What Entrepreneurs Can Learn from the World Cup

Over the past few weeks, I’ve become World Cup obsessed (and, no, it isn’t about ranch dressing like some foreign fans…). As a fan and a former player, everything about this World Cup is interesting, and the splash of certain teams and fans have made it hard to stop engaging. I’ve watched the matches and social media posts. But, what is particularly interesting, is that some of the most talked-about teams are not necessarily the teams that will likely be lifting up the trophy in the championship game. Fans are drawn to teams (and their fans) that play (and root) with heart,

Chiefs Touchdown for Kansas?

On Monday, December 22, shockwaves were sent through the City of Kansas City, Missouri, as the City’s beloved Chiefs announced that they were headed to Kansas beginning with the 2031 NFL season. The reaction around the news was split on social media, and for good reason. The Chiefs have been located in Kansas City – and the iconic Arrowhead Stadium – since 1963, when the legendary Lamar Hunt moved the Dallas Texans to Kansas City. Since that time, the Chiefs have been a staple in Kansas City. As someone who grew up in the area (and as a humongous Chiefs fan), I know how much of a stronghold the team has in the area.

Entering the Best “Season” of the Year

Calendars everywhere are about to turn over to October, meaning the country has officially entered, for my money at least, the best season of the year. Although light jackets, vests, and pumpkin spice lattes are certainly an added bonus, the best season of the year has little to do with the weather and the seasonal menu changes that come along with it and everything to do with sports, business transactions, and the jolt of excitement they inject into everyday life from mid-September through the ball drop at midnight on New Year’s Eve.

What Personal Information of Yours Can be Accessed by Anyone? or

Does driving (a paddleboard) without a license warrant a permanent criminal record?

As the ice is melting on nearby Cedar Lake in Minneapolis, my not-so-distant memories turn to swimming, canoeing, kayaking and paddleboarding in the calm and pristine water. But I also have other darker memories of this lake.

On July 12, 2014, a greyish overcast early morning with no one else on the lake, my son, daughter-in-law, and I were enjoying a relaxing paddleboard excursion. Our serene paddling was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a motor as a boat came through the channel and headed our way.

The Love for the Chiefs, the Love for the City!

Once again, the Kansas City Chiefs are Super Bowl bound! The Chiefs won the AFC Championship by beating the Buffalo Bills on January 26th. They will be facing the Philadelphia Eagles during Superbowl LIX. This is a historic matchup as Super Bowl LIX marks the second time in three years the Chiefs and the Eagles face each other. It is safe to say that Kansas City (and its surrounding areas) are proud of the Chiefs!

This past holiday season, the Chiefs and Kansas City reached a whole new level – being the stars of a Hallmark Christmas movie. There were multiple cameos, many locations throughout Kansas City, and the spirit of Chiefsmas all wrapped into an hour-and-a-half movie. Kansas City has been booming with pride. The city is welcoming visitors at record levels as Visit KC (the region’s primary destination sales and marketing organization) deploys its “From the Heart” campaign to engage and drive more than 28 million visitors.

The 2024 Paralympic Games

“I will not be participating at the Paralympics. I will be competing.”

-Hunter Woodhall, Paralympic Gold Medalist in the Men’s 400M T62 Category

The 2024 Paris Olympics were a highlight of this past summer, with 30.6 million viewers tuning in across all NBC platforms, making it the most-streamed Olympics. Among many other highlights, Noah Lyles (USA) and Letsile Tebogo (Botswana) battled it out for the title of World’s Fastest Man, Katie Ledecky’s (USA) swimming prowess made her the most-decorated female American Olympian across all sports, Yusuf Dikeҫ (Turkey) stunned viewers with his nonchalant silver medal shot, and Cindy Ngamba won the Refugee Olympic Team their first ever medal with a bronze in Women’s Middleweight Boxing. My favorite event this year, by far, was the men’s 1500M. Cole Hocker and Yared Nuguse (USA) pulled off a huge upset and absolutely smoked Josh Kerr and Jakob Ingebrigtsen! Watch it here.

With all the excitement surrounding the Olympics this year, people were understandably disappointed when the Closing Ceremony wrapped up. A common sentiment I heard was, “Well, what do I do now?” I wanted to yell from the rooftops, “It’s not over yet!”

Fall, Football, and Figuring it Out.

I love September. When the calendar flips to September, it means a lot of things to a lot of people - it’s the arrival of Fall (Fall is the best season, by the way), students begrudgingly returning to school to the delight of their parents, and for a lot of Americans, its marks the return of their favorite sport, FOOTBALL.

About 72% of Americans identify as football fans, that’s more than 241 million people. Football is big business. The NFL generated roughly $20 billion of revenue in 2023 and during the Super Bowl, companies paid $7 million per 30-second commercial. College Football TV rights alone accounted for roughly $4 billion in 2023. That doesn’t include College Football’s merchandise, ticket sales, sponsorships, or any NIL deals, including the recent deal with EA Sports to use the Name Image and Likeness of current College Football players in their new videogame, “creatively” named (in a generic way my trademark colleagues would hate) “College Football 25.” Football is America’s favorite sport, but its also becoming the favorite business of many Americans too.

A Post for National Pickleball Day (August 8, 2024)!

As frequent entreVIEW readers know, I am among the legions of people who became pickleball enthusiasts over the last several years, many of us (present company included) spurred on by the global pandemic. The statistics show that pickleball remains the fastest growing sport in the US, with about 50 million people in the US having played in the last 12 months, an explosive annual growth rate (over 85% in 2022). Contrary to popular perception, the average age of these players is 35 years old.

Recognizing Athletic Innovation at the Olympics

In just about a month’s time, the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad, also known as the 2024 Summer Olympics, will begin in Paris, France. From July 26th through August 11th, about 10,500 athletes from 206 different countries will compete for medals in 329 events over 32 sports. The Olympics have been of great interest to me since my early childhood, grabbing my attention every four years growing up and now every two years (ever since the Winter Olympics shifted in 1994 to offset the Summer and Winter Games every two years).

Full disclosure, I own a complete set of videotapes of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics that I forced my dad to record for me while I was away working at summer camp, so my love for the Olympics, like a lot of other interests of mine, could easily be labeled an obsession. For me, every event is appointment viewing, from the crowning of the Fastest Man Alive in the 100 Meter Sprint, to the repechage races in the Lightweight Women’s Doubles Sculls, to the Preliminary Round Handball match between Hungary and Denmark (set your calendar for August 2nd).

Kansas City Celebrating Women’s History Month

As many of you know, March is Women’s History Month. It seems very fitting that the CPKC Stadium opened its doors for its first home match on March 16, 2024. The Stadium is the first privately financed stadium purpose-built exclusively for a professional women’s soccer team, the Kansas City Current. The Current were founded in December 2020 as Kansas City’s National Women’s Soccer League team and are owned by Angie Long, Chris Long and our very own Brittany Mahomes, wife to three-time Super Bowl winner and Quarterback of the Kansas City Chiefs, Patrick Mahomes.

The Economic Impact of a Perennial Winner

On Sunday, February 11th, all of Kansas City celebrated as the Kansas City Chiefs found victory in Super Bowl 58.

As a lifelong Chiefs fan, the last few years have been beyond anything I ever could have imagined. When I was growing up, the Chiefs did not compete for championships. The team had a seemingly never-ending conveyor belt of quarterbacks, none of whom could lead the Chiefs far into the playoffs.

What's the Catch?

As fall starts, so does collegiate sports. I recently sat down to watch one of the numerous Saturday college football games and heard the announcers discussing all the money this year’s collegiates were making through their recently sanctioned ability to use their name, image, and likeness (NIL).

This led me to thinking about how these young entrepreneurs are rapidly building their brands and generating income, but at what cost?

A recent article published by ESPN discussed an NIL deal involving current Chicago Bears rookie Gervon Dexter. Dexter signed an NIL deal with Big League Advance Fund in 2022 while attending the University of Florida. Dexter’s deal provided for Dexter to receive a one-time payment from BLA of $436,485 in 2022 in exchange for 15% of Dexter’s pre-tax NFL earnings for 25 years. For Dexter, this means paying BLA an estimated $1.008 million based on his present NFL contract terms ($6.72M over four years).

It’s that time of the year again – when the Kansas City Office celebrates the Chiefs going to The Big Game!

As the Chiefs prepare to face off against the Philadelphia Eagles, it is important to note what an event like this means to the host city, the city of Glendale, Arizona. Every year, thousands of people travel to the lucky city that will hold the championship, generating millions of dollars in revenue for businesses and local governments. The game is also seen as an opportunity to showcase a city’s culture and attractions, resulting in increased tourism.

FIFA World Cup

As some of you may know, in a past life, I was lucky enough to play soccer professionally. Some of my fondest memories as a child were waking up super early on Saturday morning to watch Serie A (the Italian league) and the English Premier League with my dad. He would always urge and push me to watch his favorite players so my game would grow into that of his favorite players. To be frank, Dad and I have vastly different views on how the beautiful game should be played and we would bicker about how my favorite players were much better than his favorite players – a topic that is still argued to this day (he is a Messi fan, and I am a Ronaldo fan).

Pickleball Just Keeps Getting Bigger

Frequent readers of my entreVIEW posts (a small but loyal group, no doubt) may recall that earlier in the COVID-19 pandemic, at a time before vaccination had become widely available, I wrote this post about my budding enthusiasm for Pickleball. My post detailed how Pickleball had become widely recognized as a perfect “pandemic pastime” and was showing explosive growth as the fastest growing sport in the US. I also detailed some Pickleball-related entrepreneurial ventures.

While I have become a true Pickleball enthusiast and continue to play regularly (having taught at least 50 Pickleball virgins to play), I couldn’t have anticipated that Pickleball was going to rapidly become such big business! I recently saw this article, which details a whole bunch of ways that my new favorite sport (my old favorites are still volleyball and slalom waterskiing) is becoming big business. There are dozens of new companies selling paddles and accessories, hundreds of venues opening around the country, technologists developing software to facilitate Pickleball enthusiasm (court finders, scoring assistants, and even “Tinder-like” apps designed to help you find Pickleball playing partners), along with tournaments and professional Pickleball.

The Dog Days of Summer

The “Dog Days” of summer are from July 3 to August 11 each year. They’re usually the hottest and most unbearable days of the season. We often hear about the "Dog Days" of Summer, but few know the meaning of the expression.

The phrase can be traced back to ancient Greece and has its roots in astrology. It is a reference to the heliacal rising of the star system Sirius (known colloquially as the "Dog Star"), which Hellenistic astrology connected with heat, drought, sudden thunderstorms, lethargy, fever, mad dogs, and bad luck. The term “the dog days of summer” is now taken to describe the hottest, most uncomfortable part of summer in the Northern Hemisphere.

Crowdfunding the Entrepreneurial Spirit!

Author: Patricia Garrigner-Strickland

We had a bit of a snowy winter here in Kansas City and after every storm, I had at least one teenage boy ring my doorbell and ask to shovel off my driveway (for a price). On a recent trip to the grocery store, I encountered a group of Girl Scouts selling cookies (I bought three boxes of Thin Mints and ate an entire sleeve on my way home). A new client, a photographer and graphic designer, is looking to expand her business to include art shows and more event bookings. Another client is looking to develop an interactive video game based on martial arts instruction.

The Innovation of America’s Pastime – Reviewing the Patents of Baseball

Author: Tucker Griffith

The annual rite of spring known as Opening Day is upon us. Today's game between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees officially started the 146th season of professional baseball. While there have been many rule changes and innovations to the game of baseball over the last century and a half, including recent changes such as the universal designated hitter introduced for the first time this season, the use of a wireless communication device between catcher and pitcher, and the introduction of a pitch clock for next season, the basic rules of the game have remained relatively unchanged since the 1800s. At its heart, the game of baseball is about hitting a ball with a bat and catching that ball with a glove. It is easy to assume that the design of these basic components of the game have likewise been unchanged since the purported inception of baseball in 1839. However, enterprising individuals, often motivated by a desire to improve performance or safety, developed groundbreaking innovations in equipment that became the standard for the game of baseball over time, and are presently as ubiquitous as peanuts, crackerjacks, and the 7th inning stretch. This post explores some of the patented inventions that have advanced the game of baseball, and some that never quite caught on.

Has Crypto Had its Big Moment?

Author: Andrew Potter 

You saw it right? The color changing QR code bouncing around your TV screen for a 60 second “big game” ad (I don’t want to get sued any more than my fellow author). This “clever” ad was from the cryptocurrency exchange company Coinbase. The commercial reportedly cost Coinbase nearly $14 million in addition to the millions in free giveaways the company was offering to new app users. Despite the steep cost, it seemed to be worth it as the company’s website crashed due to the large volume of visitors. Talk about buzz! This ad was one of four ads dedicated to cryptocurrency during the Superbowl.

Has cryptocurrency and the blockchain had its watershed moment? Its hard to say for certain but it certainly seems like there is significant momentum.

“Game”-Changing Impact on Small Businesses

With “The Big Game” (sorry, but I don’t want to get a cease and desist letter from the NFL because of this post) now in the rearview mirror, many small businesses – some of which are in industries most negatively affected by COVID-19 – may have just received a much-needed boost.

Take, for example, the economic impact on small businesses in the County of Los Angeles and the City of Inglewood – the host of said game. Prior to the big game, the host committee hired Micronomics Economic Research and Consulting to analyze the potential economic impact of the game in the Los Angeles region. The consulting firm’s 60-page report, published in October 2021, forecasted that, based on conservative estimates of visitors, hotel rates and daytime spending, the game at SoFi Stadium would bring in approximately $234 – 477 million in economic benefits to the LA region, and would result in the creation of approximately 2,200 – 4,700 new jobs in the LA region. Unsurprisingly, the transportation, hotels and motels, personal care services, and full and limited-service restaurants industries were expected to receive most of these economic gains. The consulting firm also predicted that Los Angeles county would realize many qualitative benefits, including national and global exposure that would affect economic activity in the short and long-term.

Of course, the actual economic impact of the game on the Los Angeles region is still to be determined, and likely won’t be determined for several weeks. However, these pre-game estimates predicted a significant positive impact on small businesses in the region, many of which were in the throes of significant pandemic hardship.

As another example of the positive impact of the game on small businesses, the NFL and its partners made efforts to inspire positive change in communities surrounding Los Angeles through charity and community service events. For example, the Business Connect Program, the NFL’s diversity initiative, identified and supported 225 regional minority, woman, LGBTQ+, and veteran-owned businesses (26 of which were in Inglewood) through professional development, networking, and contract opportunities and beyond.

Additionally, in connection with the game, QuickBooks and Mailchimp teamed up with the Los Angeles Rams to provide three small business with a $25,000 grant and free one-year subscriptions to QuickBooks Online and Mailchimp. The three small businesses selected for such grants were Glow + Flow Beauty Supply, South LA Cafe and Burn Cycling, each based around the city of Inglewood. During the game, QuickBooks and Mailchimp also unveiled a 30-second add dedicated to celebrating entrepreneurial spirit and inspiring new entrepreneurs watching the game.

Of course, not only the Los Angeles region was positively impacted. Although more difficult to quantify, it’s likely the Cincinnati region – home to runner-up Cincinnati Bengals – also saw significant economic benefits from the big game, through additional spending, foot traffic and publicity to the region caused by the big game.

Whether or not you were happy with the results (and/or commercials) of the big game, I think we can all be happy for the many small businesses that received a game-changing impact as result of it.