Fox has garnered strong demand — and according to CEO Lachlan Murdoch, a torrid sales pace — for advertising across its NFL offerings ahead of its Super Bowl LVII broadcast.

“We sold more NFL Sunday advertising in the current upfront market than we did across Sunday and Thursday combined in the prior year’s market,” said Murdoch. “This excludes ad commitments for the upcoming Super Bowl, where we are pacing well ahead of schedule.”

• Fox has seen 2022-23 ad commitments grow 15% compared to last year’s upfront.
• The company sold 80% of ad inventory in its upfront, up from about 70% last year.
• It began selling ads for Super Bowl LVII 18 months before its Feb. 12, 2023 broadcast.
• Super Bowl LVI saw NBC Sports pocket as much as $6.5 million for 30-second spots. 

In November 2019 — before Super Bowl LIV — Fox sold 78% of its in-game ad inventory, and by the next month, sold out all 77 commercial in-game ad spots.

Stiff Competition

Fox will see a new group of alcohol ads for Super Bowl LVI after Anheuser-Busch decided not to renew its exclusivity deal in June, allowing other alcohol brands to advertise during the Big Game for the first time since 1989.

Anheuser-Busch — the owner of Budweiser, Bud Light, and Michelob Ultra — still plans to advertise, but will now do so alongside its competitors.

The company will keep close ties with the NFL after renewing its deal with the league in December 2021 for $250 million annually.

In the same Vogue feature where Serena Williams announced her possible retirement after the U.S. Open, the tennis star said she’ll continue to prioritize investment in women-owned businesses. 

Days later, the 23-time Grand Slam champion is already holding true to her promise.

Williams’ venture fund, Serena Ventures, led a $5 million funding round in Selena Gomez’s Wondermind, valuing the mental health startup at $100 million.

• Wondermind promotes mental fitness routines to maintain mental health, currently offering social media channels and a newsletter. 
• The company is working on building a production division for mental health content and physical products with behavioral therapies.

Williams, who has discussed anxiety and postpartum emotions publicly, will help Wondermind with content and brand promotion. Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital, and former Allergan CEO Brent Saunders also took part in the round.

The mental health sector reached $5.5 billion last year, more than doubling its worth from 2020, according to CB Insights.

Serena Ventures’ Victories

Williams’ fund has already invested in over 60 companies including MasterClass, Tonal, and Impossible Foods, and 16 of those are valued at more than $1 billion. She is also a part-owner of the NWSL’s Angel City FC and NFL’s Miami Dolphins. 

“We’re obviously going to do more, and be a fund that does raise a billion dollars eventually,” Williams said. “One thing I’m good at is building a career.”

Forbes estimates Williams’ net worth at $260 million.

Former Manchester United director Michael Knighton is preparing an offer for the Premier League club. 

The bid is considered “hostile” because the team isn’t for sale, but the same term applies to Knighton’s feelings for owners the Glazer family, who also own the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

“We have an inept and quite frankly useless ownership,” Knighton told Man Utd The Religion. 

• Knighton said he’s secured commitments from people with “good finance” and is “working on the offer document.”
• Despite a home loss to Brighton in its season opener, Man United’s stock leapt 12% on Wednesday following the interview. The team now has a market cap of $2 billion.
• The team is down 11% since hitting the public market in a 2012 IPO.

Knighton joined Man U’s board in 1989 after attempting to buy the team for $24.4 million, stepping down after purchasing Carlisle in 1992. The Glazers bought it in 2005 for $965.4 million.

Team Sharing

In October 2021, brothers Kevin and Edward Glazer put $186 million in shares of the team on the New York Stock Exchange, while their brother Avram sold $97 million in shares the previous March.

The Glazers offered shares with voting rights to fans in June 2021, following uproar over the attempted European Super League.

Knighton called the offer a “sop to fans,” claiming he would offer at least 25.1% shares to fans and ensure that this bloc could derail initiatives such as the Super League or relocation from Old Trafford.