December 31, 2021

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The NFL’s “Thursday Night Football” tri-cast — which consists of FOX, NFL Network, and Amazon Prime Video broadcasts — generated an average viewership of 16.4 million in 2021, the highest the league has seen since 2015.

F1’s Historic 2021 Season

Formula 1/Design: Alex Brooks

The 2021 Formula 1 season marked the best year yet for the iconic racing series, which has exploded in popularity since Netflix debuted “Drive to Survive” in 2019.

Liberty Media acquired F1 for $4.6 billion in 2017 from private equity firm CVC Capital and has since led the motorsports business to a meteoric rise.

Across ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC, F1 averaged [[link removed]] 934,000 viewers per race in 2021, a 54% increase year-over-year and its most-watched season yet.The 2021 season finale at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on ESPN2 averaged 963,000 viewers, compared to an average of 523,000 viewers for last year’s finale.The most-watched race came in October at the U.S. Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, which averaged 1.2 million viewers on ABC.In June, the racing series announced a five-year, $100 million global partnership with Crypto.com. A Season That’s Paid Off

Liberty Media — which also owns the Atlanta Braves and SiriusXM — posted $2.2 billion in revenue in Q3 2021, up 9% year-over-year.

Its F1 segment generated $668 million in revenue during the quarter, up from $597 million in Q3 2020.

The 2022 F1 season is slated to run from March 20 through Nov. 20 and will include a record 23 races, beginning with the Bahrain Grand Prix and another season finale in Abu Dhabi.

How Lemieux Turned a 1999 Salary Deal Into $350M

Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports/Design: Alex Brooks

Mario Lemieux was a human highlight reel for much of the 1990s, but his best move may have come off the ice.

As part-owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Lemieux will receive [[link removed]] over $350 million from the team’s sale to Fenway Sports Group for around $900 million. In doing so, he is profiting from negotiations over his player salary from 1999.

The Penguins declared bankruptcy in 1998, citing [[link removed]] losses of $37.5 million over the previous two seasons and deferred payments still owed to certain players, namely Lemieux.Lemieux signed a seven-year, $42 million contract in 1992. He agreed to deferred payments to help the team through a difficult financial period caused in part by a lockout at the start of the 1994-95 season.Still owed $26 million in 1999, Lemieux and the team struck a deal in which he received $20 million in equity and became part of a new ownership group. Playing The Long Game

Lemieux purchased the team with Ron Burkle for $107 million, charting a course to pay off [[link removed]] the team’s debt of $114 million.

Lemieux and Burkle nearly cashed out for $175 million in 2006 in a deal with businessman Jim Balsillie, but he walked away when the Penguins missed out on being awarded a casino license.

Lemieux will now pocket twice that amount while retaining a minority stake in the team.

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The Rumor: A Show About Baseball and Conspiracy

A seemingly innocuous conversation at a birthday party starts Sam and Mac down a long and winding road [[link removed]] of rumors, conspiracy theories, and legends, all connected to a mysterious power outage in 1997.

Along the way, they meet a shock jock, a disgraced journalist, and a very creaky mailbox. By the time they pause to consider how far they want to travel down this treacherous path, they realize it’s too late to turn back.

The entire season of The Rumor is now available. Binge now [[link removed]]!

Premier League Clamps Down on ‘Associated Party’ Transactions

Premier League/Design: Alex Brooks

New regulations from the Premier League will require clubs to submit any sponsorship deal worth more than $1.3 million to the league to determine if it’s an “associated party” transaction.

If the league suspects that a deal is involved with an “associated party” — defined as “having material influence over the club or entity in the same group of companies as the club” — then an independent firm will decide [[link removed]] if the deal is of fair market value.

Clubs will be required [[link removed]] to submit their sponsorship deals dating back to 2016 by Jan. 11. Manchester City and Newcastle United both voiced their opposition to the new regulations.

Newcastle’s Influence

The league’s decision follows the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund’s $409 million deal [[link removed]] for an 80% stake in Newcastle United.

Despite criticism from other clubs concerning government crossover and human rights abuses, the league ruled that the Saudi Arabia PIF is separate from the Saudi Kingdom. The PIF, which manages over $430 billion in assets, is led by Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.

In an emergency meeting in October, clubs voted to block Newcastle from other “lucrative” deals. A temporary amendment was passed that month banning other related party transactions.

In November, Premier League chair Gary Hoffman announced he would resign in January, partially due to ongoing scrutiny.

Mickelson Wins $40M Player Impact Program

Allan Henry-USA TODAY Sports/Design: Alex Brooks

The PGA Tour launched the $40 million Player Impact Program this year in an effort to reward the top 10 golfers who drive fan and sponsorship engagement, regardless of PGA Tour performance.

The very first winner? Phil Mickelson — at least according to his tweet [[link removed]]. The PGA Tour plans to reveal the final results at the end of the year.

As part of the Player Impact Program, $40 million is distributed [[link removed]] between the 10 players who are chosen based on their Google search popularity, Meltwater mentions (global media exposure), MPV Index (social media reach), Nielsen score, and Q-score.

Some reports suggest [[link removed]] the program was made in response to the Premier Golf League, which is funded by the Saudi Arabian regime and looking to recruit top golfers away from the PGA Tour with large prize money.

Mickelson’s Popularity

This year, “Lefty” won [[link removed]] his sixth career major title at age 50 and four of six starts on the Champions Tour while making a number of other [[link removed]] appearances along the way.

Played in “The Match” against Bryson DeChambeau, Aaron Rodgers, and Tom BradyJoined as an analyst for DeChambeau’s match against Brooks KoepkaServed as non-playing vice captain on the winning U.S. Ryder Cup team

The win will grant Mickelson $8 million pending participation in an extra event in 2022. Tiger Woods reportedly came in second, winning $6 million. The other winners aren’t yet known.

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Give Crypto for a Holiday Slam Dunk

‘Tis the season of (crypto) giving.

Your friends and family deserve a gift that will set them up for the future, and Coinbase [[link removed]] is here to help.

Now you can send personalized crypto gifts [[link removed]] of any amount to anyone, and each gift also comes delivered in a digital card featuring unique artwork from an up-and-coming artist.

The future of gifting is here. Click here [[link removed]] to learn how to win the holidays now.

Conversation Starters The Winter Classic between the Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues will go on as scheduled [[link removed]] on Saturday despite below-zero weather forecasts at Target Field. Germany’s ministers for foreign affairs and sports announced they will not attend [[link removed]] the Beijing Olympics in February in solidarity with European allies over a diplomatic boycott. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said [[link removed]] in a press release that Andrew Murstein, co-owner of the Richard Petty Motorsports NASCAR team and president of the Medallion Financial Corporation, has been charged with tax fraud. Now that Kyrie Irving is cleared to practice and finally reunite with Kevin Durant and James Harden, the Nets can sleep easy knowing their Big Three will soon [[link removed]] play together for the first time since June. Click here [[link removed]] to subscribe to Sports Section, a free daily newsletter. Today's Action

NHL

01:08 PM

Oilers (-150) at Devils (+130)

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NCAA

07:30 PM

Georgia (-305) at Michigan (+240)

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NBA

09:10 PM

Timberwolves (+410) at Jazz (-575)

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*All times are EST unless otherwise noted.

*Odds/lines subject to change. T&Cs apply. See [[link removed]] for details.

Question Of The Day

Did you watch any Formula 1 races this season?

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

Thursday’s Answer

67% of respondents think Apple has more potential than Meta in the fitness space.

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

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Front Office Sports Insights [[link removed]] - The most promising opportunities where sports meets industry

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