Welcome back Live Sports…not a moment too soon.
From Sports Execs. For Sports Execs. Your source for news, stories, and events. Powered by GlobalVC Sports
#BringSportsBackSafely
Featured Stories: Exclusives and Our Takes
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.
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.
Genesco Sports CEO John Tatum speaks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how to continue to design marketing campaigns for football clients in a time when uncertainty surrounds the sport
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.

Sport Hiatus (now formally integrated into GlobalVC Sports) launched on March 12, 2020 (the day after the NBA temporarily suspended its season) to celebrate the leadership, creativity, and innovation (just about anything positive) during the temporary hiatus in live sports. We are sports fans too, and we are excited about the global return of live action.
News & Industry Tidbits
Despite a glut of sports on TV, the lack of youth leagues and teams in the pandemic could cost us for years to come. Last week, the Aspen Institute released the worrying results of a nationwide survey on how youth sports had been impacted for families coping with the pandemic. Over all, there has been a nearly 50% drop kids aged 6-18. The study also showed that nearly 30% of youth who were playing sports before the pandemic were not likely to go back without a major intervention. They’ve lost interest.
Chess became a popular streaming category early on in the pandemic, drawing more than 41.2 million hours watched on Twitch from March to August. The board game’s surge in popularity is also hitting public markets and mainstream media.
By Jacob Feldman of Sportico: An Emmy win for The Last Dance this weekend was the latest sign in how far sports documentaries have come, with demand from both viewers and networks growing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our Take: With the rapid return of live sports, what’s the future of documentaries and other long-form evergreen content?
By Eben Novy-Williams, Sportico:
Our Take: The future of merchandising is customization, personalization…and TBD (2028 is pretty far away). Let’s get through 2020 first. The official logo for the Los Angeles Olympics is… whatever you’d like it to be.
What a return it has been for the NBA. This season has been tremendous, from the quality of play to the handling of complex social issues. “Because that’s called privilege. A thing we don’t have, a fact that y’all will never let us forget. Even when you think you’re on the right side of history.”
“Networks have done a good job retaining their top sports advertisers. Looking at the top 25 advertisers, pre-Covid, across airings of each league's games, both MLB and the NBA have seen 23 returns, while the NHL saw 24.”
The Takeaway: Proving the company is more than just Fortnite, Epic Games has announced a $1.78 Billion raise!
Our Take: The NBA seems to be consistently a step ahead. The league has gotten creative during their restart action. In addition to their #WholeNewGame slogan, virtual fans, and other unique ideas, fans now have the option to stream select games via a “Bet Stream” option in partnership with The Action Network and BetMGM.
Our Take on Scott Soshnick (Sportico’s) Story: Vince McMahon took the XFL to new highs and lows — twice. Now, the Rock is betting that there is room for two professional football leagues and he can bring this to the next threshold. We’ve even seen that his team wants to do it with the same leadership. Fresh off his purchase of buying the defunct XFL out of bankruptcy, The Rock is looking to invigorate former employees.
Live Video “Office Hours”
Featuring innovators, creators and thought leaders from across the sports business (executives, investors, entrepreneurs, athletes…)
Enjoy our Live and VOD “Office Hours” series.
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