Category Archives: Sidebar Featured

Crypto Boxers Debut New Logo, Website, TKO Game Plan

Crypto Boxers, the first and only boxing game operating on blockchain technology, continues to make strategic moves around the virtual ropes. Concept creator Andrew Gilliam, founder and CEO of Me N’ Mines Media, has come out swinging with a defiant new logo; a new website (http://cryptoboxers.io/), designed by independent game development studio, PlayStakes; and a TKO game plan to bring “real boxing to the blockchain.” Pushing the technology envelope beyond what is currently available in the crypto gaming space, Crypto Boxers has gamers in feverish anticipation as it will feature real life boxers as collectible tokens for the virtual fighting action on Ethereum.

Crypto Boxers’ new logo now promotes the player as the ultimate crypto contender, switching the emphasis off the professional boxers and over to the gamer. The dynamic new website provides a preview into Crypto Boxers’ fully immersive, user friendly world where gamers will experience a fantasy boxing arena and engage in an interactive “gloves on” ring experience with the boxer of their choice.

“They said it couldn’t be done but we are doing it,” reveals Gilliam. “After 459 rejections, I now have major commitments, partners and growing interest from professional boxers who are calling us now. We are the first professional sports game on blockchain, and we plan to go every round! The logo and website are just a teaser of what is yet to come.”

Round4RoundBoxing, LatinoAthlete, FightTyme, and RichPlaceMedia are the first official partners to be announced by Crypto Boxers. Crypto Boxers will be releasing the names of confirmed professional boxers, boxing officials and judges that will be in the game soon. Some of the current talks with professional boxers include legendary champs like Evander Holyfield, Larry Holmes, Michael Spinks and Antonio Tarver, along with currently active champs Terrance Crawford and female boxer Christina Hammer.

Fast Company Names Top Sports Innovators

Fast Company has announced its 2019 World’s Most Innovative Companies by sector, including sports. Its list is a mix of leagues (NBA), teams (Flyers, Dodgers), media companies (Copa90) and more.

The list is available here, with Gritty the mascot (@GrittyNHL) vaulting the Philadelphia Flyers into the third spot and Levy’s quest to make ballpark food affordable landing the restaurant group in fourth.

The NBA nabbed the top spot, with the editor’s note of the Association’s “improving the game both on and of the court.” The NBA is, for sure, a hot property among sports leagues these days, and though ratings—both national and regional—are down, the growth of its augmented reality app and the NBA 2K league are keeping it growing among the younger set (something all leagues are desperately trying to achieve).

MGM Resorts International‘s “betting big on the future of U.S. sports gambling” earned the hospitality and entertainment behemoth the 10th slot.

Reuters expands sports offering with content partnerships with the Players’ Tribune, AFLO, Panoramic, Sporting Images and MB Media

Reuters, the world’s largest international multimedia news provider, announced today that it is further expanding its sports content offering to Reuters News Agency customers through multimedia partnerships with the Players’ Tribune, AFLO, Panoramic, Sporting Images and MB Media. These new partnerships add to a growing roster of sports partners on Reuters Connect at the same time that Reuters own sports coverage is expanding, making Reuters Connect an essential tool for sports desks.

Through these new partnerships, Reuters News Agency customers will have access to candid athlete video interviews via the Player’s Tribune; more than 50,000 curated archival images from Sporting Images; more than 6,000 player headshots through MB Media; and regional photo coverage from Japan via AFLO and France via Panoramic.

“Reuters Connect has become an essential tool in every newsroom and adding these partners to the already impressive roster of sports contributors makes it easier than ever for sports desks to license the visuals that help them cut through the noise and tell their stories in more captivating ways,” said Rob Schack, Vice President, Reuters Sports.

Content from the Players’ Tribune, AFLO, Panoramic, Sporting Images and MB Media is available to Reuters News Agency customers exclusively on Reuters Connect. Launched in 2017, Reuters Connect is designed to be a faster, more intelligent way for Reuters News Agency customers to source all the content they need via a single destination. Reuters Connect is built to make content discovery quicker and easier, improving clients’ editorial efficiency and enabling them to deliver more stories to their audiences faster than ever before.

For more information on Reuters Connect and its growing list of partners visit https://agency.reuters.com/en/reuters-connect.html

Chattanooga Football Club Surpasses $500,000 Mark In First 30 Days of Public Offering

Chattanooga Football Club, a growing, disruptive and innovative established club in the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) today announced that they have exceeded the $500,000 dollar mark in the sale of limited public stock in the club in the first 30 days of the offering. They are the first American sports team to do so since the securities reform laws passed in late 2016 allowed such investments. Proceeds from the limited offering of 8,000 shares will support the club’s move from amateur to professional players and year-round operation.

“We remain impressed and overwhelmed with the breadth and scope of this project means not just for Chattanooga FC, but for community sports clubs in America in general,” said said Tim Kelly, club chairman. “We have not done this frivolously or in a vacuum; this is an investment in a soccer club with solid business and community ties and a vision for success on and off the pitch, and we know that is key in trying and succeeding to this point. The ROI on this investment, big or small, is in the people and the community. We are nowhere done, but we are proving the concept works, and that’s very exciting.”

While a majority of the investment is local (within the Chattanooga metro area), a significant amount (44% of the people, 37% of the dollars) are from beyond that area. That includes investment from over 44 states and 10 countries, as far away as Japan, Australia and Africa. Some of the bolder face names to come public with investing are former MLS star and current NBC Sports Premier League commentator Kyle Martino and Stephan Szymanski, author of Soccernomics and Money in Soccer, and a highly respected professor at the University of Michigan.

Founded in 2009, Chattanooga Football Club has drawn nearly 350,000 fans to its games at Finley Stadium over the course of the last ten seasons. In 2019, the club will play an extended season with professional players in the NPSL Founders Cup, and fully launch the league in 2020.

With the passage of the Jobs Acts in late 2016, Section CF crowdfunding allows non-accredited investors to make investments in corporations from a simple, online platform. Chattanooga Football Club is the first sports team to offer shares, and one of only a handful of teams to ever offer public ownership. While the practice is common in the rest of the world- even mandatory in the German Bundesliga- it is rare in the US. Cutting Edge Capital, a strategic capital consulting company has advised on the process.

Fans and interested investors can go to wefunder.com/chattanoogafc for full details on the stock offering.

New Research Reveals 90% of Casino Visitors Practice Responsible Gaming

With American acceptance of gaming at an all-time high, casino gamblers are actively practicing responsible gaming, according to new research released today by the American Gaming Association (AGA). Bettors report setting budgets, sticking to them and being aware of available responsible gaming resources at significantly high rates.

According to the research:

9 in 10 casual bettors set a budget before they visit a casino;
90 percent of those visitors report success in tracking their spending; and
8 in 10 casual casino visitors and 9 in 10 avid casino visitors are aware of responsible gaming resources.

“Responsible gaming is our industry’s top priority,” said Bill Miller, president and CEO of the American Gaming Association. “This research indicates that our unwavering commitment to responsibility is resonating with our customers. But success in this key area will never mean our work is done, and we look forward to continuing to work with gaming regulators, our partners in the fight against problem gambling and our employees to ensure customers continue to engage in this form of mainstream entertainment responsibly.”

This research comes on the heels of a recent AGA study that highlighted continued growth in acceptance of gaming. That research indicates that 88 percent of American adults view gambling as an acceptable form of entertainment. Americans also have a positive view of the industry’s role as a community partner, with 80 percent of people recognizing gaming’s role as a job creator, and 6 in 10 Americans believing casinos help their local economies.

“Gaming has made great strides over the past few years with the public increasingly recognizing our industry as the community partner and economic driver we know it to be,” continued Miller. “I look forward to working with our members and all interested stakeholders to build upon this great momentum in the years to come.”

The U.S. gaming industry commits more than $300 million to responsible gaming annually, supporting education, training and rehabilitation programs across the country.

Last year, AGA launched the Responsible Gambling Collaborative, convening a renowned group of thought leaders, stakeholders and academics to chart a new course on the complex issue of responsible gaming.

AGA members adhere to the association’s Responsible Gaming Code of Conduct which guides industry commitments to responsible gaming and is updated annually to reflect new developments and industry innovations. In 2018, AGA updated the Code to enhance provisions on sports betting and responsible advertising.

Methodology: Today’s data comes from two separate polls completed in late 2018. Data on Americans’ acceptance of gaming comes from our survey of American’s attitudes toward gaming and was conducted by the Mellman Group of 1,000 registered voters, both online and on the phone. Data on casino visitors’ responsible gaming practices comes from a survey of 2,014 past year casino gamblers. This survey was conducted online by BrandOutlook.

About AGA: The American Gaming Association is the premier national trade group representing the $261 billion U.S. casino industry, which supports 1.8 million jobs nationwide. AGA members include commercial and tribal casino operators, gaming suppliers and other entities affiliated with the gaming industry. It is the mission of the AGA to achieve sound policies and regulations consistent with casino gaming’s modern appeal and vast economic contributions.

Darts, A Great Gambling Property, Becoming A U.S. Phenomenon?

By Tanner Simkins @TannerSimkins

We talk about a lot of sports as betting gets closer to being legal across the U.S., but how about darts? If you catch the new weekly Premier League show on BBC America, you will see scores of signage for gambling houses, as betting on everything and everything in the U.K. is on the board. How about in the U.S.?

Well the annual darts events in Las Vegas draw big crowds and big dollars, and with over 16 million players in the U.S., maybe the game we played growing up now has a chance to find a new audience. Want proof? This week BBC America, the home to Premier League Darts, is averaging over 1.3 million viewers a week for a taped show. That puts it on par with some college hoops and even some NBA on Thursday nights.

With some additional fan engagement, maybe a U.S. star and some nice purses, not to mention a line or two that anyone can get when PASPA gets overturned, we may be seeing the birth of a new property, on a channel known for Orphan Black, Dr. Who…and now some unique sports characters!

Now that’s a new kind of March Madness!

Trump For Legalizing Sports Gambling? AGA President Thinks So

by Tanner Simkins @TannerSimkins

Data Integrity, Future of Sports Gambling Discussed at MLB Winter Meetings

Amidst the trade talk, job searching and awards being doled out at this week’s Baseball Winter Meetings in Washington this week was a look to the future; and an interesting look into how baseball is protecting itself and its reputation, by investing in a global data integrity company that works with…yes, legalized gambling in other parts of the world.

The presentation by London-based Genius Sports, with an assist from the American gaming Association, was yet another step towards enlightening people…media, club officials, other interested parties all in attendance…about the legal and illegal betting market globally, and the steps being taken to look to a future of legal sports betting in the United States with an eye, a very smart eye, on protecting the game from any improprieties that may currently be going on as millions is wagered on baseball and other sports around the world.

Ben Paterson, head of integrity for Genius Sports, told the company has used 10 years of baseball data as a base to detect corruption and works with bookmakers worldwide prior to and as games are played to investigate suspicious gambling activity that could be a clue to game fixing and other nefarious activities. Has anything strange popped up in the States thus far?

While he wouldn’t say, it is safe to say that MLB has looked to recent game fixing scandals in Asia in professional baseball and saw the opportunity to set in with a smart and massive professional engagement that is both insurance and security as MLB looks to again expand its borders globally even more, especially with the upcoming World Baseball Classic.

“Our company bridges the gap between Major League Baseball and sports betting,” Paterson said, while adding that $55 billion is legally wagered on baseball each year, a small percentage of the total amount bet on games when illegal betting is included.

The question, a billion dollar one, remains when will sports betting on baseball or any sport become legal outside of Nevada in the United States.
“We have heard the President-elect (Donald Trump) say on numerous times that he is supportive of repealing PASPA (Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act) and making sports betting legal as a way to bring more into the economy, and we are very encouraged by that,’ said Geoff Freeman, CEO of the Washington-based American Gaming Association. The AGA continues to be more proactive in the past year in pushing for reform and legalization of sports betting, and that the topic is compelling enough for Congress to conduct hearings in 2017. Protecting the data of any league, Freeman added, was essential to get lawmakers to move forward. “If there is no integrity in the sport, nobody wants to bet and nobody even wants to see the game. That’s why the industry thinks this is so important.”

Again when exactly all this happens is still up for debate, with most experts saying 2018 could be a key year, whether the legalization is left to States or goes to the preferred system of a Federally monitored system.

Is there progress? Just think about the fact that gambling and baseball were discussed openly in front of a packed house at the official winter soiree for “America’s pastime,’ and there was no wringing of hands or wagging of fingers. It shows that the current regime in sports is open to change and the revenue that could go with it, and that is certainly eye opening for the lords of baseball.

Three NBA Owners Gamble On Future Analytics

Three NBA Owners Gamble On Future Analytics
@thedailypayoff

Ted Leonsis has never been one to shy away from opportunity, and he has been very bullish on the legalization of gambling in a city, Washington, that has hid from the issue despite the fact that the municipality itself could use the tax infusion sports books good bring in as much as, or even more than, most of its neighboring states.

So it wasn’t a great surprise that this morning, broken by Bloomberg’s Scott Soshnick, came the announcement that Revolution Growth, the fund chaired by Leonsis, along with two other NBA owners of note, Mark Cuban and Michael Jordan, had made a $40 million dollar investment in Sportradar, the international data company that has emerged on the scene in the past nine months as not just the challenger, but the rising leader, in the business of leagues and analytics in their battle with incumbent STATS LLC. The deal was the latest win for Sportradar, with its US. Hub in Minneapolis, that also includes taking deals for data away from STATS for the NHL and the NFL as well as for NASCAR. What makes the deal even more intriguing is the fact that Sportradar abroad, works closely with bookmakers to provide data, giving Leonsis and company a unique partnership, should, or maybe when, sports gambling becomes league in the US outside of Nevada.

” I think a more regulated, what’s happened in Europe, where people will be able to bet. And regulating gambling I think is something that will happen here in the United States.,” Leonsis told Stephanie Ruhle at Bloomberg “GO” this morning. “ I think the states want the tax revenues. I also think you get the unsavory part of the industry away because you’ll know where the money is going. You’ll be able to do a lot better servicing for the customers. Think of the numbers, there’s $8 billion a year that legally in Las Vegas on the NFL. There’s $88 billion bet in an unregulated way, more than 10 times.”

What makes the deal even more interesting than just Leonsis are his partners. Jordan, now working to right the Bobcats, has never been one to shy away from gambling, while Cuban, known to place a poker bet now and again, has been averse to the notion of in-arena gaming, feeling that it would become too much of a distraction to fans trying to follow his Mavericks. In reality, especially with the continued stance of Commissioner Adam Silver and the ongoing scrutiny fantasy sports are receiving both at the state and the federal level. Both the Bobcats and Mans owners are seeing the potential money train, and like smart investors, are looking for the first, and most economical road in. With the NBA analytics partnership coming up soon as well, the investment by three owners may also give Sportradar an inside track into also unseating STATS in the hoops world as well, paving the way for potentially more investment from the deep pockets of NBA owners as data consumption and interest by fans grows.

While all of the legalization of sports gambling is still years away, either on the state or federal level, Tuesday’s infusion of capital into analytics by not one but three NBA high profile owners, could be a game changer as well evolves.

FanDuel and DraftKings scandal: Fantasy Sports Employees Bet at Rival Sites Using Inside Information

@thedailypayoff

A major scandal is erupting in the multibillion dollar industry of fantasy sports, the online and unregulated business in which players assemble their fantasy teams with real athletes. On Monday, the two major fantasy companies were forced to release statements defending their businesses’ integrity after what amounted to allegations of insider trading, that employees were placing bets on information not available to the public.

Last week, a DraftKings employee admitted to inadvertently releasing data before the start of the third week of N.F.L. games, a move akin to insider trading in the stock market. The employee – a midlevel content manager — won $350,000 at rival site FanDuel that same week.

The incident has raised questions about who at daily fantasy companies has access to valuable data, how it is protected and whether the industry can — or wants — to police itself.

The leagues have been swelling in popularity, their advertisements blanketing football game broadcasts.

Continue reading more at source.

Full credit to source: New York Times accessed here http://nyti.ms/1LcSdTy

Barclay’s Center Doubles Down With Fantasy Partners

by @joefav Joe Favorito

While other arenas like Madison Square Garden and The Staples center have sought exclusive deals with one daily fantasy provider for the building and for their newly created fantasy lounges, the Barclay’s Center has tried to split the both, and interestingly they have done it not between rivals Fan Duel and DraftKings, they have gone outside with their incoming Islanders deal to announce a deal with yet another provider in the space; Draft Ops.

A three year deal between the team and Draft Opts, their first partnership in any of the four sports, was announced this week. It includes the entitlement of an ice-level premium seating area and an activation space on the main concourse level. The Club will extend from the glass through the first five rows on the rink’s west side and will expose fans to the Draft Ops platform on touchscreen displays and HDTVs.

Then you have the Nets, the building’s principal tenant, who has signed a deal with NBA partner FanDuel. While all the signage will switch, the new lounge will remain branded and active with Draft Opts, giving the upstart some additional space even with FanDuel gaining the signage while the Nets are home.

It is perhaps the most unique partnership for a building to date, and will create an interesting case study for other single buildings with multiple tenants going forward, especially with the concept of a “fantasy lounge” being relatively new, and casinos, who have long rumored to be going into the pay fantasy space already well invested with most professional teams from a marketing standpoint.

Welcome Draft Ops, the pay fantasy pool has gotten a little more crowded.

Lyons Column: The Games of 2015 and 2024

The Games of 2015 and 2024

By Terry Lyons, @TheDailyPayoff Contributing columnist
@terrylyons

BOSTON – A dangerous game with the highest stakes in the entire sports world is playing out this summer, and about a week ago, the United States Olympic Committee doubled down on its weakening hand. The USOC is gambling with the battered reputation of the United States of America in the international sports community, and the organization’s wager is a “Come To Boston in 2024” bet that has a doubting New England community yelling “CRAPS!”

On January 8th of this year, the USOC surprised the elite followers of the Lord of the Rings with the announcement that Boston was selected over Washington DC, San Francisco and Los Angeles as the USA’s choice to put forth in the high stakes poker game of landing the rights to host a future Summer Olympic Games, targeting the next available Olympiad to be held way in the distant future of 2024.

With the fact that the Summer Games have not been held in North America since the ill-fated, domestic terrorist bomb-laden Atlanta Olympics of 1996, the Pundits of the Rings all believed the United States entry had a better-than-average chance at landing the ’24 Games. Since ’96, the better part of the universe has had its hands in the Olympic cookie-jar, including Sydney (2000), Athens (2004), Beijing (2008), London (2012) and all-too-soon-to-be Rio (2016). After that, Asia will host the XXXII Olympiad, with the 2020 events in Tokyo.

That left Olympiad #33 up for grabs, and what better way could there possibly be to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the great Larry Bird’s dual NBA & NBA Finals MVP season than the Summer Games right behind the Fourth of July on the Esplanade?

So the USOC acted on this notion back in January, and all the local Boston politicians and civic leaders jumped right on the bandwagon, figuring there would be much rejoicing. All was fine and wonderful in Beantown, for about as long as it took the New England weather to change.

The cruel winter of 2015 dumped 108.6 inches of snow atop the golden dome of the State House, the worst winter snowfall since 1872, some 24 years before the ancient Olympic Games of 1896. What the politicians and USOC members did not count on during that snowy winter were the two things every Bostonian can claim as his or her own – crankiness and complaining.

Bostonians, and New Englanders, in general, love to complain. They complain about the weather, the weather forecasters, the politicians, the sports teams, and their coaches. Even when the coaches deliver championships, the next season the fans complain. You can ask Red Sox manager John Farrell or Bruins coach Claude Julien, and they’ll tell you, if they still have jobs next week. And, that’s just sports!

When it comes to REAL complaining, Bostonians have three favorite topics: the Big Dig, the traffic, and the transit system, known to all as the T, probably since its formation in 1897, only a year after the inaugural and ancient Olympics in Greece.

Now put this perfect storm together, and you won’t need a PhD in Mathematics from MIT to frame the equation:

IOC + USOC + 2015 + 108.6 (snow) + Big Dig – (new Governor + new Mayor) = Boston – 2024

What is the answer to that problem?

A resounding no.

Faster than a politician can flip-flop, the grand plans of Boston 2024 were called into question, and the pronouncement of Boston being the USOC’s city of choice as fact was denounced by civic groups, claiming the 2024 Games would cost taxpayers hundreds of millions.

While the snow fell, Bostonians did what they do best and started to complain to their elected officials to the point where all hell broke loose, and the original head of the Boston Olympic organizing group, prominent construction magnate John Fish, had to step down and was replaced by Steve Pagliuca, known to most as managing partner of Bain Capital investment group and co-owner of the Boston Celtics.

In recent weeks, Pagliuca has done what any newfound co-chair of a committee would do. He called for a “players only” team meeting, re-shaped the Boston 2024 bid specs, and launched version 2.0 in order to appease the inquiring minds of “No Boston 2024” and a public still complaining about the Big Dig, the snow (and the resulting parking and traffic woes), and an ancient, failing transit system.

One thing is for sure: in the world of politics, investments, public opinion, and even sports, team meetings, re-launches, and versions 2.0 are not good, although Pagliuca has assured all who will listen that the premise of Boston 2024 will not come at the cost of taxpayers of the Commonwealth and the Summer Games will actually fuel a much-needed rebuilding of two Boston neighborhoods while the city works to finance its aging and decrepit infrastructure.

To that point, Pagliuca and Boston 2024 are right. The failing “T” and the aging roads are not going to fix themselves, and by 2024, they will be nearly a decade older.

So the question remains – Should the USOC put forth a bid to the world for Boston to host the 2024 Olympics?

With world-class cities like Paris and Rome amongst the competing cities, a successful Boston bid is a long-shot, at best. Even Hamburg and Budapest might be more viable candidates to the IOC. But the influence of the North American audience (aka NBC/Comcast television money) might be enough to influence the IOC hierarchy to vote for the USA candidate city, either in 2024 or no later than 2028.

The people of Boston need to recognize the fact that the old-fashioned way of “complaining and doing nothing” is only a mantra for the GOP, not a city in dire need of modernization.

While the bid-specs detail the use of existing facilities and champion a new approach, tagged as “Olympic Agenda 2020” by the IOC, seeking to cut down on the growing excesses of prior Olympiads, the secret sauce for Boston 2024 is to seek new and better sources of revenue generation.

One idea, totally lost in the shuffle of all noise generated this spring, is Boston 2024’s original bid idea to “farm out” some of the events – such as the preliminary round of basketball. In such a plan, two groups of six teams could play to large audiences in cities such as New York or Chicago before coming to Boston for the medal round to be played after artistic gymnastics folds up its tent and TD Garden reverts back to the parquet floor.

Another idea – ripe for the times – is to factor in potential revenue or licensing from all-out sports gambling on certain events of the Games. Properly administered, global wagering from authorized sports books and even daily fantasy sports could add tens of millions to the Boston 2024 coffers, and that would be just for the sponsorship or official licensing rights to the likes of William Hill or Betfair.

Affiliate fees and a portion of the take might net enough cash to appease the Boston 2024 naysayers while paving the road for additional fees to further ensure possible cost over-runs. The Mass Lottery might like it enough to begin the program as early as the Summer of 2016, when wagering or a DFS lottery on the Red Sox, Celtics, Bruins and Patriots could mint millions, just as the Rio Games are planning to wager their Olympic reputations on the likes of win, place, and show bets on gold, silver and bronze.

Let the Games begin.

Growing E-Sports Business or Fantasy; What Is An Accelerator And How Does It Work?

@JoeFav @TheDailyPayoff

The explosion of innovation in all things sports business and technology has created a gold rush for new ideas, especially in the pay fantasy and e-gaming space. However like the gold rush, many chase dreams of financial success only to leave with worthless pieces of lead, and sometimes, ideas stolen or good concepts that never reach maturity because of bad business planning. Into that void has come any number of companies and even Universities looking to help the best of the best. Recently the Los Angeles Dodgers launched an incubator program with R/GA to help a select number of companies venture west to try and grow.

Earlier this month another accelerator program came to the forefront, Stadia Ventures based in St. Louis. Stadia was co-founded by Tim Hayden, director of St. Louis University’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Art Chou, a Chou, a former Rawlings Sporting Goods executive with the idea that not all good sports business ideas live on the left or the right coast.
We caught up with Hayden to explain the business, its differentiators, and why St. Louis.

Explain the goal of the “Accelerator” vs. a “Shark Tank,” a “Hackathon,” or an “Incubator?

An incubator is a hotel that houses entrepreneurs (individual startups or accelerator companies). Meanwhile the accelerator is the mentoring and educational program to give the startups a better chance to succeed.

An accelerator is like an executive MBA program for startups. However, instead of a degree, the ultimate goal is that the cohort company achieves a few major milestones during the 10-16 week immersive boot camp. An accelerator will pick winners and invest in them like Shark Tank…but mentor the winners like The Voice.
How is this different or similar from others like the Dodgers recently launched accelerator?

Our Stadia Accelerator is different from almost every other accelerator, including the Dodgers Accelerator, because we are a Sports Innovation Hub first and foremost. We do not work for a single brand or customer. We invite anyone and everyone in the Sports Business ecosystem (entrepreneurs, investors, industry executives, service providers, etc) to come together to create a stronger and smarter community. Our goal is to become the clearing house or the vetting program for each of the audiences, which saves each group time, pain, and money.
What type of business are you looking for?

Stadia Accelerator is looking for established startups in the sports business space. They must have a product or service, traction and they must be generating revenue. We want them to have proven that there is a market for the solution to a pain. We focus on companies in Software/Apps, Big Data, Equipment, Apparel, Training, Nutrition, Gaming and Fantasy. However, we will look at any company that can help solve pain in the sports business space.

Some people may be surprised to hear of St Louis as being fertile ground for such a project vs. NY or LA? Why St. Louis?

St. Louis is the gateway to the west for a reason. We were the trading post for everyone heading west to seek their fortunes. Our city was created by entrepreneurs, and we have never lost that spirit. The recent St. Louis entrepreneurial renaissance has been going on since the 2009 recession. While we lost a number of Fortune 50 companies during that time, many of those executives turned their talents and newfound wealth towards the entrepreneurial scene. Couple that with the fact that for a long time, our Universities embraced the fact that you need to teach people how to be better entrepreneurs (Saint Louis University has the #13 Entrepreneurship program in the nation according to U.S. News & World Report…23 straight years in the top 25). To set ourselves apart from the rest of the nation, our community and University leaders identified that entrepreneurship needed to be nourished. So they created Arch Grants, a $50,000 grant awarded to some of the nation’s best startups wanting to move to St. Louis for a year to continue building their businesses. Since 2012, 55 startups have been funded for a total of $3.1M (50 are still operating in St. Louis).

So when people around the nation say that St. Louis has a strong entrepreneurial renaissance because of our low cost of living and our access to top notch talent; that’s only a portion of the reason. The real reason is because we have worked together to build a strong ecosystem that supports entrepreneurship.
How have you attracted investment in the project and what are they looking for?

Unknown to a lot of people, St. Louis has always been a breeding ground for a lot of global, senior-level sports business talent. When you have the #1 global sports sponsor (Anheuser-Busch) in St. Louis, it’s to be expected. And that audience has always been interested in giving back. They want to see St. Louis become the Sports Innovation Hub. We joke that in 1904, St. Louis was the epicenter for Business (1904 World’s Fair) and Sports (1904 Olympics). So why can’t we be the epicenter again?

However, our investors also understand that this is not an ego play or a community play. This must be a smart business investment with the expectation of legitimate returns. It just so happens that this investment is in the sports business space.

And we tell our investors that we will only accept “smart money,” which are those that are familiar with the sports business space. We find that these people have a knack for picking winners in this space.

What is the competition going to be like?

There are many accelerators in the United States (St. Louis is the 3rd largest accelerator city in the nation). But most are focused on technology or biotech for early stage startups. There are very few focused on the sports business space. There are even less that are willing to invest up to $100K in each business. And there are even fewer focused on becoming the Sports Innovation Hub for the entire ecosystem.

Besides the funding, our true strength is our mentor network that we can surround each startup with. Our goal at graduation is to ensure that that each accelerator company has a follow-on investment lined up, a large order, or an acquisition suitor. We are directly tied with our cohort company’s success and failure…and we do not like to fail. In addition, once a company comes into the Stadia family, we will be looking for ways to help them…for life.
What level of expertise will the senior execs involved have?

The Stadia Advisory Pool is being assembled from every walk of life. Not only do we have sports business executives from teams, leagues, sponsors, sporting goods, etc. We also have executives from the various facets of business (lawyers, accountants, wealth managers, financial planners, insurance, operations, supply chain, etc).

Sports Business touches every facet of business…so we need advisors and mentors at senior levels to cover those needs.

What is the end goal in say, two years, with the project?

We’re in this for the long haul. However, in two years, we’d love to have 20 established startups that have grown and are still engaged with us helping to mentor future startups in our Accelerator.

Success for Stadia Ventures is defined as Do Good. Do Well.

Doing good means that we are achieving financial success for our cohort companies and the sports business ecosystem. But, doing well is a societal success. Did we help to make the founders better people? Did we help to get products and services into more people’s hands to solve their pains? Did we help the industry and our partners become more innovative? Did we connect good people with each other? And finally, were we able to establish a stronger ecosystem.

If we can say we have a stronger and smarter sports business ecosystem, we will have succeeded. But it will take time. We’ve been working on creating a stronger entrepreneurial ecosystem in St. Louis since 1764.

TDP EXCLUSIVE: Three Putt at US Open Brings Fantasy Fortune to First Time Draft Kings Player

THREE PUTT AT US OPEN BRINGS FANTASY FORTUNE to FIRST TIME DRAFT KINGS PLAYER

By Terry Lyons, Contributing Columnist, The Daily Payoff
@terrylyons

A Father’s Day summer evening turned into night and golf fans around the world surely shook their heads in disbelief when the 17th and 18th holes at Chambers Bay brought about the strangest of finishes to the 115th United States Open golf championship. The four-day tournament was near its conclusion and the prime time US television audience stayed glued to their High-Def TV sets which delivered the grimaces of PGA Tour pros Jordan Spieth and Dustin Johnson into the living rooms of many casual sports fans, some longing for a Game 7 of the completed NBA or NHL seasons but left with nothing else to watch but the major golf championship.

What those primetime Fox Sports viewers couldn’t see or feel as the sun set near the Puget Sound were the heart palpitations pulsing through Carl Bassewitz, a veteran sports industry good-guy who was playing Draft Kings PGA Millionaire-maker daily fantasy game for the very first time. Bassewitz, watching on his TV, a half continent away from the action, double and triple-checked the scores of his six player fantasy team that he selected. His lineup featured Spieth but not Johnson, and also included, Louis Oosthuizen (T-2), Kevin Kisner (T-12), Tony Finau and Patrick Reed (T-14) and Jason Dufner (T-18).

That “fantasy team” combination delivered Bassewitz to the dream world of all fantasy sports players, as he turned a single $20 entry fee into a cool $1 Million dollar prize. In doing so, Bassewitz outlasted 143,000 entrants who ponied-up the $20 fee with hopes of a $1 million when they chose their lineups for six golfers, staying under a $50,000 cap, as per usual in the Draft Kings golf game. One such player, the second place finisher who is only known as “Headchopper” who is known as a professional in the fantasy sports world, needed Johnson to finish ahead of Spieth. But Johnson’s improbable three-putt on the 72nd hole of the tournament gave the U.S. Open title and its $1.8 million first place purse to Spieth, while delivering a cool mil to Bassewitz and a not-so-paltry $877,144 runner-up prize to both Johnson and Oosthuizen.

When reality set in, Bassewitz realized he’d made more money than the U.S. Open runner-ups!

“I had heard a lot about the Daily Fantasy sports craze and figured I’d give it a try,” said Bassewitz to The Daily Payoff in an exclusive interview, his first since being officially notified by Draft Kings that he was the lone prize winner. “I wanted to know exactly how it worked, so I entered a team.

“Spieth was my first choice, but I’d been following the PGA Tour pretty closely, just as a fan, and I liked the way Kisner was playing. Reed is one of my personal favorites and fellow Texan and Finau had been playing great of late and I’d followed him since seeing him play on the Big Break on Golf Channel. To win at these games, you definitely need some skill and some insight into how the players can compete on any particular golf course. I’ve always been a fan of Duff (Jason Dufner) and I really thought he was due and, overall, I thought the guys I picked could hold up under the pressure and the conditions at Chambers Bay.

“Oosthuizen was the key pick, for me, and I’ve followed him since the 2013 Masters which I was fortunate enough to actually attend.”

Bassewitz and one of his friends each were watching from home on Saturday, during the third round of the tournament when Finau carded a 74 and Reed wrote down a 76 in his score pad, making the longtime sports industry executive think his entry was pretty much cooked. But just as Reed and Finau fell on the leaderboard, Oosthuizen climbed up with consecutive 66’s on Friday and Saturday, giving the fantasy entry new hope.

“I went out to get some lunch and my Draft Kings app told me I’d dropped down to something like 750th place. I thought it was over. Then on Sunday, my friend started charting the other entries online and he texted me to say, ‘I think you have a chance at a Top 10, maybe a Top 3!”

The roller-coaster ride struck bottom for Bassewitz when he watched Spieth double-bogey the 17th hole Par 3 at Chambers Bay, the ramifications of his three-putt from within 40-feet just sending pain through Bassewitz as he watched helplessly and figuring Spieth and Johnson would end in a tie to force an 18-hole playoff on Monday.

In order to win the tournament and a $1M, Bassewitz needed Dustin Johnson to miss, not just once but twice. If there was a playoff, he would have lost. The putt was essentially for $900,000 as Draft Kings’ second place finish was worth $100,000

“When Dustin Johnson missed that last putt, I was stunned and in shock and didn’t think it was real,” said Bassewitz. “My phone was blowing up with my friends from around the country. It didn’t sink in until I was contacted by Draft Kings about 30 minutes after the US Open trophy presentation to Spieth.

“This is something my father would have loved as he taught me a lot about the game when I was growing up. This is the second best Father’s Day I’ve ever had,” said Bassewitz, referring to best day, when his son, a recent college graduate, was born. “Think about it, on June 11th, I entered this fantasy tournament with one $20 team and now I’m a millionaire.”

Yes, a good guy from within the sports industry and a first-time daily fantasy player is now a millionaire, thanks to a wild finish at the US open and a Dustin Johnson three-putt, but more importantly, the daily fantasy fortune was awarded to a guy who has his priorities straight.

Fan Duel, DraftKings Ramp Up Their Content Play

Last Wednesday at the worldwide headquarters of Topps, media types from outlets big and small gathered to talk to San Francisco Giants star Buster Posey as he talked about his new role as ambassador with the company, as well as the no-hitter he had caught the night before. The usual suspects were there for a piece of Posey, Sports Illustrated, Yahoo, AOL Sports and Fan Duel.

Wait, Fan Duel? Was there a pay fantasy element involved? Nope, but Brandon Lee from the company’s news site, was there asking questions about the no-hitter and the world of trading cards, with nary a fantasy question being bandied about. Why? Good content to keep the die-hard fantasy player more engaged on the site, and through search, to probably pull in more casual fans interested in news for now, but maybe, just maybe, they will become brand loyal enough to join in for a paid daily game or two down the line.

It is a strategy that Fan Duel Insider is embracing more and more, and as expected is also being taken on more and more by DraftKings, who, according to a weekend story in the Boston Globe, have made a huge push in hiring their own editorial staff for their content platform, Playbook, just for the same purpose; provide original non-fantasy content that feeds the needs of the fan while keeping the core player interested and on the site just a little bit longer. Engaged core players may play a bit more, while new fans may come back.

Now this is not to say that the core news and information on both sides won’t be tied to analytics and the core gamer and fantasy news. Providing that audience with core news that helps them address fantasy issues is still tantamount. However, fantasy players cannot live by stats alone, so feeding in additional anecdotal news, video highlights and original content lifts the interest and the engagement of the anyone with an affinity to sports news. The other thing such news may do will keep engaged consumers on the site, versus going to traditional news sites like ESPN or Yahoo or SI.com for the non-fantasy information. If you can hold their attention, the better chance of building more engaged audiences for things other than fantasy.

The expansion into original content follows some of the other larger marketing initiatives that both companies have used to gain the attention of the consumer. While not into boxing per se, Fan Duel spent money to sponsor Floyd Mayweather Jr., while Draft Kings cashed in on a somewhat unconventional spend against the Belmont Stakes, grabbing great exposure in places like the cover of Sports Illustrated with their signage. Neither spoke directly to the core pay fantasy audience, but it helped remind casual fans that the companies are engaged on the business of sports, albeit mostly in the pay fantasy business.

Will such investments pay off? According to the Globe article, since a redesign in March, average page views per visit have increased 52 percent and time on the site is up 152 percent for Draft Kings, while Fan Duel’s insider content has also seen a spike in visits. Neither can say yet if that spike has led to more pay fantasy money being spent, but the feeling is probably more eyeballs more of a chance of engagement. The use of news content is also much more cost-effective than some of the other high ticket promotions and ad spends the company has done, and with partners coming on board more prolifically; ESPN and MLB with DraftKings, the NBA with FanDuel, the ability to share content and gain traffic is probably just a bit easier, especially if their staffs can become accredited members of the media with the ability to gain content at events. That content would probably include unique video, which remains king for drawing audiences.

So while you will probably continue to see ore on the sponsor spend side than on the news gathering side for both, or any, fantasy sports company, it is interesting to see how important well-rounded and expansive content is becoming as the battle for casual engaged consumers heats up across the summer.

Fan Duel, DraftKings Spend Away On Sponsorship; What’s The ROI?

The past week we have again seen the turf war/marketing grab escalate for brands looking for exposure in and around hot properties. From Monster Energy taking a Belmont Stakes sponsorship along with DraftKings, to DK’s annexation of all pieces of Madison Square Garden, including the jersey sponsorship for the New York Liberty, the massive spend to try and get eyeballs continues along for brands that are looking to capture and engage consumers, especially milennials around sports.

Do these type of sponsorships work? Do they fit a bigger picture or are they large gambles designed to get some corner of space so that competitors don’t get it before them. Recently Fan Duel, which has no real boxing business, chose to spend money to sponsor the Mayweather-Pacquaio fight and took up space on the champions fight shorts. Was there an ROI on that for FD, which also has begun developing their very smart activation plan for the upcoming NFL season, or was it a play to make more people just see but not engage in what they are doing.

“As the number of marketing messages proliferates due to digital, social, mobile media, it is increasingly critical for brands to develop fully integrated marketing platform, that ideally organically associate the brand with the content or sports property that is sponsored,” said Ray Katz, an instructor in the graduate sports management program at Columbia University and veteran sports marketing executive. “The programs should also address multiple objectives that include sales, “ownership”, engaging and exciting employees, and B to B considerations. One-off’s tend to be lacking in consumer engagement and long term brand benefit.”

While there is no doubt that even behind the scenes Draft Kings and Fan Duel are looking at those who spend money on legal sports gambling as part of their universe, publicly both companies continue to draw a line between fantasy and legal sports wagering, two properties heavily engaged with horse racing and boxing. So why do these sponsorships? One is the entertainment benefit that comes with such mega events, getting access to seats and experiences for your most engaged pay fantasy players, as well as for sweepstakes. Another is to prime the pump and build an audience which may or may not exist for a melding of sports gambling and pay fantasy down the line, or to at least engage known legal gamblers with more awareness for what can be done in pay fantasy today for consumers. If they bet legally, then maybe they are candidates for DK or FD. Still with this massive marketing spend, is it smart and strategic, or can the money best be spent elsewhere?

“An example of an effective integrated program having continuity is Penn Mutual’s title sponsorship of Collegiate Rugby 7s as well as the Varsity Cup, a 15’s event,” Katz added. “In this platform, Penn Mutual actually uses a Rugby theme for their annual report, titled a rapidly growing event on NBC networks, utilized the event and overall platform as a recruiting tool to attract younger agents, while making the brand relevant to a younger and largely upscale demographic as well. The signage was supported by Rugby themed advertising, which is becoming more prevalent as the sport becomes more mainstream and will constitute some of NBC’s most exciting new programming as a new Olympic sport.”

He went on to say, “ On the horse racing front, Belmont sponsorship programs which try to capitalize on the prospects of a triple crown would be best served using the Belmont as a kickoff point and then having some continuity through the Breeders Cup (Belmont to Breeders). Marketers should also consider the fit of demographics of horse racing, generally an older demographic with their target audience.”

So as the Triple Crown comes to an end this weekend, the sports marketing world will be lining up trying to tap the spending trough of both massive fantasy players, especially as large events, even those like tennis and golf that still don’t have a massive fantasy audience come into play. Whether those spends tie to a bigger cohesive plan, as Draft Kings has done with MLB and Fan Duel with the NFL remain to be seen. One thing is sure, the outreach to locate invested consumers for pay fantasy is going wider than it has ever been, and players in areas like horse racing and boxing are more than willing to take the money and roll the dice.

Record Slot Jackpot on the Line at Empire City

By @TheDailyPayoff

Yonkers, New York – A jackpot on the Wheel of Fortune Triple Stars slot machine at Empire City Casino has ballooned past the $1 million mark, which would make it the largest jackpot to be won at the casino, Empire reported today.

Cherie Czerniowski, who oversees slot operations at Empire City, announced, “This is not a wide area progressive as seen at most properties. This jackpot can only be hit here at Empire City.”

The jackpot has guests coming from various points to try their luck, she said, particularly with several recent record-breaking scores at the Westchester casino. Manuel Esteche of Port Chester hit ‎for $571,000 in February, breaking the previous record jackpot of $509,000 won in November by Moosue Stefern of Bergenfield, New Jersey. Ella of Brooklyn won the third largest jackpot in Empire City’s history with a $222,459 score in February.

A group of seven other six-figure jackpots for patrons of Empire Cit are also up for the taking, including the $226,213 Betty Boop’s Love Meter.

“There are plenty of jackpots to go around at Empire City, with dozens over $50,000 and hundreds over $10,000,”added Czerniowski. “But the million dollar jackpot will be a true life-changer.”

Empire City Casino, one of the largest entertainment and gaming destinations in the northeast, features 5,300 slots, electronic craps, roulette, baccarat and and year-round harness racing & International simulcasting.

Augusta and Soccer, the Next Fantasy Frontiers

By Terry Lyons @terrylyons

Contributing columnist to @TheDailyPayoff

It’s early April and your March Madness bracket was busted long ago, your Kentucky Derby futures were long shots at best, and for Fantasy sports players, the NFL season is a distant memory and a deep freeze just delivered the coldest Opening Day of Baseball in recent memory.

Ballpark scenes complete with snow flurries, sleet and ice, left you less than intrigued at selecting your fantasy battery. The only thing left is either Fantasy Golf or Soccer.

NFL football, the dominant force in Fantasy Sports, is designated by 69.4% of fantasy players as their favorite faux sport, according to research compiled by industry gurus at Fantasy Sports Trade Association. In 2014, there were an estimated 41.5 million fantasy players, although those numbers are yet to reflect the millions who experimented in the Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) craze that is upon us in 2015.

DFS has created an industry upon itself as the two leaders, Draft Kings and Fan Duel, continue to shock sports business pundits and Wall Street analysts alike with enormous private equity investments, major sports leagues taking equity stakes, and newly confirmed reports of the Walt Disney Company sinking an estimated $250 million strategic investment into a new deal that will provide ESPN with ad revenue and fantasy sports players with ubiquitous exposure to the Draft Kings brand of daily fantasy.

The glut of offerings in the fantasy (American) football and baseball point to an opportunity for entrepreneurs looking elsewhere, possibly to the truly global games of Soccer and PGA Tour golf.

From a random sampling taken the evening before The Masters, golf’s most prestigious tournament, Draft Kings daily fantasy site was offering 4,410 contests related to MLB baseball, 1,677 contests for PGA golf, 1,388 contests for NBA basketball, 1,013 games for NHL hockey and 1,081 contests for European Premier League futbol (soccer). Mixed Martial Arts – an entity to be addressed at another time – had 440 contests awaiting.

In the world of golf, the contests were all for “Salary Cap” based games where the contestant was required to pick six PGA tour professionals competing at Augusta and fit them into a lineup that did not exceed $50,000 in value. As you would expect, the salary rankings of top players, such as Player of the Year Rory McIlroy, ranked in the $14,900 range while Masters champ Bubba Watson came in at $12,200, Augusta favorite Phil Mickelson was a more affordable $9,900 while Tiger Woods came in a seemingly affordable $9,400. The range spanned to the likes of aging champions Ben Crenshaw and Tom Watson who were listed at $4,800.

The ease of picking a simple sixsome and finding a contest that attracted your $1 minimum to $5,300 maximum investment provides a simple mechanism for sports fans to dabble in the world of DFS. This is in comparison to playing salary cap-based games in the NHL where you need to know the amount of ice time skated by the likes of Minnesota Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon if you plan to compete against the sharks sitting in the Draft Kings’ “Head-to-Head” contest lobby.

Away from the daily offerings, traditional fantasy golf games have long been offered by Yahoo Sports, on the official site at PGATour.com and on the Golf Channel’s online site, but have fallen short in the eyes of many participants when it comes to format and prizes.

Golf Channel’s game is simple as you select a foursome, using either one or two players from various tiers of PGA pros, grouped as “A,” “B,” or “C” players. As a fail-safe, you also pick four bench players with a limit for the number of times you can use a single player, that being 10 times over the course of the full season. The Yahoo Sports golf game allows for team registration nearly all year and is geared towards having groups of players utilize the site for their own private game.

System-wide, it is impossible to catch-up to the overall leaders unless you’ve fielded a top-notch group of foursomes for each and every tournament. To try to avoid the severe drop-off of participants who cannot crack the leaders, Yahoo also carves the season into “Winter,” “Spring,” “Summer” and “Full Season” to allow for seasonal competitions. There is no entry fee, no sponsor but Draft Kings took banner ads on the site to lure potential players to their daily style of play.

Golf Channel runs a free game, sponsored by golf shoe maker Foot-Joy, that calls for participants to pick a foursome from PGA Tour players grouped in tiers with points awarded based on the money the players earn in the tournament. Again, the prize structure is weak, there’s no money prize pool and drop-off of participants over the rather long PGA Tour season is significant.

There are a number of software companies that run fantasy golf leagues, acting more as the commissioner or statistician for privately run leagues. One of the better sites is Fantasy Golf League Software which allows individual groups or “leagues” to customize their own versions of PGA Tour leagues, presumably with the traditional style of one league member being the proverbial Commissioner/Banker while acting as Judge and Jury if there are any discrepancies.

A private league run by friends of this reporter dubbed The Larry Bird Golf League is as simple as it can get. Participants name three golfers for each tournament each week and get credit for the golfer who earns the most money from each tournament’s prize pool. Once your player cashes, he’s done for the season while the other two you played remain eligible for another time.

We do some variations to keep people interested, including a special in-season competition for the Majors and even a new “Skins Game” concept to reward a Fantasy Team who is the only team in the league to pick a tourney winner. That “Skin” has yet to be cashed as of the Masters.

In soccer, the challenge of picking winners is similar to ice hockey, where a deep knowledge of every roster and every player by position (Goal-keepers, defense, midfielders and strikers (forwards) is needed in order to play intelligently.

The key difference in playing DFS soccer is that the schedule is so different than that of the NBA, NHL and MLB, with the majority of matches held on Wednesday or Saturdays. In Draft Kings’ soccer, the salary cap listed Tottenham’s Harry Kane at $10,700 and Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud at $10,300 and the lower-level roster players at $3,000. Thankfully, the figures were not calculated in Pounds Sterling.

The sharps tend to play the best players in soccer at home, but, keep in mind, most of the action on the sport of soccer is done via the High Street bookies who take action on everything from the outcome of the game to who scores the first goal. The need for salary cap style fantasy is not nearly as attractive as action on the game itself, so a smart fantasy soccer play might be better promoted to the growing American soccer audience being taught the nuances of the game by NBC Sports Network coverage.

As of yet, MLS soccer has yet to spawn much interest via mainstream fantasy players, yet interested players need not look any further than MLS.com where you are asked to build an 18-player roster with a $120 million salary cap with the offering of some $10,000 in prize money. To be eligible for prizes, a contestant must be from the 50 United States or Canada, according to site rules.

MondoGoal, a new start-up without the bankroll of Draft Kings or Fan Duel, is going “all-in” on fantasy soccer with offerings of daily cash leagues involving Premiere League, MLS, Spanish, Italian, German Bundesliga, Champions League and even plans for a special Women’s World Cup league this summer.

MondoGoal is concentrating on a more “European” and “Worldwide” audience, rather than the American fantasy audience and the start-up has partnered with some of the most well known football clubs in Europe, including FC Barcelona, AS Roma, Chelsea FC and Manchester City, among others.

Fan Duel has yet to delve into Daily Fantasy soccer or golf and is heavily promoting their association with the NBA, the league which shocked the gaming world by taking an equity stake in the company which is operating off a massive $70 million dollar raise which surfaced last September.

The step to consider from this brief round-up? After scouting The Masters this weekend and enjoying the pristine atmosphere and springlike weather of Augusta, try a daily Fantasy sports golf tournament next weekend. It’ll be a new tradition, unlike any other.

For further information, visit the following sites:

Golf Channel: https://fantasy.golfchannel.com/

Fantasy Golf League Software: http://www.fglweb.com/fglmain.php

MLS Soccer fantasy game: http://fantasy.mlssoccer.com/

MondoGoal: https://mondogoal.com

Link to Fan Duel $70 million investment story in WSJ: http://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2014/09/02/fanduel-raises-70-million-as-daily-fantasy-sports-battle-heats-up/

Giants’ Mara Name Still linked with Horse Racing

By Tom Pedulla, America’s Best Racing

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The way Chris Mara sees it, gambling runs deep in his DNA.

His grandfather, Tim, is best known for founding the New York Giants football team in 1925. Less known is that Tim wheeled and dealed as a legal bookmaker. He became so well known at his craft that a photograph of him still hangs at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

Chris, 58, has been going to the races since he was 8 or 9 and enjoyed being around the sport since then. He parked cars at Yonkers Raceway when he was a teenager and dabbled by taking a few small shares in Standardbreds as he grew older.

He always knew he wanted to take the plunge into Thoroughbred ownership, but he wanted to be sure to spread the risk with other partners. The key was finding the right mix of owners since the top priority, after all, is having fun. And he wanted to make sure he had a reasonable shot at success.

Today, he and his wife, Kathleen, are “all in” with Itsaknockout, who came in fourth in Saturday’s Florida Derby race.

View Original Source: http://www.americasbestracing.net/en/the-latest/news-stories/2015/3/27/new-york-giants-chris-mara-derby-dreaming-with-itsaknockout/

Rick Horrow the Sports Professor interviews Frank Scandale of TheDailyPayoff.com

Rick Horrow the Sports Professor interviews Frank Scandale of TheDailyPayoff.com – The Daily Payoff is the first U.S.-based platform to cover all business aspects of the gaming and gambling businesses. The site is powered by Sportsblog, the fastest growing independent sports publishing site on the web with over 20 million unique visitors a month

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President Barack Obama’s NCAA Tournament Bracket

Here’s President Barack Obama’s NCAA Basketball Tournament bracket

ESPNPresident Barack Obama has filled out his annual NCAA Tournament bracket.

Kentucky is the heavy favorite to win the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament and President Barack Obama is going with the crowd, picking the Wildcats to finish the season 40-0 and win it all.

Obama made filled out his annual bracket for ESPN and Kentucky is not the only “chalky” pick the president is making.

Of his Final Four picks, three are No. 1 seeds and the fourth is a 2-seed.

Here is the full bracket via WhiteHouse.gov: