City Football Group (CFG) and Sony Pictures Television (SPT) have recently announced a strategic collaboration. This partnership will see the companies co-developing and producing new original scripted, nonfiction, and kids’ television projects for worldwide audiences.
The initiative aims to combine CFG’s global network, expertise in sport, access to football talent, facilities, and its own media creative production unit - City Studios with SPT’s production teams. The collaboration is expected to bring together the best of both worlds: sports expertise from CFG's side with media production prowess from SPT.
Wayne Garvie, president of international production Sony Pictures Television, said:
“Football is the great global game, no other sport produces so many heroes, tears and laughter, joy and heartbreak as football. The basics are always the same: 22 players, two goals, one ball, but the game always evolves and over the last decade City Football Group have become an unprecedented innovator and global leader.
“Our aim is to be part of the next evolution of the game, creating a new generation of innovative football-based entertainment to thrill the world.”
Projects spanning across various themes
Projects developed as part of this collaboration will include stories related directly to CFG and its clubs and players. Additionally, there will be projects inspired by football or where football is the central theme or plotline. The scope of these projects is not limited to just series; they can also include one-off documentaries, animated projects or children's programming.
City Studios has previously produced the Manchester City docuseries "Together". It was notably the first Premier League club to produce an in-house documentary which concluded a distribution deal with Netflix earlier this year. The docuseries titled "Together: Treble Winners" has been well-received by audiences worldwide.
City Football Group Chief Executive Officer, Ferran Soriano, said:
“We are incredibly excited to be collaborating with Sony Pictures Television in this joint initiative. City Football Group is already a global entertainment company, and this initiative builds on our long-standing track record of innovation in the content space and the growth of City Studios in the last years.
“We will now take an even more dynamic approach to content production, and we are already developing several scripted and nonfiction series that will delight audiences globally. Bringing together the expertise of both CFG and SPT will enable us to create brilliant shows and remain at the forefront of football-led content production”.
Investment in content production
This creative alignment between CFG and SPT will see both organisations further invest in content production. They plan on being involved at every stage - from concept ideation through development funding all the way up till production and distribution.
SPT’s global production footprint includes U.S.-based scripted studio; Nonfiction division; Kids television divisions; as well as International Production group spanning across UK, Latin America & Australia including Left Bank Pictures, Bad Wolf Eleven & Eleventh Hour Films.
This strategic collaboration between City Football Group and Sony Pictures Television is an exciting development for sports fans and sports betting fans. It promises to deliver a range of football-themed content that will not only entertain but also provide unique insights into the world of football.
