MLB acquires a stake in Jomboy Media to collaborate on IP Growth and Market Consolidation picks up steam across sports tech with Catapult, HUDL and Teamworks acquistions
MLB to Acquire Stake in Burgeoning Media Company, Both Sides To Collaborate on IP Growth, Special Event Ad Opportunities and More
Our Take:
If you have ever come across MLBAM or BAMTech, you’ll know that MLB has a history of leading the way in sports media and technology. If not, it’s worth looking into how their early moves helped shape how live sports are streamed today. That’s why MLB’s recent investment in Jomboy Media is worth paying attention to. It’s a clear sign that rights holders are starting to understand the growing importance of creator-led content and new ways to reach fans beyond traditional channels.
Jomboy Media is a creator-led sports media company that started by sharing viral clips and fun, relatable commentary. It’s now built a strong presence among younger fans by showing up where they spend time, on YouTube, TikTok, and podcasts, and speaking in a tone that feels natural, casual, and authentic.
Traditionally and for years, sports leagues have focused on safeguarding brand control and distribution rights. However, this move indicates a shift from control to collaboration, and from passive sponsorships to active co-ownership of next-generation fan touchpoints.
By taking a minority stake, MLB is joining a cultural shift that it, and many other leagues, had been watching from the sidelines. What started as a niche space is now one of the main ways to reach fans. More and more, sports organisations are partnering with creator-led platforms not just to promote their brand, but to create content together, building new connections with audiences through trust, personality, and authenticity. We witnessed that at last year’s Olympic Games in Paris when Snapchat delivered exclusive Olympic content as part of its collaboration with Warner Bros. Discovery
This move reflects a broader shift in how rights holders approach both distribution and deal-making.
On one hand, we’re seeing leagues move beyond traditional broadcast models to build more flexible, multi-channel ecosystems. Platforms like Jomboy offer access to younger, digital-native audiences through formats that feel more personal and platform-native. Rather than treating these as secondary outlets, rights holders are now seeing them as essential layers in a hybrid distribution strategy, where IP like highlights, archive footage, and behind-the-scenes access is reimagined through creator-led storytelling.
At the same time, what’s changing is how these partnerships are structured. By taking a minority stake in Jomboy, MLB is co-investing rather than just licensing content. It’s a shift from transactional deals to deeper, strategic collaborations where leagues take on more risk but gain more control and long-term upside. This approach mirrors what we’re seeing across the industry, with similar models, such as PSG Labs or NBA Launchpad, where rights holders are becoming more involved in shaping the products and platforms that define the future of fan engagement.
The big question now is whether rights holders will continue to lean on traditional sports business models or embrace a more diversified approach that maximises content distribution across new verticals. As these partnerships evolve, much will depend on how actively rights holders choose to lead. Will they remain licensors, or step into the role of co-creators and investors? And ultimately, can they shape these new ecosystems in a way that lets them have their cake and eat it too?
Key takeaways
Taking an equity stake instead of a sponsorship deal gives a league a share of the upside a platform creates, not just access to its audience for a season.
Investing directly in creator-led media signals a shift from leagues guarding their footage tightly to leagues actively co-producing content with the platforms fans already trust.
The direction of travel is from rights holders licensing their content to rights holders becoming investors and co-creators in the platforms built around their sport.
FAQ
What does MLB's stake in Jomboy Media mean for other leagues considering creator partnerships?
It shows leagues that taking an equity stake in a creator platform can give them a share of the growth they help create, rather than licensing highlights for a one-off fee. It signals a shift from guarding IP toward genuine collaboration with creators.Why is MLB investing in a creator-led media company instead of just partnering with it?
Jomboy Media already reaches younger fans on YouTube, TikTok and podcasts with a casual tone MLB struggles to replicate itself. A stake lets MLB share in that growth and help shape the content instead of simply sponsoring it.What is Jomboy Media and why does it appeal to MLB?
Jomboy Media is a creator-led sports media company known for viral clips and relatable commentary aimed at younger fans across YouTube, TikTok and podcasts. It appeals to MLB because it already has the trust and reach among audiences the league finds hardest to engage through traditional broadcast.
Market Consolidation in Sports Tech: Catapult, Hudl, and Teamworks Move to Build End-to-End Performance Ecosystems
As performance tracking becomes increasingly complex, leading sports tech companies are shifting from standalone tools to integrated platforms, streamlining data, reducing silos, and shaping the next generation of athlete management systems.
Our Take:
For years, performance tracking has evolved in silos. GPS data on one platform or separate Excel files, strength metrics in another, and video analysis living somewhere else entirely. Each tool delivered value on its own, but collectively, they created a fragmented view of athlete development.
That’s why the recent acquisitions by Catapult (Perch), Hudl (Titan Sports), and Teamworks (Telemetry Sports) are not just isolated moves, but part of a larger, strategic shift across the industry. Each reflects a deliberate effort to build seamless, full-stack performance ecosystems that connect the dots between on-field and off-field data environments.
Together, these moves reflect a growing trend of market consolidation, where sports organisations and the companies serving them are focused on integrating multiple data streams and centralising outputs to improve decision-making, reduce platform fatigue, and deliver a more holistic picture of athlete performance.
That’s why these M&As, respectively, prove to be strategic product expansions towards building a seamless, full-stack performance ecosystem that connects the dots across on-field and off-field data environments. These moves seem to be driven by the same logic: teams want fewer logins, fewer integrations, and more connected insights.
Across the industry, rights holders and performance teams are seeking simplified workflows and centralised environments that combine data sources into unified platforms. But the true value lies in comprehensively converting a multitude of data into legible and comprehensive insights, drawing relationships between the data points: how what happens in the gym connects to fatigue on matchday, or how lifting velocity trends might correlate with readiness and risk.
Sport (business) professionals are not necessarily data experts. And most of all, they lack the time to navigate in a high-pressure context. What they need is a platform that can help them identify key insights from multiple sources, thereby increasing data granularity and enhancing the quality of the insights. And finally, the way it is displayed, accessible, understandable, and easy to re-communicate is of paramount importance.
The future belongs to solutions that break down silos, leverage data to instantly identify problems and communicate them effectively, thereby improving decision-making, and delivering real-time context, not just raw numbers. Tech providers that can’t integrate will struggle to stay relevant.
What we have seen with the developments from Catapult, Hudl and Teamworks this month is that it’s clear that performance tech is moving toward more connected and complete systems. These companies are building the core platforms that teams can rely on to manage and improve performance across all areas, bringing everything together comprehensively and in one place!
Key takeaways
Performance tech companies are consolidating because teams do not want more data sources, they want fewer logins and one place where different data streams connect.
The value in these acquisitions is not the extra data itself, but the ability to turn combined data into insight that non-technical staff can use under time pressure.
Sports tech providers that cannot integrate across data types risk becoming a niche feature rather than a platform teams build their operations around.
FAQ
What do the Catapult, Hudl and Teamworks acquisitions mean for clubs managing athlete performance data?
They mean clubs can expect fewer separate logins and more connected insight across GPS, strength and video data as these platforms integrate. That should make it easier for performance staff to spot patterns, such as how gym load affects matchday fatigue, without switching between tools.Why are sports tech companies like Catapult and Hudl acquiring smaller, specialised providers? Performance data has historically lived in silos: GPS in one tool, strength metrics in another, video in a third. Buying specialist providers such as Perch, Titan Sports and Telemetry Sports lets larger platforms connect those data streams into one system.
What should smaller sports tech providers do as the market consolidates around them?
They need to integrate with other data types or risk being sidelined by larger platforms building full-stack systems. Providers offering only standalone tools will struggle to compete with connected ecosystems.
LaSource is a sports consulting agency working closely with startups, tech innovators, and major sports organisations to accelerate growth, shape strategy, and unlock new commercial pathways