Crunch time looms as NBA Europe inches closer

20:00James Emmett:Honestly, it does feel like sports experiences and what is available to you in sports and entertainment is sort of moving towards how airlines carve up their offerings. Increasingly, it feels like, and we've been told for many years that the front of the plane, you know, the small segment of the front of the plane pays for the back of the plane. and increasingly it feels like when you travel at the back, David, your experience is being diminished deliberately to make you feel like this is not a place that you want to be. As a, partly as a sales technique. Exactly. And maybe we've seen, you know, it's all sort of behavioral psychology, but maybe going super cheap is the option.

20:48James Emmett:You know, low cost airlines, Ryanair, EasyJet, etc. are popular because people believe they are paying a super cheap rate for a super cheap experience. Because as you say, the have-nots, the super cheap tickets, the general admission pass holders, largely speaking, they are your atmosphere.

21:08David Cushnan:That is what, to some extent at least, the hospitality crowd are buying into attending and being part of. But you do need that. You need that core of fans. And, you know, again, you have to be careful that it doesn't just feel like nostalgia and pining for, quote, the good old days. But, you know, people talk about atmospheres in the Premier League at stadiums. People talk about, you know, we talked about, we touched on it in a slightly different way with the tennis last week. You know, if you remove the, you know, the A section of general admission fans and bring in a hospitality crowd, there is just a reality.

21:49David Cushnan:you are not going to get the same atmosphere. And it's that atmosphere to some extent that the hospitality crowd are paying for, but also that your broadcasters are looking for, as you say, to be the backdrop, to be part of the fabric of the event, because it comes back to what I said, I think last week, which is personally speaking, I'm sure the same is for you. I'm less inclined to watch something on TV if it's being played out in front of empty seats or it just looks as

22:13James Emmett:though the atmosphere is dead absolutely um another area of um building boom to come prediction here uh is in the college venue space in the u.s with the um adoption of nil um the fact that college players are now paid the colleges themselves are seeking out revenue generation opportunities and And that is one area of the American sports business, college venues that hasn't been developed at quite the same rate as professional venues. I can see a spate of renovations happening where premium seating, premium clubs are built into these historic, amazing venues that don't have a problem selling out across the US college space sometime soon.

23:06David Cushnan:And similarly, a league to watch here is probably the Indian Premier League as a series of very historic, in some cases, sort of venues lacking in, you know, sometimes basic facilities, but certainly not up to sort of standards of elsewhere in the world are renovated or rebuilt, particularly as foreign money maybe starts to come into the IPL. You know, David Blitzer buying into the RCB, Royal Challengers, Bangalore, is to some extent at least a bet on stadium facilities, ultimately hospitality.

23:54James Emmett:Yeah, the next wave of growth in the IPL for sure. Another place to watch this nascent NBA Europe and the wave of arena development that will no doubt happen around that. These are going to be modern high-spec arenas fit for modern high-spec revenue targets.

24:15David Cushnan:More on that in a moment.

24:17James Emmett:Yeah. Shall we see what else is happening around the grounds?

24:20David Cushnan:Yes. Can I bring you news, James, that the capital of Kenya, Nairobi, has been awarded the 2029 World Athletics Championships with Munich awarded the 2031 edition. So this will be the first time the championships have been held in Africa. And it meant that London, who bid for the 2029 championships, have missed out on this occasion. So a significant moment there. And there's going to be another big stadium that's going to require some upgrades for that event. Generale is the new presenting partner of the Davis Cup, having signed a multi-year deal with World Tennis. And Munich and Barcelona will host the UEFA Champions League finals in 2028 and 2029, respectively.

25:08David Cushnan:Good week for Munich, with Lyon's OL Stadium and Cardiff hosting the 2028 and 2029 Women's Champions League finals.

25:17James Emmett:Omar Shaikh has been promoted by Arsenal to the newly created role of Chief Revenue Officer, effectively replacing Juliet Slott, who left the Chief Commercial Officer role a few weeks ago. Juliet Slott hired Omar Shaikh a few years ago. Ahead of joining us at Leaders Week London in October, of course, second week of October, DAZN CEO Shai Segev has shuffled his C-suite pack, appointing Patrick Delaney as Chief Operating Officer. Alex Gersh as Chief Financial Officer and previous CFO. And Danny Waterman to a new role of Chief Business Officer, responsible for global partnerships, distribution and corporate transactions.

25:59David Cushnan:Former Hilton CMO Mark Weinstein has joined Target as Chief Marketing and Guest Experience Officer. Leah Poulton is the new Managing Director of Women's Cricket at the ECB. And Zach Cleonsis has been named President and Vice-Chairman at Monumental Sports and Entertainment, a newly created position by his dad in which he will oversee financial operations, infrastructure, technology, venues and media businesses. James, did you see any of the Ultimate Athletics at the weekend? I didn't see it, no.

26:33James Emmett:No, it's a shame. I wanted to have a look at that.

26:37David Cushnan:Yeah. How was it? Again, watching snippets of it as a TV viewer. And they promised, of course, a lot of innovation in the way that the events were presented. And it was presented very snazzily indeed, a whole new broadcast package. They clearly thought a lot about the way the stadium was lit, the way the athletes were introduced. Did HBS do that? HPS were involved in the broadcast production. They were. Pink sand for the long jump. Yes. I'm not quite sure what material it was, but a sort of black infield for the field events, which certainly looked different.

27:19James Emmett:I saw, was it a drone following the javelin?

27:22David Cushnan:Yeah, there was a bit of drone. Oh, yes.

27:24James Emmett:There was something following a javelin. It was spectacular.

27:27David Cushnan:Yeah. um so you know innovations changes in presentation depends sort of depends on your definition of innovation i suppose but um a few things to to work on definitely as they as they try and establish this as a as a season ending moment for athletics every other year every year there isn't a world championships um they uh some some i would say uh quite basic uh predicted finish um graphics you know had been word up by ai or whatever um which uh didn't often seem to match the the reality of you know anybody who's got any sort of passing interest in uh athletics and and knew a bit of context about some of the athletes competing.

28:15David Cushnan:So not quite sure where they pulled those numbers from, but something to work on. I personally dislike this sort of trend, this AI generated trend of predicting, you know, graphics that predict for me where somebody's going to finish, you know, what's going to happen next. And, you know, it's definitely permeating all sports and there seems to be a sort of assumption amongst broadcasters and tech providers that this is what the people want and perhaps they do but I'm not sure I do yeah no I'm with you it feels

28:48James Emmett:well first of all it feels like a bleed out from how football is covered but in a slightly different way where I think something like expected goals which has become a sort of blanket metric is quite useful as a shorthand for momentum in the game. You know, if it's nil-nil, but you can see that one team has got a significantly higher expected goals score, you know which way the game is going at a quick glance. But yes, I do worry that the more reductive measurements on expected finish or whatever is a sort of a come-and-get-me plea from the promoter or the rights holder for some kind of betting partnership.

29:34David Cushnan:I think I want to be surprised and thrilled and, you know, I want unpredictable things to happen or I want to be, you know, you know, find something out for myself. I think that's my, I think that's my view.

29:47James Emmett:Yeah, I'm with you. I'm just mentioning drones earlier on the old javelin. I went to the Two Circles Partner Summit last week. Yeah. And from my mind, to my mind, the most intriguing number of many numbers thrown around at that summit was the number 25, David, which is the number of licensed drone pilots that Two Circles has now within its number.

30:15David Cushnan:I love this. And of course, this is a reflection of, you know, content capture. It's where content's going. Yeah. What I feel like I need, and perhaps we send a call out to representatives from rival organizations. I want to know where Two Circles ranks in a league table. So I want to know where Whisper, you know, how many drone operators does Whisper have on its books, etc, etc. Yeah. Yeah. Let's make a league table.

30:42James Emmett:Who, yeah, who can pilot the most drones?

30:44David Cushnan:I just would like to know.

30:45James Emmett:I wonder if it's a company benefit at Two Circles. You know, you get your swag every year. You're forced to go on the mad away days. And also you have the opportunity to do a drone. Oh, to get your license.

31:01David Cushnan:To get your license. I don't think they're allowing people to take drones home like your laptop at the weekend. Well, who knows? Anyway. Who knows? Did you see what Adam Silver said yesterday? Yes, I did. So this is Adam Silver, NBA commissioner, who was fresh out of the latest owners meeting in New York. And he met the press. And there's lots going on in the NBA. And I think it's important for us in Europe to remember that there is stuff going on in the NBA that is absolutely nothing to do with NBA Europe. And there's an expansion plan for Las Vegas and Seattle, a process that's underway. There's the Steve Ballmer, LA Clippers drama as well.

31:43David Cushnan:So lots for Adam Silver to get into, lots for the press to get into with him. But of course, NBA Europe was raised. And essentially, you know, the plan continues. You know, planning, conversations are ongoing. Negotiations are happening with EuroLeague. Adam Silver saying, and I quote, we are making progress there. We believe the league would be strengthened by joining forces with the Euroleague. It doesn't have to happen, but I think we would all be better off as a unified front in Europe. And he went on to talk about the investors and saying that maybe if it were up to some of them, they would wait a little bit longer to launch.

32:30David Cushnan:But he doubled down really on this previous announcement that the NBA made that they would like to launch something in October, 2027 in Europe. He did say, and again, quoting him, I do think it's important we introduce competition into the market next summer. And I think this is the key line from the whole thing though. The initial product you'd likely see in a year from now will be different to when we ultimately have brought all the teams together and are formally operating the league. And that to me reads like the first hint that we are just seeing a slight drawback from the very, very bullish October 2027 date to launch this thing in its entirety, a recognition of how complex it is to pull it all together.

33:16David Cushnan:And he talked about working with investors. They're obviously trying to sell the teams, work out who the teams are, the cities, the arenas in which the teams will play, how salaries work, how the player movement works before you even get to relationship with the EuroLeague and how this FIBA-backed NBA Europe project might come to life in a crowded basketball market in Europe already. But I do think that's the most significant line. Sounds like there's a move towards doing something, but not necessarily doing the entire thing. Do you know what?

33:53James Emmett:Activity at the NBA must be feverish right now, because not only are they in this process of negotiating with the EuroLeague side-by-side with FIBA, negotiating with all of the interested parties in these potential franchises for this NBA Europe competition. They are also ahead of this launch of competition next year, setting up a unit, an administrative unit that can deal with this league. And our understanding is that that would be based here in London. There is a process underway to find a leader of that organisation and all the different functions that you would need to staff up a new top level elite league over here in Europe, all being done behind the scenes and without any public utterance.

34:50James Emmett:What I would say, reading the tea leaves a little bit and sort of interpreting what Adam Silver said yesterday in his press conference, those words came after the latest NBA governor's meeting. and that was the target the 14th and 15th of September was the target for the NBA where they wanted to move these bids for the franchises across Europe they wanted to move these negotiations to contract phase I'm not sure that that has happened certainly in a blanket way I know for a fact that there are that that some are definitely at that point um but it seems to me that what has happened is in the course of these negotiations with potential franchise um holders many of the potential franchise holders are also euro league um clubs and that that negotiation with the euro league is the euro league part of nba europe is it euro league nba europe or is it two separate entities is absolutely critical as the next phase.

36:02James Emmett:The point at which we will know more at this stage is the 5th of October. And really, it is a crucial three weeks leading up to that for Tchuss Bueno, who's the chief executive of the EuroLeague and everyone involved in this entity. Really historic decision pending. Does the EuroLeague get on board the NBA train and join the party? Or does it sit where it is in opposition to this new league? Either way, it will be a historic decision.

36:36David Cushnan:Totally. It's a bit more than that, though, for Euroleague. It's do they go with the NBA in some shape or form? And what that looks like, is it collaboration? Is it acquisition? Is it investment? Is it some sort of joint approach? Or is it Euroleague actually not sitting and doing the same as it has been, but move forward with its own quite dramatic expansion plan, which is to ultimately aim, I think, for 24 teams and a process already underway and in the works to add eight new franchises. So as you say, this is the A fork in the road moment approaching for EuroLeague and its owners, 5th of October in Milan, handily just before Leaders Week London.

37:24David Cushnan:A quote from Adam Silver. Yeah. Adam Silver is a very considered and thoughtful operator and he knows what he wants to say and what he doesn't want to say. But again, I think in the context of just having been in with the owners, everything takes longer than people outside the league would like it to take. But these things are very involved. For us in terms of NBA Europe, we truly see it as a once and forever opportunity. Historic from our standpoint in terms of what this could mean, not just for basketball, but the European sports landscape. And we want to get it right. And I think that's key.

38:01David Cushnan:Our team owners were pleased with the progress, but this will take some more time before we're ready for everything to happen yeah um it is

38:09James Emmett:worth saying so there's in the absence of um clear information from the nba because they're in this

38:16David Cushnan:process this negotiation process it has left a bit of a void it's left a bit of a vacuum which

38:20James Emmett:has naturally been filled by um certainly briefing behind the scenes parties that are not necessarily on board with the idea of there being an NBA Europe. So the information that is being drip fed to interested parties, journalists, et cetera, is not necessarily wholly positive around that. And certainly we've had information from people who've been involved in some aspects of weighing up this proposition that the stated NBA valuation for all these franchises is nowhere near what the real value is um some suggestions that these franchises were were worth um no more than 100 million dollars uh of course that's you know that that's that's all subjective for like nothing is worth uh any more or any less than someone is prepared to pay for it and how people value something is entirely their prerogative which is what i would say to that david

39:24David Cushnan:okay we uh we await developments as i say 5th of october uh for the euro league uh meeting and uh leaders week london could be could be quite newsy this year i think um if we uh maybe uh if we get the timing right or the timing is uh correct um and by the way do secure your pass to leaders week london um 7th 8th of october i think you saw your name on the list james your name popped up on one of the internal chats. I bought my ticket the other day, yeah.

39:51James Emmett:Great. I got a little discount as well. Did you really? Excellent. No, I paid full whack as everyone else does.

39:58David Cushnan:Very good. Very good. Shall we call it a day and return to our preparations for Leaders Week London? Yes, why not? Goodbye.