Sports
Data analytics firm SponsorUnited, one of CT's fastest
Stamford native Bob Lynch has created transparency within the sports and entertainment sponsorship industry, having slowly pulled back the curtain on the multibillion-dollar sector with data analytics hub SponsorUnited. In 2016, the marketing veteran saw a need for easier access to information on sponsors and sports teams, after heading up sponsorship efforts for the Miami […]


Stamford native Bob Lynch has created transparency within the sports and entertainment sponsorship industry, having slowly pulled back the curtain on the multibillion-dollar sector with data analytics hub SponsorUnited.
In 2016, the marketing veteran saw a need for easier access to information on sponsors and sports teams, after heading up sponsorship efforts for the Miami Dolphins and Brooklyn Nets.
“I saw a gap in information around how these sponsorships are bought and sold,” he told the Hartford Business Journal. “The sponsorship industry and the endorsement industry were growing like a weed, but it was all very opaque. That’s what kind of planted the seed.”
After five years with the Dolphins and a year with the Nets, Lynch realized the information he sought out was hard to come by in all professional sports.
“I thought there was an opportunity to start a company and bring value to this industry,” said Lynch, who lives in Stamford and works out of his home. “I finally said, … you ought to kill the dream or go for it.”
Lynch founded SponsorUnited in 2018 and has quickly grown the 175-employee company, which provides market intelligence on sports sponsorship deals.
The company’s subscription-based platform offers users access to information on 350,000 sponsors — such as Walmart, Wells Fargo and Dick’s Sporting Goods — and more than 75,000 organizations that generate revenue from sponsorship deals. That includes sports teams and leagues, events, media companies, athletes and influencers.
Lynch said SponsorUnited’s user base includes more than 1,200 organizations ranging from global brands like PepsiCo, Verizon and Anheuser-Busch, to major sports teams and leagues like the Dallas Cowboys, Los Angeles Lakers and the NFL.
“It’s a diverse mix that reflects the full ecosystem of sponsorship buyers, sellers and strategists,” he said.
Subscribers pay anywhere from several thousand dollars to several hundred thousand dollars per year to use SponsorUnited’s platform, Lynch said.
The company’s early growth has attracted investors and other attention.
SponsorUnited in 2022 raised $35 million from Boston-based private equity firm Spectrum Equity. And last year, the company was named the sixth-fastest growing private business in Connecticut, according to Inc.’s annual 5000 list. SponsorUnited grew its revenue 507% over a three-year period ending in 2023, according to Inc.
Recruiting ‘scouts’
To launch his business, Lynch said he used his own funds and learned all he could about data platforms, sales-as-a-service technology and online marketplaces from Boston venture capitalist Chase Garbarino, founder of online real estate experience platform HqO, and one of SponsorUnited’s investors.
Lynch began collecting sponsorship data in 2017 using an innovative approach. He recruited college students from across the country majoring in sports management to take videos and photos of sponsor signage and displays at local stadiums, while also teaching these “scouts” about the industry.
“I had created an infrastructure of kids in every city with smartphones, so I could essentially do this at no cost at scale, getting hundreds of people,” he said. “Buying tickets to the games was probably my biggest expense at the time, and trying to live with a newborn and a 2-year-old and all that stuff that goes along with it.”
Lynch hired a few students to train other scouts and brought on Stamford investor Alain Benzaken as chief operating officer in June 2017, to help SponsorUnited build and test its online platform of sponsorship industry data.
“We had to make sure that the technology actually worked,” Lynch said. “The very first paid client we had was the San Francisco 49ers in January 2018.”
By the end of 2018, SponsorUnited had developed sponsorship data profiles on 28 teams throughout the National Football League, National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball and other professional leagues.
‘Smarter, faster decisions’
SponsorUnited provides users a range of information, including detailed profiles on brand sponsors and the organizations that use them, including key contacts, sponsorship spend estimates, active partnerships and marketing deal structures.
It also creates competitive benchmarking reports on sponsorship deals that track creative and social media performances, he said.
“We provide a comprehensive view of sponsorship and media partnerships across sports, entertainment and lifestyle,” Lynch said. “They can also understand category and industry trends in real time.”
SponsorUnited currently collects its sponsorship data by sending about 500 scouts to stadiums in 150 countries, and using data-scraping technologies to gather information from social and digital media.
The company also gets information from news and media sources, and uses artificial intelligence to process and structure the data it collects.
Lynch would not disclose exact revenue figures, but he said the company has made more than $10 million in annual sales over the past several years.
SponsorUnited hit a milestone in November 2024, when it launched a new tech platform called SPND, which stands for sponsorship prices of negotiated deals.
The AI-backed service provides financial terms for over $13.3 billion in actual sponsorship deals.
“For a long period of time, people said it would be great if we could know how much they pay for the sponsorship,” he said. “It took us four years to learn how to do that.”
Paula Beadle
Paula Beadle, founder and CEO of the Sponsorship Marketing Association, said she believes SponsorUnited is the first company to offer this level of detail on estimated transaction prices of sponsorship deals.
“There are other notable companies in the space that provide valuation models, but I believe the technology and level of data that SponsorUnited can deliver is unique,” Beadle said. “This kind of intelligence empowers smarter, faster decisions. It’s likely SponsorUnited has become the Redfin of the sponsorship industry.”
Sports
UW track senior wins gold for France at World University Games
Gone for Gold 🥇 The flying final lap for Julia David-Smith to win the World University Games 5,000-meters! pic.twitter.com/4jN5JHNTKM — Washington Track & Field and Cross Country (@UWTrack) July 26, 2025 Julia David-Smith is having one heck of a summer. After making her first NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in June, the Husky senior […]

Julia David-Smith is having one heck of a summer.
After making her first NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in June, the Husky senior has been on the European racing circuit this summer. While she’s mostly run the 5,000m for Washington, the event she made NCAAs in, David-Smith started her summer vacation with a 1500m personal best of 4:10.03 in Ireland.
Later that month, David-Smith broke her personal best in the 5,000m with a time of 15:39.97 in France, where the Issaquah native holds dual citizenship. Then, a week ago, the senior took fourth place at the European U23 Championships in Norway while representing France.
That set her up well for the FISU World University Games in Bochum, Germany, which wrapped up over the weekend. David-Smith set another personal best in the 5,000m, setting the No. 6 time in school history with a 15:34.57 that was good for gold.
In other action at the Games, Chloe Foerster was seventh in the 800m in 2:01.58 while representing the USA. Amina Maatoug, representing the Netherlands, and Maggie Liebich, representing the USA, were sixth and ninth in the 1500m final. Maatoug ran 4:21.78, while Liebich came across in 4:22.89.
Sports
Volleyball Adds Home Exhibition Match vs. Southern Miss – Ole Miss Athletics
OXFORD, Miss. – Fans have an additional chance to see the Ole Miss volleyball program in Oxford, as the Rebels have added a preseason exhibition against Southern Miss to the 2025 schedule. The Rebels will face Southern Miss on Saturday, August 23 at 2 p.m. CT, at the Gillom Athletics Performance Center. Admission to […]

The Rebels will face Southern Miss on Saturday, August 23 at 2 p.m. CT, at the Gillom Athletics Performance Center. Admission to the event will be free.
The exhibition will mark the 10th opportunity for fans to see the Rebels at home this season, joining previously scheduled home matches that begin with a September 12th clash with Louisiana.
Several stars from last season’s historic team return to Gillom, including AVCA All-Region honoree Mokihana Tufono, SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year Cammy Niesen and Shayla Meyer. Joining them are several talented newcomers, including All-Big Sky honoree Gabi Placide and Jordyn Towns.
The regular season is set to open on August 29th, as the Rebels face off against Arkansas State as part of the Georgia Tech Classic, in Atlanta. Ga.
Fans can continue to show support for the Rebels by joining the Ace Club. Funds from the Ace Club are a major component in helping the Ole Miss volleyball program compete at the highest level. For more information and to donate, click here.
Get rewarded for attending events by joining Rebel Rewards powered by Coca-Cola, the official fan loyalty program of the Ole Miss Rebels. Download the Ole Miss Sports mobile app, sign up for a Rebel Rewards account, and start earning points immediately that can be redeemed for exclusive prizes and experiences.
Keep up with all the latest news and information on the Rebels by following Ole Miss Volleyball on X at @OleMissVB, on Instagram at @olemissvb and on Facebook at Ole Miss Volleyball. See exclusive photo and video content from behind the scenes and connect in real time with everything Ole Miss.
Sports
River Radamus has unfinished business at the Winter Olympics
Part of leading by example, Radamus’s elevated strength training comes with a purpose. Recently, Radamus’s status on the world stage has improved, the biggest moment coming in February 2024 on the FIS World Cup circuit. On home soil at Palisades Tahoe in California, Radamus had the best giant slalom run of his international career, clinching […]

Part of leading by example, Radamus’s elevated strength training comes with a purpose.
Recently, Radamus’s status on the world stage has improved, the biggest moment coming in February 2024 on the FIS World Cup circuit. On home soil at Palisades Tahoe in California, Radamus had the best giant slalom run of his international career, clinching a podium spot in the giant slalom and finishing the race to the roar of cheering Americans. At the bottom of the slope, Radamus had a major reaction, letting out a few yells, a couple of fist pumps and spiking his ski pole like a touchdown celebration.
In the following 2024-25 World Cup campaign, Radamus characterized his season as full of change, including physical alterations, new coaches and skiing philosophies. Though Radamus did not land on the podium, he earned similar World Cup points from season to season, with the most coming from giant slalom events, followed by the super-G.
During the 2025 World Championships in Saalbach, Radamus became ill and lost around 10 pounds before the events. Still managing to ski through the physical and mental toll of the illness, he got sick again after worlds, losing a total of 30 pounds toward the end of the season.
“If you judge performance on that and judge yourself as falling short because of something that’s outside of your control, that takes a toll monumentally and keeps you from reaching high athletic performance,” Radamus said. “I think I take pride in the effort I gave.”
Between skiing in all the events from downhill to slalom and the two illnesses, Radamus’s body suffered a physical toll. Now, he has time to regain the weight; his current goal is to gain 20 pounds of muscle mass, which will help increase his base strength, a key factor in the change Radamus aims to make in his skiing philosophy.
During the two spring camps the U.S. team had at Mammoth and Copper, Radamus emphasized a new method of approaching turns with a stronger base, letting his natural finesse do the rest of the work through the turns. He has been known as a skier with natural flow, usually letting the skis do the work by throwing them toward the fall line. Now, slowly is introducing this method to be stronger and more commanding during turns to increase speed and control from the start.
With this new methodology to his skiing applied, along with his rigorous physical transformation, Radamus is doing everything he can to be in a position to reach the Olympic podium in 2026. He hopes that the process of achieving personal and team goals will make the results fall into place. Like many U.S. skiers before him, Radamus believes in his abilities as a big-event skier to win, which he’s proven in his youth, the 2022 Winter Games and on the World Cup stage.
So while Radamus may not have a life at the moment, he uses his intense fear of failure as a motivator to keep him focused every day. Before training, Radamus had some time after the season to run youth ski camps organized by his ARCO foundation, which works to make the competitive sport more accessible to youth. Now, he’s back to the lab to accomplish his goals, and he is enjoying the process.
“I’ve really come into this summer thinking I cannot forgive myself if I don’t do everything I possibly can to put myself in the best position,” Radamus said. “It’s my absolute responsibility to myself to seek that out and see if I can accomplish it. I feel great about where I am.”
Sports
ESPN Tops Digital and Social Rankings in June
– Advertisement – ESPN once again flexed its dominance across digital and social platforms in June, reaching a staggering 193.6 million unique fans, according to the latest data from Comscore. The network’s total digital reach equated to 69.1% of all U.S. adults—nearly 7 out of every 10—cementing ESPN as the top-performing sports media brand across […]



ESPN once again flexed its dominance across digital and social platforms in June, reaching a staggering 193.6 million unique fans, according to the latest data from Comscore. The network’s total digital reach equated to 69.1% of all U.S. adults—nearly 7 out of every 10—cementing ESPN as the top-performing sports media brand across digital for the month.
The total audience figure includes fans reached through ESPN Digital, YouTube, and social platforms. The continued surge in digital traffic marks another milestone in the network’s push to expand beyond traditional television and into the ever-evolving world of mobile and social content consumption.
In the mobile space, the ESPN app attracted 25.7 million unique fans in June, outpacing its closest competitor more than sevenfold and eclipsing the combined total of the next nine non-ESPN sports apps. ESPN Fantasy also performed strongly with 2.6 million unique fans, earning the No. 1 spot among all fantasy sports apps, up 8% year-over-year.
Social engagement was another major highlight, with ESPN Social notching 555 million fan interactions across platforms like Facebook, X, Instagram, and TikTok. That figure averages out to 18.5 million engagements per day, extending ESPN’s streak to 48 consecutive months as the top sports brand in social media interactions.
The continued strength in digital and social performance is a testament to ESPN’s evolving content strategy, which emphasizes real-time engagement, mobile-first experiences, and multi-platform storytelling.
As the network prepares for the upcoming NFL and college football seasons, its robust digital footprint puts it in a strong position to dominate fan engagement across every screen. Whether through breaking news, fantasy tools, or viral content, ESPN’s numbers show it remains the go-to source for sports fans in the digital era.
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.


Sports
Four Crimson Set for 2025 Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships
Story Links CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Harvard track & field will once again feature heavily in a high profile competition, as four former and current Crimson will travel to Eugene, Oregon for the 2025 Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships. Action begins on Thursday, July 31st and concludes on Sunday, Aug. 3. Hayward […]

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Harvard track & field will once again feature heavily in a high profile competition, as four former and current Crimson will travel to Eugene, Oregon for the 2025 Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships. Action begins on Thursday, July 31st and concludes on Sunday, Aug. 3. Hayward Field will host all the action as Harvard fans can watch live on NBC and Peacock.
One of the most decorated female athletes in United States track & field history, Gabby Thomas ’19 will compete in a pair of events at the USATF Outdoor Championships. Thomas begins her weekend with the first round of the 100m on Thursday, July 31 at 7:07 p.m. eastern standard time. The women’s 100m semifinal begins at 7:20 p.m. EST on Friday, Aug. 1 while the final starts at 10:27 p.m. EST later that evening. The 2024 Paris Olympics gold medalist in the women’s 200m, Thomas will also run the 200m at the USATF Outdoor Championships. The women’s 200m semifinal will run on Sunday, Aug. 3 at 3:32 p.m. EST as the final starts later that day at 5:13 p.m. EST.
Thomas cemented her legacy last summer, winning three gold medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics. A native of Northampton, Massachusetts, Thomas took home gold in the women’s 200m at the Stade de France with France, following it up with golds in the 4x100m and 4x400m relays. Thomas is only the second American in Olympic to win gold in the 200m, 4x100m relay and the 4x400m relay at the same Olympic Games.
Two Crimson All-Americans will run the women’s 800m at the USATF Outdoor Championships, as junior Sophia Gorriaran and Victoria Bossong ’25 will represent Harvard in the event. The women’s 800m first round starts at 6:37 p.m. EST on Thursday, July 31, with the semifinal starting at 7:01 p.m. EST on Friday, Aug. 1. The women’s 800m final is scheduled for 4:18 p.m. EST on Sunday, Aug. 3.
Both Bossong and Gorriaran shined in the 800m at the collegiate level last season. The Ivy League record holder in the women’s 800m with a time of 1:59.48, Bossong finished in second in the 800m at the NCAA Indoor Championships, earning All-America First Team honors in the process. A native of Cumberland Foreside, Maine, Bossong finished in ninth in the women’s 800m to take All-America Second Team honors to conclude her collegiate career.
A four-time All-American in the 800m across both indoor and outdoor competition, Gorriaran made strides in her second campaign with the Crimson. Gorriaran ran a personal-best 2:00.46 in the 800m at the NCAA East First Round and took home an Ivy League title in the 800m at the Ivy League Heptagonal Outdoor Championships.
Two-time NCAA men’s cross country champion Graham Blanks ’25 is poised to run in a pair of distance events. Blanks starts his time at Hayward Field with the men’s 10,000m at 11:08 p.m. EST on Thursday, July 31st, followed by the men’s 5000m on Sunday, Aug. 3 at 4:52 p.m. EST.
A household name in American distance running, Blanks orchestrated a one-of-a-kind collegiate career, becoming the first student-athlete in Ivy League history to win a NCAA national title in men’s cross country and the 13th student-athlete in NCAA history to win consecutive NCAA men’s cross country national titles. Before he turned pro with New Balance, Blanks become the second student-athlete in NCAA history to run sub-13 minutes in the men’s 5000m, meeting the World Championships standard with a time of 12:59.89.
CRIMSON SCHEDULE:
Thursday, July 31st
3:37 p.m. PST / 6:37 p.m. EST – Women’s 800m First Round (Victoria Bossong and Sophia Gorriaran)
4:07 p.m. PST / 7:07 p.m. EST – Women’s 100m First Round (Gabby Thomas)
8:08 p.m. PST / 11:08 p.m. EST – Men’s 10,000m Final (Graham Blanks)
Friday, August 1st
4:01 p.m. PST / 7:01 p.m. EST – Women’s 800m Semifinal (Victoria Bossong and Sophia Gorriaran)
4:20 p.m. PST / 7:20 p.m. EST – Women’s 100m Semifinal (Gabby Thomas)
7:27 p.m. PST / 10:27 p.m. PST – Women’s 100m Final (Gabby Thomas)
Sunday, August 3rd
12:32 p.m. PST / 3:32 p.m. EST – Women’s 200m Semifinal (Gabby Thomas)
1:18 p.m. PST / 4:18 p.m. EST – Women’s 800m Final (Victoria Bossong and Sophia Gorriaran)
1:52 p.m. PST / 4:52 p.m. EST – Men’s 5000m Final (Graham Blanks)
2:13 p.m. PST / 5:13 p.m. EST – Women’s 200m Final (Gabby Thomas)
For complete coverage of Harvard Track & Field, follow us on Twitter (@HarvardTFXC) and Instagram (@harvardtfxc).
Sports
Prison for ex-volleyball coach at Twin Cities high school who sexually assaulted player
A former volleyball coach at St. Paul Como Park Senior High School has received a seven-year prison sentence for sexually assaulting one of his players. Keng Cha, 31, of St. Paul was sentenced Tuesday in Ramsey County District Court after pleading guilty to two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection with the encounters […]

A former volleyball coach at St. Paul Como Park Senior High School has received a seven-year prison sentence for sexually assaulting one of his players.
Keng Cha, 31, of St. Paul was sentenced Tuesday in Ramsey County District Court after pleading guilty to two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection with the encounters while he coached at Como Park.
With credit for time in jail after his arrest, Cha, is expected to serve about 4¾ years in prison and the balance of his term on supervised release.
Police went to the high school and met with a 15-year-old girl who said she and Cha, her B-squad volleyball coach, had sex four times from October 2022 to September 2023 at various locations including in the school’s back parking lot.
She said the intercourse occurred in his vehicle either behind the school or one time in October 2022 when he picked her up at her house and drove to a spot near a lake.
As officers were speaking to the girl in the school office area, Cha was with the athletic director in the school being fired and at the same time texting her, “Why haven’t you been coming to games?” and “Did you say anything to anyone about us?” Officers found Cha and arrested him.
Cha told police his relationship with the girl progressed to him sexually assaulting her anywhere from two to four times including in December 2022 in Battle Creek Park in St. Paul and the last time in his car near her house.
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