January 30, 2023
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Will Still decided on a career [[link removed]] as a real-life soccer coach at 17 because he loved playing the video game “Football Manager.” A decade later, the Stade de Reims manager has the French club on an 11-match unbeaten streak, but his meteoric rise means his team is fined $27,214 every time he’s on the sideline — until he gets his FIFA Pro License.
Commerce Super Bowl LVII Tickets Near Record Prices For Eagles-Chiefs Battle [[link removed]]
Antranik Tavitian-USA TODAY NETWORK
The last time the Super Bowl was held at the Arizona Cardinals’ home stadium, the average ticket price on the secondary market inched toward $10,000.
Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs fans will pay close to the same price now, according to leading ticket websites. The average resale price hovered around $9,000 each on Monday.
The cheapest seats currently available — less than $7,000 — are below prices at this point for the last two Super Bowls.
The Patriots-Seahawks Super Bowl XLIX thriller [[link removed]] in 2015 is the most expensive NFL title game on record and the first where tickets rose considerably a day or two after the conference championship games.
Brokers sold tickets to consumers thinking ticket inventory would match past Super Bowls. When those tickets didn’t hit the market, brokers scrambled to buy the few available to fulfill promises to customers. Prices were double what they were just a week prior, and climbed from there. Could There be a Repeat?
TicketIQ’s Jesse Lawrence says the NFL’s management of the digital marketplace makes a 2015 redo impossible.
“The 2015 blowup was a market-short bet made by brokers, and the resulting short squeeze, that was only possible in the absence of centralized pricing and inventory management.”
Leagues Premier League Unfazed By Downturn, Strikes Crypto Deal [[link removed]]
Sorare
The world’s biggest and most popular soccer league isn’t backing away from crypto.
The Premier League is expanding its digital footprint with a four-year, exclusive deal with blockchain-based fantasy soccer game Sorare.
As part of the agreement, Sorare players can buy and use officially licensed digital cards representing Premier League players, and the Premier League has an option to take an equity stake in the game.
Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
Sky Sports reported [[link removed]] in October — when a potential transaction was first mentioned — that the multiyear deal is around $37 million annually. The Financial Times reported [[link removed]] the deal is worth “tens of millions of pounds a year,” with each year’s final payment based on performance.
Sorare, which is reportedly the third-biggest NFT collection worldwide and processes around $1 million of transactions in a 24-hour period, was last valued at $4.3 billion in 2021 following a $680 million funding round led by Softbank.
Sticking With Sports
Unlike other crypto companies, Sorare — which counts Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi, and Serena Williams as shareholders — hasn’t had to back away from sports deals as it focuses on intellectual property over sponsorships.
Last year, it struck deals with Major League Soccer, Major League Baseball, and the National Basketball Association.
Exchanges for Sorare totaled [[link removed].] $500 million in 2022 — up from $270 million in 2021.
SPONSORED BY WIT SPORTS
How The Browns Field Design Went Viral
Every football fan’s dream is to play in the NFL…
But if they can’t do that, having complete control over the field is probably a close second.
As they prepared to launch a new logo at the 50-yard line, the Browns tapped Wit Sports [[link removed]] to help fans let their voices be heard with a Vote-to-Win Field Design Contest.
Wit worked closely with the Browns marketing team to whip up a turnkey digital experience that allowed diehard fans to cast their votes in just a few clicks.
4 designs, 80K+ votes, and one epic field reveal later, the Browns walked away with one of the most exciting fan engagement [[link removed]] efforts in recent memory.
Read more [[link removed]] to see how Wit can take your digital marketing to the next level.
Deals Audi Buys Minority Stake in Sauber As F1 Entry Looms [[link removed]]
Audi AG
Years before it enters the racing series, Audi is making a major commitment to Formula 1.
Sauber announced that the Volkswagen-owned company bought [[link removed]] a minority stake in the Swiss car brand in January, calling it “an important milestone on the way to Audi’s entry in Formula One, scheduled for 2026.”
The Sauber Group will be Audi’s “strategic partner.”
Audi will supply the power units for the team, starting in 2026. In 2026, engine regulations will change to nearly triple the output from electrical sources to 350 kW and use 100% sustainable fuels from non-food plant sources, municipal waste, or carbon capture. Sauber currently races under the Alfa Romeo name via a sponsorship deal that expires after the upcoming season.
Sauber’s team hasn’t been competitive in recent years: It last finished in the top half of the F1 constructors’ championship in 2012, and its most recent top-three finish was in 2008.
Infrastructure Expansion
Audi’s commitment to F1 goes beyond buying into Sauber.
In December, the company announced [[link removed]] it’s expanding its facility in Neuberg, outside Frankfurt, by adding a roughly 10,000 square-foot building focused on the F1 team. The new building will include test benches for developing the racing team’s power unit.
Conversation Starters In The Leadoff, Formula 1 strikes a media rights deal covering Southeast Asia, Switzerland faces pushback over FIFA loans, JPMorgan Chase & Co. eyes a $1 billion investment in Serie A’s media unit, and the NCAA generates $1.1 billion in revenue for the fiscal year. Click here to listen [[link removed]]. Here’s a look [[link removed]] at the NFL’s new Pro Bowl field for this year’s event on Feb. 5 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. This week in 2008, David Tyree caught [[link removed]] a third-down pass from Eli Manning on his helmet — helping secure the New York Giants’ win over Tom Brady’s New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.
FRONT OFFICE SPORTS LEARNING
Elevate Your Professional Development
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To date, over 20K+ professionals have taken our free online courses to better understand topics including NIL, cryptocurrency, ticketing, and more.
The flexible online courses which consist of video modules and brief quizzes, allow you to:
Learn anywhere, anytime Hear directly from top brands, experts, and industry leaders Earn a verified digital badge upon completion
Explore our lineup of courses to further grow and develop your knowledge, including courses from Coinbase [[link removed]], Ticketmaster [[link removed]], Pepsi Sports [[link removed]], and more.
Register now [[link removed]].
What to Watch
The Virginia Cavaliers (16-3) face the Syracuse Orange (13-9) on Monday night at JMA Wireless Dome.
How to Watch: 7 p.m. ET on ESPN
Betting Odds: Virginia -5.5 || ML -215 || O/U 132.5
Win A Vegas VIP Hoops Package
We have teamed up with the Pac-12 Conference to provide a VIP experience [[link removed]] to the Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Tournament in Las Vegas from March 8 to March 11, 2023.
One lucky winner will receive two (2) all tournament passes with club access to the tournament at T-Mobile Arena. The winner will also receive a hotel room at an MGM Resorts property for four (4) nights in Las Vegas, a $300 food and beverage voucher valid at MGM restaurants, and two (2) tickets to Cirque du Soleil’s Mad Apple show. For more information on the Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Tournament, visit Pac-12.com [[link removed]]. See Official Rules [[link removed]] for details.
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