American Flag Football League (2024)
Headquarters: new york
Key executives: Jeffrey Lewis, Founder and CEO. Brian Michael Cooper, President and COO. Kate Carney, General Counsel; Jennifer Jarmer, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Community Relations; Travis Watkins, Senior Vice President of Ticketing and Operations. Michelle Locke, Vice President of League and Football Operations;Stephanie Fiondella, Vice President of Communications
Number of teams: Four
Funding: $28 million
Unique points: It's been seven years since the American Flag Football League first took to the field, but the pandemic has slowed things down and 2024 marks an inflection point with the first full season of 7-on-7. welcome. The four teams – Boston, Nashville, Dallas and Las Vegas – will play a barnstorming schedule with each game played in one of those four cities each week, with the title game on June 22nd at The Star in Frisco, Texas. reaches its climax. Founder Jeff Lewis and other investors are betting the launch is perfectly timed, coinciding with an explosion of interest in flag football.
Website: www.affl.com
American Cornhole League (2015)
Headquarters: Rock Hill, South Carolina
Key executives: Stacey Moore, Commissioner and Founder; Alicia Marin, Chief Business Officer; Trey Ryder, Chief Strategy Officer; Fred Boucherle Chief Operating Officer. Ron Freeman, CRO.Marlon Lewinter, Director of PR and Communications
Number of professional athletes: 250
Funding: Moore owns a majority of the league. Azland Capital Partners founding partner and CEO James Simmons III and former Georgetown University basketball coach John Thompson III acquired an undisclosed stake in the league in 2021.
Unique points: The league hosts more than 25,000 tournaments across various levels of competition, including the annual celebrity Pro-Am. The company aims to expand internationally and make cornhole an Olympic sport.
Website: www.iplaycornhole.com
Basketball Africa League (2021)
Headquarters: Dakar, Senegal
Key executives: Amadou Gallo-Faure, President
Number of teams: 12
Funding: BAL is owned by NBA Africa, the NBA's arm that handles the league's operations on the continent. Investors include a consortium led by Babatunde “Tunde” Folawiyo of the Yinka Folawiyo Group and Helios Fairfax Partners Corporation led by Tope Lawani. In 2021, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver valued NBA Africa at nearly $1 billion. Other investors include former players Dikembe Mutombo, Junior Bridgeman, Luol Deng, Grant Hill, Joakim Noah, Ian Mahinmi and former President Barack Obama.
Unique points: BAL involves 12 teams from 12 African countries, with matches held in South Africa, Egypt, Senegal and Rwanda. The game will be broadcast in 214 countries and territories in 17 languages.
Website: https://bal.nba.com
Major League Cricket (2023)
Headquarters: San Francisco
Key executives: Co-founder Vijay Srinivasan
Number of teams: 6
Funding: Satya Nadella, executive chairman and CEO of Microsoft and co-owner of the Seattle Sounders, was the lead investor in the $44 million Series A and A1 funding round. An additional $76 million was committed by investors for a total of $120 million, primarily for stadium infrastructure projects.
Unique points: The T20 (shortened version of the game) league played its first season in 2023 in a single round-robin format with 15 games between six franchises before a four-game playoff stage. The second season will begin on July 4, with all six teams returning.
Website: www.majorleaguecricket.com
Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour (2019)
Headquarters: Benton, Kentucky
Key executives: Boyd Duckett, President and CEO. Kathy Fennell, EVP and GM.Jim Wilburn, President of Sales
Number of players: MLF's roster of bass anglers includes 80 of the world's top professionals and more than 30,000 competitors of all skill levels from all 50 states and 17 countries.
Funding: MLF is a partnership between the Professional Bass Tour Anglers Association and Outdoor Sportsman Group, a division of Kroenke Sports & Entertainment.
Unique points: Bass Pro Tour scoring will return to an “Every Fish Counts” format in 2024. After each angler scored his five biggest bass per day in 2023, this change brings back the excitement and pressure of the tour's original format.
Website: https://majorleaguefishing.com/circuits/bass-pro-tour
Overtime Boxing (2023)
Headquarters: brooklyn
Key executives: Dan Porter, CEO and Co-Founder. Brandon Rose, GM.Britton Hardin, Senior Director of Fighter Operations
Number of players: 17
Funding: Overtime's financial backers include Liberty Media, Andreessen Horowitz, and Sapphire Sport.
Unique points: This venture focuses on up-and-coming fighters between the ages of 18 and 24, rather than crossover/celebrity matches. The goal is to use Overtime's storytelling experience to increase the fighter's popularity while establishing a new revenue stream for the company, with most events held at his OTE Arena in Atlanta.
Website: www.otboxing.com
OT7 (2022)
Headquarters: brooklyn
Key executives: Dan Porter, CEO and Co-Founder. Mark Cohn, Chief Content Officer.Hunter Mandel, Director of Overtime Soccer
Number of teams: 30
Funding: Overtime's financial backers include Liberty Media, Andreessen Horowitz, and Sapphire Sport.
Unique points: The first season of the 7-on-7 high school football league was held in Las Vegas, and season two was held in four cities. This year, events will be held in Dallas and Orlando. Overtime and the NFL signed a deal in March to broadcast games on NFL Network and NFL+ this spring.
Website: www.otseven.com
PBR Camp World Team Series (2022)
Headquarters: Pueblo, Colorado.
Key executives: Sean Gleason, CEO and Commissioner.Rod Granger, President of PBR Properties
Number of teams: Ten
Funding: PBR, which is owned by Endeavor, has sought investors who will pay a $3 million franchise fee. The two new ownership groups joined in February and paid more than $22 million in franchise fees.
Unique points: The series introduced a team aspect to a previously individual sport and averaged more than 1 million viewers per telecast during the 2023 season. The league expanded from eight to 10 teams for the 2024 season with the addition of the New York Mavericks (played at Barcays Center in Brooklyn) and the Oklahoma Wildcatters (played at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City).
Website: www.pbr.com
Power Slap (2023)
Headquarters: Las Vegas
Key executives: Dana White, Founder.President Frank Lamicella
Number of players: 100+
Funding: Investors include White, Frank, Lorenzo Fertitta, UFC chief business officer Hunter Campbell, “The Ultimate Fighter'' producer Craig Piridian and the UFC itself.
Unique points: In Power Slap, “strikers” stand face to face and take turns slapping each other to see who can knock them out. The opponent cannot duck or block the blow. The league is sanctioned by two state sports commissions in 2023, Nevada and most recently California.
Website: www.powerslap.com
Women's Professional Hockey League (2024)
Headquarters: remote
Key executives: Billie Jean King, Ilana Cross, Stan Kasten, Lois Cohen, Advisory Board; Jayna Hefford, senior vice president of hockey operations; Amy Scheer, Senior Vice President of Business Operations
Number of teams: 6
Funding: All six teams are owned by Mark Walter Group. Additionally, Canadian Tire plans to allocate 50% of its sponsorship investments to the sport by 2026.
Unique points: Six teams based in markets with a passion for hockey aim to curb the disastrous past of women's hockey leagues. The PWHL began play in January and set a record for the largest attendance ever for a women's hockey game in February with 19,285 fans at Scotiabank Arena. The league has been nominated for the 2024 Sports Business Awards in the Sports Breakthrough of the Year category.
Website: www.thepwhl.com
Sail GP (2019)
Headquarters: london and new york
Key executives: Russell Coutts, CEO. Andrew Thompson, Managing Director. Leah Davis, CMO. Ben Johnson, CRO. Warren Jones, CTO. Melissa Lawton, Chief Content Officer. Mike Buckley, US SailGP Team CEO
Number of teams: Ten
Funding: Sail GP, founded by Oracle founder Larry Ellison, began selling league-owned franchises to individual owners in 2021. In November 2023, Mark Lasry's Avenue Sports Fund led a group of investors to own the US Sail GP team, valued at an estimated $70 million. In December, London-based Misland Capital acquired a minority stake in the British team for $40 million.
What's unique: Varsity teams compete near the coast in high-tech boats that reach speeds of up to 60 miles per hour.
Website: https://sailgp.com
United Football League (2024)
Headquarters: Arlington, Texas
Key executives: Russ Brandon, President and CEO. Darryl Johnston, Director of Football Operations; Wendy Bass, Vice President of Business Operations and Administration
Number of teams: 8
Funding: The league is owned by Fox Sports, The Walt Disney Company, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Danny Garcia and Redbird Capital Partners. Financial arrangements were not disclosed.
Unique points: The newest spring football league was created when the XFL and USFL merged after a year of direct competition. Launched this year, four teams from each league will participate in two conferences.
Website: www.theufl.com
— Edited by Xavier Hunter and Ben Fisher
