The $525M Wrist Game, eSports Millionaires & One Olympian Hacker

Good morning, ! This week we’re looking at the social media engagement by sports type, fitness wristwear users in the rise worlwide, highest earning esports teams, and Sky Christopherson entrepreneur side

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MEDIA & SPORTS

Scrolls Before Goals

Sports fandom has officially gone digital. One in three American football fans (33%) now engage with online content—making it the most socially active fan base, per Morning Consult. F1 racing (27%) isn’t far behind, fueled by Netflix’s glossy storytelling and a global TikTok-fueled fanbase. Tennis and golf (24% each) attract smaller but higher-income audiences, proving that luxury still scrolls slower. The takeaway? Social media is the new stadium, where highlights, memes, and micro-moments define the fan experience. For leagues and brands, the game isn’t just about winning eyeballs—it’s about owning the conversation. (More)

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INVESTOR CORNER

Tennis newest KPI? Endorsements per forehand

At $45M in annual earnings, Alcaraz is now tennis' top-paid player, dethroning Djokovic. His $15M in prize money is solid, but it's the $30M+ in sponsorships that catapulted him ahead. Think Nike, Rolex, LVMH—basically the Fortune 500 of personal branding. Djokovic isn’t broke (still at $38.7M), but his trophy count isn’t converting like it used to. Meanwhile, Coco Gauff and Świątek show the WTA is a commercial force: both cracked $25M+. And yes, Naomi Osaka made $16.5M while barely playing. The bigger picture: only 34% of earnings came from prize money. In tennis, the real game is off the court. (More)

ENTREPRENEURS

Sky Christopherson: Olympic Discipline Meets Data-Driven Health

Sky Christopherson isn’t just a former Olympic cyclist—he’s a case study in how elite performance can scale into an entire business model. After retiring from competition, Christopherson leveraged his background in physiology and tech to found Optimized Athlete, a health analytics startup that helped the U.S. women’s cycling team to a surprise silver medal at the London 2012 Olympics—without government funding.

The thesis? Digital health > doping. Christopherson used sleep sensors, genomics, glucose tracking, and biometric data to optimize recovery and training. The model proved effective enough to evolve into a broader venture: GOLD Health, which provides data-backed longevity and performance strategies for executives and elite performers.

He now sits at the intersection of sports, biohacking, and predictive health—a fast-growing category attracting VC interest (see: WHOOP, Levels, Oura).

Bottom line: Christopherson turned Olympic-level self-quantification into a scalable business. It’s not just performance optimization—it’s a commercial blueprint for healthspan monetization. (More)

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TECH & INFRASTRUCTURE

Wristwear Is Eating the Wellness Market

The wearables market is sprinting—and not just for steps. In 2024, 398M people worldwide used fitness or activity-tracking wristwear. By 2029, that number is projected to hit 525M, per Statista. That’s a 17.4% YoY jump between 2023 and 2024 alone.

This is more than a consumer tech trend. It’s a signal that biometric data is becoming infrastructure—a core layer of the wellness, performance, and even insurance ecosystems.

Platforms like WHOOP, Oura, and GOLD Health (founded by Olympian Sky Christopherson) aren’t just selling devices—they’re building data pipelines that influence sleep, diet, productivity, and long-term health interventions. For employers, teams, and insurers, this is behavioral ROI at scale.

Why it matters: As adoption climbs past half a billion users, we’re not just seeing tech-enabled fitness—we’re watching the emergence of a personalized, always-on health infrastructure. Investors betting on digital health aren't chasing gadgets. They're underwriting a new operating system for human performance. (More)

eSPORTS

Team Liquid Tops the Esports Economy

Team Liquid isn’t just winning matches—it’s winning the business of gaming. With $56.4M in lifetime prize money, it leads a top 10 dominated by European teams, from OG ($38.7M) to Team Secret ($21.0M). Russia’s Team Spirit ($38.8M) and Ukraine’s Natus Vincere ($23.7M) keep Eastern Europe’s competitive edge alive, while Evil Geniuses ($35.6M) and FaZe Clan ($21.3M) anchor the U.S. scene. The pattern is clear: Esports has gone multinational, with franchises building regional loyalty and global brand power. As prize pools swell and sponsorships mature, esports is quietly evolving into the most international sport in the world—no passports required. (More)

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