UCI Road World Championships Names HSBC UK As Official Sponsor

The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) has named HSBC UK as the Official Sponsor of the 2019 UCI Road World Championships which will be held in Yorkshire, UK, from 22nd to 29th September 2019. 

This autumn will see the UCI Road World Championships make their return to the UK for the first time since 1982. Millions of spectators are expected on the streets of Harrogate and along Yorkshire’s roads, while a TV audience of over 250 million will be following the 1,500 riders, who will travel from 90 countries in search of the prestigious UCI World Champion’s rainbow jersey. 

The celebrations will begin on Saturday 21 September when – for the very first time – a UCI-sanctioned, one- day international para-cycling event will take place ahead of the Championships. 

HSBC UK has been involved in cycling since 2017, as Lead Partner of British Cycling, the sport’s national governing body in Great Britain. The partnership seeks to embrace communities nationwide and works across the sport from participation at the grassroots to major organised cycling events through to the highest level of performance with the Great Britain Cycling Team. In teaming up with the 2019 UCI Road World Championships, HSBC UK is consolidating and continuing its support of our sport. 

In entering into this partnership, which was concluded on behalf of the UCI by The Sports Consultancy (TSC), the UCI and HSBC UK will work together in setting up a number of events and activities for the public, in both the Fan Zone and along the race routes. 

“The support of HSBC UK is excellent news for what is our biggest event of the year,” said UCI President David Lappartient. “The fact that a partner of this size, one that is already involved in cycling, is sponsoring our 2019 Road World Championships is but another example of the confidence major brands have in our sport and our events.” 

Luke Harper, HSBC UK’s Head of the British Cycling Partnership, said: “We are proud to be the Official Sponsor of the 2019 UCI Road World Championships as it extends our support for major organised cycling events in our country. Through our partnership with British Cycling we want to inspire 2 million people in the UK to ride a bike by 2020 so being part of the biggest cycling event of the year is a great way to encourage participation and excitement about getting onto two wheels. By shining a spot light on cycling, we hope to leave a lasting legacy whereby our country is greener, fitter and healthier.” 

Union Cycliste Internationale Unveils ‘Ride And Smile’ Campaign To Promote Cycling

The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) is delighted to announce that it has today launched a campaign called Ride and Smile, which aims to promote cycling for all.

“Ride and Smile” are the watchwords of 90-second video that is at the heart of the campaign and which seeks to encourage people who watch it to get on their bike and ride.

The campaign’s main message is this: whoever you are, wherever you live and whatever your reasons for riding a bike (racing, leisure, or for getting from A to B), cycling lifts your spirits, as shown in the various sequences in the video, which reveals how cycling can bring happiness to people from all walks of life.

The campaign has been designed to allow cycling’s various stakeholders, chief among them the 194 National Federations that form part of the UCI, to spread its message effectively. All cyclists and bike riding enthusiasts are invited to share the campaign video on social media and digital platforms using the hashtag #rideandsmile.

UCI President David Lappartient said: “Around the world there are 2 billion people that cycle. With the campaign we have launched today we are looking to encourage every cyclist to ride more and to grow cycling’s popularity on the five continents, in line with the UCI’s Agenda 2022, one of the objectives of which is to increase the appeal of our sport. We know that cycling helps improve people’s quality of life, is environmentally friendly, and has a beneficial effect on their health. It is also an activity that brings joy to people and makes them smile, which is what the Ride and Smile campaign aims to highlight.”

Manchester City Extends Partnership With QNET

 

Manchester City has extended its partnership with Asian Direct Selling company QNET.

The long-standing partnership will see QNET continue as Official Direct Selling Partner for City’s men’s and women’s teams.

This partnership marked a significant milestone in May 2018 when City welcomed QNET as the first sleeve partner in the Women’s Super League. Throughout the next phase of this partnership QNET will continue to provide City-led football clinics to communities around the world, as well as engaging with consumers and distributors through this relationship with City.

Senior vice president of partnerships for City Football Group, Damian Willoughby, commented, “We are delighted to announce that QNET has become the latest partner to extend its relationship with Manchester City in a new long-term deal that will see us celebrate ten years of working together. This partnership made history when QNET became the first sleeve partner in the Women’s Super League and we are excited to embark on another chapter together.”

QNET’s chief executive officer Malou Caluza said: “This is a valued partnership for both QNET and Manchester City because performance is core to both the brands. We are both driven to succeed through hard work, passion and dedication. Through this partnership, we’ve had the opportunity to send children from low income families from different parts of the world to Manchester, for football training camps and English language schools, which has been truly life changing for many of these kids. We hope to continue working together and finding new innovative ways to engage with and reach out to our fans.”

ESPN Player Aims For Biggest Season Of NCAA College Football Coverage

 

ESPN Player will aim to bring subscribers its biggest ever season of college football coverage ahead of kick-off this weekend.

The streaming service will bring coverage of the 2019 NCAA College Football season to fans in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Asian countries including Japan and Singapore anytime, anywhere.

Viewers will have the opportunity to watch more than 800 college football games live and on demand on desktop, iPad and mobile. The action kicks off this weekend with a huge intra-state rivalry as Miami take on Florida at midnight on Saturday 24 August.

A slate of games follows on Thursday 29 August, including reigning national champions Clemson in their season opener against Georgia Tech.

On Saturday 31 August ESPN Player will stream a host of live games featuring powerhouses such as Alabama, Ohio State and Florida State. There are more than 45 games live and on demand in the opening week.

ESPN Player’s comprehensive coverage will run throughout the season to the Bowl games and College Football Playoffs (CFP) in December and January. Last season the CFP National Championship was a matchup between powerhouse programs Clemson and Alabama, and the two are among the strong favourites for the title again.

Alabama and Clemson will be led by two of the most exciting young quarterbacks in the game. Tua Tagovailoa burst onto the scene as a second half substitute in Alabama’s 2018 National Championship over Georgia, throwing three touchdowns and earning offensive MVP of the game. Trevor Lawrence led Clemson to victory in the 2019 National Championship, completing a 15-0 undefeated season, becoming one of the youngest-ever quarterbacks to start the game.

This season there is more college football programming available than ever before. Brand new four-part documentary series All In: The Clemson Football Family offers fans an inside look at the reigning national champions as they prepare to defend their title.

The series captures pre-season training as the Tigers plan for their season opener against Georgia Tech on Thursday, 29 August, and follows the team off the field, including team bonding and summer internships where players give back to the community. In-depth Interviews with the coaching staff also feature, offering an insight into the creation of a team that has won two of the last three national championships.

In addition, Greatest Ever: The 2018 Clemson Tigers looks into how Clemson won the title, becoming the first team in major college football history to amass a 15-0 record following decisive victories over Notre Dame (30-3) and Alabama (44-16) in the College Football Playoff. The 30-minute special follows Clemson’s journey through the College Football Playoff Semifinal and Championship games with never before seen footage and interviews with coaching staff.

All Access: Louisville Football is an exclusive behind-the-scenes look into first-year head coach Scott Satterfield’s Louisville football team, he and his staff go beyond the X’s and O’s to create a winning culture and family atmosphere to revive the proud football program.

The Bowden Dynasty is a feature-length documentary film that explores the life and times of Bobby Bowden, the legendary coach with a team of loyal assistants and players who fought against all odds and countless obstacles to collect two national championships and an unprecedented 14 straight top 5 finishes at Florida State.

Alongside the new documentaries and vast line-up of live games featuring the biggest teams in college football, ESPN Player brings subscribers the news, storylines, discussions and debate surrounding college football, direct from the US, with four simulcast ESPN channels. The brand new ACC Network, focusing on the Atlantic Coast Conference, the SEC Network, dedicated to the powerhouse Southeastern Conference, the Longhorn Network, the official channel of the Texas Longhorns, and ESPNU, focusing exclusively on college sports, are all available live 24/7.

 

LaLiga Names BKT As Official Global Partner

BKT and LaLiga have entered into an agreement that will see BKT become “Official Global Partner of LaLiga”.

The partnership takes immediate effect and will run for three years until the end of the 2021/2022 season.

“LaLiga stands for excellence and is a synonym for football,” Rajiv Poddar, Joint Managing Director of BKT, stated. “From today on, we are following a new marketing initiative within the Spanish football world, and I am really glad and proud of it. LaLiga is a brand of unquestionable value.”

“It is a great pleasure that we can strengthen the bond between BKT and the world of sport, and above all the football world with both its rules and dynamics that we find fully in line with our own values, along with determination and the uncompromising wish to win,” Lucia Salmaso, Managing Director of BKT Europe, says.

Óscar Mayo, International Development Director of LaLiga added: “LaLiga can help brands to significantly increase their exposure worldwide. Our competition has millions of fans around the world and therefore represents a huge audience for brands to engage with. We look forward to working with BKT over the coming years and helping it to achieve its objectives.”

This is a decisive goal on BKT’s path of increasing its brand awareness. The company is active when it comes to communication and promotion and uses sport to support its global message of fair play, respect for the opponent, competition and strategy, values that are shared by LaLiga.

Becoming Official Global Partner of LaLiga is another initiative that adds to the numerous sport events that BKT has been actively supporting worldwide. These include the 2014-agreement with the Monster Jam circuit, the American motorsport show where giant Monster Trucks fitted with BKT tires perform astonishing stunts; the sponsorship agreement with Lega Nazionale Professionisti B, the governing body of the Italian second league championship, which was undertaken last year being effective till June 2021, and which has changed its name into “Serie BKT”.

In addition, BKT sponsors the French “Coupe de la Ligue BKT” football competition, to which the company has given its name till June 2024, as well as the partnership with the Australian cricket championship with the KFC Big Bash League, which is valid for two more years.

Rugby League World Cup 2021 Names An Official University Partner

 

Rugby League World Cup 2021 (RLWC2021) has named Manchester Metropolitan University as its Official University Partner.

The sponsorship will include the two organisations collaborating to deliver impactful research, integrate the world class facilities the University has with the tournament, and positively engage with a range of audiences, including the student community.

In 2021, England will welcome nations to the 16th Rugby League World Cup, where for the first time in history, the men’s, women’s and wheelchair games will be played concurrently – championing inclusivity, which is at the forefront of RLWC2021 planning. Manchester is one of the host cities at RLWC2021, with Old Trafford the venue for both the men’s and women’s finals on the same day.

The new sponsorship will see Manchester Metropolitan conduct research into the RLWC2021 hosting strategy and assess the positive social impact of the tournament via a full PhD scholarship. This will focus on areas of the RLWC2021 ‘InspirationALL’ legacy programme, with activities to improve the economic and social wellbeing of communities.

In addition, over 30,000 Manchester Metropolitan students from a variety of backgrounds and cultures will be engaged with RLWC2021, with opportunities such as volunteering and work experience provided to students to increase aspirations, improve personal development and prepare them as future leaders.

Manchester Metropolitan’s facilities will also be integrated into the RLWC2021 tournament delivery, including team training, base camps and the Festival of World Cups, which will include the Emerging Nations, Student and Armed Forces competitions.

Jonathan Neill, Commercial Director at RLWC2021 commented: “Our partnership with Manchester Metropolitan is built around meeting shared mutual objectives. This will positively impact the tournament in many ways, from inspiring and exciting the next generation, to demonstrating our legacy via innovative research which can be used as a blueprint for future events. The breadth of Manchester Metropolitan’s expertise, capability and engagement will support our vision to deliver the biggest and best Rugby League World Cup ever.”

Professor Malcolm Press, Vice-Chancellor of Manchester Metropolitan University, said: “With the strength of our research expertise spanning the science, business, policy and culture of sport, we are excited about what can be achieved through our partnership with Rugby League World Cup 2021. Our shared values around the importance of community and sustainability will be at the forefront of the work we will do together. This will be a global celebration of rugby league, and also a demonstration of the power of sport to bring communities together.”

ICC Appoints Jonathan Hall As General Counsel And Company Secretary

ICC has appointed Jonathan Hall as General Counsel and Company Secretary.

Jonathan brings 27 years of legal experience across a range of sports, most recently in senior consultative roles for a number of international and UK sports organisations including UEFA and Laureus.

Prior to that, he worked for The Football Association (The FA) for 11 years firstly as the Director of Governance overseeing all regulatory and governance matters and later as the Director of the Football Services Division. Here, he worked closely with the FA CEO on the National and Professional Game departments, Corporate Affairs, International Relations and Customer Insight and was acting as The FA’s representative on IFAB, football’s international law making body as well as being a Board director of the body overseeing match officials in the professional game.

Before joining The FA, Jonathan was General Counsel and Company Secretary at the Rugby Football Union (RFU), reporting to the CEO responsible for all game disciplinary matters, legal affairs – both commercial and regulatory. Prior to that he was Senior International Vice President, Legal Affairs for IMG on commercial legal matters across cricket, football, rugby, tennis, golf. He qualified with US firm Baker McKenzie after graduating as a lawyer from Cambridge University.

ICC CEO Manu Sawhney said: “I am delighted to welcome a lawyer of Jonathan’s calibre to the ICC to lead our legal division following a comprehensive global search. Jonathan brings extensive experience across a range of sports that will be of great value to the global cricket community.”

Jonathan Hall said: “I am delighted to be joining the ICC at such an exciting time and I am looking forward to working with the ICC team and wider cricket family. Cricket is a personal passion of mine so it is a source of great pride to be able to combine it with my professional life and utilize my experience in a game I love.”

Jonathan will take up the post of ICC General Counsel and Company Secretary in mid- September and will be based at the ICC headquarters in Dubai.

Mastercard Expands Global Relationship With Riot Games

Mastercard has expanded its existing, global partnership with Riot Games League of Legends esports into financial services category exclusivity for the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS).

Additionally, Mastercard today introduced “Together Start Something Priceless,” a League of Legends community driven content series that will showcase unique stories of League of Legends players around the world.

“This expanded relationship represents the continued growth in popularity of esports as well as the success of the global partnership between Mastercard and Riot Games,” said Cheryl Guerin, executive vice president of North America Marketing & Communications at Mastercard. “We are also excited through the ‘Together Start Something Priceless’ content series to not only demonstrate our support for this community, but also share some of the great stories and inspiring individuals we have encountered during our partnership.”

As the exclusive financial services category sponsor for the LCS, beginning with this weekend’s Summer Split Finals in Detroit, Mastercard will curate a wide range of Priceless experiences and exclusive cardholder benefits across onsite event activations, via Priceless.com and through other to-be-announced promotions to bring cardholders closer to their passion and help fans experience what they love about League of Legends competitions.

Mastercard will also partner with the platform to integrate payment technology that drives a simple and secure payment experience. This checkout experience arms players with tokenized checkouts masking their card number making every transaction unique for those saving their cards and for those that aren’t, Mastercard will eliminate laborious key entry with Secure Remote Commerce, a simple click to pay check out.

“Mastercard has already proven themselves to be true stewards of the League of Legends community. After launching our partnership last year, including global events and the curation of truly priceless moments at Worlds, we’re thrilled to be expanding the relationship and partnering with Mastercard to deliver additional unique experiences directly to LCS fans in North America,” said Matthew Archambault, Head of Esports Partnerships and Business Development for North America at Riot Games.

 

LaLiga North America Partners ThinkFoodGroup To Establish New York’s ‘Little Spain’

LaLiga North America and ThinkFoodGroup have partnered to establish Mercado Little Spain as the official Home of LaLiga in New York.

Throughout the upcoming season, Mercado Little Spain will show all live ‘fútbol’ games and host special events, allowing fans to experience the drama and passion of the league firsthand.

Opened in March of 2019 by beloved Spanish chef José Andrés, Mercado Little Spain is a Spanish market and all-day dining destination that has taken New York City by storm. Andrés himself told Fast Company that “Spain is here in America,” making it a natural fit to be the home of LaLiga in the US.

“We are thrilled to have Mercado Little Spain as our official home in New York, and to create a space where fans can experience the best of Spanish culture together: Food and Soccer” said LaLiga North America’s CEO, Boris Gartner. “José Andrés is a recognized ambassador of Spain in the U.S., he’s a die- hard LaLiga fan, and we are proud to partner with him to bring Spain closer to America.”

“Fútbol has always been a big, big part of my life, along with many Spaniards and more and more Americans every year,” said José Andrés. “Our partnership with LaLiga will give a meeting place to all of us – American, Spanish, everyone – who want to enjoy the greatest sport on Earth.”

 

UEFA Introduces An eFootball Tournament In London

UEFA is introducing UEFA eEURO 2020, a national-team eFootball tournament featuring all 55 of UEFA’s national associations and kicking off in November 2019.

The competition will be the largest national-team eFootball event to date and will see participating players compete exclusively on KONAMI’s eFootball PES 2020. The video game will be dedicated to next summer’s UEFA EURO 2020 showpiece.

The aim for all competing countries will be to qualify for the final tournament in London from 9–10 July, scheduled just before the final of the real-world UEFA EURO 2020 at Wembley Stadium on 12 July.

“eFootball is played by tens of millions of people across the continent and we are delighted to give competitors from our national associations the chance to represent their country on the biggest stage,” said UEFA marketing director Guy-Laurent Epstein.

“We have seen a massive growth in the popularity of eFootball over the past few years and the eEURO 2020 will give us the opportunity to connect with new and existing fans of national-team football.”

UEFA eEURO 2020 will have a specific team focus. Each participating national association will compete with a national eFootball team comprising between two and four players, who will represent their country in the pan-European event.

The competition format will be similar to UEFA EURO 2020. It will involve a qualification phase and a final tournament, in which the players will face off against each other in London. Between November and December 2019, each national association will nominate their team, with participants being chosen through either a domestic online or ‘physical’ tournament – unless a national eFootball team already exists.

An official draw will then take place to divide the competing countries into groups for the qualifying phase. During the online qualification stage, every country will play two matches against the other countries in their group, with the team with the highest overall aggregate score being determined the winner. The winner of each group and the best six runners-up will qualify for the final tournament in London.

“Our teams have pulled out all the stops to secure the biggest and best licences possible for eFootball PES 2020; quality licences that match the level we set each year when it comes to game play,” said Jonas Lygaard, senior director – brand and business development at Konami Digital Entertainment B.V.

“The partnership with UEFA and the EURO 2020 tournament is a big win for our community and new users who look for fresh content throughout the year.”

The winners of eEURO 2020 will receive tickets to watch the final of UEFA EURO 2020 as well as a cash prize.