We have seen monster valuations for teams in sailing and equestrian, so is the World Fencing League next?
One of the reasons football became the world’s only global sport is because of its low barrier to entry; two objects as posts – they don’t even need to be of any vertical stature – and something to kick around and, hey presto, you’ve got the foundations of a game.
The same goes for boxing; people have been punching each other for pain and pleasure for millennia – only now the legitimate stuff involves, mostly, gloves and stadiums packed to the rafters.
And like pugilism, other combat sports such as sword fighting have been part of the human psyche for centuries. It is why the world’s most followed fencer – and Lewis Hamilton’s best mate – Miles Chamley-Watson, backed by boutique sports investment firm Chiron Sports Group, created the World Fencing League.
“Boxing is in our DNA,” the London-born fencer tells . “Fencing is still a purely combat sport.
“You see what Drive to Survive did for F1 in America. I know my best friend is a racer, but what Drive to Survive did for F1, [it] opened eyes in America and around the sides of Europe.
“Then you have this whole audience saying he’s not just driving in circles. And then fencing. Break it down and we have a stick in our hand and you realise, ‘I’m an actual sword fighter’. This is in our DNA.”
In our DNA
The World Fencing League sees mixed-gender teams competing across the Olympic disciplines of sabre, foil and epee for a purse of $100,000 at each event.
It debuted in Los Angeles in April and has plans to expand beyond the States. With Chiron Sports Group – which holds a stake in Italian football club Venezia, as well as in the Team Drogba E1 speedboat team alongside a US college investment platform – involved, it is the latest niche sport looking to emulate the likes of sailing, triathlon and showjumping.
World Fencing League chief Zhen Ren Teo says the sport shouldn’t be seen as emerging but certainly should be described as niche.
World Fencing League niche?
“The option right there is to build the ecosystem itself,” he adds. “It’s everything from the league to the media to the product itself to franchises to the technology that we’re introducing, all the way to commercial rights.”
The league owns the IP to broadcast technology by Dentsu Labs which tracks the top of the blade, allowing fans at home to get a better look at how winning moves are pulled off. Demonstrations of the technology in action went viral.
“We don’t have to manufacture the interest from zero,” the Singapore-born executive adds, “because fencing, like other niche sports, already has a very global participation base. There’s a strong Olympic relevance.
“We want major events and a circuit that goes through on an annual basis, eventually also launching city-based franchises where the world’s best athletes would be competing.”
It is not known when the next dates will be announced.
Two decades ago the idea of turning a niche sport such as fencing into a commercially recognised powerhouse would have been for the birds, but foundations laid by a number of other sports – and access to digital and technological worlds previously untapped – means the bladed combat sport could be on a path to a whole new world. Allez.