Blackhawks First Pro Team to Make Deal with Kalshi | College Basketball Draft

Upcoming Local Events 😀

Join us on February 12th, as we host a panel discussion on "The Future of Investing in Sports” at the Sports & Entertainment Innovation Summit brought to you by 1871. Featured investors will be: Marquee Ventures, KB Partners and Ryan Sports Ventures.

Do you have a startup or an event in Chicago? Email [email protected]

Who’s Hiring in Chicago

Hiring? Reply to this email to be included next week’s email.

💸 Confirmed Startup Acquisition & Funding Deals

Acquisitions

• Orreco acquires Data Driven Sports Analytics (DDSA) (computer vision analytics)

• Teamworks acquires Opteamal (athlete monitoring / performance data integration)

• PlayHQ (community sports management platform) acquired by Alpine Software Group (ASG) 

• Upper Hand (youth sports scheduling + payments) acquired by H3 Partners 

Funding rounds

• Peripheral Labs (volumetric / 3D sports viewing & replay tech) — $3.6M seed -Led by Khosla Ventures (per SBJ)

Get up to speed with latest news impacting the sports business landscape in Chicago and beyond. 🗞️

🏋️ D1 Training in Crystal Lake helps you work out like sports pros No more armchair quarterbacks allowed. If you think you can scramble better than Caleb Williams, D1 Training is here to put it to the test. The franchise offers everyday adults (and kids) an opportunity to test their athletic ability. It offers personal training, small sessions for 2-4 people, and group training. They even have strategically designed weekly focus programs to minimize your risk of injury and maximize your results. If Crystal Lake is a bit out of reach for you, Chicagoland has five other locations closer to the city. A seventh location in Oak Park is expected to open early in 2026. Ready to reclaim your high school shape or win a bet with your friends? D1 Training has you covered. CBS Chicago’s short video interviews the GM of the Crystal Lake location and demonstrates a typical warmup routine.

🏒 Chicago makes an unofficial audition for a future PWHL team in league’s tour stop: ‘An excellent hockey city’ Was there ever any question that Chicago is an excellent hockey city? Even though attendance for Hawks’ games this season isn’t at the same level as past seasons, they still rank just outside of the top 10 in home attendance. The Ottawa Charge and Minnesota Frost battled at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, drawing thousands of fans to show that Chicago’s love of hockey runs deep. This league is still very new. It’s only two years old and has eight teams. Allstate Arena admittedly wasn’t sold out, but the passion and love from the fans flowed throughout the arena. Chicago is a no-brainer choice for expanding and growing professional women’s hockey. The Tribune mentions which PWHL stars hail from Chicago and how the match on the PWHL’s Takeover Tour went.

🏦 FanDuel, DraftKings, other big sportsbooks sue to block new Chicago sports betting tax New year, same battle, higher stakes. The unpopular sports betting tax Mayor Johnson wants to impose on big sportsbooks has already drawn significant heat. Now, the fight hits the courtroom. Shortly before midnight on New Year’s Eve, the Sports Betting Alliance (SBA) filed a temporary restraining order to block the new sports betting tax from taking effect at the start of the new year. They argue that the increased tax burden, first levied by the state of Illinois and then attempted by Chicago, will be passed on to consumers. Then, they may look to illegal bookies to make their sports bets. It's no secret that Chicago’s budgetary situation is messier than a Real Housewives show, and legislators are looking to plug the holes in the budget by any means possible. The SBA’s strong backing, along with mixed support for Johnson’s tax, makes this an intriguing issue to track. What’s decided could shape Chicago’s sports betting landscape for years to come. The Sun-Times reports on how much big sportsbooks made last year and how much the new taxes could impact them.

🧙‍♂️Blackhawks Are First Pro Team to Make Direct Deal With Kalshi Prediction markets made their big splash in 2025, growing to unprecedented levels. With the Hawks' partnership, the industry gains some legitimacy amid much controversy. So far, the NHL is the only major U.S. pro sports league that has welcomed prediction market platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket. Other leagues, such as the NBA and NFL, have issued statements expressing concern about the lack of oversight and the broader dangers posed by prediction markets. Multiple states have pending lawsuits with Kalshi, specifically with the sports contracts it offers on its platform. But the Hawks and the NHL are taking a different approach, acting as pioneers of what could become the norm in the near future. Look at what’s happened with sports betting. Initially, it was frowned upon by all major sports leagues. Now, every league has at least one partnership with a sportsbook, and in some cases, multiple. Kalshi will still have to survive the onslaught of litigation coming its way, but a cosign by the NHL and the Hawks goes a long way in helping its cause. Front Office Sports lays out the details of the agreement with the Hawks and the current state of prediction markets.

💰Los Angeles Dodgers to Pay Record $169 Million Luxury Tax After Winning 2nd Straight World Series The price of winning just hit a new all-time high. Nine teams will pay the MLB luxury tax by Jan 21st, tying the record. But the luxury tax might as well be renamed the Dodgers tax. Undeterred by MLB’s rules to hamper overspending, the back-to-back MLB champs will pay a luxury tax for the fifth straight season. Their payroll hit a record-high $417.3 million, overtaking the 2023 Mets record by $40 million. Payroll disparities between the high spenders and the lowest MLB payrolls are a top concern of the ongoing labor negotiations. MLB’s collective bargaining agreement (CBA) expires after the end of next season. Players want to continue with uncapped salaries while owners and commissioner Rob Manfred want a salary cap to, in part, promote more level competition. If history repeats itself here, it will be a losing battle for the owners and commissioner, especially if the richest teams can continue absorbing massive luxury tax bills like it’s a tiny snowdrop during a Chicago snowstorm. U.S. News pinpoints which teams are paying the luxury tax and how much their tax burden increases based on how much they overspend.

🥑 Why A Longtime Super Bowl Advertiser Is Now Tackling College Football Avocados have been an unheralded hero of Super Bowl watch parties for years. If you don’t have chips and guacamole, do you even have the right to host? If Avocados from Mexico gets its way, the answer to that question is no, and that would apply for college football, too. The company was a stalwart among Super Bowl advertisers for eight years and made the ‘Avocados From Mexico’ jingle synonymous with avocados. But the big game has gotten pricier to advertise on, and additional avocado purchases are often short-lived. Retail volume of avocados hits 32% above average during Super Bowl week, but then nosedives afterwards. College football presents the company with several advantages. There are almost 1,600 games during college football’s season, compared to just the Super Bowl. Also, the company can strategically target certain regions nationwide to expand its presence. Its goal is to return to the Super Bowl advertising lineup of commercials, but to return after ensuring that avocados are college students’ preferred munchie snack. Forbes highlights CEO Alvaro Luque’s mindset behind the strategy shift.

🏈 Missouri's Damon Wilson II sues Georgia, claims Bulldogs trying to 'penalize transfer decision' The NIL era has produced many firsts in the world of college sports. We’ve seen one school try to sue another for poaching one of its players (Wisconsin vs Miami is still unresolved). This is the first case of a former athlete suing his former school over an NIL contract dispute. Georgia claims Wilson owes them the lump sum of the NIL agreement he signed through their Classic City Collective once he decided to transfer to SEC rival Missouri. Wilson’s legal team hit back with multiple claims. First, Georgia made false claims to other schools that they would have to pay over a million dollars to sign him. And second, that Wilson never had to sign a legally binding document. If Georgia wins, it could represent a power shift back to the schools and the NCAA. But if Wilson wins, it could add yet another wrinkle to an already fraught system. CBS Sports details the disagreement between both sides and the amount Georgia is seeking in damages.

⛹🏾‍♂️ Drafted players in college basketball? ‘If it’s legal, why wouldn’t we do it?’ Some thrive in the gray area, while others prefer things more black and white. The state of college hoops right now consists of a lot of gray and little that resembles what it looked like for decades. As the headline suggests, the NCAA is allowing players who were drafted in the NBA Draft a chance to play in college as long as they never signed an NBA contract. Some coaches are just rolling with it. Others, like UConn’s Dan Hurley, are calling for an NCAA commission to form to stop the madness. The NCAA itself isn’t providing much clarity for programs, either. Allowing drafted players to enroll in college would drastically alter the recruiting landscape. It could also deprive high schoolers of opportunities to earn scholarships and NIL money. Not to mention it would increase the average age of college hoopers. For proof, former G Leaguers are primarily the ones leaping back to college. College hoops would start to resemble adult leagues. And like adult leagues, no one will be that impressed by former draftees dominating the competition. The Athletic dives into the cases of drafted players playing college basketball and the implications of the new trend.