Sunday. Sports Business Weekly Wrap-up. The biggest sports business news story from each day of the last week. Come on, you know the score by now.
There’s been a bit of everything going on this week but investments and financials seemed to be a bit of a common theme. Although the domestic football season has finished, the Euros kick off next Friday so it won’t be too long to survive without a football fix.
Anyway, here are some of the biggest sports business news stories from this week.
Tuesday
Rangers announce fan share scheme
The Scottish Premiership champions, Rangers announced on Tuesday that they are launching a “unique fan share offering, which will give supporters the opportunity to help future-proof our club and build a lasting, fan-based legacy.”
The shares will be issued by Rangers International Football Club plc and will provide subscribers the same rights as the current owners.
Rangers Chairman, Douglas Park said “Rangers has been here for 150 years and it’s vital that we future-proof the next 150 years. The club has to be put in the best possible position and, by widening the ownership to a broader base of like minded supporters and shareholders, we feel it helps put the club on an even stronger footing going forward.”
With the European Super League raising the issue of ownership in football and the role and importance of fans, a move like this will probably come as a welcome relief to Rangers supporters. It’s certainly one to keep an eye on and if other
Wednesday
Harry Kane among investors in StatSports
A number of football stars have invested in StatSports, the GPS tracking technology used by the England national team and the majority of Premier League clubs.
Harry Kane, Harry Maguire, Steph Houghton and Phil Foden have each made a financial investment into the company joining Callum Chambers, Raheem Sterling and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain who invested into StatSports back in 2019.
You might have seen the adverts for this company on the TV over the last month or so. Don’t worry, you probably did what I did and said “What are they doing advertising on TV?” to yourself when you saw it.
StatSports co-founder and chief operating officer, Sean O’Connor, said “We believe what we are doing is at the cutting edge and to have the interest we have from the top of the game proves that. Their knowledge of the game and levels of performance will help us to develop our systems and continue to push the limits on technology helping players and teams exceed expectations.”
Thursday
DAZN x Matchroom Boxing
The big news on Thursday was that DAZN will become the global home of Matchroom Boxing for the next five years.
The leading International boxing promoter has had a long standing relationship with Sky Sports in the UK but that has now come to an end and the new deal with DAZN will begin later this summer on July 31. DAZN Co-CEO James Rushton said: “Game. Changed. This historic deal builds on the success and momentum of our long-term partnership with Matchroom around the world and solidifies DAZN at the forefront of the global sports streaming era.
The deal includes a groundbreaking move that will see at least 16 Matchroom UK fights annually available exclusively to DAZN subscribers in the UK and Ireland.
DAZN have quietly been going about their business now for a while and have done so very well. It’ll certainly be interesting to see what they have planned next.
Friday
Lululemon’s first quarter results are good, very good.
We’re finishing off the week with a bit of news that is a little different to the stuff I normally point out in these weekly wrap-ups but it’s an area I’m quite interested in.
lululemon, the technical athletic apparel brand announced their financial results for the first quarter of fiscal 2021 overnight and it seems like the pandemic is a thing of the past for them…
In the first quarter of this year, they reported –
- A net revenue increase of 88% to $1.2 billion from 2020
- Company-operated stores net revenues increased by 106% to $536.6 million.
- Direct to consumer net revenue increased by 55% to $545.1 million
- In North America, net revenue increased 82% and 125% internationally.
Calvin McDonald, Chief Executive Officer, told businesswire “Our first quarter results reflected strength across all drivers of growth, fuelled by the continued expansion in our e-commerce business and a rebound in brick and mortar stores. Our strong performance across categories, channels and geographies demonstrates the momentum and strength of lululemon as we shift into the new normal.”
Green numbers across the board for lululemon so far in 2021 and the company is predicting net revenue will increase again in the second quarter. The company has 523 stores across the globe and has seen massive and consistent growth for a long time now.
I think results like this are a good indicator of where we’re at in the timeline of the pandemic as things like brick and mortar retail and gyms continue to reopen and life returns to some form of “normality”.
Weekly Wrap-up. Done.
Out of the stories I’ve covered in this weeks wrap-up, the lululemon one is the one that’s caught my eye the most. The financial numbers that are coming out of some of these athletic apparel brands are absolutely mental but one thing I’ve been thinking about is how it’s an indication of where we are in the pandemic. Fingers crossed things are only going to keep getting better.
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