FEATURED STORY
Why Project B Will Be Good for the WNBA
Photo Creds: WNBPA President, Nneke Ogwumike, signs with new “F1 for Basketball” League.
With all of the media commentary around the mysterious Project B league extending million-dollar contracts to star WNBA players amid contentious CBA negotiations, the conversation has largely been centered around how the WNBA will respond to an emerging competitor.
We’re taking the contrarian approach: the new Project B league will help bolster the WNBA to new heights.
Pro Women’s Basketball is in large demand right now. Project B will help drive viewership to “The W” because it increases programming to the sport, year-round. More storylines, more alliances and rivalries, and overall content to fuel the existing craze around pro women’s hoops.
Here’s why The W has seen a +170% jump in viewership:
The sport has highly-engaged story lines, ex: Caitlin Clark vs. Angel Reese.
2024 marked the league’s best-attended season ever with all 12 teams seeing double-digit growth, led by Indiana Fever (+319%).
All-Stars like Sabrina Ionescu and A’ja Wilson have bagged successful signature shoe deals.
In Nike’s October 2024 earnings call, execs noted that Ionescu’s series grew roughly 5x revenue YoY.
The Nike Sabrina 1 also became the top-selling sneaker on Nike’s customization platform.
Podcasts like Sophie Cunningham’s Show Me Something are pulling in new audience demographics by showcasing off-court personalities.
YouTube views alone are averaging 28K views & singular social posts have hit north of 460K views – impressive organic engagement for a four-month old show.
Collegiate athletes like JuJu Watkins are amassing large personal brands before hitting the pros – which will result in an installed base of fans once she hits the league.
But before we talk about how an emerging “competitor” will help the W, let’s recap about how the emergence of LIV Golf forced the PGA TOUR to innovate.
LIV Golf vs. PGA TOUR Sets the Precedent
When LIV Golf arrived at the scene in June 2022, there was real concern that the PGA TOUR could become a relic of the past. The TOUR’s format and structure have been virtually unchanged for decades, even as golf surged in popularity during the 2020s.
LIV launched with a completely different model – a 54-hole, no-cut, team-based format engineered to pressure the PGA’s weakest points. Combine that with massive guaranteed contracts and equity upside, a chunk of the TOUR’s top 50 defected within weeks.
That competition forced the PGA TOUR to reinvent itself. The league rapidly modernized both its gameplay and its relationship with players:
Signature Events: Smaller fields, no cuts, and elevated incentives ($15-25M purses), finally delivering elite head-to-head golf every month.
PGA TOUR Enterprises: A new for-profit entity granting $1.5B in equity to players, aligning them with the TOUR’s long-term upside for the first time ever.
Media Tailwind: Netflix’s Full Swing injecting cultural heat into the sport, pulling younger fans and boosting ratings.
There’s a world where we see a similar dynamic with Project B and the WNBA. But women’s basketball is much more nascent, which makes this competition one of the best things that can happen to the sport.
How Project B Will Increase WNBA Viewership
Here’s what’s public about this mysterious competitor: founded by former Facebook executive Grady Burnett and Skype co-founder Geoff Prentice, Project B is building an “F1 for Basketball”, starting with a women’s division.
Built around six teams of 11 players competing in seven global tournaments across Europe, Asia, and the Americas.
In the last two weeks alone, they’ve signed WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike and stars Alyssa Thomas, Jonquel Jones, and Jewell Loyd – with more likely on the way:
“Signing the top women’s players… allows us to concentrate that talent, which then equates to games that are equivalent to a WNBA Finals game in every single game we’re playing.” – co-founder Grady Burnett in an interview with Yahoo Sports
Project B is positioning itself as a direct competitor by targeting the WNBA’s three main pressure points: salary constraints, limited global exposure, and an ongoing CBA battle.
Don’t get us wrong: The WNBA is positioned extremely well. The league has capitalized on the tailwinds around women’s basketball – ~31% viewership CAGR over the last 5 years, a $2.2B media rights deal, and three new franchises coming by 2030.
This newfound competition will guarantee momentum for the sport overall. As we saw with LIV vs. PGA, competitive pressure accelerates innovation. Whether its novel campaigns to grow athlete fandom, internationalization of athlete personas, or incentives that create an unwavering pipeline for the best talent, history suggests that the WNBA’s response will be significant.
But here’s where the competitive dynamics differ from LIV vs. PGA: for the first time ever, elite women’s basketball will be a year-round product for fans. Project B’s inaugural season (Nov. 2026 - April 2027) fully occupies the W’s offseason. If top WNBA players shine on Project B’s global stage, existing rivalries turn to alliances, and top international players collide with current stars, new story lines emerge and personal profiles grow internationally – which all flows back to the W. Project B could effectively become free global advertising for the W itself.
And the global appetite is there:
Europe: EuroLeague Women’s impressions doubled from 124M to 230M over two seasons.
Australia: WNBL’s ‘25-26 season has seen attendance go up 51% with digital engagement up 300%.
Asia: China vs. Japan’s 2024 WBL Final hit 2.7M+ live viewers and 8K+ attendance.
Long-term, the W will still need to define its own global strategy, and ensure that future incentives are aligned to create an unwavering pipeline for the best talent. But in the near term, the sport wins: fans get year-round basketball, Project B will evolve, and the WNBA will only benefit from the sport’s rising tide.
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LEAGUES & TEAMS
Photo Creds: Real Madrid considers selling up to a 10% stake in the club.
Real Madrid considers selling up to a 10% stake to a new investor (Nov. 12th)
Proposed investor would acquire 5-10% of club, valuing Real Madrid at €10B+
Remaining 90-95% stays with ~100K socios members under strict ownership limits
Move aims to secure cash injection while preserving member control; Apollo’s Atlético Madrid acquisition used as €2.5B valuation benchmark [ElPais]
San Diego Padres owners tap investment bank BDT & MSD Partners to explore sale process (Nov. 17th)
Seidler family holds a 24% stake; follows $800M acquisition (2012) with other parties
Padres valued at $2.31B in 2025, up 14% from prior year with $500M+ gross revenue [SBJ]
League One Volleyball (LOVB), a new youth-to-pro pipeline volleyball league, adds a new Minnesota team (Nov. 14th)
Minnesota ‘club’ will debut in 2027, joining LOVB’s growing Midwest footprint
Follows LOVB’s expansion with Alex Ohanian and 776’s LA-based team [SBJ]
Major League Volleyball, a US pro women’s indoor volleyball league, also adds a Minnesota franchise backed by Minnesota Sports & Entertainment (Nov. 18th)
Group becomes MLV’s 11th team, set to debut in the 2027 season; move follows LOVB’s installment of a Minnesota expansion franchise announced this week
Majority-owned by Minnesota S&E, which owns the NHL’s Minnesota Wild and AHL’s Iowa Wild [MLV]
NWSL hints at 18th franchise launch ambitions by 2028 (Nov. 12th)
Follows Atlanta expansion team announcement last week
NWSL’s rapid rise saw just 9 teams in 2019 to 17 (14 active) teams today, with expansion franchise fees going from $2M to $165M (Atlanta) [ESPN]
Single-city multi-sport consortium Gandler Sports Group acquires rights to a London-based ‘European Football Alliance’ (EFA) franchise (Nov. 18th)
Brings pro American football back to London for first time since 1998; franchise to share ops and commercial resources with GSG-owned soccer club Leyton Orient
Team launches in 2027; breakaway EFA will field at least 10 former European League of Football (ELF) clubs, in which Gandler’s contributed to a $10M funding round [SportsPro]
SEC pushes for 16-team College Football Playoff expansion (Nov. 15th)
SEC proposes increasing from 12 to 16 teams for next season; Plan allows 5 conference champs + 11 at-large selections for expanded field
Expansion aims to enhance competitiveness and TV revenue; Dec. 1 deadline could lock in format [TheAthletic]
Black Knight Group, a multi-club ownership group led by ‘Bill’ Foley, sells its 25% stake in Scottish club Hibernian FC (Nov. 14th)
Foley exits Hibernian after buying in for a reported £6M in Feb. 2024; sale follows governance rifts, including disagreements over key football hires
Gordon family now controls 85% of club shares after the buyback [SportsPro]
Tickford Racing, an Australian ‘Supercars’ racing team, was acquired by alternative asset manager Altor Capital (Nov. 19th)
Acquisition strengthens Tickford’s racing, engineering, and manufacturing operations [TickfordRacing]
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STARTUPS & VENTURE CAPITAL
Photo Creds: World Fencing Leagues will debut in April 2026.
World Fencing League, a new tech-driven global fencing league, announces its April 2026 launch, backed by sports investment firm Chiron Sports Group (Nov. 20th)
WFL debuts in April (LA) with 12 elite fencers and $100K+ in prize purses; full global launch targeted by end of 2026
League is backed by Chiron Sports Group; featuring Paris ‘24 creative team RWS Global and Dentsu Lab Tokyo / Rhizomatiks’ blade-tracking technology [WFL]
Rebel, a re-commerce marketplace for retailers’ overstock and open-box goods, raises $25M in Series B funding (Nov. 13th)
Expanding into outdoor and sporting goods with retail partners, among other verticals
Investment led by MarcyPen Capital Partners; round follows Series A led by Maveron Ventures [FinSMEs]
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M&A
Photo Creds: Leonard Green Partners acquires Topgolf at a $1B valuation.
Sixth Street raises $775M from the ‘CalPERS’ for its ‘Sports & Live Entertainment Fund’ (Nov. 18th)
California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) backed the fund, which targets franchises, leagues, stadium financings, and media, among others
Announcement follows Sixth Street’s $400M raise announced earlier this year [SBJ]
Proposed $2.4B, 10% Big Ten equity stake deal paused by UC Investments (Nov. 17th)
Stalls B10 Enterprises’ plan to bind 18 schools via grant-of-rights to 2046
UC system’s pension fund won’t move forward without Michigan and USC on board; trustees from several schools oppose the timing and transparency of the proposal [FOS]
PE firm Leonard Green nears acquisition of tech-driven golf driving ranges company Topgolf at a ~$1B valuation (Nov. 16th)
Current owner, Callaway, first invested in 2006, fully acquired at a $2B valuation in 2021
Leonard Green already holds a minority stake, advising Topgolf management; Callaway's stock price has dropped ~65% since the Topgolf-Callaway merger [WSJ]
Warner Bros. Discovery reportedly received first-round bids in a $56B+ auction process ahead of its Nov. 20th deadline (Nov. 14th)
Paramount, Comcast & Netflix ‘preparing’ nonbinding bids ahead of deadline
Comcast & Netflix eye studios/HBO Max, Paramount wants full-company acquisition; WBD advancing plans to split assets into two divisions [SBJ]
Scorability, a college recruiting marketplace platform, acquires college sports camp organizer Ryzer in a cash-and-stock deal (Nov. 13th)
Acquisition follows Scorability’s recent $40M raise led by Bluestone Equity; firm will expand into men’s soccer and basketball + women’s volleyball, soccer, basketball, softball, and baseball [SBJ]
Point72, a hedge fund led by Mets owner Steve Cohen, sells 85% of its Sphere Entertainment stake (Nov. 17th)
Point72 offloaded 1.3M shares, as Sphere’s stock surged 91% YTD
Stake cut to 0.8% (~223K) of Class A shares; Ariel Investments also trimmed its position, still controlling a 20.6% stake across its MSG/Sphere portfolio [Sportico]
Versant reportedly hires Lazard to explore a $400-$500M sale of youth sports management platform SportsEngine (Nov. 17th)
SportsEngine fields 16M athletes and 1.2M teams on its platform
Versant is weighing bids from strategic buyers and sports investors; NBC Sports Group bought the platform in 2016 [Bloomberg]
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STRATEGIC VENTURES
Photo Creds: FanDuel & DraftKings split with American Gambling Association.
PrizePicks launches its prediction market, partnered with Kalshi for a multi-year deal (Nov. 14th)
Kalshi to power all event contracts embedded within the PrizePicks app
New Team and Culture Picks expand into 38 states, adding sports, entertainment, and pop-culture markets [Kalshi]
MLS revises its Apple streaming deal for $857.5M in media rights, ended three years before schedule (Nov. 14th)
MLS will join Apple TV starting in 2026, following the league’s move to match European leagues’ calendars
Apple lifts 2027-29 payouts to $275M each, up from prior tiered structure; revised terms said to boost MLS earnings by ~$50M vs. prior deal through 2029 [Sportico]
‘FanDuel Predicts’ app set to launch prediction markets within FanDuel (Nov. 12th)
Sports event contracts to launch in non-sports-betting states; move follows partnership with derivatives marketplace CME Group
FD Predicts will also offer contracts for non-sports events, including crypto, oil prices, and gold, among others [FOS]
FanDuel & DraftKings exit gambling industry association AGA amid prediction-market surge (Nov. 18th)
Exit follows AGA push to bar prediction-market operators
FanDuel to launch FanDuel Predicts; DraftKings adds Railbird’s event contracts license [SBJ]
Polymarket adds UFC and TKO-Sela JV promoter Zuffa Boxing as its newest sports partners in a multi-year deal (Nov. 14th)
Polymarket becomes UFC’s exclusive prediction market partner across all events; follows Polymarket and Kalshi’s partnership with the NHL
Deal adds real-time Fan Prediction Scoreboard to UFC broadcasts; brings in-arena activations for Zuffa Boxing ahead of its Jan. launch [SportsPro]
F1 Academy, an all-female single-seater racing series, secures multi-year team partnership renewals with all 10 F1 teams (Nov. 14th)
All F1 teams extend support, each backing one driver/livery; drivers must bring €100K ($116K) funding, down from €150K ($175K) pre-2024 [BlackBook]
TNT Sports partners with the World Sevens Football tournament (W7F) for US rights ahead of its second edition (Nov. 18th)
TNT and TruTV to air all 15 matches, HBO Max to stream; DAZN sublicenses US rights, with TNT set to produce English-language coverage
Tournament to feature teams from the NWSL, Mexico, Brazil, Canada, and Colombia; will feature a $5M prize pool [SBJ]
Global motorcycling series MotoGP is exploring a return to China for a revived Chinese Grand Prix (Nov. 13th)
Would mark MotoGP’s return following its last Chinese Grand Prix event in 2008
Dorna (promoter) delegation visited Shanghai to accelerate 2027 race talks; CFMoto and Juss Sports expected as prospective partners [BlackBook]
NBC partners with real-time visualization software SegevSport to debut its AR-powered ‘Sandbox’ segment for NBA Showtime (Nov. 18th)
Debuts new AR studio tools to elevate NBA analysis via SegevSport’s 3D graphics, integrated into calibrated cameras
Transforms telestration into gamified, 3D breakdowns for viewers across Peacock and NBC platforms [SBJ]
SuperSport, an Africa-based broadcaster, partners with the NBA for a multi-country rights deal spanning 50+ markets (Nov. 18th)
Rights cover select regular-season and playoff games, and All-Star Weekend
Marks SuperSport’s return to NBA coverage after nine years, expanding Canal+’s (SuperSport parentco) basketball footprint [SportsPro]
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JOB BOARD
Here are some cool roles we found and personally curated this week - enjoy!