The most valuable esports companies | Gen Z's billion-dollar sportswear brand | The Raptors' Florida home

Plus: The $4.2 billion sports betting deal that looks like a bargain

Esports

A year ago, esports companies were gushing about war chests and oversubscribed funding rounds. That bravado has been tamed. The average value of the top ten teams flatlined at $240 million in 2020, following a 54% rise in 2019, according to our exclusive annual ranking of the most valuable esports companies. See the full list here.

Sports Business

Flutter Entertainment is paying $4.175 billion to expand its stake in sportsbook giant FanDuel to 95%, from 57.8%—a high-cost U.S. land grab that looks worth every penny.

Basketball

Damian Lillard, the latest addition to Gatorade's athlete roster, is very aware of the brand's rich history. He tells us he wants to be the boost to low-calorie drink Bolt24 that Michael Jordan was to Gatorade in the 1980s.

Deni Avdija, selected by the Wizards with the ninth pick in last month's draft, made it to the NBA with hard work—and help from an Israeli tech company. The same startup is involved in an effort to use artificial intelligence to make hockey broadcasts more widely available.

Jalen Green acknowledges feeling jealous as he watches his fellow stars from the 2020 recruiting class take the court for the college basketball season, but he tells us he doesn't regret his decision to take the G League Select path toward the NBA.

For the second straight year, the Liberty will hold the first overall pick in the WNBA draft. This time, though, the pandemic is complicating how teams are scouting players, and there is no consensus top prospect.

Auto Racing

Tommy Joe Martins has scraped together enough sponsor dollars to race another full season on the Nascar Xfinity Series with his own team; he gives us a breakdown of the team's budget and explains how it could expand in the future. Also returning to the Xfinity Series is AJ Allmendinger, who tells us that despite the challenges of the pandemic, Nascar's sponsorship climate is actually improving.

Baseball

As Hall of Fame voters again begin considering the legacies of Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, two former federal authorities who were central to the BALCO steroids trafficking case and later helped compile much of the evidence in the Mitchell Report tell us they have no doubt that Bonds and Clemens cheated.

College Sports

A new study of Division I campus and sports leaders thinks the coronavirus crisis is the "perfect time" to address the governance issues in college football.

Pro Football

DeMarcus Ware is launching a fitness app that uses augmented reality to allow users to challenge NFL stars like Von Miller and Leighton Vander Esch on a variety of exercises.

Featured Story

In the crowded sportswear market, Gymshark has lifted its valuation beyond $1.4 billion by paying 80 ripped fitness influencers anywhere from $6,000 to more than $100,000 per year to live—and sell—the Gymshark lifestyle on social media. To see how 28-year-old founder Ben Francis has built the Nike of Gen Z without spending billions on Jordan-style endorsements or glitzy storefronts, read the story here.

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Upon Further Review

Floyd Mayweather is returning to the ring for an exhibition with YouTube-star-turned-boxer Logan Paul. Sportsbooks list the 43-year-old Mayweather as the big favorite for the February 20 bout, but not as big as might be expected for a boxer who went 50-0 as a pro. Regardless of the outcome, this fight will pad the impressive career earnings of "Money" Mayweather, who was the highest-paid athlete of the 2010s.

The Last Word

“Until the contract was signed, I was a little leery. I was not 100% sure it was going to happen.”

Fran Reidy

Covid-19 ripped the Raptors from Toronto and left them to set up shop in Florida, where the newly nomadic franchise has found a training camp home at Saint Leo University, 35 minutes north of Tampa. Why pick a Division II school? "I really think the dealmaker for us is that we have ten baskets," Saint Leo athletic director Fran Reidy says. For more on how the unlikely arrangement came together, read the full story here.