[ad_1]
The U.S.-listed shares of Manchester United PLC suffered a record beating Tuesday, after a report that the iconic English football club was set to be taken off the market.
Manchester United MANU UK:MNL fell 18.2% on the day to log its biggest one-day selloff since the company went public in August 2012. The previous record drop was 13.8% on March 12, 2020, at the outset of the coronavirus pandemic.
The…
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
Looking to spend your entertainment dollars wisely in September? Watch Hulu and read a book or two.
That pretty much sums up a hugely underwhelming lineup from streaming services, which burned through their best shows in the spring and have little to offer for the start of the traditional fall TV season. That’s not to say there aren’t a handful of promising shows — there are — but is one decent new show per service worth the price of multiple monthly subscriptions? Almost certainly not.
It’s…
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
Vlatko Andonovski has resigned as head coach of the U.S. women’s national soccer team, according to multiple reports Wednesday, following a disappointing early exit from the Women’s World Cup.
The soccer blog 90min first reported Andonovski’s departure, and the news was confirmed by ESPN and The Athletic late Wednesday. ESPN reported the U.S. Soccer Federation is expected to make an official announcement Thursday.
Assistant…
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
“‘I never bet on the Ryder Cup. While it is well known that I always enjoy a friendly wager on the course, I would never undermine the integrity of the game.’”
That was golf star Phil Mickelson responding to allegations he wagered more than $1 billion on football, basketball and baseball over the past three decades, and attempted to bet on the Ryder Cup, too.
The claims were made by professional gambler and Las Vegas businessman Billy Walters in a book due out on Aug. 22, “Gambler: Secrets from a Life of Risk.” Walters said Mickelson placed hundreds of bets with him for exactly $220,000 and 1,115 bets for precisely $110,000 over the span of three decades. Walters claims that Mickelson also asked him to place a $400,000 bet on the U.S. team to win the 2012 Ryder Cup, a request that Walters said he declined, according to excerpts of the book reported by The FirePit Collective.
PGA Tour players are prohibited from wagering on events under the organization’s Integrity Program.
“I have also been very open about my gambling addiction,” Mickelson continued in his statement shared on social media. “I have previously conveyed my remorse, took responsibility, have gotten help, have been fully committed to therapy that has positively impacted me and I feel good about where I am now.”
Mickelson did not specifically address Walters’s claims that he wagered over $1 billion on sports, or that he lost more than $100 million on his bets during the multi-decade span.
Walters is viewed as one of the more successful professional gamblers in recent memory, with sportsbooks limiting the amount he could wager at their establishments. He was convicted of insider trading in 2017 and served five years in federal prison. Mickelson was named in that insider-trading case; he was not accused of wrongdoing but agreed to pay back close to $1 million earned on a stock tip he received from Walters.
Representatives for Mickelson did not respond to MarketWatch’s request for comment for this story.
Mickelson was one of the first professional golfers to leave the PGA Tour for LIV Golf last year. He was offered roughly $200 million to join the Saudi-backed league, according to the Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine. The PGA Tour, the DP World Tour and the Saudi-backed LIV Golf circuit reached a landmark merger agreement in June that aims to create a single operation that would “unify” golf.
See also: PGA Tour head: it will be ‘difficult’ to earn players trust after LIV merger
And: Tiger Woods turned down LIV Golf offer in the ‘neighborhood’ of $700 million, says Greg Norman
Some fellow professional golfers reacted to the alleged gambling issues by taking a few swings at Mickelson.
“At least he can bet on the Ryder Cup this year because he won’t be a part of it,” golfer Rory McIlroy said on Thursday. McIlroy, one of the PGA Tour’s staunchest defenders in its battle against LIV Golf, has been critical of Mickelson and LIV on multiple occasions.
Golfers including Mickelson and Dustin Johnson have been criticized for joining LIV Golf and turning a blind eye to Saudi Arabia’s human-rights record. According to the U.S. State Department, Saudi Arabia has in recent years been linked to multiple human-rights violations, including unlawful killings; executions for nonviolent offenses; forced disappearances; torture and cases of cruel and inhuman or degrading treatment of prisoners and detainees by government agents, among other offenses.
Golfer Jordan Speith, a three-time major championship winner, said people in the golf world were “surprised” by the recent headlines about Mickelson.
Mickelson’s alleged gambling predates the summer of 2018, when the Supreme Court lifted a U.S. ban on sports betting, allowing states to create legislation to legalize gambling. Since then, 34 states allow some form of legal sports betting, according to the latest tally by the American Gaming Association.
It’s estimated that between 1% and 3% of the American adult population has some sort of gambling issue, although some groups believe the actual number could be even higher.
“We didn’t have a good problem-gambling infrastructure in place prior to the expansion of sports betting, and we still don’t,” Keith Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling, was quoted as having told the Charlotte Observer in February.
U.S. sportsbooks accepted $93 billion in sports bets in 2022, according to the American Gaming Association’s Tracker, a massive jump from the $57.22 billion wagered in 2021.
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
Robert Pagliarini, author of “The Sudden Wealth Solution,” has been guiding lottery winners for decades. And he has seen plenty of people run through their winnings faster than you can say “jackpot!” Or, friends and family (and certainly office lottery pool players) can see their winnings tied up in legal battles for years, as the parties argue over who gets how much. About 70% of lottery winners lose or spend all the money in five years or less, after all.
“Money — especially when you’re talking about this level of money — absolutely upends people’s lives,” Pagliarini, the president of Pacifica Wealth Advisors, told MarketWatch. “You should be excited, but you should also be prepared, for sure.”
These are his five tips for what to do if you win the lottery or get another windfall.
Sign your name on the winning ticket, take a picture of yourself holding the winning ticket — in fact, take a video of yourself holding the signed, winning ticket, for good measure.
“The first step is really all about securing the ticket … because whoever has it is the owner,” says Pagliarini. “There’s no record of you having purchased that ticket with those numbers. So having that ticket is everything.”
Related: Hoping to win Mega Millions? This woman hit a $112 million Mega Millions jackpot.
You have to document that this ticket is yours, which is why Pagliarini says legal experts recommend signing it. “I would absolutely sign it myself,” he adds.
And then put that ticket in a safe place, like a home safe or lockbox.
You may want to sing the good news from the rooftops that your financial troubles are over. Problem is, everyone else’s troubles aren’t — and Pagliarini warns that, for your own personal safety and peace of mind, it’s better not to let the world know you’ve just become a billionaire overnight — if you can help it. Unfortunately, most states make you disclose that you’ve won.
“We’re used to seeing people with the big check on TV, which looks pretty cool — but now everybody in the entire world knows that you’re worth $1 billion. And that’s not really the kind of publicity that you want,” says Pagliarini. “You’re going to be hit up for lots of money requests as people come out of the woodwork. And that adds such a huge amount of stress when you’re in a situation that is already stressful.”
You generally have 180 days to collect the winnings, and you’re going to have to make some big, life-changing decisions during that time. Staying anonymous, if you can, will give you the space to make those decisions with a clear head.
Unfortunately, as noted, most states compel lottery winners to come forward publicly. If you have to reveal yourself and do press interviews, protect your personal information. Some past Powerball winners didn’t answer questions about any meaningful or personal significance associated with the winning numbers that they played, for example, or they refused to share details about their children. One couple simply moved out of their house and refused to speak with the media at all while they settled their affairs.
“My rule is basically, you tell one family member, and then you immediately try to get professional help,” Pagliarini adds. Which leads us to….
Bring in the professional help as soon as you can. An attorney can help you decide the best time to claim your lottery prize, and offer more advice on keeping your ticket safe. They can also help navigate your rights and protect your best interests with regards to how much you need to present yourself publicly. And they can also help you manage your safety.
Meanwhile, a financial adviser can assess your financial situation and help you decide whether it makes sense to take a lump sum of cash, or to collect your winnings over annual payments. A financial adviser can also help you manage your money so that you can check things off your bucket list without overspending.
“You know you’ve won, and then typically you have about 180 days to collect the winnings,” says Pagliarini. “So you’ve got to do some serious planning.” You need all the help you can get.
Pagliarini considers staying anonymous as the first big decision a lottery winner makes. The second most important question, however, is how they collect their winnings. Do you want to take a lump sum, or do you want to take the annuity (aka, a payout over time)?
“This is really the biggest financial decision you’ll ever make in your entire life,” he says. (Granted, it’s one that most of us will never have to make, since the odds of winning the lottery, let alone a jackpot of this size, are infinitesimal.)
He notes that most people take the lump-sum payment, and in some circumstances this can be a better decision. But keep in mind that if you win a $1 billion Powerball jackpot, for example, you are not getting $1 billion.
“They send you about 60-ish percent of whatever the lump sum is,” Pagliarini notes. So for a $1 billion prize, for example, “you would get around $600 million instead of $1 billion,” he said. And after state taxes, depending on where you live, and federal taxes, that jackpot may be closer to $300 million in the end. Whereas, the annuity is given as 30 payments over 29 years, which will come closer to hitting the advertised $1 billion jackpot than lump-sum takers would get. So being patient can pay off in the long run, especially with a bigger prize like this.
As far as taxes are concerned, Pagliarini still leans toward annuity — especially for a smaller jackpot, like if it was $1 million. That’s because you would get a lump-sum payment of about $600,000, which would put you in the highest federal and state income tax bracket (for single filers anyway) that year — versus taking an extra $30,000 a year for 30 years. “That annuity payment is probably not going to catapult you into the highest tax bracket,” he says. But for a $1 billion-plus jackpot like this, you’re going to be in the highest tax bracket whichever payout you choose, he says.
But there’s another reason to consider going the annuity route, Pagliarini says — it can save you from yourself.
“The biggest advantage of the lump-sum payout is that you get most of the money up front, and then you can do whatever you want with it,” he says, such as pay off debt, invest it, buy a house, etc. “But that actually happens to be the biggest disadvantage of the lump sum,” he continues. And that’s because, if you overspend your winnings and run out of cash with your lump sum, then you are out of luck. But the annuity payments are almost like a do-over each year, he says, because you can learn from your mistakes and spend the next annual windfall more wisely. “I’ve advised most people honestly to take the annuity,” he says. “It just allows you to really make mistakes, but have them not be a total derailment.”
If you still can’t make up your mind, he also has a free online quiz to help you decide whether you should take a lump sum or an annuity payment.
So you’ve secured your ticket, tried to keep it quiet, hired some professional help, and decided how you are going to collect your winnings. Then what do you do with all of this cash?
Every financial situation is different, of course, which is where a financial adviser can help you sort out the nuances to make this lottery win a real dream come true for you. But in general, Pagliarini recommends keeping things simple — even considering that this $1 billion jackpot (even whittled down after taxes) would allow you to do basically whatever you wanted to do.
“If I were meeting with you, we would sit down and make some serious decisions, and prioritize what you want to do,” he says, “such as paying off debt, and discussing what is on your wish list. Do you want to buy a new house or a second house, or buy your family houses?” He suggests pricing out your wish list together with your adviser to see whether you could afford to do everything you want.
But you still want money left over to live on. “We want to make sure the money left over is generating enough income so that they could survive on that for as long as they wanted — and particularly in this case, I’m sure generations would be able to survive on this amount of money,” he says. “I would invest in index funds. I wouldn’t get esoteric with limited partnerships and venture capital. Just go for a diversified portfolio, because as soon as you start deviating from ‘simple’ you can really increase your chances of just losing it all.”
He notes that because lottery winnings don’t feel “earned,” the prize may not feel like “real” money — which is one of the reasons so many lottery winners don’t manage their newfound wealth well. Again, about 70% of lottery winners lose or spend all that money in five years or less. “If the money doesn’t feel earned or real, you’re going to make decisions with that money that are probably not going to be in your best interest,” he adds. “You’re giving it away more freely, spending more freely, or freely investing in things a lot riskier than you would have done if you had to sweat and earn that money.”
So keep it simple. “Don’t think just because you have x-millions of dollars now that you really have to get ‘sophisticated,’” he adds.
This is more of an extra, hindsight tip for before you and your co-workers start throwing in a buck apiece for a long-shot bid at a jackpot like this. Pagliarini warns that office pools can get “tricky,” so it’s good to sign a contract setting some ground rules before you all pool together.
“There’s been a lot of litigation around office pools, because maybe somebody forgets to play one week, and that’s the week everyone wins. Or someone thought they played this week, but on this particular week they didn’t,” he says. “So loosey-goosey situations can end up in court to battle it out.”
A much simpler solution to avoid this is to have an office pool contract that spells out who is in this pool, how much they are contributing, and it also determines in advance whether the group will take the lump-sum payment or the annuity payment.
“Because the last thing that you want is to win $1 billion or $100 million dollars, and then to be tied up in court for four years,” says Pagliarini. “That’s no fun.”
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Lina Hurtig’s converted her penalty and Sweden knocked the United States out of the World Cup 5-4 on penalties after a scoreless draw at the Women’s World Cup.
U.S. goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher fruitlessly argued she had saved Hurtig’s attempt, but it was ruled over the line. The stadium played Abba’s “Dancing Queen in the stadium as the Swedes celebrated.
The United States, which has a record four World Cup titles overall and was trying to win an unprecedented third consecutive tile, was eliminated in the Round of 16 for the first time in team history.
The Americans’ worst finish had been third place, three times.
It was the first match at this World Cup to go to extra time.
It was the was the fourth time a U.S. match at the World Cup went to extra time. All of the three previous matches went to penalties, including the 2011 final won by Japan. The U.S. won on penalties in a 2011 quarterfinal match against Brazil, and in the 1999 final at the final at the Rose Bowl against China.
Sweden knocked the United States out of the 2016 Olympics in the quarterfinals on penalties.
Sweden goes on to the quarterfinals to play Japan, the 2011 World Cup winner, which defeated Norway 3-1 on Saturday night.
Sweden has never won a major international tournament, either the World Cup or the Olympics. The closest the team has come is World Cup runner-up in 2003. They finished in third in the 1999, 2011 and 2019 editions, and won silver medals in the last two Olympics.
The Americans struggled through group play with just four goals in three matches. They were nearly eliminated last Tuesday by first-timers Portugal, but eked out a 0-0 draw to fall to second in their group for just the second time at a World Cup.
The Americans looked far better against Sweden, dominating possession and outshooting the Swedes 5-1 in the first half alone. Lindsey Horan’s first-half header hit the crossbar and a second-half blast was saved by goalkeeper Zecira Musovic, who had six saves in regulation.
Sweden won all three of their group games, including a 5-0 rout of Italy in its final group match. Coach Peter Gerhardsson made nine lineup changes for the match, resting his starters in anticipation of the United States.
It was tense from the opening whistle.
Naeher punched the ball away from a crowded goal on an early Sweden corner kick. Three of the Swedes’ goals against Italy came on set pieces.
Trinity Rodman’s shot from distance in the 18th minute was easily caught by Musovic, who stopped another chance by Rodman in the 27th.
Horan’s header off Andi Sullivan’s corner in the 34th hit the crossbar and skipped over the goal. Horan was on target in the 53rd minute but Musovic dove to push it wide. Horan crouched to the field in frustration while Musovic was swarmed by her teammates.
The United States was without Rose Lavelle, who picked up her second yellow card of the tournament in the group stage finale against Portugal and has to sit out against Sweden.
In Lavelle’s absence, U.S. coach Vlatko Andonovski started Emily Sonnett, who was making her first start for the team since 2022. The addition of Sonnett allowed Horan to move up higher in the midfield.
Sweden pressed in the final 10 minutes of regulation. Sofia Jakobsson, who came in as a substitute in the 81st minute, nearly scored in the 85th but Naeher managed to catch it for her first save of the tournament.
Neither Caroline Seger of Megan Rapinoe started the match, but Rapinoe came in as a sub for Alex Morgan in the first overtime period.
Seger, whose 235 appearances for Sweden are the most for any woman in Europe, was on the bench to start the match. The 38-year-old has been struggling with a calf problem all year and trained alone in the two days of practice leading into the showdown with the U.S.
Rapinoe, also 38, previously announced that this would be her last World Cup. She has taken on a smaller role for the Americans in her final tournament. She was a substitute in the United States’ first and third games of group play and didn’t get off the bench in the middle match. She made her 200th appearance for the national team at the World Cup.
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
The numbers: Home sales inched up for the first time in four months, even as the U.S. housing market continues to deal with a dearth of listings.
Pending home sales rose by 0.3% in June from the previous month, according to the monthly index released Thursday by the National Association of Realtors.
The figure exceeded expectations on Wall Street. Economists were expecting pending home sales to fall 0.5% in June.
Transactions were still down 15.6% from last year.
Pending home sales reflect transactions where a contract has been signed for the sale of an existing home but the sale has not yet closed. Economists view it as an indicator of the direction of existing-home sales in subsequent months.
Big picture: Home sales rose as the housing market contends with excess buyer demand and a shortfall in the supply of homes for sale.
Real-estate agents are looking to home builders to fill the gap as rate-locked homeowners hold out on selling. New-home sales surged in May, and while they lost some momentum in June, the broader trend is still upward.
The prices of new homes, which are generally seen as more expensive, are also coming down. The gulf between the median price of a new home and of an existing home narrowed in June, based on data from the NAR and the federal government.
What the real-estate experts said: “The recovery has not taken place, but the housing recession is over,” NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said. “The presence of multiple offers implies that housing demand is not being satisfied due to lack of supply.”
The NAR also said it expects rates for 30-year mortgages to average 6.4% this year and to fall to 6% in 2024.
The NAR also expects existing-home sales to fall 12.9% in 2023 from the previous year, to 4.38 million, before recovering in 2024 to a rate of 5.06 million.
The group also expects home prices to hold steady this year, falling only slightly by 0.4% to $384,900, before rising 2.6% next year to $395,000.
“The West — the country’s most expensive region — will see reduced prices, while the more affordable Midwest region is likely to see a small positive increase,” Yun added.
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup kicks off this week in what is expected to be the biggest sporting event of the summer.
The tournament favorite, the United States Women’s National Team, plays its first game on Friday against Vietnam at 9 p.m. EST.
Here’s everything you need to know about this year’s highly anticipated World Cup:
The tournament started on July 20 and ends on Aug. 20.
The first games took place on Thursday when host nations New Zealand and Australia each won their matches.
See also: The top 5 highest-paid women’s soccer players at the 2023 Women’s World Cup
The 2023 Women’s World Cup is being co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand.
Matches will be held in nine cities including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Auckland, Wellington, Dunedin and Hamilton. The championship match will be held in Sydney.
The tournament’s location presents a major time difference for viewers in the U.S.
Wellington, New Zealand, is 16 hours ahead of New York, and 19 hours ahead of Los Angeles. And Sydney, Australia, is 14 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time.
Most of the group stage games will start late at night or early in the morning for east coast viewers.
For U.S. viewers, the World Cup will be broadcast by Fox
FOX,
and games will appear on the flagship Fox channel, Fox Sports 1, as well on Telemundo in Spanish.
Fox is part of nearly all major cable bundles, and cord-cutters can stream the games on YouTubeTV, FuboTV
FUBO,
Hulu + Live TV, and Sling TV.
As noted above, the USWNT plays its first group stage game on Friday, July 21, against Vietnam at 9 p.m. EST.
The U.S. will then compete against the Netherlands on July 26 and Portugal on Aug. 1, and then compete in the knockout stage if they advance.
The U.S. won the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France, after beating the Netherlands in the final, as well as the 2015 World Cup in Canada.
The U.S. has a total of four Women’s World Cup titles, the most of any nation in the world, while the U.S. men’s team has never won the World Cup.
There have only been eight Women’s World Cups in history with the first tournament occurring in 1991, while the men’s version of the tournament first started in 1930.
Only four countries have won the women’s tournament: the U.S., Germany, Norway and Japan.
Below are the betting odds for the 2023 World Cup from DraftKings
DKNG,
Sportsbook prior to the start of the tournament:
For those not familiar with oddsmaking, a “+” symbol indicates an underdog. For example, a $100 bet placed on a +450 side would net a $450 profit, in addition to getting back your original $100.
The 2023 Women’s World Cup has $150 million in prize money, up 300% from the $30 million in total given out in 2019.
While a significant increase, the amount is still much lower than the $440 doled out at the 2022 men’s tournament in Qatar. FIFA, which organizes the World Cup, said it’s an “objective” to achieve pay parity between the men’s and women’s tournaments by 2027.
Below are the player and nation financial allocations for the 2023 Women’s World Cup:
Each player is guaranteed $30,00 for participating in the tournament, up from $14,000 in 2019.
That’s significant for many of the players, who in some cases don’t have club teams that pay salaries, are semi-pros or even amateurs.
As stated above, pay equity for tournament prizes is not the same for World Cup winners between the men and women’s tournaments, but what about in the U.S.?
U.S. women soccer players last year reached a landmark agreement with the sport’s American governing body to end a six-year legal battle over equal pay, a deal in which they are promised $24 million plus bonuses that match those of the men.
The U.S. Soccer Federation and the women announced a deal that will have players split $22 million, about one-third of what they had sought in damages. The USSF also agreed to establish a fund with $2 million to benefit the players in their post-soccer careers and charitable efforts aimed at growing the sport for women.
The USWNT routinely advocated for pay parity during tournament appearances over the past decade.
In addition to equal pay, high-profile players on the USWNT like Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan and Carli Lloyd, among many others, have publicly opposed forms of discrimination off the soccer field. These causes include advocating for gender rights, LGBTQ+ rights, voting rights and the Black Lives Matter movement.
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Lionel Messi’s debut gameday with Inter Miami has arrived.
Messi is expected to play Friday night when Inter Miami takes on Cruz Azul in a Leagues Cup match at his new home stadium. Team officials say all tickets — about 21,000, in a newly expanded stadium — have been sold, though thousands were available for resale on secondary markets Friday morning.
It’s unclear how much Messi, a World Cup champion for Argentina and someone who Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham calls the best player ever, will be on the field in his debut. He signed a 2-1/2 year contract with Inter Miami this past weekend, and the deal will pay him between $50 million and $60 million annually. That will almost certainly work out to more than $1 million per match.
He was introduced to his new home fans on Sunday and officially trained for the first time as a member of the club Tuesday.
Messi made the decision in June to join Inter Miami and come to Major League Soccer. He considered a return to Barcelona, the club with whom he spent almost the entirety of his career, after spending the last two seasons with Paris Saint-Germain.
But Inter Miami and MLS found a way to land the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner in Messi, setting the stage for an unprecedented era for the club that has largely sputtered during its first four seasons.
Leagues Cup is a tournament between clubs from MLS and Liga MX, the top Mexican league. Cruz Azul won the inaugural version of this event in 2019.
Neither club has enjoyed much success this season. Inter Miami has the fewest points in the MLS standings; Cruz Azul is the only team in the Mexican league yet to record a standings point through the season’s first three matches.
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
A winning ticket has been sold in California for the Powerball jackpot worth an estimated $1.08 billion, the sixth largest in U.S. history and the 3rd largest in the history of the game.
The winning numbers for Wednesday night’s drawing were: white balls 7, 10, 11, 13, 24 and red Powerball 24. The California Lottery said on Twitter that the winning ticket was sold in Los Angeles at Las Palmitas Mini Market.
Final ticket sales pushed the jackpot beyond its earlier estimate of $1 billion to $1.08 billion at the time of the drawing, moving it from the seventh largest to the sixth largest U.S lottery jackpot ever won.
Read: What you should do if you won $1 billion
The winner can choose either the total jackpot paid out in yearly increments or a $558.1 million, one-time lump sum before taxes.
The game’s abysmal odds of 1 in 292.2 million are designed to build big prizes that draw more players. The largest Powerball jackpot was $2.04 billion Powerball in November.
The last time someone had won the Powerball jackpot was April 19 for a top prize of nearly $253 million. Since then, no one had won the grand prize.
Powerball is played in 45 states, as well as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
Are stores getting more desperate to sell sneakers? Fourth-quarter results from Nike Inc. on Thursday will probably provide part of the answer.
Even as its some of its basketball shoes still put up double-digit sales gains — like those named after NBA icons LeBron James, Luka Doncic and Giannis Antetokounmpo — the athletic-gear maker, like its rivals, has faced weaker consumer demand overall. With customers forced to spend more money on necessities over the past year, they’ve had less to spend on new shoes.
In March, Nike
NKE,
executives said that the demand backdrop remained “promotional” — one in which anyone selling sneakers and clothing was cutting prices more aggressively to attract customers. But ahead of Thursday’s results, some analysts also wondered whether the stalling demand has forced bigger changes to the way management thinks about its broader turn away from retailers — a core piece of its sales strategy.
Nike over recent years has embarked on a plan to rely less on shoe retailers for sales and more on sales made directly to customers through its own stores and online. But recently, it decided to start selling clothing again at Macy’s
M,
and shoes again at DSW, the shoe-store chain run by Designer Brands Inc.
DBI,
— this after ending partnerships with both retailers over the past two years.
The return to traditional retail has raised questions about whether Nike is looking to more aggressively clear product it’s had trouble selling, and whether management is re-evaluating the company’s go-it-alone sales strategy overall.
“The big question on our minds heading into [Nike’s] quarter is what is going on with the [direct-to-consumer] pivot?” Quo Vadis analyst John Zolidis said in a note on Monday. “Reopening Macy’s and DSW seems odd in context of previous dismissive statements about undifferentiated retail.”
He continued: “Further, neither of these retailers has a customer that correlates strongly with [Nike’s] highest-value segments. The easiest explanation is that [Nike] overestimated the dollars it could recapture from closed wholesale accounts and now has too much inventory it needs to clear.”
Earnings: Analysts polled by FactSet expect Nike to earn 68 cents a share, down from 90 cents in the same quarter a year ago. Contributors to Estimize — a crowdsourcing platform that gathers estimates from Wall Street analysts as well as buy-side analysts, fund managers, company executives, academics and others — expect earnings per share of 75 cents.
Revenue: Analysts polled by FactSet expect $12.58 billion in sales for Nike. Forecasts from Estimize call for sales of $12.72 billion.
Stock price: Nike’s stock is only up 1.3% over the past 12 months. Shares got hit in September, after company executives warned of further price-cutting from rivals due to weaker demand. The stock rebounded later but gave up some gains in May. The stock was up 2% on Monday.
Nike in March said demand for product sold at full pricing remained solid. Still, sneaker chain Foot Locker Inc.
FL,
recently cut its outlook. Lots of Vans shoes are running at a discount, one analyst said last month, as the skater-centric brand competes with casual fare from the likes of Adidas
ADS,
and others.
Other analysts were also wondering about Nike’s return to Macy’s and DSW. But not everyone believed the move was a sign of deeper problems.
“Investors are worried that this is a reversal in Nike’s shift from wholesale to [direct-to-consumer], but we don’t think the strategy is broken,” BofA analyst Lorraine Hutchinson said in a research note on Wednesday. “We expect to hear an explanation of these moves on the [conference] call rather than an about-face on its focus on reducing undifferentiated wholesale.”
Still, the company faced concerns about sales abroad. Zolidis also said markets were increasingly worried about growth in China, whose recovery from pandemic lockdowns has stumbled.
“Our recent conversations with companies in China suggest that trends are mixed,” Zolidis said. “The consumer is more value oriented, and job uncertainty is higher.”
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
That’s how Victor Wembanyama introduced himself the day before the NBA draft, when he conducted his first news conference before NBA media. But to talent evaluators, Wembanyama has already emerged as one of the top NBA prospects of a generation with his dominant play for a French professional team this season, and his tantalizing upside on the basketball court.
The 19-year-old, 7-foot-5 Frenchmen — who goes by “Wemby” — was selected with the first pick in the NBA Draft on Thursday night by the San Antonio Spurs, and the team could be set for a huge financial windfall from Wembanyama’s arrival.
The Spurs could see an increase of roughly $8 million-$10 million in season ticket sales, an added $5 million-$10 million in incremental ticket revenue from higher and dynamic pricing, and another $5 million-$10 million in corporate sponsorships, according to Dr. Patrick Rishe, the director of the sports business program at Washington University in St. Louis.
“All told, the impact on team revenues in 2023-24 will likely be somewhere in the $20-$50 million range,” Rishe said, while adding that the Spurs may also be able to leverage Wembanyama’s arrival when negotiating its next local TV contract.
See also: Victor Wembanyama: 5 things to know about the generational NBA prospect
Another economics expert thinks Wembanyama’s financial impact on the Spurs could be even higher.
“$80 million a year to the Spurs for the next few years, that was roughly equal to the increase in revenues that we saw when LeBron James moved back from Miami to Cleveland,” Victor Matheson, economics professor at the College of the Holy Cross, told MarketWatch.
NBA first-round draft picks like Wembanyama sign a four-year contract upon entering the league. After that, the team that drafted the player has a significant edge in retaining him on his next contract because they are allowed to give him larger pay raises than any other club. Because of this, young players who turn into superstars rarely leave the teams that drafted them for the first seven years of their career, meaning Wembanyama could pay dividends to the Spurs in the hundreds of millions of dollars if he stays with the team.
See also: LeBron James vs. Michael Jordan: Who is the GOAT when it comes to net worth?
While the Spurs are not for sale, some think Wembanyama’s presence alone will increase that value of the team, which was roughly $2 billion as of 2022 (or 20th in the NBA).
“I suspect that just the cachet of having this player on your team would be the sort of thing that would entice an owner potentially to pay more for the team, because owners in sports aren’t just about dollars and cents, they’re about dollars and cents, and the prestige and the ego that go along with owning an NBA franchise,” said Matheson.
The NBA has complex revenue sharing agreements among teams to help level the financial playing field between the small-market and big-market teams. Because of this agreement, not every dollar Wembanyama makes for the Spurs goes directly to the team.
So it’s clear that Wembanyama could provide a major financial boost for the Spurs. But his immediate impact on the NBA overall might seem small, considering the league made over $10 billion last year, according to Statista. But another area where Wembanyama could help the NBA in a huge way is by unlocking a new audience for NBA games: France.
“A guy like him can certainly open up new markets for you. So obviously, we have had top players from France before like Tony Parker, but this might be maybe a level beyond that,” Matheson said. “And if you could open up a 60 million person country, and all of a sudden make the NBA must-see TV in Paris and not just in the United States, that’s where you can really generate a lot.”
Matheson compared Wembanyama’s arrival to that of China’s Yao Ming coming into the NBA, and Japan’s baseball star Ichiro Suzuki’s arrival in the MLB, which both opened up massive international markets that those leagues didn’t already have a big presence in.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that drafting Wembanyama could add as much as $500 million to the value of an NBA franchise.
But some sports industry experts see Wembanyama’s impact as more muted, noting the possibility that he maybe doesn’t live up to the incredible hype, as well as the limitations of San Antonio’s smaller market size compared to cities like New York.
“This could be a significant turning point for the fortunes of the Spurs, both on and off the court, but it is worth remembering that players are different ‘assets’ than, say, arenas,” Michael Leeds, professor of economics and director of graduate studies at Temple University, told MarketWatch. “There is a lot of uncertainty among even top picks.”
He recalled how Sam Bowie was chosen ahead of Michael Jordan during the 1984 draft, yet Jordan became a superstar, while Bowie did not have much of a basketball career. “A player’s career can be derailed for a lot of reasons,” Leeds added. “I do not think that Wembanyama will have that much of an immediate impact on the financial fortunes of the Spurs.”
See also: Here’s how much Victor Wembanyama and other 2023 NBA draft picks will earn on their rookie contracts
The Spurs are also hurt by their market size in San Antonio, which some say limits their financial upside compared to a bigger market like New York or Los Angeles. San Antonio is the 24th biggest TV market (out of 30) among NBA teams, according to Sports Media Watch.
“The San Antonio market is small and has demographics that generally don’t support the NBA,” Emory University marketing professor Michael Lewis told MarketWatch. “There are markets that could benefit greatly from a generational talent, but the Spurs seem unlikely.”
“It helps the franchise but over the long run players move from place to place,” added Sal Galatioto, the president of Galatioto Sports Partners, who has facilitated over 30 sales of professional sports teams — including the sale of the Golden State Warriors in 2010. “Players get hurt. Players aren’t as good as you think they are.”
Galatioto cited the recent sale of the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets at a $3 billion valuation as evidence that franchise appraisals are getting higher, and not much of that increase is based on what happens on the court.
“When was the last time Charlotte won anything?” he asked.
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
LOS ANGELES — Wyndham Clark always carried the message from his late mother to “play big.” Nothing was bigger than Sunday when he held off Rory McIlroy with one clutch shot after another to become a U.S. Open champion.
The final act was two putts from 60 feet on the 18th hole at Los Angeles Country Club, and the 29-year-old Clark pumped his fist when it settled a foot away. He tapped that in for an even-par 70 and a one-shot victory over McIlroy and so many other stars.
Scottie Scheffler, the No. 1 player in the world, couldn’t catch him. Neither could British Open champion Cameron Smith or Rickie Fowler, who played in the final group for the third time in a major and watched an exquisite performance by Clark, playing for only the third time on the weekend in a major.
Clark let loose his emotions at the end, looking to the blue sky in tears and covering his face with his cap as he sobbed on the green. He thought about quitting golf a decade ago when he struggled with the loss of his mother, Lise, to breast cancer. She was who kept him steady in good times and bad.
This was as good as it gets for Clark, who broke through for his first PGA Tour victory only six weeks ago against an elite field at Quail Hollow.
“I just felt like my mom was watching over me today,” Clark said after hoisting the silver U.S. Open trophy. “I worked so hard and dreamed about this moment for so long. I just felt like it was my time.”
For McIlroy, it was more disappointment in his quest to end nine years without a major.
He opened with a birdie and didn’t make another the rest of the way. McIlroy played a final round that typically wins a U.S. Open — 16 pars, one bogey. Just not this one. Even as Clark showed signs of cracking during the rugged closing stretch, McIlroy missed fairways and didn’t give himself any reasonable birdie chances.
It was similar to St. Andrews last summer at the British Open, when he hit every green and couldn’t buy a putt. Instead, he’ll face more questions about when he’ll win another major.
“When I do finally win this next major, it’s going to be really, really sweet,” McIlroy said. “I would go through 100 Sundays like this to get my hands on another major championship.”
Scheffler missed too many putts early on the back nine and needed help from Clark and McIlroy that never arrived. He also closed with a 70 to finish third, a month after a runner-up finish in the PGA Championship.
Fowler set a U.S. Open record with 23 birdies, but just like so many other majors when he had a chance, he was in reverse before he ever got going — three bogeys in the opening seven holes. He never made up the ground and shot 75.
This day belonged to Clark, who showed remarkable poise and self-belief, not to mention an extraordinary short game and a fairway metal he won’t soon forget.
Already with a two-shot lead, he was a yard away from an easy birdie on the par-5 eighth when his approach hit a steep bank of the barranca to the left. Barely able to see his golf ball, Clark took a whack and the ball advanced a few inches deeper into thick grass.
He hammered it again, this time over the green, 70 feet away down a firm and scary putting surface. He chipped that to 3 feet to escape with bogey.
“That up-and-down was the key to the tournament,” he said.
More such shots followed. On the par-3 ninth, he was on the bank of a bunker and chipped away from the flag, using the slope expertly to get it to within 7 feet for another big save. And then he clipped a pitch from a tight lie left of the 11th green to 4 feet for par.
The signature shot was his fairway metal from 282 yards on the par-5 14th to 20 feet that set up a two-putt birdie, giving Clark a three-shot lead with four to play.
But he made the only bogey of the day on the par-3 15th, then found a bunker left of the 16th fairway and whacked his hand on his putter when he missed a 7-foot par putt. His lead down to one shot, he got up-and-down from left of the 17th green to keep the lead.
The USGA allowed thousands of fans to circle the fairway short of the 18th green with so few grandstands, creating a big theater for Clark’s finish.
Fowler, still chasing his first major, returned to the 18th green to hug Clark.
“I went back in there and just said, ‘Your mom was with you. She’d be very proud,’” Fowler said.
Clark finished at 10-under 270 and along with $3.6 million — his second such cash prize in the last six weeks — he moves to No. 2 in the Ryder Cup standings.
Smith shot 67 to finish fourth. Tommy Fleetwood became the first player with two rounds of 63 in the U.S. Open and finished in a tie for fifth with Fowler and Min Woo Lee (67). Fleetwood also shot 63 at Shinnecock Hills in the final round of 2018.
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
Fanatics Inc. will buy the U.S. operations of Australia’s PointsBet for about $150 million, in the company’s largest foray yet into sports betting.
PointsBet
PBH,
announced the deal Sunday night, specifying that the acquisition only applies to PointsBet’s U.S. assets, not its businesses in Australia and Canada. CNBC first reported the deal. Fanatics did not immediately reply to MarketWatch’s request for comment Sunday night.
PointsBet is an online sportsbook that launched in the U.S. in 2019, and operates in 15 states, including New Jersey, Iowa, Illinois and Colorado.
“Despite the strategic success building a valuable asset in the U.S., the costs of operating in a state-by-state environment, together with the requirement to build significant scale to compete against well capitalized operators, led us to explore a number of options,” PointsBet Chief Executive Sam Swanell said in a statement. “The sale of the U.S. Business to Fanatics Betting and Gaming delivers the most attractive risk-adjusted value outcome for shareholders compared to the risks and benefits of other options including the status quo.”
PointsBet shareholders are expected to vote on the sale at their annual meeting in late June.
The deal should increase pressure on U.S. sports-gambling companies such as DraftKings Inc.
DKNG,
and FanDuel. In late April, Fanatics launched sportsbook wagering for its customers in Ohio and Tennessee, and the Wall Street Journal reported at the time that the company pans to invest about $1 billion in its new sports-betting division.
In an interview, Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin told the Journal he wants Fanatics to be the world’s top sports-betting company within the next 10 years, and expects its betting operations to be profitable by 2025 or 2026.
In December, Florida-based Fanatics — which got its start in sports apparel and collectibles — closed a $700 million funding round, valuing it at about $31 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported. The privately held company is expected to eventually launch an IPO.
Last year, Fanatics acquired trading-card company Topps.
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
The pickleball wars appear to be escalating.
The sport, often described as a cross between tennis and ping pong, has exploded in popularity over the past few years. Nearly 9 million Americans are now playing the game, the Sports & Fitness Industry Association reports — a year-over-year increase of 85.7%. Many towns across the U.S. are allocating federal COVID-19 aid to build pickleball courts. And the Wichita City Council recently voted to spend over $6 million on a pickleball complex.
Players…
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
Federal prosecutors have leveled a legal dropkick on former pro wrestler Ted DiBiase Jr., charging him with stealing millions of dollars meant to feed needy kids in a Mississippi scandal that has also tarnished the reputation of NFL hall of famer Brett Favre.
From the archives (September 2022): NFL star Brett Favre and Gov. Phil Bryant texted about how to use $5 million of welfare funds to build a new volleyball stadium
DiBiase,…
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Jon Rahm turned the longest day into his sweetest victory, starting Sunday with a four-shot deficit in the morning chill and finishing in fading sunlight as the fourth Spaniard to become a Masters champion.
Rahm closed with a 3-under 69 to pull away from mistake-prone Brooks Koepka. He won by four shots over Koepka and 52-year-old Phil Mickelson, who matched the low score of the tournament with a 65. He is the oldest runner-up in Masters history.
It was Mickelson who declared Rahm would be among golf’s biggest stars even before the Spaniard turned pro in 2016. Rahm now has a green jacket to go along with his U.S. Open title he won in 2021 at Torrey Pines.
“It was obvious to me at a very young age that he was one of the best players in the world even while he was in college,” Mickelson said. “To see him on this stage is not surprising for anybody.”
Rahm made up two shots on Koepka over the final 12 holes of the rain-delayed third round and started the final round two shots behind. He seized on Koepka’s collapse and then surged so far ahead that Mickelson’s amazing closing round — the best final round ever at Augusta National for the three-time Masters champion — was never going to be enough.
Nothing was more satisfying than an uphill climb to the 18th green to claim the green jacket on a day when Spanish stars aligned. Sunday is the birthdate of his idol, the late Seve Ballesteros, and this is the 40-year anniversary of Ballesteros winning his second Masters title.
Rahm embraced his wife and two children, and as he walked toward the scoring room, there was two-time Masters champion José María Olazábal in his green jacket for the strongest hug of all and a few words that included Ballesteros.
Also: Tiger Woods withdraws from Masters before completing his 3rd round
“He said he hopes it’s the first of many more,” Rahm said in Butler Cabin. “We both mentioned something about Seve, and if he had given us 10 more seconds, I think we would have both ended up crying.”
Sergio Garcia was the low amateur in 1999 when Olazábal won his second green jacket, and then Garcia won in 2017, the year Rahm made his Masters debut.
Not to be overlooked was just registering to play this week. Caddies are assigned numbers on their white coveralls in numerical order for when their players check in. Rahm’s caddie, Adam Hayes, had No. 49 — 4/9, the birthday of Ballesteros.
Stars aligned, and Rahm played some world-class golf. And to think he began the tournament with a four-putt double bogey on the opening hole.
Rahm won for the fourth time this year — just as Scottie Scheffler did a year ago when he won the Masters — and reclaimed the No. 1 world ranking from Scheffler.
This Masters had a little bit of everything — hot and humid at the start, a cold front with wind that toppled three trees on Friday, putting surfaces saturated from rain on Saturday and a marathon finish Sunday as Rahm and Koepka went 30 holes.
Koepka helped to pave the way with one miscue after another, losing the lead for the first time since Thursday afternoon when he chipped 20 feet past the hole from behind the par-3 sixth and made his second bogey. There would be more to come.
“Just some days you have it, some days you don’t, and today wasn’t one of those,” Koepka said. “But I feel good, and I expect to be there the other three (majors).”
Koepka went 22 consecutive holes Sunday without a birdie — from the par-5 eighth hole in the morning of the third round until the par-5 13th in final round. By then, he was three shots behind and Rahm all but sealed it with his next shot.
He hit a low cut around a tree from right of the 14th fairway and it caught a slope just right on the 14th green and fed down to 3 feet for a birdie. When Koepka three-putted for bogey, it was a matter of finishing.
Rahm hooked his tee shot into the trees on the final hole and didn’t reach the fairway. No matter. He played up the fairway, hit wedge to 3 feet and tapped in for the victory.
The leaderboard was littered with major champions and a tinge of Saudi-funded LIV Golf. Mickelson and Koepka both are part of the rival circuit. Former Masters champion Patrick Reed, another player who defected to LIV, closed with a 68 and tied for fourth with Jordan Spieth (66) and Russell Henley.
Tiger Woods wasn’t around for the finish. He withdrew Sunday morning before the third round resumed, saying plantar fasciitis in his foot was aggravating him. Woods also withdrew after three rounds of the PGA Championship last year in similarly cold, windy conditions at Southern Hills in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Mickelson barely contends over 54 holes in the 48-man LIV Golf league. And then he played like the six-time major champion who two years ago became the oldest major champion at age 50 when he won the PGA Championship.
He stuffed his tee shot on the par-3 sixth, birdied the seventh and then finished in style. His approach to the 17th came within inches of going in for an eagle, and he pumped his first when his 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th dropped for a 65.
It matched his lowest score ever at Augusta National — he shot 65 in the opening round in the 1996 Masters and was at his Sunday best.
“Unfortunately it wasn’t enough, but it was really a lot of fun for me to play at this level again, and it’s encouraging for me going forward the rest of the year,” Mickelson said.
Rahm called it an incredible day, especially with his father coming over from Spain. He concluded his remarks at the trophy presentation on the 18th green by saying, “Happy Easter. And rest in peace, Seve.”
He then made the sign of the cross, kissed his finger and pointed to the blue sky.
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
Should we save a spot in the baseball annals for the “climate-ball” era? Climate change and its impact on home-run-favorable thinner air may earn a place in recorded history alongside Major League Baseball’s dead-ball era and the notorious black eye on America’s pastime when steroids juiced the power game.
The way that climate change heats up the air is sending an extra 50 or so home runs a year over the fences, and fans can expect several hundred more home runs per season with future warming, according to a new study out…
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
Diamond Sports Group, which operates regional sports networks that televise nearly half of all MLB, NBA and NHL games, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Tuesday.
Diamond is owned by Sinclair Broadcasting Group Inc. SBGI, and operates its networks under the Bally Sports name.
In a statement Tuesday, Diamond said it was finalizing a…
[ad_2]
