At Disney’s upfront on Tuesday, CEO Bob Chapek said the entertainment conglomerate is “the most powerful force in the industry.”

Part of that distinction is due to a serious investment in sports that only gets stronger. Highlights from the presentation included: 

• Disney secured a deal with the XFL to air 43 games each season from 2023 through 2027.
• Disney will have the Super Bowl return to ABC in 2027 and 2031.
• It extended its deal with Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions to air the ManningCast.
• ESPN is set to air roughly 35% more NFL games in 2023. 

Disney is also prioritizing its streaming services. ESPN+ reported 22.3 million subscribers in fiscal Q2, up 1 million year-over-year, while Disney+ beat forecasts with 137.7 million subscribers during the quarter, up from a projected 135 million. 

Disney+ is looking to attract even more subscribers with plans to launch a low-cost subscription plan — which will include advertisements — later this year. Earlier this week, Disney confirmed it will limit ad breaks on the service to just four minutes per hour.

Golden Ticket 

Disney could grow even more as it continues to do business with America’s most popular professional sports league. Chapek confirmed in February that Disney plans to bid on media rights to “NFL Sunday Ticket.” A deal for the rights could fetch $2.5 billion per season.

DirectTV currently holds rights to the out-of-market programming package through 2023.

On Running reported record first-quarter earnings on Tuesday, posting a 67.9% increase in revenue to $237.3 million, far exceeding analysts’ estimates of $167.8 million.

Net income reached roughly $14.4 million.

Co-CEO and CFO Martin Hoffmann said On was able to ship more products than expected — over 1 million pairs of shoes were shipped in March, the first time the company has reached that milestone in a month.

Hoffmann added that On was still affected by the transitory supply shortage, but the quarter also marked On’s biggest product launch: the Cloud 5, which is made with 44% of recycled content.

• On’s shoes revenue grew 69% to $224.1 million.
• Apparel revenue increased 44.9% to $11.5 million.
• Accessories revenue jumped 111.8% to $1.8 million.

On The Future

With help from the company’s product launches, feedback from retail channels, and strength of the supply chain, On raised its full-year guidance to meet or exceed $1 billion — 44% year-over-year growth. 

During the quarter, On also revealed a new cushioning technology called Cloudtec Phase that will launch spring of next year.

In the second half of 2022, On plans to expand its presence in Latin America, introducing Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Peru, and Uruguay as distributor markets.

Barcelona is reportedly making major moves to dig itself out of the $1.57 billion in debt it revealed last year — and the fact that it was technically bankrupt, according to Deloitte.

The club hopes to use new funds for signings — and to help its balance sheet at the end of June, according to Forbes. The roughly $420 million it’s seeking would come from two deals:

• The club is looking to offer up 49% of Barca Licensing and Merchandising to Fanatics and Investindustrial, per 2Playbook. The funds would be distributed throughout a decade-long period.
• The team is also auctioning off 49% of Barca Studios, per Mundo Deportivo. Barcelona has been looking to sell part of Barca Studios since at least October of 2021.

Additional Financial Boons

In March, Barca signed a reportedly lucrative partnership with Spotify that included naming rights for Camp Nou and kit sponsorships.

And last year, members voted for a $1.69 billion renovation plan for Camp Nou, which the club estimates will eventually pay out $225.7 million in revenue each year. 

Previously, Goldman Sachs lent the team $605 million. 

However, Barca still hasn’t agreed to a cash infusion from the deal between La Liga and CVC Capital.

Public funding for sports facilities is often controversial, but recent months have seen an atypical way for tax dollars to reach sports venues.

The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act tagged $195 billion for state and local governments in anticipation of tax revenue shortages. However, many states boasted large increases in tax revenues in 2021, allowing them to use the federal funds for a wide range of projects.

• North Carolina allocated $40 million to make infrastructure improvements to three race tracks, two of which, North Wilkesboro Speedway and Rockingham Speedway, formerly held NASCAR races.
• Arizona apportioned $7.2 million to help improve prizes at various horse racing venues.

A spokesperson for Arizona’s Department of Gaming, Maxwell Hartgraves, made the case for the spending, saying that, “high purses ensure high-quality races and full race cards that bettors in Arizona and around the country can engage through live and simulcast betting.”

Some city governments have used federal funds for public facilities such as skate parks and pickleball courts.

Racing History

The North Wilkesboro Speedway hosted NASCAR races from 1949 to 1996, but has been dormant since then. The track announced last November that it will reopen this year, with races scheduled for August and October.

The Rockingham track, which has hosted the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, among other events, announced it would be repaved in December.