Elite women’s sports are predicted to generate $1 billion in revenue in 2021.
With just a fraction of the investment dollars and comparatively paltry marketing and promotional budgets compared to those allocated to men’s sports, this is conceivably a conservative estimate. As sport emerges from the challenges imposed by COVID-19, women’s sports are becoming a lucrative business opportunity. Don’t believe us? You’re not alone.
It was a feckless decision from CBS to refuse to show any Champions League group-stage matches on TV. Forcing anyone who wants to watch a match from start to finish to pay for CBS All Access is far shadier than Turner Sports’ cash-grab B/R Live service that bombed harder than Quibi.
Borussia Dortmund and SpongeBob SquarePants have collaborated on a lifestyle capsule that includes two hoodies and two T-shirts. Why?
But my guess is because both are yellow, Gio Reyna is SpongeBob, Erling Haaland is Patrick, Marco Reus is “MY LEG!” and Robert Lewandowski is Gary.
It’s nearly a weekly ritual this season. There’s a big slate of Premier League matches on the weekend and NBC decision makers pick which matches go on TV and which matches are thrown into the abyss of streaming services. NBC then posts these spineless choices onto social media and I gawk at the hate-filled comments and replies.
This week, it’s the North London Derby and a Liverpool match that get the shaft, and as usual the fireworks followed.
It was a massive week in U.S. soccer viewership with everyone taking time off for Thanksgiving and hunkering down to watch to incessant onslaught of the Premier League, the start of the MLS Cup playoffs and the business end of the Liga MX Apertura liguilla.
In terms of English-language broadcasts, the highest-rated event between Nov. 23 and Nov. 29 was last Sunday’s dire 0-0 draw between Chelsea and Tottenham at Stamford Bridge. An audience of 744,000 tuned in on NBCSN to have their spirits crushed by José Mourinho.
As a cultured Texan, I used to spend my Thanksgivings watching Texas A&M play football against Texas. Alas, this tradition died when the Longhorns, upset over the Aggies leaving for a new conference, refused to continue the tradition with a nonconference game nearly 10 years ago. Instead, my Thanksgiving football tradition has been replaced by watching Arsenal play in the Europa League, for better or worse.
A robot camera just ruined a soccer match in Scotland. The camera uses artificial intelligence to track the soccer ball throughout the match. But in a recent fixture between Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Ayr United the camera kept getting confused by the linesman's bald head. Since fans were not allowed in the stadium the only way to watch the match was the televised broadcast. However, for a good chunk of the time, all the viewers could watch was the linesman running up and down the sideline. The home club (Thistle) recently switched from human camera operators to the new A.I.
When the USWNT defeated the Netherlands in the final of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, a broadcast average of 14.27 million and peak audience of 20 million — along with a 10.0 overnight metered market rating — showcased the unifying power of the team over the course of an unforgettable month in France. A captivated nation tuned in to watch back home, creating an event that performed 22 percent higher than the 2018 men’s final.
David Beckham has closed a $20 million deal with Netflix for his new documentary. The former England captain will be the subject of a documentary, co-produced by his production company, Studio 99. The documentary will take viewers inside Beckham's rise to fame as a soccer player and international icon.
There’s enough to Zlatan Ibrahimović that — despite your opinion on his ego and how he handles himself — he’s essentially a stand-alone force when it comes to pure entertainment.
No athlete on the planet transcends myth, legend and reality quite like Zlatan, just as no other athlete would proclaim themselves god before backing it up in the most incredulous way: The 39-year-old is at the top of the Serie A goalscoring charts and AC Milan is top of the table.