*By Max Godnick*
LeBron James is ready to add another title to his already gilded resume: Hollywood mogul.
The three-time NBA champion and four-time MVP redrew the professional basketball landscape when he announced he will join the Los Angeles Lakers. The move allows him to work and live closer to his already impressive entertainment empire. His production company, SpringHill Entertainment, is based on the Warner Bros. lot, just a few miles up the 101 Freeway from his new primary office, the STAPLES Center.
"The ease of him being in the heart of Hollywood is really setting up the next stage of what his professional career is going to be," said Sean O'Connell, the managing editor at Cinemablend, in an interview with Cheddar on Tuesday.
James's slate of upcoming projects includes a remake of the 1990 comedy "House Party," multiple series and documentaries in the works at Netflix and HBO, and the long-rumored sequel to the Michael Jordan-Bugs Bunny collaboration, "Space Jam." He'll be physically much closer to their development, production, and marketing processes in Los Angeles than he was in Cleveland or Miami.
The basketball star is still months away from suiting up as a Laker for the first time, but he's already drawing comparisons to some of the entertainment industry's biggest names.
"I think he's primarily going to become a dominant producing force and maybe becomes like an Oprah-type person who launches his own channel, and it's loaded with content that speaks to his interests," said O'Connell.
The current Hollywood landscape puts a premium on A-list talent with worldwide fan bases. The past few months have seen Winfrey ink a multi-year content partnership with Apple, while Barack and Michelle Obama signed a deal with Netflix.
ESPN recently ranked James second on its [annual list](http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/page/WorldFame/espn-world-fame-100-2018#) of the most famous names in sports - only trailing international soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo. While he clearly doesn't need any help expanding the scope of his fame or influence, James's new home could allow his ambitions and portfolio to reach even higher heights.
"LeBron is a household name and a household face before he even steps into the entertainment realm," said O'Connell. "He can become a true media mogul and make this transition."
For the full segment, [click here.](https://cheddar.com/videos/lebron-james-brings-his-entertainment-empire-to-hollywood)
Super Bowl Sunday is the ー well ー Super Bowl of building brand awareness, particularly for food and beverage companies. This year, Pepsi and Frito-Lay, both units of PepsiCO ($PEP), are once again among the snack giants planning to use the 100 million-plus members of the expected television audience to launch new products and elevate brands in their respective portfolios. Frito-Lay CMO Jen Saenz spoke to Cheddar Tuesday alongside Greg Lyons, the CMO for Pepsi, which is known for its Super Bowl ads and social media engagement tied to the Big Game.
Apple is planning a subscription service that would function like Netflix for games, according to people familiar with the matter. The iPhone maker has also discussed partnering with developers as a publisher, which could signal ambitions to assume distribution and marketing costs for games.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2019.
Following a 2018 Supreme Court ruling year that cleared the way for sports gambling, fans in seven states can bet on the upcoming Super Bowl for the first time ー and leaders in the budding industry are anticipating the Big Game will deliver their biggest day yet. “We expect the Super Bowl to be our single biggest day in the company’s history,” Mike Raffensperger, the chief marketing officer for betting platform FanDuel, told Cheddar.
FightCamp is a new fitness company that streams boxing classes from top instructors direct to consumers. The classes can be tailored to the needs of boxers at all levels of expertise ー from newbies to punching pros said co-founder Tommy Duquette.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Friday, Jan. 25, 2019.
The New York Knicks and its jersey sponsor, the website-building platform Squarespace, are doling out assists to four local businesses as part of the second annual "Make It Awards." "Partnering with Squarespace to help those entrepreneurs get their businesses to the next level was something we were very interested in doing and it's been a major hit," said MSG Sports' senior vice president of business operations, Kristin Bernert, in an interview on Cheddar.
The Delaware Blue Coats will make their debut Wednesday night at the brand new Philadelphia 76ers Fieldhouse in Wilmington, Del., and the team will share the spotlight with an arena that boasts five stories, can seat 2,500 fans, and includes three NBA-regulation basketball courts. The flashy new arena was designed to promote youth sports in the state of Delaware and the greater Philadelphia region. "It's all geared towards youth," Chris Heck, the president of the Philadelphia 76ers, told Cheddar.
The NBA is transparent about its approval of legalized, regulated sports betting ー but the league is also clearly communicating that it wants a fair share of the money wagered on its games. "It's our view that if state governments are going to be authorizing private entities, in most cases casinos, to generate significant revenue ー billions of dollars of revenue ー off of the NBA competitions, that the NBA participate in some way," said the NBA's head of fantasy and gaming Scott Kaufman-Ross.
Former Green Bay Packer Ahman Green is a four time Pro Bowler, but he's also an avid gamer. When it comes to Halo he's just another fan that looks up to professionals like Proximitty and LethuL for help with his improving his skills.
