In 2018, the Ultimate Fighting Champion (UFC) was ranked by Fast Company as the fifth most innovative organization in sports.This honor was helped along thanks to the innovative crossover super-fight between mixed martial artist, Conor McGregor, and boxing legend, Floyd Mayweather.
This honor was helped along thanks to the innovative crossover super-fight between mixedmartial artist, Conor McGregor, and boxing legend, Floyd Mayweather.
In generating $600 million-plus in revenue, the fight was the largest in combat sports history and helped grow UFC's global fan base to more than 278 million in 2017. As of 2018, UFC programming reached 1.1 billion households in 163 countries with ratings on the rise since the company earned $600 million and increasing ratings by 38.5% year-over-year in 2017.
The UFC’s previous partnership with Fox Sports was a primary contributor to these numbers,bolstering mainstream acceptance of what was once denigrated as ‘cage-fighting’. Although Fox and the UFC recently parted ways, the $700 million partnership allowed the UFC to reach wider audiences and brought forth better sponsorship deals.
Now in a partnership with ESPN, the MMA kingpin is the first major sports organization to cutback on TV time and replace it with streaming services at a $300 million price tag.
The Golden State Warriors are at the top of the list when it comes to sports franchises and innovation. With a geographic link to Silicon Valley, the reigning NBA champs possess a distinct advantage.
Golden State's relationship with Silicon Valley was a catalyst to the team's new deal with GoogleCloud. The primary purpose of the partnership focuses on maximizing the value of the multitudes of data generated throughout the sport. Namely, the actionable information and analytics provided help mitigate player injuries and increase performance.
The WorkFlow podcast is hosted by Steve Glaveski with a mission to help you unlock your potential to do more great work in far less time, whether you're working as part of a team or flying solo, and to set you up for a richer life.
To help you avoid stepping into these all too common pitfalls, we’ve reflected on our five years as an organization working on corporate innovation programs across the globe, and have prepared 100 DOs and DON’Ts.