Tottenham Hotspur, an English professional soccer club, launched this week a dedicated streaming service for its live and on-demand club content, in partnership with Endeavor Streaming.
The service, dubbed Spursplay, will kick off its content library by showcasing four pre-season friendlies with the club’s mens team throughout July. Spursplay will also feature live coverage of the club’s U18 and U21 Premier League matches as well as select womens team games throughout the 2022-23 season.
A Spursplay subscription costs around $53.89 (£45) per year. Spurs season ticket holders and One Hotspur members, however, can get a discounted subscription for $41.95 (£35).
With this price tag, viewers also gain access to club archive footage – spanning hundreds of hours – along with feature-length content and original series. Spursplay’s debut original title, “Antonio Conto: 202 Days,” is an in-depth documentary hosted by Antonio Conto, the club’s head coach.
Spursplay is currently available via desktop, iOS, Android and tablet devices.
The service is leveraging Endeavor Streaming’s technology to enhance streaming capabilities and user engagement. By doing so, Spursplay can better manage subscribers, payment processing and enable a continual feedback loop across all content.
Endeavor Streaming has some experience distributing premium sports content, since it acquired the NeuLion Digital Platform in 2018. NeuLion’s digital video clients included sports leagues like NFL, NBA and UFC.
Pete Bellamy, SVP of global sports and international monitoring and evaluation at Endeavor Streaming, said in a statement Spursplay is the first of many team-based direct-to-consumer services the company plans to launch across the globe.
“The direct-to-consumer ambitions of top-tier clubs and teams go well beyond the technical delivery of video,” Bellamy stated. “The leading sports organizations require a partner who can advise and execute the most direct path to growth in both consumer engagement and revenue.”
It makes sense sports organizations like the Spurs are tapping into DTC strategies, as the sports streaming field continues to expand. Particularly for soccer, with Amazon recently snagging UEFA streaming rights in the U.K. and FIFA launching its proprietary streaming service in April. While Apple is set to host Major League Soccer games in a 10-year deal.
“The Club has been determined to create a platform that brings all its fantastic video content together in one place for fans to access at their fingertips,” said Pierre-Olivier Bouche, Tottenham Hotspurs’ programming and operations director, in a statement.
“Whether that’s watching live match action they can’t find anywhere else, reliving some of their favorite moments from down the years or watching new longer formats that provide a unique insight into the Club and its players,” he added.
Services dedicated to a single sports club or league can be beneficial, as viewers may have difficulty narrowing down what they want to watch from the vast amount of available sports content. A sports streaming panel from StreamTV Show in June talked about how platforms that don’t focus on a single league or market can have issues offering more personalization and choices for consumers.
“With 1,000 events every year, it’s a challenge,” FITE TV CMO Kim Hurwitz said at the panel.