TV Sports Awards 2017 to be hosted at Salle Des Etoiles, Sporting Club in Monaco

We are thrilled to announce that the TV Sports Awards (TVSA) will be returning for its third year. Applications to apply are open and tables and seats are now on sale.

Taking place during the Sportel Monaco Convention, the prestigious TVSA will be hosted on the 23rd October at the glamorous Salle Des Etoiles, part of the Sporting Club Monaco. Under the sparkling lights, awards will be presented in front of an audience of more than 300 high-profile guests and legends from the world of sport, media and entertainment.

TVSA, in aid of Play for Change Charitable Trust, will recognise and award exceptional sports media achievements across 7 unique categories, including: Best Sports Broadcaster, Best Live Event Coverage, Best Digital Project, Best TV Rights Deal, Media Executive of the Year, Agency of the Year, Best Football Rights Deal and Sports Commercial Partner of the Year.

Returning also is the Play for Change award, which highlights an athlete who has delivered extraordinary social responsibility work. Previous winners include former England and Manchester United footballer Rio Ferdinand and GB Paralympian Anne Wafula Strike MBE.

Applications for the awards are open until 14th August and will be shortlisted by the knowledgeable and dedicated independent panel who have been selected for their range of expertise, formed of representatives from influential and well-respected sports media partners. These include iSportconnect, Sportcal and SportsPro.

The official shortlist will be announced at the end of August and votes can be casted online.

The TVSA is the event for companies to showcase their work and raise their profile amongst the sport media industry, whilst supporting a valuable cause.

All profits raised at TVSA go towards the Play for Change Charitable Trust who are dedicated to improving the lives of children through sport and education.

The impact of the funds raised from previous events has enabled Play for Change to make a huge difference to children and their communities, and last year the event raised enough funds to help a further 1,200 children in Nepal.

Registration opens for SportAccord Convention 2018

SportAccord Convention confirms registration is open for the sixteenth edition of the Convention set to take place in Bangkok, Thailand from 15-20 April 2018. A city destination brimming with opportunities, #SAC2018 will be held at the five-star Centara Grand & Bangkok Convention Centre at CentralWorld, a world-class conference complex in the heart of the capital.

The Official Signing Ceremony for #SAC2018 took place in the Host City Bangkok on 31 May 2017 and was attended by the Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand, and the Minister of Tourism and Sports for Thailand, with well over 100 people in attendance from government, media and other organisations. Nis Hatt, Managing Director of SportAccord Convention said:

“SportAccord Convention is the biggest annual global gathering of the sporting community and is the only Convention worldwide with every International Federation present. Without doubt, the SportAccord Convention in Bangkok is going to present a myriad of opportunities for every organisation and delegate who attends. Hatt went on to say:

“The business of sport has grown enormously since the last Convention took place in the region and I would strongly recommend anyone who has a stake in sport, to take advantage of the unique networking opportunities SportAccord Convention offers and register for Bangkok.”

The multiplex venue provides a complete experience for delegates attending the Convention. Both the hotel and the convention centre connect seamlessly with CentralWorld, one of the largest lifestyle and shopping complexes in Southeast Asia. Organisations are encouraged to book their place early and take advantage of the early-bird rate of CHF1,500 (a discount of CHF1, 000 from the list price), available for a short period only.

The conference rooms and state-of-the-art exhibition hall offer outstanding facilities with natural day-lit rooms in a pillar-less environment. Exhibitor visibility will be second-to-none, and dedicated networking zones will help to showcase what organisations have to offer and how delegates connect.

The world’s premier annual event at the service of sport, SportAccord Convention is the place where sport meets whether it’s for International Federations, organising committees, cities and regions, marketing and sponsorship enterprises, legal teams, insurance companies, healthcare organisations, and many more. The Convention creates the occasion to build relationships, seed ideas and gain visibility on a world-stage, and many of these, play out as new business opportunities, or projects to further develop and support the sports movement.

As Deborah Jevans (CBE), former Tennis Player and the first woman to be appointed Director of Sport for both the Olympic and Paralympic Games (London 2012) told SportsPro during a podcast (08:05) at this year’s Convention in Aarhus, Denmark:

“SportAccord Convention is the place to be seen and is a really important event in the sporting calendar. The growth of sport has advanced as a business and is not just about the field of play. You don’t necessarily do a deal here but there is a lot of networking, a lot of conversations take place and relationships are created. Jevans went on to say, “Talking to companies during the Convention in Aarhus confirms this. SportAccord Convention provides the opportunity to meet any number of people from throughout the whole world.”

The Convention will include a 3-day exhibition as well as a full conference programme focused on sponsorship and marketing. Programme streams will include the Plenary, City Forum, LawAccord, MediaAccord and HealthAccord. The Convention also offers numerous social events giving delegates the opportunity to network outside more formal settings, including the daily Exhibition Cocktails, Opening Ceremony and After Hours Bar, and its cultural programme will also take advantage of all that Bangkok has to offer.

For further information on the benefits of attending the SportAccord Convention, visit www.sportaccordconvention.com and follow #SAC2018 on Twitter for the latest news.

PMY Group announces European expansion and appointment of Richard Knight as Regional Chief Executive Officer

Leading technology strategy, investment and management company, PMY Group (PMY) is thrilled to announce the expansion of its operations into Europe through its appointment of a new regional Chief Executive Officer.

PMY opened offices in London in February and has secured several high-profile clients in the UK, Ireland, Spain and Portugal. The investment into the European market is the next phase in the global expansion of PMY.

Announcing the expansion of PMY into Europe, Group Managing Director Paul Yeomans says, “The business has experienced a significant period of growth across Australia, New Zealand and Asia. Europe presents an enormous opportunity to expand the business. The timing to leverage the knowledge, expertise and experience we have developed into the northern hemisphere could not be better”.

To lead the expansion, PMY are pleased to announce Richard Knight as CEO of PMY Europe. Richard was formerly Stadium Director at Twickenham for the Rugby Football Union. Additionally, Adam Pitt, Head of Business and Technology Solutions for Europe has relocated from Australia and will lead a strong team of technical experts to drive PMY’s European operation.

Knight was excited to be announcing his appointment at PMY, “I’m very happy to be joining a company at the cutting edge of public space and stadia technology and look forward to leveraging my venue management expertise to drive PMY’s expansion into Europe.”

PMY Group were recently nominated as a finalist in the 2017 Supplier of the Year category at the Stadium Business Awards in Dublin, highlighting the momentum of the business, which will be continued in Europe under Richard’s care.

About PMY

PMY specialises in the development, implementation, management and commercialisation of digital and technology projects.

The group works closely with leading clients in the sport & entertainment, stadium & venues, government, retail, infrastructure and transport sectors and has developed unique intellectual property through the delivery of practical outcomes within the fast growing digital and technology sector.

Manchester United and Real Madrid select LA 2024 Olympic Village as US Tour base

Global football giants Manchester United and Real Madrid have chosen UCLA campus, home of the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Village, for their pre-season tour training base.

UCLA’s campus will be the training base for Manchester United and Real Madrid for the West Coast leg of their pre-season tour to the US, in preparation for the 2017-18 season. Both squads will use the same existing sports, medical, dining and leisure facilities that will be available to the Olympians and Paralympians in 2024.

LA 2024 Chairman Casey Wasserman said: “We’re delighted that out of all the possible venues across the US, Manchester United and Real Madrid chose to use LA 2024’s Olympic and Paralympic Village at UCLA as their pre-season training base. UCLA is a paradise for elite athletes – it has already produced 420 Olympians from 45 countries.

The quality of the campus means LA 2024 can offer the world’s athletes a home-from-hone with state-of-the-art facilities while eliminating the risk and billions of dollars in construction inherent in building a facility from scratch. The Olympic and Paralympic Village at UCLA was the logical, responsible and Olympic Agenda 2020-compliant choice for LA 2024.”

Manchester United’s players will be welcomed by staff at UCLA who currently serve over 16,000 residents from around the world every day.

Both Manchester United and Real Madrid will play pre-season matches at other proposed LA 2024 venues during their time in the City of Angels.

England’s most decorated club take on LA Galaxy at the StubHub Center, and Spain’s European Champions face Manchester City at the LA Memorial Coliseum, LA 2024’s athletics and ceremonies venue.

UCLA’s Athletic Director Dan Guerrero said: “UCLA is extremely proud to be welcoming these two iconic teams and their world-class players to our campus this summer. Sport is an integral part our culture as an institution, and that is why we work tirelessly to offer our athletes and visiting athletes the best possible conditions. From sports facilities to health, nutrition and accommodation, UCLA gives athletes everything they need to fulfil their potential. It is fitting that some of today’s most famous global sports stars will be testing the facilities for tomorrow’s Olympians and Paralympians.”

Manchester United Class of ’92 owned Salford City announces shirt sponsorship deal

Free-to-play prediction game Soccer Saturday Super 6 has struck a new long-term deal to become the shirt sponsor of Salford City FC.

The National League North club has emjoyed a rapid rise since being taken over by several members of Manchester United’s ‘Class of ’92’ – including Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville and Nicky Butt – at the beginning of the 2014/15 season.

The club, which recently announced that all players and management are to go full-time, narrowly missed out on promotion into the National League last season after a play-off defeat to Halifax Town.

Prior to that, they had achieved back-to-back promotions since being taken over by the Old Trafford legends.

Super 6, fronted by Soccer Saturday’s Jeff Stelling, is a weekly prediction game that runs throughout the football season where players must correctly guess six football scores to win a £250,000 jackpot prize.

The deal marks a new landmark in the rapid rise of the Salford club, as they strive for a place in the Sky Bet EFL.

Co-owner and former United captain Gary Neville said about the deal: “It’s fantastic for the club. A few years ago when we came into Salford we recognised we wanted to try and align ourselves with fantastic partners and everyone knows Super 6, they’re very prominent on the Soccer Saturday show we all love.

“It’s great that we’re able to put this long-term partnership together.”

Salford City chairman Karen Baird said: “The sponsorship is a massive deal for our level, for such a big company to get involved with us is brilliant. For the last few years, we’ve had local sponsors, but Super 6 is a great fit, as a well-known company established within the footballing industry.

“The sponsorship has already allowed us to continue to grow and bring in a better level of players ahead of the new season and beyond.”

Super 6 spokesman Edwin Martin said: “We’re absolutely delighted to be linking up with Salford City at such an important part of their journey. The club has been going from strength to strength on and off the pitch with their vision and ambition being a big attraction for us as a new sponsor.

“We are looking forward to a long and successful relationship between Super 6 and Salford City.”

 

Unscriptd announces Anthony Hogg as Chief Revenue Officer for EMEA

Anthony Hogg joins Unscriptd, the world’s only athlete media publishing company, with a wealth of experience and a remit to grow revenue through its athlete collaborations and technology platform.

The brainchild of several key leading former Nike executives, Unscriptd is leading a fundamental shift in sports media publishing, content creation, sponsorship and monetization by enabling athletes to become world class publishers and content creators and utilizing proprietary technology that enables the management, distribution and measurement of content across social and digital channels.

Unscriptd has a rapidly growing global athlete network and has worked with many of the world’s elite athletes including Cristiano Ronaldo, Gerard Pique, Ander Herrera, Jordan Henderson, Virat Kohli and Andre Agassi amongst others.

Hogg joins a highly accomplished team at Unscriptd across content, digital publishing and data with former executives from industry leaders such as BuzzFeed, Twitter and Shazam.

The former broadcast executive has a proven track record in building high performance commercial teams to deliver significant and sustained revenue growth, as well as years of commercial and sporting experience. His previous roles first at Channel 5 and then running the first creative and then overall sales team at talkSPORT and Sport magazine mean he is perfectly placed to implement growth at Unscriptd.

Hogg has been appointed from video content company CONTENTED where he was part of the leadership team that developed the business from start-up to Snap Inc. global creative partner so will understand the potential within Unscriptd to develop.

Hogg will be leading the commercial team at Unscriptd to maximize the value for Unscriptd’s commercial partners through bespoke solutions enabling the partners to connect to the energy and power of sport and reach engaged audiences like never before.

He said: “I’m looking forward to evolving the Unscriptd offering across EMEA and building on the strong foundations that have been laid. The opportunity to bring collaboration on content with the best athletes in the world to commercial partners is something I’m really excited about.

“The world of sports marketing is changing and when you team our level of access with the technology platform we’ve built it’s a unique and compelling offer to bring to market.”

BT Sport secures European Rugby Champions Cup and European Rugby Challenge Cup broadcasting rights

BT Sport has secured the rights to broadcast all of the European Rugby Champions Cup and the European Rugby Challenge Cup matches live in the UK and Ireland.

The new deal, starting from the 2018/19 season, will see BT Sport showing all of the best European Club Rugby matches until at least 2021/22.

BT Sport will broadcast  134 matches over nine weekends.

Since launching in 2013, BT Sport has broadcast live Aviva Premiership Rugby and is currently broadcasting up to 69 matches per season in top-flight English rugby and extended highlights rights for all 135 matches in the competition.

Since 2014, BT Sport has also shown at least 37 games in both European elite competitions per season with English club Saracens winning it for the past two years.

Andy Haworth, BT’s managing director of content and strategy, said: “BT Sport is now the home of elite European rugby, as well as the home of Aviva Premiership Rugby. We’re proud to have won all of the live rights for this fantastic competition. We’re extremely passionate about our rugby coverage and will continue to work hard to grow the profile of the sport.”

Vincent Gaillard, CEO EPCR, said “We are delighted to move to a single pay-TV platform for European club rugby with a premium broadcaster in BT Sport, who share our commitment to the promotion of our competitions. We look forward to further developing that relationship to continually create outstanding rugby experiences for fans across the United Kingdom and Ireland.”

Team New Zealand receives $5 million government funding in boost to America’s Cup defence

Team New Zealand have received a $5 million funding boost from the country’s government to help it retain its key personnel.

Emirates Team New Zealand recently cruised to America’s Cup glory at the expense of Oracle Team USA in Bermuda by claiming international sport’s oldest trophy courtesy of a dominant 7-1 victory.

Peter Burling became the youngest helmsman to secure sailing’s biggest prize in the process and the impressive overall performance has been welcomed by officials in New Zealand, with economic benefits expected to be equal to those gained from hosting the Lord of the Rings film series.

Economic Development Minister Simon Bridges told local media: “Team New Zealand displayed incredible talent and innovation during the 35th America’s Cup campaign.

“This investment of $5 million will go some way toward protecting the valuable intellectual property, experience and skills that rest with key team members.

“While the location for the 36th America’s Cup has not been decided yet, we do know that hosting a regatta in New Zealand has the potential to generate significant economic benefits.

“The America’s Cup regattas hosted in New Zealand in 2000 and 2003 had a significant impact on the New Zealand economy generating around half a billion dollars of total value added per regatta, particularly in the marine and tourism sectors.

“New Zealand Trade and Enterprise also held a successful business leverage programme at the 34th America’s Cup in San Francisco in 2013 which generated trade and investment deals for New Zealand worth $200 million and a further $120 million of new sales opportunities and investor interest.”

iSportconnect praised for ‘brilliant’ inaugural Esports Masterclass

iSportconnect, the largest global private network of sport business executives, has won high praise from delegates attending the first Esports Masterclass on June 29 at Lewis Silkin’s offices in central London.

The inaugural event was well attended with over 80 delegates from a host of sectors present to learn about an industry that is on course to generate $1 billion annually before the end of the decade – but remains an unknown quantity to some.

Gfinity’s Justin Mier kicked off proceedings with an insightful keynote speech before industry thought leaders took part in three discussion-based panels.

Ideas were shared on a broad range of topics, including Esports organisation, regulation, opportunities to reach millennials and what could lie in store for the movement over the next five years.

There was a clear thirst for knowledge within the room as attendees were quick to air their opinions and insight on everything Esports, while a selection of networking sessions proved to be both popular and valuable.

The second edition of iSportconnect’s Esports Masterclass will be staged in 2018, with further information set to be available at a later date.

Please contact daniel.wexler@isportconnect.com to register your interest in future iSportconnet events.

ECB announces Sky Sports and BBC media rights deals from 2020 onwards

The England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) today announced the award of media rights for all of its domestic First Class County and international matches, played at home, from 2020 to 2024.

The partnerships with Sky Sports and BBC will deliver a combined income of £1.1 billion for all media rights

The deal will provide fans with live international T20s, matches from the women’s and New T20 competitions, primetime evening highlights, digital clips and radio’s Test Match Special delivered by BBC.

Announcing the new long-term partnerships, Tom Harrison, Chief Executive Officer of ECB, said:

“This is a great result for cricket. ECB has secured the reach, revenue and relevance the game deserves, to help it to grow.”

“Sky Sports have offered a true partnership – more than a broadcast deal – with their shared vision for cricket. Their innovation and production standards are widely acclaimed. Here, they further increase their live commitment and have added bold ideas to drive engagement and to help to get a bat and ball in more hands.

“BBC are valuable long-term partners, bringing cricket to listeners, viewers and a new digital audience. We are delighted they will go to another level with live coverage of international and domestic T20 – men’s and women’s – alongside prime-time highlights shows and a commitment to taking the game to even wider audiences.”

MEDIA RIGHTS DISTRIBUTION: 2020 TO 2024

Sky Sports:

  • Test matches (Live / Highlights / Clips)
  • International T20 – men (Live / Highlights / Clips)
  • One-Day Internationals – men (Live / Highlights / Clips)
  • England women’s Internationals (Live / Highlights / Clips)
  • New T20 competition (Live / Highlights / Clips)
  • Women’s T20 competition (Live / Highlights / Clips)
  • County Championship (Live / Highlights / Clips)
  • County T20 (Live / Highlights / Clips)
  • One-Day Cup (Live / Highlights / Clips)

BBC TV:

  • Test matches (Highlights / Clips)
  • International T20 – men (2 x Live / Highlights / Clips)
  • One-Day Internationals – men (Highlights / Clips)
  • England women’s internationals (1x T20 Live / Highlights / Clips)
  • New T20 competition (10 x Live incl. Final / Clips)
  • Women’s T20 competition ( 8 x Live incl. Final / Clips)
  • County Championship (Clips)
  • County T20 (Clips)
  • One-Day Cup (Clips)

BBC Radio:

  • Live coverage of all competitions, domestic and international