With its latest deal, the NFL can raise a glass to another milestone.

A pact with California winemaker E. & J. Gallo has the league nearing $2 billion in sponsorship deals for the first time. The brand becomes the NFL’s official wine sponsor and will have exclusive pouring rights at major events including the Super Bowl and Pro Bowl. 

“The partnership is uniquely structured to engage NFL fans and will include opportunities for local team activation, player imagery and appearances, on-site presence at premiere events, and broadcast, digital, and social content,” the league noted.

The deal means that every item at the NFL bar is spoken for, with Anheuser-Busch retaining beer rights and Diageo covering hard alcohol. Last year’s Diageo deal, worth a reported $30 million annually, made the company the NFL’s first hard alcohol sponsor.

Major Milestone

The NFL is now on course to pass $2 billion in sponsorships for the first time.

• The league hit a record $1.8 billion in deals last year.
• It had $1.6 billion in 2020.

Tech companies contributed the largest chunk in 2021, followed by gambling and alcohol companies. Verizon’s deal with the NFL has reached as high as $300 million per year.

Netflix isn’t the only company looking to Formula 1 to make a move in live sports broadcasting. 

China Telecom is closing in on local digital rights for Formula 1, per SportBusiness. Should a deal be finalized, it would represent a significant expansion for the telecommunications giant, which hasn’t been a major player in sports broadcasting.

• Last year, 70.8 million people in China watched at least one F1 race.
• That figure was the highest among all countries and represented a 13% year-over-year increase.
• Globally, F1 had 445 million unique viewers in 2021. 

China Telecom was spun off onto the Hong Kong stock exchange by state-owned China Telecommunications Corporation in 2002. It had 121 million subscribers on its Internet Protocol television platform at the end of last year, along with 372.4 million mobile subscribers and 170 million broadband users.

It has a market capitalization of $50.3 billion.

State of the States

F1’s growth in the U.S. has spurred American companies to more than double their presence through sponsorships and partnerships, according to Williams Racing’s commercial director James Bower, who said that U.S. companies have increased from 45 to 108 since 2015.

“Formula 1 is undeniably the most data-driven sport on the planet, so we’re seeing this huge influx of tech companies, particularly from North America,” said Bower.

The Big Ten is nearing a record set of media deals expected to top $1 billion annually.

Fox Sports has a deal in place to remain the college conference’s largest media partner — but how big a piece of the pie and who else will get a slice have yet to be determined, per Sports Business Journal.

• The Big Ten currently partners with Fox, Disney-owned ABC and ESPN, and CBS.
• Disney, NBC, CBS, and Amazon are all vying for a part of the conference’s next media package.
• Warner Bros. Discovery and Apple are both involved in discussions with the conference but are considered long shots for now.

A new deal would begin in the fall of next year. The conference currently distributes $54 million to each of its schools.

Conference Realignment

CBS will lose SEC football rights to Disney in Fall 2024, creating a gap it could potentially fill with the Big Ten. ESPN and ABC are hoping to retain the Big Ten but may face an overcrowded schedule.

Amazon and Apple, both of which have been seeking sports rights to bolster their streaming services, represent a new variable in the talks.

The Big Ten negotiations could set the stage for other Power 5 conferences. The Pac-12 and Big 12, both of which currently partner with Fox and ESPN, will be seeking new deals when their respective contracts expire after the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons.

Software and venture firm Animoca Brands generated $573 million in revenue over the first four months of 2022. 

The results for the investor in NBA Top Shot and Fan Controlled Football were driven by its diverse portfolio of investments and the sale of NFTs, including those on the secondary market. 

• Animoca Brands holds digital assets reserves of roughly $4.2 billion.
• The company had a cash balance of $98 million for the first four months of 2022.
• Over the past seven months, Animoca Brands has generated $721 million in revenue. 

Animoca Brands also announced a series of acquisitions during the four-month period. 

In February, the company acquired indie game developer Grease Monkey Games. Two months later, it agreed to purchase 70% of Paris-based game developer Darewise Entertainment, which included “Need for Speed” developer Eden Games after Darewise purchased the racing game studio in the same month.

Big Boost 

Animoca Brands, which has more than 340 investments totaling over $1.5 billion, raised $360 million in new funding in January, valuing the Hong Kong-based company at $5.4 billion. 

To date, Animoca Brands has raised roughly $700 million in total capital.

Animoca Brands could be closing in on another financial boost from private equity firm KKR & Co. The firm is in talks to lift Animoca’s latest funding round from $360 million to $500 million.