Roundup
Major League Cricket is entering its second season
Credit:
FEVO
A Bevy of New Leagues Are Sprouting Up. Here’s What to Watch.
June 7, 2024
Each week, we sift through a ton of content and then debate it ad nauseam at FEVO HQ. And since good content, like the mind, is a terrible thing to waste, we are also sharing it here with you, our fans, in the form of this weekly blog post on e-commerce, media and life on the internet. This week we’re looking at new leagues to keep an eye on and what we can learn from them.
The Athletic: New 3-on-3 league promises highest average pay in pro women’s basketball
Unrivaled, the new 3-on-3 league started by WNBA stars Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, is set to kick-off in January of 2025 and has garnered copious headlines via plans to have the highest average salary in women’s professional sports. On top of that, players have been promised equity in the league — a huge step and one relatively unheard of in American leagues. It will be interesting to see how Unrivaled does, especially with the recent uptick in WNBA attention and fandom. The empowerment of female athletes has been (deservedly) a major focus in sports of late and there is a high likelihood that this will result in trickle-down attendance effects. Read more at The Athletic.
Vanity Fair: Can cricket conquer America?
The sophisticated foreign cousin of baseball (no offense to baseball), cricket is the second most popular sport in the world with over 2.5 billion fans globally. A huge part of that is the stranglehold the sport has on the collective minds of South Asia — one of the most populated regions on the planet — but another part is the reinvigorating shift in gameplay known as Twenty20 (T20). Whereas traditional cricket matches last five days, T20 lasts just around three hours — this dynamic new format has brought in new fans and reignited the interest of old ones. With the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup taking place on American soil this summer and Major League Cricket set to kick off its second season, the sport is poised to grow significantly in America — it would be wise to pay close attention to how they brand and market the sport, as there will likely be valuable lessons for your own business. Read more at Vanity Fair.
Sportico: Simone Biles’ ex-coach looks to launch pro gymnastics league
In years featuring a Summer Olympics, gymnastics are consistently one of the most watched sports in America. And then in non-Olympic years they unfortunately just kind of … disappear from the mainstream. Longtime coach Aimee Boorman wants to provide opportunities to women’s gymnasts outside of the Summer Olympics, and is raising money to start a league that will do just that. When you consider that some of the most followed (and paid) NIL athletes are women’s gymnasts like Livvy Dunne and Sydney Smith, this league has serious star potential and could provide a massively valuable case study on how modern sports influencer power can activate audiences. Read more at Sportico.
Additional nuggets of internet wisdom…
World Athletics reveals plan to launch new competition with $10M prize (SBJ)
The top 5 sports marketing ideas to know about right now (Ad Age)
Real time AI tracking NHL projection in Dallas (Doug Dunbar)
