MLS to hydrate with BodyArmor from 2020 season
September 18 – Major League Soccer has signed a multi-year partnership with BodyArmor making the brand the league’s official sports drink partner in the US, starting with the 2020 season.
Football Marketing
Monster Energy amps up its football footprint with Everton and Leicester City
September 18 – Monster Energy is making inroads into the Premier League having signed on both Everton and Leicester City as their Official Energy Drink partners.
Rights owners tell Saudis to stop ‘abusing’ football and end Arabsat’s beoutQ transmissions
By Paul Nicholson
September 17 – Football rights owners have issued another demand to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, satellite distributor Arabsat and IPTV platforms to stop the broadcast of pirate TV channel beoutQ that has been stealing their rights and rebroadcasting across the region.
Galatasaray joins the Socios.com ‘fan bit-token’ platform
September 17 – Galatasaray have become the latest club to partner with Socios.com for a step into the brave new world of cryptocurrency fan tokens. They are the first Turkish club to do so.
Liverpool vs Spurs CL final is world’s leading event in 2019 with 1bn+ interactions
September 16 – With the Champions League group stages kicking off this week, UEFA has released a 1 billion interaction social media stat that makes shows the European club showpiece outperformed all other major events in 2019 by more than 30%.
Leicester City add Asian gamer Yabo Sports as club partner
September 16 – Premier League Leicester City have confirmed Asian gaming business Yabo Sports as an official club partner.
AS Monaco signs BetCity as first Russian sponsor partner
September 13 – Bookmaker BetCity has become AS Monaco’s official regional betting partner for Russia in a two-season deal.
Piracy: Danish court rules free streamer Rojadirecta must be blocked by web providers
September 11 – Pirate broadcaster Rojadirecta has been judged illegal in Denmark and will now be blocked by internet providers. The decision by a Danish court comes after a joint complaint by LaLiga and Danish copyright protection agency RettighedsAlliancen.
Watford goes bitcoin with sleeve logo and merchandise sales
September 12 – Premier League Watford’s shirt sponsor Sportsbet.io has given over the sleeve position on the club shirt to display the Bitcoin logo (₿) as part of a new educational campaign to boost awareness and applications of cryptocurrency.
LaLiga to launch TV channel in UK in all-encompassing Premier Sports deal
September 11 – The troubled UK TV deal for LaLiga’s live broadcast rights has now found a multi-platform solution with Premier Sports in a deal that will see live matches on Premier Sports 1 and 2, as well as LaLigaTV as a standalone channel as part of the Premier Sports package.
Arsenal toast Germany’s Ganzberg with Cambodian launch
September 11 – Arsenal have signed German brew Ganzberg as its Official Beer Partner in Cambodia.
Chelsea and Liverpool join Spurs in ending 1xBet sponsorships
September 3 – Chelsea and Liverpool have followed Tottenham Hotspurs’s lead earlier this month and ended their sponsorships with Russian online betting firm 1xBet.
Atletico Madrid launch cryptocurrency fan token via Socios.com
September 9 – Spain’s Atlético Madrid has signed up to the Socios.com blockchain-based fan engagement and rewards platform. Socios.com becomes the club’s Official Fan Token partner.
‘You couldn’t make this shirt up’. Paddy Power stunt backfires
September 9 – The English FA has hit Huddersfield Town with a £50,000 fine from the Football Association (FA) after ruling it breached the FA’s kit and advertising regulations over a sash-style shirt which displayed the Paddy Power logo during a friendly game against Rochdale on July 17.
Coca-Cola sign-up for Euro 2020 sponsorship
September 6 – Coca-Cola has signed up as a sponsor for the Euro 2020 championships, extending its 32-year partnership with the European governing body UEFA.