Times are Changing

Here we go again. Good morning again to you all, and welcome back to the fifth edition of The Sports Road. Hope you didn't miss us too much! Today is all about change. Keeping you up to date with the newest advancements in sport, here are some laughs and stories you would not have expected.

Let's get your Monday started right!

Here's what we got for ya today:

• JP Morgan x Serie A

• Bidstack’s New Sports Division

• MMA fans, get excited

• Were the Lakers robbed?

Most valuable public market sports teams

Now, onto the good stuff... 

JP Morgan x Serie A: The Collab to Save European Football? 

TV and broadcasting rights contribute to the highest value of profits and loss for top European leagues. As of today, the Premier League dominates in this aspect of the game

This has had major impacts on the European game. Out of the past 10 teams that have competed in the Champions League final, six have been from the Premier League. If you want to see its impacts today, just look at this months league spending: 

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To combat this, finance giant JP Morgan have expressed their interest in investing in Italy’s top division. The details of their interest are as follows:

• The league has been looking for ways to draw out money from media rights.

• Interest rivals that of other investment funds which have discussed potentially investing in the league.

• Serie A has been preparing to sell its broadcasting licences for the seasons after 2024.

• JP Morgan will be able to provide between €700 million-1 billion

• All 20 existing teams have been informed of the bank's interest.

Well, if this helps stop Todd Boehly’s real life Football Manager game even a bit, we are VERY here for it.

Bidstack's New Sports Division

Bidstack has launched a new sports division committed to sponsorship models for virtual environments. The video game advertising and monetisation specialists will look to create new solutions to manage and increase fan engagement for traditional sports. Additionally, the initiative will look to act as an advertising platform in the Metaverse.

To achieve this,

• The company has partnered with SimWin Sports. 

• This multi-year partnership will see the first virtual fantasy sports league combined with Bidstack’s enterprise technology to grow the universe of sports franchises and properties.   

Such Sports technology sees a distancing from classic sponsorship models, allowing inventory sales in virtual as well as real spheres.

Fight Fans, Get Excited

This past weekend in Boxing saw Moses Itauma, one of the brightest prospects in the British scene, win only fourteen seconds into his pro debut. While this sounds hugely impressive, here are a couple of facts about the bout:

• Itauma was a -20,000 favourite in the fight

• His opponent only had 3 professional fights

• The bout was the Co-main Event

Yes, the fighters in the Co-main of one of the year's biggest cards had a total of four pro fights. With no disrespect to either fighter, it's fair to say that fans were not that excited.   

This isn’t the first time either. Fans have become accustomed to such matchmaking in Boxing, with it being considered a key reason as to why MMA has been able to flourish in the combat scene over the past few years.

Obviously the sports cannot be compared, but it is hard to look past what the UFC, for example, have announced only in the past month.

• Islam Makhachev vs Alexander Volkanovski

• Jon Jones vs Ciryl Gane 

• Leon Edwards vs Kamaru Usman III

• Alex Periera vs Israel Adesanya II

• Cory Sandhagen vs Marlon Vera

• Petr Yan vs Merab Dvalishvili 

• Justin Gaethje vs Rafael Fiziev

• Gilbert Burns vs Jorge Masvidal

Trust me, I could go on. All these bangers in only the next 2 months 🤯

Hats off to the UFC matchmakers, we sure are excited 🙌

Taking Matters into Your Own Hands

Ah, even more disappointment for the Lakers. During an exciting game against the Boston Celtics, controversy reared its ugly head.

With four seconds left, the game was tied at 105 points a piece. Driving towards the net Lebron James claimed to have been fouled. The contentious refereeing decision allowed the Celtics to regain control of the ball, eventually running down the clock into overtime where they won. If given, the foul would have allowed the Lakers two free throws and an opportunity to win the game.

Reminds me of one of my favourite quotes:

With that also came one of the most bizarre technical fouls ever given. Right after the incident,  Lakers player, Patrick Beverly, ran onto the court holding a camera. Demanding the referee look at the incident, he was given no sympathy. We do respect it though.

 Quick bites

• This week saw the return of the FA Cup: Here are some of the magical competitions greatest ever shocks 

• Novak Djokovic is the winner of this years Australian Open: This is the story of how someone not allowed to play last year returned to win the entire tournament 

• Mo Farah’s 3,000m record broken: Sam Atkin breaks record for fastest 3,000m run by British athlete

Meme of the day

It does feel like that sometimes

Quote of the day

Photo of the day

Novak Djokovic, 22 time Grand Slam winner.

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Chat to ya on Wednesday ☮️