🔊 Legends Complete Multibillion-Dollar Buyout

📰 TOP STORY
Legends Officially Complete Multibillion-Dollar ASM Global Buyout

• Hospitality and experiential group Legends has officially completed its acquisition of ASM Global reported for at least $2.4B. The acquisition had been announced in November but was pending regulatory approvals. ASM Global manages more than 300 venues, a business that Legends largely hasn’t been involved in, including NRG Stadium in Houston, Ovo Arena Wembley in London, and Accor Stadium in Sydney. The company was sold by co-owners AEG, the venue arm of LA Kings owner Philip Anschutz’ business empire, and Onex Group, a Toronto-based private equity firm. ASM Global also serves around 164M customers annually through its management services. Legends, on the other hand, was founded in 2008 by the Dallas Cowboys and New York Yankees as a concessions operator and has grown to offer a suite of marketing services, operational consulting, and experiential hospitality services (more here).

💰 MONEY MOVES 
ALLCITY Raises Series B Round To Continue Disrupting Sports Media

• ALLCITY Network Raises $12M Series B Round. AllCity Network, an emerging digital sports media and lifestyle brand, has completed a $12M Series B raise to fuel expansion into the Dallas market. AllCity Network specializes in creating hyperlocal sports content tailored to diehard fans. TEGNA led the round and follows a Series A round that raised more than $9M led by individual investors in sports including retired NBA athletes Andre Iguodala and Chauncey Billups (more here).

• TickPick Announces $250M Growth Investment From Brighton Park Capital. Brighton Park Capital, an investment firm focused on entrepreneur-led, growth-stage companies, announced a $250M investment in TickPick, the modern transparent ticket marketplace transforming the event ticketing industry, to accelerate its growth and scale operations. This represents the largest funding round in the ticketing industry to date. TickPick and Brighton Park Capital also announced that Symphony Ventures, Rory McIlroy’s investment partnership, has joined as a strategic investor (more here).

• SportAI Raises $1.8M In Seed Funding. SportAI, an Oslo, Norway-based B2B sports technology company, raised $1.8M in Seed funding. Skyfall Ventures led the round. Other participants included Norwegian pension fund MP Pensjon, Dekel Valtzer (ex-pro tennis player and AI startup founder), and Sverre Munck (ex-EVP at Schibsted). The company intends to use the funds to scale its technology development, expand the team, and increase market penetration (more here).

• Fanton Fantasy Football Raises $1M In Seed Funding. Fanton Fantasy Football, a blockchain-integrated fantasy sports platform, recently secured $1M in Seed funding to expand its reach and refine its user experience. The funding round was led by prominent blockchain investors, including Animoca Brands, Delphi Ventures, and Kenetic Capital, with additional support from Hashkey x TON Accelerator, PAKA Fund, and Sign VC (more here).

 🤝 PARTNERSHIPS
Athletes Unlimited Launches An NIL Marketplace

• Athletes Unlimited Launches NIL Marketplace In Partnership With INFLCR. Athletes Unlimited has launched the AU Pro Athletes Exchange, a marketplace to connect athletes and businesses for NIL opportunities. In partnership with INFLCR, the AU Pro Athletes Exchange allows registered free users the ability to initiate conversations with athletes on NIL deals and endorsements. The exchange will also allow AU athletes to engage directly with fans through personal video messages, autographs, clinics, and more (more here).

• ASB GlassFloor Partners With FC Bayern Basketball. ASB GlassFloor, a leader in innovative sports flooring solutions, has partnered with FC Bayern Basketball. Beginning August 2024, all easyCredit Basketball Bundesliga home games will be played on the ASB GlassFloor at BMW Park, featuring the Bundesliga’s first permanent full LED video sports floor (more here).

• Wealthspire Advisors Forms Partnership With Professional Golfer Matthieu Pavon. Wealthspire Advisors LLC, an NFP company and top-ranked independent registered investment advisor, recently announced its partnership with professional golfer Matthieu Pavon, winner of the 2024 Farmers Insurance Open, who is ranked 20th in pursuit of the FedEx Cup on the PGA Tour2 (more here).

• Stratton Studios Collaborates With The PGA TOUR. Stratton Studios announced, 'PGA TOUR RISE', in collaboration with the PGA TOUR and Chain Games Ireland to develop a revolutionary Web3 interactive golf game. The game aims to bring professional golf to millions of fans worldwide through state-of-the-art technology. Players embark on a journey from amateur to the PGA TOUR, competing on renowned courses, participating in real-time tournaments, climbing leaderboards, and earning 'Rise Bucks' for essential upgrades (more here).

🔊 ATHLETES & OTHER SPORTS NEWS
leAD Sports & Health Tech Partners Rebrands To LEAD

• leAD Sports & Health Tech Partners Rebrands As LEAD. LEAD, formerly known as leAD Sports & Health Tech Partners, recently announced its new name and expanded company structure, consisting of an institutional asset manager building a global family of funds and an advisory division working with organizations on their strategic innovation and investment initiatives. LEAD began as an accelerator in 2017 and has now scaled into a premier global venture corporation with 70+ portfolio companies and $120M in assets under management (more here).

• Oklahoma State Football Players Will Wear NIL Fund QR Codes On Helmets. Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy announced that the Cowboys will wear QR codes on their helmets this season that link to the general team fund for every student-athlete on the roster. The QR codes will be applied to the back of each helmet via 1.5 square-inch decals that feature each player's name and number in the design. Although the QR codes aren't expected to be visible from the stands on game day, close shots during broadcasts and postgame photos posted to social media are expected to raise the team's NIL value throughout the year. It’s believed to mark the first time a college football team will wear QR codes in regular season games to promote players' earning potential (more here).

• Colorado Assistant Football Coach Attempted To Raise NIL Funding From Saudi Arabia. According to a Sports Illustrated report, Former assistant coach Trevor Reilly told SI that he traveled to the Middle East during the past holiday season to try and secure funding from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) for the Buffaloes' NIL program (more here).

• Houston VC Firm Adds New York Giants Linebacker As An Investor. 23-year-old New York Giants linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux joining The Collectiv as an investor. The Collectiv is a community-powered venture capital fund focused on early-stage sports tech companies and emerging leagues (more here).

• How Gambling Is Changing Sports, For Players. Money has always been a part of professional sports, but it’s worth asking how legalized gambling is warping how we interact with athletes. Players, fans, investors, and leagues are all participants in a kind of grand experiment in what adding billions of dollars does to America’s great pastimes (more here).

• NFL Puts Spotlight On Helmet Safety Revamps. More than 200 NFL players have been using shock-absorbing helmets aimed at reducing concussions during the preseason — a trend that's reduced head injuries and could continue into the regular season (more here).

• Data-Driven Coaching App Coya Launches. Backed by scientific research, peak performance app Coya officially launched this week. It’s the first company to combine performance and longevity in one coaching methodology. They will offer customized, personalized training programs for individuals featuring direct access to an elite coaching team comprised of trainers, coaches, and nutritionists who have worked with Olympians, Super Bowl MVPs, World Series champions, and other high-performing athletes (more here).

• America’s Love Affair With Investing In The Premier League Fades. The Premier League has been a rich hunting ground for Americans over the past two decades, with almost half the 20 clubs under their control as it started a new season. The interest was turbocharged when a group led by billionaire Todd Boehly acquired Chelsea two years ago. But Chelsea’s struggles have spooked some would-be bidders for clubs as US sport looks a better bet again (more here).

• Where All The Sports Betting Money Goes. Legalized sports gambling lets state governments tax what used to be an illicit and off-the-books activity. But where does the money go, exactly (more here)?

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

• How Tennibot Is Building The World’s First Autonomous Robotic Tennis Ball Collector. You can ask almost any tennis player what the worst parts about practicing alone are and most if not all, will say something along the lines of time spent picking up balls on the court. This is where Tennibot comes into the picture. Tennibot is the world’s first robotic tennis ball collector. Designed and prototyped by Haitham Eletrabi and his co-founder Lincoln Wang, Tennibot has blown up on social media and sold $80K worth of products during its pre-sale campaign. Over the past couple of years, the team has been quietly tinkering and iterating the product. Now, they’re hitting their stride and ready to bring the Tennibot to the world (more here).

• Meet The Founder Who’s Building GoRout Into The Premier Coach-To-Player Communications Platform. Brady and Belichick. Kobe and Phil. Ronaldo and Sir Ferguson. What do these names have in common? For one, they’re all champions and some of the best player-coach duos in their respective sports. But there’s one main characteristic that helped them get there. Communication. Without excellent communication between coaches and players, games aren’t won and championships don’t happen. This is why GoRout exists. GoRout is a communications platform that enables coaches to transmit play calls and position-specific play information using a tablet from the dugout or sidelines to the players on the field in real-time (more here).

• How Breakaway Data Is Becoming The Go-To Data Solution For Athletes. In sports, data is gold. But, many athletes either don't have access or don't know what to do with it. BreakAway Data is on a mission to change this. Founded by former NFL Wide Receiver Dave Anderson, the app helps the best athletes in the world access, control, and use their data securely. They aggregate and track everything from what an athlete did in a game, to what they did in training, their medical history, and all of their activity for all 24 hours of the day. From there, athletes can make adjustments, and considerations that increase performance, aid recovery, and create better results (more here).