Views From The Industry: This Week In Sports & Business
February 18, 2022
iSportConnect takes a look at some of the biggest happenings and talking points around sport and business over the past seven days and what the industry has been saying.
Changing The Game?
Many sports fans who are not necessarily golf fanatics tune into the Ryder Cup every two years. Ask yourself why that is and why it attracts that audience?
Is it for the actual match itself (some of probably is, as introducing the USA vs Europe competition adds an extra layer of support to the people from each of those continents), but much of it is also down to the spectacle it provides. The raucous, partisan crowds that are in attendance and levelling up the entire feel of the event.
This is a niche that the PGA Tour’s Waste Management Phoenix Open has been embracing for many years, with the par-three 16th hole a feature of the event with its stands surrounding the entire hole, and crowds encouraged to be as wild as possible, leading to moments like this…
Of course, this is not to the favour of many of golf’s traditionalists, who would be outraged by many of these scenes. So leave it to Twitter’s leading ‘Shooter McGavin’ of Happy Gilmore parody account to be the voice of the traditionalists.
But I think one thing is for certain, we would all love to see our favourite sports stars being able showcase much more of their true personalities rather than the generic media speak we are treated to by many athletes across sport these days.
And of course the bottom line is if it’s enough to get crowds lining up at 6 o’clock in the morning just to be able to witness and experience the adrenaline rush and entertainment that the 16th hole provides, plus more viewers on TV, that can’t be a bad thing, can it?
Well done to the PGA Tour for embracing it.
Get The Barbie Started?
With the announcement that the 2026 Commonwealth Games will likely be taking place in Victoria, Australia, after organisers entered exclusive discussions with the state, it seems like the perfect precursor and warm up event for the country ahead of the 2032 Olympic Games in Brisbane.
As Rob Harris of the Associated Press notes, this is another recent example of a major event being awarded, or even hand-picked, with no formal bidding process.
In the past this is something which some major organisations such as FIFA facing trouble for decision-makers becoming available to bribes from certain bids. If this removes that aspect it may become commonplace to see a city given a major event without the necessity to spend a huge budget on the creation of a full bid.
All On Red
DAZN Group have announced a recapitalisation worth $4.3 billion, a stratospheric figure that will provide the organisation with much greater power to be able to push forward with its strategy to become the Netflix of sport globally.
Texas Retains US Grand Prix
Formula 1 will be hosting two races in the United States for multiple years, starting with the 2022 season, after confirmation that Circuit of The Americas will continue to host their race in Texas for another five years. It is this year being joined by the Miami Grand Prix.
And Finally…