Wimbledon begins, a landmark deal for the Red Roses & football fans discover Buc-ee's
What's Shaping Sports? Weekly Edition #003
Welcome to the third weekly digest of What’s Shaping Sports? where I track the key signals, insights and trends that are shaping how sport is evolving and experienced. Each week I look at what’s caught the eye across 1) Sports Fandom, Culture and Experience 2) Athlete Empowerment, Performance and Innovation 3) Sports Growth, Power and Society Impact.
How people watch, follow, express, access and emotionally connect with sport across fan behaviour, culture, media, retail and live experiences.
The many ways of watching Wimbledon. The iconic tennis championship starts today and the All England Club and BBC have announced coverage will remain free to air until at least 2033 in the UK. Their coverage is fantastic and the iPlayer does a great job of allowing you to watch any and every game should you wish, not just the main courts. In the US, ESPN are putting more of their Wimbledon coverage behind higher tiers of their subscription service, much to dismay of tennis fans.
BBC is the next best thing to being there but for those who wish to see it in person, you’ve either got to be lucky in the ballot, rich and connected or willing to put the graft in with the famous ‘queue’ which began yesterday at 2pm. Wimbledon is one of the last premium sports to enable fans to buy a ticket on the day and the queue has become one of the great elements of Wimbledon as people camp and queue overnight to get a chance to buy tickets. Alternatively if you’ve got spare six figures you can skip the queue and buy debentures that allow you to guarantee your seat for five years to all 14 days play. This week a pair went for the eye-watering sum of £586,000.
Coles is fuelling the next generation of AFL fans with their Kids Footy Month. Watching live sport is increasingly expensive which prices out families but in Australia, the supermarket Coles and AFL run Kids Footy Month where tickets are free for under 14s. This is a great initiative as we need to ensure the next generation of fans in any sport can access it live. It’s the best place to plant the seed for long term fandom so we need to see more things like this and it’s such an easy win for brand sponsors.
British fans aren’t staying up late for the World Cup. Ipsos conducted a study with British football fans on the eve of the World Cup to see how the timezones would impact live viewership and not surprisingly engagement is low for the early morning games. Nearly 8 in 10 likely viewers (77%) plan to watch the evening matches live, but just over 2 in 10 likely viewers (22%) plan to watch the early morning games live. What’s striking is the low number saying they’d catch up with the highlights, just over 4 in 10 (42%).
Fans don’t just experience the World Cup in the stadiums, they experience life and the culture of the host nations and one element that isn’t going down well with fans visiting the USA is tipping culture, as this BBC video found out. A happier experience is being had when fans explore things they can’t do at home, like England fans enjoying the rodeo in Texas, Scotland fans taking over the iconic Fenway Park, fans experiencing the food, falling in love with ranch dressing and even famous gas station chain Buc-ee’s.
Fifa is actively and successfully targeting the 1 per cent at this World Cup with half a million packages sold, more than doubling its hospitality revenue record. Concierge and hospitality services and experiences include private jet trips to Marfa, sunrise coffee and yoga on the Empire State Building, a “VIP breakfast” at Tiffany’s and even dinner with Gary Lineker. Some packages for the World Cup final have sold for millions which includes the chance to go on the pitch with the winning team at the trophy ceremony.
How athletes, teams and talent systems are being shaped by performance demands, technology, workload, wellbeing and empowerment.
England women’s Rugby players have secured a 25% increase on their previous contract as part of the new 2026–2030 Rugby World Cup cycle, which will also see the 3 time World Cup winners earn a £100,000 bonus if they retain the title. The deal is part of a larger investment by the RFU in the women’s game with £24 million committed investment over the next 10 years to help further accelerate growth of the sport among women and girls.
A proposed media commitment strike by Jannik Sinner, Iga Swiatek and other stars at Wimbledon has been called off. The players are currently demanding a fairer share of tournament revenues and limited their contractual media commitments during Roland-Garros. This year the All England Club announced record prize money for Wimbledon, increasing the overall prize pool by 20 per cent and totalling £64.2m overall, which sees the singles champions win a record £3.6m each and first-round losers receiving £80,000. However, the players want their share of revenues at the grand slams to reach 22 per cent, the figure they receive at some events on the ATP and WTA Tours, by 2030.
Juan Mata has reached an agreement to purchase a stake in his A-League club Melbourne Victory, following in the footsteps of his ex-international team mate Cesc Fabregas, who bought a stake in Como when seeing out his career. Mata will also take a role as chair of a newly established football committee that will advise the club’s hierarchy upon his retirement. Mata had previously bought a stake in MLS team San Diego.
The NWSL has launched a new footwear framework, where manufacturers who aren’t Nike, the league’s official outfitter, will have to pay for the right to have their football boots visible during games. Puma and adidas have so far opted into the framework and have to meet a minimum cash investment for players. Nike has been the official kit and on-field equipment supplier since the league’s inaugural season in 2013.
A new week, a new class action for the NCAA as it’s claimed a new age-based sports eligibility rule will unlawfully restrict college athletes’ ability to compete and earn compensation from their names, images and likenesses. The lawsuit was filed by DeJuan Campbell, who alleges he lost the chance to compete for a fifth season and earn additional money based on his name, image and likeness.
Las Vegas Aces guard Chelsea Gray is joining Amazon Prime Video’s WNBA on Prime pregame show as a player contributor, continuing the trend for current players to join broadcasters during the season to provide commentary and opinion. Punditry used to be the post career move but the WNBA and NBA is increasingly seeing active players make media moves. Gray follows fellow WNBA stars Kelsey Plum and Sophie Cunningham, as well as NBA players Kyle Lowry, Tyrese Haliburton and Draymond Green in working with broadcasters.
In the WNBA off-season, players used to head abroad to play in leagues to top up earnings. That changed last year when Unrivalled, a new 3x3 competition founded by Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart, enabled players contract opportunities to receive the highest average salary in U.S. women’s professional sports and a minimum six-figure salary. This welcome avenue for players will now increase with a competing league called Project B launching. Both leagues have similar schedules during the WNBA offseason, so expect competition for players between the leagues. Players signed by Unrivalled to Name, Image, Likeness deals, like Azzi Fudd, have already been swayed to join Project B.
FIFA is helping teams with AI assistance during the World Cup where every nation will have access to unlock information about their opponents.
How sport grows, who shapes it, and how it impacts communities, politics, participation, public value and wider society.
The PGA Tour has announced promotion and relegation with a new two tier model from 2028, when the PGA TOUR Championship Series and the PGA TOUR Challenger Series launched. Tiger Woods was part of the committee that recommended the changes and attended the press conference announcement.
The Championship Series includes the four majors, Players Championship, season-ending events and team events such as the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup. It features 120 players on average and is contested as 72-hole stroke play events with a 36-hole cut. A minimum of 90 players will be retained in the Championship Series and 20 promoted from the Challenger Series each season.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino has defended the introduction of hydration breaks at the World Cup, insisting they are driven purely by sporting considerations and not commercial interests. “There is no additional revenue for FIFA, as all commercial agreements were signed well in advance. So, this is not a financial issue for us. For us, it is purely a sporting matter,” Infantino said in a statement on Wednesday. Yeah right. FIFA might not make money here on this tournament, but this looks to me like appeasing broadcasters who will be asked to pay for higher broadcasting rights in future tournaments.
Qatar Airways’ £80 million title sponsorship of rugby union’s Nations Championship has reportedly been paused due to ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
The Stanley Cup brings a $13.4 million boost to Raleigh after visitors from all 50 states and two countries flocked to the Triangle to see the Carolina Hurricanes defeat the Vegas Golden Knights for their first NHL title in 20 years. According to Visit Raleigh, 112,000 attendees generated the $13.4 million in total economic impact and $255,024 in tax revenue across six sold-out games and watch parties at Lenovo Center.