#62: Barbie, $60M+ NWSL valuation, AI, deals and +

TOP-3 HIGHLIGHTS

(1) S2 BARBIE?

The 2023 Career of the Year for Mattel’s Barbie this year is Women in Sports. The collection represents four careers in sports—general manager, coach, referee and sports reporter—to encourage girls to pursue involvement in sports.

(2) $60M+ NWSL VALUATION?

FOS brought that Laura Ricketts’ purchase of the NWSL’s Chicago Red Stars includes a purchase price of up to $35.5 million, a record for an existing NWSL team, but it also includes another $25 million to be invested directly into the club. Therefore we could say that the club's "true" valuation was closer to $60M, almost twice as much as the $35 million Michele Kang paid last year for the Washington Spirit.

(3) SOCCER STREAMING GUIDE

Want to know where to watch your favorite club / player / league? Check out World Soccer Report's Ultimate Soccer TV & Streaming Guide 23-24 edition, here. It's a very complete guide, ranging from Champions League to the Saudi league.?

OTHER RELEVANT NEWS AROUND THE GLOBE

USA

US-based artificial intelligence software and services company Veritone has signed a multi-year extension with US Soccer, continuing its role as the archive of record and licensing partner for the federation's content.

EUROPE

UEFA has unveiled a renewed memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the European Club Association (ECA) that runs until 2030. A central part of the new MOU is a new system for revenue distribution across all member clubs in the ECA representative body, put in place for the 2024-27 commercial cycle – with the format of the top-tier UEFA Champions League (UCL) to substantially change in 2024-25. The number of participating teams in next season's UCL will increase from 32 to 36, with each side in the initial group stages to play eight games, up from six at present.

UK

Manchester United has recorded the highest net spend of any club in the world over the last decade. According to a new study by CIES Football Observatory, the Red Devils have topped the soccer club charts by posting a net spend of $1.48 billion during this timeframe. Net spend is essentially total money spent on transfers, minus funds received from player sales. In other not?so good news for the club,?Manchester United’s valuation on the New York Stock Exchange plummeted by more than UK￡500 million (US$627.7 million) in the wake of a report that the Glazer family has decided not to sell.

Betway has become the ‘Official Global Betting Partner’ of the Arsenal men’s team in the latest betting sector move among English Premier League clubs this season.

Chelsea have held talks with Saudi Arabian airline Riyadh Air over a potential front-of-shirt sponsorship deal, which could be worth?UK￡60 million (US$74.8 million) per year.?

Swiss soccer star Alisha Lehmann?(Aston Villa) has become the first female brand ambassador for sports drinks brand Prime.

Sorare is introducing officially licensed 3D and augmented reality (AR) player cards to its Web 3.0 fantasy football game, hoping greater aesthetics and interactivity will boost their collectability value. The first tranche of cards includes Premier League stars Erling Haaland, Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka and Enzo Fernández, featuring new player headshots, backgrounds and colours.

GERMANY

Bundesliga International, the global commercial rights division of the German men’s soccer league structure, has extended its?video archive partnership?with global sports and entertainment agency?IMG?until the end of the 2025-26 season.

ITALY

Serie A is not ruling out working with agencies in the next few months as it attempts to take its international media rights deals closer in fee value to those of England’s Premier League.?Serie A’s chief executive Luigi De Siervo has also said the league is ready to launch its own streaming service and media operation if domestic broadcasters do not increase their bids for the next three seasons of action.

SSC Napoli has agreed a two-year sponsorship deal with Rollbit, marking the first ever sports sponsorship deal agreed by the emerging crypto casino and exchange.

Betsson’s sports entertainment site that features exclusive content for sports fans across the globe, StarCasinò Sport, extended its partnership with AS Roma.

SPAIN?

Players in Liga F, Spanish football’s women’s top flight, will strike for the first two week of the 2023/24 season over pay and conditions.

LALIGA and the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) have signed an MoU in Hanoi, linking both institutions until June 2026. The agreement will see both organisations collaborate in the exchange of expertise, with the aim of growing professional and grassroots football in Vietnam, as well as the national teams, plus developing various sports training projects.

SOUTH AMERICA

Streaming service Fanatiz has picked up broadcast rights to seven of the ten Conmebol World Cup qualifiers.

Mercado Libre, one of the leading e-commerce firms in Latin America, has signed up as a sponsor of all club competitions run by Conmebol.

BRAZIL

YouTube announced that CazéTV will broadcast the Campeonato Paulista 2024 for free. In all, 16 matches will be shown, 14 of which can only be watched on the youtuber Casimiro Miguel’s channel.

BOLIVIA

Bolivia's football federation has been granted domestic rights to its national team's home Fifa World Cup qualifiers after a court ruled against a claim from agencies Mediapro and Sports TV Rights, which bid for the rights in a tender earlier this year.

PANAMá

The former president of the Panamanian Football Federation, Ariel Alvarado, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for corruption.?Alvarado, president from 2000 to 2011, was found guilty of taking bribes worth $230,000 from a marketing company in exchange for the broadcasting rights for Panama's qualifying matches for the 2010 and 2014 World Cups.

AFRICA

BeIN Media Group is readying legal action against the Confederation of African Football (CAF) over the continental governing body’s decision to unilaterally cancel its broadcast deal with the Qatari media giant.

African betting operator Betpawa will pay cash tokens to all players on winning teams in Ugandan second-tier league matches as part of a controversial new sponsorship deal with the Ugandan football association (FUFA).