Highlight Reel: PLL Aims to Catch on in Local Markets with Home City Assignments 🥍
Highlight Reel: PLL Aims to Catch on in Local Markets with Home City Assignments 🥍
This week's top stories feature a special announcement from Sports Pundit, Charles Leclerc, Premier Lacrosse League, the IPL, JioCinema, LIV Golf, YouTube, The Soccer Tournament, and UEFA
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Welcome to the Highlight Reel, where keeping up to date with sports business news is as smooth as Charles Leclerc playing the piano.
Thanks to Damilola, Lucas, and Andrew who liked last week’s Highlight Reel! We also added 17 new subscribers. Please feel free to forward this to anyone who you think would enjoy it.
This week's lineup includes…
PLL Aims to Catch on in Local Markets with Home City Assignments 🥍
IPL Final Hits the Global Record for a Live-Streamed Event for Six 🏏
LIV Golf to Increase Distribution by Streaming to YouTube 🏌️♂️
TST Kicks Off its Winner Takes All Contest ⚽️
UEFA Considers Spending Cap to Stem English Dominance 💸
ICYMI: I also published my weekly newsletter for JohnWallStreet on Wednesday: Competitive Socialization Trend Reaches Pro Sports 🏎
But First…
Sports Pundit Launches Spotlight 💡
Do you run, work for, or work with an exceptional business within the sports industry?
As someone working at an awesome sports-tech company, I know how difficult it can be to promote your work. Either you find yourself promoting to the same people in your social network over and over again, or paying to partner with a sports media company that is offering either sponsorship, an editorial, or an award nomination for a fee.
The problem with this is that for the decision makers who work at rightsholders and who engage with these sorts of publications, it becomes difficult for them to gauge whether the technology is genuinely the best, or if they are just being shilled to.
Instead, it would be great to have a comprehensive report that identifies businesses across the sports industry, the problem that they solve, and the case studies that they have to back it up - and doesn’t charge the entrants for the privilege of trying to help.
So, I’m going to try and make one… but I need your help.
Please share this Google form (by clicking the button below) with the relevant people and lets try to make a killer report that helps everybody out!
PLL Aims to Catch on in Local Markets with Home City Assignments 🥍
The Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) has announced that beginning in 2024, all eight PLL lacrosse clubs will be assigned to home cities with the hope that the move will unlock deeper, more connected relationships between fans, teams and players.
Marking the biggest investment in the league since its inception, the PLL will maintain its touring model but now with eight of the league’s 10 regular season game weekends happening at ‘home’ venues.
The remaining two regular season weekends will happen at neutral sites and The All-Star Game, Playoffs and Championship will be held at locations yet to be determined – potentially used to draw in fans in potential expansion markets.
IPL Final Hits the Global Record for a Live-Streamed Event for Six 🏏
The Indian Premier League (IPL) drew a record digital audience for Monday’s 2023 IPL Final between the Chennai Super Kings and Gujarat Titans.
Bloomberg reported that the Indian streaming service JioCinema attracted about 32 million concurrent viewers for the match, a global record for a livestreamed event.
The appetite from viewers has been insatiable throughout the 2023 edition.
It was reported that the 66 matches ahead of the knock-out stage had a collective of 496 million viewers tuning in to the live broadcasts - making it the most watched edition ever.
LIV Golf to Increase Distribution by Streaming to YouTube 🏌️♂️
LIV Golf has announced that tournaments will be available to stream on the LIV Golf YouTube channel in U.S. and international markets, complementing the comprehensive tune-in options available through CW Network, LIV Golf Plus, and more than a dozen global broadcast partners.
Will Staeger, LIV Golf Chief Media Officer, explained the move supports their goal to bring the sport they love to more people in more places around the world.
The news follows an article that I wrote in March with Murray Barnett, suggesting that as LIV Golf seeks broadcast deals internationally, YouTubers could offer it an interesting alternative opportunity to ‘fish where the fish are’.
TST Kicks Off its Winner Takes All Contest ⚽️
A new soccer competition called The Soccer Tournament (TST) has just kicked off in the US around significant buzz.
Organized by the founders The Basketball Tournament (TBT), they hope to extend their success into soccer with this new 7v7 competition.
Following a traditional World Cup format, TST welcomes teams from across the globe, including Borussia Dortmund, Wolves, Wrexham, US Women’s, Como 1907, and Charlotte FC.
Fielding sides with mostly former players and club legends, they will be fighting it out for a $1 million cash prize, paid out entirely to the champions, while all other participants go home empty-handed.
UEFA Considers Spending Cap to Stem English Dominance 💸
Uefa is contemplating the implementation of a seasonal cap on clubs' expenditures for player transfers and wages as a response to concerns about the English Premier League clubs' potential dominance in the summer transfer market despite new spending regulations.
The move is part of a comprehensive strategy aimed at addressing competitive balance issues within European club football, according to a report in The Times.
The governing body is considering this 'radical' plan amid worries that Uefa's newly introduced Financial Sustainability Regulations (FSR), based on a % of revenue, may inadvertently amplify the financial supremacy of English clubs.
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JOB BOARD
Chief Executive Officer - TUSSLE (London, UK)
Senior Strategy Manager - Formula E (London, UK)
Digital Marketing Manager - CSM Sport and Entertainment (London, UK)
Head of Global Brand Marketing - McLaren Automotive (Woking, UK)
Manager, Brand Partnerships, Racing - EA Sports (Guildford, UK)
Senior Manager, Player Content and Marketing - NFL (New York, US)
Director, Product Development - Barstool Sports (New York, US)
Do you have a job you’d like to promote to the amazing readers of this newsletter? Drop me a note at andy@sportspundit.org
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