The Warm Up: Could a Basketball League Be MENA’s Next Slam Dunk? 🏀

Plus, why don’t more brands own sports leagues? And an attendance spike for women’s volleyball in the US

Welcome to Sports Pundit, where getting up to-date with sports business is as action-packed as MrBeast’s Olympics (but without the geo-political controversy) 🌎

In today’s email;

• NBA preseason heads to Abu Dhabi, again 🏀

• Why don’t more brands own sports leagues? 🤔

• An attendance spike for women’s volleyball 🏐

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TOP STORY

The Warm Up: Could a Basketball League Be MENA’s Next Slam Dunk? 🏀

The NBA is heading back to the Middle East to showcase its talents in Abu Dhabi for preseason...... But what if that is just the warm up?

Next month, the Dallas Mavericks and Minnesota Timberwolves will play two games at the Etihad Arena as part of the league’s multi-year partnership with the UAE’s culture and tourism department.

Notably, this return follows Qatar’s historic investment into the parent company of the NBA’s Washington Wizards in June, which marked the first sovereign wealth fund to buy into a major U.S. sports team. And investment is unlikely to stop there.

Bloomberg reported in February that Abu Dhabi’s state-owned Mubadala Capital (MIC), which already has stakes in numerous sports and media properties, was interested in investing into an NBA team.

And the potential interest in basketball doesn’t end with the NBA, either.

In March, reports emerged that Euroleague Basketball were reportedly facing a pivotal decision on whether to take a €150million investment from Dubai over six years. In exchange, Dubai envisioned having a team in the competition, along with hosting two Final Fours.

While unlikely to be realised in 2024, renowned basketball agent Misko Raznatovic revealed there might even be a separate six-team league, with the possibility to involve other cities across MENA region, such as Doha, Riyadh, and Abu Dhabi - stimulating investment also from the likes of Saudi Arabia.

Sports Pundit says

🤔 Adam Silver claimed in June that the NBA was yet to receive an investment offer from Saudi Arabia, the creation of SRJ Sports Investments Fund, which just invested in the Professional Fighters League (PFL), could be about to change that...

A subsidiary of the Public Investment Fund (PIF), SRJ is focused on “uplifting the sports sector today in Saudi Arabia and across the MENA region” through sustainable and game-changing investments in content, technology, and IP rights.

With a substantial injection of $100 million from SRJ, the PFL is now gearing up to launch its regional league, PFL MENA, as part of its ambitious plan to establish six regional leagues by 2026.

So, whether it's with the NBA, Euroleague, or A. N. Other, who is to say a basketball league in MENA isn’t far behind?

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OPINION

Why Don’t More Brands Own Sports Leagues? 🤔

Damm, the Spanish beer, water, and flavoured drinks company, sold the World Padel Tour (WPT) to Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) late last week.

Upon announcing the acquisition, QSI unveiled that the WPT would now merge with its own Premier Padel, leading to the series’ unification – and effectively giving it full ownership of the top-tier echelons of the sport.

For the Spanish drinks company, which had been involved in Padel since 2014 having acquired the remainder of the WPT in 2022, the sale saw them receive a reason to celebrate – a figure rumoured to be in the tens of millions of dollars in return for their bet on the fledgling sport.

This led to reflection for Malph Minns, Managing Director at Strive Sponsorship, as to why we don’t see more brands creating sports events or teams? - pointing to three core benefits that he sees with the ownership strategy:

1. It is a marketing platform for your brand.

2. It is a great tool to aid staff recruitment, engagement, and to deliver a CSR programme.

3. It has the potential to create commercial value that you can realise in the sale of the entity.

In the UK, Minns points to the success which Sky demonstrated with its creation (and later sale) of the professional cycling team, Team Sky.

Coincidently, Team Sky’s buyers, INEOS, are one of few other examples, with the other notable example being Red Bull – who owns teams across football, Formula 1, and a host of extreme sports.

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HIGHLIGHTS

• Rugby World Cup launches innovative Venue Finder with drinks partner, Asahi ahead of the event later this month 🍻

• The Premier League is preparing to kick off its UK TV rights auction and is eyeing a 5% gain on its current deal, which is valued at over $6 billion over four years ⚽️

• Giannis Antetokounmpo has invested in the Alexis Ohanian-owned Los Angeles Golf Club, set to play in the TGL golf league co-founded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy ⛳️

• UK government launches an investment accelerator for women’s sport in association with Deloitte’s Sports Business Group 💸

• All Elite Wrestling plans Wembley return after sold-out debut event - which edged out WWE’s UK record attendance of 80,000💥

• Electric racing series Extreme E has revealed the launch of the first hydrogen off-road racing Championship, called Extreme H 🏎

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VOLLEYBALL’S DAY?

Attendance Spike: Huge Crowds Gather for Women’s Volleyball Match 🏐

On Wednesday, over 90,000 fans flooded the stands at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s football field – but, not to watch a football game…

Instead, the 92,003 passionate fans were at Memorial Stadium for “Volleyball Day” – a double header of women’s volleyball fixtures which saw the University’s volleyball team, five-time NCAA champions, beat rivals Omaha 3-0.

Though the tickets were modestly priced (vs a college football game) at $25 for adults and $5 for high school students and younger, this was a paid attendance – with some tickets reaching as much as $400 on the secondary market as the event made it's way to breaking the world record for live attendance at a women’s sports event.

It provides a wake-up call for anyone still sleeping on women’s sport (seriously?) or thinking demand exists only for women’s soccer – which had held both the World record (91,648 at a Champions League match in Barcelona last year) and the U.S. record (90,185 at the 1999 World Cup final between the U.S. and China).

Sports Pundit says

🤔 Besides soccer, Women's Volleyball does appear to be the next cab off the rank, at least State-side.

If the compelling evidence above wasn't enough, Axios reported in December that youth participation had surged by 15% since 2002 and 8.4% since 2012, surpassing basketball as the second-most popular sport among girls.

With college viewership soaring, and the U.S. ramping up to defend its first-ever women's indoor volleyball Olympic gold in Paris next summer, it is all looking highly promising.

Looking to capitalise on this, I'd expect to hear more from challenger leagues like Athletes Unlimited, whose 3rd season of women’s professional volleyball begins in October, as well as League One Volleyball (LOVB), a brand-new American professional women's volleyball league debuting post-Paris 2024.

For LOVB, the news out of Nebraska will be especially pleasing following their announcement two weeks ago that they'll have a team in Omaha, who will join Houston and Atlanta as a host city.

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JOB BOARD

• Partner Marketing Manager - Fnatic (London, UK)

• Commercial Operations Manager - Formula 1 (London, UK)

• Head of Insights - Gemba (Sydney, AUS)

• VP, Communications - OnLocation (New York, US)

• Intelligence Analyst, Security and Business Integration - NHL (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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