🎬 Video of the Week
Red Bull has invested over $2 billion into Formula 1 since 2004 and, despite success on the track, the company has lost a lot of money. So why are they still doing it? And why did they just agree to make their own engines? The answer involves a genius marketing strategy and the potential for a Red Bull sports car! Watch our latest YouTube video to find out more.
🗞 Story of the Week
Meet The Chess Champion that will always offer to Pay the Cheque!
If Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen were to compete for the World Chess Championship you can only imagine the carnage that would unfold. Boards would be flipped and pieces would go flying, all while Christian Horner is complaining that Lewis’s chess pieces are the wrong size!
The real-life 2021 World Chess Championship is a far more docile affair. Norway’s Magnus Carlsen, the reigning champ since 2013, is facing off against Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi in Dubai, with a $2 million prize pot up for grabs. Despite a strong incentive to win, the two chess masters are currently locked in a draw, with neither competitor being able to win any of the 4 games already played as of December 1st.
While experts laud this ‘perfect matchup’, they expect the contest to last until mid-December. One person who will not be concerned with this delay is Magnus Carlsen.
The Norwegian has amassed a small fortune, not directly from playing chess, but from helping others learn and access the game online. Play Magnus, a company that he co-founded in 2013, now boasts over 250 staff and four million users. The service offers Chess fans online playing features, as well as multiple teaching and training platforms.
The company has a market capitalization of about $115 million, with Magnus having around a $9 million personal stake.
Capitalizing on the Pandemic, Play Magnus organized a series of online tournaments with $1.6 million in prizes. That is almost as much as the IRL World Championship!
For those in charge, the vision is simple… “to be for chess what the P.G.A. is for golf or what Formula One is for racing.”
🤪 Weird Deal of the Week
Ajax Want to Help You With your Groceries
Large corporations such as Nike, T-Mobile and Pirelli used to dominate football sponsorship. Then came the betting companies and crypto exchanges that started to eat into the market. But the latest attack on traditional football sponsorship has come from a very unlikely avenue…grocery delivery companies!
Ajax have joined PSG in annoucing their own ‘Official Grocery Delivery Partner.’ The Amsterdam based team have joined forces with Flink, a new German delivery company, that is looking to expand into the Netherlands.
According to the press release. ‘Flink will be prominently visible around Ajax matches, including via 'in-goal boarding'. Additionally, Flink will offer benefits for fans and organize special promotions at relevant times, such as on match days.’
With two major European sides embracing the rise of ‘big grocery’ we imagine it is only a matter of time before every club has an ‘official grocery partner.’
✍️ Deal of the Week
Adobe and MLB Team Up
Adobe and MLB have agreed on a deal that will see the U.S. software company help create ‘next-generation experiences’ for baseball fans.
According to a press release from Adobe, the partnership will help the MLB engage directly with individual fans through personalized promotions and tailored notifications. That being said, the greatest part of this entire story is that the Adobe press release contains a comically large button for downloading the release as a PDF! (Just Adobe doing Adobe things!)
Fans can now expect personalized adverts for VIP parking or discounts on grab-and-go concessions when visiting MLB stadiums. Knowing Adobe this will probably end with European fans being charged $1,000 more for a ticket than Americans! 📱 Social Media Madness of the Week
Ronaldo Supports Claims that Messi ‘Robbed’ Ballon d’Or!
Whether you are team Messi, Lewandowski, or Ronaldo, I think that we can all agree that Ibrahimovich was completely disrespected in the 2021 Ballon d’Or and the only correct course of action is to rename the entire award the Zlatan d’Or.
Completely serious points aside, football fans are divided by the announcement that Lionel Messi is now a SEVEN time Ballon d’Or winner. Social media users, and the German press, were quick to suggest that Lewandowski, this year’s runner-up, was robbed of the top spot due to politics and favoritism. Many disgruntled fans pointed to Messi’s rather unimpressive recent form as proof he should have lost to the incredibly consistent Lewandowski, while Messi fans stressed that the Argentina’s Copa America triumph was more than enough to win him the award.
So, how did Christiano Ronaldo take the news? Well, one minute he was calling the editor of France Football a liar for suggesting there was a strong rivalry between the two players, and the next minute he is commenting ‘Facts’ on an Instagram post suggesting that Messi 'robbed’ the Ballon d'Or.
We will let you draw your own conclusion…
Love the new video updates + some short blurbs, this is starting to become my fav substack!