THE SPORTS INDUSTRY NEWSLETTER FROM LEADERS
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Hello friends, this is Worth Knowing, the definitive sports industry newsletter from Leaders. David Cushnan here, getting fitted for a green jacket, with James Emmett and the Leaders team providing sage advice on yardage, pin position and wind direction. Do drop us a line: we’re always delighted to hear from you. Fun fact: we flag every single email.
The agenda for our big US sport-meets-entertainment mega-conference in May is just out. More below on 4se New York, but head here for who’s speaking, why you need to be there and all the detail about how to get there.
I’m interviewing boxing promoter Ben Shalom, CEO of Boxxer, on stage next Thursday (18th April) at the Future of Entertainment and Audio event, in London – lots to get into on boxing’s relationship with broadcasters (and streamers), crossover fights and operating as a challenger in an often-vicious sector of the industry. Do shout if you’ll be there or would like more info.
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🧠 5 QUESTIONS SOME OF YOU ARE ASKING YOURSELVES THIS WEEK
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1) Is Bugs Bunny the sports industry personality of the year?
I only ask because one minute the IOC is announcing a licensing deal for a bunch of Bugs Bunny and Looney Tunes branded Olympic products, the next, there he is again, front and centre of the NHL’s latest live game alternative telecast plan. The common link is Warner Bros. and while I’m not absolutely convinced that Bugs Bunny is what the kids of 2024 are going to go wild for (indeed, I have a sneaky suspicion it’s what people who think they know what kids are going to go for have gone with), I’m not going to get too animated about it.
2) Can you name a brand investing in women’s football we don’t talk about enough?
It’s a) Iberdrola. The Spanish-headquartered global energy firm has this week signed a wide-ranging deal covering Portugal’s female club and national team competitions - kudos to Portugal FA commercial chief Nuno Moura for getting this one over the line - adding to existing similar commitments in Spain, Brazil, with its Neoenergia subsidiary, and, via its Scottish Power brand, Scotland.
3) Can you name a rights holder initiative in the MENA region we don’t talk about enough?
It’s b) This from LaLiga, which has shared the results to date of a comprehensive project – a three-year partnership quietly announced last year – to help transform both professional and grassroots football in Iraq.
4) If the answer’s 22,380, what’s the question?
It won’t be Malaysia, it won’t be Singapore but the Commonwealth Games Federation ‘aims to announce’ the host of the 2026 Games in May, despite an apparently dwindling number of venue options. Government figures, published this week, report that the 2022 edition in Birmingham contributed £1.2 billion to the UK economy – and another slightly mind-boggling number: 22,380 full time equivalent years of employment. Talking of Birmingham, the new owners of Birmingham City have acquired land on which they plan to build a new Sports Quarter and stadium and Mayor Andy Street wants to host a SXSW-style tech and entertainment festival there – all this despite the city council effectively declaring itself bankrupt last year.
5) How do we respond to technology that is both brilliant and half-formed?
We read this Henry Mance piece on artificial intelligence, where the question is posed and answered, and then we read Lewis Wiltshire’s on-the-whistle post-piece analysis. (Side note, the BBC have a really good, breezy overview of the wide potential uses for AI here; we’re thinking hard about this, with Leaders Week London later this year in mind – what do you want from an AI session, the macro, global view or specialist use cases from within sport? Send us a note.)
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🔗 WORTH KNOWING - THE LINKS
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Content management: Congratulations to Dan Kirschner and the good people at Greenfly, which has announced new equity investment worth $14 million. The round has been led by ADvantage, the sports tech investment fund run by Adidas-founder Adi Dassler’s grandchildren. NBA Equity, the league’s corporate venture arm, has also invested.
Collector’s item: The unstoppable force that is Darren Rovell, armed with $4 million investment from a group including Ted and Zach Leonsis, has launched Cllct, a new media platform dedicated to collectibles and memorabilia.
Saudi’s esports strategy: Esports group ESL FaceIt has signed a five-year deal with Saudi Arabia’s Qiddiya City to bring a range of events to the proposed Gaming & Esports District being built as part of the development. ESL is owned by Savvy Gaming Group, itself owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which may have helped smooth the edges off the deal.
Broadcast innovation: Live AI translation from India’s Star TV during its IPL studio coverage; live drone footage, for the first time providing up close and personal angles in motorsport, at the weekend’s GT World Challenge races at Paul Ricard.
Fresh endeavours: A noteworthy addendum to last week’s news that Silver Lake is taking Endeavor private: Endeavor Executive Chairman Patrick Whitesell is receiving $250 million in seed equity from Silver Lake to set up and manage a new business that will be ‘investing in and providing services to companies in the entertainment, media and sports industries; developing, producing, financing and exploiting film, television and digital audio visual content; talent management; and consulting with other entertainment companies’. Which all sounds a bit like a description of Endeavor. Oh, and Whitesell and Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel will both be given a plane.
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🤝 GOOD PEOPLE, GOOD PLACES
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Hiring
• Mastercard global sponsorship chief Jennifer Ziemer is appointing a Senior Analyst, Global Sponsorships.
• The Football Association of Ireland is hiring a new Director of Marketing and Communications.
• Are you looking for your next board position? The organisers of the 2026 World Team Table Tennis Championships in London want to hear from you.
• Greenfly’s EMEA team, based in London, need a new Strategic Partnerships Manager.
• New owners Mercury/13 are appointing a CEO for the Como Women’s team.
• Sue Anstiss’ Fearless Women is recruiting an Independent Chair to help steer the future direction of the Women’s Sport Collective.
• London Marathon Events is hiring a Senior Commercial Partnerships Manager.
Dentsu International Chief Commercial Officer Echo Li is hiring a VP of Commercial Sales for her London-based EMEA team.
• The Gemba agency is looking for a Head of Strategy.
• If you’re a Sydney-based lawyer, looking for your next gig, World Rugby has a role for you.
• Challenger East Asian basketball league, Realeague, is hiring a Commercial Director and PR Director.
Hired
• M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment has confirmed the promotion of Laura Coller to UK CEO. Coller was previously Managing Director.
• DAZN CEO Shay Segev has hired Elena Novokreshchenova, his former colleague at Entain, for a new role, Global CEO of Freemium.
• Former LA28 Chief Business Officer Brian Lafemina is now an Operating Partner at Arctos.
• Virgin Media O2 has a new Head of Sports Partnerships: Mel Baroni.
• Hugo Lovell has started a new role as – deep breath - Vice President, Head of Europe & SS Africa, IMG Football Media at IMG.
• Jayar Donlan has been promoted at sports media company FloSports – he’s now Chief Operating Officer.
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⚽🎤 6 OBSERVATIONS FROM PROGRAMMING A SPORTS-ENTERTAINMENT BUSINESS CONFERENCE
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1) This is an ever-changing space – that much is obvious. But it’s the pace and unpredictability of change that’s making it particularly challenging for teams and leagues. Keeping on top of what’s in fashion, what’s cool, what’s going to make people feel something new, ebbs and flow in design, or artist credibility at any given moment – or even who’s dating who, as the last NFL season taught us - requires dedicated focus, something not a lot of sports organisations are structurally set up for. Strategists and digital executives, a lot of this stuff seems currently to be landing on your desk. New ideas are being conceived and copied – and in some cases then immediately disregarded – at breakneck pace, and that’s not even the trickiest bit: working out which bits are properly monetisable is the real challenge.
2) Everyone in sport considers themselves an entertainment property already – and I’ve got the inbox to prove it. That’s sensible positioning and can be a nifty bit of marketing, but in some cases there’s not a great deal of substance behind the words. For our part, it’s led us to be really discerning about the sports stories we tell on stage at 4se New York in May – two we’re going for are a pair of established major properties; the NHL with its growing range of non-regular event experiences (the Winter Classic, the All-Star Games, its Stadium Series, plus awards, draft and international schedule) and Nascar as an example of how a major rights holder is working with its Gen Z athletes to tap into new pockets of audience.
3) Attention recruiters (and HR departments): pay attention to new job titles sprouting up here and there across the space – not least as they might well be shortly required on many more org charts, including your own. The team Creative Director is not going away, and MLB’s Stephanie Scarpullo may have one of the most interesting titles in sport - Global Director of Music Partnerships, Music and Media Clearances. The biggest properties have already hired for those roles, but expect a rapid trickle down through the industry, as more teams and leagues set themselves up to properly attack the entertainment space (see also Isabelle Stewart, hired last year as F1’s first Head of Original Content and Camilo Durana who has a dedicated platform-specific role at Major League Soccer, as EVP, Apple Partnership).
4) If you’re a sports team or league of any significant size and you’re not already active in lifestyle fashion – and looking at it as a potentially lucrative new revenue stream - you’re behind the curve. But this is still a test and learn space; art meeting science. And there’s still lots for everyone to learn: this is not the replica jersey market. Key principles: figuring out how – and who - can help build loyalty; understanding the power of scarcity; and recognising it as a new way to build identity, project a desired image and cultivate a greater sense of belonging among fans new and old.
5) Storytelling is more than a buzzword – it’s a byword. When you mention sports-entertainment as a focus, this is what lots of organisations (teams, leagues, record labels and media giants as well as the production houses you might expect) instantly gravitate towards. Documentaries and films are still very much in vogue, even in an increasingly saturated market; unscripted content – quiz shows, live shopping, dramas (F1 is racing ahead here), comedies – may be the next broadcast frontier for the most forward-thinking teams, leagues and athletes.
6) Consumer brands and agencies - from specialists to the global players - are absolutely at the heart of this. In many cases their structures and strategies seem more sophisticated than rights holders, setting them up to be better at exploring and monetising emerging cultural crossovers. But there’s so much to learn across this vast and expanding sports-entertainment world about what’s going to make a difference to the bottom line and genuinely resonate with fans, and no single perspective currently has every angle covered. The possibilities – and opportunities to commercialise those possibilities – are undeniably intoxicating.
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Abu Dhabi
Country: United Arab Emirates
Population: 1.5 million
2023 visitors: 24 million (approx.)
What to do: Build on what are now an established collection of world-class events; help bring to life the next phase of the Emirate’s sports, health and participation strategy.
Key rights holders: Abu Dhabi Sports Council; UAE Pro League; Abu Dhabi T10
Big brand HQs: Etihad, Etisalat, Aabar Investments, Mubadala Investment Company, ADNOC.
World-class infrastructure: Yas Marina Circuit; Zayed Sports City, Etihad Arena.
Where to do business: Yas Marina has become a business – and pleasure – hotspot, with a number of high-end dineries. For something a little more cultured, you could do worse than a wander round the exquisite Louvre museum.
What's next? Abu Dhabi’s tourism and culture department last week revealed a new $10 billion infrastructure plan, as part of a mission to raise the number of annual visitors to the UAE capital from 24 million last year to 39.3 million by 2030. New theme parks and museums are among the new facilities under consideration, with a total of 178,000 potential new jobs predicted. Hotel capacity will rise from 34,000 to 52,000. Aside from its regular flagship F1, ATP Tour and DP World Tour events, Abu Dhabi is scheduled to host cycling’s 2028 UCI Road World Championships and the UCI Track World Championships.
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Who? Cathy Engelbert
What? Commissioner, WNBA
Why? Monday night’s WNBA Draft is expected to break all records, as Commissioner Engelbert and her executive team gear up for the arrival of Caitlin Clark to the league. College basketball’s leading points-scorer has transcended March Madness to become a national star (and internationally recognisable name) in recent weeks – and a genuine sports industry needle-mover, despite her Iowa team’s defeat in the NCAA Women’s Championship game: her mere presence helped the game achieve massive ratings (18.7 million viewers, double the audience for last year’s final and more than every NBA Finals game since 2017), and there is unprecedented interest in what she does next. Indeed, the Las Vegas Aces WNBA team have already switched a scheduled game this season against Indiana Fever – the franchise with the first pick – to a larger venue, even before Monday’s Draft, which will feature Clark as she turns pro, so confident are they that she’ll be picked. Expect her also to be central to NBC’s Olympic broadcast plans in the US this summer should she, as is mooted, get the call-up from Team USA.
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