Deal Brief · Week of Oct 19
Tracking the deals shaping the business of culture.
Investments
Sports Icons Back Miami’s New Pro Volleyball Team
League One Volleyball (LOVB) has unveiled the ownership group for LOVB Miami, its 10th professional franchise and a founding member of the league’s new Eastern Conference for the 2026-27 season. The syndicate is anchored by Chase and Stephanie Coleman, Fifth Down Capital, Suprette, Jett Sports, and Jackie Garcia, alongside existing team owners from the Charlotte Hornets, Tampa Bay Rays, and North Carolina Courage.
Lisa Leslie, Sha’Carri Richardson, and Pusha T lead an athlete and entertainment contingent that also includes NFL veterans Champ Bailey and Ryan Clark, as well as Olympic beach volleyball champion Phil Dalhausser. Launching as South Florida’s only professional women’s sports team, the franchise plugs directly into LOVB’s network of more than 30,000 youth club players across 30 states.
Fundraising and acquisitions
Disney+ Acquires Broadcast Rights to Aurélien Tchouaméni’s The Bridge
Disney+ has acquired broadcast rights to The Bridge, the French talk show hosted by Real Madrid midfielder Aurélien Tchouaméni. Produced by Tchouaméni’s representation agency, ESN, the series launched on YouTube in 2024 and has featured conversations with sports and cultural figures including Kylian Mbappé, Paul Pogba, and actor Omar Sy.
Beginning with its fourth season, Disney+ holds a seven-day exclusive premiere window for new episodes before they become available for free on YouTube. The windowed structure gives the streamer early access to a young European football audience while allowing ESN to monetize athlete-owned media rights upfront without giving up open-platform reach.
Brand endorsements
Shohei Ohtani Partners With Chandler Bats on a Global Bat Line
Shohei Ohtani has partnered with Chandler Bats to develop a global line of baseball bats and training equipment. Ohtani worked directly with Chandler’s engineers on the collection, which opens with a limited release of 1,000 PSA-authenticated, serial-numbered wood bats built to his game specifications, split evenly between Japan and a global World Edition.
Following the initial collector release, the partnership will expand into composite and aluminum bats for amateur and youth players alongside training tools. For Chandler, long known as a custom wood-bat supplier for Major League clubhouses, the agreement uses Ohtani’s reach in the US and Japan to enter the larger, higher-volume amateur metal and composite bat market.
Mats Hummels Joins Bentley as Brand Ambassador
Mats Hummels has signed a two-year partnership with Bentley Motors, joining the British automaker’s roster of European brand ambassadors with a focus on the German-speaking DACH region. The 2014 World Cup winner takes delivery of a new Continental GT Speed as part of the agreement.
Since retiring from club football, Hummels has worked as a television analyst covering the Champions League and the 2026 World Cup while building an active private investment portfolio. He joins a wider ambassador lineup that includes Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Liverpool forward Cody Gakpo as Bentley updates its positioning across core European luxury markets.
Charles Hicks Joins Science in Sport as Global Ambassador
UK performance nutrition company Science in Sport (SiS) has signed British-American marathoner Charles Hicks as a global ambassador. Days after the announcement, the 25-year-old finished eighth overall and second among Americans at the Chicago Marathon in 2:05:35.
Born in London and raised in Florida, the former Stanford NCAA champion switched competitive allegiance from Great Britain to the US in 2025. Earlier this year, he ran 2:04:35 in Boston, recording the second-fastest marathon by an American in only his second attempt at the distance. His dual background gives the London-based isotonic gel maker a credible frontman across both the UK and US endurance running markets.
Notre Dame QB CJ Carr Signs NIL Deal With Chipotle
Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr has signed an NIL partnership with Chipotle that puts his custom order on the chain’s digital menu. The limited-time CJ Carr’s Double Chicken Bowl is available exclusively through the Chipotle app and website. The campaign also features a “Chipotle U” leaderboard contest for Notre Dame students running through December 31, awarding the campus’s top three digital customers free burritos for a year and a signed Carr jersey.
Partnerships
David Beckham & Danny Yeung’s IM8 Becomes the NBA’s Official Nutrition Partner in Australia and Southeast Asia
IM8, the supplement brand co-founded by David Beckham and Prenetics CEO Danny Yeung, has signed a multiyear deal as the NBA's Official Nutrition Partner across nine markets in Australia and Southeast Asia, representing a combined population of roughly 660 million. The agreement includes localized retail campaigns and an activation at NBA House in 2027.
Operated by Nasdaq-listed Prenetics, IM8 has reported more than 50 million servings delivered to date. The NBA partnership adds a regional sports platform to its existing roster of athlete-investors and ambassadors, including Giannis Antetokounmpo and Aryna Sabalenka.
Media deals
Kyle Kuzma Launches Business Podcast ‘Read the Room’
Milwaukee Bucks forward Kyle Kuzma is launching Read the Room, a 15-episode weekly business podcast produced with Brandon Harris’s financial media network, Invested Inc. Premiering this month on YouTube and major audio platforms, the series is executive produced by Kuzma, Harris, and Austin Eastman.
Kuzma’s show centers on venture capital, company building, and career pivots with founders, investors, and scientists. Now in his ninth NBA season, Kuzma draws on his own private-market investing background, which includes stakes in SpaceX, AI cloud provider Nscale, and prediction market Kalshi.
Tracy McGrady Strikes Two-Year Partnership With NBC Sports
Tracy McGrady has signed a two-year strategic partnership to remain with NBC Sports for the 2026-27 NBA season, pairing his studio role on NBA Showtime alongside Maria Taylor, Vince Carter, and Carmelo Anthony with distribution for his off-court basketball ventures.
Under the agreement, Peacock will stream games from McGrady’s one-on-one Ones Basketball League, and NBC will join live tapings of Cousins, the podcast he co-hosts with Carter. Both sides are also developing programming around the ABCD Camp, the youth basketball showcase McGrady acquired and relaunched with adidas. Folding talent-owned properties into a network agreement gives NBC extra basketball inventory on Peacock alongside its live league rights.
Roles and appointments
2X NBA All-Star Carlos Boozer Named Chief Growth Officer of Impeccable
Two-time NBA All-Star Carlos Boozer has stepped into a full-time executive role as Chief Growth Officer at Impeccable, the Boca Raton-based investment firm he co-founded. Boozer will now lead investor relations, strategic partnerships, and business development across the firm’s development and restaurant divisions.
Impeccable focuses on ground-up retail, restaurant, and mixed-use real estate across the American Southeast. Its current portfolio spans more than 25 active development projects totaling roughly 2 million square feet, alongside over 50 restaurant locations either operating or under construction.
Hall of Famer Amar’e Stoudemire Becomes a Police Officer
Six-time NBA All-Star Amar’e Stoudemire has graduated from Miami Dade College’s Basic Law Enforcement Academy and been sworn in with the Miami-Dade Schools Police Department, the largest school-based police force in the US. Stoudemire, 43, who was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame earlier in 2026, completed months of classroom and physical training and received the program’s Harry “Coach” Everett Award.
The move follows a longtime family tradition in law enforcement that includes several relatives who served as police captains and deputies. He will complete department field training before beginning active duty in the district’s schools.
Jeremy Lin and Jason Kidd Join ESPN as NBA Analysts
Jeremy Lin and Jason Kidd have joined ESPN as NBA analysts as the network enters its 25th consecutive season broadcasting the league. Kidd will call select games and join NBA Countdown alongside Malika Andrews, Kendrick Perkins, Brian Windhorst, and Shams Charania on nights when Inside the NBA is off the schedule. The move returns Kidd to television five months after parting ways with the Dallas Mavericks in May following a five-season coaching run.
Lin, who retired from playing in August 2025 after finishing his career in Asia, steps into a full-time game analyst and NBA Today studio role after working part-time for ESPN during the Knicks’ playoff run last season.
Dwyane Wade Joins REVOLVE Man and FWRD Man as Chief Performance Officer
Fashion retailer REVOLVE Group has appointed Dwyane Wade as Chief Performance Officer across its contemporary platform, REVOLVE Man, and luxury division, FWRD Man. Having previously partnered with the company, Wade will front campaigns and curate product programs while advising on brand marketing, category expansion, and live events.
Known primarily for its influencer-driven women’s business across more than 1,600 brands, REVOLVE is using Wade’s appointment to build out menswear as a secondary growth channel across both mainstream and luxury price points. The partnership leverages on his accomplishments as an athlete, his influence on modern men’s style, and his ability to shape conversations beyond the court.
