Weekly Roundup: Business of Athletes, Sports, & NIL (October 2-8)

<p><strong>Audio Timeline:</strong></p><p>1:20 - <strong>Feel good stories</strong></p><p>* Joe Burrow is giving back in a big way and the cool story of a seventeen-year-old raising money for cancer.</p><p>3:20 - Business of Athletes</p><p>* Spanish athletes <strong>Pau Gasol</strong>, <strong>Rudy Fernandez</strong>, and <strong>Iker Casillas</strong> are investing in <strong>INDYA</strong>, a startup focused on improving the performance of athletes through technology and nutrition.</p><p>* <strong>Annika Sörenstam</strong> and <strong>Vijay Singh</strong> (retired pro golfers) are investors in wearable golf technology <strong>deWiz’s</strong> $4M Series B round.</p><p>6:00 - <strong>Name, Image, and Likeness</strong></p><p>* <strong>SAXX</strong> underwear signs South Carolina football players to one of the most creative NIL deals we’ve seen up until this point. </p><p>* Mississippi State <strong>HC Mike Leach</strong> says players should be split between amateurs and professionals. </p><p>* An array of other cool deals — from Reese’s to a dog. </p><p>11:55 - Future of Sports</p><p>* <strong>onX</strong> announced an $87.4M Series B round to continue building their navigation and mapping technology for outdoor recreationists.</p><p>* <strong>Verse Gaming</strong>, a social gaming company hosting peer-2-peer fantasy contests in sports announced a pre-seed funding round of $585k. </p><p>* <strong>GAMURS</strong>, a leading esports and entertainment media network, announced it has closed a $12M Series A funding round co-led by <strong>Elysian Park</strong> and <strong>Cerro Capital</strong>. </p><p>* <strong>PredictionStrike</strong>, a marketplace for trading shares of athletes, announced a $3M seed round led by <strong>MaC Venture Capital. </strong></p><p>* Basketball analytics startup <strong>ShotQuality</strong> has raised a $3.2M seed round co-led by <strong>KB Partners</strong> and <strong>TIA Ventures</strong>.</p><p>Interesting Stat</p><p>This is pretty wild:</p><p>Sports Sponsorship spending (in billions) from 2014-2024. </p><p>This is going to continue increasing, especially since the target market has increased now that college and high school sports are monetizable through name, image, and likeness (NIL). </p><p>Short Passage of The Week:</p><p>Brick by Brick, Day by Day </p><p>* Culture isn’t built in a day. </p><p>* Success isn’t built in a day. </p><p>* Mindset isn’t built in a day. </p><p>* Habits aren’t built in a day. </p><p>* Greatness isn’t built in a day. </p><p>* The foundation isn’t built in a day. </p><p>It’s built one day at a time. Keep showing up. Keep doing the work. <em>Passage by Kevin DeShazo</em></p><p>Tweet(s)</p><p>Former MLB pitcher Jacob Turner put out an interesting thread regarding playoff baseball bonuses. </p><p>Sports = Business. Business = Money. </p><p>Therefore…</p><p><strong>Sports = Money</strong> (never forget that). </p><p>Business Jargon</p><p>Let’s take a look at some of the unique ways to fund a startup. </p><p><strong>Bootstrapping:</strong></p><p>This is when startup founders invest their own money or get friends and family to invest in the business.</p><p>Bootstrapping gives business owners more room to experiment with the business and product since there’s no pressure to meet the expectations of investors.</p><p><strong>Equity:</strong></p><p>Refers to the percentage of ownership in a business. </p><p>VCs typically make investments in exchange for equity, a percentage of the company’s shares.</p><p><strong>Crowdfunding:</strong></p><p>Financing method where a group of individuals invests in your business. To run a successful crowdfunding campaign, you need to showcase your project to a large audience to convince them to invest.</p><p>Depending on the type of crowdfunding, investors may receive shares, interest, or products or services for their investment. </p><p>Quote</p><p>“If you feel like there’s something out there that you’re supposed to be doing, if you have a passio