The Premier League’s U.S. broadcast rights deal with Comcast, which begins this year, more than doubled the value of its previous contract. The U.K. league will rake in $2.7 billion over six years, compared to $1.1 billion for the last six-year period.

It’s yet another reminder of soccer’s skyrocketing popularity in the U.S. It may already be the fourth-most popular sport in the U.S. — and could surpass baseball in third later this decade.

The world’s most popular sport has historically been slow to catch on in the U.S., but that has changed in recent years. 

• A survey by Ampere Analysis from the fourth quarter of 2021 found that 49% of U.S. sports fans like soccer, compared to 37% who like hockey. Baseball came in at 57%.
• In 2020, 17.8 million Americans played soccer, compared to 2.3 million who played ice hockey, according to the Sport and Fitness Association.
• That same trend held among U.S. kids aged 13-17: 1.2 million played soccer regularly in 2020, compared to 243,000 who played ice hockey.

World Cup Coming Up

With a FIFA World Cup scheduled for later this year and the global tournament coming to the U.S. in 2026, soccer is poised for more growth.

Houston Dynamo and Dash owner Ted Segal told Front Office Sports last August that he foresees a “step change in enthusiasm [for U.S. soccer] that accrues to the benefit of MLS and NWSL,” resulting from the 2026 World Cup.

Foot Locker is working with Adidas to increase the sale of products from the German sportswear company at its stores, as Nike reduces its presence at the retailer.  

The strategic deal between Foot Locker and Adidas follows record results for the former in FY2021, but an expectation of lowered revenue for the fiscal year ahead. 

• As part of the partnership, Foot Locker will lead Adidas’ basketball category.
• There is a target for the deal to generate $2 billion in total sales by 2025.
• Adidas is expected to generate up to $105 million in revenue in 2022 from the deal. 

Foot Locker generated $2.3 billion in sales in Q4 2021, a 6% increase year-over-year. Total sales reached $9 billion in 2021, a 19% uptick compared to FY2020. The company projects its revenue to drop in FY2022 due to expectations that it will not sell as many products from its top vendor, Nike. The Oregon-based retailer is selling more of its products directly to consumers.

As a result, no single vendor will represent more than 55% of Foot Locker’s supplier purchases beginning in Q4 2022, compared to 65% in Q4 2021. 

Bright Future

Adidas is expecting a favorable FY2022 with sales projected to increase between 11% and 13%. Brand Finance’s annual review revealed that Adidas’ brand value grew 2% to $14.6 billion — the second-most valuable sportswear and athleisure brand behind Nike at $33.2 billion.

Adidas projects its net income to grow to between $2 billion and $2.1 billion in FY2022.

Sports-focused streaming service FuboTV announced record earnings in the company’s latest earnings report.

FuboTV generated $242 million in revenue in Q1 2022, a 102% increase year-over-year. The strong first quarter was driven by the company’s North American streaming business, which generated a record $236.7 million in revenue in Q1, a 98% increase compared to Q1 2021. 

• It reported $22.8 million in advertising revenue in Q1, a 23% increase year-over-year.
• Total paid subscribers reached 1.1 million, up 81% compared to Q1 2021.
• It posted $5.5 million in revenue outside the U.S. and Canada.

The New York-based company, which is the only live TV streaming platform with every Nielsen-rated sports channel, expanded its presence in the European market during the first quarter. 

Q1 marked FuboTV’s first full quarter of being operational in France following the acquisition of French streaming company Molotov SAS in December 2021 for $190 million. Molotov expands FuboTV’s global reach with operations in Burkina Faso, the Ivory Coast, Senegal, and Cameroon.

More than Streaming 

FuboTV has made efforts to diversify its portfolio outside live TV streaming. In 2021, the company made its first investment in sports gambling with the acquisition of online sportsbook Vigtory.

The same year, Fubo Gaming, a subsidiary of FuboTV, launched Fubo Sportsbook in Arizona and Iowa. The online sports betting platform is the only owned-and-operated app in the U.S. that provides live sports viewing and wagering in a single ecosystem.

The Indian Premier League announced plans in March for a women’s league by 2023, and the sport’s governing body is leveraging the men’s popularity to plan for the women’s future competition. 

Jay Shah, the secretary for the Board of Control for Cricket in India and president of the Asian Cricket Council, told Bloomberg that women’s cricket is typically overlooked — IPL, on the other hand, is estimated to be worth $7 billion and had 600 million viewers last year. 

IPL is third to only the English Premier League and the National Football League in viewership, per BCCI estimates.

Shah expressed interest in auctioning broadcasting rights for the WIPL and its six teams in early 2023. The men’s league’s rights go up for an e-auction in June and will likely draw in bids of more than $5 billion over five years.

• IPL’s popularity has hiked the bid base price to $4.2 billion and could include offers from Amazon, Disney, Sony, and Reliance Industries.
• Bidders can bid for live-streaming rights and TV rights individually. Before, it was sold in a closed bidding process as a bundle.

Women’s Wins

“The more money we raise, the better it gets for cricket, as we will be investing it all back,” Shah said. The money from the men’s IPL rights auctions will help fund other subsidiaries like the women’s league. 

Shah said he is hopeful the owners of the men’s 10 IPL teams would bid for women’s teams, with the Rajasthan Royals Punjab Kings and Mumbai Indians already expressing interest.