As F1 celebrates its historic 1000th race this weekend with the Chinese GP in Shanghai, iSportconnect has put together a look at the huge logistical challenge involved in mounting just one event on the 21-race calendar.
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Fantastec SWAP, the first digital football collectibles app authenticated on the blockchain and fully licenced by clubs, has reached a new deal with Real Madrid.
The SWAP app utilises social media-like features, allowing fans to swap collectibles safely with one another, regardless of their location, enabling a club like Real Madrid to engage more frequently and at a higher level with their remote fans like never before.
UK-based Fantastec SWAP lnow has three top clubs signed up, having launched the collectibles app with Arsenal on February 22 with Borussia Dortmund joining on March 27.
For a look at the Real Madrid app, click here.
The New York Yankees remain Major League Baseball’s most valuable team, according to the annual list compiled by business magazine Forbes.
The Yankees have held the top spot since Forbes began tracking MLB team finances in 1998, and the magazine puts the puts the team’s worth at $4.6 billion.
The figure is up 15% from a year ago and more than double the league’s average value.
The Los Angeles Dodgers ($3.3 billion), Boston Red Sox ($3.2 billion), Chicago Cubs ($3.1 billion) and San Francisco Giants ($3 billion) rounded out the top five.
The average MLB team is now worth $1.8 billion, an 8% percent increase from last year, thanks largely to growth in the value of media rights.
The Yankees had local revenue of $712 million last year, the most in MLB and more than the bottom six teams (Miami Marlins, Tampa Bay Rays, Oakland Athletics, Kansas City Royals, Cincinnati Reds and Baltimore Orioles) had combined.
For the full list of MLB valuations click here.
The probability of increasing the number of teams at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar from 32 to 48 is 50/50, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said on Wednesday.
Reuters reports:
Infantino, who is in Brazil for a meeting of the South American Football Confederation, told delegates he was working to ensure the increase for the Qatar tournament, which would mean a guaranteed two extra places for South American sides.
“We are working to see if we can get 48 teams in the 2022 World Cup because more participation means more development and more passion for everyone,” he said.
“We’ll see by June whether it is possible or not. (It’s) 50/50. What is 100 percent is that the 2022 World Cup is going to be spectacular and a total success.”
A final decision on the number of teams for the next finals will be taken at the FIFA Congress in Paris on June 5.
FIFA chose to host the 2022 World Cup for 32 teams in Qatar, although Infantino has sounded out neighbors over their willingness to host some matches in an expanded tournament.
FIFA has already agreed to increase the number of teams to 48 for the 2026 tournament being co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico but is keen to expand quicker than planned.
The UEFA Champions League quarter-final match between Ajax and Juventus last night was by far the number one attraction on television in Holland and Italy.
Dutch channel Veronica pulled a 53% market share for the Amsterdam team’s 1-1 draw with 3.486 million viewers.
In Italy, the Turin team’s match drew 7.993 million viewers on RAI 1 with a share of 30%.
On Tuesday, Veronica was number three in the Dutch ratings with coverage of the quarter-final Liverpool versus Porto, which averaged 1.099 million viewers and a share of 21.5%
Goodwood Racecourse has announced a new three-year partnership with Unibet including exclusive ownership and naming rights for Unibet of the prestige feature races across the Qatar Goodwood Festival week.
The new deal will cover the historic Stewards’ Cup, Golden Mile and Nursery Stakes and other races through to 2021,
As official betting partner of the Qatar Goodwood Festival, Unibet will present the live Stewards’ Cup draw on August 1, as well as sharing content stories from their ambassadors and having relevant on and off-course sponsorship branding.
Ed Nicholson, Head of Racing Communications and Sponsorship at Kindred Group, Unibet’s parent company, said: “The Qatar Goodwood Festival remains one of highlights of the flat racing calendar, attracting some of the best racehorses from all over Europe, and Unibet are honoured to be associated with such an iconic meeting.”
“Unibet boasts some wonderful racing partnerships already, with the likes of the Champion Hurdle and the Investec Derby Festival, and this new deal reaffirms our position as one of the sport’s leading supporters. The Unibet Stewards’ Cup is always one of the most competitive handicaps of the season and we are hoping this year’s renewal will be no different.”
Alex Eade, General Manager of Goodwood Racecourse, said; “I am delighted that Unibet have extended their partnership with us to cover races on each day of the Qatar Goodwood Festival and become the official betting partner of the event. Unibet’s passion for racing and drive for innovation shine through and we look forward to working in partnership with them this summer and beyond.”
YouTube will stream live broadcasts of NBA 2K League games and distribute highlights on the official NBA 2K League YouTube Channel throughout the second season of the 21-team league.
Under a new agreement announced Tuesday, YouTube will livestream all NBA 2K League games this season, including more than 230 regular-season, tournament and NBA 2K League Playoff and Finals games combined. All regular-season games take place at the NBA 2K League Studio Powered by Intel in Long Island City, N.Y.
The NBA 2K League’s second season began Tuesday, April 2, with THE TIPOFF powered by AT&T, the league’s first tournament of the season in which all 21 teams competed for a prize pool of $120,000, and concludes Saturday, Aug. 3, with the 2019 NBA 2K League Finals. The 18-week season is comprised of weekly matchups and three tournaments, culminating with the NBA 2K League Playoffs and Finals.
The NBA’s partnership with YouTube goes back more than a decade when the NBA became the first professional sports league to partner with YouTube and launch its own channel in 2005, and the first to join YouTube’s “Claim Your Content” program in 2007.
The WNBA YouTube Channel was launched in 2006 followed by the NBA G League YouTube Channel in 2008 and NBA 2K League YouTube Channel in 2018. Last year, YouTube TV became the first presenting partner of NBA Finals and WNBA Finals.
The NBA and YouTube further expanded its partnership last month with the launch of the NBA’s first YouTube channel dedicated to fans in sub-Saharan Africa. To date, the NBA, WNBA, NBA G League and NBA 2K League YouTube channels have generated more than 5.6 billion combined views.
The NBA 2K League, a professional esports league co-founded by the NBA and Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO), launched in 2018 and features the best NBA 2K players in the world.
Each of the league’s 21 teams features six players who compete as unique characters in 5-on-5 play against the other teams in a mix of regular-season games, tournaments and playoffs.
The finale of March Madness on CBS won the U.S. network audience battle on Monday night with an audience of close to 20 million viewers.
Virginia’s overtime victory over Texas Tech in the NCAA Championship final averaged 19.63 million viewers, along with a 5.3 rating and a 24% share among adults 18-49.
That is a 23% jump over last year’s final on TBS, which drew slightly under 16 million viewers. However, it is down 15% from the 23 million who watched the 2017 championship game on CBS.
The game scored a 12.4 household rating in metered markets, up 20% from last year on TBS (10.3) but down 14.5% from 2017.
Competition was tough on Monday night as rival networks counter-programmed against the basketball.
The game, airing from 9 pm – 11:30 pm, went up against top talent shows on two networks for the first two hours.
It beat The Voice on NBC (7.62 million) and American Idol on ABC (6.49 million).
While most of European football has looked to Asia for growth opportunities, English Premier League club Everton has also made opportunities in Africa a focus of attention.
Liverpool-based Everton was the first Premier League club to play a match in East Africa, in Tanzania, and in the summer of 2019, the club will visit the continent again.
Alan McTavish, Commercial Director of Everton FC, talks about this exciting new direction in this exclusive interview with iSportconnect.
Of all English clubs, Everton has the played in the top division of competition for the most seasons since the Football League was created in 1888 – a record 116 years!
A new production consortium is about to take over production of Real Madrid TV, ending the long contract with Mediapro.
Telefónica and Mediaset’s production company Supersport Television will start running the channel as of July 1, according to El País.
Mediaset is controlled by Italy’s Mediaset Investimenti, the biggest stake in which is owned by the Berlusconi family.
According to the newspaper, Real Madrid is hoping the new management will help reinvigorate the channel, which is struggling to get an audience in the digital terrestrial market, despite going out unencrypted.