🔊 This Is BIG News For Pickleball

Welcome to another edition of The Hype Report where we curate & deliver the latest news, stories & insights around sports technology.

🗞️ Top News

• Pickleball is entering the sports betting market. Sportsbooks can now offer official-data-powered markets and live video feeds on America’s fastest-growing sport, professional pickleball. As the premier tour, the Professional Pickleball Association (PPA) Tour has become the first-ever pickleball organization available on the sports betting market. Genius Sports has (more here).

• The NFLPA has terminated its deal with Panini as Fanatics takes over. The NFL Players Association will begin its 20-year trading card partnership with Fanatics a few years early. The Fanatics deal wasn’t slated to begin until 2026, coinciding with the NFLPA’s agreement with Panini expiring (more here). What does this mean for NFL NFTs? Coindesk has the scoop with (more here).

• Jim Dolan’s (Owner of The New York Knicks & Madison Square Garden) Sphere Entertainment reported fourth-quarter revenue Tuesday morning of $129.1 million, down 8% from the prior year. MSG Networks represented 99.5% of the revenue for the final quarter before Las Vegas’ Sphere opened. Total revenue for the year was $574 million, down 6%, with an operating loss of $273 million due to Sphere-related costs (more here).

💰 Fundings & Valuations

• Dutch sports tech startup Mingle Sport has raised €1.25 million ($1.35 million) in a seed round led by experienced angel investors and Dutch multinational Rabobank. The round will allow the app to scale its operations on a global level and launch its premium AI product for coaches and players (more here).

• Novig, a commission-free sports betting exchange, has closed a $6.4 million seed funding round ahead of its launch in Colorado later this year. The round was led by Lux Capital and included Innospark Ventures, True Culture Fund, Soma Capital, Dropbox co-founder Arash Ferdowsi, NFL legend Joe Montana, venture capitalist Paul Graham, and others (more here).

• BlueWire, a sports-focused podcasting company and network, is opening its doors for anyone to become an angel investor in the company (more here).

• Mercury 13, a group led by sports entrepreneur Victoire Cogevina Reynal, said they are set to invest $100 million in acquiring women's football clubs in Europe and Latin America, starting with England's second-division side Lewes FC. ESPN has (more here).

• OneTeam Partners, a joint venture representing commercial and licensing rights of more than 10,000 professional and college athletes in the US is targeting a long-term valuation of $10 billion (more here).

• Ben Stokes and Stuart Broad are among the prominent athletes involved in the launch of The Players Fund, which will be backed by £40 million ($50 million) of funding committed by venture capitalists. Sky News has (more here).

• PlayersTV, the premier destination for athlete-driven content, announced an unprecedented leap forward in fan engagement with the launch of its Fan Ownership Initiative. This endeavor will empower fans to become shareholders, owners, and investors in PlayersTV, creating the world's first athlete-fan-owned media company network in the history of media and television (more here).

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🤝 Partnerships & Acquisitions

• Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank has purchased a franchise in a new virtual golf league formed by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. The Atlanta-based team, "TGL Atlanta," joins "Los Angeles Golf Club," owned in part by Serena and Venus Williams, and "TGL Boston," owned by Fenway Sports Group (more here).

• Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr becomes a shareholder of La Liga club Real Mallorca. The Athletic has (more here).

• Evolution Optiks Limited has entered into a partnership with the John McEnroe Tennis Academy (JMTA), through its division OcuRay. The primary goal is to apply cutting-edge light field technology to elite training methods to develop a state-of-the-art neurofitness training wearable that takes tennis training to the next level (more here).

• CBI announced a strategic partnership with Web3 blockchain company and platform Chiliz Labs to expand Alphaverse_, its AI-powered 3D interactive entertainment platform dedicated to football (more here).

• Movella Holdings Inc., a leading full-stack provider of sensors, software, and analytics that enable the digitization of movement, announced a strategic partnership with Teamworks, an enterprise SaaS company serving elite sports and tactical organizations globally (more here).

• U.S. Soccer announced a global, long-term partnership with Sportradar to enhance and expand the distribution of the federation’s data and content around the world, bringing it to a wider audience (more here).

• GameOn Technology, the industry-leading intelligent chat platform, announced that it has entered the world of mixed martial arts through its exclusive partnership with the Professional Fighters League (more here).

• No Standing is proud to unveil its partnership with The RugbyDAO, the leading rugby DAO. This collaboration marks a pivotal moment in the world of rugby as both entities join forces to enrich the sport through immersive experiences and rewards (more here).

• OddsMatrix, part of the EveryMatrix Group, has partnered with Kindred to provide the operator with comprehensive historical and current sports data ahead of the launch of its new proprietary sportsbook (more here).

• FIBA and blockchain technology provider Venly are teaming up to give fans the opportunity to celebrate their love of basketball by purchasing the first-ever FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 digital NFT collectibles (more here).

• Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), owner of Paris Saint-Germain, the French Ligue 1 football club, has formally agreed to acquire the World Padel Tour (more here).

• NASCAR and nVenue announced a multi-year partnership to develop in-race micro-betting markets and predictive content for race fans (more here).

⚡ Other Hype

• Jim Cavale, who founded the NIL marketplace INFLCR, is partnering with recently retired NFL player Brandon Copeland to launch Athletes.org, a membership organization open to all college athletes for free. Yahoo Sports has (more here).

• Want to pitch your business to NBA superstar Steph Curry? Here is what you need to know. Forbes has (more here).

• How Tech, Sustainability, and Accessibility are Forever Changing In-Person Sporting Events: According to Statista, in 2023, sports event revenue is expected to reach $15.42 billion in the U.S. and is expected to reach $18.36 billion by 2027 — a projected annual growth of 4.46% (more here).

• Impact of the Metaverse on Sports Thematic Intelligence Report 2023: A Clear Use Case for the Metaverse in Sport has Not Yet Emerged (more here).

• How AI and other emerging tech showed up during the FIFA Women’s World Cup. Digiday has (more here).

• How Technology Can Improve The Ticketing Experience. Forbes has (more here).

• Amazon brings new AI-driven features to Thursday Night Football. Techcrunch has (more here).

• F1 Dutch Grand Prix unveils ticket-linked digital collectibles. NFT Now has (more here).

That’s all I got for you today. Thanks for reading.

Malcolm

This newsletter is for informational purposes only and is not financial or business advice in any capacity.

The information shared is my thoughts & opinions and does not represent the opinions of any other person, business, entity, or sponsor.

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