Fast Growing Basketball App | Cubs Rooftop Lawsuit

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

HUPR: For the Hooper in All of Us

Introducing HUPR, the innovative basketball community platform that's transforming the way basketball players connect. Developed to address the most common challenges faced by all levels of hoopers, HUPR offers real-time court updates, social networking features, and comprehensive league management tools.

“We started in downtown NYC, trying to solve an ancient problem - where, when, and who to play pickup basketball with. Since we've grown to 3 cities, providing users with a real solution through our mobile app and successfully connecting local hoopers together" - Daniel Fernandez, Co-Founder

Success story

HUPR started to host in-person events to get feedback on how to serve players and events directly. Since then they have grown into to a full-blown HUPR basketball league that is now rising in popularity among local leagues. This has further driven over 3000 downloads, a bulk of them coming from the League and it's local reputation.

Key Platform Features

• Real-Time Court Availability: HUPR provides live updates on basketball court availability, ensuring players can easily find open courts at any time.

• Community Engagement: The app fosters a sense of community by allowing users to create profiles, connect with fellow basketball enthusiasts, and share experiences. Each court has its own live chat feature, enabling real-time communication among players.

• Event and Tournament Listings: Stay informed about local basketball events and tournaments with detailed listings, helping players participate in or spectate at these gatherings.

• League Management: For league organizers, HUPR offers an all-in-one platform to manage stats, schedules, and communication, streamlining the experience for everyone involved.

HUPR is committed to building a community-driven platform. If a court or league isn't listed in the app, users can submit the information, and the HUPR team will work to add it, ensuring the app remains comprehensive and up-to-date.

Available for free download, HUPR is poised to become an essential tool for basketball players in major cities across the country, enhancing the way they find games, connect with others, and engage with the sport they love

For more information or to join the HUPR community, visit their official website at hupr.app

What can the Chicago Sports Tech community to do help?

Become a HUPR. Sign up and create an account at HUPR.app

Chicago

🏀 Chicago Sky rides wave of popularity growth, inks exclusive broadcast deal with 'The U' The Sky is capitalizing on increased excitement for the team from last season. WCIU or ‘The U’ had been sharing games the past three seasons with Marquee Sports Network and the Cubs. Now, they will be aired exclusively through ‘The U’. Local fans will now have more options than ever to watch the team play. The Sky had a 133% increase in viewership of its Friday night games, to accompany a season of highs for the wider WNBA. They’ll get a new practice facility in Bedford Park worth $38 million. Now, imagine if their win totals this coming season can match their growth in popularity. Sorry for the cliche and pun, but the Sky would really be the limit. Here’s more on how many people tuned into primetime games last season.

⚾️ Batter Up! Chicago Cubs Win Round in Wrigley View Rooftop Lawsuit “Take me out to the rooftop” isn’t how the song goes and the Cubs are fighting to keep it that way. The Cubs have gone to court several times over decades, claiming the owners of adjacent buildings to Wrigley Field are ‘stealing’ views of the expensive product they put on the field. The team used examples from its $100 million expense sheet as the cost it takes to provide entertainment that fans pay to access. Rooftop businesses benefit unjustly, the Cubs argue, without footing any of the bill. On the other side, rooftop businesses argue property rights should allow them to use their buildings the way they want. They’ve also thrown shade on the Cubs for how the stadium was built, allowing buildings to overlook the ballpark. Over time, the Cubs and some rooftop businesses have settled litigation. But only the Wrigley View Rooftop, the blatant name of the defendant in the recent lawsuit, has decided not to participate in the provisions of the settled litigation. Read more on the full argument from the Cubs and how they claimed a minor victory in their lawsuit.

National

👟 Ailing Nike Taps Caitlin Clark, Women’s Stars for First Super Bowl Ad in 25 Years Nike’s stock valuation has been going in the opposite direction of their signature Swoosh over the last year. Desperate for relevance, Nike released its first Super Bowl ad in over 25 years. They pulled out all the stops, featuring an all-women cast of top female athletes. Led by Caitlin Clark, Sha’Carri Richardson, and A’ja Wilson, the 60-second commercial takes some of the most recognizable faces in sports today and shows them defying haters. It’s a smart play that seems to be paying off so far: the commercial has over 3 million views on YouTube as this is being written. Will it be enough to stop Nike’s fall from grace is yet to be seen. Nike’s stock plunged 34% last year, while the rest of the S&P 500 grew 20% over the same period. Desperate times called for desperate measures, leading to Nike’s surprise inclusion among Super Bowl ad bidders. Front Office Sports reports on who has challenged Nike’s status the most and other figures related to their decline.

⚽️ Just before the 2025 MLS regular season starts, MLS cuts 5% of staff In a move it says will help it reorganize before the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the MLS has laid off 5% of its staff. The announcement comes despite statements and revenue figures in recent years showing the league’s growth in popularity. Staff members found out at a town hall meeting on February 7th, with the MLS regular season set to kick off on the 23rd. At least it gives anyone fired and in a bad relationship a good excuse to save money on Valentine’s Day gifts. In addition to the layoffs, the remaining staff will be required to work in the office four days a week. MLS staff had been allowed to work from home two days a week. The MLS will be entering year three of its 10-year, $2.5 billion deal with Apple to stream games exclusively on Apple’s platform. Read more on how many staff members were laid off and how many people the MLS has hired since COVID.

📺️ If ESPN opts out of TV deal, MLB warns it could walk away: source As the last high-profile MLB free agents sign deals, the MLB looks to weigh its options with its contract negotiations. ESPN and MLB have been together for four decades through a broadcast rights deal. The current deal between the two is set to run through 2028, but both sides have the option to opt-out by the deadline in March. Both sides sound more or less content to potentially walk away if nothing is settled upon. It’s like a dead marriage that ends peacefully once the kids move out. The MLB was earning $550 million a year from ESPN for broadcast rights. That’s quite an expensive divorce, but MLB feels it can bank a lot more based on its ratings increase last season. The MLB also sees the example of the NBA in securing a $77 billion media rights deal last July and figures why not try to get a similar-sized deal. The Athletic breaks down each side’s plans if they opt out and how they could still end up together.

🏀 Hubert Davis says 'old model for Carolina basketball just doesn’t work,' wants to hire GM There is no offseason when it comes to NIL news. In another challenge to the old-school ways of college sports, Hubert Davis of UNC declares the need for his school to have a general manager. Davis was discussing his concerns on the weekly radio show he does. The former UNC player and current head coach believes UNC needs to adapt better to the new landscape with new hires. Out of the four hires he named, only one doesn’t have a direct link to something NIL-related. He genuinely sounds like a guy who wants to just coach basketball instead of negotiate NIL deals in this new age. He’s not the first or the last who will make this known. He is one of the most prominent figures in college sports to discuss the need for a more pro-like structure in college. It’s made college a minor league of the pros, but on steroids and with fewer rules. Collegiate athletes mingle with regular students who pay tuition to attend the school while some of the athletes earn millions. Here’s who Hubert Davis wants to hire and what demands he’s had to handle now.

💰️ Monumental shift: Power conferences, not NCAA, to control policing athlete compensation In what could be a drastic change to the NIL landscape, a new entity has been formed to be the watchdog to new revenue-sharing guidelines. The entity will operate under an LLC, a CEO, and a head investigator. A committee including schools from the four power conferences (ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, and SEC) met in Washington D.C. to develop the framework the entity will operate under. Everything is good now, right? So wrong. Several groups are in opposition to the original settlement this entity was formed in response to. The settlement, based on three antitrust cases, is related to either the back-pay of former athletes who competed before NIL or a revenue-sharing concept between all major conference schools similar to a salary cap in the NFL. The revenue-sharing would somewhat even the playing field of schools with much greater resources simply imposing their will to buy players at any cost (looking at you, Ohio State). But there is plenty of disagreement with the settlement - from the Department of Justice to the Department of Education and athletes facing reduced roster sizes. Yahoo Sports dives into everything the new entity will regulate, the proposed NCAA cap in Year 1, and who is opposed to the settlement.