Michael Jordan, Nascar owner | The highest-paid soccer players | A stunning team sale in Italy

Plus: The first quadriplegic professional esports player

Soccer

The Iowa-based Krause Group is buying 90% of Italy's Parma Calcio 1913 in a deal that values the club at more than $100 million, a stunning turnaround for a team that was mired in bankruptcy and stuck in Serie D just five years ago.

Pro Football

Cardinals receiver DeAndre Hopkins has made a cash investment in Therabody, maker of the Theragun massage therapy devices. "I really envisioned a larger partnership with the company beyond a standard athlete endorsement deal," he tells us.

Pro Basketball

Tonal has secured an additional $110 million in funding. Founder Aly Orady explains how the AI home gym startup landed Stephen Curry as an investor.

Art of Sport, the skincare brand that launched two years ago with the backing of Kobe Bryant and other athlete investors, has closed a $6 million funding round designed to fuel a six-fold retail expansion next year. Mark Cuban and NBA veteran Wilson Chandler are among the new investors.

Auto Racing

Michael Jordan is launching a new Nascar Cup Series team for the 2021 season, with Denny Hamlin serving as a minority owner and Bubba Wallace signed on to drive. Germain Racing, which sold its charter to Jordan, becomes the latest Nascar team to fold. Hamlin, who will continue to drive for Joe Gibbs Racing, is 39 but is in no rush to leave the sport; he recently told us his goal is to reach the historic 60-win mark.

Whether you were surprised by Chip Ganassi Racing's decision to sign Ross Chastain for 2021 may depend on your ability to keep up with the furious pace of Nascar news.

Tennis

With the rebranding of the 57-year-old Fed Cup, Billie Jean King has become the first woman to have a major global sports event named after her.

Esports

Rocky Stoutenburgh, the winner of the esports version of American Idol, has signed with Luminosity Gaming, becoming the first quadriplegic to ink a deal with a professional esports organization.

Golf

Golf equipment sales sagged during the doldrums of the coronavirus lockdowns, but the rebound has been fast and formidable: U.S. retail golf equipment sales in August came in at $331 million, a spike of 31.9% over the same period in 2019.

Featured Story

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo top the Forbes ranking of the highest-paid soccer players once again, after Messi resolved a weeks-long contract drama to land the top spot with $126 million, nudging out Juventus' Ronaldo, who comes in at No. 2 with $117 million. But soccer fans have a new object of fascination in Paris Saint-Germain striker Kylian Mbappe. How much is Mbappe raking in? See the full list of the world's highest-paid soccer players here.

Hot Reads

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Maz Pacheco: The Law Graduate Blazing A Trail On And Off The Pitch

Upon Further Review

Juventus star Paulo Dybala battled Covid-19 for nearly two months, testing positive four different times, but managed to take home the Serie A MVP award for the 2019-20 season. "It was a very, very long year for everybody," he tells us. As Juve begins its hunt for a tenth straight league title, it should be no surprise that the club is the most valuable in Italy. In our most recent list of the world's most valuable soccer teams, Juventus came in at No. 10, at $1.512 billion.

The Last Word

“I always had to think about the end and what was next for me outside of football.”

Justin Forsett

Justin Forsett knows what it feels like to have the odds stacked against him, from enduring last-minute rejections during his college recruiting days to trying to find his fit with seven NFL teams after being selected in the seventh round of the 2008 draft. But those challenges prepared him for his second act as an entrepreneur, he says, in a world where just 1% of venture-funded startup founders are Black. Forsett, speaking to our new blog For(bes) The Culture, described his experience as a founder of the personal hygiene company Hustle Clean; read the full story here.

Across Forbes

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