NBA Players Association’s Michele Roberts pens a must read on Sportico outlining the progress that the league and its players have made across social action. On behalf of the GlobalVC Sports team, THANK YOU!

Former Red Sox OF fools entire stadium with this HR robbery Che-Hsuan Lin pretends to fail catching a home run as the stadium goes wild, then reveals he actually caught the ball to everyone's surprise.

Our Take: Live sports viewership numbers and Nielsen TV ratings are built for advertisers to make more effective buying decisions…that’s their true value. We, as industries, also use them to measure the success of a property’s reach. The truth is that there are many factors that measure a rights owner or rights holder’s success beyond ratings. We believe that they should be looked at as comparisons that help analyze broader trends.

Please enjoy our video series on-demand, as GlobalVC Sports partnered with Advertising Week present the 7th Annual “Future of Sport.” On October 8th from 2-4:30pm ET, we brought together some of the biggest sports business executives, investors, and entrepreneurs to discuss how new platforms, technologies and trends are transforming our industry. As part of our partnership, Advertising Week granted GlobalVC Sports members free access to the entire week, which features 750+ Speakers and 350+ Virtual Events.

There isn’t much more to add, other than our desire to echo the national sports business’ urge to get out the vote. IT MATTERS!

From our very own, Miheer Walavalkar, CEO and co-founder of LiveLike: “LaLiga is creatively bringing VIP activations to big matches using our interactive technology, and we look forward to continuing to work with them – as well as other leagues, teams and brands looking to bring fans closer to the action through watch parties and other premium experiences that we believe will continue to be long after the pandemic.”

17-year old co-founded a contract platform to help esports gamers to get paid on time.

Why it matters: this is another sign that eSports are a different thing. The age gap with traditional sports is so evident even in these small aspects, we need to learn faster how to interact with it.

Sportswear giant Nike has been ranked as the most marketed brand in international sport according to SportsPro’s inaugural list of the World’s 50 Most Marketed Brands powered by Hookit.

Why it matters: ROI has always been the holy graal of sports marketing and any effort to give a value to all efforts that brands and sports entities do year over year is welcome.

The wearable mouth shields employed for viral protection during the pandemic have many names: masks, PPE, gaiters, bandanas, and even balaclavas. In sports licensing, some are calling the “face coverings genre” a savior. Our Take: Masks are going to be around for at least the forseeable future. They are not comfortable, yet they need to be incorporated into our daily lives. One in 12 masks fit correctly. The median time of wear is ~15 minutes, during which the mask is removed an average of seven times. What’s next?

The sports fitness space is now a proven market for athlete investors, tech-enabled home exercise equipment, and affiliated subscription products. As a result, there is significant capital pursuing a whole bunch of startups and chasing down this valuable customer segment.

SPACs (special purpose acquisition companies) are all the rage. DraftKings turned its SPAC into a thriving IPO. RedBird Capital founder and sports power-player Gerry Cardinale created a SPAC with hopes it can find quickly raise $500 million to acquire sports data analytics firms. Now, Eric Grubman, former executive VP of the NFL during a period of tremendous growth and John Collins, former CEO of On Location Experiences, a business started by the NFL, have joined with investing guru Chris Shumway to form Sports Entertainment Acquisition Co., a blank check company that filed for an IPO Monday evening. Exciting times for sure…what’s next?

From LaRae Quy, IAB Smartbrief:

Our immediate response to events is something like: “When things return to normal …” The thing is, now is the perfect time to redefine what is normal. Do we really want everything to return to what it was before? Or do we want something better, both for ourselves and our community? Now is the time to imagine a future that is kinder and more supportive of the sick, powerless and disenfranchised….

Our Take: This Matters. We are all stronger together. Bravo NHL teams.

By Michael McCarthy, Front Office Sports:

The most important front office post in the NFL this season may bear a title that didn’t even exist last year: Infection Control Officer. In the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, the NFL mandated all 32 clubs name an ‘ICO’ this year. One ICO with Minnesota Vikings has already tested positive for coronavirus.

From Bloomberg News: A new report from the National Association of City Transportation Officials shows big gains for e-scooters before the pandemic — and signs that the micromobility boom could go on.

From our very own Joe Favorito:

We are less than a month in for return to play, and with MLS heading back to stadia and the NFL starting their great training camp experiment, we thought it would be good to ask some of those on the front lines what the lessons…the positive ones…that have been learned around the one non bubble sport so far…baseball.

Keep playing, learning, and adapting.

Drake released his latest video for the song "Laugh Now Cry Later" with Lil Durk that was "part Nike commercial and part an opportunity to play sports with some superstars," featuring Kevin Durant, Odell Beckham, and Marshawn Lynch.

Fans increasingly used vMVPDs and streaming for leagues' opening weekends, Roku says.Sports fans tuned in to opening weekend games, but they increasingly used vMVPDs or streaming to do it.

Analysis of America’s favorite athletes by sport illustrates James’ and Curry’s NBA dominance, MLB’s regionality. 39% of U.S. adults picked an active favorite NFL player, more than the other three major team sports. Respondents selected 137 different MLB players, compared to 121 NFL players, 78 NHL players and 77 NBA players. 59% of respondents picked either LeBron James or Stephen Curry as their favorite NBA player.

From Eoin Connolly and our friends at SportsPro OTT: The extraordinary events of 2020 and the still uncertain path of the COVID-19 pandemic have made it almost impossible to make definitive plans for the future. Here are five broad scenarios for what may come next.