Manchester United To Test Safe Standing With New Seating Trial

Manchester United has confirmed approval from Trafford Council for a barrier seating-trial to take place at Old Trafford.

United submitted a proposal to the local authority earlier in the year, following changes to the Sports Grounds Safety Authority (SGSA) Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds (Green Guide) and a subsequent feasibility study, which was carried out by the club. Approval for this was confirmed to supporters’ representatives at last week’s Fans’ Forum and follows longstanding discussions held with Manchester United Supporters’ Trust (MUST) and the Fans’ Forum in recent years.
The approval from Trafford Council is an agreement in principle for the club to install around 1,500 barrier seats in the North-East Quadrant, in sections N2401 and N2402. United will now discuss installation options with potential suppliers, working within current UK Government recommendations relating to construction site operating procedures and social distancing. Discussions will also take place with the SGSA to ratify the required amendments to the club’s stadium licence.
Managing director Richard Arnold said: “It should be stated, up front, that our overwhelming priority is to keep our people safe from the COVID-19 pandemic. It may seem strange to talk about stadium plans at this time, but football and our fans will return when it is safe, and our preparations for that must continue in the background.
“This announcement is the latest step in what has been a long journey with our fans. We have listened to their feedback, in particular, the representations made by MUST, and worked with Trafford Council to develop and approve this proposal.

“Our belief is that the introduction of barrier seats will enhance spectator safety in areas of the stadium where – as with other clubs – we have seen examples of persistent standing. It also allows us to future-proof the stadium in the event of any changes to the current all-seater stadium policy. If the trial is successful, we may consider further implementation of barrier seating in other parts of the stadium.

“We will now move on to develop the installation, compliance and licensing plan for the trial, with a view to having the new seats installed for when we can welcome our supporters back to Old Trafford.”

The barrier-seating trial is part of our broader plans to develop the stadium in ways which enhance the matchday experience for supporters. Separately, in February, United announced the extension of the atmosphere section in the Stretford End in the south-west corner as part of the season-ticket launch for 2020/21.

Arnold concluded: “Both of these initiatives underline our commitment to the continued improvement of Old Trafford, with a focus on further enhancing the matchday experience, atmosphere and safety for all supporters.”

Sports Illustrated Teams Up With Dugout To Boost Soccer Coverage

Maven (MVEN), the publisher of Sports Illustrated, and Dugout today announced a strategic content partnership offering soccer fans in the U.S. and Canada an entirely new way to view and experience unique, compelling and behind-the-scenes premium video content from more than 100 of the world’s leading soccer clubs, national football federations and leagues.

The landmark partnership is Dugout’s first entry into the U.S. market and will significantly strengthen SI’s soccer coverage, which previously focused on text-based content. The partnership will allow both companies to reach more consumers across the Americas, in a way that matters most to soccer fans: video-focused, team-specific and delivered on mobile.

As the most iconic name in sports journalism, Sports Illustrated will now have access to Dugout’s unrivalled library of archive and behind-the-scenes soccer video content. Dugout is co-owned by some of the world’s largest soccer clubs including A.C. Milan, Arsenal, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Juventus, Liverpool, Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid, and distributes more than 2,500 brand-safe, professional videos a month with more than 1.84 billion views in 2019 across Dugout.com and its network of more than 85 publishers globally.

“For more than 65 years, Sports Illustrated has delivered best-in-class sports journalism and we are thrilled to partner with such an iconic U.S. publication that is steeped in great history and tradition,” said Elliot Richardson, Co-Founder and Chairman of Dugout. “Our new collaboration means we will work closely to deliver our premium soccer content to their huge online audience. We have seen our monthly video views grow to 400 million so far this year and as we aim to take this towards one billion across all markets, this strategic partnership in one of the most important markets is very complementary as we expand our brand globally.”

Sports Illustrated continues its renaissance under Maven, improving and broadening its content offerings, the consumer experience and coverage of local sports franchises. Year-over-year traffic is up 60%.

“We are thrilled to join forces with Dugout to offer soccer fans across North America compelling and robust video experiences from the biggest Clubs and players in the world,” said Ross Levinsohn, CEO of Sports Illustrated Media.  “We continue to strive to offer consumers and marketers unique, premium content in dynamic ways.”

As world football recovers from the impact of the global coronavirus pandemic, soccer’s popularity remains undiminished and its popularity continues to surge in the U.S. and the Americas. Via Dugout’s Embed video player, original, behind-the-scenes and archived content will now be shared with Sports Illustrated extensive audience. Soccer fans will be able to engage with bespoke digital video content from their favorite clubs who compete in many of the world’s leading leagues and competitions, including the UFEA Champions League, English Premier League, Spanish La Liga, Italian Serie A, Mexican Liga MX and South America’s Copa Libertadores.

The partnership with Sports Illustrated in the U.S. follows Dugout’s new content agreements with Suning’s PP Sports in China and Onefootball across Europe – thereby expanding Dugout’s global market reach and significantly growing its international video viewership figures.

“The majority of our member clubs have significant international fan bases and we know there are a huge number of soccer fans in the U.S. who support clubs based in South America, Europe and further afield,” Richardson says. “Providing these fans with new ways to engage with their clubs is only the first stage of our long-term, multi-phased partnership and we look forward to working alongside Sports Illustrated as this develops.”

TV2 Claims Norwegian Champions League Rights As NENT Loses Out

Scandinavian broadcaster TV2 has claimed victory in the fight to show the UEFA Champions League in Norway after the latest rights bid.

NENT recently announced that they had lost out on the rights to show the competition in the country, with TV2 now revealed as the broadcaster who will be taking the reigns for the competition in Norway for the first time.

This new deal will see TV2 broadcasting the Champions League for the next three seasons beginning next year, with the 2021/22 competition and culminating at the end of the 2023/24 campaign.

NENT have also lost the rights to the competition in Sweden, where Telia have won the rights.

 

Singula Decisions Launched To Help TV Businesses Drive Subscriber Growth

Pay-TV customer management pioneer Paywizard has relaunched as Singula Decisions to signal its sharper focus on subscriber intelligence. The new corporate brand reflects the company’s trailblazing approach, technology and expertise, which empower TV subscription businesses to bridge the ‘Air Gap’ between their subscriber data and their ability to activate next best actions at every customer touchpoint. The rebrand coincides with the launch of a new version of its Singula® Subscriber Intelligence platform.

“As TV subscription businesses continue to come under increasing pressure to grow and retain customers, finding and executing the perfect growth strategy has become critical to survival,” says Bhavesh Vaghela, Singula Decisions’ Chief Executive. “There is no shortage of money being spent on data projects in our industry, but many companies are failing to truly understand how to activate data to drive subscriber loyalty. To solve this ‘Air Gap’, businesses today need subscriber intelligence to know where their customers are in the journey, how they got there and where they are going – and what actions change their behaviour.”

The rebranded company’s Singula® Subscriber Intelligence platform combines over 20+ years domain experience into three fundamental components that are designed to drive subscription growth. Employing the proven Decision Moments segmentation model, businesses can understand where their subscribers are at the eight key stages of the customer journey. The Subscription Scorecard then determines the true characteristics of each customer and ensures the content, service and communications being supplied equates the with demand-driven factors that include usage, satisfaction and willingness to pay. With this trajectory, the Action Library provides pre-loaded and tested actions that businesses can use quickly to react and change customer behaviour. 

“One of the amazing things about Singula Decisions is we have two decades of practical experience helping some of the biggest TV subscription brands worldwide, including BT Sport, ABS-CBN and eir Sports to acquire, retain and grow subscribers,” Vaghela notes. “The ethos of Singula Decisions is simple: we combine our team’s extensive domain knowledge and practical experience with artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques, turning subscriber data into something so tangible that it will transform the way TV operators engage with their subscribers.”

In addition to having Vaghela at the helm of the company – with over 20 years’ experience in software and data analytics, holding top marketing roles at Paywizard, Oracle, IntraLinks and Global360 – the Singula Decisions leadership team includes other experienced industry executives with strong backgrounds. The senior leadership includes:

  • Chairman Andrew Burke, a long-time industry leader who has spent over 30 years working in technology, media and telecommunications, including stints as CEO of BT Entertainment and Amino Technologies;
  • Debbie Leishman, Chief Operating Officer, who has over 18 years’ experience managing a broad range of operations within the Singula Decisions business;
  • Martin Reynard, Chief Financial Officer, who has 20 years’ experience in Software as a Service (SaaS) and communications, holding senior positions at TravelTek, Edesix and Touch Bionics;
  • Scott Leckie, Chief Technology Officer, who has expertise in cloud and SaaS solutions and over 20 years CTO experience, holding that position at The ID Co, HotDocs and Axios Systems;
  • Gary Eunson, Head of Global Sales, who brings over 20 years’ experience and whose previous roles included Global Sales Director of both AbacusNext International and HotDocs Group.

Vaghela concludes: “Our company has evolved as the TV market landscape has transformed and we thought it important that our identity reflect what we bring to the table today. Singula Decisions is relentlessly passionate about driving subscriber growth through brilliant decisions and intelligent actions.”

ESL And DreamHack Sign Three-Year Streaming Deal With Twitch

DreamHack, the premier gaming lifestyle festival, and ESL, the world’s largest esports company, today announced a three-year deal with Twitch, the leading service and community for multiplayer entertainment. The agreement will see some of the biggest esports tournaments organized by ESL and DreamHack live streamed to the service exclusively on Twitch in 2021 and 2022*.

The deal announcement confirms Twitch as the global digital media partner of major ESL and DreamHack competitions on a non-exclusive basis in 2020, before acquiring exclusivity of English language digital live streaming of major events in 2021 and 2022. As part of the deal, all tournaments streamed in English within ESL Pro Tour for CS:GO and StarCraft II & Warcraft III, including the ESL Pro League, ESL One, Intel® Extreme Masters, DreamHack Masters, DreamHack Open, ESL National Championships, will be exclusively on Twitch in 2021 and 2022.

“ESL and Twitch have been key players in the history of esports as we know it,” said Benjamin Vallat, SVP of Alliances and Corporate Development at Twitch. “The continuation of our partnership will strengthen not only the content offerings for fans, but also the greater esports community that ESL, Dreamhack, and Twitch have cultivated over the years.

”As part of the partnership, Twitch will become a centralised hub for streaming ESL and DreamHack competitions. The company will work directly with ESL and DreamHack to coordinate broadcast integrations and maximise sponsorships of some of the biggest esports tournaments going forward.

Frank Uddo, Senior Vice President, Global Media at ESL, said, “Live-streaming esports has belonged to Twitch in recent years. As we continue to host some of the world’s largest esports tournaments, it feels only natural to work even closer with Twitch to provide the best gaming experience for fans, as well as safeguard the future of the esports industry.” 

DreamHack Co-CEO Roger Lodewick commented: “This partnership is a milestone for DreamHack, both as a company and community. Our cooperation with Twitch dates back to 2009 when it was still Justin.tv — this new collective media partnership is re-confirming our long-standing collaboration and highlights the importance and relevance Twitch has to our community, as well as the value the ESL/DreamHack esports content brings to the global Twitch audience.”

Tennis Channel To Launch International Streaming Service

Tennis Channel will introduce an international subscription streaming service April 28, the first-stage rollout for what is intended to become a global tennis-media destination.

Initially launching in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, with plans for other worldwide markets, the over-the-top (OTT) platform will offer content on the new Tennis Channel International app, with the service available in all three countries on www.tennischannel.com. The product debuts ahead of the Tennis Point Exhibition Series, a four-day tennis competition between men’s tennis professionals May 1-4 – the first professional-level tennis in two months – which will be shown live and on-demand on Tennis Channel International.  With the launch, Tennis Channel will make its programming available for purchase outside the United States for the first time.

The network has hired sports-and-media executive Andy Reif to oversee the product as senior vice president, Tennis Channel International.  Additionally, Tennis Channel is turning to global technology and data provider Sportradar for its market-leading OTT platform.

Tennis Channel International will feature a new 24-hour streamed programming channel, Tennis Channel Deutschland, the first in Germany devoted exclusively to tennis. Programming includes original Tennis Channel series, documentaries, features, instruction, highlights and select matches on-demand. Tennis Channel International will also cover live competition from Tennis Bundesliga, Germany’s top team tennis league.  Archived content will feature hundreds of hours of programming from numerous providers, including founding partners the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and German Tennis Federation (Deutscher Tennis Bund – DTB), and will be available on-demand.  Tennis Channel and the ITF are developing an ITF channel for the platform as well.  Users will also be able to follow every professional tennis match in the world through Sportradar’s MatchCast, a channel with never-before-seen dynamic graphics and more tennis statistics and data than anything currently available in the sport.

The service will be available in Germany, Austria and Switzerland on the web at www.tennischannel.com and on iOs and Android mobile devices, tablets, FireTV and select smart TVs for 2.49 euros per month.  United States-based subscribers of Tennis Channel Plus will also have automatic access to select Tennis Channel International programming as part of the Tennis Channel Plus service.

An early highlight for the new service will take place in Germany’s Rhineland-Palatinate state this weekend.  Set for May 1-4, the Tennis Point Exhibition Series will be live and on-demand on Tennis Channel International as the nation eases coronavirus-prevention restrictions.  Headlined by German star Dustin Brown, the 32-match, four-day event will occur behind closed doors without fans in attendance, and showcase eight players from the men’s professional tennis tour.  It will be the first competition between ranked players since professional tennis was suspended in early March due to the coronavirus outbreak.  Tennis Channel will also show the competition to U.S. audiences live on the network and on www.tennis.com.

As senior vice president, Tennis Channel International, Reif will see to the launch and subsequent expansion of the global product, which the network plans to introduce to additional marketplaces within the next 12 months.  He has been a network consultant and managing the project since its inception.  Reif has more than 30 years of sports-and-entertainment experience, including executive leadership roles with National Geographic Partners, Body Glove Asia, Championship Gaming Series, International Creative Management, Paramount Pictures Corp. and the AVP (Association of Volleyball Professionals).

“Tennis Channel has changed the tennis-media landscape here in the United States, and I’m honored to guide the next phase of expansion into an international arena that counts this sport among its top favorites,” said Reif.  “Tennis is a truly global sport and Tennis Channel is the ideal product to connect with tennis fans throughout the world.  We’re especially excited to launch this groundbreaking service in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, where tennis has a storied past, strong levels of participation and fan interest, and is positioned for growth.”

Jan Menneken, a London-based sports-media consultant and longtime tennis executive, will continue to work closely with Reif.  Menneken spent more than 15 years guiding television and brand sales at the ITF and has held leadership positions with the NBA in its efforts to expand awareness in Germany and Central Europe.  He has advised Tennis Channel on international market growth since 2017.

Sportradar works with more than 1,000 companies in more than 80 countries, with its video platform services already used by the ITF, FIA World Rally Championship, Deutsche Telekom AG, German Football Association and Onefootball.  Under the company’s management Tennis Channel International will offer the most data-intensive experience among tennis media platforms.

“We look forward to working with Tennis Channel International to supply our OTT platform for one of the rare live sporting events happening at the moment,” said Rainer Geier, managing director, Sportradar OTT and advertising solutions.  “With our unrivalled data and expertise, we are confident that we will deliver a highly engaging experience for all tennis fans.”

Tennis Channel (www.tennischannel.com), which is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, is the only 24-hour, television-based multimedia destination dedicated to both the professional sport and tennis lifestyle.  A hybrid of comprehensive sports, health, fitness, pop culture, entertainment, lifestyle and travel programming, the network is home to every aspect of the wide-ranging, worldwide tennis community.  It also has the most concentrated single-sport coverage in television, with telecast rights at the US Open, Wimbledon, Roland Garros (French Open), Australian Open, ATP World Tour events, WTA competitions, Fed Cup, Laver Cup and the ATP Cup.  Tennis Channel is carried by all of the top 10 video providers.

World Athletics Creates Fund To Support Athletes During The Pandemic

World Athletics, together with the International Athletics Foundation (IAF), has today launched a US$500,000 fund to support professional athletes experiencing financial hardship due to the coronavirus pandemic.

World Athletics President Sebastian Coe, who also chairs the IAF, said the fund would be used to assist athletes who have lost most of their income in the last few months due to the suspension of international competition while the world combats the global health emergency.

Established in 1986 to support charitable causes involving athletics, the International Athletics Foundation, under the Honorary Presidency of HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco, has allocated resources from its budgets for 2020 and 2021 to assist athletes in need through this process.

Coe will chair an expert multi-regional working group to assess the applications for assistance, which will be submitted through World Athletics’ six Area Associations.

The members will include: Olympic champion and 1500m world record-holder Hicham El Guerrouj, Olympic pole vault champion Katerina Stefanidi (representing the WA Athletes’ Commission), WA Executive Board members Sunil Sabharwal (Audit Committee) and Abby Hoffman, WA Council members Adille Sumariwalla, Beatrice Ayikoru and Willie Banks, IAF Executive Committee member and former WA treasurer Jose Maria Odriozola and Team Athletics St Vincent and the Grenadines President Keith Joseph.

The working group will meet this week to establish a process for awarding and distributing grants to individual athletes and to look at other ways to raise additional monies for the fund.

Coe said it was important that the sport supported its athletes most in need during the current circumstances.

“I would especially like to thank Hicham for bringing this idea to us, and Prince Albert for his strong support of this project. I am in constant contact with athletes around the world and I know that many are experiencing financial hardship as a consequence of the shutdown of most international sports competition in the last two months. Our professional athletes rely on prize money as part of their income and we’re mindful that our competition season, on both the track and road, is being severely impacted by the pandemic. We are hopeful that we will be able to stage at least some competition later this year, but in the meantime we will also endeavour, through this fund and additional monies we intend to seek through the friends of our sport, to help as many athletes as possible.”

HSH Prince Albert II added: “I created more than 35 years ago the International Athletics Foundation with the late Primo Nebiolo to encourage and promote athletics and grant financial assistance to athletics federations and the most deserving athletes. Since its inception the Foundation has distributed for these purposes more than US$30 Million. I am delighted that we can put our resources behind this initiative so we can make a difference to the lives of athletes who are suffering financially at this time. We hope that this support will help those athletes preparing for international competition, including next year’s Olympic Games, to sustain their training, support their families and that this will relieve them of some stress in these uncertain times.’’

El Guerrouj said: “The pandemic is causing economic pain to people from all parts of society, including athletes, and this is a time when we must come together as a global community to help each other. I am delighted that Seb and World Athletics reacted so positively to my suggestion that we create a fund for athletes, and have made it happen with the support of the International Athletics Foundation. The suspension of competition has had a huge impact on many professional athletes because they can’t earn prize money so I’m really pleased that we have found a way to assist them.”

Venue Business Intelligence Solution Created By 3D Digital Venue To Solve COVID-19 Crowd Issues

The current COVID-19 pandemic has directly impacted our lives and our lifestyles. The Sports and Cultural events sector has not been an exception to this great impact. In a matter of days, they had to close their doors for security reasons, disrupting fan engagement, leading to significant economic consequences as a result of these massive cancellations.

Now is the time to start thinking about recovery strategies for when the institutions allow the events to resume, while respecting health measures. That’s why 3D DIGITAL VENUE has developed the service VENUE BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE in order to achieve maximum efficiency when seating their clients, maintaining the safety distances recommended by health institutions.

VBI consists of a web application focused on managers of Sports and Cultural venues. Through a graphic environment, those in charge of the venue can access to virtual reconstruction and perform, in a visual and interactive way, different types of simulations. VBI aims to offer support to decision making and the implementation of new business models to maximise the revenue of the venues through the crisis of COVID-19, helping venue owners to achieve the most profitable scenario to reactivate the sports and entertainment industries.

VBI has the ability to propose new seating layouts for venues, respecting the safety and security recommendations of 1,5 (one and half) meters of distance. The system will allow you to enable several configurations and to easily adapt to different events via automatic algorithms on the fly. Another key feature is the event calendar planner which allows you to register events throughout the season, move them to other dates and associate a certain venue configuration to them.

VBI will be the best solution to help venue managers to offer to their clients a complete, exclusive and safe service, following all the security and safety recommendations.

VIB is born as a unique solution designed for customers to maximise their income during this crisis of COVID-19 and once we are out of this uncertain period, offering all the facilities to make the best decisions having all the information available, as well as having last generation algorithms to address this extraordinary situation with greater efficiency.

Analysing LaLiga Teams’ Footballing Minds

It’s common to see coaches pointing to their heads with their finger during matches, urging their players to think. But pushing a team to think as a collective is a different proposition altogether.

This challenge was recently taken up by the creators of Mediacoach, the real-time analytics platform available to all LaLiga clubs.

A group of researchers presented a study at the most recent OptaPro Forum in London which analyses how a team thinks as a group. This study was led by Javier M. Buldú and which featured the collaboration of LaLiga’s sporting investigations department and the Mediacoach team.

The idea was to compare footballers to neurons and analyse how the different players interrelate through passes just like a neuronal synapse. The result is a unique and deep level of insight that can help Spanish professional clubs to take performances to the next level.

Assessing passing style
Identifying patterns in a team’s own play or in that of an opponent can clearly help to boost collective performance. In the following graphic, for example, the ‘mind map’ of Quique Setién’s FC Barcelona is compared to that of José Bordalás’ Getafe CF from their meeting in the 24th round of the 2019/20 LaLiga Santander season, when FC Barcelona won the match 2-1.

In this graphic, the average position of the players is shown as well as the passing map. Greater thickness or colour represents a greater number of passes, but the analysis must also focus on the types of passes as well as the quantity. By introducing further indicators of style, it’s possible to have an even clearer vision of how a team thinks…

…To read the full piece and subscribe to LaLiga’s Global Fútbol Newsletter, follow this link: https://newsletter.laliga.es/global-futbol/analysing-laliga-teams-footballing-minds/rrss

AC Milan Announces ROinvesting As Official Partner

AC Milan welcomes ROinvesting to its family of commercial partners. The Royal Forex Ltd. brand, and the Rossoneri Club have signed a partnership agreement which sees the broker become the Club’s Official CFD Partner until June 30, 2021.

The partnership between AC Milan and the online trading platform ROinvesting is built upon a number of shared synergies, including a strong focus on quality, performance and technological innovation. Clients and customers of the brand will be able to share in their passion for sports and financial markets through customized, unique experiences.

AC Milan and ROinvesting will launch a number of global digital campaigns throughout the season giving customers and fans the opportunity to experience football the Rossoneri way.

Furthermore, ROinvesting has also immediately joined AC Milan and Fondazione Milan in the fight against Covid-19 by donating $50,000. A nice gesture also shown in a video made by the online trading platform starring AC Milan’s Gloria and Brand Ambassador Daniele Massaro. Together, we can cheer for and support those who are on the front line of the battle to defeat the virus.

Casper Stylsvig, AC Milan’s Chief Revenue Officer said: “I am delighted to welcome ROinvesting to our family of partner brands at AC Milan. This strategic partnership will look to deliver on ROinvestings’s brand and business objectives in a way that leverages both the power of association with the AC Milan brand to deliver a global reach, and offers the unique opportunity to engage ROinvesting’s customers and clients with money can’t buy experiences”