Shorts: Swansea City, Wrestling, Insightx

English Football League (EFL) Championship football club Swansea City has partnered with Off The Pitch, the club’s new official football finance data partner.

Through this partnership, Off The Pitch will provide the club with access to a suite of analytics tools, including financial data on over 265 football clubs and market data on transfers and expected transfer fees.

Gareth Davies, Chief Financial Officer at Swansea City, commented, “We are excited to partner with Off The Pitch and utilise their analytics tools to optimise our operations in the transfer market and beyond.

“Off The Pitch’s unparalleled expertise in critical football business data and insights makes them an ideal partner for us.”

Digital streaming service FITE has secured the streaming rights for the Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW), which will now be exclusively on FITE+. 

The deal sees FITE+ grow its roster of pro-wrestling and combat sports rights. 

ICW, founded in Glasgow in 2006, is a professional wrestling promotion with talent that includes ICW World Heavyweight Champion Leyton Buzzard, Molly Spartan, former NXT UK star Kenny Williams and new ICW Woman’s Champion Rhio.  

Michael Weber, COO of FITE, commented, “What ICW has done is incredibly impressive. The production quality, the talent, the storylines are all top notch and they’ve created a really distinctive place in pro-wrestling that the UK knows and loves. It’s ready to get its due in the States.” 

InsightX, a UK independent due diligence, reaction and sentiment analysis agency, has launched a new product developed to mitigate the reputational risks associated with influencer, athlete and celebrity sponsorships.

Brand Ambassador Reports, designed for global brands, PR and marketing agencies aim to support those responsible for influencer marketing, and more specifically, athlete and celebrity endorsements.  

InsightX’s Brand Ambassador Reports ‘delve into the background of the proposed endorser, uncover areas of concern and recommend steps to mitigate risk with the proposed partnership.’

They also provide brands with the most up-to-date intelligence to ensure all decisions are made on the latest available information. 

British Cycling has announced the launch of Limitless, a game-changing new programme and funding opportunity to support more disabled people to cycle.

Over the first four years of the programme, the national governing body ‘aims to provide opportunities for 5,000 disabled riders to participate in club activity, deliver 50 new competitive para-cycling events, and support the development of five riders who will go on to represent ParalympicsGB at the Los Angeles 2028 Paralympic Games.’

The Limitless programme will be delivered through a nationwide network of 20 clubs, which have been accredited for their commitment to accessibility and inclusion.

The launch of Limitless is the latest phase of British Cycling’s partnership with Shell UK, with the pair describing their ‘shared ambitions to widen access to cycling, accelerate decarbonisation efforts and support the Great Britain Cycling Team’s cyclists and para-cyclists through the sharing of technology and innovation’ as a driver behind the latest initiative.

UK research, digital and creative agency Redtorch has launched its SportOnCreative podcast – a series dedicated entirely to the creativity of sports campaigns aimed at those working in the industry.

Each episode features a chat with someone from the industry about their favourite campaign; how they made it, what worked, what didn’t and what we can all learn from their experience.

SportOnCreative host and Redtorch Creative Director Matt Weiner said, “Creativity is one of the most important drivers of marketing effectiveness so by interviewing the people behind the best campaigns it’s like giving our listeners a cheat code.”