Stanley Cup Finale Sets NHL Viewing Record

The deciding game of the NHL Stanley Cup Finals on NBC on Wednesday night pulled the biggest audience for an NHL game ever on any U.S. network.

The 4-1 victory of the St. Louis Blues over the Boston Bruins was watched by 8.2 million total viewers.

The victory which gave the Blues the first NHL crown in their 52-year history scored a 6.20 rating in the overnight metered-market results, the highest overnight rating for an NHL game.

St. Louis’s victory gave NBC a 2.5 average rating (the game aired for three hours), compared to a 0.8 for ABC, a 0.6 for Fox and a 0.5 for CBS.

AC Milan Names Legends To Newly Created Management Roles

AC Milan has named  Zvonimir Boban as the Club’s Chief Football Officer (CFO), a newly created role  responsible for the co-ordination and oversight of the club’s sporting activities. He will will work closely with the Club’s CEO Ivan Gazidis and the newly appointed Technical Director Paolo Maldini (in photo).

Gazidis said: “I am very excited to welcome Zvone back home, in our Club. I am confident that, thanks to his background, experience and his skill set, Zvone will contribute significantly to the growth and development of our Sporting Area and will lend invaluable support to the Club’s institutional relations with Football bodies. Together with Paolo Maldini, I have at my side two individuals of undisputed quality and competence who are able to convey our vision and build an increasingly competitive and successful AC Milan.”

 

DORNA Sports: “We Put The Fan At The Centre Of Content Creation”

As one of the pioneers of OTT (before it was even called that), DORNA Sports has embraced the deal-making opportunities of digital platforms as part of the distribution mix. In an exclusive interview with iSportconnect TV, David Arroyo, Digital Director of DORNA Sports, talks about the company’s strategy, including its efforts to grow in North America.

DORNA has become synonymous with motorcycling. It has been the exclusive commercial and television rights holder for the FIM Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix (MotoGP) since 1991, and also holds the rights for the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship, the FIM CEV Repsol, the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup, the Idemitsu Asia Talent Cup and the British Talent Cup.

Paris 2024 On Course To Deliver Games That “Innovate And Surprise”

Preparations for the Paris 2024 Summer Games have made steady progress in a short time, according to the IOC’s Co-Ordination Commission,

“Creating a creative and innovative Olympic Games experience that benefits everyone is at the core of Paris 2024’s mission,” said IOC Coordination Commission Chair Pierre-Olivier Beckers-Vieujant after a second meeting of the group, in Marseille, which will host the sailing and football competitions.

“Paris 2024’s vision that ‘sport can change lives’ is evident in so many of its projects,” said Beckers-Vieujant.

He cited in particular:

  • the Terre de Jeux 2024 brand, which extends the Olympic project to the regions of France
  • the approach for an open and inclusive economic development and employment plan
  • the proposal to host mass participation events during the Games
  • ambitious plans for Olympic Day.

“Paris 2024 has made steady progress in a very short amount of time,” he said. “We are in a new era of collaboration and co-creation, as seen with the presence of the International Paralympic Committee and so many local authority partners in Marseille. This is fully in line with the spirit of Olympic Agenda 2020 and its New Norm, as we work to build this project together with a common goal: to plan and organise inspiring and memorable Olympic and Paralympic Games in a responsible and effective way.”

The essence of urban sport was on full display on the first day of the Coordination Commission visit in Marseille, when crowds gathered in the Old Port area to experience a lively and youthful atmosphere that included basketball, BMX, breaking, skateboarding, and sport climbing demonstrations.

At the end of June, the IOC Session will vote on the provisional inclusion of breaking, skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing on the 2024 Olympic programme.

A core objective for Paris 2024 is to ensure that the Games are organised in a sustainable way that will benefit the citizens of France for decades to come. As such, the Organising Committee presented its carbon neutral strategy, and reported on the creation of an endowment fund that will be used to help fund legacy projects linked to Paris 2024.

SOLIDEO, the public body responsible for managing development operations ahead of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, was also on site to update the Coordination Commission on advancements made in the conception for an innovative and sustainable Olympic Village. Not only will the facility be designed to anticipate the evolving challenges facing tomorrow’s generation of residents, but it is also being optimised to welcome athletes for the Games.

Tony Estanguet, President of Paris 2024, said, “This second Coordination Commission meeting comes at an important time in the construction of our project. It shows the progress we have made. A year after we laid the foundations of the Organising Committee, this second meeting has been looking outwards, towards the public at large.“

“We have made the goal of engaging with the sports movement, the public authorities and the people of France one of our main priorities. This desire to get the population involved from the outset is a reflection of our ambition to offer Games that are different, and which make creativity the Paris 2024 hallmark.”

“This desire to innovate and surprise spans every part of our project, for example the opening of some of the Games events to the general public or the celebratory dimension of our project, placing sport at the heart of the city, which has never been done on such a scale before.”

During the meetings, the Organising Committee presented to the IOC and IPC its impressive progress made on governance topics, engagement plans, marketing programmes and more.

Uber Eats Gobbles Up Ligue 1 Title Sponsorship

France’s Ligue 1 has reached a new title sponsorship agreement with Uber Eats for two seasons kicking off in 2020-21.

Uber Eats will replace Conforama as the title sponsor of the French top division.

The deal is worth close to €15 million per season, approximately double the value of Conforama’s three-year pact, according to L’Équipe.

“We are extremely happy about this partnership,” said Didier Quillot, LFP Executive Director. “Uber Eats meets all the criteria that we set. It’s a global brand, dynamic, modern and a perfect fit for Ligue 1. We wanted to break new ground with a partnership that would help Ligue 1 grow internationally.”

L’Équipe said the price tag on the new deal vaults Ligue 1 ahead of LaLiga and Serie A in the value of naming rights.

 

Stevenage FC Owner Opens Crowdfunding Campaign

The owner of English club Stevenage FC is hoping to attract new investors with an offer of shares in the League Two team.

Phil Wallace is offering generous returns to those who snap up the 12 percent of the club he is making available via a crowdfunding platform set up by former Italian star and Chelsea manager Gianluca Vialli, according to Agence France Presse.

The minimum investment is 40 shares at £25 while there is no maximum limit, and investors will be rewarded with a 25 percent dividend if the team gains promotion to League One.

That dividend will rise to 75 percent should Stevenage make the next step up to the EFL Championship for the first time in club history.

Read the full story here.

 

Amazon Takes Exclusive UK Rights To Top WTA Events

From 2020, Amazon Prime Video will have exclusive rights to show the top Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) tournaments in a four-year deal.

Starting with a minimum of 49 tournaments in the first year, Prime members in the UK and Ireland will have access to the live events at no additional cost to their membership.

Prime members will be able to watch up to 2,000 live and on demand matches per year from the WTA, including the four WTA cornerstone Premier Mandatory events of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, the Miami Open presented by Itaú, the Mutua Madrid Open and the China Open in Beijing, along with the season-ending WTA Finals in Shenzhen, China.

Whether customers are following British favourites such as Johanna Konta, Katie Boulter (in photo) and Heather Watson, along with current World No.1 Naomi Osaka, 2018 WTA Finals winner Elina Svitolina or tennis legend Serena Williams, they can keep up to date with their favourite players across the season’s top events.

“As soon as the opportunity to bid for the women’s tennis rights became available, we couldn’t wait to bring the tournament to Prime Video, giving customers the chance to watch the best in both women’s and men’s tennis all in one place for the first time,” said Alex Green, European MD of Sport at Amazon Prime Video. “We are excited to be the home of tennis and will offer viewers the most comprehensive coverage, at no extra cost to their Prime membership.”

Micky Lawler, WTA President said: “We are thrilled that Amazon Prime Video will offer the best of women’s tennis and showcase our premium events and world-class players to millions of fans across the UK and Ireland. We have been so impressed by their vision for our sport and are confident the Prime Video team will be a great partner of the WTA.”

WTA joins Prime Video’s current line-up of tennis with over 220 days of tennis tournaments broadcast alone in 2019, including exclusive coverage of 37 ATP Tour events (2019-2023), the US Open (2018-2022) and the Laver Cup (2019). The agreements allow customers to watch the best in women’s and men’s tennis all in one place for the first time in the UK, underlining Prime Video as the home for tennis fans in the UK and Ireland.

In addition, customers in the UK who subscribe to Eurosport Player through Prime Video Channels can watch the French Open and Australian Open, as well as daily highlights and live coverage from the men’s and women’s finals of Wimbledon for an additional £6.99 per month (following a 7-day free trial).

WTA live and on demand tournaments will be available across multiple devices on the Prime Video app for TVs, game consoles, set-top boxes and connected devices, including Amazon Fire TV and Apple TV, mobile devices and online.

Drone Racing: “Technology Innovation That Can Attract Millennials”

The rapid rise of drone racing has put the World Air Sports Federation (FAI) at the forefront of sports innovation. In an exclusive interview with iSportconnect TV, FAI Secretary General Susanne Schödel and Reed Grantley, Managing Director of Freespace Drone Racing, talk about this phenomenon which can combine esports, gaming, AR and VR to attract millennials.

Schödel is herself an elite glider pilot and was twice winner of the FAI Women’s World Gliding Championships.

Fans Are Keen On U.S. Pro League Games In Britain

British fans have a strong interest in American football, basketball and baseball taking place in the UK with over 40% saying they are likely to attend NFL games in the next five and more than 20% saying the same about MLB and NBA events. Check out the results of leading CRM agency Goodform’s authoritative research on iSportconnect TV.

The popularity of US sports in the UK is continuing to grow with no signs of slowing down, according to recent research from Goodform’s Sports Fan Panel.

The trend to take domestic league games to foreign soil is a reflection not only of sports entities’ desire to grow their global footprint, but of the ever-increasing way in which sport fandom crosses borders. The digital age has rendered more content available to more people more of the time – and as a result the truly global fan base is no longer the stuff of dreams but a tangible reality for many of sport’s largest rights holders.

Looking to capitalise on and accelerate international audience growth, the NFL first hosted regular season games outside of the United States in 2007. Regularly drawing sell-out crowds of 80,000+ at each fixture hosted in London since, the success looks set to continue: 2019 will see not only two games at Wembley but also two at the newly opened Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Unsurprisingly given its track record in London, the NFL remains ahead of the NBA and MLB in terms both of awareness of its UK fixtures and the level of interest in attending, with almost half of Sports Fan Panel members (43%) who stated that they were interested in the NFL saying they’re likely to attend the NFL in London in the next few years.

2019 will also see the inauguration of the MLB London Series, with two games held at the London Stadium in July representing the first time an MLB game is played in Europe. The fixtures sold out more than six months in advance despite hefty ticket prices, with top-priced seats setting fans back up to £385.

The Sports Fan Panel research highlighted that the price of attending these fixtures is a barrier to many, with the cost of the ticket being the most commonly cited barrier to attending US sports fixtures in the UK (surpassing a lack of interest in the event, and the location of the fixture). A desire to experience the atmosphere, however, is the strongest driver for fans to attend.
Reflective of the growing popularity of US sports in the UK is the clear appetite for fixtures to be held elsewhere in the UK as well as in London – with almost half saying they would be encouraged to attend NFL, and a third for each of MLB and NBA, if there were matches held outside of London.

The overall consensus also seems to be that holding US sports in London is a positive – for the sport, for fans, and for London – with two thirds acknowledging that it attracts a different fanbase to the sport, and 56% agreeing that holding fixtures in the UK is good for London.

It doesn’t just stop at the big three, as well – almost half of those surveyed said they’d be interested in seeing NHL played in the UK, and 29% would be interested in seeing MLS too. Based on the success of the NFL and MLB’s exported games, it may not be too long before we see other franchises following suit to make the most of the UK’s appetite for live sporting events.

It seems, however, that the Brits are less generous when it comes to exporting their own sporting leagues – when the Sports Fan Panel was asked about our treasured Premier League going abroad for a 39th game, there was less enthusiasm on show – only 19% said that they felt positive about this idea!

For more information on the Sports Fan Panel, please contact Alexandra Kyrke-Smith: Alexandra.kyrke-smith@goodformgroup.co.uk