Will Packer knows a thing or two about spotting a good story. With films like “Ride Along,” “Think Like a Man,” and “Stomp the Yard,” he’s turned everyday moments into box-office gold, built characters we root for, and created cultural blueprints that stick. But when the call came offering a confidential shot at owning a piece of an NFL team — no details, no guarantees — this wasn’t a plot twist in a film. This was real life. And it didn’t come with a pitch deck or press release. It came with a non-disclosure agreement and the vaguest of possibilities. “I said, NFL? National Food League?” Packer joked. “Because I know the NFL doesn’t just let people in.” The terms? Mysterious. The team? Unknown. The risk? High. But Packer signed the NDA anyway. That moment — unflashy, uncertain, but undeniably bold — set off a chain of events that would lead him not just into the NFL ownership circle but into a growing movement to rewrite what power and equity look like in professional sports. Fast...

The year was 2003, and Jay-Z’s iconic “Black Album” would be released on Nov. 14. According to the Grammy Awards website, the album would also be his sixth-straight No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 and was initially signaled to be his retirement project. All of this was riding on the moment of an earlier debut that summer, with the launch of Sean Carter’s 40/40 Club. A New Type Of Night Club Situated in New York, NY’s Flat Iron district, the 40/40 Club was created as a luxury sports bar that doubles as a nightclub. Based on a report from Rolling Stone, the name pays homage to a rare achievement in baseball: hitting 40 home runs and stealing 40 bases in a single season. The nightlife concept saw success. Two years after opening, additional locations opened in Atlantic City, NJ; Las Vegas, NV; Atlanta, GA’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, and Brooklyn, NY’s Barclays Center. “I love sports,” Jay-Z said via Flatiron Nomad. “[I] wanted to create an environment that is conducive...

National Football League (NFL) player Emmanuel Ellerbee is looking out for student-athletes with his new nonprofit. The Atlanta Falcons linebacker launched his nonprofit, Bee’s Believers, to bridge the gap between student-athletes and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), ABC 13 reports. TONIGHT ON @abc13houston . Houston product & ATL Falcons’ @LB_ellerbee42 shares how his nonprofit aims to bridge the gap between student-athletes & STEM. “Your mind is something no one can take away from you.” He wants teens to know they’re more than athletes. @BeesBelievers pic.twitter.com/aikke0o9tZ — Carolina Olivares (@_carolinao_) December 5, 2021  

It’s about time! Brett Peterson just became the first Black assistant general manager in the National Hockey League (NHL), reports AP News. Before being hired by The Florida Panthers, Peterson was a former player agent who previously served as vice president of hockey for Wasserman Media Group. He also worked as an NHLPA certified agent for over a decade and played five pro seasons in the minors, ultimately winning a national title upon trading in his skates for a business suit. According to Because of Them We Can (BOTWC), Peterson is a  Massachusetts native who attended Boston College and also works as a consultant for a nonprofit that focuses on providing hockey and mentoring programs for underserved youth and communities. His new role will also include participating in the Panthers foundation to help offer more community initiatives to help create inclusivity in South Florida. Recently, the NHL launched several initiatives aimed at increasing minority participation and inclusion...