Happy “Take Your Dog To Work Day” or as most of us call that, every day of quarantine.
Oh and happy Friday,
The Last Night’s Game Team
Nhl (national hockey league)/wnba (women’s national basketball association)
Amazon is getting into the sports world by buying the naming rights to the main hockey/basketball arena in Seattle. But the new arena name won’t feature the Amazon name. It will be called Climate Pledge Arena, which is also the name of the company’s 2019 pledge to be net zero carbon across its businesses by 2040. The arena will feature some never seen before sustainable features like using rainwater for hockey arena ice. The arena will be home to the city’s incoming NHL (National Hockey League) team and the WNBA (Women’s National Basketball Association) team, the Seattle Storm. IN IT TO WIN IT
Overtime
What if you could party with a purpose this weekend? Enter in Shaquille O'Neal and Rob Gronkowski. The NBA (National Basketball Association) Hall of Famer and the Tampa Bay Bucs (NFL – National Football League) player will host "Shaq's Fun House vs. Gronk Beach,” a virtual, live-streamed party. During the event, the two will participate in different competitions, like a lip-syncing battle, with the winner securing a donation for their favorite social justice charity. (Shaq – Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Gronk – NAACP) Like every good party, there will be big-named musical acts to bring everyone together. GOOD, OLD-FASHIONED FUN
Sideline stat
In the cover story of this week’s Bloomberg Businessweek, LeBron James and his business partner Maverick Carter, revealed that they’ve raised $100 million for their media company SpringHill. The goal of SpringHill is to empower people of color to tell their stories and they’ve done so by securing deals with Disney and Netflix. The company gets its name from the apartment complex LeBron and his mother moved to when he was in sixth grade. DRIVEN
Another one of LeBron’s side hustles had a great day yesterday. He is an investor in Liverpool Football Club (soccer) and yesterday they broke their 30-year Premier League Championship drought. The Premier League is the most watched league in the world and with TV viewing numbers up, the world saw them celebrate this milestone accomplishment. GOLDEN TOUCH
Coaches’ corner
Tomorrow is a big step toward team sports returning to the field. The NWSL (National Women's Soccer League) will be the first team sport to return to competition with a month-long championship tournament in Utah, the Challenge Cup. Teams will live in a bubble, practicing in two stadiums and living in two hotels. One team, the Orlando Pride, has already withdrawn from the tournament after six players tested positive for COVID. Fan favorites like Megan Rapinoe, Carli Lloyd and Christen Press will not be playing citing health concerns but the league. LADIES FIRST
On a side note, yesterday Australia and New Zealand were awarded the 2023 Women’s World Cup (soccer).
