LaLiga has made new agreements with the Chinese Super League (CSL) and PT Liga Indonesia Baru, furthering its commitment to developing the sport of football in Asia and across the world and sharing knowledge that will help all leagues grow.

The agreements were finalised in the past month and will see the leagues collaborate on a range of projects from youth development to financial management and technology. This extends the many years of partnership that LaLiga has held in the Asian countries where the popularity of football continues to explode.

LaLiga President Javier Tebas met with Dang Zheng, General Manager of CSL (see photo above), in Madrid to finalise the agreement with the Chinese competition. As part of the project, LaLiga will implement training programmes in China for both academy players and coaches, along with organising and promoting youth tournaments and friendly fixtures between top flight teams in both nations.

Commenting on the agreement, Zheng said: “We are convinced that the close relationship with LaLiga will benefit Chinese football from youth level right up to the professional game. It will help to create a stable framework for collaborations between the two organisations which will allow us to successfully carry out projects together.”

The agreement with PT Liga Indonesia Baru was signed in Jakarta in mid-January 2019 by Ivan Codina, LaLiga’s Managing Director for South East Asia, Japan, Korea and Australasia, and Risha Adi Widjaya, CEO PT Liga Indonesia Baru (see photo below). Financial management is one of the biggest aspects of this deal, with both sides sharing their best practices for ensuring economic transparency in the Indonesian game.

The leagues will also work together to promote both Spanish and Indonesian football in new markets. Experts from both countries will speak at conferences in which they share their knowledge on various aspects of the game from marketing, administration, stadium security, fighting match-fixing and brand internationalisation.

In both agreements, the use of technology has been cited as an important development point. In China, there is an agreement to share guides for implementing new technology across all aspects of the game while in Indonesia, LaLiga will advise on how technology can be used to help referees to make the best possible decisions.

Off the pitch, LaLiga will also be sharing best practice from its Foundation. It will advise PT Liga Indonesia Baru on the best way to create their own and develop various social outreach projects. The agreement with CSL also covers social responsibility of clubs in their community, the women’s game and marketing of these efforts.

Maintaining strong communications and relations with global leagues is central to LaLiga’s strategy for growing football around the world. Its relationship with PT Liga Indonesia Baru dates back to 2013, while representatives from CSL recently visited Madrid to take part in different workshops with a variety of LaLiga departments, giving them a stronger understanding of how Spanish football is run behind the scenes.

LaLiga’s opportunities for further growth in China were recently boosted by the arrival of Wu Lei to RCD Espanyol de Barcelona, which has given Chinese fans a powerful new reason to discover Spanish football.

Having a club (or two) finishing in the top three of the English Premier League championship race can have a significant economic impact on the home city, with the success of a team linked to an increase in general consumer spending in the communities, according to a new report.

While fans all over the world support the leading Premiership teams, many are clustered within or near the home city, and success leads to a concentration of celebratory consumer behaviour, and increased spending, said the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR).

With Liverpool and Manchester City at the top of the table, these cities could enjoy the economic boost which comes from performing well in the Premier League in 2019.

CEBR estimates that the added 1.1 percentage points to growth would be worth £220 million for the Manchester economy or £133 million for the Liverpool economy.

Manchester City has a bigger impact given that there are more fans than for Liverpool measured by match attendance

There are different ways that a strong performance in the Premier League promotes local expenditure:

• If more people want to watch a team because it is performing well, then there is an increase in direct spending on ticket sales, merchandise and the hospitality sector in the city due to people visiting to attend games.
• Even if not watching in the stadium, when teams are playing people often spend money locally while watching, for example by viewing in pubs and bars.
• Sporting success is linked to an increase in general consumer spending by those who support the team.

In order to capture these spending effects, London-based CEBR used regression analysis to study the local economies of the teams ranked in the top three positions of the Premier League since 1999 to see if they experience higher economic growth in the years they perform well.

Overall, the analysis showed that in the year that they come within the top three positions in the Premier League, a city experiences GVA growth 1.1 percentage points higher than if they finish outside the top three positions.

Other studies support the findings. Following Leicester City’s Premier League win in 2016, analysis found that direct impacts on expenditure in the city included an additional £224,000 as a result of attendance at football fixtures increasing to full capacity in the second half of the 2015-16 football season.

Also, there was a further £22.6 million added spending in the hospitality sector, with sales increasing by as much as 300 per cent in some parts of the city centre over 5 key matches, according to Leicester Castle Business School.

There is strong evidence linking sporting success to increased consumer spending. Research by Lloyds Bank suggests that between 1990 and 2014, the four countries which managed to reach the semi-finals in the Football World Cup on average saw growth in consumer spending of 4.5% in the year following the World Cup, compared to an average of 3.3% before the tournament.

Furthermore, psychological research suggests that sporting fans associate the successes and failures of their team with their own successes and failures, which can have strong behavioural effects on people’s confidence and even their dopamine levels.

The increased confidence from the team you support winning frequently manifests itself in the form of higher spending on social outings and retail goods.

 

• Portugal’s SportTV has bought all the local rights for the 2020 UEFA European Championship. The company will own both free-to-air and pay-television coverage rights for the first time. SportTV CEO Nuno Ferreira Pires said a free-to-air partner for Portugal national team matches has yet to be found.
• Meredith Starkey joins the Carolina Panthers at the end of March as the NFL team’s first CMO. She comes from T-Mobile, where she has been VP Marketing, Sponsorships & Events. Panthers President Tom Glick (who has spoken at several iSportconnect events) said she is “a proven difference maker in our industry and understands fans and how to deliver special moments, memories and experiences to continue to fuel their passion.”
• Sky Italia has been hit with a €7 million fine by the country’s Competition Authority (AGCM) for failing to tell potential subs that it did not have all Serie A’s games in its football package this season. The regulator ruled that Sky engaged in “an aggressive practice” that did not make clear that its Sky Calcio package would offer fewer Serie A games than in past seasons when it held all rights.
• Nike faced a PR nightmare after one of its shoes split open during an NCAA  basketball game on Wednesday night. Not only was the shoe worn by probably the top college player in the country (Zion Williamson of Duke), the game was on national TV – and former U.S. President Barack Obama was in the crowd (and appeared on camera reacting to the event). Nike stated afterward: “We are obviously concerned and want to wish Zion a speedy recovery. The quality and performance of our products are of utmost importance.” The statement called the shoe explosion “an isolated occurrence.”

Online sponsorship marketplace Connexi today announced a partnership between Middlesex Cricket and management consultancy JMAN Group that was secured via the new platform.

Middlesex’s Royal London One-Day Cup shirts will, from this season, be sporting the JMAN logo on the front, and it will also appear on the back of the club’s Vitality Blast shirt and on the collar of the County Championship shirt.

JMAN Group will also benefit from in-ground pitch-side advertising and corporate hospitality at Lord’s, the Middlesex home ground.

Launched in October 2018, Connexi has an exclusive partnership with SMG Insight, the sports sponsorship research arm of YouGov, and provides data, insights and detailed search functionality to enable partners to find each other.

Connexi recently named Charl Malan as Managing Director. He joins from Imperial Brands.

 

Copenhagen will host the start of the Tour de France in 2021 in a first for Denmark, and city officials say it will be the biggest sports event ever held in the country.

The opening stage on July 2 two years from now will be a 13-kilometre time trial around Copenhagen.

This will be followed by a 190-kilometre route from Roskilde to Nyborg and then a 170-kilometre stage from Vejle to Sønderborg on the following day.

Copenhagen Mayor Frank Jensen said: “It is a tremendous honour to host the Grand Départ of the Tour de France in 2021. The best cycling city in the world welcomes the greatest cycling race in the world.

“The Grand Depart in 2021 will be the biggest sporting event ever held in Denmark.”

“We look forward to celebrating together and showing the world our passion: the Tour de France and our unique bicycling culture.”

Check out this welcoming video from Copenhagen, which Lonely Planet named as the most cycling-friendly city in the world.

• Marriott International and Manchester United today announced a multi-year marketing partnership, giving the 120 million members of the Marriott Bonvoy travel programme exclusive opportunities for Manchester United football experiences, including the chance to become the club’s Stadium Announcer or Kit Manager for the day. With the Marriott Bonvoy travel programme, members have access to a portfolio of global brands and properties in 130 countries and territories, plus other member benefits.Have a look at the star-powered videos related to the new deal here.
• The French Fencing Federation (FFE) has officially recognised lightsaber duelling as a competitive sport. The federation  is now equipping fencing clubs with lightsabers as seen in Star Wars and training instructors. FFE Secretary General Serge Aubailly was quoted by AP saying: “With young people today, it’s a real public health issue. They don’t do any sport and only exercise with their thumbs. That is why we are trying to create a bond between our discipline and modern technologies, so participating in a sport feels natural.”
• Tanaka Holdings has become a Tokyo 2020 Official Supporter, the third domestic tier of the sponsorship programme for the Games, as the partner in the category of Precious Metals and Jewellery. The deal brings the total number of Tokyo 2020 domestic partners to 59, including 15 Gold Partners, 30 Official Partners and 14 Official Supporters (including one Official Supporter which sponsors only the Paralympic Games).