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NBA Draft prodigy Wembanyama set for commercial bonanza
Victor Wembanyama is only 19 and has not played a minute in an NBA jersey but the French teenager is poised to land an array of lucrative deals likely to make him one of the most commercially successful athletes in history. Wembanyama will take center stage at the NBA Draft in Brooklyn on Thursday when the gifted 7ft 4in (2.24m) center widely viewed as a once-in-a-generation basketball talent is set to be chosen with the number one pick by the San Antonio Spurs. Already, Wembanyama is being tipped to potentially land an improved $100 million contract with US sporting goods behemoth Nike, eclipsing the $90 million offered to LeBron James when he entered the league in 2003. If the $100 million figure comes to fruition, it would be the biggest contract ever handed to a player who has not yet played in the NBA. Sonny Vaccaro, the legendary 83-year-old marketing executive who signed Michael Jordan to Nike and Kobe Bryant to Adidas, believes Wembanyama's unique talent could command "historic" riches. "This is unique. But a deserved unique," Vaccaro told AFP. "In my lifetime of evaluating and making financial prices for athletes, I've never seen anything like it. This kid will make history." Nike, which already has a deal with Wembanyama, has hinted at its strategy to make the Frenchman a global superstar. "Think (Victor Wembanyama) will change basketball? Think bigger," Nike wrote in a social media post after this year's draft order was revealed last month. Wembanyama's mammoth Nike deal will likely be the first of many, according to Steve Rosner of 16W Marketing, who predicts multi-million dollar deals in areas such as trading cards and other derivative products. Unique endorser "Victor is going to be one of those guys that are going to be able to have a nice endorsement portfolio before he ever plays a second in the NBA," Rosner said. "Because of all the promotion and the hype coming up leading up to this, he'll be a unique endorser as well, as far as being able to have these deals in place before he steps on an NBA court." In decades gone by, such a commercial bonanza for a foreign NBA player would have been unthinkable. Overseas stars such as Hakeem Olajuwon, Dirk Nowitzki, and Pau Gasol aroused little interest among sponsors. "Madison Avenue prefers an American guy," consultant Marty Blackman remarked in 1995 when commenting on how Olajuwon had failed to earn the sort of endorsement deals enjoyed by American players despite leading Houston to a second straight NBA championship. Victor Matheson, a professor at Holy Cross University, says that began to change in 2002 when China's Yao Ming entered the league. "Yao Ming was important, because not only was he a big name within the US, but he really opened up the Chinese market to the NBA as well," Matheson said. Today, the NBA's overseas fan base is larger than the entire population of the United States. According to Forbes magazine, Giannis Antetokounmpo, two-time NBA Most Valuable Player and an NBA champion in 2021, earns more in off-court deals -- $45 million – than the salary paid to him by the Milwaukee Bucks of $42 million. "Victor can open up new markets," Matheson said. Rosner said Wembanyama's international profile is also likely to make him an attractive pitchman for multinationals such as Coca-Cola, McDonald's or Visa, who all signed deals with Yao. A world game now Twenty years ago, playing for a small-market NBA team such as San Antonio could have potentially diminished Wembanyama's commercial appeal. However, Vaccaro believes the global reach of the NBA and the rise of streaming and social networks have changed the dynamic. "It's a world game now, so it doesn't matter really," said Vaccaro. It may take time for Wembanyama to fully maximize his earning potential, though. The French prodigy and his entourage are in no hurry to cash in immediately. Wembanyama's agent, Bouna Ndiaye, who has represented numerous French NBA stars such as Rudy Gobert, Nicolas Batum and Evan Fournier, says the priority is basketball. "What we're trying to do, first of all, is make Victor rare," Ndiaye told ESPN. "We don't want him all over the place. We don't want to have 20 partners," Ndiaye said. "Victor is rejecting some rich, million-dollar deals right now because he wants to focus on basketball." Commercial partners, meanwhile, may also be reluctant to "give away the entire company to a player who actually hasn't played a single minute in the NBA", Matheson said. "I suspect they're going to be looking for a little bit more." Rosner, however, believes that if Wembanyama delivers on the court, commercial deals will be a formality. "Once he does everything on the court, then everything off the court will follow," Rosner said. Matheson echoed that position, stating that ultimately Wembanyama's fortune will be maximized through his achievements on the hardwood. "The reason that Jordan has become a billionaire is not that he signed one good deal but because his play over almost two decades meant that he could re-sign that deal and re-sign that deal and re-sign that deal," Matheson said. "In order to make LeBron James or Michael Jordan sort of money, it's not about signing that first deal. It's about showing what you can do actually on the court." The post NBA Draft prodigy Wembanyama set for commercial bonanza appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Albatross highlights Saso’s blistering 66 in LPGA Drive On Championship
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Patriots owner s prostitution case heads to appellate court
By TERRY SPENCER Associated Press FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Prosecutors charging New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft with twice buying sex from massage parlor prostitutes will attempt to save their case this week by arguing to an appeals court that his rights weren't violated when police secretly video-recorded him in the act. Prosecutors will tell the Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal during an online hearing Tuesday that a county judge erred when he invalidated the January 2019 search warrant allowing police to install secret cameras at Orchids of Asia spa as part of an alleged sex trafficking investigation. The judge said the warrant didn’t sufficiently protect the privacy of innocent customers who received legal massages, and he barred the videos’ use at trial as well as testimony about what they showed. If the ruling stands, it will deal a fatal blow to the prosecution's case. “Mr. Kraft's guilt is a virtual certainty” and he has no right to benefit from any possible mistakes police made involving innocent customers, Deputy Solicitor General Jeffrey DeSousa wrote in court documents. Kraft's attorneys vehemently disagreed, arguing that if the three-justice panel allows the videos' use, “civil liberties cherished in Florida and beyond” will be endangered. “If the state wins this appeal, then everyone loses, not just the accused,” attorney Frank Shepherd wrote. “Government could run roughshod over privacy and constitutional rights while evading scrutiny.” The Jupiter police recordings led to misdemeanor charges against Kraft and two dozen other alleged Orchids of Asia customers. The spa owners and some employees are charged with prostitution-related felonies. Most cases are in limbo while the appeals are heard. If prosecutors can’t use the videos, they would almost certainly dismiss any misdemeanor charges awaiting trial. Some defendants took plea deals but Kraft refused. The felony cases could proceed, as those have other evidence besides the videos. Kraft, a 79-year-old widower and part-time Palm Beach resident, has pleaded not guilty but issued a public apology. He faces a possible one-year jail sentence if convicted, but would likely receive a fine, community service and other sanctions. Kraft, whom Forbes Magazine ranks as the 82nd richest American with a worth of almost $7 billion, is employing several high-priced attorneys to fight the charges. DeSousa submitted several arguments against Palm Beach County Judge Leonard Hanser's ruling. Among them: — The warrant is valid because police minimized any privacy invasion by having only three detectives monitor video. Any further minimization, such as recording only snippets of each massage, would have made the investigation impossible. — Kraft illegally paid for sex and is lawfully covered by the warrant, even if the justices determine police violated innocent customers' privacy rights. — If the warrant is invalid, the detectives relied on it “in good faith” and a sanction banning the video is too extreme. Shepherd submitted several counterarguments for Kraft. They include: — Detectives' privacy protection efforts were insufficient because they recorded seminude men and women receiving legal massages, making the Kraft recordings also illegal. — Police had enough evidence to charge the spa owners with felonies without recording, making the cameras “wholly gratuitous." — The evidence detectives presented to obtain the magistrate's warrant approval was “deliberately misleading,” negating any argument they acted in good faith. The justices won’t immediately rule after the hearing; decisions usually takes weeks. The losing side will likely appeal to the Florida Supreme Court, which could accept the case or let the justices’ ruling stand. Authorities say the Orchids of Asia investigation was part of a multicounty probe into possible sex trafficking by spa owners who they believe brought women from China and elsewhere to work as prostitutes. About 300 people were charged with various felonies and misdemeanors, but no trafficking charges were pursued — prosecutors say they received no cooperation from masseuses whom they suspect were trafficked. According to police, Kraft's chauffeur drove him to Orchids of Asia on the evening of Jan. 19, 2019, where detectives recorded him engaging in a sex act with two women and then paying an undetermined amount in cash. Investigators said Kraft returned the next morning and engaged in recorded sex acts with a woman before paying with a $100 bill and another bill. Hours later, Kraft was in Kansas City for the AFC Championship game, where his Patriots defeated the Chiefs. His team then won the 2019 Super Bowl in Atlanta, the Patriots’ sixth NFL championship under his ownership. Prosecutors offered to drop the charges if Kraft entered a diversion program for first-time offenders. That would include an admission he would be found guilty if the case went to trial, a $5,000 fine, 100 hours of community service and attending a class on the dangers of prostitution and its connection to human trafficking. The hearing is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. EDT Tuesday on the court's YouTube channel......»»
No paychecks for 11 big leaguers: advance larger than salary
By RONALD BLUM AP Baseball Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Grant Dayton will notice one glaring absence this season after he reports to the Atlanta Braves: his twice-a-month salary. He is among 11 major leaguers whose prorated pay for the abbreviated 60-game season amounts to less than the $286,500 advance already received by the 32-year-old left-hander. “It’s going to be weird not getting a paycheck,” he said Friday, “but we already got paid.” Dayton gave up the 6,776th and final home run of of last season's record total, to the New York Mets' Dominic Smith. To resume preparation for the new season he will drive Monday from his home in Winter Haven, Florida, to Atlanta with wife Cori, 2 1/2-year-old son Decker and nearly 6-month-old Nolan for Braves' workouts at Truist Park. After opening day was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic, Major League Baseball and the players’ association agreed March 26 to a deal that called for teams to advance $170 million in salaries over the first 60 days of the season. Others who won’t get paychecks because of lower prorated salaries are Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Jimmy Nelson and New York Yankees reliever Jonathan Holder ($277,778 each), Pittsburgh infielder Erik Gonzalez and Minnesota pitcher Matt Wisler ($268,519 apiece), Philadelphia catcher Andrew Knapp ($262,943), Chicago Cubs pitcher Jharel Cotton ($237,037), pitchers Collin McHugh of Boston, Ross Stripling of the Dodgers and Jesse Hahn of Kansas City ($222,222 each) and Milwaukee pitcher Freddy Peralta ($575,200). “My first reaction was, wow, if we don’t have any games this year, I’m going to get paid the same amount that Freddie Freeman’s getting paid, so that’s pretty cool,” Dayton said in a reference to his teammate, a four-time All-Star first baseman with a $22 million salary that was cut to about $8.15 million. “I knew that there was going to be a point that if we resume games, I wouldn't get paid. And I was OK with that because we still received significant amounts of money and we’re fine.” Each of the roughly 480 players with so-called “straight” contracts that call for a single salary received $286,500. The 769 players with “split” contracts that have a lower salary in the minor leagues — generally a younger group not yet eligible for arbitration — got either $16,500, $30,000 or $60,000, depending on their minor league pay level. Dayton, who has spent parts of three seasons in the majors, has a $655,000, one-year contract. His prorated salary for the short season will be $242,593, assuming the contagion does not cause more games to be canceled. The group won’t have to return any cash because the March deal states “in the event there is a 2020 championship season, any amounts advanced to individual players that cannot be recouped by clubs via payroll deduction during the 2020 season for any reason shall be reimbursed to clubs from the International Tax Fund at the conclusion of the 2020 season.” That tax fund is money collected from teams that exceeded their specified bonus pools to sign high-priced Latin American amateurs. “We’re blessed because we’re getting more money than the prorated amount,” Dayton said. Most of the group has relatively low salaries for arbitration-eligible players because of injuries that sidelined them and reduced their statistics. Nelson returned last June from shoulder surgery and was limited to three starts and seven relief appearances. McHugh missed September and the postseason with a sore right elbow and signed a deal with a $600,000 salary and $3.65 million in performance and roster bonuses. Cotton, Dayton, Hahn and Stripling all were interrupted by elbow surgery early in their careers, and Gonzalez missed more than half of last season after breaking his collarbone. Peralta has a low salary in 2020 as part of a $15.5 million, five-year contract he agreed to in March. Dayton was 0-1 with a 3.00 ERA in 14 relief appearances last year and is 1-3 with a 3.34 ERA in 68 big league games that included time with the Dodgers in 2016-17. He wonders how he will fare in arbitration next winter. “It's going to be a weird year and a short season, but I guess they’re going to have to treat it on paper like a real season, a championship season," he said. "And as far as contracts go in the future, they’re going to have to take the stats this year, which is kind of scary for a relief pitcher, to be honest because you have one bad game, it takes a whole year to get that back. The slow starters can't be slow starters anymore." Stripling, a financial adviser for B. Riley Wealth Management when he’s not playing baseball, negotiated a $2.1 million deal in January but was able to have $1.5 million designated as a signing bonus, which is protected and not reduced. Only the $600,000 specified as salary in the contract gets prorated. “It will be strange to receive no money or paychecks throughout the year,” he said. “I’m thankful for my background in finance, because I’m comfortable with my ability to budget. I do worry about the 10 other guys in my situation. Technically will be receiving zero income until next April. That’s a long time to budget ahead.” One option for players could be licensing money they are owed that had been retained for them by the union. “Our PA is offering a stipend of sorts for guys in similar situations,” Stripling said. “But I don’t know how much money or how often they can receive it. It also comes from our `war chest,′ which is money saved for salaries in case of a work stoppage in 2022. Most guys will try to avoid pulling money from that unless they are in dire situations.”.....»»
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Skills trainees receive P3,000 cash incentive
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India, Philippines have seen very perceptible growth in recent times: Jaishankar
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