Premier League Cashes In Overseas – Front Office Sports

February 15, 2022

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The Indian Premier League’s mega-auction took place over the weekend, and India’s wicketkeeper/batter Ishan Kishan became the fourth-highest earner in the auction’s history — receiving over $2 million.

The Premier League remains immensely popular in the U.K., but its global clout is ascendant: The league’s international media rights now total more than its domestic haul.

The league is set to rake in $7.2 billion in foreign TV rights from 2022-2025, while its domestic rights total $6.9 billion in that period.

• International rights grew 30% from the previous three-year cycle.
• U.S. rights accounted for much of the increase, with Comcast re-upping its contract on a six-year deal reportedly worth over $2.7 billion. Its previous six-year pact cost $1.1 billion. 
• In May 2021, the Premier League renewed its existing domestic rights deals with Amazon, BT, and Sky, forgoing a traditional auction while the league was still recovering from the pandemic.

The bump in international rights will help boost payments delivered to teams. The 2022-2023 season champions will see their bonus rise to $238 million from $207 million, and the bottom-placing team will pocket $143.4 million, up from $131.2 million.

DAZN vs. Discovery

DAZN hoped to get in on the previous round of negotiations but was unable to participate without an open auction. Both DAZN and Discovery are angling for a deal with BT, but Discovery appears to have taken the lead. 

Whatever the NFL’s plans are for cryptocurrencies, they would apparently benefit from government intervention.

The NFL lobbied the Securities and Exchange Commission on “issues related to blockchain technology,” which could include cryptocurrencies and NFTs, in the second half of last year. The SEC is currently figuring out how it will regulate cryptocurrencies.

• The league spent over $600,000 lobbying both houses of Congress, and various federal agencies, including the SEC.
• The NFL also lobbied the White House, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Commerce on a range of issues including sports betting.

The league is reportedly seeking to determine if cryptocurrency can become a key part of the NFL’s business.

Crypto Accepted

After initially barring teams from crypto- and NFT-related sponsorships, the NFL struck a partnership with NBA Top Shot producer Dapper Labs that saw both the league and its players association take a stake in the NFT company.

The New York Giants struck a partnership with crypto asset manager Grayscale Investments in May 2021, which the league approved even though the crypto company ban was still in place.

Crypto companies, including Coinbase, FTX, and Crypto.com, spent heavily on Super Bowl ads. The sudden increase in traffic to Coinbase briefly caused its site to crash.

When Microsoft recently purchased Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion, the deal raised questions over the fate of “Call of Duty.” 

Last Wednesday, the software giant announced  it would allow Activision to continue making the game for PlayStation even after its current contract expires, several outlets reported.

The decision is part of Microsoft’s broader attempt to make the acquisition more palatable to regulators, who will likely give a “tough review” to the proposed deal, according to The New York Times 

“We’re more focused on adapting to regulation than fighting against it,” Microsoft president and vice chair Brad Smith told reporters. The deal is expected to close in 2023.

Embattled Reputation

Activision Blizzard has drawn the ire of several regulators for alleged gender-based misconduct and toxic workplace culture allegations.

• The Securities and Exchange Commission launched an investigation in 2021.
• The company paid an $18 million settlement to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission following an investigation.
• The California Department of Fair Housing and Employment filed a lawsuit.

The company has reportedly been working to clean up the alleged problems.

Tom Brady’s production company, Religion of Sports, is reportedly looking to raise $50 million, which would value the company at $100 million, according to The Information.

Religion of Sports was founded four years ago and has already produced the Brady documentary “Man in the Arena,” along with the Simone Biles doc “Simone vs. Herself.”

The company, co-founded by the recently retired Brady, former NFL player Michael Strahan, and filmmaker Gotham Chopra, has raised $16 million to date. Last year, its revenue reached roughly $35 million.

• Last year, Brady also formed 199 Productions — a multiplatform content company focused on films, documentaries, and TV shows.
• Religion of Sports is more zeroed in on sports and the passions behind it, whereas 199 Productions has more wide-ranging projects.

Brady’s Brands

Brady is at the helm of several other businesses, and the seven-time Super Bowl champion has reportedly made $293 million just from playing contracts in the NFL over his 22-year career.

He’s a co-founder of NFT platform Autograph and nutrition company TB12, and he unveiled BRADY, his own apparel line, earlier this year.