Japan

Esports
Sponsorship & Marketing

Professional esports outfit Team Liquid has lost one of its biggest sponsors, Honda, following an inappropriate social media post by one of its players.
Table Tennis
Media

TV Tokyo, WTT, and its long-term advisor the IMG agency, are in the process of finalising a new multi-year deal that will begin this year, and will comprise the first-ever WTT Champions event to be held in Japan, in Yokohama in August.
Baseball
Media

Japan's importance to Major League Baseball's international business has been highlighted by the addition of Amazon Prime Video to an already-long list of rights-holders in the country.
Football
Media

Public-service broadcaster NHK will show the Japanese women’s team’s matches at the SheBelieves Cup, marking the first time the team’s games from the tournament have been shown on terrestrial television in the country.
Multi-sport
Finance & Law

Dentsu plans to appeal the verdict of a Tokyo court which ordered the Japanese advertising agency to pay fines totalling ¥300m ($1.94m) over bid-rigging relating to Games tenders for Tokyo 2020.
Tennis
Media

Streaming platform U-Next has doubled down on its commitment to men's tennis, acquiring rights to Japan's opening fixture in the 2025 Davis Cup, the national teams tournament
Baseball
Sponsorship & Marketing

Major League Baseball has leveraged the popularity of the Los Angeles Dodgers' star Japanese pitcher Shohei Ohtani to strike a sponsorship deal with Japanese firm Ito En and its unsweetened green tea brand ‘Oi Ocha’.
Golf
Media

Japanese streaming platform U-Next has made yet another acquisition, this time bolstering its golf portfolio with exclusive rights to the DP World Tour
Tennis
Media

Streaming platform U-Next has continued its streak of acquisitions in Japan with a deal for exclusive rights to the ATP Tour over the next five years
Baseball
Media

Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) has taken action against one of the country's leading broadcasters, Fuji TV, for showing games from Major League Baseball's World Series in a competing time slot
Boxing
Finance & Law

Matchroom Boxing is taking legal action against Rakuten Ticket, Inc related to an ill-fated move into Japan, SportBusiness can reveal
Football
Media

DAZN has secured a new contract to continue showing Ligue 1 in Japan throughout the decade, but has lost rights to the French top flight in Portugal, SportBusiness has learned.
Football
Media

Japanese streaming service U-Next has brought forward its Premier League rights deal by one season, after outgoing broadcaster SpoTV ended its contract a year early
Football
Media

Uefa has finalised its broadcast deals in major markets for the European Championships ahead of this Friday's kick-off, with a late deal secured by CAA Eleven with Japanese pay-television broadcaster Wowow and streaming platform Abema.
Football
Media

The move represents the first time Amazon has picked up rights in Japan to a sports competition not involving Japanese athletes, following previous coverage of boxing and baseball events.
Wrestling
Events

World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is to stage three live shows in Japan this summer, marking its return to the country following a five-year absence and further strengthening its commitment to the Asia-Pacific market.
Football
Media

Streaming service U-Next is close to finalising a deal for exclusive media rights to the Premier League and FA Cup in Japan, SportBusiness understands
Football
Media

Wowow, the pay-television broadcaster in Japan, has retained exclusive media rights to Uefa club competitions in the country for the 2024-27 cycle