Sports Ticker 10 – Mercedes F1, Newcastle Falcons promotion and Tokyo 2020 delayed

Welcome to the latest edition of the RPC Sports Ticker - providing fortnightly bite-size updates from around the sports industry.

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In this fortnight's edition, we continue to cover the impact of COVID-19, including the postponement of more major sporting events, Mercedes' impressive efforts in designing and manufacturing life-saving equipment to tackle the pandemic and the promotion of Newcastle Falcons to the Premiership.

As always, if there are any areas you'd like more information on (or if you have any questions or feedback), please let us know or get in touch with your usual RPC contact.

1. Mercedes F1 rev up to support hospital equipment manufacturing effort 

In a fortnight that has witnessed the FIA call off the first 8 races of the F1 season, Mercedes has put its engineering expertise and manufacturing capacity to great use by teaming up with medical specialists from UCLH.

2. Bach symphony as Tokyo 2020 is delayed

After a call between Thomas Bach (President of the IOC) and Shinzo Abe (the Japanese Prime Minister), the IOC announced on Tuesday 24 March that the Olympics will be delayed to July 2021.

3. Newcastle Falcons swoop in on promotion

Last week, the RFU announced that the Newcastle Falcons would be promoted to the Premiership, following an early end to the season due to COVID-19. 

4. UEFA and clubs pledge to complete season by 30 June 

Following the postponement of Euro 2020 until 2021, UEFA have said that  it has “unanimously agreed" on a commitment "to complete all domestic and European club competitions by 30 June 2020 at the latest, should the situation improve and resuming playing be appropriate and prudent enough”.

5. NFL draft set to go ahead behind closed doors

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has confirmed that this year's draft will go ahead on 23-25 April as planned. 

Extra time...

And finally… a US District Court has found that tattoos of LeBron James, Eric Bledsoe and Kenyon Martin did not  infringe copyright when used on video avatars in the popular game and eSports series "NBA 2K".  Although US law specific, the decision is good news for developers, who already have to navigate considerable legal hurdles to launch their games in multiple jurisdictions. It is particularly relevant for games involving the 'likeness' of sports and media stars, where avatars are designed to resemble their real-life counterparts as closely as possible (including tattoos).