UK Sponsorship Awards Deadlines Near

The clock is ticking down on entries for the 2019 UK Sponsorship Awards.

The UK Sponsorship Awards competition has been celebrating the finest campaigns in the sponsorship industry for 25 years, from the biggest to the smallest budget, from the most high-profile sports campaigns to super-creative and niche arts projects.

The early-bird deadline for entries is on December 21 with the final deadline one month later on January 22.

Full details can be found at www.sponsorship-awards.co.uk or by emailing info@sponsorship-awards.co.uk.

Nominations are also being sought for the UKSA Silver Sponsorship Award. The organisers want comments (250-300 words) on why a particular sponsorship should win the prize. Send nominations to info@sponsorship-awards.co.uk

MansionBet Expands Racing Sponsorship

Sports betting group MansionBet will sponsor 38 British horseracing fixtures in 2018 and 2019 under a new deal with Arena Racing Company (ARC), Jockey Club Racecourses (JCR) and Newbury Racecourse.

MansionBet branding will be displayed across a number of ARC racecourses under the deal, which began at the Sedgefield meeting on December 7 and continues throughout 2019 at Ffos Las, Hereford, Southwell, Great Yarmouth and Worcester.

Further coverage will be delivered across a number of Jockey Club East Region courses including Market Rasen, Nottingham and Huntingdon.

Gibraltar-based MansionBet will also take the title sponsorship of Newbury’s Spring Cup, which will be broadcast live on ITV1 in 2019 as is part of The Dubai Duty Free Trials Weekend.

The new partnership was brokered by London-based sports marketing agency Dark Horses.

MansionBet is the shirt sponsor of English Premier League (EPL) football team AFC Bournemouth and title sponsor of the Yorkshire Cup race.

MansionBet CEO Karel Manasco said: “We are excited to expand our horseracing sponsorship with a further 38 fixtures across the UK. We recognise horseracing as one of our most popular sports, and we look forward to supporting this through our sponsorships.”

NEP Acquires In-Car Camera Specialist

NEP Group has acquired Broadcast Sports International, a leader in in-car cameras for racing series including NASCAR, IndyCar and NHRA, and in wireless cameras and microphones for golf events.

The addition of Baltimore-based BSI, founded in 1979, is consistent with NEP’s stated strategy to become the worldwide leader in broadcast services.

NEP has 3,000+ employees and has supported productions in over 85 countries on all continents.

At Sportel in Monaco this year, NEP showcased its Mediabank media asset management tool, augmented reality technology and remote commentary solution, with live demos taking place throughout the show.

BSI adds wireless capabilities to NEP’s growing line of Specialty Capture Services, which already includes Bexel’s specialized engineering systems and production solutions, as well as Fletcher’s specialty camera solutions, allowing NEP to offer clients a full range of broadcast services.

The BSI brand will remain in the market and will support NEP and its clients across the globe.

Volleyball Signs Up To Olympic Channel

The Olympic Channel and the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) have announced an agreement to collaborate on content for the Olympic Channel global digital platform.

Volleyball and beach volleyball have had a presence on the Olympic Channel since its launch in August 2016 with dedicated sports pages where fans can relive the Olympic Games Rio 2016 for both disciplines and the recent beach volleyball events at the Youth Olympic Games Buenos Aires 2018.

With more than 2880 bios of both volleyball and beach volleyball athletes and more than 230 pieces of video content, fans can get comprehensive coverage of the sport on the Olympic Channel.

FIVB becomes the 76th federation partner to sign an agreement with the Olympic Channel (including Olympic federations, other recognised federations and organisations, multi-sport organisers and non-recognised federations).

The Olympic Channel also features volleyball content through news stories and original programming such as the story of Brazilian beach volleyball hero Jackie Silva in “Legends Live On,” five-time Olympian Danielle Scott-Arruda from the United States as she coaches a team in the reality-based “The Z Team,” and volleyball enthusiast Matt Garthoff in Groupies about the world’s most passionate sports fans.

“We look forward to working with FIVB to help expand the reach of their sport and athletes to a broader audience,” said Mark Parkman, general manager of the Olympic Channel. “As we look ahead to Tokyo 2020, both dedicated followers and new viewers are sure to be inspired by the stories of these athletes who bring such excitement and passion to the Summer Games programme.”

“We are excited to work with the Olympic Channel to keep promoting the sport of volleyball and beach volleyball ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games,” said FIVB Secretary General Fernando Lima. “We would like to ensure more content is available for our passionate fanbase around the world through various platforms. From the success of our own Volleyball TV, we have seen the huge appetite for high-quality video content. Our collaboration with the Olympic Channel will ensure further coverage of our events and athletes and provide existing and new fans with greater access to our sport.”

Ex-NFL Players Back A Third New League

Ten cities have been selected to host teams in the new Freedom Football League (FFL) – the third new American football league currently in the works.

The FFL, backed by former NFL players, will play games in spring and summer, according to Ricky Williams (pictured), who played for five NFL teams after winning the Heisman Trophy as the top player in college football.

No launch date for the FFL has been set as of yet.

Williams told an ESPN audience that there are 50 former players among the approximately 100 stakeholders of the new league, including ex-players Byron Chamberlain, Jeff Garcia and Dexter Jackson.

The league will kick off with the Birmingham Kings, Connecticut Underground, Florida Strong, Oakland Panthers, Ohio Players, Oklahoma City Power, Portland Progress, St. Louis Independence, San Diego Warriors and Texas Revolution.

The FFL said in a press release that players will be encouraged to “address society’s challenges relating to social justice, wealth disparity, health and wellness and more hot-button issues they are passionate about.”

The league said players will also receive “permanent and reliable holistic health and wellness support on and off the field.”

Two other professional gridiron leagues are in the works. The Alliance of American Football (AAF) is scheduled play on February 9, 2019, while the XFL is slated to begin play in February 2020.

CBS will air the first AAF game and the championship game on the final weekend of April 2019. One regular-season game will air exclusively on CBS Sports Network each week during the first season.

Olympic Summit Backs Electronic Versions Of Traditional Sports

Participants at the Olympic Summit in Lausanne during the weekend concluded that a discussion of the inclusion of esports as a medal event on the Olympic programme is premature.

However, the Summit backed “accelerated cooperation” between traditional sports and esports simulation games and encouraged international federations to explore the potential benefits and applications of the electronic and virtual versions of their sports.

The Olympic Summit, gathering leading representatives of the IOC, international federations and related organisations, forms part of the ongoing dialogue and consultation on important issues and subjects of significance for the future of the Olympic Movement.

The meeting at the Lausanne Palace Hotel on Saturday was led by IOC President Thomas Bach. Attendees included Zhongwen Gou, President of the Chinese Olympic Committee, Larry Probst, President of the USOC, and Russian OC President Stanislav Pozdnyakov.

The Summit delegates agreed that the Olympic Movement “should continue to engage with” the esports community, while at the same time acknowledging that “uncertainties remain.”

It was noted that “some egames are not compatible with the Olympic values and therefore cooperation with them is excluded.”

The Summit also noted that the esports industry is “commercially driven, while on the other hand the sports movement is values-based.”

In rejecting discussion of including esports in the Olympic Games as premature, the Summit advised “major sports events organisers within the Olympic Movement to respect this principle for their own competitions.”

Meanwhile, the Summit recommended that IFs ensure that they gain or retain appropriate control over the electronic or virtual versions of their sports, and “restrict their engagement” to activation in the electronic versions and virtual forms of their traditional sports.

The IOC and the Global Association of International Sports Federations will invite stakeholders of the esports / egames industry to a liaison group to explore jointly collaborative projects.

Indoor Rowing Attracts Henley Royal Regatta Support

The Henley Royal Regatta Charitable Trust has joined Sport England as a funding partner for the 13th National Junior Indoor Rowing Championships in 2019.

The event, launched in 2007, takes place next March 15 and aims to attract over 2,000 young people, including many from state schools. Entries close on February 28.

It will take place for the first time at the Copper Box Arena in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London.

A Festival of Sport and Education alongside the rowing competition will include exhibitors such as UK Anti-doping, the Royal Navy. Met Police and West Ham United.

“We are delighted to be able to support the National Junior Indoor Rowing Championships 2019 as it makes an exciting move to the amazing Copper Box Arena on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, said Sir Steve Redgrave (in photo), Chairman of Henley Royal Regatta.

“The principle objective of The Henley Royal Regatta Charitable Trust is to provide funds that encourage and support young people and develop the sport of rowing. NJIRC provides the opportunity to race, compete and represent their school or club to many hard to reach and under-represented groups, many for the first time. NJIRC holds a unique place within grassroots rowing and it’s a fantastic event for thousands of young people travelling from all corners of the country.”

Seattle Gets New NHL Team

A Seattle ownership group will break ground today on building a new arena for a new team in the National Hockey League (NHL) to start playing in the 2020-21 season.

The NHL Board of Governors voted unanimously Tuesday to approve the expansion application from the NHL Seattle group for the yet-to-be named team.

The group, led by private equity financier David Bonderman and including Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer, will pay $650m (£508.53m) to launch the new team.

The Seattle expansion fee is $150m (£117.35m) more than Bill Foley and his group paid to bring the Vegas Golden Knights into the NHL for the 2017-18 season.

The Seattle team will play at Seattle Center Arena, the former Key Arena, once home of the NBA’s Seattle SuperSonics (which moved to Oklahoma City). The capacity for an NHL game will be approximately 17,400.

The Seattle ownership group is behind a privately financed $800m (£625.88m) renovation of the arena and is also scheduled to pay about $75m (£58.68m) to build a practice facility north of the city.

NHL Seattle CEO Tod Leweike, a former CEO of the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks, said: “Sixteen years ago, they started saying the arena didn’t work. Over the course of that time we lost an NBA team. We’re not even close to where we should be relative to concerts. How can a world-class city like Seattle not have a world-class arena? Tomorrow, we break ground and we solve that issue. Tomorrow, we start building our team, and it’s really exciting.”

He continued: “We’re going to get it right. Getting it right means that you make sure that all your partners feel good and ultimately the fans feel good and ultimately you’ve created a brand that can not only stand the test of time in Seattle but has a chance to be a global brand.”

The NHL Board of Governors also approved a realignment plan that will move the Arizona Coyotes into the Central Division, so Seattle can play in the Pacific Division.

“Expanding to Seattle makes the National Hockey League more balanced, even more whole and even more vibrant,” added Commissioner Gary Bettman. “A team in Seattle evens the number of teams in our two conferences, brings our geographic footprint into greater equilibrium and creates instant new rivalries out west, particularly between Seattle and Vancouver.”

Racing UK Re-Brands To Add Irish Content

Niche channel Racing UK is bringing British and Irish racing content together and will re-brand as Racing TV from next month.

Earlier this year, Racing UK secured the rights, previously held by ATR, for all the action from Ireland’s 26 racecourses as well as Chelmsford’s all-weather track.

Racing TV will broadcast live racing from 61 racecourses, equating to more than 70% of all racing from Britain and Ireland, including nearly 90% of all Group and Graded races.

The rebrand will feature an extra stream to ensure full coverage of all 61 racecourses.

Simon Ellen, the chairman of Racecourse Media Group, parent company of Racing TV, said subscribers will have only one blank day in the calendar next year.

“When we started this channel, it was 35 or 40 days, so that’s a huge improvement for them,” he said. “From a price point of view, we are not asking or seeking an increase. I’m really excited about the additional content.”

RMG chief executive Richard FitzGerald added: “Much work has been done over the last few months to ensure there is minimum congestion and clashes on race fixtures and times, and we’re delighted with how the schedule is looking.

“We’ve coveted Irish racing for nine years and we’re honoured to be entrusted with the broadcasting rights to Irish racing. We cannot wait to get started on January 1.”

 

College Football Tops American Primetime

FOX won the Saturday primetime ratings competition on Saturday with a college football game and ABC finished third with college football in the same time slot.

FOX’s airing of Ohio State versus Northwestern between 8 pm-11 pm pulled 8.27 million viewers with a 10% share and 2.2 TVR among adults 18-49.

ABC drew 4.37 million for Clemson versus Pittsburgh with a 5% share and 1.1 TVR.

Number two in primetime was CBS sitcom The Neighborhood.