Van Adams on LinkedIn: WNBA opens investigation into Aces sponsorships (2024)

Newcastle United are reportedly on the verge of signing a new shirt sponsorship deal and the agreement may be a litmus test for Premier League rules on related-party transactions. It was a pleasure to provide a legal overview of the regulations to The Athletic which you can read here if you are a subscriber :#JMW #sportslaw #sportsbusiness

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Football: World Cup 2026 Competition Enforcers' Game Plan By Carsten Reichel and Will Conway, Partner, Former Federal Prosecutor, US Department of Justice, and Will Conway, Associate, DLA Piper, Washington DC, US The 2026 FIFA World Cup — to be hosted jointly by the U.S., Canada and Mexico — will be the largest sports tournament ever, featuring 48 teams, 104 matches and 16 host cities. [1] The influx of fans promises an economic hat trick for its North American hosts, generating benefits across the construction, entertainment and tourism industries. FIFA executives are touring [2] each of the 16 host cities to assess existing infrastructure needs and refine operational plans. From renovating sports complexes and constructing tournament training sites to improving transportation and imagining each host city's unique fan festival, the tournament will produce ample contracting opportunities for private sector businesses, many supported [3] by tax breaks and public investments. But just as FIFA and the World Cup host cities are preparing for kick-off, so, too, are competition regulators, who are ready to draw their red cards to ensure fair play and a level playing pitch. For the entire post, see:https://lnkd.in/eTVyjSvb

SIGN OF THE TIMESI've created a snapshot of Premier League shirt sponsors for the 2023/24 season and how those same clubs compared to the first season of the Premier League (1992/93)Not all of this season's Premier League teams would have been in the top tier of the competition at its inception, but I thought it would make a good reference point for how sponsors and the industries have evolved in just over 30 years.If you take the clubs out of the equation, here are the main findings: ⚽ No Gambling Sponsors in 1992/93 - Now 40% of Premier League clubs⚽ Alcohol Sponsorship at 20% in 1992/93 - Now 0%⚽ A greater concentration of industry in current times ⚽ Financial Services are now a considerable factor when it comes to shirt sponsorships⚽ Only 1 Airline sponsor (not the same airline) has carried through as a like-for-like in 30 years⚽ Now a huge landscape change, but with Gambling soon to be outlawed on Premier League shirts. Which industry will fill the void?

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Football Club Revenue will always be a hot topic of coversation, and the disparity between clubs a contentious issue. At Chelsea FC, regardless of the ownership and broadcast revenues, I directed the strategic marketing & sales plan to ensure we had lucrative long term sponsorship, a global commercial CRM campaign, record breaking retail sales and profitable world class hospitality revenue. Top take aways to consider:-⚽️football is worth £7.6 bn to U.K. economy, therefore planning is paramount ⚽️sponsorship strategy can benefit both the club and the culture if creative & commercial brand values are aligned ⚽️female football has the most amazing potential to activate new financial backing from a myriad of sources; the time is now!#revenue #creativecommercials #footballsponsorship #financialsuccess

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New Post: CEOclips Ticketek as members miss out in grand final shambles Kelly called on the AFL to increase club member allocating from 17,000 to 20,000 to meet the growing demands of the league’s biggest clubs that have memberships in excess of 100,000. Amid the fight for tickets to the decider, Collingwood members who had forked out thousands in membership dollars were given standing room tickets when they should have been allocated a seat by ticket agency Ticketek. Others who were selected to receive tickets via a ballot had money taken out of their accounts before being allocated tickets, while other members’ credit cards were rejected in what has become an annual problem with grand final ticket delivery. Kelly addressed the issue on Monday and while he said all Collingwood members who were guaranteed grand final tickets would get them, he called for change to the system and how many tickets competing clubs were allocated. “We believe members who contribute their hard earned should be rewarded with a fair opportunity to witness our team on the biggest stage,” he said in a club statement. “We have been working through the situation overnight and have some updates for you. “Every single priority one (P1) member who registered for the grand final ballot will receive a ticket to the 2023 AFL grand final.“There were 37 P1 Members who did not select the standing room option and, as such, missed out on tickets through the automated ballot – we will sort each of those 37 members directly to ensure they have a seat.“Anyone who is a P1 member and were given a standing room ticket – that will be changed from standing room to an allocated seat. “We call on Ticketek to improve their system so that the moment funds are taken out of bank accounts, tickets are released to members immediately. “We know grand finals are a case of high demand and limited availability, which is why we call on the AFL to increase competing club allocations from 17,000 to at least 20,000 tickets.“We want to assure all members that we are actively engaging with the AFL, MCC, Ticketek, and other stakeholders to push for changes and improve this system and access for our most dedicated members.”Despite the mistakes, Ticketek was adamant it had fulfilled its role in the ballot allocation. “Ticketek wants to assure all Collingwood members that the ballot process for the AFL grand final ran as planned, without any issues, and as per the instruction from the AFL, Collingwood Football Club and the MCG,” a statement from the agency said. The grand final is a sellout. Read related topics:BrisbaneDavid Shawn

Newcastle United reportedly in talks with Sela over a lucrative shirt sponsorship deal 🔥⚽️💰 #NewcastleUnited #SelaNewcastle United FC is on the brink of securing a new shirt sponsorship deal with Saudi Arabian events company Sela, according to several media sources. While the deal is only a rumour at this stage, it is worth looking into the implications of a potential agreement, especially considering the club’s successful 22/23 season. 📰💼 #rumourmill #sponsorshipSela, an events company supported by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF) would replace gambling brand Fun88 at the front of the shirt. The current deal of the club, which is set to expire at the end of this season, is reportedly worth around GBP 9 million per year and is in line with the main shirt sponsor agreements of West Ham United FC, Everton FC (both GBP 10 million) and Brighton & Hove Albion FC (GBP 8.3 million). Although the financial details of the deal are undisclosed at this stage, media reports project an annual value in the region of GBP 25 million – almost three times as much as the current partnership with Fun88. 💼💰💼 #sponsorshipdeal #bigmoneyThis jump is a significant development in the league as outside of the so-called “Big Six” clubs (who all make at least GBP 40 million per year from main shirt sponsorships), no other clubs managed to surpass the GBP 15 million per annum mark before. If a deal in this range goes through, then it could be a major milestone in Newcastle’s quest of competing with and ultimately joining the EPL’s elite both on and off the pitch. 🆙🔝💪 #milestone #competitionHowever, Sela's affiliation with the PIF, which acquired Newcastle United in a GBP 305 million takeover in 2021, raises questions about the league’s policy of related party transactions. If the deal is confirmed, the partnership would be the first real test of the Premier League's new regulations. The rules were implemented in response to concerns about unfair financial advantages gained through inflated commercial agreements with companies linked to club owners; the league requires deals to be executed at a fair market value determined independently by a third party. 🔄🚫💰 #regulations #fairplayLast Sunday, the club concluded its most successful season in the recent past, qualifying to the UEFA Champions League after a 20-year hiatus. The strong on-pitch performance and next year’s participation in Europe’s top international club competition are strong elements in any sponsorship negotiation and undoubtedly bolster the club’s commercial appeal, which could be an argument for a significant value increase. In any case, it feels like a guarantee that the club will have a new main shirt sponsor and a massive fee increase is anticipated in the upcoming season. 🏆💪🤑 #ChampionsLeague #commercialappeal

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New Post: PGA Tour and Saudi-Backed LIV Extend Deadline to Finalize Deal - When the PGA Tour and the upstart LIV Golf league, which is bankrolled by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, announced their groundbreaking deal in June for the men’s golf circuits to join forces, they left most details unanswered and set a Dec. 31 deadline to figure them out.Now, it is clear that the two sides will need more time.The PGA Tour commissioner, Jay Monahan, said in a memo to players Sunday evening that the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, were “working to extend” the negotiations into the new year.The sides had been discussing signing a formal one-month extension, which could be further prolonged, said three people familiar with the negotiations who were not authorized to discuss them. But while both sides remain focused on completing a deal, they have yet to set any new formal deadline.Those negotiations continue as the PGA Tour progresses on simultaneous talks to raise additional money from Strategic Sports Group, an investment group led by Fenway Sports Group — the parent company of the Boston Red Sox, the Pittsburgh Penguins and the English soccer club Liverpool.Mr. Monahan said on Sunday that the tour and Strategic Sports Group “have made meaningful progress” in their talks and that the tour had “provided S.S.G. with the due diligence information they requested.” The parties are focused on finalizing terms of the deal and documents, he said.The PGA Tour, the Saudi wealth fund and the Strategic Sports Group enter 2024 with significant uncertainty about the deal. Since the June announcement, questions that had initially accompanied the agreement’s frenzied rollout appear to have compounded: How will potential U.S. investment sit alongside Saudi money? How will the golf circuits work together even as the Saudis still actively seek to poach PGA Tour players?The planned partnership was announced on June 6 with scant contours of an actual agreement. The PGA Tour and the Saudi wealth fund had planned to work out the details, including governance, the valuation of assets and how the money would be put to work, by the end of 2023.About two weeks after the tentative partnership was announced, the tour and the Saudi wealth fund, which had been bitterly feuding for months, agreed to drop their acrimonious litigation against each other. LIV had accused the tour of violating antitrust laws, and the tour had accused LIV of improperly interfering with existing player contracts.In the months since, the preliminary pact has faced backlash from players, who said that they were blindsided by the deal, and American lawmakers, with some demanding further investigation into the tour’s ties to Saudi money and influence.Discontent among players, including those on the powerful PGA Tour policy board, has been pervasive. And LIV Golf recently signed Jon Rahm, the No. 3 player in the Official World Golf Ranking

MUST READ: Premier League clubs vote to tighten sponsorship rules: The Premier League has implemented stricter regulations aimed at preventing clubs from inflating sponsorship and transfer deals with entities linked to their owners.These revised rules were approved by a ‘very narrow’ majority in a club vote last month and aim to address concerns about Profit and Sustainability Rules and maintaining a level playing field within the league.The process will now work where the clubs must demonstrate the legitimacy of these transactions. They must provide a declaration from an associated party director confirming their belief in the deal’s fair market value.Then an independent commission will review each of these deals, make a decision and impose a range of sanctions for any breaches they find. The severity of the offence will determine the penalty.It is understood that the vote was not unanimous, with the league scraping through their ‘two-thirds majority’ rule with 14 of the 20 clubs agreeing to this policy.Manchester City and Newcastle were reportedly part of the few clubs that staunchly opposed this policy and both clubs are in the spotlight having entered multiple commercial deals with brands from the same countries as their owners over recent years.This has become an obvious integrity issue with the way clubs have inflated deals with affiliated entities in order to meet the stricter FFP thresholds that have seen clubs like Everton and Nottingham Forest punished, the former with a six-point deduction.It became an interesting discussion after big clubs like Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United and Tottenham voted in favour of these new strict rules after recently being passed by Newcastle and Manchester City in commercial revenue.Out of the 115 FFP charges that Manchester City face, the ones that could impose the biggest sanction are directly related to this topic, with the club earning over 13 times more in 2022/23 than they did in 2008 when the takeover first occurred, indicating a potential exaggeration of revenue from their Middle Eastern sponsors.The Premier League claims that these revisions will ensure long-term financial sustainability while promoting fairness amongst clubs as they try to prevent other clubs from gaining an unfair advantage through non-market practices.With Leicester City, Everton and Nottingham Forest charged in the last month, there is a clear crackdown on clubs breaking the Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR).It is certainly a step in the right direction for the Premier League who are seeing more clubs spend seemingly above their means without any harsh regulatory or legal checks that could potentially damage the integrity of the competition.The post Premier League clubs vote to tighten sponsorship rules appeared first on Soccerscene. #Football #Soccer #FootballNews

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Should football spectators (still) pay an admission fee? Resembling the pioneering approach of Fortuna Düsseldorf, Paris FC just last week announced that stadium admission will be available free of charge for all league matches until the end of the season.Intriguingly, despite the apparent similarities (e.g., free tickets, giving back to society), the two clubs' approaches seem only somewhat comparable, with Paris FC operating in a significantly smaller stadium and observing significantly lower attendance demand, among others. As such, the shortfall in ticket sales will only be about one million euros over the year and should, thus, be more manageable to compensate.I contrast the two approaches in the slide below based on what is publicly known.My take: While (some) European football executives seem to rethink their long-existing stadium business strategies, the free ticket approach, potentially backed or financially compensated by shareholders and sponsors or, indirectly, through matchday income (e.g., catering, merchandising), is certainly not feasible for everyone (yet). Still, I could imagine more clubs following Fortuna Düsseldorf's lead, specifically if stadium attendance demand for their product is already low (e.g., in lower tiers).What's your take? Could you, perhaps, even imagine spectators being paid for attending matches in the future?

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⚽ 2023-24 Premier League Shirt Sponsors Deal Values ⚽ Manchester City Football Club's deal with Etihad Airways stands as the most lucrative in the market ahead of the 2023-24 season, at an estimated $70 million a year. Unlike many of the biggest club’s in the league, City are much more tight-lipped around the value of their biggest deals, whilst other major deals linked the likes of Manchester United, Liverpool Football Club and Arsenal F.C are all based on reported figures. Given Manchester City Football Club position as the best team in the world in 2023, the value of their biggest deals are always likely to be substantial, however, its shirt deal with Etihad Airways could in reality be in excess of the $70 million figure highlighted here. This is because of the connections between the airline brand and the soccer teams ownership group, with both being linked to the state of Abu Dhabi. One of the big new deals has seen Newcastle United Football Club follow in the footsteps of other state invested teams, by signing a major new deal with a state owned brand. @Sela is a business brand owned by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), which also owns Newcastle United Football Club. The appeal for teams to move in this direction is clear in this example alone, when you see how Newcastle United’s rights have jumped from $8.17 million a season (with Fun88) to $32.1 million with Sela. The value of these rights were always likely to have a decent lift given the teams qualification for this seasons Champions League, however four times the old value is far bigger than the reality of what that leap is worth. Burnley Football Club have timed their promotion well in regards to being able to negotiate better terms with a new shirt sponsor, with the value of these rights much higher in the The Premier League than in the Championship. Given the large sums affiliated with the shirt market, it looks odd to see two teams, at the time of writing, currently heading into the season without a recognised front-of-shirt partner. It is the second straight season for Nottingham Forest FC without such a partner, but it should be expected that Chelsea Football Club will sign a new partner within the coming months. The contract is almost too valuable to go without, with Chelsea Football Club currently missing out on $52 million (as were the terms of their last kit deal with 3). For further insight into all 20 Premier League teams and the value of their sponsorship deals, please get in touch with myself, Conrad Wiacek or Charlie Mabbett to arrange a demo or to gain access to our Business of The English Premier League 2023-24 report.#premierleague#football#sponsorship#shirtsponsor#2023

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