The debut of the Toronto Raptors in the NBA Finals debut gave the team its third Canadian television audience record for in two weeks.

Toronto’s 118-109 win over the visiting Golden State Warriors on May 30 attracted an average audience of 3.3 million viewers on Sportsnet, a record for an NBA game in Canada.

That topped the previous record of 3.1 million, set May 25 in the deciding game of the Eastern Conference final between the Raptors and the Milwaukee Bucks.

In the U.S., the series opener on ABC had a 10.1 overnight rating, the lowest for Game 1 of a title series in a decade.

It is the first time in nine years that the finals have lacked the star power of  LeBron James.

It’s also the first NBA Finals since 2014 that doesn’t feature the league’s top two teams by TV ratings.

Before the finals, TV audiences for this year’s playoffs were down14%. Across 76 telecasts on ABC, ESPN, TNT and NBA TV, games averaged 3.95 million viewers, compared to 4.61 million viewers over 78 games through the same point last year.

“Put aside perception, there is the actuality of the ratings,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Friday. “Of course, I pay a lot of attention to those. I also pay a lot of attention to the numbers in Canada, where we set an all-time record for viewership. In the U.S., I recognize it’s a changing television marketplace. We knew we would be down a bit by virtue of both not having two U.S. markets and we’ve come off eight years of having LeBron James in the finals.”

“I’m not overly concerned,” Silver said about the current numbers. “But I’m certainly paying attention to it.”

Last night’s game was on TSN in Canada.

Yahoo Japan Corporation has concluded an official supporter agreement to join the Tokyo 2020 Sponsorship Programme in the category of “Internet-based information and navigation services.”

Through its various platforms, Yahoo! Search” and smartphone applications for weather and disasters, maps, and navigation services, Yahoo! JAPAN will provide useful information for spectators to make the most of the Tokyo 2020 Games, in addition to contents that contribute to the safety of the spectators, such as weather and transportation information.

Yahoo! JAPAN served as the official partner for the Japanese Olympic Committee and the Japanese Paralympic Committee from 2001 to 2012.

From 2012 Yahoo! JAPAN supported the promotional activities during the Candidature phase as an official Tokyo 2020 Bid Partner.

Kentaro Kawabe, President and Representative Director, Yahoo Japan Corporation, said: “It is a great honour for Yahoo Japan Corporation to participate in the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 as an Official Supporter. Under the mission of ‘solving the problems facing people and society by leveraging the power of information technology,’ we have provided over 100 Internet services to our user base, which is one of the largest in Japan. We take pride in making daily improvements to make our services more useful and convenient.”

Tokyo 2020 on Saturday unveiled the uniforms to be worn by 10,000 volunteer runners during the torch relay and presented further details about the route the relay will take.

Live and on-demand streaming service DAZN has secured the German rights to broadcast the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup 209 taking place in France.

DAZN, together with its football brands SPOX and Goal, provide extensive coverage of the tournament with a total of 26 matches live in Germany, including every match from the quarter finals, semi-finals and the final on July 7.

DAZN, SPOX and Goal will show highlights of all 52 matches just minutes after the final whistle, as well as producing highlights for their social media channels.

DAZN will show every Germany match throughout the tournament, having sublicensed the rights from SportA, the sports rights agency of ARD and ZDF.

James Rushton, Chief Revenue Officer at DAZN Group, said: “The 2019 Women’s World Cup is the most anticipated yet with tickets to the opening match, along with the semi-finals and final selling out within 48 hours of going on sale.

“With this unprecedented level of interest, we’re giving fans in Germany extensive coverage across our brands; DAZN, SPOX and Goal so they don’t miss a moment.”

A lack of funding and sponsorship has forced San Diego to give up the first World Beach Games set for later this year, leaving the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) scrambling to find a new host.

With no government contributions or guarantees and not enough sponsorship, San Diego organizers were left with no choice but to surrender the inaugural Games set to run from October 10-15.

Reuters reports:

ANOC indicated in a statement on Thursday that funding issues were a priority, saying the new host would have the necessary financial guarantees.

“The Games will take place in 2019 and ANOC is currently in discussion with a number of cities that have the financial guarantees necessary and a proven track record to host a world-class event,” said the ANOC in a statement.

ANOC did not say when a new host city would be announced.

This is the latest setback for the troubled World Beach Games, a project conceived by Kuwaiti ANOC President Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah (photo below).

In a unanimous vote, San Diego was awarded the Games in 2015 and they were originally due to be staged in 2017.

They were later moved to 2019 in order to give National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and international federations time to prepare athletes for the event.

The World Beach Games were to be held on a single consolidated site at Mission Beach.

The event was expected to attract close to 1,300 athletes from 70 countries for a six-day competition in 16 different disciplines from surfing to waterskiing and skateboarding.

The next America’s Cup regatta in New Zealand in 2021 will be setting sail without a challenging competitor from Malta.

The withdrawal of the Malta Altus challenge leaves just syndicates from Britain, the Netherlands, Italy and two from the United States competing to race holders Team New Zealand (TNZ) for sport’s oldest trophy.

“This is a disappointing outcome,” TNZ Chief Executive Grant Dalton (at left in photo above with Mario Prada) said in a statement today.

“The Malta Altus Challenge had a strong foundation with some highly experienced and reputable America’s Cup personnel linked to the team.”

“So, for them to pull out is not just a shame for the event but also for those people that have worked so hard trying to get this challenge to the start line.

“We hope they will continue to build on their foundation over the next 18 months with a view to the future and challenging for the 37th America’s Cup.”

TNZ won the America’s Cup from Larry Ellison’s Oracle team USA in Bermuda in 2017 in foiling catamarans, although the next regatta will be raced in AC75 class foiling monohull yachts.

Malta was one of the three late challenges accepted by TNZ and the Challengers of Record Italy’s Luna Rossa in March, which required an amendment to the Cup protocol.

All three teams were required to pay a $1 million late entry fee, with $250,000 paid on April 1 and the remaining $750,000 due by October 1.

The America’s Cup, considered the pinnacle of yacht matchracing, has struggled to attract challenges in recent years with budgets blowing out in excess of $100 million.

TNZ said last November they had been vetting eight entrants for the next regatta, to be held in Auckland in early 2021.

The withdrawal of the Malta challenge was a disappointment according to Challenger of Record Chief Executive Laurent Esquier.

“We are wanting the (challenger series) Prada Cup to include as many teams as possible,” Esquier said.

“While we have done all we can to support the Malta Altus Challenge, they haven’t been able to bring together all the layers of complexity that are needed to continue with an Americas Cup challenge.

“We are still guaranteed to have an exciting and highly competitive Prada Cup to select the final challenger to race against Team New Zealand.”

 

Virtual commentary company Spalk was declared the winner of THE SPOT’s Start-up Battle operated by Venturelab as the two-day event at the SwissTech Convention Center in Lausanne, Switzerland, ended yesterday.

The second edition of THE SPOT attracted 850 delegates from 35 countries representing 450 organisations and companies were present.

Participants included over 150 employees from Sport Federations and the International Olympic Committee, 80 start-ups and over 55 international speakers. The Market Place and Demo Zone featured over 50 start-ups changing booths each day, 12 corporate stands as well as Houses for Belgium, Italy and Switzerland.

Spalk provides a cost-saving virtual commentary solution, allowing leagues and broadcasters to add multilingual and alternate commentaries to their existing live broadcasts from commentators behind their laptops, anywhere in the world and targeting fans demographically.

Despite strong competition from over 40 competitors, the company won a total cash prize of CHF5,000 (CHF1,000 in the preliminary round topped up with CHF4,000 as the ultimate title of Start-up Battle 2019 winner).

(In the photo above, Spalk founder Ben Reynolds receives the grand prize from Anna Hellman, Managing Director of THE SPOT.)

Start-ups specialising in blockchain, virtual reality, data analytics, connected venue, performance & health, fan engagement and other fields went head-to-head in front of an enthusiastic crowd and an impressive jury made up of investors, experts from the Olympic Movement, and business leaders.

Advanced Sport Instruments (A.S.I.) won the Swiss Coup de Cœur, a CHF 2,000 prize offered by the extended organising committee to the most promising Swiss start-up of the competition. In addition, a Discovery start-up battle provided an opportunity for 16 early-stage start-ups to present their innovative ideas to an audience of industry professionals.

“We are really pleased with this second edition of THE SPOT and have received very positive feedback,” said Hellman, who also heads ThinkSport. “It’s still a young event, but we have the feeling that we are helping to form a really dynamic sports and innovation community in the region and beyond, which is keen to share fresh ideas and team up with other creative partners.”

She added: “THE SPOT serves as an annual meeting point for this smart crowd, however with our new Sports Innovation Hub, we will now have a solid and permanent platform for sport and innovation in the region.”

At the opening of THE SPOT, it was announced that Eurovision Sport, Nagra Kudelski, SwissTiming and UEFA will officially support the new Sport Innovation Hub.

THE SPOT will be back for a third edition on 12 and 13 May 12-13, 2020.