🔊 More Sports Layoffs

📰 TOP STORY
Several Sports Companies Announce Layoffs

• EA Sports Is Laying Off More Than 600 Employees, Or 5% Of Workforce. There have been a lot of layoffs throughout various sectors of tech this year and sports and gaming aren’t exceptions. Last month, Tencent’s Riot Games let go of 11% of its staff and Microsoft Gaming laid off 8% of its gaming employees at Activision Blizzard and Xbox. Amazon-owned streaming platform Twitch also terminated 35% of its employees in January. Then last week, sports e-commerce and betting giant Fanatics laid off over 200 employees in a reshuffling of the organization. Earlier this week, Sony Interactive Entertainment said that it would let go of 8% of the company’s global workforce in its PlayStation unit. And lastly this week EA Sports, the company behind Madden and many other sports video games, cut about 670 individuals. What does all of this mean? It could mean that companies are making a strategic shift toward efficiency and profitability. Many organizations are reevaluating their workforce in light of post-pandemic operational needs while integrating AI into their business models. It could also mean that many of these companies are struggling due to slow consumer demand, and high inflation. How it all plays out throughout the rest of 2024 is TBD…(more here)

💰 MONEY MOVES 
Billionaire Team Owners Josh Harris And David Blitzer To Sell Stake In Pittsburgh Steelers

• Josh Harris & David Blitzer Are Selling Stake In Pittsburgh Steelers. Harris and David Blitzer, who are owners of the Washington Commanders, are selling their 4.8 percent stake in the Steelers to Art Rooney II and Thomas Tull. Rooney is the Steelers' president, and Tull is a billionaire financier. Harris and Blitzer sold their percentage based on the Steelers being valued at just more than $4 billion (more here).

• Major League Pickleball & Professional Pickleball Association Have Completed Merger With $75 Million Investment. The consolidation will also bring a $75 million investment from a group that includes private equity firm SC Holdings, D.C. Pickleball Team owner Al Tylis, PPA Tour owners Tom Dundon and the Pardoe Family as well as a roster of existing MLP team owners (more here).

 🤝 PARTNERSHIPS
Soccer Tech Company Partners With Sister Soccer Stars

• TOCA Football Announces Partnership With Thompson Sisters. TOCA Football, the world’s leading tech-enabled soccer experiences company, announced a partnership with US national and Angel City FC stars, Alyssa and Gisele Thompson (more here).

• ATP Tour Announces PIF Partnership. The deal sees the PIF become the title sponsor of several ATP Tour events, most notably its season-ending ATP Final and the youth category Next Gen ATP Finals, which in 2024 are set to be staged in the Saudi city of Jeddah (more here).

• Future of Sport Lab & Relay Ventures Join Forces. Future of Sport Lab, a sports tech innovation hub founded by Toronto Metropolitan University with Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment announced its new partnership with Relay Ventures, a leading Canadian venture capital firm specializing in early-stage investments (more here).

• Monumental Sports Partners With Synamedia. Monumental Sports & Entertainment, one of the leading sports and entertainment families owned by Ted Leonis, has chosen Synamedia’s Video Network solutions to distribute high-value sports content, along with other programming (more here).

• MeetKai Partners With Detroit Pistons. MeetKai, the leading immersive AI company, and the Detroit Pistons have announced the beginning of its collaboration with the creation of the team's first-ever virtual world. The "Detroit Pistons World" will feature a virtual fan marketplace, themed games, merchandise for purchase, gated content, and more for fans (more here).

• RugbyDAO & Rugby Europe Announces Partnership. The digital activation will leverage RugbyDAO’s and their strategic partner, POAP Studio, expertise in emerging technology, digital collectibles, and fan engagement. Fans will have the opportunity to collect unique team-specific badges, unlock instant and future rewards, and gain entry into the first-ever Digital Clubhouse for Rugby (more here).

🔊 OTHER SPORTS NEWS
StatusPRO Gets Accepted Into Disney Accelerator

• StatusPRO Gets Accepted Into Disney Accelerator. After recently raising $20 million, the VR sports start-up is participating in the 2024 Walt Disney Accelerator program (more here).

• Cleveland Golf Using AI To Aid Performance. Cleveland Golf released their Artificial Intelligence-designed Launcher XL 2 Drivers which offers golfers enhanced distance and forgiveness (more here).

• Tech Entrepreneur Andre Swanston Is Connecticut’s First Black Majority Owner Of A Pro Sports Team. The former CEO of Tru Optik is now spearheading an MLS Next Pro franchise, CT United. He also plans to juggle additional ventures including building a stadium, hotel, affordable housing, and free youth academy (more here).

• How These Founders Run A Multi-Million Dollar Ping Pong Business With Zero Employees. Co-founders of PingPod and PodPlay, David Silberman, Max Kogler, and Ernesto Ebuen have built two multi-million dollar businesses with virtually zero employees. Here’s the story (more here).

• EQ Tickets Comes Out Of Stealth. Founded by brothers Aaron and Ryan Caradonna and hip-hop artist Matt Raposo, EQ Tickets is a sports & entertainment startup that aims to combine the ticket-buying experience online with a social network (more here).

• Big3 To Live-Stream Games On X. The 3-on-3 basketball league co-founded by rapper Ice Cube and his long-term business partner Jeff Kwatinetz announced a deal to stream live games and other new content on X, but it has not been specified how many will be covered on X in what will be leagues eighth season (more here).