Highlight Reel: The largest investment ever in a women’s sports team 🏏
Highlight Reel: The largest investment ever in a women’s sports team 🏏
This week's top stories feature Women's IPL, Adani Group, Burnley FC, Netflix, Bank of Dave, Gareth Bale, PGA TOUR, LIV Golf, CW Networks, and Everton FC.
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Who has won the most T20 Cricket World Cup titles? 🤔
If you were to ask the internet, it would likely say, England and the West Indies (with 2 each). However, this would be incorrect as Australia’s Women have won five.
To highlight and correct these inconsistencies which disadvantage sportswomen, DDB recently launched a campaign called ‘Correct The Internet’.
It’s timely, too as women’s sport has dominated the headlines this week thanks to the Women’s IPL. Here’s a look at that massive story, as well as a few other interesting talking points…👇
Ahmedabad make largest investment ever in a women’s sports team
Burnley FC score in feel-good Netflix drama, Bank of Dave
Gareth Bale to compete at PGA TOUR’s Pebble Beach Pro-Am
Everton not for sale but closing in on new stadium investment
LIV Golf agrees US television deal with CW Network
Ahmedabad make largest investment ever in a women’s sports team 🏏
The teams are out for the inaugural Women’s Indian Premier League. Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Lucknow are the five city franchises, having splashed out $572 (£463) million for the honour.
The Adani Group has acquired the Ahmedabad team for around $158 (£128) million, making it the largest investment ever in a women's sports team. Furthermore, the team is likely to play its 4-5 home matches in a stadium with a capacity over 100,000.
The league has also agreed a huge media deal. Viacom 18 is set to pay $116 (£94) million for the rights for the next five years. This equates to around $1 million per game.
Burnley FC score in feel-good Netflix drama, Bank of Dave ⚽️
With all the talk of sports launching their own Drive to Survive-inspired, behind-the-scenes docuseries' to engage with new audiences, it is Burnley FC that has emerged as the unlikely star on Netflix this month.
Last Friday, the uplifting British drama, Bank of Dave, became the Number 1 film on the streaming service in the UK.
Based on a true story, it follows a Burnley entrepreneur and his efforts to set up a bank. The the football club features throughout the film as a central pillar for the local community and profiles their charitable (and fictional) hosting of a Def Leppard concert to help raise much needed funds.
Gareth Bale to compete at PGA TOUR’s Pebble Beach Pro-Am ⛳️
Former Real Madrid superstar and Wales captain Gareth Bale may have only announced his retirement two weeks ago but is already preparing for a return to competition…
The 33-year-old is set to take part in golf’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am as a celebrity amateur partner. The format pairs PGA TOUR professionals with notable names across sports and entertainment, such as ScHoolboy Q, Larry Fitzgerald, Macklemore, and Alfonso Ribeiro.
This is perhaps no surprise, Gareth Bale is an avid golfer and an investor in TMRW Sports, who have launched the TGL, a new tech-infused golf league in partnership with the PGA TOUR.
P.S. I wrote about Bale in more depth here and about TMRW Sports and the TGL here.
Everton not for sale but closing in on new stadium investment 🏟
The Guardian reported earlier this week that Everton owner Farhad Moshiri was looking for offers of more than £500 million ($616 million) for the Merseyside club.
Moshiri, however has insisted that the club is not on the market but an agreement is near to secure extra funding for the Bramley Moore Dock stadium, which is expected to cost in the region of £760 million ($936 million).
SportsPro claim that any investment would be a “welcome boost” for the club. The Toffees are second from bottom in the league and have just sacked manager Frank Lampard. Off the pitch, they have posted losses of more than £100 million ($123 million) for the last three years and have been scrambling for backers ever since ditching commercial ties with USM.
LIV Golf agrees US television deal with CW Network 📺
LIV Golf has secured that US television deal it had been craving. On Thursday it was announced that the CW Network will broadcast all 14 events of the rebel circuit.
Beginning this year, the CW Network will provide the Saudi-backed series exposure to “more than 120 million households,” LIV Golf announced in a statement.
With traditional sports broadcasts unwilling to upset the status quo, LIV Golf represents the first foray into sports programming for the CW Network. The 16-year-old network is best known for dramas such as Riverdale and the Vampire Diaries which target younger audiences.
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