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This week saw the widely reported successful culmination of the ‘Kings League', Gerard Piqué’s take on football disruption, and it had me thinking about innovation in sporting formats and development of new IP.

More specifically, how forms of innovation & disruption can enter traditional sports and muster totally different results in such a short space of time.

In this weeks edition of Sports 3.0, we’re comparing the strategies and what we can learn from two of the most disruptive new sports formats of the last 12 months, Kings League and LIV Golf.

First the TLDR; Where has each sports innovated 👇

On paper, they share many similarities in the levels of innovation to their respective games.

Both leagues have also successfully p**sed off their incumbents.

But this only tells half the story.

Whilst Kings League gets plaudits for creating a successful new sports league, LIV Golf continues to be the butt of jokes.

Failing to attract commercial partners, taking hits on broadcast ratings and financial rumblings of players contracts all paint a picture that LIV has not had the dream start it would have hoped.

Compare this to Kings League. Since it kicked off in January it attracts over 1 million concurrents on streams regularly, drew over 90,000 fans to the Nou Camp and is awash with commercial partners.

And for me, the main reason for this difference is a simple reminder of a key marketing principle, and one that all new sports IP should be aware of….

Shared target audience; Different outcome

The main difference around outcome has been around the effectiveness of the product built for the target audience.

Both Kings League and LIV Golf both outlined the need for disruption was to make the sports more accessible to younger audiences. So Gen Z and Millenial audiences.

Kings League understood the assignment, and changes were deliberate and pointed with the target audience in mind versus for disruptions sake.

Kings League unapologetically created a product for younger audiences and it shows.

• The team ownership with streamers super charged social distribution - they have driven over 6 billion views on Tik Tok.

• The Golden Cards, add jeopardy to every game.

• The streams are filled with scripted and unscripted entertainment between Pique, his friends and the other Presidents.

• Drama and mystery is created over which pros/ex-pros may play that week and the ‘Enigma’ storyline, where fans were left guessing who the masked footballer was.

• Fans had a voice by being able to vote for the rules upfront.

• We are also now seeing Kings League swiftly introduce the Queens League and explore expansions to new markets understanding the needs for diversification.

In my opinion, LIV Golf has actually not gone far enough with changes to engage younger audiences.

• The cash orientated focus of the players and prize pots doesn’t feel relatable to younger audiences. There is no aspirational factor which drives so much of the Gen Z content flywheel.

• The shorter format is not driven by insight of what younger fans want to see.

• There is no jeopardy to the team/individual formats. They are introducing relegation, but I don’t think it goes far enough.

• Sorry, personal one here, but the teams just don’t feel they mean much at this stage. When fans don’t care about a core component of the format disruption, it’s an issue.

My point is, if you are going to introduce a new sports IP designed to target a younger fanbase, you have to make sure you disrupt enough to do it.

I fear LIV Golf has ended up not only p**sing off the incumbents, but totally missing their original intent.

In behavioural economics you may even refer to this as the “Overconfidence Bias”. I.e the arrogance of “if we build it they will come”. They have been happy with signing some of the worlds top players with mega dosh and changing a few elements of the game without really nailing their core proposition to suit the target audience.

Some of your will have noticed the quote at the top of this newsletter:

Crafting LIV Golf for a younger demographic

The fascinating things about Golf is contrary to stereotypes and assumption, the game IS growing with a younger audience.

Gen Z and Millennials make up 27% of new golfers. The opportunity is massive.

There is a burgeoning golf creator space online spearheaded by the likes of Good Good Golf, Roger Steele, Random Golf Club and Rick Shiels.

Here is a few things I would have loved to have seen (Spoiler: you’ll probably see some similarities with Kings League).

• Introduce the league as a fusion between creators and pros. Audiences are fascinated to see how the creators stack up against pros. Pro-ams are good, but an ongoing league story is even better.

• The best thing about that approach is there is already existing tension between some of these guys - real gold dust already bottled up

• Maintain streaming on YouTube. It’s a real loss that we can no longer access LIV on YouTube (at least in the UK). Distribution and reach should be primary metrics in these early days when you want the league to stick.

• You could even broadcast through the existing YouTube channels of the creators on board.

• Think about how you could inject drama and jeopardy into the rounds. They don’t have to be gimmicks, but something which really puts the pro’s on edge for a period.

• Find a way for meaningful fan involvement.

• I probably also would consider a pure matchplay format.

The danger of course with the above suggestions is that the worlds biggest pro’s don’t want to make the transition over to the league for fear of not being taken seriously and feeling like their ability will no longer be judged as one of the best in the world. But can we say we are in a better position at the moment with LIV?

Here are some of your views

The below are all collated from my LinkedIN post earlier this week

Key Lessons

To be clear, I actually like LIV Golf. I like the players, I always love attempts to disrupt. It’s good for the game. And I understand it’s a long term project.

I really hope they find the most compelling and meaningful format possible.

But, the key lesson here when we are looking at future disruptors for new sports IP is back to some marketing and business basics.

Zoom out and ensure you are looking at the key principles around audience targeting and the key levers you need to pull to get them immersed into your new world.

Halfway house solutions with disruption on the face but not in substance could likely not be enough.

Nail this, and the fan onboarding, commercials and attention around the new IP has a better chance of success.

3 Points: Some extras you may enjoy from this week

READ - I loved this excellent article from Roger Mitchell on the B2C sacrifices the sports industry has made over the years

WATCH - Ben Foster is back with the Go Pro in the Goal after his Wrexham debut. Watch for a masterclass in the story and edit > equipment and production

LISTEN - Pro bettor and entrepreneur Jonathan Bales talks about the 8 most impactful concepts that changed his life

Thanks for reading this weeks issue of Sports 3.0.

Past readers will notice this is a broader take on Sports Marketing vs a pure Web3 play.

Web3 will still be a pillar of content for this newsletter when considering sports marketing and the future of fan engagement, but I’d love your signal using the voting buttons below on if you enjoyed todays issue and found it insightful.

• 👍 That was great. Thanks

• 😐 Meh - was ok.

• 👎 Not interesting to me.