Newbury Racecourse hires UK’s first female race caller as part of diversity drive April 21, 2022 Newbury Racecourse has hired broadcaster Dani Jackson to be the UK’s first female on-course race caller. Jackson, a regular presenter on bookmaker William Hill’s television programmes and the Racing Post’s social media content, will call all of Newbury’s charity races this year. Her appointment is part of a new initiative by the racecourse to encourage [...]
How Nike’s Jordan deal changed sports industry: new Ben Affleck and Matt Damon film to tell story April 20, 2022 Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are to star in a new film about the rise of Nike from upstart trainer brand to global sportswear giant. The movie will focus on Nike’s unlikely pursuit of a contract basketball star Michael Jordan – a deal which transformed the company’s fortunes and changed the course of the industry. [...]
Arsenal have reconnected with fans this season but on-field slump threatens to undo good work April 20, 2022 Since the dark days of lockdown, Arsenal have been engaged in a major branding exercise aimed at reconnecting with supporters. Club staff have conducted thousands of interviews with fans in the UK and overseas, particularly in Los Angeles and Shanghai, in an attempt to gauge what they had been doing right and where they had [...]
Ash Barty: Former world No1 tennis star swaps racquet for golf club for sporting comeback April 19, 2022 Former women’s world No1 tennis player Ash Barty will make her return to sport this summer at a new Ryder Cup-style golf competition for A-list athletes, the Icons Series. Barty, who stunned tennis by quitting last month, is due to be joined by football stars Harry Kane and Pep Guardiola, boxer Canelo Alvarez and swimmer [...]
The Tiger Effect: Why Woods comeback at Augusta would be good news for TV companies March 31, 2022 The Tiger Effect – the boost to the business of golf that Woods has provided during his 26-year pro career – is the stuff of sports industry legend. Woods’ swift ascent to godlike status brought an influx of new sponsors to the game and sent prize money skyward. Key to this virtuous cycle was that [...]
Opinion: Crypto brands’ sporting land-grab is only just beginning March 29, 2022 As Lionel Messi and Fifa become the latest to do huge deals with cryptocurrency and blockchain-related brands, sports sponsorship expert Henry Nash of Octagon assesses the major new player in the market. I suspect I wasn’t alone in thinking the Nielsen 2022 Global Sports Marketing Report would be a story of Covid’s brutal impact on [...]
Arsenal set goal of selling out 60,000-seater Emirates Stadium for women’s game March 23, 2022 Arsenal’s new commercial chief Juliet Slot believes their women’s team can attract sell-out crowds to the 60,000-capacity Emirates Stadium as the club embarks on a wider push behind the Women’s Super League leaders. Arsenal Women switch big games from Boreham Wood FC to Emirates Stadium to allow for bigger attendances and are due to play [...]
Inside the Super Golf League: Sean Bratches on LIV Golf’s mission to redesign the sport March 23, 2022 It was at the Ryder Cup in Wisconsin six months ago that Sean Bratches accepted Greg Norman’s invitation to join LIV Golf Investments, the vehicle behind long-rumoured plans for a Super Golf League. Former ESPN and Formula 1 executive Bratches had already been working with world No1 turned LIV Golf CEO Norman and the Saudi-backed [...]
First, England. Next, the world? Why those behind The Hundred have big ambitions March 21, 2022 “Every successful brand in the world has to start somewhere, in one geography,” says Nick Sykes, global chief executive of FutureBrand, the company that developed the branding for The Hundred, English cricket’s newest tournament. “But if you look at sporting formats around the world, many of them have travelled geographies and there are large parts [...]
Tales from the Crypto: Will digital assets save sport sponsorship or prove a horror story? March 21, 2022 When you think of US cable TV giant HBO, blockbuster drama series like Game of Thrones, The Sopranos and The Wire immediately spring to mind. One of the first major triumphs for the network, though, was Tales from the Crypt, a horror anthology inspired by a cult 1950 comic book series. The series was successful [...]