Abu Dhabi To Host FIBA 3×3 World Tour Final 2022

The final of the FIBA 3×3 World Tour’s 11th edition will take place in Abu Dhabi on December 9-10, 2022.

Abu Dhabi has been a pioneer in 3×3. Not only did the city organize a FIBA 3×3 World Tour Masters last year – which featured ten Olympic medalists, it played host to the Final both in 2015 and 2016.

“We’re delighted to bring the FIBA 3×3 World Tour Final to Abu Dhabi for the third time,” FIBA Secretary General Andreas Zagklis said. “Coming back for the Final six years later shows the spiking interest for 3×3 and the commitment of the Abu Dhabi Sports Council.”

The 2015 and 2016 Finals rank among the most memorable and successful events in 3×3 history, both in terms of excitement on the court and quality of the organization. The event was praised for being one of the best sporting events in Abu Dhabi in 2015.

“Our previous Abu Dhabi Finals were a decisive moment in the growth of 3×3,” FIBA 3×3 Head of Events Ignacio Soriano said. “We’re blessed to have found a partner in the Abu Dhabi Sports Council, which shares our vision of 3×3 events being more than a sporting event. We are looking forward to continuing this legacy by organizing an unprecedented show this year in Abu Dhabi.”

The 2022 Final will be staged on Yas Island, a very popular leisure island, which is home to many entertainment facilities and sporting events, such as the Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

“It is an honor for us to host the FIBA 3×3 World Tour Final for the third time,” His Excellency Aref Hamad Al Awani, General Secretary of Abu Dhabi Sports Council said. “The event is beloved within our community and fits with our strategy to bring the best and most innovative sporting events in the world. We were delighted to see 3×3’s success at the Tokyo Olympics and are committed to continue growing the game together.”

FIBA will unveil the FIBA 3×3 World Tour season calendar later this month.

DataPOWA Appoint Chief Revenue Officer Patrick Yandjou

DataPOWA, the fan intelligence technology company delivering POWA index, POWA tracker and FanPOWA, is pleased to announce the appointment of Patrick Yandjou to the role of Chief Revenue Officer, and he will join the company’s Senior Management Team with immediate effect. 

A prominent figure in the sports sponsorship measurement and analytics sector, Patrick has extensive experience of working with sports properties, brands, and agencies globally to help them further understand their audiences and deepen the connection with them.

He has a master’s degree in Sport Science and Management and has previously held roles at Blinkfire Analytics and sports market intelligence specialists Leaders. 

DataPOWA’s Chief Executive, Michael Flynn, said: 

“It is with great pleasure that I welcome Patrick Yandjou to DataPOWA. The new role of Chief Revenue Officer is designed to take us to the next level as we continue to enhance our standing and influence within the sector. Patrick has all the attributes and experience I was looking for; his passion, and deep understanding of the sports industry made him the clear choice.”

Patrick said: 

“I’m honoured to join an ambitious business of highly-motivated people who want to make a positive impact in the sports industry using technologies that up until now weren’t readily available in the sector. Sports sponsorship is becoming increasingly sophisticated, complex and data-driven, and DataPOWA’s innovative POWA product suite gives us a real competitive advantage, empowering those in the industry to maximise their partnerships.”

Patrick will be in attendance with the DataPOWA team at Soccerex Americas in March, promoting their new 360° brand valuation platform, POWA tracker, and data enrichment and collaboration software FanPOWA.

Strive Group And LDN UTD Announce “UTD EDN” Initiative

The Strive Group and purpose driven esports org LDN UTD have today announced “UTD EDN” (education) as a joint partnership to offer an inclusive platform for young raw talent to enter and succeed in the esports & gaming sector. 

With the exponential growth in gaming during the COVID 19 pandemic, and recent announcement of esports being included alongside the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, interest in the sector couldn’t be higher. With the emergence of more digital careers and the transforming career landscape, gaming and esports have become aspirational career destinations for a large majority of the next generation of employees.

Together, Strive and LDN UTD are launching UTD EDN as their first collaborative programme offering individuals an 8-week learning experience at LDN UTD’s Centre of Excellence in Camden, with over 70 hrs work experience thereafter in LDN UTD or affiliated businesses to the sector.

With new programmes on the horizon, and with many other initiatives across the UK, this is a very exciting time for careers in the sector with a real demand for talent and innovation in the UK.

The Strive Group Director of Innovation & Skills Ben Drew said “Digital careers are at the forefront of all young people’s minds these days; this collaboration brings best in class from the world of esports and from our developmental programme designers to offer a fantastic platform for individuals to take that first step on the ladder of ambition”

LDN UTD CEO Oliver Weingarten stated “LDN UTD’s values originated on discovering, nurturing, and educating grassroots talent in esports. We’ve extended this ethos to employability, and transferable skills to work in the sector. We are therefore pleased to partner with Strive to provide young people with the opportunity to work in our sector and the creative economy and look forward to welcoming the first cohort to our purpose driven Centre of Excellence in Camden later this month.”

LDN UTD unites professional esports and grassroots gaming with healthy lifestyle and social issues and has previously held physical and online campaigns to address racism and diversity, knife crime, nutrition, loneliness, and education partnering with the Mayor of London.  All Access Gaming took place at Samsung KX in November 2021 to promote health and wellbeing whereby 130k unique viewers watched on Twitch, and there are more campaigns planned for 2022.

PGA TOUR And NBC Sports Launch “PGA TOUR Pick’Em Live”

The PGA TOUR and NBC Sports today launched “PGA TOUR Pick’Em Live” within the official PGA TOUR app and on the TOUR’s website. The free-to-play game, developed by Low6 and exclusively powered by PointsBet in North America, is designed to enhance fan engagement with live in-play games and weekly prizes.

Fans can enter the game at nearly any point during a tournament week and make selections on competitions including overall winner, group winner and head-to-head, with the points system directly tied to live odds.

“We look forward to working with NBC Sports, PointsBet and Low6 to provide a free-to-play game for PGA TOUR fans,” said Norb Gambuzza, PGA TOUR Senior Vice President, Media and Gaming. “Sports betting products in golf continue to experience tremendous growth so we’re excited to provide our fans with the option to experience exciting in-play games in a free-to-play environment.”

PGA TOUR Pick’em Live will feature guaranteed weekly prizes valued up to USD $5,000, with the first competition opening on February 15 in advance of The Genesis Invitational. Once player groupings and tee times are confirmed each week, the full set of game options within “PGA TOUR Pick’Em Live” will be available for users to begin making selections.

“We are delighted to be launching this new pick’em game in partnership with NBC Sports, the PGA TOUR and PointsBet,” said Jamie Mitchell, Low6 co-founder and CEO. “This product highlights our position as a world leader in developing innovative digital sports games and we look forward to engaging with the global golf market through PGA TOUR Pick’em Live.”

PGA TOUR Pick’em Live is available in the PGA TOUR app, downloadable on iOS and Android, or on PGATOUR.COM at https://pickemlive.pgatour.com/. PGA TOUR Pick’Em Live will be integrated into GOLFchannel.com, NBCsports.com and GOLF Channel.

“At PointsBet, enhancing fan engagement across all markets is a key focus for us, and we’re excited to be working with Low6, NBC Sports and the PGA TOUR on a product that does just that,” said Eric Foote, PointsBet Chief Commercial Officer. “As we continue to increase the number of in-play betting opportunities, ‘PGA TOUR Pick’Em Live’ helps us redefine and elevate the way we interact with PGA TOUR fans. This launch not only underscores our commitment to diversifying our portfolio of innovative products for customers, but it also highlights how and where we can reach users.”

PPF And CME Announce Signing Of Agreement To Acquire RTL Croatia

PPF Group (PPF) announces that its subsidiary CME Media Enterprises B.V. (CME) has signed an agreement with RTL Group Central & Eastern Europe GmbH to acquire 100% of RTL Hrvatska d.o.o., (RTL Croatia), a commercial broadcaster in Croatia. The assets are valued at €50million. As part of the transaction, CME has secured the long-term rights to retain the use of the RTL brand in Croatia.

CME currently owns and operates VOYO, the leading Central European SVOD platform as well as five other leading television stations in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia. This transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval from the Croatian Competition Authority and the Croatian Agency for Electronic Media. Closing is expected in mid-2022.

“As a PPF company, we are always open to interesting ideas for growth and investment and see that the Adriatic is a growing region with exceptional potential. We have a very successful operation with ProPlus in the region and I believe that these two Adriatic countries can work well in parallel. As in our other countries, we will focus on digitalization and local content creation, while continuing to excel in pluralistic and high-quality journalism,” said Didier Stoessel, CME CEO for Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia.

UK Athletics’ Major Events To Remain On BBC For 2022

The BBC has been confirmed as UK Athletics’ (UKA) broadcast partner for the 2022 Major Event series.

With four major track and field championships taking place in 2022, coverage will be available on BBC iPlayer, the BBC Sport website and BBC Red Button. The series begins on 19 February with the Muller Indoor Grand Prix in Birmingham.

UKA interim CEO Mark Munro was “delighted” with the partnership.

“Athletics is given a brilliant platform by BBC Sport,” he said. “We’re looking forward to working with the team there to bring great athletics performances into people’s homes in the year ahead.

“The audience reach of their website, Red Button and iPlayer platforms means in this stellar year for athletics events, it is more important than ever to maximise the exposure that the four major track and field championships will bring.”

Other events to be broadcast live on the BBC include the UK Athletics Indoor Championships between 26-27 February, the Muller Birmingham Diamond League on 21 May and the Muller UK Athletics Championships between 24-26 June.

Thailand’s Football Association Selects Stats Perform For Data And Integrity Deal

The Thailand Football Association has become the latest sports federation to choose sports AI and data giant Stats Perform as its exclusive official data and integrity partner.

The wide-ranging agreement sees Stats Perform’s leading data brand, Opta and RunningBall services exclusively collecting and distributing real-time scores and detailed data from the Thai League 1, League 2, FA Cup and League Cup football competitions for the next 8 years, as well as Thai national team fixtures.

Patit Suphaphongs, General Secretary of The Football Association of Thailand “We are delighted to be partnering with the best-known and most trusted data provider to the world’s leading sports leagues. Our alignment with Stats Perform means the highest quality live stats, analysis & tools that will help us attract more fans and sponsors, enhance traditional broadcasts, power outstanding fantasy products and supercharge our social, online and offline presence. We know how their services and the famous Opta brand have helped other leagues, teams and players elevate their profiles and are thrilled to have access to the same proven strategies in Thailand.”

Stats Perform’s leading Integrity division will provide core services around monitoring and risk management of competitions.

Another key part of the partnership is Stats Perform’s  new ‘Pressbox Graphics’ platform.

Pressbox Graphics will help the Thai leagues and competitions deepen and extend fan interest from 90 minutes to the entire multi-day match lifecycle by quickly producing automated visual graphics and animations, powered by Opta data, at scale. This tool is currently used by major professional sports teams globally to drive fan and sponsor awareness and engagement, particularly on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Line.

Steve Cliffe, Stats Perform Vice President, APAC, commented “We describe Stats Perform as the DNA of sport because our content is the deeply-embedded code that helps sport grow by giving fans, media and sponsors the right information, in the right amount of detail, in the right way. Combined with a trusted data brand like Opta, these are the critical elements to maximise fan engagement and entertainment before, during and after the action. We’re very excited to now be working with the Thailand Football Association and helping them ensure that the standards of their pre-game, live and post-game coverage reflect the high calibre of play on the field.”

The Thai competitions join major global sports leagues using Stats Perform’s detailed statistics and Opta’s world-famous brand to power broadcasts, media coverage, sponsorships and fantasy games such as the English Premier League, Spain’s La Liga, Italy’s Serie A, Germany’s Bundesliga, France’s Ligue 1, MLS, Japan’s J-League and most recently Australia’s A Leagues.

Williams Racing And Duracell Announce Long Term Partnership

Williams Racing is pleased to announce a new, multi-year partnership with Duracell, one of the world’s leading manufacturer of high-performance alkaline batteries, specialty cells and rechargeables.

Duracell and Williams will collaborate across a variety of high-profile marketing initiatives, including a major TV commercial, esports and on-the-ground activation at several Grand Prix, starting with the Miami Grand Prix in May. Duracell branding will feature prominently on the Williams car, team kit and race suits of Williams Race Drivers, Alex Albon and Nicholas Latifi.

Jost Capito, Team Principal and CEO for Williams Racing said, “I am so proud of this partnership between Williams and Duracell, and I am grateful for the trust and confidence they have put in us. Having their name on the side of our car is a personal highlight for me, as my nickname for 30 years has been Duracell – because I never run out of energy. I am very much looking forward to our work together.”

James Bower, Commercial Director for Williams Racing, said, “We are immensely proud to be partnering with a globally-recognised brand such as Duracell. Our announcement is a testament to all the hard work the team has done in 2021, how we have developed our commercial proposition and the growth of our sport, particularly in North America.”

Ramon Velutini, Chief Marketing Officer & President, Duracell, said, “We’re pleased to partner with Williams Racing and are looking forward to seeing the team move back up the grid. Our shared passion for performance, a focus on winning and commitment to excellence in engineering made working with the Williams team a natural fit for our brand. Williams, like Duracell, understands that “good enough” is never enough. I am thrilled that they are using our latest technology to power their critical devices on race day.” 

Innovative engineering and powering important moments have been a cornerstone of the brand since the early days of Duracell landing on the moon to the more recent 2019 launch of Optimum. This partnership is another example of Duracell powering a critical, high-stakes moment – but this time, on the racetrack. Now a brand in the Berkshire Hathaway portfolio, Duracell traces its roots back to the 1920s and has grown to be an iconic brand, known for its famous ‘Coppertop’ batteries. 

Birmingham 2022 Sign New Sponsors For The Commonwealth Games

The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games has welcomed four new providers to a growing list of sponsors, who are eager to contribute their equipment, services and systems to a standout Games experience, for the millions of spectators in venue and watching across the world. With less than six months until the opening ceremony, their experience and expertise will be invaluable in ensuring Birmingham 2022 is a safe and successful multi-sport event that showcases the best sport, culture and creativity the West Midlands has to offer.

BMet, one of the largest further education colleges in Birmingham, has been appointed as the Official Further Education College Provider for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. BMet will provide crucial space for the training of more than 13,000 volunteers, the Commonwealth Collective, helping to make sure the Games runs smoothly

Microplus, will use their Games Information Systems including results data feed to help provide in time and accurate results to the global fanbase through the Birmingham 2022 website and related partner channels. Microplus has signed up to be the Official Provider of Games Information Systems for Birmingham 2022.

Domestic & General (D&G), the UK’s leading appliance care specialist, is proud to be named the Official Warranty Provider to the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. The partnership allows D&G to continue growing its visibility across the West Midlands, while promoting the region on a global stage.

Aston University, one of the top ranked universities in the UK for employability, has been announced as an Official University for Birmingham 2022. The university will be loaning ophthalmic equipment and providing eye care expertise, supported by a network of qualified optometrist volunteers, for three polyclinics which will form the primary healthcare facilities for athletes and team officials requiring medical assessment and treatment throughout the Games period. Supporting a carbon neutral legacy, the University will provide parking and host temporary electric vehicle charging facilities. In addition, postgraduate business and management students at Aston Business School have been tasked with developing ideas to create a lasting sustainability legacy for the city. These will be reviewed by Birmingham 2022 and the West Midlands Combined Authority.

Alastair Henderson, Head of Sponsor Services at Birmingham 2022 said:

“Four new sponsors are joining us at a very exciting point leading up to start of the Games this summer. With little less than six months to go until the opening ceremony, Birmingham 2022 will be working closely with our providers to deliver a first-class Games for the city, region, and the Commonwealth.

“Our sponsors bring a high degree of experience to the table, and each play a crucial role in bringing an outstanding Games to the city.”

Katie Sadleir, Commonwealth Games Federation CEO, said:

“As the start of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games quickly approaches, we’re delighted to welcome BMet, Microplus, D&G and Aston University to our family of sponsors. Each sponsor brings with them industry leading expertise, and it’s fantastic to see the collaboration already happening to ensure Birmingham 2022 delivers a spectacular multi-sport event this summer.”

The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games will see around 4,500 athletes from 72 nations and territories compete in 19 sports and eight para-sports across 15 competition venues from 28 July until 8 August 2022. As the biggest event ever to be held in the West Midlands, it is expected to attract more than one million spectators to the city and have a global TV audience of 1.5 billion.

Eskootr Championship Announces Inaugural Season Calendar With London As First-Ever Electric Scooter Race Location

The eSkootr Championship™ (eSC) has today confirmed exciting news ahead of its inaugural season, announcing that London will make history as the first-ever city to host an eSC racing event on 13/14May. As well as the UK, eSC can confirm five other countries that will host races in 2022, with the cities due to be announced shortly.

The groundbreaking new series, that will see riders compete against each other on electric scooters capable of reaching 100km/h, will have events at specially designed inner-city circuits in the UK, Switzerland, France, Italy, Spain and the USA. Further locations will be added in future seasons.

Fast. Exciting. Dynamic. eSC is the first racing series for everyone, inspiring a new movement for safer, greener and more liveable cities. eSC riders are professional athletes from other sports as varied as skiing, surfing, motorcycles, BMX and stunt riders competing for individual and team championship glory whilst championing innovation for the future of micromobility.  

Hrag Sarkissian, eSkootr Championship™ co-Founder and CEO, said:

“This is a huge moment for eSC, and for sport, motorsport and the future growth of micromobility, as we announce the first destinations that will host our brand-new championship. “eSC is a fan-first sport and our race locations will provide the perfect backdrop for a spectator and entertainment experience like never before, with each event embracing the urban culture and associated lifestyle.

“At the same time, London, and the other cities we will announce shortly, are all incredibly progressive, with an appreciation for the real world relevance eSC brings as they seek to address the implications of a rapidly changing mobility landscape.”

Khalil Beschir, eSkootr Championship™ co-founder and COO, added:

“Our mission at eSC is to showcase close, exhilarating racing that is accessible to all and a platform for promoting sustainable, safe and more affordable transportation in urban areas. “London and our other locations are committed to eSC’s vision for events to be an inner-city festival of racing and entertainment, which makes them the perfect host-city partners. They each share our passion for providing a new, fan-first event that inspires a new movement for safer, greener and more liveable cities.”