Weekly Roundup: Business of Athletes, Sports, & NIL (Jan 30 - Feb 5)

(00:50) - Feel good stories College athlete donates $22,000 and Make-A-Wish is hosting an awesome Super Bowl event (02:15) - Business of Athletes The NFL salary cap is increasing from $208.2M to $224.8M for 2023. Shinesty, a men's underwear company, signed a deal with Clemson basketball player Brevin Galloway after his “balls” video went viral. Former NFL players Calvin Johnson Jr. and Rob Sims have launched their newest CBD product, Primitiv Performance. Baseball star Shohei Ohtani has signed a massive endorsement deal with New Balance, other notable athletes include Kawhi Leonard, Zach Lavine, and Coco Gauff. (05:45) - Name, Image, and Likeness Boston College lacrosse midfielder Belle Smith signed a name, image, and likeness (NIL) deal with Senné, a Boston-based real estate advisory and investment firm Nick Saban turned down two recruits asking for over $1.3M in combined NIL deals “I’m not paying a kid a bunch of NIL money before he earns it.” LSU announced “Bayou Traditions” and also named it the official collective of LSU athletics. (10:00) - Future of Sports The Premier League has acquired an equity stake in fantasy sports NFT platform Sorare as part of a new four-year deal. Venturerock, a $75 million sports tech fund that launched last fall, has made its first major investment in POGR, an esports/metaverse product. Generative AI text-to-video startup Recut has been accepted into Tennis Australia’s inaugural AO Startups incubator program. Sports For All, a multi-sport tech-driven platform, has joined Khelo India Youth Games as a sponsor for the next five years investing Rs 12.5 crore ($3.5M). Ballislife, a basketball and lifestyle media company started in 2005, has raised $2.7M in Series A funding led by London-based Oakvale Sports Investco. All In Team Sports, a sports SaaS for youth team management, has now raised $1.55 million to date.