1. Shifting dynamics in the OTT space
26th January: Peacock, NBCUniversal’s streaming platform, has snapped up exclusive US rights for the WWE Network over-the-top (OTT) service.
An official announcement from World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) described the deal as a ‘multi-year agreement’, with The Wall Street Journal reporting the contract is valued at more than US$1 billion over five years.
Under the agreement, the WWE Network app will be shut down, with the service’s programming and subscribers – which total around 1.5 million – to be migrated over to Peacock.
2. Private equity continues to make advances in sport
1st February: Private equity giant CVC has made its latest investment in professional sport through a deal worth a reported US$300 million with the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB).
The agreement, which was first reported by Sky News, will lead to the creation of Volleyball World, a new commercial entity that will operate international events such as the FIVB World Championship, qualifiers for the Olympic Games and the Nations League national team tournament.
Volleyball World will initially work with the sport’s global governing body before looking to partner with other leagues and federations around the world. It will focus on matters such as event hosting, fan experience, media, opportunities around data and digital, and sponsorship growth.
3. The data wars heat up
The Tip-Off, 9th February: The market for sports betting data is undoubtedly heating up, and so too is a long-running spat between two of the sector’s biggest players, Genius Sports Group and Sportradar.
On 5th February, in the latest twist of a months-long courtroom battle in the UK, Genius sued Sportradar amid claims it had sent so-called “data scouts” to nab data from professional soccer matches without having acquired official rights to do so. The lawsuit followed a separate case in which Sportradar sued Genius and Football DataCo (FDC) – a licensing company owned by the Premier League, English Football League (EFL) and Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) – for allegedly violating competition laws.
4. No deal for FSG but there’s no going back for SPACs
17th March: Fenway Sports Group (FSG), the parent company of the Boston Red Sox baseball team and Premier League champions Liverpool, has reportedly ended its talks to offload a minority stake to RedBall Acquisition Corp, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) founded last year.
A report by Axios said the proposed deal, which would have seen FSG go public, has now collapsed but that an ‘alternative investment’, structured like a more traditional private equity deal, ‘remains possible’.
RedBall, which is co-chaired by long-time baseball executive Billy Beane and investor Gerry Cardinale, was previously reported to have been looking to acquire as much as 25 per cent of FSG in a deal that would have valued the company at around US$8 billion, including debt.
5. Extreme E’s debut season sets the scene for sport’s sustainable future
Rupert Svendsen-Cook, team principal, Veloce Racing, 31st March: We like to think that we’re bringing a young and fresh dynamic to the sport and to the series, because there is a lot of experience in the series from a team standpoint. We were at the first test of the year, we’ve got Lewis Hamilton’s team on one side, Rosberg’s team on the other side, and were surrounded by some motor racing royalty. And here we are, Veloce, a company barely three years old, alongside such company.
It’s a privilege, and we’re really proud to be there, but at the same time we have to respect the competition, so we’ve put a lot into it.
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