Carl Starkey

Part I: The NWSL and links to MCO through their investors Overview * NWSL formed 2012, began playing 2013 * Expanding to 16 teams 2026 * NWSL collective worth $1.46bn * 57% increase in franchise value 2023-24 * Collective revenues to pass $215m - 91% YoY * All teams to lose $5-10m 2024 * 4yr Broadcast Deal $240m ($4m per team per yr) * Min salary to increase $48-$82 by 2030 * Salary cap to increase $3.3M - $5.1M by 2030 * Attendance increased 42% in 24 passing 1m fans 3yrs in a row * 49 matches passed 10k fans * The Yates Report 2022 (investigation into systemic abuse and misconduct within NWSL) highlighted Thorns, North Carolina, Red Stars, Racing Louisville & Seattle Reign as all failing to protect players Seattle Reign  * Valued $78m * Franchise Fee $0  * Formed 2012 as Seattle Reign FC * 2019 renamed Reign FC due to a relocation (Tacoma) * 2020 OL Group paid $3.5m for 89.5%, name changed to OL Reign * 2024 Sold for $58m, reverted back to Seattle Reign FC * Between time of purchase and sale, OL Group changed ownership to Eagle Football Holdings *OL Groupe was financially distressed & sold OL Reign to Carlyle Group 50% & Adrian Hanauer, owner of Seattle Sounders, 2012 Alan was a past investor in Reign * Hanauer has a minority stake in NHL Seattle Kraken & previously held 15% in EFL Cambridge Utd early 00s * The Carlyle group (AuM $426bn)formed part of the financial vehicle Stephen Pagliuca consortium used to purchase Atalanta Bergamo FC  * Pagliuca acquired a 55% in the holding company that owns 86% of Atalanta for €250m in 2022 * Pagliuca is co-owner of Boston Celtics * Pagliuca in discussion to acquire Red Star FC (France) Portland Thorns  * Valued $93m * Franchise Fee $0 * Formed by Merritt Paulson (Peregrine Sports LLC) who owns Portland Timbers * As a result of the yates report sold the Thorns to RAJ Sports for $63m 2023 * RAJ Sports is led by the Bethal family * 2024 The Bhathal family was awarded WNBA's 15th franchise for Portland (Name TBC) to begin 2026 * The Bhathal family previously owned several Sacramento franchises * Other investors include Sam Garvin (Phoenix Suns) Angel City  * Valued $250m  * Franchise Fee $2m * Formed 2020  * Founding ownership group included Natalie Portman, Serena Williams, Eva Longoria * Longoria is part-owner of Club Necaxa & associated with Wrexham * 2024 Willow Bay and Bob Iger purchased 35% for $87.5m which valued the franchise at $250m * Their total investment is $137.5m providing $50m for operations  * Sept 2024 LAFC invest $50m acquiring a small stake * LAFC acquisition stems from warrants that were part of city stadium lease agreement. These warrants gave LAFC the rights to purchase shares. * Mia Hamm is a minority investor in both LAFC & Angel FC * LAFC own Grasshopper Club Zürich & Austrian club FC Wacker Innsbruck * LAFC formed a JV with FC Bayern (Red&Gold) which owns Racing Club de Montevideo (Uruguay) and Gambinos Stars (Gambia) #multiclubownership #footballbusiness #footballfinance

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Athletic Brewing raised $50M at a $800M valuation 🍻 Approaching unicorn status, the brand's nonalcoholic beer is in high demand. But, it's not an overnight success. When founder Bill Shufelt was starting the company, more than 100 investors turned him down. Proving them wrong, Athletic Brewing Co. Brewing now accounts for 19% of the nonalcoholic beer market. On trend, Athletic’s rise coincides with a cultural shift away from booze — especially among health seekers and younger demographics. As movements like mindful drinking gain traction, brands like Athletic Brewing will grow into massive businesses – helping reshape our relationship with alcohol. 📩 Subscribe to Fitt Insider for more health & wellness news, trends, and insights. → https://lnkd.in/d-DqzjsP

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When we ask private clubs about profitability in their F&B operation, we often get a chuckle on the opposite side of the desk. "Sunk cost", "necessary expense", "required amenity" are common replies. Roster your private club with ClubBuy and we can bring your food cost down and balance your P&L.

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$600m ➡️ the (rumoured) current expansion fee to purchase an Major League Soccer franchise. $20m ➡️ the current expansion fee to purchase a United Soccer League (USL) franchise. Like every great investor, the challenge is to find value where it doesn’t yet exist or where it hasn't been maximised. This is Brett M. Johnson. The co-owner of Ipswich Town FC, Phoenix Rising Football Club, and the newly formed Rhode Island FC, Brett is both creating and re-establishing value across a portfolio of football assets. US football (soccer...) has created massive asset value, underwritten by security of participation. The tradeoff? Too many games of no consequence. Limited consequence can limit attention 👀 Promotion/relegation fixes that...but reduces value 📉 What do you chase? 🤷‍♂️ Regardless of the operating system, don’t lose sight of the primary objective; building a great business! 🗣 “I like to focus on what I refer to as the sustainability of football; being able to have a franchise that's profitable and not just for the equity appreciation fairies coming to your rescue” A sports ownership schooling from one of the best in the business (of sport)🔥 Business of Sport (Links in comments)👇 #Ipswich #BrettJohnson #PhoenixRising #RhodeIsland #PremierLeague #MLS #USL #businessofsport #sportsindustry

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Here's why golf is at an 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 crossroads... More viewers consumed non-traditional golf content on YouTube this year than all of professional golf combined. 𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬: 📊 PGA Tour: 1.5 million YouTube subscribers, 85,000 average views, 34 engagements per video. GoodGood: 1.7 million YouTube subscribers, 545,000 average views, 717 engagements per video. ───────── 𝐒𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐛𝐢𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐓𝐮𝐛𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐥𝐟? ⛳ 4.3 BILLION VIEWS... over the first three months of 2024 20X... engagement on golf creator content vs pro leagues 1 BILLION... followers of the top 500 golf creators 𝗜𝗻 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘆: 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿, 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝗽𝘂𝗹𝗮𝗿, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝗲𝗱 + 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗯𝘆 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝘀.

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Roger Federer’s Parents had a profound impact on his tennis career. Surprisingly, the lessons we can learn from them are almost completely in what they DIDN’T do: 1) They didn’t coach Roger in Tennis. Although both his parents were good amateur tennis players (Roger’s mom even taught local juniors), from an early age, they left almost all the instruction to professional coaches. It is easy to kill the joy of sport when you are coaching your own kids. Roger’s parents helped keep this alive by finding the best coaches for their son. 2) They didn’t force Roger to pursue Tennis as a career. Around when Roger was 15, he decided to go to the Swiss training center in Ecublens. This was a very difficult time for Roger. He didn’t speak French yet (the primary language there), so he had a very difficult time fitting in and finding himself. He would often cry on the long ride home on the weekends. Still he persevered and looks back on this time as an incredible learning experience. His parents said that it was 100% his choice that he went. If they pushed him to do it, he most likely would have quit. 3) They didn’t care about the score. Early in Roger’s career he was extremely emotional. He would go ballistic when he lost. His parents didn’t care about his performance, they cared most about how he handled himself. Although it took him some time to adopt this lesson, I think it is one of the most important ones he learned in his career. Roger gets more joy from his sport than almost any other athlete I've ever seen. I think a good portion of this is due to the environment that his parents created with their approach. #rogerfederer #parenting #podcast

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THE MVP PLAYBOOK: CROSSOVERS, CURVEBALLS, & PIVOTS Here's the thing. If you aspire to a career with longevity and work in sports long enough, you will experience professional plot twists in the form of crossovers, curve balls, and pivots. This is a not a maybe, it's a certainty. Just like coaches and players have to switch up organizations/teams from time to time (sometimes by change, sometimes by choice). The team behind the scenes has to have the agility, capacity, and flexibility to do the same. Free agency is real! Maybe you aspired to one thing and decided to do another. Maybe you took on a role and missed your goal. Maybe you did everything right, but the leadership/ownership changed and they want to build their own athletic department and/or front office. Maybe life (aka personal plot twists) forced your hand. Maybe this, may that. If you get ready and stay ready, you'll always be ready to make your next move, your best move. Just because the career ladder morphs into a career lattice, you can still move upward and onward. I've been there, done that, and aspire to do it again. Change is inevitable, but growth is intentional! So, I'm excited to give back by paying it forward as a presenter/speaker at the Black Sports Business Symposium in the A! Game on! Hope to see you there!

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A study on youth sports 𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 was recently released... 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘁𝘆 𝗲𝘆𝗲-𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴: 🏅 8 million high school athletes are involved in sports each year, with 57% of students playing one sport. 🥼 Athletic trainers reported 15,531 injuries during 6,778,209 exposures, with an overall injury rate of 2.29 per 1,000 AEs. 🏈 Football had the highest rate of injury (3.96), followed by girls’ soccer (2.65) and boys’ wrestling (1.56). Boys’ baseball had the lowest injury rate (0.89). 🩹 The most common diagnoses were sprains/strains (36.8%) 🤕 Overall, 20.9% of injuries led to medical disqualification for the season or the athlete’s career ────── Definitely opportunities in injury prevention, quicker rehab, and the ability to spot vulnerable muscles/bones prior to injury.

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Have you heard about the NFL’s new "dynamic kickoff" rule? 🏈 It’s one of the most significant changes to kickoffs in recent years, and it's designed to keep players safer while adding more excitement to the game. Here’s how it works: The NFL has introduced a "landing zone," which is the area between the goal line and the 20-yard line. Now, any kickoff that lands in this zone must be returned. No more letting the ball bounce into the end zone for an easy touchback. If the ball hits the landing zone, it's game on. Plus, any kicks that fall short of this zone or go out of bounds will be placed at the 40-yard line, giving the receiving team a big field advantage. This rule definitely creates more action, but, it’s also reducing the high-speed collisions that make kickoffs one of the most dangerous plays in football. In the past, players on the kicking team had a full sprint head start before the ball was even fielded, leading to some brutal hits. With this new rule, both the kicking and receiving teams are restricted in how soon they can move after the ball is kicked, which should help reduce injuries. In the preseason, this new rule has already led to more kick returns, more big plays, and better starting field position for receiving teams… But personally, I think this is a great step forward for the safety benefits. While the game will always be about big plays and excitement, the safety of our athletes has to come first. I’m optimistic that this change will help protect players from unnecessary injuries while still keeping the thrill of the game alive. What are your thoughts on the new rule? #NFL #Football #AthleteSafety #PlayersHealth

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Techstars Boston Accelerator Demo Day was AMAZING on Tuesday - it’s been a minute since I’ve been involved with the program (I was a founder from 2015 Cohort!!). But w my role Palm Venture Studios I spend a (small) portion of my time on deal flow, diligence etc. It’s SO SO inspiring to meet entrepreneurs who are working to bring something new & innovative into the world. Side note - I gotta get better at thinking about pics - only one I took was of Sean Grundy / Bevi as talking about how influential TS was… __________________ A few observations from the day: ✅ those founders were so much better prepared than I was 10 yrs ago. The companies seemed further along, the pitches were so concise, with big news / traction, and well-delivered. [full disclosure: I was part of the selection committee for part of this - so a little biased… but I REALLY thought they all did well]. Special shoutout to the handful of companies I’ve been a (teeny tiny) ad-hoc mentor to: ▶️ Phare Labs - creating next generation fire / smoke alarm to help multi-family property owners save $ and better asset protection. ▶️ GRAVL unlocking IP from universities allowing commercialization & monetization of incredible research being done in labs. ▶️ Ada IQ speeding & improving prod design & development w AI - augmenting what humans can ▶️ Citera helping commercial prop owners save $ by reducing their carbon footprint. So many other companies - but I already wrote too much… ❌ wish there were more former TS founders at the event. The venue was great though small (it’s amazing how much the area has transformed), but man getting there is a bit of a pain… "Techstars for life" means you benefit and hopefully contribute to the community forever - I know TS Corp has been in turmoil a bit - but seems like things are changing. (H/T Kerty Levy and new Boston MD Jennifer Davis). Quite literally I’m not sure I would’ve survived my first journey without my CEO support group… _________________ Last minute, I decided to host a few startup peeps at PVS Somerville - thinking Demo Day was in Cambridge 🤷‍♂️. Fortunately, a few folks took me up on it - even though inconvenient and last minute… Was great seeing Irina Gerry, Harry Schechter, Joe Lemay, Pritesh Gandhi stop by PVS with me & Jamal Wilson - bc they’re amazing startup operators… and didn’t know one another. Nothing better than seeing smart people chat and make instant connections. In true startup fashion, this deserves another test… so I think we may do more of these… maybe tied to TS Monthly Meetups or some other startup networking thing. Selfishly, this would be a reason for me to come into Boston / Somerville - bc otherwise I’m heads down building Woodstock Products :). _______________ So hit me up if you’re in the Boston Startup Community and wanna participate. These will def be craft / small-batch initially. And hopefully a few of my old TS founders will come too :).

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Would public market values of players and coaches help or hurt the basketball industry? Player: “Based on my stats, I’m worth €100K.” Agent: “For me you’re worth €150K.” Team: “I want to sign him for €70K.” Result? Weeks of negotiation. No deal on the table. Why is this still happening when other like the NBA and European football thrive on transparent, public salary data? You can compare stats, achievements, and market trends to find common ground. But overseas basketball? It's still a giant mess of guesswork and delusion. That’s why I developed an AI-powered valuation tool for PlayerLynk and I’m considering making it freely accessible to change the game for everyone. Please comment below if you think it's a good or bad idea (and tell me why) 👇 #BasketballBusiness #AI #SportsTech

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Congratulations! You sold your jersey patch. Now what? Team-branded partner points could be the next big sponsorship asset in baseball, potentially generating as much incremental revenue as jersey patches, if not more. This is especially crucial for small and mid-market clubs seeking new premium assets to sell. Take the Cincinnati Reds, for example. They reportedly earn $5 million annually from their Kroger jersey patch deal. Assuming their sponsorship sales grew from $35 million to $40 million, that's a 14% increase from a single sale – impressive growth! But what's next to keep the business growing? Small and mid-market teams like the Reds, Pirates, Royals, Cardinals, Brewers, Guardians, and even the Tigers can struggle to grow year-over-year sponsorship revenues significantly due to limited media reach and national appeal. They need innovative offerings to drive significant incremental growth. While jersey patches are valuable, their revenue potential is capped until renewal. This is where team-branded partner points can play a crucial role: 1. New Product: Selling team-branded points to sponsors creates incremental revenue. 2. Activation Tool: Points give sponsors a reason to spend more based on their success. 3. Leveraging Fan Affinity: Small-market clubs may have fewer eyeballs, but they boast strong, generational fan affinity. 4. Liquid Asset: Points can be assigned value, bought, sold, and traded both online and at the ballpark. (points are liquid affinity). 5. Democratic Approach: Unlike jersey patches, partner points can be sold to multiple sponsors across various categories including the the vary brands that buy jersey patches. 6. Measurable KPIs: Points help brands drive and measure specific outcomes. 7. Improved Retention: Strategic use of partner points can lead to higher sponsor renewal rates. Partner points not only offer a path to increased annual revenues but also have the potential to enhance sponsor satisfaction and longevity – a win-win for both clubs and their partners. As MLB teams look to innovate and grow their sponsorship revenues this off season, team-branded partner points present a compelling opportunity. By turning fan affinity into a tangible, tradable asset, clubs can create new revenue streams, enhance sponsor relationships, and drive fan engagement. This strategy could be particularly transformative for small and mid-market teams, helping them compete financially in an increasingly challenging landscape.

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The NFL Schedule is being released this week. A few years ago, I worked with an Agile team to match the new NFL schedule to the ticketing system to provide clubs with secondary market insights as they looked to sell direct to customers. Why is this such a big moment to track secondary? 💴 Clubs that manage the secondary market tend to better generate primary revenue 🏈 Clubs can develop a direct promotion strategy to their fans, like allowing their most seasoned fans access first to their site for direct revenue 🆘 Clubs can spot unusual broker activity to identify any breaches of ticketing agreements One interesting takeaway - high ticket interest popped up during the NFL Draft. Some of it was related to Draft tickets, but the majority included searches for tickets. Should NFL clubs have the right to start selling tickets then? #tickets #sportsmarketing

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Vermont Green FC is delighted to announce our partnership with Ceres Collaborative, a local cannabis dispensary that shares our commitment to environmental justice through criminal justice reform advocacy. Not only are Ceres aligned with our mission goals, but they also develop wonderful products, including a CBD Salve and “Vermont Greens”, a restorative blend sold in pre-roll 3-packs. 1% of all sales will be donated to Last Prisoner Project to help fight for cannabis prisoners’ freedoms. We're eager to use this partnership as an opportunity to ignite more meaningful conversations about cannabis in sports. In the sports industry specifically, we believe an openness around the topic can help destigmatize its use by athletes. We know that cannabis products have numerous clean and safe benefits for the physical and mental well-being of athletes, and they should have the ability to utilize these benefits without risking their careers. We’re excited to be at the forefront of these conversations. https://lnkd.in/eZknw5w3

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Each facility required less than $10mn of equity from Topgolf and would generate nearly $5mn of annual cash flow, what it described as a 50 per cent “cash on cash” return. But Topgolf’s financing structure was complex. Topgolf, after building a facility, typically then sold it to real estate investment funds to whom it then owed rent payments. Today the value of the capitalised debt associated with those leases alone is around $1.5bn... Thoughts on this finance structure? #realestate #golf

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