In this week’s View From The US article, Sportico’s Eben Novy-Williams, looks into one of the untold stories of Lionel Messi’s arrival in Miami and why it isn’t plain sailing.
Lionel Messi’s fans didn’t have to wait long for his first signature moment with Inter Miami CF. But they will have to wait if they want to buy his jersey.
Listings for pink or black Messi No. 10 jerseys from the official MLS shop currently feature a pre-order warning that says Adidas will be delivering the product in “mid October.” The disclaimer covers the $195 authentic jersey, the $125 adult replicas and the $105 youth replicas.
It’s a surprising commercial misfire at a very high-profile moment. The Argentine soccer star has been talking loosely with Inter Miami for years, and he turned heads across the globe when he announced in early June that he would be coming to Florida. That was a full six weeks before he made his debut for the team on July 21.The business ramifications could also directly impact the striker. Messi has a lifetime deal with Adidas and is expected to sign a side agreement that will let him share in some of the commercial upside of his jersey sales. If people choose not to order a jersey because it won’t arrive until the end of Inter Miami’s season, that’s bad for fans, Adidas, MLS, Inter Miami, Fanatics and Messi himself.
The warnings on the official MLS and Inter Miami stores, which are run by league partner Fanatics, imply that the delay is on the Adidas side—it says the jerseys will ship “within one business day” of Adidas delivering them to a Fanatics fulfillment center in a few months. Representatives for Adidas, MLS and Fanatics declined to comment on the specifics of the delay.
“The demand for Messi’s Miami jersey has been truly unprecedented,” an Adidas spokesman said in a statement. “We’re working as quickly as possible to ensure that every fan who wants a jersey can get one.”
In this week’s Member Insight piece David Alexander, MD of Calacus PR, looks into the recent announcement surrounding the Commonwealth Games and question’s the events future.
Since the Commonwealth Games began in 1930, they have only ever been cancelled because of World War Two.
A shock and unexpected announcement in mid-July could well see the event cancelled for the first time since – but the situation underlines the challenges that the Commonwealth Games faces for its very existence.
Founded by a Canadian sportswriter who wanted to celebrate the British Empire, the Games’ colonial roots have become a point of contention with a growing number of people.
The competition, which was even previously called the British Empire Games, is struggling to attract younger audiences who consider it dated and unethical.
The CGF have acknowledged the controversy surrounding the competition, stating: “There is no easy way of saying the Commonwealth has a challenging history linked to colonial roots. Work has already started to alter the focus from the hegemony of the British Empire to one of global peace.”
The Guardian journalist Tumaini Carayol said in condemnation: “The lasting damage that slavery and colonialism have inflicted on Commonwealth countries has never been fully addressed.
“What initially stood as an event for Britain and its colonies is now a helpful tool for Britain to divert attention from its ills of the past, presenting itself as a more compassionate nation compared with other former imperial powers.”
It does not help that the diversity and respect on which international sports competition is based flounders when same-sex relations are illegal in 35 of the 56 member states, with homosexuality carrying a sentence of life imprisonment in seven.
No wonder that before last year’s event in Birmingham, British diver Tom Daley slammed the homophobia rampant in many Commonwealth countries.
When Victoria state Premier Daniel Andrews announced that the hosts had pulled out due to an increase in costs from Au$2bn to Au$6bn, he did so without full engagement with the Commonwealth Games Federation, Commonwealth Games Australia and the federal government.
Whatever his motives for making the decision without consultation, it has put Andrews in a challenging position which will put his authority under increased scrutiny and doubts will inevitably rise about any future promises he makes.
There will be a Senate investigation, focusing on his financial estimates and the reasons behind the decision, which saw him respond in an aggressive and defensive manner when faced with media in late July.
Asked whether he would apologise to athletes and businesses who had already invested in expectation of the Games, Andrews insisted the event was “all cost and no benefit.
“I’m not going to apologise for not taking money out of schools and hospitals.”
Little surprise, then, that opposing Liberal Senator for Victoria Sarah Henderson said in reply that: “No Victorian should have any faith in any promise made by either Daniel Andrews or Anthony Albanese,” Senator Henderson said.
“This state has become an economic basket case. (Daniel Andrews) needs to be honest with the people of Victoria over what it has cost to cancel the Games.”
When Victoria was first names as 2026 hosts, its government website said that: “Victoria 2026 will showcase what makes the people of our state tick: our unity, our diversity, our sense of community, our welcoming attitude and our love of sport.”
Understandably, the CGF were not impressed by the cancellation and issued a statement: “This is hugely disappointing for the Commonwealth Sport Movement, for athletes around the Commonwealth and the organising committee who are well advanced in their planning and preparation.
“We are disappointed that we were only given eight hours’ notice and that no consideration was given to discussing the situation to jointly find solutions prior to this decision being reached by the government.
“Up until this point, the government had advised that sufficient funding was available to deliver the Victoria 2026 Commonwealth Games. The reasons given are financial. The numbers quoted to us today of AU$6bn are 50 per cent more than those advised to the organising committee board at its meeting in June.”
There have been reports that Andrews’ government ignored warnings about holding the event across regional areas instead of in Melbourne alone, which was always going to have an impact on budgets.
CGF President Dame Louise Martin wrote of Andrews’ team: “Since awarding Victoria the Games, the government has made decisions to include more sports and an additional regional hub, and changed plans for venues, all of which have added considerable expense, often against the advice of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) and Commonwealth Games Australia (CGA).”
The discrepancy and uncertainty over financial figures raises questions about what else has gone wrong for the situation to get to this point.
He said: “The stated costs overrun, in our opinion, a gross exaggeration and not reflective of the operation costs presented to the Victorian 2026 Organising Committee as recently as June this year.
“The announcement made by the Victorian Government today is beyond disappointing. It’s a comprehensive let down for the athletes, the excited host communities, First Nations Australians who were at the heart of the Games, and the millions of fans that would have embraced a sixth home Games in Australia.”
Whether the situation damages Australia’s chances of hosting future major sporting events remains to be seen.
Shadow federal Sports Minister, Anne Ruston, believes that Victoria’s decision could affect Australia’s hosting credibility. She said: “Australia’s reputation has been damaged today and you should be very worried about the damage this does to Australia’s international reputation. Today is a very sad day for Australian sport.”
Others suggest that the reputational damage will affect its trading capabilities.
Tim Harcourt, an economist with the University of Technology Sydney, said: “The Commonwealth Games are pretty significant for trade. They’re not being leveraged for how important they could be.”
He argued that at a time in which Australia is seeking to strengthen its trade in the Indo-Pacific region, no longer welcoming those nations to compete in Australia is economically “short-sighted.”
The Commonwealth Games is the only high profile, international competition in which disabled athletes compete alongside able-bodied athletes rather than in a separate event.
Australian gold-medal-winning Paralympian swimmer, Rowan Crothers, tweeted that the Games are “a great opportunity to raise awareness for disabled sport. Seeing the Games cancelled will suck for the state of inclusion.
“For some athletes, a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games means more than a gold medal at the Paralympics… recognition and equality can mean more than achievement.”
But the ramifications for the future of the Games themselves are worrying.
Steve Georgakis, a sports studies lecturer at the University of Sydney, observed: “This could spell the end of the Commonwealth Games.”
Whether that proves to be the case or not, perhaps the competition’s uncomfortable origins and dwindling audiences will ensure that fate is inescapable.
In this article Virtua’s Commercial Director, Rory Stewart-Richardson, looks into some of the partnerships between sports and Web3 brands and asks if they have maximised their effectiveness.
Clubs maximise revenue from new categories but do they always maximise the partnership / product to give a return to the Brand. In recent times, we have seen a huge amount of investment from Web3 companies into the world of sport, for once clubs were in a very strong position to inflate their property prices due to the number of Web3 companies that were looking to maximise the visibility large sports organisations could provide to gain market share, but most of these seemingly were purely transactional and not activated, and if they were activated they alienated the potential buyer (the fan) by failing on the activation.
There have been a large number of failed activations from Liverpool’s NFT flop through to failed due diligence in such a new space with the likes of FTX, who sent shudders through not only the Crypto / Web3 world, but also through the world of sports sponsorship.
Was it right for clubs to partner with Web3 brands?
New categories are always a gamble particularly, when the category is so far from mass adoption, but it also can be a great opportunity – well funded organisations provide great revenues, but in my eyes, it also showed up that Rights Holders are a long way away from being able to tell the brand story, educating and engaging their fan base, and instead purely chasing the revenue streams. So far the press have picked up the disaster case studies, and have ignore the positive case studies which are starting to come through in the market.
Mclaren X Tezos – They’ve launched what is, to date, the most successful free sports NFT project! Over 2 million downloads 🏆🏁, building a community based on utility and engagement
CR7 x Binance – The first sell out drop drove $1.8 million Revenue, delivered 7 billion media impressions, selling 8,634 NFT, with further secondary market sales of $1,009,603 – a mutually beneficial partnership allowing the fans to get closer to Ronaldo, with virtual meet and greet opportunities with Ronaldo, signed merchandise, plus much more allowed a strong utility strategy to ensure future sell out drops.
So in short, done right, the power of web 3 is the next innovation when it comes to fan engagement, creating engaged communities to benefit from the benefits of Web 3 technology. Do I think Rights Holders have maximised the capabilities to date – no, but I do think with continued education, less focus on the big upfront sponsorship fees, the power of web 3 technology will prove a fantastic engagement tool and revenue generator over time.
Six Nations Rugby takes a zero-tolerance approach to any form of discrimination, and in a bid to tackle hate speech and harmful content within its online community, is using advanced AI technology to filter, block, delete, and if needed, report cases.
Arwen AI was founded in 2020 in the wake of online abuse directed at TV and sports personalities. It works by using Artificial Intelligence to detect and remove spam, hateful comments, or unwanted and harmful content. Through a combination of algorithms, developed by Arwen, and those available on the open market, the system continually scans for content, in 29 languages, to immediately detect harmful content.
Six Nations Rugby will be using the Arwen AI technology with immediate effect, and throughout the Summer Nations Series, with all six unions given access to the tool as well, so that rugby can come together to collectively tackle online hate.
Each user of the technology can set bespoke filters to ensure the algorithms operate with the greatest level of accuracy. Any content that matches the criteria and contradicts the Six Nations Rugby community guidelines, is captured, and flagged, allowing immediate action to be taken, and protect the online community.
In a recent study conducted by the Professional Football Association, 40% of Premier League players were reported to have been the subject of racist abuse via social media, with Marcus Rashford appearing as the second most abused person on the planet. For fans, a similar study identified that just 2% of hateful content had the potential to alienate nearly 40% of an audience.
This highlights the urgent need to protect all members of the sports community from harmful online content, this includes its players, teams, and fans.
Sarah Beattie, Chief Marketing Officer of Six Nations Rugby, commented: “Rugby is for everyone, and we have a responsibility to make the sport as inclusive and accessible as possible. Tackling online abuse and forms of harmful content is an important step to ensure this.
“By using the AI technology developed by Arwen, and offering this to our six unions, the aim is to collectively protect our existing online community, and welcome new members to join, with the confidence that rugby is taking action to make the game open to all and operates with a zero-tolerance approach to any form of discrimination.”
Matthew McGrory, CEO of Arwen AI, added: “Arwen AI is committed to protecting athletes, celebrities, brands, and everyday users of social media from rising levels of online toxicity and abuse.
“We’re therefore incredibly proud to partner with Six Nations Rugby as part of their drive to tackle hate speech and harmful content within its online community.
“We’re looking forward to working together to create a positive online environment in which teams, players and fans can engage with each other during such an exciting time for the sport.”
This week we caught up with Emily Heath, Global Brand Director for Sure to speak about their involvement in sport and how sports partnerships have evolved in the last few years.
So Emily to kick us off, take us through your journey in sport?
I am a bit of a sports junkie to be honest, sport plays a massive part of my life and as a family we love getting active. I can’t remember not taking part in sport whether in school or recreationally. When I was growing up, I dreamed of being an Olympic Skier. But then I stupidly broke my leg when I was seven. I ended up marrying an ex-Olympian so I married into sport as well. Now I spend my weekends with my kids doing activities like climbing, running and cycling. We can’t wait for them to get to the age where they can play team sports.
In terms of work, I never really wanted to work in sport and because of that I did a fashion degree. After my degree, I did the natural thing and ended up working in Pharmaceuticals, and from there transitioned over to Unilever and eventually Rexona, which is probably Unilever’s sportiest brand.
You have been at Unilever for 18 years, how has your role evolved over that time?
I came into the business during the recession so I was really grateful for any work really. I was a project manager and it was a great way to just get a foot in the door really. I then moved to Brand Marketing at Dove. I started out in the innovation side of the business and moved over to work on engagement which is more about communicating the brand to people. So a lot of social media, PR and digital work. Then seven years ago I moved to Rexona to do something similar.
I have really enjoyed working on trying to make the brand as culturally relevant as possible through certain partnerships and PR around that.
Why is it important for Unilever to be involved in sport?
I think it is such a massive part of culture, very few things bring people together like sport does. It is also something that you can get involved in at any level from kicking a ball around in the park all the way through to attending a Premier League match. It also doesn’t discriminate; you can be any race, gender, sexuality, from any background and you can still play.
It also plays a massive role in the mental well being of a lot of people, so for Unilever to be able to do what we can to help in that area is really important.
What are some of the key things you are trying to achieve through your partnerships with elite clubs like Manchester City and Chelsea?
We started the partnerships back in 2016 as a route to engaging more men. We originally had three teams with Everton, Southampton and Chelsea because we wanted to ensure we had a good geographical footprint across the country. That really helped build our brand in and around football so people were familiar with us. After one year of that we moved to just partnering with Chelsea and Manchester City. A lot of the drive behind that was because we wanted clubs that have a global footprint because the partnerships were a big part of the global business, not just our UK business.
So it started out as a way to engage men, but it has become a lot more than that. It is now a great way to engage our core consumer base; both men and women, and it gives us a chance to engage with consumers for nine to ten months a year. It also gives us the chance to innovate with those partners and get involved in the grassroots game with them as well. We have been able to partner with Manchester City in their community programme and also Chelsea’s amputee programme along with their women’s side as well.
We really enjoy these partnerships and work well with the clubs. We’ve been with them now for a long time. So therefore that association, our brand association, with those clubs is getting stronger and stronger. It’s really important that they are long term partnerships, not just flipping and flopping between clubs, because that helps to build strength to be associated with sport (football), and the clubs themselves.
You are not just working at the top end of sport, you have invested heavily into grassroots sport as well. Why is this important for Unilever?
You get great attention from the elite level sport, but the grassroots level is where you can make a real difference. Through our work with vulnerable communities, we have been able to make sure as many people as possible have access to football and sport. We have a social purpose programme called the Breaking Limits Programme which we launched in 2021; it is currently in the UK and seven other markets. We are working with 43 NGOs globally to help build inclusion, confidence, resilience, and a welcoming environment for young people from very vulnerable communities to come and feel like they belong in either football or other sports.
It’s become something that’s really important to us as a brand and we will continue to build on year on year because it brings us into a new, younger audience, but it also ensures that we are actually part of the solution on the ground to ensure that everyone has access to movement.
With the sponsorship space evolving, how are the conversations about partnerships you are having with clubs changing?
Yes, we have seen a big shift in this especially where sponsorship was 10-15 years ago where it was basically a badging exercise. We’ve seen a shift in the sponsorships over the last couple of years. Partnerships are being built less on that kind of pay per post or appearance models, and more on brands working with partners on values to create a deeper, more impactful relationship. It’s one of our deciding factors when identifying partners; how we can work together to create more impact and change on issues that we both care about. So whether that’s around gender inclusion, whether that’s about giving more opportunity to vulnerable children within those vulnerable communities, or whether it’s about how we can create the most engaging content for our core consumer.
I would say our partnerships with Chelsea and Man City have evolved since day one to now. At the beginning it was about LEDs, but a little bit of money can’t buy experiences for our consumers. Now, they’re highly engaged with our social impact programme. We’re bringing their players more into our core content, but also into coaching sessions with our social impact programme as well.
This is why Unilever has embarked on a new multi-year partnership with FIFA, because we see the likes of football being a huge opportunity to drive a lot of positive change on the ground as well as driving mass awareness to the likes of the World Cup or the Women’s World Cup.
Lastly, what is your dream sports property to work on?
My dream would actually be the Olympics because I’ve been an Olympic junkie since I was a kid. I always think of the Olympics as the ultimate sporting event so to be able to work on that would be incredible.
This week’s interview is with Daniel Evans, Senior Vice President of Sales for Magnifi, we dive into the role of AI in sports broadcasting, vertical highlights and the sporting event he would love to work on.
Briefly explain to us what it is that Magnifi does and how are you involved in the sports sphere?
In simple terms, Magnifi creates real-time highlights out of live and archived content using AI.
Technically speaking, we leverage machine vision, machine learning, including object and pose detection, facial recognition, audio and sentiment analysis, and a variety of other techniques to analyse, segment, transform, and distribute content in near real time.
AI is the buzzword of 2023. How has this increased awareness and chatter around AI impacted your workspace?
This buzz is definitely drawing attention and I think it’s been helpful in a couple of ways.
One, it’s validating for those of us who have been educating customers for years on the opportunities AI brings in terms of new efficiencies and new capabilities.
Second, we’re now seeing many executives and decision-makers directly involved very early in discussions. That’s a big change in the market. Going back to 2021 and early 2022, we spent a lot of time getting buy-in from project stakeholders to then stall at the budgeting or approval phase from lack of visibility or priority. That is no longer the case.
As doubts around AI capabilities have fallen away, decision makers are now fully engaged in these discussions and are looking for other opportunities with the various technologies that make up the AI stack.
We are increasingly seeing more fans prefer watching short highlights to taking in a full match. Has this been a gradual change and something you expected or has it surprised the industry?
I think it’s a natural reaction to fans wanting to stay engaged with the community while experiencing a massive growth in the amount of content available to them 24/7. You’ve seen these generational transitions as technology evolved. Baby boomers followed beat reporters and sports pages and watched highlights on the evening news. Gen X had cable TV and ESPN and suddenly you could keep up with more and more sports in an hour or two of SportsCenter. Gen Z had Twitter where they could follow the action live and share their opinions with the wider sports community on the go.
With each evolution, fans had access to more and more content; and with social media, fans had a way to engage with the community outside of the parks, arenas and water coolers. That engagement around moments is extremely sticky. Conversations happen and communities are built around highlights.
Every sport, at every level, needs a short-form strategy to stay relevant, to stay in the conversation. The industry knows this and it’s the reason we’ve seen massive growth – there’s too much content and too much riding on getting it to your fans quickly to not have automated workflows.
Another big trend in the industry at the moment is filming vertically or reworking traditional broadcasts to fit a vertical screen. How has this impacted the sports broadcast industry and your business of highlights?
I think the industry is still figuring that out – and AI plays a key role. Most broadcast workflows were designed to deliver the highest quality broadcast to linear television. Event production itself has seen massive changes over the last couple of decades with advancements in cameras and resolutions, production tools, green screens, live graphics, etc. Then comes along this explosion of OTT, SVOD, AVOD, and all these distribution channels, each with their own unique challenges. Technology needs to be device friendly keeping a mobile-first approach.
These production teams (and their marketing counterparts) are as excited as we are by the prospect of automating these workflows. One of the most natural use cases for AI is content refactoring – in this case aspect ratio changes. Our stack includes scene, object, and pose detection, ball tracking, and other proprietary techniques to keep the action in frame so your TikTok and Instagram stories present your best moments in the form factor fans expect.
How do you see the role of highlights in sports broadcasts changing over the next few years?
PwC did their annual sports leader survey on the current and future state of the sports market report in 2021 where they interviewed 800 leaders from the space and well over 90% of those surveyed expected short-form/highlight demand to grow significantly over the next 5 years. It was top of the list in terms of consensus, so the short answer is: more highlights.
Fans have a huge appetite for content and short-form meets them where they are – on Twitter (now X), TikTok and other social platforms. The up and coming generation doesn’t watch TV, they grew up on YouTube, they thumb scroll TikTok for hours or binge shows over a weekend. There are too many challengers vying for the attention of sports fans. Highlights and short-form content is no longer a nice-to-have, it’s now a must-have.
Right now, the focus is on making sure their best moments get to fans as the action happens. That’s table stakes right now, but over the next couple of years, you’ll see AI deliver real-time localization, matchup-specific generative graphics, and more fan-centric storytelling.
In Africa, for example, there are 75 different languages spoken by at least a million people. India has 121 different languages. Shouldn’t they be able to enjoy their NBA or FIFA highlights in their native language? With native intonations and sensitivities? These audiences may not be large enough to justify providing commentary across all of these regions and languages, but that’s not a limitation with AI. That’s one area we’re excited about.
Our role is to ensure these advancements can be reliably implemented at scale and as part of an automated content workflow.
If you could work on the broadcast for one sporting event what would it be?
That’s an interesting question. I grew up playing American Football and have been fortunate to attend a couple of Super Bowls, so the Super Bowl is likely the answer most would expect of me, but I would say the Olympic Games. It’s such a special event. You have this amazing pageantry, amateur competitors training so hard to represent their families and their people, and all these emotional storylines.
It’s hard to beat the Olympics as an experience and to be part of the storytelling would be amazing.
The two-year partnership will see the First Team squad and coaching staff wear outfits designed and tailored by KNT (Kiton New Textures) – the urbanwear line created in Italy in 2018 by twins Mariano and Walter De Matteis – at selected matches during the coming season.
Mariano and Walter De Matteis’ passion for football has played an important role in bringing the two brands together, with London and its vibrant creative scene an inspiration for their designs.
Kiton’s iconic, premium fabrics come in shades of blue with touches of white, in line with the Club’s colours while also inspired by the sea off the coast of Naples.
Outfits include a single-breasted mélange suit, entirely cut and sewn by hand, which will be worn over a white cotton and linen crew-neck pullover and a cotton jersey polo shirt.
A second look is comprised of a blue ensemble, made from Kiton’s exclusive 14-micron wool, with a snap button shirt jacket and jogger pants, worn over a fine cotton t-shirt. The outfit consists of a zip-up hooded jacket made of compact nylon with a water-repellent, breathable and windproof membrane, a zip-up viscose sweatshirt, a short-sleeved crew-neck t-shirt and cotton jersey cargo trousers with pleated waist.
Accompanying footwear evokes street culture and conveys an informal yet elegant look, in black with a white embossed logo or vice versa.
Antonio De Matteis, Kiton CEO, said: “The Tottenham Hotspur family is very similar to ours, so we immediately matched in terms of values. In addition, KNT embodies the agonistic, dynamic and outstanding spirit of the Premier League, which is one of the most watched in the world. For a company like Kiton, being part of London’s international scene through a partnership with a historic club like Spurs is the best way to make a debut in the sports industry.”
Ryan Norys, Tottenham Hotspur Commercial Sales Director, said: “In Kiton we are proud to have a formalwear partner that will provide our players and coaching staff with exceptional design and tailoring, that will exude professionalism and maximise comfort as they arrive for matches – a crucial stage in the preparation for the 90 minutes ahead.”
Some of the biggest names in women’s football will become immortalised as digital avatars, as part of a new partnership between Sure and FIFA World, launched ahead of this month’s FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™.
The global governing body’s immersive fan experience, which launched last year ahead of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ will once again come to life within Roblox; with Sure female football ambassadors including Trinity Rodman, Lauren James and Melanie Leupolz featuring in the virtual environment as digital avatars, allowing its community and football fans around the world the chance to interact with the players in social spaces, earn rewards and digital collectibles.
Through the integration of its female ambassadors in FIFA World, Sure hopes to empower more girls with the confidence and opportunity to play football.
This latest collaboration comes as Sure launches its Breaking Limits: Girls Can series, with the ambition of equipping and inspiring more girls to play football and other sports. Sure’s global FIFA Women’s World Cup™ campaign will also see its ambassadors feature across a range of local and globally relevant assets and platforms, including TV, social, digital, OOH, retail and experiential.
Kathryn Swallow, Sure Global Brand VP, said:
“The FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023TM is set to be one of the sporting events of the year and we’re delighted to be involved as official sponsors of the tournament and to bring this ground-breaking partnership to life in FIFA World.
Together with FIFA, Sure is committed to getting more girls to play football and we are thrilled to launch the Sure Obby in FIFA World, a space where everyone can feel confident to move – regardless of race, gender or perceived ability.”
Eduardo Solis, Head of Marketing Partnerships at FIFA, added:
“Sure’s commitment to developing football has always been clear to us, and that’s why they’ve been a perfect partner for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023, and it’s great to see them engaging with our digital experiences to encourage the next generation – we’re excited to see what their ambassadors can bring to life within FIFA World.”
Sure female football ambassador, Lauren James, said:
“It’s so exciting to see a digital version of myself in Roblox and I think this just shows how far women’s football has come in a short space of time. I’m proud to be a part of a campaign with Sure that is helping to break down barriers for young girls and inspire them to follow their dreams.”
In part one of this series Callum Chambers, Head of Marketing at EngageRM, looks into the differences between the game day experience for fans in the NBA, UK and his native Australia.
After living in the UK for the past six years as an Aussie expat, I was introduced to a rich sporting culture that bore some similarities, but many more differences to my home country across their three major sports – cricket, football and rugby.
Then about a month ago, I was fortunate enough to be in Denver for the NBA Finals series against the Miami Heat. With the promise of a first franchise championship, and being a lifelong Nuggets fan, I made the decision to head to the action and be amongst ‘my people’, fellow fans.
Callum in his seats for Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
After speaking with NBA teams for this article, as well as what I encountered in Denver, it brought into stark contrast the difference between the two game day experiences. A very traditional UK sports culture compared to a commercially focused U.S. market, makes for an interesting dissection.
Game Day
Game day is where the most obvious distinction is and it’s where we’ll start this series. All five of my senses were blown into oblivion when I was in Denver before game 1.
Fans were out in droves, scattered about in front of Ball Arena while all the bars down-town were full for hours in advance of tip off. That feeling was amplified when you got inside, with merchandise stalls spanning the concourse, random chants breaking out of nowhere and a buzz you don’t just feel anywhere else in the world.
Head inside and you’re looking at a light show crossed with a rock concert and for a moment you forget you’re actually there to watch basketball. At every break they’re firing t-shirt cannons at you, Drake is blaring over the sound system, cheerleaders are dancing, and the mascot is trying to nail half court shots. There isn’t a moment where you’re afforded to draw a breath.
“First and foremost, we want to ensure that we create an environment where our team has an advantage to win”, said Becky Kimbro, SVP for Brand at the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs.
“That is the sole purpose of why we’re all so passionate about doing what we do, because we believe that we can help the team win if we’re creating that environment.”
With that high level focus of simply creating a home court advantage, means lots of smaller tactical activations and moves are aimed at getting the crowd as physically hyped as possible. For Becky and the Spurs brand and marketing team, they put fans into three different buckets.
“The strategy is to create an environment that engages core, casual, and curious fans”, said Kimbro.
“We try to do things like find themes (Star Wars night, Marvel night, etc.) for the curious fans to get them interested in attending just one game. We also do pre/post-game concerts, as we believe if we can get them in the building, our game environment can get them to come back.
“For the casual fans, we try to deepen their affinity to the sport and the team. We do things like alumni autograph sessions, or pre/post-game group activities like fan tunnels on court or the anthem.
“For core fans, we try to do different things during each game. Likely these are season ticket members, so we want to give an experience that is familiar but not ever tired.”
Meanwhile in old blighty
Across the Atlantic, the no-frills, traditional approach to a Premier League game day hasn’t changed a lot over the years.
I’m generalising a bit here, but typically before a match, you’ll likely spend your time in the pub, telling your mates how rubbish your manager is, and how you were originally picked in the academy team until you did your knee at 15.
If you weren’t going to the match, you were huddled into a pub watching the big screen, praying you’re not accidentally standing in front of a tattooed, middle-aged geezers view of the tele.
If you did have a ticket, you made the pilgrimage to the ground (after being at the pub for an hour, obviously) with all your scarf wearing brothers (90% men), passing by the pop-up food stalls before heading straight into the stadium.
This is where you start to notice the opportunity for teams to begin the physical engagement journey before kick-off, a time for younger fans to get actively involved.
Things like a VR pop up area just outside the stadium, where kids can try and fire a penalty past Aaron Ramsdale. Or a sponsored fan zone where you can take some selfies and get a free t-shirt (in exchange for your precious email address). Families, who teams and leagues should all be targeting, would be all over that and more likely to come back again and again. As Becky mentioned, this is all commonplace in the U.S.
During the game, it’s difficult for football and rugby. Without the stoppages that basketball, baseball and NFL have, there are limited moments to take advantage of.
Some of the gimmicks like kiss-cam at a place like West Ham probably wouldn’t go down all that well either.
But cricket has that opportunity. Steeped in tradition and heritage, cricket is caught between two worlds, one that Tim East, Fan Engagement Manager of The KIA Oval home of Surrey CCC is balancing.
“It is an interesting mix with Surrey County Cricket Club as we work hard to celebrate and maintain the tradition and heritage of the Club, whilst acknowledging that it is hugely important to attract new audiences to our venue”, said East.
“The U.S. teams and venues have built their match days into huge multi-faceted events. Fans, especially young fans, want more out of their matchday, outside of just watching the sport – whether this is live music, interactive games, half time entertainment, or competitions and prizes.”
The KIA Oval has a dedicated heritage department to help intertwine the past and the future, ensuring they don’t move too quickly and totally forget the celebrated history of the ground and Surrey County Cricket Club.
North of the Thames, one place that isn’t too worried about that is the brand spanking new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, who have dived into that future.
While it helps to have brand new state of the art facilities, it is a purpose-built entertainment venue that is capable of so much more than football. It has the world longest bar inside with a Beavertown microbrewery serving up pints inside the venue. They host NFL games here, have held gigs with Beyonce, Lady Gaga and Guns N’ Roses – it is by far the most commercialised and ‘Americanised’ venue in the UK.
Is that a glimpse into the future for all the other teams and leagues?
Where are we headed?
The U.S. is a younger country, so isn’t beholden to the same traditions and customs that the UK teams and leagues are. They also have an enormous appetite for innovation without even as much as a glance in the rear-view mirror.
But it also means they miss out on that hard to quantify ‘soul of the game’ that is unique to the UK. There isn’t and never will be, anything like being at Anfield with 50,000 Liverpool fans belting out You’ll Never Walk Alone.
But the major strategic difference seems to be that U.S. teams aren’t just focused on obtaining new and diverse fans, they’re obsessed with it.
“At the Spurs, we sit in one of the fastest growing regions in the country,” said Kimbro.
“There’s a ton of job creation and population growth there. There’s just a boatload of opportunity within that corridor.
“When you look at the demographics, the younger generations are increasingly more multicultural and more diverse, which I think really is a great thing for a sport like basketball that has a really diverse appeal.”
If the likes of cricket, football and rugby want to attract younger fans, they need to focus on more than just the on-field entertainment of the game. This generation wants to feel more connected to the players on the team, so they must start to think outside the box.
Inspiration can be drawn from the USA, not necessarily from the bravado and over the top match day stunts, but from their laser focus on the acquisition of a younger and more diverse set of fans.
This can be done without selling their soul and forgetting their rich history that has got them to where they are today.
And if you know your fans inside and out, giving them what they want is made a lot easier. More on that in part 2.
Click here to connect with Callum on LinkedIn or here to find out more about the work being done by EngageRM
After the huge anticipation leading up to the FIBA U19 Women’s Basketball World Cup 2023 around the world premiere of the ASB glass floor, what did everyone make of it now that it’s in play?
We’ve been getting all the feedback from a momentous and historic Quarter-Finals day in Madrid and we’re also looking forward to see what new designs are in store for the Semi-Finals and Sunday’s all-important Third Place and Final games.
A red-hot start in the debut game
If there was anybody still around who had doubts about the innovative surface, they were swept away with a memorable and brilliant first-ever game on it as France and Japan served up an overtime treat.
There were also some incredible individual displays, including Leila Lecan of France who fired 36 points – one of the highest ever recorded in the competition.
She said: “Maybe the glass floor brought me some luck. I will need to ask my club to always play on this glass floor. I must say that I fell on my knees and strangely it didn’t hurt as normal. Maybe there was something magical in the floor and also it was really cool with the design and the animations.”
Lapena loves the new look
Canada senior play-caller Victor Lapena, who has also been part of the coaching setup for his native Spain at all levels was sat courtside. He also gave a great review of the state-of-the-art court.
“When you see it on the big screen, it’s amazing – it’s marvelous. We have to give it some time, but it’s the future and it’s here to stay.
“For the public especially, it’s amazing. Who knows, but I’m sure the fans will soon interact and have the chance to appear on the court with their face or something – it’s unique and it’s a blast.”
“It’s great what FIBA is doing for the benefit of women’s basketball and basketball in general,” added Lapena.
Spanish ace Martin Carrion can’t quite believe it…
Playing on the court in a competitive game for the first time was something that Spanish star Iyana Martin Carrion will remember for a long, long time. She propelled her country into the Semi-Finals with an 18-point display against Lithuania.
She enthused: “Wow, playing in this court was unbelievable. I had never played in a court like this and it was crazy!”
“We’re really proud that it was done for the first time ever in a women’s tournament and we’re grateful because it gives exposure to our sport,”
