How sport is keeping active during Covid-19

HOW SPORT IS KEEPING ACTIVE DURING COVID-19

INTRODUCTION The coronavirus outbreak has meant the goalposts have moved across the sporting world like never before.

To keep you up-to-speed, we’ve taken a look at what’s been happening as sport adapts to the ‘new normal’ in the world of Covid-19.

CONTENTS BRANDS

3

RIGHTS HOLDERS & CLUBS

4

ATHLETES ON SOCIAL MEDIA

5

CSR & HELPING WITH THE CORONAVIRUS EFFORT

6

PROMOTING PHYSICAL & MENTAL WELLBEING

7

ESPORTS & TECHNOLOGY

8

BROADCAST + OTT

9

BRANDS In these volatile times, how a brand acts (or doesn’t act) has the potential to be long remembered by consumers. Getting it right has never been more important.

Nike were one of the first brands off the mark as it maximised its global reach (+ army athletes) to spread the simple message of staying inside and ‘Playing for the World’ A great example of how simple marketing and clever copywriting can make a huge impact.

Some sports and fitness brands have acted quickly to make their products more widely available (+ free) during the global lockdown. Fitbit introduced a 90-day free trial of its Premium service to aid those who are self-isolating to stay fit, while HomeCourt, the ‘Zoom of Basketball’ and winner of the 2019 SportTechie Award, has been made free for all users.

Brands have also helped play their part in practical coronavirus relief with sports manufacturers Under Armour and Fanatics, who make official jerseys for all major American leagues, pivoting to making medical masks and gowns for hospital workers out of their unused stock.

INEOS, who we partnered with for the INEOS 1:59 Challenge last year, and who own Team INEOS cycling and INEOS Team UK sailing teams, transformed their factories over a 10 day period and pledged to produce millions of units of hand sanitiser.

RIGHTS HOLDERS & CLUBS Without action on the pitch, organisations have had to think creatively on how they can engage with fans.

When fixtures first began being cancelled, Borussia Dortmund led the way – holding a ‘virtual watch party’ aimed at fans in China with viewers treated to exclusive stories, challenges and behind-the-scenes footage, with around 110,000 live viewers, and a reach of 2.9m in total - huge numbers for what was the first of its kind by any club worldwide.

The ‘LaLigaSantander Fest’, from our client LaLiga, brought together stars from all 20 clubs with Spanish musicians and even tennis legend Rafa Nadal for a global charity festival. Creating four hours of entertainment for all those trapped at home, the festival raised over €1m in the fight against Covid19.

MLB attempted to recreate the excitement of the new season through ‘Opening Day at Home’, featuring a wide variety of classic matches, and fan engagement through social – also helping raise money for coronavirus relief.

Brighton has led the way for Premier League clubs announcing a three-month payment holiday for season ticket renewals, as well as confirming fans will get money off next season’s costs should the 2019/20 campaign not go the distance. The Seagulls also wrote an open letter to their Premier League counterparts encouraging them to do the same – something not heeded by Newcastle, who have pressed ahead with taking payments, and have been accused of failing to offer support to fans at a difficult time.

CSR & HELPING WITH THE COVID-19 EFFORT At a time of crisis, the sporting world has united to help those at the frontline taking on the disease.

FIFA has made a $10m donation to the WHO to help them deal with the pandemic, with President Gianni Infantino offering assistance given football’s unique reach worldwide.

On a more practical level, Mercedes F1 have been working with clinicians to develop a new breathing aid aimed at keeping patients out of intensive care, while fellow Formula 1 team Ferrari has also donated $10m and 150 ventilators to the Italian health service.

Rugby League World Cup 2021 organisers have announced that 20,021 tickets will be donated to key workers for next year’s event, while Matchroom Boxing has pledged 200 tickets for each of its upcoming shows to NHS staff when sport returns.

A number of athletes and clubs have taken a partial or full wage-cut in light of the crisis, though Cristiano Ronaldo has donated over €1m to help fight coronavirus in Portugal.

Along with his Juventus teammates, Ronaldo has given up wages for the next four months to help the club manage the economic impact of the pandemic. Watch this space for Premier League clubs to agree similar proposals soon.

Allied to the likes of Chelsea and Gary Neville’s Hotel Football offering free accommodation to NHS workers, it’s clear the sporting world is pulling together to help support workers at this challenging time.

ATHLETES ON SOCIAL MEDIA Social media has been rife with UGC ‘challenges’ during the lockdown period, and unsurprisingly, sporting ones have gained plenty of traction too.

The #StayAtHome challenge, where users juggle a toilet roll in the style of a football, has seen players and fans alike get creative as they take on the task. Lionel Messi, Paul Pogba and Felipe Melo are amongst the most noteworthy in a trend that has attracted millions of attempts.

Led by Sports Personality of the Year Ben Stokes, the #BringSallyUp challenge tests the participant’s press-up abilities – while Danny Care and other rugby players have been taking on classic music video dances.

Away from challenges, NBA star Steph Curry held an Instagram Live session with Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, to help counter misinformation about the outbreak. The 28minute conversation, helping inform Curry’s 30m-strong Instagram audience, has already been called the most significant act of his career.

Another basketball player who took to Instagram was DeMar DeRozan. NBA handed its corporate account over to the Spurs guard, who held a Live chat with a clinical psychologist helping offer tips on how we can maintain our mental health during the pandemic – showcasing the role athletes can play in engaging widespread audiences in a way most brands can only dream of.

PROMOTING PHYSICAL & MENTAL WELLBEING With the majority of people under a near-total lockdown at home, the need to stay fit and physically active has never been more important.

With YouTuber Joe Wicks receiving over 500k daily live viewers in the first week of his daily PE lessons, Sport England launched its ‘Stay In, Work Out’ campaign, encouraging the public to use household objects and equipment to keep fit at home. Supported by setting users the challenge of creating and sharing their own social media content of what they’re doing at home, the campaign encourages the public to adapt to these unprecedented times and remain active.

This has been echoed in the FA’s ‘Football’s Staying Home’ campaign – aimed at promoting physical and mental wellbeing during the lockdown.

Launched by England captains Harry Kane and Steph Houghton, the #FootballsStayingHome hashtag also encompasses re-runs of classic matches on The FA’s channels, encouraging fans to stay put.

Elsewhere in football, the Premier League has been pulling together home workouts and other advice on staying active from each of their 20 clubs. The content hub on their website includes exercise routines from both small children to older adults – as well as games to help keep spirits up during these times.

ESPORTS & TECHNOLOGY With no live sport to watch, organisations have had to adapt – and unsurprisingly, plenty have turned to eSports to fill the void.

With the 2020 calendar decimated by coronavirus cancellations, Formula 1 hosted its first ever virtual Grand Prix, featuring an eclectic mix of drivers past and present, celebrities, and eSports pros. Nearly 300,000 viewers saw Renault test driver Guanyu Zhou beat the likes of Chris Hoy, Ian Poulter and Liam Payne to the checkered flag.

This virtual approach has also been seen in NFL’s Madden tournament and Nascar’s iRacing series (both streamed live on Fox Sports), and LaLiga, who also held a virtual tournament with one representative from each of their clubs. Over one million people took in the event live, won by Real Madrid’s Marco Asensio, which helped raise over €140,000 for coronavirus-related charities.

Real has also launched a Twitch channel to continue to engage with a new gaming-focused audience too.

League Two side Leyton Orient created a real online buzz when they launched the ‘Ultimate Quran-Team’ Fifa tournament, attracting 128 teams from around the world – helping make headlines and millions of viewers for the club, showing organisations don’t need to be the size of Real Madrid to achieve cut-through.

Aside from gaming, the ATP Tour has launched the world’s first officially branded virtual tennis product – aimed at the sports betting market.

Featuring official logos, the computer generated tournaments will fill the gaps in the tennis calendar, while providing betting opportunities for punters to take on.

BROADCAST + OTT Without action to show, broadcasters have had to be creative – and fill huge haps in their schedules.

Vintage matches appears to be the order of the day, with ITV announcing they will show the entirety of Euro 96 on their channels in lieu of the postponed 2020. BBC has been delving into their archives to bring classic Matches of the Day and ‘live’ streams of memorable tournament games.

Fifa has begun to show iconic World Cup matches via its own channels, and has opened its archive to its worldwide broadcast partners, while Tennis TV and the Olympic Channel have set up new dedicated channels featuring past moments.

Other broadcasters have had to expand their usual offerings – ESPN and BT Sport have been showing ESPN’s acclaimed ‘30 for 30’ documentaries, while Sky Sports has been focusing on longer features alongside archive matches.

With no live sport on, much paywalled content has been made freely available, with NFL’s Game Pass, and NBA’s League Pass subscription services open free of charge to users in the US and internationally.

Sky has also offered customers the chance to pause their Sky Sports payments until the action resumes.

One of the more interesting broadcast developments was ITV’s Grand National coverage, where instead of leaning on past footage, they showed a simulated virtual race. Along with imagining how the 2020 Grand National would have fared, the broadcaster used CGI technology and special algorithms to imagine a head-to-head race between legends Red Rum and Tiger Roll..

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