Hey folks - Ben here. Welcome to Edition #77 of The SEG3 Report. Joe is away for the next few weeks, so I’ll be taking the reigns.

Before we get into things: a heads up that First Release passes for SEG3 LA end tomorrow. Grab our best value pass (plus an additional 20% off passes here for being a subscriber) before they’re gone!

Today’s spotlighted piece is a feature from Derick Tsai, who looks at the storytelling opportunities that sports brands are still missing.

Also covered: Amazon’s integration of AR & game-like modes for Champions League coverage + PTI Digital’s Sports Leadership Benchmark Report uncovers a troublesome future for Tier 2 & 3 rights holders.

Let’s dive in:

Contents: Edition #77

• The Mythic Lens: From F1 to Kobe, Sports Storytelling Can Rise to Mythology

• Amazon Prime Reveals Prime Vision For Champions League Coverage

• PTI Digital Reveal Their 2025 Sports Leadership Benchmark Report

The Mythic Lens: From F1 to Kobe, Sports Storytelling Can Rise to Mythology

Sports are one of the last shared rituals in modern life at a massive scale. Yet most storytelling around them stays grounded in highlight reels and docu-style retrospectives. What would happen if we applied a “mythic lens” to sports: a narrative framework that elevates athletes and moments into timeless legends? 

TL;DR: Applying a “mythic lens” to sports expands their storytelling potential: reframing games as epic sagas of heroes striving toward greatness, rivalries that echo through generations, and losses that feel like death before rebirth. This approach captures what happened, but also shows why it mattered. 

For sports brands, this approach unlocks deeper audience engagement and global storytelling opportunities across different mediums. Ignore it, and you risk leaving cultural and commercial value untapped.

What is Mythology?

Myths are stories that explain how the world works and why things matter for a culture, a brand, or a fanbase. A myth answers:

• Who are we?

• What do we fight for and why?

• Who are our gods, monsters, and heroes?

Sports and Myths Were Made for Each Other

From The Iliad to samurai epics, cultures have told stories about gods in conflict, warriors under pressure, and mortals ascending to something greater than themselves. Sound familiar? Today’s athletes are cast in the same role; defined by their talents as well as their willingness to suffer and transcend.

The raw material is already there. Rivalries. Dynasties. Downfalls. Comebacks. Yet most coverage reduces this richness to box scores, contract gossip, or slogan-wrapped brand ads. What’s missing is the elevation; the “architecture of awe” that makes a story timeless.

A Mythic Take on the Future of Sports Storytelling

To capture the imagination and loyalty of the next generation of fans, sports brands should take inspiration from how global entertainment franchises channel the great myths. So, what does it look like when we view sports through the “mythic lens”? A few provocations:

• F1 as Sci-Fi Political Epic like Dune
  Imagine F1 framed as an epic like Dune: a global chess match between minds, machines, and dynasties. Each team, a ruling house. Each circuit, a battlefield. The stakes: legacy, bloodlines, and global supremacy.

• The Air Mythos
  Nike Air has always been more than a sneaker; it’s a symbol of transcendence. What if the brand was reimagined as a serialized mythology: a cinematic universe told through shorts, games, and collabs, where each story becomes a stage in the hero’s journey for those who dare to leap.

• Kobe as Archetype
  “Mamba Mentality” is already a philosophy, but what if it became a narrative? Picture a global anthology series where each episode centers on a different young athlete channeling the “Mamba” spirit, filtered through their culture and current moment. Not a biography, but an echo of a legend.

• Anime x Hoops
  Imagine Attack on Titan; but about basketball. Stylized, operatic, emotionally raw. A war for skill mastery where the court becomes a crucible and every move has the weight of destiny. This is about more than scoring points; it’s about trials of transcendence.

Taking the “mythic lens” expands the narrative surface area of sports across film, animation, games, apparel, and ritual without losing their coherence. 

That elasticity creates bigger canvases for creativity and diversified revenue streams. Mythic storytelling transforms highlights into entire worlds that audiences want to revisit and re-invest in.

Why Now?

Because the rise of K-pop, anime, and gaming has trained a generation to expect worldbuilding, thematic coherence, and deep emotional stakes. In a world flooded with content, the stories that stick are the ones that feel timeless.

Closing Thought

The next frontier for sports storytelling has to go beyond recording or reminiscing about what happened to frame those moments as part of what it means to be human. Because when done right, a single game can feel like fate and an athlete can become more than a person; they can become myth.

by Derick Tsai - Creative Director, Executive, Producer | Games, Entertainment, Brands

Amazon Prime Reveals Prime Vision For Champions League Coverage

Amazon have announced the latest act of modernisation to their Champions League coverage through Prime Video - Prime Vision. This alternate broadcast will be available, showcasing all new attributes for the viewer at home, including aspects that mimic video game features.

TL;DR:

• AR Integration: Amazon continuing to innovate Champions League broadcasts.

• Game-like view: Some changes targeted towards the younger generation who have grown up with modern video games.

• Challengers: Amazon’s approach to sports broadcasting is constantly challenging the status quo of the industry.

• The Future: After Canelo-Crawford on Netflix this past weekend, are we still on the precipice of major online entities and their live sports broadcasts?

Why should you care?

The FIFA-ication (or now EA Sports FC-ification), if you will, of sports broadcasting has been going to a new level in recent years, as broadcasters have been exploring how to further integrate the new generation of gaming audiences to their coverage, while providing additional insights to established viewers.

Prime Video's journey in sport appears to still be at the tip of the iceberg, with their eleven-year deal to broadcast the NBA kicking off next month at the start of the 2025/26 season.

What’s part of the release?

By offering this alternative coverage, broadcasters are fully embracing the new landscape of sports fan they need to interact with and nurture.

Amazon have been challenging the status quo of traditional broadcasters in recent years through the deals to broadcast the NFL, Premier League and Champions League, but unique innovations such as this show the true nature of their disruption of the market, as they are even going above and beyond their competitors.

What are some of the features Prime Vision will be showcasing?

• A tactical player map
  → At the bottom of the screen, viewers will be able to track where all 22 of the players are even if they are out of view, just as if they were playing a video game.
  

• Player ID
  → Nametags above a player’s head as they move is a staple of football games, and highlights for those who are less aware of the players.
  

• Passing options
  → Prime Vision will be able to illustrate the most likely next passes for a player will the ball to their teammate.

Added to this there will be a momentum bar below the tactical map, further physical insights and also advanced analytics such as xG, which has already been gaining traction in mainstream broadcasting over the past couple of seasons.

Our favourite bits of sports broadcasting technology:

• Shot tracer

  → Now an established part of golf coverage on the major networks, fans being able to see the direction the ball is travelling has added a crucial dynamic to golf viewership.
  

• NFL Next-Gen Stats

  → On the theme of Amazon, the NFL’s Next-Gen Stats powered by AWS offers interesting data points that can be interspersed into commentary on the broadcast, as well as through AR stats on-screen during replays.
  

• Hawkeye
  → Hawkeye’s ball-tracking technology has been utilised for a number of years to take out much of the ambiguity on decisions within cricket, tennis and baseball.

Closing Thoughts

Amazon’s sports broadcasts have garnered a lot of fans in the last couple of years since their introduction into the sports world. Whether these tech additions bring in or assist the integration of the younger demographics additions will be extremely interesting to see in the coming years, particularly after Netflix reported an estimated total of 41.4 for Saturday’s showpiece fight.

PTI Reveal Their 2025 Sports Leadership Benchmark Report

PTI Digital have revealed their 2025 Sports Leadership Benchmark Report, following questions posed of C-suite executives at sports rights holders primarily in the UK. In the report they delve into financial projections, commercial growth and decline areas, commercial blockers and enablers, and assess the latest update on the role of data & technology.

TL;DR:

• UK Sport is likely to see an strong increase in third-party investment.

• The reliance on sponsorship as the highest growth value potential has significantly increased in the past 12 months.

• The elite end of the food chain is strong, but outside of the leading organisations there is a bleaker outlook.

• Budget constraints are blocking wider growth.

• Technology still needs a greater focus within rights holders where there is long-term potential for benefits.

So, why should you care?

PTI’s report indicates that the gap between the have’s and have-not’s is only widening, which could have a knock-on effect on the wider UK sporting ecosystem.

What stands out?

1. Only 13% of UK sports rights holders have data well integrated into business decision making.

For 2025 this number still seems incredibly low, and to my eye that just shows the opportunity that is still available to sport as a business when it comes to the data proposition, something I am sure many of you will want to be a part of!

2. More than a third of sports rights holders anticipate taking significant third-party investment in the next 12 months.

As PTI note themselves, if this is to be the case, how will this money be utilised? As the report states, the majority of the expectation for this cash is that it will pay off debts or be used to recruit or develop athletes.

This is a worry, as in the main that means the existing problems of data, technology and commercial will remain, without this funding being used for long-term benefits.

3. Media rights expectations has seen a slight increase.

The report notes the changing viewership landscape of the younger demographic, which we know has moved more towards streaming and social, and that it is difficult to get this altered once viewing habits are set at a young age.

As mentioned in our above look at Prime Vision, with Amazon taking the lead, are Netflix and YouTube soon to expand on their current forays into sport and create the next generation sports broadcasting by taking sport to the viewer rather than trying to bring them elsewhere?

4. Just 25% of Tier 2 rights holders, and 0% of Tier 3 rights holders are positive about current financial health.

This is bleak figure across both tiers, but in a tough economy not entirely unexpected. Contributors from these areas stated they are more positive for the future, but when that future will come we do not know…

So, what can you steal from this?

Step 1 - D2C and digital products are where more than a third of the industry see value generation in the coming years.

Step 2 - Despite budget constraints, try to stay strong and continue utilising technology which will in time reduce overall costs.

Step 3 - Centralising data ownership and having strong data leadership internally is worth investing in and a strong antidote to the current issues in this area for sports organisations.

Closing Thoughts

Tier 1 rights holders are still soaring high with a strong positive outlook for high end sports entities. However, while there is optimism lower down the food chain, the current view is not mirroring this. The economic climate is impacting the ability to expand technology and data processes and is only widening the gap between these organisations.

In other news this week:

• Disney & Webtoon Entertainment create new digital comics platform: see here.

• PlayStation launches family app for parental control and filters: read here.

• Amazon Ads announces Netflix integration for ad inventory: read here.

• Jude Law stars as Uber Eats continue viral ad momentum: watch here.

• Vodafone launch UEFA deal for Women’s football: read here.

• H&M open new concept store in Paris featuring space for musical and cultural events: read here.

• Fancode & Camb AI combine for real time translation of Indian Sports and News: read here.

• AMI and ITV partner to launch backing business fund: read here.

• Burger King UK team up with Gordon Ramsay: watch here.

• Sephora joins forces in the US with Uber Eats as first prestige beauty delivery service available on the platform: read here.

• Coco Gauff links up with Tom Brady and Michael Strahan’s production company Religion of Sports for media partnership: read here.

• Ecstatic take on gambling with prevention firm Gamban: read here.

• L’Oreal Paris become official Arsenal FC partner with plans for product releases: read here.

Working on anything cool, or have a press release you would like us to cover? Send it in for the chance for it to be covered in next week’s edition!

That’s all for now everyone - thanks again for reading the latest edition of The SEG3 Report, and if you found it of interest, please do consider sharing with a friend!