The Tom Brady Of F1 🏁

PLUS The Buckeyes Add 91 Scholarships, Big Shakeups In College Football Rankings, Record Year For NWSL

November 25, 2024

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

  • The Tom Brady Of F1

  • The Buckeyes Add 91 Scholarships

  • Big Shakeups In College Football Rankings

  • Top 54 Sports Startups in 2024

  • Record Year For NWSL

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The Tom Brady Of F1

Is Max Verstappen the Tom Brady 🐐 of F1?

Max just clinched his fourth straight Formula 1 title in Las Vegas, securing the championship with two races remaining despite finishing fifth.

The Red Bull driver just needed to beat McLaren's Lando Norris to lock up the title. While Mercedes duo George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, along with Ferrari's Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, finished ahead of him, Verstappen's fifth-place finish was enough to seal the deal.

While F1 champions don't receive direct prize money, Verstappen's 2024 salary sits at $55 million. His Red Bull team earned $140 million for last year's constructors' championship.

The constructors' battle remains tight with McLaren (608 points) leading, Ferrari (584) in second, and Red Bull (555) in third. Two races left – Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

The Buckeyes Add 91 Scholarships

Ohio State is making a major investment in athlete compensation, adding 91 new scholarships and pledging to distribute the full $20.5 million allowed under the House v. NCAA settlement.

AD Ross Bjork announced the school will maintain all 36 sports programs while adapting to new roster size regulations that replace traditional scholarship limits. To fund these changes, Ohio State plans to explore expanded naming rights and revise football ticket pricing.

Buckeye Nation, stand up!

Big Shakeups In College Football Rankings

Notre Dame surges to No. 3 in the latest USA TODAY Sports NCAA Re-Rank, riding a nine-game win streak with impressive victories over Texas A&M, Louisville, and Georgia Tech. The Irish are averaging 43.6 points during this run.

Texas drops to No. 4 after an unconvincing 31-14 win against Kentucky, still seeking their first ranked win. Penn State sits at No. 5 with six wins against bowl-eligible teams.

The SEC and Big 12 saw major shakeups:

  • Alabama falls to No. 12 after Oklahoma loss

  • Ole Miss drops to No. 15 following Florida defeat

  • Texas A&M slides to No. 20 after four-OT Auburn loss

  • BYU down to No. 21, Colorado to No. 25

Arizona State emerges as Big 12's highest-ranked team at No. 17, followed by Iowa State at No. 18. Boise State maintains its Group of Five lead at No. 14 after narrowly beating Wyoming.

Top 54 Sports Startups in 2024

Failory put together a list of the top 54 sports startups of 2024.

Some of the companies are positioned to be unicorns and growing with crazy momentum.

There’s even a startup to help fishermen get better at fishing and catch bigger fish. They raised over $58M in funding 🤯

The entire sports sector is on fire 🔥right now.

Record Year For NWSL

The NWSL capped its 12th season with Orlando Pride's 1-0 championship victory over Washington Spirit.

While the Pride celebrate their victory, let’s celebrate the league's remarkable growth.

Key highlights from 2024:

  • Record attendance (11,235 average, double 2017's numbers)

  • New $240 million TV deal with CBS and ABC/ESPN

  • The first stadium built for women's pro sports (CPKC Stadium)

  • High-profile investors like Magic Johnson and Grant Hill

The league's expansion continues with Bay FC joining in 2024 and Boston in 2026 (paying $53 million entry fees). Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Denver compete for the 16th spot.

Commissioner Jessica Berman reports a 295% viewership increase over last year. The league is attracting international stars like Barbra Banda (who scored the championship winner) and MVP Temwa Chawinga.

While challenges remain in some markets, the NWSL's trajectory suggests women's professional soccer has finally found stable ground in the U.S.

Internships 🙋

1. Sports Consulting Intern - Playfly Sports is looking for a Sports Consulting intern to join our team in New York, NY and work collaboratively across our Property Consulting, Brand Consulting, Valuation and Experiential verticals.

2. 2025 Spring Training Intern, Media Relations, (NY Yankees) - Some responsibilies include compiling and distributing news clippings pertaining to the Yankees, George M. Steinbrenner Field, Yankee Stadium and baseball from all Florida and New York metropolitan area newspapers, magazines and websites. Contribute to daily spring training game notes and produce scorecards, statpacks, rosters and other department materials.

3. 2025 Photography Intern, (NY Yankees) - The New York Yankees are looking for creative and talented individuals to join our Photography Intern Program. The ideal candidates are enthusiastic about creating fresh content and are skilled in shooting and editing photos.

4. Intern/Fellow, Baseball Operations (Pittsburgh Pirates) - The Pittsburgh Pirates are seeking an entry-level professional to join our Baseball Operations department. This position offers an exciting opportunity to gain experience in various facets of Major League Baseball operations including an introduction to roster management, market analysis, compliance with MLB rules, acquisition strategy, player evaluation, and more.

5. Corporate Partnerships Fulfillment Intern - Assist the Corporate Partnerships department with fulfillment and all steps of the service process during events and gamedays during the season.

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1 Terms and Conditions apply. See offer page for more details.
BILL Divvy Card is issued by Cross River Bank, Member FDIC, and is not a deposit product.

Job Board 💰

1. Seasonal Associate, Partnership Marketing (Temporary), (NHL) - Experiential learning opportunity for an entry-level sports marketing professional who is primarily focused on the corporate and business aspects of the professional sports industry. This role will expose the candidate to a variety of functions and tasks related to partnership marketing at the National Hockey League.

2. Business Intelligence Analyst - Product - Are you an inquisitive, analytical Analyst? PrizePicks is looking for a data-centric role person to build analytics tools and workflows.

3. Paid Media Analyst - Execute all aspects of Overtime’s media buys, including launching/trafficking, optimizing, and reporting/analysis across multiple social networks, ad servers and ad buying platforms.

4. Assistant, Baseball Operations - The Pittsburgh Pirates are seeking an entry-level professional to join our Baseball Operations department. This position offers an exciting opportunity to gain experience in various facets of Major League Baseball operations including roster management, market analysis, compliance with MLB rules, acquisition strategy, player evaluation, budget management, and more.

5. Talent Acquisition Specialist, Business Operations - The Phillies are seeking a Talent Acquisition Specialist to lead the full-cycle recruitment needs of our Business Operations departments including full-time, part-time, seasonal and day of game roles.

Thanks for reading - see you soon!