Upcoming FT Business Of Football Summit To Explore Financial Future Of The Game

The Financial Times Business of Football event will be taking place once again on Thursday the 5th of March in London.

This event will renew its unique exploration into all of football’s key income streams, bringing together the biggest names in the industry to debate the financial future of the beautiful game.

Current speakers confirmed:

  • Andrea Agnelli (Chairman, Juventus FC)
  • Gary Neville (Former Manchester United, England defender, TV Broadcaster)
  • Carsten Cramer (Managing Director, Borussia Dortmund)
  • Albert Capellas (Former coordinator of Barcelona youth academy)
  • Bruce Buck (Chairman, Chelsea FC)
  • Kelly Simmons (Director of Women’s Professional Game, The FA)
  • Rainer Koch (First Vice President of the German FA)
  • Bob Ratcliffe (CEO, Ineos Football, Chairman OGC Nice)

Key themes of the summit will be:

  • The football season so far — a graphical analysis
  • The transformation of the media landscape
  • Financial Fair Play
  • Sponsorship – untangling the value propositions of brand alliances
  • How to produce the football stars of the future
  • The women’s game – what’s next?
  • The Dealmakers

Chiliz Signs Strategic Patnership With Lagadère Sports, Sets Focus On US And European Sports Market

Chiliz has today announced a new partnership with Lagardère Sports, a leading sports and entertainment marketing agency, to further propel cryptocurrency into mainstream sport.

The partnership will see Lagardère Sports working hand-in-hand with the Chiliz team to develop new partnerships for Socios.com, from their worldwide network of leading athletes, clubs, federations and sports leagues.

Lagardère’s network includes six French football clubs and 16 German football teams, including exclusive agreements with Borussia Dortmund, Hamburger SV, Olympique Lyonnais, AS Saint Etienne and OGC Nice. They also represent a roster of MLB & NFL players such as Eric Fisher, Terrell Suggs & Kendall Fuller from Superbowl Champions the Kansas City Chiefs.

The agreement allows Lagardère Sports to offer sports rights holders across the world the opportunity to secure additional revenue streams and deepen fan engagement using innovative blockchain technology.

Lagardère Sports’ wants to become the leading agency on blockchain, and through this partnership, is the first sports marketing agency to position itself at the forefront of technological innovations and its desire to change the sports industry.

Alexandre Dreyfus, CEO of Chiliz & Socios.com: “We have been very clear in communicating our goal to onboard 50 IPs to the Socios.com app in 2020 and I look forward to working hand-in-hand with Lagardère Sports to help us achieve that target, targeting Lagardère’s extensive network of athletes, clubs, federations and sports leagues to build the future of fan engagement for rights holders across Europe and the US.”

Laurent Moretti, Lagardère Sports Chief Executive France: “We are proud to announce this strategic partnership with Socios.com. This agreement rewards our ability to project ourselves into the future and believe in the development of new technologies such as blockchain and crypto-currency. As a leading sports marketing agency, it is our duty to offer the best solutions to our clients and partners, and this partnership will contribute significantly to our vision.”

Eurovision Sport Extends Tour de France With A.S.O. And La Vuelta With Unipublic Until 2025

Eurovision Sport and Amaury Sport Organisation have revealed an extension to their media rights agreement for the Tour de France through to 2025.  In addition, Eurovision Sport has extended its agreement with Unipublic, a subsidiary of A.S.O, for the Vuelta, again through to 2025.

The prestigious Tour de France will be available to audiences in 54 countries, with free-to-air coverage from EBU Member broadcasters in Belgium (RTBF and VRT), the Netherlands (NOS), Switzerland (SRF, RTS and RSI), United Kingdom and Ireland (ITV),  Spain (RTVE), Portugal (RTP), Italy (RAI), Denmark (TV2), Norway (TV2), Luxembourg (RTL), Slovakia (RTVS) and Slovenia (RTVSLO).

All the excitement of the Vuelta will be covered free-to-air by EBU Members in Belgium (VRT), the Netherlands (NOS), Denmark (TV2) and Norway (TV2). Fans will be able to watch an increased number of broadcast hours, around 70 hours per edition.

Eurosport will continue to screen the Tour de France and La Vuelta across all screens throughout Europe.

The deal also covers other major races including, for the first time, several women’s races: La Course by Le Tour avec FDJ, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Flèche Wallonne women’s races from 2020 in the Tour de France agreement; and, in the Vuelta agreement, the Ceratizit Madrid Challenge by La Vuelta and Clásica San Sebastian women’s races from 2021. These additions affirm Eurovision Sport’s continued commitment to develop women’s cycling and offer the widest range of sports rights for EBU member broadcasters.

Eurovision Sport Executive Director Stefan Kürten said: “We’re very proud to renew our long-standing partnership with A.S.O and Unipublic. The Tour de France and La Vuelta are highlights of the annual cycling calendar, with a fanbase of millions, and we remain committed to enabling these iconic races to maintain and develop their unrivalled free-to-air exposure.”

Eurovision Sport Head of Cycling Frederic Sanz added: “Thanks to the ideal combination of EBU Members and Eurosport platforms, Eurovision Sport continues to showcase the best of cycling throughout Europe. We are in addition particularly happy to strengthen our commitment to women’s cycling and more generally to women’s sport with those races widely exposed throughout Europe.”

ASO Managing Director Yann le Moenner said: “We are thrilled to continue our partnership with the EBU and its Members, which have always been committed to offer a large exposure for cycling all over Europe, through a perfect combination of generalist free-to-air channels and sport thematic channels. Thanks to the fast growth of EBU Members’ digital platforms, we will enlarge our audience to include the youngest generations which have a huge role to play for the development of the sport.

“Besides the broadcast of our iconic events, the EBU will be a great asset for the promotion and development of women’s cycling for which we intend to produce and distribute new events live starting 2020. Our long-standing relationship with the EBU will help to strengthen the relationship between the fans, the historical events they are waiting for every year, and the new races we are adding to the calendar.”

UEFA To Introduce VAR In The Europa League Immediately

Video assistant referees (VAR) will be deployed in the UEFA Europa League knockout phase, which kicks off on 20 February. The decision was taken by the UEFA Executive Committee last September, following the introduction of the system in several UEFA competitions in the 2018/19 campaign.

As far as this season’s UEFA Europa League is concerned, UEFA will use the system as from the round of 32. VAR analysis and training took place at UEFA’s winter course for top European referees in Mallorca in January, with the match officials, among other topics, also given an update on VAR procedures.

UEFA’s Referees Committee chairman Roberto Rosetti, committee colleagues and referees held intensive discussions about VAR at the UEFA course in Mallorca. Rosetti explains the purpose of VAR and the positive advantages of the system: “We believe that VAR is a crucial project for football,” he says, “and I am very glad that we will now also have VAR in the Europa League, as it will provide vital help for referees to take correct decisions in these important matches.”

“We’re very happy with the figures that we’ve seen in the UEFA Champions League group phase and playoffs – in 108 matches in total, 27 decisions have been corrected through the VAR system, which means that a decision has only been overturned every four matches – this shows the quality of the referees’ performances. In addition, we feel that the time taken to overturn a decision is important. So far this season, the average time for the correction of a decision has been 1 minute 30 seconds – 15 seconds less than last season.”

“However, I would emphasise once more that – in compliance with its protocol – VAR  is only for clear and obvious mistakes, and not for controversial situations. Football needs good referees above all – match officials with a strong personality on the field of play, who take correct and courageous decisions.”

The VAR system will also be used at the upcoming European Qualifiers play-offs in March, and is already being deployed in this season’s UEFA Champions League (since the play-offs). In addition, it will be used at the UEFA Women’s Champions League final; UEFA EURO 2020 this summer; and next year’s UEFA Women’s EURO 2021.

Furthermore, the UEFA Executive Committee has decided to introduce VAR in the 2022 European Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup, pending FIFA’s final approval.

IMMAF Signs With Fighting Spirit In Media Rights Deal

The International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF) has signed a media rights agreement with Fighting Spirit for the worldwide sales of its broadcast programming.

IMMAF is the only legitimate global governing body for amateur MMA, working for Olympic recognition. With 100 nations as members and National Olympic Committee recognition in around 40 countries, IMMAF has a seven-year track record of organising nations MMA Championship tournaments with a rich back catalogue of programme material. IMMAF’s recent World Championships in 2019 featured over 400 matches over 5 days, while its Continental and World events continue to grow exponentially year-on-year. 

Fighting Spirit is the leading agency of combat sports around the globe. Specialised both in delayed and live distribution, Fighting Spirit is a well-known established company in the field of international TV distribution.

IMMAF President, Kerrith Brown, said: “IMMAF is pleased to be signing with Fighting Spirit. Our MMA platform is growing in size, depth of talent and brand stature and ours is a young sport with high engagement among the millennial and Z generations. In 2020, we have committed to offering a calendar of broadcast material, with television packages available for our Asian Open Championships, European Open Championships, Under-18s Youth World Championships and World Championships. We invite broadcasters to benefit from showcasing world-class amateur mixed martial arts action from IMMAF.”

Fighting Spirit CEO, Laurent Pourrut, added: “Fighting Spirit is honoured to work with IMMAF. Our strategy will be to give the best worldwide exposure to IMMAF but also to see that IMMAF co-exists with professional promotions in terms of its TV exposure. Fighting Spirit distributes well-established MMA brands such as Professional Fighters League (PFL) and M-1. There are a lot of synergies.”

The iSportconnect Weekly Deals Update

INEOS + Mercedes

INEOS has extended its existing performance partnership to now become Principal Partner to Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team as INEOS increases its position in sport.

Eleven Sports + Belgian Pro League

ELEVEN SPORTS have won the rights to broadcast Belgian domestic football for the next five years.

NBA + Hennessy

Hennessy and the National Basketball Association have announced a multi-year partnership that makes Hennessy the Official Spirit of the NBA, Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) and USA Basketball.

HUGO BOSS + Formula E

Formula E announced that HUGO BOSS has extended its partnership as official apparel partner for a further three seasons, until at least the end of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.

William Hill + CBS

CBS Sports and William Hill have joined in a strategic partnership that makes William Hill the Official Sports Book and Wagering Data Provider across all CBS Sports platforms.

UEFA + Conmebol

The UEFA Executive Committee and the CONMEBOL Council met at the House of European Football in Nyon and signed a renewed Memorandum of Understanding to replace the agreement that was signed in 2012.

ITTF + Hana Bank

The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) has revealed that Hana Bank will be title sponsor of the 2020 World Team Table Tennis Championships, which will be staged between 22 – 29 March in Busan, Korea Republic.

FC Barcelona + Chiliz

FC Barcelona has signed a new global partnership agreement with blockchain–based fan engagement platform for sports and entertainment Chiliz.

Sky Sports + IPL

Sky Sports has become the home of the VIVO Indian Premier League in the UK and Ireland after announcing a three-year deal to broadcast one of the world’s top T20 tournaments.

Other Deals

LEC + Pringles

Sportradar + XFL

EFL + Thai Airways

ITU + Blerter

Pakistan Super League + Oppo

World Surf League + Seven

Juventus + Allianz

Independiente + Puma

NBCOlympics + NowThis

Napoli + Kappa

The iSportconnect Weekly Deals Update

INEOS + Mercedes

INEOS has extended its existing performance partnership to now become Principal Partner to Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team as INEOS increases its position in sport.

Eleven Sports + Belgian Pro League

ELEVEN SPORTS have won the rights to broadcast Belgian domestic football for the next five years.

NBA + Hennessy

Hennessy and the National Basketball Association have announced a multi-year partnership that makes Hennessy the Official Spirit of the NBA, Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) and USA Basketball.

HUGO BOSS + Formula E

Formula E announced that HUGO BOSS has extended its partnership as official apparel partner for a further three seasons, until at least the end of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.

William Hill + CBS

CBS Sports and William Hill have joined in a strategic partnership that makes William Hill the Official Sports Book and Wagering Data Provider across all CBS Sports platforms.

UEFA + Conmebol

The UEFA Executive Committee and the CONMEBOL Council met at the House of European Football in Nyon and signed a renewed Memorandum of Understanding to replace the agreement that was signed in 2012.

ITTF + Hana Bank

The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) has revealed that Hana Bank will be title sponsor of the 2020 World Team Table Tennis Championships, which will be staged between 22 – 29 March in Busan, Korea Republic.

FC Barcelona + Chiliz

FC Barcelona has signed a new global partnership agreement with blockchain–based fan engagement platform for sports and entertainment Chiliz.

Sky Sports + IPL

Sky Sports has become the home of the VIVO Indian Premier League in the UK and Ireland after announcing a three-year deal to broadcast one of the world’s top T20 tournaments.

Other Deals

LEC + Pringles

Sportradar + XFL

EFL + Thai Airways

ITU + Blerter

Pakistan Super League + Oppo

World Surf League + Seven

Juventus + Allianz

Independiente + Puma

NBCOlympics + NowThis

Napoli + Kappa

Joanna Adams Appointed Chief Executive Officer Of UK Athletics, More Changes Confirmed

UK Athletics has announced Joanna Adams as the newly appointed Chief Executive Officer in another big shakeup for the National Governing Body.

Joanna, who is currently Chief Commercial Officer at LLDC, was CEO of England Netball from 2015 to 2019, including the memorable success at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

She also professionalised netball by bringing in major sponsors and television agreements whilst growing grassroots participation and media coverage including on digital channels, and led the expansion of the Vitality Superleague franchise system.

Her time at England Netball concluded last summer with the hosting of the most successful Netball World Cup in history and before her role there was a Commercial Director for the Football Conference and a Director at Notts County Football Club.

In addition to the newly appointed CEO, there are further leadership developments targeted at enabling the sport to move forward whilst ensuring continuity and stability.

Chris Clark has confirmed he will be stepping down as Chair when Joanna joins the organisation, and will become an advisor to the UK Athletics Board taking on the development of a commercial plan for the sport and working with the new senior team on developing partnerships and sponsorships.

As former Global Head of Marketing for HSBC, Clark’s extensive experience and insight will continue to benefit the organisation drawing on his experiences working with rights holders and branded properties.

Nic Coward, the interim CEO will then assume the role of Chair until the end of the year, throughout the ongoing reviews and to provide support and stability throughout the Olympic and Paralympic Games period.

Chris Clark said: “The role of Chair for UKA clearly now requires a huge time commitment during this crucial period. My other commitments to regulated businesses and public sector organisations have significantly increased since commencing the role and I have to concede that I cannot give it the time commitment it deserves right now.

“However I am delighted to have the opportunity to continue working with UK Athletics on the commercial strategy and with Joanna’s appointment and her track record of success in not only sports governance but also commercial, marketing and competition structures, means we have excellent leadership to take the sport on in a positive future direction.

“Nic has already made a very positive impact and retaining his expertise for this transition period was an important consideration when the Board debated the changes we needed to make. The focus now has to be the future and how we will apply the learnings and best practice from the ongoing reviews and ensure the sport has a hugely successful future.”

LaLiga North America Signs Parntership With Fanwide For US Supporters

LaLiga North America and FanWide today announced their partnership for FanWide to become the Official Bar Network of LaLiga in the US, and allow fans easier access to exclusive events as well as invite them to participate in watch parties across the country, all possible using FanWide’s Bar Finder feature.

The Bar Finder functionality will be available for the US on LaLiga.com this spring, and is yet another way in which LaLiga North America is looking to build communities with fans at a local level. Part of this functionality will be a map where LaLiga fans can reference their location in relation to the closest LaLiga event.

Key markets for this partnership include New York (NYC), Los Angeles (LA), Houston, Dallas, Chicago, Boston, Washington DC, and Miami, expanding to additional cities throughout 2020.

Fans will be able to check in at FanWide.com during LaLiga matches to get discounts, enter contests and earn rewards. The FanWide link for free registration can be found here.

ESPN Acquires Broadcasting Rights For NBA In Africa

Fans of basketball in Africa will be able to watch the NBA on ESPN and ESPN2 as of February 14, The Walt Disney Company announced on Friday, after acquiring the rights for the league across the continent.

Viewers of paid TV networks that host ESPN will be able to watch, in English, the rest of the regular season, including ESPN’s double-header on Fridays, the Playoffs, the Conference finals, and the Finals.

The NBA Draft in June is also included in the deal, which kicks off with the All-Star Weekend on February 14-16, featuring Team LeBron and Team Giannis, the latter line-up sporting a distinctly African look.

“By securing these rights for Africa, ESPN is able to further its commitment to bringing premier content to audiences and growing the diversity of programming on the channels,” says Evert van der Veer, Vice President of Media Networks for The Walt Disney Company Africa.

“We are thrilled to share in the passion and excitement of this league with fans across the continent.”