Covid-19
Features
US Open retains sponsor portfolio with fee discounts and transparent communications
Lew Sherr, chief revenue officer, US Tennis Association, tells SportBusiness how the US Open managed to retain a full roster of sponsors for the closed-door tournament by offering discounts of up to 50 per cent in some cases.
Simon Green, BT Sport | Closed-door matches “not the product we paid for”
Simon Green, head of broadcaster BT Sport, talks about the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on media rights values and consumer habits and says closed-door sport is not the product the broadcaster paid for. Adam Nelson reports.
Home Team Sports’ Sloan: Sports TV advertising market in midst of broad redefinition
Craig Sloan, executive vice-president of Home Team Sports, the Fox Sports-owned sales unit serving dozens of regional sports networks, details historic changes coming to advertising on sports television.
Will rights-holders emerge from Covid-19 lean and mean or broken and weak?
In the face of severe fiscal losses after the coronavirus pandemic, SportBusiness asked sports industry insiders what they think the prospects are for rights-holders, and what must be done to emerge from the Covid-19 crisis stronger than before.
Scott Rosner | Redefining the educational experience amid the pandemic
Scott Rosner, Professor of Professional Practice; Academic Director, M.S. in Sports Management Program, School of Professional Studies, Columbia University, details the turbulence at the university this past spring due to Covid-19 and how it is adapting for this fall
Ineos Hygiene sponsors OGC Nice as sports seek partners to combat Covid-19 risk
Ineos Hygiene has become the 'Official Hygiene Partner' to the Ineos-owned Ligue 1 football club OGC Nice to help protect its team – and fans, when they return – from Covid-19 infection.
Covid-19 outbreak hits Super Rugby Aotearoa finale
The sold-out Blues v Crusaders Super Rugby Aotearoa finale has been cancelled as Auckland battles a new spike in Covid-19 cases
M-League to return, J.League hit by outbreak
Malaysia’s top football league, the M-League, will resume games on August 26 after a five-month gap due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Round-Up: ATP Cup talks continue, English football schedule unveiled, FanCode gets MLB rights, and more
Tennis Australia is keen on hosting the second edition of the ATP Cup next year in Perth, Brisbane and Sydney, and is in talks with the Association of Tennis Professionals about doing so
Sport must weather media industry turbulence | APOS media conference takeaways, Part II
Second of a two-part report from the APOS 2020 Virtual Series, the online incarnation of the leading Asia-Pacific media, telecoms and entertainment industry conference hosted by Media Partners Asia.
Pro boxing can learn lessons from Tyson and Triller’s opportunism
The slow-moving, divided nature of top-level professional boxing has left the sport’s highest echelons more vulnerable to the Covid-19 shutdown. Tyson vs. Jones Jr. proves that a little flexibility can go a long way. Callum McCarthy reports.
How can the sports business in Asia respond to a de-globalised world?
How will global sports industries adapt to the likely prospect of a more inward looking world? And can cancelled events easily win back the hearts of fans in Asia? SportBusiness asks three experts on the region for their thoughts.
Anthony Goddard & Gareth Smith | Sport bounces back on TV
Publicis Sport & Entertainment’s Anthony Goddard, head of media research, and Gareth Smith, media research manager, explain why the post-lockdown period has seen unprecedented and consistently high audiences for Sky Sports in the UK
Terrence Burns | When a game is more than a game
Terence Burns remembers how a game of table tennis thawed relations between the US and China and shows how the Olympic Games can provide an antidote to an increasingly polarized world.
Pro Football Hall of Fame looks to overcome $5m hit with “Super Bowl-like” event in 2021
Pro Football Hall of Fame president David Baker tells SportBusiness how the iconic facility in Canton, Ohio, is looking to overcome calling off Hall of Fame Game and postponing its centennial enshrinement ceremony this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic
NBA 2K engagement and e-commerce support NBA licensing amid brick-and-mortar lockdown
Matthew Glendinning explores how NBA licensing revenues have fared during the Covid-19 pandemic, with the basketball league taking many positives from e-commerce and esports
BT Sport COO Jamie Hindhaugh on socially-distanced boxing and the remote production roadmap
SportBusiness speaks to Jamie Hindhaugh, chief operating officer of BT Sport, who says that in the light of Covid-19, remote production points the way towards the broadcaster’s future
“The math just kept getting worse” | Why Toronto Wolfpack pulled plug on Super League season
Toronto chief executive Bob Hunter tells SportBusiness the club is expecting to face serious "consequences" of withdrawing from 2020 campaign at late notice due to coronavirus-enforced financial problems
US college sports face critical juncture as Covid-19 cancellations mount
Months after Covid-19 wiped out the entire spring season in US college sports, still-growing virus case rates now imperil the fall season and escalate economic tension around the country
Location technology developed for the oil industry helps ECB to deliver bio-secure matches
A network of Bluetooth sensors installed at the venues for the three-match cricket series between England and the West Indies is allowing the ECB to detect the exact location of everyone involved in the matches and to track and trace any suspected outbreaks of Covid-19. Ben Cronin reports.
The inside view as China sacrifices international sports events
The Chinese government recently said the country will not be hosting most of its planned international sports events this year, putting a number of major events in doubt. SportBusiness asked three local industry insiders for their thoughts on the potential for disruption.
Adrian Staiti | Five reasons to be optimistic about the sports industry post-Covid-19
Adrian Staiti, APAC president of sports marketing agency Sportfive, challenges the wary outlook for the sports industry and says a 'better normal' will flourish once markets come out of the pandemic.
Sports broadcasting: Cancellation and compensation in the time of Covid-19
The negotiations between sports organisations and their commercial partners around the cancellation, postponement and non-delivery of rights has been one of the biggest storylines during the coronavirus crisis. Jody MacDonald, partner at international law firm Charles Russell Speechlys, takes a closer look at the implications
“Digital has become the free-to-air platform” | F1’s Frank Arthofer
Liberty Media’s major investment into Formula 1's digital media operations has demonstrated its value during sport’s global lockdown, believes Frank Arthofer, the series’ global head of digital media and licensing.
Abu Dhabi to use UFC ‘Fight Island’ as a pilot project for sealed spectator events
Abu Dhabi is using UFC's 'Fight Island' as a pilot project to determine if it can expand the event's 'safety bubble' model to include spectators. SportBusiness speaks to Ali Hassan Al Shaiba, executive director of tourism and marketing for the city's Department of Culture and Tourism.
Lee Choong Khay | After Covid-19, the sports media rights model must change
Lee Choong Khay, head of sport at Malaysian pay-television broadcaster Astro, implores rights-holders and broadcasters to take the opportunity of the Covid-19 interruption to reconsider the sports media rights model.
Protracted return for professional sport in China
Tom King looks at how China is getting its sporting calendar back on track, and how the global health crisis has affected some of the weaker industry players in the country.
UFC Fight Island: Stringent testing underpins Abu Dhabi event
The Abu Dhabi government has turned the majority of Yas Island into a ten-square-mile safe zone just for the UFC, with each of the 2,500 people on site being tested for Covid-19 on five separate occasions during their stay.