August 2, 2022
The brief from today:
La Liga partners with EA Sports
An announcement was made today by both EA Sports and La Liga that beginning in the 2023/24 season, the main sponsorship naming rights will transfer from Santander Bank to the video games company. La Liga’s deal with Santander began in 2016, but with this transition the aim is to maximize their reach in the technology space. The statement released touched on this by saying, “The new agreement lays the foundations to revolutionize the football experience, [and] seeks the integration of the physical and virtual worlds.” The agreement is reportedly worth a potential €200 million over the course of five years. These lucrative figures will complement the league’s steady growth in total sponsorship revenue, which has gradually increased from €55 million in 2016 to €155 million last season. For their part, EA Sports will see their long standing partnership with FIFA, for their massively successful FIFA game franchise, end next year after over two decades of success. They will rebrand those games as EA Sports FC, and now will also have this major collaboration with La Liga in a year that marks their next phase in the football world.
EA Sports now branching out to La Liga
Crypto issues now affect NWSL
The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) is facing some uncertainty after a key sponsor announced their financial insolvency. The professional women’s soccer league signed a major agreement last December with cryptocurrency platform Voyager Digital, but the business has now filed for bankruptcy. As part of the sponsorship deal, half of the payment to the NWSL was to be paid in cash, while the remainder would be for players to invest in cryptocurrencies on Voyager’s platform. The bankruptcy filing now leaves the latter portion of payments in limbo because they were never transferred to the players. In response to the developments, the NWSL Players Association Executive Director, Meghann Burke, said, “No player is missing a paycheck. Nothing in the CBA (collective bargaining agreement) is in crypto.” While the cash payment from Voyager was received, the remaining 50 percent is now the question, which makes Burke’s statement slightly puzzling. With bankruptcy proceedings not renowned for being quick, it could be some time before the NWSL gets clarity on this issue.
NWSL needs some clarity on financial uncertainty
Ajax bans some fan requests
Ajax announced that, beginning this season, there would be a rule change within the Johan Cruyff Arena. The displays of signs from fans asking players for their jerseys will no longer be permitted in the stadium. There has been an increase of this practice at many grounds in the past few years, with kids primarily being the holders of such signs. According to Ajax the players aren’t able to “fulfill all the requests, and when players walked by without handing over a shirt they were often criticized as arrogant”. In addition to that, the club has also pointed out that the signs, typically on cardboard, are a fire hazard. In case fans weren’t taking the announcement seriously, Ajax already showed their conviction to enforce the changes by taking away signs at the recent Super Cup match against PSV.
This Dortmund fan with an example of the signs Ajax have now banned in their stadium