Sports Finance Report: Sneaker Companies Offering “Blank Checks” to AAU Programs Run by Parents of Star Players

DURHAM, NC - FEBRUARY 24: Marvin Bagley III #35 of the Duke Blue Devils reacts after a play against the Syracuse Orange during their game at Cameron Indoor Stadium on February 24, 2018 in Durham, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)


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Sneaker Companies Offering “Blank Checks” to AAU Programs Run by Parents of Star Players

The Oregonian released a piece worth reading, detailing how sneaker companies skirt NCAA regulations by sponsoring grassroots teams run by the family members of top prospects. Sponsors are permitted to provide shoes, uniforms and cash for under-funded travel to teams; but, the story describes a system where Nike, Adidas and Under Armour are targeting the family members of star prospects who control their own programs, offering a “blank check” for their allegiance. The cash being pocketed by the family (it’s alleged Josh Jackson’s mom gets $10,000 mo.) equates to a “direct endorsement” of the player, an “extra benefit” that theoretically would make a prospect ineligible under NCAA guidelines. Of course, the sneaker companies are writing these checks, are doing so for good reason; an analysis of 2017 NBA first round picks indicated that most players signed professional shoe deals with the company who sponsored their grassroots team(s).

Howie Long-Short: Basketball sneaker sales have fallen off a cliff in the last 24 months, down 26% to $950 million. Nike (NKE) controls 80% of the market, with Under Armour (UAA) in a distant 2nd place (12.1%). Adidas (ADDYY) accounted for less than 5% of all U.S. basketball sneaker sales in ’17; but, Mark King, the President of Adidas Group North America, has said the brand will “focus on improving its basketball products this year.”

Fan Marino: The NCAA has never investigated the Bagley case, but the circumstances appear to be particularly questionable. In 2008, the Bagley’s filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy; claiming a household income of $44,000. Four years later, shortly after Nike sponsored the Phoenix Phamily (the team Bagley III played on, coached by Marvin Jr.), the Bagley’s moved into a California home estimated to be worth between $750,000-$1.5 million; with rent in the area ranging from $2,500-$7,500/mo. The elder Bagley readily acknowledge he was using Nike money to “make ends meet.” That’s not great news for Duke fans. In 2010, Renardo Sidney (Mississippi State) was declared ineligible after it was found his family received “preferential treatment” from Reebok. It was later announced Reebok had signed Sidney’s father to a $20,000/year consulting agreement. Duke is headed to the Sweet 16, but their appearance very well may be vacated at a later date.

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UMBC Gets $119 Million in Media Exposure within 24 Hours of Virginia Upset  

According to Meltwater, a media intelligence company, UMBC’s historic upset of number one seed Virginia generated an estimated $119 million in media exposure for the University (within 24 hours of the game); roughly 1/3 of the publicity value the school has received over the last 12 months. 37% of +/- 50,000 news stories mentioning the University over the last year, have been written since Friday night. Social media is abuzz too, with 87% of the school’s social media mentions within the last 12 months coming on Friday night or Saturday; as the UMBC athletic department built its twitter following 1,730% (as of 1p Sunday afternoon), from 5,000 to 91,500.

Howie Long-Short: The true value of the victory will be realized in the fall of 2019, when freshman enrollment is expected to swell. Noteworthy upsets at Georgia State (enrollment +28.5% in Fall ’16, beat #14 Baylor in March ’15) and Middle Tennessee State University (enrollment +16.9% in Fall ’17, beat #2 Michigan State in March ’16) provide guidance in terms of what can be expected; though, the distinction of becoming the first #16 seed to win an NCAA tournament game will give UMBC a “longer tail than your usual upset.” 1,772 freshman enrolled at UMBC in August 2017. If the school just manages to match MTSU’s enrollment increase, conceivable considering Butler increased enrollment 43% following it’s run to the ‘10 finals, it would add +/- 300 students. With in-state tuition over $5,700/semester, the win is worth a minimum of $3.5 million/year to the University.

Fan Marino: Jairus Lyles is UMBC’s best player. He hit a 3-point shot at the buzzer in the conference championship game to send UMBC into the dance, scored 28 points in their win over UVA and a team high 12 points in Sunday night’s close loss to KSU; but, no one has gotten more attention following Friday night’s win than Zach Seidel, the man behind the twitter account. Seidel, who lacked a strategy going into the game (he’s doesn’t usually handle the Twitter account for men’s basketball), has since been interviewed by everyone from The New York Times to CNN to Slam Magazine.

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Daytona Champ Finishes 10th at Fontana, Names 2 Stocks He Likes/Owns

On Sunday, 2018 Daytona 500 winner Austin Dillon participated in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA. Martin Treux Jr. won the pole and swept the stages, becoming the 1st NASCAR driver in history to accomplish that feat. Dillon finished 10th, for his 2nd Top 10 of the season. Prior to leaving Los Angeles for Fontana, JohnWallStreet had a chance to connect with Dillon to discuss a few names within his personal stock portfolio, to find out why a 100-year-old company would look to sponsor a car and to ask why he’s still racing in the Camping World Truck Series.

JWS: When we last spoke to you in September, you mentioned that Nintendo (NTDOY) and Cabela’s (CAB) were among the names in your personal portfolio. NTDOY is +25% since Sept. 30th and CAB was acquired by Bass Pro Shops at a 19% premium to its closing price on September 30th. Can you tip us off to a few other names that you like within your portfolio?

Austin: Dow (DWDP) is probably my favorite company. They’re huge behind STEM and have so many engineers around the world building great products. I also have stock in Coca Cola (KO), it’s a good company and I’ve always been a huge Coke fan.  

JWS: In addition to DWDP, Bass Pro Shops and American Ethenol (Growth Energy), AAA is a sponsor on your car. That company was founded in 1902. What are they looking to get out of a NASCAR partnership?

Austin: The youth movement is big to them. It’s a very old brand, but they want to let the younger demographic know about how many people they help service across the U.S. NASCAR is doing a good job of showing the youth movement (amongst drivers) and catering to our younger fans.

JWS: You recently participated in a Camping World Truck Series race. You’re a Daytona 500 Champion. Why are you still racing on that level?

Austin: We had a new partner come in, an app (GoShare) that wanted to run in truck series. They came up with the idea to do it in the truck series because they’re kind of like an Uber for truckers. So, if you want your house moved, you can call them instead of calling a moving service and anyone with the right equipment can come and help move your stuff.

Howie Long-Short: Auto Club Speedway is owned and operated by International Speedway Corp (ISCA), a publicly traded corporation that also owns 12 other tracks including; Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway. Other assets include Motor Racing Network (nation’s largest independent sports radio network), Americrown Service Corp. (concessions company) and Daytona One (retail, dining and entertainment development). On January 25th, the company reported full-year 2017 revenue ($671.4 million) grew to levels it hadn’t seen since ’10, sending share prices up 10.6% (to $45.30). Shares hit a high of $47.15 on February 1st, before settling back down to $44.25 at Friday’s close.

Fan Marino: You’ve been on a whirlwind media tour since winning at Daytona and mentioned that your favorite experience was doing Shaquille O’Neal’s podcast. As a 4x NBA Champion, did Shaq have advice for you?

Austin: He said, “take your mother out to dinner with your wife and take the trophy with you, after dinner leave the trophy with your mom and go and get like 5 or 6 more.”

Editor Note: Austin has not yet given the trophy to his mom, he’s holding on to it a bit longer; though he has plans to in the future.

Editor Note 2.0: Austin has a YouTube show, BarnLife. You can check out previous episodes, here.

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What is JohnWallStreet?

JohnWallStreet, located at the intersection of sports and finance, is a destination for the educated sports fan.

While we won’t be publishing “hot takes” on LeBron’s relative greatness to Jordan, we will be offering up the most relevant sports related business news, in easily digestible bites, with commentary from both the sports money and sports fanatic perspectives.

We’ll cover publicly traded professional teams & stadiums (MSG, RCI, BATRA, MANU), television networks (DIS, FOXA, CMCSA, CBS, TWX, MSGN), apparel & footwear companies (NKE, UAA, ADDYY, FL, LULU), equipment companies (GOLFELY, FIT), ticketing companies (EBAY, LYV) content and facilities providers (CHDN, DVD, ISCA,TRK, LMCA).  If it trades on Wall Street, and has a sports angle, it’s in our wheel house.

Howie Long-Short and Fan Marino will be providing their expert opinions on each story. They have slightly different areas of expertise. Fan Marino is a firm believer that the SEC is the premier football conference. Howie Long-Short knows it as the Securities & Exchange Commission. Fan Marino lives and dies with the college selection of 5 star, blue chip recruits. Howie Long-Short spends his days analyzing blue chip stocks. Howie Long-Short knows that Black Monday occurred on October 19th, 1987. Fan Marino swears it happens every January after Week 17. You get the point.

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