🔊 Suns Owner Is Investing $100 Million Into Futuristic Facilities

📰 TOP STORIES
The Phoenix Suns $100 Million Futuristic Facility

• Phoenix Suns Owner announces new $100 million state-of-the-art facilities. Phoenix Suns and Mercury owner Mat Ishbia announced to his staff this past Thursday that he is investing more than $100 million in a new practice facility for the Mercury and an adjoining downtown headquarters for both teams. The practice facility and headquarters will respectively feature fitness centers, sophisticated hydrotherapy rooms, various amenities for employees, and more… (more here).

• Tiger Woods' TGL Golf League inks ESPN deal. The tech-infused indoor team golf league founded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy will have its matches aired on ESPN platforms in prime time after they agreed to a multi-year partnership (more here).

• Jeff Zucker and RedBird IMI acquire a stake in Front Office Sports at a $40 million valuation. This week, leading sports business media platform, Front Office Sports (FOS) announced a strategic investment from RedBird IMI, a joint venture between RedBird Capital Partners and International Media Investments (more here).

💰 MONEY MOVES 
Another Multi-Million Dollar Acquisition

• Shift4 acquires SpotOn unit for $100 million. Payment processor Shift4 Payments has purchased competitor SpotOn’s sports and entertainment business unit for $100 million in cash. With the purchase, Shift4 acquires all of SpotOn’s sports and entertainment customers, a portion of its employees, as well as some technology assets (more here).

• Fantasy Spin Games acquires BettorFantasy. FantasySpin’s patented game has been celebrated for gamifying the process of building a DFS (Daily Fantasy Sports) lineup. This latest acquisition further cements FantasySpin’s commitment to delivering unparalleled experiences and fostering innovation within the DFS space. According to BettorFantasy CEO Sahil Patel, the partnership is a game-changer for fantasy sports players around the world. Financial details were not disclosed (more here).

• Avenue Capital Group launches a dedicated sports fund. Avenue Capital Group, a global investment firm, announced the launch of a sports investment fund that will seek to provide capital solutions to a wide variety of sports teams, owners, and leagues, as well as invest in sports-related media and entertainment rights, technology, real estate, and other adjacent businesses (more here).

• Blazesoft introduces Zula Casino and reveals a $10 million investment into its upcoming sports venture. The new social casino will offer players access to casino-style slot titles, fish, and cash games, as well as jackpots, tournaments, and a loyalty program. In addition to its latest social casino launch, they also announced plans to invest $10 million in a future sports brand called Sportszino.com (more here).

• SeasonShare raises millions in seed round. The 6-year-old ticketing platform closed a multi-million-dollar seed round led by 11 Tribes Ventures to fuel growth and business expansion (more here).

 🤝 PARTNERSHIPS & COLLABS
SoFi Gains More Naming Rights

• Tiger Woods' TMRW Sports partners with SoFi to sponsor Team Golf League. The financial services company SoFi will sponsor the new team golf league in partnership with TMRW Sports, Tiger Woods, and Rory McIlroy (more here).

• LaLiga and Globant are rebranding their Liga Tech joint venture as Sportian. The new title will better reflect their ambition to become a major provider of sports technology and digital services to the industry (more here).

• UFC and 4D Sight are teaming up. The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) announced a multi-year agreement with broadcast technology specialist 4D Sight that will see sponsors’ logos digitally imposed on the Octagon canvas during live broadcasts (more here).

• Premier League Productions partners with Genius Sports to deliver ground-breaking Premier League Data Zone. Genius Sports, the Official Tracking Provider of Football DataCo, has signed a new partnership with Premier League Productions to enhance live broadcasts for fans in over 185 countries worldwide (more here).

• NFL Alumni and Aventus announce Web3 partnership to empower retired players. The NFL Alumni Association and Aventus, a pioneering blockchain provider in the ticketing and entertainment sector, are introducing a cutting-edge platform designed exclusively for retired NFL players, coaches, and front-office staff (more here).

• Electronic Arts (EA) partners with Stats Perform. EA has turned to Opta to help optimize their PlayStyles and PlayStyles+ features, ensuring player traits and skills mirror real-life, across global men’s and women’s teams (more here).

• PrizePicks announces marketing partnership with Braves Development Co. The largest fantasy sports operator in the US announced that the company has extended its relationship with the Atlanta Braves as the club's Official Daily Fantasy Sports Partner to now partner with the Braves Development Co. to sponsor The Battery Atlanta entertainment complex (more here).

🔊 OTHER HYPE
Sports Tech On Pace To Grow By $29 Billion

• The Sports Technology Market is set to grow by $29 billion from 2022 to 2027. The rising number of sports technology events is notably driving the market growth (more here).

• This A.I. tool might make Pickleball players better, and faster (but not stronger). It tracks the movement of players, the trajectory of the ball, and other relevant aspects of the game (more here).

• Pro sports teams piling on to Chiliz fan token opportunities. As the number of activities per user per week on the fan engagement app Socios has doubled in the last three months, Tottenham Hotspur is set to launch a new token (more here).

• AT&T and Gallaudet University unveil a football helmet for deaf and hard-of-hearing quarterbacks. The company and Washington-based school for students who are deaf or hard of hearing unveiled the new technology Thursday. It allows coaches to call a play on a tablet from the sideline that then shows up visually on a small display screen inside the quarterback’s helmet (more here).

• As cloud tech powers the world's most popular sports leagues, everyone from executives and coaches to players and fans reap the benefits (more here).

• Remember NFTs? This is how football’s projects dived in value (more here).

• How Sony’s Sports Businesses are driving the data-driven digital transformation of sport (more here).

• 10 top sports VCs and other investors share their best advice for sports tech startups (more here).

• Check out pitch deck slides from a startup that raised $11 million to sell smart basketball hoops that use AI to up your game (more here).

• Check out the animated slides that helped a golf-betting app raise $2 million from VCs and $50,000 from users (more here).