Highlight Reel: Disney Hit for Six After Losing IPL Streaming Rights 🏏
This week's top stories feature Disney+, Arsenal, Sky Sports, English Football League, Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Kings League Infojobs and Queens League Oysho
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Welcome to the Highlight Reel, where keeping up to date with sports business news is as effortless as a James Ward Prowse set-piece.
This week's lineup includes…
Disney Hit for Six After Losing IPL Streaming Rights 🏏
Arsenal Increase Women’s Games at the Emirates 🏟
Sky is the Limit as EFL Secure Record-Breaking Broadcast Deal ⚽️
Finnish Newspaper Offers Counter-Strike to Ban on Free Press 🎮
Kings League and Queens League Secure Spanish TV Deals 📺
Thanks to Alex, Dan, Paul, Nick, Alexandra, and Lucas for liking last week’s Highlight Reel!
ICYMI: My latest newsletter for JohnWallStreet: Power Players: Gucci, NHL Lead Way in Empowering Next Generation dropped on Wednesday… Let me know what you think!
Disney Hit for Six After Losing IPL Streaming Rights 🏏
Disney’s flagship streaming service has reported to have lost 4 million subscribers in the first three months of the year.
Despite analysts expecting Disney+ to add more than 1 million customers in the quarter, subscribers fell to nearly 158 million from January to March.
While all major streaming services have been losing customers as the pandemic boom fades and the cost-of-living crisis hits, the majority of the lost subscribers came from Disney+ Hotstar in India after the company lost online streaming rights to Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket matches to Viacom18, a joint venture between competitor Paramount and India's Reliance Industries.
Further Reading: BCCI projected to earn 38.5% of the US$ 600 million annual earnings in ICC's new finance model
Arsenal Increase Women’s Games at the Emirates 🏟
Arsenal Women will play five Barclays Women's Super League (WSL) matches at Emirates Stadium next season, up from three this season.
The Gunners set a WSL attendance record in September with over 53,000 tickets sold for their clash with Spurs. This was followed up by crowds of 40,000 and 46,000 for the visits of Man United and Chelsea in November and January.
The club has also seen huge demand for UEFA Women’s Champions League matches - culminating in a historic sold-out crowd of over 60,000 for the semi-final second leg against Wolfsburg.
Pending qualification, all 2023/24 UWCL matches from the group stage onwards will also take place at the Emirates.
Further Reading: 43-year-old used her life savings to open a bar that only plays women’s sports—it brought in almost $1 million in 8 months
Sky is the Limit as EFL Secure Record-Breaking Broadcast Deal ⚽️
The English Football League’s (EFL) clubs have approved a record domestic rights deal with Sky Sports to broadcast more than 1000 matches each season – a record number of games for any club football agreement.
The five-year deal, which will run from 2024/25 to 2028/29, has guaranteed payments of £895m and £40m in marketing benefits, which represents a 50 per cent increase on the value of the current agreement sees significantly enhanced exposure for clubs throughout the English Football pyramid.
The deal also means that for the first time ever, fans will be also able to watch every match from the Carabao Cup and EFL Trophy.
Further Reading: Sky Sports and Fanatics launch new online shop for fans to purchase Premier League, Formula One, NFL and NBA merchandise
Finnish Newspaper Offers Counter-Strike to Ban on Free Press 🎮
Helsingin Sanomat, a Finnish newspaper, has built and shared a Counter-Strike map as a way of exposing Russian CSGO players to facts about the invasion of Ukraine.
The CSGO map contains a secret room wherein players can view stories about the Russian military’s activities in Ukraine, which would otherwise be banned under the Kremlin’s laws curtailing free press. However, the gaming world is currently left unchecked.
By hiding a newspaper inside the world’s most popular war game, they aim to reach 4 million Russians in their native language and give them uncensored access to the horrors of the war.
Kings League and Queens League Secure Spanish TV Deals 📺
Mediaset España has acquired the free-to-air broadcast rights for both Queens League Oysho and Kings League Infojobs matches.
The agreement, which marks the beginning of a long-term collaboration between the group and Kosmos, the company founded and chaired by Gerard Pique, includes the live broadcast on Cuatro of the two most outstanding matches of each weekend, as well as summaries, previous and post-match.
The league has generated incredible viewership via its Twitch streams in its first season and Pique has stated his ambition that this free-to-air TV deal to increase distribution of the leagues and their partners to even more people.
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JOB BOARD
Head of Client Partnerships - TTB Sport Capital (London, UK)
Partnership Sales Manager - Brentford FC (London, UK)
Partnership Design Assistant - Liverpool FC (London, UK)
Director, International Content EMEA - PGA TOUR (London, UK)
Senior Project Manager - Manchester United (Manchester, UK)
Director, Strategic & Digital Communications - MLS (New York, US)
Vice President, Partnerships - 160over90 (New York, US)
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