August 24 – Premier League Leicester City have taken a step toward the blockchain technology business announcing a global partnership with FansUnite Entertainment. Fans Unite becomes the club’s first Official Blockchain Sports Data Partner.
August 22 – Saudi Arabian pirate broadcaster beoutQ is showing no signs of easing up on its copyright theft, stealing every match of the round two of the new Premier League season for broadcast into Saudi Arabia and the Middle East.
August 22 – The English Football League (EFL) is halfway through its first midweek round of EFL fixtures to be streamed in the UK and Ireland. 31 games across the Sky Bet Championship, Sky Bet League One and Sky Bet League Two will have been live-streamed by the end of tonight’s matches.
August 22 – Premier League Liverpool Football Club has agreed with Levi’s to become the club’s first Official Denim partner. No term or value was given for the deal.
August 21 – Online trading platform eToro, is using Bitcoin to pay for its sponsorship partnerships with seven Premier League clubs, the first time a club sponsor has paid for marketing inventory using cryptocurrency.
August 21 – Premier League champions Manchester City have extended their partnership with robotics company UBTECH. The deal, first signed in 2016, sees the robot maker designated as the Club’s Official Robot Partner.
By Paul Nicholson
August 20 – The Saudi Arabian competition authority has today released a ruling that bans Qatari-based broadcaster beIN Sport from transmitting into the kingdom. The cancelling of the beIN Sport license means that the only way to view top level international football in Saudi Arabia will be illegally via the pirate channel beoutQ.
August 20 – In what is probably the shortest shirt sponsorship deal in Serie A history, online bookmaker Marathonbet has agreed with SS Lazio to take the club’s premium sponsorship position in a deal that will terminate in January 2019.
August 20 -. Online bookmaker bwin has strengthened its brand positioning in Germany across the top three tiers of the German league game becoming the exclusive betting partner of FC St Pauli, Union Berlin and Dynamo Dresden in the 2.Bundesliga.
By Paul Nicholson
August 16 – LaLiga are planning to play a regular season league game in the US under a joint venture signed with Relevent, the sports and entertainment group that runs the International Champions Cup pre-season tournament.
August 17 – Premier League Spurs have unveiled three new sponsors with Audi becoming the club’s official car partner in an exclusive four-year agreement, IWC Schaffhausen as the official timing partner, and 1XBET as its Official Betting Partner for Africa.
August17 – Manchester United has launched a free official app created in partnership with the club’s the Club’s Official Digital Transformation Partner, HCL Technologies.
November 16 – France’s Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) has written to the Directorate General for Trade at the European Commission calling for support in investigating the piracy activities of Saudi-broadcast beoutQ and demanding the copyright theft is stopped.
By Paul Nicholson
August 16 – Pirate satellite broadcast beoutQ, which has been stealing the rights to beIN Sport broadcast content, has continued where it left at the World Cup, with every game of the first Premier League weekend stolen and broadcast via the Arabsat satellite. beoutQ also stole six of the 10 opening games of France’s Ligue 1, including PSG vs Caen.
August 16 – Facebook has added more football broadcast rights to its rapidly growing portfolio, this time bringing to its streaming platform UEFA Champions League and UEFA Super Cup rights in Spanish-speaking Latin American territories.