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rickhorrow · 6 years ago

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10 To Watch : Mayor’s Edition 61719

RICK HORROW’S TOP 10 SPORTS/BIZ/TECH/PHILANTHROPY ISSUES FOR THE WEEK OF JUNE 17 : Mayor’s Edition with Jacob Aere

Forbes just released their world's highest-paid athletes list, which highlights the top 100 earners over the past year. Forbes calculated earnings include prize money, salaries, and bonuses earned June 1, 2018-June 1, 2019, as well as endorsement estimates for the same period. No. 1 Lionel Messi led the way at $127 million, with $92 million in salary and $35 million in endorsements. That put the Argentine well ahead of fellow soccer stars Cristiano Ronaldo’s $109 million ($65 million in salary, $44 million in endorsements) and Neymar’s $105 million ($75 million, $30 million). Quarterbacks Russell Wilson ($89.5 million, $80.5 million in salary) and Aaron Rodgers ($89.3 million, $80.3 million in salary) ranked sixth and seventh, respectively. Boxer Canelo Alvarez was fourth with $94 million ($92 million in winnings), while tennis icon Roger Federer was fifth, counting $93.4 million, led by $86 million in endorsements, the highest total among the group. Of note: 62 of the top 100 earners play in a U.S.-based league, with the NBA alone accounting for 35, including No. 8 LeBron James ($36 million in salary, $53 million in endorsements), No. 9 Steph Curry ($37.8 million, $42 million), and No. 10 Kevin Durant ($30.4 million, $35 million).

The LPGA and Group1001 have announced a new LPGA Tour event in Boca Raton. The first edition of the Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio will be held January 20-26, 2020 at Boca Rio Golf Club. “We are thrilled to support women’s professional golf and to provide a platform for the sport’s best to compete and showcase their talents,” said Dan Towriss, CEO of Group1001. “We want to thank our good friends at Group1001 and Boca Rio Golf Club for their support of the LPGA and their desire to host a world-class event in South Florida,” added LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan. The inaugural Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio will feature a 108-player field competing for a $2 million purse over 72 holes of stroke play. The new event will be one of two LPGA Tour tournaments held in Florida in January 2020. The year will kick off with the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions on January 15-19 in Lake Buena Vista, one week prior to the Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio. The Sunshine State will also bookend the LPGA Tour season, with the year culminating at the CME Group Tour Championship in Naples in November.

NBC reportedly reaped an eight-figure haul from the Blues-Bruins Stanley Cup Final Game 7. According to Nielsen, before last Wednesday, the most recent Stanley Cup Final Game 7, in 2011, averaged 8.54 million viewers and a 4.8 household rating, making it the most-watched NHL game in 38 years. Media buyers last week claimed NBC was asking north of $200,000 for each 30-second ad unit in Wednesday’s Blues-Bruins broadcast. According to Standard Media Index data, the average unit cost in the three 2018 Stanley Cup Final games that aired on NBC was $113,702, and overall spend for the five-game series added up to more than $27 million. NBC said that roughly 25% of its Game 7 ad sales inventory is pre-sold, mostly to traditional NHL sponsors. As with all Game 7s, the network’s ad sales execs scrambled to sell the remaining 75%. AdAge noted the last Game 7 on record also featured the Bruins, which likely helped advertisers “justify the expense of their additional investment in hockey." The Blues history-making victory also provided NBC with a significant ratings boost.

Amazon is the world's most valuable brand, according to the 2019 BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands rankings. The other brands in the Top 10 include Apple, Google, Microsoft, VISA, Facebook, Alibaba, Tencent, McDonalds, and AT&T. Amazon moved up from the No. 3 spot in 2018 with a brand value of $316.5 billion, a 52% change, while Apple held fast at No. 2. In related news, according to Recode, Bond Capital Partners' Mary Meeker released her annual Internet Trends Report at Code Conference in Scottsdale. Some notable data points from her presentation: Some 51% percent of the world -- 3.8 billion people -- were "internet users last year," up from 49% (3.6 billion) in 2017. Internet ad spending in the U.S. was up 22% in 2018. Most of the spending is "still on Google and Facebook, but companies like Amazon and Twitter are getting a growing share." The number of interactive gamers worldwide grew 6% to 2.4 billion people last year, as "games like Fortnite become the new social media." Between gaming and the billions in advertising and sponsorship spent by the top brands, sports is clearly central to these annual conversations.

MLS and SeatGeek partnered for a new in-depth study on female fans of the league, coinciding with the launch last week of a new campaign, “We Fan,” which highlights what women fans are looking for from the league. The study found that close to half of MLS’ fans overall are minorities, while 42% of the league’s fan base comprises women. The study also found that 71% of women say they are MLS fans because they “like bonding with family and friends who are fans,” while 75% of women usually attend games with family members. The “We Fan” campaign, created in-house, launched across social media and digital, MLS’ website, and various SeatGeek partner clubs. Of course, it’s likely no coincidence that the campaign launch was timed to the perfect quadrennial intersection of women and soccer, the opening of the Women’s World Cup in France. The Women’s World Cup typically has a carryover effect on women’s interest in top level soccer competitions all over the globe, as well as increased amateur participation.

Play video games with Miller Lite's new Bluetooth-enabled beer. The "Cantroller" is a 12-ounce can of beer that doubles as a gaming controller. The limited-edition, dual purpose can is being made in partnership with comedian and gaming fan Eric Andre. The brand also will launch its own Twitch channel later this week. The high-tech drinking container is Bluetooth-enabled, contains a rechargeable lithium-ion battery for a three-hour charge, offers haptic feedback, and can be refrigerated. According to Marketing Dive, Miller Lite produced 200 Cantrollers for the launch and intends to make hundreds more. Developed with tech company Unit 9, the controller was a reward for winning a game of “Street Fighter” against Andre at the video game industry's E3 event in Los Angeles. Gamers are big drinkers; 40% are drinking while they play – as such, Miller Lite looks to embed itself as a frontrunner for the beverage of choice in the gaming industry.

TikTok is growing amongst large sports teams. According to SportsPro, the short-form video app has reached one billion downloads and is catching the attention of sport’s social media strategists. TikTok only hit the international market in 2017. A year later it was merged with Musical.ly, a teen-friendly U.S. video app built around lip-syncing, which was purchased by ByteDance at the end of 2017 with the aim of leveraging the digital platform’s young user base. As of March 2018, unofficial data from App Ape Lab claimed that more than 60% of TikTok’s global users are under the age of 30. In addition, 40% of that user base is said to be under 20. This may be the platform for sports leagues to reach the young audience they have been striving for – since the launch of Liverpool’s TikTok on May 24, that club has amassed over 194,000 TikTok followers, which means over 100,000 fans under the age of 30. Leagues such as the NBA, MLB, NFL, and NASCAR that are looking to engage with younger audiences can use TikTok to build a new generation of fans.

World Surf League gets sustainable with Ikea. Determined to improve sustainability, the partnership between surfing’s largest association and the Swedish furniture giant is designed to raise awareness of climate change and to promote environmental initiatives, with the aim of inspiring people to reduce plastic pollution in the oceans. The WSL and Ikea will also collaborate to produce a specially-designed range of surf-centric products, using recovered ocean-bound plastic where possible. According to SportsPro, this partnership will be Ikea’s latest environmental team up. The Swedish company also works with the World Wildlife Fund to promote responsible forestry, environmentally friendly cotton cultivation, and reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. It is also a member of the Clean Cargo Working Group, which promotes sustainable product transportation. The WSL pledged to become carbon neutral by the end of 2019 and aims to set a new standard for pro sport. The WSL-Ikea initiative includes eliminating single-use plastics at its competitions and leaving venues in a better condition than before events took place.

Athletic company Saucony kicks off an Instagram relay race for charity. According to Mobile Marketer, Saucony launched a social media campaign called "Run for Good" that aims to raise as much as $50,000 for charity. The sportswear brand is urging Instagram users to run a mile and post selfies on the image-sharing app with the #RunForGoodRelay and @Saucony tags, then challenge three friends to do the same. The campaign began on Global Running Day, June 5, as the world’s first Instagram relay race, with a goal of collectively running one full lap around the Earth. If completed, the total challenge would eclipse 24,901 collective miles. Saucony will make a donation for every mile run to the Saucony Run for Good Foundation, Laureus Sport for Good, and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. Saucony’s "Run for Good" utilizes Instagram and its younger consumer base in an effort to go viral for charitable causes, as the ALS Ice-Bucket challenge did in the past.

Maggie Murphy aims for the world's biggest game of soccer to support women in sport. According to the BBC, Maggie Murphy works in anti-corruption in sport and is determined to make sure the excitement and new investments in women's soccer translates into more participation in grassroots soccer for women and girls around the globe, beyond the Women's World Cup. In 2016, Murphy founded Equal Playing Field – a voluntary, non-profit organization – to encourage women’s soccer participation around the world. Now, overlapping with the Women’s World Cup, Murphy and Equal Playing Field will attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the largest number of players involved in a single football match. She aims to bring together more than 3,500 women, girls, and allies from about 70 countries with the match to take place over the course of five days, from June 27 to July 1. If successful, this will be the third Guinness World Record that Equal Playing Field has helped break, as it recorded the highest altitude game ever played (on Mount Kilimanjaro) and the lowest altitude game ever played (in the Dead Sea). Murphy noted the U.S. is one of the best countries for women to play soccer, even as they continue to face economic struggles, while a woman playing soccer in Afghanistan may face death threats.

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