Business league led by Man City
Manchester City, one of the most successful and valuable football teams in the world, can add another notch to its belt: it’s the most innovative club in global sports.
That assessment is according to a new ranking released this week by research firm Sports Innovation Lab, which cited the club’s digital media partnership with the OneFootball platform and a network of affiliated clubs as evidence of its cutting-edge management.
Teams in the 10 highest-grossing global leagues by revenue were ranked by revenue diversity, organisational agility and how they put technology to work.
“There’s a shift in the business model of sports,” said Angela Ruggiero, Sports Innovation Lab’s CEO and a four-time Olympian. “The ranking is an assessment of who is set up to succeed in the changing sports industry.”
The highest-ranked teams were those that, for example, have cross investments in women’s sports teams, mixed-use development projects or standalone media entities.
They also have leaders from across the globe with experience in a wide range of industries and relationships with tech accelerator programmes and venture capital funds.
The top six spots on the list all went to European soccer teams, including Manchester City’s crosstown rival Manchester United.
The most innovative US-based team was the National Basketball Association’s (NBA’s) Golden State Warriors, owned by former venture capitalist Joe Lacob. Six NBA teams were featured, more than among all leagues globally.
“Covid really put a spotlight on how teams would struggle if they were strictly tied to events and merchandise,” said Josh Walker, president of Sports Innovation Lab.
“A lot of these clubs are almost a century old and have very global fan bases, but they invest heavily in women’s and youth sports and they’re strong in gaming.”
The New England Patriots were the highest-ranked of the four National Football League (NFL) teams in the top 25.
The only Major League Baseball team to make the cut were the Chicago Cubs. No icehockey team was featured on the list.
“We’ve advised the NFL to give their teams more autonomy to experiment,” Walker said.
“There’s a lot of protect-and-control posturing from the NFL and we think there’d be a benefit to loosen that.”