Taking An American Sports’ Approach To Premier League Licensing
Should the Premier League follow the example of American sports in their licensing efforts?
The English Premier League is one of the most-watched sports leagues in the world, and yet, it stands around fourth in terms of revenue. Instead, very US-centric sports leagues rake in far more each year. The NFL, which has small pockets of fans beyond North America, is the richest sports league in the world, followed by the NBA with its more global appeal. The MLB is next up, boasting a smaller global reach than the NBA.
Along with being staples of broadcasting in the biggest and most valuable sports market in the world, the NFL, NBA, and MLB all embark on massive marketing campaigns and hefty licensing efforts. They all seek to explore just about every angle of potential fan engagement as a single entity. Of course, the Premier League isn’t insular like these leagues, and so its teams change each season, but there may still be a path to greater licensing revenues.
Colossal Licence Deals Aren’t Unfamiliar to the Premier League
The majority of the licensing deals that the Premier League makes with other entities is, naturally, in broadcasting. The highest bidders get to show the Premier League, deck their studios in Premier League aesthetics, and promote their channels by association. Outside of this, generally speaking, the Premier League leaves its individual clubs to make deals as they see fit, promoting themselves to make them more competitive through extra revenue streams.
One of the few areas where this isn’t so much the case is with video gaming. Electronic Arts’ now-clunkily-named EA Sports FC series – formerly FIFA – beat the competition through licensing deals. Back in 2023, to secure the licensing for the most popular domestic sports league in the world, the video game publishers paid £500 million for six years of rights to using iconography of the Premier League, including team logos, stadiums, and players.
Reach into New Areas of Entertainment
It’s not uncommon to see the major leagues of America to feature in entertainment beyond the sports product themselves. Many films and shows, from Like Mike to Ballers, have promoted the leagues, and sometimes with the help of cash from the leagues. One focus right now for leagues is the emerging space of online casino gaming. Depending on the state, you’ll spot several casino games licensed to use team iconography.
Accessing an online casino in New Jersey, for example, will give access to New York Jets Big Kick and New York Knicks Ultimate Hoops. In the UK and beyond, branded slots are very popular. Most recently, the collection of popular bingo slots welcomed Friends: The One with Multi Drop to the likes of The Walking Dead and Lara Croft: Tomb of the Sun. A Premier League-licensed slot, be it for the league or individual teams, would fit right in.
Along with the noted NBA and NFL casino games found at US platforms, you’ve also got the more globally-accessible casino games from other US sports brands. The UFC and WWE, for example, have their own online casino games. Alternatively, the Premier League could follow the example of Formula One. It’s very much a box office advertisement for the sport made in collaboration with the FIA, but it certainly promoted F1 with its release.
The Premier League is such a mighty brand that it could, in theory, close the gap in revenues on its American counterparts. However, it’ll need to explore more licensing avenues and grow its presence in more major markets to do so.
Image: Kelvin Stuttard – Pixabay
