Was our Norwich City Shirt Sponsorship Worth it? – James Draper

By James Draper (Founder and CEO, bidstack)

bidstack sponsored the back of Norwich City FC’s shirt, for the 2016/17 EFL Championship season – and I thought it would be worth highlighting the benefits it’s given us. All in all, I’d state it’s given us seven-figure tangible value.

Sponsoring Norwich City was the third step of our four-stage strategy of establishing our brand. I’ll come on to that in a minute.

So, first things first – why Norwich? Well, honestly? They came to us, via their charismatic Partnership Lead Ben Tunnell. He worked for a rival business to my previous employer, before heading home to Norwich – so, via our connection on Linkedin, he was aware of our updates – including our initial video.

We spoke about the opportunity internally, and knowing how the media world is setup (media Thursdays anyone?), we knew it would cause a stir in our market.

During the trip to Carrow Road we looked at all options and the back of the shirt package, and the financials surrounding that, started looking really rather reasonable. Especially considering it was going to give us 7+ months worth of exposure. From TV, matchday in-stadia, social media etc – for a five-figure sum, it made a lot of sense. Also, crucially, the ‘Canaries’ play in our brands yellow…!

As mentioned above, this was a logical ‘third step’ in our four-tier plan.

Step 1: create a stunning intro video that will enable us to grab the attention of the market we’re entering. Comedic, yet irrepressible – with strong brand cues.

Step 2: a preview video, showcasing our thought-processes. (this has lead to 5 x competitors emerging…).

Step 3: a power play. A platform that will give sustained brand reinforcement over our beta launch period.

Step 4: an announcement of a contract/partnership, that clearly establishes our company as a major player.

I’m delighted to say, this will be a forthcoming announcement.

A few stats worth mentioning. Following our announcement of Norwich City, we had over 10k+ sign-ups on our site. 1,000+ profile views on day one of the announcement. Plus, doors opened with every major agency and media owner.

Added to that, we had representatives from major F1, NFL, NBA, La Liga, Serie A teams (among others), chasing for a similar arrangement to that with Norwich City.

We are delighted that the activity also grabbed the attention from a number of now bidstack investors. Which we would never have reached without this platform. They were Norwich City fans…!

Working in a startup is hard. Low pay, little security for staff, a battle to establish yourselves in a competitive market – let alone carrying the weight of angel investors’ personal cash, on your shoulders. So, for staff and investor morale, it was also a hell of a coup.

Our website traffic across our beta was deep into five figures, and our soon to announce contract came off the back of our first three steps. It will make a lot of sense when you see it shortly.

Point being – the sponsorship worked for us. It makes little commercial sense for bidstack to continue into a second season, as all the initial benefits have had their time. But, for a new company, it’s been crucial in establishing ourselves.

I want to briefly say – we’ve become Norwich City fans here off the back of the sponsorship (not necessarily a good thing after a topsy-turvy season on the pitch…) – and have made some fantastic friendships along the way. Going to the Red Lion in Angel, to watch the Sky Sports covered games with the ‘Capital Canaries’ was a great way to unwind.

I’d encourage startups to broaden their marketing ambitions – and seriously consider team sponsorship as a B2B marketing platform.

Was our Norwich City sponsorship worth it? Oh yes – I’d say it’s given us at the very least an x10 ROI.

RFU Chief Executive Ian Ritchie To Retire

Ian Ritchie, Chief Executive of the RFU, has this week informed the RFU Board of Directors, management and staff that he will retire at the end of the summer.

Ritchie, 63, joined the RFU in February 2012. Under his leadership, the RFU has delivered record revenue and investment into professional and community rugby.

In this time, England teams have won three Grand Slams (men in 2016, women in 2017 and U20s in 2017) and four world titles (women in 2014, U20s in 2013, 2014 and 2016). The England men’s team won back-to-back RBS 6 Nations Championships in 2016 and 2017.

Ritchie also oversaw the successful delivery of Rugby World Cup 2015 in England and negotiated the Professional Game Agreement with PRL this year, worth over £200 million to Premiership club rugby in England over the next eight years with the aim of making rugby in England the best in the world for club and country.

“Ian has been an outstanding CEO,” said RFU Chairman Andy Cosslett. “He has led the RFU through a period of sustained growth and success, built a strong management team of executives and coaches, and kept the values of rugby at the heart of his leadership style.

“On behalf of the Board of the RFU, I would like to thank him for his significant and lasting contribution to English rugby.”

Ian Ritchie said: “It has been an honour and a privilege to lead the RFU. I’m proud to have been part of the rugby family, working with so many talented, passionate and committed teams at every level of the game and of the Union.

“Rugby is a special sport, and one which is very hard to leave, but after a 40-year career and seven CEO roles, I will retire at the end of the summer with a lifetime of memories, many of which have rugby at heart. I would like to thank Andy Cosslett, the Board, and everyone at the RFU for their support ”

The RFU Board will now begin the process of recruiting Ian Ritchie’s successor as CEO. An appointment will be made by the end of the summer.

The FA Approves Governance Reforms And Introduces Retrospective Diving Punishment

The Football Association has approved a new set of corporate governance reforms, including term limits and the introduction of at least three women on the FA board following a meeting of all the shareholders on Thursday.

The reforms, part of a six month review of the way the FA governs football in England, were previously backed by the FA Board and Council but were ratified after the Annual General Meeting at Wembley Stadium.

The UK government had put pressure on the FA to introduce significant changes after a vote of no confidence in the association from MPs.

Now, measures such as three year term limits for board and council members will be introduced. Also, the total number of members on the board will reduce from 12 to 10, while three places will automatically be taken by females (by 2018).

“This is a significant moment and a very positive step for The Football Association,” said Chairman Greg Clarke.

“Good corporate governance is essential for any successful organisation and these new reforms have the interests of football at their core. They will benefit all of English football.

“This is a good start but we don’t just want to be compliant with the Sport England’s Code for Sports Governance, we want to go beyond that. Our aim is to make English football For All and a more inclusive and diverse game.”

Meanwhile, a new regulation for tackling diving in football was introduced after a retrospective punishment panel was also approved on Thursday.

From the 2017-2018 season onwards, a panel made up of an ex-match official, an ex-manager and an ex-player will review footage from the weekend each Monday looking for cases of simulation.

Only in circumstances where the panel are unanimous would The FA charge the individual concerned for ‘Successful Deception of a Match Official’.

Steve Grainger, Rugby Development Director, RFU – “2017 Been Great So Far, But Hopefully More Victories to Come”

Steve Grainger, Rugby Development Director, RFU:

2017 is shaping up to be a great year for rugby in England, both across the professional and grassroots game.

With the England men winning back-to-back RBS 6 Nations titles, England Women (the Red Roses) and Under 20s securing Grand Slams and the England Sevens most recently winning the Vancouver Sevens, the professional game has seen a number of successes. 

Similarly, grassroots rugby has had a positive start to the year as we continue to place a huge priority on participation in community rugby and growing our game by finding innovative ways to inspire people to play, volunteer, coach and officiate.

Starting from the ground up, we unveiled our first Rugby 365 Artificial Grass Pitches (AGP) in January, part of the RFU’s commitment to invest £47m over four years into the development of 100 AGPs across England.

Lancashire, Buckinghamshire and Somerset are the first three locations to benefit from a RFU Rugby 365 floodlit AGP and the new pitches were unveiled by England Head Coach Eddie Jones, RFU Chief Executive Ian Ritchie and RFU President Peter Baines.

It was great to see locals from across the three areas attend the pitch launches and we hope to see the pitches utilised by a range of players of all ages and abilities across each community. We’re already hearing great anecdotes about veterans getting their boots back on to try out the artificial surface and usual local rivals sharing space so they can both train in poor weather conditions.

Growth in Women’s Game

In January we also launched the RFU’s ‘Meet Your Inner Warrior’ campaign which aims to encourage more women and girls to play contact rugby. Over 1,000 females took part in special Warrior Camps at 100 clubs across the country and a further 100 Warrior Camps are set to take place again next month due to the growing appetite and interest from women aged 18-35.

This growth in the women’s game is only set to increase as we look ahead to the Women’s Rugby World Cup in Ireland this August. As the governing body for the sport in England, we look to fully utilise this exposure for rugby to encourage even more women and girls to try it and join their local clubs. Despite reaching our Rugby World Cup legacy target a year ahead of schedule which was to get 25,000 women and girls participating in rugby by August 2017, we are not resting on our laurels and look to attract a further 25,000 female players to the game by 2019.

Alongside our growth in the women’s game we are also focused on developing our partnership with British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) to provide greater opportunities for people to develop as a rugby player throughout university and encourage students to stay in the game and transition to their local clubs after graduation.

We are also reaching out to returning players through our Return to Rugby campaign, inviting them to revisit the game within an informal and welcoming environment.

Our focus is on providing a range of playing opportunities for all ages and abilities and so we look ahead to a year that will see 24/Sevens kicking off, o2 Touch offering even  more chances for people to play social rugby and our Return to Rugby campaign welcoming former players back into the rugby family.

We encourage people to go to www.findrugby.com to find their favourite form of the game.  Only in the first quarter of the year it’s safe to say we’ve managed to pack a lot into 2017 and hope the year continues to see the game prosper and attract new people into rugby.

Steve Grainger

To keep updated on England Rugby news, go to www.EnglandRugby.com.

Tokyo 2020 Host City Contract Goes Public

The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Tokyo 2020), the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) have this week released the Host City Contract for the Games of the XXXII Olympiad.

This contract was first signed between the IOC, the TMG and the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC), following Tokyo’s selection as the Host City of the Games on 7 September 2013.

Upon the creation of Tokyo 2020 in 2014, Tokyo 2020 signed a Joinder Agreement to become a full party to the Host City Contract 2020.

In line with the Olympic Agenda 2020 framework, which reflects the positive evolution of providing Organising Committees of the Olympic Games (OCOG) and host cities more flexibility, all of the Host City Contract 2020 signatories worked to incorporate, to their benefit, the updated operational requirements that were published by the IOC in 2015.

With this agreement now finalised to the benefit of all stakeholders, the organisations are publishing the Host City Contract, reinforcing their commitment to transparency.

The Host City Contract 2020 document is available for download at https://tokyo2020.jp/en/games/plan/#hcc

Rugby World Cup and Société Générale Extend Worldwide Partnership

World Rugby has announced that Société Générale has renewed its long-standing worldwide partnership of Rugby World Cup™ for the 2019 event in Japan.

The announcement, on the eve of the Rugby World Cup 2019 pool draw in Kyoto, confirms the French private bank giant as commercial partners for rugby’s premier event.

Société Générale is a major supporter of rugby worldwide from grassroots to the elite game and will also partner with the 2017 World Rugby Awards in Monaco on 26 November.

World Rugby Chairman Bill Beaumont said:

“We are delighted to be extending our long-standing worldwide partnership with Société Générale. A brand leader, Société Générale shares values of integrity, solidarity, respect, discipline and passion with rugby, which have been evident during an association with the sport that stretches back more than 30 years.”

Société Générale Chief Executive Frédéric Oudéa praised the partnership: “This partnership reinforces a long-standing commitment to rugby and demonstrates the group’s forward-looking ambition to be a supporter of all forms of rugby, all around the world.”

Betsafe Sign Partnership with First-Ever Football Start Sixes Tournament

Global gaming brand Betsafe has been announced as the official Principal Partner of the inaugural Star Sixes tournament, to be staged at The O2, London, from 13-16 July.

Organised by Pitch International (London), in partnership with Football Champions Tour, a leading sports management agency, Star Sixes will reunite the world’s greatest players in their national team colours to renew old rivalries.

England, Brazil, Germany, Spain, France, Italy and Scotland will be among the 12 nations in action during four days of intense competition, which will be screened live by Sky Sports.

Stellar names like Steven Gerrard, Roberto Carlos, Michael Ballack, Carles Puyol, Robert Pires, Deco and Jay-Jay Okocha will pull on their national jerseys again – and Betsafe will provide fans with the chance to meet many of the stars on show.

“We’re delighted to welcome such an established global gaming brand as Betsafe on board as our official Principal Partner,” said Neil Bailey, CEO of Star Sixes.

“We’re looking forward to working closely with Betsafe as we build up to what should be a gripping tournament for football fans across the globe.”

End of FIFA Reform – Ousted Ethics Judges Hit Out at Council Decision

By Christian Radnedge

The two men who led FIFA’s Independent Ethics Committee have lambasted the decision of the FIFA council not to renominate them this week in Bahrain, calling it the “end of FIFA reform”.

Ahead of congress on Thursday, FIFA president Gianni Infantino and the council announced they had proposed not to retain the services of ethics chiefs Hans-Joachim Eckert and Cornel Borbely.

Eckert and Borbely’s work over the past few years has been seen as instrumental in exposing corruption in world football, and helping to bring to an end Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini’s involvement in FIFA.

Now, Eckert and Borbely have released a joint-statement saying “FIFA will suffer from this decision in the medium and long term”.

The statement continued: “The work of a credible and independent Ethics Committee is an important part of the FIFA reforms whose goal was to restore the trust of the public and other stakeholders.

“Since 2015 the Investigatory Chamber has carried out 194 investigations and the Adjudicatory Chamber has sentenced more than 70 officials.

“The impending and clearly politically motivated non-reappointment puts de facto an end to the reform efforts. This will inevitably lead to a renewed loss of trust and further hurt the already tarnished image of FIFA.”

The frustration and anger felt by the two men is clear from the rare statement. Understandably so, given the amount of work undertaken and the fact that they both had expected to continue their roles past this week.

In fact, it is understood Eckert learned about his removal whilst on a flight to Bahrain where a hastily arranged ethics committee press conference was arranged for Wednesday morning.

There, the two men told reporters: “We investigated several hundred cases and several hundred are still pending and ongoing at the moment”.

The proposed replacements for chairmen of the two chambers of the ethics committee are Colombian lawyer Maria Claudia Rojas and Greek judge Vassilios Skouris. Their appointments will be put to the FIFA congress for approval on Thursday.

Full statement:

Hans-Joachim Eckert and Cornel Borbély regret the decision by the FIFA Council to not re-nominate them for the position of the chairmen of the two chambers of FIFA’s Independent Ethics Committee.

The impending non-election will set the work of the Ethics Committee far back and is de facto the end of FIFA’s reform efforts.

It must be assumed that entire FIFA will suffer from this decision in the medium and long term.

The work of a credible and independent Ethics Committee is an important part of the FIFA reforms whose goal was to restore the trust of the public and other stakeholders.

Since 2015 the Investigatory Chamber has carried out 194 investigations and the Adjudicatory Chamber has sentenced more than 70 officials.

The impending and clearly politically motivated non-reappointment puts de facto an end to the reform efforts. This will inevitably lead to a renewed loss of trust and further hurt the already tarnished image of FIFA.

Consequently, the non-reappointment will have a negative impact on FIFA in the medium and long term.

The successors of both chairmen will have to familiarize themselves with the dossiers and the processes. The non-election will lead to long delays in current investigations and proceedings, and complicate the prosecution of violations of the Code of Ethics.

It appears that the heads of FIFA have attached greater weight to their own and political interests, than to the long-term interests of FIFA.

They have accepted jeopardizing FIFA’s integrity, and, hence, the future of the game.

The two chairmen Cornel Borbély and Hans-Joachim Eckert look back at the work accomplished by the Ethics Committee with pride.

They have enforced the Code of Ethics with independence and consistent legal work, and hence, have made sports history. Their work received the sympathy and support of reform-minded forces, for which they want to express their sincere gratitude.

LA2024 Welcomes IOC Evaluation Commission For Three-Day Visit

By Christian Radnedge

The International Olympic Committee’s evaluation commission began their inspection of Los Angeles on Wednesday, judging the city’s effectiveness to host the 2024 Olympic Games.

The sun was shining on delegates and assembled media as they arrived this week for their three-day visit, which will then be followed by a similar visit to rival candidate city Paris.

Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti, who was recently elected for a second term, welcomed the commission and said that his city’s bid was “no risk” as questions remain over the efficiency of staging the Games in difficult financial climates.

“We are not going to have a huge Olympic village that is going to be abandoned right afterwards,” Garcetti said. “We have UCLA, which is extraordinary, with beautiful rooms which can feed 10,000 people a day already. So we don’t have to work out any kinks.”

The IOC has set up a working group to examine the option of whether it would make sense to award the host of the 2028 Games at the same time as 2024 at the IOC session in Lima, Peru on September 13.

Garcetti said he would be open to the idea but insisted that LA should be preferred as the host for 2024.

The evaluation commission will be ferried around LA to inspect all the potential Games sites, including the LA Coliseum which was the centrepiece for the city’s two previous Olympics in 1932 and 1984.

“We are very well prepared, we are enthusiastic, we have been rehearsing, literally every minute is planned,” LA2024 chief executive Gene Sykes said.

IOC member Patrick Baumann heads up the evaluation commission team, who were treated to an LA Dodgers game on their first day in the city.

Paris 2024 Leaves Door Open For President Macron to Join Lima Delegation – EXCLUSIVE

By Christian Radnedge

The cochair of Paris’ bid to host the 2024 Olympics has refused to rule out new French President Emmanuel Macron being part of the delegation that heads to the decisive IOC session in Lima, Peru in September.

Following his election victory on Sunday, President Macron is due to meet with the Paris 2024 team this week as the city bids to host the Games for the first time since 1924.

Tony Estanguet did not say yes or no on whether the new president would be part of the Lima delegation, but told iSportconnect that his endorsement is a “great asset for the bid”.

“Following his election victory, Paris 2024 will continue to work with President Macron on the campaign,” Estanguet said.

“Our plans for Lima are still evolving but the bid already has full support from all levels of national and city government and President Macron’s endorsement is a great asset for the bid.”

Macron had already thrown his weight behind Paris’ bid before the election, and is expected to continue the front-line role that his predecessor Francois Hollande took in the process, to bring the Games to the city for a third time.

Paris is currently preparing for the IOC’s evaluation commission who will arrive on Saturday for their three-day inspection of the city, following a similar visit to rival candidate Los Angeles this week.

With the French capital basing their bid on having pre-planned and existing venues, the bid team are hopeful of giving the evaluation commission a good idea of how a Games would look in 2024 in Paris.

“Paris 2024 is looking forward to the IOC Evaluation Commission visit and we have planned an interesting, informative and fun programme that will showcase the great assets of the city” Estanguet explained toiSportconnect.

“This visit is an opportunity for us to share our vision and ambition for the 2024 Games, further cement our relations with the IOC and continue to build trust.

“When they arrive, the IOC will see how Paris can serve as an Olympic Park with amazing city-centre venues and a wonderful passion for the Games. Paris is ready to welcome the IOC and international media to the City of Light!”

Following the culmination of their two visits, the evaluation commission will return to Lausanne and prepare their final report, which will be published in June.

The two cities will then get to present to the IOC once more in July before preparing for session in Lima in September.