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

Audio Timeline:

0:35 - Feel good stories

* Giving back with a 50-mile run across the Grand Canyon.

4:08 - Business of Athletes

* Golf+, a VR golf platform raised a $6 million seed round with athlete investors including Tom Brady, Steph Curry, Mike Trout, and Rory McIlroy.

* Christiano Ronaldo was named the most marketable athlete in the world according to SportsPro, with Serena Williams in 2nd and Lewis Hamilton in 3rd.

* Sachin Tendulkar, one of India's most famous athletes, has become a strategic investor in the digital collectibles platform Rario.

* Kevin Durant bought an MLP pickleball team.

* Damian Lillard made his first tech investment in Kicks Crew, a digital sneaker platform.

* Lionel Messi announced the launch of his new venture firm, Play Time, alongside experienced venture capitalist Razmig Hovaghimian.

7:30 - Name, Image, and Likeness

* Division I schools can expect to receive further NCAA rules guidance related to name, image, and likeness activity as soon as next week

* Sad weekend at San Jose State due to an unfortunate electric scooter accident.

* Collegiate sport fan experience platform Mercury has raised $7.5 million in a seed round led by Multicoin Capital.

10:30 - Future of Sports

* Will Ventures raised $150 million for Fund II, they will continue to invest in seed-stage companies in the consumer, health, sports, and entertainment sectors.

* Next Play Capital, started by former Super Bowl champion Ryan Nece, has raised a $200M fund.

* NFL commissioner Roger Goodell made $63.9M for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons. Adam Silver (NBA) made $10M, Rob Manfred (MLB) earned $17.5M, and Gary Bettman (NHL) earned ~$10M.

* EA Sports announced that it will be investing $11 million in women's soccer via its Starting XI Fund.

* The Clippers are launching the NBA's first direct-to-consumer streaming service called "ClipperVision," which will feature 74 games and cost $199.99 for the season.

* CoachMePlus, an enterprise-level digital fitness platform that helps coaches work with athletes to achieve their fitness and wellness goals, announced $1 million investment from angel groups.

Interesting Stat

This is wild…

NBA players paid $36M in fines last season (up from $6.9M the previous year).

That’s over $29,000/game — just including the regular season.

What’s to blame?

Well…NBA players make a lot of money (and sometimes the extra publicity from getting thrown out of a game is worth it). Basically a business expense at this point.

Short Passage of The Week:

* Hold the door for others and pick up trash that's not yours.

* Compliment people behind their backs and encourage people when they're down.

* Include people when they feel left out and hold yourself to a high standard.

* Share your life with people you love and admit when you are wrong.

* Celebrate others when they succeed and stand up for people that can't stand up for themselves.

* Have the courage to say no to things that could jeopardize your future.

* Realize doing the right things for the right reasons will never go out of style. 

* Be a good person.

Source: Lewis Caralla, Georgia Tech's Strength Coach

Tweet(s)

Mario Götze is setting a great example for athletes (both on and off the field):

Business Jargon

Changing this sec