Lev Akabas

125 international players on NBA opening night rosters this season That's obviously high in the context of NBA history but actually down from last year... interesting

Everyone talks about surging sports team values, but average values in NHL, NFL and NBA have risen in lockstep with the S&P 500, which is also up 118% in the past four years, fueled by tech and AI stocks MLB and MLS are another story 😬

Is this the season the East finally overtakes the West as the better NBA conference?

How long have NBA players been with their teams?

NBA teams took 44% of their shots from 3-point range during the preseason, just shy of the all-time record Teams usually shoot slightly more 3s in the preseason than in the regular season

Will the NBA break another record for offensive efficiency in 2026-27, or will this line finally stop going up?

Reminder that last spring the New York Knicks played the most dominant 10-game stretch in NBA history, postseason or regular season

Here are the NBA's 30 arena naming rights sponsors by category ⬇️

You know the stat: there have been 8 unique NBA champions in the past 8 seasons Well, it's fairly likely we'll get a 9th unique champion this season

This will be the first World Series in the 21st Century featuring two teams in the bottom half of MLB in payroll h/t @mollygeary.bsky.social @spotrac.com @baseballprospectus.com Read more: wp.me/pc2RuA-1lzJxO

The NBA season begins tomorrow with Knicks vs. 76ers in primetime Get ready to see a lot of those two teams on TV this season

Milwaukee is MLB's smallest media market

The Cleveland Guardians have a chance to end a 77-year championship drought, the second longest in US pro sports The Brewers' drought of 57 years ranks quite high as well

The Brewers are headed to their first WS since 1982

Jacob Misiorowski threw 1,115 pitches at least 100 mph this season Because of the MLB's rules, he is many more thousands of pitches of away from a long-term contract that fully reflects his contributions Story from @justbirny.bsky.social: wp.me/pc2RuA-1lzJss

The Golden State Warriors' value is up 178% since 2020 It is up 32x since Joe Lacob bought the team for $450 million in 2010

Boston Celtics guard Payton Pritchard has agreed to a two-year, $44.2 million contract extension Last year, he was essentially the best bargain contract in the league aside from rookie deals, other than his teammate Neemias Queta

The Atlanta Dream will play Games 3 and 4 of the WNBA Finals at State Farm Arena (capacity 17,000) instead of Gateway Center Arena (capacity 3,500) Game 3 is moved to Oct. 21 to make the change possible Atlanta averaged the 2nd fewest fans in 2026 due to lack of venue capacity

How do sports teams make money? It depends on the league

Want to buy a sports team? Here's what it'll cost you...

Annual NBA franchise valuations from @sportico.bsky.social are out! The Warriors (No. 1), Knicks (No. 2), and Lakers (No. 3) continue to separate themselves from the pack Average is up 21% to $6.64 BILLION

A'ja Wilson has won her 5th WNBA MVP award

The MLB's postseason is so short relative to the regular season compared to other sports leagues Cutting the regular season to 154 games and making the Division Series 7 games would only make a slight difference

It has never been easier to get a triple double in the NBA

The Tampa Bay Rays have constructed a roster focused on making contact and putting the ball in play It's gotten them to the ALCS

Trying to capture some of the uniqueness of the 2026 Milwaukee Brewers in one chart

NFL home field advantage is not what it used to be The traditional understanding that playing at home is worth 3 points in football is a thing of the distant past. Modern oddsmakers now value home field advantage at closer to 1.5 points on average

China was once Nike’s secret commercial engine and an area where investors expected the Swoosh to keep outpacing its rivals Things have flipped. Many on Wall Street now refer to this simply as “Nike’s China Problem" Read more: wp.me/pc2RuA-1lzHZ8

The history of NBA MVP first place voting since 2000

Daniil Medvedev will forfeit his $220,000 in prize money at the China Open for hitting a fan with a ball He will also lose 200 ranking points. If he fails to quality for the ATP Finals because of this, he will miss out on a lot more money... Read more: wp.me/pc2RuA-1lzI1A

In 2023, zero WNBA teams averaged at least 10,000 fans per game In 2026, 10 out of 15 teams were above 10,000

Arike Ogunbowale just broke the record for most points in a WNBA playoff game with 45

Points Per Drive of every NFL team since 2004 ⬇️ What jumps out?

My friend @justinxzhao.bsky.social made this very cool app inspired by one of my tennis data visualizations 🎾📈 You can see the points from victory for both players at every point of any 2026 US Open match! 🔗: www.justinxzhao.com/demos/points...

The average WNBA game drew 11,474 fans in 2026 That's up 76% from the pre-COVID average

Every year, sports teams are being valued at higher multiples of revenue than before The NHL is no exception, with the average value up to $2.43 billion (9.4x revenue)

.@sportico.bsky.social's NHL valuations dropped today 🚨 The value of the bottom-ranked NHL 🏒 team (Blue Jackets at $1.5M) is now higher than the bottom-ranked MLB ⚾️ team (Marlins at $1.45M) That would have been unthinkable five years ago 🤯

Only 1 of the past 30 teams that lost the Super Bowl reached the Super Bowl again the next year 13 of those 30 missed the playoffs entirely Are the New England Patriots the latest team to fall victim to the Super Bowl hangover?

8 of the top 10 highest-spending MLB teams made the playoffs 💰💰 3 of the top 5 bottom-spending teams made the playoffs 🚫💵

Highest-paid NFL players dropped today at @sportico.bsky.social Patrick Mahomes leads with $88.8 million, including a whopping $32 million off the field Story from @justbirny.bsky.social and @kbadenhausen.bsky.social: wp.me/pc2RuA-1lzHI0

The growth of NFL franchise valuations during the 2020s ⬇️

It was a high scoring Week 1 in the NFL, but that doesn't mean that it was a triumph of offense over defense Points per play was high due to good field position off big kickoff returns and turnovers Offensive EPA per play, however, was quite mediocre Data from @sumersports.bsky.social

Top 40 highest salaries in the NFL, per @spotrac.com ⬇️ Quarterbacks, wide receivers and edge rushers account for 35 of the top 40

Andy Reid, John Harbaugh and Sean Payton each make $20 million a year, per @sportico.bsky.social There are 10 NFL coaches making at least $14 million in average annual salary

Most Premier League jersey sponsors in the 1990s were technology 💻 or food & beverage 🍕🍺 companies By the 2020s, they were mostly gambling 🎲 or finance 💵 companies Starting with the 2026–27 season, the EPL has banned gambling companies from the front of matchday shirts

Incredible stat: In the history of the ATP rankings, no man has won multiple Grand Slams in a season without recording at least EIGHT top 10 wins during that year Alexander Zverev currently has TWO top 10 wins in 2026