SportsPro Magazine Issue #103

Issue 103

Issue 103

STRONG FEMALE LEAD

Sophie Goldschmidt’s surfing revolution Striking out: the UFC under Endeavor Inside George Pyne’s Bruin Sports Capital

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Tackling piracy: how BeIN Sports is fighting back

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ISSUE 103

Cover Story 42/ On the crest of a wave As chief executive of the World Surf League, Sophie Goldschmidt is harnessing technology and talent to revolutionise pro surfing’s flagship properties.

Henry Hunt

Contents 52/

54/

Company profile: Riding into China

Walking the plank

Fosun’s Xiaodong Wen discusses how the investment group is building on 1,800 years of Chinese tradition to heighten a nation’s love for modern equestrianism.

A high-profile dispute in the Middle East has magnified an issue that has long threatened the sports industry.

As illegal streamers become more sophisticated, pressure to combat piracy is mounting.

58/ Breaking the ice

Features 28/ 25 stories that shaped the sporting year In no particular order, SportsPro reflects on some of the more memorable events and trends that have defined another year in the industry.

The Vegas Golden Knights were one of the sporting stories of 2018. Team president Kerry Bubolz explains how the National Hockey League expansion franchise have tapped into their city’s entertainment culture to turn heads on and off the ice.

SportsPro Magazine | 3

64/ Battle of the brands Hookit, SportsPro’s official data partner, introduces its Hookit Brand Score, a new metric for determining which bigspending brands get the most bang for their sponsorship buck.

68/ Former Nascar and IMG executive George Pyne established Bruin Sports Capital in response to seismic changes sweeping through sport and entertainment.

Four years and a blitz of high-profile acquisitions later, Bruin’s investment portfolio sits at the forefront of disruption.

78/ Taking over A US$4 billion takeover in 2016 created new opportunities and expectations for the UFC. Chief operating officer Lawrence Epstein explains how Endeavor is elevating one of sport’s most transformational forces.

Taylor Ballantyne

Something Bruin

86/ Bavaria and beyond Benjamin Stoll, FC Bayern Munich’s head of digital strategy, platforms and innovation, explains how German soccer’s dominant force have transformed their digital infrastructure to serve fans both locally and around the globe.

At the front 92/ Best of both worlds Wanda Sports Group is a fastemerging force in the sports industry.

Vice president Philippe Blatter believes the Chinese entity can master a period of change to become a unique global power.

96/ Chain reaction Many businesses have yet to truly buy into blockchain. Yet the sports industry cannot ignore the technology’s gamechanging potential.

102/ In review: SportsPro OTT Summit

Company proďŹ le: Floor plan

The SportsPro OTT Summit returned for its second edition in November, tripling in size to reflect the rampant interest in perhaps the industry’s fastest-growing sector.

As floorball continues to expand globally from its Nordic base, the International Floorball Federation is plotting the sport’s next moves.

108/ Sportradar: OTT Summit partner case study

84/

6/ 8/ 10/

Editor’s Letter The Matt Slater Column Digest

12/

Winning at sports monetisation in a competitive market Thomas Bremond

14/

Why SaaS makes sense for live sports streaming Thierry Fautier

16/ 18/ 20/ 22/ 26/

Premature Facts Movers and Shakers SportsPro World Gallery The Shot: The Match

At the back 112/ 114/ 116/ 118 / 120/ 122/

Deals review Deals directory Inside the deal Index At large Jottings

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EDITOR’S LETTER

An industry disrupted Sport, you may have noticed, is in the midst of a period of seismic disruption. Right across the industry, traditional approaches are being displaced or overhauled as established norms and practices give way to new methodologies.

Disruption, as the nemesis of regulation and the menace of the middleman, applies pressure everywhere. It drives down costs and drives up choice for consumers. It is neither constrained by convention nor stiÁed by tradition. 0ost of all, it Neeps everybody on their toes.

In an on-demand and increasingly expectant world, the conditions are ripe for new entrants and early-adopters to capture marNet share. -ust as the proliferation of the smartphone and the rise of over-the-top (OTT) streaming have democratised media and opened up new marNets, changing content distribution and sponsorship models are prompting organisations across the board to establish more direct relationships with their consumers. Within all this upheaval lies an industry-wide recognition of the need to move with the times, and to do so without compromising tried and trusted revenue streams.

As this issue of SportsPro attests, there are myriad ways in which disruption is manifested and exploited within this industry. There are the inventive rights holders, such as the UFC and the World Surf League, who continue to rewrite the script for an entire sport, and there are those who have written new lines in their own, liNe FC %ayern 0unich and the 9egas *olden .nights. There are the manifold marNet forces fuelling the insidious scourge of piracy, persistent talN of breaNaway leagues, and the accelerating adoption of blocNchain technology. And then there are the investment players liNe %ruin Sports Capital, which has boldly channelled its cash towards building capabilities and nurturing entrepreneurship in some of sport·s most fertile Àelds.

For both the disruptors and the disrupted, embracing change is imperative, but it is not only about addressing vulnerabilities. One beauty of change is that it brings opportunities to reinvent oneself. As *eorge 3yne, %ruin·s chief executive, says elsewhere in these pages: “There’s a channel change going on right now. Really, you want to get into that because the upside is disproportionate.”

Michael Long Editor

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“One beauty of change is that it brings opportunities to reinvent oneself.”

EDITOR Michael Long EDITOR-AT-LARGE Eoin Connolly DIGITAL EDITOR Tom Bassam SENIOR WRITER Sam Carp SENIOR REPORTER Steven Impey STAFF WRITER Nick Friend ART DIRECTOR Daniel Brown PHOTOGRAPHIC AGENCY Getty Images MEDIA PARTNER Press Association MANAGING DIRECTOR Nick Meacham COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR Jon Abraham HEAD OF PARTNERSHIPS Charlie Barker COMMERCIAL CONSULTANT Richard Partridge BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGERS Tom Purdy, Oliver Hallinan, Jamie Brown BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT EXECUTIVE Robert Dugmore SENIOR MARKETING & OPERATIONS MANAGER Kirsty Arundale MARKETING MANAGER Olivia Pearce HEAD OF EVENT PRODUCTION Yin Khoo EVENTS EXECUTIVE Elisa Ferri HEAD OF EVENTS CONTENT William Tubbs

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 103 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£40 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

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THE SLATER COLUMN

On the beat with Matt Slater As a winter of discontent draws on, Press Association’s chief sports reporter reflects on the widening cracks in an industry where rising inequality is fuelling envy and rebellion within.

There is a longstanding theory among economists that relative wealth is the key to happiness, not absolute wealth. Or, to put it another way, it does not matter how much money you have, you just need more than your mates.

This goes a long way to explaining why more equal societies, in terms of the gap from the richest to the poorest, tend to be the happiest.

It also underpins concepts like envy, low self-esteem and schadenfreude, and these feelings are as prevalent in sport as they are in the car park, ofÀce canteen or playground.

Sport likes to think of itself as a meritocratic island in a sea of discrimination, inequality and old boys’ networks, and, at its best, it is - talented athletes who work hard will be rewarded.

But sport’s you-get-what-you’re-worth market is not perfect. Lesser athletes can earn lots more than superior ones because of where they are from, how they look and who they know. Just like every other sector of society, then.

There are also big inequalities between sports, with some, often for reasons nobody can explain anymore, considered to be more valuable than others. Those gaps can become entrenched because broadcasters, governments and sponsors have an interest in keeping it that way.

People can be reluctant to change, even if change might be fairer.

And then there are huge divides within sports, where fame and fortune are disproportionately hogged by those at the top, with everyone else Àghting for scraps.

These festive thoughts have been swimming around my head recently as they appear to be the threads that link most of my output of late.

In England, several of the biggest clubs in football’s second tier are thinking about breaking away from tiers three and four because they are fed up with the

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chasm between average revenues in the Championship and those in the Premier League.

Clubs like Aston Villa, Derby County and Leeds United consider themselves to be Premier League material in all but the annoying business of winning enough games to get there.

So when the English Football League (EFL) signs a broadcasting deal that values their games at about one sixth of a Premier League match, locks them in for Àve years, gives the broadcaster the right to build an attractive streaming proposition at a time when the clubs are trying to do the same thing and tells the clubs they should consider themselves lucky, well, that is how rebellions start.

The would-be giants have appointed a leading law Àrm to see if they can unpick the deal. If they cannot, the possibility of another split (let us not forget, English football has been here before) will grow.

But these disputes and resentments are not limited to the capitalist free-for-all that is football.

At the time of writing, English club rugby union’s top Áight is considering an offer of more than UK£200milion from private equity Àrm CVC Capital Partners for a minority stake in the league.

The Premiership’s shareholders originally rejected a similar offer for 51 per cent in the business but told CVC they were worth more than that. It would appear CVC, which used

“Sport’s you-getwhat-you’re-worth market is not perfect.”

to own a majority stake in Formula One, agreed, but within limits.

The idea is CVC’s money will help the clubs pay off their debts, usually to patient owners, and fund new car parks, hospitality areas and stands. They will then hope that an incentivised CVC will use its contacts and know-how to grow the league’s annual income, so they can all get richer together.

Nice theory. But the bottom line is, 25 years after the sport went pro, club rugby in England is still a mug’s game in terms of returns on investment. The clubs lost nearly UK£60 million collectively last year and only one of the 12 Premiership clubs turned a proÀt. They are League One-si]ed businesses with Premier League aspirations.

The fact they are also considering ending promotion/relegation between them and the Ànancial wastelands of club rugby’s second tier should tell you how much Christmas cheer there is around Premiership boardrooms.

And this is happening everywhere.

The Football Leaks revelations reopened the divides between football’s old money and the nouveau-riche brigade buoyed by sovereign wealth funds. The established elite put up a Financial Fair Play wall to protect their status, so the noisy neighbours lawyered up and looked for holes.

Jealousy at the Premier League’s wealth has elite clubs elsewhere wondering if they should scrap domestic football and start a European Super League, while frustration at the European game’s strength has opened up a Uefa v Fifa divide and cries from South America that we need biennial World Cups.

So, as we approach Christmas, let us all give thanks for what we have, reÁect on how lucky we are and remember that there is always someone else worse off than us. Hurray!

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1012603504, Marc Atkins, 1021804440, Alan Crowhurst, 1027975154, Julian Finney, 1025875346, Alex Livesey, 1020814822, Philip Brown, 1015717980, Alexander Hassenstein, 1023761270, Mark Thompson

AT THE HEART OF SPORT

DIGEST SECTION TEXT HERE ISSUE 103

Next time in

The Futures Edition As the quest to innovate continues to occupy creative and business minds across the globe, Issue 104 of SportsPro will profile some of the progressive ideas and concepts, emerging tech startups and next-generation infrastructure projects that are set to shape the sports industry of tomorrow.

The Agenda

NHL Winter Classic 1st January Notre Dame, Indiana, USA

Icons designed by Freepik

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With the video gaming sector encroaching ever further into the mainstream, there will also be a comprehensive look at how the esports community is pushing the envelope to build audience reach, court non-endemic investment and foster relevance among future generations.

Elsewhere in the magazine we’ll pick our ten industry influencers to watch in 2019 and profile two of the biggest beasts in sports media - with exclusive glimpses inside the machinations of Discovery and the action sports-packed content factory that is Red Bull Media House.

Dates for your diary in the weeks ahead

AFC Asian Cup 5th January to 1st February United Arab Emirates Asia’s quadrennial soccer spectacle heads to the Middle East

IHF World Men’s Handball Championship 10th to 27th January Denmark and Germany

Winter X Games Aspen 2019 24th to 27th January Colorado, USA Aspen’s Buttermilk Ski Area hosts the yearly action sports festival

ISSUE 103 By the numbers p68

What they’re saying this issue “ “Pirates are quite savvy; they’re wellrresourced and well-funded, they’re making significant money from these m pirate operations, and sometimes they’re investing in new technologies quicker than the legitimate industry is.”

p54

Mark Mulready, Irdeto

“We wanted to build franchises in all the major distribution verticals that were out there: pay-per-view, broad reach television, OTT, and then sponsored content on platforms like YouTube. As consumers’ appetite for content changes, we’ll be in all the areas and we’ll be able to meet them wherever they want to consume content.”

p78

Lawrence Epstein, UFC

“What we have discovered is that p86 new technologies and new platforms constantly change the behaviour of fans and people out there. We have found out that there is a new language that the younger, global audience is speaking, which is GIFs and animated moments.”

Benjamin Stoll, FC Bayern Munich

“The adoption of blockchain will p96 happen at a faster rate than the adoption of the internet. This is simply because, if you track technological innovation and revolution, we are on this upward trend in terms of our actual technological innovation as a human society and a human race.”

Thomas Robson-Kanu, Sports Ledger

SportsPro Magazine | 11

THOUGHT LEADER MEDIA

Winning at sports monetisation in a competitive market

FreeWheel’s Thomas Bremond looks across a disrupted media landscape to pick out the business models that work, and those that don’t.

Across the globe, sports programming reigns supreme. The most-watched programme in the UK this year was the England v Croatia Fifa World Cup semi-Ànal match, with a peak audience of 26.5 million. Appetite for sports content continues to grow and research from Nielsen shows sports programming increased 160 per cent in the last decade.

The combination of increased competition and fragmentation in the market creates a challenge for media companies with rights to sports content. The big question here is: are sports businesses optimising their revenue potential to balance the costs of sports rights?

A changing state of play There are leading media players in sports, each with distinct business models. The traditional commercial broadcasters buy the media rights to sporting events and then

Formula One’s new F1 TV streaming service allows viewers to purchase content directly from the series

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recoup the cost and generate revenue via advertising. Meanwhile, over-the-top (OTT) media companies have generally relied on subscriptions or transactional payments, offering ad-free viewing of content they have either bought or produced.

New OTT entrants to the market are increasing competition for sports rights, which is inevitably shifting cost dynamics.

Higher costs often mean reduced revenue opportunities as broadcasters are unwilling to pass these costs on to price-sensitive consumers, when their main objective is to attract more viewers.

Sports media is also being disrupted by the direct-to-consumer (D2C) opportunity, where sports brands and federations have the option to keep hold of their content and deliver direct to consumers. Formula One, for instance, has brought control of the brand in-house, launching a standalone OTT offering – F1 TV – that allows viewers to purchase content directly from them, rather than going through the traditional broadcast route, and which has the potential to be more proÀtable than licensing deals.

No longer a game of two halves To survive and thrive in the sports media market, both commercial broadcasters and OTT streaming services are now starting to think beyond deploying ad supported-only or subscription-only models and take a more holistic approach to content monetisation.

To generate sustainable revenues, they must

understand the value of sports content to the consumer and price it accordingly; after all, the consumer is creating the market and demands an optimum experience. Media providers need the agility to apply a range of models, from advanced advertising to subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) and transaction video-on-demand (TVOD), breaking down the silos of subscription and advertising.

For OTT providers, advertising is an additional way to recoup the initial investment in buying media rights and will balance the costs of sports programming.

Offering some free content can increase the user base, and allow OTT platforms to introduce multi-tiered models.

Broadcasters, on the other hand, could explore hybrid business models including advanced advertising, SVOD and TVOD to optimise revenue yield. By offsetting the cost of sports rights by maximising revenue, broadcasters can address the balance of the ROI seesaw.

The agility to pivot and apply multiple business models will be enabled through the use of data, which empowers media owners to accurately forecast the value of sports content and make the right decisions around monetisation. Through empirical evidence and testing they will be able to predict advertising revenues of subscription or transaction fees, continually Àne-tuning their monetisation mix across all delivery windows to ensure the greatest possible ROI. Change in the sports media industry is rapid, with new players continually emerging to further disrupt a competitive market that is quickly reaching saturation point. To succeed in this challenging environment, broadcasters and OTT providers need to move away from a ¶one-business-model-Àtsall’ approach, where they depend entirely on either ad revenue or subscription, and adopt a more holistic, data-driven approach to monetisation focused on the value of sports content to the consumer.

Thomas Bremond is the general manager, international at FreeWheel and Comcast Technology Solutions.

THOUGHT LEADER STREAMING

Why SaaS makes sense for live sports streaming

Thierry Fautier of Harmonic explains how to overcome the challenges of live streaming.

According to the Center for the Digital Future at USC Annenberg and the PostGame, 63 per cent of all sports fans are interested in paying for an over-the-top (OTT) service. Beyond video on demand (VOD), OTT offerings are beginning to embrace live sports content, with newcomers like DAZN and Mediapro, along with companies like Facebook and Amazon, securing major rights for premium events.

To be competitive, video content and service providers have to get in the game of live sports streaming, and they need a video delivery approach that is smarter, faster and more agile to be able to compete with companies that already have deployed such technologies. For episodic events, the cloud makes a lot of sense from a business model point of view.

At the recent SportsPro OTT Summit, monetisation, latency and Quality of Experience (QoE) were highlighted as the biggest challenges of live sports streaming, along with scalability for large-scale distribution.

Let’s look at the key advantages of using Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) for delivering highquality, low-latency live sports on every screen.

SaaS reigns supreme Using SaaS, operators can handle every part of the video workÁow, from content acquisition to playout, graphics, transcoding, encryption and distribution.

By collapsing multiple functions into a single, simpliÀed workÁow, SaaS offerings allow operators to act faster and smarter.

In the past, whenever an operator wanted to launch a new service, it took months or even years of planning. Using SaaS for video workÁows, operators can launch sports

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streaming services in a matter of hours.

Another big advantage of using SaaS is its ‘pay-as-you-grow’ business model. Rather than making a signiÀcant upfront investment or building a physical plant, operators only pay for what they use. SaaS offers a certain level of elasticity and scalability that other solutions can’t compete with. Using a video SaaS solution, operators can scale workÁows up and down, as needed, which is perfect for channels covering limited time events like sports tournaments.

A great example of the scalability that can be achieved with SaaS is Indonesian mobile network operator Telkomsel, which is using Harmonic’s VOS360 Video SaaS solution for its MAXstream OTT service. During this year’s World Cup in Russia, a SaaS solution enabled Telkomsel to successfully serve 550,000 concurrent viewers and achieve excellent QoE.

Worried about latency? SaaS can handle it Low latency is especially critical for live sports as fans watching premium sports events don’t want to hear the results from their neighbours or friends on social media.

A good video SaaS solution allows operators to achieve an end-to-end latency very close to broadcast delay compared with the industry norm of 30 to 90 seconds by supporting the MPEG Common Media Application Format (CMAF) and the Low Latency Chunk (LLC) option.

Since live events typically attract massive audiences, operators need a solution that can scale to support millions of viewers. CMAF is media container standard that was recently introduced to optimise the distribution of OTT at scale for all (HLS and DASH) devices. When used as part of a video SaaS solution, it can drastically improve streaming quality during live sports events.

Worried about quality? SaaS can handle it When the resolution increases, along with the number of proÀles, the classical encoding approach shows its limits. As CPU is constrained, the video quality is

degraded, or bitrate is increased, which can become a problem for UHD (for reach) or HD (for scale).

Using SaaS for media processing, live sports operators can deliver high-quality video - up to UHD HDR - at low bitrates for OTT with less constraints on compute resources. However, it’s important to choose a SaaS solution that supports next-generation encoding and transcoding technologies, such as CAE in HD AVC or UHD HEVC.

Worried about scalability? SaaS can handle it When the number of users scales from hundreds of thousands to millions, then the bitrate spent per stream has a direct impact on scalability. One of the bad practices we see today is to dial down the bitrates at peak time or only offer SD resolutions. This might work on mobile devices but not on TV. Harmonic believes that superior compression is key to reducing the bitrate while still offering a good QoE. This is possible using CAE techniques, and this must work on any codecs and any resolutions. A SaaS approach will enable use of whatever CPU resources are available to scale up and down.

Conclusion Live sports streaming gives operators an opportunity to expand their service and can open up new avenues of content monetisation. Yet, to be successful, operators must have a media processing approach that is agile, capable of delivering video high in quality and low in latency, and keeps costs to a minimum.

Relying on video SaaS rather than traditional infrastructure, operators can achieve those goals. Its ‘pay-as-you-grow’ business model reduces operational costs and speeds up the launch of new live sports channels. Offering load balancing support, SaaS is the ideal solution for live sports streaming.

Thierry Fautier is vice president, video strategy at Harmonic.

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PREMATURE FACTS

Premature facts Open field Speculation has been rife over the future of nearly two-dozen US regional sports networks ever since Disney pocketed the channels from 21st Century Fox earlier this year, only to be ordered by regulators to swiftly offload them.

Numerous entities have been linked with bids - everyone from the usual suspects in media to more left-field names like rap icons Ice Cube and LL Cool J (below) - and now it appears Major League Baseball (MLB) wants a piece of the action, too. This particular auction is a decidedly difficult one to call but one thing is for sure: the local sports rights marketplace has life in it yet.

Burnout Teams and drivers have long lamented Nascar’s worrying inability to entice and retain sponsors, so it’s hardly surprising the struggling stock-car racing organisation is set on introducing a new commercial model of its own. Rumours of a switch away from overarching series title sponsorships to a multi-tiered system have

been circulating for some time, but while it may spark a revenue uplift in the short-term, such a change would surely fail to fix Nascar’s existential problem. With track attendances and television viewership on the slide, it stands to reason that marketers will continue to find genuine value in any kind of association.

Slow boat

Not so fast, Nike

Better late than never

China’s eagerness to plow vast sums into international sport has been forcibly stymied in recent months thanks to a government crackdown on foreign investment. Still, the country has not lost any of its appetite for staging sport’s biggest events. A proposed bid for the 2030 Fifa World Cup looks sure to be forthcoming - although, tellingly, Chinese media reports suggest any proposal could be a trial run for a more serious play for the following edition in 2034. Whatever transpires, could such talk could be a sign that this once gung-ho superpower is now content to take a more pragmatic path to global sporting supremacy?

Whatever one’s thoughts on the rapidly maturing realm of esports, it was only a matter of time before brands from the traditional sphere went searching for a slice of the pie. However, the dust had barely settled on reports of Nike’s league-wide, US$144 million apparel deal with the Chinese League of Legends Pro League before news emerged of the tie-up being disputed by the competition’s teams.

Their main misgiving? That the partnership would prohibit them from seeking out more lucrative deals with other clothing brands. At a time when the traditional sports world is fearing an esports takeover, this latest fallout suggests the feeling may well be mutual.

When Larry Nassar was thrown behind bars for sexually abusing young athletes, the world hoped it would bring an end to the darkest chapter in the history of USA Gymnastics.

Since then, two of the body’s presidents have resigned in as many months, further lawsuits have been filed and the embattled organisation has been forced to declare bankruptcy. That the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) is now taking steps to revoke USA Gymnastics’ national governing body status can only be deemed long overdue. Sometimes, starting over again is the only way.

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MOVERS AND SHAKERS

Movers and shakers

October and November 2018

Kathy Carter

Yousef Al-Obaidly

Suzy Whaley

Susanna Dinnage

Los Angeles 2028 (LA 2028) has appointed Kathy Carter as its chief revenue officer. Carter, who lost out to Carlos Cordeiro as she stood for president of the United States Soccer Federation earlier in 2018, has been tasked with raising more than US$5 billion worth of revenue for the Olympic Games. She has also been named chief executive of US Olympic and Paralympic Properties, a joint commercial venture created by LA28 and the United States Olympic Committee (USOC).

Qatar-based network BeIN Media Group has appointed Yousef Al-Obaidly as its chief executive. He replaces Nasser al Khelafi in the role, though al Khelafi retains his position as chairman of the sport and entertainment group.

Al-Obaidly was previously deputy chief executive of BeIN, working on its global expansion beyond the MENA region.

Suzy Whaley was elected as the 41st president of the Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) of America at the association’s annual meeting.

The two-year appointment means Whaley is the first woman to serve as a PGA officer in the roles of president, vice president and secretary.

In her new role, Whaley will oversee the PGA Championship and will be tasked with growing the organisation’s membership.

She replaces outgoing president Paul Levy.

Susanna Dinnage, the global president of Discovery-owned Animal Planet, has been appointed to replace outgoing Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore. Prior to joining Discovery in 2009, Dinnage spent more than ten years with Channel Five, where she played a key role in the formation of the network.

She began her career at MTV Networks, working on the launch of a number of MTV and VH1 channels.

Jerome Hiquet

Anouk Mertens

Russell Wolff

Rob Manfred

Formula E has added to its senior management team with the appointment of Jerome Hiquet as chief marketing officer. Hiquet, who joins Formula E from mass participation organisation Tough Mudder, will be tasked with overseeing the all-electric racing series’ marketing, communications and media operations as the organisation accelerates its focus towards more consumer-facing activities.

International broadcaster Eleven Sports has appointed Anouk Mertens as the company’s chief operating officer. Mertens has been the network’s managing director in Belgium and Luxembourg, a role she will continue alongside assuming responsibility for managing budgets in all areas, reviewing market performances and seeking operational efficiencies across the group.

Russell Wolff has been appointed as executive vice president and general manager of over-the-top (OTT) streaming subscription service ESPN+. In his new role, Wolff will be responsible for managing the platform, which launched in April 2018.

Most recently, Wolff worked as executive vice president and managing director at ESPN International, where he oversaw all of ESPN’s international businesses.

Major League Baseball (MLB) owners have voted to extend the contract of commissioner Rob Manfred through the 2024 season. Manfred, 60, succeeded Bud Selig in the role in January 2015 having previously served as the league’s chief operating officer. News of Manfred’s five-year contract renewal came during November’s MLB owners meetings in Atlanta.

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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.

Please email appointments to: info@sportspromedia.com

Jon Ridgeon

Raffaele Chiulli

British former hurdler Jon Ridgeon has been appointed as the new chief executive of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). The former Fast Track executive, whose appointment was approved by the IAAF Council at its 215th meeting in Monaco, will replace Frenchman Olivier Gers, who resigned from the post in March.

The Council of the Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF) has confirmed Raffaele Chiulli as its new leader following the sudden death of Patrick Baumann in October. Chiulli will hold the role until he is endorsed at the GAISF General Assembly in May 2019. Head of administration Philippe Gueisbuhler has also been appointed as director.

FEATURED MOVER Mike Sharrock Chief executive, British Paralympic Association Mike Sharrock has been appointed as the new chief executive of the British Paralympic Association (BPA). He replaces Tim Hollingsworth, who is taking up a similar role at Sport England. Sharrock held a 30-year international business career with BP, during which time he led the oil and gas company’s partnerships with the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

What attracted you to your new role?

Ralph Rivera

Ian Lovett

The National Basketball Association (NBA) has appointed former Discovery executive Ralph Rivera as its managing director in Europe and Middle East. Rivera, who will report directly to NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum, will supervise the league’s basketball and business development throughout both regions, while working to grow the popularity of basketball.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has announced that Ian Lovett is the body’s new president.

The former Middlesex CCC chairman replaces Giles Clarke, who stood down in May after three years.

Lovett sat on the ECB board between 2009 and 2018 and was deputy chairman of the organisation before leaving the post in May.

Nick Smith

Hampus Lofkvist

The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has appointed Nick Smith as its new vice president of global partnerships. The former global chief commercial officer at Bastion Collective will focus on establishing strategic relationships with new international partners, as well as managing existing UFC partners such as AirAsia, General Tire, Tabcorp and Nemiroff.

Hampus Lofkvist has been appointed director of global sponsorship sales at sports data company Sportradar. Lofkvist arrives in the role having spent more than two years as director of sponsorship in Europe for MP & Silva. As part of his new role, Lofkvist will work alongside Sportradar’s various clients to create opportunities in the betting industry, as well as monetising their sponsorship rights.

My first experience of the Paralympics was at Beijing in 2008 and since then I’ve been hooked.

Four years later in London the Paralympics had a huge impact on attitudes to disability across the country and, like so many other people in the UK, I was inspired by the performances of our Paralympic athletes.

What are your top priorities going into the role?

The Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games is clearly a top priority. Next year will also be the 30th anniversary of the BPA and as we celebrate that milestone in January we will be further defining where we want to be against each of our four strategic priorities in five to ten years’ time.

How will you draw on your past experience?

I bring a wide-ranging international business background with BP to the role plus over ten years of working with the Paralympics. I was lucky to be able to lead BP’s partnership with London 2012 and then immediately after the London Games I negotiated for BP to become a partner of the BPA and a worldwide partner of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). I think having that perspective will be helpful in my new role.

What is the biggest challenge you expect to face?

I’m very fortunate to be taking over from Tim Hollingsworth, who has left behind a very strong and capable team that I will be working with. Having said that, the current economic climate does present the BPA, like many organisations, with some real challenges as we seek to create a sustainable funding platform into the future.

What was your dream job growing up?

I remember whilst at school wanting nothing more than to play for England at cricket, but I quickly realised that I needed a more realistic ambition! Right now I can’t think of a job that I would want to do more than the chief executive of the BPA.

Where do you see yourself in three years’ time?

In three years’ time I hope we will be coming out of a successful Tokyo Games and we will be busy preparing for the Winter Games in Beijing in 2022 and then on to Paris in 2024. We will have a clear idea of where we want to take the BPA over the next five to ten years and of how we will be working with our many partners to help inspire real change and to improve the lives of disabled people across the UK.

SportsPro Magazine | 19

SPORTSPRO WORLD HOSTINGS AND HAPPENINGS

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4

C

3 A

2

F

E E

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Conferences 2

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Birmingham, UK

Lisbon, Portugal

Düsseldorf, Germany

The first-ever Digital Motorsport Summit will descend on Birmingham’s National Conference Centre on 11th January.

Produced by the team behind the Black Book of Motorsport, the event will see speakers from the likes of Formula One, Nascar and Sky offer their expert insights on key trends shaping the industry including esports, OTT and immersive technology.

FC Porto’s Estádio do Dragão (below) will welcome over 375 experts from across the stadium industry for the fifth edition of the ESSMA Summit on 22nd and 23rd January. Attendees can expect to hear from representatives of top European soccer clubs who will give keynote presentations focusing on topics including safety and security, fan experience and hospitality, and operations and ticketing.

The Sponsors Business Summit, or SpoBiS, will take place at Düsseldorf’s CCD Congress Center on 30th and 31st January, when industry luminaries will gather to discuss how technology will affect the business of sport over the coming years. Along with more than 150 speakers, the two-day event will feature a large expo area where companies and startups will showcase some of the latest technological innovations in sport.

4

Las Vegas, USA The annual National Sports Forum will assemble business professionals from a broad spectrum of teams, leagues, agencies and corporate partners at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas from 10th to 12th February. The three-day gathering will give delegates the opportunity to choose from more than 80 speaker-led breakout sessions focusing on one of four pillars: marketing, ticket sales, sponsorship and business development.

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New Zealand will stage the Women’s Rugby World Cup for the first time in 2021

Hosting A

B

C

Beijing, China

New Zealand

Cleveland, USA

SportAccord has announced the Chinese capital of Beijing as the host of the 2020 SportAccord World Sport and Business Summit. The city, which is set to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, was confirmed as the location for the 18th edition of the event at SportAccord’s International Federation (IF) Forum in Lausanne. The week-long summit will take place from 19th to 24th April 2020.

New Zealand will host the Women’s Rugby World Cup (WRWC) for the first time in 2021 after seeing off competition from Australia. Matches will be played at three stadia on the nation’s North Island, including the 25,000-capacity Eden Park in Auckland, which hosted the men’s final during the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

The National Basketball Association (NBA) has confirmed that Cleveland will host its All-Star Game in 2022. The mid-season showpiece will take place at Quicken Loans Arena, home of the Cleveland Cavaliers, on 20th February 2022. The fixture will mark the third time that Cleveland has staged the All-Star Game, having previously done so in 1997, when the NBA celebrated its 50th anniversary, and in 1981.

D

E

F

Russia

Hanoi, Vietnam

Tokyo, Japan

The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) has awarded Russia the hosting rights to the 2022 Volleyball Men’s World Championship.

Russia received a majority vote during a meeting of volleyball’s global governing body in Cancun, Mexico. The precise event date and host cities will be decided when the FIVB’s administrative council meets in midFebruary 2019. Ten cities have lodged bids, according to the Russian news agency TASS.

Formula One has confirmed that it will stage its first Vietnam Grand Prix in the capital city of Hanoi in April 2020. Talks to hold a street race in the city had been ongoing since the start of the year, with the event gaining local and government support in recent months.

The multi-year agreement marks the first new race to be added to the Formula One schedule since Liberty Media’s takeover from Bernie Ecclestone.

Golf’s PGA Tour has announced plans to take a tournament to Japan for the first time after agreeing a six-year sponsorship deal with online fashion retail website Zozotown.

The inaugural Zozo Championship, which will be staged jointly with the Japan Golf Tour, is scheduled to take place from 24th to 27th October next year at the Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club in Chiba prefecture, just outside Tokyo.

SportsPro Magazine | 21

GALLERY

Delegates congregate in the ONE Championship Power Lounge

The World Surf League sponsored one of this year’s networking lounges

Sportel chief Laurent Puons and Ben Speight of SportBusiness

Red Bull Media House enjoyed prime positioning directly outside the convention entrance

Digital Video Sud shows off its latest innovation

Sportel Monaco Sportel Monaco, the global sports media and technology convention, welcomed 3,026 delegates and 968 companies representing 78 countries between 22nd and 24th October. The event, whose organisers are continuing to expand and adapt to changes in the market, returned to Monaco’s Grimaldi Forum ahead of Sportel Asia, which is set to take place from 5th to 7th March 2019 in Macau.

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The LaLiga stand

Retired sprinter Linford Christie meets a fan

Meetings at a busy Infront stand

H. S. H. Prince Albert II (left) visits Vimeo

The NBA and WWE were out in force

Sixty chief commercial officer Henriette Saether

Attendees talk business

FeedConstruct’s Suyzanna Melkonyan on stage

All smiles at the Sportel Awards After-Party

A pre-Sportel Awards event with Omar Da Fonseca, Guy Stephan, Didier Deschamps, Stéphane Meunier, Théo Schuster and Emmanuel Le Ber

SportsPro Magazine | 23

GALLERY

An aerial view of the on-field exhibition area at Miami’s Marlins Park

Inter Miami co-owner Jorge Mas

Alexi Lalas (left) with Concacaf’s Victor Montagliani

US soccer heavyweights in the LaLiga Lounge

Attendees pose for a selfie

Relevent Sports chairman Charlie Stillitano

LaLiga president Javier Tebas speaks in The Studio

FMF president Yon de Luisa

MLS commissioner Don Garber (left) networks

Soccerex USA International soccer business convention Soccerex touched down in Miami, Florida for its USA edition on 15th and 16th November. More than 1,400 delegates and speakers attended over the course of two days at Marlins Park, where representatives from the likes of LaLiga, Inter Miami and the Mexican Football Federation (FMF) headlined another star-studded conference programme.

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More than 2.5 million spectators have attended the ATP’s season-ending Finals since London first staged the tournament in 2009

Year-end world number one Novak Djokovic

Mike Bryan and Jack Sock won the doubles

Zverev is floored after defeating Djokovic 6-4, 6-3

Alexander Zverev claimed his biggest title to date

Djokovic speaks during a launch event for the ATP Cup

David Beckham watches with his son, Romeo

West Ham United manager Manuel Pellegrini

Nitto ATP Finals The O2 in London once again played host to the climax of the men’s tennis season, as the world’s top eight singles players and doubles teams descended on the British capital for the Nitto ATP Finals from 11th to 18th November. This year’s tournament drew 243,819 spectators across the eight days of competition. paimages.co.uk | PAImages

SportsPro Magazine | 25

THE SHOT THE MATCH

THE SH T Turner president David Levy (centre) is flanked by Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods ahead of ‘The Match’, the duo’s much-hyped, US$9 million winner-takes-all contest in Las Vegas in November.

Harry How/Getty Images

26 | www.sportspromedia.com

WHERE TECHNOLOGY MEETS SPORTS BUSINESS

COMING SOON 30 April – 1 May 2019 | London FIVE KEY FORUMS This year, SportsPro has extended the agenda to add 5 key forums.

These will drill down into the most disruptive topics transforming the sports industry today.

Finance Forum Investment Cryptocurrency Blockchain

AI Forum Machine Learning Data Fan Experience

Esports Forum Sponsorship Broadcasting Sports Integration

Digital Transformation Forum Platforms Monetisation Direct 2 Consumer

Broadcast Forum On-screen product Media Rights OTT

Find out more at:

www.sportsprolive.com events@sportspromedia.com

@SportsProEvents | #SPLIVE19

25

INSIGHT YEAR IN REVIEW

STORIES THAT SHAPED THE SPORTING YEAR Infantino’s US$25 billion lobbying drive

1

Gianni Infantino (right) addressed the G20 Summit of world leaders late in 2018 and it probably ranked only somewhere around the middle of overtly political actions taken by the Fifa president during the year.

This year’s defining image of Infantino will likely be of him sat contentedly between Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman and Russian president Vladimir Putin at the opening game of the World Cup. He has also suggested that expanding Qatar’s 2022 edition of the tournament to a regional 48-team event could bridge the schism between rival factions in the Gulf.

The Swiss was in Buenos Aires at the start of December to deliver a keynote speech highlighting soccer’s potential as a force for good.

His real constituency, though, is the leadership of the world’s national soccer associations, from whom he will seek reelection in 2019 as head of the global governing body.

Infantino won a 2016 ballot to complete the term of ousted compatriot Sepp Blatter, with a promise to follow the latter’s strategy of giving smaller nations ever bigger chunks of cash. Confirmation of a

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2026 World Cup in North America brings the promise of an uptick in commercial performance but in 2018, Infantino’s central play was in pushing for a massive expansion to the Fifa Club World Cup. Demand for that has been uneven. A US$25 billion offer was on the table for a comprehensive 12-year rights deal, reportedly

from a consortium led by the SoftBank Vision Fund – and, by extension, Saudi Arabia. Yet with the established powers decidedly unconvinced, not least with Uefa reinforcing its own competitions against the threat of a mooted European Super League breakaway, the final vote on the matter was pushed back to next spring.

Beckham’s Miami MLS dream comes true

2

After years of setbacks, the English soccer icon finally became a team owner in January - although further legal wrangling would ensue

ITF approves controversial Davis Cup reforms

3

“It is a great honour for me to be part of this historic process of a sport that I am passionate about and, without a doubt, in both personal and professional terms this is one of the happiest days of my life.”

Spanish soccer star and Kosmos co-founder Gerard Piqué (left) rejoices in August after members of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) approve his investment group’s US$3 billion, 25-year plan to revamp the 118-year-old Davis Cup.

SportsPro Magazine | 29

INSIGHT YEAR IN REVIEW

Nike and Colin Kaepernick ‘Just Do It’

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The face of one of America’s most polarising figures adorned one of 2018’s most memorable advertising campaigns

2018’s major event hosting announcements: who won what?

5

Event

Hosts

SportAccord World Sport and Business Summit

Gold Coast (2019); Beijing (2020)

2021 Southeast Asian Games

Hanoi, Vietnam

2021 Uefa Women’s European Championship

England

2021 Women’s Rugby World Cup

New Zealand

2022 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship

Russia

2022 Summer Youth Olympic Games

Senegal

2022 Sailing World Championships

The Hague, Netherlands

2023 Winter Universiade

Lake Placid, USA

2023 World Athletics Championships

Budapest, Hungary

2024 Uefa European Championship

Germany

2026 Fifa World Cup

USA, Canada, Mexico

Would-be hosts target mega-events

6

Public approval for staging the Winter Olympics has been frosty at best in recent times, and so it proved this year as several cities tried and failed to drum up support for hosting the 2026 edition.

Despite the promise of financial sweeteners from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Sapporo, Graz, Erzurum, Calgary and Sion all withdrew from the running, the latter two after public referendums.

That has left the Swedish capital of Stockholm and a joint Italian proposal from Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo as the only bidders to progress to yet another anaemic candidature phase.

For the 2032 Summer Games, however, interest looks to be rather more fervent. A 13-city German proposal and an intriguing, politically motivated joint effort from North and South Korea could yet be joined by bids from an Asia-Pacific cast of Indonesia, India, Shanghai and southeast Queensland.

In soccer, meanwhile, the race to host the 2030 World Cup - which has not yet officially opened - began in earnest this year as teams of neighbouring countries voiced their intentions to submit joint proposals.

With a centenary bid from Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay in the works, a host of nations

in Europe began their own early discussions, including Ireland and the Home Nations of the UK; Bulgaria, Greece, Romania and Serbia; and Spain, Portugal and Morocco. Meanwhile reports in China say the country’s longmooted interest in staging the 2030 tournament could turn out to be a trial run ahead of a possible push for the following edition four years later.

US Supreme Court strikes down PASPA

7

‘The legalisation of sports gambling requires an important policy choice, but the choice is not ours to make. Congress can regulate sports gambling directly, but if it elects not to do so, each state is free to act on its own.’

Justice Samuel Alito (left) issues a statement on behalf of the US Supreme Court, which ruled in May to strike down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, thereby clearing the way for American states to legalise sports betting.

SportsPro Magazine | 31

INSIGHT YEAR IN REVIEW

8

Carolina Panthers sell for NFL-record US$2.2 billion Carolina Panthers (2018) Buffalo Bills (2014) Miami Dolphins (2009) Cleveland Browns (2012) Jacksonville Jaguars (2012) St Louis/Los Angeles Rams (2010) New York Jets (2000) Minnesota Vikings (2005) Baltimore Ravens (2004) Atlanta Falcons (2002)

Hedge fund billionaire David Tepper bought the Panthers in July

0

0.55

1.1

1.65

2.2

Estimated sale price in US$ billions

9

MP & Silva’s dramatic implosion The rapid demise of one of the world’s foremost media rights agencies, MP & Silva, left many observers scratching their heads. Was this really the same company that had not so long ago boasted of its own financial solidity?

Amid tales of mismanagement, long-running court proceedings and reports that the company had spiralled into a ‘state of paralysis’ owing to mounting financial troubles and missed rights payments, the gravity of the situation quickly became clear. Following its takeover in 2016 by Chinese companies Everbright Securities and Beijing

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Baofeng Technology - a deal that valued the company at some US$1.1 billion - MP & Silva had somehow lost its mojo. Now it was on the verge of all-out collapse.

The loss of major rights contracts to rival agencies, management infighting and the departures of top executives, including chief executive Seamus O’Brien, had all contributed to MP & Silva’s strife. Multiple contracts were torn up throughout the summer, as deals with rights holders, including the Premier League and the European Handball Federation, fell like dominoes. By October, MP & Silva’s British operation had been wound

up at the UK’s High Court of Justice; further east, the company’s demise was branded by the South China Morning Post as ‘the biggest fail in sports marketing history’.

It capped a remarkable turn in fortunes for a company that had been among the world’s leading distributors of sports media rights.

Moreover, MP & Silva’s capitulation highlighted an inherent vulnerability to a cut-throat, relationship-driven agency business whose margins are being squeezed in the digital era, not to mention a growing hesitancy within China to continue investing heavily in overseas sports properties.

10

Overwatch League debuts Activision Blizzard’s franchise-based esports competition kicked off in January

DAZN Group and Matchroom Boxing take fight to US

11

“This is a dream scenario for us, we can build a formidable team of fighters and also put our stamp on events from production to talent to in-arena experience. Our plan is to make DAZN the home of boxing and with 32 big fight nights already confirmed from the US and UK we are nicely on our way. America - we have well and truly arrived. Let the fun begin.”

Matchroom Boxing boss Eddie Hearn hails his company’s landmark US$1 billion joint venture with DAZN Group, signed in May.

SportsPro Magazine | 33

INSIGHT YEAR IN REVIEW

Susanna Dinnage lands the Premier League’s top job

12

“We had a very strong field, but Susanna was the outstanding choice given her track record in managing complex businesses through transformation and digital disruption.”

Bruce Buck (left), chairman of Chelsea FC and the Premier League’s Nominations Committee, announces Animal Planet global president Susanna Dinnage (above) as the new chief executive of England’s top soccer division, replacing the long-serving Richard Scudamore.

Sports OTT players up their game

13

14

2018 will go down as the year that the growing legion of pure sports OTT players upped their game to emerge as genuine players in major broadcast markets.

In the US, March’s launch of B/R Live, Turner Sports’ new live streaming service, was quickly followed by Disney’s rollout of ESPN+ in April. Both offerings entered an already crowded digital space and came as their parent companies implemented strategic shifts to capture so-called cordcutters and cord-nevers, with the latter announcing it had reached one million subscribers inside five months of operation.

Elsewhere, the British pair of DAZN and Eleven Sports spent a whirlwind

year blazing into new territories and pocketing major rights packages.

DAZN’s fight sports-fuelled, John Skipper-masterminded entry into the US served notice of its intention to compete with the mega market’s bigbeast broadcasters, while its launch into Italy came after a deal for rights to soccer’s Serie A. The announcement of imminent forays into Spain and Brazil, where DAZN has snaffled premium soccer rights, plus rumours of further launches in the near future, only underlined the ambitions of a deep-pocketed service that is now the primary focus for a rebranded Perform Group.

Eleven Sports meanwhile set about disrupting the status quo in four more markets with summer launches into

the UK, Ireland, Portugal and Myanmar.

In the UK, where the company secured rights to Spain’s La Liga and the UFC, among other properties, Eleven’s arrival caused an undoubted stir, its decision to repeatedly flout Saturday soccer blackout rules thrusting the new entrant into wider consciousness and, in the process, the crosshairs of the British sports broadcasting establishment.

Four of Europe’s ‘Big Five’ soccer leagues sell their domestic TV rights

Premier League

La Liga

Serie A

Ligue 1

Annualised value: UK£1.518 billion (€1.743 billion) Buyers: Sky Sports, BT Sport, Amazon Period: 2019-2022

Annualised value: €1.33 billion Buyers: Telefonica, Mediapro Period: 2019-2022

Annualised value: €973 million+ Buyers: Sky Italia, DAZN Period: 2018-2021

Annualised value: €1.153 billion Buyers: Mediapro, BeIN Sports, Iliad Telecom Period: 2020-2024

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Koreas unite for PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics

15

February’s Games bridged the NorthSouth divide on the Korean peninsula, with a uniďŹ ed team demonstrating thawing political relations between the neighbouring countries

SportsPro Magazine | 35

INSIGHT YEAR IN REVIEW

Russia 2018

16 17

France claimed the Fifa World Cup trophy in Moscow but hosts Russia won plaudits for a tournament which, despite pre-event fears, proved an organisational success

2018: A year of media consolidation

ďŹ nalises US$85.4 billion Time Warner deal buys Sky for US$40 billion

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completes Fox takeover for US$71.3 billion

Saudi Arabia brings political baggage into sport

18

For all the money spent and influence earned by Middle Eastern governments in recent decades, the region’s most powerful and controversial nation had kept a comparatively low profile – until now.

Saudi Arabia has spent much of 2018 making up for lost time in the sports industry, paying out to bring a litany of new events to the country as it ramps up its Vision 2030 project to reduce dependence on oil income and present a more amenable face to the world. It has also been linked with a US$25 billion plan to reimagine soccer’s Fifa Club World Cup and a reported bid for Manchester United. Those

efforts have supplemented a series of marginal reforms at home to its notoriously strict social laws, with women now permitted to drive and the country’s first cinemas open.

There has, however, been a darker side to its growing prominence. The apparently state-sanctioned murder in Turkey of US-based journalist Jamal Al-Khashoggi, and the Saudi role in the horrendous conflict in Yemen, have raised questions about the leadership of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (below) and revived concerns about ‘sportwashing’, with sports investment used to turn attention away from grim proclivities the

government has little interest in eliminating.

Beyond that, the spat between a Saudi-led bloc of Gulf nations and Qatar has also been dragged into the sports industry arena. Much to the protestations of BeIN Sports and a succession of its blue-chip rights-holding partners, the Qatariowned broadcaster’s signal has been imported wholesale into Saudi Arabia and resold under the banner of BeoutQ throughout 2018. The Saudi government denies any knowledge but there are strong indications of official involvement in facilitating or at least allowing the biggest ever act of sports broadcast piracy.

NHL unanimously approves Seattle expansion bid

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“Today is an exciting and historic day for our league as we expand to one of North America’s most innovative, beautiful and fastest-growing cities. We are thrilled that Seattle, a city with a proud hockey history that includes being the home for the first American team ever to win the Stanley Cup, is finally joining the NHL.” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman (left) confirms Seattle as the home of its 32nd franchise. Seattle Hockey Partners, the team’s ownership group, will pay a record US$650 million expansion fee to join the league for its 2021/22 season.

SportsPro Magazine | 37

INSIGHT YEAR IN REVIEW

PGA Tour and Discovery go long with landmark partnership

20

Signed in June, the PGA Tour’s 12-year, US$2 billion global media rights deal with Discovery runs until 2030 and includes nearly 150 tournaments annually, covering 220 markets and approximately 2,000 hours of content per year.

21

NFL ratings rebound after two-year slide Average NFL game viewership 2015-2018

• Through 12 weeks of play, National Football League (NFL) games were averaging 15.8 million viewers on TV, according to league figures - up five per cent from 14.9 million for the full 2017 season.

• Up until the end of November, NFL games had accounted for 19 of the top 20 and 46 of the top 50 most-watched shows on American television.

16 14 Average viewership (millions)

• On 29th November, the Dallas Cowboys’ 13-10 win over the New Orleans Saints drew 22.2 million viewers across all platforms, making it the most-watched Thursday Night Football game in history.

18

12 10 8 6 4 2

0 2015

2016

2017

2018 (to 1st Dec)

Year-on-year ratings growth (2017 v 2018)

ESPN Monday Night Football NBC Sunday Night Football CBS Sunday FOX Thursday Night Football FOX Sunday 0

3

6 Percentage increase

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9

Commonwealth Games light up the Gold Coast

22

Athletes representing countries of the Commonwealth descended on Queensland’s second city for the largest sporting event in the state’s history in April

Russian aftershocks crack WADA open

23

Ever since they were first reported in late 2015, revelations of statesponsored doping of Russian athletes at events including the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics have set a test that organised sport has rarely looked capable of passing.

Compromises have abounded between workable punishments and the desire of international federations to bring Russia back into

the fold, as a well-backed competitor and potential stage for events.

In a year where the enjoyment of Russia’s unlikely progress in a home World Cup was tempered by fears about just how carefully its national soccer team had been monitored, the reinstatement of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (Rusada) was always likely to prove a delicate exercise. What was

more surprising was just how far it exposed existing rifts within the anti-doping movement.

Concerns were raised, not least by athlete representatives, that the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) fudged its own standards when it confirmed Rusada’s return in September. By November, WADA president Sir Craig Reedie (left) – whose term ends in 2019 – was compelled to refute allegations of a backroom deal and deny suggestions he should resign early.

In between, other national antidoping associations found their voice during an October event at the White House, fronted by US AntiDoping Agency chief Travis Tygart, in which WADA’s decision was the subject of further criticism. With a figure from the world of politics due to replace IOC member Reedie, the scene is set for a debate over the future direction of WADA, how closely tied it should be to sports federations, and how best to up its resources and bare its teeth.

SportsPro Magazine | 39

INSIGHT YEAR IN REVIEW

USA Gymnastics reels amid sexual abuse scandal

24

January’s sentencing of disgraced doctor Larry Nassar was far from the end of the story as America’s embattled gymnastics body lurched from one crisis to another

Formula One eyes growth as Liberty finds its feet

25

Having kept its powder relatively dry while expanding its in-house team through 2017, Formula One owner Liberty Media blitzed its way through a welter of new initiatives in the past 12 months. An updated logo, the first in 24 years, set the tone last November and was followed up by an ambitious, all-encompassing marketing campaign. Yet it was in the digital sphere that Liberty truly made its presence felt.

Digital innovations implemented by the new ownership group

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included an official esports competition, a fantasy game, a US$100 million sports betting deal with ISG and accompanying data and integrity partnership with Sportradar, and an intriguing machine learning collaboration with Amazon Web Services. Live over-the-top (OTT) platform F1 TV was also rolled out across 40 markets over the course of the season, albeit after some welldocumented teething troubles.

Elsewhere, Liberty’s plan to reorganise and expand the series

schedule to 25 races fuelled considerable speculation over its future direction. While efforts to race in Miami and Copenhagen stalled, the new ownership group did get its first hosting deal over the line when it struck an agreement to race in the Vietnamese city of Hanoi from 2020. Other destinations are under consideration but the future of several historic races remains uncertain.

In a year dominated by the brilliant Lewis Hamilton (left), who closed out his fifth world title in October, Liberty’s next challenge will be in convincing the paddock of its vision and the series’ growth potential. Negotiations for a competitive accord to replace the Concorde Agreement will soon intensify, with that contract set to expire in 2020, and the onus will be on Liberty to turn engaging content into engrossing contests that can sustain season-long narratives.

P.42 P.54 P.58 P.78 P.86 P.92 P.96

Sophie Goldschmidt’s surfing revolution The scourge of piracy Breaking the ice in Las Vegas MMA’s transformational force FC Bayern Digital 4.0 Philippe Blatter Blockchain’s game-changing potential

Issue 103 The Disruptors Edition “To think that sport, over the next ten years, is going to be consumed the same way and is going to be different than every other part of our life just isn’t true.”

Taylor Ballantyne

P.68

SportsPro Magazine | 41

COVER STORY SOPHIE GOLDSCHMIDT

ON THE CREST OF A WAVE After forging a career in sports like rugby union, basketball, tennis and golf, Sophie Goldschmidt now finds herself at the helm of professional surfing. As chief executive of the World Surf League, the Englishwoman is harnessing technology and talent to revolutionise the sport’s flagship global properties.

Henry Hunt

By Michael Long. Photographs by Henry Hunt.

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SportsPro Magazine | 43

COVER STORY SOPHIE GOLDSCHMIDT

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t is fair to say many within the surÀng community were a tad puzzled when, in August 201 , the unfamiliar Àgure of Sophie Goldschmidt was presented as the new chief executive of the sport’s elite sanctioning body, the World Surf League (WSL). But for those operating in the sports industry at large - and indeed for the WSL itself - her appointment made perfect sense.

Here was a highly regarded veteran of sports marketing, an executive whose lengthy resump included senior roles at England’s Rugby Football Union (RFU), the National Basketball Association (NBA), the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), Adidas and, latterly, CSM Sport and Entertainment, where she served as group managing director. To those in the know, Goldschmidt was not only a well-respected and forward-thinking professional, but a shrewd and skilled negotiator as qualiÀed as anyone to lead one of the world’s most progressive sports properties - never mind that her experience of surÀng was scant, to say the least.

At the time of Goldschmidt’s appointment, Dirk Ziff, the WSL’s lead investor, described his new hire as “exactly what the league needs”, adding that her “experience, strong leadership and winning and inclusive management style” would “further elevate the league and grow engagement among fans around the world.” A little over 16 months on, Goldschmidt now sits at the helm of a sport on the rise.

Having relocated from London to the rather warmer climes of Santa Monica, she is spearheading the global growth of professional surÀng at a pivotal time in the sport’s history. Inclusion on the Olympic programme at Tokyo 2020, coupled with the growth of online streaming and rapid advancements in artiÀcial wave pool technology, have put surÀng on course for further international expansion.

As Goldschmidt herself tells SportsPro during a brief return to London for a whirlwind round of meetings and media engagements in September, “the sport’s at an incredibly exciting tipping point”.

How would you reflect on the months since you arrived at the WSL? It’s been fantastic, a kind of crazy journey.

I was a fan of the sport before but didn’t

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September’s Surf Ranch Pro in Lemoore, California saw the WSL stage its first-ever Championship Tour event on manmade waves

really know the ins and outs of what the WSL was all about, about our surfers and all the different stakeholders. I think I’ve learned a huge amount. [There’s] still got a long way to go but I feel more excited and hopeful about what we can achieve.

The reasons I took the role have been even more firmly reinforced. The sport’s at an incredibly exciting tipping point. Momentum is building in all sorts of ways. I’ve pretty much loved every minute of it.

What is your vision for professional surfing now that you’ve got your first full year under your belt?

It’s really multifaceted. We are growing very quickly. We are still trying to further develop and fully professionalise certain areas of the sport. Compared to a lot of organisations and sports I’ve worked in previously, it’s a pretty young sport so I think, for us, it’s about telling our story more broadly.

“I’ve been very fortunate with the opportunities I’ve had but this one trumps them all.”

There’s still so much of it that’s unknown in different industries and markets and I think that’s one of the really positive things I’ve experienced this first year. Pretty much everyone you meet with, once they understand what we’re all about and what we’re trying to do, they’re intrigued and interested.

For us, it goes back to the fan. Broadening our audience is the key objective, and doing that in really creative and innovative

ways. We have so many different aspects to surfing, both the high-performance, elite end of the sport but it transitions into lifestyle, I think, more authentically than any other sport. That’s a real opportunity, and then also growing the profile of these athletes. They’re amazing icons performing at the highest level and I don’t think there’s anything that can grow the sport faster than helping them be as recognised as they should be.

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COVER STORY SOPHIE GOLDSCHMIDT

“I get to go to some pretty cool locations,” says Goldschmidt, pictured here at August’s Tahiti Pro Teahupo’o

What opportunities do you see coming off the back of surfing’s inclusion in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics? Is that something the hardcore surfing community is excited about?

I think it’s a fantastic opportunity for the sport to be on that global stage. I think surfing will bring a lot of different elements to the Olympics - it’s appealing to a very young demographic, it’s cool, it’s very aspirational, it has this amazing connection with nature and the whole awareness now around ocean conversation is, I think, very timely.

We’re very excited that it’s in the Olympics.

We’re going to do whatever we can to support and make this a success. Our athletes are the best surfers in the world so, for sure, they’re going to be front and centre during the Olympics.

“The mind boggles.

No one’s ever done this before, let alone us.”

I think we both need each other. The Olympics has done an amazing job, especially over the last few Games, and they’re evolving all the time. But I think they’re aware that there are certain segments of the population out there that maybe don’t resonate as much with it. And I think surfing definitely offers something very different.

It’s a very symbiotic relationship and one that I’m sure will be very successful. I know our athletes are very excited about it. There are a lot of unknowns - the way that it’s presented and how it’s all going to be put together. *****

Would you say the IOC and the Olympic movement need surfing more than surfing needs the Olympics?

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Goldschmidt’s remit at the WSL spans every facet of a fast-growing and

increasingly diverse organisation - from the management and commercial development of its elite global circuits, including the Big Wave World Tour, to the Kelly Slater Wave Company (KSWC), a pioneering wave technology developer founded by the 11-time world champion from which the Àrm takes its name.

The WSL acquired a majority stake in the KSWC in May 2016, lured by the possibilities inherent in this potentially game-changing innovation. This September, the league staged its Àrstever elite Championship Tour event on manmade waves, the Surf Ranch Pro, which saw the world’s best male and female surfers compete at the KSWC’s pilot facility in Lemoore, California. Plans

are now in place to create a global network of WSL-branded high-performance training centres, with KSWC technology set to revolutionise the sport by enabling the WSL to take elite surÀng to new markets and new audiences while presenting events in never-before-seen ways.

What impact are you expecting wave pool technology to have on the global growth of surfing?

It’s spectacular technology. In fact, a big reason I took the job was the opportunity to be involved with something that’s so transformative for a sport. I mean, we knew it was going to be a game-changer for surfing but actually I think it’s game-changing for sports at large when you look at how sport can be presented.

And we’re still learning. Each month the technology improves and our ambitions and vision for how we can roll it out improves as well. I remember when I saw it for the first time, having seen loads of videos and being fascinated by it, just the scale of it…

The one that we have at the moment is the size of five football fields, so it’s a huge infrastructure project. But what you’re able to build around it from an experience standpoint - if you can imagine in future, we’ll have world-class waves, ten-foot-plus waves, coming towards an audience with a stadium coming up out of the water, with amazing broadcast and camera angles, just an electric atmosphere, it can be floodlit at night - it’s just a beautiful thing and it’s so interactive.

I think surfing has so many opportunities and positive characteristics but it has some challenges. It’s sometimes not that easy to programme because it’s dependent on the swell and the forecast, etc. Recently I was in Tahiti - I get to go to some pretty cool locations - and one of the most famous breaks in the world, Teahupo’o, but it’s out quite a long way in the ocean, so from a fan perspective it can have its challenges. But this technology basically eradicates all of those.

I think it’s important to state that the ocean has never been more important to us; the variability, the fact that [the athletes are] also competing with Mother Nature, as well as each other, makes the sport truly unique.

But this is very complementary for all of the reasons I mentioned - it allows us to go to markets we could never have dreamed of, to be properly programmable from a TV perspective, to engage with audiences in different ways.

You staged your first elite-level event on the system in early September. What kind of things did you try there and what did you learn from that experience?

That was our first Championship Tour event, so [there was] a lot on the line as we were getting to the pointy end of our world championship title race. We added quite a few new elements: we tried a new format, so it was a leaderboard style rather than a headto-head format, we did a lot of new things from a broadcast production standpoint different drone and camera angles because, again, you also now know exactly where the wave’s coming.

I think the fan experience was significantly enhanced. It’s a long day of surfing, especially at the wave system - it’s ten or 12 hours - so we had various different activations that went down very well. We own a big lake next door where we had waterskiing, paddle-boarding; music was a big element and music in general is a big part of surfing. We’re adding more and more music to all of our events but especially at the Surf Ranch facility. We had a couple of big acts on the Friday and Saturday night.

We tested a lot. Most of it worked, some things we want to do better, but again we’re just starting out on this journey and there’s a lot more to come.

Are there elements of the Surf Ranch contests - perhaps that concept of festivalisation - that you can apply to your traditional ocean-based events?

Yeah, very much so. I think some of the activation opportunities, how you fill dead time, how you can engage with the athletes differently - it’s much easier for us to preprogramme different activities because you know when you’re on. We push the button at eight o’clock and the wave starts running.

Overall, from a production standpoint, we’re able to test different technologies in a slightly more controlled environment. That allows us to be even more ambitious with some of the things that we’re testing, and I think that’s been one thing that I’ve been pleasantly surprised by: just how openminded the surfing world is to try new things, to being innovative.

It’s always been known as a kind of counterculture-type sport and progressive for different, maybe political or other reasons. But actually, considering it’s all about the ocean and nature, they’re really open-minded. I mean, the athletes have been fantastic. We’ve changed a lot, we’ve tried a lot this year and they’ve really embraced it, which is great. That hasn’t always been my experience in sports so that’s a real positive for what we’re trying to do.

Given that the wave system requires large-scale infrastructure development, where do you envisage these facilities being built?

We’ve got a very clear strategic plan and direction, which basically follows two different phases. The first five or six facilities will be based in very strategically important

Goldschmidt arrived at the WSL in August 2017 after a career in sport spanning rugby union, basketball, golf and tennis

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markets for the WSL to enable further growth of the Championship Tour and our key events.

We have one in Lemoore, which is our pilot facility. To be honest, we never thought we’d have events there but it’s just gone so well and the technology has become so robust that we are using that. But we’re building one in Florida; we’re also going to be building one in Tokyo, in Australia, in Brazil, likely LA, and we’re looking at building a couple in Paris.

Phase two will be more of a partnership/ licence type of approach. [We’ll remain] very selective - I mean, I don’t ever imagine we’ll have hundreds of these around the world, but I think we will have dozens of them. And the business model is different for each one. Obviously, when they’re tied to WSL events, there’s regular event revenue and commercial opportunities but then there’s broader development.

A lot of the developers we’re speaking to are looking at these wave facilities to replace golf courses in certain residential and vacation locations. Location-based entertainment venues is almost how we’re positioning them because a) there’s a lot of different uses for them, but also they’re beautiful. They’re almost alternatives to arenas, hence we’ve had concerts, you’ve got the stage floating out on the water, you’ve got that arena infrastructure around it. So the mind kind of boggles. Again, we’re learning. No one’s ever done this before, let alone us. *****

In addition to charting the commercial course of professional surÀng, Goldschmidt is intent on positioning the sport at the forefront of broader social issues such as gender equality and environmental conservation.

One of only a handful of women to head up a global sports property, she recently oversaw a historic decision to award equal prize money to male and female athletes for every WSL-controlled event from 2019 onwards. In doing so, the WSL became the Àrst and only USbased sports league, and among the Àrst

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internationally, to offer equal prize money.

Another initiative that holds particular signiÀcance for both Goldschmidt and the WSL is WSL PURE, a non-proÀt foundation set up by the league to raise funds and awareness for marine health organisations and their causes.

Having launched in April 2016 with an initial US 1.5 million grant to the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University, one of the world’s leading ocean research institutions, the philanthropic arm has since been expanded to encompass a breadth of projects and partners around the world.

Your move to introduce equal prize money for men and women was, quite rightly, very well received. Was that something you personally wanted to achieve coming into the role?

It was definitely something that I was aware of and focused on. I think it’s been a long time in the making; these things don’t happen overnight. I’ve obviously been there just over a year but there were people focused on this for decades beforehand, so it’s been a real journey.

This is just another step along that path and, in some ways, it’s the most high-profile thing you can do from an equality standpoint. But for us there’s still a long way to go.

Over the last four or five years, we’ve significantly increased the investment in women’s surfing - we’ve increased the number of events, we’ve increased the prize money, we’ve invested in marketing and promotion. So this isn’t just a silver bullet, this isn’t just one thing, but it got some good attention, which is nice.

How is the WSL PURE initiative panning out?

It’s a big part of what we’re doing. Initially, when it was launched, it was very focused on research and our partnership with Columbia University, which is one of the leaders in

ocean conservation and research around the world. We repositioned it to be much more inclusive and really focused around three areas: educating the world on the problem, how big the issue is; amplifying that through all of our channels and then letting people know how they can help solve this problem; and, lastly, fundraising and investing in projects with key organisations that are doing great work that we believe in.

We felt the last thing the world needed was another ocean conservation charity, so for us it’s about amplifying and raising awareness of the issue, letting people know how they can get involved, and then supporting great work that’s already happening. And it’s going very well.

Each year we have specific areas that we’re really focused on, so plastics and reef conservation have been focuses for us this year. But we’re really integrating it into everything we do. Our athletes feel incredibly passionate about this topic.

I mean, it really hit home when we were in Bali earlier this year. Actually, a beach I went to ten years ago on a holiday with my sister, going back ten years later, you just can’t believe the devastation. There was plastic everywhere. Ten years ago it was one of the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever been to. The athletes were wading through plastic as they went out into the reef. They were picking up trash in bags as they came off the beach - it was a real eye-opener. All these movies and bits of content you see aren’t made up and just put together. It was right there.

We compare it to if all the football pitches in the UK were dying, the Premier League and Championship would do something pretty significant about it. For us, our ocean is dying.

You mention that the world doesn’t need another ocean conservation charity.

Given the scepticism that surrounds commercial operations getting involved in charitable causes, what’s the process you go through to construct something that’s legitimate and actually adding something to the cause?

Goldschmidt poses with some of surfing’s best-known stars; from 2019, male and female surfers will receive equal prize money at every WSL-controlled event

“You just can’t believe the devastation. There was plastic everywhere.”

We’ve spent a lot of time deciding who we want to partner and work with. We have an amazing group of advisors, the best in the world across all the different areas helping us, to make sure that we’re making the right decisions in how we position ourselves. We’ve set up a 501(c)(3) entity, which is a charitable entity, so everything that is being driven specifically because of PURE will be invested back into that.

We’re funding all the resources through the WSL, so we’re in a fortunate position how we can structure ourselves. But you’re right, we want to be whiter than white. The governance side of it is really important and we have a very strict selection process regarding the NGOs and partners that we’ll work with. And they have the same for us, quite frankly.

At the moment we’ve started with around seven or eight but we’ll grow that over time.

Some are global, some are very local. I think that’s the other thing: the content around

this is really powerful. We’re going to have a big campaign next year around celebrating all the great work - some of the smallest local work in the most far-flung places to some really big projects.

I think that’s the point: everyone can make a difference, from stopping using straws to doing your own beach clean-up. I’ve become obsessed with it. I was always a bit of an environmentalist but it’s definitely gone to a new level since I’ve seen the devastation and I’ve got this job. Unfortunately now I live in LA, when I go along the beach I literally come back and my hands are full of plastic. It affects you in a big way.

Looking back on your career, you’ve experienced many different sports. Now you’re in surfing, what do you make of the nature of the sport and the way it’s structured? Are there elements that

are refreshing, perhaps things you’ve learned in other sports that can be applied in your current role?

A lot is relevant, probably more relevant than I’d anticipated, actually. That’s been in all of the different sports roles that I’ve had, but I think there’s definitely all sorts of things that I can take from other sports and apply to surfing.

Surfing is unique, the community is unique, how it’s structured is unique. The values and culture are very special, unlike I’ve seen in any other sport. Surfers, the professional ones and just in general, they do have a greater purpose. They have a greater reason for being.

They are obsessed with catching the next wave but not so driven by the money or the sport itself. It’s the greater role they can play, which has been really, really cool.

But a fundamental change is the structure.

We have basically centralised control over

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all aspects of the sport. The ownership group have aggregated all of the rights over the last five years since they bought it, so all of the events, all of the media rights, all of the licensing opportunities.

We have exclusive relationships with all of the athletes. The athletes are actually shareholders in the business, so we don’t have different committees and unions and what have you to deal with. We communicate a lot with the athletes. They are a very important part of it and we’re never going to take them for granted. They are our most important asset, at the end of the day.

Is it a culture that is more receptive to change than some of the ones you’ve experienced, such as rugby and golf, where you have cultures that have been set decades ago?

I think it is. It’s funny, the RFU, everyone says it seems in some ways like it’s not the most progressive, but I think I was fortunate with my timing. In the five years I was there, there was amazing change. I joined at a time when the organisation was imploding and off the back of that we were leading up to a home World Cup, so that was kind of a catalyst. But I think we’re all really proud of the changes that took place.

Everything is about timing and the different variables you’ve got; what you can control and what you can’t. I think surfing is in a particularly unique position. It’s the most entrepreneurial, progressive organisation I’ve worked for and because of the structure and where it’s at, change is able to happen faster than it might in some others.

The changing face of the World Surf League Since the start of 2017, the WSL has undergone a period of noticeable expansion and evolution in its executive ranks, where a string of new hires have brought a fresh complexion to a senior management team that now aptly reflects both Goldschmidt’s vision for the WSL and the future direction of professional surfing.

Scott Hargreaves Commercial Director (November 2018) Ex-Billabong and Rip Curl executive. Responsible for the WSL’s global endemic surf partnerships and other business relationships.

Erik Logan President of Content, Media and WSL Studios (October 2018) Joining in January from the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), where he has served as president since 2011. Will oversee all content and WSL Studios.

Nick Franklin President, Kelly Slater Wave Company (August 2018) An 18-year veteran of Disney. Charged with the global growth and development of the Kelly Slater Wave Company.

Andrew Stark General Manager for Australia and Oceania (April 2018) Former chief executive of Surfing Australia. Tasked with managing the WSL’s activities in the Australia and Oceania region.

Will Chignell Chief Marketing Officer (January 2018) Worked alongside Goldschmidt at the RFU. Handles global marketing, branding, social media, PR and communications functions.

Reece Pacheco Executive Director, WSL PURE (December 2017) Leads the WSL’s non-profit ocean health and sustainability initiative, WSL PURE, having previously worked for various conservation groups.

Dylan Budd You’re a female chief executive in charge of a fairly young sport. Do you personally feel that you’re in a position now where you’re going to be looked to as an agent of change?

I don’t really think about it like that. I know I’ve been very fortunate with the opportunities that I’ve had and this one probably trumps them all. It’s an amazing opportunity that I’m absolutely going to make the most of.

I think I’m able to be a bit of an agent for change - again, the timing is right. But I’m not afraid to take some risks and be innovative and when you’re trying to punch above your weight, which surfing is as a sport - you know, we’re an emerging sport - we can have that challenger mentality. We have the flexibility because of the structure to act that way, which is incredibly exciting.

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General Counsel (November 2017) Leads the WSL’s in-house legal team, working across a range of corporate, transactional, intellectual property and business affairs.

Emily Hofer Chief People Officer (October 2017) Former McDonald’s and Frito Lay executive. Oversees the league’s global human resources function.

Joseph Carr Chief Strategy Officer and Head of International (August 2017) Goldschmidt’s first WSL hire previously served as head of international and content at the UFC. Responsible for international operations, sales and events.

Beth Greve Chief Commercial Officer (April 2017) Ex-vice president of digital at Discovery Communications. Manages the WSL’s portfolio of commercial and media relationships.

THE NEW INTERNATIONAL HOME FOR GOLF

COMPANY PROFILE INTERNATIONAL EQUESTRIAN FEDERATION

sponsorship@fei.org +41 21 310 47 47 www.fei.org

Riding into China Xiaodong Wen, global partner of Fosun, discusses how the investment group is building on 1,800 years of Chinese culture and tradition to heighten a nation’s love for modern equestrianism.

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hile competitive riding is still finding its feet in China, the roots of equestrian sport are far more engrained in its people’s history. Indeed, equestrianism is very much part of the country’s heritage. Polo was a game played by its founding fathers as far back as the second century and was the cornerstone of Chinese culture during the Han dynasty.

Despite its rapid growth in recent years, equestrian sport in China is still in its infancy in terms of Olympic interest.

The nation is home to 400,000 active equestrians and directly

employs 300,000 people in the sport, though is yet to fully reach its commercial potential.

A transition began in 2008, however, when Chinese riders featured at the Beijing Olympics for the first time at two arenas in Hong Kong, which went on to host its first Olympic-certified event in 2009.

In the past decade, equestrianism has grown to become the third largest leisure sport among China’s ‘elite’ classes and, on the back of a period of growth, the Chinese Olympic body hopes to see riders compete at the Games again when neighbouring

Japan hosts their return to Asia in 2020. However, it is felt there is room to improve the sport’s reach across China, where the opportunity exists to introduce equestrianism to a vast audience currently unacquainted with the sport at an international level.

In November, the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) hosted the FEI Awards presented by Longines in Manama, the capital of Bahrain, where representatives of the body’s 133 national equestrian federations gathered. Fosun, one of China’s largest investment companies,

German show jumper Simone Blum wins the Fosun FEI Best Athlete Award at October’s FEI Awards in Bahrain

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was the title sponsor of the Best Athlete Award 2018, and is also backing China’s equestrian effort ahead of Tokyo 2020, most notably by financing its riders to compete in Belgium and Netherlands in the coming months.

“Equestrian sports is an emerging market in China, so with the FEI we are aiming to build more partners within the equestrian industry from all over the world and to share their work with the Chinese market,” says Xiaodong Wen, global partner of Fosun. “Though the sport is growing in China, you look at the numbers and the amount of competition, and the level of training and arenas, they are still not up to the international standard.

“To improve the sport professionally, the Chinese market needs the right investment and we want to support the FEI and its partners to help grow the sport, not only in China, but to gain further support from other players in the international community.”

Equestrian has a long tradition in China, Wen explains, though its people are not exposed to the sport in a way that will build a platform that its European cousins have thrived on.

“With our investment in the country’s riding and equestrian clubs, we hope to give the people more

Simone Blum became the first female show jumping champion at the FEI World Equestrian Games, held in North Carolina in September

opportunities to be in touch with the modern equestrian sport through education and also connections with those big businesses who can communicate the sport to their consumers,” Wen continues.

“Compared to our international competition, the level of Chinese equestrianism, from the organisers through to the riders themselves, is still low. With the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in mind - and China’s development in the sport, overall - 20 Chinese riders supported by Fosun will travel to Europe to compete alongside some of the best equestrian athletes in the world.

“This is also a first opportunity for us, as a financial partner, to compete with other international partners across the sport. As part of our support for the Chinese Olympic platform, we hope to

do more in this direction to aid China’s Olympic strategy and give China’s riders every chance of going to the Olympics in 2020 and gaining great results.”

The Fosun Best Athlete Award category is “a great opportunity” to make those connections, Wen says. Ralph Straus, the FEI’s commercial director, concurs. “We feel this is an excellent opportunity for Fosun to engage with the wider equestrian community on an international level,” he adds.

Equestrian sports was officially added to the Fosun sponsorship portfolio in early 2018, following the company’s collaboration with the Longines China Tour Beijing event in 2017. Fosun is keen to further widen the sport’s fanbase and increase visibility across the international equestrian community.

The equestrian movement is also growing virtually, as

consumers are sharing greater interest in the sport across linear and over-the-top (OTT) channels which broadcast its competitions. In December 2017, NBC Sports acquired exclusive rights to the 2018 FEI World Equestrian Games across multiple platforms.

According to research carried out by the FEI, the sport boasts a fanbase close to 750 million people globally.

In China, Wen says there is an opportunity to further expose the population to modern equestrianism. China is deemed to be the world’s largest social networking market, and has cultivated an advanced digital ecosystem as one of the leading nations in technological innovation.

“Through the usage of social media, internet and traditional television, we have the support from our chairman and founder, Guo Guangchang,

and other partner companies of Fosun to improve their consumers’ attendance to equestrian events,” Wen says.

“By combining our traditions for horse riding with modern equestrian sports, that could be the gateway to more consumer involvement, and will give the consumer a better understanding and idea of the sport.

“There is now a high density of mobile internet usage in China, so it is of course very important to make use of these new media-based communications for the development of Chinese equestrian competition.

“Alongside that, there is a large digital audience who are interested in lifestyle and culture, which can also, of course, become another way to target communication with consumers and increase interest around the sport.”

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FEATURE PIRACY

Walking the plank A high-profile dispute in the Middle East between Qatari pay-TV giant BeIN Sports and Saudi-backed pirate channel BeoutQ has magnified an issue that has long threatened the sports industry. As illegal streamers become more sophisticated than ever before, rights holders and broadcasters are coming under increasing pressure to invest in protecting their premium content.

By Sam Carp

Saudi Arabia bans BeIN services in the country

BeoutQ launched with major social media campaign including prominent Saudi citizens

adversaries where it hurts most.

Qatar has long used sport to boost its proÀle – notably, the country will host the Fifa World Cup in 2022, while Qatari entities back some of the largest organisations in world sport. The fact, then, that BeIN owns the rights in various territories to some of the most valuable properties is a source of pride for Qatar, making the channel an obvious target from a Saudi perspective.

“We are the Áagship in terms of pay-TV platforms in the region,” begins Tom Keaveny, BeIN’s managing director for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

“To contextualise this, we’re not just an operation that goes around buying rights, sticking them up on air, showing them and then leaving them; this isn’t the way the operation works.

“We’ve got the Áagship sports rights - whether it’s the Premier

BeoutQ begins illegal streaming of BeIN’s exclusive content via various website domains

SEPTEMBER 2017

JULY 2017

Blockade of Qatar by Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain and Egypt

the multibillion dollar rights that have fuelled the growth of sport for so long suddenly plummet in value?

Perhaps it would be best to ask BeIN Sports, the Qatari pay-TV giant that over the past year has been the victim of an unprecedented bootlegging operation spearheaded

by BeoutQ, a Saudi-backed piracy channel that has streamed live coverage of everything from all 6 games at the Fifa World Cup, to Formula One and Grand Slam tennis tournaments – without having any rights to do so.

Think of Qatar and Saudi Arabia and the mind casts back to June 201 , when a bitter political dispute between the two countries led to a coalition of Qatar’s most powerful neighbours severing diplomatic relations with the tiny gulf nation, resulting in the banning of BeIN’s service in Saudi Arabia. A few months later, BeoutQ was launched simply as a website, accompanied by a huge social media campaign and championed by some prominent Saudi Àgures. Soon, the network was redistributing BeIN’s Arabic channels as their own, replacing the broadcaster’s onscreen branding with its own logo.

In a dispute that reaches far and wide, it is perhaps unsurprising that the Saudis set out to hit their

AUGUST 2017

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henever a big Àght night is announced – whether it be a heavyweight boxing bout or an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) grudge match – it doesn’t take long for WhatsApp chats to light up as groups of friends across the globe set plans in motion for watching the action.

Those plans might entail going to a bar screening the Àght, emptying pockets to watch the event on payper-view, or even buying a ticket to see the bout from up in the clouds at the stadium. Increasingly, though, viewing live sports involves gathering around a laptop – or, more commonly, a television hooked up to another device – and watching it all unfold on an illegal stream.

The fact that fans pirate content is one of the world’s worst kept secrets. Until recently, however, the general perception of an illegal streamer has been of a specky teenage computer scientist working out of their bedroom, chuckling away after breaching whatever security measures a broadcaster might have implemented to protect their content.

But what happens when that isn’t the case? What happens when the scale of a piracy operation is so sophisticated that it can no longer be contained? And what happens when

BeIN’s Formula One coverage is among the programming pirated by BeoutQ

BeIN partners with ten sports rights holders to protest BeoutQ and demand that Saudi Arabia shuts the network down

BeoutQ branded set-top boxes openly sold in shops across Saudi Arabia

“The way that I’d characterise it is as though they’ve almost westernised piracy.” much savvier, we’re more technically aware and we’re more sophisticated in terms of our anti-piracy systems, so probably the amateur thief has been greatly impacted by this. But we’re now seeing that BeoutQ is being pirated, and it’s difÀcult to articulate this, but it’s like the seven circles of hell – it’s like a divine comedy.”

Indeed, in what is an increasingly bizarre case, BeoutQ has itself now been hacked and pirated by other pirates, largely owing to the easily penetrable encryptions that it uses.

In addition, the illegal service has started offering IPTV apps, giving viewers access to Hollywood movies and on-demand content from the likes of the BBC, Sky and Fox. “It has its roots in politics, there’s no doubt about that,” says David Sugden, BeIN’s director of corporate affairs and communications, “but now it’s morphed into a beast that’s

BeoutQ pushes pirate IPTV apps to set-top boxes

APRIL 2018

BeoutQ expands into satelite broadcasting via Arabsat.

Launch of ten BeoutQ channels across Middle East and North Africa

Precisely how much this episode has and continues to cost BeIN is anyone’s guess, but the company is now seeking US 1 billion in damages in an international investment arbitration brought against Saudi Arabia in October.

Sophie Jordan, BeIN’s executive director of legal affairs, has claimed the broadcaster is “being used as a political football in a wider regional dispute”, adding that the company has been subjected to baseless competition law proceedings and harassment of employees.

“As you can probably appreciate, it’s had a signiÀcant impact on our business,” admits Keaveny. “Saudi Arabia was our biggest market; it’s the market where we’ve had the biggest impact.

“The way that I’d characterise it is as though they’ve almost westernised piracy. This is not just being used as a tool for people to watch things for free and is opportunistic and a little bit mischievous; this is tactical, it’s strategic, and we haven’t got the ability of using basic norms of the rules of law to seek a remedy - a remedy to a wrong that is obvious and pernicious, and is happening on a daily basis.

“It has had some positive impact, as difÀcult as that is to say. We’re

FEBRUARY 2018

OCTOBER 2017

League, the Olympics or the Fifa World Cup - so we’re synonymous with the signiÀcant events that happen around the world and resonate in this region. That’s why people come after us.”

Since its launch, BeoutQ has ramped up its activities to mimic the operation of a legitimate media business. The network now transmits ten encrypted channels via the Riyadh-based satellite provider Arabsat and is selling set-top boxes across Saudi Arabia and other Arab-speaking countries.

A one-year subscription is available for approximately US 100, giving viewers access to almost every premium sport imaginable.

Keaveny says that executives at BeIN regularly monitor screens at their headquarters in Doha, attempting to interrupt BeoutQ as it distributes live footage just moments after it has gone out on BeIN’s channels. So far, despite the company’s vast arsenal of resources, those efforts have proved futile.

Cameron Andrews, BeIN’s senior legal counsel, anti-piracy, adds that Arabsat could simply “Áick a switch to stop this if they wanted to”, but the state-backed operator has ignored pleas to cooperate.

In an attempt to pull further wool over the eyes of the public, the Saudis have regularly denied being the brains behind BeoutQ, with the country’s sports minister Turki al-Sheikh even launching an astonishing Twitter attack on Uefa after European soccer’s governing body acknowledged the kingdom’s role in the operation. Two months after that exchange, however, research commissioned by BeIN and carried out by technology specialists Cisco Systems, Nagra and Overon traced the service back to Arabsat, conÀrming Saudi involvement in the channel.

Saudi Arabian sports minister Turki al-Sheikh (above) has denied all links with BeoutQ

US Government places Saudi Arabia on the 2018 Special 301 Watch List for inadequate protection of intellectual property rights

FEATURE PIRACY

BeoutQ begins pirating all 64 Fifa World Cup matches broadcast by BeIN

BeoutQ’s illegal streams (bottom), complete with the BeIN watermark

Saudi Arabia issues a statement denying involvement in BeoutQ with no supporting evidence

JULY 2018

A New York Times article exposes the scale of the piracy

detected 5,0 unique illegal streams redistributing matches during the group stages of this year’s Fifa World Cup, with 3, 3 of those being housed on social sites such as Facebook, Periscope, YouTube and Twitch. In addition, a 201 survey of 1,500 so-called millennials, fulÀlled

by SMG Insight and commissioned by the BT Sport Industry Awards, found that 5 per cent watch pirated streams of live sports.

With the problem accelerating, the question is how do you catch – or, better still, stop - a pirate?

Beyond releasing statements, various rights holders have taken steps in the past few months to do just that. The Premier League and the French Football League (LFP) took a complaint against BeoutQ to the European Commission in August, while Spain’s La Liga is working with Google to block search results that list known pirate websites.

Elsewhere, the UFC issued a warning to illegal streamers ahead of the recent bad-tempered title bout between Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov – an event that was billed as the ‘biggest

JUNE 2018

MAY 2018

nearly uncontrollable, because the Saudis have created a captive audience in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere where the consumers are getting the content pretty much for free – and it’s the world’s best content. There’s now a baying subscriber base looking for that content to be continued to be provided for free.�

If nothing else, the saga has served as a rude awakening for rights holders and broadcasters alike that might previously have overlooked the evolution of piracy. The fallout in the Middle East is unprecedented in terms of its intricacy and scale, but it is emblematic of a wider issue that threatens the sports industry at its very core. Mark Mulready, vice president of cybersecurity services at software company Irdeto, which monitors and shuts down illegal streaming of live sporting events in real-time, claims that pirates are now one move ahead of those trying to combat them. “It is becoming more sophisticated,â€? he warns. “Technical innovations have been deployed by the pirates to try and overcome some of the tools that we use. So yes, pirates are quite savvy; they’re well-resourced and well-funded, they’re making signiĂ€cant money from these pirate operations, and sometimes they’re investing in new technologies quicker than the legitimate industry is. They move very rapidly, they operate across multiple jurisdictions, and to address them you need not only good technology and good tools, but you also need good investigative capabilities.â€?

And with the proliferation of over-the-top (OTT) and social media platforms showing no sign of abating, that challenge is only going to grow. Irdeto, for one,

Àght in UFC history’. On that occasion, the MMA organisation tapped VFT Solutions to identify and record streamers illegally distributing copyrighted content across social media during the live broadcast, as well as sending notiÀcations to viewers watching those feeds in real-time.

For a sport which relies heavily on one-off pay-per-view events, shutting down pirates has become key to protecting its revenue streams. “We’ve always, in my view, been a leader when it comes to trying to deal with the issue of piracy,â€? asserts Lawrence Epstein, the UFC’s chief operating ofĂ€cer. “First, using a variety of technologies to help us limit the number of streams that are out there of our content. Second, we’ve built deep relationships with those places where most piracy takes place – Facebook being the most signiĂ€cant, but other platforms also. “The third thing is education.

You need to let people know that damages are being incurred as a result of people viewing content illegally. I think there’s a big

Fifa publicly conďŹ rms that it has engaged counsel to take legal action in Saudi Arabia

the game, because we’re not going to be buying things we can’t monetise.”

Keaveny’s sentiments are echoed

by Marc Watson, the executive chairman and chief executive of multinational broadcaster Eleven Sports, who is equally concerned by the ongoing spread of piracy.

“I have to say I think it’s an existential threat to the industry,” he says. “I think that if sports rights holders are not prepared to do everything they can to prevent and minimise piracy, then they have to expect that the value of their rights is going to fall and, in the end, it could fall dramatically.

“There are a lot of rights holders out there that talk a good game but actually don’t do anything in reality.

In the past they’ve been buffered by broadcasters continuing to pay high sports rights values. In many places you’re starting to see values dip a bit; piracy is one of the contributing factors. And the industry, led by the rights holders who own the rights, really does need to stand up and take a proper and effective stand against piracy. Right now, we really don’t see that happening.”

Going forward, then, it appears a concerted, multi-stakeholder effort is needed to curtail the scourge of piracy. For too long the argument has centred on who’s responsibility it is, but, as Mulready succinctly puts it, “the time for pointing the

Technology providers Cisco, Overon and NAGRA issue reports proving that BeoutQ is transmitted on Arabsat satellites

OCTOBER 2018

Swedish courts issue world record fines and prison sentences to those behind ATN, another pirate channel

AUGUST 2018

disconnect there in the sense that many people, if they go and Ànd something on the internet or on Facebook, feel like: ‘Hey, if it’s there, it’s OK to watch it. I’m not hurting anybody.’”

Yet illegal streaming will only continue to harm the industry.

Ultimately, those rights holders not putting the necessary measures in place might soon Ànd that the major media partners are less likely to do business with them. In a year when the value of the Premier League’s domestic rights plateaued, it wouldn’t be too surprising to Ànd that trend Àltering into sports which don’t invest on protecting their content. Broadcasters pay big bucks for exclusive rights, but once that exclusivity disappears, so too will the eye-watering premiums they are willing to pay.

“Well yeah, I think that’s fair,” says Keaveny, when asked whether BeIN might re-evaluate its rights strategy in light of the BeoutQ scandal. “I think we’re going to be much more selective in the rights that we buy, and we’re certainly going to be looking at our partnerships with rights holders and organisations and seeing who is going to work with us as part of a uniÀed approach to the integrity of these rights. People who are doing less so, we’re going to be doing less work with. That’s not a threat, that’s a commercial reality – who’s going to buy something they can’t utilise?

“This is a multiplier effect in reverse. This cascades down to grassroots football; this cascades down to the whole development of certain sections of the industry.

Companies are getting less money, they invest less, they employ less, so this is something that can really hit Hollywood, it can really hit the major sporting clubs of the world just as they’re trying to grow and develop

The Premier League filed a complaint against BeoutQ with the European Commission in August

Uefa has publicly acknowledged Saudi Arabia’s role in BeoutQ

Ànger at each other is over.”

Whether that means getting all the relevant parties to agree on a uniÀed framework, or simply investing more in protective measures, the time has now come for rights holders and broadcasters to work together to preserve both the value of their content and the viability of their businesses.

“This is something where there’s no silver bullet, and this has got to happen at many different stages of the process,” asserts Keaveny.

“The rights holders are the ultimate holders of the rights, they absolutely need to protect theirs, just as we’re spending signiÀcant money on encryption, detection and beeÀng up our anti-piracy operation well above and beyond industry norms.

“This isn’t an issue that you can contain, this has now cascaded, the Pandora’s Box has been opened. So we’re desperately trying to work with people, but this is something where we need a coalition of the willing, and it’s these people who are willing to protect their own rights and the rights of intellectual property.

“This isn’t something we need to be doing on our own. I think some organisations have stepped up, been vocal, been vociferous and been incredibly active in this area – other organisations, less so. This is an industry-wide problem; if people think this is something that’s just affected BeIN in Qatar or Saudi Arabia have completely missed the magnitude of this situation.”

Qatar Ministry of Economy and Commerce launches landmark case with the World Trade Organisation against Saudi Arabia

+$1,000,000,000 BeIN launches US$1billion+ international investment arbitration against Saudi Arabia

FEATURE ICE HOCKEY

Breaking the ice The Vegas Golden Knights were one of the sporting stories of 2018, defying both critics and odds to reach the Stanley Cup Finals in their first season. Team president Kerry Bubolz explains how the National Hockey League expansion franchise has tapped into the entertainment culture of Las Vegas to turn heads on and off the ice.

By Sam Carp

58 | www.sportspromedia.com

T

his time two years ago, you wouldn’t have been able to buy a Vegas Golden Knights jersey, let alone purchase a ticket for one of their games. Back then, the organisation was shaping up for its Àrst National Hockey League (NHL) season after being conÀrmed as an expansion franchise in June 2016, becoming the Àrst US major league sports team to set up camp in the Nevadan desert city. Now, getting your hands on one of the ice hockey outÀt’s playing shirts is equally as difÀcult – but for very different reasons.

Building a brand from scratch is a formidable enough challenge in itself, but the Golden Knights were also faced with assembling a competitive roster in preparation for their 201 /1 NHL bow.

The expansion draft granted the franchise one pick from each of the other 30 teams, although their rivals were able to protect the majority of their prized assets.

Once the selection process – which took place just under four months before the team were scheduled to play their Àrst regular season game – had come and gone, the general consensus was that the Golden Knights had misjudged their picks.

Christened the ‘Golden MisĂ€ts’ by one of their own players, the outlook appeared bleak, with one particularly scathing review predicting: ‘This team is going to be bad, potentially historically so.’ Meanwhile, in an interview with ESPN ahead of the Golden Knights’ Ă€rst match, the franchise’s Texan owner Bill Foley set the bar similarly low. “If we’re going to lose a game,â€? he said, “we’d like to lose by a goal or two, not lose by Ă€ve or six.â€?

What followed, then, was nothing short of remarkable.

After winning eight of their Àrst nine games, the Golden Knights ended the regular season eight points clear at the top of the NHL’s PaciÀc Division – shattering the records for the most wins and points achieved by an expansion franchise playing in their inaugural campaign. The Los Angeles Kings were promptly

swept in four straight games in the Àrst round of the play-offs, and by the time the Golden Knights had blown away the San Jose Sharks and Winnipeg Jets they seemed destined to become the Àrst expansion team to win the Stanley Cup at the Àrst time of asking.

If history teaches anything, however, it is that sport does not always deliver a fairytale ending.

Ultimately, an Alexander Ovechkininspired Washington Capitals proved one step too far for the Golden Knights, but not before they had inspired global interest, going from having no players to the Stanley Cup Finals in less than a year.

A 500-1 shot before the season had started, the Golden Knights’ underdog story wasn’t quite Leicester City’s Premier League title triumph of 2015/16, but it evoked emotion and captured the imagination in many of the same ways. For those within the franchise, it was a campaign that went above and beyond even the boldest of aspirations. “On the ice, it certainly exceeded everybody’s expectations,� begins Kerry Bubolz, the team’s president. “To say that it didn’t would be inaccurate.�

The Golden Knights might have been last season’s feel-good story on the ice, but they were also grabbing headlines away from the rink. The franchise ranked fourth in the NHL in terms of attendance as a percentage of capacity (103.9 per cent), while their average crowd of 1 ,0 2 at the T-Mobile Arena trumped the likes of the New York Rangers and Boston Bruins, both founding members of the league. In addition, reports citing data from e-commerce company Fanatics claim that the club led the NHL in merchandise sales for the 2017/18 season. “I think there were parts of the business that exceeded, but there were other parts where we had very high expectations,� says Bubolz. “We were over capacity every game, and we expected to be over capacity every game. The area that I didn’t

Golden Knights defenceman Deryk Engelland receives the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl after game five of the 2018 Western Conference Finals

Final Score The Desert Team: 9 The Canadian Team: 4 1:41 AM - 18 Sep 2017

expect was how the market engaged with the team through the retail side of our business. I’ve never seen a market grab hold of a team and a brand the way I saw this market grab hold of the Golden Knights.

Everywhere you went the brand was prominently displayed, and when I walked through the concourses during games I’d see 80 to 90 per cent of all the fans with at least one item, and in some cases four or Ă€ve. “I thought we would do well Ă€rst year; I felt like the brand was really cool and unique, and we had high expectations, but it went beyond what we could even serve at times. Here at our retail store we’d sometimes have hour-long waits just to get into the shop, but those are good problems to have to Ă€gure out.â€?

Amidst all the cheer that came with the Golden Knights’ eyecatching opening season, it’s sometimes forgotten that they were forced to play their Àrst regular season home game against the tragic backdrop of the Las Vegas shooting, which took place just days before the team rallied to win 5-2 against the Arizona Coyotes.

The Golden Knights consequently became a symbol of unity at a time when their city was in mourning,

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FEATURE ICE HOCKEY

The way we feel this morning after last night’s game must be what EVERY OTHER TEAM feels like when they wake up in vegas 5:51 PM - 15 Nov 2017

perhaps thrusting the franchise into the spotlight sooner than they might have anticipated.

“Even before the shooting, we had an internal objective to lead with community in every aspect of our business,” explains Bubolz.

“We were already investing and putting time and energy into our community efforts, understanding that we had a special responsibility and role to help bring the community together in a different way than it had been before.

“Then the tragedy happened, and there was no planning, it was just a reaction to a very tragic situation. The way it unfolded on opening night, I’m proud of our players and our organisation for the role that we played in the healing.

For that one three-hour window, this market was able to step away from the grieving and just smile. I think it was a deÀning moment as a franchise.”

And as the Golden Knights moved forward, they carried the hopes of an ever-growing fanbase with them, arguably reaching unprecedented levels of popularity for a team in their Àrst year of existence.

60 | www.sportspromedia.com

One advantage for an expansion franchise is the opportunity to look across the landscape and put together a proposition that is unlike anything that already exists. For the Golden Knights, being in the selfproclaimed ‘entertainment capital of the world’ provided a stage to tap into the city’s vibrant culture and do something truly unique with their event presentation.

“There was already this high expectation for the entertainment value beyond hockey, because not everybody invests money just for the hockey when they come to our games,” says Bubolz. “It felt like we had an opportunity to do it a bit differently. We really challenged our

On-ice entertainment, Golden Knights-style

team to look at it that way and take some of the unique aspects of live entertainment that happen here in Las Vegas and integrate that into our game presentation.”

With that in mind, a three-year partnership with Cirque de Soleil provided colourful and jaw-dropping performances during intermissions, while the Golden Knights’ pre-game shows quickly became a thing of dramatic legend. The build-up to a live NHL match typically involves dimmed lights, a highlight reel on the jumbotron above centre ice, and ear-splitting pump-up music. For the Golden Knights, however, it’s a tenminute theatre production narrated by soundbites from players and pundits, and starring a Golden Knight locked in an epic duel with a character depicting the opposing team.

“It was about creating theatrics on the ice that spoke to the story of the brand,” explains Bubolz. “In terms of the Golden Knight and the sword and the stone, as that story evolved throughout the year it really got a lot of publicity that some of the traditional hockey people in Canada maybe didn’t like too much.

But I think the vast majority really enjoyed it, because not everyone who comes to their Àrst game is coming just for hockey; they’re coming for an experience.”

All that the franchise does is quite clearly geared towards capturing a vast audience, and the

organisation has quickly identiÀed experimenting on social media as another way to do just that.

The Golden Knights’ Twitter page, for example, has broken convention with its tendency for playful confrontation, regularly poking fun at other teams and big, established brands that doubted them ahead of their Àrst season.

The account, which already boasts more followers than the Arizona Coyotes, Carolina Hurricanes and Florida Panthers, embodies the Áair of the city the Golden Knights represent, and has come to provide a template for other NHL teams looking to build an engaged social audience.

“We didn’t want to take ourselves too seriously; we wanted our brand to be a fun brand, to be a different brand,” asserts Bubolz.

“So at times we utilise our social channels, and sometimes we just make fun of ourselves.

“That part of our business was something that we took a risk on at the beginning of launching the

The Golden Knights have carried the hopes of an evergrowing fanbase

brand, and it’s been fun to see how that’s paid off. The league provides us with data that shows we’re growing faster than any team in the league in terms of followers. We’re number one in growth, but what I get most excited about is that we’re number one in what the league calls ‘interaction rate’, and that’s really

We think if @LAKings spent as much time focusing on the salary cap as they did worrying about us, they’d have far fewer problems 7:38 PM - 13 Sep 2017 from Los Angeles, CA

just engagement. We’re number one in every category across Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.”

And whether it was through their on-ice performance, event presentation or digital presence, Bubolz is quick to point out that what the Golden Knights achieved during their Àrst year resonated much further aÀeld than the small pocket of the Mojave Desert in which they reside, even transcending the domestic boundaries that so many NHL teams have long struggled to break.

“One of our goals when we were working on our local TV rights partnership was distribution, so when we negotiated our expansion agreement with the league, we got a broader distribution territory than just the Las Vegas market,” explains Bubolz. “We were able to distribute our games on television all the way through parts of Northern Arizona, parts of Eastern California, all of Nevada, all of Utah, all of Idaho, all of Wyoming and all of Montana, so we looked at that as an

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FEATURE ICE HOCKEY

opportunity to build much more of a regional brand and create Golden Knights fans.

“Then, once we got into the play-offs we were hearing from people in Chicago and Detroit and other historic NHL markets saying that the Golden Knights are now their second favourite team.

We started to build this kind of second favourite team following which was really unique, and then we were even able to extend that on an international basis. We had people from over 100 countries that purchased retail products from the team last year, and we tried to commercialise that.

“It takes years to build that kind of fandom, so the way we were able to move people through the marketing funnel from a very casual fan to this kind of deep passionate fan was great to see, and it’s what makes this market so special.”

Given the success that the Golden Knights are already enjoying in Vegas, it might leave some outside the US puzzled as to why it took so long for a major sports team to pitch up in one of the country’s most popular tourist destinations. Bubolz, however, insists that the Golden Knights have helped to change the perception of the city among league executives.

“I think there was a reservation at the league level because of the gambling component that exists here in Las Vegas and in Nevada,”

62 | www.sportspromedia.com

T-Mobile Arena saw impressive crowds during the Golden Knights’ debut season

says Bubolz, when asked why the major leagues might have been reluctant to have a Vegas franchise. “The market was already big enough to support at least a couple of major league teams, but it was really the antigambling. [League commissioner] Gary Bettman took a risk and it’s paid off in a big way. Once the NHL did it and everyone saw what was happening, you got others that followed.”

And now, the city is already equipped with a popular NHL team and the Las Vegas Aces Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) franchise. Factor in the imminent arrival of the National Football League’s (NFL) Oakland Raiders and Bubolz is convinced that Vegas will be at the heart of a sporting craze for some time.

“The three [franchises] to me are very different,” he says. “The

Note -We take preseason games very seriously when we’re winning.

-We don’t think they’re very important when we’re losing 12:22 AM - 18 Sep 2017

WNBA is more in the summer and it’s a different kind of economic requirement. The NFL is just such a different business, so to me they’re very complimentary. Plus, because the NFL is such a big brand here in the US, I think it’s going to bring additional visibility to Vegas that we think is not only going to be good for the overall market itself, but commercially it’s going to create opportunities for the Golden Knights.”

Despite being in only their second year of existence, it already feels as if the Golden Knights have become a key cog in the US sporting machine. With success, though, comes expectation, and at the time of writing the Golden Knights have struggled to rediscover the on-ice form of their inaugural campaign. Bubolz, however, is set on ensuring that the franchise – from a business perspective, at least – isn’t just a one-season wonder.

“There’s more visibility on the brand and on the team, which we’ve embraced, but that does create a different level of expectation,” he admits. “Using the hockey example, early on last year teams maybe didn’t take us that seriously, and that’s not the case anymore – they know who we are, so they’re coming at us at a different level than they were last season.

“Then on the business side, we’re really challenging our team not to have a mind-set that this is a honeymoon. Typically the honeymoon analogy is that you have this big Àrst year and then the business slowly trends down from there, but I really believe great organisations always Ànd new ways to build their business. We’re up to 106 per cent capacity and we were the only NHL team to be over capacity in every pre-season game this year. The revenue numbers in sponsorship have been terriÀc, and then we are building on the expectation for our event presentation.

“So there’s no honeymoon mentality here; it’s about how we keep building forward and we’re doing that.”

Hippodrome ParisLongchamp attracts tech-savvy visitors with Exterity IP Video & Digital Signage

The newly renamed ParisLongchamp regained its historic status and recognition as a world-renowned temple of flat racing following a €140 million investment and two years of refurbishment. With a new 160-metre-long grandstand, topped with a glass building that plays with transparency and perspectives, guests gain a breathtaking view, taking in the course, the parade ring and the stables.

The Challenge An integral part of the refurbishment was to help France Galop, the governing body of flat and steeplechase horse racing in France, enhance the racing experience and attract a new, younger audience to the sport of kings. This meant offering modern amenities to the tech-savvy guests such as Wi-Fi and higher resolution video, enriched with both informational and visuallyexciting content.

One of the key requirements was flexibility.

France Galop maintains a large broadcast control room at ParisLongchamp with feeds coming from satellite alongside broadcast sources. The system is connected to the sitewide IP network feeding content to specialist areas, as well as public spaces including restaurants and bars.

The Solution The Exterity integrated IP video and digital signage system delivers around 60 channels of live broadcast TV, VoD and internally produced video to 500 screens across the 55,000 sq. metres of public enclosures within ParisLongchamp.

High-resolution content is displayed across twenty different spaces, which are modular and fully equipped to welcome between 50,000 and 60,000 people, creating a true conference centre.

The channels include multiple beIN Sport channels, Canal+, Racing UK plus all 27 channels of French TNT (DVB-T package).

In addition, the Exterity IP video system carries 18 internal channels, including daily on-site programmes, live feeds of the jockeys being weighed and of the horses in the stables, repeats of races and other related feeds. These, along with 8 digital signage channels, help new race goers to learn more about the sport, understand the rules of betting and feel part of the experience that is often hidden away from spectators in the stands.

To enable the distribution of premium, encrypted channels in specific areas, the system is also fitted with content protection solutions, including Conditional Access by Conax and Viaccess Orca, as well as Samsung LYNK™ DRM.

“ParisLongchamp is a very sophisticated venue with an extensive master control room that centrally manages internal, national and international TV signals to deliver personalised content to visitors across the venue. This type of installation means that we need to work with trusted, reliable, highcalibre IP video products, which is why we chose Exterity.”

Manganelli Technology

The Result Exterity ArtioSign® digital signage enables France Galop to deliver information, merchandising and pricing via 150 TV displays across the hospitality suites, public spaces and on-site refreshment areas. The system also provides France Galop with the ability to deliver content to visitors’ mobile devices via a web app, including replays of the races.

“Horseracing is no longer a specialist interest, and we needed a system that guaranteed a tailored experience for both professionals and first timers, as well as our corporate hospitality clients,” said Thierry Migeon, Technical Manager at France Galop. “Today, we offer our own internally produced content, dedicated channels for professionals, betting information for speculators, and content live-streamed from rooms that are normally not accessible to the general public, such as the jockey weighing room and the stables. This unusual experience enables us to transform the perception of a day at the races, and we are already identifying new ways to expand.”

IP Video & Digital Signage Solutions To find out more, visit www.exterity.com or email info@exterity.com

FEATURE SPONSORSHIP

Battle of the brands Hookit, SportsPro’s official data partner, introduces its Hookit Brand Score, an all-new metric for determining which big-spending brands in North American sport get the most bang for their sponsorship buck.

A

s any marketer worth their salt will know, money lavished on sport is not always money well spent. Even for brands with the deepest pockets, securing return on investment is never guaranteed.

In a fast-changing and increasingly fragmented media landscape, the challenge of monitoring the performance of a given sponsorship or marketing campaign is certainly not getting any easier. That is why Hookit, SportsPro’s ofÀcial data partner, has created the Hookit Brand Score, an all-new measure for easily identifying which big-spending brands are seeing the most value for every marketing dollar they spend in sport.

64 | www.sportspromedia.com

The Hookit Brand Score explained

US Open sponsor Emirates’ Hookit Brand Score of 77.1 leads the travel segment

To put together the Hookit Brand Score, Hookit looked at all of the posts promoting brands from entities within the Hookit Sport Graph, which tracks a global ecosystem of over 500,000 sports properties, including teams, leagues, federations, events, venues, media companies and athletes.

The initial study is a review of the 100 top-spending brands in North American sport, as monitored by IEG’s Top Sponsor Rankings. Tracked posts were made between 1st January and 1st November 2018.

In this case, Hookit deÀnes promoted posts as any social post that has a mention (@ brandname) or hashtag (#tagline) related to a brand in the text of the post. Logos within images or video posts were not evaluated for multiple reasons, the main one being that there is no way to be absolutely sure an entity is promoting a given brand. For example, if an athlete posts an image whilst wearing a branded jersey, that athlete may or may not be promoting that brand.

However, if the athlete refers to that brand in the text, it is a clear indication of promotion.

Once all promoted posts were logged, Hookit’s data team identiÀed several key factors for each brand:

• Number of promoters (how many sports properties promoted the brand) • Number of posts about that brand (how often those promoters talked about the brand) • Engagement on posts promoting that brand • Average promotion quality of posts promoting that brand (how effective the promoters were at promoting the brand) • Value of promotion (the value of the text promotion of the brand based on the engagement on the post and the promotion quality of that post) In this study, engagement is deÀned as likes, comments, shares and video views on four of the leading social and content sharing platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. Once total engagement by platform was calculated, Hookit was able to attach a total value driven amount to the engagement based on published platform ad rates ($0.XX/ like, $0.YY/share, etc).

In order to calculate the Hookit Brand Score, Hookit scored each brand on three distinct areas, and then combined those scores to calculate D ÀQDO VFRUH RXW RI :

1. Promotion Quality Score (max 35 points possible): This score is determined by how well the promoters of that brand post about and promote the brand in posts. The scoring is a scaled value of their average promotion quality score across all platforms multiplied by the max score of 35. No brand achieved a perfect 35, but GE had a promotion quality score of 32.5, indicating that their promoters had an average promotion quality of 92.9 per cent.

2. 3 URPRWHU (IÀFLHQF\ 6FRUH (max 35 points possible): This score is determined by the value driven per promoter. Some brands can afford to sign lots of promoters, others only a few. This score seeks to mediate that gap in spending power by calculating which brands have the promoters that are driving the most value for the brand.

Any brand with a value per promoter of over US$30,000 received a perfect score of 35 points in this category. Note: US$30,000 per promoter represents the 90th percentile for all brands in this study.

The Top 100: Segment breakdown

Travel 7%

Alcohol 4%

Telecommunications 5%

Apparel & Accessories 6%

Technology 3%

Automotive 11%

Retail 4% Automotive Tyre 2%

Other 5%

Beverage 5%

Logistics 2% Insurance 5%

Consumer Electronics 6%

Food 10%

CPG 3%

Financial 13%

Energy 8%

Mercedes-Benz has the highest Hookit Brand Score of any automotive brand - 79.6

Average Hookit Brand Score in segment Segment

Segment leader

Alcohol

31.6

Apparel & Accessories

53.2

Automotive

3. Promoter Boost Score (max 30 points possible): This score is determined by how many engagements the posts about the brand received compared to the number of followers on the brand’s own accounts. Given that sponsorship is meant to amplify a brand’s message further than what they could achieve through their own channels, this score seeks to identify how well that message ampliÀcation happened. Any brand with more than 4.5 engagements on promoted posts for that brand per follower on brand-owned accounts (such as Pepsi’s 14.5) achieved a perfect score of 30 points in this category. Note: 4.5 engagements per follower represents the 90th percentile for all brands in this study.

35.4

Automotive Tyre

52.1

Beverage

49.5

Consumer Electronics

30.9

CPG

19.6

Energy

23.4

Financial

34.4

Food

14.5

Insurance

27.2

Logistics

20.6

Other

17.8

Retail

18.4

Technology

25.3

Telecommunications

31.6

Travel

25.6

0

20

40

60

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Brand Name

Promotion Quality Score

Promoter Efficiency Score

Promoter Boost Score

Hookit Brand Score

Brand Score Compared to Segment Avg

Key Sponsored Properties (North America)

Nike

16.7

35

29.6

81.3

28.1

NFL, NBA, Street League Skateboarding, USA Nordic, LeBron James, Colin Kaepernick

Under Armour

15.9

35

30

80.9

27.7

Canadian Olympic Committee, USA Boxing, US Speedskating, Tom Brady, Lindsey Vonn, Joel Embiid

Rolex

14.3

35

26.1

75.4

22.2

PGA Tour, USGA, The Masters, US Open (golf and tennis), ATP, Formula One, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson

Apparel & Accessories

Adidas

13.3

10.5

6

29.9

-23.4

MLS, Aaron Judge, Aaron Rodgers

New Era

20

5

2.9

27.8

-25.4

MLB, NBA, NFL, LAFC

Automotive Mercedes-Benz

14.6

35

30

79.6

44.2

US Open (tennis), The Masters, Sloane Stephens

BMW

12.9

34.9

16.2

64

28.6

PGA Tour, Houston Texans, Golden State Warriors, Andretti Autosport, Ryder Cup

Hyundai Worldwide

19

25.9

6.8

51.7

16.3

NFL

Toyota

11

3.1

27

41.1

5.7

X Games, Speedway Motorsports Inc, NHRA, Philadelphia Union, US Ski & Snowboard, Dew Tour, Rock & Roll Marathon Series

Nissan

17.9

9.3

6.4

33.6

-1.8

Tennessee Titans

Beverage Pepsi

27.7

35

30

92.7

43.2

NFL, NHL, NBA

Red Bull

11.9

27.9

30

69.7

20.3

Formula One, World Surf League, New York Red Bulls, Brooklyn Nets, Beach Majors

Monster Energy

13.4

8.2

17

38.6

-10.9

Nascar, UFC, Street League Skateboarding, NHRA, Tiger Woods

Coca-Cola

23.2

9

1.8

34

-15.4

MLB, MLS, PGA Tour, NCAA, US Soccer, Canadian Olympic Committee, Speedway Motorsports Inc

Dr Pepper Snapple Group

11.9

0

0.4

12.3

-37.2

MLB, Dallas Cowboys, Dallas Stars, Pac-12 Conference

27.9

35

30

92.9

62.0

NFL, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, US Ski & Snowboard, Russell Wilson, Spartan Race

Consumer Electronics Bose Microsoft

16.7

4.7

1

22.5

-8.4

NFL, Hendrick Motorsports, PGA Tour

Samsung

19.1

0

0

19.2

-11.7

US Olympic Committee, MLB

Sony

12.3

2.4

3.1

17.7

-13.2

San Diego Padres

Dell

14.6

2.7

0

17.4

-13.5

PGA Tour

32.5

5.5

1.2

39.2

15.9

Olympics, US Olympic Committee, NFL

Energy GE Lucas Oil

7.2

0.3

30

37.4

14.1

Indycar, NHRA, Indianapolis Colts

NRG Energy

0.5

0.3

30

30.8

7.4

Philadelphia Eagles, New York Jets, San Francisco 49ers

Sunoco

15.8

3.1

8.8

27.7

4.3

Indycar, NHRA, Nascar

Shell Oil Co.

18.7

0.2

0

18.9

-4.5

Los Angeles Rams, Don Schumacher Racing

Bose knows best While no brand achieved a perfect score of 100, audio company Bose has the highest Hookit Brand Score (92.9), narrowly edging out beverage giant Pepsi (92.7). Bose’s portfolio of sport partners includes, among others, the National Football League (NFL), Formula One team MercedesAMG Petronas Motorsport, US Ski & Snowboard, and Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson.

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Brand Name

Promotion Quality Score

Promoter Efficiency Score

Promoter Boost Score

Hookit Brand Score

Brand Score Compared to Segment Avg

Key Sponsored Properties (North America)

25.8

30.1

20.8

76.6

41.3

NBA, WNBA, USGA, Los Angeles Galaxy, Los Angeles Lakers, Seattle Seahawks, Chicago Blackhawks

Financial American Express Capital One

24.7

35

4.2

63.9

31.1

NCAA, Monumental Sports & Entertainment

Citi

21.5

27.7

11.7

60.8

25.5

PGA Tour, New York Mets

Barclays UK

10.2

35

12.1

57.4

22.0

Barclays Center, Brooklyn Nets

Visa

19.3

13.5

10.5

43.3

10.5

NFL, NHL, US Ski & Snowboard

Food Yum! Brands

6.6

0.4

18.8

25.8

11.3

MLB, NCAA

Mondelez

21.9

1.2

0.8

23.9

9.4

Canadian Olympic Committee

Chick-fil-A

13.4

0.5

1.5

15.4

0.9

Pittsburgh Penguins, Anaheim Ducks, FC Dallas, Philadelphia 76ers, Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl

Burger King

13.6

0.1

0

13.7

-0.8

Conor McGregor (UFC)

Papa John’s Pizza

12.7

0.5

0.1

13.3

-1.2

New York Yankees, NHRA

22.2

9.3

4.7

36.2

9.0

NBA, Miami Heat, Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Hawks

Insurance State Farm Nationwide Insurance

7.8

4.3

23.3

35.4

8.3

NFL, USA Cycling, Hendrick Motorsports

Allstate Insurance

31.9

1.6

0.5

33.9

6.8

MLS, Southeastern Conference, Allstate Sugar Bowl

Zurich

5.2

2.6

11.9

19.6

-7.5

Zurich Classic

MetLife

10.4

0.2

0

10.6

-16.5

PGA Tour, MetLife Stadium

Telecommunications Verizon

24

35

30

89

57.4

NFL, Los Angeles Lakers

T-Mobile

21.3

1.2

0.5

23

-8.6

MLB, T-Mobile Arena, Overwatch League

Comcast Corp.

18.5

0.5

2.2

21.2

-10.4

Nascar, US Ski & Snowboard, US Olympic Committee

Sprint

5.7

2.1

7.1

14.9

-16.7

Kansas City Chiefs, Houston Dynamo, Sprint Center

AT&T

7.1

1.5

1.3

9.9

-21.7

MLS, NCAA, Dallas Cowboys, AT&T Center

Travel Emirates

14.4

35

27.7

77.1

51.5

Los Angeles Dodgers, US Open (tennis), USA Rugby

United

11.4

3.7

19

34.1

8.5

PGA Tour, Rock ‘N’ Roll Marathon Series

Enterprise

23.4

0.9

1.6

26

0.3

NHL, Enterprise Center

American Airlines

13.3

0.8

0.6

14.7

-11.0

American Airlines Arena, American Airlines Center, Dallas Cowboys, Los Angeles Clippers

Hilton Hotels & Resorts

9.6

1.6

0.3

11.5

-14.2

Los Angeles Lakers, Washington Nationals

Apparel reigns Of the top five brands, two are sportswear giants: Nike (81.3) and Under Armour (80.9). The American pair help raise the Apparel & Accessories segment average Hookit Brand Score to the highest among all segments at 53.2.

Food for thought

Need a drink?

The sponsorship category with the lowest average Hookit Brand Score is the Food segment, which comes in at 14.5. Yum! Brands, the parent company of brands including Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut, leads the way with a Hookit Brand Score of 25.8.

Perhaps the most surprising result is found in the Alcohol segment, in which the average Hookit Brand Score is only 31.6. The companies within this segment, such as AB InBev (67.6) and MillerCoors (14.9), have long been among the top spenders on sports sponsorships, so the wide disparity between them demonstrates how effective - or ineffective - a brand’s sponsorship portfolio can be.

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Something Bruin Former Nascar and IMG executive George Pyne established his Bruin Sports Capital investment vehicle in response to seismic changes sweeping through sport and entertainment. Four years and a blitz of high-profile acquisitions later, Bruin continues to redefine venture capital in sport with a burgeoning portfolio of companies at the forefront of disruption.

By Michael Long

Bruin Sports Capital chief executive George Pyne, pictured in November

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Taylor Ballantyne

“We’re on the offence. We’re not minding and grinding - we’re building.”

B

uilding Bruin Sports Capital was always going to be personal for George Pyne. “When you’re the principal person,” he says, “it is a little different and so as much as I want to be successful, I really don’t want to fail. I really care about what we’re doing.”

Perhaps those comments have something to do with the fact that Bruin is almost universally referred to as ‘George Pyne’s Bruin Sports Capital’. Or perhaps it is simply the mark of a seasoned sports executive who recognises his legacy, if not his reputation, is laid bare within what could very well be his Ànal venture.

Whatever his motivation, it is clear that Bruin means business.

Pyne Àrst set to work in early 2015 on spending the US$250 million he had originally raised in funding from a syndicate including advertising giant WPP and Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert. Since then the New York-based investment vehicle has rolled on and on, swallowing up entity after entity and cultivating a portfolio of companies upon which the sun, to recycle a well-worn idiom, never sets.

From a standing start and in less than four years, Bruin’s investment portfolio has grown to comprise more than 1,700 employees operating in 37 ofÀces across Àve continents - with a client roster including virtually every top sports league, governing body, blue-chip brand and sporting event of note.

At the time of writing, its network spans the VIP hospitality and travel business On Location Experiences (OLE), sports media and technology provider Deltatre, experiential marketing agency Engine Shop, strategic branding specialist Soulsight, and Courtside Ventures, an early-stage venture capital fund investing in sports, technology and media. Bruin is also a partner, along with WPP, in OverTier, the OTT solutions provider that runs the National Football League’s (NFL) Game Pass subscription streaming service across Europe.

At Àrst glance, the pieces of this portfolio might seem disconnected

or even random, but for the company’s founder and chief executive there is a unifying thread.

“I think almost every investment reÁects change in the consumption of media and fan interaction with the passion that they love,” says Pyne, whose long and distinguished career in sports business has included senior leadership roles at IMG and Nascar. “If you really look at it, that’s a pretty consistent theme. It takes different applications - creative, experiential, media, live experiences - but essentially that’s the hypothesis.”

By bridging the divide between leagues and rights holders, brands and consumers, Bruin and its portfolio companies are seeking to capitalise upon and shape the global sports industry’s intensifying focus on directto-consumer experiences - whatever form they may take. At a time when shifting consumption patterns and new modes of distribution are dramatically disrupting virtually every facet of the industry, Pyne is positioning his company for the changes to come.

“There’s a channel change going on right now,” says the American, speaking to SportsPro over breakfast during October’s Sportel convention in Monaco. “The way content is being distributed is changing and the way you communicate to consumers is changing, so there are big opportunities in the middle of that. Really, you want to get into that because the upside is disproportionate.

“Technology is changing everything so it would make sense that sport would change with the technology. To think that sport, over the next ten years, is going to be consumed the same way and is going to be different than every other part of our life just isn’t true. The fact of the matter is how you get in the middle of that change.”

For Bruin, the consequence of that thinking has been to acquire interests that run the full gamut of the industry’s hottest growth areas - from OTT, technology and esports, to live events, data,

marketing, VIP hospitality, content production and brand strategy.

Next year’s Super Bowl, to be played at Atlanta’s MercedesBenz Stadium - a venue for which Engine Shop marketed the naming rights - offers a Àtting showcase for the company’s net impact.

While OLE will produce multiple live concerts and an array of VIP events, Deltatre will stream the game to Europe, as well as powering NFL.com and the two competing teams’ websites.

Meanwhile The Athletic, one of Courtside’s many investments in the media space, will be among the digital outlets covering the action.

“We’re always trying to be at the intersection between the passion of the fan with their sport,” says Pyne.

“What does that mean? Well, in the case of Deltatre: direct-to-consumer products, web and app design, OTT. [With] On Location, we’re taking the fan experience at the live events and amplifying that connection.

Engine Shop does 3,000 live events on behalf of brands every year, connecting the fan. And Soulsight: design in a world of direct-toconsumer is going to be more valuable than less valuable. And then Courtside Ventures, which is at the absolute tip of the spear in terms of connecting fans with their passions.”

The first down

VIP guests celebrate on the field after Super Bowl 52

It was in March 2015 that Bruin, supported by Allen & Company, announced its maiden investment.

In partnership with RedBird Capital Partners and its founder and managing partner, Gerry Cardinale, Pyne and his company took

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control of what was then known as NFL On Location, the NFL’s premium events and hospitality business, after being granted a longterm operating licence.

On Location was then ten years old, its business built solely on offering event, hospitality and travel packages to marquee NFL occasions like the Super Bowl, Pro Bowl, NFL Draft, and the NFL International Series games in London. Steady growth over that Àrst decade had fostered the belief that the in-house company was worthy of standing alone, but it would require an injection of capital to truly realise its potential.

Enter Pyne and Cardinale. With the backing of the NFL and its franchise owners, who invested in On Location through their private equity arm, 32 Equity, the company soon snared the services of John Collins, an experienced and highly regarded executive who needed no introduction.

Over two tours of duty at the NFL, Collins had run the league’s marketing, sales and programming functions. He had also been president and chief executive of the Cleveland Browns before switching sports and becoming chief operating ofÀcer at the National Hockey League (NHL), a role he held to widespread acclaim for seven years.

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“My background was really focused on building value around a rights holder’s intellectual property,” says Collins, OLE’s chief executive.

“I think that’s what really intrigued me about this opportunity. It was originating with a piece of IP that was coming out of the NFL, that was at or near the pinnacle of sports entertainment, being the Super Bowl.”

By packaging up the event’s myriad pre-game festivities, such as ofÀcial tailgate parties and music concerts, with chartered travel and luxury hotel accommodation, OLE saw an opportunity to capture lost revenue by creating a full range of

On Location Experiences has branched out into other sports, such as golf

The Super Bowl is “a US$350 million hospitality opportunity”, according to John Collins

premium experiences for fans and corporate clients. Before long, “a US$35 million business with four people focused on one event” had morphed into a full-scale live events business servicing what Collins deemed “a US$350 million hospitality opportunity”.

“Fast forward to last year in Minneapolis, which is a great market and it was a great event but not a traditional Super Bowl market, we did close to US$150 million on that event alone,” he says. “Actually, in two years, we captured most of the value that we said was being lost.”

That vision to extract untapped value and transform the game day experience at the Super Bowl would serve as the basis for OLE’s approach to other major events within and outside football, including the US Open tennis tournament and golf ’s Ryder Cup. It also led the company into a multitude of other areas.

A whirlwind run of acquisitions over the past three years has seen OLE rapidly stockpile expertise and capabilities in music, sport and entertainment - everything from Anthony Travel, the leading collegiate sports travel management company in the US, to VIP travel and hospitality specialists in music like CID Entertainment and Future Beat, and the LA-based event production company Kreate Inc.

On Location Experiences Premium experiential hospitality business Part of Bruin since: 2015 Offices: New York City (HQ) (2), Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles (3), Philadelphia, Raleigh, San Diego, South Bend Employees: 550 Subsidiaries and affiliates: PrimeSport, Anthony Travel, CID Entertainment, Future Beat, Kreate Inc., Steve Furgal’s International Tennis Tours, Kirshner Events Key clients: 150+ rights holders including NFL, NCAA, PGA of America and USTA; 300+ music artists, tours and festivals

Looking back, Collins (above) says each of OLE’s acquisitions under Bruin have all “greatly contributed to the overall story and whatever success we’ve had to date”, putting OLE second only to Live Nation in the US live event sector. But he describes last December’s purchase of PrimeSport, the dominant player in global sports travel and event management, as the “biggest transformational acquisition” for the company. As a rare example of an upstart entity buying an established industry leader “probably the biggest player in the space” for “more than a decade” - the move was a clear statement of intent. It would realise Bruin and OLE’s ambition of upending the business of VIP travel and hospitality not only in the United States, but across the globe.

“All of a sudden,” Collins says, “[we were] able to go to the marketplace with an expanded array of resources and capabilities.”

Joining forces with PrimeSport whose previous owners, The Carlyle Group, are now investors in OLE - came down to “industrial logic”, enabling OLE to scale in dramatic fashion. Almost overnight, the newly merged company exploded to roughly 550 employees in nine ofÀces, with at least 150 rightsholding clients, more than 300 music artists, tours and festival partners, and ties to around 500 annual events.

This year, Collins projects OLE will surpass US$650 million in total revenue after “a very intense, very go-go period” of expansion.

“We’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the business opportunity as we put these pieces together,” he says. “Very often in this space you’re dealing with very talented entrepreneurs who have built a pretty good business, a good enough business that they’re now getting acquired and getting a return on their hard work and their sweat equity.

“Convincing them that one plus one plus one actually equals Àve or six is hard; it requires a very special culture and also a special group of principals. The way we’ve built it out is each one of these companies is not a silo - it’s one integrated company. If you look at our work chart, it would look very much like a company that was organically grown and has been in business for a decade or more, when in fact we’ve really all come together over the last three years.”

and event production company in the gaming sector. That was swiftly followed by its acquisition of T Burns Sports Group, the sports marketing and communications company founded by renowned commercial consultant and event bidding strategist Terrence Burns.

Further inroads into esports and also soccer came with May’s purchase of SA Studios Global (SA), a gaming strategy, content and live event production Àrm, before July’s buyout of sponsorship consultancy IEG, its annual Sponsorship Conference, and ESP Properties’ US brand advisory Àrm from GroupM. Those acquisitions have, in the space of less than a year, catapulted Engine Shop from its roots as a purely event-driven, experiential activation agency into a full-service marketing company working across numerous platforms, channels and consumer passion points. For Gordon, who conceptualised and launched the business in 2012, the ability to remain entrepreneurial and creative through that process - and to move quickly when growth

Bruin Sports Capital partners (from top to bottom): David Abrutyn, Jeff Roth and Tony Crispino

Turbocharging Engine Shop “We would never have sold to a global conglomerate,” says Brian Gordon, Engine Shop’s quicktongued chief executive. “There is literally 0.0 per cent chance.”

If the deployment of Bruin’s capital has enabled OLE to scale at breakneck speed, the same can be said for Engine Shop. The New York City-headquartered experiential marketing agency came into the Bruin fold in November of 2015, and has been undergoing a similarly rapid metamorphosis ever since.

In December of last year, Engine Shop made a signiÀcant foray into esports when it acquired The Gamer Agency (TGA), a leading strategy

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opportunities arise - was what was most attractive about Bruin’s model.

“I think both of those things are challenging within the typical environment that these younger, hot agencies are when they exit to a conglomerate,” he continues, “because they’re stiÁed by more bureaucracy, they’re stiÁed by more quarterly reporting, they’re stiÁed by forced synergy, especially if they’re kind of a hot commodity that everybody wants a piece of to create their own differentiation.

“Bruin intentionally eliminated all of that: there’s no forced synergy, there’s no quarterly numbers that we have to hit because they’re not a public company. Bruin has been fantastic about allowing us to do the things that we felt we needed to do… and I think that’s missed with a lot of companies that are doing acquisitions.

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“You have to understand what these companies need in order to achieve the type of rapid growth that you want.”

Echoing Collins, Gordon says each of the acquisitions Engine Shop has made under Bruin have bolstered its knowhow and capabilities in the categories that matter most. Investing heavily in esports, for example, has put the company at the forefront of a burgeoning gaming sector that Gordon believes is now “as important as traditional sports and music and Àlm and television” when it comes to engaging younger demographics.

Likewise, he adds, bringing Burns’ experience and connections into the fold has put Engine Shop among a slew of US agencies that can justiÀably expect to capture some of the billions of dollars of corporate

Engine Shop negotiated the naming rights deal for Mercedes-Benz Stadium, home of the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons

Bruin-owned Engine Shop works on behalf of over 3,000 live events each year

investment that will materialise as a result of the country’s hosting of the 2026 Fifa World Cup and 2028 Olympic Games.

“The Àrst thing that I noticed when I sat down with Terrence the Àrst time was that, culturally, he was an incredible Àt,” says Gordon (above opposite). “He felt that there was a need to disrupt the industry in a way that he didn’t have the ability to do before.”

As for Engine Shop’s acquisition of IEG from WPP-owned GroupM, Gordon says that deal has made the company “a lot smarter on the front end and the back end” by tooling up its sponsorship advisory business and its means of assessing audiences and consumer activity.

“The fact is the way that sponsorships are being valued is changing,” he adds, “the way that

Engine Shop Global sports and entertainment marketing agency Founded: 2012 Part of Bruin since: November 2015 Offices: New York City (HQ), Atlanta, Beverly Hills, Chicago Employees: 100 Acquisitions: SA Studios Global, The Gamer Agency, T Burns Sports Group, IEG Key clients: MLB, MLS, NHL, American Family Insurance, AB InBev, ESPN, Greyhound, Mercedes-Benz USA, Michael Kors, Under Armour

“I’m 53,” he smiles languidly. “If you hang around long enough and you’re a good person, survival is underrated and undervalued. I’ve been around for a while and I’m kind of a known commodity, and obviously I grew up in America and I know a lot of people. I know a lot of people outside of America, too, obviously, but I think what we’ve done with Deltatre wouldn’t be a bad thing to replicate.”

Bruin acquired Deltatre in June of 2016, almost exactly 30 years after the company’s formation in Turin, Italy, where its headquarters remain to this day. Deltatre, which at the time employed around 500 people worldwide, was up for sale then and several suitors were in the mix. For chief executive and co-founder Giampiero Rinaudo (below), there were three key reasons to sell to Bruin: “access to the American market”; “the ability to act fast, which in sport is very important”; and because Pyne’s

deals are negotiated is changing, the importance of traditional assets like the media and signage and things like that versus nontraditional or intangible assets is completely changing. And it’s all changing because of how brands are activating.”

American discipline, meet Italian instinct It’s 8am and Monaco’s upscale Le Méridien Beach Plaza is a typical sports industry scene: a pastry-strewn breakfast buffet, a steady thrum of backslaps and pleasantries, persistent chatter punctuated by laughter and the occasional clink of cutlery. Day two of Sportel is dawning and the who’s who of the sports media world - or at least those staying in this particular highend hotel - are lining their stomachs before another glut of meetings and networking. Some are already talking business in hushed voices; others enjoy a brief moment of respite alone, sipping coffee as the early morning sun Áoods through an ocean-facing wall of Áoor-to-ceiling windows.

Perched at a table near the exit to a busy terrace - a prime vantage point from which to see and be seen - Pyne surveys the restaurant.

He’s here not for Sportel per se but for Deltatre management meetings, having Áown in from New York City the previous evening. He’s relaxed, if a little jaded by jetlag, and going by the regular hellos and handshakes that come his way, there are more than a few old acquaintances in the vicinity.

Àrm is “not subject to the typical investment cycle of equity funds”.

“Of course, at some point there will be an exit but they are not looking short-term,” adds the Italian, who, along with fellow co-founder Luca Marini, retained a 25 per cent stake in Deltatre following Bruin’s acquisition. “Another thing that Bruin brought to us was discipline in the numbers,” he continues. “Before, we were myself and my partner, we had been good growing the business, but at the end of the year if we made ten per cent more or ten per cent less of EBITDA, it was not changing our life. In Bruin, of course, they have to respond to their investors and that’s healthy for the companies.”

Yet Bruin’s commitment to allowing Deltatre to maintain its autonomy, and retain the essence of its culture and identity and good old-fashioned Italian instinct, was all part of the appeal.

“That was one of my conditions after 30 years of running the company,” laughs Rinaudo. “But they are shareholders and the job of shareholders is to check how things are going and, of course, if you want the money you have to explain why you need this investment.

We are very aligned. I’m a strong believer in alignment of interests, and of course we want to increase the value of the company.”

That imperative is unquestioned, of course, and indeed Bruin’s injection of capital has already accelerated Deltatre’s growth, not only in North America, where

Deltatre Sports and entertainment media and technology company Founded: 1986 Part of Bruin since: June 2016 Offices: Turin (HQ), Brno, Geneva, Hamburg, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai, Munich, New York City, Paris, Prague, Salt Lake City, Singapore (2), Skjope, Sydney, Tokyo Employees: 1,000 Acquisitions: Massive Interactive Key clients: Fifa, NFL, IOC, Uefa, Premier League, ATP World Tour, European Tour, Premier League, Juventus, Discovery, BBC, Sony, BT Sport, Star TV, Rede Globo

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FEATURE INVESTMENT

Pyne says the company has now developed a “meaningful” business having opened three ofÀces and secured major clients, but into other key sectors.

As a global leader in building digital solutions, Deltatre has long dined out on the media industry’s appetite for developing streaming services and OTT platforms, not to mention the growing consumer trend towards digital and mobile viewing, greater content customisation, and more personalised user experiences.

In sport, it has built its business on creating bespoke, often costly digital experiences for top-level rights holders including Fifa, Uefa, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Premier League, NFL and the ATP. In future, however, Rinaudo says the focus will be to standardise and expand its solutions to those lower down the pecking order, such as niche sports or leagues and clubs with more modest budgets, as well as other forms of entertainment.

This year’s acquisition of Londonbased Massive Interactive, which was naturally facilitated by Bruin and could be worth as much as US$127 million in cash and other provisions, is evidence of that strategy in action.

The combined company now comprises nearly 1,000 full-time staff across 18 ofÀces worldwide, with the acquisition seen as a way to couple Massive’s expertise in user experience with Deltatre’s video streaming capabilities, thereby shortening the time it takes to get new OTT services to market.

“This was one of the goals when we partnered with Bruin,” says Rinaudo, speaking shortly before the Massive acquisition was made public in early November. “It’s not easy to Ànd a good company that complements us, but organic growth is starting to become difÀcult.”

Partners by design Throughout his career, Pyne has been known as a builder of businesses.

An Ivy League alumnus who played football at Brown University, he developed his management chops at his family’s real estate company in New England before relocating to Atlanta, where he helped the city’s Chamber of Commerce overturn the fortunes of its Board of Education.

Later, he secured a role at Portman Companies under the revered architect and commercial real estate mogul John Portman, for whom Pyne oversaw a US$2 billion debt

Soulsight Brand strategy and design agency Founded: 1997 Part of Bruin since: October 2018 Offices: Chicago (HQ) Employees: 60 Key clients: Miller-Coors, Kraft-Heinz, Campbell’s, Hershey’s, PepsiCo, Performance Health, Vital Proteins, Walgreens

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Deltatre’s client roster includes big-name rights holders such as Fifa, Uefa and the IOC

restructuring, the second largest in the world at that time.

It was while working under Portman that Pyne experienced his Àrst taste of sports business.

Spotting an opportunity to commercialise some of Portman’s real estate around the 1994 Super Bowl in Atlanta, the young executive sold space for corporate hospitality and VIP parties featuring NFL players. That kernel of an idea spawned AMC Events, a division that would go on to manage and market sports properties, including Pyne’s next employer, Nascar.

Pyne joined the motorsport series in 1996, serving as head of licensing before rising to the position of chief operating ofÀcer in 2003. By 2006 he had jumped ship to IMG Sports & Entertainment, where, as president, he helped turn what was primarily a talent representation agency into a global sports media, marketing and entertainment behemoth.

Looking back, Pyne cites his experiences running Nascar and IMG as his greatest learning curves. Indeed, he doesn’t look too far from those organisations for inspiration - he points to Bill France and Roger Penske, two godfathers of stock-car racing, and the late Ted Forstmann, under whom he worked at IMG, as his standout inÁuences. Pyne also likens his approach at Bruin to the model employed by Peter Chernin, the American chairman

Courtside Ventures Early-stage venture capital investing in sports, technology, and media Launched: 2016 Part of Bruin since: January 2016 Offices: Detroit, New York City Partners: Dan Gilbert, WPP Key investments (32 companies to date): The Athletic, StockX, 100 Thieves, Drone Racing League, Beam, FanAI, LiveLike VR, Religion of Sports

and chief executive of The Chernin Group (TCG), which operates and invests in businesses across media, entertainment and technology.

“What Peter Chernin has done in entertainment,” he says, “we’re trying to do in sports.”

But at Bruin, which he conceived after leaving IMG in the summer of 2014, Pyne sees himself playing the role of business coach-cummentor more than straightforward investor. “We have a small team at Bruin but it’s really me and that CEO,” he says. “So we’re very entrepreneurial.”

He often speaks of creating a culture of excellence, of the importance of building trust and recognising that, in business, success comes through a mindset of dealing with “people, not robots”. Moreover, his refusal to change any of the leadership teams at Bruin’s portfolio companies is the measure of a man who places greater emphasis on empowering management and long-term growth than on the traditional private equity mindset of streamlining and Áipping businesses for quick proÀt.

“I think it’s fun for them to create new things,” Pyne says. “It reenergises a management team, so I think it’s fun for the managers and it’s fun for us. We’re on the offence, and that’s what this is about. We’re not minding and grinding - we’re building.”

It is an approach that certainly sits well with the executives on whom Bruin makes its bets.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, every one of Pyne’s business partners paints a picture of a caring, generous

and accessible businessman; someone who would more readily join them on the frontline than pull the strings from a distance while demanding results. Weekly calls and monthly meetings are testament to that, but for many it is Bruin’s ability to act quickly and decisively, to stay nimble and take calculated risks, that is especially liberating.

“We were looking for someone who could be a catalyst to our growth but not a dominating force,” says George Argyros (left), the chief executive of Soulsight, a Chicago-based strategic brand design agency Bruin acquired in October. “We were looking for a group that would come in and understand that as a cultureforward company that Soulsight is, that it’s quite important not to detonate what has made us a very, very healthy company and quite successful in our own right.”

It is an approach that stems directly from Pyne, adds Gordon, who says it is impossible to separate the businessman from the company he runs: “He made you feel that you were entering into a partnership that was going to be good for you, that was going to be good for your people, and that that wasn’t going to change when the ink dried.”

Deepen Parikh (above), a partner at Courtside, for whom Pyne serves as non-executive chairman, concurs.

“I truthfully can’t think of a person who is more well-versed from not only a relationship standpoint, but having seen multiple cycles in the sports industry,” says Parikh.

“We’re talking about everything from live events and marketing and entertainment, all the way through more global business, understanding what a league in India might be interested in versus Europe versus the US. Those are all things that, truthfully, only come with experience so we heavily rely on George in a lot of those cases.”

Yet for all the credit directed towards its spearhead, Bruin is by no means a one-man enterprise.

Alongside Pyne, Bruin’s other partners include former Allen & Company vice president Jeff Roth, the company’s Ànancial, strategic and deal lead; ex-IMG College chief operating ofÀcer Tony Crispino, who oversees Bruin’s day-to-day operations; and David Abrutyn, another IMG recruit whose expertise lies in brand strategy and who is the long-time commercial agent of Russian ice hockey star Alex Ovechkin. Each of those partners works closely with the executive teams of Bruin’s portfolio companies, assisting in key areas such as strategic planning, business development, mergers and acquisitions, Ànancial management and recruitment.

Together, they comprise a formidable team, and for all that Bruin’s success to date has been down to a serendipitous blend of opportunism and strategic foresight, little about their approach will change if Pyne has things his way.

“I think success,” he says, “is building something great and, being a disruptor by heart, something that looks a lot different when you Ànish than when you started, that it wasn’t kind of the same old, same old. A good ice cream shop doesn’t just sell vanilla ice cream.

“I’ve been so busy I haven’t really thought about what stage of the game that we’re in. It’s evolving and we kind of just take it one day at a time. We have a lot of gasoline left in the tank so we’re going to keep charging pretty hard over time, continue to be opportunistic, and continue to look for things that we can build and grow with great leaders.”

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FEATURE MMA

Taking over A US$4 billion takeover in May 2016 created new opportunities and expectations for the UFC. Chief operating officer Lawrence Epstein explains how Endeavor is taking one of sport’s most transformational forces to another level.

By Eoin Connolly

N

ot many organisations in sport this century have had quite the impact of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

Its story is familiar enough by now. Beginning life as gruesome curiosity in the 1990s, with a ruleset from the playground and an aesthetic from the underground, it was turned by the Zuffa consortium from a US$2 million punt into the world’s leading mixed martial arts series and a multimedia juggernaut. Between them, brothers Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta and their partner and frontman Dana White established an international phenomenon with nine-Àgure TV deals, global pay-per-view events, licensed merchandise from video games to gyms, and a handful of breakout stars like Randy Couture, Anderson Silva and Ronda Rousey.

It had become established, if hardly establishment, by the time it was subject to a US$4 billion takeover in May 2016 by WME | IMG – now Endeavor. That new era brought a new set of expectations, and a fast-emerging property would

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China is a key target market for the UFC

need a step-change in performance to justify that investment.

The signs are that progress is coming. In May, ESPN signed a Àveyear deal valued at US$1.5 billion to take the US broadcast rights to the championship from 2019. A report issued by Moody’s Investors Service in July suggested that the UFC had earned over US$700 million in 2017, while long-serving UFC president White claimed in August that the organisation was now worth over US$7 billion.

“Well, I’m lucky enough to have the perspective of having been around since the acquisition by Zuffa,” says Lawrence Epstein, the UFC’s chief operating ofÀcer, “and seen the transformation of the UFC from what was a very tarnished brand to one that now sits alongside all of the great sports brands globally.

The last two years have been really important years in the evolution of the UFC. The acquisition by Endeavor has really taken us, in many ways, to new levels.

“We’re certainly proud of what we did before that acquisition but the resources, the connections, the relationships and the strategic thinking that Endeavor has brought to the table has really been transformative. I think the most dramatic manifestation of that, of course, is our ESPN deal here in the United States, where we tripled the rights fees from our previous Fox deal, and now we’re here in the US with the sports leader in this country.

“So I could give you a variety of other examples about how the Endeavor organisation has helped us – from sponsorship, to international

television deals, to brand-building and star-building for our athletes, to a variety of operational efÀciencies that have been created – but to put it all in a nutshell, we’ve gone from having four ofÀces globally to having 50 ofÀces globally. We’ve gone from about 350 employees to about 7,000 employees. So we’ve just got a whole new set of tools that we never had before Endeavor acquired us.”

The upward trend has not been entirely smooth. Changes planned by the new ownership group meant a turnover of staff that Epstein admits was “tough”, with the loss of “deep relationships” and “people who had been there from the very beginning”. As well as the Fertitta brothers, chief global brand ofÀcer Garry Cook, chief content ofÀcer Marshall Zelaznik, social media director Shanda Maloney and EMEA vice president James Elliott were among the dozens of staff who were released or chose to depart within a year of the takeover.

Since that turbulent spell, however, Epstein describes a period of continued growth: one built on an existing relationship with WME that “goes back a decade before the acquisition”.

“Ari Emanuel was our agent here in the United States,” Epstein recalls of Endeavor’s co-chief executive, “and helped us with most of our television distribution deals. He’s a huge fan, he’s always been a great friend, and since the acquisition he’s really thrown in a ton of his time.”

According to Epstein, Endeavor has leveraged its huge, diverse network of businesses

The UFC’s capacity to showcase its athletes has also been scaled up since the takeover, with the historical capabilities of the WME agency coming to the fore.

“They’re in the business, at their core, of building stars,” Epstein says. “Traditionally, that was in the movie and television business; when they acquired IMG the amplitude and focus was increased to include sport. The way that we have grown not only the notoriety of our athletes and their celebrity status, but the speed by which we’ve done it has been incredible.”

The primary recipient of that expertise has been Ireland’s Conor McGregor (left), the sometimes brilliant, sometimes boorish, always notable former featherweight and lightweight champion. Epstein explains that the access WME has in the entertainment media has eased McGregor into spaces that he might not otherwise have found himself, “from late-night talk shows

and contacts to deliver tangible beneÀts to the UFC. “One is content distribution,” he notes. “Before the acquisition, I think we had made the decision that we wanted to build franchises in all the major distribution verticals that were out there: pay-per-view, broad reach television, OTT, and then sponsored content on platforms like YouTube.

As consumers’ appetite for content changes, we’ll be in all the areas and we’ll be able to meet them wherever they want to consume content.”

Endeavor, Epstein says, has “crystallised and enhanced that strategy”, with a further addition to its portfolio proving especially useful.

“We had been using a company called NeuLion to distribute our OTT and our digital pay-per-views. Endeavor acquired that less than a year ago, so that’s now part of the family. We have a lot more control over the direction of how that platform is going to change and grow to meet our particular needs.”

“The strategic thinking that Endeavor has brought to the table has really been transformative.”

UFC 229, headlined

by Conor McGregor’s fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov, proved a commercial success but was beset by controversy

to other celebrity-oriented outlets”.

“We’ve taken that game plan and we’re using it to enhance the brands of all of our athletes,” Epstein adds, “and we’re having some great success with it.”

Taken together, the UFC has used these assets to scale up its events. Some of its most successful have taken place in the past couple of years, with the most talkedabout dragging the organisation into unfamiliar territory. Whatever the sporting merit of McGregor’s August 2017 boxing match against unbeaten great Floyd Mayweather Jr, the showdown dominated much of the sports media agenda through last summer.

Mayweather-McGregor delivered “amazing” commercial results: its 4.3 million US pay-per-view buys has only been bettered once, when Mayweather beat Manny Pacquiao in 2015, while it also earned over US$55.4 million at the gate. As Epstein adds, “it obviously earned the athletes hundreds of millions

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FEATURE MMA

Media strategy The UFC media distribution strategy, according to Lawrence Epstein, is “different market to market”. But the central goals that the organisation is trying to accomplish can be identified by examining its US activities in the wake of the new five-year deal it will begin with ESPN in 2019.

“Let’s break that down,” Epstein says. “First of all, pay-per-view. We’re going to continue to sell pay-per-view through our own platform, UFC.tv, in addition to a host of digital distributors including Xbox, PlayStation, Roku, Amazon, the list goes on. We will continue to distribute through traditional cable and satellite.”

ESPN, unlike previous TV partner Fox, also has the technology to sell UFC pay-per-views as a non-exclusive distributor.

“Number two,” continues Epstein, “broad reach. ESPN is a broad-reach platform here in the US for sports content, and having that sort of megaphone to expose people to the product, to breed new fans, is key.

“But it doesn’t end with the flagship networks. All of the editorial and earned media that will be generated through Sports Center, through the app ecosystem, through the magazine, through their social platforms – they’re just getting a whole host of resources that are going to expose the UFC brand and our athletes to a whole new audience.

“Third is OTT, and there’s a couple of plays there. One is through the ESPN+ OTT platform.

We’re going to have 20 exclusive fights on that platform, and the second is going to continue to be our OTT platform. UFC Fight Pass is going to continue to have UFC content, but I think you’re going to see a more robust offering of third-party MMA, boxing, jiu-jitsu, karate, and other martial arts content, in addition to the entire UFC library.”

Elsewhere, Epstein adds, a counterpoint can be found in China, where the UFC has “about 15 different regional satellite deals” giving it “virtually complete coverage over the entire country, with a magazine show that gives us broad distribution” and offers a more “snackable suite of content”. Together with that, “an OTT play” with PPTV creates another route to the audience and places the UFC alongside “premium sports content” like soccer’s Premier League and Bundesliga.

“Certain countries have robust pay-per-view business, like Australia and New Zealand, and others don’t,” Epstein notes. “In the UK, we’ve recently entered into a deal with Eleven Sports to distribute a big chunk of our content, but you’re also going to see pay-per-view opportunities with the traditional pay-per-view distributors in the market.

“It’s a little bit early days right now; we haven’t penned all the deals but we’re very optimistic that we’ll have a pay-per-view play in the UK in 2019 and beyond.”

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of dollars”. For the UFC, it was also “a great learning experience” that “showed many of the skills that we’ve honed in the UFC are transferable to the world of boxing”.

There were some tougher lessons. The main event was delayed by an hour as the UFC Fight Pass live streaming system struggled to keep up with demand, while digital security company Irdeto estimated that 2.93 million people watched illegally online.

Piracy and stability are two areas in which the UFC has worked hard in the aftermath, with the crackdown on stolen streams based on a strategy combining technology, collaboration with social platforms like Facebook, educating the wider public about copyright issues and lobbying for stronger legislation.

Nonetheless, the commercial progress made by the UFC was evident when McGregor returned to the octagon earlier this year to Àght Khabib Nurmagomedov of Russia for the lightweight title.

UFC 229 was beset by controversy. In April McGregor had pleaded no contest to charges of disorderly conduct after an incident in which he threw a metal equipment dolly at a bus carrying members of Nurmagomedov’s team, breaking a glass window and injuring two people inside. He was sentenced to Àve days’ community service and ordered to undertake an anger management course.

Then, after a build-up further marked by toxic public exchanges between the two men, Nurmagomedov responded to his fourth-round win by leaping the octagon fence to Àght with one of McGregor’s training partners, Dillon Danis. Inside the ring, McGregor then became involved in a scufÁe with Abubakar Nurmagomedov, Khabib’s cousin, and a general sense of mayhem descended. Both Àghters will face a disciplinary hearing in December to decide the Ànal terms of their punishment.

Epstein professes himself “not happy” with the post-bout melee, which he accepts has reinforced stereotypes about the UFC that

“We don’t tell fighters what to say or what to do.

They’re adults.” the organisation has worked hard to counter. It also cast a frustrating shadow over prior efforts to build the most successful event in MMA history, with 2.4 million US pay-per-view buys, ticket revenues of US$17.2 million, and tens of millions of social media impressions.

“Up until the end of 229 it was an incredible event, an exciting event; a record-breaking event based upon whatever metric you want to choose,” Epstein says. “We’re proud of how a guy from Dublin and a guy from Dagestan took off with the collective US population and countries all around the world.”

A common denominator in both promotions, other than the presence of McGregor, was the venue. The UFC has been an anchor tenant at the T-Mobile Arena since the 20,000-seater venue opened in Las Vegas in 2016. According to Epstein, it has been a natural Àt.

“We’re typically doing four to six events per year in Las Vegas, many of those being our most premium,

Epstein (above) speaks at November’s launch of the UFC Performance Institute Shanghai

Endeavor supremo Ari Emanuel (right) is “a huge fan” of MMA, says Epstein

biggest events, which makes sense because Las Vegas is a combat sports capital,” he says. “We have the support of the hotel-casino industry in the city, and it’s a place where people from around the world want to come to see the biggest events.”

Away from Nevada and the US, the UFC has now staged events in 23 countries. Russia was the latest to do so in September. UFC Fight Night Moscow, which became one of the biggest promotions in the sport’s history, was preceded by the appointment of Andre Gromkowski as the vice president of a new UFC Russia arm, formed in partnership with Russian-Chinese fund Mubadala Investment Company.

“It’s tough,” says Epstein, when asked about the UFC’s global expansion strategy, “because we’re only doing 42 events per year, and there’s obviously so many places around the world where we know we have fanbases and we know we’ll be successful for the live event.”

The method for identifying potential UFC host cities is to Àrst of all divide international territories into “four big blocks: North America; South America; Asia, which is just massive; and then the EMEA region”. Regional directors then set terms as to which cities would make the most sense in a given year. London, for example, is slated to host an annual event in Europe, but UFC then has “Áexibility with Àve or six other events around that area” depending on local broadcast deals, Àghters’ nationalities and other opportunities.

In Russia, the UFC now collaborates with former rival M-1 Global MMA. The tie-up is aimed at growing visibility and aiding talent identiÀcation, with M-1 Challenge champions given the chance to earn UFC contracts.

The world, as Epstein acknowledges, is “a big place”, and other promotions can Ànd their place in it. Chief among them is the Singapore-based ONE Championship, which bills itself as Asia’s biggest sports property and this year closed on a billion-dollar valuation.

ONE plans to stage 24 events next year and while Epstein insists that the UFC is “the worldwide leader in the sport of mixed martial arts”, he also welcomes the presence of other international series and is “rooting for” their success.

“I mean, the soccer analogies aren’t perfect but we sort of feel like we’re the Premier League,” he suggests. “The Premier League is the number one league globally. Are there good teams in La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga? Yeah, there are, but they’re not the Premier League.

“To me, though, it’s not a zero sum game, in the sense that it’s not us versus ONE FC, it’s not us versus Bellator, us versus other

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FEATURE MMA

The McGregor factor There is an argument easily made that the UFC’s biggest asset is the source of its biggest headaches.

Ireland’s Conor McGregor is one of the more watchable talents in the history of MMA. His dramatic style and outsized personality have made him the UFC’s leading crossover star, while he has been part of its richest promotion to date in the octagon and his unlikely encounter with boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr was an enormous financial success.

Yet he is as confounding as he can be compelling, an often abrasive, sometimes abusive character, too ready to engage in hateful speech and angry behaviour. In April he attacked a bus carrying rival Khabib Nurmagomedov and members of his team outside Brooklyn’s Barclays Center; months of toxic build-up to his October defeat to the same opponent – Nurmagomedov, not the bus – boiled over in Las Vegas in a post-bout brawl.

“Obviously, we’re not happy with what happened in Brooklyn and of course what happened after the event in Las Vegas,” Epstein says. “We’ve just worked too hard to elevate this brand, and to dispel misunderstandings and misconceptions and untruths about who we are, what our brand is and who our athletes are, so those situations are not good because they tend to validate what the naysayers have said about UFC and MMA for many years.”

Yet as poorly as such incidents reflect on the UFC, Epstein is clear that the organisation “only has so much control over the athletes”.

“They’re not our employees, they’re independent contractors,” he says. “We’re working for them in promoting and growing their brands, and coordinating and putting on fights. So it’s not the typical employer-employee relationship that some other organisations have, number one.

“Number two, and this is something that Dana [White, above left] has drilled into everyone’s head around here from pretty much day one, we don’t tell fighters what to say or what to do.

They’re adults, they’re independent contractors and they should manage their own affairs.

Conor’s got a full team around him of lawyers and PR consultants and a variety of people, and he needs to make his own decisions about how he conducts himself.

“This is not scripted, this is something that is real and clearly, as I indicated, mistakes were made, things happened that we don’t approve of. I think we did an extraordinary job on our end of making sure that things didn’t get out of control, that people weren’t injured, as I think did the Nevada Athletic Commission which was regulating the event.”

promoters around the world. In fact, we’re happy with the success of ONE FC, for example, in Asia, because we can only do so many events there. ONE FC will continue to expose people to mixed martial arts, and if they like the product we think it’s very likely that they’ll want

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to experience the market leader – which is, of course, us.”

Epstein acknowledges that MMA is in the unusual position of having grown from the head – through elite promotions like the UFC – rather than the roots.

“Every sport that exists, frankly, of

any prominence at the professional level has an amateur infrastructure that sits below it,” Epstein notes, adding that such a set-up has been lacking in the recent past.

To address that, the UFC has been providing PR and Ànancial support to the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF), which was founded in 2012 with the aim of becoming a global governing body. The IMMAF intends to standardise a set of rules at amateur level, involving everything from equipment speciÀcations to legal striking methods, and could in time help universalise standards around elements in professional MMA such as weight-cutting and anti-doping.

“It’s been important to develop talent,” Epstein adds. “It’s been important to educate sports ministries around the world about what MMA is and frankly what it isn’t. And certifying trainers to make sure people are training properly, health and safety issues relating to the sport. For so many reasons, we felt that establishing a strong, global, international federation that would organise the amateur side of MMA was key.

“There’s still a long way to go but we’ve always had a goal of having the amateur form of MMA become an Olympic sport, and that’s the ultimate goal that we’ve been pursuing – understanding that it may take several decades to get there. But that’s always been a major goal for us and now it’s a major goal for the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation.”

The UFC’s intention of staying at the heart of a sport it did so much to popularise have to be taken seriously. Epstein conÀrms that this “nimble company” would be open to the right opportunities beyond the octagon again in the future, but its “primary” focus remains on being the driving force behind MMA. “Primary is understating it,” he adds. “The vast majority or all of our efforts are focused on growing the UFC brand, continuing to promote the athletes from the UFC, and focusing simply on mixed martial arts.”

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To Inspire, Unite and Grow the Sponsorship Industry www.sponsorship.org

COMPANY PROFILE INTERNATIONAL FLOORBALL FEDERATION

kalsta@floorball.org +41 76 343 85 30 floorball.sport

Floor plan Floorball’s official rules were only put into writing in 1981; less than 40 years later, the sport has more licensed players in Finland than ice hockey. As the sport continues to expand globally from its Nordic base, International Floorball Federation secretary general John Liljelund and sales and marketing manager Tero Kalsta discuss floorball’s next moves.

F

loorball is a sport on the rise. Long since established among the mainstream sports in the Nordics, the game is growing further afield at a rapid pace, with the hockey variant making its World Games return in 2017, 20 years after its only previous appearance.

Six nations took part in the sport’s second-coming at the multi-discipline event in the Polish city of Wroclaw, where

that the game has more licensed players in the country than ice hockey.

The dramatic increase in floorball’s popularity in Finland - considered one of the ‘Big Six’ ice hockey nations alongside Canada, the US, the Czech Republic, Russia and Sweden - is cause for satisfaction for the sport’s global governing body, the International Floorball Federation (IFF).

More pertinently, however, for

The IFF prides itself on being “a dynamic organisation”, says Tero Kalsta

Sweden claimed gold ahead of Switzerland, Finland, Czech Republic, the United States and Poland. A year on, the stature of the sport, which is played indoors in six-a-side teams with a hollow plastic ball, has received an impressive boost, with the Finland Floorball Federation (FFF) announcing

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secretary general John Liljelund it is proof of floorball’s appeal as the sport looks to maximise its commercial opportunities.

“Apart from the financial impact, which will make it possible to run more education and spreading of the sport, having an international level sponsor would have a vast

impact on the credibility of our sport,” he says.

“We have World Championships that gather over 100,000 spectators, but still we are not reaching the level of awareness and visibility needed to bring the sport forward. We believe that an international level sponsor will bring visibility and lower the threshold for others to join.”

Liljelund pinpoints the precedent set by Finland’s success in expanding awareness of the game, but he acknowledges that it also serves as a reminder of the work still to do elsewhere.

“It proves that we have a lot of potential to grow in all markets,” he says. “But it also tells us quite clearly that a lot of work needs to be done to streamline and develop the national organisations.”

Tero Kalsta, the marketing and sales manager at the IFF, develops Liljelund’s view further.

In a business world increasingly focused on fulfilling obligations of corporate social responsibility, he insists any new commercial partnership has to constitute more than just a straightforward branding exercise.

“We are looking for someone who is interested in a deep cooperation,” he stresses, adding the importance of possessing a

range of common values.

The IFF’s partnership with Unihoc, the federation’s official floorball equipment partner and supplier, goes to the heart of what Kalsta describes.

On top of financial benefits and visibility at the sport’s premier tournaments, Unihoc reciprocates by arming the IFF with a multitude of kit to share globally in order to expand the sport’s footprint.

It is an agreement that finds a natural slot within the federation’s core principles of equality, respect, internationalism, solidarity, democracy and transparency, which are all set out in the IFF’s statutes as critical cornerstones of the organisation.

“We believe in finding a direct match in what we do as a federation,” he adds. “But we are constantly looking at ways to partner with non-governmental organisations which can support us in our mission.”

As part of the fulfilment of one of the sport’s statutes – to promote a healthier lifestyle the IFF is seeking partnerships with entities like the World Health Organisation (WHO), while the body also wishes to collaborate with global children’s equality charities such as Plan International, which works to improve the

Unihoc, the IFF’s official floorball equipment partner and supplier, enjoys visibility at the sport’s premier tournaments, including the world championships

lives of disadvantaged girls, in its quest to promote equality and solidarity.

In 2015, the Women’s World Floorball Championships, held in Tampere, carried the secondary focus of tackling environmental issues, with organisers obtaining an EcoCompass Certification.

Doing so involved a concerted effort to minimise waste and commit to recycling, while only permitting use of reusable cutlery in the arena.

It is a commitment to championing causes well beyond the sport’s overall control that Kalsta views as a major fillip for potential sponsors.

“We pride ourselves on being a dynamic organisation, open for new and even slightly crazy ideas,” he explains.

“We represent a sought-after target group of people aged 15 to 34. There are many branches which have not entered the floorball fan community, and this represents an opportunity

to take ownership of the audience. If we explore the elements and the exposure we can offer, and compare them to many other sports, I believe we can say we are able to offer great value for money.

“We can also say that we are a safe bet in sponsoring as there have been only minor doping incidents and our operation is very transparent. One could say it falls under the category risk management in our favour.”

As the sport looks to take its sponsorship portfolio to new heights, the IFF is undergoing a

Floorball is a sport on the rise

review of its followers through an academic study. The results are expected in 2019, with the body’s learnings set to play a key role in shaping the sport’s commercial outlook.

Current statistics show a social media audience which is 70 per cent male. The IFF’s Instagram account has seen a 20 per cent rise in followers in the past two years, while its YouTube account has seen a 30 per cent increase in subscribers over the same period.

As the sport continues to develop, an updated commercial strategy is necessary to match its growing participation levels.

Kalsta admits that it is vitally important that the organisation makes the right moves.

“Floorball is growing fast but with growth comes challenges,” he acknowledges. “To meet the increasing international needs across marketing and the sport’s development, the IFF needs more funding which

we believe can be achieved by partnership deals.

“Let’s face it, we are underachieving in sponsorship funding if we look at our exposure and visibility compared to other sports of the same size. The research results will give us the facts to decide in which direction to develop our sales and marketing.”

Floorball will feature at the Southeast Asian Games for the second time in 2019. At the previous edition in 2015, Singapore claimed the double, winning both the men’s and women’s competitions. As the sport strives to reach new audiences, however, the federation is determined to stay true to its primary values.

“The floorball community is a very tight family,” Kalsta explains. “We feel a very strong bond to each other. There is a lot of pride that the sport has grown very fast from a niche sport to a World Games discipline.”

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FEATURE SOCCER

Bavaria and beyond FC Bayern Munich have won six consecutive Bundesliga titles since 2013, but in the same time have been making significant strides off the pitch.

Benjamin Stoll, the club’s head of digital strategy, platforms and innovation, explains how German soccer’s dominant force have transformed their digital infrastructure to serve fans both locally and around the globe.

By Sam Carp

A

brief walk through FC Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena is a bit like being taken on a journey through time. The walls of the Bundesliga giants’ 75,000-seater home are adorned with iconic moments from throughout the team’s history, from their Àrst German title triumph in 1932, to goalkeeper Oliver Kahn’s famous corner Áag celebration in Hamburg in 2001 and Arjen Robben’s Uefa Champions League-winning goal at London’s Wembley Stadium in 2013.

This might sound like standard décor for the home of one of European soccer’s most successful clubs, but these are no ordinary murals. Indeed, an augmented reality (AR) function on Bayern’s ofÀcial app enables fans at the stadium to bring these images to life by pointing their smartphone in the direction

50.3M Likes

86 | www.sportspromedia.com

of the venue’s walls, subsequently activating a video clip of the historic moment to play on their device.

The concept of AR might seem like a new and intimidating realm to some - and is one yet to be broached by many clubs - but it is just one of various ways Bayern are embracing digital to engage their fans. For Benjamin Stoll, Bayern’s head of digital strategy, platforms and innovation, who has been spearheading that transformation, everything the club has experimented with and introduced up until now has been done with a clear purpose.

“I think if we were doing innovation for the sake of innovation that would be completely wrong,” he explains, speaking to SportsPro shortly after his appearance at The Brand Conference in September. “We’re constantly thinking about innovative measures to provide new values, and that’s something where we always implement feedback from our fans, where we challenge ideas internally, and try to understand how the implementation of new fan experience initiatives could make a difference.

“If we’re just implementing technology for the sake of implementing technology then it wouldn’t make much sense.”

The Bavarian way: Media and fan engagement help sustain Bayern’s brand identity

Champions of Germany for the last six years, it would be fair to say that Bayern are familiar with leading the way and breaking new ground.

Yet despite that unparalleled success on the pitch, the club has never disillusioned their fanbase by hiking ticket prices to prohibitive levels - today, season tickets at Munich’s Allianz Arena are available for as little as €140, which works out at around €8 per game.

Never a club to stray too far from their Bavarian roots, either, Bayern have long tapped into their cultural heritage through more traditional means, sending players kitted out in lederhosen to the annual Oktoberfest beer festival to

“If we were doing innovation for the sake of innovation, that would be completely wrong.”

14M Instagram interact with fans and drink from steins alongside them. Put simply, Bayern’s ability to connect with their fanbase is one that resonates far and wide, embodying German soccer’s fan-Àrst approach which has become the envy of other supporters across Europe.

Now, Bayern are taking that fan-friendly identity into the digital world. A big part of the club’s efforts has involved hosting regular HackDays, which bring together supporters, students and experts to crowdsource ideas and learn about new technologies that could help to create better fan experiences and innovations. Stoll believes these “really big” events have “great

power…to create a new culture where we can showcase the beneÀts of digital and technology”, while also creating “a better brand image and the perception of Bayern Munich as an innovative football club.”

However, engaging with fans domestically is one thing; being able to connect with them globally is another. At a time when soccer clubs are looking for ways to one up each other on social media in the search for followers, likes and eyeballs, Bayern are often pointed to as Áagbearers for innovation. In a recent interview with SportsPro, for example, Inter Milan’s chief communications ofÀcer Robert Faulkner admitted that the Serie A club’s media team took a

trip to Munich to seek lessons from their German counterparts as they sought to revamp their own digital approach.

As Stoll explains, Bayern’s strategy off the pitch is “to get ready for the digital future”.

But doing that on a global scale means having to be “very agile and Áexible” in order to feed the appetite of a diverse fanbase with different tastes and tendencies.

“There is not a one-size-Àts-all approach because we are living in a very globalised and digitalised world right now, and everything

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FEATURE SOCCER

6.3M Twitter

we do is to be relevant in a cultural and contextual sense,” says Stoll.

“Getting the tonality right, getting the right content out there at the right time towards the right people on the right channels is a big challenge.

“We are living in a tech world where companies like Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple spend billions on research and development. We as a traditional football club are living in the same world as those big companies and see their huge inÁuence with regards to fan and customer expectations.

“So on the one hand we need to be very sensitive with our identity as a football club and never forget where we come from, but we also need to respect and operate to meet the expectations of modern football fans that are inÁuenced by technology every day.”

As well as maintaining an open dialogue with their fans, Stoll reveals that Bayern are “constantly learning from other clubs” both inside and outside of soccer. He points to National Basketball Association (NBA) champions the Golden State Warriors and the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL) as two US-based franchises that Bayern have taken inspiration from. He also highlights Manchester City

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and Paris Saint-Germain as teams from the soccer industry that have impressed him.

Stoll is quick to emphasise, however, that it wouldn’t work to “just copy and paste their solutions”. Instead, the most important thing is to Ànd out “what’s inspiring for us and how we can learn from it and apply it to our own Bavarian way.”

He adds: “I think every brand and every football club is special.

You always need to Ànd your own way to get out your message to reach fans and create a relationship.

It’s considering what you have, what values there are, and for us it’s being a traditional football club with a really strong heritage and history. So it’s about telling those stories, but also telling the stories of our current players and our current club, and engaging people within the right context.”

A quick look at how Bayern’s digital infrastructure has evolved suggests those learning experiences are already being applied to various areas of the club. There is a clear emphasis on Ànding the right balance between reaching both domestic and global followers, with Bayern’s website now available in eight different languages, as well as in the Bavarian dialect. The club also recently launched a new website

Open training sessions offer a chance to engage the community

speciÀcally for fans in regions with poor internet connections in an attempt to share more content with supporters in places like Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

Beyond that, though, Stoll is quick to point out that communicating with fans in the digital sphere isn’t merely achieved in German, English or French, but through videos, images and other forms of creative content which elicit comments in the millions and, most importantly, are widely shared.

“What we have discovered is that new technologies and new platforms constantly change the behaviour of fans and people out there,” Stoll explains. “We have found out that there is a new language that the younger, global audience is speaking, which is GIFs and animated moments.

“Enabling our fans to play around with moments from our club, from our position and from our history with our players is very powerful. We enable them to be brand ambassadors and leverage the moment and reach others to create a very credible experience where our fans accelerate our brand.”

Bayern’s decision to embrace the world of GIFs and animation has seen them quickly steal a march on their peers. On the Giphy database and search engine, for example, Bayern are currently the sports team with the biggest reach on the platform having just passed one billion views, while they were also the Àrst club in the world to partner with Tenor, another GIF service which was recently acquired by Google.

3.8M Sina Weibo

The key to Bayern’s digital approach, though, hasn’t been to simply dump the same type of content across all their platforms, but to Ànd out what resonates best with fans on each service. Once the voting function became available on Instagram Stories in 2017, for example, the club created polls which allowed their followers on the image-sharing platform to vote for which video clip they wanted to see. This not only created real-time engagement with users, but also allowed them to feel involved and as if they were directing the content themselves.

“On Instagram we did a survey,” begins Stoll. “Our fans there want to have really close, intimate, personal content, so we want to provide our fans with a glimpse through the keyhole showing them inside the action, but also the humans behind the athletes and our brand.

“Meanwhile on YouTube, for instance, a lot of views are driven by search, so we want to provide content with regards to discovery, but also relevant formats to the younger audiences, and over here we are in a constant dialogue with our audiences to Ànd out what works, what doesn’t work, and do a lot of experiments.”

Bayern’s HackDays bring together supporters, students and experts to crowdsource ideas and learn about new technologies

When it comes to internationalisation, Stoll adds that while social media is undoubtedly an essential tool for growth, it is the club’s traditional mobile app which is most signiÀcant, especially given the data insights it generates.

“On a global scale, for us, our mobile app is the most important platform because we know when someone has downloaded it and if they use it constantly, which means we have a very good relationship [with the fan],” he says.

“Everyone who comes to the stadium should be provided with unique services but coming to the stadium is just one of the situations where we meet our fans. We have a lot of fans all around the globe that are in different time zones, have

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FEATURE SOCCER

different cultural heritages, and they follow our games. Taking this into account and making the app a companion that provides some unique values is something we think is strong with regards to creating better relationships with our fans, and of course pushing usage and retention.”

Bayern’s ongoing digital transformation isn’t something that has happened by accident. All of the club’s recent innovations have fallen under the umbrella of FC Bayern Digital 4.0, a project launched in 2016 and which is focused not only on giving the club more control and Áexibility over the content they produce, but also how fans consume that content around the world.

“We knew that for everything we do, technology will be very important,” explains Stoll, “so Digital 4.0 was very important to get the ownership, control, scalability and Áexibility for our ‘old’ media endeavours, and furthermore having consolidated fan records. It’s really important as it gives us new fan and user insights which are absolutely key to personalise and contextualise experience and offerings.

“It’s also about a new mindset that we are optimising towards.

In the past we were optimising towards app downloads; right now, we are optimising everything we do with our app on a monthly and daily basis, we are looking into retention patterns, into user journeys and into fan interest. It’s constantly evolving and Digital 4.0 was the basis in order to learn about our fans, but also to be able to execute upon information we have, and provide more relevant experiences, content and offers on a global scale.”

980,000 Youtube

Bayern hope to replicate their onfield success in the digital realm

The Bayern Digital 4.0 initiative has turned the club into a full-scale multimedia hub

90 | www.sportspromedia.com

That digital evolution shows no sign of abating. In May, Bayern announced the launch of FCB Digital & Media Lab, a new multimedia subsidiary – equipped with 60 staff - that will work to hone the club’s digital expertise and offer data and media-related services to third parties. Operating as part of Digital 4.0, the new entity will essentially incorporate Bayern’s existing editorial activities across social media, website, TV and print, as well as their production, digital marketing, CRM, digital and IT, and technology divisions.

Ultimately, FCB Digital & Media Lab will enable the club to take advantage of the knowledge and in-house expertise they have developed since launching Digital 4.0 in order to improve their bottom line.

“The beneÀt is to bundle the resources and the core competences to create better workloads for internal offerings, but also to create offerings for the external markets – for our sponsors and for other clubs as well,” says Stoll. “That’s something we have started and where we see a lot of demand from the market.

“We are a passion love brand; the relationship needs to come through Àrst, and then comes the monetisation. But of course with regards to the digital media lab and everything else that we are doing, we are also constantly exploring ways of diversifying monetisation and creating new digital revenue streams.”

Despite all that they have achieved already, Stoll stresses that this is just the beginning for Bayern’s digital journey. And with such a formidable infrastructure now in place, it might not be too outlandish to suggest that the club will be exercising the same dominance over soccer’s digital game as they have over the Bundesliga in recent years.

“One thing that’s for sure is that every day we need to get up and learn to try and understand the audiences, be very humble with regards to earning their awareness and their passions, and try to Ànd out how technology and innovation can provide new values,” says Stoll. “It’s a constant world of learning how we can apply tech to create new value for our fans and our business.”

FEATURE AGENCIES

Best of both worlds Dalian Wanda’s 2015 acquisitions of Infront Sports & Media and the World Triathlon Corporation created a new entity with a presence in the traditional sports industry and one that is fast emerging.

Today, vice president Philippe Blatter believes Wanda Sports Group can master a period of change to become a unique global power.

By Eoin Connolly

F

or the past few years, Infront Sports & Media has been perched between one sporting world and the next.

A Swiss agency largely focused on rights trading and activation for traditional federations, its transformation began in 2015 when it was bought from private equity Àrm Bridgepoint Capital by Chinese billionaire Wang Jianlin’s Dalian Wanda Group in a €1 billion deal.

Later that year Ironman promoter World Triathlon Corporation (WTC) was added to what would become the Wanda Sports Group, which further expanded through the acquisitions of the likes of digital platform builder Omnigon back in January 2016.

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Infront Sports & Media president and chief executive Philippe Blatter

The result is an organisation with one foot in the heart of the international federation world and another in sport’s greatest emerging power, combining agency fundamentals with an increasingly digital-Àrst outlook, and its work at the elite end with the creation of an ever-broader set of mass participation properties.

“From a business perspective, Infront has developed quite signiÀcantly,” says Philippe Blatter, the Infront president and chief executive who is also vice president of Wanda Sports Group. “We prolonged the rights with the EHF [European Handball Federation]; entered into a cooperation and partnership with [world basketball governing body] Fiba; and we have been working with the BWF in badminton, another new venture.

“Add to this all of the prolongations we have successfully negotiated. We have posted doubledigit growth over the last few years, whilst investing quite signiÀcantly in our digital offering. We now have over 1,000 people working at Infront, and more than a quarter of these are in digital.

“Ironman has also grown substantially under the leadership of Andrew Messick. They diversiÀed their business from triathlon, going into running with the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon and the World Marathon Majors, as well as mountain biking with Cape Epic.

“Wanda Sports China, led by David Yang, was built from scratch by operating as a partner of the

UCI [International Cycling Union] for the Tour of Guangxi, as well as for the China Cup [an invitational tournament for national soccer teams]. They stage numerous races here in China for Ironman and thanks to their acquisition of a company in Chengdu, they have begun to run a series of marathons across China.”

Infront and the rest of its associated suite of companies operate as their own entities but “under the Wanda umbrella”.

A group leadership team meets regularly and can identify the right unit to manage new concepts, as well as shufÁing opportunities across the collective.

Despite a rise in global proÀle through initiatives like sponsorship of world soccer’s Fifa, the parent Wanda Group has scaled back some of its own ambitions in entertainment and property development. The Wanda theme park business and its stake in Spanish soccer club Atlético Madrid have been among the assets shed amid falling earnings and pressure from the Chinese government to reduce debts.

Wanda Sports Group, conversely, looks to be in better shape. Its revenues rose 12.3 per cent in 2017 to 7.2 billion yuan (US$1.03 billion).

An initial public offering (IPO) was reportedly being explored early in 2018, but either way that Ànancial performance is a strong platform from which to pursue Blatter’s goal to make it “the number one global sports platform in the world”.

China to the fore Blatter is speaking to SportsPro in October at the inaugural Fiba World Basketball Summit in the Chinese city of Xi’an, part of something of a roadshow for the sport ahead of the Fiba Basketball World Cup in the country in August and September 2019. His Àrst overseas trip after joining Infront back in 2005, he recalls, was to a Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) game, and the impression he has gained throughout that time is of a “complex”, rapidly changing territory where local knowledge matters.

“China is different in its own way,” he says. “It is a huge market: there are 1.3 billion consumers and potential fans here; there’s 380 million households. So on the media side, there are still opportunities in the fact that today, there is one key player who plays a central, pivotal role in sport – CCTV – but in every other market we see much more competition.

Wanda Sports Group’s presence on the world stage has grown in line with that of China, host of the 2019 Fiba Basketball World Cup

“It is only a question of time when China hosts the Fifa World Cup.” “The Chinese have extremely strong digital afÀnities, they are digitally linked; they use their mobiles for nearly everything. This is where the huge potential is - and it is being captured by Tencent and the big technology companies, who need to appeal to the sports fan by delivering products in the mobile space. Technology will play an important role.

“Sponsorship is seeing solid growth, but I believe there is still potential in the way that sponsorship in China today is, to a large part, about awareness, about seeing the brand. There is maybe more to do in terms of building a real partnership with the rights holder in creating activations beyond simply brand visibility.”

Local tastes, Blatter notes, tend towards overseas events like the

Uefa Champions League, the Fifa World Cup, and the National Basketball Association (NBA). In the near future, though, he expects domestic properties like the CBA and soccer’s Chinese Super League (CSL) to become more successful exports.

“You see the CSL has now completed contracts in more than ten countries outside China,” he continues. “They have a Twitter channel. We were the Àrst with the CBA, back in 2010, to distribute the media rights in the US. There is clearly much more potential here, which is what differentiates China in terms of the commercial sports market to Europe and the US.” Not only that, but another cycle of international events is now making its way to China. Blatter believes that the Fiba Basketball

World Cup, being played in “one of the few countries” where the sport outranks soccer as the most popular, will “create huge momentum” and be “not a Chinese competition but a global competition”.

“It is the main event next year – worldwide – in terms of World Cups and world championships,” he argues.

Blatter also suggests that the Basketball World Cup, and the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022, will give China its best chance since the Beijing 2008 Summer Games to demonstrate “how well they can organise events” and “how friendly and welcoming the people are”.

“It is only a question of time when China hosts the Fifa World Cup,” he states. “Now it is down to politics to decide when that will be.”

Between China’s burgeoning status as a major events hub and the presence of Olympic Games in South Korea in 2018 and Japan in 2020, Infront’s mostly Europeanbased federation clients “in 25

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different sports” have put Asia “at the top of the agenda”.

“We see huge investments now in China in terms of building new winter sports infrastructure,” Blatter says. “And we believe that with this wealthier middle class I talked about before, when we say they want entertainment, skiing and understanding ice hockey and biathlon is an important part of that.”

The mass participation opportunity Alongside its activities in the upper echelons of professional sport, Infront and latterly Wanda Sports Group have been aiming to carve out an identity as a global leader in mass participation since 2011.

This has partly been through acquisitions - including buyouts of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series and Chengdu-based endurance promoter Double Heritage - but also through the creation of new IP like its Happy 10k runs.

Wanda Sports China, in particular, has a heavy accent on developing mass participation events.

“What we see in China, as we see in Europe and the US, is the beginning of an ageing population,” explains Blatter, himself a triathlon enthusiast. “Here, the leaders of the country are visionary in that they see that in a decade or two, the Chinese will face the same health challenges that we have back in the western world, and which take a massive economic toll. So you see them promoting physical exercise, encouraging the nation to do sport.

“That is one part of the equation.

The second part of the equation as we see it is that as China’s middle class earn higher salaries, they are looking for a better education. They want to travel to see the world. But they are also interested in being healthy, in looking after themselves.

And they want to experience something that money can’t buy.”

Mass participation and endurance events have enjoyed explosive recent growth in China, with “more than 400 marathons in the last Àve or six years”.

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“It has been the same with the introduction of the 70.3 Ironman races – they have sold out fast in China,” Blatter says. “There is massive demand which we are conÀdent will continue given the government’s active support.”

Beyond the opportunities in reaching an increasingly health-conscious population and tapping into a developing experience economy, Blatter sees “huge demand” to be satisÀed “for coaching in how you train, nutritional advice, what kind of materials you need, etc”.

“All of this needs to take place here in China,” he says, “and then there is the digital realm: people like to share their training schedules and to compare themselves with other athletes. In Europe and in the US you have the Stravas of this world, the relief apps, and these are not yet established here.

“The training schedule is a big part before the race. It is not just about the two, three or four hours of the race that you do in a marathon or the 12 hours that you do in an Ironman. It is what you do before and then, once you’ve Ànished, what you brag about: sharing that you’ve passed the Ànish line and all this stuff. There are deÀnitely opportunities here.”

Wanda Sports China has developed mass participation events in response to China’s fitness boom

The digital future for sports agencies For all the healthy prospects Blatter sees for Infront and Wanda Sports Group in China and beyond, these are challenging times for agencies.

The sponsorship market is in a state of transition, with some brands looking to spend their money elsewhere and those still pursuing sports partnerships now trying to activate more efÀciently.

The broadcast market has been even further disrupted by changes in media, with rights holders needing to Ànd new routes to their income.

Those difÀculties are exempliÀed in the decline of another agency that had previously been the subject of a big-money Chinese takeover.

In October, two years after its owners sold a controlling 65 per cent stake to Everbright Securities and Beijing Baofeng Technology, MP & Silva was issued a windingup order in the UK’s High Court.

A petition to dissolve the business had been issued by the French Tennis Federation (FFT), one of a number of partners to whom MP & Silva had missed payments after agreeing guarantees to market broadcast rights on their behalf.

For Blatter, these tremors in the agency marketplace are a sure sign

“It is only when you start talking to your consumer that you really create value for your brand.” of the need to evolve to continue to meet clients’ proliferating needs.

Infront itself began “its own intensive digital transformation two or three years ago” to help partners Ànd a younger demographic who “consume much less traditional media”.

“Reaching them is still in some ways feasible because you need to put in an OTT platform or stream content,” he says, “but the challenge is to engage with them.

Because it is only when you start talking to your consumer that you really create value for your brand.

But to do that, you have to speak their language.

“Today, the fan is a content creator, and the fan communicates on his own channels and maybe not the channels that we use as a sports marketing company, or that the rights holder is using or that the brand is using. And that, I think, is the big shift to manage – to speak the same language as the fan.”

Infront is encouraging rights holders to think beyond the live event and to the content their own fans are publishing – or that

they can create to engage fans differently. The NBA’s ‘microtransaction’ scheme, where viewers can tune in to watch the Ànal quarter of the game, is one approach he endorses, but he also speaks up the need to continue building touch-points throughout a fan’s digital life.

“There is radical change going on in the ecosystem of a speciÀc target consumer group,” he adds, “which is interesting for brands – and for federations, because they need to have young people following their sport.”

Esports is inevitably an area in which Infront has a growing interest, with a group dedicated to working with “what you would say are ‘old school’ federations” on effective strategies. A Centre for Innovation at Infront has also been in operation for the past two years, engaging startups in searching for more radical uses of technology in the fan experience.

“For example,” Blatter says, “at the IIHF World Championship [in ice hockey] we had a project together with a company called WSC where we installed

Infront and Wanda Sports Group have embraced digital technologies to meet the changing needs of their clients

technology, which allowed every fan, in real time, to do his own clip.

If you wanted to see the best catch from the goalie from the Russian team, then you just put this in and it would give you the clip in real time – all done by technology.

“Another innovation we are currently introducing is Viz Eclipse, a virtual advertising solution. We do that together with Vizrt, a specialised company. Viz Eclipse uses artiÀcial intelligence and is the Àrst technology that is non-invasive, meaning you do not have to change the cameras around the stadium and you can have virtual advertisements anywhere you want without having to install technology on the cameras, which is costly and is not really liked by the rights holders.”

More generally, Blatter senses an appetite for change among sport’s old guard as he seeks to position Infront as a “one stop shop” for them.

“The federations – rights holders in general – have professionalised signiÀcantly,” he says. “They read the same newspapers, they read the same blogs, read the same social media posts that we do. Many of their representatives also have kids who are teenagers who consume sport differently. And for many, we come and say, ‘This is a new idea.

Would you like to do it?’

“The acceptance to try new things is certainly there. There is a big gap between, ‘Oh, there’s a new technology, I’d like to have it,’ and to implement and monetise it. This is where, for many rights holders, it becomes a bit more difÀcult because either they do not have the right people or it is not in their mission statement – it is not what they want to do.

“If you look today at media distribution, it has become so much more complex than ten years ago where you went to a broadcaster and you would sell him all your rights. Now it is about how you segment your rights, to whom you sell, what you do for free – it is so much more complex and that is where we can help them.”

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FEATURE BLOCKCHAIN

Chain reaction Blockchain technology is developing rapidly, with its ability to perform secure peer-to-peer transactions without a middle man making it a highly valuable platform. According to professional soccer player turned blockchain evangelist Thomas Robson-Kanu, the sports industry cannot ignore the technology’s game-changing potential.

By Nick Friend

P

“

eople always oppose change,” Thomas Robson-Kanu points out as he discusses the merits of cryptocurrency and the technological advancements made plausible by the invention and development of blockchain.

Thomas by birth, Hal by virtue of popular culture, Robson-Kanu is a name now steeped in British sporting folklore. Having scored one of Wales’ most famous goals en route to the Uefa Euro 2016 semi-Ànals, the winger now plies his trade for Championship outÀt West Bromwich Albion, while away from the pitch the 29-year-old’s focus is on taking the curious enigma of blockchain mainstream.

It is a sphere that has fascinated Robson-Kanu since reading the original bitcoin white paper in 2008, and it is the same fascination that has informed the concept behind Sports Ledger, the multilayer blockchain-centric company he cofounded in 2017.

He is tackling the venture headon, commuting almost daily from his club’s training complex in the West Midlands to the company’s ofÀce in Chiswick, west London. It is, he explains, an endeavour that requires his full attention, particularly given he is launching Sports Ledger amid a backdrop of scepticism, not only as a professional athlete, but with a cloud of uncertainty hanging over the deeply complex world of distributed ledger technology.

“You look at when the industrial revolution came about and the opposition to that,” he says of a

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societal trepidation surrounding technological progression. “We look back at the Àrst stages of the internet – there was opposition to that; we look at the Àrst stages of electricity – a lot of people were saying that electricity would burn your house down.

“That was the narrative. It wasn’t talking about the potential values of it and the way in which we now use it.”

The same mainstream disquiet is attached to blockchain. RobsonKanu, however, is in no doubt as to its potential; Sports Ledger carries an ambitious strap line – ‘The Future of Sports’.

closely and deeply with a fanbase; a platform to secure, access and share biometric data; even the chance to use statistics to scout undiscovered talent. The list is endless.

Its biggest challenge, he acknowledges, is convincing the masses to buy into a concept whose Àner digital minutiae require a signiÀcant level of expertise. Yet, as Robson-Kanu highlights, there are few who comprehend the inner workings of our modern-day staples.

“To actually understand the full function and full potential of all the infrastructure behind blockchain is going to take people a

Its advantages, he implores, are undeniable: an ownership of personal data amid a proverbial Àghtback against today’s social media giants; an ability to proÀt from content creation; a means of cost-cutting; a place to engage more

long time to do,” he acknowledges.

“But nobody truly understands how the internet works.

“They know it works, but what they also know is that they just use it and they use it because applications and use cases have been built on

Thomas ‘Hal’ Robson-Kanu celebrates after scoring for Wales at Euro 2016

“The adoption of blockchain will happen at a faster rate than the adoption of the internet.” top of the internet – whether that’s a Google search engine or whether that’s a video call on Apple.”

Where the internet differs from blockchain, though, is in its core function. The development of the technology since bitcoin Àrst appeared in 2008 means that a centralised model can now be built, where not only information, but value can be exchanged.

As the former Reading midÀelder puts it: “The internet is the internet of information; blockchain is the internet of value. Fundamentally, the adoption of blockchain will occur through use case.

“With what we are building at Sports Ledger, you are simply going to use it as an application.

It’s not a case of needing to understand the concept of blockchain to use it - you don’t.”

In a changing society, the notion of focusing on blockchain’s beneÀts rather than its technological intricacies marks a crucial modiÀcation of attitude. Indeed, it is an ever-growing market – according to a Research and Markets report, the blockchain industry is set to be worth US$7.59 billion by 2024.

As Robson-Kanu says: “People are beginning to understand the fundamental values of blockchain and how it will enhance every single person’s life – whether that’s from recording land registry records on blockchain or recording health records, executing purchases of a house, which would normally take six to eight weeks but could occur instantaneously and fully veriÀed and completely transparent.

“The adoption of blockchain will happen at a faster rate than the adoption of the internet. This is simply because, if you track technological innovation and revolution, we are on this upward trend in terms of our actual technological innovation as a human

society and a human race. It is not going to take as long as the internet – it’s going to happen a lot quicker.”

It is a timeline corroborated

by Omar Jackson, the director of Cryptech, a Berkeley Assets-owned blockchain technology business.

He argues that the sports industry has little choice but to embrace the beneÀts of the technology.

“All major top-Áight football clubs and top sporting institutions will all be adopting some form of blockchain technology within the next 24 months,” he predicts. “Clubs have so much data that they have to hold on their system at any one time.

The most secure way of holding that now is through blockchain.

“It’s harder to hack, it’s more efÀcient and there’s far less paperwork. It allows clubs to massively cut costs and save money on overheads. Where there was paper and individuals needed for the movement of paperwork from one party to another, that won’t be required because it will all be on a digital ledger.”

In short, a primary consequence is that blockchain could see the death of the intermediary – both digitally and, perhaps, physically. In

an article for the Harvard Business Review, professors Marco Iansiti and Karim Lakhani describe the technology as ‘an open, distributed ledger that can record transactions between two parties efÀciently and in a veriÀable and permanent way.’

For Robson-Kanu, the key term is ‘peer-to-peer’ – it encapsulates the fundamental selling point of blockchain. He uses the example of smart contracts to illustrate how the technology rids a transaction of the need for a third party to create a direct chain, which documents the full extent of any transactional deal.

“If you were to do X and I was to do Y, you would receive Z,” he says.

Blockchain’s intercessor-free smart contract also brings greater transparency, with the technology’s major feature being its ability to document the exact path of any transaction, which has obvious implications for player transfers, salaries, third-party ownership, and other often opaque dealings.

“The ability to transfer a player from one club to another will be done far more quickly, far more securely and far more efÀciently than has been done before,” suggests Jackson. “We’re talking

Robson-Kanu co-founded blockchain company Sports Ledger in 2017

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FEATURE BLOCKCHAIN

about the transfer of paperwork because it’s a peer-to-peer system.

You will have all the player’s details, all the information and data held on a blockchain. And that can be transferred from club A to club B so that club B owns the rights to that data and, therefore, the player.”

A further, perhaps underappreciated beneÀt of blockchain’s potential to alter the transfer market is its speed. Jackson raises the recent case of David de Gea, the Manchester United goalkeeper whose proposed move to Real Madrid was reportedly scuppered at the last moment by a slow fax machine.

The technology of the ledger on which the transfer’s data could be held would prevent such an issue.

“If blockchain was utilised at that time, [the transfer] would have been instant,” the Cryptech director explains. “It would have been done within two or three seconds. It can make a major difference.”

As far as Robson-Kanu is concerned, opening up the attimes mysterious complexities of the sports industry is fundamental to the future relationship between club and fan. “We are not coming in to disrupt and tear up the industry,” he stresses, pointing out the difference between evolution and revolution. “What we are actually saying is let’s look at sport and what actually contributes the most to sports – the fans.

“Fans have a right to understand and see transparently what they are paying for and the people who they are paying to see and what they are doing on a day-to-day basis, or what they do during a game on a detailed level.

“Rather than being an opinionbased industry, it would move to

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Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea’s proposed transfer to Real Madrid collapsed due to a slow fax machine

‘Cryptogoods’, such as digital player trading cards, represent a lucrative sector of the collectibles market

an information-based industry and alongside that, a transparent information-based industry, which is a massive catalyst in terms of what blockchain can do.”

Opening the sports industry up to its supporters is one of Sports Ledger’s many ambitions, all of which delve well beyond the mere beneÀt of the additional security provided by blockchain’s virtually unhackable cryptographic transactions.

Sports Ledger’s own white paper projects myriad applications for the technology, including a social platform for fans, athletes and clubs to share content. On that platform, cryptocurrency – in this case, Sports Ledger’s SPSL token – would act as the key to unlock and purchase the right to view other users’ content.

The use of digital tokens in the sporting sphere has already begun in earnest, with the National Football League (NFL) and Major League Baseball (MLB) partnering with Hashletes and Player Tokens respectively. Both companies rely on the purchase of digital tokens in order to obtain bespoke ‘cryptogoods’, such as digital player trading cards.

MLB Crypto – built on the Ethereum blockchain – sold US$500,000 worth of ‘cryptogoods’ within its Àrst two months of existence.

Another company operating in the space is French crypto Àrm Sorare, which recently signed the world’s Àrst soccer league-wide blockchain collectible deal with Belgium’s

Jupiler Pro League. The deal came just 12 weeks after the business’ launch – Àrm proof of a burgeoning collectibles market that, according to Forbes, is now worth US$370 billion.

“We really want to bring crypto to mainstream Europe,” explains Nicolas Julia, Sorare’s founder.

“Everything we do can be used by mainstream customers. You don’t need to own any cryptocurrency, you don’t need to understand blockchain. Everything that you see on our platform is designed to try and replicate the normal experience that you would have on Amazon or on Ebay.

“There are no competitors in the world who let their customers pay with both normal currencies and cryptocurrencies. It is something that we offer – that people can enter our platform through their credit card and can get out of it a crypto reward.”

Sorare’s concept is auction-based, with fans able to bid to win digital player cards, which can then be used in a worldwide fantasy game, competing with other users whose player cards relate to a range of global leagues. “It is tied to the real world,” says Julia. “We want to bridge the digital world and the natural world. Every week you get ranked in the leaderboard and you can win a reward.”

It is a modern extension of the Panini sticker craze, he adds.

Whereas traditional stickers and even digital cards are replicable,

the technology behind blockchain means that each collectible is unique and impossible to duplicate.

The use potential of tokens, however, goes further, with the concept playing a key role in the sports-focused social platform that is at the heart of RobsonKanu’s plans. In the Sports Ledger platform, fans control their own personal data, which represents a key departure from the model employed by the major social networks.

“If we take Facebook as a model,” he explains, “the way they monetise their whole business model is through selling that digital identity of its users to a third party who have the intention of monetising that user’s proÀle or selling a product to that user’s proÀle.”

With every search, an individual’s digital footprint grows, with the social platform selling on the enriched user identity to advertisers and third parties. As Robson-Kanu elucidates, blockchain has the power to turn ownership of that data over to the user, which in turn could lead to monetary gain.

“We want users to share social content but also to own the digital identity through which they are creating that social sharing content and those behavioural analytics,” he explains. “As a user, they will then have control and then they might say: ‘Well, actually, I would like to keep my digital identity private.’ But at the same time, it will allow for those who say: ‘I don’t mind being communicated to.’

“What that would essentially allow for is external corporations and advertising companies who have a vested interest in you as a target market to come into the application and rather than pay the likes of Facebook or Instagram for access to your digital identity to communicate with you, they can now – peer-topeer – make that communication with you.

“They can say to you: ‘Can I view your digital identity?’ And in return, rather than give your value to a third party corporation, they give the value to the user. That’s the whole model.”

The logic behind the concept is both sound and overdue, with the general population beginning to understand how social platforms work. “I think Àve years ago, people didn’t understand why these social sharing content platforms were valued so much,” RobsonKanu suggests. “I think now, users are beginning to understand that actually they are the ones being monetised.

“That data should be held by the rightful owner and that owner should have the opportunity and the right to monetise it.”

When Robson-Kanu discusses data, he does so with greater ambition than simply beneÀting consumers; he also wants to aid his fellow athletes. Currently, his own biometric and physical performance data is stored in a centralised system in what he describes as a “cumbersome legacy manner” - an inconvenient and outdated mechanism that verges on inaccessible.

Even to view his personal Àgures, he has to request access. Once in possession of his numbers, they remain of little use due to a lack of any technological interpretation tool. The data on its own is useless, with no apparatus to compare, say, this season with the previous year.

Sports Ledger plans to change that by creating a platform through which athletes can analyse, understand and compare their own statistics. “It will be adopted by showing the values within the application to professional athletes and to clubs,” says Robson-Kanu.

“We have spoken with a number of clubs already, and the appetite and the interest for that is there.

“Part of our market research was about interviewing key individuals within the sports space and seeing where they felt there was currently a lack of value or value being lost because of a lack of technological innovation. We are very aware that the sports space is hungry for this type of platform.”

An extension of creating a decentralised platform on which to store personal data is the production

of a biometric passport, as well as the capacity to compare athlete performance. It is a technological step that Robson-Kanu believes could help unearth a new generation of athletes in parts of the world that might otherwise go unnoticed.

Using wearable technology, young athletes in underprivileged regions worldwide will be given the opportunity to produce their own biometric data, which can then be automatically inputted onto the platform and accessed by scouts and club analysts. The tech will be supplied by Sports Ledger’s charitable arm, whose aim is to use blockchain to open up opportunities in the sports industry globally.

Unlike Facebook, Sports Ledger’s platform enables users to own and monetise their personal data

“All they need is a smart device and a GPRS signal to upload their data into a proÀle which they own,” explains Robson-Kanu. “The exciting thing here is that if the kid wears this for six months, he has then created an enriched digital performance passport.”

It is a long-term plan, but one that highlights blockchain’s potential to revolutionise the industry.

And making a difference in the mainstream is certainly the zenith for Robson-Kanu. As the Welshman says, blockchain’s arrival is about evolution rather than revolution. But it’s coming and it’s here to stay.

“Data should be held by the rightful owner and that owner should have the opportunity and the right to monetise it.”

SportsPro Magazine | 99

INSIGHT OTT SUMMIT

In review: SportsPro OTT Summit The SportsPro OTT Summit returned for its second edition at the Meliá Castilla in Madrid on 28th and 29th November, tripling in size to reflect the rampant interest in perhaps the industry’s fastest-growing sector.

By Eoin Connolly, Steven Impey and Tom Bassam

O

ver 600 delegates were in attendance at November’s SportsPro OTT Summit to hear from more than 70 speakers, network across a range of rooms and functions, and Ànd out more about innovative products and solutions in the exhibition area. Among the partners of the expanded conference were GolfTV, Sportradar, LaLiga, Deltatre, Eurovision, Google Cloud, Disney Streaming Services, Nagra, NeuLion, Encompass and Comcast.

All of them were treated to two days of discussion that underlined the complexities and opportunities of a rapidly developing marketplace. This has been a landmark year in the world of OTT. The Fifa World Cup was watched by more people via online streams than any previous event. The PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics

was covered in a way that showed what comprehensive access fans can now enjoy, with viewing and sharing becoming part of the same media ecosystem.

Major rights holders have been experimenting with radical new approaches to their digital strategies. The National Basketball Association (NBA) has launched its new ‘micro-transaction’ service in the US, allowing fans to buy their way into the last quarter of a game in progress for US$1.99 a time. Discovery and the PGA Tour announced a 12-year, US$2 billion global rights deal that has led to the launch of GolfTV – a new OTT platform for the sport that will begin a worldwide rollout in January. The channel’s president, Alex Kaplan, was joined by PGA Tour chief media ofÀcer Rick Anderson to discuss the new initiative and a partnership with

“I guess the thing that keeps me awake at night is [asking]: are we at full speed, 100 miles an hour, on everything we do? Do we understand what our customers want? Are we ahead of the curve on all of those things?”

Barney Francis, Managing Director, Sky Sports

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the great Tiger Woods, who will be helping to create original content for the service in a demonstration of what such new broadcast products can offer.

Still, OTT provides its fair share of challenges as well. Not every customer is as amenable as the one recalled by ATP Media digital product director Andrew Hall, whose colleagues were told by this viewer that he “enjoyed Tennis TV so much he was going to cancel NetÁix”. The rest of this emerging marketplace is hyper-competitive, with rights holders and broadcasters vying for cash and attention from the big entertainment properties as well as rival sports.

So discussions in the Spanish capital also centred on best practice in delivery and pricing models, marketing techniques that enhance the visibility of new services, improving stability and reliability,

“Can we afford to spend billions of dollars on sports rights?

Probably not at the moment.

Do we think there are interesting opportunities - perhaps around niche sports, or clips, or around shoulder content - where we can align our advertiser interest in the content? Yep, we’re all in on that.”

Theo Luke, EMEA Sports Partnerships Director, Twitter

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“The main KPI for Borussia Dortmund with the OTT product is to get in touch with people and bond them to the club and not necessarily to make money.”

overcoming latency issues to close the gap with linear, and combating the scourge of piracy. Conversations around shared viewing and the role of social gave a glimpse of the viewing experience to come, while the big players were also in town to remind everyone that OTT will be part of a broader media mix.

With contributors representing everyone from Eleven Sports to Twitter to Hotstar and NBC, Uefa, the WWE and Riot Games, there were a huge breadth of perspectives to be shared.

Benedikt Scholz, Head of International and New Business, Borussia Dortmund

Kaplan said of Woods. “He has turned a corner in his career where he wants to tell his story on his own terms, and that’s what got him really excited about this project.”

FIVE TAKEAWAYS

F1TV ‘won’t compete with broadcasters’

With the best and brightest in the world of sports broadcasting united for two days in Madrid, there was no shortage of discussion around the key trends and stories shaping sports media today. Here are Àve takeaways that highlight where things stand in sports streaming, and where the space is headed.

Speaking on day two of the summit, Formula One head of digital products Tim Orme said the series has learnt from “mistakes” made during the delayed launch of its F1TV OTT service, insisting that improvements would be implemented ahead of the 2019 season.

Orme acknowledged that rolling out a streaming service for 112 markets ahead of the 2018 world championship was an ambitious undertaking but added that he believes Formula One will be better off for setting the wheels in motion. He also assured delegates, not least those who do business with the series, that F1TV is not in direct competition with its broadcast partners, with many of the opinion that the service only makes the sport more attractive.

“When I look back on it, there are big decisions that could have affected [the launch of the OTT service],” Orme said. “It was

Tiger Woods tapped GolfTV to tell story ‘on his own terms’ On the eve of this year’s summit came the announcement that Tiger Woods had penned an exclusive content deal with Discovery’s GolfTV service. Going live in 2019, the global content platform will give viewers insights into what Woods’ life is like competing on the PGA Tour, as well as the chance to learn from the 14-time major winner, who will collaborate with Discovery on creating weekly instructional videos.

In Madrid, during a panel discussion featuring Discovery’s Kaplan and the PGA Tour’s Anderson, attendees where shown a promotional video in which Woods spoke about “showcasing myself and golf in a different light”.

Kaplan, who was part of the negotiations to bring Woods on board, said it was important that both parties owned a “shared vision” to produce content that was both instructional and compelling.

“For being so public, he doesn’t love that side of his responsibilities,”

quickly a buy-or-hire decision for us [and came down to] whether we were going to take an off-theshelf template solution or go for something a bit more customised.

“We put together a selection of partners we felt could give us that best-in-class experience and probably meant [it took] a slightly longer time to market. But we felt that there was going to be higher upside in the ability to put together a truly Formula One-speciÀc product.

“The second consideration for us is the complexity of the product that we were trying to build. We wanted to make all 20 on-board cameras available, we wanted to put it into four different languages, we wanted to synchronise the video and the data together. When you’re making decisions like that, you are committing to a tougher build.”

Data inspired Turner Sports’ NBA micropayments One of the standout developments in the sports media space this year came when Turner Sports and the NBA announced they would begin offering subscribers to NBA League Pass the ability to access coverage of in-progress games for a negligible fee.

RTVE’s Yolanda Garcia Cuevas (left) and Mediapro’s Ignacio Arolla Albarracin on stage

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Chris Mead from gaming platform Twitch discusses the OTT picture in esports

“I think streaming continues to get bigger and bigger and bigger. I think a lot of people look at TV now and they don’t look at it the same way they did some years ago.”

Eric Black, Chief Technology Officer, NBC Sports

Speaking at the summit, Matthew Hong, the US network’s chief operating ofÀcer, said the move is a product of both “supposition and sentiment data” drawn from fan behaviour patterns, with younger audiences showing a lower propensity to purchase monthly and even pergame packages.

“We have now taken that even further to allow the viewer, who may for some reason have a prior commitment before the game, or perhaps didn’t know that that game was going to turn into the game that has become, can pay for the last quarter for US$1.99,” said Hong, who also applauded the NBA’s willingness to take risks by innovating and trying new ideas.

“It is really going towards a system of micropayments or microproducts to allow NBA fans, in particular, the ability to watch these shorter and shorter windows. There’s some risk involved with it. We have deÀnitely thought through whether we are training fans to only watch these small windows – but we are also trying to respond to consumer demand.”

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YouTube is a powerful tool for marketing live events The decision to live stream this year’s Uefa Champions League Ànal - the “crown jewel” of UK broadcaster BT Sport’s rights portfolio - for free via YouTube proved to be a fruitful one, according to Rob Pilgrim, the video platform’s sports partnerships manager. Not only did BT’s digital audience for the match hit six million - up from 2.2 million viewers in 2016 - but it also acted as a powerful tool to market BT Sport to a new audience.

Another event that drew impressive audience numbers on YouTube was August’s amateur boxing match between KSI and Logan Paul, which garnered one million pay-per-view (PPV) buys on the platform. For Pilgrim, the success of the event proved the YouTube revenue-sharing model, underscoring the effectiveness of using the platform to broaden reach and foster engagement.

“Marketing is a powerful technology and is a core reason why we work with BT and many other broadcasters,” Pilgrim told

the summit. “It is about taking the money that BT spend for marketing and advertising and making it more efÀcient.

“Sponsorship value and reach is very important but we are also a platform that pays partners based on their viewership. So we are seeing a lot of people creating live sports content on YouTube, not just for sponsorship, but for live revenue too.”

Broadcast blackouts are ‘outdated for the digital age’ The UK blackout rule that prevents soccer matches from being aired between 2.45pm and 5.15pm (GMT) on Saturdays - a rule created several decades ago to protect attendances at domestic Àxtures - is “outdated for the digital age”, according to Eleven Sports’ global head of digital, Tom Middleditch.

Echoing comments made by other senior Eleven executives in recent months, Middleditch reiterated the company’s view that the changing nature of sports distribution and consumption renders the blackout rule obsolete, with many viewers turning to illegal streams when unable to access ofÀcially licensed content from legitimate distributors.

Middleditch was speaking just weeks after Eleven Sports, whose service is now available in 11 markets worldwide, ignored the rule to broadcast two matches from Spain’s LaLiga to UK audiences, only to relent amid pressure from the Football Association (FA) and other rights holders.

“Our view is that fans should be able to watch games at any time and, as rights holders, we should be able to show them it,” he said. “It also leads to one of the biggest issues of piracy because those fans will Ànd a way to watch that game [whether it is broadcast legally or not].

“If we can offer it to them in the right way and the highest quality, they won’t need to go to a pirate stream.

It is something we feel strongly about and, to be clear, refers only to the overseas content we should be able to show at 3pm.”

Connecting you to the Asian OTT sports industry

Over the Horizon: Asia’s OTT Future 27-28 March 2019 I Singapore Advisory board

Confirmed speakers

Head of Sports Partnerships, APAC

Managing Director, APAC

Chief Executive Officer

Head of Sports Partnerships, APAC

Head of Television & Content

Find out more at:

www.ottsummitasia.com events@sportspro-ott.com |

@SportsProEvents | #SPOTTAsia

Chief Executive Officer

CASE STUDY OTT

Sportradar: OTT Summit partner case study

K

nown primarily as a sports data and integrity services company, SportsPro OTT Summit partner Sportradar initiated a major development of its strategy in August with the rollout of its most high-proÀle over-the-top (OTT) offering to date.

Having primarily worked in the B2B streaming space since acquiring Sportsman Media Group in April 2016 – a deal which included Austrian OTT sports streaming platform Laola1 – the company went to market with a relaunched version of BVBTV, the dedicated in-house club channel of German soccer giants Borussia Dortmund. Its previous work with the likes of the World Rally Championship (WRC) and Deutsche Telekom had been widely lauded, but working with one of world soccer’s most highproÀle clubs brought considerably more attention.

Combining free content with an exclusive premium offer behind a €1.99 monthly subscription, the platform provides live coverage of the Bundesliga side’s friendly matches, while offering additional content featuring Dortmund players. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the package also comes complete with a range of functionalities backed by

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Sportradar data, serving both users and producers.

Speaking ahead of his appearance at the OTT Summit in Madrid, Rainer Geier, Sportradar’s managing director for OTT and digital services, shared his thoughts on the future of the burgeoning sector.

How important will the fastgrowing OTT sector - and activities in that area - be for Sportradar’s business moving forward?

The OTT sector has been identiÀed as one of Sportradar’s growth areas ever since we acquired the Sportsman Media Group and Laola1 Multimedia.

The main reason for this is the demand for customised video and streaming solutions, which has tremendously increased over the last few years.

This is evident by the number of betting operators, rights holders and media organisations that have already signed up to receive Sportradar’s OTT offering such as Borussia Dortmund, the WRC, Deutsche Telekom, Laola1.tv, ITF Davis Cup and Fed Cup, International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), EuroHockey, and the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF).

Sportradar’s Rainer Geier (right) and Borussia Dortmund’s Benedikt Scholz (centre) on stage in Madrid

It’s very important to have the right offer available for each individual partner because needs and capabilities vary across the sector. This means that the Áexibility and capability of your platform offer is very important to enhance entertainment and engagement through increased content, data and streaming opportunities for the sports and media sector.

Where do you see opportunities to combine sports data with video to create a compelling and more immersive OTT experience?

One of the reasons we decided to fully integrate data and video as part of Sportradar OTT was

“What you need is a solid, reliable and trusted technical foundation.” because it provides an even greater ability to create a compelling and more immersive OTT experience.

And this isn’t just about using sports and athlete data; it’s also about adding user data as well to create an extremely personalised fan experience.

It also allows for more content creation in general with data providing the ability to create automated video highlights, for

example, through the various components on offer as part of the platform. Such components allow for enhanced interaction and gamiÀcation opportunities, which can increase fan engagement and audience growth. Together with other personalised features - like triggered and targeted advertising and innovative sponsor activation, for example - this in turn can help generate further revenue.

In what ways are you working to develop OTT platforms for your clients, and what have you learned as a result?

Our market-leading Sportradar OTT solution is based on over 15 years of experience, which we have spent developing and deploying OTT platforms. This has enabled us to identify the essential requirements for supplying a successful OTT solution in this technological age.

What you need is a solid, reliable and trusted technical foundation that enables seamless accessibility for users, a passion for innovation, an ability to always stay Áexible in terms of the product and monetisation options and business models, as

SportsPro Magazine | 109

CASE STUDY OTT

BVB-TV relaunched Sportradar’s Rainer Geier and Benedikt Scholz, Borussia Dortmund’s head of international and new business, lifted the lid on BVB-TV during a breakout session on day one of the 2018 OTT Summit.

On last August’s launch…

Geier: The whole process between the signing of the contracts and the definition of the requirements, to delivery of the product, was around about six months. Nevertheless, with Dortmund we needed to await the right time to launch, which is the summer break of the season – although the platform was ready.

It also gave us some time – as this was not a new product, it was a replacement product, so there were some challenges of integrating the content, also integrating the new users into the platform. But at the end it was a straightforward project.

On the pricing model…

Scholz: We want to be accessible for everybody and the main KPI for [Borussia Dortmund] with the OTT offering is to get in touch with people and bond them to the club and not necessarily to make money. There are other revenue pillars where we can grow and want to grow. It’s not about squeezing as much money out of every single fan that we have, but telling our story.

We think over the last seven or eight years, as well as the last 109 years of the club’s history, the story of the club is unique, the story of the club is special, and the OTT offering is to expand this story, to tell this story to those who maybe got in touch with it but don’t really know what the whole story is. That is why we set the price that low.

Scholz says BVB-TV is designed to engage fans, “not necessarily to make money”

On the approach to content production…

Scholz: We want to reach as many people as possible and keep them as long as possible on the platform and watching the videos. That is why, at the same time we launched the platforms, we invested in our own staff and in our own team. We have 20 people that are very, very close to the players, we have a studio at the training ground, we have a studio at our administrative headquarters, and at the stadium. Wherever the players go well, maybe not all the places – the video team follow and that creates interesting content.

110 | www.sportspromedia.com

Borussia Dortmund chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke enjoys BVB-TV

On the functionality of the product…

Geier: We are constantly working on new products that combine the video with the data. These products have to have added value to the stakeholders and the stakeholders, in this case, are the fans.

Especially with this product for Borussia Dortmund, it included a lot of sports data products that are right next to the video where the user can interact with data and also the video. They can choose to have some kind of overlay with the data, have data cue points to the specific points within the game, they can create their own highlight show based on the players – so those are engagement tools for the user.

For the producer themselves, we are introducing new features - in content production, where data is the basis for highlight clipping, or doing some near-live clips directly from a live stream.

Last, but not least, the stakeholders from the advertising industry, where we want to have a connection with the content on the platform and the ads. The best example: Marco Reus scores a goal – we know he’s a Puma representative – and say if you’re in the UK, we can automatically create an advert in English which is based on the content and on Marco Reus.

On the subscriber uptake…

Scholz: We are close to a five-digit number [for subscribers] so we are very happy with the numbers after three months, which is probably not a big surprise taking the price point into consideration. It’s a club TV offering; we are happy with that and we are trying to expand together with Sportradar.

“It’s not about squeezing as much money out of every single fan that we have, but telling our story.”

well as the ability to provide a short time-to-market.

From our learnings we have realised the importance of producing an offering that caters to all needs. This is why we developed the new Sportradar OTT across various levels. At the foundational level you have the two key parts: our new and robust Sportradar OTT Engine, bringing together video and data, and new Sportradar OTT Core, which provides a state of the art, innovative and entertaining user experience through content management, video player, user management, platform, analytics, content delivery and monetisation. Engine and Core together make up our standard yet fully-customisable product offering.

On top of this, you have the option for further individualisation for those wanting a more bespoke solution. So we have provided the opportunity to achieve a more tailor-made option with a range of individual conÀgurable extensions, including mobile and smart TV apps, recommendations, data features, automated content, personalisation and DRM. Then with the full package, clients can create complete individualisation with additional fully tailored features, personalised design and SSO.

“We have realised the importance of producing an offering that caters to all needs.”

Which client case studies would you highlight to illustrate the power of Sportradar’s OTT capabilities?

More than 25 partners have signed up to Sportradar’s sports media solutions within the last 18 months.

This includes Borussia Dortmund, who we supported in relaunching their own OTT platform, BVBTV, in August this year. Also the relaunch of the WRC digital platforms in January this year, which earned us a nomination for OTT TV Service of the Year at the 2018 Content Innovation Awards, as well as providing the sports OTT platform for Deutsche Telekom, one of the biggest telcos in Europe.

Looking ahead, what are some of the major projects and initiatives Sportradar will be working on in 2019?

With regard to our Sportradar OTT solution, there are a lot more

exciting elements on the horizon.

All new partners, as well as our existing partners, which includes rights holders and sports federations across all tiers, will receive our new OTT solution with all the beneÀts merged data and video provide.

For 2019, we will continue to focus on working together with partners to Ànd new and innovative ways of driving engagement, increasing personalisation and providing additional entertainment and gamiÀcation. With regard to monetisation, we are currently working very intensively to explore opportunities with advertising on digital platforms, and we will launch a pioneering solution in this area very soon.

Going forward even further, machine learning and artiÀcial intelligence are elements that will be important for both our data as well as our video services as we look to the latest technology to keep us ahead of the game.

SportsPro Magazine | 111

DEALS REVIEW

DEALS REVIEW Sports industry deal-making highlights from October and November 2018

Overwatch League signs Fanatics licensing deal Activision Blizzard’s esports competition, the Overwatch League, has announced a multiyear deal with licensed sports merchandise company Fanatics.

The deal will see Fanatics provide the Overwatch League fanbase with an omnichannel retail experience as well as a significantly expanded assortment of products. The agreement marks the first-ever foray into the professional gaming industry for Fanatics and is the first of its kind between a

major retailer and an official esports league.

Fanatics has secured US and international rights to produce Overwatch League jerseys, fan gear, headwear, and hard goods sold across all retail and wholesale channels. In addition, the company will establish a new global ecommerce and mobile shopping platform and operate onsite retail for all league events.

“Esports has been on our radar for some time now and we are incredibly excited to mark our

Uefa pens US$230 million deal with Jack Ma-backed payment platform Uefa, European soccer’s governing body, has agreed an eight-year global partnership with Chinese payment platform Alipay worth more than €200 million (US$230 million).

The deal, which runs until 2026, sees Alipay become the official global payment partner for all Uefa national team tournaments, including the 2020 and 2024 European Championships. It also covers the finals of the Nations League, the new competition format introduced earlier this year to produce more competitive matches outside of major tournaments.

Alipay, which is operated by Ant Financial Services Group and controlled by Jack Ma, the founder of ecommerce giant Alibaba, will

112 | www.sportspromedia.com

also be listed as Uefa’s official global wallet provider and the organisation’s official global fintech partner.

As part of the deal, the two parties will provide a ‘unique digital payment experience’ for fans who travel to Euro 2020, which is being played across 12 countries, and Euro 2024 in Germany.

“Alipay is at the forefront of digital payments and in association with its global partners, Alipay has unique connections with over 900 million users,” said Uefa president Aleksander Čeferin, who unveiled the partnership at an event in Shanghai. “We believe the partnership will further innovate the way in which Uefa engages with football fans around the world.”

first deal with the best in the world in Activision Blizzard around their incredibly successful Overwatch League,” said Ross Tannenbaum, head of special projects for Fanatics.

The agreement will be implemented before the start of the 2019 Overwatch League season, which kicks off on 14th February. At that time, Overwatch League gear will be available on a dedicated digital store and on select sites across Fanatics’ global network.

GolfTV and Tiger Woods enter content alliance

DAZN heads to Spain and Brazil with premium soccer rights International sports streaming service DAZN has announced that it will launch in Spain and Brazil in 2019.

The platform’s Spanish rights portfolio will include exclusive coverage of English soccer’s Premier League, the MotoGP global motorcycling series and EuroLeague Basketball.

Meanwhile, the platform will launch in Brazil with an initial offering which includes exclusive rights to the Copa Sudamericana, the secondary

Discovery’s new over-the-top (OTT) streaming service GolfTV has announced an exclusive content deal with Tiger Woods. The global partnership will see the American star produce weekly golf instructional videos and give fans a glimpse into his life on the PGA Tour when the platform goes live in the new year. The two parties will also collaborate on a wide range of programming to offer fans an authentic look into Woods’ life, mind and performance.

In October, the PGA Tour and pay-TV operator Discovery announced the creation of GolfTV on the back of their US$2 billion rights deal to broadcast 150 golf tournaments annually.

Woods, a 14-time major champion, said he hoped his involvement in the service would generate enthusiasm for the game among a new, younger audience.

“I want to talk to golf fans and golfers everywhere, directly, and straight from me,” he said. “That’s important to me. Talking about what we care about: what’s happening on the course, how to play better, how can I shoot lower scores tomorrow, how can I beat my friends?

“Getting the chance to do instruction is exciting.

If I can help the next generation enjoy the game more and play better, that’s pretty special.”

club soccer competition in South America, as well as Italy’s Serie A and France’s Ligue 1.

DAZN says it plans to announce further additions to its offering in both markets ahead of next year’s launch.

Both moves mark a continuation of DAZN’s rapid global expansion, which has seen the platform launch in the United States and Italy during the past year. The service is also available in Austria, Germany, Japan, Switzerland and Canada.

Major League Baseball signs US$5 billion Fox renewal Major League Baseball (MLB) has extended its multi-platform rights contract with Fox Sports in a tie-up worth a reported US$5 billion.

The deal, which runs through 2028 and includes television, digital and Spanish-language rights, will see Fox Sports pay US$714 million annually, according to Bloomberg.

As part of the agreement, Fox Sports and Spanish-language cable network Fox Deportes have retained the television rights to MLB’s major events, continuing as the exclusive television broadcast partner of the seasonending World Series.

“Fox Sports has been our national television partner for over 20 years and I could not be more pleased to announce the extension of our relationship through the 2028 season,” said MLB commissioner Rob Manfred. “Their innovative presentation of Major League Baseball through game telecasts and special programming across all their platforms has helped strengthen and elevate our sport’s popularity.”

Meanwhile, MLB has also secured a three-year streaming deal with OTT operator DAZN which, while not featuring rights to any full live games, will include live cut-ins.

For more information on these deals and daily updates from across the sports industry, visit www.sportspromedia.com

SportsPro Magazine | 113

DEALS SECTION TEXT HERE DIRECTORY

DIRECTORY OF SPONSORSHIP DEALS Signed in October and November 2018 Real Madrid set to agree record €1.1bn Adidas renewal Spanish soccer giants Real Madrid are set to sign off on a record ten-year, €1.1 billion (US$1.25 billion) renewal with German sportswear brand Adidas, according to Marca. The agreement, which is set to run from 2020 until 2030 and represents the most expensive kit deal in soccer, would see Adidas pay more than double the annual €52 million it commits under its current contract with the La Liga club. The eyewatering figure is also reportedly only a guaranteed amount, and could rise to as much as €150 million per year depending on merchandising.

years million OVERALL VALUE: US$1.25 billion SPORT: Soccer

Arsenal confirm UK£300m Adidas deal English soccer giants Arsenal have announced a new long-term kit deal with Adidas, said to be worth UK£300 million (US$382 million) over five years. The long-rumoured deal will see the Premier League club kitted out by the German sportswear giant from July 2019 and purportedly bring in UK£60 million (US$76.4 million) annually, making it the third most lucrative arrangement in world soccer. The announcement officially ends the Gunners’ deal with Adidas’ German rivals Puma, offering a significant upgrade on the UK£150 million (US$193 million) contract signed in 2014.

LENGTH OF CONTRACT: 10

LENGTH OF CONTRACT: 5

LENGTH OF CONTRACT: 15

ANNUALISED VALUE: US$125

ANNUALISED VALUE: US$76.4

ANNUALISED VALUE: US$6.4

MLB and MGM Resorts confirm league-wide gaming partnership Major League Baseball (MLB) has entered into a landmark marketing partnership with MGM Resorts International, becoming the third major North American sports league to strike an agreement with the gambling company. The multi-year deal, which is worth a reported US$80 million over four years, designates Las Vegas-based MGM Resorts as the league’s first-ever ‘official gaming partner’ and ‘official entertainment partner’, and will see the MGM Resorts and playMGM brands integrated across MLBowned broadcast and digital media platforms. years million OVERALL VALUE: US$80 million SPORT: Baseball

years million OVERALL VALUE: US$382 million SPORT: Soccer

UConn inks US$96m IMG renewal The University of Connecticut (UConn) has announced a 15year extension of its licensing and multimedia rights agreement with IMG. The deal includes a US$2 million signing bonus and a minimum of US$96 million in royalties, including US$6 million this academic year. The new contract marks a significant uplift on the previous agreement, which guaranteed the Huskies US$80 million. In return, IMG will have the rights to broadcast Huskies games on its radio network, while it will also expand its digital content output on social media.

Australian Open inks ‘largest Chinese sponsorship deal’ The organisers of the Australian Open have announced the ‘largest Chinese sponsorship deal’ in the tournament’s history with liquor brand Luzhou Laojiao. The financial terms of the agreement have not been made public, but Tennis Australia’s (TA) chief revenue officer Richard Heaselgrave did reveal that he had signed “one of the largest deals that Tennis Australia has ever negotiated”. He added that the tie-up was “definitely within the ballpark” of the partnership TA has with its major sponsor Kia, worth a reported AUD$85 million (US$60 million) over five years.

Barclays extends Premier League sponsorship deal British banking firm Barclays has extended its sponsorship deal with the Premier League by three years, prolonging its lengthy association with the soccer competition until 2022. The UK£31.5 million (US$40.5 million) renewal comes after the company ended its title sponsorship of the league in 2016. The agreement, which represents an increase of around 15 per cent on the previous deal, extends one of the longestrunning partnerships in British sport. The Premier League currently receives over UK£100 million (US$129 million) per year from commercial partners.

LENGTH OF CONTRACT: 4

LENGTH OF CONTRACT: 5

LENGTH OF CONTRACT: 3

ANNUALISED VALUE: US$20

ANNUALISED VALUE: US$12

ANNUALISED VALUE: US$13.5

114 | www.sportspromedia.com

years million OVERALL VALUE: US$60 million SPORT: Tennis

years million OVERALL VALUE: US$96 million SPORT: College sports

years million OVERALL VALUE: US$40.5 million SPORT: Soccer

Tennis Australia has partnered Luzhou Laojiao

ICC drinks to US$30m Bira 91 global partnership The International Cricket Council (ICC) has named craft beer Bira 91 as an official partner through to 2023.

As part of the five-year deal, which is estimated by industry insiders to be worth between US$5 million and US$6 million annually, the Indian brand will become an official sponsor of global ICC tournaments. The news comes ahead of one of the busiest years in the sport’s recent history, with the 2019 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup being held in England and Wales, as well as the inaugural edition of the long-mooted ICC World Test Championship. The agreement marks Bira 91’s first foray into sport. years million OVERALL VALUE: US$30 million SPORT: Cricket

Airbus on board for New York Yacht Club’s America’s Cup challenge European aerospace company Airbus has become the first toptier sponsor of the New York Yacht Club’s “American Magic” Challenger for the 36th America’s Cup, which is scheduled to take place in Auckland, New Zealand in 2021. The US$10 million deal will see Airbus benefit from a range of marketing rights including branding on the team’s boat, digital media exposure and extensive hospitality.

LENGTH OF CONTRACT: 5

LENGTH OF CONTRACT: 3

ANNUALISED VALUE: US$6

ANNUALISED VALUE: US$3.33

years million OVERALL VALUE: US$10 million SPORT: Sailing

Real Madrid’s Adidas renewal is a world record

PSG team up with LoveBet French soccer champions Paris Saint-German have announced a two-year deal with LoveBet, which becomes the Ligue 1 club’s official Asian betting partner. According to French sports newspaper L’Equipe, the agreement is worth US$2 million per year. Sebastien Wasels, the general manager of PSG Asia, said: “The partnership is a testament to the club’s commitment to Asia and builds upon the successful launch of our Asia-Pacific office and the club’s Asia tour last July.”

years million OVERALL VALUE: US$4 million SPORT: Soccer

Fifa Women’s World Cup gets €1m Crédit Agricole backing Fifa, world soccer’s governing body, has announced French international banking firm Crédit Agricole as a national partner of the 2019 Fifa Women’s World Cup. According to L’Equipe, the deal has an estimated value of €1 million (US$1.1 million) and will see Crédit Agricole benefit from brand exposure in the lead-up to and during the tournament. Crédit Agricole joins the tournament’s partner roster having had a longterm partnership with the French Football Federation (FFF), which was extended until 2023 earlier this year.

year million OVERALL VALUE: US$1.1 million SPORT: Soccer

Argentinian FA catches a ride with Uber The Argentinian Football Association (AFA) has named ride-sharing app Uber as its new digital sponsor.

The deal, which is said to be worth about ARS 20 million (US$530,000) per year, according to the Doble Amarilla news site, has caused uproar among Argentina’s taxi drivers, who claim that Uber operates illegally in the country. The United Taxi Association, an association of taxi drivers, has already responded to the partnership by protesting outside AFA headquarters and threatened to disrupt the national team’s journeys to the stadium at home matches.

LENGTH OF CONTRACT: 2

LENGTH OF CONTRACT: 1

LENGTH OF CONTRACT: 1

ANNUALISED VALUE: US$2

ANNUALISED VALUE: US$1.1

ANNUALISED VALUE: US$530,000

year

OVERALL VALUE: US$530,000 SPORT: Soccer

SportsPro Magazine | 115

DEALS SECTION TEXT HERE INSIDE THE DEAL

Inside the deal:

Major League Baseball and Mitel

Next summer, Major League Baseball (MLB) will follow the National Football League (NFL) and the National Basketball Association (NBA) in playing regular season games in the UK. The World Series-winning Boston Red Sox will meet their great rivals, the New York Yankees, at London Stadium on 29th and 30th June.

In mid-November, a title sponsor was confirmed for the event: Mitel. The communications technology brand, headquartered in Canada but with a major office in the British capital, became a partner of MLB at the start of the 2018 season, bringing its expertise to improving networks in league dugouts, bullpens, video review rooms and press boxes and unifying them into a single advanced system.

Following the deal, SportsPro spoke to Richard Roberts, the Mitel vice president for UK/Ireland and EMEA channels, to find out more about what to expect and why next summer’s game could be “a landmark in MLB and Mitel’s history”.

Had the title sponsorship of the London Series been built into Mitel’s MLB partnership from the outset?

I don’t know if it was from day one but as with most partnerships, the closer you get – the more innovative, the more collaborative, the more iterative you get – you start pushing one another. We launched our partnership in February around communication and collaboration from bullpen to dugout, to press box to review centre, and that’s gone incredibly well this last season. And that stimulates all sorts of other opportunities.

This opportunity [of bringing games to London] has been talked about outside of Mitel for many, many years, and no one thought it would ever happen. But when the opportunity did happen, and we were told of the intent for MLB to come over to London, then we simply had to be part of it.

From a brand perspective, for Mitel, what had you set out to achieve in that relationship and what have you achieved in that first season?

Our intent was really to show the power of collaboration and to show the importance of collaboration, but also to show the importance of connection. You can bring the fans in and we’ve seen it in many sports over here – in some of the replays around cricket, around rugby, ref-link as well. There’s great ways of bringing the fan in using communications technology. That’s important.

So what we wanted to show was that a business can become much more effective and much more high-performing if they embrace innovative, smarter collaboration and communication. And secondly, if you know your customers and engage your customers then chances are your franchise will flourish, and we’ve seen that as well.

The title sponsorship element of this for the London Series obviously affords you a bit more prominence in terms of your relationship with MLB. In what other ways is this going to be different from what you’ve been doing in the US so far?

Well, it’s here, and that matters. It really matters.

I said as soon as we knew they were coming to London, we had to be part of this. You walk

116 | www.sportspromedia.com

up to the stadium – we were sat in Pret a few moments ago – and you look and you see the Mitel brand sitting next to the MLB brand and that’s incredibly powerful for us.

I think, also, it just broadens our reach to a whole different audience. You walk down the high street in any town in the UK, you’ll see baseball caps with MLB logos on them. There is a connection already there. This makes it real. And to be associated with something that monumental is pretty important for us.

You’ve got a fan-facing positioning as the title sponsor but you’re very much a B2B supplier. How do you marry that up with your goals?

If you look at much of our messaging, it’s around helping our customer connect to their customer. So although we’re not B2C, what we do is enable that consumer to business interaction. And keeping focused on that is really important for people, because you can have the best solution in the world technically but if it doesn’t have that end-user experience, it will never fly and that will cost you.

It’s a bit like reviews in sport. If you get to the right decision but it takes you five minutes to do that and it kills the flow of the game, it isn’t the right decision. So having that laser focus on customer experience or fan experience is really important.

What’s your target for year one? What do you hope to get out of next June?

This is more about building for the long term.

What we don’t want to do is sacrifice everything for a short-term gain when, actually, we’re trying to change the way that people think about communication-collaboration. That takes time. So we want to play the long game, but we also want to make sure that we engage all the communities that are relevant over here.

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INDEX ISSUE 103

25

INSIGHT YEAR IN REVIEW

STORIES THAT SHAPED THE SPORTING YEAR

““Can C we afford to spend billions o off dollars on sports rights?

P ro Probably not at the moment.

D o we think there are interesting Do o p opportunities - perhaps around n ic sports, or clips, or around niche sshoulder ho content - where we can a lig our advertiser interest in the align c on content?

Yep, we’re all in on that.”

Theo T heo Luke, EMEA Sports Partnerships Director, Twitter

Infantino’s US$25 billion lobbying drive

1

INDEX OF COMPANIES AND PEOPLE 21ST CENTURY FOX

16

Bettman, Gary

28

23 CAPITAL

120 68

Bin Salman, Mohammed

28

32 EQUITY

BLACK BOOK OF MOTORSPORT

20

Black, Eric

102

A Abrutyn, David

68

ACTIVISION BLIZZARD 28 ADIDAS

42, 64, 120

AIK

122

AIRASIA

18

Al Khelafi, Nasser

18

Blatter, Philippe

92

Blatter, Sepp

28

BMW

64

BORUSSIA DORTMUND

102, 108

BOSE

64

COMCAST CORPORATION

28, 64, 102

EUROPEAN HANDBALL28, 92 FEDERATION

Cook, Garry

78

EUROVISION

102

COPA90

120 18

EVERBRIGHT SECURITIES

28, 92

Cordeiro, Carlos

COURTSIDE VENTURES 68

HASHLETES

122

Hearn, Eddie

28

120

FC BAYERN MUNICH

6, 86

HILTON HOTELS & RESORTS

64

120

FC PORTO

20

Alito, Samuel

28

ALLEN & COMPANY

68

D

BRUIN SPORTS CAPITAL

6, 68

DALIAN WANDA

BT SPORT

28, 102

Bubolz, Kerry

58

Buck, Bruce

28

Budd, Dylan

42

BUNDESLIGA

78, 86

AMERICAN EXPRESS

64

BURGER KING

64

Anderson, Rick

102

Burns, Terrence

68

Andrews, Cameron

54

ANHEUSER-BUSCH INBEV

64

C CAPITAL ONE

ARIZONA COYOTES

58

Arolla Albarracin, Ignacio

102

18

Iansiti, Marco

96

Foley, Bill

58

IEG

64, 68

Dinnage, Susanna

18, 28

FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION

102

ILIAD TELECOM

28

DISCOVERY

18, 28, 102

FORMULA E FORMULA ONE

120

28, 64

EBAY

96

28

Chernin, Peter

68

Ecclestone, Bernie

20

ATP

68

CHICK-FIL-A

64

ELEVEN SPORTS

ATP MEDIA

102

Chignell, Will

42

18, 28, 54, 102

CHINESE BASKETBALL 92 ASSOCIATION

Elliott, James

78

Emanuel, Ari

78

CHINESE SUPER LEAGUE

EMIRATES

64

ENCOMPASS

102

ENDEAVOR

78

ENGINE SHOP

68

CID ENTERTAINMENT 68

64

CIRQUE DE SOLEIL

58

BASTION COLLECTIVE 18

CISCO SYSTEMS

54

Baumann, Patrick

18

CITI

64

BBC

54

Clarke, Giles

18

64

68, 102

28

28

102

HYUNDAI WORLDWIDE

DEUTSCHE TELEKOM 108

DELTATRE

EA SPORTS

BARCLAYS

64

HOTSTAR

I

E

BALTIMORE RAVENS

HOOKIT

28, 54, 68, 92, 102, 120

58

28

18

92

FIFA

FLORIDA PANTHERS

18

Chiulli, Raffaele

FIBA

120

CHANNEL FIVE

BADMINTON WORLD 92 FEDERATION

102

42

CBS

92

Hong, Matthew

Flesher, Jeff

ATLANTA FALCONS

28

18

78

Finegold, Nick

AT&T

B/R LIVE

78

Fertitta, Lorenzo

64

CHELSEA FC

B

Fertitta, Frank

DELL

120

42

Carter, Kathy

42

Hollingsworth, Tim

28

DUGOUT

Carr, Joseph

18

Hofer, Emily

96

64

CAROLINA PANTHERS 28

Hiquet, Jerome

FCB DIGITAL & MEDIA 86 LAB

De Gea, David

DR PEPPER SNAPPLE GROUP

58

54, 58, 64, 78, 86, 96

DAZN GROUP

92

CAROLINA HURRICANES

68

28

DOUBLE HERITAGE

68

Argyros, George

DAZN

102

ANTHONY TRAVEL

54

78

16, 28

68

86, 96

28

Danis, Dillon

DISNEY STREAMING SERVICES

Cardinale, Gerry

ARABSAT

DALLAS COWBOYS

DISNEY

18

APPLE

92

64

ANIMAL PLANET

ENGLAND AND WALES 18 CRICKET BOARD (ECB)

IMG

68, 78

18

IMG COLLEGE

68

20, 28, 54, 102

Infantino, Gianni

28

Forstmann, Ted

68

INFRONT SPORTS & MEDIA

92

FOX

28, 54, 78

INSTAGRAM

France, Bill

68

58, 64, 86, 96

Francis, Barney

102

INTER MILAN

86

Franklin, Nick

42

FRENCH FOOTBALL LEAGUE (LFP)

54

INTERNATIONAL 92 CYCLING UNION (UCI)

FRENCH TENNIS FEDERATION (FFT)

92

78, 108 INTERNATIONAL MIXED MARTIAL ARTS FEDERATION

FUTURE BEAT

68

INTERNATIONAL TENNIS FEDERATION

28, 108

INTERNATIONAL VOLLEYBALL FEDERATION (FIVB)

20, 28

IOC

28, 42, 68

IRDETO

54, 78

ISG

28

G Garcia Cuevas, Yolanda102 GE Geier, Rainer

64 108

GENERAL TIRE

18

Gilbert, Dan

68

GIPHY

86

ENGLISH FOOTBALL LEAGUE

122

GLOBAL ASSOCIATION 18 OF INTERNATIONAL SPORTS FEDERATIONS

ENTERPRISE

64

28, 120

CLEVELAND BROWNS 28, 68

GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS

54, 78

28, 92

20, 68

Epstein, Lawrence

BEIJING BAOFENG TECHNOLOGY

CLEVELAND CAVALIERS

ESP PROPERTIES

BEIN MEDIA GROUP

18

CLUBE ATLETICO DE MADRID

92

ESPN

BEIN SPORTS

28, 54

COCA-COLA

64

ESPN INTERNATIONAL 18

Cohen, Michael

18

ESPN+

18, 28

EUROLEAGUE BASKETBALL

122

Beckham, David

BELLATOR

78

BEOUTQ

28, 54

BERKELEY ASSETS

Collins, John

96

118 | www.sportspromedia.com

68

96

86

BRITISH PARALYMPIC 18 ASSOCIATION

64

96

FC BARCELONA

Curry, Stephen

AMERICAN AIRLINES

42

Faulkner, Robert

18

28

Hargreaves, Scott

42

54

BUFFALO BILLS

28

CSM SPORT AND ENTERTAINMENT

Al-Sheikh, Turki

68

102

Hamilton, Lewis

120

58

AMC EVENTS

Hall, Andrew

FANATICS

BP

28

H

96

FACEBOOK

SportsPro Magazine | 103

Gueisbuhler, Philippe 18

CRYPTECH

BOSTON BRUINS

AMAZON WEB SERVICES

68

HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW

18

28, 86, 96

SportsPro Magazine azine nee | 4433

68

28

AMAZON

GROUPM

78

Al-Obaidly, Yousef

122

from a consortium led by the SoftBank Vision Fund – and, by extension, Saudi Arabia. Yet with the established powers decidedly unconvinced, not least with Uefa reinforcing its own competitions against the threat of a mooted European Super League breakaway, the final vote on the matter was pushed back to next spring.

Crispino, Tony

Al-Khashoggi, Jamal

ALLSVENSKAN

2026 World Cup in North America brings the promise of an uptick in commercial performance but in 2018, Infantino’s central play was in pushing for a massive expansion to the Fifa Club World Cup. Demand for that has been uneven. A US$25 billion offer was on the table for a comprehensive 12-year rights deal, reportedly

Couture, Randy

CURATION CORPORATION

ALLSTATE INSURANCE 64

F

Gianni Infantino (right) addressed the G20 Summit of world leaders late in 2018 and it probably ranked only somewhere around the middle of overtly political actions taken by the Fifa president during the year.

This year’s defining image of Infantino will likely be of him sat contentedly between Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman and Russian president Vladimir Putin at the opening game of the World Cup. He has also suggested that expanding Qatar’s 2022 edition of the tournament to a regional 48-team event could bridge the schism between rival factions in the Gulf.

The Swiss was in Buenos Aires at the start of December to deliver a keynote speech highlighting soccer’s potential as a force for good.

His real constituency, though, is the leadership of the world’s national soccer associations, from whom he will seek reelection in 2019 as head of the global governing body.

Infantino won a 2016 ballot to complete the term of ousted compatriot Sepp Blatter, with a promise to follow the latter’s strategy of giving smaller nations ever bigger chunks of cash. Confirmation of a

86

J Jackson, Omar

96

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS

28

Jordan, Sophie

54

Julia, Nicolas

96

Goldschmidt, Sophie 42

JUVENTUS FC

120

68

GOLFTV

102

18, 28, 58, 78

GOOGLE

54, 86, 96

K

GOOGLE CLOUD

102

Kaepernick, Colin

28

Gordon, Brian

68

Kahn, Oliver

86

Greve, Beth

42

Kaplan, Alex

102

Gromkowski, Andre

78

Kardashian, Kim

122

Keaveny, Tom

54

KFC

64

KOSMOS

28

KREATE INC

68

L

MOODY’S INVESTORS 78 SERVICE MP & SILVA

18, 28, 92

MTV

18

MUBADALA INVESTMENT COMPANY

78

54

PGA TOUR

20, 28, 102

SMG INSIGHT

54

Pilgrim, Rob

102

Smith, Nick

18

US OLYMPIC AND PARALYMPIC PROPERTIES

Pique, Gerard

28

SOFTBANK

28

US SKI & SNOWBOARD 64

PIZZA HUT

64

SONY

64

USA GYMNASTICS

PLAYER TOKENS

96

SORARE

96

PORTMAN COMPANIES68

Sorkin, Aaron

120

V

Portman, John

68

SOULSIGHT

68

PREMIER LEAGUE

18, 28, 54, 58, 68, 78

SPONSORS

20

SPORT ENGLAND

18

LA 2028

18

Mulready, Mark

LA LIGA

28, 54, 78, 102

N

Lakhani, Karim

96

NAGRA

54, 102

PRIMESPORT

68

LAOLA1

108

NASCAR

16, 20, 68

PUMA

108

LAS VEGAS ACES

58

Nassar, Larry

16, 28

Putin, Vladimir

28

LEICESTER CITY FC

58

Pyne, George

6, 68

18

NATIONWIDE INSURANCE

64

Levy, Paul LEYTON ORIENT FC

122

NBA

LIBERTY MEDIA

20, 28

18, 20, 42, 86, 92, 102

LIGUE 1

28

NBC

28, 102

Lofkvist, Hampus

18

NBC SPORTS

102

Logan, Erik

42

NEMIROFF

18

78

MANCHESTER CITY FC 86

T BURNS SPORTS GROUP

NEW YORK RANGERS 58 Neymar

120

Reus, Marco

108

TABCORP

18

NFL

28, 58, 64, 68, 86

Rinaudo, Giampiero

68

TACO BELL

64

RIOT GAMES

102

NHL

28, 58, 68

Rivera, Ralph

18

NIKE

16, 28, 64

TELEFONICA

28

Robben, Arjen

86

TENCENT

92

64

Manfred, Rob

18

Nurmagomedov, Abubakar

78

Marini, Luca

68

54, 78

Martin, Steve

120

Nurmagomedov, Khabib

Mayweather, Floyd Jr 78 McGregor, Conor

54, 78

Mead, Chris

102

MEDIAPRO

28, 102

MERCEDESAMG PETRONAS MOTORSPORT

64

MERCEDES-BENZ Mertens, Anouk

86

96

NRG ENERGY

120

Stoll, Benjamin

RESEARCH AND MARKETS

28

MANCHESTER UNITED 28, 96, 120 FC

MATCHROOM BOXING 28

64

NEW YORK JETS

64

MASTERCLASS

STATE FARM

T

NISSAN

MASSIVE INTERACTIVE 68

42

28

102

Maloney, Shanda

64

Stark, Andrew

Reedie, Sir Craig

Luke, Theo

28

SPRINT

20

NEW ORLEANS SAINTS 28

64

MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER

W

54

QUICKEN LOANS

64

LUCAS OIL

ROCK ‘N’ ROLL MARATHON SERIES ROLEX

O O’Brien, Seamus

28

O’Sullivan, Ronnie

122

Oliveira, Simon

120

OMNIGON

92

ON LOCATION EXPERIENCES

68

T-MOBILE

Robson-Kanu, Thomas 96 92 64

Roth, Jeff

68

Rousey, Ronda

78

RTVE

102

RUGBY FOOTBALL UNION

42

RUSSIAN ANTIDOPING AGENCY (RUSADA)

28

54

92

SUNOCO

64

18

VIACCESS-ORCA

64

68

78, 102

NEW ERA

VH1

VIZRT

64

NEULION

18

54

VISA

REDBIRD CAPITAL PARTNERS

28

Lovett, Ian

64

VFT SOLUTIONS

96

RED BULL

LOS ANGELES RAMS

VERIZON

108

54

102

6, 58

SPORTSMAN MEDIA GROUP

QATAR AIRWAYS

R

16, 28

SPORTS LEDGER

Sugden, David

NETFLIX

78

18, 28, 102, 108

96

58

M-1 GLOBAL MMA

20

SPORTRADAR

READING FC

LOS ANGELES KINGS

M

Q

SPORTACCORD

VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS

18

Tatum, Mark

TENNIS TV TENOR

68 64, 78

18

102 86

Tepper, David

28

THE ATHLETIC

68

THE CARLYLE GROUP 68 THE CHERNIN GROUP 68 THE GAMER AGENCY 68 THE PLAYERS’ TRIBUNE 120

WANDA SPORTS GROUP

92

Wang, Jianlin

92

WASHINGTON CAPITALS

58

Watson, Marc

54

WEST BROMWICH ALBION FC

96

Whaley, Suzy

18

WHATSAPP

54

WHISTLE SPORTS

18

White, Dana

78

Wilson, Russell

64

WINNIPEG JETS

58

WME | IMG

78

Wolff, Russell

18

WOMEN’S NATIONAL 58 BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION WOMEN’S TENNIS ASSOCIATION

42

Woods, Tiger

102, 122

WORLD ANTI-DOPING 28 AGENCY WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP

108

TIME WARNER

28

TOUGH MUDDER

18 64

WORLD TRIATHLON CORPORATION

92 68

WORLD SURF LEAGUE 6, 42

S

TOYOTA TURNER SPORTS

28, 102

WPP

ONE CHAMPIONSHIP 78

SA STUDIOS GLOBAL 68

Twain, Mark

120

WSC

92

Orme, Tim

102

SAMSUNG

64

TWITCH

54, 102

WWE

102

64, 68

OTRO

120

TWITTER

Ovechkin, Alexander 58, 68

SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS

86

18

54, 58, 64, 92, 102

120, 122

OVERON

54

SAN JOSE SHARKS

58

Tygart, Travis

28

Y

Messi, Lionel Messick, Andrew

92

OVERTIER

68

Scholz, Benedikt

102, 108

METLIFE

64

Scudamore, Richard

18, 28

U

OVERWATCH LEAGUE 28, 120

SEATTLE HOCKEY PARTNERS

28

UEFA

28, 54, 68, 86, 102

SEATTLE SEAHAWKS

64

UFC

Selig, Bud

18

6, 18, 28, 54, 78, 120

SERIE A

28, 78, 86

UNDER ARMOUR

64

Ziff, Dirk

42

Sharrock, Mike

18

UNITED

64

ZOZOTOWN

20

MIAMI DOLPHINS

28

Mickelson, Phil

122

P

MICROSOFT

64

Pacheco, Reece

Middleditch, Tom

102

Pacquiao, Manny

78

MIDDLESEX COUNTY 18 CRICKET CLUB

PAPA JOHN’S PIZZA

64

MILLERCOORS

PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN 86

64

Parikh, Deepen

42

68

MINNESOTA VIKINGS

28

Paul, Logan

102

Mirren, Helen

120

Penske, Roger

68

MLB

16, 18

PEPSICO

64

PERISCOPE

54

PGA OF AMERICA

18

MONDELEZ INTERNATIONAL

64

MONSTER ENERGY

64

SHELL OIL COMPANY 64

UNITED STATES 16, 18 OLYMPIC COMMITTEE

Silva, Anderson

78

Skipper, John

28

UNITED STATES 18 SOCCER FEDERATION

SKY

20, 28, 54

Urban, Jeff

18

SKY ITALIA

28

28

SKY SPORTS

28, 102

US ANTI-DOPING AGENCY

Slater, Kelly

42

YOUTUBE

54, 64, 78, 86, 102

YUM! BRANDS

64

Z Zelaznik, Marshall

78

Zidane, Zinedine

120

ZUFFA

78

ZURICH INSURANCE

64

SportsPro Magazine | 119

SECTION TEXT HERE AT LARGE

Disruption may not take the form you think it will

SportsPro editor-at-large Eoin Connolly considers whether familiar patterns can be found in the much-altered landscape of sport.

As November turned into December – you remember, it was quite recent – social media was abuzz with some mysterious new arrival: Otro. No one knew quite what it was but they were pretty sure it was exciting. Images of an impossibly high-end collection of soccer players, from David Beckham to Neymar and Leo Messi and Zinedine Zidane, were circulated to make all of us aware that, well, #OtroIsComing.

The whole thing called to mind an extended gag from an earlyish entry of The Simpsons.

The family are watching some bit of televised Àller when a message explodes on to the screen bearing a single word: ‘Gabbo’. No explanation is offered for what Gabbo is, and the brief clip builds into a long campaign which offers no further detail whatsoever.

Still, the ever-pliable citizens of SpringÀeld are whipped into a ready frenzy and they tune in, and turn out, for the lifealtering reveal. At an all-singing, all-dancing extravaganza replete with miniature Áypasts, it emerges that the object of their devoted longing is a children’s entertainment show, fronted by a Howdy Doody-style dummy with a taste for demented vaudeville and a ventriloquist dressed for cocktails at some mid-century country club. This absurd setup soon becomes a cultural phenomenon, setting the episode’s events in motion.

Otro, it turns out, is nothing quite so unexpected or old-fashioned, but it is a reworking of an idea that we have been seeing a lot of recently. Styled as a digital fan club, it gives users access to exclusive content from the superstars involved for a US$3.99

120 | www.sportspromedia.com

monthly subscription. Its DNA is spliced from various bodies: a little from team-owned Dugout, athlete forum The Players’ Tribune and fan channel Copa90, and a little from MasterClass, the glitzy online seminar service fronted by luminaries like Steve Martin, Helen Mirren, Aaron Sorkin and Stephen Curry.

The new platform has some serious pedigree, with backing from venture Àrm 23 Capital and input from long-term Beckham partner Simon Oliveira. It may not quite promise the revolution that its online tease suggested, but that hardly precludes its success.

A recurring lesson of disruption is that it’s often about executing familiar ideas in unfamiliar settings, constantly recalibrating the same routines. That’s even part of the joke about Gabbo: SpringÀelders are sold a bizarre Gen X retread of a hoary old cliché; the writers skewer 90s marketing techniques through their affection for 50s TV arcana.

About a year ago Adidas released a series of ofÀcial playing kits for soccer teams in its portfolio, including Manchester United and Juventus. The twist: those new shirts were only available as playable avatars on EA Sports’ Fifa video game series. Now Adidas has reversed the process, releasing kits that were exclusively available in the digital world of Fifa 19 for retail as wearable gear.

That digital-physical feedback loop is one now set to repeat elsewhere. Merchandise giant Fanatics has signed a partnership with the organisers of esports’ Overwatch League. The agreement will make it easier for fans to show their support for the burgeoning stars of the competition. Yet it would not be too much of a stretch to imagine Fanatics-distributed products popping up in the Overwatch games as playable ‘skins’, and vice versa.

One of the comments that’s stuck with me through this busy year in the sports industry came, funnily enough, from a June event run to discuss the aforementioned Dugout project. While much of the conversation that day was about farming content and reaping data, Curation Corporation chief executive Nick Finegold instead Áoated the concept of ‘ofÁine blindspots’ for major sports teams and organisations.

The argument Finegold made was that while soccer clubs could be applauded for pursuing new digital initiatives, they could be oblivious to potential opportunities out there in the physical world. One example he discussed was cookbooks, growing again as part of a stabilising publishing industry.

Poor food choices among young people affect most of the richest countries in the world, directly contributing to childhood obesity. Soccer players, by and large, have impeccably curated diets. By releasing collections of licensed recipes, clubs could harness the afÀnities of their fans for the cause of better nutritional education – encouraging kids to eat like their heroes – and create a new source of income in the process.

Licensing with a purpose: the possibilities may not be endless but they are compelling.

The UFC has already tried something similar in its own line of ofÀcial gyms, an exercise that wasn’t exactly as lucrative as selling TV rights but which helped popularise the sport by reinforcing links between mixed martial arts and a new strain of active lifestyle. Furthering connections between merchandising and identity in sport, rather than churning out branded tat, is only really the same kind of constructive thinking that takes sponsorship past the ‘slap a logo on it’ stage. All it really involves is a different perspective.

As technology moves so quickly, it’s tempting to view disruption as something propelling us into unchartered territory. But that’s pretty rarely the case. Often the skill in working through changing times is in recognising familiar patterns. Cells grow by dividing, plants from disturbed soil – all that kind of thing.

There’s probably another way of putting this.

“There is no such thing as a new idea,” said that other icon of American satire, Mark Twain. “It is impossible. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope.

“We give them a turn and they make new and curious combinations.”

THE SCRIBBLER

by The Scribbler

All in the mind games Newfangled sports like drone racing and competitive video gaming are all the rage nowadays, but that doesn’t mean classical pursuits can’t still have their day. This year’s World Chess Championship was the toast of London’s West End and the talk of the social networks for a run of days in November, generating enough

clamour that some hacks in the mainstream media saw fit to file rave reviews. Not only that, but many saw fit to note that the chess audience has apparently grown so large it is now “bigger than Kim Kardashian’s Twitter” - which, as far as the Scribbler can tell, is something to do with the internet.

Aha sheikh heartbreak He is the influential Kuwaiti politician, the feared and revered powerbroker behind many a high-profile election victory, the shadowy hand that rocks cradles in world soccer and Olympic circles. But now the man known simply as “The Sheikh” has awoken to discover his influence blunted, if not entirely diminished, pending court proceedings in Switzerland. Will the kingmaker maketh kings no more? The Scribbler hasn’t the foggiest.

‘Til death do us part They say a soccer supporter’s relationship with their club is a lot like a marriage, but it is not often that metaphor is taken literally. For a mere 189,100 krona – or US$20,900 - fans of Swedish club AIK can now buy an Infinity card, gifting them a season ticket at the Friends Arena for as long as they live. It might seem like an attractive proposition on the back of the Stockholm outfit’s title-winning Allsvenskan campaign, but fans should be warned: this particular arrangement does not include a prenuptial agreement should things turn sour.

Greenkeepers The money, the men, the moneymen, the men quite literally gambolling in money: The Match was pretty much par for the course, wasn’t it?

The sight of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson (right), two of the wealthiest sportsmen in history, going head-to-head for an obscene winner-take-all prize was meant to offer a glimpse into golf’s future. What it offered instead was a crass caricature of the sport’s overly manicured, annoyingly manufactured present. Such a shame the Scribbler, like the players themselves, couldn’t see past the stacks of cash on offer.

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Your break or mine?

Those pesky powerhouses of European soccer have been at it again. According to Football Leaks, cash-hungry club bosses have been meeting behind closed doors to discuss their long-mooted Super League, perhaps inspired by the lucrative EuroLeague basketball competition some of them helped create two years ago. Clearly, all this breakaway talk is catching on. Not only has it emboldened clubs in England’s Championship, who have threatened to stage a coup in protest against the EFL’s new TV deal with Sky, but now much to the Scribbler’s amusement - even snooker’s Ronnie O’Sullivan (above) is looking to get in on the act. “You don’t see Leyton Orient turning up to play Lionel Messi at Barcelona,” quipped the 42-year-old. To be fair, he does have a point.

www.irdeto.com