English Premier League club Arsenal has reached a deal with SKOL as Regional Beer Partner in Rwanda, with plans to expand into other territories across Africa over the next two and a half years.

SKOL Brewery Limited Rwanda already sponsors several clubs in the region and the partnership will involve Arsenal staff providing football consultancy services to offer guidance and advice to support the development of these clubs.

Arsenal will also be providing football teams sponsored by the brand with trips to London to visit Emirates Stadium and receive coaching sessions with Arsenal coaches.

SKOL Brewery Limited Rwanda and Arsenal will also run coaching clinics to support grassroots football.

SKOL Brewery Limited Rwanda will promote the partnership through TV commercials, the production of special edition co-branded bottles and large scale on-pack promotions offering supporters the opportunity to win match tickets and official Arsenal merchandise.

Fans will also be able to attend sponsored match screening parties and join newly created official supporters’ clubs.

Arsenal Commercial Director Peter Silverstone said: “We are delighted to welcome SKOL Brewery Limited Rwanda to the Arsenal family. The partnership is a direct result of our successful partnership with the Rwanda Development Board and re-affirms our affinity with Africa.”

“We have nearly 90 million followers across Sub-Saharan Africa, and we’re looking forward to connecting with new fans in the region whilst sharing our knowledge and experience, developing coaching programmes and helping SKOL Brewery Limited Rwanda build their business.”

Ivan Wulffaert, General Manager, SKOL Brewery Limited Rwanda, said: “SKOL Brewery Limited Rwanda are proud of their approach to brewing and product quality. We always take that extra step to ensure the best experience for our customers and consumers. We are very happy and proud to partner with Arsenal FC as we view Arsenal as the team that takes great pride in their approach to football and the quality of their play on the pitch. A refined version of the great game.”

In a New Zealand first, five local sporting codes in Canterbury have joined forces to create the Red and Black Sports Pack. This unique ticket offer combines 21 games from all five codes, across ten months of the year.

The teams involved are the Canterbury Rugby Mitre 10 Cup team, Canterbury Kings Cricket team, Canterbury Dragons football team, Canterbury Rams Basketball team, and, thanks to the support of Canterbury Hockey, the national men’s and women’s Vantage Black Sticks hockey teams, making this the ultimate package for a Canterbury sports fan.

“We are thrilled to be part of this innovative product,” said Canterbury Cricket CEO Jeremy Curwin. “We get to put our brand alongside some other fantastic Canterbury sports teams as well as the Commonwealth Games Gold medallist Black Sticks women and Silver medallist Black Sticks men. That is exciting for us and an awesome opportunity for sports fans in this province.”

Canterbury Football CEO Julian Bowden agreed, saying Canterbury boasted some of the most passionate sports fans in the world, so this was a product that made sense for this region: “We love our sport here in Canterbury, so the Red and Black Sports Pack will make a fantastic Christmas gift for so many people. To have the chance to see 21 quality sporting fixtures across ten months, at just NZ$249 for an adult and a child, is such a great deal and would set 2019 up to be the ultimate year of entertainment for any sports fan.”

For NZ$249, the Red and Black Sports Pack includes an adult and child ticket to the following fixtures:

• 5 x Mitre 10 Cup Canterbury Rugby games
• 5 x BK Super Smash 20/20 Canterbury Kings Cricket games
• 5 x ISPS Handa Premiership Canterbury Dragons Football games
• 3 x FIH Pro League Vantage Black Sticks Hockey games (all double-headers, with both the Men’s and Women’s teams playing)
• 3 x Sal’s National Basketball League Canterbury Rams games

Tickets are transferable, making it a great Christmas present for the whole family. With only 200 Red and Black Sports Packs available up until 20 December, Canterbury sports fans will need to get in quick!

 

The executive who ran Disney’s Shanghai theme park was named chief executive officer of the ambitious project to re-invent the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Ohio as a tourist destination.

Mike Crawford, most recently global president of portfolio management for Four Seasons Hotels, will head development of the $889 million Johnson Controls Hall of Fame Village in Canton, Ohio.

The project is a partnership between the Pro Football Hall of Fame and Industrial Realty Group. Johnson Controls, a global diversified technology and multi-industrial group, signed an 18-year partnership with Hall of Fame Village in 2016 worth $100 million to spearhead the development.

The plan is to create the first-ever sports and entertainment Smart City featuring 10 major components integrated through technology, including Johnson Controls Hall of Fame Experience, an  indoor amusement park for featuring a massive football-themed waterpark.

A UFC bout on Saturday evening in the USA scored the highest rating in the 18-49 demographic in its time slot.

In a week consisting mostly of reruns the fight between Kevin Lee and Al Iaquinta (in photo) on FOX scored a 0.7 rating among 18-49s, the best for shows starting at 8 pm, although the audience of 2.15 million trailed repeats of Dateline on NBC (3.33 million) and NCIS: Los Angeles on CBS (3.01 million).

The 18-49 rating for the UFC was 0.2 higher than FOX scored for its broadcast of the season-ending 2018 MLS Cup last week, which had a 0.5 in the same demographic.

UEFA Champions League action again topped the Italian ratings on Wednesday night as public broadcaster RAI continues to ride high in its first season as the live window for big matches.

The 2-1 home victory of Swiss team Young Boys over Juventus attracted 4.393 million viewers on RAI 1 with a share of 17.8%.

In The Netherlands, Veronica also scored with the Champions League again, pulling the biggest audience of the day (except for the evening news).

The action-packed 3-3 draw between Ajax and Bayern Munich pulled 1.811 million viewers with a 30.9% audience share

The Sport Integrity Global Alliance (SIGA) and the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) signed an agreement to build up “A Business Case for Sport Integrity.”

This initiative is a key component of the implementation of the Kazan Action Plan, approved by the world sport Ministers’ Conference in 2017.

The primary purpose of the partnership is to foster a meaningful increase of government investment in the promotion and protection of sport integrity.

The project aims to gather empirical evidence and establish a business case, demonstrating the political, economic and social benefits of protecting the integrity of sport and, notably, the return on investments in this area.

It also aims to raise the awareness of government decision-makers and encourage them to invest in the protection of sport integrity.

Attendees at the launch of the partnership at UNESCO’s headquarters in Paris included senior representatives from the UN and European governments, as Kenya, Mexico, Qatar, Malaysia, Gambia, Russia, Mozambique, Madagascar, Cameroon and others.

Other attending organisations included the Union Internationale d’Avocats, the Sport Employer’s representative organisation (COSMOS), the Union des Clubs Professionelles de Football, beIN Sports, Sorbonne University, ADIT and Transparency International (France).

SIGA CEO Emanuel Macedo de Medeiros said: “Governments acknowledge that sport pursues a mission of public interest. It has the potential to positively shape, influence and enrich society, communities and individual lives. It can act as a catalyst for economic development, create revenue streams, employment opportunities and technological advances.

“It is therefore only logical that Governments support and invest in the protection of integrity of sport in the same way they invest in other key sectors. This joint project with UNESCO and its member States aims to foster the due government investment in the promotion and protection of sport integrity. Investing in sport, with transparency and accountability, is the right thing to do. It will yield significant benefits for governments and its citizens.”

Nada Al-Nashif, Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences, UNESCO, said: “Sport integrity is not mainly a matter of compliance with standards for elite competitions but an important vector for citizenship, justice and security.

“We are pleased that SIGA accepted our proposal to use its collective intelligence and convening power to carry out this project of a Business Case for Investing in Sport Integrity. In line with the leitmotif of Agenda 2030 to ‘leave no one behind’, the result of this project will help reduce capacity gaps by helping to measure and demonstrate the relevance of sport integrity for specific SDGs and targets.”

Eleven Sports is working to preserve rights deals for LaLiga and other properties to carry on its fledgling OTT service in the UK and Ireland.

Eleven Sports was to have become the new home of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in those territories January, but it has confirmed difficulties in securing the necessary additional carriage agreements in order to supplement its own streaming platform.

Eleven Sports told the Daily Telegraph that the service is in talks to restructure its deals for LaLiga and Serie A, among other rights.

A spokesperson told the newspaper: “Without carriage agreements with the existing platforms, alongside the challenges posed by rampant piracy, the current market dynamics in the UK and Ireland are very hostile for new entrants.

“We are in discussions with our rights partners, La Liga and IMG, about how we can restructure our existing agreements in order to continue our current OTT service.”

In July Eleven Sports announced a strategic partnership with IMG securing Serie A rights in the UK and Ireland.

LaLiga reached an agreement with Eleven Sports earlier in the year for streaming as well as other rights. The Spanish league is not commenting on the current situation.