Sports Ticker #111: New era for women's football, NFT football trading cards and Twickenham's naming rights deal

In a fortnight which saw the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics come to a close, Andy Murray's retirement from tennis and British Basketball's Manchester franchise acquired by a US-based investment group, we bring you updates on the "New Era" for women's football, the NFL and Sony's new partnership, and Twickenham's new naming rights deal.

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

Super start for super stars in Super League

Women's Professional Leagues Limited (WPLL) has completed its takeover of the Barclays Women's Super League and Barclays Women's Championship from The Football Association (FA), ushering in what it calls a "new era" for the sport. The leagues will now be run independently of The FA, with each of the 23 participant clubs taking a stake in WPLL, which is intended to generate stronger and more transparent governance. The Premier League will provide a £20 million interest-free loan to kick start the operation and by offering support and knowledge-sharing in areas like broadcasting, commercial and football operations. WPLL is led by CEO Nikki Doucet, a former director at Nike and is supported by other well-known names in the industry such as Dawn Airey, who oversaw the two leagues within The FA previously. Women's football has seen unprecedented growth in recent few years and it is hoped that the move will allow this to go even further.  We were delighted to have acted for the 23 clubs and WPLL in this transaction.

Aston Villa kicks off search for AI-skilled scientist

Aston Villa is seeking an applied scientist to help its club research a variety of areas and identify where AI might be deployed to improve efficiency. Reporting to the Head of Football Research and Strategy, the role encompasses a range of responsibilities in developing machine learning and deep learning models, with hopes that the exploration of technology will "put AVFC at the forefront of Generative AI adoption." According to the job description, it is essential that the successful candidate has a PhD or equivalent experience in research/science and hands-on experience in an ML Engineering / Data Science / Applied Scientist role. Enjoyment of the beautiful game is "desirable." Football isn't the only sport looking to harness the benefits of AI: earlier this year the England Women's Cricket head coach revealed he used AI to make squad selection decisions (read about that in Sports Ticker #107) and this summer's golfing championship at Royal Troon benefitted from an AI-improved fan experience app (see Sports Ticker #109).

Doubling down on media coverage nets double-digit growth for women's sports

Women's sports can expect global double-digit revenue growth in the next three to five years, according to over 85% of senior sports executives who participated in a survey by PwC. This growth is predicted to come from a number of drivers, including a rise in live coverage of competitions, higher marketing and advertising spend, and an increase in resources to develop athletes. However, the most significant initiative is expected to be wider media coverage. While 15% of media coverage was dedicated to women's sports in 2023 (up from 4% in 2018), this is still some way off the percentage of women participants in sports, which stands at approximately 40%. As well as gaining wider exposure, the survey emphasised the need for women's sports to forge its own path, embracing the creative freedom that would help to bring in a new audience. PwC's report remarked that its findings reflected a more positive outlook for sports compared to last year, but also pointed to economic uncertainty and its impact on consumer spending and investor risk appetite.

Sony to tackle new headset technology in NFL partnership

Sony Sports has been announced as an official technology partner of the NFL. The company will support the NFL with a variety of on-field and sideline technologies, including a new coach-to-coach sideline headset slated to debut in the 2025/26 season. Sony will work with coaches, players, teams and leadership to develop various tech products and services for use by the NFL. Sony's Hawk-Eye optical tracking technology will be used by officials to review and rule on plays. That technology will also be combined with NFL data for use by broadcasters when showing sports footage. Finally, the partnership will involve Beyond Sports (part of Sony Sports), which will use its AI capabilities to create a virtual replica of the game with player data, to be help game analysis and enhance fan experience.

Fantastic fantasy football fun

Manchester United Football Club has launched a digital collection of NFT player trading cards, together with a blockchain-based digital fantasy football game. Supporters can now collect trading cards featuring all first team players in Classic, Rare, and Ultra-Rare editions. Each card will be dynamically updated throughout the season with real-time stats based on player performance. Collectors can then use their cards in the brand new Web3 fantasy football game, the first of its kind to be created for a Premier League club using the Tezos Blockchain. Tezos is a leading open-source blockchain focused on peer-to-peer transactions and smart contracts. The digital cards will enable supporters to earn in-game points for on-pitch actions by Manchester United players, including goals, assists, tackles and saves. Ronan Joyce, director of digital innovation at Manchester United, said "it means you can compete against your mates all year long, and it adds even more drama and excitement to watching the Reds at Old Trafford and on the road this season."

Extra time...

…and finally, the home of England Rugby, Twickenham, has been renamed the Allianz Stadium.  Whilst some have complained about the RFU's decision to take the naming rights to market at all (Sir Clive Woodward being particularly against the move), the RFU's chief executive, Bill Sweeney, responded that the deal was a "multi-year commitment and it's well over £100 million, so it's a fair value for what you'd expect for stadium rights", pointing out that "It's money that we need to invest back into the game. We've had a tough time coming out of Covid, the game's under pressure – we saw three professional clubs go out of business [and] that was extremely painful". Ireland, Wales and Scotland have all previously sold naming rights to their stadiums (the Aviva, Principality and Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadiums respectively).