Owners Box: Club Member Newsletter - December 2nd
Fenway Sports adds the Penguins, East Asia and Brazil get financial backers for new super leagues, and is the NFL considering expansion in Toronto?
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Highlights:
Ex-NBA Stars Join Finance Giant to Back Asian Basketball League
Penguins complete sale to Fenway Sports Group for 'around' $900M
Brazilian Super League Secures Investment as Backers Eye 2023 Launch
Bettman to meet with Quebec premier to discuss potential Nordiques return
Report: Fenway Sports Group sought MLSE merger before pursuing Pens
‘Nothing is off the table’: Cricket Australia ponders steps toward private equity
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Recent Sports M&A News and Developments
Ex-NBA Stars Join Finance Giant to Back Asian Basketball League - Bloomberg - November 30th, 2021
Raine Group and several former NBA stars are backing a Hong Kong startup that’s piecing together Asia’s first major basketball club competition with FIBA’s blessing.
Asia League Holdings Ltd. has raised $13 million to date from investors including retired players Metta Sandiford-Artest, Baron Davis and Shane Battier, boosting its valuation to $100 million, the firm said Wednesday. The funds will be used to launch the East Asia Super League -- featuring eight teams from countries including Japan, South Korea and the Philippines -- beginning in October 2022, it said.
Penguins complete sale to Fenway Sports Group for 'around' $900M - yahoo!sports - November 29th, 2021
The Pittsburgh Penguins are exchanging hands.
The rumoured transaction between Fenway Sports Group and the Ron Burkle and Mario Lemieux-led Penguins ownership coalition was made official on Monday morning with the high-profile investing group, which also owns the Boston Red Sox and Liverpool, buying the NHL club for "around $900 million," according to TSN's Pierre LeBrun.
Sports Leagues Brush Off Pandemic as Business Model Thrives - yahoo!sports - November 29th, 2021
The major sports leagues led by the NFL, NBA and MLB, have made it through the pandemic seemingly in fine financial health, as rising values and fan support forestalled some of the worst forecasts based on curtailed seasons and audience-free arenas.
“2020 and the beginning part of 2021 were the most challenging years for sports in recent history,” said Fitch Ratings sports sector director Henry Flynn on a video call. “But our view is through the cycle. We were expecting, as much as we could when we got into [the pandemic], that sports are a strong asset class and this would be a temporary disruption. Fundamentally, demand for sports is really, really strong.”
Brazilian Super League Secures Investment as Backers Eye 2023 Launch - yahoo!sports - November 22nd, 2021
Following the success of the English Premier League, many soccer leagues around the world replaced their national competitions with more competitive and lucrative “super” leagues. But Brazil, the home country of jogo bonito—the “beautiful game”—hasn’t been able to follow suit.
Now, however, a potential new league made up of Brazil’s top clubs—which would effectively replace the current top-flight Brazilian league, the Brasileirao—has secured financing and is in the due diligence stage of making it happen, according to people close to the deal.
Bettman to meet with Quebec premier to discuss potential Nordiques return - theScore - November 20th, 2021
Quebec Premier Francois Legault is set to meet with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman to discuss the possibility of bringing the defunct Nordiques back to Quebec City.
"I’ve spoken with Bettman already, and there are meetings that are planned during the coming months," Legault said Thursday on RDS' Le 5 à 7, as translated by theScore.
"You have to look to know who is ready to invest. We have an (arena) already built in Quebec (City), and we are in contact with commissioner Gary Bettman to find out what we need to bring back the Nordiques."
Report: Fenway Sports Group sought MLSE merger before pursuing Pens - theScore - November 20th, 2021
Fenway Sports Group previously explored the possibility of joining forces with Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, reports Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.
At least one year ago, the entity that operates MLB's Boston Red Sox and the Premier League's Liverpool inquired about a merger with MLSE before ultimately going after the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins.
Would NFL expansion open the door for Toronto? - TSN - November 17th, 2021
Going back almost half a century, Toronto has been playing footsie with the National Football League.
There have been organized efforts to draw the league’s attention, including the staging of pre-season and then even regular-season games.
None of it has amounted to anything, yet the intrigue never seems to go away.
The latest warming of this long-running story came last week when it was reported that NFL owners kicked around the notion of a 36-team league (from its current 32) during a gathering in late October, with the cities mentioned as candidates for expansion being St. Louis, London, San Antonio and … Toronto.
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