Here are the latest articles curated by Sports Geek Reads. Get these updates as a podcast by subscribing to Sports Geek Rapid Rundown.

Key Reads

Inside Mercedes F1: Ten Numbers That Explain Why The Team Is Now Worth $6 BillionHuddle Up *

How F1's cost cap turned marketing spend into profit.

Global, F1, Commercial Strategy, Valuation, Data

College Football Jerseys Are Becoming $15 Million a Year Billboards365247 Sports *

Data-rich breakdown of college football's new jersey patch goldmine.

US, NCAA, Sponsorship, MediaRights, CommercialStrategy

MLS Media Revenue Has ‘Uncapped Upside,' Says Incoming Commissioner Larry BergFront Office Sports *

New MLS boss lays out Apple-era media ambitions.

US, MLS, MediaRights, Streaming, LeagueStrategy

FIFA scraps World Cup private investment plans as Infantino fights for his futureThe Athletic *

FIFA's U-turn on private equity shows limits of monetisation.

Global, FIFA, World Cup, Strategy, Governance

Braves' Battery Recharges FinancesAtlanta Braves Holdings *

How The Battery turned a ballpark into a year-round engine.

US, MLB, Venues, MixedUse, Media

Professional Sports

Inside CANAL+'s Global Sports Strategy365247 Sports

How CANAL+ uses premium rights to drive 41m subs.

EU, MediaRights, Streaming, Strategy, Global

India's Insatiable Appetite for Cricket Has Shifted the Locus of PowerFront Office Sports

How India became cricket's commercial and media centre.

Global, Cricket, MediaRights, Sponsorship, MarketExpansion

WNBA Season-Ticket Holders Grapple With Soaring PricesFront Office Sports

Pricing the WNBA boom without alienating core fans.

US, WNBA, Ticketing, Fan Experience, Revenue

Women's Pro Baseball League Launched With Four TeamsThe Athletic

New women's baseball league tests a fresh pro model.

US, Baseball, WomensSport, MediaRights, Sponsorship

Digital & Social

Disney strikes deal with TikTok to let creators use its films and TV shows in videosReuters *

A blueprint for opening up premium IP to creators.

US, MediaRights, CreatorEconomy, ShortFormVideo, Partnerships

TikTok Shop's predicted 2026 sales volume tops $100 billionTubefilter

Why TikTok commerce is now too big to ignore.

Global, SocialCommerce, TikTok, Revenue, Strategy

4 tips to build a Snapchat marketing strategySocial Media Today

Practical playbook for reaching younger fans on Snap.

Global, Social Media, Marketing, Fan Engagement, Digital

Media & Entertainment

Jason Bateman, Netflix, & MLB Team Up on New Yankees SeriesVariety

Scripted Yankees drama shows leagues' storytelling ambitions.

US, MediaRights, Content, Streaming, MLB

Fox Ices NFL DealYahoo Sports

Inside Fox's strategy as the next NFL cycle looms.

US, NFL, MediaRights, Broadcasting, Strategy

If You Don't Tell Your Story, Somebody Else WillBiz of Speed

Why Chip Ganassi Racing built its own media house.

US, Motorsport, MediaRights, Sponsorship, Data

Geek Out

Disney tests natural-language search and recommendations for Disney+ and ESPNThe Verge

Conversational discovery is coming to sports streaming apps.

US, AI, Streaming, Fan Engagement, Sponsorship

How Dru Riley Iterated His Trends.vc Landing Page to 40–60% ConversionGrowth in Reverse

Seventeen iterations that turned a landing page into a machine.

Global, Marketing, Data, CRO, Digital

AI

11 Charts the AI Industry Doesn't Want You to SeeMedium

Data-driven reality check on where AI hype meets limits.

Global, AI, Strategy, Data, Industry-Trends

Responding to Next-Frontier Critical Cyber CapabilitiesOpenAI

Why OpenAI paused Astra and what it means for safety.

Global, AI, Cybersecurity, Governance, SportsBiz

Make You Think

Peruvian Soccer Team's New Kit Has Spaces for 1,000 SponsorsThe Athletic

How much sponsor clutter can a jersey really carry?

Global, Football, Sponsorship, Commercial, Innovation

The Cheap CPM TrapMedium

Why chasing cheap impressions is killing your campaigns.

Global, Marketing, Advertising, Data, Performance

Forward Sports Geek Reads to a friend.
Listen to Sports Geek Rapid Rundown on your fave podcast platform.
Want to drive more revenue from digital? Join the waitlist for Digital To Dollars.

Featured image credit: fuji.tim, Lewis Hamilton salutes the Silverstone crowd at Luffield after coming in third place at the 2022 British Grand Prix, via Wikimedia Commons/Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.