On Monday, Andy Jassy became the second person to ever hold the job of Amazon CEO. 

The self-described “big sports fan” took over for Jeff Bezos and now leads a company that has become integral to the U.S. economy and the sports broadcasting ecosystem.

Amazon will pay $1 billion annually from 2022-2033 for exclusive rights to “Thursday Night Football” and also streams Premier League, Champions League, New York Yankees games, and French Open contests.

Jassy — who made $35.8 million last year, mostly in stock grants — developed one of the most profitable parts of the company: Amazon Web Services. That business is at the core of Amazon’s cloud computing services, which were estimated in 2020 to hold nearly 41% of the market in that sector.

AWS, which brought in $13.5 billion in net sales in Q1 2021, provides data and computation services to:

• The NFL and NHL
• PGA Tour
• Bundesliga
• Formula 1 and NASCAR

Jassy is a minority owner of the NHL’s incoming team, the Seattle Kraken. Amazon holds the naming rights to the Kraken’s Climate Pledge Arena. The WNBA’s Seattle Storm play there as well.

On July 20, Bezos, who will remain executive chairman of Amazon, will take a trip into space aboard the first manned space flight by his rocket company, Blue Origin.

Electronic Arts is exploring the possibility of including players by name in the relaunch of its college football series now that NCAA athletes are able to profit from the use of their name, image, and likeness. 

The video game publisher announced its upcoming “EA Sports College Football” title in February after an eight-year hiatus. EA ceased production of “NCAA Football” in 2013 due to legal issues regarding player likenesses.

Bringing the series back should give EA a nice jolt of momentum after an underwhelming year.

The company generated $1.34 billion in revenue in fiscal Q4 2021 compared to $1.38 billion for the same period a year before. Its full-year revenue was stagnant at $5.6 billion — the same as FY2020.

Those lukewarm results haven’t stopped EA from snatching up smaller studios:

• Acquired British racing game developer Codemasters for $1.2 billion in February
• Completed its $2.1 billion purchase of developer and publisher Glu Mobile in April
• Acquired mobile game studio Playdemic from Warner Bros. Games and AT&T’s WarnerMedia for $1.4 billion

“EA Sports College Football” appears to be slated for a July 2023 release.

DAZN announced last week it agreed to a five-year deal with the UEFA to broadcast the Women’s Champions League.

The streaming service also revealed a partnership with YouTube to stream the competition globally for free from 2021-2025.

More people are watching women’s soccer than ever as the sport becomes more accessible. The National Women’s Soccer League broke rating records by almost 300% last year.

The network isn’t the only media platform making an investment in women’s soccer:

• The NWSL landed a three-year domestic rights deal with CBS and Twitch.
• The WSL struck a domestic broadcasting deal with Sky Sports and BBC in March. Sky pays a reported $20.8 million per season.
• Atalanta Media partnered with NBC Sports to air the WSL in the U.S. for the first time.
• WarnerMedia’s HBO Max recently released “LFG,” a documentary about the USWNT’s fight for equal pay.

“Such visibility changes everything,” said Nadine Kessler, UEFA’s chief of women’s soccer. 

DAZN CEO James Rushton wants to “elevate live broadcast production” and release new shows focused on women’s soccer.

Esports and gaming platform Mobile Premier League launched in the U.S last week.

Mobile Premier League is owned by Galactus Funware Technology and has more than 81 million registered users. It works with third-party game developers to offer head-to-head matches and tournament play.

The India-based company has raised $225 million and is valued at $945 million.

“The U.S. is the largest market when it comes to gaming, so it’s always been on our mind,” said Said Srinivas, co-founder and CEO.

After its $95 million Series D funding round in February, Mobile Premier League acquired GamingMonk, a platform that hosts esports tournaments and has over 1.3 million users.

Esports is the hottest it’s ever been with investors:

• Team SoloMid, ranked the most valuable esports organization in 2020, announced a 10-year, $210 million naming rights partnership with FTX in June. 
• $16 million in scholarships were awarded to esports athletes this year.
• In March, Kevin Durant’s Thirty Five Ventures invested in Andbox. He also bought into Vision Esports as part of a $38 million capital raise in 2018.

The esports industry is expected to surpass $1.5 billion by 2023, per Esports Ecosystem Report.