Sports & Entertainment Beat

Welcome back to the Spotlight! For time immemorial (since 1906, to be exact), the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) so-called amateurism rules sought to enforce a bright-line distinction between college sports and professional sports.  To the NCAA, the platform of college sports was educational, while professional sports had underpinnings of commercialism.  Under these rules, prospective and current college athletes were, amongst other things, precluded from profiting off their name, image and likeness (NIL) from endorsements without losing their athletic scholarship or eligibility. But, over time, the core assumptions of those dividing lines became blurred as college sports evolved, ballooning into a multibillion-dollar business itself.  Why could coaches and school administrators make millions in revenue from sports, while athletes of those same schools were relegated to being students first?  Well, after years of feet dragging, antitrust litigation, lobbying and intervention of state legislatures across the country, a watershed moment occurred in July 1, 2021, with the NCAA issuing interim guidelines to enable prospective and current collegiate athletes to enter into endorsement, influencer and other revenue-generating deals centering around the commercial exploitation of their NIL. In the nearly four years since that fateful day, we have borne witness to the rise of NIL collectives, prominent use of the NCAA transfer portal and more litigation. Along the way, many high school and college athletes have earned sums of money that would not have otherwise been available to them unless/until they play professional sports. Now, with a federal judge approving the terms of a $2.8 billion antitrust settlement in House v. NCAA, schools themselves will be able to pay their athletes directly: a stunning development that seemed impossible just a few years ago. Key questions do remain, however: How will sports less lucrative than football and basketball fare? Will athletes be treated as employees? Will athletes have collective bargaining rights? Is it too late for me to go back to college? What happens from here is anyone’s guess, but one thing’s for sure: there will be lawyers.

• • Online mental health service BetterHelp partners with three WNBA teams in a sponsorship deal, enabling them to reach more fans to assist with pointing them in the right direction particularly when they’re back on the block and on the rebound after someone steals their heart.

• • Viral drinkware company Stanley 1913 partners with Post Malone on his own collection featuring styles evocative of the artist himself including bolo tie accessories. To make it even more evocative, consumers can pay my sons $5 to scribble on it.

• • Tennis great Andre Agassi is among an impressive list of investors in a racquet sports social club concept called “Ballers.” You might say, Agassi is hoping you love it.

For inquiries and/or unabashed compliments, please feel free to contact me at josh.bloomgarden@foster.com or add me on LinkedIn. 

Welcome back to the Spotlight! Although men’s basketball in New York City is on hiatus with the Knicks falling short of an NBA Finals appearance (I don’t want to talk about it), women’s basketball is picking up the slack, with the defending WNBA champions New York Liberty off to an undefeated start to the season. Indeed, women’s sports continues to be ascendant, garnering investments throughout the sports world. While I have had my unbridled enthusiasm and fandom trampled over the past two weeks or so, there have been notable developments in that regard. For one thing, Major League Baseball got in on the action, making a significant investment in Athletes Unlimited Softball League (equal to a 20% equity stake) before the first pitch was even thrown. Additionally, CBS Sports just acquired US media rights for the UEFA Women’s Champions League – giving viewers access to top-flight soccer matches, and in so doing, yet another way to get their fill of women’s sports. With all the women’s sports, you might want to find somewhere to post up with a lot of screens. Luckily, Oregon-based women’s sports bar, “The Sports Bra” (not a typo) is able to…well…support you in those endeavors, as it received $1 million in funding to franchise the concept far and wide.

• • Eminem’s publishing company Eight Mile Style sues Meta for copyright infringement, alleging $109M in damages stemming from allegedly unlicensed use of Eminem’s songs across Facebook and Instagram. That sum might be enough to make Zuckerberg cough up his mom’s spaghetti. 

• • Restaurant franchise Red Lobster enters into a sponsorship deal with the WNBA’s Chicago Sky, thus serving as an ever present reminder that while the sky may be the limit, your shrimp and cheddar bay biscuits don’t have to have one (Editor’s note: Red Lobster’s Unlimited Endless Shrimp deal was discontinued months ago, thus making this joke rather forced and anachronistic).

• • In just one season playing basketball for the Duke University Blue Devils, All-American basketball player and presumptive number one pick in this year’s NBA Draft, Cooper Flagg earned an astronomical $28 million in NIL revenue. Looking to make a mark of his own and challenge that figure, high school recruit Davion Thompson partners with Bell’s Master Blend Sauces for his own signature sauce. In contrast to Flagg and Thompson, in high school and college, many of their peers received nil dollars while hitting the sauce.

For inquiries and/or unabashed compliments, please feel free to contact me at josh.bloomgarden@foster.com or add me on LinkedIn.

Welcome back to the Spotlight! Given the volume of rain across the country recently, I may have to temporarily change the title to “Floodlight.” Yikes. I’d say these late nights watching the NBA Playoffs have made me a little loopy, but then again, that joke is standard fare for this space that is often so corny that it would make a Nebraskan farmer blush. OK, enough of that – let’s get into some of this week’s stories.

• • Actress Sydney Sweeney partners with soap brand Squatch on a limited edition bar of soap made with her used bath water. Glad to see someone is taking conservation efforts seriously! 

• • Just three years after launch, Hailey Bieber’s skincare brand Rhode is being acquired by e.l.f. Beauty for $1 billion – which sounds great at first blush, but I know from my research to be wary of an elf that spins things into gold.

• • Coffee company Nespresso and recording artist The Weeknd link up for an iced coffee campaign, meaning a recording session with Sabrina Carpenter can’t be too far off.

• • The WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces enter a sports betting partnership with BetMGM – a heart-warming reminder to always bet on yourself.    

For inquiries and/or unabashed compliments, please feel free to contact me at josh.bloomgarden@foster.com or add me on LinkedIn. 

Welcome back to the Spotlight! In the past 7 months, I have borne witness to monumental postseason collapses by two of my favorite professional sports teams: my beloved hometown New York Yankees and New York Knicks. Last October, in epic fashion, the former blew a five-run lead in the top of the fifth inning in Game 5 of the 2024 World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, en route to the Yankees’ eventual demise. And this past Wednesday night, the Knicks lost Game One of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals against the Indiana Pacers, despite having held a 14-point lead with about 2:30 left in the fourth quarter. There are a litany of other heartbreaks over the years. Begging the question of why I (and others) keep coming back for more? For one thing, it’s the drama of the game - each has a story to tell. Sometimes, that story is a reminder that those who rake in the big bucks through endorsements and salaries, often appearing larger than life, are still human. Or maybe I just like to be miserable. After all, it’s the losses - torturous as they can be - that teach the greatest lessons and make the wins that much sweeter.

• • Following fellow recording artist Post Malone’s limited edition run of signature Oreo cookies, Selena Gomez has partnered with the brand to roll out her own spin on the iconic sandwich cookies. Perhaps the cookies will become collector’s items. Though if the artists really wanted to stand the test of time, they’d launch their own Twinkies.
  • Jason Momoa and WWE wrestler Roman Reigns are among those signed on for a Street Fighter movie, rebooting a film based on the video game of the same name. Meanwhile, I am still waiting on a call from my agent on my Pong screenplay.
  • Hip hop duo Salt-N-Pepa are suing Universal Music Group in an effort to reclaim the rights to their catalog recordings including their late 80s and early 90s hits “Push It” and “Shoop.”  Fortunately for the duo, their legal team is said to be seasoned.

For inquiries and/or unabashed compliments, please feel free to contact me at josh.bloomgarden@foster.com or add me on LinkedIn. 

Welcome back to the Spotlight! While I appreciate your valiant efforts in coming back to this space, that comeback pales in comparison to the two comebacks the underdog New York Knicks have had against the defending NBA Champion Boston Celtics – somehow clawing back from 20 point deficits in consecutive games to seize a 2-0 lead in the 2^nd round of the NBA Playoffs.  The games have been nothing short of captivating, yet immensely trying. What started out with questions in my mind about how the Knicks could possibly survive this series has been replaced by questions about whether I can survive the ups and downs of this series. Regardless, these NBA Playoffs have provided some of the most compelling moments in recent memory—the TV ratings have certainly backed up that assertion. So, for all the concerns about who will be the stewards of the league now that LeBron James is reaching the end of his career, it’s clear that the present and the future are bright as ever, with chances for athletes to build their own brands and author their own success stories. Speaking of comebacks, I’ll be out recharging next week but will return the week of 5/19—hopefully you will do the same.

• • Country music star Chris Stapleton’s Tennessee whiskey brand, “Traveller” becomes the first official whiskey of Major League Baseball. Given the name, it’s unlikely that the NBA will follow suit.
     
  • Nine-time NBA All-Star guard Russell Westbrook comes aboard as a founder of Eazewell, a startup company that uses artificial intelligence to ease grieving loved ones’ burdens with funeral planning. Humanity will have dodged a bullet if artificial intelligence sticks only to that sense of the words “funeral planning…”

• • Rihanna’s multibillion dollar beauty brand Fenty Beauty, becomes the latest such brand to secure sponsorship in the WNBA, partnering with the defending WNBA Champions New York Liberty. As part of the sponsorship, the brand’s logos will be included on the team’s pregame warm-up apparel, while other in-game activations are contemplated. No word on whether the team will be creating a co-branded umbrella…ella…ella

For inquiries and/or unabashed compliments, please feel free to contact me at josh.bloomgarden@foster.com or add me on LinkedIn.

Welcome back to the Spotlight! Based on the layers of pollen caked on my car and nary an unstuffed nose to be found, I would venture to guess that allergists are doing well for themselves this Spring.  After the past week in sports, another profession perhaps seeing a boon is family therapy. First, during last week’s NFL draft, University of Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders, son of NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders (who also happened to be Shedeur’s coach and vocal supporter), found himself amidst a precipitous fall from being an expected top 3 pick all the way down to the 144^th pick. If that was not enough for Sanders to en-deur, he also received a prank phone call from Atlanta Falcons Defensive Coordinator Jeff Ulbrich’s son, purporting be an NFL general manager that was drafting him. As a result of the egregious error in judgment, Ulbrich received a $100,000 fine (in addition to a $250,000 fine levied on the Falcons organization. Suffice it to say, Ulbrich’s son will not be receiving an allowance for quite some time. Or, at the very least, the elder Ulbrich should never have to do dishes or take out the garbage in his home ever again. Then, this past week in the NBA playoffs, on the heels of an improbable collapse by the Milwaukee Bucks at the hands of the Indiana Pacers and their star point guard Tyrese Haliburton, Bucks’ All-Star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo was confronted on the court by Haliburton’s overzealous father. Rather than congratulating Giannis on a hard fought series, Haliburton’s father shamefully taunted Giannis, the result of which was to overshadow the Pacers’ (and his son’s) accomplishments and force the NBA to keep the elder Haliburton from attending future games. Both instances are examples of abhorrent behavior by family members trying to claw their way into relevance, and a reminder for those with actual jobs and reputations on the line to keep relatives away from the negative spotlight.  

• • NBA Hall of Famer, Broadcaster, Entrepreneur, DJ and Investor Shaquille O’Neal is adding another entry to his LinkedIn profile, becoming the General Manager of Sacramento State University’s Men’s Basketball program– a potential boon for the team’s prospects in its efforts to secure name, image and likeness (NIL) dollars for top talent. With Shaq’s son Shaqir already on the team’s, “Shaq State” may emulate the success that Deion Sanders brought to the University of Colorado’s football program—ideally, culminating without a prank call.
    
    
  • Influence Media Group and music producer DJ Khaled forge a partnership--anchored by Influence’s acquisition of Khaled’s music catalog—that will see Khaled and his affiliated company We The Best Music enter into two joint ventures for the development and production of film and television content, leveraging Khaled’s NIL.  They actually started with one joint venture, but Khaled insisted on “another one.”
    
    
  • 2-time Super Bowl champion quarterback Eli Manning is rumored to be preparing a bid to buy a minority ownership interest in his former team, the New York Giants. Perhaps someone up there misunderstood my and other Giants fans’ prayers for an elite quarterback.

For inquiries and/or unabashed compliments, please feel free to contact me at josh.bloomgarden@foster.com or add me on LinkedIn. 

For inquiries and/or unabashed compliments, please feel free to contact me at josh.bloomgarden@foster.com or add me on LinkedIn. 

Welcome back to the Spotlight! Many of you are basking in the afterglow of the end of tax season, with tax day (not to be confused with taxing day—which is seemingly every day) passing us by on April 15. Others (most likely none of whom are reading this, but hit me up if I’m wrong!) may be basking in the afterglow of having gone to Space and back on the day prior. Of course, I’m speaking of the celebrity-studded Blue Origin flight NS-31 that made history for commercial spaceflight as the first all-women mission. Right or wrong, the mission, which counted singer-songwriter Katy Perry and broadcaster Gayle King amongst the crew, has come under scrutiny for what some view as falsely virtuous optics that gloss over some of the more pressing issues of our day on our home planet. As for me, I’m here to offer a different criticism: Perry reportedly sang a rendition of Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World” while viewing the planet from space. Now, as my colleagues know, that is my go-to karaoke song. By contrast, Perry has a catalogue of her own songs she could have sang. “Extraterrestrial” would have been a fine choice. “Firework” might have worked too, though its lyrics could have caused unnecessary anxiety amongst the crew (singing about an explosive projectile while traveling in a rocket 66 miles above the Earth’s surface will do that). All of that is to say: stay in your lane, Katy!

• • Former New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony launches his cannabis brand STAY ME7O, following in the footsteps of fellow retired athlete Mike Tyson in the industry and following in the footsteps of the Spotlight with clever wordplay. 
     
  • As if you needed another reason to love the 90s, the Alicia Silverstone film “Clueless” is in development for a new Peacock series. My guess is that it will involve a new generation, perhaps Silverstone cast as a mother, and Paul Rudd still somehow convincingly playing a high school student. 
     
  • The reboot of the ill-fated music festival Fyre Fest has been postponed and moved to a different location. Ticketholders can now either take this as an opportunity to roll the dice and take this news as evidence that the organizers have learned lessons from the past or embrace this as a sign that it’s still not too late to change their plans.

For inquiries and/or unabashed compliments, please feel free to contact me at josh.bloomgarden@foster.com or add me on LinkedIn. 

Welcome back to the Spotlight! Before jumping in this week, allow me to clear the decks and orient you: it’s cold as winter through many parts of the country, though allergy season is very clearly in full effect. TikTok is again living on borrowed time, channeling Fredo from “The Godfather” (just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!) having been given another few months to find a suitable purchaser for its US operations. The global retaliatory tariffs on foreign goods in the US have similarly been delayed on every country that isn’t China (and, as a result, negotiations with respect to TikTok are off). The graph line on my 401(k) needs an emesis bag. That’s where we are today -- or at least I think. To add to the uncertainty, the NCAA basketball tournaments have concluded (congratulations to the UConn Huskies on the women’s side and Florida Gators for the men’s side) and many of those players in this year’s tournament will vie to compete in next year’s tournament – albeit for different schools. Indeed, thousands of basketball players have entered the NCAA transfer portal (that for some reason opened in the middle of the aforementioned basketball tournaments), looking for greener pastures (emphasis on “green”) as they seek out more lucrative deals from brands and schools. The upshot?: Hard as it may be to plan in this volatile environment, adaptability, creativity and nasal decongestant will go a long way to ride out the choppy waters.

• • University of Southern California-bound Alijah Arenas, son of former NBA all-star Gilbert Arenas follows in his dad’s footsteps, signing a endorsement deal with Adidas. If Alijah’s career takes off, he may make footsteps of his own in a signature shoe.
     
  • In case you’re starting to sour on pickleball, another emerging racquet sport, padel is on the rise with the Professional Padel League raising $10 million for an expansion into the U.S. market. Approximately half of that will be spent to educate people on how padel is different from pickleball.
     
  • Visual artist Daniel Arsham sues rapper Quavo and his record label Quality Control Music for copyright infringement after one of Arsham’s works appeared in a promotional music video. It is as much a reminder to make sure your lawyer reviews works for rights and clearances, as much as it is a breath of fresh air to have a copyright lawsuit against a recording artist that doesn’t argue a song is sort-of, kind-of, reminiscent of another song.   

For inquiries and/or unabashed compliments, please feel free to contact me at josh.bloomgarden@foster.com or add me on LinkedIn. 

Welcome back to the Spotlight! Much as I would love to take your attention away from the “T” word (no…not “torpedo bats”), I feel obliged to open this week with a discussion on the impact of the across-the-board US tariffs on the sports and entertainment industries. At first blush, you might assume that there would be a minimal impact on sporting events, films and television or live musical performances – none of which being commodities in the traditional sense. But step back and consider, for example,  fan merchandise. Regardless of whether your official tour t-shirt or your favorite team’s jersey is made in the US, the price is almost certainly going to be higher – either because the tariffs drive up the costs of imported goods, or because they provide an economic incentive for domestic manufacturers to increase their prices up to the amount of what the imported goods would be. The same is true of production equipment – much of which is already made elsewhere, if not assembled in the US from foreign components. Concessions prices? Yep.  Imported beer and domestic beer (both of which seem especially enticing after looking at your savings) is likely to experience the same price increases. Yes, dear reader. Like a depressing game of “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” – everything is interconnected.

• • Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions leads a $45 million funding round in creator-driven golf, media and lifestyle brand, Good Good Golf. Manning—who has rode a legendary professional on-field career to success in the years after he hung up his cleats—will not only be able to leverage Omaha Productions to produce new content for the brand, but he may also be able to see what ordinary people do when they retire.
     
  • Rapper Cardi B and Revolve Group announce a beauty and fashion joint venture, seeking to provide “Finesse” to “Girls Like You.”
     
  • Carolina Panthers Wide Receiver Xavier Legette lands an endorsement deal with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.  With Legette revealing last year that he eats racoon for Thanksgiving, I am encouraging my children to triple-check the label when Halloween comes around.

For inquiries and/or unabashed compliments, please feel free to contact me at josh.bloomgarden@foster.com or add me on LinkedIn.