🔊 $12B In Private Equity Is Coming To The NFL

📰 TOP STORY
NFL Approves Private Equity Investment Into Franchises

• On Tuesday's special league meeting in Eagan, Minnesota, NFL owners voted to allow select private equity firms to buy up to a 10% stake in a team. Each fund or consortium will be able to do deals with up to six teams. The vote passed with support from 31 of the 32 franchise owners. Only Cincinnati Bengals owner Mike Brown voted against the measure. The initially approved firms include Ares Management, Sixth Street Partners, and Arctos Partners, in addition to a consortium nicknamed “The Avengers” that includes Dynasty Equity, Blackstone, Carlyle Group, CVC Capital Partners, and Ludis, a platform founded by investor and former NFL running back Curtis Martin. The firms collectively have $2T in assets and intend to commit $12B of capital to be raised (inclusive of leverage) over time, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified to speak about terms that were not public. With at least four investor groups able to invest in up to six teams each, that averages out to $500M of added capital for each team that receives an investment (more here).

💰 MONEY MOVES 
Home Run Dugout Raises Series A Round

• Home Run Dugout Raises $22.5M Series A. Home Run Dugout, an Austin, Texas-based entertainment provider featuring indoor soft-toss baseball, raised $22.5M in Series A funding. Lagniappe Capital Partners led the round with participation from BCS Capital and existing investors. The company intends to use the funds to expand its footprint to include new locations in San Antonio and Scottsdale (more here).

• Verofax Raises $3M Bridge Round. Verofax, a Web3 services company, announced a $3M bridge round to deploy AR/AI experiences for sports fans. The round was led by Plug & Play Tech Center, Navig8 Group, King Abdullah University for Science and Technology, Trove Capital UK follow-on investment, Jawa Brothers Advisory, with Alzamil Pedco CVC and Tracecore CVC (more here).

• Myco Raises $10M Series A Round. UAE-based Web3 streaming platform, myco, has completed its Series A round, raising $10M from prominent venture investors across MENA, North America, and Europe including Daman Investments, Aptos Labs, B Digital, Mocha Ventures, Art3 Foundation, Ghaf Capital Partners, Mix Media Network, Factor6 Capital Partners, and Enjinstarter, along with several prominent strategic angel investors. The company’s live-streaming division has secured major rights until 2025, including ICC and PSL Cricket Rights for Pakistan, all major cricketing rights for North America via Willow TV, and rights for the World Squash Federation and Egypt Squash Federation (more here).

• Cork Gym Software Startup LegitFit Raises €1.7M. Cork-based gym management software company LegitFit has raised around €1.74M as it looks to expand its growth in the UK market. The company was founded in 2019 and received backing from Business Venture Partners through EIIS, venture capital fund Delta Partners, and TechStars (more here).

• KKR Completes Acquisition Of Varsity Brands. Varsity Brands, a leader in team sports, athletics, and spirit, and KKR, a leading global investment firm, announced the completion of the acquisition of Varsity Brands by KKR from Bain Capital and Charlesbank. As the new majority owner of Varsity Brands, KKR will support the company as it continues to grow (more here).

• DraftKings Agrees To Acquire In-Game Betting Site Simplebet For Up To $195M. DraftKings agreed to acquire Simplebet Inc., which specializes in wagers placed during a live sporting event, saying the deal will make betting easier for customers. DraftKings plans to integrate the Simplebet models into its systems (more here).

• NFLPA Sues DraftKings For $65M. The NFLPA is suing DraftKings, an official betting partner of the NFL, for breach of contract and alleges that the sportsbook giant owes approximately $65M from a licensing agreement (more here).

 🤝 PARTNERSHIPS
Inter Miami CF Teams Up With Polkadot

• Inter Miami CF Announce Polkadot As The Club’s Official Global Training Partner. Inter Miami announced a partnership with Polkadot, a leading blockchain software platform, becoming the Club’s Global Training Partner. Inter Miami’s First Team training kit will showcase the Polkadot logo front and center on all training tops. They will debut the partnership at training before the Club's away match on Saturday, August 31st versus Chicago Fire FC. In addition, all players and technical staff will sport the Polkadot-branded training tops during official team training sessions at Inter Miami’s state-of-the-art Florida Blue Training Center, on the road, and throughout pre-match warm-ups (more here).

• Tixbase Enters Exclusive Partnership With PASSO. Tixbase, an innovative blockchain-based ticketing platform, and Passo, Turkey's leading event ticketing company, have announced an exclusive 5-year partnership. This collaboration aims to address critical issues in the ticketing industry by enhancing security, and transparency, and providing a seamless experience for consumers and event organizers, while also regulating the secondary market and setting new standards in the ticketing industry (more here).

• ARound, Minnesota United FC & Target Unveil First-Ever In-Stadium AR Experience In The MLS. ARound, the leader in large-scale AR experiences that is part of Stagwell recently launched a groundbreaking in-stadium AR experience for Minnesota United FC in partnership with Target. This marks the first integration of stadium AR technology into an MLS pregame celebration, setting a new standard for fan engagement at Allianz Field (more here).

• WSO Signs Partnership With DigiMithril To Bring AI Into Squash Refereeing. World Squash Officiating (WSO), the organization dedicated to the regulation of squash officiating worldwide, signed a partnership with sports startup DigiMithril to bring AI into squash refereeing. DigiMithril, founded by tech entrepreneur Pragun Seth, has created a state-of-the-art AI platform called IntelliReferee to detect interference in squash and make objective decisions in real time. IntelliReferee measures a range of factors, including distance between players, access to front wall, frontal and lateral interference, ball speed, and angle to make objective decisions which are then relayed to the video referee to assist them (more here).

• Catapult Launches Live In-Game Video Solutions With The SEC. Catapult, a global leader in sports technology solutions for sports teams, unveiled its innovative sideline video solution through an agreement with the Southeastern Conference (SEC) for football. Earlier this year the NCAA Football Rules Committee approved the use of sideline video solutions for live review, beginning with the upcoming 2024 football season. The SEC will be the first college football conference to integrate Catapult’s sideline video technology across all 16 conference teams (more here).

🔊 ATHLETES & OTHER SPORTS NEWS
Kelce Brothers Sign $100M Podcast Deal

• Jason Kelce & Travis Kelce Reportedly Sign $100M+ Podcast Deal. NFL players Jason and Travis Kelce are the latest podcasters to strike a huge deal with a streaming service, inking a three-year agreement worth a reported $100M that will give Wondery, a podcast streamer owned by Amazon, exclusive advertising sales and distribution rights to their “New Heights” show (more here).

• 'Pro Athletes Experience Life Backward': Here's How NBA Stars Are Setting Themselves Up For Success When The Game Is Over. NBA players such as Michael Carter-Williams and Marcus and Markeiff Morris are teaming up with business leaders, transferring their skills and success from the hardwood to the boardroom (more here).

• Huupe Launches A Smaller Version Of Smart Basketball Hoop. Huupe, a sports tech start-up has introduced what it describes as the world's first smart basketball hoop gaming console, the Huupe Mini. The co-founders of Huupe, Lyth Saeed, and Paul Anton, say the Huupe Mini brings the driveway basketball experience of the company's standard hoop product consisting of a backboard doubling as a monitor to indoor locations on a miniature scale (more here).

• Scorability Launches Data-Driven Athlete Evaluation Software for College Football Recruiting. Scorability, the first company of its kind in collegiate athletic recruiting, announced the launch of its athlete evaluation platform, designed to revolutionize college football recruiting. Already in use by programs across all NCAA Divisions and Junior College associations, the software aims to transform how college coaches discover, evaluate, and predict the success of prospective student-athletes (more here).

• NFL, NFLPA & StatusPro Unveil New Path For NFL Pro Era VR Game. The NFL, the NFLPA, and StatusPro announced the next version of the NFL Pro Era virtual reality game with significant changes. StatusPro is dedicated to delivering immersive games that extend VR to first-person sports experiences. NFL Pro Era 2025 will move to a live service model and feature a deeper NFL gaming experience with upgrades and additions that allow you to control and compete on both sides of the ball with every NFL team (more here).

• Disney Sees AI Helping To Personalize New ESPN App. ESPN network is exploring the use of AI to help personalize its news and recap show "SportsCenter" as younger audiences embrace streaming television, ESPN Chairperson Jimmy Pitaro said this week. Disney is also working to add features such as betting, fantasy sports, and e-commerce to the new app. The company released the ESPN Bet app in November after reaching a $2B deal with casino owner Penn Entertainment (more here).

• Apple Sports App Adds New Features. Apple Sports, the free app for iPhone that gives sports fans access to real-time scores, stats, and more introduced a new way for fans to stay up to date with the NFL and college football seasons. New updates for NFL and college football games include enhancements to play-by-play, offering quick access to scoring drives presented alongside the view of every gameplay (more here).

💬 INTERVIEWS
Meet The Founders & Innovators Building The Future Of Sports

• How Playmaker HQ Became A Leading Sports Media Company. Sports media has drastically evolved. Over the past few years, many multimillion-dollar sports brands have been built off social media alone. Playmaker HQ is one of them. Founder Brandon Harris leveraged his hoop experiences, marketing skills, and many growth tactics to take the company from an idea to a 25M acquisition in 2023. Now he's focused on taking the brand to the next level through compelling shows that feature some of the world's most entertaining athletes. In this interview, we discuss the early days of Playmaker, how the acquisition with Better Collective came about, and his advice for other founders who might be looking to sell their company (more here).

• How Kuul Play Is Reimagining Sports & Wellness For Kids. Physical activity in schools is going down. According to a JAMA Pediatrics study, children’s physical activity worldwide dropped by 20% during the Covid-19 pandemic. Many people blame technology but it can also be a solution. Enter Clare McSweeney and Kuul Play. Kuul Play is a digital platform that empowers educators, parents, and caregivers to get all kids moving. They provide a structured curriculum, interactive gaming, and learning content that helps promote physical literacy. The platform is also inclusive and even targets kids who aren’t as interested in sports. In this interview, we discuss the factors that prevent physical activity, the challenges she’s experienced building the company, and how she sees the future playing out (more here).