🏀 Red Bull is looking to buy an NBA team?

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TOP STORY
🏀 Red Bull is looking to buy an NBA team?

Red Bull is “considering bidding” for a new NBA team in Las Vegas.

• Now, before rushing to buy some season tickets, a lot still has to happen.

• Talks are still "internal and at an early stage," with price being a “considerable factor” in any potential bid.

Red Bull still must "consider" that an NBA expansion team in Vegas specifically could “cost more than” $4 billion, making financing a deal very tricky.

Adam Silver has said that the NBA is looking for an expansion team once it completes a new round of TV rights deals.

Las Vegas, Seattle, and Mexico City are the favorites for hosting the new franchise.

• This means that the door for Red Bull is definitely creaking open, at the very least.

• And in terms of a business move, well, there aren’t many businesses on the market bringing in this much dough.

• And even more promising is the fact that this wouldn’t be Red Bull's first sports team.

In the past few years, Red Bull has invested billions in athletes and franchises across leagues.

Some of these teams include:

• Formula 1 Teams

  • Red Bull Racing

  • Scuderia AlphaTauri
    

• Soccer Clubs

  • FC Red Bull Salzburg (Austria)

  • Red Bull Bragantino (Brazil)

• Athletes

  • Neymar

  • Blake Griffin

  • Max Verstappen

  • Ninja (Tyler Blevins)

And many more…

The icing on top, at least for us, is that Red Bull’s founder, Dietrich Mateschitz, is a freaking badass and would instantly cement himself as one of, if not the most, entertaining NBA owners alongside Steve Ballmer and Mark Cuban.

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SOCIAL MEDIA
🎵 Elon Musk and X tapping into the music industry

Earlier this week, Verzuz, the online music battle platform launched by Swizz Beatz and Timbaland, partnered with X for exclusive distribution rights.

Verzuz was initially launched back in 2020 during the pandemic to connect music fans through rap and DJ battles.

It accomplished that goal and then some with legendary bouts, including:

• Nelly vs. Ludacris

• T-Pain vs. Lil Jon

• Alicia Keys vs. John Legend

• DMX vs. Snoop Dogg

• Patti LaBelle vs. Gladys Knight

Which is why it’s no surprise the platform achieved wild numbers very quickly:

• Produced over 40 episodes

• Generated 100 million-plus live views

• Achieved over 70 billion impressions

After going viral seemingly overnight, Verzuz was quickly picked up by TikTok competitor ‘Triller’ in 2021.

However, legal disputes soon arose between Triller and Swizz Beatz, as well as Timbaland over unpaid dues.

The pair eventually sued Triller in August 2022, demanding $28 million in “missing payments” related to the acquisition.

Fast forward to 2024: Swizz Beatz and Timbaland decide to reacquire Verzuz, and not long after, they sign a deal with Elon Musk and X.

And that's not even the best part… The best part for the duo is that they will maintain full ownership and creative control while simultaneously expanding their audience to over 550 million active users on X.

Talk about playing the long game!

GAMBLING
🤑 Sports gambling websites hit with massive taxes

The online sports gambling industry is one of the fastest-growing in the world.

It is worth an astounding $16 billion and is currently led by large players like DraftKings and FanDuel.

The two companies currently deal with the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and other major sports leagues.

So, as any good businessman would do, Illinois and other states want in.

This month, Illinois changed its online sports betting tax from a flat 15% to a variable rate ranging from 20% to 40%.

And who can blame 'em? Last year, the state earned over $1.5 billion in tax revenue from online sports betting and casinos.

Comparing the tax rate to other states:

• New York's online sports gambling tax is 51%.

• New Jersey is considering doubling its tax rate to 30%.

• Massachusetts' proposal to increase its rate from 20% to 51% failed in May.

The new tax rate in Illinois could prompt DraftKings and FanDuel to reduce their local marketing and promotion deals. 

However, DraftKings CEO Jason D. Robins believes, “We'll be able to convince them that it's not a good policy decision.”

I guess we’ll have to wait and see who wins that bout, but for now, gambling companies will have to pony up.