The Athletic’s Rebecca Tauber highlights how local hospitality businesses are increasingly using prediction markets like Kalshi to hedge against the financial volatility of short sports playoff runs. For instance, Rizzo’s Bar & Inn Owner Andrew Rizzo (no relation, incredibly) recently offset the financial blow of the Chicago Cubs' early postseason exit by earning a payout on a $7,500 trade predicting the team would host two or fewer home playoff games. Similarly, an unnamed Los Angeles hospitality group successfully hedged $60,000 on the Los Angeles Dodgers failing to reach the World Series before they were swept by the Milwaukee Brewers. While The Starting Line publisher Dustin Gouker acknowledges the validity of economic hedging, he cautions that platforms use this niche business application as public relations cover to normalize what is overwhelmingly retail gambling activity. One4One Co-Owner Justin Robinson, who hedged against a potential New York Knicks playoff sweep, counters: "It’s really hard running a bar and restaurant business. You are so exposed to things you can’t control. ... Now we have a way to at least smooth out some of that risk. Honestly, it’s a really big deal." (link)

Meanwhile, Kalshi has secured a $1B Series G funding round, elevating its valuation to $40B, according to The New York Times’ Lauren McCarthy. Led by Sequoia Capital and Wellington Management, the massive investment nearly doubles the valuation of competitor Polymarket and is widely expected to be the company's final private raise before an initial public offering. While Kalshi Co-Founder/CEO Tarek Mansour declined to confirm a specific timeline for an IPO, he emphasized that the firm's historic valuation reflects investor confidence in sectors beyond sports betting, which currently accounts for roughly 80% of the platform's trading volume. “Our revenue, outside of sports, is now over a billion dollars.” (link)

SBJ’s Mike Mazzeo unpacks the financial windfall from the Milwaukee Brewers' World Series championship, which established a new MLB record for postseason retail revenue. Brewers President of Business Operations Rick Schlesinger noted that internal projections underestimated the consumer demand fueled by a 44-year championship drought, prompting the front office to take a massive upfront gamble on pre-ordering merchandise. The inventory bet paid off alongside huge gate figures, as the club averaged 42,692 fans across eight playoff games at American Family Field and drew 31,000 attendees for each away-game watch party. Schlesinger also addressed the Timeless Ticket snafu and the overarching momentum of the postseason run: "Our goal is for people to call me in October of 2027 and say, ‘Hey, I want to redeem it for a great ticket for the 2027 World Series,’ and we won’t mess up that time. A World Series victory cures a lot of sins." (link)

In an analysis for The Athletic, reporters Jordan Campbell and Chris Weatherspoon break down the uncertain future of the City Football Group (CFG), the parent company and owner of Manchester City, following an independent commission's ruling that Man City’s success was partly built on $1.19B in inflated, "sham" commercial revenue. Conceived by CFG CEO Ferran Soriano as a multi-club sports empire modeled after corporate conglomerates, the global network now encompasses 12 clubs and 44 subsidiary companies. However, while Manchester City generates over 70% of the group's revenue, the broader global network has hemorrhaged money since its 2013 inception, posting a $375M loss in 2024. Because holding companies are exempt from the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability rules, CFG has served as a convenient corporate structure to absorb non-playing staff costs, allowing Manchester City to report lower standalone losses to UEFA. With the group carrying $950M in external debt—loans secured partly on the now-discredited revenue projections—severe sporting sanctions against the Sky Blues could force the breakup or sale of the world's largest multi-club network. (link)

The Financial Times’ Robert Armstrong argues that the private equity industry is enduring a painful transition driven by both a cyclical downturn and secular maturation. Over the past five years, U.S. private equity funds have trailed the S&P 500 by more than three percentage points annually, while firms sit on $1.3T in unvested dry powder—over 40% of which has remained idle for more than two years. The end of the low-interest-rate era has left many debt-saddled software buyouts facing restructuring, extending average fund hold times to seven years and dragging down the shares of industry giants like Blackstone, Apollo, and KKR. The fundamental shift stems from the sheer scale of the sector, which ballooned from $630B two decades ago to $6T today across the U.S. and Europe, effectively eliminating the outsized returns of early uncrowded markets and forcing major firms to pivot toward lower-fee credit and retail products. Armstrong notes that the sector is experiencing the exact same institutional consolidation that reshaped public equities a half-century ago, concluding: "What the past decade has demonstrated is that private equity at scale is a different asset class, not a superior one." (link)

Target CFO Jim Lee, who assumed the role in September 2024 after a 26-year career at PepsiCo, is drawing on his international crisis management experience to help execute a four-point turnaround strategy under new CEO Michael Fiddelke. Lee s tasked with optimizing resource allocation as Target seeks to reverse declining sales and market share caused by macroeconomic pressures and shifting consumer habits. The retailer is currently executing a $5B capital investment plan to open more than 30 new stores this year while significantly refreshing its existing footprint, including the rollout of "Target Beauty Studio" across 600 locations and the pop-culture-focused "Fun 101 Hardlines" initiative. Target recently reported a 5.3% year-over-year increase in second-quarter net sales ($26.5B) and two consecutive quarters of positive traffic growth. More takeaways from Lee on executing the turnaround plan: "As long as we keep on that trajectory, we have a strong likelihood to drive sustained growth. [My role as CFO is] ensuring that we’re constantly focused on prioritization of where we’re going to put our resources — not just dollars, but also time and energy." (link)

The continued challenges of crypto: Binance executives are mobilizing corporate reserves to cover a record $6.3B cyberattack attributed to North Korea's TraderTraitor hacking group. While industry partners like Tether and Circle successfully froze roughly $3B of the stolen digital assets, the exchange's dedicated emergency fund holds just $1.23B, forcing the company to front the remaining deficit from its own balance sheet, per The Wall Street Journal’s Angus Berwich, Patricia Kowsmann and Alexander Osipovich. Despite the unprecedented scale of the heist and a brief social media clash between Binance Founder Changpeng Zhao and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, company leaders maintain that their $167B in total custody assets and massive annual revenue are sufficient to make all users whole without liquidating outside investments. Moody’s Ratings VP Cristiano Ventricelli: "Stronger institutional controls can reduce some vulnerabilities, but the scale of assets under custody can amplify the impact of a successful breach." (link)

A new Deloitte survey of 200 North American CFOs at companies with at least $1B in revenue reveals that finance leaders are rapidly assuming formal responsibilities for artificial intelligence oversight and cost management. Nearly 80% of respondents now play a formal role in AI-related decisions—with 41% acting as required approvers—and more than two-thirds assumed these duties within the last three years. Despite their growing influence, 53% of finance chiefs still review AI costs retrospectively through vendor bills rather than proactively monitoring real-time usage. Only 20% utilize advanced AI-specific controls like token-level attribution, and when cost overruns occur, nearly three-quarters require several days to weeks to address the issue. CFOs cited a lack of established cost governance policies (40%) and limited timely insight into unit costs (38%) as their primary hurdles to monitoring AI spending. Additionally, 27% pointed to inflexible vendor contracts and new tollgating fees that restrict access to enterprise data, prompting analysts to advise finance teams to aggressively negotiate more favorable terms. (link)

CFO Brew’s Demi Lawrence reports that finance leaders are shifting away from unlimited artificial intelligence spending in favor of strict usage limits to control token consumption costs. Doit Field CTO Amit Kinha notes that the previous era of unchecked operational efficiency budgets has ended, forcing executives to quantify the return on investment against rising technology bills. Flexera CFO Chris Andersen categorizes corporate AI into two distinct structures: enterprise productivity tools treated as a flat corporate investment, and consumption-driven platforms where usage allowances dictate the budget, particularly for product and engineering developers. Clay Controller Steve Sidhu advises organizations to initially establish broad financial boundaries to encourage technological adoption before gradually tightening the parameters as clear usage patterns emerge: “With these platforms, we want to set guardrails in place, and then slowly over time bring guardrails in closer and closer, while allowing experimentation.” (link)

IT Brew’s Brianna Monsanto highlights a growing concern among corporate executives that artificial intelligence risks are compounding much faster than the technology's actual business value. An estimated 86% of chief information officers report this imbalance, prompting Gartner Fellow Daryl Plummer to compare AI adoption to drift car racing, where leaders must apply strict usage policies and data access limits—the "brakes"—not to slow progress down, but to navigate high speeds safely. Vendors often push organizations to chase usage volume with promises of 50% productivity gains, yet enterprises typically realize only a 16% uptick. This discrepancy led Gartner Fellow Kristin Moyer to advise companies to shift from consumption-heavy "tokenmaxxing" to results-driven "valuemaxxing" before careless consumption limits critical use cases. Moyer goes on to illustrate the changing security paradigm by comparing manageable, pre-AI risks to fenced-in dogs, noting that modern shadow AI behaves more like unruly cats: "You wake up one morning, and they’re into everything. They’re in the laundry basket. They’re shredding the furniture and breaking into the snack cabinet." (link)

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(Posted from most recent over the last 30 days).

(NEW!) Customer Success Manager – Collegiate Sports Connect (Collegiate Sports Connect / Remote): Serve as the primary point of contact for Connect clients, owning partner relations and CRM oversight to drive adoption, engagement, and retention. Remote, full-time. Salary starts at $60,000. More details HERE.

(NEW!) Associate Athletic Director of Business Operations (Yale University / New Haven, CT): The Associate Director of Athletics for Business serves as a key member of the Yale Athletics financial leadership team More details HERE.

(NEW!) Director of Business Intelligence (University of Arkansas / Fayetteville, AR): Leads data analytics and business intelligence initiatives for Razorback Athletics to drive revenue growth, improve operations, and support strategic decision-making. More details HERE.

(NEW!) Chief Operating Officer (RefQuest, LLC / Indianapolis, IN): RQ is seeking an experienced, strategic and execution-oriented Chief Operating Officer (COO) to lead operational strategy and oversee daily business operations More details HERE. What would it cost to move to Indianapolis? Click HERE.

(NEW!) Assistant A.D., Accounting & Finance (University of Central Florida / Orlando, FL): Under the leadership of the Senior Associate A.D., Business and Finance, the selected candidate assists in the management and coordination of the Athletics Business Office More details HERE.

Athletics Operations Coordinator (California State University – Fullerton / Fullerton, CA): The Athletics Operations Coordinator provides administrative and operational support to the CFO and supports other administrative staff in the department. More details HERE.

Assistant Athletic Director for Business Operations (Albany State University / Albany, GA): Help shape the future of Golden Rams Athletics by leading financial operations, strengthening fiscal accountability, and supporting the continued growth of our 12 NCAA Division II programs. (DII) More details HERE.

Human Resources Business Partner (HRBP) (University of Minnesota / Minneapolis, MN): Athletics HRBP supports recruitment, onboarding, employee relations, payroll, and compliance while partnering with coaches and staff to promote inclusion, engagement, and departmental success More details HERE.

Assistant Athletic Director, Business Operations (La Salle University / Philadelphia, PA): This position supports the daily operations of the Athletic Business Office and will assist in budgeting, financial reporting, accounts payable, payroll, and purchasing. More details HERE.

Director of Athlete Compensation (Clemson University / Clemson, SC): Key member of the Athletics Central Front Office, providing strategic leadership & analytical support in the development, negotiation, and administration of student-athlete compensation strategies. More details HERE.

Data Analyst – Athletic Financial Reporting (Texas A&M University / College Station, TX): Provide data support for departmental projects and business processes and perform assigned administrative and financial business functions for Athletics business operations. More details HERE.

Financial Analyst I (2 Positions) (University of Arizona / Tucson, AZ): Help drive Arizona Athletics forward through financial insight, analysis, and strategy. Join our team as a Financial Analyst I and help turn data into informed decisions. More details HERE.

Associate Athletic Director, Revenue Marketing & Business Intelligence (University of Maryland / College Park, MD): Leads data-driven marketing and analytics to grow revenue, attendance, donor engagement, retention, and databases through targeted campaigns, pricing, audience insights, and sales partnerships. More details HERE.

Athletics Business Coordinator (Rice University / Houston, TX): The Business Coordinator will help in the generation of budget reports, purchasing, and deposits for the Athletic Department. More details HERE.

Athletics Business Associate (University of Illinois Springfield / Springfield, IL): Lead the business and HR operations for athletics, including providing insight into budgets, policies and staff hiring. Serves on senior staff. Has opportunity for athletics administration duties. (DII) More details HERE.

Coordinator - Business & Finance (University Athletic Association, Inc. at the University of Florida / Gainesville, FL): Manage key financial processes including accounts receivable and bank statement reconciliations. Support balance sheet reconciliation reviews. Ensure timely/accurate recording of incoming payments. More details HERE.

Assistant Athletic Director, Business Operations, Department of Athletics (R0009158) (Wake Forest University / Winston-Salem, NC): The Assistant Athletic Director, Business Operations, is responsible for a broad range of accounting and business operations functions within the Department of Athletics’ Business Office. More details HERE.

Assistant Business Manager (University of Texas – Austin / Austin, TX): To provide support assigned Sport Programs and Departments within Intercollegiate Athletics, in the areas of budget management, travel, procure to pay, and related business functions. More details HERE.

Data Analyst I (University of Alabama / Tuscaloosa, AL): The Data Analyst I gathers, audits, analyzes, and reports low- to moderate-complexity data under general supervision. More details HERE.

Deputy Athletic Director (University of Washington / Seattle, WA): Washington Athletics has an outstanding opportunity for a Deputy Athletic Director to join their team. More details HERE. What would it cost to move to Seattle? Click HERE.

Assistant Director for Business Services (University of Connecticut / Storrs Mansfield, CT): The University of Connecticut is seeking applications for the full-time position of Assistant Director for Business Services More details HERE.

Assistant or Associate Athletic Director, Business Operations/SWA (Sacred Heart University / Fairfield, CT): Provides operational leadership for Athletics' business functions. Oversees financial management, budgeting, purchasing, contracts, revenue and expense tracking to ensure fiscal responsibility More details HERE.

Associate VP & Chief Commercial Officer/Chief Revenue Officer (Ohio State University / Columbus, OH): Responsible for developing and executing a comprehensive revenue growth strategy for the Department of Athletics and Buckeye Enterprises at The Ohio State University. More details HERE. What would it cost to move to Columbus? Click HERE.

Director, Business Office (Spartan Ventures / East Lansing, MI): This role, in conjunction with the Spartan Ventures CFO, will manage all financial activity related to the organization and contribute directly to the success of Michigan State University Athletics. More details HERE.

Manager, Financial Planning and Analytics (University of Texas – Austin / Austin, TX): This position will serve as a point-of-contact for financial planning and internal control functions within the Department of Athletics. More details HERE.

Director of Athletics Budget and Finance (Syracuse University / Syracuse, NY): The Director of Athletics Budget and Finance oversees the comprehensive stewardship, fiscal integrity, and business operations of the athletic department More details HERE.

Assistant Athletic Director, Business Operations (FINANCIAL ANL SUPV 1) Job 88459. (University of California – Davis / Davis, CA): This position is responsible for overseeing all Business Office operations, including account management and oversight of an approximately $50M budget as well as all purchasing and travel activities. More details HERE.

Associate Athletic Director (California State University – Fullerton / Fullerton, CA): Assist the AD with overall organization and management of the Athletic Department, operational and strategic planning, sport supervision, policies and procedures, assist with budgetary decisions. More details HERE.