Weekly Roundup: Business of Athletes, Sports, & NIL (August 14-20)

Audio Timeline:

0:35 - Feel good stories

* A new Guinness World record and $125,000 scholarship donation.

1:55 - Business of Athletes

* Venus Williams’ superfood nutrition company, Happy Viking, revealed an array of new athlete investors including Megan Rapinoe, Michelle Wie, Serena Williams, Reilly Opelka, Isaiah Hartenstein, Collin Sexton, and Kevin Durant.

* Naomi Osaka’s company, KINLÒ, announced the signing of five college athlete ambassadors.

* In the same week that he signed a major second contract, Steelers receiver Diontae Johnson was sued for failing to appear at his youth football camp in May.

* NFL players Jalen Ramsey, Kevin Byard, and Derwin James have all invested in the National Cycling League, co-founded by their agent David Mulugheta.

* Ahead of the 2022 US Open, the USTA has announced that it will hand out over $60 million in prize money — the most in the history of the event and an increase from last year’s record $57.5 million.

10:50 - Name, Image, and Likeness

* Alabama football players racking in multiple $1M deals

* First of it’s kind deal in Mississippi

* BYU’s anticipated $20M NFT partnership

* Big Ten signs $1B/yr media deal (will the players touch it?)

17:40 - Future of Sports

* Of the 80 public schools across Chicago, there are less than 10 athletic trainers — this is causing a lot of problems.

* Sports data company, Sportradar, did $180B in Q2 revenue, a 66% increase over last year.

* ESPN and Little League have extended their media rights agreement, which was set at $7.5 million annually.

Interesting Stat

This is wild:

The mean number of injuries suffered per game in the NFL is approximately 4.9 times higher than the sum of those other leagues." 

Teams don't want to pay for that kind of risk — which is why guaranteed contracts in the NFL are rare.

Short Passage of The Week

“I have never liked the word retirement. It doesn’t feel like a modern word to me.

I’ve been thinking of this as a transition, but I want to be sensitive about how I use that word, which means something very specific and important to a community of people.

Maybe the best word to describe what I’m up to is evolution.

I’m here to tell you that I’m evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me.”

Passage by Serena Williams

Recommended Media

The immense leverage superstar athletes have these days is insane (and will keep increasing)👇

Get Paid What You're Worth and Spend Less Than You Earn

It may sound simple, but many people struggle with this and need to be reminded.

Make sure you know what your job is worth in the marketplace — you can do this by conducting an evaluation of your skills, productivity, job tasks, contribution to the company, and the going rate, both inside and outside the company, for what you do.

Being underpaid even by $1,000 a year can have a significant cumulative effect over the course of your working life.

No matter how much or how little you're paid, you'll never get ahead if you spend more than you earn.

Often it's easier to spend less than it is to earn more, and a little cost-cutting effort in a number of areas can result in savings.

Quote

Thanks for tuning in today! Talk tomorrow.

Peace,

-AP

Extra Credit

Interesting article about the latest development in Johnson v. NCAA, which argues that college athletes ought to be classified as employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).