The biggest sportswear retailer is expanding further into social media. 

Nike created a landing page and Instagram account for Nothing but Gold, an app targeting Gen Z women “dedicated to sport, style, and self-care.” 

While the website is still in private beta mode, potential users can DM or email for a chance to participate in the build. “NbG is an experimental Nike project built by a passionate team with a simple idea: we believe you deserve to have a say in the products you buy,” the page says.

A January tweet from Zoe Scaman, founder of strategy studio Bodacious, called the app “the perfect concoction of TikTok, Highsnobiety, NTWRK & more.” The tweet shouts out Michelle Goad, the Gen Z Innovation Leader at Nike. “It’s time to redefine what ‘Just Do It’ really means,” an attached announcement video read.

The app frequently posts pictures of women in Nike gear and includes a section called “Introducing Women at Nike,” a segment kicked off with Kelly Cooper Krone. It even keeps up with current events, speaking out about racist attacks on Asian communities.

Other subtle hints about the app are sprinkled around the internet. Stephanie Specht of Specht Studio says on her website that she is creating affirmation visuals for the app focused on “girls who ‘Just Do It’ their way.” Specht also says the app is designed and developed by Enjoy The Weather.

Nike women’s products reached a sales mark of $7.4 billion in 2019, up from $6.9 billion the year prior. In its December earnings report, Nike said its women’s category grew faster than its overall business, crediting new yoga gear and plus-size apparel.

In 2015, Nike announced plans to turn its women’s fitness category into “an $11 billion empire.”

Steph Curry and a dedicated group of golfers, coaches, and executives are working to bring more diversity to a sport where an estimated 3% of recreational players are Black.

Curry, an avid golfer himself, made a seven-figure donation in 2019 to fund a men’s and women’s Division I golf program at Howard University, which is historically Black. The donation, which will be paid out over six years, supported a coaching hire, scholarships, and initial recruitment. The university will also receive equipment from Curry-affiliated Callaway Golf.

The idea came to Curry after speaking with a single student, Otis Ferguson IV, who is passionate about golf. 

“What I’ve done for Howard in trying to create an endowment there is special, and you can create a template that looks like that at other schools,” Curry said in a recent interview on the Beyond the Fairway podcast. 

“If you even looked at when I played in the match with Phil [Mickelson], Chuck [Barkley], and Peyton [Manning], that was five hours of national broadcast television that was all about HBCUs,” he added, referring to a charity match he played last November.

To diversify the sport in a sustainable way, golf will need to become more accessible on a number of levels.

“The game of golf in general, and just the business of golf, is obviously predicated on the middle-aged white man who has historically owned the game,” Curry told the Undefeated. “I think all around the country there is work being done … to make golf more affordable, more fun, more approachable.”

Initially slowed by the pandemic, Howard’s program is finally off and running. The team played its third match of the season on Sunday against Georgetown.

Tencent, the Chinese conglomerate and global leader in gaming, has started to invest not only in its wheelhouse of games but the players behind the screen.

“Tencent’s investing in esports for the long haul because it breaks the boundaries between different businesses,” Ampere Analysis game industry analyst Chundi Zhang told Bloomberg. 

As Asia’s most valuable company, Tencent hopes to grow esports into something comparable to the NBA — and it’s not far behind. In October, nearly the same number of people tuned in for the League of Legends world championship held by Tencent as the six games of the 2020 NBA Finals. 

The company’s push to invest in its players is part of a bigger plan to dominate online entertainment. Tencent wants to be a leader not only in gaming but video streaming and social media as well. 

“Esports is like the Super Bowl, which isn’t just a sport event but also a vehicle of art and entertainment,” TJ Sports co-CEO Leo Lin told Bloomberg. “We are going for the direction of connecting esports with our games and wider entertainment business.”

TJ Sports, a joint venture company with Riot Games, hopes to make League of Legends esports the most professional, influential, and commercially valuable sport in China by creating original content like reality shows around its star players and teams. 

The venture is off to a great start, surpassing $152 million in revenue since its launch in 2019. Esports is gaining momentum in the States, too. Players from the U.S. brought in more than $110 million in total earnings in 2020.

Victor, a small town in Western New York, is the new home of the biggest Dick’s Sporting Goods store ever.

If you’re looking to get in a quick workout with gear off the shelf, you’ll want to check out the 100,000-square-foot building in the Eastview Mall. Called House of Sport, the store includes an indoor rock-climbing wall, golf driving bay, putting bay, and health and wellness store. A track-and-turf field sits just outside.

“We really look at this as it’s almost like starting a brand-new company,” said executive chairman and chief merchant Ed Stack. “The vision that I laid out for this concept was we wanted to build the store … the experience that would put Dick’s Sporting Goods out of business.”

House of Sport will act as a test site for other Dick’s Sporting Good stores — elements that perform well are likely to be implemented elsewhere. Dick’s will also allow local sports teams to use its field and groups to use its conference room.

Experiential concepts have been on the rise in retail.

• YETI’s first flagship store opened in 2017 and includes a YETI bar and performance stage. 
• Nordstrom recently added Tonal stations to at least 40 locations.
• The House of Vans includes a skatepark.

The opening comes at a time when shoppers are eager to get back to spending. Bloomberg estimates around $1.7 trillion was saved from the beginning of the pandemic through January, and consumer spending is expected for its strongest showing over the next two quarters in 70 years.

The next House of Sport store is slated open to next month in Knoxville, Tennessee. Dick’s reported Q4 2020 net sales of $3.1 billion. Full-year net sales reached $9.58 billion.