Mass Relevance, the US-based technology leader in enabling social experiences, has announced a partnership with the International Tennis Federation (ITF) to launch an online and in-venue social hub.

The hub will be on Mass Relevance’s platform for its premier team competition Davis Cup by BNP Paribas.

Through Mass Relevance, the ITF offered fans following the 2013 Davis Cup Final in Belgrade on 15-17 November an engaging, interactive online destination that integrated real-time, brand-relevant social content from Twitter. The experience — which drove participation and encouraged visitors to join in the conversation — featured a social media hub that aggregated the most engaging social content from Twitter to create an interactive experience both online and in the Davis Cup Final stadium. Garnering high engagement rates throughout the weekend, the volume of conversation including the hashtag #DavisCupexceeded 47,000 mentions on Twitter, and 23 percent of attendants participated in the in-venue social experience.

“We are delighted to partner with Mass Relevance to bring social conversations to the center of Davis Cup,” said Ed Pearson, Web Editor at the International Tennis Federation. “The social media hub leveraged the power of real-time social content to create a compelling online and in-venue destination that amplified conversations related to the competition. By enabling fans to engage socially with Davis Cup, the ITF garnered more attention for the competition and allowed fans to be a part of the conversation.”

Behind the scenes, Mass Relevance’s social experience platform discovered, filtered and displayed the real-time conversations that drove the social media hub.

“Social networks are excellent platforms for sports fans to connect with others and get up-to-date details about players, games and matches,” said Sam Decker, CEO and Founder of Mass Relevance. “We’re pleased to help the International Tennis Federation create an online and in-venue social hub that seamlessly integrates and presents compelling, relevant social content from multiple sources. Davis Cup fans easily engaged with the brand and each other and felt like a valuable part of the experience.”

The Mass Relevance platform helps brands, media and agencies get more from their social media efforts by building social experiences into their marketing strategy.

Leading sports marketing and sponsorship agency, ampoule  Generate, ed has been appointed by Euroleague Basketball to collaborate in all marketing and communications activities leading up to and around the Turkish Airlines Final Four competition at London’s O2 Arena in May 2013.

Generate will work alongside Euroleague to provide an integrated agency solution to deliver the short and long term objectives for basketball within the UK. This will include a detailed PR and activation strategy leading up to and during the Final Four event to engage fans with basketball and draw in a sell-out crowd at the O2. Generate will also be working on consultancy activity, malady as well as working to identify and secure key sponsors and partners to engage with the Final Four competition and Fanzone. eratepartnership with the British Basketball League (BBL). o promote the sport within the UK and encourage grassroots initiat

As part of the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Final Four, the Generate’s specialist events team will be producing a Euroleague Fanzone, hosted in Trafalgar Square throughout the duration of the competition. The area will include a variety of fun and engaging activities for fans from basketball exhibitions to music and entertainment. In addition, the activity will provide a platform for Euroleague to promote the sport within the UK and encourage grassroots initiatives in partnership with the British Basketball League (BBL).

The Turkish Airlines Euroleague Final Four is a three-day championship event taking place from May 10-12 2013 and it marks the finale of an eight-month long competition involving the 24 top European teams.

Jordi Bertomeu, Euroleague Basketball, President and CEO, said,“We are thrilled to be working with Generate in helping us to bring the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Final Four to The O2 Arena in London for the first time. By bringing Euroleague to the UK, we want to help create a legacy for basketball in the UK and hope that the sport will eventually be mature enough to have a team in the Euroleague competition. Through a combination of great basketball and fun activities like the Trafalgar Square Fanzone, we can’t wait to show the UK public the excitement and passion of our sport.”

Rupert Pratt, Generate Sponsorship, managing director, said, “We are very excited to be working with a major rights holder like Euroleague in helping them to establish a presence in the UK.Euroleague is one of the most popular and prestigious competitions in Europe with live action in 50 cities and a passionate fan base.

“The UK needs a premier basketball competition and given Euroleague’s strength, this is a huge opportunity for the development of the sport. The Final Four competition at the O2 Arena and the Fanzone will draw in a sell-out crowd and is a great opportunity to promote the sport of basketball and attract commercial partners in the process. However, this is just the start, as we are working on a long term commercial strategy, strategic communications campaign and engaging live events for Euroleague in the UK.”

Euroleague is Europe’s premier basketball competition and in the 12 years since it was established, it has grown to become the world’s second largest basketball competition after the NBA. The 24 teams compete across 12 major European cities and regularly host pre-season games against touring NBA teams.

The Cambodian government is set to invest heavily in the future of national sport after deciding to create an inter-ministerial committee to manage the construction of an Olympic Park-style facility.

The 94-hectare plot for the development was approved by Prime Minister Hun Sen earlier this week.

Phnom Penh Governor, denture Kep Chuktema has been chosen to head the committee and established four subcommittees including a technical, therapy dispute resolving, advice construction management, and land and building surveying committee.

The total cost of Morodok Techo National Sports Complex has not yet officially been announced, but the government will reportedly bear the total cost.

Engineering experts have estimated an expenditure of between US$100M and US$150M. The blueprint consists of six arenas and a weights training gym for up to 1,500 elite athletes.

The 43,000-seater main stadium will house a football pitch and running track. A multipurpose indoor stadium on 3.6 hectares will seat 15,000 spectators, while a swimming centre on a similarly-sized area of land will be able to host 6,000 people.

There is also a proposed 3,700-seater badminton and table tennis hall, a 3,700-seat gymnastics and traditional sports hall and a 3,000-seater sports hall for basketball, volleyball and futsal. {jcomments on}

 

Newcastle have accepted defeat and will fight the decision to allow London Welsh to play in the Premiership next season.

The Falcons finished bottom of the Aviva Premiership table last season and therefore would have been, under normal circumstances, automatically relegated to the Championship, with the play-off winners replacing them in the top flight.

But it was deemed that the Exiles had ‘failed to meet the minimum standards required of a Premiership club’ and were therefore denied the right to ply their trade in England’s top division.

The Richmond-based club launched an appeal, which was heard in London on June 21, and the RFU panel agreed with their grievances and ruled that the decision to deny them the chance to play in the Premiership breached UK and European competition law and was therefore void and unenforceable.

Newcastle considered legal action of their own but have now released a statement which will draw the matter to a close so they can focus on the task of bouncing back at the first attempt with Dean Richards now on board as director of rugby.

A club statement read: “Newcastle Falcons confirm there will be no appeal of the decision made by the independent panel to uphold London Welsh’s appeal and relegate the Falcons to the Championship.

“We are now looking forward to an exciting new era under the guidance of incoming director of rugby Dean Richards.”

Welsh will play their home games at Oxford United’s Kassam Stadium next term, bringing the number of Premiership clubs that ground share with football clubs to four.

Shamrock Rovers account for more than a third of Airtricity Premier League facebook fans and over 20 per cent of twitter followers of the twelve club’s official social media channels, ask according for a new report by Sport for Business.

With teams and players back in pre season training the numbers are sure to rise but already League fans number just short of those who follow the Guinness Irish rugby Challenge on facebook.

The results are published today by Sport for Business. This is the first in a series on social media and sport in Ireland by the new professional network for leaders in sport and business.

“Sports fans are ahead of the game in harvesting information though social media,” said Sport for Business CEO Rob Hartnett.  “These channels are a critical part of any clubs engagement with those they hope to attract through the turnstiles or into the merchandising net.”

On a global scale the ability of Man United and Barcelona to enhance loyalty and make themselves more attractive to investors and commercial partners means their sites run to millions of followers.  United have 22 million fans, Real Madrid 24 million and Barcelona 26 million. 

“In Ireland things are obviously at a more modest scale but over the coming months we will see more clubs and sporting organisations tapping into the digital media of today and tomorrow,” added Hartnett.  “They need to build value with commercial partners who will look on these numbers as an indicator of the fan engagement.” 

“In the Airtricity Premier League, Shamrock Rovers are sitting at the top of the charts in many ways.  Reigning Champions with the largest crowds and biggest supporter base, they have worked this through to social media through having more than three times the number of fans as their nearest rivals Sligo Rovers.” 

“In terms of Twitter followers the gap is slightly smaller but the number of tweets gives a clear indication of how hard the club is willing to work at building and maintaining the loyalty of its 5,620 followers.” 

“The Tweet count of 13,355 is impressive and compares to a mere 90 tweets from Drogheda united whose twitter fan base is the smallest in the League.” 

“UCD’s numbers have perhaps the greatest potential to grow, given the likely student base of support and familiarity with the media.  Their numbers will be interesting to watch in the coming months as they seek to climb out of the Social Media relegation spots in our league table.”

by Ismail Uddin

Club		Facebook Likes		Twitter Followers		Tweets
Shamrock Rovers		21738		5620		13355
Sligo Rovers		6502		2973		5239
Cork City		6282		3539		4714
Bray Wanderers		4551		1064		312
Derry city		4116		2798		3383
Bohemians		4103		1109		470
Drogheda United		3034		551		90
Dundalk		2946		2058		6016
St Patricks Athletic		2865		1546		2641
Shelbourne		2094		1087		2804
UCD		1473		822		901
Monaghan United		106		975		1918

German Version

With more than 50 registered guests, bronchi including representatives from Allianz, erectile TSV 1860 München, health Osram, Sponsorplan and Deloitte, the inaugural iSportconnect Directors Club Germany in Munich was a great success.

After a short introduction from iSportconnect’s Director of German Operations Sonja Kreye, Dr. Christian Deuringer, Head of Global Brand Management from Allianz SE and member of the sponsorship association S 20, started with a short opening into the evening’s main topic ‘hospitality & the law’. Dr. Joseph Fesenmair, Partner at Bird & Bird, provided a basis for talks by Josef Stadtfeld, Managing Director of S 20 and Stefan Ludwig, Director at Deloitte, who subsequently discussed the pros and cons of the S 20 code of practice, moderated by Sonja Kreye.

It soon became clear that all members of the sports business are facing the same problem of being insecure about which behaviour is still legal and which is not. Josef Stadtfeld from S 20 said: “The S 20 code of practice provides some clear guidelines of what sponsors can do and what they should do in terms of inviting customers to events. It obviously cannot be legally binding, but it is a practical guide with showcases of how to avoid entering twilight zones [areas where the legal situation is unclear].”

Sonja Kreye, iSportconnect Director of German Operations, said: “It proved right to choose this important topic for our inaugural event. We were completely sold out and received some great feedback from participants and I am sure that we can establish this event as a benchmark in the regional sports business.”

“This event provides great opportunities to meet the members of the sports industry in person. We  were able to show what is possible when establishing an event that brings real value and a real possibility to network aside of the virtual services that iSportconnect.com offers.”

Preparations have started today to find a long-term location for iSportconnect networking events, as well as more partners, to ensure iSportconnect event s will continue to be of the highest standard.

Zimbabwe Cricket has signed a kit sponsorship deal with sports manufacturer Reebok, it has been announced.

Managing director of Zimbabwe Cricket, Ozias Bvute, said: “I can confirm that an agreement has been reached with Reebok but we will make a public announcement in the next few weeks. We are currently finalising the details.”

The deal will cover all national teams and franchises, and sees an end to Zimbabwe Cricket’s long-term partnership with local manufacturer Faith Wear.

The national team is expected to start using the new Reebok kit as soon as possible.

Reebok is a subsidiary of German company Adidas which already has kit deals with the Sri Lanka and South Africa cricket teams.