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Manchester United today announced a multi-year partnership with Hawaii-based sunglasses and eyewear brand Maui Jim. The company will supply the United first team, academy and women’s teams with glasses from their sun and optical ranges. Maui Jim eyewear will be available to fans in the Old Trafford Megastore from 26^th February. They will also celebrate the partnership by launching a co-branded eyewear collection designed with fans in mind later this year.

Bayern Munich CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has urged UEFA to put the Champions League back on free TV, citing an 84% decline in audience with matches just available on Sky Deutschland and DAZN after ZDF failed to get a free-to-air window for some matches.

Former Wales international footballer Rhys Weston has joined the commercial team of the Sports Technology Awards Group. Gaming solutions developer BetConstruct has been added as the newest member of the group’s Global Partner network. The 2019 Yahoo Sports Technology Awards Ceremony will be held at the Roundhouse in London, on May 2. For more information click here.

Also In The News…

SportPesa Becomes First Betting Brand As F1 Team Lead Sponsor

Kenyan bookmaker SportPesa has become the lead sponsor of the Racing Point in Formula 1 team.

The deal makes SportPesa the first title sponsor of an F1 team from the betting category, following the lifting restrictions on betting sponsorships and data rights beginning in the 2019 season.

SportPesa Director Adam Beighton said: “We are absolutely delighted to become part of the extended Formula One family. This partnership is very important to us because it diversifies us into new territories and allows us to reach new audiences across the globe.”

“Equally important is the platform it provides us which enables us to stay true to our mission; to build and develop grassroots and professional sport in the countries where we operate by bringing new opportunities to local communities.”

Racing Point Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer said: “SportPesa is a young, dynamic, growing company whose values align with our own vision to become a team capable of competing at the very front of the grid.”

“We are excited to have such an ambitious partner on board to help us deliver our team mission and look forward to working with them to bring the sport of Formula One closer to fans around the world. The car looks stunning with the addition of blue to the already iconic pink livery, which gives us a strong identity as we begin this exciting new era.”

PUMA Partnership With NBA Seals Return To Basketball

PUMA has become an official marketing partner of the National Basketball Association as the sportswear brand steps up its re-entry into the sport of basketball begun last year after an absence of two decades.

The German manufacturer will now be able to feature athletes in their respective NBA uniforms and team logos. Additionally, the brand will be able to curate authentic and original content that will allow better story telling of the company and their athletes.

Adam Petrick, Global Director of Brand and Marketing at PUMA, said: “We are thrilled to partner with the NBA to bring PUMA to the next level in our re-entry to the basketball market. This partnership is a testament to the continued resurgence of PUMA within the basketball industry.”

Dan Rossomondo, NBA Senior VP, Media and Business Development, said: “PUMA played an important part in the early footwear culture of the NBA. As PUMA expands its presence in the basketball market with new player relationships and a new line of basketball sneakers, becoming an official footwear partner of the league was a natural next step to help amplify the brand’s return to the category.”

PUMA re-entered the basketball market in 2018 with the launch of its first signature shoe – the Clyde Court Disrupt and recently unveiled its second basketball shoe, the Uproar Charlotte, ahead of NBA All-Star 2019.

PUMA’s worldwide sales were up by 17.6% to €4.648 billion

The priority of strengthening the North American market focused on re-entry into basketball with PUMA Basketball Creative Director Jay-Z

New signings last year included WNBA star Skylar Diggins-Smith, plus NBA players Terry Rozier (Boston), Rudy Gay (San Antonio), Danny Green (Toronto) and DeMarcus Cousins (Golden State), as well as NBA Draft picks Deandre Ayton, Marvin Bagley III, Kevin Knox, Michael Porter Jr and Zhaire Smith.

Sales in the Americas were up by 16.9% to € 1.613 billion with double-digit growth in both North and Latin America.

It was good year for football too. Four of PUMA’s partnered national teams took part in the FIFA World Cup: Uruguay, Switzerland, Serbia and Senegal .

PUMA player Antoine Griezmann of France was FIFA Man of the Match in the final and Romelu Lukaku of Belgium was also among the leading scorers.

And PUMA-sponsored team Denmark won the Handball World Cup.

Sales in Asia/Pacific were up 28.8% to €1.235 billion, mainly driven by high growth in China and Korea.

London-Listed Group Sells Serie B Palermo

London-based Sport Capital Group (listed on NEX Exchange) has sold Palermo’s Serie B club to local ownership in Sicily.

The club issued a statement February 14 as follows:

“Daniela De Angeli and Rino Foschi announce that, last night and today, an agreement was reached for the change of ownership of Palermo Football Club SpA, which holds the shares of Unione Sportiva Città di Palermo.”

“The operation was deemed necessary following the well-known difficulties encountered by Sport Capital Group in their plans to relaunch US Città di Palermo and represents a preparatory step ahead of the arrival of a new major investor who is drawing up their industrial plan for the club.”

“In the meantime, two trusted individuals (Administrative Director Daniela De Angeli and Technical Director Rino Foschi) have been tasked with running the club, in a transparent and independent manner, while the transfer of ownership to the new investor takes place.”

“Rino Foschi, who will take the role of President of US Città di Palermo, is pleased to conclude the operation, which will provide the team with a welcome boost as it looks to meet its main objectives.”

De Angeli has held a senior role with the club since 2002, working closely with former club owner Maurizio Zamparini, who remains a board member.

Tennis And Football Dominate Suspicious Betting Activity

There were 267 cases of suspicious betting reported to the relevant authorities in 2018, according to international betting integrity body ESSA (Sports Betting Integrity) with 83 cases in the fourth quarter of the year.

Tennis (178) and football (52) constituted 86% of all alerts during the year. Geographically, Europe maintained its position as the primary location of sporting events on which alerts have been generated, totalling 148 (55%) in 2018, with Asia continuing to fill second spot with 48 alerts (18%).

The number of different sports on which alerts were report by ESSA increased from 11 in 2017 to 13 in 2018. The four-year period 2015-18 has now seen the association report 763 alerts across 15 different sports.

Khalid Ali, ESSA Secretary General, stated in the introduction to the report: “Tennis has been under the spotlight for a number of years now and there is no getting away from the fact that on average more than 65% of ESSA’s alerts have been on that sport.”

He said: “ESSA’s alerts remain an important barometer for gauging betting related corruption globally. Outside of tennis and football, we are beginning to see new threats emerging such as the increased number of alerts on eSports.”

He added: “Given the multi-jurisdictional nature of match-fixing, regulators around the world are now beginning to make it a requirement for operators to be part of an international monitoring system, which we fully support.”

Jon Russell, Global Head of Trading at Betway, is taking over as ESSA’s new Chair.

TV Growth: Half Of All Subs Will Be In China And India

The future of the video market is continuing to shift eastward. By 2023, China and India alone are expected to account for 50% of a total of over 1.2 billion global subscribers for multi-channel services, according to new forecasts.

The global multi-channel market generated $230.1 billion in video revenues in 2018, according to research group Kagan, and that is seen growing to $245.4 billion in 2023.

The global multi-channel market grew by 3.1% in 2018 with the growth rate expected to slow in the next five years as the number hits 1.21 billion in 2023.

China, India and the U.S. are currently the largest multi-channel markets, with a 57% share of the total.

Cable remains the dominant model. Internet-delivered television has knocked DTH satellite out of second place in 2018, accounting for 23.4% of the total market of 1.07 billion households.

Cord-cutting is most prevalent in North America as well as in oversaturated markets like Singapore and Hong Kong.

Ajax-Real Madrid Tops Viewing In Italy Too

It’s not surprising that Ajax versus Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League was the most viewed programme in Holland yesterday with an audience on Veronica of 2.614 million and a market share of 44.3%.

Remarkably, the Spanish team’s away win was also number one on the viewing charts in Italy for RAI 1 with 3.515 million viewers and a share of 13.81%.

Sky Deutschland pulled 1.01 million viewers with its parallel Champions League offer of the same match alongside the bigger local attraction of Tottenham versus Borussia Dortmund.

The football delivered a viewing share of 3.7%. That’s impressive for a pay-TV provider.

Sina Sports Secures European Tour

The European Tour has reached a long-term deal with Chinese platform Sina Sports for the exclusive digital broadcast rights to all European Tour events.

Sina Sports will live-stream all European Tour tournaments exclusively on all Sina Sports platforms effective immediately until the end of the 2021 season.

The European Tour features two of the most exciting Chinese golfers, Li Haotong, the first Chinese golfer to be ranked in the top 50 world ranking, and three time European Tour winner Wu Ashun.

Sina Sports’ newly-created in-house digital media agency will manage the European Tour’s official social media assets in China, including its Weibo and WeChat mobile accounts, for the duration of the live-streaming deal.

Sina Sports is the largest content creator on Weibo with over 100 million followers on their 80 Weibo accounts. The in-house agency will provide multi-faceted digital media services for athletes, federations and clubs as well as to seek marketing and sponsorship opportunities with Chinese companies.

Sina Golf is the most followed golf-related account on Weibo with over 1.3 million followers.

Sina Sports began exclusive live broadcasts of the European Tour in early November, with the Turkish Airlines Open reaching 210,000 views on Sina Golf’s Weibo account alone.

Sina Corporation Senior Vice President and Sina Sports General Manager Arthur Wei said: “With the growing presence of Chinese golfers and optimal viewing time, the European Tour is positioned to become a very popular sports property for Chinese fans and we are excited to partner with the European Tour for the next three-plus years.

“The possibility of large numbers of fans in China rooting for Chinese players regularly competing for titles at convenient viewing times is intriguing.”

Rufus Hack, Chief Content Officer at the European Tour, said: “The European Tour is delighted to agree this new partnership with Sina Sports, which will give golf fans across China access to every event on the European Tour as well as great additional content in their own language on WeChat and Weibo.

“With exciting Chinese players like Li Haotong and Wu Ashun continuing to make an impression on the Race to Dubai, we’re looking forward to working with a progressive media partner like Sina Sports to help continue the growth of the European Tour across the region.”

FC Barcelona: “Let’s Play Three Games Overseas”

FC Barcelona President Josep Maria Bartomeu has said La Liga should play three games outside of Spain a year.

LaLiga, while not commenting on the number of the games, reiterated support for the international ambitions of its teams.

Plans to play Girona’s home fixture against Barcelona in Miami on January 26 were dropped due to a lack of consensus among stakeholders. The Spanish Football Association and the players’ union were not on side with the idea.

“If we want La Liga to be strong, we are to play in these games,” Bartomeu told BBC Sport. “At Barça we have sometimes been talking to La Liga and have been telling them that if you want to promote La Liga more and more, then we should have three games of the year outside – one in America, one in the Middle East and one in Asia.”

After BBC reported the comments, LaLiga Chief Communicatins Officer Joris Evers said: “Of course, we strongly support any club’s international ambitions as we certainly share the vision of bringing La Liga action closer to fans everywhere and making La Liga a stronger international brand.

“We continue to work towards playing a La Liga match outside of Spain and want to do that as soon as possible. We are working with all stakeholders to make it happen.

“We see this as a logical next step in the growth of our league and as a clear benefit to everyone involved.”