SBJ Unpacks: Best Buy, Extreme Networks renew NFL corporate sponsorships

Tonight in Unpacks: The NFL partnerships team locks down two more renewals with league-level brands.

• Tony Dungy: The Conscience of the NFL
• AAC extends Mike Aresco with realignment on horizon
• Raiders fill two senior business-side executive roles
• IndyCar pleased with on-track, business progress as season wraps up
• Investment roundup: Robert Kraft backs sports-gaming app creator
• Sources: NRG likely to sell Call of Duty League slot to Mark Ein group
• Op-ed: Three months in, what's the score on NIL?
• SeatGeek lands first NHL deal with Flyers
• Pac-12 signs Allegiant as official airline

NFL locks in renewals with Best Buy, Extreme Networks

After signing a 10-year extension with Verizon earlier this month, the NFL partnerships team has locked down two more renewals with league-level brands.

Best Buy has quietly renewed what was a one-year deal completed during the pandemic lockdown into a three-year pact, per SBJ's Terry Lefton. Designed to push sales of big-screen TVs, the consumer retailer's rights include broadcast enhancements on NFL broadcast rights holders, social/digital inventory and sponsorship of a custom content series on NFL.com, along with being designated as the NFL's "Official Home Entertainment Retailer."

Extreme Networks also extended its sponsorship with the NFL and will remain the official Wi-Fi network solutions provider and official Wi-Fi analytics provider of the league through 2024. The solutions company has been a league sponsor since 2013. Additionally, Extreme is adding new Wi-Fi 6 deployments with the Ravens, Packers, Patriots, and Seahawks.

AAC extends Mike Aresco with realignment on horizon

AAC Commissioner Mike Aresco today agreed to a three-year extension, taking his current deal through June 2025. Aresco has served as the league's only commissioner since its founding in 2013.

The extension comes as the AAC is poised to expand following three of its top member schools -- Cincinnati, Houston and UCF -- preparing to enter the Big 12. Aresco last week said that his conference "plans to move 'deliberately and expeditiously' to add two to four teams and beef up the league to 10 or 12 following the three departures." He "declined to name specific schools the AAC is interested in, but said it would only 'entertain institutions that have shown an interest in us.'" Aresco: "We're not trying to poach, we're not trying to persuade."

ESPN's Adam Rittenberg: "Some important work ahead for Aresco and the league."

Tony Dungy: The Conscience of the NFL

More than a decade after Tony Dungy last ran an NFL team, he still commands the respect and attention of the entire league, writes SBJ's Ben Fischer. He spent 28 years on the sidelines in the NFL, including the last 13 as a head coach. He built the Buccaneers into a consistent contender, coached the Colts to a Super Bowl title and earned enshrinement in Canton in 2016. He's now in his 13th season as an NBC Sports analyst and an elder statesman of professional football, respected and beloved throughout the sport.

No matter the subject, football people want to know what Dungy thinks. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell asks him to counsel owners in coaching searches. Senior league executives seek out his expertise on leadership. Coaches and players ask for his guidance on their careers. Often that advice is not about football. It's about fatherhood, faith or leadership questions.

In this week's SBJ cover story, Fischer goes deep on the newest member of our Champions class.

Raiders fill vacant CFO, general counsel spots

The Raiders have filled two senior business-side exec roles that abruptly became vacant this summer, naming a new General Counsel and CFO, reports SBJ's Ben Fischer. The club has tapped veteran NFL labor lawyer Kevin Manara to become their new top legal official, three sources said, replacing Dan Ventrelle. Ventrelle was promoted to interim President on July 19, when former President Marc Badain and former CFO Ed Villanueva both left the organization.

Manara has been at the NFL since 2008, and his duties have included administering the union contract, representing teams in player grievances and enforcing rules on drug use and personal conduct. He was on the league negotiating team for both the 2011 and 2020 NFLPA contract talks, and served on the NFL's panel in the 2015 "Deflategate" appeal. He was a Proskauer associate prior to joining the league. Also, the Raiders announced earlier this month that Sorelle Capital partner Michael Crome has become Senior VP & CFO. Most of Crome's career has been spent in the casino industry, including more than eight years with NFL and Raiders sponsor Caesars Entertainment, as well as three with Pinnacle Entertainment.

While Ventrelle was announced as interim President by Owner Mark Davis, the team's website does not include the "interim" designation. Sources note that Ventrelle making two senior hires, including his replacement in the legal department, is a probable indication that he is secure in his position for some time. The exact reasons for the vacancies remain unclear, though multiple reports have tied the departures of Badain, Villanueva and Controller Araxie Grant to accounting issues that have created previously unknown financial headaches. The Raiders, Ventrelle, Manara and Crome all did not reply to messages seeking comment.

IndyCar pleased with on-track, business progress as season wraps up

IndyCar Owner Roger Penske and his business team liked what they saw on track this year, and two years into his ownership, they say they have business picking up off of it as well, reports SBJ's Adam Stern. The series wraps up its season this weekend at Long Beach after a highlight-filled 2021. Notable moments include bringing fans back to the Indy 500; extending deals with series entitlement partner NTT, media-rights partner NBC Sports and several tracks; and having an increasingly healthy on-track product that has included record car entry figures, an exciting youth movement and a growing perception globally that it is a viable alternative for F1 drivers.

Jonathan Gibson, one of Penske's top execs, said the 84-year-old Penske remains bullish on his purchase of IndyCar/IMS and that "there's not a day that goes by where we don't talk about, 'How do we make it stronger? How do we make it better?'" Among the top priorities right now for Gibson is to land a docu-series deal for IndyCar, as well as to usher in IndyCar's presence to the sports betting realm.

Read the full story here.

Investment roundup: Robert Kraft backs sports-gaming app creator

Sports-gaming app creator Boom Entertainment got $15 million in an "initial capital raise that included" Patriots Owner Robert Kraft and former MGM Resorts Int'l CEO Jim Murren, per Bloomberg News. The fundraising was led by Sands Capital. Also participating "were Golden Nugget Online Gaming and Rush Street Interactive as well as early venture fund Defy Partners." Boom's "flagship product is NBC Sports Predictor, and its partners include media companies, sports leagues, retailers, sports books and casinos." ESPN's Adam Schefter is also among the early investors in Boom.

Meanwhile, fantasy sports startup Sleeper has raised $40 million in Series C funding, with existing investors Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson putting more money into the company, notes SportTechie. Others investing in the round include Dolphins CB Byron Jones, ESPN analyst Rosalyn Gold-Onwude and Twitch co-founder Kevin Lin. Sleeper launched in 2018 and "hosts season-long fantasy leagues" for the NFL, NBA, college basketball and "League of Legends." Steelers WR JuJu Smith-Schuster and former NBAer Baron Davis also invested in the company back in May 2020.

Op-ed: Three months in, what's the score on NIL?

Tonight's op-ed is from Danita Harris, managing partner and CEO of GUICE Wealth Management, a boutique firm catering to the sports and entertainment industry. Now that we are almost three months into the new NIL era of collegiate sports, Harris writes its "anti-climatic debut still leaves most of us trying to look into, decipher and read through the muddy waters with about as much success as reading tea leaves."

Harris: "Tons of newly self-proclaimed experts have entered the field in order to 'help' college athletes capitalize on their potential earnings. Feeling reminiscent of the way the professional arena works -- players get major deals (from sports teams in this example), then agents, marketing teams, and financial advisers swoop in to save them from themselves. Save them (athletes) from making erroneous and predictable decisions that anyone who fell into a windfall of financial increase would. As I hold my breath, I hope others will take their time and not rush into what may sound good, because they've gone without so long."

To read the full contribution, click here.

SBJ Esports: NRG likely to sell Call of Duty League slot to Mark Ein group

The Call of Duty League franchise slot held by NRG Esports is to be sold soon, with Mark Ein's Washington Esports Ventures as the likely buyer, sources with knowledge of the transaction told SBJ's Kevin Hitt.

The deal also is likely to be similar in cost to the 100 Thieves entry into the CDL which is approximately $27-30 million. If the deal closes, the franchise slot will move from Chicago and will be based in the DC area while being renamed, as NRG and Envy Gaming are still in negotiations as it relates to acquiring the OpTic CDL franchise name.

Ein, who owns the World TeamTennis Washington Kastles, is no stranger to franchised esports; he formed Washington Esports Ventures in 2019 to purchase a franchise slot in the Overwatch League and formed the Washington Justice.

The Esports Observer, a pioneer in esports media, has joined SBJ's award-winning coverage of sports business. Visit the new esports section on SBJ for all the latest coverage.

Speed reads

• The Flyers and Wells Fargo Center reached an agreement that makes SeatGeek the team and venue's official ticket exchange, per SBJ's Bret McCormick. The Flyers become SeatGeek's first NHL ticketing partner. The deal designates SeatGeek as a "Keystone Partner" of the Flyers and Wells Fargo Center, the highest tier available. Terms were not disclosed, but the new deal continues a push by SeatGeek into more team and venue deals. The company has added BSE Global, the Cavaliers/Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, Dynamo/NWSL Dash, the Arizona Bowl, Liverpool and Broadway mainstay Jujamcyn Theaters in the last 18 months. SBJ's David Albright also discussed the deal on today's Buzzcast.
• Allegiant Air has signed on as the Pac-12's new official airline, in a rare example of sponsorship spending in the beleaguered travel sector, per SBJ's Terry Lefton. The multiyear deal includes venue signage, digital and social inventory, and ads on the Pac-12 Networks, tickets and hospitality. Pac-12 Exec VP/Sales Steve Tseng said that since Allegiant is HQed in Vegas, it is a hometown play.

• Vikings RB Dalvin Cook has signed as an endorser for Medterra, in a deal that sees him receive equity in the Irvine, Calif.-based CBD company. Cook used Medterra products for rehab after a season-ending ACL tear in 2017. The deal will center on social media activation.