Mr. November?

Fresh off $40M in funding with unparalleled access to the globe’s most sought-after athletes the future looked bright for The Players’ Tribune. That was back in 2017. Fast forward to today and the publisher’s expensive, quality-over-quantity business model has raised more questions than answers. A dearth of consistent content combined with a flawed promo strategy and dwindling web traffic has founder Derek Jeter eyeing an exit. Enter Minute Media: a suitor who’s had its eye on acquisitions since nabbing The Big Lead from Gannett this year.

Don’t Mess With The Mouse

According to Disney chief Bob Iger, ESPN+ now has 3.5M subscribers a jump of one million from the mark they cited in August. Bundle that with their industry-altering streaming service, Disney+. and it’s safe to expect subs to continue climbing. Elsewhere in the streaming space, Gen Z fans everywhere pulled the classic Subscribe & Cancel move for YouTubers-turned-boxers Logan Paul & KSI. Whether or not their rematch bout this weekend was a success for DAZN is inconclusive but it’s an objectively interesting case study for the future of a sport which has seemingly lost it’s belt as the top contender in combat.

In Good Company

Bruin Sports Capital is ready to make itself a bigger player in sports & entertainment with a new $600M infusion of cash in-hand from the Jordan Company (no, not that Jordan). Despite a new report on sports organizations’ lack of OTT success, CEO George Pyrne is prepared to write some fat checks to grow his sports media portfolio. Meanwhile, for Jeff Bezos and his aspiration of owning an NFL franchise, it’s less about executing such a large transaction in short order and more about waiting for the right opportunity to present itself.