SportsPro October Edition

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SPORTS BROADCASTING IN 2015: THE SPECIAL EDITION www.sportspromedia.com

October 2015

OCTOBER 2015 | Issue 81

DELIA BUSHELL

@SportsPro

THE SECOND CHAPTER OF THE BT SPORT STORY Agencies: Ioris Francini sells the WME | IMG vision

Tennis: The masters of the ATP World Tour

NFL: Taking data into a new dimension

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CONTENTS | OCTOBER 2015 - ISSUE NUMBER 81

Contents

46 Cover Story 46 Connected Three years after its stunning entry into the UK broadcast market, and two years after launch, BT Sport is carrying the air of an established player. Delia Bushell, the managing director of BT TV and sport, lays out its ambitions in an era of technological and behavioural change.

Insights 32 Mini Insights 38 Rio’s preparations enter final straight 40 European soccer’s broadcast league

Features 56 Long-term shot Following the best traditions of IMG, Ioris Francini has risen from the bear SLW RI WKH VDOHV Á RRU WR WKH ERDUGURRPV of key clients. A deal-spinner turned strategic kingpin, he has become a FHQWUDO À JXUH LQ SRVLWLRQLQJ ,0* IRU change amid the WME revolution. 66 A numbers game : KHQ 03 6LOYD·V LQÁ XHQWLDO FR IRXQGHU Andrea Radrizzani announced he would step out of the agency game to establish Eleven Sports Network in August, questions were asked about his motives across the industry. With Eleven now up and running, he outlines the vision behind his ambitious new venture.

72 Permanent revolution China’s sports broadcasting market has long been dominated by CCTV and regional channels, but the rise of smart devices and over-the-top services has opened up opportunities for new media broadcasters. The battle for China’s nascent pay-TV sector is set to transform the way the country consumes sports content. 80 Through the Periscope and beyond Live streaming promises to transform the way people interact on social media and could well have an impact on the wider sports broadcast infrastructure. A couple of services have established name recognition, investment and an early-mover advantage but, in this nascent sector, WKH PDUNHW LV VWLOO KLJKO\ Á XLG

SportsPro Magazine | 3

CONTENTS | OCTOBER 2015 - ISSUE NUMBER 81

Contents 108 Hanging on Through a long career at the BBC, including as its head of sport, Roger Mosey saw the publicly funded broadcaster move into the age of the pay-TV giants, which brought new headaches and new challenges. In the ninth chapter of his memoir, Getting Out Alive, he recalls letting one set of cherished highlights slip away and restoring, with surprising GLIĂ€ FXOW\ D %ULWLVK WHOHYLVLRQ LQVWLWXWLRQ

Company ProďŹ le 112 Into orbit SES is one of the world’s leading satellite operators, providing infrastructure which allows broadcasters to reach almost every person on the globe. As the volume of live sport increases, and technology evolves, it has moved to cater for more and more of the industry’s needs.

Regulars

90 84 Production values ITN is one of the most venerable names in international news. Now, through the partnership of its ITN Productions arm with the Football League, it is delivering sporting stories in a way that could appeal far beyond English soccer. 90 The master class Comprising the nine biggest and most prestigious tournaments on the ATP World Tour, the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events represent the pinnacle of men’s tennis outside of the four Grand Slams. With a guaranteed line-up of established stars, an ever-growing TV viewership, burgeoning attendances and many millions in prize money, the Masters tournaments are in a class of their own.

96 Quick sand Predominantly played on sunny shores, beach tennis has seen year-on-year growth in uptake since the International Tennis Federation launched the Beach Tennis Tour in 2008. As ITF beach tennis administrator Stuart Barraclough explains, the challenge now is to build on those foundations.

6 8 10 12 16 18 20 22 28 120 122

Editor’s Letter Notes and Observations The Martyn Ziegler Column Digest Thought Leader: Michelle Ward Premature Facts Movers and Shakers Gallery SportsPro World Index Jottings

Deals 114 Deals Review 116 Sponsorship Deals

100 The data drive In this increasingly technology-driven age, box scores are no longer enough to satisfy the demands of football’s statshungry supporters and stakeholders as they seek an ever richer experience. In pursuing its vision to feed these desires, the National Football League is taking game data to the next level.

SportsPro (ISSN 1756 5340), (October 2015 edition) is published monthly by SportsPro Media Ltd and distributed in the USA by Mail Right Int., 1637 Stelton Road B4, Piscataway, NJ 08854. Periodicals Postage Paid at Piscataway, NJ and additional mailing oIĂ€ ces POSTMASTER: Send address changes to SportsPro, SportsPro Media, C/o 1637 Stelton Road B4, Piscataway NJ 08854

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26 MARCH 2016 Cardi, UK

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EDITOR’S LETTER

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR James Emmett EDITOR Eoin Connolly SUB EDITOR Adam Nelson DIGITAL EDITOR Michael Long STAFF WRITER Mike Kennedy ART DIRECTOR Daniel Brown RESEARCH EXECUTIVE Nima Farajpour PHOTOGRAPHIC AGENCY Action Images MEDIA PARTNER Press Association MANAGING DIRECTOR Nick Meacham COMMERCIAL CONSULTANT Richard Partridge BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGERS Jon Abraham, Bobby Hare, Sam Renshaw, Charlie Barker SUBSCRIPTIONS Bhav Sahota MARKETING MANAGER Stephanie McMillan BUSINESS OPERATIONS MANAGER YĂŠwandĂŠ ArulĂŠba

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SportsPro magazine is published by: SportsPro Media Ltd 3rd Floor, Two America Square, London EC3N 2LU, UK Tel: +44 (0) 207 549 3250 Fax: +44 (0) 207 549 3255 Email: info@sportspromedia.com Web: www.sportspromedia.com (SportsPro Media Ltd is part of the Henley Media Group Ltd - www.henleymediagroup.com) NOTICES: October 2015 Issue No 81 SportsPro Magazine (ISSN 1756 5340) is published monthly on the Àrst Thursday oI the prior month to the cover date. Printed in the EU. SUBSCRIPTIONS: Available at a cost oI U.…1 (Print subscription), and U.…14 ('igital Subscription). BacN issues are available Ior U.…25 and delivered anywhere in the world at no e[tra charge. Subscriptions are available by logging on to www.sportspromedia.com E'ITORIAL COP<RI*+T: The contents oI this magazine, both words and statistics, are strictly copyright and the intellectual property oI SportsPro Media. Copying or reproduction may only be carried out with written permission oI the publishers, which will normally not be withheld on payment oI a Iee. Article reprints: Most articles published in SportsPro Magazine are available as reprints by prior arrangement Irom the publishers. Normal minimum print run Ior reprints is 400 copies, although larger and smaller runs are possible. Please contact us at: inIo#sportspromedia.com

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here’s a piece of British television made in the 1970s that has become shorthand for something almost every sports fan once went through at some time or another. UK-based readers will likely know where I’m going with this, but here’s a primer for our international audience. Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads was the revival of a 1960s BBC comedy – The Likely Lads – which had followed the lives of two working class friends from England’s north east, in the pub, on the pull, and generally up to no good in their twentysomething way. The updated series catches up with the pair in a different social state, one divorced after an eventful overseas stint in the army, the other now a professional on the brink of bourgeois married life. It is the second series that is best remembered, in part because tapes of the Ă€ UVW ZHUH ODUJHO\ ORVW IURP WKH DUFKLYHV EXW mostly because of its shrewd and poignant observations of fading youth. One episode in particular stands out. In ‘No Hiding Place’, Bob and Terry bet an acquaintance that they can avoid the result of a daytime England friendly in Czechoslovakia until the highlights are shown after the nightly news. In their attempts to avoid television, radio and newspaper reports, they take refuge in pubs and churches. With apologies, ironically, for spoiling the ending of a 42-year-old sitcom episode, they eventually concede the bet before discovering that the game had been washed out all along. All of this is a roundabout way of addressing an experience that is disappearing for sports fans, possibly altogether. In an era where communications technology has probably far surpassed its actual usefulness EXW VWLOO VRPHKRZ Ă€ QGV LQFUHDVLQJ GHPDQG the quest to avoid a result, or any piece of news, is more or less futile. Some device or RWKHU ZLOO Ă€ QG \RX ZKHWKHU LW EH D PRELOH news alert or an update fed through a train timetable. Look up long enough from your smartphone and you may see the scoreline plastered across an LED advertising board. The upshot is not the death of the

Look away now highlights package – though its role has QRZ FKDQJHG VLJQLĂ€ FDQWO\ ² VR PXFK DV the expansion of the live event beyond the stadium and broadcast. Scripted entertainment is now ‘time-shifted’, to use the industry parlance, but many who are missing televised sport still want to be part of the moment – ears clasped to radios, refreshing minute-by-minute online commentaries, Twitter searches set to the relevant hashtags. In some cases – particularly in the kind of events that run into hours and days, rather than seconds or minutes – this can drive people to their nearest available television screen. Anecdotal evidence suggests that there were plenty who tuned into the latter stages of Japan’s shock Rugby World Cup win over South Africa after a text message or social media tip-off. None of this will come as any news to rights holders or broadcasters and the challenge of not only reaching those fans, but making more money doing so, is one that exercises plenty of minds within the industry. Particularly for those used to operating a pay-TV model, it creates a dilemma: keep clip rights and the like walled up, exclusive and expensive, or embrace every passer-by, SRWHQWLDOO\ DW VLJQLĂ€ FDQW FRVW" It isn’t an easy problem to solve – get it wrong and you could even leave the regular attendee or TV viewer feeling short-changed. But it is worth getting to the bottom of it, and not just to counter piracy and other such threats. There is an opportunity to create sporting happenings on a scale that hasn’t been possible before, WR WKH EHQHĂ€ W RI HYHU\RQH LQYROYHG And it’s probably not the kind of result \RX ZDQW WR Ă€ QG RXW DERXW ODWHU

Eoin Connolly Editor

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NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

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he argument over whether the Rio Olympic sailing events should go ahead as planned in the contaminated waters of Guanabara Bay has once again highlighted sport’s complex relationship with the environment. While there are those who say environmental issues are political issues and therefore outside sport’s remit, there is no denying that the two, much like sport and politics, are inextricably linked. Consider the evidence. At the Australian Open, incidences of players and ball kids collapsing, vomiting and even hallucinating on court have been rising in line with year-on-year increases in summer temperatures. At last year’s Beijing Marathon, an alarming number of runners were forced to pull out after thick smog left the city’s air so choked with pollution some said it smelled like burnt coal. This year’s Singapore Grand Prix went ahead amid dangerous levels of haze caused by farmers burning off areas of forest for cultivation in neighbouring Indonesia. This summer joggers in Paris and London were told to avoid certain pollution ‘blackspots’ in their city centres, while over in California a historic drought left normally blizzard-prone areas of the mountainous Sierra Nevada with no snow whatsoever last winter. Faced with the latter crisis, the US snow sports industry recently united in a bid to bring about meaningful change in government policy within the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases. In early September 92 brands, 53 resorts, 50 professional athletes and 13 snow sports trade groups signed a letter to President Obama urging him to drive a hard bargain when government policymakers from around the world meet for the UN Climate Change Convention, or COP21, in Paris this December. ‘The snow sports industry views climate change as an economic opportunity as well as an environmental issue,’ read the letter, which followed a similar plea 8 | www.sportspromedia.com

Time for action Michael Long from over 100 winter Olympians during the Sochi 2014 Games. ‘Our businesses support US$62 billion in tourist-related revenue, 964,000 jobs and US$4.6 billion in annual retail sales. We are united in our desire to reduce carbon emissions and transition to a clean energy future. ‘2014 was the warmest year in the temperature record, and 2015 is on track to surpass it. Failure to act now on climate is unacceptable, and will result in damage to the environment, tourism and the economy. This is the greatest opportunity of our time. We need meaningful action from all, and it is time to act.’ COP21 is being billed as the most important climate summit in history, with the aim of securing a universal agreement that will address climate change before it is too late. As this magazine went to press, the governments of 62 nations had submitted a climate action plan, or Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC), designed to prevent average global temperatures rising above the widely accepted limit of two degrees Celsius. Yet doubts remain. International summits of this kind have too often fallen short of expectations; a similar meeting in Peru two years ago, attended by over 200 nations, was widely deemed a failure and many doubt whether real progress is possible while fossil fuel companies remain so powerful and vast emerging markets remain intent on achieving social and economic advancement through the cheapest and most reliable means available: coal. Still, a global problem requires a global solution, and the fact that climate change is increasingly being seen as a business risk, not merely an environmental or political one, is crucial if governments and the private sector are to take meaningful action. )RU LWV SDUW VSRUW KDV PDGH VLJQLĂ€ FDQW progress in cutting its carbon footprint, spurred by the knowledge that climate change is bad for business. And it is not just winter sport. For years we have

been hearing how clubs, governing bodies and event organisers are running programmes of green initiatives intended to offset emissions and reduce the environmental impact of their activities. In 2013 North America’s major leagues and the US Olympic Committee voiced their concerns over climate change to a government taskforce, urging the US senate to follow their lead and take action. Prominent sportsmen and women have ORQJ XVHG WKHLU LQà XHQFH WR FDPSDLJQ and raise awareness of such issues, while almost all new stadium developments KDYH HQHUJ\ HIÀ FLHQF\ DQG VXVWDLQDELOLW\ DW the heart of their design. All this demonstrates that sport is at least environmentally conscious, if not inherently environmentally friendly. Yet PRUH FDQ DOZD\V EH GRQH DQG VLJQLÀ FDQW VDFULÀ FHV ZLOO KDYH WR EH PDGH WR WLS the scales on climate change. Just as consumption cannot continue at its current rate, global industry must rethink its relentless pursuit of growth in order to meet whatever sustainability targets come out of COP21. Across western society the green movement is growing, no longer FRQÀ QHG WR WKH GRRPVGD\ SURSKHVLHV RI eco-warriors and armchair activists. A Repucom study in December 2014 found that 71 per cent of consumers believe sport stakeholders have a role to play in environmental protection and clearly GHÀ QLQJ ZKDW WKDW UROH HQWDLOV QHHGV WR EH addressed during the COP21 talks. There is, of course, a wider narrative here, one that concerns humanity as a whole. By no means should sports organisations be expected to do the work of lobby groups or environmentalists, nor should sport become a public forum for political debate. But as a global industry that employs millions and impacts on the daily lives of billions in countless ways, sport will always have the power to take a stance and, ultimately, make a difference. @_MichaelLong

WORLD CUP YEAR FOR MAJOR EVENTS IN AUCKLAND

Auckland has just wrapped up one of its biggest events years yet, in a virtuoso performance of integrated operations and opportunities. It included the city’s 175th anniversary, two world cups, a return stopover from the Volvo Ocean Race, the first annual instalment of its previously biennial Auckland Arts Festival, ANZAC 100th commemorations, and its core programme of cultural, arts and sporting events. The events directly supported by its economic development agency had more than 2 million people attend them, and generated 426,000 visitor nights and more than $85 million for the regional economy. But this Asia Pacific city has its eyes on broader outcomes from major events, as part of Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development’s (ATEED) wellestablished events strategy. “We ask ourselves how we can optimise event outcomes – to showcase Auckland on the global stage, build our industry capability, get people involved and make Auckland a better place to live, work, play and invest,” says ATEED General Manager Major Events, Rakel Liew. So international business leaders in Auckland for the FIFA U-20 World Cup or the ICC Cricket World Cup were welcomed with functions to connect them with local business contacts and investment opportunities. Stunts putting international cricketing legends on Auckland’s iconic Harbour Bridge for a game of cricket and a game of ‘keepieuppie ‘192m above the city at Auckland’s Sky Tower lit up social and mainstream media ahead of the world cups. Cricket practice nets boosted Cricket World Cup buzz at the Auckland Diwali

FIRST HALF OF 2015: AUCKLAND SPORTING EVENTS HIGHLIGHTS January 2015

NZ Festival of Tennis-ASB Classic & Heineken Open

January 2015

Ironman 70.3 Auckland Asia-Pacific Championship

January - February 2015

Dick Smith NRL Auckland Nines

February - 15 March 2015

Volvo Ocean Race Auckland Stopover

28 February - March 2015

ICC Cricket World Cup 2015

March 2015

NZ PGA Championship

March 2015

The Ultimate Waterman

March 2015

ITU World Triathlon Series

April - May 2015

New Zealand Badminton Open

May - June 2015

FIFA U-20 World Cup 2015

Festival, one of three cultural festivals which collectively reach an audience of 250,000 in a city of 1.5 million. Auckland’s marine sector was centre stage with an expo and international high performance yacht design conference aligned with the Volvo Ocean Race Auckland Stopover. “Auckland has a proven track-record as an events-friendly city,” says Liew. “We get our communities involved, electrify the atmosphere of the city and facilitate event delivery. We are proud of the way Auckland delivers major events, from our unique cultural flavour as the world’s largest Maori and Pacific Island city to our well-honed integrated operations model,” says Liew. “The concept of kotahitanga, or building partnerships of mutual benefit, is at the heart of Auckland’s model” says Liew. “Multiple agencies and delivery partners work together from initial planning through to a centralised operations centre, so we can focus not only on the smooth delivery of an event, but the smooth running of the

city while an event is happening.” “Internally, besides Major Events, ATEED has business events, tourism, investment and innovation expertise, with a thorough knowledge of opportunities available in Auckland and extensive domestic and international relationships. This ensures events achieve broader benefits not only for Auckland, but also for rights holders.” Auckland is gearing up for 2017, when it will deliver both the world’s largest multisport event – the World Masters Games – and three matches as part of the British and Irish Lions Tour, along with its core programme of events.

For more information about ATEED, Auckland and the opportunities it offers, contact: Susan Sawbridge T: +64-9-354 7032 E: susan.sawbridge@aucklandnz.com W: aucklandnz.com

THE MARTYN ZIEGLER COLUMN

On the beat with Martyn Ziegler As the race to host the 2024 Summer Games gets underway, Press Association’s chief sports reporter considers the potency of political influence in Olympic circles.

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here was an enlightening moment during the early days of England’s hopeless bid for the 2018 Fifa World Cup, one which should stand as a warning to politicians becoming deeply involved in the contests for sport’s major events. It was October 2007 and Fifa president Sepp Blatter was in London to meet Gordon Brown, who was just a few months into his tenure as prime minister. Two years before, Blatter – who was also a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) – had been wowed by Brown’s predecessor Tony Blair in the days before the vote in Singapore for the 2012 Games. Whether or not Blatter voted for London we will never know, but he certainly spoke in JORZLQJ WHUPV RI /RQGRQ¡V Ă€ QDO Ă LQJ LQ Singapore and of his meeting with Blair. London went on to beat Paris by 54 votes to 50, and those involved with the bid say Blair’s impact was certainly VLJQLĂ€ FDQW 6LU &UDLJ 5HHGLH WKH ,2& YLFH president who at the time was chairman of the British Olympic Association (BOA), told me: “Certainly, the prime PLQLVWHU ZDV D PDMRU SOD\HU LQ WKH Ă€ QDO lobbying effort.â€? Two years later, and Brown wanted his own major sporting bid triumph: he had the World Cup in his sights. Within weeks of taking over at Number 10, Blatter was invited for a visit. I was the pool reporter assigned by Downing Street to cover the meeting, and afterwards I was given a few minutes to interview Blatter one on one. He was in his usual twinkling, mischievous form. “How was your meeting with Mr Brown?â€? I asked. “Do you think he is someone you can work with.â€? “Oh yes, it was a very good meeting,â€? replied Blatter, pausing before adding: “But he is not like Tony...â€? 10 | www.sportspromedia.com

The truth is that some politicians make the difference – I also witnessed Blatter fawning all over Nelson Mandela in Zurich in 2003 when South Africa was bidding for the World Cup – but others bring nothing to the party at all. That was starkly illustrated in 2010 in Copenhagen when Chicago was bidding for the 2016 Olympics. The US Olympic Committee (USOC) believed it had its trump card: Barack Obama had agreed to address the IOC. What Blair had done for London, now Barack was going to do for his home city. So what happened? Chicago finished a disastrous and lowly fourth out of four cities, beaten by Madrid, Tokyo DQG HYHQWXDO ZLQQHUV 5LR GH -DQHLUR The Obama factor was just not enough – in fact, he had made little impact on these voters. In 2005, Blair had held one-on-one meetings with several dozen IOC members; Obama was in Copenhagen for just five hours, his presentation did not impress many and the intense extra security certainly put some noses out of joint. 5HHGLH LQVLVWV 2EDPD GLG D GHFHQW job, and that the overwhelming and insurmountable problem was the poor relationship at the time – now healed – between the IOC and the USOC. The legacy of ‘it was Blair wot won it’ for London continues, however. “London and Tony Blair are frequently blamed for starting this trend [for politicians to be involved] but I’m not VXUH LW¡V WUXH Âľ DGGHG 5HHGLH ´7KHUH ZHUH plenty of other major players in 2005: 1HZ <RUN KDG +LOODU\ &OLQWRQ -DFTXHV Chirac came to support Paris and Madrid had the Spanish prime minister.â€? 5HHGLH¡V SRLQW DJDLQ LOOXVWUDWHV WKDW LW LV not enough for a politician just to show their face in these bidding contests: they need to go the extra mile.

Blair certainly did. In his autobiography, KH UHYHDOHG Âś7KHUH ZDV RQH Ă€ QDO SHUVRQ without whom we may not have won: [Italian premier] Silvio Berlusconi.’ Blair sought Berlusconi’s help because ,WDO\ ´ZDV D NH\ SOD\HUÂľ LW KDG Ă€ YH IOC members, the most – along with Switzerland – of any country. Blair wrote: ‘He said, “You are my friend. I promise nothing but I see if I can help.â€? Typical Silvio, which is why I like him. Most politicians say ‘I promise’ but then do nothing. He said ‘I promise nothing’ but then delivered. I have no idea how the Italians voted, but ‌’ The latest contest for the Olympics, this time for the 2024 Games, is promising to be as close as it was for 2012. Los Angeles’ late entry into the race has added a huge dollop of extra spice, just when it was looking FRPIRUWDEOH IRU 3DULV DJDLQVW 5RPH Hamburg and Budapest. The brutal truth is that neither the US nor French Olympic committees can afford to lose: for both it is a third effort after two painful failures. That is likely to JHQHUDWH D KDUG IRXJKW DIIDLU ZLWK 5RPH aiming to come up on the rails between the other two leading rivals. Politicians will no doubt be out in force again when the assorted concoction of PLQRU 5R\DOV DPELWLRXV DGPLQLVWUDWRUV and former athletes who make up the IOC gather in Lima, Peru, in September 2017 to select the 2024 host city. The bidding cities will all be looking for the politician who could be their trump card. But there is one trump card that you can bet will not be invited onto the Los Angeles campaign bus to Lima, even if he is US president: Donald Trump. Press Association is an oIĂ€cial SportsPro media partner.

Jim Mone/AP/Press Association Images

DIGEST | OCTOBER 2015

Next month in With the World Series looming and the inaugural WBSC Premier 12 international tournament to follow soon afterwards, the November edition of SportsPro will cover the business of baseball in 2015. Major

: The education edition League Baseball Advanced Media chief executive Bob Bowman will discuss the inhouse arm now reaching out across sport. Elsewhere in the issue there will be a look at the mass participation sector,

featuring a behind the scenes take on the Haute Route Pyrenees, as well as a report on education in the sports industry. We’ll also have news from the world of performance technology.

Chip Ganassi Racing Operating nine racing outfits across four different motorsports series in North America, Chip Ganassi Racing have to carefully coordinate their travel arrangements. The team own a collection of International trucks and Featherlite trailers, which have each been customised to serve the needs of the different series. One operates as a food galley for the drivers, engineers and support staff; several are used for storing car parts; another is specially adapted as a workshop for the engineers.

On any given race weekend the team can have a total of ten transporters and 150 people heading in different directions. Two

12 | www.sportspromedia.com

transporters support the two Nascar teams – fronted by drivers Jamie McMurray and Kyle Larson – each of which are supported by a 25-strong party for every one of the 38 Nascar Sprint Cup Series race weekends each year. These team members are flown in Champion Air’s Embraer ERJ private jets. Four transporters support the four Indycar teams on the ground, while the two Chip Ganassi Racing Global Rallycross teams and the IMSA Tudor United SportsCar Championship team have a further two trucks between them to transfer equipment from racetrack to racetrack. The 80-strong Indycar crew, together with the support staff that travel with each of the Global Rallycross and IMSA teams, rely on commercial flights to travel to races. Since the supply transporters will always return to the team’s workshops between races to re-stock supplies, they will collectively travel more than 150,000 miles per year. The Nascar and Global Rallycross teams are based out of the Chip Ganassi workshop in Concord, North Carolina, and the IMSA and Indycar teams are based in Indianapolis.

On the tarmac:

Featherlite trailers

International trucks

Embraer ERJ private jets

Commercial flights

THE NFL SEASON OPENER ON US TV

Life after sport - Mark Wright Then: England, Derby County and Liverpool defender, soccer manager and chairman Now: Founder of Premier Legends Events, foster carer What is Premier Legends Events and how did you come to be involved in it? We got involved in fostering several years ago and we thought, well, there’s a shortage of foster carers and prospective adoptive parents and we knew that football was the biggest thing worldwide, and we thought, we’ll set up a company. ,¡G Ă€QLVKHG P\ IRRWEDOO FDUHHU DQG , wanted to get the business to run as a legends event, so to combine the two to raise awareness for adoption and fostering and just spread the word, not only in this country but worldwide, to make sure that children are looked after. Whichever household you enter in this country or worldwide, someone will be talking about football, and if we could spread the world to help the children in the world that’s a job well done. There’s no bigger platform than football. The legends all still want to live the life and they still want to go on trips so we got involved, not only to do 11-a-side events, but to do FRUSRUDWH Ă€YH D VLGHV ZKHUH WKH ZLQQHUV play against the legends’ teams – it’s a full day out. So it’s about me using my contacts in the game to bring the legends to the table, to give them the life of travelling the world and spreading the word through their fame to try and recruit foster carers, or just raise awareness so that then people want to do something about it. +RZ GLG \RX Ă€QG WKH WUDQVLWLRQ IURP playing and coaching in soccer, and ZKDW OHG \RX LQWR IRVWHU FDUH DQG GRLQJ WKLV ZLWK \RXU OLIH SRVW FDUHHU" You are in your own little bubble, and it’s not a bad thing, but you’re so wrapped up in wanting to do well, striving to be the best you can in the professional world of football and you don’t look outside of that. So everything comes on WRS RI \RX DQG WKHQ ZKHQ \RX Ă€QLVK \RX think: what can I do? Let’s be honest, how much awareness is there in the world still today about fostering and adoption? What does everybody perceive to be the pitfalls or the plusses of being a foster carer or adoptive parent? I don’t think many

people really know or understand what goes on most of the time. And I was one of those people. And then my wife opened my eyes, because she was a barrister in child protection, and both of us then wanted to get involved to see if we could play a small or a big part in it. :KDW¡V WKH UHVSRQVH EHHQ OLNH IURP ZLWKLQ VSRUW IURP IRUPHU FROOHDJXHV and teammates? It’s been fantastic. [Former Everton and Wales goalkeeper] Neville Southall has become a foster carer himself after having spoken to me so that was fantastic. And lots of people say, ‘Fantastic job you’re doing, but it’s not for us,’ or ‘I’m too scared about this or that.’ Some have got children of their own and they can’t do that, but there are those that can do it and want to do it and I suppose everybody wants to get on board and help if they can in some small way. SportsPro Magazine | 13

F E D E R AT I O N I N T E R N AT I O N A L E D’ESCRI M E

FENCIN G GRAND PRIX

THOUGHT LEADER | LAW

What happens when new logos go wrong? Michelle Ward

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he Olympics branding is iconic and well known. And each host city additionally creates its own branding for promoting its event. London 2012 produced branding that was vibrant but perhaps not to everyone’s taste, and Rio has not surprisingly produced D FRORXUIXO LPDJH WKDW Ă€ WV ZLWK LWV Ă DPER\DQW VW\OH 7RN\R LV KRVWLQJ WKH 2020 Olympics, and whilst their logo KDV QRW EHHQ DV IXQN\ RU Ă DPER\DQW as their predecessors, they have found themselves in the midst of controversy. The start of September has seen an embarrassed Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee withdraw and abandon their recently released logos. Why? Because there have been claims that the logo is a copy of another work. Whilst the claims were originally rebutted by the organisers, there quickly followed news of withdrawal, amid reports that the designer had previously admitted copying online material. So just where do designers stand, given that existing material is often used for inspiration? What are the rules on copyright and what can businesses do to try and avoid claims of copying? What other precautions can businesses take when launching a new brand or logo? All designers have to start somewhere, and so it is not an uncommon practice IRU H[LVWLQJ PDWHULDO LQ WKH Ă€ HOG WR EH used to ‘inspire’ a new design, taking into account current themes and modern VW\OHV WKDW Ă€ W WKH SDUWLFXODU WDUJHW audience and market sector. But the problem is, where does ‘inspiration’ stop and ‘copying’ start? :HOO WKH Ă€ UVW DQG PRVW IXQGDPHQWDO rule is: don’t copy. In the UK, copyright is an automatic right that comes into 16 | www.sportspromedia.com

existence at the point a work is created. There is no need to register the existence of the right and, since in general copyright will run for the life of the creator plus 70 years, it is not short-lived. If the entirety of an existing work LV WDNHQ WKHQ LW LV QRW WRR GLIĂ€ FXOW WR understand that there is a copyright issue there. And here is probably a good point to mention that just because something is on the internet it does not mean that it is copyright-free or ‘free to use’. And even if you purchase licences for existing works, the rights to use or adapt will be extremely limited and will often not extend to incorporation as part of your branding. The more hazy area tends to be where certain key design elements in existing work are taken and used as the basis for a new design. The law on copyright infringement in the UK refers to the copying of a ‘substantial’ part of a work, EXW ZLWKRXW GHĂ€ QLWLRQ RI ÂśVXEVWDQWLDO¡ There is, of course, a reasonable argument that if you have taken the central, dominant, or most distinctive part of an existing design, you will have taken the core of the design and therefore made a ‘substantial’ copy. ,Q WKH 8. IRU D Ă€ QGLQJ RI FRS\ULJKW infringement, actual copying has to take place, so it can be a useful defence to be able to demonstrate that a design has been independently created rather than copied. But that also relies on good record-keeping throughout the design process. If you commission a third party to produce the design, not only will you not automatically own the copyright in the work they produce, you won’t have control over the design process, but would be liable for any infringement if you use the design in your business.

This creates quite a due diligence burden for businesses, but a few steps put in place at the outset could help to minimise the risk of an expensive and embarrassing withdrawal. So what should businesses do? Firstly, don’t copy. If the work is being produced in-house, ensure that you have clearly educated your design team on copyright issues and ensure that they keep clear records relating to what they produce and when, and record the ‘inspiration’ behind the designs so that early unintentional copying can be picked up on. Those records may also be of assistance if there is a challenge, to help demonstrate independent creation rather than copying, and will additionally be useful evidence to demonstrate entitlement to copyright and ownership if you ever have to pursue someone else for copying. If you engage an outside designer, ask questions. Where did their inspiration come from? And check the written contract to ensure that, as a business, you will own the design at the end of the process. Also consider trade mark searches. These can be undertaken not just for names but also for logos, and whilst these may be a little subjective they can help to highlight potential problems before use is commenced where owners have registered their logos as trade marks. Whilst these steps will not necessarily completely rule out a complaint, they may help to minimise and manage the risks that businesses face when launching new branding. Michelle Ward is a trade mark attorney at Wynne Jones, a leading Ă€rm oI patent and trade mark attorneys based in the UK.

PREMATURE FACTS

Oldest trick in the book

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Watered down

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hould the proposed purchase of SABMiller by AB InBev go through, one in every three pints of beer sold in the world will come from the same company. Not in itself a sporting concern, until you realise that the expanded AB InBev, already the largest sponsor of sports in the US in monetary terms, would control about half RI WKH LQGXVWU\¡V SURĂ€ WV JLYLQJ LW PRUH money and, crucially, less competition in sponsorship negotiations. That concentrated pricing power could drive down beer brand spending, which ranks among the sports market’s most lucrative categories, having a potentially enormous knock-on effect.

s plans for its ultra high-end, desert winter edition of the Fifa World Cup progress, Qatar’s sporting investors made a smaller but warmly welcomed contribution to the sport of soccer: donating UK£100,000 to the world’s ROGHVW FOXE 6KHIÀ HOG )& RI (QJODQG The money will fund women’s soccer at the club and provides a straightforward PR win. So much so, in fact, that one wonders whether it is the kind of thing Qatar should have been doing before embarking on one of the most controversial projects in sporting history.

Declaration of peace

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ricket’s takeover crisis has eased, for now. In early September, a meeting with representatives of the (VVHO *URXS ² ZKLFK ODLG JURXQG IRU a rebel governing body earlier this year ² OHG DQ ,QWHUQDWLRQDO &ULFNHW &RXQFLO (ICC) source to tell The Guardian that all parties were ready to “settle and move RQÂľ (VVHO RZQHG EURDGFDVWHU 7HQ Sports, which has partnerships in place in Pakistan, West Indies, South Africa and Sri Lanka, is now welcome to bid for ,&& ULJKWV ,W LV XQFOHDU ZKR EOLQNHG Ă€ UVW but it may be that Ten Sports’ loss of its Zimbabwean deal in August persuaded it that bigger prizes were at risk.

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he Formula One season could extend into December next year if, as is being reported in some quarters, the Malaysian Grand Prix is decoupled from the Singapore leg and moved to the calendar’s end. That would mean year-round exposure for sponsors but with multiple world champion-supplying Renault walking away from the sport, it remains to be seen how popular it will be in the technical categories. A showcase R&D opportunity is surely worth only so much when there is little time for research or development.

Signing off

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ifpro, the worldwide representative for professional soccer players, is planning to bring a legal challenge against Fifa with the intention of making it easier for players to move clubs while still respecting their existing contracts. The challenge could, among other things, lead to the abolition of transfer fees, bringing an end to the current biannual transfer window swap-shop circus. The proposal will not please everyone in the game, particularly the agents that have built a cottage industry out of the ‘come and get me’ plea, but Fifpro believes it can bring about the biggest change since the Bosman ruling in 1995 to a transfer market it says no longer serves the interest of players, clubs or fans.

18 | www.sportspromedia.com

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

Movers and Shakers: August 2015 Francesco Calvo

Andrei Kirilenko

FC Barcelona have appointed Francesco Calvo as their new commercial director. Calvo joins the Spanish soccer giants from his position as sales manager at Italian club Juventus. His responsibilities include promoting Barcelona’s sales units and the exploitation of the stadium and facilities. The move comes as part of re-elected club president Josep Maria Bartomeu’s efforts to regroup Barcelona’s business areas in order to optimise their strategies.

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Mover of the month Paul Bellamy, managing director of the FIA World Rallycross championship What’s your biggest new responsibility?

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How will you measure your success?

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Football League chief executive Shaun Harvey

Ex-Arsenal vice chairman David Dein and Soccerex founder Duncan Revie

The great Sir Bobby Charlton, then and now

La Liga’s managing director of sales and marketing Adolfo Bara and president Javier Tebas with Argentinian World Cup winner Ossie Ardiles

Former France striker and Axis 10 founder Louis Saha greets former England captain and Sporting Chance founder Tony Adams

Delegates network over lunch at Manchester Central

SportsPro Gallery

Arsenal’s ex-England striker Kelly Smith

Soccerex Global Convention The Soccerex Global Convention, the world’s largest soccer business event, returned for its 20th anniversary edition between 7th and 9th September. Once again, it brought together global leaders in the sport to debate, network and do business at Manchester’s Central Convention Complex.

22 | www.sportspromedia.com

Jordan FA president Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein with David Davies of Soccerex

Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber

Jonathan Barnett, agent of the world’s most expensive player, Gareth Bale

Mathieu Ficot, chief commercial officer of French soccer’s LFP

An Ashes reunion: Australia cricket coach Darren Lehmann with Andrew Strauss, director of cricket at the England and Wales Cricket Board

Retired England midfielders Peter Reid and John Barnes

Referee turned BT Sport pundit Howard Webb

Football Association chief executive Martin Glenn

SportsPro Magazine | 23

Paula Pareto won silver in the extra-lightweight event last year and went one better in 2015

The IJF Hall of Fame gala

France’s Gevrise Emane celebrates her third middleweight world title

Tina Trstenjak dethrones Clarisse Agbegnenou in the women’s half-middleweight

The new Hall of Fame inductees

Ono Shohei dominates Nakaya Riki in the all-Japanese men’s lightweight final

Japan’s men’s team celebrates winning the overall medal table

Teddy Riner of France took his record eighth heavyweight title

Astana’s Alau Ice Palace hosted the event

Riner takes down Ryu Shichinohe to win gold

The 2017 world championships will take place in Eva Csernoviczki’s home city of Budapest

Russian Kirill Denisov was beaten by South Korea’s Gwak Dong Han in the men’s middleweight final

SportsPro Gallery

IJF World Judo Championships The International Judo Federation took its World Judo Championships to the Alau Ice Palace in Astana, the capital city of Kazakhstan, for the 2015 edition in August. Japan’s competitors impressed with a total of 17 medals, including eight golds.

24 | www.sportspromedia.com

Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo and Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz

Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene in pensive mood

Ferrari fans gather for the presentation

Fiat scion Lapo Elkann (right) in the paddock

Fiat Chrysler chief executive Sergio Marchionne

A pre-race flypast by the Freccie Tricolori

Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi with Formula One Group chief executive Bernie Ecclestone

Sebastian Vettel showers the Tifosi with bubbly

Lewis Hamilton leads the field in his Mercedes once more

Hamilton savours another victory

Italian Grand Prix Formula One returned to one of its spiritual centres, Monza, for the Italian Grand Prix from 4th to 6th September. Britain’s Lewis Hamilton won and moved closer to retaining his world championship title, while there was a popular second place for Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.

SportsPro Magazine | 25

A fan pauses for thought

Novak Djokovic rules the hard court again

Retired actor Sean Connery

Spectators take in the view of One World Trade Center

Flavia Pennetta gets acquainted with her first, and last, Grand Slam trophy

Italy prime minister Matteo Renzi waves as he watches the all-Italian women’s final

New York City FC midfielder Frank Lampard with broadcaster partner Christine Bleakley

Mirka Federer sees her husband fall just short

Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour

Actor Robert Redford (right) enjoys the action

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US Open Championships World number one Novak Djokovic took his tenth Grand Slam tennis title and a second US Open at Flushing Meadows from 31st August to 13th September. In the women’s draw, there was a fairytale in New York for Flavia Pennetta as she became a first-time Grand Slam winner at the last attempt.

26 | www.sportspromedia.com

SPORTSPRO WORLD | HOSTINGS AND HAPPENINGS

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Raipur, India 7KH ,QWHUQDWLRQDO +RFNH\ )HGHUDWLRQ KDV DQQRXQFHG WKDW WKH 0HQ·V +HUR +RFNH\ :RUOG /HDJXH )LQDO ZLOO EH KRVWHG LQ WKH ,QGLDQ FLW\ RI 5DLSXU EHWZHHQ WK 1RYHPEHU DQG WK 'HFHPEHU 7KH HYHQW ZLOO EH KHOG LQ WKH 5DLSXU ,QWHUQDWLRQDO +RFNH\ 6WDGLXP DQG ZLOO IHDWXUH HLJKW QDWLRQDO WHDPV ZKR TXDOLÀHG WKURXJK WKH +RFNH\ :RUOG /HDJXH 6HPL )LQDOV SportsPro Magazine | 29

TWO HEARTS ONE SPORT

“I ride with love, with passion. I love the big stage. I love the pressure. I live in the moment, and today is our day...” “... and I deserve a carrot!”

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MINI INSIGHTS | AGENCIES/SAILING

Lagardère unites sports businesses

Arnaut Lagardère (left), CEO of Lagardère Group, has united his company’s various sports businesses

French media giant Lagardère Group realigned and rebranded its sports and entertainment agencies under one common name in midSeptember. Lagardère Sports and Entertainment will sit as one of the wider group’s four core divisions and comprise the disparate agencies formerly known DV /DJDUGqUH 8QOLPLWHG 6SRUWĂ€ YH :RUOG Sport Group, IEC in Sports, Lagardère Unlimited Stadium Solutions, and Sports Marketing and Management. The move follows the Lagardère Group management’s decision last year to globally integrate its businesses, ZKLFK VSDQ RIĂ€ FHV LQ FRXQWULHV The new division’s management, led by World Sport Group executives Seamus O’Brien and Andew Georgiou, will

report to group chief executive Arnaud Lagardère. Offering services ranging from marketing, sponsorship and hospitality, to media rights, production and distribution, brand consulting, stadium, arena and event management, as well as athlete representation, Lagardère Sports and Entertainment has 1,600 employees worldwide. “This new single brand expresses the group’s new organisation and our corporate culture,â€? said division chief RSHUDWLQJ RIĂ€ FHU *HRUJLRX ´*OREDO DV ZHOO as local, positioned across key geographies and spanning key value segments, with a robust network of marketing and media H[SHUWV ZH DUH FRQĂ€ GHQW LQ RXU DELOLW\ to create value for our clients, in a more global and integrated way.â€?

Lagardère’s involvement in sport can be traced back to company founder JeanLuc Lagardère’s activities as a racehorse breeder and his creation of Matra Sports, the racing division of the Matra car company. Lagardère Unlimited was created as the group’s fourth division in 2006 following the acquisition of the European agency 6SRUWĂ€ YH $ VWHDG\ SURFHVV RI IXUWKHU strategic acquisition was then embarked upon, with Sweden’s IEC in Sport, Germany’s Upsolut, Singapore-based World Sport Group and US agencies Best and Gaylord joining the Lagardère fold. .H\ FRQWUDFWV KHOG E\ WKH QHZO\ XQLĂ€ HG division include the management of women’s tennis’ annual season-ending WTA Championships in Singapore, the long-term media and marketing rights to Confederation of African Football (CAF) competitions, the long-term media and marketing rights to Asian Football Confederation (AFC ) competitions, as well as representation deals with the likes of tennis players John Isner, Aga Radwanska and Andy Murray. “Sport and Entertainment is in our DNA,â€? said Lagardère. “The group is transforming and the recent reorganisation has already yielded positive results. We’re combining our forces to be stronger, more agile and to capitalise on growing opportunities in the sports and entertainment business.â€?

Frostad resigns from Volvo Ocean Race Knut Frostad is stepping down as chief executive of the Volvo Ocean Race after eight years at the helm. The 48-year-old Norwegian had been in charge of three editions of the round-the-world sailing race. Widely regarded as a transformative leader, Frostad pioneered the race’s move to D RQH GHVLJQ IRUPDW ² VLJQLĂ€ FDQWO\ UHGXFLQJ costs for participating teams – and opened up the event as a platform not only for established sailing markets and business to business brands, but for new sailing territories such as Abu Dhabi and China and business to consumer brands alike. Robert 32 | www.sportspromedia.com

Frostad helped to transform the Volvo Ocean Race

Datnow, managing director of The Sports Consultancy, an organisation that has worked with the Volvo Ocean Race for over a decade, says the 2014/15 edition of the race shone with Frostad’s “ingenuity and inventiveness,â€? representing “the realisation of many years’ worth of strategy. Several commercial evolutions from the last few editions of the race come to mind: a focus on youth sailing, one-design, female participation, media crew members and taking the race to Abu Dhabi DQG &KLQD IRU WKH Ă€ UVW WLPH Âľ Frostad will leave his post at the end of the year in order to spend more time with his family.

Inside the story: Dalian Wanda’s WTC takeover By James Emmett

The Dalian Wanda Group has spent US$650 million on its purchase of the World Triathlon Corporation, which it regards as ‘the pinnacle of world sport’

China’s Dalian Wanda Group has agreed to purchase the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC) from the Providence Equity Partners private equity À UP IRU 86 PLOOLRQ Why would they go and do that?

The group has interests in commercial property, entertainment and tourism, H FRPPHUFH Ă€ QDQFLDO VHUYLFHV DQG D VLJQLĂ€ FDQW KROGLQJ LQ VSRUW 'ULYHQ E\ WKH personal ambitions of billionaire owner Wang Jianlin, Dalian Wanda acquired the Infront Sports & Media agency for 86 ELOOLRQ HDUOLHU WKLV \HDU DV ZHOO as a stake in Spanish La Liga soccer side AtlĂŠtico Madrid. Further acquisitions were, and remain, on the cards. The purchase of WTC, which has organised top-level triathlons – including Ironman events – around the world IRU WKH ODVW \HDUV LV YHU\ GHĂ€ QLWHO\ a strategic move. According to a release put out by the Chinese group to announce the deal, triathlons ‘are

regarded as the pinnacle of world sport’, and the acquisition will see Wanda ‘become the largest sports operating company in the world’. If those statements are hyperbolic, the scale of Wanda’s ambition in the VSRUWV PDUNHW LV QRW :KLOH WKH Ă€ QHU details of the acquisition are ironed out, what is certain is that Wanda will look to capitalise on the growing trend for mass participation sports in China by placing WTC events in the country. The acquisition also marks the second major raid by Wanda on the US media market. In 2012, the group carried out D 86 ELOOLRQ WDNHRYHU RI WKH $0& Entertainment cinema business. What will they do with it?

Wanda will take full operational control of the WTC, which is based in Tampa, Florida. The management team, headed by chief executive Andrew Messick, will remain in place. It will be business as usual until the ink is dry on the contracts.

7KHQ ORRN WR WKH :7& WR DGG VLJQLÀ FDQW events to its Chinese swing. What is Infront’s involvement?

It remains to be seen how Wanda intends to leverage the expertise of Infront. Part RI ZKDW DWWUDFWHG WKH &KLQHVH À UP WR the Swiss-based agency was its highly successful Chinese subsidiary – Infront China. Since that acquisition, Infront China’s Ma Guoli and group chief executive Philippe Blatter have become trusted advisors to Wang. Infront has been a marketing advisor to the WTC since 2011 and Blatter, an Ironman participant and enthusiast, was the driving force behind bringing the WTC and Wanda together. Infront already organises and commercialises a growing portfolio of marathon events, as well as the B2RUN and Happy 10K running series. WTC now has a strong foothold in China, money behind it, and a crack team of Infront sports marketers ready in the wings. SportsPro Magazine | 33

MINI INSIGHTS | OLMYPICS/CRICKET

The International Olympic &RPPLWWHH ,2& KDV FRQÀ UPHG that Rome, Hamburg, Paris, Budapest and Los Angeles have all submitted applications to host the 2024 Olympic Games. Despite speculation that other cities – notably Toronto and Doha – might join the race, no other applications were received before the 15th September IOC deadline. 7KH ,2& KDV DOVR FRQÀ UPHG WKDW LW ZLOO SD\ 86 ELOOLRQ LQ FDVK DQG VHUYLFHV WR the organising committee of the winning city. The bidding process will now run for two years, with the election of the host city set to take place at the 130th IOC Session in Lima, Peru in September 2017. Paris is bidding to host the Games exactly 100 years after it last did so in 1924. Rome hosted the Games in 1960, while LA is bidding to do so for a third time,

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after 1932 and 1984. Neither Hamburg nor Budapest have hosted before. World Rugby chairman Bernard Lapasset will chair the Paris bid, while former badminton champion and Rugby World Cup 2007 director general Etienne Thobois will helm the bid’s executive team. Rome’s bid is being led by former Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezemolo, with lawyer and regional politician Nikolas Hill serving as chief executive of the Hamburg bid, which faces a local referendum later this year. Zsolt Borkai, chairman of the Hungarian Olympic Committee, is leading his capital’s bid LQ WKH À UVW LQVWDQFH &LW\ PD\RU (ULF Garcetti and sports marketing impresario Casey Wasserman will play key roles in the LA bid. $V ZHOO DV FRQÀ UPLQJ WKH À YH ELGGHUV on 16th September, the IOC announced

the all-new candidature process for the bidding cities. In previous Olympic bidding processes, applicant cities have KDG WR TXDOLI\ IRU WKH À QDO FDQGLGDWH SKDVH )RU WKH SURFHVV DOO À YH FLWLHV essentially go straight into a candidate phase, split into three distinct sections. 7KH À UVW VHFWLRQ ZLOO IRFXV RQ YLVLRQ Games concept and strategy; the second on governance, legal and venue funding; and the third on Games delivery, H[SHULHQFH DQG YHQXH OHJDF\ 7KH À YH FLWLHV ZLOO KDYH WR VXEPLW WKH À UVW SDUW RI WKHLU FDQGLGDWXUH À OHV E\ WK )HEUXDU\ next year, the second part by 7th October, DQG WKH WKLUG DQG À QDO SDUW E\ UG February 2017. According to British bookmakers offering odds on the race, Paris is the narrow favourite over LA, with Budapest a distinct outsider.

Post-Agenda 2020 Olympic bidding process “Olympic Agenda 2020 has shaped the candidature process more as an invitation and the cities have responded by engaging with the IOC through dialogue and co-operation,� said IOC president Thomas Bach, describing the changes to the process

34 | www.sportspromedia.com

by which a host city for the 2024 Games will be decided. That process, he insists, will be far more consultative, with the emphasis placed on information sharing and ongoing dialogue, rather than formal examination. The applicant phase, so

RIWHQ D FRVWO\ VWXPEOLQJ EORFN IRU À UVW time bidders, has been scrapped. The IOC’s new consultants register, RQ ZKLFK À UPV DUH DOUHDG\ VLJQHG XS and working on the 2024 bids, should ensure that costs are kept in check, and unscrupulous operators are kept at bay.

Jagmohan Dalmiya, the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and one of the PRVW LQĂ XHQWLDO DGPLQLVWUDWRUV LQ WKH modern history of the sport, has died at the age of 75. He passed away on the evening of 20th September at Kolkata’s BM Birla hospital, where he had been admitted three days previously after suffering a heart attack. 'DOPL\D ZKR VHUYHG DV WKH Ă€ UVW $VLDQ president of the International Cricket Council (ICC) from 1997 to 2000, had UHWXUQHG WR WKH WRS RIĂ€ FH LQ WKH ,QGLDQ game at the BCCI’s annual general meeting in March, when he was elected to serve until September 2017. Prior to that he had led the body from 2001 to 2004, while he also made a surprise return on an interim basis in 2013 when then-president N Srinivasan stepped down during a probe LQWR D EHWWLQJ DQG VSRW Ă€ [LQJ VFDQGDO LQ WKH Indian Premier League (IPL). A Kolkata native, Dalmiya took over his father’s construction business at the age of 20 before joining the BCCI in 1979. He became treasurer in 1983 and, along with NKP Salve and IS %LQGUD ZDV FUHGLWHG DV D VLJQLĂ€ FDQW force in securing the Cricket World Cup for India and Pakistan in 1987. He was pivotal again in securing and then staging the 1996 tournament, while he DQG %LQGUD DOVR QHJRWLDWHG ,QGLD¡V Ă€ UVW television rights deals with commercial broadcasters, beginning the process which has made the BCCI the richest national cricket board in the world by some margin. Dalmiya made a further lasting impression at international level, helping to bring about the post-apartheid return of South Africa and the arrival as a Test nation of Bangladesh. His leadership of the ICC was also an era in which Asian LQĂ XHQFH JUHZ RFFDVLRQDOO\ DV D UHVXOW RI friction between India and the established powers of England and Australia, and cricket awoke to its latent commercial potential. He returned to lead the BCCI but was expelled from the organisation in 2005 amid allegations from rivals of embezzlement during the 1996 Cricket World Cup. He would later be cleared of these charges.

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Jagmohan Dalmiya was an influential figure in the development of international cricket and of the BCCI

After that episode, Dalmiya remained at the head of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) before his remarkable comeback on the national stage in 2013. This year, after the Indian Supreme Court effectively forced Srinivasan’s withdrawal IURP %&&, RIĂ€ FH GXH WR WKH FRQĂ LFW RI interests inherent in his ownership of the Chennai Super Kings IPL franchise, Dalmiya was back again, emerging as a compromise candidate between factions led by Srinivasan and another former BCCI president, Sharad Pawar. Concerns about Dalmiya’s physical wellbeing, however, had dominated his latest tenure and he had taken an uncharacteristically inhibited role before his health deteriorated in September. ´$V D YLVLRQDU\ DQG D IDWKHU Ă€ JXUH of Indian cricket, Mr Dalmiya worked towards the development of the game of cricket in India,â€? said BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur. “The cricketing fraternity will miss him dearly. Mr Dalmiya played D VLJQLĂ€ FDQW SDUW LQ SRVLWLRQLQJ ,QGLDQ cricket at the global level and the astute

administrator in him, guided Indian cricket to greater heights. His untiring efforts will be remembered for generations to come and his contribution to Indian cricket will remain unparalleled.� Sachin Tendulkar, the batsman whose remarkable career overlapped with the most prominent periods of Dalmiya’s, led the tributes on Twitter. He wrote: ‘Heartfelt condolences to the family & friends of Jagmohan Dalmiya. Had met him in June, Little did I realise that it would be the last. ‘Will always cherish his encouragement & support over the years. Worked hard for the game of cricket & excelled as an administrator.’ According to BCCI statutes, Dalmiya’s place as president of the BCCI will be taken by another candidate from one of the East Zone states unless a consensus replacement can be found. Dalmiya’s body was taken to the CAB’s base at the 80,000-capacity Eden Gardens stadium in Kolkata on 21st September for mourners to pay their respects. SportsPro Magazine | 35

MINI INSIGHTS | SOCCER

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Valcke has been released from his duties as Fifa secretary general following the latest scandal

World soccer’s governing body, Fifa, lurched into another crisis in September as secretary general JĂŠrĂ´me Valcke was suspended amid allegations KH KDG VWRRG WR SURĂ€ W IURP DQ LOOHJDO ticketing scheme. Reports appeared on 17th September that Benny Alon, an American-Israeli consultant for Fifa ticketing partner JB Sports Marketing, had accused Valcke of participating in an arrangement whereby tickets to top games at last year’s Fifa World Cup in Brazil would be sold at up to three times face value. Valcke was to guarantee a better allocation of tickets to the agency, for which he was set to take D SHU FHQW VKDUH RI DQ\ SURĂ€ WV 7KH contract, however, was cancelled and no money changed hands. A statement issued on Valcke’s behalf by his lawyers insisted that he “unequivocally denies the fabricated and outrageous accusations by Benny Alon of alleged wrongdoing in connection with the sale of World Cup ticketsâ€? and that he “never received or agreed to accept any money or anything else of value from Mr Alonâ€?. Nonetheless, his employers took swift action. A Fifa statement issued on the evening of 17th September, just a few hours after the earliest reports had been published, read: ‘Fifa today announced that its secretary general JĂŠrĂ´me Valcke has been put on leave and released from his duties effective immediately until 36 | www.sportspromedia.com

further notice. Further, Fifa has been made aware of a series of allegations involving the secretary general and has requested a formal investigation by the Fifa Ethics Committee.’ )LID FKLHI RI À QDQFH 0DUNXV .DWWQHU has taken on Valcke’s daily responsibilities. According to several media outlets, 9DOFNH KDG EHHQ à \LQJ WR 0RVFRZ ZKHUH he was to participate in activities to mark 1,000 days to go until the 2018 Fifa World Cup in Russia, when his private jet was turned around and returned to Zurich, Switzerland. It was there, at the Fifa headquarters, that he was informed of his suspension. The 54-year-old Frenchman – Fifa’s PRVW VHQLRU H[HFXWLYH UHJDUGHG DV D À [HU and right-hand man to the outgoing president, Sepp Blatter – was accused earlier in the summer of approving an illegal payment from the South African Football Association to Trinidad and Tobago’s former Fifa vice president Jack Warner in exchange for his vote for the 2010 World Cup. Valcke had survived those allegations, which prompted the newly re-elected Blatter to set a schedule for his own early departure. In August, Valcke, who became the À UVW QRQ 6ZLVV VHFUHWDU\ JHQHUDO RI )LID when he was promoted from the role of director of marketing and TV in 2007, was reported by the BBC to be exploring the possibility of running for the Fifa presidency in February. He was said to

have approached ‘at least one regional confederation and a national association’ to gauge his support, though it is understood he would have been advised against a run. After his suspension, further reports emerged that Valcke had been seeking an early release from his contract as secretary general and a multi-million dollar payoff for the remaining three years of his contract. However, this is likely to have been connected to Valcke’s intention to step down once Blatter had departed, rather than the recent allegations. In the wake of Valcke’s departure the outgoing Fifa president, Sepp Blatter, sent a message to staff in an attempt to restore morale. ‘Please be assured that FIFA UHPDLQV FRQĂ€ GHQW RI LWV DELOLW\ WR UHFRYHU IURP WKH SUHVHQW GLIĂ€ FXOW VLWXDWLRQ DQG to restore its reputation for the good of game,’ he wrote in an internal email which was later shared with the Associated Press. ‘I urge you all to continue your hard work to develop, promote and celebrate the game we love.’ News of Valcke’s alleged transgressions came as the extradition to the US of Uruguay’s former Conmebol president and former Fifa vice president Eugenio )LJXHUHGR RQH RI WKH RIĂ€ FLDOV DUUHVWHG in Zurich ahead of the Fifa congress in May, was cleared by Swiss authorities. Figueredo will face charges of receiving bribes worth millions of dollars from a Uruguayan sports marketing company

Loretta Lynch is leading the US’s case against Fifa

Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein of Jordan has declared his intention to run for Fifa presidency again, claiming he offers the best opportunity for a clean start

in connection with the sale of marketing rights to the Copa AmĂŠrica tournaments in 2015, 2016, 2019 and 2023. He is also alleged to have secured US citizenship fraudulently through the use of forged medical reports in 2005 and 2006. On 14th September, US attorney general Loretta Lynch and Swiss attorney general Michael Lauber gave a joint press conference in Zurich to provide an update on the progress of ongoing Swiss and FBI investigations into Fifa and other international soccer bodies. Promising that the authorities would be “following the evidence where it leadsâ€?, Lynch said: “Based upon that cooperation and new evidence, we anticipate pursuing additional charges against individuals and entities.â€? She added: “To anyone who seeks to live in the past and to return soccer to the days of corruption and bribery, cronyism and patronage, this global response sends a clear message: you are on the wrong side of progress and do a disservice to the integrity of this wonderful sport.â€? Asked whether Fifa president Sepp Blatter might face arrest if he were to make a visit to US soil or a nation that might force extradition, she said: “I can’t help you with Mr Blatter’s travel plans.â€? The latest corruption scandal came after Blatter’s sole rival in May’s presidential ballot, Jordan Football Association president Prince Ali Bin $O +XVVHLQ FRQĂ€ UPHG WKDW KH ZRXOG EH running in the race to replace the Swiss.

“Ten months ago, I was the only person who dared to challenge Mr Blatter for the presidency of Fifa,â€? he said in a statement announcing his candidacy on 9th September. “I ran because I believe that Fifa needs change. And I had the FRXUDJH WR Ă€ JKW IRU FKDQJH ZKHQ RWKHUV were afraid. “I conceded that election. Not because I was not the best candidate, but because others were using me to make room for themselves. They didn’t have the guts to run, but I did. Ever since president Blatter promised his resignation just a few days later, they have been scrambling to secure the job for themselves.â€? The 39-year-old Prince Ali, who will be running against Uefa president and favourite Michel Platini and South Korea’s Chung Mong-joon, the Hyundai scion and former Fifa vice president, later seized upon the Valcke episode in burnishing his own credentials as a reformer.

Domenico Scala has proposed reforms at Fifa

“The reputational damage to Fifa continues,â€? he said. “Surely it is time for a new generation with new ideas to take over. The old regime should step aside now, so a new team can effect a complete UHIRUP RI WKH RUJDQLVDWLRQ WR UHĂ HFW WKH change that the national associations and fans of the game around the world are calling for.â€? Earlier in September Domenico Scala, the head of Fifa’s audit and compliance unit, released a 29-page plan outlining his suggested reforms for world soccer governance. His recommendations included that all Fifa executive committee members publicise their earnings from football and that all HOHFWHG RIĂ€ FLDOV VHUYH D PD[LPXP RI three four-year terms. “A number of issues have their root cause in the fact that people have stayed for far too long in a number of key positions,â€? he said. Scala has passed his suggestions on to the former International Olympic Committee (IOC) secretary general François Carrard, who is chairing a 15-person reform committee on Fifa governance structures. The committee PHW IRU WKH Ă€ UVW WLPH RQ QG 6HSWHPEHU but is not expected to discuss any concrete proposals before its next meeting from 16th to 18th October. Fifa is expected to pass reforms before the presidential election on 26th February 2016. SportsPro Magazine | 37

INSIGHT | OLYMPICS

5LR¡V SUHSDUDWLRQV HQWHU Ă€ QDO VWUDLJKW With just under a year to go until the Olympic torch is lit in Rio de Janeiro, local organising committee president Carlos Arthur Nuzman delivered a press conference in London to discuss the city’s progress. By Adam Nelson

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he health and wellbeing RI WKH DWKOHWHV LV RXU Ă€ UVW priority,â€? said Carlos Arthur Nuzman, speaking at a London press conference in September. “There will be no compromise.â€? The message delivered by the president of the Brazilian Olympic Committee, and of the Rio 2016 local organising committee, was perfectly clear; the waters around Rio de Janeiro’s coastline perhaps less so. In the few weeks before Nuzman addressed the London press, two athletes who had been participating in test events in Rio’s Marina da GlĂłria – South Korean windsurfer Wonwoo Cho and German sailor Eric Heil – contracted infections which they blamed on the quality of the water off the Copacabana beach, once again raising questions over the suitability of the open-water venues in Rio. ‘I have never in my life had infections on the legs,’ wrote Heil on the German sailing team’s Olympic blog. ‘Never! I assume I picked that up at the test regatta. The cause should be the Marina da GlĂłria ZKHUH WKHUH LV D FRQVWDQW Ă RZ RI ZDVWH water from the city’s hospitals.’ Cho’s coach Danny Ok, meanwhile, was similarly convinced of the cause of his colleague’s illness, posting to his Facebook page: ‘Seems [Cho] got infected from virus somewhere in the racing site which is supposed to be safe and clean as an Olympic venue.’ The cases of Cho and Heil were only WKH PRVW KLJK SURĂ€ OH LQ D VWULQJ RI UHFHQW concerns about the water, including a study conducted by the Associated Press which found dangerously high levels of viruses and bacteria from human sewage in the Marina da GlĂłria, the Copacabana arena which is set to be used for sailing and marathon swimming competition next year. Pollution in the Olympic lake of Rodrigo de Freitas, where canoeing events will be held, commonly causes PDVV GLH RIIV RI WKH Ă€ VK SRSXODWLRQ LW

38 | www.sportspromedia.com

Carlos Nuzman at his London press conference

was after training here that a delegation of 12 American rowers were treated for diarrhoea earlier in the year, an incident which Nuzman claimed could have been caused by food poisoning, citing LQVXIĂ€ FLHQW HYLGHQFH WKDW WKH ZDWHU LQ WKH lake was to blame. Nuzman was in the UK capital to update the press on the progress being made on the preparations for the Olympics with one year to go, but the water’s cleanliness quickly became his major focus, as it has become for the local organising committee. “The health of the athletes is the number one point we are working on,â€? he said. “We are working very closely with the state government and the researchers and I am sure we will have no claims [that the water is dirty] during the Games. This is a very serious matter and we are doing our absolute best to protect the athletes’ health.â€? Whether their best will be good enough is another matter, as Nuzman stopped short of offering any sort of guarantee that no athletes would be at risk, conceding that one competitor falling ill is one too many. However great their efforts across the next eleven months, his claim that “other Olympic cities have had problems

ZLWK WKH ZDWHUV DQG Ă€ [HG WKHP LQ WLPH and Rio will do the sameâ€? is tempered by the fact the Rio remains a city in which much of the sewage goes untreated, running through open-air ditches and into streams and rivers which feed the Olympic water sites. A new pipeline is being laid to UHGLUHFW WKLV Ă RZ ZKLFK LW LV KRSHG ZLOO EH completed by November, but this may be a case of too little, too late – especially since the pipe will only redirect sewage further up the coast. Nuzman’s press conference came almost a year to the day after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had described Rio’s preparations as “the worst in recent history,â€? and while there is clearly work yet to be done, the IOC itself, at least, appears to have been placated – releasing a statement last month following its latest inspection of Rio’s progress that it expected Brazil would ‘deliver [an] outstanding Olympic Games’. Public support in the city, too, is slowly improving. The latest poll suggested a 64 per cent approval rating for the Olympics among Rio citizens. By contrast, at roughly the same stage in /RQGRQ¡V 2O\PSLF F\FOH WKDW Ă€ JXUH VWRRG at 74 per cent. Rio’s, however, has risen by nearly 10 per cent since the IOC dressingdown last year. Part of this may be due to the muchfĂŞted ‘legacy’ of the games beginning to make its presence felt. The vast expansion of the previously underdeveloped transport network in Rio is now partially operational and is expected to be completed sometime during the Ă€ UVW WKUHH PRQWKV RI )XUWKHUPRUH the local organising committee has KHOSHG WR Ă€ QDQFH D SURJUDPPH IXQGLQJ over one million English lessons across the city, particularly to those working in public service roles such as taxi drivers and bar staff. In a country whose economy is predicted to continue its recession over the next year and whose

The Marina da Glória, just off Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana beach, has been found to contain dangerously high levels of viruses and bacteria

president’s approval rating stands in WKH VLQJOH ÀJXUHV LW LV SRVVLEOH WKDW WKH perception of the Olympics is shifting toward the positive, from burden to beacon of hope. In the month that saw Lord Sebastian Coe elected as president of world athletics’ ,$$) DQG LPPHGLDWHO\ ÀJKWLQJ GRSLQJ UHODWHG ÀUHV 1X]PDQ ZDV DOVR IRUFHG WR confront the other spectre which could

hang over the success of the Rio Olympics. His zero-tolerance policy on performanceenhancing substances will, of course, be welcomed by Coe and the rest of the Olympic movement, but how practicable it will be remains to be seen. “As an Olympic athlete myself, who took part in volleyball in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, I have zero tolerance for doping,� said Nuzman. “How,

The Olympic lake, Rodrigo de Freitas, has been blamed for the illnesses of some athletes in test events

as president of the local organising committee, would I feel if we discovered one Brazilian athlete positive for doping? I would be very sad. Because we are doing all the best to avoid this.� Questioned on whether this hard line extended to the ultimate deterrent of banning countries from competing whose Olympic teams were found to have breached doping rules en masse – as proposed by the World Anti-Doping Association (WADA) president Craig Reedie in August – Nuzman suggested that this would be against the spirit of the Olympics, as nations should have the opportunity to compete and not be punished for individuals’ transgressions. He did, however, make it clear that the blame should not just fall on to the individual athlete, but anyone who was found to have facilitated their doping. “To banish a country is not easy, but the athletes, yes,� he said. “The country cannot be blamed for this but the athlete can. “But I want to go a little further: the athlete and the team of the athlete� should both be banned, Nuzman argued. “Punishing the athlete is essential, but behind him there is a team working for him, and we need to identify these people if we are banishing athletes.� SportsPro Magazine | 39

INSIGHT | SOCCER

European soccer’s broadcast league The European soccer season is underway again but as clubs resume continental competition, some of the most significant action will be taking place off the field. The Premier League will be looking to drive home its financial advantage as it deals again with broadcasters but at least one league is trying to mount a challenge to that supremacy. By Eoin Connolly

40 | www.sportspromedia.com

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Atlético Madrid take on America in Mexico City, as part of the LFP World Challenge tour in 2014

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England’s Premier League is still by far the most lucrative in Europe for broadcasters, but Spain’s LFP is hoping its reforms can help La Liga catch up

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INSIGHT | SOCCER

Individual TV rights deals have helped Barcelona and Real Madrid afford the likes of Luis Suárez, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in recent years

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Barcelona’s fifth Champions League win this summer was watched by a global audience of 180 million

42 | www.sportspromedia.com

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INSIGHT | SOCCER

LFP president Javier Tebas has overseen sweeping commercial changes, including establishing the ‘La Liga’ name as the public-facing brand for Spain’s top flight

backed by the Marca Espaùa national branding project and the public trade and investment corporation ICEX. In July, beer brand Mahou San Miguel became the lead sponsor of the tour, which has made stops in 11 countries in 2015 alone. This has been accompanied by other grassroots activities. In August, for example, the LFP entered into a partnership with US Club Soccer, an organisation which aids in the development of soccer clubs across the United States. The league will provide its training curriculum, reciprocal coaching education seminars and create elite player training opportunities in Spain for the body’s 500,000 members. In 2015, the campaign to establish the league properly as an international property has taken on another dimension. Earlier this year, working with international rights marketing partner Mediapro, the LFP established La Liga as the public-facing brand for the league, assuming the name by which it has long been popularly known. That has come ahead of the latest round of international rights sales which, while barely beginning to make up ground 44 | www.sportspromedia.com

Ă€QDQFLDOO\ RQ WKH 3UHPLHU /HDJXH KDV DW least broadened the competition’s reach in foreign markets. The Mediapro strategy has generally been to sell deals on three-year terms in Europe and established markets, and Ă€YH \HDU WHUPV HOVHZKHUH ² WDNLQJ LW WR the end of its own contract with the LFP. It opened the tender process for its new cycle to 2018 or 2020 in June and has since had a busy summer. Over D GR]HQ GHDOV ZHUH FRQĂ€UPHG LQ WKH Spanish close season, taking in scores of territories worldwide. $PRQJ WKH PRVW VLJQLĂ€FDQW ZDV D Ă€YH \HDU UHQHZDO ZLWK VWDWH EURDGFDVWHU CCTV in China, where the league also secured intriguing deals with online streaming service PPTV and with the Suning Corporation, which will show La Liga games live in its electronics and homeware stores in 300 cities across the country. Those tie in with a new ‘longterm’ partnership between the LFP and the Chinese government, as well as sponsorship deals in the country with the likes of Snow Beer. In the UK, Sky Sports retained its long-held coverage of La Liga with

D QHZ WKUHH \HDU GHDO ² GHVSLWH ORFDO reports which had insisted rival BT Sport was about to add Spanish soccer to its new wealth of European output. ESPN took the rights in Spanishspeaking South America, while Digicel will show matches in 25 countries across the Caribbean. MP & Silva tied up an eclectic deal to distribute rights across Scandinavia and in Finland, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia and Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia and Japan. In Belgium, La Liga will help launch the new Eleven Sports Network set up by MP & Silva co-founder Andrea Radrizzani. OTE took the rights in Greece for another three years, while agreements were also signed with Fox Sports in Italy and Sport1 in the Netherlands. As numerous as these partnerships are it is likely that they will be blown RXW RI WKH ZDWHU LQ Ă€QDQFLDO WHUPV E\ those signed by the Premier League in the months ahead. Nevertheless, they are evidence of a strategy that could one day OLIW /D /LJD¡V UDQN DQG Ă€OH WR WKH VDPH level as their equivalents in England, and clear of the European pack.

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COVER STORY | BROADCAST

CONNECTED Three years after its stunning entry into the UK broadcast market, and two years after launch, BT Sport is carrying the air of an established player. Delia Bushell, the managing director of BT TV and sport, lays out its ambitions in an era of technological and behavioural change. By Eoin Connolly. Photographs by Graham Fudger.

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n 2nd July 2003, Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich bought Premier League soccer club Chelsea for UKÂŁ140 million. He aimed to use the billions he had made playing the emerging post-communist oil market of his homeland to turn the Londoners, occasional contenders but rare champions, into a major global force. Within days, the new hierarchy at Chelsea had looked across London to Arsenal, then about to embark on an unbeaten assault on the Premier League title, and submitted a huge offer for their club captain, Patrick Vieira, and superstar forward, Thierry Henry. The bids were rejected but the intent was clear. “Roman Abramovich has parked his Russian tanks on our lawn,â€? quipped Arsenal’s then vice chairman, David Dein, ´DQG LV Ă€ ULQJ 8.Â… QRWHV DW XV Âľ It is a line which pithily encapsulates the Ă€ QDQFLDO VKRFN DQG DZH RI H[WHUQDO VW century investment in the English game. Abramovich’s entry prompted a cycle of upset and grudging acceptance within the sport’s established order that would resume with Manchester City’s takeover by the Abu Dhabi royal family in 2008. On 13th June 2012, as the Premier League announced the outcome of its tender for domestic TV rights from WR WKH EURDGFDVW PDUNHW which has bankrolled the competition’s rise heard its own faint echo of the Chelsea story. Sky Sports had grown used to swatting aside competitors over two decades of dominance in the UK pay46 | www.sportspromedia.com

79 VHFWRU EXW ZDV H[SHFWHG WR IDFH VRPH competition for its principal hold on live coverage of the league, perhaps from Qatar’s Al Jazeera. That opposition never materialised but what did happen has altered the picture irrevocably.

“There’s real vigour and passion that’s gone into creating the identity of what BT Sport is.â€? BT, at this point, was a minor player in television, its BT Vision platform a throwaway line in a conversation more or less monopolised by Sky. But its pockets were deep, a legacy of its past as a state monopoly that had quickly colonised the privatised UK telecoms market. It went ELJ LQ LWV Ă€ UVW SLWFK IRU 3UHPLHU /HDJXH rights, bidding for all seven available packages. Though it came out with just two, its UKÂŁ738 million outlay and FOXWFK RI Ă€ UVW SLFN Ă€ [WXUHV ZHUH D FOHDU statement of its means. What followed was a brief but bold spree to secure enough sporting SURJUDPPLQJ WR Ă€ OO WZR FKDQQHOV

and enough on-air talent to front WKH FRYHUDJH $ ORQJ WHUP 8.Â… million deal was signed with England’s Premiership Rugby, one which contained the controversial seeds that would sprout into European Professional Club Rugby. The likes of MotoGP, WTA tennis and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) were to follow. By the time the new service was trailed at a spring 2013 launch, the BT gameplan was clear. As well as being available for a monthly fee to users on various British payTV platforms – including Sky – BT Sport would be given away free to its broadband customers. BT had entered sports broadcasting in an attempt to counter Sky’s move into internet services and telephony. Now, it was trying to reshape the whole market to meet the ‘triple-play’ demands of the consumer of the future. Stephen van Rooyen, managing director of sales and marketing for Sky, responded to the challenge by casting the News Corp-owned network as part of the sporting establishment. “For us,â€? he said, “sport isn’t a marketing gimmick to promote another product. We’re long-term supporters and our sustained LQYHVWPHQW KDV EHQHĂ€ WHG VSRUWV IDQV DQG British sport at all levels.â€? That was the opening volley in a war of words which has followed every rights acquisition, every announcement, and every price change since. BT Sport and Sky Sports, whatever each might hope, KDYH EHFRPH GHĂ€ QHG LQ UHODWLRQ WR RQH another. But a little over two years on, few would accept the thrust of van

Delia Bushell, the managing director of BT TV and sport, pictured at the BT Centre in London on Thursday 10th September.

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Andrew Matthews/PA Archive/PA Images

BT Sport has focused on differentiating the style of its coverage from its competitors, doing more at pitchside and making it more accessible to fans

Rooyen’s argument. Least of all Delia Bushell, the managing director of BT TV and sport. “There’s real vigour and passion that’s gone into creating the identity of what BT Sport is and making sure that the on-air coverage for viewers is bringing a fresh take on sport,â€? she suggests. “And I think the coverage and the business model kind of tie together in the sense that if we’ve got a very clear vision to be a consumer price champion in sport and to make sport accessible to fans again – of the over Ă€ YH PLOOLRQ YLHZHUV RU KRPHV ZH¡YH QRZ reached, two million of those are new to premium sport because they couldn’t previously afford Sky. So we’ve made our coverage more accessible and a bit more fun and refreshing, and more pitchside, back in the heart of it with the fans.â€? BT’s commitment to sport, Bushell adds, is not just a mood. It is “demonstrably driving real business EHQHĂ€ W WR %7 &RQVXPHUÂľ DQG ´LW¡V FOHDU now that the way BT has approached the coverage of BT Sport, it’s anything but just an add-onâ€?. Bushell joined BT in April 2014, for ZDQW RI D OHVV SURYRFDWLYH H[SUHVVLRQ from the other side. In over a decade with BSkyB, she oversaw the development of the operator’s channels on the free-toair Freeview digital TV platform; she 48 | www.sportspromedia.com

grew Sky’s subscriber base in Ireland as its managing director in the country; and she led Sky’s incursion into BT territory as director of broadband and WHOHSKRQ\ DW %6N\% IURP WR It is a CV which suggests the kind of URXQGHG H[SHULHQFH QHHGHG IRU WKH MRE of consolidating BT’s position in the broadcast market but, as Bushell admits, the group met a steep learning curve on moving into sport. ´>%7 *URXS FKLHI H[HFXWLYH@ *DYLQ >3DWWHUVRQ@ ZLOO VRPHWLPHV MRNH WKDW LI %7 KDG SURSHUO\ XQGHUVWRRG WKH FRPSOH[LW\ of what it was getting into in terms of 24-by-seven production of live sport, it would probably have been more daunted at the point of launch,â€? says Bushell. “The launch achievement of the team was pretty incredible in the sense that they KDG Ă€ YH WR HLJKW PRQWKV WR JHW XS DQG running an entirely new production studio in the Olympic Village, three channels, etc, and I think BT Sport has really surprised the industry in the quality and the tone and the strength of the on-air broadcast and coverage. “But I think in terms of learnings two years in for the business, it has actually GHOLYHUHG DOPRVW H[DFWO\ ZKDW ZH VHW out to achieve. We have now had seven consecutive quarters of top and bottomline growth for BT Consumer; we’ve

JRQH IURP ]HUR WR Ă€ YH PLOOLRQ %7 6SRUW subscribers – that actually occurred within one year, where it took Sky about ten years to get to that point.â€? BT’s rationale for its move into sports broadcasting is by now widely understood. Critically, while BT could see Sky encroaching on its territory, it had also spotted a gap in the pay-TV marketplace that the changing means of distribution had opened. “If you look at the UK marketplace, SUHPLXP VSRUW LV SUREDEO\ PRUH H[SHQVLYH in being gated by pay-TV than almost any other territory,â€? says Bushell. “BT looked across, particularly at services like ESPN LQ WKH 6WDWHV ZKLFK ZHUH 86 D PRQWK DQG LQ DOPRVW SHU FHQW RI 86 KRPHV and where you could have great premium sports coverage on a very low subscription getting very broad distribution and make that model make sense. “With the US market, you need that scale of homes to do that. What we did was take that model and then link it to broadband and create what was quite an innovative new business model for a telco in sport, and one which got right to the heart of reinvigorating the core business while adding an entirely new adjacent FDWHJRU\ WKDW DOVR KHOSHG WR H[SDQG IXWXUH avenues of growth for the BT business.â€? Bushell now considers BT to be in

the “second chapterâ€? of its sporting adventure. She is speaking to SportsPro in September at the BT Centre, the group’s headquarters near St Paul’s Cathedral. A week later, as it does every matchday, the focus will take a short run down the Central Line to the production centre and studio in Stratford, east London. The purpose-built facility in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park – on the opposite Ă DQN RI WRZQ IURP 6N\ 6SRUWV¡ EURDGFDVW home – will be running coverage of the Uefa Champions League and Europa League, with both competitions aired by a VLQJOH 8. EURDGFDVWHU IRU WKH Ă€ UVW WLPH For BT, this represents a “fantastic opportunityâ€?; for Bushell, BT Sport is “now on the cusp of what I would view DV RQH RI WKH PRVW H[FLWLQJ PRPHQWVÂľ Certainly, it is a moment of truth. Strategically, the UKÂŁ897 million purchase of the rights to Uefa’s club competitions IRU WKH QH[W WKUHH VHDVRQV D GHDO FRPSOHWHG LQ ODWH LV WKH PRVW VLJQLĂ€ FDQW %7 KDV made since its daring arrival. )RU WKH Ă€ UVW WLPH LW KDV H[FOXVLYH DFFHVV to a blue-chip sporting competition, the kind that might make a casual viewer think twice about their subscription priorities. BT will look to convert that into stronger subscriber numbers; it has put a monthly premium on its BT Sport Europe channel for anyone who does QRW RZQ D %7 79 ER[ ZKLFK ZLOO EH lower for broadband customers; it will offer selected games on free-to-air via its BT Sport Showcase channel. As viewers switch across from Sky Sports and ITV, the commercial terrestrial channel that had screened the Champions League since the competition was reformatted in the early 1990s, getting the coverage right will be crucial if BT Sport is to be seen as a broadcaster of real substance. On the rights acquisition side, there are indications that the project is approaching maturity. The scale of the Uefa partnership led many to speculate that BT would put the full weight of its UKÂŁ17 billion annual revenues behind future negotiations, not least as its TV enterprise could become more important DV Ă€ EUH EURDGEDQG XSJUDGHV LQ WKH 8. peak. The reality has been different; less devil-may-care. “Sports rights tend to be a combination of price and relationships,â€? says Bushell of what BT has learned in the sports

business. “To win a bid, you’ve got to have developed a relationship with that sport; that sport has got to want you to bring something new to the coverage or the relationships in that area. Rugby’s a JUHDW H[DPSOH IRU XV ZKHUH ZH IHHO ZH¡YH really reinvigorated rugby coverage in the UK, because it had been sort of sitting second behind football in pre-eminence and there was actually a real opportunity to raise it back up again. “I think you’ve clearly got to retain FRQĂ€ GHQWLDOLW\ ZKHQ \RX JR LQWR VSRUWV bids – you don’t want to be disclosing \RXU VWUDWHJ\ VR LW¡V DOZD\V GLIĂ€ FXOW in interviews to say too much – but I WKLQN IRU XV ZH WDNH D YHU\ Ă€ QDQFLDOO\ disciplined approach and we are carefully selecting the rights that we believe will wrap together into the BT Sport package while staying true to the vision of being a consumer price champion in sport.â€? It is tempting to read evidence of that ´Ă€ QDQFLDO GLVFLSOLQHÂľ LQ WKH RXWFRPH RI this year’s set of domestic Premier League ULJKWV UHQHZDOV IRU WR Where speculation before had centred on whether BT would double down on LWV SULRU H[SHQGLWXUH RQ WKH &KDPSLRQV League – or whether there would be a new entry in the form of BeIN Sports or Discovery-backed Eurosport – the story of the day was Sky’s UKÂŁ4.18 billion commitment to retaining its lion’s share of premium live games. Reports circulated afterwards in the British press that BT had throttled back in the second round of negotiations after securing the

SDFNDJHV LW ZDQWHG LQ WKH Ă€ UVW ² 6DWXUGD\ evening and selected midweek games, at a FRVW RI 8.Â… PLOOLRQ 7KH RIĂ€ FLDO OLQH predictably, is reserved. “Well, obviously I can’t disclose what we bid,â€? Bushell laughs. “I think it’s more a question that Sky’s bidding in the Premier League auction probably VXUSDVVHG DQ\ERG\¡V H[SHFWDWLRQV DQG obviously demonstrated how critical it was to their core business that they retained those rights at any cost. I don’t WKLQN WKDW UHDOO\ UHĂ HFWV RQ XVÂŤÂľ Whether BT had at any point sniffed an opportunity to usurp Sky is not something on which Bushell will be drawn, although she does believe the episode revealed something about the market leader’s practices. ´, WKLQN LI ZH¡UH KRQHVW LW UHĂ HFWV WKH IDFW WKDW LW¡V H[WUHPHO\ GLIĂ€ FXOW IRU anybody to outbid Sky for sports rights if they are determined to keep those rights,â€? she concedes, “because the size and the scale of their pay-TV base, and their H[LVWLQJ UHYHQXH VWUHDPV PDNHV LW YHU\ GLIĂ€ FXOW IRU DQ\ERG\ WR FRPH XS ZLWK WKH business model to surpass them.â€? Still, a deal in which “they saw 80 per FHQW LQĂ DWLRQ DQG ZH VDZ SHU FHQWÂľ LV still one that has been greeted with some satisfaction at BT. More to the point, a substantial renewal with one of the world’s leading sports properties can be taken as a measure of trust. <HW WKH EHVW H[DPSOH RI %7 6SRUW¡V efforts to build partnerships in British sport comes in another code. BT

BT Sport’s original productions and live programming are made in its studio at London’s Olympic Park

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Bushell believes that BT Sport has reinvigorated rugby union coverage in the UK since signing its initial UKÂŁ152 million deal to show the Aviva Premiership

Sport’s initial 2012 deal with Premiership Rugby gave English club rugby union a platform it had not previously enjoyed; the March renewal of that contract until 2021 provided a certainty that has allowed both parties to plan far beyond this autumn’s Rugby World Cup. “We’re certainly working closely with Premiership Rugby on how we try and make sure that the Rugby World Cup being hosted in the UK has a halo effect on domestic rugby as well,â€? says Bushell. “I’m sure it will also have a halo effect on European rugby. So we’re certainly NHHQ WR PDNH VXUH WKDW WKDW EHQHĂ€W passes across, and it’s a fantastic moment for the UK to be hosting the Rugby :RUOG &XS VR ZH¡UH Ă€QJHUV FURVVHG IRU D great outcome.â€? %7 6SRUW LV H[SORULQJ D VLPLODU relationship with women’s soccer – it serves as both broadcaster and sponsor to the Football Association (FA) for the Women’s Super League. But the latest deal it has picked up will act as a disruptor to a partnership its biggest rival has been building for over 20 years. Sky Sports has been the home of cricket coverage in the UK for a decade. Since the contentious decision to remove 50 | www.sportspromedia.com

home Test matches from the free-to-air ÂśFURZQ MHZHOV¡ OLVW DW WKH HQG RI no England games or games played in England have been shown by any other broadcaster. No other channel has aired live coverage of an overseas England Test since 1990, while Sky also holds the rights to International Cricket Council (ICC) tournaments like the Cricket World Cup and to the Indian Premier League (IPL). Outside of Premier League soccer, cricket LV VHHQ DV WKH PRVW VLJQLĂ€FDQW GULYHU RI Sky Sports subscriptions. For all the discussion about access to coverage, Sky’s money has been vital to the health of English cricket for some

England’s Ashes defence will air on BT Sport after its five-year deal with Cricket Australia

time and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has signed over its live ULJKWV H[FOXVLYHO\ XQWLO %XW LQ WKH meantime, BT has found another way through Sky’s defences. As England fans celebrated victory in this summer’s Ashes VHULHV D Ă€YH \HDU GHDO ² ZRUWK D UHSRUWHG 8.Â… PLOOLRQ D \HDU ² ZDV VLJQHG ZLWK Cricket Australia. It includes coverage of the return series in 2017/18. Asked whether the deal was evidence of a more streetwise approach, Bushell says, “I think catching people off-guard is something you can’t predict because you don’t know what other bidders are thinking in any process at any one time. You have no idea who else is bidding – it’s not just Sky who could be bidding for these rights, it’s other players. The same with the Premier League rights. In the end, what you have to do is have a very clear strategic RU Ă€QDQFLDO DSSURDFK DV WR ZKDW WR ELG IRU DQG ZK\ DQG ZKDW WKH PD[LPXP YDOXH RI that is, and just stick to that plan and then UHWDLQ VRPH FRQĂ€GHQWLDOLW\ DURXQG WKDW “I don’t think you can overly game theory beyond that. In the end, what matters is: can you see the value of those rights to your business? What’s the PD[LPXP SULFH \RX ZRXOG SD\" $QG WKHQ

THE SPANISH INQUISITION

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RU DOO WKH LQHYLWDEOH PL[HG reviews that have been pinned to BT Sport’s nascent soccer programming in its opening two years, one unvarnished success story has been its coverage of the European leagues. So it seemed quite the coup, and D Ă€WWLQJ SLHFH RI EXVLQHVV ZKHQ WKH Daily Mail’s industry diarist Charles Sale revealed that BT Sport had beaten Sky Sports to WKH QH[W F\FOH RI ULJKWV WR 6SDLQ¡V /D /LJD which it would add to France’s Ligue 1, Italy’s Serie A and Germany’s Bundesliga, completing the set of the continent’s ‘Big Five’ domestic competitions alongside the Premier League. The episode, it was reported, was an indication that Sky’s huge commitment to Premier League rights was hampering its ability to make bids elsewhere. It was a surprise, then, when Sky announced a few days later that it would continue to air Spanish games for another three years in a deal said to be worth UKÂŁ18 million a year. ´7KDW VWRU\¡V EHHQ D ELW H[DJJHUDWHG Âľ Bushell insists. “We obviously had Champions and Europa League coming up and a fantastic summer of European football, and we already have Serie A, Bundesliga, the French league and so on, VR ZH VLPSO\ PDGH D GLVFLSOLQHG Ă€QDQFLDO ELG IRU /D /LJD WR WKH H[WHQW WKDW LW ZDV

just follow through the best strategy you can – and in particular around building relationships in advance with the rights holders. The rights holders, in the end, PDNH D Ă€QDQFLDO GHFLVLRQ EXW WKHUH¡V DOVR an element of trust there. I think one of the biggest challenges for a new player like BT Sport is that you’ve got to build those relationships and you’ve got to build that trust.â€? At present, BT Sport’s cricket coverage begins and ends with the Caribbean Premier League, a T20 franchise tournament that takes place while English minds are occupied with the domestic season. The partnership with Cricket Australia will help BT develop its brand of cricket coverage but, beyond that, Bushell is keeping an open mind. “It’s hard to say yet where we see that

BT Sport was thought to have added Spanish La Liga coverage to its strong European line-up

worth. La Liga is a fantastic franchise but, for us, there was a limit to what it was worth given that we’ve got so much of the rest of European football. The rest, then, was more down to whatever went on between Sky and La Liga. “But for us, whereas with Cricket Australia we were quite clear that we wanted to win those rights, with La Liga there was a price at which there was a value to having those rights but it ZDVQ¡W D ELJÂŤ &ULFNHW ZDV RSHQLQJ XS a new sector for us; La Liga would have been the icing on the cake in something

where we almost command all European football already.� According to Sale, the confusion arose when La Liga partner MediaPro opened a second round of bidding despite Sky having already made the highest offer. It then returned to Sky to complete the renewal. Bushell, unsurprisingly, gives nothing away. “You’d have to ask Sky and La Liga,� she says. And on the source of the Daily Mail’s story, she is similarly guarded. “I think you’d have to ask Charlie Sale that question!� she laughs. “I don’t know.�

going,â€? she says. “Clearly, it opens up opportunities. It gives us a great set of PDUTXHH ULJKWV IURP DXWXPQ RQ WKURXJK ² Ă€UVW ZH¡OO JHW VRPH $XVWUDOLDQ home internationals, then we’ll get the Big Bash, and then will come the Ashes. So it gives us a set of great events to build out BT Sport with; there’s a relatively strong crossover between lovers of football and lovers of cricket, and there are a number of different cricket rights in the marketplace and a number of different avenues that we could potentially take going forward. But I think we’ll start by focusing on delivering great cricket coverage and then go from there.â€? Understandably, plenty of attention has been dedicated to what will be shown on BT Sport but the way people watch will

have as much bearing on its prospects. ´&RQVXPHUV LQFUHDVLQJO\ ZDQW Ă H[LELOLW\ and to choose what they want to buy, and not be forced to have it packaged up with other things that they may value less,â€? Bushell argues, laying out the case for a multi-platform approach which includes carriage on Sky and Virgin Media cable. “And they want to be able to watch it through whatever device and wherever they are. So, certainly, in the BT Sport model we were sort of trying to look to WKH IXWXUH LQ VD\LQJ Âś:HOO DFWXDOO\ WR SHU FHQW RI KRPHV KDYH D EURDGEDQG connection, anyway.’ Therefore, packaging up sport connected with broadband is a relatively easy thing to do because there are few homes who aren’t choosing to take broadband anyway.â€? In August, BT TV agreed a deal to SportsPro Magazine | 51

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BT Sport’s newly retooled app is described by Bushell as “quite a big breakthrough� for users

carry the American cable channel AMC – originator of popular series such as 0DG 0HQ DQG %UHDNLQJ %DG ² H[FOXVLYHO\ in the UK. “You need to have the whole portfolio offering, so we’ve spent the last VL[ WR PRQWKV UHDOO\ EXLOGLQJ RXW ZKDW %7 79¡V VHUYLFH LV Âľ %XVKHOO H[SODLQV Nevertheless, as viewing habits move DZD\ IURP WKH WUDGLWLRQDO H[SHULHQFH ² even though, as Bushell points out, “80, 90 per cent of viewing is still done on a linear basis on TV as a wholeâ€? – the value of sport is still on the rise. Bushell joined the BT operation from a stint at Sky Italia, where she VHUYHG DV FKLHI FRPPHUFLDO RIĂ€ FHU 7KDW H[SHULHQFH KDV JLYHQ KHU DQ LQVLJKW LQWR the differences in the pay-TV landscape across the continent. “The UK is unique in that it has high levels of pay-TV penetration,â€? she notes, “and one disproportionately strong player at the moment in Sky – who, I IRUJHW WKH VWDWLVWLF EXW KDV WR SHU cent of revenues and subscribers which, compared to any other territory, is incredibly strong and an almost dominant position. It’s been very successful: Sky has done an amazing job of growing pay-TV and getting consumers to see the value in 52 | www.sportspromedia.com

paying for television services and across Europe, that varies a lot. “In Germany, there’s very high levels of free-to-air and much lower levels of pay-TV; Italy is somewhere in between. I think the drivers of consumer choice and take-up are very similar across all of them, with sport, entertainment, drama and movies pivotal in almost all of them. But I think the UK is probably one of the most mature pay-TV markets and one of the most intensely competitive markets in the world, with the most dominant leading player in the form of Sky.â€? Whatever the differences between those markets, though, technological developments are already setting changes LQ PRWLRQ WKDW FRXOG EH WR WKH EHQHĂ€ W RI BT’s model. “The trend, certainly very strongly in the UK and the US – and what tends to happen is that the UK and US lead and other European territories come behind – is for people to start to move away from what I would call ‘full-fat pay-TV’ and towards more ‘pay-light’ type services,â€? Bushell argues. “And as broadband penetration has JURZQ DQG ZHE VXUĂ€ QJ KDV JURZQ DQG video consumption on the web has grown, people start to question whether they really

want to pay a very high monthly fee for pay-TV and want to actually choose slightly more dynamically, at a lower price range, the services they want to pay for. ´:KLFK LV ZK\ 1HWĂ L[ KDV GRQH VR ZHOO in the States, and now also in the UK: if you look at charts of the UK market, 1HWĂ L[¡V JURZWK LV FDUYLQJ LWV ZD\ XS through all the providers. In some cases, WKDW¡V IUHH WR DLU FXVWRPHUV WDNLQJ 1HWĂ L[ In some cases, that’s Sky, Virgin or BT 79 DGGLQJ 1HWĂ L[ RQ WRS RI WKHLU H[LVWLQJ subscriptions. But that’s increasingly a trend that’s happening and, while it will take ten or 20 years, the gradual shift from linear to on-demand is only going to keep being reinforced.â€? Bushell believes it is “absolutely SRVVLEOH RYHU D Ă€ YH \HDU KRUL]RQ \RX FRXOG VHH *RRJOH $SSOH 1HWĂ L[ whichever one, look at coming into the sports marketplaceâ€?. For now, however, the challenge for BT is to respond to the changing market conditions those companies have effected. It may be becoming a household name in sports broadcasting but in crafting the messaging and pricing of its Champions League coverage, BT has not lost sight of the need to consolidate its customer base. “I mean, we very clearly advertise WKDW LW¡V 8.Â… ZLWK %7 %URDGEDQG or free with BT TV,â€? says Bushell. “I think that’s a very simple and pretty compelling choice.â€? %XVKHOO WHOOLQJO\ FRPSDUHV WKDW 8.Â… monthly cost of the additional service to that of “an app you might download off iTunesâ€?. It is an ecosystem that an increasing number of potential viewers will understand better than that of pay-TV. Digital culture is not only changing KRZ SHRSOH H[SHFW WR SD\ IRU WHOHYLVLRQ coverage, but also how they can watch it. BT Sport’s own app was retooled at the start of the European soccer season to coincide with its Champions League debut. Bushell describes the software as “quite a big breakthroughâ€? for those using it as a second screen or as a primary viewing tool. She launches enthusiastically into a demonstration on her own tablet, showing a replay of 0DQFKHVWHU 8QLWHG¡V TXDOLĂ€ HU DJDLQVW Belgium’s Club Brugge. Various menus, laid over the top of the action, allow in-game access to statistics, replays, highlights and alternative angles.

For those who prefer to watch on a rather bigger screen, BT has also become WKH Ă€UVW PDMRU EURDGFDVWHU WR UXQ D UHJXODU ultra HD service for its BT Sport Europe channel. “We launched ultra HD because ZH VDZ WKDW VRPHWKLQJ OLNH RU SHU cent of new television sets now being sold are actually 4K or ultra HD television sets, and that replacement cycle is gradually KDSSHQLQJ RYHU WLPH Âľ %XVKHOO H[SODLQV ´$QG RI DOO WKH YLHZLQJ H[SHULHQFHV ZKHUH ultra HD is most stunning, it’s in live sport. We wanted to be at the head of the innovation wave of that. But, similar to HD, it will be a gradual phasing in over time. It’s not a sudden, overnight revolution but it was key to us.â€? The introduction of such services, the desire to be seen “at the pinnacle of sports innovationâ€?, is the kind of declaration of intent that major EURDGFDVWHUV DUH H[SHFWHG WR PDNH ² WKH kind that such large-scale commitment to rights fees tends to demand. But for many viewers, the way that coverage is packaged and presented is what will form the overriding impression. To that end, BT Sport paired the ultra HD announcement with the signing of Gary Lineker. The former England striker – who has made light of moving from second to third in his country’s list of all-time international goalscorers after Wayne Rooney’s record-breaking strike in September – is now probably better NQRZQ DV WKH IDFH RI WKH %%&¡V Ă DJVKLS Match of the Day highlights programme. He will be moonlighting for BT Sport as the lead presenter of Champions League coverage, as he has for NBC and Al Jazeera in the past. “Clearly, you always want your sport coverage to have top presenters and pundits,â€? says Bushell, “and Gary, for us, was just a perfect choice because he’s a much-loved and much-respected SUHVHQWLQJ Ă€JXUH *LYHQ WKDW ZH LQ WKH positioning that we have, combine people that have always been on free-to-air but now want more free or paid-for football or have always loved Sky Sports, he’s a JUHDW Ă€JXUH WR FRPELQH WKRVH WZR WDUJHW customer groups together.â€? It may also be that Lineker’s presence creates an implicit link between BT and the BBC, who made a joint announcement of their deal to share FA Cup coverage in 2013. And while Bushell

Securing talent like Gary Lineker (second left) is seen as crucial to developing BT Sport’s on-air identity

says the development of the technological and editorial offerings are “kind of not comparableâ€?, she does believe that GHĂ€QLQJ %7¡V RQ DLU ORRN DQG IHHO KDV been vital to its progress. “I think it’s really important, actually, and I think, probably, we may not even have realised how important it is until we achieved it,â€? she says. “But obviously there was a history – that Setanta and ESPN had tried and failed in what you might call that secondary sports player to Sky Sports role in the marketplace – and I think in order to succeed, you needed to have a genuine editorial point of difference and a sense of bringing something fresh and new in broadcasting FRYHUDJH DV ZHOO DV VRPH JUHDW Ă DJVKLS rights. And it’s been having both of those

“In the end, what matters is: can you see the value of those rights to your business? What’s the maximum price you would pay?�

that has been why it’s worked so well.â€? The question for BT Sport is whether, in its new guise as an established broadcaster, the time has come to step away from newness for its own sake and embrace something a little more conventional. Bushell sees it more as a question of development. “I joined a year ago,â€? she says. “The ZD\ ,¡G GHVFULEH LW LV WKH Ă€UVW \HDU RU VR of launch, it mattered incredibly to be different. Now in what I’d call the second chapter or second wave, with the step up in volume and having the Champions League brand and Europa League brand and narrative now under our umbrella, I think being different becomes slightly less important than just doing what we believe is the most world-class, world-leading coverage for the Champions League, and doing justice to that franchise and that EUDQG DQG WKH H[FLWHPHQW RI WKRVH JDPHV So that, I think, now, is probably more where the business is.â€? For all the rhetoric and hyperbole, that is now the status of BT Sport: a service that aims to be “one of the broadestdistributed and most accessible consumer ways of getting premium sport while also supporting the ongoing growth of the BT Consumer businessâ€?, and “is established in a really clear and sustainable way for the long termâ€?. As a rallying cry, or a call to arms, it may not curdle the blood. But in its own way, it LV D FOHDU DQG FRQĂ€GHQW VWDWHPHQW WKDW WKLV hugely ambitious project is working. SportsPro Magazine | 53

FEATURE | AGENCIES

IMG Events & Media president Ioris Francini, pictured in London on Tuesday 25th August

56 | www.sportspromedia.com

Long-term shot Following the best traditions of IMG, Ioris Francini has risen from the bear pit of the sales floor to the boardrooms of key clients. A deal-spinner turned strategic kingpin, with a knack for spotting trends before they happen, he has become a central figure in positioning IMG for change amid the WME revolution. By James Emmett. Photographs by Graham Fudger.

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FEATURE | AGENCIES

IMG replaced MP & Silva as the international distributor of the United States’ Major League Soccer

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IMG works with the USTA on the distribution of media rights to the US Open outside of the Americas

FEATURE | AGENCIES

Ringing the changes with Discovery

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MG acted as consultant to the IOC on the process that led to the blockbuster â‚Ź1.3 billion deal that saw Discovery take all the European media rights to the Olympic Games from 2018 to 2024 inclusive. The deal gives Discovery, and its subsidiary Eurosport, the whip hand when it comes to negotiations with free-to-air broadcasters across the continent, provided that the IOC’s minimum requirements for public EURDGFDVW DUH IXOĂ€OOHG “For the IOC, it’s a fantastic deal,â€? opines Ioris Francini. “For Discovery it’s a very ballsy, very strong statement. But it’s also very smart. By getting the Olympic rights, they also indirectly establish or strengthen communication with the Olympic sponsors – the TOP programme. All of a sudden you’re offering content on programming and probably stretching that across eight years and that achieves a number of things: a) Eurosport becomes a pretty MXLF\ FKDQQHO WKDW \RX FDQ V\QGLFDWH WR carriers and platforms around the world; b) your advertising revenues will all of a VXGGHQ KDYH WKH EHQHĂ€W RI WKHVH 723 sponsors that will activate inside. “They’re seeing this as a long-term positioning play which is in line with

They’re getting more expert about what they’re doing. They hire their own people. “Tennis Australia is a case in point – a client of ours. They hired a bunch of their own people and now they want to do their sales directly,â€? Francini notes. “That’s one challenge. Another challenge is that some of our existing customers – our buyers – are going upstream. Either they want to own things – so Discovery all of a sudden buys Formula E. We knew of discussions between Discovery and Formula One that broke down. In the whole supply chain, the boundaries are getting very blurry, and LQ WKDW EOXU ZH Ă€QG WKDW FRPSHWLWLRQ LV MXVW stepping it up. “So for us the challenge is: a) to FRQWLQXH Ă€QGLQJ JDSV DQG LQHIĂ€FLHQFLHV within sports where no one has the insight or vision on how to create those HIĂ€FLHQFLHV DQG E WR GHPRQVWUDWH WKDW the expertise we have converts into 60 | www.sportspromedia.com

IMG worked as a consultant on Discovery’s game-changing deal for Olympic media rights

Discovery’s own challenges, which is to get into the upper quadrants of premium content. Discovery came with the concept that was: ‘Here’s the money; we can also, through our free-to-air outlets in a number of territories like in Scandinavia, provide a very strong coverage that meets all your Olympic charter requirements; we also have Eurosport, which is much more market focused than ever before; we also have Dplay, which is

our OTT service which we’re rolling out alongside Eurosport Player. So we can actually also go unbundled and provide multiple business models. And, lastly, for everyone’s comfort, we can and will certainly sub-license to public service broadcasters because part of the 2O\PSLFV VLWV WKHUH ,W¡V MXVW D PDWWHU RI deciding which part: is it 100 hours, is it the national interest stuff ?’ ´,W¡V D PRUH HIĂ€FLHQW ZD\ RI H[SORLWLQJ these rights.â€?

real, tangible assets. So a client, let’s say a Grand Slam, will come to you. We need to prove to the Grand Slam that they think they can do a certain deal, EXW DFWXDOO\ WKURXJK RXU H[LVWLQJ RIĂ€FHV ORFDOO\ ² DQG WKH JX\¡V EHHQ WKHUH Ă€YH or six years, 15 years in the company, and knows everyone – they can capture something, the timing that actually creates DQ LQFUHPHQWDO EHQHĂ€W WR WKH FOLHQW Âľ One such Grand Slam tennis tournament that was recently convinced of the ongoing DQG HYROYLQJ EHQHĂ€WV WKDW EHLQJ WLHG LQ with IMG can bring is the US Open and its organiser, the US Tennis Association (USTA). In March, the two parties signed off on a deal that will see IMG continue to consult on the distribution of US Open media rights outside the US, Canada and Latin America until 2025. Another important moment came in June, when the International Olympic

Committee (IOC) and Discovery announced a deal that in modern day business parlance would no doubt be categorised as a landmark piece of ‘disruption’. The â‚Ź1.3 billion deal handed two Olympic cycles’ worth of media rights to Discovery and Eurosport, cutting out the European Broadcasting 8QLRQ (%8 DQG Ă LSSLQJ WKH WUDGLWLRQDO European Olympic distribution model on its head. While the Olympic charter ensures that a certain amount of freeto-air content from each Games will be shown in every market, how Discovery facilitate that has yet to be decided. On the Discovery side of that deal were president David Zaslav and international president JB Perrette; on the IOC side, Olympic TV and marketing services managing director Timo Lumme, and his adviser from IMG, one Ioris Francini. “We had

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Come visit our stand at SPORTELMonaco 2015

marketing@eurovision.net www.eurovision.net

FEATURE | AGENCIES

Francini has praised the “instinct and determination� of WME | IMG co-chief Ari Emanuel

the European team in place to consult with the IOC on all the market research, analysis and the tender process,â€? says )UDQFLQL ´,W ZDV VLJQLĂ€ FDQW D ELJ GHDO Âľ %DFN LQ 2FWREHU )UDQFLQL DQG KLV WHDP struck an eight-year deal with Major League Soccer (MLS). The wide-ranging agreement saw IMG replace MP & Silva DV WKH LQWHUQDWLRQDO GLVWULEXWRU RI 0/6 as well as the rights to US men’s and women’s national team matches played on $PHULFDQ VRLO XQWLO ,W ZDV WKH Ă€ UVW ORQJ WHUP UHWHQWLRQ RI )UDQFLQL¡V WHQXUH and represented “a very important dealâ€? IRU ,0* QRW OHDVW EHFDXVH LW SURYLGHV WKH DJHQF\ ZLWK D VWUHQJWKHQHG IRRWKROG LQ the international soccer market. Francini’s team is currently in the SURFHVV RI ELGGLQJ IRU (QJOLVK 3UHPLHU League soccer rights in selected international territories – and on this, )UDQFLQL SURPLVHV WR EH PRUH DJJUHVVLYH WKDQ WKH DJHQF\ KDV EHHQ LQ UHFHQW F\FOHV ´$UL SUHIHUV WU\LQJ DQG IDLOLQJ WR QRW WU\LQJ DW DOO Âľ KH VD\V ´7KDW DFWXDOO\ EOHQGV YHU\ 62 | www.sportspromedia.com

ZHOO ZLWK KRZ ZH JR DERXW EXVLQHVV DV well. We’re ready and we’re keen to see where the Premier League will actually LQYLWH DJHQFLHV EHFDXVH LQ VRPH PDUNHWV given some previous dynamics, they’ve RSWHG WR GR LW IRU EURDGFDVWHUV RQO\ Âľ %XW WR GHULYH D YDJXH HXSKHPLVP IURP WKH RQJRLQJ )LID VFDQGDO WRS OHYHO VRFFHU ULJKWV DUH QRW D VWUDLJKWIRUZDUG EXVLQHVV ´)RRWEDOO QR PDWWHU KRZ GDPDJHG UHSXWDWLRQDOO\ UHPDLQV WKH EHDXWLIXO JDPH and there’s always a massive demand JOREDOO\ IRU LW Âľ VD\V )UDQFLQL ´*HWWLQJ PRUH IRRWEDOO LV DQ DVSLUDWLRQ WKDW HYHU\ agency has. What is out there? The Asian )RRWEDOO &RQIHGHUDWLRQ $)& ZDV RXW WKHUH 7KH &RQIHGHUDWLRQ RI $IULFDQ )RRWEDOO &$) ZDV RXW WKHUH 7KHUH DUH D QXPEHU RI $PHULFDQ IHGHUDWLRQV DQG FRQIHGHUDWLRQV RXW WKHUH $QG WKHQ WKHUH DUH D EXQFK RI OHDJXHV ´8QIRUWXQDWHO\ IRRWEDOO KDV WUDGLWLRQDO FRQVHUYDWLYH EDUULHUV WR HQWU\ RQH ZD\ RU WKH RWKHU ,W¡V EHHQ LPSRVVLEOH HYHQ ZLWK YHU\ DJJUHVVLYH QXPEHUV WR JHW DQ\ZKHUH

QHDU WKH $)& :H PDGH D ELG RI 86 ELOOLRQ RYHU HLJKW \HDUV 7RGD\ LW¡V ZRUWK 86 PLOOLRQ RYHU WKDW SHULRG :H RIIHUHG WZR DQG D KDOI WLPHV WKDW 'LGQ¡W get anywhere near it. We understand WKDW WKHUH¡V EHHQ D TXLHW UHQHZDO ZLWK :RUOG 6SRUW *URXS 7KDW ZDV RQH RI WKH instances where we tried to express what WKH XSVLGH ZRXOG KDYH EHHQ IRU DOO WKH VWDNHKROGHUV EXW ZH GLGQ¡W JHW DQ\ZKHUH ´<RX DVN \RXUVHOI ZKHUH WKH LQWHUHVWV lie. The English Premier League is the model. The English Premier League is DOVR YHU\ HIĂ€ FLHQW DQG WUDQVSDUHQW LW DOORZV DJHQFLHV WR ELG LQ PDQ\ PDUNHWV MXVW OLNH EURDGFDVWHUV DQG WKH\¡OO JR IRU WKH KLJKHVW RIIHU 6R ZH¡UH VWLOO LQ WKH KXQW IRU WKRVH :H WULHG ZLWK /D /LJD DQG ZHUHQ¡W LQYLWHG WR D VHFRQG URXQG EXW ZH GLG SUHVHQW D YHU\ VWURQJ Ă€ UVW URXQG RIIHU ´)RRWEDOO LV EHFRPLQJ D PRUH DQG PRUH centralised commodity,â€? he adds. “We still WKLQN WKHUH LV URRP IRU RSSRUWXQLWLHV DV D UHVXOW RI LQHIĂ€ FLHQFLHV LQ VRPH UHJLRQV DQG PDUNHWV :H WKLQN $IULFDQ IRRWEDOO $VLDQ IRRWEDOO DQG $PHULFDQ IRRWEDOO FDQ VWLOO LPSURYH 7KH IRUPDW FDQ LPSURYH the exploitation programme can improve. We’re still looking at how someone like us can add all that value and help them transition and modernise the sport.â€? ,W LV D VHQVLWLYH DUHD IRU D VHQLRU Ă€ JXUH at an international sports agency to delve LQWR 7KH UDPLĂ€ FDWLRQV RI WKH )LID VFDQGDO FRXOG ZHOO UHDFK IDU EH\RQG WKH IHGHUDWLRQ LWVHOI DQG WKH 7UDIĂ€ F 6SRUWV DJHQF\ DW WKH FHQWUH RI WKH EULEHU\ DOOHJDWLRQV )UDQFLQL LV FDUHIXO ZLWK KLV ZRUGV DQG DFNQRZOHGJHV that there are unscrupulous practices going on in soccer. “For us,â€? he says, “the KLJKHU WKH OHYHO RI VFUXWLQ\ WKH KLJKHU WKH RSSRUWXQLW\ ,W¡V LQ RXU EHVW LQWHUHVW WR KDYH scrutiny.â€? Whether that scrutiny will come WR EHDU JLYHQ WKH FORVHG VKRS JRYHUQDQFH VWUXFWXUHV RI PDQ\ SRFNHWV RI WKH VRFFHU industry, is another matter entirely. 7KH DFWLYLWLHV RI KLV FRPSHWLWRUV DQG WKH WUHDFKHURXV YDJDULHV RI WKH VRFFHU PDUNHW DUH E\ QR PHDQV WKH RQO\ FKDOOHQJHV IDFLQJ )UDQFLQL &ORVHU WR KRPH WKH FRQVROLGDWLRQ RI :0( DQG ,0* UHVRXUFHV DQG REMHFWLYHV continues apace. There comes a point ZKHQ WRS OHYHO WDON DERXW LQWHJUDWLRQ DQG ÂśXQ VLORLQJ¡ ² (PDQXHO¡V WHUP IRU WKH SURFHVV RI EXLOGLQJ FRQQHFWLRQV EHWZHHQ WKH YDULRXV GLYLVLRQV DQG SRFNHWV RI H[SHUWLVH DFURVV :0( _ ,0* ² KDV

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0* ODXQFKHG LWV JURXQGEUHDNLQJ Sport24 airline and cruise liner FKDQQHO LQ $V WHFKQRORJLFDO HYROXWLRQ KDV HQDEOHG VDWHOOLWH FRQQHFWLYLW\ RQ IDVW PRYLQJ HQWLWLHV WKH EXVLQHVV KDV PRYHG IURP QDVFHQW WR ULSH ZLWK SRWHQWLDO ,0* KDV Ă€UVW PRYHU advantage in the space, and the channel, SURGXFHG IURP 6WRFNOH\ 3DUN LQFOXGHV DFWLRQ IURP DOPRVW DOO WKH PRVW YDOXDEOH sports entities under the sun. ´,W¡V JRW WKH PRVW XQEHOLHYDEOH FROOHFWLRQ RI ULJKWV Âľ VD\V )UDQFLQL “We’ve now signed Champions League and renewed Formula One, Bundesliga, Premier League, Champions League,

Sport24 offers premium sports content to flyers

2O\PSLFV )LID %XW RXU 6SRUW JX\V ZLOO EH DW 6SRUWHO WKLV \HDU WR WU\ WR JHW RWKHU ULJKWV WR FRPSOHPHQW WKH RIIHULQJ $QRWKHU ELJ GHDO ZH GLG LQ WKH ODVW months was with Panasonic Avionics, Ă€QG D VROXWLRQ IRU \RX JX\V WR VHOO DOO this scripted and non-scripted content around the world. Are you ready to do LW"¡ :HOO ZH¡G ORYH WR EXW OHW PH JR DQG get a dictionary to check what ‘scripted entertainment’ means!â€? Francini laughs. :0( LV LQ WKH SURFHVV RI GLVWULEXWLQJ D VL[ SDUW VHULHV EDVHG RQ D QRYHO E\ John le CarrĂŠ. The Night Manager will IHDWXUH +XJK /DXULH 2OLYLD &ROPDQ DQG 7RP +ROODQGHU DQG DOWKRXJK LW LV DERXW espionage and underhand dealings, it LV QHYHUWKHOHVV D ZRUOG DZD\ IURP WKH live sporting products that make up the EUHDG DQG EXWWHU RI WKH DYHUDJH ,0* salesperson’s day-to-day.

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WR EH WUDQVODWHG LQWR DFWLRQ DQG WDQJLEOH UHVXOWV 7KDW SRLQW FDPH IRU ,0* (YHQWV & Media earlier this year when the WME KLHUDUFK\ GHFLGHG WR KDUQHVV WKH JOREDO VDOHV FDSDFLW\ WKDW ,0* FRXOG EULQJ ZLWK an unusual product proposition. “I think the main challenge we have and I have as an individual is to try to UHLQYHQW \RXUVHOI XSGDWH DQG XSJUDGH what you do, as the market evolves,â€? says Francini, taking up the story. “All RI D VXGGHQ :0( VD\V Âś+HUH ZH DUH ZH UHSUHVHQW SHU FHQW RI WKH VFULSWHG television marketplace, and similar nonVFULSWHG ² DOO WKH WDOHQW EHKLQG LW WKH authors, the directors. We could actually

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Sport24 takes off

Distributing scripted drama, such as The Night Manager starring Hugh Laurie, is new territory for Francini

HVVHQWLDOO\ WKH ODUJHVW VXSSOLHU RI VRIWZDUH DQG KDUGZDUH RQ SODQHV ,W DOVR RIIHUV DQG EXQGOHV WKH SURJUDPPLQJ ´)LQDOO\ D IHZ \HDUV DJR LW PDQDJHG to put satellite reception on planes as WKH\ PRYHG VR DOO RI D VXGGHQ OLYH SURJUDPPLQJ ZDV SRVVLEOH DQ\ZKHUH around the world. We did a three-year GHDO ZLWK WKHP ,W¡V SURYHQ VXFFHVVIXO IRU WKHP DQG IRU XV :H¡YH H[WHQGHG IRU DQRWKHU Ă€YH \HDUV WKLV \HDU $OO WKH carriers are increasing. Every time they KDYH D WDVWH RI 6SRUW LW¡V DQRWKHU world. It’s a very sticky, very strong SURGXFW IRU ERWK FXVWRPHUV WKH DLUOLQHV and also Panasonic Avionics.â€? ´,W¡V D ELJ VHULHV ELJ QDPHV DWWDFKHG JRRG GLUHFWRU DQG ZH KDG LW WR VHOO LQ Ă€YH or six territories,â€? says Francini. “Our colleagues at WME who had the series and who usually relied on third party LQWHUQDWLRQDO HQWHUWDLQPHQW GLVWULEXWLRQ H[SHUWV VD\ Âś/HW¡V VHH LI WKLV :0( _ ,0* PRGHO FDQ DFWXDOO\ ZRUN ,QVWHDG RI JRLQJ IRU WKH ELJ EDQJ WKHRU\ RI ,0* WDNLQJ it all over the world, let’s try selected important markets.’ So we picked Australia, WKH 1RUGLFV DQG D IHZ RWKHU PDUNHWV “We had projections,â€? says Francini. “The WME colleagues had their own projections too. Eventually, our head RI WKH 1RUGLFV .ULVWLDQ +\VHQ ZKR KDV EHHQ LQ WKH FRPSDQ\ IRU \HDUV KH NQRZV DOO WKH &(2V RI HYHU\ VLQJOH JURXS +H QHHGHG WR KDYH VRPHRQH Ă DQNLQJ KLP ZKR NQHZ KRZ WR WDON DERXW stories, and this meets that, and all that VWXII WKDW JLYHV LW FRQWH[W DQG Ă DYRXU EXW XOWLPDWHO\ WKH UHODWLRQVKLS ZLWK WKH &(2 ZDV WKH ORFDO JX\¡V +H GLG D GHDO WKDW ZHQW ZHOO EH\RQG WKH WDUJHW WKDW WKH WME colleagues had set. It was a surprise IRU HYHU\RQH 7KH VDPH WKLQJ KDSSHQHG LQ $XVWUDOLD DQG LQ 1HZ =HDODQG ,W¡V EHHQ a really interesting case study that proves WKDW HYHQ IRU D Ă€UVW DWWHPSW DQG ZLWKRXW having integrated everything, there were VRPH VOLYHUV RI KRSH DQG SRWHQWLDO ´2XW RI WKH 1LJKW 0DQDJHU FDVH Âľ )UDQFLQL DGGV WDQWDOLVLQJO\ ´WKHUH ZLOO EH VRPHWKLQJ PDVVLYH WKDW ZLOO EH DQQRXQFHG soon in entertainment. Our involvement LV JRLQJ WR EH JOREDO LQ LW Âľ SportsPro Magazine | 63

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A NUMBERS GAME When MP & Silva’s influential co-founder Andrea Radrizzani announced he would be stepping out of the agency game to establish Eleven Sports Network in August, questions were asked about his motives across the sports broadcasting industry. With Eleven now up and running in Poland, Belgium and Singapore, Radrizzani outlines the vision behind his ambitious new venture. By Michael Long

“

hat we have done in four months was probably irrational and crazy in a way, but now I think it was necessary because sometimes you have to jump on opportunities in the sports industry and work hard to execute it.â€? Andrea Radrizzani had every reason to doubt the rationality of his latest project. Having stepped down from his role as chief executive of MP & Silva, one of the sporting world’s leading media rights agencies, earlier this year, the Italian businessman is now heading XS D Ă HGJOLQJ FKDOOHQJHU EUDQG LQ WKH ultra-competitive world of sports broadcasting. It was a move that saw the experienced entrepreneur switch from established player to little-known XQGHUGRJ EXW 5DGUL]]DQL LV FRQĂ€ GHQW KH has the tools to succeed outside of his agency comfort zone. He debuted his new venture, Eleven Sports Network, in Poland, Belgium and Singapore in August, with a further launch in Taiwan imminent. All this just four months after he incorporated The Channels Co Ltd, Eleven’s parent company, in London in March. It was, in every respect, a speedy process from conception to launch and it has led many to ask what moved Radrizzani not only to create the network, but to set up in those VSHFLĂ€ F PDUNHWV DERYH DOO RWKHUV “It was a mix of opportunities in the rights acquisitions and also an analysis RI WKH SURĂ€ OH RI WKH PDUNHWV ZH ZHUH looking at,â€? says Radrizzani, explaining

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66 | www.sportspromedia.com

the rationale for his venture during an early September interview with SportsPro. “The markets are, in a way, similar. Singapore and Belgium are very mature markets with a high penetration of payTV and a pretty high output. On the opposite side we have Poland and Taiwan, where the middle class is growing and the

“The two experiences basically gave me the idea that I wanted to focus my next phase professionally on something new.� output is still small but the potential to grow in the years is there.� Eleven has launched with two HD channels: one, Eleven, is devoted exclusively to soccer while the other, Eleven Sports, shows soccer plus a range of other sports. In Poland, the network boasts top-level league soccer from Spain, France, Italy, Belgium and Scotland, as well as England’s FA Cup, the ATP World Tour 250 tennis series, the National Football League (NFL) and European handball’s EHF Champions League, among other properties. In Belgium, rights to La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1 are complemented by club

soccer from Brazil and Germany, in addition to four live National Basketball Association (NBA) games per week and action from the ATP World Tour. Eleven’s Singaporean and Taiwanese channels will also show a good deal of the above along with a mix of localised programming. All told, Eleven Sports Network plans to offer more than 2,000 hours of live coverage per year in each of the markets. Radrizzani describes his business PRGHO DV ´PL[HGÂľ ² D Ă H[LEOH RQH WKDW GHSOR\V QR VLQJOH RQH VL]H Ă€ WV all approach and which is intended to ensure the network is as locally relevant and tailored to the nuances of each individual market as possible. To that end, Eleven has sought to partner with the major direct-to-home (DTH), cable, IPTV and mobile operators in each market, with programming packaged up and distributed differently from territory to territory. An over-thetop (OTT) offering is also part of the overall plan. In Taiwan, where Eleven has already had a soft launch but the network will, according to Radrizzani, be fully operational “in a question of weeksâ€?, a standalone OTT offering will be at the heart of Eleven’s entry into the market. “My model is not really like a businessto-business model like other channels: to buy rights and operate like an agency by selling the rights in a package of a channel,â€? Radrizzani explains. “It’s more a mixed model including a part of risk and go together to sell the subscription

MP & Silva founder Andrea Radrizzani’s move into the broadcasting world has not been without controversy, but he feels the venture has the potential to match his ambition

SportsPro Magazine | 67

FEATURE | BROADCAST

Soccer forms the cornerstone of Eleven’s business, with the majority of the rights packages it has picked up so far being for European leagues like Serie A

and take part of the revenue, which in the short term could be very challenging and risky but I believe if you have the key rights, in the medium/long term there could be a reward.� Radrizzani says initial uptake of the Eleven channels has been positive. At the time of writing, carriage deals have been struck in Poland, where the network is available for free until midOctober when it will be offered for a monthly fee on nc+, Netia, TVN’s Player.pl as well as cable networks East & West, City-Net, Gawex and Elsat; in Belgium with Belgacom/Proximus TV and Luxembourg with Tango TV/ Proximus; and in Singapore with Singtel – although Radrizzani says that ongoing discussions over a similar agreement with Singtel’s main rival Starhub “should bring a result soon�. Radrizzani’s focus to date has been on getting up and running but with the channels now launched, phase two will entail a concerted promotional push to embed the Eleven brand within the local viewership. “To be honest,� he says, “in four months we have been focused on being on-air and being available. I think 68 | www.sportspromedia.com

the next phase is to be more active locally in terms of local marketing partnerships with the platforms, but even so, honestly we’ve had quite good feedback. “In Poland we have about 6,000 followers on Twitter and we have been talked about quite a lot in the media in the last two months,â€? he adds. “We have a local team customising our content and social media strategy in every market. We will invest a lot in the social media and digital to focus our standalone offer beside the platform on OTT.â€? With a long history of trading media rights from the opposite side of the negotiating table, Radrizzani is under no illusions as to the challenge he faces entering the already crowded broadcast market. He, as well as anyone, knows that content is king, but he also knows that content means little without a savvy approach to distribution. “I think it’s a very competitive and YHU\ FKDOOHQJLQJ DQG GLIĂ€ FXOW VSDFH Âľ KH says. “There are a lot of operators, very solid companies. There are companies who can offer not only sports channels but also entertainment and movies and kids and many other contents, so they

have huge leverage of the platform. But I believe it’s a phase in the history of PHGLD ZKHUH IRU WKH Ă€ UVW WLPH LW¡V HDVLHU to access directly to the user due to the technology and the digital space. “Nowadays you can really reach your fans with a good quality even without a platform,â€? he argues. “I mean, obviously it’s better to have, and we all want to have, a platform as a partner, but I think social media and digital media are helping to have a direct relationship with the customer at any level. In the years I think this will become more and more important, so I believe it’s a good time to start something that goes to the customer directly.â€? In any sector of any market, the arrival of a new player is invariably greeted by the status quo with an element of caution. Radrizzani’s decision to enter the broadcasting game has been no different, with many industry observers quick to question the reasoning behind what was, at least on the face of it, an unexpected move. Radrizzani founded MP & Silva along with his business partner Riccardo Silva in 2004 and the pair made a name for

Eleven has dedicated one of its two channels across its territories to soccer, with many of the rights having been acquired from MP & Silva

themselves as ambitious entrepreneurs, Ă€ UVW HVWDEOLVKLQJ D PDUNHW SRVLWLRQ LQ $VLD before quickly growing the group into one of the go-to media rights agencies across the world of sport. Though Radrizzani sold a batch of his shares in MP & Silva to his fellow co-founder in early August, shortly before the Eleven channels hit the airwaves, he will retain an undisclosed shareholding in the company. “At the moment I am not involved anymore in the day-to-day business,â€? says Radrizzani, explaining the nature of his continuing ties with MP & Silva. “If there is some important investment, obviously I am involved to discuss and to decide together with the other shareholders. But I am not involved in the day-to-day business. There is a lot of energy taken by this new venture and also the new venture LV REYLRXVO\ LQ WKH VDPH Ă€ HOG VR , QHHG to make sure that there is no point of FRQĂ LFW ZLWK WKH DJHQF\ Âľ Yet the inevitable questions remain. Some have speculated that Radrizzani’s new venture is a way for MP & Silva to LQFUHDVH LWV LQĂ XHQFH LQ WKH FKDQQHOV business whilst adding insider knowledge and expertise at boardroom level. Others

have ventured to suggest that he plans to build up the equity value of Eleven Sports Network before selling it on further down the line – probably to BeIN Media Group, the Qatari-owned broadcaster that maintains close ties with MP & Silva and has made no secret of its desire to expand its brand of networks globally. Such suggestions are, however, conjecture. Of more pressing concern for some is the fact that Radrizzani has been quick to team up with his associates at MP & Silva, claiming several packages of rights from the agency as he works to build out the Eleven portfolio. And there could be more to come. In Malaysia, a market Radrizzani has earmarked for expansion, MP & Silva clinched a wideranging 15-year media and marketing deal with the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) earlier this year. Likewise in Singapore, MP & Silva, led by Radrizzani himself, entered into a six-year partnership with the city-state’s soccer authority in February. Radrizzani’s relationship with MP & Silva has inevitably led the conspiracists to cry foul and allege anti-competitive practices but the Italian himself is having

none of it. “I don’t think Riccardo and the other shareholders want to give me the rights for free,â€? he insists. “I mean, I wish, but unfortunately it’s not the case. I have to pay and I have to pay market price because I don’t think, if you are partner with an agency, you want to give away your rights to someone who is your shareholder or your friend. I mean, I’ve never seen something like that. I wish, but that is not the case.â€? Though his Eleven venture has raised a few eyebrows, Radrizzani says his career switch has been in the works for some time and he believes he has the QHFHVVDU\ VNLOOV WR PDNH KLV Ă€ UVW UHDO crack at broadcasting a success. At MP & Silva, he was involved in most of the company’s rights acquisition contracts with major rights holders and two years ago he helped launch local-language versions of the BeIN Sports brand in Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong, and the Philippines, anchored by MP & Silva’s portfolio of media rights. He also has experience of working as an advisor to local and national broadcasters at a time when the line between agencies and international broadcasters has never SportsPro Magazine | 69

FEATURE | BROADCAST

Eleven Sports will show four live NBA games per week in Belgium, demonstrating its commitment to providing premium sports content

been more blurred. “The two experiences basically gave me the idea that I wanted to focus my next phase professionally on something new, to challenge the broadcasters and platforms with a new proposition,� he says. “Those experiences in the local rights as well as in the channel made me think that probably there is, in my opinion, an opportunity and a gap to enter in the, let’s say, second-tier markets, so not the top markets. “In the second-tier markets there is an opportunity because normally the international networks are going there with secondary rights, not with the top rights, and there is some opportunity in countries like Belgium where exclusivity is not really the key element for the platform.� As it stands, Radrizzani has no intention of expanding beyond so-called “second-tier markets� that he believes offer the greatest chance of competing with the established networks when it comes to rights acquisitions. Future expansion will, he says, depend on whether the market in question offers the same level of opportunity as those which Eleven has already entered. 70 | www.sportspromedia.com

“At the moment my mission is to become the number one channel in the markets where we are,â€? he continues. “We don’t need to be global; we need to be very focused where we are. Then if there is the opportunity along the line to increase the market and we can DIIRUG ZH KDYH WKH Ă€ QDQFLDO EDFNLQJ to enter into domestic rights in some second-tier markets, why not [expand]? But normally we are looking at markets where the investment for the top rights, the domestic rights – whether they are football or baseball or whatever they are – are, say, â‚Ź20 million to â‚Ź70 million per year, either in small mature markets or growing media markets where the medium class is growing.â€? Asked whether Eleven will seek to acquire English Premier League rights, Radrizzani says the division is so powerful a brand now it is “like a domestic leagueâ€? in many countries around the world. Ratings and rights fees have skyrocketed in recent years and with the league’s latest round of international rights sales ongoing, Radrizzani is not ruling out making a play for the coveted competition in future. “It depends on the country,

but for sure Premier League is something we’ll look at,â€? he says. “To be successful we need to have the top rights in each country, whether it’s a domestic sport or something that is driving subscriptions.â€? In terms of funding, Radrizzani VD\V KH KDV Ă€ QDQFHG KLV QHZ YHQWXUH through his own means thus far. He reveals, however, that he has “opened discussions with different parties including private equities and private investorsâ€? in a bid to secure further investment. “In the next six months to 12 months, probably the capital will be restructured and open to other investors,â€? he says. “I have an ambition that needs more capital to do, to deliver a good brand that becomes in future an icon in the sports industry and a lifestyle in the countries we enter.â€? Helping Radrizzani to achieve that ambition is a highly skilled team of broadcasting executives. Marc Watson, the Englishman who led BT Sport’s game-changing entry into the UK pay-TV market in 2013, and Danny Menken, the former managing director for the Benelux region and several other territories at Eurosport who joined from

Marc Watson and Danny Menken have come on board at Eleven from BT Sport and Infostrada respectively, bringing significant broadcasting experience

KLV UROH UROH RI FKLHI H[HFXWLYH RIĂ€ FHU DW sports data and TV production company Infostrada Sports, have been brought on board as non-executive director and managing director respectively. Radrizzani has also put together local management teams in each market, with former Telenet executive Anouk Mertens, for example, leading the network in Belgium. “I’ve been lucky because, starting so TXLFNO\ , ZDV DEOH WR Ă€ QG JRRG SHRSOH DYDLODEOH Âľ UHĂ HFWV 5DGUL]]DQL ´1RZ we are entering a new phase where we

approach with a much more rational view the development, and we have already the channels active on air and we have a local team in every country. This is very important because we started this project not from a central operation and headquarters in terms of management and also production. But we are starting very local with a small and light international team in London but then we have a highly professional management as well in every country.� As for the name he has chosen for his network, which does not yet

Tennis is an area Eleven is hoping to expand into, having already picked up rights for the ATP World Tour

have production studios to call home, Radrizzani says: “Eleven had different meanings in my mind when I created the brand. First of all, it’s the number of players in football but also in other sports: American football and other sports, they play in 11. So it’s a symbol of a team. A team also means united and together, so it’s a symbol of cohesion. At the same time, the ‘E’ of Eleven stands for emotional, entertaining, electrifying. That is what our channel is going to be and it’s our slogan.â€? As Eleven’s development plays out and more rights are inevitably sought, there will be many within the industry who will be keeping a close eye on the progress of Radrizzani’s venture. It is, of course, early days but Radrizzani insists he is PRVW GHĂ€ QLWHO\ LQ LW IRU WKH ORQJ KDXO “The vision is to integrate Eleven with other media projects including a bike channel that I’m investing in and bringing from Italy to the UK, and potentially other countries later on,â€? he says. “And then I have a dream always in my heart to develop one day a kid’s sports channel. Hopefully it’s just the beginning of my new career.â€? SportsPro Magazine | 71

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In an ever-diversifying broadcast market, viewers in China have increasingly greater choice over what content they consume and how they consume it

PERMANENT REVOLUTION China’s sports broadcasting market has traditionally been dominated by CCTV and regional channels, but the rise of smart devices and over-the-top services has opened up opportunities and seen the emergence of several new media broadcasters. The battle for China’s nascent pay-TV sector is set to transform the way the country consumes sports content. By Adam Nelson

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t has become an increasingly oft-heard refrain during European soccer’s offseason that there is now ‘too much money in the game’. As part of their annual July and August rituals, along with mass migrations to tours in America and the Far East, clubs from Europe’s ‘big Ă€YH¡ OHDJXHV FRPSHWH WR VHH ZKR FDQ

72 | www.sportspromedia.com

splash the largest amounts of cash on the most promising young talent from across the continent. In 2015 English clubs EURNH WKHLU RYHUDOO WUDQVIHU UHFRUG IRU WKH VHFRQG FRQVHFXWLYH \HDU ZLWK DOPRVW ½ ELOOLRQ VSHQW FROOHFWLYHO\ E\ WHDPV IURP England, France, Germany, Spain and Italy in the 2015 transfer window.

This season, though, the clubs’ spending has been dwarfed by the outlays of broadcasters across the globe. As HYHU (QJODQG¡V 3UHPLHU /HDJXH OHG WKH way, with the bumper rights package of RYHU 8.Â… ELOOLRQ IRU WKUHH \HDUV VSOLW EHWZHHQ ULYDOV %7 6SRUW DQG 6N\ 6SRUWV EDFN LQ )HEUXDU\ ,Q 0D\ 6SDLQ¡V /D /LJD

DQQRXQFHG LWV ORQJ RYHUGXH VZLWFK WR D FROOHFWLYH GLVWULEXWLRQ PRGHO VSOLWWLQJ the pot of cash more equally between all 20 of its member clubs, prompting a series of new deals with both domestic DQG RYHUVHDV EURDGFDVWHUV 0DGULG EDVHG WHOHFRPV JLDQW 7HOHIyQLFD VSHQW ½ million on the domestic rights package for WKH VHDVRQ DORQH ZLWK WKH OLNHV RI $QGUHD 5DGUL]]DQL¡V (OHYHQ 6SRUWV 1HWZRUN DQG %H,1 6SRUWV KHOSLQJ WR swell the league’s coffers with deals in foreign territories. It is perhaps in the newer, emerging PDUNHWV KRZHYHU ZKHUH WKH UHDO story has been this year. In China, for LQVWDQFH ZKHUH RYHU D SHULRG RI D IHZ ZHHNV WKLV VXPPHU ULJKWV IRU /D /LJD WKH 8HID &KDPSLRQV /HDJXH DQG (XURSD /HDJXH )UDQFH¡V /LJXH ,WDO\¡V 6HULH $ *HUPDQ\¡V %XQGHVOLJD WKH 1HWKHUODQGV¡ (UHGLYLVLH DQG %HOJLXP¡V 3UR /HDJXH WR QDPH MXVW WKH (XURSHDQ soccer deals, were sold to a handful of Chinese broadcasters with seemingly bottomless pockets, willing and able to sate the public’s bottomless desire for premium sports content. A few things were particularly notable about the Chinese deals being done this summer, from the amounts being spent to the range of rights packages being sought ² LQ DGGLWLRQ WR VRFFHU VLJQLĂ€ FDQW ULJKWV packages for tennis, basketball, snooker DQG JROI ZHUH DOVR VQDSSHG XS 3ULPDULO\ though, the interest lay not in what was being bought or for how much, but who was doing the buying. In April of this year, the premier RI WKH VWDWH FRXQFLO RI &KLQD /L .HTLDQJ XQYHLOHG KLV Âś,QWHUQHW 3OXV¡ LQLWLDWLYH D SODQ LQWHQGHG WR H[SORLW China’s burgeoning online potential and replace the country’s dependence on its slowing industrial economy with a new workforce of digital entrepreneurs. Or, as the Global Times, a subsidiary of the state-controlled People’s Daily, wrote, a plan intended to ‘bring about the fourth LQGXVWULDO UHYROXWLRQ¡ While that might be a masterpiece of hyperbole, one need look no further than the sports rights deals being tied up by Chinese broadcasters this summer WR ZLWQHVV WKH PLQRU UHYROXWLRQ WKDW LV taking place there thanks to the increased SUHYDOHQFH RI GLJLWDO GLVWULEXWLRQ FKDQQHOV 7KH IRXU ELJJHVW ZLQQHUV RYHU

Yu Hang works in rights acquisition at LeTV

WKH SDVW IHZ PRQWKV ² 3379 6LQD 6SRUWV 7HQFHQW 6SRUWV DQG /H79 6SRUWV ² DUH all digital-only broadcasters, who each operate different strategies for their distribution but who ultimately are all breaking new ground in the market. ´2YHU WKH ODVW IHZ \HDUV \RX¡YH KDG DQ LQFUHGLEOH H[SORVLRQ RI JURZWK LQ ZKDW , ZRXOG FDOO ÂśYLGHR SRUWDOV¡ Âľ H[SODLQV &KULV *XLQQHVV VHQLRU YLFH SUHVLGHQW DQG KHDG RI ,0* 0HGLD IRU $VLD 3DFLĂ€ F ZKR UXQV the agency’s sports rights business in the region. “That is to say, companies buying FRQWHQW ² QRW H[FOXVLYHO\ EXW VLJQLĂ€ FDQWO\ sports content – primarily for secondscreen applications for smartphones, WDEOHWV WR D OHVVHU H[WHQW ODSWRSV 7KDW¡V ZKDW¡V IXHOOLQJ WKH JURZWK Âľ 7KLV PDUNHWSODFH LV SUHGLFWDEO\ Ă€ HUFHO\ FRPSHWLWLYH DQG WKHVH IHZ RSHUDWRUV are transforming the way Chinese customers consume sports content. In (XURSH DQG WKH 86 YLHZHUV DUH XVHG WR the model where a small number of the biggest properties are held by free-to-air EURDGFDVWHUV ZLWK D PDMRULW\ RI FRQWHQW hidden behind a paywall, only accessible WKURXJK D VXEVFULSWLRQ VHUYLFH ,Q &KLQD WKH GHYHORSPHQW RI SD\ 79 VHUYLFHV has been stunted by the presence of the VWDWH RSHUDWHG &KLQD &HQWUDO 7HOHYLVLRQ &&79 DQG WKH YDULRXV IUHH WR DLU regional players. It is only with the recent growth in the penetration rates of highVSHHG LQWHUQHW FRQQHFWLRQV WKDW RYHU WKH WRS 277 VHUYLFHV IURP WKH OLNHV

RI /H79 DQG 3379 KDYH EHHQ DEOH WR GLYHUVLI\ WKDW PDUNHW 7KH PDUNHW LV D FRPSOLFDWHG PL[ RI old stalwarts attempting to branch out and keep up with the game, and new VWDUWXSV KRSLQJ WR H[SORLW WKH GHYHORSLQJ market. “The companies that are leading WKH FKDUJH LQ WKLV DUHD DUH /H79 ,TL\L – which is part of the group that owns %DLGX >&KLQD¡V ODUJHVW RQOLQH VHUYLFHV website, often called ‘the Chinese *RRJOH¡@ ² 3379 DQG 6LQD FRP Âľ VD\V Guinness. “Sina was one of the old Chinese portals which dominated the PDUNHW LQ WHUPV RI WH[W EXW IHOO EHKLQG LQ WHUPV RI WKH JURZWK RI YLGHR FRQWHQW and now has a tie-up with Alibaba and ZLOO EH ORRNLQJ DW WKLV DUHD Âľ Alibaba – the giant e-commerce VHUYLFH RZQHG E\ -DFN 0D &KLQD¡V ULFKHVW man – is a curious player in this drama, KROGLQJ PLQRULW\ VWDNHV LQ /H79 6SRUWV DQG 3379 DV ZHOO DV RSHUDWLQJ LWV RZQ recently launched Alibaba Sports Group, WKH DIRUHPHQWLRQHG MRLQW YHQWXUH ZLWK Sina Sports. Its presence in the market PHDQV WKDW DOO RI WKH VR FDOOHG Âś%LJ Three’ Chinese internet and e-commerce VHUYLFHV ² %DLGX $OLEDED DQG 7HQFHQW ² KDYH D YHVWHG LQWHUHVW LQ WKH EDWWOH IRU sports broadcasting dominance. The situation can be compared with WKH HDUO\ PLOOHQQLXP UHYROXWLRQV LQ PXVLF DQG Ă€ OP GLVWULEXWLRQ FDXVHG by the likes of iTunes, Spotify and 1HWĂ L[ LQ WKH ZHVW EXW DV <X +DQJ YLFH SUHVLGHQW RI ULJKWV DFTXLVLWLRQ DQG LQWHUQDWLRQDO EXVLQHVV DW /H79 6SRUWV points out, “the only difference is that WKHUH LV JRYHUQPHQW VXSSRUW IRU WKH EURDGFDVWLQJ V\VWHPÂľ 7KLV KH VD\V ´PDNHV WKH ZKROH URDGPDS FRQIXVLQJÂľ 7KDW JRYHUQPHQW VXSSRUW FRPHV LQ the shape of China’s centralised state WHOHYLVLRQ VHUYLFH ´:H FDQ¡W FURVV RQH QDPH ZKLFK LV &&79 Âľ VD\V <X &&79 LV still, by a considerable margin, the biggest and most dominant actor in the Chinese media market. It operates a total of 45 channels, and is accessible to an audience RI ZHOO RYHU RQH ELOOLRQ YLHZHUV DFURVV LWV home territory. It is, by any standards, a broadcasting behemoth. &&79¡V IUHH WR DLU &KLQHVH ODQJXDJH FKDQQHOV DUH DYDLODEOH RQ DOO PLOOLRQ WHOHYLVLRQ VHWV LQ &KLQD ² with only 15 per cent of those being VPDUW 79V FDSDEOH RI HYHQ UHFHLYLQJ SportsPro Magazine | 73

FEATURE | BROADCAST

LeTV Sports has paid US$400 million for the Premier League rights in Hong Kong from next season

RIIHULQJV IURP WKH OLNHV RI /H79 3379 or Sina. This being China, that 15 per FHQW VWLOO HTXDWHV WR PLOOLRQ SRWHQWLDO customers, but China is a market unused to the concept of paying for premium FRQWHQW LQ WKH ZD\ WKDW YLHZHUV LQ WKH 8. RU WKH 86 KDYH EHHQ IRU GHFDGHV $QG IDU IURP KDYLQJ LWV PDUNHW VKDUH diluted in this increasingly fractured media PDUNHW &&79 KDV DFWXDOO\ PDQDJHG WR increase its position of dominance in the last few years. Guinness feels that the real ORVHUV LQ WKH GHYHORSLQJ PDUNHWSODFH RI WKH ODVW IHZ \HDUV KDYH EHHQ WKH UHJLRQDO EURDGFDVWHUV ZKLFK KH EHOLHYHV KDV OHG WR &&79 RQO\ EHFRPLQJ PRUH HQWUHQFKHG LQ its position at the top. “There’s a traditional broadcast market ZKLFK KDV EHHQ HIIHFWLYHO\ FRQVROLGDWLQJ Âľ says Guinness. “What I mean by that is the number of regional sports channels – the likes of Shanghai Media Group, *XDQJGRQJ 7HOHYLVLRQ %HLMLQJ 79 DQG RWKHUV ² KDYH EHHQ FRQVROLGDWLQJ DQG KDYH EHHQ LQ GHFOLQH DQG DV D UHVXOW &&79 as the only nationally distributed sports SODWIRUP ² WKURXJK &&79 >LWV GHGLFDWHG VSRUWV FKDQQHO@ DQG PRUH UHFHQWO\ &&79 3OXV ² KDV EHFRPH PRUH GRPLQDQW QRW OHVV $QG WKDW¡V EDVLFDOO\ HYROYHG LQ WKH ODVW WZR RU WKUHH \HDUV Âľ $V LI WKDW ZDVQ¡W HQRXJK &&79 also operates a series of specialist pay FKDQQHOV IRU YDULRXV VSRUWV LQFOXGLQJ soccer, tennis, golf and billiards, as well DV DQ RQOLQH SRUWDO &179 VR LV DOUHDG\ an established presence in both the pay79 DQG LQWHUQHW EURDGFDVW PDUNHWV :LWK 74 | www.sportspromedia.com

the blossoming of the aforementioned ,QWHUQHW 3OXV LQLWLDWLYH WKH &KLQHVH JRYHUQPHQW LV OLNHO\ WR EH EDFNLQJ WKLV OLQH RI &&79¡V EXVLQHVV HYHQ PRUH VWURQJO\ RYHU WKH FRPLQJ \HDUV Guinness speculates that, at the current UDWH RI LQĂ DWLRQ RI VSRUWV ULJKWV SDFNDJHV &&79 PLJKW DOPRVW EH DW WKH SRLQW ZKHUH it thinks twice about matching the bids IURP WKH QHZ PHGLD EURDGFDVWHUV ´&&79 will be comforted by the fact that from a EURDGFDVW SRLQW RI YLHZ WKH\ UHPDLQ VR GRPLQDQW Âľ KH VD\V ´7KH\ KDYH QDWLRQDO UHDFK DQG WKH\ JHQHUDWH VLJQLĂ€ FDQW DGYHUWLVLQJ DV D UHVXOW RI WKDW +RZHYHU ZLWKRXW JRYHUQPHQW LQWHUYHQWLRQ DQG JRYHUQPHQW VXSSRUW WKH NLQG RI PRQH\ that is being put on the table for pure new media rights will not be a game that &&79 ZLOO ZDQW WR SOD\ ´7KH TXHVWLRQ WKHQ REYLRXVO\ EHFRPHV LQ WKH VSDFH RI WKLV 277 VPDUW 79 DUHD LI &&79 FDQ¡W FRPSHWH WKHUH DUH WKH\ likely to see an erosion of their position IURP D EURDGFDVW SRLQW RI YLHZ"Âľ VD\V Guinness. “I think they would argue VWURQJO\ WKDW WKDW LVQ¡W WKH FDVH %XW GRQ¡W UXOH RXW WKDW WKH\ PLJKW DV D JRYHUQPHQW HQWLW\ DSSHDO WR WKH JRYHUQPHQW IRU VRPH SURWHFWLRQ ZKHUHE\ 6$5)7 >6WDWH Administration of Radio, Film, and 7HOHYLVLRQ WKH UHJXODWRU\ ERG\ IRU WKH broadcast media in China] suddenly come LQ DQG VD\ Âś7KLV LQGXVWU\¡V JRW WR KDYH D lot more control,’ which will wheedle out some of the competitors. ´%XW DW WKH PRPHQW , ZRXOG VD\ WKDW &&79 DUH SUREDEO\ ORRNLQJ GRZQ IURP

WKHLU LYRU\ WRZHU DQG VHHLQJ WKH WKUHDW are alarmed by it not being so regulated, EXW UHPDLQ YHU\ GRPLQDQW IURP D EURDGFDVW SHUVSHFWLYH Âľ The challenge, then, does not simply lie LQ FRQYLQFLQJ D PDUNHW XQXVHG WR SD\LQJ for sports content to start coughing up a monthly subscription fee, but doing so while trying to draw customers away from D ZHOO HVWDEOLVKHG JRYHUQPHQW EDFNHG broadcasting giant. ´'HĂ€ QLWHO\ WKHUH LV D ORQJ ZD\ WR JR Âľ DGPLWV <X ´7KH PDUNHW LV TXLWH XQLTXH DQG LW LV TXLWH FRPSOH[ ,W LV QRW OLNH WKH 86 3HRSOH DOZD\V EHQFKPDUN the sports industry in China against the VSRUWV LQGXVWU\ LQ WKH 86 EXW LW¡V D WRWDOO\ different market. Although there is a huge population here it doesn’t mean that the outcome or the consequence of people wanting and willing to pay is DOVR DW WKDW OHYHO 2Q WKH FRQWUDU\ LW LV WKH RSSRVLWH 3HRSOH KDYH JRW XVHG WR consuming free content; it is still a long way to go for people to consume general EURDGFDVWLQJ FRQWHQW Âľ 3XVKLQJ SHRSOH WRZDUG WKDW PRGHO WKRXJK LV FUXFLDO WR WKH VXUYLYDO RI WKHVH FRPSDQLHV /H79 6SRUWV LWVHOI LV MXVW RQH DUP RI D PXFK ELJJHU FRQJORPHUDWH ZKLFK RSHUDWHV LQ VHYHUDO widely disparate spheres. In August 2015, IRU LQVWDQFH /H79 DQQRXQFHG ERWK D smart electric car and, more bizarrely, D VPDUW ELF\FOH 2I PRUH UHOHYDQFH WR LWV VSRUWV EXVLQHVV DUH WKH VPDUW 79V VPDUW SKRQHV DQG VHW WRS ER[HV WKH FRPSDQ\ RIIHUV LQ VHYHUDO WHUULWRULHV across Asia, Oceania and, recently, in WKH 8QLWHG 6WDWHV 7KHVH GHYLFHV <X admits, are being sold as loss leaders in most territories, with the intention of LQWURGXFLQJ FXVWRPHUV WR LWV VHUYLFHV DQG bringing them on board as subscribers. It is through this smart hardware that LWV /H79 6SRUWV RIIHULQJ LV DYDLODEOH ² DV ZHOO DV YLD LWV RQOLQH YLGHR SRUWDO ² EXW that, too, is currently operating at a loss. ,W LV DYDLODEOH IRU IUHH VXSSRUWHG WR VRPH H[WHQW E\ DGYHUWLVLQJ UHYHQXH DJDLQ ZLWK the intention of attracting subscribers to WKH VHUYLFH &OHDUO\ WKHQ /H79 LV UHO\LQJ on the subscriber market in its home territory taking off, for both its hardware and sports businesses. 0HGLD RXWOHWV LQ &KLQD KDYH TXRWHG D WLPHIUDPH RI WKUHH \HDUV EHIRUH /H79 EHFRPHV SURĂ€ WDEOH ZKLFK <X VD\V LV

FEATURE | EVENTS

Chinese star Ding Junhui has helped drive the popularity of snooker in the country, where it is now one of the most sought-after TV rights packages

realistic but maintains that the focus is QRW SUHVHQWO\ RQ SURĂ€ W EXW EXLOGLQJ XS a subscriber base large enough to turn a SURĂ€ W ZKHQ WKH WLPH FRPHV ´3URĂ€ W LV E\ IDU WKH OHDVW FRQFHUQ ZLWK our way of thinking because we still need WR LQFUHDVH DQG LPSURYH RQ WKH XVHU EDVH as much as we can before the pay model FRPHV Âľ VD\V <X ´:KLOH WKHUH LV VWLOO WKH free model, our intention is not making SURĂ€ W LW¡V LQYHVWLQJ LQ WKH SHUVSHFWLYH that can help us to increase the number RI XVHUV , WKLQN WKDW¡V WKH SRLQW %XW LQ SURMHFWLRQ \HV LQ WKUHH \HDUV¡ WLPH ZH ZDQW WR EH SURĂ€ WDEOH :H QHHG WR SUHSDUH IRU WKH ,32 LQ WKUHH WR Ă€ YH \HDUV¡ WLPH Âľ While in the long term the fractious QDWXUH RI WKH PDUNHW PD\ SURYH WR EH XQVXVWDLQDEOH <X EHOLHYHV WKDW WKH present competition, all attempting in VRPH ZD\ RU DQRWKHU WR PRYH DZD\ IURP WKH DGYHUWLVHPHQW VXSSRUWHG PRGHO RI UHYHQXH ZLOO EH PXWXDOO\ EHQHĂ€ FLDO LQ WKH short term. “A competitor like Tencent is DOVR ODXQFKLQJ WKHLU SD\ 79 VHUYLFH DQG RQ DQ LQGXVWU\ OHYHO WKDW¡V JRRG EHFDXVH more and more operators are launching a SD\ VHUYLFH DQG WKH\ HYHQWXDOO\ FUHDWH WKH HFRV\VWHP Âľ KH VD\V

“At the end of the day no company in this market can hold all the premier FRQWHQW Âľ KH DGGV ´6R Âś\RX KDYH WKDW ZH KDYH WKLV¡ EXW LQ WKH LQGXVWU\ SDUW we are welcoming our competitors also thinking the same way, which is to ODXQFK WKH SD\ VHUYLFH , WKLQN WKDW¡V WKH key for the whole market to get used to SD\LQJ IRU VSRUWV FRQWHQW Âľ /HZLV +DQQDP PDQDJLQJ GLUHFWRU RI 5HG /DQWHUQ 'LJLWDO 0HGLD D GLJLWDO PDUNHWLQJ DJHQF\ ZRUNLQJ ZLWK %ULWLVK brands and rights holders in China, VSHFXODWHV WKDW WKH VXFFHVV RI /H79 Sports’ transition to the pay model “really depends how quickly they need to migrate WR WKDW SRVLWLRQÂľ /H79 6SRUWV KDV QRW RXWOLQHG DQ H[DFW WLPHIUDPH IRU ZKHQ that will happen, nor has it disclosed what kind of a loss it is making for as long as it maintains free-to-air status. “They certainly won’t be making big money at WKH PRPHQW EXW WKDW¡V XQGHUVWDQGDEOH Âľ VD\V +DQQDP ´,I WKHUH¡V DQ HFRQRPLF necessity that they need to start making money, we might see them making the VZLWFK VRRQHU WKDQ DQWLFLSDWHG Âľ 7KH FRPSDQ\ UHFHQWO\ FRQĂ€ UPHG RQH of its biggest rights acquisitions so far,

DQG LWV Ă€ UVW RXWVLGH LWV KRPH WHUULWRU\ SD\LQJ 86 PLOOLRQ IRU D WKUHH \HDU GHDO IRU WKH 3UHPLHU /HDJXH ULJKWV LQ +RQJ .RQJ ² GRXEOLQJ WKH LQYHVWPHQW RI 3&&: WKH SUHYLRXV ULJKWV KROGHU LQ that territory. This followed the launch RI LWV VPDUWSKRQH DQG VPDUW 79 GHYLFHV LQ WKH FRXQWU\ D SDWWHUQ <X FODLPV LV the business model the company will IROORZ LQ DQ\ IXUWKHU H[SDQVLRQ ZLWK WKH KDUGZDUH VHUYLQJ DV DQ HQWU\ SRLQW to the content. ´$IWHU +RQJ .RQJ , WKLQN ZH ZLOO see further spread into south-east Asia, and I think India will be a key market, because we are building a big team selling PRELOH SKRQHV LQ ,QGLD Âľ VD\V <X ´6R RXU VWUDWHJ\ LV WKH VDPH ZH DUH QRW PDNLQJ money by selling hardware, we are trying to make money selling subscriptions RQ WKH FRQWHQW VHUYLFH WKURXJK WKLV hardware. So the content business in many territories in Asia will be a key focus. We will follow the set-up from the /H79 *URXS 7KH\ ZDQW WR VHOO KDUGZDUH in certain territories so then we go there ZLWK WKH FRQWHQW EXVLQHVV Âľ 7KLV PRGHO LV /H79¡V DWWHPSW WR ZUHVW EDFN ZKDW PLJKW EH SHUFHLYHG SportsPro Magazine | 75

FEATURE | BROADCAST

DV WKH DGYDQWDJH KHOG E\ WKH QHZ PHGLD companies whose business is built on DQ RQOLQH ÂśYLGHR SRUWDO¡ DQG LV LQ SDUW VSXQ RXW IURP DQ H[LVWLQJ SURSHUW\ 6LQD Sports and Tencent Sports, for instance, are tied to two of China’s biggest social QHWZRUNLQJ VHUYLFHV ² :HLER DQG :H&KDW UHVSHFWLYHO\ ² VR KDYH D KHDG VWDUW LQ building an audience. (DUOLHU LQ WKH \HDU D /H79 6SRUWV spokesperson was quoted as saying that the company’s aim was to become Âś&KLQD¡V (631¡ 7KH WDJ KDV VWXFN WKRXJK <X VD\V LW LV OHVV WKDQ DFFXUDWH ´7KDW¡V D VLPSOH H[SODQDWLRQ IURP RXU VLGH Âľ KH VD\V ´3HRSOH VHH /H79 DV OLNH ZKDW (631 LV GRLQJ ² LW LV VKRZLQJ HYHU\WKLQJ ² EXW ZH DUH QRW RQO\ SURYLGLQJ YLGHR VWUHDPLQJ VHUYLFH ZH GR RWKHU EXVLQHVV DV ZHOO Âľ ,QVWHDG <X FODLPV /H79 LV ´WDUJHWLQJ >LWVHOI@ DV DQ LQWHUQDWLRQDO VSRUWV Ă€UPÂľ ´7KH FRQWHQW VHUYLFH SDUW SHRSOH WUHDW WKDW DV ÂśWKH &KLQHVH (631¡ ² EXW LQ JHQHUDO , FDQ¡W DJUHH WKDW ZH DUH OLNH (631 Âľ KH LQVLVWV ´:H UXQ D IXOO VSRUWV EXVLQHVV Âľ 7KH JRDO <X H[SODLQV LV WR LQWHJUDWH all the necessary elements of the sports broadcast market into a single entity, from holding the rights, to managing the OTT VWUHDPV WR VHOOLQJ WKH GHYLFHV SHRSOH DUH using to consume the content. “We see some traditional types of sports companies like IMG and Infront and they are more like agencies RU SURGXFWLRQ RU HYHQWV PDQDJHPHQW companies who are doing business in WKLV PDUNHW Âľ <X VD\V ´:H DOVR VHH VRPH local companies operating like this as ZHOO %XW RXU XQLTXH DVSHFW LV WKDW ZH WU\ to integrate the elements in the sports LQGXVWU\ IURP ,3 WKH SURSHUWLHV LQ WKH middle is the media platform and at the HQG LV WKH YDOXH DGGHG VHUYLFH ZH WU\ WR integrate all these elements. “If we see that as a chain, we try to make all the components be in one company, so that makes us different compared to our competitors in the media platforms or new media platforms OLNH 6LQD FRP RU 7HQFHQW FRP Âľ KH DGGV ´7KH\ GR RQO\ PHGLD SODWIRUPV YLGHR VWUHDPLQJ VHUYLFHV :H GLIIHUHQWLDWH RXUVHOYHV IURP WKDW Âľ <X DOVR DUJXHV WKDW WKLV PRGHO LV WKH best for the company’s sustainability as it PRYHV WRZDUG WKH SD\ 79 PRGHO :KLOH in the short term it means the company 76 | www.sportspromedia.com

VDFULĂ€FLQJ ERWK LWV KDUGZDUH DQG PHGLD platforms as loss leaders to build up a user base, it means that once it reaches SURĂ€WDELOLW\ /H79 6SRUWV LV DEOH WR FRQWURO HYHU\ HOHPHQW RI LWV EXVLQHVV DQG QRW EH VROHO\ UHOLDQW RQ WKH UHYHQXH IURP DGYHUWLVHUV “We see that if you only do media EXVLQHVV DQG WKHUH LV QR H[LVWLQJ SD\ model to support the increase in H[SHQGLWXUH RI WKH OLFHQFLQJ IHHV ² ZKLFK especially in the sports rights in this market, are incredible – so on a single model, which is the traditional ‘free FRQWHQW LQ H[FKDQJH IRU DGYHUWLVHPHQW¡ PRGHO LW LV YHU\ KDUG WR VXVWDLQ WKLV business with the way the market is JRLQJ Âľ <X VD\V ´7KDW¡V ZK\ ZH QHHG to add opportunities, that’s why the LQWHQWLRQ IRU XV LV Ă€UVW WR LQWHJUDWH HYHU\WKLQJ WRJHWKHU DQG WU\ WR Ă€QG XQLTXH opportunities on the commercial model. On the other hand we try to create a subscription package to build up the pay PRGHO EHKLQG WKHP Âľ One peculiarity of the Chinese market LV WKH SUROLIHUDWLRQ RI QRQ H[FOXVLYH deals. While broadcasters in Europe DQG WKH 86 KDYH SUHIHUUHG WR VSHQG ELJJHU WR VHFXUH WKH H[FOXVLYH ULJKWV WR a particular sports property, or at least KDYH VROH ULJKWV WR D SDUWLFXODU VHW RI PDWFKHV ZLWKLQ D SURSHUW\ ² DV LQ %7 Sport and Sky’s deals for the English 3UHPLHU /HDJXH ² &KLQHVH FRPSDQLHV KDYH IRFXVHG VLPSO\ RQ HQVXULQJ WKH\ KDYH WKH FRQWHQW 7KLV VHDVRQ¡V 8HID (XURSD /HDJXH DQG &KDPSLRQV /HDJXH IRU LQVWDQFH FDQ EH YLHZHG on any of Tencent Sports, Sina Sports RU 3379 6SRUWV ZLWK HDFK WDNLQJ D similar package, and none securing any SDUWLFXODU PDWFKHV RQ H[FOXVLYH GHDOV ´,W¡V DQ HYROYLQJ SLFWXUH Âľ VD\V *XLQQHVV “It’s becoming more of the norm that these entities will want to buy rights H[FOXVLYHO\ )RU H[DPSOH 3379 KDYH SLFNHG XS WKH ULJKWV WR /D /LJD DQG DSSDUHQWO\ DUH SD\LQJ 86 PLOOLRQ SHU season, which is a staggering number. The SUHYLRXV YDOXH ZDV DERXW 86 PLOOLRQ >RQ D QRQ H[FOXVLYH EDVLV@ 6R WKDW¡V DQ H[DPSOH RI ZKHUH WKLV DSSHWLWH LV YRUDFLRXV LQ WHUPV RI EX\LQJ WKLQJV H[FOXVLYHO\ ´+RZHYHU LI LW VXLWV WKHUH LV VWLOO WKH model where these companies may look WR DFTXLUH ULJKWV RQ D QRQ H[FOXVLYH EDVLV )RU H[DPSOH D WHQGHU IRU WKH GRPHVWLF

&KLQHVH IRRWEDOO ULJKWV Âľ KH VD\V ´1RZ that may be too big a number for any one of these companies to buy the rights RQ LWV RZQ DQG \RX PD\ UHYHUW WR WKH QRQ H[FOXVLYH PRGHO 7KH ÂśVSOLW ZRUOG¡ model might be turning more into a FRQYHUJHG ZRUOG %URDGO\ , VHH WKDW GHPDQG IRU H[FOXVLYLW\ EHLQJ WKH QRUP JRLQJ IRUZDUG Âľ :KLOH <X DJUHHV WKDW D PRYH WRZDUG PRUH H[FOXVLYH FRQWHQW LV OLNHO\ KH DUJXHV WKDW LPSURYLQJ WKH SURGXFW IRU FXVWRPHUV ´LV QRW RQO\ DERXW FRQWHQWÂľ “The main part should be focused RQ ZKDW VHUYLFH \RX SURYLGH Âľ KH VD\V ´/H79 *URXS KDV D YHU\ JRRG SURGXFW but only that is not enough. We need WR LQFUHDVH WKH OHYHO RI WKH VHUYLFH IRU H[DPSOH WKH +' IHHG ZH SURYLGH WKH FRPPHQWDU\ ZH SURYLGH DOO WKH RWKHU IHHGV ZH SURYLGH VSHFLĂ€FDOO\ IRU D FHUWDLQ bunch of users. We try different angles WR SURYLGH DGGLWLRQDO YDOXH DSDUW IURP WKH FRQWHQW LWVHOI 7KH VHUYLFH LV PRUH

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LeBron James, pictured at a basketball event in Shanghai earlier this year, is a huge star in China, where the sport is among the most popular on TV

LPSRUWDQW WKDQ WKH FRQWHQW LWVHOI Âľ +DQQDP FRQFXUV WKDW WKH RFFDVLRQDO lack of quality has been one element KROGLQJ EDFN WKH &KLQHVH SD\ 79 PDUNHW ´,Q WKH SDVW ZH¡YH RIWHQ IRXQG WKDW when they’re asking people to pay for it, LW XVXDOO\ JHWV TXLWH D QHJDWLYH UHDFWLRQ EHFDXVH SHRSOH D GLGQ¡W OLNH SD\LQJ IRU LW DQG E WKH VHUYLFH KDV EHHQ TXLWH Ă DN\ SHRSOH KDYH SDLG XS DQG QRW EHHQ DEOH WR ZDWFK WKH JDPH Âľ KH VD\V ´%XW WKHVH VHUYLFH SODWIRUPV DUH GHĂ€QLWHO\ LPSURYLQJ and there is a slow shift towards paying IRU HQWHUWDLQPHQW FRQWHQW QRZ Âľ <X GRHV DGPLW KRZHYHU WKDW ´SUHPLHU FRQWHQW LV GHĂ€QLWHO\ WKH GULYHUÂľ DGGLQJ ´,I \RX GRQ¡W KDYH SUHPLHU FRQWHQW people will question why they need to SD\ IRU WKDW Âľ +H DOVR SUHGLFWV D PRYH WRZDUG JUHDWHU OHYHOV RI H[FOXVLYLW\ SDUWLDOO\ DV D ZD\ RI FRXQWHULQJ &&79¡V dominance of the market. ´'HĂ€QLWHO\ ZH DUH ORRNLQJ PRUH DQG PRUH DW H[FOXVLYH GHDOV Âľ KH VD\V ´&&79

DQG WKHLU IUHH PRGHO KDYH KXJH FRYHUDJH RI HYHU\WKLQJ 6R RXU LQWHQWLRQ LV WR NHHS DV PXFK DV ZH FDQ RQ H[FOXVLYH GHDOV EXW WKHUH LV VWLOO D ORQJ ZD\ WR JR Âľ The current instability in the Chinese economy will also play its part in the battle for supremacy in this market, with &KLQD¡V Âś%ODFN 0RQGD\¡ RQ WK $XJXVW 2015 coming amid the biggest spending spree the Chinese sports rights market has seen to date. 7RS OHYHO (XURSHDQ VRFFHU ZDV ODUJHO\ XQDIIHFWHG E\ WKH JOREDO Ă€QDQFLDO FULVLV RI LQ SDUW WKDQNV WR LWV YDVW broadcast market which, as Guinness notes, remained strong despite the economic downturn. “In markets OLNH WKH 8. 6N\ ZRXOG DUJXH WKDW LWV subscriptions remain pretty healthy, namely that that seems to be the last WKLQJ WR JLYH Âľ KH QRWHV ´7R D FHUWDLQ H[WHQW FRQVXPHUV LQ WKRVH WHUULWRULHV are still prepared to buy new technology LI WKH\ IHHO WKDW WKHUH DUH YDOXH DGGHG

VHUYLFHV LQFRUSRUDWHG LQ WKDW Âľ 7KH ZRUU\ IRU WKH OLNHV RI /H79 LV that, if the slowdown in China continues, WKHUH LV QRW D KXJH SUH H[LVWLQJ EDVH RI subscribers already used to paying for SUHPLXP FRQWHQW DV WKHUH LV WKH 8. DQG elsewhere. Guinness points out that at WKH PRPHQW ´WKH VPDUW 79 DQG WKH 277 DUHD LV ZKHUH \RX¡UH VWLOO VHHLQJ VLJQLĂ€FDQW JURZWK Âľ EXW LV XQVXUH WKDW WKLV ZLOO SURYH itself to be sustainable. “The question is, will the Chinese economic slowdown affect the growth RI VPDUW 79"Âľ KH DVNV ´%HFDXVH LI \RX EHOLHYH WKDW WKLV LV D QHZ DQG JURZLQJ area at the moment then it may buck that trend and you might see continued growth that might far outweigh the growth of the country as a whole. “At the moment it seems to be EXFNLQJ WKH WUHQG EXW WLPH ZLOO WHOO Âľ KH VD\V ZDUQLQJ WKDW ´WKH PDVVLYH WXUEXOHQFH RI >%ODFN 0RQGD\@ LV QRW JRLQJ WR EH D RQH RII Âľ SportsPro Magazine | 77

Going beyond the TV experience By Carlo de Marchis, Chief Product OďŹƒcer, deltatre

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Maximising the value of your digital rights

www.deltatre.com

FEATURE | BROADCAST

The rise of live streaming apps like Periscope, Meerkat and MyEye gives fans the chance to get even closer to the exploits of their favourite sports stars

Through the Periscope and beyond Live streaming promises to transform the way people interact on social media and could well have an impact on the wider sports broadcast infrastructure. A couple of services have established name recognition, investment and an early-mover advantage but, in this nascent sector, the market is still highly fluid. By David Brake

I

t’s now a few months since a bag of sweets almost toppled Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight interim champion Conor McGregor on our mobile live stream audiences table. A lot has changed since then. We’ve had two days of hot weather, England’s cricketers have won the Ashes and the live streaming game has evolved once more. 80 | www.sportspromedia.com

What used be a straight shootout between ‘underdog’ Meerkat and ‘goliath’ Periscope is no longer. It’s not a two-horse race anymore. It’s not enough to have a bag of Haribo. With David Beckham, 50 Cent, and The Rock backing contenders for the ultimate live-streaming platform, it’s uncertain who will emerge victorious.

The process of live streaming is now common practice for most sports teams. One Friday night in August, Irish rugby union team Munster broadcast their entire pre-season game against French side Grenoble live on Periscope. Fortunately, they did so in four 20-minute blocks, but kudos to the cameraman’s arm strength and patience. It’s a fairly cool

achievement, but was it any good? It was a bit shaky, and the glaring sun did not aid the view, but it offered an interesting alternative to fans not present at the game. For Munster, the most popular VWUHDP ZDV WKH Ă€ QDO QDLO ELWLQJ TXDUWHU with 497 live viewers. Hardly mindblowing, but when the average match attendance in 2014/15 is around 13,500, WKDW HTXDWHV WR DOPRVW IRXU SHU FHQW and bearing in mind that it’s only live for a short period of time and relies on other social and digital promotion so as a conversion rate... perhaps not so bad. Following their explosions on to the scene earlier this year, Periscope and Meerkat became the ‘must use’ platform. Take English soccer’s Premier League, where 14 of the 20 clubs have a SURĂ€ OH RQ WKH SODWIRUP /RRN FORVHU DQG you’ll see that only Crystal Palace and Manchester City broadcast on a recent weekend. So what is the latest? How has the plucky Meerkat performed against Twitter’s Periscope? Well, here in Fig 1 is the before graph, from the monthlong period between 21st March and 20th April 2015. That graph showed that Periscope’s arrival had initiated a clear decline in activity for Meerkat. Daily links fell from nearly 30,000 on 25th March to 6,600 daily links just a month later. Meanwhile, Periscope enjoyed a spike of 49,953 tweets in its opening weekend. A strong ER[ RIĂ€ FH RSHQLQJ Moving the action closer to the present day, the same Topsy graph for both platforms for the 30 days up to the middle of August is shown in Fig 2. The trend did not lie. It is a vast divide; Meerkat now has a daily average of 5,390 tweets per day. On the other side of the coin, Periscope has lived true to its name. Their numbers have gone up and up from 16,958 tweets per day to a IDU KHDOWKLHU DYHUDJH Ă€ JXUH RI Sale to and promotion by Twitter won’t have harmed, of course. Placing this into context, it’s worth comparing Periscope WR WKH +XIĂ€ QJWRQ 3RVW 7KH 1HZ <RUN based online publication is now below Periscope (Fig 3), which may be the result RI D JHQHUDO GHFOLQH LQ WUDIĂ€ F EXW LV D fascinating change in just four months. 'HFOLQH GRHV QRW HTXDWH WR GHDWK IRU Meerkat. The latest development that allows for live streaming via GoPro is

Figure 1

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intriguing. Still, the divide is widening and Meerkat is on the back foot. So is live streaming a winner and Periscope the anointed one? If the numbers are anything to go by, yes. In

August, it hit the impressive milestone of ten million registered users in just 13 weeks of operation. Better yet, Periscope enjoys approximately 40 years of daily watch-time from its iOS and Android SportsPro Magazine | 81

FEATURE | BROADCAST

Meerkat and Periscope

M

eerkat was one of the À UVW WRROV WR EUHDN LQWR the mainstream and ignite the mobile live streaming movement. Released in February 2015, with US$12 million backing, it WRRN D À UVW WR PDUNHW OHDG 8VHUV FDQ stream through their mobile data or Wi-Fi, with no limit on the broadcast’s length. With up to 5,000 users able to watch, viewers could use their Twitter accounts to engage with the live-stream broadcasters. Sadly for Meerkat, weeks after release Twitter cut off access to its social graph and announced the purchase of rival app Periscope. Bought for a reported US$100 million, Periscope entered the scene in March 2015. The platform offers largely the same functions as Meerkat for broadcast. Broadcasters log in through WKHLU 7ZLWWHU SURÀ OHV DQG FDQ SXEOLFLVH their work or broadcast privately. Users

apps. With a landscape shooting mode LQ WKH ZRUNV VSDP LQFUHDVLQJO\ Ă€ OWHUHG out, and a fast-forward option for replays upcoming, it’s on a roll. MyEye 1RZ WKH SRZHU RI WKH FHOHEULW\ FRPHV LQ to spoil the party. Let’s begin with former England soccer captain and global icon, David Beckham. As you might expect, the footballer turned global superstar receives 101 offers to join the ‘next big thing’ every week. So when he invested in new live streaming app MyEye, our LQWHUHVW SLTXHG 7KLV SODWIRUP FUHDWHG

David Beckham has invested in the MyEye app

82 | www.sportspromedia.com

Periscope’s integration with Twitter has helped it maintain steady growth since its launch

receive more visible signs of approval on Periscope as viewers are able to send across ‘hearts’. Its breakthrough moment appeared to be Mayweather

Y 3DFTXLDR SLUDWHG ZLGHO\ RQ WKH SODWIRUP <HW WKH DSS KDV PDLQWDLQHG moderate growth, rather than witnessing astronomical improvements.

by Britain’s Mark Betterridge and Lee Musgrave, offers an exciting third option. Why is it different and/or better? The main difference is that streams last up to 72 hours, compared to Periscope’s 24. It also features a story function, akin to Snapchat, whereby users can watch streams in one go. Like in Snapchat’s recent update, MyEye claims to have engineered a compression and streaming solution to conserve data. Finding streams seems a lot easier than on Periscope and you can curate privacy settings based on geography and followers. With Arsenal soccer player Calum Chambers and Hollywood’s Jared Leto and Liv Tyler on board, this cannot be easily ignored. So let’s check the statistics of Meerkat versus Periscope versus MyEye (Fig 4). Things are not taking off yet, but it is early days and Periscope has early-mover advantage. As celebrities showcase how to XVH WKH SODWIRUP RWKHUV ZLOO IROORZ 1RZ this is where Facebook chimes in. Mark Zuckerberg’s social network has EHHQ QRWLFHDEO\ TXLHW RQ WKH OLYH VWUHDPLQJ craze. On 5th August, it entered the game with Facebook Live. This feature is located within its ‘Mentions’ platform and only DYDLODEOH WR LQGLYLGXDOV ZLWK D YHULĂ€ HG

page. These stars of the digital screen can start a Live broadcast on their news feed, watch comments in real time, and create a permanent record of the event. That last fact is important. As Vadim Lavrusik, the Live product manager, told TechCrunch, “53 per cent of Facebook video views come from re-shares, which would probably happen after a broadcast endsâ€?. One problem is that viewers rewatching the stream will see comments below rather on screen – perhaps a disjointing experience. So now what? Facebook Live, MyEye and even Hang W/ – a platform used by rap mogul 50 Cent with one million users under its belt – are interesting additions to the live-streaming landscape. With leading lights showing how to use these platforms, there could be an increasing prominence of them in our lives. The same values remain from our April analysis that an investment of time, energy and creativity is the best ZD\ IRUZDUG LI \RX¡UH WU\LQJ WR Ă€ QG WKH ultimate way to engage audiences. David Brake is a researcher at sports specialist digital consultancy Seven League. info@sevenleague.co.uk

FEATURE | BROADCAST

ITN Productions’ partnership with the English Football League will help to deliver real-time match highlights to fans across multiple platforms

PRODUCTION VALUES ITN is one of the most venerable names in international news. Now, through the partnership of its ITN Productions arm with the Football League, it is delivering sporting stories in a way that could appeal far beyond English soccer.

By Eoin Connolly

n sport, some partnerships are meetings of institutions. The Football League is one of the oldest surviving sporting competitions anywhere in the world. Bringing together communities of soccer fans across the country, week after week for months of the year, it is part of the fabric of everyday English life. For millions of viewers in the UK, ITN has a similar resonance. Founded as Independent Television News in 1955, it has supplied news coverage

I

84 | www.sportspromedia.com

to the country’s leading free-to-air commercial broadcaster, ITV, ever since. Until 1999 all of those bulletins, including the nightly comfort blanket that was News At Ten, were broadcast under the ITN banner. It still produces the news programmes for the other terrestrial commercial networks, Channel 4 and Channel 5, and even now, after diversifying into divisions which include archival company ITN Source and ITN Consulting, remains one of the most trusted companies in current affairs.

Earlier this year the two were united as another ITN arm, ITN Productions, secured a three-year contract from the Football League to produce all of its video content. Not only did the deal combine two such familiar names, it also served as a major statement of ITN Productions’ intent as it moves deeper into the sporting sector. It will produce footage from 1,813 games across the Football League’s three divisions, as well as the Capital One Cup and Johnstone’s Paint Trophy, between now and 2018.

“They put out a tender, originally, in the back end of last year – Septembertime,â€? recalls ITN Productions managing director Mark Browning. “We have moved ourselves into sport over the last couple of years because our view is that sport is the sibling of news. Our business is in live storytelling, fast-turnaround production, access, connectivity, and if you take the DNA of what we do – what we’re famous for doing and what we’ve been doing for the last 60 years – you can see why that is a very similar DNA to what is required to produce live sport. Which is why we’re LQ WKDW VSDFH LQ WKH Ă€UVW SODFH DQG ZK\ we got the opportunity to explore with the Football League whether we could be their partner.â€? ITN Productions’ work in sport began, naturally enough, in an alliance with DQRWKHU QHZV JDWKHULQJ RXWĂ€W VSRUWV QHZV DJHQF\ 6179 %URZQLQJ H[SODLQV ´6179 was a broadcast business and a rights business and they wanted to get into digital. So we partnered with them, in effect, to be their digital wing. SNTV in effect outsource SNTV Digital as a white-label service produced by ITN Productions.â€? Another partnership followed in the same sector. “From that we then got into a partnership with News UK for the EPL [English soccer’s Premier League],â€? says Browning, “again using the live, fastturnaround storytelling capabilities of our news organisation – and they’re a news organisation, too, so there were shared FXOWXUDO EHQHĂ€WV WR WKH WZR FRPSDQLHV ² and that then widened out into other sports – cricket, rugby, and various other things.â€? At that point, News UK had secured clip rights from the Premier League – along with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and rugby union’s Aviva Premiership – which it used to pad out its digital subscription packages for online and mobile readers of newspaper titles like The Times and The Sun. With the television production already completed, ITN came in at the distribution end of proceedings. “That was taking the fact that we have the worldwide connectivity,â€? says Browning. “We can bring the games in, we have all the infrastructure – the MCR [master control room], the satellite feeds, the trucks, etc – and then we turn that round pretty much in real time into shortform digital and send it back to them. So

ITN Productions managing director Mark Browning

“IT’S THE EQUIVALENT FOR US OF DOING A GENERAL ELECTION PROGRAMME EVERY WEEK, IN THE NUMBER OF FEEDS THAT COME THROUGH.â€? both of those were in a similar space in terms of production and the natural next phase in our development was to go into television, doing a similar thing.â€? It was then that ITN Productions caught wind of the Football League’s ambitions for its video output, conducting a review of its “entire production VWUDWHJ\Âľ DV LW VRXJKW WR UHGHĂ€QH LWV SODFH in a footballing culture dominated by the Premier League. This is a process which goes some way beyond its broadcast strategy. In June, it completed negotiations with the elite tier to increase solidarity payments to the 72 Football League clubs and link their size to the ballooning value of Premier League deals. Meanwhile, in September, it sought the services of Futurebrand to begin work on rebranding all of its competitions – a move which could yet lead to new names for its three divisions, England’s second-

tier Championship, League One and League Two. The broadcast element, though, is of profound importance to those efforts, and the digital production and distribution methods that ITN is bringing in can help to modernise that output in a way that has not been possible until recently. ´:H ORRNHG DW LW DQG WKRXJKW WKHUH LV D QHZ ZRUNĂ RZ D QHZ WHFKQRORJ\ VROXWLRQ that can mean that this property, the )RRWEDOO /HDJXH FDQ EHQHĂ€W IURP DOO RI the innovation that’s going on around news gathering and take it into a sports market,â€? Browning explains. “So the old model was a camera operator on a gantry, a piece of kit – typically taped, still, but sometimes tapeless – but still a standalone camera. ´7KH FDPHUD RSHUDWRU ZRXOG Ă€OP it, stick the camera in the boot, get in their car and drive to a playout centre – typically a BBC centre – sit with an editor, play him the tape or download the Ă€OH WKHQ HGLW LW WKHQ VHQG LW WR ,0*Âľ he says. “What we’re doing in the rest of our business in ITN Productions is doing stuff in real time through a digital ZRUNĂ RZ VR WKH RSSRUWXQLW\ WR GR WKDW in sport in this case would be pretty revolutionary to what would come out the other end in terms of time, commercial RSSRUWXQLWLHV DQG EHQHĂ€WV WR IDQV ,W¡V DOO done digitally; it’s all done in real time. The partner that we use is ADI. “So the camera operator in the gantry now plugs their camera in and the feed is sent directly to our edit machines using GDUN Ă€EUH DQG LV HGLWHG LQ UHDO WLPH DQG LV made available in real time. As the footage is there, if Sky want it or Sunset + Vine want it and so forth, as the edits are being done, they’re able to extract them straight away. So no one’s waiting around until six or seven o’clock at night to receive the Ă€UVW VLJKW RI D JDPH “The producers at Sky and Sunset + Vine are able to actually see this footage as it comes in and they’re able to then harvest that as we’re editing as well for the programme,â€? he continues. “And the clubs obviously get it – it’s all available in a real-time solution. That’s a big change to what was done before.â€? Browning is speaking to SportsPro in early September, just a few weeks after the Football League contract came into effect. The early rounds of the 2015/16 season have been completed and ITN SportsPro Magazine | 85

FEATURE | BROADCAST

ITN’s production office now receives the feed from football matches in real time, meaning footage can be edited and compiled as the match is happening

Productions has already been given an insight into the size and stature of the project it has undertaken. “What’s been telling since we launched it is the scale of it,â€? Browning admits. “We knew it was a massive-scale project but when you really see it in real life, and you consider how much is going through the system, it’s the equivalent for us of doing a general election programme every week, in the number of feeds that come through. And that is a scale that is then repeated week after week after week for multiple years.â€? On the other hand, Browning and his team have noted that the new system means “the cost base is very, very differentâ€? from previous projects of that size. “Instead of having 40 people at the ends of lines, taking in feeds and recording them manually, you can have one person sitting in front of a screen DQG VHQGLQJ PXOWLSOH Ă€OHV Âľ KH H[SODLQV “It takes a bit of a leap of faith because computers are computers, and you see a ORW RI Ă€OHV RQ D VFUHHQ JRLQJ IURP UHG WR green, but ultimately that’s the way the ZRUOG LV JRLQJ WR PRYH ² PRUH LQWR Ă€OH based delivery and remote production. “It’s important to understand that 86 | www.sportspromedia.com

none of this footage even arrives in our building,â€? he adds. “It’s all done in a data centre. So you have editors here but they are, in effect, looking at servers 40 or 50 PLOHV DZD\ DQG WKDW NLQG RI ZRUNĂ RZ LV completely revolutionary to how sport has been produced and how news has been produced, but you can see why it opens up huge opportunities.â€? 7KH SULPDU\ EHQHĂ€W RI WKH QHZ PRGHO is that footage can be distributed to several recipients at once. “You can see from that, and I think this is really where it gets to a very exciting place for sport, commercial opportunities really start to open up when you can make this content available to multiple sources in real time,â€? Browning suggests. For the Football League and its clubs, this could mean several things. It could, for example, allow for clips to simply be sent directly to supporters at any time during or after games via a mobile app or online platform. It could also be built into branded content, giving greater Ă H[LELOLW\ DQG RSSRUWXQLW\ WR SURVSHFWLYH team or league sponsors. Clubs are also looking to take advantage of ‘beamback’ services, allowing them to show any away game of their choosing live to

supporters in their home ground, rather than depending on the selections of live broadcast partner Sky Sports. Already, the operation is tying directly into the Football League’s strategy in another area. On tendering for a new three-year deal earlier this year, executives at the league had been determined to get their free-to-air weekend evening TV highlights coverage out ahead of that of the Premier League, ensuring it can be watched by the very youngest fans. The previous highlights deal with the BBC had consigned the Football League to the JUDYH\DUG VORW SRVW PLGQLJKW SRVW 0DWFK of the Day. The new highlights programme, produced by Sunset + Vine for Channel 5, begins instead in prime time – late enough for fans to return from Saturday DIWHUQRRQ Ă€[WXUHV EXW HDUO\ HQRXJK WR precede the Premier League. It would not EH SRVVLEOH %URZQLQJ FRQĂ€UPV ZLWKRXW the new distribution capacity in place. “That’s what I mean about opening up new markets and new audiences and new commercial opportunities,â€? notes Browning. “It’s only because of the way we’re producing this footage that the show itself can move forward by two

Data can be sent from ITN’s editing room to multiple recipients while the games are ongoing, offering enormous potential for new distribution models

and a half hours and become a prime time Saturday night programme. And, in all honesty, if a broadcaster wanted to do it, the stuff is available from the camera operator the moment the whistle goes at three o’clock. “I wouldn’t want to suggest it could be produced much earlier but the point is in the old model, whoever was producing LW ² DQG LQ WKH ROG PRGHO LW ZDV ,0* – didn’t start viewing the footage until perhaps seven, eight o’clock at night. Now, they can literally sit in front of the monitors that we have and you can see it from one minute past three. So as a producer, you can start building your programme in real time.â€? The medium-term aim for ITN Productions is to take this more accessible technology to sports outside the very highest echelons; those with a sizeable supporter base but without the infrastructure to reach it properly. “We want to create partnerships with tier-two sports where they have previously found it off-limits,â€? Browning says. “We will partner up with existing production companies where there are opportunities and we can add value to the mix, and we’ll go for business

where we think our particular skills can add something different to the value proposition that’s been there before. “We’re not going to go out and just merrily pitch for everything that moves, but where a federation or a sport isn’t LQ D VSDFH WKDW FRXOG EHQHĂ€W IURP WKLV NLQG RI ZRUNĂ RZ ZH ZLOO WDON WR WKHP about that; where existing specialists, established sports production companies, want to innovate in this space, we will partner with them.â€? The openings that exist in the broadcast SURGXFWLRQ VSDFH PD\ KHUDOG DQ LQĂ X[ RI companies with similar news-gathering and distribution expertise to ITN. Still, Browning believes that making a meaningful contribution will require a genuine commitment. “The complexities of sport always require specialists,â€? he insists. “What I think this allows us to do is, and I’m not sure many other companies have that capability, the reason we have moved into the sports market is that we think LW¡V D QDWXUDO Ă€W ZLWK ZKDW ZH GR DW WKH moment. Clearly the Football League did, too, and I think this kind of innovation really will come into play – it’ll certainly EHQHĂ€W VRPH RI WKH WLHU RQH VSRUWV ² EXW

LW RSHQV XS IRU WKH Ă€UVW WLPH WLHU WZR federations and sports and associations to genuinely being able to get into the sports rights, television rights and digital rights market, where they haven’t previously been able to.â€? For its part, ITN’s vision for its role in sports broadcasting does not end with its current activities. Browning aims to bring a fuller range of its capabilities into the industry. “Well, along with the other ones that we’ve established it’s part of a narrative,â€? he says of the Football League partnership. “The journey we’ve been on in the last couple of years, this is just the next phase of it. We started in digital, arguably, with sports news, moved into digital sports production, now moved into television sports production. The natural next part of that, which will EH WKH Ă€QDO SKDVH ZRXOG EH VSRUWV programme-making, for which we’ve got a pipeline of ideas and a number of conversations ongoing, whereby we will actually not just produce the footage but make the programmes.â€? For a company in the business of telling stories, this could be an intriguing development in the story of its business. SportsPro Magazine | 87

FEATURE | TENNIS

The master class Comprising the nine biggest and most prestigious tournaments on the ATP World Tour, the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events represent the pinnacle of men’s tennis outside of the four Grand Slams. With a guaranteed line-up of established stars, an ever-growing TV viewership, burgeoning attendances and many millions in prize money, the Masters tournaments are in a class of their own. By Michael Long

Caption here

90 | www.sportspromedia.com

ATP Masters 1000s and played over the course of nine months, from the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells in March to the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris in November, the tournaments are crucial in the quest for ranking points as the world’s top eight players and doubles teams strive to reach the year-end Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. But they are also far more than that. Outside the Grand Slams, these nine mandatory tournaments are the standard-bearers for the men’s game, showcasing the best the sport has to offer whilst providing the hooks on which the narrative of the entire year is hung.

“From a tour point of view, it’s about storytelling for fans so that our top tier of events, together with the Grand Slams, provides the pillars of the tour and the season is anchored around these big events,” explains Chris Kermode, the ATP’s executive chairman and president. “What ultimately drives the sport, and what fans want to see, is rivalries, and the fans have been able to see these epic rivalries played out over the years. It’s the best of our ATP Tour players playing against the best; it’s as simple as that.” Between them, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray have made the Masters category their

Mark J. Terrill / AP/Press Association Images

T

alk to anyone about men’s tennis and four names will invariably dominate the discussion. The supremacy of the ATP’s so-called ‘Big Four’ is such that the chatter rarely has room for anybody else. Others simply don’t get a look-in, and the same could be said for when the talk relates to tournaments. Tennis’ hierarchical structure ensures the four Grand Slams are the primary focus of any calendar year, but directly beneath those global showpieces are nine events on the men’s circuit with a heritage and long-held tradition of their own. Known collectively as the

SportsPro Magazine | 91

Jonathan Brady / PA Archive/PA Images

FEATURE | TENNIS

Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer have dominated the tour in recent years

own in recent times. Since April 2010, the foursome has accounted for 46 of 50 ATP Masters 1000 titles and a scarcely believable 82 out of the 97 to have taken place since the beginning of 2005. “It shows what these events mean to the players,â€? adds Kermode. “It really means a lot to win one of these events now.â€? The Masters concept of pitting the best against the best under the banner of D XQLĂ€HG VHULHV ZDV LQWURGXFHG ZLWK WKH inception of the ATP Tour in 1990. For WKH Ă€UVW Ă€YH \HDUV LW ZDV NQRZQ DV WKH ATP Championship Series, Single Week before a succession of rebrands saw its title evolve to the Mercedes-Benz Super 9, the Tennis Masters Series, and then the ATP Masters Series. In 2009 a wholesale restructuring of the tour gave the series its current moniker, with the addition of the number 1000 representing the number of ranking points earned by the winner of each tournament. “The idea to make it Masters 1000 was to make it simpler to understand,â€? explains Kermode. “I believe in this product so much and I think the nine Masters 1000 events can get even stronger. It’s our responsibility as a tour to market those events even better and to actually tell to a wider audience how good this product is.â€? History and ranking points aside, perhaps the biggest differentiator between the Masters and other events on tour lies in their prize money. Having grown in parallel with the wider popularity of the men’s game, purses at the elite level 92 | www.sportspromedia.com

have risen from less than US$9 million in 1990 to nearly US$39 million this year. Further increases are set to see overall prize money across the ATP World Tour reach US$135 million in 2018, with the greatest rise of 14 per cent earmarked for the Masters. Alongside those prize money increases, infrastructural investments have continued across the board at the Masters events. The owners of the tournaments in Rome, Shanghai and Cincinnati in particular have invested considerable sums into building and improving their facilities in recent years, but it is Indian Wells that has set the benchmark in that regard. Backed by the personal fortune of billionaire software mogul Larry Ellison, the BNP Paribas Open, a combined men’s and women’s event, has long been considered a highlight of the calendar. Last year the event’s organisers unveiled, to widespread acclaim, a new state of the art, 8,000-seat second show court, FRPSOHWH ZLWK WKUHH Ă€QH GLQLQJ UHVWDXUDQWV Additional practice courts and extensive landscaping work were also part of an upgrade that transformed the Indian Wells 7HQQLV *DUGHQ LQWR RQH RI WKH Ă€QHVW tennis venues anywhere in the world. “It goes back to what we decided to do many years ago,â€? recalls Raymond Moore, the chief executive of the Indian Wells Tennis Garden who oversaw the site’s opening in 2000. “We’ve tried to make this event absolutely the best possible for three lots of people: players,

the fans, and the media. We continue to do that every single year. “At the end of the tournament, we sit down with our staff, Steve Simon [the tournament director] and myself, and we go through every single facet of the HYHQW IURP DFFHVV WR WUDIĂ€F Ă RZ LQWR WKH site, parking, availability of tickets, food and beverage, other experiences on site. We want the fans to leave here saying, ‘Well, that was a great day.’ “It’s a challenge. You have to continue to innovate, you cannot stand still, you cannot tread water. You have to be vigilant and make those changes every single year. That’s what we’re doing.â€? This year a record 456,672 fans piled into the Indian Wells Tennis Garden over the course of the tournament fortnight, making it the highest-attended event on the ATP World Tour and putting it alongside the Grand Slams in terms of size. “I think really the beacon for us at Indian Wells is Wimbledon,â€? says Moore, identifying his tournament’s inspiration. “I think Wimbledon is the one that sets the bar. We look at Wimbledon all the time and the innovations they’ve made and the way that they run their tournament, which is just unbelievable. They’re a cut above everyone else.â€? Across the tennis community, a hypothetical debate continues over which 0DVWHUV HYHQW GHVHUYHV WKH XQRIĂ€FLDO WLWOH RI œÀIWK *UDQG 6ODP¡ ,QGLDQ Wells is often at the forefront of those conversations but such talk is ultimately futile, with tennis’s four-slam tradition unlikely to change anytime soon. For the events themselves, an altogether more attainable distinction is ‘ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Tournament of the Year’, an award voted for annually by tour players, and for that honour each of the nine likes to stake its claim. From Madrid’s short-lived blue clay experiment in 2012 to the Miami Open Experience – a new initiative for 2015 that aimed to use that tournament as a platform to showcase the sport, entertainment, fashion and media divisions of its organiser WME|IMG – the Masters events are continually seeking ways to distinguish themselves from one another as well as the lower category tournaments on tour. Such efforts to stand out from the crowd are all part of what it means to be a Masters tournament and professional if

Vincent Thian / AP/Press Association Images

The Shanghai Rolex Masters was voted the best top category event on the ATP Tour by the players for five consecutive years between 2009 and 2013

not publicly stated rivalries have developed within the category as a result. Comparisons are often drawn between Indian Wells and Miami, largely due to their direct proximity on the calendar, while the events in Monte Carlo, Madrid and Rome share a common drive to be viewed alongside the French Open at Roland Garros as the pinnacle of clay court tennis. The Rogers Cup, which alternates with a top-tier WTA Tour event between Toronto and Montreal, and the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati are regularly contrasted by virtue of their heritage, with both able to trace their roots back to the 19th century. “It’s incredibly important to have competition within the categories,� says

Kermode. “We can see that within the slams. I think they inspire each other to get better and among the Masters 1000s, there’s a really good feeling at the moment. The game is in the best health it’s ever been and I think all these events are trying to deliver the best show that they can. I think it’s very healthy.� “We’re not McDonald’s here; we’re not all trying to make the same hamburger,� adds Charles Smith, who runs the Shanghai tournament as managing director of its organiser, Juss Event. “With tennis, one of its strengths is the fact that it is global and we do have talent from all over the world, so we want each event to have its own characteristics. Every event is unique, whether it’s what the players are eating

or what they’re going to see downtown or the interaction with the people.â€? Though every Masters tournament strives in its own way to push the envelope, it is the Shanghai Rolex Masters that has become something of a player favourite. From its Masters debut in 2009, when it replaced Hamburg on the series schedule, until 2013, Shanghai was named the category’s best tournament before its Ă€YH \HDU UHLJQ ZDV Ă€QDOO\ EURXJKW WR DQ end last year by Indian Wells. “We are the new guys on the block of the Masters events,â€? says Smith. “We set a very high standard to begin with, and because we’ve won tournament of WKH \HDU Ă€YH \HDUV RXW RI VL[ WKH SOD\HUV obviously recognise that what we do is leading the game in many ways.â€?

The idea of the Masters 1000 rebrand was to make the whole series simpler, says Chris Kermode, after it had been known under a number of guises

SportsPro Magazine | 93

FEATURE | TENNIS

I C

F A

G

D

E

B

H

J Pat Carter/AP/Press Association Images

ATP Masters 1000 tournaments

B Miami Open presented by Itaú Miami, Florida, USA Venue: Tennis Center at Crandon Park Surface: Hard Centre court capacity: 13,800 Draw: 96S 32D Prize money: US$5,381,235 4ZIVEPP ǻ RERGMEP GSQQMXQIRX US$6,267,755

D Mutua Madrid Open Madrid, Spain Venue: Caja Mágica Surface: Clay Centre court capacity: 12,500 Draw: 56S 24D Prize money: €4,185,405 4ZIVEPP ǻ RERGMEP GSQQMXQIRX €5,113,730

E Internazionali BNL D’Italia Rome, Italy Venue: Foro Italico Surface: Clay Centre court capacity: 10,400 Draw: 56S 24D Prize money: €3,288,530 4ZIVEPP ǻ RERGMEP GSQQMXQIRX €3,830,295

C Monte Carlo Rolex Masters Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France Venue: Monte Carlo Country Club Surface: Clay Centre court capacity: 10,000 Draw: 56S 24D Prize money: €3,288,530 4ZIVEPP ǻ RERGMEP GSQQMXQIRX €3,624,045

G Western & Southern Open Cincinnati, Ohio, USA Venue: Lindner Family Tennis Center Surface: Hard Centre court capacity: 11,435 Draw: 56S 24D Prize money: US$3,826,655 4ZIVEPP ǻ RERGMEP GSQQMXQIRX US$4,457,065

94 | www.sportspromedia.com

F Coupe Rogers Montreal/Toronto, Canada Venue: Stade Uniprix/Aviva Centre Surface: Hard Centre court capacity: 11,500/12,500 Draw: 56S 24D Prize money: US$3,587,490 4ZIVEPP ǻ RERGMEP GSQQMXQIRX US$4,178,500

H Shanghai Rolex Masters Shanghai, China Venue: Qi Zhong Tennis Center Surface: Hard Centre court capacity: 15,000 Draw: 56S 24D Prize money: US$4,783,320 4ZIVEPP ǻ RERGMEP GSQQMXQIRX US$7,021,335

Jacques Brinon/AP/Press Association Images

Vincent Thian/AP/Press Association Images

John Minchillo/AP/Press Association Images

Riccardo De Luca/AP/Press Association Images

A BNP Paribas Open Indian Wells, California, USA Venue: Indian Wells Tennis Garden Surface: Hard Centre court capacity: 16,100 Draw: 96S 32D Prize money: US$5,381,235 4ZIVEPP ǻ RERGMEP GSQQMXQIRX US$7,107,445

I BNP Paribas Masters Paris, France Venue: Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy Surface: Hard Centre court capacity: 14,500 Draw: 48S 24D Prize money: €3,288,530 4ZIVEPP ǻ RERGMEP GSQQMXQIRX: €3,830,295

Prize money growth: 2015 2010 2005 2000 1990

$38,978,069 $28,714,500 $21,324,600 $22,300,000 $8,895,000

2014 T viewership:

2014 broadcast hours:

62,567

1,800,803

Since 2005, the

Overall

The nine Masters 1000 events plus the World Tour 500 and the ATP World Tour Finals are set to generate in excess of

431,855,000

Big Four of Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray have accounted for

82 of 97 (85 per cent) Masters titles. Shanghai’s success, adds Smith, is all down to experience. Though it is the youngest of the ATP’s top-tier tournaments, the event itself spawned out of the city’s hosting of the Masters Cup, now the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, in 2002 and again between 2005 and 2008. “We didn’t want to dip from that level so we made a conscious effort to stage and promote the event at a level that is the very highest in the game,� says Smith, pointing to the construction of the architecturally stunning Qi Zhong Tennis Center, “one of the best in the world�, as an example of the organisers’ commitment to excellence. “We actually think we’re almost in the hospitality business, whether you’re a player or a sponsor or media or just a punter coming in,� he continues. “You’re coming to something special and you walk away saying, ‘Yeah, that’s remarkable.’ And we think we’ve done that.� Though each Masters event is essentially run as an independent entity, the media rights to all nine are aggregated and sold by ATP Media, the tour’s global sales, broadcast production and worldwide distribution arm that also handles the centralised exploitation of

prize money on the ATP Tour will reach

2014 attendance:

US$135million US$1.3 billion by 2018, with a 14 per cent rise

in broadcast revenue over the

at the Masters 1000 level.

next ten years.

the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals and, since 2009, the 13 second-tier ATP World Tour 500 tournaments. Originally formed as Tennis Properties Limited, the unit was created following the demise of ISL Worldwide, the ATP’s former marketing partner, in 2001, and it has been on a path of constant growth ever since. Nowadays ATP Media provides over 125,000 hours of global coverage each year, including archive footage and ATP World Tour Uncovered, the magazine show of the ATP World Tour, to broadcasters covering over 195 territories. Rights are distributed on a territory by territory basis, with the Masters 1000 events and the World Tour Finals sold universally as one complete package. “We are absolutely adamant that the series is sold in its complete form,â€? says 6WXDUW :DWWV WKH FKLHI RSHUDWLQJ RIĂ€FHU of ATP Media. “We want the story to be told of the whole year and obviously it builds up to the top eight players at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, currently at The O2 [in London]. One of the reasons we do territory by territory and we try to build up long-term deals with our broadcasters is that we try to

work with them, because we’re not just the rights sales team, we’re also the host broadcaster and a distributor.� Global TV viewership for the Masters was close to 431.9 million in 2014, with over 62,500 hours of coverage shown around the world, and Watts projects that the 23 tournaments under ATP Media’s remit will generate over US$1.3 billion in rights fees over the next ten years. Each of the tournaments will receive an undisclosed cut of the revenues according to the terms of their contracts with the tour but a good portion of that income – more than US$300 million over the next decade – will also be set aside for investment back into broadcast production and distribution. “I believe that’s where ATP Media is the key to the success [of the Masters 1000s], apart from the aggregation: the fact that the board continually invest in the product,� says Watts, who reveals that plans are in place to produce all singles courts at each Masters event from next year. “I think one of our greatest achievements – and we like to think we’re the benchmark of how tennis is broadcast – is we’re constantly trying to innovate and we have a board that backs us in doing so.� SportsPro Magazine | 95

FEATURE | TENNIS

Quick sand Predominantly played in sunny climes on sandy shores, beach tennis has seen year-on-year growth in uptake since the International Tennis Federation launched the Beach Tennis Tour in 2008. As ITF beach tennis administrator Stuart Barraclough explains, the challenge now is to build on the foundations while attracting new sponsors to the sport. By Mike Kennedy

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stablished in 2008, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Beach Tennis Tour has progressed from 14 tournaments LQ LWV À UVW \HDU WR PRUH WKDQ RQ WKH WRXU FDOHQGDU LQ ZLWK SOD\HUV SDUWLFLSDWLQJ LQ WKH VSRUW HDFK \HDU %H\RQG WKH REYLRXV GLIIHUHQFH RI WKH VXUIDFH ² EHDFK WHQQLV LV SOD\HG RQ VDQG DV RSSRVHG WR JUDVV FOD\ RU KDUG FRXUW meaning the ball isn’t permitted to hit WKH JURXQG ² WKH VSRUW GUDZV LWV PDLQ distinction from tennis in the equipment UHTXLUHG WKH EDOOV XVHG DUH 6WDJH ORZ compression ‘orange’ balls, and instead of VWULQJHG UDFNHWV WKH JDPH LV SOD\HG ZLWK SDGGOH EDWV 7KH FRXUWV DUH WKH VDPH VSHF DV EHDFK YROOH\EDOO FRXUWV WKRXJK WKH QHW LV ORZHUHG WR PHWUHV LQ KHLJKW 7KH GLVFLSOLQH LV VWLOO LQ LWV LQIDQF\ EXW the number turning their hand to beach WHQQLV KDV EHHQ VWHDGLO\ RQ WKH ULVH 7KH WRWDO WRXU SUL]H PRQH\ IHOO MXVW VKRUW RI 86 ODVW \HDU ZLWK WKH WRS WLHU *UDGH WRXUQDPHQWV HDFK SD\LQJ RXW XS WR 86 WR WKH YLFWRUV :KLOH WKLV GRHVQ·W FRPH FORVH WR FRPSHWLQJ ZLWK LWV YDVWO\ PRUH OXFUDWLYH DQG PRUH HVWDEOLVKHG big brother, organisers hope that continued H[SDQVLRQ RI WKH WRXU ZLOO EULQJ DERXW PRUH H[SRVXUH WR VSRQVRUV DQG ZLWK WKDW JUHDWHU À QDQFLDO UHZDUG IRU WKH SOD\HUV ´,W·V VWLOO TXLWH D QHZ VSRUW LW·V VWLOO YHU\ \RXQJ VR WKH PDLQ FKDOOHQJH LV DWWUDFWLQJ sponsors and media and getting the PRQH\ LQWR WKH VSRUW µ H[SODLQV 6WXDUW Barraclough, the beach tennis administrator DW WKH ,7) ´1RZ ZH KDYH JRW HOLWH SOD\HUV ZKR DUH FDUYLQJ D FDUHHU IURP WKH VSRUW 7KH\·UH WUDYHOOLQJ DURXQG WR DOO WKH WRS 96 | www.sportspromedia.com

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Federica Bacchetta, one of Italy’s top beach tennis players, at the recent ITF Beach Tennis World Championships in Cervia, Italy

SportsPro Magazine | 97

FEATURE | TENNIS

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Beach tennis’ rise in popularity saw it feature in the inaugural Mediterranean Beach Games this summer

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The Beach Sports Centre at Moscow’s Dynamo Vodny Stadium hosted the World Team Championships

98 | www.sportspromedia.com

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FEATURE | FOOTBALL

THE DATA DRIVE In this increasingly technology-driven age, box scores are no longer enough to satisfy the demands of football’s stats-hungry supporters and stakeholders as they seek an ever richer experience. In pursuing its vision to feed these desires, the National Football League is taking game data to the next level. By Mike Kennedy

100 | www.sportspromedia.com

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or us, the vision in general – and this is the Next Gen Stats vision – is: how do we create a new way to quantify, analyse DQG H[SHULHQFH WKH 1)/ WKDW FRXOG EHQHĂ€ W all aspects of the NFL ecosystem?â€? says Vishal Shah, the vice president of digital media business development for the National Football League (NFL), speaking to SportsPro a fortnight out from the start of the 2015 season. “Part of that initiative really was the endpoint, which LV WKH WUDFNLQJ RI DOO REMHFWV RQ WKH Ă€ HOG LQFOXGLQJ SOD\HUV WKH RIĂ€ FLDOV HYHQWXDOO\ the ball, and then creating a proprietor for the statistics, whose visualisations and processing and distribution is more advanced than it’s ever been before.â€? Stats to measure performance in sport aren’t exactly a new concept. Box scores have long been used as a data tool in the NFL, giving broadcasters, coaches, players and spectators a list of player performance metrics such as yards gained and thrown during a game. According to Shah, such “minimal statsâ€? have always been limited to what can be observed through manual processes and subject to software tools that are “somewhat gatedâ€?. The NFL’s Next Gen Stats (NGS) initiative, established via its technology SDUWQHUVKLS ZLWK JOREDO Ă€ UP =HEUD Technologies ahead of the 2014 season, is the manifestation of its vision to create a new way to “quantify, analyse and H[SHULHQFH WKH 1)/ WKDW FRXOG EHQHĂ€ W DOO aspects of the NFL ecosystemâ€?. The partnership centres on =HEUD¡V SURYLVLRQ RI UDGLR IUHTXHQF\ LGHQWLĂ€ FDWLRQ WUDQVPLWWHU 5),' WDJV For a selection of games scheduled for live broadcast during the 2014 NFL these tags were placed in the shoulder pads of players, and receivers were installed within 18 stadiums to provide location based data to the NFL’s fans. These thumb-sized battery-powered chips emit signals at 12 hertz per second, with this LQIRUPDWLRQ FROOHFWHG DQG TXDQWLĂ€ HG E\ the receivers. As Eric Petrosinelli, general PDQDJHU RI =HEUD 6SRUWV H[SODLQV “Our software takes the x-y coordinates IURP WKH Ă€ HOG DQG FRQYHUWV WKDW DOO into publishable data metrics: how fast somebody is running, the separation between one athlete and another.â€? $IWHU WDNLQJ WKH Ă€ UVW VWHSV LQ 1*6 ZLWK =HEUD ODVW \HDU WKH 1)/ KDV D

Millions of bits of data will be recorded, aggregated and quantified in every game of the 2015 NFL season

“SO WHAT ARE THE STORYLINES? WHAT ARE THE ANALYTICS? WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT SETS OF VISUALISATIONS? YOU’RE BRINGING A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF CONTEXT TO THE GAME THROUGH DATA.â€? desire to move this on and roll it out league-wide. This has resulted in a new partnership with global sports data and digital content company Sportradar 86 DQG WKH LPSOHPHQWDWLRQ RI =HEUD¡V tracking devices on every player, in every stadium, for the 2015 season. Formalised in April, the multi-year agreement with Sportradar US has seen the company become the NFL’s exclusive distributor of statistics to digital outlets, including the rights for real-time scores, play-byplay data and player statistics. The partnership has effectively seen Sportradar US replace sports statistics, technology, data, and content company Stats LLC – an NFL client since 2005 – and the company has been charged with WDNLQJ WKH UDZ GDWD FDSWXUHG E\ =HEUD LQ order to “‘productise’ it, commercialise it and distribute it into the marketplaceâ€?, according to Steve Byrd, Sportradar US’s FKLHI FRPPHUFLDO RIĂ€ FHU “Last year [player tracking] was being ramped up and it was put in certain stadiums just for a nationally broadcast game where they would try to create some graphics out of the data, but it was not

done on an all-encompassing basis,â€? Byrd explains. “But that was accomplished in the off-season and now every NFL stadium has the infrastructure installed.â€? Byrd says the NGS data is a whole new category of information, allowing for a new dimension that’s richer than the playby-play feed and box score stats from the past. “The NFL looks at Sportradar as a development partner in this, where we’re building out this business development tool that will provide summary information and things to the teams and the league,â€? Byrd says. “And we’re working on visualisations and ‘productisations’ of this next-gen information that we’ll be taking out to the market, whereas with Stats it was basically just a straight data feed licence and distribution: it wasn’t the same sort of relationship and partnership of trying to enhance and build out new products and visuals.â€? For every game of the 2015 season, LQFOXGLQJ WKH WKUHH Ă€ [WXUHV VFKHGXOHG for London’s Wembley Stadium, millions of bits of the next generation in sports data will be recorded, aggregated and TXDQWLĂ€ HG $V 3HWURVLQHOOL VXJJHVWV SportsPro Magazine | 101

FEATURE | FOOTBALL

Access to new statistics, such as the distances between two players on the pitch, will give coaches, players and fans alike new ways of analysing the game

the technology is recording publishable data metrics that are “taking the physical world and turning it to a digital product�, creating what he believes will be “the most robust database in sports�. The NFL is not alone in striving to deliver an enhanced viewing experience through statistics. Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM), the league’s interactive and internet-focused

subsidiary, for instance, has introduced Statcast tracking technology in Major League Baseball (MLB) games. SportVu, meanwhile, developed by Stats LLC, records data points for the players, referees and the ball in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Shah believes the collective effort of sports OHDJXHV WR ÀQG D SRLQW RI GLIIHUHQFH LV pushing the sports data market forward.

The RFID tags worn by the players pack an incredible amount of technology into a small space

102 | www.sportspromedia.com

“We certainly learn from other sports on a global level,â€? he says, “and hopefully other sports or even institutions will learn from what we’re doing and the value that ZH¡UH Ă€QGLQJ QRW RQO\ RXW RI WKH GDWD EXW the new experiences that we’re creating.â€? Petrosinelli sees the application of the NGS data as having two separate use cases: on the one hand for the operational side of the game, with coaches and players constantly looking for ways to up SHUIRUPDQFH OHYHOV RQ WKH Ă€HOG RI SOD\ DQG Ă€QG WKH PDUJLQDO JDLQV WKDW FDQ PDNH WKH difference between winning and losing; on the other hand, for the consumers who are continually craving new and enhanced ways to experience and view content. ´, WKLQN WKDW WKLV ZLOO KHOS ERWK HTXDOO\ Âľ DUJXHV 3HWURVLQHOOL ´, WKLQN there’s a lot of focus from the NFL on fan enrichment and the enjoyment of the game. So as a consumer or fan, you’re going to see the manifestation of NGS far greater on the consumer side than you will on the operational side, just because on the operational side most of that LQIRUPDWLRQ LV PRUH FRQĂ€GHQWLDO ZLWK their strategies.

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FEATURE | FOOTBALL

“But I think it will affect that side, because they will have more information so they can make better, faster, smarter decisions,â€? Petrosinelli adds. “That said, the broader and deeper effect is going to be on the consumer side for fan enrichment and fan experience. That’s obviously where the NFL has a key focus, whether it’s going to be through the broadcast channels, digital offerings, fantasy football gaming, or in stadium.â€? Shah is convinced that collecting enhanced data is where the future of statistics lies. He believes the NFL is VHWWLQJ D SUHFHGHQW LQ RQ Ă€ HOG SOD\HU tracking that will bear fruit for both groups, with the business intelligence tool that Sportradar is providing – to be used by all the teams and the league as well as the media companies – intended to help draw useful insights out of the information being produced. “There’s a strong amount of conviction that it’s going to play out,â€? he says. “You have a lot of convergence of trends driving what is a data evolution on the one hand; and on the other hand, you have consumers who are demanding richer experiences, you have the explosion of connected devices and desire for differentiated content on digital and editorial sites. You have the adoption based on leagues, players, and clubs; the prospect of measuring one’s own performance and

then something analytic that you can derive from it – it’s now not necessarily a new thing but something that’s pretty engrained in a lot of athletes.â€? :LWK D QXPEHU RI 1)/ WHDPV Ă€ QGLQJ great value in the data they can take from their own types of player tracking and measurement and performance systems being put to work in their practice facilities, Shah says the vision now is to “marry what’s really happening in the game day with what’s happening in practice facilitiesâ€?. However, the NFL is initially being “very deliberateâ€? in how it distributes NGS data to the teams, and how much, according to Shah. The league’s competition committee will be monitoring as the data becomes better GHĂ€ QHG WR HQVXUH ´FRPSHWLWLYH SDULW\Âľ remains. Capturing the right signals that are actually valuable and important for a club professional from among the “noiseâ€? of data points generated is also a paramount priority for Shah and the league. On the consumer side, NGS is intended to improve and give differentiated viewing experiences for fans in the stadiums, for spectators watching the games on television or digitally, and for those interacting with the NFL in between matches. “For our sport it’s not just about game days,â€? notes Shah. “It’s about all seven days of the week, and frankly all 52 weeks of the year. So what are the

Stats are handled in real time and can be used to analyse the game during live TV broadcasts

104 | www.sportspromedia.com

storylines? What are the analytics? What are the different sets of visualisations? You’re bringing a tremendous amount of context to the game through data.â€? The intention is to enrich the interaction with the game across the board, from providing new visual tools for broadcasters to analyse plays to adding new facets to how fantasy football is VFRUHG DQG %\UG LV FRQĂ€ GHQW WKH 1)/¡V spectators will be receptive to this. “I’ve been in this business almost 20 years and every time we developed something new the fans wanted more of it,â€? offers Byrd. “Any time we do something faster they want it faster yet – it’s just the nature of it, particularly I think for the way Americans consume sport. It’s very much tied to understanding the information and data and measuring everything; which is kind of the culture we’re in over here.â€? Football is already a complex sport for spectators, but Shah is convinced that the data can be just as useful and relevant to a newcomer to the game as it can to a hardcore gridiron fan. “We think enhanced statistics remain relevant to all consumers depending on what WKH\ Ă€ QG PRVW YDOXDEOH Âľ KH VD\V ´6R LW could very well be for the more casual fan who’s getting to learn NFL and football, something to the extent of who’s on the Ă€ HOG *LYHQ WKH QXPEHU RI VXEVWLWXWLRQV in our game it’s not necessarily very easy WR VHH ZKLFK SOD\HUV DUH RQ WKH Ă€ HOG LQ every single play.â€? The idea is that a fan in a stadium, for example, can keep in sync with what’s going on in a match as this kind of realtime information will be synthesised by Sportradar and presented to fans on the big screens via data visualisation tools and graphical user interfaces. Meanwhile, for those “more educated and ingrained in our sportâ€?, Shah says the tracking will provide in-depth statistics about separation between players, different formational groups, and the trends of player performance throughout the season or versus different teams. “There’s a lot of ways to get really, I think, indepth into the data, but it’s applicable to both new fans, casual fans and addict fans,â€? argues Shah. Sportradar’s focus is on how this can enhance broadcast and second-screen experiences for the fan and, since securing the partnership with the NFL, Byrd says

Steve Byrd believes one of the challenges of the NGS system will be deciphering which statistics are most relevant and how best to make use of them

Sportradar has been in talks with all the major media digital companies who have NFL content, supplying data samples and working with the development teams on how to take that content to the next level with interesting information. “They’re not just going to rely on something we’re going to create, and that’s just going to have a whole bunch of smart people coming up with interesting things that they think will engage their NFL fanbase,â€? he reveals. “Every scoreboard operator and every team will have the ability to [use NGS stats]. At least initially, there isn’t a league-wide: ‘Here’s the package and here’s how you’re going to GLVSOD\ LW ¡ 7R EH KRQHVW WKLV Ă€UVW \HDU LV a lot of learning because we don’t have a baseline for everything yet, because it wasn’t done for all the games last year.â€? As well as managing this immense volume of ‘big data’, which Byrd says wouldn’t have been possible a few years ago without today’s cloud capacity and streaming speeds, the other main challenge comes in creating relevant statistics out of it. “We’re going to have

a lot of numbers; a lot of distance and speed numbers – relative to what, we don’t know,â€? he says. “We’ll be developing that sort of information as we go this season. I think the ongoing challenge will be what’s interesting, what’s exciting, what stands out as a really extraordinary athletic achievement by these players and that’s all stuff that we’re very excited to work through as we get the full set of data.â€? Byrd anticipates this year marking the beginning of a long-term relationship with the NFL. “We’re not just licensing the data feed and pointing it at people; we’re creating products and working with the league very closely,â€? he points out. Getting to grips with the data being provided and working in tandem with the league’s technology partner is all part of this process. “We’re gaining an understanding from Zebra as to what the nuances are in the data and the way it’s generated and how it’s delivered so we’re excited to be building a partnership with them as well,â€? adds Byrd. 3HWURVLQHOOL WRR LV FRQĂ€GHQW WKLV LV just the beginning of what will be “a

long and fruitfulâ€? journey. “I think what you’re going to see is progressively more and more content and more and more interesting content, and that just provides the platform for people to tell different stories,â€? he says. “And really, isn’t sports about that? Sports is about storytelling and tapping into people’s passions for their favourite teams and players, and this game-tracking technology is adding another dimension to how the story is told.â€? Technology doesn’t stand still and is forever becoming outdated as the next innovation comes along. Shah sees this case as no different. “I think what you will see is an acceleration of consumerfacing adoption as well as club and team and player personnel-facing adoption,â€? he predicts. “So the industry will look GLIIHUHQW Ă€YH \HDUV IURP QRZ WKHUH¡V no doubt about it, and I think that the technology that’s deployed to capture and create further augmented data sets will be improving. But the overall trajectory of creating enhanced experiences will only sort of propel us into the future.â€? SportsPro Magazine | 105

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BACK STORY

HANGING ON Through a long career at the BBC, including as its head of sport, Roger Mosey saw the publicly funded broadcaster move into the age of the pay-TV giants, which brought new headaches and new challenges. In the ninth chapter of his memoir, Getting Out Alive, he recalls letting one set of cherished highlights slip away and restoring, with surprising difficulty, a British television institution.

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During a long career with the BBC, Roger Mosey served as the head of sport among other roles

108 | www.sportspromedia.com

The BBC restored its Premier League highlights package, Match of the Day, to viewers’ screens in 2004, after ITV held the rights for the previous three years

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Richard Scudamore announces the return of a Premier League highlights package to the BBC

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BACK STORY

The BBC did not bid for free-to-air cricket highlights in 2005, with the rights ultimately going to Channel 5

110 | www.sportspromedia.com

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COMPANY PROFILE

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ES, based in the tiny European grand duchy of Luxembourg, has direct access to 6.93 billion people around the globe. It is one of the world’s leading satellite operators, and its hardware and infrastructure allows customers to reach 99 per cent of the Earth’s population. Operating through dedicated regional teams around the JOREH ² ZLWK PDMRU RIĂ€ FHV LQ 7KH +DJXH in the Netherlands, Washington DC and Princeton in the US, Johannesburg in South Africa, SĂŁo Paulo in Brazil, and Singapore – SES essentially offers bandwidth on its Ă HHW RI JHRVWDWLRQDU\ VDWHOOLWHV SURYLGLQJ reliable and secure satellite communications VHUYLFHV WR EURDGFDVW WHOHFRP FRUSRUDWH DQG JRYHUQPHQW FXVWRPHUV ZRUOGZLGH According to Richard Lamb, who heads up SES’s occasional use business from its RIĂ€ FH LQ 7KH +DJXH WKH 6(6 EXVLQHVV LV about building and operating a unique, VXVWDLQDEOH DQG LQQRYDWLYH JOREDO VDWHOOLWH infrastructure to help our customers H[SDQG WKHLU EXVLQHVVHV DQG VHUYLFHV DQG WR LPSURYH SHRSOH¡V OLYHV DURXQG the world. 70 per cent of the company’s EXVLQHVV FXUUHQWO\ FRPHV IURP WKH YLGHR broadcast market, while the remaining 30 SHU FHQW FRPHV IURP GDWD VHUYLFHV ´6(6¡V EXVLQHVV LV EXLOW RQ XV SURYLGLQJ FRQQHFWLYLW\ WR IRXU YHU\ GLVWLQFW PDUNHW YHUWLFDOV Âľ H[SODLQV /DPE ´7KHUH¡V YLGHR ZKLFK LQFOXGHV HYHU\WKLQJ IURP EURDGFDVW WR GLUHFW WR KRPH YLGHR FRQWULEXWLRQ DQG GLVWULEXWLRQ $QG WKHUH¡V Ă€ [HG GDWD DQG PRELOLW\ 7KH IRUPHU UHIHUV WR SURYLGLQJ FRQQHFWLYLW\ IRU HQWHUSULVHV XVLQJ 96$7 IRU D GLYHUVH VXLWH RI DSSOLFDWLRQV VXFK DV connecting banking networks while the ODWWHU LV SURYLGLQJ LQWHUQHW DQG GDWD VHUYLFHV WR DHURSODQHV YHVVHOV RU WUDLQV 7KH ODVW ZRXOG EH WKH JRYHUQPHQW JURXS ZKR XVXDOO\ KDV YHU\ VSHFLĂ€ F FRPPXQLFDWLRQ QHHGV Âľ /DPE¡V GRPDLQ ² 2FFDVLRQDO 8VH or OU – goes across all four of those YHUWLFDOV DV LW LV HVVHQWLDOO\ DERXW SURYLGLQJ customers with short-term satellite FRQQHFWLYLW\ VHUYLFHV ZKHWKHU LW LV IRU WKUHH 112 | www.sportspromedia.com

minutes or three months. In a world of on-demand entertainment and information media, sport remains the RQH WUXH EDVWLRQ RI DSSRLQWPHQW WR YLHZ WHOHYLVLRQ /LYH HYHQWV GULYH DXGLHQFHV Companies such as SES ensure that those OLYH HYHQWV DUH GHOLYHUHG UHOLDEO\ IURP WKH HYHQW ORFDWLRQ GLUHFW WR WKH UHJLRQDO broadcasters around the world. 6(6 KDV EURDGFDVW VSRUWLQJ HYHQWV IURP across the sporting spectrum – from global PHJD HYHQWV VXFK DV WKH 2O\PSLF *DPHV – both summer and winter – and the Fifa :RUOG &XS WR WKH &RPPRQZHDOWK *DPHV WR DQQXDO PXOWLSOH VHUYLFH HYHQWV VXFK as Formula One, Major League Baseball 0/% DQG WKH 1DWLRQDO +RFNH\ /HDJXH 1+/ DOO WKH ZD\ GRZQ WR QLFKH UHJLRQ VSHFLĂ€ F HYHQWV VXFK DV *DHOLF VSRUW DQG trotting from Ireland. ´6RFFHU LV DFWXDOO\ WKH PRVW SUROLĂ€ F VSRUW ZH¡UH LQYROYHG LQ Âľ H[SODLQV /DPE “We do the English Premier League, %XQGHVOLJD 6HULH $ HYHQ 5RPDQLDQ football leagues and again down to a UHJLRQDO ORFDO OHYHO 6DWHOOLWHV FDQ SURYLGH JOREDO FRQQHFWLYLW\ DQG LW FDQ DOVR SURYLGH UHJLRQDO H[FOXVLYLW\ DV ZHOO Âľ In most cases, SES’s OU customers DUH EURDGFDVW HQWLWLHV UDWKHU WKDQ HYHQW

Richard Lamb, Head of Occasional Use at SES

organisers. “We work with rights holding broadcasters and non-rights holding EURDGFDVWHUV Âľ VD\V /DPE ZKR WDNHV (XURYLVLRQ WKH SURGXFWLRQ DUP RI WKH European Broadcasting Union (EBU), as an example of a typical SES client. ´(XURYLVLRQ LV D FRPSDQ\ WKDW straddles both rights holder and WHFKQLFDO VHUYLFH SURYLGHU DUHDV Âľ KH VD\V ´(XURYLVLRQ ZLOO KDYH WKH ULJKWV WR FHUWDLQ HYHQWV DQG WKH\ OHDVH VDWHOOLWH capacity from us, either short term, two hours or three hours, or it might be for a month, it might be permanently for multiple years depending on the area. 7KHQ (XURYLVLRQ ZLOO XVH WKDW FDSDFLW\ OHDVHG IURP XV DQG DGG H[WUD YDOXH WKH\ ZLOO SURYLGH XSOLQNV GRZQOLQNV DQG FRRUGLQDWLRQ WKHQ VHOO WKDW VHUYLFH WR WKHLU PHPEHUV DV D SDFNDJH Âľ /DPE SRLQWV WR %ULWLVK SD\ 79 broadcaster Sky Sports as an example of a non-rights holding client. Although Sky did not hold broadcast rights to either the London 2012 Olympics or the 2014 Fifa World Cup, the company QHYHUWKHOHVV VHQW SURGXFWLRQ WHDPV RXW WR KRVW YHQXH DUHDV WR GHOLYHU QHZV VWRULHV ´,W FRXOG EH DWKOHWHV DUULYLQJ by plane, playing at training grounds, LQWHUYLHZV DW KRWHOV IROORZLQJ VWRULHV that might be happening as a result of the Olympics or World Cup, maybe SROOXWLRQ RU WKH IDFW WKDW WKH\¡YH FOHDUHG SRSXODWLRQV RI SHRSOH Âľ /DPE VD\V From top to tail, Lamb describes the VHUYLFH 6(6 RIIHUV FOLHQWV DV IROORZV ´7KH VHUYLFH ZH SURYLGH LV D SUH VHUYLFH ZKHUH ZH DGYLVH WKH FXVWRPHU RI WKH ULJKW W\SH RI VDWHOOLWH WKH ULJKW FRYHUDJH WR PHHW WKHLU WDUJHW DXGLHQFH 7KHUH¡V DQ HOHPHQW RI WHVWLQJ LQYROYHG WKHQ WKHUH¡V D FRQWUDFW DQG WKHQ D VHUYLFH IRU WKDW 7KHQ GXULQJ WKH HYHQW WKHUH LV D FRRUGLQDWLRQ SURYLVLRQ WR HQVXUH WKLV LV WKH PRVW UHOLDEOH VHUYLFH ZH FDQ SURYLGH “When a broadcaster sets up for D PDMRU LQWHUQDWLRQDO HYHQW Âľ /DPE H[SODLQV ´WKH\ QHHG WR UHVHUYH FDSDFLW\ DV

With the increased volume of live sport being broadcast and the development of HD and Ultra HD, SES’s satellites are transmitting more content than ever

ZHOO DV VHFXUH VLJQLÀ FDQW ORFDO UHVRXUFHV EXW WKH\ DOVR KDYH WR GHDO ZLWK ORFDO regulations and comply with a wide range of licensing guidelines and rules in order to broadcast – put together all these items FDQ EH YHU\ FRPSOH[ WR PDQDJH :LWK RXU established local network of contacts, and understanding of local processes, we can KHOS GULYH RSHUDWLRQDO HIÀ FLHQFLHV IRU RXU customers, thus allowing them to focus RQ WKH ELJJHU SLFWXUH µ Asked to point to changes resulting IURP EURDGFDVW FOLHQWV KDYLQJ WR NHHS XS ZLWK HYROYLQJ YLHZLQJ KDELWV /DPE singles out the gradual increase of sports FRQWHQW EHLQJ WUDQVPLWWHG YLD VDWHOOLWH – and the number of additional sports being broadcast at all – and broadcasters’ WHQWDWLYH VWHSV LQWR 8OWUD +' GHOLYHU\ ´)LYH \HDUV DJR WKH VSOLW EHWZHHQ news and sport that we were carrying ZDV DURXQG µ KH VD\V ´1RZ LW·V DERXW WR SHU FHQW VSRUW 1HZV LVQ·W declining, that’s just the sheer amount of sport being transmitted. Alongside that KDYH EHHQ WZR ELJ FKDQJHV 7KH À UVW LV WKH PRYH IURP VWDQGDUG GHÀ QLWLRQ WR +' DQG QRZ WR 8OWUD +' 7KHUH DUH TXLWH D ORW RI VHUYLFHV DQG WULDOV DW WKDW OHYHO µ SES currently transmits two full Ultra

+' FKDQQHOV ERWK RI ZKLFK DUH OLIHVW\OH FKDQQHOV ´7KHUH DUH WZR PRUH WR ODXQFK in the next couple of weeks, and more WR FRPH µ /DPE UHYHDOV ´,Q WHUPV RI EURDGFDVWLQJ D OLYH VSRUWV FKDQQHO LW·V DQ DUHD ZKHUH WKHUH·V D ORW RI LQWHUHVW SHRSOH KDYH EHHQ GRLQJ D ORW RI WHVWLQJ $QG , think it’s just a matter of time – maybe LQ ² EHIRUH ZH VHH PRUH 7KDW REYLRXVO\ PHDQV RXU VDWHOOLWHV KDYH WR EH WRWDOO\ UHDG\ IRU 8OWUD +' :H XQGHUVWDQG that technology and we can work with the FXVWRPHUV WR SURYLGH WKRVH VHUYLFHV ´7KH RWKHU FKDQJH µ /DPE FRQWLQXHV “is that the days when you take an English Premier League football match DQG SXW LW RXW RYHU RQH LQWHUQDWLRQDO RU ZRUOG IHHG DUH RYHU 7KHUH DUH QRZ PXOWLSOH YLGHR IHHGV FRPLQJ RXW RI WKDW RQH JDPH VRPHWLPHV DV PDQ\ DV À YH Sky is an example, where they’ll take À YH IHHGV DQG VRPH ZLOO EH SDVVHG RQ WR WKH YLHZHU WR DOORZ WKHP WR VHOHFW WKH YLHZLQJ DQJOH E\ WKH UHG EXWWRQ So what you are seeing is not only an LQFUHDVH LQ TXDOLW\ 6' WR +' JRLQJ RQ WR 8OWUD +' EXW LW·V DOVR WKH LQFUHDVH in the number of simultaneous feeds – GLIIHUHQW DQJOHV RQH EHKLQG WKH JRDO one focusing on the main action, one on

a high shot, one on an incident that they ZDQW WR IROORZ XS µ $ORQJVLGH WKH DGYDQFH RI 8OWUD +' SES has also launched a new enhanced OU capacity scheduling tool which enables its customers to link directly with the FRPSDQ\·V EURDGFDVW RSHUDWLRQV WR UHVHUYH FDSDFLW\ /DPE H[SODLQV ´(DFK PDMRU 6(6 customer typically has internal systems in place so that their operations staff can YLHZ DQG PRQLWRU LQ UHDO WLPH WKHLU ORFDO UHVRXUFHV VXFK DV FDPHUD FUHZV 61* trucks, as well as leased satellite capacity. ´7KLV QHZ WRRO HQDEOHV WKHP WR LQWHUIDFH directly with the SES booking centre ZKHUH FXVWRPHUV FDQ KDYH LQVWDQW DFFHVV WR ERRN RXU 28 FDSDFLW\ µ /DPE DGGV ´7KLV LV \HW DQRWKHU H[DPSOH RI KRZ ZH DUH VWHSSLQJ XS RXU EXVLQHVV LQQRYDWLRQ DQG SURFHVVHV WR KHOS FXVWRPHUV VDYH WLPH ² HVSHFLDOO\ UHOHYDQW WR VXSSRUW WKH FRYHUDJH RI JOREDO VSRUWLQJ HYHQWV ZKHUH WLPH LV RI HVVHQFH µ For more information, 9LVLW VHV FRP &RQWDFW 86 WROO IUHH ou@ses.com

SportsPro Magazine | 113

DEALS

DEALS REVIEW Sports industry deal-making highlights from August 2015 US soccer hero Carli Lloyd signs book deal US women’s soccer captain Carli Lloyd (right) has signed a deal with publisher +RXJKWRQ 0LIĂ LQ +DUFRXUW +0+ The agreement will see the Fifa Women’s World Cup-winning Houston 'DVK PLGĂ€ HOGHU UHOHDVH D PHPRLU LQ WKH DXWXPQ RI 7KH 1RUWK $PHULFDQ rights to the book were sold at auction to HMH by Lloyd’s representatives at :LOOLDP 0RUULV (QGHDYRXU :0( “It was clear that Carli channelled something deep inside the day she made KLVWRU\ LQ WKH :RUOG &XS Ă€ QDO Âľ VDLG 6XVDQ &DQDYDQ VHQLRU H[HFXWLYH HGLWRU DW +0+ ´%XW WKH IDFW LV VKH KDV EHHQ working toward this level of supreme DWKOHWLF SHUIRUPDQFH KHU HQWLUH OLIH WKURXJK XSV DQG GRZQV WULXPSKV DQG GLVDSSRLQWPHQWV DOO WKH ZKLOH ZLWK D VWHHO\ GHWHUPLQDWLRQ +HU VWRU\ LV DQ inspiration to all women and athletes who strive to achieve something greater - and DUH ZLOOLQJ WR ZRUN IRU LW :H DUH GHOLJKWHG WR EULQJ WKDW VWRU\ WR UHDGHUV Âľ “Winning the World Cup with my teammates was one of the most thrilling PRPHQWV , FRXOG LPDJLQH Âľ DGGHG /OR\G ´*HWWLQJ WKHUH ZDV D ORQJ MRXUQH\

VRPHWLPHV UHZDUGLQJ VRPHWLPHV FKDOOHQJLQJ EXW ZRUWK HYHU\ PRPHQW RI KDUG ZRUN DQG VDFULĂ€ FH ,¡P VXSHU H[FLWHG WR KDYH WKH RSSRUWXQLW\ WR ZRUN ZLWK 6XVDQ DQG +0+ WR WHOO P\ VWRU\ , think it will be a book that will inspire and

PRWLYDWH SOD\HUV IDQV FRDFKHV DQG DQ\RQH ZKR ZDQWV WR DFKLHYH WKHLU GUHDPV ¾ /OR\G VFRUHG D KDW WULFN LQ WKH opening 16 minutes of July’s Women’s :RUOG &XS À QDO DV VKH OHG WKH 86 WR D ZLQ RYHU FKDPSLRQV -DSDQ

BT Sport takes Ashes coverage from rival Sky %7 6SRUW KDV DJUHHG D À YH \HDU GHDO ZLWK &ULFNHW $XVWUDOLD IRU D PDMRU SDFNDJH RI 8. 79 ULJKWV The partnership begins in 2016 and will see the pay-TV operator air the 2017/18 $VKHV 7HVW VHULHV EHWZHHQ $XVWUDOLD DQG

(QJODQG H[FOXVLYHO\ OLYH RQ LWV WHOHYLVLRQ DQG GLJLWDO SODWIRUPV %7 6SRUW ZLOO DOVR DLU OLYH FRYHUDJH RI WRXUV E\ 1HZ =HDODQG 6RXWK $IULFD ,QGLD DQG 3DNLVWDQ DV ZHOO DV WKH %LJ %DVK /HDJXH GRPHVWLF 7 IUDQFKLVH FRPSHWLWLRQ WKH ZRPHQ¡V $VKHV DQG WKH :RPHQ¡V 7 %LJ %DVK /HDJXH The broadcaster has also made a commitment to screen selected SURJUDPPLQJ RQ D IUHH WR DLU EDVLV including international highlights and RQH JDPH IURP HDFK ZHHN RI WKH %LJ %DVK /HDJXH $FFRUGLQJ WR WKH 8.¡V Daily Mail %7 6SRUW ZLOO SD\ &ULFNHW $XVWUDOLD DURXQG 8.Â… PLOOLRQ 86 PLOOLRQ D \HDU RYHU WKH FRXUVH RI WKH GHDO KDYLQJ VLJQLĂ€ FDQWO\ RXWELG 6N\ 6SRUWV 7KH agreement has been seen as a major blow LQ %7¡V RQJRLQJ EDWWOH ZLWK 6N\ LQ WKH

8. VSRUWV ULJKWV PDUNHWSODFH SDUWLFXODUO\ DV LW LQFOXGHV WKH $VKHV VHULHV &ULFNHW is known to be second in Sky’s list of SULRULWLHV DIWHU VRFFHU 6N\ 6SRUWV KDV EHHQ WKH H[FOXVLYH OLYH TV broadcaster of all English cricket since home Test matches left free-to-air Channel LQ EXW ZLOO QRZ VHH %7 6SRUW DV D VLJQLĂ€ FDQW ULYDO IRU WKRVH ULJKWV ZKHQ WKH (QJODQG DQG :DOHV &ULFNHW %RDUG (&% RSHQV LWV QH[W F\FOH IURP 1R RWKHU broadcaster in the UK has carried overseas (QJODQG PDWFKHV OLYH VLQFH 7KH QHZV FDPH DIWHU $XVWUDOLD HDUQHG D FRQVRODWLRQ YLFWRU\ LQ WKH Ă€ IWK 7HVW RI WKLV \HDU¡V $VKHV DW /RQGRQ¡V .LD 2YDO ZLWK WKH VHULHV HQGLQJ WR (QJODQG The home side regained the urn with YLFWRU\ DW 1RWWLQJKDP¡V 7UHQW %ULGJH HDUOLHU LQ $XJXVW

114 | www.sportspromedia.com

UCLA to stick with IMG College 8&/$ KDV GHFLGHG WR UHQHZ LWV multimedia rights agreement with IMG &ROOHJH LQ DQ LQFUHDVHG WHQ \HDU GHDO The university had been widely H[SHFWHG WR MXPS VKLS WR 1HZ&R WKH newly established multimedia rights arm RI WKH 3DFLĂ€ F &RQIHUHQFH 3DF ,QVWHDG ,0* LV UHSRUWHG WR EH RQ WKH verge of tripling its investment in the %UXLQV LQ RUGHU WR UHWDLQ WKH OXFUDWLYH

ULJKWV WR 8&/$¡V VSRUWV WHDPV 3DF ¡V ZKROO\ RZQHG VXEVLGLDU\ would allow colleges to retain a greater SHUFHQWDJH RI PXOWLPHGLD UHYHQXH DQG ,0*¡V LQFUHDVHG LQYHVWPHQW UHĂ HFWV WKLV FKDQJH LQ WKH ODQGVFDSH Despite initial media suggestions that WKH QHZ GHDO LV ZRUWK DURXQG 86 PLOOLRQ D \HDU SportsPro understands that the true sum – once the deal is signed off ² ZLOO EH VRPH ZD\ VKRUW RI WKDW DPRXQW

WTC new star of Wanda after US$650m deal China’s Dalian Wanda Group has agreed to purchase the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC) from WKH 3URYLGHQFH (TXLW\ 3DUWQHUV SULYDWH HTXLW\ À UP IRU 86 PLOOLRQ 7KH JURXS ZKLFK KDV LQWHUHVWV LQ FRPPHUFLDO SURSHUW\ HQWHUWDLQPHQW DQG WRXULVP H FRPPHUFH DQG À QDQFLDO VHUYLFHV DFTXLUHG WKH ,QIURQW 6SRUWV 0HGLD DJHQF\ IRU 86 ELOOLRQ HDUOLHU WKLV \HDU DV ZHOO DV D VWDNH LQ /D /LJD VRFFHU VLGH $WOpWLFR 0DGULG 7KH ODWHVW DFTXLVLWLRQ ZLOO VHH :DQGD WDNH RSHUDWLRQDO FRQWURO RI WKH :7& ZKLFK LV KHDGTXDUWHUHG LQ 7DPSD )ORULGD and has run triathlon competitions DURXQG WKH ZRUOG LQFOXGLQJ WKH ,URQPDQ VHULHV IRU WKH ODVW \HDUV $FFRUGLQJ WR D UHOHDVH SXW RXW E\ WKH &KLQHVH JURXS ZKLFK LV KHDGHG

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Galvin Green to supply Europe’s Ryder Cup campaign Galvin Green has been selected as WKH RIĂ€ FLDO DQG H[FOXVLYH SURYLGHU RI waterproof outerwear to Europe’s Ryder &XS WHDP 7KH 6ZHGLVK EUDQG (XURSH¡V ELJJHVW PDQXIDFWXUHU RI JROI UDLQZHDU ZLOO RIIHU ZDWHUSURRIV WR (XURSH¡V QH[W WZR 5\GHU &XS FDPSDLJQV VWDUWLQJ ZLWK QH[W \HDU¡V KDW WULFN DWWHPSW DW WKH +D]HOWLQH 1DWLRQDO Golf Course in Minnesota and including WKH HGLWLRQ ZKLFK ZLOO WDNH SODFH DW /H *ROI 1DWLRQDO FRXUVH QHDU 3DULV )UDQFH 5LFKDUG +LOOV (XURSHDQ 5\GHU &XS 'LUHFWRU VDLG ´5\GHU &XS (XURSH LV delighted to have Galvin Green as one of LWV RIĂ€ FLDO WHDP VXSSOLHUV IRU WKH (XURSHDQ WHDPV LQ DQG ,WV JDUPHQWV proved to be very popular when part of WKH RIĂ€ FLDO 5\GHU &XS UDQJH DW *OHQHDJOHV and we are particularly pleased to have one of the most sought-after outerwear brands in golf supporting Europe when they GHIHQG WKH WURSK\ QH[W \HDU Âľ

For more information on these deals and daily updates from across the sports industry, visit

www.sportspromedia.com SportsPro Magazine | 115

DEALS

DIRECTORY OF SPONSORSHIP DEALS SIGNED IN AUGUST 2015 FSV Mainz sign ten-year Infront deal %XQGHVOLJD VRFFHU FOXE )69 0DLQ] KDYH signed a ten-year marketing partnership ZLWK WKH ,QIURQW 6SRUWV 0HGLD DJHQF\ 7KH DJUHHPHQW ZKLFK EHJLQV LPPHGLDWHO\ DQG ZLOO UXQ XQWLO WKH HQG RI WKH VHDVRQ ZLOO VHH ,QIURQW WDNH WKH H[FOXVLYH marketing rights for the majority of the FOXE¡V SUHPLXP FRPPHUFLDO LQYHQWRU\ 7KH deal includes the club’s main sponsorship SDFNDJHV VWDGLXP QDPLQJ ULJKWV ERDUG DGYHUWLVLQJ DW KRPH PDWFKHV DQG KRVSLWDOLW\ SDFNDJHV ,QIURQW KDV PDUNHWHG 0DLQ]¡V ULJKWV LQ WKH SDVW EXW QRW RQ DQ H[OXVLYH EDVLV ,QIURQW H[HFXWLYH $[HO 3IHLIIHU ZLOO OHDG D WHDP RI VHYHQ ,QIURQW VWDII LQFOXGLQJ WKUHH IRUPHU HPSOR\HHV RI WKH %XQGHVOLJD WHDP DQG 0DLQ]¡V LQ KRXVH PDUNHWLQJ WHDP RQ WKH FRPPHUFLDOLVDWLRQ RI WKH ULJKWV Infront has guaranteed the club a certain OHYHO RI Ă€QDQFLDO UHWXUQ HDFK VHDVRQ Length of contract: 10 years Annualised value: US$27 million Overall value: US$270 million Sport: Soccer Bayern renew Bundesliga’s biggest sponsorship *HUPDQ VRFFHU JLDQWV )& %D\HUQ 0XQLFK KDYH H[WHQGHG DQG ÂśLQWHQVLĂ€HG¡ WKHLU longstanding partnership with Deutsche 7HOHNRP '7 XQWLO 7KH QHZ VL[ year agreement is an early renewal of the H[LVWLQJ GHDO ZKLFK KDG EHHQ GXH WR UXQ XQWLO DQG H[WHQGV DQ DVVRFLDWLRQ Ă€UVW HVWDEOLVKHG LQ $V SDUW RI WKH GHDO DT remains the primary sponsor of the %XQGHVOLJD FKDPSLRQV DQG LWV 7 0RELOH branding will continue to feature on the IURQW RI WKH WHDP¡V SOD\LQJ VKLUWV )LQDQFLDO terms of the new deal are not known but it LV VXUH WR IDU H[FHHG DQ\ RWKHU VSRQVRUVKLS DJUHHPHQW LQ WKH %XQGHVOLJD $FFRUGLQJ WR 6SRQVRUV GH WKH SUHYLRXV FRQWUDFW EHWZHHQ WKH WZR SDUWLHV VLJQHG LQ VDZ D SHU FHQW LQFUHDVH LQ WKH VSRQVRUVKLS IHH WDNLQJ WKH YDOXH RI WKH GHDO WR DQ HVWLPDWHG ½ PLOOLRQ 86 PLOOLRQ SHU \HDU Length of contract: 6 years Annualised value: US$33 million Overall value: US$198 million Sport: Soccer 116 | www.sportspromedia.com

Bayern renew Audi partnership )& %D\HUQ 0XQLFK KDYH UHQHZHG WKHLU ORQJ UXQQLQJ SDUWQHUVKLS ZLWK $XGL 7KH QHZ GHDO DQQRXQFHG GXULQJ $XJXVW¡V $XGL Cup pre-season tournament hosted by %D\HUQ ZLOO UXQ XQWLO WK -XQH WDNLQJ WKH SDUWQHUVKLS WR \HDUV 7KH SUHYLRXV agreement between the German soccer club and the Ingolstadt-based automotive group KDG EHHQ GXH WR H[SLUH LQ $V ZHOO DV serving as one of the club’s top-tier partners DORQJVLGH $GLGDV $OOLDQ] DQG 7 0RELOH $XGL RZQV DQ SHU FHQW VWDNH LQ WKH %XQGHVOLJD JLDQWV )LQDQFLDO WHUPV RI WKH new sponsorship have not been formally UHOHDVHG EXW 6SRQVRUV GH HVWLPDWHV LW WR EH ZRUWK DURXQG ½ PLOOLRQ 86 PLOOLRQ D \HDU LQ Ă€QDQFLDO DQG LQ NLQG VXSSRUW Length of contract: 6 years Annualised value: US$10.9 million Overall value: US$65.4 million Sport: Soccer Adidas renews with Indiana University $GLGDV KDV UHQHZHG LWV VSRQVRUVKLS GHDO ZLWK WKH 8QLYHUVLW\ RI ,QGLDQD ,8 DJUHHLQJ D QHZ HLJKW \HDU 86 PLOOLRQ H[WHQVLRQ 7KH QHZ GHDO ZLWK WKH *HUPDQ apparel company is one of the biggest in 86 FROOHJH DWKOHWLFV ZLWK $GLGDV VHW WR SD\ WKH FROOHJH 86 PLOOLRQ SHU \HDU QHDUO\ GRXEOLQJ WKH 86 PLOOLRQ LW SDLG IRU WKH SUHYLRXV GHDO 2QO\ WKH 8QLYHUVLW\ RI 0LFKLJDQ 1LNH DQG 8&/$ $GLGDV KDYH ELJJHU GHDOV DFFRUGLQJ WR WKH Portland Business Journal¡V GDWDEDVH ZKLFK GHWDLOV WKH DWKOHWLFV FRQWUDFWV RI XQLYHUVLWLHV $GLGDV ZLOO SURYLGH QHZ XQLIRUPV HDFK year to the school’s football and men’s EDVNHWEDOO WHDPV ZKLOH WKH GHDO ZLOO DOVR include co-branding between IU athletics DQG $GLGDV LQ VRFLDO PHGLD DQG PDUNHWLQJ FDPSDLJQV ´+DYLQJ RQH RI WKH QDWLRQ¡V ODUJHVW HTXLSPHQW DQG DSSDUHO GHDOV ZLOO KDYH DQ HQRUPRXV LPSDFW RQ ,8 RXU WHDPV FRDFKHV DQG VWXGHQW DWKOHWHV ÂľVDLG ,8 DWKOHWLFV H[HFXWLYH )UHG *ODVV Length of contract: 8 years Annualised value: US$6.7 million Overall value: US$53.6 million Sport: College sports

University of Virginia’s Cavaliers renew with Nike The University of Virginia has renewed LWV VSRQVRUVKLS GHDO ZLWK 1LNH IRU DQRWKHU WHQ \HDUV 7KH $PHULFDQ VSRUWVZHDU JLDQW will continue to supply apparel to the XQLYHUVLW\¡V VSRUWV SURJUDPPHV XQWLO and has more than doubled its commitment in cash and value-in-kind in a deal worth a PLQLPXP RI 86 PLOOLRQ 7KH UHQHZDO ZDV VLJQHG LQ $SULO DQG FDPH LQWR HIIHFW RQ VW -XO\ ZLWK GHWDLOV RI WKH FRQWUDFW now obtained by local media following DQ RSHQ UHFRUGV UHTXHVW 1LNH ZLOO VSHQG a minimum of US$7 million over the FRXUVH RI WKH GHDO LQFOXGLQJ D 86 PLOOLRQ VLJQLQJ ERQXV DQG 86 D \HDU IRU WKH GXUDWLRQ RI WKH SDUWQHUVKLS 3HUIRUPDQFH ERQXVHV DUH DOVR EXLOW LQWR WKH GHDO 7KH 8QLYHUVLW\ RI 9LUJLQLD¡V &DYDOLHUV KDYH ZRUQ 1LNH DSSDUHO VLQFH Length of contract: 10 years Annualised value: US$3.5 million Overall value: US$35 million Sport: College sports Under Armour and Temple renew for a decade 8QGHU $UPRXU KDV H[WHQGHG LWV DSSDUHO DQG HTXLSPHQW GHDO ZLWK 7HPSOH 8QLYHUVLW\ LQ 3KLODGHOSKLD IRU D IXUWKHU WHQ \HDUV 7KH %DOWLPRUH EDVHG EUDQG ZLOO FRQWLQXH WR SURYLGH XQLIRUPV apparel and footwear to the university’s DWKOHWLFV WHDPV DV ZHOO DV PDUNHWLQJ VXSSRUW 7HUPV RI WKH H[WHQVLRQ KDYH QRW EHHQ UHOHDVHG E\ HLWKHU SDUW\ EXW D UHSRUW RQ 3KLOO\ FRP FLWHV ÂśWZR VRXUFHV¡ FODLPLQJ LW WR EH ZRUWK 86 PLOOLRQ RYHUDOO 8QGHU $UPRXU ZLOO KDYH D ODUJHU SUHVHQFH RQ 7HPSOH¡V FDPSXV LQFOXGLQJ a new concept store set to open in the FRPLQJ ZHHNV 8QGHU $UPRXU¡V RWKHU 1&$$ SDUWQHUV LQFOXGH WKH 8QLYHUVLW\ RI 1RWUH 'DPH 1DYDO $FDGHP\ $WKOHWLF $VVRFLDWLRQ $XEXUQ 8QLYHUVLW\ 8QLYHUVLW\ RI 0DU\ODQG %RVWRQ &ROOHJH 7H[DV 7HFK 8QLYHUVLW\ 1RUWKZHVWHUQ 8QLYHUVLW\ DQG WKH 8QLYHUVLW\ RI 6RXWK &DUROLQD Length of contract: 10 years Annualised value: US$3 million Overall value: US$30 million Sport: College sports

Clemson gets eight-year Nike extension &OHPVRQ 8QLYHUVLW\ KDV H[WHQGHG LWV sponsorship and apparel supply deal with 1LNH XQWLO 'HWDLOV RI WKH DJUHHPHQW ZKLFK ZDV VLJQHG LQ 'HFHPEHU ZHUH obtained by the Portland Business Journal DQG VKRZ WKDW 1LNH·V ULJKWV IHH KDV PRUH WKDQ GRXEOHG 7KH QHZ HLJKW \HDU GHDO LV ZRUWK 86 PLOOLRQ WR WKH XQLYHUVLW\ LQ FDVK DQG HTXLSPHQW $FFRUGLQJ WR WKH Portland Business Journal &OHPVRQ·V QHZ GHDO LV WKH VL[WK ODUJHVW LQ FROOHJH VSRUW·V $WODQWLF &RDVW &RQIHUHQFH Length of contract: 8 years Annualised value: US$2.88 million Overall value: US$23 million Sport: College sports Nascar’s Danica Patrick gets new sponsor 1DVFDU GULYHU 'DQLFD 3DWULFN DQG 6WHZDUW +DDV 5DFLQJ KDYH QDPHG 1DWXUH·V %DNHU\ DV WKH QHZ SULPDU\ VSRQVRU RI 3DWULFN·V number ten Chevrolet in an initial 28-race GHDO IRU 7KH GHDO ZLOO VHH WKH KHDOWK food company’s branding adorn the livery RI 3DWULFN·V FDU LQ WKH 1DVFDU 6SULQW &XS 6HULHV 7KRXJK À QDQFLDO WHUPV KDYH QRW EHHQ GLVFORVHG D VLQJOH UDFH 6SULQW &XS primary sponsorship can sell for up to 86 3DWULFN KDV EHHQ ORRNLQJ IRU a new primary sponsor after her current SULPDU\ VSRQVRU *R'DGG\ DQQRXQFHG it would not be renewing its deal beyond WKH FXUUHQW VHDVRQ Length of contract: 1 year Annualised value: US$14 million Overall value: US$14 million Sport: Motorsport Hawthorn to stay in Tasmania for five more years +DZWKRUQ )RRWEDOO &OXE KDYH H[WHQGHG a deal with the Tasmanian government WKDW ZLOO VHH WKH $XVWUDOLDQ )RRWEDOO /HDJXH $)/ VLGH FRQWLQXH WR SOD\ LQ /DXQFHVWRQ RQ WKH $XVWUDOLDQ LVODQG VWDWH XQWLO DW OHDVW 7KH QHZ À YH \HDU GHDO UHSRUWHG WR EH ZRUWK $86 PLOOLRQ ZLOO VHH WKH FOXE FRQWLQXH WR SOD\ IRXU JDPHV D \HDU SOXV RQH SUH VHDVRQ JDPH RQ 7DVPDQLD XQWLO WKH HQG RI WKH VHDVRQ ,W LQFOXGHV D VLJQLÀ FDQW VSRQVRUVKLS HOHPHQW WKH +DZWKRUQ playing shirt will continue to sport the ZRUG ¶7DVPDQLD· RQ WKH FKHVW Length of contract: 5 years Annualised value: US$2.76 million Overall value: US$13.8 million Sport: Australian rules football

Bayern have renewed their sponsorship deal with Deutsche Telekom, the Bundesliga’s largest

Emirates Airline on board for Arabian Gulf League (PLUDWHV $LUOLQH KDV VLJQHG D GHDO WR VSRQVRU WKH $UDELDQ *XOI /HDJXH WKH WRS professional soccer league in the United $UDE (PLUDWHV 8$( 7KH 'XEDL EDVHG FDUULHU EHFRPHV WKH RIÀ FLDO DLUOLQH RI WKH FRPSHWLWLRQ LQ D WKUHH \HDU GHDO UHSRUWHGO\ ZRUWK 'K PLOOLRQ 86 PLOOLRQ (PLUDWHV ZLOO KDYH EUDQGLQJ DW DOO OHDJXH PDWFKHV DQG WKH $UDELDQ *XOI 6XSHU &XS DV ZHOO DV $UDELDQ Gulf Cup ties and 26 televised Under-21 /HDJXH À [WXUHV Length of contract: 3 years Annualised value: US$2.27 million Overall value: US$6.8 million Sport: Soccer AFL’s Collingwood sign Holden expansion 7KH $XVWUDOLDQ )RRWEDOO /HDJXH·V $)/ Collingwood Football Club have signed a three-year sponsorship deal with +ROGHQ 7KH DJUHHPHQW ZLOO VHH WKH $XVWUDOLDQ FDUPDNHU SXW LWV QDPH WR WKH $XVWUDOLDQ UXOHV IRRWEDOO FOXE·V WUDLQLQJ FHQWUH DQG KHDGTXDUWHUV DW 0HOERXUQH·V 2O\PSLF 3DUN UHSODFLQJ :HVWSDF Holden will also continue to sponsor &ROOLQJZRRG·V FRDFKLQJ WHDP IXOÀ OOLQJ D UROH LW WRRN RQ LQ $FFRUGLQJ WR the Sydney Morning Herald +ROGHQ ZLOO EH SD\LQJ &ROOLQJZRRG $86 PLOOLRQ 86 PLOOLRQ D \HDU Length of contract: 3 years Annualised value: US$2.2 million Overall value: US$6.6 million Sport: Australian rules football

US$5 million naming rights deal for Virginia Tech Virginia Tech university has sold the naming rights to the basketball court at its Cassell Coliseum stadium to KHDOWKFDUH FRPSDQ\ &DULOLRQ &OLQLF 5HSRUWV VXJJHVW WKH GHDO LV ZRUWK 86 million to the university over a ten-year WHUP 7KH EDVNHWEDOO FRXUW LQVLGH WKH FDSDFLW\ &DVVHOO &ROLVHXP ZKLFK hosts the Virginia Tech Hokies men’s DQG ZRPHQ·V EDVNHWEDOO WHDPV ZLOO EH UHQDPHG WKH &DULOLRQ &RXUW 7ZR ¶97& – Virginia Tech Carilion’ logos will be HPEOD]RQHG RQ WKH FRXUW Length of contract: 10 years Annualised value: US$500,000 Overall value: US$5 million Sport: College sports Schalke 04 sign Turkish Airlines sponsorship deal 7XUNLVK $LUOLQHV KDV DGGHG %XQGHVOLJD VRFFHU VLGH 6FKDONH WR LWV VSRQVRUVKLS SRUWIROLR 7KH QHZ GHDO ² ZKLFK DFFRUGLQJ WR *HUPDQ PHGLD UHSRUWV LV ZRUWK DURXQG ½ PLOOLRQ 86 PLOOLRQ WR WKH WHDP ² ZLOO VHH 7XUNLVK $LUOLQHV VXSSRUW the Gelsenkirchen-based team for WZR \HDUV 7KH FRPSDQ\ ZLOO UHFHLYH branding rights on Schalke’s LED pitchside boards at the club’s Veltins$UHQD DQG RQ DOO WKH FOXE·V PDUNHWLQJ DQG PHGLD PDWHULDOV Length of contract: 2 years Annualised value: US$800,000 Overall value: US$1.6 million Sport: Soccer SportsPro Magazine | 117

DEALS

Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association has secured sponsorship from two telecoms brands

EWS extends naming rights for handball stadium 7KH (:6 $UHQD KRPH RI WKH )ULVFK $XI *|SSLQJHQ *HUPDQ KDQGEDOO WHDP ZLOO retain its current name for at least eight PRUH \HDUV DIWHU (:6 7RRO 7HFKQRORJLHV DJUHHG WR DQ H[WHQVLRQ RI LWV QDPLQJ ULJKWV GHDO (:6¡ VSRQVRUVKLS LQLWLDWHG LQ ZDV VHW WR H[SLUH DW WKH HQG RI WKH KDQGEDOO VHDVRQ EXW WKH FRPSDQ\ KDV moved prematurely to secure the rights XQWLO DQ H[WHQVLRQ RI VHYHQ \HDUV RQ WRS RI WKH H[LVWLQJ DJUHHPHQW (:6 LV UHSRUWHG WR EH SD\LQJ ½ IRU WKH SULYLOHJH RI VSRQVRULQJ WKH VHDW DUHQD SXWWLQJ WKH WRWDO YDOXH RI WKH H[WHQVLRQ DW ½ PLOOLRQ Length of contract: 7 years Annualised value: US$165,000 Overall value: US$1.16 million Sport: Handball ANZ extends Fijian stadium naming rights deal 7KH $XVWUDOLD DQG 1HZ =HDODQG %DQNLQJ *URXS $1= WKH WKLUG ODUJHVW EDQN LQ $XVWUDOLD KDV UHQHZHG LWV VSRQVRUVKLS deal with Fiji Sports Council for the naming rights to Fiji’s national stadium IRU D IXUWKHU Ă€ YH \HDUV 7KH GHDO LV ZRUWK )-' PLOOLRQ 86 RYHU WKH HQWLUHW\ RI WKH Ă€ YH \HDU WHUP representing a small increase in annual SD\PHQWV RQ WKH Ă€ UVW GHDO WKH EDQN VLJQHG ZLWK )LML 6SRUWV &RXQFLO LQ Length of contract: 5 years Annualised value: US$186,000 Overall value: US$930,000 Sport: Multiple sports 118 | www.sportspromedia.com

Hoffenheim get Therapie Drug delivery systems developer and manufacturer LTS Lohmann TherapieSysteme has become a third-tier partner RI %XQGHVOLJD VRFFHU VLGH 76* +RIIHQKHLP 7KH SKDUPDFHXWLFDO company’s logo will appear on TVvisible advertising hoardings at Hoffenheim’s Dietmar-Hopp-Stadion KRPH JURXQG RQ LQWHUYLHZ EDFNGURSV and on the doctor’s case in a threeyear deal which is reportedly worth an DQQXDO ½ 86 WR WKH %DGHQ : UWWHPEHUJ FOXE Length of contract: 3 years Annualised value: US$280,000 Overall value: US$840,000 Sport: Soccer BFFT drive forward with Ingolstadt 1HZO\ SURPRWHG %XQGHVOLJD VRFFHU VLGH )& ,QJROVWDGW KDYH H[SDQGHG WKHLU H[LVWLQJ VSRQVRUVKLS SDFNDJH ZLWK Gaimersheim-based vehicle technology GHYHORSHUV %))7 ZKLFK MXPSV IURP D Ă€ IWK WR D WKLUG OHYHO VSRQVRU RI WKH %DYDULDQ FOXE IRU WKH QH[W WKUHH \HDUV WR WKH HQG RI WKH VHDVRQ $FFRUGLQJ WR 6SRQVRUV GH WKH QHZ GHDO ZKLFK LQFOXGHV VLJQLĂ€ FDQW DFWLYDWLRQ opportunities at the club’s stadium as ZHOO DV D KRVSLWDOLW\ SDFNDJH ZLOO FRVW %))7 ½ SHU VHDVRQ Length of contract: 3 years Annualised value: US$84,000 Overall value: US$252,000 Sport: Soccer

Jamaican athletics connects with telecom brands 7KH -DPDLFD $WKOHWLFV $GPLQLVWUDWLYH $VVRFLDWLRQ -$$$ KDV VHFXUHG VLJQLĂ€ FDQW VSRQVRUVKLS GHDOV ZLWK /LPH DQG )ORZ two telecoms brands owned by Cable and :LUHOHVV &RPPXQLFDWLRQV &:& 7KH two-year agreement is reported to be worth -$0 PLOOLRQ 86 DQG ZLOO see both brands sponsor all of Jamaica’s national athletics championships and all of the country’s senior and junior track DQG Ă€ HOG WHDPV (YHQWV FRYHUHG E\ WKH sponsorship include the Carifta trials and FKDPSLRQVKLSV -XQLRU &HQWUDO $PHULFDQ DQG &DULEEHDQ *DPHV -$$$ GHYHORSPHQW PHHWV DQG WKH -DPDLFD ,QYLWDWLRQDO Length of contract: 2 years Annualised value: US$120,000 Overall value: US$240,000 Sport: Athletics FC Augsburg sign KLB ahead of new season *HUPDQ VRFFHU FOXE )& $XJVEXUJ KDYH agreed a one-year sponsorship deal with ./% .|W]WDO /DFNH %HVFKLFKWXQJHQ *PE+ 7KH %DYDULDQ SDLQWV DQG FRDWLQJV specialist will become a third-tier partner RI WKH %XQGHVOLJD VLGH ,WV EUDQGLQJ will appear on TV-visible advertising KRDUGLQJV DW $XJVEXUJ¡V ::. $UHQD where the company will also have access to KRVSLWDOLW\ IDFLOLWLHV $FFRUGLQJ WR *HUPDQ WUDGH PHGLD UHSRUWV ./% ZLOO EH SD\LQJ DURXQG ½ 86 $XJVEXUJ KDYH DJUHHG GHDOV ZLWK WKH OLNHV RI $XGL DQG +DQV 6HJP OOHU 3ROVWHUP|EHOIDEULN RYHU WKH VXPPHU LQ FROODERUDWLRQ ZLWK PDUNHWLQJ SDUWQHU 6SRUWĂ€ YH Length of contract: 1 year Annualised value: US$165,000 Overall value: US$165,000 Sport: Soccer Mainz keep time with Lacroix %XQGHVOLJD VRFFHU RXWĂ€ W )69 0DLQ] KDYH UHQHZHG WKHLU GHDO ZLWK 6ZLVV ZDWFKPDNHU 0DXULFH /DFURL[ IRU RQH \HDU 7KH GHDO LQFOXGHV DQ DGYHUWLVLQJ SUHVHQFH DW WKH &RIDFH $UHQD LQFOXGLQJ H[FOXVLYH EUDQGLQJ GXULQJ VWRSSDJH WLPH DQG LV YDOXHG E\ 6SRQVRUV GH DW ½ 86 0DLQ] DJUHHG D WHQ \HDU marketing partnership with Infront Sports 0HGLD LQ $XJXVW Length of contract: 1 years Annualised value: US$100,000 Overall value: US$100,000 Sport: Soccer

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DELEGATES IN 2015

30+ EXHIBITORS

27 HOURS OF NETWORKING

GLOBAL PARTNERS

640

SOCCEREX

COUNTRIES IN 2014

897 200+ RIGHTSHOLDER REPRESENTATIVES

50 SPEAKERS

COUNTRIES IN 2015

54 84

58% C-LEVEL OR DIRECTOR

135 PRESS

65+ BUSINESS CARDS

45%

55%

BUYER / SUPPLIER SPLIT

INDEX

Index of companies and people 50 Cent

80

Browning, Mark

84

18

BSKYB

46, 108

CRICKET ASSOCIATION OF BENGAL

32

AB INBEV Abramovich, Roman

46

BT

46

CRICKET AUSTRALIA

46

ADI

84

BT SPORT

AFC

20, 32, 56

40, 46, 66, 72

BT TV

46

AL JAZEERA

40, 46

BT VISION

46

ALIBABA

72

Bush, Bill

40

Alon, Benny

32

Bushell, Delia

46

AMC

46

40

AMC ENTERTAINMENT

32

BV BORUSSIA DORTMUND Byrd, Steve

100

APPLE

46

ARSENAL FC

46

ASIAN TOUR

56

ASSOCIATED PRESS ATP ATP MEDIA ATP WORLD TOUR

38, 56 56

Bach, Thomas

32

BARCLAYS

96

BBC

6, 84, 108

BCCI

32

Beckham, David

80

Behzadi, Shervin

20

BEIJING TV BEIN MEDIA GROUP

72 40, 66

Blair, Tony Blatter, Philippe Blatter, Sepp BNP PARIBAS

10 32 10, 32 90

66

DAILY MAIL

46

FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION OF MALAYSIA

Daina, Flaminia

96

FOOTBALL LEAGUE

84

DALIAN WANDA

32

FORMULA E

56

20

FOX SPORTS

40

INTERNATIONAL SPORTS PROPERTIES

20

Dallaglio, Lawrence Dalmiya, Jagmohan

32

Francini, Ioris

56

IOC

10, 32, 38, 56

Datnow, Robert

32

Frankenbach, Oliver

20

Daubitzer, Jörg

40

Friedrich, Anja

20

IPL

32, 46

IQIYI

72

ISL WORLDWIDE

90

Isner, John

32

ITF

96

ITN

84

96

40

Carrard, François

32

DFL SPORTS ENTERPRISES

20

Di Montezemolo, Luca

32

FUSE SPORT + ENTERTAINMENT

20

CARSLBERG

ITN CONSULTING

84

CBC SPORTS

20

DIGICEL

40

Ganassi, Chip

12

ITN PRODUCTIONS

84

CCTV

40, 72

Garcetti, Eric

32

ITN SOURCE

84

66

DISCOVERY NETWORKS INTERNATIONAL

46, 56

Cerroni, Tegner

Gasparri, Giulia

96

ITV

84, 108

Chambers, Calum

80

GAYLORD

32

12

Georgiou, Andrew

32

JB SPORTS MARKETING

32

CHAMPION AIR CHANNEL 4

56, 84, 108

Gibson, Colin

20

JOHNSTONE’S PAINT

84

JUSS EVENT

90

84, 108

66

JUVENTUS FC

20

CHELSEA FC

46

ELEVEN SPORTS NETWORK

GLOBAL RALLYCROSS

12

CHANNEL 5

GLOBAL TIMES

72

Kattner, Markus

32

CHENNAI SUPER KINGS

32

Ellison, Larry

90

GOOGLE

46, 72

Kermode, Chris

90

Emanuel, Ari

56

GOPRO

80

Kirilenko, Andrei

20

Cherry, Daniel III

20

EMBRAER

12

GUANGDONG TELEVISION

72

Kogan, David

108

ESPN

40, 46, 72

Guin, Jamie

20

CHIP GANASSI RACING

12

20

32

20

Cappelletti, Michele

CLEVELAND INDIANS

Bindra, Inderjit

CURLING CANADA

20

20

80

12

56

FUNDACIÓ ORFEÓ CATALA-PALAU DE LA MÚSICA CATALANA

Bellamy, Paul

32

12

INTERNATIONAL MOTOR SPORTS ASSOCIATION

FIVB

40

32

Betteridge, Mark

INTERNATIONAL

80

DELOITTE

66

BEST

32, 56, 72

CRYSTAL PALACE FC

84

BELGACOM/ PROXIMUS TV

40

66

INFRONT SPORTS & MEDIA

CAPITAL ONE

38

Bernabéu, Santiago

INFOSTRADA

32

Chung, Mong-joon

10

20

Frostad, Knut

Cho, Wonwoo

Berlusconi, Silvio

12

46

46

BEIN SPORTS GROUP

20

INDYCAR

Dein, David

40

Barraclough, Stuart

IMG COLLEGE

20

72

40, 90

FIM

10, 18, 32, 40, 56, 122

Calvo, Francesco

66, 90 84

Bale, Gareth

32, 56

90

AVIVA

BAIDU

CAF

FIFA

Djokovic, Novak

90

ECB

46, 108

EINTRACHT FRANKFURT

20

ESSEL GROUP EUROPEAN PROFESSIONAL CLUB RUGBY

18

Guinness, Chris

72

20, 46

Hannam, Lewis

72

HARIBO

80

Heil, Eric

38

Hellman, Axel

20

Henry, Thierry

46, 122

Hill, Nikolas

CLUB ATLÉTICO DE MADRID

32, 40

EUROPEAN TOUR PRODUCTIONS

56

CLUB BRUGGE

46

EUROSPORT

46, 56, 66

EVERTON FC

122

CNTV

72

Coe, Lord Sebastian

20, 38

Colman, Olivia

56

COMMONWEALTH GAMES FEDERATION

20

FACEBOOK FC BARCELONA

CONMEBOL

FC BAYERN MUNICH 32

12 90

Borkai, Zsolt

32

BROOKLYN NETS

20

COVENTRY CITY FC

122

Federer, Roger

Brown, Gordon

10

Coward, Nic

40

FIA

120 | www.sportspromedia.com

20

32

LAGARDERE UNLIMITED

32 32

32

Lapasset, Bernard

32

Hollander, Tom

56

Lauber, Michael

32

HUFFINGTON POST

80

Laurie, Hugh

56

HYUNDAI

32

Lavrusik, Vadim

80

IAAF

20, 38

Leto, Jared

80

ICC

18, 32, 46

LETV SPORTS

72

IEC IN SPORTS

32

LFP

40

Li Keqiang

72

Lineker, Gary

46

IMG 20

LAGARDERE SPORTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

32

40

FEATHERLITE

Couchouron, Carsten

32

Lagardère, Jean-Luc

20, 40

80

40, 46

LAGARDERE GROUP

Lagardère, Arnaud

80

FC GRENOBLE RUGBY

LA LIGA

56, 72, 84

LOS ANGELES FC

20

NASCAR

12

Lublin, Jason

20

NATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE

20

Lumme, Timo

56

Lynch, Loretta

32

Ma, Guoli

32

Ma, Jack

72

MAHOU SAN MIGUEL

40

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL ADVANCED MEDIA

100

MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER

56

MANCHESTER CITY FC MANCHESTER UNITED FC

40, 46, 80

NBC Sports Network

40

RDS

20

32

Valcke, Jérôme

32

NETFLIX

46, 72

REAL MADRID CF

40

Srinivasan, Narayanaswami

66

van Rooyen, Stephen

46

STARHUB

NETIA

66

NEW JERSEY DEVILS

20

NEW YORK COSMOS

20

NEWCASTLE UNITED FC

122

NEWS CORP

46

NEWS UK

84

Neymar

40

O’Brien, Seamus

32

40 Obama, Barack

MATRA

32

MATRA SPORTS

32

108 20

MOTOGP

46, 56

Mou, John

20

MP & SILVA

20, 40, 56, 66

40

VODAFONE

40

Suning Corporation

40

VOLVO OCEAN RACE

32

RICOH

122

SUNSET + VINE

84

20

Sutton, Ben

20

WORLD ANTI-DOPING ASSOCIATION

38

ROGERS CENTRE Ronaldo, Cristiano

40

TECHCRUNCH

80 Wang, Jianlin

32

Rooney, Wayne

46

Tegner, Andre

66

Roura, Albert

20

TELEFÓNICA

40

Warner, Jack

32

WASPS HOLDINGS

20

TENCENT SPORTS

72

Wasserman, Casey

32

Ok, Danny

38

SABMILLER

18

TENNIS AUSTRALIA

56

Watson, Marc

66

OMNICON MEDIA GROUP

20

Sale, Charles

46

TENNIS PROPERTIES LIMITED

90

Watts, Stuart

90

Salmon, Peter

108 32

32

WEST HAM UNITED FC

122

Thakur, Anurag Salve, Narendra

72

THE FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION

46

SARFT

WESTERN & SOUTHERN

90

Scala, Domenico

32

THE GUARDIAN

18

WESTS TIGERS

20

Scudamore, Richard

40, 108

The Rock

80

Whittingdale, John

108

SEVILLA FC

40

THE SPORTS CONSULTANCY

32 WME

56

THE SUN

84

WME | IMG

THE TIMES

20, 56, 90

84 WORLD FOOTBALL INSIDER

20

WORLD RUGBY

32

WORLD SPORT GROUP

32, 56

OMNIGON

122

122

Moss, Phil

Suárez, Luis

20

8, 10

Owen, Michael

Mosey, Roger

18

REPUCOM

20, 122

66

90

RENAULT

WASPS RFC

Menken, Danny

20

46

18

40

Moore, Raymond

VIRGIN MEDIA

TEN SPORTS

40

Montagut, Albert

46

20

20

OTE

40

Vieira, Patrick

Stremlaw, Greg

RUSSIAN BASKETBALL FEDERATION

ORANGE

Molnar, Paul

100

10, 38

66

80

100

STATS LLC

Reedie, Sir Craig

TELENET

MEERKAT

MLB

72

122

40, 46

20

RED LANTERN DIGITAL MEDIA

Ruibal, Claude

MEDIAPRO

MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES

20

72

Masters, Richard

32

UTAH JAZZ

SPOTIFY

20

Messick, Andrew

56

96

Martin, Louise

40

8

USTA

RAI SPORT 2

38

Messi, Lionel

USOC

40, 46

Nuzman, Carlos Arthur

66

100

NBC

96

90

SPORTRADAR US

20

Marighella, Matteo

Mertens, Anouk

66

40

SPORTSCOTLAND

66, 100

MERCEDES-BENZ

Radrizzani, Andrea

US CLUB SOCCER

32

NFL

80

20

Radwanska, Aga

10

McGregor, Connor

SPORTING KANSAS CITY

66, 100

40, 46

90

32

NBA

Mandela, Nelson

MCDONALD’S

Prince Ali Bin AlHussein

PANASONIC AVIONICS

56

Pascoe, Justin

20

Shah, Vishal

100

Patterson, Gavin

46

SHANGHAI MEDIA GROUP

72

Shapiro, Mark

20

Thobois, Etienne

32

SHEFFIELD FC

18

TOPSY

80

Silva, Riccardo

66

20

Simon, Steve

90

TORONTO BLUE JAYS

SINA SPORTS

72

TRAFFIC SPORTS

56

66

Trump, Donald

10

WORLD TRIATHLON CORPORATION

32

SINGTEL SKY SPORTS

40, 46, 72, 84

TSN

20

Wright, Mark

12

TUDOR

12

Wright, Sue

12

WTA TOUR

90

Yego, Julius

122

YOUTUBE

122

Yu Hang

72

Zaslav, David

56

ZEBRA TECHNOLOGIES

100

Zuckerberg, Mark

80

Pawar, Sharad

32

PCCW

72

PENRITH PANTHERS

20

PEOPLE’S DAILY

72

PERFORM

56

PERISCOPE

80

Perrette, JB

56

Petrosinelli, Eric

100

PGA TOUR

56

Platini, Michel

32

PPTV

40, 72

PREMIER LEAGUE

40, 46, 56, 84, 108, 122

MUNSTER RUGBY

80

Murray, Andy

32, 90

Musgrave, Lee

80 80

PREMIER LEGENDS EVENTS

12

MYEYE Nadal, Rafael

90

PREMIERSHIP RUGBY

46

Smith, Charles

90

TVE

20

SNAPCHAT

80

TVN GROUP

66

SNOW BEER

40

TWITTER

6, 80

SNTV

56, 84

Tyler, Liv

80

Southall, Neville

12

UEFA

SPANISH FOOTBALL FEDERATION (RFEF)

40

32, 40, 72

UFC

46, 80

SPORT1

40

UNICREDIT

20

SPORTFIVE

32

UPSOLUT

32

SportsPro Magazine | 121

DIARY

by The Scribbler

Going nowhere

Highway to the danger drone Camera drones have taken off across the world of sport and the Scribbler – the VHOI FURZQHG NLQJ RI TXDGFRSWHULQJ ² couldn’t be more delighted. According to former England striker Michael Owen – himself an investor in drone company M7Aerial – Premier League club Everton and soccer sorcerer turned apprentice coach Thierry Henry are both currently using them to aid tactical training. And it can only be a matter of time before GURQH UDFLQJ À QDOO\ FDWFKHV RQ 6SDUH D thought, though, for event organisers and broadcasters. Just days after a New <RUN &LW\ KLJK VFKRRO WHDFKHU Á HZ KLV drone into seating at this year’s US Open, D %ULWLVK PDQ ZDV À QHG IRU VQHDNLQJ DQ illegal peek over stadiums during soccer matches. It appears a new breed of security threat looms ominously overhead.

September has not proved a great month IRU JHWWLQJ DURXQG 7KH ORQJ DZDLWHG Coventry Arena station, adjacent to the Ricoh Arena home of soccer’s Coventry City and rugby union’s Wasps, opened its platforms to trains that were too short to accept fans attending matches there. Newcastle United’s players were forced to walk through London’s East End to their Premier League match with West Ham GXH WR WUDIÀ F FRQJHVWLRQ 7KH )UHQFK UXJE\ XQLRQ WHDP·V EXV ZDV KLW ZLWK D À QH in Croydon for parking illegally. And the Scribbler’s trip to the Rugby World Cup opener at HQ seemed almost a tribute to the tournament’s lengthy format. Given such mishaps, maybe it’s time to put the ‘sport’ back into ‘public transport’?

Some years ago, in conversation with one young steward or other of this publication, YouTube’s then head of sports content Claude Ruibal spoke eagerly of the platform’s capacity as a “huge learning tool” for athletes of various abilities. Ruibal has since moved on from the role but the Scribbler had him in mind when watching javelin thrower Julius Yego (above) hurl his way into history at the World Athletics Championships. The Kenyan became WKH À UVW JOREDO À HOG HYHQW FKDPSLRQ LQ WKH KLVWRU\ RI D FRXQWU\ RI GHHS OXQJHG distance runners, a feat he owes to the sharing power of the internet: while he now has a coach, he learned the discipline on YouTube. Ruibal’s vision realised.

Everyone’s a winner

Fourth-place trophy The Scribbler has been enjoying the opening exchanges of the Rugby World Cup very much indeed, helped in no VPDOO SDUW E\ WKH RIÀ FLDO WRXUQDPHQW mobile app from Omnigon. Yet it was a surprise, given the exhausting battle with FULFNHW DQG DWKOHWLFV WR WDNH PHJD HYHQW bronze behind the Fifa World Cup and Summer Olympics, to see the software ELOOHG LQ DVVRFLDWLRQ ZLWK ¶WKH IRXUWK largest sporting event’. Has the quest for third best given way to something more gentlemanly? In any case, it is a relief to have something else to speculate about. 122 | www.sportspromedia.com

Throw to camera

First, there was its decision to expand the European Championship to 24 teams from next year, giving smaller nations JUHDWHU DFFHVV WR LWV Á DJVKLS WRXUQDPHQW Then came the wheeze of spreading Euro 2020 across the entire continent. Don’t be surprised, then, if Uefa’s rumoured plan to create a third club competition for teams that fail to advance from the qualifying rounds for the Champions League or VHFRQG WLHU (XURSD /HDJXH FRPHV WR IUXLWLRQ (XURSHDQ VRFFHU RIÀ FLDOV PD\ EH champions of inclusivity but the Scribbler knows a fool’s errand when he sees one.

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