🧃 “The Next BodyArmor” Goes Bankrupt

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By the time you read this, the Minnesota Timberwolves will have been eliminated from the playoffs, or I will have single-handedly cheered them onto a Game 7.

I’m writing this on Thursday afternoon, so my official score prediction is:

Timberwolves - 111, Nuggets - 107

Anthony Edwards will score 44 points, and Jokic will have another casual triple-double. I hope this ages better than my NCAA 24 take…

🗞 The Big Story: Jaguars Secure their “Stadium of the Future”

📉 Biggest Loser: “The Next BodyArmor” Goes Bankrupt

🏆 Winner’s Circle: Zion (Almost) Lost $100M

🗞 The Big Story

The Jaguars plan to build their new stadium on top of their current one while playing in it for the next two years.

And the result could be the coolest stadium in the NFL. Let’s break it down!

Relocation Threats: For years, the Jaguars have threatened to leave Jacksonville if the city didn’t give them $1 billion for a new stadium, and last week, they finally got their wish.

However, unlike the new billion-dollar stadiums being built in Buffalo and Nashville, this stadium project in Jacksonville is a renovation of their existing stadium, which was built in 1995 and last renovated in 2016.

Funding Breakdown: The city is framing this proposal as a 50-50 split of costs. However, the Jaguars have thrown in a sweetener to make sure the plan gets passed by 24 of the 32 NFL owners in October:

City’s Costs (55%): 

• $625 million for renovation

• $150 million in maintenance and upkeep

Team’s Costs (45%)

• $625 million for renovation

City officials are bragging that this deal doesn’t require them to raise taxes, although they are getting the money from a tax increase that was passed in 2000 to fund improvements to roads, infrastructure, and other public projects.

However, the Jaguars will be responsible for covering additional costs over the $1.25 billion budget.

Timeline: The renovations are set to be done by the start of the 2028 season, but the unique part is that in the meantime, the Jags are still able to play at EverBank Stadium:

• 2025: Reduced capacity of 60,000

• 2026: Reduced capacity of 43,500

Then, in 2027, the entire stadium will close for a final year of renovations, during which the Jags will play a season at Orlando’s Camping World Stadium or the University of Florida.

Upgrades: Once EverBank Stadium is finished, it’ll be one of the nicest stadiums in the country.

• 360-degree concourse that is four times wider

• Seating capacity up to 71,500

• Large shade canopy that covers 100% of seats and lowers temperatures by 10-15 degrees

This will make Jacksonville a prime candidate to host an upcoming Super Bowl, more college football games, and even the Final Four—all of which the team estimates will have an economic impact of over $26 billion in Jacksonville over the next 30 years.

But I’m assuming the fans are just glad the team isn’t moving to London.

📉 Biggest Loser

This company was called the next BodyArmor but went bankrupt just three years later, so why does its new owner still think it can become the biggest sports drink on the market?

Background: In 2009, entrepreneur John Celenza and former NHL player Mike Cammalleri created a new type of sports drink called BioSteel that quickly gained traction in hockey circles.

The company started working with top NBA and NHL draft picks like Connor McDavid and Andrew Wiggins and even purchased the naming rights to the Toronto Raptors training facility in 2015.

In 2021, Goldman Sachs said the brand reminded them “of an early stage BodyArmor,” which today is valued at close to $7 billion. Then, in 2022, BioSteel signed its biggest marketing deal yet, an 8-year, nearly $14 million per year agreement to become the official sports drink of the NHL and NHLPA.

There was just one problem: they couldn’t afford it.

Growth for Nothing: While BioSteel had been focused on spending millions to gain awareness in the competitive sports drink market, its plan was never sustainable.

Even though it doubled its sales in 2023 to $69.6 million, the company was losing $15 million per month in cash in the US while commanding less than 1% of the market.

This resulted in costs outweighing revenue by $40.6 million last year, which caused the company to file for bankruptcy while still owing:

• NHL: $6.4 million

• Los Angeles Lakers: 1.9 million

• Miami Heat: $697,000

• U.S. Soccer: $494,000

• Andrew Wiggins: $494,000

• Brooklyn Nets: $457,000

• Blue Jays owner: $313,000

• Philadelphia 76ers: $217,000

• USA Hockey: $144,000

The Comeback: Even with millions of dollars in debt, the company still had several notable bidders in bankruptcy.

Multiple sources said the NHL and the company’s original founder, John Celenza, expressed interest in buying it.

However, the winning bid came from Canadian entrepreneur Dan Crosby, who bought BioSteel and its US manufacturing facilities for just $22.4 million.

Sources suggest that the brand alone likely accounted for one-third of that price.

But Crosby didn’t see that as a negative. In fact, he wanted to purchase BioSteel because of the millions the brand had spent on building awareness.

And after shedding the company’s expensive sponsorship agreements and maintaining its retail partners, BioSteel is in a better spot than ever.

Crosby’s focus now is to grow brand loyalty through grassroots initiatives and influencer marketing in Canada and to build a more sustainable business by only focusing on hockey-centric US markets like the Northeast and Midwest.

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🏆 Winner’s Circle

Zion Williamson was almost scammed out of $100 million, revealing one of the biggest problems in college sports.

Pre-NIL: In 2019, while Zion was still at Duke, he signed with a marketing agent named Gina Ford.

Now, remember that this was before college athletes were allowed to make money through NIL, which meant that as soon as Zion signed with Ford, he forfeited his college eligibility, but Ford never disclosed that in their contract, which is illegal.

This obviously didn’t matter since Zion was already a lock to be the No. 1 overall pick, but this is when things started getting shady.

College “Agents”: As NIL money has started to flood into college sports, with top athletes now earning millions of dollars, there has been a huge influx of agents trying to get a piece of that money.

But unlike the pros, where agents are required to:

• Undergo background checks

• Attend seminars

• Take exams

College sports don’t require any of that to represent an athlete.

All these “agents” have to do is register online and pay a small fee, often $100 or less, and then they can start representing athletes at the college and even high school levels.

However, this unregulated environment has led to some shady people signing young athletes to some shady deals, including a former Florida football player who signed away 15% of his future NFL earnings for the next 25 years.

Zion Backs Out: But even that’s not as bad as what happened to Zion because when he signed with Gina Ford, he thought he was signing with a registered agent who could help him in college and the pros.

However, Ford was never registered as an agent in North Carolina, which led to Zion firing her agency and hiring CAA a month later.

Ford then sued Zion for breach of contract, claiming she was entitled to $100 million in lost earnings.

Luckily for Zion, the courts sided with him, meaning he didn’t have to pay the money since Ford never disclosed that she wasn’t a real agent and that signing with her would result in Zion losing college eligibility.

Remind me what the NCAA is supposed to do again?

⏱ In Other News

• The (Improbable) History of Dana White

• It now costs $106 per month to watch every NFL game.

• The craziest catch you’ll see all week.

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👋 Happy Friday!

Your favorite high school baseball team has won five of its last six, including a four-game winning streak last week.

Don’t fact-check me on this, but that might be the longest-winning streak in school history!

We finish the regular season next week, and then it’s onto sectionals. Do I smell a deep playoff run with a team that’s getting hot at the right time?

Probably not, but I’m not getting paid for this, so at least give me something to hold onto!