Project11 renews contract with West Bromwich Albion Football Club

Project11 are proud to announce the renewal of their existing contract with West Bromwich Albion Football Club.

This deal will see the London-based Sports Marketing company gain continued access to some of the most in-demand perimeter LED advertising space in football, namely the English Premier League.

Renewing the agreement until the end of the 2019/20 season, Project11 are looking forward to extending rights further and continuing to develop this successful relationship.

Partner at Project11, Scott Taylor, spoke of the long-running partnership: “We value West Bromwich Albion greatly as one of our Premier League club offerings. Project11 currently hold perimeter rights to four clubs within the Premier League, with more on the horizon.

“We have enjoyed seeing the historic West Bromwich Albion grow with new ownership and a passionate fan base. This extension is another great signing for Project11.”

Having finished in the top 10 last season, and a global name, the club’s popularity is rapidly growing around the world.

The acquisition of West Bromwich Albion in 2016 by Chinese entrepreneur, Guochuan Lai, controlling shareholder and Director of sports development company Yunyi Guokai, has proven to be a driving force in the club’s success, showing no signs of slowing down any time soon, with the introduction of ‘soccer towns’ across Asia in discussion.

This strategy to grow the club’s following, influence and fan base throughout Asia is already proving popular, with the Youth Academy set to become a key feature in multiple locations, giving more fans than ever before the opportunity to get closer to the club and become increasingly involved at a grassroots level.

Simon King, Chief Commercial Officer at West Bromwich Albion Football Club, said: “We are delighted to have extended our agreement with Project 11 and look forward to working with them in future.”

Land Rover renews Brumbies rugby sponsorship

Land Rover have renewed their sponsorship of Australian rugby club Plus500 Brumbies and will continue as shirt sleeve sponsor for the 2018 and 2019 Super Rugby seasons.

Land Rover, owned by British multinational car manufacturer Jaguar, specialises in four-wheel-drive vehicles. The partnership extension is a vote of confidence in the organisation and aligns two brands which are at the forefront of high performance and innovation.

Brumbies CEO, Michael Thomson, said: “We are very happy that Land Rover have renewed their sponsorship of the Plus500 Brumbies for another two seasons of Super Rugby.

“The support of Land Rover, and our other sponsors, is vital to the club and we are delighted that they have agreed to continue to work with the club for the 2018 season.

“Land Rover are renowned for being the premier off-road vehicle and for having a continuously developing and innovative brand. We share those values at the Plus500 Brumbies.

“These are exciting times for the Brumbies as we prepare for the new campaign with Dan McKellar installed as our new Head Coach alongside an experienced coaching set-up and a vibrant playing group.”

Tim Krieger, General Manager, Communications and Public Relations of Jaguar Land Rover Australia added: “Land Rover are delighted to be extending our successful partnership with the Brumbies which began in 2011 and we look forward to building on this throughout the upcoming season and into the future.”

Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur signs partnership with Healthspan

Healthspan has today announced a deal with Premier League football club Tottenham Hotspur. The agreement sees Healthspan become the north London club’s official vitamin and supplement supplier covering both the first team and academy squads.

Tottenham Hotspur join Southampton FC and Nottingham Forest as Healthspan’s official partners in football, as well as an extensive list of professional clubs who utilise Healthspan’s range as customers.

Dr Shabaaz Mughal, Head of Medical & Sports Science for Tottenham Hotspur said: “We are delighted to add Healthspan Elite to the Club’s roster of official suppliers. Their elite range of vitamins and supplements will further allow us to cater to the individual needs of each of our players.

“Healthspan are well known in professional sport for providing supplements of the highest quality, and they are widely used throughout the Premier League. We are excited to work with them not only with their existing range of products but also in collaboration with their specialists to find new and innovative ways to support the health and well-being of our players and maximize their performance.”

Chris Fisher, Healthspan’s Head of Sports Nutrition, added: “We are extremely proud to be working with Tottenham Hotspur and we hope we can contribute to the Club’s continued success.

“It is a great time to bring Tottenham Hotspur on board in a year where we have signed new deals with the likes of Scottish Rugby and Southampton FC. Partnerships like this provide us with access to the club’s performance teams and deliver unique insights so we can continue to provide best-in-class products for players and fans alike.”

Canadian Olympic Committee announces UnderArmour partnership

The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) has named Under Armour as the official high performance footwear supplier for team Canada for the next eight years.

As part of the partnership, team Canada athletes will first appear in Under Armour high footwear at the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 opening ceremony. Team Canada will also be provided with winter boots, running and training shoes for the event.

Derek Kent, chief marketing officer, COC said: “This new Under Armour partnership is ultimately about providing the most innovative and high performance footwear for our athletes.

“The COC is very proud to be Under Armour’s first ever National Olympic Committee partner and we look forward to partnering with their brand at the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Games and beyond.”

Courtney Carlson, vice president North America marketing, Under Armour added: “As Under Armour’s first partnership with the Canadian Olympic team, we are proud to support team Canada’s Olympic pursuit and provide state-of-the-art high performance footwear to the talented roster of athletes.”

Leeds United to become first club to deploy virtual hybrid perimeter technology

English Football League championship club, Leeds United, have taken the ground-breaking step of installing a new Virtual Hybrid perimeter LED display at Elland Road.

The new system combines ADI’s LED hardware with Supponor’s advanced augmented reality technology, making it possible to deliver traditional LED content to fans in the stadium, whilst virtually overlaying the content seen by international viewers.

The installation comes as EFL clubs gain new rights to stream live matches for international fans. The potential for virtually overlaying different brand messages for different audiences, as well as those watching international TV broadcasts, brings with it new commercial opportunities.

Leeds plan to begin streaming customised feeds featuring virtual perimeter content later in the 2017/18 season, subject to final EFL approval.

Leeds United Managing Director, Angus Kinnear, said: “Virtual Hybrid LED technology creates a huge commercial opportunity and, with growing International audiences driven by new live streaming rights, it’s possible for EFL clubs to reach a wider fan base.

“This technology will help us compete on the global stage and build a platform for growth. ADI bring a wealth of experience as the market leader in stadium LED and their Supponor-enabled Virtual Hybrid perimeter system, with its ability to overlay different brand messages for different territories, presents an incredible opportunity for partners.

“We are now looking forward to working with stakeholders across the industry to make virtual replacement a commercial reality.”

ADI’s CEO, Geraint Williams, added: “Leeds United is a club with huge ambition and we’re delighted to be joining them on their journey to challenge convention. The installation of a new Virtual Hybrid perimeter LED display makes the club the first in the world set to commercialise the technology in this way.

“The market has demonstrated a real appetite for a credible virtual overlay solution, and we’re excited to be working with Leeds United, a club with truly progressive leadership, to help realise the commercial potential of their media value.”

ESPN Films library to launch on ESPN Player

ESPN’s award-winning ESPN Films documentaries are set to be made available to fans in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) on streaming service ESPN Player.

The sports documentaries can be streamed on demand by anyone subscribing to one of ESPN Player’s packages – which also offers NCAA sports, IndyCar, X Games and a host of other events.

Commenting on the launch, Charly Classen, Vice President and General Manager, ESPN EMEA, said: “ESPN Films has redefined sports documentaries, raising the levels of production and storytelling to new heights.

“The quality of the series is such that they can be enjoyed by fans on non-sports fans alike, so we’re delighted to make them accessible to subscribers across EMEA.”

A total of 15 films are currently available on ESPN Player, with new films available introduced each month. Many films will be from the critically acclaimed 30 for 30 series while the entire selection of films will rotate monthly.

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BT and Sky agree deal to sell each other’s channels

UK pay-television operators BT and Sky have agreed a multi-year deal to make rival channels available on each other’s platforms.

BT will now be able to market and sell Sky’s NOW TV service – which offers Sky’s most popular content, including Sky Sports – to BT TV customers.

In addition, BT has agreed to wholesale its BT Sport channels to Sky, allowing Sky to sell these channels directly to Sky satellite customers. The BT Sport channels include exclusively live UEFA Champions League and Premier League football. This will mean that satellite customers will be able to buy BT Sport from Sky as well as from BT.

Gavin Patterson, chief executive of BT, said: “This is an important day for BT and for our customers, who will be able to enjoy a whole range of Sky’s sport and entertainment programming on their BT TV boxes.

“This is the next logical step for our TV and content strategy. Having built up an outstanding portfolio of exclusive sports rights and a loyal base of customers, we feel that now is the right time to broaden the ways in which we distribute BT Sport.

“This agreement fits with our strategic goal of being the best provider in the UK of converged network services, and adding NOW TV boosts our growing roster of outstanding content from the likes of Netflix, great pay channels like AMC and all the major catch-up services.”

It is expected that these new services will be available to customers from early 2019.

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UK Sport and BBC Sport announce live streaming collaboration

UK Sport and BBC Sport have announced a major new collaboration that will lead to more major Olympic and Paralympic sporting events being live streamed to the public, free of charge.

BBC Sport has committed to providing technical and editorial support to sports to enable them to broadcast their events more widely and has offered to live stream the key moments of all UK Sport-supported major events on its market-leading sport website, rights permitting.

And as part of UK Sport’s £30m investment over eight years (2017-2025) to bring some of the world’s top sporting events to towns and cities across the country, it is procuring live streaming technology to increase the number of sports that have access to a universally recognised platform such as the BBC, allowing them to stream their major events to a far wider audience than those that can attend on the day.

UK Sport-supported major events already secured include the 2018 Women’s Hockey World Cup, 2018 Boccia World Championships, 2019 Netball World Cup and 2019 World Road Cycling Championships. UK Sport is also supporting Liverpool’s bid for the 2022 World Gymnastics Championships.

Director of BBC Sport, Barbara Slater, said: “We have been covering Olympic and Paralympic Sports for decades and we are now taking that commitment to a completely different level.

“We are going to be streaming more live sport for more people, across mobile, computers, tablets and TV. We will be working closely with UK Sport to ensure the major events they support in the UK reach the biggest possible audience.”

UK Sport Director of Major Events, Simon Morton, said: “Our mission is to inspire the nation with the success of our Lottery-funded athletes on the world stage. A key part of that involves hosting the some of the biggest international sporting events here in the UK so that the public can see our stars in action for themselves.

“By working with our partners to enable them to live stream more of these major events on easily accessible platforms such as the BBC Sport website we will help realise that vision.”

MTN Irancell becomes new LaLiga partner in Iran

LaLiga continues to press ahead with its internationalisation process by teaming up with a telecommunications company with over 230 million customers in Europe, Africa and the Middle East

The Iranian telecommunications company Irancell has become LaLiga’s new regional partner in Iran.

This latest collaboration was unveiled today, Tuesday, at a press conference in Tehran attended by Javier Gomez, LaLiga’s corporate managing director; Antonio Barradas, the manager of LaLiga’s offices in Africa; Fernando Sanz, LaLiga’s general director for the Middle East and North Africa and head of international sport projects; Gregory Bolle, LaLiga’s head of global partnership; and Alireza Ghalambor Dezfouli, CEO of MTN Irancell and Mazen Mroue, COO of MTN Irancell.

Furthermore, the press conference included the presence of the LaLiga ambassador and former Real Madrid player Fernando Morientes and Jose Manuel Ramirez Arrazola, the Spanish secretary, head of administrative affairs and consul in Iran.

LaLiga’s new local partner, Irancell, is a leading telecommunications company with over 50 million customers in Iran and a total of over 230 million distributed throughout more than 22 countries in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

“This agreement amplifies further the global recognition of LaLiga brand all around the world and help us to connect and engage further with our millions of fans in Iran in very innovative way,” said LaLiga’s corporate managing director Javier Gomez.

“We’re proud to see the passion awakened by LaLiga in Iran and connect more with our loyal Iranian football fans,” assured the LaLiga ambassador Fernando Morientes.

Through this strategic agreement, LaLiga will be able to build closer ties with its followers in Iran, one of the countries where Spanish football is most widely and passionately followed. Thanks to this collaboration and the structure and scope of the Iranian company’s network, LaLiga’s content will reach the Iranian fans more readily than ever.

“Associating LaLiga with the leader of Telecom in Iran allows us to innovate in terms of content production and content distribution. This is a world first sponsorship and telco content agreement for LaLiga and we are honoured to undertake this disruptive journey alongside a great company such as MTN Group and MTN Irancell,” Gregory Bolle finished by saying.

With this agreement, LaLiga continues with its internationalisation process, which has turned it into a prestigious global brand and a competition which is now watched in 182 countries worldwide with a global audience of 2.5 billion spectators.

LaLiga also has nine offices around the world. Those in Madrid and Barcelona are joined by others in Belgium, Nigeria, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, India, two in China, and one in Singapore.

Additionally, as of this summer, LaLiga has 44 international representatives working in different strategic foreign territories, including its representative for Iran, Khais Rahmanie.

READ MORE: LaLiga scores big on social media in Arab world

NBA announces live streaming deal with Twitch for 2017/18 G League season

The NBA has announced a deal to live stream G League games on social video service Twitch.

The agreement represents the first time a major sports league has tapped into several technological innovations unique to Twitch. During the 2017-18 regular season, basketball fans can expect up to six NBA G League games to be streamed live on Twitch each week, while the games will also be made available on demand.

The partnership expands NBA G League game distribution and aims to ambitiously innovate the digital presentation of basketball. In addition to the main broadcast, co-streaming with select Twitch personalities and basketball fans will also be featured.

Twitch is also set to introduce a channel overlay that will provide easy access to a wide range of stats and the ability to accrue loyalty points.

NBA G League President, Malcolm Turner, said: “Our deal with Twitch will be groundbreaking.

“By leveraging fan commentary, new technology and a passionate community, Twitch elevates video in a unique, engaging way that resonates with young viewers. We look forward to collaborating with their team to create something truly special for basketball fans.”

Michael Aragon, Senior Vice President of Content, Twitch, added: “From day one, the NBA team got what Twitch is all about. We aren’t a traditional sports experience on TV; we are much more.

“From our broadcasters to our engaged community to our interactive product that brings everyone together, collaborating with their team is going to bring a unique experience to basketball fans worldwide. We are thrilled to be working with the NBA G League and look forward to seeing the impact of social video on mainstream sports.”