New Partnerships Highlight The Increasing Value Of Women’s Sports  BY ADAM GROSSMAN 
 






















    



 
   
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BY ADAM GROSSMAN

New Partnerships Highlight The Increasing Value Of Women’s Sports

Over the past three months, companies including Barclays, Budweiser, and AT&T have announced new sponsorship relationships across a variety of women’s sports. Nike hosted the 2019 WNBA draft as part of its partnership with the WNBA to be the league’s exclusive on-court uniform and clothing retailer. The WNBA also announced a new multi-year agreement significantly increasing the number of league games that will be broadcast annually. There have been two factors driving the increasing interest in women’s sports partnerships.

     

 
   Moneyball Has Come To Jeopardy!  BY ADAM GROSSMAN 
 






















    



 
   
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BY ADAM GROSSMAN

Moneyball Has Come To Jeopardy!

Jeopardy! and sports competitions seem to have little in common. Outside of the occasional sports category or a celebrity Jeopardy! episode featuring athletes, brains and brawn rarely intersect on the popular answer and question game show. However, that seems to have changed with the recent run of victories by contestant James Holzhauer since early April. Not only is Holzhauer a professional sports bettor but he has also brought a Moneyball approach to the gameshow. In addition, Holzhauer reinforces the notion that fans appear to like dominant champions rather than competitive parity when watching competitions.

     

 
   The Impact of Authenticity In Corporate Partnerships  BY LESLIE CERVANTES & ADAM GROSSMAN 
 






















    



 
   
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BY LESLIE CERVANTES & ADAM GROSSMAN

The Impact of Authenticity In Corporate Partnerships

While Tiger Woods’ return to golf major championship winner grabbed many of the recent headlines, Dwayne Wade’s departure from the NBA may have been the more compelling corporate partnership activation. More specifically, Anheuser-Busch’s #ThisBudsFor3 campaign featuring Wade demonstrates the power of authenticity in connecting with audiences through corporate partnerships.

     

 
   Going For The Green: Who Is The Most Likely To Win The Masters  BY ADAM GROSSMAN 
 






















    



 
   
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BY ADAM GROSSMAN

Going For The Green: Who Is The Most Likely To Win The Masters

One of the first things that strikes golf fans when seeing Augusta National is the color. The azaleas that permeate the golf course provide a chromatic backdrop unparalleled in golf. Yet, green is the color that matters most to golfers, sponsors and fans of The Masters. More specifically, everyone wants to see who will put on the Masters Green Jacket at the end of the first major tournament of the golfing season.

     

 
   LUNA Bar Scores With Equal Pay Partnership  BY ADAM GROSSMAN 
 






















    



 
   
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BY ADAM GROSSMAN

LUNA Bar Scores With Equal Pay Partnership

Arguably the biggest news coming from national Equal Pay Day on Tuesday was LUNA Bar decision to pay each of the 23 players that made the final 2019 United States Women’s National Team (USWNT) World Cup roster $31,250. This enables the USWNT players to be paid an equal amount to their counterparts on the United States Men’s National Team for participating in the World Cup. LUNA Bar’s decision is another example of how the increase in cause marketing continues to impact the sports industry.

     

 
   Sports Invests In Live Experiences In The Age Of Streaming  BY ADAM GROSSMAN 
 






















    



 
   
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BY ADAM GROSSMAN

Sports Invests In Live Experiences In The Age Of Streaming

This week’s announcement of Apple TV+ is a show the sports industry has seen before. Not only does Apple join the ranks of Disney, Amazon, Google, and Facebook in owning streaming video platforms that can feature sports content but it also enters a space of sports-focused platforms that includes ESPN+, B/R Live, DAZN, and FloSports. This made the announcement of multiple major sports venue projects around the same time that the company arguably most responsible for changes in audience consumption is launching a new streaming platform all the more surprising.

     

 
   Examining The New UFC, ESPN Pay-Per-View Relationship Using Data-Driven Analysis  BY ADAM GROSSMAN 
 






















    



 
   
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BY ADAM GROSSMAN

Examining The New UFC, ESPN Pay-Per-View Relationship Using Data-Driven Analysis

UFC announced yesterday that all of its Pay-Per-View (PPV) events will be available only on ESPN+ in the United States through 2025. UFC will receive a guaranteed revenue stream worth a reported “hundreds of millions of dollars” while ESPN+ will sell the PPV events at $59.99 per event on top of its $4.99 monthly subscriber fee. Why is UFC making this change away from a traditional pay TV model to work with ESPN?

     

 
   Nike, AT&T Make Major Investments Into New Esports Partnerships  BY ADAM GROSSMAN 
 






















    



 
   
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BY ADAM GROSSMAN

Nike, AT&T Make Major Investments Into New Esports Partnerships

Esports has been one of the fastest growing components of the sports industry over the past few years. One of the potential challenges to its continued expansion, however, is the ability for publishers, leagues, and teams to attract large partners. More specifically, rights holders and properties needed to communicate value to companies like Nike and AT&T for competitions, events, and players they had never really considered before.

     

 
    Mark French Joins B6A Advisory Board   BY BLOCK SIX ANALYTICS 
 






















    



 
   
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BY BLOCK SIX ANALYTICS

Mark French Joins B6A Advisory Board

Block Six Analytics (B6A) is pleased to announce that Mark French is joining the company’s Advisory Board. B6A will leverage French’s experience creating and operating disruptive business innovations in the media, technology, sports and consumer goods industries to expedite the company’s growth both inside and outside of the sports industry.

     

 
    Padres Hit Home Run With Machado   BY ADAM GROSSMAN 
 






















    



 
   
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BY ADAM GROSSMAN

Padres Hit Home Run With Machado

Multiple sources have reported that Manny Machado has agreed to a 10-year, $300 million deal with the San Diego Padres. The four time All-Star and two-time Gold Glove winner is now one of the highest paid players in MLB (and American sports more generally) both in terms of total amount and average annual value of a contract with a team. A deal of this size and time length may make it difficult to think that the Padres could have obtained a good “deal” with this deal. However, the Block Six Analytics (B6A) Revenue Above Replacement (RAR) model projects that the Padres are very likely to have a significant positive return on investment (ROI) by signing Machado. In the first half (or 50%) of Machado’s deal alone, the Padres will have “recouped” 83.4% of the cost.

     

 
   New Leagues Bank On Investment Capital  BY ADAM GROSSMAN 
 






















    



 
   
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BY ADAM GROSSMAN

New Leagues Bank On Investment Capital

Major professional sports valuations seem to increase on a yearly basis as indicated in the latest Forbes NBA Team Valuations article released last week. One of the “concerns” about sports organizations, however, is that these increases are decreasing. More specifically, while teams are increasing in value overall the average annual increase seems to be declining over time So why are VCs and early-stage investors seemingly lining up to fund new sports leagues?

     

 
   Rays, Partners Can Benefit By Team Going Cashless  BY ADAM GROSSMAN 
 






















    



 
   
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BY ADAM GROSSMAN

Rays, Partners Can Benefit By Team Going Cashless

The Tampa Bay Rays recently became the first North American sports team to go cashless at its venue. Top-line revenue growth from in-stadium purchases is only one benefit of the new cashless approach. Cashless purchasing provides, “a rich source of data that can be used to better understand consumer behavior, which helps companies sell in a way that is more targeted to the unique needs of individual.”

     

 
   Analyzing Anheuser-Busch’s Super Bowl Spend  BY ADAM GROSSMAN 
 






















    



 
   
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BY ADAM GROSSMAN

Analyzing Anheuser-Busch’s Super Bowl Spend

Last year Anheuser-Busch announced a “revolutionary incentive-based sponsorship model.” One of the biggest questions became how would the company’s enhanced focus on tangible ROI and ROO metrics potentially change its spending on sports assets. This year’s Super Bowl provides new answers to these questions. One of the dominant narratives around this year’s events is that television ad prices have “stalled.” Why is the company increasing its spend at a time when it seems like viewership has declined?

     

 
   Unique Experiences Can Be Built For Universal Appeal  BY ADAM GROSSMAN 
 






















    



 
   
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BY ADAM GROSSMAN

Unique Experiences Can Be Built For Universal Appeal

The NFL and Lowe’s announced a new partnership earlier this week that made the company the “Official Home Improvement Retail Sponsor” of the league. . A key component of the new agreement is providing Lowe’s with the opportunity to “provide unique NFL experiences for customers and associates both during the regular season and off-season, and will become the presenting sponsor of Super Bowl Experience beginning at Super Bowl LIV in 2020 in Miami.” This focus on experiences may seem counterintuitive for Lowe’s particularly when it comes to an NFL partnership.

     

 
   Cause Marketing’s Impact On The Sports Industry  BY ADAM GROSSMAN 
 






















    



 
   
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BY ADAM GROSSMAN

Cause Marketing’s Impact On The Sports Industry

One the most common reasons that companies want to partner with sports properties is to leverage their brand equity with leagues, teams, athletes, and events. As more companies pursue cause marketing, however, sports properties now will have to examine these partnerships with these companies in new ways. The most recent example is Gillette’s “Short Film” posted on YouTube as part of the company’s Super Bowl “the best a man can be” campaign.

     

 
   How In-Game Betting Broadcasts Impact Sponsorship  BY ADAM GROSSMAN 
 






















    



 
   
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BY ADAM GROSSMAN

How In-Game Betting Broadcasts Impact Sponsorship

NBC Sports Washington Plus will carry an “interactive, alternate telecast of the Wizards-Bucks game” on January 11th. This will be the first of eight broadcasts that will have “statistics, odds and point spreads that run alongside game action.” Higher ratings, however, is only one reason that legalized gambling with have an increasingly important impact on sports sponsorship.

     

 
   The Importance Of Proactive Purchasing Analysis In Sponsorship  BY ADAM GROSSMAN 
 






















    



 
   
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BY ADAM GROSSMAN

The Importance Of Proactive Purchasing Analysis In Sponsorship

In a post earlier this week in his The Sports Biz blog, industry thought-leader Darren Heitner analyzed ROKiT’s growing investment in sports sponsorship. For example, the company is already the current jersey patch partner of the Houston Rockets and is the official wireless partner of the Los Angeles Chargers (full disclosure: the Chargers are a B6A partner). One critical reason Heitner featured ROKiT is that the company “partnered with the Rockets and Chargers before it even had a product to sell, and justifies the spend based on the fact that those opportunities may not have been present if it waited until true launch.” Why would a company spend money on a partnership before it had a product to sell?

     

 
   Shared Customers, Strategy Key to Allegiant, MiLB Partnership  BY ADAM GROSSMAN 
 






















    



 
   
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BY ADAM GROSSMAN

Shared Customers, Strategy Key to Allegiant, MiLB Partnership

One way that sports sponsorships differ from traditional advertising is that they can create a two-way beneficial relationship where shared customers can lead to a shared strategy from which both the buyer and seller directly benefit through a partnership. Allegiant’s new credit card partnership with Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is an example of how this occurs.