Sport & Story Daily August 12, 2024

Growing on Social Media

August 12, 2024

Good morning! From Athlete to Entrepreneur

How ’Muffin Man’ And Other Olympians Became Online Stars
Henrik Christiansen is a Norwegian swimmer who has blown up on TikTok while competing at the Olympics. Christiansen went viral for his love of the Olympic Villages gooey chocolate muffins. He now has nearly 500,000 TikTok followers and is being called the Muffin Man.
^Sportico

Callaway considers spinning off Topgolf amid strategic review
Callaway acquired Topgolf for $2 billion in 2021. Callaway’s president and chief executive, Chip Brewer, is disappointed at Topgolf’s performance.
“At the same time, we have been disappointed in our stock performance for some time, as well as the more recent same venue sales performance. As a result, we are in the process of conducting a full strategic review of Topgolf. This review includes the assessment of organic strategies to return Topgolf to profitable same venue sales growth, as well as inorganic alternatives, including a potential spin of Topgolf.”
^{SportsPro Media}

UFC on ESPN 61 bonuses: Just three finishers receive $50,000 after decision-filled event
After Saturday’s card, the UFC handed out three bonuses. Youssef Zalal, Toshiomi Kazama and Serghei Spivac all received $50,000 bonuses. It was Kazama’s first UFC win and first $50,000 bonus.
^{Yahoo Sports}

Paris 2024: 250k hours of pre-Olympics IT testing mitigated impact of global IT outage
An update to CrowdStrike’s Falcon sensor cybersecurity software led computers running Microsoft’s Windows operating system to malfunction. This caused a disruption to key systems of the 10,000 computers used at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The outage slowed down operations, with accreditation services temporarily unavailable and organizers using manual processes in some instances, but most functions were not affected. Thankfully, this did not happen during the games, and the problem was fixed.
^{SportsPro Media}

Marvin Harrison Tries Hail Mary To Get Out of Fanatics Lawsuit
Fanatics sued Arizona Cardinals rookie Marvin Harrison Jr., saying he breached their signed agreement and that he falsely claimed the agreement didn’t exist. Harrison claims his father signed an agreement between Fanatics and The Official Harrison Collection. Two attempts by Harrison Jr.’s attorneys to dismiss the case have been denied.
^{Front Office Sports}

Thank You and Goodbye: A’s Sell Out Final Game in Oakland
The Oakland A’s have more than seven weeks of playing left in the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. The Sept. 26 game against the Rangers is the final home game and it is already sold out. The Sept. 24 game against the Rangers will feature $2 tickets and free parking and the Sept. 25 game has $10 tickets.
^{Front Office Sports}

FIBA is already looking forward to LA 2028 and basketball at the Clippers’ new facility
The Intuit Dome is the home of the Los Angeles Clippers and will be the site for basketball in the 2028 Summer Olympics. FIBA secretary general Andreas Zagklis recently toured the facility.
“This is an arena that has been designed for the fans, for the experience of the fans,” Zagklis said. “So, I think, I expect excellent images and top-level experience for our players.”
^{AP Sports}

Jim Harbaugh set to return to Michigan as an honorary captain for Wolverines' season opener
Former Michigan football head coach Jim Harbaugh will be back at Michigan Stadium. He will be an honorary captain for the Wolverines season opener against Fresno State on Aug. 31. Harbaugh will debut as coach of the Los Angeles Chargers eight days later.
^{CBS Sports}

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