Formula One To Make Miami Debut In 2021

Formula One racing will happen in Miami for the first time in the 2021 season, continuing their expansion into the United States market.

A joint statement was issued by Sean Bratches, Managing Director Commercial Operations at Formula 1 and Tom Garfinkel, Vice Chairman and CEO, Hard Rock stadium.

The statement said: “We are thrilled to announce that Formula One and Hard Rock Stadium have reached an agreement in principle to host the first-ever Formula One Miami Grand Prix at Hard Rock Stadium. With an estimated annual impact of more than $400m and 35,000 room nights, the Formula One Miami Grand Prix will be an economic juggernaut for South Florida each and every year.

“We are deeply grateful to our fans, elected officials and the local tourism industry for their patience and support throughout this process. We look forward to bringing the greatest racing spectacle on the planet for the first time to one of the world’s most iconic and glamorous regions.”

 

Olympic Icon Nadia Comăneci To Speak at Regional SportAccord Pan America 2019

Olympic gymnastics legend Nadia Comăneci has been confirmed as a keynote speaker at this year’s inaugural Regional SportAccord Pan America in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in December. 

Comăneci became an international superstar in 1976 when, aged just 14, she became the first athlete to score a perfect 10 at the Olympic Games on her way to a haul of three gold medals in Montreal.

“I am tremendously excited to be taking part in the inaugural Regional SportAccord Pan America in Florida this December,” Comăneci says. “This is a golden opportunity for the sports sector from across the Americas to come together, exchange ideas and collaborate on the biggest issues affecting the events that we love. 

“I am pleased to see that the protection of athletes and social responsibility are among the conference programme’s major themes and I look forward to sharing my own experiences of being a young athlete propelled on to the world stage. I want to talk about what federations and rights-holders can do to ensure the wellbeing of athletes.”

Raffaele Chiulli, President, SportAccord says: “We are honoured to welcome Nadia – one of the most celebrated athletes in the history of sport – to Regional SportAccord Pan America. Her ‘perfect 10’ in Montreal remains one of the Olympic Games’ most iconic moments more than four decades on.”

FIFA President Gianni Infantino Warns Organisation May Impose Extra Sanctions For Racism

FIFA President Gianni Infantino has sent a strict warning to the football world that the organisation may choose to inflict worldwide punishments for racism incidents.

A statement from FIFA stating that due to updating the FIFA Disciplinary Code in June this year, they ‘may extend worldwide any sanctions that a Confederation or Member Association imposes for racist incidents’, using the events of this past week in the EURO 2020 qualifier between Bulgaria and England.

‘FIFA therefore expects to be informed as soon as practicable regarding the relevant decisions of the UEFA disciplinary bodies in relation to this particular case,’ it also asserted.

“So many times we say there is no place for racism in football, but nonetheless we still face challenges to tackle this problem in our sport, as we do in society. We will need the support of public authorities to help us identify and punish the culprits but we probably also need to think more broadly on what we can do to fix this.  When we proposed the three step procedure in 2009 when I was at UEFA, and then made the Regulations even tougher a few years later, we could not have imagined that so shortly thereafter we would again be having to think of how to combat this obnoxious disease that seems to be getting even worse in some parts of the world.”, said FIFA President Gianni Infantino.

He added, “I call on all football governing bodies to join us and think together of new, stronger and more effective ways to eradicate racism in football.  As a starting point, I suggest that all competition organizers enact Regulations which envisage life bans from stadiums for those who are found guilty of racist behaviour at a football match. FIFA can then enforce such bans at a worldwide level.”

La Liga TV Launches In The UK

Premier Sports and LaLiga have entered a new phase of their multi-year broadcast agreement in the United Kingdom and Ireland, with the 24/7 English-language channel LaLigaTV available via the Premier Player OTT streaming service. 

LaLiga is to become the first football league to have a 24/7 dedicated channel in either the UK or Ireland carrying all live games, following LaLigaTV’s launch via Sky TV platform during the coming months.

Melcior Soler, Audiovisual Director at LaLiga said: “We’re pleased to be entering the next phase of our strategic broadcast agreement with Premier Sports. For a fraction of the price of other football subscription offerings, viewers in the UK and Ireland can enjoy ‘all LaLiga, all the time’ via LaLigaTV.”

Richard Sweeney, CEO of Premier Sports said: “We are delighted and proud to announce the 24/7 dedicated LaLigaTV HD channel launches today on the Premier Player. Football fans can now enjoy every moment on the go or cast to their TV’s at the touch of a button.”

£7.5m Investment Announced By British Gymnastics

British Gymnastics have revealed there will be £7.5milllion of funding provided to the sport ahead of 2020.

Jane Allen, British Gymnastics CEO, said: “We know that the clubs get inundated, and [the Olympics] is a real draw card into the clubs. It inspires our staff, the clubs, and it’s a real injection into the sport and we’ve been trying to capitalising on that since 2012.

“Every club has a waiting list, we have a million children waiting to get into clubs throughout the UK. Sport England has invested over £800,000 in the facility in Lilleshall – which is now over 40 years old – and the whole gym is being refurbed and will open in January. The athletes won’t believe what they see.”

Of the 7.5million, two million will be provided by British Gymnastics themselves with other funding coming from investors and stakeholders.

Dubai Speaker Spotlight: Manu Sawhney

Manu Sawhney is the Chief Executive of the International Cricket Council and oversaw this summer’s Cricket World Cup, he will be speaking at iSportconnect’s Dubai Summit on the 5th of December.
Bio

Manu Sawhney became the fifth Chief Executive of the ICC on the 1st of April 2019, succeeding David Richardson who had held the role since June 2012. He leads the ICC, delivering the global growth strategy for the game in partnership with members and driving the future commercial direction of the sport.

Mr Sawhney is the former CEO of Singapore Sports Hub and Managing Director of ESPN Star Sports, with 22 years of commercial experience in both sport and broadcasting in senior leadership roles.

He was with ESPN Star Sports for seventeen years and during his tenure as Managing Director was responsible for scaling up the business and doubling annual revenues, whilst delivering an innovative content and digital growth strategy and building strong partnerships with stakeholders across 24 countries in Asia. Additionally, he led the global broadcast partnership deal with the ICC that ran from 2007-2015.

He is also a non-executive director and member of the Audit Committee of Manchester United Ltd. He is married to Rachna and has a son, Arjun and a daughter, Gaurika.

Also speaking at the event will be Alexander Brown and Brett Gosper

With a maximum of 150 invite-only delegates, iSportconnect provides a media/agency free opportunity to network with influential senior-level sports business executives. We are famous for our intimate and relaxed environment, encouraging ideas exchange and helping to introduce you to the right new connections.

To register your interest in attending the 2019 iSportconnect Dubai Summit, please contact Joe Condon at joe@isportconnect.com

Invitation Policy: The Dubai Summit is a complimentary event for iSportconnect members who are from governing bodies, sports teams, brands and broadcasters. There is no fee to become an iSportconnect member. No sports agencies, professional service providers & suppliers are allowed.

For limited partnership opportunities, please contact Brandon Garcia at brandon@isportconnect.com

ICC Increase Prize Money For Women’s Events

The ICC have announced there will be a 2.6 million dollar prize money boost form women’s cricket events.

The increase follows a rise in the revenue generated by the sport, a proportion of which is assigned to prize money.

Australia will host next year’s Women’s World T20, where the tournament winners will now receive one million dollars and the runners up $500,000, this is five times the prize money from the last World T20 in 2018.

Overall the prize pot for 2020 will be boosted 320% in comparison to the 2018 event and will see all teams receiving help to benefit the quality of the sport.

It has also been decided that an U19 Women’s World Cup will be created to mirror the men’s game, with the first event taking place in Bangladesh in 2021 and every two years after that.

ICC Chief Executive Manu Sawhney said: “We have already stated our long-term commitment to reach parity across men’s and women’s cricket as part of a broader plan to grow and develop the women’s game.

“We want to build a long-term sustainable foundation for women’s cricket and that is about more than just prize money. It is about building a product that fans want to watch, that kids want to take up, that sponsors and broadcasters want to be part of. Creating a Women’s U19 event also improves the pathway available to young cricketers and ensures they have the same opportunities as their male counterparts.

“This is a journey we started in earnest in 2017 and next year it’s our ambition to fill the MCG on International Women’s Day for the final of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 which would be a world record for a women’s sporting event. This significant increase in prize money and the introduction of a Women’s U19 event is part of a much larger effort to grow the women’s game around the world.”

Eurosport To Publish Real Time Tokyo 2020 Highlights on Twitter

Discovery and Eurosport, the Home of the Olympics across Europe, have announced a broad content publishing and ad sales partnership with Twitter for the forthcoming Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.

Eurosport will now publish real-time highlights of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo on Twitter after signing the partnership with the website.

It will bring Twitter users world-class content, extensive event highlight clips featuring medal-winning moments and the most exciting and locally-relevant moments during the Olympic Games.

Discovery and Eurosport will also offer the International Olympic Committee TOP partners dedicated content marketing solutions to further promote their global brands alongside the Olympic Games in Europe.

Paul Rehrig, General Manager, Eurosport Digital, said: “We’re thrilled to be teaming up with Twitter in a collaboration that will bring Eurosport’s award-winning Olympic Games coverage to even more people across the continent. Twitter is the premier platform for live content and conversation and the perfect place to extend the reach of Eurosport’s coverage of Tokyo 2020.”

Kay Madati, Global Vice President and Head of Content Partnerships at Twitter, said: “People come to Twitter to discover and talk about what’s happening and The Olympics will be the biggest moment in sports in 2020. We’re excited that Eurosport will bring real time highlights and live coverage of the Opening and Closing ceremonies to fans across Europe, fuelling the robust Olympics conversation that will be happening on Twitter.”

Rangers FC Appoint Ross Wilson As Sporting Director

Rangers Football Club have appointed Ross Wilson as their new sporting director.

He had spent the previous four and a half years as Director of Football Operations at Premier League side Southampton.

The 36-year-old has over 15 years of experience in the professional football industry previously working at Watford, Huddersfield Town and Falkirk.

Wilson said: “Firstly, and I am sure it goes without saying, I am delighted to be joining Rangers. During recent weeks I have had really positive discussions with the club.

“The vision and passion shared collectively by the Board and by Steven in terms of the plans to continue to build the club are exciting. Equally it was important that both the club and I shared the same understanding of the what this role is and what the football model and culture inside the club needs to look like going forward.”

He previously took up the position of Executive Director and Head of Football Operations at Huddersfield Town in 2012. In his three years at Huddersfield, the club achieved three successive higher finishes in the English Championship.

How Kiswe’s CloudCast Created 28 Open-Source Broadcasts with the Help of CrossFit’s Community

Ever since it became possible to stream video anywhere, many international federations and other sports rights owners have faced a frustrating challenge: creating and delivering relevant content for global audiences who have different wants and needs. 

However, the emergence of cloud-based remote production solutions has changed all of that by empowering local voices and commentators to change the narrative of the original live broadcast. Cloud-based technology enables rights holders to scale a single broadcast into many alternate narrowcasts that serve their superfan communities and in turn present new monetization opportunities. 

CrossFit is one of the first sports rights owners to seize this new approach of sports broadcasting and use CloudCast to activate its wide-reaching community. 

CrossFit is a prominent brand in the fitness industry with more than 15,000 locations worldwide. Launched in 2007, the CrossFit Games is the world’s premier test to find the fittest athletes in the world and has become “one of the fastest-growing sports in America,” according to Forbes. Anyone who’s at least 14 years old can sign up and join in the first stage of the CrossFit Games season. The Games were broadcast live on ESPN from 2011-2016, and on CBS and Facebook from 2017-2018. They were also edited into international episodes with 18 different broadcasters airing the taped shows in their native languages. 

Beginning in 2011, CrossFit additionally self-produced the live coverage seen on ESPN+, CBSSports.com, YouTube, Facebook, and other websites. The metrics were enough to rank the CrossFit Games as a top-performing sports partner for Facebook, with remarkable levels of engagement and average view durations. However, two factors were becoming major concerns: the combined high costs for producing televised and digital content, and the Games appearing in English only, despite more than half of their affiliated gyms being located outside the US. 

Recognizing this, CrossFit partnered with Kiswe Mobile to formulate an open-source broadcast strategy versus the one-to-many approach employed by the vast majority of sports broadcasters. They worked with Kiswe’s CloudCast platform to produce and distribute their live feed and super-serve the many CrossFit communities and fan bases around the world. 

to learn more about CloudCast – please contact: Peter Dunits – Senior Sales Manager – Kiswe Mobile Europe – peter.dunits@kiswe.com

Community-Based Production 

This was a very bold decision by CrossFit to produce only a single world feed without any commentary, and invite stakeholders from their passionate community to create and distribute their own broadcasts – and the community responded enthusiastically. The media outlets, sponsors, athletes and fans not only helped distribute the content, but also made it more localized and authentic for the different CrossFit audiences around the world in local languages. Imagine taking an event and transforming it into different narratives tailored to different audiences–all from a single live feed? 

Watch Kiswe’s video at iSportconnect TV 

Broadcast Quality 

CrossFit and Kiswe partnered together to make CloudCast available to their global community and the results have been a game-changer. By using CloudCast, CrossFit was able to create a professional live feed of the CrossFit Games that exceeded broadcast standards and could be leveraged by the many media outlets around the world. CrossFit set no limit on the casters themselves, as long as the content was not placed behind a paywall, and allowed them to choose whatever channel, social network or platform they desired. CloudCast was an extremely cost-effective way to create multiple narratives and easy to use because it required no incremental equipment, no special knowledge, and only very limited training–truly empowering the commentators to provide their own narrative. 

There were 28 additional original broadcasts created by the remote teams over the four days of the CrossFit Games: produced locally at far-flung locations in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Italian, Arabic, Hebrew, French, German and Icelandic. 

In the weeks leading up to the event, Kiswe on-boarded 71 remote casters and 29 remote production crews globally to create the content. The casters ranged in expertise from professional broadcast teams and networks, to popular local influencers and even a handful of enthusiastic fans. 

Increasing Output 

The source content (provided from CrossFit in Madison, Wisconsin) to the CloudCast team totaled 2,040 minutes. The remote teams ended up creating nearly 43,000 of user-facing content minutes from that original stream, from 29 locations all over the world. 

Throughout the competition, the operation was supporting the creation of 25-28 original broadcasts per day. Normally, that volume of broadcasts would require a host broadcaster to transport up to 100 people to the event, or send satellite feeds all over the world to control rooms that would need to be paid for and dedicated to create each unique stream. 

However, no satellites were used to move content from the American source to each of the 29 destinations. Nor were any new control rooms required, although several outlets supplemented the world feed with studio content and highlight shows before and after the competition. This was true remote production in the cloud: enabling connections with people around the world 

Millions Of Daily Views 

The viewership figures speak for the quality of the results. 

Each day, the CrossFit Games content published on just YouTube and Facebook alone totaled in the range of two million views. Peak concurrent viewership was at least 250,000 viewers and average view durations exceeded 24 minutes, 

proving the quality engagement of the community. If there was one downside, it was that with nearly 30 different outlets and end points–many from different countries (including China)–aggregating viewership stats became more challenging, but worthwhile for making the leap from one language to ten in a single year. 

The CrossFit community showcased a powerful way that global audiences can authentically connect over live events when given the right tools. We expect to see other sports broadcasters and rights holders explore new opportunities in customizing and personalizing live broadcasts to meet the needs across their different audience segments.