New Sports Start-Up Lands $13M

Sports media management start-up ScorePlay has nabbed $13 million in investor money from soccer legend Alex Morgan, Alexis Ohanian’s Seven Seven Six VC fund, and more

February 12, 2025

Giannis Antetokounmpo Leads Athletes Investing $13M in ScorePlay
Sportico’s Brendan Coffey writes, “Sports media management start-up ScorePlay has nabbed $13 million in investor money from a swath of athletes and well-known investors, including NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo, soccer legend Alex Morgan and Alexis Ohanian’s Seven Seven Six VC fund.

ScorePlay offers tools that allow teams and leagues to automate the ways they organize and distribute content, simplifying what often remains a complex process with different types of media spread across various software platforms.
^Sportico

Actress Issa Rae Joins San Diego FC Ownership Group
San Diego kicks off its inaugural season on Feb. 23 at the defending MLS champion LA Galaxy. The club’s primary owners are billionaire Mohamed Mansour and the Sycuan Tribe, the first Native American tribe to have an ownership stake in a professional soccer team.

Rae joins a group of club partners including San Diego Padres’ third baseman Manny Machado and former Manchester United and Spanish national team player Juan Mata.
^{AP News}

F1 Predicted to Seek Sizable Media Rights Increase in U.S. For Next Cycle
“If I’m Formula 1, I’m looking at the growth of Tier 1 sports in this marketplace and I’m saying I want my cut, and I’d be going to market very aggressively,” said Dan Cohen, executive vice president of media rights advisory at Octagon, which is not working with F1 on the search but has advised other motorsports properties on media rights.
^{Sports Business Journal}

Super Bowl Totals a Record 127.7 Million Viewers
Super Bowl LIX will finish with an audience of 127.7 million viewers in English and Spanish, giving the Eagles’ 40-22 win over the Chiefs the distinction of the most-watched Super Bowl on record (and the best audience for any U.S. TV broadcast). The broadcast across Fox, Tubi, Telemundo, Fox Deportes and NFL digital was up 3% from the prior record of 123.7 million set last year for Chiefs-49ers on CBS, Nickelodeon, Univision and NFL streaming platforms. The game audience peaked at 137.7 million in the second quarter just before halftime (8:00-8:15pm ET).

To boot, Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl performance garnered 133.5 million viewers, the highest halftime audience ever recorded, Roc Nation said Tuesday via Front Office Sports.
^{Sports Business Journal}

NBCU Activating With One Year to Milan-Cortina
NBCUniversal will kick off its year-out marketing activation throughout the day today, leveraging several areas of the company to highlight the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics opening in just 360 days.

“TODAY” will feature the Games, with Craig Melvin on site in Milan to interview NBC Sports host Mike Tirico as well as American speedskater Erin Jackson and figure skater Isabeau Levito. The interviews from Italy kick off a daylong push for NBCU.
^{Sports Business Journal}

NFL Reopens Talks With ESPN on Purchase of League Media Assets
Talks between the NFL and ESPN are “back on” as the league looks into selling its assets of NFL Network, NFL Redzone, NFL.com and its fantasy business, according to John Ourand of PUCK. It is “too early to predict whether a deal will be struck,” but ESPN’s plan to launch its DTC product has “provided some renewed momentum.” The two sides have discussed the parameters of a deal that would have ESPN “take control of NFL Network and NFL RedZone.”
^{Puck via Sports Business Journal}

Eagles’ Super Bowl-Winning Coordinator Kellen Moore Will Become the Saints Head Coach
Kellen Moore, who oversaw the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles ' offense this season, has agreed to return to the site of his latest triumph as the next coach of the New Orleans Saints.

The 36-year-old Moore will join an organization that has been floundering since the retirement of quarterback Drew Brees and departure of Super Bowl-winning coach Sean Payton. The Saints haven’t made the playoffs since the 2020 season — the last of Brees’ career.
^{AP News}

Penske Entertainment Names IMS President Doug Boles to Same Role at IndyCar, Replacing Jay Frye
Roger Penske continued his reshuffling of leadership positions on Tuesday, naming Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Doug Boles in the same position at IndyCar, replacing Jay Frye. Frye is out of the organization after 10 years as IndyCar president.

Boles has served as president of IMS since 2013, a period that includes the sellout of the 100th Indianapolis 500, the first full-capacity crowd in the event’s history.
^{AP News}

Digital Swings: Inside the SoFi Center, TGL’s Tech-Heavy, Built-for-Broadcast Golf Arena
SBJ’s Bret McCormick writes, “That the 250,000-square-foot venue exists at all is equally impressive, given that the first building TMRW Sports (which owns the TGL) tried to erect collapsed two months before TGL’s original launch date after the compressed-air dome deflated amid a confluence of the worst possible circumstances, including a power outage, in November 2023. The new all-steel venue was built in barely a year at an undisclosed cost, the result of an all-in collaborative effort by the design and construction team. Now it can withstand Category 5 hurricane-force winds.”
^{Sports Business Journal}

Dept of Education Asks NCAA, High Schools to Erase Records Set by Transgender Athletes
The Department of Education took another step Tuesday in advancing the Trump administration’s new transgender policy for sports by asking the NCAA and a key high-school sports organization to restore titles, awards and records it says have been “misappropriated by biological males competing in female categories.”

The department’s office of general counsel sent a letter requesting the changes to the National Federation of State High School Associations and the NCAA. In a news release, the department said the request was “entirely consistent with the NCAA’s new policy.”
^{AP News}

COLLEGE BASEBALL ’25: Defending Champion Vols Have New-Look Roster But Face Same High Expectations
AP News’ Eric Olson writes, “It was as if the 2024 Tennessee Volunteers were built to win a national championship with their dominant pitching and an offense that produced the second-most home runs in a season in NCAA history.

Eight players from that team were drafted, including six in the first four rounds. That’s left coach Tony Vitello to approach 2025 as a building year, though much is still expected of the Vols as defending champions.
^{AP News}

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