Pitchero becomes Football Association of Wales Official Grassroots Partner

The Football Association of Wales has signed up with Pitchero a two-year agreement to become the Official Grassroots Partner of the FAW.

The partnership allows Pitchero to support all grassroots football clubs in Wales with the delivery of its digital technology.

The collaboration will aim to increase individual club revenue and support in uncovering the next generation footballing superstars, while also providing essential training and guidance for clubs on Pitchero’s digital tools, digital marketing, revenue generation and online sponsorship.

FAW clubs will also receive workshops as well as ongoing online and telephone support from the UK-based Pitchero team.

From a coaching and development perspective, Pitchero will assist within various coaching conferences and courses, to aid the development of future talent.

Mark Fletcher, Pitchero CEO and co-founder, said: “Our partnership with Football Association of Wales further strengthens our core mission to unite and strengthen the presence of all UK grassroots sports.

“Our new supportive role in Welsh football will enable Pitchero to become a partner across Welsh football uniting a digital community of players, parents, coaches and fans.

Jonathan Ford, Football Association of Wales CEO, added: “Working alongside Pitchero, we’re relentlessly building towards a stronger future for grassroots football in Wales. The FAW is investing time and resource to creating a future generation of global superstars, made possible through this grassroots initiative.”

BT launches competition to find new ideas around sports media

BT is launching a competition aimed at entrepreneurs and start-ups to find new ideas to help BT Sport develop fan media engagement and bringing viewers closer to the action.

The winning idea in the BT Infinity Lab competition will be trialled by BT Sport and could partner with BT on ideas, original technology and improving the TV viewing experience for the public.

This is the second time BT Sport has run the BT Infinity Lab competition.

The last winners, Seenit, based in London, now contribute to the production of BT Sport’s Premier League Tonight show.

For this competition, the winner will again have the support of BT Innovation teams and BT Sport to trial their successful technology or service with BT and also receive six months membership at TechHub with access to their workspace and events.

Entries are encouraged to focus on disrupting traditional broadcast approaches, including capturing the in-venue experience, use of data and new technologies such as VR.

The deadline for entries is midday on Monday 13 November 2017.

World Rugby announces SECOM as Rugby World Cup 2019 Official Sponsor

World Rugby has announced SECOM as an Official Sponsor of the Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan.

The security company is partnering with the showcase event for the first time but is a long-standing partner of rugby through the Japan Rugby Football Union, Sunwolves Super Rugby team and the Top League.

Under the deal, SECOM will provide security expertise to the tournament organisers to support operational delivery for the tournament that will be played across 12 host cities between 20 September and 2 November.

World Rugby Chairman Bill Beaumont said:  “SECOM is a true supporter of rugby in Japan and a brand-leader, and we look forward to partnering with them to channel that passion and expertise into ensuring a spectacular Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan.

“The appointment of another global brand to the growing Rugby World Cup 2019 commercial portfolio, further reflects the profile and prestige of one of the world’s biggest and best-loved events.”

SECOM President, Yasuo Nakayama added: “I am excited that Rugby World Cup 2019 will be held in Japan. Sponsoring this international event, the first in Asia is a true privilege for us and we look forward to bringing our security expertise to ensure the smooth running of the tournament.

“I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to everyone involved in hosting and running Rugby World Cup 2019. I wish the event a great success and the participating players all the best.”

SECOM join an already long list of sponsors for the Rugby World Cup 2019, which inludesEmirates, Heineken, Land Rover, Mastercard, Société Générale and DHL.

Movistar Plus secures NBA broadcasting rights until 2020

Movistar +, Telefónica’s television platform, will continue to be a reference for basketball in Spain, having reached an agreement to broadcast the NBA in Spain for three more seasons.

This year represents the 22nd year of the agreement between the NBA and the television platform.

Subscribers will be able to watch entire games exclusively on television, with a different content and highlights on social media.

In addition, the offer is completed with other two main competitions worldwide: Euroleague and ACB.

Movistar’s coverage will start 17 October and Wednesday 18 live from 1:30 am with the Cleveland Cavaliers facing Boston Celtics and reigning champions Golden State Warriors vs Houston Rockets.

Movistar Plus will continue to issue exclusive NBA programs as well, such as NBA Live, NBA in Action and NBA Generation.

Brentford FC announce partnership with Boosh 365

Brentford Football Club announced a new partnership with communications service provider Boosh 365.

Boosh 365 offer communications services for large and small businesses and they have now signed up as a Brentford FC Official Club Supplier.

The firm, a Vodafone Total Communications Partner, offers broadband and mobile phone support for a variety of businesses.

Mark Rose, managing director at Boosh 365, said: “Partnering with Brentford FC is a huge honour for Boosh 365, I’m a huge football fan and love the feel of the club.

“It’s been great to be a supplier to the Club for their telecoms and even better now to be partnering with them.”

James Parkinson, Brentford FC’s commercial director, said: “Boosh 365 are a young, forward-thinking company who are working closely with Brentford FC to help redefine our mobile communications platform.”

“We’re appreciative of Boosh 365 joining our rapidly growing partnership family.”

Volvo Ocean Race release list of broadcast partners

The Volvo Ocean Race and its global distribution agency Sunset+Vine announced their initial list of broadcast partners this week in advance of the race start on 22 October 2017.

Twitter, Facebook, Apple and Samsung will bring race content to the most popular digital platforms in the world, while Spain (TVE/Teledeporte), Portugal (RTP), Brasil (TV Brasil), France (Sport+), South Africa (SuperSport), Australia (Fox Sports), New Zealand (Sky NZ), UK (Sky Sports) and Holland (NOS) all feature national channels or premier sports broadcasters covering the race programming throughout nine months.

Other premium broadcasters in top markets include J-Sport (Japan), Sport TV (Turkey), TG4 (Ireland) and Sweden’s TV3 Sport.

On the digital side, Sunset+Vine has delivered partnerships for the race with leading online and mobile platforms such as Sina.com (China), Twitter (Global), Tencent (China), Aftonbladet Sport (Sweden), Samsung (Asia) and OutsideTV.com (USA) to bring the race’s award-winning content to smartphones, desktops and tablets.

The TV programming will consist of a one-hour race preview, nine 30-minute leg summary shows and a one-hour race review in August 2018 for seven hours of TV coverage.

“With our new crew communicator, we will have video footage going right from the boats 3,000 miles at sea into the hands of sports and sailing fans in an instant,” said Leon Sefton, head of television of Volvo Ocean Race.

“Enhancing longer-form television content, we want fans to catch glimpses of our race and our incredible sailing footage on their social feeds via popular sports websites and on sports news shows in their home markets throughout the nine months of this competition.”

Andrew Piller, head of media partnerships at Sunset+Vine, added: “Volvo has taken an exciting new digital-first approach to this race and Sunset+Vine is delighted to have played a key role in leveraging across not just traditional television networks but also the digital and social channels.

“The new emphasis on digital content is a decision we made during the last cycle to provide raw and unfiltered content straight from the boats – to let the public and sports fans see what it’s like to sail around the world in some of the toughest possible conditions over 45,000 nautical miles.”

IOC launches new Candidature Process for 2026 Winter Olympic Games

In line with Olympic Agenda 2020, the Candidature Process for the 2026 Winter Olympics has been reformed to enable cities and NOCs to have more sustainable, feasible and cost-effective  Games, and to align with their local, regional and national long-term development goals.

The new Candidature Process for the Olympic Winter Games 2026 ensures a reduction in the workload for the candidates by requiring fewer deliverables, and comprises two stages:

  • A new, one-year non-committal Dialogue Stage(October 2017 to October 2018) that will provide Interested Cities and NOCs with an opportunity to engage in a collaboration with the IOC to assess the benefits and requirements related to hosting the Games.
  • A shortened formal Candidature Stage(October 2018 to September 2019) with streamlined procedures enabling those selected Candidate Cities to work closely with the IOC to ensure the best possible Games delivery and long-term legacy plans.

Cities will not be required to submit any formal proposals and guarantees, or make any presentations. The IOC will send teams of technical experts to help develop cities’ candidatures.

In October 2018, the IOC Session will invite a number of Interested Cities to participate in the Candidature Stage.

Candidates will be asked to submit a single Candidature File, due in January 2019, and the number of questions in the questionnaire has been reduced by one third.

The Host City Contract 2026 will be published in July 2018 and will include an IOC contribution to the success of the Games estimated at  $925 million.

The new process for the Olympic Winter Games 2026 builds on the recommendations of the Olympic Winter Games Strategic Working Group, composed of IOC Members, representatives from the seven Winter International Federations, National Olympic Committees, winter-sport Olympians, TOP Partners, the IOC administration and experts.

iSportconnect to help LaLiga achieve global ambitions

(LONDON) – iSportconnect today announced an expanded relationship with LaLiga to help the Spanish top flight football league achieve its global ambitions.

As part of the relationship iSportconnect will do what it does best: build new connections, and deepen existing ones, between LaLiga and major players in the sports business community to support LaLiga’s drive to grow its brand and brand partnerships on the global stage.

“We are thrilled and honoured to work with an iconic sports organisation such as LaLiga,” said Sree Varma, founder and CEO of iSportconnect.

“We can’t wait to put our platform at the service of LaLiga in the global sports business community. LaLiga is already a global success and this partnership promises even better days ahead.”

LaLiga has been focused on global growth following the first centralised sale of TV broadcast rights in 2015. LaLiga President Javier Tebas has set forth a clear vision to grow the brand as well as the audience for the Spanish football league, widely considered to be the world’s best.

In the 2016/2017 season, LaLiga attracted a record viewership of over 2.5 billion globally. This season the TV broadcast is an even bigger spectacle thanks to continued technological innovations.

“LaLiga has seen a tremendous increase in terms of global brand and sponsoring awareness,” said Adolfo Bara, General Manager Marketing & Sales at LaLiga.

“For us, it is key to partner with top international business/sports platforms that help us increase our profile and awareness among key stakeholders in the industry. iSportconnect through its network and private events gives us tremendous support on global expansion strategies.”

About iSportconnect:

iSportconnect was launched in 2010 with the aim of bringing together sports business professionals around the world in a sports business networking community enabling them to meet one another, find information and obtain access to a wide range of relevant services.

The platform is now the largest global private network of sport business executives, where membership is exclusive and follows a strict door policy.

Sky Sports and At The Races secure 2017 Breeders’ Cup Classic broadcasting rights

At The Races and Sky Sports will broadcast the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Classic exclusively live on 4th November, giving viewers the chance to watch superstar racehorse Arrogate’s last ever run before retirement.

Arrogate, renamed the world’s best horse, with an official rating of 134 and the thoroughbred who has won more prize-money than any other, will be retired to stud after running in the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic race to be held this year at Del Mar, California.

At The Races will be the only place to watch every Breeders’ Cup World Championships race live in the UK this year. The channel will mix its own live studio production with full NBC coverage on both Friday 3rd and Saturday 4th November.

Attheraces.com, one of the UK and Ireland’s largest racing website, will again host a dedicated Breeders’ Cup event website.

Sky Sports will pick up NBC coverage late on Saturday night with their own studio presentation including all the news, build-up and live race action from sixty minutes before Post time for the feature Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Matthew Imi, chief executive, At The Races said: “Arrogate should make this year’s Classic very special and the Breeders’ Cup continues to be a wonderful and unrivalled international showcase for our sport.

“We look forward to following all the stories and excitement again with coverage across our TV, website and social media channels.”

Craig Fravel, president and CEO of Breeders’ Cup Limited, added: “At The Races has always been a great partner for the Breeders’ Cup and we value the dedicated and committed coverage it provides.

“We are particularly delighted this year, working with ATR, to have secured additional coverage on Sky Sports for the Breeders’ Cup Classic.”

Lagardère Sports and Entertainment launches global partnership marketing agency

Lagardère Sports and Entertainment has launched Lagardère Plus, a global agency with a mission to transform traditional brand sponsorships into highly inventive and impactful marketing platforms.

The new agency incorporates Lagardère Sports and Entertainment’s existing global consulting businesses, including agencies akzio! and Zaechel Int. in Germany, and Sponsorship 360 in France.

“From sports, music and entertainment, to culinary and cause marketing, Lagardère Plus will help brands and properties get the attention they need in a distracted world,” said Andrew Georgiou, CEO of Lagardère Sports and Entertainment.

“As media fragmentation affects many of the marketing channels that CMOs have relied on for decades, partnership marketing becomes absolutely vital for brands to connect with their audiences. Lagardère Plus combines global expertise and experience with highly knowledgeable local teams to deliver exceptional results.”

As part of this new effort, Lagardère has acquired Brave, a London-based agency with an impressive track record in developing and delivering creative campaigns for global brands including Amazon Prime, Brown Forman, and Greenpeace.