1) Have you even posted this week if you haven’t published your potted summary of Leaders Week London?
One of the quirks of working for Leaders at the Summit is that you rarely see any sessions live, so we’ve been keenly reading your thoughts on the trends, patterns and memorable bits over the past few days as the dust has settled. My pick is this comprehensive – and excellent – review by Pact Sport’s Rebecca Derrick. Thanks to everyone who’s taken time to post nice things. We’ve selected a few more choice cuts from the stage on this week’s podcast.
2) What features 11 major entertainment zones, 15 global championships, 34 exhibitions and festivals and has a brand value of $3.2 billion?
It’s Riyadh Season 2025, full details of which were announced by General Entertainment Authority Chair Turki Alalshikh this week, and it will include a host of Matchroom boxing, snooker and darts events, WWE’s Royal Rumble, MrBeast’s ‘Beast Land’, Power Slap 17, P1 Padel, Minecraft, Sneaker Con, Auto Show Riyadh, Six Kings Slam tennis, the first Fantastic Flag Football Classic, a display of 200 million flowers and the newly developed Riyadh Zoo. Amongst other things.
3) If you do something for the first time, who are you to say you haven’t set a precedent?
You’d be Uefa because that’s the slightly tortuous position it’s found itself in after it gave the go-ahead on Monday for LaLiga and Serie A to stage one competitive fixture each - a December game between Villarreal and Barcelona in Miami, and AC Milan v Como in Perth, Australia next February - abroad. Uefa thinks the decision Uefa has made is regrettable, but there’s no basis upon which to prevent it, because the ‘Fifa regulatory framework – currently under review – is not clear and detailed enough’. LaLiga and Serie A still do need Fifa approval, but Uefa’s go-ahead was regarded as the key step - and theirs was a decision delayed for a few weeks while a consultation process with stakeholders including fans took place. It’s an emotive issue, clearly, but, equally, it’s clear that these proposals have been carefully considered. Serie A were with us in force at Leaders Week London, including CEO Luigi De Siervo and Michele Ciccarese, making their case eloquently and enthusiastically, whilst being wholly mindful of the ongoing permissions process. Ciccarese, explaining on stage that Milan’s San Siro Stadium is out of action in February for the winter Olympics, confirmed: “We want to be closer to our fanbase in Asia-Pacific, they are very far from Italy, there are a lot of Italian immigrants in that part of the world so it’s important to bring Calcio closer to them. And that’s why we are in this process.”
4) Is EA Sports the global sports broadcaster Saudi Arabia has been searching for?
That’s simplistic and a stretch - but it is a more relevant question now than a couple of weeks ago, following PIF and Silver Lake’s $55 billion blockbuster acquisition of Electronic Arts. The country has already established itself as a global base for esports, while May’s deal between Major League Soccer and EA, to stream four live matches (a simulcast of the Apple coverage) within the EA Sports FC game may now be reassessed in a new light by the sports media world. EA streaming live games from the 2034 FIFA World Cup in Saudi Arabia (perhaps within a re(re)branded EA Sports FIFA football game) feels like a direction of travel.
5) What’s the best livestream news of the week?
It’s either the news that ITV is about to start broadcasting a live stream from the International Space Station, or this live dash-cam stream of a Nascar hauler driving 2,200 miles from Charlotte to Las Vegas – a clever bit of thinking to promote Mobil Delvac oil. I’d bet a football team seizes on this as a relatively light lift content/activation idea and livestreams the journey from hotel to stadium before the season’s out.
6) What’s 1+1?
Spotify and Comcast have both announced they’ll be adopting the very-much-in-fashion Co-CEO model, joining the likes of Oracle in appointing a dynamic duo to the top job(s). It’s not an alien concept to sport either – see the Bundesliga’s Marc Lenz and Steffen Merkel, and Mercury13’s Victoire Cogevina Reynal and Mario Malave. Steph Harries and Rachel Knight at Women’s Sports Group are another example. As joint Managing Directors they’ve grown the advisory into an influential force in the fast-developing women’s sport space in barely no time at all, notably sealing the Women’s Super League latest domestic media rights deals. On Tuesday they announced WSG’s acquisition by M&C Saatchi. Congratulations one (and one) and all.
