Location: London, UK

Closing date: 14th November 2016

If you have a keen interest in thoroughbred racing mixed with strong operational management skills, this is a great opportunity to build on your talent within a world-leading sport, where you will be responsible for leading the Starters, Clerk of Scales and Judges Raceday teams in addition to Inspectors of Courses, Point to Point and Racecourse Licensing.

The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) is the governing and regulatory body for horseracing in Great Britain. It is the BHA’s role to act for and on behalf of the whole sport, with a key objective being to ensure the highest standards apply on and away from the racecourse.

Reporting to the Director of Integrity and Regulatory Operations, and with the support of your teams, this senior role will utilise your analytical and problem solving ability to improve and control policy regarding all relevant Raceday operational activities. Through strong advocacy and communication skills, this senior role will require you to present regularly to senior members of both the BHA team and the wider sport. This will include setting out a clear vision for the future delivery of Raceday Operations, benchmarking regulatory services against best-practice internationally and sports more generally, along with managing complex stakeholder relationships and regular consultation processes.

This is a demanding role in which you will be exposed to all areas of Raceday Operations and Regulation. You will have a proven ability to develop and translate strategy into efficient operational plans, whilst cultivating an environment of continuous improvement, team development and motivation resulting in positive resource outcomes. Key to success in this role is a demonstrable record of accountability and delivery of operational efficiency via business process improvements.

You will have a sound understanding of the structure of British Racing but a deep understanding of thoroughbred racing more generally. Ideally you will be degree qualified with significant work experience within a complex stakeholder environment combined with experience of managing remote or regionally-based teams. The role requires a high level of autonomy ideally combined with business analysis and strong computing skills through which you will quickly demonstrate your ability to add value.

This is a great opportunity for someone with the right skills to work in a key role within British Racing.  In return we offer an attractive salary and comprehensive benefits package that reflect the important nature of this role within the sport.

As the needs of the business change this role will change accordingly, therefore this document should be viewed as guidelines which are subject to change.  We welcome enquiries from everyone and value diversity in our workforce.

Click here to apply

FC Barcelona have confirmed that they are to extend their kit partnership with Nike, generic signing a new record-breaking deal with the American company worth around $171.4m (€155m, anabolics £140m) from 2018.

 Barcelona and Nike’s deal breaks Manchester United’s previous 10-year record-breaking deal with Adidas worth $918m (£750m, click €835m).

“It is a figure which puts us No. 1 in the world for sponsorship in the sports industry,” said FC Barcelona vice-president Manuel Arroyo,

“The fixed rate of the contract increases 48 per cent and the royalties also increase.

“From this season (2018-19), the total turnover of the deal will be around 155m euros.” 

This deal takes helps Barcelona take a big leap in their goal to be the first football club to break the one billion euro revenue limit by 2021.

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Online sportsbook Tempobet is to feature on courtside advertising during the forthcoming Euroleague Basketball season.

The emerging brand and its sister casino, Tempocasino.com, will be displayed in-game on TV feeds broadcasting the home games of German side Brose Bamberg.

Their six-figure deal, which will feature a minimum of 15 regular season games, is possible thanks to the digital modification of in-stadia billboards that allows companies to connect with local audiences by territory through global sport.

Bamberg start the 2016/17 season with an away fixture against Fenerbahce Istanbul on October 14th, and will host three other teams from Turkey, as well as representatives from countries including Spain, Greece, Russia, Israel, and Serbia.

Tempobetmanaging director Mark Clayton said the deal gave the brand significant exposure in a number of different countries. He added: “I’m delighted to have secured this advertising.

“Basketball is a hugely popular sport with both our existing customers and among potential ones,and the opportunity to be the only sportsbook on the billboards in Germany was too good to miss.

“Having one deal that gives us simultaneous coverage in multiple European territories with audiences of many millions at the same time will help take us to the next level.”

Tempobet’s basketball deal mirrors a similar one involving leading Spanish football teamsBarcelona and Real Madrid, whose away fixtures in La Liga will also feature theTempobet and Tempocasino brands.

 

The State of eSports

eSports is undergoing a level of growth most traditional sports can only dream of. In a few short years, it has transformed from a minor event to a sporting heavyweight – with investment and income to match.

Chester King is CEO of the International eGames Group – a company set up to assist the International eGames Committee (a not for profit) aimed at growing elite competitive video gaming (eSports) and shaping the future competitions: by creating a new global, medal only, competition – The eGames – where gamers compete for their country.

Click HERE to read more.

The Sports Entertainment Business

Wrestling, or sports entertainment, poses an interesting question in blurring the lines between a sports event and a television product.

There is an obvious difference in terms of professional wrestling, seen at the Olympics, and ‘wrestling’ or sports entertainment, which sees pre-determined results but still evolves the physical sports element.

Eric Bischoff is very much a pioneer of the latter having been an Executive Producer and President of World Championship Wrestling, General Manager and Producer of World Wrestling Entertainment and Executive Producer of Impact Wrestling – it’s fair to say he has a little bit of experience in the field.

Find out what he had to say HERE

Baroness Tessa Jowell on the legacy of 2012

Four years to the day of the opening ceremony, Baroness Tessa Jowell tells iSportconnect the London 2012 Games changed the perception of the city.

This is a video exclusive to iSportconnect TV.

Click HERE to watch.

COMMUNITY SPECIAL – iSportconnect members look back at London 2012

The iSportconnect Community discussed the positive impact of the 2012 Olympics four years since the Opening Ceremony.

Shiny Fang (UIPM), Rob Fildes (Athletics Austrailia) and Lou Lauria (former IOC) were among the contributors.

Read more HERE.

Special Report – The rise of China in World Football

New markets‘ has always been a buzzword for football clubs – but the emergence of China as a football market has sparked a once in a generation land grab across the major European football clubs. Ask all international marketing directors of those clubs on their plans, and securing a fan base in China will likely be their number one priority.

China’s huge one billion population are arriving online – and many of them are European football fans, and clubs are eager to talk to them, and harness their new spending power.

Read the full special report HERE.

British Basketball Federation Chairman: “We need to give British basketball the profile it deserves”

Basketball is one of the biggest sports in the world, from the USA to Spain, Argentina to Lithuania, there is a strong passion for the sport from various corners of the globe, spurred on by one of the great global sports franchises – the NBA.

This is something that, so far, has not been reflected in Britain. With minimal media coverage, funding issues, failure to qualify for the last men’s European Championships and the women’s team struggling in their 2017 Eurobasket qualification campaign.

It’s not all doom and gloom however, with the British Basketball League agreeing to show the men’s and women’s league fixtures on the BBC Red Button and Online service. Meanwhile, Team GB’s men get their Eurobasket qualification campaign underway in a fews weeks and the British Basketball Federation officially take control in October. But for typically a major player in international sport – Britain has fallen far behind.

Read more HERE.

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FIBA has announced a nine-year integrated partnership with Tencent, the Chinese digital company.

The multi-faceted agreement involves digital media rights as well as the hosting of the FIBA.com website in China. 

The extensive FIBA event coverage will highly benefit from the introduction of FIBA’s new competition system and include the FIBA Basketball World Cups 2019 and 2023 and their Qualifiers, the FIBA Asia Cups 2017, 2021 & 2025 and their Qualifiers, as well as the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cups, all other continental Cups (Men and Women) and Youth World Championships. 

Patrick Baumann, FIBA Secretary General and International Olympic Committee (IOC) Member, said: “FIBA is extremely excited to enter into a long-term agreement with Tencent to further the promotion and development of basketball in China. Tencent is one of the biggest companies in the world in its sector just as basketball is one of the most popular sports. The partnership is a vital part of FIBA’s ongoing strategy and basketball fans in China will be able to see a feast of high-level basketball events and additional programming over the coming years.”

FIFA presidential candidate Chung Mong-joon has launched an accusation against the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) of sending unsolicited letters to its members telling them to vote for Michel Platini to become the next president of FIFA.

According to Chung, adiposity the letters ask the members to sign a form gicing their support to his French rival.

Full story HERE.