🏟 Live in a Stadium for $1600/mo

You know you’re getting old when things from your childhood start to no longer exist. And now that I’m 25, it seems like my whole childhood is ruined.

Barney? I heard he got busted for drugs. Webkinz? They’re probably all dead by now. Sports Illustrated? Yeah, they took that from us too.

🗞 The Big Story: The Plan to Destroy Sports Illustrated

📉 Biggest Loser: The NFL Could Buy ESPN

🏆 Winner’s Circle: $1600/mo To Live in an Old Stadium

🗞 The Big Story

Sports Illustrated’s downfall has been well chronicled, but what hasn’t been discussed as much is the company behind it all.

And how they always planned for this to happen.

Brand Vultures: In 2019, a company called Authentic Brand Group bought SI for $110M - just two years after it had already been sold in a package with Time Magazine for over $3 billion.

The best way to think about what Authentic does is they buy brands that used to be popular and valuable 10+ years ago for pennies on the dollar.

Then they turn around and license these brands’ trademarks and copyrights to other companies to squeeze out any value they have left.

Here are just some of the companies currently in Authentic’s portfolio:

• Billabong

• DC

• Forever 21

• Hunter

• IZOD

• Nautica

• Reebok

• Sperry

Bascially, every brand you can now find on discount at TJ Maxx and Marshalls.

And they ran this exact playbook with Sports Illustrated.

The Squeeze: At the time of purchase, Authentic already had a licensing partner called the Arena Group lined up to run the magazine for them, for which Authentic would be paid tens of millions of dollars per year.

But at the same time, Authentic started licensing out Sports Illustrated’s once esteemed brand to other businesses completely unrelated to sports journalism.

Including:

• Opening a resort

• Launching a sportsbook

• Hosting concerts

All in an attempt to capitalize on the brand of SI before it completely lost all value.

Rapid Decline: However, the brand was losing steam faster than Authentic probably expected, between hiring a 17-year-old in New York to be their Bengals writer or getting caught using fake authors to write AI articles - the quality of journalism SI had once been known for was now non-existent.

And remaining staff members even admitted as much, claiming the Arena Group didn’t care about making good work, they cared about making money.

But as it turns out, they weren’t doing much of either because last week the Arena Group missed a $3.75M payment to Authentic which resulted in all of the remaining writers at SI getting fired.

Is This The End? Given who owns Sports Illustrated, these layoffs don’t mean the brand is totally dead.

In fact, if I had to guess, I bet Authentic will continue to try and wring out whatever remaining brand equity Sports Illustrated has until it’s completely sucked dry.

So make sure you go stat at the Sports Illustrated Resort before it’s too late, I’ve heard great things.

📉 Biggest Loser

Would the NFL pay $2.4 billion for a 10% stake in ESPN? Because that may be in the cards.

And while it might sound like an interesting deal for the two sides, it’s one that NFL players don’t actually want to happen.

The Player’s Cut: The NFLPA guarantees that players get roughly 48.8% of the league’s revenue, which gets included in their salaries.

But there’s certain league revenue that’s excluded from that split, such as revenue generated by stadium events unrelated to NFL games, like concerts, as well as the league’s equity in other businesses.

Double-Dipping: The NFL taking equity in another company is nothing new. In fact, as recently as 2022 the league invested $320 million in Fanatics as a part of a 10% ownership stake that includes the NBA and MLB.

The reason leagues like the NFL do this is to maximize short-term and long-term earning potential at the same time.

They get their short-term revenue through licensing fees and the long-term upside of their investment increasing in value.

But that second part is what concerns the players.

Players’ Concern: Based on current rules, NFL players wouldn’t get to share in any money the league makes from an investment in ESPN.

It’s also possible that if the NFL buys equity in ESPN, in the future, they could charge them less to broadcast their games.

Which would mean less revenue for the players to split now without any of the investment upside in the future.

Screwing them out of a whole lot of money.

Not to mention the implications of the NFL owning equity in a journalistic institution that’s responsible for objectively covering them (that’s for a different newsletter).

Sports Business Journal outlines these and many more questions in their latest issue about a potential deal between the NFL and ESPN and who stands to gain the most from it.

I also made a video on this story for them that you can check out here!

Sponsored by Sleeper

💰 Pick of the Week

Two trends I’m keeping my eyes on this weekend:

1. Josh Allen rushed for 72 yards last week against a “good” Chiefs defense… what do you think LAMAR JACKSON is going to do against them?!?

2. The Packers rushed for 100+ yards last week versus the 49ers, and the Lions have not one but TWO good running backs to pick from.

That’s why I’m picking Lamar Jackson to rush for more than 66.5 yards and Jahmyr Gibbs to rush for more than 47.5 yards to triple my cash on Sleeper.

Use my code TYLERWEBB for a deposit match up to $500 on your first deposit!

🏆 Winner’s Circle

How much does it cost to live in these viral apartments inside of an old baseball stadium?

The short answer is $1,621 a month with a $50 application fee and a $600 security deposit, but there are a few things you may want to consider first…

Location, Location, Location: Set just west of downtown Indianapolis, the Stadium Lofts have 138 rentable units inside of Historic Bush Stadium.

It was home to the Indianapolis Indians from 1931, when it was built, to 1996 when the AAA affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds moved to a newer, downtown venue.

The stadium was also home to a number of Negro League teams including the Indianapolis Clowns, a barnstorming team who traveled the country playing a style of baseball similar to that of today’s Savannah Bananas.

Seller History: In 1997, the stadium was converted into a dirt race track for midget car racing (it describes the cars, not the drivers) but when that failed after two years it sat abandoned.

The city estimated it would cost at least $10 million to renovate the stadium, which would include removing asbestos and lead paint but instead between 2008 and 2011, it was used as a storage site or the Cash for Clunkers program.

Prior Renovations: In 2011, a development company proposed turning Bush Stadium into an apartment complex at the cost of $13 million, $5 million of which was funded by the city.

As a part of the renovations, all 12,000 seats were removed and replaced with balconies, and the original infield dirt was paved with red concrete.

But other than that the structure has remained largely the same.

The owner’s suite and ticket booths have all been incorporated into the apartments and leases were sold out by the time the building opened in 2013.

And honestly, for just $1,600 a month for two bedrooms and two bathrooms - this is kind of a steal.

⏱ In Other News

• Salt Lake City is booming, and they want a hockey team.

• 11,624 gathered in Omaha to watch the first-ever Pro Volleyball Federation match.

• The 49ers will now make $17M per year just for naming their stadium after a pair of jeans.

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Happy Friday!🏟 Live in a Stadium for $1600/mo