Robinhood In Sports Betting 💰

PLUS Disney+ And ESPN Combine, $40M High School Football Stadium, UConn Star Makes History

December 04, 2024

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Welcome to Office Chair Sports! Your home for everything Sports & Biz! Today, we’re covering top news about:

  • Robinhood In Sports Betting

  • Disney+ And ESPN Combine

  • $40M High School Football Stadium

  • UMass Hires New Coach

  • UConn Star Makes History

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Robinhood In Sports Betting

Robinhood may be entering the sports betting arena.

CEO Vlad Tenev hinted at the plans during the company's first investor day, suggesting they might take a unique approach using event contracts similar to their presidential election markets, rather than traditional sportsbook operations. Instead of betting against the house, users would trade with each other.

While the news caused slight dips in shares of established betting companies like Penn Entertainment, Flutter, and DraftKings, the market reaction was relatively mild. Flutter dropped less than 2%, while Penn and DraftKings stayed positive for the day.

Disney+ And ESPN Combine

Here's what's coming:

  • 100 live games available to Disney+ subscribers (no ESPN+ needed)

  • Coverage across NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, college sports, and more

  • Special content like next week's "Simpsons" NFL broadcast and NBA Christmas games

  • Two new Disney+ exclusive shows: a daily "SportsCenter" and a women's sports program

The big move comes next fall when ESPN's new "flagship" streaming service launches, giving subscribers full ESPN access through Disney+.

Disney's betting on sports to boost streaming engagement, especially with Disney+'s female audience. The platform will include ESPN studio shows like "College GameDay" and sports documentaries, with content timed to active sports seasons.

Current pricing: ESPN+ alone is $11.99 monthly, while the Disney+/Hulu/ESPN+ bundle runs $16.99 with ads.

$40M High School Football Stadium

Stephenville High School is building a $40M stadium, scheduled to be completed in May 2025.

The stadium will have 7,500 seats with 5,500 seats to the home team. Meanwhile, the school has over 1100 students.

The stadium will pay homage to two former coaches. The stadium itself will be named after former coach Art Briles, while the artificial turf within will be named after former coach Mike Copeland.

$40M sounds like an insane amount to drop on a high school football stadium, but Texas loves its high school football. $40M is still peanuts compared to others.

UMass Hires New Coach

UMass is making a significant investment in its football future, hiring Rutgers defensive coordinator Joe Harasymiak as head coach with a five-year deal worth approximately $1.3-1.4 million annually.

UMass enters the MAC in 2025. The school is backing up this move with serious resources:

  • Nearly $2 million in guaranteed NIL/revenue share for 2025

  • $3 million for 2026

  • $2.7 million staff pool (projected highest in MAC)

Harasymiak brings a track record of success with him:

  • Led Maine to FCS semifinals in 2018

  • Helped Rutgers to consecutive bowl games (2023-24)

  • Produced a top-20 defense at Rutgers in 2023

It's a much-needed fresh start for UMass, which hasn't had a winning season since moving to FBS in 2012.

UConn Star Makes History

Paige Bueckers is making history again.

Nike just announced Paige as the first NIL athlete to design and launch a Nike Player Edition basketball sneaker.

The UConn star's personalized Nike G.T. Hustle 3 tells her story through unique details:

  • Baby blue and lavender colorway (her favorite colors)

  • Area codes from UConn and her Minnesota hometown on the tongue

  • Her dad's pregame text "Be You, Be Great" featured

  • A clever "Buckets" wordplay on the heel

Bueckers already made history as the first freshman to win National Player of the Year in 2021. Nike notes that female athletes were involved in 90% of the shoe's testing, highlighting their commitment to women's sports.

The announcement sparked discussion about WNBA star Caitlin Clark's Nike deal – while she has a $28 million contract with plans for a signature shoe, fans are still waiting for that release.

The Bueckers PE drops December 7 on SNKRS and select retailers.

Internships 🙋

1. Marketing Intern, (FC Cincinnati) - The Marketing Intern will assist with the grassroots and traditional marketing efforts of FC Cincinnati. Attention to detail, critical thinking, and strong collaboration are three of the main components that foster success in this position.

2. Academy Performance Fellowship, (Philadelphia Union) - The Philadelphia Union is looking to fill an Academy Performance Fellow position. This is a part-time position, that is primarily responsible for the athletic performance of our Academy teams but is also expected to work as part of the Philadelphia Union’s Performance Department as a whole, which also services our MLS NEXT Pro and MLS teams.

3. Vertical Content Intern - The Chicago White Sox are looking for an entry-level season-long Vertical Content Intern to assist in our organic content strategy on various social media platforms.

4. Applied Sports Science Internship (Chicago White Sox) - Assist the Sports Science Staff with the implementation of new and existing Sports Science initiatives including but not limited to set up, deployment, and troubleshooting of Sports Science Technology, communication of Sports Science reports to Sports Performance Staff, along with data collection, data entry, and data hygiene checks within the Athlete Management System.

5. Intern, Graphic Design (St. Louis Blues) - The St. Louis Blues, Enterprise Center, and Stifel Theatre are looking for a skilled creative to intern in the fast-paced world of sports and entertainment.

Job Board 💰

1. Sports Therapist (New York City FC) - The Sport Therapist will be primarily responsible for managing health care, injury prevention, and rehabilitation programs in coordination with the Head of Rehabilitation.

2. Athletic Training Assistant (Seasonal), (Detroit Tigers) - The Detroit Tigers are looking for certified athletic training seasonal assistants for our four minor league affiliates (Toledo, Erie, West Michigan, Lakeland).

3. Digital Client Service Coordinator, Media - Digital Client Service Coordinator (CSC) will responsible for supporting revenue growth for all HTS digital offerings within their assigned set of accounts, as well as linear, through assisting the sales process to agencies with the AE (Account Executive) and CSR (Client Service Representative).

4. Content Producer (Brand GPS) (Phoenix Suns) - Player 15 Group is seeking an experienced and highly motivated Content Producer to capture content, produce and edit exceptional storytelling pieces.

5. Manager, Regional Sales (Washington Capitals) - The Manager, Regional Sales is responsible for generating maximum revenue through the sale of full season, partial season, and group ticket plans.

Thanks for reading - see you soon!