Gyms are reopening, but Peloton just added another reason to work out at home.

The popular connected fitness company struck a deal with Verzuz, the music competition venture started by multiplatinum-selling producers Timbaland and Swizz Beatz. The collaboration will feature workouts set to a playlist from the dueling artists, starting with R&B legends Brandy and Monica, followed by a battle between the Verzuz founders.

Verzuz, which typically livestreams on Instagram, has previously featured battles between artists ranging from Alicia Keys and John Legend to Snoop Dogg and DMX. Verzuz was acquired by the Triller Network in March in a deal that provided equity stakes to the performers who had already been featured in the series.

Peloton has been making big moves with high-profile musicians and apparel brands.

• In November, Peloton signed Beyonce to a multi-year partnership that involves gift Peloton subscriptions to students at HBCUs.
• Peloton released exclusive music for the first time in December, working with Big Boi, Chromeo, and DJ Dillon Francis on a series of Elvis Presley covers.
• Peloton launched a lifestyle apparel brand with Adidas last week, and has previously worked with Nike and Lululemon.

The company has run into trouble for its use of music in the past. In February, Peloton settled a lawsuit brought by members of the National Music Publishers’ Association, who sought over $300 million in damages from the alleged use of thousands of unlicensed songs.

DAZN has officially secured Italian broadcasting rights to Serie A, the country’s top-flight soccer competition. The league’s rights were previously shared by DAZN and Sky, a unit of Comcast.

Serie A was targeting $1.17 billion per season for the rights but landed on a three-year, $2.95 billion deal. DAZN will have exclusive rights for seven out of 10 fixtures per match day.

The deal is smaller than the league’s current contract, which seems to be a commonality across soccer leagues — Bundesliga saw a 5% decrease in its latest broadcasting deal, as well.

Nine of the league’s 20 clubs had previously held out on approving the deal, citing concerns about abandoning a subscription base Sky had built since it began airing Serie A in 2003. DAZN’s bid was set to expire Monday, but 16 of the 20 teams accepted the offer on Friday.

• DAZN is shifting to a Europe-focused strategy. Prior to the new Serie A deal, it cut its contract with the MLB, backed out of its streaming the UEFA Champions League in Asia, and pulled Serie A from its Brazil platform.
• The streaming service also won Bundesliga rights last year.
• Comcast, whose $2.65 billion offer was outbid, is starting to scale back spending on sports rights.

CBS recently secured the league’s U.S. broadcast rights in a three-year deal worth $225 million. Sky is set to enter talks over non-exclusive rights packages, per Reuters.

Earlier this month, Japan made the call to block international spectators from attending the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics due to the pandemic. The decision has led to a flood of refund requests — more than $10,000 in some cases — from fans who purchased tickets years ago. 

“At this point, they’ve held our funds for two years already, and I’m concerned it’s going to take months more to get them back again,” Olympics fan Monica Treese told The New York Times. “Everyone is still in the dark. We’re just waiting.”

The right to sell tickets to foreign fans is granted by local Olympic organizers, who contract with authorized resellers to distribute the tickets. The base cost goes to the organizers, while resellers are allowed to charge handling and processing fees that go directly to them. 

Approximately 600,000 tickets were sold to international fans, and around 68,000 American fans were expected at the games.

CoSport, the exclusive rights holder for Olympic ticket sales in the U.S., will not refund a 20% handling fee for American fans, per Yahoo.

“I find it amazing that they intend to simply keep the 20% surcharge which they assessed on tickets, which we will never be permitted to use. As a point of reference, this amounts to nearly $2,000 for our family,” said a fan in a message to The New York Times. 

However, Team GB Live, the official reseller in the U.K., will offer full refunds.