AFL Gather + NRL Magic Review, F1 'Sportstainment' expansion, NBA earned media, Peloton changes course and more

Things worth noticing in sport

May 14, 2023

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Things worth noticing in sport 👇

The AFL and and NRL have both hosted their respective Gather and Magic Rounds and the numbers are in…
The F1’s “Sportstainment” property is expanding into the USA
Peloton changes course (further) after another massive loss
New partnerships worth noticing: FIFA x Unilever, Colgate x Steeden

The AFL and and NRL have both hosted their respective Gather and Magic Rounds and the numbers are in…

May be an image of 10 people, crowd and text

NRL Magic Round

147,000+ match attendance, across 8 games
150,000 nights of accommodation booked across Brisbane
50% of fans purchased tickets from outside QLD
$28m estimated economic value delivered to QLD economy

*QLD currently has the contract to host the event until 2024, however other states have shown interest in hosting it and the NRL is exploring future options.

AFL Gather Round

268,109 match attendance, across 9 x games
60,000 fans purchased tickets from outside SA
80,000 fans flocked to the Pepsi Max Footy Festival
$14m (reported) hosting rights figure paid by SA in 2023
$85m estimated economic value delivered to SA economy

*AFL Gather Round will remain in SA for the next 3 years.

The F1’s “Sportstainment” property is expanding into the USA

Start-ups are popping up around the globe, combining traditional sports experiences with hospitality, technology and gamification to create a new proposition that appeals to sports' non-traditional fans and younger generations. Some are labelling this new category “Sportstainment”.

The F1 has their own version of a Sportstainment property called the “F1 Arcade” and they’ve just announced that they’ll open the first of many venues in the USA in early 2024.

F1 already has a flagship location in London that:

Attracts 8,000+ fans per week
Has received 100,000+ visitors so far

It aims to open 20+ over the next 5 years in the USA.

NBA earned media

Simple, but effective earned media for Alo Yoga

Jimmy Butler wore an Alo Yoga cap to his post game 3 press conference and was asked by a reporter about the below double-clutch dunk to which he responded:

"That's for everybody that thinks I'm not athletic."

This is brilliant product placement for Alo Yoga:

It aligns them to an elite act of athleticism (and athlete)
It's received 2m+ views on NBA Twitter alone

The reach of this clip and association would've extended far beyond Twitter, and would've generated countless amounts of earned media.

Although Alo Yoga would likely pay Butler a truckload in sponsorship fee's, this type of brand activation would be perceived as organic and as a result, it's much more powerful than a standard ad.

A-not-so-successful post-match press conference for sponsorship… or maybe it was

The below video of D’Angelo Russell went viral after trying to promote an unauthorized sports drink during a recent post-game press conference. This video has been viewed millions of times across multiple platforms since.

He clearly didn’t learn his lesson as he tried to do it again shortly after.

Click here to to view.

Is this type of promotion a good thing?

It’s great for awareness, poor for positioning. Athletes (and brands) should know better, and to not bite the hand that feeds you.

Peloton changes course (further) after another massive loss

Peloton has reported a $276m loss for Q3 as a result of slowing revenue and slumping hardware sales.

Shares fell over 14% off the back of the news even though the bleeding has been massively stemmed over the past year - YOY loss for same period was $751.1m.

Peloton is one of the many connected fitness brands who’ve struggled financially and seen their valuation slump since the pandemic.

To transform their business, Peloton is:

Restructuring their business model to focus more on software, content and personalisation, and less on hardware
Recreating the Peloton app with a tiered member structure
Rebranding later this month to reflect it’s new proposition
Continuing to lean into its commercial partnerships e.g. Amazon and Hilton
Keep focusing on international subscription growth, which is growing faster than subscriptions growth in the USA

New partnerships worth noticing

FIFA x Unilever have agreed to a new partnership which will run until 2027.

Personal care brands Rexona, Dove, Lifebuoy and Lux will become official sponsors of this year's FIFA Women's World Cup
Unilever has committed to providing funding and human resources to support the global growth of women's football

Unilever’s brand values are aligned to the world’s vision for soccer…

Rexona’s Breaking Limits programme:

Provides funding for community sports and helps young people overcome barriers to being active

Dove Self-Esteem Project:

Has been inspiring body confidence in the next generation of girls since launching in 2004, reaching over 94 million young people to date

This new sponsorship appears to make a lot more sense for FIFA than the Visit Saudi sponsorship that they were planning to enter into not long ago, before being forced to scrap it due to global backlash and many top female players rightly condemning it and labelling it an “own goal.

Steeden x Colgate have teemed up for an unexpected partnership, that’s delivering real impact.

Steeden has designed AFL Headgear for deaf and hard hearing athletes. The innovative head gear provides a space for a hearing implant while also providing a layer of protection.

Colgate creates head gear for the hard of hearing via VMLY&R

The project ties perfectly into Colgate’s “Smile Stong” brand platform which champions stories that connect with the power of optimism in action. It’s also an extension of Colgate’s previous campaigns that highlight what it’s like to be a deaf athlete.