The Professional Triathletes Organisation Appoints Tim Godfrey As CMO

The Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) has announced that it has appointed Tim Godfrey as Chief Marketing Officer.

Godfrey will be a part of the leadership team at the PTO, reporting directly to CEO, Sam Renouf and will be responsible for heading the organisation’s global media and marketing strategy.

Throughout Godfrey’s career in the sports media and entertainment industry, he has built and executed media and marketing strategies for rapidly growing organisations, most recently the global sailing championship, SailGP and prior to that FIA Formula E, now one of the fastest growing sports properties in the world.

As part of the SailGP leadership team, Godfrey was Chief Media & Marketing Officer. After joining at the beginning of SailGP’s inaugural season, Godfrey hired and scaled a new media and marketing team responsible for broadcast production, media rights sales, non-live content, digital and social and branding and promotion that delivered transformative media impact and value in its first season.

Prior to SailGP, Godfrey served as the Director of Sports Partnerships at ITN Productions and as Head of Media at FIA Formula E. At ITN Productions, Godfrey repositioned the sports business with a new multi-platform, digital and partnership approach which helped secure new deals working alongside global sports federations, broadcasters, rights holders and brands including the ICC, IAAF and Channel 4. As a key member of the original series launch team at Formula E, he created and executed the media strategy across media rights, broadcast, digital, data, content creation and distribution.

Godfrey’s new role at the PTO will oversee all media and marketing initiatives with an immediate focus on the first edition of the much-anticipated Collins Cup.

Sam Renouf, Chief Executive Officer of the PTO, said: “We are excited to have Tim come on board as the PTO’s first Chief Marketing Officer. Tim has an excellent track record of working for internationally renowned sports media organisations and in his new position at the PTO, will be responsible for promoting Triathlon on a global scale to the next generation of fans and attracting new audiences through innovative content, storytelling and a best-in-class broadcast product. Having established the PTO with our inaugural event, the PTO 2020 Championship at CHALLENGEDAYTONA®, we are ready to take the Sport to the next level with Tim’s expertise and talents.

Tim Godfrey said: “I am delighted to have the opportunity to be joining the PTO as its first Chief Marketing Officer at such an exciting time for the organisation and the sport. Since speaking to Sam and the rest of the PTO leadership I quickly came to see the huge potential. I look forward to shaping the future of the company alongside Sam and the team. It is evident that triathlon has a massive opportunity to consolidate and grow its fan base, create a consistent, fan-focussed media proposition centred around major events and compelling athlete storytelling. The PTO is perfectly positioned to do this through its innovative ownership structure alongside Sir Michael Moritz’s Crankstart Investments and the professional athletes themselves to capitalise on this huge opportunity.”

NHL Partners Scotiabank, Honda, Discover, MassMutual For Realigned 2020-21 Divisions

The National Hockey League (NHL®), in partnership with Discover, Honda, MassMutual and Scotiabank has announced the official division names for the 2020-21 season: Scotia NHL® North Division, Honda NHL® West Division, Discover NHL® Central Division and the MassMutual NHL® East Division.

As previously announced, in reaching agreement on the format for the 2020-21 season, the NHL and NHLPA determined that the ongoing closure of the U.S.-Canada border required realignment, with teams realigned as follows:

• Scotia NHL® North Division (Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, Winnipeg)
• Honda NHL® West Division (Anaheim, Arizona, Colorado, Los Angeles, Minnesota, San Jose, St. Louis, Vegas)
• Discover NHL® Central Division (Carolina, Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Florida, Nashville, Tampa Bay)
• MassMutual NHL® East Division (Boston, Buffalo, New Jersey, NY Islanders, NY Rangers, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington)

Each team in the MassMutual NHL® East Division, Discover NHL® Central Division and Honda NHL® West Division will play every other team in its division eight times while each team in the Scotia NHL® North Division will play every other team in its division nine or 10 times, to minimize team travel as much as possible.

The NHL also announced today that voting is now open for the 2020-21 NHL Preseason All-Division Team Fan Vote. The 2020-21 NHL Preseason All-Division Team Fan Vote gives fans the opportunity to celebrate the start of the season and the temporary division realignment by selecting their favorite Preseason All-Division Team at NHL.com/AllDivisionTeam. Starting today through January 11, 2021, fans can select six players for each division team – three forwards, two defensemen, and one goalie, and share their selections across their social platforms with the official hashtag #NHLAllDivision. All NHL teams will be represented with candidates for each position, designated by the NHL.

One team will be selected for each of the four divisions – Scotia NHL® North Division, Honda NHL® West Division, Discover NHL® Central Division and MassMutual NHL® East Division, and will be announced across NHL social media platforms – Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram prior to the start of the 2020-21 season.

Extreme E Partners NEP Group For Sustainable Broadcast Production

Extreme E, the new electric off-road racing series, has enlisted a host of broadcast partners including NEP Group, a leading technical production partner for producers of live sports and entertainment, which will provide the technology, expertise and global network to deliver the most innovative and sustainable broadcast production.

Together, NEP, Aurora Media Worldwide and Extreme E have spent 18 months designing a technical solution that reaches the most remote locations whilst reducing the environmental impact across the entire production.

The innovation and expertise within NEP have brought about a full end-to-end solution which will include, flypack, remote production, crewing, satellite and fibre connectivity, edit, ingest, AR, GFX, display and projection, and specialist cameras including RF.

The system design and build is under the direction of Donald Begg, NEP’s Director of Technology for Major Events, who is overseeing the realisation amid the challenges of both COVID-19 restrictions and the unique requirements of where and how the equipment will be used.

The specialised flypack, designed to survive extreme temperatures and conditions, will be connected back into NEP’s new ‘UHD ready’ centralised Broadcast and Media Centre, which is located at 200 Gray’s Inn Road, London. The production will make use of the centre’s extensive connectivity, remote production galleries, remote replay, Edit and Live Centre monitoring, all currently being built at the London location.

NEP’s Netherlands based team in Hilversum has also developed new AR tools for drone tracking and in-car GFX, along with the innovative use of RF technologies to work around environments where cable runs have to be limited but still need to achieve maximum and resilient coverage from the cars. Avoiding either fixed-wing or helicopter RF solutions to remove some of the environmental impact, the company has achieved a ground-based system of remote IP RF links and clever integration of the coverage systems to maximise the number of feeds.

Combined with advanced drone technology, the AR GFX teams have worked with Extreme E and Aurora to develop live mapping and overlays of the diverse course from the drones providing the viewer with a whole new experience in race time GFX AR overlays.

A significant challenge on this project was to design systems for deployment with limited crew numbers permitted on site. With NEP’s solutions, it has designed workflows and a system to support this smaller-sized team – all crew members are working as one team, supporting each other across disciplines from video to audio to cameras to rigging.

Simon Moorhead, Managing Director of NEP UK Broadcast Services, said: “We’re thrilled to be working with the Aurora team on the Extreme E racing series and having the opportunity to develop an integrated set of solutions to support these unique events. Between designing for COVID restrictions and being mindful of our impact to the environment, we needed to create a workflow that connected limited production crew and equipment on site to remote production hubs while shooting from some of the world’s most remote and difficult locations. All of our teams came together to meet these challenges head on.”

Steve Jenkins, President for NEP UK & Ireland, commented: “It’s fantastic to be working with Aurora and Extreme E on such an exciting programme of events. We all must look at how we can work differently and make real changes to reduce our environmental impact. I am proud of how at NEP we are using expertise, talent and our centralised resources from across the entire global organisation to innovate and deliver for our clients for projects like this and where the use of remote has accelerated through the pandemic.”

And this technology has recently been put to the test at the ex RAF Bentwaters airfield in Ipswich alongside Extreme E’s other broadcast suppliers including Motorsport Communications experts MRTC and Specialist Timing, Telemetry and Networks company, Al Kamel Systems.

Dave Adey, Head of Broadcast & Technology at Extreme E, said: “After spending months working on these innovative broadcast solutions, many of which have never been used before, it has been great to see them all put into action at our recent test. We are travelling to such remote locations with Extreme E, which means there will be no second chance when we get to site, so this test has proved essential, and seeing all the hard work in real life has been very gratifying. We can’t wait to go racing next year and show the world Extreme E through one of the most innovative productions I’ve ever worked on.”

The five-event calendar starts in March 2021 in Saudi Arabia, before moving to Senegal in May, Greenland in August, Brazil in October and Patagonia in December.

PMG Adds AS Nancy To Its Expanding Portfolio

Pacific Media Group has acquired AS Nancy, the French Ligue 2 outfit who will become the fourth club in Chinese-American consortium’s portfolio.

“Discussions with AS Nancy have been going on for several months and they ended on the last day of the year,” said Gauthier Ganaye in a statement.

“This does not mean that I will quit or reduce my tasks in Ostend. The fact that a new club is added to the consortium also means more sporting and economic possibilities for the KVO.”

He added: “I am delighted to be working again in France within a historic club which has a very special place in French football. It is with great humility that I succeed Jacques Rousselot, a true figure of French football since decades and driven by human values ​​in which I find myself.”

AS Nancy will now become the 9th club in Ligue 2 to be foreign-owned: Le Havre, Caen and Toulouse have American owners; Bahrain hold a 20% stake in Paris FC while the UAE’s City Football Group own Troyes AC. Both Sochaux and Auxerre are in Chinese hands. In 2019, Swiss Ahmet Schaefer, a former assistant of Sepp Blatter, completed a deal for Clermont.

NY Hockey Holdings Buys 15% Of Islanders From Family Of Charles B. Wang

New York Hockey Holdings has bought the remaining 15% of the New York Islanders from the estate of Charles B. Wang and now holds full ownership of the club. New York Hockey Holdings has put out the following statement:

Charles B. Wang was a remarkable man who achieved much and is greatly missed. He loved Long Island and stepped in to keep the Islanders where they belong. Charles believed in this franchise and always wanted what was best for the team’s passionate fan base.

His vision for the Islanders will be fulfilled next season with the opening of UBS Arena at Belmont Park. The permanent home for the team will celebrate the Wang family’s 20 years of commitment to the New York Islanders and will define Charles B. Wang’s legacy as a valued steward of this proud franchise.

SuperGen Group To Build $898 Million International E-Sports Center

SuperGen Group, the parent company of Chinese esports organization Edward Gaming (EDG) will be building the “Shanghai International Culture and Creative Esports Center” in Shanghai’s Minhang District.

The new park will serve as the organization’s new home venue and office building, and will also house an esports entertainment venue (which will be capable of hosting an on-site audience of 6K), a “five-star esports-themed” hotel, a breakdancing facility, an indoor skydiving venue, and many other amenities and attractions.

Construction on the center is expected to be completed by 2023.The first phase of the project cost more than ￥5B ($774M USD), with the total investment of the project will be more than ¥ 10B ($1.55B USD), according to the announcement by SuperGen. The total size of the industrial park is 500K square meters (roughly 5.38M square feet), and plans to host 300 esports international competitions each year, with a capacity of 10K visitors daily.

Jiangzhu Yuan, vice president of SuperGen Group, also stated that the new park is expecting to attract hundreds of esports companies, as well as offering around 2,000 esports related jobs.

MCWFC Signs Salento Creazioni Moda As Formalwear Partner

Manchester City Women’s Football Club has signed a long-term partnership with Italian production house Salento Creazioni Moda.

The team’s first ever global formalwear partner, the link-up will see the players wear a limited edition, hand-sewn collection at the Club’s Barclays FA Women’s Super League fixture against Manchester United at the Academy Stadium in February 2021.

There will also be a number of further occasions across the course of the 2020/21 season and beyond where the team will be dressed by the south of Italy creatives.

They previously created an exclusive custom coat for the team’s recent Vitality Women’s FA Cup Final victory over Everton at Wembley Stadium in early November, which the players were involved in designing.

Courtesy of the partnership, throughout the duration of the current campaign there will be a number of fan engagement activities and bespoke content featuring members of Manchester City Women’s first team squad.

Salento Creazioni Moda will also hold the sponsorship of the Club’s prestigious Player of the Year accolade which will be presented at the End of Season Awards.

Finally, Salento Creazioni Moda will be retailing the limited-edition co-branded collection with Manchester City directly online through their own e-commerce channels in February.  We will also be working together to enable fans to purchase the co-branded collection through the Official City shop and will announce full details in the coming months. Special capsule collections are scheduled to also launch in the Far East, stay tuned to official pages for upcoming announcements regarding this

Commenting on the new partnership, Gavin Makel, Managing Director of Manchester Women, said: “Everyone at Manchester City is delighted to welcome Salento Creazioni Moda as an Official Partner of our women’s team.

“We are excited to be working with them – they share our commitment and desire to create bespoke looks for our women’s team and we’re looking forward to what unique opportunities this partnership will bring.”

Salento’s owners Giorgio & Lina Barone added: “This is a historic, ground-breaking project and we are honoured to be the First Official Global Formal Wear Partner for Manchester City Women’s Football Club. This partnership is in line with our vision to continue to grow our company whilst maintaining our core family values.

“The fans’ passion and loyalty inspires us to continue to create the best product and our goal is to make a perfect synergy between the world of sports and luxury fashion.

“Cityzens – we will proudly ‘Keep the Blue Flag Flying High’.”

Final Call On Staging Australian Grand Prix To Be Made In Coming Weeks

Australian GP organisers have asserted that the final call on staging the Australian Grand Prix will be made in the “coming weeks” following reports it could be postponed over strict travel restrictions and the emergence of a mutant Covid-19.

Reports mentioned that the Melbourne-based race, which is due to kick off the new season on March 21, would likely be pushed back to later in the year, with Bahrain poised to open the 2021 calendar on March 28. It pointed to Australia’s tough coronavirus restrictions, which require international travellers to quarantine for two weeks, as posing significant logistical and financial obstacles.

“The Australian Grand Prix Corporation continues to work closely with the Victorian (state) government and Formula 1 on conditions and arrangements relating to the staging of the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne in 2021,” they said in a brief statement.

“Further detail will be provided upon finalisation of arrangements with all parties in the coming weeks.”

Despite concern about the fate of this year’s race, hundreds of the world’s top tennis players are set to arrive in Melbourne from January 15 for 14 days’ quarantine before the Australian Open.

Reliance Industries Acquires 50% Stake In IMG-R

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire 50% shares held by IMG Singapore Pte. Ltd in IMG-Reliance Ltd, for a cash consideration not exceeding ₹52.08 crore, the company said in a regulatory filing.

IMG-R will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company and will be rebranded by the Company post acquisition.

IMG-R was started in 2010 as a joint venture between IMG and RIL and is now a leading firm working to promote and develop sports, entertainment, and fashion in India. IMG-R has worked towards developing these segments in India through various ventures, including The Hero Indian Super League, Maharashtra Open (Formerly the Aircel Chennai Open). IMGR also host the glamorous event Lakme Fashion Week in India. IMG-R has also collaborated with the Basketball Federation of India and the All-India Football Presentation.

IMG-R had a turnover of Rs 181.70 crore and a net profit of Rs 16.35 crore in the previous financial year. The firm has reported a net profit of Rs 16.35 crore and Rs 19.25 crore in the previous two financial years.

RIL said that no governmental or regulatory approvals will be required for the aforesaid acquisition, adding that the deal does not fall within related party transactions and none of RIL’s promoter or promoter group companies have any interest in the transaction.

ALK Capital Completes Investment In Burnley FC

ALK Capital – the leading US management firm specialising in investments in the sports and media sectors has completed its investment in Burnley F.C.

The deal, approved and ratified by the Premier League, sees ALK Capital’s sports investment arm, Velocity Sports Partners, acquire an 84% shareholding in the club, which was English champions in 1921 and 1960. The firm’s Managing Partner Alan Pace will take over from Mike Garlick as club chairman.

Garlick, alongside former shareholder John Banaszkiewicz, will remain on ALK Capital’s new board of directors at Burnley, ensuring a smooth transition to new ownership and providing valuable knowledge from his eight-year tenure as club chairman. This successful period has seen two promotions to the Premier League, development of the Barnfield Training Centre, and European football at Turf Moor for the first time in more than half a century.

Mike Garlick, outgoing chairman and director of Burnley F.C., said: “This investment represents a natural progression for Burnley Football Club. In Alan Pace and his team, we are welcoming committed investors to Turf Moor who will be living here in the local community and investing in the club, both on and off the football pitch, for many years to come. My tenure as chairman has always been about ensuring Burnley is a sustainable football club, and this investment provides a long-term plan to maintain that philosophy, whilst driving evolution and innovation.”


Alan Pace, incoming chairman and Managing Partner of ALK Capital, said:
“Today marks a new era for Burnley as we become stewards of this historic football club and build on the impressive work that Mike Garlick, Sean Dyche and everyone at Burnley has done to make it a financially stable, established Premier League club that is a cornerstone of the local community. With a rich heritage, a brilliant academy, and a passionate fan base, this club has solid foundations to build upon. This is the start of an exciting journey for the entire Clarets family.”


ALK Capital’s investment aims to secure the long-term future of Premier League football in Burnley, with a new management team providing a wealth of operational and technological expertise along with a sustainable growth plan centred on advancing the club, its academy and Burnley’s commercial footprint, whilst upholding the club’s core values and identity.


Pace, aged 53, brings 20 years in the financial services industry and over a decade of sports management experience to Burnley. A dual British American national, he was formally a Managing Director and Global Head of Sales for Securities Services at Citi, responsible for overseeing a multibillion-dollar division. Alan is a former partner at SCP Worldwide LLC – owner of sports, entertainment and media properties – and a previous CEO of Major League Soccer franchise Real Salt Lake, where he oversaw the transformation of a consistently last-place team to winning the 2009 MLS Cup.


The acquisition of a majority stake in Burnley builds on ALK Capital’s recent entry into the European sports market with two strategic investments in London-based football technology businesses AiScout and Player LENS.