It has been an impactful week for sports business. From innovative partnerships continuing to emerge sport into a new dawn of entertainment, the stakes have risen in the sports broadcasting world, Esports strengthens ties in Asia and Hockey is the latest sport to experiences a new wave of ‘digitalisation’.
AC Milan are ready to ‘Roc the nation’ with an industry-first partnership
Italian football club AC Milan has collaborated with leading entertainment agency ‘Roc Nation’ to form an illustrious partnership. The two parties were initially inspired to join forces by creating the #FromMilanWithLove campaign. #FromMilanWithLove was an event hosted by DJ Khaled which featured performances from the likes of Alicia Keys and Kelly Rowland to raise money for key workers.
Milan and Roc Nation’s new relationship promises to surprise fans through inclusion, innovation, integrity and community. Once again, football continues to push boundaries to pay respect for those tirelessly serving the community throughout this crisis.
DAZN launch themselves back into the ring
‘The Netflix of Sports’ are making noise in the broadcasting world while readying their worldwide launch of a boxing-focused OTT service. DAZN have invited their users to test a beta version to receive the bout between Vergil Ortiz Junior and Samuel Vargas on July 24 free of charge. The beta testing will target clients outside of DAZN’s current markets, including Austria, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the US.
Considering this launch is worldwide, DAZN will make their live debut in the UK at an attractive price point of £4.99 per month. The comeback of sport has raised the stakes in the Sports broadcasting market now that DAZN has received UK broadcasting rights. Sky and BT Sport will have a lot to play for now!
The National Hockey League experiences online congestion with traffic spikes
The National Hockey League’s (NHL) experiences a substantial rise in international online engagement. SportBusiness records the NHL Russian, Finnish, Swedish, German, Czech, and Slovak websites have received a 28% unique visitor increase this season, with a 25% overall visitor boost. The French & Canadian sites have experienced similar outputs, a 25 and 23 per cent rise year on year.
The results accumulated demonstrate credit the NHL’s bespoke International digital strategy. The strategy entails producing player-focused content, particularly involving Russia’s Alex Ovechkin’s 700th milestone goal. Plus, collaborations with the league’s European broadcast partners alongside the tone of content across social media has showcased the appetite for Hockey to return to our screens.
Combats Sports outfitter Venum strengthens its relationship with The UFC
From April 2021, combats sports apparel brand Venum will replace Reebok as The UFC’s latest global outfitting and apparel affiliate. This deal will add value to MMA athletes as the UFC are planning to adjust the pay scale linked to its outfitting policy, meaning fighters can expect increases of revenue through uniform sponsorship. The current Reebok deal caused initial upset with MMA supporters because athletes revenue were limited, receiving income purely from their fight grade.
The joint venture will find Venum designing branded apparel and UFC fight kits available on both the UFC and Venum website. The UFC continues to relentlessly influence its consumers and stakeholders to engage with the brand from its passion for dominating the combat sports world.
Asia continues to lead on the Esports scene
FIFA and EA Sports have extended their esports tournament, the eChallenger series with a new set of fixtures between China and South Korea. FIFA launched this series in June which has accumulated over 23 million views so far from the involvement of footballs, influencers and esports players.
Despite COVID19 creating scrutinising cash-flow in the sports industry, Esports has proven to be the sectors saviour. According to Inside the games, licencing rights appear the most significant source of revenue for FIFA this year. FIFA’s licensing revenue originally forecasted at £90 million for 2020; however, with the enormous interest of Esports in Asia, FIFA can expect to peak in licensing income.
Table Tennis is about to reach a new level of entertainment
The new commercial arm of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), World Table Tennis (WTT) have confirmed an agreement with leading sports entertainment agency, IMG for media and broadcasting rights on WTT events.
The agreement commences in January 2021, which also includes streaming and data rights to create solutions to grow the sport globally. IMG will work with WTT to host city partnerships for new events, re-designing graphic designs to promote the game, explore fresh camera angles alongside enhancing the fan experience through technological advancements.
There you have it, what will AC Milan’s partnership with Roc Nation mean for fan engagement? Will DAZN truly become ‘The Netflix of Sport? How will Hockey use their illustrious engagement numbers to captivate new audiences to their world? Does Venum have more to offer than Reebok towards the UFC? How much longer will Esports continue to reign on the sporting parade? And, what does the future hold for Table Tennis fans?
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Ash Sports Media 
Some interesting developments in the world of sports. It seems like e-sports are about to explode in popularity…
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It certainly has, lockdown has proven that most people will be consuming more online content than ever. Therefore, it has been a perfectly timed initiative for sport to deliver more Esports ventures.
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who would have thought you could have made a career out of playing video games!
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