September 6, 2022

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Expansion is the name of the game in today’s Leadoff: The College Football Playoff triples in size, Lululemon posts impressive growth across the board, NFL broadcasters are charging record prices for ad space, and the NWSL hypes its best-attended match ever. Click here to listen [[link removed]]. 🎧

La Liga Expansion Plan Looks to Generate $3B in Revenue [[link removed]]

La Liga

La Liga is seeking to replicate its success in North America in some of the most densely populated areas of the world.

The top-flight Spanish soccer league struck [[link removed]] a 15-year agreement with Dubai-based esports and gaming company Galaxy Racer to grow the league’s presence and popularity in North Africa, the Middle East, and the Indian subcontinent.

La Liga expects the pact to bring in $2.97 billion in revenue over the life of the contract.The 50-50 joint venture aims to grow La Liga’s popularity and engagement in the regions and will act as the league’s broadcast and media rights agency.La Liga said the areas collectively have more than 1.3 billion people under 30 — a key target demographic for the league.

Sports streamer DAZN announced Tuesday that it secured exclusive broadcast rights for Spanish women’s soccer’s La Liga Profesional de Fútbol Femenino in a five-year deal beginning with 2022-23.

The North America Blueprint

In 2018, the league launched [[link removed]] La Liga North America, a 50-50 joint venture with Relevent Sports Group.

Last year, the venture landed the league’s two largest international media deals: an eight-year, $1.4 billion deal for U.S. rights with ESPN and a $560 million deal of the same length for Mexican and Central American rights with Televisa’s Sky Sports.

Many leagues are “reaching a ceiling in their growth at the domestic level, on the revenue side, and definitely on the TV rights side,” La Liga North America CEO Boris Gartner told Front Office Sports.

AFL Strikes Historic $3.05B Media Rights Deal [[link removed]]

AFL

The Australian Football League announced Tuesday that it struck the biggest sports broadcast agreement in the country’s history.

Seven Network, Foxtel, and Telstra extended [[link removed]] their agreements with the league from 2025 to 2031 in a deal worth $3.05 billion, totaling around $436 million per season. The AFL’s current deal — which was revised [[link removed]] and extended in 2020 — runs until the end of the 2024 campaign and is worth roughly $320 million per season.

The rights drew interest from several other media giants.

Nine Entertainment and streaming partner Stan Sport reportedly made an offer worth $339 million annually.Paramount’s Network Ten and streaming service Paramount+ reportedly submitted a joint bid for the league.

Owned by News Corp. and Telstra, Foxtel has held broadcasting rights to the AFL with Seven since 2011. Telstra will resume its live match access through the AFL Live app and retain highlight, replay, and on-demand rights.

Outlets reported last month that the AFL had considered moving free-to-air matches to give Foxtel more exclusivity, but Australia’s communications minister Michelle Rowland encouraged [[link removed]] the league to “ensure there is no diminution in the availability of AFL matches.”

AFL Alterations

AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan said the media agreement “contemplates” a 19-team competition — Tasmania bid to join the league, with the AFL reportedly [[link removed]] pushing its government to build a multipurpose stadium.

League executives will now likely turn their attention to the AFL Players’ Association, whose collective bargaining agreement expires this year.

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British Sportswear Company Valued at $864M [[link removed]]

Castore

British sportswear brand Castore has raised $57.6 million, valuing the company at $864 million.

Backed by three-time Grand Slam winner Andy Murray and Pure Gym co-founders Peter Roberts and Brian Scurrah, Castore will use the funding round to improve its financial flexibility as it provides the company with more liquidity while maturing committed debt facilities.

Castore has raised [[link removed]] the capital through a revolving credit facility, which has an initial maturity of three years.Banks HSBC, BNP Paribas, and Silicon Valley Bank are all part of the RCF.Castore has an option to extend the RCF by an additional year to $86.4 million.

Castore, which has 11 brick-and-mortar stores across the U.K., has established a presence in the sportswear industry through kit sponsorship deals in soccer, rugby, cricket, and Formula 1.

Last year, Castore secured a multiyear kit deal [[link removed]] with the Premier League’s Wolverhampton FC for an undisclosed amount and with Newcastle United in a deal worth $6.9 million annually.

In May, it signed a deal with Aston Villa to be its kit supplier starting from the 2022-23 season.

Castore is the team kit provider for F1’s McLaren Racing and it also has a multiyear deal with England’s men’s and women’s national cricket teams worth [[link removed]] $34.6 million over 10 years.

Finances

Castore is projected to report $23 million in EBITDA in FY2023, co-founder Tom Beahon said [[link removed]]. The company is also estimated to have a turnover of $230 million in the fiscal year.

Conversation Starters It’s official: Jake Paul is boxing UFC legend Anderson Silva on Oct. 29 in Phoenix. How’s the 25-year-old preparing? We asked him [[link removed]]. LeBron James and Drake are among the defendants [[link removed]] in a breach-of-contract lawsuit filed by the former head of the NBA Players Association, Billy Hunter, over the rights to an upcoming documentary on an all-Black Canadian hockey league. The Major League Baseball Players Association announced on Tuesday that over 50% of minor league players have voted [[link removed]] to support unionizing.

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It’s nearly the best time of the year. The regular season on CBS begins this weekend [[link removed]]!

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Market Movers

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

WWE [[link removed]]

World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.

[[link removed]]

$67.51

[[link removed]]

-0.71%

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

Nike, Inc.

[[link removed]]

$105.15

[[link removed]]

-0.90%

[[link removed]] PLNT [[link removed]]

Planet Fitness Inc

[[link removed]]

$65.03

[[link removed]]

-1.97%

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

VF Corp.

[[link removed]]

$40.22

[[link removed]]

-2.35%

[[link removed]] PENN [[link removed]]

PENN Entertainment Inc

[[link removed]]

$30.90

[[link removed]]

-3.01%

[[link removed]] (Note: All as of market close on 9/6/22) What to Watch

The Las Vegas Aces face the Seattle Storm on Tuesday night in Game 4 of the WNBA playoff semifinals. The Aces lead the series 2-1.

How to Watch: 10 p.m. ET on ESPN2

Betting Odds: Storm -1 || ML -110 || O/U 167.5

Pick: Expect the Storm to force a Game 5. Take Seattle to cover.

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Written by Abigail Gentrup [[link removed]], Owen Poindexter [[link removed]], Justin Byers [[link removed]] Edited by Matthew Tabeek [[link removed]], Brian Krikorian [[link removed]]

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