The iSportConnect Web3 Summit presented by Tezos is thrilled to reveal Zilliqa, the high-security blockchain platform, as the latest partner of the upcoming event..
iSportConnect’s Web3 Summit presented by Tezos will be taking place on the 28th and 29th of June 2022 at Emirates Stadium in London. Head to https://www.web3summit.sport/ for more information, the full agenda and to purchase tickets.
Zilliqa was launched to counter the inability of blockchains to scale transactions at speed by launching the world’s first public blockchain sharding architecture.
Zilliqa’s technical innovations and excellence places it right at the cutting edge of the web3 revolution, and is the engine driving its play for the gaming industry. Through its partnerships with leading esports organisations and the Metaverse-as-a-Service (MaaS) model of Metapolis offering deeper levels of engagement and GameFi opportunities — Zilliqa is poised to become the L1 of choice for blockchain gaming.
CEO of Zilliqa, Dr Ben Livshits said:
“Because of its security, scalability, and high-performance, Zilliqa is set to change the way things work across many verticals, including sports and gaming. This partnership with iSportConnect recognises our achievements in those spaces, and is a sign of our mutual commitment to bring the power and potential of web3 innovations to businesses everywhere.”
“The mission with the event is to educate our community and the wider industry on the impact the Web3 tech stack and the metaverse could have across the numerous departments that fall within a sports organisation,” commented Joe Condon, Commercial & Marketing Lead of iSportConnect’s Web3 Summit Presented By Tezos.
“Zilliqa are one of the leading blockchain players, and the team brings with them a wealth of experience in sports and gaming that will help guide organisations on their strategy in this space. We’re delighted to have them onboard and look forward to them joining us in June.”
Purchase your tickets to the iSportConnect Web3 Summit at our Early Bird price of £699pp now at – https://www.web3summit.sport/
TikTok has become the Official Partner of the biggest-ever UEFA Women’s EURO 2022!
As a Global Sponsor, TikTok will bring their community closer to the action of summer’s most-anticipated football event, while celebrating the spirit of this iconic moment in the women’s sporting calendar.
Shining a spotlight on women’s sport and EURO 2022
All this has led TikTok to become a cultural home for all sports fandom across Europe, with the hashtag #womeninsports racking up almost a billion views.
With the tournament kicking off on 6 July across England, the TikTok community can get involved in a variety of creative ways, from using our innovative special effects and sounds in their videos, to joining in with TikTok LIVEs and EUROs-inspired hashtag challenges. Look out for an official UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 TikTok account ahead of the tournament, which aims to inspire and entertain the global football community with exclusive behind-the-scenes content, plus current and archival footage.
Guy-Laurent Epstein, marketing director of UEFA, said:
“We are thrilled to once again partner with TikTok, this time for the biggest UEFA Women’s EURO ever.With the TikTok football community ever-growing with teams, fans, creators and associations, we are looking forward to showcasing this summer’s premiere sporting event featuring some of the greatest women’s footballers in the world through unique, creative and engaging content. It’s an exciting time to be a football fan.”
Rich Waterworth, General Manager, Europe, TikTok, said:
“Since our partnership with UEFA for EURO 2020, we have seen TikTok become the home of football fandom; with creators, players and nations alike coming together to share their passion for the beautiful game, in a uniquely TikTok way. We are delighted to continue this partnership as the Official Entertainment Platform of UEFA Women’s EURO 2022, and to build on our joint efforts to promote equality and inclusion in football through TikTok’s #SwipeOutHate campaign and UEFA’s #EqualGame. We cannot wait to see our community show their support for the women’s game, as we make this year’s championship even more accessible to our global community.”
Two of the leading reputation advisers in sport and entertainment – Scott Bowers (left) and Richard Conway (right) – have joined forces to launch Spectacle Partners, a new global advisory firm focused on supporting the reputations of organisations, brands and individuals operating in the sport and entertainment industries.
Spectacle’s Managing Partner, Scott Bowers, is currently the award-winning Chief Corporate Affairs Officer for one of the UK’s largest sports and entertainment businesses, The Jockey Club, and was previously Head of Sport at international PR firm, Weber Shandwick, where he worked on Olympic bids, Olympic Games, Paralympic Games, FIFA World Cup, UEFA Champions League Finals, UEFA Euros, Rugby World Cup and for major brands including Mastercard, L’Oréal and Coca-Cola.
Richard Conway, joint Managing Partner, spent close to two decades as a journalist, most recently as the BBC’s Sport News Correspondent. He was twice named SJA Broadcast Journalist of the Year. Since leaving the Corporation in 2019 he has provided reputation counsel and support to a range of blue-chip clients in the sports industry. This includes the organisers of the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup, a project he remains committed to and will see through to completion later this year.
Spectacle will be Chaired by sports, media and music industry veteran, Simon Bazalgette, whose management advisory and investment firm, Global Venue Services (GVS), is backing the new venture. Additionally, Bazalgette is currently an Independent Director of the 72-club English Football League (EFL) and a Member of NSPCC’s Sports Board. He was formerly Chief Executive of The Jockey Club and of Europe’s first digital music business, Music Choice Europe, and founding Executive Chairman of Racecourse Media Group. He was also Senior Independent Director of the London 2017 World Athletics and Para-athletics Championships. At the start of his career he spent nearly 10 years at KPMG specialising in international media and entertainment consulting.
Scott Bowers said:
“Richard and I have launched Spectacle because we’re excited to support organisations and individuals in sport and entertainment to achieve fantastic reputations amongst the audiences that matter to them and their success. We are grateful to have foundation clients and hand-picked team members to meet those challenges. We’d love to make a difference to the sector in the years ahead, working in real partnership with in-house teams, having walked in those shoes myself.”
Richard Conway said:
“We’re thrilled to be launching Spectacle and we’re ready to start meeting the complex needs of our clients from day one. Scott and I have many years of experience from working on many major spectacles, from a variety of different perspectives. We’ve pretty much seen it all! We can’t wait to get started and apply our knowledge and expertise.”
Simon Bazalgette said:
“I’ve worked closely with Scott over the last 10 years or so and I know the strategic value he adds to the Boards and businesses he works with. I’ve also got to know Richard well in that time and at the BBC he demonstrated his ability to draw out the key issues faced in sport and, more recently, how to address them when he crossed the aisle to work on the comms side. They both have strong reputations across sport and entertainment for the wisdom and insight they offer, and by joining forces in Spectacle, the sector will be able to benefit from the value they will add to their clients. I’m proud to be appointed the first Chair of Spectacle and privileged to be working alongside such prodigious talents as Scott and Richard.”
Spectacle has also revealed aspects of commitments it is making to its client partners. Explaining this, Bowers added:
“We also wanted to announce three of Spectacle’s Client Promises today. First, we will not promote ourselves off the back of our clients partners and so we won’t be publishing client lists or case studies. Second, hourly billing undermines the value and business impact of reputation. Our discussions with client partners will be about what it takes to achieve their desired outcomes, not billing them hourly for how long it takes us to provide important counsel, create a killer idea or send a WhatsApp to the Head of Sky News. Third, we guarantee hand-picked consultants to work on each brief based on their expertise and experience, as opposed to ‘who has capacity to fill’. I’ve worked in agencies and as a client, and the Spectacle team is committed to doing things differently where needed.”
BOXXER, the UK’s next-generation boxing promotion, today announced a plethora of new broadcast agreements which will air live BOXXER programming to over 100 international territories.
Sports broadcasting giant ESPN will air BOXXER’s upcoming June 11 event, headlined by Richard Riakporhe in a cruiserweight title shot eliminator against Fabio Turchi, making the event available to 75 million households in the USA and up to 30 million households in Canada.
Agreements are also in place for this event with Mola TV in Italy, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore; Proximia TV in Spain; TV3 in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia; Canal+ in Poland; Nova in Bulgaria; SportKlub in the Balkans and many more.
The new agreements double the size of BOXXER’s global footprint, with further deals set to be announced in the near future. A full list of territories and broadcasters will be available at BOXXER.com shortly, along with a How To Watch section for worldwide fight fans to find their regional carrier.
BOXXER’s founder and CEO Ben Shalom said: “BOXXER’s international growth has been significant over the past few months. We’re now able to bring our events and fighters to more fight fans than ever. Our ambition is to make the sport more accessible than ever before and these significant international partnerships help make that vision a reality.”
BOXXER shows air live and exclusively on Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland, after the leading UK sports broadcaster signed BOXXER as its exclusive British provider of boxing content in a landmark four-year deal in 2021.
With partnerships in place with premium broadcasters across mainland Europe, south-east Asia, the Middle East, North Africa and Latin America, BOXXER gives international fight fans a new level of access to top-tier boxing while enabling the new generation of standout British boxers to showcase their skills to viewers around the world.
The BOXXER stable includes world champions, elite contenders and Olympic medallists. Following yesterday’s announcement that silver medalist Ben Whittaker has signed an exclusive promotional agreement, BOXXER is now home to four of the six Team GB medallists from the Tokyo Olympics.
Swedish based Sportway AB and Norwegian company MyGame Group AS have agreed to merge in order to ramp up their international expansion plans and unite their extensive rights portfolios.
The new parent company in the merged unit, Sportway Media Group AB, will control exclusive sports rights in five countries across seven different sports. With AI-cameras installed in more than 500 arenas, and more than 3.000 new installations already in the pipeline, the company is aiming for a dominant role in the AI sports production and streaming business in Europe.
– This is the fastest growing field within the media industry, and building size and momentum is crucial to obtain critical mass, a strong rights portfolio and tech superiority, says Harald Stromme, Chairman and CEO of the merged company. Stromme is one of the founders of MyGame, and former CEO of Discovery Networks Norway & Sweden.
With operations in Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and the Czech Republic, Sportway Media Group has a stronghold in the Nordics, and is in pole position to expand further. Jonas Persson, co-founder and chairman of Sportway, and CEO of Commercial Sports Media, will be in charge of sports rights acquisitions and partnerships across the new group.
– In all my years in the interface between sports and media, I’ve never seen an opportunity like this, Persson says. – For the first time we can offer the 99% of matches that have never before been produced, to a dedicated audience of friends, family and local fans.
Sportway Media Group will consist of Sportway AB, Live Arena Sports AB, and MyGame Group AS, as well as 51% ownership in MyGame Norway AS and joint venture set-ups with sports federations in Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Czech Republic. MyGame Norway will have two leading local media corporations, TV 2 and Amedia, owning the remaining 49% of the shares. The three plan to develop a national service comprising a vast offering of sports from elite to grassroot level.
– There is a distinct window of opportunity here, and this merger will make sure that we have the momentum we need to implement great solutions at great speed, says Daniel Franck, co-founder and CEO of Sportway, and former CEO at IEC in Sports. He will also be in charge of business development in the merged entity. – I believe the Norwegian media partnership model is an attractive opportunity also in other markets, with the potential to create true win-win alliances.
While MyGame is a consumer brand aimed at the end-users, Sportway has focused on B2B alliances with sports federations, setting up joint ventures in order to offer specialized services like Svensk Hockey TV. The merged company will offer both approaches in new markets and focus on securing attractive rights as the main key to expansion.
– We offer exciting opportunities for rights holders, federations and media companies across Europe, says Edvard Tveten, co-founder and COO of MyGame. – Both fan and player engagement will get a boost unlike anything we’ve seen before.
In Norway, MyGame has collected exclusive long-term rights to lower division and grassroots sports, including football, handball, ice hockey, floorball, basketball and volleyball. While Sportway has secured ice hockey across Sweden, Denmark, Finland and the Czech Republic, as well as handball, basketball and floorball in Denmark.
– Over the next few years Sportway Media Group aims to significantly grow our combined rights portfolio across Europe, creating a new and exciting market for local sports, says Stromme.
Sportway Media Group is currently valued at appr. EUR 60 million based on the latest financing round.
BT Group plc has agreed a set of definitive agreements with Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. to form a 50:50 joint venture company in the UK & Ireland, bringing together an extensive portfolio of premium sports rights including major football competitions including the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and the Premier League; Premiership Rugby; UFC; and Eurosport’s existing offering.
Warner Bros. Discovery and BT have agreed to form a 50:50 joint venture company to create a new premium sports offering for the UK & Ireland.
The new joint venture will bring audiences a compelling collection of rights including UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, the English Premier League, Premiership Rugby, UFC, the Olympic Games, tennis Grand Slams featuring the Australian Open and Roland-Garros, cycling Grand Tours including the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia and the winter sports World Cup season.
Both BT Sport and Eurosport UK will initially retain their separate brands and product propositions in the market before being brought together under a single brand in the future.
Marc Allera, CEO BT’s Consumer division, said “As a global sports and entertainment broadcaster Warner Bros. Discovery is the perfect partner to work with us to take BT Sport to the next stage of its growth.
“We’re excited to be joining forces to bring the best of BT Sport together with Eurosport UK to create a fantastic new sports offer alongside all the entertainment that discovery+ has to offer BT customers.”
“I’m incredibly proud of the established, creative and innovative broadcaster that BT Sport has become. We have a brilliant team who are dedicated to broadcasting amazing sporting moments and we look forward to working with Eurosport UK to realise the opportunities that this next stage will bring both our team and our viewers.”
As part of this historic partnership, Amber Group will become the club’s official sleeve partner, with the logo of WhaleFin – the company’s flagship digital asset platform – emblazoned across the kit of both the men’s and women’s teams from the start of the 2022/23 season.
As the first digital asset partner for Chelsea Football Club, Amber Group will introduce WhaleFin to football fans around the world. Built with the deep expertise that Amber Group has developed serving both institutional and retail digital asset markets, WhaleFin is an all-in-one platform that serves as a gateway to crypto finance for everyone. Amber Group’s focus on raising WhaleFin’s profile through this partnership underscores the growing prominence of digital assets, and the role it plays in helping investors build wealth in the digital era.
As part of the partnership agreement, Chelsea and Amber Group will collaborate on a range of partnership activities which will focus on growing the WhaleFin brand globally. The two will also work together on a series of sustainability initiatives that are central to Amber Group’s ongoing commitment to build a sustainable future for all. The company most recently announced collaborations with the Whale and Dolphin Conservation and Moss Earth, and is expected to broaden its support of sustainability initiatives globally.
Guy Laurence, Chelsea FC Chief Executive, commented:
‘This is a hugely exciting partnership for the club, which aligns us with one of the most advanced digital asset companies in the world. As Amber Group continue to expand coverage of their platform globally, they will now have the ability to not only speak to the hundreds of millions of loyal Chelsea fans around the globe but also be seen by the billions who tune into the Premier League each season.’
Michael Wu, Amber Group Chief Executive Officer said:
‘Our partnership with Chelsea FC is a watershed moment as we embark on the next stage of our growth globally. With the beautiful game’s ability to rally a global audience regardless of culture, language and nationality, we are excited to showcase the full potential of digital assets to an international audience. With a storied club history backed by a world-class team, Chelsea FC is a class act that we are proud to partner with, as we bring digitisation and crypto finance to global users. We are thrilled to be associated with one of the best teams in the English Premier League, and we look forward to unlocking new sporting experiences for football fans around the world.’
The European Tour group today announces a new partnership with Hilton that will see the global hospitality company become an Official Partner of the DP World Tour and Official Hotel of the 2023 Ryder Cup.
The new three-year agreement will enable Hilton to provide exclusive access for Hilton Honors members at premium tournaments on the DP World Tour calendar. The Tour will also work with Hilton to create joint content with its players, utilising the DP World Tour’s award-winning digital platforms to help drive brand awareness and audience engagement. Hilton will continue to welcome Tour staff and players at its hotels for tournaments, acting as hub hotels at select locations.
Hilton will also become Official Tournament Partner at four tournaments on the DP World Tour schedule each year, including three Rolex Series events – the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, the BMW PGA Championship and the DP World Tour Championship. Hilton will also become the Official Hotel Supplier at an additional three tournaments.
As an exciting first between the partners, the agreement also includes a partnership with the greatest team contest in golf, with Hilton becoming the Official Hotel of the 2023 Ryder Cup that will take place at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club, Rome, from September 29 – October 01, 2023.
The new deal is the latest in a long association between Hilton and the European Tour group, which first started in 2015 as an Official Supplier and has continued to grow in stature culminating in this latest ground-breaking agreement.
Speaking about the new partnership Chris Silcock, EVP and Chief Commercial Officer, Hilton, said; “It’s an exciting time to be continuing our partnership with the DP World Tour – especially in the lead-up to the Ryder Cup in Rome next year, where we will have an active role as the Official Hotel of the 2023 edition.
“Our longstanding partnership with the Tour has enabled us over the years to offer exclusive experiences for our Hilton Honors members and create some truly compelling content with Tour players – and I am delighted that we will be able to deliver this content across a number of new tournaments, including the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai later this year. It will also be an honour to showcase our leading and unique Hilton hospitality to players and staff, welcoming them at our hotels around the world.”
Guy Kinnings, Chief Commercial Officer and Deputy CEO of the European Tour group, added; “It’s hugely exciting to commence a new relationship with a hotel supplier of the scale and prestige of Hilton. Its global network closely matches the global footprint and appeal of the DP World Tour and the Ryder Cup, and we look forward to championing the game of golf together through some exciting content initiatives.”
London-based global esports brand Fnatic has today revealed its latest partnership with performance PC specialist Chillblast. As part of the multi-year partnership deal, Chillblast will become the Global exclusive Fnatic PC and Notebook Partner with custom Fnatic styled PCs going live on sale today. A range of Fnatic x Chillblast co-branded PC and Notebooks will be created throughout the multi-year partnership and will be unlike anything Fnatic have done before, with a wide variety of unique and limited-edition designs created to celebrate key moments for Fnatic.
As part of the multi-year partnership deal, Chillblast will be manufacturing and supplying custom Fnatic PCs to all Fnatic pro team/creators to ensure they can compete at the highest possible level by being equipped with PCs that are #TheChoiceOfChampions. Fnatic and Chillblast will collaborate on creating innovative and engaging content and activations for Fnatic fans while Chillblast’s logo will also feature on the Official Fnatic Pro Kit worn by Fnatic pro-teams which will be available to purchase on Fnatic’s shop in the near future.
With Fnatic being the No.1 performance esports brand, this partnership will help level up Fnatic’s pro teams to an even greater level with incredible performance PCs provided by Chillblast. Over 370+ Medals have been won by Fnatic during their legacy, including the first ever League of Legends Worlds Championships in 2011, we know what it takes to become Champions and the importance of performance. That’s why we’ve partnered with the best, Chillblast. Chillblast will also become an official Fnatic Gear reseller with Chillblast x Fnatic PCs being available to buy from a number of retailers from today including Chillblast.com, Box.co.uk and CCLonline.com.
Fnatic CEO, Sam Mathews said:
“Our players know that to be able to compete at the best in-game, we need to have the best performing systems. Chillblast will be able to offer excellent performance along with unique fantastic Fnatic team designs. We can’t think of a better PC manufacturer to partner with than Chillblast to demonstrate our commitment to support our players with the highest levels of PC performance, while also offering fans the opportunity to access the same systems that our players use.”
Tactus Group CEO, Scott Brenchley said:
“Everyone at Chillblast is excited to enter into this partnership with Fnatic. We’re obsessed with providing the highest levels of performance and service, enabling gamers to compete at the highest levels. The teams at Fnatic need to have the best quality equipment to perform at their best and we’re eager to help them succeed in every aspect of their game. We are also incredibly excited to work with the professionals to further develop our gaming PC solutions, and provide the next generation of grassroots esports players with outstanding professional grade kit”.
Coverage of the inaugural eSkootr Championship™ (eSC) will be shown across the USA and in Canada on Segi TV throughout the 2022 season.
Segi TV is a free on-demand streaming service available in over 100 million households in America, showcasing diverse and underrepresented content. Accessible through Android, iOS, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Samsung Smart TV, and on the web, the platform will give viewers access to all the action from the first race in London on 13/14 May, as well as the five other races taking place in 2022, live and through the 90-minute highlight show following the race day.
eSC has a big North American presence with a number of riders from America and Canada for Segi’s audience to get behind, as well as the season finale race which will take place in the US in October.
Sharon Fuller, Chief Content Officer at eSC, commented:
”Sport plays a major part in American society and we are excited to be working with Segi TV to make eSC available to a large US and Canadian audience.
“With local riders and a race in the USA later in the year, there is plenty of invested interest for American fans to get behind. As well as broadcasting the fast and dynamic racing, coverage on Segi TV will offer fans background on the series and the riders competing, introducing these new sports stars to viewers and creating our new sporting heroes.”
Edward Sylvan, CEO of SEGI TV, commented:
“We are delighted to be working with eSC as a broadcast partner in 2022 and showcasing the eSkootr Championship to 100 million households in America through Segi TV’s multiplatform streaming service . This race series is directly in line with our core values of diversity, inclusion and sustainability. We are looking forward to helping to introduce this exciting new sport to the world.”
The eSkootr Championship™ (eSC) has also launched the first release of esc.live – the new eSC Fan Hub – an online platform offering exclusive content, interactive games and live race streams.
The Fan Hub has been developed to build a community where people can enjoy, follow, learn about and engage with the Championship. As a fan first series, eSC has focused on accessibility, both through the viewing experience at live events and on screen, and in its communication and outreach to its followers.
The Fan Hub will launch as a website only platform, with apps becoming available later in the year. It will carry interactive live feeds of all of eSC’s races and will pilot live streaming in 9:16. Streams will also be available in traditional landscape and connected TV casting.
It will offer easy to digest information about the series giving an overview of what viewers can expect from the racing, the technology behind the racing, the riders involved and the Championship’s wider messaging as a force for good in sport. Through interactive games and quizzes, short form videos and bitesize technical information, the Fan Hub will be the go-to place for getting to know, understand and enjoy this brand new sport.
Hrag Sarkissian, eSC Co-founder and CEO, said:
“The consumer is at the heart of everything we are doing at eSC, and we are determined to ensure our Championship is highly engaging and accessible to all. As a new sport, we understand the need to explain and educate about the racing, and we want to do this in an easy to digest and interactive way.
“Our ambition is to build a community of fans and followers who feel part of the series, and our Fan Hub will provide a user-friendly portal offering intimate and exclusive content and information about everything eSC, both on and off the track.”
Sharon Fuller, Chief Content Officer at eSC, commented:
“The eSC Fan Hub is part of our long-term plan to build a platform for audience engagement. It will act as a portal for fans to fully immerse themselves in the Championship by providing exclusive content, interactive features and the live race stream in different formats. As we pioneer new technology in the race series, the same applies to our digital platforms with more to come this year.
As a fan first series, the Fan Hub will also offer a platform for fans to interact directly with the series, have their say and feel part of the eSC community. Initially a website-only platform, we are developing a supporting Fan Hub app to make our content as easy to reach as possible.”
