Jono Yates has today been appointed Dugout’s first-ever Creative Director with the aim of driving content with clubs and players, plus grow the company’s social media presence.
Yates previously held the position of Creative Lead at LADbible and also served as Head of the Global Influencer Programme at Red Bull.
Elliot Richardson, Dugout Executive Chairman, said: “This is a great move by Jono and one that I am hugely excited by. Our branded content is a unique structure of Dugout and one that no others have.
“To attract Jono from a company such as LADbible is for us a tremendous validation for Dugout and its success over the last year. We welcome him and look forward to developing the platform further.”
Yates, Dugout’s new Creative Director, said: “I spent my time at LADbible creating viral videos with some of the most famous faces in the world, and the opportunity to do this in a football context is hugely exciting.
“Dugout has a unique relationship with some of the biggest clubs and players across the globe providing unparalleled access which makes the platform unique to any other sport publisher.
“Dugout has been on a journey of amazing growth in its first twelve months, and by using the connections Dugout has, I look forward to driving the company even further forward by creating innovative and engaging football content.”
Elliot Richardson on @FCKobenhavn deal: ‘Our first Nordic club is another example of Dugout’s progress’
Amazon and Manchester City today announced a new Amazon Prime Video behind-the-scenes multi-part exclusive series following the team through the current 2017/18 season.
The Amazon Prime Original series will offer fans a glimpse into the history of the club, its coach Pep Guardiola and the week-on-week stories that unfold within the lives of the players.
“This new Amazon Prime Original series willgive Prime members extraordinary insight into Manchester City, the top English Premier League Football team and one of the most exciting and respected teams globally,” said Heather Schuster, Head of Unscripted, Amazon Originals.
“The story behind the coaches and players is fascinating and we are very excited to work with the Manchester City team to deliver an exclusive all-access experience to our Prime members.”
Ferran Soriano, CEO of Manchester City, said: “We are delighted to begin this strategic relationship with Amazon, one of the world’s leading companies. Amazon Prime Video is the perfect home for a ground-breaking project that will offer a unique and authentic inside view of Manchester City’s season like never before.
“This is an extremely exciting time for Manchester City and through Amazon’s world-class service, we will be able to share it with football fans all over the world.”
The series will launch exclusively on Amazon Prime Video in 2018. Prime members will be able to stream the seriesvia the Amazon Prime Video app for TVs and mobile.
BeIN Sport has made its first foray into the cricket space after agreeing a six-year television rights deal with Cricket Australia (CA).
The new Middle East and North Africa (MENA) agreement will cover multiple Indian tours and visits by Pakistan, South Africa and the Ashes of 2021-22.
BeIN will broadcast Australian cricket through a multi-platform network to more than 20 countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, Egypt and Morocco.
BeIN has also acquired the media rights for women’s international cricket played in Australia, including the current Commonwealth Bank Women’s Ashes Series, along with the KFC Big Bash League and the Rebel Women’s Big Bash League.
Cricket Australia’s Chief Executive Officer, James Sutherland, said: “We are delighted to welcome beIN to the cricket family and know their viewers will enjoy the range of quality cricket content on offer in Australia each season.
“The Ashes is the perfect start for their partnership with us, and with the impending introduction of a Test championship and a new ODI league, beIN cricket fans will only benefit from international cricket’s new structure and greater context.”
Deputy CEO of beIN Media Group, Yousef Al-Obaidly, added: “It is important that we deliver on our promise to broadcast the very best global sports and events, and this is yet another significant milestone on this journey.
“The audience for cricket in the Middle East and North Africa is growing at an unprecedented pace, and viewers are rightly demanding better, more comprehensive, in-depth coverage.
“We will guarantee cricket fans across the region access to high-quality cricket coverage.
“This agreement with Cricket Australia is the latest in a series of rights deals that have seen beIN MEDIA GROUP grow its portfolio, win a bigger share of the market and reaffirm itself as the undisputed first-choice sports and entertainment broadcaster for the region.”
Cricket Australia’s Executive General Manager of Broadcasting, Digital Media and Commercial, Ben Amarfio, commented: “This is the first time Cricket Australia has licensed its media rights directly into MENA.
“We set out to find a partner in this specific region and are delighted to have completed this agreement with beIN.
“Cricket Australia is also the first cricket board to sign with beIN and introduce our great game to their growing audience. We know that cricket is especially popular throughout the region with the expat communities in the Gulf states.”
iSportconnect is delighted to confirm that Rory Anderson, CEO of 12BET, will be a guest speaker at the London Directors’ Club on December 6, 2017.
As a representative of 12BET, a leader in sport sponsorship, Anderson will participate in an individual interview before receiving questions from an esteemed audience of key decision makers within the sports industry.
Andrea Radrizzani, Founder & Group Chairman of Aser, and Owner & Chairman of Leeds United Football Club, is also taking part in the festive event.
The well-respected duo will give those in attendance a unique insight into the industry, with a range of experiences and best practices set to be discussed.
There will also be ample time for delegates to network in style alongside their high-ranking peers, with the evening-only event set to be staged at The Shard, which is widely regarded as one of London’s most prestigious venues.
Chatham House rules will be strictly adhered to, as with all Directors’ Club events, ensuring a free exchange of ideas within a relaxed atmosphere.
What makes an iSportconnect Directors’ Club so special?
Events are open exclusively to Director/C-Suite level executives at sports rights holders, sponsorship brands and broadcasters.
Capacity is capped at 100, allowing intimate access to key decision makers in the sports industry.
No agencies or press can attend and, as we follow Chatham House rules, all discussions will remain confidential.
There is limited space remaining for this event. Please contact Chris Edbrook (chris@isportconnect.com) to register your interest.
The BBC and ATP have today announced an extension to their broadcast deal for the Nitto ATP Finals which will see the tournament broadcast live in 2019 and 2020.
The new agreement is for exclusive free-to-air TV rights for eight singles matches, including a semi-final and the final, and includes the right to stream these matches across the BBC’s online platforms, plus non-exclusive radio rights for the whole tournament.
The deal also includes non-exclusive radio rights to all ATP World Tour Masters 1000 matches.
BBC Director of Sport, Barbara Slater, said: “We’re thrilled to extend our partnership with ATP ensuring top class tennis continues to reach the widest possible audience on free to air TV, radio and our live streaming service.”
Chris Kermode, ATP Executive Chairman & President, added: “The BBC has provided a terrific platform for our season finale since we moved the tournament to London in 2009, giving millions of fans in the UK the opportunity to watch the very best in men’s professional tennis.
“We’re delighted to extend our partnership a further two years through to 2020.”
The Ladies European Tour is seeking proposals for the provision of world feed television production services for The 2019 Solheim Cup, which shall be held on the PGA Centenary Course at The Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire, Scotland, on 9-15 September 2019.
Suitably qualified vendors are invited to apply by 13 December 2017, 12:00 GMT, via the Public Contracts Scotland (PCS) website: po.st/P2yQPg
The Solheim Cup is a major international event, the biggest and most prestigious in women’s golf. It follows the same format as the men’s Ryder Cup and was first contested in 1990 at Lake Nona Golf & Country Club in Florida.
Since then this match play tournament has been held biennially alternating between venues in the United States and Europe. The Ladies European Tour (LET) is the governing body of tournament playing female golf professionals in Europe and will celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2018.
The LET owns the European and International rights to The Solheim Cup when the biennial, trans-Atlantic team match-play competition is played at home in Europe against the United States of America and has appointed Scotland as the host for The 2019 Solheim Cup.
Scotland is widely recognised as the Home of Golf and with each event VisitScotland prides itself on delivering something special and unique. At the core of their bid to bring The 2019 Solheim Cup to Scotland are the themes of equality, experience and innovation.
The LET welcomes bids which will highlight the uniqueness of the world’s most prestigious international women’s professional golf team event compared with other women’s and men’s golf tournaments, including The Ryder Cup.
A successful bid will demonstrate how to raise the profile of The 2019 Solheim Cup while also helping to inspire the next generation of female golfers, which in turn will increase participation levels of the sport.
Mouthguard manufacturer OPRO has today announced the renewal of its official licencing agreement with England Rugby.
As part of the new agreement, OPRO has been granted the rights for a further four years – incorporating the 2019 Rugby World Cup – to produce special England Rugby branded mouthguards, as well as being the official mouthguard of England Rugby and the official supplier to the CBRE All Schools programme.
OPRO, who has been in partnership with England Rugby since 2012, will provide mouthguards to the England senior men’s and women’s teams, England senior men’s and women’s 7s teams, England Saxons team, England Under-20s, Under-18s and Under-16s teams.
OPRO chairman and founder, Dr Anthony Lovat BDS, said: “We are proud and honoured to be partnered with one of the best sporting organisations out there. At OPRO, providing the most comfortable, best fitting and reliable mouthguards is our passion.
“We are also delighted to be able to show support for the CBRE All Schools programme and to be part of a project that enables more young people to take up rugby.”
The London Football Association (LFA), the largest of the County Football Associations, is leading the way in corporate governance by stepping up to the challenge of making the sport more inclusive and representative of Londoners.
A third of its newly appointed board members are from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds while nearly half are female.
Following a significant overhaul of its Board, London’s governing body of the game has announced the latest appointments of 10 new Non-Executive Board members who will have a greater say in shaping a more diverse and sustainable future for football in the Capital.
The new board members, which include Kirstin Furber of BBC Worldwide, Gabby Shirley of the Youth Sport Trust and Paul Mortimer of Kick It Out, will play an integral part in the future success of the LFA as it becomes a more diverse body with greater representation of the communities it serves.
Lisa Pearce, CEO of LFA and the first female to hold this position, explains: “Our governance initiative attracted overwhelming support from the sporting and business communities and as a result, we received over 65 applications for the Non-Executive Board roles.
“I was extremely impressed by the calibre of applicants and we have strengthened our board with a group of talented and highly qualified individuals.
“Our new board members’ wealth of diverse management skills, experience and backgrounds puts us in a very strong position and we’re looking forward to entering an exciting and progressive era for the LFA.”
The reform in the LFA’s governance adheres to Sport England and UK Sport’s Code for Sports Governance which came into effect from April 2017. The LFA board comprises 11 members, with the Chair’s position extended for a further 12 months.
This is in line with the Tier 3 requirement of the Code which applies to organisations receiving more than £1m of public funding.
Ruth Holdaway, CEO of Women in Sport said: “I’m delighted to have been appointed to the Board of the LFA and excited about the opportunity to build on the great work that has already been done to engage more women and girls in the game.
“As a new Board, we are committed to good governance and to ensuring we are making football inclusive for all Londoners. We’re dedicated to delivering great experiences across the capital to attract more people and keep them playing football. I can’t wait to get started.”
The new LFA positions include three independent Non-Executive Directors, six Non-Executive Football Directors and one Non-Executive Finance & Risk Director.
Independent Non-Executive Directors
Ruth Holdaway, Chief Executive, Women in Sport
Kirstin Furber, People Director, BBC Worldwide
Simon Hughes, previous LFA board member and former MP for Bermondsey
Non-Executive Football Directors
Vivienne Aiyela, Chair of the Anti-Discrimination Disciplinary Panel for the FA
Gabby Shirley, Development Manager, Youth Sport Trust
Paul Mortimer, Professional Players Engagement Manager, Kick It Out
Louise Dorling, retired academic and London FA Council Member
Ian Wallis, previous LFA board member, Chair of the Cup Competitions Committee and South East Division
Derek Harris, previous LFA board member, Vice Chair of the London Youth Division, Chair of the London Youth Representative team, Director of Development Committee
Non-Executive Finance & Risk Director
Alistair Morgan, Engagement Director at the National Audit Office
The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, the biggest and toughest ocean endurance challenge to circle the planet, has today invited expressions of interest from Host Ports in the next two editions of this unique biennial event through to 2022.
The announcement coincided with the release of very positive economic impact figures for Liverpool, UK, the host of the start of this year’s global race in August 2017, of £7.5 million GBP, which reinforces the power of the Clipper Race as an impactful and highly inspirational global mass participation sports event for everyday people from all walks of life.
Returning to the city bigger and better than ever for the first time in a decade, after hosting by other UK cities including London and Southampton, the Clipper Race drew some 220,000 visitors to Liverpool during the week-long schedule of festivities at Albert Dock.
Early research commissioned by Culture Liverpool, and conducted by North West Research and Strategy, suggests that the event has already left behind a substantial economic boost to Liverpool and has been responsible for a £7,510,000 boost and a further million pounds of visitor spending retention in the city.
Clipper Race CEO, William Ward, said: “The Clipper Race has developed and grown so significantly over the past 21 years and its ability to deliver such impressive economic and cultural benefits to partners, in addition to providing life changing ocean racing experience to non-professional crew, is something that I am very proud of.
“We had a fantastic time in Liverpool this year and very much look forward to returning in July next year for the finish of the 2017-18 edition.”
Clipper Race officials have been meeting with potential candidate cities for the 2019-20 and 2021-22 editions of the event at the World Travel Market being held in London this week to coincide with the release of invitations to submit Expressions of Interest to become official Host Ports.
The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race is unique in that it is the only event on the planet which trains non-professional sailors to become ocean racers. Approximately 40 per cent of crew members have never sailed before they sign up. 40,000 nautical miles in length, the circumnavigation is divided into eight legs.
More than just a very special sailing event, the Clipper Race inspires its adventurous crew to push themselves beyond physical and mental barriers, and enables its business partners, from Team Partners, Fleet Partners and Suppliers, to achieve incredible results on a global scale.
The event evaluation report, which monitors the impact of the major events in the cultural programme, looks at recorded activity over and above what would have been expected without the Clipper Race presence. It concludes that in 2017 alone, the Clipper Race drew a higher proportion of visitors coming from elsewhere in the country than any other recent event and attracted nearly double the number of visitors from overseas (10.4 per cent over 5.5 per cent).
The report also gained insights into motivations and key drivers for attendance, visitor expenditure, quality of experience and length of stay. It suggests that 69 per cent of respondents were visiting Liverpool specifically to attend the Clipper Race event and over a third (35.7 per cent) of visitors were on staying trips, with the average stay of three nights, an increase of 15 per cent in staying visitors in comparison to similar events.
Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, said: “Maritime events in Liverpool are always hugely successful, and Clipper’s Race Start was no exception.
“From the moment the vessels sailed into the city, crowds of people headed to our world heritage waterfront to see the fleet first hand, many sending the crews well-wishes for the challenge they were all facing.
“We are incredibly proud to be the host port for both the start and finish of the event, and it’s wonderful to know that it has already attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors which in-turn boosted the local economy by millions
“The city is looking forward to giving the Clipper vessels and crew another warm welcome next year as we celebrate our tenth anniversary of being European Capital of Culture.”
In addition to economic benefits, as a worldwide event the Clipper Race Start in Liverpool has further cemented the position of the city’s waterfront as a world class event stage.
The Clipper Race fleet, including the Liverpool 2018 team entry is currently racing across the Southern Ocean to Fremantle, Western Australia having already stopped in Punta del Este, Uruguay and Cape Town, South Africa.
The Clipper Race teams will return to Liverpool next summer on 28 July 2018 once they have also completed the 2017-18 edition of the race calling in Fremantle, Sydney, Hobart, Whitsundays (Australia), Sanya and Qingdao in China, Seattle and New York in USA, and Derry-Londonderry in Northern Ireland.
The Rugby Football Union (RFU) has renewed its partnership with Guinness for a further four years.
Building on over four decades of rugby heritage, the new agreement will see Guinness work closely with the RFU to help give fans an unrivalled match-day experience at Twickenham Stadium.
The partnership extension builds on the brand’s already strong presence in and around the venue, while also becoming the official partner of west fan village stage and show.
Guinness will also create unique opportunities with England Rugby legends to deliver engaging experiences and content for all supporters, not just those in attendance at Twickenham.
Steve Brown, chief executive officer at the RFU, said: “We are delighted to be renewing our partnership with Guinness – a leading global brand that has a strong rugby association.
“Guinness has become synonymous with England Rugby and the match-day experience, and shares our aims to prioritise fan engagement so together we are looking forward to delivering more unbelievable match days to England fans.”
Meanwhile, England Rugby announced earlier this week that it has renewed its license agreement with OPRO, the world’s largest manufacturer of the most technically advanced mouthguard.
