January 12, 2021

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In the final regular-season game of the NFL season, Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson booted a game-winning field goal in OT to secure a playoff spot for Las Vegas — and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Now, Steelers Nation is showing its gratitude by piling up donations to Carlson’s favorite charities.

NFL Buys Back Into Events Company

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports/Design: Alex Brooks

The NFL has more to gain from the Super Bowl than ticket sales and broadcast deals as it increasingly invests in the hospitality business surrounding its major events.

Last month, league owners reportedly voted [[link removed]] to grow its stake in On Location Events from 13.5% to nearly 45%.

The Endeavor-owned company packages tickets, hotels, and other offerings for the Super Bowl, Pro Bowl, Olympic and Paralympic Games, Rose Bowl, the NCAA Final Four, and tennis’ Grand Slam events.

On Location’s Super Bowl bundles start at $5,950. Pro Bowl packages have a minimum price of $2,020.The NFL licenses 9,500 Super Bowl tickets to the company.

The NFL is exercising call options that reportedly value On Location at $482 million, based on a previous deal.

The On Location Shuffle

Launched in 2004, the events company was originally a division of the NFL. In 2015, it was taken over [[link removed]] by a private equity consortium of RedBird Capital Partners, Bruin Sports Capital, the Carlyle Group, and the NFL’s investment arm 32 Equity.

Endeavor took a majority stake in the company in 2020 at a valuation of $660 million. The company paid $366.4 million in cash and acquired debt.

With its renewed investment, the NFL is buying back into the company it spun off seven years ago.

Peloton Steps Deeper Into Footwear

Peloton/Design: Alex Brooks

Peloton is expanding its footprint — literally. The fitness company known for its at-home treadmills and bikes unveiled its second pair of cycling shoes today.

The Altos, which retail for $145, are designed [[link removed]] specifically for the Peloton Bike and Bike+, adding to Peloton’s growing list of products.

In the past few months, the company has added shadowboxing classes [[link removed]] to its offerings, unveiled [[link removed]] the $495 Peloton Guide — a device that connects to a TV with guided strength-training exercises — and began offering classes [[link removed]] on Delta Air Lines.

Multiple reports suggest Peloton is working on a rowing machine, too.

Peloton’s Struggles

Despite its new products, Peloton has had its fair share of troubles recently.

For 2021, Peloton’s Google Search trends showed a 30% drop [[link removed]] year-over-year [[link removed]]in the U.S.Searches for “cancel Peloton subscription” rose 809% after a character died following a Peloton workout in the premiere of “And Just Like That” on Dec. 9.In response, Peloton released an ad including the character, but it was taken down after claims [[link removed]] of sexual assault were made against the actor.In November, Peloton filed [[link removed]] lawsuits against Echelon and iFit over alleged patent infringement.

The new cycling shoes should add to Peloton’s revenue [[link removed]], which grew 6% to $805.2 million in Q1.

SPONSORED BY ATHLETIC GREENS

Make Routines, Not Resolutions

January gets all of the glory, but what about February and those other 10 months?

Imagine a health routine where you’re showing up to empower your life by supporting your immune system, gut health, and energy year-round.

That’s where AG1 by Athletic Greens [[link removed]] comes in – the daily habit that provides your body with everything it needs, in just one scoop.

AG1 simplifies your health routine with a comprehensive blend of 75 vitamins, minerals and whole food-sourced ingredients, including probiotics and hard-to-source greens that help fill the gaps in your diet…and it tastes great!

Take care of your nutritional foundation today with a one-year supply of Vitamin D and 5 free travel packs [[link removed]]with your first purchase.

Learfield, U.S. Integrity Form College Sports Betting Watchdog

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports/Design: Alex Brooks

As the sports betting industry’s foothold in college sports grows, so do concerns about corrupt gambling. One major college sports company has created a product to help police it.

On Tuesday, Learfield announced a partnership with U.S. Integrity, a responsible sports wagering watchdog, to create a product to assist athletic departments with betting “monitoring, education, and advisory services.”

A few athletic departments have launched initiatives to support responsible betting. But Learfield’s program provides arguably the first major responsible gambling supervisor in the college sports space since betting operators first entered the industry.

The program, called BetDetect, will offer athletic departments a way to conduct “integrity monitoring.”It will use data analysis to find “potentially suspicious wagering activity and irregular contest-level patterns.”U.S. Integrity has already worked with the Pac-12 and SEC.

“Schools want to avoid game manipulation, match-fixing, and other potentially nefarious behavior,” said Matthew Holt, CEO and co-founder of U.S. Integrity.

Bring On the Bets

Betting on Power 5 sports has become an industry worth $11 billion annually, according to U.S. Integrity data. This year’s College Football Playoff drew about $500 million worth of bets alone.

Sports wagering profits are flowing directly to schools, too, through department-wide sponsorship deals with betting operators — LSU and Colorado have already signed them.

Partnerships are even possible in the NIL [[link removed]] space.

Crypto Group Raises $11M to Wade Into Golf Industry

LinksDAO/Design: Alex Brooks

LinksDao aims to go beyond the world of crypto.

The decentralized autonomous organization’s founders are “creating a modern golf and leisure club” through the sale of NFTs and the eventual purchase of an actual golf course, according [[link removed]] to LinksDao’s website.

The organization’s idea appears both popular and lucrative. In one day, LinksDao sold about 9,000 membership NFTs worth a total of about $11 million, per [[link removed]] Golf.com.

The NFTs “allow for community access, governance, a wide variety of perks, and games in the near term,” and are “the key” to membership at the future golf course, the website says.The company will reportedly use the funds to purchase the golf course.

To jump in now, potential buyers could look for one of the NFTs on the secondary market.

Finding a Home

It’s still unclear which golf course LinksDao will target — and how the group will work out several other logistics — but it appears many are interested in solving these issues.

The group currently has a Discord channel to choose a golf course that the company hopes to purchase and open by early 2023. The channel has more than 12,000 members, according [[link removed]] to CoinDesk.

“There are obviously still a lot of uncertainties,” LinksDAO founder Mike Dudas told Golf.com. “But this is how startups work. People just usually aren’t privy to this much detail this early on.”

SPONSORED BY OPENDORSE

How Brands are Getting Into the NIL Game

It’s been six months since the NCAA passed the new policy allowing college athletes to profit off their name, image, and likeness ( NIL [[link removed]]). Since then, there have been hundreds of thousands of NIL deals between brands and college athletes around the country.

Learn how brands like Degree, Gopuff, Pepsi, Foot Locker, Nike, SoFi and others have capitalized on NIL and the value of college athletes.

Download [[link removed]] the white paper today to learn the key takeaways of these NIL deals and best practices on how to leverage NIL in 2022 and beyond.

Conversation Starters The Wall Street Journal reported [[link removed]] that Microsoft’s augmented reality team has lost roughly 100 workers in the last year — with many going to Meta Platforms, which has several fitness-related products in the works. Digital sports media company Playmaker has acquired [[link removed]] Cracks, YouTube’s largest Spanish-language sports news channel. The Denver Broncos can now legally be sold following a judge’s ruling [[link removed]] that the right of first refusal, which ROFR Holdings — part-owned by former Broncos owner Edgar Kaiser’s estate — claimed it held, is no longer valid. Rated the No. 1 Sport Management program in California, USF has been a leader in educating industry professionals for more than 30 years. Now accepting applications for admission in Summer 2022! Read more [[link removed]] on the program degree and alumni experiences.*

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Today's Action

NHL

10:08 PM

Maple Leafs (-320) at Coyotes (+265)

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NBA

07:08 PM

Celtics (-155) at Pacers (+135)

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NHL

08:38 PM

Kraken (+170) at Stars (-200)

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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

Do you personally interact with or hire freelancers at work?

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

Tuesday’s Answer

35% of respondents plan to buy or lease a car in the next 12 months.

Written by Owen Poindexter [[link removed]], Abigail Gentrup [[link removed]], Amanda Christovich [[link removed]]

MORE FROM FOS:

Sports Section [[link removed]] - Daily Sports Newsletter

The Leadoff [[link removed]] - Daily Business of Sports Podcast

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

*If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2357)(IL). Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ/WV/PA/MI), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (CO), 1-800-BETS OFF (IA), 1-888-532-3500 (VA) or call/text TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN). 21+. NJ/PA/WV/IN/IA/CO/IL/TN/MI/VA only. Odds and lines subject to change. Eligibility restrictions apply.” See [[link removed]] for details.

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