Real Madrid are still the real kings of Europe despite Manchester City’s treble

Last weekend’s Champions League final brought to a close the 2022/23 football season and boy did it feel like a long one. 

Unless you have been living under a rock, or don’t follow football, you will know that Manchester City won their first Champions League last weekend and in doing so completed a historic treble. 

But enough about that, we thought that the final gave us a great backdrop for this week’s iSportConnect Brand Health Index, powered by YouGov, where we are diving into the brand health of 20 of the top European football clubs. 

The index looks at the brand health of each team, in their own country, and compares their score to the first week of January 2021. 

Spanish clubs dominate

It is not really surprising to see 14-time Champions League winners Real Madrid top this ranking. They are the kings of Europe on the pitch and their very high reputation means they are top spot in these rankings as well.

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They are followed by Barcelona and Athletico. While Barcelona have maintained a consistently high score despite what has happened off the field, Atletico’s score has been greatly affected by their performance on the pitch. In 2021, Atletico were crowned champions of La Liga, but haven’t repeated the feat in the two years since and they finished bottom of their Champions League group this year. In the case of Barcelona, this will be based on both their reputation and the fact that they have maintained a strong level of domestic performance.

Biggest winners

The biggest winners come in the form of Napoli, runaway winners of Serie A this year, Manchester City, who as mentioned above have just completed the treble, and Arsenal, who had a resurgence last season under Michel Arteta and are returning to the Champions League for the first time since 2016-17.

Biggest losers

The biggest losers are Juventus, Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid. Juventus received a ten-point deduction which saw them finish in a disappointing seventh and meaning they will compete in the European Conference League next season. Bayern Munich have been disappointing since they sacked Julien Nagelsmann and haven’t been their usual dominant self in the Bundesliga, limping to the title thanks to a Borussia Dortmund meltdown on the final day, they were also dumped out of the Champions League by Manchester City. 

The common theme with all of these clubs is that there seems to be an intrinsic link between being successful and your brand health score. On field success is likely to positively impact how fans and the general population feel about a football club, all the way from how people feel they are managed and the likeability of players and coaches to fan culture. All of these factors contribute to the brand health score of each club.

Photo credit: Steffen Prößdorf

The View From Lausanne: Maximising Fan Engagement, Unveiling the difference between loyalty and retention

In this View From article Michel Cutait, Acting Secretary General of the World Obstacle Federation, looks into how federations and teams can improve fan engagement through memberships.

The world of sports management increasingly focuses on achieving two important goals: fan loyalty and retention. Although these concepts may appear similar, they possess distinct strategies that differentiate their implementation. This article aims to explore the strategies that drive fan loyalty and retention while providing some examples.

Comprehending and effectively implementing these strategies allows sports organizations to establish deep and lasting connections with their fans, resulting in a mutually beneficial relationship. Before delving into the strategies behind fan loyalty and retention, it is essential to establish a clear understanding of these concepts.

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Fan loyalty involves the creation of profound emotional connections and fostering unwavering commitment from supporters. It surpasses mere fandom, encompassing a deep sense of identification, passion, and dedication towards a specific team, club, or athlete.

On the other hand, fan retention focuses on sustaining long-term engagement and ongoing support from fans. It entails implementing strategies that encourage fans to remain actively involved and committed to the sports entity over time.

Both objectives hold utmost importance to sports organizations as they strive to cultivate strong and enduring relationships with their fan base. Nurturing fan loyalty and implementing successful retention strategies enables sports organizations to create a loyal and dedicated fan community, contributing to their overall success and sustainability.

Let’s explore specific strategies that can be employed to achieve these objectives.

To obtain fan loyalty, sports organizations utilize various strategies aimed at creating deep connections and emotional engagement with their fans.

1 – Creating Memorable Experiences

Cultivating fan loyalty necessitates the design of exceptional and unforgettable experiences during games or competitions. This involves incorporating interactive elements that allow fans to feel like protagonists and evoke emotional connections. Immersing fans in the event emotionally invests them in the team, club, or athlete. For instance, the creation of interactive fan zones fosters a lasting bond between fans and their favorite teams.

2 – Building Deep Relationships

Fan loyalty requires the establishment of profound relationships between fans and sports entities. In the digital era, social media platforms offer an excellent avenue for encouraging fan involvement.

Additionally, fan clubs and community initiatives facilitate direct engagement, enabling fans to feel intimately connected to their chosen teams, clubs, or athletes. This personal touch strengthens loyalty and transforms it into a genuine relationship.

3 – Offering Personalized Content

Tailoring content and communications to meet the specific preferences and interests of fans is a key strategy in developing fan loyalty. Understanding individual aspects of the fan base is crucial for achieving this personalization.

Effective utilization of fan data allows sports organizations to create content that deeply resonates with their followers. For example, providing personalized match highlights, exclusive interviews, and tailored merchandise offers ensures that fans feel seen, understood, and valued.

4 – Creating a Strong Identity

Fan loyalty flourishes when supporters strongly identify with their chosen team, club, or athlete. Establishing a brand that resonates with fans and embodies shared values and aspirations is paramount. This involves developing a visually distinctive identity while constructing a compelling, authentic, coherent, and consistent narrative.

European football giants like Bayern Munich and Juventus exemplify this approach, showcasing a powerful visual identity alongside a compelling story that represents their heritage, success, and ambition. This harmonious fusion deepens the emotional connection with fans and solidifies their loyalty.

Implementing these approaches allows teams, clubs, and athletes to foster a sense of belonging and commitment, ensuring that fans remain devoted and passionate supporters.

While fan loyalty focuses on developing emotional connections, fan retention involves distinct strategies to maintain long-term commitment and ongoing engagement.

1 – Strategies for Fan Retention

While fan loyalty centers around emotional connections, fan retention relies on specific strategies to sustain ongoing commitment. Continuous communication plays a pivotal role in retaining fans, as regular updates and exclusive messages keep them engaged and connected.

Utilizing newsletters, social media updates, and personalized content ensures that sports organizations continuously inform their fans, fostering a sense of belonging and exclusivity.

2 – Offering Exclusive Benefits and Rewards

To enhance fan retention, providing exclusive benefits and rewards is an effective approach. Loyalty programs, season tickets, and granting fans access to unique experiences, such as training sessions or meet-and-greets with athletes, generate ongoing commitment.

Teams and clubs can excel in this realm, offering VIP experiences, private events, and exclusive merchandise to their loyal supporters. These benefits and rewards strengthen the bond between fans and their chosen sports entities, incentivizing long-term commitment.

3 – Seeking Fan Feedback

Actively seeking fan feedback is an essential strategy for enhancing the fan experience and ensuring their ongoing satisfaction. By inviting fans to express their opinions, concerns, and interests, sports organizations demonstrate their genuine commitment to fan engagement.

One example would be implementing this strategy through surveys, fan forums, and interactive online platforms. Incorporating fan feedback into decision-making processes makes fans feel valued and integral to continuous improvement efforts.

4 – Engaging in Community-Interest Causes

Retaining fans goes beyond the realm of sports. Encouraging participation in social and community initiatives strengthens the bond between fans and their chosen sports entities. Charitable events, sustainability projects, and diversity initiatives showcase the team’s commitment to making a positive impact on society. 

Actively engaging in community-interest causes fans to join them in making a difference. This shared purpose fosters a sense of belonging and encourages lasting retention.

These strategies ensure that fans feel valued, appreciated, and included, thereby strengthening their attachment to the team, club, or athlete and encouraging them to remain loyal and committed over time. To forge deep and lasting connections with fans, sports organizations must intertwine loyalty and retention strategies.

Through the creation of exceptional experiences, cultivation of personal relationships, provision of personalized content, and establishment of a strong identity, fan loyalty can be nurtured.

Conversely, continuous communication, exclusive benefits, fan feedback, and engagement in community-interest causes play vital roles in fan retention.

Seamlessly implementing these strategies allows teams and clubs to maximize their relationships with fans and supporters, fostering enduring connections that transcend the boundaries of the sports arena.

Michel Cutait is a Senior Executive Sports Manager, lawyer and professor. He currently works as Acting Secretary General at World Obstacle, institutional name Fédération Internationale de Sports d’Obstacles, the international governing body for obstacle sports (Obstacle Course Racing, Ninja and Adventure Racing) and related events, where he runs the Secretariat working actively in the areas of governance, membership, partnership, development and compliance. He is also a former Strategy Advisor at the Brazilian Triathlon Confederation. Graduated in Law, has a Masters in Social Relations (Brazil), Marketing (Australia) and a Masters in Sports Administration and Technology at EPFL (AISTS) in Lausanne, Olympic Capital. He has written 5 books, the last one called Management Performance Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Meet the Member: “We are going to need more immersive ways to connect even if geography is in the way”

The experience of living in a virtual world in the future will of course be different from inhabiting the physical world we know now but psychology doesn’t change at the flick of a digital switch. Some things will remain the same. Perhaps most fundamental is the impulse, the human need, to call things our own. And according to Drew Austin, whose VC firm Red Bear Ventures has just closed a $25 million funding round, this drive to own things supplies the logic of the whole evolution of the internet towards Web3.

“The core concept of Web 3 is digital ownership,” he says. “Before the blockchain was released there was no way to own an asset that was digital and demonstrate proof of scarcity, proof of ownership.  I couldn’t own a piece of art that was digital on a computer and be able to prove that it was the only one. To me, it’s all about ownership.” 

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Most prominent among Austin’s new investors is Animoca Brands – one of the leaders in investing in digital entertainment. The capital infusion supports the launch of Red Beard’s tokenomics accelerator programme, which is currently accepting applications for its inaugural cohort. Each selected company will receive $100,000 to build its brand. 

Austin, who will be a speaker at the SEG3 digital experiences summit at Emirates Stadium in London June 28-29, began building a generic tech investment portfolio via the AngelList platform as part of a syndicate that has done about 200 deals and deployed $50 million in capital. In 2021 he launched Red Beard as a Web3-focused fund. He is also CEO of Knights of Degen, an NFT sports community and fantasy sports platform. 

“There are so many different ways that you can participate in this space,” he says. “For example, with Knights of Degen our company, we have three different assets. We have our equity, we have our Degen token, coming out soon, and we have the NFT assets and all three of those things have to accrue value in various different ways.  I’m a builder. I like to collect, you know, I’m an investor in Dapper Labs and I’m also a big collector of NBA Top Shot moments.  I’m an investor in Sandbox and I own land in their Metaverse. I try to get my hands dirty and get really involved in any project so that I can support them in any way possible.” 

First and foremost, Austin is a collector. “I’m a collector of things, I like to collect, basketball cards, action figures, art, whatever it might be, I’ve been collecting things my whole life.” 

He has been collecting digital art since 2018. “When I first learned about the blockchain a decade ago, I was immediately gravitating to the concept of NFTs, even before NFTs existed.”

“We are living in a global digital world and the more we push forward into more immersive, technology and digital experiences and remote work and distributed teams and so on, the more digital assets are going to become more and more prevalent in our everyday life. So having infrastructure that creates an immutable ledger that tracks the movement of goods, the ownership of goods, is an absolute requirement.”

“And with Generative AI emerging, where you can’t even tell if a human or a machine created a piece of content, to be able to have some provenance and show where a piece of content came from is going to be crucial. I think all content is going to be ultimately pushed to the blockchain at some point in the future.”

“When I think about the NFT art that I buy. I think about the office that I’m going to have in the Metaverse and where I’m going to display it. We’re not there yet but as Apple starts to release virtual reality and Facebook’s improving their virtual reality, we’re all going to want to live in these remote work environments and we’re going to need more immersive ways to connect even if geography is in the way.”

“And I believe that when you’re working and living in a digital world, you’re going to want to do the same things you do in the regular world, show off a nice car, show off your nice art, demonstrate your identity. That’s what this is all about. We can build the virtual world that we want.” 

Click here to purchase tickets to see Drew speak at SEG3

How Rightsholders maximise the use of Live and Non-Live Content

Do you want want to know what over 60 delegates from Rightsholders and Broadcasters focused on at our recent iSportConnect Masterclass on Maximising Reach and Engagement with Live and Non-Live Content.

This report details the practical insights and takeaways from our attending companies on the day, including: Disney, Channel 4, DAZN, WWE, Discovery, PGA TOUR, WTA, FIFA, BBC Sport, beIN, Manchester United, NBA, Formula 1, European Tour, ECB, Liverpool FC, Tottenham Hotspur FC and many more.

How to deliver captivating sports action for today’s fan

The sports industry faces a significant challenge in attracting and keeping viewers, particularly in today’s fragmented media landscape where there is no such thing as a typical fan.

However, recent studies indicate that most adults already feel overwhelmed by information from technological platforms. Despite this, a well-curated strategy for sports highlights presents a compelling opportunity to break through the noise in a highly competitive environment. Advancements in technology enable rights-holders to create and deliver highlights faster and on a larger scale than ever before, all at a fraction of the previous cost. Moreover, artificial intelligence (AI) is enhancing efforts to personalise content-driven experiences for increasingly demanding audiences.

Magnifi and SportBusiness have collaborated on a White Paper titled “AI-driven highlights: How to deliver captivating sports action for today’s sports fan.” This paper explores the key considerations for rights-holders as they strive to implement impactful and cost-effective digital strategies. It examines how highlights can be effectively utilised alongside social media platforms to create new opportunities for engagement and monetisation. Additionally, the report discusses the challenges and implications that sports organisations of all sizes may face.

Drawing from the latest research on fan and viewer behaviour, the White Paper offers a comprehensive overview of cutting-edge technologies and distribution strategies aimed at taking digital engagement to the next level.

The World View: Taking a look back at what we have learned over the past five weeks

Over the past five weeks, we have flown around the globe from Asia, to the US, to Lausanne, touched down in the Middle East and finally landed in Africa. In this one piece you will have the chance to catch up on what you have missed.

Firstly, Michel Cutait, Acting Secretary General of the World Obstacle Federation, gave a fascinating insight into the benefits of individual athletes being members of international federations.

“Allowing individual athletes to become members of international federations as well would establish a new paradigm in the world of sports that could intensify the scope and purpose of international federations, without undermining the importance of the work done by national federations.”

Click here to read his article, including the six advantages that this model has

Next we heard from Kurt Badenhausen, Sportico’s Valuations Reporter, who took a look at the recent sale of the Phoenix Suns NBA franchise and explains why the franchise was so expensive.

“Phoenix is a fast-growing metro and an attractive market for NBA free agents and billionaires alike, thanks to the Arizona climate in winter, but the chance to secure a franchise within the top half of the hottest sports league is why so many investors were kicking the tires on the Phoenix Suns.”

Read the rest of his article, including Sportico’s list of the top 10 most valuable franchises

We then made a trip to the Middle East and heard from Clayton D’Costa, Head of Global Events and Partner at Portas Consulting, who detailed how the region has made the most out of hosting events.

“The Middle East has recently experienced an exceptional era of Major Events, putting the global spotlight on this region. According to the World Economic Forum, the Middle East is already a powerhouse in sports tourism, with a market value of $600 billion.”

Click here for the rest of Clayton’s article here including his seven success factors in delivering an impactful major sporting event.

Unmish Parthasarathi‘s article gave a fascinating insight into how institutional finance is playing a role to grow sport in Asia.

“In this article, I cite five trends with ten examples across a dozen markets that promise returns due to a positive demographic dividend, a growing supply of talent, and, rising per capita incomes.”

To find out his five trends, click here.

Cynthia Mumbo is the CEO of Sports Connect Africa, in her article she looks at the story behind Yanga FC.

“Yanga FC is a shining example of African football’s potential, with a rich history, remarkable commercial growth, passionate fan engagement, and strong governance.”

To find out more about the story of Yanga FC, click here

Member Insights: You say you want a revolution, four moments that changed sport

In this Member Insight piece, our Content Manager, Alex Brinton, looks at the PGA TOUR and DP World Tour merger with the PIF and some of the other times the world of sport has been changed by revolution.

PGA TOUR and DP World Tour merger with the PIF

Tuesday’s shock merger between LIV and the PGA TOUR has brought together golf’s two warring factions. The LIV tour came to life in 2021, but the first event didn’t take place until 366 days ago. Backed by the PIF, LIV’s tour has handed out eye-watering contracts to the leading players in the game, including $200 million for the services of Phil Mickelson. Throughout the last year, we have seen more of the world’s leading players move over to LIV including last month’s US Open winner, Brooks Koepka. 

It cannot be stressed enough how out of the blue this merger has come.

It is not clear how the merger will be structured, so I want to avoid commenting on that but from the initial press release it is clear that the Governor of the PIF will be chairman of the new joint venture. Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the new chairman, is a busy man: alongside his role in golf, he is the chairman of Newcastle United, chairman of Saudi Aramco and has been described by Forbes as a “confidante to Mohammed Bin Salman” the ruler of Saudi Arabia. It was reported in The Athletic that an anonymous source said Al-Rumayyan has been “given the responsibility of putting Bin Salman’s vision into practice.”  From the initial reporting, it looks like current Commissioner of the PGA TOUR, Jay Monahon, will take up a CEO role which could see him reporting into Al-Rumuyyan.

Kerry Packer and World Series Cricket

This is probably the most similar case to what we have seen with the PIF and the PGA TOUR. 

Back in the 1970s, the Australian cricket team was one of the most sought-after TV properties in Australia. Packer, who owned Channel 9, wanted to broadcast the games on his channel. Despite offering a lot more than rival channel ABC, the Australian Cricket Board chose the lower offer. 

Packer’s response to this was to sign up all the best players in Australia, West Indies and the rest of the world and create his own competition – broadcast on Channel 9. Australian players who joined the breakaway series were banned from playing for their country. Like LIV, World Series Cricket wasn’t an instant hit with poor attendances in its first year. After an extensive marketing campaign, the second season took off. Packer’s World Series Cricket brought to the fore lots of innovations that are now common in the game: day/night games, stump microphones and coloured clothes. After the second season, the Australian Cricket Board were suffering massive financial losses and came to a ten-year broadcast agreement with Packer.

The Bosman Ruling

Jean-Marc Bosman was an unremarkable Belgian midfielder plying his trade at RFC Liege. In his two seasons, he made three appearances. When his two-year contract expired he tried to move to Dunkerque, but Liege didn’t want to let him go. Bosman sued Liege, the Belgian FA and UEFA arguing that being forced to stay at a club when out of contract was a breach of his human rights. He was successful and set a precedent that changed football forever. 

Since then, players have been able to move from one club to another for free when their contracts expire.

Rugby Union turning professional

Looking back it is hard to believe that a sport that was capable of filling some of the nation’s biggest stadiums, hosting World Cups and unifying nations was still amateur. But that was the case for Rugby Union in 1995. The Rugby World Cup of 1995 was held in South Africa, a country still divided post-apartheid. 

During the tournament, there was talk among the players of the game turning professional, but the older generations who worked on the boards of the governing bodies were against the idea because it went against what they saw as the values of the sport. 

However, a lot of the best rugby union players were being poached by rugby league teams who – being fully professional – were able to offer them much higher salaries. Something had to give and it did after southern hemisphere players threatened to join a breakaway league, similar to Packer’s World Series Cricket, but this time funded by media rival Rupert Murdoch. The union’s relented and agreed to make the game professional.

Photo credit: http://www.tourprogolfclubs.com/

iSportConnect Sports Tech Index powered by SportsTech Match – June 8

Who’s hot in Sports Tech? Who is doing deals, launching new products and generally doing some of the best work in the sector? That’s what the Index attempts to dig into. Whether established players or the up-and-coming stars, we go a little deeper for you…

The fourth edition of our monthly sports tech index features a new company in the top spot. Following three consecutive editions at number 1, Seat Unique has been deposed at the top by sports organisation management platform, Sport:80. 

Sport:80 have consistently communicated product updates and new customer wins over recent months as well as collected several verified 4 and 5 star customer ratings via the SportsTech Match’s ratings and reviews programme.

Fanbase at #3 (fan engagement platform), Evolve at #4 (venue security) and Ticketmaster at #5 (ticketing) complete our top five.

Venue broadband connectivity solution, MatSing (#6) is our highest new entry this month on account of recent new deal announcements with venues across the US.

Our highest climber this month, and sitting just outside the top 20, is end-to-end digital platform solution, PT Sportsuite, who rose more than 50 places to #26 on account of receiving two verified 4-star customer reviews.

Want to know more?

Subscribe to the SportsTech Match monthly newsletter for an overview of the list of activity that generated points towards the index score this month (via the footer on the website).

The iSportConnect Sports Tech Index is designed to help rights owners and investors quickly assess who is “hot” from a product and new business perspective and provides sports tech vendors with an incentive to focus their PR announcements on what matters to the market. It follows a simple scoring system (see below).

The iSportConnect Sports Tech Index will be published on a monthly basis on iSportConnect.com.

Click here to read more about how the Index is calculated.

PGA TOUR, DP World Tour and PIF announce major deal to reunify the game of golf

The PGA TOUR, DP World Tour and the Public Investment Fund (PIF) today announced a landmark agreement to unify the game of golf, on a global basis. The parties have signed an agreement that combines PIF’s golf-related commercial businesses and rights (including LIV Golf) with the commercial businesses and rights of the PGA TOUR and DP World Tour into a new, collectively owned, for-profit entity to ensure that all stakeholders benefit from a model that delivers maximum excitement and competition among the game’s best players. 
 
In addition, PIF will make a capital investment into the new entity to facilitate its growth and success.  The new entity (name TBD) will implement a plan to grow these combined commercial businesses, drive greater fan engagement and accelerate growth initiatives already underway.  With LIV Golf in the midst of its second, groundbreaking season, the PGA TOUR, DP World Tour and PIF will work together to best feature and grow team golf going forward. 
 
Notably, today’s announcement will be followed by a mutually agreed end to all pending litigation between the participating parties.  Further, the three organizations will work cooperatively and in good faith to establish a fair and objective process for any players who desire to re-apply for membership with the PGA TOUR or the DP World Tour following the completion of the 2023 season and for determining fair criteria and terms of re-admission, consistent with each Tour’s policies.  
 
“After two years of disruption and distraction, this is a historic day for the game we all know and love,” said PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan.  “This transformational partnership recognizes the immeasurable strength of the PGA TOUR’s history, legacy and pro-competitive model and combines with it the DP World Tour and LIV – including the team golf concept – to create an organization that will benefit golf’s players, commercial and charitable partners and fans.  Going forward, fans can be confident that we will, collectively, deliver on the promise we’ve always made – to promote competition of the best in professional golf and that we are committed to securing and driving the game’s future.
 
“We are pleased to move forward, in step with LIV and PIF’s world-class investing experience, and I applaud PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan for his vision and collaborative and forward-thinking approach that is not just a solution to the rift in our game, but also a commitment to taking it to new heights. This will engender a new era in global golf, for the better.”
 
“Today is a very exciting day for this special game and the people it touches around the world,” said PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan. “We are proud to partner with the PGA TOUR to leverage PIF’s unparalleled success and track record of unlocking value and brining innovation and global best practices to business and sectors worldwide.  We are committed to unifying, promoting and growing the game of golf around the world and offering the highest-quality product to the many millions of long-time fans globally, while cultivating new fans. 
 
“There is no question that the LIV model has been positively transformative for golf. We believe there are opportunities for the game to evolve while also maintaining its storied history and tradition. This partnership represents the best opportunity to extend and increase the impact of golf for all.  We look forward to collaborating with Jay and Keith to bring the best version of the game to communities around the world.”
 
Under the terms of the agreement, the Board of Directors of the new entity will oversee and direct all the new entity’s golf-related commercial operations, businesses and investments. The new entity will work to ensure a cohesive schedule of events that will be exciting for fans, sponsors and all stakeholders.  PIF will initially be the exclusive investor in the new entity, alongside the PGA TOUR, LIV Golf and the DP World Tour. Going forward, PIF will have the exclusive right to further invest in the new entity, including a right of first refusal on any capital that may be invested in the new entity, including into the PGA TOUR, LIV Golf and DP World Tour. The PGA TOUR will appoint a majority of the Board and hold a majority voting interest in the combined entity.
 
Separately, PGA TOUR Inc. will remain in place as a 501(c)(6) tax exempt organization and retains administrative oversight of events for those assets contributed by the PGA TOUR, including the sanctioning of events, the administration of the competition and rules, as well as all other “inside the ropes” responsibilities, with Jay Monahan as Commissioner and Ed Herlihy as PGA TOUR Policy Board Chairman.  PIF’s Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan will join the PGA TOUR Policy Board. The DP World Tour and LIV Golf will retain similar administrative oversight of events on their respective Tours.
 
The Board of Directors of the new commercial entity will include Al-Rumayyan as Chairman and Monahan as Chief Executive Officer; the new entity’s Board will also include an Executive Committee comprising Al-Rumayyan, Monahan, Herlihy and PGA TOUR Policy Board member Jimmy Dunne.  The full Board will be announced at a later date, and it is anticipated that all three founding members will have representation.
 
Keith Pelley, Chief Executive of the DP World Tour, said “This is a momentous day. We are delighted to be able to not only reignite our relationship with PIF, but also to have the opportunity to build on our current Strategic Alliance partnership with the PGA TOUR.  Together we will be stronger than ever and well positioned to continue to bring the game to all corners of the globe. To partner in this new entity and influence the growth of the game for all our DP World Tour members is energizing and exciting.”
 
All parties will work in the months to come to finalise terms of the agreement, with details to be announced in due course.

Scottish FA and Scottish Gas announce five-year agreement

Scottish Gas, Britain’s leading supplier of energy and services, and the Scottish Football Association are proud to announce an unprecedented five-year agreement – that will also drive real and meaningful impact through participation in the grassroots game.

To power positive change across Scotland, Scottish Gas will significantly invest in grassroots football – with funding used to launch 120 new week-long holiday camps. These camps will offer 6,000 opportunities for children to play football and include free lunches to combat “holiday hunger” for those that need it most.

Scottish Gas will also boost investment in Scottish Para-Football’s disability community initiatives, which use the power of football to improve people’s lives, by working with six clubs each year to set up the required infrastructure and playing conditions for the local para community.

This unique partnership will help bring to life the historic 150th anniversary of the Men’s Scottish Cup next season and makes Scottish Gas the first dual-partner of both Cups, following the Women’s Scottish Cup coming under the Scottish FA’s jurisdiction this season, culminating in the first ever final at Hampden Park in front of more than 10,000 supporters.

Additionally, the partnership will help to deliver on the Scottish Government’s Net Zero ambitions by 2045, by working with the Scottish FA to explore options to make Hampden Park more sustainable, as well as designing a programme for Scottish football clubs to help reduce their carbon footprint and create more sustainable communities.

Chris O’Shea, Chief Executive of Centrica, owner of Scottish Gas said: “Our partnership with the Scottish FA is the perfect match of energy and passion for Scottish Gas as we team up to support the nation.

“We’re delighted to be investing in our customers’ communities, and I’m particularly excited about the work we will be doing to support holiday camps, Para-Football and the women’s game across Scotland. Looking after our people and the communities we serve is at the heart of who we are, so we are delighted to be tackling key issues like hunger and mental health to drive positive impact through a more diverse and inclusive grassroots game.”

Ian Maxwell, Scottish FA Chief Executive: “I am absolutely delighted to welcome Scottish Gas on board as a committed multi-level partner and supporter of the Power of Football.

“As part of our 150th anniversary celebrations, they will help us activate the oldest and youngest cup trophies in world football, bringing new and existing fans on that famous Road to Hampden. 

“Through this agreement, Scottish Gas will also help reinforce the impact our national game has at grassroots level, especially among those whose need is greatest. We look forward to bringing the partnership to life and highlighting the ways in which, together, we can inspire the nation and transform lives.”

The announcement follows research into the positive impact of football participation by the Scottish FA, with 93 percent of grassroots players saying that football helps them cope with anxiety, stress or depression and 98 percent of players admitting that they are happier because they are part of a club.

The partnership aligns with Centrica’s People & Planet Plan which aims to build a more inclusive and sustainable future for communities by supporting organisations up and down the UK.