While most of us were shitting ourselves up until kick-off against Liverpool it seems we needn’t have worried so much. An impressive start against the Scousers and, after we settled, an even more impressive performance against West Brom, has made us forget about what we lost in the summer and concentrate more on what we gained. Everyone should now be looking forwards not backwards.
We’ve had the training ground announcement. We’ve got new players, and the González transfer might well be as significant as Trippier in that he will help to attract others. And with much less attention, PIF also acquired Electronic Arts (EA), the company behind EA Sports FC. You might be wondering why PIF bought EA, so let’s take a look at that because it could turn out to be one of the smartest acquisitions PIF have ever made.
For a start, EA Sports FC has an enormous audience with millions of fans around the world playing the game. Loads of younger supporters get interested in football clubs and players not because their dad took them to the match when they were a kid, but because they played computer games.
Manchester United and Liverpool have spent decades building huge international fanbases but Newcastle don’t have decades to catch them, so EA could end up being a rapid way to increase our worldwide fanbase. Don’t spend years trying to generate new leads which may or may not become fans. Buy a company with millions of footy fans and showcase YOUR club to them. Hoppy is starting to show why PIF recruited him.
If Newcastle become closely associated with EA Sports FC, our players could feature heavily in promotions and competitions. St James' Park itself could receive special treatment within the game. EA could produce Newcastle-related content and international gaming events. All of that puts Newcastle in front of millions of potential supporters around the world.
Some of those will become followers, some will buy shirts (even the new ones!), some will start watching matches and some may well visit Newcastle. The bigger our international audience becomes, the more valuable we become to sponsors - and that’s where the serious money starts.
You might think, let’s get EA to sponsor Newcastle. If it did, it could sponsor the training kit, academy, women's team, training ground or parts of a future stadium development. The problem with this is because of the PIF connection, any large EA sponsorship would definitely be scrutinised by the Premier League and given how they’ve rigged the rules against us for years, that might not be the best option.
Any sponsorship deal between EA and Newcastle would have to represent “fair market value”. The problem is, the Cartel and our competitors would determine that value, so EA might well want to pay Newcastle £100 million a year but if the Premier League says its worth £20 million a year, then £20 million is what goes in the books. PIF need to think outside the box - think bigger than sponsorship.
When we approach a non-PIF global company looking for a sponsorship deal we currently offer Premier League exposure, St James' Park advertising, social media, hospitality and all the usual bells and whistles. Now add EA Sports to the deal and suddenly that company could potentially become involved in Newcastle gaming competitions, digital campaigns, international events and content reaching EA's worldwide football audience. That makes our commercial offering much more valuable. Most importantly, that additional sponsorship would come from companies completely independent of PIF and therefore outside the Premier League related business rules. It would be genuine outside revenue coming into the club which is exactly what we need.
The possibilities beyond marketing could lead to us becoming a test bed for bringing real football and digital football together. EA could create an incredibly detailed digital version of St James' Park. There could be virtual Newcastle matchdays for overseas supporters. Newcastle players could be involved in EA's motion-capture and player-scanning technology. The academy could potentially use gaming and simulation technology. There could be EA fan zones at St James' Park. Newcastle could even establish itself as one of the world's leading football esports clubs.
None of these ideas individually transforms our club, but put them together and we become more than a football club that happens to have an esports team, we become one of EA's showcase football clubs.
Now think about a new stadium and this is where things could become really interesting. If we eventually build a new 70,000+ stadium, it becomes more than somewhere football is played 25 or 30 times a year. A Newcastle sports and entertainment district could include the stadium, restaurants, shops, hotels, entertainment facilities and an EA Sports gaming and esports centre. You could have international EA Sports FC tournaments taking place beside the new stadium.
There could be gaming studios, broadcasting facilities, fan experiences and esports competitions and those facilities could operate throughout the year. That would generate revenue without Newcastle having to play another football match. It would also help turn Newcastle itself into an international football destination. Remember the days when every kid was kicking a ball against a wall and then we lost them to computer games. Now we use computer games to get them back. Beautiful.
If you look at the bigger PIF picture, they’ve invested in football, gaming, Esports, entertainment, and major sporting events. Now it has Newcastle United at one end and EA Sports FC at the other. Those investments surely won't operate independently. EA has something Newcastle desperately needs: access to an enormous worldwide football audience. And Newcastle has something extremely valuable to EA: a Premier League football club with passionate supporters, a famous stadium and ambitions to become one of Europe's biggest clubs. Put the two together properly and both could benefit.
If we want to compete with the biggest clubs we need bigger sponsorships, more international supporters, more merchandise sales, more digital income, more commercial partnerships, more matchday revenue and ultimately a much bigger Newcastle United business.
I don’t believe for a minute PIF have taken over EA simply to provide another sponsorship deal, because that would be missing the point. The real value of EA is to introduce Newcastle United to millions of football fans around the world. Those fans create audiences; audiences attract sponsors; sponsors create revenue and revenue improves what Wor Mattie can put on the pitch.
Our new players, and some older ones, gave a glimpse of what they were capable of against Liverpool. The acquisition of EA gave a glimpse of what David Hopkinson is capable of. The announcement of the new training ground showed what PIF are capable of. Let’s hope all of them have a stellar season.
Chris Waite