🚀 Startup Update

🏀 NILOTIC: Standardizing Talent Identification Across African Basketball

Africa represents one of the fastest-growing yet least structured talent markets in global basketball. While participation continues to expand, evaluation and verification remain fragmented across borders.

Founded by Chicago Booth MBA and former Division I and professional basketball player Yar Shayok, NILOTIC is establishing the standardized evaluation and verification layer for African basketball talent. The platform converts game and skills footage into structured performance profiles accessible to collegiate and professional programs through a subscription-based interface.

Since launching February 1 in Uganda and South Sudan, NILOTIC has onboarded more than 100 athletes in its first 30 days, creating the foundation of a verified, regionally anchored performance dataset.

NILOTIC’s initial focus is evaluation and verification with a roadmap toward integrating development tracking and institutional recruiting workflows, positioning the company to build the foundational data infrastructure for emerging basketball markets.

Learn more at: https://niloticsports.com/

💼 Sports Funding & Acquisition Deals (This Week)

⚾️ NBC announces Cubs great Anthony Rizzo will be part of its MLB coverage Don’t you love when we get full circle moments in sports? That’ll be the case for both NBC and “Big Tony" Rizzo come March. NBC was the network behind the first televised MLB game way back in 1939. After years away from broadcasting America’s pastime, NBC returns in a major way this season. Rizzo, of course, played a prominent role in the Cubs’ first World Series win in over a century. After announcing his retirement last season, he’ll make his debut as a lead sports analyst during the tenth anniversary of the 2016 World Series-winning Cubs. The Cubs will make their NBC debut on May 31st against the Cardinals, a game Rizzo could very well be working. NBC begins its three-year deal with MLB this season. It takes over ESPN’s former Sunday Night Baseball and Wild-Card package. NBC’s goal to own Sunday nights throughout the calendar in several sports will be complete once the first pitch of the season is thrown. The Sun Times presents who else is joining Rizzo for MLB coverage and his impact on the 2016 World Series-winning team.

🏇 Buried in debt, Chicago's last racetrack is running out of time A racehorse can’t run as fast if it’s saddled down with too much weight. Every horse racing enthusiast knows that. For Hawthorne Race Course, it’s been saddled with debt for years and is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. It’s a miracle it hasn’t folded yet. Arlington — its bigger, more elegant companion course — folded back in 2021. Hawthorne owes a number of entities, including winning horse owners, Churchill Downs, Inc., the Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, Cook County, and others. The debt hits the nine-figure range. Horse racing, in general, has been on a downward trajectory for years. According to Gapetcoalition, horse racing as a whole has lost 33% of its market value in the last 10 years. Twenty-six racetracks have closed in that time, including Arlington. A potential lifeline for Hawthorne, the addition of a casino to the property, has not materialized. Assistant GM John Walsh hopes a potential deal with a new, unnamed partner in the Illinois racing scene will help stabilize things. But Hawthorne’s creditors aren’t holding their breath for some Disney-style miracle based on the last several years. Crain’s provides a deep dive into the financial straits of Hawthorne Race Course.

🎟 Bears will raise season ticket prices 13.5% It’s deja vu for Bears’ season ticket-holders. Last offseason, Bears President Kevin Warren announced a 10% increase, despite the team's recent lack of success. After this season’s division title and playoff run, fans were probably already bracing for another increase in ticket prices after the final whistle against the Rams. This marks the fourth price hike in five years. It does come with one more home game than last season, thanks to the NFL’s rotational method by conference. Still, the timing is less than ideal. The team is actively searching for a way out of Soldier Field and most likely, out of the heart of Chicago. Fans may be wondering how much higher ticket prices will get while the Bears are still in Chicago. The team already ranked 4th in the league for average get-in ticket price at $262.75. They trailed only the Lions, Eagles, and Raiders in that order. As a decision on where the Bears will build a new stadium looms, Chicago-based Bears fans may very well disregard the price hike. It’s still a chance to see their team play locally, perhaps for one of the last seasons. The Sun-Times gives Warren’s rationale for the ticket price increase and a glimpse of where stadium talks are now.

⛹️‍♀️ WNBA submits latest CBA proposal to players, source says The clock is ticking. In less than three months, a new WNBA season is supposed to begin. But without a new CBA (collective bargaining agreement), nothing is promised. There are some positives to take away from the WNBA's latest CBA proposal. For starters, the two sides seem to be getting closer to what they both want. The WNBA proposed a massive bump to the max base salary, sending it into the seven-figure range. And from the players’ side, they’ve expressed their desire to begin the 2026 season on time. This sparks hope that players won’t be ready to strike and cancel out the entire season. Revenue sharing remains the sticking point that the sides haven’t yet agreed on. Players want a percentage of gross revenue, while the WNBA wants to give them a percentage of net revenue. Some progress is better than none, but a lot still needs to happen before a new season tips off. Namely, an expansion draft, the rookie draft, and free agency. With 80% of WNBA players free agents, it’s a guarantee that the league will look completely different after a new CBA is accepted. ESPN describes the latest proposal and how the two sides are getting closer to an agreement.

🇬🇷 Giannis Antetokounmpo joins Kalshi as a shareholder, marking a new venture for the NBA star Right before joining as a shareholder, Giannis was a hot topic on Kalshi’s platform. There was over $23.3 million in trading volume on Kalshi, all centered around his chances of getting traded before the end of the trade deadline. Maybe all that hype around him encouraged him to see what it’s like on the other side of the table. The partnership will include Giannis' support for live events and marketing. With over 21 million social media followers for Giannis, this will be a major boost to expanding the brand’s exposure. Giannis is just the latest big-name partnership announced from one of the two biggest prediction market platforms (along with Polymarket). In December, Kalshi partnered with the Blackhawks for its first pro team sponsorship deal. Then, it became CNN’s official prediction market partner that same month. Even though it already has a market value of approximately $11 billion, it seems its value is nowhere near a climax. Attitudes toward prediction markets continue to evolve, potentially unlocking unlimited growth opportunities for Kalshi. AP News talks about the impact the Giannis partnership could have.

🏈 NFL chooses Tiger Woods' TMRW Sports to operate new flag football league From the golf greens to the turf greens. TMRW Sports is the lovechild of Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods. It brought TGL (Tomorrow Golf League) to the world — the hit indoor golf league in its second season. It appeals to younger audiences through its blend of technology and high-stakes golf, creating a faster-paced game. The league's success, as well as TMRW Sports’ NFL ties, helped it win a bid over at least 11 other companies. The debut of flag football at the LA Olympics is just two years away. The NFL is on a mission to promote and grow the sport as much as possible before then. League owners voted in December to invest over $30 million to get a flag football league off the ground. A partnership with a golf league operator may sound like a bunker shot to some. But TMRW Sports has deep NFL ties, including owners and current players. By partnering with TMRW Sports, the NFL is choosing a business with proven experience bringing something new to audiences. Golfweek names some of the key NFL investors already involved with TMRW Sports.

👎 NBA commissioner says Utah Jazz ‘compromised the integrity of our games,’ fines team largest amount yet Tanking has been a dirty word in the NBA for years. If sacrificing wins in a lost season will help teams secure a potential franchise-altering player, they’ll take that risk any day of the week. Previous fines hit a max of a quarter million for teams found “intentionally” losing to secure a high draft position in the NBA Draft. Commissioner Adam Silver levied a new record fine after the Jazz sat two of their former All-Stars who weren’t listed as injured. Jazz owner Ryan Smith is understandably questioning the validity of the fine in this case. On a three-game road trip, Utah won the game after the one the NBA accused it of tanking in. And the game in question, a matchup against the Magic on Feb. 7th, the Jazz only lost by three points. That doesn’t feel like a real effort to tank. In today’s NBA, a team could go on a hot streak of 3’s and blowout the other team by 50 points (case in point: Denver beat Portland 157-103 Feb. 20th in Portland after shooting 57% from the field, 51% from 3-point range). This fact makes it seem somewhat subjective when and how to enforce an anti-tanking rule. For now, Utah serves as the NBA's poster child for its push to end tanking. The Salt Lake Tribune covers the alleged tanking violation in detail and features comments on how the NBA could really stop any future tanking.

💰 Playfly Sports Announces First Collegiate Jersey Patch Deal College sports take another step towards mirroring the pros in this latest partnership. LSU will be the first school to integrate sponsored jersey patches on all of its athletic teams for 2026-2027. Playfly, known as the official revenue-maximization company for college sports, is working with over 75 athletic departments nationwide. This deal is the first of its kind, but it definitely won’t be the last. Maximizing revenue has become a top priority for colleges amid rising expenses in the NIL era. Once the NCAA voted to allow jersey patches in late January, it was only a matter of time before schools leaped at the chance to add another revenue stream. It’s always been a competition — both on the field and on the balance sheet — to run a major university’s athletic department. With the NCAA now allowing up to 2 sponsors on college jerseys, the race is on to secure the best and most sensible jersey sponsorship deals. Playfly covers the full details on the jersey patch deal it helped negotiate on LSU’s behalf.