✍️ Deal of the Week
Premier League’s U.S. TV rights deal to increase by almost 50%
“You could fill two internets with what I don’t know about football.” (Ted Lasso, 2020)
Ted Lasso is the perfect illustration of America’s relationship with football. Both the Apple TV series and the English league were met with curiosity when they first arrived, only to be replaced with a deep and passionate love a few years later. While Ted Lasso now has more trophies than the entire Tottenham squad, the Premier League has seen U.S.-based TV demand rise dramatically.
This upswing in popularity has led to reports that the league will receive around 1.5 billion dollars for a new six-year U.S. broadcasting deal starting in August 2022. This is a 400 million dollar increase from the previous deal, with each club pocketing almost 40 million dollars each.
Competition for the rights has been fierce this time around, with current holders Comcast (owners of NBCSN) having to fight off challenges from ESPN, WarnerMedia, and ViacomCBS.
As impressive as this deal may seem, it is still less than the 3 billion dollars over 9-years that was proposed by some outlets in October. That being said, the Premier League will be happy to see growth in their overseas markets having rolled over their domestic contracts with Sky, BT, and Amazon, after fears that open bidding would see a reduction in TV revenues.
🗞 Story of the Week
Adidas Revenues Fall due to struggles in Asia
While the lockdown has caused many people to gain a few kilos, over at Adidas they seem to have slimmed down…A LOT!
While their revenue technically grew 3.4% year-over-year to $6.6 billion, their operating income has dropped 8.5% to $776.7 million. Perhaps more alarmingly, their revenue growth has been slashed by a staggering $693 million.
You may be wondering why this is happening, surely everyone is buying Adidas products to help them burn those extra lockdown kgs?
The main reasons given for this dramatic cut in growth center on disruptions in the Asian market. Factory closures and worker shortages in Vietnam and a boycott in China based on Adidas’s refusal to source cotton from the Xinjiang region due to reports of human rights abuses against the Uyghur Muslim people have led to huge losses for the company.
Adidas will hope that the global supply chain issues that have been squeezing almost every industry will smooth over before the incredibly important Christmas/New Year season.
📱 Social Media Madness of the Week
Klopp in a Stropp!
After a frustrating defeat, the last thing any manager wants to do is face a bunch of annoying questions in the media room. It is in these moments, when stress, frustration, and tiredness combine perfectly, that we get some of the funniest manager quotes of all time.
Coming in with another brilliant line is Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp. After a controversial defeat to West Ham, which saw a number of important decisions go against the Merseyside team, Klopp did not have any time for journalists trying to get him to criticize the referee’s decisions.
When one journalist asked Klopp if he thought that a challenge on Jordan Henderson deserved a red card, the German responded with this now world-famous line:
“My god. I’m not your puppy. Hopefully, you have an opinion yourself. All good.”
Social media was quick to jump on the rather interesting turn of phrase, with many users thankful that Klopp was on hand to clarify his status as a regular old human being.
🤪 Weird Deal of the Week
A Shot of Turmeric a day keeps the doctor away!
Football clubs will do almost anything to gain an advantage. On one end of the scale, we have Jose Mourinho and his mind games and on the other, we have clubs bribing referees (cough cough Juventus?). But for Everton Football Club, the answer to onfield domination comes not from psychology or bribery but from feeding their players turmeric, a strange powdered root, that most describe as ‘earthy, bitter and pungent.’
In their second most surprising decision of this season - the first being signing Liverpool legend Rafa Benitez as manager - Everton Football Club has partnered with Turmeric Co. the U.K’s leading provider of turmeric-based nutritional shots.
The company will provide Everton players with a number of their products, including the Turmeric and Beetroot shot that claims to boost the immune system and support healthy digestion.
The company was founded by former West Brom and Reading player Hal Robson Kanu and the Wales International has been quick to get his footballing friends hooked on Turmeric shots.
A number of the Everton players now consider the shots an essential part of their post-match recovery, with defender Mason Holgate explaining:
“The day after a game, or a heavy training session, when I would normally feel the aches and strains, I find this clears it up.”
Everton is also keen to get their supporters chugging turmeric, with the club explaining to fans that the shots contain active ingredients ‘scientifically proven to have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anti-depressant properties.’