Top 5 — Your Go-To Calendar for 2025
Plus the UFC's next frontier, horse racing's resurgence, and more
Whatsup Squad,
Let’s get into the top stories of the week:
⭐️ FEATURE STORY
The 2025 Caribbean Sports Calendar
I’m excited to introduce the most comprehensive Caribbean Sports Calendar.
With events across 14 countries, the calendar features:
Event name
Sport
Date(s) of competition
Location
Website
The calendar highlights the diversity of the region’s sports ecosystem, with events spanning soccer, basketball, cricket, track and field, horse racing, regattas, running, cycling, and golf.
Bottom Line - While this calendar was built for the Caribbean, it offers a framework for emerging markets to promote their sports ecosystems. As I have done for the Caribbean, there should also be a calendar for major sporting events across Africa and the Middle East.
Check it out here
From the Caribbean to the Octagon: UFC's Next Frontier
Born in Skeldon, Guyana—a tiny town of about 3,000 people—Carlston Harris is set to co-headline UFC Fight Night 249 this Saturday in Las Vegas.
Harris is the first Guyanese fighter in UFC history, a major milestone for the Caribbean in MMA.
But, like Jamaican champ Leon Edwards, he didn’t train at home. Harris has lived and trained abroad since the late 2000s, a reality for most Caribbean fighters due to the lack of infrastructure.
With 40% of viewers being millennials, the UFC has one of the youngest fan bases in sports, and its global reach spans 165 countries.
As the sport continues to gain popularity, and these fighters achieve success against all odds, there needs to be an emphasis on making the path easier for the next wave of Caribbean fighters.
Bottom Line - The Caribbean is an emerging hotbed for MMA talent, but it still needs the infrastructure. Fighters like Harris and Edwards are proving what’s possible, but there’s a massive opportunity to grow MMA in the region.
Read more about Harris here
Cricket West Indies CEO Points to Guyana
Newly appointed Cricket West Indies (CWI) CEO Chris Dehring is on a mission to galvanize the region’s cricket boards, emphasizing their critical role in revitalizing the sport across the Caribbean.
The challenge lies in the fact that there isn’t a single nation fully backing West Indies cricket.
Under the Windies' banner, there are currently six territorial boards:
Jamaica Cricket Association
Barbados Cricket Association
Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board
Guyana Cricket Board
Leeward Islands Cricket Board
Windward Islands Cricket Board of Control
Bottom Line - While CWI will do their part, Dehring believes countries should follow Guyana’s example. That is, the Government of Guyana pumped significant resources into Guyanese cricket, and that investment will ultimately benefit all of West Indies Cricket.
Read more here
Horse Racing Set for Resurgence in 2025
After decades of declining interest, horse racing is set for a resurgence — fueled by new investor interest, innovations in the sport, and a boom in legalized online sports gambling.
In 2023, the sport added more than $36B to the US economy, supporting nearly half a million jobs, according to the American Horse Council.
No catalyst for the sport’s growth is more crucial at the moment than the revenue that comes from gambling.
The increased access Americans now have to online sports wagering is attracting a new generation of fans to the sport.
In 2024, the volume of bets for the Kentucky Derby hit the same level as that of the Super Bowl.
Bottom Line - A boom in gambling leads to more prize money and attracts higher-quality horses. With established international races across the region, the Caribbean is positioned to benefit from increased American interest in the sport.
Read more here
Pro Sports Has A Piracy Problem
While many people watch NFL and NBA games each year through cable subscriptions or local television, a growing number of people are using another method: pirated live streams.
Worldwide, visits to unlicensed global video sites have risen 12% since 2019 despite attempts to slow their spread, according to anti-piracy analysis platform Muso.
Two popular illegal streaming sites — Methstreams and Crackstreams — going dark last week is a reminder of the problematic framework for those who distribute live sports.
Media companies pay billions for exclusive rights to broadcast live sports, and advertisers in turn pay billions to reach the fans that are watching.
American pro sports leagues are armed with limited tools to combat illegal streaming, which, as the Harvard Business Review noted, costs the global sports industry about $28 billion in annual revenue.
Bottom Line - Piracy remains one of the biggest challenges to legal streaming services looking to monetize expensive sports media rights. For many consumers, legitimate access is simply unaffordable. This is especially true in emerging markets, where disposable income is limited.
Read more here
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Until next time ✌🏾