Sport & Story Daily December 13, 2023

Stay Ahead of the Game

December 13, 2023

Good morning! Iowa’s Caitlin Clark becomes second CBB player endorsed by Gatorade

Drink It In: Gatorade Signs Caitlin Clark as Second CBB Endorser
Iowa G Caitlin Clark will be Gatorade’s second college basketball brand ambassador as part of a new deal. She joins UConn G Paige Bueckers, who became the first college athlete ever to endorse Gatorade. Since then, the brand also added NIL deals with Colorado QB Shadeur Sanders and Penn State RB Nick Singleton.
^{sportsbusinessjournal.com}

Streaming Might Be The Future, But Over-The-Air Sports Aren’t Going Away
For the last few years, cord-cutting has dominated the debate over how fans will consume live sports in the future. But like an old blanket, in 2023, we’re already seeing a revival of an “old” practice. 

Major sports leagues have begun finding new homes on free, over-the-air networks not traditionally associated with live sports — two of the biggest examples being The CW and Scripps Sports.
^{frontofficesports.com}

NFL Teams Tap League-Level Database for New Ways to Sell Tickets
As NFL’s chief data and analytics officer Paul Ballew says, “The journey on this has always come down to the fact that, if you can see and know fans better, and — respectfully, with permission — engage them, we can take it to the next level in terms of deepening that relationship.”
sportsbusinessjournal.com

Ohtani’s $680M Deferment Hits Interest Income To Save On Taxes
Yes, we’re still talking about this. As Sportico’s Michael McCann reports, “Ohtani will pay the highest federal income tax rate (37%) on the portion of his income that exceeds certain thresholds, depending on whether Ohtani files as a single filer or married filing jointly (Ohtani is reportedly not married at this time). In 2024, Ohtani will pay 37% on income exceeding $609,499 ($731,200 if married).”
^sportico.com 

Reebok And Adidas Launch Digital Wearables As Sports Brands Jostle For The Metaverse
Reebok and Adidas have both announced new projects for bringing goods into virtual spaces, expanding an already salient trend in the sports retail category around metaverse wearables.
^adage.com

The Jaguars’ $22 million question: How did four years of theft go undetected?
How could this happen?

That was the (22) million dollar question that swept through the offices of NFL teams last week after The Athletic broke the news that a former employee in the finance department of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Amit Patel, stole more than $22 million from the team over a four-year period.
^{theathletic.com}

Ray Lewis, Lawrence Taylor Team Up To Buy Jai-Alai Franchise
NFL Hall of Famers Lawrence Taylor and Ray Lewis have teamed up to become co-owners of a World Jai-Alai League team. Taylor and Lewis will operate the Warriors starting with the league’s new season, which launches with a player draft in February.
^sportico.com

The Biggest Lesson Pat McAfee Needs to Learn About College GameDay Criticism
“Pat McAfee is nothing if not polarizing. He is about as unique as any member of the entertainment industry we have ever seen. He is brash, he is loud, he is fun, and he doesn’t seem to care one bit about what you or I think about any of that,” says Barrett Sports Media’s Ryan Brown. “This is why the revelation that fan response on social media has impacted him in such a way is very surprising.”
barrettsportsmedia.com

After This Year’s Pac-12 Championship, What’s Next For Big-Time College Football in the Nevada Desert?
“This game [the Pac-12 championship] sold out before they even had the teams official,” Las Vegas Bowl Executive Director John Saccenti said. “That says a lot about, in my opinion, what the game means, but it says a lot about the destination.”
^{sportsbusinessjournal.com}

Knicks’ Mitchell Robinson to undergo ankle surgery, miss at least 8-10 weeks
New York Knicks center Mitchell Robinson will have surgery on his left ankle and be re-evaluated in eight to 10 weeks, the team announced Monday. The defensive anchor was injured Friday in the Knicks’ loss to the Boston Celtics.
^{theathletic.com}

M&T Bank Stadium To See Major Additions, Renovations in Coming Years
The Ravens and Maryland Stadium Authority (MSA) today announced a three-phased renovation project for M&T Bank Stadium that will see new additions and renovations incorporated over the next three offseasons.
^{sportsbusinessjournal.com}

Sports Illustrated Publisher Fires CEO After AI Debacle
Digital publisher The Arena Group, which operates household brands such as Sports Illustrated and The Street, fired its chief executive on Monday amid a larger C-suite bloodbath, a spokesperson for the company told CNN. The move reportedly came after an embarrassing debacle in which SI was caught publishing stories with fake author names and profile photos generated by artificial intelligence.
^cnn.com

Pac 12 Legal Saga
The legal fight over control of the Pac-12 took another turn last week when Oregon State and Washington State blocked a traditional multi-million-dollar revenue distribution from the conference office to the campuses, the Hotline has learned.

OSU and WSU called their decision “responsible” and suggested any other action would not be in the best interest of the future of the conference.
^{mercurynews.com}

Florida AG investigating CFP over Florida State's exclusion
"I'm a lifelong Gator, but I'm also the Florida attorney general, and I know injustice when I see it," Moody said in a video announcement in front of Doak Campbell Stadium, Florida State's home field. "No rational person or college football fan can look at this situation and not question the result. The NCAA, conferences, and the College Football Playoff committee are subject to antitrust laws.”
^espn.com

SWAC Announces Student-Athlete Enhancement Initiative
The Southwestern Athletic Conference has announced the creation of the SWAC Student-Athlete Enhancement Initiative. The Conference Office is set to distribute a total of 4.8 million dollars in funding for the initiative, which will be allocated to league member institutions over the course of the next four upcoming academic years for the enhancement of support services for athletes in sports med, sports info, and academics.
^swac.org

Thanks for reading!

Sport & Story Daily is the sports industry’s daily resource for business news. In addition to serving up exclusive trends, Q&As, and columns, the newsletter connects reads to top platforms and stories from across the sports landscape.

Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here!

And feel free to read our Privacy Policy