Weekly Roundup: Business of Athletes, Sports, & NIL (Jan 16-22)

(00:30) Feel good stories

• Sport Clips Haircuts held an event where they also donated $1.5M toward veterans' scholarships.
• NBA forward Kyle Kuzma is donating $1 million to the YMCA in his hometown of Flint, Michigan.
• The Green Bay Packers are donating $100,000 to provide 80 Automatic External Defibrillators (AEDs) to schools in Wisconsin.

(02:05) - Business of Athletes/Sports

• Olympic gold medal-winning sprinter Usain Bolt is missing more than $12.7 million from an account with a Jamaican private investment firm.
• Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment announced that it has purchased a major stake in Ripken Baseball.
• Deal Box is launching a $125M venture arm, where they will look at “FunTech”, which includes action sports.
• LIV Golf has finally found a home on American TV after striking a deal with the CW Network.
• The Tennis Channel has deepened its partnership with Major League Pickleball and will now air the league's semifinal and finals.
• Sports-focused NFT company Candy Digital announced a Series A extension funding round following reports Fanatics was selling of its 60% stake in Candy Digital.
• EP Golf Ventures has invested in Sensible Weather, a climate risk technology company that has a partnership with the PGA.
• Courtside Ventures has completed a $100M sports fund, their 3rd which includes athletes investors such as Larry Fitzgerald and Shaquille O’Neal.

(07:15) - Name, Image, and Likeness

• Curastory is partnering with Tempus Ex Machina to allow Pac-12 players to post content on their social media platforms and earn 50% of the ad revenue they generate.
• Penn State’s NIL collective, Success With Honor, has secured contracts with at least 1 athlete from all 31 varsity sports teams.
• The College Athlete Protection Act was presented in California, which would require the state's college sports programs to share revenue with their athletes.