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.”
The MotoGP™ Pick & Play game brings fans into the action on one of the world’s largest social networks.
A new game for MotoGP™ fans is launching in 2022: MotoGP™ Pick & Play! MotoGP™ Pick & Play will launch exclusively on Facebook and will be available to play free worldwide on mobile devices.
MotoGP™ Pick & Play allows fans of the world’s fastest motorcycle racing Championship to get involved in the action by choosing which rider, in a weekly battle, will finish ahead. Playing for fun (and glory!), each face-off tests fans’ knowledge of the sport, with two riders put up in head-to-heads in each Grand Prix. The player just needs to choose which rider they think will finish ahead, and there are some interesting choices for the first round at Le Mans:
Home hero Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing) vs Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Brad Binder
Jerez winner Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) vs 2020 Champion Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar)
Reigning Champion Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) vs Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing)
Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) vs Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar)
Eight-time Champion Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) vs Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Miguel Oliveira
The battles will change for each race weekend, with the first choices based on the Championship standings. But the possibilities don’t stop there, with inter-team battles, national showdowns and more on the horizon in future. Fans can also create their own leagues in MotoGP™ Pick & Play, testing their skills against each other to see who comes out on top over the course of the season – and in the rankings each week.
Head to www.facebook.com/fantasy_games/motogp on mobile devices to find out more and get involved in MotoGP™ Pick & Play, with the first battles of the season just around the corner for the SHARK Grand Prix de France!
McLaren Racing today announced a new multi-year partnership with VMware, a leading provider of multi-cloud services for all apps, as an Official Partner of the McLaren Formula 1 Team.
The technology-driven partnership connects two brands who value excellence in their respective fields, with VMware empowering McLaren’s operations throughout the F1 season for the team to stay connected and efficient at locations around the world.
VMware will help McLaren manage, connect, protect, and deliver cloud-based apps the team relies on both at-track and at the McLaren Technology Centre. McLaren will leverage VMware’s technology to power app optimisation across multiple clouds, deliver reliable connectivity and best user experience across devices.
VMware branding will be represented on the McLaren MCL36 F1 cars and race suits of McLaren F1 drivers Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo from the 2022 French Grand Prix.
Matt Dennington, Director of Partnerships, McLaren Racing, said:
“It’s fantastic to be partnering with VMware, whose technology will play a key role in connecting the McLaren F1 Team. We operate at race pace on and off-track, and this partnership will help keep us agile across the apps we need, from any device and location, to bring our best on race day.”
Laura Heisman, Chief Marketing Officer, VMware said:
“McLaren Racing and VMware share a commitment to excellence and a desire to push the boundaries of what is possible to take on the biggest challenges. Through this multi-year deal, we will help drive innovation for the McLaren F1 Team in their pursuit of a world championship.”
The UK’s number one squash brand is partnering The Hundred with a multi-year deal.
Robinsons has today become the Official Soft Drinks Partner of The Hundred.
The three-year deal will see The Hundred feature on packs across the Robinsons’ ready to drink, no added sugar range, offering ticket giveaways to consumers via a weekly prize draw.
The Hundred launched last summer to packed out crowds across England and Wales, exciting cricket fans new and old with its innovative mix of high energy sporting action and epic entertainment.
From this summer, Robinsons will put their name to the Strategic Timeout, which gives the bowling side 150 seconds to regroup and rehydrate during the most critical periods of play.
Robinsons has a shared aim to help people make healthier choices and live healthier lives. The Hundred will feature on Robinsons’ ready to drink, no added sugar range of drinks. Robinsons’ drinks are also made without artificial colours or flavourings.
The inaugural year of The Hundred captivated the nation. The four-week competition saw over 16m people tuning in to watch games across Sky and BBC and 34.3m video views online, with the opening match trending nationally on Twitter.
More than 500,000 tickets were sold and issued across eight venues, with 267,000 attending the women’s fixtures, the highest number for a women’s cricket event globally.
The new partnership with Robinsons will help The Hundred to grow again in year two and beyond. This summer will see more overseas talent, more outreach into communities, and more kids inspired to get active and pick up a bat and ball.
Rob Calder, Commercial Director, The Hundred said: “Partnering with Robinsons gives The Hundred a fantastic opportunity to get more people into cricket, through the chance to win tickets this summer.
“We are delighted to partner with such an established, British brand like Robinsons and look forward to working with them throughout an important second year for cricket’s newest competition.”
Bruce Dallas, Britvic’s Great Britain Marketing Director, said: “The Hundred has quickly established itself as one of the most exciting events in the UK’s sporting calendar and we are thrilled to be part of the action in the coming seasons. Part of The Hundred’s mission is to make the game of cricket more accessible and more inclusive to families up and down the country and, as a family-favourite brand, Robinsons fully supports these efforts to promote broader engagement with the sport.
“At Britvic we are committed to helping people make healthier choices and live healthier lives through our brands by keeping well hydrated and Robinsons’ involvement with this competition provides a great platform to further this agenda.”
The Argentine Football Association (AFA) will become the first football federation globally to officially launch a personalised NFT platform with OneFootball. Fans of the Argentine National Team will be able to purchase officially licensed digital collectibles on the platform.
The AFA, in association with the world’s largest football media platform, OneFootball, will soon launch the first unique collection with officially licensed digital assets. These products will feature a variety of price points to make them widely accessible for all National Team fans. Fans will also be able to purchase and store digital collectibles with just their email address.
The AFA will be the first football federation in the world to have its Web3 partnership with OneFootball for the development of NFTs. This long-term agreement between OneFootball and the AFA will see the two organisations commit to working closely together to transform the football experience for fans, making available assets from current, past and future national teams, such as Lionel Messi, Angel Di María, and legends Diego Armando Maradona, Claudio Paul Caniggia and Gabriel Batistuta.
In relation to this new agreement, Claudio Tapia, President of AFA stated: “Our growing partnership with OneFootball is helping us to reach fans in ever more innovative ways. Our content agreement is helping us to reach millions more fans worldwide, and we’re excited to be the first federation to release a personalised NFT platform with OneFootball, transforming in further the digital experiences for our national teams and football fans. This is the start of an exciting new era in football and the Argentine National Team will be at the heart of it, thanks to this partnership with OneFootball.”
For his part Leandro Petersen, Commercial and Marketing Manager of AFA stated: “Since the beginning of this year together with OneFootball we have designed a long-term agreement that allows us to reach all our fans around the world in an effective and direct way. Being able today to announce AFA’s personalised NFT platform together with OneFootball means taking another step in our expansion in the digital world. Soon we will launch the first AFA NFT collection, reinforcing our bond with the Argentine National Team fans, not only in this World Cup year, but also, for the years to come”.
Lucas von Cranach, CEO & Founder at OneFootball, said: “OneFootball will take tens of millions of football supporters from Web2 to Web3 over the coming years. In order to do that, it’s crucial that we have the right partners which share our excitement about delivering a future of football that is decentralised and built on Web3. By becoming the first federation to launch licensed digital collectibles with OneFootball, the AFA will be giving fans more access and more ownership, helping to bring them even closer to the game they love.”
The partnership between AFA and OneFootball has been made possible thanks to a new joint venture, OneFootball Labs, with Animoca Brands and Dapper Labs, the digital collectible company behind NBA Top Shots.
It is a great pleasure to announce that the Thinking Football Summit 2022, organised by Liga Portugal, will be partnering with iSportConnect, the world’s largest sport business network and community of executives working across the sports industry.
iSportConnect works to build relationships in sport across a number of different verticals: their events, community offering and advisory service. The organisation hosts many exclusive, invite-only events around the world for its community of executives in the business of sport.
As part of this partnership, iSportConnect will be curating and moderating a panel at the Thinking Football Summit 2022 that will be centred around the topic of Web3 and the impact it is going to have on sport in the future, with speakers to be announced shortly.
The Summit will be taking place on 18 to 20 November 2022, an event that will be held for the first time in Porto, Portugal. For three days, the Super Bock Arena – Pavilhão Rosa Mota will breathe football, in a summit that is intended to become a reference and one of the best in European Football. Tickets for the event can be purchased here – (www.thinkingfootballsummit.com).
iSportConnect’s Chief Relationship Officer Ray James commented: “We are delighted to be working with the Liga Portugal on this exciting new event and to discussing the game-changing technology that will have an influential impact on the way sports organisations not only operate, but interact with their audiences, manage their relationships and monetise their IP and assets.”
Web3 is going to transform how we operate within the business of sport and across many other sectors, so we look forward to providing a highly educational session, as well as seeing our members in Portugal and helping Liga Portugal to deliver a first class event.”
Tiago Madureira, Executive Director of Liga Portugal, said about the partnership: “iSportConnect is the ideal partner for us to join up with, due to their terrific insight into the commercial world of sport and experience within this space. They are a good sports membership organisation and it is a pleasure to host them and their members in Porto later this year.”
We are also pleased to be able to offer a discount of 10% for the iSportConnect Web3 Summit presented by Tezos on the 28/29 June at Emirates Stadium in London to Thinking Football Summit 2022 ticket holders – use the code TFS10 at checkout to receive the discount.
