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In this week’s newsletter:

Women’s sports are hot and Ariel Investments sees providing financing so that teams can build their own facilities as a way to grow revenue and close the gap in franchise values with men’s teams.
Big box office hits propelled profits and record revenue for the big movie exhibitors, AMC Theatres and Cinemark.
It was also a big earnings week for several other media and entertainment companies.

Thanks for reading.

Jon Lafayette

P.S.: Send your tips and pitches to jon.lafayette@thewrap.com

THE DEEP DIVE

Rendering of the new stadium being built for the Denver Summit

Can New Venues Unlock the Value of Women’s Sports?

Present-day arenas can’t contain the growth of women’s sports.

The need for women’s pro teams to have their own world-class venues was highlighted by the Atlanta Dream having to play Game 6 of the WNBA finals at State Farm Arena — the home of the NBA Atlanta Hawks — at 12:30 p.m. ET on a Thursday. The scheduling issue meant fans of the visiting Golden State Valkyries had to tune in over breakfast at 9:30 a.m.

That’s not exactly primetime.

This is an issue Ariel Investments flagged in September with a report entitled “The Infrastructure Advantage: How Purpose-Built Venues Can Unlock Revenue in Women’s Sports.” The report was part of Ariel’s Project Level, a fund investing in women’s sports.

In February, Ariel raised $250 million in its first round of funding for Project Level. It plans to raise $1 billion by July 2027. If you’ve got a spare $5 million laying around, you can put it in Project Level (that’s the minimum investment tier).

“Ariel’s reputation for the past 43 years has been investing in the intersection of growth and value, basically the small caps,” Asrat Alemu, VP of Ariel Project Level, told The Ledger. “Melody Hobson, who is the chair of our fund, calls women’s sports the small caps of sport and that is why we’re in this industry.”

Ariel’s Project Level has raised $250 million and plans to raise $1 billion by July 2027.
According to Project Level’s white paper, an arena built specifically for women’s sports can help a team’s value increase by as much as $3.8 billion over 30 years.
Project Level is working with the Denver Summit to build a new stadium that will open in 2028. It will be part of a larger entertainment complex with retail, restaurants and housing.

Ariel and Hobson, the firm’s co-CEO, aren’t rookies when it comes to sports investing. The company owns stakes in Madison Square Garden and Manchester United. Ariel has also invested in League One Volleyball and the NFL’s flag football league through Project Level. John Rogers Jr., Ariel’s chairman, is an owner of the WNBA’s Chicago Sky. Hobson is a part owner of the Denver Broncos and Chicago White Sox and serves as alternate governor of Denver Summit FC.

The Kansas City Current are generating incremental revenues in their new stadium.

Alemu, who authored the report on how having their own facilities can boost the value and revenues of women’s teams, pointed to stats showing the average NHL team is worth $2.4 billion, while the average WNBA team is valued at $427 million.

“That’s almost six times. You have to look at it objectively and say something feels off,” he said. “The reason why we call it Project Level is to level the playing field for women’s leagues and elevate them into the major leagues.”

One way to close the gap is for teams to get their own purpose-built stadiums.

Fans of men’s teams and women’s team have different preferences and behaviors, Alemu said. “They may not want the same seating products. They may not want the same food and beverage options. And so, we’re designing all of that very differently.”

Meeting those needs maximizes revenue. According to the white paper, the new building built by the Kansas City Current of the National Women’s Soccer League helped the team generate $17 million in incremental revenue in its first season. Adding in sponsorships, ticketing and ancillary game day revenue, a team with a new purpose-built venue could see incremental revenues of $32 million to $42 million in the first year. Over 30 years, a venue can build $1 billion to $3.8 billion incremental value.

Having control over scheduling ensures that teams play on days and times attractive to both fans and media partners, boosting the value of media rights. Playing in a building that’s the right size for a woman’s team increases the likelihood of a full house, which plays well with in-arena sponsors and TV advertisers.

Teams also get more money from parking and merchandise sales. The ability to sell merch from a permanent facility versus a pop-up store results in five times more revenue.

Denver Development

Project Level’s first investment in a new facility involves building a new stadium for the Denver Summit FC of the NWSL. The stadium will reportedly cost $200 million. The team broke ground Oct. 1 and expects the 12,000-seat facility to open in 2028.

The stadium is part of a larger development that will include restaurants, retail, housing and entertainment, enabling the team to generate additional revenues.

“We have land around the Denver stadium that we’re looking to activate in that way, and it is a great investment,” Alemu said.

Ariel is looking for more teams it can work with to build facilities.

“The demand is growing for infrastructure in women’s sports. Teams are not able to capture most of the value around the demand because they’re tenants in stadiums,” Alemu said. “We are trying to make decisions that will look good within 10 years.”

DEAL SHEET

Fox completed its $22 billion acquisition of Roku. Fox said it expects to be able to achieve $400 million in run-rate cost savings within two years and that Roku will continue as an open ecosystem for the streaming industry. Roku founder Anthony Wood will join the Fox board and serve as co-chair of Fox Digital Platforms with Paul Cheesbrough, who will be co-chair and CEO of the new division.
The New York Times Co. is in talks to acquire Letterboxd, an niche social network where 30 million users review and recommend films, for $330 million, according to the New York Times. Letterboxd has been working with investment bank LionTree on the sale. Other suitors for the site included A24 and Sony.
EloElo, an Indian micro drama app, raised $80 million in Series C funding from Hornbill Capital and NBCUniversal. The company said the new capital will fund original content across languages as it launches internationally. EloElo is also investing in its recently launched agentic creative suite, Dolphin AI.
Static Media acquired CarScoops.com, a digital platform for car nuts that features automotive news, analysis and reviews. Terms were not disclosed. The deal is the latest acquisition for Static Media, whose portfolio includes Jalopnik, The List, Tasting Table, House Digest, Islands, Chowhound, TV Line and Engadget.
Public Policy Holding Co. agreed to buy strategic communications firm Reevemark for an initial payment of $28 million, plus payments that could bring the total to $80 million, according to Reuters. Reevemark’s clients include law firms involved in shareholder activism and M&A. Public Policy acquired the European firm Tancredi Intelligent Communication Ltd. four months ago.
Afflie, an Indian company, agreed to acquire Perion, an Israeli ad tech company, for $420 million in cash. Perion had a market cap of $1 billion in 2023 but fell after Microsoft changed the terms of a search advertising deal that reduced its revenue. Perion had $228.3 million in cash, bank deposits and securities on its books as of September.

EARNINGS ROUNDUP

Film Exhibitors Have a Boffo Quarter.

AMC Theatres registered its second straight profitable quarter, racking up record revenue of $1.71 billion thanks to blockbusters including “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” and “The Odyssey.”

“The company now expects to be free cash flow positive in 2026, with the solid box office and $125 million in free cash flow generated year to date,” said Patrick Sholl of Barrington Research.

AMC’s results followed on Cinemark’s report Monday, which exceeded expectations, with net income of $124 million off record $1.1 billion in revenues in the third quarter.

Imax reported on Thursday and outperformed Wall Street expectations. Imax has net income of $117 million in the third quarter, up from $103 million a year ago, as “The Odyssey” helped the company generate $175 million in revenue.

Wall Street is optimistic that the momentum will continue.

“The 2027 slate also remains encouraging,” said Sholl. “The increased commitment to theatrical from a growing array of studio partners is supportive for the ecosystem. With more films in the pipeline, there can be more of an emphasis on spacing out the release slate, which can support a greater consistency in attendance and staffing.”

Drew Crumb of B. Riley Securities noted that Cinemark management suggested that 2028 box office could be even better than then 2026 total. But they didn’t endorse growth in 2027. Crumb reiterated his forecast that 2027’s domestic box office would be $10.1 billion, down 2%.

Other earnings reports:

The New York Times reported that net income rose 19.2% to $97.4 million. Digital-only subscription revenue rose 14.6% to $421.3 million as the paper added 420,000 digital subscribers, bringing its total to 13.8 million.

Analyst Kutgun Maral of Evercore ISI noted that the company’s fourth quarter guidance was mostly above expectations for subscription and digital-only subscription revenue, but lower for ad revenue as questions remain about how much of Google’s AI search is hurting the business.

Versant’s net income fell 41% to $47 million in the third quarter as pay TV declines faster than the company’s new businesses are growing. CEO Mark Lazarus noted that MS NOW isn’t seeing the “viewer fatigue” Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch said was behind Fox News’ lower ratings.

Analyst Doug Creutz of TD Cowen said, “Ultimately, we believe it is likely that private equity will be the eventual destination for the Versant assets. However, such a sale could be years away, at an uncertain price. In the meantime, investors will be faced with declining linear fundamentals and uncertain results from management’s investments in digital platforms.”

Fox reported that net income rose 58% to $943 million as revenues rose 22%, boosted by the World Cup and political advertising. Fox also got a lift from a 35% revenue gain at its Tubi streaming unit and growth at Fox One that exceeded the company’s expectations. CEO Lachlan Murdoch said Fox News’ business is in “incredibly good shape,” despite a decline in ratings that he blamed on “viewer fatigue.”

“With ratings starting to weaken and event calendar morphing into tougher comps, the pace of growth will likely slow in the coming quarters as focus turns to integration with Roku,” said Kannan Venkateshwar of Barclays.

Roku, which was acquired by Fox on Friday, said its profits jumped 639% to $183 million as revenue rose 24% to $1.5 billion. Ad revenue increased 23% and subscription sales were up 23%. Losses from Roku’s device business widened to $48.6 million because of higher memory costs.