Stripping Back: Football Sponsorship's Cold Front ⚽️
Plus Karen Carney's report into women's football, the ECB's battle to retain talent, and Showtime's fightback against piracy.
Welcome to Sports Pundit, where keeping up to date with sports business news is (almost) as epic as Tyson Fury’s recently announced heavyweight bout with Francis Ngannou 🥊
In today’s email;
Football Sponsorship’s Cold Front 👕
The ‘Billion Pound’ Potential of Women’s Football ⚽️
Fighting Back Against Piracy 🥊
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TOP STORY
Facing up to Football Sponsorship’s Cold Front 👕
It could be argued that shirt sponsorship was the easiest money a club could generate.
Simply by plastering a company’s logo across the front of their jersey (and the associated TV exposure and ‘eyeballs’ that come with that), they have typically been able to cash in bigger and bigger cheques.
The only problem is, a concoction of factors - from economic headwinds to government regulation, mean that for clubs currently in the market for a new jersey sponsor, there are fewer suitors than before.
This is well reported for the likes of Chelsea and AS Roma, both of whom have launched their 2023-24 kits without a front-of-shirt partner secured.
The disappointment from these clubs and their executives however sits in stark contrast to the mood of the fans - who are largely delighted to see their cherished club kits undisturbed by a corporate logo.
This (as Rich Johnson and Roger Mitchell have both highlighted in excellent posts this week) provides an interesting paradox.
While clubs optimise for cash (directly from a sponsor), what are the other costs they are overlooking when selecting the highest bidder? This could include anything from fan sentiment to the impact on kit demand.
🤔 With this in mind, it could turn out that for clubs currently without front of shirt partner, there is an opportunity for them to actually gain a head start on others as their hand is forced reconsider an increasingly broken model.
For instance, they could…
Renegotiate with their manufacturing partner as their kits are more in demand and visually appealing (See: Venezia FC)
Take the manufacturing process of their kits in-house (See: US Lecce)
Partner with a brand at a lower price-point, but which holds a high level of sentiment with the fans (See: Ed Sheeran and Ipswich)
Use the front of shirt as a billboard to sell their own products or a brand in which they take equity in (See: KSI and Logan Paul’s PRIME Hydrate)
Use NFCs to connect kits and sell digital inventory to sponsors - and collect more compelling data on their fans in the process.
⚽️ Talking of front-of-shirt partners… Burnley FC just announced the most unlikely deal of the summer, reaching an agreement with YouTube channel Dude Perfect to appear on their junior and academy kits. Wild.
Do you run, work for, or work with an exceptional business within the sports industry Tell me about it and get yourself free publicity in the process 👇
BILLION POUND BABY
Women’s Football has the Potential to Score Billions ⚽️
Domestic women's football could become a "billion-pound industry" in 10 years' time.
That’s according to Karen Carney, the former Lionesses midfielder who recently chaired a major review into the sport.
Among the recommendations given, her report pushes for the Women’s Super League (WSL) and Women’s Championship (WC), the top two tiers of women’s football in England, to become fully professional.
It also calls for improved medical support, fully funded union representation, better prize money and a dedicated WSL broadcast spot - all issues which it believes can be addressed in the short term.
To grow the audience, the broadcast spot, for instance, is being touted for a Saturday afternoon instead of its current slot at 11.30am – where it has been positioned to not clash with the men’s.
The report comes out just in time for the takeover of the Women’s Super League and Women’s Championship by an independently club-owned and club-run body – which will find these recommendations hard to ignore.
🤔 Women’s sport is increasingly getting traction from investors that, like Carney, see a path to profitability and value creation – just look at Monarch Collective, Sixth Street Partners to name a few.
Michele Kang is another example, having recently acquired a majority stake in Olympique Lyonnais Féminin, creating the first women’s focus and led multi-club ownership group. Last week she also announced plans to create ‘innovation lab’ for her clubs, too.
As we’re seeing with these examples in the US and Europe, this (as the report highlights) is the sort of thinking that is needed more broadly within the ownership structures of women’s football in the UK too – where it has typically been seen as a side project to the men’s.
As Alexis Ohanian recently said, “the legacy of the underinvestment of women’s sports isn’t just blatant sexism (which it is), it’s also a lesson in gross business incompetence.”
HIGHLIGHTS
England prepare to offer Harry Brook their first ever multi-year deal, with the ECB keen to stave off threat of year-round franchise contracts 🏏
The United Soccer League is set to vote on whether to adopt promotion and relegation between its divisions ⚽️
FIFPRO and 66 member unions have committed to creating a centralised player data management platform for the football industry 👨💻
Wimbledon and Andy Murray have teamed up with Refik Anadol to launch a digital artwork NFT created using 18 years of the Brit’s tournament data 🎾
Major League Cricket (MLC) goes global with multiple international broadcast deals with the likes of Fox Sports, Viacom18, and BT Sport 🇺🇸
Paddy Power have hit the bullseye with a major new sponsorship of the PDC World Darts Championship 🎯
FIGHTING BACK
Showtime Fights Back Against Piracy With Marquee Events 🥊
NIL Showtime boss Stephen Espinoza estimates that PPV buys are being depressed by at least 30 to 40% due to piracy.
The problem, of course, is not unique to boxing - it poses a threat to all sports organizations, broadcasters, and content providers.
Synamedia and Ampere Analysis estimated in March 2021 that illegal streaming was costing the industry as much as $28.3 billion per year. And the trend shows no signs of slowing down, either...
This is largely thanks to two key factors:
1. Ease of access (due to advances in technology), and
2. Cost barriers to view legally (exacerbated by the cost-of-living crisis and the fragmentation of media rights)
For some rights holders and broadcasters, it may make sense to increase the ease in which fans can legally consume content. In theory, growing distribution could result in more advertising dollars that would off-set lost pay TV revenues.
This approach is less viable in combat sports due to access to a relatively limited sponsor/ advertising pool.
Instead, Showtime is trying to combat the threat in other ways, including prompting action from hosting services, deploying dynamic injunctions, and investing in manual and automated detection tools.
Interestingly, he also noted that people were much less likely to stream illegally for ‘big events’ where people get together in groups to watch – citing as a contributing factor in the reported 1.2m PPV buys for Davis v Garcia.
“The last thing you want to do is invite ten of your buddies over to the house to watch the fight and you've got a stream which is dropping out or lagging every few minutes. It’s not a good experience.”
🤔 Boxing provides arguably the best case study when it comes to the impact of piracy on the sports industry due to the immediacy of the impact. While other sports will be hit when they seek to renew their 3- or 4-year rights deal, for boxing, the result directly influences the purse.
Given how closely rightsholders fates are tethered to their broadcast partners, both face a scrap to try and overcome this problem – arguably one of the biggest facing them in the short term.
Ultimately, to differentiate from illicit streams, there is need for both to double down on product. Firstly, in the quality of the broadcast, (i.e. no buffering, world class commentary etc.) but also in how you mobilise around the event for people to take action.
This could be via encouraging people though messaging to get together for the big event or it could also be in a more deliberate fashion. For example, could rightsholders and broadcasters offer special screenings in fan zones or cinemas?
JOB BOARD
Partner Manager - Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team (Brackley, UK)
Head of People Operations - Red Bull Racing (Milton Keynes, UK)
Digital Product Lead - Chelsea FC (London, UK)
Partnerships Marketing Manager - Aston Martin F1 Team (Silverstone, UK)
Player Services Manager - National Women’s Soccer League (New York, US)
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