🏟️ Paige Bueckers Secures Huge Rookie Deal

The WNBA's #1 Draft Pick Also Signed With Unrivaled

Author

Jeff Chen
April 18, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes

Welcome to this week’s edition of Sports Industry Weekly as we share insights from the top business headlines from across the sports industry.

💰 Paige Bueckers was drafted first overall in the WNBA Draft, but headlines broke prior to the draft as she secured a $350,000 one-season deal with Unrivaled, surpassing her $348,000 total 4-year rookie salary with the WNBA.

🏀 Ahead of the WNBA draft, the league announced two new multi-year brand partnerships, including Coach becoming the first official bag partner and Ally becoming the official retail bank and changemaker partner.

🏆 The Masters had their highest viewership in 7 years, with 12.7 million viewers for the Final Round and over 19.5 million viewers in the final moments as Rory McIlroy won his first green jacket in a playoff.

📸 Baseball Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. went viral this weekend as he served as a credentialed photographer for the 2025 Masters, after previously photographing sporting events such as the MLB Seoul Series, an Inter Miami FC match, and an NFL game in 2023.

🪄 Luka Dončić becomes the first international player to have the NBA's highest-selling jersey, surging to the #1 spot after previously being #8 in mid-season jersey sales.

💯 Six athletes were named to TIME100’s Most Influential People List of 2025, including Jalen Hurts, Léon Marchand, Serena Williams, Simone Biles, Breanna Stewart, and Napheesa Collier.

🍃 NBA Hall of Famer Carmelo Anthony has launched his cannabis brand, STAYME7O, and creative agency, Grand National, in New York. After recent success in Oregon, he's bringing his vision, which focuses on empowerment and social equity.

⛳️ Jordan Brand launched their Jordan Brand Golf Line, featuring an Air Rev golf shoe silhouette, as they aim to take golf footwear to the next level of performance and innovation.

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📅 The college football and basketball transfer portals have shaken the collegiate sports world with transfer and NIL headlines over the past few weeks, and they both come to an end on April 22nd (CBB) and April 25th (CFB).

🔫 A new Netflix documentary is premiering on April 23rd—"Untold: Shooting Guards," which revisits the infamous 2009 locker room incident between Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton, involving unloaded firearms in the Washington Wizards locker room.

🏈 Netflix is also set to release a new tell-all Brett Favre documentary in May that will share the story of the quarterback's pursuit of Jenn Sterger and his involvement in the Mississippi welfare case.

BEFORE YOU GO

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