Axios Sports: LeBron, the owner — Sports ETF — NCAA rankings

1 big thing: ⚾️ LeBron James, Red Sox owner | Wednesday, March 17, 2021

Open in app View in browser   Presented By Help Scout   Axios Sports By Kendall Baker ·Mar 17, 2021 ☘️ Happy St. Patrick's Day! Enter into the Axios Sports Bracket Challenge for your chance to win a pot of gold. Fill out your bracket. ✍️ In today's edition ... Two fascinating stories about investing, the most top 10 polls ever contained in a newsletter, the story behind the world's first feature film, and so much more. Please enjoy. Today's word count: 1,969 words (7 minutes).     1 big thing: ⚾️ LeBron James, Red Sox owner Photo illustration: Annelise Capossela. Photos: Mark Cunningham (MLB Photos), Mitchell Leff/Getty Images   Yankees fan LeBron James is now a part-owner of the Red Sox following a restructuring of the team's parent company, Fenway Sports Group. Behind the scenes: Red Sox majority owner John Henry has agreed to sell an 11% stake in FSG to private equity firm RedBird Capital Partners. FSG also owns Liverpool, Fenway Park, NASCAR team Roush Fenway Racing, and NESN, which airs Red Sox and Bruins games. In 2011, James acquired a 2% stake in Liverpool for $6.5 million (worth ~$40 million today). He's now using the Redbird-led shakeup to convert that stake into 1% of FSG. No new money is being invested. By the numbers: It's an enormous return on investment for Henry, who in 2001 paid a then-record $700 million for the Red Sox. This deal values FSG at around $7.3 billion. Between the lines: RedBird was originally in talks to buy between 2o–25% of FSG via SPAC in a maneuver involving Billy "Moneyball" Beane, Axios' Dan Primack notes. But that deal didn't come together, due to difficulties in obtaining outside financing at a valuation asking price of around $8 billion. RedBird is led by Gerry Cardinale, who has a history of making deals with sports teams. He helped the Yankees launch YES Network and recently bought the XFL with partner Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. The big picture: James says his goal is "to own an NBA franchise," and his expanding relationship with FSG could eventually help him get there. "If LeBron retired tomorrow, he probably could put together a group with enough capital to buy an NBA team," an investment banker who has advised NBA team sales told ESPN (subscription). "The trick is finding a group that would put up that kind of money and allow him to be the controlling partner if he's not putting in the most money." That's where FSG could come in. What to watch: The NBA recently opened the door for private equity funds (like RedBall) to buy minority stakes in teams, opening a potential path for James and other ex-players to own teams by becoming investors. Speaking of owning sports teams...     2. 💵 First on Axios: A new way to invest in sports Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios   Roundhill Investments is launching a new thematic ETF designed to give everyday investors exposure to the world of professional sports. Details: The Roundhill MVP ETF (NYSE: MVP), which launches today, consists of teams like the Knicks (via shares in MSG), leagues like Formula One (via shares in Liberty Media) and brands like Nike and Adidas. Top 10 holdings: Courtesy: Roundhill Investments The backdrop: This is Roundhill's fifth thematic ETF (i.e. a fund designed to tap into a chosen theme or industry), and it's their fourth with close ties to sports. The other three: BETZ (Sports betting) NERD (Esports) SUBZ (Streaming) The big picture: Modern sports fandom increasingly has an investing feel, and it's never been easier for fans to place short- and long-term bets. Short-term: Betting, fantasy sports Long-term: Collectibles, sports-focused ETFs The bottom line: If you think your team will win their next game, you can place a wager (short-term). If you think the sports industry has a bright future, you can invest in MVP (long-term). Go deeper: Full list of MVP holdings     3. 🏀 AP All-Americans: Garza leads the way Data: 247 Sports; Chart: Michelle McGhee/Axios Iowa's Luka Garza was labeled the 118th-best recruit coming out of high school in 2017. Four years later, he headlines the AP All-America team, earning the only unanimous selection, Axios' Jeff Tracy writes. First team: Garza; Corey Kispert (F, Gonzaga); Jared Butler (G, Baylor); Ayo Dosunmu (G, Illinois); Cade Cunningham (G, Oklahoma State) Second team: Drew Timme (F, Gonzaga); Jalen Suggs (G, Gonzaga); Evan Mobley (F, USC); Hunter Dickinson (C, Michigan); Kofi Cockburn (C, Illinois) Third team: Davion Mitchell (G, Baylor); Quentin Grimes (G, Houston); Herb Jones (F, Alabama); Cameron Krutwig (C, Loyola Chicago); Chris Duarte (G, Oregon) Notes: The studs: Eight of the 15 All-Americans were top-50 recruits and four were top-15 guys (Cunningham, Mobley, Suggs and Grimes). The seniors: Garza, Kispert, Jones and Krutwig were all ranked outside the top 100. Duarte was the top junior college recruit in 2019, but he was just a three-star coming out of high school. The Big 3: Gonzaga (3), Baylor (2) and Illinois (2) are the only schools with multiple representatives. Back-to-back: Garza and Butler are the only players with previous selections. Garza also received first-team honors last season, while Butler was named to the third-team.     A message from Help Scout How businesses can provide greater customer service     Customer service platform Help Scout is offering an in-depth course that explores the building blocks for reliable, high-quality customer experiences. The background: The six-part skill-building course is designed uniquely to support pros. Get the $99 valued course for free.     4. 🎓 College rankings: Men's Division I Photo: Richard T. Gagnon/Getty Images With the spotlight on basketball, we figured the other NCAA sports could use some love. So here are the current top 10 rankings from around Division I. Winter: The 16-team bracket for the hockey championship will be released Sunday at 7pm ET (ESPNU). All roads lead to the Frozen Four in Pittsburgh (April 8–10). 🏒 Hockey: 1. Boston College, 2. North Dakota, 3. Minnesota State, 4. Minnesota, 5. Wisconsin, 6. UMass, 7. Michigan, 8. St. Cloud (Minn.), 9. Minnesota-Duluth, 10. Quinnipiac (Conn.) 🥇 Gymnastics: 1. Oklahoma, 2. Michigan, 3. Stanford, 4. Nebraska, 5. Ohio State, 6. Penn State, 7. Illinois, 8. Iowa, 9. Navy, 10. Minnesota 💦 Swimming & Diving: 1. Texas, 2. Cal, 3. Florida, 4. Georgia, 5. Louisville, 6. NC State, 7. Texas A&M, 8. Michigan, 9. Indiana, 10. Virginia Tech Photo: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images Spring: The SEC is dominating the diamond, holding down the top five spots. Wild stat alert: Mississippi State reliever Landon Sims has a 0.77 ERA with 30 strikeouts in 11.2 IP (yes, 30 of his 35 outs have come via K). ⚾️ Baseball: 1. Arkansas, 2. Vanderbilt, 3. Mississippi State, 4. Ole Miss, 5. Florida, 6. Miami, 7. Texas Tech, 8. Louisville, 9. East Carolina, 10. Texas 🥍 Lacrosse: 1. UNC, 2. Duke, 3. Maryland, 4. Georgetown, 5. Syracuse, 6. Rutgers, 7. Army, 8. Notre Dame, 9. Virginia, 10. Lehigh (Pa.) ⛳️ Golf: 1. FSU, 2. Oklahoma, 3. Wake Forest, 4. Pepperdine, 5. Illinois, 6. Texas A&M, 7. Arizona State, 8. UNC, 9, Clemson, 10. SMU 🎾 Tennis: 1. UNC, 2. Baylor, 3. Virginia, 4. Tennessee, 5. TCU, 6. Texas, 7. Florida, 8. Ohio State, 9. Illinois, 10. USC 🏐 Volleyball: 1. Hawaii, 2. BYU, 3. UC Santa Barbara, 4. Pepperdine, 5. Lewis (Ill.), 6. UCLA, 7. Grand Canyon, 8. McKendree (Ill.), 9. Penn State, 10. Long Beach State (Calif.) Photo: Chris Gardner/Getty Images Fall (delayed): Fresh off a two-year mission to Ghana, Weber State QB Bronson Barron won his first two career starts and has the Wildcats ranked No. 3 in the country. 🏈 FCS football: 1. James Madison (Va.), 2. North Dakota, 3. Weber State (Utah), 4. North Dakota State, 5. Southern Illinois, 6. South Dakota State, 7. Sam Houston (Texas), 8. Jacksonville State, 9. Kennesaw State (Ga.), 10. Northern Iowa ⚽️ Soccer: 1. Clemson, 2. Georgetown, 3. Stanford, 4. Washington, 5. Wake Forest, 6. Pitt, 7. Oregon State, 8. Loyola Marymount, 9. Indiana, 10. Akron 💦 Water polo: 1. Stanford, 2. Cal, 3. UCLA, 4. USC, 5. Pepperdine, 6. California Baptist, 7. Loyola Marymount, 8. San Jose State, 9. Air Force, 10. Navy     5. 🎓 College rankings: Women's Division I Photo: John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images And now for women's sports... Winter: Northeastern takes its 21-game unbeaten streak into the women's Frozen Four. Tomorrow's semifinals: Northeastern vs. Minnesota Duluth; Wisconsin vs. Ohio State. 🏒 Hockey: 1. Northeastern, 2. Wisconsin, 3. Ohio State, 4. Colgate, 5. Minnesota, 6. Minnesota-Duluth, 6. Boston College, 8. Penn State, 9. Providence, 10. Robert Morris (Pa.) 🥇 Gymnastics: 1. Oklahoma, 2. Florida, 3. Michigan, 4. LSU, 5. California, 6. Utah, 7. Minnesota, 8. Alabama, 9. Arkansas, 10. Denver 💦 Swimming & Diving: 1. Virginia, 2. Cal, 3. Texas, 4. Georgia, 5. NC State, 6. Alabama, 7. Kentucky, 8. Michigan, 9. Stanford, 10. Ohio State 🎳 Bowling: 1. Marian (Wis.), 2. Aurora (Ill.), 3. Fairleigh Dickinson (N.J.), 4. North Carolina A&T, 5. Augustana (Ill.), 6. McKendree (Ill.), 7. Duquesne (Pa.), 8. Carthage (Wis.), 9. Nebraska, 10. Arkansas State Source: @OU_Softball (Twitter) Spring: Sooners softball is laying waste to the competition, with a 22-0 record including 13 shutouts. 🥎 Softball: 1. Oklahoma, 2. UCLA, 3. Alabama, 4. Oregon, 5. Florida, 6. Washington, 7. Arizona, 8. Oklahoma State, 9. Kentucky, 10. Texas 🥍 Lacrosse: 1. UNC, 2. Syracuse, 3. Northwestern. 4. Notre Dame, 5. Boston College, 6. Stony Brook (N.Y.), 7. Penn State, 8. Duke. 9. Virginia, 10. Maryland ⛳️ Golf: 1. Wake Forest, 2. Duke, 3. South Carolina, 4. LSU, 5. FSU, 6. Ole Miss, 7. Virginia, 8. Oklahoma State, 9. Baylor, 10. Arizona State 🎾 Tennis: 1. UNC, 2. Texas, 3. Georgia, 4. Pepperdine, 5. UCLA, 6. Duke, 7. FSU, 8. Northwestern, 9. Ohio State, 10. NC State 🏐 Beach volleyball: 1. USC, 2. FSU, 3. LSU, 4. UCLA, 5. Cal Poly, 6. Hawaii, 7. Loyola Marymount, 8. Pepperdine, 9. Grand Canyon, 10. TCU 💦 Water polo: 1. USC, 2. UCLA, 3. Stanford, 4. UC Irvine, 5. Arizona State, 6. Cal, 7. Hawaii, 8. Michigan, 9. UC Santa Barbara, 10. UC San Diego 🚣 Rowing: 1. Washington, 2. Texas, 3. Michigan, 4. Stanford, 5. Cal, 6. Ohio State, 7. Virginia, 8. Iowa, 9. Duke, 10. Rutgers Photo: G Fiume/Maryland Terrapins/Getty Images Fall (delayed): This weekend features two top-10 volleyball showdowns in the Big Ten (Wisconsin vs. Minnesota) and SEC (Kentucky vs. Florida). 🏐 Volleyball: 1. Wisconsin, 2. Texas, 3. Kentucky, 4. Minnesota, 5. Nebraska, 6. Baylor, 7. Florida, 8. Washington, 9. Ohio State, 10. Purdue ⚽️ Soccer: 1. FSU, 2. UNC, 3. UCLA, 4. Vanderbilt, 5. Virginia, 6. Texas A&M, 7. TCU, 8. Duke, 9. West Virginia, 10. South Carolina 🏑 Field hockey: 1. UNC, 2. Louisville, 3. Iowa, 4. Northwestern, 5. Liberty, 6. UConn, 7. Penn State, 8. Syracuse, 9. Rutgers, 10. Maryland     6. 🏆 But wait, there's more... Oregon's Emmanuel Ihemeje won the national championship in the triple jump. Photo: Andy Hancock/NCAA Photos via Getty Images In addition to all the sports listed above, six NCAA champions were crowned over the past few days. Indoor track & field: Oregon (men) and Arkansas (women) Cross country: Northern Arizona (men) and BYU (women) Competitors during the D-I Rifle Championship held at Ohio State. Photo: Jay LaPrete/NCAA Photos/NCAA Photos via Getty Images Rifle: Kentucky (mixed) Skiing: Utah (mixed) 📆 Coming up: Women's (March 17–20) and men's (March 24–27) swimming & diving, men's wrestling (March 18–20), men's water polo (March 18–21) and men's and women's fencing (March 25–28).     7. ⚡️ Lightning round Karim Benzema and Real Madrid knocked off Atalanta to advance. Photo: Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images   ⚽️ Champions League: Manchester City, Liverpool, Real Madrid, PSG, Dortmund and Porto are in the quarterfinals. The last two spots will be decided today: Bayern (up 4-1) vs. Lazio; Chelsea (up 1-0) vs. Atlético. ⛳️ Tiger update: Tiger Woods has returned home to Florida as he continues his recovery from serious leg injuries. 🏈 Historic deal: Trent Williams has signed a six-year, $138 million deal with the 49ers, making him the highest-paid offensive lineman in NFL history. ⛵️ America's Cup: Team New Zealand sped away from its Italian challenger to claim sailing's biggest prize for the second straight year. 📚 Best thing I read: Sports meant so much to me. Why wouldn't my son play? (Keith Gessen, NYT) "Of all the things that I felt I could give my son, the one I most wanted to give him was sports."     8. 📆 March 17, 1897: The first feature film A photo of the fight. Photo: The Ring Magazine via Getty Images 124 years ago today, a championship boxing match between American James J. Corbett and Englishman Bob Fitzsimmons was captured on film in Carson City, Nevada. Why it matters: Running more than 100 minutes, "The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight" was the longest film ever released when it hit theaters later that year and is considered the world's first feature film. It was the first film to be shot in widescreen and is so important to movie history that historian Luke McKernan declared, "it was boxing that created the cinema." Prizefighting was illegal in 21 states at the time and many cities and states tried to ban the film, but their efforts were mostly unsuccessful. Photo: Bettmann Archives/Getty Images The fight: Corbett was dominant early and sent Fitzsimmons to the canvas in the sixth round. But Fitzsimmons wore down the American with consistent body blows and knocked him out in the 14th. Corbett, a San Francisco native known as "Gentleman Jim," transformed boxing from a savage spectacle into a more nuanced sport through his tactical approach and intense training. Fitzsimmons was boxing's first three-division world champion and remains the lightest heavyweight champion ever at just 165 pounds. 🎥 Watch: A clip from the film (Library of Congress)     9. 🏀 NBA trivia Giphy Damian Lillard on Tuesday had his 12th career 50-point game, tied with LeBron James for seventh-most all-time. Question: Who are the six players ahead of them? Hint: One is active. Answer at the bottom.     10. 🏀 Fill out your bracket Illustration: Lazaro Gamio/Axios   Join us: The Axios Sports Bracket Challenge is officially live. There will be prizes. Fill out your bracket. P.S. ... Ina Fried, editor of our technology newsletter (Axios Login), is doing a women's bracket challenge. Click to join.     A message from Help Scout How businesses can provide greater customer service     Customer service platform Help Scout is offering an in-depth course that explores the building blocks for reliable, high-quality customer experiences. The background: The six-part skill-building course is designed uniquely to support pros. Get the $99 valued course for free.   Talk tomorrow, Kendall "That's a lot of rankings" Baker Trivia answer: Wilt Chamberlain (118), Michael Jordan (31), Kobe Bryant (25), James Harden (23), Elgin Baylor (23), Rick Barry (14) Correction: Yesterday's trivia hint was wrong. Six of the eight teams Ryan Fitzpatrick has thrown a TD for play in the AFC, not seven of eight. My bad. 🙏 Thanks for reading Axios Sports. Know somebody who should be subscribed? Tell them to sign up at sports.axios.com Invite friends to follow Axios Sports Use your personal link to track how many readers you bring into the community You currently have 00 referrals. Share with a friend or use your personal referral link https://www.axios.com/referral/sports?code=BbTjEdwGLRoN For questions email referralsupport@axios.com. Participation in the Axios Sports Referral Program constitutes your acceptance of the Axios Terms and Conditions of Use, which can be viewed here.   Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. Sponsorship has no influence on editorial content. Axios, 3100 Clarendon B‌lvd, Suite 1300, Arlington VA 22201   You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from Axios. Change your preferences or unsubscribe here.   Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up now to get Axios in your inbox.   Follow Axios on social media: