Highlight Reel: NBA’s Participation Policy Given Early 76ers Stress Test 🏀

Plus, NBA partners with content creators like Kai Cenat and Drew Afualo, and Two Circles acquires Spring Media Group...

Nov 01, 2024

Welcome to Sports Pundit’s Highlight Reel – your go-to roundup of the latest sports business news, insights, and trends shaping the industry.

Each week, we bring you the key stories and developments that have captured the attention of sports executives and leaders across our global network.

In today’s email;

Player Participation Policy Gets Stress Tested 🏀
NBA Partners with Content Creators 📲
Two Circles Continues Acquisition Spree 🔖

Happy Friday!

Andy 😊 🙏

P.S. Congrats to Tom Julian, our latest ‘Contributor of the Week.’

Other honourable mentions go to Rich, Chris, Grant, and Michael.

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KEEPING BALANCED

NBA’s Participation Policy Given Early 76ers Stress Test 🏀

Last season, the NBA introduced introduced its Player Participation Policy (PPP) to address concerns over load management, aiming to reassure broadcast partners ahead of pivotal media rights negotiations. This proactive step proved impactful, as the league secured a record $76 billion media deal.

At the start of this season, the policy is facing its first major test after Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid sat out a nationally televised game against the Milwaukee Bucks, citing "left knee management" - prompting the league to launch an investigation into his absence.

Despite this current challenge, the NBA remains ahead of the curve in offering a potential solution for addressing the balance between player rest with broadcast demands - and the league has also put in the work ahead of implementing the policy, as Tal Brown, former CEO of Zone7, highlighted in an op-ed last year:

What he says:

“There is already push back from players that they are asked to play too much. Therefore, in order to introduce such a policy, the right investments first need to be made off the pitch to appropriately manage player workload, preserving their health and performance – the key priority of any and every professional sports league.
Prior to the implementation of PPP, the NBA had been proactive in addressing this by investing in innovation. Injury prevention was even one of the key themes for its recent NBA Launchpad incubator programme. Other leagues wanting to mimic the NBA’s PPP will also need to consider how they address these various areas, too.
As the balance of power tilts increasingly toward the broadcasters in the sports industry, they are now looking to establish partnerships with leagues that involve a more equitable sharing of risks and responsibilities. This shift in dynamics is expected to lead broadcasters to advocate for the introduction of policies resembling the NBA’s PPP.
Within the next few years, a situation where broadcasters mandate the adoption of such protocols, or at the very least the inclusion of player availability clauses as integral components within the financial terms of their broadcasting deals, seems highly likely. This has the potential to be win-win-win: more revenue for the leagues, more money for player salaries and, most importantly, longer careers and better health for players.
For the leagues, getting out ahead as proactive players in the market will be crucial – it could even be the difference between securing or missing out on billions of dollars in a contracting media rights market.”

Netflix debuts “Saudi Pro League: Kickoff” on November 21, a six-part series chronicling five Saudi clubs' journeys, including Al Nassr and Al Hilal, toward league glory.
Lightning owner Jeff Vinik rewards 300+ employees with $20M in bonuses following his majority stake sale, valuing the NHL team at an impressive $1.8B.
F1's Pierre Gasly and Loïc Féry lead 10Padel in the 2025 Hexagon Cup, joining sports stars Messi, Murray, Nadal, and Longoria in the competition.
Two Circles acquires Spring Media Group, expanding its offerings in fan-marketing services with new products and solutions to strengthen its market leadership.
Sky Sports and BBC ink a reported £65m, five-year deal to broadcast nearly all Women’s Super League matches live starting in the 2025-26 season.
Wrexham owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney sell a minority club stake and acquire a local brewery to further expand the club's influence.

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SHIFTING INFLUENCE

NBA Becomes Latest League to Empower Content Creators 🏀

As the NBA kicks off another season, they’ve made an interesting move to loosen the reins for creators - or at least for a select few…

Teaming up with the likes of Kai Cenat and Drew Afualo, the NBA is giving selected content creators access to use tens of thousands of hours of game footage, building on the launch of the Creator Cup last year.

The NBA’s not alone here. Other leagues, like the PGA and NWSL, are experimenting with creator partnerships too, and the NFL rolled out a similar initiative last year as part of its deal with YouTube. The WSL’s recent TV deal also taps into this trend as it includes the right for players to share their own highlight clips on social media.

For kids media consultant, Jo Redfern, seeing these moves reflects a big shift in the mentality from leagues, who are starting to realise they need to let go a little.

What she said:

“The shift is significant, and an acknowledgment of the power of creators.
Since 2016 the NBA had granted access to just 50 hours per season. Now, it’s giving creators 25,000 hours of game footage spanning the last 10 years as well as 2,500 hours for the current season.
But why? Isn’t that crazy and devalues the brand?
No, because they understand that to appeal to the YouTube native generation: Authenticity works better than authority, and stories scale faster than highlights.
It’s a move away from the old ‘command and control’ approach towards the audience. Something I spoke about last week in Cannes, we need to work bottom-up now, not top-down. So they're letting creators do what creators do best - make a narrative out of moments.
Almost half of YouTube viewing now happens on CTV screens, it’s changing the distribution model, and the game itself. [If] the old playbook [equals] hoard the content, [the] new playbook [is to] grow influence. Which means that the real innovation here isn't in what they're now sharing, it’s in what they're surrendering. Control. And that will be the future of sports media.”

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