La Liga club Real Sociedad has signed an initial one-year deal with PTI Digital as the club looks to digital platforms in the recovery from COVID-19.
Known for their work in digital and technology innovation and having recently qualified for the Europa League, the club have appointed PTI as their Official Digital Partner to build upon the foundations within their mobile app delivery.
The deal will see PTI take on the management of the club’s official app, helping to enhance the fan experience in conjunction with driving new digital advertising and sponsorship revenues. Through the Rover platform, PTI will work with Real Sociedad to bring in new brands and advertisers, build experiences and campaigns within the app for the “Txuri Urdin” Family and to support their activation and provide the analytics behind post-campaign reporting.
Real Sociedad become PTI’s first Spanish client, having launched in the market just last month.
PTI CEO Mike Bohndiek commented “To work with a club who are widely recognised as one of the most innovative in La Liga from a digital perspective as our first client in Spain is a tremendous honour and showcases the dynamic nature of our service portfolio. Our team on the ground will take great pride in delivering to their needs.”
Real Sociedad’s Chief Innovation Officer Juan Iraola commented “For some time Real Sociedad have been looking at ways to drive new revenues using digital. In PTI, we have found a partner who can help us realise our vision in conjunction with our wider commercial and digital needs. We are excited to start this partnership which has significant potential to expand.”
PTI are looking forward to bringing their unique technology and digital expertise to drive commercial revenues to the region, with the company already engaged with 70+ sports and entertainment clients, helping them to Activate Digital Engagement in three core ways:
Advise, producing a digital strategy that delivers bottom line returns and technology roadmaps to activate digital outcomes
Activate, ensuring technology enables smarter campaigns and sponsorship engagement
Monetise, enhancing revenue streams and driving return from digital assets
Williams Racing has been acquired by Dorilton Capital, bringing a successful conclusion to the Strategic Review which was launched in late May. Dorilton Capital is known for its long-term approach to investment and its key focus will be to restore the competitiveness of the team. This marks the beginning of an exciting new era in the history of Williams, which with its new owner, is now well positioned to capitalise upon the sweeping rule changes coming into Formula One with the new Concorde Agreement.
As part of the Strategic Review, Williams together with the Group’s financial advisers, conducted a comprehensive review of all the options available to the Company, which included exploratory discussions with a series of potential investors. This strategic review has now successfully concluded and the Company is pleased to announce the sale of Williams Racing to Dorilton Capital. This Transaction received the unanimous support of the Board of Williams, including Sir Frank, who determined the Transaction delivers the best outcome for the Company’s shareholders and secures the long-term success of the Williams Formula 1 team.
Dorilton Capital is a private investment firm headquartered in the United States with a strong track-record of building and enhancing companies with a flexible and patient investment style. Dorilton recognises and appreciates the importance of respecting and retaining Williams’ heritage and culture and is committed to maintaining its identity. The team will continue to race and compete under the Williams brand, with the chassis name remaining unchanged. Dorilton has no plans to re-locate the team from Grove, its traditional home.
The new Concorde Agreement is set to transform the sport and will help address the historical challenges that Williams has faced as an independent constructor, by reducing the financial and on-track disparities between teams and creating a fairer, more competitive sport. The new changes present an exciting opportunity for Williams, which together with the new ownership, will secure the long-term future of Williams at the pinnacle of motorsport.
Claire Williams, Deputy Team Principal, commented: “The Strategic Review was a useful process to go through and proved that both Formula One and Williams have credibility and value. We have now reached a conclusion and we are delighted that Dorilton are the new owners of the team. When we started this process, we wanted to find a partner who shared the same passion and values, who recognised the team’s potential and who could unlock its power. In Dorilton we know we have found exactly that. People who understand the sport and what it takes to be successful. People who respect the team’s legacy and will do everything to ensure it succeeds in the future.As a family we have always put our team first. Making the team successful again and protecting our people has been at the heart of this process from start. This may be the end of an era for Williams as a family owned team, but we know it is in good hands. The sale ensures the team’s survival but most importantly will provide a path to success. We are enormously grateful to Dorilton for the faith they have shown in our team and we look forward to working with them now. I would also like to thank the Williams Board and our advisers who have worked tirelessly over the past months to make this happen and our employees who have remained steadfastly loyal.”
Mike O’Driscoll, CEO of Williams, commented: “The transaction announced today marks the next stage in the history of Williams Formula 1 at an exciting time in the sport. The Company has successfully completed its strategic review and we are pleased to announce the sale to Dorilton Capital, which delivers a great outcome for shareholders and secures the long term future of the Company.”
Matthew Savage, Chairman of Dorilton Capital, commented: “We are delighted to have invested in Williams and we are extremely excited by the prospects for the business. We believe we are the ideal partner for the company due to our flexible and patient investment style, which will allow the team to focus on its objective of returning to the front of the grid. We look forward to working with the Williams team in carrying out a detailed review of the business to determine in which areas new investment should be directed. We also recognise the world class facilities at Grove and confirm that there are no plans to relocate.”
Stats Perform, the SportsTech leader in data and AI technology, has added the exclusive live betting streaming rights for Belgian football’s Pro League and Cup to its portfolio of premium betting video events.
Under the multi-year agreement, Stats Perform will have the exclusive right to distribute live video streams of the competitions to licensed sportsbooks outside Belgium, creating exceptional betting experiences online, on mobile and in retail betting venues. The streams will be accompanied by Stats Perform’s trusted, official data for these competitions. Leagues include all games of the Jupiler Pro League, 1B Pro League and key games of the Croky Cup.
Alex Rice, Stats Perform Chief Rights Officer, commented: “The Belgian Pro League has always delivered exciting football for their passionate fans, and are notorious for producing players who are now setting the big-five leagues alight. We’re delighted that Belgian Pro League has chosen us to be their official live streaming partner and to combine their live betting video rights with our official data rights. We are looking forward to working with the league and are committed to delivering the best possible betting experiences across their competitions.”
The Belgian Pro League official live streaming video rights announcement follows the recent news that Stats Perform acquired the betting streaming and data rights to the Brazilian leagues. Both of these partnerships form part of Stats Perform’s official betting live streaming portfolio which also includes Spanish La Liga soccer, French Ligue 1 soccer and numerous other European and global football competitions.
Riot Games and Cisco have announced a multi-year partnership that establishes the global technology leader as the Official Enterprise Networking Partner of League of Legends Esports. The partnership will provide reliable infrastructure and networking capabilities across five continents and three global events that will improve the competitive experience for pro players as well as enhance the viewing experience for fans.
Cisco’s networking solutions will power “The Realm” – the private game server used exclusively for pro-level competitive LoL Esports matches at three major global events: The League of Legends World Championship, The Mid-Season Invitational, and The All-Star Event. Cisco’s highly secure, flexible, and reliable networking technology will serve as the foundation to deliver the world’s most popular esport as it moves into its second decade.
“As a sport completely reliant on technology, it is essential that League of Legends runs on a trusted and reliable network,” said Scott Adametz, Esports Tech Lead at Riot Games. “With Cisco as a partner, we now are able to build and expand the infrastructure necessary to deliver the best esports experience possible for fans and professional players all over the world.”
“Our partnership with Riot Games brings together the leaders in esports and networking to offer the best possible connected experience for the players and millions of fans around the world,” said Brian Eaton, Director of Global Sports Marketing at Cisco. “Cisco is committed to redesigning the internet for the future, and esports has a big impact on that goal. With more people online than ever before for work and entertainment, it is critical to have a highly secure, flexible infrastructure in place to help ensure the visual quality and speed that will be required in the future.”
Cisco will provide Riot Games with a mix of its leading networking technology spanning Cisco UCS→ Blade and Rack Servers and Nexus Data Center switches, allowing for significant improvements to game play performance and studio broadcasting capabilities. In addition, Cisco also will provide a flexible architecture for Riot’s Regional Broadcast Centers (RBCs) that will support competitive integrity to serve global esports for years to come.
The Realm – Competitive Esports Server Upgrade
League of Legends is an esport that requires quick strategic planning and fast reaction timing. For pro players, it is essential to be able to face the least amount of lag (or “ping”) as possible. With Cisco technology being implemented in “The Realm,” Riot and Cisco are together working to help pro players compete on Summoner’s Rift at sub-1ms ping, allowing for near instantaneous reaction times and uninterrupted gameplay. The new Cisco servers are expected to offer up to 200% raw performance improvement over the previous technology.
Global Esports Networking
In order to power the next decade of esports, Riot Esports will deploy a new collaborative global infrastructure and networking upgrades. Cisco’s global and regional footprint allows Riot the flexibility, accessibility, and security needed to produce world-class esports events in all corners of the globe. Using Cisco’s advanced networking technology, fans at home will be able to watch LoL Esports broadcast streams with reduced delay and improved quality, bringing them closer to the action.
Regional Broadcast Center Upgrades
As part of a global initiative to standardize and promote competitive integrity around the world, Riot Games will deploy more than 200 new tournament game servers in regional studios all centrally managed through Cisco’s new Intersight SaaS solution. Using Cisco’s UCS B-Series Blade Servers, C-Series Rack Servers,and Nexus 3000/7000 Series Switches, Riot Games will establish a common infrastructure footprint across the 12 RBCs including virtualization, storage, and computing to deliver improved performance with reduced latency for regional professional gameplay. Cisco blade nodes can easily adapt and support the broadcast centers without the need for new hardware, allowing for potential new esport applications to come online with ease.
Global Riot Object Storage
As a worldwide leader in esports, Riot Games will undergo a major, global expansion of their object storage system to support content distribution, media processing, and global content archive. Using Cisco’s Storage Optimized Computing Solutions, Riot will build an archive to protect their legacy of content that will more than triple the amount of usable storage and capacity.
LoL Esports has become the biggest esport in the world over the last decade, reaching a record-breaking 21.8 million average minute audience (AMA) for the 2019 World Championship Final. Cisco joins some of the world’s most recognized brands, including Mastercard, Louis Vuitton, Unilever’s AXE, Red Bull, OPPO, State Farm, and Secretlab, as premier global sponsors for League of Legends Esports.
“As we expand on the success of the first decade of our sport, we look to align with partners whose expertise will be a force multiplier for delivering the sporting experiences worthy of our pro players and fans,” said Naz Aletaha, Head of Global Esports Partnerships, Riot Games. “Cisco’s products are best-in-class, and we look forward to leveraging their technology and know-how as we continue to scale League of Legends Esports.”Riot
Commencing from 1 September 2020, the extension will run until the end of the 2023/24 season having originally teamed up with England Rugby in 2016.
As an Official Supplier to England Rugby, adidas will continue to maintain exclusive rights pertaining to players’ rugby boots and trainers, providing the latest sports footwear to be utilised by the both the men’s, women’s and age grade teams who adidas continues to have valued relationships with, as well as the coaching team and the wider England Rugby staff. adidas will also maintain a range of online and digital rights.
Simon Massie-Taylor, Chief Commercial and Marketing Officer at England Rugby commented: “We are delighted to extend our partnership with adidas and continue to grow the relationship further over the next four years.
“It is vital that our players have access to the most innovative and technologically advanced footwear to yield maximum performance when they take to the field and adidas are without doubt one of the most respected performance brands in the industry to be collaborating with.”
On the partnership, adidas says “adidas’ passion to be the leading sports brand in the world drives an on-going quest for creativity, constant innovation and the best performance products. Partnering with the very best athletes and federations in the world of sport is a significant part of achieving that success.
“Rugby is very much one of those and this successful footwear partnership with England Rugby has been, and will continue to be, an important element in maintaining adidas’ market leading position in the sport and our credentials as the authentic multi-sport sports brand. It is a highly valued relationship which we are extremely pleased is now extended for the next four years.”
adidas is the Global market leader in rugby specific footwear sales, offering a range of bespoke models designed with the demands of different playing positions in mind. adidas is proud to be the official footwear partner of England Rugby and will continue to support the game of rugby and the performance needs of those who play the game at all levels.
Norwich City Football Club has renewed its partnership with PTI Digital to help build a ‘future-ready’ infrastructure.
PTI began working with the Canaries in early 2019, with the club focusing on their technological growth and digital understanding and investment.
The extended project will comprise of an exit from the current EFL digital deal, allowing the club to take control of its own website, streaming product, a new mobile app and data solution for an integrated single customer view, a new ticketing platform and enhanced business and intelligence capabilities for internal stakeholders and Carrow Road.
Chief Operating Officer Ben Kensell said: “As a club, we recognised that our processes were outdated, and we’d slipped behind. The world has become increasingly digital and at a pace, and our ambition is to go from behind the curve to best in class by virtue of the transformation project that we are currently embarking on.
“Having looked to the market, PTI Digital were a clear stand out in this space because they could help us to understand the technology requirements such as connectivity, and the plumbing to get the foundations right, before building out a data and digital strategy tailored to our ambitions and on to assisting in delivering the commercial strategy to justify the investment.
“It’s an important project for the club and outlines our commitment to supporters in providing them with the very best experience.”
With the PTI designed future-state architecture approved by the club’s management team, a four-month proposal process is now nearing its conclusion to appoint the vendors and bring the journey to life in time for the start of the 2021-22 season.
Formula 1 has announced that all 10 teams have agreed to the new Concorde Agreement, which sets out the terms under which teams will compete in F1 until 2025.
Ferrari,Williams and McLaren announced they had signed up on Tuesday afternoon, with F1 confirming the remaining seven teams had also agreed the new terms on Wednesday morning.
A statement from Formula 1 said: “The agreement will secure the long-term sustainable future for Formula 1 and combined with the new regulations, announced in October 2019 that come into force in 2022, will reduce the financial and on track disparities between the teams, helping to level the playing field, creating closer racing on the track that our fans want to see more of.
“With closer racing we will attract more fans to our sport, benefitting every team, and continue to increase the global growth of Formula 1.”
Chase Carey, F1’s Chairman and CEO, said: “This year has been unprecedented for the world and we are proud that Formula 1 has come together in recent months to return to racing in a safe way.
“We said earlier in the year that due to the fluid nature of the pandemic, the Concorde Agreement would take additional time to agree and we are pleased that by August we have been able achieve agreement from all ten teams on the plans for the long term future of our sport.
“All our fans want to see closer racing, wheel to wheel action and every team having a chance to get on the podium.
“The new Concorde Agreement, in conjunction with the regulations for 2022, will put in place the foundations to make this a reality and create an environment that is both financially fairer and closes the gaps between teams on the race track.”
Jean Todt, President of the FIA, added: “The conclusion of the new Concorde Agreement between the FIA, Formula 1 and all ten of the current teams assures a stable future for the FIA Formula One World Championship.
“Over its seventy year history, Formula 1 has developed at a remarkable rate, pushing the boundaries of safety, technology and competition to the absolute limits, and today confirms that an exciting new chapter in that history is about to begin.
“During the unprecedented global challenges currently facing everyone around the world, I am proud of the way that all of Formula 1’s stakeholders have worked together over the past months for the best interests of the sport and the fans to agree the pathway for more sustainable, fair and exciting competition at the pinnacle of motor sport.”
The IPL Governing Council has announced Dream11 as the new Title Sponsor of the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League. Dream11 is an Indian company based in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
Dream11’s association with sports has grown over the years and it is presently partnering a total of 19 sports leagues along with 6 Indian Premier League Franchises.
Mr Brijesh Patel, Chairman, IPL, said: “We welcome Dream11 on board as Title Sponsor for the 2020 edition of the IPL. Dream11 upgrading their association from an Official Partner to Title Sponsors is a great testament to the brand IPL. Dream11 as a fantasy sports brand will only grow the engagement of the IPL with its fans.
“As a digital brand it will give them leverage to create exciting online engagement for fans sitting at home and watching the matches. We look forward to delivering great value to Dream11.”
Mr Harsh Jain, CEO & Co-Founder, Dream Sports (Dream11) said: “The launch of IPL in 2008 gave birth to the idea of Dream11. As avid sports fans, we wanted to offer fantasy cricket to IPL fans to help them further engage with the sport they love and showcase their sports knowledge & skill. Being a proud homegrown Indian brand that is made in India, by Indians and exclusively for Indian sports fans, we would like to thank the BCCI for giving us an opportunity to become the Title Sponsor of IPL, which in our opinion is the world’s greatest sports property.
“We believe that ‘Dream11 IPL’ also perfectly defines what IPL is all about: every team fielding its Dream11 team culminating in the IPL finals determining The Dream11. We are happy to continue building our partnership with BCCI & IPL to further promote sports fan engagement in India, and look forward to 10 Crore+ Indians making their Dream11 for every Dream11 IPL match.”
In a groundbreaking media rights agreement, Sounders FC and Amazon Prime Video today announced a new deal that sees the iconic Seattle-based brand become the official video streaming partner of the Rave Green. Prime Video is now the sole digital streaming destination for all non-nationally televised Sounders FC matches throughout the club’s home broadcast territory, marking just the second time Prime Video has reached a streaming agreement with a sports franchise, and the first deal with a professional soccer club. Starting with Sounders FC’s August 26 match at the LA Galaxy, the three-year agreement is set to run through the 2022 Major League Soccer season.
“At Sounders FC, we often refer to ourselves as a family, and that notion extends to the greater Seattle community. When I think about our hometown, few brands are as closely associated with Seattle’s sense of innovation and ingenuity as Amazon,” said Sounders FC Owner Adrian Hanauer. “This is a proud day for our club, as we’re now able to bring our fans Sounders FC matches on the world’s premier video streaming service through a company that is synonymous with our city’s culture. On behalf of our organization, I am thrilled to welcome Amazon and Prime Video to the Sounders family.”
With the 2020 MLS regular season resuming in just five days, all regionally televised Sounders FC MLS matches will now be available on Prime Video with a Prime membership. Sounders FC’s regional broadcast territory extends throughout the entirety of Washington State – inclusive of the traditional Seattle-Tacoma-Everett television DMA and key population centers like Spokane, Yakima, Tri-Cities and Vancouver, Wash. Simply put, fans everywhere in the Evergreen State are now able to watch the Rave Green via Prime Video. Fans can watch at home or on the go across hundreds of compatible devices, including smart TVs, mobile devices, Fire TV, Fire tablet, Apple TV, Chromecast, game consoles, Comcast X1, or from the web. JOEtv continues to be the regional television home of the Rave Green, alongside radio partners Sports Radio 950 KJR AM and El Rey 1360 AM.
“We’re excited to join forces with Sounders FC to give Prime members around Washington State access to all regionally broadcast MLS matches on Prime Video over the next three seasons,” said Marie Donoghue, VP of Global Sports Video at Amazon. “Sounders FC is a fundamental part of our culture here in the Pacific Northwest, and as a club they have always been at the forefront of innovation in professional sports. We share this common vision for innovation at Prime Video, and are committed to delighting fans and enhancing the value of a Prime membership through sports, and we believe this deal accomplishes just that.”
Earlier this summer, the International Cricket Council named Finn Bradshaw, formerly of Cricket Australia, as their new Head of Digital. In a time when Covid-19 is creating an even greater reliance on digital and forcing the ICC’s Men’s T20 World Cup, originally planned for later this year, to be postponed until 2022, it is certainly an interesting time to be taking up the role, so iSportconnect sat down (virtually) with Finn, to chat further about his new position.
Firstly, how pleased are you to be taking up this role with the ICC?
It’s super exciting on a couple of levels. You see some of the numbers that came out of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in England last year, which are by most measures some of the biggest numbers for any event in the sports world, so to be involved with something like that is tremendous.
“We looked at how we could export our model to the world, so I’d been thinking about strategies for the global cricket audience for a while.”
But on the other side, cricket is the first sport I fell in love with, so it feels like a natural progression. The current team has been doing a phenomenal job so I’m excited to join that journey, as there’s enormous potential ahead of us in terms of what we can do for cricket as whole.
Talk us through your path to this point, why was sports right for you?
I’ve been so lucky, you can’t emphasise that enough. Everyone wants to work in an area they’re passionate about and for most of my career I’ve been paid to do something that I would choose to do anyway.
I studied journalism and my first job was covering basketball, now I didn’t get that for the three years I studied at university, but because of the 15 years of my life I’d spent watching hoops (mainly thanks to a dad who’d seen Bill Russell play at the 1956 Olympics), so sport was in my veins. Having that passion helps, it makes the extra hours not seem like a burden. I’ve also been incredibly fortunate to work under people who’ve had great faith in me.
What learnings will you take from your extensive experience with Cricket Australia and your time at Tennis Australia into the role?
Initially at Cricket Australia we were very Australia-centred, but once we felt like we’d reached most domestic cricket fans we looked at how we could export our model to the world, so I’d been thinking about strategies for the global cricket audience for a while.
One of the things I think we did well at Cricket Australia was identify gaps in the existing coverage – we felt there were large swathes of cricket fans we could serve better. We could also get people at the start of their cricket journey on social platforms where cricket hadn’t been before. I’d say that’s also true globally – it’s a fragmented experience on digital for a cricket fan, in most places there’s not one destination that gives you everything, and it varies by market. We can look to see if there’s a role for us to play and make sure fans are being served as well as possible.
Covid-19 has forced the ICC to reschedule the Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia for 2022, meaning there will be a major event on the men’s side of the game in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
From Cricket Australia – an ‘always on’ 12 months a year operation – to move to the Australian Open, where the focus was all about one of the world’s great events for two weeks and how do you re-engage people after not talking to them for some time.
Obviously, at the ICC we work with organising committees on regular global events, so the lessons from TA are applicable to the ICC.
It’s a great disappointment for all cricket fans as I’m sure to you as well that there will no longer be the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup later this year. How do you now start planning for the challenge of what will now be three major tournaments in three years on the Men’s side of the game?
It’s definitely going to be a challenge – how do we engage in the conversation around cricket when there’s not one of our own events?
“When money starts coming in for digital assets, it means you’re not just looking at how big the stats are, but driving real business outcomes, and that brings accountability.”
But the change means there will be three ICC Men’s Cricket World Cups (one one-day tournament and two T20s) in three years and that is extremely exciting. This is where cricket has a massive opportunity. We have, from the benefit of the demographics of our fan base, an audience that’s very engaged and active on digital.
What do you think have been the most key digital changes in recent years?
I’d say the biggest change is how embedded it’s become. You look at some sports organisations now, almost 50% of their partnerships are around digital assets, whereas when I started digital was the steak knives. So when money starts coming in for digital assets, it means you’re not just looking at how big the stats are, but driving real business outcomes, and that brings accountability.
In the sports I’ve worked in, India suddenly coming online through mobile has created a seismic shift – much of the Indian population almost skipped the desktop computer. Then you look at somewhere like China, and how people use mobile technology there, compared to that, in most other parts of the world, we’re playing catch-up.
The ICC has seen great digital success from last year’s ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup and the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in Australia earlier this year, so how are you going to be building on that?
They are phenomenal numbers! So now the question is – how can we use that platform we’ve built to grow the game? It’s maybe a little bit early to say, but we have to make sure everything we’re doing on digital is supporting the sport globally. It’s constant evolution and change, you can see something like TikTok has had a huge swell thanks to Covid.
Finally, what is your favourite thing you’ve seen on social media that really stood out to you?
It’s been really interesting this period as everyone’s been stuck at home, so you’ve seen the best and worst of social media. One thing I love, there’s a sports writer in America called Shea Serrano, he may be the best in the world at Twitter.
He has a nice combination between being self-deprecating and promoting his own work, but he does these great things such as sending money out to help people in need, which drives others to do the same. Watching people respond to that, making a meaningful difference in people’s lives, I think we’re all inspiring to do something like that. I like that it’s not over-thought, but it has a real impact.
