Weekly Roundup: Business of Athletes, Sports, & NIL (September 11-17)

<p></p><p><strong>Audio Timeline:</strong></p><p>1:30 - <strong>Feel good stories</strong></p><p>* Steph Curry donates 25 million meals and MJ’s financial literacy course</p><p>3:30 - Business of Athletes</p><p>* Former NBA star <strong>Pau Gasol</strong> has invested in <strong>Colvin</strong>, a flower marketplace based in Spain. </p><p>* <strong>Arena Club</strong>, a new sports card collecting platform co-founded by <strong>Derek Jeter</strong>, has officially launched.</p><p>* <strong>Perch</strong>, a weightlifting camera and data startup, has raised a $4M funding round that includes an investment from Miami Dolphins cornerback <strong>Byron Jones</strong>. </p><p>* Jrue Holiday, Al Horford, Kyle Rudolph, Ndamukong Suh, Rob Dyrdek, and Luke Kuechly have all invested in the $6.5M Series A round of sports nutrition company, <strong>Momentous</strong>. </p><p>* <strong>Chris Paul</strong> has invested in <strong>Umaro Foods</strong>, a Berkeley-based startup pioneering the use of red seaweed protein in plant-based meats. </p><p>8:50 - <strong>Name, Image, and Likeness</strong></p><p>* One of the top collegiate golfers, <strong>David Puig</strong>, has forgone his senior season to join LIV golf.</p><p>* <strong>Scott Frost’s</strong> $16M buyout at Nebraska raises questions. </p><p>* <strong>Texas</strong> spent $600,000+ on football recruits (in just two weekends). </p><p>13:00 - Future of Sports</p><p>* <strong>Bridgestone Golf</strong> is partnering with <strong>LinksDAO</strong> to venture into the world of Web3. </p><p>* <strong>New York Times</strong> is bringing advertisements to <strong>The Athletic</strong> on top of its subscription model.</p><p>* Concussions among NFL players mandated to wear <strong>Guardian Cap</strong> equipment dropped by more than 50% this summer compared to the previous three-year average, according to data released Wednesday</p><p>* A <strong>LendingTree</strong> survey shows that 41% of us will spend money on sports this fall, at an average of $664 on average. </p><p>* <strong>Ares Management Corporation</strong>, a leading global alternative investment manager, announced that it has raised $3.7B of dedicated capital focused exclusively on investing in sports properties. </p><p>* <strong>Cerebro Sports</strong>, a basketball data analytics company, has received backing from <strong>Mark Cuban</strong> who led their pre-seed funding. </p><p>Interesting Stat</p><p>Last week, I featured where college football players come from — so let’s take a look at where college basketball players come from. </p><p>Of the 5,510 Division I men's college basketball players, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2022-02-17/mens-college-basketball-we-mapped-hometown-every-current-di-mens-basketball">85%</a> of them come from the United States. </p><p>California, Texas, and Georgia have produced the most D1 hoopers — and big cities like Houston, Chicago, LA, Baltimore, and New York City have the highest concentration. </p><p>Heading to the international scene…</p><p>Canada is the foreign country with the most players (146), ahead of Australia (66) and Nigeria (42).</p><p>All in all, basketball is a worldwide sport with the average D1 team having 2.3 players on their roster from a country other than the United States. </p><p>It makes me laugh when parents think their kid is going D1 just cause he scored 20 points in a high school game — you’re competing against the world for a spot, not just your local area. </p><p>Short Passage of The Week:</p><p>We often think we need a “perfect map of the future” to get started. What we actually need is “a general direction.” </p><p>* Big career decisions don’t come with a map, but all you need is a compass. </p><p>* The right next move is the one that brings you a step closer to living your core values. </p><p>* In an unpredictable world, you can’t make a master plan. You can only gauge whether you’re on a meaningful path.</p><p><em>Sourc