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.”

Atletico Madrid Start Esports Team Ahead Of eLaLiga Commencement

Atletico Madrid have unveiled their new Esports team at the Wanda Metropolitano.

They will compete in LaLiga’s official FIFA 20 Ultimate Team tournament – the eLaLiga. The project is the result of a collaboration agreement between Atletico Madrid and Movistar Riders, an eSports club created in 2017 by Telefónica and Riders, which competes in several of the most popular video games such as FIFA. Andoni Payo was presented as our player in the tournament.

The competition will be divided into two phases, the first of which will begin on Friday. Koke, who attended the event and presented Payo with a shirt, welcomed the virtual player to the club, saying: “Wearing this badge and this shirt is very important. Every Atlético fan will support you and I’m sure you’ll do great.”

Movistar Riders CEO Fernando Piquer shared his thoughts on the agreement: “We couldn’t be any happier and prouder of the three years we’ve worked with Atlético de Madrid. This will be a very nice competition organised by LaLiga. We’re going to give it our all to do as well as possible.”

On The Move: Latest Community Jobs Update

Mike Hopkins has joined Amazon Prime Video as Head of Entertainment.

Connie Heng will be Head of Media Rights for the Asian Football Confederation.

Phil Hayward is now LA Galaxy’s Director of Performance and Sport Science.

Kester Wilkinson has joined Extreme E as Events Manager, with Nina Dreier becoming Extreme-E’s Marketing Manager.

Joe Steel has become Head of Fan Engagement for The Hundred (ECB).

Tennium has signed Julien Cassaigne and Philippe Weiss, the former Senior Vice-President and Vice-President for Lagardère Sports.

Katy Richie is now England Netball’s Director of Development.

Chris Stone was announced as Executive Sports Editor for the LA Times.

Angela Hucles is now at the United Soccer League as Strategic Consultant.

On The Move: Latest Community Jobs Update

Mike Hopkins has joined Amazon Prime Video as Head of Entertainment.

Connie Heng will be Head of Media Rights for the Asian Football Confederation.

Phil Hayward is now LA Galaxy’s Director of Performance and Sport Science.

Kester Wilkinson has joined Extreme E as Events Manager, with Nina Dreier becoming Extreme-E’s Marketing Manager.

Joe Steel has become Head of Fan Engagement for The Hundred (ECB).

Tennium has signed Julien Cassaigne and Philippe Weiss, the former Senior Vice-President and Vice-President for Lagardère Sports.

Katy Richie is now England Netball’s Director of Development.

Chris Stone was announced as Executive Sports Editor for the LA Times.

Angela Hucles is now at the United Soccer League as Strategic Consultant.

FC Barcelona Sign Up With Blockchain Platform Chiliz

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

Barcelona become the latest team to sign up to the platform, following clubs such as Juventus FC and Paris Saint-Germain

The agreement will enable fans to interact with Barça in an innovative way through Chiliz’ fan voting and rewards platform Socios.com, where they will be able to participate in different surveys and polls about the everyday activities of the Club using digital assets called ‘Barça Fan Tokens’.

Fans around the world will be able to purchase ‘Barça Fan Tokens’ through an innovative process known as a Fan Token Offering (FTOTM). They will also be able to collect the digital currency Chiliz $CHZ and Barça Fan Tokens periodically for free, via Token Hunt, the platform’s augmented reality feature. $CHZ is listed on many of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges

This alliance, the first blockchain partnership to be signed by the Club, was made official at an event held at the Camp Nou Stadium attended by Josep Pont, Board of Directors Member and head of the Commercial Area of FC Barcelona, together with Alexandre Dreyfus, Chief Executive Officer of Chiliz, who was presented with the new FC Barcelona 19/20 home jersey.

As well as giving fans the right to vote on different topics, the platform will reward fans for engaging with the Club. Fans will be rewarded for every different action taken on the platform, climbing up leaderboards and receiving reward points which can be exchanged for exclusive merchandise and unique once-in-a-lifetime experiences linked to Barça.

This agreement is part of FC Barcelona’s global expansion strategy. It reinforces its commitment to sourcing the best possible agreements in each category to help Barça to continue to lead the way not only on the field of play, but also in the field of partnerships and sports marketing. Furthermore, this new alliance boosts FC Barcelona’s commitment to looking to new digital channels and formats for connecting and generating engagement with their global audience.

Barça Fan Tokens (known as $BAR within the Socios.com app) will be available in Q2 2020. 40 million Barça Fan Token will be made available, with each of them costing €2 at the initial point of sale.

Josep Pont, FC Barcelona Board Member and Head of Commercial Area, said: “We are proud to welcome Socios.com to the Barça family as a new global partner. This agreement will give us the chance to set up innovative marketing and partnership activations with a clear focus on the digital realm to take the Club closer to our fans around the world. This agreement also forms part of FC Barcelona’s goal to become associated with leading brands that can help us consolidate our new commercial and digital strategy, with the development of new streams for the generation of resources helping to make us a benchmark both on and off the field.”

Alexandre Dreyfus, CEO & Founder of Socios.com & Chiliz, commented: “We are very excited to welcome FC Barcelona to Socios.com, and even more excited to start engaging with their massive fan base around the world. With over 300 million fans worldwide, Barça’s fandom spans countries as well as cultures. The Club is without a doubt the most renowned and the most supported football club in the world and we can’t wait to see their fans start to influence Club decisions. Adding FC Barcelona fans to the Socios.com global community takes us one step closer to our goal of mainstream adoption of blockchain. Every time a fan downloads the app, we are furthering education, and every time a fan buys a Fan Tokens, we are strengthening the use cases of this innovative technology.”

SportAccord 2020 In Beijing Postponed, Contingency Options Being Discussed

SportAccord has confirmed that the SportAccord World Sport & Business Summit 2020 will not take place in Beijing due to the Coronavirus outbreak in China. 

Raffaele Chiulli, President SportAccord, said: “In the past few weeks, we have been following the development of the epidemic closely. The Chinese Government has taken effective efforts, unprecedented measures and all possible resources to combat the epidemic. We do believe that the Chinese Government and people in China have the capabilities to have the final win of the war against the virus.” 

“SportAccord has developed a mutual and respectful working relationship with the Local Organising Committee, which has displayed outstanding professionalism at all times during the excellent preparations for SportAccord 2020 in Beijing. We had no doubt that our hosts would deliver an exceptional SportAccord and we are grateful to Beijing for the support and all the efforts it has made for preparing SportAccord 2020.” 

“SportAccord 2020 brings nearly 2,000 delegates together worldwide. In addition to that, a significant number of participating countries, organisations, companies and institutions to put on exhibitions during the event. Considering the epidemic in China and around the world and taking into account the various factors of such force majeure situation and through consultation with the SportAccord 2020 Local Organizing Committee, we have reached a difficult decision that SportAccord 2020 will not take place in Beijing. We will continue to collaborate with Beijing and China to promote the healthy development of the international sport community. We apologize for any inconvenience thus caused for International Sports Federations, registered partners, exhibitors and delegates concerned.” 

SportAccord is now exploring contingency options for relocating the World Sport & Business Summit 2020 so that it can still take place from 19-24 April 2020. 

Nis Hatt, Managing Director, SportAccord, said: “The Local Organizing Committee for SportAccord 2020 in Beijing has been a trusted partner during preparations for the event and has shown excellence throughout the entire planning process.” 

Partners, exhibitors and delegates who had registered to attend the event in Beijing will be contacted shortly with updates and further information regarding the next steps for SportAccord 2020. 

Follow developments and updates via Twitter @sportaccord or keep up to date via LinkedIn and Facebook. For media enquiries, email info@sportaccord.sport.