Soccer

Liberty agrees naming rights deal for A-League Women (SportsPro Insider)

• Multi-year deal includes promotions in stadia, on kits and across A-Leagues’ online properties
• Agreement comes after Isuzu UTE signed up as title sponsor of men’s competition

Report: Apax Partners mulls fresh Serie A investment offer (SportsPro Insider)

• Deal could differ from CVC-led bid and include a larger debt element
• Serie A has reportedly been looking to revive private equity talks

Private equity firm Apax Partners has renewed its interest in Serie A and is working with other potential investors to put together a proposal for the Italian top flight at the start of 2022, according to Bloomberg.

MLS Thanksgiving game draws 1.89m viewers for Fox (SportsPro Insider)

• Thanksgiving matchup was most watched MLS game since 2004
• MLS’ eight-year Fox deal, reportedly worth US$90m per year, expires in 2022

Major League Soccer’s (MLS) decision to schedule its first ever Thanksgiving game paid off as 1.89 million viewers tuned into Fox and its Spanish-language channel Fox Deportes to watch the Colorado Rapids and Portland Timbers playoff match.
The audience figure marks the league’s highest rated postseason match of all time, with the Timbers’ 1-0 win against the Rapids also ranking as the most-watched MLS match ever on Fox.

FC Barcelona Reignite Interest To Sign Chelsea Star (Forbes SportsMoney) But for all the talk of signing the €50mn ($56.5mn) rated Ferran Torres, who his Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola has already warned won't come as a "gift", FC Barcelona have to be realistic and look for more economically viable options given their financial predicament.

FIFA Hopes to Take Human Error Out of Sports as It Trials Offside Technology at This Week’s Arab Cup (SportTechie) The Arab Cup that kicked off on Tuesday in Qatar is, in many ways, a dress rehearsal for the 2022 World Cup that commences at this time next year. One of the key innovations under trial is what FIFA has billed as its “semi-automated offside technology,” a supplement to the existing Video Assistant Referee system to help with one of the sport’s more vexing rules.