1) Does it matter whose name is at the bottom of a press release (or LinkedIn quote graphic)?
Any comms professional will tell you it does. And Mark Tatum is now very firmly the main man behind the NBA’s European expansion plan. The Deputy Commissioner is front and centre on this one. The league’s end-of-June deadline for bid submissions for franchises has seen “frontrunners” emerge in each of the league’s 12 target cities, including, reports suggest, at least five groups bidding for the London franchise, which is expected to go for well north of $1 billion. Whether the bids for the other city franchises reach anywhere near that level is in some doubt. Even so, Tatum has called this “the biggest influx of capital European basketball has ever seen” and says “many existing basketball and football clubs” are among the ‘frontrunners’. Real Madrid, meanwhile, last week became the final Euroleague team to commit itself to a new ten-year deal with the extant top-tier European basketball league. The NBA Board of Governors are descending on Las Vegas this month for their next meeting. With a recent round of league layoffs to report on and further exploration of expansion at home – to Seattle and Vegas itself – also on the agenda, there’s a lot to be discussed.
2) How do you know when a rights holder is happy with how a media interview has gone?
When the Chair’s comms lead pushes it like this. It’s very Wimbledon-y here in Wimbledon – where the Leaders offices are – right now. The town is dolled up in its soft summer ambush outfit. Racquets and balls in bank branches; green and purple dashed across window displays. Half price strawberries and six-packs of Stella. Bunting. The trains running to a very special timetable. Timeless. But this is no ordinary year for the AELTC. There are battles to be fought with the players, whose fight for a bigger share of prize money has moved to a new combat zone in Wimbledon, and a vocal troop of local protesters intent on shutting down the club’s plans to expand into local parkland. Word is that leverage has been found behind the scenes and the players’ revolt has been quelled for now, and SportBusiness have a good new newsletter which takes Wimbledon expansion as its theme this week.
3) Does anyone get more awards than actors and marketers?
It’s almost as if there’s an ulterior motive behind media companies decorating celebrities and CMOs. In any case, it’s executive gong season once again, and it’s always enjoyable to see the sports CCOs muscling their way onto these lists. Kudos to F1’s Emily Prazer, Fifa’s Romy Gai, and the Premier League’s Will Brass for landing spots on Forbes’ most influential CMOs list this year. Hat tips to the other sports representatives – the NFL’s Tim Ellis, and New Balance’s Chris Davis among them - on the list too.
4) Who deserves their summer holiday?
Simon Massie-Taylor gets a glowing report card this year. The PREM Rugby CEO gets top marks for effort and output. With the painful process of right-sizing and stabilising the top tier of English club rugby well underway, Massie-Taylor is also making good on his commitment to bring in new money and new energy to the league through the attraction of new and diverse ownership groups. Bill Foley is the latest member of that club. The Bournemouth and Las Vegas Golden Knights owner has completed his purchase of Exeter Chiefs this week, making him the third new owner in PREM Rugby in the space of 18 months.
5) Cannes you bear any more takeaways?
There’s a great paragraph in a great piece in a great newsletter by Brian Morrisey this week. “In all my years coming here,” he writes in his essential ‘The Rebooting’ media business newsletter, “I’ve noticed a severe allergy to Cannes among many not here, while those who come tend to be believers….The Cannes Lions are the official name of the awards show that theoretically sits at the heart of this sprawling gathering. But it has long become simply Cannes, the Star Wars bar of the Information Space, where giant tech platforms, ad tech vendors, agencies, consultants and even supermarket chains vie for the attention of marketers. It’s at once baffling, hideous and inspiring in weird ways.”
As Cannes cements itself onto the business calendars of sports executives and those who sell to them, those sentiments will surely hold true in sport too.
You will no doubt have read too many AI-assisted summaries on LinkedIn to sustain any real interest by now, so here’s some very brief nuggets I brought back from the Riviera:
