By Paul Nicholson
February 11 – The likely shape of Europe’s premium broadcast deals in the future is starting to reveal itself, and it will be a case of evolution rather than revolution.
February 11 – Manchester United are reported to have stalled talks over a possible pre-season visit to China because of the coronavirus outbreak which has now infected over 43,000 people (more than 42,500 in China) with more than 1,000 dead.
February 7 – Major League Baseball’s San Francisco Giants have partnered with iconic Portuguese club Benfica in a commercial version of moneyball.
February 6 – The Premier League has concluded its first broadcast deal for the rights cycle beginning 2022 and it’s a big one.
February 6 – Emirates airline has agreed a five-season main sponsorship deal with Ligue 1 club Olympique Lyonnais’ men’s team, starting with the 2020/21 season.
February 6 – Spanish-owned sports agency Mediapro has won another court battle against the Spanish FA (RFEF) in the Provincial Court of Madrid. The court reconfirmed its initial ruling to dismiss the RFEF’s attempt to have the agency excluded from tendering for rights to the Copa del Rey final.
February 6 – With the Beach Soccer Mundialito de Clubes set to kick off in Moscow next week, Beach Soccer World Wide (BSWW) has announced a new partnership with the United Nations to promote the UN Alliance Of Civilizations’campaign (UNAOC), ‘One Humanity’.
February 3 – Spanish giant FC Barcelona is revamping its digital platforms which it sees as an under-exploited revenue stream. A new digital plan will see the launch of an OTT service and wider integration of digital technologies from e-commerce to ticket sales and integration with its new global membership programme ‘Culers’.
February 4 – The Argentine Football Association (AFA) has signed up fast food giant McDonald’s in a national team sponsorship that will activate around the AFA’s digital platforms.
February 3 – Qatar Airways has signed up as the latest sponsor of French club Paris Saint-Germain in a three-year deal, becoming a premium partner of the club.
January 31 – Brazilian giants Flamengo have taken legal steps against broadcast behemoth TV Globo over the league’s broadcast rights contract. Earlier this season, Flamengo and Globo fell out over a rights deal for Rio de Janeiro’s state championship.
January 31 – Major League Soccer (MLS) and U.S. Soccer have appointed Stats Perfom as their exclusive official data deal with Stats Perform.
January 30 – Betting companies are not being put off spending marketing money with English Championship clubs QPR and Millwall both agreeing new betting partner deals despite the warnings from the UK government that football needs to re-examine its relationship with bookmakers.
January 28 – Bookmaker Paddy Power is continuing its ‘unsponsor’ campaign by taking its branding off tomorrow’s League Two match between Newport County and Macclesfield Town – now tagged as Paddy Power’s second ‘Unsponsored Derby’ as part of its ‘Save Our Shirt’ campaign.
January 28 – FOX Sports in the US have swept up a premium package of broadcast rights from Concacaf including the Women’s Olympic Qualifiers that kick off tonight with Costa Rica vs Panama and the US vs Haiti.