SportBusiness International, December 2012 Issue 185

ANDRES BOTERO PHILLIPSBOURNE

Using sport to transform the Colombian economy

RICHARD ARNOLD

DANA WHITE

On using sponsorship to take Manchester United into lucrative new markets

Why mixed martial arts are well on their way to achieving global recognition

ISSUE No. 185 157 • 12.12 06.10

SportBusiness International • Issue No. 185 • 12.12

CONTENDERS WHO’S IN THE FRAME FOR THE IOC PRESIDENCY?

INFORMATION, INSIGHT AND ANALYSIS FOR THE GLOBAL SPORTS SECTOR

Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish of SKY Pro Cycling on the final stage of the 2012 Tour de France, Paris, France, 22 July 2012.

149041021, Doug Pensinger/Getty Images Sport.

Andy Murray of Great Britain kisses the US Open championship trophy after defeating Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the men’s singles final of the 2012 US Open, New York, USA, 10 September 2012. 151735032, Elsa/Getty Images.

A gymnast performs before the start of the Artistic Gymnastics Women’s Team final of the London 2012 Olympic Games, London, UK 31 July 2012. 149576350, Jamie Squire/Getty Images.

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12.12 CONTENTS

REGULARS 04 Updata 07 Comment

COVER STORY

08 Agenda

A group of Olympic insiders tell us who they believe will succeed Jacques Rogge as International Olympic Committee president

12 Brands and Marketing 16 Media

20 Events 24 Stadia and Facilities 28 Headliner

32

42 The Big Debate 88 Careers and Jobs Featuring Katie Simmonds

82 Back to the Future Flashback 15 years

FEATURES

HEADLINER The Manchester United commercial director explains how innovative sponsorship has helped take the biggest brand in football into lucrative new markets

32 The Contenders

Leaders in the IOC presidential race

38 2012: Year in Review

Highs and lows of the last 12 months

28

44 Innovator of the Year 2012

The people who made a difference

THE BIG DEBATE

49 Eyes on the Summit

International Focus: Colombia

56 Fight Club

Fierce global competition in MMA

62 Excellence in Events

The 2012 ISEM awards

42

What lessons has the business of sport learnt during the year and how will they shape the future course of the industry?

UPDATA 12.12 SPONSORSHIP SPOTLIGHT Following unconfirmed reports that world number one golfer Rory McIlroy has signed a 10-year sponsorship agreement with Nike, thought to be worth up to $250 million, Sports Marketing Frontiers contrasts the northern Irishman’s digital presence with Nike Golf’s original talisman, Tiger Woods.

Powered by

Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy: Share of Voice Online Tiger Woods Rory McIlroy

84%

2.39m mentions

The results over the one-year period, provided by Flightdeck, the social media tracker tool from Havas Sports & Entertainment, show that Woods continues to be the most-talked about golfer in the world, despite McIlroy’s impressive run of form this year.

16%

470,720 mentions

Tiger’s mentions on social media in particular far outstrip those of McIlroy. No doubt Nike’s choice of brand ambassador was extensively researched and evaluated, but only time will tell whether McIlory can deliver the same ‘wow factor’ as Woods in his prime.

The peak in mentions across all platforms for Tiger Woods came at the end of March when he won the Arnold Palmer Invitational, his first win on the PGA Tour since the BMW Championship in September 2009.

Blogs

Forums 80% 20%

179,992 mentions

13%

45,554 mentions

News

87%

103,384 mentions

89%

1.81m mentions

14,874 mentions

Twitter 62% 38%

295,329 mentions

11%

180,090 mentions

230,202 mentions

Note: Mentions from November 2011-November 2012

SNAPSHOT

The money men are the most active when it comes to shirt sponsorship in European football’s top leagues - England, Germany, Spain, France, Italy and Holland - according to SPORT+MARKT’s European Football Jersey Report 2012/13. However, financial sector’s dominance is being challenged by sectors such as the automotive industry.

Top Three Shirt Sponsors in European Football by Industry 2011/12

2012/13

Banking/Financial Services/Insurance

“The financial sector remains the leading branch for shirt sponsorship in Europe‘s six most high-profile leagues, however it currently accounts for fewer engagements than at any time in the past six years,” says Andrew Walsh, president of global enterprise at SPORT+MARKT. “Other sectors are on the rise, though.

Despite not breaking into the top three, auto industry investment in shirt sponsorship in Europe has more than doubled over the past 12 months. And of course there‘s more to come, with GM (General Motors)’s record-breaking agreement with Manchester United kicking in from 2014/15.”

4 SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12

Travel/Tourism/Accommodation

Government/Public Sector

29

33

28

24

27

Note: Research covers the top-tiers of England, Germany, Spain, France, Italy and Holland.

Number indicates individual engagements per sector.

Source: SPORT+MARKT European Football Jersey Report 2012/13

23

UPDATA 12.12 TWENTY20 CRICKET FALLS DOWN THE ORDER The ICC (International Cricket Council) World Twenty20 tournament in September and October saw its average TV audience fall in two of the sport’s biggest markets - the UK and South Africa.

According to a special analysis by SportBusiness Intelligence and Eurodata TV Worldwide, the decline in audience figures was due to a number of factors, including the timezone of the host country (Sri Lanka), team performance and coverage in each market.

In the UK, pay-TV broadcaster BSkyB’s average audience for the tournament fell by 37.2 per cent, from 379,200 (2.2-per-cent audience share) for the 2010 tournament held in the West Indies, to 238,000 (2.4-per-cent share) for the 2012 edition.

The drop wasn’t too surprising given England won the 2010 tournament whereas in 2012 the team dropped out at the Super 8s stage. The average audience, however, is the lowest for Sky since the competition’s inception in 2007.

In South Africa, pay-TV broadcaster Supersport’s average audience of 153,700 viewers (two-per-cent share) represented a 6.8-per-cent drop on the previous tournament. However, in 2010, the tournament also had free-to-air coverage from public-service broadcaster SABC,

2012 World Twenty20 Live TV Audiences in Selected Markets Tournament Average Market

Most-Watched Match

Broadcaster

000s

Shr (%)

Hours of Coverage

Fixure

000s

Shr (%)

Australia (5 cities)

Nine

82.3

18.1

24

Australia v West Indies, semi-final

136.3

19.5

New Zealand

Sky

16.7

6.0

102

New Zealand v England, Super 8s

85.9

11.9

South Africa

Supersport

153.7

2.0

100

South Africa v Australia, Super 8s

270

4.6

UK

Sky Sports

238.0

2.4

111

England v West Indies, Super 8s

536

4.3

Source: SportBusiness Intelligence, Eurodata TV Worldwide, OzTAM Pty Ltd, Nielsen TV Audience Measurement New Zealand, SAARF / AGB Nielsen TAM [South Africa]

which drew an additional average audience of 823,000 (10.7-per-cent share). There was no freeto-air coverage this year.

In both tournaments, the South African team exited at the Super 8s stage. The most-watched match this year on Supersport was South AfricaAustralia which drew an average audience of 270,000 viewers (4.6-per-cent share).

In New Zealand, the smallest of the markets within the study, an average audience of 16,700 (six-per-cent share) watched Sky (New Zealand)’s coverage with the New Zealand-England Super

8s match drawing 86,000 viewers (11.9-percent share). The pay-TV broadcaster’s overall top average audience in 2012 so far is 564,300 (30-per-cent share) for the rugby union test match between New Zealand and Ireland in June.

Contact Details: SportBusiness Intelligence ben@sb-intelligence.com Eurodata TV Worldwide ygberhoun@eurodatatv.com

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COMMENT PUBLISHING Editorial Director Kevin Roberts Editor Matt Cutler @mattycutler Designer Charlie Thomas Production Manager Craig Young Production Assistant Carianne Whitworth Publishing Director Phil Savage @PhilSBG International Business & Sales Director Stuart Lewis

“Soon the entire episode will come to look like something of a stitchup that will alienate some of the member nations of FIFA - including those that bid for the 2022 event.”

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KEVIN ROBERTS CALLS ON FIFA TO DECIDE ON DATES FOR THE 2022 WORLD CUP. HASSAN AL-THAWADI is an eloquent ambassador for the nation of Qatar.

As CEO of the country’s rather ominously named Supreme Committee, Al-Thawadi has overall responsibility for co-ordinating the efforts and interests of critical stakeholder groups within the gas-rich Gulf state to ensure the FIFA World Cup 2022 is an overwhelming success.

Al-Thawadi was in London during November and spoke about the project to take the world’s biggest single sports event to its smallest ever host nation and create spectacular, futuristic new stadia that will be linked by Doha’s evergrowing transport infrastructure (see pages 72-73).

There are 10 years to go before the World Cup and nine before the curtain-raising Confederations Cup tournament and, in public at least, Al-Thawadi remains cool, calm and collected as he deals with incessant questions about Qatar’s predicted failure in hosting the tournament. Yes, stadia will be full. Yes, there will be a warm welcome for all. Yes, there will be hotels for all budgets…and so on.

But the most important question of all is one he simply cannot answer yet because nobody knows the answer.

Exactly when will it take place?

The official line is that Qatar is working to stage the World Cup during its normal summer window when soaring temperatures would normally make playing - and even watching - football potentially dangerous.

This was something acknowledged in the Qatar 2022 bid and significant time, money and ingenuity went into developing carbon-neutral technologies that could be used to produce air-conditioned stadia, fan parks and walkways.

But ever since FIFA president Sepp Blatter announced Qatar as the host of 2022 there has been speculation that the tournament will be shifted to the winter months where the climate in the country is far more benign.

At first, this might have been put down simply to the stirrings of those whose noses had been put out of joint by what was, to put it mildly, a surprising decision by FIFA’s rule-makers. But they simply refused to go away and further fuel was thrown onto the fire when UEFA president and FIFA ExCo member Michel Platini said he was in favour of shifting the competition to a winter time-slot.

This is important because by the time 2022 rolls around Platini might well have succeeded Blatter as president of FIFA; the Frenchman already has massive influence within football and is used to getting his own way. One suspects he might do so on this matter too.

Platini is sanguine about moving the tournament. It is, he says, 10 years away and it is possible for the European leagues to reorganise themselves to finish a month later,

which sounds, on the face of it, like a massive oversimplification or even misreading of the situation.

Right now Al-Thawadi is sanguine as well. His view is that if and when the Supreme Committee is asked to consider a shift to winter, it will respond. But at the time of writing it appears no official approach has been made. The entire situation is rather like a bashful teenage romance where neither party wants to make the first move.

If we assume Platini is not alone and there is a body of opinion at FIFA in favour of switching to winter, what exactly is the hold-up? Ten years may seem like a long time but when you have to deliver one of the most complex sports-related engineering, construction and management projects in history, you need to know the delivery date.

Like an aircraft speeding down the runway there has to be a point of no return where you either take-off or abort.

Although FIFA appears to be immune from embarrassment, perhaps this is simply a face-saving exercise. Platini’s own confirmation that he voted for a summer Qatar World Cup only to come out in favour of Qatar in winter is, by most standards, astonishing and - as no material facts appear to have changed - shows little if any respect for either the voting process or the other nations that took part in the contest. And that, in turn, does nothing for the reputation of FIFA, which has already taken a severe battering in the heavy seas of Blatter’s most recent term of office.

Football’s governing body really has to take responsibility and decide publically where the best interests of the sport lie. If, as seems logical, that means a winter World Cup in Qatar it needs to deal with it right now in order to provide the clarity the game needs to plan for the future and retain any level of respect amongst its constituents and the public.

Right now FIFA knows that Qatar will deliver whatever it wishes but, if a switch is required, it has to make the first move. There is no way that, having bid according to the guidelines for June/July, Qatar will be the first to ask for a move. That would be simply absurd and would read like some sort of admission of inability or failure, which is certainly not the case.

Of course the back channels between Zurich and Doha might already be buzzing with discussion around the issue but unless a move is made soon the entire episode will come to look like something of a stitch-up that will alienate some of the member nations of FIFA - including the United States and Australia which bid for the 2022 event - and ultimately have a significant impact on FIFA and the shape and governance of world football.

SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12 7

AGENDA

SHORTSTOP FIFA: World football’s governing body welcomed the Swiss government’s move to tighten its rules preventing match-fixing in sport, which includes the possibility of changing legislation to make international associations based in the country subject to Swiss criminal law. The country’s defence ministry has been asked to draw up regulatory proposals after a government report said measures taken by international associations are insufficient.

Stamford Bridge: The home of English Premier League club Chelsea was announced host of the 2013 UEFA Women’s Champions League final on May 23.

Football in Zimbabwe: The Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) elected to disband the national team following long-running match-fixing scandals.

In October ZIFA also handed life bans to 15 players and officials, including the national team’s former coach and captain, for their part in match-fixing.

Golf in China: The PGA Tour announced that China’s HSBC-WGC Champions tournament will be elevated to full World Golf Championships (WGC) status from 2013, with HSBC signing a three-year extension through to 2015 as title sponsor of the event.

FIBA: The International Basketball Federation unveiled changes to the format of its premier events. After the 2014 World Cup in Spain, the next edition will be moved to 2019 (from 2018) and will be played every four years from then on. As of 2017, the continental championships will take place every four years with a similar system of qualification as for the World Cup which will come into action after FIBA’s flagship event in 2019.

Formula One: The HRT team was put up for sale by owner Thesan Capital, little over a year after the investment firm acquired a controlling stake in the outfit. The Madrid-based company reportedly splashed out $29m in July 2011 to snap up owner Jose Ramon Carabante’s shareholding in the team.

Chinese Super League: Leading CSL football club Dalian Shide was acquired by city rival Dalian Aerbin in a $51.2m deal that is set to see the merger of the two teams. Shide has won the league on eight occasions, but has been suffering from financial problems.

8 SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12

Premier League and Belgian star Marouane Fellaini - Getty Images Sport

THE RED DEVILS’ RISE With its country’s players taking the English Premier League by storm, Belgian football has come out of the doldrums to make international headlines. Adrian Hill investigates Belgium’s increasing football fortunes.

A GLANCE AT A TEAMSHEET in the English Premier League on any given weekend this season will show the impact being made by the rising force of European football. Belgium, a nation that has been an also-ran for the last decade, suddenly has a clutch of gifted players making names for themselves in the world’s most high-profile league.

National team captain Vincent Kompany, who led Manchester City to the English title last season, is joined by eight other members of the current Belgium squad plying their trade in the Premier League including Eden Hazard (Chelsea), Thomas Vermaelen (Arsenal), Moussa Dembélé and Jan Vertonghen (Tottenham) and Marouane Fellaini (Everton).

The by-product for the national team has been a steady improvement in its fortunes. ‘The Red Devils’ have risen from an all-time low of 71 (June 2007) in the FIFA world rankings to the top 20 for the first time in nine years and are in the top eight in the betting to win the World Cup in Brazil in 2014 . The team failed to qualify for either the 2010 or 2006 tournament.

Tennis stars Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters were the trailblazers for the resurgence of Belgian sport. Henin claimed seven grand slams, Clijsters four, and both were ranked world number one during their careers. For football, however, money began to flow into the Belgian Football Association (KBVB) when the country staged the 2000 UEFA European Championship alongside the Netherlands. The event created a €20 million profit, the Belgian share of which was invested in a National Centre for Football in Tubize.

Since 2005, competition in the domestic TV

market has also seen deals for live coverage worth €36 million per season (2005/06 to 2007/08), currently standing at €55.2 million per season (2011/12 to 2013/14). These riches have been utilised by leading clubs to boost their academies; Standard Liege spent €18 million alone and in 2008 the product was pushed into profit when Fellaini was sold to Everton for €17 million and Axel Witsel to Benfica for €8 million.

“In 2002 Belgium introduced the first system of quality assurance for youth football [Foot PASS]; this involved the auditing of all the academies of the first and second division clubs,” explains Jo Van Hoecke, business manager at sports talent development specialist Double PASS. “The [German] Bundesliga has followed this example and last year so did the Premier League.

“We are a small country with a small competitive structure so youth development is the only strategy for us to be competitive on the international scene.

It’s a long-term strategy and needs very stable club management in order to work.”

For Veerle De Bosscher, professor of sports policy and management at Vrije Universiteit in Brussels, the relatively small size of Belgium, with a population of only 11 million, plays an important role in the country’s sporting development.

“Both Wallonia and Flanders have good, structured programmes for talent identification and development, and good competitive structures,” he told SportBusiness International.

“Given that Belgium is a small country it is easier to detect talent and the tennis federation has been very active and created a very good system for this since the 1980s. Henin and Clijsters have come through this system.”

INSIGHT

OWEN EVANS Events Editor SportBusiness International

Ion Tiriac at the London Tennis Debate - Credit Suisse

BEYOND THE BASELINE When it comes to sports personalities devoting their time and money to worthy causes, tennis players are leading the way according to those at the centre of the sport’s philanthropic efforts. Matt Cutler reports.

FEW IN TENNIS CIRCLES would describe the Händel, CEO of the Roger Federer Foundation current era, where Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal (RFF), at the first London Tennis Debate entitled and Novak Djokovic have dominated the sport ‘Beyond the Baseline - are players playing their and taken the playing level to a new all-time high, part in society?’ as anything other than a Golden Age. The event was hosted by Credit Suisse during However, the sport is having just as positive last month’s Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, an effect off-court with the new collection of which Federer narrowly failed to win for the professionals raising the bar of what tennis and seventh time and third time in a row. As part of its players give back to society. the global financial services provider’s 10-year “I do not believe that any mega star in this world sponsorship of Roger Federer, signed in 2009 - including [Michael] Schumacher, [Lionel] Messi, and worth $2 million per year according to [Cristiano] Ronaldo and [Michael] Phelps - has Sports Marketing Frontiers, Credit Suisse also more impact than a Federer, Nadal or an [Andre] supports the RFF which promotes education Agassi,” said former professional tennis player Ion projects for children mainly in southern Africa.

Tiriac, winner of the men’s doubles at the 1970 Federer, said Gimelstob, has not only set French Open with fellow countryman Ilie Nastase. the playing standard on-court with his 17 grand The hugely successful Romanian businessman slam titles, but has also changed perceptions now owns and runs tennis’ Madrid Open in May. about tennis: “Roger Federer’s legacy, beyond “Tennis - and this is why I’m so proud of tennis everything he has achieved on the court, will players - is as an individual sport and you develop be that he is by far the most magnanimous a sense of selfishness,” added Justin Gimelstob, sportsman we have in this generation - not in the former professional tennis player who is now tennis, but in the whole of sport…he has set the a player representative on the ATP (Association of tone and the bar, not just for philanthropy, but Tennis Professionals) Board of Directors. also for the expectations of what you can do by The individualism and selfishness that being a great player. professional tennis players need to encourage in “There was a school of thought before that said themselves, he said, is an ethos and approach to because tennis is an individual, cut-throat sport… life that is beneficial when it comes to giving back. success was organically created by players being “You see tremendous social responsibility, ruthless and not caring about other peoples’ awareness and initiative across a whole range of opinions. What Roger has done is shown how to male and female players. Serena Williams has be sensitive and conscious of how to positively just got back from Africa, Maria Sharapova affect other people - not just with charity.” has just got back from Chernobyl, Andy “Roger grew up in an environment where his Roddick, Andre Agassi…they have set the family educated him to work with others, so he bar since Arthur Ashe. There is now a huge was aware very early on that not everyone has momentum and I’m very proud of tennis as a something to eat at night and not everyone has whole for its social consciousness.” a roof over their head,” added Händel. “Roger is Tiriac and Gimelstob were talking alongside an active president of our foundation and he has 1987 Wimbledon winner Pat Cash and Janine a very strategic role.”

Has there ever been a more important year ahead for the Olympic Movement?

Some would argue 1896 - the year of the first modern Olympic Games is the most significant. Others would say 1984; following the financial crisis of the 1970s, the Los Angeles Games heralded a revolution in the Games commercialisation model.

The more politically astute may even raise a case for 1999, the year the International Olympic Committee (IOC) purged a significant minority of its members following the Salt Lake City scandal, sending the message out that the Olympic Movement would forever more play by the rules of fair play outlined in its Olympic Charter.

A little peculiar then that 2013, a non-Games year, could go down as one of the most significant in Olympic history, yet three decisions at the 125th IOC Session next September are primed, in combination, to transform the future path of the Olympic Movement.

Since the IOC was founded 118 years ago, only eight people have stood at the head of the organisation.

Next year, that number will become nine as the successor to Jacques Rogge is elected. What will he or she stand for? And how will the problem of shaping the Olympic product for the younger generation be solved once and for all? (see pages 32-36) Moreover, who will play host to the 2020 Olympic Games? Will they be awarded to Madrid and help pull Spain out of dire financial straits?

Will they help unite east and west by going to Istanbul, or will they bring a message of hope to the citizens of Tokyo following years of both manmade and natural disasters across Japan?

And which two sports will be added to those Games in 2020, transforming participation levels and the amount of funding channelled into the sport across the world?

We don’t know the answers at this point, but finding them out as the year progresses in these very pages will be a pleasure of Olympic proportions.

AGENDA

TEEING UP CANADA

Mike Weir, Canada’s best ever golfer - Getty Images Sport

This October the PGA Tour, organiser of the main men’s professional golf tours in North America, showed its intention to expand to the north by taking control of the Canadian Professional Tour from 2013. Barry Wilner sees how the agreement gives the PGA Tour a more robust footprint throughout the western hemisphere.

WITH ITS SHORT SUMMERS and penchant for having snow on the fairways, Canada hardly seems fertile ground for expansion by the PGA Tour.

However, that is exactly the intention following the PGA Tour’s deal to assume operational control the Canadian Professional Tour, one of the world’s top developmental professional golf tours, and rebrand it as the PGA Tour Canada from 2013.

The takeover was not unexpected, as frequent changes in sponsorship have meant that the Canadian Professional Tour has struggled financially for a number of years, so much so that in 2011 PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem approved a loan of about $750,000 to keep the tour viable.

Nevertheless, the PGA Tour strongly believes in Canada as a viable market going forward.

“This is the logical next step for the tour’s sustainability and growth,” says Pierre Blouin, the current chairman of the Canadian Tour board.

“The PGA Tour provided invaluable assistance throughout the 2012 season and through its evaluation process, saw strong potential.”

“Having gained a thorough understanding 10 SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12

of the golf landscape in Canada over the course of the 2012 season we are confident that, by fully dedicating our assets and resources, PGA Tour Canada will be well-positioned to play an increasingly important role in professional golf,” adds Finchem.

“With a solid foundation of existing tournaments, along with outstanding opportunities to establish new events, we are confident PGA Tour Canada will strengthen and grow in the coming years.”

“Obviously Canada is a fantastic golf market and boasts passionate fans and a more than double the participation rate per capita than the United States,” adds Ty Votaw, the PGA Tour’s executive vice-president of communications and international affairs. “[The deal] will allow us to expand our brand throughout that country and it will be complementary to our events.

It also allows for geographic integration throughout the Americas with the PGA Tour Latinoamerica [the third-tier regional tour formed in 2012] and now the PGA Tour Canada.

“Both will provide pathways to the Web.com

Tour [the second-tier tour that was renamed from the Nationwide Tour mid-season this year] and help us identify and develop talent.

Eventually that talent will get the chance through the Web.com Tour to get to the PGA Tour.”

Fitting in the Schedule The PGA Tour has broadcast deals in Canada with TSN (The Sports Network), the country’s leading English-language sports TV network, and the Shaw Media-owned Global TV, both of which are particularly hungry for programming following the National Hockey League lockout which is currently threatening to cancel the whole 2012/13 season.

For 2013 at least, the PGA Tour Canada will consist of eight events with purses starting at $150,000, and Votaw says the schedule for 2013 will be similar to 2012, which saw tour stops in major Canadian cities such as Edmonton, Saskatoon, Toronto, Victoria, Windsor and Winnipeg.

Votaw also says the 2013 schedule will run during the summer, which fits in well given the PGA Tour Latinoamerica will run in the spring

NOVEMBER 2012 SOCHI, RUSSIA

COMMUNIQUE and autumn, creating a symbiotic relationship between the two feeder tours and the main circuit.

“One of the things we think is going to happen on both tours is the development of talent,” says Votaw. “If you look at South America, where the majority of the PGA Tour Latinoamerica events will be held, 14 players are ranked in the top 500 in the world, and eight are from Argentina alone.

So we see enormous potential for growing the elite golfer in South America.

“Similarly in Canada, the country has five players in the top 500 and we think that can grow significantly. And with the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, when we will have golf in the Games, we think having these two tours that feed up, and having players earning more ranking points, will help grow the sport and help more players reach the highest level of the sport.”

“Now there is a way you can go to the Web. com Tour in South America,” adds Finchem.

“Now there is a way you can go to Canada. That will attract players from Australia, because these two tours will come up in stature in terms of the kind of competition they are, and largely because of the nature of the players.”

Golfing Footprint Canada may be characterised for a fervent love for ice hockey and other winter sports, but golf has a decent footprint in the country, even outside what used to be the Canadian Professional Tour.

The PGA Tour has staged the Canadian Open, the fourth oldest tournament in professional golf, for decades - it was once considered as prestigious as any tournament outside the four majors - and Champions Tour events regularly are played in the country.

The Presidents Cup was also held in Quebec in 2007, an event in which Canadian player Mike Weir was a key figure. When Weir was at the top of his game in the early 2000s - he won the Masters in 2003 - he was being compared with such Canadian sports icons at Wayne Gretzky and Steve Nash.

Votaw fully recognises the momentum that would be created for grassroots tours such as PGA Tour Canada should a local player like Weir surge to the top of the money list, win some events, and then become a fixture on the big tour in the States.

“To grow the popularity of the sport, nothing can be more beneficial than developing young players who move up, through PGA Tour Canada or the Latinoamerica Tour onto the Web. com Tour and then eventually to the PGA Tour,” he says. “It’s another reason this [agreement] makes so much sense, the ability to offer these players that opportunity to develop.”

The number of Canadians who play the game regularly is surprising with 21 per cent of Canada’s 34.5 million population identifying themselves as golfers. Those players, and fans of the sport, have shown “a proclivity for supporting golf and putting on successful tournaments,” according to Votaw.

MAKING A START IN SOCHI Even at 4.00am, the winding road between Sochi airport and the mountains which will stage the downhill events of the 2014 winter Olympics are slow going.

Soon this road will be replaced by a modern highway, hurrying visitors to the mountain venues in 40 minutes or so. But for now it remains a major and clogged artery for the massive construction project which will create not simply a series of world-class Games facilities but an entire winter sports industry.

The organisers of the 2014 Sochi winter Olympics have much to be proud of. Their ‘national project number one’ is already giving a new sense of life and identity to a region where, as the slogan has it, the Black Sea meets white snow.

They are proud of what is being achieved, delighted to welcome guests to take a look around and in early November they played host to the first Peace and Sport International Forum to be held outside the organisation’s birthplace of Monaco.

There, in a modern, five-star, Gazprom-owned resort hotel nestling in what appeared to be its own personal valley, representatives of sports bodies and NGOs (non-governmental organisations) from some of the most poverty-stricken, battle-scarred parts of the world gathered to put their heads together to figure out how sport can act as a catalyst for calming tensions, generating (relative) prosperity and creating the conditions for a peaceful society.

Peace and Sport was founded by Prince Albert of Monaco, who joined proceedings at the Grand Hotel Polyana, along with leading Russian political figures and even the prime minister of Macedonia. But the great thing about the Peace and Sport International Forum is that it is increasingly attended by those who, day-by-day, have to cut through layers of theory and deal with the realities of life on the front line. All too often that means trying to achieve objectives with few, if any, financial or human resources.

Funding is central to all

humanitarian projects and the hunt is never-ending for those operating in the Peace and Sport space. So should business and commerce step up to the plate?

The problem, as ever, is persuading them to part with it. Delegates, although desperate to find a solution, appear unclear where to start the search. While some feel companies simply have a social duty to contribute and should cough-up purely out of a sense of responsibility, others take a more commercial approach.

Against the background of changing consumer behaviour, with purchasing decisions likely to be made on the basis of the brand values and social reputation of a company rather than price alone, is it not reasonable to expect businesses to be able to align their commercial and financial imperatives by supporting projects that deliver effectively on both humanitarian and corporate levels.

There’s plenty of evidence from research and advertising companies that suggests is the way that the commercial cookie crumbles nowadays but if NGOs are to ’sell’ themselves more effectively to brands and businesses they clearly need to be better informed and equipped to do so.

These are committed, focused, talented and often selfless people from a range of backgrounds. For many, the boardroom is an alien environment.

Selling themselves is not their bag but as other sources of funding are reduced or turned off altogether, a corporate sector attuned to the brand and business benefits of supporting humanitarian projects may be their best shot at success.

Maybe there is a role for organisation like Peace and Sport there - providing not only their obvious constituents with the knowledge and tools they need to succeed, but reaching out to the corporate sector on their behalf and bringing them into the fold.

Kevin Roberts Editorial Director, SportBusiness Group

SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12 11

BRANDS & MARKETING

SHORTSTOP

GNITUCI: EKSportswear RAMbrand + SSkins DNARB announced it will sue world cycling’s governing body, the International Cycling Union, for $2m, claiming compensation for reputational damage it has suffered by being associated with a sport “tarnished” by doping.

Betfair: The internet gambling company agreed a title sponsorship deal for the 2013 edition of the Masters, snooker’s most prestigious invitation event featuring 16 of the world’s top players.

Tokyo 2020: Japan Airlines and security services group ALSOK were announced as the seventh and eighth sponsors respectively of Tokyo’s bid for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Emirates: The Dubai-based airline became the third top-tier sponsor of the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

Crucially, the deal will allow the use of the Emirates Arena name during competition time after the brand signed a 10-year naming rights deal, without Games-time rights, in September.

Eredivisie: The Efteling, the largest theme park in the Netherlands, became an official partner of the top-tier Dutch football league. Efteling joins Radio Veronica, SportDirect.com and De Telegraaf as official league suppliers.

Triathlon New Zealand: International sports marketing agency RedTorch agreed a deal to market the remodelled Tri NZ (Triathlon New Zealand) High Performance Property, focusing on securing a sole partner to support Tri NZ’s elite athletes in the lead up to the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

Canon: The Japanese electronics company will return as a top-tier sponsor of the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations), serving as an official partner of the World Athletics Series from 2013 to 2016 and the World Championships in Moscow (2013) and Beijing (2015).

FEI: The International Federation for Equestrian Sports Nations Cup will be rebranded as the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup under a new fouryear sponsorship deal with the Saudi Equestrian Fund worth €16m.

Giro d’Italia: Biscuit producer Balocco signed a two-year deal to become the new sponsor of the race leader’s prestigious pink jersey.

12 SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12

Beijing Guo’an take on Bayern Munich in July - Getty Images Sport

IMG’S EASTERN PROMISE IMG has returned to football in China to overhaul the commercial management of the Chinese Football Association (CFA)’s Super League.

IN THE EARLY 1990s, the IMG agency worked closely with the CFA to launch the Jia-A League, China’s first professional football league, before it parted ways with the governing body in 2003.

Eight years later, IMG’s new 10-year deal, in partnership with state broadcaster CCTV, has seen the agency return to Chinese football in a move to take the Chinese Super League (CSL), a rapidly-developing competition that evolved from the Jia-A League in 2004, to the next commercial level.

Since IMG’s last foray into Chinese football, though, the sport has endured a turbulent time.

Earlier this year dozens of former players and officials, including two former heads of the CFA, were jailed for match-fixing and China’s national team has struggled to build on its solitary appearance at the FIFA World Cup in 2002.

However, according to Jeff Slack, IMG’s senior vice-president and director of football, Chinese football’s house is finally in order to support the development of the game, especially when support for the sport comes from the very top.

“Clearly there have been huge problems in Chinese football, but it is not the only place in the world where these things have happened, and at least they have done something about it by bringing in new management at the national association and bringing others to account,” Slack told SportBusiness International.

“The government is focusing more resources on team sports, such as football, whereas previously the focus may have been more on Olympic medal sports…the aim is to make [the CSL] one of this the best leagues in Asia and, ultimately, the world.”

IMG-CCTV’s approach will be multi-layered,

advising the CFA and its clubs on various management practices.

“In commercial terms, we will look at how we develop partnerships and how we can implement best practices in areas such as stadium management and governance,” Slack says. “There are possible exchanges with top European football entities being discussed, and we are also looking at bringing global football events to China.”

CCTV-IMG’s remit falls short of global rights distribution, but the domestic market remains largely untapped.

“China is a unique media market,” Slack adds. “With CCTV covering nearly 60 league games this year, and the arrival of players such as Didier Drogba, audience numbers have increased 51 per cent this year.”

IMG will recruit a title sponsor for the 2014 season onwards and is hoping to sign six second-tier commercial suppliers.

“We think the title sponsor will be a global brand that is interested in developing its business in China, but the suppliers will be a combination [of domestic and foreign companies],” says Slack.

“Football is the premier sport in China. There are great stadia and wealthy owners. Macroeconomics matter to companies and we’re having great conversations with them about this opportunity.”

As many brands have discovered to their cost, the support of an established organisation - in this case CCTV - is something of a deal-breaker when trying to do business in China.

“It is something we understood implicitly from the start,” Slack says. “You are not going to develop a successful business in China without being in a partnership with a respected Chinese organisation. It just doesn’t happen.”

DEAL OF THE MONTH MATTHEW GLENDINNING Editor

Spanish football giant FC Barcelona signed its first national sponsorship deal in the Indian market with Nokia India, the country’s number one mobile phone operator.

The PGA Tour has become an integral sponsorship platform for Farmers Insurance - Getty Images Sport

THE FARMERS MARKET Chuck Browning, head of sponsorships and corporate giving at Farmers Insurance, tells Luke Harman why 2013 will be a landmark year for the Los Angeles (LA)-based insurer and its sports marketing endeavours.

MAJOR SPONSORSHIPS with NASCAR, the PGA Tour and the naming rights to a new National Football League (NFL) stadium in downtown LA leaves Farmers Insurance wellplaced for an exciting 2013.

The year will start with the Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego, California, the fourth golf tournament on the 2013 PGA Tour calendar. Having come to the aid of the thencalled Buick Invitational in 2010, after General Motors (GM) was forced to withdraw its sponsorship due to major financial difficulties - GM was reorganised under Chapter 11 of US bankruptcy laws - Farmers inked a four-year deal having deemed the 2010 experience a marketing success.

“We came in as kind of a white knight in 2010 and activated against the tournament in 12 days,” Browning told SportBusiness International. “It was a learning process for us. We came into the sport very quickly and the PGA Tour worked with us to try to make it worth our while.

“From a charity giveback perspective it ticks lots of boxes too and by rescuing the tournament we have built a stronger relationship with the city of San Diego, which is a very large market share city for us.”

Market share is a vital measurement metric for companies in most business sectors and in the heavily-cluttered US insurance space it is of paramount importance. Sports sponsorship, therefore, has been adopted by many of the biggest operating insurance brands to achieve greater cut-through and front-of-mind consideration for consumers.

This is the rationale behind Farmers’ threeyear deal with Hendricks Motorsports NASCAR team as majority sponsor of Kasey Kahne’s No. 5 Chevrolet. NASCAR has been identified by Farmers as a platform to aid the expansion of the

company’s operational network - the majority of which is based in western US - with a particular eye on increased presence in eastern American states and better general awareness of the Farmers brand nationwide.

Conversely, Farmers Field, a naming rights deal that will see the company playing a major role in bringing professional American football back to LA for the first time since the Raiders relocated to the team’s founding city of Oakland in 1995, will be the focus of local efforts in southern California.

In September, the LA city council unanimously approved the project’s Environmental Impact Report, effectively awarding final sanction for the development to progress. While a date has yet to be officially slated for breaking ground on the project, the first quarter of next year has been earmarked as the earliest possible timeframe for work to begin.

Having signed the 30-year deal in February 2011, but yet to pay a single dollar towards owning the naming rights, Farmers Insurance is in a win-win situation whereby the fulfilment of an NFL franchise moving permanently to the venue is the only trigger to the beginning of payments. Should the move take place, as promised by the NFL and AEG - the controlling party of the development - naming rights will cost Farmers around $600 million over the next 30 years. Money well spent, according to Browning.

“I think it’s one of the best things we’ve ever done,” he says. “Since last year there have been in excess of 11.3 billion media impressions of Farmers Field which is incredible for our brand.

“We keep hearing that this will be a case study that will be looked at forever because it’s very rare, if it’s ever been done before, where a brand has committed to a naming rights deal on something that’s currently phantom.”

What’s the deal?

Nokia India will become a regional partner to Barcelona and will reach out to fans through retail, on-theground activation, TV, digital advertising and social media. The three-year deal is worth between €2 million and €2.5 million per year.

Why Barcelona? And why now?

Nokia India has typically used Bollywood celebrities to engage with its audience, but has been losing ground in regional Indian markets in recent years. The deal with Barcelona is an acknowledgement of football’s popularity among Indian youth. With Nokia losing the smartphone battle globally, it becomes critical for the company to protect its turf in India.

Is this Barca’s first regional deal?

Not quite, Thai drinks company ThaiBev brought the club together with Real Madrid to promote the company’s Chang-branded beer, soda and drinking water across Asia. The recent switch of the club’s main shirt sponsor from the Qatar Foundation to Qatar Airways is, of course, a global deal.

What does the deal mean?

The opportunity for major European football clubs to make lucrative deals in new markets appears to have superseded the brand-building mission abroad. Manchester United is leading the way in this area, creating a patchwork of territory-by-territory deals in the telecoms sector, each worth at least €1.25 million per year (see pages 28-30).

What’s next for India?

It is only a matter of time before the likes of Real Madrid, Chelsea, Juventus and Milan come knocking on India’s door.

With a population of 1.2 billion, there is room for everyone. It will be interesting, however, to see how many of these clubs will be able to sustain the interest and following over the coming years.

Subscribe to Sports Marketing Frontiers to get the full story on this & other deals.

E-mail: chris.beadle@sportbusiness.com

SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12 13

BRANDS & MARKETING

ITEKRAM + SDNARB

HITTING THE TARGET The 2012 London Olympic Games were a timely reminder of the potential of ‘unseen’ sponsorship assets.

Luke Harman explores how database marketing can improve the commercial pulling power of sports organisations.

TAPPING INTO THE demographic metrics and purchasing habits of existing customers database marketing - has long been a successful marketing tool for companies operating in consumer-facing sectors.

In retail, for example, British supermarket chain Tesco first introduced its ‘Clubcard’ reward scheme in the mid-1990s, while many brands in the airline space offer similar loyalty programmes. All of such schemes enable customer data collection to facilitate more tailored marketing communications.

Sport, however, is generally perceived to be dragging its heels in maximising the potential of the vast amounts of data each organisation holds.

“We live in a world where sports continue to broadcast messages to get more fans in stadiums,” Matt Rogan, co-founder of Two Circles, told SportBusiness International. Two Circles was established in 2011 to help sports 14 SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12

properties get closer to their customers by implementing data analysis strategies.

“The rest of the world outside sport, with Amazon being the prime example, is becoming more intelligent in the way in which they market to us, based on the things they know about us. The way sport communicates has become more anachronistic, so at some point it has to change.

“There is some decent best practice coming out of the United States now. Take LIVESTRONG Sporting Park, the home of Sporting Kansas City in Major League Soccer (MLS), for example. It’s a new stadium [opened in June 2011] and what they’re doing with wireless is a key component of not only improving the customer experience, but also gathering data at the same time. That’s the beginning of sport getting good at it, but it’s still at least five years behind the corporate space.”

Improved customer relationship management

(CRM) practices can be beneficial across many areas of a sports organisation, including cultivating more attractive hospitality packages to fans and higher levels of engagement in community initiatives, as well as more tangible results such as selling more club merchandise or increasing match ticket sales.

However, one area where efficient CRM systems can produce highly lucrative returns is sponsorship, where the ability to tailor communications to definitive customer segments has widespread appeal - to both existing and potential partners alike.

A case in point is top-tier English rugby union team Harlequins, which appointed Two Circles - also consulting to English Premier League football club Manchester City, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), Surrey County Cricket Club, England Hockey and British Basketball - to assist the club to better

BRANDS & MARKETING

BRANDS + MARKETIN

“When a sports organisation has such valuable consumer data, customers should never receive a commercial offer, in any form, that’s not targeted to their individual preference.” and dial down communications for different customer segments and for various partners making your sponsorship inventory so much more impactful.”

Etihad hopes to benefit from Harlequins’ improved database marketing strategy - Getty Images Sport

understand its fanbase and maximise its value as a commercial entity.

“All of a sudden [Harlequins] have all of this knowledge on its customer base and there are two things it can do with that from a sponsorship perspective,” says Rogan. “Firstly, the club can share that information with current partners to ensure activation is highly targeted to people who are most relevant to each brand.

“For instance, Etihad Airways [Harlequins’ main sponsor] has a very clear understanding of who its customer groups are. And now so does Harlequins, so they can work together to identify target segments for specific communications, such as promotions on business-class flights.

“Secondly, in terms of future and prospective partners, if you have that insight into who your different customer groups are and can manage different customer messages, arguably you can work a little bit like a media agency. You can dial up

Taking the Advantage Strengthening its commercial portfolio as a result of improved customer knowledge is the long-term goal for Harlequins. Having recruited global logistics company DHL and internet security software provider McAfee this year, as well as negotiating a four-year renewal with insurance brand LV to sit alongside beer brand Greene King IPA and law firm Norton Rose as official sponsors, the current Aviva Premiership champions already have an impressive partner roster to take advantage of the meticulouslysegmented customer groups.

“Lots of people have databases,” explains James Kendall, commercial director of Harlequins. “But lots of the data is variable which limits how much marketing you can do with it. What we’re trying to do is develop a rich database that has much more information about our customers and supporters than we’ve had in the past, which will be much more useful to our partners going forward.”

Along with existing customer data, Harlequins will continue to amass information to be stored in what the club has dubbed a ‘data warehouse’ - a fully-operational dashboard tool that will serve the primary function of enabling the commercial team at The Stoop - Harlequins home stadium - to cherry-pick appropriate customer sets for specific messaging, eradicating expensive wastage that is often a by-product of more generic communications.

Furthermore, having such a tool at the club’s disposal will, in time, position Harlequins in a better position to negotiate more lucrative sponsorship deals as a result of being able to offer more comprehensive and enticing rights packages.

“This is certainly the aim going forward,” adds Kendall.

“Tied to this though is how brands measure return on investment (ROI) from a sponsorship.

Media value has been used historically but companies now want

to see tangible ROIs and this is a way for us to show some very tangible metrics.”

The ability to deliver bespoke communications is of course only one element of a sports sponsorship package. However, are more traditional sponsorship assets such as signage or hospitality - those that carry value that is difficult to directly measure - becoming redundant as sophisticated database marketing, given it delivers brands forcefully to consumers’ front of mind, bypassing the slow-burning consideration element that in-ground branding and advertising promotes?

Kendall says not: “[CRM] is entirely complementary. Every sponsor has different business objectives. Database marketing is a richer offering that we can now provide but the other assets are very valuable, as long as they’re used in a way to deliver against sponsors’ business objectives.”

Two Circles’ Rogan shares Kendall’s thoughts in that the notion of simply branding a property, with no other activation or dovetailing assets, will become surplus to requirements in the sponsorship context.

“What’s interesting is which sports organisations are prepared to recognise that the world is moving and moving quickly,” he says.

“What we have noticed in some organisations is a little bit of reticence to change, which is perhaps because the status quo has been fine for the past ten years, so why would it be any different now? That’s disappointing because I think those sports will be overtaken.”

Arguably, the digital space is where the world has moved most quickly, becoming an increasingly important tool for activating sponsorship association. Digital platforms, particularly social media, are rich consumer data pools and the information gathered from such media should, therefore, inform subsequent content that’s shared with users.

“Social media data should be telling you which audiences are engaging in which type of content. It’s then about creating the right type of content that maps against those audiences and letting that play through,” says Rogan.

“When a sports organisation has such valuable consumer data, customers should never receive a commercial offer, in any form, that’s not targeted to their individual preference. It’s not expensive to implement an efficient CRM strategy, it’s just knowing how to do it properly.”

SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12 15

MEDIA

SHORTSTOP Russia: Dmitry Mednikov, editor-inchief of state broadcaster VGTRK’s Russia 2 free-to-air channel, said VGTRK is preparing to launch a new sports channel dedicated to sociallyimportant sports. “Federal channels haven’t developed a cohesive system [of sports coverage] and educational programmes and projects are obviously scarce,” he said.

Serie A: Italy’s top-tier football division will launch an official YouTube channel as part of a three-year extension to its partnership with digital media group PERFORM. The channel will host highlights of all Serie A matches and a series of special clips dedicated to the best goals and action.

IMG Media: The arm of the IMG agency struck a deal to distribute broadcast and internet coverage of the 2013 Winter Games NZ, the New Zealand winter sports event. IMG Media will distribute a series of daily 22-minute highlights programmes, one 52-minute film and daily video news releases.

NBA: Indian sports and entertainment pay-TV channel Sony Six agreed a three-year deal, from 2012/13 to 2014/15, for the exclusive rights to show the National Basketball Association in India. Sony Six will broadcast live NBA games each week on Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays, with repeat broadcasts of the games shown in local prime-time slots.

Sky Italia: The Italian pay-TV broadcaster’s quarterly operating profit fell from $119m year-on-year to $12m in the three months to September 30, 2012. The results include $70m of production costs and rights-fees for the 2012 London Olympic Games.

Sky offered coverage of the Olympics across 13 channels.

Ecuadorian football: State broadcaster TC Televisión, commercial broadcaster GamaTV and public-service broadcaster Ecuador TV agreed deals to acquire domestic rights for Serie A and Serie B, the country’s top football divisions. The deals run from 2013 to 2017.

US Masters: Pan-Asian broadcaster ESPN STAR Sports extended its rights deal for coverage of the annual golf tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia. The deal is for all territories in ESPN Star Sports’ Asian footprint, excluding South Korea.

16 SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12

NEW MEDIA, NEW MONEY Rights agencies are ramping up the exploitation of unsold media rights on digital platforms. Kevin McCullagh of TV Sports Markets explains why.

IMG MEDIA’S DEAL last month with videosharing platform Ustream was one of a wave of recent sports-rights agency moves to exploit media rights on internet and mobile platforms.

Ancillary, or ‘long-tail’ rights have traditionally been of marginal value compared to TV rights, and generally remain so. But by aggregating enough sports content and operating on multiple platforms, significant revenues can be generated, as has been shown by the successes of earlymovers in the digital sports media sector such as PERFORM and the sportsman media group.

IMG’s Ustream deal will see the agency make sports content available via the video-streaming platform in territories where rights have not been sold to a broadcaster. Ustream has so far shown a handful of football matches, including some 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

In July, MP & Silva agreed a partnership with online video technology services provider Rightster to package content distributed by the agency to sell to online betting companies, among other digital initiatives. In September, meanwhile, SPORTFIVE launched a multi-platform digital ‘Qualifiers 2014’ project built around its large portfolio of qualifier matches to the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The strategy may be rolled out across other rights in the agency’s portfolio.

Through its deals with national football federations, SPORTFIVE holds the rights to 155 World Cup qualifier games being played between September 2012 and November 2013.

Its Qualifiers 2014 channel, which is available across multiple digital platforms, offers content via a dedicated YouTube channel. It is also broadcast through an app on Android and Apple smartphones and tablets, and on connected TV through an agreement with smart TV solutions

provider NetRange. There is also a branded Facebook page which carries video content, a Google+ page, and a Twitter feed.

SPORTFIVE’s income from the deal comes from two main sources. Firstly, its title sponsorship deal with online betting company bwin, which includes branding on all media content. Secondly, the agency earns a share of advertising from the adverts embedded in the content on each platform, which could, according to TV Sports Markets estimates, earn SPORTFIVE more than €10 million.

Maxime Lebessou, head of digital media at SPORTFIVE International, told TV Sports Markets that having a strategy to exploit rights on digital platforms around the main TV deals was “not a trend, but a necessity” for agencies.

Nigel Currie, director of the sport and entertainment agency, brandRapport, agreed: “TV does not get the numbers that it used to… digital is more targeted, allowing brands to get directly to their real customers. For online betting companies in particular this is exactly what you need, direct interaction…it’s a way to get to the mass audiences in a more effective way than could be done even three or four years ago.”

An increase in the number of technical services providers looking to work with the agencies has also seen the costs of exploiting ancillary rights come down.

Agencies are also making moves on internet and mobile rights because of tightening margins in the traditional business of media-rights arbitrage. This is making agencies look at other ways of monetising rights, such as selling betting rights and offering rights-holders more services, such as building and managing an online and social media presence.

DEAL OF THE MONTH FRANK DUNNE Editor

TVSPORTSMARKETS

The English Premier League agreed a valuable new broadcast deal with NBCUniversal for the three years from 2013/14 to 2015/16, underlining the steady advance of ‘soccer’ in the United States.

What’s it worth?

About $250 million over the three years, or $83.3 million per season - more than three times the value of the league’s current agreement with News Corporation’s Fox network.

Europeans tended to watch the 2012 Olympics on TV in a social environment - Getty Images Sport

LONDON’S MEDIA MAKE-UP Did the Olympic Games create a unique group of engaged sports fans across Europe? Richard Brinkman, Head of KantarSport at Kantar Media, sees how fans consumed the Games according to the company’s own research.

AN OLYMPIC GAMES captures the attention of nations - giving those in the business of sport an opportunity to reach people who would never normally hear their messages with an incomparable frequency and power.

London 2012 was no different: 80 per cent of people across the five key European markets surveyed by Kantar Media’s Sportscope tracker (the UK, France, Germany, Italy and France) during August and September this year said they intended to follow the Games, a much higher proportion of followers than the three ‘most-followed’ sports in those markets football (49 per cent), Formula One (33 per cent) and tennis (26 per cent).

Many of those who intended to follow the Olympics weren’t typical sports fans 44 per cent of non-sports fans in the five European markets surveyed claimed to follow the Games, with the highest number in the host region, the UK, at 66 per cent, followed by Italy at 63 per cent.

Those who followed the Olympics didn’t interact with the Games in the same way as ‘traditional’ fans do with their sports, however.

They tended to watch on TV in a social environment: 71 per cent of people claimed they viewed in a group, higher than other recent major sporting events including the 2011 Rugby World Cup (43 per cent) and UEFA Euro 2012 (59 per cent).

Olympic viewers also tended to watch live.

Kantar Media analysed UK viewing data and found that only three per cent of London 2012 viewing was timeshifted (watched within seven days of live broadcast), whereas six per cent of normal sports viewing is timeshifted on average.

London 2012 viewers interacted with the Games through fewer touch-points than

followers of other sports: an average of just 1.7 touch-points across the five key markets in Europe. Football and tennis fans, for example, use a range of different ways to stay in close touch with their sport - football followers use an average of 3.8 touch-points and tennis fans 2.5.

Most people watched the Olympics on TV. According to the BARB viewing data, 80 per cent of the UK population viewed in this way.

Sportscope found these figures were similar across Europe, ranging from 61 per cent in Germany to 83 per cent in Italy.

Nine per cent of Olympic followers in the UK claimed to watch coverage on their mobile device - the highest figure in Europe.

The lowest was Germany with three per cent.

The percentage who watched online via a PC meanwhile ranged from 15 per cent in Germany to 27 per cent in Spain.

The difference in behaviour between Olympic followers and long-term sports fans is reflected in the impact the Games has had on people’s involvement in sport. In UK, for example, where levels of engagement were highest, only six per cent of non-sports fans now say they have been encouraged to start participating or to participate more in sport due to the Olympics, and only 10 per cent intend to watch sport more often on TV. Almost a third of those who were already sports fans, meanwhile, claim the Games have encouraged them to start participating or participate more in a sport.

This suggests that engagement was strong, but not particularly deep or long-lasting: people saw the Games as an exciting, one-off experience to celebrate in front of the TV with friends and family, rather than something that would change their habits for the long-term.

Why such a big increase?

NBC had to fend off an aggressive jointbid from Disney-owned sports broadcaster ESPN and Fox. The alliance had been created to head off the expected threat of the Al Jazeera-owned beIN Sport channel.

But in the end beIN Sport didn’t bid. NBC had widely been rumoured to be preparing a strong bid but its success was still something of a surprise.

Is this a gamble for NBC? Experts don’t think so. Neal Pilson, the former president of US sports broadcaster CBS Sports, argued that the acquisition - along with the earlier acquisition of the rights to Formula One motor racing - is part of NBC’s long-term strategy to increase the distribution of its paytelevision channel NBC Sports Network from 80 million homes to 100 million.

“NBC are building an asset, the NBC Sports Network,” he said. “Formula One and the Premier League are major international properties that the US public is becoming more familiar with.” He predicted that NBC would turn a profit on the Premier League deal.

Mark Lazarus, chairman of NBC Sports Group, justified the broadcaster’s investment in the rights for the league by saying that its popularity was about to explode in the country.

What does it mean for the league?

The deal made the US the Premier League’s single most lucrative territory outside of the domestic market, replacing Singapore. In addition to achieving over a 270-per-cent increase in the rights-fee, the league is maintaining a free-to-air window on a powerful network that will help increase the league’s popularity.

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E-mail: sales@tvsportsmarkets.com

SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12 17

MEDIA

VIEWS OF THE FUTURE Broadcasters are adopting a new breed of speciality cameras that are set to revolutionise the way we view sport.

Andy Stout gives a lowdown of the game-changing technologies that are set to be common use next year.

SUCCESS IN THE sports broadcast market isn’t just about competing for rights, it’s also about competing for eyeballs. And in an era when pretty much anyone can turn up at an arena with 20 or more HD cameras in tow, that tends to mean gaining an edge on the competition and bringing something new to coverage by using speciality cameras.

Speciality cameras for sports broadcasting have changed dramatically over the years as increases in processor power have enabled manufacturers to do more in less space. Ultra slow-motion, for instance, had to use powerful post-production equipment to clean up the image before broadcast when it first debuted just under a decade ago; now it all happens in real-time, and the first 4k resolution (display in the region of 4000x2000 pixels) unit has even been unveiled.

Like any arms race, however, there is a cost to using speciality equipment - both in terms of hire and skilled crews - and therefore adds significantly to the cost of any outside broadcast.

Commercial broadcasters have offset this by selling on-air sponsorship of a particular gadget or gizmo, though that can lead to pressures of over-use.

Here’s some of the stuff you will be seeing more of in 2013.

18 SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12

ULTRA SLOW-MOTION GOES WIRELESS THE RISE OF ultra slow-motion, typically anything that will slow the action down by 10-times or greater, has been one of the defining looks of modern sports broadcasting. Over 50 units were scattered around the streets and stadia of London during the 2012 Olympics - double the number deployed during Beijing - but expect to see them used even more widely in 2013 as their wireless capabilities come to the fore.

The best of the slow-motion cameras, which includes NAC Image Technology’s HiMotion II, can be used as a normal camera, capturing the ultra slow-motion ‘in the background’, ensuring that they don’t take up a valuable camera position. But to date, ultra slow-motion has mainly been used from cabled positions via relatively long lenses, which has restricted the type of shots that directors can use them for. Wireless units, and Broadcast Sports (BSI) and NAC’s wireless system is currently being tested

by BSkyB in the UK - mean that they can be mounted on a Steadicam rig and run up and

down the sides of pitches, sent into the pits, and all the other myriad of places you can’t get to with cameras with cables.

It’s been a tricky technology to get right, mainly due to the amount of control signals that have to pass from the OB (outside broadcast) truck back to the camera. But expect to see a lot more dramatically slowed down goal celebrations once it’s up and running.

MEDIA EVENTS

CLOSE-UP AERIAL CAMERAS ONCE UPON A TIME, if you wanted a closeup shot of sporting action from above, you hired a blimp; aerial shots came from a remote-controlled camera hovering under a helium balloon somewhere a long way above. Skycams have since revolutionised that, as they are cameras that can be suspended on a stabilised dolly on computercontrolled winched Kevlar cables that allow it to be effectively ‘flown’ round a stadium.

Nowadays, this set-up can even provide ground-level shots.

Fans now expect to see big game coverage provided by Skycams and major broadcasters now have to factor them in to the production budget as a matter of necessity. There remain, however, a few

questions about their use and whether viewers can watch their camera shots without losing track of the action and feeling faintly nauseous; ‘BBC to persist with Twickenham’s stomach-churning Spidercam’ was one of the entertaining headlines from 2010. Complaints, however, have died down as directors have gained experience of exactly how and when to use them.

The quality of coverage provided by Skycams has been consistently improving, largely down to healthy competition in the market (Skycam is both the generic term and one of the market leaders, Spidercam is its main competitor) which has seen the units steadily increase their speeds and flying areas. Skycams have also integrated

greater safety features - following a handful of incidents - which has helped persuade broadcasters and federations that they can be used without danger to players.

MORE POINTS OF VIEW

WIDE-ANGLE AERIAL CAMERAS FOR MOVING AERIAL shots, a stabilised camera mounted on a helicopter is the usual choice, but the noise and disruption they cause doesn’t work everywhere. Golf is a prime example, where ‘ball follow’ shots are increasingly sought after but need to be captured without distracting the players.

Luckily, there are alternatives, and at golf tournaments such as the The Open Championship ESPN has been pioneering the use of a fixed-wing plane. The idea is that a large, single-engined aircraft (a Cessna Caravan, usually used for parachute jumps) is both stable enough and quiet enough to be used as a camera platform. It can be flown as slowly as 80kilometres-per-hour, and the crews do four-hour shifts, flying endless loops and timing their runs over the course to line-up with golfers teeing off on certain holes.

At the other end of the scale is the Oktokopter (pictured), a four-kilogramme, remote-controlled miniature helicopter with eight arms/propellers for added stability and manoeuvrability. Mounted with a converted camera head, it has been used several times by Swiss TV and others to track downhill skiers, relaying pictures back wirelessly to the OB truck via a series of relays dotted along the course.

IF YOU’VE WATCHED any extreme sports - from mountain biking to Felix Baumgartner’s jump from the edge of space - the chances are you’ve seen a GoPro camera in action. These consumer cameras - which can be bought online through retailers for about £300 - have become increasingly ubiquitous in the broadcast industry following a firmware upgrade last year which added a 24-frames-per-second (fps) rate, a 35 Mbps (megabits-per-second) data rate and a neutral colour profile to the range. These upgrades allow the cameras to be integrated far more easily into broadcast productions, to the extent that sports broadcast giant ESPN used 150 of them during last summer’s X Games.

GoPro cameras can be mounted on pretty much anything (see picture), are small, light (73-grammes), waterproof down to 60-metres, can be triggered via smartphone, and are capable of capturing

not only HD video, but even 4k if you don’t mind the framerate stepping down to 15 fps.

They may not provide live pictures, not yet at least, and certainly can’t cope with the harshest of environments (they are currently mostly used as in-car cameras for motor sports) but with three million of them sold globally to date, the growth in POV (point-ofview) shots looks to be unstoppable.

CORNERING ON RAILS RAILCAMS HAVE BEEN around for a while now, of course, but they’re getting steadily more adaptable and will be deployed more throughout 2013.

Broadcasters usually cite space in small stadia as the main reason not to use them, however new kit, such as the MG2 system

by ACS (Aerial Camera Systems), can be set up in a smaller footprint than ever, quicker than ever, and can dip under most audience sight-lines.

Latest railcam technologies also include the useful ability to go round curves, such as the bends on an athletics track, or adapt to

contours in the surface. Top speeds on the straight are just over the 50-kilometres-perhour mark - happily Usain Bolt’s is around 44-kilometres-per-hour.

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EVENTS

SHORTSTOP 2014 Road World Championships: The UCI (International Cycling Union) confirmed the event will remain in Ponferrada after the Spanish city met financial and organisational guarantees. The UCI awarded the 2014 Championships to Ponferrada two years ago but its future was placed in doubt in September after the governing body issued organisers with a 30-day notice to meet contractual commitments.

Asian Games: The Olympic Council of Asia selected Hanoi to host the 2019 event, while Samsung agreed a deal to become a major sponsor of the 2014 edition of the event in Incheon.

2013 Confederations Cup: FIFA retained its original list of six host cities for the 2014 World Cup warm-up in Brazil after it relaxed its deadline for the delivery of the venues. Last month’s announcement in Sao Paulo was preceded by the very real threat that one or more of the cities would be stripped of their hosting rights due to construction delays.

2016 Copa America: CONMEBOL (the South American Football Confederation) confirmed the United States will host the event to celebrate the organisation’s centenary.

ATP World Tour Finals: The Association of Tennis Professionals announced a two-year extension to London’s staging of the end-of-season climax, while Barclays also extended its title sponsorship of the event.

Global Ocean Race: The sailing series delayed the start of its third event by one year in a bid to introduce changes designed to increase its profile. The GOR staged its first race in 2008/09, followed by a second edition in 2011/12.

Istanbul 2020: The Turkish city’s bid to host the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games received a boost after credit ratings agency Fitch’s decision to upgrade Turkey’s investment grade.

Fitch cited Turkey’s sound banking system, favourable growth prospects and wealthy and diverse economy in its decision.

Tokyo Marathon: The event was added to the elite World Marathon Majors (WMM) - the group’s first member outside Europe and the United States - following the cancellation of the 2012 New York Marathon.

20 SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12

BACH IN THE GAME

Thomas Bach is leading Germany’s Olympic ambitions - Getty Images Sport

Owen Evans speaks to IOC (International Olympic Committee) vice-president Thomas Bach about Germany’s plans to enter the 2024 Olympic bidding ring.

CONSIDERING THE LACK of strength in the bidding field to host the 2020 Olympic Games, many NOCs (national Olympic committees) will be kicking themselves at not submitting a bid.

Perhaps this is why many NOCs are showing their hand early for the 2024 race, which is already shaping up to be one of the most competitive since London pipped Paris to host this summer’s Olympics seven years ago.

A strong campaign is expected from United States, with New York and Dallas mentioned, after the country reconciled with the IOC earlier this year following the signing of a new longterm revenue-share agreement.

Olympic insiders also expect Paris to recover from its narrow defeat to London in 2005 and bid again; the Olympics is built on good stories and many expect Paris 2024’s narrative to be based around a centenary celebration of the 1924 Games in the French capital.

Meanwhile, Doha has already pledged to bid again for the third time in a row, and cities from Kenya and South Africa have also shown interest in bringing The Greatest Show on Earth to Africa for the first time.

Last but my no means least, throw Germany into the Olympic equation. It’s been 50 years since the country last hosted a summer Games, and although its last bidding campaign was forgettable - with Berlin voted out in the second round of the 2000 race eventually won by Sydney - the DOSB (German Olympic Sports Confederation) declared its 2024 interest via president Thomas Bach in October.

“There is great interest in Germany to host the Olympic Games,” Bach told SportBusiness International. “We believe that more than half a century after Munich 1972 the time has come.

Berlin and Hamburg have indicated their strong interest to the DOSB as well as some of our summer sport federations.”

Bach is echoing the sentiments of Berlin mayor Klaus Wowereit, who earlier this year stated that the German capital was exploring a bid for either the 2024 or 2028 Olympics.

Bach and Wowereit will wait to see whether Madrid wins the 2020 race, as the IOC is unlikely to award the Olympics to two European hosts in a row. However, by then the main IOC decisionmaker could be Bach himself, with the German one of the favourites to succeed Jacques Rogge as president next September (see pages 32-36).

If the DOSB does put a bid forward for the 2024 Games, Bach says it will incorporate the fan-centric legacy from his country’s hosting of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He also dismisses concerns over how the rest of Europe would view Germany - the Eurozone’s paymaster potentially throwing billions of Euros into an Olympic bid considering the current financial problems on the continent.

“We believe a bid from Germany would be welcome because we could offer economic stability and a great atmosphere for athletes and visitors,” he says.

The IOC vice-president was visibly shocked last year when Munich lost out to PyeongChang to host the 2018 winter Olympics, but the German, who won Olympic gold in fencing at the 1976 Games, does not believe this has any reflection on support for German bids within the Olympic Movement. “[2018] was not a vote against Munich, it was a vote in favour of PyeongChang,” he says.

“We would enter a completely different bidding progress with different competitors.”

EVENTS EVENTS

SHORTSTOP ISAF World Cup: The International Sailing Federation made Miami in America the event’s fifth venue. Set to be held at the US Sailing Center Miami from January 26-February 2 next year, the regatta will form part of the Sailing World Cup until 2016.

38 different sports at the 2013 World Games - Getty Images Sport

BRAVE NEW WORLD Next year’s World Games offer the perfect formula of untapped broadcast potential and low-cost infrastructure according to German marketing agency UFA Sports. Rob Ridley explains why.

IT’S NEVER an easy task to step out of the shadow of the Olympic Games.

With less than a year remaining until Colombian city Cali hosts the next edition of the World Games - the multi-sport event which gives a platform to non-Olympic sports - the IWGA (International World Games Association) has recruited international marketing agency UFA Sports to help increase awareness.

The deal signed in October, from 2013-2017, will see the agency market all commercial rights for the event, encompassing next year’s Games and the 2017 event in Wroclaw, Poland.

UFA Sports’ managing director Stefan Felsing says the World Games offer a wealth of untapped broadcast potential - an area that his company is keen to exploit.

“From an event perspective we’ve seen that the event is developing from one edition to the next in a very positive way,” he told SportBusiness International.

“Kaohsiung (Taiwan) set another benchmark in 2009 and we have seen the World Games receive increased attention and become more professional in the way they are produced and presented. However, from a media perspective we felt this general development wasn’t reflected in the way broadcasters were covering the Games.”

The IWGA announced that Cali 2013 will see 15 hours of daily coverage produced in HD, and there will be two 30-minutes highlights programmes that will be utilised in a bid to enhance exposure of the Games.

The World Games differ from other multisport events in that existing infrastructure and venues in the host city are the determining factor in the selection of sports to the official programme. Cali 2013 will feature 38 sports across the clusters of artistic and dance, ball, martial arts, precision, strength and ‘trend’ sports.

Felsing admits the packaging of the wide array of sports is a key consideration when attempting to appeal to broadcasters, adding that the subject of an online streaming partner is one that is being discussed.

“In some areas of the world there are sports that are very attractive to broadcasters, but aren’t as interesting in other markets,” he says. “So we try to provide a combination of tailor-made packages for live coverage, while also offering a pre-produced highlights show to either accompany live coverage or to stand alone.”

One of UFA’s tasks under its partnership with the IWGA is the sale of corporate sponsorships. However, with Cali 2013 due to commence on July 25, Felsing admits the task of developing a commercial programme which “reflects the spirit of the World Games” has currently been put on the back-burner.

“Obviously in an ideal world you would want to find partners to be involved not just over a few weeks, but over a four-year cycle,” he adds. “But that is a little premature at this stage.

“We have to analyse what ideas we and the IWGA members identify before we come up with a commercial programme, which now, given the short period of time until Cali 2013, will not be the main focus for us.”

Looking to the future, Felsing states a determination to remove a certain stigma attached to the event.

“We’ll try to achieve the positioning of the World Games as a highly attractive mixture of culture, tradition and modern sports competed in the air, in the water and on the ground,” he says.

“It’s definitely not just an event of nonOlympic sports. This idea that the World Games is a small edition of the summer Olympic Games is something we don’t like and is negative.”

Tokyo 2020: The Japanese capital’s bid to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games has more than 8.5m domestic supporters according to a survey taken last month and released by the Tokyo 2020 bid committee. The figure is equivalent to 67 per cent of Tokyo residents.

Athletics Team Championships: The German city of Braunschweig and the Russian city of Cheboksary were selected to host the top leagues of the respective 2014 and 2015 European events. Braunschweig defeated the Czech city of Ostrava in the hosting contest, while Cheboksary was the sole bidder for 2015.

Formula One: The sport’s commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone revealed he would like to have three grands prix in the United States in the future.

Formula One returned to the US last month with the inaugural Austin grand prix in Texas, the first race held in the country for five years.

Gold Event Series: UK Sport and the British government’s Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) unveiled the initiative which aims to attract more than 70 of the world’s most prestigious sporting events to the UK ahead of the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio. 2013 America’s Cup: The organisers announced the World Series will return to Naples for its first event of 2013, with the Italian city set to stage Europe’s only event next year. Naples hosted the America’s Cup World Series in April this year, attracting over 500,000 spectators.

Triple Trophy: The International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (FIBT) launched the new competition in a bid to raise the appeal of the sport for fans, the media and commercial partners. The Triple Trophy concept requires one athlete or team from all World Cup disciplines to win three predefined races within their respective discipline and within the same season with prize money totalling €100,000.

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EVENTS

CHIP AND WIN The Turkish Airlines World Golf Final, held for the first time this October, will play a key role in boosting tourism in the Antalya region and showcasing Turkey’s event-hosting credentials in the competition to host the 2020 Olympic Games.

Richard Gillis reports.

22 SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12

THE ANATOMY OF the World Golf Final reveals much about how golf works.

Held at the Antalya Golf Club, the eight-man tournament attracted the best players in the world - of those invited, only Luke Donald chose to stay away - competing for a total prize fund just north of $5 million.

The winner - Justin Rose - walked off with a cheque for $1.5 million, his second million dollar-plus pay day in as many tournaments. The last-placed player in Turkey didn’t go home empty handed either, pocketing a tidy $300,000.

The event was also a rare appearance in Europe for Tiger Woods, who played a Pro-Am tournament as part of the five-day event that saw his playing partners pay more than $300,000 for nine holes of golf.

The structure of the World Golf Final bore the hallmarks of the famous IMG-owned World Match Play Championship, which had its origins in England in the early 1960s. Back then

it was Mark McCormack pulling the strings, matching title sponsors, charming media and ensuring his own roster of players were liberally sprinkled among the starting line-up.

Fast forward to 2012, and the location has shifted from Wentworth to Belek, the quaint holiday destination in Turkey’s Antalya province, but the intention remains the same. However, this time it was sports management agency ISM as the catalysts, and its owner Andrew ‘Chubby’ Chandler in the McCormack role.

In a week when money was a hot topic, Chandler took every opportunity to talk legacy.

“For Turkey this is the realisation of a 10-year dream,” he said.

“These kids have now got idols. Don’t forget some of them don’t have TVs. The best two players in the world, four of the world’s top five, are teaching them on a range. That’s pretty special.

“Yes, there will always be negative

EVENTS EVENTS

Tiger Woods in Antalya this October - Getty Images Sport

comments about players coming over to events like this. But people have not understood the big picture.

Turkey is at the start of something. The golf was great. Don’t tell me Tiger was not up for it, or that Lee [Westwood] enjoyed losing in the final. Tiger was at the club at 5.45am on Tuesday morning.”

With the help of Turkish Airlines’ millions, the hope is that the new event will boost golf tourism in Antalya, allowing the region to compete with traditional European golf markets like Spain and Portugal. Also, with golf joining the Olympic schedule at Rio 2016, the

Turkish government is interested in using the legacy of the World Golf Final to aid Istanbul’s chances of beating Madrid and Tokyo to host the 2020 Games.

The Turkish Golf Federation (TGF) has also announced details of the Turkish Open, a new $7 million event that will serve as the penultimate tournament on the 2013 European Tour, held at Antalya’s Montgomerie Maxx Royal venue.

Legacy is always a deeply political issue for Turkey, and the return on investment will be closely monitored. There is, however, no doubt that the profile of golf tourism in the Antalya region will have benefited as a result of Chandler’s event.

However, seasoned golf business watchers would be forgiven for getting a shudder of recognition from recent events in Antalya. Many remember that at the start of the millennium, Dubai was the new go-to golfing destination, propelled by the combined engines of sports marketing, real estate and tourism.

For many investors, tax payers and property developers, Dubai’s golfing adventures didn’t end well. When the global financial crisis hit, the market for golf-related real estate fell in some cases by up to 80 per cent - a ‘substantial readjustment’ in economic-speak.

The question hanging over recent events in Antalya is therefore this: is Turkey the new Dubai? For Jeremy Slessor, head of European Golf Design, the joint-venture between the European Tour and IMG, there are basic differences between the two.

“When we talk about golf in Turkey, we are actually talking about the area around Belek, in Antalya on the south-east coast,” he says. “There is very little golf anywhere else in Turkey, and there are just 27 holes in Istanbul.”

In fact, Slessor says Belek’s growth is due to a far-sighted golf tourism strategy: “The government looked at this area of the country, which has very limited agricultural value, and put together a forward-looking masterplan for tourism. Golf’s role is to sustain tourism levels in the winter months. January, February and March are busy purely because of golf”.

By comparison, Dubai was a real estate model in which the speed of development, according to Slessor, was “unsustainable” due to a high level of speculation with little underlying demand.

Another key difference is that Belek is largely government-owned land, which is being leased to hotel developers to boost tourism.

“In Dubai, most of the golf is played by locals and ex-pats living in the area, not visitors,” says Slessor.

“In Belek, the opposite is true. The development of golf is not reliant on real estate. There is no real estate around golf courses in Turkey.”

HELD TO RANSOM? The history books may record October’s inaugural Turkish Airlines World Golf Final as Turkey’s first sustained foray in to professional golf and a watershed moment for the region.

The event has, however, also added fuel to a different debate, according to one of the game’s biggest investors, who says it threatens to undermine the value of golf as a sponsorship property.

HSBC has invested around $300 million in the sport over the past decade, an outlay that includes rights to The Open Championship and WGC (World Golf Championships) events in both the men’s and women’s games. The bank’s global head of sport sponsorship, Giles Morgan, has questioned the role of appearance money in golf.

The stars of the game come at a price, and Morgan is not happy.

“We used to sponsor the World Matchplay at Wentworth,” he says. “The problem with that is when you take your top clients at the weekend and the best players are gone by Thursday and Friday, you have no product for them to watch.

“Professional golf relies on tournaments, and tournaments are funded by sponsors. It costs a lot to put on a tournament and if you do it well it costs millions of dollars. That’s fine, that’s our decision. But because of the recession, the players are finding it harder to get personal sponsors - there are fewer of them wearing patches on their shirts and caps.

“What some players, and their agents, are doing is coming back to the tournament sponsors and saying ‘we know you have sponsored the event so we need to talk to you about ensuring our player comes to the event’.

This happens even in a top ten-type event.

“They are going back to the trough, and a lot of sponsors - if you think about it there are four or five top sponsors in golf globally, of which we would be one - are having the same conversations. Between us we’re saying: ‘this is imbalanced’.

“If we’re paying the prize fund for a World Golf Championship, why on Earth should we require the services of some other players to come along at that level? If you didn’t have that funding you wouldn’t have any tournaments.”

Unsurprisingly, sports management agency ISM’s founder Andrew Chandler is more comfortable with golf’s end of season economic model as it favours some of the players he represents. If you want the best, he says, you have to pay the going rate.

“Yes, he [Tiger] has a value,” says Chandler.

“All sportsmen have. But the money never makes the difference. Tiger has more than enough of that. We offered something different, in a place he had never been. He was able to have dinner in the restaurant and not have people staring at him all the time. In the players’ lounge he has been one of the lads. You don’t see that much either. I asked Steiny [Woods’ agent Mark Steinberg] and he said Tiger was loving it.”

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STADIA & FACILITIES in partnership with

5-7 JUNE 2013 MANCHESTER

Real Madrid: The Spanish football club opened the third phase of its Football City project by opening residential facilities for both the first team and academy sides. The academy is over 9,000-square-metres in size with 56 rooms, study areas, living areas and a dining room.

Millennium Stadium: The home of Welsh rugby union in Cardiff achieved the new ISO 20121 standard for events management in recognition of hitting sustainability targets. The ISO 20121 management system identifies the potentially negative social, economic and environmental impacts of events by removing or reducing them through improved planning and processes.

Sports Turf: The STRI (Sports Turf Research Institute) announced a series of training courses at eight venues throughout November and December for greenkeepers and course managers across the UK and Ireland. The training gives information on the latest products, techniques, technology and machinery used in the management and development of golf courses and putting greens.

2018 FIFA World Cup: July floods that killed 172 people led to Samara’s proposed new stadium for the event being moved to another site according to regional governor Nikolai Merkushkin.

Samara’s 45,000-seater stadium was originally set to be built on an island where two rivers meet however following the disaster the Russian government signed a decree stating any new large development near water must be at least eight-metres above water level. Merkushkin said the new rules made the project too expensive.

Tokyo 2020: Zaha Hadid, the architect behind the Aquatics Centre at the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games, won the contest to update and remodel Tokyo’s Kasumigaoka National Stadium. If Tokyo is selected as host of the Games in 2020, the new stadium will host the opening and closing ceremonies, athletics, football and rugby sevens events.

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Growing support to introduce safe-standing areas - Getty Images Sport

TAKING A STAND Football Supporters’ Federation (FSF) chair Dr. Malcolm Clarke argues the business case for safe-standing areas following Aston Villa’s public backing of the FSF’s campaign to reintroduce standing at English football stadia.

IN 1989, 96 people died during a match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at the Hillsborough Stadium following a human crush.

An official inquiry led by Lord Justice Taylor into the disaster a year later resulted in a law eliminating standing terraces at all major football stadia in England, Wales and Scotland. However, both Taylor’s first report into the causes of the disaster and the Hillsborough Independent Panel report released this September reached the conclusion that standing was not to blame for the deaths of those who lost their lives that day, and now, despite the introduction of all-seater stadia following Hillsborough, English football clubs have finally woken up to the lost business by not permitting standing in their stadia.

In December 2011, the Scottish Premier League agreed to allow its clubs to experiment with safe-standing areas (the all-seated law never applied in Scotland, only in England and Wales) while down south Aston Villa became the first Premier League club to publicly offer to be a pilot club for safe standing areas in October.

So what is the positive business case? Firstly, it saves a lot of money on ground maintenance.

The metal seat and barrier arrangement common in German top-flight stadia, known as ‘rail seating’, is all but indestructible. Many stadium managers bemoan their maintenance and replacement budget for seats; that can be slashed to next to nothing for an area with rail seating and the FSF estimates pay-back on investment within ten years from the cut in maintenance costs alone.

Where space and configuration permits, more fans can also be admitted to safe-standing

areas when in standing configuration than seated, whilst staying within rigorous safety requirements - which makes it an attractive proposition even for clubs which do not reach capacity. The ratio in Germany varies from 1:1.2 to 1:1.8, so taking 1:1.4 as an average, if a ticket price, excluding VAT, for an area of two thousand seats is £20.84 - the club generates £41,680.

The capacity, however, increases to 2,800 in standing configuration. If a club therefore reduces the ticket price to £16.67, that produces receipts of £46,676, an increase of £4,996 or nearly 12 per cent from gate receipts alone.

And that’s without the additional sales of merchandise, programmes and catering.

Yes, there are some additional costs from stewarding and policing, but the club will still be coming out ahead very quickly, even taking into account the cost of capital. Based on these figures, the FSF expects a club who invests in safe-standing areas to break-even on its investment in less than two seasons. Thereafter, the club would be generating extra revenue of more than £100,000 per year.

Safe-standing areas also remove the current conflict between stewards and people who don’t want to sit down and improve customer care by stopping the obstructed views for those who prefer to sit or who can’t stand up.

Most significant of all for clubs who invest in safe-standing, however, is that it will be giving the customers what they want - choice. Every opinion survey done in the UK shows a large majority of fans are in favour of giving fans the choice of safe-standing areas, including amongst those who prefer to sit.

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Sports venues are investing in solar-powered sustainable solutions - Getty Images Sport

BRING ME SUNSHINE Maria Walsh, Senior Consultant at SPORT+MARKT, explains why over twice as many stadia use solar energy than they did in 2010.

A CONTINUED DRIVE for sustainability is one of the most evident trends in the stadia sector.

According to the 2012 International Stadia Operators survey, carried out by SPORT+MARKT and REPUCOM’s Stadia Consultancy unit and completed in October, 70 per cent of global stadia operators believe sustainability is a key topic for the future of the stadia business. This is a marked increase in response to the same question when it was asked in 2010.

Photovoltaic energy systems - systems that generate electrical power by converting solar radiation into direct current electricity - are increasingly becoming an accepted and accessible aspect of building construction as the technology becomes more and more efficient. As in the stadia environment, cost-saving and greenthinking are primary motivators, and the agenda is being driven at the highest levels following the Fukushima Daiichi meltdown in Japan last year.

Japan’s prime minister Naoto Kan proposed, following the meltdown, that solar panels be compulsory in all new-build homes by 2030. Similar sentiments have been raised at government level all over the world.

The solar revolution for stadia is grounded both in the reality of escalating energy costs and in the central role social responsibility plays for venues and their respective communities. In that respect, ‘going solar’ provides both moneysaving and image-related benefits.

In Europe, football clubs in the German Bundesliga have led the way. In co-operation with energy partners EWE and SWB, Werder Bremen’s Weserstadion has installed a photovoltaic system of 200,000 solar cells that generate 840,000-kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity. The system reduces annual energy costs by a six-figure sum and saves around 450-tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.

Last year, Fulham became the first English

Premier League club to embrace the solar panel industry when it partnered with Canadian Solar, one of the world’s largest solar panel producers.

There has also been significant commitment in North America and Asia.

Lincoln Financial Field, the home of the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles, also has a new sustainable energy solution, installed by NRG Energy, that was completed this month. The solution includes the largest solar power system in the NFL and in the Philadelphia area with more than 11,000 solar panels and threemegawatts (MW) of generating capacity. Fixed solar panels in the parking lot will generate the bulk of the clean, renewable power that will help run the stadium all-year-long.

In Taiwan, meanwhile, there already exists the first 100-per-cent-solar-powered venue, the Kaohsiung National Stadium. The venue has 8,844 photovoltaic solar panels lining the external face that generate more electricity than is needed to power the building’s 3,300 lights and two big screens. The panels generate over one million kWh of electricity a year.

One attractive aspect in the push towards sustainable energy is the opportunity for clubs and solar energy providers to form partnerships.

Stadia and venues provide the perfect showcase for the energy industry to promote its latest systems, and as multi-market research conducted earlier this year by SPORT+MARKT and REPUCOM shows, 65 per cent of the public believe companies involved in sports sponsorship gain in appeal with their audience.

The club or venue, meanwhile, can take advantage of the new commercial opportunity as well as making a clear message of commitment to sustainability. In 2009 SPORT+MARKT found that three-quarters of the German population felt it important that major sports clubs and federations took the initiative in ‘going green’.

Qatar: The Qatar Sports Venue Master Plan, a scheme to develop 19 new sports venues across the country, was presented publicly. Two years in the making, the plan audited 62 existing sports venues for usability and proposed 11 new facilities, in addition to eight venues originally planned by the Qatar Olympic Committee, with an eye on bidding for the 2024 Olympic Games.

AEG: Anschutz Entertainment Group announced a partnership with eBay to incorporate multiple sponsorships and technology integrations across its facilities. Primarily, eBay subsidiary StubHub will become the exclusive secondary ticketing partner for AEG venues and AXS Ticketing, the ticketing platform launched by AEG in 2011.

London 2012: UK Athletics chairman Ed Warner hit out over the delays holding back the reopening of the Olympic Stadium. “We have some major events planned for that stadium and we thought they were going to be from the summer of 2014 onwards.

All of the legacy use was scheduled to start in two years’ time and now it might be four years’ time, which strikes me as ludicrous,” he said.

Ulster Rugby: A major redevelopment at the home of the Irish rugby union club got under way last month after it secured £14.7m of promised government funding. The construction of three new stands at Ravenhill in east Belfast, which will increase capacity from 11,400 to 18,000, is due to be completed by the summer of 2014.

DePauw University: The college in Indiana received a $5m gift to help construction a new multi-purpose stadium that will become the home to DePauw’s men’s and women’s varsity soccer teams and lacrosse teams.

Bolton Wanderers: The English Championship club confirmed it is to build a £100m, 29,000-squaremetre sport, education and office development next to its Reebok Stadium home.

SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12 25

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HUNTING WHITE ELEPHANTS German consultancy ProProjekt is leading a drive for sports organisations to reduce their minimum venue capacity demands so that host regions rethink their approach to facility development. Rob Ridley reports.

IF THERE IS ONE PHRASE guaranteed to bring major event stakeholders out in a cold sweat, it is the term ‘white elephant’.

Recent history is littered with examples of sporting citadels, built at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars to wow global TV audiences, floundering under the weight of maintenance costs and the failure to devise a suitable legacy plan.

Using the template of FIFA’s basic stadium requirements for a World Cup host, German consultancy ProProjekt, which specialises in planning and construction services and played a key role in Qatar’s successful bid for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, argues that the guidelines contribute to the development of white elephants.

FIFA currently requires a minimum of 12 venues for its leading event, with the stadium hosting the final and opening game having to guarantee a net capacity of at least 80,000.

Stadia hosting the two semi-finals must hold at least 60,000 fans, while all other venues must have a minimum capacity of 40,000.

A World Cup of 12 venues will therefore 26 SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12

boast a minimum average capacity of 46,667, significantly above the average attendances of even Europe’s major football leagues. In the 2011/12 season Germany’s top-tier Bundesliga drew an average attendance of 45,726, England’s Premier League 34,601, Spain’s Primera Division 30,264 and Italy’s Serie A 23,459.

ProProjekt believes therefore that a more sustainable approach should be taken to major event design under three key considerations.

Firstly, that the long-term needs after the shortterm event should be made the priority, secondly multi-functional venues must be promoted and thirdly that organisers swallow their pride and always develop temporary venues if that is the most realistic way to avoid unsustainable stadia in the long-term.

“I’m not saying the international federations should in principle lower their minimum.

I would, however, expect more flexibility to respond to the local conditions and post-event demand in the respective host cities, for example the popularity, degree of commercialisation and average spectator attendance of the specific sports

in the host country,” ProProjekt CEO Stefan Klos told SportBusiness International. In addition to its work on Qatar 2022, ProProjekt consulted on Munich’s bid for the 2018 winter Olympics and is currently advising on the Ukranian city of Lviv’s proposed 2022 Games bid.

“This is particularly important when tapping into new markets, for instance in Africa or the Middle East…there will always be emerging economic powerhouses that are willing to afford the ‘biggest Games ever’. The paradigm shift has to happen in the head, by realising that bigger does not mean better and that the true legacy is the soft legacy, in terms of nationbuilding and nation-branding.”

ProProjekt was commissioned by Qatar’s successful 2022 FIFA World Cup bid to prepare the bid concept and coordinate and conceive the bid document, which included details of eyecatching stadium designs.

Klos believes that Qatar 2022 can point the way forward for the staging of major sports events, but concedes the country’s economic stature does place it in an advantageous position to achieve its more ambitious goals.

“In a relatively small country like Qatar it’s just more obvious what is, by the way, true for every single country in the world – that it will be very hard to fill 12 stadia of capacities between 40,000 and 80,000 seats with well above the

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average match attendance of any European football league,” he says.

“So we‘ve consequently developed the concept of downsizing most of the stadia to a moderate capacity. But the show-stopper has been the idea of planning the modular seats in a way that they can be dismantled, shipped and reassembled to smaller stadia to foster football development in poorer countries.

“This is, of course, a very special solution because it requires a country that has the good will and the wealth to do so. Qatar has both.”

Looking at the potential for future white elephants, Klos believes that the organisers of 2012’s two major venue-generating events will steer clear of such comparisons.

London’s Olympic Games was heralded as the most ‘temporary’ Games in history, with 257,000 out of 745,100 seats in the 34 venues being dismantled after the event and development costing around £1.1 billion. Meanwhile, Poland and Ukraine’s staging of UEFA Euro 2012 saw eight stadia built or redeveloped at a reported cost of around $3 billion.

“I’m absolutely convinced that London made

Football Attendances and Stadia Capacity (2011/12) League

Average Capacity

Average Attendance

Utilisation (%)

Bundesliga (Germany)

46,062

42,368

92

Serie A (Italy)

43,523

23,778

55

Primera Division (Spain)

38,502

28,054

73

Premier League (England)

37,847

34,780

92

Ligue 1 (France)

28,007

19,530

70

FIFA Average Stadium Capacity Requirement = 46,667 Source: PROPROJEKT ‘Hunting White Elephants’ (29 October 2012)

a great step in the right direction by using temporary venues where there was no proven post-event demand,” says Klos. “This is, by experience, not really cheaper than building permanent facilities but it saves tens of millions in running costs in the years to come.

“Regarding Euro 2012 I feel the fact that the venues are widespread over two countries which have a sound football tradition and fanbase should reduce the risk of leaving white elephants.”

Klos believes that sports event organisers

may be forgiven for thinking that the white elephant is one animal they would happily hunt to extinction and says that stakeholders could yet witness that day – if they follow certain mantras.

“Assure cities that an iconic building must not necessarily be large. Convince federations that the main use is the post-use,” he says. “Ask organising committees to only build permanent venues where there is a proven use for at least the next 10 years. Tell architects to plan for maximum flexibility to respond to future demands that may be unknown today.”

MEMORIES OF ELEPHANTS The Kings of Thailand gave white elephants as gifts to courtiers they disliked because of the great expense incurred in maintaining the animal.

However, the idiom has now become a buzz word for those seeking to assess the legacy of major sporting events.

The 2004 Athens Olympics is often awarded the tag of being the ‘poster boy’ for sporting white elephants. Greece is thought to have invested more than €12 billion in building or redeveloping 36 venues for its summer Games and almost all stand derelict and graffiticovered after repeated failures to lease them out. Meanwhile, maintenance costs, which reportedly hit €96.6 million in 2005 alone, are proving another heavy weight to bear for the ailing Greek economy.

Beijing’s approach to the 2008 Olympics produced some architecturally stunning venues, but again the city has found it difficult to find tenants or generate revenue from most of the 32 venues, 12 of which were built specifically for the Games.

The iconic Bird’s Nest Stadium was developed as the centrepiece of the Games at a cost of $423 million, but has also been lumbered with the white elephant tag. The IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) World Championships are set to visit Beijing in 2015, but other events have proved sporadic in nature and in the

meantime the venue is generating $13 million a year in maintenance costs alone.

Another nation to have invested heavily to realise its sporting dreams is South Africa.

An estimated $2.2 billion was spent to build or redevelop the country’s 10 stadia for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, but post-event usage has proved a major issue with Cape Town Stadium causing the most concern.

One of the most picturesque venues in sport, the 55,000-seat stadium in Green Point was built for $513 million but has reportedly cost $7 million to maintain over the past year. Indeed in July, local authorities called on the stadium to be transformed into affordable housing for the poor.

But the white elephant curse is not solely

reserved for sport’s mega venues. It was announced in October that the $100 million luge and bobsled track built for the 2006 Turin Olympics is to be dismantled because of operating costs of $2 million per year.

“The next five to 10 years will tell whether architectural icons as the Bird’s Nest, or some of the World Cup stadia in South Africa, will manage to operate under adequate capacity-utilisation or turn out to be the next generation of white elephants,” says ProProjekt CEO Stefan Klos.

“However, many of the venues built for Athens 2004 demonstrate that it is the wrong approach to tailor facilities to an event’s demand for 16 days rather than focusing on the post-use for the next 16 years.”

SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12 27

THE DEVILS IN DETAIL Richard Arnold, commercial director of Manchester United, tells Kevin Roberts how an innovative approach to sponsorship has seen the club open up the biggest brand in football to lucrative new markets.

28 SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12

MAY 29, 1968 was a special day in the history of Manchester United.

Beneath the floodlights of Wembley Stadium, in front of 100,000 fans and an estimated 250 million TV viewers, Matt Busby’s Red Devils scored three extra-time goals to beat Benfica 4-1 and become the first English team to win the European Cup. Nearly half-a-century on, the world is a very different place. Outside of Europe, very few people would have been aware of who even won on that fateful day in 1968.

In Vietnam, for instance, there were more pressing matters to consider – namely a civil war. But fast forward 43 years to August 2011 and Manchester United’s announcement that the club had signed a three-year agreement with Beeline, a Russian-owned telecoms company,

to be its exclusive telecoms partner in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. It is a deal that somehow encapsulates so many of the ways the world has changed in a little over four decades - politically, economically and in the media.

“We are very excited to be working with United on a range of activities that will be mutually beneficial and will bring this legendary club closer to this football-loving country,” said Michael Cluzel, CEO of Beeline Vietnam, following the deal.

Cluzel is not the only high-powered marketing director, CEO or company shareholder across the world who has bought into the Manchester United legend in the hope and expectation that the stardust will rub off on their balance sheet.

It’s arguable whether the legend of

Curriculum Vitae Richard Arnold Commercial Director, Manchester United Arnold is responsible for the management and growth of the English Premier League giant’s sponsorship, retail, merchandising, apparel and product licensing business, as well as new media and mobile offerings.

Manchester United was born that night at Wembley or in the horror and despair that followed the tragedy of the 1958 Munich air crash which saw 23 people, including eight United players, killed in a snowstorm on the way back from a European tie.

Following Munich, Manchester United had come back from the brink and turned tragedy into glory. United has, of course, won many trophies since then - including three European Cups (Champions Leagues) - but it was in the decade between Munich and Wembley that Manchester United became far more than a club.

Though there are some in Spain who might contest the point, United is by many measures the best known and financially most-successful football club in the world and one which now

He was previously deputy managing director of software developer InterVoice, responsible for the international channel sales and marketing division of the NASDAQlisted company between 2002 and 2007. During this time he was twice nominated as a finalist for young director of the year by the United Kingdom Institute of Directors.

Prior to InterVoice, Arnold worked at technology company Global Crossing Europe, and was integral to its restructure between 1999 and 2002. He started his career as a senior manager in the telecommunications and media practice at PwC from 1993 to 1999.

Arnold received an honours degree in biology from Bristol University in 1993 and received his Chartered Accountancy qualification in 1996.

measures its fanbase not in the 80,000 or so who regularly pack Old Trafford but the hundreds of millions around the globe whose worlds are plugged into events in and around Salford.

United, therefore, is a club that is rarely out of the headlines.

In 2005 it was acquired by US businessman Malcolm Glazer and his family who ultimately paid £800 million to take it private.The fact that the Glazers bought the club using loans secured against its assets is a business model which United fans found hard to swallow and, despite success on the pitch, there is a continuing rift between the owners and some fans who consider their previously debt-free club in financial peril as a result of interest payments on the debt.

United’s business model depends on its ability to maximise revenues from every source.

And with media rights determined by the central negotiations of the Premier League, that leaves matchday and commercial revenue as the two areas which can be driven by the club itself.

The person responsible for ensuring the club performs in the commercial arena is Richard Arnold, the man who joined United five years ago from a key role at software developer InterVoice.

Back then he wasn’t a football man and had no sports-specific marketing background, but his knowledge of global markets has proved invaluable as United has striven to extract the maximum value from its brand and the massive global exposure it attracts.

Arnold says he has, inevitably, come to love the club and that the structure of the business means that he feels no undue pressure despite the need to feed United’s hunger for cash.

“I don’t think pressure is the right word,” he says. “This club has history and a very solid business and operating model. When I arrived the starting point was having an owner group that respected what Manchester United represents from a global point of view, that recognised its value and potential and that was willing to invest.”

Global is the key word here and it is the work carried out by Arnold and his team in identifying and successfully activating a strategy to maximise the value of the United brand in diverse markets around the world which has won him recognition as one of the SportBusiness International Innovators of 2012 (see pages 44-48).

Last month United announced Turkish bank Denizbank as the official Manchester United credit card partner in Turkey, a deal that can and will be replicated many times elsewhere in the world, offering fans who buy-in special offers on merchandise and other ways of getting a little closer to their heroes. The Denizbank deal, remarkably, is the 11th to be signed since July 1 and marks an impressive year for the commercial department. In the three months to September 2012, commercial revenues grew 24 per cent to SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12 29

Last year we didn’t win the league but viewing figures and engagement levels were higher than ever £43 million while sponsorship was up 32 per cent, and although the headline deals with Aon (shirt) and Nike (kit) accounted for a little over a third of all commercial revenues, elsewhere much of the growth was through category-exclusive deals in geographically-specific markets.

Under Arnold, United has had a sharp eye for a deal. While other clubs may offer official wine and beer partnerships, how many others have an official noodles partner (Mamee), a Thai motor cycling partner (AP Honda) and a Japanese soft drinks partner (Kagome)?

“The organisation used to have just one individual who was responsible for selling sponsorships as one part of the job,” says Arnold.

“We are now just short of 20 people in sales with a further 40 or so who work on the strategy and presentation materials which support them.”

According to Arnold, the contribution made by the Glazers goes well beyond bringing an understanding of sports marketing practices in their native US: “They bring a breadth of skill and understanding of how genuinely global businesses operate. They have set the tone and expectation of excellence which we, as a management team, have to perform to.”

That global focus has become central to United’s financial future. Its London sales hub has been complemented by the opening of a Hong Kong office in August and other regional offices are on the cards.

“Of course the US is the world’s biggest economy and is high up on our list of priorities but we are looking at other parts of the world as well,” Arnold says. “We are early in the journey and there is huge untapped potential all around the world. The deals we are doing vary tremendously. Because it is early days in our journey, everywhere is a new market for us.

“We haven’t seen a particular trend towards individual geographies although two things are notable. Firstly, 325 milliion of our 659 million fans are based in the Far East. Economically, that part of the world fares very well compared to other parts and it has been an important region for us.

“Secondly, North America has seen some of 30 SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12

the fastest growth [for football/’soccer’] in recent years. We saw that when we toured and sold-out venues which were not previously soccer cities.”

The strategy which has delivered such impressive results and led other clubs to cast an envious eye towards United is, in reality, fairly straightforward but Arnold’s team was there first and are reaping the benefits. In the simplest terms it is about identifying business categories that can be offered on an exclusive basis territory-by-territory. United has, for example, sold mobile telecoms partnerships in around 45 different markets. So long as the category doesn’t cut across a single, more lucrative global deal, less really doesn’t mean more.

“Our fanbase and media presence is so significant that we are in a position where we can carve [the world] up into smaller sectors rather than having one sponsor of a given type globally,” Arnold says.

“We have to have precision around categories and we have identified over 90 in which corporations invest significantly in marketing. As well as in telecoms, we have seen the approach being successful in credit cards and gaming.

By being precise about the category, geography and allocation of inventory we can ensure we don’t become over-exposed and we have been able to grow significantly. But right now we are just a tiny step down the road.”

So what does Arnold believe it is about United that gives it such traction with fans from Kansas City to Kuala Lumpur and all stops between?

“One of the things that characterises Manchester United is the intense emotion fans have for the club,” he says. “We have seen studies on the brand that throw up ‘passionate’, ‘exciting’ and ‘adventurous’ as key attributes.

Alongside that the level of engagement, passion and affection our fans have all around the world is very, very high.

“I don’t think it is the case that these fans simply follow winners. A recent survey showed that 85 per cent of people globally never change the team they support. One of the enduring fascinations of sport is its uncertainty. Last year

we didn’t win the league and the viewing figures and engagement levels were higher than they have ever been.”

There are, of course, those who remain sceptical about the relationship between European clubs and their growing legions of overseas fans. Arnold certainly isn’t one of them.

“Wherever in the world you look our fans have a lot in common,” he says. “There is more which unites than separates them. Our ability to communicate directly with fans across the world instantaneously has hugely strengthened us and we are consistently ranked top of the pile in terms of engagement levels.

“There are differences between nations but we are culturally flexible in the way we recognise and respect our fans. However, the core themes and interests around the world are very similar.”

United’s games are delivered to 80 per cent of the world’s households and the club is able to claim more than 600 million fans worldwide - that’s a significantly higher number of people than the 16 million names on United’s CRM (customer relationship management) database who have actually transacted business or shared information with the club and its partners.

For Arnold this is a clear signal of the potential in the marketplace: “So far we’ve only populated a small number of categories… there is room to grow significantly. We have identified new sectors which lend themselves to a regional expression and that means there is plenty of work to do to harness the investment that will enable us to remain successful in the years to come.”

Naturally there will be competition but, says Arnold, right now it’s not from other football clubs: “It’s a big world and the issue facing clients is not usually about us versus another sporting property.

“We are standing on the shoulders of 130 years of history and to me success is being able to pass on a club that remains a giant delivering maximum performance in every area, whether it is on the pitch or commercially.

“It is ultimately about putting in an all-round performance to drive the business forward.”

THE RACE FOR PRESIDENCY

FACE OFF The race to succeed Jacques Rogge as president of the IOC (International Olympic Committee) will come to a dramatic climax next year at the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires. Owen Evans spoke to a group of Olympic insiders to discover who the leading contenders are for the top job in sport.

32 SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12

WHOEVER REPLACES JACQUES ROGGE as IOC president in nine months time will be taking over a federation the size of a small country, with a billion-dollar budget and a brand that ranks only behind Apple in terms of global recognition.

However, not everyone can apply. Only existing IOC members are eligible, and that is one of the hardest clubs to get into, with the current batch consisting of royalty, Olympians and knights of the realm.

Currently at the top of the tree is Rogge, a knight, doctor, count, three-time Olympian in yachting - and even Belgian national rugby union player - all rolled into one. So it goes without saying that you need a fairly decent CV to replace him.

Behind-the-scenes, IOC members with half an eye on the job have been working for years making alliances and assessing the voting landscape. However, none will dare to put their head above the parapet until three months before the vote - a requirement for candidates going for IOC presidency - in Argentina next September.

Despite the fact the entire sports industry will be watching, all the box-ticking will take place behind a veil, as the winner is announced via a secret ballot from a 100 or so votes.

However, ultimately the real decision-making

could come down to an even smaller group - the IOC’s executive board, which consists of Rogge, his vice-presidents and ten other members - and the influence they hold over their colleagues.

Trying to ask the members for a clue is a waste of time, as I discovered when I met IOC member Patrick Hickey in Kiev in October.

Hickey laughed even at the suggestion of speaking off-the-record about the vote.

However, there are a group of people who have been around the Olympic Movement for as long as some of the members. They are the marketers, consultants, publicists, federation presidents and administrators who have helped to shape the Greatest Show on Earth into the behemoth it has become today.

While these experts have asked to remain anonymous - unsurprising due to the financial importance of staying in the IOC’s good books - they have provided priceless insight into what is currently being whispered in the Olympic corridors of power.

As a result, we have put together a shortlist of potential contenders whose names have cropped up time and time again from the mouths of those closest to the Olympic Movement.

Odds courtesy of William Hill

THE RACE FOR PRESIDENCY

THOMAS BACH (Germany)

Regardless of the secrecy of the IOC’s ballot boxes, there are a few signals from the Olympic past that appear too loud to ignore.

Since 1894, there have only been eight presidents of the IOC, and out of those, just one has come from outside Europe (American Avery Brundage).

On top of that, the president’s seat is based in the Chateau de Vidy in Switzerland, a country which is also home to the Olympic Museum and the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

As a result, it is no surprise that many are expecting someone from the continent to take over from Rogge, and the European whose name keeps on popping up is Thomas Bach, a gold medal-winning fencer from the 1976 Olympic Games.

Aside from his Olympian status, Bach ticks quite a few other presidential boxes. Since he became an IOC member in 1996 he has become a member of the influential executive board, and as a vice-president he is often seen just behind Rogge, as he was throughout the opening and closing

ceremonies of this summer’s Olympic Games.

Odds: Evens (Favourite)

Bach is often complimented for his skill as a political operator, which many close to the Olympic Movement believe will not only help him win the vote but also help the IOC construct a strategic future once he is at the controls.

“Thomas is clearly a strong contender and he is a good politician,” said one Olympic insider. “He’s unlikely to fawn all over Rogge as Bach is very much his own man and very ambitious. In some ways people might prefer the presidency to move away from Europe, which is understandable when you consider how long Samaranch was in power. But Bach is no slouch and he will already have a good idea of who he can count on.”

The consummate politician, every time Bach has been asked about the presidency in the past couple of years he has come out with the same response, saying how “unfair” it would be to talk about the position and reiterating his allegiance to the current president. However, not once has he denied he will run for the IOC presidency.

Despite his status as the leading candidate from Europe, there have however been one or two concerns raised on his behalf. Firstly, one sports federation president told me that his relationship with Rogge has not always been the best “even though it has improved a little over the past 12 months”.

Secondly, Bach was visibly shocked when the Munich bid for the 2018 winter Olympic Games, which he spearheaded, lost out to PyeongChang last year.

“From the German-speaking world many people see Thomas Bach as a clear favourite,” said one Olympic insider. “I don’t subscribe to that theory at all. The fallout from the Munich 2018 bid shocked him and was maybe a reminder that he is not as influential in the Olympic Movement as originally thought.

“Everybody who was there when PyeongChang was announced as the winner will know how shocked Thomas was when Munich lost. Maybe he is more out of sync with his colleagues than everybody had assumed.”

SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12 33

THE RACE FOR PRESIDENCY

RICHARD CARRION (Puerto Rico) In the period between the Beijing and London Olympic Games, the IOC earnt $3.91 billion in broadcast revenues, and this June NBC alone paid $4.38 billion to acquire the US broadcast rights from 2014 to 2020.

These numbers alone show that becoming head of the IOC is not a fanciful whim that volunteers do at the weekends, it is a position not too dissimilar to a CEO running one of the world’s largest businesses.

As a result there have been calls for the new president to be from a business background rather than a former athlete in order to run the IOC like the major multinational it has snowballed into.

Step forward Richard Carrion, a banker’s son from Puerto Rico who has been an IOC member since 1990 and is chair of the IOC’s finance commission and audit committee.

Outside of the IOC, Carrion is CEO and chairman of Popular, the Puerto Rican bank that boasts more than $45 billion in assets.

Generally considered as being Rogge’s favoured choice, were Carrion to take the presidency, he would also be taking over the IOC in a period when the Games will go to South America for the first time at Rio 2016.

Odds: 4-1 “Richard has the business background and offers a fresh alternative for the IOC,” said an Olympic insider who has worked closely with Carrion in the past.

“The members I’ve spoken to want something different to Rogge this time around, and Carrion gives them someone to vote for who can bring a bit of dynamism and a glamorous wife to the presidency.”

However, should Carrion wish to run for presidency, many factors could thwart his

path to the top. Some question whether he does in fact have a block vote for the Americas, while others point to the issue of whether he has the sporting pedigree to be the leader of the Olympic Movement.

“The IOC president has to be a sports guy,” added another person close to the Olympic Movement. “A sports guy ‘gets it’. Carrion’s not a sports guy, he doesn’t understand. He’s a banker and his Dad gave him the bank.

“To use a baseball analogy, Carrion’s one of those guys who was born on third base but acts as if he has hit a triple.”

SER MIANG NG (Singapore) Many close to the Olympic Movement fancy Asia to have a strong representative in the race to succeed Rogge and Singaporean Ser Miang Ng is the most powerful IOC member on the continent.

As well as a sporting background in sailing, Ng has been an IOC member since 1998 and currently sits on the influential executive board in his role as an IOC vice-president.

Unlike many of his colleagues, Ng has gone so far as to admit he is “thinking about” the presidency and those closest to the IOC believe he has done more than anyone behind-the-scenes in the past 12 months to prepare for a campaign.

Odds: 4-1

With no skeletons in the closet or scandals to worry about, if Ng runs for presidency the Singaporean is expected to play on his trump card - the work he did to launch Jacques Rogge’s pet project, the 2010 Youth Olympic Games, in his own country.

Olympics,” said one Olympic insider. “He won himself a lot of favours and respect for the way he carried it through.”

“Clearly Ng has a lot of profile, simply due to the investment Singapore made into the Youth

The one problem for Ng in any presidential race, however, is that despite his good work

34 SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12

getting the Youth Olympic Games off the ground, the general feeling is that the event launched with the purpose of re-engaging the youth audience with the Olympic Movement - has been a damp squib, and is nothing to build a presidential campaign on.

THE RACE FOR PRESIDENCY

OTHERS Bach, Carrion and Ng are the three most popular names on the lips of those in the know about the race to succeed Jacques Rogge, but that doesn’t mean they are the only ones being linked with an IOC presidential campaign.

Gold medal-winning hurdler and recently-elected IOC vice-president Nawal El Moutawakel (Morocco pictured) has been mentioned, as has John Coates (Australia), who is held in high regard for his work on the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. There are also whispers surrounding potential campaigns from René Fasel (Switzerland) and Anita DeFrantz (United States).

The general consensus is however that

this election will be four years too early for one of the IOC’s rising stars, Sergey Bubka (Ukraine), who will be keeping a keen eye on developments. The Ukrainian is many people’s president-in waiting.

One thing is for sure, do not expect anything like the wall-to-wall coverage that surrounded last month’s US presidential race - that’s not the IOC’s style.

The body prefers to keep its cards - and potential presidential candidates - very close to its chest.

Bach, Carrion and Ng are the favourites of the precious few and appear to be the logical choices. However, logic has not always played a part in IOC decision-making and there could yet be a joker in the pack.

RULES AND REGULATIONS ANY IOC MEMBER thinking about a shot at the top job in sport should be prepared for Olympic levels of hurdle-jumping.

A glance through the IOC ethics commission’s Code of Ethics shows any presidential candidate must abide by a strict number of regulations in order to run a legitimate campaign.

No gifts, no rival-bashing, no Tweeting, no public debates and certainly no deal-making between members is allowed, with any guilty party suffering the ignominy of being named and shamed on the IOC website.

As well as a general warning about ‘good conduct’, the Code of Ethics gives next year’s candidates a strict outline of what is expected when dealing with other IOC members, sponsors and third parties, the media and rival candidates.

Promotion, Trips and Gifts The promotion of a candidature shall exclude any form of publicity, including the use of new media or social networks. Candidates shall limit the number of trips they make to promote their candidature to avoid excessive expenditure. Under no pretext can they give presents, offer donations or grant advantages of any nature.

Meetings, Promises and IOC Favours No public meeting or gathering of any kind may be organised in the framework of promoting a candidature. They should get no assistance, financial or otherwise, from IOC members.

Declarations As the voting is secret, IOC members are

prohibited, individually or collectively, from announcing publicly in any form whatsoever their intention to vote.

payment, the services of a journalist or the media in order to place a candidature at an advantage or a disadvantage.

Neutrality No support for individual candidates from IOC honorary members, national Olympic committees, international federations, IOCrecognised organisations, Olympic Games organising committees, cities wishing to organise the Olympic Games, TOP (The Olympic Partner) sponsors or IOC partners.

Deal-Making, Support Services and Concealed Promotion No understanding, coalition or collusion between candidates with the intent to influence the result of the vote is allowed.

The IOC administration will remain neutral at all times, forbidden from supporting an individual candidature. Concealed promotion, in the form of technical meetings or other events, is prohibited.

Third Party Instructions and Assistance Candidates may not accept mandatory instructions from any public or private, natural or legal person, and may not enter into any form of undertaking with any natural or legal person likely to affect the freedom of decision or action of the future IOC president. Also, no direct or indirect assistance, be it financial or otherwise, may be given to candidates by an Olympic Movement constituent, TOP sponsor, IOC partner or other third party.

Media and Public Debates Candidates may grant interviews to the media but no form of publicity may be devoted to a candidate regardless of the backer. All communications undertaken by the candidate shall in no way be prejudicial to a rival. They cannot take part in a public debate, regardless of the organiser, and they are forbidden from using, free-of-charge or in return for

THE RACE FOR PRESIDENCY

ROGGE’S LEGACY How will Jacques Rogge be remembered in the annals of Olympic history? Owen Evans sees what the man himself told SportBusiness International three months after he was elected in 2001.

AS OUR ARCHIVE PAGE below shows, SportBusiness International editorial director Kevin Roberts went to visit Jacques Rogge shortly after he had beaten American Dick Pound to the presidency just over a decade ago.

Following predecessor Juan Antonio Samaranch was never going to be easy for Rogge, as despite rarely being the darling of the international media, the Spaniard is credited with making the biggest contribution to the Olympic Movement since Pierre de Coubertin after he took the Games from financial despair to economic viability.

Rogge has continued the legacy laid down by his predecessor; from 2001 to 2010 the IOC’s reserves grew from a little over $100 million to just under $600 million. However, many Olympic insiders believe the Belgian has simply reaped the dividends of the commercial foundations put in place

by Samaranch and say that Rogge has been a “safe pair of hands” that has merely allowed his predecessor’s long-term vision come to fruition.

On the other hand, Rogge was elected in the wake of the Salt Lake City bribery scandal, and he has certainly gone some way to improve the transparency and image of the organisation in the eyes of the international media.

So instead of measuring Rogge against previous presidents, it is probably fairer to pit Rogge against Rogge, and the pledges he gave to us just over a decade ago.

Sitting in his new office at the Chateau de Vidy in 2001, Rogge told Kevin Roberts about his concerns over the “pervasive influence” of video games and TV on the younger generation.

“We have seen it particularly in the performances in tough endurance sports where athletes

36 SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12

from developed economies are not doing as well as those who are prepared to suffer for their sport,” he said. “Against this trend, sport must fight to remain a priority among young people and we must work with governments and the corporate world to ensure they continue to prioritise sport.”

In an attempt to combat this, Rogge launched the Youth Olympics in Singapore two years ago. But has it been a success?

If you judged it by the amount of money Nanjing is currently investing into the third Youth Olympics in 2014 - the aquatics centre is expected to be three times the scale of London 2012’s - you would say it was well on course. However, the Youth Olympics have not been a universal success, with question marks raised by those closest to the Olympic Family as to whether the event has truly caught the attention of the youth market.

“Rogge, elected in the wake of the Salt Lake City bribery scandal, has certainly gone some way to improve the transparency and image of the organisation in the eyes of the international media.”

“Coming off the back of the Samaranch explosion of success, a lot of people are critical of Rogge’s lack of vision, and I would tend to agree with them,” said one Olympic insider. “I don’t think he has had a vision.

“I mean, if all his vision is in practice is the Youth Olympics, then his vision has been pretty weak. At his core Rogge is a surgeon and a doctor, and the first condition of a doctor is to do no harm and I think that is what he has done.”

The criticism of a lack of ambition is harsh considering the Olympic Games will have gone to both Beijing and Sochi during the Belgian’s tenure, and the fact we have just seen one of the best Olympics in the modern era during London this summer.

And in his defence, Rogge has never promised fireworks, telling Kevin Roberts: “I am not here to build an image or leave a legacy. I simply want to hand over the house in good order.”

So as far as he is concerned, when he steps down next September, Rogge will consider it a job well done.

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day 1

SPORTING PRECINCTS & HUBS Monday 11 March 2013 • State Government Perspective on Strategic Planning for Sport & Recreation • The Melbourne Model 2013 and Beyond • Community and Recreation Hubs • Sports and Entertainment Precincts • Major Events • MCG Facility Management Tour

day 3

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING & CASE STUDIES Wednesday 13 March 2013 • Lakeside Stadium Case Study • Sustainability – Successful Sport Facilities from Concept to Reality • Lakeside Stadium Facility Management Tour • Melbourne & Olympic Parks Site Tour • AAMI Park • Hisense Arena • Rod Laver Arena

day 2

FEASIBILITY, MANAGEMENT, OPERATION & INNOVATION Tuesday 12 March 2013 • Concept Planning • Feasibility • MSAC Establishment and Operation • Digital Service Delivery and Marketing • Australian Grand Prix Case Study

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2012 IN SPORT

THE YEAR IN REVIEW An Olympics that raised the bar in every area of event management, the most expensive shirt sponsorship deal in the history of sport for Manchester United and another lockout for the National Hockey League - 2012 has been a mixture of highs and lows for all involved in the sports industry. SportBusiness International picks out the good, the bad and the sometimes ugly from this year’s business of sport.

JANUARY • Eurosport steps in to produce and distribute coverage of the first World Rally Championship event of 2012 after the FIA (International Motorsport Federation) cancels North One Sport’s promoter contract • Liverpool confirms a six-year kit deal with Warrior Sports, worth a reported £25 million a year, starting in 2012-13 • Sony Ericsson announces it will not renew its sponsorship of the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) when it expires at the end of 2012

FEBRUARY • The Super Bowl attracts 111.3 million viewers in the US, an alltime, all-genre TV audience record in the country • Rome drops its bid to host the 2020 Olympic Games after failing to secure the support of the Italian government • Chelsea announces record turnover of £222.3 million but losses of £67.7 million for the year ending June 30, 2011 • Dutch media production and distribution giant Endemol folds its sports arm into the main business, resulting in the departures of Endemol Sport’s co-managing directors • Puma extends its partnership with the Italian Football Federation to become the long-term global rights-holder of its entire licensing portfolio

38 SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12

2012 IN SPORT

MARCH • A group including Magic Johnson (pictured) agrees to acquire Major League Baseball franchise the Los Angeles Dodgers for a record $2 billion • The European Broadcasting Union acquires rights in 37 European territories for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups • Allianz agrees a 10-year naming rights deal for the Sydney Football Stadium in Australia • The English Rugby Football Union recruits sportswear company Canterbury as its new official kit partner in a four-year deal, starting in September 2012, worth in the region of £5 million per year • Sports Marketing Frontiers exclusively reveals Nike as a tierthree partner of the 2016 Olympics • UEFA secures a 30-per-cent uplift in its rights fee in Germany for the European Championships in a deal with public-service broadcasters ARD and ZDF for Euro 2016

MAY • Baku and Doha are eliminated from the race to host the 2020 Olympic Games after the International Olympic Committee awards Istanbul (below), Madrid and Tokyo candidate city status • ESPN announces Barcelona, Foz do Iguaçu and Munich will lead efforts to globalise the X Games by staging new events beginning in 2013 • The International Olympic Committee and the US Olympic Committee bring an end to a long-running dispute over the share of Olympic Games commercial revenues by signing a new agreement to be activated from 2020 • The German Bundesliga’s domestic media rights fees jump 52.5 per cent in the auction for 2013-14 to 2016-17

APRIL • TV Sports Markets exclusively reports that News Corporation is on the verge of buying out the 50 per cent of ESPN Star Sports that it doesn’t currently own • A US appeals court rules in favour of the English Premier League, US media company Viacom and a host of other video content producers in their long-running copyright case against YouTube • Manchester United retains its crown in the annual ranking of the world’s most valuable sports clubs by Forbes

SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12 39

2012 IN SPORT

JUNE • Strong bidding by BT Vision helps the English Premier League to a 70-per-cent increase in the value of its domestic live rights • Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera launches the first of its two new French pay-TV beIN Sport channels • Twelve of Australia’s national sporting organisations turn their backs on alcohol sponsorship by signing up to a new A$25 million government-funded programme • Sportswear giant Nike announces its intention to sell Umbro • UEFA bans Danish forward Nicklas Bendtner for one match and fines him €100,000 for displaying a Paddy Power logo on his underwear during a Euro 2012 goal celebration

AUGUST • Manchester United signs up Chevrolet as its new shirt sponsor in a five-year deal from 2014-15 • News Corporation’s Fox International Channels buy a 51-percent stake in Eredivisie Live, the Dutch football league’s payTV channel • The Australian National Rugby League doubles its domestic media rights fees to A$1.025 billion in new deals with the Nine network and Fox Sports • Al Jazeera launches its beIN Sport pay-TV sports channels in the US

JULY • UEFA president Michel Platini (above) says Euro 2020 could be hosted in 12 or 13 cities across Europe rather than being staged in one or two countries • Barclays extends its title sponsorship of the English Premier League for three years, until 2015-16, on significantly enhanced terms • The International Olympic Committee exceeds $1 billion in media rights revenue in Europe for a two-Olympic Games cycle for the first time, as UK public-service broadcaster the BBC buys the rights for the 2014 and 2016 Games • The National Basketball Association proposes the sale of jersey sponsorships for the first time • The International Football Association Board gives the go-ahead to the introduction of goal-line technology by approving the Hawk-Eye and GoalRef systems

40 SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12

2012 IN SPORT

SEPTEMBER • AEG (Anschutz Entertainment Group), the owner and operator of major sports facilities such as Staples Center (below) and London’s O2 Arena as well as sports franchises on both sides of the Atlantic, is put up for sale • The National Hockey League enters lockout mode for the third time in 18 years • TV Sports Markets exclusively reports that CAA Eleven will assume responsibility for a new centralised media rights sales process for European qualifiers to UEFA Euro 2016 and the 2018 FIFA World Cup • Rival UK pay-TV operators BT and BSkyB announce exclusive UK rights deals for competing versions of Europe’s top club rugby union tournament from 2014-15 • The World Rally Championship announces Red Bull Media House and the sportsman media group as its new promoter from 2013

OCTOBER • The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) releases its report on the case against the US Postal team and cyclist Lance Armstrong (above) • Debbie Jevans replaces Paul Vaughan as chief executive of the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England • Manchester United negotiates an early conclusion to its training kit sponsorship deal with DHL in order to strike a more lucrative commercial agreement for the rights • The New Zealand Rugby Union confirms a five-and-a-half-year deal to carry insurance company AIG’s logo on All Blacks shirts • Formula One’s inaugural Grand Prix of America in New Jersey is postponed until 2014 due to preparations falling behind schedule • New arrangement announced whereby Dorna Sports will assume responsibility for organising the Superbike World Championship as well as the MotoGP motor cycling series from 2013

NOVEMBER • The ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) announces a twoyear extension to London’s staging of the World Tour Finals • Zaha Hadid wins the design contest to redevelop Tokyo’s Kasumigaoka National Stadium, the centrepiece of a Tokyo’s 2020 Olympic Games bid • The 2016 Rio Olympic and Paralympic Games restructures its senior management with Sidney Levy succeeding CEO Leonardo Gryner, who becomes COO • Lord Sebastian Coe is confirmed as the new chairman of the British Olympic Association

SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12 41

THE BIG DEBATE RICHARD GILLIS THE UNOFFICIAL PARTNER BLOG (@RICHARDGILLIS1)

CIARAN QUINN DIRECTOR OF OLYMPICS AND STRATEGIC BUSINESS, DELTATRE

KEVIN ROBERTS EDITORIAL DIRECTOR, SPORTBUSINESS GROUP

“At least four times in the last five years I’ve been quoted saying the sports rights market has peaked. I’m suitably embarrassed by such nonsense.”

“Providing sports content through multiple digital channels is significantly additive and not destructive...the world’s sports fans will demand more, not less access to their favourite sporting events.”

“Sport is entirely reliant on integrity for its relevance to society and its value to business.”

WHAT THINGS DID I LEARN about the business of sport in 2012? I’ll give you 10: 1. The Olympics is too big for most sponsors. The platform exposes them in a way no other sports property does. Most aren’t geared up to handle it 2. A company’s tax affairs are the best guide of its attitude to CSR (corporate social responsibility).

Sport is in the vanguard of this issue. Sports-related CSR is often little more than brand-washing for tax-avoiders, which clouds the market for the many genuine grassroots programmes. Likewise, Lance Armstrong proved it is perfectly possible to use sport, charity and PR to hide in plain sight 3. At least four times in the last five years I’ve been quoted saying the sports rights market has peaked. I’m suitably embarrassed by such nonsense 4. The sports industry over-rewards cheap stunts. If it wants brands to believe it is capable of more it should give a gong to those trying to use sport to do heavy-lifting 5. With some notable exceptions, sponsorship agencies still look very analogue, as though they’re hoping the internet is a passing fad. Next year’s dream hire will be bilingual: fluent in Portuguese and HTML 6. Lord Sebastian Coe will be a great chairman of the British Olympic Association (BOA). But what is the BOA selling?

7. LOCOG (The organising committee for the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games) was a fantastically successful rights-sales operation.

But the nickname ‘NOCOG’ stuck because of its reluctance or inability to encourage sponsor-led innovation. This reflects the broader business of sport. We call it sports marketing but it’s really sports sales 8. Brands go the passion route when they’ve run out of ideas. The most facile activation of the year was McDonald’s ‘Passion Meter’ which equated passion for sport with shouting into an iPhone 9. The sports industry is sleepwalking toward a ban on alcohol sponsorship 10. I’d write Patrick Nally’s life story if he was able to tell the truth about everything he knew.

JULY 27, 2012 was the turning point for the sports industry: it was when the digital distribution of sport became mainstream. The consumer take-up of the London Olympic Games through digital devices was massive. Many hundreds of millions of people, if not a billion, connected to the Games via all sorts of digital services, not just video.

Not too long ago when designing digital sports services we wondered ‘will many use it?’ Now, we wonder ‘what won’t they use?’ Research from NBC Olympics showed unequivocally that providing sports content through multiple digital channels was significantly additive and not destructive. The more devices consumers used, the more Olympic content they consumed.

A major driver of digital sports consumption is access. Broadband for live sports is pretty good now, and great digital devices are available and are being bought in record numbers. There are now one billion smartphone users worldwide and 2.3 billion internet users. Even though each of these metrics is up by one billion since 2007 there is still great upside potential.

Four years ago our clients spent most of their digital budget on enabling content to be delivered to PCs. Based on current patterns and trends, we now recommend a third of a rights-holder’s digital budget be devoted to mobile services and that they look at the holistic user experience so that they can deliver consistently to fans through all channels.

Early market adopters have shown the way to digital success, with the London Games being the necessary milestone. The market will undergo significant change in that more rights-holders will embrace these opportunities, considering them lower-risk and a business necessity, seeing that consumers demonstrate clear affinity for such consumption. Rights-holders will use digital media to fill the broadcast hole in those geographic areas where no TV coverage is available.

The world’s sports fans will demand more, not less access to their favourite sporting events. We in the industry have the opportunity to use digital media to meet their proven and rising demand, making the fan better off in the process.

THIS WAS A GREAT year in many ways for the business of sport. However, for me, perhaps the highlight was a moment seen by many as one of sport’s darkest hours.

Lance Armstrong’s decision not to publically contest the evidence brought against him by the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) brought - we hope - an end to one of the sorriest chapters in the history of sport and provided cycling with an opportunity for a new start with a new generation of riders.

But the impact and the lessons go well beyond cycling. Lance Armstrong made even cynics on the outside of cycling want to believe he was clean. His personal story of a brave fight against cancer inspired many and he won admiration for the work of his LIVESTRONG Foundation.

However, Armstrong was living a lie. Sport is entirely reliant on integrity for its relevance to society and its value to business, and whether the integrity is being attacked by a drugs cheat or a match-fixer in one of many sports that have been tainted over the years, the impact is still the same.

Armstrong’s case may be seen as proof that the truth will always come out…even if it takes more than a decade.

But there’s room for feeling smug. The message to sport is that the fight to maintain integrity has to continue 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week, 365-days-a-year, and that puts a particular emphasis on the role of sports governing bodies to remain on top of the situation and take decisive action - even when that action might be against one of its poster athletes.

The appeal of sport lies in the fairness of the contest and uncertainty of the outcome. Without this the public will lose interest, love and the desire to attend. TV audiences will dwindle to nothing while brands will shy away from even the loosest association with a tainted sport. This is a doomsday scenario….sport withers and dies because it has lost its integrity.

If nothing else Armstrong’s case leaves no room for doubt that the fight for integrity in sport must be at the top of the agenda.

42 SportBusiness International • No. 185 • 12.12

SEAN JEFFERSON LEADER, MINDSHARE

What lessons has the business of sport learnt during the year and how will they shape the future course of the industry?

As 2012 slips slowly into the file marked archive, the December issue of SportBusiness International is an ideal time to look back on a year which has seen sport provide many of the images and memories which will come to define it.

Nobody who was in London during the summer will forget the way sport transformed the ambience of the city where traditional British reserve and stiff-upper lip were replaced - for a while at least - by a shared celebration in all that is best in sport and shared humanity. When the ever-colourful London mayor Boris Johnson joked that Londoners had even started to talk to each other on the tube….well, he wasn’t actually joking.

These were a Games that set new standards in many ways, not least in the way it was staged in many temporary and demountable facilities which have a clear legacy use. They were also the first truly digital Games, available in many countries across a range of platforms, live, delayed and as highlights. It was a smorgasbord of sport with each course digested over Facebook and Twitter by millions of engaged fans.

But 2012 was about more than the Games. UEFA Euro 2012 proved that the pairing of Poland and Ukraine - which had at times seemed problematic - could co-host the event successfully while the International Olympic Committee was less convinced that Doha and Baku could do the same for its flagship event and sent both packing from the bidding process for the 2020 Games.

Perhaps most importantly, 2012 was the year that sport took a giant step forward in the fight against drug cheats as Lance Armstrong gave up his rebuttal of doping allegations against growing and overwhelming evidence. No rebuttal of course, but no admission of guilt either.

We will all have our favourite sporting moments of 2012 but the question facing our panel this month is what lessons the business of sport learnt during the past 12 months and how will they shape the future course of the industry.

The Forum

What’s your view? Do you disagree with our panel?

We want to hear what you’ve got to say and we’d be delighted to print your opinion in our next edition. editor@sportbusiness.com

3rd Floor, 33-41 Dallington St, London EC1V 0BB

“No matter what sector of sport you operate in, your focus has to be about using technology to maximise the fan experience.”

THE 2012 LONDON OLYMPIC GAMES provided the sports sector with a shining example of positioning and vision which should be taken as an example for all future major events.

From bid to Games-time, there was a consistency of approach and focus on the mission to inspire a generation. It was a vision that informed and influenced every element of the Games planning, delivery, marketing and communications. As a result it gave London 2012 a distinct identity, and clarity of purpose and ambition.

London 2012 showed that sport could move forward without losing sight of its traditions. While the Games showed a respect for the past and the spirit of the Olympic Movement, it was also the first truly digital Games. The use of technology, and in particular social media, made it remarkably open, inclusive and instant.

The connectivity this produced provided a clear opportunity for brands to become part of the conversation if approached with skill and sensitivity.

Unsurprisingly, it tended to be the sportswear and equipment brands - which are closest to the athletes - that made the most of social media around 2012 but others will have learnt from the experience, and those learnings will be evident in future marketing and communications activities.

For the media, London 2012 provided an opportunity to showcase what can be achieved through digital technology by linking the experience for fans across different platforms. While the BBC is rightly proud of the cross-platform service it provided, NBC in the United States also broke new ground by supporting its already comprehensive multi-channel service with a YouTube channel that provided a service which was not competitive but complementary to its mainstream output.

Looking to the future I think the overriding lesson is that no matter what sector of sport you operate in, your focus has to be about using technology to maximise the fan experience, providing them with what they want, when they want it. Building the fanbase is the first and easiest step. Monetising it is the real challenge.

SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12 43

SPORTS INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR As the last few pages have shown, 2012 witnessed both the highs and the lows of the sports industry.

Here, we celebrate the best of 2012; the behindthe-scenes innovation that made the difference for sports clubs, federations, events and brands.

The SportBusiness International Sports Innovator of the Year list honours the men and women who have made the most original, foresightful and unrivalled business decisions throughout the year. They are the people who dared where others wouldn’t, who rolled out strategies others were afraid to and who used communications platforms that others shied away from.

Essentially, the SportBusiness International Sports

Innovators of the Year are the people who used the resources at their disposal to the maximum effect.

Last year the title was won by Paris Saint-German chairman and Al Jazeera Sport president Nasser alKhelaifi who was singled out for two innovative and strategically-linked acquisitions that changed the face and value of French football.

This year’s top 20 was compiled from an original longlist created by you, subscribers of SportBusiness International, which was whittled down and ranked by an expert judging panel (see below). Congratulations to those who made the list and we look forward to the sports industry continuing with innovative business strategies throughout 2013.

THE JUDGING PANEL Rick Burton is the David Falk Professor of Sport Management at Syracuse University.

He is a former commissioner of Australia’s National Basketball League and former chief marketing officer of the US Olympic Committee.

Charlie Dundas is executive vicepresident for UK and Ireland at sports research firm REPUCOM. He was previously director of MediaCom Sport and has held executive positions at Sportsworld Media Group and IMG.

44 SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12

Neil Jankelowitz is joint managing director of South African-based sports marketing and event management agency MSCSports. MSCSports’ client base currently includes EA Sports, Hyundai, Samsung and Toyota.

Nathan Jones is the International Federation of American Football (IFAF)’s country administrator for China.

He is an established business adviser and manager in the country with more than eight years of leadership experience in China.

John Tripodi is CEO of strategic business and marketing consultancy Twenty3 Sport + Entertainment.

He is an adjunct professor at RMIT University and has held senior marketing roles at Mars and L’Oréal Group.

20 Patrick Kennedy (CEO, Paddy Power) Considering the minimal investment Paddy Power pumps into sport through its ambush marketing, Patrick Kennedy’s entry in our top 20 is somewhat controversial entry. However, the man who signs off the daring marketing campaigns on the world stage deserves recognition in innovation and every major event this year – the Olympic Games, UEFA Euro 2012 and the Ryder Cup - saw Paddy Power roll out a high-profile ambush. This varied from footballer Nicklas Bendtner’s pants to tweets ‘written’ in the sky at the Ryder Cup.

19

Steve Tew (CEO, New Zealand Rugby Union) Tinkering with one of the most iconic jerseys in world sport is not a decision you take lightly. Plenty of companies would have jumped at the opportunity to splash their name across the All Blacks jersery over the years. However, with his national team’s stock at an all time high following its home win at the 2011 Rugby World Cup, Tew risked the fury of the Kiwi traditionalists by signing a five-and-a-half year shirt sponsorship deal with insurance giant AIG. It’s a deal Tew says will “secure the financial future” of New Zealand rugby, and is worth a reported $80 million.

18

Imtiaz Patel (Group CEO, Multichoice South Africa) The rise in quality of football in South Africa since 2007 – both on and off the pitch - is not only due to the impact of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, it is thanks to a spike in domestic broadcast revenues for the sport. Patel helped conclude the renewal for Multichoice-owned Supersport’s coverage of the Premier Soccer League until the 2016/17 season.

“There have been improvements in the quality of the football, international coaches have come in, there have been improvements in the pitches, the marketing, the ratings, and the whole look and feel of the product,” one local rights expert told TV Sports Markets about Patel’s investment.

17

Li Ning (Chairman, Li Ning Group) This year saw Li Ning sign the biggest ever sponsorship deal in Chinese sport, a leaguewide agreement with the Chinese Basketball Association that will facilitate the growth of both the Li Ning brand and basketball in the country.

The deal is a shot in the arm for the Chinese brand, whose profits had plunged by 65 per cent in 2011, as it attempts to remarket itself as an international premium brand.

16

Dmitry Chernyshenko (President and CEO, Sochi 2014) Chernyshenko has continued to push the event management envelope in terms of green initiatives, ticketing and world-firsts in stadia and facilities with the winter Olympics now less than two years away. Changing public perception of the country’s disabled residents was one of Chernyshenko’s key objectives from the outset, and in October he revealed the Accessibility Map - a complete list of barrierfree venues and infrastructures in Russia - to make it easier for people with a disability to find places to play sport.

15

Will Case (Creative Director, Crystal CG) The 2012 London Olympic Games saw digital media company Crystal CG open up a whole new medium for enhancing the instadia and TV viewing experience of sports events with the animated image displays that were created by its pixel tablets. The spectacular displays provided one of the truly unforgettable images of the Games and set a new standard for all future global sporting events to aspire to.

14

Selwyn Nathan (Executive Director, the Sunshine Tour) Nathan been a central figure in growing South Africa’s golf industry and this February promoters Sunshine Tour announced that the Tournament of Hope – a PGA Tour-sanctioned event – will be staged in the country at the end of 2013. Billed as golf’s richest single event, the $8.5 million tournament is planned to coincide with World AIDS Day in order to raise awareness for the disease. The Investec Cup, announced in October, will also help the Sunshine Tour compete with its continental counterparts in Asia and Europe.

13

Dana White (President, Ultimate Fighting Championship) The UFC and other organisations have been dancing around partnerships and appearances in China for years but last month’s UFC event in Macau laid the groundwork for the mixed martial arts organisation’s continued expansion in the region.

Video clips of Chinese fighter Zhang Tiequan’s first UFC win received more than 100 million hits from Chinese fans in November (see pages 56-60).

12

Marc Watson (Chief Executive, BT Vision) Few predicted UK pay-TV operator BT Vision would re-emerge as a major player in the sports rights market this June when it acquired two packages of domestic English Premier League rights for £246 million per season from 2013/14 to 2015/16.

As a member of the small group of BT executives behind the surprise bid – it is rumoured BT outbid broadcast behemoth BSkyB on five of the seven rights packages in the first round of the auction – Watson is now concentrating on bulking out BT Vision’s football offering by acquiring rights to other top international leagues, and has also expanded into rugby union by signing an agreement with Premiership Rugby to screen domestic top-tier English games and European matches involving English clubs from 2014/15.

SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12 45

11

Agustin Pichot (Director, Argentinean Rugby Union) The former captain of Argentina’s national rugby union team was integral in getting his country onto rugby union’s top table this year with its inclusion in the remodelled Rugby Championship alongside Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Pichot exclusively told SportBusiness International this summer that he plans to now use his country’s increased profile to both launch a Buenos Airesbased Super 15 side and formulate an Argentinean bid to host the Rugby World Cup in 2023 or 2027.

10

Lord Sebastian Coe (Chairman, London 2012) Whether credit is due to leadership, or to the tenacity and vibrancy of a wonderful people and nation, the 2012 London Olympic Games were a huge success for sport across the world in the face of extraordinary downward pressures and economic uncertainty. To have the vision to bring the Olympics to London was one thing, and to win the right to actually host them was another, but to then see the development of the Games in the middle of the biggest global financial meltdown is unprecedented.

9

Marisol Casado (President, the International Triathlon Union) Casado’s call for the ITU’s mixed-relay to be fast-tracked into the Rio 2016 Games is a smart and timely approach to attract media attention and widen participation in the sport. Riding on the popularity of triathlon following this summer’s Olympics, Casado was shrewd to quickly gain momentum for the mixed-relay by securing the backing of medallists Jonathan Brownlee and Lisa Norden. Casado also ensured the ITU will benefit from this year’s explosion in popularity of the Paralympics, with paratriathlon’s debut confirmed for the 2016 Rio Games.

46 SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12

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Christian Seifert (CEO, German Football League)

Dominic Coles (COO of London 2012 at the BBC)

Seifert managed to close the gap to Europe’s richest leagues this year with a new domestic rights deal from 2013/14 to 2016/17 worth $823 million a year, representing a turning point for the Bundesliga which has always scored points for management but lacked the TV millions of its continental neighbours.

With the new money rolling in next year, the DFL’s strict regulations on its members’ spending - including access to club’s financial accounts and stipulating no one person can own more than 49 per cent of a club – mean the Bundesliga will be well-placed to handle UEFA’s incoming Financial Fair Play regulations.

The host broadcaster of this summer’s Games was under pressure to not only beam every minute of every event to fans watching at home, but also to those watching on their smartphones, PCs and tablets. Coles and his team took Olympic coverage to a new level and over a 24-hour period on the busiest Olympic day, traffic on the BBC website exceeded that of the entire 2010 FIFA World Cup. There were 106 million requests for BBC Olympic video content during the event, which included 12 million requests for video on mobile across the whole of the Games, and 9.2 million browsers to its mobile site and Olympics app.

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Travis Tygart (CEO, the US Anti-Doping Agency) Brett Yormark (CEO, Brooklyn Nets and Barclays Center) This year has seen the opening of landmark sports and entertainment arena the Barclays Center, a real challenger to Madison Square Garden for New York’s sporting and entertainment heart. In his role as CEO, Yormark has overseen all facets of the venue, including operations, event programming, sales and marketing. His innovate approach to sponsorship has seen him attract 11 ‘founding partners’ on the promise of major advertising presence via the unparalleled ‘street-to-seat’ brand signage programme at all Barclays Center events, in combination with a ‘less is more’ strategy that guarantees more ownership for each partner in and around the venue.

Performance-enhancing drugs have been a plague in sport for a number of decades, with Dick Pound, International Olympic Committee member and former head of the World AntiDoping Agency (WADA), suggesting this summer that almost 10 per cent of athletes at London 2012 were actively involved in doping. Without a concerted effort to raise awareness and discuss the matter in the public domain, cheating in sport grows in prevalence and effective regulation becomes next to impossible, so stepforward Travis Tygart, CEO of USADA, for having the courage to publish the report detailing “the most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping programme cycling has ever seen” by the US Postal Service Pro Cycling Team and Lance Armstrong.

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Dietrich Mateschitz (Co-Founder and CEO, Red Bull) Red Bull’s approach to marketing and advertising has never been anything other than innovative. This was best illustrated this year by its Formula One arm, Red Bull Racing, who coaxed AT&T back into Formula One as an official technical supplier. Mateschitz also added to his motorsport portfolio when Red Bull Media House was announced as co-promoter of the 2013 World Rally Championship. And although many would argue it is not sport (on the premise it isn’t competitive in nature), the Red Bull Stratos project – which saw Felix Baumgartner break the world’s freefall record by jumping from 23 miles above Earth and breaking the sound barrier - was undoubtedly the innovative marketing campaign of the year.

Michel Platini (President, UEFA) The creation and implementation of UEFA’s Financial Fair Play Regulations, rules to elevate the competitive landscape in professional European football that come into force in the 2013/14 season, has been a personally risky and challenging undertaking that has required courage, foresight, and innovation from UEFA president Michel Platini. For a sport that lacks the restrictions of some other sports, particularly in North America (such as a salary cap), the Financial Fair Play concept will go a long way to reducing the excessive, unsustainable and sometimes unaccountable levels of spending in European club football.

Away from the balance books, Platini also adopted a lateral approach to event hosting, when he proposed holding the Euro 2020 Championships in “12 or 13 cities” in June.

1

David Abraham (CEO, Channel 4)

The Paralympic Games reached the next level at London 2012.

Their impact and popularity in the host nation was in no small part thanks to UK commercial broadcaster Channel 4 and its innovative approach to the event. Wrapping comedy and other lifestyle programming around the coverage helped to drive public interest in the Paralympics to a new level and went a long way in placing the Paralympics as an integral part of the Olympic Movement. The broadcaster is now looking to bid aggressively for the rights to the Paralympic Games in Rio (2016) to ensure it continues the momentum of the Paralympic Movement in the UK.

48 SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12

2

Richard Arnold (Commercial Director, Manchester United) If you had to pick one football club whose commercial team continues to push the envelope it would be Manchester United. This year has seen United sign the most lucrative shirt sponsorship deal in world football, with General Motors-owned Chevrolet, that will kick-off in 2014/15; buy back its £10 millionper-year training kit sponsorship from DHL to arrange a more lucrative deal from 2013/14; and invent new sponsorship categories -which it is understood will number in the region of 90 next year – to get the United brand as widespread across the world as possible whilst maximising commercial revenues (see pages 28-30 for a rare and exclusive interview with the man himself ).

EYES ON THE SUMMIT COLOMBIA: A NATION TURNED TO MEGA EVENTS TO STAKE ITS PLACE AT SPORT’S TOP TABLE

INTERNATIONAL FOCUS:

COLOMBIA

FOR MOST SPORTS FANS, the 1986 FIFA World Cup is remembered for being the tournament that belonged to Diego Maradona.

Whether those memories are of the Argentinean maestro’s spell-binding goals that single-handedly took his country to glory or his infamous ‘Hand of God’ depends on personal allegiances.

However, Colombians remember the 1986 World Cup as the tournament that should have belonged to them.

In 1983, with drug cartels bossing the country and the economy in freefall, Colombia was forced to admit, in front of the eyes of the world, it could not stage world football’s biggest event. As a result, the country gave up the hosting rights it had been awarded, and FIFA reallocated the tournament to a grateful Mexico.

For football-mad Colombia, it was a shameful moment. In 1994, the shame continued as Colombia failed miserably to live up to its pre-tournament billing as one of the favourites to win the FIFA World Cup in the United States. National team defender Andrés Escobar, who had scored an own-goal in a defeat by the host country just days earlier, was resultantly gunned down in a sickening attack in Medellín.

For an international sporting community that was already wary of Colombia’s reputation as a hub of organised crime, Escobar’s murder provided a high-profile reminder that the troubled South American country was best avoided. However, fast-forward to present day and Colombia is on the map once again, with sport providing the engine for change.

Cartagena, the large Caribbean beach resort city on the northern coast of the country, held the 2006 Central American and Caribbean Games and the South American Games took place in Medellín, the country’s second-largest city, in 2010. Last year, Colombia also hosted its biggest sports event so far, with the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup being staged to great acclaim.

However, there is more to come next year, with the World Games, a global multi-sport event on a similar scale to the South American 50 SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12

Games, taking place in Cali (see page 21) while Guatape will stage the final round of the 2013 Triathlon World Cup season.

It is an impressive transformation for a country that was ostracised by the international sports community for many years.

“There are various reasons why Colombia has prioritised sport over recent years, but we basically wanted to show people how the country and economy has changed,” Colombian minister of sport and International Olympic Committee member Andrés Botero Phillipsbourne told SportBusiness International.

“For a few years we were effectively relegated from the international sporting community, but the country has undertaken a process to improve security in Colombia over the past 10 years, and the situation in the country has changed completely.

“We still have some problems - we can’t say we haven’t - but those problems are controlled and the situation is improving every year. As a result, we have started to attract more sporting events so that people can see the reality.”

Confidence in Sport Consecutive administrations within Colombia have appreciated the power of sport whilst clamping down on the drug cartels and guerrilla groups that have tarnished the country’s name.

With relative peace restored by Álvaro Uribe Vélez, the president of Colombia from 2002 to 2010, his successor Juan Manuel Santos Calderón has been able to dovetail the goals of expanding the country’s booming $370 billion economy with efforts to address societal issues.

Increased investment in sport has brought improved results and, in a virtuous cycle, the government has demonstrated more confidence in the country’s sports sector.

The national football team, a source of pride like little else in Colombia, failed to qualify for the 2002, 2006 and 2010 World Cups. However, the team is very well placed to qualify for the 2014 tournament in Brazil and has moved up to eighth in the FIFA rankings in the process.

It is not just in Colombia’s national sport that there have been signs of resurgence. At the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, Colombia

claimed one silver and one bronze medal.

At the London Games this year, the country returned home with one gold, three silver and four bronze medals - marking Colombia’s most successful ever Olympics.

“When I first became president of the Colombian national Olympic committee in 1997 the standard of Colombian sport was very low,” says Phillipsbourne, who served in the role for 12 years until 2009.

“We immediately initiated a 10-year strategic plan and put in place intermediate goals. If you don’t have goals you go nowhere.

“We have expanded financial support to many sports. We do not fund just two or three core sports like some countries do.

“In London, we won medals in four or five different sports, and people kept asking me what we have been doing to achieve these results.

INTERNATIONAL FOCUS:

COLOMBIA

The 2012 Triathlon World Cup stop in Guatape - Getty Images Sport

“Every year we are improving and achieving above and beyond the goals we have set ourselves. Better performances and results have brought more confidence from the government, the national Olympic committee and, from around the world, international federations.

“There has also been an improved level of administration in Colombian sport and this has brought the government closer. [The government] have started to believe in us.”

The rest of the world is starting to believe in Colombia too. Accelerating foreign investment in the country’s mining and energy sectors have boosted the coffers, while in 2001 a tax was introduced on mobile phone calls in the country with the specific aim of generating money for Colombian sport.

“That tax is still in place and it has helped to

fund all the sporting events in the country in recent years,” adds Phillipsbourne.

In the build-up to this year’s quadrennial National Games of Colombia, which took place in the districts of Cauca, Córdoba and Norte de Santander from November 3-17, $90 million of public money was spent on upgrading or building competition venues.

For next year’s World Games in Cali, when Colombia will become the first South American country to stage the event, there will be minimal construction work on the sporting arenas themselves.

In spite of this, concerns were raised earlier this year by some members of the International World Games Association regarding the readiness of the venues. Rodrigo Otoya, president of the local organising committee for the Games, rebuffed the claims earlier

this year, and Phillipsbourne acknowledges that such concerns - however misplaced - are commonplace when a sporting event is taking place in South America.

Widespread reports of tardiness in Brazil ahead of the 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2016 Rio Olympic Games have hardly helped to reflect confidence on the rest of South America.

“There are always some concerns about infrastructure preparations, but everyone has been working very hard in Cali,” says Phillipsbourne. “I’m going to make sure members of team that worked so well on the recently-completed National Games will offer their knowledge and experience to ensure there are no problems for the Cali World Games. However, I’m sure there will be no problems anyway.

“We have organised very good events and SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12 51

INTERNATIONAL FOCUS:

COLOMBIA

Golf’s Web.com Tour stops at Bogota in February - Getty Images Sport

many people have recognised that the time has come to visit South America. As well as the various events in Colombia, there are the Rio Olympics, the FIFA World Cup in Brazil and next year’s International Olympic Committee Session in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

“The economies are relatively strong in this part of the world, and certainly stronger than many other areas. Latin America simply has a different culture. Maybe we don’t finish the infrastructure a full year before an event, but we do it in time.

“For the National Games, for example, we built or upgraded 15 different venues in the space of eight months. In the capital city, Bogotá, one of the most modern airports in the world is being built. When it is completed it will offer the biggest plane terminal in South America.”

Professional and Inclusive One of president Santos’ key initiatives for his first four-year term is a $100 billion infrastructure upgrade programme that will put Colombia’s construction credentials to the test like never before.

With Colombia’s economic output growing by an average of six per cent per year, and events such as the Cali World Games expected to generate at least $50 million for the host country, investment in sport and sporting infrastructure is set to increase.

Phillipsbourne, who was appointed by president Santos as minister of sport in January this year, is at the heart of the plans. His budget will be increased to $230 million for 2013 - a 25-per-cent increase on 2012.

As a result, significant resources are being pumped into helping the country’s under52 SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12

“The private sector is discovering slowly how important sport can be for business...the future is bright and the economy is growing.” developed sports sector to become more professional in its outlook and more inclusive at the grassroots level.

“We have just staged the National Games of Colombia and it was a huge success,” says Phillipsbourne. “One of the benefits of hosting major sporting events is that it is a good excuse to better prepare our athletes for future challenges as well as upgrade our venues.

“We don’t just want to just invite athletes from other countries to events in Colombia - we want to win the events. We had 6,000 athletes competing in the National Games, and many of those will now be focusing on the build-up to the [2016] Olympics.

“This year we have also started the ‘Supérate’ initiative, which takes sport to the poorest areas of the country, where in previous years some people may not have had the opportunity to play sport.

“The initiative is now reaching 660 different villages in the country. It is a very ambitious programme that is being developed in and out of schools. At the moment we have more than 3,000 schools and almost one million kids involved in the project.”

In order for the Colombian sports sector to reach its potential, however, government support is just one part of the required equation.

According to Phillipsbourne, the private as well as public sector is starting to appreciate the benefits of sport.

“The private sector is very receptive and you will see that in Cali next year,” he says.

“The private sector is discovering slowly how important sport can be for business. The government has also implemented a range of tax deductions for companies that invest in sport and sporting events and that has helped to generate interest.

“The future is bright and the economy is growing. Our only concern is whether the European crisis will eventually attack the South American economies, but that hasn’t been the case so far.”

The Colombian general public’s appetite for sport has never been in doubt despite the years of sporting underachievement on the international stage. However, while the country’s sports administrators are attempting to broaden the population’s horizons beyond football, the Beautiful Game remains by far the most popular sport in Colombia.

“The FIFA U-20 World Cup was staged in eight different cities across the country, and the interest from the public was there for all to see.

We had the largest attendance in the history of the tournament,” says Phillipsbourne, who is expecting the crowds to come flooding back for the Cali World Games next year.

“Cali has been considered as something of a sleeping sporting giant in recent years since it hosted the 1971 Pan American Games, but it is working very hard to ensure the experience for athletes and spectators will be exceptional.”

The Pan American Games has not been staged in Colombia since, but the country is hoping that

INTERNATIONAL FOCUS:

COLOMBIA

Colombia: Key Facts and Figures Investment and Income • Colombia boasts South America’s third-biggest economy, measured at $370 billion by the Financial Times in May 2012, with output growing by six per cent from the previous year • Since 2004, the Colombian economy’s average annual growth rate has been 4.7 per cent • At a combined $37 billion in 2011, mining and oil accounted for two-thirds of the country’s overall export revenue.

Coffee represented approximately five per cent of total exports

Disappointment for Colombia at the 1994 FIFA World Cup - Getty Images Sport

the event will return in 2019, with a bid from Bogotá due to be submitted by January 1.

Further bids are on the table from Colombia for the 2016 FIFA Futsal World Cup and, perhaps most significantly, from Medellín for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games.

It would mark a huge step for the country if Medellín, which was once infamously known as the most dangerous city in the world, could attract such a major Olympic event.

“The Youth Olympic Games fit into our culture and the size of the country,” says Phillipsbourne, who admits that a bid for the actual Olympic Games would be a step too far for Colombia’s developing economy at this stage.

“The Youth Olympics would also suit the culture of Medellín, which has transformed its image and become a major industrial centre in Colombia and a popular destination for young people and families.”

World Cup Ambitions The main Olympics may be out of reach in our lifetime, but the opportunity for Colombia to exorcise the ghost of 1986 by hosting the FIFA World Cup is an irresistible prospect.

Colombia withdrew a bid for the 2014 World Cup when it became clear that Brazil was FIFA’s clear favourite, but Sepp Blatter, the president of football’s world governing body, offered encouragement following the U-20 World Cup in the country last year.

“The best thing we can say to the organisers, government and the population is that Colombia is prepared to host a World Cup, but should wait until 2026,” Blatter said.

Phillipsbourne believes a bid for a 2030 or 2034 World Cup is more likely, and added that 54 SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12

“The government is certainly looking at hosting the [FIFA] World Cup in 20 or 30 years time and by then Colombia will have the size, economy and transport infrastructure to support such an event.”

the experience of previous events should place Colombia favourably in a bidding race.

“We attracted the largest number of spectators in the history of the U-20 World Cup,” he says. “FIFA declared it to be a huge success. It helped that many of the staff and volunteers who had been involved in organising events such as the South American Games were involved again.

“When I became president of the national Olympic committee in 1997 I wanted to see Colombia become a powerhouse of sport. Maybe it sounds optimistic or arrogant, but we have the funds, resources and people to become a top nation for sport.

“The government is certainly looking at hosting the [FIFA] World Cup in 20 or 30 years time and by then Colombia will have the size, economy and transport infrastructure to support such an event.”

For Colombia, it would be fitting if the tournament that was the source of crippling embarrassment in the mid-1980s marked the final destination on this aspirational country’s road to redemption.

Infrastructure • President Juan Manuel Santos has put forward a $100 billion infrastructure programme that aims to return land previously confiscated by guerrillas or paramilitary groups • Transport infrastructure investment will triple by 2014 via public private partnerships • National Infrastructure Agency (ANI) has proposed issuing up to $22.7 billion from mid-2013 to build new roads, increase lane capacity and improve existing routes Business Centre • Major Colombian companies such as Grupo Sura are rapidly expanding abroad - last year the financial services group bought Dutch insurer ING’s Latin American pension assets in a $3.7 billion deal • And influx of major companies set up shop in Colombia in 2012, including Brazilian financial provider Itaú, Canada’s Scotiabank and HewlettPackard • Bogotá’s El Dorado airport is doubling its cargo capacity due to strengthened trade relationships between Colombia and the United States Sport • RCN-DirecTV bought the media rights for Colombia’s top-tier football division, Liga Postobon, in June this year for approximately $175 million • Pay-TV revenues from sports fans have more than doubled in the country since 2006 to around 3.5 million subscribers at the end of 2010, according to Colombia’s National Television Committee

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MIXED MARTIAL ARTS

FIGHT CLUB From the Far East to the United States, MMA (mixed martial arts) is capturing the imagination of fans and creating fierce competition for TV exposure and sponsorship. Owen Evans reviews the properties in the market, identifies their key characteristics and assesses their potential to come out on top.

WHEN YOU LOOK at the fight card of the MMA industry, it’s difficult not to look past the star name on the bill.

The UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) has been the major success story of MMA since the property was founded in 1993, earning hundreds of millions in pay-per-view revenue over the years.

But take the time to look down the card and you can see an emerging list of contenders who are setting up MMA promotion agencies around the world to battle UFC for the sector’s top spot.

By definition MMA is a mixed bag, with its influences ranging from ancient Greco-Roman wrestling to Brazilian ju-jitsu. The sport has a major presence in North America, Brazil and Asia, but is growing in markets on every continent around the world.

In an attempt to make sense of this mass brawl of promoters, international competitions and fighters for hire, the IMMAF (International Mixed Martial Arts Federation) was set up earlier this year to act as an ‘international hub’ for all MMA properties to come together.

There is an easy place to begin, though.

The UFC started in North America in 1993 and, led by innovative president Dana White, has become the largest MMA promotional company worldwide.

In 2011, the UFC secured a landmark move to network TV in the United States by striking a seven-year broadcast deal with Fox Sports, which White said would take MMA “to the next level”, and through global TV deals the property reaches approximately one billion households worldwide in 148 countries and territories in 20 languages.

Its major revenue stream however has come 56 SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12

from a successful pay-per-view strategy in its home market. TV Sports Markets reported that the company’s 2009 gross pay-per-view revenues were $362 million, of which UFC retains almost 60 per cent, with the rest going to the broadcaster.

Asked why MMA had emerged as the rising star of sport of the past 10 years, UFC President Dana White said it was down to MMA’s global appeal and easy-to-follow broadcast values.

“People just get combat sports,” he told SportBusiness International. “No-one in America is ever going to care about cricket. We didn’t grow up with it, we don’t get the rules or understand what’s going on.

“You can say the same about American football in other parts of the world. But martial arts are practiced all over the world, and I can take the best martial artists in the world, put them in the Octagon, and I don’t care if you are from America, Brazil, India, England or China you get what’s going on.”

Aggressive Competition UFC’s current focus is cracking the Asian market. But there is a problem in the shape of established Asian-based MMA promoters such as such as Legend Fighting Championship (see page 60) - which has a Chinese broadcast audience of more than 600 million - and the Singapore-based ONE Fighting Championship.

Japan, traditionally Asia’s strongest MMA market, has been targeted by the GLORY World Series, the kickboxing promoter owned and operated by Glory Sports International (GSI).

GSI, itself run by sports marketing agency Total Sport Asia, has just opened an office in Tokyo for that exact purpose.

Rashad Evans (left) fights Jon Jones at UFC 145 - Getty Images Sport

GSI managing director Marcus Luer, the owner and CEO of Total Sports Asia, has worked in the Asian sports market for the past 15 years and says as part of the plan to get a foothold in Japan, GSI agreed a deal last month to produce the DREAM 18 MMA event at Saitama Super Arena on New Year’s Eve. “We have collected the largest group of kickboxing fighters from around the world, with about 80 per cent of the kickboxing talent available,” he told SportBusiness International.

“What we have just done is take over the December 301 slot in Japan for DREAM. They’ve done 17 shows in the past few years and it has always been the top-rated show in Japan on the commercial networks. We’re talking 30-40 million viewers.

“That is our first foray into MMA and we are

MIXED MARTIAL ARTS

MAJOR CHALLENGES

“People just get combat sports. No-one in America is ever going to care about cricket. We didn’t grow up with it, we don’t get the rules or understand what’s going on…martial arts are practiced all over the world.” purely focusing on Japan to begin with as we have the most prominent sporting slot in the year. It’s the equivalent of the American football game on Thanksgiving.”

Luer is keen to point out he does not see his property directly competing against UFC, as many of its events will predominantly feature kickboxing fights, with one or two MMA bouts on the fight card.

“We are not taking UFC head on,” he adds.

“But we are trying to replicate some of the areas where they have done well.”

In April UFC’s managing director in Asia, Mark Fischer, revealed the organisation was pinpointing China and Singapore as its two main targets to increase its presence in Asia, and last month it hosted its first-ever event in the Chinese region with the UFC Macau event at the Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel’s 15,000-seater CotaiArena.

Another Asian market targeted by UFC is India, after it signed a strategic partnership with Indian sports channel Sony SIX in September to promote its property in the country.

One issue holding back MMA in a handful of international markets is a lack of governmental support. Towards the end of 2011, the UFC announced it was suing the state of New York in a bid to lift a ban on MMA events being staged in one of the United States’ most lucrative sporting markets. New York is one of three states in the States with athletic commissions that do not sanction MMA events.

Earlier this year, French free-to-air channel France Ô, owned by public-service broadcaster France Télévisions, acquired rights for a four-part TV series about MMA, however the sport is banned from French TV by the country’s media watchdog, Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel.

The Thai sports ministry, meanwhile, banned any MMA event from being staged in the country this March due to the sport being deemed “too brutal”. However, some industry insiders believe this decision could have been influenced by the potential commercial threat to the country’s Muay Thai industry.

SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12 57

MIXED MARTIAL ARTS

GLORY 3 in Rome this November - Glory Sports International

However, it faces fresh competition in that market from a new competitor in the shape of the Super Fight League - the brainchild of actor Sanjay Dutt and entrepreneur Raj Kundra both of whom see the potential for the rapidly growing sport of MMA in the Indian market.

Away from Asia, other growth markets can currently be found in Europe, where the UK amongst others has taken inspiration from the growth of MMA. UFC signed a four-year deal in August 2009, worth £1 million per year, with UK pay-TV broadcaster ESPN, which picked up the rights after former UK rights-holder, paytelevision operator Setanta, went bust.

And its not just broadcasters who have been keen to get into the MMA mix. Jackie Poriadjian, senior vice-president of UFC’s strategic marketing and PR department, told SportBusiness International that major sponsors are lining up to take advantage of the sport’s target demographic.

“We are privileged to have incredible marketing partnerships in place today: Budweiser, Harley Davidson and MetroPCS to name a few,” she says. “We look for category leaders interested in fully integrated partnerships. UFC owns the coveted 18-34 male audience, and partners looking to sell to that demographic and use the avidity of our product to activate it at retail are the ideal fit.”

People Power One major plus point for MMA appears to be how the different properties promote their own fighters and use social media to increase their profile around the world, giving them a strong arsenal to take on other sports.

UFC was one of the first sports properties to see the value in ‘going social’ when it struck a deal with Facebook to stream some of its events, 58 SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12

“We look for category leaders interested in fully integrated partnerships.

Partners looking to sell to the 18-34 male audience and use the avidity of our product to activate it at retail are the ideal fit.” while Dana White has actively encouraged his fighters to use social media, offering an annual bonus pot of $240,000 to be shared out to those who are the most active tweeters.

During the UFC’s first foray into the Chinese market last month in Macau, it revealed video clips of its Chinese fighter Zhang Tiequan had received more than 100 million hits from Chinese fans.

Reality TV has also been used to bring fighters closer to their fans. The UFC’s Ultimate Fighter show, for instance, features professional MMA fighters living together in Las Vegas as they train and compete against each other for a UFC contract.

“The Ultimate Fighter reality series not only exposes new audiences to our sport but also brings new talent to the organisation,” says Poriadjian. “We’ve taken the series to Australia with [Fox-owned channel] FX and it is on a second season in Brazil, where Ultimate Fighter on TV Globo averages 11 million viewers a week.”

Legend Fighting Championship saw similar results when 197 million fans visited Liu Wenbo’s QQ social media page in just 24 hours after a photo montage of his middleweight championship fight went online (see page 60).

DEAL OR NO DEAL? The answer to one question lingers for the emerging promoters in MMA: can they use the rapidly-growing popularity of their products to charge and receive the sort of pay-per-view revenues that boxing - and more recently UFC - can command?

The pay-per-view millions earned by Dana White from the North American market suggests it is more than realistic. However, convincing fans to pay premium rates for MMA events outside of North America has proved difficult.

UK pay-per-view platform Primetime TV’s one-off Moosin MMA event in 2010, for example, attracted 8,000 pay-per-view buyers and generated total revenues of £47,600. After splitting the revenues with the rights-holder of the event - Integrated Sports - Primetime made a profit of £22,800.

However, other MMA promoters such as GLORY are looking to concentrate on building their brands now by offering free content via live streams and deals with free-to-air broadcasters, and then look to a pay-per-view model in the near future. “[Pay-per-view] is clearly something that is very much on our radar but we are also aware that you have to build up the brand first,” says Luer. “The plan for now is to put as much as possible on free platforms, just so we can get people excited about what we do and who we are. Further down the line we will create special content which will be pay-per-view material.”

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MIXED MARTIAL ARTS

Legend FC is broadcast to 297 million homes across Asia-Pacific - Legend FC

CHASING LEGENDARY STATUS Since launching three years ago, the Hong Kong-based Legend Fighting Championship (Legend FC) has exploded in popularity in China, attracting hundreds of millions of viewers for its major events. Owen Evans speaks to its founder about the mixed martial arts (MMA) property’s next moves.

LIU WENBO’S UNANIMOUS victory in the middleweight final of August’s Legend FC 10 was impressive, but something even more outstanding was to happen consequently.

The morning after Liu was declared the winner at the AsiaWorld-Expo in Hong Kong, a photo montage of his triumph was placed on Chinese social networking platform QQ. Within 24 hours it had gained 197 million views - a huge response but perhaps one that isn’t too surprising considering Legend FC’s foothold in mainland China where it has a broadcast audience of 600 million people.

“We encourage our fighters to directly interact with their supporters, and QQ came down to one of our fights and sent a couple of editors to cover our Legend 10 tournament,” Legend FC co-founder Chris Pollak told SportBusiness International.

Pollak, who worked for management consultancy McKinsey & Company for eight years, co-founded the MMA property in 2009 with ex-Columbia Business School classmate Mike Haskamp, a former investment banker at Lehmann Brothers.

60 SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12

“Liu Wenbo was a two-time junior boxing champion before he came to MMA. He went for the middleweight title at Legend. After he won he was absolutely mobbed by the fans at the venue.

“However, what was more interesting was what happened the next day. Afterwards QQ put together a really nice photo collection and on Monday morning it got almost 200 million views.

“It’s a record for us and that may be a record for MMA in general. It certainly helped that Liu Wenbo is highly inspirational. He’s one of those guys who really excites and gets fans behind him.”

Pollak claims Legend FC is MMA’s premier Asia-Pacific championship, broadcasting to 297 million homes on the continent. However, despite its dominance in one of the world’s largest markets, Pollak is looking to grow the product quickly further afield, with 16 broadcast partners currently on the roster; at present Legend FC is the second-largest televised MMA event in the world, behind the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship).

“It’s really been quite a journey since we took off. I think we are doing something unique,” he says. “MMA has been popular in Japan and Australia for years, but in China and south-east Asia it is quite a young sport.”

In terms of sponsorship, Pollak says Legend FC has benefited from a major partnership with the Macau resort and casino, City of Dreams, who signed a deal in 2011 to produce a series of MMA tournaments. Although only boasting a population of just over 500,000, Macau is one of the two special administrative regions of China whose economy is heavily dependent on gambling. Its casinos see a great deal of synergy and opportunity in the young, male demographic that MMA attracts.

Away from China, Legend FC fights are broadcast in 152 countries around the world, thanks to deals such as last month’s agreement with ESPN International which covers 109 countries in the Middle East, North Africa, subSaharan Africa, Latin America, Oceania and the Caribbean.

But where does Pollak stand on a pay-perview strategy for his MMA property? As it stands, he says he is judging each decision on a region-by-region basis: “We put all of our events on pay-per-view in North America.

“When you look at what we are doing in our home market, predominantly in China, pay-perview exists but it is not big and it is not going to drive a world-class sports federation model.”

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EXCELLENCE IN EVENTS As the only recognised international accolades to acknowledge excellence in the global sports event management industry, the 2012 International Sports Event Management (ISEM) awards were a hotbed of competition following a huge year for major events. SportBusiness International runs down the men, women and teams recognised for their outstanding contribution at last month’s gala dinner in London.

EVENT MARKETING Winner: Total Sports Asia THE EVENT MARKETING award was given to the organisation that achieved outstanding results through innovative marketing strategies and execution whilst promoting its sports events.

Total Sports Asia (TSA) was handed a challenging brief to develop the Axiata Cup badminton event. In simple terms, the brief was to create an event like no other.

TSA’s role was not only to create an event that provided a compelling and high-profile marketing vehicle for its title sponsors, but one which would be a welcome addition to the sport.

The solution was to develop a competition which was hosted in two countries - Indonesia and Malaysia, both hotbeds for badminton - and which used a home and away format to create greater traction with local fans and provide more live coverage during the four weeks of the event.

The Axiata Cup created exposure for the next

generation of star players and, for the first time in badminton, offered $1 million in prize money.

In addition, the event featured the first use of virtual advertising on perimeter boards in badminton. This involves introducing sponsor logos and messages on the upstream of the live TV feed, reducing distraction for players on court. The move also created new opportunities for sponsor brands and the flexibility to change messaging according the circumstances of a particular game.

The Axiata Cup was distributed to 25 countries across Asia and the United States with over 150 hours of live coverage for the preliminary rounds alone. Social media take-up was massive with Facebook numbers growing four-fold within the two weeks and Twitter traffic increasing by a factor of 12 across the course of the tournament. In

addition, over 270,000 videos were viewed on YouTube. The title sponsors received over 328 hours of exposure on TV with 3,000 promotional spots along with 3,000 verbal mentions during coverage.

ISEM Awards judges considered the entry an impressive example of the relationship between the event management and commercial worlds with TSA maximising the impact of the event for all stakeholders.

EVENT OVERLAY AND FACILITIES Winner: Team London, London 2012 THE EVENT OVERLAY and Facilities award was given to the event organisation that provided outstanding event overlay and temporary facilities at a major sports event.

The sheer scale of the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games, with its demands for facilities for 26 Olympic and 21 Paralympic sports, almost 20,000 athletes and officials, over nine million ticketed spectators, 20,000 media and 70,000 volunteers, made it one of sport’s true mega-management projects.

Making all this happen is overlay; the logistical, technical, construction, management, engineering and architectural feat that makes permanent venues, whether existing buildings or landscape, fit for Olympic and Paralympic purpose.

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At London 2012, overlay reached a new high, thanks to an ‘embrace the temporary’ strategy which provided a unique experience for athletes, media, spectators and big screen viewers to see London as they’ve never seen it before.

The team behind the overlay for London 2012, formed by organisations and companies such as the venue and infrastructure team at LOCOG (the London 2012 organising committee), Atkins, Arena Group, De Boer, Deloitte, ISG (International Stadia Group), GL Events, RLB (Rider Levett Bucknall) and Team Populous (Populous, Allies and Morrison and Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands) has set a benchmark for future host cities to follow.

London 2012 had a number of temporary

structures that equaled the last three summer Games combined, including 250,000 modular/temporary seats, 165,000-metressquared of tents, 140-kilometres of fencing, 250-kilometres of crowd barriers and 100,000-metres-squared of temporary sports surfaces, which has set a benchmark for scaling down the permanent build associated with the Olympic Games.

EVENT LOOK Winner: Icon for UEFA 2012 THE EVENT LOOK AWARD was given to the entry that most effectively presented a major sports event both inside and outside the venue.

UEFA’s European Championship is one of the world’s biggest and most significant sports events and the 2012 edition, co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine, wrote another chapter in the history of a tournament that has produced some of football’s most memorable moments.

The co-hosting of the tournament provided a challenge for Icon, the company selected to deliver a cohesive event look across all stadiums and other facilities. The brief was to blend UEFA’s competition with the essence of both Polish and Ukrainian cultures.

The identity of the event had been developed

by UEFA’s brand team and the role of Icon’s look programme was to create maximum impact at every site.

Icon carried out an inspiring event-dressing programme over two years during which Icon engaged in an extensive schedule to strengthen supplier partners from within Poland and the Ukraine which helped them to build their facilities and skills to the levels of delivery that have come to be associated with UEFA’s topflight competitions.

Under the direction of UEFA and Icon’s highly-experienced project and site management teams each venue was assessed for its unique attributes and how the spirit and image of the event could be captured and projected to maximum possible effect.

Every location was painstakingly surveyed and the latest print and production technologies employed to deliver some truly stunning and eye-catching features that

worked on a scale never before seen from the outside of the stadia to the pitch, media zones, hospitality and transport hubs. Throughout it all the colour and vibrancy of the brand elements were reproduced in all their glory, combined with striking photographic imagery of fans from every country that provided an engaging backdrop for the hordes of visiting supporters and made them truly feel a part of the event.

hospitality packages were developed to cater for the differing needs and varying budgets of corporate consumers and rugby fans alike.

The Eden Park Pavilion in the grounds of the Auckland stadium, the tournament’s flagship facility with a capacity for 3,000 guests, took three months to build with the temporary structure being shipped into New Zealand.

The Pavilion boasted three technology zones that provided interactive experiences for guests, while a comprehensive entertainment programme blended New Zealand culture and

rugby and had some of the world’s greatest rugby players lined-up as guest speakers. Food menus featured fresh New Zealand produce and, of course, the best of the country’s wines.

Similar experiences were served up at other venues around the country and packages ranged from private boxes for 20 to informal hospitality and live bands for 1,000.

Overall hospitality sales totaled NZ$80 million, contributing to the financial success of a tournament which is critical to funding the sport’s worldwide development.

HOSPITALITY Winner: Rugby World Cup Travel and Hospitality THIS AWARD WAS GIVEN to the organisation that best demonstrated how innovation and enterprise has fashioned a hospitality offering in the last 12 months.

Rugby World Cup Travel and Hospitality, a joint venture between Sodexo and Mike Burton Group, won the Hospitality category for its innovative work at the 2011 edition of the International Rugby Board’s flagship event in New Zealand.

The company, which has also been awarded the hospitality rights to the 2015 (England) and 2019 (Japan) tournaments, was committed to meeting tough sales targets in a small domestic market, a limited number of suitably qualified local suppliers and the difficulties caused by the Christchurch earthquake tragedy which saw games switched to new venues.

ISEM judges were impressed by the way that Rugby World Cup Travel and Hospitality focused on the creation of a bespoke hospitality experience that could not be replicated for any other event or in any other country, ensuring customers experienced a unique blend of rugby and New Zealand culture.

A range of seven on-site and off-site

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BEST USE OF SPONSORSHIP Winner: Lloyds Banking Group, London 2012 THE BEST USE OF SPONSORSHIP award was given to the event or sponsor who showed outstanding examples of effective and appropriate presentation or activation of their brand within the boundaries of a large-scale sports event.

Lloyds Banking Group was the first tier one partner to sign up to the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games and its innovative strategy designed to impact communities, businesses and staff impressed judges as a particularly effective and holistic activation of association with the ultimate multi-sports event.

Lloyds’ programme was built around four pillars - local heroes, school sport, torch relays and ticketing. Given the ‘inspire a generation’ ambitions of the Games, Lloyds work with the 2012 National School Sport Week, the biggest school sports event for three years, was particularly meaningful. Nine million pupils took part in events.

Forty-five ‘Local Heroes’ competed at the Games, having each received £1,000 through

Lloyds and SportsAid to help fund their journeys to London 2012 and beyond.

As the only national presenting partner for both the Olympic and Paralympic torch relays, Lloyds provided the opportunity for inspirational members of the community to carry the torch.

By voting for the bearers, local residents also had the chance to win Games tickets.

Staff engagement was a key piece of Lloyds’ sponsorship jigsaw and thousands signed up as volunteers to 2012 National School Sport Week and became involved with the torch relays.

Their efforts led to a £23,000 donation to charity Save The Children.

Critically for Lloyds Banking Group, its involvement with London 2012 created opportunities to drive many areas of its business. This included supporting firms seeking to win London 2012 contracts and Lloyds customers won around one-third of the £3 billion of contracts available.

Lloyds say the commercial returns covered the cost of investment and 31 per cent of the public associated the bank with the Games.

The network team of 850 people put in one million hours of work to deliver a communications infrastructure that involved more than 5,500-kilometres of optical fibre in 94 venues, 11,500 fixed telephones - which accounted for some 500,000 calls between them - while the number of Wi-Fi hotspots around London rose to 500,000.

London 2012 was also the digital Games

with record amounts of video content carried on Britain’s mobile networks.

BT’s work was acclaimed by a range of broadcasters and other stakeholders while a survey conducted for leadership and communications consultancy TLG found that BT’s provision of telecoms services and infrastructure was considered the most valuable corporate contribution to creating a positive Games.

BEST USE OF TECHNOLOGY Winner: BT Global Services, London 2012 BT GLOBAL SERVICES, the official communications services partner of London 2012, was honoured in the Best Use of Technology category, awarded to the organisation that implemented technology to enhance the delivery of a sports event and increase efficiency and revenues.

ISEM judges were impressed by BT’s delivery services around London 2012, particularly across a period when technology was changing rapidly, delivering the potential for the goalposts to shift from time-to-time.

BT worked alongside eleven other technology partner companies, managing a ‘fluid and dynamic’ environment that allowed each to operate effectively.

Across a network designed to handle 60-Gigabits-per-second (Gbps) of traffic, the maximum throughput was nearly seven Gbps, of which most was generated by the world’s media.

Core network availability was a remarkable 100 per cent with only minor incidents reported over 31 days of competition.

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SPORT CITY Winner: London IN A YEAR WHICH SAW the UK capital host the Olympic and Paralympic Games alongside its annual raft of English Premier League football, international rugby and cricket, Wimbledon tennis, games from the National Football League and the National Basketball Association, London’s case to be named Sports City of 2012 was extraordinarily strong.

The remarkable passion which greeted the Games was indicative of a city and a country that loves sport and has an enormous appetite for major events. London itself hosts major sports events more or less every week of every year, making it one of the most competitive sports markets anywhere in the world.

Over the last 10 years, London has transformed its image and its success as a host city for major sporting events. And according to its promotional

body London & Partners, the next decade will see significant developments in infrastructure, logistics and expertise as enthusiasm to host global events grows even further. Post-2012, the city will gain with a whole new event landscape, adding to the number of world-class venues the city already has to offer, but the competition will still be fierce and so we cannot become complacent.

With the 2017 World Championships in Athletics and key matches at the 2015 Rugby World Cup already on the books, London & Partners’ major events team, in partnership with the mayor of London and the LLDC (London Legacy Development Corporation), is now developing new opportunities for future sporting events in the capital including cycling, swimming, athletics and hockey.

BEST OPENING/CLOSING CEREMONY Winner: Five Currents, Pan American Games THE CEREMONIES CATEGORY proved a tough decision to judge and Five Currents’ win certainly surprised some members of the audience who had anticipated a triumph for the big budget extravaganzas around the 2012 London Olympic Games.

The Best Opening/Closing Ceremony award was given to the organisation that showed the most successful organisation and delivery of a ceremony for a major event.

The opening ceremony of the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, which was viewed live by 200 million people worldwide, saw Five Currents create a show that exemplified the modern qualities of Guadalajara and the technology hub of Mexico.

With the overarching theme ‘The Future of Guadalajara’, the team at Five Currents developed

a ceremony that paid tribute to Mexico’s rich cultural heritage and led spectators through a vibrant and lush journey of Guadalajara’s past, present and future.

In order to create a central focal point for the ceremony, Five Currents developed the revolutionary Halo, a mammoth device suspended across the roof of the stadium which housed the show’s technical equipment.

When fully deployed, a retractable screen created the largest projection surface ever used in a Pan American Games ceremony.

According to one international publication, the Guadalajara 2011 opening ceremony “created positive momentum for an acclaimed Games, instilled a deep sense of pride in the Mexican people and spotlighted Mexico’s rich artistic culture and Guadalajara’s bright future.”

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OUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTION Winner: Sir Craig Reedie ON AN EVENING of triumph for London it was perhaps appropriate that the ISEM award for Outstanding Individual Contribution should go to a man who has done so much for London, for sport in Britain and for the Olympic Movement.

Sir Craig Reedie is the former president of the International Badminton Federation and chairman of the British Olympic Association and is now International Olympic Committee vice-president who played a key role in London’s successful bid to stage the Games and in their subsequent delivery.

While Lord Sebastian Coe and others inevitably receive the lion’s share of plaudits, Reedie is recognised for his statesman-like style and consummate understanding of sports politics which has enabled him to play a vital role before, during and after the main event.

Having been a member of the IOC evaluation commission for the 2008 and 2016 Games, Reedie steps up to chair the evaluation commission for the 2020 Games, a contest between Istanbul, Madrid and Tokyo. It is a role

to which he will bring his significant integrity and a deep understanding of what makes a successful Olympic host.

Speaking at the 2012 ISEM conference Reedie

said he believed London 2012 had shown the world that it was possible for a city in a mature market with a rigorous and free press to successfully stage the Games.

Education Programme (CEP) designed to raise participants’ awareness of the Olympic values and address topics including Olympism, skills development, well-being and healthy living, social responsibility and expression through digital media. With youngsters from the local region also invited to be a part of the cultural initiative, the CEP was the platform for an intercultural exchange of opinions and

experiences which helped make the first winter Youth Olympic Games into a unique festival of sport and culture.

Innovation was evident in every aspect of the Games including the ‘pixel virus’ which dominated the event’s look. The multi-coloured and dynamic pixellated design combined the quadratic Innsbruck 2012 logo with the colours of the Olympic rings.

MOST INNOVATIVE EVENT Winner: 2012 Youth Olympic Games, Innsbruck FOR THE FIRST TIME the ISEM awards included a category, Most Innovative Event of the year, voted for by the industry at large. The organising committee for the 2012 Innsbruck Youth Olympic Games won the inaugural honour.

The Youth Olympic Games were introduced

by International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge as a means of connecting the spirit of the Olympic Movement with young people who have increasing competition for their leisure time.

From the outset, Innsbruck 2012 chief executive Peter Bayer created an event with youth at its heart. The Games brought together 1,059 top athletes aged between 14 and 18 from over 60 nations to compete in the seven sports which will also be represented at the 2014 winter Olympic Games in Sochi.

As well as the sporting competitions themselves, these young athletes also had the chance to take part in a Culture &

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ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY Winner: London 2012 AS SUSTAINABILITY ISSUES continue to accelerate up the agenda within the sports industry, ISEM awards judges agreed that the sustainability programme developed by the 2012 London Olympics provided a benchmark for sustainability in the Olympic Movement and sports events worldwide.

David Stubbs, head of sustainability at London 2012, and his colleagues were applauded for work that saw sustainability put at the heart of the project from the bid stage. Over the nine years (two for bidding, seven for delivery) the team maintained a strong and consistent narrative on the transformation of the Olympic Park site, building for legacy and delivering a truly sustainable Games.

London 2012’s procurement policies turned this into reality for hundreds of businesses which won work with the Games and had to address sustainability to an extent few had experienced before. This was transformative for a number of sectors across the event and construction industries.

Not only did this change the way many businesses (including sponsors) viewed sustainability but it led to substantial benefits across five headline sustainability themes of climate change, waste, biodiversity, inclusion and healthy living.

Thanks to strong and eventually positive

media coverage the sustainability message was broadcast to the world during the Games and was appreciated by the millions of visitors to Games venues. Early evidence from surveys suggests that people did take notice of several of the sustainability aspects and that will influence some of their future behaviour.

federations - plus of course the LOCOG team of staff, sponsors, contractors and volunteers.

Technology services were delivered predominantly by integrating products and services from sponsors who had either an established agreement with the International Olympic Committee to cover multiple Games or had a domestic sponsorship arrangement.

Among the technologies successfully delivered were those for timing and scoring, ticket-checking systems at competition venues,

audio-visual and public announcement systems, private mobile radio and mobile telephony.

The technology programme, which represented nearly 25 per cent of LOCOG’s budget, required a team with significant technical, commercial and managerial competence. It peaked at around 380 staff employed by LOCOG at Games-time, growing to over 5,000 staff at the Games once employees from sponsors, suppliers and volunteers were included.

OUTSTANDING TEAM CONTRIBUTION Winner: Technology team, London 2012 THE ISEM AWARDS recognised the outstanding contribution of a team around the hosting of a major event for the first time.

Given the increasingly complex nature of major international sports events, many facets of event planning and organisation are handled by groups of individuals and companies, assembled and managed to ensure successful, on time and on budget completion of particular tasks.

Few tasks are more complex than those that faced the London 2012 technology team, which harnessed a rich diversity of technologies brought together in the UK to deliver the Olympic and Paralympic Games with resounding success.

LOCOG (the London 2012 organising committee)’s technology mission was to deliver a set of critical services to support the varying needs of athletes and technical officials, the public and spectators, press, broadcasters and members of the Olympic family, including national Olympic committees and international

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SECURING SPORT’S FUTURE SECURING SPORT 2013 18-19.03.13 DOHA, QATAR

Set over two days in the Qatari capital of Doha under the theme of ‘Advancing the security and integrity of sport to safeguard the future’, next year’s Securing Sport conference will look at a range of issues involving security and sport.

Organised by the ICSS (International Centre for Sport Security), the conference will deliver discussions and presentations on topics such as the trends in social media, fan behaviour and transnational sports-related crime. Securing Sport 2013 will also provide a conceptual and experiential view on the security technologies of the future that could change the outlook of sport.

The event is targeting senior decision-makers and expert practitioners to discuss how sports federations can protect and safeguard the integrity of sport, as well as leading organising committees to discuss how to put a price on major event security.

Panel discussions will focus on issues such as: • Should police always lead sports investigations?

• The governance of international federations • Integrity of the young • Managing the impact of media on security planning • The future of sports security and technology • Planning for major events in Brazil and Russia.

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Since its launch in 2011, the annual Securing Sport event has brought together the key decision-makers, experts and practitioners from around the world of sport, creating the leading global forum for experts to share knowledge, insight and best practice in sports security and integrity issues.

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AMSTERDAM 2012 12-13.12.2012

AMSTERDAM, HOLLAND Experts from across the sports industry will witness the launch of Amsterdam 2012, an all-encompassing event that sees six conferences staged in the same place.

The six events taking place are: The International Football Development Expo, The PanStadia Expo, The Sports Technology Expo, The Sports Facilities Expo, The Turf and Grass Expo and The Playground and Landscape Expo.

Governing bodies and organisations represented at the International Football Development Expo include the KNVB (Dutch Football Association), the DFB (German Football Association) and the English, Norwegian and Danish Football Associations.

HOST CITIES 4-5.12.12 DUBAI, UAE

Meydan Racecourse, home of the Dubai World Cup, will entertain delegates from all over the world this month with the successful bids for the FIFA World Cup in 2018 (Russia) and 2022 (Qatar) inspiring the discussion about the new sporting powers on the global stage.

Presented by Emirates Airline, Host Cities is under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, chairman of the executive council for the Dubai government and chairman of the Dubai Sports Council.

The two-day event will feature high-profile speakers from former host cities and organising committees, panel-led case study explanations, practical workshops and informal networking and learning opportunities for prospective hosts.

It will attempt to aid potential host cities by offering them an opportunity to develop their understanding of what it takes to be a host nation, and work as a base for sporting administrators, brands and broadcasters to seek out new hosts and partners.

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70 SportBusiness International • No. 185 • 12.12

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As part of a Stars Chat session at the conference held in Qatar’s Aspire Dome in Doha, Barnes was commenting on the issue following the recent court case involving England captain John Terry and Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand.

“It’s not only a problem in football. We have to look at it in society first, only then can we help get rid of it in sport. We are doing it the wrong way round,” said Barnes, who was speaking on a panel that also included Dutch legend Ruud Gullit and former Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez.

Benitez also provided a coaching masterclass with hundreds of coaches from the Qatar Sports League, Qatar Football Association and Aspire’s various teams, who filled up the Aspire Academy Auditorium to listen to the expert’s take on the fine line between management and coaching and the importance of learning players’ languages when coaching a multinational team.

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72 SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12

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SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12 73

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The 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar will see the best players in the world compete in front of packed stadia - that was the guarantee from Hassan Al-Thawadi, secretary-general of the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee, at the International Sports Event Management (ISEM) conference in London last month.

David Grevemberg

In an exclusive one-on-one with SportBusiness Group editorial director Kevin Roberts, Al-Thawadi said the passion of the home fans and his country’s geographical location will ensure there will be bums on seats at every 2022 match.

“I have no fear on this issue,” he said.

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Attendance will not be an issue as Qatar is centrally located and easily accessible for international fans too.

“This event is not just about Qatar - it’s about the Middle East as well, bridging the gap between east and west. Culture will be a large part of the experience so there will be plenty for fans to do as well as watch football.”

Other speakers at ISEM 2012 included David Grevemberg (CEO of the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games) and Kit McConnell (the International Rugby Board’s Rugby World Cup head), the latter speaking about the development of rugby union in emerging markets.

Chris Eaton

74 SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12

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SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12 75

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GRAPEFRUIT GRAPHICS www.grapefruitgraphics.com IMG www.imgworld.com SPRINGETTS www.springetts.co.uk VELOCITY BRAND MANAGEMENT www.velocitybrandmanagement.com

HAVAS SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT www.havas-se.com INTRIX LIMITED www.intrixworld.com PHOTO & VIDEO

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ACTION IMAGES www.actionimages.com

HALLY SPORTS INTERNATIONAL LIMITED www.hallysports.com

GREEN 4 SOLUTIONS www.green4solutions.com

GETTY IMAGES www.gettyimages.com/sponsorship/sport

HAVAS SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT www.havas-se.com

MIKE BURTON SPORTS TRAVEL www.mikeburton.com

IMG www.imgworld.com

INFRONT SPORTS MEDIA www.infrontsports.com

PRESS ASSOCIATION IMAGES INTERNATIONAL TABLE TENNIS www.pressassociation.com/images FEDERATION smg-sbim-45x42mm-170810.ai 1 17/08/2010 13:48:58 www.ittf.com RESEARCH & EVALUATION PLUS EVENT MARKETING www.plus-em.com Sponsor Valuations Opinion Polling Feasibility Studies Media Analysis

PROFESSIONAL SPORTS GROUP www.profsports.com

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SPORT EVENT DENMARK www.sporteventdenmark.com SPORTFIVE INTERNATIONAL www.sportfive.com

APPLIED IMAGE RECOGNITION www.air-ltd.com

SPORTIZEN www.sportizen.co.kr

HAVAS SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT www.havas-se.com

SPORTS REVOLUTION www.sportsrevolution.com

JTA www.jtassocs.com

SPORTSMARK EUROPE www.sportsmark.com

LIVERPOOL JOHN MOORES UNIVERSITY www.ljmu.com

THE LOOK COMPANY www.thelookcompany.com

SMG/YOUGOV www.smg-insight.com

TOTAL SPORTS ASIA www.totalsportsasia.com

SPONSORMAP www.sponsormap.com

VELOCITY BRAND MANAGEMENT www.velocitybrandmanagement.com

SPORTBUSINESS INTELLIGENCE www.sb-intelligence.com

VERO COMMUNICATIONS www.verocom.co.uk

SPORTS MARKETING & SPONSORSHIP

WORLD SPORT GROUP www.worldsportgroup.com WSM COMMUNICATIONS www.wsmcommuications.com CAPITAL PROJECTS

Online

Mobile

Social

In-Stadia

Delivering integrated communication solutions on behalf of the world’s biggest brands and rights holders

sportsrevolution.co.uk 0207 580 2850

AIRTON RISK MANAGEMENT www.airtonrisk.com CITY OF MANCHESTER www.manchesterworldsport.com CLIPPER VENTURES www.ClipperRoundTheWorld.com DEEP RED CREATIVE www.deepredcreative.com DEFINITIVE EVENTS www.definitivesport.com DORNA SPORTS www.dorna.com EUROASIA SPORTS www.euroasia.com EUROSPORT www.eurosport.com EVENT SCOTLAND www.eventscotland.org EXPERIENCE WORLDWIDE www.experience-worldwide.com GRAPEFRUIT GRAPHICS www.grapefruitgraphics.com

CITIES, TRAVEL & TOURISM HOST CITIES LONDON & PARTNERS www.londonandpartners.com SPORT EVENT DENMARK www.sporteventdenmark.com TOURISM DEVELOPMENT COMPANY LTD www.gotrinidadandtobago.com

NOTTINGHAM TRENT UNIVERSITY www.ntu.ac.uk

HOTELS POLISH SPORT PROMOTION www.psport.pl

RECRUITMENT BIRKBECK UNIVERSITY www.bbk.ac.uk

LOGISTICS: AIR/COACH/RAIL DUBAI DUTY FREE www.dubaidutyfree.com

SPORTS RECRUITMENT INTERNATIONAL www.sportsrecruitmentinternational.com

POLISH SPORT PROMOTION www.psport.pl

EVENTS

SPORTS TRAVEL MANAGEMENT

CONFERENCES & VENUES

MIKE BURTON SPORTS TRAVEL www.mikeburton.com

ROUNDHOUSE www.roundhouse.org.uk

POLISH SPORT PROMOTION www.psport.pl

SOCCEREX www.soccerex.com

TOURISM DEVELOPMENT COMPANY www.gotrinidadandtobago.com

SPORT EVENT DENMARK www.sporteventdenmark.com SPORTELRIO 2012 www.sportelRio.com

TOURIST BOARDS CITY OF MANCHESTER www.manchesterworldsport.com

SURREY SPORTS PARK www.surreysportspark.com

EVENT SCOTLAND www.eventscotland.org TOURISM DEVELOPMENT COMPANY www.gotrinidadandtobago.com

CITY OF MANCHESTER www.manchesterworldsport.com

International Academy of Sports Science and Technology Accelerate Your Career in Sports Management www.aists.org +41 21 693 85 93

MUSEOS DEPORTIVOS www.museosdeportivos.com NUSSLI GROUP www.nussli.com POPULOUS www.populous.com SERVICE & EQUIPMENT PROVIDERS NUSSLI GROUP www.nussli.com TICKETING, CRM & SMART CARDS

CLIPPER VENTURES www.ClipperRoundThe World.com CORPORATE LEISURE LIMITED www.corporateleisureltd.com DEEP RED CREATIVE www.deepredcreative.com DEFINITIVE EVENTS www.definiteevents.com

nussli.com

ES GLOBAL www.esglobalsolutions.com

UNIQUE VENUES OF LONDON www.uniquevenuesoflondon.com EVENT MANAGEMENT & CORPORATE HOSPITALITY

EDUCATION & TRAINING

Lausanne, Switzerland

DESIGNSPORT www.designsport.org

TOURISM DEVELOPMENT COMPANY LTD www.gotrinidadandtobago.com

CAREER DEVELOPMENT

ARCHITECTS, CONSTRUCTION & ENGINEERING

Modular Stadium Overlay Grandstands Stages Pavilions Halls

LIVERPOOL JOHN MOORES UNIVERSITY www.ljmu.ac.uk

DORNA SPORTS www.dorna.com EUROASIA SPORTS www.euroasia.com

Apply now for our postgraduate courses in Sport Management & the Business of Football and Sport Marketing. sportbusinesscentre.com

EUROSPORT www.eurosport.com EVENT PLANNING GROUP www.eventplanninggroup.net EVENT SCOTLAND www.eventscotland.org FÉDÉRATION INTERNATIONALE DE MOTOCYCLISME www.fim-live.com

CIES www.cies.ch

GRAPEFRUIT GRAPHICS www.grapefruitgraphics.com

DE MONTFORT www.dmu.ac.uk

GREAT BIG EVENTS www.gbe.com

ESSEC GROUPE www.essec.eduhome

INFRONT SPORTS MEDIA www.infrontsports.com

SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12 77

www.sportbusiness.com/marketplace/organisations

Sport Event Denmark The Danish national sports event organisation established by the Danish Government and the National Danish Sports Organisations with the main objective of attracting and organising major international sports events and sports congresses.

Idraettens Hus Broendby Stadion 20 DK-2605 Broendby T: +45 43262100 F: +45 43262125 info@sporteventdenmark.com sporteventdenmark.com

We analyze all Sport TV ratings worldwide Contact Yassine-Guillaume Berhoun ygberhoun@eurodatatv.com

We speak TV TTXGP www.egrandprix.com NEW MEDIA DIGITAL INK www.digital-ink.co.uk EURODATA www.eurodata.com EUROSPORT www.eurosport.com INFRONT SPORTS MEDIA www.infrontsports.com

INTERNATIONAL TABLE TENNIS FEDERATION www.ittf.com MIKE BURTON SPORTS TRAVEL www.mikeburton.com MUSEOS DEPORTIVOS www.museosdeportivos.com PLUS EVENT MARKETING www.plus-em.com RED TORCH LTD www.redtorch.co RUSHMANS LTD www.rushmans.com SINGAPORE SPORTS COUNCIL www.ssc.gov.uk

STATS LLC www.stats.com PROFESSIONAL SERVICES ATHLETE MANAGEMENT INTER SPORT CLUBE www.intersportclube.com PROFESSIONAL SPORTS GROUP www.profsports.com INSURANCE & RISK MANAGEMENT

SURREY SPORTS PARK wwwsurreysportspark.com MEDIA DATA & INFORMATION SUPPLIERS SMG/YOUGOV www.smg-insight.com SPORTS STATISTICS & INFORMATION SYSTEMS www.sportstat.com STATS LLC www.stats.com WTVISION www.wtvision.com MEDIA OWNERS EUROSPORT www.eurosport.com FÉDÉRATION INTERNATIONALE DE MOTOCYCLISME www.fim-live.com

RIGHTS HOLDERS CLIPPER VENTURES www.ClipperRoundThe World.com DORNA SPORTS www.dorna.com EUROSPORT www.eurosport.com EVENT SCOTLAND www.eventscotland.org FÉDÉRATION INTERNATIONALE DE MOTOCYCLISME www.fim-live.com IMG www.imgworld.com INFRONT SPORTS MEDIA www.infrontsports.com INTERNATIONAL TABLE TENNIS FEDERATION www.ittf.com

IT, SOFTWARE & TECHNOLOGY

WTVISION www.wtvision.com LAWYERS MAX BITTEL GREEN www.mbg.co.uk RAJAH & TANN www.rajahtann.com SNR DENTON www.snrdenton.com SPORT RESOLUTIONS www.sportresolutions.co.uk SQUIRE SANDERS HAMMONDS www.ssd.com THE SPORTS CONSULTANCY www.thesportsconsultancy.com MANAGEMENT CONSULTANTS CALACUS www.calacus.com MUSEOS DEPORTIVOS www.museosdeportivos.com PMPGENESIS www.pmpgenesis.com PROPERTIES FEDERATIONS & GOVERNING BODIES

78 SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12

Input Media is one of Europe’s premier sports production companies, with blue-chip clients around the world.

Our clients are top federations, broadcasters, marketing companies, rights holders and football clubs.

We produce highlights packages for the UEFA Champions League and ITF Tennis, plus all the content for Chelsea TV and Arsenal TV, as well as the International Super Signal at Roland Garros and The Football Association’s international programming.

Contact: Richard Markell Head of Business Development E: richard.markell@inputmedia.tv T: +44 20 8740 5222

www.inputmedia.tv

PGA EUROPEAN TOUR www.europeantour.com PROFESSIONAL SPORTS GROUP www.profsports.com PROFESSIONAL SQUASH ASSOCIATION www.psa.com RUGBY FOOTBALL LEAGUE www.therfl.co.uk

SPORTS REVOLUTION www.sportsrevolution.com

INTRIX LIMITED www.intrixworld.com

EVENT SCOTLAND www.eventscotland.org

SPORT EVENT DENMARK www.sporteventdenmark.com

DOODSON SPORT www.doodsonsport.com

WHOLE NINE YARDS PRODUCTIONS LIMITED www.wnyproductions.com

CITY OF MANCHESTER www.manchesterworldsport.com

SMG/YOUGOV www.smg-insight.com

SINGAPORE SPORTS COUNCIL www.ssc.gov.uk

GREEN 4 SOLUTIONS www.green4solution.com

FACILITIES & TRAINING CAMPS

EUROPEAN SWIMMING FEDERATION www.len.eu

AIRTON RISK MANAGEMENT www.airtonrisk.com

SPORTSMARK EUROPE www.sportsmark.com

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TTXGP www.egrandprix.com VERO COMMUNICATIONS www.verocom.com SPORTS TELEVISION DISTRIBUTION COMPANIES & SYNDICATORS BBC WORLDWIDE www.bbcworldwidesales.com

IMG www.imgworld.com

COTTERILL & ASSOCIATES laura@cotterillassociates.com

INPUT MEDIA www.inputmedia.tv

EUROSPORT www.eurosport.com

SUNSET & VINE www.sunsetvine.com

IMG www.imgworld.com

TOTAL SPORTS ASIA www.totalsportsasia.com

INFRONT SPORTS MEDIA www.infrontsports.com TOTAL SPORTS ASIA www.totalsportsasia.com PRODUCTION COMPANIES

TV SERVICE & EQUIPMENT PROVIDERS AERIAL CAMERA SYSTEMS www.acsmedia.com BOWTIE www.bowtietv.com

CRYSTAL CG www.crystalcg.co.uk

PRESTIGNE CHARTER www.presteignecharter.com

EURODATA www.eurodata.com

SIS LIVE www.sislive.tv

EUROSPORT www.eurosport.com

SPORTS STATISTICS & INFORMATION SYSTEMS wwww.sportstats.com

HOST BROADCAST SERVICES www.hbs.tv IGBS www.igbs.tv

STATS LLC www.stats.com WTVISION www.wtvision.com

W H E R E S P O RT A N D B R A N D S M E E T Providing exclusive data, insight and analysis, we are the onestop-shop for the sponsorship sector.

• Find new sponsors • Benchmark valuations • Improve your sales pitch by understanding the rationale behind the deals • Justify your decisions to your board Our subscription package is a great combination of data, analysis, contacts and rationale. Join our subscription package and access: • The Deals Database – An unrivalled tool to help you plan your strategy • A fully researched directory of more than 400 top decision makers in sponsorship • A monthly newsletter packed with analysis of the market • The Frontloaded weekly email bulletin of news complete with context and analysis • The Locker Room - A rapidly growing searchable archive of case studies, data and intelligence

“A great idea, brilliantly researched and well presented” Laureus

“A sponsorship version of TV Sports Markets… very good and much needed” Tim Crow, CEO, Synergy Sponsorhsip

Call: Chris Beadle +44 (0) 20 7954 3403 Email: chris.beadle@sportbusiness.com

Sign up online: http://frontiers.sportbusiness.com/free-trial

CAREERS AND JOBS

RUGBY’S SPECIAL AGENT UK rugby’s first female player agent, Katie Simmonds, explains how she juggles her role as head of sports law at Burlingtons Legal with planning to attract some of the sport’s biggest names to her stable by the time the rugby union World Cup comes to England in 2015.

How did you get into the sports industry?

From being a newly-qualified lawyer I pretty much set-up my own sports practice, which is quite rare. Within that practice [FrontRow Legal] I was working with a lawyer who was well known in rugby league. It soon became apparent that the figures from just working in rugby league would not be enough, so I won my first client [Fijian rugby union player] Seru Rabeni.

I was introduced to Seru as he had just signed for Leeds Carnegie and it was believed he had a legal case against a Premiership club.

After investigating it I won him as a client, looked into his case and we settled out of court.

I used that case to raise my profile as I was on [UK channel] Sky Sports talking about being a rugby agent, and then the Sky Sports website published an article which I commented on.

That led to me being introduced to Damian Hopley, CEO of the RPA (Rugby Player’s Association). I have developed that relationship over a number of years and when I got made partner of Burlingtons I joined the RPA’s panel of lawyers.

When I was studying law there was no such topic as sports law really but I enjoyed doing the media and entertainment side of things.

I want to be the go-to lawyer for sports clubs, sports stars and celebrities. I see sport as being part of the entertainment sector, so it was not necessarily the plan [to get into sport] but it is what I enjoy the most and I love meeting the people involved with this part of the industry. Generally, I think you do well in whatever you have a passion in, and when you have a chance like I do of growing a specialism, it is really exciting.

introducing me to key sports figures. I recently wrote an article for World Sports Law Report but I was not simply concerned about it getting published, it was more about getting the right people reading it. I know that Rick forwarded it to some very important people who own football clubs in the UK. I met Rick three years ago at a sports law conference and he had just finished his time at Liverpool. At FrontRow I organised an event on betting and integrity and he came along as a guest speaker. When I moved to Burlingtons we stayed in contact and he has introduced me to people at the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) amongst others. He is well connected and we will be working on many projects together in the future.

Is the rugby agent sector competitive?

Has he given you any good advice?

It is competitive but if you are proactive and knock on a lot of doors, like I do, then you can gain some success and I was actually instructed by the RFL (Rugby Football League) to speak to their academy players on social media.

Rugby league and rugby union have been great for me as there is less competition to gain a reputation in the sport, but I want to move into other areas such as football.

Rick says that he always try to keep things as simple as possible when doing business. Most of my clients end up being friends and are the sort of people I go to the pub with, so it is important to speak to them without always going into the legal ins and outs. That’s crucial and I think is where I have an advantage when trying to get new clients who are the same age as me.

You have to be adaptable as more and more people are asking me about reputation handling and crisis management now. The agency side of things has been a really good catalyst for drawing up business and I’ve acted

Did you always intend to work in sport?

for people like [former England rugby union player] Phil Greening and Shaun Edwards [defence coach for the Welsh national rugby union team].

What’s been the highlight of your career so far?

The Rabeni case and being made a partner at only 28-years-old are two obvious highlights, as is being invited to go and meet Marco Piccinini, minister of finance and economy in Monaco [who resigned in October].

What I have found really positive in sports law is that a lot of people have been really collaborative in their approach. I don’t feel as though there is a “them and us” mentality.

That’s really encouraging.

And the most difficult period?

Do you have any role models in the industry?

Rick Parry [former chief executive of English Premier League club Liverpool] has been like a mentor to me and has opened doors by

80 SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12

Six years ago, we went to Luton [Town football club] to inform the players they were not going to be paid and my boss walked out and all the players booed him, along with the rest of my colleagues. We were very unpopular.

However, when I left, all the players cheered.

I think being a woman was an advantage on that day but that is not always the case.

What are your future plans?

My ambition is to continue acting for the RFL, to act for a combination of players and clubs in rugby union, and also to break into football and Formula One, representing drivers, players and teams.

CAREERS AND JOBS

MOVE OF THE MONTH - BRUNO LALANDE, REPUCOM Media industry veteran Bruno Lalande last month stepped into the newly-created role, director of strategy for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), at global sports marketing research giant Repucom.

Forty-three-year-old Lalande began his career in 1993 by cofounding Access Press International (API), a research institute specialising in media, sponsorship and publishing, before joining Kantar Media in 2000. For the last year he has been running Lagardère Unlimited’s operations in Europe and Africa.

A recognised sports marketing specialist, Lalande is involved in various training courses at the

Paris Institute of Political Studies (SciencesPo), HEC Paris and Toulouse Business School (ESC), and is co-author of the book Brands and Measurements - A Decade of the Business of Sport.

“I am very proud to be joining Repucom and the wider RSMG Insights organisation,” Lalande said.

“What is most compelling for me is that RSMG Insights represents what I believe to be the four key operational success factors in our industry: innovation, exemplary product offerings, leading technology solutions and the best people in the industry who act globally but focus locally on their clients’ needs.

“More than ever before, sport reaches beyond borders and in Europe RSMG Insights clearly offers the premier service in the industry, evidenced by our ability to attract global investment. Europe is and will continue to be one of the nerve centres of sport.

“The challenging economic climate has helped reshape the industry and today RSMG Insights’ companies are undoubtedly the world leaders in the field of sports marketing research and consultancy.”

Located in Paris, Lalande will report directly to COO Jeffrey Stein who is based at Repucom’s New York headquarters.

CAREER PATH 1993 – 2000 Co-Founder, Access Press International (API) 2000 – 2011 Director, Kantar Sport and Kantar Media Information 2011 – 2012 Secretary General for Europe and Africa, Lagardère Unlimited 2012 – Director of Strategy (EMEA), Repucom

JOB CAROUSEL The International Triathlon Union (ITU) remained the only international sports federation in the Olympic Movement to have women in its top two leadership roles following the re-election of Marisol Casado (above) and Loreen Barnett as president and secretary general respectively.

The election this October, held at the ITU Congress in Auckland, New Zealand, saw Spaniard Casado defeat the challenge of South Korea’s Kyung-sun Yu and secure another four-year term in office. Casado succeeded Les McDonald as ITU president in 2008.

Staying within Olympic circles, the Rio 2016 organising committee restructured its senior management by appointing Sidney Levy to the CEO position assumed by Leonardo Gryner, who moves across to become COO of the organisation.

Levy made his name at payment solutions provider Valid SA. Another man who knows all about running an Olympic and Paralympic Games, Lord Sebastian Coe (left), was elected chairman of the British Olympic Association (BOA) unopposed last month. In August, former chair Colin Moynihan said he would resign as BOA chairman a year before his tenure was due to expire in a bid to aid the search for a successor.

The man responsible for ensuring Coe’s good work as chairman of the London 2012 organising committee does not go to waste will be Dennis

Hone, appointed last month as chief executive of the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC), the body formed to steer the city’s postOlympic operations, on a permanent basis. Hone has been operating as chief executive of both the LLDC and the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) since Andrew Altman resigned as chief executive of the former in August.

Away from the Olympics, there is a new leader at apparel giant PUMA following the appointment of Jean-François Palus as chairman. Palus joined PPR, the main shareholder of PUMA, in 1991 and assumes the position following Jochen Zeitz’s resignation in October. In the UK meanwhile, Gordon Kaye joined Celtic as the Scottish Premier League club’s new business development manager following four years in the same position at the FAI (Football Association of Ireland).

In horse racing circles, Mike Street OBE and Nick Mustoe were appointed chairmen of Sandown Park Racecourse and Kempton Park Racecourse respectively, effective January 2013. The ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) meanwhile promoted Alison Lee (above) to executive vice-president of its International Group. Lee will be based in Sydney, Australia, at ATP International Group headquarters which oversee business affairs in Australia, Asia, Middle East, Russia and Africa.

In the United States, the upper echelons of the NBA (National Basketball Association) are hoping a new brand of silver service will help them recover from the loss of longserving commissioner David Stern. Stern, who

announced this October he will stand down from the role in February 2014, will be succeeded by deputy commissioner Adam Silver, who has served as the league’s number two since 2006.

The home of one of the sport’s franchises, the Brooklyn Nets, also appointed David Anderson as general manager of the recently-built Barclays Center in the New York City borough, while the Portland Trail Blazers appointed Chris McGowan as its president and chief executive officer.

McGowan was formerly COO of AEG (Anschutz Entertainment Group) Sports.

Another former senior AEG Sports executive, Shawn Hunter, has also moved. Hunter, who was integral to the formation of the Tour of California cycling event, was made non-executive chairman of the board of directors at sports marketing agency Total Sports Asia.

Cyril Abiteboul (left) was named team principal of the Formula One Caterham F1 team after Tony Fernandes confirmed he was stepping down to focus on developing the company’s road car business. Karim Bouzidi meanwhile was made COO of the World Series of Boxing, responsible for all operations as well as managing the staff at the headquarters in Lausanne. Bouzidi has over 15 years experience in business development as well as a strong background in boxing.

This month’s Job Carousel ends with a couple of leadership announcements involving two major sports federations; Leandro Negre was re-elected International Hockey Federation (FIH) president and Bruno Grandi won re-election as president of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG).

SportBusiness International • No.185 • 12.12 81

BACK TO THE FUTURE FLASHBACK 15 YEARS

December 1997

No. 17

MATT CUTLER Editor SportBusiness International

In truth, reporting on an argument between the IOC (International Olympic Committee) and the United States could have featured in the majority of SportBusiness International editions from the last 16 years.

The tetchy relationship stretches back to the late 1980s, with the two parties frequently quarrelling about money and who gets what from the revenues generated by the Greatest Show on Earth.

This time around it was the sticky issue of advertising that divided the two parties, with our archive piece from December 1997 quoting Billy Payne, former head of the 1996 Atlanta Games, who said that no potential bidding city from the region would be able to comply with IOC requirements to acquire all outdoor advertising sites in the city for the whole month of any potential Games.

So long the Olympic cash cow, America has not hosted a summer Games since 1996, in part due to its ongoing revenue arguments with the IOC. However, all that could be about to change following a new revenue distribution agreement settled at the SportAccord International Convention this year, and now the US is being lined up as a favourite to win the race to host the 2024 Games.

Our second story concerns one of world sport’s most iconic kits - the New Zealand rugby union top - and how adidas pipped Nike to land rugby’s biggest ever kit deal at the time, worth $45 million.

Fast forward 16 years and the All Blacks have added another mark to their famous jersey, with insurance company AIG’s logo now carried on the front of the shirt.

The AIG deal has guaranteed vital revenues to reinvest back into the sport, but has also received criticism from fans who flooded the team’s official Facebook page with negative comments following the announcement of the deal this October.

82 SportBusiness International • No.185 No.177 • 12.12 04.12

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