MADISON – The Wisconsin volleyball team will have a new starting libero next season.

Lola Schumacher, a rising sophomore, has entered the transfer portal. Schumacher made 23 starts and played in 30 of the Badgers’ 33 matches last season.

The Wisconsin State Journal first reported Schumacher’s departure. Badgers coach Kelly Sheffield confirmed her intention to transfer to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

She later announced the news on Instagram.

May 1 marked the first day of the spring transfer portal period for women’s volleyball. The portal closes May 15.

Schumacher, from Carmel, Indiana, was a member of the Big Ten’s all-freshman team last season and led UW with 3.64 digs per set. She entered the program after earning All-American distinction from Under Armour as a high school senior.

The Badgers are set to add two highly regarded incoming freshmen at the position: Aniya Warren and Kristen Simon.

Warren, a native of Lockport, Illinois, is one of 19 players selected to prepare for the FIVB Girls U19 World Championship. Simon, who is from Louisville, was the Gatorade state player of the year in Kentucky. Both players were MaxPreps first-team All-Americans.

The Badgers also return rising sophomore Maile Chan, who got some work at libero during the spring matches at the Field House.

The Esports World Cup this summer in Saudi Arabia will bring a lineup of 25 tournaments in 24 games over eight weeks in July and August, with a total prize pool of over $70 million.

That figure is unheard of in competitive gaming.

The foundation behind the event (with backing from the Saudi Public Investment Fund) set up a $20 million partner fund to help support 40 esports organizations, including big names such as 100 Thieves, Cloud9 and Team Liquid.

The Esports World Cup Foundation’s injection into a competitive gaming scene coming off a harsh reset for the sector. But it also comes with some controversy and more talk of “sportswashing” by the Saudis.

The effort is also racking up some big sponsors:

• Founding sponsors: Aramco, Jameel Motorsport, Qiddiya, Sony, Saudi Telecom.
• Global sponsors: Adidas, Amazon, Bayes Esports, Clear, Honor, Kraft Heinz, KitKat, LG, Logitech, Mastercard, Mentos, PepsiCo, Secretlab, TikTok and Unilever’s Axe brand.

I chatted with Esports World Cup Foundation CEO Ralf Reichert, whose involvement in competitive gaming goes back to his playing days in the 1990s and later his founding of ESL, about where things stand with the event.

On the foundation’s goals: “What we’re trying to do is to not only have the best games, but to create stability for the ecosystem for the players and for the clubs out there, so that they know and that they have a certain amount of plannability around this. … If you look at the history of esports, specifically at the beginning, there were some multigame competitions, and they had maybe five, six, seven … the biggest was eight different games, and even that is 15 years ago. And then it was more focused around individual tournaments, individual specific ones. And the Esports World Cup really put the ecosystem upside down by bringing all the best games together last year.”

On the event’s funding model: “The primary funding is from [Saudi Arabia]. But obviously, we are commercializing the Esports World Cup as well to make it sustainable in the long term. This includes sponsorship, media rights, ticketing and merchandise — all the traditional sports monetization values.”

On alignment with Saudi Arabia: “We’ve seen the Kingdom become one of the biggest supporters of sports worldwide, specifically esports — even with the hard time esports went through. … Everywhere in the world, sports get supported by governments. In esports this hasn’t happened in the past because [the] generation of leaders which were in power, most of them haven’t grown up with video games or esports. This is different in the Kingdom, where 70% of the population is below 35. Where 70% of the population identify as gamers and the leadership officially says that they are into gaming. This is why [Saudi Arabia] has a clear economic focus on esports and gaming, bringing 40,000 jobs under its Vision 2030 program.”

On accusations of sportswashing: “When it comes to sportswashing, it’s only about perception and not about really doing the competition and bringing the business there. … I know for a fact that the perception is wrong, so what we’re trying to do in bringing people to the Kingdom and having them experience the country and the tournament itself to actually give the opportunity to build their own perception, and that has been incredibly eye-opening for, I’d argue, almost everyone. I always have a struggle with even trying to answer [what sportswashing is] because I don’t understand the concept really deeply. …

“If you look at why Saudi Arabia and Vision 2030, … it’s first and foremost a business decision. Gaming has been one of the fastest-growing industries in the last 20 years, and it will be for the next 20 years. It creates jobs. It creates consumption, and it’s a globally leading cultural entertainment sector. So investing into gaming at its core is a business decision, while at the same time the Esports World Cup brings seven weeks of entertainment to the Kingdom.”

Last week, EA Sports caught my attention with its latest deal — working with Metallica for a marching band contest for College Football 26. The program, dubbed For Whom the Band Tolls, will see the winner recording the College Football 26 theme song. The contest also includes an NIL component for the winning band.

As someone who both loves college football and marching bands (yes, I once played sousaphone), I wanted to check in with an NIL expert about this deal and connected with Nick Garner, Two Circles’ EVP/rights management.

Has such an NIL deal happened before? “This is the first I’ve seen of anything like that. Of course, that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been anything locally at the university level, but this is the first of what I would call a ‘national marching band deal.’”

How does this fit with past NIL deals? “There was a feeling, even when NIL first came online in July 2021, inside the industry that NIL took a different path than what people originally thought. At that point, when NIL became something that was legal within the college space, a lot of people believed that these type of opportunities that involve brands — and really at the time student athletes — would become more prominent and that would actually be what NIL was about, which was aligning a brand and an athlete.

And then it kind of took this life of its own when collectives became a big deal and those began to really make sure that the athletes were getting paid, essentially. … These type of ideas that you see from EA to Metallica, aligning with the marching band — that’s the original intent of NIL. You kind of see that coming full circle here. I don’t know that anybody envisioned a marching band [getting NIL].”

Is this sort of deal smart for brands? “There are influencers on campus right now that have more influence on social media than a student athlete does. And they’re being used by brands to engage with this generation that you see now, whether it be to sell something that’s outside of sports.”

Is this a smart play within gaming? “This is unique. It’s engaging an entire program. … It’s going to allow them resources that they didn’t have before. … Certainly the PR piece is really big for [EA Sports]. It’s a cool way to engage both bands, but also fans in how they select songs within the game. So they took a piece of the game and said, ‘Hey, let’s make this unique and let’s engage more people into how we decide on intro music and things that happen within our game.’ … It’s smart. And I think it’s smart to engage influencers outside of sports as well.”

Are we going to see cheer squads, streamers or other non-athletes get NIL deals? “We could see cheer teams, dance teams. I think we could see certainly see student broadcasters. What you’ll see too is more student influencers on campus [getting deals]. There are a lot in social media that have tremendous influence on campus, and so if you have a have an influencer that has 100,000 people following them on Instagram, then that’s marketable to a brand.”

Dive Brief:

• Publicis Groupe has acquired the four-year-old sports and culture agency Adopt, according to a press release. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
• Founded by a pair of Nike veterans, David Creech and Josh Moore, in partnership with sports agent Rich Paul, Adopt provides brand strategy, design and identity services, along with product development and digital experiences. The shop has worked with brands such as Lululemon, The North Face and Visa, per its website.   
• Creech and Moore will continue to lead Adopt, which will be integrated into the Publicis Connected Media unit to support functions like media, data and influencer marketing. The deal speaks to a desire among marketers for greater specialization in sports, which continue to diversify their media footprint. 

Dive Insight:

Publicis is strengthening its sports-marketing muscle with the acquisition of Adopt, a Portland, Oregon-based upstart led by a pair of experienced former Nike executives and a trailblazing sports agent. Sports marketing is quickly evolving as more broadcast rights make the transition to streaming while areas including college name, image and likeness deals and women’s sports see a surge in advertiser interest. 

The news drops ahead of the upfronts, an annual period for brokering ad-spending commitments where sports are often a major piece of the discussion. In February, Publicis introduced an investment group focused on women’s sports, called Women’s Sports Connect. Other agencies, including WPP’s GroupM, have made similar maneuvers to capitalize on an increasingly lucrative market.

Adopt has worked with both large brands and individual athletes, including Anthony Davis, Dwayne Wade and Chloe Kim. The agency also supports Klutch Athletics, the sportswear brand launched by co-founder Paul in 2023.

“Adopt is at the forefront of creativity, culture and human behavior — blending all three to deliver customer-centric brand strategies,” said Dave Penski, global CEO of Publicis Connected Media, in a statement around the deal. “Their deep and multi-faceted expertise is invaluable to all clients seeking to define and modernize their brand at the speed of culture.” 

Before starting Adopt, Creech capped off a nearly two-decade tenure at Nike as vice president of global brand creative and vice president of design for Jordan Brand. Moore was at the apparel maker for over 12 years, ending his stint as global vice president and creative director of Nike Digital, Retail and Content. He spearheaded initiatives such as the popular Nike Snkrs app and Nike Apple Watch.

Publicis is staying active in dealmaking even as the economy softens and agencies brace for pullbacks. In recent months, the network has acquired digital performance marketing agency Dysrupt and identity solutions firm Lotame. The ad-holding group’s organic revenue increased 4.9% year over year in Q1, though leaders cautioned at the time that client cuts could be coming as a result of tariffs.

Gotham FC signed a new partnership with Grüns, a rising brand in daily nutrition and wellness. The collaboration, announced today, marks Grüns’ first partnership with a professional American sports team.

As part of the partnership, the brand’s logo will feature below the jersey numbers on Gotham’s uniforms, and Grüns will become the Official Foundational Nutrition Partner for the club.

Grüns, known for its improved comprehensive nutrition gummies, is designed to meet the physical demands of professional athletes while supporting their long-term health. The partnership aims to provide Gotham players with clean nutrition to help them consistently perform at their best.

“At Grüns, we’re changing the way people approach daily health by making it simple, enjoyable and part of everyday life,” said Chad Janis, the founder and CEO of Grüns, in a press release. “Partnering with Gotham FC is a natural extension of that mission. When two brands with as much momentum and ambition as ours partner together, the possibilities are limitless. 

Grüns will also sponsor a theme night at a future home Gotham match at Sports Illustrated Stadium that will include products for season ticket holders, merchandise, and a free one-month subscription with every season ticket bought. Gotham will offer the brand rotating LED ads in the stadium during matches, a branded content series, and a social media feature.

This marks Gotham’s third major brand deal for its kits this year, extending its partnership with CarMax with a multi-year deal for a front-of-kit placement and signing with Dove in the brand’s first major signing with a women’s sports team for a back-of-kit spot.

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