SBJ Unpacks: Sportradar faces class action lawsuit

Tonight in Unpacks: Sportradar was already reeling from a report that it was working with illegal gambling operators, and now it has been hit with a class action lawsuit over “misleading statements” the firm allegedly made about its business, reports SBJ’s Rob Schaefer.

Also tonight:

• Heavyweight innovation at SBAs
• Heisman leaders look to protect ceremony
• Indianapolis Motor Speedway mixed-use plans become clearer
• Op-ed: Why luxury brands treat sports as a mirror

Listen to SBJ’s most popular podcast, Morning Buzzcast, where Abe Madkour opens the week with the energy and enthusiasm around the Knicks, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey’s comments on CFP expansion, the Indy 500’s big attendance figure highlighting IndyCar’s resurgence and more.

With its stock price still reeling from short-seller reports that alleged it works with illegal gambling operators, Sportradar has been hit with a class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York that seeks a jury trial and compensatory damages.

The suit was filed May 18 by plaintiff James Anthony Smale, who is being represented by Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, and names Sportradar, its Founder/CEO Carsten Koerl, and CFO Craig Felenstein as defendants. It alleges that Sportradar “made materially false and/or misleading statements, as well as failed to disclose material adverse facts” about its business -- specifically, by misrepresenting or failing to disclose that it worked with black-market gambling operators and overstating the robustness of its compliance processes. The suit includes investors who purchased or otherwise acquired Sportradar stock between Nov. 7, 2024, and April 21, 2026.

Short sellers Callisto Research and Muddy Waters initially published their reports alleging improper practices on April 22; Sportradar’s stock plunged 22% that day and as of May 26 ($12.99) is down 45% from the start of the year.

Sportradar responded to the reports with a statement that claimed, in part, that the reports contained “several factual inaccuracies,” and that Sportradar “works exclusively with licensed operators.” Koerl followed with a letter to shareholders posted to his LinkedIn that called the reports unfounded and defended Sportradar’s compliance processes.

Sportradar declined to comment on the class action suit.

As the presenters reached inside the prize-naming envelopes at this week’s 19^th annual Sports Business Awards, the winners within were familiar ones: the Dodgers, the U.S. Open, the World Series, the NHL and ESPN (twice).

But a closer look at the résumés of the SBA winners showed that these weren’t honors for industry heavyweights finding success while conducting business as usual but, instead, for innovating or even reinventing.

“We all know our antecedents: We all know about Jackie Robinson and Sandy Koufax and Fernando Valenzuela. We take that legacy seriously,” said Stan Kasten, CEO of the Dodgers, who were named Team of the Year.

He continued, noting that the franchise history was a powerful foundation not to be locked in place, but upon which to continue building.

“We know we represent that,” Kasten added, “and we try to display it in a modern way every day with everything we do, always looking for new horizons. That spirit embodies everything that we do in everyone that we have, and it really flows throughout our whole organization.”

As the Dodgers won a second consecutive World Series, they built a business powerhouse that included major renovations to benefit the fan experience at storied old Dodger Stadium and a progressive approach to maximizing opportunities overseas, particularly in Japan, with more than a quarter of its 76 brand sponsors coming from that country.

ESPN, meanwhile, made two of the most consequential decisions in the network’s history last year. For the first time, it made all of its content fully available in a direct-to-consumer product, reshaping its relationship with viewers in a significant way as a key reason it won Best in Sports Media. And then ESPN acquired NFL Network and NFL RedZone in exchange for the league taking a 10% stake of the network — a groundbreaking agreement that netted the Deal of the Year.

“Sports is like any other industry: If you’re not innovating, if you’re not changing, you’re going backwards,” Brian Rolapp, PGA Tour CEO and former NFL chief media and business officer, told SBJ after the awards ceremony. “The NFL had a mission of bringing more football to more people. And we tried to do that the best we could at the NFL Network because the world changes. Having partners and having scale matters, and ESPN’s really good at what they do.”

The U.S. Open is a commercial dynamo for the USTA, which found a new way to expand its reach and profile by moving its mixed doubles competition to the Fan Week before the rest of the tournament, with some early-round matches free to the public. High-profile players participated, fans raved about the experience and the event claimed the Sports Breakthrough of the Year award. Stacey Allaster, the U.S. Open’s outgoing tournament director, hailed the USTA’s innovative mindset in being willing to break the usual mold.

The NHL, which won League of the Year, did so on the back of strong interest in international competitions, the 4 Nations Face-Off in 2025 and the Winter Olympics in 2026. As part of the new collective-bargaining agreement and its unprecedented labor peace, the NHL is expanding the number of international regular-season games it will play and will ensure more national team events with the World Cup of Hockey in 2028. (MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred also hailed the international tenor to the World Series, which won Sports Event of the Year.) The NHL further broadened its Winter Classic and Stadium Series outdoor games by playing both in Florida, of all places. Steve Mayer, NHL president of content and events, acknowledged that “risk was at an all-time high, but it was a master class in engineering and in thought process” to execute successfully.

A lifetime of sports innovation for John Henry

This year’s Lifetime Achievement Award went to John Henry, the principal owner of Fenway Sports Group and its holdings, such as the Red Sox, Liverpool FC and a key stake in Strategic Sports Group, the investment vehicle that revamped the business of the PGA Tour. FSG CEO Sam Kennedy emphasized to SBJ “the need to constantly evolve” as a business; the Red Sox massively upgraded Fenway Park while preserving its historic charm, and they enhanced the district around the park.

“I knew the only way we’d ever began to compete with the Yankees was to generate enough revenue to be able to field competitive teams,” Henry said in his speech, “and we did it.”

Theo Epstein, who as Red Sox GM won the 2004 World Series that broke the 86-year drought, has returned to FSG as a senior adviser and shared his thoughts on Henry’s transformative influence in taking a storied franchise and not only winning championships, but also changing the way sports businesses are operated.

“The sports landscape would look a lot different without John Henry,” Epstein said in a tribute video. “He was really the first to build an entire organization around data and analytics and progressive thinking in that way. Look up a quarter-century later, and there’s four World Series titles and a lot of history as a result.

“And it was really John’s vision to build a multisport platform like Fenway Sports Group that would really transform the industry and become the model for many others seeking to replicate it today.”

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Sports Business Awards: 2026 judging committee

Seth Ader

Derek Aframe, Octagon

Stephanie Alger, League One Volleyball

John Brody, Dirigo Advisory

Amina Bulman, Boston Legacy FC

Kathy Carter, 48 Ventures

Imani Clenance, MLB Players Association

Colin Cook, Legends Global

Rob DiGisi, Iron Horse Sports Marketing

Benjamin Freeman, Proskauer

Michael Goldstein, SES Insights

Matt Grandis, Team Playmaker

Adam Grossman, ROAR

David Herman, Fresh Tape Media

Katie Hodel, KAGR

Olga Itskhoki Harvey, Women’s Sports Foundation

Sarah Jones Simmer, NWSL

Terry Kalna, ECHL

Nicole Kankam, U.S. Tennis Association

Alex Kopilow, Sponcon Sports

E.J. Lawrence, Victory+

Matthew Lederer, Comcast

Chris Lencheski, Phoenicia Sport / SKI Partners

Chris Marinak, Playfly Sports

Qiava Martinez, Las Vegas Raiders

Tony Mayhoff, Baltimore Orioles

Dave Mingey, Onboard Sports Advisory

Mike Morris, Mike Morris Advisory

Darius Naficy, The Team

Jeff Nelson, Navigate

Jennifer O’Sullivan, New York City FC

Steve Politziner, Good Karma Brands

Daniel Render, Katten Muchin Rosenman

Greg Resh, SIGR Sports

Michael Robichaud, SportsBiz

Seth Rubinroit, NBC Sports

Aaron Ryan, Belden Avenue Advisors

Sheerin Salimi, Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment

Sandeep Satish, Levy

Emily Sisson, Octagon

Leela Srinivasan, Parity

Craig Swaisgood, New York Mets

Jennifer Todd, Boston Celtics

Fran Weld, Canopy Team

Maddie Winslow, Inner Circle Sports

Sports Business Awards presenters

Brand Activation of the Year

Evan Cohen, Chris Canty and Michelle Smallmon, co-hosts of “UnSportsmanLike”

Best in Property Consulting, Sales and Client Services

Evan Cohen, Chris Canty and Michelle Smallmon, co-hosts of “UnSportsmanLike”

Best in Sports Social Media

Tom Penn, CEO, San Diego FC

Celebration of Service

Oshinofa Lakoju, alumni board chair, Figure Skating in Harlem

Sports Breakthrough of the Year

Jonathan Lemire, co-host of “Morning Joe” and staff writer at The Atlantic

Best in Talent Representation

Steve Mayer, president, content and events, NHL

Athletic Director of the Year

Kelli Hilliard, chief people officer, Teall Sports & Entertainment

Sports Event of the Year

Sarah Jones Simmer, COO, NWSL

Best in Sports Media

Terri Jackson, executive director, WNBPA

Lifetime Achievement

David Ortiz, Baseball Hall of Famer

Deal of the Year

David Nugent, CEO, Next League

Agency of the Year: Brand Consulting

Uzma Rawn Dowler, CMO and senior vice president, global corporate partnerships, MLB

Sports Facility of the Year

Peter Feigin, former president, Milwaukee Bucks and Fiserv Forum

Executive of the Year

Sarah Hirshland, CEO, U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee

Sports Sponsor of the Year

Hannah Storm, ESPN “SportsCenter” anchor

Sports League of the Year

Steve Phelps, former commissioner, NASCAR

Sports Team of the Year

Brian Rolapp, CEO, PGA Tour

MIRAMAR BEACH, Fla. — College football’s most exclusive fraternity is angling to avoid a stiff-arm.

Gathering for a March meeting with College Football Playoff staff, nearly two-dozen former Heisman Trophy winners were clued into the sport’s stalemate around postseason expansion.

CFP Executive Director Rich Clark explained the intricacies of a potential shift to the 24-team format and the new-look voting structure that grants the Big Ten and SEC ultimate control over format decisions.

But these details, while illuminating, were less relevant to the game’s former greats. The concern among these men in the time since boils down to a finer point: How can the Heisman Trophy ceremony maintain its place in the fabric of the sport its winners have long defined with potential change on the horizon?

“I’ve always felt the more, the better, [in the CFP] because it gives more people the opportunity to become a national champion. I’m all for that,” said Archie Griffin, the only back-to-back Heisman winner in history. “But, at the same time, I also wouldn’t want to lose the traditions that have made college football what it is. ... The Heisman certainly is one of those.”

What’s happening with CFP expansion?

College Football Playoff expansion has been central industry fodder for the better part of two years as Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti has pushed for more access to the field.

While the SEC and Commissioner Greg Sankey remain against the move to 24 as their league’s spring meetings get going on the Florida Panhandle this week, momentum has recently swung toward Petitti’s vision.

ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips publicly endorsed the idea at his conference’s spring meetings earlier this month. Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark, too, favors the shift.

“When professional sports have added to their postseason, it’s always been a small adjustment,” Sankey said on Monday. “Four to 12 [in the CFP] was monumental, but I think it was justifiable. You want to be careful about how far you go.”

As the playoff expansion discourse continues this week in Destin, Fla., and into the coming weeks, the former Heisman winners were introspective about the importance of the ceremony and the place it ought to hold in the college football lexicon.

Nebraska’s Eric Crouch thought of being surrounded by Doug Flutie, Barry Sanders, Johnny Rodgers, Mike Rozier and Paul Hornung and the realization that he, too, would join their exclusive company.

Miami’s Gino Torretta recounted being waved over to have breakfast with Navy’s Joe Bellino and Jay Berwanger, the first ever Heisman winner. He pointed to their chat about professional football opportunities, chances that Bellino delayed due to military service. “Gino, I was sent to Vietnam,” he told Torretta. “There wasn’t an NFL Draft. I was on a boat worrying about mine sweeping in Vietnam.”

Florida’s Danny Wuerffel summarized the Heisman ceremony as a marriage of past and present, a link between what was and what is in college football. Chatting with his daughter and her boyfriend in recent days, he asked if either knew who Clint Eastwood was. Neither was sure.

“I’m like, ‘How can you be a human being alive today and not know who Clint Eastwood was?’” Wuerffel quipped. “I get it, because he’s not on TikTok. So to me, the Heisman piece, it’s just a little bit of a break in the business as usual in college football.

“...There’s something about it that I think helps keep us connected to the history and the past of college football. So many things are changing now that I think that’s just an added bonus of what the Heisman brings back to the table.”

Where the Heisman winners and those associated with the award are concerned is when and how an expanded field would impact the already jam-packed early December calendar when the trophy presentation has traditionally been held.

The NCAA has explored eliminating “Week 0″ and effectively starting the college football season before Labor Day. A 24-team CFP format, which would almost certainly eliminate conference title games, would then likely see the first two weeks of December used to accommodate first and second round games. That leaves little wiggle room for the Heisman ceremony.

There’s also concern among winners that, should the playoff continue infringing on early December and there not be a bye week between the end of the regular season and the CFP, finalists might no longer be willing to make the trip to New York for their vaunted ceremony during game prep.

“I mean, it’s the Heisman Trophy," said Crouch, the 2001 winner. “It’s obviously one of the most sought after awards in all of sports. It’s very prestigious. It’s been held in a high regard and the standard’s been set high and none of us want to see that go away.

“... The fear is that the players will say ‘Oh, I can’t make it. I’m just going to accept my award in the living room of my apartment.’ We don’t want that.”

Heisman ceremony’s new-look, and ESPN’s future role

The Heisman ceremony is currently undergoing its own revamp under new CEO Jeff Price, a former PGA of America executive who was tabbed to lead the organization in October.

Price told SBJ the award’s weekend is slated to expand to include a Friday night event dubbed “Heisman Live,” which will include a fireside chat with the four finalists, along with recognizing 25th and 50th anniversary winners, among other programming.

Saturday night will also bring with it a new-look red carpet show leading into the ceremony that ESPN will produce in an effort to create college football’s version of the Oscars or Emmys.

“The idea of bringing the four finalists together and whether that’s in New York or in another location, is certainly something that we can work through,” Price said. “But for 90 years, that visit to New York and the ability to bring the winners together has made the Heisman what it is today.

“We’ve said over the last six months, we very much want to respect tradition, but also drive innovation. We understand that the landscape is changing, but it shouldn’t be to the detriment of some of those iconic aspects of college football like Army-Navy and the Heisman weekend.”

There is also the ESPN of all this to consider.

The network extended its deal to broadcast the Heisman ceremony “for the long term,” per an announcement of the deal in December. The show has seen a steady increase in viewership over the last four years from 1.65 million on ESPN in 2022 for Caleb Williams’ win to more than 4.3 million this past year for Fernando Mendoza’s victory -- a jump largely attributable to the show’s shift to ABC.

Price said the Heisman and ESPN have been in dialogue over the show’s future, which is overseen on the network side by SVP, College Sports Programming and Acquisitions Nick Dawson and President, Content Burke Magnus.

ESPN declined to comment on the future of the Heisman ceremony when reached by SBJ.

“I don’t want to say it drives the interest in college football, but it’s something people know, people remember,” Torretta, the 1992 winner, said of the trophy ceremony. “It’s appointment TV.”

“The Heisman is iconic,” added Wuerffel. “Whatever happens with the playoff system, they’ll figure out a way to still really keep the tradition and the lore and make it special one way or another.”

CFP expansion is slated for discussion among SEC presidents, athletic directors and coaches this week, though Sankey cautioned on Monday a resolution was unlikely.

Representatives from ESPN, too, will be in town as part of the festivities, albeit the network remains adamantly against expansion for fear of it diluting the regular season product or concern over welcoming other bidders (Fox, for example) into the CFP rights fold.

The true next steps are most likely to take place in Denver in mid-June when the 10 FBS conference commissioners may potentially receive a presentation from the CFP’s media rights consultants breaking down the expansion math.

Might that marry up with Petitti’s quest to push the field to 24 teams? That’s a waiting game only time can answer. The Heisman winners hope their voices can be heard now.

“If you’ve got the Heisman Trophy, what else can you get?” joked former South Carolina tailback George Rogers, the 1980 winner. “... There’s other things for the defensive players and stuff like that they can represent, but the Heisman Trophy is No. 1, baby.”

INDIANAPOLIS — An entertainment district is the most likely mixed-use development for Penske Entertainment to pursue at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, according to IndyCar president Doug Boles, and that vision will start to be shared with the public over the next two years.

The famous race track built in the spring of 1909 sits on a roughly 1,000-acre campus, making it well-positioned to capitalize on the mixed-use trend that has become popular with sports venues across the U.S. This weekend’s Indy 500 is the 110th running of the race, highlighting the historic age of the venue.

Boles told SBJ in March that Penske Entertainment execs were exploring opportunities with mixed use, but he gave more details in an interview Friday after IndyCar announced a title sponsor extension with NTT.

Boles confirmed that an entertainment district is the sort of project IMS has in mind, calling it “the most logical thing for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.”

“We’ve got the hotel that the town has been trying to get back under construction since it stopped in 2019, and the new restoration center for the museum that’s being constructed just immediately south of the property, of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway property, so there’s a couple of anchors that need to get done there,” Boles said. “And then we’ll think about how do we really step in and utilize our property better.”

PENSKE’S PICTURE: Boles noted that when Roger Penske first bought the track and series in 2019, he was already thinking about how to better utilize the enormous real estate at IMS. However, the topic was promptly put on the back burner after the pandemic in 2020. IMS execs are just now getting around to planning a mixed-use concept.

While Penske and Boles have said they want to develop the land, this is believed to be the first time Boles has used the language “entertainment district” publicly. It’s not known how much Penske is willing to spend on the project or when Penske Entertainment execs envision such a project breaking ground.

“We have started talking a little more recently: ‘What do we think about the property, especially the property immediately to the south of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway?’ Boles said of an area of the track that’s largely used for parking.

“So, I do think over the course of the next 24 months, you’ll probably see something where we say, ‘OK, here’s what we’d like to do.’ Working with the city, working with the town, working with partners with NTT to say, ‘What’s the best use for that beyond just a racetrack?’”

You might not expect to find Louis Vuitton trophy trunks or Richard Mille timepieces in the same frame as a pack of NASCAR stock cars running flat-out at Talladega Superspeedway, their engines straining in the Alabama heat, the air thick with fuel and noise.

But Louis Vuitton, Richard Mille and many other luxury brands fit right in at the Monaco Grand Prix, where Formula 1 cars thread through Monte Carlo skimming past the harbor where superyachts are visible, and climbing toward Casino Square beneath the gaze of the Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo.

Welcome to the marriage of sports and luxury, where high-end brands align themselves with elite events that reflect their values back to the world.

The potential trap of opportunity

Sports has become the last monoculture, where a fractured, streaming-era audience still gathers in the same moment, at the same time, to feel the same thing.

For most brands, sports is a media opportunity. For luxury brands, it’s a potential trap if they don’t navigate sporting events carefully. The bigger the stage, the greater the risk of eroding the very thing that makes a luxury brand worth anything. Exclusivity isn’t just a positioning strategy; it’s the product. Get the sports partnership wrong and you don’t just waste a media budget. You spend it burning down your own mystique.

Luxury brands navigating sports know what they stand for, and they exercise discipline to let that self-awareness do the choosing.

Two tiers, two strategies

Not all sports partnerships follow the same logic, and understanding the difference is the first step toward getting this right.

The values-first tier

Values-first events possess intrinsic codes like precision, heritage, exclusivity, and craft that already mirror the brand’s own. Think Rolex at Wimbledon. Louis Vuitton at the America’s Cup. Moncler at the Winter Olympics. Ralph Lauren outfitting Team USA.

In each case, the sport and the brand are speaking the same language. Formula 1 is technically demanding, globally mobile, and now demographically younger and wealthier than almost any comparable property, partly due to the cultural lift of “Drive to Survive.” When LVMH signed a reported $100 million-per-year deal making TAG Heuer the official F1 timekeeper and Louis Vuitton the trophy trunk partner, it was reinforcing a shared vocabulary of performance and precision that both brand and sport already owned.

The gravity-first tier

Gravity-first events require a different kind of thinking. On the surface, events like the Super Bowl and the FIFA World Cup look like exactly the kind of mass-market stages that luxury brands should avoid. These are not the controlled, curated environments where exclusivity thrives. But the savviest luxury brands actually don’t align with the event, per se. They build their own exclusive experiences in its orbit, using the event’s gravitational pull to draw the right audience into spaces they control entirely. The game is for everyone. The week surrounding it doesn’t have to be.

For the Super Bowl, that means a Thom Browne runway show at San Francisco’s Legion of Honor in 2026; Dante’s Inferno narrated beneath a Rodin sculpture, NFL players walking alongside professional models, no football references in sight. It means private aviation ferrying clients into the Bay Area, and invitation-only hospitality experiences that have nothing to do with what’s happening inside the stadium.

For the World Cup, it means Louis Vuitton’s trophy trunk connecting every match across 16 cities, and Dior’s relationship with Mbappé functioning as a monthlong brand narrative that activates whenever he does.

From logo placement to Stage Design

Effective luxury sports activations design the ceremony itself or sidestep official sponsorship entirely and show up in the right place.

LVMH didn’t advertise at the Paris 2024 Olympics. It became the aesthetic frame for the entire event: Louis Vuitton trunks carried down the Seine at the opening ceremony, Team France in Berluti uniforms, medals presented on Vuitton-branded leather trays. The brand was the production design.

Meanwhile, Prada opened its first boutique in Cortina d’Ampezzo on the eve of the 2026 Winter Games — no official partnership, no rights fees, just the right brand in the right place at the right moment. And for the 2022 World Cup, Louis Vuitton released an Annie Leibovitz image of Messi and Ronaldo playing chess on a Vuitton trunk, which generated an estimated $13.5 million in media value within 48 hours without touching the tournament.

Powerful moments come from brand ownership, not sponsorship.

Why the long relationship always wins

Rolex has been at Wimbledon for nearly five decades. Louis Vuitton has shaped the America’s Cup since 1983 as the architect of the challenger selection rounds now bearing its name. Armani has outfitted the Italian Olympic team since London 2012. These are institutional histories.

Timelessness in sports partnerships is earned through consistency. A brand that shows up at a new property every three years because it seems culturally relevant signals the opposite of the permanence luxury depends on. The brands that achieve prestige association in sports do so by choosing well once and staying.

What every brand can learn

The discipline luxury applies to sports partnerships is available to any brand willing to ask harder questions before signing.

• Values alignment over audience size: Does this sport’s identity reinforce what your brand already stands for, or does it merely put your logo in front of a large crowd?
• Experience over exposure: Are you giving your best customers something they cannot get anywhere else, or are you buying visibility they will scroll past?
• Cultural alignment over contest mechanics: The nature of the sport matters less than what the sport means to its audience and whether that meaning connects authentically to your brand.
• Adjacency over official status: Some of the most effective luxury plays in recent memory involved no rights deal at all, just the confidence to show up where the right people were already gathered.

Sports partnerships are identity tests. Get it right, and the sport’s codes become your codes: its history, your heritage; its excellence, your standard.

Sarah Buckler is chief operating officer at independent brand consultancy Fifty Thousand Feet.

• A handful of notable changes are coming to the PGA Tour’s Florida swing in 2027 with new dates for the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Cadillac Championship and Valspar Championship, reports SBJ’s Josh Carpenter.
• MLB is launching a variety of marketing initiatives this week ahead of the 250th anniversary celebrations around the Declaration of Independence, leading up to the July 14 All-Star Game in Philadelphia, writes SBJ’s Terry Lefton.
• The NFL hired Sumit Varshney as its next SVP/corporate strategy and strategic investments, and his portfolio includes overseeing the league’s 32 Equity investment activity, notes SBJ’s Ben Fischer.
• MLS signed World Wide Technology as a new tech sponsor, with an eye toward delivering more personalized fan experiences as part of the larger MLS 3.0 vision, writes SBJ’s Joe Lemire.
• Veteran MLBPA agent Nelson Montes de Oca joined Dallas-based baseball agency Ballengee Group, bringing with him clients such as Giants 1B Rafael Devers, Blue Jays DH Eloy Jiménez and Athletics P Luis Severino, notes SBJ’s Irving Mejia-Hilario.