Scoring Views: How The Sidemen Can Help Football Stay Centre Stage ⚽️
Discover more from Sports Pundit
Scoring Views: How The Sidemen Can Help Football Stay Centre Stage ⚽️
Plus, George Pyne suggests a new operating model for sports, and the founders of Formula E present a new Padel tournament...
Welcome to Sports Pundit, the sports business newsletter running you through the latest updates as fast as that Coco Gauff serve at the US Open 🤯
In today’s email;
The Sidemen’s Charity Match ⚽️
A New Operating Model in Sport 📲
The Launch of The Hexagon Cup 🎾
Thanks to Chris, Ian, and Damilola who liked last week’s newsletter on Substack and to everyone that commented on LinkedIn. We also added 10 new subscribers this week, which is awesome!
👉 If you enjoy today’s edition, pease forward it to a friend or colleague.
👉 If you really enjoy today’s edition and you are interested in sponsoring future editions, please drop me a note andy@sportspundit.co
TOP STORY
Scoring Views: How The Sidemen Can Help Football Stay Centre Stage ⚽️
By now, you’ve likely already heard what The Sidemen did last Sunday…
Their recent charity football match against the YouTube All Stars is reported to have raised a staggering £2.4 million, double the amount they raised at last year's game at The Valley.
However, that’s not even the most interesting part (as far as sports rightsholders will be concerned).
As well as selling out West Ham United FC’s London Stadium, which has a capacity of over 62,000, in 15 minutes, The Sidemen also attracted 2.7 million concurrent viewers on their YouTube livestream to watch their below-par but highly entertaining football skills.
The official stream of the match has since amassed over 21 million total views, which puts it equal with Manchester United’s most watched YouTube video ever (highlights from Ronaldo’s comeback game vs Newcastle United).
The question is, What does that mean for rightsholders like the Premier League and Manchester United?
Sports Pundit says
🤔 Though YouTube boxing was initially dismissed as a gimmick by many, huge excitement (and more importantly PPVs) has been generated off the back of such events.
So much so that in January, the Professional Fighters League signed a deal to co-create a division called “PFL PPV Super Fight” with Jake Paul.
Around the same time, DAZN inked an exclusive partnership with KSI-backed Misfits Boxing to air influencer fights – despite this being a promotion that Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn deemed ‘ain't boxing’.
LaLiga’s Javier Tebas took similar aim at the launch of the Kings league, calling the reimagined seven-a-side football tournament (which went on to sell-out Camp Nou) a ‘circus’.
The question is, if these creator led sports competitions are going to continue to emerge, would you not rather be on-side with them and use their influence to generate additional interest in the professional format of the sport (like DAZN and the PFL)?
What if, for instance, the Premier League created an influencer-led five-a-side league in partnership with The Sidemen, offering up former legends of the game to the teams in the process, as well as mainstream publicity via its global network of media partners.
📚 Further Reading: The Savannah Bananas show us that sport’s future may not look like sport, The Guardian.
📚📚 Further Further Reading: NFL and Deestroying host 1ON1 series to nine cities in NFL markets and one international city, FNN News.
SOCIAL CLUB
Want to hang out with me and other readers at the end of the month? 🤔
I’m officially launching the Sports Pundit Social Club, a series of events (starting in London, with a view to expand) where readers can get together and socialise.
No agenda, no entry fee, and some of the drinks are even on me, well…, Growthdeck (who you can find out more about here).
To join us for the event on the 28th September, please RSVP via the link below 👇
OPINION
A New Operating Model in Sports? 🤔
Disintermediation is behind a new operating system that puts sports consumers at the centre with more choices, accessibility and experiences. At least, that is the suggestion of George Pyne, Founder & CEO, Bruin Capital, as he puts forward in his monthly newsletter, Channel Change.
The obvious example to cite comes from Apple and Major League Soccer, who struck an industry-defining exclusive agreement mid-last year. However, as Pyne explains, it doesn’t stop there:
“It’s not only behemoths like Amazon and Apple that are leveraging technology to address the needs and challenges of modern consumers who are;
becoming accustomed to and invested in personalized service and,
more experience-driven than ever before.
Plenty of middle market and growth stage companies are in the process of building strong businesses by producing product and service offerings that leagues and teams can adopt. Some of them will become major players sooner than most people realize. More details about team/league revenue diversification can be found in my previous piece about the lifetime value (LTV) of sports fans.
In sum, the sports industrial complex is transitioning from a B2B2C model to B2C. This evolution towards fan centricity is one of the stronger, albeit less talked about, macro trends driving the boom of professional sports as an asset class.”
HIGHLIGHTS
Toy Story characters hit the Gridiron in Disney’s latest bid to woo young viewers to NFL 🏈
The Sporting News raises $15 million to power the next evolution of sports publishing 📰
Shares of TKO, the new parent company of WWE and UFC, climbs 2.4% in stock market debut 📈
Manchester United confirm Qualcomm's Snapdragon as new shirt sponsor, replacing the TeamViewer logo from next season ⚽️
Major League Pickleball and PPA Tour merge to form unified company, backed by US$50m investment 🎾
Everton’s Farhad Moshiri agrees sale of club to 777 Partners, though it remains subject to Premier League approval ⚽️
A DIFFERENT KIND OF RALLY
Right Formula: Can Motorsport Lessons Help Accelerate Padel’s Growth? 🎾
This week saw the announcement for the launch of a new Padel tournament in Madrid.
Boasting a €1million (£860,000) prize fund, which is reportedly the biggest currently on offer in the sport, the Hexagon Cup has already confirmed top Spanish stars Paquito Navarro and Alejandra Salazar as their first signings to the new project.
Led by key figures behind Formula E and Extreme E, including Alejandro Agag, Enrique Buenaventura, Alberto Longo, and Simon Freer, the event organisers have vowed to use their experience in motorsport to deliver fresh innovation to the sport.
This includes the adoption of a revolutionary format, with the best players competing across six international teams - each with six players, divided into three pairs: one male, one female, and one ‘next gen’ or junior.
And, as is now accustom with any new franchise league, each of these teams will be chaired by a world-renowned figure from sport, business, or entertainment.
Sports Pundit says
🤔 In 2020, Extreme E marked a world first in motor racing when they announced the electric off-road racing series would see teams’ field both a male and female driver in its races – a concept that appears to have been similarly (and smartly) picked up in the team formation process of this new Padel event.
Furthermore, though it was discontinued in 2023, the Hexagon Cup team's draft selection process, which is designed to give the power to the fans, perhaps draws inspiration from Formula E's 'FANBOOST' concept, which gave fans the opportunity to vote for their favourite driver and award them an extra boost of power during the race.
It will be interesting to see what other concepts are carried over from one to another, and whether they also look to borrow elements from elsewhere in the world of sports & entertainment. Either way, it appears to be exciting times ahead!
JOB BOARD
Senior Coordinator, DTC Strategy - National Football League (California, US)
Commercial Strategy and Insights Executive - Chelsea (London, UK)
Director, Consulting (Sports & Entertainment) - Wasserman (London, UK)
Communications Manager - Manchester City (Manchester, UK)
Manager, Global Marketing Strategy - Major League Baseball (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.co
Not yet a subscriber? Join 1000+ sports business leaders, from the PFL to Premier League, that read Sports Pundit every week to get impactful industry insights.