March 24, 2021

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Spring is in the air and all these stadium deals are putting us in the mood for peanuts and Cracker Jacks.

Fanatics Doubles Valuation to $12.8 Billion

Fanatics/Design: Alex Brooks

Fanatics’ meteoric ascension continues after a new funding round more than doubled its valuation. 

The privately held online sports merchandise retailer raised $320 million in new funding, bringing its valuation to $12.8 billion, a significant jump from its $6.2 billion valuation in August, per CNBC.

The latest round included current investors like Major League Baseball, Fidelity, and Silver Lake Partners. Fanatics will use the funds to expand its vertical commerce division and international footprint, as well as consider additional mergers and acquisitions, per sources close to the deal.

The company has separated itself from the rest of the pack through its exclusive deals with sports leagues and teams, making it an attractive business venture for investors. Fanatics expects to reach $3 billion in sales this year, while its e-commerce operation is already up 30% year-over-year. 

The growth has been fueled by the company’s recent acquisition of former competitor WinCraft, and the launch of Fanatics China, a joint business venture with private equity firm Hillhouse Capital that will bring merchandise to the sports-loving country of 1.4 billion.

WinCraft generates more than $100 million annually, while Fanatics China is expected to be worth more than $1 billion.

Earlier this month, Fanatics appointed five-time NBA champion and business mogul Earvin “Magic” Johnson to its board of directors.

Caesars Close to Massive Deal for Superdome Naming Rights

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports/Design: Alex Brooks

Brick by brick, step by step, the NFL’s former prohibition against sports betting is crumbling.

The New Orleans Saints are close to a deal to make Caesars Entertainment naming rights sponsor of the Superdome for the next two decades, according to The Athletic.

Saints owner Gayle Benson recently met with executives from the betting house in Las Vegas to finalize a deal that could pay the team $10 million annually for 20 years. Mercedes-Benz’s current 10-year naming rights deal expires in July.

“We do not have anything official to report as there is not a signed deal with any company at this time,” a Saints spokesman told The Athletic. “We continue to have conversations with numerous interested companies.”

More than any sports league, the NFL has held the gaming industry at arm’s length, not even allowing TV announcers to mention points spreads during game telecasts. But that’s changing quickly, especially since the league has lost an estimated $3- $4 billion during the pandemic. 

The NFL is also talking to Caesars, DraftKings, and FanDuel about league-wide gambling sponsorships similar to lucrative deals signed by other sports leagues.

While announcing the NFL’s 11-year, $113 billion media rights deal, commissioner Roger Goodell said he’s looking to “find ways we can engage fans through legalized sports betting.”

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Snyder to Buy Out Minority Owners of WFT

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports/Design: Alex Brooks

Majority owner Dan Snyder has a deal in place to purchase the remaining 40% of the Washington Football Team that he doesn’t own. 

Snyder will pay close to $1 billion to acquire the shares of the team held by real estate mogul Dwight Schar, FedEx chief executive Fred Smith, and investor Robert Rothman, a person with knowledge of the agreement told Front Office Sports on Wednesday.

The agreement effectively ends the long-running dispute between Snyder and the minority owners that led to allegations of an extortion campaign, a federal lawsuit, and an NFL investigation. 

The next step is getting approval of the overall deal by 75% of team owners, an NFL source confirmed. The vote could take place as soon as Tuesday.

The NFL finance committee has agreed to a debt waiver of $450 million to allow Snyder to finance about half the deal, a source said. Tyler Dunne was the first to report the agreement.

Front Office Sports previously reported that the attorney for Amazon founder Jeff Bezos had contacted Moag & Co., the firm tapped by the co-owners to sell their chunk of the team.

Former U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch led an investigation into the feud between Snyder and the three WFT minority owners. The impending sale makes that investigation moot. However, a separate investigation into allegations of a hostile workplace environment is still pending, an NFL source told FOS.

Conversation Starters

Conversation Starters

  • Dream Sports, the parent company of Indian fantasy sports platform Dream11, raised $400 million following a secondary share sale by early investors. The funding round gives Dream Sports a $5 billion valuation, up from $2.5 billion last year. 
  • FIFA hit its former president Sepp Blatter with a second ban for six years and eight months. Blatter has been banned from FIFA since December 2015 following a probe into unethical bonus payments and was fined $1.07 million by FIFA’s Ethics Committee.
  • March Subscriber Giveaway: We’re giving away a $500 Airbnb gift card this month for you to use whenever you’re ready to travel again. For every friend or colleague who subscribes to FOS with your custom referral link by the end of March, you get one entry into our giveaway. If you don’t win the $500 gift card, five runners-up will also win an FOS VIP care package.
    • Share in one tap (Email // Twitter // Facebook) or copy-and-paste your custom referral link: [RH_REFLINK]
  • Two title fights. One knockout night. Stream every moment of Miocic vs. Ngannou + Volkanovski vs. Ortega live on Saturday, March 27 exclusively on ESPN+. UFC 260 Prelims at 8PM/ET and Main Card at 10PM/ET.*

*Sponsored content. 

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Market Movers

Market Movers

U.S. stocks were mixed across all three major indexes on Wednesday. Here’s a look at how sports-related stocks performed:

Up:

Aramark (NYSE: ARMK) gained 1.52%

Manchester United plc (NYSE: MANU) gained 1.23%

World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: WWE) gained 0.41%

Down:

GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME) dropped 33.79%

ViacomCBS Inc. (NASDAQ: VIAC) dropped 23.18%

fuboTV Inc. (NYSE: FUBO) dropped 10.77%

(Note: All as of market close on 3/24/21)

What to Watch

What to Watch

The Utah Jazz host the Brooklyn Nets in a potential Finals preview. Utah, the Western Conference leaders, fell to Brooklyn by 34 points the last time the teams met in January. Nets starters Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant will be sidelined tonight. 

How to Watch:

10 p.m. ET on ESPN

Betting Odds:

Jazz -10 || ML -500 || O/U 230.5

Pick: The Nets are surging despite not having the services of Kevin Durant since Feb. 5. The Jazz remain hot with the NBA’s best record, but the Nets have won eight of their last 10 games, including a 116-112 win over the Trail Blazers on Tuesday. Take the Nets to cover and lean under. 

Who ya got? Reply to this newsletter with your prediction for the Nets-Jazz winner, final score, and high scorer. Nail it, and you get a mention in Thursday’s FOS PM. Don’t forget to include your Twitter handle.

Shoutout: On Tuesday, we asked FOS readers to pick the winner, final score, and high scorer of the 76ers-Warriors tilt. The 76ers beat the Warriors 108-98, and Tobias Harris was the high scorer. Just about everyone picked the 76ers to win and Harris as the high scorer, but FOS reader Johnny Grassi was spot-on in picking Harris to finish with 25 points.

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