October 6, 2021

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Kanye West is opening a prep school outside Los Angeles called Donda Academy — and its basketball team will be outfitted by adidas. Five-star recruits Robert Dillingham and Jahki Howard, and four-star recruit Jalen Hooks have already committed.

Glazers Offer $186M in Man U Shares

Manchester United/Design: Alex Brooks

Manchester United owners Kevin and Edward Glazer are putting 9.5 million of the club’s shares on the New York Stock Exchange, worth around $186 million, until Oct. 8. 

The amount totals roughly 8% of the family’s combined ownership and follows Avram Glazer’s sale of $97 million in shares in March. 

Fans have recently criticized the Glazers for being a part of the short-lived Super League, saying their “sole motivation is personal profit.” When the Glazers, who also own the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, purchased the team for $1.4 billion in 2005, thousands of fans were reportedly forced to sell shares to the family in a compulsory buyout.

The Premier League club will not receive any proceeds from this week’s sale but is experiencing a financial uptick in recent months nonetheless.

  • Man U’s broadcasting revenue increased 88% year-over-year to $347.3 million for the 12 months ending June 30.
  • The team acquired star Cristiano Ronaldo in August — its equity value has increased by 12% since.
  • Ariel Investments became the third-largest owner of the team’s common stock last month after it increased its stake from 5% to 13.8% through the franchise’s NYSE listing. The fund now owns 5.97 million shares of the team, worth a reported $103.2 million.

The club is currently valued at $3.2 billion. Despite recent sales of shares, the Glazers reportedly remain committed to the franchise.

Amazon CEO’s Bold Prediction About Gaming

Amazon Games/Design: Alex Brooks

Amazon has stayed persistent in its quest to be a successful game developer despite multiple setbacks, and on Tuesday, CEO Andy Jassy gave some insight into why.

Speaking at a Geekwire technology conference, Jassy said that gaming could become the entertainment industry’s largest category.

The retail and tech giant seems to have finally produced a popular title with last week’s release of “New World.” On Tuesday, the open-world game had 662,000 concurrent players on Steam.

  • Amazon already has a strong foothold in the gaming world through Twitch, the gaming-focused streaming platform it acquired in 2014 for $970 million. Twitch made around $2.3 billion in revenue in 2020.
  • Amazon is spending around $500 million annually on its gaming division.
  • “My personal goal is to create two-to-three AAA, live-service games, which capture millions of players and stay in the market for 10-plus years,” Amazon Games VP Chris Hartmann told the Verge.

The company is still taking a diverse approach to media, holding broadcasting rights to “Thursday Night Football,” the Premier League, WNBA, and Ligue 1, as well as making a renewed push into fitness and wearables.

Amazon is believed to be a leading contender for the rights to the NFL’s “Sunday Ticket.”

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Endeavor Takes Another Step Into Sports Collectibles

The Mint Collective/Design: Alex Brooks

Endeavor agreed to a deal on Wednesday with eBay, teaming up with the e-commerce giant to sell sports memorabilia around a series of live events.

The move presents a unique opportunity for Endeavor as it taps into a trading card market that saw $2 billion worth of merchandise sold on eBay in the first half of the year in North America alone.

  • Last week, Endeavor joined Silver Lake and Insight Partners in a $350 million Series A funding round for Fanatics Trading Cards, valuing the business at $10.4 billion.
  • eBay hosted transactions for more than 4 million cards in 2020, which its “State of Trading Cards” report revealed was a 142% increase in domestic sales compared to a year prior.
  • Endeavor and eBay are scheduled to collaborate in January at Mint Collective, an event in Las Vegas that brings sports collectible companies and investors together.

Endeavor raised $511 million in its April IPO. A private placement brought the total raised to $1.8 billion and made New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and AC Milan owner Paul Singer stakeholders in the business.

The company agreed to purchase London-based OpenBet for $1.2 billion last week. It generated $1.1 billion in revenue in Q2 2021 — a $650 million increase year-over-year.

Conversation Starters

Conversation Starters

  • In today’s Leadoff, we covered the NHL’s potential $5 billion rebound, the richest sports team owners in the U.S., bidding for Indian Premier League media rights, and an NFL team’s DEA raid. Click here to listen.
  • Saudi Arabia reversed its decision to ban Qatar-backed beIN sport from operating in the country. The Premier League and FIFA broadcaster had been banned for four-and-a-half years due to conflict between the nations.
  • Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan publicly reprimanded head coach Urban Meyer for “inexcusable” behavior at an Ohio bar over the weekend with a woman who was not his wife.
  • The New England Patriots announced Wednesday morning that four-time Pro Bowler and 2019 Defensive Player of the Year Stephon Gilmore would be released. Speculation that the announcement was made to drum up trade interest before the release was processed at 4 p.m. ET proved true — they traded the cornerback to the Panthers in exchange for a 2023 sixth-round draft pick. For more stories like this, subscribe to Sports Section now.

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VenuesNow Conference October 21st & 22nd

The 4th edition of the VenuesNow Conference is headed to Seattle and will coincide with the Grand Opening of Climate Pledge Arena.

Conference programming includes speakers from PepsiCo, Impossible Foods, Feld Entertainment, Atlanta Hawks / State Farm Arena, Portland Trail Blazers / Moda Center, and Wasserman Music, among others.

Plus, in-person attendees will get an exclusive tour of Climate Pledge Arena prior to its opening. In-person and digital registration packages available.

Use code FOS21 for a special limited time rate. For the full slate of programming & to register visit VenuesNowConference.com.

Market Movers

U.S. stocks experienced declines across all three major indexes on Wednesday following a session of gains. Here’s a look at how sports-related stocks performed:

(Note: All as of market close on 10/6/21)
What to Watch

What to Watch

The St. Louis Cardinals (90-72) face the Los Angeles Dodgers (106-56) tonight at Dodger Stadium in the NL wild-card game. 

How to Watch: 8:10 p.m. ET on TBS

Betting Odds: Dodgers -1.5 || ML -235 || O/U 7.5*

Pick: Expect the Dodgers to showcase their playoff experience. Take L.A. to cover. 

Who ya got? Reply to this newsletter with your prediction for the Cardinals-Dodgers winner and final score. 

*Odds/lines subject to change. T&Cs apply. See draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.

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Written by Abigail Gentrup, Owen Poindexter, Justin Byers

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