April 26, 2022

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South Carolina’s Aliyah Boston is signing with Under Armour, with plans to advance women’s basketball. The Naismith Player of the Year will unveil the UA Breakthru 3 shoe this fall.

Sports Boost TelevisaUnivision in $1B Quarter

Univision PR

Televisa and Univision, who closed the $4.8 billion merger of their content businesses in January, recorded $1 billion in Q1 revenue on a pro forma basis — up from $896 million the year prior — in their first earnings report as TelevisaUnivision.

The separate entities had strong ties before they became [[link removed]] the largest Spanish-language media company in the world, merging their sports divisions in 2019.

Operating expenses for the quarter grew 16% year-over-year to $608 million due to investments across the company, including its streaming business and increases in sports, entertainment, and news programming costs. Advertising revenue increased 12% to $569 million, while subscription and licensing revenue jumped 14.3% to $407 million.

TelevisaUnivision made a couple of other milestones during the quarter.

TelevisaUnivision was the No. 2-rated network on all of TV in the U.S. for the first time ever in February.It launched its new streaming service, ViX AVOD, in the U.S., Mexico, and most of Spanish-speaking Latin America, with plans to launch a premium subscription platform later this year. Sports Sell

The self-proclaimed “Home of Soccer” continues to score with sports — TUDN is the No. 1 Spanish-language sports network in the U.S. and Mexico.

In roughly the last year, Televisa entered a $560 million, eight-year deal [[link removed]] with La Liga, while Univision signed a five-year deal [[link removed]] with Combate Americas. Univision already had coverage of Copa America, Copa MX, and Liga MX, as well as partnerships with NFL and MLB teams.

Phil Mickelson Seeks Release to Join Rival Tour

Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports

Phil Mickelson could compete in both the PGA Tour’s flagship events and the inaugural tournament of the Saudi-backed breakaway LIV Golf league, if granted permission.

Mickelson requested [[link removed]] a release from the PGA Tour to play in LIV Golf’s event in June at the Centurion Club near London. He also signed up for the PGA Championship and the U.S. Open.

Sergio Garcia, Robert Garrigus, and up to 20 others, possibly including 15th-ranked Louis Oosthuizen, have reportedly requested [[link removed]] releases for the tournament, which carries a $25 million purse.

The requests present the climax of the drama stirred by Mickelson’s support for LIV Golf.

After initially threatening lifetime bans, the PGA Tour shifted to grant conditional waivers to LIV’s tournaments.Reports from earlier this month stated [[link removed]] that Bubba Watson, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, and Kevin Na were set to join LIV.LIV’s June event conflicts with the PGA Tour’s Canadian Open, which has an $8.7 million purse.

LIV’s schedule includes five U.S. tournaments, plus one each in Bangkok and Jeddah, with prize purses totaling over $250 million.

Lefty’s Turn

Mickelson turned heads in February after the release of an interview with author Alan Shipnuck in which he stated plainly that he was aware of Saudi Arabia’s poor human rights record, but saw the breakaway league as a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape how the PGA Tour operates.”

Mickelson’s comments led sponsors including Heineken-owned Amstel Light, KPMG, and Workday to break ties with the golfer. Callaway “paused” its partnership with Mickelson.

SPONSORED BY ATTEST

Should Banks Offer Crypto?

As cryptocurrencies continue to make waves around the world, is it time for traditional banks and financial institutions to offer customers greater access to crypto [[link removed]] features and services?

To find out if consumers have the appetite for this — and if not, why not? — Attest [[link removed]] asked a nationally representative sample of 1,000 Americans for their views on banks offering crypto options.

Their findings show that nearly half (49%) of people would at least consider switching to a bank that offers crypto products, but lack of knowledge and trust are still key reasons people aren’t yet ready to invest in crypto.

Head over to the Attest dashboard, where you can see the full results [[link removed]] from this research, break it down with the demographic filters and run significance tests to check for headline differences.

County Insists On Benefits for $250M in Bills Stadium Funding

Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports

Though the New York legislature has agreed to a funding package for a new Buffalo Bills stadium, Erie County is still negotiating.

County lawmakers are seeking [[link removed]] a community benefits package from Bills owners Kim and Terry Pegula. Among the key issues that legislators and community groups want addressed:

Transportation access to the stadiumJob opportunitiesYouth development

“That’s a non-negotiable for myself and my vote,” said Erie County chair April Baskin.

The county legislature is expected to vote on a nonbinding memorandum of understanding in the coming weeks and to have the entire process wrapped up by Sept. 1.

Under the deal with the team, Erie County will chip in $250 million for the new stadium, on top of $600 million from the state. NFL owners are providing a $200 million loan, which the Pegulas must at least match. The team will repay the loan through visiting team ticket revenue.

Sinking Approval

A new Siena poll conducted April 18-21 found [[link removed]] that 63% of New Yorkers oppose the state providing $600 million for the stadium, with 24% in favor. Those results are similar but more pronounced than one released March 30, which saw the deal opposed [[link removed]] 55% to 22%.

The same Siena poll found that Gov. Kathy Hochul, who orchestrated the stadium deal, saw her job performance rating drop to 36%, with voters citing a host of issues.

Conversation Starters In The Leadoff, the bank overseeing the sale of Chelsea FC is expected to identify a preferred bidder this week, Ubisoft is receiving buyout interest, Inter Miami CF defends its proposed stadium project, and the $320 million sale of Angel Stadium is clear to proceed. Click here to listen [[link removed]]. Former NBA Player JR Smith was named [[link removed]] North Carolina A&T’s Academic Athlete of the Year thanks to his 4.0 GPA in the 2021-22 school year. Smith enrolled at NC A&T last year after retiring from the NBA in 2020. Georgia defensive end Travon Walker has gone from a long shot to the projected [[link removed]] No. 1 pick by the Jacksonville Jaguars when the NFL Draft begins Thursday in Las Vegas. The 6-5, 272-pounder’s stock shot up at the combine, where he ran a 40-yard dash in 4.51 seconds. On Monday, the Brooklyn Nets became the latest superteam [[link removed]] to start their summer vacation early. Brooklyn’s plan to trade draft picks for three stars — Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and Ben Simmons — and pay them a combined 63% of the payroll resulted in a first-round sweep at the hands of the Boston Celtics. Subscribe to Scoreboard for more [[link removed]].

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Making the Most of Every Opportunity

At 5’7”, Andrew “Hawk” Hawkins’ 7-year NFL career was as improbable as his post-NFL successes in media, business and entertainment.

If you ask him, he’d tell you it was all part of the plan. From the moment he achieved his dream of playing in the NFL, he’s been thinking about and working toward his second act [[link removed]].

His main focus these days is StatusPRO, which he co-founded with college teammate Troy Jones. Backed by some of the biggest names in sports and entertainment, the sports tech company combines player data, AR, and VR to create a revolutionary suite of training and gaming products.

Check out the latest episode [[link removed]] of Second Acts, presented by Fidelity [[link removed]], to learn more about Hawk’s impressive post-playing career.

Market Movers

U.S. stocks experienced declines across all three major indexes on Tuesday. Here’s a look at how sports-related stocks performed:

RCI [[link removed]]

Rogers Communications Inc.

[[link removed]]

$56.46

[[link removed]]

-0.95%

[[link removed]] VFC [[link removed]]

VF Corp.

[[link removed]]

$52.42

[[link removed]]

-3.11%

[[link removed]] LYV [[link removed]]

Live Nation Entertainment Inc

[[link removed]]

$107.70

[[link removed]]

-3.91%

[[link removed]] DIS [[link removed]]

Walt Disney Co (The)

[[link removed]]

$114.47

[[link removed]]

-4.16%

[[link removed]] NKE [[link removed]]

Nike, Inc.

[[link removed]]

$120.00

[[link removed]]

-5.75%

[[link removed]] (Note: All as of market close on 4/26/22) What to Watch

The Minnesota Timberwolves face the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday at FedExForum. The Eastern Conference first-round playoff series is tied at 2-2.

How to Watch: 7:30 p.m. ET on TNT

Betting Odds: Grizzlies -6 || ML -255 || O/U 231.5

Pick: Expect the Grizzlies to bounce back from Saturday’s loss. Take Memphis to cover.

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

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