January 27 – Britain’s Sports minister Nigel Adams has denounced football’s “dependency” on sponsorship from gambling companies and warned clubs to look for different income streams.
January 27 – More than 15 million football fans in Spain will watch matches live in public venues every season, according to new research findings released by Mediapro.
January 27 – Germany’s DFL has moved beyond its traditional football business and acquired an equity stake in MOVEZ, a mobile app start-up for football skills evaluation.
January 24 – Manchester City has launched an new content service across its digital platforms. Branded CITY+, it is the described as the ‘evolution’ of the club’s OTT offering launched last July.
January 23 – The race by Europe’s clubs to establish a digital advantage and take ownership positions in potentially game-changing technologies has another new entrant.
January 21 – David Beckham’s new franchise is holding talks with Qatar to secure a headline sponsorship for Inter Miami ’s first season in the Major League Soccer.
January 20 – Barcelona are the most popular club online in China, the Premier League is most influential competition and Cristiano Ronaldo is still the player that excites Chinese more than any other, according to the latest Red Card Report from Mailman, published last week, which ranks online performance in the country.
January 17 – Barcelona have signed a four year global partnership with online trading platform FBS that will run through to end June 2024.
January 16 – Sports drink BodyArmor has expanded its partnership within Major League Soccer, announcing it now has ties with 19 of the MLS’s clubs.
January 15 – The new LaLigaTV channel that launched this week on the Sky TV platform in the UK as a standalone service has now added the Virgin Media cable platform to its distribution. The channel now has access to a potential 11.7 million subscription market in the UK.
January 15 – The investor rush to secure positions in technology companies and applications that are changing the football business, and the broadcast business in particular, has seen another investment in a streaming service.
January 14 – Amazon is developing in the football space as more than just a rights buyer for big league football. Germany’s Bundesliga has announced Amazon Web Services (AWS), as its official technology provider.
January 9 – English football authorities have agreed to review their decision to allow broadcast rights for FA Cup games to be sold for streaming by betting companies after critics warned the arrangement could encourage gambling.
By Paul Nicholson
January 9 – It has been a good week so far for Qatar-based broadcaster BeIN Sports who have secured the rights in France to the UEFA 2020 European Championships, while in the US expanding its free service, BeIN Sports Xtra, on to the HC2 Broadcasting platform.
January 9 – The UK’s Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) has ordered Betway to drop a video promotion that it deems to be advertising and in breach of advertising regulations.