We’re in to the final month of 2021 but that doesn’t mean that the world of sports business is slowing down. These are the sports business news stories you may have missed this week…
Monday
Premiership Rugby x Ticketmaster
The week started with news from the world of Rugby Union as Ticketmaster Sport were announced as a long-term partner of Premiership Rugby to deliver ticketing technology and marketing solutions over the next 5 years.
The pair will create a one-stop shop for fans to buy tickets for the Premiership. The aim is to create an entirely frictionless digital ticketing system which will streamline the entire experience from sale to seat for every fan across the league.
Mark Brittain, chief commercial officer of Premiership Rugby said “This partnership enables Premiership Rugby to leverage the expertise of the global market leader in live event ticketing products and services,”.
Tuesday
Manchester City preparing for the metaverse
Premier League champions Manchester City announced a global partnership with Sony to develop new digital fan experiences.
The metaverse will be at the centre of this new partnership with the aim being to create a global online fan community where fans can interact with the club and fellow fans. The metaverse hub will be a virtual recreation of City’s Etihad Stadium.
Nuria Tarre, chief marketing and fan experience officer at City Football Group said “At Manchester City we have a strong pedigree of continuously embracing the latest technologies to enhance our operation – with particular focus on exploring ways to engage and entertain our global fanbase”
“We’re looking forward to launching this collaboration and bringing together Sony’s industry-leading technologies with the global network of Manchester City fans.”
Manchester City may be one of the first clubs to take the step in to the metaverse, but there certainly won’t be the last…
Wednesday
Revenue from NFTs to double in 2022
According to a study from Deloitte published on Wednesday, NFTs (non-fungible tokens) will generate more than $2 billion in 2022 with up to 5 million sports fans predicted to purchase or be gifted an NFT next year.
Interest in sports NFTs is likely to increase due to the increase in popularity in the wider NFT market. The study also said that the most popular type of NFT will likely be the sale of limited edition clips of sporting moments or player cards (which is basically an evolution of the traditional playing cards which have been around for decades).
Sports fans have always wanted to collect memorabilia from their favourite teams and players so NFTs are a natural evolution of that. Yes, it may take a little bit of time to adapt to this new movement but it shouldn’t take a genius to work out that is an area of opportunity.
Thursday
Paralympics GB x Adidas
Thursday saw the British Paralympic Association announce an extension of its partnership with Adidas until 2024.
The partnership began in 2008 and will now see the German sportswear giant remain the official kit supplier for Paralympics GB for both the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympics and Paris 2024 Summer Games.
Mike Sharrock, BPA chief executive said “Our collaborative relationship has meant that for the last 13 years the ParalympicsGB team has been empowered to perform at the highest level on the field of play while proudly wearing kit that not only looks great but incorporates the very best in innovation and technology,”
“Adidas’ support has enabled ParalympicsGB and our athletes to continually break down barriers and challenge stereotypes around disability.”
Friday
Atletico Mineiro offer free tattoos
The story that caught my eye on Friday was a really cool bit of fan engagement from Brazil. After winning their first title in half a century, Atletico Mineiro will treat fans with free tattoos next week.
After beating Bahia 3-2 on Thursday to confirm their title win, the club’s sponsor, construction company, MRV announced it will pay for fans to get tattooed. More details are due to be announced but it will be done on a first-come, first-served basis.
Tattoos may not be for everyone but it’s a really cool way of building that lifelong relationship with fans. And tattoos are certainly one way of having a permanent, lifelong relationship with the club.
Content you need to watch
There are too bits of content I wanted to share with you all this week.
14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible
You’ll need a Netflix account for this but I watched this documentary last night and sat there for the whole thing just glued to the screen.
14 Peaks is the story of Nepali mountaineer, Nimsdai Purja and his seemingly impossible quest to summit all 14 of the world’s 8,000-meter peaks in seven months. Something which had never been done before.
You can watch the trailer below.
INSIDER: How F1 teams set up a garage | #IAMSTORIES
The second thing I wanted to share was Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team’s YouTube and the great behind the scenes content they’ve been sharing. This week saw them sit down with their Garage Team to learn all about how they set up the garages at each race.
Thanks for reading this edition of the Sports Business Weekly Wrap-up. If there are any sports business news stories we may have missed this week then make sure you hit us up on Twitter @BehindSport! If you want to read previous editions you can click here.
