In the CFBPA's 5 years, no school had hit the membership threshold needed to elect representatives. Stanford became the first, led by fifth-year linebacker Ernest Cooper and offensive lineman Fisher Anderson.

In the association, players sign up as members and pick a few people to speak for the group. With enough sign-ups, they can elect representatives. That gives them one voice to eventually take to their conference, rather than every player fending for himself.

A chapter doesn't change that overnight. CFBPA executive director Jason Stahl calls it a "precursor" to a collective bargaining agreement, one that would let a conference sit down and negotiate with players as a group. The Players Association says it's already talking with athletes at 3 other schools, and Stahl wants Stanford to be the first of 17 ACC chapters that could bargain conference-wide.

Since 2025, schools can pay athletes directly through revenue sharing, so real money now moves through college football. Players are essentially getting paid without any group structure to set the terms. At the same time, the NCAA and conferences are pushing a federal bill for an antitrust exemption that would let them enforce a salary cap and transfer restrictions. A bargaining unit gives players a seat at the table when those terms get set.

Athletes build a durable position when they negotiate as a group instead of one contract at a time. College football players just started that process.

The first Korean-born player in MLB history is about to become its first Korean-born owner.

Chan Ho Park is leading Team61, a South Korean group investing $70 million into the Athletics. $55 million is committed now, with $15 million more pending MLB approval. That buys the group roughly 3% of the franchise. It's a non-controlling stake, but it puts them on the cap table.

Park pitched 17 seasons in MLB, had a 124-98 record from 1994 to 2010, and wore 61 his entire career, which is where the group's name comes from. Team61 runs about 30 investors deep and includes BTS member Suga and actors Ken Jeong and Daniel Dae Kim.

This capital is part of a bigger raise. The A's are fundraising for their move to Las Vegas, where they're building a $2 billion, 33,000-seat domed stadium on the Strip that's set to open in 2028. The same week Park's group came in, a group backed by former Mavericks owner Mark Cuban also bought a minority stake. The team says it has raised more than $460 million in under six months.

Park also becomes a senior advisor to owner John Fisher on player development and Asia strategy. He first met Fisher about three years ago to talk through the Vegas move, then gathered the investors himself. The Asia piece has real commercial weight: as of 2020, Korea ranked second in the world in per-capita MLB viewership, ahead of the United States.

There's a pattern worth naming. Asian capital has mostly reached American sports through sponsorships, paying to put a logo on a jersey or an outfield wall. Team61 bought equity. That gives them a share of the franchise's value as it grows, and the A's become a rising asset if the Vegas move lands.

Park earned a salary for 17 years. Now he owns a piece of the business that used to employ him.

For the first time in its history, FIFA is selling stakes of the tournament to private investors; $4.2 billion for zero dividends. UEFA countries have decided to boycott the 2030 FIFA World Cup unless FIFA rescinds their proposed plan.

The vehicle is a new subsidiary, FIFA Forward Enterprise, valued at about $20 billion. It packages FIFA's media, sponsorship, and event rights into one company. FIFA wants to sell a non-controlling stake of up to 20%, led by Joshua Kushner's Thrive Capital, and keep full control of the football itself. Reports say the plan will bring FIFA president Gianni Infantino an estimated 10x increase in pay.

FIFA says all net benefits go back into the game, so the investors' return depends on those commercial rights gaining value from here. UEFA is already against it, calling the plan a line the sport shouldn't cross. The world's most popular sport organization now has a proposed valuation and cap table, after 122 years of functioning as a nonprofit; institutional money continues to work its way into sports.

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