🔊 New $25 Million Sports & Entertainment Fund

📰 TOP STORY
Sharp Alpha Advisors Raises $25 Million For New Sports, Gaming & Entertainment Fund

• Sharp Alpha Advisors Has Raised A $25 Million Second Fund. The venture capital firm based in New York City targets early-stage software companies in the sports, gaming, and entertainment industries. The vehicle, Sharp Alpha Fund II, plans on making investments of $1 million to $2 million apiece in 15 startups, according to managing partner Lloyd Danzig. Danzig also said the fund was oversubscribed and they would ultimately raise more than $25 million, but he declined to provide the fund’s hard cap. Sharp Alpha is interested in companies in what Danzig refers to as “competitive entertainment.” Examples include technology companies that cater to sports betting, fantasy sports, streaming platforms, and video games (more here).

💰 MONEY MOVES 
Former NFL Tight End Launches The First Youth Sports Digital Media Platform

• Youth Inc. Launches Youth Sports Content & Commerce Marketplace With $4.5 Million Seed Round. Co-founded by NFL alum and decorated Fox Sports broadcaster, Greg Olsen, Youth Inc. is the first digital media network dedicated exclusively to youth sports content. Will Ventures led the round with co-investments from Ryan Sports Ventures, Hello Sunshine co-founder Jim Toth, NFL QBs Josh Allen and CJ Stroud, Ohio State Football Coach Ryan Day, and ISOS Ventures (more here).

• Cristiano Ronaldo Invests In SportsTech Start-Up Whoop. Global soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo is now an investor in the wearable technology start-up Whoop, which is headed for international growth by expanding into the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council). The investment from the Portuguese footballer was not disclosed but is "one of the largest if not the largest investment he's made in a company" according to founder Will Ahmed (more here).

• Legendary NFL Quarterback Drew Brees Invests In Sports Illustrated Tickets. Brees, who has become a more active investor since retiring, will not only serve as a brand ambassador for the platform but will also provide business counsel and appear in various marketing initiatives. The future Hall-of-Famer is the second NFL player to join the Sports Illustrated Tickets investor group after former Dallas Cowboys DB James Washington (more here).

• Chernin Group Invests Close To $39 Million In Classic Football Shirts. Classic Football Shirts sells vintage and current soccer apparel and match-worn shirts. It was founded in Manchester, U.K., in 2006 by Doug Bierton and Matthew Dale. Chernin plans to help the company expand its presence in the US, which is its second-largest market and accounts for about 15% of its revenue (more here).

• BridgeAthletic Acquires Game Plan & Raises Strategic Growth Capital. BridgeAthletic, the premier provider of strength and conditioning software, announced the closing of a strategic growth investment and the acquisition of Game Plan, the leading learning management system built to serve athletic organizations and teams (more here).

• Broadway Show Caster Inks $20 Million Deal In Sports Push. Entertainment agency RWS Global is acquiring sports event production company Great Big Events in a deal worth nearly $20 million. Great Big Events, based in Waterloo, Australia, has worked on many top international sporting events, such as the Olympics, Rugby World Cup, and world championship tournaments across several sports. Private equity firm Bluestone Equity Partners, led by former NBA executive Bobby Sharma, invested nearly $20 million in RWS in September (more here).

• Stupa Sports Analytics Raises Rs 28 Crore (About $3.3 Million) From Centre Court Capital & Peer Capital. Founded in 2020, Stupa Sports Analytics provides game federations and sports teams with analytics of player performance data, broadcasting capabilities, and sports digitization tools through its various platforms. It currently focuses on racquet sports and most of its business comes from European countries like Sweden, Spain, Norway, and Portugal (more here)

 🤝 PARTNERSHIPS
Fanatics Dives Into Podcast Sponsorship With New Partnership

• Fanatics Announces Multi-Year Partnership With The Pivot Podcast. The company is becoming the primary partner of The Pivot Podcast, an interview show hosted by former NFL players—Fred Taylor, Ryan Clark, and Channing Crowder. Under the multi-year agreement, the many different Fanatics brands will have placement on the podcast, and the show will have access to Fanatics’ events (such as CEO Michael Rubin’s Super Bowl party) and its network of athletes (more here).

• PlaySight & Cracked Racquets Announce Partnership. PlaySight, a global leader in sports technology, and Cracked Racquets, a full-service broadcast media company, announced a strategic partnership aimed at transforming the broadcasting experience in racquet sports. This collaboration brings together PlaySight’s cutting-edge AI video technology and Cracked Racquets’ innovative approach to content creation (more here).

• Reeplayer, Inc. Selects Native Frame To Transform The Soccer Viewing Experience. Native Frame announced that Reeplayer, an autonomous video capture technology for soccer has picked Native Frame to provide a premium live-streaming experience. This collaboration aims to revolutionize the soccer viewing experience by integrating Reeplayer's AI-driven soccer video camera with Native Frame's cutting-edge live-streaming video platform (more here).

• Philadelphia Eagles Partner With TickPick. The Philadelphia Eagles announced a partnership with TickPick that will offer exclusive gameday experiences and perks for Eagles fans throughout the season. The new multi-year agreement will designate TickPick as an “Official Fan Experience Partner of the Philadelphia Eagles.” As part of the deal, the TickPick Landing will debut at Lincoln Financial Field in 2024, a new and exclusive pregame fan experience featuring all-inclusive food and beverage options, and meet-and-greets with Eagles Legends (more here).

• Los Angeles Rams Partner With TickPick. TickPick also announced a multi-year partnership with the Los Angeles Rams to offer exclusive game-day experiences for Rams fans. As the Official Fan Experience Partner of the Los Angeles Rams, TickPick will introduce a variety of new ticket packages for fans, including Ultimate Fan Experience Tickets (more here).

• Neo Financial Becomes The First Financial Partner Of The CEBL. The Canadian Elite Basketball League announced a landmark national partnership with Canadian fintech leader, Neo Financial, to become the first official financial partner in the league’s history (more here).

• Chiliz & Atlético De Madrid Enhance Partnership With Innovative Fan Token Integration. The collaboration aims to strengthen the Atlético de Madrid Fan Token, making it more accessible to fans through the club's official app and digital ecosystem. This expanded partnership offers Atlético de Madrid Fan Token holders an increased number of benefits, alongside a larger number of rewards (more here).

🔊 OTHER SPORTS NEWS
Latino Sports Executives Launch New Platform To Promote Hispanics In Sports

• NHL’s Coyotes CEO & Other Latino Sports Executives Launch Platform To Promote Hispanics In Sports. Arizona Coyotes CEO Xavier Gutierrez is partnering with three other Latino executives to launch ‘LiS: Latinos in Sports,’ a platform designed to promote Hispanic advancement in sports (more here)

• Netflix To Show NFL’s Two Christmas Day Games In 2024. The streaming giant is paying about $75 million a game in the company’s highest-profile live-sporting event (more here).

• Goldman Sachs’ Big Bet On Sports. Nicole Pullen Ross, New York Region Head of Private Wealth Management and Head of Sports and Entertainment Solutions at Goldman Sachs discusses whether money flow will change how leagues will change women’s sports (more here).

• Takeaways From New Statcast MLB Bat-Tracking Data. The MLB released a trove of bat-tracking data that offers fascinating insights into what makes the best hitters good -- and the worst bad (more here).

• Houston Sports Tech Founder Wants To See Athletes Investing. Abdul Foster has trained some of Houston’s biggest names in sports over the past decade. Now he wants to see them investing in local technology, including his own startup (more here).

• Inside NBA Star Chris Paul’s Business Portfolio. NBA guard Chris Paul aspires to own an NBA franchise, a WNBA franchise—and at least 61 shares of Chevron. He discussed his portfolio at the Nasdaq MarketSite with Forbes senior writer Jabari Young (more here).

• Sports AI Can Be A Game-Changing Partner For Coaches. With the rise of data analytics and artificial intelligence in sports, concerns have been raised about their potential to replace coaches' intuition and creativity (more here).

• Steve Young Is Interested In Sports Tech, Not An NFL Stake. As a private equity investor, former 49ers quarterback Steve Young is interested in sports-related technology and services but there's one thing he's not looking for: an NFL franchise stake (more here).