August 11, 2021

Read in Browser

Front Office Sports

POWERED BY

Las Vegas continues to be a popular destination for pro sports teams, as Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Wes Edens is reportedly trying to lure Major League Soccer to the city.

Real Madrid Promises Legal Action Against La Liga-CVC Deal

Real Madrid/Design: Alex Brooks

A deal that could bring private equity to La Liga will be put before a vote Thursday, but one of the league’s top clubs is threatening legal action to stop the transaction.

La Liga needs 22 of its 42 clubs to approve a contract with CVC Capital Partners, and league executives appear confident they have the votes.

Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Athletic Bilbao oppose the pact, as does the Spanish Soccer Federation, which called it illegal and harmful to the league’s long-term financial picture.

  • Per the Financial Times, CVC would buy a stake in La Liga’s broadcast and sponsorship rights through a holding company for around $117.3 million.
  • The private equity firm would gain 11% of the revenues of those properties for the next 50 years.
  • CVC would also chip in $2.9 billion that would go to clubs as an interest-free loan.

Real Madrid said on Sunday that its board of directors “unanimously agreed to initiate both civil and criminal legal action against” La Liga president Javier Tebas Medrano, CVC head Javier de Jaime Guijarro, and CVC.

The club resolved to take legal action to block any resolutions that come out of Thursday’s league meeting. It previously said the CVC deal “by way of a misleading structure, expropriates 10.95% of the clubs’ audiovisual rights for the next 50 years, in breach of the law.”

Combined revenue of all European soccer clubs fell to $30.5 billion in the 2019-2020 season, down 13.4% from the previous year. La Liga’s revenues fell 8% to $3.74 billion.

‘PUBG’ Maker Krafton Fails to Meet Expectations with $3.8B IPO

PUBG/Design: Alex Brooks

Video game holding company Krafton stumbled during its $3.8 billion initial public offering, which was South Korea’s biggest in more than a decade.

Shares of Krafton fell as much as 20% during its trading debut Tuesday after opening down 9.9% — the country’s worst IPO performance in 17 years. 

The Tencent-backed company planned to raise at least $5 billion in June by selling 20% of its shares, valuing the company at $25 billion. 

Following its market debut, the company closed with a valuation of around $19 billion. 

Krafton has made a name for itself as the developer of online battle royale gaming hit “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds,” often referred to as “PUBG.”

  • The game’s revenue reached $920 million in 2018, up from $220 million in 2017, when it first released.
  • $790 million of 2018’s total revenue came from PC players.
  • “PUBG Mobile” was the top mobile game in 2020 with $2.6 billion in revenue.

Shares of Krafton closed on Wednesday at $351 per share, down from its IPO price of $430.

Another factor in the poor showing: Regulators in the massive Chinese market are punishing video game companies for neither relinquishing exclusive rights nor reporting details of investments.

Still, Krafton is developing a “PUBG” sequel. The upcoming title has more than 25 million pre-registrations on the Google Play store. App Store registration opens at the end of August.

SPONSORED BY ELECTRIC

Lightning-Fast IT Support & Free Beats!

Efficient & Cost-Effective IT support is one of the most integral parts of running a successful business today. Don’t take your IT support for granted–upgrade it for when you need it most. Depend on Electric and their proactive security standardization to provide your team with the IT support & security you need.

Electric wants to provide your organization with the kind of IT support that will leave you wondering how you ever lived without them. If you’re an IT decision-maker at a 15-500 employee, US-based company, score free Beats Solo3 Wireless headphones when you take a qualified meeting to explore how their IT support solutions can keep your organization running. 

Schedule a meeting and snag your Beats today.

Aviron Raises $4.5M Amid Connected Rowing Boom

Aviron/Design: Alex Brooks

Home rowing machine Aviron announced Wednesday it raised $4.5 million in its latest funding round.

Samsung Next, Formic Ventures, GFC, and Y Combinator joined the round. The company’s machines cost $2,199.

This is just the latest investment in the growing connected rowing industry.

  • April: Ergatta raised $30 million in a Series A funding round led by Advance Venture Partners.
  • April: LIT Method announced an investment from Jay-Z’s Marcy Venture Partners.
  • July: CITYROW secured $12 million in Series A funding led by JW Asset Management. The company’s revenue grew 375% in the last year.
  • August: Hydrow announced it was in discussions with Sandbridge X2 Corp. to go public via SPAC, valuing the company at more than $1 billion. It raised more than $45 million in the last two years and saw sales jump by 400% during the pandemic.

Similar to Ergatta, Aviron is interested in gamifying the rowing experience — something founder and CEO Any Hoang says is the largest differentiator between Aviron and a Peloton or Hydrow.

Rather than instructor-led classes, the company focuses on virtual races and animated, story-driven games.

The global home fitness equipment market is estimated to reach to $8.62 billion by 2023.

Conversation Starters

Conversation Starters

  • The NFL and Amazon Web Services launched an AI challenge to crowdsource ways for computers to automatically identify players using NFL game footage. Prize money totals $100,000. 
  • Serena Williams and Venus Williams are the latest tennis stars to withdraw from the Western & Southern Open. Rafael Nadal pulled out of Toronto with a foot injury.
  • The Music City Grand Prix averaged a record 1.2 million viewers on NBC, the most-watched IndyCar race on cable in 23 years.
  • Gymnastics gold medalist Suni Lee has arrived at Auburn University for her freshman year. She is at the forefront of a new generation of athletes that will not have to forego their college eligibility to capitalize on post-Olympic earning potential. Get more stories like this in FOS College, a free weekly newsletter covering the business of college sports. Click here to subscribe.

SPONSORED BY GRABYO

US Sports Fans Want to Watch Exclusively Online

Grabyo’s new report explores the behaviors of sports fans in accessing and buying video services. 

Among those US fans who would switch to streaming exclusively for sport, 42% would pay up to $10 per month, while 37% would pay up to $25 per month. 

Globally, 79% of sports fans report they are ready to switch to online streaming only for sport.

There’s also a high demand for free-to-access sports content across social media. With the increase in using social media to access content, consumers want to see more live sports broadcasts as well as instant highlights and videos on social platforms. 

Download now.

Market Movers

Market Movers

U.S. stocks were mixed on Wednesday for a second-straight session. Here’s a look at how sports-related stocks performed:

Up:

fuboTV Inc. (NYSE: FUBO) gained 11.03%

Scientific Games Corporation (NASDAQ: SGMS) gained 5.56%

Dave & Buster’s Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ: PLAY) gained 5.03%

Down:

Callaway Golf Company (NYSE: ELY) dropped 2.02%

Gravity Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRVY) dropped 1.23%

Acushnet Holdings Corp. (NYSE: GOLF) dropped 1.06%

(Note: All as of market close on 8/11/21)

What to Watch

What to Watch

It’s that time of year when not as many live sports are on and your entertainment selection needs a shot of life. Good thing for you that “The Suicide Squad” just dropped, and it’s a wild ride from start to finish.

How to Watch: In theaters and streaming on HBO Max.*

What’s It About? A crew of unhinged supervillains looking for lighter prison sentences join the top secret Task Force X and go all out to destroy an evil laboratory on an enemy-filled island in South America.

Starring: Margot Robbie, Idris Elba, John Cena

FOS POV: Everyone loves a good antihero, and “The Suicide Squad” has several of them. It’s a welcome twist on the comic book movie genre, packed with action and laughs. Plus, if you’re a fan of wrestling, it’s only right that you fire up HBO Max and keep an eye out for Peacemaker. You won’t be disappointed.

*Sponsored content. Only available on the ad-free plan. Streaming on HBO Max for a limited time.

Win a Full-Size NFL Replica Helmet

Win a Full-Size NFL Replica Helmet

Want to win a full-size NFL replica helmet? Refer your friends and colleagues to Front Office Sports and you could! One referral = one entry.

It’s easy to spread the word. Copy and paste your unique link below and share it in an email or on your timeline.

Your custom referral link: [RH_REFLINK]

Or use these one-tap sharing methods:

Email // Twitter // Facebook

Advertise Awards Learning Events Video Shows
Written by Owen Poindexter, Justin Byers, Abigail Gentrup

If this email was forwarded to you, you can subscribe here.

Update your preferences / Unsubscribe

Copyright © 2021 Front Office Sports. All rights reserved.
460 Park Avenue South, 7th Floor, New York NY, 10016

Subscribe To Our Daily Newsletters

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.