🔊 The NHL Drops Digital Collectibles 👀

📰 TOP STORY
NHL, NHLPA, And Alumni Association Release Digital Collectible Platform NHL Breakaway

• The NHLPA, NHL, NHLAA, and Sweet, a leading platform for gamified digital collectible experiences, recently announced the official launch of NHL Breakaway. Breakaway is the official digital collectible platform for the athletes of the NHL, NHLPA, and NHLAA as well as the NHL’s community of fans.

Fans and collectors can collect, gift, trade, display, and participate in set collections and challenges to earn exciting rewards (more here).

The NHL Breakaway platform delivers an immersive experience featuring some of the most recognizable and iconic highlights in NHL history, as well as unique features including:

• The Trade Lounge: a hub of collector community interaction where fans can trade packs and highlights of their favorite plays or NHL Players with others in the community
  

• Public Profiles: a social aspect within the platform that allows fans and enthusiasts to showcase their fandom and passion for hockey by integrating unique collectibles into their NHL Breakaway profiles
  

• Gamification: challenges for completing sets within categories like highlights and collectibles, team sets, and NHL Player sets with opportunities to earn rewards, such as real-life NHL experiences and exclusive packs

A beta version went live in April but the official launch of NHL Breakaway came this past Wednesday. Check it out here: https://nhlbreakaway.com/

💰 MONEY MOVES 
Andre Iguodala’s Fund Invests In 24/7 Digital Sports Network

• AllCity raises $9.4 million from Andre Iguodala’s Mosaic fund. The Series A round led by the retired NBA star’s VC firm brings the digital sports network’s total funding to $12.4 million (more here).

• BHOUT a Portuguese-connected boxing startup has raised $10.7 million in seed funding for its AI-powered gamified boxing bag, scalable studio concept model, and omnichannel approach (more here).

• PE firm Arctos invests in Aston Martin F1, Red Bull renews TAG sponsorship. US private equity firm Arctos Partners has invested in the Aston Martin F1 team with Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll selling a minority stake (more here).

• Warren Buffett buys $8 million stake in Atlanta Braves. According to an SEC filing, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has bought $8 million dollars worth of shares for the Atlanta Braves MLB Team (more here).

• Better Collective outshines Gambling.com Group in Q3 revenue. Q3 proved a busy quarter for Better Collective, with the affiliate giant announcing a series of major developments (more here).

• Cleveland Browns owners donate $20 million for a new sports health and innovation center. Dee and Jimmy Haslam announced the donation on Tuesday to establish a new sports health innovation center in Cleveland (more here).

• German Football weighs fresh €1 billion private equity deal. German professional football’s governing body is launching a third attempt to sell a stake in the league’s media rights worth as much as €1 billion ($1.1 billion) to private equity investors (more here).

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 🤝 PARTNERSHIPS & COLLABS
Disney Teams Up With Dapper Labs To Launch Digital Collectibles

• Disney does NFTs again in partnership with Dapper Labs. CEO Roham Gharegozlou and VP Ridhima Kahn discuss the company's latest consumer-facing app in collaboration with Disney (more here).

• Candy Digital and Cal Ripken Jr. team up for the second installment of digital collectibles. This collection not only commemorates Ripken's 21-season tenure with the Baltimore Orioles but also offers fans a unique opportunity to own a piece of baseball history (more here).

• Penn Athletics becomes the first Ivy League School to partner with Teamworks Elite. This new partnership with Teamworks Elite promises a transformation in how Penn communicates, operates, and elevates the overall student-athlete experience (more here).

• AI Tech company Futureverse signs with CAA. CAA and Futureverse will work collaboratively to create new opportunities for talent and IP, spanning web3, the metaverse, virtual games, worlds and experiences, AI, and beyond (more here).

• FanDuel expands Genius Sports partnership to launch revolutionary NFL BetVision streaming solution. BetVision will allow FanDuel customers on mobile and tablet devices to take their live NFL viewing experience to the next level in the FanDuel sportsbook app (more here).

• Chinese sports body and Singapore development firm launch sports IP push ‘with nine-figure fund’. The China National Sports Group has announced an agreement with Singapore-based investment firm White Group to “acquire the intellectual property of leading international sports events” and invest in infrastructure across the Asia-Pacific region (more here).

🔊 OTHER HYPE
This WNBA Star Is All-In On Crypto

• Why WNBA Star Jewell Loyd relies on crypto and why Bitcoin and Ethereum are her 'Anchors'. A decade after buying her first Bitcoin, two-time WNBA champion Jewell Loyd shares why crypto is essential to her career and humanitarian efforts (more here).

• Travis Kelce, Chris Paul, Dwayne Wade and other athletes support PlayersTV Digital: New venture to shake up the sports content distribution model (more here).

• PGA Tour says it will offer players equity ownership after it seals deal with investors. The PGA Tour said Tuesday it will begin to offer professional players direct equity ownership in the new company that will be formed after it reaches a deal with investors (more here).

• Why McLaren Racing doubled down on crypto when competitors abandoned it. When trust between sports and crypto was damaged, McLaren’s commitment to its partnership with OKX and dedication to Web3 tech charted a bold path forward (more here).

• Trail Blazers have become the first NBA team to broadcast AR graphics from a handheld camera. disguise has partnered with the Portland Trail Blazers to broadcast AR graphics created, for the very first time, by tracking a handheld camera during a basketball game. The AR graphics are setting a brand new standard in sports coverage, bringing fans a more in-depth view of the action with live in-game stats (more here).

• Power play: Tapping the passion of gamers and sports fans to engage new audiences. During the panel “Crossing the divide: Bridging sports fans to games,” at GamesBeat Next 2023, Nicholas Longano, CEO of Scuti asked his panel guests, “Why sports? Why games? Why now?” (more here).