In this week’s SportsMoney Playbook: tennis’ highest-paid players, the Paralympian behind a $15 million startup and new NCAA football programs kicking off. Plus: Andy Murray’s plan to keep cashing in after tennis.

Paralympics

Hunter Woodhall was the first double-amputee to receive an NCAA Division I scholarship, but he gave it up to cofound a startup. That decision is looking all right: His company now has a valuation of $15 million, and Woodhall is chasing Paralympic gold in Tokyo.

College Sports

With the impending arrivals of Emoni Bates and Jalen Duren as part of a star-studded recruiting class, Memphis has its sights on a basketball championship. Bates and Duren could score off the court as well, with new name, image and likeness rules creating lucrative opportunities (but also new tax issues for college athletes). Meanwhile, another deals platform has raised funding to carve out its piece of the market.

Keystone College, which last played meaningful football games in 1947, was one of many schools that planned to launch or relaunch football programs last year, only to be denied by the pandemic. But all the work over the course of a bizarre year is about to pay off.

Soccer

Germany‘s Bundesliga wants to become the first environmentally sustainable major soccer league in the world. Here’s how.

RCD Mallorca is coming off a tumultuous stretch, having bounced between divisions each season for five years. But the club’s president, who is also a minority owner of the Phoenix Suns, is developing a long-term strategy while borrowing ideas from American sports. And an 11th-hour transfer gives the team a potential star from the U.S.

Auto Racing

In a bid to join the online food delivery trend, Nascar is partnering with an entrepreneur to create a virtual dining experience that delivers menu items from tracks to consumers at home.

Cricket

The International Cricket Council is set to pump $3 million into its bid to get the sport into the Olympics, with about two years to sway the Los Angeles Games’ organizing committee.

Sports Business

Sports Illustrated, partnering with online betting company 888 Holdings, is the latest media company to get into the sports wagering business with the launch of an app in Colorado this week.

Onyx Authenticated has created a blueprint for survival in the sports card industry without an MLB or players’ union license, a plan Topps could follow after losing both licenses to Fanatics.

Michelob Ultra is committing $100 million over the next five years to increase visibility for women’s sports, dedicating 50% of its lifestyle media inventory by 2025 to content that features and promotes female athletes and women’s sports.

Featured Story

Highest-Paid Tennis Players 2021: Federer, Serena And Nadal Win Even When They Can’t Take The Court

The U.S. Open is missing some of its most famous faces, but no matter who wins the tournament—and its $2.5 million top prize—it will mean little to the upper ranks of tennis’ highest-paid players, who more than make up for any dip in prize money with their paydays from endorsements. The top ten collected $320 million over the last 12 months—$281 million of it off the court. See the ranking of tennis’ highest-paid players.

Hot Reads:

Upon Further Review

Twelve years after leaving Manchester for Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo is back with United. And even though he returns as a 36-year-old presumably in the twilight of his career, his prowess as an earner has only grown: He’s pulled in at least $100 million in each of the last four years and became soccer’s first player with $1 billion in career earnings in 2020. But even with a personal-best $120 million in salary and endorsements, Ronaldo didn’t grab the top spot this year. See who did, and where Ronaldo landed.

The Last Word

“I’m like, ‘Hey, man, he’s a dog at the end of the day.’” – Bubba Wallace

The advertising around Nascar is getting creative. A recent collaboration between DoorDash and PetSmart used Bubba Wallace, one of the sport’s biggest stars, but the commercials featured Wallace as a dog dad, not as a driver. And while getting his dog to act proved a bit tricky, he relished the opportunity to branch out. Read more about the spot.

You can subscribe to the SportsMoney Playbook here.