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Bloomberg’s Hannah Levitt details the "revenge of the banks" in 2025, as traditional lenders like JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Goldman Sachs are seeing share prices surge upwards of 45% while top alternative asset managers like Blackstone and KKR are collectively down. Fueling the resurgence is a regulatory pivot under the new Trump administration, which has dialed back post-crisis capital restrictions and stress tests, allowing big banks to aggressively re-enter the leveraged lending space, as evidenced by JPMorgan’s record $20B commitment for the Electronic Arts buyout. Meanwhile, alternative firms are grappling with elevated financing costs due to sticky inflation and tariffs, which have hampered their ability to exit portfolio companies and raise new funds, stalling their private credit momentum. Wells Fargo analyst Mike Mayo sums up the shift: "For the last 15 years, banks have been competing against nonbanks, analogous to playing basketball with one hand behind their back. All of the sudden banks can now play against their competitors with two hands." (link)

Texas Tech Asst. AD of Information Technology J.P. Williams joined the Sports Geek podcast to discuss the technological infrastructure supporting the Red Raiders' $250M Womble Football Center and South End Zone renovation, which created the "largest contiguous collegiate athletic facility in the nation." Leading a four-person team responsible for 15 sports across nine venues, Williams detailed the deployment of the "first true 5G in Lubbock" via AT&T within the South End Zone, though full-stadium WiFi remains a future priority to enable potential AR activations. To address congestion in the 60K-seat stadium's legacy concourses, the department partnered with concessionaire Oak View Group to implement self-checkout kiosks, a move Williams credits with increasing both turnover and revenue. “We take a belly-up concession stand that the lines are perpendicular to the stand and we take the line and we run it through the stand instead. And it's a parallel line and we create concourse space, which, our fire marshal loves that, but we're also getting people through there at a much quicker pace." More. (link)

The UCLA Anderson School of Management is piloting AI tools to automate administrative and pedagogical tasks, including an app using OpenAI and Anthropic models to grade essays and another powered by StackAI to draft letters of recommendation. While Howard Miller, who oversees software for the school, notes that "course assistants are a cost that we‘re looking to cut university-wide," faculty remain skeptical about whether AI can truly replace human TAs. Miller acknowledges the tension, telling The Information's Aaron Holmes: "It’s one of these pedagogical things that not everyone’s on the same page about yet." Holmes notes the initiative reflects a broader trend of universities grappling with AI integration amid slowing enrollment and budget pressures; Miller recalls a dean telling him shortly after ChatGPT's release: "I put my final [exam] into ChatGPT and [the chatbot] got a B+. What's our plan?" (link)

Margins of Victory host and LMU Ad Craig Pintens welcomed Dr. Eric Nichols, VP of Growth at WMT to recap the top trends of 2025 and forecast critical industry shifts for 2026. The conversation centered on maximizing the commercial value of every fan through technology and data-driven infrastructure.

➤ The Modern Tech Stack: Nichols argued that an integrated tech stack is no longer optional; it is the foundation required to run a modern commercial operation. By removing data silos, organizations can identify and monetize fans who may never step foot in the stadium, effectively removing physical capacity limits on revenue generation.

➤ Owned & Operated Platforms: The duo discussed the importance of universities and pro teams becoming the "trusted, curated source" for their fans. Nichols encouraged departments to link to high-quality outside content on their official platforms to build trust and maintain a controlled, monetizable environment.

➤ Real Estate and Year-Round Revenue: Following trends like the Atlanta Braves' Battery, college athletics is increasingly looking toward mixed-use developments to generate year-round income. This includes "macro" real estate projects and unconventional ideas like Texas A&M’s proposed retirement community.

CLICK HERE for the episode or listen anywhere you get your podcasts.

General Atlantic has agreed to acquire a 49% stake in Ollamani Group, the parent company of Club America and the 88K-seat Azteca Stadium, for roughly $240M. Bloomberg's Gonzalo Soto and Andrea Navarro report the deal creates a new joint entity, Grupo Aguilas, valued at $490M, with Televisa Group spinoff Ollamani retaining 51% ownership and Emilio Azcarraga Jean serving as executive president. The partnership will also involve the Kraft Analytics Group for data management and consulting. This investment comes as Mexico's Liga MX actively seeks foreign capital to end multiteam ownership structures, with League President Mikel Arriola noting: "We have 10 American investment funds looking for teams in Mexico." Soto and Navarro note investors view Liga MX as an attractive value play compared to MLS, where expansion fees can exceed $500M, or European top-flight clubs priced over $1B. Apollo Sports Capital Chief Strategy Officer Sam Porter: “You start to go: ‘OK, where is the place where an investor still can capture some of the upside that hasn’t been unlocked yet, that hasn’t been fully invested by folks who are buying NFL and NBA teams?’ I think Liga MX holds a lot of that appeal.” (link)

The Athletic’s Henry Bushnell explores the stark cultural divide driving the global backlash to FIFA’s dynamic pricing for the 2026 World Cup, contrasting the European view of clubs as "community assets" with the American acceptance of sports as a high-priced commodity. Here’s a breakdown…

➤ Former Liverpool CEO Ian Ayre, now CEO of Nashville SC, notes that while a £77 ticket sparked a walkout at Anfield in 2016, his MLS club faced "no backlash" for charging hundreds for a match against Inter Miami, observing: "I think people in this country, and in [U.S.] sports, are accepting that if you want the hottest ticket in town, it’ll come at a price.” 

➤ Bushnell points out that while U.S. ticket prices have risen ~300% since 1991 due to dynamic pricing and unregulated resale markets, European clubs often leave value on the table to maintain fan loyalty, generating less than 20% of revenue from matchday sources versus the 30% for most U.S. teams. 

➤ Chicago Fire Chief Ticketing Officer Ted Glick: “I also think some of the league structures are a big piece of that. In the U.S., sports leagues are closed leagues; there’s no promotion and relegation, there’s revenue sharing, there’s a lot of collaboration, and there’s a real expectation league-wide that every team needs to pull their weight and really fill stadiums and drive revenues. Versus in Europe, every team is singularly focused on their own stadium, their own venue” — and their relations with members. Despite what some have termed the "extortionate" pricing, Bushnell notes FIFA’s bet on American consumer habits appears to have been validated, with 20M ticket applications received in the first five days of the latest sales phase.   

➤ Lots more. (link)

Taco Bell has gone all in on an activation at Ball Arena in Denver, putting a shirt that reads “Give the Quesarito a chance” on every seat. The McFranchisee X account notes: “I don’t think people understand how much an activation like this costs: team marketing fee, cost of shirts/coupons, setup labor, cost of free food. I’ve been involved in discussions about this type of thing with an arena/professional team. Not sure if corporate pitched in, but it’s usually 100% locally funded. This promo could easily cost around $225K total. … Some ask why corporate wouldn’t pay: Why would a franchisee in rival territory (Minnesota) approve having some of their marketing dollars spent in a rival’s territory? National funds are spent nationally to benefit all markets, not just one.” McFranchisee later points out this was not locally funded. (link)

Movie theater owners are bracing for the potential impact of a Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition, fearing that consolidation – whether by Netflix via a $72B cash-and-stock deal or Paramount in a hostile takeover – could further shrink the pipeline of theatrical releases, the Wall Street Journal’s Kate King reports. Cinema United CEO Michael O’Leary tells King: "When legacy studios are absorbed there’s a significant decline in production." Despite a forecasted 3% rise in 2025 domestic box office sales to $8.8B, largely due to ticket price hikes, the industry remains far below the $11B pre-pandemic peak investors say is needed for profitability. Chains like Marcus Corp. have invested hundreds of millions into premium amenities to lure fans back, but Flix Brewhouse CRO Chris Randleman emphasizes that success hinges on exclusive theatrical windows: "We need to have a healthy window so people aren’t just like, ‘Oh, I’ll just wait for streaming.’" (link)

Here are the first tenants announced for Miami Freedom Park’s entertainment district, according to former WSVN reporter Joel Franco: PopStroke, an interactive mini golf attraction backed by Tiger Woods. It will occupy 75K-square feet; Toroverde, a 24K-sq-ft adventure park with zipline courses; and Fever: a live-entertainment discovery platform that will host rotating experiences across 30K-square feet of space. Franco also reports the phased opening will begin in 2026 with the stadium, restaurants, retail/entertainment, Jorge Mas Canosa Park, youth athletic field and a public plaza. (link)