FOS PM: Puma Snags LaMelo Ball

Puma Basketball has taken the next major step in reviving its brand, signing presumptive NBA Draft lottery pick LaMelo Ball to a long-term deal.

The 19-year-old LaMelo, the youngest of the infamous Ball brother trio — eldest Lonzo plays for the New Orleans Pelicans and middle brother LiAngelo is in the G League — is the first to sign an endorsement deal outside of their father LaVar’s Big Baller Brand. 

Puma began growing its basketball footprint ahead of the 2018 NBA Draft after a two-decade hiatus, signing No. 1 overall pick DeAndre Ayton, Marvin Bagley III, Kyle Kuzma, and Michael Porter Jr. The company initially brought on Jay-Z as president of Puma Basketball, later modifying that to “creative director.”

MLB is the latest league to partner with a cleaning product to both capitalize on the COVID-19 pandemic while providing safety measures.

The league has a new multi-year partnership with RB, the makers of Lysol, to “provide professional solutions to ballparks to help strengthen disinfections protocols for players, staff and fans.”

In August, the NBA and WNBA partnered with Clorox and received disinfecting products for the players, referees and staff working inside the leagues’ respective Florida bubbles. Tide has also leveraged its longtime partnership with the NFL for the 2020 season by sponsoring “safe” jersey swaps, with the company covering the cost of one replacement jersey per player, washed and exchanged by mail.

Former head U.S. Women’s National Team soccer coach Jill Ellis is joining the Topps Company’s Board of Directors. Ellis, who won back-to-back FIFA Women’s World Cup titles in 2015 and 2019, “will be a guiding force as the company continues to scale its efforts in global football.”

The trading card business has boomed amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which is good news for the collectibles manufacturer. Topps created a limited-run card for Dr. Anthony Fauci after he threw the first pitch at a Washington Nationals game on July 24 — it sold a record-breaking 51,512 units.

Elis stepped away from the USWNT in July 2019, just weeks after winning her second World Cup. News of her appointment to the Topps board comes as Ellis has been rumored to be a preliminary candidate to take over as manager for MLS team D.C. United, which would make her the first female manager in the league’s history.