NBC Sports And PGA Tour To Launch A Betting Show

NBC Sports, the PGA TOUR and PointsBet announced the first-ever betting companion show during a PGA TOUR event – a live second-screen experience entitled NBC Sports Edge BetCast, which will be available on Peacock Premium.

PointsBet is the official sports betting partner of NBC Sports, and an official betting operator of the PGA TOUR.

The debut presentation of the NBC Sports Edge BetCast will premiere on Peacock Premium alongside NBC Sports’ telecasts of the Waste Management Phoenix Open on GOLF Channel and NBC from Thursday, Feb. 4 through Sunday, Feb. 7 at TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course.

“We are excited to debut this unique betting show with our partners at the PGA TOUR and PointsBet,” said David Preschlack, President, NBC Sports Regional Networks, and Executive Vice President, Content Strategy, NBC Sports Group. “With TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course as the backdrop, we look forward to a compelling sports betting presentation on Peacock Premium as a companion to watching the world’s best golfers competing on some of the most iconic holes on the PGA TOUR.”

“The NBC Sports Edge BetCast stream on Peacock Premium is another step forward for our sports betting strategy,” said Norb Gambuzza, PGA TOUR Senior Vice President, Media and Gaming. “We are extremely excited to produce and distribute specialized betting content as a companion to our linear and digital coverage with our partners at NBC Sports and PointsBet. As we continue to embrace sports betting, the TOUR will continue to innovate and find new ways to engage fans around the world.”

“The PointsBet team is thrilled to work alongside our partners in NBC Sports and the PGA TOUR to bring to life a very engaging and unique sports betting production,” said Johnny Aitken, PointsBet USA CEO. “We all recognize that golf is ripe for sports betting innovation, and at PointsBet, we control our destiny when it comes to building the best golf betting experience in the world with our fully owned and operated technology platform. We are excited to highlight our golf product via the NBC Sports Edge BetCast stream and show golf fans our market-leading offering.”

Manchester City Agrees Regional Alliance With Zurich International Life

Manchester City has announced a new regional partnership with leading life insurer in the Middle East, Zurich International Life Limited (Zurich), who will become the Club’s Official Insurance Partner in the UAE.

The partnership builds on Zurich’s long-standing commitment to inspiring and empowering the next generation of young talent to build brighter futures, bringing people together through their passion for sports.

Nurturing a sense of community and engaging fans and enthusiasts both on and off the pitch, the collaboration will involve a range of digital and esports activations, including an online FIFA tournament for Manchester City fans, casual gamers and esports fanatics with various prizes to be won.

Stephan Cieplik, Senior Vice President of Global Partnerships at City Football Group, said: “We are delighted to launch this new partnership with Zurich International Life. The team has impressed us with their ambition and commitment to empowering the next generation. 

“Over the last few years, Manchester City has been able to expand our digital and esports offering and I am pleased that Zurich will be joining us on this journey as we discover new ways in which our audiences engage with the Club.”

Walter Jopp, CEO of Zurich in the Middle East, said: “At Zurich, we are always looking for ways to connect with our communities. We are also passionate about sports and promoting a sense of togetherness, and I am very excited to be joining forces with Manchester City on this journey. We are certainly ready for kick-off.”

Extreme E Teams Up With GMC Hummer EV

GMC has agreed a new multiyear sponsorship with Chip Ganassi Racing for the team’s first electric racing venture in the inaugural Extreme E season in 2021.

CGR’s 550-horsepower electric SUV, which features a unique grille, graphics and bodywork, was inspired by the GMC HUMMER EV, the world’s first all-electric supertruck.

“I can’t think of a better fit than showcasing the look of GMC’s HUMMER EV in Extreme E with Chip Ganassi Racing,” said Jim Campbell, General Motors U.S. vice president, Performance and Motorsports. “Both GMC HUMMER EV and the Extreme E series are designed to be revolutionary – to challenge perceptions of electric vehicles and to showcase their true capability.”

Noted off-road racers Kyle LeDuc and Sara Price will serve as drivers for CGR in the series.

“It’s truly an honor to represent GMC, especially during such an exciting time in auto racing,” said Chip Ganassi, CGR team owner. “The new GMC HUMMER EV is going to be a game changer in terms of how the world views off-road EV capability, and we couldn’t be more proud to represent GMC in such an innovative new series.”

The Extreme E five-race global championship will take place in some of the world’s most remote locations and promotes the adoption of electric vehicles. Fans can follow along on GMC’s social channels.

McLaren Racing Renews Broadcasting Partnership With CNBC

McLaren Racing and the world-leading business news network, CNBC have announced a multi-year partnership extension which will see CNBC continue as an official partner of the McLaren Formula 1 team.

The partnership, which started in 2018, combines two brands through a shared passion in innovation and leadership, communicating content and commercial activity across CNBC’s global business network. As part of the new agreement CNBC and McLaren will work closely on several thought leadership and strategic events as part of McLaren’s new B2B engagement programme set to launch later this year.

As part of the partnership, the CNBC brand will feature on the McLaren F1 driver overalls of Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo, and on the McLaren MCL35M Formula 1 race cars during 2021 and beyond.

Mark Waller, Chief Commercial Officer, McLaren Racing said: “Since 2018, CNBC has been a valued partner of our team and we have collaborated with real success to reinforce the power of the CNBC and McLaren brands across the global business and investor network. After a successful two years, we are delighted to continue to create and amplify content and commercial activity together globally through their world-class network.”

John Casey, President and Managing Director, CNBC International said: “We are delighted to see this partnership with McLaren go from strength to strength. This partnership is built on our shared passion for excellence and leading in our respective fields. We’re looking forward to continuing our journey with the team for what’s set to be an extremely exciting season ahead.”

Peacock Secures Exclusive Streaming Rights For WWE In The US

Peacock and WWE have announced a multi-year agreement that gives Peacock exclusive streaming rights to WWE Network in the U.S.

“NBCUniversal has a long-standing relationship with WWE that began nearly 30 years ago with Monday Night Raw on USA. WWE has always tapped into the cultural zeitgeist with spectacular live events and larger-than-life characters, and we are thrilled to be the exclusive home for WWE Network and its millions of fans across the country,” said Rick Cordella, Executive Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer, Peacock.

“WWE Network is a transformative addition to the platform and complements Peacock’s massive catalog of iconic movies and shows, as well as the best live news and sports, from NBCUniversal and beyond.”

“We are thrilled to further the long-standing and trusted partnership WWE has with NBCUniversal,” said Nick Khan, WWE President and Chief Revenue Officer. “Peacock is an innovative platform that will enable us to showcase our most significant events, including WrestleMania, and provide the extraordinary entertainment our fans have come to expect with the combination of premium WWE content, live sports, news, films, and television programs.”

LIVENow Appoints James Sutcliffe As Chief Marketing Officer

LIVENow has appointed James Sutcliffe to the role of Chief Marketing & Content Officer.

Supported by teams in Italy, the UK and USA, Sutcliffe will take responsibility for growing the LIVENow brand globally, through exceptional live content and fan experiences.

“James’ appointment comes at a key time for LIVENow, following the success of Dua Lipa, Ellie Goulding, Gorillaz and Pete Tong virtual concerts, hosting Australia vs India Men’s International Cricket and the launch of LIVENow Fitness,” explains Lara Vanjak, Chief Operating Officer at LIVENow parent company Aser Ventures. “James’ experience of working with artists, labels and promoters, the fitness community and sports teams will be invaluable in building a world-class brand on a global stage.”

Sutcliffe joins LIVENow from Monster Energy where, as Marketing Director he drove brand strategies that connected with consumers through culture. Activations and partnerships with UFC, Lewis Hamilton, F2 Freestylers, nine Premier League Clubs, National Student E-Sports and Post Malone were all executed by his team. As Director of Music, also at Monster Energy, he led the EMEA music strategy curating the Relentless Stage at Leeds Festival and signing key partnerships with Stormzy, Elrow, Live Nation, Pete Tong, London Warehouse Events and the International Music Summit.

“Since LIVENow officially launched in August it has delivered straight out of the blocks, which speaks volumes about the ambition,” begins Sutcliffe. “I’m excited by that and the opportunity we have to build a brand that connects with people, becomes part of their day to day and brings fans even closer to the artists, teams and experiences they love.”

LIVENow is home to amazing live experiences and aims to entertain, engage and educate. Sutcliffe anticipates curating content from the world of sport, music, comedy, fitness and culture, building a content slate through rights acquisition, co-productions with brand partners and original formats created in-house.

Sutcliffe continues: “Virtual events have become an essential part of the marketing mix, generating hype for a live tour, building anticipation for an album or building community outside the walls of a venue or sports ground. Our events are inclusive of all fans, regardless of geography and as a medium we are only just scratching the surface of its potential. I’m excited by the conversations we are having in how we push the boundaries in this space, what it means for merchandising, supporting real world events, brand storytelling and more.”

RLWC2021 Signs Assura As Health Partner

Rugby League World Cup 2021 (RLWC2021) has partnered with Assura plc as the tournament’s Official Community Health Partner, further underlining their commitment to creating positive social impacts within communities.

Assura, a FTSE 250 company, develops, invests in and manages a portfolio of almost 600 primary care medical centres which are bases for NHS teams serving millions of people across the United Kingdom.

The sponsorship is Assura’s first in sport, and they join Eversheds Sutherland, Deloitte, Manchester Metropolitan University, Kappa, Kuehne+Nagel and Cazoo as official sponsors of RLWC2021.

As part of the sponsorship, the Assura Community Fund will launch a RLWC2021 Grants Programme with a minimum of £100,000 available to help charitable and voluntary sector organisations deliver health and wellbeing activities.

The grants will educate and teach skills to contribute to improved emotional health and wellbeing, gaining support for life challenges and providing increased activities and opportunities to improve self-confidence, self-esteem and belonging.

The grants will be given to health projects working from or with rugby league community clubs, existing recipients of the RLWC2021 CreatedBy Capital Grants Programme, and within the eighteen RLWC2021 host towns and cities.

Online applications will open from 1 February 2021, with a submission deadline of 28 February 2021, and successful applicants receiving one-year grants by 15 May 2021.

The partnership will align with RLWC2021’s Mental Fitness Charter which is educating people to look after their own mental fitness, and of those around them, at a time when mental and physical health is such a priority.

Jonathan Neill, RLWC2021 Commercial Director, said: “Our partnership with Assura is another example of RLWC2021’s commitment to delivering positive social impacts, and the role that businesses can have in helping us deliver the tournament and our purpose led approach.

“Our partnership strategy has been focussed on bringing new brands into the sport and creating integrated and connected partnerships that meet our mutual objectives. The addition of Assura to our partner portfolio is tremendous news, and their community fund grants programme will make a positive difference across many communities.”

Jonathan Murphy, Assura CEO, said: “If there was ever a time when the ‘Power of Together’ was a crucial message, it’s now – and that’s why we are so excited to be partnering with Rugby League World Cup 2021 to create a legacy for health in local communities.

“We’re proud to be a business based in the Rugby League heartland of Warrington and with our shared ambitions on social impact, it’s a privilege to be working with the volunteers, players, support teams and partners on what will be such a special tournament.

“The scale of the task ahead to rebuild community health beyond the current pandemic is clear but this partnership can play its part by supporting local health projects to reduce isolation, rebuild health confidence, skills and lessen health inequalities throughout the communities the tournament will engage.”

Sheffield Wednesday Collaborates With Seyu To Bring Fans Virtually To The Stadium

Seyu partnered with Sheffield Wednesday FC to support The Owls from the pitch side digital boards with their photos and messages.

Seyu helped the fans to show their club devotion in the most difficult moments of the season. Since that three home matches equalled 9 points and tremendous happiness for the fans, players and club members alike.

Nowadays, when the connection between players and their supporters is almost completely impossible, the encouragement received on digital surfaces counts exponentially. Not only the players but also the business received a new source of ‘motivation’.

Transforming only 4,5 minutes of ordinary LED advert (most in added time) over three matches, expanded the SWFC brand’s reach by 83k+ organic social media reach (280k+ brand impression) through 9.5k+ engagement with fan selfies.

YouTuber Callux On Spearheading UMM And Bridging The Gap Between Fans & Athletes

UMM is a new sports publisher created to champion professional athletes off the pitch, rather than on it. The venture which launched in December last year aims to  bring together YouTuber’s and professional athletes, with a unique proposition – empowering sport stars to showcase unseen sides of their personalities, helping them reach new audiences, and attract brands who face the challenge of appealing to the hard-to-reach YouTube generation.

iSportConnect’s Taruka Srivastava spoke with YouTuber Callux (Callum McGinley) who, after building a following of over 3.7 million subscribers, has recently launched UMM to help established athletes and stars of the future by giving fans better access to their lives, characters and interests through original content.

Why did you want to start this initiative?

The goal of the UMM is simple which is to create one of the biggest sports entertainment platform in the world. You don’t really get to see the characters within sports as you only get to see them on the pitch.  UMM would be the place where you can find more about the characters within sports. We want to give the characters a real voice and put them behind some really great ideas and create some really engaging, authentic content.

Why launch it amidst the pandemic?

We started working on this before COVID19 and we basically had to start adapting and evolving to what kind of content we could make. I have been a YouTuber for 10 years now and obviously, trends come and go. The kind of content that works well on the platform now didn’t work 8-10 years ago.

“We are open to all kind of sports and the music world is also going to be massive focus for us. Esports is an interesting avenue as well and I am a massive fan.”

Inadvertently, it is a good thing to launch this now as there are people who are in need of content in lockdown, are on their computers and would like some escapism from the real massive pandemic happening in the world. The online viewership has gone up so I think we have launched at a good time.  

Who is currently onboard with this project?

With COVID-19 , it is pretty hard to get access especially face to face which was the original plan, but we are working with ICM Stellar Sports who have a massive roster of footballers. So predominantly with them but we’ve had interest from other agencies as well because they have seen the content that’s gone on the channel and have liked it.

“What we are trying to do is bring athletes on YouTube and show them the potential YouTube has.”

We are open to all kind of sports and the music world is also going to be massive focus for us. Esports is an interesting avenue as well and I am a massive fan but for now we would like to only focus on what we have. We will diversify when the time is right.

From your perspective as a YouTuber, did COVID offer connect of athletes with the fans in a way they never had?

Lot of sports personalities hopped on TikTok last year and TikTok is an incredible platform. Their algorithm is brilliant and basically, anyone can go viral. Many kids if you ask them what they want to be and they will say ‘YouTuber’.

“TikTok is a shorter content and a lot easier to make, and when you add in a personality that people recognise, it’s going to go viral.”

TikTok is a shorter content and a lot easier to make, and when you add in a personality that people recognise, it’s going to go viral.  Last year was a push for athletes just tweeting and posting on Instagram, what we are trying to do is bring athletes on YouTube and show them the potential YouTube has. Being a YouTuber is a full-time job and athletes can’t do it as they don’t have time for it and we would like to bridge that gap.

Has the interest of brands in influencers gone down?

No. I think what has happened is that lot of out of home (OOH) advertising budget has been directed towards digital by many brands. For eg. December for me was the highest amount of inbounds in my email in my entire career so far.

Now January has surpassed that, brands are now collaborating with influencers and are spending money on good content to sell their products.  A lot of people have been affected but still, the ones who are creating good content have benefited during the lockdown.

49ers Increases Its Leeds United Ownership Stakes To 37%

Leeds United Football Club and the San Francisco 49ers – led by Chairman Andrea Radrizzani and CEO Jed York, respectively – have announced a new investment by an entity affiliated with the 49ers, bringing the total minority ownership stake in Leeds United managed by 49ers Enterprises to 37%.

This new investment also sees Paraag Marathe, 49ers Enterprises President and current LUFC Board Member, become the Vice Chairman of Leeds United.

“We are delighted to welcome further investment into our club from 49ers Enterprises and I am confident that this latest partnership will help Leeds United continue to grow and develop into the team our supporters deserve,” said Radrizzani.

“I have always been open to bringing partners on this journey with me, as long as these actions can benefit the long-term strategy of the club. Paraag and the team at 49ers Enterprises are uniquely positioned to collaborate with myself, Angus Kinnear, Victor Orta and our management team to help us achieve our goals.”

Today’s announcement builds on a strategic partnership and equity stake initiated in 2018 when 49ers Enterprises purchased 15 percent of the club from Andrea Radrizzani’s sports and media investment platform Aser Ventures. The Chairman and controlling owner of Leeds United since 2017, Radrizzani remains the majority stakeholder of the English Premier League (EPL) club, through Aser.

“Our 49ers Enterprises team has always shared Andrea’s vision for constructing a powerful and winning club in the most competitive football league in the world, and the experience of the last three seasons has been more exhilarating than we could have ever imagined,” said Marathe.

“The hard work and bold leadership demonstrated by Andrea and his talented team has restored Leeds United’s rightful place in the Premier League and we look forward to playing an even bigger role in supporting their efforts to climb the table this year and into the future.”

The three years of collaboration between Leeds United, parent company Aser Ventures and 49ers Enterprises has seen the club grow significantly, posting record-breaking commercial revenues, as well as earning promotion to the EPL from the Championship League during the 2019-20 season.

“Now that we have achieved promotion and made a positive start to the new campaign, there is no better time to be looking ahead to the future, as we aim to take this football club to the next level, initially by becoming an established Premier League side before chasing our dreams of taking Leeds United back into Europe,” added Radrizzani.

“We must also be focused on reaching our potential commercially and developing Elland Road and our training facilities.”

Marathe – supported by 49ers Enterprises Vice President Collin Meador and other key 49ers personnel – will be more involved in the decision-making process and day-to-day operations of the club moving forward, both in football and business operations as he has done for the 49ers for the last 20 years, and maintains his place on the Leeds United Board of Directors.

Throughout his tenure with the 49ers, Marathe has served in a number of strategic leadership positions for the National Football League (NFL) franchise. As Executive Vice President of Football Operations, Marathe is well-respected in contract management and negotiations with extensive experience running all aspects of a global sports organization. While serving as 49ers Chief Operating Officer and team President, Marathe oversaw the innovative design and construction process of Levi’s® Stadium – the internationally recognized state-of-the-art home of the 49ers.

“We are increasing our investment in Leeds United now to support and augment the organizational infrastructure needed to remain competitive in the Premier League,” added Marathe.

“We are committed to doing all we can to help the club compete for championships against the best football clubs in the world while providing an elevated supporter experience at Elland Road.”

The new investment sees 49ers Enterprises and Leeds United’s parent company Aser Ventures strengthen their wider business alliance. 49ers Enterprises and Aser partner together to share their investment expertise and networks, to add additional value to their respective investment portfolios.