Slam Corp., a blank-check company established by Alex Rodriguez, will no longer merge with The Panini Group, a sports cards and collectibles company, according to Bloomberg. 

The combined entity would have been valued at $3 billion or more. 

Slam Corp. ended talks of a merger after Panini failed to renew two licensing deals with the National Basketball Association and National Football League.

• Fanatics inked a deal with the NBA and NBPA to replace Panini as its cardmaker in 2026. 
• The online retailer also struck a 20-year trading card deal with the NFLPA that begins in 2026, when the league’s current deal with Panini expires. 

Panini had been reportedly weighing a potential sale until Slam Corp. offered to merge in July. Now, the family-owned Italian brand known for its FIFA World Cup stickers will look elsewhere. 

Despite the merger with Slam Corp. dissolving, not all hope is lost for Panini. 

The company generated more than $1 billion in sales in 2018 and reached an agreement with the UFC in January to become the mixed martial arts promotion’s official trading card partner. 

Panini also has licensing deals with FIFA, Disney, and Epic Games.

iFIT has filed for an IPO that could raise an estimated $800 million, given demand for the connected fitness company.

Formerly known as Icon Health Fitness, iFIT offers interactive workouts, training programs, and instruction from world-class trainers. 

The company owns various fitness brands including FreeMotion and NordicTrack, and has more than 6.1 million members in over 120 counties — including 1.5 million paying subscribers.  

The company generated $1.7 billion in revenue in fiscal 2021, up from $851.7 million during the same period a year prior. 

IFIT is wasting no time bolstering its portfolio in anticipation of an IPO. 

• In July, the company acquired 29029, a producer of endurance hiking events that mirror climbing Mount Everest. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. 
• That same month, it acquired women’s health and fitness platform Sweat for a reported $300 million.  

iFIT’s desire to go public is the result of companies looking to benefit from a home fitness equipment market projected to reach $11.45 billion by 2027.

Cricket is coming to ESPN+ in the U.S., as Disney is folding Hotstar into its other streaming services. 

Hotstar’s sports content, namely the hugely popular Indian Premier League, will migrate to ESPN+, while its Bollywood movies and shows will move to Hulu. 

The move comes amid chatter that Disney could one day consolidate Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu into one service. The three are currently available separately, or as a package called the “Disney bundle” for $13.99 per month. Hotstar costs $49.99 per year.

• Hotstar’s U.S. presence is small, with only 0.04% market share among the top 100 streaming services in the U.S. in the first half of this year, according to Sensor Tower.
• In India, where it will remain a standalone service, it had a 29% market share of all new downloads among streaming video apps.
• Disney’s streaming services collectively had just under 174 million subscribers through its fiscal third quarter. Its direct-to-consumer revenues rose 57% year-over-year to $4.3 billion, but that company segment was still $300 million in the red. 

The move will bring all of Disney’s cricket matches under one service: ESPN+ already shows Cricket New Zealand and West Indies Cricket. 

Cricket is Hotstar’s most watched content. The first 17 matches of the 2021 Indian Premier League drew an average of 105 million unique television viewers.