The start of the Premier right around the corner. Here’s 5 reasons why WAVE is extra excited about the new season (and so should you):

Premier League YouTube channel

On Tuesday, The Premier League finally launched its official YouTube channel.

Straightaway, the account started uploading several videos with stunning highlights of the past seasons. Four days later, the channel already has over 150 000 subscribers.

AT WAVE we’re looking forward to all the content that will be shown during the 2019-2020 season. In the meantime, make sure to check out the video below of UK grime artist Rapman looking back on some of the most memorable moments of the competition. They’ve definitely whetted the fans’ appetite.

MOTDx

Earlier this week, we found out that BBC Sport will launch MOTDx, a brand new magazine programme focusing on the lifestyle of the Premier League. 

 The show, which starts in September, will be hosted by Jermaine Jenas. The former Premier League player will be joined by musician and Fulham player Chelcee Grimes, broadcaster Craig Mitch, presenter Reece Parkinson and freestyle footballer Liv Cooke. 

 MOTDx could be a very refreshing addition the BBC sports programming for football fans who are also interested in the world of music, fashion and culture.

Another sponsorship record

Premier League clubs have broken their own record for shirt sponsorships for the 10th consecutive season. The 20 clubs bring home £349.1m collectively for the upcoming season, which is a £33.5 million increase from last year.

The new sleeve sponsorships seem to have had a large impact on the total amount, as 18 out of 20 teams are earning between £5 -10 million per year from this innovation.

Gambling companies are still a favourite partner for clubs when it comes to shirt sponsorships. Half of the sides will feature a gambling company on the front of their shirts this season.

It goes without saying that brands are very willing to invest in sports clubs. Let’s hope this results in valuable fan engagement through different kinds of joint ventures, content activations and field activations. 

New season of Fantasy Premier League

 As the new Premier League madness is about to kick off, fans are getting ready for another season of Fantasy Premier League.

For those of you who don’t know what it’s all about: FPL is the biggest fantasy football game in the world. Once you’ve signed up, you become a manager and you get a budget £100 million to build a squad and compete with others. It’s free to play and you can win great prizes.

This season, FPL managers have a new way to help get their teams ready each gameweek with the launch of the Official FPL Podcast. Each Friday, host James Richardson and his guests will bring managers the pre-match news, tips and strategies.

This is definitely a great example of how an organisation as the Premier League can get their fans involved in the action through gamification.

Introduction of VAR

The Premier League is introducing VAR for the very first time this season with their very own specifications on how it’s going to be implemented.

All 20 grounds have the technology that allows decisions to be assessed from the VAR hub in London. But how will this influence the viewing experience for fans?

On TV, viewers will be able to see what the video assistant referees watches, including an ‘over the shoulder’ angle of the officials in the studio.

In the stadiums, on the other hand, information about a VAR check will appear on the big screens. When a decision is overturned, a video replay of the incident will be shown. It will be interesting to see how this affects the fan experience in the stands as the Premier League will be the first competition to do this.

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Now let’s get the ball rolling and enjoy the action on the pitch! By the way, WAVE has a little surprise for all you music fans. We’ve created a Spotify playlist with artists who are fans of one of the 20 clubs in the Premier League. Best of both worlds. Go straight to the playlist by scanning the code below. How? Open the Spotify app, go to the search bar and tap on the camera icon. Enjoy!