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Good Thursday Morning. Bringing you an abbreviated, “snack size” version of SBP this week.

#1: WNBA valuations are out, and they are going 🚀 just in time for the CBA negotiations before next season

🗯️ My thought bubble: There is definitely a lot of froth here, but to me, this signals two key points on why it’s occurring:

1. The star power in the league right now and the attention that women’s basketball is receiving is real and impactful

2. Sports continues to be a hot investment market, and the manageable get-in price and low supply (number of teams) in the W create a great opportunity

As I mentioned in the title, though, the good vibes are going to likely turn sour this offseason when the league and the players’ union lock horns over the new CBA. The fundamental structure of the W’s revenue share is imbalanced due to outside investors and the NBA, which means it’s hard for both sides to not treat that as a somewhat zero sum game during negotiations. A lockout does not necessarily hurt the league’s long-term chances of growth, but it definitely could throw cold water on the current groundswell of support the W is experiencing.

#2: The Game 7 helped, but as expected this was the least-watched NBA Finals in history

#3: An interesting story to watch — a marquee player in the MLB suing the investment firm that provided upfront cash for a percentage of his future earnings

🗯️ My thought bubble: The decision on this lawsuit could have a lot of ramifications.

A number of players, particularly those coming from traditionally lower socio-economic areas in Latin America and the Caribbean, have worked with companies like Big League Advance to take some risk off the table and create guaranteed wealth for them and their families. The challenge is that if the player does hit it big, you’re beholden to the company for the rest of your playing days.

Whether this is predatory behavior or not really lies in the eye of the beholder, and Tatis Jr. is likely going to have issues making his case given he previously praised the deal and the company. It will be interesting to see if there are any further guardrails put on this type of business going forward, though, to protect the player and/or insulate the company from litigation.

#4: Mentioned this last week — the revenue has to come from somewhere in college athletics. Expect a sizable portion of the burden to be passed on to the students

#5: One of the fun side stories of the Club World Cup: random teams from all parts of the globe competing on the biggest stage

Until next time, sports fans!

-Alex