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Highlight Reel: YouTuber Jake Paul is joining the PFL's fight to challenge the UFC 🥊
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Highlight Reel: YouTuber Jake Paul is joining the PFL's fight to challenge the UFC 🥊

This week's top stories feature Andretti, Cadillac, Formula 1, New Balance, AS Roma, Fanatics, Candy Digital, and the Brazilian Football Confederation.

Jan 6
6
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Highlight Reel: YouTuber Jake Paul is joining the PFL's fight to challenge the UFC 🥊
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It’s Friday!

Happy New Year everyone! Here’s to hoping Sports Pundit’s subscriber growth in 2023 mirrors that of Al Nassr’s Instagram. Looking elsewhere, here are five stories that caught my attention👇

  1. Andretti joins forces with General Motors for Cadillac F1 entry bid

  2. YouTuber Jake Paul is joining the PFL's fight to challenge the UFC

  3. AS Roma sued by New Balance over reportedly agreeing rival kit deal

  4. Fanatics is divesting its 60% stake in NFT company Candy Digital

  5. Two consortiums are vying to create a new Brazilian football league


Andretti joins forces with General Motors for Cadillac F1 entry bid 🏎

New year, new F1 team?

Andretti Racing, one of America's most successful racing teams and America’s biggest car company, General Motors, have announced a collaboration in a bid to enter Formula 1 and to capitalise on the racing championship’s rapid US growth.

According to a report from Sky Sports, team owner Michael Andretti has been lobbying the FIA to expand F1’s 20-car grid and has pushed forward with his plans despite a failed attempt to purchase Sauber in 2021 and resistance from current F1 teams worried about diluting their revenue shares.

Twitter avatar for @michaelandretti
Michael Andretti @michaelandretti
Proud to announce our Andretti Global partnership with GM @Cadillac as we pursue the opportunity to compete in the @fia @F1 World Championship. #CadillacVSeries #AllAndretti https://t.co/XwIh6SWcO6
Image
3:51 PM ∙ Jan 5, 2023
5,722Likes583Retweets

YouTuber Jake Paul is joining the PFL's fight to challenge the UFC 🥊

Jake Paul, the YouTube phenomenon turned prizefighter, is making the move from boxing to MMA.

Notorious for his beef with UFC’ chief Dana White over fighter pay, Paul is now teaming up with the Professional Fighters League (PFL) to take on the juggernaut as their ‘Head of Fighter Advocacy’.

Paul and his business partner Nakisa Bidarian have both been given equity stakes in the challenger MMA promotion as part of the deal and, together with the PFL, they have co-created a pay-per-view division called “PFL PPV Super Fight,” a division that guarantees fighters will receive 50% of revenue from its events.

Twitter avatar for @PFLMMA
PFL @PFLMMA
Signed, Sealed, Delivered. Welcome to the Professional Fighters League @jakepaul
1:15 PM ∙ Jan 5, 2023
22,829Likes2,071Retweets

AS Roma sued by New Balance over reportedly agreeing rival kit deal 👕

It’s happening again. US sportswear giant New Balance is suing another European football club after they signed with a rival supplier rather than renewing.

On this occasion, it’s AS Roma that are at the centre of the controversy. New Balance have argued in their filing that they would have matched the terms offered to Roma by Adidas, which would have resulted in a renewal of the sponsorship deal. Roma have argued that this is not the case but are expected to lose the case.

Interestingly, New Balance previously sued (and lost) in a battle to renew with Liverpool FC, with the Merseyside club arguing that New Balance could not match Nike's five-year deal of £30m a year in terms of marketing.

Twitter avatar for @TheyThinkKits
They Think Kits All Over @TheyThinkKits
New Balance v AS Roma 👨‍⚖️🏦 The only people not excited by the Roma x adidas hook up are the team at New Balance. They have taken legal action in a case that will be heard later this month, believing they had first right of refusal if they matched offers.
Image
12:34 PM ∙ Jan 4, 2023
160Likes11Retweets

Fanatics is divesting its 60% stake in NFT company Candy Digital 🎟

Fanatics, the retailer specialising in licensed sports merchandise, is divesting 60% of its stake in the NFT company Candy Digital, according to reports. The company is selling its Candy Digital stake to an investor group associated with billionaire Mike Novogratz and his firm, Galaxy Digital.

In an internal email obtained by CNBC, Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin, reportedly states that, “Divesting our ownership stake at this time allowed us to ensure investors were able to recoup most of their investment via cash or additional shares in Fanatics – a favorable outcome for investors, especially in an imploding NFT market that has seen precipitous drops in both transaction volumes and prices for standalone NFTs.”

Twitter avatar for @CNBC
CNBC @CNBC
Fanatics is divesting its 60% stake in NFT company Candy Digital
cnb.cxFanatics is divesting its 60% stake in NFT company Candy DigitalMichael Rubin’s sports platform company Fanatics is divesting its 60% stake in NFT company Candy Digital, according to an internal email obtained by CNBC.
9:22 PM ∙ Jan 4, 2023
8Likes9Retweets

Two consortiums are vying to create a new Brazilian football league ⚽️

A pair of opposing consortiums are vying to professionalise the business of football in Brazil and create a new domestic competition in Brazil, according to a report from the FT.

Codajas Sports Kapital’s Liga do Futebol Brasileiro project, or Libra, has the support of 16 clubs from the existing top two nationwide divisions and proposes a model — inspired by the English Premier League — that will be controlled by clubs, rather than the national federation. This, in theory, should enable collective negotiation of transmission rights, leading to more lucrative deals than those obtained on the current individualised basis.

On the other hand, Liga Forte Futebol, has 26 clubs on board and is being advised by investment firm XP and professional services group Alvarez & Marsal. It is in discussions with an unnamed group of US investors to sell a slice of the league to private shareholders.

Twitter avatar for @SportByFort
Ricardo Fort @SportByFort
The New Brazilian League will happen. Clubs that work against it will go down in history as the villains that chose their own gains vs. industry progress. It has never been so close.
ft.comSubscribe to read | Financial TimesNews, analysis and comment from the Financial Times, the worldʼs leading global business publication
4:46 PM ∙ Jan 5, 2023
66Likes12Retweets

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Highlight Reel: YouTuber Jake Paul is joining the PFL's fight to challenge the UFC 🥊
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