Building Hope: How AI was Used to Challenge Existing Football Governance ⚽️
Plus, Amazon sell-out of ads for Black Friday game, and Eva Longoria adds a new dimension to the Hexagon Cup
Welcome to Sports Pundit, the sports business newsletter delivering news as fast as the international cricket calendar offers up chances for (a slither of) redemption 🏏
In today’s email;
A Challenge to the FIFA Presidency ⚽️
The Tie-Up of Commerce and Content 🤝
Elevating Padel in the USA 🇺🇸
Next week sees a few readers join me in MK for a small get together. That’s then followed by the big one in London (here), as well as our first event in Los Angeles (here), on the 7th of December.
Currently there are only approx. 10 places left for each, so make sure to RSVP soon if you do want to join readers from the likes of Formula 1, EA Sports, WarnerBros Discovery, and LA28.
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TOP STORY
Building Hope: How AI was used to Challenge Existing Football Governance ⚽️
Have you heard of Hope Sogni?
She aspires to become FIFA's 10th president and the first female to hold this position.
Despite Gianni Infantino's uncontested re-election as FIFA president in March, Sogni officially launches her election campaign this Wednesday.
She advocates for a progressive agenda, emphasising the crucial role that women can play in the decision-making process.
And if you think that this sounds too good to be true, it is because it is.
This dissenting voice challenging Infantino’s leadership and the notion that football cannot undergo a transformation is in fact the creation of artificial intelligence.
Developed by the sports creative agency Dark Horses, Twise.ai, and Lewes FC CEO Maggie Murphy, the AI has been meticulously crafted to comprehend the intricacies of the game, its politics, and the key challenges it faces.
This includes drawing from the voices and experiences of influential women in football. Notably, Moya Dodd, former vice-captain of Australia and one of the first women to join the FIFA Council, has contributed to shaping Sogni as a collective and anonymous representation of women in football.
The campaign aims to demonstrate that numerous women within the sport are highly qualified for governance positions at all levels and that women in leadership roles in football should be a norm, not an anomaly.
Additionally, Sogni exists as the voice of these accomplished women, designed to express their shared perspective and present an alternative viewpoint to the established narrative, without fear of reprisal.
Sports Pundit says
🤔 Interestingly, there is a clear analogy that can be drawn here between the effectiveness of an AI model (such as that used to develop Sogni) and the effectiveness of a governance structure (such as the one being challenged).
With AI, there is so much emphasis on the importance of the data used for training the model. In this case, that means gathering perspectives from people like Dodd and Murphy who truly understand the nuances of the women’s game.
Likewise, in order to get outcomes that are reflective of, and that improve the women’s game, governing bodies must put equal consideration into their own inputs as well.
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OPINION
What can we take from Amazon’s Black Friday Broadcast? 🤔
Today, all eyes will be on Amazon Prime Video as the New York Jets and the Miami Dolphins go head-to-head - the first time an NFL game has ever been played on Black Friday.
This marks arguably the biggest ever sports-retail crossover event and is a clear attempt from Amazon to dominate attention on what is comfortably the busiest shopping day of the year.
As a result, it probably comes as little surprise that their ad inventory for the game was entirely sold out.
The retailer has even introduced interactive ads to streamline the shopping experience and is trialing audience-based creative ads to enable a more targeted approach and reduced ad real estate wastage.
Sports marketing expert, Rich Johnson, who has previously worked with the likes of Manchester United and New Balance, suggests that there are a couple of ways to look at these developments:
That this is representative of the over-commercialisation of sports, essentially caring about the audience more as consumers vs fans
It's a sign of progress. As sports models become increasingly outdated, innovations which can help extract more value per fan could help save some sports.
However, Johnson believes that, “We need to look at it somewhere in between. As an industry, particularly within European football, the idea of trying to squeeze more money out of fans is largely frowned upon (at least publicly).”
“…[T]his type of experience definitely could help with [activating] the valuable international fanbases [that many teams hold],” he continued. “Ultimately, digital native audiences are now growing up with frictionless shopping experiences expected, just look at TikTok shop.”
As a result, the tie-in of commerce and (sports) content, is only likely to continue to increase moving forward.
📚 Further Reading: Shopping Around: How to survive without a big pay TV cheque
HIGHLIGHTS
Professional Fighters League (PFL) acquires Bellator, forming a global powerhouse that is poised to be MMA co-leader 🥷
Cricket clubs might soon be the next sports deal frenzy with IPL franchises eyeing up the purchase of Hampshire CCC 🏏
Shaquille O'Neal wants to be involved with potential NBA team in Las Vegas 'with LeBron' or 'without LeBron' 🏀
The BBC have reported record numbers for the Chelsea v Liverpool WSL clash on Saturday. The channel saw an average audience of 796k and a peak of 955k 👀
Auckland is set to join A-Leagues after AFC Bournemouth owner Bill Foley was awarded a licence with the club entering men's league in 2024/25 and women's a year later ⚽️
Howden’s latest report reveals the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 resulted in an increase in injury severity for players across Europe’s top five men’s leagues.
INCREASING AMERICAN APPEAL
Lon-Glorious Addition: Hollywood Actress Provides Hexagon Cup Another Dimension 🎾
Eva Longoria has become the latest high-profile individual to give her backing to the Hexagon Cup, a new Padel tournament formed by the key figures behind Formula E.
The Hollywood actress announced the formation of her franchise, ElevenElevenTeamUSA, which is the fifth of six teams that will contest the tournament taking place in Madrid in early 2024.
In doing so, the Desperate Housewives star joins the likes of tennis royalty Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray, as well as Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski, in owning a team in the inaugural addition of the tournament.
This isn’t Longoria first move into sports investing, either. Her portfolio already includes stakes in NWSL side Angel City FC, Liga MX outfit Necaxa FC and Major League Pickleball side.
Sports Pundit says
🤔 Interestingly, unlike with her involvement in DC Pickleball, where she admitted that she has never played the sport, Padel is a sport that Longoria has said she is deeply passionate about and loves to play.
Her inclination to play Padel over Pickleball is potentially telling in terms of the demographics that each sport currently appeals to.
While Padel is fairly new to the US, where Longoria was born, Padel has spread rapidly in Europe and Latin America and therefore has enormous potential to now tap into the Hispanic community within the US – an audience that Longoria is both apart of, and can appeal to better than most.
The Hispanic population of the US is reported to be around 63 million, making it the nation's largest racial or ethnic minority and 19.1% of the total population.
This is also a population that has been crucial in the development of other sports traditionally popular in Europe and Latin America, such as soccer. Hispanic audiences have formed a core segment of the fanbases of many of the successful expansion franchises in the MLS, including Inter Miami and Los Angeles FC.
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JOB BOARD
Manager, Club Performance - Major League Soccer (MLS) (New York, US)
Head of Commercial Development, Race Promotion - Formula 1 (London, UK)
Partnership Executive - Red Bull Racing (Milton Keynes, UK)
Graduate Scheme - City Football Group (Manchester, UK)
Editor in Chief - The Dink (Austin, US)
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SOCIAL CLUB
The Sports Pundit Social Club (SPSC) was designed to enable you as readers to hang out with one another without the heavy cost that often goes with traditional sports industry events.
So far, it has achieved that goal. We’ve had 40+ attendees at the past three events in London and expanded the concept to New York 😀🗽
Rounding out the year, we’ve got events on the 7th of December in London (here) and Los Angeles (here) 🥳 (with plans to launch in Manchester in the new year).
If you’d ever like to come to one of these events, or you’d like to request a future meet up location (current suggestions include Sydney, Dublin, and Lisbon), please register your interest below 👇