🔊 French Billionaire Buys Paris FC

📰 TOP STORY
Bernard Arnault & Family Partners With RedBull To Purchase Paris FC

• LVMH Owner Bernard Arnault Is Buying Paris FC With Red Bull. In collaboration with Red Bull, Bernard Arnault's family is poised to take ownership of Paris FC, a key club in France's second tier of football. This acquisition highlights Arnault's expanding footprint in the sports world. Arnault and his five adult children, who all play active roles within the LVMH group, will secure majority ownership through one of their investment holdings, alongside the global energy drink brand Red Bull, as per insiders familiar with the transaction. The arrangement will see Paris FC's president, Pierre Ferracci, maintain a 30% stake in the club until 2027, after which he intends to step back. The Arnault family will initially acquire a 55% interest in the club, with plans to eventually purchase Ferracci's remaining shares in the coming years, while Red Bull will take a 15% slice. This move follows LVMH’s recent 10-year (supposedly worth $1B) deal with Formula 1, marking a growing trend of luxury brands connecting with the sports world to expand their influence. The Paris FC deal, first shared by the sports news outlet L'Équipe, remains subject to possible changes (more here).

💰 MONEY MOVES 
TOCA Football Raises Series F Round

• TOCA Football Raises $100M Series F Round. Toca Football, a California-based soccer experience company, raised approximately $100M in Series F funding. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate its global growth by investing in new technologies, upgrading its TOCA Soccer training centers, and opening additional soccer-themed TOCA Social entertainment venues. Backers included Jim Kavanaugh, founder and CEO of World Wide Technology (WWT) and co-owner of the professional soccer team St. Louis City SC, and members of his leadership team; Bill Anderson, former chairman and CEO of Anderson Holdings, founder of First Beverage Group, and founder of June Street Capital; Jared Smith, co-founder of Qualtrics; chess grandmaster and soccer enthusiast Magnus Carlsen; and existing investor and England Men’s National Team captain Harry Kane (more here).

• Major League Table Tennis Raises $5.5M. Major League Table Tennis announced a significant investment round to accelerate the growth and transform the landscape of professional table tennis in North America. The $5.5M investment, raised from influential figures in the business of sports, includes David Blitzer, a senior executive at Blackstone and the only person to own team equity in the five major North American sports leagues; and Daryl Morey, the Philadelphia 76ers' President of Basketball Operations. More than 20 other business leaders also participated in this investment round (more here).

• Infinite Reality Acquires Zapper For $45M. Infinite Reality, a metaverse company that builds and powers virtual reality e-commerce and immersive digital media experiences, announced the acquisition of Zappar, a London-based XR platform, and creative studio. Through this acquisition, Infinite Reality will expand its product portfolio with Zappar's advanced technology suite. Zappar has already created AR activations for the 49ers and Vikings and has also worked with Disney and NBC Universal (more here).

• Dyn Media Plans To Raise Funding Round At ‘€60M’ Valuation. German sports streaming platform Dyn Media is preparing for a funding round that could value the company at about €60M or more, according to Bloomberg. Dyn is reportedly working with commercial bank UniCredit on gauging interest from both TV broadcasters and financial investors. The funding would provide Dyn with both cash and media advertising rights, to expand both its reach and brand awareness (more here).

• Vozzi Raises $7M. Vozzi, an engagement platform based in Salt Lake City announced a $7M minority growth investment from Growth Street Partners. The company will use the investment to expand its platform, invest in its team, and further its leadership position in a rapidly adopting market. Vozzi is changing the way the sports and entertainment industry interacts with their audiences. The company’s all-in-one texting solution empowers brands to modernize their fan engagement strategies and boost revenue (more here).

• RotoUnderworld Closes $1.5M Pre-Seed Round. RotoUnderworld, a technology company that analyzes statistical data for fantasy sports, announced a $1.5M pre-seed funding round to build the next-generation fantasy gaming platform. The round was led by iGaming mavens and technology investors recognizing the company's hyperactive user base and mobile development capabilities (more here).

• LeagueApps Secures Equity Investment. LeagueApps, a leading youth sports management platform announced a significant equity investment from Accel-KKR, a technology-focused investment firm. The investment will advance LeagueApps’ role in providing youth and local sports organizers with the tools, partnerships, and community they need to succeed on and off the field helping them manage and grow their clubs, tournaments, leagues, camps, and facilities (more here).

• Aston Villa Minority Stakeholder Atairos Injects £50M Into The Club. Aston Villa minority stakeholder Atairos invested an additional £50M in equity into the club, increasing its overall stake to 31.1%. Last December, the US-based investment company announced a deal to become a minority partner in V Sports, the holding company jointly owned by Villa’s owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens (more here).

• Pohlad Family Looks To Sell Minnesota Twins. The Pohlad family, who has owned the MLB team for 40 years, decided to explore a sale this past summer. Forbes valued the Twins at $1.4B ahead of the 2024 season. That valuation ranked 21st among 30 MLB clubs. Businessman Carl Pohlad purchased the Twins from Calvin Griffith for $44M in 1984 (more here).

 🤝 PARTNERSHIPS
EFL Announces Innovation Lab In Partnership With L Marks

• EFL Partners With L Marks To Launch An Innovation Lab. The English Football League announced a partnership with L Marks, a leading corporate innovation specialist, to pioneer game-changing innovations through a first-of-its-kind innovation lab. The 10-week immersive program offers founders the opportunity to work directly with at least one of the clubs in the league, learn from their senior executives, gain insights from a potential future client in the football sector, and test their innovative ideas in a real-world football environment (more here).

• Yahoo Sports Partners With The Athletic. Yahoo Sports and The Athletic announced a partnership to create a new home for comprehensive women’s sports coverage. The destination, a women’s sports hub on the Yahoo Sports website and app will guide fans to written, audio, and video content produced by Yahoo Sports and The Athletic. The coverage will be free and available globally (more here).

• Champion Venture Partners Partners With Chapwood Investments. Champion Venture Partners (CVP) has announced a partnership with Texas-based financial advisory services firm Chapwood Investments on the development of a financial education program for athletes, celebrities, and high-earning professionals in the entertainment industry. The program will encompass all aspects of financial literacy, from fostering informed decision-making to empowering sustainable wealth-building (more here).

• Rice University Partners With BeOne Sports. Rice University’s Office of Innovation and Rice Athletics has formed a partnership with BeOne Sports, a startup founded by Rice alumni pioneering advanced sports performance technology. By integrating BeOne Sports’ mobile motion-capture AI and advanced data analytics with Rice’s premier sports medicine and rehabilitation programs, the partnership sets a new standard for athlete care, injury prevention, and performance optimization (more here).

🔊 ATHLETES & OTHER SPORTS NEWS
Allyson Felix Announces Women-Focused Management Firm

• Allyson Felix Launches Women-Focused Sports Management Firm. Olympic track and field legend Allyson Felix announced the launch Always Alpha, the first talent management firm focused exclusively on women’s sports. Always Alpha is a subsidiary of Dolphin, a NASDAQ-listed public relations, marketing, media production, and venture company. Her co-founders are Dolphin CEO Bill O’Dowd, her brother Wes Felix, and former Wasserman agent Cosette Chaput, who will serve as Always Alpha’s CEO (more here).

• When Malcolm Jenkins Became A Minority Owner In England's Burnley FC, He Was The Only Active NFL Player To Have Stake In The EPL. When Malcolm Jenkins secured a stake in England’s Burnley FC, he made history in the process. Sports Illustrated reported the three-time Pro Bowl safety became an investor — through Malcolm INC and Disrupt Sports Partners — in the Burnley, Lancashire-based professional team within the English Premier League (EPL) back in 2021. He joined the new ownership group, ALK Capital (more here).

• How Roger Goodell Became The NFL’s $20B Man. Under the expansionist leadership of its commissioner, the National Football League is growing richer and richer. So, too, is Mr. Goodell. Roger Goodell has spent his entire career at the NFL, starting as an intern after college. As commissioner, he has earned more than $63M a year (more here).

• Jerry Jones Sees ‘Huge Growth Left’ As Private Equity Enters NFL. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones predicted major growth in the value of National Football League franchises as teams begin selling stakes to investors keen to make money on the booming global sports business. High interest from outside institutions “gives you a sense of the strength” of the business of football, Jones said (more here).

• Locked Out Of The Owner’s Box, Investors Are Pouring Money Into Sports Tech Startups. Investors desperate to dive into the sports sector appear to be turning to adjacent businesses, in areas such as wearables and performance enhancement (99 of the 225 M&A deals in Drake Star’s new report), fan engagement and experience (35), and media and broadcasting (20). Other categories of interest include data analytics, ticketing, venue management, and—just as in every corner of the tech investing landscape—artificial intelligence (more here).

• Wimbledon Brings In AI Line Calling For 2025. Wimbledon is replacing line judges with electronic line-calling, the latest step into the modern age by the oldest Grand Slam tennis tournament. The All England Club announced that technology will be used to give the “out” and “fault” calls at the championships in 2025, eliminating the need for human officials to make them. Wimbledon organizers said the decision to adopt live electronic line calling was made following extensive testing at the 2024 tournament and builds on the existing ball-tracking and line-calling technology that has been in place for many years (more here).

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

• How Aires Tech Protects The Health Of Athletes. Technology has changed the world but it has its downsides. For athletes, that can mean distractions, negativity, and even EMF. EMF aka electromagnetic radiation are invisible areas of energy, often called radiation, that are associated with the use of electrical power. Why is this dangerous? Well, too much of it can impact an athlete’s resilience, adaptability to stress, and mental health. That’s where Aires Tech comes into play. They’ve built a device to protect people against electromagnetic radiation that’s emitted from the many wireless technologies. So far, they’ve teamed up with several leagues and athletes to bring their tech to the world. In this interview with Josh Bruni, we discuss how Aires Tech works, how they partnered with some of the biggest sports leagues, and predictions he has about EMF (more here).

• How StadiumDrop Is Creating An Entirely New In-Stadium Experience. Picture this… You’re at a playoff game with your family watching your favorite team. The stadium is packed, fans are going crazy and lines for concessions are 30 people long. The family is starving but you don’t want to miss any of the game. What do you do? This is the problem StadiumDrop solves for fans. StadiumDrop is a peer-to-peer in-seat delivery company that allows sports fans to deliver food, beverages, and merchandise to other fans in their seats. No more long lines. No more headaches. No more missing critical moments. In this interview with StadiumDrop COO Adam McAbee, we discuss how he got the company started, how they secured team partnerships, and his prediction for the future of sports (more here).