This article was originally published on October 5th, 2018.
Here is this week's dose of “5-Point Friday”. A weekly round-up of the sports news and stories that I find most interesting and enjoyable.
Champions I followed -
This week I saw champions being crowned across multiple sports and I want to congratulate them all. Here are a number of the winners I watched:
Golf - Europe Won the Ryder Cup,
Rugby Union - All Blacks win Rugby World Championship for the sixth time in Buenos Aires
Women's Cycling - Anna van der Breggen (@AnnavdBreggen) crushing victory at the Road World Championships
Men's Cycling - Alejandro Valverde (@alejanvalverde) edged a sprint finish to win the men's race at the Road World Championships
Motorsport - Ana Carrasco (@AnaCarrasco_22) has become the first woman to win a motorbike world title
Rugby League - Sydney Roosters spoiled Melbourne Storm legend Billy Slater's (@billyslater) farewell with a comprehensive victory in the NRL Grand Final
Gaelic Football - Derrygonnelly Harps clinched their fourth consecutive Fermanagh SFC title
Volleyball - Poland won their 3rd FIVB Men’s World Championship
Best sport business idea of the week -
NBA will now allow fans to be able to buy access to the last quarter of games for $1.99. The NBA League Pass, gives fans live NBA action without having to purchase the $6.99 single game option. In my opinion, this is a great way of introducing microtransactions into the industry. It will be available through NBA.com, the NBA mobile app and the new B/R Live streaming service.
Sponsorship story that I'm keeping tabs on -
With everything that has been going on recently, it would be unfair to miss out on this story. After allegations were made against Cristiano Ronaldo (@Cristiano) his leading sponsors have stated that they are "monitoring the situation. This includes Nike who has stated that they are "deeply concerned" about the allegations. The sportswear giant has a reported $1billion contract with Ronaldo. Juventus who has seen their share price rise by more than 100% since the signing of Ronaldo has dropped by 10%. Furthermore, Ronaldo has not been called up by the Portuguese National Team for their upcoming matches, due to the allegations.
Rugby news that interests me -
A $100 million investment into Chinese rugby, "aimed at producing 1 million players within 10 years," has been canceled. A strategy designed to push China to become a giant in world rugby looks unlikely to be moving forward.
Sport superstition story I enjoyed -
Athletes and supporters are superstitious creatures with some only willing to wear the same pair of socks for every game they play. AFL Grand Final at the weekend saw the Collingwood banner fall apart, before team had set foot onto the MCG field. To some this was an omen of things to come. For AFL fans we saw the best grand final in 10 years, decide in the last minutes of the game. Unfortunately for Magpies fans, it was West Coast who triumphed in the end. Highlights can be found below:
Have a wonderful weekend, all!
Jonathan
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