SBC’s On The Ball – The broadcasting of football evolves

With the season almost upon us, this edition of SBC’s On The Ball places a key focus on the evolving landscape for football broadcasting.

Looking at the gripping trailer for Manchester City’s Amazon, the continued expansion of Eleven Sports and a new deal for Euro 2020.

A championship winning trailer 

In what can only be described as a gripping teaser of Manchester City’s title winning documentary, Amazon has unveiled the trailer for its ‘All or Nothing’ series with the club.

The trailer depicts the turbulence of a Premier League campaign, giving a detailed insight into the frustration of City’s dramatic FA Cup loss at Wigan, as well as showing the players focusing on overcoming the final hurdle on their way to their Premier League title.

The unique management style of Pep Guardiola also shines through on the trailer, when the title winning gaffer emphasises to his players: “Today I didn’t see the desire to win, today I didn’t see it. Some of you play better when you’re angry with me so if you hate me, hate me, guys, no problem at all.”

IMG nets exclusive Euro 2020 deal

UEFA has unveiled IMG as the exclusive master licensee for international football’s next major tournament, the 2020 European Championships, as well as other major UEFA tournaments through 2022.

It follows on from the successful collaboration of the pair’s highly successful collaboration on the licensing programme for UEFA EURO 2016 and UEFA’s other national tournaments between the 2014-17 period.

The global rights deal enriches the the IMG portfolio immensely, with it including the UEFA Women’s EURO 2021, UEFA U-21 Championship 2019 & 2021, UEFA Futsal EURO 2022 and UEFA’s brand new Nations League Finals tournament with its inaugural editions in to be held in 2019 and 2021.

Guy-Laurent Epstein, Director of Marketing, UEFA, commented: “We look forward to continuing our successful UEFA National Team Football licensing partnership with IMG. This agreement will allow us to continue to benefit from IMG’s extensive global licensing network and enable fans all over the world to be able to have access to a wide range of official UEFA Euro 2020 licensed products.”

Mickael Andréo, Vice President of Licensing, IMG, added: “It has been a privilege to collaborate with UEFA for the UEFA EURO 2016 and other national team tournaments over the last three years.  

“With UEFA EURO 2020, we now have a fantastic opportunity to work on a groundbreaking tournament format, which will create a unique platform to take this milestone celebration to more fans than ever before. We’re looking forward to selecting and working with partners who will allow us to maximise our retail presence across Europe as well as beyond and play a key role in the promotion of the event.”

Eleven Sports announces expansion of football portfolio 

Eleven Sports has expanded its growing portfolio of top tier football content for the UK and Ireland market, netting top flight domestic football from the Eredivisie (Netherlands), the Chinese Super League and Allsvenskan (Sweden).

Danny Menken, Group Managing Director stated: “With Eredivisie, Chinese Super League and Allsvenskan joining LaLiga and Serie A, ELEVEN SPORTS is delivering on the promise to become the go-to destination for football fans.”

He added: “We will cooperate very closely with the leagues to deliver an outstanding all-round service that ensures the fans live every moment from some of the world’s best sports leagues and competitions. We are looking forward to announcing more premium football and non-football rights soon to add to our growing portfolio.”

The firm, who are owned Leeds United chairman Andrea Radrizzani have also appointed Scott Fenton to join its UK and Ireland team as Head of Marketing and Communications.

Fenton commented on his new role: “I’m thrilled to be joining ELEVEN as they embark on their journey into the UK & Ireland market.

“What ELEVEN has achieved across a number of international markets in such a short space of time is very impressive, and I look forward to continuing the success story, strengthening the platform’s position as a major player in the UK & Ireland.”

Hull look to roar with Tigers TV

English Championship club, Hull City FC have launched Tigers TV, a service that will allow Hull fans based abroad to watch non televised Tigers games.

However, football broadcasting restrictions in the UK mean that subscribers in the UK won’t be able to watch live action on the site. Nonetheless, the service will provide fans with bespoke content, match replays and post match interviews.

Manchester United aims to take MUTV to the next level 

Manchester United has also elevated its digital network ahead of the new season by making MUTV available on four new platforms: Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Roku and Xbox.

This continued expansion provides MUTV access to a new demographic of the club’s fanbase in the US and selected countries across Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa.

MUTV will further be introducing a wide range of new on-demand categories including matchday programming and highlights, a library of classic matches, MUFC Original films, celebrity features and much more. Moreover, a selection of this content will be available for free enabling non-subscribers to also stream videos and deepen their engagement with the Club.

Manchester United’s CEO of Media, Phil Lynch detailed: “The continued expansion of MUTV and the launch on these platforms expands our reach, opens up new audiences, and provides our fans easy access to our award winning on-demand and linear programming, without having to leave their set-top-box environment.”