The iSportConnect Brands Masterclass will be taking place at the stunning Orbit Tower at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on October 19.
Speaking at the event will be Oliver O’Brien from Mukuru and Arjoon Bose from General Mills.
These two join Marc Davies, Standard Chartered, and Mike Mainwaring, Cazoo, who were announced last week.
More speaker announcements will follow later this week so keep a look out:
The European Tour group has become the first professional golf Tour to announce its commitment towards net zero carbon emissions, by becoming a signatory to the United Nations Sports for Climate Action Framework, and the Framework’s Race to Zero pledge.
The Sports for Climate Action Framework was created by the United Nations and made for sports organisations and their stakeholders to tackle climate change through a set of five principles:
The Race to Zero pledge requires all signatories to commit to reduce direct emissions by 50% by 2030 and achieving net zero by 2040.
It will be a key focus of Golf for Good, the European Tour group’s commitment to Driving Golf Further in an environmentally and socially sustainable way, ensuring the Tour has a positive long-term impact on the courses, countries and the communities it visits.
Keith Pelley, Chief Executive of the European Tour group, said: “The group’s DP World Tour is a global brand with millions of followers, so we have a clear responsibility and opportunity to use our platforms in the right way. Our net zero commitment shows that through Golf for Good we are serious about environmental responsibility and the role we can play.
“Our staff and leadership, under the guidance of our Head of Sustainability, are determined to ensure we fully meet all our pledges, and we appreciate the support of our expert partners and advisers in helping us do so. Of course, we also invite our partners and stakeholders to join us in making effective change.”
Becoming a signatory to the United Nations Sports for Climate Action Framework is the logical next step in the Tour’s Green Drive initiative, which has grown in scale and impact over several years and was re-launched on World Environment Day last year. The most recent Sustainability Strategy, available here, further aligns Green Drive with the Tour’s wider Golf for Good programme to create a new, holistic approach to sustainable development – on and through the Tour.
It strengthens the breadth and depth of delivery towards a vision for the Tour to: Lead by Example – by integrating best practices into core operations, owned events and procurement, establishing Tour wide policies and tools, and activating new partnerships; to Support and Share – by providing guidance and examples of best practice, fostering a growing community of collective action and results; and to Promote and Inspire by raising awareness, inspiring others and establishing a credible leadership position in sport.
Detailed implementation plans are already underway spanning governance, operations, tournaments, venues, media and technology, communications and partnerships. Sustainability performance indicators and carbon emissions are being tracked across all aspects of the Tour’s operations through new internal mechanisms, and tools provided by the GEO Foundation for Sustainable Golf.
Lindita Xhaferi Salihu, UN Sports for Climate Action Lead, added her support: “The Sports for Climate Action Framework is about driving sports to net zero emissions no later than 2040 in line with keeping the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees. It is no small or easy undertaking, but to safeguard the future of sport, we all must all join hands and efforts to win the race against climate change. We look forward to working with the Tour alongside other signatories to set the pace for climate action and achieve the ambitious goals we have set for the Sports for Climate Action community.”
Jonathan Smith, Executive Director of the non-profit GEO Foundation for Sustainable Golf, the delivery partner to the European Tour group’s Green Drive programme, added: “Over the last 12 months there has been a significant upscaling of commitment, resourcing and action across the European Tour group – led by the Board. We are delighted to help guide the ongoing development of the Tour’s emissions reduction strategy; support effective delivery; and track progress through externally accredited programmes and tools developed over many years for this specific purpose.”
Tim Mangnall is the CEO of Capital Block a Web3 consultancy that works with football clubs on their Web3 and NFT projects. We spoke with him to get his insights on Web3 and what he thinks clubs and organisations should be doing.
Since you’ve started working as an Web3 consultancy, what has been the biggest shift that you have seen? Do clubs know more now or do you still have to explain the fundamentals to them?
We have to explain the fundamentals to a club 100 per cent of the time. I think most of the clubs are still looking at this as a very large short term revenue play, rather than a long term vision targeting a new digital-centric audience.
So we have to spend a lot of time educating internal stakeholders to make them understand the long term vision of what web3 and NFT’s can offer their fan base and then as a club, so there has been a shift in perception.
Club’s are understanding that they’re not necessarily going to make a million dollars overnight from the sales of the NFT. We as a company, and we as Capital Block are very much trying to change that perception and move away from it being focused on short term gain to long, long term sustainability.
Are the projects that clubs are doing now becoming less one dimensional? And what are the benefits to a sort of sustained strategy towards NFT’s?
The projects are still very one dimensional. Because what they’re still looking at is they’re still looking at these PFP, which is a profile picture project and looking at kind of one NFT drop, and then they’ll do another one in six months or another one in a year or another thing like that, and that’s not what web3 is all about and not what NFT’s are all about.
It’s all about community. It’s all about driving engagement, especially in sports driving engagement, fan engagement. So clubs need to be looking at this as a long term strategy, but how does everything connect together?
If the club is saying ‘we want to create fan engagement through web3 and NFT’s’, that’s fantastic. But you don’t create that engagement just by selling one product or one NFT, you then have to look at how that NFT then connects to your fans? How many times are the fans coming back to be engaged in that NFT? What door is that opening? How is it all connected? So clubs are still looking at this as a one dimensional product, albeit that that narrative is changing.
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When you start looking at how this is going to be connected, how each drop is connected, how everything talks together, then it becomes a huge beast which takes a massive amount of time and resources. I think a lot of clubs underestimate the level of work going into dropping an NFT and how this needs to be something you are monitoring and working on every day.
A lot of your work is done in Europe. What would it take for Europe to catch up with the US?
I think the concept of web3 and NFT’s within the sports world and the fan base in America is just a little bit more developed. I think also the sports clubs are really understanding that this is about bringing it in house. This is about educating and talking to their fans. And I think also the fans over there are just a little bit more willing to listen to crypto and the clubs have approached it in a different way.
I think the problem with us over in Europe, at the moment, is the sports clubs haven’t spoken to their fans in the right way. They’re not educating their fans in the right way and the NFT name has genuinely a bad rap with sports fans. It’s not liked by sports fans.
Clubs need to start creating a desirable product for fans, start talking to them, start educating them, start benefiting their fans, and the fans will really start to buy into it then we will see Europe shift and most probably even takeover America in terms of kind of adoption, because like the football clubs obviously across Europe have such a phenomenal phenomenal loyal fan base.
Do you think rights holders are leaving a lot on the table by using third party platforms and it not being an in house project?
For me and for Capital Block 100 per cent it should be an in-house project. I personally don’t believe that web3 third party platforms will survive for the next two years. I think fundamentally, the calculations just don’t stack up. If a partner is coming in, outside of like a crypto exchange, if they are a platform that is reliant solely on NFT sales coming in and sponsoring a club.
Let’s say they’re sponsoring it for half a million dollars. That club has a million fans, you’ve then got to start thinking out of that million fans, maybe only 1000 people are wanting to buy NFTs, which means you need to be selling either your NFT’s at $500 apart, or you need to be 5x in your 1000 1000 person. target audience and $100 and either one is unsustainable. And then when you’re starting to really focus on revenue, then club, then these parties don’t hit those revenue numbers. They start defaulting on payments to the clubs, the clubs then lose the sponsorship deals. It’s just bad for the industry.
If you’re a football club and you want to do some NFT’s, what are the reasons to do them? And what are the reasons to not?
If you put a long term vision and you understand that, the way that the younger sports demographic is engaging in media is changing. We’re seeing it not just with sports, we’re seeing it across the board, in other media in all the ways that we engage now with television and with the internet with everything. It’s changing. So clubs need to get into the web3 space because this is going to be the future channels that this new digital centric audience is going to be engaging with. So it’s about future proofing and engaging in your future audience.
The reason not to do it is if you’re just trying to make a little bit of quick money, you don’t believe in it. You’ll do more damage to your clubs and your fans, if you don’t care, and actually, you’re better off sitting on the sidelines watching what’s going on trying to learn from everyone else’s mistakes.
We’re in a bear market with NFT’s at the moment, and how is that impacting the views of your partners? And do you have to sort of keep telling them that this is a long term thing?
I think the thing that we’ve got to remember is that NFTs were originally created for the crypto community; it was created on blockchain technology. The reason these people were buying into these profile picture monkeys, apes, birds, crypto punks was because they understood and loved the technology. They understood the fact that this would be a way of owning something on the blockchain, that it was something that was unique to them. It was a cultural movement within the OGs of the crypto world that we’re buying this. Then obviously, a monkey went from $200 to $2 million.
What then fundamentally happened is football clubs said ‘let’s take that exact concept and try to replicate it’. But the thing is, that it was designed for a true crypto techy audience, not for a football audience. So actually, if a football club is looking to create engagement, looking to create fan initiatives, whatever it may be through NFTs in this, it shouldn’t really matter whether Ethereum is $1,000 or a million dollars, because it’s about creating engagement. It should be about buying this to create engagement, and then maybe over time, it has the opportunity to become valuable.
Clubs should build an NFT around as a product that gives your fans something, then if that NFT has artwork or utility or it’s a collectible over time, that then might become valuable, but don’t focus on the revenue.
The main use case for NFT’s is in collectibles. Do you see this changing in the near future? And could there be a shift towards them being used in different ways i.e. membership programmes and token-gated experiences?
Token gated, yeah. I think every aspect of it is going to be, it is going to cover ticketing, it is going to cover programming rewards, membership, collectibles, historical moments experiences, NFT’s giving you access to content, NFT’s giving you access to certain rights or certain areas into the metaverse is going to cover every single product.
It’s just about understanding that each of those products needs to be tailored to a specific audience of a digital audience. And once you figure that once you understand that then you can start creating good products around that but it’s about targeting those different products to a different audience. You don’t need to try and target it to 100 per cent of your fan base, target it to the 10 per cent of your fan base that is actually engaged in this and like it.
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UEFA is delighted to announce that the German-based work and utility brand, Engelbert Strauss, will be the official workwear partner of the men’s UEFA European Football Championship 2024 in Germany.
A partner of the UEFA Europa League and UEFA Europa Conference League since 2021, Engelbert Strauss also has long-standing partnerships with the German Football Association, and Germany’s national teams. To help build awareness around the tournament, Strauss is partnering up with the two German women’s players Giulia Gwinn and Laura Freigang, who played such an important role at this summer’s UEFA Women’s EURO, who will be ambassadors for the workwear brand.
Guy-Laurent Epstein, UEFA marketing director said: “We are honoured that Engelbert Strauss is building on its partnership with the UEFA Europa League and the UEFA Europa Conference League and is now becoming a sponsor of our flagship men’s national team tournament – the UEFA EURO. Supporting those who work hard is something UEFA and Engelbert Strauss have in common, and we look forward to developing our ever-expanding partnership even further over the coming years.”
With over 100 years of experience in producing and selling modern and innovative workwear, Engelbert Strauss is Europe’s leading workwear and utility brand. Their utility products have gained a cult following, establishing Strauss as one of Europe’s most popular lifestyle brands.
Henning Strauss, Strauss Brand Director and CEO, said: “The UEFA European Football Championship makes the hearts of football fans beat faster worldwide. Strauss is the workwear partner of the tournament – of those working behind-the-scenes to deliver this global football festival. We’re all working towards the next football festival in Germany in the summer of 2024.”
Three-time winners Germany will host the 17th UEFA European Championship in the summer of 2024. The tournament will take place across 10 world class stadiums, with the matches taking place in Berlin, Cologne, Dortmund, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Gelsenkirchen, Hamburg, Leipzig, Munich, and Stuttgart. The tournament will kick-off in Munich on 14 June 2024, with the final being played in Berlin exactly a month later on 14 July 2024.
The qualifying draw for the UEFA European Championships will take place on 12:00 CET on Sunday 9 October 2022 at the Festhalle exhibition centre in Frankfurt.
IMG’s inflight and in ship sports channel, Sport 24, today announced a deal with World Rugby to broadcast Rugby World Cup 2021 (played in 2022) and Rugby World Cup 2023.
As rugby fans gear up for an action-packed year, Sport 24 will deliver live coverage from two of the sport’s biggest international tournaments to airlines and cruise ships across the world. The deal will kick-off with the much-awaited Rugby World Cup 2021, hosted by defending champions New Zealand from 8 October to 12 November 2022. Sport 24 will broadcast 38 hours of live coverage as the world’s best women rugby players face-off for the coveted title.
The deal will also see Sport 24 broadcast 112 live hours across 56 games of the Rugby World Cup 2023. Scheduled to take place in France from 8 September to 28 October 2023, this will be the tenth edition of the quadrennial world championship for men’s rugby.
Sport 24 is the home of world cup sport, having recently announced coverage of the FIFA World Cup 2022 alongside both the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 and the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 competitions taking place this Autumn.
World Rugby Chief Executive Alan Gilpin said: “We are delighted to have Sport 24 join the family of broadcasters for our men’s and women’s Rugby World Cups. Rugby World Cup 2021 will be a record-breaking celebration of the best of women’s rugby, starting with a 40,000 world record attendance for a women’s rugby match at Eden Park this Saturday. The excitement will continue to grow and partnering with Sport 24 means that fans won’t miss a minute no matter where they are!”
Richard Wise, SVP, Content and Channels for IMG’s media business, said: “We are delighted to partner with World Rugby in an exciting and pivotal year for the sport. As rugby’s popularity continues to surge around the globe, we look forward to playing our role in expanding the reach and viewership of the sport through our unmatched inflight and in-ship live coverage of the next two World Cups.”
Sport 24 is available on Panasonic’s market-leading live television service, which is broadcast via satellite. Launched in 2012, both Sport 24 and Sport 24 Extra are produced from IMG’s production HQ at Stockley Park, near London’s Heathrow Airport. Sport 24 also shows live action from the – Premier League, UEFA Champions & Europa League, ICC Cricket World Cups, NBA, NHL, NFL (Inflight Only), golf’s Majors, tennis’ Grand Slams and more.
The IOC yesterday announced that Timo Lumme, Managing Director of IOC Television & Marketing Services (IOC TMS), has decided to retire at the end of the year. Anne-Sophie Voumard has been appointed to succeed him as of 1 January 2023. Ms Voumard has been with the IOC for 13 years, working as Vice President, Broadcast & Media Rights at IOC TMS at Mr Lumme’s side.
IOC Director General Christophe De Kepper said: “We are grateful to Timo for all his hard work over the past 18 years. During his tenure, he has helped grow the Olympic commercial programmes and secured record revenues for the benefit of the entire Olympic Movement, including the athletes. I respect Timo’s decision to retire for personal reasons, and am pleased that we have been in a position to prepare this transition for some time. I am happy that Timo will remain close to the IOC, and we will continue to benefit from his expertise as a senior advisor. I also look forward to continuing our work with Anne-Sophie Voumard, who has demonstrated a clear ability over the past 13 years to be ready to succeed Timo. Anne-Sophie has our full support, and we are looking forward to continuing writing the success story of the IOC’s commercial programme together.”
Mr Lumme said: “Looking back, I am proud of what my team and I have achieved over the past 18 years on behalf of the Olympic Movement and all the stakeholders that continue to benefit from the Olympic commercial partnerships. I’m glad we’ve been able to plan a smooth transition for my successor, Anne-Sophie, in whom I have full confidence and with whom it has been a pleasure to work closely together for over a decade. I am also happy that I won’t have to miss the IOC and my colleagues too much, and that I will continue to serve as best I can in an advisory role.”
Ms Voumard said: “Having worked with Timo for 13 years, I am very proud to be appointed as his successor. He has developed the IOC commercial team into the successful entity it is today, and I look forward to building on this strong foundation. From the outset, there are some clear priorities for me and my team, including renewing existing TOP sponsorship and media-rights partnerships. A focus will be to also look into opportunities for partners to find new ways to activate, given the fundamental changes in the media and communication landscape.”
Mr Lumme, who is now 61, started his journey with the IOC in 2004. As IOC TMS Managing Director, he has helped the IOC’s commercial programme to grow over almost two decades. During the past four Olympiads, the revenue from broadcasting and the TOP Programme has more than doubled under his leadership. This has led to a constant increase of redistributed revenue from the IOC to the athletes, the Organising Committees for the Olympic Games, the National Olympic Committees and the International Sports Federations for the development of sport around the world.
Ms Voumard is a lawyer qualified from the Bars of both Geneva and England and Wales. She holds an MBA in international management, and joined IOC TMS in September 2009. Her professional background includes more than 18 years of expertise in the international sports business industry, working for UEFA and the America’s Cup, as well as sports equipment manufacturer Columbia Sportswear. A dual Swiss and Portuguese national, she speaks five languages (French, English, Portuguese, German and Spanish).
Oracle Red Bull Racing is excited to announce the launch of a collaboration with international car experts BINGO (BH AUCTION Co., Ltd.), for the F1 Honda Japanese Grand Prix 2022. The BINGO logo will be placed on the front side of the car at the iconic Suzuka circuit.
BINGO manage and plan auctions by collaborating with global events and media platforms and have dealt with many of the world’s most famous cars and brands, providing first class automotive and concierge services for its customers in the luxury and high-end automotive markets and auctions. BINGO also takes pride in offering their top-tier marketing and PR solutions to international hyper car brands to raise brand awareness in Japan.
Oracle Red Bull Racing Team Principal and CEO Christian Horner said: “We appreciate that Suzuka is home to some of our most avid fans and to have this unique collaboration with BINGO will be another memorable addition to the race, as Formula One returns to Japan. The premium nature of BINGO’s operation is a natural fit for Oracle Red Bull Racing, and we’re proud to have their name on the car at the much-anticipated race in Suzuka.”
BINGO CEO Shinji Takei added: “Our company prides itself in dealing with the best brands of cars and presenting our clients with first class bespoke services. The affinity we share with the values of Formula 1 and the Oracle Red Bull Racing team of performance at all levels, BINGO aims to be at the height of our market and are very enthused for this partnership. As motorsport fans, we have watched the continual success of the team and are excited to be with them on their return to Japan.”
One of the main challenges facing broadcasters is storytelling, and how to use technology to help tell that story to the viewer at home.
We are seeing more and more technological innovations on our broadcasts from the now famous Monday Night Football Sky Pad to an augmented reality Eagle flying over stadiums before the IPL Final.
Quidich, the makers of the AR Eagle, were the thought leaders in the room at our latest iSportConnect Roundtable which brought together people from DAZN, ATP Media, Aurora Media and ITV amongst others.
Here are the key findings from the event:
“It is all well and good having lots of data, but you have to be able to show it on the screen and it has to be clear to people in terms of storytelling.”
The battle of having multiple data points but the challenge being on how to show/inculcate the data into an interesting story telling experience for the viewers, without having to move away from the live action.
“We will change the length of certain parts of shows depending on if they are getting a lot of talk on social media or not”
Social Media is a massive part of everyone’s lives and the instant feedback it gives broadcasters is valuable. You used to have to wait for the ratings or letters of complaint to come in but now with social media, broadcasters can change the line-ups of their shows on the fly.
“It is a benefit to build the audience into what the product looks like”
At the end of the day, the product is for one group of people and that isn’t the competitors, it is for the audience. The blank canvas new sports have gives them the opportunity to ask the audience what they would like and build their response into their product. It is an exciting place to be.
“We like to bring in second screen experiences for innovation”
Second screens are seen as a place where you can innovate and give fans new experiences without taking away from the live event that is taking place on the first screen. If innovations work and really add to the experience then broadcasters can look at adding them to their linear broadcast.
World Table Tennis Pte. Ltd. (World Table Tennis) today announced the appointment of Liu Guoliang as Chairman of its Board.
An extremely well-respected leader within the table tennis community, current WTT Council Chair and a member of the Board, Liu Guoliang takes the position to boost World Table Tennis in its mission to transform table tennis and grow the sport worldwide.
He commented, “I am very glad to be appointed as Chair of World Table Tennis Board, which conveyed the trust and support of World Table Tennis and the ITTF. I think the new position will bring great opportunities and challenges alike.”
Liu Guoliang will use his unparalleled experience to build on the initial successes of World Table Tennis and lead the sport to new heights.
“Of course the perspectives differ from different positions, but the dream to further elevate our sport is shared. I will devote more time and energy to promoting and advancing table tennis as well as fostering global cooperation”
A legend of the sport, Liu Guoliang has won all the major titles as a player and head coach of the Chinese men’s team. In 2018, he was elected President of the Chinese Table Tennis Association. In 2021, he was elected to the ITTF Executive Committee, and was appointed Deputy President of the world governing body in October 2022.
World Table Tennis places players and fans at the core of its business, helping catapult table tennis to the forefront of the global sports industry. World Table Tennis delivers the WTT Series – the official professional Table Tennis series of events – to commercially drive the sport forward through a new and innovative approach, delivering world-class sports entertainment events and engaging fan-centric content.
The decision was taken during a Board meeting held on 5 October in Chengdu, China. Petra Sörling, ITTF President, was invited to attend the meeting. The other board members of World Table Tennis are Khalil Al Mohannadi, ITTF Executive Vice President, and Mr Steve Dainton, WTT Director and ITTF Group CEO.
“Liu Guoliang’s long history of leadership, coupled with his unique experience across all areas of our sport, makes him the ideal person to chair the Board of World Table Tennis,” said Dainton. “We know him as a famous table tennis player, as one of the most successful coaches in the history of our sport, and, today, that he accepts this very important position is also an honour for us.”
“His main work is to help us increase the table tennis industry. We have big expectations and hopes, but we can also see here in Chengdu the excellent work he has done so far. Together with Liu Guoliang, we will grow our sport and make it bigger than ever before. I am very much looking forward to collaborating with him in his new role.”
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and beIN MEDIA GROUP (“beIN”) have agreed a landmark new long-term deal in the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region covering the AFC’s competitions over three cycles up to 2032.
For the initial 2022-2024 period, the agreement grants beIN – whose flagship channel is beIN SPORTS – exclusive rights to all AFC competitions in certain MENA territories, excluding Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, IR Iran and Iraq. beIN’s exclusive territories are (14): Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Syria, Tunisia, and Yemen. In addition, beIN SPORTS has non-exclusive broadcast rights in the following territories: Chad, Djibouti, Mauritania, Somalia and Sudan. For the 2025-2028 and 2029-2032 cycles, beIN has exclusive rights to all AFC competitions across 17 countries of MENA and non-exclusive rights in 6 countries of MENA (see full summary of rights and territories below).
Through this partnership between AFC and beIN, which originally dates back to 2010, beIN SPORTS will showcase the new AFC rights on its four dedicated AFC channels, which will all allow concurrent viewing of games. Every AFC broadcast on beIN features the best-in-class studio analysis presented by beIN’s top punditry team using beIN’sstate-of-the-art studio facilities and technology.
The AFC rights will be available across all beIN’s subscription packages and add to beIN SPORTS’ unparalleled sports portfolio across the MENA region, which also includes exclusive rights to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022TM, the English Premier League, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Conference League, LaLiga,Ligue 1, Bundesliga, the FA Cup, and a multitude of other sports rights and entertainment offerings.
Group CEO of beIN Media Group, Yousef Al-Obaidly, said: “We are delighted to enter this long-term partnership with the Asian Football Confederation up to 2032. It is a hugely significant deal for beIN and our business, showing our complete commitment both to premium rights and to the long-term. The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022TM later this year is simply the beginning of our plans at beIN, and this deal is just one proof-point of that.
“The AFC rights add to our unparalleled suite of major sports and entertainment rights within our portfolio over the coming decade. This new deal continues to firmly establish beIN as the home of sport and entertainment in MENA – both now and for decades to come. We look forward to being a trusted partner of Asian football across the entire region.”
AFC General Secretary Datuk Seri Windsor John, said: “The AFC is delighted to enter into this significant partnership with beIN, who have been loyal partners of the Asian game since 2010. This long-term deal underlines not only the ever-growing stature of the AFC’s world class competitions but also the confidence top broadcasters have in the future of Asian football; and for decades beIN has simply been best-in-class in this region.
“MENA is home to some of the most ardent supporters of Asian football and we are pleased to be able to grow the consumption of AFC football with the hundreds of millions of passionate fans across the MENA region.”