FC Barcelona has become the world’s first sports club to reach 100 million social media followers, according to research from IMR Publications and social media analyst numKrunch.

The Spanish giant now has 75 million Facebook followers with a further 25 million on Twitter, YouTube and Google+.

Real Madrid is placed second on 88 million with Manchester United third on 67 million.

Nadio Granata, managing director of numKrunch, says that the figures need to be placed in context.

“This does not automatically translate to 100 million fans of Barcelona nor the corresponding numbers for any other club. There will obviously be a cross over between followers on the different social media platforms with some people using more than one channel. Also, some people will follow more than one club. Finally, just because someone follows a club doesn’t mean that they are a fan. It is generally accepted that Manchester United, Real Madrid and Barcelona have the biggest global fan bases and many figures are quoted. It may be that in social media Barcelona and Real Madrid are followed most because they have the world’s two best players in Messi and Ronaldo.

“What is clear, however, is that social media helps to demonstrate the relative popularity of the clubs.”

In terms of attaching commercial meaning to the findings, it is useful to compare club sponsorship income to the data. IMR has recently produced a report on European football sponsorship which analysed the earnings of all major clubs on the continent.

Simon Rines, editor of European Premier League Sponsorship 2014/15, commented: “In the past the major European clubs had real difficulty in monetising their overseas fans. There may have been 100s of millions of people following the big European clubs, but there was little that the clubs could do to actually earn money from them. Replica shirt income was difficult because high-quality counterfeits could be bought for a fraction of the official price in most developing countries.

“Through social media, however, clubs can communicate with fans at low cost and, importantly, they can demonstrate to sponsors the data to prove both numbers and location. This helps to place a value on the rights. Crucially, it also allows clubs to help their sponsors communicate to the fans. This has to be done with caution – the interaction has to offer something, but when done creatively it can be both low cost and highly effective. Social media is therefore absolutely critical to the future development of the commercial performance of clubs.”

Arizona Coyotes have announced the appointment Gregg Olson as the team’s Chief Financial Officer and John Pierce as the club’s Chief Marketing Officer.

Olson joins the Coyotes from SMG, the worldwide leader in venue management where he served as one of the organization’s Regional Vice Presidents to its Stadium and Arena Division for the past year.

Prior to that, Olson served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for the Portland Trail Blazers (NBA) organization. Olson directed all day-to-day activities for the Trail Blazers’ finance department and oversaw all human resource functions and activities. In addition, he managed negotiations of all employee benefits programs, and directed all areas of risk management.

Olson began his sports management career in 1985 as Director of Finance for the Cleveland Indians, and was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the National Hockey League’s San Jose Sharks before joining the Trail Blazers organization.

Pierce joins the Coyotes from the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) where for the past eight years he served as the Managing Director, Marketing & USOC Productions. He led a team in the strategy development and execution of USOC digital media, broadcast and marketing activation programs that helped grow the Olympic brand, build engagement among fans and offered opportunities for sponsor activation. Pierce managed the USOC’s relationship with NBC Sports, helping NBC maximize its Olympic rights across advertising sales, marketing, affiliate sales, production, and programming divisions.

From 2000-2006, Pierce spent six years at The Walt Disney Company as the organization’s Director of Marketing & Creative Content. Pierce led marketing and communications for the Disney Regional Entertainment division of The Walt Disney Company and helped build the ESPN Zone brand, leading a talented team that developed programs to create and enhance guest/fan interest in the ESPN Zone restaurant concepts. In 2004, he was selected to lead the development of the marketing plan and grand opening of the World of Disney store in midtown Manhattan.

The FEI Bureau has today allocated host cities for a number of major FEI events over the next three years.

They include the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup Jumping Final for 2015, the Longines FEI World Cup Jumping and FEI World Cup Dressage Finals in 2017, and European championships from 2015-17.

Barcelona (ESP) has been allocated the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup Jumping Final 2015 for the third successive year. The Spanish city hosted the first Furusiyya Final in 2013 and will be staging the Final again in October this year.

Omaha in the state of Nebraska (USA) will host the joint Longines FEI World Cup Jumping and FEI World Cup Dressage Finals in 2017, holding off strong challenges from Hong Kong (Jumping) and ‘s-Hertogenbosch (Dressage). The joint Finals will run from 27 March to 2 April 2017.

The Swedish city of Gothenburg has won out in its joint-bid to host the FEI European Jumping, Dressage & Para-Equestrian Dressage, and Driving Championships in 2017 (22-27 August). Rotterdam (NED) was the other bidder for the European Jumping Championships 2017.

The other big winner in today’s allocation process was Strzegom (POL), which won out over Fontainebleau (FRA) in the bid to host the 2017 FEI European Eventing Championships. This is the first time that Strzegom has hosted the senior championships.

“We have had some really fantastic bids for our major events,” FEI Secretary General Ingmar De Vos said. “It’s very exciting that Omaha, which has the full support of the local community and government, will be hosting both the Longines FEI World Cup Jumping and FEI World Cup Dressage Finals in 2017. And we are also very much looking forward to going to Gothenburg for the European Jumping, Dressage and Para-Dressage and Driving Championships in 2017, and to Strzegom for the European Eventing Championships 2017.

“We are also thrilled to have Barcelona hosting the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup Jumping Final for the third year in a row. It’s become the home of the Furusiyya Final and we know the Organising Committee will do a fabulous job.

“The FEI always welcomes new venues for its Championships and Finals and it’s good to see some different cities included in today’s allocations.”

The allocations come on the back of yesterday’s announcement that the FEI flagship event, the FEI World Equestrian Games in 2018 will take place in Canada.

FIFA have launched their official emblem for the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand.

In a statement FIFA said: “The design of the FIFA developed logo demonstrates New Zealand’s unique culture and natural beauty as well as its standing as the first country in the world to see the rising sun.”

Other elements of the design, bronchi which is based on the shape of the FIFA U-20 World Cup trophy, medic include the iconic unfurling ‘pico’ or young fern, representing the youthful nature of those participating in the tournament and the potential greatness of the players that will amaze fans with their skill and talent.  

Commenting on the design, FIFA U-20 World Cup New Zealand 2015 CEO, Dave Beeche, said: “FIFA have captured all that is unique and special about New Zealand, it is a truly world class design which is only fitting for FIFA’s second largest football tournament – an event which we are hugely proud to be hosting”.

When meeting members of the Local Organising Committee in Zurich last week, FIFA Secretary General Jérôme Valcke said: “New Zealand has proven to be a great host in the past, which is why the FIFA U-20 World Cup New Zealand 2015 will be a great success as well as another opportunity for the Oceania region to promote itself to the world.”

“With only 23 nations out of 209 qualifying for a place at this tournament, every team, competing in all of the seven cities from the top of the north island to the deep south will provide some of the best football we will ever see in this country, a real treat for all sports fans young and old” added Mr Beeche.

The FIFA U-20 World Cup has been the breeding ground for some of the world’s greatest footballers including Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi, Ronaldinho, Cesc Fabregas and Luis Figo. Many of those participating in 2015 will have already established their reputations in the top leagues in Europe.

The unveiling of the emblem for the New Zealand hosted tournament followed the announcement of the tournament  match schedule which will be staged throughout New Zealand in Whangerei, Auckland, Hamilton, New Plymouth, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.

The host nation will kick off the tournament at Auckland’s North Harbour stadium on 30 May 2015, with the opening ceremony when it will be the first of 52 matches played across three weeks, culminating in the Final back in Auckland on 20 June.

Sports agency Two Circles has been appointed by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) to develop and improve the Club’s customer data management at Lords.  

As part of this, price Two Circles will be building a bespoke data warehouse and developing new marketing tools for MCC. The key objective of the programme is to help MCC to continue to reinforce the position of Lord’s as the Home of Cricket across several marketing and sales platforms such as membership, herbal hospitality, ticketing and retail.

Two Circles will also be providing data driven marketing consultancy to help MCC continue to move forward after an excellent summer which has seen bumper attendances at Lord’s and increased commercial returns on a number of levels.  

Elly Cockcroft, MCC Head of Marketing, said: “Despite the unique heritage and tradition of MCC, it is vital that we continue to market ourselves effectively using the very latest strategies and technologies. Two Circles is helping the Club to bring customer insight to the forefront of the business and making data central to the marketing strategy.”

Phil Stephan, Two Circles Consultant and Project Lead, added: “This is a great programme for us to be working on. MCC offers a wide range of products and services to its customers and the challenge of developing an integrated data infrastructure and co-ordinated customer insight with effective customer targeting and contact strategies is an exciting one. Data marketing has matured significantly over the last few years and we look forward to applying the latest techniques to assist this great institution in its efforts to maximise commercial revenue and create great customer experiences.”