s better than the doldrums of early in the pandemic.

Gym Rebound Threatened Planet Fitness, the nation’s largest publicly traded gym company, has seen revenues surge [[link removed]] and is back in expansion mode, adding as many as 120 locations by year’s end. Its stock is up 60% from March 2020. Globally, gyms, studios, and in-person fitness classes saw a 37% revenue decline in 2020, per the Global Wellness Institute. GWI projected consumer spending on physical activities — which includes fitness facilities — to reach $907.7 billion in 2022, surpassing 2019. Crunch Fitness opened its 400th location [[link removed]] in November, and visits to existing gyms have increased 63% from September 2020 to October 2021, per Placer.ai.

Mask mandates have been brought back in several jurisdictions, but the industry doesn’t expect anything close to the dramatic drop that ravaged fitness facilities in 2020.

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Conversation Starters The NFL will require [[link removed]] members of the media to have a COVID-19 booster shot starting Jan. 12. and continuing through the Super Bowl on Feb. 13. The Metro Nashville Sports Authority is gauging [[link removed]] interest in a women’s pro sports team. The organization agreed to pay $75,000 to a consulting group to assess levels of interest in various sports. The next phase in an equal pay case brought by the U.S. women’s national soccer team is set [[link removed]] for March 7, when the team will make oral arguments in their appeal. The initial lawsuit was dismissed in May 2020. For a club with more than $1 billion in debt [[link removed]] — a calamity that forced Lionel Messi’s departure — Barcelona seem to have no problem spending again. Subscribe to Sports Section [[link removed]] for more on the La Liga team’s latest transfer splash. Today's Action

NHL

08:38 PM

Oilers (+110) at Blues (-130)

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NCAA

05:45 PM

Clemson (-135) at Iowa State (+115)

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NBA

10:40 PM

Mavericks (-125) at Kings (+105)

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*All times are EST unless otherwise noted.

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Question Of The Day

Do you think FIFA should reform its transfer market?

Yes [[link removed]] No [[link removed]]

Tuesday’s Answer

65% of respondents pay attention to Super Bowl commercials.

Written by Owen Poindexter [[link removed]], Abigail Gentrup [[link removed]], A.J. Perez [[link removed]]

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