Lacrosse on the River | Wilson goes all in with Caitlin Clark

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

Upcoming Local Events 😀 

July 23rd:  CST Pitch Night - TechWeek Chicago

Chicago to Host First-Ever Lacrosse Game on a River – Premier Lacrosse League and Whirlpool Brand Team Up for Historic Event Just a week after NASCAR took over Chicago’s streets, the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) is taking over the Chicago River. PLL and Women’s Lacrosse League (WLL) players were geared up on a custom-made boat with a turf lacrosse field. They played each other in a floating 3 vs 3 exhibition match, the first-ever lacrosse game played on a river. Last Thursday’s historic showcase kicked off lacrosse festivities for the league’s annual Throwback and Hall of Fame weekend. If you were on the Riverwalk around lunchtime, you could see the boat from its starting point by the luxurious River City apartments or by the Reid Murdoch building, where it stopped for fan engagement. The partnership between one of Chicago’s well-established businesses in the World of Whirlpool interactive center and PLL can do wonders to boost the profile of the growing sport. See PLL’s press release announcing the historic event.

Gatorade to support F1 Academy from 2026 as PepsiCo expands F1 deal Chicago’s hydration kings, Gatorade, are expanding their presence in yet another sport. Gatorade had already become the official sports drink of F1 Sprint weekends as of May through its parent company, PepsiCo. This means Gatorade will run hydration services, have trackside signage, and interview backdrops during Sprint weekends. Now it will hydrate F1 Academy drivers starting next season and even give them access to the Gatorade Sport Science Institute located in Barrington. The partnership was unveiled officially during the F1 Canadian Grand Prix last month and will run through at least 2030. Gatorade has been the master of hydration since 1965, and now Formula One will help its drivers keep a steady supply of fluids through this partnership. Here’s more info on which driver Gatorade sponsored and their approach to this partnership.

Wilson Sporting Goods Expands WNBA Line with Caitlin Clark Collaboration If you're sick of hearing about Caitlin Clark everywhere, you might as well end your phone and internet service now. You already heard about her signature shoe with Nike, which is expected to move serious units. Inspired by Clark and designed by an all-women production design team, Wilson is making sure the WNBA superstar stays on everyone’s mind. Four Clark-inspired basketballs featuring themes that inspire her electric play are expanding Wilson’s WNBA involvement. Coming out during the middle of the season, Wilson hopes to capitalize on Clark co-captaining the WNBA All-Star Game. If the Fever keep owning the Sky when they matchup, they’ll have to use one of Wilson’s Clark-themed balls for games, even at home. Learn the names of the ball and check out design elements here.

NFL Narrowly Defeats Collusion Claims Over Guaranteed Compensation There was no smoking gun in this high-profile legal battle between the NFL and NFLPA (Players’ Association). In the latest battle between the two sides, the NFLPA failed to produce that one significant piece of evidence that could’ve made their case. History shows this won’t be the last collusion allegation the NFL will receive from the NFLPA, as their courtroom duels date back to the 60s when the first labor complaint was filed in 1968. The twelve-year-old NFLPA had players threatening to strike over demands for better pensions and salaries. Deshaun Watson is the catalyst of the latest case brought by the NFLPA. They claim his guaranteed contract with the Browns in October 2022 caused NFL teams to conspire against offering comparable quarterbacks like Lamar Jackson (not comparable anymore, of course) the same type of fully guaranteed contract. Forbes goes into painstaking detail about the history of the beef between the NFLPA and NFL and the compelling evidence the NFLPA gathered against the NFL this time. The NFL just beat the case thanks to what it thought was definitive evidence involving Robert Kraft.

FIFA opens New York office in U.S. President’s Trump Tower You gotta love it when two very polarizing figures get together to create more controversy. FIFA’s president, Gianni Infantino, has quite a few enemies, similar to President Trump. They both are fans of grand announcements, regardless of whether the achievement fits the celebration or not. Infantino’s announcement of a new FIFA office at Trump Tower last Monday would feel more special if it were the first U.S.-based FIFA office. Or if other offices that opened globally in similar extravagant fashion haven’t ended up folding like the one in Paris. Or if his pandering to Trump didn’t come off as somewhat desperate. The U.S. just concluded hosting the FIFA Club World Cup and will host the World Cup next Summer. Infantino wants to ensure soccer’s biggest potential growth market keeps building excitement for the sport and future investments. Whether the arrangement is a good idea on either side is the big question. See how the recent announcement could be problematic for Infantino and Trump here.

An FSU Amateur Golfer Beat the World’s Best—but Can’t Accept $79K Prize NIL money gives collegiate athletes more options now than it ever has before. We hear about it most with the NBA, where more college basketball players are opting out of jumping to the league as soon as they can than was feasible before. Lottie Woad, a senior at Florida State, apparently feels secure enough with her NIL earnings to forego both a $79,000 check from golf and the chance to go pro now. She became one of only a handful of amateur women golfers to win a pro tournament. Based on the rules, amateurs aren’t allowed to accept prize money. Woad has 4 NIL deals and a top amateur ranking for over a year, making her decision one that takes a long view instead of cashing out for potentially less now. Her bet on herself to forego almost $100,000 in cold hard cash pales in comparison to how much Nick Dunlap had to turn down last year when he won The American Express. See how much he could’ve earned if he were pro and Woad’s plans before turning pro.

First recruiting splash of college football’s revenue-sharing era felt a lot like the NFL Gone in college football is the purity of the dramatic school selection process. Today’s NIL era would never produce moments like the one with Jacob Copeland in 2018. If you forgot, his mom walked away on live TV after he chose Florida over Tennessee and Alabama. She had been sitting next to him the whole time, wearing a Tennessee skull cap and an Alabama hoodie. Now, high school kids are announced with similar hype but focused almost exclusively on the business side of the decision. It’s certainly not wrong that collegiate athletes are getting paid for their commitment, both physically and mentally, to play. Still, it does take away some of the classic elements that made college football unique from the NFL. Five-star offensive lineman Felix Ojo recently signed a multi-million-dollar deal with Texas Tech right after the revenue-sharing era began. The Athletic explores how the new legislation can help place some structure on what’s been an unpredictable landscape and how it accelerates the transformation of college football into a mirror of the NFL. Marquee recruitment wins like the one Texas Tech just got, signing Ojo over in-state rivals Texas, would have more sentimental meaning in the old college football, where the two teams were in the same conference. But as college football evolves through NIL, nostalgic fans will be forced to adjust to the new dynamics.