CALY+, GOLF+, GRMN+, LUCK-; Declines in Experiences and Entertainment Spending; NKE Global Traction Inflection; News of Note: The Optimal Sports Section

By David Katzman and David Schick and Jonathan Feeney and Jack Hermann Published on April 15, 2026 PDF

This week we note revenue tracking slowdown (in particular our Sports Fandom index), share price underperformance across sports sectors, NKE attention economy traction globally, improved PTON sentiment, and CALY, GOLF, GRMN card spending growth.
The Optimal Sports Ecosystem Index revenue tracker (T8W) is running down -1.2% y/y, (the 16-week trend is up +0.8%, we note -200 bps inflection). By subsector, Sports Fandom’s 8-week spending trend is worst at down -15.6% y/y (noting macro sensitivity and -15.4% T8W y/y at Ticketmaster) and Sports Participation spending is down -1.9% (we note transactions down -8.4%), while Sports Betting spending is up +4.2%.

Sports index and subsectors underperformed the broader market (S&P 500 up +3.5%) … Equal-Weight (+0.8%) and Cap-Weighted (+1.7%) Optimal Sports Ecosystem Indices as well as all three of the Optimal Sports Fandom (+0.9%), Sports Betting & Data (+2.0%), and Sports Participation (+0.4%) Indices up but below benchmarks.
CALY, GOLF, GRMN: All three names have 40%+ growth in card spending T8W Y/Y as well acceleration (GOLF +28%, GRMN +24%, CALY +6%). GOLF digital traffic has grown +19% T8W y/y while CALY has grown +8% y/y and GRMN down slightly (-3% y/y) but +2% above T16W trend. A few weeks ago we had noted struggling trends for GRMN and GOLF that have since reversed.

LUCK (-): Spending (-40%) and digital traffic (-4%) are declining on a T8W y/y basis and spending is decelerating (-22% relative to T16W trend).

Headlines

Headline: The Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund is on the verge of cutting its support for LIV Golf.
- Takeaway: Amid the war in the Middle East, the PIF potentially ceasing its support for LIV Golf in conjunction with the highest Masters viewership numbers in 11 years could be significant news for the PGA Tour.
- Link: Report: PIF on verge of cutting support for LIV Golf
Headline: Fubo has made a surprise pitch for the 13 NBA teams that just exited Main Street Sports Group
- Takeaway: If Fubo were to win the pitch, it would not only allow Fubo to become the RSN for these 13 teams, but also Fubo could campaign to eventually become the NBA’s centralized streaming hub.
- Link: Sources: Fubo makes surprise pitch to the 13 NBA teams that fled Main Street
Headline: Private equity firm TPG is purchasing college sports multimedia rights and technology provider Learfield
- Takeaway: TPG’s purchase of Learfield represents another example of private equity’s involvement with the Sports Ecosystem as sports continues to evolve as an asset class and media rights values continue to rise.
- Link: Learfield finalizing sale to private equity firm, TPG

Games of the Week:

Denver Nuggets vs. Minnesota Timberwolves (Game 1: April 18th @ 3:30 PM EST): Following a 4-1 first round win in 2023 by the Nuggets and a 4-3 win in the WCSF in 2024 by the Timberwolves involving the largest game 7 comeback of all time, the Nuggets and the Timberwolves will once again face each other in the first round of this year’s NBA playoffs featuring Denver’s 3x MVP Nikola Jokic and Minnesota’s superstar Anthony Edwards.
WrestleMania 42 (April 18th – 19th): The biggest yearly event in professional wrestling, this year’s main events include Cody Rhodes defending the Undisputed WWE Championship against his one-time mentor Randy Orton, and CM Punk defending the World Heavyweight Championship against Roman Reigns.

Stat of the Week: Bayern Munich sets Bundesliga Goals Record

With five games remaining in the Bundesliga season, Bayern Munich scored 5 goals in Saturday’s victory of St. Pauli to reach 105 goals on the season, besting the previous Bundesliga record of 101 goals set by Bayern back in 1971-1972. Bayern is also now second all time in goals per match played in the history of Europe’s top 5 leagues, with Athletic Club’s 1929-1934 run representing each of the other top 5 entries.

Top Single Season Goals/Match Ratio for Europe’s Top 5 Leagues

Source: Optimal Advisory analysis, StatMuse