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iSportconnect, health the online sports networking community hosted an impressive panel of high-profile executives at the iSportconnect Directors’ Club London.

The event, order in closed room Question Time format, medicine delved into topics ranging from the role of social media in activating sport sponsorship, to the influence of technology in how we consume sport content.

The event, in partnership with Generate Sponsorship and Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP, was hailed a huge success, with the esteemed sports business executives including Geoff Cousins, Jaguar Global Director, Sponsorships and Brand Partners; Philip Beard, Chief Executive Officer, Queens Park Rangers Football Club; Roger Draper, Chief Executive of the Lawn Tennis Association and Barry Hearn, Chairman of Matchroom Sport, the Professional Darts Corporation, World Snooker and Leyton Orient Football Club.

The role of social media was debated at length as the speakers, representing both rights holders and brands, shared their views. The general consensus was that social media, particularly twitter, is breaking down the traditional models and gives brands a level of targeting and evaluation that other platforms do not currently provide. The ability to instantly activate a sponsorship through social media was agreed with an on-going requirement to monitor how sport talent use the various platforms being crucial.

Barry Hearn commented: “The biggest education is we need to listen to more young people, we need to get more creative, we need to realise our own shortcomings and be prepared to learn.”

The debate turned to the changes in how people are consuming and engaging sport content and how the rise of Smart TVs and multi-platform viewing will revolutionise the sports industry. The panel agreed that content remains king.

Philip Beard shared his insight: “I maintain that the most important thing is to keep live events attractive enough for us to go to and then we can watch it on platforms as well.”

In addition, the attraction of short-form sports for younger audiences was discussed with the success of Rugby 7s, Power Snooker and Twenty20 cricket highlighted as good examples of extending and broadening the appeal to youth, while also encouraging participation.

Andrew Shelley, Chief Executive at World Squash Federation said: “Nobody doubt the importance of listening and learning from those at the forefront of the sports business. Combine that with the opportunity to link with others in the field and it is quite a heady mix. The iSportconnect Directors Club provides exactly that!”

Founder and CEO of iSportconnect Sree Varma, said: “The second iSportconnect Directors Club was the best yet, with an excellent panel, high profile delegates and engaging debate. We are delighted to hear the positive feedback from the attendees and believe the unique Question Time-style format is ideal for getting the best out of our speakers and ensuring an engaging session for the audience. We look forward to welcoming the sports industry to future iSportconnect events.”

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50 invitation-only attendees include:
Andrew Shelley – CEO, World Squash Federation
Jane Purdon – Director of Governance, English Premier League
Rupert Daniels – Partnership Development Director, Arsenal FC
Paul Barber – CEO, Brighton FC
David Harker – CEO, Durham Cricket Board
Keith Harris – Chairman, Seymour Pierce
Weronika Abramowicz – Head of Sponsorship, Fulham FC
Barry Webber – Commercial Director, West Ham FC
Sophie Morris – Head of Marketing, Killik
Roger Devlin – Non Exec Director, The FA
Mark Blundell – Former F1 driver
Keith Wyness – Former CEO, Everton FC & Aberdeen FC
Nick Blofeld – CEO, Bath Rugby
Zoe Ward Club – Secretary, Liverpool Football Club
Tracey Keenan – Head of Global Partnerships, Tottenham Hotspur
Giancarlo Bernini – Head of Sponsorship, Sony Mobile Communications
Michael Cole – Head of Marketing and Communications, London 2012, BT Global Services
Paul Vaughan – Former CEO, England Rugby 2015
Colin Povey – CEO, Warwickshire County Cricket Club
Andrew Hooks – Head of Sponsorship Ebay

Follow the iSportconnect Directors’ Club event with @iSportconnect and through #iSCDirectorsClub.

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Here are some links to a video and other information about the last meeting.

Directors Club a Huge Success
Directors Club Video

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In a measure of just how high the Reds have soared since they limped along unloved in 2009, the state’s surging Super Rugby team has won the code battle on the crowd front by finishing 2012 averaging 34,217 fans per game at Suncorp Stadium.

The Broncos were still the envy of NRL clubs around the country for drawing average crowds of 33,377 for the regular season at the same home ground.

Many rated it an idle fancy when Queensland Rugby Union chief executive Jim Carmichael said in February that outdrawing the Broncos was “not only a dream but something I think about all the time”.

“There is enough room for lots of parochial fans to get behind both rugby codes in Brisbane but I’m absolutely delighted that the Reds can say they have built such a regular following and built such an emotional connection with fans,” Mr Carmichael enthused.

A Reds team driven by heroes Will Genia, Digby Ioane and Quade Cooper has muscled to No.1 spot in terms of state footy crowds.

AFL’s Brisbane Lions (20,352) and Gold Coast Suns (13,645) are down the list while rugby league’s Gold Coast Titans (14,419) and North Queensland Cowboys (14,415) draw smaller average crowds.

Fan numbers following the Reds at Suncorp Stadium jumped 16 per cent on 2011 but the remarkable spike is measuring just where the code was at in 2009 when only three games were won.

Home crowds averaged just 18,646 per match that year so the exponential growth in support is at 83 per cent since those days of failure.

Reds coach Ewen McKenzie summed it up succinctly.

“It’s massive growth. We’ve come a long way to outdraw the Broncos,” said McKenzie, who backed the QRU’s membership drive which turned the meagre 6225 base of 2009 into a rousing membership of 32,640 this year.

Rugby’s first foray into hosting a Test on the Gold Coast is also shaping as a success with crowd expectations tracking beyond 20,000 for the Wallabies clash against Argentina at Robina’s Skilled Park on Saturday night.

Hannover 96 beschreitet gemeinsam mit der Fachhochschule für angewandtes Management(FHAM) einen innovativen Weg in Sachen Social Media Marketing im Spitzensport. MartinKind, Geschäftsführer der Hannover 96 KGaA, und Björn Bremer, Leiter der Verwaltung,riefen hierzu mit der FHAM ein eigenes Forschungsprojekt zum Thema “Social MediaMarketing im Spitzensport und Kapitalisierungsmöglichkeiten im Web 2.0 am Beispiel desFußball-Bundesligisten Hannover 96” ins Leben. Dieses läuft seit Beginn des Jahres und istzunächst mit einer Projektdauer von 2,5 Jahren terminiert.

Der Fußball-Bundesligist und Europa League-Teilnehmer ist Kooperationspartner desForschungsprojekts, das vom Doktoranden Tobias Haupt (M.Sc., B.A.) direkt vor Ort betreutwird. Er ist in die täglichen Arbeitsprozesse einbezogen, treibt aber gleichzeitig auch dieForschungsarbeit auf Seiten der Hochschule unter der Leitung von Professor Dr. FlorianKainz voran. “Ich freue mich sehr, bei so einem renommierten Fußball-Bundesligistentätig sein zu dürfen und ich bin überzeugt davon, aufgrund der idealen Verzahnung vonWissenschaft und Praxis wichtige Erkenntnisse im Bereich der Kapitalisierungsmöglichkeitenmit Hilfe von Social Media Marketing sowohl für Hannover 96 als auch für die theoretischeForschung generieren zu können”, so Haupt.

“Wir haben seit längerer Zeit das enorme Potenzial der sozialen Netzwerke und digitalenMedien erkannt und sind in diesem Bereich bereits sehr aktiv. Es fehlen bislang jedocheindeutig wissenschaftlich fundierte Erkenntnisse in diesem Bereich, die sowohl fürunsere strategische Planung als auch für konkrete Managemententscheidungen derGeschäftsführung von entscheidender Bedeutung wären. Wir freuen uns sehr, mit der FHAMeinen idealen Partner aus dem Bereich der anwendungsorientierten Forschung gefundenzu haben, um so gemeinsam einen Wissensvorsprung in diesem Bereich generieren zukönnen”, so Björn Bremer.

Immer mehr Unternehmen verbreiten regelmäßig Informationen über Social Media-Kanäle wie Facebook, Twitter, Google+ oder Youtube. Auch der Spitzensport, und dabeiinsbesondere die Fußball-Bundesliga, hat das enorme Potenzial der sozialen Netzwerkebereits erkannt und versucht dieses, für sich optimal zu nutzen.
Nahezu gänzlich fehlen dabei wissenschaftlich fundierte Erkenntnisse zum Thema desSocial Media Marketings – sowohl allgemein, als auch bezogen auf die Vereine der Fußball-Bundesliga. Aus diesem Grund hat es sich die FHAM zum Ziel gesetzt, die bestehendeForschungslücke im Bereich des Social Media Marketings im Spitzensport zu schließenund wichtige Erkenntnisse für die Praxis zu generieren. Der Vizepräsident und Dekan fürSportmanagement der FHAM, Prof. Dr. Florian Kainz, leitet in diesem Zusammenhang seiteiniger Zeit ein umfangreiches Forschungsprojekt zum Thema “Spitzensportvermarktung imWeb 2.0”.

“Der Bereich des Social Media Marketings ist ein bislang relativ wenig erforschtes Feld undinsbesondere im Bereich des Spitzensports fehlen wissenschaftlich fundierte Erkenntnissenahezu vollständig. Uns ist es dabei wichtig, eine Verzahnung der Forschungsarbeit mitder Praxis zu erreichen, so dass unsere Forschungsergebnisse einen echten Mehrwertfür die Praxis darstellen. Daher freut es uns besonders, dass wir mit Hannover 96 einenidealen Partner aus dem Bereich des Spitzensports gewinnen konnten. Ich bin überzeugtdavon, dass wir durch unser gemeinsames Forschungsprojekt einen wichtigen Beitrag für diezukünftige strategische Ausrichtung des Vereins, insbesondere im Bereich des Social MediaMarketings, leisten können”, so Kainz.

The Formula One championship teams received a combined US$658m in prize money in 2010, herbal a 21 per cent increase on the previous year.

According to a filing by Formula One Administration Ltd. at Companies House in London, impotent the payments rose for a third straight year on improved terms from the so-called Concorde Agreement that governs the most-watched motor racing series.

Formula One had net income of $296m last year after boosting sales by 2 per cent to $1.08bn by adding races in South Korea and Canada, recipe the filing said.

After buying Formula One in 2005, CVC Capital Partners Ltd. agreed to increase prize money to participants to head off a breakaway series being planned by teams. The total payout to teams in 2010 was 164 per cent more than in 2007, the last year of the previous accord, the statement said.

CVC’s loss from Formula One widened to $660m last year on financing costs from its acquisition of the series, its Delta (3) U.K. Ltd. unit said in another Companies House filing.

Northamptonshire, viagra 100mg England, doctor race circuit Silverstone has secured the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup, the Red Bull Matadors and legendary trials rider Dougie Lampkin as part of its entertainment package.

The Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup will be a new support race at this year’s event – Britain’s only round of the FIM MotoGP World Championship.

Silverstone will host rounds five and six of the popular grass roots racing series in which the best young talent from 15 nations will battle it out on the Saturday and Sunday of the MotoGP weekend.

Away from the track, the Red Bull Matadors will be a spectacular new addition for 2011. Throughout the weekend, the UK’s most dynamic aerobatic team will be taking to the skies and wowing the Silverstone crowd. Aerobatic gold medallists Paul Bonhomme and Steve Jones will be performing breathtaking manoeuvres and extreme displays in their high speed stunt planes.

Back on terra firma, Dougie Lampkin MBE will be returning to Silverstone again this year, providing further off-track entertainment. The twelve-times FIM Trial World Champion, renowned for his mesmerising skills on two wheels, was a huge draw in 2010.

Richard Phillips, managing director of Silverstone Circuits Limited, commented: “We’ve lined-up a world-class entertainment package with Red Bull – what’s more, it’s all free, adding further value to the cost of a MotoGP ticket.”

June 2013 is being lined up by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for the inaugural Test World Championship. The governing bodies CEO Haroon Lorgat has revealed that the current rankings will be used to decide the four play-off spots.

There is currently no tournament in Test cricket to determine the top test nation and the form of the game has struggled to keep up with the ever popular Twenty20 version of the sport. In light of this the ICC has proposed a tournament in which the four best performing nations will contest in semi-finals before the winners meet in a fight for the world title.

Lorgat released a statement explaining the new proposal, saying: “I think the first possible opportunity for us to have a play-off is in 2013 which means that the current rankings table would need to be used

“For example, right now Australia would be struggling to qualify for the play-offs. But there may be another scenario with somebody else would also be in the frame depending on this result they might slip in.

“Going forward we’re looking at a league table that would be worked on points and for match winnings, Lorgat said, but details on how to treat draws, which occur regularly in test cricket, were yet to be decided.

“One option is whichever is the highest ranked team would progress through. There’s the possibility of the timeless test, you’ve got to get to a result”

Lorgat also confirmed the 2015 one-day international World Cup hosted by Australia and New Zealand will be stripped from 14 teams to 10, while the biennial Twenty20 World Cup tournament to be hosted by Sri Lanka in 2012, would be expanded from 12 to 16.

Energy company E.ON has announced it is extending its deal to sponsor the FA Cup for another year, despite previously announcing an end to its support.

E.ON has sponsored the company for the past four years, and the extended deal will see the company continue its involvement and commitment to investing in all levels of the game.

The one-year extension will see E.ON sponsor the FA Cup, the FA Women’s Cup, the FA Youth Cup, as well as continuing to be an FA Schools Partner.

Sponsorship Promotions Executive at E.ON, Alex Howells, said: “Following four very successful season as FA Cup sponsor, we can today announce that we have agreed a one-year extension to our sponsorship of the FA Cup.

“It’s also a deal that works for both parties. Our sponsoring of the FA Cup has played a key part in establishing the E.ON business within the UK and we are looking forward to continuing our relationship with the FA from the very first kick next season.”

Athletics South Africa have announced Aleck Skhosana as their new president at a special general meeting in Johannesburg.

The meeting also concluded with the election of a new board who will stand until 2016.

Elections were held for positions on the ASA executive board: president, vice-president, chairpersons of the cross-country commission, the road running commission, the track and field commission and the athletes’ commission, and four additional members.

Saturday’s elections brought an end to a year-long power struggle and sees Skhosana, a former KwaZulu-Natal Athletics (KZNA) president take the reins after the position was left vacant when the previous president James Evans stepped down in February.

On his visit to South Africa in February, IAAF representative Cheikh Thiare met with the ASA council, represented by 15 of 17 provinces and an ASA general assembly, which include Evans’ depleted board and one mandated provincial member.

The recognised ASA executive, led by Evans, and the federation’s interim board, led by chairman Sello Mokoena, subsequently stepped down with both groups — each previously claiming to have control of the federation –agreeing to the appointment of an interim committee.

Skhosana beat off a challenge by Mokoena, Evans and Steve Mkasi, while Harold Adams was elected as vice-president after he withdraw his candidature for president.