🏷️ Everyone has a price, Brazilian football politics, and Kyrgios joins OnlyFans

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💰💰💰 BIGGEST. CONTRACT. EVER…

What happened?

Two-time MVP Shohei ‘Sho Time’ Ohtani made headlines by agreeing to a $700 million, 10-year contract that will take him from the Los Angeles Angels across town to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Ohtani's is the largest total contract amount in the history of sports. His $70 million average annual salary is 62% higher than the previous MLB high set by Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander, who had deals averaging $43.3 million with the New York Mets.

It is, however, lower on a per-year basis than other deals such as Cristiano’s $200 million-per-year deal with Al-Nassr.

Why is he worth so much?

Ohtani is the first player in modern history to be world-class in both hitting and pitching at the same time. So you could argue that the Dodgers are effectively getting two top-class players for a (paltry) $350M each.

This has earned him an unprecedented marketability, not just in the US, but in the Japan, the country of his birth and the biggest basketball market outside of the US.

For the Dodgers, who already boast a formidable team including other MVPs like Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, this bolsters their chances of adding to their 7 World Series titles in the coming years.

Who’s laughing now?

🏌🏼‍♂️ In other news, Spanish golfer Jon Rahm, who had previously dismissed the breakaway LIV league saying “I laugh when people rumour me with LIV Golf”, this week announced a record-breaking deal with LIV Golf.

The deal is reportedly worth between around $566 million over four years.

Whilst a merger between PGA and LIV was announced early this year, terms haven’t been agreed and time is running out. It may not happen.

What does this all mean?

📈 This is all part of a trend in mega-deals for athletes. No longer are they being valued as mere employees, but as the key individuals responsible for drawing eyeballs and advertisers to specific teams and leagues.

These new deals for top athletes resemble those that headlining Hollywood actors and actresses have been enjoying for years, and often include revenue sharing aspects. Many players are using this wealth to build not just brands but business empires, becoming CEOs and venture capital investors, in some cases whilst they are still playing.

🇧🇷 BRAZILIAN FOOTBALL POLITICS

The Campeonato Brasileiro Série A concluded last weekend, and there’s a lot to unpack:

• Palmeiras won their second consecutive title, after Botafogo (owned by John Textor, the American investor who also owns Lyon), suffered an astonishing late season collapse.

• Botafogo surrendered a 13-point lead to finish fifth, gaining only one point in their last five games. At one point, after giving up a 3-0 lead to lose 4-3 to Palmeiras, Textor went on an expletive-laden rant accusing the authorise of corruption.

• 36-year-old Luis Suárez won the award for the best player of the season. He’s now expected to team up with former teammate Leo Messi at Inter Miami. Hulk and Diego Costa are also among the tempestuous cult heroes playing in the league.

• Santos, the club that brought us Pele and Neymar, were relegated for the first time in their history.

But it could all be about to change, because investors are eyeing the Brazilian leagues and competing over its future

The context

Brazil, with arguably the strongest football pedigree in the world and a football-mad population of 220 million, has a host of historic and well-supported clubs, but most of its top talent leaves for Europe at a young age.

Many investors see this as an opportunity opportunity, and many are already indeed:

• Red Bull own RB Bragantino

• 777 Partners, whose network includes clubs such as Genoa, Standard Liège, and Hertha BSC, own a majority stake in Vasco de Gama

• John Textor, owner of Lyon and the biggest shareholder in Crystal Palace, owns Botafogo

At the league level, it’s a bit of a mess, with the Série A and state championships being poorly managed and struggling economically. Some clubs are hundred of billion of dollars in debt.

The proposals 

Two competing proposals, both backed by foreign investment, are competing as to who operates the country’s predominant league from 2025 onwards. The proposals are similar, but with different revenue splits.

Both involve massive investment in broadcast and commercial, and collective bargaining that sees these revenues distributed amongst clubs (as opposed to clubs having to negotiate their own broadcast deals):

1️⃣ In one corner, you have LIBRA – backed by Abu Dabi-owned Mubadala Capital, who have valued the league at around $4.4Bn.

• They have an estimated 17 teams committed to the league, including RB Bragantino, Cruzeiro, Corinthians, Flamengo, Palmeiras, Santos, São Paulo, and Vasco da Game.

• LIBRA are proposing 40% of league revenue to be split equally, with the remainder based on performance, audience, and engagement.

2️⃣ In the other, you have LFF - backed by US investment firm Serengeti Asset Management and valued at around $4.6Bn - but only if they can confince all 40 of the country’s top clubs to join.

• LFF have the backing of at least 26 clubs, including Athletico Paranaense, Fluminense, Fortaleza, and Goiás.

• They propose a more equitable revenue split, with 50% to be distributed equally amongst the teams, with the remainder based on performance (25%) and audience (25)

So whilst LFF has more clubs, the big clubs are so far siding with LIBRA. Understandably, as it will likely give them bigger revenues.

Currently teams are split over who sides with which league. But for either to be a success, they will really need to get all of the top teams. It’s likely that some kind of compromise or merger is going to be needed.

🔥 HOT TAKE OF THE WEEK

Nick Meacham, CEO as SportsPro Media, asks if FIFA misplayed their hand by opting to split with EA Sports.

The FIFA-branded games previously brought in revenue of around $300 million of licensing revenue for FIFA, who hardly had to do anything.

It certainly seems to have worked out well for EA Sports. Per the SportsPro article:

• As many as 11.3 million players loaded up FC 24 in the first seven days after launch, more than the 10.3 million for FIFA 23.

• In the first 24 days, more than 1.6 billion matches were played, 4.1 billion goals were scored and games were played in more than 200 nations.

• FC 24 also topped the UK physical charts following Black Friday discounts, highlighting the long tail for sales.

FIFA meanwhile, have vowed to create their own game. Such an undertaking will likely cost billions and could take years to compete with EA FC.

📱NICK KYRGIOS JOINS ONLYFANS

Fiery tennis star Nick Kyrgios announced he would join OnlyFans last week, giving a chance to see ‘‘all different sides of me.’

Those hoping for racy adult content might be disappointed… It looks like Kyrgios will mostly be posting behind-the-scenes snippets on his life as a tennis player.

That said, it is an interesting move that plays into the increasing trend for clubs and players to try to interact more directly with their fans via more personal means. We’re not sure if OnlyFans will be the answer, but it’s not too dissimilar from, say, FC Barcelona setting up a Discord community.

A number of studies have shown young consumers to be spending more time in DMs and private chat groups than in the traditional public feeds of social media.

🧣THE BEST OF FANS, THE WORST OF FANS

The holiday season is bringing out both sides of fans. Real Betis showered their pitch with stuffed toys for disadvantaged children…

Whilst LAFC fans doused Colombus Crew supports in beer during the MLS Cup final.

Dam Yanks…

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