For and Against

Let's face it, this is a position that doesn't come up very often...in the last 130 years only nine people (nine white men, to be precise) have been the president of the International Olympic Committee. Who will be next as Thomas Bach ends his term in mid-2025? Jostling has already begun. Bach has declared it as a 'new era', with the mandate, 'change or be changed'. Like Bach, Sebastian Coe is a gold medal Olympian, he's also run a successful Olympic bid, was chairman of the highly successful London 2012 Olympic organising committee, and is now president of World Athletics, the backbone of the Olympic games. But, he is unlike Bach in other ways. Will that work to his advantage, or not, as he weighs up whether to run as a candidate for the most influential position in world sport? Does he represent the 'change' Bach speaks of? The Sports Ambassador podcast (for subscribers on Patreon) will take a look at each of the likely candidates over the coming months - starting this week with Seb Coe. If you don't have time for the podcast, here's a snapshot... #Olympics #presidency #ThomasBach #SebCoe #SebastianCoe #athletics #worldathletics #sports #diplomacy #politics #governance #ethics #Brisbane2032

The WNBA's Indiana Fever have released mid-season growth numbers: TICKET SALES • Sold out 100% of season ticket inventory • Total attendance is up 264% from last year • 186,000 fans have attended a Fever home game in 2024 • 230,000 fans have attended a Fever road game in 2024 MERCHANDISE SALES • 1,193% increase in jersey sales from last year • Total team store transactions are up over 700% from last year • Broke the franchise single-game merchandise sales record four times CONCESSION SALES • Hot dog sales are up 300% so far this year • 2,826 gallons of draft beer have been sold this year (+740%) SOCIAL MEDIA METRICS • Over 800 million views in the last four months alone • Added 1.3 million followers since the WNBA draft (April 15th) • The Indiana Fever have more social media views than any other WNBA, NBA, NFL, NHL, or MLB team over the last 4+ months TV VIEWERSHIP • 38 games on national television this year (most in the WNBA) • Set records for most-viewed WNBA games on ABC, ION, ESPN, and NBATV CORPORATE PARTNERSHIPS • 225% increase in partnerships • Largest number of team sponsors in the WNBA The 2024 WNBA season is only halfway over — but it's safe to say Caitlin Clark is a gamechanger 🤯 P.S. Follow me (Joe Pompliano) for more sports business content! #sports #sportsbiz #linkedinsports

"You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one." Incredible scenes from women's beach volleyball gold medal match as tempers flared at the net between the Canadian and Brazilian players. To calm things down the DJ plays John Lennon's 'Imagine', the players look at each other with a smile, the anger passes and the crowd starts singing along. Brazil prevailed for the gold medal and an unofficial gold to the DJ for creating a magical moment, with both teams later giggling, hugging & dancing together at the victory ceremony. The Olympic spirit of diplomacy and unity powered by music. #Imagine Credit: NBC

It's great to see the Australian Government and Football Australia diversifying #Australia's 🇦🇺 approach to strategic football diplomacy by renewing their partnership to support the development of elite football throughout the #Pacific. The beautiful game has the potential to further strengthen connections across Pacific nations, enable deeper people-to-people engagement, encourage economic development and foster further positive ties on many issues of mutual interest throughout the region and beyond. Australian football (sports) diplomacy is a topic close to my heart. I have written various thought leadership articles on it and framed my Master's research dissertation around it back in the day. It offers a fascinating and ongoing case study and blueprint that other nations and non-state actors could look to for ideas, inspiration, expertise and know-how. Watch this space for another book Chapter connected to this coming out in the #Australian Spring and #European Autumn in co-authorship with Stuart Murray! 😉 👍 #Australia #FootballAustralia #partnership #Pacific #DFAT Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade #PacificAusSports Aaron Kearney OAM Stuart Murray #AustralianFootballDiplomacy Oceania Football Confederation #footballdiplomacy Sarah Walsh Sports Diplomacy Alliance Pat Conroy Mark Falvo Moya Dodd AO Verity Postlethwaite Professor Sarah Kelly OAM Matthew Forno Dean Grandy Professor Laura McAllister CBE, FLSW, FRSA David Warren Neil Watt

The NFL will soon allow private equity firms to buy minority stakes in its teams. This policy has already been implemented by the NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS, and NWSL, and it will 1) provide existing owners (both majority and minority) with liquidity and 2) help facilitate the continued growth of franchise valuations. Private equity firms will love these deals because it allows them to lock up billions of dollars in capital over a long time horizon. Most firms won’t be able to charge the standard 2 and 20 — a 2% management fee and a 20% share of profits — but even at a reduced fee schedule, they still get to print money and use the lack of liquidity to their advantage. Investors don’t mind the fees and lack of liquidity because private equity firms will give them access to an exclusive club. Sports teams have a long track record of price appreciation with little correlation to the broader stock market. Multi-billion-dollar media contracts have built-in escalators that allow teams to accurately forecast revenue growth, and the introduction of sports betting and the continued development of mixed-use real estate projects act as a call option on outsized capital appreciation. However, the biggest winners will be NFL teams and ownership groups. Franchise valuations across every sports league, but especially in the NFL, have become so ridiculously expensive that owners can't find liquidity. People want to invest in sports teams, of course. However, the problem is that few people want to write a check for hundreds of millions of dollars only to realize they get nothing outside of season tickets and a few parking passes. This is precisely why the private equity model is so important. It provides existing ownership groups with fresh liquidity to take long-term capital gains off the table and reset the team’s cap structure. They can either pocket the money or use it to fund growth, and the league itself also stands to benefit, mainly because fresh capital will help facilitate new stadiums and the continued growth of league-wide franchise valuations. So keep an eye on this space — the average NFL team is now worth nearly $6 billion, and private equity investment will only send that number even higher. P.S. Follow me (Joe Pompliano) for more sports business content! #sports #linkedinsports #sportsbiz

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What a great quote, giving us such an insight into how an athlete's mind works in preparing to win.

Where do we get them?!

This is just so sad. But Cardiff Arms Park is gone, Lansdowne Road is no longer....will Twickenham really go the same way?? #AlwaysBeTwickersToMe

🏆 With only 3 days left until the Opening Ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games, it is a perfect time to investigate the landscape of global sports competitions, compare football leagues with other sports events and summarize the main economic KPIs of the Olympics. 💰 The visual showcases the top 16 sports competitions by total revenues, based on data recently published by Sports Value. Looking at the 14 leagues on the list that follow an annual schedule, the combined income of these properties was over $80 billion in 2023, 22% more than four years before. If we also include the revenues of the latest Olympic and the FIFA World Cup cycles, the combined value of the latest edition of these 16 competitions is close to $100 billion. 📊 Focusing on the Olympic Games, the previous, 2017-20 cycle generated around $10.8 billion in total revenues. When comparing the latest edition of sports competitions, this would put the Olympics as the 3rd largest sports competition by revenue, however if we look at annual values after taking into account the 4-year Olympic cycle, the picture is different, with the top 10 places all occupied by major US sports leagues, football competitions, plus Formula 1. ⚽️ The UEFA Champions League and four of the five “Big Five” leagues (Premier League, Bundesliga, LaLiga, Serie A) all boast a higher turnover than the yearly average of the Olympics, with the French Ligue 1 not far off either. This comparison shows the strength and importance of European football in the overall sports ecosystem. 🖥️ Similarly to football, a large portion of Olympic revenues are generated by commercial and broadcasting deals. The previous, four-year Olympic cycle surpassed a total sponsorship income of $6 billion, with the expectations even higher for this year’s event. The IOC will have 16 global sponsors, plus 70 more local partners involved in some capacity. Broadcasting is a similarly crucial revenue source of the event: just in the USA, NBC paid a total of $7.65 billion for the rights of the Games between the period of 2021 and 2032. In total, over 11,000 hours of content will be produced for more than 130 broadcasters worldwide. ⚖️ On the cost side, while only estimations can be made at this stage, the latest forecasts project a total budget of over $9 billion. However, the long-term economic impact of the event can be even higher, with the Games projected to generate around $10-12 billion for the Paris region until 2034. #olympicgames #sport #footballbenchmark