When Kurt Benson left his cushy corporate job in 2018 to launch a sports media company, people thought he was crazy. Today, Tidal League is a multimillion-dollar business backed by former professional athletes like ex-NBA players Theo Pinson and Charlie Villanueva.

Benson, who grew up in Zimbabwe and immigrated to Toronto as a freshman in high school, admits he had no idea what he was doing for the first two years after leaving Halifax Partnership, a Canadian nonprofit economic development organization, to form Tidal League. All he knew was that he wanted to start his own business, and that he had some decent connections from his days at Florida-based, sports-focused preparatory boarding school IMG Academy.

By the end of 2019, Tidal League launched its first show: Court-Side Moms, hosted by Wendy Sparks, mother of former NBA center Khem Birch, who interviews moms of other NBA players, including Luka Dončić, Damian Lillard, and Chris Paul. Still, it wasn’t until 2022 that Tidal League got its first real break, when Theo Pinson joined with his Run Your Race podcast. The company’s most popular podcast is Out The Mud, a show hosted by Grizzlies greats Zach Randolph and Tony Allen, which Benson says reached more than 50 million views in its first six months.

“We went from a business that was doing no revenue to—in 2022—we did over $1 million in revenue,” Benson tells Front Office Sports. “So we went from $0 to $1 million in a year.”

Today, Tidal League is an established sports media business that boasts 12 shows, including Pinson’s podcast and Out The Mud; Ready Set Go, a track and field podcast hosted by Olympic gold medalist Justin Gatlin; and To The Baha, a live show that includes Pinson and Villanueva, as well as other former NBA players Raymond Felton and Justin Jackson, and ex-NFL pro bowler Eric Ebron.

Last week, the company announced new investments from Villanueva, Ebron, Jackson, and another NBA veteran, Devonte’ Graham. Financial terms were not disclosed, but Benson tells FOS that the minimum investment is $100,000. 

In addition to wanting to expand his investment portfolio—which also includes real estate, a Houston-area restaurant called Kulture, and fintech company Scout—Villanueva says his reason for investing in Tidal League was simple.

“I loved the content they produce,” he tells FOS. “Great team, very professional. I love how they work.”

The podcast industry has experienced explosive growth in recent years, with podcast data provider Podcast Statistics showing that, globally, the industry’s value is expected to reach nearly $40 billion this year, up from about $31 billion last year. That uptick is due to the increasing listenership, which drives ad revenue; according to Podcast Statistics, the number of listeners rose by nearly 7% from 2024.

“As an entrepreneur, it was a no-brainer to invest in a media company,” Villanueva says. “It gives you the opportunity to have ownership in something that comes easy. It’s easy to talk about basketball because we’ve done it.”

The company isn’t done raising money. It’s now in the process of seeking out its first institutional investor, with the aim of amassing $5 million. Because of the support Tidal League has received from its athlete investors, Benson can be patient.

“We’re not in a rush to take the first check we can get,” he says. “We’re trying to qualify the right partner.”

Pinson was the perfect person to help push Tidal League toward becoming a bona fide sports media empire, Benson says. A contributor off the bench across five seasons for the Nets, Knicks, and Mavericks, Pinson says the appeal of Tidal League is that its hosts have the right résumés but don’t come off as being above their listeners.

“We’re regular people,” Pinson tells FOS. “We want to speak for the players, too, so people can get that perspective.”

Villanueva didn’t really know Pinson until he did an episode of Run The Race last year; their careers didn’t overlap. But he quickly learned why people view Pinson as the ultimate teammate.

“He’s very personable, knows his stuff, and you can relate because you both played in the NBA,” Villanueva tells FOS. “He’s a national champion, I’m a national champion. He’s a McDonald’s All-American, I’m a McDonald’s All-American. We can relate with one another. It became a snowball effect and the relationship grew.”

For more than a month, companies ranging from Delta to Adidas have pulled their earnings guidance or warned of price increases due to economic uncertainty amid President Donald Trump’s trade war. 

Amer Sports, which owns high-end outdoor brands including Arc’teryx, Salomon, and Wilson, is brushing it off. 

The Helsinki-based company reported first-quarter revenue of $1.47 billion, a 23.5% increase from a year ago, and raised its full-year guidance. Amer expects revenues to grow from 13–15% to 15–17% for 2025. Analysts at BNP Paribas wrote that based on first-quarter results and second-quarter guidance, “we could see the company raise the full year as the year progresses.”

Amer CFO Andrew Page said in its earnings release Tuesday that the Trump Administration’s tariffs will have “negligible” impact on its profits this year. 

Revenue from all three of its segments—technical apparel, outdoor performance, and ball and racket sports—rose meaningfully in the quarter, illustrating Amer’s strong pricing power.

“Led by Arc’teryx and Salomon footwear, our unique portfolio of premium technical brands continues to create white space and take market share in sports and outdoor markets around the world,” CEO James Zheng said in the company statement. The ball and racket segment, led by Wilson, grew by 12%.

Amer’s outperformance underscores a growing distinction between retailers consumers are favoring despite tariffs and higher costs, and retailers whose customers are starting to pull back. 

On Holdings, which last week reported earnings that beat expectations (Q1 sales rose 40%), said it plans to raise prices on some U.S. products starting this summer—not because of tariffs, but rather because it’s in “a strong position to have earned pricing power.” Adidas, on the other hand, said it will have to raise prices if the tariffs that are currently on pause ultimately go through—despite its strong quarter.

On a conference call with analysts, Zheng pointed out stellar performance from “flagship brand” Arc’teryx and also called out the momentum behind Salomon sneakers. 

“We are really starting to see consumers all around the world respond to their unique performance and style attributes,” Zheng said.

Salomon sneakers notched $1 billion in sales in 2024, “but it’s still tiny relative to the $180 billion global sneaker market,” he said, adding that the shoes have resonated with shoppers in both the lifestyle and technical categories.

UBS analysts said Amer’s quarter reinforces their view that brands with strong momentum—including On and Hoka—“can still deliver robust growth despite elevated macro uncertainty. While the consumer environment in key markets like China remains choppy, we think small brands like Arc’teryx, On, and Hoka can still deliver big growth by taking market share against struggling competitors.”

Regionally, Asia-Pacific and China, saw 49% and 43% jumps in revenues year over year, respectively. The Americas and Europe region each had 12% revenue growth compared to a year earlier. China’s surge in interest in outdoor sports like hiking and camping—which has been, in part, pushed by favorable government policies—is benefiting Amer. 

BNP Paribas analysts wrote that the bank has gotten lots of questions from clients about a slowdown in Chinese consumption and the potential impact on Amer. “Today’s results are testament that some international brands are winning, and some are clearly not. Amer’s brands are in the winning camp. … Amer is not just an Asia growth story, it’s a global growth story,” they wrote.

Even if the higher tariffs of 145% on Chinese imports returned and Trump’s initial “Liberation Day” tariffs on other countries went into effect (before the 90-day pause), Page said the effects would be minimal. “Over time, we believe we will be able to mitigate the majority of even the higher tariff rates,” he said.

As of 2024, Amer sources about 30% of its products from China, about 40% from Vietnam, with Canada and Mexico accounting for less than 1% of total global sourcing, according to its latest annual report. 

Shares of Amer closed 19% higher Tuesday.

The dispute between Penn Entertainment and an activist investor that wants control of the company’s board intensified this week, with HG Vora ripping Penn’s “ongoing assault on shareholder rights.”

The two sides have been going at it for some time, having held at least 25 meetings or calls over the last two years, according to Penn. HG Vora wants three board members of its choosing elected at Penn’s annual shareholder meeting, scheduled for June 17, but Penn said Monday that there are only two director seats open for election. 

Penn, which the activist has criticized for poor performance tied to a shift to invest heavily in online sports betting, indicated in the statement Monday that HG Vora should be happy with the outcome. It’s pushing for shareholders to vote to elect two of HG Vora’s proposed nominees—Johnny Hartnett and Carlos Ruisanchez—and noted that after the upcoming election, 75% of the company’s directors will have joined the board since 2019.

HG Vora, which sued Penn in Pennsylvania federal court earlier this month, issued a statement Monday afternoon claiming Penn’s board purposely, and unilaterally, reduced the number of seats up for election to “deprive shareholders of their fundamental right to elect three directors of their choosing.”

According to the activist, Penn’s statement “reflects its continued and ongoing assault on shareholder rights and demonstrates the lengths this Board will go to entrench itself.”

The activist went further, calling out Penn’s “history of using the corporate machinery to thwart the will of shareholders, and its track record of value destruction,” and urged shareholders not to “tolerate such a manipulation of the electoral process.”

HG Vora owns a roughly 4.8% stake in Penn, which it says makes it “one of the largest shareholders.” It thinks Penn has plenty of potential—in fact, it believes the company “owns the best portfolio of geographically diverse regional casinos in the country.”

But the company’s online sports betting push, exemplified by its struggling partnership with Disney—a more than $2 billion deal for the right to the ESPN Bet trademark for 10 years—shows the current leadership, including CEO Jay Snowden, is not up to the task, according to HG Vora.

While Penn admits there has been “near-term volatility” due to its strategic shift into sports betting, it believes that will be its primary driver of business moving forward. 

On Monday, Penn asked the federal judge overseeing the Pennsylvania lawsuit to pause the case, saying in a legal filing that HG Vora is “refusing to take yes for an answer,” and that the activist is trying to “create another seat on the board that does not now exist and to transform an uncontested director election into a contested one to justify the make-believe (and value-destructive) proxy fight plaintiffs have been waging against Penn.”

Representatives for Penn and HG Vora did not immediately respond to requests for comment.