Huddle Up by Joseph Pompliano

Let’s say you want to be a professional ticket broker. You know there is a lot of demand for a specific event, so you start acquiring inventory through season ticket holders, credit card presales, and primary-market bulk purchases. Once supply starts to thin out on the primary market, you list your tickets on secondary market websites at a significant markup.

LIV Golf officially filed for bankruptcy this week, and given that I love this stuff, I have spent the last several days reading through hundreds of pages of documents. This was a ton of work, but I am really glad that I did it. That’s because these documents don’t just tell us what LIV estimates its assets are worth. Instead, LIV filed a 128-page First Day Declaration that breaks down the league’s finances over the last few years and also the term sheet signed by its newest investment group.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has signed a new four-year contract extension that will keep him in place through at least March 2031. At the end of this deal, Goodell will be nearly 72 and will have served as NFL commissioner for 24 years.

Earlier this year, the Los Angeles Rams sent several employees to Australia. The team had just been told it would host the league’s first regular-season game in Melbourne, and since no other NFL team had ever played there, it’s standard practice for the logistics team to test-run the itinerary. That includes everything from mapping out the bus trip from the hotel to the stadium to working with the hotel’s culinary crew to design a menu for player meals before and after the game.

Yesterday, we reviewed the details of the NBA’s 36-page investigation into the LA Clippers, Steve Ballmer, and Kawhi Leonard. Now, we need to discuss the real story: how the NBA set up its richest owner after he refused to fall on the sword. Kawhi Leonard’s punishment is small, like laughably small. Not only does he get to play for the Toronto Raptors as if nothing happened, but he was only fined $700,000. No suspension, no contract voided.

Let’s cut to the chase. The NBA has finished its investigation into the Clippers salary cap circumvention, and the penalties are severe. Five first-round draft picks are gone, and the team faces a $30 million fine. Clippers owner Steve Ballmer is also suspended from all league activities for one year, meaning he can’t enter the $2 billion arena he just built for at least 12 months. Kawhi Leonard must pay the league $700,000, and several Clippers executives have also been suspended.

Los Angeles Angels fans received the best news in a decade yesterday when owner Arte Moreno announced he was selling the MLB team to Stan Kroenke. Kroenke is widely regarded as one of the best owners in sports.

Data centers are facing widespread and rapidly growing opposition across the United States. A recent Gallup Poll shows that 71% of Americans oppose building AI data centers in their local neighborhoods. More than 100 data center projects have already been canceled this year, and 500+ local municipalities have placed strict limits, temporary bans, or complete stops on new data center projects.

Earlier this month, someone executed five block trades on Kalshi betting on the success of LSU’s football team. These trades were privately executed with a third party and then uploaded to Kalshi once the details were confirmed. Each trade was worth between $300,000 and $900,000, with successful payouts based on everything from LSU making it to the College Football Playoff to the program winning a national championship under first-year head coach Lane Kiffin.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s failed plan to privatize the World Cup took another interesting turn yesterday when UEFA requested subpoenas for Joshua Kushner and his firm, Thrive Capital Management, as part of the organization’s plan to potentially bring criminal charges against Infantino in Switzerland. We all know the story by now.