Badminton England appoint Sport Collective to support and implement commercial strategy

The National Governing Body for the world’s second largest participation sport has appointed sports rights and marketing agency Sport Collective to support the development of Badminton England’s commercial strategy and to deliver sport business training to its athletes.

With four million people getting on court to play each year, badminton is one of England’s most popular participation sports and is firmly established as the nation’s most played racket sport.

More than two million children also set out on a lifelong love of the sport via Badminton England’s schools programme.

Olympic medal winning athletes and the world’s oldest and most prestigious badminton Grand Slam event – the YONEX All England Open Badminton Championships – are all also managed and organised by Badminton England.

Sport Collective will work closely with Badminton England to develop and implement new strategies to increase revenue from digital content, membership and major events.

Sport Collective Training will also deliver bespoke sport business training to Badminton England’s elite athlete network, building their knowledge to support their career pathway.

Adrian Christy, CEO of Badminton England said: “Our new Discover Badminton strategy tells a great story of the exciting opportunities ahead for English badminton and we are delighted to partner with Sport Collective to help us build and execute our commercial partner programme”.

Peter Daire, Director of Sport Collective said: “We are really pleased to be working with the talented team at Badminton England. Their participation numbers, Olympic success and major event staging make them a really attractive sport which we are delighted to be involved in growing further”.

Esteve Calzada becomes new main shareholder of CE Sabadell

Today Segunda División’s club Centre d’Esports Sabadell FC has started a new project, with Sabarcat Partners SL – led by Spanish entrepreneur Esteve Calzada – having acquired 63% of its shares.

The Spanish club was previously controlled by several shareholders led by Viacron SA.

The transaction will provide an immediate cash injection into the club and includes a bonus scheme consideration linked to sporting success in the coming years.

The agreements signed today also include a provision ensuring that Sabarcat Partners SL will retain a minimum 51% of Centre d’Esports Sabadell shares once current shareholder loans are converted into club shares.

This will happen as soon as the entity exits bankruptcy process shortly.

Antoni Reguant will continue to be the club’s president, and will be supported by a newly created executive committee including Antoni Reguant himself, Bruno Batlle, Alfredo Merino and Esteve Calzada. Such committee has been active for a few days already, with special focus on the decisions that must be taken in the sporting area.

In the coming days, there will also be changes affecting Centre d’Esports Sabadell FC’s Board of Directors, to reflect the new shareholding scheme at the club.

Roger Federer v Rafael Nadal: Tennis legends dominate on court again – but how do they compare financially?

Those who may have started to write the tennis obituaries of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have been forced into a rewrite so far this year, with both men sharing the first Grand Slams of 2017.

Federer spent much of 2016 sidelined but staged a remarkable comeback to capture the Australian Open in January, extending his record Grand Slam tally to 18.

Meanwhile, Nadal, who lost out to Federer in Melbourne, underlined his status as the King of Clay by winning an unprecedented 10th French Open title at Roland Garros this weekend – his first Grand Slam in four years.

The Spaniard now has 15 Grand Slam titles, second only to the Swiss.

The claim that both these men are two of the sport’s greatest ever players is undeniable.

But it’s not just on the court where they continue to dominate. Here we look at how off the court, their star powers show no signs of diminishing:

Career Earnings:

Federer

$104m in prize money. As mentioned before, Federer now has 18 Grand Slam titles as well as 26 ATP Masters 1000 titles and a record six year-end championship crowns.

Nadal

$86m in prize money. Nadal has powered his way to 15 Grand Slams and 30 ATP Masters 1000 titles.

Earnings this year:

Federer

$64M.

Federer roared back into the Tennis mainstream in January with his win at the Australian Open, before going on to pick up Masters titles in Cincinnati and Miami.

Nadal

$34M.

His profile was kept alive by a gold medal in the doubles at the Rio 2016 Olympics and then this year he pocketed $2.4m alone from his French Open triumph.

Kit deals:

Federer

The Swiss’ 10-year $100m deal with Nike was inked in 2008 and is due to come to expire at the end of this year. One would not bet against some form of extension, however, with his return to Wimbledon next month being highly anticipated.

Federer also has an association with Wilson, signing a “lifetime” deal with the racquet maker in 2006. The deal reportedly earns him $2m a year.

Nadal

Nike also have a fruitful relationship with Nadal, having signed up the Spaniard around the same time as Federer, reportedly for the same $10m a year figure. Not much to separate these two megastars, here.

Nadal’s 10-year racquet deal with Babalot is due to expire this year also.

Outside Endorsements:

Federer

Federer is arguably the most successful sportsman in terms of off-court endorsements, racking up almost $45m a year.

He has deals with the likes of Credit Suisse, Mercedes, Rolex, Lindt, Jura, Moet & Chandon, Sunrise and NetJets. His most recent deal was with pasta brand Barilla. The deal runs for more than five years and is expected to net Federer roughly $40 million.

Nadal

Has long standing deals with Telefonica, Banco Sabadell, Richard Mille, Tommy Hilfiger and more.

His new deal with Kia Motors runs through to 2020, having been renewed in 2015. Kia have been partnered with Nadal since 2004.

Charity work:

Federer

Established in 2003, the Roger Federer foundation aims to help disadvantaged children and to promote their access to education and sports. To date it has raised almost $40m, with around $30m going to development projects in Africa.

Nadal

Nadal set up Foundacion Rafael Nadal in 2007 to help with social work and development aid particularly amongst children worldwide. So far the foundation has opened two full Tennis academies, one in India and one in Spain.

What next?

Federer

The 35-year-old chose to miss out on the French Open to concentrate on winning his first Wimbledon crown since 2012.

Nadal

Now 31, Nadal will be boosted by his latest triumph in his quest to try and overtake Federer’s record haul.

–

But both men will surely be hoping a resurgence in form brings about contract renewals from Nike.

Peter Schmeichel opposes introduction of video assistant referees in football – Exclusive

Former Manchester United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel has told iSportconnect at SportAccord Convention in Aarhus, Denmark, that he opposes the idea of introducing video technology to football, saying it would make the game “too clinical”.

Schmeichel, who was part of United’s treble-winning side of 1999, argued that the sport would lose out if it became a stop-start game.

Recent years have seen a sea-change in the attitude towards technology. Goal-line technology is now a permanent feature of top-level FIFA and UEFA competitions and several domestic leagues in Europe.

The International Football Association Board [IFAB], the law-makers of the game, approved a two-year period of video assistant referee testing from March 2016 which a number of federations signed up to – including France, Germany, Italy, Turkey and Mexico.

The FA are due to trial VAR in the FA Cup from next season. But Schmeichel, who retired in 2003, believes that VAR would be a step too far.

“I’d hate football to be going in a direction where it has to be stopped for someone to review the situation on video,” he said.

“Football is not a stop-start game in that respect. You will have referee mistakes, you will have bad tackles but if you take all that out you make the game, for me, a little bit too clinical and basically you leave nothing to talk about.”

You can hear the Dane’s full views on video technology by watching our exclusive interview:

By Christian Radnedge

IOC Moves Closer to Fully Approving 2024/2028 Hosting Award After Board Meeting

The dual hosting award of the 2024 and 2028 Olympic Games moved a step closer after the International Olympic Committee’s Executive Board approved changes to the bidding process last week.

The proposal was announced at a press conference by IOC president Thomas Bach on Friday, following a day-long meeting with members of the EB.

A working group of the IOC’s four vice-presidents confirmed that the IOC could offer a mechanism which would not breach the terms of the Olympic Charter, following a study of the proposal which includes the two highly praised bids of Paris and Los Angeles for 2024, originally.

Therefore, an extraordinary session on July 11 and 12 will ratify the recommendation from the entire membership ahead of a formal vote of allocations in Lima in September.

Bach did not give an indication of which city would be preferred for 2024 or 2028, although it is expected that with a less congested window of opportunity, LA would be happier to wait 11 years to host.

“First of all the IOC members have to express themselves about this proposal coming from the executive board, and only after the members of the IOC have this opportunity, then it will be the time to enter into deeper discussions with the candidate cities,” Bach said, trying to curtail speculation on any prearranged award.

“Then discussions and negotiations may start if the IOC members should hopefully give a green light.”

City reaction

After the decision, LA2024 welcomed the news in a statement and highlighted how the city is an “ideal partner” for the IOC.

“We welcome the IOC Executive Board’s decision to recognize two excellent bids from two of the world’s greatest cities,” Casey Wasserman, LA 2024 chairman, and Eric Garcetti, Mayor of LA, said in a joint statement. “With no new permanent venues to build and unwavering public support, Los Angeles is an eternal Olympic city and ideal partner for the IOC.

“We look forward to… working together to offer the best path forward for our city and the Olympic Movement’s future.”

The team behind Paris 2024 also released a statement more specifically targeted at remaining on track to win the right to host the 2024 Games.

“Paris 2024 remains totally focused on preparing its presentation to the Lausanne meeting where we will have an opportunity to present to all the IOC Members our proposal for centenary Games of passion and purpose,” the statement said.

“We are proud to represent the City of Light and to promote a plan, in partnership with the IOC, all the key stakeholders and the people of Paris and France, that would deliver Games of wonderful celebration and genuine legacy.

“We continue to work hard to win the support of IOC Members and the broader sports family for a Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games based on that vision.”

Changes were also proposed for the bidding system of the 2026 Winter Olympics. This will last only one year, not two as per the current system hopefully resulting in greater cost-saving and therefore opening it up to more bidders.

Concerns have been raised before about the cost of bidding to host the Winter Olympics, with only Almaty and Beijing bidding to host the 2022 edition which the Chinese capital won.

By Christian Radnedge

Tokyo 2020 Olympic Programme Changes Will “Freshen” the Games, Says Reedie – Exclusive

The inclusion of mixed gender events for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics should “freshen the programme” according to former International Olympic Committee vice president Craig Reedie.

Reedie, the president of the World Anti Doping Agency, told iSportconnect about his excitement for the shake-up of the programme ratified by the IOC in Lausanne last week.

The IOC executive board approved a number of changes to the Tokyo programme, focusing mainly on addressing the gender imbalance by increasing the places for women participating.

Reedie was pleased with the board’s decision, and was also interested in the proposal to elect the host of the 2028 Games at the same time as deciding the home of the 2024 Olympics.

“The mix of new events should freshen the programme,” he told iSportconnect. “[I’m] Pleased that Golf and Rugby 7’s stay for 2024.

“I look forward to the meeting in July when the IOC Membership will see the process for electing cities for 2024 and 2028.”

Mixed gender events were added to sports such as aquatics, archery, table tennis and triathlon with a first mixed gender event in athletics in a 4x400m relay.

However, athletics took a hit by having 105 athletes cut from its programme. Weightlifting and wrestling lost the second and third most athletes as the IOC dropped their quotas by 64 and 56, respectively.

In total, 15 International Federations received changes to their event programme in either the number of disciplines contested or number of athletes.

Agenda 2020

In a statement, the IOC said: “The approval of the event programme for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 will make the Games more youthful and more urban, and they will include more women.

“The new event programme will see the highest-ever representation of female athletes in Olympic history, while also introducing sports events with youth and urban appeal.

“These changes reflect the continued evolution of the Olympic programme and build on the reforms outlined in Olympic Agenda 2020, which aim to create more flexibility through an event-based Olympic programme.”

Tokyo 2020 will therefore feature 339 events, compared to the 306 at Rio 2016 with female participation to rise up to 48.8 per cent.

The new programme will also include 3×3 Basketball, which has previously featured successfully in the Youth Olympics.

“The fascinating new events that we approved today, together with the five new sports that were added to the Tokyo 2020 program last year, represent a step-change in the Olympic program,” IOC president Thomas Bach said in a statement.

“I am delighted that the Olympic Games in Tokyo will be more youthful, more urban and will include more women.”

By Christian Radnedge

Cristiano Ronaldo Retains Top Spot in Forbes World’s Highest-Paid Athletes List

Cristiano Ronaldo is still the richest sportsperson on the planet, according to Forbes World’s Highest-Paid Athletes annual list.

The Real Madrid striker topped the list for the second year in a row, with a net worth of $93m (£72.05m). However, the Spanish club lost its top spot in the football rich list.

Basketball superstar LeBron James was second with $86.2m (£66.79m).

Both Ronaldo and James saw an increase in the revenues. The Portuguese footballer saw his earnings rise $5m, whilst the Cavaliers’ power forward earned $9m more.

Basketball dominated the list with 32 NBA players among the top 100, followed by baseball with 22 and American football with 15.

The top 100 people earned a total of $3.11bn (£2.4bn) over the last year, a slight decrease from last year’s earnings of $3.15bn (£2.43bn).

Serena Williams is the only female athlete in the top 100. The American tennis player is 51st, having made $27m (£20.92m) in the last 12 months.

Here’s the top ten list:

  • Cristiano Ronaldo – football ($93m/£72.05m)
  • LeBron James – basketball ($86.2m/£66.79m)
  • Lionel Messi – football ($80m/£61.98m)
  • Roger Federer – tennis ($64m/£49.58m)
  • Kevin Durant – basketball ($60.6m/£46.95m)
  • Andrew Luck – American football ($50m/£38.74m)
  • Rory McIlroy – golfer ($50m/£38.74m)
  • Stephen Curry – basketball ($47.3m/£36.64m)
  • James Harden – basketball ($46.6m/£36.10m)
  • Lewis Hamilton – formula 1 ($46m/£35.64m

Read the full list here

ITTF becomes first international sports federation to have every country on earth as a member

The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) has become the first International Sports Federation to have every country on earth as a member.

The 226-member associations milestone was reached after the induction of Bahamas, Cape Verde, Eritrea and Guinea Bissau, and has been officially approved at the ITTF Annual General Meeting (AGM) on 31 May 2017.

ITTF President Thomas Weikert, who was in Guinea-Bissau to celebrate the founding of the Guinea-Bissau Table Tennis Federation, said: “For the ITTF and for myself, our small associations have been a clear priority for many years, thanks to the dedicated work of the ITTF Development Department.

Our focus must now be the empowerment of our smallest and most recent members, and through our ITTF Marketing Department have secured the support of Seamaster to achieve this.”

Following the official induction into the ITTF, these four new members will receive $25 thousand for technical support from Seamaster, who is the title sponsor of the ITTF World Tour, and $5 thousand equipment support from Stag International, alongside empowerment through coach education and organisational development.

Rugby League Leads the Innovation Movement in Sports

By Roger Draper (RFL Chief Commercial Officer and Super League Executive Director)

You can’t help but admire two of sport’s super-brands – NFL and Premier League – and the way their games and players have an impact on many fans around the globe.

Changes in these games are often put under the media microscope and discussed by many.

I’ve followed the news of a potential NFL franchise in London and the recent video technology trials in football with great interest.

Why would I follow these two topics? Rugby League has an early experience of implementing changes like these, from the introduction of the video referee in 1997 to welcoming the sport’s first-ever transatlantic team to the league this year.

Steve Jobs once said: “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”

Rugby League has never been frightened of innovation – we aim to be at the forefront when it comes to change. From reducing the number of players to 13, adopting substitutes, video technology (referee cam and player cam), to welcoming new teams to the competition.

We are a sport that never sits still and constantly wants to improve the game day experience on and off the field.

Regular communication throughout the year with our stakeholders enables us to focus on the issues that matter. Identifying areas of potential advantage, testing and implementing is often a quick process due to the accessibility of Rugby League and the vision of the clubs and individuals involved.

One of the most successful Rugby League World Cup tournaments was hosted in the UK in 2013 and our bid to host the tournament here again in 2021 was accepted last year.

Who knows how innovative the 2021 World Cup could be and how close supporters can get to the action.

One thing you can guarantee; we’ll give it a try!

Discovery Unites with Paris 2024 Bid in Show of Support

Discovery Communications and Eurosport, home of the Olympic Games in Europe, met with members of the Paris 2024 Olympic Bid Committee in a show of support for an Olympic Games to be held in Europe in 2024.

Discovery Networks International President and CEO Jean-Briac Perrette and Eurosport CEO Peter Hutton met with Paris 2024 Co-President, Bernard Lapasset, while in Paris for the Roland Garros.

As part of the meeting, Perrette shared the company’s commitment to bring the Olympic Games to more people, delivering the ultimate Olympic Games viewing experience to a new and younger audience.

This will begin at the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 with the broadcast of more than 100 events live and on demand, on any device, at any time, making PyeongChang 2018 the most digitally accessible Olympic Games across Europe.

Regarding Discovery’s support, Lapasset said: “The support of our bid by Discovery and Eurosport, demonstrates once again the strong unity and firm commitment across Europe to seeing the Olympic and Paralympic Games return to Paris for a centenary celebration in 2024.

Paris 2024 will be a Games to welcome people from across the continent and around the world to share in our spectacular showcasing of sport and Olympism at the heart of our iconic city.”

Hutton added: “Paris 2024 would give everyone a chance, young and old, across Europe to experience premium and exclusive coverage of an Olympic Games close to home. This is a prospect that we find incredibly exciting.”