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

Sign up to the Advantage All Global Forum, in partnership with the ITF

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.”

Sign up for the Advantage All Global Forum, in partnership with the ITF here:

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.

Brentford announce new partnership with Football Manager

Brentford Football Club are pleased to announce a new partnership with SEGA and Football Manager.

The partnership will see the Club aligned with the world’s leading developer of football manager simulator games and support this month’s launch of Football Manager 23 by running a series of exciting activations and competitions.

The Football Manager branding will also feature next to the technical areas and dugouts for the remainder of the season, after making its first appearance at the Gtech Community Stadium in our recent home games.

With SEGA’s European Head Office being based adjacent to the Gtech Community Stadium, the Club is also looking forward to working closely with their employees on several community-based initiatives through the Brentford FC Community Sports Trust.

James Parkinson, Brentford FC’s Commercial Director said: “As a Club, we always look to work with companies who align closely to our brand and values, and we saw many synergies between Brentford FC, SEGA and Football Manager. Just like at Brentford FC, the Football Manager game allows the user to understand data and analytics to advise on their decision-making around player trading, talent development and matchday team selection. We have a great relationship with our neighbours at SEGA and are looking forward to developing that further through this partnership.” 

Richard Trafford, Head of Partnerships and Business Development at Sports Interactive, said: “We are delighted to announce a brand new partnership between Brentford Football Club, Sega and Football Manager.”

“Brentford have achieved a meteoric rise to the Premier League from League Two in 2008. The Club’s strategic approach to player recruitment is a model all Football Manager players attempt to emulate. The partnership is a natural fit and we will be working with the Club across a number of fan-led activations in the coming months including a FM Matchday Predictor Game and training ground experience.”  

Snap renews content partnership with Sky Sports UK

Today, Snap announced a renewed content partnership with Sky Sports UK, one of the world’s largest sport broadcasters, to host made-for-mobile, short-form content on Snapchat Discover. 

Sky Sports, a content partner since 2015 with over 1.8 million Snapchat subscribers, will publish highlights from every single Premier League football match, Women’s Super League highlights, behind the scenes content, clips from Soccer AM, Monday Night Football and trusted football news on Snapchat. 

The new content deal, Sky Sports’ biggest with Snapchat to date, also features a new Women’s Super League (WSL) talk show from Sky Sports, The Dub. The show will bring viewers breaking news, insights and clips from the WSL.

Kahlen Macaulay, International Sports Partnerships at Snap said: “We are thrilled to continue strengthening our partnership with Sky Sports to bring more iconic football and sports content to Snapchat. Snapchat offers millions of fans around the world new ways to experience, celebrate and watch the best sports content – whether that’s catching up on goals from the weekend or using an AR Lens to celebrate incredible moments. We can’t wait to bring Snapchatters more great football and sports content as we countdown to a spectacular few months of sport, including the FIFA World Cup 2022.” 

Snapchat Discover reaches a global audience – in the second quarter of 2022, more than 40 Discover channels reached over 25 million global viewers each – from watching goals from the Men and Women’s Euros 2022, to highlights from the upcoming FIFA World Cup and the 2023 Women’s World Cup. Snapchat continues to transform the way sports fans experience and celebrate with their friends. 

Jamie Hunt, Head of Digital & Social at Sky Sports said: “We are delighted to continue our partnership with Snapchat to reach a  highly engaged Gen Z community who talk about and watch sports and football on Snapchat every day. The way fans experience sports has evolved – with many fans using their phones to chat with friends, celebrate wins and access behind-the scenes content during matches. This partnership is therefore a great way to reach this community where they are.”

Other shows included in the deal include NBA talk show from Sky Sports, In The Paint and boxing talk show, Unanimous. These shows will bring viewers the latest news, predictions and topical debates from the world of boxing and NBA. 

Reaching more than 90% of 13-24 year olds in the UK, Snap is further cementing its position as the home for football and sport for Gen Z. The new shows are currently available on Snapchat Discover and can be accessed by searching Sky Sports on Snapchat. 

SPFL and Viaplay announced as title sponsor of Scottish League Cup

Viaplay and the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) have announced that the Scottish League Cup, previously known as the Premier Sports Cup, will be rebranded as the Viaplay Cup. The change follows Viaplay’s recent acquisition of Premier Sports.

The semi-finals of this season’s Viaplay Cup will take place in January 2023, when Celtic face Kilmarnock and Rangers play Aberdeen on 14 and 15 January respectively. Both games will be played at Hampden Park and will be shown live and exclusive on Viaplay. The Viaplay Cup Final is set for Sunday 26 February 2023 and will also be live and exclusive on Viaplay.

Viaplay will show Viaplay Cup football until at least the end of the 2026/27 season. Scottish fans can also enjoy the Scottish Cup on Viaplay and follow the Scotland men’s national team in the qualifiers for Euro 2024, FIFA World Cup 2026 and Euro 2028, as well as UEFA Nations League and friendly matches.

Viaplay has launched in the UK on 1 November and offers UK viewers a unique combination of live sports, Viaplay Originals and curated third-party content. All Premier Sports pay-TV and free-TV channels have received Viaplay branding from the same date.

Neil Doncaster, SPFL chief executive: “Everyone at the SPFL is thrilled to be working with our new title cup sponsor Viaplay. This Cup has been a success for many years and Viaplay’s coverage and support of this competition until at least 2026/27 is very welcome indeed. We are looking forward to the exciting Viaplay Cup semi-finals in January and the final in February – all games which can be watched live and exclusively on Viaplay.” 

Two weeks to go to Advantage All Global Forum

Two Weeks to Go!

Join us and the International Tennis Federation on Monday 14th November for the Advantage All Global Forum where we will be deep diving into how we can increase the visibility and improve the portrayal of women’s sport across the media, as well as how we can all contribute to growing and commercialising women’s sport.

With game-changers from the likes of Twitter, European Broadcasting Union (EBU), Getty Images and visionaries Billie Jean King & Ilana Kloss joining to share their insights, with more leaders to be announced, it’s one not to be missed.

Register to join us live or to be sent the replay here:

Twitter aims to make broadcasters part of sports conversations

iSportConnect’s Editor-in-Chief Jay Stuart caught up with Twitter’s Róisín O’Shea at Sportel last week.

With Twitter all over the headlines and rampant speculation on possible shifts of direction under new owner Elon Musk, one thing unlikely to change is the platform’s commitment to sports content.

London-based sports partnerships exec Róisín O’Shea was at Sportel for the first time last week meeting with attendees from many of the sports that depend on Twitter for reaching the global audience on mobile devices.

Her responsibilities include events sports based in the UK that operate globally as well as UK events. One of her key roles is managing Formula 1’s presence on Twitter.

“There is a lot of media attention on Twitter as platform for expressing opinions, but the reality is that we are basically factual,” she said in Monaco. “Twitter is always first with news, scores, everything that happens.”

The big benefit for sports broadcasters in particular is Twitter’s status as the second screen par excellence. “While people watch, they tweet. Sports broadcasters know how to produce clips. What we can do is make them more relevant to the event. ITV, for example, will be showing the World Cup next
month. We can help them so that when people are watching and using Twitter they are tweeting not just about the World Cup but making ITV part of the conversation.”

One of her aims is to develop greater integration of social media and broadcasting. “Why can’t we integrate Twitter into the live broadcast? We could add a gamification element that would generate increased engagement.”

Of course Twitter is the number one place for sharing opinions and that brings challenges in sports.

O’Shea is part of the Football Online Hate Working Group launched after the outburst of abuse against some England players after the final of the Men’s Euro 2020 last year. Other members include representatives from other social media companies and, among others, the FA, the EPL, Women in Football and the police.

“At Twitter we have made adjustments to how we treat behaviours. There is now a button to report abusive tweets. There is a drop-down menu with various categories and our internal team then triages the problem.”

The focus is on the potential impact of a tweet and that is evaluated in terms of the size of the following that sees it. The real problem is when public personalities or organisations make negative comments on Twitter and their followers amplify them in a ‘pile-on’ of abuse.

A former agent for athletes both male and female, Róisín O’Shea will be a panellist in a session on eliminating gender bias at the International Tennis Federation’s Advantage-All Forum in Glasgow on November 14.

Sign up to the Forum here.

RealFevr raises $10 million from Global Investors

The Web3 startup that has Bruno Fernandes, Manchester United player, as a global ambassador and shareholder is boosting the Sports GameFi & NFT space through product and market innovation, including solving the speculative and utility issues in the digital collectibles industry.

Since 2021, RealFevr has launched the world’s first soccer video NFT marketplace, has released its token ($FEVR), announced IP partnerships with international sports properties such as Liga Portugal, Portuguese Football Federation, Torino FC and Beach Soccer Worldwide, and signed multiple world-class athletes as official ambassadors and investors. Bolstered by its active global community, RealFevr’s pack drops have continued to be a hot commodity despite the recent crypto market downturn. All NFT collection pack drops to date have sold out in less than 24 hours, with over 145,000 packs sold.

The investment will further accelerate RealFevr’s international expansion, acquisition of new intellectual property rights, and launch the world’s first Trading Moments Game: FEVR Battle Arena, set to be released in the coming weeks.

Digital collectibles currently available on the platform include moments featuring superstars like Bruno Fernandes, who is RealFevr’s global ambassador and shareholder, Cristiano Ronaldo, Iker Casillas, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Ángel Di María, Ronaldinho, Eric Cantona, Totti, Rúben Dias, and many others.

Through a combination of partnerships, blockchain and gaming expertise, RealFevr’s daring vision is to become a new type of NFT platform that provides things we’ve only dreamed about.

IMMAF partner with Cellular Fitness

Global MMA governing body IMMAF and sports nutritionists and scientists at Cellular FitnessTM are launching a partnership in an MMA-first initiative to boost athlete health and performance in the world’s fastest-growing sport.

Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), like all contact sports, carries a risk of injury. IMMAF has already worked relentlessly to bring in governance and regulations to improve health and safety in the sport. This new partnership with Cellular FitnessTM takes that commitment further by recognising that fighters also need to understand the crucial benefits of good hydration in lowering risk of injury and improving performance. 

Cellular FitnessTM scientists and researchers have developed a nutrition protocol around the significance and gravity of the need for complete hydration for athletes. An MMA fighter, or any other athlete, who is dehydrated, has less cerebral fluid around the brain. If there is a blow to the head, there is therefore less cushioning to protect the brain from injury. Dehydration also leads to muscle fatigue, which increases the chance of physical injury too.

The partnership aims to raise awareness among MMA fighters of the need for proper hydration, to mitigate the risks involved in the sport. Dehydration has historically underpinned injury in the sport particularly through poor weight-cutting practices, which have been highlighted by IMMAF in its technical seminar programmes. IMMAF and Cellular FitnessTM want to increase awareness, coaching and guidance, to continue to improve the reputation of MMA and make it safer for athletes at all levels of the sport.

In line with IMMAF’s Anti-Doping Policy, as a signatory to the WADA code, every batch of Cell Nutrition’s products Hydrate 78, Hydrate 78 Night and Optimise is approved by quality assurance provider, Informed Sport, which independently tests for sports nutrition products for the presence of banned supplements.

IMMAF President Kerrith Brown commented: “IMMAF takes athlete health and Anti-doping education extremely seriously and therefore is proud to partner with Cell Nutrition, as a company that shares our values. We look forward to a fruitful partnership focussed on optimising athlete wellbeing and performance, as part of IMMAF’s broader development infrastructure.”

FIFA partner with vivo for 2022 Qatar World Cup

vivo, has been announced as the Official Smartphone and the only Official Sponsor in the smartphone industry of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022TM.

The company’s new foldable device the X Fold+, which was launched in mainland China in conjunction with FIFA’s 118th anniversary, is the first official foldable smartphone and it will appear in Qatar 2022 matches to provide support for the preparation and staging of the event. As the exclusive official smartphone sponsor of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™, vivo will connect international football fans, who are as passionate about the beautiful game as vivo is, through its industry-leading smartphone technology.

vivo signed a six-year sponsorship agreement with FIFA in 2017, and this year’s event in Qatar will be the second World Cup vivo has sponsored after having done the FIFA Confederations Cup 2017TM, the FIFA World Cup Russia 2018TM and the FIFA Arab Cup Qatar 2021TM. For football events, vivo also sponsored the UEFA EURO 2020™. vivo remains committed to supporting the development of football through its various football sponsorships.

As one of the oldest sports, football is hugely popular around the world. It embodies teamwork and pursuing the same outcome to achieve one goal. Regardless of race, gender, and age, football always has the power to bring people from different cultural backgrounds together to build strong connections and break barriers.

vivo started its globalization journey in 2014 and now covers more than 60 countries and regions across the globe. vivo has always adhered to consumer orientation and is committed to using innovative technology to provide excellent smartphones and other products for users around the world. Together, with FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™’s expected global audience of 5 billion and over 400 million active vivo users worldwide, vivo and FIFA are looking forward to connecting with audiences worldwide through the shared passion of football.

vivo believes that the development of sports and technology shares a similar philosophy – empowering people to live a better life through continuous breakthroughs and innovations. Through its sponsorship, vivo will play an integral role in helping FIFA host an open and inclusive event for all people around the world. As the only Official Sponsor of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022TM in the smartphone industry, vivo would like to invite global users and football fans to record wonderful moments that will spread the happiness among family and friends.

“Football has the power to bring people together. vivo believes that innovation can help football fans build a community and share exciting World Cup experiences with everyone across the globe, whether they are watching the games at a football stadium or enjoying the experience from afar,” said Spark Ni, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at vivo.

During the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™, vivo will provide industry-leading flagship smartphones to FIFA World Cup staff to help them complete their preparations with cutting-edge technologies, and boost the hosting of a successful event.  

vivo will also launch the #vivogiveitashot campaign during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ to celebrate the event. Through this campaign, vivo hopes to recreate those beautiful and impressive moments and also show the courage of people who tackle challenges head-on. It’s believed this campaign will give people across the globe the power to express themselves through their love of football and the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™.