The DP World Tour today announced its full 12-month schedule for the 2023 season, featuring a minimum of 39 tournaments in 26 countries, once again emphasising its position as golf’s global Tour.
DP World Tour members will compete for an overall prize fund of $144.2million across the tournaments outside the Major Championships and WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play (see Appendix 1 for the full schedule) including an increased bonus pool of $6million for the leading eight players on the DP World Tour Rankings in Partnership with Rolex.
As part of this record total prize fund, the 2023 season will also see the introduction of a new Earnings Assurance Programme for DP World Tour members.
Exempt players in categories 1-17 will be guaranteed minimum earnings of $150,000 if they compete in 15 or more events as part of the programme (see Appendix 2 for further details) which was agreed by the DP World Tour’s Tournament Committee last week.
Both the record prize fund, increased bonus pool and Earnings Assurance Programme have been made possible by the DP World Tour’s operational joint venture partnership with the PGA TOUR which was announced in June.
Keith Pelley, the DP World Tour’s Chief Executive, said: “For us to be able to offer our members record prize funds and enhanced earning opportunities is massive, particularly when global economies are still feeling the effects of the pandemic and with the new challenge of rising inflation significantly putting pressure on costs in all facets of our business.
“Our overall prize fund for the 2023 season represents $50 million more than 2021 and also underlines the strength of our partnership with the PGA TOUR, who are working with us to drive revenue and a long-term growth plan.
“One of the many benefits we have been able to introduce because of this partnership is the new Earnings Assurance Programme, similar to what they already have on the PGA TOUR. I have always believed that it is an incredible accomplishment for any professional golfer to simply gain their playing rights on the DP World Tour and this new initiative recognises and rewards that achievement.
“Although we will never lose the magic of the meritocracy and purity of a performance-based structure, this now offers certainty of income to those players who have made it to the pinnacle of the professional game in Europe.
“Alongside the John Jacobs Bursary for the top five players who graduate to the DP World Tour from the Challenge Tour, it will provide security and a strong platform for emerging players in particular as they come through the global pathways we have created.”
Included in the DP World Tour’s record prize fund of $144.2million is an increase in the tournament prize funds for the first four Rolex Series events of 2023. The Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, Dubai Desert Classic, Genesis Scottish Open and BMW PGA Championship all move from $8million in 2022 to $9million next year, ahead of the $10million season-ending DP World Tour Championship.
The DP World Tour’s global schedule begins with on November 24, 2022, with a double header – the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship in Brisbane and the Joburg Open in South Africa. The former is one of two tournaments in Australia on the DP World Tour schedule as part of the Strategic Alliance with the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia, while the latter is one of six events co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Tour, also as part of a strategic alliance.
Four new tournaments in Asia are also included on the 2023 schedule, with the Singapore Classic (February 9-12) and Thailand Classic (February 16-19) taking place in consecutive weeks, followed by the Tour’s first trip to Japan for the ISPS HANDA – CHAMPIONSHIP (April 20-23) and a return to Korea for the first time since 2013 (April 27-30).
In Europe, there are dates changes for several tournaments, including the Horizon Irish Open moving to September 7-10, while the Italian Open will take place from May 4-7 ahead of venue Marco Simone Golf & Country Club hosting the 2023 Ryder Cup from September 29 – October 1.
There is also a new three-week summer break in the schedule following the 151st Open Championship and Barracuda Championship (both July 20-23) which has been introduced following player feedback. Further details about the autumn events will be announced in due course.
Sage announce partnership with Prime Video
Sage, a global leader in software technology, has signed a broadcast sponsorship with Prime Video, the official UK broadcaster of the Autumn Nations Series 2022, in addition to its role as Official Insights Partner of Six Nations Rugby.
Sage and Prime Video will give viewers a deeper insight into the Autumn Nations Series using additional real time data and analytics in an informative and engaging way.
The broadcaster’s rugby coverage will also feature a new Sage advertisement featuring Sage customer and South African Rugby World Cup winning legend, Bryan Habana. Habana is a Sage partner and uses Sage products and services for his financial wellness platform Paymenow which he helped establish in 2019.
The 2022 Autumn Nations Series began on October 29th when Australia narrowly beat Scotland at Murrayfield Stadium. It represented the first time that Sage used the Smart Ball data and presented its insight to fans in a northern hemisphere test match.
Both Sage and Prime Video are market-leaders in innovation and regularly look for ways to improve the consumer experience. This partnership will strengthen that ambition by bringing fans closer to the action than ever before.
Cath Keers, CMO of Sage said: “We are excited to partner with Prime Video for the upcoming Autumn Nations Series. The partnership will enable us to deliver fascinating data and insights to fans in an engaging, accessible and human way – an ambition at the heart of our new role as Official Insights Partner to Six Nations Rugby.
“Much like Prime Video, we are committed to innovation and enhancing the consumer experience, so this partnership makes total sense. We look forward to working alongside them to bring the Smart Ball insights and new data to life for those watching at home.”
Bryan Habana, Co-Founder and CCO of Paymenow said, “Our company has been a partner of Sage in South Africa since 2020 and so it was a good fit for me to become involved in their new rugby advertising. Both as a player and now a broadcaster, I have always found the advancement of data and insights extremely valuable, and Sage’s new role within rugby means they are helping to enhance the match experience for fans across the world. Their involvement with the smart ball is exciting as it gives fans access to data right from the heart of the game within seconds.”
Meet the Member: “Our Advantage All programme, which began a couple of years ago, really lays out the foundation of equality for women and what they’re trying to achieve”
On the eve of the Billie Jean King Cup Finals and the Advantage All Global Forum in Glasgow this month, iSportConnect interviewed ITF President David Haggerty about the flagship women’s event and the ITF’s progress in achieving gender equality.
Q: This will be the second Billie Jean King Cup Finals following the tournament’s rebranding from the Fed Cup. The Covid pandemic, which interfered with the launch edition, is behind us now, so in a way this is really the new beginning. How has the rebranding been going? You have had an exciting development with a new partner.
The rebranding of the Billie Jean King Cup has been a very successful journey. Billie Jean is a true icon and having a competition named after her means so much. And through that and some of her relationships, she and Ilana Kloss and Billie Jean King Enterprises have helped us to grow our portfolio of sponsors and supporters. We just recently announced that Gainbridge has come on as the title sponsor. And the exciting thing about that is it has allowed us to increase the prize money. So that from this year we’ll have equivalent prize money for the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in 2022 compared to the men in the Davis Cup Finals. And that is a tremendous development and something that we believe in.
In addition to Gainbridge, we’ve been able to bring on Tory Burch, Microsoft and Magellan as well. We have a nice portfolio of partners that are like-minded in what we’re trying to achieve in terms of women’s equality with our Advantage All programme, as well as supporting the Billie Jean King Cup.
Q: Equivalent prize money is a big achievement. You’re really ‘walking the walk,’ as they say, when it comes to equality.
Having like-minded partners like Gainbridge is the key. They believe in parity. They believe in equivalent prize money. And they said that was one of the hooks that made them want to come on. But one of the important things for them, they said, is that they want to want to make sure that the funding is really going to the right places. And we said, well, we do too. So it’s a great partnership.
Q: Tennis is played in every country in the world and not all countries have the same traditions or attitudes or necessarily have gone along on the trajectory of gender equality in quite the same way. So how does the ITF navigate that and how are you able to promote your vision to your global stakeholders?
Our Advantage All programme, which began a couple of years ago, really lays out the foundation of equality for women and what we’re trying to achieve. But it goes beyond women. It’s about diversity and inclusion. Let me just focus for a minute since we’re talking about Billie Jean King Cup and our Advantage All programme on the women’s gender balance that we’re trying to achieve. Tennis is a great sport because we’ve got 50-50 on the court, we’ve got men and women, and the big events such as the Billie Jean King Cup, Davis Cup and Grand Slams tournaments now have equal prize money.
But where we need to do more work is with officials, with coaches, to have more women involved in those aspects, and also to have more women in administration on the boards of directors of our member national associations and affiliated regional associations. I can give you a couple of examples. I was just in Ghana two weekends ago where we had the African Regional Annual General Meeting and they have now put into their constitution a minimum requirement for women to be on their executive committee, which is a body of seven people. And that’s a tremendous step.
In Tunisia we have a female president, Salma Guizani, who is on the board of the International Tennis Federation. She’s also a member of our Advantage All Committee. We had a great opening of our new African Tennis Centre in Sousse in Tunisia, and Ons Jabeur, the number two player in the world, the first African and the first Arab woman to really break through, came and helped us. So we’re doing things like that. It shouldn’t be lost on people that Saudi Arabia, for example, has a woman, Arij Almutabagani, as the president of the federation. When many people think of Saudi Arabia, they don’t think of females in leadership roles.
In our Advantage All programme we have mentoring. We have a couple of hundred women that are on a leadership programme who are coaches, officials, board members and administrators. But a lot of what we’re trying to do is to make a difference at the board level. So the ITF will be introducing new gender representation quotas at our AGM this year in Glasgow to be implemented for the next election in 2027 so that we ensure a minimum gender requirement. And all the nations and regions will be doing something in their own way so that over the next four years we can build and build and build. Having women available to fill the roles is not an issue, because we have a great selection of women who are available today.
Q: Is this a top-down process for the ITF or it up to the national associations to deal with their own grassroots and their own internal policies around gender balance?
It’s a little bit of both. The ITF believes that we have to set an example and show leadership from the top of what we’re trying to do. It’s a bit like what the IOC has done, right? The IOC has just appointed their commission members with 50% women for the first time. We’ve got more than 30 per cent of women on our committees and commissions. At the same time our Advantage All programme goes down to the nations. We have toolkits that every nation receives and we have seminars and workshops that we put on with the nations and also with the Advantage All leadership programme participants. So the idea is we simultaneously build from the ground up through the national associations, and lead from the top down from an ITF perspective to demonstrate what needs to be done and provide these programmes and supporting materials to help nations and regions so that we go on this journey together to build gender diversity.
Q: Are there big gaps in the way different national associations prioritize men’s and women’s tennis?
The gaps are narrowing. Our World Tennis Tour professional events offer prize money from $15,000 up to $100,000 for women, and from $15,000 to $25,000 for men. Our goal is to make sure that we have as many playing opportunities for women as we do the men. That’s on the professional side, but we’re following the same principle on the junior side and on the masters’ (35 years plus) side. As part of our Advantage All programme, the KPIs that we put in place to measure ourselves and our progress include getting to parity with events. We still have more men’s events than women’s events on the professional side, but that has really narrowed this year. We’ve had tremendous growth in the number of women’s events being held.
Q: Are there countries where women’s tennis is actually prioritized ahead of men’s game? You mentioned Tunisia. Does it depend on the success of individual woman players?
A lot of it is driven by the success of players. Sometimes it works in reverse, where there’s a long history of men’s events and you have more men coming through, but now you begin to see more women. In South America, where we talk to the 10 nations that compose that regional association, they have put more effort into hosting more women’s events and are now almost to the point of parity. And they’re seeing the results, with some of their top women beginning to make it up the ranks. Not just the junior ranks, but the professional ranks. If you take a well-developed country like the United States, today you’ve got two of the top 10 women in the world, Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula. But their men’s programme is still also very strong. They’ve got three men in the top 20. So there can be balance.
We’ve got to put more emphasis on having more women’s events because culturally, let’s face it, the world is not the same everywhere and sometimes there aren’t as many. Trying to get more women’s events in the Arab world, for example, and more in Asia has been one of the tasks that we have taken on for the next couple of years.
Q: Looking at the women’s rankings, it’s really striking how many different countries there are with top players. They come from all over the world.
Yes, that’s now the case. And that shows how important it was for tennis to come back on the Olympic programme. It made such an enormous difference because by getting on the Olympic programme, you open up the opportunities for the national tennis federations to work with their NOCs, their sport ministers to get funding from those resources to grow tennis. When you’re not an Olympic sport, you’re not in that same conversation. If we look back to before we returned to the Games in 1988, we had 45 or 50 countries that had top players in the top 100. Now it’s about 65 to 70 different nations that are in the rankings because of tennis growing in more nations.
Q: Let’s conclude in the spirit of gender equality by talking about men’s tennis. The ITF has undertaken an ambitious redirection of the Davis Cup in partnership with Kosmos Tennis. What have the key developments been and what’s going to happen next?
We’ve been very excited about the 2022 competition. We made a change and modification this year. Last year we had three cities where we played the group stages in November, then immediately moved on to the Finals in Madrid. This year we split the event, so the group stage element of the Finals was held in September in four different cities. By doing that, we were able to bring tennis to more people around the world. Broadcast figures went up and attendance rose to 105,000 people compared to 65,000 last year. So we brought the group stage to a broader population. We’ll now be going to Malaga for the Finals at the end of November, where we’ll have the top eight nations competing. Ticket sales have gone very, very well there.
We’ve wanted to keep the balance of tradition and innovation in what we do. And with Kosmos, we’ve been able to do that. The group stages have been extremely successful this year. We had many nations expressing an interest in hosting. We are now asking nations to express interest for 2023 and are getting a tremendous response.
Q: You’ve just done the rebranding of the Billie Jean King Cup, so one step at a time. But eventually, do you think the Billie Jean King Cup will want to follow the same sort of plan?
Absolutely. I remember that when we announced in our annual general meeting, when the council approved the Davis Cup changes, I made the commitment on behalf of the board saying the next step is Billie Jean King Cup, and we’re now on that journey. So we now have 12 teams in the Finals versus 16 for the men. Over time we want to progress. It’s about equality in the number of nations. This year 151 nations entered Davis Cup and 127 nations entered Billie Jean King Cup. There’s a difference there of 24. The good news is that we’ve grown from 96 nations in 2018 to where we are now in Billie Jean King Cup, because of the format and thanks to the funding that the ITF has provided. The goal is to get up to the same number of teams as compete in Davis Cup, and then I would envision a similar format of 16 teams somewhere down the road when we’re ready.
OneFootball announce connected TV app
OneFootball, the world’s largest football media platform, has today announced a major new product as part of its multi-platform strategy, with the launch of a connected TV app that will bring its library of video content to hundreds of millions of TV screens for the first time.
OneFootball TV will allow the platform’s +100 million Monthly Active Users (MAUs) to enjoy OneFootball’s full suite of video content from the world’s top clubs, leagues and federations on their TV screen. Integrating with its mobile and web platforms, the app creates a seamless OneFootball experience across devices.
With OneFootball TV, fans all around the world can access a mixture of free and paid live matches from OneFootball and its partners, including elite leagues such as the German Bundesliga, Italian Serie A and Brazil’s Campeonato Brasileiro Série A*. The OneFootball community can pay for single matches and tailor-made packages through the TV platforms’ native payment methods, or through a web browser QR code.
Alongside thrilling live match action, people can catch up on all the goals and saves they missed with curated match highlights, plus breaking news and club content tailored to each fan’s individual interests. Official content from some of the world’s biggest teams will be available provided by OneFootball’s extensive network of industry partners.
The launch also opens up new opportunities for OneFootball partners to connect with OneFootball’s audience of young and engaged football fans, with all video content on the platform supporting programmatic advertising, including live free-to-air games and highlights videos.
The app is now available on Apple tvOS and Amazon Fire TV devices around the world, with support for Android, Samsung and LG smart TVs to follow in the coming weeks. Android TV devices include recent TV models manufactured by the likes of Sony, Hisense, Philips and more.
Ismail Elshareef, Chief Product Officer, OneFootball, said: “Today’s football fan experiences the game in many different ways, whether that’s in a stadium, on TV, or on their mobile device. We know our users want the option to watch live matches on the big screen, so we’ve answered their call by making it even easier to enjoy the game they love, in any way that suits them – on their phones, on the web, and now on connected TV devices. We can’t wait to bring OneFootball’s incredible variety of content to television screens around the world – in full HD, that brings you, and your friends and family even closer to the action.”
Sportel heads to Bali in February
Sportel’s Asian market will take place in to Bali for the first time in early 2023 as the world’s leading sports television event returns to the region for the first time since before the covid crisis.
The event in Indonesia will be in a new Sportel ‘rendez-vous’ format, shorter (two days instead of three) and less expensive for delegates and exhibitors than the Monaco event.
Sportel takes for granted that it needs to be present in Asia. Only about 5 per cent of Sportel Monaco this year came from the APAC region, down from about 15 per cent before the pandemic.
“Our European customers certainly want to return to Asia, but we’ve understood that not all of them want to go back to China,” said Sportel CEO Laurent Puons. Sportel Asia 2019 took place in Macau. Previous editions have been in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore.
Indonesian satellite Transvision is partnering Sportel in taking the market to Bali. Transvision co-founder and president Peter Gontha, who founded the country’s first commercial broadcast network RCTI in 1989, introduced the event in Monaco.
As an indication of the commitment from the host location, the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Bali will be completely taken over by Sportel for the two days of the television market.
In the spring, Sportel will return to Miami, again with the lower cost rendez-vous format, at the newly refurbished Marriott Biscayne Bay May 9-10, 2023.
The event has been timed to follow Miami’s first Formula 1 Grand Prix taking place May 6-7.
Ninjas in Pyjamas announce partnership with FILA
Esports legends, Ninjas in Pyjamas (NIP) announced today a new partnership with the global sports brand, FILA. Together the iconic brands are defining the future style of gaming for individuals, fans and players around the globe.
The new collection of pro athletic wear for the gaming industry boasts performance without compromising beauty or aesthetics. Fashion Innovation Center (FIC) insights into emerging business models, technology and change in consumer behaviour power the collection’s jersey with unique digital garment IDs. NIP X FILA makes for a love match that could almost warm a warrior’s heart.
Technology and innovation plus tradition is the formula behind the collection of elite pro-wear — NIPs
esports prowess merges with the evolutionary craft of FILA. The fashionable cool looks strike a bold
balance between versatile performance wear and on-and-off the playing-field garb.
“FILA is truly an iconic brand within sports and entertainment. We are inspired by their elite heritage,
heroic athletes and spirit of reinvention” says Hicham Chahine, CEO of NIP “NIP is thrilled to be joining FILA as they engage with a younger demographic and new industries like esports. We are proud to be a guiding force as FILA explores using technology to create transformational experiences.” Hicham Chahine concludes.
“FIC’s mission is to digitize the fashion industry. By implementing strategies and new business models
and driving sustainable growth from day one, we consider this initiative groundbreaking. It’s truly
innovative in the transformation towards better industry practices” says Fredrik Timour, CEO of FIC.
“With their fanbase in the millions and growing, it’s been extremely exciting to collaborate with NIP.
Together we are testing new avenues of interaction between esports and performance wear,” says Luca
Bertolino, Head of Global Strategic Marketing for FILA
World Rugby and IMG extend video archive partnership
World Rugby and IMG have extended their exclusive partnership to manage and license the video archive for the international federation’s flagship competitions until 2024.
The agreement will include all archive footage from both past and upcoming tournaments, including the men’s and women’s Rugby World Cups, the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, Rugby World Cup Sevens and the men’s World Rugby U20’s Championship. In total, more than 3,600 hours of World Rugby content is currently available on IMG’s digital archive platform, IMGReplay.com.
One of World Rugby’s most prestigious tournaments, the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2021 is currently taking place in New Zealand, with the Rugby World Cup 2023 to follow in France next year. Storytellers will be able to access the most memorable matches from both tournaments as a fully digitised archive via IMG Replay, alongside some of international rugby’s most iconic moments through history.
IMG has represented the World Rugby archive for over 20 years. The company also manages the global licensing and merchandising rights for the Rugby World Cup,Women’s Rugby World Cup, World Rugby U20 Championship and the World Rugby brand, as well as sponsorship operations for the Rugby World Cup, to help drive the sport’s commercial growth worldwide.
World Rugby Head of Media Rights Chris Synott said: “IMG is a proven leader in this field with an intimate knowledge and understanding of World Rugby events. We are delighted to be extending our partnership with them and furthering the reach, accessibility and attractiveness of the sport on a global basis in line with our strategic vision of a global sport for all. IMG Replay is a world-leading platform used by sports and entertainment organisations the world over and it perfectly supports our strategic storytelling ambitions long after the final whistle has blown.”
Tom Barnes, Vice President of IMG Replay, said: “World Rugby is home to some of the most thrilling and unpredictable moments in sporting history. We’re delighted to continue our global partnership for the next three years, giving storytellers unbeatable access to the moments that matter via IMG Replay.”
IMG Replay is one of the largest sports archives in the world with more than 400,000 hours of footage resulting from representation deals with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), World Rugby, The Wimbledon Championships, the R&A (The Open), ATP Media, DP World Tour, UFC, Bundesliga and many more.
Meet the Member: “What I have learnt since being at the club is to be better on the pitch, everything behind the scenes has to be in place”
Jeremy Cottinho has been at AS Monaco since 2020 and is five months into his role as Chief Operating Officer. He took some time to speak to our Content Manager Alex Brinton about their new Performance Centre, the challenges they are facing as a club post-pandemic and the weather.
What is it like to work at a club like AS Monaco?
The reason why I decided to come to AS Monaco is because of the image of the club and the strong heritage that the club has. Also, something that goes back to my childhood is the jersey, with the diagonal, it’s something that is very easily identifiable. My brother actually had one of the jerseys when we were younger.
We have produced five World Cup winners from this club, the most recent one being Kylian Mbappe.
When I joined the club, I got a good understanding of the link between innovation and performance on the pitch. For me football was just 11 guys training through the week and then playing one or two times a week but in fact it is very different. The work of everyone is directly linked to the performance on the pitch.
Lastly, of course we have an international brand. Last week I was at the ECA General Assembly, in Istanbul and everyone knows AS Monaco. We also have 22 million followers on social media, that is a massive worldwide database.
On top of that, it is nice to be by the sea and have sun 11 months of the year!
What are the particular challenges you face at AS Monaco as a business at the moment?
Covid was particularly hard in France and that is why I moved from a project-based position and into a strategy one. We needed to refine the way we worked as a football club.
A lot of the work we are doing at the moment is trying to build communities. We have the physical community which are the people that attend the games or the side events we put on around matches – for example, last season before the match against PSG we had an event on a boat out in Monaco harbour.
We are also putting a lot of work into our digital community. We want to evolve and grow our 22 million followers and to do that we need to make sure that we are providing them with interesting and engaging content.
The main challenge we are facing though is having to change our financial model. When the Mediapro TV deal collapsed in 2020, Ligue 1 clubs lost a lot of money in that. Amazon stepped in and bought the rights for less than what was expected. So at the moment, we as a club are trying to build the most sustainable model to run a football club by, I think a lot of clubs around Europe are facing the same problems.
A lot of clubs are moving towards digital tickets and there has been a lot of evolution in the ticketing space in the last few years, is that something you have looked at?
We haven’t done this yet but ticketing is definitely an area we are looking at. A very high percentage of our tickets are actually sold at the stadium in person rather than online like most clubs would have.
We are trying to work on a really exciting project with the government in Monaco which would enable us to integrate the ticketing into a digital wallet people use in Monaco to pay for the bus and pay for everything really.
We are also looking a bit further into the future and thinking about how we can use Web3 and NFTs. The user case we have to think about a lot is a season ticket holder who can’t attend a game, so wants to give his friend or brother his ticket. How can we make that work?
But it is definitely something we are looking at.
You have just finished the completion of a stunning new training base, how do you think that will help the club moving forward?
It is an amazing place, you should come and visit. It was a mission from our President from the day he came in. It is a big investment (app. 55M€) but it is in line with our sporting strategy, which is driven by performance and innovation.
What I have learnt since being at the club is to be better on the pitch, everything behind the scenes has to be in place. As a club we believe in marginal gains and the new Performance Centre allows us to work on this part.
It also makes the club a more attractive proposition for new signings because they now have a state of the art Performance Centre where they can train and develop as players.
How have things changed since the pandemic?
The biggest impact, we have already spoken about, that came from the TV deal falling apart. Clubs had a big part of their revenue tied up in TV rights so it can’t be overstated the effect this had on clubs. We obviously also lost money from the restriction on people attending games and this is a massive part of why we are going back to the drawing board with our business model for the club.
How important is your CRM system in making sure that you’re keeping a good relationship with your fans and 22 million followers?
This is super interesting because we have fans around the world. We found we got a big following in Japan, so we made channels and produced content in Japanese in order to keep that good relationship with them.
We actually had a meeting a couple of days ago with one of our partners called Casino Secret, they really understand the CRM industry. What we want to do is try and learn from our partners because their expertise can really help us.
We actually have two sets of CRM data one for B2B and one for B2C because obviously those relationships are going to be very different.
Building and retaining a relationship with those 22 million fans is so important for us because 22 million people are never going to be able to come to a game.
Web3 seems to be the hot topic in sport at the moment, you are working with Socios and Capital Block, what do you think the role Web3 plays in the future of sports?
Web3 is definitely part of our innovation culture – which is very important to us. We definitely think Web3 has a place in our future.
It is also another way we can engage with those global fans who might not be able to attend our matches. They may not be able to come to a game, but they could still buy an NFT. This is one of the ways we see it working well for us and that is why we are working with Capital Block.
In terms of the metaverse, I definitely think that it has a lot of potential, but we are still working out our strategy in terms of that.
We are looking a lot into how we can develop a virtual museum – which would be a really exciting metaverse project, but we are in the early stages with this.
Like I said, Web3 is part of our future, it is where we want to be as a brand, business and a football club.
eToro have become your main front of shirt sponsor in both domestic and European competitions, before that they were just on the domestic side, what drives your commercial strategy when it comes to front of shirt sponsorship?
We have a global strategy, and it plays a big role in deciding who we decide to partner with. We also can’t partner with a company that does not share the same values as us.
For example with eToro they are a big brand, an international brand. Since the arrival of eToro, we have been able to grow the partnership each season, which is positive and that shows we are both well aligned.
We also realise it is important to be giving back to our partners, so that there is value going both ways.
For example, with the betting partnership we have with Casino Secret, there’s obviously lots of betting companies we could partner with but it was about partnering with the one that fit our values best, the one that we share a cross-learning type of approach as well and respected where we are trying to get to as a business and as a club.
Why was it important for you to be a speaker at the African Football Business Summit?
I met Brian Wesaala a long time ago when I was at UEFA and he told me his plans to start a football foundation for Africa. I thought it was a brilliant idea and what he has created is incredible.
I think it is important to support and try and work with the football community as a whole, but also I always pick up a couple of things when I attend these events.
One of the best thing about football as a business is that you can go up to people who are your competitors on the pitch and have an honest and open conversation about what challenges we both face and how we are tackling them.
BBC and BT Sport announced as broadcast partners of Billie Jean King Cup
BBC Sport and BT Sport will offer comprehensive broadcast coverage of the Billie Jean King Cup 2022 Finals by Gainbridge to a British audience, ensuring the tournament is given widespread national exposure when it takes place at Glasgow’s Emirates Arena from November 8-13.
All of Great Britain’s matches will be broadcast on the BBC Sport website and iPlayer, with BT Sport agreeing co-exclusive rights, televising every single tie starting Tuesday, ending on Sunday.
Tuesday’s opening GB tie vs. Kazakhstan also available on the BBC’s Red Button.
The Billie Jean King Cup Finals – the conclusion of what is effectively the world cup of women’s tennis – will be played in Great Britain for the first time since 1991. Harriet Dart, Katie Boulter and Heather Watson will lead the hosts in an event that will feature the biggest names in the women’s game, including Coco Gauff, Petra Kvitova and Belinda Bencic.
Check out the full schedule for the Billie Jean King Cup Finals
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Richard Daish, LTA Marketing and Commercial Director said: “We are delighted that BBC Sport and BT Sport will broadcast the Billie Jean King Cup Finals. To have the world’s best players coming to Britain for such a prestigious tournament offers a wonderful platform to promote our sport and maximise visibility. Hopefully the images that will be going into homes across the UK will inspire some girls and boys to pick up a racket for the first time.”
Richard Armstrong, Commercial Director at BBC Sport said: “We are delighted to bring extensive coverage of the Billie Jean King Cup to the widest possible UK audience. In what has been an incredible year for women’s sport already, we look forward to showing all of Great Britain’s matches and the finals live from Glasgow.”
Rachel Knight, sports rights director, BT Sport, said: “BT Sport customers are set for two weeks of great tennis in November, starting with the Billie Jean King Cup bringing the likes of Coco Gauff to their screens, followed by the UK Pro League Finals later in the month.”
ATP, ITF and Kosmos announce Davis Cup partnership
The ATP, International Tennis Federation (ITF) and Kosmos Tennis have today announced an unprecedented strategic alliance from 2023 supporting the Davis Cup by Rakuten. The men’s World Cup of Tennis is the longest-running and largest annual international team event in sport with 122 years of history.
The new partnership has been established to enable strategic collaboration on the competition’s governance and evolution, with ATP granted two of six seats on a newly formed Davis Cup Event Committee alongside the ITF and Kosmos, long-term investors and promoters of the competition. The partnership officially brings ATP and ITF together across Davis Cup for the first time in history in a combined effort to maximise the success of the historic team competition as the men’s World Cup of Tennis.
The Davis Cup Finals and Qualifier ties now become an official part of the 2023 ATP Tour calendar, taking place in weeks 5, 37 and 47, with increased promotion on ATP channels. This integration will support players in planning their annual schedule when selected to play in their national Davis Cup team. The Finals will continue under its existing format, offering $15 million in player prize money in 2023.
Andrea Gaudenzi, ATP Chairman: “Our focus is always on creating the best possible experiences for our fans and players. Delivering compelling international team competitions that dovetail with the year-round calendar and continue to innovate is a vital part of that. The Davis Cup has an incredibly rich history and we’re excited to see this important new alliance drive the event forward from 2023.”
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David Haggerty, ITF President: “This announcement heralds an important new alliance between the ITF, Kosmos and ATP which further strengthens the importance of team competition and Davis Cup’s unique role in elite men’s professional tennis. Part of the Olympic Qualification Pathway, Davis Cup is the largest annual men’s team competition in sport and the sole men’s team competition in the pro tennis calendar where teams are officially selected by their nation. Together with the women’s Billie Jean King Cup, it shows the ITF’s full commitment to delivering spectacular tournaments that players love to play and electrifying battles between nations which fans in the stadium and whole countries love to get behind.”
Enric Rojas, Kosmos Tennis CEO: “It is a very important agreement for all three parties and especially for the players. In the last three years, the format of the competition has been improved to reach a greater number of fans, generate a greater impact and facilitate the participation of the best players in the world. We look forward to seeing the event grow even further in the coming years.”
Davis Cup recorded its highest levels of national participation in its history in 2022, with 137 nations competing in this year’s edition across all levels of the competition. The ITF’s Davis Cup runs alongside its sibling, the women’s World Cup of Tennis, Billie Jean King Cup by Gainbridge.
Further information about the 2022 Davis Cup by Rakuten Finals can be found here.