The Secret Group That Controls Barcelona đ€«
Plus Real Madrid loses $400m legal case, Puma releases chess shoes, and EU approves the biggest gaming deal in history.
Welcome to Athletic Interest,
One day, a group of Spanish lawyers walked into a barâŠ
That sounds like the beginning of a terrible joke, but itâs actually the start of one of the most important moments in the history of Barcelona football club.
In 1997, a young lawyer named Joan Laporta started a campaign group called Elefant Blau. His goal was to oust Barcelonaâs then president ââJosĂ© Luis NĂșñez and transform the club into a symbol of integrity and fiscal responsibility.
The group and their message would soon gain momentum, a wave that would eventually take Laporta all the way to the presidency.Â
While Laporta has built a successful legacy, the pressure his Elefant Blau campaign group placed on the role of the president has created a lasting impact that can still be felt today.
In many ways, the recent trajectory of Barcelona, from global giants to being crushed by debt and back to champions, can be traced to Elefant Blau and three specific men who have been controlling the club ever since.
This is the story of the rise and fall of Barcelona, and its main characterâŠa blue elephant.Â
đ Sports Business Bites
đ From one Spanish giant to another, Real Madrid have just lost a âŹ400m legal battle against an Abu Dhabi sovereign fund.
In 2014, the La Liga side agreed to a partnership with the Abu Dhabi-backed International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC), which is now known as Mubadala, to provide financing for a project that would have renovated the Santiago Bernabéu stadium. The deal supposedly included a 20-year naming rights option for IPIC.
In hindsight, the âIPIC Santiago BernabĂ©uâ would have been a terrible name. It just looks like they misspelled âEpic.â
Before the deal could be acted upon, Madridâs stadium plans were blocked by a local court. The club then submitted altered plans which were approved in 2017. Unfortunately, IPIC was no longer happy with the revised plans and pulled the plug shortly after.
Madrid decided to take legal action against the fund for failing to honour the deal and demanded full payment of the promised âŹ400m. The arbitration panel of the International Chamber of Commerce ultimately sided with IPIC, stating that the contract had expired in 2017 when Madrid changed the plans without the consent of the Abu Dhabi fund.
Madrid will not be overly concerned by this result. They are already renovating the Santiago BernabĂ©u in a project costing at least âŹ900m and backed by U.S. private investment.
đź The EU has just approved the biggest gaming deal in history, but not everyone is happyâŠ
There was a time when kids playing video games would be met with an angry parent telling their child to go outside and play a âreal sport.â
These days, the kids respond that they are actually e-sport athletes in training. The parents usually get on board when they see how much money their kids can win in tournaments.
There is no better example of the big money swirling around gaming and e-sports than the proposed $69 billion takeover of gaming company Activision Blizzard by tech giant Microsoft.Â
This is a big deal because Activision is responsible for some of the biggest game titles including Call of Duty and Candy Crush (we assumed different teams work on these games.)
The prospect of Microsoft, the creator of the Xbox, controlling such an important game has worried e-sports fans and rival companies alike. Some are worried that Microsoft will create a monopoly and make it harder or even impossible for fans to play Activision games on consoles that are not PC or Xbox. Microsoft does have a history in this area, its acquisition of games studio Bethesda saw the companyâs titles become PC and Xbox exclusives.
Such a move could see Microsoft distort the market, especially in the small but growing cloud gaming sector.
Microsoft has offered assurances to competitors and governments that Activision games will be available through competitorsâ consoles and cloud services.
The EU seems to be satisfied, with its competition authority recently approving the deal.
The U.K. and U.S. governments remain unconvinced and are still blocking the deal, which was agreed more than a year ago.
đ The Boot Room
â In the past, not having the latest sneakers was a one-way ticket to teasing, being a member of the chess club upgraded that to full-blown bullying.
Now imagine going back in time and telling that young kid with his head in a toilet that, in 2023, the worldâs best chess player would have his own sneaker with PumaâŠand everyone thinks chess is cool! (also quidditch is a real sport and Lebron James loves something called Pickleball.)
Yes, you read that correctly, Puma and Chess champion Magnus Carlsen are releasing a limited edition sneaker that pays tribute to the game of chess.Â
The black and white shoes come with a chess-themed design that includes actual chess pieces woven into the laces.
The shoes will be released on 22nd May as part of Pumaâs role as the sports lifestyle partner of Chess.comâs Champions Chess Tour.
This a perfect example of the incredible rise of Chess.
This transformation truly began during the pandemic, when millions of bored people started watching the Chess based Netflix show The Queenâs Gambit. Millions then started taking up chess as a hobby, with the monthly active users at online chess site Chess.com going from 8 million in October 2020 to over 18 million by 2023.
Puma has jumped on this trend, signing both Magnus Carlsen and Chess.com as partners. With the popularity of chess seemingly on the right track, this could just be the first of many link-ups between sports apparel and chess.Â
đ Chess isnât the only thing making waves in the sports apparel industry.
On Running, the emerging shoe company backed by Roger Federer, has just announced a record quarter.
Net income is up 200% on last year, with sales rising 78.3%.
There are several reasons for Onâs impressive results. Most notably, the company has managed to manufacture demand through sporting success. Hellen Obiri recently won the Boston Marathon while wearing On shoes, and brand ambassador and tennis star Iga ĆwiÄ
tek just won the Stuttgart Open. The brand also has strong links to part owner Roger Federer who still brings global attention.
Another factor is the easing of Onâs global supply chain. The company was riding a wave of popularity last year but was simply unable to get the product to wholesalers. These problems have since eased allowing On to fulfill outstanding orders.
The easing of the supply chain has also allowed On to cut costs. Previously, they had to use expensive air freight to try and make up for lost time as problems held up manufacturing. This easing allows them to use the far slower, but cheaper, bulk sea freight option.
On has also recorded massive growth in direct-to-consumer (D2C) sales. The company now has stores in major cities like Miami, Brooklyn, and London, which have all been cited as helping to drive a 64.5% increase in D2C sales. More stores are now planned, including one in Berlin.Â
These results have allowed the company to raise its prediction for the year and is now projecting sales of at least 1.74 billion Swiss francs.
đ± Social Media Madness
We want to end this weekâs newsletter with arguably one of the greatest videos in Barcelonaâs history (and that includes all videos of Messi.)
This is Joan Laporta celebrating Barcelonaâs LaLiga triumph and accidentally recreating a meme: