A deal that could bring private equity to La Liga will be put before a vote Thursday, but one of the league’s top clubs is threatening legal action to stop the transaction.

La Liga needs 22 of its 42 clubs to approve a contract with CVC Capital Partners, and league executives appear confident they have the votes.

Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Athletic Bilbao oppose the pact, as does the Spanish Soccer Federation, which called it illegal and harmful to the league’s long-term financial picture.

• Per the Financial Times, CVC would buy a stake in La Liga’s broadcast and sponsorship rights through a holding company for around $117.3 million.
• The private equity firm would gain 11% of the revenues of those properties for the next 50 years.
• CVC would also chip in $2.9 billion that would go to clubs as an interest-free loan.

Real Madrid said on Sunday that its board of directors “unanimously agreed to initiate both civil and criminal legal action against” La Liga president Javier Tebas Medrano, CVC head Javier de Jaime Guijarro, and CVC.

The club resolved to take legal action to block any resolutions that come out of Thursday’s league meeting. It previously said the CVC deal “by way of a misleading structure, expropriates 10.95% of the clubs’ audiovisual rights for the next 50 years, in breach of the law.”

Combined revenue of all European soccer clubs fell to $30.5 billion in the 2019-2020 season, down 13.4% from the previous year. La Liga’s revenues fell 8% to $3.74 billion.

Video game holding company Krafton stumbled during its $3.8 billion initial public offering, which was South Korea’s biggest in more than a decade.

Shares of Krafton fell as much as 20% during its trading debut Tuesday after opening down 9.9% — the country’s worst IPO performance in 17 years. 

The Tencent-backed company planned to raise at least $5 billion in June by selling 20% of its shares, valuing the company at $25 billion. 

Following its market debut, the company closed with a valuation of around $19 billion. 

Krafton has made a name for itself as the developer of online battle royale gaming hit “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds,” often referred to as “PUBG.”

• The game’s revenue reached $920 million in 2018, up from $220 million in 2017, when it first released.
• $790 million of 2018’s total revenue came from PC players.
• “PUBG Mobile” was the top mobile game in 2020 with $2.6 billion in revenue.

Shares of Krafton closed on Wednesday at $351 per share, down from its IPO price of $430.

Another factor in the poor showing: Regulators in the massive Chinese market are punishing video game companies for neither relinquishing exclusive rights nor reporting details of investments.

Still, Krafton is developing a “PUBG” sequel. The upcoming title has more than 25 million pre-registrations on the Google Play store. App Store registration opens at the end of August.

Home rowing machine Aviron announced Wednesday it raised $4.5 million in its latest funding round.

Samsung Next, Formic Ventures, GFC, and Y Combinator joined the round. The company’s machines cost $2,199.

This is just the latest investment in the growing connected rowing industry.

• April: Ergatta raised $30 million in a Series A funding round led by Advance Venture Partners.
• April: LIT Method announced an investment from Jay-Z’s Marcy Venture Partners.
• July: CITYROW secured $12 million in Series A funding led by JW Asset Management. The company’s revenue grew 375% in the last year.
• August: Hydrow announced it was in discussions with Sandbridge X2 Corp. to go public via SPAC, valuing the company at more than $1 billion. It raised more than $45 million in the last two years and saw sales jump by 400% during the pandemic.

Similar to Ergatta, Aviron is interested in gamifying the rowing experience — something founder and CEO Any Hoang says is the largest differentiator between Aviron and a Peloton or Hydrow.

Rather than instructor-led classes, the company focuses on virtual races and animated, story-driven games.

The global home fitness equipment market is estimated to reach to $8.62 billion by 2023.