What would a team give up for an idea it still believes in? Its prized star? League membership? Hundreds of millions in ticket sales, sponsorships, and media rights?

That’s the question before Juventus after Italian FA president Gabriele Gravina stated that the Turin-based club will be booted from Serie A — which it has won the last nine seasons — if it is still a member of the Super League when Serie A registration for next season begins.

That could be disastrous for Juventus, which took in $176.4 million in media rights this season, on top of $84.5 million in sponsorship and advertising deals. 

• In April, the Italian Football Federation approved an “anti-Super League rule” which bans any club participating in privately run leagues from domestic competitions.
• The UEFA is preparing sanctions for Juventus, Real Madrid, and Barcelona for their refusal to abandon the Super League. The nine other clubs that were initially involved agreed to forfeit 5% of UEFA revenue for one season. 
• On Saturday, those three clubs doubled down with a statement criticizing the UEFA, saying, “The founding clubs have suffered, and continue to suffer, unacceptable third-party pressures, threats, and offenses to abandon the project.”

Juventus could be left out of the Champions League if it can not climb out of fifth place in Serie A in the season’s final games. The team had $7.13 million in Champions League ticket sales in the pre-pandemic 2019-2020 season — part of a $44.4 million ticket haul.

The potential embarrassment comes at an inopportune time, as the club hopes to hang onto superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, whose four-year, $126 million contract expires at the end of next season.

Kevin Durant and a growing number of well-known athletes see potential in women’s sports — and they’re investing to make it known. 

The former NBA MVP and Rich Kleiman’s Thirty Five Ventures is among a group of investors in a star-studded $3.5 million seed funding round for media platform Just Women’s Sports.

Other investors include Drive by DraftKings, OVO Fund, and Supernode Global, as well as WNBA athletes Arike Ogunbowale and Elene Delle Donne, PWHPA player Hilary Knight, and USWNT star Kelley O’Hara. The round was led by Will Ventures.

Durant is also on the advisory board for Athletes Unlimited, which is set to launch women’s professional indoor volleyball and softball leagues later this year.

Like Durant, Alex Ovechkin, Naomi Osaka, Serena Williams are also investing in women’s sports. Each has recently bought into National Women’s Soccer League teams, adding to several recent business moves by and for women across sports.

• In March, Alex Morgan, Sue Bird, Simone Manuel and Chloe Kim launched TOGETHXR, a sports and lifestyle company for women.
• After growing its newsletter revenue by more than 1,000% in the past year, the GIST raised $1 million in an April seed round.
• Earlier this month, the WNBA, along with ESPN, announced a three-year partnership with Google that’s focused on bringing more viewers to women’s sports.

“Just Women’s Sports is creating a much-needed platform centered around game and player highlights and analysis that shows fans exactly how good these players are and why they’re worth watching,” said Durant.

Less than two months after its last purchase, JD Sports is adding another acquisition to the list.

The U.K. sportswear company bought Manchester-based clothing retailer Oi Polloi — the latest in a series of bold expansion moves for the British company.

• June 2018: Took over Finish Line for $558 million
• December 2020: Bought Shoe Palace for $325 million
• February 2021: Acquired DTLR Villa for $495 million
• March 2021: Purchased a 60% stake in Marketing Investment Group

While financial terms were not disclosed, the founders of Oi Polloi — Steve Sanderson and Nigel Lawson — will step away from the company.

The filing comes along with speculation that Peter Cowgill will step down as JD Sports CEO and an announcement that board member Andy Rubin will be replaced with Pentland Group executive director Andy Long. Pentland holds a 55% stake in JD.

Cowgill, who has led JD Sports since 2004, told The Sunday Times he is “not going anywhere fast” and has “every intention of ensuring the long-term success” of the business.

The company is also in a battle with the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority to acquire Footasylum. The merger was blocked, then overturned on appeal. It is now being reassessed by the CMA. JD Sports owned 18.7% of the company at the time of the announcement.

The company also raised $634 million for future acquisitions in a February share placing. There are roughly 2,400 JD Sports retail locations around the world.