Monday, January 28, 2019

Typically, cities hosting the Super Bowl use the spotlight to market their area as being open for business or to celebrate a new stadium. Atlanta will do both of those things, while also showing how it is doing something even more impactful.

The NFL stopped a two-year slide this season, registering a 5 percent viewership increase across all five of its network partners. The gain was a cause to rejoice, considering that viewership had dropped 18 percent over the previous two years.

Heard at this month’s Sports Licensing and Tailgate Show: “What’s the best team to win for hot-market sales?” G-III Sports President Carl Banks said with a laugh. “Kansas City.”

Caesars Entertainment had plans in place to bring some of its best customers to this week’s Super Bowl long before it secured rights a few weeks ago as the NFL’s exclusive sponsor in the newly opened casino category.

Endeavor and ESPN executives viewed the Jan. 19 UFC event in Brooklyn as a chance to demonstrate ESPN+, the streaming service that launched last April.

Backed by a virtual Who’s Who of the sports business, Bay Area venture capital firm Sapphire Ventures has amassed a $115 million fund called Sapphire Sport that is devoted to investing in technology startups.