A month after its Wembley Stadium finale, the Women’s Euro 2022 tournament keeps setting records.

UEFA revealed on Wednesday that across TV, out-of-home viewing, and streaming, the 16-team tournament had a projected global cumulative live viewership of 365 million — the most-watched women’s Euro ever.

The figure is more than double 2017’s viewership of 178 million and a 214% increase from the 2013 tournament, which scored 116 million viewers.

The Women’s Euro 2022 was also the best attended in history with an average 18,544 fans, and a record aggregate attendance of 574,875 fans — more than doubling the previous record of 240,055 set in the Netherlands in 2017.

Fans’ interest in the tournament was apparent this year.

• The Euro final between host England and Germany was the most-watched women’s soccer match in the U.K., bringing in 50 million viewers worldwide — over three times more than the 2017 final.
• The game also had 87,192 attendees — the highest ever for any men’s or women’s European national team tournament game.
• Final numbers haven’t been released, but Global Data previously projected fans would spend $167 million during the match.

UEFA previously reported that 54% of the group stages’ viewership was driven by neutral followers.

Soccer’s Soaring

UEFA released a report earlier this month claiming European’s women’s soccer could reach roughly $698 million in annual commercial value — six times its current value.

“The future of the women’s game is incredibly promising,” UEFA’s director of football Giorgio Marchetti wrote.

SeatGeek closed a major funding round after canceling its ticket to the public markets .

The ticketing platform raised $238 million in a Series E round. The cash haul comes two months after SeatGeek and a SPAC, RedBall Acquisition Corp., mutually agreed to terminate a previously agreed-on merger.

• SeatGeek’s latest round gives it a roughly $1.2 billion valuation.
• That figure represents a significant decline from the proposed $2 billion value in negotiations with RedBall.
• Arctos Sports Partners, Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith, Wellington Management, and Accel all participated in the round.

RedBall, chaired by Oakland A’s executive vice president Billy Beane and Redbird Capital Partners Managing Director Gerry Cardinale, redeemed its shareholders on Aug. 17 after failing to complete a merger with a private company. 

The SPAC raised $575 million in August 2020. It redeemed its investors at a 0.2% premium.

SPACs Retract

After an explosion of activity in 2020 and 2021, SPAC initial public offerings have slowed considerably.

There have been 74 SPAC IPOs to date this year, which have raised $167.9 million on average, per SPACInsider. The previous year saw just over half of all SPAC IPOs in history (counting 2022’s), with 613 at an average size of $265.1 million.

2020 was the second biggest year for SPAC IPOs, with 248 at an average of $336.2 million.

Group ONE Holdings, the parent company of combat sports promotion ONE Championship, is changing its official base as it prepares for an initial public offering, according to Reuters. 

The company originally planned to go public via a SPAC merger. Group ONE had previously been linked with Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs for the now-defunct merger. 

• Group ONE plans to change its legal domicile from Singapore to the Cayman Islands.
• The company is Asia’s largest sports media property, ranking No. 2 in digital viewership among global sports properties, per Nielsen.
• It is valued at $1.4 billion as of June 2022, according to founder Chatri Sityodtong.

In January, Group ONE raised $150 million in a funding round led by Guggenheim Investments and the Qatar Investment Authority, the nation’s sovereign wealth fund. 

Group ONE plans to use the fresh capital to expand outside Asia, where it can compete with Endeavor’s UFC. 

“Whether we’re hosting events in Qatar or Europe, or North America, those are all in the plans for the next 12 months or so,” said Sityodtong.

The company averages 50 million viewers per event, up from 40,000 viewers six years ago.

Expanding Reach 

In addition to the funding round, Group ONE has secured a deal with one of the most valuable companies in the world. In July, the company agreed to a multiyear streaming rights deal with Amazon Prime Video, which began on Friday, Aug. 26.

It also plans to open studios in Doha and a potential regional headquarters in the Qatari capital.

Video game company NetEase has acquired French gaming studio Quantic Dream, becoming the company’s first video game developer in Europe. 

Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

“By combining the wild creativity and exceptional narrative focus of Quantic Dream with NetEase’s powerful facilities, resources, and execution capabilities, there are infinite possibilities that could redefine the interactive entertainment experience,” said NetEase CEO William Ding. 

• Quantic Dream will continue to operate independently.
• The studio will develop and publish games for all platforms.
• It will also continue to publish third-party-developed gaming titles. 

NetEase purchased a minority stake in Quantic Dream in 2019 — after the French studio faced allegations of operating a toxic workplace environment behind claims of sexual harassment and racism. In 2018, Quantic Dream lost a French labor court case filed by a former employee. 

Since then, the company has taken actions to create a better workplace environment, including DEI initiatives and partnering with an unspecified LGBTQIA+ organization.

Better Than Expected 

NetEase exceeded expectations in the company’s second-quarter earnings report. 

The China-based company generated $3.5 billion in revenue in Q2 2022 — a 12.8% increase compared to Q1 2021 — surpassing Wall Street estimates of $3.4 billion for the quarter. 

The favorable results were driven by NetEase’s games and related value-added services segment, which generated $2.7 billion in revenue in Q2, a 15% increase year-over-year.

About 10% of NetEase’s gaming revenue comes from overseas.