Papa Johns Heats Up With New Scottish Rugby Partnership

Global pizza delivery brand Papa Johns is marking its 20th year in Scotland through a new commercial partnership with Scottish Rugby.

The multi-year sponsorship will see the company become Scottish Rugby’s official pizza and takeaway partner in a deal that will be focussed on supporting the adult and youth community and club game in Scotland.

Through the new partnership, Papa Johns will also become the naming rights partner for the hugely successful ‘Tartan Touch’ programme, which has enabled people of all ages and abilities to experience an abbreviated form of rugby either as their introduction to the sport or as a fun social activity for experienced players.

Papa Johns branding will be first seen at Scotland matches played by both the men’s and women’s team during their respective 2022 Six Nations’ competitions.

Founded in 1984 in the USA, Papa Johns has become one of the world’s most recognisable pizza brands with over 500 stores in the UK alone.

Papa Johns will this year celebrate the 20th anniversary of its first store in Scotland which opened at Glasgow Broomhill in 2002. Since then, the brand has continued to grow and there are currently 30 stores serving delicious slices to Scots all over the country.

Scottish Rugby’s Group Head of Commercial and Sponsorship, Toni Blackhurst said:

“There has been a huge growth in the home food delivery market in recent years and as such we are delighted to secure a key player in Papa Johns for a multi-year deal as our official pizza and takeaway partner.

“Their ambition to support our community game across Scotland and specifically to be directly associated to Tartan Touch shows how attractive rugby is as a sport at a grassroots level. Tartan Touch has been one of Scottish Rugby’s real success stories in recent years and this has enabled us to seek and secure a title sponsor in Papa Johns.”

Speaking on the latest announcement, Giles Codd, Senior Director of Marketing said:

“This partnership with Scottish Rugby is a truly brilliant opportunity for Papa Johns to support grassroots rugby in Scotland. We have been so impressed with Scottish Rugby’s commitment to boosting local communities through sport, and the Tartan Touch programme is the true embodiment of that. We are very excited to witness the difference that rugby can make for people of all ages and abilities.

“With the Guinness Six Nations about to get underway, there really is no better time for this announcement to come and we look forward to engaging with Scottish rugby fans as an official partner of Scottish Rugby.”

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WTT Signs SEA Broadcast Deal With Eclat Media Group For SPOTV

Today, World Table Tennis (WTT) announced its latest broadcast agreement for Southeast Asia with Eclat Media Group, further highlighting the sport’s remarkable growth and appeal in recent years.  

The three-year partnership starts immediately and includes the following markets: Brunei, Cambodia, Timor Leste, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Macau (non-exclusive), Mongolia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand (non-exclusive) and Vietnam. WTT and SPOTV will work closely together to reach new audiences across a region of over 670 million people.

The South Korean group secured exclusive rights for all WTT events – including the World Table Tennis Championships – on SPOTV, its linear television channel and streaming platform.

WTT unveiled the first part of its 2022 calendar earlier this week, featuring an ambitious list of events with the ultimate objective of making table tennis stronger, more attractive, and more global. Oman joins the WTT Series for 2022, hosting WTT Contender Muscat in February, and the first-ever WTT Grand Smash is scheduled in Asia in March. Players will then return to the Middle East with WTT Feeder Doha, WTT Contender Doha, and WTT Star Contender Doha to be played consecutively.

WTT Senior Media Director Melissa Soobratty said: “We are delighted to welcome SPOTV to the WTT family. Southeast Asia is a significant market for WTT, and we look forward to partnering with SPOTV to build a new era for table tennis in the region.”

Mitchell Hong, Chairman of SPOTV and CEO of Eclat Media Group, commented: “Table tennis is an Olympic sport with a massive following in Asia. SPOTV is the platform for key sporting events, and we welcome WTT as a partner to deliver the best table tennis content to our fans in this part of the world.”

SPOTV runs two regional sports channels, SPOTV and SPOTV2, and is currently distributed across territories in Southeast Asia, such as Indonesia (MNC Vision, K-Vision, UseeTV, MAXStream), Malaysia (Astro, Unifi TV), the Philippines (Skycable), Singapore (Singtel TV, StarHub TV), Thailand (TrueVisions), and selected East Asia territories such as Macau (Macau Cable TV), and Mongolia (Univision). Its streaming platform, SPOTV NOW, is scheduled to be launched later in 2022.

By broadcasting globally renowned sports properties such as MotoGP, Wimbledon, US Open (tennis), The Open Championships, Badminton World Federation Events, and World Table Tennis, SPOTV seeks to be an inclusive and dynamic platform that profoundly engages the Asian sports fan.

IMG manages the global distribution of broadcast rights for all WTT events and TV production coverage. 

Hyperice Becomes The Official Recovery Technology Of The Global IRONMAN Triathlon Series

IRONMAN today announced that Hyperice, a global high-performance wellness brand, have entered into a new long-term, global partnership making Hyperice the Official Recovery Technology of the Global IRONMAN Triathlon Series. After a near 10-year successful relationship across the U.S. region between IRONMAN and Normatec, which Hyperice acquired in March 2020, Hyperice is expanding its partnership with IRONMAN to cover all global IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 events and will focus on integrating Hyperice’s full suite of technology-driven recovery products.

“Recovery is a critical piece of the athlete journey. We are thrilled to partner with Hyperice, which will give our community access to industry-leading technology that will be paramount in ensuring our athletes achieve their goals,” said Matt Wikstrom, Chief Partnerships Officer for The IRONMAN Group.

https://twitter.com/IRONMANtri/status/1486021051238662145?s=20

Beginning this year, Hyperice will have a presence at IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 events beyond the finish line with ‘Official Hyperice Recovery Zones’ to help athletes recover immediately post-race. Further, Hyperice products will be available within the official IRONMAN Merchandise stores on-site, offering athletes and spectators the opportunity to demo and purchase products.

“Competing in an IRONMAN race is a marker of success for every endurance athlete,” says Jim Huether, CEO of Hyperice. “We have a long-time relationship with IRONMAN beginning with Normatec and now is inclusive of our full-suite of wellness products. Together we have a shared mission to help athletes compete at the highest levels.”

Since its inception, Hyperice has worked closely with athletes and sports organizations in its product and technology development and has existing partnerships with major professional sports organizations and teams including the NBA, NFL, MLB, PGA TOUR, UFC, and U.S. Soccer Federation. The partnership with IRONMAN marks an important step for the brand into the endurance sports space. Together, IRONMAN and Hyperice seek to demonstrate the importance of recovery for athletes of all levels from professionals to recreational athletes, through the benefits of Hyperice’s extensive product portfolio.

Brazilian Football’s Paulista Teams Up With Stats Perform

The Paulista Football Federation (FPF) has now appointed an official betting and data rights partner for the Paulistão Championship and all other FPF competitions.

Stats Perform, the global sports tech leader in data and AI Technology, has secured exclusive rights to distribute audio-visual streaming and data rights to sports betting companies and betting shops worldwide outside of Brazil. The deal was led by LiveMode, the FPF’s commercial partner for all broadcasting and sponsorship rights and brokered by Zeus Sports Marketing (ZSM), an experienced London and Singapore based international media agency who is one of Stats Perform’s trusted commercial partners.  Stats Perform and ZSM already have a deep involvement in Brazilian Football as the official betting and data rights partners with the CBF for the Brasileirão Serié A and Serié B football leagues.

“We are delighted to make this amazing partnership in an area still very little explored in Brazil,” Reinaldo Carneiro Bastos, PFF president, said in a statement. “We keep working hard to bring more and more innovation and technology to all our competitions,” he continued.

The agreement, unprecedented in Brazil, will last for four years and follows the trend already developed by some of the most important leagues in the world, such as the NFL, NBA and other major soccer leagues worldwide. The Federation and LiveMode studied the best practices of these leagues and, together with Stats Perform, will implement the same steadfast measures in FPF competitions, such as enhanced stadium access control.

“Like many of the other major sports properties in the world, we believe that game data is a vital intellectual property of clubs and championships,” said Mauricio Portela, LiveMode Senior Partner.” This agreement will allow the exploitation of the full potential that these data have.”  The agreement kicks in with the start of Paulistão Sicredi 2022.

Commenting on the new agreement, Alex Rice, Chief Rights Officer of Stats Perform, said, “This latest partnership is a testament to the exceptional portfolio of football rights held by our company. Stats Perform is extremely proud to deliver such an outstanding collection of Brazilian football betting and data rights to sit alongside its existing long-term relationship with CBF/ Brasileirão.”

Having brokered this commercial arrangement, ZSM’s Co-Founder and Managing Director, Josh Burack, added, “ZSM has developed excellent relationships in the betting and data sector, with this latest set of rights in Brazil adding to our strong mix. We are delighted to have further strengthened our agency’s growing presence in such an important segment of the marketplace while adding value to FPF, partner agency LiveMode and our long-term client Stats Perform.”

Binance Sign Five-Year Deal With Argentine Football Association

Cryptocurrency platform Binance has unveiled a new deal with the Argentine Football Association that will see them become a five-year sponsor of the national teams.

“Soccer and cryptocurrencies are life in Argentina, so it makes sense for Binance to partner with the Argentine Football Association,” said He Yi, Co-Founder and CMO of Binance.

“Through this agreement, we hope to support Argentine soccer at all levels and introduce Binance, the crypto world and the blockchain to soccer fans across the country and the world.”

Claudio Tapia, AFA President, stated: “Binance meets all the conditions we are looking for. A leading global brand in its field, innovative and with a vision of creating new digital assets,”

“We are very happy to incorporate Binance as a commercial partner of the AFA. An alliance that, without a doubt, will generate excellent results for both parties.”

However, there is some controversy around the deal, as Socios.com claim that via their Chiliz cryptocurrency, which last year signed a deal with Argentine football’s top division and has stated it will be contesting the deal as it is in breach of their deal.

WTT Signs Shuijingfang as a Global Premier Partner

World Table Tennis announced today that it has agreed terms with Shuijingfang as a Global Premier Partner.  

WTT heralds a new era for table tennis events, merging sport and entertainment. Shuijingfang, as one of China’s top baijiu (Chinese rice wine) brands, will support WTT’s efforts to offer fans and spectators a unique experience, and to reach new audiences with the finest hospitality services. Shuijingfang will be the exclusive provider of baijiu at all WTT events. 

The publicly listed company has kept traditional brewing techniques dating back to 14th century and operates the oldest continuous operating drinks plant in China. This 600-year-old distillery is open as a museum and is one of the top things to do as visitors to Chengdu. The ninth generation of baijiu masters continuously strive to perfect winemaking while drawing on the brand’s excellence for innovative breakthroughs to refine a historical legacy.

“I’m delighted to welcome Shuijingfang as WTT’s Global Premier Partner, a partnership that is sure to be filled with anticipation and pleasant surprises,” said Matt Pound, WTT Managing Director. “Shuijingfang will work closely with WTT and our table tennis fans to further develop the sport, conveying China’s table tennis culture and sportsmanship to the world. At WTT events, spectators will catch the world’s best players in action, but also enjoy a premium hospitality experience.”

The Global Premier Partner is WTT’s highest level of partnership and will get premium visibility at all WTT events around the world.

Zhu Zhenhao, Shuijingfang CEO, said, “Shuijingfang has long had an affinity with sports, and it is a great honour to partner with WTT on this journey. With Shuijingfang’s creed of ‘Champion by Quality’, we will pay tribute to the Chinese Table Tennis Team who has bagged countless brilliant achievements over the years, as well as to the players who demonstrate what it is to be ‘Champions in Spirit’ on the field. We look forward to working with WTT and driving global table tennis to brand new heights.”

WTT is part of the ITTF Group, the umbrella organisation of table tennis, along with the sport governing body known as the ITTF, and the ITTF Foundation as the social responsibility arm. The three entities propel the ITTF Group to inspire sustainable Table Tennis growth worldwide, through engagement, innovation and passion.

Fortescue, Global Green Renewable And Resources Company, To Acquire Williams Advanced Engineering

  • Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) to acquire Williams Advanced Engineering (WAE) in race to net zero
  • Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) – a wholly owned subsidiary of FMG – and WAE will be setting the pace for ground breaking innovation in the green energy space
  • This brings together leading thinkers and engineers under one umbrella to drive progress and combat climate change

Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) and Williams Advanced Engineering (WAE) are setting the pace for ground-breaking innovation in the green energy space, as Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) enters into an agreement to acquire the UK-based WAE.

WAE, an offshoot from the Williams F1 team founded by the revered, late Sir Frank Williams, is a world-leading technology and engineering business renowned for its ground-breaking projects in high performance battery systems and electrification.

This acquisition brings together leading thinkers and engineers into one organisation  to drive progress and combat climate change, enabling Fortescue to become a major player in the growing global market for green industrial transport equipment.

WAE will bring its race bred critical battery technology to FFI, which will in turn enable Fortescue, one of the largest iron ore producers in the world and a heavy carbon emitter, to realise its industry leading 2030 net-zero target. This will be achieved by working together to help bring green energy to life in programmes such as Fortescue’s 3km long freight trains, 400 tonne haul trucks and industrial heavy mobile equipment.

The heavy industrial sector accounts for more than 20 per cent of global carbon emissions. Today’s £164 million investment means Fortescue and FFI will acquire critical capabilities needed to help decarbonise this industry world-wide utilising FFI’s green electricity, green hydrogen and ammonia which contains zero carbon.

Fortescue Founder and Chairman, Dr Andrew Forrest AO said, “This is the race of our lifetimes – the race to save the planet from cooking. The speed at which we move matters. Together FFI and WAE will work to decarbonise Fortescue – with the aim of achieving that faster and more effectively than anyone else in the world”.

“This is an historic moment in the future of our company as we welcome the WAE family into the Fortescue family to work together to de carbonise heavy industry and hard to abate sectors for the good of our planet, and the benefit of our shareholders”

“This announcement is the key to unlocking the formula for removing fossil fuel powered machinery and replacing it with zero carbon emission technology, powered by FFI green electricity, green hydrogen and green ammonia,” Dr Forrest said.

“For decades, Sir Frank Williams’ F1 racing business was at the forefront of innovation in engineering and I thank him for his pioneering vision in founding WAE over a decade ago. I was sorry to hear of his passing last year and I pay tribute to him. I have huge respect for him, his family and the Williams’ business,” Dr Forrest said.

Former deputy team principal of the Williams F1 Racing Team, Claire Williams OBE, welcomed today’s announcement.

“Since the team sold a majority shareholding in WAE to EMK Capital a couple of years ago, EMK and the Management Team have done a fantastic job in taking the business forward. We are delighted that Fortescue are now taking over that mantle and see the value in the company and its people in tackling some of the biggest issues facing our world today. I am sure that they will continue to drive considerable success through the business and achieve further results in decarbonising heavy industry and tackling the issue of global warming.”

Craig Wilson, Chief Executive Officer WAE said, “High performance battery and electrification systems are at the core of what we do at WAE, and this acquisition and investment will enable the company’s further growth to support the delivery of zero emission products and services across existing sectors – such as automotive, motorsport and off-highway – and new sectors too. This will benefit all of our stakeholders along with current and future customers who are very important to us. My thanks also to EMK Capital for their support during the past two years that has enabled us to accelerate the successful progress of WAE and development of technologies to help tackle climate change”.

“We are delighted to play a key role in Fortescue’s decarbonisation strategy, contributing to the delivery of their emissions reduction targets through high performance battery systems, green hydrogen and related technologies. We will also be focusing on addressing the sector-wide challenges in the off-highway sector. Both companies have a shared culture of innovation, setting and achieving challenging objectives and a genuine commitment to creating a sustainable future.”

Fortescue Chief Executive Officer, Elizabeth Gaines said, “Fortescue and WAE share strong cultural alignment with a focus on technology and innovation to support carbon neutrality, both companies being leaders in their respective industries”.

“We look forward to working together to apply this technology-first strategy to our emissions reduction pathway while also empowering the highly capable WAE team to achieve growth opportunities in new products, services and markets.”

“We have been working with WAE since early 2021, with WAE designing and building a battery system to power an electric mining haul truck; an important first step in the decarbonisation of Fortescue’s mining haul fleet. WAE’s expertise in battery systems and electrification further complements FFI’s green hydrogen projects for haul trucks and mobile fleet to further underpin our technical leadership,”

FFI Chief Executive Officer, Julie Shuttleworth AM said, “The acquisition of WAE adds cutting edge technology, intellectual property and engineering capabilities to support and accelerate FFI’s Green Fleet technology pathway. Under Fortescue’s ownership, WAE will continue to service its customers while rapidly expanding its battery and electrification technologies, engineering and manufacturing offerings”.

“Rapid growth of WAE’s world-leading technology and engineering business and an expansion of its manufacturing footprint further enhances FFI’s position to become a major player in the global market for decarbonisation of the global heavy industry sector”

“Joining the Fortescue Family will also allow WAE to invest in new technologies and to further commercialise world leading electrification products in new markets. It is also an opportunity to continue to grow the Williams’ family vision of creating cutting edge technology operating at the forefront of innovation in engineering and business”.

Together FFI and WAE will work together to help achieve the goal to make zero emissions energy available at an industrial, global scale as we become the world’s best, fully renewable energy and green products company.

NBCUniversal Signs Deal With TikTok For Beijing 2022

NBCUniversal has signed a deal with TikTok which will see the broadcaster utilising the social media platform in order to further promote next month’s 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing.

“Looking back at insights from the Tokyo 2020 Games, it was fascinating to see how much audience interest there was in perhaps ‘non-traditional’ Olympics content,” said Harish Sarma, TikTok’s global head of content business development.

As part of the deal there will be a livestream numerous times per day featuring a TikTok creator, as well as many posts that will be featured on the platform in order to increase overall viewership.

“We are collaborating closely to identify which TikTok creator will host the program, and we’re excited for audiences to tune in and see the show,” said Krishan Bhatia, president and chief business officer, advertising and partnerships, NBCU. 

This is latest deal for TikTok following last week’s announcement from cricket’s Pakistan Super League that they will also be joining forces with the Chinese social media brand.

WBSC Enters Into Agreement With Sportradar To Help Safeguard The Integrity Of The Game

The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) has entered into a two-year partnership with Sportradar Integrity Services, a global supplier of sport integrity solutions and partner to over 100 sports federations and leagues.

Sportradar will provide the baseball-softball world governing body with its Universal Fraud Detection System (UFDS) for each WBSC international competition for the duration of the agreement.

The UFDS is an advanced and proven bet monitoring system that has been independently assessed and verified by recognized experts in the field of sports betting and integrity. Betting patterns are analysed for abnormalities by a global team of qualified integrity experts, and any suspicious games are subsequently reported to partners, allowing critical visibility into worldwide match-fixing. Sportradar Integrity Services have detected over 6,900 suspicious games across different sports during the past 17 years with 900 of these taking place in 2021 alone.

“We’re looking forward to benefiting from Sportradar’s expertise in providing bet monitoring and intelligence solutions for appropriate detection and investigation of threats to sport integrity, maintaining baseball and softball’s game unpredictability and safeguarding the international game from manipulation,” said WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari. “Following the IOC’s and specifically the OM Unit PMC’s (Olympic Movement Unit on the Prevention of the Manipulation of Competition) leadership in the prevention of competition manipulation, we are working towards enhancing the protection of clean baseball and softball athletes with this new agreement.”

As part of its continued upskilling of athletes, officials and staff about the latest trends and topics surrounding international sport, the WBSC Integrity Unit recently organised, in collaboration with the IOC Olympic Movement Unit on the Prevention of the Manipulation of Competition, a two-part series of webinars about competition manipulation.