💰 The Genius Behind Ja’Marr Chase’s $30K per Week Insurance Policy

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I’d like to get ahead of this take, but I think tailgating is overrated.

However, for some reason, we’ve decided it needs to be one of the primary considerations when designing new stadiums—more on that later (including my favorite chart in sports).

In today’s newsletter:

🗞 The Big Story: The Genius Behind Ja’Marr Chase’s $30K per Week Insurance Policy

📉 Biggest Loser: Why the Oakland A’s Might Not Leave Oakland… For Now

🏆 Winner’s Circle: Cold Water > Steriods (seriously)

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🗞 The Big Story

Ja’Marr Chase is paying over $30,000 per game to protect himself from an injury.

But what he’s doing is actually genius.

Background: Chase is currently playing in the fourth year of his rookie deal, which means he’s making less than $5M this year. 

Naturally, he wants to get paid what he thinks he’s worth.

But after Chase and the Bengals failed to reach an agreement before the season started, the star wide receiver decided to play this year without a signed extension, and he appears to have no intention of getting a new deal done during the season.

This is obviously a risky move since, without a long-term contract in place, Chase risks getting injured and decreasing his value when it comes time for him to sign a new deal.

But it now looks like Chase has planned for this exact scenario.

Hedging: Last week, it was reported that Chase had taken out a $50M insurance policy on himself for this season.

On the surface, this seems like a crazy thing to do, but the more I researched, the more I realized this isn’t all that uncommon.

In fact, every year dozens of college players will buy what’s called a “Loss of Value” insurance policy so that if they get injured before the draft and end up falling out of the first two rounds, they can still collect the millions of dollars they would have made by being a top pick.

In Chase’s case, he’d likely be paid the $50 million if he got injured during practice, a game or even if he just slipped in the shower and had to sign a deal worth less than he was expecting.

The Cost: According to an underwriter, one of these plans costs around $10,000 per million dollars of coverage, which means Chase is likely paying $500,000 just for this year.

That equals out to $31,250 per game that Chase is paying out of his own pocket.

Let’s just hope he doesn’t have to use it.

📉 Biggest Loser

What is going on with the Oakland A’s?

Because after it seemed like they finally found a place to play for the next three seasons while their new $1.5 billion Las Vegas stadium is being built, new information indicates they might not be leaving Oakland after all—at least not for a while.

Sold Out Finale: It’s no secret that A’s fans don’t want their team to leave Oakland, because even though the team is averaging just 9,000 fans per game this year (one of the worst figures in MLB history in over 40 years), the team’s final game at the Colosseum has been sold out for weeks.

In fact, there’s so much demand to see the A’s play in Oakland one last time that fans are now asking the team to open up “Mount Davis” in the outfield, which would allow 8,000 more fans to attend the game.

This section of the stadium has been covered since the team’s 2019 Wild Card game when 54,000 fans packed into the Colosseum.

Fans have even volunteered to staff the section themselves to get it open.

In Limbo: Whatever happens during that September 26th finale, it’s unclear where the team will play starting next year.

Super agent Scott Boras just revealed that the players’ union has yet to approve the proposed upgrades to the team’s Sacramento Triple-A stadium, Sutter Health Park.

Among other things, the plan is to:

• Install new artificial turf

• Build a new clubhouse

• Add a video board

• Upgrade premium seating

However, Boras says he expects that the A’s will actually stay in Oakland next year.

After hearing this, MLB went on record and said, “It’s a certainty that the A’s will play their 2025 season in Sacramento.”

Honestly, I just feel bad for the fans.

🏆 Winner’s Circle

What is Novak Djokovic doing?

Well, it turns out that doing that more effective than taking steroids, which is why some companies are charging $1,000 for something that’s literally free.

Background: During this summer’s U.S. Open, tennis stars like Novak Djokovic had to deal with temperatures that reached 95 degrees.

This isn’t great for athletes since it’s scientifically proven that being hot reduces muscle performance and endurance by up to 30%.

Palm Cooling: This is why, for decades, professional bodybuilders have used palm cooling to increase their performance.

The palms, as well as the soles of your feet, have a dense network of specialized blood vessels that allow for a higher rate of blood flow, acting as a sort of “natural radiator” for the body.

But now this technique of cooling your palms between workout sets is making its way to the mainstream, and I honestly could not believe the effect it has.

How It Works: For starters, your palms don’t actually have to get that cold. Studies suggest that decreasing their temperature to between 50-60°F can reduce can your core body temperature by close to 2°F.

And it only takes between two and three minutes to be effective.

Peer-reviewed studies have shown that this can lead to a:

• 22% increase in muscular strength

• 144% increase in muscular endurance

According to one MIT data scientist, cooling your palms is literally better for your performance than taking steroids.

Now, the specific type of device Djokovic was using at the U.S. Open can cost up to $1000 and it rapidly cools your entire hand, but studies show that just running your palms under cold water for as short as 30 seconds can yield similar performance results.

⏱ In Other News

• Baseball’s Most Viral Star: The (Untold) History of Jackson Olson

• Woj avoids his “worst nightmare”

• Every NFL team’s odds to make the playoffs

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👋🏻 Happy Friday!

I recently spoke with someone in the Vikings' front office about the team’s frustration with the lack of tailgating space. We got into a passionate discussion about how tailgating is a uniquely American/NFL tradition.

That got me thinking of this chart and how NFL stadiums have historically been built outside of downtowns.

This thought has no point except that if we want American cities to be lively, safe, and fun again, we can’t remove the one thing that brings people in regularly.

It’s also a good reminder that we can’t rely on sports (or other “programming”) to revive our cities. I saw a good video on that topic here.