G13 Sports Bulletin - 01/09/2023
Welcome to the latest edition of the Global13 Sports Bulletin, where our team of sports experts have collected the biggest news stories effecting the sports industry. The bulletin will review emerging trends, major announcements, and sporting achievements, as well as providing you with insights into what our team at Global13 is getting up to in the world of sport.
SPORTS INDUSTRY NEWS ROUND-UP
It has been an exciting week across the sports industry, with new commercial deals being struck as well as some big events news. The domestic football season is well underway following Spain’s World Cup win and the Rugby World Cup commences in just one week. The World Athletics Championships were also a success, as Budapest showcased promising figures and introduced new? athletes who made an immediate impact.
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Events
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·??????? The city of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia has been confirmed as host of the Association of Tennis Professionals’ (ATP) Next Gen Finals from 2023 to 2027.
·??????? The annual men’s tennis tournament features the season’s top under-21 ranked players and will now take place over five days at the King Abdullah Sports City from 28th November to 2nd December 2023. A record US$2 million prize money will also be on offer.
·??????? The ATP’s decision means the Next Gen Finals will be the first official professional tennis event to take place in Saudi Arabia, though the ATP has had a presence in the Middle East for more than 30 years.
·??????? The Australian state withdraw as host as costs breached estimates by around AUS$5bn.
·??????? State premier Daniel Andrews told media in Melbourne he was not prepared to spend up to AUS$7 billion (US$4.5 billion) on a “12-day sporting event”.
·??????? No replacement has yet been found, but a statement has now confirmed all issues following the decision to pull the plug have been resolved, with Victoria agreeing to pay a nine-figure sum.
·??????? Saudi Arabia will play two friendlies at St James’ Park, the home of English top-flight soccer club Newcastle United, next month in preparation for the AFC Asian Cup.
·??????? ?The Green Falcons national team will face Costa Rica on 8th September before taking on South Korea on 12th September.
·??????? The Asian Cup, which is being hosted by defending champions Qatar, is scheduled to take place from 12th January to 10th February 2024.
Commercial
·??????? Footwear brand Skechers has made its first move into the soccer market by agreeing a ‘lifetime deal’ with England and Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane.
·??????? Kane will be central to the launch of Skechers’ soccer boot line, the SKX_01
·??????? Bayern star will headline a multi-faceted marketing campaign as a brand ambassador
·??????? For Kane, signing with Sketchers ends a period without an official boot deal after his previous relationship with Nike came to an end.
·??????? LaLiga has agreed a global partnership with Visit Saudi, the tourism board of Saudi Arabia, designed to amplify the kingdom as a travel destination.
·??????? Partnership will involve a series of activities, starting with a high-profile launch event in Saudi Arabia
·??????? Terms of the deal are vague, beyond promising collaboration between the two parties, traditional sponsorship elements, digital content and immersive events.
·??????? According to Spanish outlet 2Playbook, the deal is worth more than €20 million (US$21.7 million) annually.
·??????? The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) has announced a commercial partnership with Fenway Sports Management (FSM), with the goal of developing next level tour marketing partnerships.
·??????? FSM’s partnerships team to assist in developing and selling LPGA sponsorship assets worldwide and expanding the LPGA’s reach with new partners is a key aim for FSM.
·??????? FSM, the marketing firm wholly owned by Fenway Sports Group (FSG), makes the LPGA its latest client addition to a roster that already includes teams in its parent company’s stable the Boston Red Sox, Liverpool and the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Women’s Sport
·??????? A limited number of replica Mary Earps England goalkeeping shirts are finally being made available to buy by the Football Association’s (FA) technical partner Nike.
·??????? Earps had said prior to the 2023 Fifa World Cup it was “hugely disappointing and very hurtful” that the replica kits were not available to purchase.
·??????? Earps’ club Manchester United confirmed her number 27 shirt was the second best-selling women’s replica shirt so far this season, behind Lionesses team-mate Ella Toone.
·??????? England cricket’s women’s players are to receive the same match fees as the men’s team after a thrilling Ashes summer boosted their profile.
·??????? The increase will take effect immediately, starting with this week’s Vitality IT20 series against Sri Lanka.
·??????? The ECB currently funds 80 professional women’s domestic cricketers in addition to its 18 England Women’s centrally-contracted players.
领英推荐
? Australia’s top-tier Super Netball club competition is at risk of losing at least AUS$7.5 million (US$4.85 million) over the next three years, according to a report presented to the national governing body last year
·??????? Report presented to Netball Australia warns league and teams may struggle to break even.
·??????? Some games on Foxtel’s Kayo streaming platform attracted just 4,000 viewers.
Stadiums & Venues
·??????? John Fisher, owner of Major League Baseball’s Oakland Athletics, has confirmed that the team has submitted an application to relocate to Las Vegas.
·??????? The A’s are planning on building a new 30,000-capacity ballpark in Las Vegas, and earlier this week the team selected Mortenson-McCarthy as the construction manager for the stadium.
·??????? Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo signed off on a bill that will provide up to $380m (￡300m/€350m) in public funding for the stadium, setting up what will likely be a months-long process for MLB to approve the franchise’s relocation.
·??????? Argentine Primera División football club Boca Juniors has made the first significant formal move as part of long-held ambitions to expand its stadium, by submitting a proposal to the Legislature of the City of Buenos Aires.
·??????? Estadio Alberto José Armando, more commonly known as La Bombonera, currently has a capacity of around 54,000, but Boca has long been seeking to change this.
·??????? Club president, Jorge Amor Ameal, has now lodged a proposal with the City seeking the green light to pursue a project that would expand capacity to 82,000.
·??????? Liverpool chief executive Billy Hogan has admitted that the club is in a “holding pattern” when it comes to the Anfield Road Stand expansion project, following the news last week that Buckingham Group Contracting had filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators.
·??????? Buckingham is overseeing the ￡80m expansion of the Anfield Road Stand, which will add 7,000 seats to Anfield and increase the stadium’s overall capacity to 61,000.
·??????? Liverpool announced that Anfield would operate at a reduced capacity for the opening exchanges of the 2023-24 season due to delays in the delivery of the stand.
Technology
·??????? The United States Tennis Association (USTA) has unveiled a new US Open interactive experience on Roblox, allowing fans to engage in various quests and challenges.
·??????? ‘Champions of the Court’ offers fans the opportunity to play matches, participate in treasure hunts, and interact with avatars of famous players.
·??????? The US Open’s enduring official partners, Emirates Airline and Ralph Lauren, are also integrating into the Champions of the Court experience as part of its rewards economy.
·??????? Amazon plans to introduce new artificial intelligence (AI) features in its second season as the exclusive broadcaster of the National Football League’s (NFL) Thursday Night Football (TNF) and says the success of the venture will see it be more aggressive in pursuing rights for other sports properties.
·??????? Amazon is paying US$1bn a year for Thursday Night Football.
·??????? Amazon will use AI to indicate how close a team needs to get to the first down line before its algorithms would recommend running or passing the ball on fourth down rather than opting for a punt or a field goal.
·??????? World Rugby, the global governing body of rugby union, has announced a collaboration with Endeavor Streaming to launch RugbyPass TV, a free streaming service that will broadcast the upcoming Rugby World Cup 2023.
·??????? The service will be hosted on Endeavor Streaming’s Vesper platform and is available via browsers, iOS and Android mobile apps, as well as Smart TVs.
·??????? RugbyPass TV will debut its live coverage with France 2023 when the tournament gets underway on 8th September.
Global13 Sporting Moment of the Week
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World Athletics Championships 2023: Why Great Britain should feel optimistic about Olympic triumph
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·??????? Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Josh Kerr will be among the British athletes targeting Olympic glory in Paris after delivering gold medals at a thrilling World Championships.
·??????? GB’s 10 medals helped the British team finish seventh overall and equal their best-ever Worlds haul
·??????? The event shows athletics to still be on the up. Regarding ticket sales figures, the event surpassed the most successful World Championships ever held in 2017 in terms of numbers. For the competitions, 404,088 tickets out of the 423,090 available were sold.
Global 13 Sports Roundup
Wigan Warriors Women take on Huddersfield Giants on 3rd September @2:30pm - good luck!
Project Associate Max remains injured and unable to play football but this hasn’t stopped him enjoying the latest Coventry City games. whilst Eddie finished top of the league with his cricket club.