🏟 The WNBA is bigger than ever!

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Happy Friday! Today we share insights from the sports industry’s most significant business headlines including:

• WNBA starts their historic season 🎉

• A streaming platform joins the NFL vs NBA XMas viewership battle 🎄

• Eight men’s college basketball teams will be paid $1 million each in NIL endorsements for participating in a new Las Vegas tournament 💵

• YouTuber and streamer Speedy tells his 23 million followers that Mbappe is not joining Real Madrid after saying he is leaving PSG 👀

THE WNBA IS BIGGER THAN EVER!

The 2024 WNBA season officially kicked off on Tuesday and is already setting unprecedented benchmarks in women's sports as we witness the rise of a transformative era in sports.

As the league rapidly grows, we'll continue seeing diverse career path opportunities across the league, teams, partner brands, and organizations.

Over the past week, the league has already accomplished:

• A Record Setting Season Opener: Caitlin Clark’s debut sold out 8,910 arena tickets and netted 2.11 million viewers as the Indiana Fever and Connecticut Sun game was the most-viewed WNBA game on ESPN platforms in history.

• Two New Franchises: The Golden State Valkyries will join the W in 2025 and Toronto’s new team will join in 2026. Both markets will see an increase in sports career opportunities to support their new team as ownership will need to staff an entire front office, team operations, arena management and many more roles.

• Commissioner Institutes Full Charter Program: “We are thrilled to announce the launch of a full charter program as soon as practical for the 2024 and 2025 seasons, a testament to the continued growth of the WNBA,” said WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert.

• A'One A'rriving 2025: Nike and A’ja Wilson announced her long-awaited signature sneaker and fans already want to buy her “Of Course I Have A Shoe Dot Com” hoodie.

• New League Partnerships: To start the new season, the league announced three official WNBA partnerships with Dick’s Sporting Goods, CarMax and SKIMS.

  • As part of their multiyear partnership, DSG will be launching an exclusive girls’ apparel collection with the WNBA to promote women’s sports and youth participation.

  • For the second consecutive season, the WNBA’s Tip-Off Test Drive will be presented by CarMax providing fans an opportunity to unlock complimentary access to WNBA League Pass.

  • Kim Kardashian’s SKIMS became the official underwear partner of the WNBA and unveiled a new campaign featuring Candace Parker, Cameron Brink, Dijonai Carrington, Kelsey Plum and Skylar Diggins-Smith.

EACH WEEK, I DEDICATE SEVERAL HOURS TO CRAFT THIS EMAIL AND IDENTIFY PARTNERS WHO CAN PROVIDE YOU WITH ADDITIONAL INSIGHTS AND VALUE. I ENCOURAGE YOU TO CHECK OUT TODAY’S SPONSOR AND CLICK ON THEIR LINK TO LEARN MORE:

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QUICK READS AND LINKS ICYMI:

• 🏈 Netflix will be the home to two live NFL games this Christmas: Chiefs vs Steelers and Ravens vs Texans.

• 🎮 EA Sports reveals their official College Football ‘25 video game cover athletes: Quinn Ewers (University of Texas QB), Travis Hunter (University of Colorado WR/DB) and Donovan Edwards (University of Michigan RB).

• 🥩 Drake vs Kendrick has everyone beefing as SHAQ released a Shannon Sharpe diss track on his show: The Big Podcast with SHAQ.

• 🏐 League One Volleyball and ESPN have reached a multi-year media rights deal ahead of the league’s inaugural pro volleyball season.

WE HAVE OUR EYES AND EARS ON THE FOLLOWING:

• 🤑 Players Era Festival is a new one-of-a-kind regular-season men’s college basketball event that will pay each participating school $1 million with an additional $1 million awarded exclusively to the winning team. Each school’s NIL collectives will receive the money and then distribute the funds to the student-athletes after they participate in multiple off-the-court NIL activities to avoid the NCAA’s “pay-for-play” NIL rules. The eight team tournament will be played in Las Vegas in November and is headlined by Alabama, Houston, Oregon, Creighton, Notre Dame, Rutgers, San Diego State and Texas A&M.

• ⚽️ Kylian Mbappé announced to his 114 million Instagram followers that he is leaving Paris Saint-Germain at the end of the season. Immediate assumptions is that he is expected to join Real Madrid but Arsenal is also rumored to be his new team according to popular streamer and fútbol enthusiast Speedy via his sources: trust me.

• 🏀 According to Bill Simmons, NBC has officially outbid Warner Bros. Discovery (TNT) to secure the broadcast rights to the NBA starting in the 2025-2026 season. If this report is true, the eighteen time Sports Emmy Award winning show “Inside The NBA” will end after next season. The crew of Shaquille O'Neal, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley, and Ernie Johnson have transcended beyond just a sports show with their humor and amazing chemistry with their studio staff and production team.

CELEBRATING WINS ACROSS THE SPORTS INDUSTRY:

🎉 Congrats to Sidney Brown and Nakevion Bryant on joining our SBV Fellowship program this summer as they continue their career growth in the sports industry!

Want to share your latest sports career update with our community? Just fill out this form and let us know about your new job, promotion or internship!

DID YOU SEE THIS? 👀

Hypothetical question time.

Your $100 parlay bet wins you $1.7 MILLION if all three happen:

• ✅ Kansas City Chiefs win Super Bowl LVIII

• ✅ Texas Rangers win the 2023 World Series

• 💰 Oklahoma City Thunder win the 2024 NBA Finals

At the time, the Thunder and Mavericks series is tied 2-2, and Draftkings Sportsbook offers you $80,000 to cash out.

You taking the $80K or hoping the Thunder win the championship and let your $100 ride to potentially take home $1.7M?!

Reply in an email and let us know! 👀

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