Why Food & Beverage is the most popular sector for sponsoring NBA franchises

While most eyes around the NBA are turning towards Denver with the city hosting Game 1 of their first NBA finals tonight, we have taken a step back to give you a full breakdown of who is sponsoring the 30 NBA franchises.

Food & Beverage (F&B) (18%), Financial Services (16%) and Consumer Services (13%) are the most prevalent sectors partnering with NBA teams, accounting for nearly half of all sponsors.

F&B partnerships are driven by Alcohol and Soft Drinks, the former being the most dominant sub-sector by far with 76 partnerships, followed by gambling at 44. Like the MLB, Alcohol brands account for around 10% of all partnerships but a significant difference is that in the MLB, beer brands account for around 86% of alcohol partners compared to just 50% in the NBA. This shows that spirits and wine brands clearly consider basketball to be a much better avenue to reach their drinkers than baseball. 

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In an Atlantic article in 2014, Derek Thompson, looked into the different demographics that watch US sports. In a time where brands are increasingly aware of who they want to target to make sure their advertising dollars, a look at these demographics could explain why certain sectors target different sports. As of 2014 the NBA had a 45% black, 45% under 34 and 70% male viewership, it would be surprising if these figures had moved much in the last decade. If so, it’s more likely to be more concentrated around these demographics. Over in the MLB, the TV audience was 83% white, 50% over 55 and 70% male. Different audiences, different sponsors.

Financial Services is driven by insurance and banks – much like it is in the MLB. However, in the NBA they account for significantly less share (16%) than in the MLB (25%). This suggests that baseball is more likely to be seen by potential FS partners as a better way to differentiate their ‘drier’ product sectors and drive loyalty through team loyalty than basketball.

Consumer Services is driven by Gambling and Specialised Consumer Services. The sector accounts for a higher share of partners (13%) than in the MLB (6%). Notably, gambling is the second most prevalent sub-sector in the NBA, much higher than that in both the MLB (ranked 7th) and Formula 1 (19th). In the NBA, Gambling is driven by fantasy sports brands, such as FanDuel and DraftKings, which account for a much larger share of Gambling brands than in the MLB.

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Meet the Member: “In 2023, we could reach more than 1,500 matches a year”

The European Cricket League has grown rapidly since its inception in 2018, the CEO and Co-Founder Roger Feiner has been at the centre of it all. In this interview we discuss the challenges, the impact of the pandemic and their OTT platform.

So Roger, to kick off take us through your journey in sport?

A long story short, I was a Swiss national tennis player and a lawyer. In my career as a lawyer I headed the sport and marketing department of SRG. I then moved over to work for FIFA as Director of Broadcasting from 1999 to 2002 so I left after the Korea and Japan World Cup in the summer of 2002. After that I became the founder of two private sports TV channels in Switzerland. Then I met my co-founder of the European Cricket League, an Australian by the name of Daniel Weston and together we founded the ECL in 2018.

What was it about the European Cricket League – ECL – project that made you want to get involved?

We wanted to create something that was similar to the UEFA Champions League in football. We know how much power cricket has around the world, it is one of the biggest sports, you only have to look at the amount of money that the broadcast rights for the IPL were sold for. What we realised was that cricket wasn’t a big deal at the elite level in central Europe, but it is growing rapidly. What really fascinated me was the potential we had to reach cricket fans on a global scale and also the chance to try and play a role in evolving the game through our T10 format.

How has it evolved since it was founded in 2018?

In 2019 we kicked-off the very first European Cricket League in Murcia, Spain in a partnership with eight nations and its respective club champions – it was a highly successful event with about 120 million TV spectators only on three event days – but – like everything – it was not easy to find further traction in the upcoming months when the pandemic hit the world. 

However it did mean that in 2020 we were able to get the European Cricket Network ECN started in its true sense. We were able to play matches (the European Cricket Series – ECS) without any spectators but there were still quite a few restrictions and they tended to be different in different countries which made it a bit more challenging. 

That year in Helsinki, we held our first ECS tournaments and we were able to play even 700 matches between June and the end of the year. The following year we were able to integrate 30 European Cricket federations within the ECN family. This gave us the ability to create our version of the European Cricket Championship – ECC (the EUROS of Cricket) with 21 national teams competing to be crowned the best in Europe. And in the same year, we were able to organise 1,200 matches and we have continued to grow since. Since 2022, the ECL and the ECC are being played and together with all the ECS our annual calendar is almost full.

Roger Feiner with his Co-Founder Daniel Weston (right)

In 2023, with the introduction of women’s events and international friendlies called ECI, it is expected that we could reach more than 1,500 matches. Broadcasting these games is a big part of what we do. All the games are produced to a high standard TV format where we produce around ten hours of TV coverage daily!

How easy has it been to attract sponsors for the league?

Just as I am sure it is with any other sport it is not easy to get sponsors, especially early on. One of our strengths is the number of TV / OTT eyeballs we bring in throughout the year thanks to the number of games and the fact we are playing on 330 days in the year. There aren’t many platforms that can compete with us in that regard.

We have also been able to tailor the packages we offer depending on the needs of the partners. Being flexible has really helped us when it comes to making sure our partners sign on the dotted line in the end.

What are some of the challenges that you are facing as a business?

The challenges have mainly come from how quickly we have grown as a business and trying to keep it all under control. Trying to make commercial partners aware of the potential of European Cricket is one of our main jobs at the moment. We also have to understand that for the vast majority of Europe, football is still in the DNA, but we have to be able to tell the cricket story and convey potential new partners of this fantastic opportunity. If we do this successfully, we will also be able to bring new, young Europeans to cricket, but that will naturally take a bit of time.

There’s so many different formats and tournaments out there from the Blast in the UK to the SA20. What makes the European Cricket League stand out?

Our T10 format makes it fast and easy to understand. There is always lots of action going on and on a normal day we can have up to five matches a day running. I think for spectators and viewers at home the length of the game is very attractive – it is shorter than a football match. With this new format, we attract a new cricket clientele – which is key for the future of this sport and we have top cooperation and support from the ICC.

Tell us a bit about the thought process behind live streaming your fixtures and how did you go about making that happen?

Producing more than 1500 matches per season from January until December can only happen with a great deal of planning, discipline and a superb team that works incredibly hard behind the scenes.

We get a lot of help from external partners as well with companies such as Spring Media and Sportz Interactive to name just a few. One of the key aspects of what we do is the very close cooperation with the data intelligence and software partner Palantir. Their system helps us a lot with the planning, preparation and delivering of events.

What work are you doing to attract new fans?

Attracting new fans is a daily job. We are constantly working on building a community of fans through our social media. Just through the amount of cricket being played we have mountains of content, but we also invest a lot into our school project (Cricket’s cool) that is aimed at bringing in thousands of young school boys and girls to the cricket grounds to get first hand experience of watching the games and then taking part in cricket coaching clinics supported by professional coaches.

The Bottom Line: Streaming wars continue to disrupt broadcaster’s share price

In this month’s iSportConnect Sports Business Index our Content Manager, Alex Brinton, dives deep into this month’s movers and shakers with a particular focus on the world of broadcast.

Let’s start by focussing on the wonderful world of television and streaming. There are some big winners and big losers all over the industry. Amazon are the biggest winners of this month, and the year so far, they have seen a share price increase of 38% in 2023, 29% more than the 9% average on the S&P 500. While their Q1 results have not set the world alight, they were better than expected and as a result have result in an encouraging response from the market.

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Comcast have had a strong month as well seeing their market cap overtake Disney this month by moving from $155bn to $167bn. It has also been a strong month for Netflix as well with a share price increase of 12.097%, their biggest jump since October 2022. This came after they announced that nearly five million account holders are using the service’s advertisement tier.

Both Comcast and Netflix are benefitting from a growing perception that the major media companies are becoming more rational in their investment decisions together with a general move towards Tech as investors become more positive on the economy.

Further down the list Live Nation, Ticketmaster’s parent company, saw a rise of 23.58% after announcing impressive Q1 earnings. The company’s CEO, Michael Rapone said: “What is clear as we look at our results and operating metrics is that global demand for live events continues to reach new heights — demand has been growing for a long time and is showing no signs of letting up.”

They are benefitting from the pattern of consumers wanting to enjoy live experiences again, which we see across many sectors such as Travel and Entertainment.

Take a look at how the rest of the Index performed below:

Event Report: Maximising ROI in Sports Sponsorship

Children’s Coaching Collaborative have launched Play Their Way campaign

The Children’s Coaching Collaborative (CCC) have today launched ‘Play Their Way’ – a campaign to transform the way children and young people are coached in sport and physical activity, prioritising their rights, needs and enjoyment in a ‘child-first’ approach to help increase activity levels. The campaign is funded by Sport England and The National Lottery and is led by the 17 partner organisations that make up the CCC.

Sport England’s latest Active Lives Children survey found that less than half (47%) of children who regularly exercise strongly agree that they enjoy taking part in sport and physical activity, down from the pre-pandemic level of 51%. The same survey showed that more than half (53%) do not get enough exercise. 

Enjoyment is one of the biggest motivators for children and young people to get active, which is why Play Their Way is dedicated to ensuring children have the best possible experience in sport and activity through the people who know them best – their coaches.

A ‘child-first’ approach to coaching is about championing every child’s voice, choice and journey in sport and physical activity. The Play Their Way campaign aims to level the playing field by putting children first and helping them enjoy being active in their own way, where great coaching can inspire a child to stay active for life.

The campaign will work with England’s 2.6 million coaches to build a grassroots movement aimed at increasing and improving child-first coaching in communities across the nation.

Play Their Way kicked off this morning with an event in South London at Peckham BMX Club, which is changing the lives of young people through a child-first approach to coaching and mentoring across all levels – from grassroots to elite. The club has coached and supported over 2,000 young people since opening its doors in 2004, including Olympic silver medallist Kye Whyte.

To launch the new campaign, the club hosted an open participation event for children to express themselves through sport, attended by leading voices of the campaign and to encourage coaches and activity deliverers to put enjoyment at the heart of their approach. 

Discussing the launch of Play Their Way, Tim Hollingsworth, Chief Executive, Sport England, said: 

“Positive experiences for children and young people are at the heart of Sport England’s Uniting the Movement strategy – and child-first coaching is an important part of this.

“Our research tells us that for children, ‘fun’ is the primary reason for taking part in sport and activity. They will want to take part if they enjoy it. It’s vital that we put fun and enjoyment at the centre of sport and activity, and give our children and young people the chance to shape their sporting experiences to boost activity levels.

“We look forward to working with our partners and supporting the amazing coaches across the UK. We want to give all children the chance to have their say – and play their way.”

Heather Douglas, Head of Coaching and Policy at UK Coaching, added:

“Coaches play such an important role in the development of children and young people’s lives, often in difficult circumstances, and can have a profound effect on the positive experiences they have in sport and physical activity

We know that child-first coaching and giving children a choice and a voice in the way they are coached works, and that many of our coaches are out there doing this already. This campaign is about helping more coaches do more of this and through Play Their Way we will be providing them with resources and support to help transform the way our children and young people are coached.

“Our goal is for all children and young people, regardless of age, background or ability, to have a voice, choice and decide their journey when participating in sport and physical activity, so they develop a genuine and lifelong love for being active.”

CK Flash, Head Coach at Peckham BMX Club who hosted today’s launch event, also said:

“It’s a really important moment for coaching across the nation, focusing entirely on our children and young people and understanding that to get the best out of them, coaches need to embrace creativity, independence, and fun.

“Our ethos at Peckham has always been centred on supporting and mentoring young people in our local community, listening to them and understanding their needs. This is so important to helping them stay in sport and physical activity and gain the benefits that brings in other areas of their lives and which improve their life chances.”

The Play Their Way campaign has also been developed by insight and engagement with a network of grassroots sports coaches along with children and young people through a series of focus groups and workshops.

A special Play Their Way digital campaign was also launched today.

To learn more about the campaign, access resources and sign up to join the biggest grassroots movement to transform the way we coach our children and young people visit  www.playtheirway.org. 

Photo credit: Sport England & UK Coaching / Getty Images

PSA announce major investment in the sport

The Sports, Media and Entertainment Group led by businessman and philanthropist Mark Walter has acquired a stake in Squash Media & Marketing (SMM), a commercial entity created and managed by the Professional Squash Association (PSA), as part of a major investment in the sport.

The investment will be used to optimize the structure of the PSA Tour and will allow SMM to deliver more events with a view to increasing player compensation and improving the fan experience. 

The additional funding will also be used to increase marketing of the sport and the PSA’s athletes, develop new digital products and services to offer to squash fans worldwide and ramp up the creation and distribution of engaging content.

Mark Walter said: “I think professional squash is a global, highly diverse and exciting sport with a tremendous growth opportunity. We are excited to invest in the future of the sport and look forward to working with the PSA to make this a broader and more inclusive sport and to bring it to more fans.” 

Mark and Kimbra Walter have long been supporters of squash, including sponsoring the Windy City Open and PSA World Championships.  With the Walters as the title sponsor of the PSA World Championships, the sport’s biggest tournament became the first squash event to offer $1,000,000 in total player compensation – with equal compensation for men and women players – four years ago. The 2022-23 PSA World Championships concluded earlier this month in Chicago, with Ali Farag and Nour El Sherbini being crowned World Champions on the spectacular all-glass court erected at Chicago’s Union Station.

PSA Chief Executive Alex Gough said: “We believe that having the financial backing of The Walter Group will be a game changer for professional squash. Mark Walter has been an incredible supporter of the sport since 2015 and his investment will enable us to accelerate our development of the professional game.

“We have an ambitious strategy that aims to modernize and grow the sport at the highest level. We will also be looking to streamline the PSA Tour structure to increase the playing opportunities and earning potential for our athletes, as well as helping them rise up the PSA World Rankings.

“This is an incredibly exciting time for everyone involved in professional squash. Since our Chairman Ziad Al-Turki came aboard in 2008, the professional game has gone through unprecedented growth and this investment represents the next step in the sport’s evolution. We look forward to releasing details of our long-term strategy to the squash community in due course.”

Previously, SMM received an investment from Infront in February 2021, which positioned the leading sports marketing agency as a strategic commercial partner of SMM. 

McLaren Racing announces multi-year extension with Deloitte

McLaren Racing today announced a multi-year extension to its partnership with Deloitte, continuing as the Official Transformation Partner of the McLaren Formula 1 Team from the 2023 season. 

Since 2020, Deloitte and McLaren have been working closely to help enhance the performance of the McLaren F1 team and its operations, which includes capturing and analysing data to optimise car performance and applying digital twin simulation to help inform race day decision-making. 

Deloitte will help to further embed circularity, the concept of eliminating waste and maximising resources through reuse and recycling, into McLaren’s sustainability mission. This will support the business to advance towards its net zero targets without compromising performance.  

Deloitte and McLaren will also look to leverage GreenSpace Tech by Deloitte, a newly-launched offering that connects organisations with new and existing technologies and ecosystems that can help accelerate their decarbonisation efforts. 

Deloitte has a strong track record of helping organisations define a path to a more sustainable future through its global practice, Deloitte Sustainability & Climate, offering integrated sustainability and climate change services.  

The announcement comes just after the release of McLaren’s second annual Sustainability Report on Thursday 18 May, which reports on progress made in 2022 and outlines McLaren’s sustainability priorities going forward.

Matt Dennington, Executive Director, Partnerships & Accelerator, McLaren Racing, said: 

“We are delighted to extend our long-standing relationship with Deloitte. As a key collaborator in our sustainability journey, Deloitte supports our desire to explore opportunities to accelerate our progress. 

“In Formula 1 we have both the responsibility and the opportunity to develop innovative solutions to make a positive impact on the fight against climate change. Our ambitions with Deloitte will push for tangible innovation in circularity, finding solutions that can make our team, sport and the wider world, more sustainable.” 

Jennifer Steinmann, Deloitte Global Sustainability & Climate Practice Leader, said: 

“In order to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement, every sector of society—including sports—must rapidly accelerate climate action in the near-term. At Deloitte, we are looking forward to building upon our successful collaboration with McLaren Racing to help facilitate its transition to a more circular, sustainable future. 

“Deloitte’s sustainability and climate specialists will work with McLaren Racing to research and develop the concept for a fully circular F1 car. By prioritising sustainability and performance, McLaren Racing is playing an important role in shaping the future success and growth of the sport.” 

Member Insights: In a world of clicks and views sometimes all fans want is to be recognised

In this Member Insights piece, Socios.com CEO Alexandre Dreyfus reflects on how the utility of their Fan Tokens has evolved and how blockchain can reshape membership schemes. 

I was listening to a podcast recently and one of the guests was waxing lyrical about how they were part of their football team’s membership scheme, and they felt recognised and rewarded because they had been sent a free branded water bottle to celebrate their 2-year anniversary as members. 

I listened to this while I was travelling back to our Madrid office from the Supercoppa Italiana played between Socios.com partners and local rivals AC Milan and Internazionale FC. Sat next to me on the flight were the three match-used balls, each one packaged separately with the data and details of the goal that was scored with them, ready to be loaded with the NFC chip that would be inserted into the ball and then authenticated via blockchain. So that proof of authenticity and the memory of the goal could be viewed anytime, anywhere, even without having the physical item present.

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Those balls from the match are now owned by three Inter Fan Token holders, who earned them at no extra cost, just by redeeming the free loyalty tokens Socios.com users are awarded with each time they engage with their team through the app.    

I wonder whether these Fan Token holders display them in their homes next to their branded water bottles.

You don’t need to be a football fan to understand the difference between owning a branded bottle of water, an example of the type of rewards that fans joining club membership programmes could look forward to until now, and owning an actual piece of the history of your Club. 

In the same way, you don’t need to be a football fan to realise that sports, and specifically football, as the world’s most popular game, needs to change its approach to membership programmes if it wants to continue growing in the current landscape. 

Football has probably never been as popular as it is today. Never before have top clubs and major competitions had such a massive and global audience. But, at the same time, never before have they been more challenged as to how they engage with these fans. Because the mindset of these fans is very different to what it was just a couple of decades back, and so is what they expect from their teams. 

Watching games and cheering is no longer enough. To start with, because there is an entire generation of digital-native fans that are used to engaging proactively, and not just as viewers, with the brands they love. They are used to being a part of the story by actively interacting and creating content through social media and other digital platforms. And secondly, because clubs are no longer something fans engage with once or twice a week around a match. They are part of people’s identity. 

Fans wear their club, they breathe it. And therefore they want to feel close to it 24/7. This doesn’t just apply to the local communities stemming right from the heart of the club’s grounds, as it was some years back. It applies globally. 

But this global torrent of passion and loyalty needs to be reciprocated. In this world of metrics, clicks and views, fans want to feel valued for what they ultimately are: the beating heart of the Club, and they want to feel their passion rewarded for what it truly is: the power that fuels their Club. 

Recognizing, involving and rewarding fans were the three main pillars of the vision that brought Chiliz to life a little over five years ago, when we started envisioning Fan Tokens and what today is the Socios.com fan engagement and rewards app, currently used by over 150 sporting organisations worldwide to engage with and reward their fans with a wide range of opportunities and experiences, many of which -from polls to decide kit designs to the chance to own match-scored balls- had never before been made available to fans. 

As we get ready to write a new chapter with the launch of a first-of-its-kind co-promotional campaign that will see Sony Pictures tap into our global community to promote their soon-to-be-released Spider-Man movie, translating into more utility for our Fan Tokens and more exciting opportunities for our users, I’d like to reflect on our journey during the past five years and how, slowly, yet relentlessly, we’ve consolidated a product that is changing the game for fans, who are finally being meaningfully rewarded for their passion and loyalty, and clubs, who are consolidating a new digital revenue stream bound to grow exponentially in the coming years, alike.    

2019 – THE FIRST FAN POLL

In 2019, to present our vision to involve fans, we designed a Fan Poll together with Juventus, our first partner, which for the first time ever gave fans the opportunity to influence the matchday experience. We gave them the chance to choose the goal celebration song at the Allianz Stadium. Fans chose Blur’s iconic Song 2 in a poll that generated huge engagement amongst Juventus fans and helped plant the seed for what we were aiming to achieve. 

The goal celebration song poll was a success, and was soon replicated by several other partners. It proved that fans had a genuine appetite to become involved in their team’s decisions and that this could be easily and transparently achieved through our blockchain. But it was just a first step. Now it was on us to be creative enough to come up with new ideas for more Fan Polls… and persuasive enough to convince our partners that it was worth stepping out of their comfort zone, which is not always easy in a pretty conservative business as football. 

The next milestone came just a few months later, when we worked with Apollon FC and Puma on another first-of-its-kind activation which gave fans the chance to choose the design of the home and away kits for the following season. Kits are a fan favourite and no major European football club had ever involved its fans in the design process, which is hard to understand considering that it’s the fans who ultimately decide the success or failure of a kit. This ground-breaking initiative, which was picked up by sports media worldwide, generated huge engagement amongst Apollon fans. 

The kits chosen by the fans were launched at the beginning of the 2021-22 season, and soon became one of the most successful ever released by the Club. This proved two things: 1.) That clubs have a lot to gain from a commercial perspective by involving their fans in decision-making processes and 2.) That our platform can be extremely powerful and useful for clubs to activate other existing partners and sponsors. Young Boys FC and Saracen Rugby Football Club are amongst the clubs that have replicated this activation. 

Though for the time being the kit still remains a no-go for some top football clubs – clubs embrace our platform in different ways and at different paces, and that’s perfectly fine – many have since given fans the opportunity to choose inspirational messages featured on the jersey’s collard, the design of the captain’s armband for a special match or the design of different capsule collection merch products, most of which had never been done before and were welcomed with huge enthusiasm by fans, increasing the Socios.com user base to over 1m before the end of 2020.    

I’m writing this on the day we hit 1,000 binding Fan Polls on the app. Though there is still room to improve, the engagement rate of these polls, which has tripled in the last two years, is the best proof that fans value having their voice heard. 

Involving fans in decision-making processes is a huge part of our proposition, but so was rewarding them for their loyalty in a fun, gamified and scalable way. We do this in a number of different ways, but specially through exclusive experiences that users can access by redeeming the free SSU loyalty tokens they earn by engaging with their team on the app.

In this field we’ve also come a long way since the launch of the app in 2018. Each week Fan Token holders throughout the world redeem hundreds of grand stand and VIP tickets for their team’s matches, and dozens of once-in-a-lifetime experiences such as meet and greet sessions with players and legends. 

PREMIUM EXPERIENCES FOR EVERYONE AT NO EXTRA COST

These experiences were already available in the past, but were hardly offered to average fans, since traditional corporate partners and sponsors kept them for their very top level clients. Through Socios.com, Fan Token holders can earn them at no extra cost, by just doing what they love the most: engaging with their team.

In our constant commitment to innovation, we’ve also created new and unprecedented experiences such as our signature LiveTheDream match, in which fans get the opportunity to feel like professional players for a day by taking part in a match with other fans and club legends in their team’s stadium wearing their own personalised official kit. Trust me when I tell you I’ve seen grown up men and women across the world cry like children while taking part in this experience.

The Voice of the Fans or Speaker Takeover experience, where we give fans the chance to act as their team’s official speaker and announce the starting lineup during a league match, is another example of unprecedented experience that we have created and that has become hugely popular amongst fans, driving more Fan Token sales and generating direct revenue for clubs.  

To dive into all things Web3, attend next month’s SEG3 event at the Emirates Stadium

Socios Collectibles, one of our latest and most exciting developments, is giving Fan Token holders in Italy the chance to own a tangible part of their team’s history by redeeming match-scored balls from their team’s most important Lega Serie A matches. Unsurprisingly, this has triggered hundreds of new Italian Fan Token holders on Socios.com. 

Since the Fan Rewards feature was launched in October 2021, the number of Fan Token holders redeeming rewards per month has grown by 1,000 percent.   

THE BEST IS YET TO COME

We’ve still got a long way to go. There’s no denying that the past few months have been some of the most difficult for blockchain’s advocates and supporters. All industries at the cutting edge of technology are going to develop over time. Change doesn’t happen overnight, or over a year or two. I know this from personal experience. 

However, humbly yet proudly, today we can say we have consolidated a new product that despite having only reached around 10 percent of its potential, is already redefining fan engagement in sports for the benefit of fans and brands. 

Take Maria for example, a diehard AC Milan fan who is now part of the club’s history as the first ever female to act as a speaker for the Club and announce the team’s lineup at San Siro during a Milan derby against Inter. This unforgettable experience was made available to her through Socios.com.

Or Joe and his friend Adam, who last month and thanks to  engaging with Harlequins on Socios.com, were  able to watch the match against Barbarians from the first team bench. 

Or Chris, one of the 30 Arsenal fans who took part in the inaugural Fan Token Cup, which saw 180 UK Fan Token holders make their child’s dream come true when they slipped into their team’s kit to represent their club in a five-a-side tournament against other teams formed by other Premier League clubs Fan Token holders. 

These examples provide evidence that there is a huge appetite for new membership schemes that provide fans with meaningful opportunities and access to new experiences. New programmes that global and digital-native fans are increasingly demanding, as the latest edition of the Fan Relationship Index Report recently highlighted. 

The Socios.com story also proves that blockchain can be key facilitators for this new generation of membership schemes for which, according to the FRI report, football fans are willing to pay up to 25 euros per month. Socios.com is delivering this through Fan Tokens for much less.  

If we agree that sport is truly global, that its most powerful fuel is the passion of the fans, and that currently fans can be loyal to more than one sport and believe in more than one GOAT, it seems clear that token-gated loyalty and reward schemes provide not only a short-term revenue opportunity. It is absolutely mandatory for any big organisation aiming to expand its global footprint and engage new generations of fans. Or, in other words, to remain relevant in this hyper competitive and increasingly globalised landscape.  

As you can see, we’ve come a long way and there is still a long way ahead of us, as the tech evolves, the industry matures and the regulatory landscape become clearer, but the clubs and organisations  that understand this now, that are growing their digital presence, reaching new fans, and offering them more, will reap the benefits. Those that don’t might find themselves playing catch up.

To find out more about Socios.com click here

The House View: Why we should make the TV license an NFT

I recently received my bill for my UK TV Licence of £164 for the year. It comes from the TV Licensing Authority. It doesn’t actually say BBC on it, but TV Licencing Authority is one of the BBC’s trade names. 

Basically the bill is for the right to watch live TV (any channels, not just BBC) and use the BBC iPlayer. I’m not going to get into the question of why I should pay a fee to watch live ITV or Channel 4 and have all the money go to BBC. It certainly didn’t help them get the Masters golf tournament I tuned in to watch last month only to find out they didn’t buy it. As for iPlayer as a stand-alone, it works out to £13.67 a month, twice as much as Netflix. Say no more.

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My favourite BBC moment is when the news does ‘what the papers say.’ Hold on, I pay you so your TV channel can tell me what’s in the newspaper? How about I get to keep my £13.47 and I buy the papers myself if I feel like it?

But enough levity and I am not beating up on BBC (life without the Eurovision Song Contest isn’t worth living). I have a serious point to make. Isn’t the TV Licence a perfect example of something that should be an NFT? (As much as I hate that term NFT, we seem to be stuck with it for now.)

In fact, a TV licence is already a ‘token’ (to use the lingo of the Web3 rabbit hole). Now BBC needs to tune in some technology and create products for younger audiences and a market changing too fast for comfort. 

Instead of just compelling people to give them money for their token, they should be creating genuine loyalty by personalising it and building in some real utility beyond the feeble offer of ‘I get to watch live TV and use the iPlayer.’ They can build authentic, engaged BBC communities (instead of one big compulsory one including many disgruntled citizens thereof).

I even have a name for the BBC NFT. 

Sacred Cow.

Sorry again, I’m not really talking about the BBC but any company that sells TV subscriptions. The old pay business model is worn out. Media companies need to be offering new experiences, more value. 

There are so many ways for content providers to do this with blockchain. There’s a whole new Web3 world emerging out there as the boundaries blur between sports, entertainment and gaming. And it can generate more revenue than plain vanilla subs. 

They may not see it this way, but the BBC has a history of investing in NFT-type content. Years ago I visited the BBC Special Cameras Unit. It was a place where they had a bunch of boffins building wacky camera devices just like Q in James Bond movies. The whole purpose was to improve the viewer’s experience of the Olympics. 

That is value creation. Build that kind of innovation into an NFT. Make your TV Licence an entry pass to the metaverse. Shift the BBC brand from living in the past to the future, from yesterday to tomorrow.

I mention Special Cameras, but we are talking about something a lot bigger. BBC and kindred organisations will need partners. One of the things that has characterised public broadcasters over the years is a perceived need to do everything in-house. That won’t cut it anymore. Web3 is about maximum collaboration. 

Partnerships will define the evolution of Web3 (and generative AI). That is the whole rationale behind SEG3: Sports Entertainment & Gaming taking place at Emirates Stadium in London June 28-29. Learn what others are doing and connect. Find out more here.

It’s entirely possible that in-house boffins at BBC (if they still exist) are already working on their NFT. Let’s hope it’s so good that the thing becomes voluntary.

By Jay Stuart, Content Director iSportConnect.

The View From Asia: How is institutional finance playing a role to grow Sport in Asia

In his second View From Asia column, Unmish Parthasarathi (Founder & Executive Director of Picture Board Partners, a Singapore-based strategy & ventures boutique), shares examples of how Venture Capital, Private Equity, and Sovereign Funds are making a play to serve the next billion fans.

The last 24-months have been notable for the variety of sports investments in the US and Europe, be it Private Equity (CVC/Six Nations), Venture Capital (Sapphire/Overtime, Buzzer), Strategics (Endeavour/WWE), Sovereign Funds (PIF/LIV) or Family Offices (Walton-Penner/Denver Broncos). In this article, I cites five trends with ten examples across a dozen markets that promise returns due to a positive demographic dividend, a growing supply of talent, and, rising per capita incomes. 

Trend 1: The situation in Asia is similar but different with notable patterns often seen in the West a decade ago:  

  • Cheque sizes reflects the gap between current value and future potential as leisure in the cities matures; 
  • VCs were the first movers from the period before the pandemic with PE making a play more recently; 
  • Sovereign Funds and Family Offices are few & far between, but are curious about rends in the West. 

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Trend 2: Venture Capital has been led by growth stage investments followed by a more thematic approach:  

In May 2021, Dream Capital  invested $50 Mn in FanCode, a next-generation digital platform that combines live streaming a la DAZN with match day editorial akin to ESPN.com and a Fan Shop. Dream11, a fantasy sports platform used by 180 Mn fans, raised $840 Mn in late 2021 at a $8 Bn valuation backed by Redbird Capital, Falcon Edge, Tiger Global et al. The other big-cheque recipient is FanCraze, the official digital collectibles partner of the International Cricket Council (ICC). In April 2022, it raised $100 Mn from New York-based Insight Partners (an investor in Calm) and Singapore-based B Capital, co-owned by Facebook co-founder Eduardo Severin and Raj Ganguly of Bain Capital. 

Trend 3: Seed/Pre-Seed stage investments are being led by the largest global sports federation in the region.  

In mid 2021, Tennis Australia (TA) launched WildCard Ventures, a fund focussed on Sport, Health and Entertainment with their IC (Investment Committee) includes the CEO, CFO and General Counsel of TA. In early 2023, TA launched AO Startups, focussed on three experiential areas (Athlete, Event, Racquet Sports). Such initiatives by a globally-recognised federation based in the region can be a possible playbook for other Asia-based/focussed federations in Cricket, Badminton or Table Tennis. 

Trend 4: Much like in the West, PE plays lagged VCs in Asia but has made a notable presence when it did. 

In early 2021, CVC paid ~$740 Mn to buy the Gujarat Titans, one of two new franchises brought to market by the IPL. Valuations sky rocketed for two reasons – a scarcity premium as the IPL hadn’t expanded beyond the eight franchises at launch in 2008, and the assured annuity payments from a $6 Billion media rights deal that made the IPL the world’s second most valued league, at $15 Million per match, after the NFL. 

In late 2021, Affinity Equity Partners committed $150 Mn to Vidio, an OTT platform owned by the Emtek Group, a market leader in Indonesia. Premium sports rights, such as the English Premier League and the FIFA World Cup have been key to Vidio’s brand development and user acquisition. Unlike DAZN and like Hotstar in India, Vidio has diversified its content, commissioning 100 local language entertainment shows.  This dual-genre play recalls a quote by Rupert Murdoch – of “sport being the battering ram of Pay TV” – that was key to Sky UK’s early success consolidated later by Hollywood movies. 

In late 2021, Eclat, a Korean Sports TV company, bought most of Fox Sports Asia’s rights. This followed the former News Corp. network being shuttered after Disney bought 21st Century Fox. SPOTV Asia is unique in two ways – being funded privately, not institutionally, and, moving away from the historical reliance of regional channels on football. It’s two pillar content strategy based on motorbikes (centred on MotoGP) and racquet sports (with BWF, World Table Tennis, Wimbledon) is economically viable with a higher chance of break-even.  

Trend 5: Whilst most of the digital plays cited above depend on licensing rights from a league, Asia has also witnessed the ground-up build of new sport properties that aggregate talent across multiple countries. 

ONE Championship (ONE) is the world’s largest martial arts organization, ranked by Nielsen in June 2021 as one of the most viewed sports properties in the world. It closed a global deal with Amazon Prime Video in 2022 and hosted its first US event in Colorado, recently. The success Stateside was the tip of the iceberg as a new property takes time – and investment – to come of age. In mid 2016, Heliconia, a division of Temasek, one of Singapore’s two sovereign funds, invested an eight-figure sum. A year later, founder Chatri Sityodtong famously met Michael Moritz, Douglas Leone and Shailendra Singh of Sequoia Capital for breakfast to secure $100 Mn. In late 2021, at the peak of the pandemic, the company closed a $150 Mn round that welcomed Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and Guggenheim Investments on the cap table.

The East Asia Super League (EASL) is another, similar, and more recent, example. It’s aggregated the best basketball talent in China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines; a UEFA Champions League of Basketball! In 2019, the venture arm of Raine Group, that brokered the sale of Chelsea FC, participated in EASL’s Series B. In mid 2020, FIBA granted EASL exclusive recognition and support under a 10-year agreement. Raine’s merchant bank is currently advising EASL on its $ 40 Mn Series C that is looking to close over the Northern Summer. 

In summary, there is no going away from the fact that Asia is home to the next billion fan that will be coming online over the next decade. The reality of this demographic dividend is not being lost on investors although they are being choosy – as they should be! Watch this space, closely.