January 11, 2023
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If Lake Erie College’s freshman offensive lineman Dieunerst Collin looks familiar [[link removed]], it’s probably because you remember him as the “Popeyes meme kid.” Apparently, the famous New Orleans-style food chain still appreciates the viral sensation — Popeyes just signed Collin to an NIL deal.
Leagues MLB Banks Record $10.8B in 2022 [[link removed]]
Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
MLB answered critics of its aging fanbase and media challenges with its strongest revenue year to date.
The league reportedly earned [[link removed]] more than $10.8 billion in 2022, edging out its previous record of $10.7 billion in 2019.
Last season began a new set of media rights deals with Fox, TBS, and ESPN that collectively pay $1.8 billion per year. The trio’s previous deals brought in $1.5 billion annually. New streaming deals with Apple and NBC’s Peacock added $115 million per season. Sponsorship deals brought in $1.2 billion, up 5.6% from the year before.
The league’s attendance [[link removed]] of 64.6 million showed a 42.3% increase from the pandemic-affected 2021 but was the lowest figure since 1997, other than 2020 and 2021.
The 2022 season was delayed by a 99-day lockout as players and owners negotiated a new collective bargaining agreement.
Attendance slipped each year from 2012’s 74.9 million to 2019’s 68.5 million.
Patching Up
Teams will have an additional revenue stream in 2023 when the league begins allowing deals for sponsored uniform patches.
The league is also instituting changes intended to speed up the game and generate more excitement, including a pitch clock, restrictions on defensive shifts, and changes to encourage stolen base attempts.
Real Estate Oakland Strikes Out on $182M for A’s Stadium Project [[link removed]]
MLB
Oakland whiffed on what may have been a key source of funding to help the city keep the A’s.
The city will not receive [[link removed]] any funding from the Department of Transportation’s Mega grant program.
The team has agreed to fund the construction of a $12 billion waterfront development centered on a new stadium, but has sought public funds for the surrounding infrastructure.
The city had applied for $182 million toward infrastructure improvements for roads, train tracks, and pedestrian walkways around the Howard Terminal area, where the A’s are looking to build. Oakland said it has been awarded $375 million in transportation grants and has applied for an additional $55 million in regional grants, $25 million from other federal sources, and $60 million from state grants. Oakland could also raise funds through a $150 million limited-obligation bond.
Sheng Thao, who was sworn in as Oakland mayor on Tuesday, has stated [[link removed]] that she wants to strike a deal with the team that will grow the city’s revenue, “activate the Jack London Square area,” and protect residents from costs and pollution associated with the project.
Vegas Side Bet
The A’s continue to explore alternative options in Las Vegas.
Talks regarding Phil Ruffin’s Las Vegas Festival Grounds have dried up, according [[link removed]] to Ruffin’s spokesperson.
That potentially leaves just the Tropicana site, owned by Bally’s. The team and Bally’s — which holds naming rights to 14 MLB teams’ regional sports networks — have been in negotiations on a $1 billion domed stadium.
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America’s Pastime, Meet Modern Systems
When baseball was invented in 1876, nobody could’ve predicted just how complicated the business (and technological) side of things would become.
Today, even Single-A Minor League teams like the Kane County Cougars [[link removed]] are responsible for hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in revenue – all of which can become a nightmare to handle with the wrong systems in place.
That’s why the Cougars opted to replace their outdated Microsoft ERP with NetSuite [[link removed]]. In just 100 days, they went from striking out with cumbersome, 5-step sales orders to simple, seamless processes for everything from customer data to email marketing.
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Media DAZN Loses $2.3B in 2021 After Acquiring Soccer Rights [[link removed]]
DAZN Group
DAZN is paying the price for its deep investment in soccer rights.
The sports streaming platform sustained $2.3 billion in losses for 2021, a 79% year-over-year increase, per [[link removed](Bloomberg)%20--%20Losses%20at%20DAZN,money%20into%20top%20soccer%20rights.] Bloomberg.
The losses, which CEO Shay Segev primarily attributed to the addition of Italian and German soccer rights, outweighed DAZN’s $1.56 billion in revenue that year — also a 79% year-over-year increase.
In 2022, revenue increased to $2.3 billion. DAZN has lost more than $6 billion since its 2016 launch. In 2021, billionaire owner Len Blavatnik agreed to a recapitalization of DAZN, dropping its net debt to $14.3 million at year’s end, compared to $1.3 billion the year prior.
Segev said an IPO could happen in the next two or three years, and that the company would be open to strategic investors.
“I really don’t have any preference, I would just think that it actually makes sense for this to become a public company,” he said. “The Netflix story, the Amazon story — I think DAZN is going there as well.”
DAZN Down
DAZN’s $2.7 billion deal to air Serie A in Italy for three seasons has come with other problems.
The service has experienced [[link removed]] several outages, drawing criticism from viewers. On Tuesday, DAZN agreed to take steps to fix the problems, including offering affected subscribers a refund and setting up a Network Operation Centre in Italy.
Conversation Starters Former ESPN personality Jemele Hill accused [[link removed]] her former network of “intentionally going easy” on UFC president Dana White, who was caught on camera exchanging slaps with his wife. In a Wednesday ruling, a federal bankruptcy judge cleared the way for FTX branding to be removed [[link removed]] from the Miami Heat’s home arena. Riot Games released [[link removed]] a “State of the Game” video for LoL Esports in advance of the Season 2023 Kickoff event that starts today.*
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NFTs and the Future of Digital Collectibles
With the rise of digital ownership and Web3, NFTs have become the talk of the town.
But how will they impact the sports industry?
To answer this question, look no further than Metaverse Essentials: Building the Future, our latest free course [[link removed]], together with Meta, which breaks down the ever-evolving connection between sports and the metaverse.
The five-lesson course includes Pushing Culture Forward with Digital Collectibles, where Meta’s Emerging Sports Industries Lead, Omar Wilson, is joined by digital collectible execs from Dibbs, Dapper Labs, OneFootball, HEIR, and New Game Labs to discuss how the blockchain and NFTs will reshape both physical and digital collectibles [[link removed]] experiences for creators, brands, and fans across the globe.
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What to Watch
UFC Fight Night marks another star-studded event for the mixed martial arts promotion.
In the main event, Sean “Tarzan” Strickland (25-5-0) faces Nassourdine “Russian Sniper” Imavov (12-3-0) in a light heavyweight bout at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Strickland enters the fight following a loss by decision (split) to Jared Cannonier, while Imavov is coming off a win by decision (unanimous) over Joaquin Buckley.
How to Watch: Saturday at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN+ / Stream all of UFC Fight Night on ESPN+ [[link removed]]*
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