Winners Alliance, the for-profit commercial arm of the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA), has announced a new agreement to manage select group commercial rights for the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA).
Under the terms of the deal, Winners Alliance will negotiate global collective licensing, sponsorship, partnership, content, investment and event agreements for FICA members.
It represents the first global group licensing initiative for professional cricketers’ naming, image and likeness rights.
FICA represents more than 500 international cricketers from 13 nations, excluding India and Pakistan. FICA’s commercial arm, FICA Global Player Rights Ltd, previously acquired relevant player commercial and image rights in collaboration with players, their national cricket governing bodies and agents, before signing up with Winners Alliance.
The agreement builds on Winners Alliance’s work with the PTPA, which established the organisation in August 2022 to sell collective rights for PTPA members. Winners Alliance received $26m (€24m) in new funding from Pershing Square Foundation, led by billionaire hedge fund executive Bill Ackman, and private equity firm Prysm Capital.
Winners Alliance claims to have secured more than $10m in incremental value for PTPA tennis players in the first year alone through collective licensing and marketing agreements.
On behalf of the PTPA, Winners Alliance has so far agreed licensing and sponsorship deals with Fanatics and sub-brand Topps, TUMI, La Roche-Posay, Heineken and Grey Goose.
In an interview with SportBusiness, Eric Winston, the Winners Alliance president, said cricket offered a huge opportunity in the collective rights space and revealed that the organisation had been in conversation with FICA for some time.
He said: “Our outlook at Winners Alliance is very international. Tennis is a hugely international sport and so is cricket, there are hundreds of millions of fans worldwide and especially on the sub-continent. We thought that in terms of getting into cricket, FICA was the best place to start.
“The things we can bring to the market really haven’t been brought before in cricket, in terms of the breadth of rights we have and what we can provide to licensees and FICA members.”
Winston said Winners Alliance’s first priority will be to develop FICA’s licensing, marketing and sponsorship portfolios, with a focus on video games, collectibles and trading cards.
He continued: “We’ve been so pleased with the marketing partners we’ve brought in for the PTPA, and we’re hopeful of achieving the same for brands that want exposure in cricket. We have a broad business plan that we’re starting work on, but we will focus heavily on building out the licensing and marketing portfolios first.”
Winners Alliance will also provide FICA with direct funding to support its core advocacy work on behalf of its members.
APAC move
In conjunction with the FICA deal, Winners Alliance has also opened its first Asia-Pacific office in Sydney, and hired Tim Cruickshank as vice-president of commercial partnerships to lead in the region.
A former professional cricketer, Cruickshank worked for the Australian Cricketers’ Association and was general manager of its business arm Cricketers’ Brand, which sought commercial opportunities for its players.
He said: “Winners Alliance is establishing itself as a global leader in creating scalable opportunities that are impactful for world-class athletes and brands alike. I’m eager to continue to expand that impact in the Asia-Pacific region and we are looking forward to connecting players with top-class partners to establish healthy and long-term relationships.”
The deal comes in the wake of FICA’s clashes with the International Cricket Council (ICC) and national cricket associations over inadequate commercial agreements with players, which was part of the decision to setup FICA Global Player Rights in 2021.
In December 2020, FICA took legal action against the ICC over the alleged unfair use of players’ image rights. According to FICA’s 2022 Men’s Professional Cricket Global Employment Report, 94 per cent of players surveyed said they should have a say on how their image rights are used by the ICC and its partners.
Pat Cummins, Australia men’s cricket captain and FICA member, said: “This is an amazing opportunity for cricketers globally. We’ve seen other sports and athletes benefit from and prove the success of group licensing models, including in the US sports and now in tennis. We’re really happy to be behind a new wave of collective global marketing and licensing opportunities for players and the sport through FICA and its partnership with Winners Alliance.”