In 2021, the Grand Depart of the Tour de France will be hosted for the first time ever, in the Nordic region, in Copenhagen (Tour de France General Director calls it “the greatest cycling city in the world”). At SportAccord 2019, Lars Lundov, the CEO of Sport Event Denmark, spoke to iSportconnect TV about the significance of hosting the Tour – there will also be two other Danish stages – and plans for other major events, including the Euro 2020 football tournament.

Eddie Hearn, the promoter of heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua, is dismissing concerns over the decision to contest the championship re-match against Andy Ruiz Jr. in Saudi Arabia in December.

“Every promoter under the sun has been trying to land a mega fight in the Middle East for many, many years,” Hearn said yesterday in an interview in London with Rob Harris of The Associated Press. “I’m the one that’s done it, and with that comes a little bit of a stick because we’re the trailblazers behind that.”

The AP report continues:

The human rights organisation Amnesty International contends Joshua will be part of “sportswashing” — the Saudi government being given a chance to cleanse its image.

“I don’t understand that term,” Hearn said.

“What I do know is all the events that they have been running have been hugely accepted by the public, enjoyed by the public and you will see when Joshua fights Ruiz in Saudi Arabia the public will love this event. They will grow the sport of boxing in that region.”

Hearn sees no reason why he should not cash in as long as other sports events and concerts are being held in Saudi Arabia.

Just last week, the Saudis announced plans for the world’s richest horse race in Riyadh in February with a $20 million prize pool.

“Financially, obviously, it was a good deal for A.J.,” Hearn said.

Many in Italy were outraged when one of the country’s soccer trophies — the Super Cup — was contested in Jeddah in January, with Cristiano Ronaldo’s Juventus beating AC Milan.

Janet Jackson and 50 Cent appeared in the country last month — performances cited by Hearn, who overlooked Nicki Minaj pulling out of the same Jeddah World Fest line-up over human rights concerns.

While laws have loosened in the kingdom with women now allowed to drive and attend events at sports stadiums, there have been reports several women’s rights activists have been tortured while in detention.

Minaj said she wanted to show support for women’s rights, freedom of expression and gay rights. Hearn showed a lack of awareness of the country’s anti-LGBT laws, and the impact on visiting boxing fans or any gay members of his own staff.

“You’re asking me questions that are more political based,” Hearn said. “I’m a sports promoter and how I answer that is, is that they have a vision for the sport of boxing and a vision for sport. You either believe in that, or you think that has potential, or you refer to other stories.”

Stories such as the investigation into the brutal killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last year. Saudi Arabia has denied any involvement by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman but its own investigation acknowledged the operation was planned by two of the prince’s top aides.

“We knew the criticism we may face when we announced it,” Hearn said.

Hearn has turned to journalism recently by hosting an interview podcast series for the BBC.

“I refer to the fact that I’ve been to Saudi to an event,” Hearn said, citing the World Boxing Super Series final in Jeddah last year when asked about the Saudi state being implicated in Khashoggi’s death. “It was a first-class event.”

There is no disassociating the Ruiz-Joshua title fight from the Saudi government, with the General Sports Authority’s name appearing under ‘Clash on the Dunes’ on the news conference set in London on Monday.

Hearn said he also had offers from Qatar, Dubai and Abu Dhabi across the Gulf. The bout will be aired on streaming subscription service DAZN in the United States and by Comcast-owned Sky in Britain.

A purpose-built 12,000-seat open-air stadium will be the setting in Diriyah on Dec. 7 for Joshua’s attempt to win back the IBF, WBA and WBO belts he lost to Ruiz at New York’s Madison Square Garden in June. Buying a ticket will secure a tourist visa for visiting fans.

“Men and women are all welcome to this event,” he said. “We’ve got to make sure that as many fans attend the events possible.”

Hearn was asked about any of Joshua’s Israeli fans, who would be unable to enter Saudi Arabia.

“That’s one well beyond my head as a sports promoter,” he said. “What I can tell you is, again following in the footsteps of major organizations that have staged very, very huge events.”

 

The National Football League and Sportradar have announced an expansion of their existing partnership, which will license the distribution of NFL official league data and content to more fans around the world.

Since 2015, Sportradar has been the NFL’s exclusive distributor of official play-by-play statistics, as well as the NFL’s proprietary Next Gen Stats (NGS) player tracking data to media outlets. The original partnership included the creation of Sportradar’s cutting-edge research platform, Radar360, which is used by the NFL, its member clubs, and media outlets.These aspects of the partnership will continue in the new agreement.

The renewal significantly expands upon the existing partnership, including exclusive distribution of real-time official play-by-play data and NGS data to sports betting operators in the U.S. and internationally where sports betting is legal and regulated. Official licensed data will improve the speed and accuracy of NFL data and enhance protections for consumers. In addition, Sportradar will now have the right to distribute live audio-visual (AV) game feeds to sportsbooks in select international markets.

The NFL will also use Sportradar’s integrity services to monitor betting across all NFL games (preseason, regular season, and postseason). The NFL and its clubs will also have access to Sportradar’s integrity education workshops and products to ensure the continuation of the NFL’s high standard for integrity.

“Sportradar has been an excellent partner the last four years and has provided the league, our teams, and media marketplace with innovative data products,” said Hans Schroeder, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, NFL Media. “We look forward to working with Sportradar to deliver fast, accurate official league data that will innovate and improve experiences for our fans across platforms.”

“We are thrilled to become NFL’s exclusive data distribution partner, undoubtedly one of the most important partnerships in Sportradar’s history. We are confident we will maximize our strong partnership with the NFL and deliver ground-breaking products across the gaming, fantasy and the media worlds,” said Carsten Koerl, Chief Executive Office of Sportradar.

“As the unequivocal global leader in sports data, we are ideally positioned to support the NFL in providing innovative products to enhance the way fans experience the game and help maintain the continued integrity of the NFL competition.”

In an age of on-demand and personalized media, the changes in the sports and entertainment world are so large and rapid that it takes a special kind of thinker to envision the future and elucidate where it’s all going. Kiswe Mobile CEO & President Mike Schabel is one such executive. iSportconnect TV caught up with him in London for a fascinating discussion of a huge transformation happening in real time.

As video consumption has changed drastically over the years, Kiswe has found a way to bring more authenticity and interactive elements to live events. Its CloudCast platform allows remote talent from all around the world to commentate on live events in real time and interact with fans as the broadcast is rolling to all platforms.

Mike is a PhD in chemical engineering who spent many years at Bell Labs and Alcatel-Lucent working on cutting-edge innovation  ̶  a background that gives you an idea of Kiswe’s high-powered pedigree.

Jeong Kim, the Chairman & Co-Founder, is Co-owner of Monumental Sports & Entertainment, the parent of the NBA Washington Mystics and the NHL Washington Capitals and owner of the Verizon Center arena. He was President of Bell Labs and is a Board Director of Samsung.

Fellow Co-Founder and Chief Architect Wim Sweldens was President of Alcatel-Lucent Wireless. Co-Founder & Business Development Director Jimmy Lynn was VP of Strategic Partnerships at AOL before setting up advisory firm JLynn Associates.

Our interviewer is iSportconnect Editor at Large Jay Stuart.

The debut season of the W Series roared to a finish this weekend at Brands Hatch. iSportconnect TV was at the event, where Jamie Chadwick, the newly crowned inaugural champion at the age of 21, shared her excitement with us, and W Series CEO Catherine Bond Muir and Chairman Sean Wadsworth looked back at the successful first season, and ahead to continuing progress in 2020. “It’s all about fan and audience engagement,” the chief exec said – “and producing really good motor racing.”

 

It might come as a surprise to hear that American football, the most popular sport in the USA at the top level, does not have a national pyramid structure like major sports in other countries. High school football and college football are obviously well established, but even they have fragmented governance without any national body over them to set standards. That is the role USA Football is designed to play. Scott Hallenbeck, the CEO, speaks to iSportconnect TV about the big task at hand, starting with taming the ‘wild west’ of youth coaching and participation, where independent operators make their own rules.

Football clubs make up the entire Top 10 on the list of the most followed teams in sports, according to the July rankings compiled by sponsorship analytics and evaluation platform Hookit. English Premier League teams account for half of the Top 10 in social interactions. LaLiga’s FC Barcelona is number one, followed by Manchester United and Juventus. See all the leaders on iSportconnect TV.

The wearables market is expected to be worth $80 billion annually by next year. And it all began with sports wearables, as Christian Stammel, Founder and CEO of WT | Wearable Technologies Group, points out in this interview with iSportconnect TV. Fashion-first wearables have become more important over the years, but the high-tech end of the market, sports products remain a key sector because sports people are often quick to buy devices that can give them a competitive edge.