Here are the latest articles curated by Sports Geek Reads. Get these updates as a podcast by subscribing to Sports Geek Rapid Rundown.
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Key Reads
Online betting companies lavish losers with rewards while capping winners – CBS News – CBS News *
Inside the dark incentives shaping online betting behaviour.
US, Sports Betting, Technology, Marketing, Global
NBA Strikes Prediction Market Deals With Kalshi, Polymarket – ESPN *
How the NBA is formalising prediction markets around its data.
US, NBA, Betting, Data, Innovation
Inside The Hidden Finances Of The New York City Marathon – Huddle Up *
Deep dive on the $150m business behind NYC Marathon.
US, Running, Event Operations, Sponsorship, Sports Business
Why the Home of F1's U.S. Grand Prix Wants a Second Race Track – The Athletic
COTA's second track plan and year‑round F1 economics.
US, F1, Venues, Events, Strategy
Media rights squeeze, US investment and AI tech: The sports business trends from Sportel 2026 – SportsPro
Sportel 2026 takeaways on rights, AI and new money.
Broadcasting, Media Rights, Technology, AI, Investment
Professional Sports
LIV Golf Hangs On by a Thread As Clock Ticks on Future – Front Office Sports *
What LIV Golf's struggles signal about upstart leagues.
Golf, Finance, League Operations, Restructuring
Mark Walter Eyes $700M+ for WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks – Bloomberg
A WNBA valuation reset with Sparks eyed at $700m.
US, WNBA, Team Valuation, Ownership, Sports Business
European club revenues rise by 146% as Premier League increases share – Insider Sport
How the Premier League is pulling further ahead financially.
Football, Financial Results, Investment, Marketing, Sponsorship
The NBL launched the Ignite Cup – NBL *
NBL's in‑season tournament playbook for new inventory.
AU, Basketball, CompetitionDesign, Sponsorship, FanEngagement
Digital & Social
Instagram Tests Horizontal Videos Up to 90 Minutes Long – Variety *
Instagram edges into YouTube territory with long-form video.
Global, Social Media, OTT, Content Strategy, Sponsorship
Spreaker is, we believe, enabling wholesale copyright theft for podcasts – Podnews
Allegations of large‑scale podcast IP theft and monetisation.
Global, Media-rights, Technology, Monetisation, Governance
Pat McAfee's Utah ‘Uncomfortable' Comments, Social Video, and ESPN Brand Risk – The Athletic
When star talent and viral clips collide with brand safety.
US, SportsMedia, SocialMedia, BrandRisk, Global
Media & Entertainment
Sports Data: How Infrastructure is Evolving for High-Volume Media – Sports Video Group *
What next-gen infrastructure means for data-heavy sports media.
Global, Data, AI, Infrastructure, Broadcast
SVG Sit-Down: Amagi's Dan Marshall on Cloudport and the Power of Channel Building – Sports Video Group
FAST, cloud playout and building always-on sports channels.
Global, Streaming, MediaRights, FAST, Technology
World Series Game 1 Gets Eye-Popping Local Milwaukee Ratings – Front Office Sports
Small market, huge local World Series audience story.
Media, Broadcast, Viewership, Baseball
Geek Out
WiFi 8 vs. Ethernet: Who Wins? – Medium
Future-proofing your stadium's connectivity stack.
Global, VenueTech, Connectivity, Infrastructure, FanExperience
Rapidly scaling online storage to serve over 1 billion ChatGPT users (Part II) – OpenAI
How OpenAI scaled its storage platform to support more than a billion ChatGPT users.
Global, AI, Data Infrastructure, Fan Engagement, Technology Strategy
AI
OpenAI and Anthropic cut their LLM prices by up to 80% within a few months. Why? – MiniMaxIR
How plunging model prices change the AI business case.
Global, AI, Commercial Strategy, Fan Engagement, Sponsorship
Your marketing team will be on GitHub within a year – Substack
Why AI-era marketing needs code-style governance.
Global, AI, Marketing Operations, Data, Sponsorship
Make You Think
The End of the Internet – Stratechery
What a closed, algorithmic web means for sports brands.
Global, AI, Fan Engagement, Digital Strategy, Media
The emergence of new sports competitions – Notice Sports
How Australia is incubating new formats and fan products.
Sports Marketing, Competitions, Australia, Fan Engagement, Commercial Opportunities
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Featured image credit: Martineric, “New York marathon Verrazano bridge,” via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0. Archival NYC Marathon photo (2005), not the 2026 race; adapted with crop and the supplied SG Reads overlay. Source photo · Licence.
