There are several ways that the size of the Sports Industry can be calculated to assess the value and income created by sports IP owners. Revenue, profit, asset value, or asset drivers such as consumption and demand are all suitable methods to assess the health of the sports industry. For the purposes of this exercise, the size of the sport industry has been calculated using annualised revenues derived from Sports IP. Revenue is the closest thing to a consistent accounting methodology that enables cross-sport, cross- region data over time, therefore making this cleanest non-clean method for making reliable comparisons across the industry.

Annualized revenues include value generated for the exchange of rights that are monetised either direct to consumer (D2C) for tickets, experiences, subscriptions, or merchandise; or via businesses (B2B) through third parties purchasing media, sponsorship, licensing or betting rights. Revenues generated by IP owners who retain the proprietary rights to bookmaking e.g. Hong Kong Jockey Club have been included, but where these rights are sold to 3rd parties such as Ladbrokes or Bet 365, these are not included. Additionally, revenues are not included where investment is made that is intended to increase the value of rights and grow the asset value of an IP owner.

The sports industry is mostly built up of confederated systems where revenues are shared across multiple organisations. The methodology for calculating sports industry annualized revenues ensures that revenue is only counted once in the ecosystem at the point at which revenue first reaches the value-generating IP owner, and not at the point value flows through the system via distributions or wages. For example, media rights revenues that are paid to leagues e.g. NFL, Premier League, Bundesliga, F1, etc., are not also included for the participating clubs/franchises/teams. Similarly, media rights revenues that come through the league and are paid to players/athletes in wages are not also counted under athlete revenues.

As the most globally established currency, all revenues are summarized in US dollars for comparison purposes. To convert all annualized revenues into US dollars, the 12-month average exchange rates from 2024 and 2014, as listed on the IRS (USA Internal Revenue Service), have been applied.

The calculation of $170B annualized revenues generated by Sports IP Owners in 2024 is based on publicly available financial data for 2024 or modelled based on publicly available data for previous years. Where 2024 revenue data is not yet available, industry knowledge or an industry average CAGR has been applied to previously available figures.

All regions around the world have been included to provide a figure for the total global sporting universe. Where Sports IP Owners operate in multiple regions, revenues are allocated according to the location of the headquarters.

Sports IP refers to the proprietary owner of sports events, sports rights, or sports codes that are generating economic value.

Owners refers to the ultimate owner and operator of sports IP, including where relevant departments, products & subsidiaries effectively operating one or more sports IPs as part of a wider organisation. It excludes organizations who hold rights for a period of time but are not the ultimate owners, e.g. broadcasters and betting houses.

Sport generally refers to activities involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment (Oxford Dictionary). The classification of what is considered “sports” has endured debate forever and is not resolved in this report. However, parameters have been defined to draw a line between where sport begins and ends. Team sports e.g. Soccer, Baseball, Cricket, and Basketball, as well as all recognised Olympic sports, e.g. Swimming, Cycling, Archery, and Gymnastics, have been included. Esports, sports-related video games, Darts, and Snooker have also been included. But sports excluded from this report and declared non-sports include Chess, Bridge, Irish Dancing, Ballet, Abseiling, and axe throwing. Please contact Two Circles if further clarification of inclusions and exclusions are required.

Sports IP owners included within scope are international federations, national associations, leagues, teams/franchises, event operators, sports video game IP owners, esports IP owners, athletes.

• International sports federations: Organizations affiliated with the IOC, Paralympics, and other international federated sports organizations. e.g. World Rugby, World Athletics, FIFA, FIS. Sports IP refers to the proprietary owner of sports events, sports rights, or sports codes that are generating economic value.
• National sports associations: National sports associations or federations within the above International Federation criteria e.g. FTT, SARU, AFA, DFL.
• Sports Leagues: Leagues operating competitions and tournaments within or across internationally and nationally recognized sports e.g. NFL, Premier League, IPL, NPB.
• Sports Teams/franchises: Teams/franchises within the above listed leagues e.g. Kansas City Chiefs, Manchester United, Gujarat Titans, Yomiuri Giants, TSM (Team SoloMid).
• Sports Event Organizers: Independent IP owners, not included in the above criteria, who operate sports events e.g. Wimbledon, Augusta National, The Grand National, Tour de France, FC Pro Open, or mass participation event organizers in sport e.g. London Marathon Events Ltd, New York Road Runners, Spartan Events.
• Sports video games (console & mobile) sports-based video games that leverage sports IP from internationally recognized sports federations or leagues g. EA FC, NBA 2K, EA F1, and EA Madden.
• Athletes: All off-field endorsement packages for athletes competing, participating, or performing in any of the above sports are included where the revenues are the first entry point into the ecosystem. This includes revenues generated through player-athlete unions or athletes representing themselves as individuals, e.g. brand deals. Most on-field athlete monetization typically happens upstream in the sports ecosystem and will be included once at the first entry point in the value exchange with third parties at a league, club, or association level. Athletes typically benefit via wages or prize money through the value already captured in the sports ecosystem. However, there are some sports structured where athletes are the first entry point into the ecosystem via a performance fee or participation fee in the event e.g. boxing. Therefore, revenues generated by boxers are included as the first point of sports IP into the ecosystem.

A bottom-up analysis of annualized revenues realized by sports IP owners has been conducted using the above outlined methodology, and projected forward based on three core growth levers identified in this report.

To contextualise the projected 5% CAGR growth for sports IP over the next decade, comparisons have been drawn against the performance of sports IP vs other entertainment mediums. This demonstrates the strength of sports IP and illustrates its resilience in the face of changing consumption patterns across other entertainment mediums.

Sports IP acts as a value driver across all the listed mediums but this analysis is structured to ensure that there is zero duplication of revenues. For example, traditional television as a medium is a significant contributor to the overall value of sports IP. However, to ensure there is zero duplication across entertainment mediums, any subscription or advertising revenue realized by broadcasters is included within the annualized revenue for ‘Traditional television’ while broadcast rights fees are recognized against Sports IP.