Happy Sunday, and Happy early Fourth of July!

Happy 247th! It’s a perfect weekend to celebrate the 247th birthday of the United States by watching some fireworks and barbecuing on the grill. In other news, we made it halfway past the year.

24th Perfect Game: On Wednesday night, Yankee Starter Domingo Germán threw the 24th perfect game in MLB history. The final stat line for the Dominican right-hander: nine innings pitched, 0 hits, 0 walks, 9 strikeouts, 99 pitches. What a sight. It was unfortunate that the Yankees played in Oakland, since this magical night was witnessed by a fanbase that ranks last in the majors in attendance. This was several years after the pitcher was suspended 81 games for domestic violence. One thing to note is every time the Yankees have pitched a perfect game, they’ve won the world series.

NFL Cracks Down on Betting: On Thursday, the NFL suspended four players for betting on NFL games last season. Following this announcement, the Colts said that both Rodgers and Berry (2 of the 4 players suspended by the NFL) have been waived as a consequence of their suspensions. Read more here.

Six New Jerseys: This 2023 MLB season there were six more teams that unveiled Nike City Connect uniforms, paying tribute to their cities with unique new designs. Teams took a different approach. Teams such as the Atlanta Braves and Seattle Mariners resonated with fans by referencing the past, while others such as the Cincinnati Reds went with a modern look. From the Atlanta Braves release in March to the latest Pittsburgh Pirates reveal in June.

Zoomph compiled the social media results below:

Headlines for the Week

• Buzzer streaming sports app backed by $44M is shutting down

• Same Wrexham Team (Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney) join group investing in Alpine F1 team

• Disney Taps ESPN to lay off 20 on-air talent after slower Disney+ Growth

Buzzer streaming sports app backed by $44M is shutting down

Buzzer, a Gen Z startup, announced on Friday it was shutting down. Buzzer worked with the NBA, NHL, Fan Duel, and others. The was mobile streaming startup was backed by $44M from Patrick Mahomes, Wayne Gretzky, Kevin Durant, Michael Jordan, and others. Read the statement Buzzer sent on Twitter.

What is Buzzer? A mobile [founded in 2021] app that allows fans to stream parts of live sporting events on their phones in exchange for making micro-payments as low as $1. Some leagues Buzzer has rights to include the NBA, WNBA, NHL, and the PGA Tour.

So What Happened? Buzzer was unable to sell chunks of games to fans when leagues could do the same thing themselves and keep all of the profits to themselves. Buzzer recognized it was having trouble to build customer directly, so it decided to pivot. In May, Buzzer launched new B2B offering to support live sports streaming directly with leagues. Once that seemed to fail, is when the company made the decision to shut down its operations.

Same Wrexham Team joins group investing in Alpine F1 team for $0?

The Dynamic Duo of the year (Ryan Reynolds and and Rob McElhenry) are entering another business venture: the Alpine F1 team. The Wrexham owners have acquired a stake in the Alpine Formula One team as part of a nearly $220M deal, without putting in any of their own money.

Why bring on Reynolds and McElhenney? Everything Ryan Reynolds touches turns to gold. The Hollywood duo is getting 24% of the team since they will likely generate revenues through their excellent storytelling skills, and perhaps a documentary series. The duo has excellent storytelling in large part thanks to Maximum Effort, a company owned by Reynolds. Maximum Effort is a film production company and digital marketing agency founded by Ryan Reynolds and George Dewey.

It’s not a bad idea. Ryan Reynolds has time and time again bought and then sold companies after they grew in value. In 2018, Reynolds bought Aviation Gin and sold it in 2020 for $845M. In 2019, Reynolds became owner in Mint Mobile. In 2023, it’s expected Reynolds profited $300M. It looks like he is doing it again as we watch the value of Wrexham soar after being promoted earlier this year. How does he exactly increase the value of this company? He has a great team of bringing fantastic sponsors, incredible visibility and undeniable success. Everything he touches turns into some sort of success.

Disney Taps ESPN to lay off 20 on-air talent after slower Disney+ Growth

This past week ESPN made the decision to lay off around 20 on-air personalities, including some of the network’s most well-known commentators, analysts and journalists. Some of the services biggest stars that were cut include Jeff Van Gundy, Max Kellerman, Keyshawn Johnson, Suzy Kolber and Jalen Rose. It marked the third round of layoffs with the previous two focused on behind-the-scenes workers. Suzy Kolber worked at ESPN for 27 years.

Required Reading

Why NASCAR Is Spending $50 Million to Race in Downtown Chicago (Doug Greenberg, Front Office Sports)

Gigantic new Swing complex in Raleigh capitalizes on the U.S. boom in paddle sports all in one facility (Bret McCormick, Sports Business Journal)

Fanatics increases its offer to $225 million to acquire PointsBet’s U.S. assets (Jessica Golden, CNBC)

Looking for Sports Biz Jobs?

Applied Sports Science Apprentice - Houston Texans - APPLY NOW

Account Executive, Business Development - Tennessee Titans (Nashville · TN) - APPLY NOW

Corporate Partnerships Manager (Lakeland, FL) - Detroit Tigers (Lakeland · FL) - APPLY NOW

Coordinator, Partnership Activation - Huntsville City FC (Huntsville · AL) - APPLY NOW

Want to find more sports business jobs? We highly recommend checking out Teamwork Online. It’s a free sports business job posting site.

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