The Top 10 Articles Of 2019
The final Sport Industry Daily of 2019 is here, and it’s time to reflect on a bumper year for the industry. World Cups aplenty took place across 2019, with women’s football, netball, men’s cricket and men’s rugby taking centre stage, while the build up to the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 began.
Sport Industry Group would like to take this opportunity to wish our readers a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year. We’ll be with you again at the start of the new decade, but for now, we leave you with the top ten from 2019:
1 – Andy Murray Partners with clothing brand Castore
Andy Murray took top spot in January thanks to his partnership with clothing brand Castore. That news came on the back of the Scot’s announcement that he planned to retire in 2019 because of a hip injury that saw him undergo major surgery.
Since then, the three-time Grand Slam champion has made a comeback, winning the ATP European Open in Antwerp and competing in Great Britain’s Davis Cup campaign, which ended in a semi-final defeat to eventual winners Spain. He has also launched the first range of clothing to come out of the Castore partnership.
2 – Sport Industry Awards 2019 – Shortlist announced
The industry’s biggest night of the year took place at Evolution London on 25th April, when the eventual winners were crowned, but it was the announcement of the official Sport Industry Awards 2019 shortlist that made it to number two this year.
Those waiting on the Sport Industry Awards 2020 shortlist announcement won’t have too long to wait when the New Year arrives, while Early Bird ticket sales end on 31st December, too…
3 – Wimbledon to stage No 1 Court Ticketed celebration
The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) celebrated the completion of the multi-million pound project to install a roof on Wimbledon’s No.1 Court with a ticketed event in May.
More than 12,000 tickets to the No.1 Court celebration event on 19th May were sold, priced at £110 each, with fans treated to exhibition matches featuring Martina Navratilova and John McEnroe.
4 – ICC reveals record-breaking CWC digital figures
The Cricket World Cup final was a once-in-a-lifetime moment for fans of English cricket. To win a final thanks to a thrilling finale in a super over at Lord’s may never be topped, and the interest that generated around the world was shown in the ICC’s digital figures.
3.6bn views were generated across the ICC’s digital platforms over the whole of the World Cup – with many looking to relive those final few moments of the final game.
5 – Sport Industry Awards 2019 – Winners announced
The winners of the Sport Industry Awards 2019 came in at number five.
The industry was keen to see a winners’ list featuring Raheem Sterling, winner of The Integrity and Impact Award founded by Dow Jones Sports Intelligence; Octagon, the Agency of the Year; and the ECB, who won the Diversity and Inclusion Award.
6 – World Rugby drops gender from RWC titles
A year of major events was capped off by the Rugby World Cup 2019, which took place in Japan in the autumn.
A host of stories made the news in the build-up to the event, but interest was piqued by a different, but related, piece of news from World Rugby – who dropped gender titles from the names of future World Cups.
7 – London Stadium transforms into baseball park
Major League Baseball came to London for a regular season game for the first time in July, as the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees played out their famous rivalry for a British audience at the London Stadium.
US sports coming to these shores is nothing new, as both the NBA and NFL have hosted regular season games in the UK, but the sight of the former Olympic Stadium transformed into a baseball ground caught the interest of many.
8 – London Marathon looks for new headline sponsor
After ten years, and more than half a billion raised for charity, Virgin Money and London Marathon will go their separate ways.
More than £560m was raised for charity in the decade the pair were together, but after the 2020 race, Virgin will no longer be the iconic event’s headline partner and the London Marathon will look for a new sponsor.
9 – Sport Industry NextGen 2020 – Leaders announced
The announcement of the 30 Leaders who will take part in the Sport Industry NextGen 2020 programme was the ninth most-read article on the site in 2019.
30 leading professionals under 30 years of age will take part in the programme, representing a diverse, ambitious and innovative future for the sector. It is the fifth annual cohort to be selected for the prestigious professional development programme, launched by Sport Industry Group in 2015, and the 30 2020 Leaders will join a network of 148 Sport Industry NextGen alumni.
10 – Johanna Konta joins Naked Smoothies
Sneaking into the top ten for 2019 is the British Number 1 female tennis player Johanna Konta, who joined up with PepsiCo’s Naked Smoothies as a brand ambassador in June.
In the build-up to Wimbledon interest in tennis was arguably at its highest of the year, and both Naked Smoothies and Konta took advantage with the announcement of their partnership.
