Hello, friends.

On the slate today for Creating Sports VII:

• The NBA brings back the Creator Cup

• Jenna Bandy visits NFL HQ

• Halftime entertainment from SEC Shorts

• Top sports creator and industry news you need to know

• Last thing on Alex Cooper and Simone Biles

Let’s dig in.

NBA Running Back Creator Cup Next Week

The NBA’s Las Vegas Summer League tips off on July 12. The day before it begins, the league will welcome 16 creators – more than half of whom have 1M+ subscribers on YouTube alone – to play in the “Hennessy NBA Creator Cup” on the same court where many of the summer league games will occur.

This will be the second Creator Cup, with the debut game happening just eight months ago. While the first edition didn’t feature a crowd, fans can buy tickets for July 11’s game for $13.

Participants include Lethal Shooter (coach), Kris London (coach), Jenna Bandy, Bionic Brooks, Jeffrey Bui, Bree Green, Marcelas Howard, Tristan Jass, JDub, Jesser, Maranne Johnson, Trey Phills, YPK Raye, Carson Roney, Chris Staples, Cam Wilder.

All about user-generated content: You can find the Creator Cup on the NBA’s channels. It will be broadcast on the NBA App and the NBA will be posting about it on social media. But the real wins will come in the form of content on all of the creators’ respective platforms where the viewership numbers will far outpace those on the NBA’s channels. This is about tapping into the creators’ channels to reach young audiences, and the NBA isn’t the only brand doing so.

Speaking of that…

Don’t overlook the sponsor: Launching an event for creators to participate in is one thing. It’s another to find a big-name brand – Hennessy, in this case – to put real money behind it as a sponsor. The NBA debuted its Creator Cup in November, showed proof of concept, and then returned less than a year later alongside Hennessy. Bringing in brands will go a long way to ensuring the Creator Cup remains in the regular rotation for the NBA.