Issue 90
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Issue 90
SCREEN GRAB THE BUSINESS OF BROADCASTING IN A FRACTURED MARKETPLACE
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Reflections on the Rio 2016 Olympics
Barry Hearn on sport and snooker
Lessons from The Brand Conference
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CONTENTS | ISSUE 90
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Networking Since its launch in five countries last year, Eleven Sports Network has met the demands of a diverse range of markets through a business model which allows the leadership in each country to develop their own approaches.
Mike Egerton/PA Wire/Press Association Images
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60 COVER STORY 60
Over the horizon
38
50
56
Reflections on Rio
SportsPro takes some time to consider a few of the more pressing questions around the US$8 billion takeover of Formula One by John Malone’s Liberty Media Corporation.
The Brand Conference: what we learned
Company Profile: Vital progress Chicago-based Vital Proteins is looking to take the wellbeing benefits of collagen from beauty products into the world of elite and recreational sport.
66 At Liberty: The future of Formula One
The profile: On cue Barry Hearn has become perhaps the UK’s most revered sports promoter in a diverse 40-year career and is back with his first sporting love, snooker, aiming to reap the digital benefits of massive interest from the giant market of China.
The Brand Conference, SportsPro’s event for those in sport building brands and those in brands reaching fans, returned to Lord’s Cricket Ground for its third edition on 15th September. As ever, a range of refreshing talking points emerged.
After Rio completed its duty as host of the 2016 Games, the International Olympic Committee must move on from the party to a challenging future.
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FEATURES
Broadcast income has transformed sport over the past generation but it may be changes in distribution models that shape the years ahead.
INSIGHTS
Eir to the throne Setanta Sports was a homegrown Irish success before being picked up this year by domestic telecoms leader Eir. Now, Eir Sport is looking to build on the legacy of its forebear and attract new customers to its parent brand.
Around the world in ESPN Few broadcasters cover as much of the sporting globe as ESPN, and few executives cover as much ground as ESPN International managing director Russell Wolff. He shares his thoughts on the business of television, everywhere.
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CONTENTS | ISSUE 90
90
Vision statement 2016 oered a packed summer of sport to television viewers around the world and behind much of it was Eurovision, the media solution partner and operational arm of the European Broadcasting Union.
94
Built to perform Women’s tennis has historically lacked the worldwide reach and exposure of comparable mainstream sports. That, however, is all set to change thanks to the creation of WTA Media.
100 Tour on the rise The increased popularity of cycling at a spectator and participation level in the UK has since seen the Tour of Britain become a celebration of the sport’s fastestemerging market.
Andy Wong/AP/Press Association Images
106 Business at the beach SportsPro went to Austria for the A1 Major Klagenfurt to experience the heady mixture of high-end entertainment and world class sport on the Swatch Beach Volleyball Major Series.
94
110 Laser guided The International Modern Pentathlon Union has not always lived up to its name. It wants to change that, however, through its Laser Run World Championships.
114 SportsPro Stories: What was Arnie selling? The great Arnold Palmer died in late September. He represented a version of golf and America that lives on in the public imagination.
AT THE FRONT 6 8 10 12 16
118 Company Profile: Satellite vision The world’s biggest sporting events are watched in hundreds of countries by millions of people, but few consider how live footage makes it from one side of the planet to the other.
Editor’s Letter Notes and Observations The Matt Slater Column Digest
Could the NFL thrive in London? Konstantinos Filippas
Premature Facts Movers and Shakers SportsPro World Gallery The Shot
AT THE BACK
Enhancing the international racing broadcast product Henry Birtles
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120 122 126 128 130
Deals Review Sponsorship Deals Index Unofficial Partner Jottings
SportsPro (ISSN 1756 5340), (Issue 90) is published monthly by SportsPro Media Ltd and distributed in the USA by Mail Right Int., 1637 Stelton Road B4, Piscataway, NJ 08854. 3HULRGLFDOV 3RVWDJH 3DLG DW 3LVFDWDZD\ 1- DQG DGGLWLRQDO PDLOLQJ RIĂ€FHV POSTMASTER: Send address changes to SportsPro, SportsPro Media, C/o 1637 Stelton Road B4, Piscataway NJ 08854
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EDITOR’S LETTER
See change
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here was something of a watershed feel to the summer of 2016. Brazil, after its years of ever more arduous toil and increasingly uncomfortable scrutiny, ended its stint as the host of world sport’s mega-events with what were, given the circumstances, highly creditable Olympic and Paralympic Games. ,Q (XURSH )UDQFH VWDJHG DQ H[SDQGHG 8HID (XURSHDQ &KDPSLRQVKLS WKDW ZDV D ÀUVW QRG WRZDUGV ZKDW WKH VRFFHU WRXUQDPHQWV of the future could be – not least if plans for a 48-team Fifa World Cup go ahead – and yet one whose presence in a single, traditional host nation will seem quaint to those traipsing around the continent for the 13-city Euro 2020. The concept for that event was forged in an era whose values are being threated. The very real crises of modern geopolitics have produced a FULVLV RI FRQÀGHQFH LQ FRXQWU\ DIWHU FRXQWU\ WKH UHVSRQVH WR GLIÀFXOW\ KDV EHHQ LQVXODULW\ )URP WKH SURWHFWLRQLVW OXUFK RI %UH[LW WR WKH ULVH RI sometimes dangerous fringe groups across Europe and the ludicrous, lunatic candidacy of Donald Trump in the US, dormant fears are being exploited in a manner unfamiliar to nations that are typically open and engaged. The consequences for any global industry could be far-reaching. Other developments will have broad, if less seismic, implications, and those are the developments with which this issue of SportsPro is PRVWO\ FRQFHUQHG )RU RYHU D GHFDGH QRZ WKH GHOLYHU\ RI WHOHYLVLRQ KDV EHHQ PRYLQJ DZD\ IURP D XQLÀHG PHWKRG WR DQ DWRPLVHG RQH DQG WKH experience of watching has gone from the communal to the individual. Sport, for the most part, has not only eluded this change but has been almost a bulwark against it – a means by which broadcasters could enshrine the practices they knew best and guarantee an income in the process. But even the way live sport is watched is moving on in the digital age, and those who cover it are beginning to change the terms of their relationship with the viewer, before that viewer leaves them behind. No doubt the upcoming Sportel Convention in Monaco will see those discussions reach an eager pitch but this is one case in which it will be the audience who decide what’s next. That will be something to watch.
Duncan Revie
SportsPro was sad to learn this month of the passing of Duncan Revie, the founder of leading soccer events company Soccerex. He was 62. Revie led Soccerex from a time in which the concept of an industry event was a new one, and what impresses most about what he created is how it has brought together those from business and those from sport. Moreover, and this is something we at SportsPro have learned in our years of partnership with the company, his leadership of Soccerex has left a close-knit and companionable team. He inherited a love of soccer from his father, Don, and that above all is what shone through in his work: the honest, excited belief that the game was worth a lifetime’s commitment. Our condolences go to those closest to him.
The concept for Euro 2020 was forged in an era whose values are being threated.
Eoin Connolly Editor
EDITOR Eoin Connolly
MANAGING DIRECTOR Nick Meacham
SUB EDITOR Adam Nelson
COMMERCIAL CONSULTANT Richard Partridge
AMERICAS EDITOR Michael Long
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGERS Jon Abraham, Bobby Hare, Charlie Barker
STAFF WRITERS George Dudley, Tom Lloyd
BUSINESS OPERATIONS MANAGER YĂŠwandĂŠ ArulĂŠba
ART DIRECTOR Daniel Brown
EVENTS MANAGER Yin Khoo
PHOTOGRAPHIC AGENCY Action Images MEDIA PARTNER Press Association
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SportsPro magazine is published by: SportsPro Media Ltd 3rd Floor, Two America Square, London EC3N 2LU, UK Tel: +44 (0) 207 549 3250 Fax: +44 (0) 207 549 3255 Email: info@sportspromedia.com Web: www.sportspromedia.com (SportsPro Media Ltd is part of the Henley Media Group Ltd www.henleymediagroup.com) NOTICES: Issue No 90 SportsPro Magazine (ISSN 1756-5340) is published bi-monthly throughout the year. Printed in the EU.
SUBSCRIPTIONS: Available at a cost of UKÂŁ199 (Print subscription), and UKÂŁ149 (Digital Subscription). Back issues are available for UKÂŁ25 and delivered anywhere in the world at no extra charge. Subscriptions are available by logging on to www.sportspromedia.com EDITORIAL COPYRIGHT: The contents of this magazine, both words and statistics, are strictly copyright and the intellectual property of SportsPro Media. Copying or reproduction may only be carried out with written permission of the publishers, which will normally not be withheld on payment of a fee. Article reprints: Most articles published in SportsPro Magazine are available as reprints by prior arrangement from the publishers. Normal minimum print run for reprints is 400 copies, although larger and smaller runs are possible. Please contact us at: info@sportspromedia.com
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NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS
Allardyce lost Adam Nelson am Allardyce was appointed as the manager of the England national soccer team after the last edition of SportsPro went to press, and he had left the role well before we sent this one to the printers. This particular factoid may have passed the man known as ‘Big Sam’ by, but nevertheless serves to highlight quite how impressive an achievement it was for him to perform such an act of self-sabotage so quickly; to land his “dream jobâ€? and almost immediately set about turning it into a nightmare. It is particularly tragic that this was a rare occasion that saw a British soccer manager describe his new position as “the role I have always wantedâ€? and genuinely mean it. On the currently available evidence, Allardyce’s crimes amount to little more than gross stupidity. The Daily Telegraph sting which cost the now former England manager his job caught him arranging large payments for a small amount of work, offering advice on how to circumvent Football Association (FA) rules on transfers, and bad-mouthing his predecessor as England manager. In terms of TXDQWLĂ€DEOH ZURQJGRLQJ $OODUG\FH FDQ EH DFFXVHG RI ODFNLQJ LQWHJULW\ RI ODFNLQJ SURIHVVLRQDOLVP DQG RI ODFNLQJ DQ DSSURSULDWHO\ FDOLEUDWHG EUDLQ WR PRXWK Ă€OWHU V\VWHP ,W PLJKW EH DUJXHG WKDW LQ PRVW OLQHV RI ZRUN ² EXW SDUWLFXODUO\ RQH DV KLJK SURĂ€OH DQG ZHOO UHPXQHUDWHG DV WKH (QJODQG PDQDJHU¡V job – these failings alone would justify at least a stringent performance review. Nevertheless, Allardyce’s plight has attracted sympathy from across the world of soccer, not only from the usual suspects in the English game’s Old Boys’ Club – the assorted ex-pros and VHQLRU )OHHW 6WUHHW Ă€JXUHV ZKR GRPLQDWH WKH PDLQVWUHDP GLVFRXUVH DURXQG VRFFHU LQ WKH FRXQWU\ ZKR KDYH ODXQFKHG GHIHQFHV RI Allardyce as a ‘proper football man’ – but from fans as well, many of whom have doubted the ability of the FA to cast judgement on D PDQ¡V LQWHJULW\ DW D WLPH ZKHQ LW KDV EHFRPH GLIĂ€FXOW WR EHOLHYH WKDW DQ\RQH LQYROYHG LQ WKH VWUXFWXUH RI VRFFHU JRYHUQDQFH FDQ GR VR without falling foul of rank hypocrisy.
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In terms of quantifiable wrongdoing, Allardyce can be accused of lacking integrity, of lacking professionalism, and of lacking an appropriately calibrated brain-to-mouth filter system. $QG WKHUHLQ LV HQFDSVXODWHG WKH GLIĂ€FXOW\ RI WKH )$¡V SRVLWLRQ ,WV GXDO UROH DV ERWK WKH DGPLQLVWUDWRU RI WKH QDWLRQDO VRFFHU WHDP and as the governing body of the game in England left it with little room to manoeuvre once the evidence against Allardyce had been made public, and particularly once the Telegraph promised further stories regarding other managers. A separate body charged with the RSHUDWLRQDO PDQDJHPHQW RI WKH (QJODQG WHDP PD\ KDYH EHHQ DEOH WR VWDQG E\ LWV PDQ DW OHDVW IRU ORQJ HQRXJK WR FRQĂ€UP LQ ZKLFK direction the wind was blowing. But an FA expected to sit as judge, jury and executioner on others could not feasibly do so when it – and, more pertinently, the public and the media – was in full knowledge of the compromised position of its own most visible employee. The sting may have amounted to little more than entrapment, and the traps into which Allardyce so clumsily fell may have been minor. But this was far more to do with what it said about the FA than what it said about Allardyce – of whom it is telling that the general reaction was surprise over how quickly it took for him to fall, not surprise that he fell. The case has also set into sharp relief once more the antagonism between the British press and soccer’s top brass, with the Daily Telegraph¡V FDPSDLJQ VHHPLQJ WR VRPH OLWWOH PRUH WKDQ D VSHFLĂ€FDOO\ WDUJHWHG FDPSDLJQ WR RXVW WKH QHZO\ LQVWDOOHG (QJODQG PDQDJHU JLYLQJ one in the eye not only to Allardyce himself but to the FA suits misguided enough to employ him. Other managers were embroiled in the scandal but this has appeared incidental, particularly when one of those named, Queens Park Rangers’ Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, turned out to have done little more than agree to speak at a conference in exchange for a sum of money, something entirely within the bounds of his contract with his club. The triviality of many of the subsequent accusations has only heightened the sense that this was done as a show of strength, a demonstration of force from an old media desperate to prove its continued relevance. Though it is at times almost impossible to believe, last year’s arrests at Zurich’s Baur au Lac hotel and the subsequent downfall of both Fifa president Sepp Blatter and Uefa president Michel Platini, among others, have at least begun to usher in a new age of governance within soccer. The old problems will not simply be swept away but they have at least been dragged to the surface, and governing bodies, with a vigilant media waiting to pounce on any infringement, can no longer afford to take the blind-eye approach of the past. Former FA chairman Greg Dyke hit upon this in his assessment, in the aftermath of the Allardyce debacle, that the England manager must be ‘whiter than white’. Any inch given at this stage will be seen as a slippery slope to a further yard – and after that, the miles and miles that had been taken by what we hope is now a lost generation of soccer administrator. @adamsonnel
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SECTION HERE THETEXT SLATER COLUMN
On the beat with Matt Slater With Rio 2016 over, Press Association’s chief sports reporter takes a look at what will be left behind.
io 2016’s organisers promised the world a party and, despite several wobbles, they just about pulled it off. But like many parties, there did not seem to have been much thought about tomorrow – almost literally in the case of the Paralympics. At times, the Games felt like a pyramid scheme of good times and the secret to enjoying it was to know when to get out – not an option for the vast majority of Rio’s population. This is their Olympic legacy and they have to make it work. The issue of what happens to the hosts when the guests go home is currently being discussed very loudly by the Summer Olympics’ next venue, the much ULFKHU FRXQWU\ RI -DSDQ $QG LW LV WHUULĂ€HG Tokyo’s new governor Yuriko Koike has respected nobody’s sore head at International Olympic Committee (IOC) HQ by asking them some sobering questions about all these new buildings – canoeing centres, volleyball arenas and so on – her citizens are on the hook for. Koike seems determined to turn the promised ‘compact’ Tokyo 2020 into a discount Tokyo-ish 2020, which is fair enough when a panel of experts have just told her the bill for this jamboree is now four times the original estimate. Elected a few days before the Rio Olympics started, Koike has spelled it out: she does not want to “impose a negative legacyâ€? on Tokyo. But that is something every Olympic host has tried to avoid since Montreal’s 40-year hangover from the 1976 bash that nearly broke the city. Some have fared better than others on that front – ahem, Athens – and it is too early to fairly assess Rio’s return. But Tokyo’s tension got me thinking about two very different examples of bricksand-mortar legacy that I visited in Rio. 7KH Ă€UVW ZDV DW WKH HQG RI WKH EUDQG new highway from middle-class Barra – think Croydon with a beach – to the army base in dusty Deodoro. It was a private
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Perhaps it is time for the IOC to think about how it can be an easier guest by not making quite so many demands. road for those with the right accreditation during the Games and the only way to get the Olympic Whitewater Stadium and back inside a day. I was shown around by Rio 2016’s executive director of sport Agberto Guimaraes, a bundle of enthusiasm who just missed out on a medal when Steve Ovett beat Seb Coe in the 800m at the Moscow Olympics in 1980. It was not his job to worry about what happened to the Olympic Whitewater Stadium once the Games were over but, as a man who had either competed for Brazil or worked in Brazilian sport all his adult life, he cared more than most. So Agberto, I asked, Brazil does not appear to have a particularly strong pedigree in canoe slalom or much interest in it. If I were to come back in a few years’ time, would these Americanengineered, ‘pump-powered’ rapids still EH Ă RZLQJ RU ZRXOG WKH\ EH FKRNHG E\ rubbish from the same nearby favela WKDW KDV EHHQ Ă€ULQJ EXOOHWV LQWR WKH neighbouring equestrian venue? His answer was refreshing, in more than one sense. *XLPDUDHV H[SODLQHG WKLV ZDV WKH Ă€UVW of Rio 2016’s new venues to open... as a giant, outdoor swimming pool for the beach-deprived locals, complete with deckchairs, music and umbrellas. “If we are ever going to have a challenge using a venue, it won’t be here,â€? he told me, and he meant it. He was a little less convincing on how the velodrome would be transformed
into a viable indoor training centre for long jumpers and pole vaulters, or what will happen to the three Arenas Cariocas, designed by fancy London architects, or who will be queuing up to play at Barra’s new golf course. But I did visit another Rio venue, in this case a renovated one, that looked certain to be a legacy hit: the Costa Brava Clube. What’s that? You do not recall the world class sport that took place at the Costa Brava Clube? Well, that is because it was a venue for world class schmoozing and was better known, for a month anyway, as Casa Italia, the home from home for the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI). The easiest way to describe the place is ‘Bond lair’. Perched on a rocky promontory above the ocean, the dilapidated club was refurbished by the ,WDOLDQV DQG Ă€OOHG ZLWK EHDXWLIXO IXUQLWXUH That all went back in crates to Italy but the done-up club, accessed by a bridge high above a hidden beach and sports facilities, was returned to its grateful owners and the residents of Rio’s poshest gated community, Joatinga. It is ironic that the Italians only went for something this extravagant because Rome was making a bid for an Olympics that its new mayor has now decided is not worth the cost or trouble. I sincerely hope there are other bits of the Rio party plan that can avoid whiteelephant status – the new bus system has game-changing potential for the city’s poor – because a state of the art canoeing venue destined to become a watering hole and a country club on the rocks do not represent the greatest return on Brazil’s investment. Perhaps it is time for the IOC to think about how it can be an easier guest by not making quite so many demands, bringing more to the party and even hanging around to clean up a bit. 3UHVV $VVRFLDWLRQ LV DQ RIĂ€FLDO SportsPro media partner.
DIGEST SECTION TEXT HERE ISSUE 90
Next time in
The development edition
The Agenda
When Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment opened the Barclays Center in 2012 it not only changed the sporting landscape in New York, bringing a major league team back to Brooklyn for the first time since 1955, it also set new standards for venues everywhere. Now, the group is set to repeat the trick with the renovation of Long Island’s Nassau Coliseum. Chief executive Brett Yormark takes SportsPro
through the plans for the venue and talks about life at the Barclays Center, and the future of the Brooklyn Nets and New York Islanders. Elsewhere in issue 91 there will be a wider report on the stadiums and venues sector in 2016, and on the industry’s environmental and social responsibilities. There will also be the latest from the business of soccer, with the European season well underway.
Dates for your diary in the weeks ahead
4TH TO 5TH NOVEMBER The Breeders’ Cup Santa Anita Park, California, USA
13TH TO 20TH NOVEMBER ATP World Tour Finals London, UK The annual men's tennis finale arrives.
5TH TO 13TH NOVEMBER World Sailing Annual Conference and General Assembly Barcelona, Spain
27TH NOVEMBER Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Abu Dhabi, UAE The final race of the 2016 Formula One season, the longest in the series’ history.
8TH NOVEMBER US Presidential Election USA
8TH TO 18TH DECEMBER Fifa Club World Cup
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ISSUE 90 By the numbers p82
Matchroom will create
What they’re saying this month p38
40,000
broadcast hours across
ten sports this year p106
Timo Lumme, IOC
p66
Attendances at the
A1 Major Klagenfurt
p94
event in Austria have grown from
in 1995 to over
50,000 in 2016
“I spend about 55 and 60 per cent of my time outside of the US. My days are long. It’s not uncommon to have a 6am conference call; it’s also not uncommon to have a midnight conference call.” Russell Wolff, ESPN International
beach volleyball
2,500
“In the end the Games were fantastic and we are all incredibly proud of what was achieved. In fact, considering this context, what was achieved was quite outstanding.”
“If you are generating similar viewership as other properties, and you’re delivering the same amount of hours, attracting the same viewers, shouldn’t you be at the same level in terms of investment?” Bruno Rocha, WTA Media
p114
“No matter how big his world may be, he is small town.” The late IMG founder Mark McCormack, encapsulating the enduring appeal of the late, great Arnold Palmer
SportsPro Magazine | 13
THOUGHT LEADER HORSE RACING
ENHANCING THE INTERNATIONAL RACING BROADCAST PRODUCT Henry Birtles ations showcase their own horse racing brilliantly within their respective jurisdictions: thoughtful, wellproduced programming, attractive to an entertainment-seeking audience. In the UK, Channel 4 has done a stellar job with their coverage up and down the country. Every Saturday and throughout major festivals they have offered features relevant to the day’s action, pre-race build-up from the Parade Ring, insightful interviews, exhilarating action with superb commentary, the in-depth post-race analysis and emotion-evoking parting shots from the Winners Enclosure; all accompanied by stories that capture the very essence of everything that is remarkable about this sport. However, this is a domestic programme, for a domestic audience. The challenge ahead is to mirror the amazing advances made in the competitive international racing scene, with a compelling, consistent and globally tailored television and media plan. Where Channel 4, NBC, Channel 7 et al serve their domestic audiences with distinction, high-standard internationally DFFHSWDEOH RXWSXW SURGXFHG VSHFLÀFDOO\ to make real global gain for these great events is thin on the ground. Internationally, the necessity for top-level production in the sport is barely recognised. Far too often the programming made available for export is nothing more than a betting product away from the track. It is not attracting those looking for entertainment. Racing is so much more than a betting product, and this entertainment value must be realised. Look at the story of American Pharoah, a horse that made history in 2015, winning
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Today, many equine stars on the home front become globetrotting superstars very quickly in their careers. 16 | www.sportspromedia.com
The story of American Pharoah illustrates horse racing’s need to improve its international broadcasts
the Grand Slam of American thoroughbred horse racing. It is stories like this that are happening across the globe in this PDJQLÀFHQW VSRUW DQG ZRXOG PDNH IRU entertaining content on networks worldwide. Today, many equine stars on the home front become globetrotting superstars very quickly in their careers. This only goes to further warrant greater production surrounding races that should be but are not distributed internationally, for the potential audiences who would appreciate well-produced, in-depth, entertaining coverage of equine stars testing their mettle amongst the world’s best. A live feed from the racecourse, with little in the way of engagement or greater entertainment than the race itself, does not do justice to the magnitude of many occasions or even the excitement of the event. A fully produced domestic output also cannot work due to unrecognisable presenters and local themes carried through the programming. There is a necessity for a completely different style of production that will be appealing to audiences worldwide. This is where feature programming, incorporating live racing but offering much more in the way of entertainment surrounding the feature showpiece, should become the primary output all federations should make available. An attractive
one-hour show, with the exciting history of a race, highlights of earlier races on the card, race build-up, live race footage, post-race celebrations and added colour surrounding the event, such as fashion pieces and celebrity features, is an ideal model for broadcasters, agencies and federations. This has been a successful model in recent years for events such as the Breeders’ Cup and the Melbourne Cup, broadcast internationally. However, there is very little reason as to why this cannot be cascaded down from the very top to other high-level races and events. The ‘Super 12’ concept is something Henry Birtles Associates (HBA) began thinking of years ago, but the nature of the horse racing industry on a global level did not allow for the concept to progress. We may be much closer now with federations, agencies and broadcasters slowly waking up to the production issues faced. The ‘Super 12’ concept is quite simple, take 12 HVWDEOLVKHG Ă DJVKLS UDFHV IURP DFURVV WKH world, allocate funds to achieve a standard level of production, and distribute to a worldwide audience across major networks. Henry Birtles is the founder of Henry Birtles Associates (HBA), the established leader in the promotion of horse racing to the sports television industry.
WHY GOING OVER-THE-TOP COULD BE THE ANSWER TO SCORING BIG IN NICHE SPORTS LUKE GAYDON, VICE PRESIDENT, OTT SOLUTIONS, BRIGHTCOVE
A
ccording to Nielsen, during the first ten days of the 2016 Rio Olympics more than two billion minutes (that’s 33 million hours) of coverage was streamed online. That’s more than the 1.46 billion minutes streamed during the 2012 London Olympics and 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics combined. There can be no doubt, therefore, that the way we consume sports content has dramatically changed in the past few years alone - especially as consumer expectation for readily available content grows. But it’s not just mainstream sports like the Olympics or Premier League that are reaping the rewards of going over-the-top for their audiences. Minority and niche sports broadcasters are also seeing strong audience growth through OTT as viewers continue to embrace the ‘lean-forward’ sports experience. BREAKING THROUGH THE BARRIERS To date, smaller sports broadcasters have come up against a host of challenges getting airtime for their content. Typically restricted to niche channels or late night scheduling, minority sports often lose out to the sporting giants that dominate both prime-time TV and mainstream audience attention. Technical expertise also presents difficulties. Niche broadcasters often find they lack the deep understanding and equipment required to deliver and broadcast high-quality sports content to their audiences across platforms, whenever and wherever they are.
Similar challenges also exist for fans who frequently struggle to find the content they want – having to troll the internet for hours to find relevant and worthwhile niche sporting coverage. However, video-on-demand (VOD) and OTT services are changing all this. Smaller sports federations are increasingly able to play on the same field as the big broadcasters. Whether it’s major league football or extreme fishing, OTT solutions are opening doors for content owners across the sporting world to quickly and easily deliver high-quality, TV-like online video services to their global fan bases. Take Red Bull Cliff Diving, for example, which has seen a huge audience growth rate in recent years due to OTT exposure – now an eight-year old ‘World Series’. Likewise, its Unfastened Kite Surfing event (powered by Brightcove customer, Blue Juice) saw similar audience uplift through OTT video, with daily content attracting thousands of views online. MONETISING MINORITY SPORTS The ability to replicate the monetisation models of mainstream sports broadcasters is also shifting the needle for niche content. OTT services can now help broadcasters of all sizes unlock new revenue streams and monetise content via advertising or subscription models. Targeted video advertising stitched into coverage streams (as can be achieved with Brightcove Once) can deliver increased ad viewership, and with content delivered crossplatform each device presents a
new monetisation opportunity. The added audience visibility also makes competition and sporting event sponsorship a more attractive option to outside supporters who would gain from the greater exposure and increased returnon-investment. As such, OTT is a potential game changer for small sporting federations who can now benefit from the stability of monetised content – allowing them to keep broadcasting and viewers switched on. THE FUTURE FOR NICHE SPORTS For the reasons above, we are already seeing many smaller sports broadcasters move towards launching their own premium OTT offerings – and it’s a trend we expect to see accelerate in the coming years. In turn, we hope to see the popularity of niche sports grow even further, providing fans easy access to the content they love, and the ability to connect with like-minded sports fanatics – all through great content and an even better viewer experience. A win-win for broadcasters and fans alike. For those sports federations willing to take the time to invest in OTT, there are clearly huge advantages to be had. The good news is that with solutions like Brightcove OTT Flow - powered by Accedo providing all the core technology and functionality for content owners to quickly and cost effectively launch new OTT services the barrier to entry is getting lower all the time. Visit brightcove.com for more info.
THOUGHT LEADER FOOTBALL
Could the NFL thrive in London? Konstantinos Filippas he National Football League (NFL) has always pioneered innovation, perfecting their audience’s live content consumption. They are willing to try new ideas and challenge traditional processes, which is vital in an increasingly competitive media landscape. There are always competitive challenges facing professional sports, but for the NFL their biggest challenge now is how to attract an increasingly global audience. That is a challenge that, I believe, the NFL has readily accepted. Evidence for this comes from the NFL’s International Series, which is now into its tenth year and growing, with three NFL regular season games being played in London in 2016. It has been an undeniable success so far, regularly selling out every available seat at Wembley Stadium. This year the NFL will expand away from Wembley to play one game at Twickenham, the home of English rugby union, as well as another game between the Houston Texans and Oakland Raiders at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. Furthermore, the International Series looks like it is here to stay. Wembley is committed to hosting games until at least 2020, while Tottenham Hotspur’s new stadium will stage two matches a season between 2018 and 2027. This concerted effort to grow the sport’s international audience base asks some interesting questions: how far could this success go? Does this make a Londonbased NFL franchise possible? To be frank, there is perhaps a more pertinent question for long-term sustainability. That is, how ÀQDQFLDOO\ VXFFHVVIXO FRXOG D 8. EDVHG NFL franchise be? The answer, I think, is very successful indeed. There is strong evidence that WKH EXLOGLQJ EORFNV IRU D 8. IUDQFKLVH are already there. In terms of matchday revenue, London-based sports fans provide D VLJQLÀFDQW UHWXUQ RQ LQYHVWPHQW IRU successful sports teams. Deloitte’s Football Money League, published in January 2016, shows that Arsenal earned ₏132m per
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The NFL’s International Series has proved popular
season at the Emirates Stadium, Chelsea brought in ₏93.1m, and Tottenham, who have yet to open their new stadium, earned ₏54.2 million. There is no doubt that London provides a potential market of committed sports fans, with easy transport links for a broad base of fans who have demonstrated increasing levels of engagement with the NFL. However, the potential goes beyond the live audience. Combined matchday and commercial revenues would be dwarfed by the potential value of EURDGFDVW ÀJXUHV 7KH 8. LV RQH RI the most lucrative markets for sports rights holders worldwide, with increasing domestic competition between major broadcasters such as the BBC, BT and Sky. The culmination of this was the UHFHQW 8.… ELOOLRQ GHDO IRU 3UHPLHU League live rights contract, a second successive 70 per cent increase in value. In total there are 26.5 million households
Having played a long game, wisely building on strong foundations, the NFL has the potential to turn itself into a major player in foreign markets.
LQ WKH 8. ZLWK DW OHDVW RQH 79 RI ZKLFK 62.7 per cent, or 16.6 million households, DUH SD\ 79 VXEVFULEHUV $QG JLYHQ WKH ULVH LQ HPHUJLQJ ,379 VHUYLFHV D KHDOWK\ 85 per cent of households have access to broadband technology. It’s also worth noting that this broadcasting base would spread into Europe and other accessible time zones. 03 6LOYD KDV VHHQ D GUDPDWLF ULVH LQ YLHZLQJ ÀJXUHV IRU WKH 1)/ DFURVV (XURSH )RU WKH VHDVRQ 03 Silva and the NFL implemented a new cloud-based content delivery solution for all pan-European NFL content. In collaboration with Deluxe MediaCloud, we introduced an innovative solution via a private cloud, enabling broadcasters to receive HD-quality broadcast content directly into their facility. 7KLV ZDV WKH ÀUVW WLPH WKDW VRPH broadcasters took delivery of signal from a cloud-based service, which is both high-quality and cost-effective, and the results were striking. The service enabled the delivery of 892 live NFL regular season games across Europe in 2015/16, a 50.2 per cent increase on the 594 games delivered in 2014/15. Cumulative television audiences for NFL coverage across Europe were also VLJQLÀFDQWO\ XS DV IDQV ZHUH DEOH WR follow more matches and engage more strongly with the game. During the 2015/16 season, a total of 28 territories and 18 broadcasters delivered NFL games to 109.2 million households. It is these statistics which demonstrate the undeniable potential of the NFL, and their ability to attract a global audience. Having played a long game, wisely building on strong foundations, the NFL has the potential to turn itself into a major player in foreign markets. As a league that thrives on taking on the next challenge, the question is not will they succeed, but how and when. Konstantinos Filippas is managing director, Europe at MP & Silva.
BENEFIT FROM UNIQUE MARKET INSIGHTS ON THE FOOTBALL TRANSFER MARKET. (+(# 6/5 RTQXKFGU RTQHGUUKQPCNU KP VJG Æ‚GNF QH URQTVU (+(# 6/5 RTQXKFGU RTQHGUUKQPCNU KP VJG Æ‚GNF QH URQTVU law and sports business with insightful data on the international football transfer market. 9KVJ (+(# 6/5 %WUVQOKUGF &CVC [QW DGPGÆ‚V HTQO Æ‚TUV JCPF KPHQTOCVKQP QP CNN KPVGTPCVKQPCN VTCPUHGTU QH RTQHGUUKQPCN HQQVDCNN RNC[GTU YJKEJ HCEKNKVCVGU OCTMGV TGUGCTEJ KP FGRVJ CPCN[UKU CPF VTGPF UVWFKGU (WTVJGTOQTG (+(# 6/5 RWDNKUJGU EQORGNNKPI TGRQTVU VJCV RTQXKFG WPKSWG KPUKIJVU QP VJG KPVGTPCVKQPCN HQQVDCNN VTCPUHGT OCTMGV 8KUKV TGRQTVU Æ‚HCVOU EQO HQT OQTG KPHQTOCVKQP CPF FQYPNQCFU 1T EQPVCEV WU CV UQNWVKQPU"Æ‚HCVOU EQO
PREMATURE FACTS
Birmingham bids The UK city of Birmingham is preparing a bid to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games, with hopes that the event could result in a UK£390 million economic windfall for the region. A successful pitch would result in a first Commonwealth Games for England in 24 years, since Manchester played host in 2002. Other bids have already been announced from Liverpool, Auckland in New Zealand, and Edmonton in Canada. Proof, perhaps, that despite worries about the viability of multisport event bids, there is still such a thing as the right place at the right time.
Swooshing in
Gianni Infantino’s Fifa presidency has not been quite the break from the past that was hoped for, with September’s cancellation of the Asian Football Confederation’s Fifa Council elections the latest hiccup. Still, the Swiss is steadily rebuilding the organisation, bringing in new faces like chief financial officer Thomas Peyer, and slightly less new faces like former Uefa and ISL man Philippe Le Floc’h. Infantino’s next rebuilding project is the World Cup, which he wants to expand from 32 to 48 teams to settle regional squabbles about qualification places. But even allowing for absurd levels of bloat, the format has a flaw: 16 teams go home after one game. The scheme may convince FA chiefs, but broadcasters and sponsors may find that level of risk less appealing.
If Nike’s decision to exit the golf equipment business came out of the blue, the revelation had nothing on the plot-thickening twist to come. In one of those juicy yet befuddling bombshells that invariably sets online forums alight, rumour spread in September that the Oregon brand’s long-time pitchman Tiger Woods was in serious talks to buy TaylorMade from Nike’s old foe Adidas. Woods, so the story goes, is fronting up for a group of Chinese venture capitalists, but could it really be that Nike, whose equipment business was built largely off the back of Woods’ success, is behind the whole thing? The company’s strangely secretive signing of world number one Jason Day (above), who will continue to use TaylorMade clubs despite wearing the swoosh, hardly debunks the speculation.
Joe Giddens/PA Wire/Press Association Images
Win? Or go home?
Droning on Having hovered around the fringes of the sports industry for the last year, the Drone Racing League (DRL) might be ready to fly into the mainstream after a US$1 million investment from Sky. The UK pay-TV network has agreed a deal to start screening the series from late October, with live races outside
the US, including one at an as-yet unnamed London location, beginning in 2017. Sky’s contribution is part of a US$12 million fundraising drive by the DRL’s organisers, which has also seen investment from MGM, Hearst Ventures and Matt Bellamy, lead singer of British rock band Muse.
Power up Not content with dominating Formula One, Mercedes is set to launch an entry in Formula E, taking up an option to the electric series from 2018/19, when two new constructors will bring the number of competing teams to 12. Though losing money and lagging well behind its petrol-fuelled counterpart in terms of popularity
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and viewing figures, the addition of popular teams will be seen as another sign that the nascent championship is energising carmakers. “Electrification will play a major role in the future of the automotive industry,” said Toto Wolff, head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport. “This will make Formula E very relevant in the future.”
AWARD WINNING GLOBAL TV SERIES The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race is regarded as the toughest endurance challenge, with everyday people from all walks of life, many of them total novices before their extensive training, taking on the biggest and most arduous competitive ocean adventure on the planet. Around 700 crew led by professional skippers on twelve identical one-design sailing yachts compete in 14 races between six continents covering more than 47,000 miles over eleven months. In the past 20 years the marathon biennial global event has gone from strength to strength and has engaged a range of formats to bring the action to international television audiences. A human adventure storyline capturing the harsh reality of taking on the world’s toughest oceans has proved the most successful. The Race of Their Lives has been developed between rights holder and event operator Clipper Ventures and their Official Host Broadcast Partner 1080 Media TV; the current series has already picked up awards and a third season is in pre-production to capture the Clipper 2017-18 Race with crew now in training for the August 2017 start gun. “We have had a very positive reaction to the latest season of The Race of Their Lives,” says Clipper Ventures Global Business and Communications Director Jonathan Levy who is also executive producer on the series. “The aim is to tell compelling individual human stories within the adrenaline-charged
competitive nature of essentially a team sport. “There are substantial technical and editorial challenges in such an unforgiving hostile environment. In addition to professional self-shooting producer/directors we train yacht crew to capture life on their respective boats and also have a mixture of remote cameras recording 24/7 as well as small personal cameras such as the Garmin VIRB attached to body mounts to get into the heart of the action.” Editorially there have been challenges of dealing with sensitive situations in which the yacht crew are injured and in some instances evacuated from their yachts. In the most recent series there was also tragedy. “For the first time, and we hope the last, in the 20-year history of the race we had not one but two fatalities,” explained Levy. “This is something we have to include but requires great sensitivity for friends and family. We believe we have achieved the right balance to pay tribute to the two people who sadly lost their lives while also conveying the unforgiving nature of the ocean. This is tough and it’s also why people want to take on the challenge. Safety is paramount but when the rules are not followed the consequences can be very serious and we have to convey that too.” The seven one hour shows have been airing throughout the race as they are completed on a wide range of channels reaching over 130 territories. The final episode has just been delivered and the full series is now available for additional
broadcast opportunities. Channels are also securing rights for the next season. In addition to this series Levy is looking to build on coproduction opportunities following a successful model with Beijing Television, combining their own footage of Chinese crew with Clipper Race content to create a bespoke Chinese language series. “There is scope to work with more broadcasters to develop exclusive content for their markets, not only for long-form productions but also for news and features. For example we worked well with US broadcaster NBC to access stories for their flagship Today breakfast show and on-line digital channel NBC.com,” added Levy. 1080 Media TV also produces a range of livestreams, news B-Roll and features, plus social media content for the Clipper Race. The team will be at MIPCOM in Cannes 17-20 October and Sportel in Monaco 24-27 October.
CONTACT DETAILS: Jonathan Levy: jlevy@clipper-ventures.com mobile: +44 (0)7813 948385 www.clipperroundtheworld.com www.1080media.org Link to series promo: https://youtu.be/sHLjV5s-rPY You Tube channel: www.youtube.com/clipperrtw
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
Movers and shakers August and September 2016 This is an edited selection of appointments made in the weeks before publication. For daily updates on the movers and shakers in the sports industry, visit www.sportspromedia.com Please email appointments to: info@sportspromedia.com
Oscar Grau Spanish soccer champions FC Barcelona have appointed Oscar Grau as their new chief executive. He has been brought into the role after incumbent Nacho Mestre requested time off to deal with personal issues. Grau had been serving as the director of the FCBEscola soccer schools, Barcelona’s international network of soccer camps.
Umberto Gandini
Aleksander Ceferin
Greg Clarke
Former AC Milan executive director Umberto Gandini has joined rival Serie A soccer side AS Roma as chief executive. Gandini will replace current chief executive Italo Zanzi, who announced in June that he would be stepping down from his role to explore other opportunities. A 23-year veteran at AC Milan, Gandini has also held roles within Uefa’s Professional Football Strategy Council and was executive vice president of the European Club Association for more than eight years.
Aleksander Čeferin has been elected president of European soccer confederation Uefa. The Football Association of Slovenia (NZS) president beat Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) president Michael van Praag by 42 votes to 13 at an extraordinary congress in Athens. Čeferin is the permanent replacement for France’s Michel Platini, who is currently serving a four-year ban from all soccer-related activities over a ‘disloyal payment’ he received from former Fifa president Sepp Blatter in 2011, and will serve the remainder of Platini’s term until 2019.
Former Football League chairman Greg Clarke has been appointed chairman of England’s Football Association (FA) following the departure of Greg Dyke. Clarke, also a former chairman of Premier League champions Leicester City, left his role at the Football League in June, and was nominated as a replacement for Dyke in July. Dyke, a former director general of the BBC, replaced David Bernstein as FA chairman in July 2013 but did not seek re-election after serving three years in charge.
Hamish Ferguson The UK’s Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) has appointed Hamish Ferguson as its executive director, commercial. Ferguson will assume responsibility for commercial operations at the body, with a focus on operating its sponsorship programmes and delivering commercial value through its brand. He will join the PGA on 1st November from his role as general manager at the Carden Park course.
Chris Nunn
Thomas Peyer
Chris Nunn has been appointed as the managing director for Australia at Futures Sport + Entertainment. Nunn, the former commercial general manager at Port Adelaide FC and commercial partnerships manager at Cricket Australia, will lead the data analytics and brand optimisation consultancy’s business in Australia, where it has offices in Sydney and Melbourne. He will work closely with Futures global managing direct Kevin Alavy.
Thomas Peyer has been appointed chief financial officer of Fifa. The Swiss joins world soccer’s governing body from his role as chief finance officer at Kuoni Group. He holds a degree in Economics and Business Administration from the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), and has previously worked in the Zurich and London offices of AXA Winterthur Insurance as part of a 25-year career in finance.
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Andrew Hill
John Craig
National Rugby League (NRL) administrator Andrew Hill has been appointed chief executive of the Rugby League World Cup 2017 (RLWC2017) organising committee. Hill, who currently works as general manager of league integration and game development within NRL, will front the committee as it puts together the event, which will be hosted by Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.
OC Sport, the organiser of the Extreme Sailing Series, has appointed Canadian John Craig as its new race director for the global stadium racing competition. Craig will replace Phil Lawrence in the role from the start of 2017. The two will work closely together for the remainder of the 2016 series to ensure a smooth transition into the next season. Having previously worked as the principal race officer for the 34th America’s Cup in San Francisco and in the same role for the America’s Cup World Series, Craig comes with a wealth of experience. He also oversaw the development of World Sailing’s Sailing World Cup and was most recently the race director for the Red Bull Foiling Generation.
Rob Abernethy Australian Rob Abernethy has been appointed by World Rugby as general manager for the 2019 Rugby World Cup, hosted by Japan. Abernethy, who has previously worked on the Sydney 2000 and London 2012 Olympic Games, will be based full-time in Tokyo and will oversee the day-to-day management of the tournament organisers ahead of the competition in three years’ time.
Monserrat Jimenez
Andy Cosslett England’s Rugby Football Union (RFU) Nominations Committee has proposed Andy Cosslett to be the next chairman of the RFU. The 61-year-old has previously served as an independent non-executive director on the RFU Board. He was also the chairman of England Rugby 2015, the organising committee for the 2015 Rugby World Cup.
Conmebol, the governing body for soccer in South America, has appointed Monserrat Jimenez as its acting director general. The Paraguayan attorney, currently the legal director of the confederation, will effectively assume chief executive duties on an interim basis under new president Alejandro Dominguez. Jimenez replaces Gorka Villar, a Spanish lawyer who left Conmebol’s director general post in July amid claims he extorted eight Uruguayan clubs that had filed complaints of corruption against the confederation in 2013.
Martyn Hindley
Ralph Rivera Discovery Communications has appointed Ralph Rivera as the new managing director of Eurosport Digital. Rivera, who joins from his role as director of BBC Digital, will manage the pan-European broadcaster’s digital video and streaming services and lead its drive to bring in more digital viewers and subscribers. He will be based at Eurosport’s London offices, reporting to Discovery Communications executive vice president of international development and digital Michael Lang, and will also work closely with Eurosport’s Paris-based chief executive Peter Hutton.
Josh Burack US sports marketing executive Josh Burack has been appointed as the new chief executive of golf’s Asian Tour. Burack – who has over 25 years of global experience in management, sponsorship, media rights sales, TV production and operations – replaces Mike Kerr, who resigned from the role in December 2015. Burack will lead the strategic and commercial direction of the tour and also head the management team, reporting to the tour’s board of directors.
Martyn Hindley has been announced as the head of communications and public relations for European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR), the organiser of the European Rugby Champions Cup, Challenge Cup and Challenge Cup qualifying tournaments. Hindley joins from Uefa and will be responsible for the development and execution of strategies for communications, public relations and EPCR’s digital presence, as well as media events and operations.
MOVER OF THE MONTH John Craig race director for OC Sport’s Extreme Sailing Series What is the biggest responsibility in your new role at the Extreme Sailing Series (ESS)? The responsibilities are trying to make sure that the series continues to grow, at least the race management side of the equation. The other part of it is to work with Andy [Tourrell, event director of the ESS] and OC Sport and the venues to see what we can do to increase the footprint a little bit as far as stadium sailing goes. Some of the venues we’ve been in are pretty tight, and with the Extreme 40 boats they were fine but with the GC32s and the speed at which they foil, the areas we need to showcase the boats a little bit more, we need to figure out how to push the boundaries out and make them a little bit bigger. I think the excitement of the boats is when they’re foiling and when they’re nipping around we need to make sure that we create race areas that enable the guys to do that.
Olivier Gers
What are the challenges you’re facing? Well, we’re looking into new venues but we’re also looking at the venues that we’re in to see if we can work with the local authorities to increase the footprints that we’re playing in. In Hamburg it’s pretty hard, they give you the whole river so there’s not much we can do there. We’re currently in St Petersburg, and it’s small but there’s some areas that maybe we could push a little bit more on, and then we need to look at other venues that have the ability to give us a bigger area to race in. My major hope would just be to get more boats on the start line. I’d like to see if we can get into some new venues, and allow ourselves to highlight the boats a bit better, and to make sure that the race management remains at the level that we’ve got it to and that it is still a constant for all the sailors.
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the global governing body for athletics, has appointed Olivier Gers as its new permanent chief executive. Gers, who had been the global president of LiquidThread, began in his new role on 1st October. His appointment ends a six-month search by the IAAF. He replaces Jean Gracia, who had been fulfilling the role on an interim basis as part of president Sebastian Coe’s restructuring of the organisation. The 46-year-old Frenchman brings with him more than 20 years of commercial, marketing and media experience.
How will you attempt to put your own mark on the series? Phil Lawrence’s [Craig’s predecessor, now with the Volvo Ocean Race] boots will be hard to fill. There’s a couple of things that we need to do. The first is we have to look at some of the safety stuff that I was exposed to during the America’s Cup. I’d like to bring in things which are not necessarily operational but more things we can do to the boats to perhaps gear them to make them safer. The other piece that will be a challenge for sure is to see what we can do to bring in more of the GC32 boats from the World Match Racing Tour [WMRT]. It’s not bringing them into the Extreme Series, it’s more of an opportunity to look at one or two events a year, or maybe more than that, where we can bring the WMRT GC32s plus the Extreme boats together and see what kind of buzz we can create around that. Hopefully the knockon of that would be that we might get some of the Tour GC32s into our events and some of our boats into their event, just to increase the variety of teams that are working in both of them.
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SPORTSPRO WORLD HOSTINGS AND HAPPENINGS
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Conferences 1
New York, USA
The Crowne Plaza Times Square Manhattan is the location for the 2016 edition of the Momentum Sports Marketing Symposium on 9th and 10th November. Discussions will focus on the needs, expectations and passions of tomorrow’s sports fan, the changing rules of engagement for sports marketers and the innovative ideas that are driving the industry forward. 2
Glasgow, UK
The 2016 edition of the Host City conference and exhibition, billed as ‘the world’s largest meeting of cities, sports, business and cultural events,’ takes place in Glasgow, Scotland on 21st and 22nd November. Host City sees city representatives, destination marketers, event owners and suppliers from all over the world meet to network, present their work and learn from each other.
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Monte Carlo, Monaco
Sports media industry leaders from across the globe will once again descend on Monaco from 24th to 27th October for the 2016 edition of the Sportel Convention. The 2015 event saw over 2,700 delegates from 78 different countries in attendance to take advantage of the various conferences, forums and networking opportunities on offer. 4
Geneva, Switzerland
The 2016 International Sports Convention, which gathers 18 different sports conferences covering topics from broadcast and sponsorship to stadiums and sports law, will take place at Geneva’s Palexpo on 7th and 8th December. Yiannis Exarchos (right), chief executive of Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS), will be among the keynote speakers.
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Lausanne, Switzerland
This year’s SportAccord International Federation (IF) Forum will be held from 9th to 11th November at the Hotel Royal Savoy in Lausanne. The tenth edition of the IF Forum will offer three full days of presentations, discussion panels and breakout sessions. ‘The Power of Sport to Drive World Health’ is this year’s programme theme.
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New Orleans, USA
The National Basketball Association (NBA) has confirmed that New Orleans will host the All-Star events next year. The Louisiana city replaces Charlotte, which was stripped of the event due to the introduction of a state law in North Carolina that limits anti-discrimination protections for the LGBT community. The 66th edition of the NBA’s All-Star Game will now be played on 19th February at the Smoothie King Center, which last hosted All-Star events in 2014. B
Biarritz, France
The International Surfing Association (ISA) has confirmed that the World Surfing Games will return to Europe for the first time since 2008 when the French city of Biarritz takes on hosting duties in 2017. The ISA’s flagship tournament will take place in May next year, when the world’s top national surfing teams will arrive on France’s west coast. Biarritz has not staged the Games since 1980, while Europe last played host in 2008 when Costa da Caparica in Portugal was the venue.
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The 2017 World Cup of Gymnastics will be held in London’s O2 Arena, promoter Barry Hearn has announced. The event will take place on 8th April, featuring eight national gymnastics teams. There will be six men’s events – floor, pommel horse, rings, vault, parallel bars and high bar – and four women’s – vault, uneven bars, beam and floor. The last three World Cup of Gymnastics have been held in Glasgow’s Emirates Arena. D
Milan, Italy
Historic Italian racetrack Monza has secured the hosting rights to the Italian Formula One Grand Prix for a further three years. After two years of negotiations – described by Formula One Group chief executive Bernie Ecclestone as “a little bit Italian” – an agreement has been reached. Although the deal is yet to be officially signed, Monza will continue to host the race until at least 2019, following months of speculation about the future of the circuit.
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Rimini, Italy
Misano has retained the rights to host the MotoGP San Marino Grand Prix in a four-year deal. The circuit, in the Rimini region, has hosted MotoGP races since 1980, including two Italian Grands Prix in the 1990s before becoming the home of the San Marino Grand Prix in 2007. The four-year extension, signed between the circuit and MotoGP’s rights holder Dorna Sports, will see the sport remain at the venue until 2020. F
Istanbul, Turkey
Euroleague Basketball has announced that Istanbul will host its season-ending play-off weekend, the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four, in 2017. The Turkish capital will hold the four-day event, contested by the league’s top four teams, from 19th May to 21st May. It is the second time that the Final Four will take place at the Sinan Erdem Dome after the 16,000-capacity venue previously hosted the 2012 edition.
The NBA’s All Star events will return to New Orleans, Louisiana in 2017, having last been held there in 2014, after the league stripped North Carolina of the hosting rights
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GALLERY
Usain Bolt poses for the cameras after taking yet another gold in his final Olympics
The sun sets as Andy Murray’s gold medal defence against Juan Martín del Potro enters a fourth set. Murray became the first male tennis player to win two Olympic singles titles
United States gymnast Simone Biles performs on the balance beam
Action from the men’s omnium in Rio’s velodrome
Ashton Eaton completes the pole vault in the men’s decathlon
Rio’s landscapes, seen here with Christ the Redeemer in the background, provided a visually stunning Olympics
Rio 2016 Olympic Games
paimages.co.uk PAImages
After all the controversies and negative stories in the build-up, Rio de Janeiro delivered South America’s first Olympic Games in style. The world’s biggest sporting event dominated global headlines from 5th to 21st August, with perhaps the biggest surprise being sprung by Team GB, who bettered their medal tally from London to finish second in the overall table.
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Rio’s opening ceremony set the scene for two weeks of explosive sporting action
Australia’s rugby sevens women’s team line up before their victory in the gold medal match on the sport’s return to the Olympic programme
Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike waves the Olympic flag during the handover
Brazilian model Gisele Bündchen walks on stage as ‘The Girl from Ipanema’ during the opening ceremony
Britain’s Mo Farah celebrates victory in the 5,000 metres as he defends his Olympic title
Brazil’s men’s volleyball team celebrate victory at the medal ceremony
Brazilian icon Neymar celebrates his decisive penalty in the men’s soccer gold medal match
Brazil’s Barbara Seixas de Freitas, right, and teammate Agatha Bednarczuk before the women’s beach volleyball final
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GALLERY
Brazil’s president Michel Temer and his wife Marcela watch during the opening ceremony
Britain’s Jonnie Peacock crosses the line to take gold in the 100 metres
Peacock celebrates his victory
Tao Zheng of China poses on the podium with his gold medal for the 100m backstroke
The women’s triathlon passes the Copacabana
Melissa Stockwell of the USA during the swim section of the women’s triathlon
Chris Bond of Australia after winning the final of the wheelchair rugby against the USA
Brazil’s Edneusa de Jesus Santos Dorta (left) following her marathon victory
Brazilian Paralympic swimmer Clodoaldo Silva lights the flame during the opening ceremony
Rio 2016 Paralympic Games Rio’s Olympiad came to a thrilling close with the Paralympic Games, which took place from 7th to 18th September and saw 4,333 para-athletes competing in 22 different sports. Over two million Brazilian and international spectators turned up to cheer the competitors on.
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Judo at the Carioca Arena
The eventual gold medallist in the 100kg, Lukáš Krpálek, embraces his defeated opponent
Rio’s own Rafaela Silva as she wins gold for Brazil
Silver medallist Elmar Gasimov (white) and gold medallist Lukas Krpalek
Unseeded Italian Fabio Basile stunned the -66kg field to take gold
IOC president Thomas Bach and IJF president Marius Vizer
Ono Shohei of Japan on his way to the -73kg gold
-52kg finalists Odette Giuffrida and Majlinda Kelmendi embrace
Kelmendi won Kosovo’s first ever Olympic gold
The IOC’s Pal Schmitt alongside Vizer and Rio 2016 Organising Committee president Carlos Arthur Nuzman
Judo at the Olympic Games The International Judo Federation’s (IJF) competitions provided some of the most compelling stories from the Olympics, including the inspirational gold for Brazil’s Rafaela Silva, victory for the unseeded Italian Fabio Basile, and a first ever Olympic gold for the nation of Kosovo.
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Former NBA star Michael Jordan
JB Holmes of the United States sprays the crowd with champagne in celebration
Rafa Cabrera Bello of Spain on the ninth green
Team USA pose for a photo with the cup
Patrick Reed celebrates a putt
Jordan Spieth won a first Ryder Cup of his career
Team USA captain Davis Love III and Team Europe captain Darren Clarke
Spectators sign a wall to pay tribute to the late Arnold Palmer
Phil Mickelson of the United States tees off on the second
The Ryder Cup The 41st edition of golf’s biennial Ryder Cup between Europe and the USA took place from 30th September to 2nd October at the Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota. The USA claimed the trophy for the first time since 2008.
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ENHANCED TV GRAPHICS. ONE MAN UP By Tony Page GHOWDtre Head of Broadcast Services (UK)
IS THERE A GAME-CHANGER IN THE SPORT BROADCASTING LANDSCAPE? CAN YOU NAME THE KILLER FEATURE THAT GAINS YOU A TANGIBLE ADVANTAGE OVER YOUR COMPETITORS?
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robably not. But there is something which helps broadcasters and federations to secure brand consistency and exploit the wealth of live data generated during a sport event. Sharing the studio space with presenters and pundits, enhanced TV graphics give you one more man RQ WKH SLWFK RHULQJ DGGLWLRQDO information, making the studio set dynamic, reinforcing your brand.
Let’s take the Premier League as an example. The fresh, bold rebrand needed DQ HTXLYDOHQW LQ WKH 79 JUDSKLFV ȴHOG Something to bring consistency across the world whilst presenting data and information in a whole new way. Our touchscreen, augmented reality and on-screen graphics deliver this for the league; creating centralised content, increasing brand visibility and maintaining quality through the broadcast output of their rights holders. But there is much more when it comes to enhanced TV graphics. The Gesture Control System, to mention just one, is a new way for presenters to interact with the studio space. Used by STAR Sports in the coverage of the 2016 ICC World T20, this feature allowed the presenter to
actually reach out and control the graphics. Simple hand gestures play and pause videos, pointing highlights elements within graphics – enabling presenters to analyse data and tell their story in a whole new way. Both broadcasters and federations can maximise the value of their brand through on-screen, augmented reality, touchscreen
info@deltatre.com - www.deltatre.com - follow us on:
and analysis graphics. GHOWDtre is here WR RHU WKHP WKH ODWHVW WHFKQRORJ\ DQG design tools. We have been in the game for 30 years now - we know how to leverage that one man up.
GALLERY
Mehul Kapadia of Tata Communications
Annie Kennedy, strategic partnership manager – Ferrari at Shell
Moderator Steve Deeks talks to Oliver Ciesla, managing director of WRC Promoter
Allan McNish, director – coordination of motorsport activities at Audi Group
The DS Virgin Racing Formula E team brought along one of their cars
Alex Tai, chief executive of DS Virgin Racing and Steve Lauletta, president of Chip Ganassi Racing
The biggest names in motorsport during a networking break
Tata Communications demonstrates its virtual reality technology to delegates
ITV’s Louise Goodman hosts the day
Drinks partner Heineken provided some refreshments
Black Book Motorsport Forum The Black Book Motorsport Forum returned for its third edition on 23rd August at London’s Tower Bridge Grange Hotel. Leading figures from across the world of motorsport were present to discuss the state of the play in the industry.
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British Olympians Lutalo Muhammad and Joe Clarke pose with the Fifa Ballon d’Or
Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura, Fifa secretary general, chats with delegates
Delegates take a break from the panel sessions for a networking opportunity
Former England manager Steve McClaren (left)
Gilberto Silva, former Arsenal star and current Panathinaikos technical director, meets delegates
Former international stars Thomas Hitzlsperger and Clarence Seedorf at the presentation of the first ever Fifa Diversity Award
Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura at the ceremony for the Fifa Diversity Award
Guests make use of the extensive networking space
Ben Grossman, principal of Selhurst Media Ventures; Kathy Carter, Soccer United Marketing president; Adolfo Bara, La Liga managing director, sales & marketing; and David Dein, former vice chairman of Arsenal FC and The FA
Two-time World Freestyle Champion Sean Garnier shows off his skills
The Premier League trophy on display
Soccerex Global Convention Manchester ‘s Central Convention Complex hosted the Soccerex Global Convention once more from 26th to 28th September to put the business of soccer under the spotlight and address the challenges facing the game over the coming year.
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THE SHOT SECTION TEXTBACK NFL HEREIN LA
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THE SH T After 22 years playing in St Louis, Missouri, the National Football League’s (NFL) Rams complete their protracted return to the city of Los Angeles for the start of the new season. They will play at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum – pictured here during their first game back, a 9-3 victory against the Seattle Seahawks – until the completion of their new home ground in Inglewood in 2019. AP/Press Association Images
paimages.co.uk PAImages
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Reflections on Rio Overcoming a fraught build-up, Rio de Janeiro has successfully done its duty as the host of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. But now the International Olympic Committee, like beleaguered Brazil, must move on from the party to a challenging future. By Eoin Connolly
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INSIGHT OLYMPICS
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Rio’s beauty provided an incredible backdrop to the Games, with landmarks like Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf Mountain familiar to viewers around the world
40 | www.sportspromedia.com
Audiences at events grew as Rioâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s residents warmed to the presence of the Games, before they turned out in force for the ten days of Paralympic competition
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SportsPro Magazine | 41
INSIGHT OLYMPICS
Tokyo had been seen as a safe pair of hands for 2020 but question marks have been raised over its venues
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INSIGHT MOTORSPORT
At Liberty: The future of Formula One In September, John Maloneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Liberty Media Corporation conďŹ rmed it is to purchase Formula One in a deal that values the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leading motorsport series at US$8 billion. SportsPro takes some time to consider a few of the more pressing questions around the takeover.
Paul Sakuma/AP/Press Association Images
By Eoin Connolly
American billionaire John Malone, chairman of Liberty Media, which will own Formula One Group
THE TAKEOVER
A
fter years of speculation around the long-term ownership of Formula One, the series Ă&#x20AC; QDOO\ IRXQG D EX\HU LQ HDUO\ 6HSWHPEHU LQ WKH VKDSH RI /LEHUW\ 0HGLD FRQWUROOHG E\ $PHULFDQ ELOOLRQDLUH -RKQ 0DORQH 7KH 86 ELOOLRQ DJUHHPHQW ² ZKLFK WR EH VWULFWO\ DFFXUDWH JLYHV )RUPXOD 2QH DQ HTXLW\ YDOXH RI 86 ELOOLRQ DQG LQYROYHV /LEHUW\ DVVXPLQJ 86 ELOOLRQ RI GHEW ² HQGV D \HDUV ORQJ VHDUFK E\
44 | www.sportspromedia.com
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CVC Capital Partnersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; years-long search for a buyer for Formula One ďŹ nally came to an end in September, signalling a new era for the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s biggest motorsport series
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SportsPro Magazine | 45
INSIGHT MOTORSPORT
Bernie Ecclestone has proven a TeďŹ&#x201A;on ďŹ gure during his several decades in Formula One though, now aged 86, his tenure at the top of the sport is coming to an end
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$Q HPHUJLQJ VXE SORW LQ WKH (FFOHVWRQH story concerns the future of motorsport PDUNHWHU =DN %URZQ 7KH $PHULFDQ KDV FRQĂ&#x20AC;UPHG WKDW KH LV WR VWHS GRZQ DW WKH HQG of the year from his position as group chief H[HFXWLYH RI &60 6SRUW (QWHUWDLQPHQW ZKLFK DFTXLUHG KLV RZQ -XVW 0DUNHWLQJ ,QWHUQDWLRQDO -0, LQ DQG KDV VDLG WKDW KH ZLOO EH PRYLQJ LQWR D UROH LQ PRWRUVSRUW %URZQ KDV EURXJKW GR]HQV RI EUDQGV and hundreds of millions of sponsorship GROODUV LQWR )RUPXOD 2QH DQG 86 VHULHV OLNH 1DVFDU DQG WKH WLPLQJ RI KLV DQQRXQFHPHQW KDV XQGHUVWDQGDEO\ OHG WR VSHFXODWLRQ WKDW D VHQLRU UROH LQ D /LEHUW\ OHG RSHUDWLRQ LV QH[W $W WKLV VWDJH KH has said only that he would welcome an RSSRUWXQLW\ WR EH LQYROYHG LQ WKH VSRUW WHAT CAN WE EXPECT FROM LIBERTY MEDIA? ´:LWK DOO FUHGLW WR %HUQLH KH¡V KDG HQRUPRXV VXFFHVV Âľ VDLG &DUH\ VSHDNLQJ WR WKH RIĂ&#x20AC;FLDO )RUPXOD 2QH ZHEVLWH LQ 6LQJDSRUH ´%XW , VWLOO WKLQN WKHUH LV
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Event Partners
INSIGHT MOTORSPORT
another level that we can take Formula One to.â&#x20AC;? Carey used the same interview to hint at a more collegiate approach to running Formula One, which has been so accustomed to the executive power of one man. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You cannot make everybody happy all the time, but youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got to understand what HYHU\ERG\ ZDQWV DQG WKHQ Ă&#x20AC; QG D SDWK Âľ KH said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;That is not a task for a committee, as committees tend to become bureaucratic â&#x20AC;&#x201C; but there also canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be a dictatorship â&#x20AC;&#x201C; even if probably here they are used to it. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They need leadership, and leadership means that you create a vision to achieve the right goals for the future. Successful businesses are built on successful leadership that understands what every party wants. There have to be compromises.â&#x20AC;? The weaknesses in the Formula One business model â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and its sporting model, IRU WKDW PDWWHU ² DUH QRW GLIĂ&#x20AC; FXOW WR VSRW The series was one of the biggest sports media success stories of the 1980s and early 1990s â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and to its critics it still feels that way. Its audience is getting older and narrower, its relevance as a showcase for motor industry tech is becoming more tenuous, its tinkering around the edges of competition regulations have alienated potential fans while the championship has actually become less competitive. Those issues may not have concerned CVC, whose primary interest in Formula 2QH ZDV DV DQ DVVHW WR EH Ă LSSHG EXW Liberty Media may have sensed an opportunity to improve the performance of the series as a media product. While Maloneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s group is the owner of Major League Baseballâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s (MLB) Atlanta Braves, its primary interests are in media and live events â&#x20AC;&#x201C; its assets include a 34 per cent stake in entertainment and venue giant Live Nation, as well as minority holdings in the likes of Time Warner and Viacom, while it has links through Liberty Global to some of the biggest names in cable television. New chairman Carey is a News Corp veteran with close ties to Rupert Murdoch, and his CV includes the launch of Fox Sports and the negotiation of its groundbreaking US$1.6 billion deal with the National Football League (NFL) in 1993. $OUHDG\ /LEHUW\ KDV LGHQWLĂ&#x20AC; HG WKH distribution of digital content as an area for development, though it remains to be seen how it will do so in an era where
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Liberty will aim to improve Formula Oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s media approach, including its engagement on social networks
Formula One coverage has migrated behind the paywall in several key markets. The sport has been slow to embrace digital media but its vast wealth of video content makes some kind of OTT offering an intriguing proposition in the long term. Liberty also aims to broaden the base of Formula One partners â&#x20AC;&#x201C; perhaps taking its cue from the US$200 million deal signed by Heineken earlier this year â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and grow the contribution sponsorship makes to overall revenues from its current share of around 15 per cent. No doubt Liberty will view bolstering the negligible central marketing efforts of Formula One as one means of achieving this, but it may soon learn that doing things from the middle is not always the easiest approach in the sport. The near-annual disputes between teams about revenue sharing and rule changes
Chase Carey, chairman of the Formula One Group
are something the new owners will either want to resolve or need to get used to; a still vague offer to participants of a stake in WKH KROGLQJ JURXS FRXOG EH D Ă&#x20AC; UVW VWHS WR D more stable long-term model. Hosting fees have represented an increasingly important source of income in the past decade as the size and shape of the calendar has changed dramatically. There will have been 21 races in the 2016 Formula One season, with the lengthening of the series presenting enormous challenges in terms of logistics and car development. More pertinently, that championship calendar has often been constructed in two ways: by indulging in brinkmanship that seemingly leaves at least one longstanding race host unsure of its future each year, and by accepting state money from regimes with dubious ethical standards. Liberty has already intimated that it will â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;evolveâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; the calendar, and the addition of Grands Prix has not been ruled out, but it will be interesting to see how far the approach will now change. Perhaps the most important question for Formula One is that of identity. The championship has been in a kind of lucrative stasis in recent years, but for all the efforts of other promoters it remains best placed to capitalise on the R&D needs of its car industry partners and on the opportunities presented by the new media environment. A series that managed to retain its premium allure while fashioning a more responsive, innovative outlook could remain at the forefront of global motorsport for some time to come.
SPECIAL REPORT THE BRAND CONFERENCE
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SportsPro Magazine | 51
SPECIAL REPORT THE BRAND CONFERENCE
WHAT WE LEARNED The Brand Conference, SportsPro’s event for those in sport building brands and those in brands reaching fans, returned to Lord’s Cricket Ground for its third edition on 15th September. As ever, a range of refreshing talking points emerged. BRANDS CAN HELP ENACT CHANGE
TRADITION IS NOTHING WITHOUT INNOVATION
Business, noted Jaimie Fuller, executive chairman at compression clothing brand Skins, is inherently risk-averse. Fearing repercussions for their image, brands across the sports industry have often shirked responsibility for what have been seen as the sins of others, with sponsors serially failing to apply the kind of pressure on rights holders and federations that they have in their power to wield. As Fifa collapsed in on itself amid a flurry of corruption allegations in 2015, the most that came from its corporate partners was a statement expressing disappointment. Under Fuller’s watch, Skins has been one of the few companies to buck this trend, and he is a believer in the power of brands to bring true innovation and change to the industry. Last August, Skins ran a campaign called The Hypocrisy World Cup, targeting Fifa’s four main US-based sponsors – CocaCola, Visa, McDonalds and AnheuserBusch – and calling them out for their silence regarding the human rights abuses in the construction of stadiums in Qatar ahead of the 2022 Fifa World Cup. “Literally within weeks of that happening,” said Fuller, “we get Coca-Cola to come out and endorse our plan for independent reform of Fifa. They were quickly followed by McDonalds and Visa. That was the first time that any brand had stood up and said anything.” Change, when it comes to sport, always comes slowly. But, Fuller said, because “people buy with their heart, not with their head,” no one is better placed to affect that change than the brands whose funds keep the industry turning.
If, as we are told, your brand is a promise to your customers, then no one bears the burden of this more than rights holders. Their brands must balance tradition with modernity, keeping the diehard fans onside while always delivering a clear message to attract a new, fresh audience. Malcolm Booth, marketing and communications director at golf’s R&A, addressed this issue in a morning workshop session. Although the Open Championship, as Booth reminded delegates, is ten years older than English soccer’s FA Cup, 22 years older than cricket’s Ashes and 60 years older than the Fifa World Cup, that tradition is meaningless without sustained relevance to a modern audience. Introducing new apps, Wi-Fi access throughout the site and a pioneering festival-style camping element, The Open continues to show the way forward while remaining in touch with its past – a point Booth illustrated by handing the feted Claret Jug itself around the audience. “You’ve got to make your brand relevant to your audience,” said Mark Rowan, communications director at the recently rebranded English Football League (EFL), returning to the theme during the closing panel of the main programme. Despite having a 128-year history in which to develop its brand, Rowan said the new phase of the governing body’s existence had to start with the question, “What is the Football League in 2016?” The conclusion, when it came, was that it had to be a football experience for everybody, “wholly relevant to both a 16-year-old fan and a 65-year-old fan”.
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Rowan, reflecting on the need for a brand identity that better reflected the EFL’s objectives and standing in the modern game, recalled that when representatives from the body were introduced to overseas colleagues as being from The Football League, they would frequently ask, “Which one?” For all the Football League’s tradition, its brand needed to better reflect its content, with a new and innovative approach.
THE REGIONAL BRAND DUOPOLIES Victor Cui, the chief executive of the One Championship mixed martial arts series, spoke passionately alongside Rowan on the final panel about sport’s ability to engage audiences. And as the One Championship seeks to capitalise on a strong position across Asia and a fresh injection of capital from a consortium led by Heliconia Capital Management in July, he made a telling point about a trend for even the biggest brands to be met by powerful counterparts in different regions. “If you look at any business industry,” he said, “it doesn’t matter if it’s telco, digital, mobile, automobiles, there’s always a natural duopoly between the west and the east. Apple; Samsung. Amazon; Alibaba. Ford; Kia. YouTube; Youku. Twitter; Weibo.” The One Championship has ambitious plans to consolidate its position as the leading sports media property in Asia not by simply aping what the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has done in the west but by developing in a way that works for its local audience first. For one thing, Cui explains, it is tapping into the region’s history by putting the emphasis on the martial arts, rather than the fight.
A TAILORED BROADCAST EXPERIENCE?
AUTHENTICITY DOESN’T HAVE TO BE EXPLAINED
SPONSORSHIP IS STILL TRANSACTIONAL
The greatest value in sports broadcasting has long been derived from a simple fact: that the live experience is everything. A 30-second ad slot during half-time at Super Bowl 50 cost US$5 million precisely because brands knew they had the attention of the entire United States all at once. According to James Kirkham, chief strategy officer and head of on-demand soccer video service Copa90 at Big Balls Media, however, this may be changing. “My seven-year-old is football-obsessed,” explained Kirkham during the ‘Beyond Millennials’ panel, “but when I try to explain to him that there’s a match on, he’ll go, ‘Oh that’s cool, I’ll watch it when I want to.’ His entire life is predicated on this on-demand mentality. It doesn’t matter to him that it’s not on live at this moment.” From a brand perspective, this shift in the millennial and centennial mentality could be ground-breaking. As sports fans begin to consume content in “nuggets”, as Kirkham says, tailoring their viewing experience around what they want to see, when they want to see it, brands will have to find new and innovative ways to use sport to communicate with their audience. On the next panel, Antonio Ruiz, vice president of marketing and franchise management at Eurosport, suggested that the tailored experience will not be limited to the consumer choosing when and where to tune in, but would also see broadcasters crafting more bespoke offerings. Since Eurosport’s takeover by Discovery, Ruiz said, the broadcaster has worked to be more of a local station than a pan-European network and, by tailoring its content and output to local audiences, hopes to put the fan first.
It came as no surprise to anyone that ‘authenticity’ was one of the buzzwords of the day at The Brand Conference. It is a term that has proliferated across the sports industry as everyone, from rights holders to broadcasters to sponsors, seeks to portray a truthful brand image. Nailing down a definition of what it actually means to be authentic has proved difficult, however. During the ‘Athlete Campaign’ panel, Mediacom’s head of sport and entertainment Misha Sher attempted to clear those muddy waters with his explanation that “authenticity is when you don’t have to explain what you’re doing – when the audience isn’t asking, ‘Why him?’” By way of further clarification, Sher pointed to Shaquille O’Neal’s endorsement of Buick as an example of an inauthentic sponsorship deal – “Who actually thinks that Shaq drives a Buick?” – noting that the laziness of simply attaching a big-name athlete to your brand can actually do more damage than good. “Consumers are very savvy,” concurred Henry Chappell, founder of Pitch. “When it’s obvious that someone is just doing something for the money, that’s when it lacks authenticity.” Pitch’s own ‘Switching Saddles’ collaboration with gambling company Betfair, which saw Olympic gold medal-winning track cyclist Victoria Pendleton swap her bike for a horse to compete at the Cheltenham Festival, was one of the main focuses of the panel, a campaign judged to feel authentic because Pendleton’s involvement was clearly first and foremost for the challenge and the experience, not her pay packet.
“We don’t care about media value,” declared Müller Group chief marketing officer Michael Inpong during the ‘Staking Out Your Space’ panel on sponsorship. “We care about sales.” “If I want to have media, I can buy media,” he went on. “What I want to achieve through sponsorship is selling more pots of Müller.” As an opening mission for a session devoted to the discussion of what sponsorship means to brands in the current era, the message couldn’t have been more clear: for all the discussions about brand awareness, sponsorship is still about the transactional value offered to both sides. “We sell 1.5 billion pots of our products a year – that means when I enter a sponsorship deal, I expect to be paid to put your logo on my product,” Inpong joked, though making the serious point that for a lot of smaller sporting bodies – pointing to Müller’s deal with GB Taekwondo – sponsorship deals are as much about raising their profile than giving a platform to the brands, particularly in the case of globally recognised brands with such a large reach. From a slightly different perspective, EE’s head of sport sponsorship Matt Stevens addressed his company’s agreement with Wembley Stadium, which has seen it invest heavily in the infrastructure at the venue, supplying Wi-Fi connection throughout in order to achieve a return on investment on the partnership. “It’s not just to drive awareness of the brand,” said Stevens. “The idea was to actually look at it from a technology point of view, how could we invest in the stadium and really show off what it is that we do.”
SportsPro Magazine | 53
GALLERY
Havas Sports & Entertainment’s global chief strategy officer, Fredda Hurwitz, opens the main programme with Skins executive chairman Jaimie Fuller
Delegates’ minds meet over round tables
Nielsen Sports’ Spencer Nolan
Olivier Genoud of Under Armour
The Premier League’s Craig Edmondson
Watching from the conference floor
The NFL’s Melissa Brown
54 | www.sportspromedia.com
Müller Group chief marketing officer Michael Inpong
The One Championship’s Victor Cui and the EFL’s Mark Rowan
The Vital Proteins team present their wares
EPCR chief executive Vincent Gaillard
Steve Adamson, VP and head of UK at Futures Sport and Entertainment
Antonio Ruiz, vice president of marketing at Eurosport
Capturing the action in the popular style
SportsPro Magazine | 55
COMPANY PROFILE VITAL PROTEINS
Vital progress The transition from beauty product to sports supplement is a path rarely trodden but Vital Proteins, is looking to do just that. The wellbeing beneďŹ ts of collagen are well documented, and this Chicago-based company is aiming to bring them to sport.
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or many people, collagen sounds like a substance reserved for the faces â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and extremities â&#x20AC;&#x201C; RI +ROO\ZRRG¡V Ă&#x20AC; QHVW 0RVW commonly used to plump lips and control wrinkles, the naturally occurring biological protein has become intrinsically linked to the EHDXW\ ZRUOG $ IDU FU\ IURP WKH realm of major league sports, collagen is more likely to be found RQ WKH VHWV RI $PHULFD¡V QH[W WUHQGLQJ UHDOLW\ VHULHV But one Chicago-based company VHHV WKH VLWXDWLRQ GLIIHUHQWO\ :LWK sportsmen and women across the globe searching for the next best thing to give them a competitive edge, Vital Proteins is looking to WUDQVODWH FROODJHQV ZHOOEHLQJ EHQHĂ&#x20AC; WV LQWR DWKOHWLF DGYDQWDJHV Set up by serial investor Kurt Seidensticker, Vital Proteins markets collagen-based supplements and food replacement products at professional and amateur athletes as a means of UHFRYHU\ DQG SUHSDUDWLRQ $QG IRU Seidensticker, the journey of setting up the company has been one of SHUVRQDO GLVFRYHU\ â&#x20AC;&#x153;I used to play a lot of baseball when I was younger, and as I got a little older running became a major SDUW RI P\ OLIH Âľ KH VD\V ´$V , VWDUWHG WR JHW ROGHU , EHJDQ realising that I wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t able to run as frequently as I used to, or as IDU , ZDV ORRNLQJ IRU EXVLQHVV opportunities at the time and I realised that there was this opening where I had an issue in my own life, VR , VRXJKW WR Ă&#x20AC; QG D VROXWLRQ Âľ Seidensticker has had a long and illustrious career working in venture FDSLWDO Ă&#x20AC; UPV GHYHORSLQJ EXVLQHVVHV
56 | www.sportspromedia.com
Kurt Seidensticker, chief executive of Vital Proteins
A container of Vital Proteins Collagen Peptides
from the ground up, and when the opportunity to build Vital Proteins HPHUJHG KH VHL]HG LW â&#x20AC;&#x153;I was looking for this solution as to why my body couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t perform at the levels that it used WR Âľ KH UHFDOOV ´, VWDUWHG WR UHDOLVH that it was my joints, rather than P\ PXVFOHV WKDW ZHUH WKH LVVXH 0\ EXVLQHVV SDUWQHU ZDV YHU\ much into a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Paleoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; diet at the time [based on the type of nonprocessed foods believed to have been consumed by early humans], and we just started talking about P\ LVVXH DORQJVLGH KLV LQWHUHVW Âľ $IWHU H[WHQVLYH UHVHDUFK Seidensticker came across the EHQHĂ&#x20AC; FLDO SURSHUWLHV RI FROODJHQ and started to explore what they FRXOG GR IRU DWKOHWLF Ă&#x20AC; WQHVV â&#x20AC;&#x153;So many peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s diets are ODFNLQJ LQ FROODJHQ Âľ KH VD\V ´,W¡V unusual: around 100 years ago our GLHWV ZHUH VXIĂ&#x20AC; FLHQW LQ FROODJHQ EXW
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60 per cent reduction in injuries DJDLQVW WKH WHVW JURXS ´7KH\ DOO KDYH JUHDW DPLQR DFLG SURĂ&#x20AC; OHV (YHU\ SURGXFW ZH supply is meant to help synthesis RU SURPRWH FROODJHQ GHYHORSPHQW Once you hit 25 your body EHFRPHV OHVV HIĂ&#x20AC; FLHQW DW SURGXFLQJ it, so you really need to work hard to incorporate it back into \RXU GLHW 7KLV LV UHDOO\ RXU FRUH VWUDSOLQH :H DUH JLYLQJ FXVWRPHUV the tools to get what they need EDFN LQWR WKHLU ERG\ Âľ Comprehensive research is one thing but for any emerging brand, PDUNHWLQJ LV FULWLFDO WR JURZWK :KLOH PDQ\ KHDOWK VXSSOHPHQW brands look to gym advertisements, Vital Proteins is aiming to tap into the more widespread market of SURIHVVLRQDO DWKOHWH HQGRUVHPHQWV â&#x20AC;&#x153;Currently, we are working WRZDUGV RXU 16) &HUWLĂ&#x20AC; HG IRU Sport accreditation,â&#x20AC;? Seidensticker UHYHDOV ´7KLV LV WKH FHUWLĂ&#x20AC; FDWLRQ that you need to ensure that your products comply with doping UXOHV DFURVV WKH JOREH 2QFH ZH have this, we can start working on supplying professional athletes with RXU SURGXFWV Âľ It is here where the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s VSRUWV PDUNHWHU FRPHV LQWR SOD\ RJ Carvis has an extensive career working within player-facing UROHV DW $PHULFDQ VSRUWV WHDPV Having spent time working with WKH $UL]RQD )DOO /HDJXH¡V 0HVD Solar Sox, he went on to the New
<RUN 0HWV DQG WKH /RV $QJHOHV Dodgers, before joining the Chicago Cubs within the player GHYHORSPHQW GLYLVLRQ â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our ultimate objective is to reach the players and prove how effective this is,â&#x20AC;? says 6HLGHQVWLFNHU ´7KLV LV ZKHUH 5-¡V H[SHULHQFH LV FULWLFDO IRU XV :H have spoken to a lot of teams and a lot of athletes and they are really eager to start using our SURGXFWV DQG 5-¡V LQĂ XHQFH KDV EHHQ LQYDOXDEOH â&#x20AC;&#x153;If we have professional athletes singing the praises of our products, then there is going to be an obvious trickle-down effect to WKH PDVV PDUNHW Âľ $QG LW LVQ¡W MXVW WKH DWKOHWHV themselves that Vital Proteins wants WR WDUJHW ,W KRSHV WKDW LQ WKH ORQJ term it can strike exclusive deals with major league teams to provide them with its collagen products as part of WKH DWKOHWH¡V RIĂ&#x20AC; FLDO FOXE FRQWUROOHG QXWULWLRQ SODQV â&#x20AC;&#x153;Once we have secured our NSF accreditation we plan on working ZLWK WHDPV WR EHFRPH RIĂ&#x20AC; FLDO VXSSOLHUV Âľ 6HLGHQVWLFNHU VD\V ´:H are working on this, alongside some major sponsorship deals, as we would really like to bring the EUDQG WR OLIH Âľ $OO RI 9LWDO 3URWHLQV¡ UHVHDUFK so far suggests that collagen is critical to athletic performance and UHFRYHU\ DQG ZLWK IXUWKHU VFLHQWLĂ&#x20AC; F studies showing that the substance
Vital Proteinsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; RJ Carvis has worked with some of the biggest names in US sport and is now helping the brand reach out to players and teams
Vital Proteinsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Kurt Seidensticker delivers his presentation at The Brand Conference
is necessary for the restructure of the musculoskeletal system, it seems OLNH WKH SHUIHFW Ă&#x20AC; W ZLWK DWKOHWHV Once the company secures accreditation, it can look to target athletes and teams, and begin promoting its products in the most YLVLEOH VSRUWV LQ WKH ZRUOG :KLOH WKH $PHULFDQ PDMRU OHDJXHV DUH WKH Ă&#x20AC; UVW WDUJHW 6HLGHQVWLFNHU VD\V WKDW (XURSH LV DOVR DQ HYHQWXDO JRDO ´:H¡G OLNH WR ORRN DW VRFFHU and a lot of other sports in (XURSH Âľ KH UHYHDOV ´2YHUDOO ZH want to be reaching everyone, and teaching a lot of people about the EHQHĂ&#x20AC; WV RI FROODJHQ DQG WR GR this we need promotion not just LQ $PHULFDQ VSRUWV EXW LQ WKH UHVW RI WKH ZRUOG DV ZHOO Âľ $V WKH FRPSDQ\ FRQWLQXHV WR grow, its footprint will continue WR H[SDQG :KHUH EHIRUH performance-enhancing products such as glucose and keratine have become part of widespread retailing, Vital Proteins will be KRSLQJ FROODJHQ ZLOO IROORZ
Contact Vital Proteins Visit: www.vitalproteins.com email: info@vitalproteins.com
SportsPro Magazine | 57
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COVER STORY BROADCAST
Over the horizon Broadcast income has transformed sport over the past generation but it may be changes in distribution models, rather than rises in rights revenue, that shape the years ahead. By Eoin Connolly
F
or all that it has grown in recent decades, and for all the space it occupies in the affections and imaginations of so many millions of people all over the world, sport is always beholden to industries bigger than itself. Of no business is this truer than broadcasting. Billions in rights income has not only bankrolled professional sport but, in many cases, ensured the future of organisations at the grassroots. The result is that sport has changed in televisionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s image â&#x20AC;&#x201C; moving timeslots, changing formats, and in some cases adopting rules or modes of RIĂ&#x20AC;FLDWLQJ WKDW DUH LQVSLUHG E\ televisual aids. The relationship is symbiotic: the leading sports properties are becoming more reliable drivers of interest and revenues for broadcast platforms than almost anything else. Episodic television has long since passed the point where LWV SULPDU\ YDOXH LV RQ LWV Ă&#x20AC;UVW airing. Most broadcasters in major markets now have comprehensive on-demand services, giving viewers access to newer programming for limited windows and to libraries of older series.
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The viewing habits of younger generations suggest that the traditional television model will only become less consequential. According to a report released by the research agency Childwise in January 2016, less than a quarter of British children watch television as it is broadcast. Subscription RQ GHPDQG YLHZLQJ VHUYLFH 1HWĂ L[ is watched by that group more than any conventional TV channel. 38 per cent watch most of their television programmes on demand and for 15 to 16-year-olds â&#x20AC;&#x201C; notably less likely to watch with their parents â&#x20AC;&#x201C; less than a quarter watch programmes as scheduled. In the US, ratings and data giant Nielsen â&#x20AC;&#x201C; which bought into the sports industry through its takeover of Repucom earlier this year â&#x20AC;&#x201C; has been producing its Total Audience Report on a quarterly basis since 2011. Released in September, the latest edition found that traditional TV viewing among the slightly older 18 to 24-year-old demographic had GURSSHG E\ SHU FHQW LQ WKDW Ă&#x20AC;YH year period. Among those aged 25 to 34 the drop is less pronounced at 25.6 per cent, but these are the last generations to have grown used to watching television in the era before
on-demand became mainstream. If the changes in the entertainment industry have shown anything, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s that none of the old certainties are that certain any more. At this stage, television looks to sport as a vessel of many of its former practices. Live sport, in particular, creates an appointment to view. This is obviously true of headline events like the Super Bowl RU PDMRU VRFFHU Ă&#x20AC;QDOV EXW LW LV also a factor lower down the scale. As Television, the Royal Television Societyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s membersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; magazine, noted in September, UKTVâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s deal to show former WBA world heavyweight champion David Hayeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s comeback Ă&#x20AC;JKWV RQ LWV 'DYH FKDQQHO GHOLYHUHG ratings of up to four times those of its regular entertainment output. 7KH ER[HU¡V Ă&#x20AC;UVW ERXW GUHZ RYHU three million British viewers in May; a second brought in a peak of 2.5 million. Outside of sport, the alchemy of what makes a must-see, appointment to view event is harder to distil. Despite its availability live across multiple digital streaming outlets â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and all manner of sliced and diced, shareable video forms within hours of the event â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 83 million Americans watched the opening presidential
The IOC has launched the Olympic Channel as a means of keeping coverage going between Games
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Mike Egerton/PA Wire/Press Association Images
debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump on television on 27th September: fewer than the giddy forecasts of over 100 million, but more than had ever watched a debate before. Yet the sole vice presidential debate between Tim Kaine and Mike Pence attracted 37 million viewers: 14 million fewer than had watched Joe Biden and Paul Ryan in 2012. Broadcasters are still making long-term bets on sport, and few are bigger or longer-term than that taken by US network NBC on the Olympic Games. Back in May 2014, it signed a US$7.65 billion deal with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to continue showing every Games until 2032. It LV E\ IDU WKH PRVW VLJQLÀFDQW ÀQDQFLDO arrangement the IOC has in place. Yet the organisation has made its own move towards a more digitally minded future. On 21st August, to coincide with the closing ceremony of the Rio 2016 Games, came the launch of an over-the-top (OTT) digital service called the Olympic Channel. Much discussed since its FRQÀUPDWLRQ LQ 'HFHPEHU as part of IOC president Thomas Bach’s Agenda 2020 reforms, the channel’s output includes documentaries, coverage from past Games and other content contributed by member federations. Timo Lumme, the managing director of IOC television and marketing services, says the body is “at the beginning of a journey with the Olympic Channel”. “It is perhaps one of the most important outcomes of the Olympic Agenda 2020 process and has set out a clear objective and plan for the Olympic movement to engage with younger generations,” he says. “We believe it will be a major shift in how we attract and communicate with young people, offering new generations of Olympic fans the chance to discover, engage and share in the power of sport and the H[FLWHPHQW RI WKH 2O\PSLF *DPHV all year round on platforms and in a voice that is relevant to them. “We have so far reached partnerships with two worldwide TOP partners, Bridgestone
and Toyota, who are supporting the Olympic Channel as founding partners. We are in ongoing discussions with other partners regarding the founding partner opportunity up to 2020, and post 2020 we plan to integrate the Olympic Channel platform into the overall TOP Partner package. :H EHOLHYH WKLV ZLOO RIIHU VLJQLĂ&#x20AC; FDQW incremental value for the IOC and for the partners.â&#x20AC;? For the IOC, the Olympic Channel has been conceived as a means of retaining contact with audiences â&#x20AC;&#x201C; younger ones, especially â&#x20AC;&#x201C; between Games. The channelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s strapline is: â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Where the Games never end.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Other OTT projects are afoot that have a more straightforwardly commercial bent, and they are inspired by what has been happening elsewhere in broadcasting. 1HWĂ L[ JRW LWV UHDO VWDUW ZKHQ LW moved into the direct mail DVD rental business in 1998, a service born of the convenience of home delivery but catalysed by the fact that the new discs were easier to put in the post than bulky video cassettes. It followed that up with a streaming service in 2007, just before its mainstream rivals were prepared to do so. Between them, online streaming and DVDs led to the rise in â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;bingeviewingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, whereby viewers consume series in lengthy bursts or in their entirety, rather than week to week. 7KH UHVXOW LV WKDW ZKHUH 1HWĂ L[ DQG its ilk initially rose to prominence as the slayers of the home video rental industry â&#x20AC;&#x201C; seeing off physical rental outlets like Blockbuster Video â&#x20AC;&#x201C; they are now profoundly changing the business of television. 1HWĂ L[ DQG ULYDO VHUYLFHV OLNH Amazon Video, are now working to reinforce those trends through their own programming efforts. Initially, these services competed RQ ZKLFK Ă&#x20AC; OPV DQG 79 VHULHV they could pick up from other companiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; archives. Now, they are producing their own in increasing numbers: according to The Hollywood Reporter, by the HQG RI WKLV \HDU 1HWĂ L[ ZLOO KDYH increased its original output by 3,050 per cent since 2012.
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Alex Gallardo/AP/Press Association Images
COVER STORY BROADCAST
Disney chairman and chief executive Bob Iger sees investment in BAMTech as a means of hastening ESPN's digital progress
1HWĂ L[¡V EXGJHW IRU DFTXLVLWLRQV and for original programming DQG Ă&#x20AC; OPV LV VHW WR ULVH IURP LWV current level of US$6 billion. It has committed aggressively to creating ambitious shows that traditional networks might like, but would rarely risk â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the likes of anthropomorphic Hollywood satire and tragi-sitcom Bojack Horseman or the thoughtful Aziz Ansari-led, Peabody Awardwinning comedy Master of None. It retains those programmes H[FOXVLYHO\ DQG VLJQV FUHDWLYHV XS to more favourable, certain terms than they would get elsewhere. More pertinently, it also releases entire seasons at once so that they can be watched at the viewerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leisure â&#x20AC;&#x201C; or in one sitting â&#x20AC;&#x201C; from launch. 1HZ VXEVFULEHUV IRU 1HWĂ L[ slowed to 1.7 million in the second quarter of 2016 but it still boasts 83 million worldwide and 46 million in the US. Irrespective of the fate of the company itself, however, the OTT model it has embraced and pioneered has already changed the industry. According to estimates UHOHDVHG E\ UHVHDUFK Ă&#x20AC; UP 61/ .DJDQ in August, Q2 of 2016 also saw 800,000 Americans indulge in â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;cordcuttingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; â&#x20AC;&#x201C; or cancelling their pay-TV subscriptions. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is a bit of an acceleration and the biggest quarterly loss that weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve seen,â&#x20AC;? said SNL Kagan analyst Ian Olgeirson, speaking to the Los Angeles Times. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are seeing a gradual increase in the decline rate.â&#x20AC;? Premium sports channels have
hitherto used cable and satellite platforms in most markets as their point of contact with the consumer, and been used by those platforms as an incentive to stay on long-term deals â&#x20AC;&#x201C; even as the entertainment offerings that are included become less attractive relative to what is available elsewhere. If the rise of cord-cutting continues alongside the further normalisation of OTT subscription services, it is only logical that sport would look to adapt. In August The Walt Disney &RPSDQ\ FRQĂ&#x20AC; UPHG LWV 86 billion deal for a 33 per cent stake in BAMTech, the technology company and live streaming specialist spun off from Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM). That enterprise began at the turn of the century as a means of developing online tools for the 30 Major League Baseball (MLB) teams, creating websites and other assets. It developed into something much larger, not only offering a broader range of services to those teams but also moving into digital rights arbitrage and white-label video streaming for the likes of World Wrestling Entertainment. In August 2015, as if to underline WKH H[WHQW WR ZKLFK LW KDG JURZQ beyond its initial baseball remit, 0/%$0 VLJQHG D VL[ \HDU 86 million deal with the National Hockey League (NHL). BAMTech, whose devolution followed that agreement, is among those companies best placed to lead sport
into an OTT era â&#x20AC;&#x201C; it has developed ahead of the curve, and out of the limelight. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We made our mistakes â&#x20AC;&#x201C; we still make them, but we made a lot more in â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;01 and â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;02 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; when no one was really paying attention,â&#x20AC;? said MLBAM SUHVLGHQW DQG FKLHI H[HFXWLYH %RE Bowman, speaking to SportsPro last year. We bet big on broadband. Broadband was not widely distributed but we sort of built our site, which at the time was just a website, based on broadband: lots of video. Then we made another big bet on mobile in â&#x20AC;&#x2122;05, before iPhone, before the App Store, before any of that started, and that combination of mobile with video turned out to be great. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We started streaming live games before anybody did that and now that leads us to where we are today, where live games and live content and so-called â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;over-the-topâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; is what everybodyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s talking about. But you combine video with mobile with broadband capability, along with a game thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s played every day, and where fans are as passionate about baseball as they are about European football, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a pretty good combination.â&#x20AC;? Disney, which owns ESPN, has a four-year option on a further 33 per cent stake in BAMTech and is planning to work with the company to create a new online streaming service. That service would not initially feature any current ESPN content. Notably, however, Disney is also beginning to make ESPN available outside of cable packages in the US, on more internet-based platforms like Sling TV. ESPN subscriber numbers declined to 92 million at the end of the 2015 Ă&#x20AC;QDQFLDO \HDU GRZQ IURP PLOOLRQ WZR \HDUV HDUOLHU DQG WKDW Ă&#x20AC;JXUH KDV still been dropping through 2016. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our investment in BAMTech gives us the technology infrastructure we need to quickly scale and monetise our streaming capabilities at ESPN and across our company,â&#x20AC;? Disney FKDLUPDQ DQG FKLHI H[HFXWLYH %RE ,JHU VDLG RQ FRQĂ&#x20AC;UPDWLRQ RI WKH GHDO â&#x20AC;&#x153;We look forward to working closely with BAMTech as we H[SORUH QHZ ZD\V WR GHOLYHU WKH
unmatched content of The Walt Disney Company across a variety of platforms.â&#x20AC;? Disney is only the latest entrant LQ WKH UDFH WR EHFRPH WKH Âś1HWĂ L[ of sportsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. Owned by digital sports and media specialist Perform Group, DAZN launched in Germany, Austria and Switzerland in August with the rights in those markets to live soccer from the top divisions in England, Spain, France and Italy as well as highlights of Germanyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga, while it also offers coverage of the National Basketball Association (NBA), National Football League (NFL), and a range of other sports. It is in Japan, however, where Perform has made its biggest play so far with the new service, snapping up the rights to the J.League from 2017 to 2026 in a ÂĽ210 billion (US$2 billion) deal. Discovery-backed Eurosport has also positioned itself as a FRPSDQ\ WKDW FDQ IXOĂ&#x20AC;O WKH UROH RI a premium OTT sports channel. It has targeted growth of its Eurosport Player service to at least one million international users, and Discovery &RPPXQLFDWLRQV FKLHI H[HFXWLYH David Zaslav told the Goldman Sachs Communicopia conference in September that the product was central to the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s future. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We own it all and when we go to the player and charge US$8 per subscriber weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re in a whole different game,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;For us, Eurosport GLUHFW WR FRQVXPHU Ă&#x20AC;OOV WKH IXOO FLUFOH of where the world is going.â&#x20AC;? The Sportsman Media Holding is a German-based trader in media
Stefan Debus, the head of business development at The Sportsman Media Holding
rights and has run its own OTT video service, Laola1.tv, for several years. Earlier this year, the group was acquired by sports data services company Sportradar, which is best known for its betting monitoring integrity products but is seeking to H[SDQG LWV RIIHULQJ LQ RWKHU DUHDV â&#x20AC;&#x153;What we were lacking was the H[SHUWLVH RU NQRZOHGJH DERXW WKH whole data world,â&#x20AC;? says Stefan Debus, the head of business development at The Sportsman. â&#x20AC;&#x153;My understanding is that within Sportradar there was some knowledge built up with regards to media rights or streaming, but it was not really prominent in the old Sportradar structure â&#x20AC;&#x201C; that was a focus on data topics and data products. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Now, putting both pieces together, I think we have a very strong market proposition.â&#x20AC;? The Sportsman has developed H[SHUWLVH LQ RQH DUHD ZKHUH WKH over-the-top delivery of live sport has been a going concern for some time. In 2005, in collaboration with what is now Bwin and â&#x20AC;&#x153;together with RXU WHFKQLFDO FROOHDJXHV H[SHUWV LQ WKH VWUHDPLQJ Ă&#x20AC;HOGÂľ LW FUHDWHG WKH concept â&#x20AC;&#x153;of putting live streams beside the technical productâ&#x20AC;? on gambling websites. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Since we were a traditional media rights agency, we knew that it was important to safeguard the TV rights DQG WR Ă&#x20AC;QG WKH ZD\ RI KRZ WR FUHDWH a new rights settlement â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the betting rights, as we called it â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and to have both working in parallel,â&#x20AC;? Debus H[SODLQV ´6R ZKDW ZH GHYHORSHG ZDV a solution where you have some sort of limitations with regard to size, with regards to technical quality and bandwidth restrictions, and also with a registration process for betting users that actually want to access this. So by doing that we were able to carve out those rights and were able to still distribute media rights traditionally. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This is still valid today and the product for the betting industry is totally different to what it is for TV because the people that are accessing the streams on the betting side are not really interested in watching a 90-minute football match, for H[DPSOH LQ D VPDOO IRUPDW DQG
SportsPro Magazine | 63
COVER STORY BROADCAST
reduced quality. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s more to enhance the betting product to drive people to the site and keep them there. And also to attract interest to other sports, because obviously we have a focus on football â&#x20AC;&#x201C; we have premium football rights like the Bundesliga and the Spanish Copa del Rey â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and now together with Sportradar a big proposition with the ITF [International Tennis Federation], and with Tennis Australia for the Australian Open. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re trying to build up a streaming proposition which is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, so that thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s always something going on with regards to moving images. Obviously, the betting offering for the various customers is much broader, so we try to have a full programme over the week to send people to the web pages and to keep them there.â&#x20AC;? Operating an OTT offering brings myriad complications and 'HEXV H[SODLQV WKDW WKH WHFKQRORJ\ behind the system is key to its viability, â&#x20AC;&#x153;because we are currently, in a joint portfolio, handling 30,000 live matches a year, and with quite a VLJQLĂ&#x20AC;FDQW QXPEHU RI FXVWRPHUV DQG TXLWH D FRPSOH[ SDFNDJH VWUXFWXUH which we sell, sometimes territory by territory or in territorial packagesâ&#x20AC;?. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You need to have a very strong engine,â&#x20AC;? he adds. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You need to have a very reliable stream so that the right picture is linked to the right bet and delivered in the best possible quality to the customer or the betting partner.â&#x20AC;? In the specialist, sealed-off betting rights marketplace, Debus notes that â&#x20AC;&#x153;so far there has never been a rights product that has been sold individually by an original rights ownerâ&#x20AC;?. ´)RU H[DPSOH WKH %XQGHVOLJD KDV so far not sold the rights directly to the customer because even though the Bundesliga is quite a strong proposition, it is not strong enough to convince the betting operator to have a new technical set-up,â&#x20AC;? KH H[SODLQV ´6R ZKDW WKH EHWWLQJ operator is looking for is a big proposition, a very broad portfolio with different sports so that he can
64 | www.sportspromedia.com
have the full programme on his webpage.â&#x20AC;? Whether a major rights holder would be moved to open a mass market OTT route to the consumer is another question. The scale of the technical and marketing operation would suggest otherwise, and it may be that any OTT sports offerings for now remain part of a traditional multi-sports channel model. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think it will totally replace the TV product as it stands today,â&#x20AC;? says Debus of OTT sport. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I cannot really give an outlook of how the VLWXDWLRQ ZLOO EH LQ WKUHH Ă&#x20AC;YH RU WHQ years from now. I think it is also a question of how different people, the different generations, will consume their media. I think TV will obviously remain an important product but OTT will grow and it will be interesting to see how both will go along together, or whether they will be in competition with each other.â&#x20AC;? He adds: â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think we will see quite some time where both will still be there in parallel, and probably OTT will take away some of the business from the TV product, but I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think it will be a complete switch â&#x20AC;&#x201C; QRW ZLWKLQ WKH QH[W WKUHH WR Ă&#x20AC;YH \HDUV â&#x20AC;&#x153;Which doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t mean that there arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t certain markets where OTT will soon become more important or more prominent than the TV offering.â&#x20AC;? However the market develops, VSRUW LV QRZ HPHUJLQJ DV D VLJQLĂ&#x20AC;FDQW factor in how the leaders in the digital broadcast landscape will differentiate themselves. The current NFL season
Thursday night games in the NFL are now simulcast live on social network Twitter
LV WKH Ă&#x20AC;UVW WR KDYH JDPHV VWUHDPHG live on Twitter. In April, the social network signed a ten-game deal for the rights to Thursday night games from the ongoing season alongside linear free-to-air TV coverage. The size of the agreement â&#x20AC;&#x201C; reportedly worth US$10 million â&#x20AC;&#x201C; suggests that the social network is very much dipping a toe in the water, rather than taking the plunge, though a subsequent partnership with MLBAM for access to one out-ofmarket game a week in MLB and the NHL hints at an unfolding strategy. For rights holders, deals like those available from Twitter are a means RI JURZLQJ H[SRVXUH LQ WKH VKRUW term. In the long term, however, it is already apparent that digital platforms are positioning themselves for more formal and fee-based partnerships with sporting leagues and organisations â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a process already underway in China, where the likes of Sina Sports and Le Sports are building content arrangements that go beyond marketing and promotion. One of the companies seen off by Twitter in the race for those NFL rights was Amazon, which is said by Bloomberg to be marshalling resources for the creation of a new sports outlet alongside or as part of its Amazon Video service. In March, it hired former CBS and Sports Illustrated H[HFXWLYH -DPHV DeLorenzo as its head of sports; to his team was added former <RX7XEH H[HFXWLYH &KDUOLH 1HLPDQ while a principal content acquisition manager for sports was sought a few months ago. For Amazon, with its massive and diverse set of operations, there are a very wide range of possibilities in sport but the possibility of concerted investment in rights fees is perhaps the most VLJQLĂ&#x20AC;FDQW It may be some time before sport â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and major live sport in particular â&#x20AC;&#x201C; becomes decoupled from the traditional TV model, and just as long before rights monies become more VLJQLĂ&#x20AC;FDQW IURP GLJLWDO PHGLD WKDQ they are from traditional broadcasters. %XW WKH PDUNHW LV LQ Ă X[ 7KH challenge for those in sport is to be ready to connect.
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FEATURE BROADCAST
AROUND THE WORLD IN ESPN Few broadcasters cover as much of the sporting globe as ESPN, and few executives cover as much ground as ESPN International managing director Russell Wolff. He shares his thoughts on the business of television, everywhere. By Michael Long
A
s executive vice president and managing director for ESPN International, Russell Wolff has one of the broadest remits in sport. The ESPN International business he has overseen since 2002 has grown to include full or part ownership of no fewer than 26 television networks outside of the United States, as well as additional interests spanning television, radio, print, digital, consumer products and event management in over 60 countries and territories across the globe. When it comes to broadcasting sport internationally, there is little ESPN doesn’t cover. Its rights portfolio reads like a who’s who of the planet’s preeminent sports properties, and today The Walt Disney Company-owned pay-TV pioneer remains intent on retaining its self-proclaimed title of ‘The Worldwide Leader in Sports’. Over the past 12 months, ESPN International has sought to refocus its business in key markets after a recent period of restructuring. In January, a new partnership with Sony’s Multi Screen Media (MSM) in India marked ESPN’s return to the cricket-mad sub-continent after it ended its 18-year-old joint venture with the News Corp-owned Star network in 2013, while a farreaching content and production collaboration with China’s Tencent
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in February has put the ESPN brand at the heart of one of the most aggressive and uniquely competitive digital marketplaces anywhere in the world. In Spanish-speaking Latin America and Brazil, meanwhile, ESPN’s regional networks are coming off the back of a busy summer having tackled the broadcaster’s biggest Olympic production ever at Rio 2016. And in other countries and regions such as the UK, the Caribbean, Australia and New Zealand, it is digital that has emerged as the primary driver and chief consumer touch-point for ESPN’s nowestablished local presence. All this has meant that, for Wolff himself, 2016 has been a “wildly active” year. Though based at ESPN International’s New York City headquarters, he says he spends over half of his time outside of the
US, orchestrating a multi-faceted, multi-billion dollar operation that VSDQV SURGXFWLRQ IDFLOLWLHV DQG RIÀFHV from Buenos Aires to Bangalore. In a wide-ranging interview at the end of September, Wolff took time out from his packed schedule to give SportsPro a market-by-market overview of where the ESPN International business stands today and to share his thoughts on what the future holds for the increasingly fragmented world of sports broadcasting.
ESPN International managing director Russell Wolff
Wolff on… the strength of the ESPN brand in 2016 ´, WKLQN \RX·OO ÀQG WKH EUDQG LV synonymous with sports and is a global brand. When you think about our tagline of ‘The Worldwide Leader in Sports’, nobody has more businesses in more places under one single brand in the sport business than we do. We feel like the brand is really strong, and that doesn’t mean that this business is the same in each place because the businesses have evolved on different timetables and in different models in different places. But we feel like the connection that the ESPN brand has with fans today has never been stronger.” Wolff on… the growth of ESPN’s digital business “I would say 2016 has been a wildly active and very exciting year for us around the world. We’ve got
thriving multimedia business in places like Latin America, Canada, the Caribbean, Australia and New Zealand, but weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re also continuing the growth of ESPNâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s local digital sports business. ´:KHQ \RX ORRN DW WKH WUDIĂ&#x20AC;F DQG uniques and video stats and all that, ESPN is number one globally, in the US and outside the US together. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the biggest single digital sports business, and only accelerating.â&#x20AC;? Wolff onâ&#x20AC;Ś that old industry adage of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;thinking global, acting localâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; â&#x20AC;&#x153;We actually think about it slightly differently than â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;thinking global, acting localâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. We think about it as building globally, programming locally. Take ESPN.com. That platform is a global platform, one that we can use anywhere in the world, but the content that a fan sees in India, versus a fan in China versus a fan in Mexico or Peru or Europe, is different. â&#x20AC;&#x153;ESPN.co.uk and the ESPN.com version in Mexico are built on the exact same platform that weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve built WR EH Ă H[LEOH DQG XVHIXO JOREDOO\ Obviously itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s in a different language for starters, but the content that weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re choosing, not just the language
but the angles weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re taking, the mix of content, are programmed locally. So from a digital perspective, we use â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;build globally, programme locallyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; as our strategic direction.â&#x20AC;? Wolff onâ&#x20AC;Ś the autonomy of ESPNâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s regional networks â&#x20AC;&#x153;When you think about the television businesses for a minute, we have 26 networks outside of the United States. We have a real mix of content that we acquire centrally in total coordination with things that weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re acquiring for regions around the world, and sometimes in sync with our US content acquisition. Other times, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re buying content just for Australia or just for Argentina or just for South America, and that might be bought locally. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think about it as autonomous as much as we want to buy content from the SODFH ZKHUH LW¡V PRVW HIĂ&#x20AC;FLHQW to buy it, with the people who have the best relationships with the content sellers. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got a central programming team but we also have localised programming teams and theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re all part of one big programming team, so theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re constantly talking about which
WolďŹ&#x20AC; notes that while ESPNâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s platforms across the globe are similar, they have the ďŹ&#x201A;exibility to be adapted to local markets
content to buy, how to programme it, how to maximise its value to us, and how to maximise its appeal and engagement with fans.â&#x20AC;? Wolff onâ&#x20AC;Ś balancing local relevance with â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;cheerleadingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; for US sport â&#x20AC;&#x153;You know, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not our mission to grow other peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leagues: itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s our mission to serve sports fans anytime, anywhere. When those two things align, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s very SRZHUIXO :KHQ \RX Ă&#x20AC;QG WKDW the appeal of the NFL [National Football League] is growing in Brazil or the NFL is taking a regular season game to Mexico City or London, or Major League Baseball is taking baseball games to Australia, or NBA has games in &KLQD WKDW¡V D JUHDW Ă&#x20AC;W IRU XV â&#x20AC;&#x153;We donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think of ourselves as FKHHUOHDGHUV EXW ZH GR Ă&#x20AC;QG WKDW often the objectives of the leagues DQG RXU REMHFWLYHV Ă&#x20AC;W ZHOO ZLWK each other, which allows us to leverage our strong heritage in US sport with our capabilities locally. There is nothing more powerful than telling stories to fans in a tone and style and voice thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s local about something thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s exciting and interesting to them.â&#x20AC;?
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Wolff onâ&#x20AC;Ś the ESPN approach to due diligence â&#x20AC;&#x153;When I think about what my personal job is, which is to grow the ESPN brand around the ZRUOG SURĂ&#x20AC; WDEO\ ZH ORRN Ă&#x20AC; UVW DQG foremost at those places where itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s good to be in business. Can we do good business there? And thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a combination of: what is the media landscape in that marketplace, whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the regulatory environment in that marketplace, what do we bring to bear thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s different, better, unique, new, and what does the competitive landscape look like? How will we do when we go there? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been in business one way or another in almost every country in the world over the last 20 years that Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been at the company, and I think we have a good lens that we look through in terms of trying to decide, you know, should we do this ourselves, should be do this with a partner, should be do this in digital, should we do this in television and digital at the same time? I think we have a nice mix of those business models around the world.â&#x20AC;? Wolff onâ&#x20AC;Ś partnering with Tencent in China â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Chinese marketplace is different; the role of streaming and OTT is different and has a bigger place there than in many other markets. Tencent is the NBAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest single rights partner in China but also in the world; they have more NBA rights than
68 | www.sportspromedia.com
ESPN Internationalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s partnership with Tencent in China has put it at the heart of one of the biggest and fastest-growing digital markets in the world
anybody else in the world. So when we were thinking about entering China â&#x20AC;&#x201C; or re-entering China, really, because weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been there as part of our ESPN Star Sports partnership â&#x20AC;&#x201C; we were very interested, as was Tencent, in partnering together in part because weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re both partners with the NBA. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re partners with the NBA here [in the US] and in many other countries around the world, but also we own an equity stake in NBA &KLQD VR LW ZDV D QDWXUDO Ă&#x20AC; W IRU XV to partner with the NBAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s partner in the marketplace. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re excited about what weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve done so far when you look at what weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve achieved in a few short months on the back of a multi-year agreement with one of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest and most innovative digital companies and one of the most respected companies in China. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got off to a great start, between March Madness and the NBA Playoffs and Finals, with someone I would consider a great partner and a pretty incredible company that is part of the lives of hundreds of millions of Chinese sports fans daily.â&#x20AC;? ***** â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a complicated deal because itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s got multiple components â&#x20AC;&#x201C; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s got digital components, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s got production components, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s got live rights components. But we have an excellent team that works on Asia. We have a lot of support IURP 'LVQH\¡V RIĂ&#x20AC; FHV LQ &KLQD 7KH Walt Disney Company has a great relationship with Tencent, and so we feel like it went very smoothly.â&#x20AC;? Wolff onâ&#x20AC;Ś collaborating with Sony India â&#x20AC;&#x153;ESPN has a long history in India; ZH ZHUH WKH Ă&#x20AC; UVW HQFU\SWHG SD\ TV channel in India, I believe, in 1994/95. But when we sold our stake in ESPN Star Sports back to News Corp, we exited that marketplace from a television perspective. When we were allowed to, we went back into the marketplace and we thought about
who we could partner with, and who would be an excellent partner, and we felt really good about partnering with Sony. â&#x20AC;&#x153;That partnership has three components. One is, we branded some of their sports channels as Sony ESPN channels, where the channels are branded Sony ESPN and some of the content is coming from us. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve created ESPNcricinfo-branded original programmes around the IPL [Indian Premier League] and other cricket properties, and weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve licensed thousands of hours of content to Sony: live sports, studio coverage, Ă&#x20AC; OPV :H¡UH H[FLWHG DERXW WKH opportunities ahead to create more new programming, particularly cricket and locally branded programming. â&#x20AC;&#x153;On the digital side, we launched a multi-sport version of ESPN. com. For India, we already had Cricinfo, which is the biggest cricket website in India, and the launch of ESPN.in, which is really very local: Indian voice, Indian sensibility. That partnership is over a year old and I think both parties feel like weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve done very well together. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s exciting. Our digital products are far better and far more penetrative and far more popular today than theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve ever been amongst Indian sports fans.â&#x20AC;? Wolff onâ&#x20AC;Ś broadcasting Rio 2016 across Latin America â&#x20AC;&#x153;Rio 2016 was the single biggest Olympic production ever for us. We had literally teams from all over the world, and had been preparing for that for almost two years. I remember going to Rio for the [2014 Fifa] World Cup and going to an Olympic planning meeting while I was there â&#x20AC;&#x201C; thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s how far in advance weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re thinking about these big events. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been honing our approach to these big events so we think about them as the global sports company. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Literally, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re talking about, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;OK, which territories do we have the rights for the Olympics? We have the rights throughout Latin America, including Brazil, and the Caribbean. What do we need for that operation?
Where do we want to have television news coverage? What do we need for that operation? And everywhere else, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going to have digital coverage â&#x20AC;&#x201C; what do we need for that operation?â&#x20AC;&#x2122; And then treat that all like one team, one operation, one project, so that itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fully coordinated. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Where we can share content, we are. Where we can share resources, we are. And it leads to our biggest ever Olympic production, which I was really proud of this summer, including record Olympic ratings in Brazil and in Mexico and in Argentina.â&#x20AC;? Wolff onâ&#x20AC;Ś the UK business â&#x20AC;&#x153;We feel really good about the partnership weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve crafted with BT. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d obviously had our own channels prior to that and made the decision that we needed a different business model. The partnership that we created with BT is already years old, and again itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not dissimilar to some of the others Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve described; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s co-branded TV channels as part of the BT Sport bundle. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We license thousands of hours of content for those networks, and that partnership with them sits alongside our wholly owned, growing local digital business, including ESPN.co.uk and the local edition of the ESPN app. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re excited about the growth weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve seen in that marketplace and we really value the partnership we have with BT. I think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s worked well for both of us.â&#x20AC;? Wolff onâ&#x20AC;Ś operating in Australia â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m particularly excited by Australia. We have a strong position in sports there; weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been there since the beginning of pay-TV in 1997. We have three ESPN-branded networks that sit alongside a suite of digital products that are the number one set of digital products in the Australian marketplace. We are carried on, amongst other platforms, Foxtel and the sports package with Fox Sports, and we feel like itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a great sports market. We know fans love the ESPN digital brands; they interact with us, whether itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s on Cricinfo or ESPNfootytips, which is a tipping
site, or scrum.com or ESPN.com.au. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Australia, Caribbean, Latin America: these are markets we think of as multimedia markets â&#x20AC;&#x201C; television, maybe radio, digital, maybe magazine. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re in multiple outlets, multiple media approaches, and that surround approach lets you connect with fans even more easily.â&#x20AC;? Wolff onâ&#x20AC;Ś his broad remit â&#x20AC;&#x153;I spend about 55 and 60 per cent of my time outside of the US. My days are long. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not uncommon to have a 6am conference call; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s also not uncommon to have a midnight conference call. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You know, my approach to the job is you have to hire great people locally. The key to ESPNâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s success outside of the US, in large part, has been not about whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s going on with me at the centre, but whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been going on with the ongoing development and success of local leadership in our UK headquarters for EMEA, LQ RXU RIĂ&#x20AC;FHV LQ $VLD ZKHUH ZH UXQ $VLD 3DFLĂ&#x20AC;F RXW RI RXU WHDP in Australia, as well as teams in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico. I feel really good about the leadership team that we have in place around the world.â&#x20AC;? Wolff onâ&#x20AC;Ś his ESPN career highlights â&#x20AC;&#x153;I got to work on the â&#x20AC;&#x2122;99 Cricket World Cup as the host broadcaster for India. To be the host broadcaster for the Cricket World Cup in India was a big GHDO SDUWLFXODUO\ DV LW ZDV WKH Ă&#x20AC;UVW Cricket World Cup Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d ever worked on. Certainly, this string of new partnerships weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve developed â&#x20AC;&#x201C; BT, Sony and Tencent â&#x20AC;&#x201C; have been real exciting deals, and when I was in Rio working on the Olympics, it was pretty exciting and also my 13th Olympic Games. â&#x20AC;&#x153;But one of the things that touches my heart more than anything else has been working with Special Olympics International. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just an amazing event with amazing athletes and families and coaches and supporters. I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think the world gives it enough attention.â&#x20AC;?
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Building globally, programming locallyâ&#x20AC;? has become ESPN Internationalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mantra, says WolďŹ&#x20AC;
Wolff onâ&#x20AC;Ś the shifting global media landscape â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think two of our sayings that we use often at ESPN are, in some ways, timeless. One is: â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;serve sports fans anytime, anywhereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. The digital transition has been all about that. You went from you could only watch sport at home, to you could watch it not just in your living room but on your computer, and then not just in your living room and on your computer but on your cellphone and then your tablet. The anytime, anywhere component of it, I think, is both retrospectively true and it will continue to be evolutionary as we go forward. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The other one is we have this theory about best available screen. Fans want to watch sports content on the best available screen. If they could watch it in a theatre with an enormous screen, they would. They love watching it on their 72-inch HD TV in their living room, but if they canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get to that, theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll watch it on their 27-inch FRPSXWHU DW WKH RIĂ&#x20AC;FH DQG LI WKH\ canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get to that, theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll watch it on their tablet or their smartphone. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think we should expect more of the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;anytime, anywhereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;best available screenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; philosophies to continue to drive the ongoing growth of interest of fans in watching the best live sports. Live is more important now than itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ever been and weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re more live than anyone.â&#x20AC;?
SportsPro Magazine | 69
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NETWORKING
Since its launch in ďŹ ve countries last year, Eleven Sports Network has met the demands of a diverse range of markets through a business model which allows the leadership in each country to develop their own approaches. SportsPro speaks to its top executives in Belgium, Poland, Taiwan and Singapore to ďŹ nd out how this international enterprise is seeking local solutions. By Eoin Connolly
O
n its launch in 2015, much of the speculation that surrounded Eleven Sports Network concerned the man behind it. As the cofounder of the MP & Silva agency, Andrea Radrizzani had been one RI WKH IRUHPRVW Ă&#x20AC;JXUHV LQ WKH international media rights market. Now he was moving to the other VLGH RI WKH SOD\LQJ Ă&#x20AC;HOG KLV motivations, and his expectations, drew considerable intrigue. A year on and Radrizzaniâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interests have broadened further with his appointment as president of Baofeng Sports International, following the sale of MP & Silva to the Baofeng Group DQG Ă&#x20AC;QDQFLDO VHUYLFHV FRPSDQ\ Everbright in May. His previous venture has not been forgotten, KRZHYHU DIWHU LQYHVWLQJ KHDYLO\ in soccer, and collecting rights in selected markets to the likes of Formula One and the National Football League (NFL), Eleven is now established in Belgium, Poland, Luxembourg, Singapore and Taiwan. With its operation in such a diverse collection of territories, what is striking about Eleven now is its devolved business model. There are recurring themes to the package in each country. In May, the group signed a multi-year deal with digital video technology specialist NeuLion to create an over-the-
72 | www.sportspromedia.com
top (OTT) live, catch-up and on-demand video service, Eleven Sports, across all of its territories. (OHPHQWV RI LWV VWUDWHJ\ DOVR UHFXU there is a common emphasis on localised content, social media outreach and the widest possible levels of distribution. Otherwise, though, Eleven Sports Network operates as exactly WKDW D QHWZRUN ,WV GLIIHUHQW SRLQWV are connected but in many ways act independently. Danny Menken, the former Eurosport executive who joined Eleven at launch from his role as chief executive of Infostrada Sports Group, now serves as the group managing director, with oversight of all global activities. In each country, other leaders work with a considerable degree of autonomy. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I joined Eleven a year ago, and my main goal was to get the distribution deals going but also to get the team in place,â&#x20AC;? says Anouk
Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg interviewed for Elevenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Formula One coverage
Mertens, Eleven managing director for Belgium. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s very important because if you look at our local structure, we have a marketing guy, we have social media people, we have our editor in chief, we have all the journalists who do and edit all the matches. But itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s also very important to keep close to whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s happening in the market, because every market is different and you have big properties that work in every country but thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s some that are more important.â&#x20AC;? Each national unit has a â&#x20AC;&#x153;separate P&Lâ&#x20AC;?, Mertens explains, and works up its â&#x20AC;&#x153;own business plansâ&#x20AC;?, which are then discussed at a group level. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Once we get approval on that,â&#x20AC;? she adds, â&#x20AC;&#x153;we try to work on our local strategies as well as we can. That also means that we look for our own people in the market, ZH GHĂ&#x20AC;QH ZKLFK SDUWQHUVKLSV are important â&#x20AC;&#x201C; for example, we have done deals with all the local online news sites, where they show highlights from our leagues and from our shows as well.â&#x20AC;? According to Poland managing GLUHFWRU .U]\V]WRI Ĺ&#x2019;ZLHUJLHO WKHUH is ample collaboration between Eleven teams in each country, despite the many deep differences in each market. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We try to share as much as possible in best cases; on best experiences,â&#x20AC;? he says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are
in a constant contact; there is a direct exchange of information between the employees in several different countries. On top of this all operations are consolidated via our headquarters and through this consolidation we’re also able to exchange our experiences. “I can tell you that generally speaking all the markets are very, very different in terms of the model we are using, and also in terms of the media landscape, the habits of our viewers from country to country are also different. Nevertheless there is a lot to be shared, especially in terms of marketing and support, communication, and this is what we DUH YHU\ GHÀ QLWHO\ GRLQJ LQ WHUPV of sharing our clips we produced; if something is produced for Poland it could also be shared with other countries, there are some clips which were produced and localised for Poland and there are some circumstances they could be used for other territories after some localisation. “We share also our ideas regarding how to push our OTT products on a regular basis.”
ELEVEN IN BELGIUM
“I think Belgium is a rather particular market compared to other ones,” says Mertens. “It’s a fairly small country and you have, basically, two main languages, which makes it a complex market. “In Belgium, everything we do, we do in two languages. Which means that if we do 1,500 games,
An Eleven Sports Network event for fans in Poland
Anouk Mertens, Eleven managing director for Belgium
basically we do 3,000 because we do everything double.” Even allowing for Belgium’s regional split between French and Flemish Dutch speakers, Eleven puts a heavy accent on localised content in the country. Unsurprisingly for a European market, soccer is comfortably the most popular sport for broadcast here and Mertens highlights premium international rights that carry a national interest. “What we see is that the attractiveness of the international leagues is driven in a big part by a local presence,” she says, pointing to the importance to Eleven’s audiences of Belgian players plying their trade in Italy’s Serie A, Spain’s La Liga, France’s Ligue 1 and the English FA Cup. Other major properties in Eleven’s Belgian portfolio – like the rights to the National Football League (NFL) and National Basketball Association (NBA) ² DGGUHVV ´VRPH YHU\ VSHFLÀ F and very motivated, more niche audiences, but still very broad audiences”. Even in those cases, Belgian interest is generated where possible – either through
SportsPro Magazine | 73
FEATURE BROADCAST
programming or the purchase of complementary rights. ´<RX VSHFLĂ&#x20AC; FDOO\ VWDUW ORRNLQJ for local things as well,â&#x20AC;? Mertens adds. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If there is the Belgian Bowl, the American football association in Belgium, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll do something with them because it really ties in with NFL and with the local community.â&#x20AC;? Mertens explains that â&#x20AC;&#x153;one of the most important thingsâ&#x20AC;? Eleven GLG DIWHU LWV Ă&#x20AC; UVW \HDU RI RSHUDWLRQ was to move on from an editorial outsourcing deal with Mediapro and bring those activities in-house. ´7KH\ GLG D JUHDW MRE LQ WKH Ă&#x20AC; UVW year,â&#x20AC;? she says, â&#x20AC;&#x153;but when you start moving forward and producing that much content locally, it felt like we needed to have it integrated in one local team. So we recently moved to RQH QHZ RIĂ&#x20AC; FH LQ $QWZHUS ZKHUH we have the management team, the social media team, the marketing team and the editorial team in one place, which means that we are now working on a lot of new local shows but also shows that are more 360 programmes. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They are on our channels, but also we put them on Facebook, we have YouTube, we have Instagram, so you have the whole team contributing in any form of communication â&#x20AC;&#x201C; be it on air or on social media. That was an important part, to get a good editor in chief here, select the right journalist to do the new shows weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re making, to get good names as analysts and co-commentators, but also to get our own marketing and social media people here. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We have digital editors that are working every weekend here on Facebook. If something happens in a game you see highlights of it immediately on our Facebook site. So weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re really trying to communicate to the fans directly and regularly.â&#x20AC;? 7KDW VWDIĂ&#x20AC; QJ FKDQJH KDV DOVR allowed Eleven to pursue its goal
of becoming â&#x20AC;&#x153;very much a Belgian QHWZRUNÂľ DQG RQH WKDW UHĂ HFWV WKH countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s regional differences. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If we do Eleven United, which is a modular review show of the good things that are happening in the market, then we do it in French and in Dutch,â&#x20AC;? Mertens explains. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If you look at a show like that, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not just that you take all the international feeds and you combine them together and have a highlights show. What we do is that we always try to look at the local angle.â&#x20AC;? Those efforts are aided by access to local production facilities. â&#x20AC;&#x153;At RXU RIĂ&#x20AC; FH ZH KDYH HGLW FHOOV ZH have voice booths, we can show eight simultaneous live matches IURP WKH RIĂ&#x20AC; FH LI ZH ZDQW Âľ Mertens says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The playout is centralised in Barcelona, but all local edits and magazine voiceovers are done locally.â&#x20AC;? Eleven sought a platform-neutral approach in Belgium and has now secured carriage deals with all of the major operators. The process was not without its challenges in a country where media and telecoms groups had been used to buying exclusive content and using that to tie consumers to a single means of distribution. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Of course,â&#x20AC;? Mertens recalls, â&#x20AC;&#x153;the hurdle we needed to take was to talk to the cable companies and IPTV providers and say, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going to change this and weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going to get carriage on your network.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; â&#x20AC;&#x153;So for Proximus, we were a partner in the market from day one. That relationship went very well because they had a different strategy in saying, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Well, we GLVWULEXWH 1HWĂ L[ DV ZHOO ² ZK\ shouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t we distribute Eleven?â&#x20AC;&#x2122; For the cable companies it was VOLJKWO\ PRUH GLIĂ&#x20AC; FXOW EXW LQ DQ\ FDVH ZH HQGHG XS Ă&#x20AC; QGLQJ D ZLQ win and having our great offering on their network so their viewers are happy as well.â&#x20AC;?
â&#x20AC;&#x153;We aim to become the number one sports content provider.â&#x20AC;? 74 | www.sportspromedia.com
Krzysztof Ĺ&#x161;wiergiel, managing director for Eleven in Poland
Going forward, Mertens reveals, Elevenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s focus will be on expanding the reach of its OTT product, not only by developing apps for services like Apple TV but also by serving â&#x20AC;&#x153;an audience that is either just interested only in La Liga, or is only an NBA fan, and through our OTT platform we can also offer them the choice to just watch those games they wantâ&#x20AC;?. ´,W¡V NLQG RI D 1HWĂ L[ PRGHO Âľ she adds, â&#x20AC;&#x153;itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s very easy to subscribe and step in and step out whenever you want. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s something where I think there is still an unserved audience that we are addressing with that platform in Belgium.â&#x20AC;?
ELEVEN IN POLAND
One year into its operation in Poland, Eleven is accessible for â&#x20AC;&#x153;almost 100 per cent of the populationâ&#x20AC;?, according to .U]\V]WRI Ĺ&#x2019;ZLHUJLHO â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are distributed by all major cable and DTH platforms in Poland â&#x20AC;&#x201C; altogether close to 60 in total,â&#x20AC;? he says. Poland is a typical European market, in many respects, with soccer the sport likeliest to encourage fans to subscribe to a pay-TV broadcaster. The European Handball Federation Champions League and speedway are nods to local proclivities â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the latter is
FEATURE BROADCAST
â&#x20AC;&#x153;very important to Polish viewers: in some locations it is number oneâ&#x20AC;?. There are other, further-reaching qualities that mark Poland out from other territories in Europe. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Polish broadcast market is quite complex because of two IDFWRUV Âľ Ĺ&#x2019;ZLHUJLHO H[SODLQV ´7KH Ă&#x20AC; UVW LV WKDW LI \RX¡UH ORRNLQJ DW WKH GLVWULEXWLRQ PDUNHW LW¡V RQH RI WKH very few markets in Europe which we can describe as a very spread market. There are hundreds of operators active which we would like to approach and our intention of course is to be available on all of them. )URP D EXVLQHVV SHUVSHFWLYH LW¡V JUHDW QHZV LW¡V HDVLHU WR RSHUDWH LQ D PDUNHW which is spread when you have many chances to offer your product. â&#x20AC;&#x153;On the other hand, we see that there is a huge OTT development. We are trying to make as much as we can out of this development, having our application and our own OTT product which develops quite well. Our numbers are growing from month to month. There are VHYHUDO SODWIRUPV LQFOXGLQJ 1HWĂ L[ that we would like to mirror, our LQWHQWLRQ LV WR EH OLNH D 1HWĂ L[ IRU sport in Poland.â&#x20AC;? To that end, Eleven is working to establish a close relationship with its viewers by being â&#x20AC;&#x153;as interactive as possibleâ&#x20AC;?, establishing a strong social media presence and making that the central channel for marketing messaging. ´2I FRXUVH LW¡V D TXHVWLRQ PDUN for not only us but also the entire PDUNHW Âľ Ĺ&#x2019;ZLHUJLHO DGGV ´KRZ strong and how quick the transfer or transition from the classic video consumption on big TV screens will go in the direction of OTT. This is a question which I cannot answer. Nevertheless such a transition is in place right now, and ZH DUH EHQHĂ&#x20AC; WLQJ IURP WKDW Âľ As for what Polish viewers will be watching, on linear or OTT VHUYLFHV WKH WDUJHW IRU Ĺ&#x2019;ZLHUJLHO LV an output that is not only local, but premium and unique. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We wanted to have people who could represent a very high expertise for what they are doing,â&#x20AC;?
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KH VD\V ´2QH H[DPSOH UHĂ HFWLQJ this is that all commentators commentating on the Spanish league have to speak Spanish, commentators on the Italian Serie A have to speak Italian, etc. ´:H¡YH EHHQ VHOHFWLQJ QHZ IDFHV added them to the staff which were already established in the Polish market, and made out of them a kind of mix of people which is very dedicated, very engaged; people who can show high expertise.â&#x20AC;?
ELEVEN IN TAIWAN
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Taiwanese sports, basically, is XQGHU WKH LQĂ XHQFH RI -DSDQHVH DQG American culture a lot,â&#x20AC;? explains Simone Kang, the general manager of Eleven in Taiwan. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The most popular sports are baseball and basketball. But there is a rise in the popularity of football and when we came in with the major rights for the EPL [Premier League] and Serie A, it was very positive for most of the fans because they are so happy to see the major professional leagues coming to Taiwan. Normally, these were not broadcast in Taiwan.â&#x20AC;? Eleven has built its strategy in the island nation around accentuating those differences in its content, rather than trying to compete immediately with the market leaders through a quest for baseball and basketball rights. It has built up a heavy portfolio of soccer rights, with the English and Italian top Ă LJKWV FRPSOHPHQWHG E\ DFWLRQ from the English Football League DQG 6RXWK $PHULFDQ TXDOLĂ&#x20AC; HUV IRU the 2018 Fifa World Cup. From there, it is working to add coverage of â&#x20AC;&#x153;major basketball tournaments or local baseball tournamentsâ&#x20AC;?. But the project remains at a very early stage in Taiwan. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Currently, we are on an OTT operation only,â&#x20AC;? Kang explains. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We aim to be on pay-TV by the HQG RI WKLV \HDU RU -DQXDU\ We need to have a broadcasting licence approved by the national communication committee here in Taiwan, and I think we are going to have the licence approval very soon.
Simone Kang, the general manager of Eleven in Taiwan
´7KH FRPSOLFDWLRQV LQ 7DLZDQ¡V pay-TV system are quite different from what I understand of other FRXQWULHV 7KHUH DUH DERXW Ă&#x20AC; YH major channels and then 29 independent cable operators. So basically, we need to talk to each one and then get approval. We need to communicate in order to get on WR WKH SD\ V\VWHP %XW LW¡V JRRG because they are some of the major cable distributors that can help us to accomplish the mission.â&#x20AC;? The OTT offering is currently available direct to consumer or via the local Chunghwa and ELTA platforms. Once the pay-TV licence is secured, meanwhile, Kang says that Eleven will â&#x20AC;&#x153;pursue a nonexclusive distribution strategyâ&#x20AC;?, in common with what it has done in other markets. Before joining Eleven, Kang spent time with the two existing major international players in the Taiwanese sports broadcasting scene: ESPN Asia and Fox Sports Taiwan. That experience, she says, has helped her get to know â&#x20AC;&#x153;everyone in the sports production programmes around Taiwanâ&#x20AC;? and she has been able to bring some of that talent with her to join what remains a small operation of six. â&#x20AC;&#x153;And for some of the junior
positions,â&#x20AC;? she adds, â&#x20AC;&#x153;we have people who love sports and who have skills in production or sports knowledge â&#x20AC;&#x201C; who really are passionate about their football, or baseball or basketball, and can join RXU WHDP 6R , WKLQN LW¡V JRLQJ WR be fun and exciting here.â&#x20AC;? With its international content in place, Eleven is now putting WRJHWKHU LWV PRUH ORFDOO\ LQĂ HFWHG coverage. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Starting from Uefa (XUR ZH¡YH EHHQ GRLQJ Mandarin voiceovers for every [soccer] game we broadcast,â&#x20AC;? notes Kang, who singles out presenter Tom Chen as someone with VLJQLĂ&#x20AC; FDQW DSSHDO WR 7DLZDQHVH viewers. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We started to localise with a Mandarin voiceover, with studio presentation of a pre-game show and post-game analysis. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Now we have at least two to four games every weekend with Mandarin voiceover. So we started with Mandarin voiceover; when there is a bigger tournament we are going to have a bigger scale of production, including a studio pre-show, post-show. And we also have Chinese subtitles for some of WKH PDJD]LQH VKRZV VR LW¡V HDVLHU for the viewers to understand what the show is about, what the report is about.â&#x20AC;?
ELEVEN IN SINGAPORE
7KHUH KDYH EHHQ VRPH VLJQLĂ&#x20AC; FDQW UHFHQW FKDQJHV WR (OHYHQ¡V operations in Singapore, with Shalu Wasu arriving as managing GLUHFWRU LQ WKH Ă&#x20AC; UVW ZHHN RI October. He joined from Circus Social, the social intelligence platform he founded in late 2012 after leading the Ogilvy consulting practice Social@Ogilvy. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Singapore is both a matured and a digitally advanced market,â&#x20AC;? explains Wasu. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Pay79 SHQHWUDWLRQ LV KLJK DW SHU cent, and so is home broadband penetration â&#x20AC;&#x201C; over 100 per cent â&#x20AC;&#x201C; broadband speed â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the average speed been sold is 1Gbps â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and proliferation of smart devices. Free-to-air TV is governmentowned, well-funded, run by competent professionals and is of
high quality. Even within pay TV platforms, free-to-air channels â&#x20AC;&#x201C; which must be carried â&#x20AC;&#x201C; are among the highest-watched.â&#x20AC;? It was into that competitive yet highly fertile marketplace that Eleven encroached last year, but the early signs have been encouraging. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Singapore market was extremely receptive,â&#x20AC;? Wasu suggests, â&#x20AC;&#x153;and we have seen a better than expected response from the local media, trade and WKH FRQVXPHUV ZKLFK LV UHĂ HFWHG in the partnership deals and the customer base we have built.â&#x20AC;? In Singapore, as elsewhere, it is soccer that is the most powerful driver of viewer interest, ZLWK (QJODQG¡V 3UHPLHU /HDJXH particularly popular in the citystate. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Other football such as the FA Cup, EFL Cup, English Football League [EFL], England internationals, and of course 6LQJDSRUH¡V LQWHUQDWLRQDO PDWFKHV are also well followed,â&#x20AC;? Wasu adds. â&#x20AC;&#x153;As the home of English football in Singapore we are proud to hold the rights to all of these English competitions, as well as be the host broadcaster for some of
Shalu Wasu, Eleven managing director in Singapore
6LQJDSRUH¡V PDWFKHV DQG EULQJ DOO of this exhilarating football to the fans.â&#x20AC;? Wasu intends for Eleven to set itself apart in Singapore through a â&#x20AC;&#x153;three-pronged approachâ&#x20AC;?. Firstly, he says, it has procured â&#x20AC;&#x153;top-tier content that fans actually follow and watchâ&#x20AC;?, rather than choosing to â&#x20AC;&#x153;air hours of content which Ă&#x20AC; OO XS WKH VFKHGXOHV DQG JLYH the illusion of volumesâ&#x20AC;?. Eleven has also worked to unbundle its packages, making content available directly, and accessible on any device. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There is no signing of complicated contracts, and no tiein for long, extended periods of time,â&#x20AC;? Wasu adds. Partnerships have been signed with the key Singaporean media platforms. Eleven is available via 6LQJWHO¡V WHOHYLVLRQ RIIHULQJ RQOLQH service Toggle, the StarHub Go streaming service, and through Ă&#x20AC; EUH EURDGEDQG SURYLGHU 0 â&#x20AC;&#x153;We produce multiple shows using local talent,â&#x20AC;? Wasu says, â&#x20AC;&#x153;customised to the Singaporean IDQV¡ SDODWH FRYHU WKH ORFDO PDUNHW extensively, and aggressively acquire Singapore-centric content, such as the Fina Swimming World Cup rights which will enable swimming fans to follow the likes of [Rio 2O\PSLF P EXWWHUĂ \ JROG PHGDOOLVW@ -RVHSK 6FKRROLQJ Âľ Wasu, of course, has not been involved in the construction of the local Eleven team but is struck by its collective breadth of experience. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The team is built,â&#x20AC;? he says, â&#x20AC;&#x153;with professionals from a diverse range of backgrounds â&#x20AC;&#x201C; we have media and broadcast experts, as well as people from non-media backgrounds, and this brings a diverse perspective into our business and operations.â&#x20AC;? He is bullish about what that team can achieve in Singapore. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We aim to become the number one sports content provider,â&#x20AC;? he says, â&#x20AC;&#x153;offering targeted and unbundled products and a top-quality experience, at very attractive price points. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The top and bottom lines will follow.â&#x20AC;?
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FEATURE BROADCAST
EIR TO THE THRONE Setanta Sports was a homegrown success in the distinctive Irish broadcast marketplace before being picked up this year by domestic telecoms leader Eir. Now, Eir Sport is looking to build on the legacy of its forebear and attract new customers to its parent brand. By Eoin Connolly
he Republic of Ireland is not one of Europe’s bigger TV nations, but this year it has provided one of the FRQWLQHQW·V PRUH VLJQLÀFDQW VSRUWV broadcasting stories. Founded in 1990, Setanta Sports had put a distinctively Irish spin on the sector. Internationally, it had popped up to varying degrees of success as a challenger to pay-TV incumbents in the UK, US, Australia and Africa before largely receding from view – though Discoveryowned Setanta Sports Asia is still operational. In its domestic market, however, Setanta had remained D VLJQLÀFDQW SOD\HU D UHVSHFWHG homegrown subscription outlet in a
T
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market where its competition, other than the free-to-air channels, had blown in from across the Irish Sea. Now, all of a sudden, the Setanta name is gone. In its place is Eir Sport, backed by domestic telecoms leader Eir. “When the opportunity came to acquire the Setanta business, which was already a great business – a really pioneering, nimble business which specialises not only in FRQWHQW IURP WKH 8. EXW VSHFLÀF content from Ireland – it was an opportunity that we had to take,” says Jon Florsheim, the managing director of Eir Consumer, speaking to SportsPro in early September. “Being honest, if we hadn’t taken it,
Above: Mickey O'Rourke, former chief executive of Setanta; Richard Moat, chief executive of Eir; Brian O'Driscoll, former captain of the Ireland national rugby team; and Jon Florsheim, managing director of Eir Consumer
somebody else would have done.” By Florsheim’s account, although “being a telecoms company we’re not famous for moving swiftly”, Eir was ready to pounce when rumours began to circulate that Setanta co-founder and majority shareholder Mickey O’Rourke was preparing to sell. “It’s a small country,” he says. “People talk. Mickey is a pretty sociable guy, he’s very friendly with most people, but we just got friendlier than the others, quicker.” Negotiations began last year and by December, Eir and Setanta had agreed a deal for a reported value of €20 million (US$22 million). By April, regulatory approval had been
secured; the newly branded Eir Sport launched on 5th July. â&#x20AC;&#x153;So the whole timescale was pretty short,â&#x20AC;? Florsheim says. Florsheim is a former executive of Sky in the UK and Luxembourgbased pay-TV media organisation M7 Group, among others. An Englishman, he is married to a Cork woman and has â&#x20AC;&#x153;been coming to Ireland for 25 yearsâ&#x20AC;?, but only moved to Eir in 2014. He initially joined as its director RI 79 DQG Ă&#x20AC;[HG ZLWK D UHVSRQVLELOLW\ for growing its broadcast platform. )RUPHUO\ WKH VWDWH Ă&#x20AC;[HG OLQH telecoms monopoly, Eir bought mobile operator Meteor a decade ago and has been continuing its evolution since then, collecting new rivals in a diversifying marketplace. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Eir have all the ingredients of the great converged communications company but I think having content is the icing on the cake which creates relevance and differentiation,â&#x20AC;? says Florsheim. â&#x20AC;&#x153;So in terms of timing, in our TV platform we already had the Setanta channels and the BT channels. We had a carriage deal with Setanta, so there was already a relationship there. And look, it was pretty clear that at some point that asset would be grabbed, and we just got there quickest.â&#x20AC;? The thinking behind the DFTXLVLWLRQ ZDV VLPSOH DV WKH Ă&#x20AC;[HG line market in Ireland becomes less VLJQLĂ&#x20AC;FDQW UHODWLYH WR EURDGEDQG and mobile, Eir needs a means of staying ahead of others in overlapping markets. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s all about leveraging our network,â&#x20AC;? Florsheim says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We have the mobile network and weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re extending it in terms of the coverage. We have a broadband network and ZH¡UH H[WHQGLQJ WKH Ă&#x20AC;EUH WKH %'6/ part of it which makes the IPTV and the over the top apps even easier to use. So the technology is moving on apace. I think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just down to our imagination in terms of how we leverage that across the content.â&#x20AC;? There are elements of the Eir Sport story that will sound familiar to observers of the sports broadcast market, especially in the UK. Florsheim freely acknowledges
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s unique. I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think of another market like it in Europe where thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a mixture of geography, history, politics.â&#x20AC;? the parallels between what Eir is trying to achieve and what its British equivalent â&#x20AC;&#x201C; telecoms monopoly turned quad-play operator BT â&#x20AC;&#x201C; has been doing in the past four years. BT Sport, in fact, has a shared carriage deal with Eir Sport in Ireland until 2019, a legacy of a previous partnership with Setanta. The agreement sees its channels carried alongside ESPN and Eir Sport 1 and 2. In assimilating Setanta Sports, Florsheim believes, Eir is starting from a more advanced position WKDQ %7 6LJQLĂ&#x20AC;FDQW HOHPHQWV of the Setanta Sports operation have been retained by Eir Sport, including key staff. At the top, Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Rourke has continued as joint chief executive, at least for a couple of years. Brian Quinn, now the operations director at Eir Sport, is also a Setanta Sports veteran. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think from a sports TV perspective, it is a tricky market,â&#x20AC;? Quinn says of the Irish broadcast topography. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s unique. I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think of another market like it in Europe where thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a mixture of geography, history, politics. But weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve a lot of experience in that area.â&#x20AC;? Eirâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s access to BT Sport content
Irish soccer side Dundalk during their victory over Maccabi Tel Aviv, the ďŹ rst ever win for an Irish team in European competition
LV D VLJQLĂ&#x20AC;FDQW DVVHW LQ D KRWO\ contested market. UK pay-TV giant Sky Sports is active in the Republic of Ireland, with some key rights spread across both territories and RWKHUV DWWDFKHG WR FRXQWU\ VSHFLĂ&#x20AC;F packages. The free-to-air market LV DOVR Ă XLG /LEHUW\ *OREDO¡V ½ million (US$97 million) takeover of TV3 has given the commercial network new spending power, which it brought to bear by picking up the coveted rights to rugby unionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Six Nations Championship for three \HDUV IURP 7KH SDUW SXEOLFO\ funded RTĂ&#x2030;, a cornerstone of the Irish viewing experience for generations, has looked a little less well placed in that environment. With that in mind, it was important for Eir Sport to make a strong impression on arrival. It did so with an announcement on launch that it had picked up the rights to the 2019 edition of the Rugby World Cup, which TV3 had shown in 2015. The package also included coverage of the 2017 Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Rugby World Cup, which will be played in Ireland. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We moved quickly,â&#x20AC;? says Florsheim, â&#x20AC;&#x153;because we saw it as a big opportunity when we launched on the 5th of July. We had the Webb Ellis Trophy there to
SportsPro Magazine | 79
FEATURE BROADCAST
show all the staff and we grabbed the rights. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll continue to be nimble and opportunistic going forward now that weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re Eir Sport. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not going to lose any of that DNA which has come across from Setanta.â&#x20AC;? In sporting terms, Ireland is a distinctive territory. Soccer, QDWXUDOO\ KDV D KLJK SURĂ&#x20AC;OH ZLWK WKH Premier League widely watched in general and clubs like Manchester United and Liverpool particularly popular. Rugby union has grown beyond its traditional geographical DQG HFRQRPLF FRQĂ&#x20AC;QHV WR EHFRPH a truly national sport, while cricket has made some very early steps on the same path. The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has been propelled towards the mainstream by the successes of Dublinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own Conor McGregor, the world featherweight champion and one RI WKH PRVW FKDULVPDWLF Ă&#x20AC;JXUHV LQ mixed martial arts. UFC coverage is carried on BT Sport. But it is hurling and Gaelic football, and the championships run by the Gaelic Athletic Association *$$ WKDW UHDOO\ GHĂ&#x20AC;QH WKH FXOWXUH â&#x20AC;&#x201C; particularly at a local level. In July the Eir telecoms brand extended its sponsorship of the GAA All-Ireland )RRWEDOO &KDPSLRQVKLS IRU Ă&#x20AC;YH years, and the group would now be very open to an expanded broadcast relationship. Eir Sport currently has the rights to games from the Allianz National Leagues â&#x20AC;&#x201C; less prestigious competitions than the All-Ireland Championships in football and hurling. RTĂ&#x2030; currently holds most of the rights to the blue-riband coverage in Ireland, while Sky Sports also carries some games and is the lead broadcaster in the UK. A new broadcast arrangement is expected to EH Ă&#x20AC;QDOLVHG WKLV DXWXPQ EXW ZKDWHYHU the outcome of those discussions with the GAA, Florsheim believes that Eir Sportâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s positioning as a properly Irish broadcaster can give it an edge in the market. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re very conscious that we only operate in Ireland,â&#x20AC;? says )ORUVKHLP ´:H¡UH QRW FRQĂ LFWHG
80 | www.sportspromedia.com
by any other market. We just specialise in Ireland â&#x20AC;&#x201C; thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s our only market; thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the only market weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re interested in. Again, we can be more nimble and more focused on that content.â&#x20AC;? It also allows for tailored promotion of the content already in the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hands. Through its partnership with BT Sport, the Eir platform is the Irish home of Uefa club soccer competitions. Tiny Dundalkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s run in the group stages of the Europa League has created D VLJQLĂ&#x20AC;FDQW PDUNHWLQJ RSSRUWXQLW\ not least as Eir Sport also airs the League of Ireland. There is also considerable scope for Eir to execute this kind of activity better than Setanta was ever able to manage on its own. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Eir has strength on the telecommunications side of things so the technology solutions that they can bring to bear on Eir Sport content is phenomenal and we werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t particularly strong on that,â&#x20AC;? notes Quinn. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Already, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve just launched an Eir Sport app which is gone into tens of thousands of homes. So itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an opportunity and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s something we can build on as well.â&#x20AC;? Florsheim cites a recent early example of Eir turning a piece of sporting content to its advantage â&#x20AC;&#x201C; taking â&#x20AC;&#x153;ownershipâ&#x20AC;?, in Quinnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s words, of a â&#x20AC;&#x153;golden momentâ&#x20AC;?. In his last game for the Irish national soccer team in a 4-0 win over Oman in August, record goalscorer Robbie Keane found the net with
Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Rourke, Moat and Florsheim use an iPad next to the Eir Com bus. The companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s background in telecoms has helped to develop the sports channelsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; digital oďŹ&#x20AC;erings.
one last spectacular effort. A video of the goal was shared widely and rapidly across social networks, even drawing comment from Irish president Michael Higgins. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s something which we can leverage and do it quickly,â&#x20AC;? Florsheim says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The incumbent EURDGFDVWHUV SUREDEO\ Ă&#x20AC;QG LW PRUH GLIĂ&#x20AC;FXOW WR GR Âľ The early advance of Eir Sport has not gone completely unchecked. In July, it was announced that the Virgin Media TV platform â&#x20AC;&#x201C; owned, like TV3, by Liberty Global â&#x20AC;&#x201C; would not be carrying the new Eir Sport package. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We offered them very good commercial terms but they decided they wanted to go in a different direction,â&#x20AC;? says Florsheim. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Without being cheeky, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been a reasonable amount of social media comment on that, which you can check for yourself which direction thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s going in. But we just want to make the product as broadly available as possible. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s disappointing that those Virgin customers are not able to view the product because weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d like them to.â&#x20AC;? Quinn echoes that viewpoint. â&#x20AC;&#x153;From Eir Sportâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s perspective,â&#x20AC;? he says, â&#x20AC;&#x153;when we launched the hashtag was #settingsportfree. We want this to be in as many homes as possible for as little as possible and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been a positive start in that respect.â&#x20AC;? For Florsheim, ultimately, live VSRUW LV D PHDQV WR DQ HQG D ZD\ RI growing Eirâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s customer base â&#x20AC;&#x153;out from the million weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve gotâ&#x20AC;?. The sport service is available free of charge to Eir broadband customers and provides â&#x20AC;&#x153;points of differenceâ&#x20AC;? from other options. â&#x20AC;&#x153;At a sport level, we did â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;mark oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; which was to rebrand as Eir Sport,â&#x20AC;? says Florsheim. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We did a big marketing campaign, which I think has been successful. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re into the groove RI SURPRWLQJ WKH Ă&#x20AC;[WXUHV DQG PRUH tactical opportunities, and I think next is to nail the rights as they come up. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not going to commit to what those exactly are going to be, but continue to be nimble and use things like the Rugby World Cup, when they come up, to drive growth.â&#x20AC;?
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THE PROFILE BARRY HEARN
ON CUE Barry Hearn is, perhaps, the UKâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most revered sports promoter. His diverse 40-year career has enjoyed more ups than downs and in his current role as chairman of World Snooker Limited, he has almost quadrupled prize money on the elite circuit. Never one to rest on his laurels, the Essex native tells SportsPro about the state of the modern game, his hopes for snookerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s future and his focus on developing a commercial relationship with sportâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest market: China. By George Dudley
arry Hearnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s professional ascent began when he formed sports promotions company Matchroom Sport Limited in 1982, which was initially based around snooker and, subsequently, boxing. The English entrepreneur has since been involved in a great deal of neglected niche sports such DV SRRO WHQ SLQ ERZOLQJ JROI Ă&#x20AC;VKLQJ ping pong, poker and â&#x20AC;&#x201C; as chairman of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) â&#x20AC;&#x201C; he has been at the forefront of dartsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; recent boom. +RZHYHU VQRRNHU ZDV +HDUQ¡V Ă&#x20AC;UVW success and it remains a sport for which KH DSSHDUV WR KDYH D GHHS DIĂ&#x20AC;QLW\ ,W ZDV in the 1980s that he turned it from a smoky backroom pursuit into a TV and merchandising phenomenon, building on the personalities of and rivalries between the likes of Alex Higgins, Jimmy White, and his own relentless protĂŠgĂŠ, Steve Davis. The Embassy World Snooker Final became one of the highlights of the sporting year in the UK, with TV viewing Ă&#x20AC;JXUHV KLWWLQJ PLOOLRQ IRU 'DYLV¡ defeat to Dennis Taylor in a marathon FRQWHVW LQ Matchroom turned its attentions elsewhere in the 1990s, particularly to boxing. Hearn became one of Europeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s EHVW NQRZQ Ă&#x20AC;JKW SURPRWHUV ZRUNLQJ ZLWK some of the biggest and most colourful characters in British boxing that decade â&#x20AC;&#x201C;
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world champions like Chris Eubank and Naseem Hamed among them. Despite those successes, he grew disillusioned with the sport as the years wore on and all but walked away in favour of his burgeoning interests elsewhere. He adapted his promotional model to a range of indoor games and took ownership of lowerleague east London soccer club Leyton 2ULHQW IURP WR By that stage, however, he had already inspired a dynasty: son Eddie had GHYHORSHG D WDVWH IRU WKH Ă&#x20AC;JKW JDPH 7RGD\ the younger Hearn is regarded as one of the most progressive and astute people in the business of boxing, engineering promotions like the 80,000 sell-out rematch at Wembley Stadium between Carl Froch and George Groves in 2014 and guiding the rise of the most exciting heavyweight in a generation, Olympic super-heavyweight FKDPSLRQ WXUQHG ,%) ZRUOG WLWOLVW $QWKRQ\ Joshua. Hearn Sr has been brought back into boxingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s orbit as a result. But he had already turned his attention back to the baize in 2010 when he acquired a controlling interest in its commercial arm, World Snooker /LPLWHG ,Q D VKRUW SHULRG RI WLPH KH revived a sport that was struggling with dwindling prize money and a reluctance to modernise commercially. This time, the circumstances are different. Snooker is still established in the UK, but its
new heartland is the giant emerging market RI &KLQD ,W LV FUHDWLQJ QHZ RSSRUWXQLWLHV LQ a markedly different era. Where do you see snooker as a sport, both in the UK and internationally, in 2016? I took over six years ago when prize money was UKÂŁ3.5 million [US$4.7 million] and the sport was down to half a dozen major events a year. In the six years, prize money is now up to about UKÂŁ11 million [US$14.7 million] and the number of events stands at 32. So, we have got increased activity and this has come about by a revitalised exploitation of commercial rights â&#x20AC;&#x201C; this is what I specialise in â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and after 40 years I have made more mistakes than most but I have learned from them. I am turning out to be a rather good operator in the latter years of my life. So, where have we got it now? I think, in fairness, that the UK is satisďŹ ed with the amount of snooker it has. We have recently signed an extended contract with the BBC for the three majors: the World Championship, the Masters and the UK Championship. Discovery has signed a ten-year deal on the home nations, which is the Irish, Scottish, Welsh and English Opens. British Eurosport are showing endless amounts of snooker from all around the world and ITV4 have got a contract for four snooker events as well, so we are satisfying the free-to-air platform.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I am addicted to working too many hours a day but there is still a limit: God only gave me seven days and unfortunately 24 hours a day!.â&#x20AC;?
Barry Hearn has revolutionised snooker during his 40 years in the sport
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THE PROFILE BARRY HEARN
Hearn receives a glass of champagne from snooker player Steve Davis, his long-time friend and protégé
In the UK we probably have enough events but our biggest growing market, without a shadow of doubt, is China. Snooker in China is a national sport and it is part of the school curriculum in most places. There are literally millions and millions of players and, of course, they are producing some outstanding talent. Most people will know Ding Junhui but there is a whole raft of 15 to 19-year-old boys that I think are poised to take the game to the next level. It is a very interesting time and we are about to go out to tender in China, in the latter stages of this year, with a sale to media companies for our exclusive digital rights. Without being complacent, it couldn’t be looking better. Europe has become a really strong market for us via our Eurosport contract – snooker is only behind football as their second-highest ratings and they are airing somewhere around 12,000 hours a year. This has spread the game to a lot of Eurosport territories, with a lot of successful events on the back of television exposure. We also have the Indian Open which has opened up India, which is another fertile market for us going forward. We are in a strong position but there is still a mountain to go. We are small fry in comparison to a lot of sports but we are gaining momentum and, I think, huge progress is continuing to be made. What are the different modes of marketing and commercial deals you use in China as oppose to the UK? The switch to the e-commerce side, alongside sport exploitation, is quite novel. Lots of people in America and Europe – YouTube and Yahoo! especially – are looking at following on to the movie-channel concept of membership schemes to watch live sport. It is a sort of hybrid
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of the pay-per-view model, which is standard in the UK and the western world for a form of subscription. This is more directly linked to e-commerce and the ability to monitor traffic in comparison to the revenue it generates from actual e-commerce sales. There are massive businesses in China – Alibaba, Tencent, Le Sport, PPTV and Wanda – and these guys are very good at exploiting sporting rights to drive their core business. I think that this is the biggest difference which we are coming to terms with. In the past we have looked at digital rights very much from a social media and betting sites point of view, which has been very good at creating awareness but, of course, the monetisation of that is miniscule in comparison to the levels of, for example, the NBA [National Basketball Association]. It signed a US$500 million dollar deal in China with Tencent that is a mixture of community activities and online exploitation of streaming. How much does your own profile play in the success of not only snooker but all of your events? I think that when you have a small company that started in 1982, with a one hundred grand shareholding, it inevitably comes on the back of one dominant factor, which is usually the guy in the front. We are different to a [Richard] Bransontype model – and I’m not putting myself in his category – which is more of a royalty franchise-based company, whereas we are more of a hands-on owner of sports. So, whether it is darts, snooker or the Mosconi Cup [a Ryder Cup-style pool match between US and European teams], we actually own the intellectual property value of the sport.
Inevitably, people do get older – including me, though I would never admit it publicly – so you have to make sure that your infrastructure is such that they are ready to step into your shoes, they’ve been trained in your image and have the ideals of what you set out to do. I originally set out to create sport for everybody, make sure that barriers to entry were removed and that you could play at an inexpensive price because I was always looking for volume audiences. Most of my events are built around events that I would like to personally attend, that are entertaining and have a certain sparkle that was non-existent before. Look, I am very fortunate that over the last 35 years I have built teams around me in the different divisions which share the ethos of what I have always been looking for and have the ability with the younger generation to take it to the next level. My son Eddie, on boxing, is a prime example. I was probably one of the top boxing promoters in the world for 20 years but frankly Eddie has come in with a different philosophy of quality events in an entertainment environment, and he has become the number one boxing promoter in the world. He has taken the sport to a new level and I think that is being applied in darts and snooker. My image – because I have been around so long – is that of the Artful Dodger, the ‘Barrow Boy’ or the east Londoner that made a lot of money from sport. But, actually, behind the appearance is a chartered accountant that is a keen studier of logistics. I have a group of young people that share my belief in sport, who take it to another level because the world moves on. You need young brains and I have got the best team in the world, so I am very satisfied that when I am not here the work goes on. How much do the lessons you learned in snooker around the promotion of players like Steve Davis in the 1980s still hold true in sport today? Interestingly enough, they really do. The secret to success is that, firstly, the sport has to be played at the highest possible technical level because people are very judgemental on what they are watching nowadays: the fans are not mugs. You cannot tell someone ‘this is brilliant’ when it is mediocre, so the technical excellence must remain the same for people to watch it. Format changes mean that there is a slightly shorter attention span for today’s millennials market, and one has to cater for it. I believe that the overriding development of characters and personalities in sport is a
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THE PROFILE BARRY HEARN
great commercial tool, which is something that we started in the late 1970s and early 80s with snooker when we built up the persona behind the player. We didn’t change the person, we just accelerated the awareness of what type of person there was: whether it was the ‘boring’ Steve Davis or the ‘Artful Dodger’ Jimmy White. Each one had a personality cult because I have always viewed sport to be a soap opera, and I think that people need to get involved – not just with the sport itself but with the characters that are playing the sport. We have developed that further now, where the audience themselves are part of the soap opera. They have become an important ingredient of the TV programme that goes around the world that hits huge audience figures because of the atmosphere. Nowadays is like the 80s – which is when we really started to get into personality-led sports – but it is a hybrid and fine-tuned in terms of people understanding that we are in the position to train young people. Firstly you have got to be really good because if you are not, you’re not in the game. And, when you are really good, you have got show the public something more interesting than just what you do in the game. This does develop a soap opera that for the vast majority of people is attractive: they don’t necessarily hate the people as you will find in a football match, they might have their favourites but not to a nasty extent. They are getting involved in watching ‘Dallas with balls’ or ‘Coronation Street with arrows’. As interested as people are with the game, they are also interested in the superstars and those superstars have to act accordingly enough to sell the story. That is it, in a nutshell, but it hasn’t changed so much, really, when you look at it from the days we started taking snooker all over the world. It was all built on the same principles. None of the basics rules have changed, just things like social media – whether it’s Periscope, Instagram or Snapchat – have made minds more defined and creative. But other than that it remains the idea. In the 1980s you had a large stable of recognisable players and rivals at Matchroom. How much is modern-day viewership affected if Ding Junhui or Ronnie O’Sullivan are knocked out of tournaments, in China and the UK respectively? Is there a drop? It varies dependent on the size of the event. If you have an event of substantial structure then shocks like that do not affect viewing figures at
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Barry Hearn (left), on stage at SportsPro Live 2015, recalls the time he boxed with son Eddie (right)
all. For example, if the big-name personalities drop out the World Snooker Championships, the event itself is so big that it carries it through. Needless to say, it can have a fairly dramatic effect on what I call the ‘middlegrade events’, where the event is, perhaps, not as big as the personalities that are entered in it. In these tournaments you are much more reliant on the personalities playing in it, which is understandable. We are finding – whilst there are peaks and troughs – that as the sport gets bigger and more people are interested in it the viewing highs and lows on the really major events are not as extreme.
You have to have confidence in your own ability to build the next layer of stars and, of course, you need a little bit of luck that someone comes along at the right time. People were saying that when Tiger Woods was injured that it was the end of golf in the USA but then along came Jordan Spieth… There is always ability out there waiting in the wings and the secret is to maximise it when they have to make their stage debut.
Ronnie O’Sullivan is, perhaps, the only current player that transcends the sport. How do you think that snooker will affected by his retirement?
Well, I have got to say it is the Barry Hearn touch of magic, of course! I think that sometimes you have to understand that the market is constantly changing. We are constantly searching for this millennial buyer: this dream ticket of younger demographics with spending power. To do that, sport has to move with the times towards slightly faster formats with more opportunities to gamble. In fact, betting in-running is 80 to 90 per cent of bets these days. You need to look at formats because you are trying to engage the public in a more entertaining sphere. In other words: the mixture between sport and entertainment is something that when you get it right you appeal to not only your hardcore fans – of which there are millions – but what I want is a wider reach towards the casual fan to create events that are occasions. Something like the World Snooker Championship has grown out of all belief to something like a 400 million TV audience and with that comes huge commercial opportunities.
In every sport that question is always asked and inevitably when great players do retire they are replaced. My job is to make sure that I have got a structure in place that brings on and encourages new talent and gives me the opportunity to train the talent in some way to be more personable, attractive and interesting to viewers whilst they are learning their craft on the way up. A lot of them don’t make it because, realistically, you only ever need only four superstars in a sport. Actually, if you had 16 superstars they wouldn’t be superstars anymore, so it really is a bit of supply and demand. Someone like Ronnie is a very interesting one. Ronnie is a massive, massive draw in snooker and undeniably adds a certain amount of star quality to every event that he plays in but he is not going to last forever. It is the same way that, in darts, Phil Taylor is now 56 years old and won’t last forever.
In your opinion, why has a small Anglocentric sport has become the third most popular sport in China, a non-Commonwealth country?
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THE PROFILE BARRY HEARN
Ding Junhui and Ronnie O'Sullivan are snooker's two global superstars and help draw eyeballs to the sport
However, it is a balancing act of not selling yourself down the river in terms of why the sport is played and why it was created in the first place but in a way of projecting itself as an upwardly mobile gentleman’s game still played in an entertaining atmosphere. This is where it seems to be that we have got it right against other people – our ratings and live audiences seem to say to us that we are getting it right. How much money does the Chinese market add to snooker? How long is a bit of rope? It is such a new market and it is so aggressive that I have never seen anything like it in my time. Unfortunately, there is no little black book: we are not selling Ford Cortinas. It is very much a question of the competitiveness of the market itself and the desire for the commercial strategy in sport to achieve your aims. I find myself in the position, in the Chinese market, where I have no idea whatsoever how much my digital rights will sell for later this year. I do know that it is pretty much found money: so every penny is a penny more than I had before. You look at deals out there and, for example, the Tencent deal for basketball was US$500 million over five years, but the question is: how much attractiveness is there in snooker in comparison? If there was a yardstick at all, that is probably not a bad one. However, I would settle for considerably less than US$500 million over five years! In an open market, and I will always take what the market will pay, the transparency of a tender process would bring out the real figures. Furthermore, it would show us whether we are kidding ourselves or that they are holding back waiting for a dominant position. To be honest, I have no knowledge of it at all and it is really quite exciting.
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What can you say about this major new digital rights deal in China? Well, it is a little bit more than just the digital rights. I am going out there with the view of forming a partnership with the sport and looking at it in ten-year terms because I think that we need to plan properly. I don’t think that we need to rush it; I think that we need to get it right. I am looking to create a partnership with one of the major e-commerce or media giants in China where all of my digital rights outside of China will be exclusively available to their sites. I am also looking at the pay-per-view market for a head-to-head tournament in China. The idea of a Ronnie O’Sullivan versus a Ding Junhui obviously wets the lips as an opening sale but more than that I am looking at markets for the rebranded World Snooker Tour [WST]. I am also looking at international licensing deals for a range of products from fragrances to clothing and snooker equipment. It is a market that is so huge that you don’t have to be a mega-success to have a mega-business. If you throw into that potential internet access and websites, you have the basis of quite a substantial business but the secret ingredient for us – that we are so strong in – is community involvement. We are in the position to bring over stars, to educate kids, to visit schools and to inspire them. That is easy to talk about but very important to do. The tender process that will trigger later this year will be a much more of an all-embracive partnership, so, not just on digital rights but actually on ownership of the game. Last year you said: “I won’t have it on my gravestone that I was the bastard who took the World Championships out of Sheffield.” Do you still stand by that?
What a good line! One of my best quotes. And yes, I still stand by that. From a personal point I don’t think that I would be where I am in my life without snooker and, to be perfectly honest, without Steve Davis. We go back a long way and I think that there are debts: I don’t think that I am getting over-dramatic here when I say that I owe snooker a lot. I have also happily witnessed some of the greatest sporting moments in my particular sport at the Crucible. I strongly believe that no matter how much money you have got, you don’t want to be like the spoiled child and have everything because you will never develop other things if you just copy what is already there. My message to the Chinese was twofold. One is that you can’t buy history, and I think that the Crucible is the home of snooker and it will remain so for my lifetime. Secondly, don’t just try and buy it for a quick fix, look at yourself inwardly and ask yourself: how can you develop the sport to, perhaps, even greater levels in your own country? That is the challenge for the Chinese marketplace. For the first time in my life I realised that money cannot buy everything, and it was rather refreshing. Have you had to make any compromises? Perhaps create other majors like they do in tennis and golf? The only compromise to me was to say to the Chinese authorities: ‘Look, you have six major snooker events in China and they can be as big as you want. They can be the biggest prize money events, the biggest live crowd, largest TV audience, but they are just not going to be called the World Championship. That event has been going since 1927 and has been played at the Crucible for 40 years.’ This thing about a spoiled child is a little bit like the Chinese Super League buying up exPremier League footballers because they have the money and want them. They are spending a lot of money, and that is OK because they will get some sort of learning curve out of it. However, on something as important as major sporting occasions, it is important to have a venue synonymous with the event. The Crucible is, of course, a dreadful venue that is much too small for an event that size but it has a unique English madness to it. In many ways, without that insanity, it wouldn’t be the same sport. Whilst my entire professional career has been built around the monetary side of sport, building profits and providing the increased prize money, there is still a level
of integrity that you have to maintain. It is like playing Wimbledon in Miami, but then it wouldn’t actually be Wimbledon. Most people that know me well thought that I was playing them for a bigger bribe, and they were quite surprised when I stood up and said that we are a highly profitable company, but not on my tombstone will I have it that this is the man that sold the world championships.
of sport in terms of the amateur bodies and blazers that run it. I’m the hardnosed git at the other end of the phone that makes sure everyone makes a good living.
Jason Ferguson, the chairman of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), is keen for snooker to join the Olympics, and the International Olympic Committee now recognises that federation. Do you think that snooker at the Olympics is achievable?
I think the sport has stayed the same but, like most sports, it has got more professional. Any modern professional sportsman is unrecognisable in terms of professional standards, preparation, mind coaches, dieticians and exercise. Snooker being an indoor sport means that it is an insular sport. Nevertheless, every sport is different and I think that there is every reason to be optimistic in building major sporting events that appeal to wider audiences. How you get there can sometimes be a bit of a lottery, but what you do is never shy away from rolling the dice. You just watch the numbers and, when they come up, you act accordingly. Have developments in the broadcast and media landscape fundamentally changed the way promoters set about building up sports? Yes, it has changed the whole of sport. From the emergence of Sky [in the UK] in the 1990s to today’s digital era, it is unrecognisable. However, as I say, the basic principles still apply and the biggest caveat of all is that you have to give people value for money. An event has to create enough sponsor
Steve Paston/PA Archive/Press Association Images
Jason Ferguson is a terrific chairman of the chairman of the WPBSA and an excellent custodian of the rules. I am not going to disagree with him but it is not on my highest profile because I feel there is so much other work to do. Would I jump at the chance to have snooker at the Olympics? Yes, of course I would, because of its credibility and the perception of credibility that is essential for all sports. However, I find it very frustrating – and I am getting too old to wait now – when I look at some of the sports that have been added. I think to myself, God, these people have lost their way. If the chance was there then, yes, I would take it, but it is not something that I am going to spend too much of my time on. Although, I do appreciate Jason’s efforts and I hope he has the time and is more involved in the structure
Snooker’s image has changed from when you were first involved. Do you still see it as the same sport?
Hearn believes the approach he has taken to darts and snooker can help drive interest cricket and other sports
awareness to justify their investment and you have to give a good solid night’s entertainment in a sporting environment to the paying customer at fair prices. I am very keen to keep prices relevant to your average customer’s income, not necessarily your top end. You’ve talked about taking your approach in snooker and darts to cricket and other sports. What is the status of those plans at the moment? The state of play is that I am 68. Unfortunately, I am addicted to working too many hours a day but there is still a limit: God only gave me seven days and unfortunately 24 hours a day! At Matchroom, we will air a total broadcast time of around 40,000 hours of sport across ten different sports that we are passionate about. We have a couple on the horizon and it sometimes takes me three or four years before I push the button. Some sports need me more than others: I don’t think I can change football, for instance. Cricket, I don’t know, but we are looking at cricket, certainly. There are lots of sports out there that still have a bit of the blazer approach – they love the sport but their heads are in the sand on the commercial development of the sport. Sometimes they are a bit slow on that and they don’t have the great negotiating skills or work ethic to succeed. That’s the area that we can help in. Where do you see snooker going in the next five years? I think that TV ratings will be on the rise. We have come out of being at rock bottom five years ago but now we are covering and growing at a rate that in a further five years’ time we will be a very interesting commercial commodity again, as we are currently in China. China is a young market, whereas the UK is an established market, and it takes longer to rebuild an established market that has been in decline but we are getting there. Europe will be strong for us and I think Eurosport have made a very sensible acquisition. I am always looking in five to ten-year cycles. In five years I hope to have gone through the UK£20 million (US$26.7 million) prize money barrier, which is what the players want to hear. The profits of the company will be substantially higher, which is what I want to hear, and I think the ratings will be significantly higher. China will be the real dominant force in the wings and I would gamble on them producing ten to 16 players in the top 32 in five years’ time.
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FEATURE BROADCAST
VISION STATEMENT 2016 oďŹ&#x20AC;ered a packed summer of sport to television viewers around the world and behind much of it has been Eurovision, the media solution partner and operational arm of the European Broadcasting Union. SportsPro spoke with Stefan Kuerten, director of Eurovision services and sports rights, and Graham Warren, director of network, about the challenges the corporation has faced this year and the technologies it is pioneering.
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Stefano Santucci
By Adam Nelson
Stefan Graham
T
hough sport never really stops for respite, the past few months have been particularly breathless. 2016â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s so-called â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;summer of sportâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; has treated fans to a non-stop smorgasbord of topquality competition, with the usual annual rotation of three of tennisâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; four Grand Slams joined by the quadrennial behemoths of the Uefa European Championship and, of course, the Olympic and Paralympic *DPHV DPRQJ RWKHU KLJK SURĂ&#x20AC;OH events. At times, just following the sporting action over the summer has felt exhausting. Spare a thought, then, for international media distribution partner Eurovision, whose employees were not just watching the summer of sport but working tirelessly around the clock to bring it to viewers across the world. Eurovision has been distributing sports and news transmissions to broadcasters on behalf of rights holders since its inception in 1954, when it was created as a division of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest association of national broadcasters. â&#x20AC;&#x153;In all of its 62-year existence,â&#x20AC;? says Stefan Kuerten, director of Eurovision services and sports rights at Eurovision, â&#x20AC;&#x153;2016 must rank among one of the most interesting and most challenging. I also think it has been very successful.â&#x20AC;? The year has been tough not only for the sheer volume of sports Eurovision has been involved with â&#x20AC;&#x201C; â&#x20AC;&#x153;all the major sports events you can think of,â&#x20AC;? Kuerten says â&#x20AC;&#x201C; but because it has marked the launch of several new technologies that the Geneva-based corporation believes can make a huge difference to the way sports content is transmitted. In a space that is changing more rapidly than ever, Eurovision is making sure it remains at the forefront of broadcasting innovation. At Euro 2016, Eurovision acted as a distribution partner for the event, meaning that it was responsible for providing a contribution network from all of the stadiums in France to the
International Broadcast Centre (IBC) in Paris. As Graham Warren, director of network at Eurovision, says: â&#x20AC;&#x153;We provided all of the equipment needed, including the terminal equipment for the system. We also distributed the majority of the transmissions out to the rest of the world for both the international so-called â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;multiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; signal â&#x20AC;&#x201C; distributed to all rights holders â&#x20AC;&#x201C; as well as dedicated services on request for some broadcasters.â&#x20AC;? The task of distributing a live broadcast feed from ten venues, in nine different cities, is always going to be tough but, as Warren points out, Euro 2016 saw Eurovision dealing in â&#x20AC;&#x153;high-quality uncompressed VHUYLFHV LQ KLJK GHĂ&#x20AC;QLWLRQ XVLQJ WKH IXOO EDQGZLGWK RYHU ,3Âľ IRU WKH Ă&#x20AC;UVW time. Developments such as these are increasing the value and quality of service offered by Eurovision, and KDYH RQJRLQJ WHFKQRORJLFDO EHQHĂ&#x20AC;WV But every new roll-out means a new learning curve for Kuerten, Warren and their team. This has been the case for one of Eurovisionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s latest developments, NEX. As Warren points out, â&#x20AC;&#x153;NEX allows us to provide a solution to carry the video feed as well as a high volume of additional data over the broadcast network â&#x20AC;&#x201C; satellite DQG Ă&#x20AC;EUH ² WR EURDGFDVWHUV Âľ 7KH service was developed at the end of last year and was used during the entire Uefa Champions League soccer season.
Graham Warren, director of network at Eurovision and Stefan Kuerten, director of Eurovision services and sports rights
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Nowadays, there is often a lot of extra video content and data available at the venue, in addition to what is transmitted to international rights holders,â&#x20AC;? says Warren. This additional material is not yet being fully capitalised by broadcasters but will be of value to those who are hungry for more content in the future, especially with the rise of object-based production. Thanks to NEX, broadcast-quality video clips, following particular players or action and additional data for second-screen applications, can be transmitted with WKH PDLQ YLGHR RYHU VDWHOOLWH RU Ă&#x20AC;EUH â&#x20AC;&#x153;One of the most important aspects for us is also to ensure high security of the system and access control so that broadcasters receive only what they have rights for and are allowed to use,â&#x20AC;? says Warren. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This is why we built a digital rights management [DRM] system into the service.â&#x20AC;? The implementation of NEX at Euro 2016 was carried out in partnership with digital media specialist Deltatre. The footage from 17 of the team training camps was distributed via the IBC to those international broadcasters who had taken the NEX service. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s very customisable,â&#x20AC;? says Warren. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We did it for Uefa so, yes, we can provide additional value-added services for any sport in the future. Furthermore, we are constantly enhancing our NEX service with new features and
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functionalities so broadcasters can rest assured that they receive the best services from us.â&#x20AC;? 7KH FXVWRPLVDELOLW\ DQG Ă H[LELOLW\ of its platforms is important to Eurovision, as an international distributor working with a range of different federations, events and rights holders, all of whom have varying requirements. The collaboration between Uefa, Deltatre and Eurovision was highly commended at the recent International Broadcasting Conference in Amsterdam where it was shortlisted for an Innovation Award for Content Delivery. Following its work in France at the European Championship, Eurovision was then involved in the international distribution of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio, in collaboration with Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS), the broadcast arm of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). As well as its operations across sport, Eurovision is also in the business of current affairs coverage â&#x20AC;&#x201C; â&#x20AC;&#x153;with one of the biggest news events of 2016, the US election, still to come,â&#x20AC;? notes Kuerten. The demands of broadcasting and distributing news content are VLJQLĂ&#x20AC;FDQWO\ GLIIHUHQW IURP VSRUW but as Warren points out, â&#x20AC;&#x153;it turns out that some of the solutions developed for news coverage have had interesting applications in the world of sports as wellâ&#x20AC;?. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re mainly thought of as a high-end provider,â&#x20AC;? says Warren, â&#x20AC;&#x153;but we also have a considerable portfolio of news, entertainment and smaller sport events. To meet the demand of these markets we knew that we needed a more Ă H[LEOH DQG FRVW HIIHFWLYH SODWIRUP which led to the development of Eurovision Flex.â&#x20AC;? Launched earlier this year, Eurovision Flex combines satellite, (XURYLVLRQ¡V RZQ )L1( Ă&#x20AC;EUH network and public internet into one self-managed environment. It has already been successfully used across many events and will be used for the November showdown between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.
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Toni Cenko
FEATURE BROADCAST
Flex is a perfect solution for smallerscale sports events, where it is either not necessary or not viable to send a IXOO\ Ă HGJHG EURDGFDVW WHDP â&#x20AC;&#x153;The most popular application of Flex is for news gathering of planned or unplanned events,â&#x20AC;? says Warren. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You have your producer on the ground who acts as a jack of all trades. They have their camera and Flex backpack which transmits the footage over 3G or 4G or WiFi, or whatever is available.â&#x20AC;? While the idea is practicable in theory, wireless internet networks in the real world donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t necessarily provide the stable network that might be required. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This is why weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve launched a hybrid network that provides an extra quality of service by going through RXU RZQ GHGLFDWHG Ă&#x20AC;EUH QHWZRUN Eurovision FiNE,â&#x20AC;? says Warren. ´,Q GRLQJ VR ZH RQO\ OHDYH WKH Ă&#x20AC;UVW and/or last mile on the internet while the rest is carried over a robust network. This allows us to connect large distances, transmit higher data rates and higher bitrates for better quality pictures, thereby helping us to guarantee the quality of the video. This makes Flex suitable not just for news but also for entertainment, culture and sports events. We see a big opportunity in this area.â&#x20AC;? Kuerten concurs, adding that the Ă H[LELOLW\ RI WKH SODWIRUP PDNHV it easier for Flex to be integrated into other solutions, â&#x20AC;&#x153;so we can serve both the top and lower ends of the marketâ&#x20AC;?. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Overall,â&#x20AC;? he adds, â&#x20AC;&#x153;we aim to
Eurovision is â&#x20AC;&#x153;the perfect partner to deliver one-stop shop solutions from the beginning to the end of the value chain,â&#x20AC;? says Kuerten
provide services, integrated or standalone, which can serve all platforms â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a necessity for the future.â&#x20AC;? Another change, thanks in large part to the ever-increasing availability and reliability of networks like Eurovision FiNE, is remote production, where the heavy lifting of covering a sports event â&#x20AC;&#x201C; that is, the live production stage â&#x20AC;&#x201C; can be done remotely from the venue. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Remote production is becoming a real trend in the industry,â&#x20AC;? says Warren. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The contribution service we provided for Euro 2016 from the venues to the IBC â&#x20AC;&#x201C; pure, uncompressed IP â&#x20AC;&#x201C; proved we are able to achieve very low latency. This makes us a perfect partner for remote production where time delay is critical.â&#x20AC;? Kuerten returns to Eurovisionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s desire to be a holistic provider which gives broadcasters solutions across a range of platforms â&#x20AC;&#x201C; â&#x20AC;&#x153;be it new media solutions, be it streaming, or be it whatever kind of new services are requiredâ&#x20AC;?. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are the perfect partner to deliver one-stop shop solutions from the beginning to the end of the value chain,â&#x20AC;? he says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our services range from rights acquisition, through host broadcasting and venue services, to worldwide distribution of content in multiple formats and postproduction. We also offer a range of other customisable services for broadcasters and content owners and will continue to grow our services to complement the industry.â&#x20AC;?
www.worldrugby.org/confex #WorldRugbyConfEx
FEATURE TENNIS
WTA Media aims to build a suitable platform for stars like Sloane Stephens and Serena Williams
BUILT TO PERFORM Women’s tennis has historically lacked the worldwide reach and exposure of comparable mainstream sports. That, however, is all set to change thanks to the creation of WTA Media, a nascent production unit that is helping to remodel the WTA into an all-access broadcast and content business. By Michael Long
I
t is now almost two years since the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) agreed the largest media rights contract in its history. Then under the tutelage of its ambitious former chairman and chief executive Stacey Allaster, the tour signed off on a ten-year,
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US$525 million agreement with Perform Group that signalled yet another milestone not only for the leading circuit in women’s tennis, but for women’s sport in general. At the time of its announcement, that December 2014 deal was hailed as the dawn of a new era for the
WTA, which today boasts more than 2,500 players representing 95 nations and 56 events across 33 countries. The numbers, for a start, were unprecedented. Perform, WKH LQFUHDVLQJO\ LQÁXHQWLDO GLJLWDO media and production specialists headquartered in London, had
WTA
according to Learing, produced â&#x20AC;&#x153;a FRXSOH RI UHDOO\ VWURQJ Ă&#x20AC;QDOLVWVÂľ Ultimately it was Perform, the WTAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s existing production partner and rights distributor, who won the contract. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They really came and listened and did an incredible job of showcasing a presentation that showed us what we could be and how they could help us get to where we wanted to be,â&#x20AC;? Learing says of Perform, whose current agreement, signed in 2011, includes coverage of 22 WTA tournaments each year. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The WTA wanted this to be more of a partnership and not just a straight rights buyout, as the current model is.â&#x20AC;? WTA Media, which Learing describes as â&#x20AC;&#x153;a standalone vertical within the Perform businessâ&#x20AC;?, effectively opened its doors in April 2015. It was then that Learing, a veteran of the sports and entertainment production industry who had held roles at ESPN and the PGA Tour prior to joining the WTAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s broadcast division in 2012, was appointed to run the venture alongside Bruno Rocha, who left his post as Performâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s senior vice president of distribution and client services in North America to become executive vice president of WTA Media, charged with overseeing commercial rights, sales and business development. â&#x20AC;&#x153;My role and Johnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s are very complementary,â&#x20AC;? says Rocha, speaking to SportsPro from Performâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s headquarters in London. â&#x20AC;&#x153;John has a production background; he has a very unique skill set in producing content, understanding tournaments, and how to make sure all events and matches are produced in a way that coordinates with the different stakeholders on the WTA Tour. â&#x20AC;&#x153;My role is much more focused on the business side and monetisation side of this partnership with Perform. (VVHQWLDOO\ P\ UROH LV WR Ă&#x20AC;JXUH out the strategy in every market, so understanding who the right partners are for the WTA content and trying to think how we can extract greatest value from those
WTA Media
guaranteed the tour an average of over US$50 million a year, more than doubling the US$21 million WTA tournaments were estimated to generate from media ULJKWV DQQXDOO\ %XW WKH Ă&#x20AC;QDQFLDO component of the contract paled in VLJQLĂ&#x20AC;FDQFH ZKHQ FRPSDUHG WR WKH increase in exposure it would entail. Under the deal, the media rights to every WTA tournament would be aggregated and centralised under a single umbrella known as WTA Media, a newly created joint venture which, as the tourâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dedicated media arm, would produce and distribute every main draw singles match plus WKH VHPL Ă&#x20AC;QDOV DQG Ă&#x20AC;QDOV RI DOO doubles competitions from 2017 until at least 2026. All told, WTA Media would make available some 2,000 matches per year, as well as delivering additional magazine shows and extensive off-court content via mobile, digital and social platforms. The creation of WTA Media, though not a revolutionary concept per se, is all part of the WTAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s overarching goal of becoming a WUXO\ GLJLWDO Ă&#x20AC;UVW FRQWHQW EXVLQHVV The process began under Allaster, who stepped down a year ago. Now, under her successor Steve Simon, the tour has undergone a wholesale review of every facet of its organisation, from its circuit structure and on-court product to the use of real-time match data and, of course, broadcast production. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We realised that we were leaving about 60 per cent or so of our content unproduced,â&#x20AC;? says John Learing, the managing director of WTA Media. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really know of any other major federation that was doing that sort of a disservice to their fans. I mean, you canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t imagine that, at that point, the Premier League was leaving anything unproduced, or the NFL [National Football League] or the NBA [National Basketball Association].â&#x20AC;? Spurred by that realisation, the WTA board acted quickly to overhaul its broadcast and production operation. With a new rights cycle set to commence in 2017, it initiated a tender process in 2014 that,
John Learing, managing director of WTA Media (top) and Bruno Rocha, its executive vice president
WTA MEDIA MAKES
2,000 MATCHES AVAILABLE PER YEAR
rights but also reach a higher number of fans. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s always that combination from a governing bodyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s perspective â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a combination of reach and revenue â&#x20AC;&#x201C; that we are trying to balance.â&#x20AC;? Led by Rocha, a former NBA executive in Latin America, WTA Media began discussions with broadcasters towards the end of 2015. Since then, new agreements have been concluded with major networks across a host of key markets, including Fox Sports in the Netherlands, Sony Pictures Television (SPT) Networks in Latin America, Chinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s iQiyi, and BeIN Media Group in 30 territories worldwide including Spain, the USA, Australia, and across the Middle East and North Africa. A three-year renewal with BT Sport was also struck in May, the UK
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Getty Images
FEATURE TENNIS
pay-TV broadcaster increasing its programming commitment from 30 to 52 tournaments each season. Together, the new deals are SURMHFWHG WR GHOLYHU D VLJQLÀFDQW increase in the WTA’s overall reach. Learing says the target is to not only “double or triple exposure” of WTA tournaments, but to achieve a similar spike in the tour’s audience, which is estimated to total 395 million worldwide. To that end, WTA Media has sought to cater to existing tennis fans whilst also targeting the uninitiated, with the new Latin American agreement with Sony, a network with little to no history of broadcasting sport, being a case in point. “What we thought was unique about Sony’s offering was that they decided to model this after what Turner did with the NBA property, which was basically taking a general entertainment network and offering them one sport that really works with the demo of that network,” says Learing. “First and foremost, while we want to make sure we super-serve the audience that has been loyal to us for decades, we also want to grow. We thought that Sony
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in Latin America gave us the best opportunity to speak to a general sports fan or a general entertainment fan that may not have given us much of a look in the past.” In the United States, too, the aim is to tap new audiences by ensuring content is more accessible, if not necessarily more widely available. While ESPN and Tennis Channel, the tour’s traditional media partners in the country, will continue to show WTA programming beyond 2017 as domestic rights holders for some US-based events, BeIN’s sports channels – which are available via basic cable bundles and not, crucially, limited to payTV sports packages – will carry tournament action until 2021. “We wanted to take advantage of a new up-and-comer in the marketplace,” Learing explains of the BeIN deal. “They have, in a very short time, established themselves as an aggressive player and we thought that there might EH VRPH EHQHÀW LQ XV EHLQJ DEOH to, for lack of a better term, draft off some of the other premium content that they have across their
Under the deal between the WTA and Perform, the media rights to every WTA tournament are aggregated and centralised under a single umbrella
US channel on a weekly basis.” When it comes to valuing the tour’s collective media rights, Rocha says the process is “more art than science” given the quirks and nuances of each market. Still, he believes there is a straightforward formula for determining the current market value of WTA content. “We obviously try to benchmark against ATP and other tennis rights – that’s a minimum,” he explains. “You want to understand how you are ranked in that landscape of the sport. The analysis that I really like to do is the cost per hour per viewer, so try to understand how many hours of content you’re delivering and how many viewers you are generating on average and see how you compare to other properties. Because the argument is: if you are generating similar viewership as other properties, and you’re delivering the same amount of hours, attracting the same viewers, shouldn’t you be at the same level in terms of investment? “Sometimes that valuation component works very well in your negotiations and it helps us a lot, but
or even 2018. Those tournaments will join the pool but only once their contracts expire, leaving Rocha to â&#x20AC;&#x153;sell the bigger pictureâ&#x20AC;? in the meantime. â&#x20AC;&#x153;My approach to many broadcasters was: letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s agree on the fees assuming we have everything, and then letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s discuss if weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not able to deliver the whole package because of other contractual commitments,â&#x20AC;? he says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The good news is the big events are going to be delivered, for sure. Our broadcast partners understand that out of 54 [tournaments], if they GRQ¡W JHW IRXU RU Ă&#x20AC; YH LW¡V Ă&#x20AC; QH DV long as they have regular content. Sometimes there are weeks that have three tournaments; if weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not delivering one of them but weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re delivering two, broadcast SDUWQHUV DUH Ă&#x20AC; QH ZLWK WKDW Âľ Besides access to more produced matches, rights holding networks DOVR JHW WKH DGGHG EHQHĂ&#x20AC; W RI localised programming. Under the current model, broadcasters in markets that host tournaments are unable to show homegrown players who lose in early rounds because those matches often go unproduced. Now, however, they will have the opportunity to showcase local talent during every event, no matter how early those players are eliminated. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If you didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t play well enough to make it to the TV window, it was impossible to grow a playerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s brand, it was impossible to grow interest in that player in the local marketplace,â&#x20AC;? Learing points out. ´1RZ IURP Ă&#x20AC; UVW EDOO WR ODVW EDOO LI that player loses in absolutely every
WTA Media has signed a series of new deals with broadcasters since its inception, furthering the reach and exposure of womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tennis
WTA Mediaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s deal with Perform Group has increased the scope of its production output
Ă&#x20AC; UVW URXQG RI WKH HYHQWV RU VR that she enters in 2017, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll still be able to watch those 27 matches.â&#x20AC;? Given that producing such a vast amount of content is a sizeable and expensive undertaking, WTA Media KDV VRXJKW WR QHJDWH WKH Ă&#x20AC; QDQFLDO burden placed on tournaments by offering to produce all content at no cost to the organisers. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Many of them took advantage of this offer,â&#x20AC;? adds Learing. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We took the cost and the headache of production away from them so they could focus mostly on just how to put butts in seats and how to make their sponsors happy. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They will now have all of their content produced,â&#x20AC;? he continues,
WTA Media
it helps in markets where you have a little bit more competition and you have more options. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s where we EHQHĂ&#x20AC; WWHG D ORW EHFDXVH ZH DUH LQ a landscape where you have telcos launching TV services and trying to acquire rights, you have new OTT players, you have pay-TV distributors making much more aggressive moves in different markets. â&#x20AC;&#x153;That combination â&#x20AC;&#x201C; of traditional sports channels plus new entrants plus sophisticated valuation analysis that backs our argument â&#x20AC;&#x201C; I think that has allowed us to increase the size of [the WTAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s] media business. If you take a look at how much money they were generating in 2016 and how much theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll generate in 2017 on an annual basis with the contracts that weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve signed, the GLIIHUHQFH LV YHU\ VLJQLĂ&#x20AC; FDQW Âľ With virtually every major market locked in for the coming cycle, 5RFKD LV ZRUNLQJ Ă DW RXW WR KDYH DOO remaining deals completed before the end of the year. At the time of writing, agreements are still to be signed in places like Scandinavia, sub-Saharan Africa, Canada, and a few smaller markets in Asia. Rocha reports that a linear rights deal in China is also being sought to sit alongside last Novemberâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s US$120 million, digital-only deal with the iQiyi streaming platform, while /HDULQJ FRQĂ&#x20AC; UPV WKDW '$=1 Performâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own over-the-top (OTT) live sports streaming service which launched in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Japan this August, is likely to become part of the tourâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s broadcasting mix in the near future. â&#x20AC;&#x153;When it comes to some challenging markets, it makes sense to OHYHUDJH WKH SRZHU RI '$=1 WR KHOS promote WTA content,â&#x20AC;? he says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d be silly not to try.â&#x20AC;? As the deal-making continues, so too will the complex process of centralising the WTAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rights. Though the majority of tournaments hold domestic TV contracts that are in sync with the WTAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s current rights cycle until the end of 2016, a handful of events remain tied into pre-existing agreements that run through 2017
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FEATURE TENNIS
LITTLE TROUBLE IN HOT CHINA
L
ast November, WTA Media struck a ten-year digital rights agreement with Chinese online streaming platform iQiyi. Under the deal, which commences in 2017, iQiyi â&#x20AC;&#x201C; pronounced â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;ee-sheeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; â&#x20AC;&#x201C; will show live coverage of all 2,000 WTA matches across singles and doubles each year, as well as highlights, player interviews, video clips, and content from the WTA Magazine Show. Valued at US$120 million in total, the deal proved highly lucrative for the WTA and underlined the current voracity of Chinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s digital rights marketplace. â&#x20AC;&#x153;China is one of those markets where valuation didn't matter that much because the market was so hot that even if you compare with previous deals, and if you ask a certain fee based on previous deals, you would have gotten a bad deal,â&#x20AC;? says Bruno Rocha, executive vice president of WTA Media. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We talked with everybody. Ultimately, we had a bidding process with multiple rounds and iQiyi came in with a very compelling oďŹ&#x20AC;er. I think the really key, attractive part was they went further than
just the media rights. They proposed not only acquiring the media rights but coming in with a marketing partnership with the WTA for China and investing in tournaments. I think that combination, but with the speciďŹ c media allocation, was very attractive to all parties and thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s why we ended up working with them.â&#x20AC;? Having awarded the digital rights, Rocha says the challenge now is to work out how to extract the greatest value from the tourâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Chinese linear rights, which are currently held by a consortium of regional networks. â&#x20AC;&#x153;When you compare the size of the deals on the traditional linear TV side in China versus what the digital companies are paying, theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re drastically diďŹ&#x20AC;erent,â&#x20AC;? he says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;So weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re trying to be very careful and not do too much on the linear side in a way that would jeopardise the revenue or negatively impact the audience or the potential for our digital partners. Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re paying a signiďŹ cant amount of money.â&#x20AC;? But the value of the iQiyi deal was not only down to favourable market
conditions; it was testament, too, to the WTAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s recent growth eďŹ&#x20AC;orts in China. Under Stacey Allaster, the tour embarked on a sustained period of aggressive Asia-PaciďŹ c expansion and mega-market China, with its vast emerging middle class turning to tennis in their droves and the since-retired Li Na winning major titles, became a natural area of focus. Today, the fruits of those eďŹ&#x20AC;orts are plain for all to see: not only does the WTAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tournament schedule include eight Chinese stops, but the China Open in Beijing is now the most watched event on tour, with 34.64 million viewers tuning in last year. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think everybody wanted our content,â&#x20AC;? reďŹ&#x201A;ects WTA Media managing director John Learing. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We were overthe-moon happy with all of the deals that were oďŹ&#x20AC;ered for the WTA content. I mean, everybody was incredibly aggressive and put their best foot forward. At the end of the day, we had a few grins on our faces when we signed the deal with iQiyi.â&#x20AC;?
WTA Media is helping to present a more cohesive narrative over the course of the year
â&#x20AC;&#x153;which makes all of their on-site real estate attractive to potential sponsors, it makes any domestic broadcast deal that they make more attractive because itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a consistent week-long offering that they can offer, and it allows us at the WTA to weave a year-long storyline in which those smaller tournaments become very key to the overarching 11-month WTA narrative.â&#x20AC;? While WTA Media has been set
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up to deliver a more expansive and consistent product to broadcast partners, much of the content it produces will inevitably be tailored for the WTAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s burgeoning online SODWIRUPV 7KH WRXU¡V RIĂ&#x20AC;FLDO website saw nearly 135 million page views in 2015, while 140 million fans are engaged on its various social channels worldwide, up from just three million in 2010. In 2016 alone the WTA
140 MILLION FANS ARE ENGAGED ON THE WTAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS
has increased its social reach by more than 15 per cent, with its Instagram and Twitter followings rapidly gaining ground on its Facebook account, which now has over two million fans. Mobile WUDIĂ&#x20AC;F WRR KDV JURZQ SHU FHQW in the past two years, with 45 per FHQW RI RYHUDOO WUDIĂ&#x20AC;F FRPLQJ IURP mobile devices. All that has left the WTA under no illusions as to where its future lies. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got two girls â&#x20AC;&#x201C; oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 15 and RQH¡V ² DQG LW¡V YHU\ GLIĂ&#x20AC;FXOW IRU me to get them to sit in front of a TV and watch a match for an hour and a half,â&#x20AC;? says Learing. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Their world is fast; theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re assaulted on a daily basis by so many different types of medium and entertainment that weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got to try to speak to thatâ&#x20AC;Ś dysfunction. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a horrible word but we QHHG WR Ă&#x20AC;JXUH RXW KRZ WR PDNH a very traditional, potentially very long match digestible for a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;what are you doing for me now?â&#x20AC;&#x2122; world.â&#x20AC;?
FEATURE CYCLING
TOUR ON THE RISE The Tour of Britain, in its current guise, was created in 2004 after a ďŹ ve-year absence from cyclingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s calendar. The increased popularity of cycling at a spectator and participation level in the UK has since seen the revived event become a celebration of the sportâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fastest-emerging market. By George Dudley
T
o even the most removed sports fan it is evident that British cycling is in rude health. A superlative decade has produced a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;golden generationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; in both road and track racing and the UK is unquestionably at the vanguard of a sport whose strongholds have traditionally been on the European mainland. Furthermore, the UK-based Team Sky is the most dominant team in the International Cycling Union (UCI)â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s World Tour, ZLQQLQJ IRXU RI WKH ODVW Ă&#x20AC; YH HGLWLRQV of the Tour de France. The 2016 Tour of Britain spans much of the length of the island â&#x20AC;&#x201C; from its Grand Depart in Glasgow WR LWV Ă&#x20AC; QDOH LQ /RQGRQ ² DQG WKH Hugh Roberts, chief executive of SweetSpot, has been a key ďŹ gure in the revitalised Tour of Britain
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multi-stage race is unique in British sport in showcasing the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rural splendours and distinctive cityscapes. Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s more, the race is purported to be the UKâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest free-to-watch sporting spectacle. The legions of roadside fans muscling for a view of celebrated riders Sir Bradley Wiggins, Mark Cavendish and Elia Viviani attest to this. The variety of the stages is a deliberate ploy from long-term organiser SweetSpot to celebrate Britain and to engage with fans at all levels of cycling enthusiasm. 3DFNHG Ă&#x20AC; QLVK OLQHV DW %DWK %ULVWRO DQG /RQGRQ FRPH IXOO\ VWRFNHG ZLWK loud music, commercial activations and promotional villages: all designed to entice new or wandering fans to the sport. In contrast, the photogenic rolling vistas of Cumbria, Dartmoor and Monmouth create stunning backdrops to gruelling climbs that speak to the PXOWLWXGHV RI F\FOLQJ DĂ&#x20AC; FLRQDGRV that steadfastly follow the route. SweetSpotâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s events portfolio includes the Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Tour, the domestic ten-team Pearl Izumi Tour Series and the Prudential 5LGH/RQGRQ ZKLOH LW DOVR organises mass participation events, Sportives, the Tour Ride and Rise Above. Needless to say, it is the Tour of Britain that is its heralded event and the one that garners the largest public interest. Despite the massive crowds, and the civic and environmental advantages of promoting cycling,
the Tour of Britain receives no VWDWH IXQGLQJ /LNH DOO WKH WHDPV and most global races in road cycling, the Tour of Britain is an entirely commercially funded race. Its premium partners for 2016 are Chain Reaction Cycles, Skoda, Yodel, Adnams and Eisberg alcohol-free wine. Caffeine shampoo brand Alpecin, Brother UK, Strava, Matrix, Foxhills, and The Cycle Show, a consumer event in Birmingham in September, are SUHVHQW LQ RIĂ&#x20AC; FLDO SDUWQHU FDSDFLWLHV The 2016 race is without a title VSRQVRU IRU WKH Ă&#x20AC; UVW WLPH ,QVXUDQFH FRPSDQ\ $YLYD IXOĂ&#x20AC; OOHG WKH UROH LQ 2015 after acquiring previous backer )ULHQGV /LIH ² ZKLFK KDG DOVR SXW its name to the Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Tour â&#x20AC;&#x201C; but chose not to renew that deal this year. Nevertheless, Hugh Roberts, SweetSpotâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s chief executive and founder, believes that â&#x20AC;&#x153;an exciting opportunity now exists for a new title sponsor to partner with us and take Britainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s premier menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s road cycling event to a new levelâ&#x20AC;?. At the time of writing, a suitable sponsor is yet to be found. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Avivaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s withdrawal came as a bit of a surprise to us,â&#x20AC;? admits Roberts. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It also came rather late in the day, which meant that in 2015, when companies are making their budgets, it was suddenly announced that we didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have a title sponsor DQ\PRUH /XFNLO\ WKH PRGHO WKDW we have in place is so robust that we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t necessarily need a title sponsor. However, it is very nice
to have one because it means that we can do things that we could, perhaps, describe as luxury in terms of events, organisation and deliveries as opposed to necessities. ´:H ZDQW WR Ă&#x20AC;QG D EUDQG WKDW will provide us with connectivity with our viewers and spectators,â&#x20AC;? he continues. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I feel that we owe it them to provide them with more information about the race, more live pictures by the road, more access and information to the riders and team. Furthermore, I would like to release timings and telemetry like they do in Formula One. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is far better for us to have a pound from a UK mobile network, for example, than a pound, with no disrespect, from a Chinese bank. We want to be as connected to our audience as possible, sustainable and â&#x20AC;&#x201C; post-Brexit â&#x20AC;&#x201C; we want to be as British as possible. We want the Tour of Britain to become the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;fourth majorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; in cycling [after the Tour de France, Giro dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Italia and Vuelta a EspaĂąa] and I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t see any reason why we shouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be able to achieve that.â&#x20AC;?
â&#x20AC;&#x153;This year we have the best field of riders that we have ever assembled for the Tour of Britain.â&#x20AC;? After the initial energy-sapping days on the roads of Scotland, England and Wales, SportsPro joins WKH UDFH LQ %DWK IRU LWV Ă&#x20AC;IWK VWDJH The Roman spa city is playing host to the culmination of a 194.5km stage, including 3,292 metres of climbing alone, which begins in South Wales and passes Gloucestershire and the Forest of Dean. In the sun-kissed Adnams hospitality area, located on the Ă&#x20AC;QLVK OLQH LQ %DWK¡V FKDUPLQJ Victoria Park, SportsPro meets Alistair Grant, the commercial director of the Tour of Britain and of SweetSpot. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The tour has become a major international sporting event in Great Britain; it is an event that has Great Britain at its very core,â&#x20AC;? states Grant. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It puts on a show for fans of cycling in this country and shows off the country to the world.
Britainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Team Sky has dominated the international cycling scene over the past few years and is bringing its star power to support the Tour of Britain
â&#x20AC;&#x153;This year we have, in my RSLQLRQ WKH EHVW Ă&#x20AC;HOG RI ULGHUV that we have ever assembled for the Tour of Britain. We have eight Olympic medallists from Rio and the best British riders. The big names like Sir Bradley Wiggins, Mark Cavendish and Steve Cummings are all competing. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Of course, Team GBâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s recent track success has certainly been very KHOSIXO ² LQ %HLMLQJ /RQGRQ DQG latterly in Rio â&#x20AC;&#x201C; in pushing cycling on to another level of popularity and in terms of moving what was a niche sport into the mainstream,â&#x20AC;? he adds. â&#x20AC;&#x153;But letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not forget that road cycling is also a sport that Britain is a world leader in. Britain is a country that leads the way now in terms of cycling at all levels and the Tour of Britain is very much an event that is showing the way and is changing the game for cycling as well.â&#x20AC;?
SportsPro Magazine | 101
FEATURE CYCLING
British cycling’s status as a paragon of sporting success, however, only serves to make the Tour of Britain’s lack of a title sponsor more striking – especially when the country’s garlanded riders, all-conquering track squad and unparalleled road teams are awash with high-end sponsorships. Grant echoes Roberts’ take on the situation. “We created a funding model when the Tour of Britain was launched in 2004, which meant that the event was not dependent on any single brand,” Grant explains. “We made strong foundations to work in partnerships the length and breadth of the country. Our partners and stakeholders are the councils, the local authorities, the county councils and the race locations. “We are looking for a partner that can help us take this event on to the very next level and the very top level in terms of global cycling events and also in terms of global sporting events. “We are an event that attracts enormous crowds to the roadsides. We are looking for a partner that can help us to connect better with those people. Therefore we are particularly interested in a partner who has great connectivity and can help us to advance our digital engagement with the fans on the roadside. A brand that will activate around the event and will help us
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put the event on to the very top of the global calendar. “We have a wonderful opportunity with this race. We would like a proud British brand that wants to be associated with the best British sporting events or a brand that wants to engage with the Great British public in a very meaningful way.” Due to cycling’s complex and packed calendar, the Tour of Britain is placed at the end of the season and is run at the same time as Spain’s Grand Tour, the threeweek Vuelta a España. Although the latter is long-established and, perhaps, only second to the Tour de France in revered races, SweetSpot has used the clash to its advantage. The Vuelta’s identity relies on its reputation for brutal hardness and climbing attrition – the 2016 course KDG VXPPLW ÀQLVKHV ² ZKLFK has led to sprinters of the calibre of Cavendish and German Andre Griepel passing it up in favour of the Tour of Britain. The UK event is now earmarked by the world’s ÀQHVW VSULQWHUV DV DQ LQWHJUDO SDUW of their preparation for the often sprint-friendly UCI Road World Championships. The Tour of Britain not only competes with the Vuelta for rider participation but also TV viewership. According to SweetSpot, the average audience on the domestic free-to-air channel ITV4 was 477,000 per live
The final processional stage through London always draws the biggest crowds
The Tour of Britain is the high point in UK-based JLTCondor’s calendar
show and 410,000 for the highlights show, which amounts to a total reach of more than seven million across the week. Furthermore, the race was broadcast in more than 120 countries across every continent globally, in addition to the estimated 1.5 million people who lined the roads over the eight days. 7KH ÀQLVKLQJ OLQH DW 9LFWRULD 3DUN is surrounded by the city’s signature Roman architecture, but with an enthusiastic tannoy announcer and tub-thumping music there was a feeling akin to a cycling festival. Grant estimates that “over 100,000 school children were engaged by the event” and he believes that the plethora of children taking an interest in the race “is an important aspect of what we have to offer”. He adds: “There is also the ability to be behind an event which is inspiring a generation, which is getting more people on to bikes, which is getting more people into healthy activities and healthy lifestyles.” It is not just children who DUH ÁRFNLQJ WR WKH ÀQLVK 7KH surrounding area is ringed by sponsor’s tents, all giving away free samples and branded cycling-related garments. In addition, there are pop-up bars selling provincial beers, while local food venders attract people passing by and add a sense of vibrancy to the afternoon. On the road, a classic race of cat and mouse is played out between D ÀYH PDQ EUHDNDZD\ DQG WKH peloton, which is expertly described by a knowledgeable commentator over the public address. The peloton reels in the breakaway that
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FEATURE CYCLING
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Team Dimension Data rider Steve Cummings celebrates with the yellow jersey, displaying the branding of new sponsor Eisberg
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The Tour shows off the best of Britain’s rural and urban landscapes
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SportsPro Magazine | 105
FEATURE BEACH VOLLEYBALL
business at the beach
21 years ago, the Austrian city of Klagenfurt hosted a beach volleyball tournament for the first time. In 2016 the event has become part of the Swatch Beach Volleyball Major Series, a global tour formed as a joint venture between Red Bull and Hannes Jagerhofer. SportsPro made the trip to this year’s A1 Major Klagenfurt to experience the heady mixture of high-end entertainment and world-class sport, and to hear about the series’ plans for the future. By Adam Nelson
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T
he famously landlocked country of Austria may not seem like the natural home for one of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s biggest beach volleyball competitions. Nor, on the grey, drizzly Thursday on which SportsPro arrives, does the sleepy Alpine city of Klagenfurt appear a likely venue for one of the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s biggest annual celebrations, an event which is billed by its organisers as â&#x20AC;&#x153;a unique combination of world class sport and outstanding entertainmentâ&#x20AC;?. Yet for the past 21 years, Klagenfurt has hosted a yearly beach volleyball tournament â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a staple of the calendar that has grown from an audience of 2,500 for its inaugural year in 1995 to welcoming over 50,000 guests for 2016, with the city being named by the Financial Times Deutschland as â&#x20AC;&#x153;the global capital of beach volleyballâ&#x20AC;? in the process. By the time Friday rolls around, it is easy to see how it has garnered that title, and why this event has endured and continued to grow in popularity. The rain clears and the banks of the stunning WĂśrthersee, the lake on whose shore the temporary stadium is erected every year, are bathed in 30-degree sunshine. The site itself has more in common with a music festival than a typical sporting event: many attendees arrive in advance and camp for the duration of the tournament, while all around the stadium supporters engage in activities put on by the event organisers or by its sponsors. The music begins playing early and continues throughout the day, so that even when the 6,000-capacity stadium is full of fans cheering on beach volleyball stars from across the globe, the fun around the arena never stops. Beach volleyball events always retain something of the sportâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s laid-back, party origins, but this is beach volleyball ne plus ultra. The Klagenfurt event was started by Austrian entrepreneur Hannes Jagerhofer and its 2016 edition is on the Swatch Beach Volleyball Major Series, part of the global governing bodyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s FIVB Beach Volleyball
:RUOG 7RXU IRU WKH Ă&#x20AC; UVW WLPH Formed as a joint venture between Jagerhofer and the Austrian energy drinks brand Red Bull, the Swatch Beach Volleyball Major Series was created as an attempt to give beach YROOH\EDOO D KLJK SURĂ&#x20AC; OH JOREDO annual tour, a platform for showing off the sport around the world and telling a consistent story over a season. In a similar mould to show jumpingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Longines Masters Series, the Swatch Beach Volleyball Major Series combines a well-loved sport with all-round entertainment and a high-end VIP experience. For Jagerhofer, it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t matter which of these elements people come for â&#x20AC;&#x201C; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s why they stay thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s important. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The challenge weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re facing, if youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re talking about beach volleyball,â&#x20AC;? he says, â&#x20AC;&#x153;is what everybodyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s understanding what beach volleyball might be. If you are coming here to Klagenfurt and youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re walking around, you can see weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re talking about a different product than usually weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d associate with the sport. â&#x20AC;&#x153;When we were looking into this I talked to people from all different kinds of companies, and they all said that we really have to create a special USP so people understand this is really something special. Because competing with NHL [National Hockey League], NFL [National Football League]â&#x20AC;Ś that makes no sense. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re looking for a completely different kind of positioning.â&#x20AC;? A lot of that different positioning, particularly in these early stages of its development â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the Swatch Major Series concludes its second full season in mid-September â&#x20AC;&#x201C; has come via a business model that focuses on maximising the value of the seriesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; commercial partnerships. Most of the sponsors of the event are also technical suppliers, offering WKHLU H[SHUWLVH DV ZHOO DV D Ă&#x20AC; QDQFLDO package, and Jagerhofer and his team have worked to make sure no opportunity to team up with a partner goes unexploited. The .ODJHQIXUW HYHQW HYHQ KDV DQ RIĂ&#x20AC; FLDO toilet partner, with Geberit supplying an astonishingly high-tech lavatory
Steyr has used the Swatch Major Series to promote its brand to a younger audience
to the VIP section. Austrian telecoms giant A1 has title sponsored beach volleyball at Klagenfurt almost since its inception, but has stepped up its involvement considerably in recent years. This year it installed over four kilometres of cabling, running through the lake itself and under the ground, in order to supply highspeed internet access to the arena. Susanne Speil, head of communications and sponsoring at A1, outlines the four key criteria A1 looks for in any sponsorship, and they neatly surmise why the A1 Major Klagenfurt, and the Swatch Major Series in general, has become such a popular target for brands and commercial partners. â&#x20AC;&#x153;First, we want to provide fun for our customers, and they get that,â&#x20AC;? Speil explains. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The image transfer for everyone is important, so we look at brand images which correspond ZLWK RXUV DQG WKDW¡V GHĂ&#x20AC; QLWHO\ WUXH IRU ours and the Majors. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The second thing is we want to showcase our technical knowledge here, which we are clearly doing by supplying the cables and installing the connectivity to this whole arena. ´7KLUG LV WR EHQHĂ&#x20AC; W RXU HPSOR\HHV :H DOZD\V KDYH D UDIĂ H for our employees so we have 100 employees who can take part in the UDIĂ H DQG ZLQ WKH FKDQFH WR FRPH and spend time here in this amazing VIP area, have fun and relax. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The fourth thing is that this is a perfect business-to-business platform. You can invite your most important customers to spend time and see what we do, but also just reward them also. You meet a lot of new clients here, this is a great area with lots of different businesses. But this is time to say thank you for our
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FEATURE BEACH VOLLEYBALL
existing customers.â&#x20AC;? Jagerhofer is keen to emphasise the business-to-business element of the event. Walking into the arenaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s vast VIP section, it is clear that this has had as much thought put into it as the rest of the set-up, with myriad food buffets serving up all manner of global cuisine, a reserved area of seating within the stadium for watching the action and â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the pièce de rĂŠsistance ² D FRFNWDLO EDU RQ D Ă RDWLQJ island on the lake. With over 4,000 VIP guests expected over the course of the weekend, getting this right is a challenge for everyone involved, but particularly for DO & CO, the Austrian catering company charged with feeding 1,200 guests every day. Over the course of the weekend, 40,000 plates and 70,000 items of cutlery will be used, with DO & CO employing 250 staff to look after every aspect of the experience. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Everyone is expecting something special always from our part,â&#x20AC;? says Michael Hailer, senior catering and events manager at DO & CO. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re working almost half the year on this event, thinking it all through: what kind of furniture, what kind of culinary concept, what kind of new ideas, what kind of table set. Everything has to match to each other and we always KDYH WR IXOĂ&#x20AC;O RU HYHQ VXUSDVV RXU previous performance, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s always a very new surprise for the guests who are coming.â&#x20AC;? The key concept, says Hailer, is that everything is prepared fresh on site, using local ingredients, and is
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cooked at the buffet stations, â&#x20AC;&#x153;so the guests really have the experience that they can see what theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re eating, they can see how itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s done. Hopefully this is the best tournament with the best food on the entire tour.â&#x20AC;? For the seriesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; corporate partners, the attention paid to the VIP experience is well worth the effort. Andreas Klauser, brand president of tractor manufacturer Steyr, agrees with Speil that the A1 Major Klagenfurt is a perfect way to thank customers and clients. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s like a special reward,â&#x20AC;? he says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are recognising them doing business with us, and then they are coming and joining here and theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re really enjoying it as one of the major events weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re having in Austria and in the entire region.â&#x20AC;? Back outside the stadium, Steyr is the sponsor of the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Beach Campâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, where fans have pitched their tents for the weekend, and also has a tractor on display in the trade village surrounding the stadium. Klauser readily admits that the congruence between a tractor brand and a beach volleyball competition might not be the most natural, but says that the demographic attending the A1 Major made the decision to get involved â&#x20AC;&#x153;quite simple.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our brand is very well recognised, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a very traditional brand, but our average customer age was 50 and above,â&#x20AC;? says Klauser. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We knew we needed to be more modern, more innovative. So we are combining now with this kind of sports events to make sure that people understand that we are interested in
The beautiful WĂśrthersee in southern Austria provides a stunning backdrop for the A1 Major
younger people, that we have proper communication with younger people. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an innovation of the brand itself to a younger audience.â&#x20AC;? The demographic at the Swatch Major Series still skews young â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the event in Klagenfurt has been running so long that Jagerhofer jokes that â&#x20AC;&#x153;we now have the kids here of the people who were coming at the start!â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201C; though as the numbers grow, so too does the range of people coming, opening even more opportunities for brands to capitalise on the eventâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s popularity. Indeed, the buzz around the event now infects the whole of Austria. Thanks to the media partnership with Austriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest daily newspaper, Kronen Zeitung, images from the beaches of the WĂśrthersee are seen across the FRXQWU\ Ă&#x20AC;OOLQJ RXW QHZVVWDQGV IURP Vienna to Innsbruck. The A1 Major Klagenfurt produces over 100,000 overnight stays in the city, giving a huge boost to what is already one of Austriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most popular tourist destinations. 7KH WRXUQDPHQW¡V Ă&#x20AC;QDO meanwhile, is given widespread visibility live on ORF Eins, the Ă DJVKLS FKDQQHO RI WKH FRXQWU\¡V national public broadcaster. Up to 200,000 people were expected to tune into the menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Ă&#x20AC;QDOV RYHU WKH ZHHNHQG ORF produces three feeds from the event â&#x20AC;&#x201C; one for national distribution and two for international â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and works closely with the eventâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s second broadcast partner, Red Bull Media House, to distribute content on an international scale. This is where much of the real value lies, explains Christian Baier, chief executive at Capcom media and moving images director for the Swatch Major Series, with the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s videos from across the series now reaching more than four million viewers on Facebook and other social media services. â&#x20AC;&#x153;For beach volleyball itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a huge step out and big development,â&#x20AC;? notes Baier. â&#x20AC;&#x153;With these numbers on our social media channels we canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t stay unnoticed anymore in the world of sports and events.â&#x20AC;?
7KH Ă&#x20AC;JXUHV IROORZLQJ WKH Ă&#x20AC;QDO event of the season in Toronto help demonstrate the growth. That tournament garnered over 60 million social media impressions across the course of the week alone, bringing the total from the Ă&#x20AC;YH HYHQWV WR D SURMHFWHG WRWDO RI almost 550 million. Videos shared on the Red Bull and Swatch Major Series channels attracted over 20 million views. This kind of visibility offers brands a great platform to all partners and none more so than Swatch, the watchmaker which serves as the title sponsor of the entire series. Carlo Giordanetti, creative director at Swatch, notes the â&#x20AC;&#x153;consistent messaging and interaction with fansâ&#x20AC;? afforded to the company by the series throughout the four months of its season, both on site and online. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Being title sponsor allows Swatch to have a much closer, more constructive and productive relationship with the Beach Volleyball Major Series organisation,â&#x20AC;? explains Giordanetti. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We signed on as title sponsors right from the start. We are a passionate promoter of this sport, as beach volleyball brings together not only athletes and sport fans but also music, active lifestyle, and an overall energetic and positive lifestyle. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a sport that lives from the enthusiasm and passion of the crowds around it and we get to engage with them
throughout the series.â&#x20AC;? If the Swatch Major Series has a weakness at this point, Jagerhofer says, it is that there is not enough RI LW :LWK IRXU RI WKH Ă&#x20AC;YH HYHQWV taking place in Europe during the summer window between June and September, there is a lot of the globe, and a lot of the year, left for the series to expand into. 7KH VHULHV WRRN LQ Ă&#x20AC;YH countries â&#x20AC;&#x201C; with Klagenfurt joining 3RUHĂż LQ &URDWLD +DPEXUJ LQ Germany, Gstaad in Switzerland, and with Toronto, Canada replacing Fort Lauderdale in Florida as the YHQXH IRU WKH Ă&#x20AC;QDOV ² DQG -DJHUKRIHU is determined to see this number grow. Choosing the right destination is always a challenge, he says, WKRXJK WKH Ă&#x20AC;UVW DQG PRVW important consideration is always the venue itself. ´:KHQ ZH FKRVH 3RUHĂż WKHUH was no beach volleyball history,â&#x20AC;? Jagerhofer explains. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They had no players, no teams â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the only thing was an exciting venue. We knew there is a huge potential and, we also knew that Austria is very close, so our fans will follow there. It helps a lot if you have these ambassadors who show the others what the moves are and what exciting beach volleyball looks like. ´6R ZH VWDUW VPDOO DQG WKHQ LQ Ă&#x20AC;YH years we will aim to have ten events all over the world, in bigger sizes of tournaments. We want to go to eight
Swatchâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s presence as the series title sponsor gives it strong exposure to an important demographic for the brand
Ă&#x20AC;UVW ORRNLQJ WR WKH $VLDQ PDUNHW which is very big for us. Maybe Japan, with the next Olympic Games, or maybe China.â&#x20AC;? The Swatch Major Series will not dive into a new location where it cannot maintain the standards it has set for itself, says Jagerhofer, and plenty of work will continue to go into ensuring the quality of the tournaments â&#x20AC;&#x201C; with the success RI 7RURQWR DV WKH Ă&#x20AC;QDO OHJ RI WKLV yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tour acting as a trial run for its eventual inclusion on the regular schedule. Jagerhofer plans to continue building the tournament out in this way, with the venue for RQH \HDU¡V VHDVRQ Ă&#x20AC;QDOH WKHQ MRLQLQJ the tour for the next season over the QH[W Ă&#x20AC;YH \HDUV The comfort and luxury feel of the series extends to the players as well as to the sponsors and VIP guests. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s such a plus how Hannes has set up these events,â&#x20AC;? says the 2013 world champion and Olympic bronze medallist from Rio, Alexander %URXZHU ZKR ZRQ LQ WKH Ă&#x20AC;UVW 3RUHĂż Major last year alongside his partner Robert Meeuwsen. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You can see that this is an event where they really pay a lot of attention to the players. The area at the lake is so comforting and so relaxing and you can see that they did a really good job on making the athletes comfortable when theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re inside the tournament playing, but also when weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re outside relaxing.â&#x20AC;? Meeuwsen echoes his teammateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sentiments. â&#x20AC;&#x153;For me, this is for a long time the leading event,â&#x20AC;? he says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;And itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the one where most people, the players and the fans, look up to. Around the world at other events, when you hear most people talk about it itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s always, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Look at what Klagenfurt is like.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;? It is the A1 Major Klagenfurt that remains the gold standard for the series, the benchmark against which Jagerhofer will hold the rest of the tour. Having grown its audience from scratch to now command a loyal following, he hopes that the model can be recreated around the world. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This is the dream,â&#x20AC;? he says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;To have lots of Klagenfurts, and let them grow.â&#x20AC;?
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FEATURE MODERN PENTATHLON
LASER GUIDED Throughout its recent history, the International Modern Pentathlon Union has not always lived up to its name. It is endeavouring to change that, however, and SportsPro went behind the scenes at the UIPMâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s latest break out event in Lisbon, Portugal, to talk lasers, Olympics, and the future of modern pentathlon. By Tom Lloyd
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n 18th August 2016, Czech modern pentathlete Barbora Kodedova took her position at the indoor Youth Arena in Deodoro, just outside Rio de Janeiro, clad head to toe in fencing HTXLSPHQW WR FRPSHWH LQ KHU Ã&#x20AC;UVW ever Olympic Games. Kodedova TXDOLÃ&#x20AC;HG IRU WKH *DPHV IROORZLQJ D QLQWK SODFHG Ã&#x20AC;QLVK LQ WKH International Modern Pentathlon Union (UIPM) World Cup in 6DUDVRWD HDUOLHU LQ WKH \HDU DQG ZDV the Czech Republicâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sole female
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competitor in the sport. Ranked UG LQ WKH ZRUOG VKH Ã&#x20AC;QLVKHG WKH Games in 26th place, notching 1230 points overall, after a strong performance during the horseriding stage of the event. It therefore came as quite a surprise to see Kodedova competing in the UIPMâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s second ever Laser Run competition, the federationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ODWHVW EUHDNRXW HYHQW MXVW ZHHNV later. Set up as a means to get more youth competitors into the sport, the event is attended more by those on the fringes of the elite
competition or the very young, PRUH LQFOLQHG WRZDUGV WKH FRPELQHG event of running and shooting than the pentathlon overall. But such is the essence of the UIPM, and its RYHUZKHOPLQJ LQFOXVLYLW\ RI DWKOHWHV from all levels, to see Olympian Kodedova competing alongside the emerging youth talent that the sport has to offer. And SportsPro is also here, in Lisbon, Portugal, at the second edition of the UIPM Laser Run World Championships. The Laser Run is the latest original creation of the UIPM,
and features athletes from ages eight to 80 competing across the spectrum of classes and standards. The event features only the running and shooting stages of modern SHQWDWKORQ ZLWK WKH VWDQGDUG SLVWRO UHSODFHG ZLWK WKH HSRQ\PRXV lasers. The event is designed to be fast-paced, compact and energetic, aiming itself more at spectators and youth than purists of de Coubertinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s original ideals. Much RI WKH HYHQW LV VHW WR PXVLF ZLWK D '- RQ VLWH DQG LV KRVWHG ZLWKLQ PHWURSROLWDQ DUHDV ZLWK DXGLHQFHV milling in and out of competition. 7KH Ă&#x20AC; UVW HGLWLRQ RI WKH /DVHU 5XQ World Championships took place in September 2015, in Perpignan )UDQFH WR ZLGHVSUHDG DFFODLP In glorious sunshine, the home QDWLRQ UDQ DZD\ ZLWK PDQ\ RI WKH PHGDOV ZKLOH DWKOHWHV IURP *HRUJLD Mexico, Egypt, the Czech Republic, the USA and Belarus also claimed SRGLXP Ă&#x20AC; QLVKHV :KLOH WKH HYHQW featured a richly diverse collection RI QDWLRQDOLWLHV LW ZDV WKH 8,30 ZKR KDG EURXJKW WKHP DOWRJHWKHU $W D Ă&#x20AC; UVW WLPH HYHQW WKH IHGHUDWLRQ elected to support the participation and, according to secretary general 6KLQ\ )DQJ LW ZDV DQ LPSRUWDQW VWHS LQ HQVXULQJ WKH QHZ HYHQW WRRN RII ´/DVW \HDU ZDV RXU Ă&#x20AC; UVW HGLWLRQ DQG ZH WRRN WKH VWHS WR VXSSRUW a lot of countries to come to Perpignan and compete,â&#x20AC;? she says, talking to SportsPro in a sun-drenched section of Lisbonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 3DUTXH GDV 1Do}HV DUHD ZKHUH WKH competition is taking place.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;We had to pay for the last \HDU EHFDXVH LW LV YHU\ GLIĂ&#x20AC; FXOW VRPHWLPHV WR SURPRWH D QHZ HYHQW to the community, and some of the federations are conservative and VWUXJJOLQJ Ă&#x20AC; QDQFLDOO\ VR SD\LQJ IRU D QHZ HYHQW LV GLIĂ&#x20AC; FXOW DQG WKH\ GRQ¡W ZDQW WR GR LW 6R LQVWHDG ZH helped get them involved. ´7KLV \HDU ZH WRRN D ULVN DQG RQO\ VXSSRUWHG WKH FRXQWULHV ZKRVH IHGHUDWLRQV ZHUH UHDOO\ VWUXJJOLQJ Ă&#x20AC; QDQFLDOO\ %XW LW FHUWDLQO\ ZRUNHG /DVW \HDU IRU H[DPSOH WKHUH ZDV RQO\ RQH DWKOHWH DW WKH HYHQW ZKR ZDV UHSUHVHQWLQJ 6RXWK $IULFD $W WKLV HYHQW ZH KDYH DWKOHWHV IURP South Africa representing all age UDQJHV $OO LW WRRN ZDV WKH LQLWLDO SXVK DQG QRZ LW LV JURZLQJ SKHQRPHQDOO\ Âľ And Fang certainly isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t lying. The Parque das Naçþes area of Lisbon is one of the Portuguese capitalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s more modern districts.
Czech modern pentathlete OndĹ&#x2122;ej PolĂvka competed at the London Olympic Games in 2012
The Laser Run was established to help encourage younger competitors into the sport of modern pentathlon
Entirely redeveloped for the 1998 World Expo, the area plays host to a cable car that runs over the Tejo River, a theatre, and a major VKRSSLQJ FHQWUH DQG LV DZDVK ZLWK ZKLWH VWRQH WKDW VWDQGV RXW in stark contrast to the blue coast. But for the event, these colours are blurred as the green of the South Africans, blue of the French, and bright orange of the Egyptian athletes, among hundreds of others, dominate the setting. 7KH Ă&#x20AC; UVW DQG PRVW QRWLFHDEOH aspect of the UIPM Laser Run World Championships is the RYHUZKHOPLQJ VHQVH RI FRPPXQLW\ As Fang explains, many of these athletes have never met each other EHIRUH DQG WKRVH WKDW KDYH ZLOO RQO\ KDYH GRQH VR Ă HHWLQJO\ %XW WKH GD\ sees under-11 aged athletes from (J\SW WU\LQJ WR FRPPXQLFDWH ZLWK WKHLU *HRUJLDQ FRXQWHUSDUWV ZKLOH 6RXWK $IULFDQ WHHQV VZDS WKHLU QDWLRQ¡V VKLUWV ZLWK FRPSHWLWRUV IURP Burkina Faso and vice versa. During one medal ceremony later during the day, a 17-year-old French VLOYHU PHGDO ZLQQHU WDNHV D VHOĂ&#x20AC; H RQ WKH SRGLXP ZLWK KLV IHOORZ ZLQQHUV from Egypt and Portugal. When WKH\ VWHS GRZQ IURP WKH VWDJH WKH\ can be heard hurriedly exchanging QXPEHUV DQG GLVFXVVLQJ ZKHQ WKH\ might next compete against each other. Friendships are certainly made KHUH DQG ZLWKLQ D QLFKH VSRUW WKRVH that are made look set to continue ZHOO LQWR WKH IXWXUH $QG DFFRUGLQJ to Fang, the youth involvement is
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FEATURE MODERN PENTATHLON
one of the key elements that help the UIPM to market the Laser Run. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The purpose of this event really is to get more people LQWR SHQWDWKORQ Âľ VKH FRQĂ&#x20AC;UPV â&#x20AC;&#x153;This is not about separating up pentathlon, but it is about boosting participation across the spectrum. The event is completely original, and anyone can really get involved. There is so much space in this sport to improve, and this gives us this great focus that the youth can really get excited about, it gives them that EDVLV WR WKHQ EXLOG LQWR WKH ZLGHU sport from.â&#x20AC;? The foundations of the UIPM Laser Run have certainly been set DQG DV WKH ZHHNHQG SURJUHVVHV WKHUH DUH IHZ VLJQV WKDW WKLV LV RQO\ the second edition of the event. %XW ZKLOH XVHIXO IRU LQFUHDVLQJ SDUWLFLSDWLRQ DQG EULQJLQJ QHZ eyes to the sport, Fang says the intention is to eventually develop it into a more elite area of the UIPM event portfolio. ´7KH Ă&#x20AC;UVW WKLQJ WKDW¡V JUHDW DERXW the Laser Run is that it can take SODFH DQ\ZKHUH Âľ VKH VXJJHVWV ´7KDW JLYHV XV JUHDW Ă H[LELOLW\ 7KHUH LV QR UHDVRQ ZK\ ZH FDQQRW turn this into the ultimate urban sport that can tour from major city WR PDMRU FLW\ %XW ZH¡G DOVR OLNH WR make it bigger and better, and the eventing longer. If you have more people, then you begin to get more elite athletes involved, and once ZH JURZ WKH HYHQW ZLOO EHFRPH stronger and stronger.â&#x20AC;? It comes as no surprise to hear Fang talk so openly about the Laser Run. A former synchronised
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VZLPPHU DQG YLFH FRPSHWLWLRQ manager for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, she has a steely determination to see the sport updated quickly. What does FRPH DV D VXUSULVH KRZHYHU LV WR hear the excitement and vigour ZLWK ZKLFK 8,30 SUHVLGHQW 'U Klaus Schormann talks of the event. A 53-year veteran of the sport, the former teacher has an H[WHQVLYH FDUHHU ZLWKLQ WKH 2O\PSLF movement and beyond. But he is no ordinary president, and it quickly becomes clear that he too shares Fangâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ideals for the modernisation of the â&#x20AC;&#x153;modernâ&#x20AC;? pentathlon. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This event is all about SHQWDWKORQ DQG KRZ ZH OLQN RXU sport together,â&#x20AC;? he says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is D ZRQGHUIXO DGYHUWLVHPHQW IRU RXU VSRUW LW SURPRWHV LW VR ZHOO Promotion has to be the last goal RI HYHU\WKLQJ ZH GR DQG WKLV LV D superb example of doing that. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s EULOOLDQW IRU RXU VSRQVRUV DV ZHOO DV it is another event they can put their QDPH WR DQG , NQRZ WKDW ZH FDQ HVWDEOLVK LW DURXQG WKH ZRUOG ´:H ZLOO EHJLQ WR JHW PRUH HOLWH DWKOHWHV FRPLQJ DQG ZKHQ ZH GR LW ZLOO H[SDQG IXUWKHU DQG PDNH people realise the enjoyment of SHQWDWKORQ DV D ZKROH :H ORRN IRU feedback from all our countries RQ KRZ WR JURZ DQG WKLV KDV EHHQ LQFUHGLEO\ ZHOO UHFHLYHG Âľ &RQYHUVDWLRQ ZLWK 6FKRUPDQQ LV enlightening; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s uplifting to hear VRPHRQH ZLWK VXFK H[SHULHQFH WDON so eagerly about the future and his traditional sportâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s breakout events. %XW DV LW GRHV ZLWK )DQJ WDON inevitably turns to the Olympics,
The introduction of the laser gun has made the sport more ďŹ&#x201A;exible and accessible to a wider audience
Masters modern pentathletes compete in the Laser Run
ZKLFK KDYH WDNHQ SODFH MXVW GD\V earlier. And for both of them, Rio marked a big moment in the sportâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s modern history. ´5LR ZDV RXU PRVW YLVLEOH Olympics yet,â&#x20AC;? says Schormann. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It LV WKH Ă&#x20AC;UVW WLPH ZH KDYH KDG RXWGRRU IHQFLQJ ZKLFK PDGH HYHU\ VSRUW visible to the spectator. This is often RXU SUREOHP ZKHUH VRPHWKLQJ LV KLGGHQ DZD\ DQG WKH VSHFWDWRU ORVHV the plot of the sport. But at Rio it ZDV YLVLEOH DQG WKDW LV ZKDW PDGH LW so successful for us.â&#x20AC;? Fang adds: â&#x20AC;&#x153;The structures Rio KDG LQ SODFH GLG ZHOO 7KH IHQFLQJ outdoor gave the spectators a JUHDW LGHD RI ZKDW ZDV JRLQJ RQ ZKLFK LV NH\ ,W VKRZHG WKH VSRUW LQ D FRPSDFW ZD\ DQG WKLV LV UHDOO\ important for us.â&#x20AC;? 7KH WZR GD\V RI HYHQWV LQ %UD]LO VDZ GLIIHUHQW QDWLRQV FRPSHWH ZKLOH DOO VL[ PHGDOV DFURVV ERWK WKH PHQ¡V DQG ZRPHQ¡V FRPSHWLWLRQV ZHQW WR VL[ VHSDUDWH QDWLRQDOLWLHV 7KDW GLYHUVLW\ VKRZV D PHDVXUH of globalisation for the sport, and there can be no question that Rio ZDV D VXFFHVV %XW 6FKRUPDQQ¡V UHDO excitement is reserved for four yearsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; WLPH ZKHUH PRGHUQ SHQWDWKORQ history looks set to be made. ´7RN\R ZLOO EH VRPHWKLQJ VSHFLDO LW ZLOO UHDOO\ EH D WXUQLQJ SRLQW LQ modern pentathlon history,â&#x20AC;? he says. ´$W 7RN\R ZH DUH JRLQJ WR KDYH a completely dedicated stadium, MXVW IRU PRGHUQ SHQWDWKORQ ,W ZLOO KDYH WKH IHQFLQJ WKH VZLPPLQJ the shooting, the running and the KRUVH ULGLQJ DOO ZLWKLQ RQH VWDGLXP all taking place at the one time. The DWKOHWHV ZLOO IHQFH WKHQ JHW FKDQJHG DQG JR WR WKH VZLPPLQJ DQG WKHQ WKH\ ZLOO PRYH WR WKH KRUVH 7KH
stadium plans are phenomenal DQG , FDQQRW VWUHVV HQRXJK KRZ important this innovation is for our sport. It is going to be our theatre.â&#x20AC;? According to Schormann, one of modern pentathlonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most common hurdles is the geographical set-up of the event. With such a complex sport, ZLWK VR PDQ\ PRYLQJ SDUWV LW LV RIWHQ hard to keep spectators engaged, ZKLOH HQVXULQJ WKH IDLUHVW FRPSHWLWLRQ for the athletes. But from the plans KH VKRZV WR SportsPro, it looks as if Tokyo may have found the most advanced solution yet. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Tokyo has been fantastic, and WKH\ KDYH UHDOO\ ZRUNHG KDUG ZLWK us,â&#x20AC;? he says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our negotiations KDYH EHHQ IDQWDVWLF DQG ZH KDYH EHQHĂ&#x20AC;WHG EHFDXVH HYHU\RQH RQ their organising committee speaks my native language, German, so discussions have been great. They DUH RQ ERDUG ZLWK RXU VSRUW ZKLFK LV D JUHDW IHHOLQJ IRU XV DQG ZH KRSH WKDW LW ZLOO EH RQH RI RXU JUHDWHVW VKRZFDVHV \HW
´,W LV QRZ EHFRPLQJ D UHDO SULRULW\ RI RXUV WR ZRUN KDUG ZLWK host cities, because the geography is so important to our success. We DUH DOUHDG\ LQ GLVFXVVLRQV ZLWK WKH groups behind Los Angeles, Paris, 5RPH DQG %XGDSHVW IRU WKH 2O\PSLFV DQG ZH DUH ZRUNLQJ hard alongside those bidding to host our World Cups and World Championships. We have to ensure that the people that are bidding are ready to provide the highest level of competition for RXU VSRUW DQG ZH KDYH WR NQRZ WKDW ZH FDQ ZRUN ZLWK WKHP DV ZHOO :H KDYH D ORW RI H[SHULHQFH in this sport, and there is little SRLQW LQ ZRUNLQJ ZLWK D FLW\ WKDW LV XQZLOOLQJ WR ZRUN ZHOO ZLWK XV EHFDXVH WKH\ ZLOO HQG XS KDYLQJ to change things they have done ZLWKRXW XV ¾ While all of this planning is reserved for the top level of the VSRUW KRZHYHU LW LV WKH /DVHU Run that truly epitomises the
An artist's rendering of how the modern pentathlon arena at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo will look
The venue for the modern pentathlon in Tokyo will be completely dedicated to the sport, with all ďŹ ve events taking place in the same space
JUDVVURRWV ZRUN WKDW LV DOVR EHLQJ done. As Fang says, many of the national federations are struggling Ă&#x20AC;QDQFLDOO\ DQG LW LV WR WKH 8,30 that they all ultimately turn. It is a notion that is not lost on the IRUZDUG WKLQNLQJ 6FKRUPDQQ â&#x20AC;&#x153;Overall, our ultimate goal is to make the federations and countries that participate in our sport as stable as possible, and to give them VXSSRUW ZLWK WUDLQHUV DQG IDFLOLWLHV Âľ he says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We hope to set up specialist FRXUVHV WR DLG ZLWK FRDFKLQJ ZKLFK ZLOO DOVR FUHDWH PRUH HOLWH FRPSHWLWLRQ :H NQRZ WKDW ZRUNLQJ KDUG DW WKH ERWWRP ZLOO DOZD\V eventually change the top. ´, KDYH D VD\LQJ LI \RX ZDQW D ORQJ DQG IXOĂ&#x20AC;OOHG OLIH WKHQ \RX QHHG many grandchildren. It is exactly the same for us: for us to continue WR DFKLHYH ZH KDYH WR ORRN DIWHU DOO of our federations.â&#x20AC;? With that, Schormann brings the sport full circle. From the Olympics in Rio, Tokyo, and beyond, to the youth-promoting energetic grassroots Laser Run event, the UIPM is making great strides WRZDUGV VXFFHVV $V WKH VXQ VHWV in Lisbon on a second Laser Run event, the athletes from across the globe start the journeys back to WKHLU UHVSHFWLYH FRXQWULHV 0DQ\ ZLOO UHWXUQ QH[W \HDU ZKLOH RWKHUV ZLOO compete in more events over the \HDUV WR FRPH %XW IRU DQ\RQH ZKR KDV ZDWFKHG PRGHUQ SHQWDWKORQ before, change is certainly afoot.
SportsPro Magazine | 113
SPORTSPRO STORIES ARNOLD PALMER
What was Arnie selling? By Richard Gillis
Arnold Palmer died in late September after a golf career that saw him become one of the gameâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s greats, a business career that made him one of sportâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s richest men, and a public life in which he grew into one of the most beloved figures in the US. Palmer represented a version of golf and America that lives on in the public imagination.
A
rnold Palmerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s arrival coincided with Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s love affair with television. In 1950, only eight per cent of American families owned a TV set. By 1960, Palmerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s annus mirabilis, that number was 88 per cent, and the box in the corner had moved to the heart of American life. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The right man at the right time,â&#x20AC;? said Jack Nicklaus, the late golferâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s great rival and, in time, friend. Whereas boxing, American football and baseball had been transformed by the exposure, golf was a harder sell. It had been televised on a sporadic basis since the early 50s, but it was hardly love DW Ă&#x20AC;UVW VLJKW 7KH SOD\HUV ZHUH GXOO DQG JUH\ E\ FRPSDULVRQ WR WKH superstars available elsewhere on the dial. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know why anyone would go to a golf tournament,â&#x20AC;? said Ben Hogan, a serial major winner in the late 40s and early 50s, summing up his generationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s DWWLWXGH WR WKH LGHD RI JROI DV HQWHUWDLQPHQW ´7KH SULFHV DUH LQĂ DWHG they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t let you in the clubhouse and you canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t see a thing.â&#x20AC;? Against this backdrop Palmerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s earthy charisma jumped through the screen and meant that TV cameras â&#x20AC;&#x153;no longer had to focus on 50 ordinarylooking men walking around hitting balls viewers couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t seeâ&#x20AC;?. %HIRUH 3DOPHU GHĂ&#x20AC;QHG WKH UROH $PHULFD¡V JROĂ&#x20AC;QJ KHURHV ZHUH very different men, says Raymond Floyd: they were harder and much less congenial. â&#x20AC;&#x153;[Ben] Hogan, [Sam] Snead, [Gardner] Dickinson and those guys wereâ&#x20AC;Ś how should we say it? Crusty,â&#x20AC;? Floyd told me. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s it, they were crusty.â&#x20AC;? Despite Walter Hagenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attempts to gentrify the job of the PGA professional, most remained blue-collar, union men who were expected to know their place in the country club caste system. This was certainly the lot of Palmerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s father, Deacon, who was greenkeeper and head pro at Latrobe Country Club in Pensylvannia.
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â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Palmer didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want his fatherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life, the life of a club pro,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; wrote Ian Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Connor in Arnie and Jack. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;A man spent too much time being demeaned in that life, being treated like a towel boy by hundreds of country club snobs.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Palmer helped his father around the place; he was â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;the worst worker I ever gave a job toâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, Palmer Sr told anyone whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d listen. As the proâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s son, young Arnie was a notch above the caddies in terms of privileges, meaning he could play the course in the evenings when the members were gone for the night. Perhaps the greatest achievement of Arnold Palmerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s business career is that the boy who wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t allowed on the course went on to own it. In 1960, Palmer-mania broke out. Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s burgeoning television audience sat eyes wide as they took in the twin pillars of the Arnie legend: the charge and the army. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;There, in full view for everyone to see, was the end of Hogan, the arrival of Nicklaus, and the coronation of Palmer,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; wrote Thomas Hauser of the 1960 US Open at Cherry Hills. Âś)RU WKH Ă&#x20AC;UVW WKUHH URXQGV RI WKH 1DWLRQDO 2SHQ $UQROG Palmerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s name was scarcely mentioned,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; wrote Herbert Warren Wind. Palmer went to Cherry Hills as Masters champion and pre-tournament favourite. He started 72, 71, 72 to be one under JRLQJ LQ WR WKH Ă&#x20AC;QDO URXQG HQRXJK WR PDNH WKH FXW FRPIRUWDEO\ but which left him seven shots behind Mike Souchak, the leader. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;At 3:15 p.m, after the most explosive stretch of subpar golf any golfer has ever produced in the championship, Arnold Palmer was deep in contention and his name was heard everywhere on the course,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; wrote Warren Wind. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;The greens were small, well guarded with traps and water hazards and, above all, hard to hold unless the approach shot was cleanly struck
AP/Press Association Images
SportsPro Magazine | 115
SPORTSPRO STORIES ARNOLD PALMER
Matt Slocum/AP/Press Association Images
with plenty of spin.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; The combination of the direct sun and the afternoon winds would bake out the greens to the point that they would become almost unplayable. Cherry Hills in 1960 did not require the full vocabulary of shotmaking, wrote Wind, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;but it WRRN DFFXUDF\ DQG WRXFK DQG XQĂ DJJLQJ FRQFHQWUDWLRQ 7KHQ LW could be scored on.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Warren Windâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s summing up captures what it was to watch Palmer at his peak. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;What can you say about Arnold Palmer?â&#x20AC;&#x2122; he wrote. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Nothing seems beyond his doing. First that birdieELUGLH Ă&#x20AC;QLVK DW $XJXVWD 1RZ WKLV DZHVRPH Ă&#x20AC;QLVK LQ ZKLFK KH came on to win from seven strokes back, something no other golfer has ever accomplished in the Open. He will undoubtedly perform other prodigious deeds in the years ahead. He has an ever-improving all-round game and he can hole the long ones. He has unshakable faith in himself and is wonderfully ambitious. Behind him lie the Masters and Open now and before him the Centenary British Open. He will go to St Andrews with a very good chance to continue his sweep, for here is not only a marvellous golfer but, if you will forgive a Victorian phrase, he seems to be destinyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s favorite.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;
Arnold Palmer (left) puts his arm around his great friend and rival Jack Nicklaus
Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most un-resented millionaire Arnieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ability with a driver was just part of the package. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;How uncomplicated, I think to myself, the job of representing a golfer must have been back when only golf was involved,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; wrote agency pioneer Mark McCormack in 1967. He wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t kidding. After shaking hands on a deal to start IMG with Palmer, McCormack took the raw material at his disposal and built a global business empire. His description of a typical week in the life of Arnold Palmer around 1964 reveals the extent to which he sweated sportâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most valuable asset. Âś2Q 0RQGD\ PRUQLQJ $UQROG DSSHDUV DW D VWXGLR IRU WKH Ă&#x20AC;OPLQJ RI colour television commercials for Noxzema. The company is putting out a line of products called Swing â&#x20AC;&#x201D; maybe. Test marketings have to go well. A small fortune is at stakeâ&#x20AC;Ś Âś%\ 7XHVGD\ DIWHUQRRQ WKH Ă&#x20AC;OPLQJ LV GRQH $UQROG KXUULHV WR /D *XDUGLD DQG Ă LHV LQ KLV MHW WR 6KDZQHH 3D 7R SDUWLFLSDWH LQ WKH JUDQG RSHQLQJ RI D IRRG SURFHVVLQJ SODQW EXLOW E\ KLV IDWKHU LQ ODZ 0DUWLQ :DO]HU +H VSHQGV WKH QLJKW LQ 6KDZQHH 7KH QH[W PRUQLQJ KH Ă LHV EDFN WR 1HZ <RUN &LW\ where he picks up four top business executives as part of his association with WKH 86 %DQNQRWH &RUSRUDWLRQ +H Ă LHV WKHP WR /DWUREH IRU D 9,3 GD\ RI JROI PHDOV DQG GULQNV DW /DXUHO 9DOOH\ *ROI &OXE 2Q 7KXUVGD\ KH SRVHV IRU SKRWRJUDSKV DJDLQ WKLV WLPH IRU WKH %ROHQV 'LYLVLRQ RI )0& IRU ZKRP he endorses lawn equipment and snowplowsâ&#x20AC;Śâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; And so on. McCormack details every deal, every commitment and every public appearance. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a dizzying round of gladhanding, schmoozing and smiling for the cameras. By the end of the week, Palmer is club-testing back at Latrobe, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Forgings have been sent from Great Britain for the irons he will use in the forthcoming World Match Play Championship [an event owned by McCormackâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s IMG], and clubs also have arrived from Australia that he will need for the Australian Open later in the fall.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; McCormack adds for clarity that â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;contracts require Palmer to use certain makes of clubs in certain countriesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. The work paid off in spades, making Palmer very rich indeed, to the extent he remained one of golf â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s top earners until his last
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days, still gracing magazine covers and the subject of adoring feature interviews. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s testimony to Palmerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s likeability and McCormackâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s PR nous that his great wealth never drove a wedge between the star and his constituency of fans, even a group as committed as Arnieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Army. McCormack particularly always balanced any business story with the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;good ol Arnieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; narrative which references Palmerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s small-town, blue-collar roots back in Latrobe. McCormack told 6SRUWV ,OOXVWUDWHG a story straight out of this playbook. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;A friendâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; of McCormackâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s suggested one day that his client ought to use his enormous riches to â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;buy Versailles for a home and let the fountains water his putting greenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. McCormack told this mysterious â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;friendâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; that in one sentence proved he knew â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;less about Arnold Palmer than Louis XIV knew about the massesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. Arnie, claimed McCormack, had an unquenchable love for what Latrobe represented. â&#x20AC;&#x153;No matter how big his world may be, he is small town.â&#x20AC;? His agentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ability to spin a yarn kept the Palmer story on track to the extent that by the early 1970s Arnie was described as â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most un-resented millionaireâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; by sports journalist Shirley Povich. Yet for all the Arnie teashops, launderettes, snowploughs, golf clubs and umbrella branded t-shirts, Palmer was selling much more than that: he was selling a particular version of America.
A version of America Just as Bob Harlow did for Walter Hagen in the 1920s, Mark McCormack created a media platform from which Palmer could speak to America. So compelling was Arnie as a spokesman that some of the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leading companies rushed to use him as a conduit for their advertising messages. If Arnie says Hertz is the best hire car out there, it must be true. The medium is the message. If Seve Ballesteros gave Team Europe its emotional centre of gravity in the Ryder Cup, then Arnold Palmer carries out a similar role for Team USA. It was Arnie who did more than any
Phelan M. Ebenhack/AP/Press Association Images
WKLQNV DERXW WKRVH WKLQJV 0RVW SHRSOH GRQ¡W %XW ZKHQ , VHH VRPHRQH ZLWK KLV LQà XHQFH DQG JUHDW JLIWV QRW XVH WKDW LQà XHQFH DQG JLIWV IRU WKH EURDGHVW JRRG SRVVLEOH LW VDGGHQV PH ¾
Palmer, seen here with Tiger Woods, was guarded when it came to issues of race
other player to give American golf its social, moral and political compass. And it is these values that have come to represent Team USA in the European imagination â&#x20AC;&#x201C; small government, low taxation, big on philanthropy and charity, pro-military, politically and socially conservative. â&#x20AC;&#x153;My heroes are traditional American people,â&#x20AC;? Palmer told Thomas Hauser, â&#x20AC;&#x153;men like Dwight Eisenhower, John Wayne, Bob Hope.â&#x20AC;? Norman Rockwell painted his portrait and his famed affability meant he was as popular with presidents as he was with Pittsburgh steel workers. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If I could go back in time and meet people Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve never met,â&#x20AC;? he said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d like to meet the Wright brothers, Charles Lindbergh and Will Rogers. And going back further, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d like to know if there really was a Robin Hood in Sherwood Forest, and if there was, what was he like?â&#x20AC;? Like many men who lived through the Great Depression, Deacon Palmer was a Democrat. â&#x20AC;&#x153;He thought Roosevelt hung the moon,â&#x20AC;? said Palmer, â&#x20AC;&#x153;but Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m the opposite. I think you solve problems through family and personal charity. The less big government and big-name outsiders get involved, the better it is for us all. All Dwight Eisenhower ever wanted was to make America the ideal place to be.â&#x20AC;? When American Ryder Cup captains go the patriotic route â&#x20AC;&#x201C; as they do often â&#x20AC;&#x201C; it is Arnoldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s version of America they are attempting to evoke. For the most part, Palmerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s role as an American hero has been benign. However, with great power comes responsibility and not everyone thought he used his LQĂ XHQFH WR WKH EHVW HIIHFW ´7KHUH¡V D ZRUOG RXW WKHUH WKDW $UQROG 3DOPHU GRHVQ¡W XQGHUVWDQG Âľ VDLG $UWKXU $VKH WKH :LPEOHGRQ DQG 86 2SHQ FKDPSLRQ DQG FLYLO ULJKWV FDPSDLJQHU ´(YHU\WKLQJ , NQRZ DERXW $UQROG OHDGV PH WR EHOLHYH KH¡V D GHFHQW PDQ $QG REYLRXVO\ KH DSSUHFLDWHV WKH RSSRUWXQLWLHV WKDW WKLV FRXQWU\ has given him. But he doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t seem to realise that there are a lot of children in America who donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have the opportunities he had as a boy. Many of them are no better off than children growing up under totalitarian governments LQ WKH WKLUG ZRUOG WRGD\ /LIH LV KDUGHU DQG PRUH FRPSOLFDWHG IRU WKHP WKDQ $UQROG PDNHV LW RXW WR EH DQG ,¡P QRW VXUH KRZ RIWHQ RU KRZ GHHSO\ KH
Asheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s comments put Palmerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s politics under the spotlight along with those of the PGA, an organisation founded in 1916 and whose charter contained a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Caucasians onlyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; clause until 1961. When Charlie Sifford won the 1967 Greater Hartford 2SHQ KH EHFDPH WKH Ă&#x20AC;UVW EODFN PDQ WR ZLQ RQ WKH 3*$ 7RXU and it wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t until 1979 that an African-American played for his country in the Ryder Cup, when Lee Elder took his place in Team USA for the match at The Greenbrier Club in West Virginia, DJDLQVW WKH Ă&#x20AC;UVW (XURSHDQ WHDP Elder remains one of just three black Ryder Cup players: he was followed by Calvin Peete, who played twice, in 1983 and 1985, and Tiger Woods, who made his debut in the event in 1997 at Valderrama, Spain. )RXU \HDUV SUHYLRXVO\ (OGHU KDG PDGH KLVWRU\ DV WKH Ă&#x20AC;UVW African-American to play in The Masters at the old plantation style clubhouse of the Augusta National, some 28 years after Jackie Robinson broke the colour barrier in baseball. Like Hagen before him, Lee Elder and his generation of black PGA Tour players became used to arriving at tournaments only to be told to change their clothes in the car park because their presence in the clubhouse would offend the club members. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Nigger,â&#x20AC;? said a voice over the hotel telephone in Memphis, â&#x20AC;&#x153;you better not win this golf tournament.â&#x20AC;? Such threats meant Elder was sometimes forced to play tournaments with a police escort. American golf â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s race issue came to a head in 1990 at Shoal Creek, a whites-only club in Birmingham, Alabama which was VFKHGXOHG WR KROG WKH 3*$ &KDPSLRQVKLS WKH Ă&#x20AC;QDO PDMRU RI the season. The club president declared that there were no plans to elect any black members in the future, although black players ZKR TXDOLĂ&#x20AC;HG ZRXOG EH DOORZHG WR SOD\ LQ WKH 3*$ HYHQW ,Q WKH face of a revolt, most notably by sponsors of ABCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s televised golf coverage, the club took the cynical move of extending an â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;honorary membershipâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; to a local black businessman. The issue tested Arnold Palmerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s political opinions further. ´,¡P D Ă&#x20AC;UP EHOLHYHU LQ WKH ULJKW RI D SULYDWH FOXE WR EH SULYDWH Âľ he said, adding that â&#x20AC;&#x153;if you have a public event at your club, you have an obligation to follow the rules of societyâ&#x20AC;?. In short, Shoal Creek can do what they want, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a free country. Palmer took a similar line with The Masters, which he won four times before becoming the tournamentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s honorary starter. Clifford Roberts, long-time chairman of Augusta, once said that â&#x20AC;&#x153;as long as he was alive, there would be nothing but white golfers and black caddies at the Mastersâ&#x20AC;?. $XJXVWD Ă&#x20AC;QDOO\ DGPLWWHG LWV Ă&#x20AC;UVW $IULFDQ $PHULFDQ PHPEHU LQ DQG LWV Ă&#x20AC;UVW ZRPDQ PHPEHU LQ &KDUOLH 6LIIRUG OHW Palmer off the hook for the accusation made by Ashe, that Palmer FRXOG KDYH XVHG KLV SRZHU WR IRUFH JROI WR FKDQJH ´7KH Ă&#x20AC;UVW thing that would have happened is, some people would have called him a nigger-lover,â&#x20AC;? Sifford said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Then his income would have gone down. To be honest, I wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have jeopardised myself for something like that, so I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t hold anything against Arnold.â&#x20AC;? Palmerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s view of golf, and life, prized tradition over everything else. He wrote in 1994, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d hate to see golf do what other sports have done. I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want the game to change.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; It hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t much.
SportsPro Magazine | 117
COMPANY PROFILE SES
Satellite vision The worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s biggest sporting events are watched in hundreds of diďŹ&#x20AC;erent countries by millions of diďŹ&#x20AC;erent people. The Olympics, the Fifa World Cup, and the Super Bowl, to name but a few, have a global reach that far exceeds the host nation and participating teams. But despite the countless eyes ďŹ xed on each broadcast, few thoughts will be given to the inner workings that help to deliver live footage from one side of the world to the other.
L
ittle thought is given to the intricate network of satellites that orbit the earth in order to deliver action from Rio to a television in Manchester, or the necessary work that that monumental undertaking requires. But for the occasional use (OU) staff of SES, that exact work is their daily grind. The team operates satellite services that help to deliver sporting events to TV screens across the globe and, after a successful year, is looking to grow even more. Based in Luxembourg, SES operates over 50 satellites in orbit, and its hardware allows broadcasts to reach around 99 per cent of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s population. The team works WR D UHJLRQDO VHW XS ZLWK RIĂ&#x20AC;FHV in Washington DC, Princeton, the Netherlands, Johannesburg in South Africa, SĂŁo Paolo in Brazil, and Singapore, among RWKHU GHGLFDWHG UHJLRQDO RIĂ&#x20AC;FHV LQ Europe, Africa and Asia. Its satellites provide reliable and secure communications to broadcasters and telcos, as well as corporate and government customers worldwide. Throughout its history, the company has broadcast events from across the sporting spectrum, working on everything from multisport festivals like the Olympic Games, Paralympic Games and Commonwealth Games, to American major leagues such as the National Hockey League (NHL) and Major League Baseball (MLB). It has supplied broadcast solutions for major competitions such as the Fifa World Cup, all the way down to niche equestrian events and
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Irelandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s national Gaelic sports. Much of the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sports operations are headed up by general manager of occasional use operations Richard Lamb, who is situated in the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s HagueEDVHG RIĂ&#x20AC;FH +LV GHSDUWPHQW covers four distinct verticals of the EXVLQHVV 7KH Ă&#x20AC;UVW YLGHR LQFOXGHV everything from broadcasting directly across the globe or directto-home. The second, government, offers secure and reliable satellite communications links for governments and international institutions. The remaining verticals of the business are enterprise and mobility, which include enterprise connectivity and mobile vehicle internet access respectively. These four verticals, when a service is required for a period of three months or less, are put together under the OU umbrella. â&#x20AC;&#x153;What we essentially do,â&#x20AC;? says Lamb, â&#x20AC;&#x153;is we work alongside production companies and various broadcasters around the world.
The geographic constraints of the Rio de Janeiro made this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Olympics the perfect platform for demonstrating SESâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s satellite technology
Once they have acquired rights to something, then they will arrange the technical delivery of it. There are many aspects of this technical delivery, one of which is satellite transmitting. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We do not work with cameras, provide sound systems, work on production or deliver or maintain any equipment. What we do is primarily the core backbone of providing satellites so that these streams can reach the entire world.â&#x20AC;? With such comprehensive WHFKQRORJ\ DW LWV Ă&#x20AC;QJHUWLSV DQG boasting such prestigious sports properties as clients, SES has gone from strength to strength in its history. But according to Richard Lamb, the OU team has just experienced its most successful year yet. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It depends on how you measure it, really,â&#x20AC;? he explains, â&#x20AC;&#x153;but with the work we have done with the Rio Olympics, and you look at the amount of customer requirements we have accommodated, and the amount of eyes that we have
delivered broadcasting to, then there can be no doubt that it has been an incredibly successful event.â&#x20AC;? SES has worked on Olympic Games before, and has even worked in Brazil previously for the 2014 Fifa World Cup. But according to Lamb, the unique geographical constraints of the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympics provided a platform for the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s satellites to be utilised to their fullest. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interesting in Rio, and Brazil generally,â&#x20AC;? he notes. â&#x20AC;&#x153;When we were broadcasting the Fifa World Cup, it was a big undertaking, because a lot of the events were in remote, challenging locations that were tricky to pick up, and then we were sending the transmissions to all over the globe. They went to hard-toreach African, European and Asian nations so, really, although they were both in Brazil, geographically the Fifa World Cup was a much bigger undertaking for us. â&#x20AC;&#x153;While we were working in London for the 2012 Olympics, it is a heavily connected country, with Ă&#x20AC;EUH DQG ZLUHOHVV WKURXJKRXW EXW Brazil is very different, so it was a far greater challenge.â&#x20AC;? For Lamb, there can be no question that Rio was both the OU teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most testing but most successful event. When a company provides a service for a rights holder to then deliver a product, it can be hard to know the metric by which to monitor achievement. As far as Lamb is concerned, however, the sheer volume of transmission hours booked in Rio put it in no doubt. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We take the amount of hours
The SES operations centre in Luxembourg, where the team worked on the â&#x20AC;&#x153;immense taskâ&#x20AC;? of delivering the Olympic Games around the world
Richard Lamb, SESâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s general manager occassional use
our customers booked and the amount of satellites we use, and we normalise both of these metrics to look at how we have done compared to previous events,â&#x20AC;? he says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This increases year on year as well, because as broadcasting technology expands and grows into new realms such as Ultra HD, the bandwidth that is required from the satellites each time becomes far greater. At the same time, the Luxembourg-based company has been looking for new directions. In the summer of this year, SES completed the merger of RR Media with its subsidiary SES Platform Services, forming a company called MX1. The new entity offers a full suite of content management, delivery and value-added digital media services. The worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s media globaliser works with leading media businesses to transform content into the ultimate viewer experience for a global audience. Every day, MX1 distributes more than 2,500 TV channels, manages the playout of over 500 channels, delivers syndicated content to more than 120 leading subscription VOD platforms, delivers over 8,000 hours of online video streaming and delivers more than 500 hours of premium sports DQG OLYH HYHQWV 0; KDV RIĂ&#x20AC;FHV worldwide and operates six global state of the art media centres. The company is headed by former RR 0HGLD FKLHI H[HFXWLYH RIĂ&#x20AC;FHU $YL
Cohen, and is headquartered in Germany and Israel. For Lamb, the merger is a sign of the growing market they work within. â&#x20AC;&#x153;When you grow like we do, you want to look to expand,â&#x20AC;? he suggests. â&#x20AC;&#x153;But we also work within a very agile industry, which is constantly on the move. To cope with this, you need to look at the different divisions and see how they can grow, and MX1 really gives us that extra string to our bow â&#x20AC;&#x201C; it is another solution we can offer to clients.â&#x20AC;? As next year brings no Fifa World Cups or Olympics, SES looks set for a far quieter year than it has had in 2016, although preparations will soon be on their way for recurring sports events in 2017 and the Fifa World Cup in Russia as well as the Winter Olympics in South Korea in 2018. And with sustained growth and success this year, the company looks set to continue to grow organically. With a proven track record and an extensive list of clients, SES is sure WR EH D Ă&#x20AC;[WXUH RI VSRUWV EURDGFDVWLQJ for years to come.
To contact SES Visit: ses.com/ou Call: +31 70 306 4200 US toll free: +1 800 732 3273 Email: ou@ses.com
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DEALS REVIEW
DEALS REVIEW Sports industry deal-making highlights from August and September 2016 Tebow turns to Adidas as MLB awaits Former National Football League (NFL) quarterback Tim Tebow (left) has signed an apparel deal with global sportswear firm Adidas, as he pursues a career in Major League Baseball (MLB). The multi-year agreement will see Tebow wear Adidas-branded footwear and training gear as he tries out in front of MLB teams. It has been reported that a number of manufacturers were pursuing Tebow’s signature, but that Adidas were particularly keen to capitalise on his story. Tebow has previously held a major endorsement deal with Nike, while an NFL star, worth US$300,000 per year. In his six years as an NFL player, Tebow was a marketing success and appeared in SportsPro’s 2012 edition of the 50 Most Marketable Athletes list, placing ninth. Now 29, the former Florida Gators star began his professional career amid considerable interest after becoming the first sophomore to win college football’s Heisman Trophy in 2007.
LA Clippers to trial digital offering under new Prime Ticket deal The Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) have extended their exclusive local media rights agreement with Fox Sports Prime Ticket for a multi-year period. The renewal, which remains subject to league approval, will see Prime Ticket broadcast all of the Clippers’ non-nationally televised regular season games, as well as first-round post-season games and selected pre-season fixtures. Streams of Clippers games will also be provided to pay-TV subscribers via the Fox Sports Go online and mobile service. Prime Ticket’s coverage will be shown across Southern California, Nevada and Hawaii, while Fox Sports San Diego will broadcast all Clippers games in the San Diego market. The financial terms of the deal have not been released but the Los Angeles Times reports that it is worth between US$50 million and US$55 million a year. The previous deal was believed to be worth around US$25 million a year. The Los Angeles Times report, which cites ‘officials who were not authorised to speak publicly about the contract’, says the new agreement will run for six years, with both parties able to initiate negotiations over a further
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extension after two seasons. Last autumn Steve Ballmer, the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft who bought the Clippers franchise for US$2 billion in May 2014, was said to have turned down a US$60 million a year offer from Fox, believing he could secure an agreement closer to his US$100 million a year asking price elsewhere. However, offers at that level failed to materialise. At the time, it was reported that Ballmer was also exploring the creation of an in-house over-the-top (OTT) streaming service that would see Clippers programming delivered direct-toconsumer. Announcing the renewal, the Clippers
said they plan to conduct ‘in-market tests for new, innovative digital offerings on a trial basis to a targeted number of fans.’ Trials will reportedly begin sometime during the coming season, which tips off in October. The New York Post reported in September that Fox had agreed to allow the Clippers to retain streaming rights under the new deal, although the team would only be able to offer a streaming service to Prime Ticket customers. Should the Clippers launch their own streaming service, they would become the first team in North America’s four major leagues to do so.
NBA confirms major data partnership
La Liga opens Indian office Spanish soccer’s La Liga is looking to continue its international expansion after opening a new office in Indian capital New Delhi. Officially opened by La Liga president Javier Tebas, the office will act as a headquarters in India as the league looks to expand its commercial footprint there. “Being present in India is very important to us,” said Tebas, speaking at the opening press conference. “We have been working hard towards this for a while, and have even made changes to kick-off times with Indian fans in
ICC recruits CSM for Associate and Affiliate growth The International Cricket Council (ICC) has agreed a partnership with global agency CSM Sport and Entertainment, as it looks to commercially support its second and third-tier Associate and Affiliate Members (AMs). CSM will work alongside the ICC to build commercial revenue structures for these members, in the hope of developing long-term success both on and off the field. The ICC’s members include the likes of Afghanistan and Scotland, and are categorised
mind. We’ve got to grow together if we are to become the best, and I hope that our new office will enable us to achieve our dreams.” La Liga is broadcast throughout India by Sony, and the broadcaster’s chief executive NP Singh added: “I want to welcome La Liga to this new office, and I’m sure that this will represent an important step for the development of the competition in our country.” The office is La Liga’s sixth international base, joining ones in the United States, South Africa, Dubai, Nigeria and China.
by national cricket governing bodies that are not full ICC members, but where cricket is firmly established and organised. Affiliate members, meanwhile, are those that are neither full ICC members nor have strong organisation or infrastructure, but where cricket is recognised as being played. The work will be led by CSM regional director Mike Davis, and he said: “We are delighted to be working with the ICC on this project, and will be calling on all our international expertise of developing long-term, impactful commercial strategies for rights holders around the world.”
The National Basketball Association (NBA) has agreed a multi-year partnership with Sportradar and Second Spectrum. The deal, which comes into effect at the start of the 2017/18 season, will see Sportradar distribute data from the NBA, Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) and NBA Development League to fans, teams and media in over 80 territories. Sportradar will also be the league’s official provider of real-time statistics.
LA-based Second Spectrum, meanwhile, will install a new player-tracking system at all NBA venues during the upcoming season so that they are operational for 2017/18. This will allow it to develop statistics relating to speed and distance run, drives, touches in the paint and defensive contribution, while it will also work with individual teams to create solutions based on that data. In 2016/17, Sportradar will distribute video and data feeds to bookmakers in territories where gambling is legal, and provide the NBA with access to its integrity services to monitor betting patterns and bolster anti-corruption measures. The deal follows the extension of a similar agreement between Sportradar and the National Hockey League (NHL). That arrangement now includes the incorporation of Sport Radar’s Fraud Detection System (FDS) into its game-integrity protection systems to monitor global betting activity and trends to seek out unusual patterns and activities.
Kellogg’s, which has renewed its sponsorship with USOC, sells over
1,600 different food products
For more information on these deals and daily updates from across the sports industry, visit www.sportspromedia.com
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DEALS SECTION TEXT HERE DIRECTORY
DIRECTORY OF SPONSORSHIP DEALS Signed in August and September 2016 LAFC in US$100m stadium deal
UCLA Health in major Lakers tie-up
Corinthians launch Apollo deal
US-based banking group Banc of California has signed a record naming rights deal with Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) ahead of their 2018 entry to Major League Soccer (MLS). According to Bloomberg, the 15-year deal is worth an MLS record US$100.5 million, with the Banc of California set to pay the expansion franchise US$6.7 million every year. The arena, which will be known as the Banc of California Stadium, is to be built on the site of the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, and will seat 22,000 people. It is due for completion in early 2018. The naming rights agreement will see a Banc of California branch housed on site, with the company becoming the team’s exclusive banking partner. The group has already participated in a US$180 million syndicated loan, and plans to lend to the stadium construction project’s subcontractors. The deal has come as a surprise to many, given Banc of California’s relatively small standing in the US market, but the company’s management has long affiliations with the club’s backers. Length of contract: 15 years Annualised value: US$6.7 million Overall value: US$100 million Sport: Soccer
UCLA Health, the healthcare arm of the University of California (UCLA), has signed a major partnership and naming rights agreement with National Basketball Association (NBA) outfit LA Lakers. UCLA Health will become the team’s official in-game healthcare provider, and will also take the naming rights to their new training facility in El Segundo, California. The base, which also includes the team’s head offices, will be now known as the UCLA Health Training Centre. According to the Daily Bruin, the deal is worth US$4 million per year, and will run for the next five seasons. “UCLA Health’s innovative, forward-thinking, research-oriented medical team and facilities are unsurpassed,” said Lakers president and co-owner Jeanie Buss. “Their focus on not only treating but preventing injuries will translate into the ultimate goal of helping our players perform better on court and to prolong their professional careers.” Construction of the new UCLA Health Training Centre began in September 2015, and the complex is due for completion in the autumn of 2017. Length of contract: 5 years Annualised value: US$4 million Overall value: US$20 million Sport: College sports
Top-tier Brazilian soccer side Corinthians have unveiled a distinctive shirt sponsorship arrangement with sports agency Apollo Sports Capital. Unlike a typical sponsorship, Apollo will not use the back-of-shirt slot to promote its own brand, but will instead use the space to advertise its various clients from across the world of Brazilian sport. Apollo is currently in the process of negotiating a naming rights agreement for the Arena do Grêmio, the home stadium of Corinthians’ Campeonato Brasileiro rivals Grêmio, while it also represents the interests of fellow soccer sides Internacional and Flamengo. The agreement is reportedly worth R$10 million (US$3.07 million) per year, and will last for three full seasons, according to Brazilian news outlet Meutimao. Length of contract: 3 years Annualised value: US$3.07 million Overall value: US$9.21 million Sport: Soccer
EA Sports renews with the Premier League Video gaming firm EA Sports has expanded its long-standing agreement with English soccer’s Premier League for the 2016/17 season. The renewed deal will see the company become the league’s lead partner for the next three years, running until the end of the 2018/19 campaign.` EA Sports will receive TV-relevant branding on all of the league’s broadcasts, sponsorship of player of the month and season awards, and continued sponsorship of the league’s Fantasy Premier League. The deal will also see EA Sports retain the Premier League’s exclusive electronic game licence, which will mean that all Premier League likenesses will be available to EA Sports’ Fifa series. The agreement is worth US$28.3 million per year, according to SportsBusiness Daily. “This partnership will allow EA Sports to collaborate even more with the League and the clubs,” said Premier League managing director Richard Masters. Length of contract: 3 years Annualised value: US$28.3 million Overall value: US$84.9 million Sport: Soccer
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Fiorentina in major Vorwerk tie-up Vorwerk Folletto, a cleaning products manufacturer, has been unveiled as the new shirt sponsor of Serie A soccer side ACF Fiorentina. The agreement, reported by La Repubblica to be worth €11 million (US$12.45 million) in total, will run for three years until the end of the 2018/19 season. The branding on the Italian club’s famous violet shirts will sporadically change, sometimes displaying the company’s Vorwerk logo, and at other times its Folletto brand. “We trust strongly in the new project,” said Vorwerk Foletto president Patrizio Barsotti. “We will all do our part to convey enthusiasm, tenacity and passion for the club, and work together on our collective challenges.” Fiorentina finished fifth in the 2015/16 Serie A season, qualifying for the Uefa Europa League. Length of contract: 3 years Annualised value: US$4.15 million Overall value: US$12.45 million Sport: Soccer
GoFas secures bumper Can-Am sponsorship BRP-owned off-road vehicle brand Can-Am has secured a sponsorship deal with the GoFas team in the Nascar Sprint Cup. The two-year agreement covers 36 races in total, with 13 as a primary partner and 23 associate spots across the Sprint Cup and Canada’s Pinty’s circuit. The deal includes four races for which Can-Am is a title sponsor - the Can-Am Duel at Daytona and the Can-Am 500 in Phoenix in the US, and the Can-Am 200 in Toronto and Les 50 tours Can-Am in Trois-Rivières in Canada. No financial terms were released but based on trends within Nascar, the deal is likely to be worth around US$6.5 million. “BRP’s successful experience to date on the Nascar circuit in 2016 has been an important asset in our North American growth plan for the Can-Am brand,” said Anne Bélec, the senior vice president for global brand, communications and PAC at BRP. “It has helped the brand gain greater visibility through Nascar’s millions of North American spectators annually, and get closer to our consumers and their riding communities.” Length of contract: 2 years Annualised value: US$3.25 million Overall value: US$6.5 million Sport: Motorsport
Eurovita to sponsor Italian referees Rome-based bank insurance company Eurovita has partnered with the Association of Italian Referees (AIA) to sponsor the officials at all levels of Italian soccer for the next three years. Eurovita’s branding will be on the technical equipment of all referees in every soccer match to which the AIA provides officials - a total of more than 35,000 referees at over 600,000 matches over the three-year period, covering all levels of the game from the top-tier Serie A down to amateur soccer. Length of contract: 3 years Annualised value: US$1.3 million Overall value: US$3.9 million Sport: Soccer
Mainz in good fortune with Lotto deal Bundesliga soccer side FC Mainz 05 have renewed their longstanding sponsorship agreement with lottery company Lotto Rheinland Pfalz. The partnership, which has been in place since 1990, has been renewed until 2020 in a deal reported by allgemeinezeitung.de to be worth US$3.2 million in total. The deal will see Lotto continue working alongside Mainz on community projects, while the company will also retain the naming rights to the standing terrace at the German club’s Opel Arena home ground. Length of contract: 4 years Annualised value: US$800,000 Overall value: US$3.2 million Sport: Soccer
Corinthians ink deal with Spanish brewer Spanish beer Estrella Galicia has agreed a three-year sponsorship deal with Campeonato Brasileiro Série A soccer side Corinthians. In accordance to Brazilian advertising laws that prohibit the use of alcohol on soccer strips, the brewer’s branding will only be present on the club’s training shirts and travelling clothes. In both cases, they will use the company’s nonalcohol based logo. Brazilian website esporte. uol.com has reported that the partnership will be worth in the region of R$10 million (US$3.1 million) per season. Corinthians are the reigning champions of Brazil’s top flight, the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, but they finished sixth in the 2016 Campeonato Paulista, which is São Paulo’s state soccer competition. Length of contract: 3 years Annualised value: US$9.3 million Overall value: US$3.1 million Sport: Soccer
Banc of California has signed a record-breaking naming rights deal for the home of MLS club LAFC
Huawei extends with Canberra Raiders
Omantel redials Oman FA deal
Huawei has signed a three-year extension as the major sponsor of National Rugby League (NRL) outfit Canberra Raiders. The Chinese electronics manufacturer company will continue as the front-of-shirt sponsor on both the home and away kits worn by the Australian rugby league side. According to the Canberra Times, the three-year deal is worth ‘close to AUS$1 million (US$761,000) per season’. The revised deal is a major shot in the arm for the Raiders, who were previously informed by Huawei that it would not seek an extension of its existing deal – which expires at the end of the 2016 season – following disappointing on-field results in 2015. Length of contract: 3 years Annualised value: US$1 million Overall value: US$3 million Sport: Rugby league
Omani telecommunications company Omantel has renewed its commercial partnership with Oman Football Association (OFA), remaining in place as the title sponsor of the Middle Eastern country’s top soccer division. The Omantel Professional League will retain its name for the next three seasons, until the end of the 2018/19 edition, following the extension of a deal that has been in place since 2008. Financial details were not announced, though it is not thought to be worth significantly more than the previous three-year renegotiation, valued at a total of US$2.3 million. Length of contract: 3 years Annualised value: US$830,000 Overall value: US$2.5 million Sport: Soccer
AOK recommits with Hertha Berlin Great Clips renews with Kahne in Nascar treble Great Clips has agreed a two-year extension with Nascar team Hendrick Motorsport. The US hair salon franchise will be the primary sponsor of Kasey Kahne’s number five Chevrolet for ten races through the 2018 season, which will result in the company’s livery adorning the American driver’s car and overalls for the allotted races. Great Clips first partnered with Hendrick Motorsports in 2012 and became a primary sponsor for Kahne a year later. Length of contract: 2 years Annualised value: US$1.25 million Overall value: US$2.5 million Sport: Motorsport
Health insurance company AOK East has renewed its partnership with German soccer outfit Hertha Berlin by a further two years, announcing that it will focus on youth development at the Bundesliga club. In its support of Hertha’s junior sides, AOK will sponsor the shirts of all youth levels at the club, from the under-nines to the under19s, with its AOK Northeast logo appearing on the playing jerseys. AOK will also continue its ongoing cooperation with the club as a whole, with whom it will celebrate a decade of collaboration by the end of the present deal, having initially joined forces in 2008. Length of contract: 2 years Annualised value: US$1.1 million Overall value: US$2.2 million Sport: Soccer
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DEALS SECTION TEXT HERE DIRECTORY
Milo joins SEA Games The Malaysian SEA Games Organising Committee (MASOC), the team behind next year’s multi-sport event in Kuala Lumpur, has gained a new partner in chocolate drink brand Milo. The Nestlé-owned company will support MASOC’s efforts to promote the Games to Malaysia’s youth by touring vans bearing the KL SEA Games’ promotional logos around 7,000 schools across the country. The deal is worth a total of around RM7.2 million (US$1.76 million), which the country’s youth and sports minister Khairy Jamaluddin broke down as RM700,000 in cash, RM500,000 in kind and then RM6 million in marketing support. Length of contract: 1 year Annualised value: US$1.76 million Overall value: US$1.76 million Sport: Multiple sports
Bingle renews with Richmond Tigers Australian insurance firm Bingle has confirmed that it will remain as the back-of-shirt sponsor of Australian Football League (AFL) side Richmond Tigers for a further season. Suncorpowned Bingle has been a partner of the Tigers for the past six seasons, with its current deal set to expire in November. The new one-year agreement is worth AUS$1 million (US$750,000) to the Australian rules football club, and comes just after they announced the signing of Neil Balme as general manager of football. Length of contract: 1 year Annualised value: US$750,000 Overall value: US$750,000 Sport: Australian rules football
St Pauli snap up Levi’s renewal Global fashion brand Levi’s has extended its partnership with German soccer side FC St. Pauli, ahead of the 2016/17 season. Last season, Levi’s sat on the fourth tier of the club’s sponsorship hierarchy, but it will now move up to the second tier in a renewed two-year deal. The US-based company will work on social commitments in the local Hamburg area, and will receive branding around the club’s Millerntor Stadium. The deal represents Levi’s only play in German sport, despite a considerable presence within its native United States sports market, which includes the naming rights to National Football League (NFL) side San Francisco 49ers 68,000-seater stadium. Length of contract: 2 years Annualised value: US$336,000 Overall value: US$672,000 Sport: Soccer
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Bundesliga side Hertha Berlin have renewed their long-running partnership with insurance firm AOK
Leidos team up with Roush Fenway Racing
BCB pitches Impress Matra partnership
Roush Fenway Racing has announced a multi-race partnership with global science and technology solutions provider Leidos. The company will serve as a primary sponsor of Bubba Wallace’s number six Ford Mustang in the Nascar Xfinity Series races at Dover, Charlotte, Kansas and Texas in October and November. In line with similar deals in Nascar, SportsPro estimates that Leidos will be spending around around US$600,000 over the three races. “Teaming with Roush Fenway Racing and Bubba gives us the opportunity to share the Leidos story with 80 million Nascar fans,” said Roger Krone, Leidos chairman and chief executive. “We share a passion for engineering breakthroughs with Roush Fenway Racing, which makes this a natural fit for our organisation.” Length of contract: 1 year Annualised value: US$600,000 Overall value: US$600,000 Sport: Motorsport
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has signed a major two-year deal with Impress Matra Consortium. The group will have a wide range of rights relating to home matches played by the Bangladesh national team, including title sponsorship of Test series, one-day matches and Twenty20 games against international opposition, as well as extensive in-venue branding and fan engagement opportunities. According to reports from the country’s media, the deal is worth 17 crore takas (US$215,000). Length of contract: 2 years Annualised value: US$107,500 Overall value: US$215,000 Sport: Cricket
Earnhardt secures a primary sponsor Otter Pops was the primary sponsor of the Nascar Sprint Cup driver Jeffrey Earnhardt for the Bojangles’ Southern 500 race at Darlington Raceway. The race marked the return to Nascar sponsorship for the US-based ice pop company following a 20-year hiatus. The financial terms of the one-race agreement were not released but based on trends within the stock-car racing series, the deal is likely to be worth around US$600,000. Length of contract: 1 year Annualised value: US$600,000 Overall value: US$600,000 Sport: Motorsport
Mainz ink Intersport deal German soccer outfit FSV Mainz 05 have become the second Bundesliga team to partner with sporting goods retailer Intersport Deutschland. The beginning of the oneyear deal with the club was marked during September’s match at Mainz’s Opel Stadium against 1899 Hoffenheim – Intersport’s other Bundesliga partner. Intersport will receive branding on the TV-relevant LED boards at the Opel, as well as on static hoardings around the stadium. According to German industry observer Sponsors.de, the deal is likely to be worth a fee in the region of €150,000 (US$168,000) to the Rhineland-Palatinate club. Length of contract: 1 year Annualised value: US$168,000 Overall value: US$168,000 Sport: Soccer
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SPORTSPRO STORIES ARNOLD PALMER
What was Arnie selling?
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I am addicted to working too many hours a day but there is still a limit: God only gave me seven days and unfortunately 24 hours a day!.â&#x20AC;?
By Richard Gillis
Arnold Palmer died in late September after a golf career that saw him become one of the gameâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s greats, a business career that made him one of sportâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s richest men, and a public life in which he grew into one of the most beloved figures in the US. Palmer represented a version of golf and America that lives on in the public imagination.
INDEX OF COMPANIES AND PEOPLE
A
SCREEN GRAB
rnold Palmerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s arrival coincided with Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s love affair with television. In 1950, only eight per cent of American families owned a TV set. By 1960, Palmerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s annus mirabilis, that number was 88 per cent, and the box in the corner had moved to the heart of American life. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The right man at the right time,â&#x20AC;? said Jack Nicklaus, the late golferâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s great rival and, in time, friend. Whereas boxing, American football and baseball had been transformed by the exposure, golf was a harder sell. It had been televised on a sporadic basis since the early 50s, but it was hardly love DW Ă&#x20AC;UVW VLJKW 7KH SOD\HUV ZHUH GXOO DQG JUH\ E\ FRPSDULVRQ WR WKH superstars available elsewhere on the dial. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know why anyone would go to a golf tournament,â&#x20AC;? said Ben Hogan, a serial major winner in the late 40s and early 50s, summing up his generationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s DWWLWXGH WR WKH LGHD RI JROI DV HQWHUWDLQPHQW ´7KH SULFHV DUH LQĂ DWHG they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t let you in the clubhouse and you canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t see a thing.â&#x20AC;? Against this backdrop Palmerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s earthy charisma jumped through the screen and meant that TV cameras â&#x20AC;&#x153;no longer had to focus on 50 ordinarylooking men walking around hitting balls viewers couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t seeâ&#x20AC;?. %HIRUH 3DOPHU GHĂ&#x20AC;QHG WKH UROH $PHULFD¡V JROĂ&#x20AC;QJ KHURHV ZHUH very different men, says Raymond Floyd: they were harder and much less congenial. â&#x20AC;&#x153;[Ben] Hogan, [Sam] Snead, [Gardner] Dickinson and those guys wereâ&#x20AC;Ś how should we say it? Crusty,â&#x20AC;? Floyd told me. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s it, they were crusty.â&#x20AC;? Despite Walter Hagenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attempts to gentrify the job of the PGA professional, most remained blue-collar, union men who were expected to know their place in the country club caste system. This was certainly the lot of Palmerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s father, Deacon, who was greenkeeper and head pro at Latrobe Country Club in Pensylvannia.
â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Palmer didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want his fatherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life, the life of a club pro,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; wrote Ian Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Connor in Arnie and Jack. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;A man spent too much time being demeaned in that life, being treated like a towel boy by hundreds of country club snobs.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Palmer helped his father around the place; he was â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;the worst worker I ever gave a job toâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, Palmer Sr told anyone whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d listen. As the proâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s son, young Arnie was a notch above the caddies in terms of privileges, meaning he could play the course in the evenings when the members were gone for the night. Perhaps the greatest achievement of Arnold Palmerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s business career is that the boy who wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t allowed on the course went on to own it. In 1960, Palmer-mania broke out. Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s burgeoning television audience sat eyes wide as they took in the twin pillars of the Arnie legend: the charge and the army. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;There, in full view for everyone to see, was the end of Hogan, the arrival of Nicklaus, and the coronation of Palmer,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; wrote Thomas Hauser of the 1960 US Open at Cherry Hills. Âś)RU WKH Ă&#x20AC;UVW WKUHH URXQGV RI WKH 1DWLRQDO 2SHQ $UQROG Palmerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s name was scarcely mentioned,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; wrote Herbert Warren Wind. Palmer went to Cherry Hills as Masters champion and pre-tournament favourite. He started 72, 71, 72 to be one under JRLQJ LQ WR WKH Ă&#x20AC;QDO URXQG HQRXJK WR PDNH WKH FXW FRPIRUWDEO\ but which left him seven shots behind Mike Souchak, the leader. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;At 3:15 p.m, after the most explosive stretch of subpar golf any golfer has ever produced in the championship, Arnold Palmer was deep in contention and his name was heard everywhere on the course,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; wrote Warren Wind. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;The greens were small, well guarded with traps and water hazards and, above all, hard to hold unless the approach shot was cleanly struck
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UNOFFICIAL PARTNER
Nothing is more important than appearing to care about eSports. This is particularly true in the agency sector, which has not felt this out of step with the zeitgeist since it pretended to know something about skateboarding in the early 2000s. Language is critical here. Discussing eSports is like talking Spanish: you might be able to ask a question but you won’t understand the answer. A phrasebook is therefore essential. Somewhere to keep a compendium of killer phrases and seemingly throwaway lines that can fit any eOccasion. Here’s mine.
1 “THIS IS A GOLD RUSH AND I’M SELLING SHOVELS.” The perfect catch-all intro, suggesting insider knowledge with a dash of genuine entrepreneurial flair. Being known as a commercially savvy is a good way of winning the trust of a YouTuber. Never forget: Millennials™ are suckers for a chancer promising to get them on the property ladder. (For the record: Google, Microsoft and Sony are the ones actually selling the shovels; the rest of us are up to our knees in shit, looking for something sparkly.)
2 “BUT IS SPORT THE RIGHT MODEL?” Sports marketers are a bit like hairdressers. You can ask them for groundbreaking, ambitious work but you’ll end up with a
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Dan Steinberg/AP/Press Association Images
9 THINGS TO SAY AT AN ESPORTS CONFERENCE
version of what the previous bloke had. In the eSports analogy, the gamers get chucked down a long dark tunnel called ‘the rights market’, which processes the raw material until it appears at the other end shaped to appeal to a fortysomething CMO. There are variations on this theme, but if in doubt go with the ‘Champions League model’. There is a more radical approach available. During any conversation about IP rights, wait for the lawyer talking to pause and then say, ‘But maybe it’s closer to the shape of the music market? ’ This makes you sound both cool and an out of the box thinker, unafraid to disrupt the system if it means getting the job done.
3 “THE NUMBERS ARE OFF THE SCALE.” If you find yourself in trouble, go to the data. When doing a presentation, put a picture of a huge crowd entering a real football stadium, overlayed with the words ‘2015 eSports Festival, Gdansk’.
4 “TO PEOPLE UNDER 25, FIFA IS A GAME, NOT A GOVERNING BODY.” A popular phrase designed to build a bridge between what we might call the ‘real’ sports business and the whiny children of eSports. It’s not actually true, as even the thickest teenager can maintain these two apparently contradictory positions in his tiny head at the same time.
5 “IF YOU THOUGHT ‘PROPER SPORT’ HAS GOT INTEGRITY ISSUES…” A bit of vinegar to counter the runaway optimism that dominates every conversation about ‘the future’. Integrity is a good word that positions the sports business hack as a world-weary consigliere, essential for the legal battles ahead. This reminds the eZealots that bad headlines await involving zero-hours team owners, underage drinking, drugs and systematic cheating.
6 “WE’RE AT THE END OF THE BEGINNING.” Churchillian statesmanship can be an asset, particularly if the audience of digital natives knows who he is. The negative headlines (see 5,
above) can be used as evidence that the eSports sector is ‘growing up’ (see also Paralympian drug scandals).
7 “ESPORTS ARE THE NEW NORMAL.” Try to avoid patronising labels, even if your heart’s not in it. Millennials™ are very quick to pick up on any attempt to marginalise eSports as being a short-term fad driven by bored bedroom-dwelling geeks. So only talk about this stuff when they’re not in the room.
8 “THESE GUYS ARE ROCKSTARS.” A quaint phrase used to paint a picture for the prog rock obsessed marketing director. But always keep this type of conversation in the abstract and never, under any circumstances, take a gamer to the office. Far better to say, “My client is a YouTube influencer with over 300 million subscribers – it’s like Beatlemania out there,” than it is to introduce them to a 15-yearold Latvian boy who hasn’t been outside in three years. The magic tends to dissipate.
9 “THERE’S GOING TO BE A LOT OF CASUALTIES.” Fear is your friend. Nobody knows anything and someone is about to make a multi-million dollar mistake, so remember, if you can’t see the mug, it’s probably you. Other clichés are available on request. Richard Gillis is author of The Captain Myth. @RichardGillis1
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SECTION TEXTSCRIBBLER HERE THE
by The Scribbler
Change of address
Apple update Like many, The Scribbler found his attention piqued by the news from the Financial Times that Apple was considering a UK£1.5 billion bid for McLaren Technology Group, owner of the eponymous Formula One team. Apparently, though, the curiosity from Cupertino stems from
what a takeover could do for its efforts to create driverless electric cars, not from a desire to win titles on the track. Perhaps that shouldn’t surprise: after all, what interest would Apple have in a series that depends on endless investment and an annual diet of arcane iterative adjustments?
Marty Lederhandler/AP/ Press Association Images
Lightning doesn’t often strike twice but when it does, it’s probably time to start taking steps to ensure it doesn’t strike a third time. Such was the thinking at Fifa this month when it announced it would no longer be using the infamous Baur au Lac hotel in Zurich, the venue for two police raids leading to several arrests of senior figures in 2015. The Scribbler can sympathise, which is why he operates a strict ‘two arrests in any one bar before moving on’ policy. One police encounter can be put down to bad luck; two can only be the fault of the venue.
Trump card
Caddy couture Bill Murray (above) is one of the most celebrated comic actors of all time, a multimillionaire and counter-cultural icon. So he’s got that going for him. Now the Ghostbuster has gone golf hustler, teaming up with his
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brothers to launch a new line of links wear for the more irreverent hacker. The Scribbler has seen the initial William Murray Golf range. The polos are rather nice but you’d bet that with a hat like that, you get a free bowl of soup.
Springtime professional football is a recurring dream of the US sports industry and three veteran media executives, Michael Lardner, Rex Lardner and Robert Pollichino, are backing the ten-team Spring League of American Football (SLAF). A timely reminder, perhaps, of Republican presidential nominee and ‘business genius’ Donald Trump’s (above) expertise in the pitfalls of the genre. In 1986, while owner of the New Jersey Generals, Trump took the leadership of one of the more promising springtime efforts, the United States Football League (USFL), into an anti-trust lawsuit with the National Football League after switching to an autumn schedule. Victory was delivered in true Trump style: a US$1 award in damages, tripled to US$3 in line with anti-trust laws, and the immediate folding of the USFL. Perhaps the trio behind the SLAF could get an audience with Trump: with any luck, he’ll be at something of a loose end shortly after 8th November.
JOIN THE 17 th FINA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS IN BUDAPEST – BALATONFÜRED; 14 – 30 JULY, 2017
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Sustainability and energy eff iciency are important factors when designing Olympic Aquatics Arena in Budapest: 37-degree water will be processed from Béke thermal well to warm the swimming pool.
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