HBA Media will continue to represent the international media rights for two of the world’s most famous horse racing events, the Lexus Melbourne Cup and the Breeders’ Cup.
The UK-based company has extended its agreements with the Victoria Racing Club (Melbourne Cup) and the Breeders’ Cup in multiple year production and distribution contracts.
These new deals with both properties see HBA Media enter its sixth-consecutive yearly association with both iconic race meetings, after hugely successful partnerships with wider audiences being gained year-on-year.
The 2019 edition of the two-day Breeders’ Cup meeting will take place on November 1-2 with the Lexus Melbourne Cup scheduled 72 hours later on November 5.
Henry Birtles, CEO of HBA Media, said, “We are absolutely thrilled to have again secured agreements with the VRC and Breeders’ Cup, underlining the pivotal role that HBA Media continues to play globally on behalf of this great sport.
“We will aim to increase the distribution of these two phenomenal sporting occasions, as well as delivering strategic digital and social media campaigns in line with the ever-changing media landscape.”
iSportconnect is delighted to announce that Sébastien Audoux of Canal+,Olivier Dufour of Motorsport Network, and Claudio Borges of adidas will be speaking at the second event of this year’s Global Event Series, the 2019 Paris Summit, which will be held on Thursday 4th July.
iSportconnect has assembled a content programme that will bring together thought leaders from premier rights owners and brands to discuss and debate strategic issues impacting the future of the global sports business, including digital content strategies, sponsorship and partnership issues, hosting major events and the future of sporting facilities.
The speaker lineup includes:
Brett Gosper, CEO, World Rugby
Dan Rossomondo, Head of Global Media & Business Development, NBA
Olivier Dufour, CEO France and President of Video & OTT, Motorsport Network
Claudio Borges, Global Director of Digital Planning, adidas
Sébastien Audoux, Head of Sports, Canal+
Olivier is a seasoned executive in the field of sport business, digital media, OTT distribution, and marketing. He is VP EMEA Operations as well as France CEO at Motorsport Network, an integrated digital platform that is the destination for millions of cars and racing fans, across media, live & experiences, and eSport. Previously Chief Digital Officer at beIN Media Group, he transformed and boosted beIN’s OTT distribution and digital publishing, across all platforms, including social media. Under his guidance, all KPIs soared to record highs, including subscriber base, viewership, ad revenue, and social media reach.
Olivier previously founded OTEK Media Consulting, a practice focused on digital media strategy and products. OTEK supported the launch of many successful B2C digital products, for industry leaders such as Euromedia, beIN SPORTS, France Television, Arte, Orange, French Ministry of Culture, BNP Paribas to name only a few. Earlier in 2002, Olivier founded SkemA, a pioneering start up in the User Generated Video market. Solutions developed at SkemA propelled a new generation of live TV shows, with users’ videos at their heart, for many different broadcasters. He sold his equity to investors in 2007. Olivier started his career with telco Orange and Sofrecom, where he successfully launched some of the very first digital content distribution platforms.
In his role at the French TV channel, Sébastien handles all digital content output on social media and on the company’s proprietary platform, MyCanal. Last year, Sébastien launched the first dedicated social talk show, #LePetitDebrief, reviewing the football week live and exclusively on Facebook, Twitter and Dailymotion. Since then, Canal+ has launched a second successful show called #LesPetitsPronos, which examines football betting.
Claudio is the Global Director of Digital Planning at adidas. His team is responsible for planning seasonal and campaign strategies across online touchpoints and developing digital standards to be rolled out across all adidas global markets. His team also works together with Sports Marketing to define the best set of digital rights to be included in global asset deals. Previous to adidas, Claudio Borges spent 8 years with Manchester City Football Club and City Football Group leading the group’s fan relationship marketing strategy.
With a maximum of 150 invite-only delegates, iSportconnect provides an 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 Paris Summit, please contact Chloe McCombie at info@isportconnect.com
Invitation Policy: The Paris 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 Hugo Millns at info@isportconnect.com
The four main courts at the French Open will be lit from next year, meaning the top matches will not be interrupted by bad light, organizers said as the 2019 tournament ended yesterday
Court Philippe Chatrier’s retractable roof will also be in operation from 2020 and French tennis federation president Bernard Giudicelli confirmed that it would be used if necessary and that night sessions would start in 2021.
Reuters reports:
Matches at Roland Garros usually finish at 21:30 local time at the latest, when play is no longer possible due to the fading light.
“The lighting will be on four main courts: Lenglen, Chatrier, Mathieu, and Court No. 4. And for the other ones it’s 2021,” tournament director Guy Forget told a news conference.
Giudicelli added: “It’s the last year where matches will end because of night time.”
Court One, known as ‘the Bullring’, will be destroyed as planned after this year’s tournament and will be replaced by a large lawn to facilitate spectators’ movements.
Organizers also faced questions about empty stands with the officials’ and corporate seats often left unoccupied around lunch time.
The stadium was not full, for example, even when Rafael Nadal (who won his 12th French Open crown on Sunday) and 20-times Grand Slam winner Roger Federer started their semi-final on Friday.
“Today, in particular with our partners, we are trying, as of next year, to find new means to fill up these boxes that are empty sometimes,” said Forget.
“Sometimes, economically speaking, we cannot afford to refuse these partners and sometimes people who pay for a more expensive ticket consume tennis in a different way and have difficulty in spending eight to nine hours sitting on the chair.”
“That’s why we will try to do with our partners the sort of overbooking you have in hotels or in airline companies in order to have some of their clients in the first part, and then a second batch of people coming afterwards following lunch.”
Giudicelli explained that the tournament was economically dependent on hospitality tickets.
“If we only sold general tickets without any hospitality services, it would be a threat to the economy of the tournament and the Federation,” he said.
“I’m not sure that we could give the same prize money as we have today, and I’m certain that we could not make the investments we made.
“Between 2008 and 2021, we invested €500 million, in total, on its own assets without any public subsidies to modernize this stadium.”
French Open organizers asked employees to fill empty corporate seats for Saturday’s men’s semi-final and start of the women’s final, demanding they stay ‘discreet’ and take off their accreditation once seated.
Esports Entertainment Group, a licensed online gambling company with a specific focus on esports wagering and 18+ gaming, has applied to list its common shares on the NASDAQ Capital Market.
The listing remains subject to the approval of NASDAQ and the satisfaction of all applicable listing and regulatory requirements. The Company will continue to maintain the listing of its common shares on the OTCQB under the symbol “GMB.L”
Grant Johnson, CEO of Esports Entertainment Group, stated: “Given the tremendous progress of our esports betting platform, including partnering with more than 190 esports teams from around the world, we believe the Company is now well positioned to pursue additional growth opportunities. A NASDAQ listing, if successful, will broaden our access to a larger and international group of investors as we seek to become a truly global company.”
Esports Entertainment offers betting exchange style wagering on esports events in a licensed, regulated and secure platform to the global esports audience at vie.gg. In addition, Esports Entertainment intends to offer users from around the world the ability to participate in multi-player mobile and PC video game tournaments for cash prizes.
The final of the inaugural UEFA Nations League on Sunday was number one in the TV audience stakes in The Netherlands and Italy on Sunday.
NPO 1 pulled 3.239 million viewers and a share of 49.9% for the match yesterday evening as Dutch viewers watched Holland lose 1-0 to Portugal.
On Thursday, the same channel had 2.951 million and a 58.1% share for the Dutch victory over England in the semi-finals.
The final yesterday was well ahead of the F1 Grand Prix in Canada, also in primetime, on ZSport. The race attracted 1.095 million Dutch viewers and share of 17.5%
In Italy, the National League match also topped the ratings on Sunday, albeit with a relatively low audience for number one of the day.
RAI 1 pulled 2.959 million viewer and a share of 14.2%.
Two boxers cracked the Top 10 of athletes with the most global social media interactions in May, according to sponsorship analytics and evaluation platform Hookit (watch the video on iSportconnect TV).
Britain’s Anthony Joshua and Mexico’s Canelo Alvarez made the list, as did MMA star Conor McGregor.
But football still dominates, with six of the Top 10, including Lionel Messi of FC Barcelona in first place.
With the MotoGP season roaring into the Circuit Barcelona-Catalunya this coming weekend, Francisco Lettieri, Commercial Director of Spain’s leading motorsport venue, shares his insights in this exclusive interview with iSportconnect TV.
See what he has to say about the big motorcycling event, the economic impact of F1 on the region, F1’s future in Barcelona, and more.
Game Six of the NHL’s Stanley Cup finals on Sunday was the top programme on U.S. television.
The 5-1 victory of the Boston Bruins forcing a deciding seventh game against the St. Louis Blues on Thursday pulled 6.12 million viewers from 8-11 pm on NBC.
The ice hockey game beat Celebrity Family Feud on ABC and the Tony Awards on CBS.
iSportconnect is delighted to announce that Richard Berry of Williams Racing and Robert Alberino of the San Francisco 49ers will be speaking at our 2019 Digital Masterclass will be held on Wednesday 26th June in London.
The Masterclass will look at the world of digital to reach and engage with fans throughout the event lifecycle, hearing from expert speakers sharing their experiences of communicating with their target audiences. With the actual field of play action making up such a small window of fan engagement, how do you keep the conversation with fans going outside of the live event experience? Given the rapid development of new technologies and channels available to speak to fans, how do brands keep up? Are your strategies to keep up with the changes robust and nimble enough while staying effective and relevant in an ‘always-on’ and competitive fan environment?
The Masterclass will also look at how the individuals within the sports universe are taking the power of social media and digital channels to speak about causes and issues affecting the world of sport, and for the very first time, we have Olympic medalists sharing their experiences and insights on their abilities to influence the very core of sport through digital.
The latest speaker lineup includes the following:
Callum Skinner, Olympic Champion, Lead Athlete for Global Athlete, and Sports Governance Reform Campaigner
Rob Woodhouse, General Manager Talent – UK, TLA Worldwide
Richard Berry, Commercial Director, Williams Racing
Robert Alberino, Vice President & Executive Producer, San Francisco 49ers
Steve Wilson, Communications Adviser / Writer
Richard began his career in the media industry working for ITV and ESPN before joining a startup in the growing sports research industry. After this was sold to what is now Nielsen Sports, he had a short spell with IMG, which led to the Honda F1 team in 2008, where he remained for 5 years, including the World Championship winning Brawn GP. After leaving the Mercedes F1 team in 2012, he then spent three years in football, working in various roles for Manchester City FC, Glasgow Rangers FC and the Premier League. From the Premier League, Richard joined the Williams F1 team as Commercial Director, where he oversees all commercial activity and the focus on new revenue streams, including digital and direct to fan.
A veteran of 25 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), Robert is currently in his seventh season as the Vice President and Executive Producer for the San Francisco 49ers. A storyteller at heart, Robert created the team’s in-house production division, 49ers Studios and oversees all production, events, content creation, still imagery and gameday entertainment while having a large hand in marketing, creative design and social/new media for the franchise. A 62-time Emmy Award winner, Rob also spent 3 years with the Kansas City Chiefs, 14 years with the Philadelphia Eagles and was a Filmmaker for NFL Films. In 2012, Alberino was bestowed an honorary enlistment in the United States Army as a Specialist and currently holds the rank of Sergeant. He continues to pay forward the honor by working alongside all branches of the US military on a daily basis. Alberino graduated from Duquesne University in 1992. He and his wife, Lisa, have three children, Jordan (who works for the Minnesota Vikings!) (23), Angelina (16) and Stella GiGi (10).
Hosted by leading Global Sports Communications expert, Ben Nichols (of Ben Nichols Communications), the Masterclass will feature 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 Digital Masterclass, please contact Chloe McCombie at info@isportconnect.com
Invitation Policy: The Digital Masterclass 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 Hugo Millns at info@isportconnect.com
Golden State Warriors minority owner Mark Stevens, who shoved the Kyle Lowry of the Toronto Raptors during a Finals game on Wednesday, has been fined $500,000 and banned from games for a year, the Warriors and the NBA said on Thursday.
Lowry tumbled into the front row of the crowd in Oakland while diving for a loose ball during the fourth quarter and Stevens, who was sitting courtside, used one hand to push the player as he was getting back on his feet.
Reuters reports:
Guard Lowry later said that Stevens also “said a couple vulgar words” to him. Stevens, 60, was escorted out of the game and Lowry called for him to be banned from all future NBA games.
“Investor Mark Stevens has been banned from attending NBA games and Warriors team activities for one year and has been fined $500,000 for pushing and directing obscene language toward the Toronto Raptors’ Kyle Lowry,” the NBA and the team said in a statement.
Stevens late Thursday issued a formal apology saying he was embarrassed by his “lapse in judgment” and said he accepted the punishment.
“What I did was wrong and there is no excuse for it,” he said.
“Mr. Lowry deserves better, and I have reached out today in an attempt to directly apologize to him and other members of the Raptors and Warriors organizations. I’m grateful to those who accepted my calls.
“The behaviour I demonstrated last night does not reflect the person I am or have been throughout my life. I made a mistake and I’m truly sorry. I need to be better and look forward to making it right.”
The Warriors earlier in the day issued their own apology to Lowry.
“Mr. Stevens’ behaviour last night did not reflect the high standards that we hope to exemplify as an organization,” the Warriors said in a statement.
“We’re extremely disappointed in his actions and, along with Mr. Stevens, offer our sincere apology to Kyle Lowry and the Toronto Raptors organization for this unfortunate misconduct.
“There is no place for such interaction between fans — or anyone — and players at an NBA game.”
Stevens, who joined the Warriors’ ownership team in 2013, is a billionaire venture capitalist who was a partner with Sequoia Capital until 2012 and is now a managing partner of S-Cubed Capital.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr echoed the team’s statement.
“I will also personally apologize to Kyle and to the Raptors. That’s unacceptable,” he told reporters.
Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James took to Instagram to call for the league to take swift action against Stevens prior to the announcement of the fine and the ban.
“There’s absolutely no place in our BEAUTIFUL game for that AT ALL,” James said.
“He himself being a fan but more importantly PART-OWNER of the Warriors knew exactly what he was doing which was so uncalled for,” he said.
James ended his lengthy post with the hashtags #ProtectThePlayers and #PrivilegeAintWelcomeHere.
Game Four will be held in Oakland tonight, with the Raptors leading the best-of-seven series 2-1.
