Issue 93
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Issue 93
LAS VEGAS WELCOMES THE MAJOR LEAGUES
From Aarhus to Mumbai: sporting destinations in focus
KEEPING THE FLAME WHERE NOW ALIVE FOR THE OLYMPIC GAMES? @SportsPro
The federations outlook for 2017
china 2019 Beijing Dongguan Foshan Guangzhou Nanjing Shanghai Shenzhen Wuhan
The first FIBA Basketball World Cup of a New Era
worldwide qualifiers starting november 2017 #fibawc fiba.com/worldcup
CONTENTS | ISSUE 93
56 COVER STORY 56 Passing on the torch The withdrawal of Budapest from the race for the 2024 Olympic Games means that for the second time in succession, the International Olympic Committee has just two bidders to choose from. Even with a run of events set for major global cities, there are now burning questions as to how desirable hosting is in the current era.
FEATURES 36 Company profile: When sport and entertainment collide In an era when the boundaries between sport and entertainment are blurred, insurance company Integro is using its broad experience to evolve the industry.
40 Calling the feds Representatives from three summer federations reflect on the Rio Olympic Games, look forward to the 12 months ahead, and discuss their plans for further expansion in 2017 and beyond.
46 Company profile: This is the modern way
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Modern pentathlon is a traditional sport that has long epitomised the Olympic movement. Nevertheless, it has continually evolved and its LaserRun City Tour has allowed it to cater for modern tastes.
50 Winter is coming International Ski Federation secretary general Sarah Lewis and International Skating Union president Jan Dijkema discuss their respective plans for this allimportant pre-Olympic year.
64 California dreaming The Los Angeles bid for the 2024 Olympics promises to deliver ‘a new Games for a new era’, one that can restore the credibility of an Olympic movement going through a worrying malaise. It could be that the movement needs LA now more than ever.
70 City of sharing Paris has unveiled its final plans for hosting the Olympic Games in 2024. It promises the most open, the most sustainable, and the most shareable Olympics ever, and is confident of celebrating the 100th anniversary of the city’s last Games by doing it all over again.
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CONTENTS | ISSUE 93
114 The profile: Getting real in the digital age Whetston Strategic Foresight founder Thimon de Jong argues that in an industry built on tribalistic passion and raw emotion, understanding behavioural and societal trends is as important as ever.
118 SmartSeries: Emerging sports Technology is reshaping the boundaries of the traditional sports industry but for some newer sports and disciplines, it is at the core of their DNA.
76 76 Raising the stakes With the National Hockey League arriving and pro football set to follow, it is hoped major league sport can become the next big attraction in Las Vegas.
84 Jumping east SportsPro goes behind the scenes at the Hong Kong leg of the Longines Masters Series to sample what has fast become one of the region’s unmissable social and sporting occasions.
92 Tamasha on the seas Award-winning journalist and author Mihir Bose returns to the city of his birth, Mumbai, for the inaugural Powerboat P1 Indian Grand Prix of the Seas. He reflects on the opportunities for the series, and the challenges of putting together an event from scratch in a unique marketplace.
100 Denmark’s the spot The Nordic nation of Denmark is currently gearing up to host the 15th annual edition of the SportAccord Convention, an event which marks its coming of age as a sporting destination. Sport Event Denmark, the government-established and run body for the organisation of sport events in the country, is facing a big year, and an even bigger future.
AT THE FRONT
104 Beach world The Swatch Beach Volleyball Major Series, a joint venture between Austrian entrepreneur Hannes Jagerhofer and energy drinks brand Red Bull, is planning further global expansion to create a significant year-round presence for the sport.
106 Pride of dragons Rob Holt, director of tourism development and major events for Wales, explains how it is building on its burgeoning reputation as a host of major global events like the Uefa Champions League final
108 Going for gold With just over a year to go until the opening ceremony of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia, local organising committee chief executive Mark Peters reveals what processes have been put in place to create a lasting economic impact the city.
112 Company profile: The jewel of the Caribbean The Nassau National Beach Soccer Arena, host venue for the Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup Bahamas 2017, may be built on sand, but it is creating a firm foundation for the future.
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Editor’s Letter The Long Read Notes and Observations The Matt Slater Column Digest Do sports events still set the gold standard for their city hosts?
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Sian Jenkins
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Premier League shirt sleeve branding: all you need to know Chris Beadle
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Premature Facts Movers and Shakers SportsPro World Gallery The Shot: Haye vs Bellew
AT THE BACK 124 126 130 132 134
Deals Review Sponsorship Deals Index Unofficial Partner Jottings
SportsPro (ISSN 1756 5340), (Issue 93) is published bi-monthly by SportsPro Media Ltd and distributed in the USA by Mail Right Int., 1637 Stelton Road B4, Piscataway, NJ 08854. Periodicals Postage Paid at Piscataway, NJ and additional mailing offices POSTMASTER: Send address changes to SportsPro, SportsPro Media, C/o 1637 Stelton Road B4, Piscataway NJ 08854
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HOSTING WINNERS Everyone’s a winner when hosting events in Denmark. Volunteers, spectators, businesses and politicians all come together to empower your world class event. Everyone plays on your team to take it to a higher level. When you place your event in Denmark, you’re bringing it to a vibrant atmosphere served by a wealth of trustworthy and experienced partners. Together we’ll make your event a winner.
WELCOME SPORTACCORD CONVENTION
AARHUS, 2–7 APRIL 2017
EDITOR’S LETTER
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Meeting the future
ast Autumn, I wrote in this column that the end of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games marked a watershed for the way things are done in the sports industry. The events of the opening months of 2017 have only reinforced that impression. Beyond a succession of political occurances that have completely changed the playing conditions for international industries like sport, there have been a spate of changes within sporting federations themselves. Many of these, of course, were driven by revelations of corruption that occurred through the annus horribilis of 2015, with the presidents of global soccer governing body Fifa and several of the game’s continental confederations dragged down in the wake of those scandals. Even as SportsPro was setting its pages for the printers, there came another departure, albeit at the ballot box this time. Madagascar’s Ahmad Ahmad, 57, stunned the soccer world by beating Issa Hayatou in a vote to become president of the Confederation of African Football (Caf). The 70-year-old Cameroonian incumbent, for better or worse, has been part of the furniture in global soccer governance for decades and has been at the head of the African body since 1988. His departure truly brings an end to the administrative age of Sepp Blatter – at least in terms of personnel. But refreshed leadership – as many have argued of the direction of travel at Fifa in the past decade – cannot guarantee change on its own, and those in the business of running sport at all levels know they face challenging times. Governing bodies, we are so often reminded, have a difficult course to plot between ensuring a healthy income for their constituents and protecting the sport itself at the core. Between the prospect of exploiting untapped markets and the opportunity to harness emerging technologies, the chances of following that path are greater than ever – but it is still just as easy to lose balance. All of these factors will doubtless be up for discussion on the floors of the SportAccord onvention in Aarhus. Also under consideration, after a month in which Budapest has dropped out of the race for the 2024 Olympic Games and Durban lost its right to stage the 2022 Commonwealth Games, will be the partnership between federations and event organisers and the cities that host them around the world. How sport connects with wider issues of environmental sustainability and social cohesion is another matter for consideration. This edition of SportsPro has been put together with both of those conversations in mind – combining our annual look at the state of things in the federation world, and our report on the destinations of the world beyond. And many of these topics and more will be explored at the fourth edition of Sports ro ive, our own flagship conference at Wembley Stadium. f you re reading at either of those events, hello, hopefully you’ve not caught my eye while you do so as that might be awkward. If not, you can expect plenty of coverage of both across our other outlets in the months and weeks ahead. We may or may not get to write the future, but we re all about to see it.
How sport connects with wider issues of environmental sustainability and social cohesion is another matter for consideration.
Eoin Connolly Editor
EDITOR Eoin Connolly
MANAGING DIRECTOR Nick Meacham
DEPUTY EDITOR Adam Nelson
COMMERCIAL CONSULTANT Richard Partridge
AMERICAS EDITOR Michael Long
COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR Jon Abraham
STAFF WRITER George Dudley
PARTNERSHIPS DIRECTOR Bobby Hare
CONTRIBUTOR Dipo Faloyin
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGERS Charlie Barker, Tom Purdy
ART DIRECTOR Daniel Brown
BUSINESS OPERATIONS MANAGER Yéwandé Aruléba
PHOTOGRAPHIC AGENCY Action Images
EVENTS MANAGER Yin Khoo
MEDIA PARTNER Press Association
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SportsPro magazine is published by: SportsPro Media Ltd 3rd Floor, Two America Square, London EC3N 2LU, UK Tel: +44 (0) 207 549 3250 Fax: +44 (0) 207 549 3255 Email: info@sportspromedia.com Web: www.sportspromedia.com (SportsPro Media Ltd is part of the Henley Media Group Ltd www.henleymediagroup.com) NOTICES: Issue No 93 SportsPro Magazine (ISSN 1756-5340) is published bi-monthly throughout the year. Printed in the EU.
SUBSCRIPTIONS: Available at a cost of UK£199 (Print subscription), and UK£149 (Digital Subscription). Back issues are available for UK£25 and delivered anywhere in the world at no extra charge. Subscriptions are available by logging on to www.sportspromedia.com EDITORIAL COPYRIGHT: The contents of this magazine, both words and statistics, are strictly copyright and the intellectual property of SportsPro Media. Copying or reproduction may only be carried out with written permission of the publishers, which will normally not be withheld on payment of a fee. Article reprints: Most articles published in SportsPro Magazine are available as reprints by prior arrangement from the publishers. Normal minimum print run for reprints is 400 copies, although larger and smaller runs are possible. Please contact us at: info@sportspromedia.com
DIGITAL STADIUMS FOR MAJOR EVENTS, FA’s & LEAGUES Federations and leagues are taking steps forward in integrating umbrella solutions and practices. The main reasons are to secure the good performance of the competitions and to bring more value to their members to have better global investment opportunities. Venue management has a direct impact in the development of competitions and major sports events. The stadium experience represents the direct link between the stakeholders investing in sports entertainment, from fans to brands. In the last decade, technology has improved stadium management, from logistics to commercial operations. Stadium Managers now can systems and devices bringing valuable information regarding the behaviour of operations and fans. This challenge has become complex, as massive information is plain and difficult to understand. MMC has develop 3D Digital Venue, a 360 degree solution which is an interactive digital stadium.
FROM SCRATCH TO THE ULTIMATE FAN EXPERIENCE The scratch - Design & Development The 3D Digital Venue team is composed by 3D artists, architects and web integrators who already worked with more than 100 different entertainment venues all worldwide. This concentration of knowledge allows 3D Digital Venue to bring an advantage perspective of the ideal venue design, facing operations and fan experience. In almost all project the team has located from 10% to 20% seats with restricted views, representing a permanent price reduction for those tickets, besides the costs of rebuilding. With 3D Digital Venue, the stadium architects and engineers can reconsider the design to reduce the impact of those situations. Some properties that have benefited from this feature are Athletic Bilbao, FC Barcelona, Manchester City or the new stadium of Atletico de Madrid. Selling stadiums and arenas in advance Digital Venue has developed a feature to simulate the stadium bowl and hospitality areas which have been not constructed or refurbished. By having a digital interactive simulation of the stadium, the sales team can customize boxes and VIP lounges in real time. Buyers can visualize the precise view from the seats and experience the lounges in advance, even using Virtual Reality devices. The stadium operator gets the revenue in advance, having cash flow even for the construction process. Rugby Football Union, Wembley Stadium and the most important football event in the world have proved this solution. The ultimate ticketing experience Many of the ticketing platforms are not offering an innovative and appealing experience to their customers. 3D Digital Venue allows a visual interactive ticketing experience, performing the full sales pipeline inside an interactive 3D stadium. Major sports events and properties are boosting the visits of the official website and the online ticketing sales from 10 to 30% by using this feature. This feature has been used by major sports events like Euroleague or The King´s Cup in Spain (ACB), F1 and clubs from NBA, NHL or the half of the clubs of LaLiga in Spain. Fans enjoying digital stadiums and brands 3D Digital Venue brings infinite possibilities to digitally activate the fan in a new way. As the digital stadium is interactive, you can travel all around in it just as a videogame, allowing the participation of brands in a platform which is not intrusive. 3D Digital Venue is flexible to adapt to all kind of content requirement, meaning it can be customizable. The digital arena or stadium represents a new platform where sponsors like to invest, transforming it to a new revenue stream. 3D Digital Venue works as an umbrella solution for Federations and League as it will be help to bring high performance operations for all their venues. It is also an innovative appealing experience for fans with a high rate of engagement, which represents new opportunities for brands and over-all sponsorship deals. All the features can be performed in one same project, generating savings and revenue in each phase. The technology is the most flexible, as it can fit with any platform, web integration and device. The ROI ratio of activating a digital stadium could represent from 3 to 10 times of its investment. For more information visit https://3ddigitalvenue.com/ and contact inquiries@3ddigitalvenue.com.
THE LONG READ
SPORT AND SIN CITY: A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN? SportsPro Americas editor Michael Long on the long-awaited arrival of major league sports to Las Vegas.
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t is a curious thing – inexplicable, even – that major league sport has yet to go big in Las Vegas. When you consider what each of the four big beasts of US sport are – entertainment brands, show businesses, seasoned experts in self-aggrandisement and razzmatazz – and when you consider what Las Vegas is – a tourism mecca, a show business, full of seasoned experts in self-aggrandisement and razzmatazz – the fact that the two have never truly got together seems, well, mystifying. Perhaps it’s a pride thing: a shared ‘this town ain’t big enough for the both of us’ mentality. Perhaps it’s all that talk of vice and the mob and the uncertainty that comes with legal sports betting. Or maybe it’s simply the prospect of too many tired gambling puns. Whatever the reason, the truth is Las Vegas is ripe for major league sport. Just ask the National Hockey League (NHL). Its newest franchise, the Golden Knights, officially opened for business on st arch, becoming the first ma or league team to set up shop in the marketplace. Even before then, the notion that Las Vegas might actually be a viable market for big league sport was gaining traction. Now there is a sense that Las Vegas is entering a new phase of maturity, with sports gambling gaining more mainstream acceptance and any stigma surrounding the city softening by the day. The T-Mobile Arena, a joint venture between AEG and the casino resort developer MGM International, now offers a world class sporting stage in the heart of The Strip, and more and more sports properties want a piece of the action. Speedway Motorsports, owner of the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, has announced plans to bring a second triple-header Nascar weekend to the track from next year, and the UFC nailed its flag firmly to the T- obile Arena mast. A dedicated eSports arena has opened in the city’s downtown area – which is itself, incidentally, the subject of a wider
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regeneration effort – while few would bet against the National Football League’s (NFL) want-away Oakland Raiders joining the party in the near future. After recently plugging a US$650 million funding hole with a loan from Bank of America, the Raiders are inching closer to getting the green light, and their move to a proposed US . billion domed stadium, to be built on land close to The Strip, could well be ratified at an owners’ meeting in late March. To get an idea of what’s in the move for the city of Las Vegas, I met in March with Steve Hill, the executive director of the overnor s Office of conomic Development who doubles as chairman of the Las Vegas Stadium Authority. Unsurprisingly, Hill is excited by the impending arrival of the Raiders. In addition to the prestige that comes with hosting an NFL team, he hopes the stadium will generate considerable economic activity – as much as US$620 million annually, according to official figures as well as thousands of new obs in southern Nevada, and yet more tourism revenue for a city that already welcomes some 43 million visitors a year. That is the primary reason why the state legislature saw fit to pump a record US million of public money into the project. That figure more than any public contribution for a stadium project in American history – has understandably been set upon by local media and residents alike. But their grumblings are not born solely of the usual ‘public financing for sports stadiums is bad sentiment. Never mind that Las Vegas already has an over-abundance of entertainment offerings and, presumably, better things to spend its money on, the chief bone of contention for locals concerns the fact that this particular project was, up until January, spearheaded by Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire casino magnate who has made his fortune selling impossible dreams to the masses. Why, they argue, would one
of the richest men in the world need a public handout? In any case, Adelson’s involvement in the project is over after he withdrew his investment, walking away from the deal in a huff at the start of the year. The conversation – and the stadium plan – have since moved on, yet local sentiment remains the same. Recent polls have found only mediocre support for the Raiders’ impending arrival, and just as Angelenos didn’t exactly welcome the St Louis Rams with open arms last year, most locals could care less about the NFL coming to town. “The Raiders won’t mean anything to the locals who live here,” one taxi driver, a resident of egas for years, told me. “All the tickets will go to the casinos and their high rollers.” Even if the state is trumpeting the stadium as an economic boon, locals sense that this is a development that will be built by wealthy outsiders who will use it to schmooze their fellow out-oftowners. But Las Vegans are used to having the odds stacked against them in this way. Those I spoke to recalled how only a paltry proportion of the tickets to loyd ayweather s fight with anny Pacquiao, staged at Vegas’ MGM Grand in , made it into the hands of the public at face value. Others noted how, in , many local basketball fans were priced out of an NBA All-Star Game that saw tickets sell for an average of US$2,500. A Super Bowl in Vegas? Don’t even mention it. Yet anecdotal testimonies of this kind are likely to fall on deaf ears. So long as the punters keep rolling in, so long as sporting fandom remains a transactional relationship, the NHL will feel like it has hit the jackpot and the NFL, too, will know it’s on to a winner. For that reason, you could argue, Las Vegas and the major leagues are the perfect match. @_MichaelLong
NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS
SUSTAINING THE DEBATE Adam Nelson
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t is a strange sensation to take succour from the pessimism of others. It’s the kind of feeling you imagine the Germans must have a particularly satisfying word for – which would be appropriate, really, given that it was in Munich, at the recent Sustainable Innovation in Sports (SIIS) forum, that I most recently experienced this emotion. After leaving the last S S back in ecember , in the midst of the O conference and ust days before the final version of the Paris Agreement was negotiated, I was captured by the opposite feeling. There, the atmosphere on that day was curiously positive, as executives and activists from across the industry – well-meaning and nobly intentioned all of them, I’m sure – took the opportunity to congratulate each other on the environmental initiatives that had been put in place over the last year, to highlight the programmes they’d established that would, seemingly inevitably, save the world. The sense was of an industry which felt to some extent that ‘good enough’ was good enough, that the hard work had already been done. In Munich, by contrast, the tone was notably more restrained, less laudatory and yet, in that, carried a much renewed sense of urgency and purpose. The addresses focused in greater depth on what needs to be done in the future, on the distance that is left to cover, than on what had already been achieved. A key question posed by a delegate during the conference’s opening panel session set the general mood: can sporting mega-events, such as the Olympics and Fifa World Cup, really ever be truly sustainable? And, given the obvious answer to that question, is it not time to start looking for more radical solutions than compact host cities and trainers made from recycled Coke bottles?
No other sector touches so many people so regularly, has the same global reach or has such a platform for mass communication in order to make sustainability meaningful and accessible to a wide audience Part of this shift surely stemmed from the political forces which have shown themselves resurgent in the 14 months between SIIS conferences. The retreat into nativism which has been witnessed in the UK’s Brexit vote and the election of Donald Trump in the US has been read at least in part as a rejection of so-called ‘21st century values’, of an entire class of people feeling dictated to by a political elite convinced it knows best. Somewhere along the line, the issue of climate change became wrapped up in this, with pro-Brexit Spectator columnist and noted contrarian Brendan O’Neill a prime example with his claims that sustainability initiatives are a ‘curb on liberty’. Trump, meanwhile, made rejection of green concerns a key part of his candidacy and, true to his word on that matter at least, has already set about taking steps to abolish the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the federal agency responsible for sustainability in the US. The fact is that it is not just self-congratulatory hot air for the sports industry to believe it can be a major driver of change in this area. No other sector touches so many people so regularly, has the same global reach or has such a platform for mass communication in order to make sustainability meaningful and accessible to a wide audience. As Nicoletta Piccolrovazzi, global technology and sustainability director at Dow Olympic and Sports Solutions, the headline sponsor of SIIS, told me at the event, “the reason why we are facing problems like climate change might be that we have not made solving that problem very appealing”. Sport, she added, “can be a great lens to communicate with a huge number of people and can magnify the positive action that is being done around sustainability”. Representatives from what were, at the time, the three Olympic bids for the 2024 Games were present at SIIS. One measure of the progress made across the industry is at that it is now de rigueur for any major sporting event to employ a head of sustainability and have an environmental legacy plan in place. Jérôme Lachaze, incumbent in that role for the Paris 2024 bid committee, told me that he believes in the Olympics “as a real accelerator of environmental transition” because it can instigate genuine bottom-up pressure, encouraging fans and spectators to think environmentally and encourage change at the top where it is most sorely needed. Sport as an industry has long attested to apoliticism, at least where anything that may threaten to alienate significant parts of its fanbase and, arguably more importantly, cost its sponsors and financiers, is concerned. n an increasingly politicised world, however, apoliticism is becoming an ever more untenable position, and at SIIS I saw evidence of the sports world awakening to this. It has often been argued that sporting bodies should not have to play the role of pressure groups or social activists but on an issue like climate change – with evidence already mounting that the much-vaunted Paris Agreement, and its aim of keeping the rate of global warming below two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, is likely to fail – that policy is unlikely to prove sustainable in the long term. The question posed at the forum’s opening hangs in the air: with the resources at its disposal and the audience it commands, is simply being “more sustainable” good enough? @adamsonnel
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THE SLATER COLUMN
THE MATT SLATER COLUMN With doping and governance stories plaguing cycling again in recent weeks, Press Association’s chief sports reporter wonders if sponsors can put a price on bad news.
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hey have had the decorators in at British Cycling recently and no, it was not for a whitewash. It was actually to erase all vestiges of Sky’s sponsorship and rebrand the Manchester ‘medal factory’ in HSBC red and white. British Cycling’s Sky years were great for both parties, with medals galore, a nice sideline in Tour de France glory and booming participation numbers. But now HSBC’s belief in things getting better is being stretched to breaking point. Since slapping its logo all over British Cycling’s building, clothing and stationery, the world’s local bank has deposited precisely zero goodwill and run up an alarming overdraft in negative headlines, doping inquiries and select committee appearances. It has got so bad HSBC must be pining for the good old days of the credit crunch. At the time of writing, neither the independent review into allegations of bullying and sexism within the British national team – which is being Maxwellised, in a sign of the company BC is keeping – nor UK Anti-Doping’s investigation into mystery packages and controversial painkillers is over. The former has churned out bad news for nearly a year, while the latter is a relative infant at ust five months of misery. Sky, of course, is still on the hook, in terms of marketing blowback, for what might come from the anti-doping probe, but having cut ties with the more cumbersome parts of the governing body business – coaching badges, race insurance, membership packs and so on – it can get on its bike and leave Sir Dave Brailsford behind any time it likes. That sounds incredible when you consider the bang-per-buck provided by Chris Froome and co since 2010 but even a fifth Tour win in si years cannot be worth much more of the press they have had in recent weeks. Even corporate stablemates The Times and Sunday
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Times have been calling time on Team Brailsford. None of this is new, though, for cycling or its commercial partners. They have been in it together, through thick and thin, from the beginning. While some sports have taken decades to realise their full sandwich-board potential, road cycling has been an advertising vehicle all along. With no tickets to sell, it had to be. Races were set up to sell newspapers or places, and the riders work for trade teams that last until the money runs out, the company’s Mr Big gets bored or somebody in the marketing team decides there are easier ways to sell hearing aids, kitchen flooring or e tractor fans than
When the pictures are great – as they are when your guy is in yellow, pink or polka dots – cycling is the one of the best bargains in advertising. trying to win Grand Tours. Originally, it was column inches and epic photography that attracted the sponsors, but cycling is a TV sport these days – so much so that worrying about crowds on the roadside is almost quaint and the deciding factor when choosing where to put a race is whether the host will pay for decent coverage. When the pictures are great – as they are when your guy is in yellow, pink or polka dots – cycling is the one of the best bargains in advertising. Sky gives Brailsford about UK£15 million (US$18 million) a year to be the team’s title sponsor, a month’s wages for a Premier League team or
what a Formula One entrant burns every fortnight. In return, Sky has been getting three weeks of blanket advertising in papers and bulletins every July, and a decent showing for the rest of the year, too. I have also often wondered if it did so just to annoy the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Eurosport. You try sticking to the letter of the BBC Producer Guidelines in a news package about the British team that has just won a race without it becoming an advert for your great commercial rival. It is hard – I tried. But now, like so many of the sport’s sponsors before them, Sky might be thinking those mentions on BBC news bulletins are not shifting as many the satellite dishes as they once did. Who knows They may find a receipt for whatever was in that package and this all goes away. In the meantime, an American court might be about to put a price on bad publicity, as the federal government wants back all of the money it spent plastering the US Postal Service’s livery over Lance Armstrong’s Lycra and a multiple of that in damages. The former seven-time Tour champion is looking at a bill for US$100 million (US$122 million), with former fellow cheat turned whistleblower Floyd Landis set to get a quarter of that for initiating the case. Armstrong’s defence will be that there was no harm – US Postal sold a lot more stamps and its staff delivered letters with a spring in their steps during those heady days – but that looks like a tough argument to make when the American mailman is now synonymous with one of sport’s great scandals. Timing is clearly everything in comedy, sport and advertising. Sky will be hoping it has not held on too long and HSBC may be wondering why it got started at all. Press ssociation is an official SportsPro media partner.
HOW FEDERATIONS CAN ENHANCE BROADCASTERS’ OTT OFFERING (GENERATING NEW REVENUE STREAMS WITH LOW EFFORTS) Though it may sound like the ultimate clickbait headline, it’s not. Federations and event organizers own a wealth of content that can be leveraged by broadcasters on digital properties. Unfortunately, that content often remains unused. There is a way though to make it available in ready-to-deploy digital formats, with low additional costs for production and integration. That is what we at Deltatre call Digital Host Services: a set of end-to-end solutions, embeddable components and content elements that sport federations offer to rights-holders to complement their digital offering.
END-TO-END SOLUTIONS
EMBEDDABLE COMPONENTS
CONTENT ELEMENTS
Event websites and mobile and set-top-box apps are sold as white label solutions to be integrated in wider digital ecosystems. Media rights holders are enabled to live stream events with an enhanced video player on a digital platform complemented with on demand video clips, data and editorial content. The look and feel is customizable with broadcasters’ branding – lower costs if compared to internal development. And it’s available for every kind of device, such as Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Samsung and LG Smart TV, Xbox and PlayStation.
In all those cases where broadcasters already have their own sports websites and apps and want to enhance the coverage of a specific sporting event, we can offer embeddable components that easily plugin into their digital platform. Any existing live streaming solution, for instance, can be enhanced integrating interactive functionalities in the viewing experience, letting users go back and forth on a timeline to replay key events, choose amongst multiple camera angles and interact with data overlays without missing a second of the action.
Raw content elements like data feeds, live video streams, video clips, social media infographics are made available near live on the cloud. These pieces of eventrelated content can be easily integrated in existing websites and apps, going to complement broadcasters’ digital strategies with minimum efforts.
The modularity of such offerings allow federations to go to broadcasters with exactly what they need, depending on their digital ecosystem. We are in the middle of the process making this possible with creative, technology and operational services. At the end of it all are the fans, who will be able to view their favorite sports wherever they want, whenever they want, in a new beyond-tv experience.
DIGEST SECTION TEXT HERE ISSUE 93
Next time in
The Live Edition
The Agenda
SportsPro Live returns to Wembley Stadium on 29th and 30th March for its fourth edition, with two days of panel sessions and interviews aiming to answer the questions about the forces reshaping the sports industry in 2017. For those lucky enough to be at the home of English soccer, and for those who won’t be able
to make it, we will be reliving the event through extensive coverage in the next magazine. With speakers including Wada president Sir Craig Reedie, One Championship founder Chatri Sityodtong, International Cricket Council chief executive David Richardson, and many more leading figures from broadcasting, technology,
governance, and sports brands, there should be plenty to chew over. Elsewhere in Issue 94, there will be a look at the latest developments in stadium technology, as a host of new venues prepare to come on stream. There will also be a special focus on safety and security at sporting events.
Dates for your diary in the weeks ahead
2ND APRIL Major League Baseball Opening Day USA
6TH TO 9TH APRIL The Masters Augusta National, Georgia, USA
15TH APRIL TO 1ST MAY World Snooker Championship Sheffield, UK
27TH TO 29TH APRIL NFL Draft Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, USA College football’s finest discover their professional destinies Icons designed by Freepik
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ISSUE 93 By the numbers
What they’re saying this issue
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“Now, more than ever, the IOC has the opportunity to choose the city that will serve the movement not only in 2024 but after 2024.” Janet Evans, LA2024
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“WE CAN CLAIM A LOT OF THINGS BUT IT WILL JUST BE A BLOODY GOOD GAMES.” Mark Peters, Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Corporation
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“Addiction to digital technology is comparable to drug addiction at a neuro level. It’s not a fad or a trend or a hype – from a neuro perspective it’s literally as addictive as a drug.” Thimon de Jong, Whetstone Strategic Foresight From the SportsPro Podcast
“What we’re actually seeing is that, across the board, audience attention is being diluted. People are intensely interested in fewer things – generally speaking – but people are generally interested in more things.” Nielsen Sports’ global communications director David Cushnan lays out the fundamental challenge facing rights holders keen to keep fans engaged. Find every SportsPro Podcast at www.sportspromedia.com/podcast or subscribe via iTunes CORRECTION: In the Issue 92 piece ‘Shared experience’, the chief executive of Omnigon was incorrectly named as Igor Ellis, rather than Igor Ulis. SportsPro apologises for the error.
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THOUGHT LEADER HOSTING
DO SPORTS EVENTS STILL SET THE GOLD STANDARD FOR THEIR CITY HOSTS? Sian Jenkins
A
s an agency founded on helping rights holders secure hosts for the some of the biggest sports events in the world, we often talk of the four key sport impacts. Delivering economic impact, destination marketing, social and cultural development and legacy are crucial to any sophisticated city and its strategic vision. Sports events have been shown to consistently deliver these, time and time again. Hosting the Rugby World Cup and Fifa World Cup changed the perceptions of post-apartheid South Africa, Barcelona 1992 spearheaded an unprecedented urban regeneration, London 2012 ‘inspired a generation’ and the 2016 Uefa European Championship delivered an economic impact of €1.22 billion (US$1.3 billion) to France. There is, however, always a cost. These benefits come at a price, and increasingly, cities are starting to say ‘no’ or ‘we can’t’ – the recent decision around Durban’s Commonwealth Games being a topical example. Rights holders are having to work harder to find hosts that can, and are willing to, meet both their strategic and operational requirements. In the meantime, ambitious cities, both established and emerging, are looking at more cost-effective ways to optimise their profile on the world stage. Of course, it’s not all about the money. Inclusivity is a critical and growing city objective. We often talk about participation in terms of sports participation, but what about inspiring the next generation that don’t want to get into sport? How can sports rights holders use the power of their events to drive a broader set of social inclusion objectives? Participation doesn’t necessarily need to mean the number of children lacing up their football boots across the country – it might mean the number that are visiting local museums, volunteering in community programmes or geocaching their way across urban landscapes to find treasure at iconic city hotspots. Similarly, it needs to be asked whether big sports events always deliver what cities themselves seek. When people travel to watch a sports event, are they seeing the
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city itself or the four walls of an arena? Are they actually experiencing the city and would they recommend it to their friends? Sports rights holders have a unique opportunity to integrate their event into a city to drive visitors to that hidden quarter, to live like a local, to do something different. There is an increasing expectation that the event and the city must integrate to drive the visitor experience and, ultimately, return visitation. Sport rights holders will be more aware than ever that city event agencies are increasingly investing in hosting non-sport events. The common denominator of this new breed of events is that they create ‘sharing’ moments – something that in our digital world provides the greatest possible positive exposure for a city. The advent of social media has created a legitimate alternate platform for events that do not create the typical ‘broadcast television moment’ but instead focus on highly visual ‘social moments’. These can be incredibly powerful – sometimes shared by millions of fans around the world. These fans are not simply viewing the image, but engaging with it, thus creating a far deeper interaction with the subject. A good example is Vivid Sydney, an 18day light art festival that in 2016 attracted 2.3 million unique visitors. Our colleague and curator, Anthony Bastic, regularly talks about the strategic positioning of key exhibits which will be photographed and shared with a global audience. The new challenge is: how can sports rights holders use their assets to create new, shareable experiences that will engage a global audience and, in turn, deliver enhanced value to their host? It’s clear something is changing in the industry. There are new, dynamic players vying for the attention, and budgets, of cities across a broad remit spanning art, culture, music and sport needs to fight for its share of voice. We work with a wide range of international cities and the briefs we are receiving from them are proof of this
Social media has created a legitimate alternate platform for events that do not create the typical ‘broadcast television moment’. changing mindset. Cities already know about the World Cups and European Championships. Now, they want to know what they don’t know – the untapped alternative events. To meet this demand, we have created a database of over 2,000 events, from privately owned music events to mass participation cultural experiences, many of which deliver comparable benefits to traditional, set-piece sports events. The database has now become a powerful, bespoke tool. Cities have an idea of what they think they might host, but once we input their specific criteria and analyse the data, they are always surprised (and energised) about the events that come out top. In many instances, instead of recommending they enter a competitive bidding process, we’re advising them to approach an emerging private event or even invest in developing their own owned-event asset. As public scrutiny on finances gets greater, cities need to deliver against far wider ranging ob ectives. They need to fill hotel nights but they also need to engage with their disenfranchised youth, to deliver on sustainability pledges and to ensure that their Instagram hashtag is on the rise. To do all of this, they need to think creatively – and they need their major event partners to do the same. Sian Jenkins is a Senior Consultant in the Consulting team at The Sports Consultancy. The Sports Consultancy partners with rights holders, host cities, major events, venues and brands to deliver smart solutions to sport’s most complex commercial and legal challenges.
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THOUGHT LEADER SPONSORSHIP
PREMIER LEAGUE SHIRT SLEEVE BRANDING: ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW Chris Beadle What’s the opportunity?
Shirt sleeves are a popular piece of sponsorship inventory in European soccer, most notably in Spain’s La Liga, where – for example – the brand of white goods manufacturer Beko adorns the shirts of FC Barcelona. Next season’s shirt-sleeve branding in the Premier League, the top tier of English soccer, can be a maximum of 100cm2 and is available only on the left arm sleeve (the right sleeve will continue to have the Premier League badge). Clubs will be able to wear it on their shirts in Premier League matches and friendlies only, but on all replica kits. If they don’t sell the space to a brand, or upsell it to one of their existing partners, clubs will wear the Premier League logo on both sleeves. A small number of clubs are tied into deals where a sponsor has exclusivity over the whole shirt, meaning they will either have to wait until renewal, buy their way out of the clause in their contract, or ask the partner to allow them the right to help the club grow financially. It’ll bring in significant revenue
Independent research agencies calculate the average value of the Premier League sleeve sponsorship to be around UK£3 million (US$3.7 million) a season, providing around 20 per cent of the media value derived from the frontof-shirt branding. Promoted clubs and lower-tier clubs are looking at just under UK£500,000 (US$621,000) a season, midtier teams up to – or just over – UK£1 million (US$1.25 million) a season, and the top six substantially more, perhaps even tens of millions a season. However, as all Premier League clubs are in the market at the same time, there will no doubt be a funnel effect, and deals signed over the next few months are likely to be agreed at prices lower than market value. Significantly, most clubs shirts for 2017/18 will already be in the manufacturing phase – this means if a
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brand wants to be on the sleeve of the replica kits for next season, it will likely have to cover the additional cost of transferring the branding on to kits that have already been manufactured. We could see multi-club deals done
The mid to lower-tier clubs in the Premier League are open to signing with a brand, represented by an agency, who wants to become their shirt sleeve partner as part of a group deal. This is attractive to a brand as it reaches a wider Premier League audience than simply one club, and will be a good fit for a brand looking predominantly for brand exposure, though not for one looking to drive real engagement with the club’s fans. For clubs, a group deal will be less valuable strategically as the brand is less likely to spent time and money activating the deal to its fanbase, and is therefore less invested in creating positive sentiment with fans and in CSR activities in the local community. What’s the real value for brands?
We’re all aware the Premier League is the world’s most watched sports league with a cumulative worldwide TV audience in the billions – that means brand exposure, measured most likely through media value,
is attractive for shirt sleeve sponsors. So too is the vast level of exposure that will be delivered via player imagery in the media and across social. Of real value, too, is a brand’s ability to use player imagery, featuring their logo on the kit, in marketing campaigns. The usage of player imagery that displays players facing the camera half side on/half facing forwards will clearly display a brand’s logo and adds huge credibility to its marketing messaging both online and offline usage of this specific right arguably has the same value of being on the front of the shirt, but at a fraction of the cost. In terms of sleeve sponsorship, it goes without saying that player access to create content featuring players in kit branded with the partner’s logo is elevated significantly in comparison to content not featuring it. For brands, using player access, or player imagery, for content creation is crucial for successful digital engagement and activation, so they should invest in agency support to make the most of what little time they will get with the players. Chris Beadle is the director of London-based agency Zonal Sports and the former head of partnerships at Premier League soccer side West Ham United.
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SECTION TEXT HERE FACTS PREMATURE
Marca-up In February, Spanish newspaper Marca reported that US sportswear brand Under Armour was set to sign a major kit supply deal with soccer giants Real Madrid, replacing longstanding apparel partner Adidas. Just weeks later, rumours emerged that Under Armour had backed out, balking at the European champions’ US$160 million a year demands. Marca has often functioned as an unofficial mouthpiece for
Real Madrid, however, and with their president Florentino Perez known to be dissatisfied with Adidas’ US$41 million a year deal – the fifth largest in world soccer – there may be more to the story than meets the eye. Reports of a free-spending competitor trying to poach one of Adidas’ biggest partnerships may prove very useful to Real Madrid when renegotiations with the German company roll around.
Common wealth? The news that Durban, South Africa had been stripped of the hosting rights for the 2022 Commonwealth Games was disappointing if predictable. Also disappointing and predictable was the list of cities emerging as candidates in its place, with the English triumvirate of Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester putting their names forward. Next year’s Games in Gold
Coast will be the 21st edition; of those, 18 will have been staged in just four countries: Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. The Commonwealth Games Federation has a wellintended mission to bring together a diverse set of countries, but it may be time to think again about how that can be reflected among its bidders and hosts.
Duty of care Steve Penny’s resignation as president of USA Gymnastics, following intensified pressure on the governing body for its handling of sexual abuse cases, brought to a swift end a hugely successful 12-year tenure. After English soccer was plunged into scandal of its own at the end of last year when
Six Nations, but which six? several former players came forward with their stories of abuse, the case has served as another reminder of the duty of care elite sport has, and has often historically failed to fulfil, over young athletes. It may be the 21st century governance challenge that went sadly unanticipated.
Hacked off For the second consecutive year, the LA 2024 Olympic bid committee will sponsor a ‘hackathon’ in the city, convening more than 1,000 high school and college students from across the United States to take part in a round-the-clock computer programming competition. The LA Hacks collaborative event will take place at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion, the proposed venue for Olympic judo and
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wrestling, with LA 2024 hoping to use the platform to further its claims to being the most hi-tech Games in history. With the increased prominence of such events – English soccer side Manchester City have also hosted their own hackathons – it could prove to the be the next big thing in the emerging sector of tech sports and an intriguing new point of engagement.
Rugby Europe has stepped up its efforts to revamp the Six Nations Championship – the northern hemisphere’s biggest annual international rugby union contest – by submitting a formal request to open the tournament up to new entrants. It is currently duked out each spring by England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, France and Italy, but the governing body for the game in Europe has proposed introducing promotion and relegation as well as a play-off system in order to expand the competition. The problem for the tournament, which is organised by the six competing national unions, is that while expansion is a clear positive for the game as a whole, the Six Nations in its current guise is by far and away the sport’s most successful property outside the Rugby World Cup – thanks in no small part to the certainty that ancient rivalries will be resumed. Any expansion will have to be a careful balancing act.
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
Movers and shakers February and March 2017 This is an edited selection of appointments made in the weeks before publication. For daily updates on the movers and shakers in the sports industry, visit www.sportspromedia.com
Suhyeon Cho
Andrea Varnier
International sports media agency MP & Silva has named Suhyeon Cho as its new global chief commercial officer. Cho joined the organisation in 2008, serving as managing director for Japan and Korea until his promotion. In his new role, he will be responsible for driving the group’s commercial strategy in cooperation with group executive directors Konstantinos Filippas and Roland Nikolaou.
Filmmaster Events has named Andrea Varnier as its new chief executive. The Italian, 53, replaces Antonio Abete, who will continue with the company as its president. Varnier brings with him over 30 years of experience in managing international sports events. He previously worked as a consultant of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Please email appointments to: info@sportspromedia.com
Mary Ann Turkce The National Football League (NFL) has appointed Mary Ann Turkce as president of digital media and NFL Network. Turcke joins from Bell Media, a division of Bell Canada, where she has served as president since April 2015. She will be responsible for leading the operations of the NFL Network, and will oversee NFL media properties including NFL Films, NFL Digital and the NFL website, as well as digital product development. She will report to the NFL executive vice president of media Brian Rolapp.
Annamarie Phelps The British Olympic Association (BOA) has named Annamarie Phelps as its new vice chair. Phelps was elected by the 43 members of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) by a unanimous vote. She replaces Sir Hugh Robertson, following his appointment as BOA chairman in 2016.
Iain Liddle Yao Ming The Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) has named Yao Ming as its new president. The retired National Basketball Association (NBA) superstar becomes the first non-governmental person to assume the role at the organisation, which was founded in 1956. He won by a unanimous vote at the CBA’s ninth national congress.
BT Sport has appointed Iain Liddle as its new head of social media. The Englishman will be working in the UK pay-TV broadcaster’s digital team and will lead its social media team, running the accounts for Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat. Liddle begins in his new position with immediate effect. He joins BT Sport from Twitter UK.
Peter Moore English soccer club Liverpool have appointed Peter Moore as their new chief executive. The current chief competition officer at video game developer Electronic Arts will assume his new role in June, replacing Ian Ayre, who is due to depart in the coming days. He will report to the Premier League side’s owners, Fenway Sports Group. Liverpoolborn Moore, 62, has been at EA for nearly a decade, holding a number of leadership positions, including chief operating officer and president of EA Sports. He has also held roles at Microsoft, Sega and Reebok, a former Liverpool kit supplier.
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Norman Howell Formula One has named Norman Howell as its new director of global communications. Howell has been the organisation’s head of digital for the past two years and will assume his new role with immediate effect. He will report directly to Sean Bratches, managing director of commercial operations at Formula One. The Englishman brings with him more than 30 years’ experience in the international sports communications and media markets.
Phil Lynch Premier League soccer side Manchester United have appointed Phil Lynch as chief executive officer of media. Lynch will take responsibility for overseeing the Old Trafford team’s digital media strategy, and the day-to-day operations of MUTV, the 20-time English champions’ in-house television offering. That includes the recently launched MUTV app and output of the club’s matchday programmes and their monthly magazine.
Bernard Giudicelli Bernard Giudicelli has been named as the new president of the French Tennis Federation (FFT). Giudicelli succeeds Jean Gachassin, who announced in 2016 that he would not be seeking a third presidential term. In September 2015 Guidicelli was elected to the board of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and in December 2015 he became the president of the Davis Cup committee.
Lewis Wiltshire Lewis Wiltshire, former UK senior director of media partnerships at Twitter, has been appointed as a consulting partner at Londonbased digital sports agency Seven League. Wiltshire is a former editor of the BBC Sport website, where he worked on the site’s coverage of the London 2012 Olympic Games. He then joined Twitter, becoming its first UK head of sport and later its global sports chair, before overseeing all media divisions for the micro-blogging network in the UK, Africa, MENA, Russia and Turkey, a role he left in December 2016.
Jay Danzi Lagardère Sports has named Jay Danzi as its US chief operating officer. The American has been promoted to the newly created position, assuming the role with immediate effect. Danzi has been with the international agency since 2013 as president of its golf consulting division. In his new position he will continue to report to Andrew Pierce, Lagardère Sports’ president and chief executive of the Americas.
Dr Nick Webborn The British Paralympic Association (BPA) has appointed Dr Nick Webborn as its chair. The news follows the decision of former chair Tim Reddish to step down from the role, a move that was announced in January. Webborn previously served as Paralympics GB’s chief medical officer, and has attended nine Paralympic Games in various roles, while he was also chief medical officer at the 2014 Invictus Games in London.
Loren Mack Asian mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion One Championship has named Loren Mack as its new vice president of public relations and communications. Mack is a veteran of the organisation, having previously served as senior director of public relations and communications for almost a decade, and has been instrumental in developing the brand across the globe. The American assumes his new role with immediate effect. Mack is a graduate of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and has a master’s degree in integrated marketing communications from Marist College. He is the Asia representative to the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame (NVBHOF).
Jonathan Browning and Julie Harrington The board of British Cycling has appointed Jonathan Browning as its new chair. The former VW chief executive, Vauxhall chairman and Jaguar Cars managing director first joined the British Cycling board as a non-executive director in March 2015. He replaces Bob Howden, who has stepped down from the role but will remain in the position of president. Julie Harrington will also be joining British Cycling in May as its new chief executive. She is currently the group operations director at English soccer’s Football Association (FA).
Georgina Lewis Georgina Lewis has been named as the new head of marketing at the Football Association (FA), the governing body of English soccer. Lewis assumed the role full-time on 27th February from Russell James, who moved internally at the end of 2016. Long-term FA consultant Ed Coan had been in the position on an interim basis. Lewis will report directly to FA commercial and marketing director Mark Bullingham.
Rick Jenner and Ian Scoffield Mass participation events agency Limelight Sports has appointed Rick Jenner and Ian Scoffield as strategy and insights director and group financial officer respectively. Jenner will lead the company’s strategy of putting fans at the centre of active experiences that engage the audiences of leading brands. He has previously held similar roles at ITV, News UK and Virgin Media. Scoffield joins Limelight Sports with 20 years’ experience in the media and marketing world. Prior to joining the UK-based agency he was the chief financial officer at Karma Communications Group.
MOVER OF THE MONTH Lewis Wiltshire, consulting partner at Seven League What is the biggest responsibility in your new role? My new role will involve working with Seven League’s existing clients to further improve their digital performance, and also to help Seven League to reach new clients across the sports industry. What are the challenges that are facing you? The challenge has shifted from at one stage being the industry questioning whether it needed to do digital at all to now questioning how it does digital. So the conversation has definitely moved on from people saying, ‘What’s the point of this, do we really need to invest in this?’ And it’s become much more now about, ‘How do we do this well?’ I think that’s probably the challenge, to shift that conversation and get people thinking not just that they can do this – they can have social media accounts and that that’s ticked a box – but actually thinking about how you do it to a level of excellence. How do you see your sector developing over the next five years? I don’t think anyone knows over five to ten years. I think one of the most exciting things about this industry right now is that trying to forecast much beyond about two years is really difficult. Which is why I think the sports industry needs to stay nimble, to react quickly to new developments. Having said that, I think the industry is maturing; I think people got used to there always being a new kid on the block which would knock off the previous title-holder – so there was this sense of there being Facebook, and then Twitter, and then Instagram, and then Snapchat. Actually, I think the industry is maturing so that those companies will be the dominant players but the trends within those networks, and the way that we use them, and the way that the sports industry interacts with them will definitely change and keep changing. Where do you see yourself in five years’ time? Hopefully still in the sports industry, hopefully still with Seven League. I’m delighted to be back in sport after 11 years with BBC Sport and then five years at Twitter, where I was the first global head of sport and first UK head of sport. I’m absolutely delighted to be working with the sports industry directly again. I certainly see myself in sport and in digital and would love that to be with Seven League still. What did you want to be when you were growing up? A footballer, for the first few years. And then, in what’s probably quite a classic tale, a sports reporter when I realised that I was never going to be a professional footballer. Fortunately I did achieve that ambition and was a sports reporter, ended up at the BBC where my career took me away from front-line journalism and into social media strategy, which led to Twitter and has now led to Seven League.
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SPORTSPRO WORLD HOSTINGS AND HAPPENINGS
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Conferences 1
London, UK
Telegraph Business of Sport 2017, taking place this year at London’s BT Centre on 9th and 10th May, will focus on growth, innovation and collaboration in the UK sport industry and brings together 200 senior influencers from brands, rights holders and broadcasters for a unique forum of networking, learning and strategy. Delia Bushell (pictured), managing director of BT TV and Sport, is among the speakers. 2
London, UK
The 24th biannual edition of the Think!Sponsorship conference will take place on 25th April at Central Saint Martins, Granary Square, London. The forum focuses on sponsorship across all sectors and industries, with representatives from brands, agencies and rights holders discussing how to maximise the value of commercial partnerships.
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3
London, UK
Why Sports 2017 will take place at London’s Royal Society of Medicine on 17th May, focusing on the intersection of politics and sport and asking how best to put into practice new government policies designed to engage more people with sport and physical activity. Peter Fitzboydon, chief executive of London Sport, is one of the headline speakers at the event. 4
Barcelona, Spain
Camp Nou, the home stadium of Spanish soccer giants FC Barcelona, will play host to the 26th annual International Conference on Sports Rehabilitation and Traumatology from 13th to 15th May. This year’s forum, hosted by FCB Universitas in collaboration with Fifa, will focus on the future of medicine in soccer.
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Manama, Bahrain
The 67th annual Fifa Congress is set to be held in Manama, the capital city of the Middle Eastern island nation of Bahrain, on 11th May. The congress will be second overseen by Gianni Infantino, with the expansion of the Fifa World Cup to 48 teams from 2028 likely to be one of the issues up for discussion.
Hosting A
Las Vegas, USA
The Las Vegas Motor Speedway will host two races in the Monster Energy Nascar Cup Series from the 2018 season. Circuit owner Speedway Motorsports (SMI) has moved a race from New Hampshire Motor Speedway – which has two races on the 2017 calendar – to the Nevadabased track. Las Vegas will continue to hold its traditional race in March but the date of the second is yet to be confirmed. B
Miami, USA
Spanish soccer teams Barcelona and Real Madrid play an International Champions Cup (ICC) match at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium on 29th July. The game, the latest instalment of what is known colloquially as El Clásico, will form part of the 2017 edition of the ICC, an annual pre-season tournament which has been going since 2013. It will be the first time that the fierce rivals have played each other on American soil.
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Montréal, Canada
The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve will host Formula One’s Canadian Grand Prix for an additional five years. Race promoter François Dumontier has confirmed that the North American circuit has struck a deal with series organiser Formula One Management (FOM) to continue racing until 2029. The agreement is an extension of an existing ten-year accord signed between the two parties in 2014. D
Turkey
The Turkish Football Federation (TFF) has confirmed that it will bid to host the Uefa European Championship soccer tournament in 2024. The proposal was announced by TFF president Yildirim Demiroren, and was formally presented to European soccer confederation Uefa on 2nd March, just before the deadline for candidates. Turkey will face a rival bid from Germany.
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Lahore, Pakistan
The International Cricket Council (ICC) will send a scratch World XI to play a four-match Twenty20 series in Pakistan. The Independence Cup, named to honour Pakistan’s 70th anniversary of liberation from Indian rule, would be the first international cricket event to be played in the Asian country since 2009. The proposed four-match series at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium is scheduled to be played between 22nd and 29th September 2017 F
Melbourne, Australia
Iconic Australian stadium the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) is set to host a South American international soccer friendly between Brazil and Argentina on 9th June. The fixture is part of the TLA Worldwideoperated Chevrolet Brazil Global Tour, which sees the Seleção playing high-profile fixtures against other international teams in major cities across the world.
The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve will host Formula One’s Canadian Grand Prix until 2029 after race promoter François Dumontier struck a fresh deal with FOM
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GALLERY
London’s Village Underground was packed with Sport Industry NextGen coaches, leaders and other attendees
Attendees await the first talk of the evening
2016 Sport Industry NextGen leaders Yath Gangakumaran and Preeti Shetty
David Grevemberg networks with guests
Commonwealth Games Federation chief executive David Grevemberg
Watford FC striker Troy Deeney talks with host Layla Anna-Lee
The 2017 Sport Industry NextGen leaders
Sport England’s Kate Bosomworth
Nish Desai, co-founder of Imin and Sports Industry NextGen leader
ITV political editor Robert Peston
Sports Industry NextGen: A Celebration Sport Industry NextGen: A Celebration took place on 2nd February, bringing together the rising stars of the industry for a night of networking, education and inspirational talks amongst industry peers.
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Kurt Busch celebrates with National Football League (NFL) star Rob Gronkowski
Motorsport legend Mario Andretti before the race
Busch with wife Ashley and the Harley J. Earl Trophy
Busch presses his hands into the Daytona concrete
The US Air Force Thunderbirds perform a fly over during the national anthem
Kyle Busch, younger brother of Kurt, surveys the damage to his car after a collision
Busch crosses the finish line for victory
Dale Earnhardt Jr puts in some time with the fans
Busch celebrates victory, the 29th of his career in Nascar’s highest tier, and first at Daytona
Daytona 500 The Daytona 500, the traditional season-opening race for Nascar’s top tier and the so-called ‘Super Bowl of stock car racing’, took place this year on 26th February. The race was the first to take place under the new title sponsorship, marking the debut of the Monster Energy Nascar Cup Series.
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GALLERY
Gold medalist Ilka Stuhec of Slovenia is flanked by Stephanie Venier and Lindsey Vonn
Ana Drev of Slovenia in action during the women’s giant slalom
Slalom gold medallist Mikaela Shiffrin
Spectators watching during the alpine combined event
Marcel Hirscher, winner of gold in the men’s special slalom, receives his medal during the medal presentation ceremony
Mathieu Faivre (right) of France beats Matej Falat of Slovakia for gold in the final of the parallel slalom mixed team event
The Patrouille Swiss aerobatic team put on a show
Swiss tennis player Roger Federer (right) and his wife Mirka (centre) watch the men’s downhill event with Lindsey Vonn
Klemen Kosi of Slovenia catches some air
FIS Alpine World Ski Championships The FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2017 were the 44th FIS Alpine World Ski Championships and were held from 6th to 19th February at Piz Nair in St Moritz, Switzerland.
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Former British prime minister David Cameron
Wales and Ireland take to the field for their clash at the Principality Stadium, Cardiff
Jonathan Joseph celebrates scoring England’s first try against Scotland
Princess Anne (right) with RFU president Peter Baines
Ireland’s Garry Ringrose shrugs off the Italian defence
Prince Harry (left) and Baines prepare to present England with the Calcutta Cup after they defeated Scotland
France’s Gael Fickou after defeat against Ireland
A fan wears a mask of US president Donald Trump
Six Nations Championship
Irish taoiseach Enda Kenny (centre)
paimages.co.uk PAImages
The northern hemisphere’s biggest annual rugby union showcase, the Six Nations Championship, took place between 4th February and 18th March. England confirmed their 28th title with a crushing 61-21 win against Scotland at Twickenham.
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THE SHOT HAYE VS BELLEW
THE SH T Former world champion David Haye is knocked through the ropes by Tony Bellew during their sell-out heavyweight contest at The O2, which saw Bellew emerge with a shock victory by technical knock-out in the 11th round after Haye sustained an achilles injury in the fifth. Nick Potts/PA Wire/PA Images
paimages.co.uk PAImages
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COMPANY PROFILE INTEGRO
When sport and entertainment collide In an era when the boundaries between sport and entertainment are increasingly blurred, insurance company Integro is using its broad experience to evolve the industry.
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o sports fans across the world, their passion means many things. It is as much a serious pursuit as it is a light distraction from life’s more pressing issues. Either way, it always exists within a complex web of endeavour and entertainment. Going by its vision, few companies associated with the sports industry seem to understand that better than Integro, a global insurance brokerage and risk management firm. n recent years, it has worked to acquire the knowledge it needs to respond to the rapidly changing ways sport is presented in order, as its head of sport Karen Ellis explains, to become the “best sports practice in the world”. Not the biggest, but the best, a distinction Integro believes is at the heart of building what makes its bespoke service unique. A company that has brought on board a range of people and organisations with an expertise in music, sport, theatre, film and T to provide a broad service for its clients. “Most of the businesses Integro look to buy in our sector are considered because of the people and the values and expertise that they can bring,” says llis. That s what attracted me to the company: the focus on quality and strategic targets over growth for the sake of it. Integro continues to look for quality sport practices that will blend in and match what we achieve.” In November 2015, Integro ac uired llis insurance firm
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Ellis Clowes, a brokerage that has specialised in motorsport specifically ascar, ormula One, and Indycar – for over years. The move aligned the company with Integro’s growing entertainment division that also includes Stockport based Doodson’s insurance, which focuses on music; and James Davies’ Entertainment Insurance Partners. “On the music and entertainment side, we cover most of the top bands and performers,” Ellis says. “On the sport side, it’s probably easier to list who we don’t cover! We’re very proud of that.” Collating all this knowledge and expertise under one banner – and from September, one London office ensures e perience is easily shared amongst each
Karen Ellis and colleague Tim Nagle walk the paddock at Daytona
other to create a more integrated platform. That is an approach, Integro believes, which allows it to offer clients a more personal and holistic service. “Integro is looking to be a specialist market because clients are now much more discerning and they want service,” Ellis says. “We’re like an independent broker. We work day and night; we don’t close off at 5pm and go to the pub. We don’t have that kind of normal city culture. We’re service-driven and we’ll go to the Nth degree and, in the era insurance is currently in, that’s what sets any broker apart: if you can get people who love what they do and not just like it.” The importance of e pertise across multiple platforms is a value Davies believes is vital in an
ever-changing sports industry that is increasingly focused on finding new, innovative ways to improve the fan experience at events; the result of which means that the traditional boundary between sport and entertainment is no longer as pronounced. “We try to collaboratively work together rather than each individual doing their own thing so there is, traditionally, a cost-saving element, but also in the event of something going wrong, which hopefully it doesn’t,” Davies says. “We’re all working on the same page with the same insurance policies, normally towards the same insurers, to get a resolution together rather than individually. “I think that is an area where we offer a service or a concept that isn’t traditionally utilised in an area where we can cross boundaries without sharing too much intellectual property information that might not want to be known by the individual stakeholders.” With governing bodies trying to find ways of aping some of the accoutrements of the National ootball eague s Super Bowl with its defining feature of a 30-minute concert midway through a season-defining contest – it seems as important as ever that knowledge in the procedures and risks of both disciplines is essential in evaluating and compiling a comprehensive level of cover for the event. The main reason we put together Entertainment Insurance Partners was because our client base was changing, so rather than having a strict sports event, we have the experience where we can insure the risks of a concert,” says Davies. “We have events that are being beamed live into cinemas now, so the filming aspect is very important for sponsors and the revenue generated by those events. So collectively, across the board, we can fulfil any aspect of an event that might have started off as purely a sports event but is morphing towards an entertainment event.”
Sports that are increasingly showcased in fluid ways now require a similar level of outsidethe-box considerations. Moulding innovation with experience is what Davies believes sets Integro apart from the competition and makes it best placed to provide clients with a one-stop shop for all their insurance needs. “We’re seeing more events with sponsored live-streaming attached to it,” he adds. This involves satellite links where if one goes wrong the sponsor wants to have a return of financial e posure they paid. “So the reason why Integro has brought us all together is on the basis that we’re morphing towards a more global event and entertainment business. I think that is where we have the greatest expertise.” The scale of the challenge is an element the company are confident they can always take in their stride. After the tragic events of 9/11, Davies’ Longreach International handled “one of, if not the largest cancellation claim in the sporting history,” when the 2001 Ryder Cup was postponed for a year. Similarly, the company handled the cancellation of the New York Marathon in 2012 following the devastating impact of Hurricane Sandy.
Integro is the insurance adviser to Cheltenham Festivals
With an evolving sports landscape desperate to give fans a “360 sporting experience,” Integro has worked hard to assemble the best possible team it needs to respond and provide the services that can facilitate the most ambitious of sports events. The need to constantly keep supporters glued to their sport of choice – before, during, and after competitions – is a challenge Integro is not only ready for but also passionate about. “We are a really true sports practice because we’ve been doing it a very long time and we understand the business that we’re in,” Ellis says. “But we’re always ready to go further and do more.”
Contact Integro Visit: integrogroup.com email: sport@integrogroup.com
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NIKE PARTNERSHIP A GAME-CHANGER FOR FIBA As it prepares to enter a new era through the launch of a revamped competition system, FIBA, the International Basketball Federation, has struck another key partnership that will enable it to build the FIBA Basketball World Cup into an outstanding global sports property. FIBA and world leading sports apparel brand Nike have signed an 11-year (20172027) commercial agreement covering FIBA’s Senior Men’s, Women’s and Youths’ flagship national team competitions. The announcement comes after FIBA entered into a ground-breaking strategic
partnership with leading digital sports content and media group Perform, as well as a long-term business partnership with the Wanda Group - through its subsidiary Infront Sports & Media - in 2016. Both agreements are for the period of four FIBA Basketball World Cup cycles (2017-2033). GROW BASKETBALL WORLDWIDE The partnership with Nike, announced just months before FIBA’s New Competition System tips off in November, underlines both parties’ desire
to collaborate in order to grow basketball worldwide, focusing on the leading official competitions such as the FIBA Basketball World Cup and the Continental Cups. “We are very excited about this partnership with FIBA,” said Craig Zanon, Vice President and General Manager of Nike Global Basketball. “FIBA represents the highest level of international basketball competition, and Nike is committed to using our unmatched global reach to help foster player development and inspire fans around the world.”
“It is a memorable occasion for FIBA as we team up with Nike, THE basketball brand by excellence,” said Patrick Baumann, FIBA Secretary General and International Olympic Committee (IOC) Member. “FIBA has already enjoyed the privilege of working with Nike, who is the Founding Partner of 3x3, our ever-growing and popular urban discipline. We look forward to this long-term partnership and it helping us grow the game globally, thanks to the unrivalled popularity as well as worldwide presence that Nike has to offer.”
FIBA-Nike partnership • Nike becomes a FIBA Partner in the sports apparel (clothing, footwear and accessories) product category. As such, it has sponsorship rights for all Men’s and Women’s editions of FIBA’s competitions for the 20172027 period, including FIBA Basketball World Cups (2019, 2023 and 2027) and their Qualifiers, FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cups, FIBA Continental Cups and their Qualifiers, FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments, FIBA U17 and U19 Basketball World Cups. • The advertising and promotional use of Nike’s marks and imagery at these competitions will include the prominent presence of the “swoosh” branding on the court, the integration of its branding across online and in-arena content as well as the provision of uniforms for on-court officials and volunteers. • The agreement also sees Nike become the title partner for FIBA’s World Rankings - one of the most visited sections on FIBA.com, with countries ranked based on the performances of their national teams - renaming it Nike FIBA World Rankings. • Additionally, Nike will have the Licensing Rights to develop, distribute and sell a range of Celebration products and footwear.
Thomas Klooz, Delegate to the Board of FIBA Media and Marketing Services (FMMS); Susan Mulders, Sports Marketing Director Nike Basketball & Jordan for Europe, Middle East and Africa; Lynn Merritt, Vice President of Nike Global Basketball Sports Marketing; Frank Leenders, Director General of FIBA Media and Marketing Services (FMMS); Craig Zanon, Vice President and General Manager of Nike Global Basketball; David Nivelle, Marketing Director of FIBA Marketing.
USA-China, an exciting match-up that could take place at FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 in China
NUMBER ONE SPORTS BRAND IN THE WORLD Nike, the number one sports brand in the world, will benefit from long-term global marketing rights related to the major FIBA national team competitions. FIBA’s ambitions to grow the game will be supported by Nike contributions in the areas of promotion, marketing communication and the engagement of top players and ambassadors. In a first phase, the related activities will focus on the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 in China.
“Chinese basketball fans’ passion and appetite for the game promise to make the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 a marquee global event,” Zanon added. The ability to be mentioned in the same sentence as Nike has an instant impact for basketball’s world governing body. “This is a game-changer for FIBA. It makes a huge difference when you can tell people Nike is a partner of FIBA,” said Frank Leenders, Director General of FIBA Media & Marketing Services (FMMS). “It is not
a traditional sponsorship, it’s really a strategic partnership. We have been talking for a long time with Nike about the different ways in which we can grow the game and especially the FIBA Basketball World Cup.” FOCUS ON NATIONAL TEAMS Like Perform and Wanda before them, Nike sees FIBA’s New Competition System as a great opportunity to reach out to basketball fans across the world.
• FIBA Marketing is the outcome of an innovative strategic partnership between FIBA and Wanda-owned Infront Sports & Media focusing on developing the awareness and value of national team basketball on a global basis, with an emphasis on China, utilising Wanda’s vast network and infrastructure. • FIBA Marketing, powered by Infront Sports & Media, concentrates on the development, management and delivery of all of FIBA’s marketing and related event activities and associated partnerships. It looks to enhance and further promote the position of FIBA’s competitions as premium global sports properties. • For the period of four FIBA Basketball World Cup cycles up to 2033, Wanda-owned Infront Sports & Media is FIBA’s worldwide exclusive partner for the sale and marketing of the worldwide sponsorship and licensing rights of FIBA national team competitions. • The long-term partnership takes an all-encompassing marketing approach, including comprehensive marketing initiatives and services in the area of branding, merchandising, event hospitality, on-site operations and marketing partner support.
“With this increased schedule and new emphasis on the international game, we look forward to helping connect fans to the energy and inspiration of their national teams and players,” said Lynn Merritt, Vice President of Nike Global Basketball Sports Marketing. “Nike is a magnet and a blue-chip brand. It lifts our events and through their promotional and marketing reach, plus their relationship with players, they bring value that only Nike can bring in that category,” Leenders added.
FIBA - International Basketball Federation Route Suisse 5 – P.O. Box 29 1295 Mies – Switzerland Tel: +41 22 545 00 00 communications@fiba.com
fiba.com @FIBA
FEATURE FEDERATIONS
CALLING THE FEDS While major federations across the world of sport continue to find themselves embroiled in scandal, it is business as usual for the governing bodies further down the sporting ladder, where the work remains focused on increasing visibility throughout the Olympic cycle. Representatives from three summer federations reflect on the Rio Games, look forward to the 12 months ahead, and discuss their plans for further expansion. By Adam Nelson
Triathlon became a part of the Paralympic programme for the first time at the Rio Games in 2016
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C
ast your mind back to some of the moments which have defined the past few Olympic Games. The incredible recordbreaking four-gold-medal haul of US gymnast Simone Biles was possibly Rio’s biggest breakout story, followed closely by the Brownlee brothers, Alistair and Jonny, taking gold and silver in the triathlon. In London, while events over at the Queen Elizabeth Park took a lot of the focus, the beach volleyball arena in the centre of the city at Horse Guards Parade, hosted the final bow of iconic American duo Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, who took their third consecutive gold medal in their final match together. McKayla Maroney’s reaction to winning silver – and not the expected gold for which she had been favourite – became one of London’s most enduring images, taking on a life of its own as a widely shared meme and carrying Maroney to social media stardom. What all these stories have in common is that they made headline-worthy stars of athletes competing in otherwise lesserwatched sports, highlighting the potential of the Olympic Games to create the narratives and tell the stories that elevate smaller disciplines to front-page status. Every four years, the world gathers round and sports like gymnastics, beach volleyball and triathlon have the chance to become national and international news again. ***** Major federations have been battling seemingly endless controversies in recent times. The two biggest Olympic federations – athletics’ IAAF and swimming’s governing body, Fina – have both faced accusations of internal corruption at a governance level, while athletes from both have been embroiled in doping scandals. The International Cycling Union (UCI) is never far from the conversation when the latter issue comes up,
with its sport’s biggest success story of the past decade, British Cycling, coming under intense scrutiny as this magazine was going to press. In soccer, meanwhile, many commentators have felt it has been a case of ‘meet the new boss, same as the old boss’ after the election to the Fifa presidency of Gianni Infantino, who appears to have simply picked up where his disgraced predecessor, Sepp Blatter, left off. Even away from those top-level scandals, many federations at the high end are finding their necessity called into question. In sport’s big money age, have federations simply outlived their usefulness? Every few years the spectre of European club soccer’s big guns breaking away and forming their own competition rears its head. This is arguably just as a show of power, and yet there is a real sense that the likes of Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Manchester United, now global brands as much as soccer clubs, have outgrown the old mode of governance, and have no need for the endorsement of a Uefa or Fifa. The same tale was played out several years ago in European basketball, when several clubs formed the Euroleague, circumventing the International Basketball Federation (Fiba). The two have been at loggerheads ever since. Further down the ladder, however, another narrative reveals itself. Many of those stories and images which define each Olympic cycle would not be possible without the work done by the federations for those sports who lack mainstream press attention and for whom the Olympics is occasionally seen as both a blessing and a curse. A blessing for the fact that it brings the world’s eyes and a whole new demographic of potentials fans; a curse because it is often felt that it overshadows everything, becoming seen as the only time those sports are worth following. The International Olympic Committee (IOC), for its part, is well aware of this. It has become a central pillar of its agenda to transform
“In sport as in every other field, we must work harder than ever before to win the trust of our future participants.” the Games from a quadrennial – or biennial, including the Winter Olympics – jamboree into an ongoing, round-the-calendar concern. Initiatives like the Olympic Channel play into this plan, as does the IOC’s major deal with Discovery in Europe, which will see Eurosport display the Olympic rings on many of its broadcasts of those sports, helping to give a continuity and coherence to otherwise unconnected events. With the 2017 edition of the SportAccord Convention about to get underway in Aarhus, Denmark, where federations will meet to debate the state of play across the industry, SportsPro spoke with representatives of three bodies affliated with the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) to discuss what a post-Olympics year looks like for them and how they are working to improve visibility throughout the cycle. Federations on… …The Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games
“The Rio Games once again showcased the beauty of gymnastics,” says Morinari Watanabe, president of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), of an Olympics which in many ways represented a major breakthrough for the sport. A record number of countries took home medals, he points out – with 18 titles being shared between 11 nations, as opposed to nine at London and six at Beijing. This, Watanabe believes, “demonstrates that gymnastics has been growing
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FEATURE SECTION TEXT HERE FEDERATIONS
Alistair Brownlee races to triathlon gold in Rio, defending the title he won in London, while his brother Jonny comes in for silver
and developing steadily all over the world”. Given the nature of the competition, with highly shareable clips and stunning physical feats, it is also unsurprising that gymnastics has proved to be a hugely popular Olympic sport with a younger, internet-savvy audience. “The Rio Games were also highly followed on the internet and via social media, far more than four years before,” says Watanabe. “This was instrumental in broadening the visibility of this sport and helped the young public that represent a large portion of our fans connect with it.” Antonio Arimany, secretary general of the International Triathlon Union (ITU), saw triathlon’s inaugural appearance at the Paralympics as one of “several phenomenal stories to come out of Rio” for his federation. “From Alistair Brownlee becoming the first triathlete ever to win back-to-back Olympic gold medals, to standing on the podium with his brother again, to having first-time medals from the USA and South Africa and a very successful debut at the Paralympics, from our prospective, the Olympics and Paralympics went very well,” says Arimany. “The popularity of the sport is growing year after year and we could see that also in the increase of the Olympic audience.” For the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB), Rio was a particularly notable Games. Beach
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volleyball is consistently one of the most watched and talkedabout disciplines at any Olympics, but to hold competition on the Copacabana Beach, where the sport is close to being a religion, marked a special occasion for the governing body. Gold for Brazil’s men’s indoor team, meanwhile, was one of the highlights of the entire fortnight. “Volleyball players often talk about taking their game up a level,” says Fernando Lima, the FIVB’s secretary general. “That’s exactly what the FIVB did in Brazil, together with the IOC and the local organising committee. The quality of the competition was fantastic. Our sports presentation was like nothing ever before, and the result was happy players and partners, engaged spectators and double the viewer hours of London 2012.” …The goals for 2017
“But that was last year!” Lima says. “Already, we are focusing on building on our momentum, to take our game up another level for Tokyo in four years’ time. Whether Olympic year or not, the FIVB’s goal remains the same: to make volleyball the world’s number one family sport. The way we go about that work changes, of course, from year to year but we are always working to improve the volleyball experience. “Like our athletes again, we are focusing on the foundations: our events, our systems, our
processes and following the very clear strategic plan the FIVB has in place. Technology will play a key part in this as we continue to look on how to improve the presentation of our sport.” Arimany’s focus, and that of the ITU, is on expanding triathlon’s presence at the Olympics. “Internally, we are focused on getting mixed relay on to the programme,” he says. That is something he feels is important in the federation’s message of openness and equality, with mass participation events forming a key driver of growth for the sport. The FIVB is similarly disposed towards engaging people in playing, as well as watching, volleyball. “We have so many great athletes and plenty of great events and activities going on in so many countries that making sure it captures the attention of the global audience is a key goal,” says Lima. “Especially the younger fans, where we want to make sure volleyball continues its growth as being a popular option for kids, especially with regards to keeping them active. This is a key part of the FIVB’s goal to make volleyball the world’s number one family sport.” Such measures, of course, play into the IOC’s Agenda 2020 campaign, which Watanabe believes represents a “key difference” for sporting federations when comparing 2017 with how the FIG was working in the aftermath of the London Olympic Games in 2013. “The FIG respects Agenda 2020, and we’re going to launch our own challenge as per the Agenda,” he says. His focus for 2017 and beyond is to “change the culture of the gymnastics community. People have an academic image of gymnastics and I want to change this image into something more attractive for the youthful generations.” …Building popularity away from the Olympics
One way in which Watanabe is hoping to attract a younger audience is through the
introduction of parkour as a gymnastics discipline. “Gymnastics gets a lot of attention at the Olympic Games but gets only a little attention during non-Olympic years,” he admits. “We will increase the popularity by enhancing the entertainment factor of the sport, and the strategy for that is clear. If we liken the gymnastics structure to a pyramid, we must raise the top of the pyramid. That means increasing the quality of the world championships and World Cups and adding to their value. “On the other hand, we must broaden the pyramid’s bottom. That means increasing the number of people who are engaged in the current gymnastics disciplines, and in addition, we need to collaborate with the disciplines similar to gymnastics so that we can create synergy with each other and thus enjoy win-win situations with them.”
For both the ITU and the FIVB, new partnerships with third-party rights holders have formed a key part of the strategy for growing the audience. In the FIVB’s case, teaming up with the Swatch Beach Volleyball Majors Series has helped to bring a completely different variety of event to its annual calendar, with Red Bull, one of the partners running the series, “bringing its full marketing, event management and media competence to the realisation of Major Series as part of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour,” says Lima. “We are also always looking to take volleyball to new places, to have it seen and to have it played,” he adds. “Participation opportunities are key. We already have a record 36 teams participating in the annual Men’s World League and for 2017 the
Simone Biles was arguably the biggest breakout star of the 2016 Olympic Games
Women’s World Grand Prix has increased from 28 teams to 32. “Of course, the visibility that comes from broadcast distribution of our events is a great way to show off our sport but digital communication is also becoming increasingly important and that is one area in particular where we are working hard to improve in order to enhance the visibility and presentation of our sport and above all, increase fan engagement.” The ITU, meanwhile, has taken a major step in engaging with the ever-growing mass participation audience by striking a deal with the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC), a commercial events organiser which operates the ultratriathlon Ironman series. “The goal of the partnership will be to sanction Ironman events by ITU, with an alignment of rules and anti-doping efforts, as well as to
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work together to develop and grow the sport in a manner that best benefits athletes,” says Arimany. “Furthermore, our own ITU World Triathlon Series, as well as World Cup events, are massively successful tools in terms of both growing popularity and developing athletes.” …Telling stories with athletes
“I have a theory about how to develop sports,” says Watanabe on the boost given to gymnastics by breakout stories like those of Biles and Maroney. “High-quality sports events can generate star athletes and the star athletes generate fans; then the fans help attract more sponsors and generate funds. Those funds are used to operate high-quality events. Therefore, star athletes are essential to perpetuate this cycle on a larger scale.” Arimany agrees. “Those stories are very important,” he says. “They help bring awareness to our athletes and our sport.” The finish of the men’s race at the 2016 World Triathlon Grand Final in Cozumel, when Alistair Brownlee sacrificed gold in order to help his brother Jonny cross the finish line, with the
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brothers ending the race with gold and silver, “was the most viewed video in the history of the BBC’s digital platforms,” adds Arimany. “We had more than six million views in 48 hours on Facebook alone. The British Prime Minister used the Brownlees as an example of how the entire country should behave. New stories are coming with the new season, such as the incredible sprint final between Andrea Hewitt and Jodie Stimpson at the first WTS event this year in Abu Dhabi.” …SportAccord Convention and the challenges facing federations
“The FIVB has been looking carefully at issues of governance together with the other members of ASOIF,” says Lima. “Reform of the global anti-doping systems is also something that I am sure we will also be talking about with our colleagues in Denmark. Studies have shown that millennials are the most cynical generation ever. In sport as in every other field, we must work harder than ever before to win the trust of our future participants and fans.” That, of course, has been an issue that has blighted sport as a
Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh won the last of three consecutive gold medals in beach volleyball at London 2012
whole in recent years, with many observers blaming the declining audience for athletics events on fans’ loss of trust in competitors. “The challenges for sports community are anti-doping and compliance,” agrees Watanabe. “In addition to them, the FIG also needs to foster the culture of challenge. Gymnastics has high potential. If we have the spirit of challenge, we can resolve all issues.” Arimany concludes that the growth of modern sport, financially and in terms of its audience, has contributed to some of the problems, with some federations neglecting their roles as governing bodies and stewards of the sports, with a lack of clarity regarding their purpose. “The role of the international federations within the growth of sport is the main challenge we will be facing,” he says. “International federations are the governing bodies of the sports, working to provide safe, clean and fair competitions to the athletes and the fans. We need to work on a more clear regulation for the recognition of the role of the international federations.”
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COMPANY PROFILE UIPM
This is the modern way Modern pentathlon is a traditional sport that has long epitomised the Olympic movement. Nevertheless, it has continually evolved and its Laser-Run City Tour has allowed it to cater for modern tastes.
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he name ‘modern pentathlon’ is now something of a misnomer. The sport, which has been a mainstay of the Summer Olympic Games since , comprises five different disciplines: fencing, swimming, show jumping, pistol shooting and crosscountry running. None of these are necessarily seen as pursuits of the digital age. This historic Olympic sport is, to many, an event that typifies the movement and deserves its time in the limelight every four years. There are, however, dissenting voices that have prompted the sport s governing body – the International Modern Pentathlon Union (UIPM) – to continually justify its inclusion in the ames. evertheless, in the International Olympic Committee
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O confirmed modern pentathlon as one of the 25 core sports of the Olympic programme through to . Rather than rest on its laurels, the U has been developing its sport and making it more accessible for the modern day viewer. ather like cricket s realisation that there is an appetite for shorter, sharper variants, the U has tinkered with its formats and length of competition since the early s. Accessibility has become an ever more important part of its strategy, and laser pistols and shopping centres have now been incorporated into its new events. Dr Klaus Schormann has been the U s president since . The German initially cut his teeth as a teacher but his appetite for governance grew through the many
The UIPM’s Laser-Run City Tour has opened up modern pentathlon to a whole new audience
ministerial roles he undertook in the central German state of Hesse. He is still part of the region’s delegation to the ministry for interior and sport. Schormann became the president of the erman Association for Modern Pentathlon (DVMF) in 1984 before assuming his position as the head of the UIPM. He is, of course, fiercely proud of his sport and in his 24 years in charge he has been seen as a great moderniser of the federation, which has organisations in countries across all continents. The remodelling of the sport, in Schormann’s opinion, began after the universally successful ames in in Barcelona. “We clearly understood the message from [the then president of the O Juan Antonio Samaranch that if we wanted to have better
“My vision is to always go to the people, don’t ask them to come to you.” coverage, we must change our sport,” says Schormann. “He wanted us to cut it down and make it shorter. We discussed this with experts from our sport, including former athletes. I wanted to show to everyone that we can run the sport in one day. I was the organiser of the world championship in armstadt, which was the first time that we have completed the events in one day and the first time that we included a relay race.” In the early days of his presidency, Schormann was at the forefront of the move away from fire pistols to the use air-pistol shooting. This change meant that shooting and fencing competitions could be held in the same areas. This acceptance of change was a precursor to the use of laser pistols that is commonplace in contemporary modern pentathlon. After my speech in in e ico ity when had to deliver a speech to the IOC members to keep modern pentathlon in the Olympic programme – I spoke to people in the military who told me about their laser shooting technology,” states Schormann. “We talked about what we could do with this technology in the civilian world in sport. We have now established laser shooting in an official capacity over the past year. We first tried it out at the
Youth Olympic Games in Singapore. This was a huge step but we know that there were a lot of critics and obstacles from our own society who didn’t want to accept this. They thought that it wasn’t really shooting and had a lot of concerns about the technology but nowadays everyone loves it it is easy to organise and it was a great success at the recent Olympics ames in io.” UIPM has also made further changes to its disciplines, reducing the mens , -metre cross country run to , metres, while the womens running was upped by , metres to match the men’s distance. Schormann believes that there is now “no difference in the two genders – the distances and points systems are completely e ual”. Away from the uadrennial Games, UIPM has been focusing on its non-Olympic programme, which Schormann believes is key for development” and promotion”. At the fore is the U aser un, which features the final two disciplines of modern pentathlon: running and shooting. t held its first World Championships two years ago in the French city of Perpignan and it followed that up last year with a successful event in ortugal s capital city of isbon. The ne t World Championships will be held in Cape
The UIPM’s president Dr Klaus Schormann greets medal winners at the 2016 Laser-Run World Championships in Lisbon, Portugal
Town, South Africa. Schormann believes that the aser un is attracting a youthful market because young people love to shoot with the laser technology”. “Besides World Championships, from we are having more than cities around the world participating in the first edition of U aser- un ity Tour which is now linked to the Urban Games, which we see as a very big step,” continues Schormann. “This means that thousands of athletes across the globe are practising laser run. aser run is a great promotion to us to promote all of the other parts of our union especially modern pentathlon.” The non-Olympic variant of the sport is looked as the grassroots” of the modern pentathlon by Schormann and while, to the casual viewer, the sport is ine tricably a European pursuit, the German points to ma or developments” in South America and Asia both burgeoning commercial markets for any sport. y vision is to always go to the people, don’t ask them to come to you,” says Schormann. This way around it is so easy to get the spectators’ interest, instead of shopping they will stop, look and ask. In addition we must distribute promotional literature for the whole movement so that people will leave with something in their hand. “We are building up a pyramid with a very wide base at entry level with ust running and swimming. This non-Olympic part plays an important part to the whole movement, especially in the development and education for our athletes. On the top is the glory – modern pentathlon – which stars at the Olympic ames.”
Contact UIPM Visit: pentathlon.org Email: uipm@pentathlon.org Call: +377 9777 8555 Twitter: @TheUIPM Facebook: TheUIPM Instagram: theuipm
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WINTER IS COMING With under 12 months to go until the Winter Olympics gets under way in PyeongChang, it is a crucial season for the major winter federations. International Ski Federation secretary general Sarah Lewis and the newly elected International Skating Union president Jan Dijkema discuss their respective governing bodies’ plans for this all-important year. By George Dudley
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A
Winter Olympics will inevitably unforgettable moments, produced by athletes ranging from the sublime, like figure skater atarina Witt, to the near ridiculous, such as the heroes of Calgary 88 – the Jamaican bobsleigh team and skijumper Eddie ‘The Eagle’ Edwards. The eccentric Edwards aside, it is the athletes who leave with a gold medal hanging from their necks who throw up the most enduring images at the quadrennial Games. Think of the dashing, devil-may-care Jean laude illy, the great Alberto Tomba hurtling down the slopes at a death-defying speeds, British skaters Jane Torville and Christopher Dean dancing to Ravel’s Boléro or the beaming smiles of modern skiing poster girls Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin. Needless to say, a gold medal is rarely the result of luck. It is, in fact, the culmination of many years of hard work, dedication and planning. The same can, of course, be said of the host resorts, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the seven winter federations. While all roads – or slopes – do inescapably lead now to PyeongChang, the winter governing bodies continue to organise their various World Cups and championships in the interim. The International Ski Federation (FIS) and the International Skating Union (ISU) are arguably the two most prominent federations on snow and ice, and make up a high proportion of the events at the Olympics and in the years between. The FIS, like all Olympic governing bodies, works on a four-year cycle and has already in 2017 completed successful reprisals of its Alpine and Nordic World Ski Championships in Switzerland’s St Moritz and Lahti, Finland, respectively. Furthermore, it has completed its all-important final Olympic test events, in si disciplines. All of this, in the words of secretary general Sarah Lewis, has made the year “a particularly intensive one”.
“This season is very important for the athletes and teams to gain valuable e perience at the test events and naturally go for gold at the World Championships,” says Lewis. “Both the FIS Alpine and Nordic World Ski Championships have been massively successful in the 2017 editions. “The initial television numbers are very positive and the attendance figures are e ually encouraging. The ‘Super Sunday’ in St Moritz, with both men’s and ladies’ downhill races, broke nearly all previous television viewing numbers, while the ‘Super Saturday’ in Lahti was already sold out weeks in advance with 35,000 spectators watching all Nordic disciplines in one action-packed day.” These two events – and March’s Freestyle World Ski Championships – were staged in skiing’s heartland of Europe. However, with the ne t two Winter Olympics being held in Asia, the FIS is looking to move into a market that Lewis believes has a “major potential for winter sports”. Over the past 18 months Asian conglomerates such as Wanda and Alibaba have been striking partnerships with global sporting organisations such as Fifa and World Rugby. Likewise, Asian investment in privately owned sporting entities has been astronomical. This is a marketplace that the FIS will be keen not to miss out on.
International Ski Federation secretary general Sarah Lewis
We are already seeing significant growth and e pansion on the continent,” says Lewis. “Thanks to the Olympic test events, we have had the chance to hold additional World Cup competitions in Asia, such as the men’s Alpine skiing races last season in Japan, which were widely well received. “Having two editions of the Olympic Winter Games in Asia will only further help promote our disciplines in this region and encourage further development. New, interested winter sport participants and fans, in cooperation with tourism, industry partners, entertainment and education, open new fields in an interesting target group. And today’s options are much more dynamic, and requested data includes new options such as CRM models, so we have a high chance to grow by involving different stakeholders.” The FIS has many long-term commercial partners on board of the ilk of Swiss watch brand Longines and German automobile manufacturer Audi. Lewis says that while many of them run until the end of the 2017/18 season, the FIS is “in the process of negotiating the e isting partnerships”. tending with longstanding partners and attracting new sponsors is, of course, made all the easier when its showcase championship –
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the Olympics – is of the highest calibre. Needless to say, this is one of the reasons that such importance was placed on March’s test events ahead of the 2018. “We are generally very pleased with the outcome of the various FIS World Cup competitions that have served as PyeongChang 2018 test events across all of our disciplines and especially that there has been notable progress made just from last season’s competitions,” says Lewis. “In many ways, the pre-Games season and the test events are more comple from a sport s organisation and venue perspective than the Games themselves, with many persons involved for the first time and the venues still under construction. Like with any Olympic Games Organising Committee, the elements that cannot be effectively tested before the Games themselves present the challenges ne t year, with logistics for many different stakeholders and their specific needs from the athletes and teams to the spectators, including security, transportation, catering and so on. We have confidence that POGOC [the PyeongChang Olympic Games Organising Committee] is ready to undertake
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the necessary measures in order to meet these challenges ne t February.” The SU is e ually confident with a year to go before South orea s maiden Winter Games but this Olympic cycle has nevertheless been one of change for winter sport’s oldest federation. Last year, at its 56th ordinary congress in Dubrovnik, Croatia, Dutchman Jan Dijkema became president of the federation. He replaced the Italian Ottavio Cinquanta, who had held the role since 1994. Dijkema won on the second ballot, defeating Hungary’s Gyorgy Sallak. Two other candidates, France’s Didier Gailhaguet and Britain’s Chris Buchanan, withdrew after the first round. Dijkema, who was an ISU vice president for speed skating prior to his new role, plans to serve only a two-year team. What’s more, he is renowned as a moderniser who based his successful election on promises of improving the federation’s promotional, marketing and digital output. “I look back on very productive months,” says Dijkema, speaking to SportsPro in mid-March. “Ice skating is central to my heart, and at the ISU we want to further promote and develop the sport worldwide
Shaoang Liu of Hungary, Charles Hamelin of Canada, Han Tianyu of China, Semen Elistratov of Russia and Seo Yi Ra of South Korea compete in the men’s 100m final at the ISU World Short Track Speed Skating Championships
across all levels figure skating, short-track speed skating, speed skating and synchronised skating. In this regard, we established a new ISU Development Program in the first weeks after the elections. “It’s key to educate more coaches and officials worldwide and to support the identification and development of promising young skaters. Besides developing new policy and working on projects, the skating season started in the first months. It’s an important season with the Olympics coming up ne t year. We have seen great skating performances and a fantastic audience at events.” The Dutchman is keen to push through his proposed implementation of a new digital strategy and he argues that there was a certain malaise in the ISU headquarters, combined with a sense of an ‘it has always been done like this’ attitude. Before the major task of planning for an international Games, he had evidently made it his objective to clean up his house. “My predecessor used to say that change for the sake of changing is not really helpful for anyone,” Dijkema points out. “I have three main objectives, which are development, marketing promotion and digitalisation, and finally good governance. I got to work straight away so these objectives are achieved which is a challenge as I am elected for only two years. “We have created a new Development Commission and, like I said, we completely restructured the development policy. We will be changing the ISU website soon, which is part of my marketing, promotion and digitalisation strategy we are e ploring and testing innovative event formats; we will soon have an Athletes Commission. “These are all big projects that are happening at the moment. Is it evolution or revolution? You can be the judge of that.” Nevertheless, PyeongChang is never far from the 71-year-old’s thoughts. We are confident that the
Olympic Winter Games are going to be a success,” says Dijkema. “ISU disciplines will be in the spotlight and the public will be able to enjoy and rediscover our sports. The level of competition this season has been very high. This time ne t year we will witness the crowning of the Olympic champions which is going to be e citing. The ce Arena held its first test event back in December 2016 and the second in February. The building is quite stunning and the main rink and practice rink are very well done with a good layout. The Ice Arena is a shared venue between figure skating and shorttrack speed skating, meaning that the infrastructure has to be adequate for both disciplines and this is a challenge within itself. The test events take place so everything is tested and any kinks can be worked out. We are confident that O O will deliver everything as required. “The Speed Skating Oval in Gangneung was tested during the ISU World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships earlier in February. It was a great event and everything went well. In particular, the ice conditions were e cellent. Many skaters set new personal records and national records. We were sometimes even close to world records. The new track records place the Gangneung Oval
The Gangneung Ice Arena, where skating events at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics will be held
among the fastest lowland tracks in the world.” Aside from e ecuting an effective Games, the questions that is dogging almost every international sporting championships, of late, concern the efficacy of doping programmes and – more specifically the inclusion of Russian athletes. The 2016 report by Professor Richard McLaren, produced on behalf of the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada), surmised that over 1,000 Russian athletes in over 30 sports were involved in or benefited from statesponsored doping between 2011 and 2015, including at their home Olympics in Sochi in 2014. While some have called for a blanket ban for the country’s athletes – a measure meted out by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), but not the IOC, for 2016 – others, like FIS president ian- ranco asper, believe that it is not Wada’s place to dole out such punishments. “We should not suspend those who are innocent,” said aspar, to the Deutschlandfunk magazine in January. “We should punish only those who are guilty, we cannot do that indiscriminately just because they have Russian passports. That’s wrong both humanly and legally.” His colleague Sarah Lewis takes a diplomatic view on the Russia
issue. “The protocols evolve between each edition of the Games through scientific and technology developments,” she says. “After the occurrences in Sochi, there will certainly be close attention paid to the security aspects as well. We are confident that all possible measures will be in place. As far as the issues surrounding the participation of the Russian athletes, we hope that the ongoing investigations and any subsequent actions will be concluded in good time before the PyeongChang 2018 Games.” It is a pragmatic outlook that Jan Dijkema shares. “Mindful of a due diligence process, the ISU is proceeding with the evaluation of the evidence and related necessary investigations,” he says. “For the cases relating to the Sochi Olympic Winter Games, the ISU is of course closely following the IOC proceedings and will take into account possible new evidence becoming available thanks to the reanalysis of the concerned samples. f and when there are sufficient elements and evidence to pursue anti-doping rule violations, the ISU will not hesitate to open disciplinary proceedings and possibly apply provisional suspensions against bodies or persons subject to infringements of the World Anti-Doping Code or ISU Anti-Doping rules.”
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PASSING ON THE TORCH
The withdrawal of Budapest from the race for the 2024 Olympic Games means that for the second time in succession, the International Olympic Committee has just two bidders to choose from. Even with a run of events set for major global cities, there are now burning questions as to how desirable hosting is in the current era. By Eoin Connolly
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I
t is not so much a pub quiz question as a category all of its own. In February, Budapest became the latest in a disparate but unsettlingly long list of cities to withdraw an Olympic bid due to a collapse in popular or political support. Its departure from the race for the 2024 Games now links it to Hamburg, Rome and Boston – which was replaced by joint favourite LA – not to mention Oslo, Stockholm and Krakow, which pulled out of contention for the 2022 Winter Olympics. Lviv also dropped out of that earlier contest, albeit for security reasons after Russia’s early 2014 incursion into Crimea. The upshot of all of this is that for the second time in a row, International Olympic Committee (IOC) members will have only two options to choose from when they vote for the next host in Lima, Peru in September. In this case, the two ostensibly strongest candidates are still very much in the running. Paris and Los Angeles have been close to a toss-up for much of the campaign, with the former sometimes deemed to have a slight political edge and the latter a more compelling commercial proposition. Such is their pre-eminence that the idea has been floated for several months that the two could get one Games each, tying up the summer programme until 2028. IOC president Thomas Bach has been widely rumoured to be in favour of such a move and, just as SportsPro was going to press, he confirmed
at a Tokyo press conference that he was setting up a panel to investigate just such a possibility. The four IOC vice presidents – Australia’s John oates, U ur rdener of Turkey, China’s Yu Zaiqing and Spain’s Juan Antonio Samaranch – will lead a working group who will explore the concept and then report at the IOC Candidature City Briefing in ausanne on th and 12th July. Bach told those assembled in the Japanese capital that “all options are on the table” and that he did not believe a change to the Olympic Charter would be required. According to specialist outlet Inside The Games, the scheme has divided opinion among IOC members, with Coates, rdener and u among those to previously express their doubts on the record. Administrative barriers notwithstanding, others have spoken in support of those cities already thought to be preparing Olympic bids for 2028. Still, there is much to recommend a Paris-LA one-two as far as the IOC is concerned. It would guarantee, after Rio, that all three Summer Games in the next decade would come with a degree of certainty, with Tokyo first up in . t would mean a return to the US where many of the major Olympic paymasters – including big-spending broadcaster NBC, which is signed up to 2032 are based. t would also finally reward the French capital, a serial uropean bidder in an era where the continent is struggling to find
Activists of the opposition Momentum Movement collect signatures to force a referendum on Hungary’s Olympic plans
receptive candidates. Yet the demise of Budapest’s bid is damaging to the IOC in ways that go beyond the mild embarrassment of a short ballot paper. The Hungarian capital had self-consciously positioned itself as a post-Agenda 2020 bid, one which could combine existing infrastructure with temporary builds and a regeneration project at the city’s fringes, planned independently of the Olympic programme. The idea was not only to weave the bid into a longer-term sporting strategy for the city, but also restore the spirit of Games like Barcelona ’92, bringing mid-sized cities back into the frame by infusing the event with local flavour while keeping a close eye on outcomes and cost overruns. The concern is that this is the kind of pitch that may now be lost to the Summer Olympics for some time, whatever benefits a strong 2020s run through a trio of elite global cities might offer. The details of Budapest’s withdrawal – which came after a successful petition for a summer referendum on the bid by the campaign group Momentum Mozgalom – allow for some interpretation as to their wider significance. The O moved quickly into a defensive mode when the imminence of a vote became apparent, with Bach citing national politics as the motivation for the campaign. “The referendum is obviously considered by them to be a good tool to put themselves on the map of the political landscape in Hungary,” he said, speaking to the Associated Press. That argument does carry some weight, and there will be those who sensed an opportunity to strike at the government of Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban, who has closed a number of avenues for opposition. The timing of the petition also ensured that any referendum would be unhelpfully positioned between the international launch of the bid and September’s vote in Lima. But
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Budapest 2024 chairman Balázs Fürjes, who was quick to defend the right of his fellow “Budapest people” to have their voices heard, did not hesitate to frame the opposition in the context of a wider international contagion. “I think the issues and the concerns are not Hungary-specific,” he said, in a meeting with SportsPro and a group of international industry journalists in Budapest in February. “This is something that you experience in other cities, from Oslo to Hamburg, and it underlines how important Agenda 2020 is and how important it is to the whole Olympic family that it is actually real and it actually changes the game – and Budapest could be a gamechanger and a different choice.” Fürjes was speaking at the inauguration of the Danube Arena, a new aquatics venue which will host the 2017 Fina World Championships in July, a day before the announcement that the Budapest 2024 bid would be wound up. Hungary, for a few years longer at least, will remain the highestranked Olympic medal-winning nation never to host the Games, even if Fürjes insists that it will return to bid again. Nevertheless, it will continue to stage a series of international events and championships and for an increasing number of other cities, that kind of programme will suffice in lieu of an Olympic bid. “There are probably no generalisations across the board,” says Robert Datnow, co-founder and managing director of bidding and city strategy specialist The Sports Consultancy. He points to the differing political conditions that prompted the withdrawal of each bid in the 2024 race. The defeat of the Hamburg-Kiel campaign in November 2015 – by the narrow margin of 51.6 per cent to 48.4 per cent – came, he notes, “in the immediate aftermath of the Paris terror attacks” and that summer’s refugee crisis, and was delivered by voters who he suspects “were perhaps thinking about the
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“You’ve got to evolve and if you need a broad portfolio of venues, it doesn’t all have to be in a single city” prospect of hosting a mega-event in that climate, rather than thinking about what the world might look like in 2024”. The end of Rome’s bid in October, Datnow continues, was part of the platform of newly elected mayor Virginia Raggi. Nonethless, the spate of bids being abandoned under political pressure at least hints at a shared underlying cause. “Is there some other set of issues,” asks Datnow, “to do with the scale of the event, and the returns on investment, and the communication and understanding of economic returns and media value, and other social and urban impacts and benefits s there a re-e amination of the cost-benefit business case that needs to take place ” Former IOC marketing director Michael Payne – a veteran of several Games on the bid and organising committee side, and an advisor to the LA 2024 bid – sees another political dimension in the opposition to Olympic bids. “I think it’s a new phenomenon being driven a lot by the new dynamics of the social media, where individual issues are sort of brought into the political mainstream and elections in a way that a decade or so wasn’t possible,” he says. “It’s not just the Olympic bidding, it’s all sorts of issues that are out there that a social-political movement suddenly brings to the forefront.” ayne identifies the primary issue for the IOC as one of messaging – with an easily recognised root. “There’s no question that the IOC has got to do a stronger job at explaining the whole cost dynamics,” he says. “The Sochi cost scared off an awful lot of the winter bidders, and the IOC, in my humble opinion, should have
moved – [former IOC president Jacques] Rogge should have moved – much earlier to create a clear separation between the US$2 billion to US$3 billion that the Games in Sochi actually cost from the US$45 billion to US$50 billion capital infrastructure where you’re rebuilding a region.” The negative stories that continue to emerge from the Rio Games, Payne adds, have been unhelpful, but he argues that they have come to obscure the successes of Olympics that have taken place in more economically and politically conducive conditions. The IOC is not alone in having difficulty finding potential hosts. The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), which in March was forced to strip the South African city of Durban of its 2022 event, is a case in point. In some ways, its movement has been replicating the problems of the Olympics on a smaller scale. The bidding process for 2022 yielded only Durban’s application, after the anadian city of dmonton withdrew. Meanwhile, the cities that may step into the breach dmonton again, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Perth and Melbourne – would only continue the Games’ recent pattern of heading to the richest member nations of the Commonwealth. With Gold Coast set to host the 2018 edition, all but one Games in the 21st century has been held in Australia or the UK – and the one exception, Delhi, was riddled with delays, cost overruns and corruption in a manner that foreshadowed Rio 2016. There are other echoes elsewhere. Attempts to properly establish the uropean ames have faltered badly under the failure to convince the most glamorous sports involved – most notably athletics – to send their highest-profile competitors, and insk was only confirmed as the venue for the second iteration after the Netherlands pulled out and Russia was stripped of hosting rights. The Vietnamese city of Hanoi withdrew as host of the
2019 Asian Games, forcing a move to Jakarta and Palembang and then a switch to , to avoid a conflict with the Indonesian elections. Against that backdrop, it is unsurprising that the organisers of other major events are considering other models. Next year, Glasgow and Berlin will host the uropean Championships – bringing seven previously separate continental events together to form a single tenday showpiece. The Uefa uropean Championship will be played in 13 cities – including Budapest – in 2020, while Fifa’s 48-team World Cup model will likely need multiple host nations from 2026. All of that is enough to excite speculation that more radical solutions might be on the horizon for the Olympic Games, ranging from a permanent host model, to limited rotation, to an event spread concurrently across the globe. Payne believes, however, that the tools for creativity have already been written into the Olympic regulations. “Bach’s Agenda 2020, in introducing fle ibility, is designed to achieve just that,” he says. “Let’s say that Belgium and Holland want
Rome’s new mayor Virginia Raggi withdrew the political support of the city from its Olympic bid, bringing an end to its candidacy
to come together and spread it over three cities – or I saw a theory the other day about Singapore and Malaysia – you don’t automatically preclude that solution just because of the law book. You’ve got to evolve and if you need a broad portfolio of venues, it doesn’t all have to be in a single city if somebody’s got a scenario where it can be spread over two or three. Football’s always been spread outside, sailing has often been outside, but equally, if you’ve got cities in the race who can offer a single-city solution, I think that’s always going to be a stronger candidate than a multi-city solution.” What he suggests instead – and he does so in part, by his own admission, in his capacity as an advisor to the LA 2024 Olympic bid – is that the perception of hosting the Games is in need of a “complete reboot”. “It is in some ways uncanny,” he says, “the similarities that the movement’s facing today with the confidence in the bidding process and the costs of hosting, with what the IOC was facing in the late 70s. Back then – as you know, I wrote the book [Olympic Turnaround]
– you were sort of sliding down a slippery slope of people no longer wanting to bid because of the perceived cost, a legacy of Montreal, and the political boycotts, and most people were writing it off at the time. What Los Angeles did with ’84 was a complete reboot, adding confidence in the process, that subsequently led to the Barcelonas and Sydneys and that golden era of bidding. “I think both with the Summer Games and the Winter Games that you need a successful delivery with a far more realistic budget, and the best way to get a realistic budget is if you don’t have any capital infrastructure. ven if the capital infrastructure should never be charged to the two weeks of the Games, you will always have media and politicians talking about: ‘We’re building this for the Olympics.’ So you’re left with this perception of cost.” This is an argument that any host must be prepared to have where public money is involved and, as Tokyo is discovering, even cities with ample funds and reputations for fiscal surety can find it difficult to maintain a firm line. It will also be pivotal to the
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The aquatics venue which was used during the Rio Olympics and has fallen into disrepair in the months since
“There’s no question that the IOC has got to do a stronger job at explaining the whole cost dynamics.” future health of the movement, then, that it can also outline why the Games are worth the outlay. “There is a focus on relevance and updating the Games and evolving the Games, but this on its own doesn’t address several other fundamentals that I think are the IOC’s responsibility,” Datnow says. “I think part of the IOC’s responsibility in its custodianship of the Games is to make sure that the benefits of bidding and the benefits of hosting are properly articulated to those sections of the city community, and regional and national government who would become direct or indirect stakeholders, investors and
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beneficiaries.” In doing so, Datnow believes, the IOC can convince a greater proportion of the wider public of the opportunity that hosting a Games can represent. “And the IOC does a lot for the host city,” he adds. The IOC not only transfers knowledge, and contributes financially to the operating costs, but it also provides stewardship, expertise and other less tangible benefits. That is in addition to all of the other operational event benefits, as well as the longer-term capital and other legacies – sporting, business and so on. I think the IOC could do more to articulate those
benefits proactively to target cities. “I think more could be done to research and consult with potential host cities outside of the context of the bidding process. I think there’s not probably enough dialogue with potential bidding cities, and I think probably not enough is being done to gather relevant data from past hosts – the qualitative as well as the quantitative data; the case studies of why bidders bid and what they’ve got out of hosting economically, from a media perspective, and from a social and urban impact perspective. Because I think until that happens, the current pattern is probably going to be repeated.” Bach proposed his own set of solutions for this in an interview with German magazine Stuttgarter Nachrichten in early March, where he indicated that previous failed bidders could be excused some or all of the US$250,000 cost of another entry, while any proposed venue that had already hosted a world championship or World Cup event will be waved through the evaluation process and “considered as approved”. Datnow is wary of anything amounting to a “bye” for past bidders – who he says already enjoy a “natural advantage” – but does support a more structured and partnered bidding process. That could involve the IOC taking a greater burden in the early going via a pre- ualification phase” through which it would conduct “its own independent due diligence and feasibility analysis, and looking at what cities are able to do – in terms of facilities, infrastructure and experience”. “I would re-examine the marketing materials used to communicate with potential bid cities,” he continues. “There’s quite an absence of marketing material and there’s a legal format and a presentation of materials which can be quite off-putting and quite daunting for a lot of cities.” From there, Datnow suggests, a “preferred bidder stage” could be introduced, in common with a
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COVER STORY OLYMPICS
number of public tender processes, through which the IOC could carry out “a much more bespoke exercise of making sure that the event is not only fit for the O but it s fit for the city, and fit for the city s strategy”. Such an approach might make it easier to “identify and mitigate the risks” of a disparity between bid documents and reality, with fewer candidates to track. Greater certainty in the voting stage might also encourage cities and the public to weigh up the risks of bidding differently. “What is the exact role of the evaluation commission s report and how much weight does that carry with the voting constituency?” Datnow asks. “How is it, for example, that Sochi – which scored the lowest on the evaluation commission survey for that cycle in 2014 – won the Games? What is the relationship between the report and any recommendations that are made? “What considerations have been given to whether a secret ballot – as is currently the way that voting is undertaken – compares with a show of hands? Or whether there
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IOC president Thomas Bach, whose Agenda 2020 initiative has attempted to open Olympic bidding to a wider range of host cities
should be weighted voting on specified evaluation criteria Or whether there should be retained discretion and some clarity of the relevant factors which will be taken into account? All of that is still not transparent, and therefore acts as a disincentive for cities to bid and to put political risk, as well as money, behind the bid.” Whatever tangible reforms can be made to the bidding and voting process, the assessment of the Olympic Games – particularly the summer version – as the preserve of the world s weather cities is only likely to firm up over the ne t decade. That will be especially true if some accommodation is made for Paris and LA to follow Tokyo to complete a decade of well-heeled former Olympic hosts. If the bidding process could be more coherently structured, then, it invites the suggestion that the IOC might guide hosting strategy more intently. Rights holders like World Rugby now seek to move events from sure-fire commercial successes to new markets. Payne is unconvinced, however, that such a
method could translate comfortably to the Olympics. “The Olympics is so unique,” he says, so large in scope, that m not sure that when you look at a rugby process or a cricket process that it s necessarily fair to compare. Historically, the IOC did operate, without any official legislation, of one-time developing market that did carry a bit more risk, back to safety for the next edition or two. For a number of reasons, maybe that s a little bit out of kilter recently.” Payne is still optimistic that an improvement in the reputation of the Olympics, brought about by the successful execution of future Games, would bring other types of cities back into the fold. “I think if a city has got the capital infrastructure – and by capital infrastructure I mean the airport, transport, hotels and telco – you can do an incredible amount these days with temporary infrastructure, so you haven t got to build all of the sporting infrastructure from scratch,” he says. “And, you know, the IOC is encouraging cities to say, ‘What matters on the presentation The field of play you don t see whether it s scaffolding or some permanent venue – and then the celebration in the street. t isn t actually the bricks and mortar of some new venue that defines the Olympics.” It may or may not be another eight years until the next set of bids for a Summer Olympics, but the new Winter Games race will begin in earnest later this year. The Swiss city of Sion is set to confirm its bid in April, while campaigns are being explored by Erzurum in Turkey, Sapporo in Japan, 1988 host Calgary of Canada, and Innsbruck, the Austrian venue of the 1976 Games. All of them will be watching intently as PyeongChang completes its preparations in the year ahead. One way or another, a new era of Olympic campaigning could be on its way. Whether it consigns the abandoned bid to the realms of historic trivia remains to be seen.
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FEATURE OLYMPICS
C alifornia dreaming The Los Angeles bid for the 2024 Olympics promises to deliver ‘a new Games for a new era’, one that can restore the credibility of an Olympic movement going through a worrying malaise. As another bidding race enters its final phase with just two cities in the running, it could be that the movement needs LA now more than ever. By Michael Long
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O
n the face of it, Los Angeles’ bid to host the 2024 Olympic Games hardly seems worthy of a place that prides itself on standing out from the crowd. Billed as a “low-risk, no surprises” offer, the Californian city s proposal is a picture of fiscal responsibility, leadership stability and environmental sustainability: the inoffensive cardigan folded neatly beneath the Olympic movement’s penchant for costly flamboyant spectacles. In that sense, LA’s bid is remarkable for being intentionally unremarkable. With unanimous support from the LA Council and 88 per cent public backing, the bid has so far navigated its local political course with little fuss. Preparation milestones and key civic decisions have been ticked off with barely a hint of opposition, largely owing to the fact that local taxpayers will not be on the hook for any of the Games cost. Even the figures involved have failed to satiate the tabloids. As part of its final bid book, submitted to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in February, the LA bid team made a full set of guarantees against any budget shortfall associated with hosting the Games. They describe their US$5.3 billion budget as ‘rigorous, realistic and balanced’ – with overall revenues weighed against costs of US$4.8 billion and a US$488 million contingency fund – while the State of California has also committed US$250 million in additional contingency funding and private insurance will cover against unforeseen overages. “We don’t believe there will be any cost overrun, and we’ve been vetted more thoroughly than any bid in history,” says Angela Ruggiero, LA2024’s chief strategist, an IOC executive board member, and chair of the committee’s Athletes’ Commission. “The amount of work that 2024 has done to ensure that the numbers we put forward are extremely accurate and incorporate large contingencies.”
On paper, the nuts and bolts Janet Evans, vice of LA’s bid throw up few causes chair of the LA for concern, either. Unlike the bid and chief Paris bid, which is now the only of its athletes’ rival standing in LA’s way after relations team the withdrawal of Budapest in February, and which calls for €1.5 billion of public investment to be spent on the construction of an athletes’ village and a new aquatics centre, 97 per cent of LA’s Games facilities will utilise existing infrastructure, with only the canoe slalom venue to be built. The athlete’s village, for example, will be centred on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), the media village and the main press centre will be housed at the University of Southern California (USC), and the 85,000 square metre International Broadcast Centre (IBC) will be located at NBCUniversal’s property in LA’s Universal City neighbourhood. Abundant accommodation and transport infrastructure also already exist in the city, with its transit system undergoing a major modernisation project regardless of whether LA wins the right to host the Games. Like the city itself, LA’s Games concept is sprawling, but for the same reason it incorporates many sides of North America’s LA2024 second-largest melting pot. has a Venues will be grouped across US$5.3 multiple clusters stretching from billion the Sepulveda Basin, where equestrian, canoe slalom and budget
shooting events will be held, in the north of the city, to Long Beach, the site for BMX and water polo, to the south. n an Olympic first, LA is also proposing to hold its opening and closing ceremonies across two venues – the iconic LA Memorial Coliseum and the underconstruction, US$2.6 billion LA Stadium at Hollywood Park – but even that piece of history seems trivial in light of the damning headlines that were generated by recent Games in Rio and Sochi. “I think LA2024 really pledges to connect the Olympic and Paralympic Games to the future,” says Janet Evans, vice chair of the LA bid and chief of its athletes’ relations team. “You think about Los Angeles: we have a hi-tech, low-risk, sustainable and, from my point of view, very athlete-led solution that serves the Olympics in 2024 and beyond. I think we pro ect credibility by fiscal responsibility. “We have a sustainable, proven plan that maximises the incredible array of world class venues that we have here. We really don’t have to build any venue construction. We optimise the conditions for the national Olympic committees and their athletes coming into the Games.” Evans, one of the most successful female long-distance swimmers of all time and a California native, adds that the “US$250 billion” US sports market, which “can connect federations with 100 million of our young people”, is sure to prove
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particularly appealing to the IOC. The US is, of course, a hotbed for the Olympic movement and its most lucrative market. In purely commercial terms, it is the safest of safe bets: a veritable goldmine for ticketing, media rights, sponsorship and merchandise revenues. LA 2024’s licensing and merchandising programme, for example, is predicted to generate US$226 million alone. And then there is NBC: no broadcaster puts nearly as much promotional or financial muscle behind the Games as the US Olympic rights holder, which has committed to pumping roughly US$2.55 billion into the IOC’s coffers during each Games cycle until 2032. California’s reputation as a global hub for technological innovation and enterprise presents a compelling opportunity, too. Not only is it the world’s sixthlargest economy and the home of Hollywood glamour, but the presence of tech firms in Silicon Valley has been used to propagate the notion that LA’s Games would
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be a technological extravaganza. In light of the IOC’s quest to reengage millennials, the potential involvement of generationdefining, forward-thinking companies like Facebook, Snapchat and Google carries distinct appeal, as Ruggiero notes. “From LA’s perspective, we believe we are going to be the most innovative Games in Olympic history by attempting to leverage the unbelievable creativity in Southern California,” she says. “We have the movie industry, Disney, and theme parks, but we also have great tech companies – the Snapchats, the Facebooks, and the Apples. We have all kinds of great technology companies working with us [who] have promised to help us deliver.” As former multiple Olympians themselves, Evans and Ruggiero are keenly aware of what makes for an athlete-friendly Games, and both have sought to ensure LA’s bid pays close attention to the needs of competitors as leaders of its athlete’s relations team. Evans,
The underconstruction LA Stadium at Hollywood Park (top) has been proposed as a host venue at the 2024 Olympic Games, while the media village and the main press centre will be based at the University of Southern California (bottom)
who previously worked on New York City’s unsuccessful bid for 2012 and was even involved in the 1996 Atlanta campaign, says a considerable amount of work went into the athletes’ portion of the bid book submitted in February. “It was a great exercise for me to remember my days as an athlete and remember what I would like to have had different,” she says. “We had done, over the course of about 12 months, a series of town hall meetings throughout our country with national and international athletes, asking them what they would like to see different in their Games. We took a lot of that input and put it into our Games plan here in Los Angeles to make sure that the athlete experience is fantastic all the way.” More than anything, though, LA believes it is the city to reinvigorate the Olympic brand. Indeed, LA’s is a bid that knows what the Olympic movement needs and is well aware of the role it can play in defining the future of the Games. In that vein, it has sought to position itself as something of a saviour for the movement, a stabilising force that can, to borrow a phrase from the city’s bid book, ‘help restore the credibility of the Games’ at a time when mounting public cynicism, widespread antipathy towards the staging of sporting megaevents, and distrust of the legacy benefits of the ames have given rise to a troubling Olympic malaise. Since replacing Boston as the US candidate city in August of 2015, LA’s message has been both concise and consistent. Each one of the bid team’s members has remained careful not to stray from their party line of ‘a new Games for a new era’. After Budapest’s decision to pull out of the running, bid chairman Casey Wasserman called the loss of yet another city “the new reality for the Olympic movement”, one which demanded “new thinking.” Evans, not surprisingly, echoes that sentiment. “It’s evident that we’re entering an era of unprecedented change and I think so are the needs of the movement,” she says. “Now, more than ever, the IOC has the
opportunity to choose the city that will serve the movement not only in 2024 but after 2024. And I believe that LA can help with that and help restore the credibility of the Games and encourage future cities to bid, which I believe will ensure stability for the movement and reengage the movement with young people around the world.” vans is confident that hosting the Games in LA in 2024 would emulate the city’s staging of the 1984 edition. Back then, she notes, LA was the only bidder at a time when the Olympic movement was going through a similar nadir, but the Games that transpired were a resounding success. That event, the first Olympics to be privately financed, proved commercially lucrative for the IOC, creating a surplus of US$232.5 million and helping to restore some of the old lustre to the modern Olympic brand. “I think Peter Ueberroth [the chief organiser in 1984] and his team really redefined the hosting model,” Evans says. “If you look at the cities from 1992 and beyond, there were many, many cities [that bid for the Games]. I think that started with Ueberroth in ’84.” Though he is not personally involved in the 2024 bid, Ueberroth has himself e pressed confidence in LA’s proposal this time round, describing the city, which also staged the Games in 1932, as “the right place at the right time”. Ueberroth has also talked up the range of talent and expertise within the 2024 bid’s well-connected leadership team, reserving personal praise for LA mayor Eric Garcetti. Garcetti, who was re-elected to a second term in office in arch, has been a prominent figure in the city’s Olympic bid from the outset. He has sought to use the bid as a canvas on which to paint his city as an international and cultural centre, and to proactively drive home an overarching message of inclusion and diversity. Speaking in an address to the acific ouncil on nternational Policy in January, Garcetti described his mission to land the 2024 Games as “a big priority”, touting LA’s
“We have a plan that maximises the array of venues we have here” previous Olympic hosting experience as one of its greatest assets. “We need a reminder of what it means to engage with the world,” he said. “The Olympics has always come at great moments in great decades, and in times of immense global need as well. n , when os Angeles first hosted the Olympics, it was a time when nobody else wanted to host them. In the midst of the Great Depression, we kept the idealism of the Olympics alive. In 1984, in the midst of the Cold War, we not only saved the Olympic movement but we showed we could turn a profit with a new model.” As LA’s quest to stage the 2024 Games has drawn on, one key issue has come to plague the bid more than any other. Since new US president onald Trump took office in the White House in January, speculation has mounted as to what impact the policies being implemented by his administration will have on the city’s chances of winning the Games. Trump’s executive order temporarily banning travel from several Muslimmajority countries, to cite just one example, is widely deemed to have imperilled the bid – even if President Trump has himself expressed his support publicly. Amid all the speculation – and right now it is just that – LA’s bid team has remained adamant that politics will not ultimately factor into the IOC’s decision. Their bid is, after all, a Californian one as much as it is a US one, and it is also privately funded. For that reason, Wasserman and bid chief executive Gene Sykes have said they are confident that resident Trump and his policies will not deliver a mortal blow to their bid, as some doomsayers have suggested.
“When we raised our hand to host the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, it was because we believe in the power of the movement to unite the world – and that is an ability to unite the world through sport, not politics,” Wasserman said. “We believe that now, frankly, more than ever.” As the race for 2024 enters its final stretch, there are those who believe the IOC’s decision to overlook US bids for the 2012 and 2016 Games could render LA’s proposal a shoo-in this time round. Why, they argue, would the IOC risk the very real possibility that the US would refuse to throw its hat into the ring again anytime soon? Others, however, believe Paris is the clear favourite, largely since the city was among those to miss out in two previous bidding races and because encouraging European cities to enter the running is not getting any easier. But a third option has also been mooted. In the wake of Budapest’s withdrawal, there is talk that the IOC could look to award two Games at once, with the loser of the race for 2024 being given the 2028 edition. That suggestion was first aired by IOC president Thomas Bach, who acknowledged the need to overhaul the Olympic bidding process, citing the way in which it “produces too many losers”, and whose Agenda 2020 reforms have sought to rein in the cost of bidding and hosting the Games. The idea of awarding two Games simultaneously is riddled with challenges – not least as it assumes both Paris and LA would be willing and able to host the Games in 2028 but Bach confirmed in mid- arch that a panel would be assembled to look into the matter and report in July on the possibility of a joint award. It remains to be seen, then, what the IOC’s leadership will decide, but Evans, for one, insists LA’s only focus right now is 2024. “We’re working hard for 2024,” she says. “That is what we are working for, that is what our athletes team is thinking about. We’re in this for 2024 and we are only bidding for 2024.”
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FEATURE OLYMPICS
CITY OF SHARING
Paris has unveiled its final plans for hosting the Olympic Games in 2024 as it prepares to face off with Los Angeles in what is now a two-horse race. The bid committee is promising the most open, the most sustainable, and the most shareable Olympics ever, and is confident of celebrating the 100th anniversary of the city’s last Games by doing it all over again. By Adam Nelson
C
ity of love, city of lights, moveable feast – Paris is used to wearing many different monikers. It is now carrying a new description – until September at least, and possibly for the next seven years – as it gears up for yet another bid to host the Olympic Games: ‘Paris, made for sharing’. After failed attempts for 1992, 2008 and 2012, it has come down to this. 2024 will mark a century since the French capital hosted the Olympic Games for the last time, a timespan that all within the bid committee, and many outside it, believe is too long. The birthplace of Pierre de Coubertin, father of the modern Olympic movement and founder of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and one of the world’s truly global cities, is once again ready to share itself with the world. The slogan was unveiled at an event marking the official launch of Paris’ bid and the submission of its bid book to the IOC – an event which saw the Eiffel Tower lit up with the words ‘made for sharing’. The decision to present the bid’s strapline in English has caused a
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certain amount of consternation across France, unsurprisingly for a country which takes such pride in its language and has a body, l’Académie française, dedicated entirely to its protection and preservation. There is, as bid committee members keenly point out, a French version of the strapline – Vennez Partager – which is being used on all French communications, but it is clear that this remains a broadly outwardlooking campaign, and that has meant, unfortunately for some in France, a heavy reliance on English as the lingua franca of the Olympic movement. The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, who has made the Olympic bid a cornerstone of her tenure, defended the decision as such, arguing that “it is very important to speak to as many people as possible. If we share like we say, we need to speak in other languages, to talk to everyone”. That, perhaps, is a lesson that has been gleaned from those past unsuccessful attempts, which have formed an important part of the learning process this time around. Tony Estanguet, the three-time Olympic gold medal-
winning canoeist and now copresident of the Paris 2024 bid committee, points particularly to the unexpected decision for 2012 – when Paris was widely expected to triumph over London only to lose by a narrow margin of four votes – as the most eye-opening experience. “We try to learn from the previous failures, but also from previous successes,” says Estanguet. “And London was a great success. Many of us were in London to participate as athletes or to participate in whatever roles. We tried to analyse the previous candidacies of France and what we could learn but we tried also to look at how the winning bids in the past made it. “I think London was a strong message to inspire a generation. But made for sharing reflects the fact that since the beginning this team of athletes, which is really passionate about the Games and Olympism, really wants to share their knowledge and expertise. This is for us the main thing that we want to put in front, this strong desire, this deep affection for Olympism, and that we want to share it with the kids and with this ‘sharing generation’.”
The phrase, of course, also plays on a very modern sense of ‘sharing’. According to the 2016 Mastercard Global Destinations Cities Index, Paris is the third most-visited city in the world, after Bangkok and London, though the 2024 bid committee is confident in its claim that the French capital is the planet’s most shared city on social media, with world famous landmarks like the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe and the Château de Versailles providing backdrops to millions of selfies and profile pictures every day. After so much was made of the imagery that came out of London and Rio – and the ‘shareability’ of photographs and videos of the latter in particular – this is one of the areas in which the Paris bid feels it is especially strong compared with its now only rival, Los Angeles. It is not just the presence of iconic landmarks, and of a city so famous it has a syndrome named after it. Much is also being made of Paris’ ability to present a compact, truly city-based Olympic Games – one of the factors frequently cited in London’s success, and opposed to the relative sprawl of Beijing and Rio, where venues were scattered, as they would be in LA.
This also plays into another element which bid committee has made a key part of its campaign. Its promise is to host ‘the greenest Games ever’ – as, it seems, is the promise of every Olympic bid in the modern era – with the close proximity of all the proposed venues a major point in that, with plans to house three quarters of all travelling spectators a maximum of 30 minutes by bike from all of the major venues. Speaking to SportsPro at the Sustainable Innovation in Sport (SIIS) forum in Munich in February, Jérôme Lachaze, the bid’s head of sustainability, says that the ambition was to “use the Olympics as a real accelerator of environmental transition”. Lachaze says that the Paris Agreement – the treaty signed on dealing with greenhouse gas emissions mitigation during the COP21 conference in the city in 2015 – provided an inspiration for the committee to dig deeper into green issues than any previous bid. Hidalgo calls climate change “the most important issue in the world, for me”. “That’s why we decided to leverage the power of Paris and work on the
An artist’s rendering of the planned beach volleyball arena in the Champ de Mars, at the foot of the Eiffel Tower and, across the Seine, the Olympic Park
carbon footprint and see what would be the footprint of Paris 2024,” Lachaze explains. “95 per cent of the infrastructure is already existing or will be a temporary construction. We have a world class public transport system. In the end, we found that Paris would have a 55 per cent lower carbon footprint than London. We target to go even further, not just be neutral but have a positive impact.” Whether the environmental impact can be a positive one or not – it is arguable that such mega-events can never be fully sustainable, only more sustainable than the one before – convincing the public of the wider, longerterm benefits for the city and the country has proved an increasingly difficult challenge for would-be host cities. Already the race for the 2024 Games had seen potential bids from Hamburg, Boston and Rome fall by the wayside due to a lack of public support and then, at the final hurdle and with a whimper rather than a bang, Budapest withdrew its candidature – just as Paris and A were officially submitting their proposals – in the wake of a petition signed by 260,000 people seeking a referendum on the bid.
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Such was the Hungarian capital’s outsider status in this race that the news is unlikely to have raised so much as a cheer in Paris or Los Angeles. The two were already overwhelming favourites and Budapest’s withdrawal merely makes official that this is a twohorse race, between two cities where public support remains at an unusual high. Estanguet cites recent polls as showing nationwide approval rates of the bid at 80 per cent, with Hidalgo adding that Parisians “want to share their city with the world”. The worry for Paris – as for LA – is that the ostensible ‘Olympic values’, the moral code of Olympism, appears singularly at odds with the day’s prevailing political winds. Just as the election of US president Donald Trump has forced the Los Angeles bid on to the defensive, maintaining that the Olympic Games always remains above political issues, so the prospect of a victory for far-right candidate Marine le Pen in this spring’s polls has prompted a change of tune for Paris 2024. Late last year, Estanguet admitted that political support for the bid was crucial – it was as much a lack of political as public support that spiked Rome’s candidacy – though his stance has softened in recent weeks amid the political turmoil that has led to le ens chances of taking office significantly improving.
“This is a sport team leading this bid, not a political one,” he tells SportsPro at the bid book launch event. “The identity of this bid really reflects the identity of athletes and sportspeople, and whatever the politicians, whoever will be elected in the Élysée Palace, it is not really our role. It is the role of the French people to elect the president of the republic. We are sure that it is useful for this country to host the Games, to share those values with the world, and I think this message was quite strong for the French public because we have this 80 per cent public support. We have strong support from political leaders. Because they understood that it was important and a good opportunity for this country. “I don’t want to speculate about who will be elected in May because it’s not my role at this time; my role is to keep on pushing and sharing this project with as many people as possible. So far I believe that we are strong on this.” In part, this is simply down to bad timing. A year sooner and the two bidding countries would have been facing uncertain futures but at least stable presents, with François Hollande and Barack Obama still presiding over the two countries. Trump, for his part, has not yet spoken out against the Olympic bid and, with public support for it so high across France, it is unlikely le Pen will do so either. Nevertheless,
The Eiffel Tower, lit up with the 2024 bid’s strapline, ‘made for sharing’
The Parc des Princes, which will host soccer, and the Stade JeanBouin, which will host rugby sevens, rendered as they will look during the Olympics
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the ideology, such as it is, of both politicians is decidedly not ‘made for sharing’. Hidalgo believes that support for the bid in France shows that the public still cling to what she calls the “humanist values” of the Olympic movement, and argues that the Games themselves can act as a bulwark against reactionary politics, demonstrating what can be achieved when diverse groups of people come together. “I know in France we have people who say that we don’t need people from other cities and other countries, we don’t need refugees,” she says. “But I think the Olympic values now are very important, because the world is in a new age and in mutation, it’s changing in very big ways. We have the problem of refugees, of war in many countries in the world, we have a lot of instability. I think that the Olympic values are very important now because Olympic Games are the most important event in the world to unite everyone through sport. You can have different religions, you can come from any countries, but what is important is the equality and just competition. “I think the most important event in the world is the Games, not just because the athletes are here but because the Games are supporting humanist values. We need to have hope today and the Olympic Games give hope to people everywhere on the planet.”
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FEATURE DESTINATIONS
RAISING THE STAKES Las Vegas is renowned as a city of spectacle and razzmatazz, visited by hordes of tourists who are drawn by its world class entertainment and hospitality, its carefree party-all-night attitude, and its glorious year-round climate. Now, with the arrival of a new National Hockey League franchise and the impending addition of pro football, it is hoped major league sport can become the city’s next big attraction. By Michael Long
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N
ot for nothing is Las Vegas dubbed the entertainment capital of the world. This is the city of round-the-clock gaming, The Strip and the Cirque du Soleil. This is a place of big-shots and high-rollers, a breathless, heady melee of world-famous musicians and legendary illusionists and luxury shopping malls and vast, gaudy hotels and white chapel weddings and neon and testosterone and just about every vice imaginable. Every year, millions of visitors flock to as egas from all over the world, the majority of them with a single purpose: to be entertained. A record 42.9 million of them arrived in 2016 alone, taking advantage of the more than 150,000 hotel rooms that comprise this flamboyant theme park of a town where spending money is a shameless compulsion and an actively encouraged pastime, certainly not
something to be prudently stashed away for a rainy day. It is a curious thing, then, that major league sports have been reluctant to join the party in southern Nevada. Perhaps the only city that can rival the National Football League (NFL) for selfaggrandisement, the National Basketball Association (NBA) for razzmatazz, and Major League Baseball (MLB) for expressions of nostalgic Americana, the city of Las Vegas has long remained off the cards for those big beasts of US sport who see themselves, first and foremost, as entertainers. Much of that has to do with the unique nature of the local marketplace, where a fiercely competitive entertainment industry has contributed to numerous failed attempts to make sport work. Brief forays into the market by the
US$1.9 billion - estimated total cost of PRoposed NFL STADIUM construction
The T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas will host the NHL’s Golden Knights as well as multiple UFC bouts annually
Canadian Football League (CFL) and, more recently, the now-defunct United Football League (UFL) have shown how tough it can be to operate there. Perhaps the biggest turn-off, though, is Nevada’s acceptance of sports betting, with the state exempted from a 1992 law known as the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act. Fears of possible impropriety, not to mention Las Vegas’ historic reputation as a haven for illicit dealings and mobsters, have long been cited as reasons for why the major leagues have steered clear. Yet as gambling on sport gains more mainstream acceptance – with calls for the US federal government to repeal the 1992 law growing louder across the country – the stigma surrounding Las Vegas as a pro sports destination has begun to soften.
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Today, there is a sense that the city’s sports scene is entering a new phase of maturity, particularly since the National Hockey League (NHL) announced the creation of an expansion franchise there last June. Nicknamed the Golden Knights, the team will play in the acific ivision of the NHL’s Western Conference, becoming the league’s 31st franchise when they debut this coming October at T-Mobile Arena, the US$375 million, 20,000-seat venue opened just off The Strip by MGM Resorts International and AEG in April 2016. The opportunity to be the only league in a market with a metro area of more than 2.2 million inhabitants – a city notable for being the largest in North America without a major professional sports franchise – was said to have been a major draw for the NHL. But it now appears the league’s desired exclusivity may well be short-lived. The NFL looks increasingly likely to follow suit in the coming months, with the Oakland Raiders’ planned relocation to a proposed US$1.9 billion, 65,000-seat stadium, to be built on land close to The Strip, gathering considerable momentum ahead of a decisive league owners’ vote some time this year. Should the Raiders’ move receive the go-ahead, it would represent significant progress for the as egas sports scene. Beyond its fight sports staples of boxing and mixed martial arts, the city regularly plays host to major motorsports events, including a yearly Nascar weekend and drag racing, as well as minor league baseball, college basketball, rugby sevens and professional bull riding. It is also home to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), which has been based there since 2001. Yet few sports properties match the NFL for prestige and popularity. “As a branding opportunity, I think it opens up every type of professional sports for Las Vegas,” says Steve Hill, the executive director of the Nevada Governor’s Office of conomic evelopment and chair of the Las Vegas Stadium
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Authority (LVSA), the body tasked with overseeing the proposed stadium development. “I moved here 30 years ago from ayton, Ohio,” adds Hill. There was about 500,000 people at the time; it’s still about 500,000 people. Las Vegas was about the same size as ayton when moved here years ago, so it’s gone through a big growth spurt. But we’ve really just reached the point, both from a population standpoint and from a maturity of the city standpoint, to be in a position to host some of these major league sports and franchises. The NFL makes that statement loud and clear.” Before the opening of T-Mobile Arena last year, Las Vegas’ sporting infrastructure had remained largely unchanged for many years. The city’s iconic casino venues, for instance, have staged boxing bouts since as far back as the late 70s, with names like Caesars Palace, the MGM Grand Garden Arena and the Mandalay Bay Events Center etched into the fabric of the sport after hosting many a classic encounter. Las Vegas Motor Speedway, a sprawling 1,500-acre complex which includes, among other things, a 1.5-mile super-speedway and a 2.5-mile road course, opened in 1996, while the Thomas & Mack Center and the Sam Boyd Stadium, both situated on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), were finished in and respectively. Meanwhile the UFC has predominantly staged its hometown events in the casino mega-resorts – though in March the promotion struck a deal to become an anchor tenant, alongside the Golden Knights, of T-Mobile Arena. The new NFL stadium is seen, then, as the centrepiece of Las Vegas’ sporting future; a monument on which to herald the city’s arrival as a global hub for a multitude of elite sports. According to Hill, the stadium would host around 46 major events a year, drawing an estimated annual attendance of 1.97 million. In addition to staging around ten NFL games each season, it is anticipated that the
Steve Hill, executive director of the Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development and chair of the Las Vegas Stadium Authority
venue would play host to six UNLV football fi tures as well as soccer, rugby, college football bowl games, motorsports, ‘signature’ and other major ‘non-recurring’ events, and corporate and public shows. Hill adds that the stadium would also fill a gap in the market since a stadium of such stature is “really the only type of venue” Las Vegas is currently lacking – and then there are the benefits for the local tourism industry. According to official figures released by the Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee (SNTIC), the task force created by Nevada governor Brian Sandoval in 2015 to assess the stadium’s value and viability in Las Vegas and which Hill chaired, the facility would be a significant economic boon. The SNTIC estimates that its annual economic impact could be as much as US$620 million, with US$35 million generated in new governmental revenue. It is also anticipated that the stadium will create nearly 25,000 permanent and construction jobs, as well as bringing hundreds of thousands of new out-of-town visitors. “We’re thrilled that the NFL is considering coming but Las Vegas will target any kind of market that helps drives tourism – it creates jobs, it creates tax revenue, it’s the
core of our economy, clearly, in Southern Nevada,” says Hill, who was installed by Governor Sandoval as chair of the LVSA board in November. “Our estimate was that having the stadium and the events that would be in the stadium would increase tourism by about one per cent, which in many markets is not that big a number but when you’re in Las Vegas, it’s an additional 450,000 tourists a year.” Such a vast annual influ of out-of-town visitors partly explains why Las Vegas looks set to buck sports industry convention by attracting a major league franchise from a far larger market. It is also a key factor in why the Nevada State egislature saw fit to commit so heavily to the stadium project. While much of the overall financing around US . billion – will come through a combination of the Raiders, the NFL and Bank of America, the remaining US$750 million will be provided in pubic funding through a hotel room tax increase in Clark County. “We have an opportunity because we are such a big tourist destination,” explains Hill, speaking to SportsPro at his office in as Vegas in early March. “Because we have such a significant number of hotel rooms and visitor base, the increase in our room tax in order to supply an offer of US$750 million is a significantly less increase in that tax than other cities would have to implement in order to do that. It enables us to make a very strong financial offer, which is a part, m sure, of what’s attractive.” That unprecedented US$750 million cash injection is indeed one
US$750 million - public contribution towards NFL stadium construction
Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, one of the world’s richest men, walked away from the NFL stadium project in January
of the chief reasons for why the Raiders are so intent on relocating to the desert. No stadium project in North America has ever received such a large amount of public funding. et the total figure is by no means attractive to everyone. Though the tax hike is comparatively small and mostly affects visitors, many Las Vegans have questioned the logic of spending public dollars on a project that was, up until January, spearheaded by Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire chairman and chief executive of casino resort developer Las Vegas Sands Corporation and one of the richest men in the world. A recent poll of local voters found only mediocre support for the Raiders’ impending relocation, while other studies suggest strong opposition to public funding for a new stadium in a city that already boasts an over-abundance of entertainment offerings. Hill, however, is unperturbed. “I think the appetite for an NFL team in Las Vegas is really high,” he says. “That’s from the citizens in the area as well as the corporations that are here, certainly the tourism industry. You can ask whether they think the proposal that has been put on the table for the stadium is a good one and you would see a much more split response. “Public contributions towards stadiums are still a lightning rod, so you’ll get both sides of the story on the stadium itself. But from an NFL standpoint, there’s very strong commitment.” There are concerns, too, over the risk to the public purse, even if the economic and branding benefits of having an NFL franchise are real. According to Forbes, Las Vegas would rank 23rd in the NFL in terms of market population and would be in the league’s bottom half based on household income and corporate base per professional sports franchise. Then there is the fact that Las Vegas’ dependence on visitor spending and incoming convention travel renders it particularly vulnerable to an economic downturn.
Still, Hill insists those same market nuances present a sizeable opportunity. He points out that the fact there are hundreds of thousands of tourists and convention visitors in Las Vegas on any given day – people who are, generally speaking, ready and willing to part with their hardearned cash – means the city punches well above its weight in terms of spending power. “That’s a multiplication effect that most cities don’t have,” he notes. “Orlando has that and there are others that have strong tourism markets but Vegas is pretty hard to replicate when it comes to that.” Hill furthers ustifies the stadium investment by highlighting an ongoing plan by the state of Nevada to ensure Las Vegas retains and expands upon its position as a global centre for tourism and hospitality. While the state government has been investing in ways to diversify its economy – Hill says the service sector’s contribution to the state’s overall economy has dropped from around 32 per cent “to something that’s closer to 29 per cent” in recent years on the back of that effort – the ultimate goal is to augment Nevada’s intellectual capital in tourism and hospitality by creating higher-skilled and higher-paid jobs in an industry that is traditionally service-oriented. To that end, says Hill, major sporting events have an important role to play. “What we’re trying to do mirrors what Houston did in the energy boom,” he explains. “It was the centre of where energy was for a long time but it also created the intellectual capital of the energy industry in Houston. And as energy has been dispersed around the globe and really changed from fossil fuels to more renewable energy, Houston still remains the centre of the energy intellectual capital. “We want to do the same thing in Vegas for tourism and hospitality. We already feel like we’re there but if you don’t continue to strengthen that, you risk losing it, and that would be a significant loss. So we re just not going to let that happen.”
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Raiders to Vegas - what’s the deal? The idea to build a NFL-grade stadium in Las Vegas was originally proposed by Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire chairman and chief executive of casino resort developer Las Vegas Sands Corporation. In 2015 he and his family presented their proposal to the Nevada State Legislature, which at the time was also considering a separate application to expand and modernise the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) using revenue generated through an increase in hotel room tax in the local region. With both projects essentially competing for the same tax dollars, Nevada governor Brian Sandoval created the Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee (SNTIC) in the summer of 2015 to determine the best use for the available room tax revenue. By the turn of the year, the NFL was starting to show serious interest in potentially coming to Las Vegas, with the Oakland Raiders mooted as possible anchor tenants of the new stadium. In September 2016, the SNTIC returned with its recommendations. The Nevada State Legislature, it suggested, should increase the transient lodging tax in Clark County to generate US$750 million in public funding toward construction of a 65,000-seat, NFL-ready domed stadium through a public-private partnership. The SNTIC estimated that a total of US$1.9 billion would be required for the construction of the new venue, which any incoming NFL team would share with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) football programme, whose leadership had been seeking a new home to replace their ageing Sam Boyd Stadium. In addition to the US$750 million in public funding, US$1.15 billion would be provided
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privately, with the Raiders contributing US$500 million and the Adelson family, now the Raiders’ funding partners, investing US$650 million. Any construction cost overruns were to be the responsibility of the private developers, while any operating losses would be assumed by a private stadium operating company. Meanwhile, the Raiders would be required to execute a non-relocation agreement and enter into a 30-year lease to coincide with the term of the stadium bonds. Last October, Governor Sandoval signed the SNTIC’s recommendations into law. Senate Bill 1, as the law is known, mandated the creation of the Las Vegas Stadium Authority (LVSA) and called for its nine-person board of directors to ensure a stadium project be approved within 18 months. As well as owning and overseeing the stadium and the land on which it would be built, the LVSA was also tasked with approving the stadium location, development plan, stadium operating agreement, and managing the distribution of any additional funds tied to the project. According to the STNIC’s recommendations, if an NFL team failed to commit to relocating by April 2018, UNLV would have two years to secure US$200 million in private funding towards construction of a 40,000-seat college football stadium. Under the collegiate stadium proposal, the lodging tax hike would be reduced slightly, with a separate campus improvement authority created to govern the publicly owned facility and land. In January, the Raiders ownership formally submitted a relocation request to the NFL. The same month, they also presented a preliminary Stadium Use Agreement to the LVSA board – and it
was at that point that their relocation and the Vegas stadium project took a potentially mortal blow. Adelson, the key driving force in the project since day one, sensationally walked away from the deal, angered that the Raiders’ proposed agreement failed to mention his family’s contribution. ‘It’s clear the Raiders have decided their path for moving forward to Las Vegas does not include the Adelson family,’ read a statement issued by Adelson at the time. ‘We were not only excluded from the proposed agreement, we weren’t even aware of its existence.’ Adelson’s withdrawal prompted Goldman Sachs, his long-time business partner and another key financier in the project, to also pull out, further exacerbating concerns that the Raiders would be unable to finance their share of the stadium funding. Yet the Raiders, it seemed, had a plan B all along. By midFebruary, the team were reported to have found an investor to plug the funding gap, and within weeks it emerged that they had secured a conventional loan from Bank of America. With the new financing in place, Raiders owner Mark Davis and team president Marc Badain informed the NFL’s stadium and finance committees of their ability to go ahead with the relocation. Both committees, which together comprise 18 of the league’s 32 owners, are said to be poised to recommend the Raiders’ relocation, with the rest of the owners set to vote on the proposal possibly as early as their annual meeting in Phoenix at the end of March. A minimum of 24 yes votes are required to ensure the move goes through.
FEATURE DESTINATIONS
Golden opportunity After many months of deliberations, the National Hockey League (NHL) finally confirmed as egas as the site of its 31st team last June. In doing so, it became the first orth American major league to have a franchise based in the city, with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman calling the move “a tremendously exciting opportunity, not only for as egas, but for the league as well”. The effort to bring elite ice hockey to as egas, which followed a major local ticket drive that saw more than 15,000 seat deposits snapped up in the early part of 2016, was spearheaded by Bill Foley, a billionaire businessman who made his fortune in finance and other ventures. Foley is now the principal owner of the Golden Knights franchise, with the Maloof family, who formerly owned the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Houston Rockets and Sacramento Kings, serving as minority investors. Based at T-Mobile Arena, the US$375 million facility that opened ust off egas famous Strip in April 2016, the Golden Knights officially opened for business on 1st March ahead of their league debut in October. A few days later, the team made their first player signing, bringing in junior free agent eid uke, and secured their first sponsorship agreement with Toyota. Kerry Bubolz was brought in by Foley as the Golden Knights’ president in November and is now tasked with building out the franchise’s business operations after a 13-year stint at the Cleveland Cavaliers NBA team, and previous sales roles at the Carolina Hurricanes and Southwest Sports Group, owner of the Dallas Stars. Is there a blueprint for building a pro sports franchise from scratch?
I don’t know that there’s a specific blueprint but there are examples. Keep
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in mind, back in 2000, Columbus and Minnesota came into the NHL. Those were really the last two expansion teams in major professional sports here in the US. Actually, the guys in Minnesota, they wrote a book called How to Bake an NHL Franchise from Scratch. It’s more about the hockey side of building an organisation but I’ve had a chance to read that book and I thought that was pretty good. But the rest of it really is just based on my own experiences. We launched [the Cleveland Monsters] in the American Hockey League and I was at the beginning of the start of that franchise back in 2007. We also launched an NBA Development League team as part of our organisation in Cleveland, in Canton. Although they’re not to this scale, we had startup situations and so I’m just trying to apply some of the things I learned through those processes to what I know is important for a successful organisation at this level, which is making sure your local revenue streams are in a solid place. The ticket drive initiated early last year was a resounding success and helped convince the NHL of Las Vegas’ viability as an ice hockey market. How would you assess local appetite for the sport?
It’s been one of the incredible, best surprises. I went through my due diligence. I’m familiar with ticket drives and other situations in other leagues, so that was the first question I asked: ‘How real is this ticket drive?’ I started to dig into the numbers – it was north of 15,000, approaching 16,000 in terms of deposits that were put down. But I wanted to see the make-up of those deposits and what I found through that process is that 93 per cent of all the tickets people had put deposits down on were between one and eight tickets, versus companies in the area buying large blocks of seats. That was really exciting for me and then when we looked at the demographic of where those tickets were
coming from, the vast majority were from local people and local companies. Again, that’s very important because the business, which is in its foundation right now and is very strong, is not built off of the expected 43 million visitors that are going to come to Las Vegas this year. In terms of your marketing effort, who are you targeting?
First and foremost, we wanted to make sure that the local side of our business is strong. Again, the ticket effort and focus is really on the local community. With that being said, we are targeting certain products, meaning certain options, whether it be single-event suites and/ or some other spaces in the building that we’re going to target towards that convention traveller or that leisure traveller who may be looking at Vegas as a destination as they look towards their entertainment options next October. I can tell you that the vast majority of teams in the NHL have reached out, looking at our market as a potential sponsor trip and/or within their fan clubs or booster clubs. They’re looking to come out to Vegas as part of that and then of course the Canadian teams in our league, just based on the number of Canadian travellers that are already coming to this market. We’re getting a tremendous amount of interest from those organisations as well. That all speaks to the unique appeal of Las Vegas and why the city has become one of the world’s top tourism destinations. What’s interest been like from prospective sponsors?
The first priority when we got on the ground here was to make sure that we put a lot of effort and energy around the largest local revenue stream and the most important leg of the stool, which is the ticketing side of our business. That’s what we did. Now we’ve been, on a parallel basis, focusing on finalising our broadcast partnerships, both radio
and TV, which then create the full sponsorship platform. We’ve been out into the market. We just recently announced a major partnership with Toyota. We’ve also got, through our partnership with the arena and the guys at AEG, eight founding partnerships that are already a part of the team as well. They’re significant national and even global brands. Once we finalise our broadcast partnerships, then we’ll really be able to attack the marketplace from a sponsorship end, even though we’ve been out there without our full portfolio of sponsorship assets. Your owner Bill Foley has said he wants the franchise to be considered the ‘Rocky Mountain Golden Knights’ when it comes to building a regional broadcast footprint. What’s the thinking there?
If you look at the geography around the state of Nevada, first and foremost you’ve got the entire state of Nevada and Las Vegas is the most significant city, in terms of population, in the state. You’ve got that element. As you look at owning the state of Nevada, that’s the first priority. The second is, as you look at other markets, Utah – specifically Salt Lake City – which is in our market territory. But then as you start to look north you’ve got Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, which are significant areas in terms of geography that right now don’t have great connectivity to one particular NHL brand. The guys in San Jose have done a nice job in expanding their region and coming over into areas like Reno, as an example, in Nevada. The guys in Colorado with the Avalanche have a nice territory that they’ve built in their region, but there’s a pretty large area that we think, if it makes sense, that we can find the right broadcast partner from a distribution perspective, both radio and TV, find ways to make our games available. Where it makes sense, that’s what we’re going to do, so that’s what Bill was talking about. What do you make of the widely held perception that Las Vegas is not a suitable or viable market for major league sports?
The Golden Knights debut in the NHL will make them the first major league sports team to be based in Las Vegas
I’m not really sure how that perception came to be but I’m also realistic that it is a perception that is out there. I think a lot of people don’t understand how big the market is either. Their experience may just be from the airport to the Strip, but they don’t realise there’s a market here of over two million people who live and work in the valley area. That is fairly significant. So this is actually one of the most underserved sports marketplaces in the entire country, with – which I think is an important part – substantial spending power. We did some market studies as part of the process to educate the NHL and one of the more important data points that I had seen, which I didn’t realise about this market, is if you look at the 22 US teams in the NHL and you look at the markets that those teams play in, in the disposable income rankings in those markets, Las Vegas was eighth or ninth. But when you adjust that number based on cost of living, no state income tax, it goes from eighth or ninth to number one of the 22 US markets. That’s significant. There is more disposable income in this market of over two million people, which had no professional sports team, than any other US market in the NHL. That’s an important data point that maybe a lot of people aren’t aware of. What impact would the likely arrival of the Oakland Raiders have?
Just on a big picture basis, Las Vegas has always been a very popular tourist attraction in the world. The fact that it is now emerging as a destination for major league professional sports, I
actually think that’s a good thing. On the competitive side, I look at the NFL differently than I do a lot of the other leagues, mostly because they’re not driven by local revenues in the same way the NBA or Major League Baseball are. If you look at the NFL, the vast majority of their revenue streams come from their national broadcast deal – otherwise you would not have a team in Green Bay, for example. There’s only 100,000 people in that market. It just wouldn’t work there. From a local revenue, competitive perspective, [the arrival of the Raiders] is not something that we would see as being impactful. Again, on the bigger picture side, we’re obviously in the business of promoting this great community and we’d be supportive of wherever that process takes us. Few people would expect the Golden Knights to win the Stanley Cup in their first season, but what are your off-ice goals for the early years of the franchise?
We’re fortunate in that T-Mobile is a terrific venue, it’s got great technology – the scoreboard, the LED, just the entire programming, the sight lines, the lighting. It’s all fantastic. We’re fortunate that that’s already in place but we have to really be great in all of those other areas. Ultimately, it’s difficult to control what happens on the ice but all of the other parts, from the music to how we integrate video, to our dance team, to how we clean the ice with our ice crew, our mascot – all of that stuff factors into the overall event experience and the value that we’re providing as part of that experience.
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JUMPING EAST By George Dudley
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Credit: PSI
The Longines Masters Series paints itself as the Grand Slam of indoor show jumping, attracting the world’s premium riders, horses and sponsors. SportsPro goes behind the scenes at the Hong Kong leg to sample what has fast become one of the region’s unmissable social and sporting occasions.
I
n the arrivals lounge at Hong Kong International Airport a large graphic-designed poster of a jumping horse hangs centre-front. Many of the weary passengers stop and look quizzically at the blue and red cubist image, embossed with watchmaker Longines’ familiar font and world renowned logo. For those in the know it represents the Longines Masters Series, whilst the uninformed are perhaps reminded that they need a new Swiss timepiece. The indoor show jumping series, which boasts a five-star rating from the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI), is a vibrant equestrian roadshow that stops off in the cosmopolitan venues of Paris, Los Angeles and Hong Kong. Run by a purpose-built Belgian promoter, EEM, it has been contested in the former British colony for the past five years and in that time has defined itself as one of the regions celebrated occasions. Hong Kong’s easily recognisable Victoria Harbour is the epicentre of the multicultural city and the accepted meeting point for locals and tourists alike. What’s more, at night it transforms and is unquestionably the only place to see the metropolis’ iconic symphony of lights, sample the local cuisine and – of course – discover more of the Riccardo Guasco-designed posters for the Longines Masters pasted on the city’s rattling trams, sleek trains or endless high walls. The city’s clustered design can be claustrophobic at times, a feeling exacerbated by the ring fence of high-rise buildings, all brightly lit and vying for space in the modern skyscape. As a consequence, Hong Kong does not immediately feel synonymous with international show jumping and is certainly a world apart from the tradition of the All England Jumping Course at Hickstead, for example. Nevertheless, a quick train ride from the hurly burly of Queens Road, Wyndham Street and Gloucester Road to the island of Chek Lap Kok takes the visitor to another climate entirely, where the
“It is unbelievable and we must be proud, the locals love the sport.” impeccably clean, air-conditioned shopping malls of the airport lead to the equally cool and cavernous AsiaWorld–Expo. The HK$2.35 billion (US$303 million) construction has been home to the Asian leg of the Longines Masters for the past five years and, according to series founder Christophe Ameeuw, is the “capital of Asian equestrian”. Its 70,000 square metres of exhibition space, usually the reserve of international business conferences or concerts, transforms as if by magic at the opening of a door: a sanded exercise area immediately greets the eye and the smell of a sterile conference centre is replaced by that of the tucked-away paddock that houses over 60 horses for the weekend. The walls turn from white to black to distinguish the change of venue and atmosphere. The first morning is awash with schoolchildren and many of the visitors are seeing a horse in such close pro imity for the first time – several appear to be enthralled by the privilege. The exercise ring allows unparalleled access to the riders and horses. So too does the offer of public course-walks before competition begins each day. EEM plans the event from its headquarters in Belgium, which is located near Ameeuw’s private stable and stud. However, for logistical purposes it has a satellite office in Hong ong to ensure regional sponsors and a strong local presence. Each of the three events in the Longines Masters can decide independently on domestic partners – that is, of course, as long as they fit in the remit of being an international brand of distinction. The Hong Kong event is able to boast official partners of the ilk of
automotive giant Mercedes-Benz, Chinese conglomerate Everbright, leading e uestrian outfitter iasuki, French manufacturer Laiterie de Montaigu, local fashion house Shanghai Tang and founding partner the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC). The involvement of the HKJC certainly enhances the Masters’ claims of being at the Asian centre of equestrianism. The 130-yearold horse racing organisation provides input into course design as well as veterinary services, stable management and horse transportation. A spokesperson from the HKJC says: “Having another world class equine event is a great addition to Hong Kong’s sporting calendar, especially as it comes just a few months after the Longines Hong Kong International Races, which each December brings top racehorses from across the world to compete in the Turf World Championships. “There’s absolutely no doubt that Hong Kong is a very important centre for equine sport, especially in racing where Hong Kong ranks among the world’s best. In terms of equestrian sport, hosting a top show jumping competition like the Masters is a huge plus, generating interest both locally and regionally. “It’s also a great opportunity for Hong Kong’s own riders, especially junior riders, to be inspired by and learn from the very best.” Always perceived as an unmissable event, it was ultimately the s official recognition of the series, in 2014, which truly gave credibility to the Longines Masters after five years of competing without. With FEI approval came the added value of ranking points, with the added bonus of a sevenfigure pri e pot at each event making the attendance of the top riders a near certainty. Added to that is the lure of a €2.25 million (US$2.38 million) Super Grand Slam bonus, which goes to any rider who wins consecutive Longines Grands Prix – beginning with Los Angeles, then Paris and Hong Kong – in the same season. There is, in addition, a
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FEATURE DESTINATIONS
further €1 million (US$1 million) bonus for three consecutive victories in the Longines Grand Prix from one season to the next, while two successive wins merit a €500,000 (US$529,000) bonus and two wins out of three is worth a further €250,000 (US$264,000) to the rider. That said, consecutive Grand Prix wins in show jumping are as rare as hen’s teeth and no rider, as of yet, has achieved a Grand Slam. There is, nonetheless, still the prospect of a limited edition watch from title sponsor Longines to compete for at each competition. The notion of the Grand Slam is unashamedly borrowed from tennis and British society publication Tatler has in the past described the Longines Masters as ‘the Wimbledon of show jumping’, a comparison that Ameeuw delights in hearing. Well, first of all, thank you Tatler: I am very proud to hear this because it is true, this is a format we wanted to emulate,” remarks Ameeuw, from the comforts of the Champagne Barons de Rothschild bar in the VIP Masters Club. Needless to say, it is not champagne and society magazines
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that Ameeuw, a renowned horseman, wants his events to be characterised by. The Belgian states that his main objective is to make “this great sport more accessible to more people” and put equestrian sports into “the international limelight”. “Everything here is centred on education,” says Ameeuw. “For Hong Kong and for Asia, show jumping is something new and my dream has always been to put my passion into the spotlight; give it the best credibility possible. Today is the fifth edition and we are here for the long term: we have a fantastic public, very good partners and the atmosphere is changing year after year, for the best. “It is unbelievable and we must be proud, the locals love the sport and they now understand the sport much better. This is very interesting. It is exactly the same with the experience: step by step we understand the culture and what experience the Asian fans want to have. “We are pushing to have more mediatisation and communication. Here we attract many people from the Asian region – Singapore, Japan, the Philippines and Thailand, as well as the Middle East and
The Hong Kong leg of the Longines Masters Series has become a meeting place for the sport across the Middle East, Asia and Oceania
Australasia. It has become a meeting point for people from those regions.” Promoting the sport and enlightening the fans is never as evident as in the opening session on the first day. The crowd, predominately those aforementioned local schoolchildren, gasp and cheer when the horses clear an obstacle. To the unfamiliar the combination of power, elegance and discipline of the animal’s leaps is truly ama ing. Then again, at five-star level – with these horses and riders – one soon realises that a felled fence is more remarkable than the elastic leaps of equine blue bloods. The kids’ relative exuberance is quickly quashed by some stern looks from the stewards. The new fans quickly appreciate that a communal silence is appropriate, allowing the soft noise of the horse’s heavy breath and hooves to be the soundtrack to the day. Between rounds, however, pop music and light shows do give the Masters a more approachable, modern panache. It is not just Hong Kong’s fans that Ameeuw wants to “educate”.
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“We work with the new generation and we have helped make a small academy here,” says Ameeuw, referring to a locally based group called The Jets. “There is one very good rider from Hong Kong – Jacqueline Lai – who is doing a great job and learning fast. Don’t forget she is competing against the best riders in the world. “We need a star from the local area and if we don’t think about the next generation, then there is no point. This is definitely a priority for us.” The loudest cheers of each session are inevitably reserved for the diminutive Lai who, despite being slightly out her depth at Grand Prix level, thrills the ticketholders with her natural horsemanship and cheery disposition. She will be integral to the future of the event and a victory for the Hong Kong rider would surely attract more fans and bigger local sponsors. Lai – even at 25 – is ostensibly the face of the Hong Kong leg in the same way that contemporary Jessica Springsteen assumes the role in Los Angeles. The three days of competition showcase the several disciplines of show jumping and differing levels of rider compete in various events. There are some opportunities for amateur riders but each session culminates with a Masterscategorised event, including the HKJC Trophy, the Longines Speed Challenge and the US$400,000 Longines Grand Prix. It is not all serious, though. The HKJC Race of Riders, for example, is a light-hearted relay race between local jockeys from the HKJC and the Masters’ show jumpers. Horse whisperer Santi Serra also breathes magic into proceedings through a twicedaily show with his three horses, Napoleon, Leopoldo and Cesar. “I am glad to be back in Hong Kong,” says Serra. “I think that the public are very enthusiastic. I hope that people enjoy my show because it is different from all other shows.” The Spaniard’s shows are captivating. He encourages his charges to engage in what he
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Credit: PSI
FEATURE DESTINATIONS
Christophe Ameeuw, founder of the Longines Masters series, says education is his biggest priority in Hong Kong
refers to as “natural dressage”, and highlights include horses leaping over one another and Serra standing on top of one animal that has its hooves resting on the back of another as it lays down. Serra claims to “train ten hours a day” and even “sleep with them in their stables” to ensure a strong bond. For the Hong Kong show, he encompasses southeast Asian themes and music for the audience, who are dumbfounded. As at previous legs in 2017, the Belgian songstress Alice on the Roof entertains revellers on the Saturday night following the day’s sport. The bars, of course, stay open as the gymkhana is transformed from show jumping ring to dance hall. The gentleman charged with keeping a fine line between geeing up a crowd and safeguarding the ideal conditions for the athletes is Pedro Cebulka. SportsPro catches up with the renowned, passionate ringmaster – who is sporting a gladiator’s helmet with a Mohican of horse hair, atop a military outfit that is looped with several stirrups and miniature saddles for epaulettes – as he skulks the exercise ring, where he is king. Cebulka smiles for the children, who delight in his eccentric dress, while keeping authority amongst the riders who appear to hold him in great respect – which he attributes to his “German side” being “strict enough to make sure
that the riders will keep in line”. Noticeably, not one competition runs a minute over time in the three-day period. The ringmaster brings with him 40 years of experience and is a recognisable figure on the international show jumping circuit as well as the Longines Masters. The outfits are outlandish he has dressed as Maria Antoinette in Paris and once – in honour of Hans Christophe Anderson in Denmark – he worked in a mermaid costume. have hundreds of outfits,” says Cebulka, proudly stroking his military crop. “What I am doing with the Longines Masters is very special. I used to come in my regular beautiful outfits am sponsored – but we rented some ama ing historical outfits when we were in Paris and they were popular with the crowds. “In 2015, Christophe met with [Italian-Belgian theatre director] Franco Drogone over a glass of wine and they concluded that they had to get me an identity that is only the Longines Masters. I got measured and they designed three bespoke outfits for me. They used the designer Nicolas, who previously designed dresses for Celine Dion and Madonna – I think that my outfit today has a little bit of a Madonna vibe to it. They are unique in the world and I am very proud to be wearing them.”
Ameeuw says developing the existing events in Hong Kong, Los Angeles and Paris is his priority over expansion in the short term
the best horses and the best riders,” states Ameeuw. “Show jumping used to be the same as a VIP garden party, like polo is, where the brand is bigger than the competition. For us, it was a priority not to be like that. f you want to find the best sponsors and brands – and to give them the best return for their large investments – we need to have a strong visibility, communication, marketing and broadcast partners. The branding is the same, you can see posters everywhere in Hong Kong advertising the Longines Masters.” On the course, the vaunted final event the ongines rand Prix – is won by German rider Christian Ahlmann on Caribis Z, beating veteran compatriot Ludger Beerbaum on Casello and thirdplaced Austrian rider Max Kühner on Cornet Kalua. The victorious Ahlmann is “surprised and totally happy” with the unexpected win on board an inexperienced horse, who was previously untested at a fivestar competition. The technical Olympic-level course, designed by ‘il maestro’ Uliano Vezzani, claims many high-profile victims when only a clear round would win. With 15 challenging jumps of up to 1.6 metres set in deliberately tough sequences and combinations the slightest error spelled the end for riders of the ilk of the evergreen John Whitaker, world number one Daniel Deusser and the Olympic gold medallist RogerYves Bost. Ameeuw, who is clearly enthralled by the close contest, admits to having a “crazy ambition”
Credit: PSI
From a commercial point of view it is good to have a recognisable face that sets the ongines asters apart ebulka brings a unique visual identity to proceedings amongst the myriad uniformly dressed riders. Furthermore, the German helps break down the perception that show jumping is austere and is, of course, a memorable reference point for this event but he has a clear vision for what the event should be. “It has to be fun, it is entertainment after all,” continues Cebulka. “If all we have to offer is one hundred horses jumping the same fences in clear rounds then we have to make it interesting to people who don’t know horses. We have to explain about the skill of the riders the brilliance of the horses and make it fun in the end. “In our sport not only do we have two athletes, one human and one animal, working together – my ob is firstly to calm down the humans, which then relaxes the horses in turn – we also have men and women competing on an even playing field. can t think of any other Olympic sport where this is the case. “If I can make people smile – the riders, stewards, journalists, the little girls and the old ladies – then I am happy. I always give 100 per cent but I get so much more back from the riders and the grooms. They know that I am here to help them. “There are other stewards here but nobody is dressed like this with my personality.” Other notable personalities are scattered among the more than 5,000 local socialites and VIPs in attendance, who include Jackson Lai – Mr Hong Kong 2016 – and famed actor Aaron Kwok. Amidst the fun of the fair, though, Ameeuw is at pains to remind SportsPro that the “most important aspect is the sport” and that without their elite-level competitors the events would become obsolete. “Everything I do around the sport is for the sport want to see the best show jumping with
for his equestrian show and there are those out there who want him and his team to apply their golden touch to other regions and intercontinental cities. However, the Belgian plays down the idea of global expansion, for now. He says am completely focused on these three continents because what you see here in Hong Kong is only the beginning of the story; there are so many more things to develop. I want it to become a major event in Asia. I hope that people around the world will talk about the Longines Masters like the like they do the rugby sevens and the Formula One in Singapore. “I am sure that there are big, important cities around the world – like Dubai, Bahrain, Istanbul, Sydney – that would like to host a Masters event. There are so many things to do with my current venues that I don’t want to lose them or my team. “My priority is to develop the shows that we have in Paris, Hong Kong and LA. Having just the three events makes them more special and people will not want to miss them. It is better to say to the Asian region, ‘We don’t go to Shanghai, Beijing, Australia – come to us first. Afterwards, we can see why not, but you never know.” If the future for the Longines Masters is to retain and ameliorate its three venues – perhaps increasing their lure and exclusivity – Ameeuw can focus on the development of Hong Kong, a venue whose education in show jumping is still in its early stages. “The benchmark for us [in Hong Kong] is Paris, where we have 200,000 visitors,” says Ameeuw. “Paris is the crossroad between Europe and the rest of the world. We would like to do exactly the same with LA and Hong Kong. We have the benchmark we started with 35,000 visitors here but in the ne t five years we want to have the same capacity as Paris – make this into an equestrian festival and have it as a major global meeting point for the sport.”
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The Moment draws closer for Glasgow 2018 European Championships A new era in world sport will get underway in the summer of 2018 as Glasgow and Berlin host the inaugural European Championships – an exciting new multi-sport event bringing together some of the continent’s leading sports. To be staged every four years starting in August 2018, the European Championships will be a new highlight on the global sporting calendar, elevating the status of European Champions during an 11-day celebration of world-class sport. Delivered in partnership with several leading European sports federations, it includes the existing European Championships for Athletics, Aquatics, Cycling, Gymnastics, Rowing and Triathlon with a new Golf team championships, which will take place at the famous Gleneagles PGA Centenary Course. Around 3,000 athletes will travel to
Scotland as part of an overall delegation of around 8,500 including officials, media and others. And with a potential television audience of 1.03 billion across Europe set to watch the action, Glasgow will again be in the spotlight with the event being covered by free-to-air broadcasters across the continent. The city will work closely in collaboration with host city partners Berlin – who will stage the European Athletics Championships – on event delivery, sports development and the delivery of an effective sporting legacy in both Scotland and Germany. Glasgow 2018 is supported by both the Scottish Government and Glasgow City Council, who are aiming to deliver an event that the whole country will benefit from. Aileen Campbell, Scottish Government Minister for Sport, said: “I’m delighted
Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, host venue for Glasgow 2018 Track cycling
that the Scottish Government has been able to support the 2018 European Championships. “This is a fantastic concept for European sport, so it’s tremendous that we can be at the forefront of that, welcoming all these world-class athletes to Glasgow, and other venues across Scotland. “We have a growing reputation when it comes to hosting major events like this, and I’m sure the people of Scotland will embrace these championships as only they can. “I look forward to welcoming Europe’s best athletes to Scotland and I hope that their moments will inspire a new generation of Scottish sport-stars and encourage more people to take up a healthy and active lifestyle.” Councillor Frank McAveety, Leader of Glasgow City Council said: “We have an exceptional track record for staging world-class sporting events and Glasgow 2018 will see us take the next step on that exciting journey. “The fact that the city will be hosting an event which could be witnessed by over one billion people is a golden opportunity for us. We will use the magical moments that the athletes, our fantastic home crowd and our many visitors will create to showcase everything we have to offer as a visitor destination. “I am sure that the European Championships will create a lasting legacy for Glasgow and encourage even more people in the city to get active and take an interest in sport.” As preparations gather pace, more details are being released about the structure of the European
(c) British Swimming
KEY FIGURES
Swimming at Tollcross International Swimming Centre Championships and what sports fans can look forward to at Glasgow 2018. A finalised sports programme was confirmed in February detailing where each sport and discipline will fall into the 11-day sports schedule. It revealed that the Glasgow 2018 European Championships will start on Thursday 2 August, with 10 days of comprehensive television coverage running from Friday 3 August to Sunday 12 August. This exciting multi-sport format will see several European Championships running simultaneously, each of them encompassing different sporting disciplines and medal events. The European Aquatics Championships, for instance, will give spectators the chance to see Swimming, Diving, Synchronised Swimming and Open Water Swimming events at various locations throughout Scotland, including world-class venues such as Tollcross International Swimming Centre and the Royal Commonwealth Pool in Edinburgh. More details have also been released on the format of the highly anticipated Golf Team Championships, which will take place at the famous Gleneagles PGA Centenary Course – host of the 2014 Ryder Cup. Backed by both the European Tour and Ladies European Tour, the event will make golfing history with elite male and female golfers competing alongside each other for the first time ever. Progress also continues on a new Olympic-standard BMX track in the Knightswood area of Glasgow which will host the Cycling BMX European Championships. It is the only new venue
being built for the Championships and will see Glasgow become the only city in the world to have all Olympic discipline cycling facilities within its city boundaries. A great number of 2014 Commonwealth Games venues will find themselves centre of attention once again with the SSE Hydro, Emirates Arena, Tollcross International Swimming Centre and Strathclyde Country Park all re-utilised for next year’s European Championships. The legacy of the 2014 Commonwealth Games is a major factor in the delivery of these Championships and both the Scottish Government and Glasgow City Council hope that the European Championships will have an equally longstanding impact on Glasgow and Scotland. Glasgow 2018 Championships director Colin Hartley said: “The 2018 European Championships present Scotland and the city of Glasgow with an exceptional opportunity to showcase our excellent sports facilities and world-famous crowds to the rest of the world. “Following one of the best ever Commonwealth Games ever seen in 2014, Scotland has continued to strengthen its reputation as a sporting stage by hosting high-profile global events such as the 2014 Ryder Cup and the 2015 World Gymnastics Championships. “Major international events are vital to our economy with thousands of jobs supported across the sport, creative and tourism industries in the city. Glasgow 2018 will allow us to build on our reputation as one of the world’s top five sporting cities and also our position as a leading tourism destination.”
FEATURE DESTINATIONS
TAMASHA ON THE SEAS
Powerboat P1 has been building a global series for several years, adding new stages and collecting sponsorship and TV deals, but it aimed to make its biggest splash yet in March when it staged its first race in South Asia, the Indian Grand Prix of the Seas in Mumbai. Award-winning journalist and author Mihir Bose returned to the city of his birth to discover the sport, and reflect on the many challenges of putting together an event from scratch in a unique marketplace. By Mihir Bose
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“Before I took over in 2002 it wasn’t a sport, it was just a hobby pursued by some enthusiasts... We have made it into a sport which had never existed before.”
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I
ndians love tamasha, a rich word which means fun, frolic, excitement and surprise all rolled into one. The Indian Premier League, the world’s richest cricket league, is great tamasha, as are Bollywood movies. Between 3rd and 5th March the sea front in south Mumbai, which saw powerboat racing come to the country for the first time, provided the latest tamasha. The only problem for the organisers was that, unlike Bollywood movies where the surprise comes at the end, here the tamasha’s surprise came even before the event had begun and very nearly stopped this grandly titled Indian Grand Prix of the Seas being staged. The first surprise was in ebruary at the press conference being held along Mumbai’s historic sea front, where George V had landed back in 1911. James Durbin, the chief executive of Powerboat P1, was talking to a local television reporter when he saw something that was certainly not in the script: a bulldozer approaching the site. It had been sent by the city’s Municipal Corporation, which claimed that Procam, the local organiser, had not paid dues of UK£326,190 for organising the Mumbai Marathon the previous
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month. [Procam disputes this]. The bulldozer swiftly demolished the stage that had been built and the chief minister of the local state government of Maharashtra who was on his way to the event, deciding he did not want to be in the path of a JCB, ordered his car to be turned around. Then, a week before the event, the local authorities refused Procam the right to construct jetties on the beach from where the boats would start and the organisers were rescued by the Indian Navy, which is headquartered in Mumbai, providing the facilities. The finale came 48 hours before the qualifying race was due to begin. Then, at the Bombay High Court, a twoman bench of Justices Vidyasagar Kanade and PR Bora had to decide whether the event should be held at all. To the great relief of Procam and P1 the two judges, declaiming with all the skill of Bollywood actors, dismissed the corporation’s arguments and even rapped the chief minister, saying, “Is the CM not aware of international powerboat event? This is very shocking. On one hand you talk of globalisation and on the other are concerned about petty things.” However, the court did not revoke an earlier order which
Mumbai welcomes P1 powerboat racing
meant the marquees and stage Procam wanted along the sea front to showcase the event for the spectators could not be built. Procam was keen to have giant screens where, with the sport live on television for the first time, spectators could follow the event. P1’s great pride is that, unlike ormula One, spectators watch powerboat racing free. Procam had promised Durbin that along the promenade, known locally as the Queen’s Necklace, “there would be music concerts and street food stalls, a treat for all your senses. Tasting things, feeling things.” However, watching the racing begin on the afternoon of 3rd March I could not feel that the sea front was any different to the one I had known when I was growing up in Mumbai back in the 50s. The scattered spectators were like the curious who always gather in Mumbai when any outdoor event is held, with some holding up umbrellas to ward of the midafternoon sun. And while there were marquees, they were on the rooftops of buildings overlooking the promenade accessible to those with VIP invitations. But just as the country s greatest flower, the Lotus, blooms amidst much muck, by the evening of 5th March the
organisers could claim that despite all the hurdles the corporation had put in their path, India’s introduction to powerboat racing had been a success. That Sunday afternoon some 40,000 spectators lined the sea front to watch the final race. And while this was way short of the 100,000 to 200,000 Procam had assured me would gather, this was not to be sniffed at. The temperature was 38 degrees and the rival attraction was watching India play Australia in an intensely exciting Test match. True, none of the 40,000 could watch the closing ceremony as the corporation’s diktats meant the podium was not on the sea front but on the lawn next to the swimming pool of the five star hotel, one of the sponsors. Nevertheless, the ceremony made the Indians feel that while the sport may never match cricket, the country’s religion, it was one of their own who decided which team won the first ever owerboat World Championship. This was a team prize and with two boats in each team, one boat by itself could not claim victory. So while the Welsh brother and sister pair of Sam and Daisy Coleman had been masterly, emerging from three days of racing undefeated, they also needed the boat piloted by their Indian colleague CS Santosh not to finish last. Santosh ust managed it, finishing second from bottom, and the British-Indian team squeaked home by just two points. Had Santosh finished last all the brilliance of the Colemans would have gone to waste.
“When we come to a city there is a significant economic impact as a sport, as an event.”
Asif Rangoonwala (left), Anil Singh (centre) and James Durbin (right) at the Mumbai media launch
What made this all the sweeter for the Indians was that Santosh, whose sport is motor bikes, had only stepped into a boat for the first time last ovember and this was his first competitive race. Indians took pride in the fact that they could be quick learners and the British, always keen to bask in the glories of the Raj, could exult that two hundred years after teaching Indians cricket they had now tutored them in another, potentially, great sport. So in that wonderful evening light that India specialises in, it was not a bulldozer that approached the podium but the tourism minister. ven the local ohli fishermen, who a few days earlier had complained powerboat racing would harm their fishing, oined in the celebrations, presenting the minister with a special Kohli cap which he accepted with all the delight of a child opening Christmas presents. Any sport going to a new country is worth celebrating but powerboat racing going to India shows how far the sport has come in the 15 years since Asif Rangoonwala, a middleaged London businessman of Pakistani origin, decided to invest in it. “Before I took over in 2002 it wasn’t a sport, it was just a hobby pursued by some enthusiasts,” he says. “We have made it into a sport which had never existed before.” To do that Rangoonwala, whose wide-ranging business interests are centred round property, has invested more than US$50 million of his money in the sport. Taking powerboat to Mumbai was a touch emotional – he was born not far from where the race was held – but he is convinced P1 has created a formula that can take the sport to new frontiers.
The formula is based on a partnership between P1 and local sponsors. “The promoter,” says Rangoonwala, “does all the activity on land, they are also providing the money to do the event.” This P1 strategy has been driven by Durbin who Rangoonwala brought in to run P1 in 2010. The Australian, who harboured cricketing ambitions – as a schoolboy he played against Ricky Ponting – says, “Before 2010 we were trying to commercialise a sport which was a hobby and there wasn’t a commercial model. Now, whenever we race round the world, there are local sponsors and tourism bodies who will support us. When we come to a city there is a significant economic impact as a sport, as an event.” And while the sport still needs Rangoonwala’s money, Durbin says, “Since 2015 we have done two years of breaking even operationally. This came when we established a global broadcast platform, starting with o Sports in the US and that opened up other broadcast markets round the world including Germany.” Durbin admits, “It’s not like Premier League money. It was very difficult to get our sport on television. Broadcasters said there is not a chance you will ever get this on television and if you do, you will be paying an awful lot of money. In sports broadcast there is a 99:1 rule. One per cent get 99 per cent of the rights fee. We are a little bit of the one per cent. We have 27 television deals around the world, we sell on a per-hour basis that ranges from US$750 an hour to US$2,000 per hour. We produce 41 hours of television coverage.”
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The Mumbai races saw live television for the first time and P1 found a local sponsor when Rangoonwala walked into the offices of his old friend Anil Singh, managing director of Procam, a sports and leisure management company. Anil Singh could not be more different to Rangoonwala. Rangoonwala has an open, welcoming, face and engages in conversation, Anil Singh never takes his dark glasses off and likes to deliver monologues. His answer to my first uestion lasts minutes, during which he presents himself not just as a promoter but as a man who has helped reshape powerboat racing. “I told Asif we need four to five critical changes,” he says. The most important was to make smaller-sized, affordable boats, not boats that “reach about a couple of kilometres to the sea and cost €800,000 to €1 million. I said to Asif, ‘You need a boat that costs between US$100,000 to US$150,000’. Asif created the P1 Panther, a fantastic machine.”
Durbin agrees that the development of these boats have been crucial to P1. “Powerboat racing used to be just rich boys and their toys,” he adds. “It was all about how much technology you can afford to go faster. What we have done now is taken the technology away from the drivers. We are now responsible for the technology as we build the boats. The boats are identical, the engines are identical. It’s all down to the skill of the pilots, the question is not whether Mihir has more money than James, it’s whether Mihir is better than James.” or umbai, all the boats were shipped from England with the racers renting the boats for $3000 for a season. Racers can buy and two of the competitors in Mumbai were rich enough to own their boats. But if in building Panther boats moved away from , Singh s next idea made the Mumbai races more like the motorsport series. “I told Asif we need to build a track on water,” he says. “Every sport in
the world has its parameters. You play cricket on a cricket pitch. You play football on a football field. t creates perspective. It is easier for television to know the boundaries in which it is played.” Singh is very proud that this was the first attempt in the world to have a course on water”. And he makes it clear this was a non-negotiable demand. He told Durbin, “No course on water no P1 for me.” But, he says, “James was superbly supportive.” The track, made up of over , inflatable red and yellow buoys, is about 50 to 55 metres wide. With some of the buoys glowing at night time, it lives up to its promise of looking beautiful. But while Singh could persuade Rangoonwala and Durbin to innovate, it was not easy to get sponsors. Singh has built his reputation by bringing marathon running to India, he and his brother Vivek having been inspired by watching the London Marathon. His problem was, he says, “When we started
P1 in 2017
350,000 event attendance 27 events in 12 countries 32 million social media video views US$90 million economic impact 41 hours broadcast in 153 countries 96 | www.sportspromedia.com
marathons in India there were 70 marathons round the world. In Powerboat racing, what do you go by? There is no story behind you. There is nothing in front of you. There is not one global name you recognise. Powerboating was a leap into darkness. t was difficult to get sponsors.” Singh decided the only option was for the teams to have corporate names, “to encourage corporations to invest”. Eventually he persuaded Nexa, the new showroom destination experience from leading car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki, to come in as the title sponsor. The selling point was that Maruti was a car conceived in India, and so it seemed natural for this “homegrown story to launch a global sport from India”. “Nexa felt the world will stand up and take notice,” Singh says. Having stroked the ego of Nexa, Singh then borrowed from Gandhi, who besides liberating India from British rule, endlessly lectured Indians on keeping the environment clean. In the days leading up to the race, Singh’s marketing machine paraded Mumbai college students talking of their campaigns to clean up the city s filthy shoreline. To complete this high-moralising mission, Singh presented the Indian
Celebrations at the post-event press conference
Grand Prix of the Seas as not just a sport but with the noble mission of helping reacquaint Indians with water. “We are on a journey and focus called ‘Experience the joy of water,’” he explains. However, aware his fellow Indians would love a show even more, on the night before the final race he got the crew of the boats to parade on a catwalk specially constructed in the bowels of the hotel they were all staying in. While not the Milan fashion show, Daisy Coleman caught the eye strutting in a knee-length dress, and later dressed in a sari, while another pilot wiggled his backside. A footballer doing that might have been booked; the powerboat crowd, never having seen anything like this before, cheered enthusiastically. So where does P1 go from umbai angoonwala confidently predicts, “Over the next two to three years powerboat racing will become a nationwide sport all over India, spreading to Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and up to Kashmir.” That depends on whether Singh can deliver but given the way he has made Indians take to the marathon, Singh’s forecasts should not be dismissed as marketing bombast. India is important for powerboat racing.
John Wilson, who manages the Colemans, agrees that growth potential in the UK is limited, admitting, “In the UK I do not see powerboat racing matching sailing.” And, unlike sailing, there is no money to be made from powerboats. “I earn nothing from the sport,” says Wilson. “We have a pizza home delivery company. Even to race you need a sponsor. Sam and Daisy have their own jobs. [Sam runs the family hotel and Daisy trains the military using simulators. or them this is a hobby. At the moment there is not enough money in the sport for people to be able to earn a living from it. That may come if TV gets hold. That moment is not there.” Durbin admits, “At the moment the pilots are not earning enough money from the sport, they have to have other income.” However, he predicts, “We are 18 months to two years from full professionalism.” That will only happen if Durbin can persuade more television companies to follow the Mumbai example and show the sport live, and also pay much more than they are at the moment. or all the evangelical spirit P1 displayed in Mumbai that perhaps seems more than two years away, but with India now under its belt, who knows?
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CANADA’S HOME STADIUM
BC PLACE BC PLACE HOSTS THE WORLD
As the largest stadium of its kind in Western Canada, BC Place’s honour roll includes the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015 and the HSBC Canada Sevens to name a few. BC Place is where soccer fans cheer on the Vancouver Whitecaps FC of North America’s Major League Soccer (MLS), and where football families go wild for the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Canada’s international soccer and rugby teams attract colourful fans from across Canada to show their national pride. The revitalized BC Place is one of the key reasons the world has been coming to Vancouver for international sporting events on a grand scale. With its retractable roof - the largest of its kind in the world - and its deserved reputation as Canada’s most technologically advanced stadium, BC Place is Canada’s home stadium. WHERE THE WORLD COMES TO PLAY A true sporting city, Vancouver, British Columbia, has long been the destination where you can ski in the morning and golf in the afternoon. This is a place with a history of excellence in sport hosting, and a city of passionate people that are no strangers to hosting international visitors. With North America’s second-largest west coast airport, Vancouver is easily accessible from all corners of the globe. More than 13,000 hotel rooms are located within walking distance of the stadium, and more than 27,000 hotel rooms in the Vancouver area. At the heart of downtown Vancouver lies the crown jewel known as BC Place Stadium. A masterpiece of engineering and design, the stadium is nestled
among Vancouver’s modern downtown architecture between the Pacific Ocean and the Coast Mountains of British Columbia. Vancouver sporting crowds are passionate, educated and welcoming to visitors the world over. From the 2010 Olympic Games to international soccer and rugby, the world is coming to BC Place. AT BC PLACE, EVERYONE’S A VIP
Vancouver is a world-renowned city in the beautiful province of British Columbia. With convenient transit systems, a diverse range of worldclass dining options and first class amenities – this dynamic part of the world designed to create the ultimate visitor experience. No other facility in Canada is more experienced in welcoming corporate sponsors, sports federations and foreign dignitaries for international events. A TECHNOLOGICAL MARVEL BC Place reopened in 2011 as one of most technologically advanced
stadium venues in North America. This breathtaking venue is brought to life by a range of game-changing technical abilities and solutions not found at any other stadium. Continuous improvements to the stadium’s event capabilities ensures clients, partners and guests enjoy the action in spectacular comfort. More than 1,100 high definition television screens are distributed throughout the concourse, VIP suites and concession stands. Each screen is individually controlled through an integrated, addressable-on-the-fly system called StadiumVision. A spectacular retractable roof keeps fans in comfort while revealing blue skies over the entire playing surface. An awe-inspiring four-sided high-definition videoboard – the second-largest in North America – hangs above centre field in full view of 54,500 fans. Finally, the spectacular crownshaped roof is bestowed with the “Northern Lights Display” – a feature that transforms the architecture of the flagship facility into a glowing beacon on the city skyline.
EVENT SUCCESS CASE STUDIES
THE WORLD RUGBY SEVENS SERIES
THE FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP CANADA 2015
In March of 2016 and 2017, BC Place Stadium hosted the spectacular HSBC Canada Sevens, part of the World Rugby Sevens Series. Each year the event has exceeded expectations – quickly earning a reputation as a premier event in North America’s sporting calendar. 16 national teams and 76,000+ fans dressed in outrageous livery descended on Vancouver for a week-long festival that World Rugby labeled “an outstanding success”. The continued growth of the event has presented the organizers with a golden opportunity to grow and develop the game of rugby in Canada. With its World Rugby-certified playing surface, world-famous retractable roof, first-class food and beverage service, and an unrivalled destination in the heart of Vancouver, the Canada Sevens at BC Place is set to grow in 2018 and beyond.
The FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015 – the largest women’s sporting event in the world - featured 24 teams playing a total of 54 matches in six cities coast to coast. 52 matches were played over 30 days, with a total attendance of more than 1.35 million. Soccer fans, athletes and dignitaries from around the world were welcomed at a spectacular venue in Vancouver. BC Place was chosen to host nine matches, including the prestigious final between Japan and the United States on July 5th, 2016 – a match that set a new record as the most viewed soccer game in the history of American television. The matches at BC Place set multiple attendance records for soccer in Canada, with 53,000+ in attendance during the sold-out championship final and 45 million more watching via broadcast television. The Vancouver Fan Zone areas welcomed more than 100,000 fans over the course of the tournament. An overwhelming success, the FIFA Women’s World Cup generated $118 million in economic impact in the region – more than double the $52million that was projected for the tournament. The FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015 was awarded ‘Event of the Year’ at the 2016 Canadian Tourism Awards – recognizing the outstanding execution of the event, displaying best practices in all aspects of its operations, and serving as an example of excellence to other events and festivals.
Contact Details: Graham Ramsay, Director, Business, BC Place Stadium. T. +001 604 669 2300, E. stadium@bcpavco.com
www.bcplace.com
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@BCPlace
FEATURE DESTINATIONS
DENMARK’S THE SPOT The Nordic nation of Denmark is currently gearing up to host the 15th annual edition of the SportAccord Convention, an event which marks its coming of age as a sporting destination. Sport Event Denmark, the government-established and run body for the organisation of sport events in the country, is facing a big year, and an even bigger future. By Adam Nelson
I
t has already become a cliché to note that the sporting ‘mega-event’ is in crisis. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is struggling to attract bidders for the Olympic Games, while soccer’s Fifa World Cup will hold its next two editions in scandal-hit Russia and Qatar, with observers predictably speculating over the integrity of those decisions. There is an argument, though, that the market for smaller-scale sporting events is as strong as it has ever been. Nowhere is it easier to present that argument than in the Nordic nation of Denmark, which has been successfully bidding for and hosting events at an impressive rate in recent years, turning itself into a noted sporting destination through the regular, and highly successful, staging of a range of smaller championships. In 2017 the country is hosting the SportAccord Convention, the industry’s biggest gathering of federations and governing bodies, which will take place in Denmark’s second largest city, Aarhus. Referred to by its former
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president Marius Vizer as “sport’s parliament”, the SportAccord Convention may not have as much recognisability in the wider world as a European or world championship, but hosting it nevertheless represents a measure of validation for Denmark as a sporting destination. The forum provides the perfect opportunity for Sport Event Denmark, the governmental body set up to aid national federations in the bidding and organising of events, to reflect on its achievements so far, and look forward to what is to come. 2016 was an especially successful year for Sport Event Denmark – indeed, it is hard to imagine a more successful year for an organisation dedicated to hosting sport events. “It was a busy year where we secured new major sporting events to Denmark,” says Lars Lundov, chief executive of Sport Event Denmark. “In fact, all of our bids and negotiations have been successful, so actually our success rate in 2016 has been 100 percent.” Those new events bid for and won include the European Triathlon Union’s (ETU) 2017
EHF Men’s Handball European Championship 2014 were held in four different venues across Denmark
Middle Distance Triathlon European Championships, the European Cycling Union’s (UEC) 2017 European Road Cycling Championships, and the International Association of Athletics Federations’ (IAAF) 2019 World Cross Country Championships. These niche discipline events are indicative of the kinds for which Denmark has aimed in recent years. The per cent figure is up on an existing average strike-rate of 80 per cent across recent years, with Lundov stating that the focus is on “being in the top 15 in the global index for leading sports events nations worldwide”. The nation as a whole was placed in 15th position on Sportcal’s most recent Global
Sports Nations Index, published in November 2016, but the picture for the country’s capital is even brighter: Copenhagen placed eighth on the equivalent cities index, ahead of the likes of Beijing and Los Angeles, having held eight major global events throughout the year. Sport Event Denmark works with the country’s national federations throughout the entire process of bidding, campaigning, and hosting events. For Eline Andersen, senior communications manager for Sport Event Denmark, the work really starts after an event has been awarded to the country, when it becomes her job to sell the event to the Danish public and beyond. Sporting events do not simply stand on their own, and Andersen says that one of the most important parts of her job is to “make sure that everyone involved knows what the messages are, who the target groups are, and how we have decided to communicate”. “We always start with every event with a story, that will be principal story of the event,” she says. “Then we discuss ways of communicating
this story and unfolding the story into themes.” The story and the themes are dependent on the event in question, with Andersen and her team tailoring the message depending on what the targets for a particular event are. In the case of this year’s European Road Cycling Championships, for instance, the strong cycling culture in Denmark dictates that the message is focused on engaging existing cycling fans and trying to promote participation in the sport. “We think that there is a very good link between the cycling culture in Denmark and staging a lot of cycling events here,” says Andersen. “People take an interest, they hear what it’s all about, they know the story of Denmark as a cycling nation, so we don’t have to do too much work to get people interested.” For other events, such as 2015’s World Archery Championships, the message may be more around raising awareness of the sport. After public, the second line of communication is with the media. “When we address the media, especially foreign news
Cycling is an ever-popular sport in Denmark. The country hosted the UCI Road World Championships 2011, and will hold the European equivalent later this year.
media and cycling media, they will already know there is a strong cycling culture in Denmark,” says Andersen. “So then we can start to think about how to communicate that Denmark is interested in hosting further events, such as the Grand Départ of the Tour de France, and showing that we are capable of doing that. “We know that images have their own language, so we’re talking about how to portray Denmark as a cycling destination through images and linking it to the strong cycling culture, and linking that to our desire to host the Grand Départ. Some of the social media that are coming up and getting stronger and stronger, that is the image-heavy social media like Instagram and Snapchat and also Facebook Live. So we need to understand how to convert the message of Denmark wanting to host the Grand Départ into images that tell the story about Denmark as a cycling nation.” Those social media platforms have transformed the way communication is carried out, with Andersen estimating that her work is now done 50 per cent digitally
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The FEI 2013 European Dressage and Jumping Championships, which were held in Herning, Denmark
A SELECTION OF EVENTS WORKED ON BY SPORT EVENT DENMARK Group and round of 16 games in the Uefa European Championship 2020 World Men’s Handball Championship 2019 World Sailing Championships (all Olympic Classes) 2018 IIHF World Ice Hockey Championship 2018 ITU Multisport Triathlon Festival 2018 LEN European Short Course Swimming Championships 2017 UEC European Road Cycling Championships 2017 Yonex Denmark Open BWF World Super Premiere Series 2016+ IHF World Women’s Handball Championship 2015 FIG Trampoline and Tumbling World Championships 2015 World Archery Championship 2015 BWF World Badminton Championships 2014 European Golf Tour “Made in Denmark” 2014-2017 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships 2014 CEV Men’s European Volleyball Championship 2013 FEI European Jumping and Dressage Championships 2013 Start of cycling’s Giro d’Italia 2012 UCI Road World Championships 2011 IOC Session and Olympic Congress 2009
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and 50 per cent through traditional communication methods, where only five years ago it was one per cent social media, 99 per cent something else!” Demand for news and coverage of events has increased so dramatically, she says, that often Sport Event Denmark will make an announcement initially via Twitter before following that up with a more formal, traditional press release, just to ensure that she and her team are the ones “setting the agenda”, as she puts it. “And we don’t just make one tweet, we make sure that the tweet is linked to Instagram and Facebook and websites, and we also make sure that the relevant events and people involved are being tagged in the social media initiatives so whatever we post is being noticed by the people who take an interest,” Andersen explains. “After we’ve done that we can follow up with press releases and updates of websites and so on, but we can’t do what we did just five years ago, because then it was someone else who would take the lead, so to say, in terms of the news and we want to set the agenda. That’s one of the purposes of working in communication – setting the agenda is often a matter of
being the first one out there saying the right things.” Lundov describes being named as the host of SportAccord Convention – with which Sport Event Denmark has been a partner since 2003 – as “unique”, and notes that it presents a perfect networking opportunity for national federations in Denmark to show off their country and their potential to their international colleagues. Copenhagen previously held the 121st IOC Session and Congress in 2009, and Lundov says he learned from that event “that having all the international federations visiting strengthened our network and has had an impact on our attempts in attracting events”. Andersen concurs that for communicating more widely with key decision makers, events such as these are crucial, even if they don’t have a huge amount of resonance with the wider Danish public. “In terms of communication, it’s very important,” she says. “We can invite people to Denmark, inside our house, to say, ‘This is who we are,’ and we can use it as a display window for what we do. It’s easier to bring people together if you are within your own country, so if we have a lot of national federations who would like to go and meet international federations it’s easier in Denmark. This time is the 15th edition and it s the first time that we can actually communicate that it’s taking place in Denmark and there will be a lot of political discussions between the Danish federations and the international federations. That’s very important to us because everything starts with meetings before you go and bid for an international event.”
SPORTACCORD CONVENTION AARHUS - DENMARK 2–7 APRIL 2017
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FEATURE BEACH VOLLEYBALL
BEACH WORLD Though it consistently ranks among the most-watched sports at the Olympics, beach volleyball has struggled to maintain a consistent visibility. The Swatch Beach Volleyball Major Series, a joint venture between Austrian entrepreneur Hannes Jagerhofer and energy drinks brand Red Bull, is looking to correct that. With its third season recently underway in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Jagerhofer is planning further global expansion to create a significant year-round presence for the sport. By Adam Nelson
O
ver the 21 years of its existence, the A1 Major Klagenfurt beach volleyball event in the Carinthian Alps has transformed the image of beach volleyball in Austria. Now that event’s founder, Hannes Jagerhofer, is targeting a wider audience as he aims to establish an annual global tour for the sport with the Swatch Beach Volleyball Major Series – set up in collaboration with Red Bull. Part of the International Volleyball Federation’s (FIVB) Beach Volleyball World Tour, the Swatch Beach Volleyball Major Series’ third season got underway in Fort Lauderdale in February. The Florida venue had previously hosted the season finale in , the inaugural year of the series, and Jagerhofer notes that the increase in audience numbers and viewing figures this year up per cent to a peak of over one million on NBC – has been reflective of wider growth. “We just got very positive results from our surveys from our seasonending event in Toronto, where we are seeing excellent numbers, and from our event in Klagenfurt, which is in many ways our flagship event,” he says. We produced , overnight stays [to Klagenfurt]. And in terms of a general economic boost to the region – people spending money just because of our event – we can measure it at about
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€14 million [US$14.8 million] in this region. We’re very proud of these numbers.” Those figures are the result of over two decades of work in the arinthian city, which is Jagerhofer’s home town. Having transformed Klagenfurt into a renowned beach volleyball destination – it has been described by the Financial Times as the “world capital of beach volleyball” Jagerhofer is more than aware of the hurdles that need to be overcome. The biggest, he feels, is one of perception. “The biggest challenge we are finding is that if you talk about beach volleyball, everyone has a picture in their head which is the old image: relax, bring your own chair and have a BB ,” says Jagerhofer. “To cut this out of the minds of the people is really tough, it takes time, but when we get them at our events, everything changes.” Jagerhofer’s goal, from the earliest days of the A1 Major Klagenfurt through to the Swatch Major Series, has always been to combine world class sport with high-octane entertainment. This summer will arguably represent the apex of his vision, when the Beach Majors team will organise the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in the Austrian capital of Vienna, which for one year takes the place of the Klagenfurt stop on the Swatch Majors Series.
Hannes Jagerhofer, founder of the Swatch Beach Volleyball Major Series
The aim in Vienna, Jagerhofer says, is “to organise the biggest beach volleyball event ever, outside the Olympic ames”. The beach volleyball arena at the Olympic Games in Rio – where beach volleyball is a national pastime and the cariocas needed no convincing of its worth held , people the temporary stadium being erected on the banks of the anube will have capacity for , . As well as hosting the FIVB’s biennial world championships, Jagerhofer is also planning a fully fledged music festival and a youth and leisure fair as add-on for the event. We know the huge potential of this non-stop entertainment of the audience and that the audience is a key part of the event,” says Jagerhofer. “Even the VIPs are umping after minutes. This format is the combination of sport and a lot of entertainment and it’s what makes it so special. t s not a uiet, please sport ” Even at the regular stops on the Swatch Major Series, the focus is as much on entertainment as it is on sport, with music playing throughout the matches and, surrounding the arena itself, an expansive event village providing various interactive activities for fans and a perfect chance for sponsors to activate and engage with their audience. “There you can attract the
audience, you can do a lot of social media work, they really can raise their contacts,” says Jagerhofer. At the end of the day it’s not only a sport event, it s much, much more.” The format has proven so popular with fans, sponsors and VIP guests that Jagerhofer says he is now routinely entertaining representatives from other sporting federations investigating whether the e citing energy” of the Swatch Major Series can be transferred into different disciplines. “We had people from a famous NFL [National Football Leauge] team in Fort Lauderdale and when they were at the venue they have goosebumps from the minute they arrive, because no one is expecting energy they see here,” he says. As rights holders increasingly look to rejuvenate and modernise their properties – aware that they are not just competing against other sporting events but against video games, etfli and music festivals for the money and time of a younger generation – the Swatch Major Series provides one model for how the future might look. There is no other sport in the world which is producing this kind of atmosphere, and this is our US ,” says Jagerhofer.
With five events on the tour – four of them based in the series’ traditional territory in central Europe in Austria, Switzerland, Germany and Croatia – further global expansion is at the forefront of Jagerhofer’s mind. Finding cities wanting to host a stop has never been a challenge, he says, “because when you have a showcase like ours, if you have a chance to invite decision makers to any of our stops – it’s done! They want to have it. Even the audience has no aggression. We had a discussion with the head of police in Carinthia who said that in 18 years there had not been an incident which required police involvement. This positive vibe, this image transfer… you can see why the host cities love beach volleyball.” Identifying a suitable hosting partner is a three-stage process, he explains, which begins with identifying a ready-made fanbase for beach volleyball, or a receptive audience to new and interesting youth-oriented events. We have to make sure there is an audience who we can attract at the beginning because at the beginning you need local support,” Jagerhofer says. “Year after year more people are coming from abroad, but we
NBC’s coverage of the 2017 seasonopening event at Fort Lauderdale attracted over one million viewers for a single match
need to have some sort of existing audience. The second thing is finding the right spot, which means taking the weather situation into consideration. The budget for our event is quite high – that is why introducing new destinations we cannot afford to lose even one day to bad weather. After two or three years – once an event is established – we have no weather issue any more, even if it is raining cats and dogs. The third thing is we need a TV station who is ready to broadcast the event, a few hours live each weekend, and then we re looking on the media side for radio and coverage.” or the season Jagerhofer has his sights set on an additional beach spot in the US. Having now held three events in the east – two in the US, in Fort Lauderdale, and in one in Toronto, Canada – he is convinced of the huge potential” for the series in the market. Beyond that, with the Olympic Games coming up in Tokyo in , Asia will become a strong option on different levels, with Jagerhofer saying that exploring opportunities on the continent is a must”. Wherever it ends up, the series looks set to go from strength to strength.
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PRIDE OF DRAGONS Wales is building on its burgeoning reputation as a host of major global events by staging the Uefa Champions League final, among many other showpiece occasions. Rob Holt, director of tourism development and major events, talks SportsPro through the country’s sporting plans.
Welsh soccer stars Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey celebrate the national side’s success at last year’s Uefa European Championship
What are the priorities for a country like Wales in developing a sports events strategy?
Building a positive external reputation and brand image for Wales is an important challenge recognised by the Welsh Government, and hosting major events can play a significant part in achieving this. Wales has an enviable and proud track record of success in hosting major sporting events including the Ryder Cup, Ashes Test matches, FA Cup finals and the IAAF World Half Marathon. Our strategy is designed to strengthen and enhance that reputation. How significant is a major event like the Uefa Champions League final in Cardiff to establishing Wales as a world class event destination?
Hosting one of world football’s most prestigious events will attract a significant global audience and greatly enhance Wales’ international profile and reputation as a major events destination. It is estimated that the final will l generate a direct economic impact of around UK£45 million, representing a significant return on Welsh Government investment.
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What kind of events does Wales seek to attract and how are the partnerships with those events developed?
Our strategic objective is to create a balanced and sustainable portfolio of world class events which will deliver a long-term economic, social and cultural legacy for the people of Wales, and ensure best value for the Welsh public pound. It is important that we make effective and efficient use of Wales’ resources, including built facilities and our outstanding natural environment The Welsh Government’s Major Events Unit works with a wide range of partners and stakeholders across public, private and third sectors, both in Wales and beyond. How would you define Wales’ identity as a sporting destination?
Wales has an abundance of sporting legends and heroes, a proud heritage of sporting achievements. Cardiff was named European Capital of Sport 2014 and sport plays an important part of life here in Wales, whether it’s supporting your favourite
Wales’ capital city of Cardiff has become a renowned global host of sporting events, including the final of this year’s Uefa Champions League
team or participating in sport. It’s part of our culture. Exciting times undoubtedly lie ahead as we prepare to host some of the biggest and most prestigious sporting events in the world but we cannot rest on our laurels. If we are to continue to build Wales’ reputation as the destination of choice for global event owners, we have to be proactive and strategic in our approach. We are actively engaging with key partners and stakeholders in the public and private sectors in Wales and beyond to secure their views We have identified a range of potential hosting targets and we remain ambitious in our outlook and committed to attracting more major international events to all parts of Wales. How else does Wales’ sporting strategy tie into its wider economic activity?
The shots you see of most of the world’s major sporting events are from cameras made in Wales! Sony makes Digital HD broadcast video cameras in Bridgend, south Wales. For more information, go to visitwales.com
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GOING FOR GOLD With just over a year to go until the opening ceremony of the 2018 Commonwealth Games, hosted for the first time in Australia’s Gold Coast, local organisers are confident of delivering a stellar event. Mark Peters, chief executive of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Corporation, explains what processes have been put in place to create a lasting economic impact for the city.
By George Dudley
T
here is a saying in the Gold Coast: “You either live here, or you want to live here.” It is not said with braggadocio – more with a tilt of Australian honesty – and for those that have spent time in Surfer’s Paradise or the Nerang River it is hard
The Australian city of Gold Coast will play host to the 2018 Commonwealth Games
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to disagree. The coastal city’s subtropical climate, long white beaches and unique waterway systems have long made it a major tourist destination in Queensland and, for that matter, Australia as a whole. Although still heavily reliant on the tourism dollar the Gold Coast is
hoping to attract new commerce to the city. At the heart of the evolution is the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games (GC2018). Needless to say, in today’s climate, an international multi-sports event is not solely a case of putting on a good show.
The vast amounts of money involved mean that eyes are on the host city years out from the Games and questions of legacy are raised even before the final medals are doled out. Queensland’s second city was confirmed as the winning bid in 2011 and has been plotting a secure plan ever since. With 13 months to go, at the time of writing, until Australia hosts its fifth edition of the ‘Friendly Games’, Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Corporation (GOLDOC) chief executive Mark Peters feels good about how that plan is coming together. We are humbly confident that we are in a good position to deliver a great Games in 2018,” says Peters. “The fact that we did an honest bid book has put us in a solid position: all of our venues will be finished 12 months before the Games – the only exception being the athletics track that we are putting into an Australian rules football ground, which is what Melbourne did with their 2006 Commonwealth Games.” All major sporting events are unquestionably desperate to avoid the perceived embarrassments that blighted the build-up to the Rio 2016 Olympics, the Brazilian capital suffering structural and financial issues that led many observers to question whether certain venues would be ready in time for the opening ceremony. The Rio Games did, of course, go more or less to plan for their duration but Peters believes that a thorough and transparent bid book is an effective contingency plan and, likewise, he highlights the retention of “several key people” from the original bid team. “When you go back to the bid book it is often a case of: ‘How real is the bid book?’” continues Peters. “Different organisations, whether it is the Olympics or the Commonwealth Games, have an evaluation commission. So on all our venues, we actually went out and did mini-tenders. “We began by saying, ‘This is what we want to build,’ and going on from there. We wanted to extend
the Aquatic Centre, build these new facilities, and we extrapolated those costs out to 2018 because one of the big challenges when you are putting in a bid is that you are doing it seven years beforehand. “All of our venues have actually come in under budget, which is a major issue for most of the major Games.” The Aquatic Centre, which was opened last year in Southport’s Broadwater Parklands, is a fully operational facility for the local community: it houses a two Olympic-size pools, a diving pool, a salt-water pool and a public gymnasium. Peters points out that “we have put a couple of concrete slabs down”, which will allow temporary seating to be constructed. “At Games time we can convert it into a 10,000-seat competition area for swimming and a 2,500-seat diving complex,” explains Peters. “It has been used a number of times for competitions and the swimmers regard it as a fast pool: we have had two world records and 19 meet records when we held the an acific Masters Games in 2014. It is a good pool and we are getting a lot of overseas teams starting to train in it.” The event has been both privately and publicly funded, although the bulk of it has been underwritten by the Queensland government to the tune of AUS$1.5 billion (US$1.1 billion), which covers the cost of venues and infrastructural developments. “The federal government is investing around AUS$160 million [US$122 million] in round figures, which is again mainly in infrastructure,” says Peters. “The city
Wheelchair racer Kurt Fearnley, whose career began with the Sydney Paralympics in 2000, will retire after the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games, for which he will serve as an official ambassador
Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Corporation chief executive Mark Peters
has put in AUS$100 million [US$77 million] in cash. Then, of course, you have the VIK [value-in-kind] that comes with that sort of commitment and our revenue targets are around AUS$250 million [US$191 million]. “The economic impact to the Gold Coast, we believe, will be between AUS$3 billion and AUS$4 billion [US$2.4 billion and US$3 billion]. Add to that the lasting road works and upgrades to the light rail that are being done in the area.” Peters estimates that GOLDOC, at the time of writing, has achieved “about 60 per cent of our sponsorship target, which is a good outcome”. There are currently financial issues in Australia s banking and automotive markets but with over 30 total sponsors already signed up it is certainly on track, especially in comparison with many recent Games. “If you look at our tier ones, we have got Longines, Star ntertainment, riffith University, Atos, Aggreko, KPMG, Minter Allison’s,” states Peters. “It has been a really good programme but often in these worlds the last 20 per cent is the challenge and you go down to the wire. This is just the way that sponsorship works. “We have incredible interest and we are about to announce a couple of major sponsors in the next month that will be in that world recognition grouping.” Legacy, a word that is sometimes sneered at by industry cynics, has become ubiquitous in the planning of international competitions, ever since Lord Sebastian Coe made it London’s 2012 Olympic
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bid promise. Each organising committee is desperate to leave a host city improved and avoid leaving a legacy of unused sports arenas like in Athens and Rio, following their respective Olympics. Peters argues that GOLDOC will, in fact, develop the Australian east coast city and attract new industries and residents. “One of the challenges in the past for the city has been that if the Australian dollar is high and tourism drops, then construction drops,” explains Peters. “We have very much been a boom and bust economy. But with us there has been a real emphasis on education we have been keen to invest in other areas that will diversify the economy. “We are erecting the athletes’ village right ne t to the riffith University, which has 18,000 students but has ambitions to increase up to 20,000 in the next ten years. There is also a 750-bed public hospital and a major private hospital with 300 beds – our village is right next to both facilities. “Surrounding the village is a large area of green space. We will see a number of medical and technological companies established in the area, working with the university and the hospitals to develop a health and knowledge precinct. Those discussions are ongoing and that will cement a legacy. “In terms of the actual village, it will become a very upmarket apartment complex after the Games and all of these industries will be there,” continues Peters. “It represents a fantastic diversification to the city. The village is often one of the great challenges because of its cost. Where we are building the majority of our facilities in Carrara we have an Australian rules football team – the Gold Coast Suns – and they have had a high-performance centre built on the back of our two indoor facilities. “In the arena where squash and table tennis will be played, we have built the biggest sound stage in the southern hemisphere at Movie World, so during the Games we will be running sports in it but
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already we have seen some major blockbuster films filmed here in the past six months. “It is not actually to do with sport but to do with diversification of the economy that will allow the city to prosper in the long term. There is not one facility that we haven’t got a long-term plan for and most of it is not to do with sport.” Nevertheless, it is sport that will prove a lasting legacy to visitors and fans. Home success ultimately creates a greater noise and excitement locally – Cathy Freeman’s victory in the 400 metres at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games providing a classic Australian example. GOLDOC has already selected a handful of Australian athletes that it hopes will – as Freeman did – become the faces of the Games: hurdler Sally Pearson, swimmer Cameron McEvoy, netball captain Laura Geitz and para-athlete Kurt Fearnley, who began his career at the Sydney Games and is rounding it off on the Gold Coast next year. The recently opened AUS$59 million (US$45 million) velodrome is named for Queensland-born cyclist Anna Mears, although the five-time ommonwealth ames gold medallist will not compete in 2018 following her retirement late last year. Peters adds that there will
Sally Pearson, who won gold in the 100m hurdles at the last Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, is another ambassador for Gold Coast 2018
be two “global superstars” added to the ambassadorial roster in the “near future”. GOLDOC is undeniably taking a pragmatic approach to the Games, such as limiting the number of athletes and officials to , because of the size of the athletes’ village. However, Peters is sure that sensible planning will result in a spectacular event. “What we say is: it’s Australia’s Games in Queensland on the Gold Coast,” says Peters. “It is interesting when you look at the end of the Games and everyone wonders what the president will say about it. For us, Melbourne was ‘simply the best’ and Glasgow was the ‘best Games ever’, so we have said to Louise Martin [president of the Commonwealth Games Federation]: just say ‘it was a bloody good Games’ and everyone will understand that is what Australia does. “What will be unique about these Games is the location; people naturally have fun here because of the city’s variety. Australians are good at doing Games and the volunteers are usually fantastic. We will be really good and everyone will have a fantastic time, we know the athletes can’t wait to get here. “We can claim a lot of things but it will just be a bloody good Games.”
The International School Sport Federation is an International Federation recognised by the IOC, gathering 90 National School Sport Organisations from all over the world. It organises more than 10 World Schools Championships and one multisport mega-event, the Gymnasiade, every year, gathering about 10.000 athletes aged between 13 to 18 years old. Mr Petrynka, the stature of the ISF in the sport community is gaining more and more recognition. How much is this due to the dialogue and cooperation with all the sport institutions? The ISF is currently implementing its “vision 2030” document which aims for a capillary development of school sport all around the world. An enhanced cooperation with all the members of the international sport community is definitely one of the key steps of our vision document; this cooperation must be based on two main axes: education and inspiration of new generations. We currently hold Memoranda of Understanding with six International Sport Federations; 1 however, in the long term, we wish to establish solid relationships with all the federations that share our vision to educate youth through sport. On top of this, the ISF is currently developing its cooperation with the IOC in terms of value education, education through school sport, aiming to strengthen the relationship between the world of sport and the governmental educational institutions, in order to promote the role of sport in global educational processes. Finally, I must stress the importance that the SportAccord membership covers for a federation like ours: the key role of international sport relations find their natural home in the SportAccord platform, where all members are able to easily communicate with each other and share experiences and best practices with the goal of making together the sport community grow stronger and to get more people to practice sport all around the world. The dimension of ISF events is reaching a level that was never reached before. What does this 1 Badminton World Federation (BWF), Fédération Internationale de Basketball (FIBA),
mean in terms of sponsorship development opportunities? The dimension of our events is definitely growing: about 10.000 athletes per year from 90 different countries compete in the World Schools Championships and in the Gymnasiade. We primarily owe this growth to the time we spend to meet with the main sport and education representatives of countries. Our main concern is to develop our membership and to give the national federations the appropriate tools to successfully develop school sport. We are particularly eager to expand the network in Africa, Latin America and Asia. A steady increase in the number of active members all around the world is the main condition for the growth of the whole sport movement: more members means a greater number of young people involved in school sport and, consequently in education in and through sport. Furthermore, the solid partnership with our main sponsor, Kinder + Sport, also greatly contributed to the development of the ISF. The Kinder + Sport “Joy of Moving” program is the CSR programme of Ferrero. It supports sport education programs, supplies schools with technical equipment and supports research projects dedicated to raise awareness on the benefits of conducting an active life. In addition, I can affirm that the ISF arrived nowadays to a phase of its development which allows is to guarantee a return on investment for all those companies that are eager to channel their values towards the youth through the school sport market and that are willing to communicate about products linked to youth and sport. This guarantee is provided by the outstanding reach that we are able to ensure to our sponsors, that can potentially be
present on 10 major global youth sport events every year. What is the impact of the digitalisation era on the promotion of school sport? School sport is made by youth and for youth: the new communication strategy included in the ISF Agenda 2030 has been created in order for the youth to be the protagonist of all the aspects related to ISF events; for this reason, it was designed in order to be constantly up-to-date with the digitalisation era. At this regard, from this year on, all events shall be adapted to the production of live footage and linked to our social media strategy for live broadcasting on the ISF Facebook pages. This represents an incredible leap forward for school sport in terms of reach and visibility; moreover, by linking live broadcasting with social media, we will be sure to reach our young target group. The new Memorandum of Understanding that the ISF signed with Olympic Channel goes in the same direction: on top of the broadcasting of events, this agreement will allow us to reach an even greater network with quality footage of events and ad hoc productions promoting the youth school sport youth. In addition, it will inspire a great number of young people all around the world and will open another window for the visibility of the ISF and of its partners. After reaching the important goal of broadcasting our events on the new media, we are now in the process of exploring the interest of the more traditional ones such as TV broadcasters, in order to give school sport a global coverage.
Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), International Orienteering Federation (IOF),
International Triathlon Union (ITU), Fédération Internationale du Sport Universitaire (FISU).
COMPANY PROFILE BEACH SOCCER
The jewel of the Caribbean The Nassau National Beach Soccer Arena, host venue for the Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup Bahamas 2017, may be built on sand, but it is creating a firm foundation for the future.
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ith proper foundations, a sound infrastructure and consistent and thorough planning, a stadium can serve as a legacy for generations to come, a turning point in the history of a region and perhaps even the birth of a country’s new sporting passion. There are examples of this taking place all over the world and the latest can be found by Sir Sidney Poitier Bridge in Nassau, the capital city of the Bahamas. National Beach Soccer Arena is a 3,500-seater, brand new, state of the art facility in the heart of Nassau that has already been put to good use with the Concacaf Beach Soccer Championship and will be enshrined in the sport’s history when it hosts the Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup this year. Constructed by a largely Bahamian team, the arena took over five months to complete from start to finish and will not only help put the nation on the map when it becomes the setting for beach soccer’s global showpiece event, organisers will also hope it helps to grow the sport in the Bahamas. With its arcing, golden beaches and pristine turquoise oceans, it’s easy to see why the Bahamas
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represents an ideal place for the sport to grow, and architect Bruce LaFleur is a vision of pride as he sits down to talk through the stadium and its impact. “I am most proud of the fact that the stadium was built by a Bahamian-led team,” explains LaFleur, who is also Bahamas Football Association vice president. “I am also very proud that every seat is ‘the best seat in the house’ and patrons can be fully engaged with what’s happening on the pitch. “Many Bahamians and other Caribbean nationals have expressed high levels of excitement and are blown away by the look of the stadium as well as the beach soccer experience. Bahamians in particular are proud of the structure that we can call our own.” In truth, it was no ordinary beach soccer stadium that LaFleur and his team had been tasked with building. This was to host the biennial Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup and needed to serve as a catalyst for the growth of beach soccer in the region. In a country that places a great deal of interest in the likes of track and field, cricket and football, the stadium represented something hugely important for
The National Beach Soccer Arena in Nassau will host the Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup 2017
organisers and the project came with plenty of hurdles for LaFleur and his team to leap. “The main objective was to create the ultimate fan experience for everyone in the stadium, from the general spectators to the VIPs,” LaFleur continues. “But we obviously had challenges to overcome. The main one we faced during construction was the shipping of materials from Malaysia. It is a big distance for goods to travel and it was a complicated process – we had tight timelines with little room for delays, but we made it happen! “Something else that most people don’t know about the stadium is that the water table in that area is very high and we came up with a drainage strategy which ensures that, even in the worst rain, the pitch remains dry and playable.” With expert planning and the knowledge of construction company Pakar Seating, Malcolm Park Beach Soccer Facility now sits proudly as a jewel in the Bahamas’ sporting crown, with locals able to see first hand the uality of the finished product at the recent Concacaf Beach Soccer Championship.
Jean Jaques Pralus, general manager of Pakar Seating, said: “One of the main challenges and one of the things that gives this stadium a special touch is the 50-metre-wide VIP cover, with a structure that required a great engineering effort.” The Concacaf tournament – a 16-team event, which included the hosts – brought thousands to the stadium, where they could enjoy ample VIP seating, perfect views of the action from the spectator areas and ‘the ultimate fan experience for everyone in the stadium’. “This was achieved by making the stadium the right size so that every person, no matter where they sit, can feel that they are a part of the action on the pitch,” LaFleur continues. “Also, the placement of the seating allows for proper sight lines and means everyone can have an unobstructed view of the game. “This stadium is a unique construction due to the fact that it is a permanent structure and first of its kind. The construction of additional VIP lounges also makes it unique as usually there is only one VVIP lounge in beach soccer stadiums. “I think it is also safe to say that it is the most attractive stadium, with vibrant colours that reflect the spirit of the Bahamian people.” The theme of workability combined with aesthetics is a crucial one, with the Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup set to be
broadcast around the world between 27th April and 7th May, while the stadium will also likely be a strong contender to host further events at a continental and regional level. “The local organising committee perfectly understood what a Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup stadium is supposed to be, both in terms of utility and appearance,” said Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup event manager Gabino Renales. Bahamas FA president Anton Sealey is eager to focus on the stadium s future benefits. “The facility will transform the sporting landscape here in the Bahamas and help engender the sport of beach soccer within the country’s psyche,” he explained. “We’ve always had the beaches and the talent within a footballing context, now we have a perfect facility that can spread the word and inspire the younger generations to give beach soccer a go.” After the Concacaf Beach Soccer Championship – which helped serve as something of a warm-up event for the Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup – all eyes will now turn to Malcolm Park and there will certainly be a few envious glances from other countries’ delegations when they wander down to Sir Sidney Poitier Bridge and take in the venue. For those within the Bahamas, once the event moves on, the focus will be ensuring ma imum benefit for decades to come.
Beach Soccer, a powerful platform to strengthen the game By Philippe Moggio, Concacaf General Secretary Concacaf just crowned the 2017 Beach Soccer Championship in the Malcolm Park Beach Soccer Facility, a fantastic new permanent complex, the first of its kind in the entire Caribbean. I can still feel the enthusiasm of the teams, especially Panama’s as they lifted their first Championship Cup, and the fans’ excitement. I had the extraordinary opportunity to witness for the first time what beach soccer is: the passion, its fast-paced, dynamic style, the outstanding performance of the players, and all the entertainment that surrounds this wonderful sport. I am impressed by the tremendous work by the Bahamas Football Association (BFA) to successfully organise international competitions. BFA president Anton Sealey and his team showed a great commitment to the game, and I would like to thank them for that. At Concacaf, we are extremely proud for the opportunity to bring the Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup to our region. As Bahamas prepares to make history as the first Caribbean country to host the Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup, we are confident that it will offer an amazing atmosphere that will generate memorable and powerful experiences for our fans, players, coaches, our partners. It will provide the springboard for beach soccer development throughout the Caribbean and across the Concacaf region. Beach soccer has experienced impressive growth since its first Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup held 12 years ago. Its future is bright, as demonstrated by federations like the BFA, which have added the discipline into the National Teams Program. The recent Concacaf Beach Soccer Championship and the upcoming Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup Bahamas 2017 will increase competitiveness at both the regional and global level. It will provide an excellent opportunity to further develop our game, while stimulating tourism and economic benefits for our host nation, the Bahamas. At Concacaf, we are fully committed at leveraging beach soccer as a powerful platform to strengthen our game within our region. We are confident that beach soccer will continue to grow in the years to come and attract new fans into the game of football.
Philippe Moggio, Concacaf General Secretary
Contact Beach Soccer Visit: www.beachsoccer.com Call: +34 93 819 18 90
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THE PROFILE THIMON DE JONG
Getting real in the digital age Digitalisation and rapid advancements in technology are affording sports bodies new and exciting ways of engaging their fans. Yet, as academic and Whetston Strategic Foresight founder Thimon de Jong argues, human connection runs deeper than digital interaction. In an industry built on tribalistic passion and raw emotion, understanding behavioural and societal trends remains as important as ever. By Michael Long
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igitalisation has fundamentally changed society. For better or worse, virtually every facet of our personal and collective lives – from education, work and the
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media, to big industry, government and, of course, sport – has been digitalised. The way we experience the increasingly connected world around us has shifted rapidly and irreversibly from the real
to the virtual, opening up new markets and creating new business opportunities while affecting human behaviour in ways that could not have been imagined just two decades ago.
New digital technologies have, in the space of a few short years, given rise to a burgeoning sports tech sector, which has morphed from early flirtations with mobile apps and stadium Wi-Fi into a multi-billion dollar monster. Across the industry, sports organisations are going all-in, convinced that technology is the future of fan engagement. Yet, at the same time, there are movements of people shunning technology and withdrawing from global connection. In this age of constant connectivity, trust in institutions is at an all-time low and scepticism abounds, with people rejecting corporatism and the views of traditional experts in favour of peer recommendations and a move towards ethical leadership. All this makes understanding consumer behaviour and attitudes, particularly those of millennials, sport’s most coveted demographic, all the more important, says Thimon de Jong. He is the founder of Whetston Strategic Foresight, a think tank which specialises in studying human behavioural trends and interpreting the business impacts of societal change. An internationally renowned keynote speaker and leadership trainer, de Jong has advised corporations including Aon, Tetra Pak and RBS for over ten years, as well as lecturing in the social psychology department of Utrecht University in the Netherlands. He has also been known to appear at sports industry conferences from time to time. You specialise in understanding future human behaviour and the business impacts of societal change. What are some of the key trends you’re seeing, and how is your interpretation of them informing your work?
Digitalisation of society, of education, of our personal lives, work, sport – digitalisation of everything is a huge theme, and how it influences us. Within that, we see something we call “digital balance”, which is how you can get the best of both worlds. We see many, many parts of life with over-digitalisation already. How can we not over-digitalise ourselves, our businesses or our relationships and use technology only for what it is best for, to only have the positive sides, not the downsides? Another sub-theme within digitalisation is big data. As my background is sociology and social psychology, I’m not so interested in sensors that you can put in your mountain bike or your car measuring things or stuff. But actually [I’m interested in] the big data of
“We live in what some people call ‘post-truth’ times. We don’t know what is real anymore.” people. We know more about people than ever before and how that impacts business. If we’re heading towards a future where we know everything about everybody, what will that mean, with all the good and all the bad? Another big research topic is trust and decision-making. As everybody is aware, we live in low-trust times. Trust in government, media, politicians, business is at a low. We have an awful lot of information. We live in what some people call “post-truth” times. We don’t know what is real anymore. We don’t know what is true anymore, which is influencing trust the other way around. How does that affect our daily lives? How does that affect the decisions we make, our personal decisions, business decisions? As you say, digitalisation has fundamentally changed society, for better or worse. How has this age of hyper-connectivity changed our behaviour, and how should organisations, particularly those in sport, respond to these changes?
One of the main things digital technology has done is that we’re constantly distracted. When you used to have people in the stadium, or you used to have people watching the match on television, or when you were doing that sport yourself at the fitness club or the golf course, you were there. Now we have this device that is constantly taking us out of the experience, taking us out of the event. You don’t have the full attention of viewers, participants, visitors, anymore. People hop in and out of their attention. The other thing is people are sharing, so it could be that people are distracted when a message comes in or something comes up. People feel that they have to check what’s going on outside of what they’re doing. It could also be that they proactively want to share what they’re looking at or what they’re experiencing. Addiction to digital technology is comparable to drug addiction at a neuro level. It’s not a fad or a trend or a hype – from a neuro perspective it’s literally as addictive as a drug. Compare it to a cocaine addiction, for example. It’s the same part of the brain, that pleasure part of the brain, which fires up. That
changes things. Attention spans are getting shorter. Bitesize information is becoming very, very important. The traditional sports that take a long time or a couple of hours or sometimes even days, they lose their audience. We’ve seen sport respond to that by introducing shorter formats and increasingly engaging people through digital and with bitesize, made-forsocial content. Much of that has to do with the fact that while attention spans are dwindling in real life, people’s attentions have shifted into digital, so you can reach them there. That trend is surely only going to continue.
There are two approaches. The first approach we’ve seen for years: in a football stadium: “Let’s install super-fast Wi-Fi because everybody wants to share.” That’s great until you reach that point where people are watching their screen more, or if there’s a freekick happening, people grab their phones, people experience that event while they’re live there via their device. Of course, from a commercial perspective, you want people to share as much as they do. But then, if you look at the research, if you experience something via a device or you take a picture of something, the memory – how it’s imprinted in the brain – is less. If people then go home and they remember the event, it’s actually less. Why? Because the memory is stored in a digital environment and not in your own memory, so [in terms of] how emotionally connected we are when something is happening, a digital device actually takes that a little bit away. You also see the approach that says, “Let’s not have Wi-Fi.” Let’s say, “No pictures, please. Experience what you’re seeing and help people enjoy sports like they did before we got all this connectivity. Help people proactively to enjoy and be fully present in the moment.” If you leave it open, they don’t. Sports entities are increasingly using big data to offer fans a more customised and personalised experience. Is that approach likely to change at all over the coming decade, and if so, in what way? How personal can the experience get?
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THE PROFILE THIMON DE JONG
“The IOC is becoming a thing of hatred instead of something to be embraced.” It will only get more personal. It’s instinct. We have to get used to these algorithms knowing us, maybe knowing us a little bit better than we know ourselves. The CIO of Amazon recently said in an interview that their recommendation algorithm is in theory better than you get in practice. Why? Because when they are testing this algorithm, they know their customers so well, can predict so well what they want, when people see that they get a bit uncomfortable, anxious. “Wait, this is getting too scary – I was just thinking that is exactly what I want.” As societies, these algorithms that are going to help us make decisions and give us abundance of choice, abundance of information, we actually like that. But not when that’s too soon and too sudden. These algorithms are already working better than we see now, whether that be the Netflix or the Amazons of this world. Now, Netflix and Amazon, what we know from the past few years is the filter bubble or the echo chamber. Netflix know you like this, this and this – that’s what they’ll show you. That’s really what we’re used to. What we’re going to see is that they will be able to predict behaviour. On a Friday night, when you’ve worked hard all week and you’re on your couch and you want to relax, you want to see something from your filter bubble. You know, “I love comedy flicks, give me some examples, that’s what I want.” But then you’ve had a good night’s sleep, it’s Saturday night, your friends are over, partying, it’s crazy, you want to see something different. The problem is the algorithms won’t know when you want a certain kind of personalisation; when you want something from within your filter bubble or when you want something else. It has to do with our moods, with our emotions. Emotional artificial intelligence is going to be the next big thing. In the field of emotional artificial intelligence, there is a company from the US called Affectiva. It started from MIT Media Lab. It’s a piece of software and all you need for it to work is a camera – this could be a security camera, it could be the camera in your laptop, or the next generation of televisions that have a little camera in them – which can look back into the living room or, in the case of a smartphone, at your face. The algorithm can detect your emotion from your face with a 98 per cent accuracy. That means, in real time, you can measure emotion.
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For example, in the US, if you take a baseball match, which is exciting sometimes but boring a lot of times, you can actually see when people are excited or when they’re bored. If they’re bored, [you can see that] this person needs stats now or some entertainment. With their digital device you can give them stats or real-time information. With the connected athletes coming, you can measure all kinds of things on the pitch. Let’s get some heart rates, or we know what kind of person that is, what kind of players he or she likes, what kind of games, and we give him or her personalised information based on their emotions. That is going to be the next big step. It might take a few years before we see that because – and this the digital balance part – this is quite scary for many people. Another element to this is what new technologies and automation will do to industry and the job market, both of which must evolve to reflect these changing times. To what extent is human behaviour in western societies in sync with the rapid developments being seen in technology? When it comes to structuring their businesses and organising a workforce, what should the leaders of major sports organisations be doing today to ensure they are best prepared for the changes to come?
That’s a good one. The algorithms, robots and automation are going to take jobs away, just like the mines once closed, big factories and machines replaced handiwork. That will happen. But what the media is picking up is the jobs that will be taken away, that will be gone in ten, 20, 30 years. That will happen but what the media is not focusing on is what kinds of jobs or what kinds of new fields will be created. If you look, the first industrial revolution started 250 years ago. The first factories came, put loads of people out of a job because you just had a machine instead of 100 people to sow a blanket. But we got new kinds of industries, new kinds of jobs. Then a lot of people you chat with would say, “But this time it’s different: you can’t compare modern algorithms, self-learning algorithms, to older technology that we had before.”
But the “this time it’s different” argument has been had for over 100 years. The impact of the airplane, the impact of the car, the impact of the personal computer have been huge, you know. We put a man on the moon in the 1960s. It’s comparable, and what has always happened is that society has moved in different places. And I think the more society is digitalised, the more we’ll have human jobs with, let’s say, soft skills, and actually human connections will be more important. Sports organisations enjoy talking up their commitment to embracing change. In your opinion, how does sport stack up when compared to other industries in that regard? Is sport really forward-thinking or is it merely following the trends du jour?
It depends. I won’t be able to answer that for sport as a whole. You can look at what Red Bull has been doing over the past ten or 15 years for all kinds of action and extreme sports, using digital technology and video and social media. That’s been brilliant. Other sports have been lagging behind. Interestingly, golf was very worried about the lack of digitalisation in the world of golf – you know, the old-fashioned-ness of that. I spoke at a golf business forum a few years back and I actually said that you might have been in a bad place but you’re moving into a good place, because the golf course – unconnected, mobile phones are forbidden – is becoming, now, a luxury. That’s actually now a quality. The first hotels – and these are five and six-star hotels – are now offering no Wi-Fi. You pay extra to have no connectivity! Golf has gone through that loop of “we’re late, we have no digi, we have no strategy, we’re old”, to being the mindfulness, yoga, unconnected haven of anti-digitalisation and therefore on the forefront, I think. What I do think – talking a little bit about Trump and the backlash – if you look at, for example, the Olympics or Fifa. A lot of people are rejecting the size, the money, the corporatism. That is quite a challenge. If you look at Russia and everything that has been going on there with their athletes. Trust is a big theme in research. If you look at organised sports, sport has a huge challenge, a bit like the financial world had in 2008 when we had the big crash. I think sport is still neglecting that. Why? Because everybody loves sport and athletes and their heroes so much. But everything around that – from a trust perspective, the Olympics as an event and the IOC [International Olympic Committee] as an
problems, they’ll solve themselves.” Millennials are like, “With little baby steps, we can make a change. What can I realistically do?” And people say, “Why don’t they do enough?” Well, we need to help them a bit. When they get older they start doing that themselves. If you’re a business or an organisation in sports, you need to offer millennials the steps they can do and not organise huge concerts where they sing about change. They already have that.
De Jong notes that sporting events experienced through a screen leave less of an imprint on memory
organisation are increasingly becoming a thing of hatred instead of something to be embraced, especially in the western world. The internet and greater connectivity have given rise to peer-to-peer collaboration and fostered an individualised spirit of entrepreneurship. Should ‘Big Sport’ be mindful of that or can the large, structured, commercially minded organisations like the IOC and Fifa use it to their advantage?
If you look at trust research, trust in corporations and government bodies is at an all-time low. If you look at different kinds of institutions in society, these are at the bottom. Where is trust highest? Peers. This is the first era where peers are trusted as much as, for example, academics or technical experts. So if you are an IOC or a Fifa or any large sports governing body and you know that people do not trust you but they trust their peers, then it might be that if you want to organise something or broadcast something, should we do it ourselves? The problem is these large organisations – and this is not only true of sports – they try to keep everything in-house. Collaboration for them is having the business units working together, right: “Let’s have the offices working together, let’s have the countries working together.” Working together with external parties, working together with Silicon Valley startups who have great digital tools and can enhance the experience, can enhance the business side of things, that is very, very hard. My advice to any leaders in this field is to embrace what is called an ‘open-source attitude’.
Have an open-source attitude – you can’t do it alone anymore. You might have been able to do that in the past but you have to work together and you actually enhance trust just doing so, instead of keeping all the doors closed. That trust in peers you talk about is very much being driven by millennials and digital natives. Millennials have been described by sociologists like yourself as ‘conscious positive realists’. What, as you understand it, is meant by that?
Three parts: Conscious. Millennials are getting a bit older now but especially let’s say five or ten years ago – this generation are now early 20s to mid-30s. It was the ‘yolo’ generation – you only live once. Remember that one? This generation of self-entitled narcissists who are only busy with their Facebook profile and a picture of their latest latte macchiato and their day at the beach, self-branding. If you deep-dive into the research and look at interviews with millennials, they are actually very conscious of what is happening in the world and what is needed for positive change. Environment being a top, number one priority, but they are actually quite conscious and aware of the state of the world and the challenges we have. So millennials are positive and realistic in the sense that if we’re going to do this, it’s going to be baby steps. If you compare them to, for example, the baby boomer generation like my parents, the hippie generation who sat in the park and played guitars and used illegal substances: “If we sing about peace, love and happiness it will be alright.” You can even look at Live Aid that way: “If we have big concerts and sing about
So does this all bode well for the future? These millennials, the positive conscious realists, are going to eventually rise to power and assume greater control as time goes on. Will that have a significant positive impact or is there a danger that current politics and the real-world problems of today are going to erode that positivity and ultimately cause them to descend into cynicism?
The life cycle, they are young, you have to always take that into account. It’s interesting to see what will happen to this generation now that we have Trump in the US and we have Brexit and a lot of elections coming up in Europe. Millennials are a large population but politics has dominated and if you look at voters, young people just say, “Well, my vote doesn’t make a difference because the people who support Trump or the people who support the more cynical, ‘we’re all doomed, let’s close the borders, let’s make it great for ourselves but not the others,’ are bigger and we can’t beat them. And, I would rather start something small myself.” It’s a bit of a change that they don’t feel part of the current political systems and they would rather start their own little conscious brand, for example, or start their own little campaign. Again, they need a bit of help to be made part of this, let’s say, old world. Millennials don’t feel connected with the IOC or Fifa and if you look at the people in charge of these organisations, it will be two generations before millennials get to be in charge. That is still a long time away. Luckily, we have the Justin Trudeaus of this world, who is a bit of an old millennial, let’s say. He has a millennial attitude and spirit. And Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, who said last year – and it didn’t get picked up by the press too big unfortunately – “I’m going to give 99 per cent of all my personal wealth away.” I hope these positive role models will make a change but there’s still a big question mark there.
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Emerging sports
Emerging sports
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While technology has taken hold in traditional sports, there is a contingent of newer properties whose raison d’être is technological innovation, from the burgeoning world of eSports to hi-tech drone racing and all-electric, zero-emissions motorsport.
Introducing SportsPro SmartSeries SmartSeries is the new venture from SportsPro looking at where the industry is going next. It will explore topics like near-future technology, investment, innovation and emerging best practice in a range of fields, bringing in opinion from those on the cutting edge and finding out how the sports business can prepare for the change that is coming tomorrow. This series will offer a new perspective across print, digital and events.
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Emerging sports
Competitive gaming Live eSports events can attract over 100,00 attendees
If the business of sport is, above all, a business of content, it is little wonder that eSports has garnered so much attention in recent months. Not only is the rapidly growing sector coveted as an ideal platform through which to reach a captive, youthful digital community of global gamers, it is also recognised as a content-rich marketing opportunity and a lucrative potential revenue stream at a time when the value of sports content in general is rising and the distribution and consumption of it is moving increasingly online. For all that, competitive gaming remains a largely untapped market, however. Projections regarding the future growth of the sector vary greatly depending on the source. According to Newzoo, the research firm generally accepted as the industry standard for market statistics and trends in eSports, the global eSports economy is projected to grow to US$696 million this year, with yearon-year growth of 41.3 per cent set to take the overall figure above US$1.8 billion by 2020. Globally, the eSports audience
is expected to reach 385 million this year. North America, where several of the world’s biggest leagues and tournaments are held, is currently the planet’s largest eSports market, with estimated revenues of US$257 million in 2017 – although industry experts expect Asia to come to the fore in the coming years. Newzoo also projects that eSports ‘enthusiasts’ will soon outnumber occasional viewers, with the number of those deemed more engaged than their peers expected to grow by another 50 per cent towards 2020. Much of the eSports sector’s growth to date has been driven by a handful of dominant players, namely the video game publishers who develop the titles and organise leagues and tournaments for those who play them. Riot Games’ League of Legends, a multiplayer online battle arena, is the planet’s most-played and most-watched eSports property, with around 100 million monthly active players and viewership running into many millions. Other dominant titles include CounterStrike: Global Offensive, or
NEWZOO PREDICTS THE GLOBAL ESPORTS INDUSTRY WILL BE WORTH US$1.8 BILLION BY 2020 120 | www.sportspromedia.com
CS:GO, and Activision Blizzard’s Overwatch, a co-operative first-person shooter which is the subject of a city-based franchise competition, the Overwatch League, set to launch in September. Some industry observers believe Overwatch will be the next big eSport, particularly since it generated some US$767 million in digital revenue in 2016, and franchise licences in the new league are understood to be going for up to US$15 million apiece. Another prominent player in the eSports space is ESL, the most established event organiser in the business. Founded in 2000, it is the company behind the Intel Extreme Masters (IEM), the industry’s longest-running event series which has hosted dozens of eSports events around the world, including in New York, Kiev and Shanghai. Its flagship event, the season-ending IEM World Championship, is held in Katowice, Poland and attracts well over 100,000 attendees. Yet the ongoing growth and surging interest in eSports has brought new entrants to the market. In recent months, the established players have been joined by a host of organisations and individuals from traditional sports. The Philadelphia 76ers became the first North American professional sports team to take ownership of an eSports team when they acquired Team Dignitas last year, and since then the National Basketball Association (NBA) has itself
taken a major step into the eSports space. Next year, in partnership with video games developer 2K Games, the league will launch the NBA 2K eLeague, a competition that will eventually include representative teams owned by each of the NBA’s 30 franchises. This trend of inward investment only looks set to continue, particularly given the relatively low cost of entry and the similar business models between traditional sports and nascent e-gaming properties. A recent report published by Deloitte’s sports practice predicted that major sports organisations will continue to look to diversify their businesses and seek new ways of unlocking greater value from their assets, driving more and more to invest in areas with significant growth potential outside of their core business, including mixed-use venue facility developments, startups and, increasingly, eSports. Though live competitions are already big business, the practice of developing specialised arenas for eSports events remains in its infancy. Dedicated venues have been cropping up over the past two years but it is possible that many event promoters, particularly traditional teams and leagues with operating rights and access to their home arenas, will look to adapt existing sports facilities. Reports suggest the NBA, for example, will host the final of its eLeague at a league arena.
The industry around the industry Without doubt the best known media outlet for eSports content is Twitch, the social video platform and hub for online gamers that was acquired by Amazon for US$970 million in 2014. Twitch, which spawned out of Justin.tv to become its own entity in 2011 – a move deemed a game-changer for the eSports industry – is a community that enables users to view and stream event content, interact with others and follow their favourite gamers. Having established itself as the leader in eSports broadcasting – with more than 100 million monthly unique users and more than 2.5 million broadcasters – Twitch has added social, e-commerce and revenuesharing components to its business model. Twitch Pulse, a Twitter-style tool for broadcasters to engage with their audience, has already launched, and from this spring game developers will
be able to sell game content to viewers of their products, while streamers will be able to earn a small cut of any income from games sold on their channels. Other prominent players in eSports broadcasting include YouTube, which launched YouTube Gaming in 2015, and BAMTech, Major League Baseball’s video streaming and technology services company, which agreed to pay at least US$300 million to Riot Games until 2023 for the streaming rights to League of Legends in December. As part of that deal, which includes an exclusive tech development arrangement, BAMTech will launch a streaming app for the game this year, while the company will also monetise the service through advertising and sponsorship and manage distribution of some content to other streaming platforms. Where traditional sports have trended from TV towards online
BT Sport has signed a deal to broadcast eSports action
streaming, the digitally native gaming industry continues to move in the opposite direction. While the eSports sector grew up online and has developed a robust audience without the reach of established broadcasters, eSports rights holders know that the key to achieving mainstream success in the long run will be in distribution and accessibility – even if few industry experts believe linear broadcasts will ever be a major part of eSports’ future. Until 2015, virtually all eSports action was shown via the internet by endemic operators like Twitch and YouTube, yet the traditional media networks like ESPN in the US and the UK’s BT Sport have begun to muscle in. This trend has helped turn media rights into eSports’ fastest-growing revenue stream, with Newzoo predicting that content licences will generate US$95 million this year on a global scale, up 82 per cent from 2016. Much of that has to do with the size and commercial appeal of the sector’s young and engaged audience, not to mention the fact that viewership for certain tournaments is already surpassing that of some major offline sports.
Other broadcasters, meanwhile, have opted to create their own events, primarily as a way of controlling content production as well as distribution. Perhaps the best known example of this approach is the Eleague, which was launched in late 2015 by US broadcaster Turner Sports and the WME | IMG agency. Alongside the arrival of major broadcasters, it was only a matter of time before the big beasts of the social media world would invest in eSports, too – both Facebook and Twitter are now snapping up streaming rights as they continue to pursue their respective video-led growth strategies. In concert with the arrival of mainstream media – and, to some extent, the promise of future interest from the growing number of over-the-top (OTT) services coming to market – it is anticipated that eSports properties will continue to move away from a dependency on sponsorship from endemic companies. Non-gaming brands like Coca-Cola, Red Bull and MasterCard have already invested but it is likely that a broader range of companies will look to get in on the act. Newzoo projects that brands will invest US$517 million in eSports in 2017, with overall investment set to double by 2020 – even if over-supply and a perceived lack of organisation is still a barrier to entry for some potential investors. Indeed, the cluttered nature of the eSports industry, not to mention the lack of a coherent global calendar of events and regulatory framework, has given rise to a Wild West characterisation, while integrity concerns remain despite attempts to instil better governance and structure to the space. Looking ahead, it is likely that the need to address such concerns will only heighten as the eSports industry continues to mature and evolve – and, of course, receive incremental inward investment.
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Emerging sports
Drone racing
Drone racing has become one of the most popular emerging tech sports
Taking inspiration from competitive gaming, drone racing is fast becoming both an attractive spectator sport and a compelling broadcast product. Organised drone racing competitions such as the Aerial Sports League and Droneworlds are nothing new and have amassed strong followings, but it is the Drone Racing League (DRL), launched in 2015, that has emerged as a leading player in the space. With professional pilots flying custom-designed aircraft through labyrinthine circuits at speeds of up to 90 miles per hour, the DRL is touted by its chief executive, Nicholas Horbaczewski, as “the sport of the future”. Pilots wear goggles that display a real-time video feed from an onboard camera, providing an immersive
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first-person view (FPV) that can be accessed by spectators on site and online. In recent months, commercial interest in drone racing has surged. In January, insurer Allianz agreed to title sponsor the DRL, which has staged events at major sports venues across the US. Under that deal, which will run for an initial two years and is reportedly worth over US$10 million, the six-event Allianz World Championship will launch in June, with a stop in Munich and a season finale slated for London’s Alexandra Palace. As well as Allianz, the DRL is sponsored by the likes of Toy State and Bud Light, while it has also secured broadcast coverage in 75 countries, including on Sky Sports in the UK and ESPN across the Americas. About 28.2
million viewers tuned in on ESPN during the league’s first season in 2016, according to CNBC. Drone racing has grown, for the most part, out of the burgeoning market in unmanned aerial vehicles, but it has also arrived hand in hand with the proliferation of consumer drones sold at retail outlets and, more broadly, the growing popularity of eSports. ABI Research predicts that the global drone industry will
grow by an average 32 per cent annually over the next decade to reach US$30 billion. China’s SZ DJI Technology and France’s Parrot SA are the first and second largest makers of nonmilitary drones respectively, but other companies like GoPro have recently entered the market and the DRL itself plans to release of a consumer version of its drones later this year. It is in the commercial arena, however, that it is assumed drone technology will have the most profound impact. While venture capital funding for drone startups slowed in 2016, numerous deployments for drones were showcased at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in January, spanning everything from construction site surveillance to specialised craft that can help fisherman locate shoals of fish. Besides racing in organised leagues, an obvious application for drones in sport is in live event presentations and ceremonies. Perhaps the most widely publicised glimpse yet of the creative possibilities for drone technology came during this year’s Super Bowl, where 300 of Intel’s Shooting Star LED quadcopter drones – a swarm of which can be controlled by a single operator and a computer – were used to create a dazzling airshow as part of Lady Gaga’s halftime performance.
ABI RESEARCH PREDICTS THE GLOBAL DRONE INDUSTRY WILL GROW BY AN ANNUAL 32 PER CENT TO US$30 BILLION IN THE NEXT DECADE
Formula E
Formula E’s all-electric championship marries more environmentally friendly vehicles with city-centre racing locations
Since its launch in 2014, the FIA Formula E Championship, the world’s first all-electric racing series, has been trumpeted as both a catalyst for technological innovations in the automotive industry and a test bed for alternative energy solutions. With new, potentially revolutionary technology at its core, the series aims to foster meaningful collaboration among key industry stakeholders and to attract and educate society to the merits of electric vehicles (EV). That explains why, at a time when concerns over carbon emissions and poor air quality in city centres are on the rise, Formula E has come to be seen as a champion for the sports greening movement and an incubator for intellectual property relating to sustainable urban mobility. Formula E is, by design, a showcase for the latest advancements in EV technology,
but the ultimate goal of the series and its automotive industry partners is to help turn new-age concepts into viable consumer products – the logic being that technology developed for racing and tested under competitive conditions can eventually be applied to production cars. With mass market adoption a key driving factor behind its creation, the series has set out to allay concerns over the limitations of EV such as short battery life and a lack of charging infrastructure. As well as encouraging its host cities to install more charging stations, the series supports the development of wireless chargers and promotes its commitment to double battery life in its cars in the coming years. It has also relaxed powertrain rules this year to encourage its team constructors, including major auto manufacturers like Jaguar, Audi and Renault, to
develop new solutions for roadgoing cars. Additionally, Formula E seeks to influence consumer perception and raise awareness of EV through the use of technologybased fan engagement initiatives such as Fan Boost, where three drivers are given additional power via an online vote, and the Roborace, a driverless electric race series that accompanies the main Formula E circuit. That effort is supported by the series’ corporate partners, who associate with Formula E in part as a means of showcasing and developing their own green credentials. Logistics firm DHL, for example, is working to implement an environmentally conscious approach to the series’ shipping requirements, while Qualcomm uses its association with Formula E to promote its wireless charging technology. CMC Capital Partners, which
joined Formula E’s stable of investors in February, plans to use its involvement in the series to promote sustainable mobility across Asia and mainland China – a market that is set to play a leading role in EV manufacturing and production in the coming years. Whilst Formula E continues to forge its niche, the next evolution of EV technology is widely considered to be in flying transportation that marries autonomous electric cars with drone technology. At the recent Geneva Motor Show, ItalDesign and Airbus unveiled their Pop. Up concept, a futuristic selfdriving ground vehicle that is also capable of taking to the skies by way of a self-piloted multi-copter. The technology is seen as a way of alleviating traffic congestion in future cities, and its makers envision it one day being integrated into urban transportation networks.
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DEALS REVIEW
DEALS REVIEW Sports industry deal-making highlights from February and March 2017 BT Sport retains Uefa Champions League coverage BT Sport has retained the live broadcast rights in the UK to European club soccer’s Uefa Champions League and Uefa Europa League. The pay-TV provider has agreed a three-year renewal with Uefa for both club competitions after a competitive tender process. The comprehensive agreement includes the live, highlights and in-game clip rights to both tournaments, and to the annual Uefa Super Cup contest between the two winners. Free-to-air broadcaster ITV holds the highlights rights in the current cycle, which runs to the end of the 2017/18 season.
Virat Kohli teams up with Puma in record deal India cricket captain Virat Kohli (above) has agreed a record eight-year sponsorship deal with sportswear brand Puma. The partnership is reported to be worth around Rs 110 crore (US$16.42m), apparently making the batsmen the first Indian sportsperson to sign a Rs 100 crore endorsement deal with a single brand. Kohli, 28, will join the world’s fastest man Usain Bolt, soccer star Sergio Agüero and American golfer Rickie Fowler on the list of Puma’s ambassadors. The Delhi-born player acknowledged his fellow ambassador Bolt, posting to microblogging service Twitter: ‘I wish I could get as
fast as you someday @usainbolt. Thanks legend. @PUMA #ForeverFaster’. Terms of the deal include a fixed payment and royalty that will be affected by Puma’s overall business performance. Times of India quoted Kohli as saying: “It’s a privilege to be part of a great list of athletes that Puma has. Not just today’s icons like Usain Bolt but also the brand’s rich history with Pele, Maradona, Thierry Henry and others.” Kohli, who has at the time of writing played 54 Test matches, 179 one-day internationals and 48 T20 internationals for his country, is also partnered with soft drinks company Pepsi and German carmaker Audi, among other brands.
NBA and Sina Weibo announce partnership The National Basketball Association (NBA) has announced a long-term strategic tie-up with Chinese social media platform Sina Weibo. The microblogging website, which boasts a user base of almost 300 million people, will become the official social media platform of the NBA in China, giving the site rights to exclusive live videos, match highlights, and other shortform content. Weibo will also publish fan-created NBA-related content. In addition, the two will come together to create original NBA-based programming which will be distributed through Weibo accounts such as the NBA’s official page, Weibo Sports and Weibo Basketball. Shu Dewei, the chief executive of NBA China,
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has previously expressed his belief that social media will be the key driver for promoting basketball in the country, with the new deal reflecting the importance of the strategy for the NBA’s ambitions in China.
The agreement is widely reported to be worth a total of UK£1.18 billion (US$1.44 billion), an increase of nearly a third on the UK£897 million deal BT Sport signed in November 2013 to take the rights for the first time. BT Sport has also confirmed that it will make both finals available live for free on social media, having carried the 2016 Champions League final live on YouTube. There had been speculation that some live coverage of the Champions League might return to free-to-air in the UK, particularly after Heineken global head of sponsorship Hans Erik Tuijt told Bloomberg in January that he hoped for “at least one game” to be shown “on public television” to ensure reach and “remain relevant”. However, with the UK broadcast deal representing Uefa’s most lucrative in Europe, the confederation has chosen to retain an exclusive partnership. Changes to the Champions League model mean that two games will be played each regular matchday from 2018/19, at 6pm and 8pm UK time.
UFC becomes anchor tenant of T-Mobile Arena Mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has been named as an anchor tenant of the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. UFC parent company WME | IMG signed the deal with AEG and MGM Resorts, the joint owners and operators of the venue, on the eve of UFC 209, which took place at the arena on
Conmebol appoints IMG for Copa Libertadores sponsorship sales Conmebol, the South American continental soccer federation, has appointed global sports and entertainment agency IMG as its exclusive marketing partner for the Copa Libertadores. IMG will work with Conmebol to sell sponsorship at both the partner and supplier level for the Copa Libertadores, which is the top-tier continental competition for South American clubs. The tournament currently has deals in place with tyre manufacturer Bridgestone, the tournament’s title sponsor, Spanish bank Santander, and the world’s number one
Saturday 4th March. Under the agreement, a minimum of four UFC events will be held at the T-Mobile Arena annually, while the MMA promotion will have a year-round branding presence and retail space at the venue. The partnership is described as ‘multiyear’, with the exact duration and financial details not disclosed. The agreement marks the first time that a global sports property has become an anchor
tenant for a multi-sport venue in the US. The T-Mobile Arena will become the home of the National Hockey League’s (NHL) Las Vegas Golden Knights when the new team are inaugurated into the league later this year. “Las Vegas has always been the home of UFC, and after more than a decade, it is awesome to now have a historic venue deal in the fight capital of the world to make it official,” said UFC president Dana White.
sportswear manufacturer, Nike. Bridgestone is in the final year of a five-year agreement initially signed in 2012. “We are very pleased to announce IMG as our official and exclusive partner to commercialise the Conmebol Libertadores Bridgestone sponsorship rights,” said Marcos Senna, commercial and marketing director at Conmebol. “We are confident that this significant partnership will be highly beneficial for our ‘Eternal Glory’ South American Cup.” In March, IMG secured its first deal on behalf of Conmebol, with beer brand Amstel signing up as a premium sponsor of the Copa Libertadores.
For more information on these deals and daily updates from across the sports industry, visit www.sportspromedia.com
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DIRECTORY OF SPONSORSHIP DEALS Signed in February and March 2017 BCCI secures major new sponsor
Liaoning Whowin score mega deal
Emirates Airline backs UAE pro cycling team
Oppo Mobiles has entered into a five-year sponsorship agreement with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The Chinese telecommunications firm’s logo will adorn the front of India’s men’s, women’s and youth teams’ kits from 1st April. It will also have a strong brand presence at all BCCI-organised matches until the agreement ends in 2022. The Economic Times of India reports that that Oppo will be paying Rs 1,079 crore (US$162 million) over the next five years, which includes Rs 4.17 crore (US$630,000) per bilateral match and Rs 1.51 crore (US$230,000) for International Cricket Council (ICC) matches. Although nine companies were believed to have picked up the tender document, Oppo only faced one rival submission, from Vivo, which bid Rs 768 crore (US$115 million). Oppo replaces long-term sponsor Star India, which was paying the BCCI Rs 1.9 crore (US$ 290,000) and Rs 61 lakh (US$10,000) per match for bilateral and ICC matches respectively. Star India pulled out of the bidding process earlier this year citing the BCCI’s ‘lack of clarity’ for the future as a major sticking point. Length of contract: 5 years Annualised value: US$32.4 million Total value: US$162 million Sport: Cricket
Used car trading company Kaixin has signed a one-year sponsorship deal with Chinese Super League (CSL) soccer side Liaoning Whowin. The Chelaichewang Group-owned company will be the naming rights partner of the club, who will be now be known as Liaoning Shenyang Kaixin Football Club. Kaxia will assume the role of front-of-shirt sponsor on the CSL outfit’s home and away shirts. It will also have a strong brand presence at the club’s home ground, Shenyang Olympic Sports Center Stadium. Local news outlet Yutang Sports has reported the one-year agreement to be worth CN¥ 88 million (US$12.8 million). Liaoning Whowin is owned by Chinese conglomerate the Hongyun Group. The Ma Lin-managed club finished 11th in Chinese soccer’s top flight in 2016. The team have not been among the most free-spending in the CSL, with Australian internationals Robbie Kruse and James Holland among their five overseas players. According to Forbes, Liaoning have the tenth most valuable squad in China. Length of contract: 1 year Annualised value: US$12.8 million Total value: US$12.8 million Sport: Soccer
The newly formed United Arab Emirates pro cycling team have announced Dubai-based Emirates Airline as their co-title sponsor. The team, who will compete on the International Cycling Union’s (UCI) elite WorldTour circuit from 2017, will now be known as the UAE Team Emirates. The airline’s name will be visible on the front of the team’s race kits, which will be in the red, green, white and black colours of the UAE flag. The Giuseppe Saronni-managed outfit became the 18th and final team to gain a UCI WorldTour licence for the 2017/18 season in December 2016. They were not on the UCI’s original list of 17 WorldTour teams following the withdrawal of their original Chinese backer, TJ Sport, but were given special dispensation to find a new sponsor. Length of contract: 1 year Annualised value: US$10 million Total value: US$10 million Sport: Cycling
Arris renews with Joe Gibbs Racing Communications giant Arris has renewed its multiyear sponsorship with Monster Energy Nascar Cup Series team Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR). The American company will serve as the primary sponsor of Daniel Suárez’s number 19 Toyota for 22 races across the 2017 season of the American stock-car championship. The Arris logo will be visible on the Mexican driver’s race livery and on his race overalls. Suárez replaces the retired Carl Edwards as JGR’s lead driver this season. Arris was Edwards’ primary sponsor for 17 races last season. Suárez won the second-tier Xfinity Series championship in 2016 and in doing so became the first foreign champion of a Nascar national series. The financial terms of the agreement have not been released but the 22-race primary sponsorship package is estimated to be worth around US$13.2 million, based on comparable contracts in Nascar. Length of contract: 1 year Annualised value: US$13.2 million Total value: US$13.2 million Sport: Motorsport
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Rutgers signs six-year partnership with Adidas The Rutgers University Athletic Department has signed a six-year apparel agreement with Adidas. The German sportswear manufacturer will be the official athletic footwear, apparel and accessory brand of Rutgers’ NCAA basketball team, the Scarlet Knights. Furthermore, it will supply kits for all 24 athletic teams at the New Jersey state university. The deal takes effect from 1st July, when Rutgers’ five-year contract with Nike expires. According to various reports, Adidas will be paying the Big Ten Conference school a minimum of US$11 million over the length of the contract. An initial payment of US$1.7 million for the 2017/18 academic year will reportedly rise to US$1.8 million by the sixth year of the contract. Length of contract: 6 years Annualised value: US$1.8 million Total value: US$11 million Sport: College sports
Bordeaux score Sweetcom agreement French energy company Sweetcom has become the new major partner of French soccer side Bordeaux. Sweetcom’s logo will appear on the front of the Ligue 1 club’s home shirts and on the back of their away strips with immediate effect. The energy group will also have a strong brand presence at Bordeaux’s home stadium, the Matmut Atlantique. The Ligue 1 stalwarts have been playing without a main sponsor in league games since the end of the 2015/16 season, when long-term sponsor Kia decided not to renew. Girondebased computer firm PSI had sponsored the club’s shirts in the Coupe de la Ligue, France’s knock-out cup competition for professional league clubs. French newspaper 20 Minutes had reported that outgoing main sponsor Kia was paying Bordeaux between €2 (US$2.1 million) and €3 million (US$3.2 million) per year over a ten-year period. Unconfirmed reports suggest the new deal is a minor increase over that figure. Les Girondins finished last season’s Ligue 1 campaign in sixth place. Length of contract: 3 years Annualised value: US$3.3 million Total value: US$10 million Sport: Soccer
Qualtrics nets Utah Jazz sponsorship National Basketball Association (NBA) team the Utah Jazz have entered into a three-year partnership with research software company Qualtrics. The Provo-based tech firm will partner with the Jazz to research and analyse the franchise’s fan experience as part of their proposed US$110 million arena remodel. It will also take the team’s inaugural jersey sponsorship patch from the 2017/18 season. However, the jerseys will not feature the Qualtrics branding. They will instead bear the name of its cancer research charity, 5 For the Fight, whose logo will be placed on the frontleft of the Jazz players’ shirts. Length of contract: 3 years Annualised value: US$3.3 million Total value: US$10 million Sport: Basketball The Indian national cricket team has secured a major new sponsor, with Oppo replacing Star
Dr Pepper prolongs BK Racing sponsorship
Aspen Dental expands deal with SHR
Old World announces Joe Gibbs tie-up
Nascar team BK Racing (BKR) have renewed with long-term sponsor Dr Pepper. The soft drinks brand, which first teamed up with BKR in 2011, will be the primary sponsor of driver Gray Gaulding’s number 23 Toyota Camry for multiple races in the 2017 Monster Energy Nascar Cup Series, the top tier of US stock car racing. It will also serve as an associate sponsor throughout the year. The Dr Pepper-dedicated livery made its 2017 bow at the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on 5th March. Length of contract: 1 year Annualised value: US$10 million Total value: US$10 million Sport: Motorsport
Dentistry company Aspen Dental has stepped up its sponsorship of Monster Energy Nascar Cup Series team Stewart Haas Racing (SHR) and their driver Danica Patrick. Aspen had originally signed up as a sponsor of Patrick’s number ten Ford Fusion for four races across the 2017 season, but will now be the primary sponsor at a minimum of ten events. The company stepped up its commitment after the previous primary sponsor, Nature’s Bakery, announced in January that it was terminating its deal. Primary race sponsorship in Nascar’s top-tier series is estimated to cost in the region of US$500,000 per race, meaning Aspen Dental is now investing a minimum of US$5 million throughout 2015. Length of contract: 1 year Annualised value: US$5 million Total value: US$5 million Sport: Motorsport
Old World Industries, a leading supplier of oil and antifreeze, has penned a multi-year deal with Nascar team Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR). The company’s wide-ranging partnership includes primary sponsorship of Matt Kenseth’s number 20 Toyota Camry at two races in the top-tier Monster Energy Nascar Cup Series, and primary sponsorship of Daniel Suárez’s number 18 car at one race in the second-tier Nascar Xfinity Series. Furthermore, it will be featured as a season-long associate sponsor of Kenseth throughout the 2017 Monster Energy Series. Old World Industries will use the partnership to promote both its Peak and BlueDef brands. In total, its sponsorship is likely to be worth upwards of US$2 million in the first season alone. Length of contract: 1 year Annualised value: US$2 million Total value: US$2 million Sport: Motorsport
Byron inks Axalta Coatings deal
Cronulla Sharks secure new naming partner
William Byron’s number nine Chevrolet will be decorated with the livery of Axalta Coating Systems for 15 races in each of the 2017 and 2018 Nascar Xfinity Series campaigns. The two-year deal to become a primary sponsor of the JR Motorsports driver’s car in Nascar’s second tier could be worth as much as US$6 million in total. Byron is entering his debut season in the Xfinity Series, having been presented with the Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award in 2016’s Nascar Camping World Truck Series, the third tier of Nascar competition. Length of contract: 2 years Annualised value: US$3 million Total value: US$6 million Sport: Motorsport
Opal Solar has become the new naming rights partner of the 2016 National Rugby League (NRL) champions the Cronulla Sharks. The two-year agreement will see the Australian company become the front-of-shirt sponsor of the New South Wales-based team’s home and away shirts. The agreement also covers the Shark’s under-20 team. Although the financial terms of the deal were not released, local newspaper The Daily Telegraph reports that it will be worth around AU$1 million (US$767,000) per season. Length of contract: 2 years Annualised value: US$767,000 Total value: US$1.5 million Sport: Rugby
24 Hour Fitness renews USOC deal Leading American gym chain 24 Hour Fitness has renewed its sponsorship deal with the US Olympic Committee (USOC) for a further four years, taking it to the end of the current Olympic cycle with the Tokyo 2020 Games. The two first began their collaboration in 2003 and the latest deal ensures that 24 Hour Fitness will continue as the official fitness centre of Team USA into an 18th year. The partnership will see 24 Hour Fitness facilities and personal trainers working in Olympic sports certified by USOC experts, who will also create general and sport-specific courses and workout programmes for fitness professionals. 24 Hour Fitness is categorised as an official supplier by USOC, meaning its deal is likely to be worth in the region of US$2 million a year. Length of contract: 4 years Annualised value: US$2 million Total value: US$8 million Sport: Olympics
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Go Fas race off with Cosmo Motors Go Fas Racing have announced a two-race primary sponsorship deal with Cosmo Motors for their driver Matt DiBenedetto and his number 32 Ford. DiBenedetto competes in the Monster Energy Nascar Cup, the highest tier of stock car racing in the US, with the deal likely to be worth in the region of US$1 million, in line with similar deals in the series. In 71 races across three seasons in Nascar’s top division, 25-year-old DiBenedetto has recorded two top-ten finishes, in addition to his two in the Xfinity Series, Nascar’s second tier. Length of contract: 1 year Annualised value: US$1 million Total value: US$1 million Sport: Motorsport
SunnyD lights up Roush Fenway Racing Soft drink brand SunnyD has teamed up with Roush Fenway Racing to sponsor Ricky Stenhouse Jr’s number 17 Ford Fusion at the forthcoming the Folds of Honor Quik Trip 500 in Nascar’s top-tier Monster Energy Series at Atlanta Motor Speedway which will take place on 5th March. The one-off deal will bring in up to US$800,000 for Roush Fenway. Stenhouse Jr finished in 21st place in the overall drivers’ standings in the 2016 Monster Energy Series, then known under its previous title sponsorship as the Sprint Cup. Length of contract: 1 year Annualised value: US$800,000 Total value: US$800,000 Sport: Motorsport
Aussie Apples scores Netball Australia deal Aussie Apples, a collective managed by the Horticulture Innovation Australia (HIA) on behalf of Australia’s apple growers, has entered into a three-year sponsorship of Netball Australia, the sport’s governing body in Australia. The partnership will see Aussie Apples deliver apples to professional games throughout the 2017 season. Moreover, the two parties will combine on an advertising campaign called ‘Get Your Crunch On’ and the grassroots initiative ‘Fresh Step’. The agreement will be worth AUS$600,000 to Netball Australia over the duration of the contract. The inaugural season of Suncorp Super Netball, Netball Australia’s newly launched toptier competition, got underway in February. Length of contract: 2 years Annualised value: US$230,000 Total value: US$460,000 Sport: Netball
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Nascar Xfinity Series driver Chase Elliot will carry Hooters branding on his car at two races in the 2017 season
Shamrock Rovers pot Pepper deal
Lae City Dwellers get government backing
Irish soccer club Shamrock Rovers have agreed a two-year sponsorship deal with Pepper Money. The mortgage lender’s branding will appear on the League of Ireland side’s matchday shirts and on signage around the Tallaght Stadium in a partnership valued by the Irish Times at €400,000 (US$430,000). Rovers finished the 2016 edition of the League of Ireland in fourth place, which will see them enter at the first qualifying stage of the 2017/18 Uefa Europa League, Europe’s secondtier continental club knock-out tournament. The League of Ireland runs throughout the summer months, with the 2017 edition having got underway in February. Length of contract: 2 years Annualised value: US$215,000 Total value: US$430,000 Sport: Soccer
Papua New Guinea soccer champions Lae City Dwellers have secured sponsorship from the Morobe provincial government for the second year in a row. The PGK1 million (US$350,000) commitment will help fund the team’s campaigns in the National Soccer League and the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) Champions League. The Dwellers won their second consecutive National Soccer League title in the 2015/16 season, while they also competed in the OFC Champions league for the first time, finishing bottom of their group without picking up a single point. Length of contract: 1 year Annualised value: US$350,000 Total value: US$350,000 Sport: Soccer
Hooters backs Chase Elliott Restaurant chain Hooters has entered into a twoyear commercial agreement with Nascar team Hendrick Motorsports. The American company will be an associate sponsor of the team for the duration of the deal. It will also be the primary sponsor of Chase Elliott’s number 24 for two races in this year’s Monster Energy Nascar Cup Series. Under the terms of the agreement, the American’s car will sport a Hooters-themed livery at the Talladega Superspeedway race on 7th May and the 12th November contest at Phoenix International Raceway. Length of contract: 2 years Annualised value: US$400,000 Total value: US$800,000 Sport: Motorsport
Johnsonville beefs up for Nascar deal Johnsonville Sausage has signed on to be the title sponsor of the Xfinity Series race at Road America on 27th August. Title sponsorship of the iconic Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin-based race circuit is likely to cost the meat products brand US$250,000. The race will be known as the Johnsonville 180 for its 2017 edition, which will be the eighth consecutive Xfinity Series contest to take place at Road America. The previous three editions have all been won by drivers competing for Richard Childress Racing, with Michael McDowell taking pole last year. Based near to the race course, in Sheboygan Falls, Johnsonville is the largest sausage brand by revenue in the United States. Length of contract: 1 year Annualised value: US$250,000 Total value: US$250,000 Sport: Motorsport
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INDEX ISSUE 93
Issue 93
www.sportspromedia.com
FEATURE DESTINATIONS Issue 93
FEATURE FEDERATIONS
LAS VEGAS WELCOMES THE MAJOR LEAGUES
From Aarhus to Mumbai: sporting destinations in focus
KEEPING THE FLAME JUMPING WHERE NOW ALIVE With under 12 months to go until the Winter Olympics gets under way in PyeongChang, it is a crucial season for the major winter federations. International Ski Federation secretary general Sarah Lewis and the newly elected International Skating Union president Jan Dijkema discuss their respective governing bodies’ plans for this all-important year.
EAST
FOR THE OLYMPIC GAMES? @SportsPro
By George Dudley
The federations outlook for 2017
The Longines Masters Series paints itself as the Grand Slam of indoor show jumping, attracting the world’s premium riders, horses and sponsors. SportsPro goes behind the scenes at the Hong Kong leg to sample what has fast become one of the region’s unmissable social and sporting occasions. Credit: PSI
INDEX OF COMPANIES AND PEOPLE
WINTER IS COMING
By George Dudley
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2K GAMES
118
A ABI RESEARCH
118
ACTIVISION BLIZZARD
118
ADIDAS AEG AERIAL SPORTS LEAGUE AGGREKO Ahlmann, Christian Ahmad, Ahmad AIRBUS
22 8, 76 118
108 84
6 118
118
40, 100
76
Bost, Roger-Yves
84
Dean, Christopher
50
FIG
Brailsford, Sir David
12
DELOITTE
118
FINA
84
Brownlee, Alistair Brownlee, Jonny
Buchanan, Chris BUD LIGHT
118
84
100
BUDAPEST 2024
56
HSBC
12
FIVB
40
Foley, Bill
76
I
76
IAAF
Dijkema, Jan
50
FORBES
DISCOVERY
40
FORMULA E
IIHF
40
CAF
56
DRONEWORLDS
118
84 100
Armstrong, Lance
12
CGF
ASOIF
40
84
ATOS
108
CHAMPAGNE BARONS DE ROTHSCHILD
AUDI
50
CHANNEL 4
12
Cinquanta, Ottavio
50
CLEVELAND CAVALIERS
76
CLEVELAND MONSTERS
76
B 56, 64 76
56, 108
BAMTECH
118
BANK OF AMERICA
76
CMC CAPITAL PARTNERS
118
Bastic, Anthony
16
CNBC
118
BAYERN MUNICH
40
Coates, John
56
BBC
12
COCA-COLA
118
84
Bettman, Gary
76
Biles, Simone
40
Coleman, Daisy
92
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E
76
Froome, Christopher
12
INTEL
118
56
INTERNATIONAL HANDBALL FEDERATION
100
Fürjes, Balázs
INTERNATIONAL SKATING UNION
50
INTERNATIONAL SKI FEDERATION (FIS)
50
INTERNATIONAL TRIATHLON UNION
100
Edwards, Eddie
50
G
EEM
84
Gailhaguet, Didier
50
Gandhi, Mohandas
92
Garcetti, Eric
64
Geitz, Laura
108
GOLD COAST SUNS
108
ELEAGUE
118
Enfield, Harry
134
Erdener, Uğur
56
ESL
118
ESPN
118
IOC
50, 56, 64, 70, 100
Estanguet, Tony
70
GOLDOC
108
EUROPEAN CYCLING UNION
100
64
GOPRO
118
ITU
40
EUROPEAN TRIATHLON UNION
100
GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY
108
ITV
12
EUROSPORT
12, 40
Evans, Janet
64
EVERBRIGHT
84
F FACEBOOK
64, 118, 132
Fearnley, Kurt
108
Guasco, Riccardo
84
H
118
FIBA
40
ITALDESIGN
40 118
J JCB JUSTIN.TV
92 118
6
Hemingway, Ernest
70
K
Hewitt, Andrea
40
Kanade, Vidyasagar
92
Hidalgo, Anne
70
Kasper, GianFranco
50
Killy, Jean Claude
50
King George V
92
8, 76
84, 100
FIA
IRONMAN
Hayatou, Issa
Hill, Steve FEI
D DALLAS STARS
16
FOX SPORTS
76
CEV
118
118
DRONE RACING LEAGUE
50
CAROLINA HURRICANES
40
108
92
76
Arimany, Antonio
INSIDE THE GAMES
56
92
FORMULA ONE
CANADIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE
Cebulka, Pedro
40
118
6
100
Infantino, Gianni
DJI TECHNOLOGY
C
40, 100
118
118
92
118
76
40
Durbin, James
Horbaczewski, Nicholas HOUSTON ROCKETS
12, 40 DHL
64
Beerbaum, Ludger
6, 16, 40, 50, 56
Davis, Mark
BRITISH CYCLING
50 | www.sportspromedia.com
FIFA
92
Apple
Badain, Marc
56
Freeman, Cathy
ALLIANZ
Bach, Thomas
Datnow, Robert
Bora, PR
BT SPORT
50
Andersen, Eline
6, 40
Deusser, Daniel
ALIBABA
Ameeuw, Christophe
Blatter, Sepp
HONG KONG JOCKEY CLUB
84
KPMG
108
Kühner, Max
84
Mears, Anna
Kwok, Aaron
84
MGM
108 76
Q QUALCOMM
L
MGM INTERNATIONAL
LA 2024
22
MIASUKI
Lachaze, Jerome
70
MINTER ALLISON'S
Lai, Jackson
84
MLB
Lai, Jacqueline
84
MOMENTUM MOZGALOM
LAITERIE DE MONTAIGU
84
Landis, Floyd
12
8
84
LAS VEGAS STADIUM AUTHORITY
NBCUNIVERSAL Le Pen, Marine
Lewis, Sarah
50
Lima, Fernando
40
LONGINES
50, 84, 108
MANCHESTER CITY FC
92
Sykes, Gene
40
MARCA Maroney, McKayla Martin, Louise MARUTI SUZUKI MASTERCARD
8, 76, 118 56, 64 64
56
RUGBY EUROPE
22
Ruggiero, Angela
64
TEAM DIGNITAS
S
84 118
THE OLYMPIC CHANNEL
40
THE SPORTS CONSULTANCY
56
64
100 50
W WADA
50
Walsh, Kerri
40
WANDA
50
Wasserman, Casey
64
Watanabe, Morinari
40
Whitaker, John
84
50
T-MOBILE
NHL
8, 76
Samaranch, Juan Antonio
56
Tomba, Alberto
50
Whitehouse, Paul
Torvill, Jane
50
Wilson, John
92
Sandoval, Brian
76 TOY STATE
118
Witt, Katarina
50
O 132
Schelin, Lotta
134
8, 76
Schyman, Gudrun
134
Serra, Santi
84
SHANGHAI TANG
84
Shiffrin, Mikaela
50
56
P 118
SIIS
10, 70
8, 76
Trump, Donald
64
TURNER SPORTS
118
118
WORLD ARCHER
100
TWITCH
118
WORLD RUGBY
118
WORLD SAILING
100
WORLD SURF LEAGUE
134
U
Singh, Anil
92
UCI
SKY
12
Ueberroth, Peter
40, 100 64
Payne, Michael
56
SKY SPORTS
118
92
Pearson, Sally
108
SNAPCHAT
64
Penny, Steve
22
SNTIC
76
UFC
Perez, Florentino
22
SOUTHWEST SPORTS GROUP
76
UK ANTI-DOPING
12
UNDER ARMOUR
22
UNITED FOOTBALL LEAGUE
76
UCLA
64
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
64
Peters, Mark
108
PHILADELPHIA 76ERS
118
Ponting, Ricky
92
SPORT EVENT DENMARK SPORTACCORD SPORTCAL
PREMIER LEAGUE PROCAM
100
40 100
12, 92 92
Springsteen, Jessica
84
134
WME | IMG
108
50
Vizer, Marius
Sallak, Gyorgy
PARROT SA
108
134
Vonn, Lindsey 134
118
Rogge, Jacques
VISA
8, 76
40
132
84
NFL
8
8
McLaren, Richard
118
8
Pacquiao, Manny
Mayweather, Floyd Jr
V Vezzani, Uliano
T TATLER
22
40
McEvoy, Cameron
RIOT GAMES
92
May-Treanor, Misty
MCDONALDS
22, 40
TARTE COSMETICS
P1 POWERBOATS
70, 118
22
THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY
Orbán, Viktor
MANCHESTER UNITED FC
USA GYMNASTICS
76
OAKLAND RAIDERS
22
64
Rangoonwala, Asif
100
M
56
12
SACRAMENTO KINGS
O’Briain, Dara Lundov, Lars
40
US POSTAL SERVICE
118
NEWZOO 134
Stimpson, Jodie
56
RED BULL
70
Lebedev, Igor
108
Raggi, Virginia
56
8 NBC
STAR ENTERTAINMENT
STUTTGARTER NACHRICHTEN
76, 118
8, 76 NBA
8
108
N NASCAR
118
R REAL MADRID CF
LAS VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS
ST LOUIS RAMS
UEFA
16, 56, 132, 134 8, 76
WTC
50, 56
40
Y YOUTUBE
118
Yu, Zaiqing
56
SportsPro Magazine | 131
UNOFFICIAL PARTNER
PASSION FOR SPORT™ Sport is in the hands of extremists. Normal, unassuming people have been marginalised as sponsors pursue a sinister new agenda called ‘fan engagement’, the basic objective of which is to encourage young men to behave like complete bell-ends. Sport is the medium, ‘act like a twat at the office Christmas do’ is the message. The modern fan is expected to bring something more to the party than quiet enthusiasm and deep subject knowledge; they must come ready to demonstrate their Passion For Sport™. The key word here is ‘demonstrate’: because to be commercially useful, Passion For Sport™ is useless unless it’s externalised. As the comedian Dara O’Briain puts it at the start of his act: “If you’re the sort of person who laughs on the inside, you’re of fuck all use to me.” This pursuit of demonstrable fan passion reached a high watermark at the Uefa European Championship in 2012. The tournament’s stand-out activation was from fresh fruit and salad company McDonald’s, which created a bespoke branded app, The Passion Meter (sic). The accompanying press release laid out the strategy in full: It hopes to leverage football fans’ passion for the game by inviting supporters to record a cheer in support of their national team via webcam. At the end of the tournament in July the nation with
132 | www.sportspromedia.com
the most passionate fans, as recorded by the online and physical ‘passion meters’, will be rewarded. It includes a Facebook app and smartphone apps for iPhone and Android handsets that allow fans to share their cheer video with friends online. In simple terms, having paid Uefa tens of millions of dollars to associate with the tournament, the best thing McDonald’s and its agencies could think of doing was to get fans to shout loudly in to their mobile phones and hope that this looked like the brand was relevant to the experience. The final paragraph of the press release was almost poignant in its neediness: McDonald’s hopes that the activity will become viral. The problem with Passion For Sport™ is threefold.
3. IT’S WRONG
success can cause a good feeling that in retrospect can feel like predetermination. In other words, it’s a narrative fallacy, and the media is a configured to perpetuate the myth. We only interview people who were in charge of business when success happened. Rather than tell the truth – ‘I’m smarter than you,’ ‘I’m luckier than you,’ ‘I work harder than you,’ or ‘I gamed the system to load the chances of success in my favour’ – wealthy business leaders have learned that it pays to sound humble. So they offer up the seemingly meritocratic idea that it was their passion that drove them to be the top dog. The message is a variation on the American dream: passion is democratic. You don’t have to be smart or rich to have it – just an insane work ethic and hope in your heart. Haven’t you seen La La Land? The flipside of this fallacy is that it assumes that if you’re not one of life’s winners that it’s your own fault for not having sufficient amounts of the magic potion. This is the message that is sent every time sport mistakes showing off for passion. So take off that bloody hat and sit down.
This is where it touches a bigger theme, which is the excessive and misguided respect we give to extroverts generally. Passion is not what causes success. But
Richard Gillis is the author of The Captain Myth: The Ryder Cup and Sport’s Great Leadership Delusion Follow him on Twitter @RichardGillis1
1. IT’S A LAZY CLICHÉ Adding the ‘P’ word has become the perfect get out of jail free card for any witless campaign whose authors couldn’t be arsed to think of an actual creative idea. This perpetuates the advertising industry’s long-held prejudice that sport and sponsorship is about doing, rather than thinking.
2. IT ENCOURAGES BULLIES If you don’t turn up with your face painted, happy to form a branded human pyramid in the fanzone, you’re a boring old stick in the mud, not one of the lads, not with the #bantz. Whoever heard of someone being ‘quietly passionate’? What is this, 1975?
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08/12/16 12:26
THE SCRIBBLER
by The Scribbler
Shady spending The Scribbler has lost count of the number of times that, having reached the front of the queue for the beachside bar, preparing to hit the waves with a stiff Brazilian cocktail, he has been struck by the crushing realisation that his swimming shorts don’t have pockets: no credit cards, no cash – no caiprinha. That problem is now, mercifully, condemned to the past, after Visa piloted contactless payment-enabled sunglasses at the World Surf League event at Gold Coast, Australia. Now it is simply a case of working out the etiquette – lean in to the payment device, or bring it up to your face?
Pioneering violence In scenes reminiscent of the sketch from BBC comedy series Harry Enfield and Chums in which Dutch police officers, played by Enfield and Paul Whitehouse, boast about how the crime rate in Amsterdam has dropped because they’ve legalised everything, controversial Russian politician Igor Lebedev has proposed making hooliganism a spectator sport in a measure intended to curb the country’s problems with
soccer-related violence. Essentially describing a grown-up version of playground favourite British bulldog, Lebedev – who last year congratulated Russian fans for fighting with their English counterparts on the streets of Marseille during the Uefa European Championship – believes the proposals would make Russia “a pioneer in a new sport”. One might want to keep an especially close eye on the anti-doping regulations.
Make-up brand Tarte Cosmetics’ latest advert plays out, for its first 30 seconds, like any makeup spot, as a young girl applies the product before going out. What she’s going out to do, however, is run along the beach, where her make-up remains pristine. The product, marketed as ‘Athleisure’, is being promoted in a campaign fuelled by millennial-friendly buzzwords like ‘fitfluencers’, and is intended
to push the concept that ‘sporty is the new sexy.’ There is an argument that says anything that gets people out and playing sport is a positive, as participation rates for females over 16 continue to lag behind their male counterparts by about a quarter. There is a stronger argument that says exercise makeup is a peculiarly self-defeating, cart-before-thehorse way of achieving this end.
HAMISH BLAIR/AAP/PA Images
Look good, feel good
Believe in your damn self’ On the other side of that debate, the Swedish women’s national soccer team recently announced an initiative to drop their names from their playing shirts and replace them with messages of empowerment designed to ‘inspire and motivate women to show that everything is possible’. The players picked their slogans from a selection of tweets by prominent Swedish
134 | www.sportspromedia.com
women, with captain Lotta Schelin opting for a message from the Swedish politician Gudrun Schyman reading: ‘Never look down on someone unless it is to help her up.’ There is no word yet on whether the players will also be teaming up with Tarte Cosmetics to wear the Athleisure range during matches, but they’ll no doubt make a positive, bold decision either way.
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