Weekly Roundup: Business of Athletes, Sports, & NIL (Oct 30-Nov 5)

<p><strong>Audio Timeline:</strong></p><p>0:25 - <strong>Feel good stories</strong></p><p>* Philadelphia Phillies $50,000 donation and UNC student-athletes raising money for the Children’s Hospital. </p><p>2:00 - Business of Athletes</p><p>* Potential Hall of Fame baseball player <strong>Jimmy Rollins</strong> is launching ScoutUS Pro, an app connecting athletes and scouts in one place.</p><p>* <strong>Steph Curry</strong> filed the trademark “CURRYVERSE’ with an intent to use it in the metaverse. </p><p>* Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s venture <strong>TMRW Sports</strong> has announced an array of high-level athlete investors:</p><p>5:30 - <strong>Name, Image, and Likeness</strong></p><p>* <strong>Campus Ink</strong> announced a $2 million funding round to grow its NIL merch platform. </p><p>* <strong>INFLCR</strong> says transactions from collectives account for more than one-third of total payment volume to college athletes with an average pay of $1,257. </p><p>* <strong>Carlos Fuentes</strong> of the Denver Pioneers basketball team serves as their own in-house agent since he’s from Spain and can’t legally make NIL money. </p><p>* <strong>Data Vault Holdings</strong>, a metaverse data tool, announced they have started minting branded NFT tokens for colleges across the US.</p><p>9:45 - Future of Sports</p><p>* <strong>DICK’s Sporting Goods</strong> launched a $50M in-house investment fund, <strong>DSG Ventures</strong>, to invest in the future of sport and retail. </p><p>* The NBA has launched <strong>NBA equity</strong>, a private equity division to invest in startups.</p><p>* <strong>Amazon Prime Video</strong> has signed a multi-year deal with amateur basketball league <strong>Overtime Elite (OTE)</strong> for exclusive global streaming rights. </p><p>* The first-ever network to focus on female athletes, the <strong>Women’s Sports Network,</strong> launched this past week. </p><p>* <strong>Knights of Degen</strong>, a sports gaming community in Web3, has entered into an agreement to acquire the blockchain-based fantasy sports platform, <strong>LeagueDAO</strong>.</p><p>* The <strong>Minnesota Twins</strong> along with TechStars announced 10 startups for their next accelerator. </p><p>Interesting Stat</p><p>Americans don’t understand the popularity and money behind cricket…</p><p>At more than $1 billion a year, India’s top cricket league (The IPL) — which only has 10 teams — now generates annual broadcast revenues on par with top leagues like the NFL ($10B), England’s Premier League ($6.9B) and the NBA ($2.7B). </p><p>On a per-match basis, the IPL now ranks behind only the NFL. </p><p><em>Via: NYTimes</em></p><p>Short Passage of The Week:</p><p>3 ideas as you end and start your year: • You don't rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.• Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become.• Decide the type of person you want to be. Prove it to yourself with small wins.</p><p><strong>Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results</strong><em>Source: James Clear, Atomic Habits </em></p><p>Side Note:</p><p>People ‘steal’ my content all the time — and I usually let it slide as it’s flattering. </p><p>But this past weekend, I couldn’t hold my tongue. </p><p>This guy wrote a LinkedIn post bragging about how he got 700,000 impressions on a post he copied word for word from this newsletter. </p><p>I love that people think my work is good — but at least credit me. </p><p>And don’t people get kicked out of college for plagiarism? So why’s it fine on social media? Content can be a dirty game. </p><p>Business Jargon</p><p>It’s not always easy thinking long-term, but it’s required for the success you truly desire.</p><p><strong>Build like the Romans 🏟️</strong></p><p>The Colosseum in Rome is nearly 2000 years old. And for the most part, it’s still fairly intact. </p><p>The Romans designed things that were built to last and used concrete stronger than any we use today. </p><p><strong>But when it co