1) Are you having a great Club World Cup?
The early few days of this much-hyped, expanded version of the tournament have been marked by decidedly mixed attendances across the US (summary: pretty good at the weekend, pretty awful during working hours in the week – all of which has required some creative camerawork and commentary) and comprehensive, slick coverage from DAZN (with IMG’s production support). Some venues are simply too big to be hosting teams unfamiliar to fans in the host country, travelling to the US has become more challenging for many and you’ll have your own view on Fifa’s new approach of individually introducing players onto the pitch. But the early signs are competing teams are at least taking this seriously (and why wouldn’t they with the prize money on offer?), South American fans will create enough atmosphere if their teams can progress and casual interest is likely to build as the knockout stages get closer. For all the chat, the ripple effects of this tournament – how it’s been reimagined, how it’s likely to shift global football finances, how it rebalances the scales of influence – won’t be fully understood for some time, but in pure execution terms call it a score draw for now.
2) Is the footy going Spanish?
Any brands and agencies planning to activate effectively around next year’s men’s Fifa World Cup (and the one after, where Spain will co-host) might want to get going on Duolingo, if Barney Ronay’s observations in this Guardian piece from the Club World Cup are on the mark. “Spanish,” he notes, “is very clearly the lingua franca of this tournament, the language of football in America, and the language of elite football”.
3) Shouldn’t you be at work?
UK sports industry folk of a certain vintage will remember the golden days when a media and broadcast strategy essentially amounted to ‘get on Grandstand’. 18 years after it last aired, the BBC’s flagship Saturday afternoon sports show – and the sports that featured in it – is now the subject of rigorous academic review, courtesy of Richard Jones from the University of Salford. About time too.
4) Is something brewing in Manchester?
On the evidence of 22 hours in the city last week, I’d say so. It’s hard to miss the cranes towering over the Etihad Stadium and the new Co-Op Live, as Manchester City continues to expand its footprint; across town Manchester United are pondering their own shiny new stadium project. There’s an increasingly lively agency sector, a hub of sports federations who call Manchester home, a cluster of major brands basing themselves there – with Adidas about to join them - plus plenty of other key cogs keeping the sports industry in the UK and beyond whirring, and we were delighted to see many of you at our Leaders summer drinks. We’re also up and running with the Manchester branch of Leaders Club – our network of aspiring sports industry leaders – so we won’t be strangers; if you’d like to be part of the coolest gang around, here’s where to start.
5) What’s the most obvious idea that nobody had thought of until this week?
It’s Serie A club FC Como – you know, the one by the lake – launching a luxury travel tour operator.
6) Hey, what’s on your mind today?
Meeting a newfound enthusiasm in the Leaders office for all things AI, we’re busy building a list of smart, day-to-day use cases within the sports industry - simple tasks, time-savers, your most effective prompts, solutions for the most humdrum stuff. Heard a great one the other day about an agency and annual reports. I am conscious we could ask Copilot/ChatGPT/any of the others to do this, but I think I’d prefer to hear from you, the humans working in the actual sports industry - so do email (or better still send me a postcard) with your smallest and most mundane AI wins.
