Becoming the first American man to win an Olympic medal in luge has opened up a world of possibilities for Chris Mazdzer.
“There are some endorsement deals coming my way,” the silver medalist told Cheddar. “This has completely changed my life. It hasn’t changed who I am, but it changes what I can do.”
Mazdzer points out that Olympic athletes can work long and hard without ever seeing much financial rewards. He, for example, had been training for 21 years, juggling practice with bartending and working weddings just to make ends meet.
He says, “Some athletes work two, three jobs, just to keep doing what they love doing.”
To raise awareness, Mazdzer donated $5,000 -- about a third of his winnings -- to athlete-mentoring organization Classroom Champions. He’s also raised over $35,000 more in matched contributions.
He’s also planning for a future after sports.
“I want to go into financial planning, but I also want to go into...life fulfillment planning,” he said. “If you can manage how you view money and if you can manage how you feel about what you’re trying to do with your life…then you have the chance to be completely at one with yourself.”
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/olympic-luger-chris-mazdzer-makes-history).
PlayVS, a start-up created to build an infrastructure for high school esports, has announced a new Series B funding round of $30.5 million, led by Elysian Park Ventures, a firm that operates on behalf of the Los Angeles Dodgers ownership group. The new funding will also bring in new investments from Adidas, Samsung NEXT, and Plexo Capital, and angel investors include Sean “Diddy” Combs.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Monday, Nov. 19, 2018.
Mike Sepso is a gilded name in esports. His latest win? The senior VP of Activision Blizzard was recently appointed a strategic partner of Overwatch team league New York Excelsior. And he also happens to be the leader of Major League Gaming, which he founded with partner Sundance DiGiovanni in 2002. But before he assumed his throne, Sepso conceived MLG during a single lazy summer when he and his partner were basking in the glory of their previous company, Gotham Broadband.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Friday, Nov. 16, 2018.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know.
Super Bowl Champion Darrell Revis is now the face of online bookmaker PointsBet's digital sportsbook, launching later this month. Revis and PointsBet CEO Johnny Aitken told Cheddar how they're trying to educate consumers about legal sports betting.
The Golden State Warriors' star-studded lineup and three championship rings over the last four seasons have been a major revenue driver for the team's business, but the next phase of growth will rely on local real estate, said the team's chief financial officer Jennifer Cabalquinto.
The subject of gambling and esports has become a point of serious tension for gamers. For companies like Unikrn, which built its platform on the practice of esports betting, battling that stigma is a central, implicit part of the operation. According to CEO and co-founder Rahul Sood, the company is determined to make betting on esports a “safe, legal, and relegated” space.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know.
Four years ago, Aziz “Hax$” Al-Yami was one of the best Super Smash Bros. Melee players in the world. But after suffering what he said felt like “an explosion” in his left wrist, Hax’s once-impressive tournament performances were marred by serious physical pain. So he found his own solution: a different type of controller. Hax talked to Cheddar Sports about his life-changing design.
