🥎 The (Secret) Genius Behind MLB’s Latest $10M+ Investment

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By the time you’re reading, I’m probably already married (and hopefully avoided the rain).

Don’t say it.

In today’s newsletter:

🗞 The Big Story: The (Secret) Genius Behind MLB’s Latest $10M+ Investment

📉 Biggest Loser: Why Colts Fans Could Start Losing Their Season Tickets

🏆 Winner’s Circle: Meet the Homeless Hooper Who Just Went D1

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🗞 The Big Story

Major League Baseball just made one of the smartest investments in all of sports, but there’s a hidden detail in their plan that everyone seems to be missing.

MLB’s Investment: Last week, MLB announced that it would be investing “8-figures” (or at least $10 million) into the Athletes Unlimited Softball League, which was founded in 2020.

And even though the league has only been around for 5 years, it’s still the oldest active professional women’s softball league in the country and allows players to make an average of $45,000 per year.

Now, while the AUSL already had a deal in place with ESPN to broadcast 33 games this summer, Athletes Unlimited’s CEO says that this deal will allow all 72 AUSL games to be aired on linear TV, including on MLB Network.

ASUL players will also have the opportunity to interact with key MLB moments, such as the All-Star Game and postseason, to help grow awareness for women’s softball among baseball fans.

Getting in on Women’s Sports: Now, a lot of people have already compared this deal to the arrangement between the NBA and WNBA — and while they’re not exactly the same, it is true that MLB is likely trying to capitalize on the over $1 billion per year in revenue generated across women’s sports.

In fact, aside from women’s college basketball, college softball is regularly one of the most-watched collegiate sports every year, with an average of 2 million people watching last year’s Women’s College World Series Finals.

But even that isn’t what makes this deal so good for MLB.

2028 Olympics: That’s because for just the second time in 20 years, softball will be returning to the Olympics in 2028 — an event which will undoubtedly act as free marketing for the top softball league in the country. 

In fact, something very similar happened in 2019 with the National Women’s Soccer League. At the time, the league’s only national media deal was with Yahoo Sports, but after several of the league’s top players became household names during the 2019 World Cup, the league signed media deals with:

• ESPN

• CBS Sports

• Twitch

These three deals were collectively worth $280 million.

And it’s entirely possible that when they signed this deal with the ASUL, Major League Baseball saw the ability to run the exact same playbook.

📉 Biggest Loser

The Indianapolis Colts have a massive problem that almost no one is talking about, but it could result in fans losing their season tickets.

The NFL Ticket Market: It’s no secret that the NFL ticket market is messed up. Every year, thousands of resellers scoop up tickets at face value just to sell them back to real fans at an insane mark-up.

It’s why teams like the Lions and the Packers just revoked season tickets for fans who sold most or all of their tickets last year.

But the problem for the Colts actually goes much deeper.

The team recently issued a warning to season ticket holders who listed most or all of their tickets for sale last year, saying that listing too many tickets again this year could result in them losing their season tickets altogether.

This has been a Colts team policy for a while, but it clearly hasn’t worked, since even though the Colts ranked just 24th for average ticket price in 2023 at $107, the average price for a Colts ticket sold on the secondary market is more than double that amount at $230.

The Colts’ Problem: However, what makes the Colts’ problem so unique is that, unlike teams with similar policies like Seattle, Tampa Bay, and Green Bay, the Colts are located in the middle of the country, making their games extremely easy to get to for opposing fans by plane or car.

This problem was on full display last year when the Colts played four different teams within a couple of hours’ drive to their stadium, and saw secondary ticket prices reach as high as $215 for their cheapest seats.

I guess Indy is the place to be in the fall.

🏆 Winner’s Circle

The best story in college sports right now is one you probably haven’t heard about, but it helped one kid go from homelessness to Division 1 basketball without playing in high school.

Background: Meet Joe Grahovac, a 6’10” power forward from Southern California who grew up loving the game of basketball. However, that all changed once he got to high school because after playing in just two games prior to his senior year, Joe decided to quit basketball altogether after just one game in his final year of high school.

Looking back, Joe says that he was too shy for the intensity of his high school coaches, and to make matters even worse, he says that he wasn’t terribly interested in school either.

So, after graduating in 2019, Joe decided to start working right away, doing everything from delivering hay to working in a warehouse.

Playing Whenever He Could: In his free time, Joe still loved playing basketball. He recalls being at 24 Hour Fitness whenever he could, shooting hoops and playing in pick-up games. But the more Joe kept playing, the more people at the gym started telling him that he should take basketball more seriously — after all, he was still a teenager who never gave it a fair chance.

Luckily for Joe, while he was playing in a pick-up game in 2021, he met a local artist who got him an invite to the Drew League, and videos of Joe began to gain the attention of local coaches and trainers, who started inviting him to private workouts and leagues.

However, while his basketball career was finally taking off, Joe found himself with less and less time to work, resulting in him having to live in his car during the summer of 2022, where he spent all of his time either trying to earn money or in the gym.

Didn’t Give Up: Still, even with the odds stacked against him, Joe kept playing in as many leagues as possible until one coach finally gave him an opportunity that would wind up changing his life in 2024.

By this point, Joe was 22 years old and had still never played college basketball; luckily, that didn’t matter for legendary JUCO Coach Perry Webster. Webster says he knew almost instantly that Joe was going to be a star, thanks in large part to his intensity on the court.

His intensity matched with his size and skill meant that Webster wasn’t surprised when, in his college debut, Joe dropped:

• 22 points

• 7 rebounds

• 3 blocks

Or when Joe was awarded conference MVP and Player of the Year after averaging almost 16 points per game.

Joe’s Next Step: By March of 2024, Joe was already receiving offers from multiple D1 schools across the country in the SEC, Big 10, and Big 12, however, after getting personally recruited by Adrian Wojnarowski, Joe decided to commit to St. Bonaventure for the 2025 season because of the potential for more playing time and personal connection.

Talk about an incredible story.

⏱️ In Other News

• Finally, a new stadium in Chicago!

• Which active NBA players are HOF locks?

• It’s Pride Month, and people are keeping track

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👋🏻 Happy Friday Wedding Day!

The people have spoken, and you’re getting a regular edition of the newsletter next week. Consider it my gift to you!

Me on the other hand, I accept cash.