In the Game

Anand & Vlad analyze the week's top sports business stories:  Amazon Prime could soon be the world's largest sports broadcaster. "The other team in Liverpool", Everton, will build a world-class stadium.  Will that lift them into the top-tier of European football?  Most pro tennis players can't earn a living on tour.  Novak Djokovic questions if the ATP is broken.

Listen in for some great analysis surrounding:

AMAZON PRIME
 - Steadily acquiring rights to major league sports around the world
 - How Premier League rights has boosted Prime Membership
 - Who stands to benefit from more OTT platforms grabbing media rights

EVERTON FC's NEW STADIUM
 - Everton FC has a $700m stadium approved
 - How this will transform their revenue, brand and value
 - Why modern stadia are critical to teams' value

IS THE ATP TOUR FLEECING ITS PLAYERS?
 - 100s of tennis pros struggle to break even on tour
 - Is the ATP hoarding all the wealth?
 - Djokovic and Pospisil want players to join a new Union

In The Game is a weekly podcast focused on covering the business of sports. 

Hosted by Vladimir Bosanac and Anand Panjabi, they analyze everything from data analytics to broadcast rights, from digital innovation to billion-dollar buyouts.  if you love sports and business, In The Game has got you covered.

Talk to us online:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/InTheGameHQ

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/InTheGameHQ
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inthegamepod/ 

Joe Pompliano joins Anand & Vlad for the second part of our discussion about the Sports Industry.  Listen in to learn about how you can invest in your favorite sports teams, why now you could profit from million-dollar sports cards, how digital sports assets bring opportunities for athletes, teams, leagues and fans.

Joe created Huddle Up, a daily newsletter where he discusses everything at the intersection of sports, money and business.  Topics have included how athletes monetize their personal brands, private equity and VC investments in sports, the growth of data analytics, the upcoming explosion of sports betting and much more.

In a fascinating discussion we learn:

• Joe’s transition from investment banking to creating Huddle Up 
• How much work goes into creating a daily sports business newsletter
• How anyone can now own a diverse portfolio of professional sports team in a single fund
• How his marketing partnership with Roundhill Investments and the $MVP ETF originated 
• How the global market for sports continues to steadily grow - particular the value of teams
• Why online sports betting is set for explosive growth in the USA
• His partnership with Collectible - a platform for fractional ownership of sports memorabilia & how anyone can now own the most valuable items
• Why single sports trading cards are selling for millions of dollars
• The multiple opportunities NFTs bring to the sports industry 
• New ways athletes, teams and leagues are engaging fans digitally 

Links to Joe Pompliano

• Twitter - https://twitter.com/JoePompliano
• Huddle Up Newsletter: : https://huddleup.substack.com/

Talk to us online:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/InTheGameHQ

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/InTheGameHQ
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inthegamepod/ 

The NFL has just closed some amazing broadcast deals and accomplished its goal to double its revenue over the next decade. But, they're also lowering the salary cap, which means the teams' margins just went up. Significantly! This provides maximum flexibility for the ownership and less flexibility for players, but it will certainly be a sticking point at the next collective bargaining discussion.

Patrick Mahomes & Rob Gronkowski have now successfully sold NFTs! Yes, the non-fungible token craze is entering sports, and you can bet that leagues and teams and players are all going to jump in on this. Leading the way is the NBA with its Top Shot product, which by all measures has been a great success. 

When Fernando Tatis Jr. signed his mega-deal with the San Diego Padres, he was not the only one celebrating. Big League Advance, which invested in Tatis when he was 17 years old, now owns a portion of his income. It's an interesting approach to the business of sport, and it seems like something that will expand rapidly throughout the sports world.   

We love feedback! Send us your suggestions or comments and get IN THE GAME!

Twitter: @InTheGameHQ
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Joe Pompliano decided in early 2020 to leave his fixed income Wall Street job to pursue a passion in telling stories about sports and business. Since kicking off this initiative, he's garnered over 32,000 followers on Substack and over 164,000 Twitter followers.

He joins us today to talk about one of the top news items that hit the airwaves last week, the NFL's successful doubling of broadcast fees with its network partners. We also discuss his growing media ambitions and how he's getting into the investment game by helping launch a sports team ETF. 

We love feedback! Send us your suggestions or comments and get IN THE GAME!

Twitter: @InTheGameHQ
Facebook: @InTheGameHQ

Vlad and Anand discuss LeBron James's investment into Fenway Sports Group, owners of the Boston Red Sox and Liverpool FC. They also analyze Beneliga, a proposed merger between 2 European Soccer Leagues - Belgian's First Division A and Holland's Eredivisie. Finally a look at how rapid growth in the Sports Gambling industry is reflected in the expanding value of the $BETZ ETF.

"Shorts" is In The Game's new mid-week look at the intriguing sports business stories of the current week.  Like a double shot of gourmet espresso, but delivered straight to your ears.

We love feedback! Send us your suggestions or comments and get IN THE GAME!

Twitter: @InTheGameHQ
Facebook: @InTheGameHQ

Even with all the complaining some All-Stars did, the big NBA weekend was, buy most accounts, pretty successful. Most importantly, the stars had a really good time, and everyone could tell. Some of those at the weekend reminded us that there are different ways to get to the league, and we explore some of those paths the new stars will likely take to enter the professional ranks. Our take is that college will not be a natural stepping stone for everyone, and we're already seeing some interesting and some less so interesting options pop up.

Recent reporting by the Washington Post has found that the Big 10 schools used a secret portal to exchange ideas and communications before announcing their indecision to kick off the 2020 football season. Why even have a secret portal? Probably a little more oversight on these public institutions is necessary.

Another sports analytics firm gets hits a high note. Sportradar, which counts a number of professional leagues as clients and sports an enviable roster of investors, may be considering going public via a SPAC. Most importantly, it's valuation jumped from $2.4B to $10B, which will be a great exit for the investors and also a new watermark for analytics firms entering the world of sport.

We love feedback! Send us suggestions or comments and get IN THE GAME!!!

Twitter: @InTheGameHQ
Facebook: @InTheGameHQ

The NFL is in a protracted battle to double its broadcast revenues over the next decade, and one story recently came out saying their supposed deal with Disney is not getting them quite what they were hoping to achieve. Whether that's true or not, we'll find out soon.  If, however, the revenue shortfall is as large as the claim states, it will be difficult for America's most successful sport to reach its goals.

News is beginning to circulate that the 2021 Tokyo Olympics are going to be canceled. No matter how many vaccines hit our arms before July, the world is not ready for something like this, and we hope the rumors may be true - time to cancel the games!

European soccer teams are nowhere near the value of American sports teams, which makes them especially interesting for wealthy Americans looking to diversify their sports portfolios. Furthermore, they bring the economic, marketing, branding and real estate prowess to a market in need of modernization. Investments are already paying off handsomely.   

We love feedback! Send us suggestions or comments and get IN THE GAME!!!
Twitter: @InTheGameHQ

Today's episode takes us to Indianapolis, where Telemetry Sports CEO Jeremy Hochstedler talks about innovation in sports analytics and his company's foray into NFL and MLB professional leagues. Teams are turning to data more and more, and his firm is at the forefront of helping teams identify ways to optimize the performance of its players.

But first, we tackle NFL's broadcasting rights, which have been in place for 10 years now, and arguably the world's most successful sports enterprise wants to double its fees. Will Fox, CBS, NBC and Disney give in? Will Amazon become a major player in this space? Early indication is that this will be a tough negotiation.

Have you heard of Top Shot, a non-fungible token that is transforming the world of sports memorabilia? You can own a rare clip of an NBA game featuring your favorite athlete, and through blockchain, you will be ensured that this clip is only yours. One of LeBron James recently resold for over $200,000!

We love feedback! Send us suggestions or comments and get IN THE GAME!!! @InTheGameHQ

Athletes Unlimited is about to kick off something others have failed to sustain in the past - a women's professional volleyball league in the US . They're taking a novel approach to the play, the scoring and the revenue. It's a play they've already tested with a professional softball league, and lacrosse is next. But this month's kick of the league in Dallas, Tex. will be something to watch. We sat down with Athletes Unlimited's CEO, Jon Patricof, for an insider's perspective on the venture.

Christiano Ronaldo passes 500 million social media followers. He is the first 'entity' to do so, which changes the landscape for branding, selling products and earning revenue during and post his amazing career.  Let the marketing disintermediation begin!

The NBA All Star weekend is upon us, but the stars are not so hot on playing this time around. It's a curious argument, but the show must go on. The NBA is big business, and this weekend, in particular, is big business for the league globally. Guess who wins this argument?!?

The Los Angeles Lakers are shopping their jersey patch claiming it's worth $200 million for any sponsor. OK, let's see what the market says about that.

We love feedback! Send us suggestions or comments and get IN THE GAME!!! @IntheGamePodca1 

Before we properly introduce Matt Doherty (@DohertyMatt), we have a couple of story items to cover. We are recording this just after the Superbowl game ended, and as we look at what the Buccaneers managed to do during this weekend’s game, we notice that there is some correlation between their success and their ownership. 

But, probably one of our favorite Super Bowl stories has nothing to do with the sport and everything to do with marketing…and Apple Computer....all this and more on this week’s episode of the Pod On Point podcast.