Weekly Roundup: Business of Athletes, Sports, & NIL (July 17-23)

Audio Timeline:

0:00 - Feel good stories

* Female track athlete retires on top and Bo Jackson’s donation

1:20 - Business of Athletes

* James Harden is launching his own wine brand starting at $16.99

* Steve Nash and his media company CTRL Media is producing content and a show for the East Asia Super League

* Donald Trump and Charles Barkley are both telling players to accept the guaranteed money from LIV golf

* Kevin Durant is investing in Premier League Lacrosse through 35 Ventures

* FaZe Clan is the first Esports team to reach public markets

* Kyler Murray is nearly making more money in 1 year than the entire Oakland Athletics baseball team (they drafted him in 2018 as an outfielder)

* Drew Brees is buying ownership in the pickleball team, Mad Drops

6:20 - Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL)

* Iowa’s interesting player-focused NIL club

* Ohio State raises some money to get their top players paid

* Texas Tech football players are getting $25,000 each

* Breaking down Nick Saban’s recent comments

11:10 - Future of Sports

* Scorebreak is partnering with Genius Sports to access stat-driven video content from any internet-connected device.

*  The NBA has taken a minority stake in 15 Seconds of Fame, an application that allows spectators to download clips of themselves from broadcasts of sporting events.

* Elysian Park Ventures, has partnered with the PGA of America to create EP Golf Ventures, a new investment partnership to support golf innovation

Interesting Stat

Here is how much money individual winners took home in the 2022 World Athletics Championships:

For those of you wondering…

The World Athletics Championships are a track and field event held every two years.

It is separate from the Olympics but has grown in popularity over the years.

Here are the Top 20 Gold Medal countries:

Interestingly enough, East Germany is still ranked 11th despite being dissolved in 1990.

Jamaica has 36 total gold medals, 11 of which came from Usain Bolt.

Short Passage of The Week

"One of the most underrated blessings is leaving your house and making it back home every single day. We just assume it’s going to happen. Life is fragile and precious." “There are only two days in the year that nothing can be done. One is called yesterday and the other is called tomorrow, so today is the right day to love, believe, do, and live.”

― Dalai Lama, Spiritual Leader

Interesting Stat #2

No recommended media this week, so I included another interesting stat.

The MLB is wondering why attendance is down 10% this year…

This chart might be part of the reason why…

Average of $204 for a family of 4 to go to the ballpark.

Wild.

In 1545, a man by the name of Diego Gualpa discovered Cerro Rico, also known as “rich hill”.

It was a mountain of silver that changed the economic history of the world forever. It also created the saying - To be worth POTOSI!

Not long after the news got out, the Spanish discovered the wealth of the land and began to export silver back to their homeland. 

It had two major implications:

* What the Spaniards didn’t realize was that the influx in the supply of silver (their medium of currency) would have a counterintuitive impact on the country’s economy. With the supply of money up, the demand decreased and forced prices to rise. This was the beginning of inflation in Spain and the Spanish Banking crisis. 

* In the excavation, each piece of silver is rumored to have cost the lives of 10 Incan people!

This is a quick his