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From our Founder Angela Ruggiero
"We have been studying and researching innovation in sports for over four years now, and these rankings show the teams that are leading the way in the sports."
Last week the Sports Innovation Lab released our Top 25 Most Innovative Teams in the World rankings. My team at Sports Innovation Lab spent years collecting, analyzing, and testing our proprietary data and research in order to create this groundbreaking list. We looked at the top 10 leagues in the world, and ranked the teams from those leagues based on three criteria: Technology Focus, Revenue Diversification, and Organizational Agility. The teams that made the top 25 excel in those three imperatives. In this day and age in the sports industry, teams need to implement technology to capture the attention of the Fluid Fan, they need to have multiple revenue streams outside of the traditional gate and game-day revenues, and they need to staff for the future with innovative thinkers. This data-driven rankings list is the first of its kind and will force the sports industry to think differently. We have been studying and researching innovation in sports for over four years now, and these rankings show the teams that are leading the way in the sports. To download the report and learn about the Top 25 teams visit our website.
Weekly Brand Breakthrough
Sports betting is here to stay in the United States. Ever since the 2018 repeal of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, the industry has taken off and never looked back. Recognizing this, the Washington Nationals have signed a multi-year partnership with BetMGM. They intend to open a branded sportsbook at their venue and build out a custom mobile betting experience for fans to participate in from the comfort of their seats. Mobile betting allows fans to engage with the game in front of them in a completely new way, and sports venues in legal states are working hard to provide this for their fans. Spectators who bet on games tend to spend more, stay longer, and come back the following weekend.
Weekly Live Entertainment Breakthrough
Super Bowl 55 is almost here and, not only do we want to know who will be playing, but more importantly, we want to understand how football’s biggest game will be played in a COVID era. The game is set to take place at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, and will abide by the local guidelines. The league’s chief medical officer said in a statement in late December that they plan to have fans in attendance at the game, but only in a reduced capacity allowing space for social distancing. Throughout the season, the Buccaneers have seen an average crowd of 14,483, around 22 percent capacity, and we can expect something similar come game day. Roger Goodell has told the organizing committee that the league wants vaccinated healthcare workers at the game as a way of paying tribute to their incredible sacrifices over the last year.
Weekly Media Breakthrough
La Liga has partnered with China Mobile Migu’s streaming channel to bring the Spanish top flight to a larger audience. In the deal, the OTT service gets non-exclusive rights for all La Liga games and all second-tier games of the club Espanyol where Chinese soccer star Wu Lei plays. The deal also included content production, marketing, and other activities as part of the union. This is the latest in several efforts by La Liga to push into the Chinese sports market and make a place for themselves, a smart move given the audience’s size. This deal shows the direction sports media is heading in, easily accessible through OTT platforms and internationally distributed for a larger viewing audience.
Weekly Athlete Breakthrough
The last year's trials have proven to high-level athletes, frontline workers, and the general public the value of wearable technology and the insights it can provide. Before the pandemic, wearables felt like a nice to have, but now they have become essential to numerous industries' successful running. This last week WHOOP released their 2020 Health And Fitness Data Trends, and here are some of their most exciting discoveries. They saw a jump in the number of people working out in solo settings with little to no equipment such as running, walking, and biking. On average, WHOOP members slept six more minutes a night in 2020 than they did in 2019. They also saw that recovery was low across the board on the days after a holiday, hypothesizing that in this year that we have all been kept apart, we have taken advantage of celebrations more than usual. These WHOOP metrics show how the pandemic affected athletes and everyday people trying to stay active in a year much harder than most.
For more information on the changing trends in sports and all of our latest research visit sportsilab.com
Sports Innovation Lab Events
A SAFE RETURN TO PLAY WITH DR. LESLIE SAXON
On this week’s episode of the Fluid Fan Podcast, Angela Ruggiero is joined by Dr. Leslie Saxon the Executive Director of the USC Center for Body Computing. Dr. Saxon is an esteemed medical professional who has an extensive background in cardiology. She has been on the frontlines throughout the COVID pandemic and is ready to share her insight on what it will take to get players, coaches, event staff, and fans safely back in the venue. Dr. Saxon has been a co-chair on two of our leadership boards and is an expert in human performance and the tactical athlete. She’ll share her knowledge of the cardiovascular health risks of COVID, as well as the safety protocols needed to get fans back in the stands. Listen to the full conversation and learn about the medical side of sports and athlete performance.
SPORTS INVESTMENT IN TECHNOLOGY WITH
MEREDITH MCPHERRON
On Thursday, January 21st at 1 pm ET, the Sportico and Sports Innovation Lab Ask Me Anything Series returns with special guest Meredith McPherron. Meredith is the CEO and Managing Partner of DRIVE by DraftKings overseeing all investments, portfolio construction, and operations. She has 25+ years of investing, operating, and executive experience driving early and growth-stage ventures to scale and exit. Prior to joining DRIVE, McPherron served as a Venture Partner with Glasswing Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm investing in the next generation of AI, cybersecurity, and intelligent enterprise startups. Don’t miss this innovative conversation around tech investment and how it is shaping the sports industry. You can view all of our previous AMAs on our website and our YouTube Channel.