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Good Thursday Morning. Here’s the rundown of this week’s Sports Business Playbook:

• 📰 This Week’s Topic: Before you get spooked or put your MAGA hat on, this is not a political article. Donald Trump is the most sports-minded president in history, and the second Trump administration will impact the industry. Let’s look at three areas — golf, college sports, and combat sports — where his presence objectively will be felt most.

• 🍸️ Impress Your Friends at Cocktail Party: Want to show off your sports knowledge in a public setting but don’t have time to read the deep dive? Hit the “Impress Your Friends at Cocktail Party” section at the bottom for a CliffsNotes of this week’s topic

• 🤯 “Whoa of the Week”: Inside the NBA lives (and how)

• 💪 Weekly Reminders that Sports are Awesome: Army’s amazing new uniforms, a new way to break down football, and a fitting way to end a volleyball career.

Hey team,

When Donald Trump takes office as the 47th President of the United States in January 2025, the sports world will see one of the more sports-minded presidents return to the Oval Office.

The President Elect once owned a USFL team, has his name on a number of golf courses around the world, and has appeared at (and in) WWE matches several times, to name a few.

Putting aside personal opinions/preferences on his win (this is not going to be a political article), Trump’s election is going to have an impact on the sports industry.

Whether that is positive or negative is in the eye of the beholder.

The one piece of advice I can give is that, as with most things Trump, pay attention to his actions as much as his words.

There are a number of topics that he has spoken about taking action on while on the campaign trail. Some — banning transgender participants in sports, disbanding the Department of Education and thereby weakening Title IX enforcement — are more politically charged than others — looking into lowering sports ticket prices — but I’m not convinced he will, or even can, take any of them on.

Instead, I’ve got my eye on three areas we will likely see the incoming president’s focus:

• Golf

• College sports

• Combat sports

PGA/LIV Golf Deal

The Latest

After nearly 18 months since the initial merger announcement, the PGA Tour/LIV Golf merger remains in limbo.

We still have two competing tours with a deep rooted dislike of each other, a number of pending DOJ investigations, and a lot of questions around how this merger will actually work.

Why Trump matters

Trump owns 15 golf courses around the world, including some that host LIV Golf events, and it is his favorite sport to play. He has stated in the past that he is not in favor of the split system and wants to see one tour.

In addition, there are a number of ties (unethical or fair game; you decide) between the Trump family’s businesses and Saudi Arabia that extend out from Trump’s first term in office.

These two factors, plus an expected slimmed down DOJ focused on less regulation, have led prominent figures in the golf world to believe that the Trump administration will help broker a deal.

McIlroy did qualify his statement at the end — “Who knows? But I think as president of the United States again, he’s probably got bigger things to focus on than golf.” — and Trump has said he will have bigger things to focus on, but I’m still expecting him and/or someone in the administration to help move this forward.

College Sports

The Latest

College sports has been in flux, with the NIL wild west and conference realignments hanging over the NCAA and its member schools the past few years.

Now, the biggest blow to the NCAA’s long-held concept of amateurism — the House settlement — is being reviewed by a federal judge and is expected to take effect at some point next year.

With it, true revenue sharing taking effect and more questions about if athletes are employees.

As it has continued to rack up court losses, the NCAA has been lobbying Congress for years to get a national college sports framework in place that includes anti-employment and antitrust protections.

Why Trump matters

This one is more about the unified government that Trump brings in with him for the next two years, but his fingerprints will likely be on it.

Despite the barrage of lawsuits and general upheaval it faces, the NCAA has found a somewhat sympathetic figure in senator Ted Cruz (R - TX), who just won re-election and is expected to be named chairman of the Senate’s powerful Commerce Committee that oversees this type of issue.

While a number of past bills have tried and failed to address the challenges in college sports, Cruz has said he’s willing to prioritize it, and he has signaled that he is potentially amenable to the NCAA’s arguments around including anti-employment and antitrust protections.

Front Office Sports has an excellent piece on the expected tug-of-war between the athletes/labor unions and the NCAA/Republican-leaning Congress in the coming months, but the net net is:

• We have our first credible path towards a law governing college sports 👍️ 

• The NCAA’s first positive news in several years 👎️ 

• A potential highly publicized political football over labor vs. business that Trump will likely want to weigh in on 🤷 

Combat sports

The Latest

It’s been over a year since the TKO group — the holding company for the merger of WWE and UFC that is majority owned by Endeavor — went public.

The two combat sports behemoths are intertwined now, and they stand to benefit from Endeavor’s continued allocation of other sports properties — Professional Bull Riders Association, premium hospitality company On Location, and IMG’s sports marketing business — to the holding company as the conglomerate seeks to go private with private equity giant Silver Lake.

Why Trump matters

This last one mainly stems from the halo effect that Trump brings to combat sports with his supporters.

Trump has been ringside at a number of UFC events over the past several years, including this past weekend at Madison Square Garden with Elon Musk and Saudi Public Investment Fund governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan, and he counts UFC CEO Dana White as one of his close friends and biggest advocates. His continued presence and support of UFC will likely lead to an uptick in interest from Trump fans who were not already UFC aficionados.

In addition, Trump also has deep ties to WWE and the powers that be behind the billion dollar wrestling curtain. As an example, he has nominated Linda McMahon, former CEO of WWE and wife of Vince McMahon, to lead the Department of Education (she was also the head of the Small Business Administration in Trump’s first term).

All in all, keep an eye on the stock of TKO Group over the next four years.

🍸️ Impress Your Friends at a Cocktail Party

Want to show off your sports knowledge in a public setting but don’t have time to read the deep dive? This section is the CliffsNotes of this week’s topic

• Opener: When Donald Trump takes office next year, it will bring one of the most sports-minded presidents back to office. Putting aside personal opinions and whether he follows through on some of his more inflammatory rhetoric on hot button issues (i.e., transgender athletes, Title IX being weakened by going after the Department of Education), his impact will likely be felt in a number of areas, including golf, college sports, and combat sports.

• Shot [Golf]: Trump has deep ties to the game, his courses are used by LIV Golf for its tournaments, and he has relationships with the Saudi government. There is an expectation that his administration will wade into this issue and attempt to get the stalled merger between the PGA Tour and LIV moving forward.

• Shot [College Sports]: Amid the mounting court losses and looming House settlement, the NCAA has been lobbying Congress to pass a national college athletics framework that includes provisions around anti-employment and antitrust protections. With the fully unified government and a sympathetic leader in business vs. labor in Texas senator Ted Cruz, there may be some daylight for the NCAA to get its wish.

• Chaser [Combat Sports]: This one is predominantly due to Trump’s close ties to both the UFC and WWE. Trump has been a long time supporter of both organizations, and he is close friends with UFC head Dana White and the WWE’s McMahon’s (including bringing Linda McMahon into his administration in both terms. Expect the two companies, now formally under one public holding company — TKO Group — to continue to grow due to the halo effect with Trump supporters and assumed friendlier M&A environment.

🤯 “Whoa” of the Week

Insane, mind-blowing things constantly happen in the sports business world. Here was my favorite of the past week.

1. Inside the NBA lives!

💪 Weekly Reminder that Sports are Awesome

This newsletter is, of course, mostly centered on the business side of sports and the things that happen off the field. That being said, it’s important to remember why we fell in love with sports in the first place, though.

This section is meant to highlight the amazing things that happened in sports this week that serve as that reminder.

1. This Army football promo is so awesome

2. This is one of the coolest sports analysis segments I’ve ever seen. More of this, ESPN!

3. What a finish to a college career

Thanks for reading! Let me know what feedback you have.

Also, if you enjoyed this breakdown, please consider sharing it with your friends and network by clicking the social media icons at the top of the newsletter.

Until next time, sports fans!

-Alex