Universal Music Group — home to superstars Drake, Billie Eilish, Post Malone, Ariana Grande and many more — has licensed its entire catalog to Equinox Media.

The parent organization to fitness companies like SoulCycle and Equinox gyms now has access to the world’s largest music catalog for its Variis digital fitness app, which launched last March.

The move comes after at-home fitness rival Peloton has faced accusations of using improperly licensed music. 

• In February, Peloton settled a lawsuit filed by a music industry group that sought more than $300 million in damages. The connected fitness company reported $49.3 million in settlement and litigation costs.
• As part of the settlement, Peloton and the organization entered into a partnership to “work together to further optimize Peloton’s music-licensing systems and processes.” 
• In addition to partnerships with artists like Beyoncé, Peloton recently began using remixes created exclusively for its classes.  

The Variis app offers classes across the SoulCycle, Pure Yoga, Rumble Boxing, Precision Run and Equinox brands, along with other partner brands.

“These classes are like going to a concert – 60 people in the dark rocking back and forth, riding together to the beat, boxing sequences to the rhythm,” Jason LaRose, media chief executive at Equinox, told The Wall Street Journal.

Universal said it anticipates that within the next year leading fitness services will be among its top-10 revenue generators for digital accounts — which include Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music.

Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis is expanding his desert sports empire. 

He entered an agreement to purchase the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces from MGM Resorts International, the team announced today. The deal is pending approval by the league’s board of governors. 

MGM brought the Aces — formerly the Utah Starzz and San Antonio Stars — to Vegas in 2018. The team, led by league MVP A’ja Wilson, reached the 2020 WNBA Finals.

WNBA ownership has already been a topic of discussion in 2021, as LeBron James suggested he wanted to buy the Atlanta Dream from Kelly Loeffler after she lost the Georgia Senate runoff election. 

• The average WNBA team is estimated to be valued at around $13.7 million.
• Davis has an estimated net worth of $500 million; the Raiders are valued at about $3.1 billion. 

The presumptive new Aces owner has regularly attended the team’s games, and in 2019 the Raiders distributed 1,600 Aces tickets to young fans.

The Raiders’ Vegas relocation was approved in 2017 after they spent the previous 25 years in Oakland and 60 total in California.

Vegas’ third major sports team, the NHL’s Golden Knights reached the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural 2017-18 season.

“The community benefits of professional sports are tremendous,” Davis said in 2019. “In particular, the women who play for the Las Vegas Aces are great role models for the young women all over Southern Nevada.”

The Brooklyn Nets amped up their global appeal when they acquired James Harden from the Houston Rockets in a blockbuster trade.

The team has already drawn more local viewers this season than the Knicks — a stark role reversal. National networks’ interest in the Nets is likely to grow when the NBA releases the second half of its 2020-21 schedule.

Before Harden, the Nets were already one of the most popular teams internationally — particularly in China, a country with an estimated 500 million basketball fans. Nets owner Joe Tsai is the co-founder of Chinese tech giant Alibaba.

The Rockets, meanwhile, were previously one of China’s favorites. Harden had the No. 3-selling jersey in China in 2018, but the relationship soured in October 2019.

After former Rockets GM Daryl Morey tweeted his support for Hong Kong protestors, several Chinese retailers pulled Rockets merchandise, China’s CCTV temporarily stopped airing NBA games, and Chinese sponsors pulled away from the franchise.

With the NBA now back on Tencent, the former MVP returns to the spotlight in China.

Harden’s wallet will take a hit, however: He’ll pay nearly $14 million extra in taxes through the remaining three years of his contract in Brooklyn than he would have in Houston.