Deal Brief · Week of Sep 28
Tracking the deals shaping the business of culture.
Investments
Lexie Brown joins the UPSHOT League’s ownership group
Brown became the first active player in the UPSHOT League’s ownership group, joining early backers Cheryl Miller, Ann Meyers Drysdale, and Tamika Catchings. An eight-season WNBA veteran and 2021 champion, she was part of Debut Capital’s inaugural Investor-in-Residence class and holds an angel position in BARCODE.
New ventures
Dwyane Wade launches draft docuseries The Call: Hoopers
Wade’s WY Network, with Goat Farm Network, launched a weekly YouTube series following six first-round picks from the 2026 NBA Draft through the final days before draft night, leading with Michigan’s Morez Johnson Jr.
Khloé Kardashian brings her fragrance portfolio to 1,300 Sephora stores
Kardashian’s fragrance line — XO Khloé, Almost Always, and the new XO Blue — made its physical retail debut across 1,300 Sephora US and Sephora at Kohl’s doors plus Sephora.com, after building direct-to-consumer with beauty incubator Luxe Brands. The launch carries a 360 media campaign across paid social, digital, and out-of-home.
Fundraising and acquisitions
Notes.fm Raises $5 Million to Help Artists Recover Lost Royalties
Notes.fm, the music royalty collection platform helping musicians and music companies identify and collect 100% of their royalties, announces it has raised $5 million from leading artists, managers, executives and strategic partners across the music industry. The round includes participation from Benny Blanco, Zach Bryan and his managers, Tainy, Blake Slatkin, WME's Ari Emanuel, and Chord Music's Sam Hendel and others.
Brand endorsements
Venmo signs nine college athletes to NIL deals
Venmo named a nine-athlete NIL roster across five sports and launched Money Moves, letting athletes receive part of their NIL earnings through the app and route some back to teammates, coaches, and family.
Eileen Gu joins SK-II as global ambassador
The freeski star signed her first skincare partnership, fronting SK-II’s “Free to Bare” campaign anchored on its Facial Treatment Essence.
Charlie Woods signs his first NIL deal with TaylorMade
The 17-year-old FSU commit signed a club-and-ball deal with TaylorMade — the brand his father plays — joining an amateur roster that includes future FSU teammate Miles Russell and US Women’s Amateur winner Asterisk Talley.
Trey Murphy III joins New Balance Basketball
Murphy signed with New Balance after years in Nike, joining a roster that includes Tyrese Maxey, Cooper Flagg, Cameron Brink, and Josh Allen. He’d spent the offseason posting workouts in the brand’s shoes before the deal closed.
Sir Mark Cavendish named Speediance brand ambassador
The British cycling legend fronts the smart-gym brand’s “Build for Belief” global campaign, built around resilience and the mental side of recovering from setbacks.
Nike signs 40 LSU athletes to Blue Ribbon Elite
LSU — the program’s first school when it launched last December — expanded its Blue Ribbon Elite roster fourfold to 40 athletes across football, baseball, gymnastics, track, and more.
Cara Delevingne named Armedangels brand ambassador
Delevingne fronts the sustainable label’s AW26/27 “Never the Expected” campaign, built around SaXcell — a next-gen Lyocell fiber made from 30% recycled cotton waste and 70% FSC-certified wood pulp.
Koji Mukai named a Burberry brand ambassador
Burberry has appointed Snow Man’s Koji Mukai a brand ambassador. The courtship ran years. Mukai wore Burberry privately and on stage, was invited to the SS25 show at London Fashion Week in September 2024, then sat front row at SS26 in a velvet brocade suit in September 2025. private wear, an SS25 show invite, then a front-row seat at SS26.
Media deals
Lewis Hamilton’s Dawn Apollo Studios signs a first-look deal with Skydance Sports
Hamilton signed a multi-year first-look deal between Dawn Apollo Studios and Skydance Sports, the sports-entertainment arm of Paramount Skydance. It spans scripted, unscripted, and animation, with Hamilton executive producing everything, and extends beyond film and TV into Paramount’s video games and consumer products. Dawn Apollo launched in 2022 and drew first blood with F1, the Brad Pitt film Hamilton produced and appeared in, which grossed more than $634M worldwide.
Noah Baumbach signs a first-look feature deal with Warner Bros.
Baumbach signed a three-year first-look deal with Warner Bros. beginning in 2027, ending a five-year Netflix run that produced four films. His first project goes to Clockwork, Warner’s new specialty label, with David Heyman and Margot Robbie’s LuckyChap producing an original about two college students in New York.
Disney signs Like Nastya to a content development deal
Disney signed the kids’ creator to its first content deal with a major entertainment company — an original animated preschool series for Disney Jr. and Disney+, new live-action content, and a curated slice of her existing library on Disney platforms.
ESPN orders a second season of The Breakdown with Peyton and Kuechly
ESPN ordered 11 episodes of the Omaha Productions and NFL Films series, with Manning and Kuechly breaking down strategy and storylines from opposite sides of the ball ahead of marquee NFL matchups.
Roles and appointments
Myles Turner elected NBPA vice president
Turner was elected to a three-year term on the NBPA Executive Committee, replacing the retired Garrett Temple, and joins a committee that includes president Fred VanVleet, Jaylen Brown, and Karl-Anthony Towns.