Nike Lets Mbappé Walk — To On

Nike has let a 20-year relationship walk out the door rather than match a rival's price. Kylian Mbappé has signed with On, the Swiss running brand co-owned by Roger Federer, ending a Nike partnership that began in 2006, when he was still a child. On plans to launch its first football boots in 2027.

According to a source who spoke to CNBC, Nike chose not to renew when Mbappé's contract expired in July, judging that it had already gotten the best years of his career and that the money was better spent elsewhere. On has not disclosed terms but says the deal includes both cash and equity. CNBC reports it runs 10 years and makes Mbappé a partner as well as a global ambassador.

He is On's first football signing. Thierry Henry joins as director of football, and Barcelona's Sydney Schertenleib is part of the launch. The timing is uncomfortable for Nike.

The move follows Lamine Yamal's switch from Nike to Adidas, and it lands in the middle of the company's turnaround under CEO Elliott Hill, with the stock down about 30% in 2026. That makes Mbappé the second marquee football name to walk away from the swoosh in the same stretch Nike is supposed to be stabilizing. The structure of On's offer is the more important story.

Paying in equity is how a challenger brand competes with the market leader's cash. It ties the athlete to the brand's long-term value rather than just its marketing budget, and it makes Mbappé a genuine partner in whatever On becomes over the next decade, not just a face on a poster. A challenger does not have to match the leader's budget if it can offer a share of its future instead.

Nike's decision is a signal in its own right. Letting Mbappé go is not simply a case of one company losing one athlete. It shows that even the biggest spender in sports marketing has decided some athlete relationships are not worth defending at any price, and that a challenger can now compete for the biggest names in the world by offering equity instead of only cash, tying an athlete's fortune to the brand's own rather than paying him to wear a logo for a season.

It also fits a broader pattern in how money is moving through sports marketing. Brands are increasingly willing to bet on long relationships instead of renting attention. On is building a football business around a decade-long partnership, starting with a boot that does not exist yet.

The money is no longer chasing the biggest available audience; it is chasing the deepest one. Nike, by its own reported reasoning, concluded it had already had the best years of his career; On is betting the next decade of it is worth a share of the company. Paying in equity is how a challenger brand competes with the market leader's cash.

despite Italy's last-place clubs Sky Italia has extended its United Rugby Championship rights for three seasons, through 2028-29, with the league and the Italian Rugby Federation, even though Italy's two URC clubs finished 13th and 16th of 16. The URC says audiences on Sky have doubled since the partnership began in 2023, when Sky took over from Warner Bros. Discovery and DAZN.

Title sponsor BKT also renewed, adding global tyre-partner rights. The season starts Sept. 25.

first Li-Ning signature sneaker will not release until early 2027; until then he will wear models designed for Jimmy Butler and Dwyane Wade. ESPN reported the contract at 10 years and $400 million, following a 13-year Under Armour partnership Curry called a “mutual” split. Li-Ning takes more than 98% of its revenue in China, and the deal buys a global signature line fronted by a player entering his 18th NBA season.

market ad spend rises 21% Nielsen figures given to Axios put combined sportsbook and prediction-market advertising 21% higher in the first seven months of 2026 than a year earlier. Sensor Tower estimates sportsbooks' share of legal U.S. wagering fell from roughly 76% in 2023 to 64% in the first half of 2026, while prediction markets rose from 1% to 16%. Polymarket has signed LeBron James, Derek Jeter and Eli Manning; Kalshi, Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Incumbents are answering with more promotions.

times last year's football volume Eilers & Krejcik Gaming forecasts roughly $40 billion in U.S. wagering on the 2026 NFL season: about $31.7 billion through regulated sportsbooks, up about 8%, and the equivalent of $8.4 billion, a 21% share, through prediction markets. Selected exchanges traded 2.94 billion football contracts Sept. 1–14, nearly four times the same span a year earlier. Polymarket logged 755,000 U.S. downloads in kickoff week to Kalshi's 602,000.

Most of the new volume lands in states where sportsbooks can't legally operate.

10-year endorsement in cash and equity; On's first football signing Li-Ning → Stephen Curry $400M (reported) 10-year signature line; first shoe due early 2027 Sky Italia → United Rugby Championship Undisclosed Media-rights extension, three seasons through 2028-29 BKT → United Rugby Championship Undisclosed Title sponsorship renewal, adding global tyre-partner rights

An Indigenous Brazilian club won one of advertising's biggest prizes by telling its own story. Twelve Grands went to nine entrants, and a club with essentially no rights income of its own took one in the same room as the leagues and networks. Kyle F*cking Connor

Took three Grands, the most of any single piece of work at the Clio Sports Awards in New York. Gold, Silver, Bronze and shortlist winners are announced in mid-November, and the 2026 winners set the bar the next round of entries will be measured against.

investigation Brazil's competition authority, Cade, has sent Globo, Disney, Paramount and CazéTV detailed questions about how Brasileirão media rights, which run through 2029, were sold, including whether any buyer got preferential treatment. Answers are due at the end of September; Record and SBT are next. The case traces to CSA, a small club from Alagoas, which challenged terms tying it to the Futebol Forte União bloc.

Puntr raises $500,000 for a fan identity no league owns Puntr, founded by Brad Hunt and Robert Steer, raised $500,000 in a round led by Accretion Capital to build a persistent fan identity: one profile combining real-time sports data with viewing history to personalize commentary, camera feeds and engagement, starting with a daily skill-based challenge app. Leagues and broadcasters each hold a piece of that profile; Puntr's pitch is that because no single rights holder owns the whole fan, an independent layer can.

Money is increasingly betting on relationships instead of renting attention. Across On, Li-Ning, Sky Italia and the prediction markets, it is no longer chasing the biggest audience but the deepest one.