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☆ Ticketmaster's largest shareholder blames massive demand − including from bots − for Taylor Swift ticket fiasco
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Sarah Whitten | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Live Nation is sympathetic to fans who couldn't get tickets, Greg Maffei said on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" Thursday. "It's a function of Taylor Swift. Liberty also said it would create a new stock called Liberty Live, which will include its stake in Live Nation. People amplified their complaints this week when tickets for Taylor Swift upcoming Eras tour went on presale on Ticketmaster's website. Maffei also defended Live Nation against lawmaker and activist concerns that Ticketmaster and Live Nation are abusing their market power.

☆ FTX collapse an example of ‘greed and FOMO,’ says short-seller Carson Block
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Jenni Reid | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Carson Block, founder of short selling investment firm Muddy Waters, thinks the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX under Sam Bankman-Fried is a "great example of greed and FOMO." Block told CNBC's "The Exchange" he had seen the business trajectory of the former billionaire and thought there was "obviously something wrong." Block is a crypto sceptic who described the recent surge into the industry as a bubble based on a "suspension of disbelief." His comments come amid a war of words in the crypto sphere as it grapples with the recent volatility. At an event hosted by CNBC on Thursday, Changpeng Zhao, founder of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, said he was "shocked" that Bankman-Fried "lied to everybody," and described his actions as "fraud."

☆ Special Report: FTX's Bankman-Fried begged for a rescue even as he revealed huge holes in firm's books
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Angus Berwick Anirban Sen Elizabeth Howcroft Lawrence Delevingne | Angus Berwick | Anirban Sen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +22 min

Sequoia was shocked at the amount of money Bankman-Fried needed to save FTX, according to the sources, while Apollo first asked for more information, only to later decline. The booklet flagged the risks of crypto trading, particularly how sudden sales of tokens could trigger a "domino effect" that would lead to a "cascading set of liquidity failures." Using profits from Alameda, Bankman-Fried launched FTX in 2019. From almost nothing in 2019, FTX handled about 10% of global crypto trading this year, a September document shows. At one point, he lived in a penthouse overlooking the Caribbean, valued at almost $40 million, according to two people who worked with FTX.

☆ Miami Marlins promote Caroline O'Connor, making her pro baseball's second-highest ranking woman
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Jessica Golden | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The Miami Marlins will be led by two of the highest-ranking women in professional sports. The organization announced on Monday that owner Bruce Sherman is promoting Caroline O'Connor to president of business operations, effective immediately. The move makes the Marlins the first pro sports team to have women operating the entirety of the team's day-to-day business. In 2020, the team hired Kim Ng as the first female general manager in Major League Baseball history, making her the league's highest-ranking woman in baseball operations. The Marlins were MLB Wild Card Champions in 2020 but have failed to make the playoffs the past two seasons.

☆ Marlins become first major team with women as president and GM
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Nov 14 (Reuters) - The Miami Marlins became the first U.S. major sports franchise to have two women simultaneously running a team's day-to-day off-the-field affairs after they appointed Caroline O'Connor as president of business operations on Monday. The decision to promote O'Connor comes two years after the Marlins made history when they named Kim Ng as Major League Baseball's first female general manger. "I think we're a really special organization. I think it makes our organization unique and stand out, and shows what women can do and the roles that they can hold." "Her leadership will continue to guide the Marlins organization toward our goal of sustained success while strategizing additional new ventures to grow our business and enhance our brand recognition."

☆ Man United's Fernandes voices World Cup concerns after Fulham win
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"Of course it's strange, It's not exactly the time we want to be playing in the World Cup. The decision to award the tournament to Qatar has provoked widespread criticism, with concerns expressed over labour laws and human rights in the country. "We know the surroundings of the World Cup, what has been in the past few weeks, past few months, about the people that have died on the construction of the stadiums. "We want football to be for everyone, everyone has to be included and involved in a World Cup because a World Cup is for the world. I don't agree with how it's happened but we're footballers and we play football.

☆ Baseball’s Winter Battle to Acquire—or Keep—Aaron Judge and Jacob DeGrom
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Lindsey Adler | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

LAS VEGAS — Major League Baseball’s front offices began placing bets on their offseason roster-building moves, with some teams focused not on landing new talent, but hanging onto the stars they have—including Jacob deGrom, Justin Verlander and especially Aaron Judge. The league’s General Manager meetings here this week are the first of two official gatherings of club and league representatives this winter; the Winter Meetings, the industry-wide convention that takes place in December, will be the second.

☆ Wall Street pushed into digital assets. Now investors are paying the price as FTX's crisis raises questions of a ripple effect in cryptoworld.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Rebecca Ungarino | Danielle Walker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

FTX, the crypto exchange in crisis, found backers in BlackRock, VanEck, and Ontario Teachers. The solvency crisis facing the exchange and its famous CEO raises questions of a ripple effect. Now, in the middle of crypto winter, FTX is in the middle of a solvency crisis. Binance, a rival crypto exchange that was initially going to buy FTX, backed out. "What we like about it is that we're not really speculating on whether prices of crypto assets, bitcoin or otherwise, are going up or down.

☆ FTX: NBA's Miami Heat to terminate relationship with crypto giant, will get new arena name
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Jacob Lev | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —The NBA’s Miami Heat and Miami-Dade County have terminated their relationship with bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX and will search for a new naming rights partner for their arena in downtown Miami. Miami-Dade County and Miami Heat said in a joint statement Friday night that the reports about FTX are “extremely disappointing” and that they will work together to find a new naming rights partner for the arena, which was only renamed as FTX Arena last year. FTX had reportedly inked a reported $135 million, 19-year deal to rename the Miami arena in June 2021. Also, Major League Baseball struck a five-year deal in 2021 to name FTX as its official cryptocurrency exchange. FTX is also the official cryptocurrency exchange partner of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team.

☆ The sudden decline of one of the largest crypto exchanges could rattle the sports industry
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Jennifer Korn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN Business —The near collapse this week of FTX, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, has sent shockwaves throughout the crypto startup and investment community. Like other crypto companies, FTX has invested heavily in sports sponsorships, including partnerships and naming rights in professional basketball, baseball and Formula One racing. In 2021, FTX inked a reported $135 million, 19-year deal with the NBA’s Miami Heat to rename the American Airlines Arena as FTX Arena. Sports partnership experts say the stadium naming rights are the biggest headache. In a hiring announcement earlier this year, Binance CEO Zhao “CZ” Changpeng said: “It was not easy saying no to Super Bowl ads, stadium naming rights, large sponsor deals a few months ago, but we did.”

Some Twitter users are already abusing the platform’s new for-purchase verification badges by impersonating high-profile athletes, including NBA star Lebron James. A bogus tweet from the verified account impersonating James came from the handle “@KINGJamez.” It erroneously claimed that the Lakers player had requested a trade. The tweet from the verified account pretending to be McDavid falsely claimed the player was signing with the New York Islanders. In recent days, several previously verified users who impersonated Musk were banned from the platform. Prior to Musk’s Twitter acquisition, the platform had rules against impersonation and rules about how parody accounts could be used on the site.

☆ FTX's rescue by Binance is a red flag for sports heavyweights that signed sponsorship deals with the crypto exchange
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( George Glover | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Binance stunned the crypto world with a deal to buy Sam Bankman-Fried's crypto exchange FTX Tuesday. The exchange's troubles raise questions about its deals with Tom Brady, the Miami Heat, and the Mercedes F1 team. But FTX is yet to comment on what will happen with the million-dollar sports sponsorship deals it brokered earlier this year. As cryptocurrencies surged, major exchanges like Binance, Coinbase and FTX all worked to land major sports sponsorship deals to compete for users and build brand awareness. Major companies have pulled away from sports sponsorship deals amid the market turmoil.

☆ What the FTX debacle means for crypto's attempt to become a legitimate asset class
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Bob Pisani | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

What happens to other crypto platforms like Coinbase? That creates an opportunity for centralized, regulated, retail-focused crypto platforms (like Coinbase). What does this mean for the crypto space? We believe the episode is likely to accelerate regulation of the crypto space in the U.S. and elsewhere. Bitcoin has already been determined to be a commodity and not a security, but other crypto tokens may be deemed to be securities.

☆ Apple's ad business is quietly expanding into streaming ads and sponsorship, as it pitches $4 million packages for Major League Soccer
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Lara O'Reilly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Apple's advertising empire is extending into its Apple TV service. Apple's advertising empire is set to expand beyond the App Store when Apple TV begins broadcasting Major League Soccer for ten seasons beginning February 2023 — a global deal that is costing Apple $250 million per season. The next tier comes at $3 million and the last tier was described by one person familiar as more "a la carte," in which advertisers can cherry-pick a smaller number of specific placements. The Apple TV app will host an exclusive MLS streaming service, and Apple TV+ customers and MLS season ticket holders will be able to access it for free. Today, that business is mostly focused on search ads in the App Store, as well as ads within its News and Stocks apps.

☆ Bonds and Clemens get another swing at Baseball Hall of Fame
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Oct 14, 2021; San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants former player Barry Bonds looks on form the stands during the sixth inning in game five of the 2021 NLDS between the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Neville E. GuardNov 7 (Reuters) - Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, whose legacies were tainted by allegations of steroid use, were given another chance at making the Baseball Hall of Fame after being among the eight players named on Monday to the Contemporary Baseball Era player ballot. Any candidate who receives votes on 75% of the ballots cast by the 16-member Contemporary Baseball Era Players Committee on Dec. 4 will earn election to the Hall of Fame in 2023. The committee, which focuses on the period from 1980 to the present day, considers retired Major League Baseball players who are no longer eligible for election by the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA). The other candidates on the Contemporary Baseball Era player ballot are Albert Belle, Don Mattingly, Fred McGriff, Dale Murphy, Rafael Palmeiro and Curt Schilling.

☆ 'Mom, you look really exhausted': How this CEO got her dream job, and then burned out on it
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-06 | by ( Jennifer Liu | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Michele C. Meyer-Shipp is the CEO of Dress for Success, a global nonprofit that helps women prepare for the job search and interviews. In August 2020, Michele C. Meyer-Shipp started her dream job — becoming the first woman of color to be named Major League Baseball's chief people and culture officer. The 25-year-old nonprofit, which helps women through the job search and interview process, was looking for a new CEO. One of my sons said to me repeatedly, "Mom, you look really exhausted. Stepping into a new role, doing something I've never done before, was really, really scary.

CNN —“Mattress Mack” had reason to celebrate the Houston Astros’ World Series win on Saturday – and not just because he’s an Astros superfan. Houston furniture store owner Jim McIngvale, known as “Mattress Mack,” made a series of bets amounting to $10 million on the Astros to win the World Series. The Houston Astros celebrate their World Series win against the Philadelphia Phillies in Houston, Texas, on Saturday, November 5. Peña was awarded the World Series MVP for his stellar play during the series. He is just the second rookie to be named LCS and World Series MVP in the same postseason.

CNN —The Houston Astros won the franchise’s second World Series title on Saturday after defeating the Philadelphia Phillies 4-1 in Game 6 at Minute Maid Park. After falling behind 2-1 through the first three games of the World Series, Houston evened up the series after throwing a combined no-hitter in Game 4. Party!”The Houston Astros celebrate their World Series win against the Philadelphia Phillies in Houston, Texas, on Saturday, November 5. Mary DeCicco/MLB Photos/Getty Images The Houston Astros celebrate their win in Game 5 of the World Series against the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday, November 4. The Phillies hit five home runs in the game, tying a World Series record, and they won 7-0 to take a 2-1 series lead over the Houston Astros.

CNN —It was an anxious, exciting night to be a Philadelphia or Houston sports fan Thursday, with a two-sport high-stakes showdown played at the same time that gave Houston an edge in the World Series and kept Philadelphia perfect on the gridiron. In Pennsylvania, there was Game 5 of the World Series between the Philadelphia Phillies and Houston Astros, each looking to take the advantage in a 2-2 series. The Houston Astros celebrate their win in Game 5 of the World Series against the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday, November 4. Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images Philadelphia right fielder Nick Castellanos makes a diving catch on the first play of Game 3 on Tuesday night. Houston vs. Philly, againAs the World Series was underway Thursday night, the Eagles held off the Texans in Houston 29-17 to start 8-0 for the first time in franchise history.

☆ Astros pitch second no-hitter in World Series history
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

Javier and Houston’s bullpen combined on just the second no-hitter in World Series history, silencing a booming lineup and boisterous fans as the Astros blanked the Phillies 5-0 Wednesday night to even the matchup at two games each. The only previous no-hitter in the World Series was a perfect game by Don Larsen of the New York Yankees against the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1956. Astros ace Justin Verlander will again chase that elusive first World Series win when he faces Noah Syndergaard. Up NextAstros: Verlander is 0-6 with a 6.07 ERA in eight World Series starts after failing to hold a five-run lead in the opener. Phillies: RHP Noah Syndergaard had been set to start Game 3 before it was washed out Monday night.

☆ Gen Z's not lazy — they're just refusing to put up with the toxic work culture that Boomers created
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Kim Kelly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

"And I personally think that all of us in Gen Z, when we experienced that with our parents, we were like, 'Fuck that. And now, Gen Z is turning to organizing as a way to stand up to corporate bosses. But she and her Gen Z peers are not ready to accept that mode of thinking. Put simply, young workers want something better than their parents had and aren't afraid to seek it out. Because if there is one quality that Gen Z has in spades, it is audacity — and no mass movement has ever succeeded without it.

☆ Ray Guy: Pro Football Hall of Fame punter dies at the age of 72
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Jacob Lev | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —Pro Football Hall of Fame punter Ray Guy has died at the age of 72, the National Football League and the Pro Football Hall of Fame announced Thursday. Former NFL punter Ray Guy with his bust during the NFL Class of 2014 Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremony at Fawcett Stadium on August 2, 2014, in Canton, Ohio. Jason Miller/Getty Images“Fittingly, much was written when Ray Guy was enshrined in Canton about how his election as the first true punter created a ‘full roster’ of players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Guy was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2004 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2014. In 2000, the Ray Guy Award was first awarded to the nation’s best collegiate punter.

☆ Serena among big-name investors behind Woods and McIlroy's TMRW Sports
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Mandatory Credit: Danielle ParhizkaranNov 2 (Reuters) - TMRW Sports, a tech-focused company co-founded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, announced on Wednesday a star-studded investor group that includes tennis great Serena Williams and seven-times Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton. The team of investors also includes four-time NBA champion Stephen Curry, three-times tennis Grand Slam winner Andy Murray, Japanese two-way standout Shohei Ohtani of Major League Baseball and two-time women's World Cup champion Alex Morgan. According to TMRW Sports, the initial investment group's sports experience also includes team ownership in every major league and ranges across F1, NFL, NBA, Premier League, MLB, NHL, MLS, tennis, esports, surfing, and golf. TMRW Sports -- pronounced 'tomorrow sports' -- was launched in August with the goal of using technology to help create new pathways for the next generation to enjoy sports. "Connect Ventures is thrilled to work alongside this world-class group of investors to support Tiger, Rory and Mike's vision to further accelerate the evolution of sports and make it more accessible for all."

☆ Champions League: Glasgow Rangers suffers worst group stage campaign in tournament history
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Ben Church | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —The good news for Glasgow Rangers is the Scottish club has pocketed over $15 million for competing in the Champions League. The bad news is, after waiting 12 years to get back into the competition’s group stages, the club’s return has been nothing short of a nightmare. ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP/AFP via Getty ImagesAfter its long awaited return to the group stages, Rangers was immediately up against it after being handed a very difficult draw. We were all happy we came into the Champions League because we weren’t competing at this level in 12 years so that’s very positive,” he told reporters on Tuesday. Despite its disappointment on the pitch in Europe, Rangers will benefit financially from its Champions League campaign.

CNN —For just the second time in World Series history, a no-hitter has been thrown as four Houston Astros pitchers completed the feat against the Philadelphia Phillies Wednesday night to win 5-0 and secure their place in baseball lore. Cristian Javier started Game 4 in the series for the Astros, tossing six innings of no-hit ball, striking out nine and walking two. The only previous no-hitter in 118 years of World Series history is Don Larsen’s perfect game in the 1956 World Series. The Astros now hold the distinction of throwing the first combined no-hitter in postseason history, according to Major League Baseball. The only other no-hitter in postseason history was tossed by Roy Halladay for the Phillies in the 2010 National League Divisional Series.

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