Larry Freedman

And consider that each of those 2.2 million shots have over 90 data points combining player talent & historical ability, the exact type of shot (location, distance, off catch/dribble) and the precise location of the defense!

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This partnership between #MajorLeagueBaseball and #Mastercard highlights the connection food has with baseball and sports overall, from traditional items like hot dogs, popcorn, ice cream, and peanuts to unique choices such as fried chicken donuts at #CitiField and the Mac Bat at #TropicanaField, a cone filled with Mac n Cheese. Utilizing the connection with culinary in your market can also bring the rewards of engaging both inside and outside your venue. Minor League Baseball and "Home Run Foods" Minor League Baseball (MiLB) partnered with local eateries to offer "Home Run Foods," delivering stadium favorites to fans' doorsteps. This initiative boosted fan engagement during the pandemic, achieving a 20% increase in merchandise sales tied to food orders. ECHL Inc. and "Fan Feast" The ECHL's "Fan Feast" program, launched in collaboration with regional food vendors, provided fans with team-branded meal kits. This initiative saw a 15% increase in online fan engagement and helped sustain local businesses. Local Quick Service Restaurant (#QSR) partnerships are crucial for community connections. They provide unique, regional flavors that resonate with local fans, enhancing the authenticity of the at-home experience. These collaborations also support local businesses, fostering community goodwill and creating a mutually beneficial relationship. ❇ Tips for Finding Local QSR Partners 1. Identify Popular Local Eateries: Look for restaurants with a strong local following or reflect the community. 2. Evaluate Brand Alignment: Ensure the QSR’s brand connects with your team’s values and fanbase preferences. 3. Leverage Existing Relationships: Utilize existing sponsorships or vendor relationships for potential partnerships. 4. Consider Logistics: Choose partners capable of handling high volumes and maintaining food quality during delivery. Building Community and Revenue Implementing these food delivery programs creates a strong community connection, and loyalty and generates new revenue streams. A simple, easy-to-activate idea is to collaborate with a popular local food provider to offer team-branded meals for delivery during home and away matches. This enhances the fan experience and supports local businesses, driving engagement and sales. Consider what your local culinary providers might offer your fans. #Sportsbiz #FanEngagment #Partnerships #Community #Baseball #Food #Concessions

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The WNBA (Women's National Basketball Association) is on incredible growth trajectory. The league have just released data showing 156% growth in attendances year on year... and that's not all: - More than half of games so far this season have sold out - TV audiences are up three fold - Sales on WNBAStore are up 756% - Video views on social media are up 380% - Subscriptions for WNBA League Pass are up 335% The arrival of phenom Caitlin Clark into the league is part of this success, but that can only be part of the story. The reality is a much bigger, wider growth story that speaks to the arrival of women's basketball and women's sport in general for the modern fan #SportsBiz https://lnkd.in/euYqSAqB

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2024 Player Development Conference Reflection It’s been a week since the Player Development Conference and I have been blown away by the reflections of attendees and speakers. I have sat down and read them all. The feeling of support has been immense and tangible. Finally, here are my thoughts: https://lnkd.in/gkjxUZFd #PlayerDevelopment

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The debate continues - should women's sports carve out its own path, or leverage the legacy framework and partnerships of their male counterparts? There's no better example of this predicament then the fact that WNBA (Women's National Basketball Association) has the majority of its rights wrapped in with the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s next major rights tenders, and is seeing incredible momentum in interest in the sport and league fresh off the drafting of the next big star Caitlin Clark. NBA's commissioner say it is categorically the right approach - others would disagree, and would suggest that the WNBA should be allowed more flexibility in their approach to monetising rights in a new era of sports media consumption. What's the best approach for a league like the WNBA? https://lnkd.in/d_JN2v35

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The country club industry seems to be thriving despite a struggling economy. According to Chris Davis, a director at Club Benchmarking, the number of country clubs with golf courses that have waitlists has increased from 25% in 2019 to 49% currently. Additionally, the median initiation fee has risen from $29,000 in 2019 to about $50,000 at the end of 2022, according to Club Benchmarking data. It appears that people are willing to invest in exclusive membership experiences despite economic uncertainty.

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Golf - The Evolving Business Model. The men's professional game of #golf continues to be as divided as many of the stakeholders in the US political arena. We saw it yet again this past weekend, when one of the games showcase events "The Masters" was played at Augusta in Georgia, USA. Broadcasters seemingly, and incredibly unprofessionally, went out of their way to discredit the presence of the #LIVGolf league players who were in attendance along with their #PGATour colleagues over the course of the week. All of the sly and sarcastic interludes throughout the broadcast did not get lost on the fans of the game, as the internet lit up as if it were some kind of heated debate between passionate #Democrats and #Republicans. #PGA pundits making sly remarks about the LIV players not being able to manage playing 72 holes over the week, because the rival LIV tournaments are played over 54 holes over three days. This got me thinking. Who actually invented the concept of 18 holes for a round of golf, and how did 72 holes become the 'norm" for a golf tournament? Well you might be surprised to learn that at the traditional home of golf, St Andrews in #Scotland, the course originally consisted of 22 holes. 11 holes out, and 11 holes back in. This was later shortened when holes were merged together. Yet back then there was no standard, some tournaments even featured courses that had just 12 holes. It's when we jump back over the Atlantic once again to understand that The Masters tournament was originally played over eighteen holes over three days, eighteen holes were played each day for the first two days, and then a final 36 holes were played on the third day. Co-founder of 'The Masters" , Amateur golfer Bobby Jones suggested that the tournament should be played over four days so more tickets could be sold, and other events could be built around the week, so it was born, the concept, and norm that a golf tournament was to be played over eighteen holes over the course of four straight days. Other major tournaments followed suit such as 'The Open' and the 'PGA Championships'. In June 2021 the disruptors came into the game, the LIV Golf league. LIV introduced three day and fifty four hole tournaments. Ever since then the internal flames on mens professional golf has become an out of control wildfire. Players, fans and administrators are all embroiled in a never ending circus that started in 2021, over 250 years after the game was invented. The question is, when will the adults enter the room and realize that for mens professional golf to prosper the ego's need to be put aside so that the sustainable future of the game can be created which for now, is the only thing that matters. The only thing that matters.

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Read more about Game Plan & BridgeAthletic coming together at Sportico

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This article sheds light on the stark reality of adults exploiting players and their parents to capitalize on their amateur success. The focus is to offer the opportunity to play in college or professional baseball while perpetuating a culture of fear of missing out if you don't participate. The revenues will continue to be funded by the mass herd of youth players participating in multiple events, all for a ranking and profile to platform you to the next event. What a cycle. Now, players can or have signed away their NIL rights for this organization to continue to scale while offering more tournaments and showcases all year round to a younger and younger player demographic. Renowned MLB agent Scott Boras said in the article, "There are many other facets of illustrating your skills where you don't need Perfect Game, and to give away rights that potentially could be of substantial value to you going forward," he said. "That is not the original intent of what this was, which was a fee-for-service. Now it's a fee-for-service, plus a loss of monumental rights for no remuneration to the player."  With the prevalent use of social media, the NCAA's move to pay players and NIL usage, the industry will continue to pressure parents and players to do anything possible to secure their players' opportunities to play at the next level. The best players rarely have to pay to participate, with their expenses often compensated for playing in large-scale or marquee tournaments. They frequently move from team to team and showcase to showcase, seldom competing within their local communities. The focus has shifted from team success to building their brand. Injuries will continue to rise, and Major League Baseball (MLB) will continue to inherit a generation of players who have spent most of their time focusing on what they need to do to boost themselves and less on the teams that can help them succeed. I really hope and would love to see MLB Playball, USA Baseball, and MLB Pipeline's platforms efficiently marketed and integrated inside more communities to help offset what is currently happening to amateur players on their journey. After all, many of these players who are paying for these tournaments, are all dreaming of playing MLB. Starting off playing in your community league with a pathway of opportunity for more players to play at higher levels shouldn't come with such a high price tag.

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I've talked about the impact that the AIQ.team has in the NFL, but our value transcends beyond just the sport of football - we have a significant presence in basketball, baseball, hockey, soccer and more. With the National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals & Draft right around the corner, our team is looking at this past year's rookie class and the signals the AIQ picked up between the players cognitive scores & performance on the court. 🏀 I wanted to share one in particular: the NBA All-Rookie team outperformed all of the other 2023 NBA prospects in the area of Learning Efficiency (LE). LE is one of the 15 data points the AIQ measures and affects a player's ability to learn technique, strategy, reports, etc. and recall this information readily when needed. Teams that use the AIQ for scouting & talent selection know that LE is a crucial indicator in a prospect's ability to learn the playbook more quickly than their peers and adjust to the speed of the game better than other draftees. As sports evolve to rely heavily on analytics and measuring "between the ears", we continue to provide insights & correlations to our teams to help them select the right talent, develop players properly, and ultimately take the right step to a championship caliber team. #Linkedinsports #NBA #CognitiveAssessment

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After spending the last couple months diving down and meeting / having dialogue with all 20 China Basketball Association (CBA) teams, I’ve learned quite a ton. Here are a few highlights that should indicate the CBA is on an upswing: 1)  There will most likely be an increase to 6 quarters of game play by foreign players combined in the upcoming 2024-25 season, up from the current 4 quarters. That means that if a team has 2 import players on the bench (and they’re allowed up to 4 signed and registered to play anytime, but most teams carry 3), they will likely play 1 in the 1st quarter, 2 in the 2nd and 3rd quarters and are restricted to only 1 on the floor in the 4th quarter = 6 quarters with foreign players. As the entertainment quality of the product suffered 3 years playing in a bubble, and last season was the 1st truly post-pandemic CBA season, there is a need to make the game more dynamic, and foreign players raise the level of the game. 2)   While salaries are down from the days of import players making up to USD 4 million post tax pre-pandemic and in a different Chinese economy, all salary ranges quoted to me for foreign players by teams are USD 500K to 1.5 million post tax. This is still by far the highest in Asia, and it’s competitive with European salaries minus the top Euroleague Basketball teams. Teams are mindful of the need to carefully manage their finances in this economic climate, but the ecosystem is still incredibly more healthy than that of Chinese football (soccer). The tone I receive from team owners and managers is that the teams are committed more than ever to working together in a meaningful way to develop the CBA post-pandemic being financially responsible in line with current Chinese economic conditions through innovation and constant fine tuning of the product. No one is sitting on their hands and hoping for the best, and remaining the best and strongest league in Asia is a top of mind objective every day. 3)   Given the fact that the China men’s national team is not playing in the Olympics this summer, the focus on developing young players on the national team by playing in top competition in Australia and the U.S. is a smart move. The roster of young bucks was announced this past week, and this XInhua News Agency article has a reference to the July 5-10 NBA Summer League games Team China will play in Sacramento: https://lnkd.in/ggWK7-8b Team China (men’s and women’s sides) will play in Melbourne July 2 to 5: https://lnkd.in/gQJgs5sR Here is a photo from last weekend with Courtney Fortson, who is playing on the China NBL team Changsha Yongsheng and fighting to get back to the CBA. My colleague Alex Olin and I brought Courtney the second-ever China shoe deal for a non-NBA foreigner player with 361 Degrees International Ltd in 2018 when he became the league’s MVP after leading the team to the CBA Finals.

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This report illustrates the gaps that are often found between "policy" and "implementation." We see examples of this in in other areas including anti-doping and safe sport. One of the solutions is greater accountability. Policies are just words on a page that are ineffective without robust accountability frameworks to affect real change. #sportpolicy #accountability

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“Foster the best playing environments” Here is a question that was brought to my attention this week. Can an MLS Club protect up to 9 players in their region without informing the player? If that is the case: would that rule stand up in a court of law? If not the case: what is the “protect player rule” and why is the list not made public? Anyone with correct answers please respond! Thx Db

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Navigation of the New Era of NCAA Athletic Recruiting with Pay-to-Play Dynamics Connected Athletics is closely monitoring the changing NCAA recruiting scene, which is now influenced by the transfer portal, Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) chances, and pay-to-play. These changes are altering college sports, making it crucial for high school athletes and their parents. What’s Change? 1. Transfer portal fluidity: As colleges adjust their rosters accommodate transfers, athletes have more alternatives than ever to choose programs that meet their demands. 2. NIL Opportunities Athletes can profit from their name, image, and resemblance, which now influence school selection. NIL deals can impact judgments as much as sports and academic programs. 3. Pay-to-Play Dynamics: Some athletes receive significant incentives for transferring, so knowing the financial ramifications and opportunities is vital. This new layer complicates yet is essential to decision-making. High school players and parents can pivot: 1. Strategic Positioning: Make a compelling case for your athletic skills and marketability. In a world where NIL and pay-to-play might limit options, early personal branding is essential. 2. Academic Excellence: Academic success is crucial. Transfer rules are flexible, emphasizing the importance of academic status for eligibility and instant play. 3. Visibility and Networking: Participate in high-profile competitions and showcases and use social media to promote your athletic and academic achievements. Contact prospective schools and coaches. 4. Understanding NCAA Regulations: Keep up with transfers, NIL, and pay-to-play laws. You can better navigate recruiting with information. 5. Consulting experts: Use Connected Athletics or hiring advisors. Optimize athletic scholarships, NIL deals, and pay-to-play with expert advice. In conclusion, the NCAA athletic recruiting field is increasingly complex and dynamic. To succeed in this new environment, college athletes and their parents must be proactive, aware, and savvy. We provide you with the information and resources to succeed in this changing climate at Connected Athletics. Transform these changes into opportunities. Find out how we can help your collegiate athletics career! NCAARecruiting #HighSchoolAthletics #CollegeSports #NIL #PayToPlay #AthleteBrand #ConnectedAthletics #SportsEducation If you want to explore how these changes may affect your or your child's recruiting strategy, comment below or message me!

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An interesting read. #sportslaw

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B6 - 2-0 - 3-0 Carolina Pass to Middle - U20 M Good full ice passing and scoring drill. https://lnkd.in/gXDepwPF... https://lnkd.in/gXaBhEP7

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