Global X Video Games & Esports ETF $HERO ( ▲ 1.78% )
$32.20 | +38.27% YTD | +41.2% LTM
Gaming ETF led by sector rebounds and top constituents.

Amer Sports Inc $AS ( ▼ 1.02% )
$31.05 | +10.67% YTD | +46.3% LTM
Rapid earnings, margin growth and premium brand strength, particularly across Asia.

Warner Bros Discovery $WBD ( ▼ 0.86% )
$22.45 | +110.6% YTD | +62.3% LTM
Streaming turnaround, debt reduction and content hits.

fuboTV Inc $FUBO ( ▲ 1.72% )
$3.80 | +190.77% YTD | +148.7% LTM
Outperformed market with explosive subscriber growth.

Cloudfare Inc $NET ( ▲ 4.88% )
$253 | +121.22% YTD | +13.8% LTM
Strength in network/cloud security and AI trends.

Genius Sports Limited $GENI ( ▲ 1.37% )
$11.47 | +28.98% YTD | +54.6% LTM
Jumped on global sports data demand and innovative partnerships.

The 2025 World Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers did rather more than crown a champion, it offered a sophisticated study in sporting economics and modern investment. What unfolded in North America wasn’t simply an exhibition of baseballing prowess, it was, quite unambiguously, a masterclass in the commercial reach and global resonance of Major League Baseball.

Ticket prices for the decisive contest at Rogers Centre pushed over $1,200, with average seats for the marquee matches exceeding $2,300. Standing-room tickets for Game 7 began at $1,031, and a real seat on the third base side was $1,303. In Los Angeles, entry to Dodger Stadium for World Series games ranged from $750 to $900, with desirable seats often climbing past $3,800. Both cities saw premium hospitality reaching new heights, a clear reflection of enormous global demand.

The Toronto’s Rogers Centre is home to the only hotel actually inside a major league stadium. The Toronto Marriott City Centre offers 55 field-facing rooms, each with sweeping views straight onto the diamond. For the World Series, these exclusive rooms, requiring no separate match ticket, started at $3,999 and quickly spiked to over $8,700 for the decisive games, easily outstripping even the park’s most coveted regular seats. Spacious enough for groups and boasting in-room dining and direct game feeds, it became the most prestigious, and priciest way to witness a generation-defining contest.

The city’s hoteliers wasted no opportunity as rates climbed by 40% across World Series week, sending mid-range accommodation north of $600 and central luxury suites comfortably past $2,000, a commercial spike not dissimilar to what one now finds accompanying the Monaco Grand Prix or Champions League final.

On television and online, too, the figures are arresting. This series averaged 32.6 million viewers across its key games, a +27% rise on last year and the highest since 2016. What truly defined the global scale, though, was an extraordinary convergence of audiences in the United States, Canada, and Japan:

FOX’s $FOXA ( ▼ 3.32% ) share of advertising revenue reached $330 million with the series going the full seven games. Sponsorship revenues surpassed $2 billion league wide, with the Dodgers alone expected to $200 million. The strength of partnership comes from an enviable mix: financial services, insurance, and automotive brands topping the roster, powered by technology and retail contracts that saw jersey patches yield $17 million per club and merchandise revenues growing by more than 185% on special-edition lines after clinching games.

Player payrolls are now at historic levels. Between them, Los Angeles and Toronto spent over $600 million on talent, a record for any World Series. The ten top-salaried players are contracted for more than $3 billion, led by Shohei Ohtani’s headline $700 million agreement. In baseball as in football, investment seldom guarantees a result, though a generous salary bill almost always delivers a prolonged autumn. Winning players are projected to pocket $450,000–$500,000 as a postseason bonus, a life-altering sum for a rookie, if merely emblematic for a veteran. The runners-up will receive slightly less; still handsome by any standard. Bonuses here are direct reflections of ticket sales across the opening games, a uniquely transparent mechanism in American sport.

Where does Major League Baseball now sit in the wider context? Average club valuations touch $2.6 billion, most comfortably above the National Hockey League or Major League Soccer, but not quite at the inexorable rate of the NFL or NBA. Hospitality pricing, audience reach, and brand activation now stand alongside those seen during Super Bowl week or Formula One’s more glamorous stops.

Attendance averaged above 50,600 each night, the highest since 2003 with social media and in-app engagement breaking records, buoyed again by Ohtani’s presence in Japan. All told, the autumn of 2025 provided ample evidence that North American sport is no longer insular.

The intersection of sponsorship, hospitality, digital engagement, and athlete economics has created a stage that is, quite evidently, global. For investors and business professionals, it remains a market rich in precedent, opportunity, and this years returns definitely worth noting.

BCCI Announces Historic Bonus for India Women’s World Cup Champions:

In a landmark move for women’s sport and global cricket business, the BCCI confirmed a record ₹51 crore (approx. USD 6.1 million) cash reward for India’s women’s team following their historic World Cup triumph. This sum is in addition to the ICC’s official prize money payout of USD 4.48 million for winning the tournament, bringing the total earnings for the squad to USD 10 million, by far the largest performance-based payout in Indian women’s sporting history. The BCCI’s bonus is not only symbolic, but delivers real progress in the financial and commercial recognition of women’s cricket.

Combined, this payout surpasses some recent men’s cricket benchmarks and is set to drive more sponsor and investor interest in the fast-growing women’s game in India’s $1 billion media and sponsorship market for cricket. This historic payment not only establishes a new benchmark for women’s athlete rewards in India, but also positions the BCCI and Indian women’s cricket as global leaders in sports gender equity and business development.

Goldman Sachs Acquisition of Excel Sports Management:

GolGoldman Sachs is expected to announce its nearly $1 billion acquisition of a majority stake in Excel Sports Management within the first half of November 2025, with sources in the investment banking and sports business press indicating the deal is in final stages and imminent.

The transaction, funded via Goldman’s asset management division (market cap $243.8 billion, EPS $49.26, P/E 16.0), will see the firm acquire shares from Shamrock Capital and Excel’s current management. Excel, which ranks third globally among sports agencies, manages $6.56 billion in playing contracts and $3.5 billion in non-playing contracts, and is projected to generate $783 million in commissions for 2025. The deal is being closely watched as it marks a new phase of institutional investment in sports representation, bringing agency-style recurring revenue streams to Wall Street and highlighting the increasing financial sophistication of player contract and sponsorship markets.

Allwyn’s $850M Acquisition of PrizePicks:

European lottery and gaming giant Allwyn has acquired a controlling 62.3% stake in PrizePicks, one of the top operators in U.S. daily fantasy sports and predictive gaming, for a price that may reach $850 million contingent on earn-outs and post-close performance. This deal marks a new milestone in the convergence of sports gaming and technology, with PrizePicks seeing exponential growth as the North American market for DFS and skill gaming expands.

Allwyn now holds operating leverage in both U.S. and European markets, and expects the PrizePicks business to contribute meaningfully to group EBITDA starting in 2026 as regulatory tailwinds and new state launches drive further expansion.

Otro’s F1 Capital Stake Sale:

Otro Capital is shopping its 24% stake in the Alpine F1 team ($900M valuation in 2023), reflecting surging investor interest in F1 teams as assets. Renault keeps the right of first refusal. With elevated franchise multiples (now 7-12x revenue in F1) and growing sponsorship income, Alpine’s delayed US auto launch aligns with its increased focus on North American marketing.

Kia’s NBA, WNBA, G League Partnership Expansion:

Kia America signed a renewed, expanded deal as the official auto partner of the NBA, WNBA, and G League. The new agreement delivers enhanced in-arena branding, title rights for All-Star and Skills Challenge events, and additional digital fan engagement activations. An important bet as NBA and WNBA viewership, digital impressions, and sponsorship rates surge double-digits year-on-year. Kia’s partnership, reportedly worth eight figures annually, spotlights realignment of sponsorship spend toward women’s sports and digital-first platforms.

Trimble’s Liverpool FC Sponsorship:

Trimble, a US tech company, inked a new global sponsorship with Liverpool, leveraging the Premier League club’s international brand, which is valued at $5.3 billion+ to accelerate its own global enterprise tech ambitions. Details remain private, but Liverpool’s commercial revenue now exceeds £272 million, buoyed by technology, financial, and tourism partnerships.

EuroLeague Reshapes Sponsorship:

The EuroLeague halved its sponsor count but raised commercial income by more than 50% in 18 months, ending the 15-year Turkish Airlines title deal and striking major new contracts with Etihad, Abu Dhabi’s tourism agency, Motorola, Visa, and Adidas.

Innovative multi-market expansion now sees the Final Four hosted in Abu Dhabi, the first non-European venue, while the league eyes even more revenue from automotive, tech, and consumer goods partners.

Lululemon’s NFL Expansion (and Stock Whiplash):

Lululemon’s $LULU ( ▲ 1.71% ) high-profile NFL deal marks a major phase in its North American sportswear strategy, locking in as an official apparel partner ahead of key league events. In the days following the announcement, Lululemon stock initially climbed 6% reflecting optimism in US growth and NFL exposure, before falling sharply down 13% from highs, amid broader retail sector volatility and investor concern over inventory and margin guidance. The NFL agreement is expected to boost Lululemon’s US sales mix in 2026 and attract new licensing revenue streams.

ITV’s FIFA U17 Rights Win:

ITV will broadcast the FIFA U17 World Cup on free-to-air UK TV for the first time in 40 years, locking in rights as part of its broader strategy to extend live football content. With strong domestic viewership likely and cross-promotional value, ITV’s deal widens exposure for key youth tournaments and aligns with the ramp-up for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Financial terms are undisclosed, but rights competition in the UK market is at all-time highs.

UEFA, LaLiga Rights Strategy Shake-Up:

UEFA will package next cycle Champions League rights for direct pitching to global streaming giants (Netflix, Amazon, DAZN), banking on inflated multi-country bidding to increase deal value and reduce reliance on market-by-market sales. Meanwhile, LaLiga is adapting to shifting streaming habits, experimenting with primetime Disney+ matches and joint deals with multiple pay TV partners in the UK and Europe.

NASCAR Megadeal:

NASCAR completed a new 7 year media rights package (2025–2031) splitting coverage between Amazon Prime, Warner Bros. Discovery (TNT), NBC, and FOX, with a total combined value of $8.2 billion. Amazon and TNT each secured five mid-season races, making NASCAR the biggest US sports property to commit large inventory to streaming-first partners.