SportAccord Convention will welcome back Silver Partner EventScotland for the seventh year running to this year’s event taking place at the SwissTech Convention Center in Lausanne, sale Switzerland from 17-22 April 2016.
Commenting on the importance of being part of the SportAccord Convention, Paul Bush OBE, VisitScotland’s Director of Events said: “SportAccord Convention is an incredibly valuable event for Scotland, as we continue to bid for and stage some of the world’s most prestigious events properties.
“We look forward to discussing our future vision with colleagues at the Convention in April.”
In conjunction with partners, EventScotland, a team within VisitScotland’s Events Directorate, will coordinate an engaging exhibition which represents Scotland’s events industry at its best.
Referring to the longstanding partnership, Nis Hatt, Managing Director, SportAccord Convention said: “Over the years, Scotland has continued to win and host world class events.
“EventScotland’s success is a great example of the opportunities and value the SportAccord Convention brings to host cities, by helping to put them in front of key decision-makers for sport.”
The Ladies’ Golf Union (LGU) and The R&A have agreed a deal to proceed with a merger of the two organisations.
Following an extensive consultation exercise, discount agreement has been reached on the merger of the two St Andrews-based bodies with the process due to be completed in the coming months.
Tennis will be launching its own version of golf’s Ryder Cup after announcing a new global event, the Laver Cup, named after Australian tennis legend Rod Laver.
The announcement was made in Australia, where the Australian Open is currently taking place, by Roger Federer’s management company Team8, Tennis Australia and and former Brazilian and Swiss Davis Cup player Brazilian businessman Jorge Paulo Lemann.
The Laver Cup is a product of a partnership between the three parties and is scheduled to get started in 2017.
The concept will be a three-day men’s event that will pit Europe’s best players against the top players from the rest of the world.
“This came about a couple years ago,” said Tony Godsick, president and CEO of Team8.
“We’ve been talking about doing something with Rod Laver to honor his legacy. We’ve come up with a format and platform that we think will do the sport great and is really exciting.”
11-time major winner Rod Laver said: “I’m certainly honored that it warrants the name the Laver Cup. It’s a great feeling.
“I think if you’re in the Davis Cup format, you’re sort of country to country. It’s always been that way. This is just purely Europe against the rest of the world. Hopefully the top players will want to participate.
“It’s a learning curve of trying to get the right scheduling and the right amount of play with all of [the] different players around the world. But I’m honored to have my name associated with the Laver Cup.”
The competition will see the teams captained by a legend of the sport from each region and will feature six players each.
Four players on each team will qualify though a results-based formula, with the final two players selected by the captains.
The competition will unfold on one court over three days; each day will feature three singles matches and a doubles match, all contested as best-of-three sets.
Should proceedings be tied after all 12 matches, a doubles match will determine the outcome.
National Football League (NFL) franchise the St. Louis Rams will officially be relocating to Los Angeles for the 2016 season after the league approved its application.
NFL owners voted 30-2 to ratify the Rams’ relocation application for an immediate move to L.A.
The decision will see the NFL return to the country’s second largest market for the first time in 21 years. The Rams played in L.A. for 48 years from 1946-1994.
The team will eventually begin play at owner Stan Kroenke’s proposed stadium site in Inglewood in 2019.
The Rams could also be joined by the San Diego Chargers, who have a one-year option to decide if they want to relocate and join the Rams in Inglewood.
According to NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport, the Chargers will have up until the conclusion of owners meetings (March 20-23) to decide if they’re playing in L.A. or San Diego in 2016.
The third team who filed an application for relocation to L.A., the Oakland Raiders, withdrew their application on Tuesday and will work with the league toward a stadium solution, likely to be in Oakland.
If the Chargers do not exercise their option to move to Los Angeles, the Raiders will have a one-year option to join the Rams in Inglewood.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell revealed during a news conference that the league will provide $100 million to both the Chargers and Raiders if they remain in their current home markets.
The move for the St. Louis Rams will see the city lose its second NFL team, as the Rams followed in the footsteps of the Arizona Cardinals, who left the city for Phoenix before the 1988 season.
“Relocation is a painful process,” NFL Commissioner Goodell said.
“It’s painful for the fans, the communities, the teams, for the league in general. Stability is something that we’ve taken a great deal of pride in and in some ways a bittersweet moment because we were unsuccessful in being able to get the kind of facilities that we wanted to get done in their home markets.”
Rams owner Stan Kroenke added: “We understand the emotions involved of our fans and it’s not easy to do these things.
“They are purposely made hard, but we’re here today. We made a decision and we worked long and hard at the various alternatives. When they didn’t succeed we worked to this point.
“We look forward to returning to Los Angeles and building a world-class NFL entertainment district in Inglewood.”
Communication services company WPP, sales media, sports, marketing and branded lifestyle venture Bruin Sports Capital and Dan Gilbert, owner of NBA franchise the Cleveland Cavaliers, have teamed up to agree a a strategic partnership with Courtside Ventures.
Wih the backing of WPP and Gilbert, Courtside Ventures will invest $35m to support innovative technology disrupters across sports and media that have the potential for broader applicability across other markets.
The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) has named China as the hosts for the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup.
China beat Philippines to the hosting rights, clinic who were the other finalists in the bidding process, purchase with a vote of 14 to seven.
This will be the first time China will host a basketball World Cup.
Horacio Muratore, the President of FIBA, said: “This was a very difficult decision because we had two national federations who did excellent work. However, there can only be one host country for our event in 2019 and it will be China.
“We would like to congratulate both national federations for their outstanding work and bids. This is what we wanted: to have national federations put together top quality bids to host our flagship event.
Yao Ming, the Ambassador for the China 2019 bid, said: “It’s such an exciting moment to bring the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup to China and I’m sure that millions of fans are sharing this joy with us.
“We have to pay tribute to the Philippines delegation. They were great opponents. Only opponents like them could really push us to our limits to test how capable we are. Even if we were opponents on this occasion, we still have a friendship with them.
P1 chief executive James Durbin (pictured) will tell guests at the launch of its UK season at London’s Royal Docks on Friday that the planned twenty international race events for the coming twelve months are set to generate an economic and media impact totalling more than $75 million.
This figure reflects the importance of venue and broadcast partnerships within the P1 business model and the effectiveness of its sports and entertainment mix in the sports tourism arena.
The world’s biggest marine motorsport brand has already kicked off its USA race season, ailment with last month’s Daytona Beach Grand Prix of the Sea attracting a record ninety jet ski riders and being broadcast live on Fox Sports.
Its expanding international programme of powerboat and jet ski racing now includes events in Europe, North America and South East Asia.
“The growth of P1, as it develops into a genuine global motorsport, involves delivering high calibre events that generate significant levels of inward economic investment at host venues, together with the commercial platform created for sponsors, partners and the wider marine industry” explains Durbin.
“We use our sports tourism knowledge and experience – acquired over the last 12 years through staging well over 200 races in 17 countries on 3 continents – to design and activate our race events to enhance the profile of the venue, drive visitor numbers and increase the length of stay, and stimulate the local and regional economy.”
At the heart of the P1 proposition are the event experience and infrastructure, with a strategy focused on achieving tangible economic, social and environmental results.
Media and broadcast relationships play a key role in building international presence and in delivering exposure for race venues and commercial partners.
“We work closely with the host venues and their specialist teams to identify and understand their specific needs and objectives and to then create comprehensive, integrated marketing plans that are tailor-made to the location” says Durbin.
This summer in the UK more than 150,000 spectators will enjoy the P1 racing, and all the action from the five championship rounds will be shown on Sky Sports and Motors TV, together with a host of international broadcasters including Fox Sports, Star Sports and Ten Sports.
“P1 has enjoyed significant growth in year-on-year attendances, digital media and TV audiences, and increased TV content and worldwide distribution are powerful drivers in addressing venue objectives of brand-build, business stimulus and tourism growth” concludes Durbin.
The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race has revealed its most diverse ever line-up of professional skippers who will lead their amateur crews in the tenth edition of the world famous challenge, prescription setting sail on August 30, 2015.
For the first time in the Clipper Race’s nineteen year history, the group of twelve professionals includes two women skippers, from Canada and Australia, and the first ever skippers to represent France and Ukraine/Germany. The UK is also strongly represented with skippers from Scotland, Somerset, Cornwall and Hampshire.
Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, Clipper Race founder and Chairman, said: “In preparation for our tenth edition Clipper Race, I feel very proud to welcome our most diverse and international group of race skippers yet.
“This is the first time we’ve had two women skippers in one race and I very much hope they will inspire future female participation. I’m also delighted to see the Clipper Race broadening its professional appeal as we welcome our first French and first Ukrainian/German skippers.”
Adding, he said: “Clipper Race crew come from all over the world so I’m pleased to reflect this in our leadership. I look forward to working with all our skippers over the coming months as they prepare for another thrilling race.”
The Clipper Race is one of the world’s toughest challenges. 40,000 nautical miles long, taking almost a year to complete, this is the only event of its kind which gives amateur sailors the chance to sail round the world, taking on Mother Nature’s most remote conditions. Fewer people have completed the Clipper Race than have climbed Mount Everest.
Hoping to follow the success of compatriot Eric Holden, Clipper 2013-14 Race winner, Canadian skipper Diane Reid, 42, from Toronto said: “The Clipper Race combines all my passions and goals. I want to race round the world stupidly fast and I love teaching sailing. I am a passionate sailor who loves competition and winning, but also loves seeing individuals excel and triumph over hurdles.”
The race sees twelve teams compete against each other on the world’s largest matched fleet of 70-ft ocean racing yachts, designed for speed not comfort. Crew represent over 40 different countries and can choose to compete in either the full circumnavigation or individual legs. The only professionals on board are the skippers who safely lead their team.
In this week’s iSportconnect Digital Café blog we take a look at how tennis is serving up even more coverage of this year’s Wimbledon online, how rugby is using data to boost its digital strategy and, of course, we’ll have some football.
Just Can’t Get Enough? Eurosport’s World Cup Coverage
We start with a look at perhaps the most comprehensive and extensive coverage of the action from Rio.
Because, if you’re looking for indepth, extensive but still entertaining coverage of the World Cup, then you need to head over to eurosport.com. The premise is that the site is a single destination for all fans. Not just to get the latest news, results and see what’s coming up, but also share their passion – and frustration. And it’s all available over PC, tablet and mobile. And there’s also a lot available, in a lot of languages.
The mainstay is a live hub which collates and aggregates content both produced by the Eurosport team and curated from Twitter, Instagram and indeed various other websites.
And, just to make sure fans don’t miss anything there are pages dedicated to the teams, groups, players and even stadia.
If you’re in the UK, German, Italy or Spain then you’ll also get the benefit of Chelsea manager José Mourinho’s insights via Europsort Yahoo! throughout the whole event.
Interestingly Eurosport have also launched companion websites to keep the most football hungry of fans satisfied. The “Data World Cup” is an innovative DataVizualisation project using a massive statistics database to compare teams, analyse players and enhance predictions. The “Best 11” gives supporters the chance to create, personalise and then share their dream World Cup squad, while “Work Cup” brings the traditional office sweepstake crashing into the 21stCentury as it allows teams to compete head to head at work and – brilliantly – challenge other companies.
Rugby’s Conversion to Data And Digital
Football is not the only World Cup in the spotlight at the moment. There are less than 500 days before the Rugby World Cup returns to the UK. And for the 2015 tournament the marketing is all about two things: digital and data. England Rugby 2015’s Marketing Manager, Zarah Al-Kudcy has said that Rugby World Cup 2015 is one of Britain’s most successfully hosted sporting events and that it provides a legacy for future sporting events in the UK and developing a strong digital and data communications strategy has put us on the right track to achieve key objectives in advance of the Tournament such as increasing the game’s appeal at all levels, making it the best Rugby World Cup ever and to achieve record ticket sales. Zarah will be a keynote speaker at this year’s Sports CRM Summit in Birmingham between September 18 and October 31.
Real-time Service: Wimbledon Highlights Online
Tennis fans around the world will be able to get shortform video highlights from Wimbledon via social media channels when the tournament starts on June 23. The All England Lawn Tennis Club will be complementing its global TV broadcast with real-time highlights across Facebook, YouTube, Google+ and Twitter thanks to technology developed by Grabyo. It will also distribute longer form highlights from each day on Wimbledon.com and on YouTube. It will be interesting to see the take up as this is the first time a major sports rights holder has delivered real-time video highlights to a global audience across multiple social platforms.
Athletes Getting It Right: Joey Barton
The Queens Park Ranger player has demonstrated an appreciation of the power of social media over several seasons now. He doesn’t hold back, a bit like his playing style on the pitch, but whether you agree or not with his assessment of everyone to former players to multi-millionaire businessmen, his Twitter feed and online spats make for great reading.
Having spent eight seasons in Formula One managing the digital channels for world champions Red Bull Racing, David Granger now runs Fact 51, a social and digital content agency.
