AI Optimization Enters Sports

Literate AI’s specialty is ‘AI optimization,’ a new-age version of search engine optimization that evaluates how often terms show up in popular AI queries, then implements strategies for increasing and refining that presence

September 22, 2025

Literate AI Helping Sports Organizations Prepare for AI-Driven Internet
SBJ’s Rob Schaefer writes, “As internet users increasingly trade trails of purple links for bulleted artificial intelligence-generated summaries as their primary mode of search, an emerging firm is seeking to help teams, leagues and adjacent brands maintain their online visibility.

“Literate AI is a 4-year-old subsidiary of Red Krypton Inc., a digital marketing agency co-founded by former Group SJR co-founder Mitch Stoller and ex-Tough Mudder and NBC Sports executive Dan Weinberg in 2019. Its specialty is ‘AI optimization,’ a new-age version of search engine optimization that evaluates how often and in what context certain terms show up in popular AI queries, then implements strategies for increasing and refining that presence. It launched an AIO offering specific to sports a little less than a year ago.”
^{AP News}

StubHub vs. Ticketmaster vs. SeatGeek: What’s the Difference?
Sportico’s Kurt Badenhausen writes, “Microsoft co-founder (and then-Portland Trail Blazers owner) Paul Allen acquired 80% of Ticketmaster in 1993 for roughly $300 million, just after the ticket service announced a partnership with America Online that would allow Chicago fans to—get this—’sort through concert and sport schedules and buy tickets,’ all from their personal computers. Maybe Allen saw what was coming. 

“Now, tickets are almost entirely bought and sold (and sometimes resold) online, and Ticketmaster currently serves about two-thirds of U.S. demand, with control over at least 80% of primary ticketing for concerts at major venues, according to the U.S. government. Ticketmaster’s parent company Live Nation Entertainment is worth more than $38 billion. The DOJ is even suing the company, alleging that it is operating an illegal monopoly across live concerts.”
^Sportico

NFL Ratings Fly Like an Eagle as TV Acclimates to Nielsen Changes
Sportico’s Anthony Crupi writes, “It’s a number that demands to be laid out in all its full eight-digit glory: 33,762,000. That’s how many people tuned in to Fox’s national NFL window last Sunday, which featured an Eagles-Chiefs Super Bowl rematch beamed into 100% of the network’s home markets.

“That eye-popping viewership figure was derived from Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel methodology, and while the updated currency gave Fox a bit of a boost, the big turnout was entirely organic.”
^Sportico

WWE Highlights ESPN Tie Up at ‘Wrestlepalooza’
WWE leaned heavily into the connection between sports and entertainment as it made its Premium Live Event debut on ESPN’s new DTC offering Saturday night with “Wrestlepalooza,” from Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The show, heavily promoted throughout the week and during college football across ESPN platforms Saturday, is the first in a five-year, $1.6B deal.
^Sportico

Sources: NBC Sports in, Roku Out for Package of Sunday Morning MLB Games
SBJ’s Austin Karp reports: “NBC Sports’ return as an MLB rights partner will include a Sunday morning package, likely on Peacock, with the company replacing a window that had been on Roku, sources tell SBJ. MLB and NBC did not comment on the report, and Roku could not be reached by press time. Terms of the deal were not available. Peacock had previously been the home for that “MLB Sunday Leadoff” package (starting in 2022) before it went to Roku starting last season in a deal worth just $10M annually.”
^{Sports Business Journal}

How Cheryl Reeve Turned the Lynx Into the WNBA Gold Standard
FOS’ Annie Costabile writes, “In a back corner of the Minnesota Lynx practice facility is a glass trophy case. It has four sterling silver WNBA championship trophies from an era when giants roamed Minneapolis, lingering in the nightmares of opponents as the Lynx built one of the sport’s most formidable dynasties. But in another universe, on another planet, in another dimension, there are six.”

Players, coaches, and executives who have worked with Reeve for the past three decades tell FOS how she built a team that has “tortured” the WNBA for years.
^{Front Office Sports}

White Reveals Renderings of UFC White House Event
UFC CEO Dana White provided a “sneak peek of what to expect for the UFC White House event,” revealing “visual renderings” on Fox News. The renderings provide an “early look on how the event could come together.” The UFC octagon is “planned to be placed on the South Lawn, surrounded by seating for no more than 5,000 people.”
^{MMA Junkie via Sports Business Journal}

Steve Cohen’s Queens Casino Proposal the ‘Strongest Contender’ in Push for N.Y. Gaming Licenses
Mets owner Steve Cohen’s bid to open an $8B casino complex next to Citi Field “could be a winning one,” according to Carl Campanile of the N.Y. POST. His odds of snagging one of the coveted gaming licenses in N.Y. “went up” after two of the other casino proposals on the table “went bust.” Former N.Y. State Racing & Wagering Board Chair John Sabini said, “Steve Cohen’s proposal is the strongest contender -- by a pretty large margin.”
^{NY Post via Sports Business Journal}

Seattle Storm Announce Coach Noelle Quinn Will Not Return in 2026
“On behalf of our organization, I would like to thank Noelle for her time with the Storm. Her commitment to the ongoing success of our organization and to furthering the development of our players was second to none,” Storm general manager Talisa Rhea said in a statement. “She put us in a position to win at the highest levels of the game and for that, we are grateful.”

Quinn played in the WNBA for 12 seasons (2007-2019), including parts of five seasons for Seattle. She was a member of the Storm’s championship team in 2018, then joined Seattle’s coaching staff as an assistant the following season. Quinn was Seattle’s head coach from 2021-25.
^{The Athletic}

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Texas and Oklahoma Would Meet Again in CFP’s First Round on Mock Bracket Based on AP Top 25 Poll
AP News’ Eric Olson writes, “The Red River Rivalry would be played a second time this season with Oklahoma hosting Texas in the first round of the College Football Playoff if the bracket were based on The Associated Press Top 25 released Sunday.

“The teams earning top-four seeds and receiving first-round byes would remain the same as last week but in a different order. Ohio State would continue to be No. 1, followed by No. 2 Miami, No. 3 Penn State and No. 4 LSU.”
^{AP NEWS}

Here’s the Deal Between Florida’s NIL Collective and Its J-School
Sportico’s Daniel Libit writes, “The University of Florida’s College of Journalism and Communications is being paid $20,000 this year by the school’s dedicated NIL collective, Florida Victorious, as part of an arrangement that incentivizes the journalism department to source ‘additional opportunities’ with third-party companies for NIL deals.

“According to a copy of the agreement obtained by Sportico, the journalism school is also eligible to earn a 3% commission on any third-party deals it brokers on behalf of the collective.”
^Sportico

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