Eleven Sports will partner with World Football Summit to launch a new webinar series, dedicated to looking at how the sports industry tackles the global pandemic and builds for the future.
The weekly webinar will bring together leading figures from across the world of sport, to share their insights and opinions with the wider industry.
Hosted by Sky Sports presenter David Garrido, Talking Sport will feature a panel of respected speakers each week from across the sport’s ecosystem. Federations, clubs, media publishers, e-sports platforms, investment experts and commercial partners will all be represented.
The debut episodes will be streamed LIVE and for FREE on Thursday 21 May at 4.30pm (UK time). The session, which is titled Sport’s great comeback – Fighting back from COVID-19, will feature Luis Vicente (Eleven Sports, CEO) alongside Peter Hutton (Facebook, Director of Sports Partnerships), Ricardo Fort (Coca-Cola, VP, Global Sports & Entertainment Partnerships) and Ralf Reichert (ESL, Co-Founder and Co-CEO).
Eleven Sports Group CEO Luis Vicente said of the series: “Now more than ever, the sports industry needs to walk together and work together to fight for a better future. For many years I have dedicated my professional life to transforming sports for the better and at Eleven Sports, I am proud to lead an organisation with that same missionary zeal.
“Through our new Talking Sport series, we will bring together leading figures from across the world of sport, to share expertise and insights with the wider industry. Our sessions will help to equip us all with the information we need to come through this period stronger than ever. I’m very excited to launch the series on Thursday.”
Eleven Sports and World Football Summit will partner for a total of six webinar episodes over the next two months.
RANGERS Football Club is delighted to announce Castore, the fastest growing premium British sportswear brand, as its official kit and retail partner from the 2020-21 football season.
The multi-year partnership stands as one of the most valuable commercial partnerships in the club’s recent history and represents a major milestone in our ambition to achieve excellence, at every level of the club, in anticipation of our 150th anniversary year.
Castore have deliberately selected Rangers, the world’s most successful football club, as their flagship club, as they enter the football market, which will see them partner with 3-5 other major clubs across Europe in the next 18 months.
Castore is backed by a consortium of high-profile private investors worth a combined £5 billion. They include one of the UK’s wealthiest families who have invested to facilitate Castore’s entry into the global football market, where the brand believes there is an opportunity to disrupt the established players at the highest levels of the sport.
The company operates a digital, direct-to-consumer business model that has allowed it to grow extremely rapidly since launch and avoid the much-publicised challenges of many traditional bricks and mortar brands and now sells into 64 countries globally.
Steven Gerrard, Rangers manager, said: “This is a significant moment for our football club. The Beahon brothers, like myself, are proud of our Liverpudlian roots.
“Liverpool and Glasgow are proud cities. In both cities, the city makes the football club, and the football club makes the city.
“These guys understand the level of expectation on the clubs in our cities, that goes beyond simply winning football matches. This is a way of life. It is about setting the standard in every single facet of our club. It is about bringing everyone wearing that badge together. Castore get it.’’
Tom Beahon, Castore Co-Founder, commented: “In our search for our first elite club, nobody came close to matching Rangers.
“We cannot wait to be part of the next chapter of success for this prestigious football club. Rangers is an institution and the world’s most successful football club.
“Our business has grown rapidly since we started and we now have a group of very strong investors backing us, with very high expectations. Partnering with Rangers is a seminal milestone for us on our journey of building Castore into the brand we want it to be and we have absolutely no intention of stopping in our pursuit of our goals.’’
Phil Beahon, Castore Co-Founder, commented: “We have built this business ourselves, from the ground up, brick by brick. It has taken sacrifice, pain, and an immense amount of hard work to get us here.
“This is personal for us. We are fully aware of the expectations in partnering with this great club and are relishing the opportunity to make the supporters proud.
“Rangers supporters are in every corner of the United Kingdom and beyond. We are excited about seeing our brand, in royal blue, spread across the globe.”
John Bennett, Rangers interim Vice-Chairman, remarked: “Kit and merchandise has been one of the great challenges faced by Rangers and its loyal supporters in recent years, and this wonderful new partnership with Castore offers us a new beginning. This is a clean slate. A fresh start. A new era.
‘’We recognised instantly that Castore are incredibly ambitious but also have a strong financial backing through their shareholders to support this ambition.
“To be able to offer the products of our outstanding new partner at our Ibrox home is very significant. We can’t wait to see our supporters once again going through the megastore doors.’’
Stewart Robertson, Managing Director, concluded: “Rangers are thrilled to be entering into this terrific new partnership. Our club’s aim is to set the standard in everything we do – Castore share that vision.
“Our supporters are right to demand the best, and Castore’s high-end, high-quality merchandise meets that demand, whilst also providing an innovative and bespoke new product, given Rangers will be their first football partner.
“The fantastic work of James Bisgrove and the commercial team have made this possible, and they will continue to work closely with Castore to ensure this partnership becomes a benchmark within British sport.”
As the sports and betting industry starts the early days of its recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, with the first signs of live sport returning this past weekend, Paul Fox, CEO of Mayfair International Holdings, takes a look at how the global betting giants have been dealing without live sport…
There is no getting away from the fact that this is a difficult time for global businesses across all industries. The Covid-19 pandemic has seen some sectors grind to a halt, and while online gambling should survive in the short-term, revenues have been drastically reduced across the board.
In terms of just how much revenue has been lost, it greatly depends on each individual brand. Some companies are completely sportsbook focused and have been greatly affected, while those that are more casino-based will not suffer as much. Our portfolio tends to be fairly split between sportsbook and casino, but it’s clear that everyone is vulnerable in the current climate.
There’s no doubt that betting and gaming will remain synonymous with one another in the coming years. The younger adult demographic of fans fits in perfectly with the target market of both sectors.
The lack of live sport has had a major impact on the day-to-day operations of the majority of companies and revenue streams have been hit hard as a result. We’ve gone from a bumper summer featuring the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games and UEFA EURO 2020 to a complete suspension of sporting events in some countries.
Plans are gradually being put in place for a return to elite level sport and that will provide a huge boost both for the morale of the general public, the betting operators that rely on that income stream and the teams and competitions who benefit from partnership income gaming companies provide.
With so little sport for fans to engage with, operators have had to be agile and innovate to survive. We’ve seen the emergence of virtual sports and esports during the pandemic from the ePremier League Invitational to Virtual F1.
Paul Fox, CEO of Mayfair International Holdings
There’s no doubt that betting and gaming will remain synonymous with one another in the coming years. The younger adult demographic of fans fits in perfectly with the target market of both sectors and, even before Covid-19, there was a clear move towards the growth of Esports. International gaming company LeTou – owned by Mayfair International Holdings – signed a collaborative partnership last year with Esports entertainment brand Fnatic and I expect many similar deals to be struck in the coming months and years.
We could well see a number of mergers and acquisitions as some of the smaller companies struggle to survive the difficult climate.
The betting industry as a whole will continue to suffer in the short-term and we could well see a number of mergers and acquisitions as some of the smaller companies struggle to survive the difficult climate.
One positive for brands is likely to be the reduction in sponsorship costs, with many commentators predicting that the era of mega broadcast deals and £100m+ transfers will come to an end.
Businesses are unlikely to spend big money without a clear and strategic return on investment and football clubs will be in a weaker position to negotiate with potential sponsors.
Every aspect of sport will return to a transformed landscape when competition begins again in earnest.
Only those brands with a robust business model will survive, but it is up to all stakeholders to work together to ensure that the ‘new normal’ results in a strong and positive sports industry for the world to enjoy.
Nordic Broadcasting company TV4 Media have announced that they have extended their current deal to show Spanish football’s top division, LaLiga.
C More, one of the company’s channels, already had a deal in place to show LaLiga, however a new deal has now been reached for the next five year period, commencing in 2021 and culminating in 2026.
This comes just days after TV4 Media announced that they had won the rights to broadcast the UEFA Champions League in Sweden and Finland from 2021.
Casten Almqvist, CEO of TV4 Media, had said: “The UEFA Champions League has been at the top of our wish list of sports rights for a long time. This is the first example of how TV4 Media with Telia as our owner will raise the bar. The UEFA Champions League will be an important ingredient in creating Sweden’s and Finland’s best TV experiences.”
Now adding LaLiga to the Champions League, TV4 will have a large portion of football’s major rights in the region, while NENT has agreed a huge six year deal beginning in 2022, covering the whole Nordic region for Premier League football.
IRONMAN today announced in conjunction with host city partners and authorities in Hawai`i, United States and Taupō, New Zealand, that due to the impact of the COVID-19 global pandemic, the 2020 editions of the IRONMAN® World Championship and IRONMAN® 70.3® World Championship cannot take place on their originally scheduled dates. The IRONMAN World Championship will now take place on February 6, 2021 returning to its historic original race month and marking 40 years since it first took place in Kailua-Kona on the Island of Hawai`i. While a new date for the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship has not yet been determined, teams are working diligently with local and national officials and authorities to secure a date for early 2021.
IRONMAN has been closely monitoring the situation and guidance by the Hawaiian and New Zealand governments regarding mass gatherings, border and travel restrictions and other COVID-19 related issues to assess the feasibility of hosting the 2020 IRONMAN World Championship and 2020 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship. Additionally, as the global COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact events around the world, both world championship events have seen a majority of their respective qualifying events postponed or unable to take place in 2020, impeding the ability to produce and host truly competitive world championship events. Based on these factors and circumstances beyond our control, coupled with a mission to give athletes and communities as much preparation time as possible, it is clear the world championship events cannot proceed as planned in October and November, respectively.
Similar to 1982, there will be two editions of the IRONMAN World Championship in a single year (February and October) to accommodate athletes who qualify during the 2020 and 2021 seasons.
As a result of the continued impact of COVID-19, the qualifying window for the 2020 edition of the IRONMAN World Championship has been extended to provide further qualification opportunities. The most up-to-date information on overall qualification details for the IRONMAN World Championship can be found at www.ironman.com/im-world-championship.
The IRONMAN World Championship is the pinnacle of endurance sports with athletes from all over the world coming to Kailua-Kona, Hawai`i after qualifying at events on six continents. Each year more than 94,000 athletes vie for coveted slots to the IRONMAN World Championship with approximately 2,500 athletes making it to the starting line on race day. In 2019, the IRONMAN World Championship generated a total economic impact of $72 million USD per a study conducted by Markrich Research. In addition to tourism, IRONMAN and the IRONMAN Foundation have provided a total of $1.9 million USD in grant funding to the Kailua-Kona region since the inception of the IRONMAN World Championship.
“The IRONMAN World Championship has been a cornerstone in showcasing our island’s attributes to the world for decades. We fully support their decision to postpone these races, and we feel that it is the right thing to do to protect the health, safety and wellbeing of our community,” said Ross Birch, executive director of the Island of Hawai`i Visitors Bureau. “It also allows supporting industries to prepare the resources necessary to maintain the high standard the event has created over the years. We look forward to welcoming them back when the time is right and will do our best to assist with the transition.”
“The County of Hawai`i supports IRONMAN’s difficult decision to postpone the October 2020 IRONMAN World Championship event to early 2021. We look forward to welcoming the athletes, their families and supporters in early February of 2021,” said Harry Kim, Honorable Mayor for Kona.
The IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship has grown in stature and popularity since its inception in 2006 and is now the culmination of over 100 events. Every year more than 200,000 athletes compete annually for a place among the world’s best with over 5,000 athletes ultimately making it to the two-day event. Based on past economic impact studies, the 2020 edition of the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship is expected to create a total impact reaching $20 million NZD for the host city and region.
Taupō District Mayor David Trewavas said the postponement was expected given the effect COVID-19 was having on New Zealand and indeed the world. “This was no doubt a difficult decision, but the most important thing is that we as a community are ready to welcome these athletes when the time is right. We are proud to be home to the iconic IRONMAN New Zealand triathlon and are ready to showcase exactly why that is to the rest of the world. Bring on 2021.”
LaLiga and its international broadcast partners have started the countdown to the return of Spanish football by launching a special series called #BackToWin, which will be shown weekly to its international audiences.
The shows will reveal the main news stories from across LaLiga, including the overall strategy and preparations behind the return of LaLiga Santander and LaLiga SmartBank, as well as kick-off times and new broadcast features set to be introduced between now and the end of the current campaign.
The 30-minute episodes of #BackToWin will air weekly until the competition resumes. LaLiga president Javier Tebas will feature in the first of the programmes. Each weekly edition will see a leading figure from within LaLiga take centre stage and will involve the participation of several LaLiga Santander and LaLiga SmartBank players who will share their experiences of the lockdown in Spain and their expectations for when the LaLiga gets up and running again.
Football-related content focusing on the return to action will dominate this new show, which will also delve into football stats and storylines such as the race to be crowned LaLiga’s top scorer at the end of the season. LaLiga Ambassadors will also get involved by taking part a series of challenges, such as competing with each other to see how many shirts they can put on in the space of a minute.
#BackToWin is a show for LaLiga fans around the world and will be made available to all international broadcasters. Viewers in the UK and Ireland will be able to catch the episodes every Friday night at 8.00pm on 24-hour channel LaLigaTV, which is available on Sky (Ch. 435) as well as Virgin TV (Ch. 554) in the UK.
England football captain Harry Kane has agreed a deal to sponsor League Two side Leyton Orient’s shirt next season in order to show support for frontline heroes following the coronavirus pandemic.
The side’s alternative kits will bear the names of two charities and Kane has agreed the deal following a spell on loan with the side in the early 2010s. It is the latest in a series of gestures from sportspeople during COVID-19.
Leyton Orient FC said:
During these troubling times Harry wanted to support the club that gave him his first professional start and not only has he been so generous to the club, but he has also donated the shirt sponsorship to the following three causes.
Home Shirt – A thank you message to the frontline heroes
This donation will enable the benefactors to receive hospitality, where guests of both Haven House and Mind can escape reality for an afternoon at the Breyer Group Stadium to enjoy The O’s in action.
They will also receive huge coverage during the season, and we are pleased to announce that 10% of proceeds of each shirt sale will be passed to that charity.
GIVING BACK
“I was born and brought up only at a couple of miles from the stadium and I am really happy to have the opportunity to give back to the club that gave me my first professional start,” said Harry Kane on the sponsorship.
“This also gives me a platform to be able to say a big thank you to the many frontline heroes and charities out there who provide care and support during these challenging times.”
A TRUE ROLE MODEL
“Well where to start,” said Danny Macklin, Leyton Orient Chief Executive. “What started with a simple idea has escalated into a very unique and emotive shirt sponsorship agreement.”
“When we discussed with the England captain Harry Kane and his team at CK66, we all decided that we wanted this to be unique.
“We wanted to say thank you for the exceptional hard work and dedication of the frontline heroes during this pandemic and also bring attention to the other charities out there who have all suffering financial loss due to the pandemic.”
“We are in uncertain and worrying times across the world but thanks to their efforts we will get through this together.”
“Thank you, Harry, for your amazing support and generosity – you are a true role model for the modern game.”
Josh Stephens, Head of Commercial, said: “Further to Danny’s comments, I think every Orient fan has a soft spot for Harry and it’s fantastic that Harry is supporting three extremely worthy causes.”
“He is also supporting the club during these challenging times and we are extremely grateful to him and all at CK66.”
“As we all look forward to live football, I for one cannot wait until the O’s run out at the Breyer Group Stadium donning the ‘Thank you frontline heroes’ message.”
With elite football set for resumption this weekend with the return of the Bundesliga, David Sim, Head of Football & Broadcast at CSM Sport & Entertainment, looks at the role broadcasters are playing at this time.
In the late 20th century, live broadcasting revolutionised the world of sport. Be it ESPN in the USA, or BskyB in the UK, the revenue generated through major broadcast fees turned sport from a largely amateur pastime into the world’s most powerful cultural platform.
In the wake of Covid-19, though, the source that feeds this entire ecosystem has come to an abrupt halt, posing an existential threat to stakeholders across the industry.
With sports broadcasters a critical component of that network, how will they respond to the challenges that lie ahead? As the industry toys with the ethical, logistical and financial conundrum of getting live sport back in action, here are a few ideas on the role they can play in navigating this turbulent period.
Win together, lose together
The financial model of most major sports properties is, in large part, sustained by the income generated by broadcast contracts. But Covid-19 has robbed these two stakeholders of their most precious commodity: live sport.
For rights holders, though, TV revenue is often the lifeblood of its industry. Without it, the entire ecosystem is faced with a financial black hole.
For broadcasters, it means a loss of subscribers and a loss of advertising revenue. That is the rationale behind DAZN, BeIN, IMG, Sky Italia and Eurosport all opting to withhold rights payments for events either cancelled or indefinitely on hold.
For rights holders, though, TV revenue is often the lifeblood of its industry. Without it, the entire ecosystem is faced with a financial black hole. In the Premier League, the cost of repaying broadcast rights for unfinished fixtures is estimated to be £38m per club, a figure that would leave many staring down the barrel of insolvency. It’s a catch-22 that requires resolving.
From BBC and Wimbledon, to CBS and the Masters, the history books are littered with mutually beneficial relationships between rights holder and broadcaster. Now, more than ever, the two need to work together to share the burden of Covid-19. If broadcasters can absorb some short-term financial losses, they will safeguard the immediate future of much of the industry and, in turn, the product it sells. What better way to demonstrate your worth as partners than acting as true guardians of the game?
The role sport plays in filling our desire for excitement, jeopardy and community has only been heightened by the trauma of coronavirus and our enforced separation. Its value is greater than ever before. Those who choose to ride out the uncertainty will be best placed to capitalise on that.
When it comes to renegotiating next season’s fees, broadcasters will be able to agree increasingly favourable terms in a buyers’ market; a hitherto unfamiliar negotiating position but just reward for their continued investment.
On that front, we are already seeing signs of progress. Canal+, the chief broadcaster of Top 14 Rugby for 25 years, has committed to paying its final fee instalment for this season to help clubs ease cash flow problems. In the UK, Sky Sports will not demand a £36m rebate from the ECB despite the postponement of The Hundred. And in Germany, Sky Deutschland reaffirmed its commitment to the Bundesliga with an early rights fee payment, in return for a reduced fee next year.
For their part, rights holders should consider how they can maximise the value of existing contracts. Be it extra fixtures for next season, or increasing advertising space during the live broadcast, there are a number of “make goods” that rights holders can offer to help alleviate any loss in value of the original contract.
The popularity of Amazon Prime’s The Test, or Sky Sport’s World Cup Final Watch Along, demonstrate that fans respond positively to the greater level of insight provided by player-led content.
Match footage and highlights from the Bundesliga will be shown free-to-air on Sky Konferenz this weekend, and Sky Sports and BT Sport remain in talks with the Premier League to show unsold games on their free YouTube channels. The BCCI has granted Star India – its domestic broadcast partner of the postponed IPL – free access to its wealth archive cricket footage, while the Olympic Broadcasting Service, meanwhile, has offered all its media partners the opportunity to carry Olympic Channel 1 until 2021.
While the temptation for broadcasters to switch off the life support is understandable, a more pragmatic approach to avoid biting the hand that feeds them bodes well for those with a long term view.
Keep fans at the heart of the action
As live sport begins to re-emerge, it is evident it will do so in empty arenas; a reality that may be in place for some time. Nevertheless, the fan can still play an active role in enhancing the product that broadcasters choose to present back to us.
Where motorsport can rely on the noise of machinery to provide an atmosphere, the echoes that reverberate around cavernous football stadiums often devalue the product. The obvious solution in offsetting that is to pump simulated crowd noise through PA systems, increase “sound capture” and incorporate music into the broadcast offering. In Taiwan’s domestic baseball league, robot drummers have been deployed to that effect.
But why not put fans back at the heart of the experience? Modern sound technology allows us to record ourselves cheering on our team from home. If broadcasters and clubs can embrace virtual watching parties, they could collect that noise and feed it back through the broadcast channel or stadium PA, enhancing that connectivity with the fan.
Expect broadcasters to invest time and money into creating more evergreen content to help diversify their programming, particularly off the back of the recent success of The Last Dance for ESPN and Netflix.
In terms of the aesthetic , “tighter” camera angles is one routine method used to mask the lack of fans. Elsewhere, cardboard cut-outs – personalised in the case of Borussia Monchengladbach – are being deployed to replicate the presence of a physical crowd. I’m old enough to remember the mural Arsenal used at Highbury when the North Bank was under construction. It worked well at the time, but the evolution in technology in the 30 years since allows us to aim higher.
Rather than attempting to conceal the visual deficiencies of playing behind closed doors, clubs and broadcasters would be better served exploring fan engagement initiatives. Inviting your global fanbase to share artwork or messages of support –which could be collated and crafted into a CGI-friendly, digital mosaic – would be a more meaningful, compelling and interactive way of both elevating the visual presentation of the broadcast, while ensuring supporters remain integral to the action.
Shift to player-first coverage
Without the atmospheric presence of a crowd to augment the viewing experience, there is scope to recalibrate broadcast output towards developing a more intimate connection between player and fan. Typically, access to players during the window of play has been off-limits, but with athletes operating in radically altered circumstances, it’s a great chance to educate the audience around a unique challenge.
The popularity of Amazon Prime’s The Test, or Sky Sport’s World Cup Final Watch Along, demonstrate that fans respond positively to the greater level of insight provided by player-led content. Broadcasters, together with rights holders, need to consider how to best serve that interest.
That Sky Sports, BT Sport and the Premier League are reportedly discussing in-game interviews with substitutes and coaching staff is welcome news. But they could go further still.
It would be an opportune moment for the Premier League to introduce a ref mic – an innovation that has done wonders for rugby. Recording the communication between referee and the Stockley Park team will provide spectators with some much-needed clarity and transparency around the VAR process, in a far less hostile environment.
With that data in mind, will the likes of Fox Sports continue to broadcast esports series’, such as the eNascar Invitational, when the real life version reappears, or will esports return to the fringes?
When the PGA Tour returns to our screens in mid-June, rather than cutting away to vast green expanses, why not spend more time following the journey of player and caddie as they discuss their strategy to an upcoming shot. In a “fanless” era, the focus of the coverage needs to shift from atmosphere to athlete, taking us viewers into uncharted territory. By doing so, they will deepen the relationship we have with the sport.
Learn the lessons
There are lessons to be heeded from this crisis. For several sports broadcasters, this pandemic has exposed a gaping hole in its content offering. Expect them to invest time and money into creating more evergreen content to help diversify their programming, particularly off the back of the recent success of Netflix and ESPN’s The Last Dance.
While the move towards direct-to-consumer OTT platforms will not fade away entirely, the financial repercussions of Covid-19 will see rights holders continue to opt for the low-risk strategy of partnering with major broadcasters – not least for the comfort of a big cheque.
And esports, the alleged winner in all of this, will be a fascinating sector to keep an eye on. It has been tempting to assume that esports – that is, competitive multiplayer video gaming in front of spectators – has flourished during this pandemic as an alternative to live sport. But the data from McKinsey tells a different story. Just 3% of consumers over the age of 18 have started watching esports content as a result of Covid-19. In reality, it is online gaming – the umbrella term that includes esports – that is booming, with 16% of consumers surveyed by WARC, across 25 markets, having taken it up in the last two months.
With that data in mind, will the likes of Fox Sports continue to broadcast esports series’, such as the eNascar Invitational, when the real life version reappears, or will esports return to the fringes? The answer to that will be pivotal to esports’ endeavour to sustainably grow its audience base.
Covid-19 has, at least, granted rights holders and media partners pause for thought. How they choose to respond could reshape sports broadcasting for the better.
The ATP has extended the suspension of the ATP Tour through to July 31, 2020 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The decision, made in close collaboration with Tour members, means ATP events in Hamburg, Bastad, Newport, Los Cabos, Gstaad, Umag, Atlanta and Kitzbühel will not take place as scheduled. The extended suspension also applies to the ATP Challenger Tour and to men’s events on the ITF World Tennis Tour.
“Due to continued uncertainties surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, we regret to announce our decision to extend the suspension of the Tour,” said Andrea Gaudenzi, ATP Chairman. “Just like tennis fans, players and tournament hosts all over the world, we share in the disappointment the Tour continues to be affected in this way. We continue to assess all of our options in an effort to resume the Tour as soon as it is safe to do so, including the feasibility of rescheduling events later in the season. As ever, the health and well-being of the tennis community and wider public remains our top priority in every decision we make.”
Tournaments taking place from August 1, 2020 onwards are still planning to proceed as per the published schedule. A further update on the ATP Tour calendar is expected in mid-June.
WTA
Following the announcement of the WTA Tour suspension through July 12, the WTA events in Bastad, Lausanne, Bucharest, and Jurmala scheduled for July will not be held, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. We regret this is the case but will continue to be guided by medical experts for when it is safe and possible to return to WTA competition. We continue to monitor the situation closely and are hopeful to be back on the court as soon as possible.
A decision regarding the dates in which Karlsruhe and Palermo may be played along with further updates to the WTA calendar will be made in June.
ITF
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) has extended the suspension of all ITF tournaments through to July 31, 2020, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
All ITF circuits and event categories scheduled to take place during the newly extended period are suspended, including ITF Juniors, ITF Seniors, UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour, Beach Tennis Tour and the men’s and women’s ITF World Tennis Tour.
ITF President, David Haggerty said, “These are tough and disappointing decisions to make, but health and safety remain our primary concern. We continue to review the global situation and assess all our options to resume international competition the moment it is safe to do so. We are working closely with tennis stakeholders to review the calendar and make the right decisions together.”
While the global pandemic continues to prevent international competition, the partial lifting of government restrictions in some nations has permitted the resumption of recreational tennis and national competitions. The ITF has issued the following Return to Tennis guidelines for the staging of competitions with appropriate integrity, health and safety measures in place and advises recreational players to follow information and instructions from their national federation as they return to play.
The National Basketball Association and Wilson Sporting Goods Co. have announced a multiyear global partnership that will make Wilson the official game ball of the NBA, Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), NBA G League, NBA 2K League and Basketball Africa League.
The partnership will tip off at different times by league. The NBA Wilson game ball will first be used during the league’s 75th anniversary season in 2021-22. The other debuts will be during the 2022 WNBA season, 2021-22 NBA G League season, 2021 NBA 2K League season and the inaugural BAL season.
“This partnership with Wilson returns us to our roots as we plan for the future,” said Salvatore LaRocca, NBA President, Global Partnerships. “We were partners for 37 seasons dating back to when Wilson manufactured the first official NBA basketballs in 1946, and we look forward to growing the game of basketball together.”
“Our commitment to growing the game of basketball on the global stage is at the heart of Wilson and our new partnership with the NBA,” said Kevin Murphy, General Manager, Wilson Basketball. “Our passion for this game and the league runs incredibly deep, as does our history with it. And as we start this new chapter in the game, our focus and energy will be on supporting the league and the players, coaches and fans with the most advanced, high-performance game basketballs possible.”
Wilson will manufacture the NBA, WNBA and NBA G League game balls using the same materials, eight-panel configuration and performance specifications as current game balls and will also source the same leather currently used in the NBA. The NBA and its players will work jointly with Wilson to develop and approve the new game ball.
