Shorts: Aston Villa, MotoGP, Sportradar
Aston Villa have appointed Francesco Calvo as their new President of Business Operations.
Francesco joins from Juventus, where he has been Managing Director of Revenue and Institutional Relationships.
In this role, he was responsible for all revenue streams and relationships with key institutional stakeholders in football, such as FIFA, UEFA, ECA and Serie A.
Francesco has held several leadership roles over two spells with the Italian club, as well as senior management positions at FC Barcelona and AS Roma.
Francesco succeeds Chris Heck, who departed the club at the end of the 2024/2025 season.
Francesco Calvo, President of Business Operations, said, “It is a great honour for me to join this club at such an exciting time. Everyone in football knows the history of and passionate support for Aston Villa.
“In the past few years, we’ve seen this begin to be matched by success on the pitch and progress off it under the ambitious ownership of V Sports.”
MotoGP has announced a multi-year strategic partnership with sports marketing agency Two Circles.
The deal has been described as ‘part of a significant investment to grow its global fanbase, with a specific focus on the US and UK markets.’
Two Circles will work across MotoGP’s global digital ecosystem to deliver a redefined social content strategy – from ideation and creative to reporting and insights – with a clear focus on delivering growth in key markets.
This work will form part of ‘a new, integrated global social media approach, designed to fuel deeper fan connections.’
Kelly Brittian, MD of Global Marketing at MotoGP, said, “This isn’t about turning up the volume, it’s about delivering meaningful, measurable growth.
“We’ve known for some time that markets like the US and UK have huge untapped potential, and the Two Circles research highlighted this further. We needed the right partner to help us engage them, not just with more content, but the right content. Two Circles are best-in-class when it comes to growing fandom. This partnership is about action, not words.”
Moe Hamdhaidari, Director at Two Circles, added, “MotoGP is already one of the most thrilling sports in the world, but there’s still huge growth potential in key fan markets. We’re incredibly excited to help the team at MotoGP take this next step, using data-driven insight and bold creative thinking to reach and resonate with a whole new generation of fans.”
Sportradar has conducted a comprehensive analysis of over 98,000 goals from 36,000+ matches across Europe’s top five football leagues – England, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain – between the 2005/06 and 2024/25 seasons.
Using goals per game as a measure of excitement, the study aimed to identify which league consistently delivers the most thrilling football for fans. Despite the Premier League producing the single highest-scoring season (3.28 goals per game in 2023/24), the Bundesliga emerged as the most consistently exciting league.
In the 2024/25 season, Bundesliga games averaged 3.14 goals, higher than Ligue 1 (2.96), the Premier League (2.93), La Liga (2.62), and Serie A (2.56). Notably, the Bundesliga achieved this despite having fewer matches, as it features only 18 teams.
Over the 20-year period, the Bundesliga averaged 2.96 goals per game – outpacing the Premier League (2.74), Serie A (2.68), La Liga (2.66), and Ligue 1 (2.53). The findings highlight the Bundesliga’s consistent goal-scoring appeal and suggest that while the Premier League may offer peak excitement in specific seasons, Germany’s top division provides more reliable entertainment year after year.
The data prompts a reevaluation of which league truly offers the best football spectacle, especially for fans who value attacking play and high-scoring matches. Sportradar’s extensive AI-powered analysis, backed by two decades of collaboration with major football organizations like FIFA and UEFA, positions the Bundesliga as Europe’s most exciting league for goal-driven action.
The full research can be viewed here.
Sportradar is an Official Partner of the FEVO Sport Industry Awards.
Formula E has used regenerative braking to charge its prototype car for a full lap of the Monaco circuit in collaboration with Google Cloud.
The project, called Mountain Recharge, has been completed using Google Cloud’s AI-powered tools and has formed part of the wider GENBETA innovation platform.
Formula E has worked with its Official Cloud Technology Services Partner and Official Cloud Security Partner, Google Cloud, to deliver the project. Google Cloud has used its Gemini API, BigQuery, Firebase and NotebookLM to collect, analyse and visualise telemetry data from the car, calculate gravitational and braking variables, and support engineering coordination.
The car has been driven by James Rossiter, former Maserati MSG Racing Team Principal, in free-wheel mode, relying solely on regenerative braking for recharging. Formula E cars are required to generate at least 40% of their race energy from regenerative braking, a key feature of the series since its inception.
The 2025 Formula E season has continued to prioritise innovation around sustainable racing, with the UK set to host a double-header in London in July, marking the end of the championship calendar.
Alex Aidan, VP Marketing, Formula E said, “This isn’t just another attention grabbing racing story – it’s a case study in how high-efficiency regeneration and cloud-based AI can revolutionise how we think about mobility, energy optimisation and sustainability.
The challenge we faced illustrates the kind of real-world problems Google Cloud’s technology and that of our wider partner group can solve – whether it’s regenerative braking for road cars, dynamic route planning for delivery fleets, or efficient energy management in smart cities. It’s about developing technology that is designed to handle everyday circumstances and engineered to outrun.”
Football media company Footballco has acquired popular football animation brand and studio 442oons.
The brand has over 8 million followers across its social channels and has racked up more than 4 billion views on YouTube alone.
442oons generates more than 50 million views a month on all platforms and joins Footballco’s portfolio of video-first football brands, which include GOAL’s Front Three and FanZone, YallaGOAL, and 1vs1. Footballco brands generate more than two billion views each month across all platforms.
While 442oons will continue to operate as a standalone brand and channel, Footballco will integrate its content across its other brands, such as global football brand GOAL and women’s football brand, INDIVISA. Footballco will also launch new programming from the channel, connecting to more global football fandoms and including women’s football.
Footballco also plans to present 442oons to relevant commercial partners as it seeks to grow the brand’s revenue outside of traditional programmatic pre-roll. Plans also include the expansion of the brand’s existing merchandise business.
442oons was founded by Dean Stobbart, who joins Footballco in his new role as Head of 442oons and will report to EVP of content and operations, James Lamon.
James Lamon, EVP of content and operations, said, “At Footballco, we cover the game at scale and breadth better than anyone, but with 442oons we saw an opportunity to bring in a brand that offers something new.
“We were also impressed by the brand’s existing strong following of young fans, especially in the UK and US, who are increasingly seeing YouTube as TV.”
World Lacrosse has partnered with global sports and entertainment agency 54 ahead of its debut at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
The collaboration has seen 54 entrusted with the end-to-end event concept, planning, and execution. This includes developing a comprehensive commercial strategy and broadcast and media rights strategy for the event series, designed to showcase the newest and fastest format of lacrosse.
Sixes, created in 2018, is a fast-paced, compact version of the sport that combines elements of traditional disciplines. It was developed to accelerate global growth, increase accessibility, and create greater competitive balance, leading to its admission to the Olympic Games Los Angeles 2028 in 2023.
Ed Edwards, 54 CEO, said, “It’s a pulsating sport, fantastic for spectators and aligned with our passion to create innovative, fan-friendly ways of showcasing new sports to global audiences. We can’t wait to get going and bring our commercial, event staging and storytelling expertise to the fore.
Henley Royal Regatta has appointed Mongoose to lead its commercial sales strategy.
The appointment followed a comprehensive strategic consultancy project delivered by Mongoose in 2024, which assessed the Regatta’s commercial value proposition and long-term partnership potential. The project included extensive stakeholder interviews, in-depth audience and competitor analysis, and alignment with HRR’s future strategy.
The work resulted in four key deliverables: a strategic review of the HRR sponsorship property, a market-based valuation of commercial rights and assets, a refined partnership model with tailored recommendations, and a go-to-market strategy.
Building on its success, Mongoose has now been retained to activate the go-to-market strategy and provide full sales support as HRR seeks to diversify and elevate its commercial partnership portfolio.
Harvey Taylor, Head of Strategy and Consulting, Mongoose, said, “Henley Royal Regatta is a world-class event with a unique blend of sporting heritage, premium audience, and global reach. Our role is to help unlock and commercialise that potential through meaningful, long-term partnerships that bring value to both the Regatta and its partners.”
Global sports strategy and marketing business 54 has formed a strategic alliance with the Saudi Padel Committee (SPC) to support the growth of padel
54 is set to work across multiple functions for the SPC, including the planning of major international and domestic tournaments, operations and events management, strategic sport governance advisory, and a plan for grassroots participation and youth engagement.
In February, 54 agreed a partnership with A1 Padel to provide strategic advisory and a range of services for the global padel league. The agreement included the planning, delivery and licensing of a global padel event linked to the launch of a new team-based global series of padel events.
Padel in Saudi Arabia is experiencing rapid growth with an increase in the number of courts and facilities dedicated to the sport, private sector and government investment as well as the SPC’s focus on increased community participation.
Jed Moore, Group 54 CEO, said, “We at 54 have experience in driving sports from the grassroots upwards as well as staging events. We know what is needed to think strategically in a structured way to make sure padel in Saudi Arabia is grabbing every opportunity it can.”
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