Kukri Sports announce significant global growth

Kukri Sports has announced significant global growth for their brand, after another hugely successful year in 2022. Sales figures rose significantly by a record 23%, whilst profits rose by 58%.

After adapting to the easing of pandemic restrictions around the world the business has sustained relationships with premium global sporting events, whilst a number of high-profile partnership announcements and extensions have taken place as the brand continues to be a leading provider for National Governing Bodies, education providers and sporting clubs across the world.

In 2022, Kukri continued to provide high-quality bespoke teamwear and leisure wear for the world stage, delivering an unprecedented service to partnered teams and athletes at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, with teams including Team England and Canada. They also continued their 17th year of sponsorship of the Hong Kong Sevens following its return in November.

As a global business Kukri also experienced exponential growth in various regions, including the Middle East, Ireland and North America, with an increase in custom-made teamwear orders from teams in the regions and an increased demand for their apparel online. To further solidify their presence, Kukri signed multiple sponsorship deals, including an extension with one of their longest serving clients, Dubai College, and a 3-year partnership with Cougar Volley as their official kit supplier.

Additionally, the sports brand also signed and extended agreements with a host of other partners such as Loughborough University, Welsh Gymnastics, British Wrestling, England Lacrosse, British Wheelchair Basketball, Rugby School and a number of other well renowned educational institutions.

Last year, the brand’s initiative to reduce their environmental effect while also caring for individuals who create and wear their products throughout the world, continued to excel.

Andrew Ronnie, Group Chief Executive at Kukri Sports, said: “This year has once again seen an expediential raise in sales numbers while we have also continued to ensure we are delivering excellent levels of customer service and satisfaction, despite some of the most challenging trading times.

“Another focus for us has been our ambition to continue to improve our products and develop our sustainability ambitions, giving our partners across the world the choice of a more environmentally friendly kit provision – something you will see at our events this year.

“The year ahead promises to be no less of a success for us and we have some exciting events to look forward to, including the forthcoming World Cycling Championships in Scotland amongst others. We continue to put a huge focus on supporting athletes across the board – be that youth, female, or male athletes.”

Member Insights: why the Cheltenham Festival represents the best of sport

In this Member Insights article, Richard Brinkman talks about his love for the Cheltenham Festival, the positive picture it paints of sport at a troubling time, and why as an industry we need to look outside the ‘bubble’ more.

I am always pleased to see the Cheltenham Festival arrive. This year it seems even more welcome than ever.

It’s a signpost in the calendar, a reassuring presence, that reaches beyond racing and the sports fan. It has a simplicity and cultural relevance well beyond racing – but delivers in spades for the purists too. Whether watching on TV, following on Facebook or actually at the track it delivers that rare alchemy – sport as entertainment. Its good fun and can be as complex or simple as you wish to make it.

The uplift in my spirits is about more than just the product though. It’s also not just due to the promise of fairer weather ahead and the back of the worst of winter, nor the magnificent top-class competitive racing, nor the unbridled enthusiasm and good nature of bumper crowds roaring their favourites on.

These are constants every year.

This year more than ever the Festival has lifted my spirits by reminding me that the best of sport creates unity and cohesion in bringing a wide array of people together through shared interests and passions. As an industry it is sometimes important to remind ourselves of that simple fact. It’s easy to lose sight of this in the hullabaloo and noise of trying to carry sport through turbulent times.

If we think about the current picture that the sport industry is presenting to the world this picture of unity and social cohesion becomes particularly important. Let’s face it wherever you look there has been a paucity of good news. The overwhelming picture can appear to be one of division and in-fighting:

Football is always tribal but its rejection of the money of the Super League but seeming welcoming of state ownership through the back-door and reluctance to trickle the money down to lower-tiers let alone grassroots is not a good look when one considers financial sustainability and top-level wages.

Cricket – the Hundred, ECB’s ham-fisted racism enquiry, and a lack of due care and attention to international cricket beyond the big 3.

F1 – governance and the application of regulations to create a competitive spectacle.

Rugby Union – head injuries, player strikes, financial sustainability of clubs, participation numbers.

Rugby League – creating relevance and competition in the international game vs the well-established club game.

Golf – LIV – need I say more!

Tennis – female prize-money, Novak vs vaccine rules, ATP vs Wimbledon, the seemingly ever-changing carousel of international competitions.

IOC – increasing ambivalence and lack of interest in hosting, handling of Russia and its allies.

The shambolic Lineker/MOTD debacle (whichever side of the debate you are on)

I could go on but the point is made. And this is even before you consider macro issues such as environmental impact and the ethics involved in dealing with certain regimes. The picture presented to the outside world is fractured at best.

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Many will (correctly) say that the examples are just natural instances of business evolution and that all industries are constantly adapting, innovating and changing to the environment around them (or they should be if they wish to remain successful). There is, therefore, no problem – its just normal business playing out.

Except it’s not! Sport is not normal business. Very few businesses survive for decades, become household names but never turn a profit. Not many industries have every proposed development or change, every piece of dirty laundry, aired in public; pored over in the court of public opinion.

Often for better, but sometimes for worse, this is the price sport pays for stirring the passions of large numbers of people. Its greatest strength is its greatest weakness – it elicits strong emotional (and often not very rational) responses.

So what? Why does it matter? We know that this is the natural growing pains of an industry at an inflexion point where it tries to cope with changing technologies, consumption habits, competition for leisure time, revenue models etc. Most who follow sport know that these elements add to the soap opera and, therefore, interest.

The image portrayed matters not because of what it says to us sport fans. It matters because of the impression that it presents to the non-sports fan – and there are a lot of them! Believe it or not, over half the population have little or no interest in sport. I am sure that statement leaves many of you incredulous – it was always a stat that amazed me when I worked at various insight and research agencies.

Over the past two years I have stepped away from working exclusively in the sports “bubble” and have found myself in other industries working amongst these remarkable (and strange!) folk who do not share our passion. And guess what? They are very well balanced and rational people, with interests and passions of their own!

Interestingly their impression of the sport industry is usually wholly inaccurate but informed by the impression projected to them – awash with money, unattractively confrontational and competitive, a bit of an exclusive club and riven with self-interest and infighting. That is, obviously, a gross generalisation but it probably somewhere covers the reason why they have little or no interest.

Of course, this is fine – each to their own, the world would be a very dull place if we all liked the same things! But the views of non-sports followers should matter to us in the sports industry because these people are a sizable and important constituents to politicians.

And it seems (whether we like it or not) political involvement in the sports industry is only going to increase – whether it be to keep our swimming pools open, ensure access to opportunity in schools, support bids and infrastructure projects, underwrite certain pursuits, guide on governance and safety, ensure community assets are protected in times of hardship/uncertainty, or rule on the involvement of foreign interests in British sporting assets. And that is even before you consider direct taxpayer investment via UK Sport and Sport England.

It is inevitable that, if the sport industry asks for and accepts financial and regulatory advantages as an important health, social and communal entity in tough times, that it will get greater political scrutiny on an ongoing basis. Politicians (of all hues) are compelled to take into account the views of all voters (and would-be voters) when reaching decisions about the allocation of resources. This includes the very large number of people with little or no interest in sport and, more than likely, a poor impression of what they regularly see and hear.

At a time when money is scarce, need is great and there are a large number of competing and loud voices for greater central government support there has, perhaps, never been a greater need to look beyond the “bubble” and think about the impression that sport in the UK is presenting to not just its core constituents, but to the population at large.

Fan engagement is a big (and important) topic in the sports industry but, let’s not forget, that there are also a huge number of non-fans that also need to be reached in order to appreciate the unity, cohesion and community that sport can create. This is not for their sake but in order to help sport grow.

Those of us that love it know how worthwhile and beneficial sport is. However, we cannot always rely on the Cheltenham roar and Constitution Hill transcending to the front pages to create this impression for us. Old traditional mass routes such as the BBC will also no longer have the reach and influence we have taken for granted. We need to do more to ensure that the political support sport has enjoyed up until now is ongoing and, if anything, grows.

Social and community cohesion is a priceless commodity – let’s talk it up and not allow the
dialogue around sport to be dominated and distorted by a fixation on differences.

iSportConnect evolve Masterclass format to focus on P2P exchange

As you may have seen on LinkedIn, last week we held our first “masterclass+” event of 2023. With more than 15 of these events planned across multiple cities, there’s no getting away from the fact that it is going to be a busy year for the iSportConnect team.

We have decided to take our events in a different direction this year. The emphasis has swung from keynote speakers, panels and fireside chats to knowledge sharing around pain points that our community of rights holders are facing. Amidst the change, two things will remain the same. These events are unique in that they are both exclusively open to rights holders and are free to attend by invitation only. 

The change in plan isn’t something that was decided overnight. We have been thinking about it for a while. We spoke to you – our community – to understand what you wanted from the ideal event format.

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All our events this year are going to be compressed into a half day format with space for networking. We kick off each event with an insights-led presentation to help set the scene for the day and give the audience some concrete information to frame the topic at hand. So far these have come from YouGov and Omdia and have provided our delegates with a great platform upon which to have more in-depth discussion.

But away from the presentations, and while each event will have space for an inspiring panel discussion, the interactive roundtables that now occupy the majority of the Masterclass+ event format, are what we are most proud of. The sports industry is often accused of being too insular and, with rivalries on and off the field often getting in the way of knowledge exchange, it is easy to understand why. However, sports business executives have a lot to learn from each other (as well as those beyond our borders) and we see our events as a great vehicle to facilitate that.

It was great to see and feel the room relax after just five minutes of discussion as delegates started to share their pain points and offer each other solutions. 

The team at iSportConnect don’t plan to put their feet up and we will continually look to improve the value we can bring to the industry in step with our community.

If you would like to register your interest for more of our events moving forward, click here

By David Fowler, MD Advisory iSportConnect, click here to contact David

Meet the Member: “Fighting piracy is a bit like a game of Whack-a-Mole”

Piracy is an uphill battle for rights holders. To find out how the Sports Rights Owners Coalition is trying to fight it we sent our Content Manager, Alex Brinton, to speak to Mark Lichtenhein, the coalition’s Chairman.

Mark, briefly explain what it is that the Sports Rights Owners Coalition do and your role within that?

The coalition has been in existence for coming up to 20 years. I got involved right at the start when I was working for the European Tour, or as it is now called the DP World Tour. It was created because we understood that despite competing for some things like sponsorship and TV contracts we had many common challenges – and the protection of our underlying intellectual property rights was the most important. 

I think the best way to look at it is a sports trade body. It is the only body that represents sport as a whole out there. Over the last 20 years we have gone from a handful of UK sports into a global organisation representing between 50 and 60. It is still predominantly European but we now have representatives from the US and Asia. The issues have changed over the years but the mission hasn’t. 

For my sins, I was elected chairman of the coalition eight years ago, so I am in my fourth term at the moment. As you pointed out piracy is the hot topic of the day and has really brought the coalition closer together than ever before.

Piracy is obviously the biggest challenge facing Sports Rights Owners at the moment, how has that battle changed as we have moved from TV to digital?

Yes, it has changed a lot over the last few years. In the early days it was more down to card and password sharing. The big change is actually the increase in quality of digital retransmission getting so much better.

In the early days, when you were relying on dial up internet it wasn’t really a problem but with the broadband you can get now, you are able to watch sport in 4K over the internet. So for the pirates the retransmission possibilities have become much, much greater and obviously with that more lucrative. That is what has turned this into a multi-billion dollar illegal market that is incredibly difficult to police.

The unique challenge with sport is that the value is concentrated in the live experience. So for a pirate it is really easy to extract value in a two-hour football or rugby match because it takes some time for the anti-piracy wheels to come into motion. That has been our main task over the past few years is to get an immediate solution to these problems that  sport specifically faces. 

Are any of the rights holders finding success in the battle against piracy, who are they and what are they doing?

Football is obviously the most lucrative sport so they have led the way in terms of anti-piracy measures. I think a lot of them have done fantastic jobs in their own geographies of identifying the bad actors and platforms where the content is being carried. 

The first thing is identifying where the pirates are operating from and we are getting fairly good at that. Between us we are sending out millions of ‘Take Down’ notices every year. The real problem is though that there is no obligation for people to actually take action on these notices during the time of transmission. At a European level we have this notion of expeditious removal – but that isn’t a time frame so it is really hard to police. 

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We do have some legal precedent though, that comes from the ECATEL case in The Netherlands that ruled that an illegal stream needs to be taken within 30 minutes. Again this isn’t ideal but it is something.

The issue is how 30 minutes translates for different sports so for a football match it is a third of the game, for a boxing fight it could be over already, whereas with longer sports like golf or cricket 30 minutes isn’t as critical..

You come from a tech background, can tech provide an answer to this problem?

Well tech has already provided a lot of the tools we use, certainly in the identification and discovery stage of the process. Particularly on a political level because watermarking, fingerprinting and the ability to actually track where the signal is actually coming from. 

We actually have legal certainty that our content has been stolen and retransmitted, which is really important when it comes to policy making. Everybody knows about the content that social media companies need to have taken down with hate speech, misinformation and alternative facts, what’s different with our case is that we have real proof that our content is stolen.

In short the technology is providing the tools, but it is just the application that needs to improve and the politics around it.

You spend a lot of your time lobbying for new piracy legislation in Europe, why is this so slow and what could new legislation really look like?

Well as I say one of the issues is that we get put into the same box as the removal of harmful content and we have just spoken about how that causes us problems. I think the bigger hurdle though is that the piracy ecosystem is extremely complex and hard to understand. 

If you’re a politician that has not studied anything to do with software engineering then getting your head around IP address and DNS blocking then it can be hard, these aren’t things that typically fall into your daily remit. 

I also think that at a political level there is this notion that sport should be freely available to all, which from our side doesn’t make a great deal of sense. So getting our point of view across takes a bit of time. There is also a massive misrepresentation of what Pay TV has done for sports to make the  coverage so much more compelling.

Golf is the sport I have been involved in for most of my life and if you look at the way that used to be covered and compare it to now, it is so different. You used to only be able to watch the majors and not even in their entirety and now you can watch practically every shot of all the majors if you want and probably around 30 hours of content a week from regular tournaments.

This sort of production comes at massive cost. There is no way of getting around that, people forget that the prices people pay for TV subscriptions are not just to make money, they are to cover their own costs as well. There is also the return to the athletes and that then filters down to the grassroots of their respective  sports 

I also think policy makers struggle to understand the value of the live broadcast as well, we have to move quickly or there isn’t a great deal of point in removing content once the event has finished. 

Can European legislation truly fix a global problem?

Well obviously not, but having clear pan-European legislation can go a long way towards it. We had similar problems in China, when copyright wasn’t viewed in the same way that we did in the West. That wasn’t a reason for giving up on copyright, it was an opportunity to educate China and now we have seen massive changes in their approach. But to bring it back to piracy, we have to get it right in Europe first before we can transfer a policy to the rest of  the world. 

Also due to bandwidth limitations and from the data our members have we know that the majority of the piracy that is being consumed in Europe is coming from Europe.

We know that piracy is costing rights owners money, but does stopping piracy have a price tag?

The thing about piracy is that it is something that you can never truly stop. It is a bit like a game of Whack-A-Mole. What I will go back to though is the value of the live experience that sport holds. If you’re watching pirated content then there needs to be a significant risk that you will only get to see the beginning  because it will get taken down. This makes it a lot less attractive for viewers to watch. We  need to be able to disrupt the system as quickly as possible. It isn’t the case for all but I don’t think pirates would be able to sell many subscriptions if their illegal streams were unreliable and unwatchable.

There was an independent study conducted by Ampere Analysis a couple of years ago that estimated that the piracy market is worth around half of the legitimate rights market. So that would make it worth $26 billion with the legitimate market being worth $52 billion. Even if that is out by 10 or 20% that is still a massive market. This has even caused issues in certain countries in relation to rights renewals where piracy is prevalent. And major rights holders get up to  80% of their income from media rights sales, so if that legitimate market is significantly undermined it has the potential to change the way sport is financed. 

So in short, there’s a lot at stake here.

How Pay TV is going to make 2023 the year of recurring revenue

We are living in interesting times. 

The relationship between brands and consumers continues to evolve. Forget the simple “buy and sell.” It’s not even about making sure that customers come back and buy again. We’ve moved beyond that now. Today, consumers want to sign up and pay up so they can stay connected to the brands, products and services they love, without having to think about it. More companies than ever are focusing their energies on providing frictionless experiences to customers, and in return, they get the promise of recurring revenues.

In short, the world is turning to subscriptions and memberships.

The beauty of subscriptions – and why they are proven time and again to be the future of commerce – is that they address and solve some key pain points. Both for consumers and companies.

For consumers, a good subscription is one that keeps them connected 24/7 to the product or service, so they can access the things they want, whenever they need. Whether it’s streaming their favorite music or content, or receiving their monthly box of shaving supplies, a subscription is magical – the customer does not need to put in any thought or effort. It’s just there.

For companies, the subscription model is an effective way to maintain relationships with customers over time. A subscription is not a one-time purchase – it’s a recurrent commitment from the customer. With subscriptions, the focus shifts from acquisition to retention to extend the lifetime value of each subscriber. And as we all know, it is far cheaper to retain an existing customer than acquire a new one.

In times of economic uncertainty, consumers become more sensitive to cost. They cut back on non-essential items, particularly if the payoff is not perceived as being worth it.

Subscriptions can overcome this, and that’s why we believe that 2023 will be the year of recurring revenue. The subscription mindset is already well-ingrained in the consumer landscape. There will be starts and stops, upsets and coughs, but the road to revenue is clear.

At the cusp of a new year, the challenges that companies face are enormous. The world is still reeling from the pandemic, inflation continues to rise, and chatter about recession has not let up.

Through all this, subscriptions enable companies to engage and delight customers on an ongoing basis. This is very powerful to make them stick around.

With the right subscription tech stack, companies can provide their subscribers with seamless experiences, including frictionless payments that do not leave any room for the customer to consider canceling or dropping off.

Here’s an example: a customer subscribes to a health food brand for a weekly box of healthy snacks delivered to their door. Sure, it’s a “non-essential” purchase. But on the other hand, the customer places great value on eating healthy. As the cost of living gets higher, the customer feels a certain internal tension as to whether to continue the subscription relationship.

Imagine that the customer’s credit card payment fails, and there was no automatic fix to this issue. The customer passively churns. But they had some doubts already, so when the sales rep calls to get the new credit card information and sign them up again, it is all too easy for the customer to stay unsubscribed.

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Now imagine that same scenario, however the company uses Vindicia Retain as part of their subscription operations. Retain “heals” the failed payment transaction and re-captures the payment, before the company is in need to contact the consumer to address the problem with the failed payment, and the subscription continues smoothly. This seamless and pleasant interaction creates a sense that the customer is cared for and appreciated. They don’t need to quibble over the subscription or price, because they feel the value of being a signed-up customer.

When a customer subscribes to a company, they are in the mindset to commit. In return, the company must make good on the relationship. 

By focusing on engagement and retention, and by using strategic tools like Retain, subscription companies can provide the seamless experiences that help customers stay committed. What’s more, your company stays a step ahead. Instead of investing precious financial resources in a call center trying to win back lost customers, you won’t lose them in the first place.

And that’s the key to recurring revenues in 2023. Happy New Year!

By Jesus Luzardo, VP Global Head of Sales at Vindicia. To find out more about the work Vindicia doing click here.

EngageRM launch The Engage Nation Podcast

EngageRM have recently launched a new podcast, don’t worry it isn’t just about CRM systems, they are speaking to leading figures in the sports and entertainment industry.

The monthly podcast has already had two episodes and has featured interviews with Jordon Kolosey, Vice President, Business Strategy and Innovation at Spurs Sport & Entertainment, owners of the San Antonio Spurs and Lea Miller-Tooley, President of Complete Sports Management.

With more exciting interviews to come over the following months, be sure to check out an episode by clicking here.

It takes one to know one, but we are loving this emerging monster of a newsletter from EngageRM, ‘The Crowd’. All the latest trends and stories from the world of sport and entertainment – your inbox is big enough for the two of us. Go and subscribe here.

Lionesses secure equal access to sports for girls

On International Women’s Day the Government set out new standards for equal access to sports, making it clear that girls and boys should be offered the same sports during PE and extracurricular time in schools.

Today’s package will help to boost equal opportunities in school sport both inside and outside the classroom, delivering on promises made by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Education Secretary Gillian Keegan to the Women’s Euro 22 winners the Lionesses.

This follows on from the success of the Football Association’s (FA) #LetGirlsPlay campaign which is working to change perceptions and make sure girls get the chance to play football within the school curriculum, as well as at breaktime, after school and at local clubs.

The campaign was launched by the Lionesses squad and the FA after the England Women’s team’s success at the Euro 22 tournament last year.

Schools that successfully deliver equal opportunities for girls and boys will be rewarded through the School Games Mark, which will assess parity of provision in PE and extracurricular sport.

Schools are also being asked to offer a minimum of two hours curriculum PE time and Government will provide support to schools on how to do this through the upcoming refresh of the School Sport Action Plan.

Alongside this work, Ofsted will be publishing a report into PE in the coming months, which will inform future inspections and set out what they believe is possible in terms of offering high quality PE and equal access to sports.

This is backed by a package of cross-government funding to help boost sport and activities both inside and outside school hours including the confirmation of over £600 million in funding over the next two academic years for the PE and Sport Premium and £22 million for the School Games Organisers (SGO) network.

England women’s captain, Leah Williamson, said:

The success of the summer has inspired so many young girls to pursue their passion for football.

We see it as our responsibility to open the doors for them to do so and this announcement makes that possible.

This is the legacy that we want to live much longer than us as a team. On behalf of all the Lionesses players, we’d like to thank our teammate Lotte Wubben-Moy as a driving force behind this transformational change.

We couldn’t be prouder to stand alongside her and we all look forward to seeing the impact this legacy creates.

The FA’s Chief Executive, Mark Bullingham, said:

The magic of last summer’s Euros victory can now live on with a legacy that has the ability to change the future of women’s football and positively impact society.

Equal access for girls is one of The FA’s strategic ambitions and for such progress to be made is a very proud day. We’re all extremely grateful to the players for using their voice to deliver change and would like to place on record our thanks to Government for the positive measures announced today.

Member Insights: It’s time to give women’s sport a level and equal playing field

In this Member Insights article Content Director of Cinch, David Granger hears from England cricketer’s Sarah Glenn and Emma Lamb about what needs to happen if sport is going to achieve equality.

If sport is going to embrace equality, it needs brand investment and a greater understanding of women’s experiences to inspire the next generation.

That’s according to England cricket international Sarah Glenn. Glenn and fellow international Emma Lamb were speaking at a panel discussion hosted by cinch, the online car sales site and chaired by Kate Miller, the ECB’s Chief Diversity and Communications Officer. cinch sponsor both women’s and men’s England cricket teams and the event was part of their International Women’s Day (IWD) series on March 8.

Glenn said: “We’ve come a long way so far, but the more women share their experiences across different sports, the more we can show what we go through and inspire more to want to be involved. One of the big shifts is social media, it allows us to show behind the scenes and the real stuff. Seeing more brands investing in this will help us share our story even further.”

The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day is embracing equity and – for sport in particular – that means celebrating women athletes and applauding when equality is achieved in pay, sponsorship and visibility.

Looking back at the last 12 months, arguably, progress has been made:

On court, tennis has led the way offering equal prize money for both women and men, and the US Open has had equal prize money since 1973

In India, the establishment of a women’s T20 cricket tournament demonstrated unprecedented investment with the intention of raising the sport’s profile and its female athletes

The UK government set up a panel to look at issues which affect women’s soccer at all levels

There was success was on the pitch, in the stands and homes of soccer fans during the 2022 Women’s Euros – more than 17.4 million people watched the final live and 87,000 spectators were at Wembley

In 2019, Formula W launched to have women compete in motorsport at a global level

This made 2022 a record-breaking year for Women’s Sport. International success positively affected domestic competition– with 75% of those who watched the Women’s Euros final have since seen a WSL fixture (according to BARB/Women’s Sports Trust)

But…

In tennis, no female players feature in the 2022 Forbes list of wealthiest athletes. No women feature at all in that list. It’s all men.

The Indian women’s T20 tournament is half the size of the men’s equivalent.

Formula W failed to complete its 2022 season and there is financial uncertainty about its future, while a rival series has been established by Formula 1. The F1 Academy will be a ‘feeder’ series and only appear at one of the 2023 F1 rounds. 

The UK panel features Lionesses head coach Hope Powell and (mentioned before her on the government website) former professional player turned commentator Ian Wright.

But:

Parts of the situation are being addressed. The fact that cinch sponsors men’s and women’s cricket, the fact that for the two Premier League clubs they sponsor (Tottenham Hotspur and Crystal Palace) they partner with the women’s team means partners are starting to give equal billing and visibility.

In the US, the women’s national soccer team won a $24 million payout and an assurance there would be equal remuneration for both teams in all national competitions. But that took six years to accomplish.

Their Canadian counterparts are entering the same fight in an attempt to gain equality, the north American fight for equity is far from over.

While women’s sport has seen progress in gaining equality, there is still work to be done before we are able to more widely applaud equality in pay, sponsorship or visibility. Ruling bodies, federations, clubs, teams and partners all have their role in ensuring all top athletes get what they play on level, equitable playing fields.

As Lamb said at the cinch session: “When I was younger, I didn’t think I could be a professional cricketer and now I’m speaking to young woman and girls after the game that want to be involved. It feels really special.”

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Meet the Member – “The festival alone contributes more than £274 million to the local economy”

With Cheltenham week just around the corner our Content Manager, Alex Brinton spoke to the CCO of The Jockey Club, Charlie Boss and Cheltenham Racecourse’s Head of Operations Gethin Jenkins to find out how preparations were going and try and get a tip for The Gold Cup. 

Charlie, if you could very briefly introduce what the Jockey Club does and your role within that?

I like to think about The Jockey Club like the beating heart of the British horseracing industry. From a business perspective, we run 15 racecourses and some of the UK’s biggest sporting events like the Cheltenham Festival, the Randox Grand National and The Derby, as well as training grounds and the National Stud to help breed and develop the horses that race at those courses.

My role is to help The Jockey Club make money from all that. In turn we then invest every penny of profit back into British racing, primarily via prize money, which is like the lifeblood that sustains racehorse owners, trainers, jockeys and all the incredible stable staff who underpin it all.

On a day-to-day basis, that sees my team run what may be the biggest owned hospitality business in UK sport, selling 170,000 covers last year. We are also creating rich partnerships with our sponsors that storytell year-round and nationwide across our 15 courses. And we are always looking at ways to creatively drive revenue from our venues, from a thriving conference and events business to other on-site entertainment like hotels and golf courses. We even use the centre of the course at one location to graze sheep!

Within that time, there is a flow around the racecourse between the parade ring, food and beverage areas, shopping village, bookmakers and the viewing areas so the whole site feels like it’s constantly on the move.

You have been at the Jockey Club for two years, what has surprised you about the horse racing business?

The breadth and diversity of it. From a fan perspective, our 15 racecourses welcome very different audiences, and the more time I spend with each of them the more I realise how varied the communities and fan bases they serve are. At its extremes, we cater from royalty at The Derby through to farmers in Lincolnshire or Somerset, and from children attending for the first time at a family day to passionate racing fans who have been coming for an entire lifetime.

We are also a tremendously diverse business, covering everything from high end hospitality to mucking out the stables at the National Stud. It makes the job of Chief Commercial Officer an extremely varied and fulfilling one.

Coming out of the pandemic, what have been your biggest challenges as a business?

I obviously joined The Jockey Club in the middle of the pandemic, and I have been staggered at how quickly we have recovered, right through to us announcing record prize money in 2022 and then again in 2023. So in truth we have rebounded quicker and more successfully than we might have imagined. We have our fans and of course our incredible people to thank for that.

It’s probably those people and how best to look after them that I agonise most about. 

Firstly, they each endured their own personal challenges over the pandemic. Secondly, they have had to work incredibly hard to conjure the rebound and success we have enjoyed over the last 12 months. 

But taking a longer term view, like people everywhere the way they work has fundamentally changed since the pandemic, and making sure we help them to lead happy, balanced lives while still delivering more than 340 racedays and literally thousands of conferences and other events each year is a daily challenge.

Looking forward then, what are you doing differently in 2023?

With my commercial hat on, The Jockey Club is an amazingly entrepreneurial and innovative organisation. When I arrived I was blown away by how many good ideas to grow the business existed across our teams, and two years in much of my job is still fuelled by bringing those ideas to life. Over the course of this year we have several new business launches planned to diversify our revenue, with the most recently announced being a columbarium wall at Cheltenham that allows fans and their loved ones to be memorialised at the spiritual home of Jump racing. 

And of course all of those new initiatives are generating money we can invest back into the sport. Beyond commercial, we are obsessed at the moment about how we can work more efficiently, leveraging our scale with 15 venues and the talent that exists in the business to make the lives of our people easier and their experience of working for The Jockey Club even more rewarding.

So Gethin, talk to us a bit about your experience before you came to work at Cheltenham?

I’ve had a varied career, which has included being a CEO of a professional rugby team and EFL Championship football team, both with venues to run. I’ve also been on the governing body rights-holding side, as competitions manager/tournament director for World Rugby in countries as varied as Chile and Argentina through to Russia, China and Kenya.

More recently I’ve also been CEO of England Boxing. From an events perspective, I was Head of Event Delivery for the 2015 Rugby World Cup hosted in England and Wales. This meant I had responsibility for the delivery and match management of the 13 venues, which included Twickenham, Wembley, Principality Stadium, St James Park, Kingsholm and Sandy Park in Exeter and in addition there was responsibility for the team services. In summary I’ve had a varied career but one that has incorporated events, governing bodies and venues.

Other than being a different sport, what are the main differences between what you have done before and what you are doing now?

I think the biggest difference is the length of the activity and the flows around the venue itself. Spectators arrive from 10.30am at Cheltenham and many stay until well after the last race, which can be 5.30pm. 

Within that time, there is a flow around the racecourse between the parade ring, food and beverage areas, shopping village, bookmakers and the viewing areas so the whole site feels like it’s constantly on the move.

The difference in sports like football and rugby is that the fans and client groups arrive and stay mostly in the same areas before leaving again the same way they came in. The other significant difference, of course, is the added factor of being involved with the care and welfare of horses, which is clearly different to players and teams.

So we are in your first cycle of planning the festival, what has that been like?

So far it’s been excellent. It is an annual event as opposed to, say, the Rugby World Cup or Commonwealth Games, so there is greater opportunity to build year-on-year. 

There are also a lot of staff and contractors who are clearly experienced, passionate and invested in delivering racing and customer experience to the highest standards. Some of the areas we have been concentrating on are security and safety planning, resilience and contingency planning, especially in the case of a potential rail strike, for instance. Plus, there is the not insignificant challenge of 40,000 sqm of temporary build! As well as being one of the biggest temporary builds in Europe, it’s an added factor that most sporting venues which regularly host nearly 70,000 people on their biggest days don’t have to consider.

The festival has a massive effect on the community with so many people descending on to the town, what work do you do with locals?

The Festival alone contributes more than £274 million to the local economy, but while we celebrate it as an event of national sporting significance, it clearly has a local impact and it’s important that we are good neighbours and contribute throughout the year. 

This year we’ve launched the Love Our Turf campaign to work with the local council and other authorities and stakeholders to provide way-finding, extra toilets and other support to minimise the impact on local residents. These people are our neighbours all year, not just during the four days of The Festival, and it’s really important that we consider them before, during and after all our racedays.

The festival is obviously your biggest week, how do you go about trying to convert people from festival goers to regular attendees?

First and foremost it’s about providing a safe and enjoyable event coupled with the highest standard of customer experience possible, regardless of whether you are a racegoer joining us with a group of friends or paying for high-end hospitality as a treat or an opportunity to host business associates.

That starts when the initial contact is made and can be a phone conversation with one of our sales team or simply the quality of the information about the course and what to expect that arrives in an envelope with your tickets. 

I think racing is really welcoming and accessible in that regard, and this attention to detail should continue right through to the day itself, ensuring everyone has a fantastic experience at the event. It’s then up to us to follow up with racegoers afterwards to get feedback to make improvements in future and also ensure that they are aware of the other opportunities to visit Cheltenham Racecourse or other Jockey Club venues throughout the year.

One of the big attractions at the festival is the Guinness Village. What is it like working with Guinness on such a big project?

Guinness are a really dynamic and innovative partner who, like The Jockey Club, are always trying to improve customer experience. This year is no different, with one or two changes to the Guinness Village and the focus on raising the awareness of Guinness 0.0 and drinking responsibly.

Any tips for The Gold Cup?

Come early, dress for the weather, enjoy the day and be respectful of the neighbours when leaving. You wouldn’t want to rely on me for racing tips!

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McLaren Racing announce multi-year partnership with New Era

McLaren Racing today announced a multi-year partnership extension and expansion with New Era, the leading headwear and lifestyle brand, becoming Official Headwear Partner to all McLaren’s race series teams from the 2023 season.  

New Era will continue to provide driver and fan headwear for the McLaren Formula 1 Team and the McLaren Shadow esports Team, while extending its support to the Arrow McLaren IndyCar Team, NEOM McLaren Formula E Team, NEOM McLaren Extreme E Team. 

For 2023, McLaren and New Era will release products to celebrate dedicated races, and a McLaren60 special edition cap to mark the team’s 60th anniversary. 

A wider collection of designs and styles across New Era’s iconic silhouettes will be launched, including the 9FORTY curved visor, the 9FIFTY snapback, the mesh Trucker, and the knitted Beanie. 

Lindsey Eckhouse, Director, Licensing and Digital Products, McLaren Racing, said: “We are delighted to extend and grow our partnership with New Era, a distinguished brand that shares McLaren’s ambition to be brave and bold. The response to our fan headwear has been fantastic, so we are excited to now bring New Era’s headwear to every series we race in. 

“Our 60th birthday is an important milestone for our team, and New Era’s McLaren60 special edition cap will give our fans a great way to join us in celebrating.”

Paul Gils, VP EMEA, New Era, said: “We have significantly grown our partnership with McLaren Racing over the last five years through its Formula 1 team, so we’re thrilled to be broadening our product offering to McLaren Racing’s wider fan base as their official headwear partner across all five race series.”