Member Insights: Why jeopardy is the key ingredient in a sporting event’s success

In this week’s Member Insight piece, Richard Brinkman tells us what makes a sporting event cut-through and why jeopardy is the thing you need above all else.

Mid to late summer is a wonderful time of year for sports fans. There is an abundance of top quality events to either attend, watch or follow; and no shortage of ways in which one can connect with them. 

In recent weeks the UK has been spoilt by Wimbledon, Ascot and other top-quality horse racing, Men’s and Women’s Ashes Cricket, Tour de France, Diamond League Athletics, various F1 Grand Prix, T20 Finals Day, World Aquatics Championships, Henley, and major golf championships for both men and women. This is even before you consider the Women’s Football World Cup; the beginning of Premier League pre-season and the (usually foolish) eternal hope that springs from new signings, squads and rhetoric; and the build-up to the Men’s Rugby World Cup. 

There is pretty much something for everyone. We are truly spoilt for choice. However, through the great luxury of choice sports fans are brought face-to-face with two of the principal challenges that sport and its administrators are grappling with in the 2020s.

The first issue is that of attention and cut-through – gaining a significant enough share of voice and impact to keep your event moving forward both commercially and in terms of popularity and participation. 

The second is the importance of jeopardy – balancing the fundamental meritocratic ethos of rewarding excellence from a level playing field with creating an entertaining event that can surprise, amaze and inspire.

Of course, these issues are not mutually exclusive – they are intrinsically linked and have a fly-wheel effect on each other in that if one is moving particularly positively so invariably will the other. However, unfortunately the opposite is also generally true.

Only this weekend the influence of jeopardy, and intrinsic excitement that it generates, was brought into stark focus for me. I am left feeling that, of the influential factors that determine whether an event is successful or not, a sense of jeopardy is the most important and vital.

I often find that the views and discussion points of other sports fans (some avid, others more casual) that I encounter at work and as I go about my social life (generally organised by my partner!) is very revealing and a good barometer of the attention and cut-through that sporting events are creating.

Indeed, last week it was very clear that, even by Wimbledon standards, the Men’s Final had transcended the sport and, indeed, the event itself. This was not solely due to the outstanding quality of the tennis. Nor the myriad of inventive ways that the AELTC had put in place for viewers to interact with the event. 

Most of the discourse I heard very much focussed on the “master and apprentice” narrative revolving around the potential passing of the dominant status in tennis away from the Federer/Nadal/Djokovic hegemony to a new generation of exciting players. The conversation was very much focussed on the jeopardy that Alcaraz and his flair could, perhaps, unseat the efficiency and relentlessness of the “King of Centre Court”. And so it (thrillingly) transpired. 

This weekend there was seemingly more interest in regular weather updates from Manchester, where significant sporting outcomes still very much hung in the balance, than in Lewis Hamilton’s pole and the Hungarian Grand Prix, the fall-out from the Lionesses’ hard-won opening World Cup game, or the leaderboard at The Open. 

This further reinforced to me the critical nature of jeopardy and its predominance over quality and accessibility/connection. 

Why would the rain at Old Trafford be of greater interest than an F1 race or the final round of one of only 4 Majors each year? The key reason, to me, is that there was still a lot riding on the outcome of Old Trafford and that an event of great consequence was still highly competitive and to be decided by the team that delivered a memorable performance. The compelling nature of the cricket played across the matches, even if not always of the highest quality, has also helped build interest.

Contrast this with Red Bull’s 12th consecutive victory in Hungary (by a very comfortable margin) and a final round at Hoylake where the leader had a decisive lead over the rest of the field going into Sunday that was never threatened or dented. There is little joy to be had in watching a Pro playing a conservative round to maintain a lead. There was certainly none of the thrill that Alcaraz and Djokovic created the previous week.

Of course, the well-documented awkwardness of Women’s World Cup match start-times for European audiences will have played a part in dampening conversation beyond the avid fan about the Lionesses and their tournament chances. A traditionally laboured opening performance from an England team does not help either. 

In a world where much of what we know and love about sport seems uncertain, where a lot seems to change and shift at an ever-increasing pace it is, perhaps, reassuring that the oldest principle of all holds firm – genuine competition and uncertain outcomes – ie jeopardy – trumps all else when trying to build cut-through and presence for an event.

Yes, the quality of that competition and people’s ability to connect with it are also important but without a significant amount of jeopardy about the result (i.e. the result matters and is uncertain) a significant share of voice is tough to generate. Particularly in a world where we are spoiled for choice for world-class sporting action.

Photo credit: REUTERS/Andrew Boyers

The House View – To grow, girls’ football needs more than the Women’s World Cup

It’s a shame about the awkward time difference for European viewers because the Women’s World Cup would be drawing the biggest TV audiences of the year in many countries. But even if everyone was watching the games on TV, the impact on ordinary girls playing the game every day might not amount to much. 

A comparison with recently ended Wimbledon, the biggest annual women’s event, is timely. 

In the UK we have the Wimbledon phenomenon in participation. During the fortnight men and women, boys and girls are suddenly out of the tennis court knocking a ball around, many of them people who don’t often play tennis.

The true success of the Women’s World Cup will be shown when it has a similar encouraging effect on the public’s sporting behaviour, when you see girls out in the park kicking a football around the same way that boys do with their jumpers for goalposts. 

You don‘t see girls doing that very much yet. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a group of teenage girls playing football with each other in a park near me.

Whose fault is that? Whose responsibility is it to get girls playing for fun? It not FIFA’s. It’s not really the FA’s either.

In fact there is a governance gap when it comes to casual participation and it’s not an easy one to close. 

When sporting bodies speak of ‘participation’ and ‘grassroots’ sport what they’re usually talking about is organised sport, formal competition and instruction with referees and accredited coaches and the like. This is basically sport that requires kids to affiliate to an NGB to take part in. In a nutshell, it’s what parents of junior footballers have to pay the FA or recognised clubs for.

The comparison with tennis is again apt.

The casual players crowding courts during Wimbledon don’t have to affiliate to the LTA to enjoy playing although the places where they play are officially homologated as tennis courts. You can’t play that sport otherwise.

But you can play football. Kicking a ball in the park doesn’t require a proper pitch. And I dare say most of boys’ football is played informally in parks or in the street or on the beach.

If girls’ football is really going to grow they need to be encouraged to get together with their friends and play informally in the same way just for fun. That’s what sport is about and it’s where future stars begin.

Every morning the parks of London are full of women and girls who are out for a run. They don’t need to join anything, they don’t need to pay anything to some official body. They simply get out to enjoy running and staying fit. 

I’m not going to get into how important this activity is for reducing the long-term burden on the health system. If I didn’t know better I’d say it’s up to the government to get more girls playing football to help the NHS.

I’d venture to say the biggest encouragement ever given to running for fun was Nike’s Just Do It slogan.

Girls’ football could use a similar push to encourage everyday fun participation.

Just Kick It.

Never mind that it might sound like an anti-addiction campaign. Imagine if Adidas were to go there. 

The ensuing fireworks would be as entertaining as any World Cup final.

By Jay Stuart, Content Director for iSportConnect

iSportConnect Sponsorship Index: Your complete Premier League sponsorship breakdown

As we get closer to the start of a new Premier League season, we decided to turn the focus of this month’s Sponsorship Index, powered by caytoo, to the 20 teams which make up the league. 

Sponsorship of Premier League teams is something that is in the news a lot at the moment because of Chelsea’s failure to find a front of shirt sponsor. This will be the first time they haven’t had a name on the front of their shirts since Gulf Air became their first shirt sponsor in 1983.

Another hot topic around the league is the banning of betting brands as front of shirt sponsors. The government-imposed ban will not come into effect until the 2026/27 season. Compared to ten months ago, one fewer club has a gambling sponsor and overall the number of gambling sponsors has dropped 18%.

We have looked into the partnerships held by each Premier League side to determine the key trends in sponsorship. 

In a similar vein to the likes of the NBA and MLB, three sectors dominate sponsorship among English Premier League teams: Food & Beverage (accounting for 15.6% of sponsors and the three most common individual sponsors – Monster Energy, Cadbury and Heineken), Consumer Services and Financial Services (both 11.1%).

Food & Beverage is driven by Alcohol (5.7%, the 2nd most prevalent sub sector) and Soft Drinks and Nutrition & Supplements (both 3.9%) while Consumer Services is driven by Gambling (6.9%, the most prevalent sub sector). Financial Services is driven by Payments/Transfer (3.3%) and Investment/Trading (2.7%) firms.

However, over the last 10 months, Financial Services and F&B have seen the biggest decline in the number of sponsorships, falling 31% and 21%, respectively. Financial Services’ decline has been down to Investment/Trading (a 40% drop in the number of deals, despite eToro’s recent splurge on PL teams to become the joint 4th most prevalent sponsor), Insurance (-44%) and Payments/Transfer (-27%). While F&B’s drop is down to Soft Drinks (-38%), Alcohol (-24%) and Foods (-42%).

This drop among traditionally dominant sectors such as Financial Services and F&B has resulted in a slight consolidation (or more even spread) of sponsors between the different sectors. For instance, 10 months ago, the difference between the most and least dominant sectors was 17.7 percentage points but this has dropped to 14.4. This suggests PL teams may be starting to do a better job at looking beyond the ‘usual suspects’ for sponsors.

In contrast, Travel & Tourism and Industrials have seen the biggest increase in the number of sponsorships, rising 53% and 100%, respectively. T&T’s growth – a trend identified by caytoo earlier this year – has been driven by Travel Agencies (up 83%), notably including Destination Sport Travel who sponsor three teams (Burnley, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United). 

The View From Lausanne: The power of purposeful partnerships in sport

In this week’s View from Lausanne piece Michel Cutait, Acting Secretary General for the World Obstacle Federation, takes a look at the need of sports partnerships to have a purpose and why they are so much more powerful when they do.

Partnerships have become a driving force for growth, innovation, and social impact in the constantly evolving sports sector. Currently, purposeful partnerships have emerged as the foundation for success, going beyond financial gains to align values, develop stakeholders, and contribute to society.

However, these partnerships require a cultural shift within organisations to adopt collaboration and shared goals. Leveraging the power of data and strategic collaboration, purposeful alliances are reshaping sports management, paving the way for sustainable success.

Purposeful partnerships in the sports sector transcend traditional transactional relationships. They are built on a shared purpose, common values, and a commitment to achieving collective goals. Organisations need to view their collaborators as strategic allies, working towards a greater cause. This requires open communication, transparency, and a willingness to co-create innovative solutions to confront societal challenges.

In the realm of sports, intentional partnerships between teams and brands are driven by a mutual commitment to enhancing fan experiences, fostering brand loyalty, and promoting social impact. By leveraging comprehensive databases, organisations can identify partners aligned with their vision and values. These partnerships go beyond sponsorships, creating authentic connections that resonate with fans and consumers. Understanding fans’ preferences allows for personalised and impactful experiences, deepening the relationship between the parties.

Collaborations between leagues and federations have the potential to drive transformation and growth in the sports sector. By joining forces, these entities can pool resources, share best practices, and promote innovation. The power of purposeful partnerships is amplified when public and private entities come together to promote positive changes.

These collaborations enable the development of initiatives that ensure the implementation of social programs, interaction with local communities, promotion of social inclusion, as well as job creation and economic development, with the ultimate goal of social responsibility.

Purposeful partnerships between brands, organizations, and athletes with non-profit organizations create significant social impact. They require a commitment to collective success that places social impact at the center of the relationship. It’s important that in these partnerships the parties’ values share a purposeful identity, precisely because this synergy will enable social goals to be achieved.

Some examples of purposeful partnerships that continue to generate important results include:

– NFL Player Engagement and All Pro Dad: This purposeful partnership between the NFL Player Engagement and All Pro Dad focuses on strengthening family relationships among NFL players. Through initiatives promoting involved fatherhood, the partnership supports players on their journey as parents and provides resources for healthy family relationships.

– NBA and Basketball Without Borders: The NBA collaborates with Basketball Without Borders, a foundation with global initiatives, to organize basketball camps worldwide. This partnership has reached 66 camps, impacting over 3,900 campers from 134 countries. It promotes cultural exchange, provides development opportunities for young athletes, and supports social causes in local communities.

– MLS NEXT All-Star Game presented by Allstate: The partnership between MLS and Allstate prioritizes the growth, development, and safety of young soccer players in North America. The MLS NEXT All-Star Game showcases rising stars and creates a positive and exciting environment for the next generation of athletes.

Looking to the future, several trends are shaping the landscape of purposeful partnerships in the sports sector. The integration of technology, artificial intelligence, and data analysis is set to revolutionise the way partnerships are formed and managed. This means that organisations will be able to identify compatible partners more effectively, leveraging advanced analytics and data-driven insights.

Furthermore, the increasing emphasis on social responsibility and sustainability presents an opportunity for purposeful partnerships to promote meaningful changes in society. 

Sports organisations are increasingly focused on reducing their environmental impact, promoting diversity and inclusion, and supporting social causes. Purposeful partnerships that align with these values have the potential to create a powerful platform for change, such as promoting environmentally friendly practices, raising awareness about sustainability issues, and inspiring fans and consumers to take initiatives themselves.

As the sports sector continues to evolve, purposeful partnerships will play a crucial role in its success, forging enduring alliances that drive growth, innovation, and positive social impact. Purposeful partnerships in the sports sector are transformative and offer exciting possibilities for the future. By adapting to emerging trends, like the integration of technology and focus on social responsibility and sustainability, organizations can create purposeful partnerships that make a real difference.

These transformations promote a culture of collaboration, shared purpose, and a commitment to creating a positive impact in the world of sports. Sports organizations, brands, athletes, and entities with social purposes can shape a future of growth, innovation, and social change in the sports sector.”

Michel Cutait is a senior executive, consultant, and professor driving business development, strategic management, and sustainable growth for international organizations. With over two decades dedicated to the real estate, retail, and sports industries, he currently serves as Acting Secretary-General at World Obstacle, the international sports federation governing obstacle sports (OCR, Ninja and Adventure Racing). He holds a Masters in Social Relations (Brazil), Marketing (Australia), and a Masters in Sports Administration and Technology from EPFL (AISTS) in Lausanne, the Olympic capital. He has written 5 books, the last one entitled Management Performance Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

The House View – TNT Sports lands in the UK, but what does it mean?

Since the merger between Warner Bros. Discovery and BT Sport was announced, humble sports fans have been wondering what this will mean for them. 

Well, as the clocks ticked to 6:00 am on Tuesday, we got our answer as all BT Sport social media accounts, channels and apps became TNT Sports. 

You would have to have been living under a rock – to not have seen the advertising campaign for the rebrand which, with its “New Name, Same Game” tagline, was plastered all over our screens at the back end of last season.

So, what does this all mean for the humble fan at home?

Firstly, and most importantly, existing BT Sport subscribers don’t have to do a thing. Everything is transferred seamlessly.

Now, onto the nitty gritty. 

Well, we have some new on-screen talent. All football coverage will be hosted by one of their four female hosts. Leading the line, replacing Jake Humphrey is two-time SJA award-winning presenter Laura Woods. Woods is joined by Jules Breach, the new touchline reporter, Reshmin Chowdhury and Lynsey Hipgrave.

The majority of the pundits and commentators will be staying the same with the welcome addition of fan-favourite Ally McCoist as a regular co-commentator and studio pundit. 

“The most important thing for us is that the people on the screen are relatable and genuine,” Scott Young, Senior Vice President Content and Production, WBD Sports Europe.  “We want to be right by the fans, everyone that is working on all our shows are incredibly passionate about sport, they are fans as well, and we want to get that across.”

Andrew Georgiou, President and MD of Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe, added: “We can laugh at ourselves, we’re approachable, and we don’t take ourselves too seriously, with a bit of that British humour, which I think the BT Sport brand did have and I think it’s something that we definitely want to keep as part of that TNT Sports brand..”

Now onto the all important price. BT Sport customers currently pay £29.99 a month and this will remain the same, and as an added value TNT subscribers will be able to access the Discovery+ app. 

The app and platform will also host all of the TNT Sports content and in the next 18 months all the Eurosport channels will be included in the offering as well.

There are plenty of new technological features on the app as well, that are going to add to the live experience including the ability to watch along with friends around the world. As with all these things though it will come down to how easy they are to operate, the inevitable wifi problems and how much they disrupt the live viewing experience.

Can they not just compete with Sky, but knock them off their perch?

This is an important question and I certainly think nobody has been in a better position to do so in the past decade. They will have the energy of a rebrand and the financial muscle of a large-scale multinational media company to try and push them forward. 

They are also already in possession of some of the UK’s most valuable sporting rights being the home of European club football, club rugby and also cricket in Australia. Adding the rights packages held by Eurosport into this will only strengthen their offering. 

Georgiou said: “We are a premium sports broadcaster and our 100% stated ambition is to remain a premium sports broadcaster.” 

When pushed on the upcoming Premier League rights tender, Georgiou refused to commit either way, but it is hard to see a world where TNT are not going to look to increase their share of Premier League games. They currently have 32 Saturday lunchtime games and two rounds of midweek fixtures. 

The next round of Premier League rights will see an extra 70 games being broadcast, taking the total to 270. We are yet to see how the different packages will look like when the league carves them up and who else is going to enter the bidding war, but this is something to keep an eye on over the next year.

As with everything in sport it always comes back to the rights and nothing drives subscriptions and viewers in the UK like Premier League rights.

By Alex Brinton, Content Manager for iSportConnect

The Bottom Line: Apple becomes first US company to have a market cap of $3 trillion

This month’s iSportConnect Business Index sees big wins among betting brands, broadcasters and gaming business. Twice CityAM Analyst of the Year, Ian Whittaker gives his views on what has happened over the last month.

We have started into the Q2 results season and sentiment in the markets has turned more positive as inflation continues to come down on both sides of the Atlantic and market perceptions of the chances of a soft landing increase off the back of hopes of still robust jobs data and consumer data. One factor that has boosted the markers is the expectations that future interest rates are likely to peak soon, and that helps the Tech sector in particular. Nasdaq had its strongest 1H in its history and that is reflected in the performance of the Tech names in our index such as Apple, Microsoft and Netflix. 

Elsewhere, more sector or industry specific factors had a major impact amongst several names. In apparel, Puma has had a strong run after.a long time in the doldrums as analysts and the market start to believe that the company is on the road to recovery. Madison Square Garden and LiveNation both benefited from general positive sentiment off the back of continued resilient consumer demand. The (ex-China) Games names also saw a 9-10% increase as surging optimism the Microsoft takeover of Activision would go through led investors to buy the names in the hope of future M&A activity. However, perhaps the strongest sector-wide rise was in the Betting space, where several of the names we look at also benefited off the back of expectations of improving earnings. 

We will have a clearer picture once results season is over but so far, economic sentiment seems to be improving and that bodes well for the names in our index.

UK Athletics announce partnership with Sportsbeat and PRTNR Strategies

UK Athletics have appointed Sportsbeat and PRTNR Strategies to deliver a comprehensive content, digital, communications and PR brief, in an exciting new partnership for the sport.

The two agencies, both part of Beat Media Group, work with some of the biggest names and brands in sport, including Team GB, The Open, FIFA, Six Nations Rugby and the National Lottery, as well as a host of other national and international governing bodies. 

PRTNR, the newly formed comms division of Beat Media Group, will team up with content and syndication specialists Sportsbeat to deliver a totally integrated solution, producing content at scale to channels owned and earned.

The brief also includes activities at next year’s World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow and the 2026 European Championships in Birmingham, as well as auditing and revising the digital strategy for UK Athletics’ social channels.

UK Athletics Chief Executive Jack Buckner said: “We are delighted to announce this partnership today which will ensure exciting and engaging digital output across our channels.  UKA have enjoyed working with the Sportsbeat brand over the last 20 years, and more recently that relationship has grown as they have supported our content output throughout our events and also at championships.

“We are looking forward to telling stories and working with athletes more closely to promote them and their channels to grow the athletics audience.” 

Beat Media Group Managing Director James Parsons said: “There is no more diverse and inclusive sports team competing on the international stage than UK Athletics and we’re looking forward to telling those stories. 

“This is a long-term partnership using our full range of PR, content and syndication services. We’re delighted UK Athletics has joined our roster of blue-chip sporting clients.”

The NBA announce teams and date for Paris Game 2024

The National Basketball Association (NBA) today announced that The NBA Paris Game 2024 will feature the Brooklyn Nets and the Cleveland Cavaliers playing the league’s third regular-season game in Paris at the Accor Arena on Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024.

The NBA Paris Game 2024 will mark the Nets’ second game in Paris, having played a preseason game in the French capital in 2008.  Brooklyn currently features 2021-22 Kia NBA All-Defensive First Team and 2023 USA Basketball Men’s National Team member Mikal Bridges, 2023 USA Basketball Men’s National Team member Cam Johnson and three-time NBA All-Star Ben Simmons.  The Nets have made five consecutive playoff appearances.

The Cavaliers will be playing their first game in Europe.  Cleveland currently features four-time NBA All-Star Donovan Mitchell, 2022 NBA All-Stars Jarrett Allen and Darius Garland, and 2022-23 Kia NBA All-Defensive First Team member Evan Mobley.  The Cavaliers won their first NBA championship in 2016 and made four consecutive NBA Finals appearances from 2015 to 2018.

The NBA Paris Game 2024 will air live on beIN SPORTS and NBA League Pass, the league’s premium live game subscription service available on the NBA App, reaching fans in more than 200 countries and territories on television, digital media and social media.  In addition to The NBA Paris Game 2024, the league and its partners will conduct interactive fan activities, NBA Cares community outreach initiatives and Jr. NBA youth basketball development programming that will bring the NBA experience to fans in the French capital.

The game and surrounding events will be supported by a roster of marketing partners, including Foot Locker, La Française des Jeux, Nike and Tissot.  Additional partners will be announced in the coming months. 

Tickets for The NBA Paris Game 2024 will go on sale at a later date.  Fans can register their interest in tickets and gain access to presale information and more by visitingNBAEvents.com/ParisGame.  NBA ID members will get priority access to the pre-sale. Special ticket packages offering premium access, VIP experiences, hospitality and local hotel accommodations are available for purchase at https://nbaexperiences.com/nba-paris-games-2024.

There have been more NBA players from France than from any other country outside North America, including 2023 No. 1 overall draft pick Victor Wembanyama (San Antonio Spurs).  Live NBA games and programming air in France on beIN SPORTS and NBA League Pass, including 45 weekend games in primetime last season as part of the league’s “NBA Saturdays and NBA Sundays” European primetime initiative. 

Leeds United announce sale to 49ers Enterprises

Leeds United Football Club can announce that the EFL has approved the sale of the Club to 49ers Enterprises, paving the way for the immediate transition of ownership.

Paraag Marathe, previously Vice Chairman and Board member of the Club, will take over as Leeds United Chairman. In this role, Marathe will oversee all aspects of the Club, including football and business operations, and drive the strategy to fight for promotion back to the Premier League in the 2023-2024 season. Marathe takes over from Andrea Radrizzani, who has been majority owner of Leeds United since 2017. Angus Kinnear, CEO of Leeds United and Board member, will remain in his current position, and continue to direct the Club’s day-to-day operations. Rudy Cline-Thomas, Founder and Managing Partner of MASTRY, will join the Board as Co-Owner and Vice Chairman of the Club.

“This is an important moment for Leeds United and we are already hard at work,” said Marathe. “This transition is a necessary reset to chart a new course for the Club. We have already appointed a highly-respected First Team Manager with a track record of success, and we are confident Leeds will field a competitive squad to contend for promotion next season. It’s a privilege to carry this torch as I know we have a responsibility to ensure this Club makes our staff, players, supporters, and the Leeds and Yorkshire communities proud.”

Cline-Thomas added, “With my family hailing from Leeds, it’s an honour to be able to uplift this incredible community. This is more than just an opportunity, it’s a personal mission. The chance to reinvigorate the cherished Leeds culture, to create a platform that attracts the world’s finest players, and build a truly global brand that celebrates diversity, is a prospect that thrills me.”

49ers Enterprises, led by Marathe and 49ers CEO Jed York, has steadily supported and increased its investment in Leeds United over the past five years. Moving forward, the group will look to enhance all aspects of the Club both on and off the pitch. Marathe, Kinnear, and the Club recently announced the appointment of Daniel Farke as First Team Manager. The Club’s leadership has also been laying the groundwork to build a successful squad by retaining key players from last season’s team as well as bringing in new talent.

“49ers Enterprises is bringing fresh leadership, management, and a commitment to investment, which I’m confident will meet our ambition to compete for promotion and remain in the top flight as an established Premier League Club,” said Kinnear. “I know Paraag, Rudy and 49ers Enterprises will keep supporters central to their plans during their custodianship and I am excited to work in realising the true potential of this great club.”

Radrizzani said, “It has been an honour to guide Leeds United over the last six years and to spend so much time with the best fanbase in the world. 49ers Enterprises have been fantastic partners for years and I’m confident they will take Leeds to the next level.”

Member Insights: The life of an activation agency working with sports rights holders

Russ Yershon is the Director of ConnectingBrands which has been working with football clubs for the last 15 years on behalf of brands who partner with them. In this article Russ explains the intimate details of what it was like to work with clubs when delivering activation projects.

Sponsoring or being a partner of a football club is big business for a brand. In the Premier League, front of shirt sponsorships are in the millions of pounds and also being a sector partner with no branding on the main kit can also be in the millions of pounds if we look at the big six clubs.

Investing multi-millions of pounds for a brand must come with a clear strategy for what they want to achieve and it’s imperative to work very closely with the commercial teams and plan how you will look to activate the many rights you have.

I’ve been lucky enough to work for many sports betting and Trading brands who partner with football clubs to activate and manage their rights. The first piece of advice I would give to a brand entering a partnership is to have a clear strategy of what you want to achieve from the partnership and then actively put a plan together with the commercial team to deliver this throughout the season.

Being proactive, on the front foot and planning before the season starts is key to being ahead of the game when looking at activation. There is a skill to maximising each asset from LED (electronic board match day advertising) to the placing and visual media backdrop logos the brand will have on the pre-and post match interviews.

When it comes to the content access day, it’s important to plan your player access days as early as possible and give yourself 10-12 weeks of planning before filming with the players. Having our own videography team who film, edit and post produce content has given us control of the process, and enables the client to achieve better results.

Working with commercial teams in the build up to the player access day can be challenging as some of the ideas we and the client have in mind are rejected by team management, due to the physicality of some of the tasks / football challenges the partner has in mind.

One of the best player access days we have delivered was last season with West Ham courtesy of client Scope Markets. We delivered a number of fun challenges with players, featuring captain Declan Rice, we also had influencer Behzinga as host and also part of the content.

Our recommendation to brands is to be as creative as you can with player access content, plus we would also highly advise that it can be beneficial to plan how the content will be showcased across the Clubs channels to maximise the number of views by fans.

The way to fully leverage a player access day is to collaborate with a media publisher, so the content you produce can be amplified and syndicated across their channel. There are many publishers such as 433, One Football, DAZN, Goal.com and SportBible who have an audience that your brand would love to reach and by engaging them in the planning process, with blessing from the football club, can benefit all parties.

Therefore, once the content is post produced, the content can sit on multiple channels (club, partner and media publisher) and type of channel (web, social media, YouTube) delivering multi-million views where the brand gets outstanding awareness.

Dealing with commercial teams can be challenging, but also very rewarding. We have had excellent relationships with commercial teams over the years and the most on the ball teams include Arsenal, Fulham and West Ham.

Setting up weekly status meetings as activation agency with the club and partner is key to consistent dialogue ensuring proactivity and reflection, which can then be used to deliver learnings for future campaigns.

I have worked with plenty of Asian facing brands and their number one priority is awareness. It’s so important for them to have maximum branding on match day and working with commercial teams to deliver that is key. The broadcast arc (area from the main camera which faces the pitch) is key to ensure the brand has the best coverage”

In addition, the key pieces of content include a signing ceremony and delivering content to promote and celebrate Chinese New Year. We have had lots of fun filming players trying to speak mandarin and sharing messages of celebration of Chinese New Year to the brand’s customers and the asian audience.

Sometimes filming can be delivered in one take, other times it may take a few and an example of that was filming on behalf of 12BET with Wolves last season where it took the players a number of takes to deliver the correct message, however, having a relaxed environment and making the players comfortable, enables us to deliver the best content for the brand..

The best type of content which works well are challenges which have a competitive edge. Filming usually takes place at the training ground once the players have finished training and when recording with 3 players, to get the best out of them you need to ensure some kind of competitive content. These are top professionals and are competitive by nature, so it works to engage them with this type of content strand.

When working for a brand of a club, you become a fan instantly. You have to watch the games, follow the team and hope they can achieve their objectives, as this will mean the fans are happy and for the partner, it means positively in their engagement and connection. Plus, this can also mean more live games and therefore more exposure. When it comes to tickets and hospitality, the brand can drive significant engagement by utilising them well through fan competitions and also using them wisely internally to benefit their business.

Some assets which can be very important for brands are money that can’t buy experiences. 

Like content days, it’s important for brands to have a clear strategy on how to utilise money can’t buy rights. From signed shirts, watching the players train, to VIP match day experiences, top level hospitality and also play on the pitch experience at the end of the season, executing these well to benefit the business is vital.

Whether it’s taking key clients and suppliers, entertaining customers, or hosting new prospective clients, having a clear plan and internal process is important. We constantly advise our clients to look at these rights to benefit the business so that you can see an ROI on them, or a clear benefit to long term success. Logistics can play a key part in delivering these and other rights and we take the stress out of this by our extensive experience in knowing how these types of rights are delivering and what needs to be communicated with guests to make it run smoothly”.

Most Premier League Clubs use third party suppliers to evaluate partner rights looking at their reach from brand coverage on match day and many will share results from content day, social media posts or email analysis from the brands engagement via the clubs CRM. These reports are hugely valuable for brand managers to take up the chain for the Board of Directors to see how the sponsorship / partnership is going. With the reach of the Premier League in the billions globally, having your brand visible on match day can give outstanding awareness and seeing the reporting can vindicate the reasoning on why taking up the partnership.

We are hugely passionate about our work and especially our clients’ partnership in football. With many years of engaging with commercial teams at Premier League Football clubs, we know exactly how they work and how we can get the most out of brand partnerships with them. Being proactive, on the ball, having a clear plan of how to activate rights throughout the season makes it a lot easier to make the partnership a success. When the season is up and running it can be manic, so looking ahead is very important as you can’t turn around a player access filming day in a week or two.

It’s an absolute privilege and we have such pride in working for brands who partner with Premier League Clubs and the energy we have to maximise and leverage rights of our clients ensures a constant positive approach to the relationship.

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