If we take a simplistic view and really consider what sports rights are, what we have is essentially intellectual property: agreements, contracts – documents – setting out who can do what in terms of broadcasting, merchandising, retailing etc.
In short, rights are pieces of data. And data requires structure, governance, and security, if you want to monetise, mobilise, and maximise its value. The challenge is, data is often disparate; divided even – across different media, channels, businesses, and countries. To effectively deploy, negotiate, and to maintain access and visibility of their sports rights, franchise professionals need a unified data strategy.
Oversight is essential
First and foremost, a complete oversight of your sports brand is needed. Connecting all of its data components is critical where partnerships and channel negotiations are concerned. This again is not a single consideration – it's more a combination of fan- and community-driven engagement, commercial realities, and a multitude of legacy negotiations.
When it comes to negotiations, don’t let your forces be divided. If everyone has access to the information they need – it becomes a lot easier for commercial teams to set their terms.
As an example, if a broadcaster has UK television rights to a sporting event, while another holds them to show the same event across multiple European countries. How can you be certain that you, the rights owner, get maximum value – unless you can compare the scope of the two deals side-by-side?
This is particularly important when dealing with media organisations and private equity firms – who are already systematising rights data and using them to their advantage in negotiations to drive broader deals.
Control and transparency
If data isn’t unified and connected through a single platform, sports franchise leaders are essentially left with guesswork – or worse, a myriad of inconsistencies that may be more inclined toward short term fixtures than lasting value-sharing deals.
Success relies on staying plugged into a single model of insight – one that has sports players, events, and experience at its centre. By pulling data together across every aspect of the club, team, or franchise and ensuring that they can become true owners of their rights future – connecting intangible and tangible rights: across media channels, licensing, retail, and ecommerce.
In this way they can better leverage their rights to control and drive monetisation and enable partnerships. They can also get a much more cohesive, efficient, and complete picture of how their rights are being deployed. This will help them to become more efficient, connected and able to deliver and create value – for fans, retailers, and right owners themselves – something of particular importance right now in UK football given the shakeup surrounding Project Big Picture and the European Super League.
Among other proposals, this new scheme, which is designed to filter revenues to all English Football League clubs, would allow Premier League football clubs to sell broadcasting rights for eight matches direct to overseas fans on their own platforms.
In light of the challenges ahead, the need for a clear connected overview of rights, revenues, and responsibilities has never been so timely. Only organisations able to manage their rights will stay ahead of the game. Get started on your journey today by reading the Digital Transformation Playbook
