Features

2019 In Review – August

Joseph Tsai, co-founder of Chinese internet company Alibaba, secured full ownership of the Barclays Center and NBA basketball franchise the Brooklyn Nets.

The deal saw Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov enter into a definitive agreement to sell full ownership of the arena and his 51% controlling interest in the Nets, which he had held through his company Onexim Sports and Entertainment, to an entity controlled by Tsai.

With the purchase of Prokhorov’s shares of the Nets, Tsai is the sole investor in the team. Tsai purchased 49% of the Nets in April 2018 from Prokhorov in a deal that at the time valued the team at $2.35bn (£1.95bn/€2.1bn).

The Oakland Raiders NFL American football team confirmed Las Vegas-based travel company Allegiant as the naming-rights sponsor of its under-construction 65,000-seat stadium.

The venue, which will also host the University of Las Vegas, Nevada’s college football team, became Allegiant Stadium as part of the deal. The Oakland Raiders will become the Las Vegas Raiders in 2020 upon relocation to the Nevada city.

August also witnessed significant naming rights deals involving Real Sociedad, Westpac Stadium and Brighton & Hove Albion.

US venue development, advisory and investment company Oak View Group (OVG) confirmed that it is working with City Football Group (CFG) on the potential development of a new arena on land close to the Etihad Stadium, home of English Premier League football club Manchester City.

The announcement came after months of reports concerning the potential development of a venue that would rival Manchester Arena, which is located in the heart of the city centre. Following the opening of its UK office in March, OVG said that it was examining opportunities to bring the world’s best arenas to the world’s greatest cities.

OVG is currently working in association with CFG, parent company of Manchester City, in exploring the opportunity for a new arena at the Etihad Campus in East Manchester.

Spanish LaLiga football club Barcelona completed the first part of its Espai Barça masterplan with the opening of Estadi Johan Cruyff.

The stadium has become the new home of the Barça B and women’s teams, as well as the U19 side when it plays in European competitions.

The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) agreed what has been described as a game-changing partnership with technology company Atrium Sports which will lead to the creation of a ‘Connected Stadium’ venture.

The partnership will seek to help make basketball the most popular, innovative and digitally advanced sports community in the world. Charged by FIBA with offering national federations and leagues technology and advice, Atrium Sports will seek to implement artificial intelligence and machine learning based automated solutions to capture, enhance, produce and distribute live video content.

Image: Brooklyn Nets