In March 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court voted to strike down the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PAPSA), ending the federal ban on sports betting in every state except Nevada. This allowed states to decide if they wanted to legalize sports gambling. Today, 38 states, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico have done so.

For many years, the major sports leagues’ concerns with gambling were primarily to do with the integrity of their product. The leagues felt that allowing gambling could compromise their sports and pose as a destructive force. Eventually, they began to realize that gambling could actually increases interest and revenue tremendously. In the 2010’s, the league’s began to change their tune by investing in casinos and gambling companies, putting teams in Las Vegas, and joining the push to end PAPSA. The league’s and the government realized legal gambling would create jobs, generate tax revenue, and lower the rate of crime involved with illegal gambling.

Now that we are five years since legalization, we can look at how sports betting impacted the U.S. economy. According to the American Gaming Association, The legal U.S. sports betting market generated$7.56 billion of total revenue in 2022, an increase of about 75% from 2021. Americans legally wagered $93.73 billion, compared to $57.53 billion in 2021. New York accounted for $1.37 billion of the national revenue total, as their launch of online sports betting in January 2022 saw it become the largest legal sports betting market in the country by a long shot. New York imposes a 51% state tax on gross gaming revenue. Tax rates vary across states, but in 2022, 27 of those states combined for $1.5 billion tax revenue from sports betting.

It’s not just the tax revenue that has positively impacted the economy. According to a report published this May by IBISworld, there are more than 24,000 businesses employing over 200,000 workers related to sports betting. The leagues are also making more money, not just from partnering with the sportsbooks and casinos, but also selling their data to technology companies that work with the casinos, as well as increased viewership and interest. Specifically, the NFL has increased viewership every year since 2018.

Another interesting financial aspect about gambling is that even when the Casinos are on a losing end of a wager, tax is still being paid. If you, as a gambler, made more than $600 for the year, you have to pay income tax on that. What this means is that nearly every wager placed, whether won or lost by the casinos, generates tax revenue.

It’s no secret that gambling has supplied a boost to the U.S. economy in the form of tax revenue, job creation, and consumer spending. However, everything comes with a cost. Gambling addiction has been on the rise each year since legalization. The lack of regulation in the beginning allowed for extremally predatory and misleading ads that lured in people to start betting with promotions described as “risk-free bets” when in fact, you had to risk money in order to get credits that were in the form of bonus bets. While there is very limited data on this subject because it is all so new and hard to quantify, there are probably plenty of people that would never have placed a sports bet prior to 2018 who now have an addiction. It will be interesting to see how regulation evolves over the years and whether or not the monetary gains for the economy are worth the social costs.

The NFL has found it’s way to remain in the headlines despite it being the middle of the offseason large in part due to the unique contract discussions surrounding prominent quarterbacks, Aaron Rodgers and Lamar Jackson.

While Rodgers figured out he would like to continue his career for a tune of $50 million while he was meditating in a cave or whatever, Lamar Jackson has been trying to negotiate a new deal with the Baltimore Ravens despite not having an agent.

There’s no doubt amongst the football community that Jackson has a remarkable talent. Like many others, I was instantly awed the first time I saw him play, back when he was in college with the Louisville Cardinals. He was up against my lowly Syracuse Orange and he straight up hurdled a guy without even touching him on his way to a touchdown. He went on to win the coveted Heisman Trophy that year, and later went on to be selected by the Baltimore Ravens with the last pick in the first round of the 2018 NFL draft.

Despite the concerns about his throwing accuracy, Jackson quickly made the teams who passed on him regret it. That year we saw quite quarterbacks drafted in front of him (Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, and Josh Rosen were all selected in the top 10, yikes.)

In just his second season and first as a fulltime starter, Jackson won the league’s MVP award after throwing for over 3000 yards and rushing over 1200. But despite his regular season success, Jackson has disappointed in the playoffs and has suffered a few injuries the past couple seasons that sidelined him from some crucial games. Even so, there is no denying that Jackson is one of the league’s best at the key position and is due a big pay day entering his 6th season.

However, the negotiations have been taking very long, as Jackson is seeking a fully guaranteed contract (meaning he gets paid even if he gets hurt and can’t play). Personally, I believe that should be the case regardless, but that’s not how it works in the NFL today. There have been some players to successfully negotiate fully guaranteed deals, the most recent one being Deshaun Watson when he signed with the Cleveland Browns for $230 Million last year.

Many people, and perhaps Lamar, are pointing to Watson’s deal as a main reason he deserves a fully guarantied deal. Especially when you consider the fact that Watson was coming off an ACL injury. Oh and numerous allegations that he sexually harassed many of his massage therapists.

But just because the Browns do something, doesn’t mean everyone else will do the same. In fact, it would probably make sense for them to do the opposite since the Browns haven’t won a playoff game since I’ve been alive, but that’s besides the point.

Lamar and the Ravens have yet to finalize a deal, but the most interesting factor that may be holding this all up is that Jackson does not have an agent. Sure, there have been players to successfully negotiate deals by themselves, but those have all been long tenured veterans playing less vital positions. Lamar is the first quarterback in the prime of his career to attempt a record-breaking deal on his own. And perhaps this is the most important reason why he has failed to make a deal so far.

It may have nothing at all to do with his talent, injury history, or even his asking price. Agent’s have relationships with teams and have a variety of negotiating tools and their disposal that a player, who’s main focus is football, simply not might be aware of. I mean if you were trying to run a business, just like Lamar is essentially doing, you wouldn’t spend you entire day trying to balance your books, create budgets and forecasts, and file you own taxes would you? Of course not, you’d hire Skyview CFO to take care of that so you can focus on what you do best to help your business grow.

But perhaps it goes even deeper. Think about what would happen to the agent industry if Lamar did indeed sign a record breaking, fully guaranteed contract… It would set a remarkable precedent. Players like Lamar in the future would look at him and think, “Lamar was able to do it, why would I hire an agent so he can take a hefty percentage?”

I’m not saying the agents are colluding with the owners to make sure this doesn’t happen, but I’m not not saying it either.

So, what would you do if you were Lamar? Would you saddle up with an agent at this point to try to get a deal done, or would you continue and try to break precedent?

Click this link to join the bracket group

Password: Skyview

Email: ops@skyviewcfo.com if you have any questions!

Stephen A. Smith is one of, if not the most recognized name in all of sports media. This month, he released his first memoir, Straight Shooter, where he opens up about many aspects of his life and career: his relationship with his absentee father, his respect and love for his late mother, his rise through the ranks at ESPN, and more.

I am a huge Stephen A. fan. When I was studying for exams in college, I would routinely listen to his long-standing sports debate show, First Take, during its glory days, when he sparred with Skip Bayless. If you’ve ever heard SAS go on a rant, there is something so unique and refreshing about his voice, tone, demeaner, and just the way he says certain phrases. My personal favorite: “The Dallas Cowboys ARE A DISASTER WAITING TO HAPPEN!!”

Despite my fandom, this book left me wanting a bit more. It’s not bad, and definitely worth a read, especially if you’re a fan, but I wish SAS focused a little more on his career and unique experiences he’s had being such a prominent sports media persona. Instead, the book focused more on his rough upbringing and general distaste for his father, who seemed like a real piece of poo. I know this is necessary and what he wanted to right about but the points he made about his relationship with his father felt a bit repetitive and belabored the point.

While he did discuss his mindset and approach to his work, the scenes that were major career altering moments for him felt too crammed and lacked the message and context he was intending to deliver. He discussed just three moments in his on-air career where he faced public backlash from live comments he made and what he learned from them. However, those anecdotes felt like they were shoved in there just so he could be on the record defending his true intentions and character that was blown out of proportion due to his misguided articulation on sensitive topics. They were very interesting, but would have been better if he gave readers more interesting moments and perspective on what it’s like to be a sports ‘insider’, even if it wasn’t just about defending himself or leaning from a mistake. He lives such an interesting life, especially to sports fans, and I just wished he could have included more.

In spite of my qualms with the memoir as a whole, there was plenty of good lessons and morals to take away. Stephen A. showed us how a minority could rise to ultimate prominence in an industry dominated by old white executives. He showed humility while reminiscing on his transgressions, and that you are allowed to make mistakes so long as you learn from them. He stressed the importance of having a team and support system, even though his career has been spent building up his own name.

I was a fan of SAS before I read the book, and feel like he is more relatable to me, a younger white guy, now that I have took a peak inside his mind without the Disney filters on.

Jim Boeheim has become synonymous with Syracuse Basketball due to the fact that he has been the University’s head coach for 47 years. He is undoubtedly one of the greatest coaches in the history of the college game, establishing Syracuse as one of the country’s most successful programs that doesn’t wear the color blue. In his half-century long career, Boeheim won his and the program’s sole championship in 2003, and has reached the Final Four 4 times (2 of which happened to be while I was a student) in 37 NCAA tournament appearances.

The team has had a shaky 2022-2023 season, and Boeheim has become increasingly irritated and disrespectful to the media and other schools in his conference, recently whining about how they “bought” their teams with NIL deals. Many people though Boeheim would finally step down after his sons graduated last season, but he is still hinting at a return next year in spite of the team’s woes. His lack of self-awareness is setting himself up as a grumpy old man with a big ego who does not believe anybody can do the job better than him.

Many Syracuse fans may disagree, and I embrace it, however let’s look at the facts. The team is underperforming, he is not recruiting top tier talent, and he does not produce NBA talent.

Recruiting

Even if you agree that Boeheim isn’t the best coach, a common counterpoint would be that he has consistently been able to recruit big names to come to the bitter cold north and play for the Orange. However, that is simply not the case anymore. In the last 4 recruiting classes, the Orange have only had a single Top 100 recruit in each class, and 2 of them have since transferred. This notion that he is this juggernaut recruiter has simply not been true since the early 2010’s when he was able to get names like Dion Waiters, Fab Melo (RIP), Jerami Grant, and Michael Carter-Williams. He has not had a single Five Star recruit since Chris McCollough in 2014, who only ended up playing in 16 games before a season ending injury.

NBA Production

Since the championship run 20 season ago, led by future NBA Hall-of-Famer Carmelo Anthony, Syracuse has had just 4 alums last more than 4 seasons in the NBA. The best player of the crop has been Jerami Grant, which says enough. Compared to the other CBB powerhouses who pump out NBA talent year in and year out, Syracuse doesn’t even come close. If you cannot produce NBA talent, how can you expect to convince a top recruit to endure the Syracuse winters and play in his stubborn 2-3 zone which is rarely, if ever, used in the NBA?

The Team Stinks

Over his career, Boeheim has a winning percentage of roughly 72%, but in the last 4 seasons he is barely above .500. The team has failed to win 20 games in 7 of the 10 seasons since leaving the Big East for the ACC. The 10 seasons prior, the team never failed to capture 20 wins and averaged over 26 wins per season.

He’s a grumpy old man

While Boeheim, has never been known for his warm personality, he has been getting into bitter interactions with the media and is even whining about other teams “buying” players with NIL deals (which is allowed now). He’s almost 80 years old, and I can’t imagine he is able to connect with players on a way they can trust, considering he is almost a century older than them.

It’s time.

Boeheim’s entire identity is being Syracuse’s head coach, which is probably why he refuses to leave and pass the torch. The team has plenty of young assistant coaches who have earned a shot. I believer they could do just as good of a job recruiting, if not better, and won’t have that high of a bar to reach in terms of recent regular season success.

Listen Jimmy, I know it’s hard to step aside and recognize that your time is up. I get that it’s hard to accept the notion that someone younger than you could be better at the job you’ve been doing twice as long as they’ve been alive. But sometimes it takes a bigger man to recognize that a young mind with fresh energy and ideas could revitalize a stagnant program and bring them back to their winning ways.

He also picks his nose on the sidelines every game as he watches his team lose and it’s pretty gross.

Please Jim, just say goodbye, walk off into the sunset. I’d say we would name the court after you but it already is. It’s time for someone new.

Sometimes, it is in the darkest times where we can see human kindness shine the brightest.

At least, that is how I am choosing to look at the horrible situation that unfolded Sunday night in Cincinnati, when Bill’s safety, Damar Hamlin collapsed after making a routine tackle where he took a sharp blow straight to his heart. As of this writing, there has been no further update since his family reported that he is still in critical condition under sedation at the hospital.

It is no secret that football is a violent sport. It is also no secret that the NFL has had a rough history in terms of how they handle players’ safety. They covered up the repeated head trauma effects for years, but the simple fact here is that this particular injury was a very unique and rare occurrence. Seeing something like this unfold on live television was traumatic for everyone involved, whether it be the players on the field or the fans watching at home.

Often, we see that when people experience trauma they confuse their emotions with anger and need to blame. With the exceptions of a few people on Twitter, I am happy to see how the sporting world and beyond have reacted and come together during this moment. Despite something so terrible happening we have seen some of the best sides of human kindness.

Since the moment Hamlin collapsed, everyone involved did the very best they could do to manage a difficult situation. From the medical staff getting to him right away to administer CPR, to the players surrounding Hamlin on the field to give him much deserved privacy during a moment of life and death, to the NFL eventually making the right decision to postpone the game, everyone who had to make a decision in an unprecedent time acted as human as possible. It is easy to criticize decision making when you are not the one in the moment faced with a very difficult dilemma.

It feels that when terrible things like this happen, it is often to a really good person, and from what I’ve been able to read so far, that’s exactly what Hamlin is. Right after Hamlin was drafted into the NFL in 2020, he started a toy drive in his hometown, Pittsburgh. During the summer of 2020 he was able to raise $5,000 in toys for his community. In just hours following his injury, more than $4 Million had been donated and the current total is now north of $6 million.

I know there will be people that say “it shouldn’t take something like this for people to be nice”. Which is true to some extent, but what is the alternative here? Would we rather nobody donate because it’s only because he was injured. Here’s the thing: most charities are created because something awful is happening. While it is devastating what Hamlin and his family are going through, it is amazing to see that outpouring of love, sympathy, and money in his honor.

I hope that people can take a look at this situation and just process. I hope they keep whatever anger they may have to themselves, not try to blame anyone, and give what they can, whether it just be a prayer or a dollar to his amazing Toy drive. Those are the best actions to take right now collectively as human beings.

Below is a link to donate to Hamlin’s Toy Drive.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/mxksc-the-chasing-ms-foundation-community-toy-drive

Imagine you are negotiating a raise with your manager…

They look at your proposal and say, “sorry, you’re a great asset to us, but this raise would put us over our salary limit for the company.”

And you respond, “but the company has enough money to give me this raise?”

“…yes.”

“And you believe I’m worth it?”

“Without a doubt.”

“But you can’t give me the raise because there’s a salary limit?”

“Yes, but it’s not our company’s policy, it’s the industry’s. Every company in our industry has to abide by the same limit,” they say.

You consider your options. “So, I could either stay here and make less money than we both know I’m worth, or I could find another company with more salary ‘room’?”

“That’s right, except there are only about 30 other companies, and only about 5 of them have enough room for this type of salary”

“I see.”

“Oh and they’re located in very random places across the country. Milwaukee, Indianapolis, maybe Utah?”

“Okay…”

“But even they probably wouldn’t want to pay you.”

“So what can I do?”

“Sign this deal.”

End scene.

While professional athletes are known for signing astronomically high contracts, they are subject to scenarios like this one.

Collective bargaining agreements known as (CBAs) are agreements between player organizations of professional sports leagues and the team owner’s. You may have heard the term “lockout” before, and that is what comes when the two sides can’t come to an agreement on a new CBA prior to the expiration of the one in place. Currently, the MLB and the MLBPA have not agreed to a new CBA and are facing a potential lockout, as their current CBA is set to expire tomorrow, 2/28/2022.

Baseball is unique to the other sports in the sense that it does not utilize a “Salary Cap”, however under the previous CBA if team payroll went over a certain amount, they were financially penalized with a “luxury tax” penalty. The NBA & NFL both utilize a salary cap that is derived from a certain percentage of the league revenue, while the NHL utilizes upper and lower “limits” for their salaries (very similar to a Salary Cap).

Let’s take a look at how the salary caps (and limits) are calculated for these three leagues, as well as how the luxury tax was assessed in the expring MLB CBA:

The NBA (2017 CBA)

Calculated by multiplying projected “Basketball Related Income” by 44.74%, subtracting projected player benefits, and then dividing the result by 30 (the amount of teams).

The “Minimum Team Salary” is the minimum total team salary that a team must have for a Salary Cap Year (90% of the Salary Cap).

NFL (2020 CBA)

The NFL breaks up their revenue into three different categories and assigns a different percentage for each awarded to the players, which they refer to as “The Player Cost”. According to the current CBA, The “Player Cost Amount” is be calculated by the sum of 55% of projected League Media Revenue, 45% of projected NFL Ventures/Postseason Revenue, 40% of projected Local Revenue, and 50% of the net revenue for new line of business projects, less 47.5% of the Joint Contribution Amount (amount contributed to retirement and benefits).

NHL (2020 CBA)

During the 2020-2021 season, the limits were set at the following amounts:
• Upper Limit = $81.5 Million
• Midpoint = $70.9 Million
• Lower Limit = $60.2 Million

According to the CBA, the Upper Limit increases if “Hockey Related Revenue” surpasses $3.3 Billion.

MLB Luxury Tax

Each year, clubs who carry payrolls above a threshold are taxed on each dollar above the threshold, with the tax rate increasing based on the number of consecutive years a club has exceeded the threshold.

A team’s Competitive Balance Tax figure is determined using the average annual value of each player’s contract on the 40-man roster, plus any additional player benefits. Every team’s final CBT figure is calculated at the end of each season.

In 2021 the threshold was $210 Million Dollars.

Now with all these restrictions in mind, let’s look at how the average player salaries looked during the 2019-2020 season:

As we see here, of the 4 major sports described above, it looks like the NBA players get the best deal, but this is largely due in part because they have the fewest amount of players on each team.

Now, let’s take a look at the 20 largest sports contracts in America:

Despite the NBA having the highest average, only two of them made this list which has 15 different MLB players on it (A-Rod twice). While the MLB system is definitely far from perfect, it is closer to real world scenario than the other sports as despite making half the annual average revnue as the NFL, their best players dominate the top of this list. Probably, because there is no “hard” cap on the salaries they can offer, allowing them to go “all in” on certain players, while the other league’s are bound by these hard limits.

Anyways, the point of this is not to throw a pity party for billionaire athlete’s, but just to say that these salary limits the league’s get away with imposing on their players goes directly against the American idea of free trade, market value, and basic anti-trust laws. Each of these leagues, essentially operate monopolies, generate billions of dollars, and use their monopolistic authority to control how their employees are compensated.

And yes you did read this right, Robinson Cano has a $240 Million contract.

Before I decided to pursue my bachelor’s degree at Syracuse University, I attended a seminar for prospective students. The speaker was none other than, alumnus, Brandon Steiner.

“Consistency over time equals credibility”

Brandon Steiner (the other Brandon) is the creator and former CEO of Steiner Sports, the world’s most recognized sports memorabilia company. He launched in 1987 and has been since recognized as “one of the most innovative figures in the history of sports memorabilia”. If you own an autographed jersey or picture, it probably came from Steiner Sports.

At the seminar I got to know Brandon and he eventually invited me to come visit the Steiner Sport’s headquarters in White Plains the following week. As a young high schooler ready to embark on my collegiate career, Steiner shared with me some valuable advice on keeping my options open as I began my studies, and what to expect at Syracuse.

I kept in contact with him over the years, as I would periodically ask him for career advice. It had been close to three years since we last spoke, but he kindly accepted my invitation to hop on a call with me and discuss how he turned Steiner Sports from a concept into an enterprise.

“You never know when you’re actually ready,” said Steiner.

I asked about his decision to leave his comfortable job at Hyatt Hotels to start his own business. “I wanted to be an entrepreneur since I was ten years old, but when I graduated college, my mother wouldn’t let me go off on my own without getting experience first, and the most important thing I learned was empathy. Once you are able to put yourself in your customers shoes is when you can be ready.”

No matter what your business is, without experience you won’t succeed. You won’t understand the landscape, or even have enough confidence behind yourself to be able to sell to your clients. But, most importantly, if you can’t relate to your clients, and understand their wants and needs, you won’t be able to successfully fulfill them.

“The only thing that matters [when you start a business] is can you understand and develop what your value proposition is.” Your value proposition, explained in your company’s executive summary, is how your business will specifically aim benefit the lives of your customers. “The three most important things in business,” he went on, “are price, quality, and service. You can’t have all three, so you must decide which your primary focus is [and what your secondary focus is], all three work hand in hand, but it’s virtually impossible to achieve all three. Nobody likes to admit their [EXPLETIVE] isn’t the highest quality level, but look at Red Roof and Holiday Inn. They aren’t the highest quality – they’re service companies. You compare them to The Four Seasons, which is pricier, but you get a higher quality experience. A Honda is a price vehicle, they aren’t rolling out the red carpet for you, but you get a good price. If you get a Mercedes, they pick your car up to get service, they give you that extra level of quality and service, enabling them to command a higher price than Honda.”

When developing your brand, it’s important to decide which area you’ll focus on and make your value proposition. Will you be affordable and not focus too much on providing the highest quality product or service, or will you try to provide exceptional customer service and quality and command a higher price?

“If you go out, and try to claim that you’re all three, then you’re delusional. The only company that I’ve seen even come remotely close, and I’ve been looking at this for years and years, is Amazon. They have good prices, quality products, and the service? You can’t argue with that same day delivery,” he laughed, “but even they aren’t totally mastering all three. If you think your company can, then you’re just bull[expletive] yourself.”

I followed up by questioning what his biggest challenge coming out of the gate was, to which he simply said, “cash flow.”

“You can still make money and go out of business. [When starting], I miscalculated and completely winged it. I misunderstood [the logistics of] putting together a bunch of money. But the simple answer is, you have to figure out how to spend a little less than what you take in. Don’t get ahead of yourself. Growth is important but you can’t run out of money.” Don’t run out of money. Got it.

“Pricing was very hard initially. A lot of people have trouble drilling down on cost, and it was very problematic for me for a while. You can’t just sell stuff and hope things work out. You have to have a [complete] idea of what things cost. Obviously, not just the materials of a product, but all the selling efforts that goes into it as well. Pricing is one of the most complicated things in business,” he concluded.

I wrote an article about the difficulties of establishing credibility as a young entrepreneur, so I asked Steiner how he was able to figure his path towards credibility in his early years. “Consistency over time,” he said, “you can’t shortcut it.” While, in my article, I discuss ways that will help you gain credibility, Brandon means here that, ultimately, your credibility will be built upon putting out a consistent product or service that is in line with your value proposition over time.

Getting yourself to buy in and put the most effort behind your work is the easy part, but getting your employees to buy in is where things get a bit more challenging. “You’re better off having one great employee than three [bad] employees. You could write that [EXPLETIVE] down.” I wrote it down, Brandon!

“The things that travel fastest in business are great news and bad news. Consistency over time equals credibility. If you produce work that supersedes your customers expectations right out of the gate, that’s how you establish yourself. You develop a reputation. Every project has to be the biggest project you’ve ever had. Those customers then become word of mouth advertisers for you. Come out of the gate and nail it.”

“It wasn’t like the business went down, the business went out!“

While pricing and establishing credibility are two of the biggest problems new business face, they are inevitable. I was curious to learn what Steiner’s biggest unforeseen challenge was over the course of his time as CEO of Steiner Sports.

“200[8] because of the financial crisis. We lost all of our wholesale accounts, so we had to pivot to online. It wasn’t like the business went down, the business went out. Figuring out the digital landscape was biggest challenge I faced.” Boomers vs. the internet: a tale as old as time.

Although Brandon sold Steiner Sports in 2000 to Omnicom, he remained the CEO until 2019, until Fanatics wagered a hostile take over of the company. “Yeah, it’s not a great story and nobody really gives a [expletive].” Okay then, moving on…

Although he was sad to lose the company that still bears his name, he has been building a new company that “will be better than Steiner.”

In 2019, he founded Collectable Xchange, which in his words will be a “more modern version of EBay.” Right now it is both a store and marketplace for memorabilia of all kinds, and currently has three times more items available than Steiner ever had. Another angle he’s working on is Athlete Direct, where athlete’s can go out and sell their own memorabilia via his online platform.

Steiner and I talked for over a half hour on other aspects of business and his new venture. The rest of the interview will be included in my first business help book, Cash Wheels (working title, but I think it plays.), which I’m aiming to have published by March. In the meantime, take a look at Steiner’s new venture here.

Thanks Brandon! -Brandon