Shorts: Liverpool, DP World Tour, Nat Coombs

Liverpool FC have partnered with award-winning film studio A24 to develop a TV series focusing on the reign of legendary Reds manager Bill Shankly.

The project, which will be produced in association with Box To Box, global sports content studio behind Netflix series Formula 1: Drive to Survive.

The club will support A24 on the series, which will be filmed in Liverpool and Anfield, alongside Karen Gill, Shankly’s granddaughter, being on hand to ensure historical accuracy.

“I think it’s a wonderful way to share the story of my grandad’s time at LFC,” said Gill. “Anybody who knows anything about the club knows what it meant to Bill Shankly.

“This is going to be a must-watch for all Liverpool fans and it’s a privilege to have the chance now to showcase his story to the wider world. I’m looking forward to seeing how this project unfolds and being a part of it.”

The DP World Tour has secured a broadcast partnership with U-NEXT, which becomes the exclusive rightsholder of the DP World Tour in Japan from the 2025 season.

The video streaming service operated by USEN and U-NEXT Co. Ltd will begin its DP World Tour coverage with the Team Cup which starts on 10^th January 2025. It will then broadcast every tournament in the season-long Race to Dubai, which culminates in the DP World Tour Play-offs in November.

U-NEXT’s golf rights roster also currently includes the Masters and the Open Championship and will be the home of the inaugural season of the TGL in 2025. It also boasts rights to the English Premier League and La Liga, tennis’s ATP Tour, and Mixed Martial Arts’ Professional Fighters League.

Tenshin Tsutsumi, President and CEO of U-NEXT Co. Ltd, said, “We are deeply honoured to begin streaming the historic DP World Tour. As a golf enthusiast myself, I feel particularly privileged to be part of this initiative. In the Japanese men’s golf scene, we are witnessing the emergence of young players with the potential to compete on the global stage. These players are venturing beyond Japan to hone their skills on the DP World Tour and challenge themselves on the PGA TOUR. To consistently convey this compelling narrative, we have made the decision to stream all DP World Tour tournaments.”

Sport Social Podcast Network has partnered with Netflix for a new advertising campaign.

In collaboration with Dentsu London media agency, Netflix will tap into the audience of The Nat Coombs Show, one of the most popular National Football League (NFL) podcasts, to promote its exclusive NFL Christmas Day games.

The campaign, running throughout December, includes host-read and announcer-read ads, as well as activity across Sport Social Podcast Network’s NFL and football verticals.

Paul Swaine, Brand Partnership Director at Sport Social Podcast Network, said, “It’s such an exciting time for us right now at Sport Social Podcast Network, as we continue to grow the network, and having world famous brands like Netflix wanting to partner with us.

“Working with The Nat Coombs Show across December and the NFL vertical brings a solid campaign with host read ads, announcer reads and social media support.  Once again giving the brand a layered integrated partnership that supports and compliments their overall advertising campaign.”

DAZN has secured the global broadcast rights to the Riyadh Season Snooker Championship in Saudi Arabia.

The event runs from December 18th to 20th in Boulevard City in Riyadh, and will feature the world’s best players – including defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan, world number one Judd Trump, World Champion Kyren Wilson and the rest of the world’s top ten, plus two wild cards from Saudi Arabia.

The tournament features a unique concept, a 23rd ball known as the Riyadh Season ball. This gold ball is worth 20 points and can only be potted once all other balls have been successfully cleared from the table if a player is on a maximum break to make it 167.

Pickleball England and Pickleball Scotland have announced that pickleball is now recognised as a sport by the four Home Country Sports Councils (Sport England, sportscotland, Sport Wales and Sport Northern Ireland).

Pickleball England has also been recognised by Sport England as the sport’s national governing body in England and Pickleball Scotland has been recognised by sportscotland as the sport’s national governing body in Scotland.

Karen Mitchell, Chair of Pickleball England, said, “Today’s news is the best Christmas present for pickleball and comes within days of Pickleball England celebrating six years of its incorporation. It has also just been a few weeks since Team England won the European Pickleball Championships – what a way to end our year! Thank you to everyone that supported us along the way to achieve this recognition.”

British Rowing has partnered with United Learning to launch an initiative that aims to promote the physical, social, and mental benefits of rowing while ‘continuing the legacy of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, inspiring young people to engage in sports and fitness.’

The project builds on the success of previous collaborations with All Aboard Youth Rowing in Greater Manchester and East Anglia Youth Rowing in Cambridgeshire, where students in these regions have already experienced the advantages of the sport. Now, the goal is to expand indoor rowing opportunities to schools across the country, from Lancashire to Hampshire, and to establish regular virtual and live rowing events over the next three years.

United Learning’s Head of Sport Shaun Dowling, said, “We are very excited to launch this project with British Rowing, as part of our ongoing work to encourage active and healthy lifestyles in our schools across the country. By offering indoor rowing programmes, we hope to make rowing accessible to those who may not otherwise have the chance to try the sport and give students more opportunities to experience, enjoy and compete against their peers in the sport.”