LaLiga Santander and LaLiga 1|2|3 matches had a total of 14,812,356 fans come through the turnstiles during the 2018/19 season, setting a new record which takes the competition ever closer to the 15-million mark.

It is the first time that LaLiga has registered a total attendance of 14,812,356, which is a 3.8% increase on the previous campaign, equating to 538,538 more across the two divisions.

For the sixth consecutive season, LaLiga Santander has managed to surpass the 10-million mark, with a total of 10,102,394 this time around. The figure shows a 0.7% decrease on the previous campaign, although during the second half of the season, 5.8% more fans attended stadiums (2,243,316) than in the corresponding period in 2017/18.

LaLiga 1|2|3, meanwhile, had a total attendance of over 4.5 million for the first time, despite the fact that CF Reus did not compete in the second half of the season for disciplinary reasons. The total figure of 4,591,290 shows a 15.2% increase on 2017/18.

A total of 118,672 supporters attended matches during the LaLiga Santander promotion playoffs, a 2.2% increase on the previous year.

Average stadium occupancy at LaLiga Santander grounds is 72%, up by 2.7% compared with the previous season.

Stadium attendance figures have been consistently increasing season upon season since 2013/14, when the total was 13,116,414, up to the current record of 14,812,356 set this campaign. The accompanying PDF offers a detailed breakdown of stadium attendance figures in each season.

LaLiga continues to grow as an entertainment industry, with the fans’ sustained interest in taking part in the spectacle of Spanish football driving the upward trend in stadium attendance figures season after season.

The growth of winter sports facilities and participation in China ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022 is dramatic. By 2025, winter sports will account for 20% of the whole sports market in China, according to Li Zhang, Vice President of International Data Group – China. This eye-opening interview with her on iSportconnect TV is full of facts and figures on the winter sports trend in the world’s largest country.

IDG was an early investor in China’s tech industry. Among its many activities today, the group is a major sports investor. Its sports fund currently earmarks about $3 billion for the sector, with a particular interest in winter sports.

The Commonwealth Games, whose  22^nd edition will take place in Birmingham, England, in 2022, is one of the world’s largest multi-sport events. More than 4,400 athletes took part in the 2018 Games in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, where iSportconnect TV interviewed Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) CEO David Grevemberg and Birmingham 2022 CEO Ian Reid during the recent SportAccord for this in-depth piece.

Among the members of the CGF are some of the world’s largest and smallest countries, from India, with over 1.2 billion people to Niue with a population of 1,600.  More than 60% of the Commonwealth citizens are under 30.

With 95% of the competition venues already in place, Birmingham 2022 will be both prudent and innovative.

An enhanced and refurbished Alexander Stadium will be pivotal to Birmingham 2022 (see the new design below). Capacity will be increased permanently from 12,700 to 18,000, with up to 40,000 during the Games through additional temporary seating.

The Games will also use three indoor arenas: the NEC, NEC Arena and Arena Birmingham.

One of the CGF’s important innovations described in our video has been the creation of a system of knowledge transfer enabling Birmingham and future host cities to build on the experience of previous events.

A devastated Swedish bid team struggled with rejection after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) yesterday snubbed their promise of a sustainable Winter Games, instead awarding the 2026 event to Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo.

Reuters reports:

Milan romped to victory in the race, winning 47 IOC votes to Stockholm’s 34, in a one-sided result that left the Swedes almost as confused as they were crushed.

“I am very sad for the 34 people who voted for the Games of the future,” Stockholm2026 Chief Richard Brisius told reporters in Lausanne.

“Our proposal for a transformative Games was a good one, but the IOC did not choose it.. Of course we are very disappointed. We had a bid that included all the reforms for a sustainable Games. But it did not happen.”

When the final hammer blow came with the opening of IOC President Thomas Bach’s envelope, it was hardly unexpected.

Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven had left Lausanne before the announcement, having earlier addressed the IOC membership.

There was a sense the Swedes had known their chances were becoming increasingly slim after Gunilla Lindberg challenged her fellow IOC members in the morning.

“As IOC members, you must choose a city that embodies the principles of Olympic Agenda 2020 and The New Norm,” she told them. “Not just on paper and, frankly, not just in the bid, but in every part of culture and way of life.

“This is your chance to prove that The New Norm is not just talk,” she added, prompting sharp intakes of breath from seasoned Olympic watchers.

The IOC’s reforms in recent years under the ‘Agenda 2020’ banner and ‘The New Norm’ program — “an ambitious set of 118 reforms that reimagines how the Games are delivered” — aim to make it cheaper and easier to stage the Olympics.

Not even a rendition of Abba’s ‘Dancing Queen’ by Stockholm Mayor Anna Konig Jerlmyr could put the bid back on track as the hours to the vote ticked down.

In the minutes between the secret ballot and Bach revealing the winner, Swedish IOC member Stefan Holm was seen in despair.

The Olympic high jump gold medallist had taken himself outside the SwissTech Convention Centre and stood slumped over a metal railing.

His head in his hands, he stayed there, motionless apart from a shaking head, for more than 10 minutes, processing the soon-to-be-announced defeat.

Lindberg failed to address the media after the announcement, in a rare move for such an experienced IOC member, while Konig Jerlmyr peddled the party line.

“We are very proud of our work,” she said. “Of course we are disappointed… we thought we had a strong bid, but of course we congratulate Milano-Cortina.”

Sweden, a winter sports powerhouse, have now bid eight times for a Winter Olympics and never won.

“It is too early to speculate about another bid,” Konig Jerlmyr said. “We have to evaluate the whole process and then see. We thought we had a strong bid, but at the end they did not choose us.”

The IOC is due to discuss radical reforms to the bid process later this week, a move welcomed by the Swedes.

“It is probably a good thing that the IOC will make changes to the bidding process,” Brisius said. “Because obviously it does not seem to suit us. That’s my conclusion.”

 

Australian gold medallist Natalie Cook, who competed in beach volleyball at an incredible five Olympic Games, has made the mental health of athletes a focus of her post-playing career. In this exclusive interview with iSportconnect TV, filmed at SportAccord in her native Queensland, she shares insights about the often overlooked psychological component of sports.

Natalie is the first Australian woman to compete at five Olympic Games: 1996 Atlanta (bronze medal), 2000 Sydney (gold medal), 2004 Athens, 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Games.

She was part of the successful team who lobbied to get Beach Volleyball into the 2018 Commonwealth Games for the first time ever, and is currently lobbying for the 2032 Olympic Games in Brisbane, Queensland.

The 2028 Summer Games will see host city Los Angeles record a profit of at least $1 billion, Mayor Eric Garcetti said on Monday.

Garcetti said utilizing the city’s existing sports venues would keep costs down while ticket and sponsorship sales would top current projections to help Los Angeles avoid the pitfalls that have left some other host cities in debt.

Reuters reports:

“We made a million dollars in 1932, we made $250 million in 1984,” he said, referring to the last two times the city has hosted the Games.

“I think we will make at least a billion dollars in 2028.”

Garcetti said the money would help support youth sports in the city “for decades to come.”

“We’ve had cities scared to bid for the Olympics because they cost so much and because people build so much infrastructure for two and a half weeks.

“It wasn’t a very sustainable model … we created a different model.”

Speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of the LA Sports Summit, Garcetti also said that seeing the deals Tokyo 2020 organizers had been able sign for sponsorships for next year’s Games had made him even more bullish on his city’s prospects.

“When I look at what other cities have been able to do in terms of sponsorships, we should be able to blow way past the guaranteed level that we’re budgeting with,” he said.

“I think our ticket sales will do that as well.”

Garcetti’s comments came on the same day the Los Angeles Sports Council released an ‘Economic Impact Analysis of the Sports Industry in the Greater Los Angeles Region’.

The report found that last year alone the sports industry generated $6.3 billion in economic impact, $327 million in taxes for state and local governments while supporting nearly 40,000 jobs.

Los Angeles is home to 11 professional sports franchises and will next year open a multi-billion dollar NFL stadium in Inglewood, one of the venues that will host events in 2028.

 

 

The International Olympic Committee (IOC), The Coca-Cola Company and China Mengniu Dairy Company Ltd today announced that they have signed the first-ever Joint TOP Partnership Agreement.

The new deal is worth a combined $3 billion, according to the Financial Times, making it one of the biggest ever corporate endorsements in sport.

The partnership combines the non-alcoholic beverage and the dairy categories into a new joint category and brings Chinese dairy company Mengniu into the family of Worldwide TOP Partners.

The new joint agreement has a 12-year term running through to the Olympic Games 2032. The agreement includes unprecedented investment in traditional and digital media to promote the Olympic values globally.

That means six Summer and Winter Games.

This agreement extends The Coca-Cola Company’s association with the Olympic Movement to a historic 104-year-long relationship.  The Coca-Cola Company is the longest continuous Partner of the Olympic Games.

Mengniu becomes the first Chinese fast-moving consumer goods company to become a TOP Partner. The Joint TOP partnership supports Mengniu’s ambitious international growth plans, with the company aiming to become one of the top dairy producers in the world by 2025.

IOC President Thomas Bach said: “This long-term agreement is another demonstration of the relevance and stability of the Olympic Games in these times of uncertainty. Having our longest-standing partner, Coca-Cola, an iconic American brand, together with a young Chinese company, Mengniu, joining hands under the roof of our Worldwide TOP Programme is a great example of the unifying power of the Olympic spirit. This partnership will give another dimension to the promotion of the Olympic values around the world.”

James Quincey, Chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company, said: “We are honoured and privileged to be a part of the Olympic Movement that makes it possible for athletes from all over the world to come together to represent their nations, pursue their dreams and be a part of history. A lot has changed since we sold the first Coca-Cola at an Olympic event in 1928. With a fresh approach to our business and to our sponsorship, we are proud to join with Mengniu to promote and celebrate future Olympic Games.”

Jeffrey Lu, CEO and Executive Director of Mengniu, said: “Membership of the TOP Programme will act as a catalyst for Mengniu to grow around the world. This is a vital step in our international strategy, and we are honoured to have the opportunity to build the positive reputation of Chinese food and beverage brands among consumers globally. As a Worldwide TOP Partner, we look forward to using the unrivalled platform of the Olympic Games to promote health and joy to Olympians and fans alike.”

The photo above shows (from left): James Quincy, President Bach and Jeffrey Lu.

The International Olympic Committee celebrated its 125^th anniversary on Sunday with the inauguration of its new headquarters in Lausanne. You can see President Thomas Bach’s introduction to the new building on iSportconnect TV in a video produced by the IOC for the occasion.

Reuters reports:

Built at a cost of about €130 million, the modern glass and steel structure has a solar-panelled roof and was constructed in the place of the old headquarters on the shores of Lake Geneva.

The new building was designed by Danish architects 3XN and inspired by the shape of a dove with a large central staircase made of five rings, meets stringent environmental and sustainability standards.

It will house all 500 IOC employees under one roof instead of several locations around Lausanne as was the case in the past.

“Of course, we wanted to bring together everyone, the Olympic family and all IOC staff, under one roof,” Bach said.

“At the same time, we want the Olympic House to incorporate the elements of sustainability, credibility and youth. The building reflects these three elements that are so central to our mission.”