Man City hired an 18-year-old video game player "to represent the football club" at esports tournaments and fan events. Kieran Brown will play for the team "on the world’s dominant football game" FIFA 16, live streaming on Amazon’s gaming site Twitch and making videos for the club’s YouTube channel. The hire is "the latest sign of growing interest in professional gaming from Europe’s top tier of football clubs." In May, West Ham signed 2016 FIFA interactive World Cup runner-up, 24-year-old Sean Allen, "to play video games for them," and in Germany, Bundesliga side Wolfsburg hired a 22-year-old from Wolverhampton to play on its behalf in February. City Football Marketing Media & Innovation Senior VP Diego Gigliani said, "This is a natural evolution for Manchester City. We’ve been very involved with our partner, EA Sports, and the FIFA franchise for some time" (London GUARDIAN, 7/6).
FRANCHISE BIDS: The Canterbury Rugby League and Christchurch's Celebrations Lions club are "both considering bidding for a franchise in the new second-tier trans-Tasman competition." The National Rugby League released its player pathways document last December, "calling for the New South Wales Cup competition -- effectively the NRL reserve grade -- and the National Youth Competition to be replaced by a Platinum League" slated to start in '18. NRL Game Strategy & Development Head Shane Richardson wanted the Platinum League to be modeled "on America's Triple A minor league baseball, where the highest tier minor league teams are affiliated with Major League Baseball clubs" (STUFF, 7/6).
SAVE MONEY: Struggling Swiss F1 team Sauber said that it "will miss next week's post-British Grand Prix Formula One test to save money." Sauber said on Twitter that "since an aerodynamic update was planned for a later stage," the team decided to cancel its involvement in the test "considering cost effectiveness." Sauber, the only team yet to score a point this season, has "suffered financial difficulties and also skipped the previous in-season test in Barcelona in May because of lack of updates and a suitable test driver" (REUTERS, 7/6).
