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

Formula One appoints Ellie Norman as head of marketing

Ellie Norman has been appointed as Formula One’s new head of marketing.

Norman joins the motor racing body from Virgin Media, where she served as head of advertising for five years.

During her time at the telecoms giant Norman led memorable brand campaigns including a ‘9.58 seconds’ advert starring Usain Bolt.

She was also responsible for a transition away from the sponsorship of V Festival towards strategic partnerships at Southampton Football Club, Bafta TV and EGX.

Sean Bratches, managing director of commercial operations at Formula One, said: “Ellie’s appointment represents the latest addition to our expanding management team, aimed at increasing engagement with Formula One fans globally.

“Her previous experience across major automotive and media brands will help Ellie to drive Formula One’s marketing strategy forward.

Norman added: “The commercial potential of the brand is enormous and I can’t wait to work with Sean and the growing Formula One team to unlock new opportunities to engage with Formula One fans around the world.”

iSportconnect announces new partnership with Engage Sports Media

iSportconnect, the largest global private network of Sport Business Executives, is pleased to announce a new partnership with Engage Sports Media (ESM).

Over the last 5 years ESM has established itself as a leader amongst the new breed of modern content companies, producing and distributing world class digital content for sports IP owners and sponsors, backed by major investment in analytics, publishing and technical solutions, demonstrably driving new commercial value.

ESM are delivering clear digital content strategies and sponsor activations for a variety partners across multiple sports including: Arsenal, MLB, Goodwood, World Rugby, Emirates Team New Zealand and Godolphin, ESM’s next phase is to service partner and sponsor growth across its 3 main content hubs in London, Mumbai and Dubai.

iSportconnect Founder and CEO Sree Varma said: “We are delighted to announce our latest partnership with Engage Sports Media. We look forward to helping each other grow and build on our respective positions as industry-leaders.”

Speaking of the partnership, ESM Director Casey Harwood said: “Since our early partnerships with MCFC and the FA and with subsequent investment from the Swedish media group MTG, we have been investing and building competencies to bring value to our clients and drive sponsor value.

“Now with a staff of over 70 specialists to support growth, it’s time to communicate to a wider group of domestic and international partners; the iSportconnect model of matching fast changing sport industry needs with our specific skills and resource is the targeted and no-nonsense approach we want to continue to take.”

England & GB Hockey announce new Official Performance Nutrition Supplier

MSC Nutrition will be the Official Performance Nutrition Supplier to England and GB Hockey, in a four year deal encompassing the World Cup and through Tokyo 2020.

The new partnership will see MSC Nutrition provide England & GB Hockey’s men’s and women’s national teams with their nutritional supplements and support required for training and competitions. As well as working alongside the national team and their nutrition specialists, the partnership will also see MSC work closely with all levels of the amateur game to deliver insight and content.

England & GB Hockey’s Performance Director Ed Barney said, “As we look toward Tokyo 2020 we must maximise every opportunity for a competitive advantage and performance nutrition is fundamental to our success. We’re delighted to have MSC Nutrition on our team and the experience they bring in supporting individual athlete needs in a team environment will be critical to our next cycle.”

Nicky Edmonds, founder of MSC Nutrition commented, “ I am absolutely thrilled to be working with GB & England Hockey, as a company we were gripped by the excitement of the Rio games and this is a fantastic opportunity to work across all levels of hockey across the country.

We’re looking forward to working closely with England Hockey’s nutritional team, to provide our products for both teams and where necessary we’ll develop bespoke supplements as we learn more about hockey’s specific requirements.”