The San Francisco 49ers of the NFL are Silicon Valley’s favourite team and high-tech innovation has become part of the club’s DNA. During the recent iSportconnect Digital Masterclass in London, we asked 49ers VP Rob Alberino to tell us about the recent innovation that has excited him most. To find out what he said, watch the conversation on iSportconnect TV.

The Executive Evening of PwC’s Scale | Sport Tech accelerator programme, being delivered in partnership with iSportconnect and London Sport,  took place last Thursday at Stamford Bridge, the home of Chelsea FC.

Each cohort member had the opportunity to take to the stage and show off their value proposition with a three-minute “elevator pitch” to a room full of executives from around the sport and fitness industry.

Following this there were round-table sessions to delve deeper into the technology on show and networking drinks in the Harris Suite at Stamford Bridge.

The cohort pitching were:

• Bodygee
• Choicely
• IAMBOT
• Instant Sponsor
• My Customer Lens
• Powa Index
• Pumjack Dataworks

Rob Cowdrey, PwC’s Sport Tech Programme Lead, said: “It was a privilege to work with this group of companies and support them on their growth journey. It has clearly struck a chord with the industry as there have been over 50 follow up conversations requested with our cohort”.

This event marked the conclusion of the programme that has been running over the last 10 weeks. During this time the international cohort have been attending workshops and masterclasses all designed to give them the tools to scale their business effectively.

They have also been shaping their pitch and value proposition with practice sessions to PwC partners and key stakeholders from iSportconnect and London Sport.

You can find out more about PwC’s Scale programmes here.

China’s Sina Sports has signed a strategic partnership MoU with the International Ski Federation to create the first ever FIS-endorsed mass participation skiing event in the world with a specially-designed “Endorsed by FIS” logo.

Both FIS and Sina Sports acknowledge that this five-year partnership will help promote the Sina Alpine Ski Open series and lead to wider participation and exposure to skiing sports in China in the lead up to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

The MoU was signed at Genting Secret Garden in Chongli, China, an official venue for the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.

Four years ago, Sina Sports introduced a new strategy to create and operate its own marquee sporting events to capitalize on the developing Chinese sports industry and diversify revenue streams provided by having its own sports brands.

Sina Sports has successfully created several leading sporting events brands by leveraging the strong online presence of both Sina Sports and Weibo, including the world’s largest 3×3 basketball tournament with stops in over 120 cities in China, and Asia’s largest futsal tournament in over 50 cities in China, as well as the Sina Cup Alpine Ski Open.

The five-month-long 2018/19 edition of the Sina Cup Alpine Ski Open covered more than 20 ski resorts across 12 provinces in China and one overseas stop in Sölden, Austria, with a total of over 5,000 participants.

The upcoming 2019/20 edition will reach approximately 100 stops in China and overseas, with an estimated participation of 250,000 skiers. The Sina Alpine Ski Open is the largest and the most influential mass participation alpine ski event in Asia.

Sarah Lewis, FIS Secretary General  (at left in photo alongside FIS President Gian-Franco Kasper), said, “We believe that today’s important signing ceremony of a strategic partnership between Sina Sports and FIS will contribute significantly to the promotion of skiing and snow sports in China which we enthusiastically welcome.”

Sam Li, Head of International Business Strategy of Sina Sports (holding the document in photo), said, “We are delighted to be entering into this cooperation with FIS and receiving the first-ever mass participation skiing event endorsement from FIS. We are proud to support FIS initiatives in China in order to jointly promote winter sports in anticipation of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.”

As part of the endorsement by FIS, the Sina Cup will be held to international standards in all aspects of the competition and the FIS member Chinese Ski Association will be providing technical support.

Additionally, each participant’s results will be officially recorded. Sina Sports will help promote FIS initiatives in China, including official events as well as the Get Into Snow Sports (GISS)-China program, a recently established grassroots beginner program, executed by FIS’ educational entity, the FIS Academy. FIS and Sina Sports are dedicated to promote skiing and winter sports through this partnership leading up to the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022.

The approaching Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics is a crucial moment for winter sports development in China. Through this partnership, the China Ski Point Game will provide a solid base for China’s plan to encourage 300 million people to be involved in winter sports.

Lithuanian basketball powerhouse Zalgiris Kaunas, Andalou Efes Istanbul and FC Bayern Munich won gold, silver and bronze respectively in Euroleague’s Devotion Marketing Awards presented annually for clubs which excelled in their off-court efforts during the 2018-19 season. Euroleague President Jordi Bertomeu presented the prizes during the Euroleague Basketball Business Summit in Barcelona, which brought together executives from 42 Turkish Airlines Euroleague and 7DAYS EuroCup clubs. Learn more about the event on iSportconnect TV.

To enter the Devotion Marketing Awards, clubs were invited to present a marketing initiative they had carried out during the 2018-19 season in areas such as digital strategy, sponsorship activation, brand development, ticketing and game presentation.

Gold winner Zalgiris Kaunas was chosen for its campaign to attract fans to attend their first games ever at Zalgirio Arena. Called #ZalgirisVirgin (or #ManoPirmas in Lithuanian), the project started with a focus group discussion to pinpoint the reasons why fans were not going to watch games live.

The results were then analyzed, and a ‘first-timer package’ was developed, giving new fans a scarf, a booklet with fan chants and a diploma, signed by the team’s head coach, Sarunas Jasikevicius, to record their first visit to a home game.

“First of all, on behalf of Zalgiris Kaunas, I want to thank all the clubs and the EuroLeague for evaluating #ZalgirisVirgin as the best campaign of the season,” Akvile Dagilyte, Communications Director for Zalgiris Kaunas, said.

“Secondly, I want to thank our existing fans who liked the idea and worked hard all season to find other people who had never been to a Zalgiris game and kept pushing them to come. We still have much work to do next season, as well. Finally, it’s amazing to work in an evolving club and be a part of the professional, ambitious and creative team working here, which makes projects like this happen.”

Just as in last season’s action on the court, second place was taken by Anadolu Efes Istanbul with its #WhereIStand project, which saw the Turkish club aim to become the center of attraction independent of sporting results.

The overall brand identity restructuring strategy placed fans at the heart of the Efes community, converting game days into unforgettable events and helping achieve a significant increase in ticket sales. A new logo release, the launch of mini-documentary series involving the club’s ex-players and coaches, and the development of a new merchandising strategy were among some of the steps taken towards that new brand identity.

Bronze winner FC Bayern Munich submitted its entry in the category of Brand Development & Corporate Social Responsibility, with a campaign following the motto: “A world like a court with a society like a team.” Bayern developed a project called FCBB HELPSIDE, giving their various social activities a stage to increasingly involve fans, partners and all residents of Munich.

During the thrilling Wimbledon tournament which ended on Sunday, the attention of spectators and viewers was frequently grabbed by the drama of line calls made using Hawk-Eye. Alexandra Willis, Head of Communications, Content & Digital at the AELTC (All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club), which owns the event, shares her insights on iSportconnect TV on that technology and how innovation has become part of tennis entertainment.

Alex spoke to iSportconnect Editor at Large Jay Stuart at THE SPOT in Lausanne, where she took part in a packed conference session entitled Putting Innovation on the Pitch: VAR and Video Technology in Sport.