www.sportbusiness.com at World Athletics at World Building bridges and breaking ground – 2020 breaking ground help FIH monetise OTT Automated production and production Automated user-generated content will user-generated

BUILDING BRAND STRATEGIES BUILDING for ticket sales boosts Teams in prime US travel Teams in prime US travel destinations mine tourists destinations mine tourists HOW TWO EUROPEAN SUPER CLUBS ARE ARE SUPER CLUBS EUROPEAN TWO HOW Tales of cities two Tales

for Tough Mudder? Tough for INSIDE THIS ISSUE Mud, sweat and tears:and Mud, sweat Where did it all go wronggo Where did it all

January/February 2020 Issue no. 258 www.sportbusiness.com THE MEETING PLACE FOR THE BUSINESS OF SPORT JUNE 17-18, 2020 | TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR STADIUM

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January/February | Issue no. 258

Worldview

5 Sport needs to deal with its sustainability problem 6 Stern was ‘pure caring concealed in vinegar’ 8 Hard work for China to meet lofty 2020s sporting goals

Business Development 9 Where did it all go wrong for Tough Mudder? 32 Inside the Wizards’ strategy to develop Japanese fandom 35 MLB’s new NYC headquarters reflects Manfred’s ‘One Baseball’ vision 38 XFL confident its second act will prove a success 9 43 ‘Our ambition is to have the two best teams in the world’ – why OL Groupe has taken over Reign FC 46 Teams in prime US destinations mine tourists for tickets

Sponsorship & Marketing 16 Young, gifted and Parisian: why PSG means more than football to global brands 22 European success reinforces Ajax’s status as brands’ platform of choice in the Netherlands 26 ‘Team China’ brand sets high partnership price, targets $400m in quadrennial revenue 28 Chinese athletes to benefit as government heads off potential for endorsement disputes 16 Media 52 Automated production and user-generated content will help FIH monetise new OTT service 56 Uefa and Team get off to winning start 60 Unsuccessful initial tender raises questions over K League’s domestic media strategy Governance 62 Building bridges and breaking ground – what 2020 holds 22 for World Athletics 66 Malaysian FA pushes for club privatisation but teams still rely on state support Events 68 Reliability the watchword as Los Angeles takes long run at the Olympics 73 2020 Youth Olympics give Lausanne chance to take lead in driving ‘new Games’ era

Esports 80 Football and Rocket League’s young relationship is 52 62 already on the rocks

@SportBusiness | www.sportbusiness.com 3 Editor

CALENDAR Ben Cronin [email protected] + 44 (0)20 7265 4232 Deputy Editor Adam Nelson [email protected] + 44 (0)20 7265 4234 US Editor Eric Fisher [email protected] Asia Editor Kelvin Tan [email protected] Head of Content Richard Welbirg [email protected] 03-06 MAR | MIAMI 13-16 MAR | AUSTIN + 44 (0)20 7265 4233 SPORTEL MIAMI SXSW – SPORTS Editorial Director Kevin Roberts [email protected] “SPORTEL will be back in Miami for the 2020 “Discuss the trajectory of longtime favorites as spring event delivering new added value content well as new sensations in the face of new tech Senior Designer and networking experiences. Key decision and enthusiastic fans. Explore sessions coming Alex Smith [email protected] makers from across the Americas and around to the Sports Track in 2020 such as Swiss Army the globe will come together for targeted Marketing: A Chat with NBA CMOs, Ancient Production and Distribution Manager business meetings, insightful knowledge Rites Transforming Sports Performance, The Craig Young [email protected] sharing and decisive deal making.” Power of Sport and Activism for Impact, and more.” Commercial Director sportelamerica.com/ [email protected] sxsw.com/conference/sports/ + 44 (0) 2072 654183

Subscription/Information Sales Max Frew/Scott Longhurst/ Laurence Burton [email protected] 17-18 MAR | DURBAN 24 MAR | LONDON Head of Media Sales WORLD FOOTBALL SUMMIT THE UK SPONSORSHIP [email protected] AFRICA AWARDS 2020 + 44 (0) 2072 654182

“WFS Africa is the international event for the “No other Awards reward effectiveness www.sportbusiness.com African football industry, gathering the most and excellence across all sectors of the Published by: influential professionals in order to discuss the sponsorship, partnership and brand activation SportBusiness, a division of SBG most relevant topics and generate business industries and across all budget bands – Companies Ltd, New Penderel House, opportunities. During 2 days, Durban becomes campaigns are held under the spotlight, 283-288 High Holborn, London the capital of this thriving industry.” objectives are examined and tested, creativity WC1V 7HP and innovation both within ideas and execution T: +44 (0) 20 7265 4100 africa.worldfootballsummit.com/ F: +44 (0) 20 7265 4220 are judged and results are scrutinised. And all by experts in their specialist fields.” Registered address: Park House, 116 Park Street, London, W1K 6AF sponsorship-awards.co.uk/ Printed in the UK by Pensord Press www.pensord.co.uk 26-27 MAR | NEW YORK 19-24 APR | BEIJING The paper used within this publication has been sourced from a Chain-of-Custody-certified SPORTTECHIE STATE OF THE SPORTACCORD CONVENTION manufacturer, operating within international INDUSTRY 2020 environmental standards such as ISO14001 and EMAS. This is to ensure sustainable sourcing of the raw materials, sustainable production and to “State Of The Industry (SOTI) is the world’s “SportAccord brings together international minimise our carbon footprint. premier conference focused on sports sports federations and organisations involved in technology and innovation. For the third year the business of sport and is attended by leaders SportBusiness Review is published monthly © SBG Companies Ltd 2019. All rights reserved. in a row, the industry’s brightest minds will of the global sports community. It engages No part of this publication may be reproduced return to Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York international sports federations, athletes, or transmitted in any form or by any means, to examine the most important matters from industry, rights holders, organising committees, or stored in any retrieval system of any nature without prior written permission, except for the past year, with an eye towards the year to cities, government, agencies, media, technology, permitted fair dealing under the Copyright come.” legal teams, medical professionals, inventors, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Application and subject matter experts – represented at the for permission for use of copyright material events.sporttechie.com/SOTI highest levels.” including permission to reproduce extracts in other published works shall be made to the sportaccord.sport/ publishers. Full acknowledgement of author, publisher and source must be given. ISSN 1757-5346.

4 www.sportbusiness.com | @SportBusiness WORLDVIEW |LONDON

Worldview | London

Ben Cronin, Europe Editor [email protected] Sport needs to address its sustainability problem

or most of his career, Roger from its effects. The convergence year after year. But the tripling of Federer has sailed serenely of the Credit Suisse story with the visitors from India, the US, China and clear of controversy. A lengthy ongoing wildfires in Australia – and the Japan that has resulted from this policy list of personal endorsement disruption they caused to qualifiers for has presumably had a corresponding Fdeals and an estimated net worth of the Australian Open – only served to impact on the natural world. $900m attest to his easy charm and a highlight the industry’s complicated So what can sport do to minimise its seeming inability to cause offense. So it relationship with global warming. The environmental footprint and placate its must have come as a jolt when climate grand slam has already had to review young critics? Even the more extreme activists recently asked if he supported its extreme heat policy in recent activist would probably acknowledge it the destruction of the planet. years after mounting temperatures is unrealistic to recommend cancelling In a cleverly orchestrated stunt, have caused players, ball boys and events. Russell Seymour, chief student protestors played tennis at attendants to suffer from heat-related executive of the British Association the headquarters of Credit Suisse to illnesses. for Sustainable Sport, prefers a more criticise Federer’s partnership with measured response in which sports the bank and the estimated $57bn it is organisations accurately appraise alleged to have invested in fossil fuel “There is an inherent paradox themselves of their carbon impact and enterprises. Headline writers depicted in the fact that major sports take reasonable measures to mitigate it. the story as a clash of icons – Roger events both contribute to “You’ve got to identify ways to versus Greta Thunberg – even though manage waste, you’ve got to look at the Swedish activist’s only involvement climate change and suffer renewable energy sources, you’ve was to like a social media post about from its effects.” got to encourage people to come by the demonstration. public transport where possible,” he Thunberg may not have conceived says. And in those cases where air of the protest, but her acolytes in the travel is inevitable, he points to the climate youth movement have struck In Northern Europe events have way itinerant events like Formula E upon a powerful new way to influence to contend with extreme weather of have reorganised their schedules to public opinion. When the World a different kind. A 2018 report by the minimise the distance between races. Wildlife Fund subsequently wrote a Climate Coalition said six of the seven A welcome by-product of most letter to the IOC questioning Tokyo wettest winters in recorded UK history carbon reduction measures is they 2020’s sustainability credentials, sports have occurred since 2000. happen to save money. The success of climate shaming became a trend. The It won’t be lost on protestors that Formula E in attracting sponsors also ingenuity of both campaigns was to increasingly globalised sports events proves the value in promoting a green use the global profile of Federer and are intrinsically carbon-intensive agenda. the Olympics to amplify otherwise dry and effectively encourage harmful As Federer has found out, rights- messages about procurement policies behaviours. In an interview with holders also need to be wary of and investment portfolios. And if SportBusiness Review last year, the the messages sent out by their less climate activists can make an example grand slam’s chief revenue officer purpose-driven sponsors. While of the saintly Swiss, imagine what they Richard Heaselgrave described how Seymour praises Premier League clubs might do for event organisers with “internationalisation” was key to the like Manchester City and Arsenal for bigger carbon problems to hide. tournament’s growth. If the event was their sustainable water and waste There is an inherent paradox in the to only target an Australian audience, policies he finds it somewhat ironic fact that major sports events both he said it would need one fifth of that both sell their shirt fronts to an contribute to climate change and suffer country’s population to buy tickets airline. Z

@SportBusiness | www.sportbusiness.com 5 Gerard duringthedraw Piqué withDavid ceremonyfortheDavis Haggerty CupFinals( Quality Sport Images/GettyImages Quality Sport ) 6 WORLDVIEW | NEW YORK T vinegar’ expandedopportunity vinegar’ Stern’s ‘purecaringconcealedin www.sportbusiness.com | high degree of smarts and attention high degree ofsmarts andattention R-ratedof Stern himself: jokes, a and broadcast networkpresidents. teamas leaguecommissioners, owners, C-suite sportsindustryexecutives such people, includingliterally hundreds of Music more than4,000 by Hallattended York, amassive affairatRadio City inNew service hismemorial attending IhadwithSternconversation upon business landscape. wefitintoand where theglobalsports toseriously ourambitions understand softballs, asStern wasalsoprobing doing. no meansthrowing Buthewasby interestedgenuinely inwhatweare Stern. He waswarm,curious,allin market strategy. our Singapore office,andouroverall of theopening presence, American SportBusiness, theexpansionofour to ofquestionsaboutmymove series immediately mewitha peppered to Stern, NBA boss andtheformer sports mediaandtechnology start-ups. counselandfundingtowhich provides Ventures, inMicromanagement partner Stern’schief andmore recently business John Kosner, digital ESPN’sformer accident.by Iwasmeetinglastfallwith was abrain haemorrhage, 77 following Stern, whodiedJanuary 1attheageof with my lastmeetingandconversation ofself-indulgence.with amoment Worldview |New York Eric Fisher, USEditor The service had all the elements hadalltheelements The service I thoughtalotaboutthatlast wasclassic The conversation Kosner brought meinto say hello After him, manyyearsofknowing Basketball begins Association, oftheNational emeritus Stern, thelate commissioner ofDavidhis remembrance @SportBusiness David Stern,thelatecommissioneremeritusof theNationalBasketballAssociation( signal perhaps the most prevalent the mostprevalent signal perhaps towards opportunityforsomany.” all sleightofhandandadeliberate detour Baptistpreacher.itinerant Except itwas withtheintensitydelivered ofan altogether. Reformterrifyingly andfiber thing, buthewassomethingelse continued. “You thoughthewasone gearofanenforcer,”the battle Marsalis concealed invinegar.” He described Stern as“pure caring andthoseofsomanyothers. experience of thesportsindustryiconasmy Stern’s, relayed then asimilar notion Wynton of alongtime friend Marsalis, to self. beyond service Jazz artist to commitment detail,andadeep And those references toAnd thosereferences opportunity “David disguisedin wasareformer [email protected] an annushorriblis fortheNBA. part ofa2020that hasquicklystarted as alsocomprises andnow commissioner less thanfourweeksafter theformer Kobesuperstar Bryant,whodied Stern thelate pusheswascertainly the pool,to seeifwecouldswim.” of end usinthedeep throwing enjoyed Rick Welts putitmore succinctly:“He leagueexecutive andformer president theircomfortzone. beyond move pushed to bebetter, to grow, andto suchasajournalist,wasalwaysentity colleague, businesspartner, oroutside encountered, anemployee, whether of accomplishment. he Everyone ofStern’stheme massiverecord Among the beneficiaries ofthose Among thebeneficiaries State asGolden Or Warriors Jeff Golden/GettyImages ) WORLDVIEW | NEW YORK Everyone he encountered was The David Stern executive tree also Magic Johnson said Stern’s move to has more branches and deeper roots allow Johnson to play in the 1992 NBA always pushed to be better, to than arguably than other figure in the US All-Star Game gave him the will to keep grow, and to move beyond sports business, with hundreds and upon living after his HIV diagnosis. Countless their comfort zone. hundreds of senior leaders, in and out of others were given the same courage by basketball, owing their careers to Stern. Stern amid widespread public hysteria Stern also expanded opportunity around HIV and AIDS at the time. for many of society’s less fortunate “In a time of need, in the darkest Sometimes those pushes grew highly through NBA Cares, a league effort he period of my life….my commissioner combative, and there were notably insisted move beyond the comfort zone turned into my angel, and he was able four lockouts with the NBA Players of community relations into a far more to throw me a lifeline,” Johnson said. Association during his long run leading ambitious, forward-looking notion of “That game saved my life. It gave me the the league. Many around the basketball social responsibility. energy to carry on, and to live on.” universe were on the receiving end of And sometimes that mission of And with that, it will be hard to vicious tirades from Stern. And industry expanding opportunity meant literally imagine another sports executive who stories are legend of NBA employees life and death. Former Los Angeles will leave a greater and more impactful recoiling in fear at the mere sight of Lakers star and Basketball Hall of Famer legacy than Stern. Z Stern’s name showing up on their telephone caller IDs. But again, everywhere he went Stern created greater opportunity as he turned the NBA into a multi-billion dollar colossus and helped redefine what a sports league is and should be. Val Ackerman, the first president of the Women’s National Basketball Association and now commissioner of the Big East Conference, described Stern as the single most important figure in the women’s sports movement since Billie Jean King. That’s no faint praise, but deeply merited given Stern created the WNBA – creating a blueprint for the many women’s sports leagues that have followed in its wake – and then steadfastly stood by the venture in the face of withering initial criticism. Stern’s ambitious global vision for basketball help bring the sport to nearly every corner of the planet, first with the 1992 US Olympic ‘Dream Team’, and then via a dizzying series of business ventures including league offices in China and India, broadcast, digital and social media expansions around the world, and an ever- increasing amount of international games. Millions of people that are now playing basketball and consuming basketball content and weren’t before can be traced back to Stern. Every other US sports property is still playing catchup internationally to what Stern pioneered with the NBA; work now being carried under his successor, Adam

Silver, to newer corners of the world for The Dallas Mavericks observe a moment of silence for former NBA commissioner David Stern before their game US sports properties such as Africa. against the Brooklyn Nets at American Airlines Center on January 2 (Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

@SportBusiness | www.sportbusiness.com 7 Worldview | Singapore

Kelvin Tan, Asia Editor [email protected] Hard work required for China to meet WORLDVIEW | SINGAPORE | WORLDVIEW lofty sporting goals of the decade ahead

i Jinping has always been a strong proponent of the value of sport, and under his leadership the Chinese state Xhas set itself bold targets in this area – to get 435 million people regularly exercising by 2020, to turn its major sports into regional powers by 2030 and world-class competitors by 2050, and to build a ¥5tn (€641m/$699m) sports industry by 2025. But progress has been bumpy. Digital sports broadcasting has grown but not without overheating in 2017-18. External investment in club football China’s President Xi Jinping attends the opening ceremony of the 2019 Basketball World Cup on August 30, 2019 in was everywhere, and then it was reined Beijing, China. (Greg Baker - Pool/Getty Images) in. China bid successfully for the 2022 Winter Olympics and the 2021 Club the Chinese Football Association is of big disagreements between the two World Cup, but its volleyball and soccer in two minds over whether to tighten bodies going back several years. teams have failed to qualify for Tokyo control or relinquish it. State broadcaster CCTV’s award 2020 (basketball is likely to follow). In October last year, the CFA – ceremony for Chinese athletes has Gou Zhongwen, the director of the which currently runs the league been on ice for two years because General Administration of Sport, said through an operating company – the GAS and the SART couldn’t agree during a meeting of sport federation decided to hand over control to the on profit distributions or which side chiefs in Beijing last month that raising clubs, in the hope of encouraging would judge the awards. China’s performances in the “big-ball commercial development. Pre-empting division also explains games” is a priority for the country’s But government chiefs were why the GAS this month withdrew central and regional sports authorities. infuriated by the national team’s loss regulation papers limiting the Building a talent pipeline in these to Syria in a November World Cup commercial activities of Chinese sports is a huge challenge that will have qualifier, and in response to demands athletes – more fall outs between to be overcome if China is to become that better quality Chinese players come national federations and their star the planned regional powerhouse by through the ranks of the CSL, the CFA athletes is a bad look with two Asia the end of this decade. exercised its power to slap a new salary Olympics around the corner. The trouble is, reforms in domestic cap on foreign players in the league. Can the CAG meet President Xi’s leagues and sport federations in The second big challenge is targets of China a regional powerhouse recent years, particularly football and keeping various arms of the state in Asian sport by the end of the basketball, have generally moved things working in harmony. The recent decade? Only time will tell, but it’s one step forward, two steps back, due agreement between the GAS and the clear that better sporting results need to a lack of commercial nous, as well as State Administration of Radio and to come sooner than later for the “big just old fashioned in-fighting. Television, to jointly create a platform ball games”, otherwise it’ll be tough When it comes to management for events, programmes and content going getting sponsors and rights- of the Chinese Super League, the covering summer and winter Olympic buyers to fuel the next stage of China’s country’s professional football league, sports, has only been launched because sporting ambitions. Z

8 www.sportbusiness.com | @SportBusiness BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Mud, sweat and tears | Where did it all go wrong for Tough Mudder?

Company subject of bankruptcy Insiders blame financial problems on Spartan Race offers to buy business proceedings in the US ‘vanity projects’ and pay off debts

Ben Cronin name of a shared experience. the business through the bankruptcy Where other events included a courts, it will be for a lot less than here was a time Tough Mudder timed, competitive element, Tough $100m. Even more damagingly, legal was one of the stars of the Mudder was all about teamwork and documents reveal how a series of mass participation sector. camaraderie. The mud-caked images strategic missteps and an unedifying At the height of its powers, that legions of participants duly shared record of greed, hubris and ego led the Tthe obstacle racing company boasted a on social media denoted a certain type company to the point where creditors profile the envy of just about every event of generous, broad-minded adventurism have not been paid and its greatest rival outside of the Wanda Sports Group’s and only served to market the events is circling, looking to buy the firm in a Ironman series, while chief executive more aggressively. fire sale. Will Dean was seldom far from a In an interview with The Times flattering profile in the business pages. around the 2017 launch of his memoirs, ‘Vanity projects’ Dean and his co-founder Guy It Takes a Tribe, Dean estimated the Between the founding of Tough Mudder Livingstone had conceived of a company, of which he held a 50-per- in 2010 and 2013, when it announced lucrative concept, tailor-made for the cent share, was worth “north of $100m it had reached a million registrations, emerging experience economy. They (€91m)”. But details that emerged from the company appeared to be on an identified a consumer set prepared a 2019 lawsuit and recent bankruptcy unstoppable upward trajectory. At its to pay £150 (€176/$195) to spend a proceedings in a Delaware court zenith, in 2012, it is understood to have weekend crawling through mud and indicate the extent of his delusion. posted $10m in profits. But these sorts helping others to overcome a series of If, as expected, rival obstacle racing of figures dwindled as the company lost elaborately sadistic obstacles – all in the company Spartan manages to acquire sight of its ethos.

@SportBusiness | www.sportbusiness.com 9 10 BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT from the TV coverage. from theTV failed to realise themarketing dividends Tough Mudder’s meantit core offering and events thenew distance between obstacle racing athletes, whilethe to theworld’sleading money attract funnelledbackinto were events prize Much oftheproceeds from thetelevised ofcasualparticipants.its core audience and Ironman alienated –becausethey ofrivalslikethe preserve SpartanRace tocompetitive element itsraces –more havenever introduced thissortof on revenues. butultimately toUK, proved beadrag Sports Network intheUSand Sky inthe mediadealswiththeCBS attracting Mudder Xmighthave succeededin World’s Toughest Mudder andTough timed, ultra-athlete like events The that causedthebankruptcy crisis. upthedebts core businessanddrove of ‘vanityprojects’ thatbledthefirm’s asoneofahandful memoirs of Dean’s turn oftheyear, thepublication identify paidsincethe workorbeen attended European offices,whohave not www.sportbusiness.com | Equally, partnerships licensing event Sources say thecompanyshould sayThey ofmade-forTV, aseries Insiders atthefirm’sUSand @SportBusiness “Insiders, unpaidsincetheturn the bankruptcy crisis.”the bankruptcy the firm’score businessand of ‘vanityprojects’ thatbled ahandful of theyear,identify 2017 proved to2017 proved beascash-hungry Mudder-branded fitnessboutiquesin in SouthEastAsia. event company’s firstandlastlicensed Tough Mudder inBaliwasthe in Australia whileaSeroja-organised to runjustone Tough Mudder event continued last count,theglobalagency with theobstacleracing sector. Atthe operate onthetightmarginsassociated countries anddidn’thave the agilityto make inmost asuccess of theventure lacked relationships to therelevant expected Sources argueIMG growth. and UKheartlands,failedto the deliver brand’s expansionoutsideofitsUS designedtospecialist Seroja, aidthe with IMGandIndonesian market entry drove upthedebtsthatcaused drove The launchofachainTough- co-founder Livingstoneco-founder filedalawsuit not wellcameinFebruary 2019,when paid.Confirmationallwas not been had complainingthey and race winners toward of2018,withvendors theend Mudder wasindire financialstraits done’ culture amongparticipants. struggling to a‘one-and- overcome were andorganisers losing itsnovelty theory wasthatobstacleracing was year. from theprevious cent 30 per The an obstaclecourserace in2015declined ofpeoplefinishing thenumber revealed funded research group Running USA interest tailingoff. industry- Astudyby obstacle racing market andpublic also coincidedwithsaturation inthe paring backofthecustomer experience The firm’smisguidedexpansionismand Over-saturation with more basicfeatures. replaced Higher valueobstacleswere runtwolapsofafive-milecircuit.now had runaten-mile would course,they onceparticipants its core events. Where Mudder at strippedbacktheexperience similarly failedto generate areturn. and the company’smediaundertakings against thecompanyanditslargest Reports beganto circulate thatTough To balancethebudgets,Tough lender, ActiveNetworks. In thelawsuit, Livingstone alleged thecompanyhad BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

posted a loss in every calendar year return Tough Mudder to its core business McLaughlin and the new independent since 2013, save for a small profit in in 2019. He dramatically reduced the board began exploring options to sell 2015. The filing also showed how Tough company’s overheads by shutting down the company after concluding that it Mudder was increasingly dependent the media operation, ending the media was unlikely to be able to repay its debts on lending from Active, an event partnership with CBS and divesting the to Active. registration company owned by card company of the gym business. It was at this stage that long-time processing company Global Payments. In the weeks immediately prior to his rival Spartan appeared on the scene and The lawsuit claimed that Active had appointment, the company had released things began to get complicated. extended upwards of $18m to Tough a statement announcing that it would Mudder through an unusual ‘active remove prize money from all Tough Brinkmanship exchange’ agreement whereby it pre- Mudder events that year as part of “a Spartan is understood to have made a purchased tickets for future events. conscious effort…to reinvest in the core ‘seven-figure offer’ for Tough Mudder With debts accumulating, Livingstone business, which is delivering world-class in November last year, that included a claimed that Active demanded Dean mass participation events”. promise to pay off the company’s trade resign as chief executive and as a The company simplified its product debt across all of its entities and pay board member in December 2018 and offering, cancelling events in niche Livingstone and Dean around $1.5m appoint independent board members, verticals like Tough Mudder X, and each for their shareholdings. On 23 including a restructuring specialist, as a then invested heavily in the front-end December it also entered into an option condition for continuing to lend money customer experience. McLaughlin agreement to acquire all of the Tough to the firm. The lawsuit alleged that in ensured that Tough Mudder executives, Mudder UK, German and Canadian doing this, Active and Tough Mudder including himself, were visible at affiliates. had violated contractual obligations to Tough Mudder events and personally But Spartan alleges that Dean moved Livingstone and favoured Dean in the responded to customers on social at this stage to block the transaction, negotiations, causing him to sustain media. by appointing himself director of the $4.3m in losses. The changes resulted in 35-per-cent UK company. Sources accused Dean year-on-year growth in corporate and and Livingstone of playing ‘a game Back to basics group sales and a 27-per-cent increase in of brinkmanship’ with Active and of Following the restructure, Dean’s customer satisfaction from 2018 to 2019. ‘ignoring the interest of creditors’ in replacement as chief executive and But the reforms could only take demanding the shared sum of $44m to president, Kyle McLaughlin, attempted to the company so far. Parallel to this, sanction the sale to Spartan.

@SportBusiness | www.sportbusiness.com 11 12 BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT less of its investment going toless ofitsinvestment equity looktonow with restructure itsoffer standoff. will Thethoughtisthebuyer proceeding’ despite thedamaging transaction through abankruptcy court its willingness‘to consummate a Tough Mudder assets’andsignalled continued to beinterested in‘certain company’s creditors, Spartan saidit suspended. registrations haveevent been inwhich during thedormantperiod donetodamage hasbeen thebusiness way ofasaleto Spartan. itscreditorsthe companyby norinthe stand intheway ofareorganisation of wouldneither court statingthatthey a motionto theDelaware bankruptcy andtheboard ofdirectorsDean filed 15January,the changeofmind.On associated withthestandoff encouraged Sources suggestthenegativepublicity have intheirdemands. climbeddown appearingtosight withtheco-founders toAn end thedispute looksin now Climb down month forregistrations. traditionally thecompany’sbusiest staff did not turn up for work in January, of thebusiness. Payroll wasmissedand andhaddamagedthevalue operations’ company ‘incapableofcontinuing the that theinfightinghadrendered support ofthecreditors andargued their interests. the courtappointatrustee to prioritise thatproceedings intheUS,demanding filedChaptervendors 11bankruptcy creditors. 7January On thisyear, three ofthecompany’sthe attentions the saleto Spartanandalsoattracted positions untenable. declaring thatthedispute madetheir resigned, both Europe subsequently managing director forTough Mudder events. McLaughlin andGilesChater, switching by offregistrations forthese Mudder events.Thecompanyresponded to withholdticketing forTough revenues its debts. In practice, thismeantitbegan to beabreach ofcontract andcalledin asdirectorappointment oftheUKentity www.sportbusiness.com | In its statement in supportofthe terminalThe questioniswhether Spartan wouldlater issueafilingin The state ofparalysis threatened Active Networks took Dean’s @SportBusiness A Spartan Raceevent inHongKong A Spartan in favour ofthetakeover andhave Glory. Dog,Brew LucozadeSportandSoap& joined aroster thatalready included Last year, brand Snickers confectionery big-name sponsors. atattracting adept itselftohas alsoproven beparticularly with therightpartner. modelcanbemadetolicensing work Town andIreland thatthe allshow Cape Doha, inDubai, Events Seroja. successful thanthosewithIMGand countries thathave more proven in16 partnerships licensing event which isunusuallyhighforthesector. a 30-per-cent customer retention rate, high andthecompanyissaidto boast its travails, brand recognition remains sound.For businessremain event all oftheunderlying the fundamentals interest inTough Mudder indicates the damagecreated theinfighting. by retention, ticket guarantees andlimiting and more beingallocated to customer McLaughlin and Chater are both In spite thecompany ofitsproblems, The companyalsohasmulti-year Spartan’scontinued Insiders believe infinitely more stablepath.Z company onaless spectacularbut canput the ownership and thatnew Tough Mudder brand canbesaved hopethat the isgenuine there an end, more competitiveSpartanevent. Tough Mudder before graduating to a witha their obstacleracing journey inwhichparticipantsbegin lifecycle’ talk excitedly aboutcreating a‘customer deals across multipleevents. Sources andsellsponsorship calendars event thetwocompaniestoallow coordinate through thedeal.Atakeover wouldalso significantly expanditsscaleandreach companies, meaningSpartanwould basesofthetwo theclient between thesamebrand. under would beoperated thesameteam by –andthatthecompany festival events’ ‘teamwork-based, non-competitive andcontinuetoidentity organise would respect thecore Tough Mudder ownership. Spartanhasindicated thatit to return to Spartan workunder indicated wouldbewilling they With the infighting apparently at theinfightingapparently With There is only a five-per-cent crossover

14 IN ASSOCIATION WITH GLOBE SOCCER M www.sportbusiness.com | transformation at oneoftheworld’s digital ofenabling in ourjourney Manchester Cityisagreat milestone ‘Best Partnership oftheYear’ with Ajax chiefexecutive Sar. Edwinvander coach ofworldchampionsFrance and Deschamps, Bronze, Didier year Lucy Cristiano Ronaldo, player female ofthe luminaries includingplayer oftheyear football by attended a ceremony SportsCouncil,during of Dubai Mohammed Hareb, secretary general received theaward from Saeed (EMEASouth)forSAP,president Manchester CityandSteve Tzikakis, statistics. to starCity players identify from their the Blue’campaign,whichasked fans 29. December Awardsof theGlobeSoccer on inDubai SportBusiness Award, presented aspart the BestPartnership oftheYear by “Winning SportsBusiness’s “Winning Ferran Soriano, chiefexecutive at The prizewasawarded forthe‘Who’s City and SAP win partnership prize City andSAPwinpartnership in GlobeSoccerAwards first are the first winners of are thefirstwinners software companySAP multi-national enterprise anchester Cityand @SportBusiness young millennial male fans.young millennial (China andIndia particularly)and market theAsian a globalaudience, fans. Thecontent resonated wellwith among and inspiringpositivesentiment globalreach delivering brand KPI’sby specifically contributed to SAP’s top 10 life forfans. bring real-time statisticsandinsightsto US,Japan,markets Australia), (UK, and brand awareness inkey international portfolio ofbest-in-class solutions,drive unique globalplatformto its showcase For SAP, Manchester a Cityprovides SAP KPI’s fanexperience.” overall athlete aswellthe performance theteam’senhance and operations to partnership co-innovation further from theboardroom to thepitch. andperformance, transform operations run real-time analyticsonthecloudto asportsteambest practices inhow can leading footballclubs,”saidTzikakis. Tzikakis thelastfive said:“Over theBlue’campaign The ‘Who’s “We lookforward to continuingour “Manchester global Cityisshowing campaigns, including theinstallationof and digital/social fanengagement manyfan-facing activations developed quest to becomeatop globalbrand, we team inuniqueways. love they In our with fansto to closer bringthem the because ofCity’sglobalfanbase. was akey focusarea forthepartnership Tzikakis saidthatreaching outto fans to-business technology provider, organisation.” that technology isusedacross anentire vision collaborate to transform theway brands withacommon two innovative is anexampleofwhat’spossiblewhen accomplished together. Thispartnership work ourtwoorganisationshave groundbreaking, innovation-led off thepitch. theirfavoriteenjoy team, bothonand for fansaround theworldto and follow andtoperformance, create ways new team improve efficiencies, operational innovated withtechnology to enhance Football Group have continuously SAPyears ofourpartnership, andCity “One ofourgoalswasto“One engage Despite SAP’s positionasabusiness- “We proud are ofthe extremely IN ASSOCIATION WITH GLOBE SOCCER

a digital insights experience at Etihad also included Liverpool and Standard Stadium that brought real-time analytics Chartered and FC Barcelona and Beko. insights to fans attending matches.” One of the panelists, Robin Clarke, SOCCER Other recent examples of the brand’s SVP International with the 160over90 co-innovations with partners, he agency, said: “SAP’s Who’s The Blue SportBusiness is supporting the said, include the San Francisco 49ers campaign has been a really good award as part of its enhanced Executive Huddle at Levi’s Stadium, demonstration of how a company built commitment to supporting football the NBA GM School and SAP’s work in the B2B environment can utilise clubs and brands to identify and with the WTA surrounding SAP Tennis its core business attributes to create maximise the value of sponsorship. Analytics for Coaches. compelling and engaging campaigns in Last year saw the launch the passionate, hard-to-navigate football of SportBusiness Soccer, a Judging the Awards B2C space. All this being done whilst revolutionary digital sponsorship The award was introduced to the Globe delivering meaningful benefit to City data tool that delivers uniquely Soccer programme by SportBusiness Football Group’s operations is a high granular information about every one to recognise excellence in sponsorship bar in the modern partnerships arena.” of more than €2bn worth of deals done by clubs in Europe’s biggest and reflect the role of both parties in Jeremy Edwards, director of leagues: the English Premier League, creating successful sponsorships. content at the sponsorship activation German Bundesliga, LaLiga in Spain It recognises deal-making, intelligence company Activative, said and Italy’s Serie A. innovation, creativity and best practice there was much to respect about and In a highly competitive in partnerships against key criteria to learn from this “smart, strategically environment, sponsorship is one including the length of partnership sensible and distinctly contemporary, of the revenue streams that clubs and its enduring appeal, creativity in partnership – especially when it comes can control and grow. As the rate of activation to engage with key audiences to tech platforms and the role of data.” media-rights growth slows for many and results against stated objectives. The sponsorships boasted strong major properties, it is becoming Six partnerships were considered for results and an impressive track record an even more important revenue the award with a panel of SportBusiness of imaginative activation – and, in stream for leading clubs. Leading the way are Barcelona and Manchester Sponsorship specialists and external previous years, all had won praise and United, which will earn €304m and experts finally selecting Manchester awards for effectiveness and/or creative €288m respectively in 2019-20. City and SAP from a shortlist that excellence, he said. Z

@SportBusiness | www.sportbusiness.com 15 16 SPONSORSHIP & MARKETING T Young, giftedand Frank Dunne www.sportbusiness.com | completely free. brand. AndforLigue1champions PSG, cool –amarketer’s dream foralifestyle people. It wasunscripted, and authentic nearly 11.5m by seen been clip hasnow PSG’s Brazilian captain. artist’s hitThiagoSilva–atribute to Dave ofthe rendition inaword-perfect to jersey Germain joinLondonrapper wearingaParisfrom thecrowd Saint- teenager took AlexMann thestage Glastonbury musicfestival,English Inthat happen. June 2019,atthe Yankees or F1’s Ferrari cachet asMLB teamthe New York PSG wants thesame kind ofbrand than footballto PSG meansmore Parisian: why global brands That kind of moment, however,That kindofmoment, could viral –theYouTubeThe footagewent just extraordinary things not marketing atall.They’re marketing are sometimes in he bestmoments @SportBusiness sold worldwide. million ofitsNike-branded were jerseys Last season,one there. And it’sgetting play? PSGwantsto That’swhere be. what sportthey oreven performing who theYankees are they are, how yearwithno idea baseball capevery sport.Something thattranscends or Italian motor racing team Ferrari. cachet asbaseball’sNew York Yankees want PSGto have thesamekindofbrand than asuccessfulfootballteam. They gradually becomeclear:to buildmore wealthfundofQatar.sovereign armofthe Investments, aninvestment Sports Qatar it wasboughtin2011by put into since itsbrand development people becauseoftheworkclubhas only resonate withmillionsofyoung recent sponsor deals not from Qatar with most brands as its new partners, Club aims to appeal to international How manypeoplebuyaYankees The strategy has owners ofthenew ambition: Larger-than-life characters a statement abouttheclub’s ethos and coach’s tacticalphilosophy butto make fita boughtnotjustbecausethey been style andyouthfulness. Players have to evoke are flair, fantasy, romance, oftheclub.”global relevance good exampleofthissuccessandthe a clubforyearsnow. Thatclipwasa a result oftheworkwehave doneas Nikepartner andis isexperiencing thesalessuccessourborne outby across theworldthesedays. Thisis Saint-Germain seeall they jerseys ofParis aboutthenumber more now Glastonbury moment. officer,club’s chiefpartnerships ofthe viral,” sayswent Armstrong, Marc the more yetto be unveiled 25 sector categories withat least two PSG currently has31 sponsorsacross The valuesthePSGlogoare intended “People more and are commenting cooland “That clipwaspretty SPONSORSHIP &MARKETING like Zlatan Ibrahimović, one-man figures are often met with a roll of the to €335.7m. industries like David Beckham and, eyes these days, but clubs still put great QSI paid about $130m (€116.1m) for more recently, Brazilian Neymar and store by them when pitching to potential the club when it acquired it in 2011 from rising French star Kylian Mbappé, the sponsors. private equity firm Colony Capital. Now two most expensive players in football ranked sixth in the Deloitte ‘rich list’, it history. “We have to keep being creative, is valued at $1.9bn. “This season we are expecting similar PSG by numbers pushing the boundaries, growth in revenues, and hopefully Some leading figures in football, like finding new ways of bringing even more”, Armstrong says. “Can we Javier Tebas, president of Spain’s LaLiga, in revenue.” keep that going? We hope so. We have have questioned whether it is fair that ambitious targets. But you also have Marc Armstrong | chief partnerships state-owned clubs compete with clubs to make sure you have the inventory. officer, Paris Saint-Germain owned by entrepreneurs or members. After a successful couple of years, there But in terms of hard numbers, PSG are fewer traditional assets to sell. We can claim to be the success story of the have to keep being creative, pushing the decade in European football. The same is true of reach and boundaries, finding new ways of bringing PSG has won 22 trophies in the last engagement numbers on social media. By in revenue.” six seasons – more than any other club June 30, 2019, PSG’s Instagram followers in Europe – including six league titles on were up 72 per cent year-on-year, Twitter New wave the bounce. It is one of only four clubs to up 11.6 per cent and Facebook up 8.2 PSG currently has 31 sponsors across have reached the knockout stages of the per cent. Only the Premier League’s 25 sector categories with at least two Uefa Champions League for the last eight Liverpool and Serie A’s Juventus enjoyed more to be unveiled in the coming seasons. The others are Barcelona, Real faster growth on Twitter in the same months. The nature of the brands has Madrid and Bayern Munich. period. PSG now has the ninth most- been changing in line with the expansion The club has very quickly built a global followed Facebook page among sports of the club’s footprint. Of the 16 deals following. Nielsen Sports research for clubs and the joint-fifth YouTube football signed in the last two seasons, only two PSG in March 2019 came up with a total channel (with the Premier League’s are for France only. The rest are either “worldwide fan potential” of just under Manchester City). global or multi-market. 400 million. Followers were mostly in This growth in actual or potential “We don’t set a maximum or the Asia-Pacific region (129.16 million), customers is reflected in a more tangible minimum number for partners,” then Africa and the Middle East (99.76 metric: the bottom line. For the 2018-19 Armstrong says. “Equally, we don’t million), Latin America (71.93 million), season, PSG’s sponsorship income was want too many. We want fewer, deeper Europe (54.27 million) and North up nearly 60 per cent, from €94.1m relationships. We have let some of the America (44.62 million). ($105.3m) to €149.6m. Total commercial older, smaller deals lapse and replaced Club-commissioned fan or ‘follower’ income rose 25 per cent, from €268.7m them with bigger, better deals that are

PSG COMMERCIAL* REVENUE (€M)

€335.7m

€268.7m €246.3m €242.8m €220.3m 25%

€162.7m 11% 12% (-1%) 35%

55%

2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19

ore PG ortBsess osors les sosors merasg matay teratoal tors a oters

@SportBusiness | www.sportbusiness.com 17 18 SPONSORSHIP & MARKETING www.sportbusiness.com | to Nike markthelaunchofnew Air Chinalastsummer put oninShenzhen, Accorexample wasthefashionshow around thepartnership. Atypical activation thebrand isdoingglobally from ahugeamountofbenefits non-French businessisapriority. its businessisinFrance. Expandingthe French of cent companybutonly22per the clubasaglobalplatform.Accoris brandsbrand see relationships andhow theclubisapproachingstudy ofhow season. be worthabout€65mper chain AccorHotels, which is thoughtto mainsponsordealwithhotelits new season to season,and about€60mper bumped therightsfeeupfrom €25mper renegotiated kitdealwithNike, which partnerships.” mostly globaloratleastmulti-market Accor LiveLimitless/PSGfashionshow, Shenzhen,China. Alex MannwaspickedoutoftheGlastonbury crowd to joinLondonrapper Dave, whilewearingaPSGjersey. As well as the licence fee, PSG wellasthelicence As agoodcaseThe Accordealprovides PSG’s twomostvaluabledealsare its @SportBusiness “It’s really aboutgettingunder fee withineachtier. PSG’smarketing andthelicence of therightsonoffer inthenature are bigdifferences there content foritskey targetaudience. having accessto players to create ‘cool’ assets. Thecompany’swholefocusison fixed on LEDboards orother exposure traditional. Thenamewon’tbeseen isnon- games companySupercell Theclub’sdealwithmobile revenue. ways’ ‘new by ofdrivingsponsorship demonstrate whatArmstrong means Jordan-branded PSGkit. officer, Paris Saint-Germain the skinofbrand and what they wanttoachieve.” what they Marc Armstrong |chiefpartnerships PSG has distinct tiers of partners, but but ofpartners, PSG hasdistincttiers dealswhich are alsosmaller There Authority, have scrutinyas comeunder Tourismcompanies, such astheQatar deals, particularlythosewithQatari documented. Since2014,itssponsorship Fair Play regulations are well- The club’sissueswithUefa’s Financial FFP anddiversification what thebrand islookingfor.” meeting isalways more aboutlistening to wanttothey hesays. achieve,” “Thefirst theskinofbrand andwhat under many years. “It’s really aboutgetting way headingfor theindustryhasbeen have to betailor-made. Butthisisthe of aclichéto say thatsponsorshipsnow package thatworksbestforeach. expected to becreative in constructinga buildstheproposal andis research. Offer Intelligence themarket provides Intelligence and Offer. Business division includesteams calledBusiness Armstrong admits that it is something Armstrong admitsthatitissomething SPONSORSHIP &MARKETING

Parc des Princes Stadium (Catherine Ivill/Getty Images) to whether they reflect genuine market may have other Qatari partners in the a remote out-of-town location. News value or are artificially inflated. At one future. We’ll see.” coverage of matches often focuses time, the QTA deal was reportedly worth FFP, Armstrong says, is something all on the VIP seats as much as what over €200m per season to the club. It has clubs have to consider. “The more you happens on the pitch. Any celebrities since been renegotiated downwards and make the more you can spend. We are visiting Paris, from Jay Z and Beyoncé the current value is not available. no different to any other club in terms to Rihanna and the Hadid family, are One of the trends noticeable in the of keeping an eye on our revenues and likely to take in a match. club’s partner portfolio in recent years what we can spend.” Being the only major club in such a has been a reduction in the number of big city is an advantage when talking Qatari brands. This is not, however, a City of lights to potential sponsors. “We always say reaction to the high-profile FFP battles In addition to success on the pitch and to brands: ‘Imagine if London had one with Uefa, Armstrong insists. its positioning as a lifestyle brand, PSG Premier League team instead of six. And “It has happened quite naturally also has a not-so-secret weapon in terms imagine they were called London United because we have done a great job of of appealing to global brands: Paris. and had Big Ben in their badge’. That’s getting ourselves out there, appealing to “We are selling the city as well as the what we are essentially. You can’t come brands all over the world. Only three of club and we definitely we feel we embody to Paris without touching or feeling our partners are Qatari brands and we many of the same values: culture, style Paris Saint-Germain in some way.” do great things with them. It’s a small and passion,” Armstrong says. PSG has come a long way in a part of the total but very important, as When QSI took over, it redesigned the short time since its takeover in 2011. two of them are on the shirt and in the club crest and all related brand equity Founded in 1970, the club will celebrate upper echelons of our programme. Of around the Eiffel Tower. its 50th anniversary in August. Expect the 16 new deals we have done in the PSG’s iconic Parc des Princes something eye-catching, Parisian and last two seasons, none are Qatari. We stadium is within the city limits, not cool. Z

@SportBusiness | www.sportbusiness.com 19 BRAND & SPORT SUMMIT SPORT & BRAND In association with

Tankut Turnaoğlu José Colagrossi Nazim Aliyev Brand & Sport Summit delivers key insights as sports and brands meet

he third edition of Sportsnet He said that the 25th anniversary of explained José Colagrossi. Group’s Brand & Sport P&G’s Orkid sanitary product – which He told the audience that this is the Summit attracted an audience coincided with the 25th anniversary era of digital passion and understanding of 1,500 to the VW Arena, of ‘women’s freedom in Turkey’ – was the data around the interaction with TIstanbul with more than 20 hours successfully celebrated through the supporters/fans is critical. of content broadcast live on TV and company’s alliance with the women’s He explained that, as in other areas streamed over digital platforms. Here national volleyball team and its ‘Sultans of marketing, seeing fans simply as we look at the contributions of some of of the Newts’ campaign. recipients of marketing messages the keynote speakers. “The combination of agencies and is missing the point. The key is to brands, as well as a great creative idea understand their response and reaction Tankut Turnaoğlu, chairman and built around ‘the freedom of women’ in order to better understand the impact general manager of Procter & brought us this success. We understand of digital sponsorship. Gamble for Turkey, Caucasus and the power of an idea comes from its The most important buzzwords of the Middle East continuity. I think the most important the new era, he said, are: Interactive, Joined on stage by the Turkey women’s message we can give is to believe in the on-demand, real-time, multi-screen, volleyball national team manager idea and support it through investment decentralised, global and virtual. Pelin Celik, national volleyball player in communication,” he said. Islam Özçelik and the former coach of Nazim Aliyev, managing director for the women’s volleyball national team José Colagrossi, global chief international sponsorships, SOCAR Reşat Yazıcıoğulları, Tankut Turnaoğlu operating officer, Kantar Sports SOCAR, the state oil company of and panelists discussed the ways that The digital revolution that has Azerbaijan, is the biggest investor in Procter & Gamble’s sponsorships impacted on so many areas of personal Turkey and uses sponsorships to build positively impact on individuals and life is demanding a change to the awareness in Turkey and across Europe. communities as well as the brands established ways of researching and Nazim Aliyev explained his themselves. evaluating sports sponsorships, sponsorship philosophy: “A sponsorship

20 www.sportbusiness.com | @SportBusiness In association with BRAND & SPORT SUMMIT 21 Nur Serenli Brands are succeeding when are Brands they evaluate public opinion whenevaluate Z making sponsorship investments. The key principles in sponsorship The key simplicity, communication are emotionalentertainment, impact and social benefit Sports bodies that can understand of the strategies the marketing and can meet these needs brands winning are

Nur Serenli and Özde Özdemir They that run concluded that brands conclusion they deliveredIn key three • • • Nur Serenli, consumer insights leader and Özde Özdemir Doncev, sports & entertainment business Nielsen manager, development Doncev delivered and contextualised Nielsen into wide-ranging research betweenthe relationship sports and consumers in Turkey. effective communications programmes their investment support in to winning not only in sponsorship are by driving of building awareness terms but that the preference and loyalty, effective communication are to keys focusing on joy/ simplicity and clarity, emotionalentertainment, impact and social benefit. consider: to points for brands

Nihat Özdemir His enthusiasm and expectations His Describing the growth and Iceland, Turkish federation president federation president Turkish Iceland, and a frank Nihat Özdemir gave in which he illuminating interview get behind the called for the country to national team. based on the are for a bright future combination of experienced, established football along with talent in Turkish the emergence of a new generation of But, he explained, there players. exciting were important issues for the federation deal with, including the balance of to in the overseas and domestic players league and issues around Turkish top the implementation of Video Assistant Referees. 2020 with a home draw against against 2020 with a home draw important figures in the international in the international important figures football industry. development of the Champions League, he explained how the final had been a single event from transformed to of a festival become the centerpiece will of football – something Istanbul in the year. experience firsthand later Turkish president, Nihat Özdemir, Federation Football secured Turkey Speaking just before Euro a place in the finals of Uefa Phil Carling Make regional investments regional Make a good deal and exclusive Ensure distinguish you from rights to other sponsors and implement your Activate sponsorship within your target audience’s communities. According to Aliyev, SOCAR makes SOCAR makes Aliyev, to According • • • at the who has worked And Carling, expresses only a financial partnership. only a financial partnership. expresses describe I preferThat is why to SOCAR as the business partner of the organisations that we support.” investments in business and culture and highlighted wherever it operates elements of a successful key three partnership: Phil Carling, managing director, football, Octagon Worldwide League Champions With the Uefa in May, in Istanbul be hosted final to Octagon’s Phil Carling delivered a fascinating perspective on the development of the competition and its with its sponsors. relationship highest levels industry in the football for many years, reminded the audience the of the importance of the game to cents in with 70 global sports economy, every dollar spent on sports marketing most is one of the football. It going to 22 SPONSORSHIP & MARKETING T the achievement isnow,the achievement from theclub route surprising –thesurprisewashow and reigning championsReal en Madrid CristianoRonaldo’s Juventusovercome League finallastyear–having came withinminutes ofaChampions anunfanciedandyouthful AjaxWhen among theelite oftheEuropean game. Adam Nelson Champions League semi-final media following during run to 2018-19 Ajax significantlygrewitssocial www.sportbusiness.com | European success reinforces Ajax’s status as brands’ platform of choice intheNetherlands or Realthatbelongs Madrid, of thoseclubs,like Juventus onevintage, AFCAjaxremains o footballfansofacertain @SportBusiness them. Wethem. have to think creatively and a clubthatbuys legends. We create future’. Becausewehave been never whole club,”hesays. “We callit‘forthe have astrategy thatrunsthrough the to theteam’s identity. “At Ajax,we officer,chief commercial says iscrucial – apointMenno theclub’s Geelen, thefamedAjaxacademy by developed largely madeupofyoungplayers beaten Tottenham by Hotspur was van Basten. that produced Johan Cruyffand Marco Netherlands brands looking for platform in the Club’s historic successhelps draw The team thatwasultimately cruelly he says. “That’swhy we have to work league isnotvisible inmanyplaces,” TV,because wecannotgivethatby our and thatforuscouldbeabigproblem, looking forinternational exposure, greateroffer television exposure. in thetop fiveEuropean leaguescan rivalteams numerous in aworldwhere sponsors suchasMercedes andHublot granted theretention ofhigh-profile off it.” offensively, notonlyonthefield,but and Budweiser long-term dealswithZiggo,adidas Tailored help to secure partnerships “We have bigsponsorswhoare For example, Ajaxcan’ttake for officer MennoGeelen. van derSarandchiefcommercial AFC AjaxchiefexecutiveEdwin SPONSORSHIP &MARKETING so hard, we have to do it ourselves for some of our partners it is important in partnership income, because we try by making content ourselves, making that we show up on the international and make our offering about more than YouTube videos, Instagram posts, etc. level, and when we have success there it just sport. Our strategy is focused on If you’re a part of the Premier League, is beneficial to the club.” sustainable partnerships, which is why you’re already broadcast everywhere we have long-term partnerships with around the world. We have to do our five or six main, important partners. that by ourselves, just like we had to We look for partners who are in line develop the players that took us to the with our ‘for the future’ thinking, who Champions League semi-final.” align with our sustainable approach, including sustainable growth.” Sustainable growth Squeezing maximum value out of While the Champions League run every partnership is a crucial part of helped to dramatically improve Ajax’s the work of Geelen and the commercial visibility, particularly to younger, team. Highlighting the disparity international audiences across its between the Dutch Eredivisie and the digital channels, Geelen notes that the world’s richest football division, the club’s overall commercial strategy is Premier League, Geelen points out designed to cut through the vagaries of that a team which finishes bottom of on-pitch performance – there was no the English league will receive almost attempt to take short-term advantage of The aim, of course, is for constant €100m in broadcast money alone, the 2019 results. commercial growth, regardless of on- while Ajax’s TV revenue comes in at The club’s turnover for the 2018-19 pitch success, and Geelen notes that just under €8m per season. “So we season reached a record-high €199.5m “we don’t have extra sponsors when we are forced to think creatively, but also ($222.1m), a near-doubling of revenues win, but we don’t lose sponsors when offensively,” he says. “Otherwise we from the previous season, based largely we lose”. The focus is on retaining high- are not going to reach the European on broadcast and prize money from profile sponsors to long-term deals. top. We have to focus on what we can the Champions League. Commercial “Of course it helps to play [in the] do, and create new domains and new income over the season rose just €4.4m, Champions League, which helps to revenue streams. attributed to minor bonuses from sell tickets and hospitality packages, “If you’re getting €100m in TV sponsors associated with reaching the but it hopefully doesn’t influence too money, maybe you don’t really care latter stages of European competition. much on partnerships,” he says. “Even if your main sponsor is paying €4m “I don’t want to say too much about the when we have a bad season, and we instead of €5m. But for us, the reason contracts,” Geelen says, “but of course, have had a few, we still see a growth we can live is because of sponsors. We

Ajax’s ‘for the future’ slogan underpins the club’s strategy on and off the pitch (Mireia Rodriguez)

@SportBusiness | www.sportbusiness.com 23 24 SPONSORSHIP & MARKETING Budweiser, whichsigned apartnership says, brand isUS-basedbeer together.” clubsthe leagueorwithallother toit’s better workwithAjaxthan if youwantto reach theNetherlands, million ofthoseasfans. Soforabrand, in theNetherlands, andwe have 4.2 many. are only17millionpeople There Facebook,million. On wehave twiceas together;followers Ajaxhasfour says have “They Geelen. 1.3million 17 clubsintheEredivisie combined,” thanalltheotheris three timesbigger league itself.Instagram, Ajaxalone “On domestic rivalsor, indeed,thanthe far greater visibilitythananyofits and worldwidefanbasegivingtheclub on theglobalstage,itsstoried history ofDutchthe representative football theclubtoallowed positionitselfas sponsor [telecoms brand Ziggo].” deal,€9mfrom ourmainfrom ourTV sponsor thanwegetfrom TV: €8m who makes more from justourmain are probably theonlyclubinworld www.sportbusiness.com | Ajax’s withBudweiser( manofthematchtrophy hasbeenrebranded ofitspartnership ‘KingoftheMatch’aspart A perfect exampleofthis,GeelenA perfect Ajax’s historic popularity has @SportBusiness “In theNetherlands, Budweiser a domesticDutch and it audience, outlay focusedon engaging isentirely outsidetheNetherlands.presence Its annually until2024,despite having no terms lastyearonadealworth€9m front-of-shirt sponsor, renewed Ziggo, audience.” accesstoleague, wegivebetter that thanthefor sponsors,Ajaxisbigger Netherlands, choseAjax,because, they “ButintheSpain”, explainsGeelen. signedadealwithLaLigaforthey LeagueforEngland,with thePremier “signedadealfootball, Budweiser inEuropeansponsorship presence Having decidedto increase its to sixyears,accordingworth €12mover oflastseason–with Ajaxattheend officer, Ajax bigger thantheleague.” bigger chose Ajax,becauseAjaxis Menno Geelen |chiefcommercial Similarly, theclub’sprimaryand SportBusiness Sponsorshipdata. Jan Kruger/GettyImages can offer them onthemediaside, them can offer also choseAjax, becauseofwhatwe top, top clubsoftheworld.Butthey Bayern Munich, Juventus –really the have Manchester Real Madrid, United, onlyof similarsponsorshipdeals,they supplylotsofclubs,but intermsthey our strategy,” says course “Of Geelen. €10mannually.worth over SportBusinessSponsorshiptoby be the last12months,inadealestimated major brand to recommit to theclubin andwasanotherfootball partners, Ajax isoneofadidas’longest-standing Having initiallycometogether in2000, department.of Ajax’scommercial thecreativitywhich hefeelsshowcases isespeciallyproud, andoneGeelen sportswear giantadidasisoneofwhich The relationship withGerman leverage anddataCustom partnerships football associationortheleague. Eredivisie club,norwiththenational It withanyother hasnopartnerships sees Ajaxasthebestvehicleforthis. “I think it’s a real compliment for“I thinkit’sareal compliment ) SPONSORSHIP &MARKETING the commercial side, and we are able 25 for engagement on Instagram, a the Ajax eSports team, recruiting to fight with those other clubs on a position which it has leveraged to three-time FIFA world champion Koen European level.” create co-branded content with its Weijland before expanding globally. Adidas also benefits hugely from partner brands. During the run to the “We have a player in Brazil, a player Ajax’s strong digital and social Champions League semi-final, Ajax in the US, in Japan, and players in the presence – which Geelen says the worked closely with adidas to create Netherlands,” says Geelen. “It was a club has been heavily investing into a digital campaign that highlighted really important element to us, because for the past decade – particularly its prominent elements of both parties. it started out with a problem that we aforementioned dominance in the “Our slogan is ‘for the future’ and had to solve, which was reaching out to social media space in Dutch football, their slogan is ‘dare to create’, so younger fans.” which allows for precisely targeted There is, he says, a large activations. “We try to treat social “Our strategy is focused on demographic of under-25s who media like a funnel,” says Geelen. “At sustainable partnerships. We “don’t watch regular television, they the top we have football fans, then we don’t read newspapers, they don’t have Ajax fans, who we want to follow don’t have extra sponsors read normal magazines or football us on social media. But then we want when we win; we don’t lose magazines. But inside the commercial to go even further and get them from team, we also recognised that this is just following social media to joining sponsors when we lose.” probably an even bigger problem for our own platforms, registering with Menno Geelen | chief commercial our partners. If we have problems our website, so we can collect data and officer, Ajax Digital Sports reaching out to a young target then we can start really helping the audience, then so do big brands. big brands. What can we do to help not only “For an example, we ask our together last season we worked on a ourselves, but our partners, make that followers, ‘do you also play football series called ‘you create the future,’ so connection? So we started investing in yourself?’ And in exchange for part of adidas, part of us,” says Geelen. esports”. answering our questions we offer “It was not only on our social media Ajax eSports is now worth over €4m chances to win prizes, etc. But then channels but on their main channels, annually to the club, says Geelen. “It when we come together with adidas, and we showed the stories of some of didn’t cost us nearly this much to set it we know when the amateur football the players who came from Ajax youth up, and it is becoming a more and more season starts, and when people are all the way to the semi-final of the important revenue stream,” he says. buying new football shoes. We can Champions League. They got millions “€4m, to a club like Ajax, is equivalent offer them discounts, offers to buy, to of views.” to another commercial partnership, really specifically targeted, one-on-one Geelen also notes that esports has and this is before we have really started communication. played a crucial role in the international to build on what we can do with it, with “Instead of adidas speaking to and digital development of Ajax over our existing sponsors or new sponsors everyone in the Netherlands, instead recent years. In 2016, the club launched just for Ajax eSports.” Z of speaking to 4.2 million Ajax fans, we can say for sure that we have 90,000 people who we know play football, we know that their season is starting in three weeks, we know they’re going to buy shoes this this month, so we can target them together. That really helps us to grow the commercial side because this is exactly what brands want now.” The two announced a joint clothing line at the end of last season, emblazoned with the “the future is here” slogan.

Digital future Internationally, the last year has offered a major boost to Ajax’s performance on social and digital platforms. Ajax has appeared in the top ten most-viewed official club channels on YouTube for each of the last 12 months and sits in the top Ajax’s YouTube channel.

@SportBusiness | www.sportbusiness.com 25 26 SPONSORSHIP & MARKETING ‘Team China’ brand sets high partnership ‘Team China’ brand setshighpartnership L interest ofsponsors. athletes, itsintention isto the broaden equitably raising fundsforOlympic primary aimismore effectivelyand assets into control. Thoughits central China bringsabroad setofcommercial Committee’s Team USA Team trademark, Paralympic sports teams. GAS documentation. “The brand conveys “Thebrand conveys documentation. GAS delegation,”says Chinese Olympic the Zhang Dan priced at ¥200m to ¥400m Five-to-seven sponsorshipcategories www.sportbusiness.com | Chen Guimingof Team ChinaatReadySteady Tokyo –Weightlifting,a Tokyo 2020OlympicGamestestevent ( price, targets$400minquadrennialrevenue Like andParalympic theUSOlympic “Team Chinaisnotjustanaliasofthe for all China’s Olympic and and for allChina’sOlympic ‘Team China’, acollectivebrand Administration ofSportlaunched ast week,China’sGeneral @SportBusiness Olympic Committee).” Olympic theInternational programme (by GamesandtheTOP theOlympic by strait-laced thatisnolonger property It isan integrated andindependent exclusiveness andunifiedidentity. national teams for various sports New, unified brand covers Chinese marketing values”thantheOlympics. “muchmoreChina brand salient provides China brand. teams willparticipate theTeam under national gamesinwhichChinese national and be hundreds ofworld,continental, will there 2026 andbesidetheOlympics, market”Olympic abigmargin.Before by China brand willexceed the“singular oftheTeampredicts thattheinfluence The GAS briefconcludes thattheTeamThe GAS The call-for-proposal documentation Toru Hanai/GettyImages be awarded in between five and seven be awarded fiveandseven inbetween sources, exclusive will partnerships promotional activitiesandproductions. Team Chinaathletes to at bepresent may they and individualconsent, invite promotional materials. Viaadditionalfees and marksonproduct packagingand football andbasketball. tabletennis,volleyball, swimming, 73 nationalteams, includingwomen’s , plus GuojiaDui translation, Zhongguo names ofTeam ChinaanditsChinese will have therightto usethetitleand onlyeliteChina cover sport. Partners TeamSponsorship opportunitiesunder offering Partnership on as first partner Bottled water brand C’estbon signs According to SportBusinessReview The sponsorscanuseofficialimages )

SPONSORSHIP &MARKETING categories of up to 15 candidate deals with 361˚. some Olympic Winter Game events categories, which include dairy and “Conflicts of interests are inevitable when China strives to participate in all related food, internet services, telecoms, if associations, teams, and athletes events in Beijing 2022 and some of the airlines, travel, real estate, hotels and continue to control their commercials,” less-followed summer events, such as catering, automobile, drinking water and says professor Li Shengxin of Beijing women’s hockey. beverages, insurance, electric appliances, Sport University. “The Team China “This is an egalitarian plan for the domestic chemicals and cosmetics, and programme means to end the status of most popular teams not to take all and nutrition and health products. anarchy.” for the commercially-marginalised Partnerships will be priced in the The GAS will in principle let existing events to benefit from being under the range of ¥200m (€26m/$29m) to ¥400m deals continue until expiration. In its Team China umbrella,” says professor for each of two four-year terms, 2019- 2018 drafting stage, the GAS proposed Li. “You can basically call it a poverty- 2022 and 2023-2026, with contracts to buy out those which ran too long relief marketing programme.” covering both terms as standard. to be tolerable, but this detail was not Team China projects marketing contained in the official launch brief. Individual rights revenues of up to ¥2.8bn in cash and There will be much to unpick. The The programme does not govern the value-in-kind over each four-year term. day after the C’estbon-Team China individual commercial activities of The high entry price and prolonged partnership was announced, Haier Air athletes, except for prohibiting them commitment limits the number of Conditioner, a business unit of electric using the Team China identity and suitable sponsors, and Team China appliance giant Haier Group, announced titles. By law, athletes own their own has issued targeted invitations. “Team a direct deal with the Chinese women’s image rights. China is only interested in talking volleyball team. The source says the Team China to companies with annual business Among China’s most popular teams, it programme may leave room for athletes turnover of 20bn yuan to 30bn yuan,” has 13 existing partners – one of whom, to be individually sponsored for the source says. “Usually only large-scale Ganten Water, is a direct competitor apparel, including shoes, caps, head and state-owned enterprises can tick this against C’estbon. wrist bands. But no details have been box.” According to the 2018 initial plan, 80 officially announced. The first signatory is one such per cent of Team China revenues will And it does not seem to be a matter of enterprise: state-owned conglomerate finance the training and preparation of urgency. “We acknowledge that the IOC China Resources Group, which owns various national teams, for the Olympic just re-wrote Rule 40,” the source says. a variety of businesses in Hong Kong competitions, and compensate the costs “But in China no one is telling athletes and mainland China. Its subsidiary, of contractual severance with sponsors about it, nor have any athletes asked China Resources Beverage, has signed which clash with the programme’s about it.” on to promote its key product, C’estbon exclusivity terms. Team China will For most Chinese athletes, the bottled water. spend the remaining 20 per cent on point at which they can monetise C’estbon ranks second in the Chinese brand building, sponsor services, and their individual value is in winning an drinking water market, with 22 per media-rights development. Olympic medal. In practice, other than cent of the market and total sales of All teams which qualify for the Sun Yang – whose own brand has been ¥14bn in 2018. It will provide funding, Olympics will receive a share of the tarnished by a doping controversy – few drinking water, sports drinks and sponsorship money proportional to individual Chinese athletes are in any other non-alcoholic beverages to Team their Olympic weights. This will benefit position to claim any Rule 40 rights. Z China athletes. The company, based in Shenzhen, announced it would develop new products for Chinese national team athletes, including upgrading its sports drinks brand Magic, next year.

Ending anarchy The Team China programme implements the GAS’s mandate to centralise and systematise commercial rights around Chinese national sport, which have been a tangled mess for decades. This was best illustrated by the chaos at the 2018 Asian Games, when swimmer Sun Yang refused to be seen wearing awarding ceremony tracksuits made by Anta, the official sponsor of the Chinese delegation, in order to protect his own Team China basketball (Tracey Nearmy/Getty Images)

@SportBusiness | www.sportbusiness.com 27 28 SPONSORSHIP & MARKETING E September 6,2006;and secondly, a activities ofnational athletes, enacted regulations related to commercial the firstbeingonethatdocuments interest intheChinesesportindustry; have oftwopapers the repeal piqued But withintheGAS. departments certain standardisation oftheworkby square dancefitnessactivitiesto trimmings ofred tape,from regulating the country. thesportsindustryin governing papers Chen Yaolin athletes’ sponsorship andmarketing withdrew twopapersaffecting General Administration of Sport www.sportbusiness.com | Chinese athletesto benefitasgovernment Rule changesseemdesignedto headofffederation-athlete spats,likethosebetweenswimmerNingZetao’s andtheSwimmingManagementCentre( heads offpotentialforendorsementdisputes Most standard ofthechangeswere the abolitionof13regulation announcing issued adocument Administration ofSport General thismonth,China’s arlier @SportBusiness developed by theState”. by developed belong to theState andneedto be intangible assetsofactiveathletes and “the organisational permission” participate inbusinessactivitieswithout toare notallowed directly orindirectly that “nationalteam andnationalathletes star athletes. and whatisbannedinthemarketing of the industryguideonwhatispermitted first paper, considered whichhasbeen athletes formanyyears,particularlythe themarketing governed ofsportsand 5, 2007. national athletes, promulgated January for theadministration ofbonusesfor interim documenting paper measures from their sporting success from their sporting ability of Chineseathletesto profit These regulationshave affected the It contained clear rules, for example It containedclearrules,forexample haveThese tworegulation papers staff, and 30 per cent to cent staff, and30per theassociation. goes to players, coachesandbackroom association; forteam sports,70 cent per goesto cent 40 per thelinked sports goesto cent 60 per theathlete, and stipulate thatforindividualsports, theguidelines such astheOlympics, to cent per intermediaries andagencies. to thelinked sportsassociation;and20 cent coaching andbackroom staff;15per players inthe team; for cent 15per fortheindividualathlete/ cent 50 per percentages: up alongthefollowing individual sponsorships generally divvied associations, withproceeds from theresponsibility oftheirsport under China’s sportingstarshave fallen distribution withitsathletes disagreements over income GAS is keen to avoid public In terms ofprizemoniesfrom events activitiesfor such,commercial As Lintao Zhang/GettyImages ) SPONSORSHIP &MARKETING Heading off trouble disagreements with the Swimming attend global events as a collective or Chinese athletes to benefit as government So why the change now? With the Management Centre of the GAS, which delegation. Tokyo 2020 Olympics coming up, and booted him from the national team An official from the Sports Equipment the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics in 2017, citing several violations Ning and Equipment Centre of the GAS, who heads off potential for endorsement disputes on the horizon, it appears the GAS is made in signing sponsorship contracts declined to be named, tells SportBusiness determined to ensure that potential without the team’s consent. The most Review: “Previously, whether an athlete conflicts of interest are stamped out. jarring was a deal he inked with adidas, could sign an agent to garner commercial Previous controversies have been which was publicly awkward as the and image rights deals was a grey area. regarded as a serious loss of prestige for Chinese national team was sponsored This will be clarified with the new the government. by a Chinese competitor, 361. regulations. Essentially, the business Well-known examples include activities for national athletes will be former Houston Rockets star and More freedom standardised, with more autonomy given. current Chinese Basketball Association A source told SportBusiness Review that “2020 is a big year for athletes and chairman Yao Ming suing Coca-Cola for new regulations would be put in place their associations, with the Tokyo a single yuan in 2003. The global drinks soon, with new documents being drafted Olympics coming up. With more giant had used his name and image in by the GAS’s legal team. It is understood commercial deals and opportunities, its marketing with the Chinese national they will have an increased focus on the introduction of these new rules will basketball team, while he was a brand the rights and interests of athletes and, help stimulate morale amongst athletes, ambassador for Pepsi. with regards to endorsement deals, and inspire them to better results, and In 2016, basketball star Yi Jianlian will encourage more ‘collective deals’ also obtain more reasonable commercial was fined $7,000 (€6,350) and given – possibly under the “TEAM CHINA” returns for themselves.” a one-game ban after violating a CBA umbrella set up late last year. But Adam Zhang, chief executive rule mandating domestic players wear ‘TEAM CHINA’ is a marketing officer for Chinese sports consultancy exclusively Li Ning apparel. Yi, a Nike initiative similar to the United States Key Solutions, notes: “At the end of endorser, had in protest taken off his Li Olympic and Paralympic Committee’s the day, it’s a balance of rights and Ning shoe, left it under the basket and “TEAM USA” trademark, which allows responsibilities. Traditionally, because walked off the court, complaining that the USOPC broad rights to control China uses a national system and state the shoes were hurting his feet. commercial uses of the brand and funding to train athletes, most of them The GAS is particularly keen to avoid sponsorship deals for national funding are considered civil servants, so their another Ning Zetao scenario. The first of athletes and athlete programs. income must be allocated by the state. Asian to win the 100m freestyle at the This new image and unified title will They won’t be allowed to simply use the World Aquatics Championships, in include the Chinese national teams system and fully enjoy the dividends of 2015, Ning had several controversial for various sports as well as when they the free market economy.” Z

China’s Olympic team at the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games (Michael Regan/Getty Images)

@SportBusiness | www.sportbusiness.com 29 The Ocean Race

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT BUSINESS makes waves with award- winning initiatives

The Ocean Race scooped two awards at the BT Sport Industry Awards 2019 for its Sustainability Programme and its technologically innovative efforts to engage fans.

he Ocean Race is leading the principal sustainability partner 11th Science Programme charge with a groundbreaking Hour Racing, principal partner Mirpuri The Turn the Tide on Plastic team Sustainability Programme Foundation and the main sustainability carried the UN Environment’s

and innovative storytelling partners – Volvo, AkzoNobel, Bluewater, #CleanSeas message around the world,(IJF) Tthat is helping to drive change in the Stena Recycling and Ocean Family while the campaign also engaged fans engagement and impact of sailing Foundation – the programme’s in the Race Villages. At the stopovers worldwide. goals were to educate and showcase and via online promotions, people were At the BT Sport Industry Awards innovative solutions to address ocean encouraged to make their own plastic 2019, The Ocean Race (formerly the plastic pollution. pledge for the campaign and in total Volvo Ocean Race) scooped the Social “We wanted to create a platform on more than 20,000 people signed up to and Sustainable Development Award which we were able to speak to millions the initiative. for the Power of Sport campaign that of race fans about this urgent issue and Complementing the initiative, a highlighted the UN’s #CleanSeas how we all have a role to play in helping Science Programme was also supported campaign to #TurnTheTideOnPlastic, to restore ocean health,” says Robin by institutions, governments, and also the Cutting Edge Sport Award Clegg, who has been heading global corporate partners and philanthropists, for the Southern Ocean RAW & Live sustainability communications for the contributing towards the publication of initiative. race. He adds that the race’s partners, nearly 25,000 articles about the race’s The sustainability campaign from sponsors, host cities, teams, sailors, work across media channels. the 2017-18 edition of The Ocean Race, workforce and volunteers helped to During the 2017-18 edition, the seven which focused on reducing the amount drive the momentum. teams collected oceanographic data of plastic entering the oceans, was “By devising a specific Sustainability on microplastic concentrations, water described as a “shining example” by the Programme, we were able to maximise temperature, CO2 and salinity content judges. our global impact and act as a catalyst for from some of the most remote parts of real change, offering impactful solutions the world’s oceans. This information Sustainability to governments, businesses and was made available open-source to To activate the programme, high-level individuals. Leading by example, we also international scientists. partnerships were established with took considerable steps to responsibly In addition to the Science Programme, institutions like the United Nations reduce our own footprint, and we the organisers used each stopover to Environment Programme and the produced a template for how sport and promote the subject of ocean protection. #CleanSeas campaign, as well as with sustainability could be combined as a Through an Education Programme, they private foundations and brands. force for positive action, especially when were able to reach an online audience In collaboration with founding teams and athletes buy in.” of more than 200,000 schoolchildren in

30 www.sportbusiness.com | @SportBusiness BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT 31 “Our raw storytelling philosophy philosophy storytelling “Our raw of “Smart partnerships with the likes generated The new style of storytelling heading guess is that we’re “My and, combined with global technological technological and, combined with global send allowsinfrastructure, us to anywhere footage from on incredible HQ in Alicante. Earth, back to where isn’t just a style, but also dictates our content. and how we distribute on wall, a spot the RAW created We where footage would our website upload as it arrived automatically our social and we curated back at HQ, to targeted content, feeds with tailored themes and audience, reaching markets, fans than evermore before.” Compelling coverage With than 200 million social media more video views and almost two billion global community the race’s impressions, newreached levels, use while the race’s edition produced in the 2017-18 of drones compelling aerial footage. reach Bull and Sky allowed us to Red fans than evermore and a before, up our focus on education, smartening audience rather dumbing down than our more meant that we converted content, fans,” Clegg says. viewers into demographic website a swing in core 25-34 age group. to the 45-54 from data-driven storytelling,” towards “Sailing can be a very Clegg adds. understand – but complex sport to nowwe’re in a place where it’s feasible gather a whole new level of data to our and this could add a new focus to layers the back peel help to storytelling, and help our millions of fans around the world understand just what it in sailing’s ultimate compete to takes challenge.” Z “It’s a challenge to deliver a social- a challenge to “It’s on every“Onboard boat Reporters race continues its commitment to be the be to commitment its continues race of sustainable model in terms best role event in partnership production, with and partners.” teams our race Technology Alongside the Sustainability SouthernProgramme, the race’s Ocean initiative & Live technology RAW also made a major impact, with the enhance to “advanced use of technology the media coverage sailing making it of immersivea more and accessible sport”, the BT Sport Industry to according judges. Awards event 24-sevenfirst, always-on for nine edition, we months – but in the 2017-18 deliveringgot closer than ever to before a stadium experience, even as boats some of the most remote through raced places on the planet,” Clegg adds. with one task storytellers dedicated are of the us the unfolding story give – to This is in sport. of a team test toughest the Ocean Race something unique to “Building upon the legacy of the interactive, an initiative, the of part As expanding our ambitious are “We During than more these stopovers, last edition of the race, our innovativelast edition of the race, act as Sustainability Programme aims to ocean health,” help restore a catalyst to “With a commitment to Clegg says. embed sustainability at its heart, The inspire to Ocean is determined Race tangible outcomes action and create a positive impact on the that have marine environment.” multi-lingual, curriculum-based, schools Learning Programme children gives the learn about the race, opportunity to understand sustainability issues and how people can be part of the solution. Science Programme and are encouraging innovation of renewable the IMOCA on board energy systems “The classes,” Clegg adds. 60 and VO65 Summits A series of seven Ocean Summits Race locations promoted at strategic the ocean innovative solutions to plastic crisis and offered a platform for governments and businesses to announcements addressing about make Some nations, matter. the pressing and New including Spain, Wales sign up to Zealand, used the summits to the #CleanSeas campaign. over race more and many 40 countries stopovers. during visitors village experienced interactive 400,000 visitors With the on the subject. information events plastics, featuring single-use not there of nearly 400,000 a reduction was period. race bottlesnine-month overthe 32 BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT B Bob Williams to feed into interest Japanese-language content platforms NBA team has createdmulti-faceted www.sportbusiness.com | becoming thefirst Japanese-born player in Toyama made history Prefecture, by andJapanese father Beninese mother Draft. University, withtheninthpickof 8in forward Rui Hachimura, ofGonzaga Basketball team Association selected 6ft theNationalliterally when overnight Washington Wizards rookie sensationRuiHachimura ( Wizards deploymulti-pronged strategy to develop Japanesefandom Hachimura, whowasbornto a Japan. Thissituationchanged had alimited in presence June, theWashington Wizards efore to in the2019NBADraft @SportBusiness Ethan Miller/GettyImages another with Japanesecompany Corporation likely to be followed by with NEC Commercial partnership Washington DC, manyofwhomhad in Arena atCapital One conference Hachimura’s introductory press Japanese attended mediamembers history. day Thefollowing almost100 of anytweetintheteam’s socialmedia it hadgenerated themostinteraction Hachimura inJapanese. hours, Within account posted amessagewelcoming inJapan.an instantsportingsuperstar but histop-10 selectionmadehim Draft was already highinhishomecountry, Interest progress inHachimura’s career selected firstround. intheNBADraft’s That evening, theWizards’Twitter ) pre-season game in Tokyo planned while team is eager to play a Two Japaneseheritagenights best-selling player. the amountofproducts thanthenext Japan, having soldapproximately twice thetop-sellingremains NBAplayer in soldonthesite.has ever Hachimura Store Japan player than anyother soldonNBA were Hachimura jerseys more the2019NBADraft, following Fanatics,sports retailer inthemonth nightly basis. Wizards gamesona attend members 30and50Japanesebetween media States to theDraft. Atpresent, attend from Tokyo over flown to the United Meanwhile, according to online BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Executives at parent company Authentic and aggressive content “The numbers were are seeing are Monumental Sports & Entertainment strategy tremendous, really compelling. I think – which also owns the National Hockey A key part of the Wizards’ plans to we are onto a really good thing,” says League’s Washington Capitals – engage and expand the team’s ever- Van Stone. “In my recent visits of quickly realised the Wizards had been growing Japanese fanbase has been an Japan, I’ve met with a lot of brands given a potentially transformational innovative and, according to Van Stone, over there and they are telling us that commercial opportunity, and one “very aggressive” content strategy. the content that we are producing is which they needed to capitalise on. In September, the team announced really connecting with people and it’s In October, Monumental announced a multitude of new Japanese-language been really authentic.” a reported seven-figure deal with content platforms. This included the While many NBA teams have actively Japanese technology company hiring of the bilingual Zac Ikuma as the looked to leverage their international NEC Corporation, marking the first team’s Japanese digital correspondent, superstars to their home countries for international partnership for the the first role of its kind in the NBA, as many years, Van Stone believes the Wizards since the NBA allowed teams well as a Japanese-language website, Wizards are producing content that is to sell global marketing rights to two Twitter account, and a weekly podcast. deeper and richer than any team has international partners beginning with produced in the past. the 2019-20 season. “The ability to create [local] “We realised very quickly that we It was the first such deal for an NBA wanted to create an opportunity franchise in Japan. A second partnership content is so important.” to develop a really organic and with a Japanese company is now likely Jim Van Stone | president of business authentic connection to the Japanese after Monumental executives travelled operations and chief commercial officer, community, celebrating Rui’s twice to Japan in recent weeks to meet Monumental participation and being a member with potential commercial partners, as of our team. We wanted to create a well as other executives. connection that had probably never In just a short amount of time – and The results speak for themselves. been done before with than NBA with the Tokyo Olympics approaching In just two months, the Japanese- team,” he says. “One of the things next summer, in which Hachimura will language Twitter account had gained we want to show with the content likely star for the host nation – the over 30,000 followers, 45 million-plus we are producing is not only what is Wizards have put themselves in prime impressions and seven million-plus happening on the court but also what position to become the NBA’s most video views. According to Monumental is happening behind the scenes in Rui’s popular team in Japan. figures, the account has gained more journey in the NBA.” The country is still a relatively interactions in the past two months Such has been the success of the untapped market for the league despite than the main Twitter accounts of 13 initiative, Monumental is considering the league’s aggressive global business other NBA teams. expanding it to other international strategy that has taken it significantly into China, India, and much of Europe and Africa, among other locations. “From Rui’s welcome press conference, we realised that [his arrival] was going to be transformational for us as an organisation,” Jim Van Stone, Monumental’s president of business operations and chief commercial officer, tells SportBusiness Review. “It’s going to be important that we invest in it. We need to continue to do that. Making the trips to Japan is really important, as we’re hearing directly from media members, consumers and brands about how they look at this opportunity to potentially grow and evolve for us. “I think the early successes make me feel very positive about it and hopefully we become the [NBA] team of Japan. Creating that relationship and investing in it is critical and foundational,” he adds. Washington Wizards announce their international partnership with NEC Corporation (Washington Wizards)

@SportBusiness | www.sportbusiness.com 33 34 BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Monumental Sports executiveJimVanMonumental Sports Stone (secondleft)duringarecentbusinesstripto Japan( Japanese-Americans who camein estimates, wehadalmost3,000 universities. 70 Japanese local attending students Worldfrom thenearby Bankalongwith 100employees by game wasattended their games. Wizards home Arecent cater to theinfluxofJapanese fansat travel andhospitality companiesto Japanese Embassy. withthelocal will beinpartnership Blossom Festival which Night inMarch, Night inearlyJanuary, anda Cherry coming months:aJapanese Heritage two Japanese-themed inthe evenings The Wizards have madeplansto puton Pre-season game plannedin Tokyo gives usanopportunity.” andthat are superstars some ofthem international by influenced players and we have. rosters Our are really heavily players withother it canhappen that important,” Van Stone says. “Ithink abroad Ithinkisreally an audience create content thatspeaksdirectly to our content. Having theresources to in ourproduction team whoproduce important. We have almost50people so theabilityto create content isso portfolio. players group’s varied intheownership www.sportbusiness.com | “At ourhomeopener, from our The team is also working with different oftheseplacesare sofaraway“Many @SportBusiness Japanese fans show their support forRuiHachimura ataWashingtonJapanese fansshowtheir support Wizardsgame( meanwhile, aboutpotentially staginga terms ofcoordinating thatstuff.” working withsometravel companiesin activities.variety ofexperiential We’re watch pre-game warm-ups,andhave a we’re invitingpeopleinearlytowhere So we’re doingalotofactivations, probably once-in-a-lifetimeexperience. coming to games are lookingfora also realised earlythatalotofpeople from Japan,” Van Stone says. “We tourists for thegameorwere coming Talks are ongoingwiththeNBA, Washington Wizards) “A lotofpeoplecomingtogames Jim Van Stone |presidentofbusiness operations andchiefcommercial officer, Stone says. Z to bepartofitin anyway wecan,”Van thatandwewouldlove provide certainly ofopportunity,moments theOlympics the off-season. Lookingatthose this process aswegetinto chanceforusto it’s aperfect continue out thestrategy from thatstandpointbut meetings. to travel to Tokyo business forfurther chance standpoint aswellanother fromHachimura’s acontent presence opportunitytogolden make themostof theWizardswithanother will provide opportunity anddoit,”Van Stone says. jumpatthe invitation wewouldcertainly the yearafter. extended Ifwewere an butwe’re hoping of theOlympics, willbeagamein2020because there forward. Idon’tthink as wemove the leagueinvites usto play inTokyo coordinated theleague.We’re by hopeful 2021. pre-season gameinTokyo asearly Monumental are looking foraprobably once- in-a-lifetime experience.” “We’re intheearlystagesoffiguring Gamesthemselves The 2020Summer “The international gamesare basically Washington Wizards)

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MLB’s new NYC headquarters reflects Manfred’s ‘One Baseball’ vision

New league HQ occupies five floors at Opening follows a three-year design The move unites the previously 1271 Avenue of the Americas and renovation effort separated MLB and MLBAM offices

The exterior of 1271 Avenue of the Americas in New York, formerly known as the Time-Life Building, home of Major League Baseball’s new headquarters (MLB)

Eric Fisher 1271 Avenue of the Americas in New But beyond the additional space and York. More than three years in the forthcoming store, MLB will finally end ince Rob Manfred became making, the league will occupy five nearly two decades of divided New York commissioner of Major League floors and roughly 330,000 square feet operations between 245 Park Avenue, Baseball in early 2015, he has in the 48-story midtown Manhattan and the former MLBAM headquarters wanted to unite the league’s office building that was previously and Replay Operations Center Sdisparate operations. He began to known as the Time-Life Building, first southwest of there in Chelsea Market, achieve his ambition functionally later built in 1959 for Henry Luce’s publishing and house up to 1,400 employees in a that same year, through his overarching empire and home for Time Inc. until its single location. ‘One Baseball’ strategy that blended 2015 departure. “This move really reflects the the previously separate functions of the The league will also have a street- collaborative vision of ‘One Baseball’,” central MLB offices and what was MLB level, 17,000-square-foot store opening says Tony Petitti, MLB deputy Advanced Media. later this year that marks its first commissioner, business and media. Now he has also achieved that goal in permanent retail location in the US. “Just considering the enhanced ability a physical sense. The moves are part of a broader, $600m for that collaboration and the internal MLB on January 6 had its first official (€536m) renovation of the building by communication this new space affords day at its new central headquarters at its owner, Rockefeller Group. us, being together like this, it puts us

@SportBusiness | www.sportbusiness.com 35 36 BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT modernised systemsmodernised andcontrols space,and the amountofwindow façade, a60-per-cent increase in the building, exterior featuring anew reimagined from scratch. togutted window andentirely window effort inwhichtheleague’sfloorswere multi-year planninganddevelopment Rockefeller Group in2016,andbeganthe MLB firstsignedtheleasewith Cultures Merging Two justnosubstitute“There’s forthat.” face timewitheachother,” Petitti says. it’s really abouthaving more face-to- gatherings.and other meetings,press conferences, owners’ itwillbeableto where centre hold All-Star Game,aswellaconference Day andthe key suchasOpening events it canstagemarketing activationsfor include astreet-level courtyard where spacewillalso functions, MLB’snew light yearsahead.” www.sportbusiness.com | An entry way into Major League Baseball’s inNew York newheadquarters that honors the late HallofFamer Clemente (MLB Roberto Rockefeller visionfor Group’s new “Through allofthesevariousfacets, In additionto thestrictlyinternal @SportBusiness “Through allofthesevarious Tony Petitti |deputycommisioner, each other.” corporate offices. TheMLBAM offices ways traditional mid-town Manhattan inmanyfeel ofabaseballbat,were thatechothelookandof woodaccents organisationalcultures.different and ChelseaMarket, butalsotwovery separate Park officesbetween Avenue notonlytwo ofmerging challenge MLBalsofacedtheheftymove, . Men Mad show Sterling &Partners Cooper intheTV asthehomeof its fictionaldepiction original TimeInc. useofthespace,or throughout, isafarcryfrom the facets, it’sreally abouthaving more face-to-face timewith business andmedia,MLB The Park Avenue offices,withplenty thelarge-scaleBut inundertaking The building’ssixthfloor houses the including the Replay Center.Operations housedinChelsea,functions previously dedicated to manyofthetechnology the quintet five,is offloors, number functionalduties.by of Thelowest Music Hall,are organisedlargely New York localessuchasRadio City Center downtown. ParkCentral to World One Trade along SixthAvenue alltheway from forexpansiveviews light andallows natural feelthatemphasises modern history whilemaintainingaclean, recognising thesport’sextensive atoncebalancingbetween elements, seekstothe Americas those blend within New York. neighborhood asatechnology hotbed Chelseain establishingtheentire the MLBAMofficeplayed akey role workers,a largeswathofyounger Nabiscoformer factory. Featuring lots ofexposedbrickinwhatwasa in ChelseaMarket, conversely, featured The fivefloors,directly overlooking spaceat1271AvenueThe new of ) BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Major League Baseball’s new headquarters features a large-scale mosaic image of Negro Leagues legend Satchel Paige, comprising images of other players (MLB) main reception for the space, as well as On that broadcast front, MLB will “Each floor is a little different, but the baseball’s marketing, social media, and also maintain the MLB Network studios spaces reflect the character of who is design services departments. in nearby Secaucus, New Jersey. But on each floor, what goes on there, and The seventh floor is the executive the sixth floor of the new headquarters where we want to take our business, space, and where Manfred, Petitti, features a remote studio that features Petitti says. “And throughout all of and other senior leaders will primarily a direct link to the MLB Network, and that, we want to respect the history work. The eighth floor is the conference will allow Manfred and others to make of the game but maintain connections center featuring a wide variety of live appearances on the cable channel with our current players.” formal meeting spaces. And the ninth without needing to cross the Hudson The league worked extensively with floor houses MLB’s legal and financial River. global firm Studios Architecture on operations. The meeting rooms themselves, many of the design elements of the MLB planned to occupy an additional meanwhile, have also been substantially new space, as well New York-based floor, to make six in all, when it first reorganised. In the prior Park Avenue experience design shop ESI Design for signed its lease deal with Rockefeller office, MLB primarily used a nine- graphic components. MLB declined Group in 2016. But after the two-stage room suite of conference spaces to detail the costs of the leasing and sale of the BAMTech digital media that were each named for Manfred’s design of the new space. But large- subsidiary to The Walt Disney Company commissioner predecessors including scale corporate relocations such as in 2016-17, MLB slightly reduced its Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the first to this typically involve multi-million overall footprint in the new space. hold the post, and Bud Selig, the most dollar costs. The league says the Within each of MLB’s five floors, recent. newly-combined space will be far more a heavy premium is placed on open The league’s new space instead efficient than maintaining the two meeting rooms and other communal names a significantly expanded set prior, separate locations. work spaces. And hundreds of video of more than 50 conference rooms of Speaking about the move, Petitti screens have been placed throughout varying sizes named after all-time great says: “We’ve already been seeing the entire space, and will be regularly players from both vintage and modern our people use the space in a lot of showing baseball content from the eras, organising those spaces on each different, and some unexpected, ways. MLB Network, MLB.com, and the floor around core baseball skill sets That’s something I’m really looking league’s regional and national broadcast such as batting, pitching, fielding and forward to seeing more of as we get partners. baserunning. settled into the new home.” Z

@SportBusiness | www.sportbusiness.com 37 38 BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT T inaugural teams have splitbetween been a championship gameonApril26.The by play-off semi-finals on April 18-19 and a10-weekregular seasonfollowed over Stadium. Hard Rock LIVatMiami’s Bowl Super off onFebruary 8-9,theweekend after 2018, therebooted XFL officiallykicks work asecondtimearound. footballleaguewill season American (€450.7m) gamblethatthespring McMahon istakingacalculated $500m Entertainment chairmanVince Bob Williams iteration in 2001 return after failure of inaugural Spring season league making a www.sportbusiness.com | XFL confidentitssecondactwillprove a successandavoid samefateasAAF Initially, eightteams willcompete Having announced inJanuary been one season,World Wrestling of theXFLfoldedafter just years after thefirst iteration his istheXFL2.0.Almost20 @SportBusiness

of varyingpositions whowillstay in “Team 9”,whichconsistsof 40 players amini-camp. by isalsoa followed There approximately were there 1,100invitees, selectedwere viaadraft, forwhich with 46 activated ongameday. Players Stadium andAudi Field. Field,CenturyLink Raymond James Sports Park, Center, atAmerica’s Dome Health TDECU Stadium,Dignity Stadium, GlobeLifePark inArlington, noteworthy MetLife sportsvenues: Dragons. Seattle Roughnecks, and LosAngelesWildcats Renegades, Houstonincludes theDallas and Tampa Bay whiletheWest Vipers, York Guardians, St. LouisBattleHawks Newcomprised oftheDCDefenders, East andWest Divisions. TheEastis into project putting $500m of his own money WWE chairman Vince McMahon is Teams willhave 52-player rosters, willplayThey of ata number

understandable skepticism.understandable after justeightweeksin2019 hasledto FootballAlliance ofAmerican (AAF) and thespectacularcrash oftherival Federation WWE)andNBC– (now World thethen between Wrestling of theXFLin2001–ajointventure course, too earlyto say butthefailure two yearsto helpfundtheeffort. $400m worthofWWEstock inthepast seasons andhehassoldapproximately $500mintheleague’sfirstthree spend Connecticut. McMahon haspledgedto entertainment area, basedinStamford, inthesportsand explore investments McMahon establishedin2017 to Alpha Entertainment, aprivate entity with injuryreplacements. teamsshape viapractice andprovide says commissioner says commissioner of American Football’s demise, Lessons learned from Alliance Will it prove asuccess?It itprove Will is,of XFLisrunby The single-entity

( XFL) BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT But there is significant evidence to suggest a gap exists in the market for the XFL to exploit. According to a report from consulting firm McKinsey & Company, which prompted McMahon into action, there are 85 million football fans across the United States, of whom 40 million consider themselves to be ‘diehards’. And it is hoped the current immense popularity of the National Football League will carry over into its off- season. The 2019 NFL regular season gained an average US television audience of 16.5 million, up five per cent from the year before and the second straight annual increase. And among the most-watched US TV shows in 2019, regardless of genre, NFL games accounted for all of the top 10, XFL Commissioner Oliver Luck addresses the Renegades during practice (XFL) and 47 out of the top 50. “I think we are seeing peak football point, there is still a bunch of stuff we ‘Powerful’ network TV coverage in US right now,” XFL commissioner Oliver have to do, but I think we all feel pretty The XFL is run by a distinguished and Luck tells SportBusiness Review. optimistic in terms of the opportunity experienced front office, led by Luck, a “The game is so much better than that we all have collectively. former senior executive at the National it was [in the 1980s and 1990s]. It’s “With the support and resources Collegiate Athletic Association, who incredibly popular, it’s packaged so well, that Vince has given us, we have a full previously served as president of NFL not just by the NFL but also by colleges tank of gas in our truck. This is a great Europe and also held senior roles at and others. It’s become our national opportunity, and if we stay disciplined West Virginia University and Major obsession, these stadiums seem to be and build our brands, we have a pretty League Soccer’s Houston Dynamo. our secular cathedrals. good shot even if the odds are probably Jeffrey Pollack, the former chief “It’s been a lot of work up until this stacked against us.” marketing and strategy officer with the

The XFL teams at launch (XFL)

@SportBusiness | www.sportbusiness.com 39 40 BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT the firstiteration, whichwasheavily the rebooted XFLwouldnotbelike to convincepotential coachesthat supportive ofalltheseefforts.” incredibly those sortsofthings,he’sbeen coaches Iwanted, training camps,all of buildingthisleagueandhiringthe And alltheexpectationsIhadinterms convince mewasthrough hiswords. diminish itanyformorfashion. far too manypeople inthiscountryto cheesy, to becausethegamematters bit that hadgimmicksandwasalittle didn’t wantto beinvolved withaleague the game,Irespect thegame,andI fordoingthis.expectations were Ilove why hewasdoingthisandwhathis skepticism. Iwanted to understand he says. ifyouwill,in2001,” the failedversion, effort andthathelearnedlessonsfrom hewasaboutthis serious realised how 2018. IsatwithVince,talked to himand was contacted Vince’speopleinApril by McMahon’s visionfortheproject. “I by was announcedbutwonover it theviabilityofleaguewhen over officer. andchiefoperating president NFL’s istheXFL Los Angeles Chargers, www.sportbusiness.com | Luck says itwasalsoa challenge “We talked andtheonlyway hecould of level “I cameinwithacertain Luck admitsthathehadsomedoubts @SportBusiness “With thesupportand“With FS1 andFS2.ABCwillbroadcast the willaironESPN,remainder ESPN2, games willaironABCorFox, whilethe Saturdays andSundays. Twenty-five television, on withdoubleheaders Fox. Allthegameswillaironnational withESPN/Disney and agreements has secured multi-yearbroadcast choices forteam head coaches. decisions are runpasthim,suchasthe side, butmostmajorinitiativesand thanthesporting rather the operations, mainly involvedinthebusinesssideof a dominoeffectofmore appointments. fledgling leaguecredibility, whichledto in February 2019,ithelpedgivethe Renegades oftheDallas manager was appointed headcoachandgeneral coachBobStoops Oklahoma former andviolent. But,Luckadds,once racy criticised forbeingtoo gimmicky, Oliver Luck |commissioner, XFL us, wehaveafulltankofgas resources thatVincehasgiven in ourtruck.” Ensuring significantreach, theleague According to Luck,McMahon is multi-year partnership withsportsdata multi-year partnership and team websites. to league andlaunchnew develop iX.co communications role, andInfront’s entertainment group Endeavor, to a marketing armofsportsand services therecently-rebranded as 160over90, guide andsupportticket sales, aswell Group –toNation andtheOakview help Entertainment, Ticketmaster, Live 49ers, Sports and HarrisBlitzer oftheSanFranciscojoint venture of Elevate SportsVentures –a structural supportwiththehiring [before],” Lucksays. league hashadthiskindofvisibility No powerful. isvery journey start-up and Africa. East inEurope, theMiddle subscribers stream thestart-up league’sgamesto that itsESPNPlayer platformwill afteraudience ESPNannounced XFL isalsogaininganinternational network to broadcast itsgames. The its broadcast rightsnorpaying any receiving afeeforthe XFLisneither Saturday, February 8,at2pmET. atAudi Dragons, Fieldand Seattle on theDCDefenders first game,between Meanwhile, theXFLhassigneda The leaguehasalsogainedwider “Having thosefolkswithusinthis According to TheWashington Post, ( XFL) BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT and technology company Genius Sports to protect the start-up league against the threats of improper and illegal sports betting. The league is banking on affordable ticket prices to attract fans. Prices range from $20-to-$100 per-seat per-game for all eight teams. There are additional benefits for founding season-ticket holders, including a VIP field pass for one home game, 25-per-cent discount on merchandise at XFL.com, and VIP experiences throughout the year. In regards to attendance, the St. Louis BattleHawks have already sold 6,000 season tickets, the most in the league. (XFL) The enduring anger at Stan Kroenke for taking the NFL Rams to Los Angeles is the lesson was let’s really identify Other rule tweaks include: the right to believed to have sparked sales locally. quarterbacks, let’s be specific and let’s throw two forward passes on one play, The team hopes to sell out the Dome at offer them more money,” Luck says. providing the first throw doesn’t go past America’s Center, which will hold 27,500 “The AAF didn’t, we did.” the line of scrimmage; a 25-second play for XFL games. The AAF began its inaugural season clock that begins after the ball is spotted less than a year after being announced, for the next play; a requirement for only Learning from the AAF’s demise which caused significant problems. With one foot to be in bounds for possession; For an extended period, it appeared two years to prepare for its launch, Luck two one-minute timeouts per half; a that the XFL would be competing for says the XFL has benefited immensely dedicated Ball Spotting Official who will fans and media attention with the AAF. from its extended build-up time. solely be responsible for quickly spotting But the AAF, which was founded by “One of the things I learned with the ball and getting a new ball after each Charlie Ebersol – the TV producer son previous experiences at NFL Europe, play; and a running game clock that won’t of veteran sports media executive Dick and you saw this with the AAF as stop after incomplete passes or when Ebersol – spectacularly crashed midway well, you need time to put a team players go out of bounds, except the last through its inaugural season last year together,” Luck says. “You have to two minutes of each half. due to a lack of funding. This is an hire coaches, and then give them time There will also be a soccer-style issue the XFL will not face, at least to hire assistants. You then need to shootout in overtime, in which in the short-term, due to McMahon’s scout players and have training camps, each team will get five single-play financial largesse. practices. We want to come out week possessions from the five-yard line. Luck says the XFL has taken some key one, playing good, crisp football and If the game is still tied at that point, lessons from the AAF’s demise, namely that takes time.” rotating possessions will continue until that they should pay a premium for there is a winner. quarterbacks, who will largely dictate Innovative rules and regulations The start-up spring season league the quality of play on the field. In order to speed up play and add initially had over 100 ideas for new All AAF players were paid the same, excitement for fans, the XFL has rules, which were cut to 50 and then on three-year contracts worth $250,000, unveiled a series of innovative rules, tested with players since last December. rising incrementally from $70,000 including nine-point touchdowns and a Among the rules rejected were in the first year, to $80,000 and then shootout-style overtime. eliminating punts and field goals. $100,000. Average XFL salaries for a full Following a six-point touchdown, Luck says: “We took what is already a season (December-May) are reportedly teams will have options for extra points great game and tried to make it a little $55,000, which includes a base salary, a worth one, two or three points. This bit better. We think the rationale behind bonus for being active on game days and includes a one-point scrimmage play the dozen or so changes is all solid and a bonus for being on the winning team. from the two-yard line, a two-point play will lead to a fast-tempo, high-scoring However, franchise quarterbacks – from the five-yard line or a three-point game. We’re not infallible, we may have such as former Pittsburgh Steelers back- play from the 10-yard line. There is no made a mistake with some of the rules, up Landry Jones – will earn significantly option to kick an extra point. and if we made a mistake we’ll be happy more than their teammates. According If the defense is able to cause a to change it. to Yahoo Sports, they will earn more turnover and return the ball to the “We’re pretty confident that these than the NFL rookie minimum, which is opponent’s end zone, the resulting score changes will be good for our game, $495,000 this season. is equal to the number of points the others may not adopt them and that’s “Quarterback play is critical and offence was attempting to score. fine.” Z

@SportBusiness | www.sportbusiness.com 41 A new report from SportBusiness

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For more information and to purchase the report visit: https://sprt.bz/fan-insights-2020 email: [email protected] or call: +44 (0) 2072 654100 BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT OL Group buys Reign FC with ambition to ‘have the two best teams in the world’

Olympique Lyonnais executive Reign FC poised to incorporate OL French club will look to help NWSL Vincent Berthillot appointed COO name and logo to help synergize gain further exposure with TV deals of NWSL team two brands in Europe

OL Groupe announces the takeover of Reign FC (OL Groupe)

Bob Williams is also an OL international ambassador. SportBusiness Review spoke to Jean-Michel Aulas, the OL Groupe Berthillot about why the OL Groupe he National Women’s Soccer owner and president, will serve as Reign took over Reign FC and what its plans League is entering a new era in FC’s chairman of the board of directors, are for the NWSL team and to develop 2020, following the takeover where Parker will also have a seat. its brand in the US market. of Reign FC by OL Groupe, Predmore will become the club’s chief Tthe parent company of French women’s executive while OL executive Vincent When will you start working at Reign soccer team Olympique Lyonnais Berthillot has been appointed the chief FC and what will your role be? Féminin, in a $3.51m (€3.15m) deal. operating officer. Vincent Berthillot: I should join Reign OL Groupe will take an 89.5-per- Reign Academy, which is owned FC in March, it all depends on the cent stake in Reign FC, which is and operated by Reign FC, will also timing to get a work visa to enter the based in Tacoma, Washington. Bill become a part of the OL family. Teresa US. As soon as I get the visa, I will be in Predmore, Reign FC’s former investor- Predmore will remain as president of Seattle to work with the Reign FC team. operator, will hold 7.5 per cent of the the Reign Academy youth programs. I will join Reign FC as the chief share capital, while former National Olympique Lyonnais Féminin – which operating officer and I will work with Basketball Association star Tony Parker also has a men’s team in Ligue 1 – is the Bill Predmore, who will remain the will hold a three-per-cent stake. As most successful women’s soccer team in chief executive of the club, on all such, OL Groupe has become the first the world, with 13 consecutive domestic business aspects. My role will be to international majority owner of an league titles and six Uefa Women’s push the business as much as we can NWSL team. Champions League titles, including the with revenues, in terms of ticketing, Olympique Lyonnais is a minority last four in a row. Megan Rapinoe, the sponsorship and merchandising. owner of French basketball club LDLC Reign FC and United States Women’s The second part of my role will be to ASVEL, which is owned by Parker, with National Team superstar, played for establish the synergies that can be set LDLC also featuring as a sponsor of its Olympique Lyonnais Féminin in the up between Reign FC and OL Groupe men’s and women’s team shirts. Parker 2013-14 season. in all the business areas, but also

@SportBusiness | www.sportbusiness.com 43 44 BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT internationally, orjustReignFC? teams orother women’s teams Did OL lookatacquiringother NWSL market acquiringateam. by have to soccer inwomen’s enter theUS and wedecidedto we usetheexpertise on theinternationalisation ofourbrand business modelofOLGroupe isto work ofourstrategiesVB: One inthe did OLGroupe takeover ReignFC? Going backafewsteps,whyexactly the decisionstaken theboard. by myself. role willbeto Our implement be taken and BillPredmore locallyby oftheclubwill basis themanagement main decisions. But onaday-to-day the strategy oftheclubandto take the company. Parker, inthe whoisashareholder seatwillbeforTonythe remaining OL,and peoplenamedby three other have aseatontheboard, together with Jean-MichelGroupe owner] Aulas will of directors willbeputinplace.[OL VB: In terms aboard ofgovernance, will bereferredto HQinLyon? taken in Tacoma andwhatdecisions decisions aboutReignFCwillbe Under thenewregime,what OL Groupe inLyon. and Reignlink between FCinSeattle marketing andsocialmedia.Iwillbea www.sportbusiness.com | (right)( Reign FCchiefoperating officerVincentBerthillot The role ofthisboard willbeto define @SportBusiness OL Groupe “Megan saidthatshewantsto “Megan closely with them onthis.closely withthem We hope to logossoweare working names andnew the club. TheNWSL hasto validate new way andwewant to adaptthelogoof want to adaptthe OLnameinsome VB: Yes, weare workingonthis. We point thefuture? the OLname,colorsorlogoatsome Will ReignFCadoptorincorporate this route]. from thefirstseason[ifwehadtaken more difficulttobeen becompetitive or theexpansionoption,itwouldhave the 2020season. important forusto becompetitivefrom team anditwasvery wasonagoodlevel fast. very went Secondly,Predmore the Firstly, thediscussionswithBill FC acquisitionfortwomainreasons. option. teamsother andalsotheexpansion acquiring about this,weconsidered in theNWSL. westarted When to think market. prioritywasto Our have ateam our targetandfocuswasto enter theUS VB: We countriesas didn’tlookatother her [playing]career.”her get involvedinReign FCafter When we were looking at other teams lookingatother wewere When But wedecidedto gowiththeReign ) us to have onbothcontinents. apresence convinced thatit willbeanadvantagefor looking to enter theUSmarket. We are forFrenchand viceversa companies looking to enter theFrench market forUScompanies partners commercial and wethinkthiswillinterest new and Europe. soccer, of[women’s] continents theUS to communicate onthetwomajor ourmajorsponsors that willenable bothteamsa bridgebetween and withReignpartnership FCwillcreate the long timeandwestrongly believe fora dealingwithUSpartners been theOLside,wehaveVB: On already Reign FCinFrance? brand intheUSandlikewisefor expandtheir commercial partners In whatwayswillReignFChelpOL’s organise thefirstonethisyearifwecan. inFranceeither ortheUS.We willtryto teams to meetandplay games friendly will studyalltheopportunitiesfor seasons are notaligned.Butforsure we VB: Thecomplexityisthatthesports Lyonnais Féminin? between ReignFCandOlympique Are friendlymatchesplanned with theacademies. willbesomeinteractionfor sure there teams sidesbut willwork ontheirown In terms ofcoaching, theprofessional and thebestteam inthe USinReign FC. to have thebestteam inEurope withOL will beableto dothat but wewilllook teams ifwe intheworld. Idon’tknow fornextyear.perhaps something wecoulddointhefuture and in NWSL andforReign FC. Thisis opportunities forOLplayers to play joining ourteam. We willalsoconsider having USinternational players us, andwewillcontinueto consider and AlexMorgan have bothplayed for players.American Megan Rapinoe VB: OLhasastrong history with work atbothteams? versa? Willcoachesalsolookto will playforReignFCandvice Do youanticipatesomeOLplayers in thecomingdays. name logoandnew announce thenew That issomethingwewantto push ambitionistoOur have the two best BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Will OL merchandise be sold in Tacoma and Reign FC merchandise in Lyon? VB: At the moment, we hope to keep each brand in its own territory. Before we consider selling Reign FC products in France and OL products in the US, we want to first develop common content between the clubs on social media to develop the brands in each region. This is the first step before selling merchandise.

What financial investments will OL Groupe make to develop Reign FC? VB: Our intention is to invest in Reign FC to achieve our ambition, which is to win some titles in the US. We are in the process of getting more knowledge on the NWSL and how the club works and we need this knowledge to put in place a new and precise business plan. On the players and coaching side, we will for sure invest in the team in the first year but we have to respect the NWSL rules regarding a salary cap. We will have the capacity to invest but we won’t have the capacity to invest in more than is authorised by the league. We will look to improve the training facilities in Tacoma – this is one of my first missions – and regarding a stadium, we are not part of plans to build a new facility in the area…but if the stakeholders ask us to participate, we will of course consider the opportunity to be part of this project.

Why is [former NBA player] Tony Parker involved?

VB: Tony is really famous in France, the Reign FC and USWNT superstar Megan Rapinoe previously played for Olympique Lyonnais Féminin (Getty Images) United States, and especially in Lyon. He also has a very good knowledge of How do you think your presence will some further exposure for the league in the US sports market so he will be a help the NWSL going forward? France and in Europe. It will also be an counsel of all the sports measures of the VB: We want to bring our vision and opportunity for other foreign investors club. We are very happy to have him on soccer culture into the league, as we to look at this league to try to acquire board, it is a tremendous asset to have think we have some expertise in women’s other teams or become expansion teams him involved in this project. soccer which could bring some value to to give the league worldwide exposure. the NWSL. But also we know that we How important is Megan Rapinoe will have to learn from the NWSL as it How can this move help the in your business plan due to her is quite different from what we know in presence of the OL men’s team in amazing reach and platform? Europe. We believe we can bring some the US? VB: This is firstly a team project but value to the league and one of our goals VB: For the moment, we are focusing Megan said that she wants to get is to propose greater media exposure for on women’s soccer as a first step. We involved in Reign FC after her [playing] women’s US soccer in Europe. believe women’s soccer is the best way career so it will be important to have For the moment, the exposure of the to develop our brand in the US. In our her involved. To have Megan and Tony league outside the US is quite low, and internationalisation plan we have a Parker involved is really amazing for us. we hope that our investment will give different strategy with men’s soccer. Z

@SportBusiness | www.sportbusiness.com 45 46 BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Teams inprimeUStravel destinations W fertile source of new ticket source ofnew fertile salesforthe thaneducation, andbecomea rather seekentertainment conventioneers groups, businesstravelers, and manyvisitingschool And suddenly Museums close.Monuments darken. becomes a city rather than a destination. than onemillionentrants. eachgainmore Smithsonian museums Memorial steps eachyearwhilenine year. Eightmillion climbtheLincoln oftheUScapitaleach and museums Rick Snider (background) foradditionalticket sales( Major LeagueBaseball’s Washington Nationalsareamongthepro teamsintheAmericancapital,aprime tourist destination,thatminevisitors whomayhave toured theUSCapitol more closelywithtourism groups Pro teams in keyUSmarketsworking www.sportbusiness.com | mine tourists forticketsalesboosts But then nightfallsandWashingtonBut then hit the famed monuments hit thefamedmonuments Nearly 30millionpeople withtourists.overrun ashington D.C. isoften @SportBusiness Stefani Reynolds/GettyImages among USsports markets seekingto operators,” Montgomery says. opportunity to getinfront ofthosetour keep kidstogether. agreat Overall, WashingtonAssociation’s Mystics. and Women’s National Basketball WashingtonAssociation’s Wizards, League’s Capitals,National Basketball companyoftheNationalparent Hockey Sports andEntertainment. MSEisthe atMonumental events sales andarena ofWashingtonvice-president Capitals says Montgomery, Darren senior notalottobut there’s doatnight,” that D.C. great town, isanunbelievably city’s sixmajorpro sportsteams. source ofgroup, individual sales Out-of-town visitors representcritical But Washington ishardly alone “[Our gamesare] agreat way to salespitch“Our foryearshasbeen ) people in 2019 than the previous year,people in2019than theprevious all, theYankees 178,000fewer drew sports visitors After growth. forfurther wanttoattendance, taptypicalnon- years ofatleastthree millioninhome theatre shows.nearby annual travelers, manyofwhomattend international and51.6milliondomestic sales amongthecity’s13.5million Broadway Inbound to boostticket withticketagreement provider promotional 2020 seasonwithanew industry operators. and workmuchmore closelywithtravel theircore fanbases, hards thatrepresent thelocaldie- andbeyond above crowds, cash inontheirlocaltravel andtourism key wave offutureattendance growth Even successful clubs see tourists as Even theYankees,Even with21straight The New York Yankees enter the BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT despite another 100-win season, a trip locations and amenities.” Supreme Court decision legalising to the American League Championship Added Greenspun: “We think there’s sports gaming. After years of rejecting Series, and status as the top draw in the a big untapped market for us in the Las Vegas for its long-time national American League. travel space. We’re just at the beginning monopoly on gambling, leagues are But unlike the Washington teams of this, but it has a lot of potential.” embracing sponsorship deals that that are targeting the travel and tourism Las Vegas, another prime US travel encourage fan attendance. market for growth in nighttime games, destination, this year is adding the Indeed, with a city population of the Yankees have 25 afternoon games in National Football League’s Raiders to only 641,000, Las Vegas knows it needs 2020 that serve as a counterbalance to its unending entertainment options tourists to fill sporting events and Broadway’s typical evening offerings. following the franchise’s move from continue to grow its sporting profile. Oakland. The National Hockey League’s Even the city’s local minor league clubs Ticketing distribution Vegas Golden Knights arrived in 2017, have done well catering to visitors. Broadway Inbound, which has and thanks to a first-year run to the And to underscore the importance of relationships with travel industry Stanley Cup Finals quickly became sports as a marketing vehicle to tourists, distribution partners around the world, a popular draw for both locals and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors will be making Yankees home game tourists taking a break from the endless Authority has a $80m (€73m) naming tickets available to its clientele, and arrays of casinos and theatre shows. rights deal with the local minor league buying seats from the club’s live ticket baseball team, the Las Vegas Aviators. manifest, but at pre-arranged prices. “We think there’s a big “Las Vegas is turning from the “Attending a game at Yankee untapped market for us in the entertainment capital of the world to Stadium is a quintessential New the sports and entertainment capital York City experience,” said Marty travel space.” of the world,” said Brett Lashbrook, Greenspun, the Yankees’ senior Marty Greenspun | senior vice-president, owner of the United Soccer League vice-president of strategic ventures, strategic ventures, New York Yankees Championship’s Las Vegas Lights, in a release. “Our partnership with last year. Broadway Inbound allows us to reach The lure of Las Vegas to tourists, travelers as they plan their trip, Las Vegas draws 43 million visitors and their ability to help support both providing them with improved access annually, with US sports leagues primary and secondary ticket markets, to desired Yankees game dates, seating flocking to it following a 2018 US was likely an important factor in the

Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals, D.C.’s ‘greatest living sportsman’ (Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

@SportBusiness | www.sportbusiness.com 47 48 BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT ballpark as another wayballpark asanother to letstudents of visitingamajorleague experience teachers the wholeadourtripsview US andtheworld,manyof and funenvironment. to free timeinasafe students getalittle andagreat waybonding experience for and communications. “It’s afun WorldStrides ofcontent vice-president of learning,” says BethCampbell, relaxing andfunafter abusyday way forthegroup to dosomething theNationals ontheroad. when were for to MLBteam theBaltimore Orioles year. It alsopurchased 2,000 tickets 3,000 tickets to Nationals gameslast tourism.student WorldStrides bought WorldStrides, in anationalleader Washington sportstickets is we’d drivemore traffic from.” to “I’dlove sales andservice. seewhere ofticket vice-president Wizards senior important,”saysbut very BillHanni, with 50fanseachpullingto thecurb? the city’syearly200,000tour busesfilled empty. doesn’twantoneormore Who of wouldlikelyseats thatotherwise go andaway easymoney represent to fill initiatives meantto create lifelongfans. stark contrast to typicalteam marketing asexpected,buyers, a representing The visitors are often one-and-done both group andindividualticket sales. in are stillcriticalsources ofrevenue but single-digitpercentage, generally Tourists make uparelatively small, Tourists crucialto revenue reaching outto tourists. MLS’s DCUnited –have variedways of MLB’s Nationals, NFL’s Redskins and teams –theWizards, Capitals,Mystics, Thecity’ssixprofessional heritage. history withAmerican overloaded and aswelcomerelief fortouristsanthem theUSnational the Ballgame’replaces ofthoselicenses. cent per of-town purchased roughly 40 buyers $478m.hitting Team officialssaidout- projections from thoselicenses, revenue andnearlydoublinginitial licenses seat Raiders sellingoutthepersonal www.sportbusiness.com | “Our groups come from all over the groups comefrom allover “Our “We asagreat seeasporting event of buyers ofthebigger One “Group businessisasmallpiece, But thoseout-of-town also buyers Back inWashington, ‘Take Me to Out @SportBusiness so traditional groups like Scouts Boy have limited group salesinventory, purchases. through season-ticketalmost entirely sold outformuchofthepastdecade, Capitals games,whichhave largely been for travel operators to obtainisfor and late fallgroups. Thehardest ticket only catch theearlyspringtourist surge oftouristbeneficiary sales. slate of81homegames,are thebiggest tourist traffic andbaseball’s heavy peakofWashington’sthe summertime to-fall schedule,whichmatches upwith are, too.” theirstudents know areprogram sportsfanswho leaders see ordoathome.And,ofcourse,many mightnot [something]they experience “We’re thatwe atthestagenow The WizardsandCapitals,conversely, The Nationals, thanksto their spring- business.” popular option, [but] itstilldrivesour The traditional seasonticket islessofa interesting thatthemarket isshifting. relatively smallpartofthepicture. It’s sales,” Hannisaid.“Groups are stilla [than theCapitals]to sellongroup ofsales.cent comparatively compriseonly80per seasontickets where Arena, Capital One together].” going to [have largegroups seated upfront thatyou’rebut arenot very online [sales]asagroup opportunity, to-20 tickets together. We doalotof explains. “We don’thave blocksof10- on theprimarymarket,” Montgomery aCapsticketthe kindofmoney gets lookingtoand churches aren’t spend “We have lotsmore inventory The Wizardsplay inthesamevenue, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT – the students, business travelers, convention travelers,” she says. “Any of those people are often a one-and-done buyer. They may come to a game once in a decade. But if they don’t have a major team in their town they may become fans for life. It helps expose people to the national game, and what better place to do so than the nation’s capital?” Washington is also an international city with 20 per cent of city residents born in another country. Coupled with 177 embassies, the highest number of any city worldwide, teams often market international players to visitors, too. The arrival of Japanese-born Rui Hachimura to the Wizards last fall sparked group nights from embassies and local universities. Hachimura will also be part of the cherry blossom festival night on March 25, when the 3,000 flowering trees that were a gift from Japan in 1912 typically draw more than one million visitors to town. The Wizards have 10 cultural nights this season, including French heritage night, Chinese New Year, Latvian and Slovenian heritage night against Dallas featuring the Mavericks’ Latvian forward Kristaps Porziņģis and Slovenian guard Luca Dončić plus the Wiz’s Latvian forward Davis Bertans and Yankee Stadium, shown here, will be marketed this year to New York theatre-goers Greek night against Milwaukee with the and other tourists to the city as part of a new relationship between the MLB club Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo. and ticket provider Broadway Inbound.(Emilee Chinn/Getty Images) The Nationals, similarly, market star outfielder Juan Soto of the Dominican Republic, whose Washington embassy Invaluable partnerships organised gatherings. The Nationals, placed a large “Juan Soto’s House” Washington conventions – the ‘season’ for example, know large groups of New banner by its entrance during the 2019 largely runs from late February to York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies World Series. October – are often steered to local fans will always come, partly because The Capitals, meanwhile, have sporting events by Destination DC, Washington has always been a transient Russian superstar Alexander Ovechkin, which markets to tourists on behalf city filled with those relocating along perhaps the most beloved D.C. sports of more than 1,000 Washington the East Coast. A 2014 US Census report star. Last year, Washingtonian magazine businesses. Tourists spent $7.8bn in the showed five per cent of Washingtonians named Ovechkin the city’s greatest city in 2018, which translated into $851m are former New Yorkers. living athlete. Given often-tense US- in city taxes. Several team officials cited “We’re always going to see a lot of Russia relations, Montgomery said Destination DC as invaluable to long- people from New York, Philadelphia, the Caps reach out to local Russian term sales forecasts. Los Angeles,” Hanni says. “The NBA is community and heritage groups rather “We work closely with Destination such a star-driven league, so individual than the Russian embassy. DC,” Hanni says. “We’re able to get driven. But large markets that are close “Let’s celebrate Ovi, but we don’t a lot of offers out to tour groups and to D.C. are going to bring large groups.” want to jump into politics. It’s a fine convention business. It gives us a good While many tourists are a one- line,” Montgomery adds. “The two understanding of what’s coming.” time sale for teams, Emily Dunham, [biggest international groups] for us are Teams in the market also expect Nationals vice-president of corporate Russian and Canadian.” sizable sales to visiting rival fans, strategy, notes that the experience may Wherever they’re coming from, it’s generally coming as individuals and still spark a lifetime of fandom. always a win for teams when it comes to small groups as opposed to large, “It’s definitely a different audience enticing tourists. Z

@SportBusiness | www.sportbusiness.com 49 2019 a winning year for Ticketmaster Sport’s Tournament Division TICKETMASTER SPORT TICKETMASTER In association with

ith more than four million inevitably complex major events. of rights-holders have changed, the tickets delivered for some Ticketmaster has been providing Ticketmaster Sport Tournaments of the world’s biggest ticketing services for event organisers division has itself evolved to meet sports events, 2019 was for more than three decades and changing needs. Wa remarkable year for Ticketmaster lists the London 2012 Olympic and “It became increasingly clear that there Sport’s Tournaments division. Paralympic Games, and the Uefa was a need to develop specific technology The successful projects – including European Championships among – in parallel to our regular sports retail Rugby World Cup, Cricket World its high-profile projects. It was the business – and to create dedicated Cup, World Athletics Championships knowledge and experience gained in resources in terms of management and the Pan-American Games – were servicing these and many other major and development teams to develop a delivered on different continents in events that led to the formation of the specific product and service solely for host nations and cities with radically dedicated Tournaments division. tournaments,” explained Evans. different sports cultures and consumer “We learned that because no two “Tournaments run in cycles of two or habits. This makes the success even tournaments are alike, a one-size-fits four years and a lot can happen within more satisfying for Richard Evans all approach to ticketing simply won’t that time in terms of ticketing and (right), who heads the specialist unit at work,” said Evans. technology. Back when we ticketed Uefa the global ticketing company. “As events became bigger and more Euro 96, zero tickets were sold online. In fact, the success of the 2019 complex, there was a need for a separate We managed everything manually operations underscores the rationale structure to support tournaments through paper applications, ran lotteries for setting up a division with specific because they have such a big profile, and produced tickets. Now we see that responsibility for working with demand significant resource and require 99.9 per cent of tickets are sold online governing bodies and local organising a specific focus,” he added. for most major events.” committees on their high profile and As the demands and expectations At the heart of Ticketmaster Sport’s

50 www.sportbusiness.com | @SportBusiness In association with

service to major events is a scalable, services and support and, says Evans, new fans to their events.” cloud-based ticketing solution tailored the capability and flexibility to scale-up “At last year’s Cricket World Cup, to each and every event. It is delivered or down to meet specific requirements the England and Wales Cricket Board as a white-label service, designed and is one of the keys to the organisation’s wanted to ensure the event opened the TICKETMASTER SPORT presented as the event’s own ticketing success. doors of cricket to new fans, and that platform, powered by Ticketmaster. “We have handled the biggest events objective was reflected in the ticketing The company then draws on its and those which are far smaller,” he said. strategy and pricing. Our marketing massive global database to carry out “Ideally we will get involved in every support was vital to help them hit digital sales and marketing campaigns project at the earliest possible stage their objective of raising the profile that complement each client’s specific and play a role in helping develop the of cricket in the UK. Working with objectives and own marketing activities. ticketing strategy. This is particularly their marketing team and agencies, we Ticketmaster provides not only the appropriate and important where helped widen the reach for the client. platform and supporting expertise, we have particular experience of a Increasingly, that is an important but the experienced staff required to tournament or a local presence which element of the legacy of events and one operate and maintain the system and enables us to understand the market we are proud to play a part in.” ensure each ticketing operation delivers better.” Looking to the future, Evans says on its promise to the organisers and, Among the key challenges is that data and digital technology will critically, the fans. understanding and being able to operate continue to be the driving forces. In some cases that may be a single effectively in new markets. “Most organisations are trying to dedicated project manager to manage “Understanding the market is move to 100 per cent digital ticketing, the system while others – like London essential to success. Because we something we’re seeing reflected 2012 – require the deployment of are a global company, we have a across the broad spectrum of live hundreds of Ticketmaster staff in roles local established presence in and entertainment. Fans now expect to be ranging from IT support through to box understanding of many markets. But able to buy and use their tickets right office and access control. when we operate in new locations, we from their phones – something we’re The significant differences in always start by researching and learning leading the industry in with many of our ticketing requirements between events about the local market so that we fully clients now using our digital ticketing are driven by factors including the understand local consumer behaviours technology exclusively.” Z nature of the sport, the venues/location and habits. This enables us to decide and local consumer purchasing habits. whether we need to identify and work “It has become far more with a local partner – as we did at Rugby sophisticated. Today it’s not just about World Cup in Japan – to achieve the opening up and selling tickets across a best results,” he said. stadium,” Evans said. “That understanding of the market “For example, for a rugby match the is a starting point for every project and best view is likely to be from the side of provides the base for the development the pitch in a central position, whereas of each ticketing operation. Our in athletics people may be particularly technology is then customised and interested in a specific discipline such as scaled to meet the objectives of the long jump and want to sit near where it event organiser. is taking place in the stadium.” “Every rights owner has different Richard Evans director, Tournaments While some major tournaments ambitions for their major events Ticketmaster Sport are planned and managed directly by and one of their key concerns is international federations with their own establishing the right balance ticketing experience and capabilities, between generating revenue others are handled by new local and ensuring that events organising committees that exist only are accessible, and for the lifecycle of the event. Naturally, that venues are as full they are less likely to have a built-in as possible. Using ticketing capability. our Ticketmaster These different models of event database, proprietary management produce different marketing tools and requirements for Ticketmaster’s reach, we can bring

@SportBusiness | www.sportbusiness.com 51 52 MEDIA Automated production and user-generated I content willhelpFIHmonetise newOTT service Ben Cronin www.sportbusiness.com | company Mycujoo, for known better four-year deal, Portuguese technology cost to itself. Under aninnovative that iteffectivelydidsoatnoadditional forthefact was allthemore remarkable platform FIH.liveinJanuary 2019.This OTT this respect, launchingitsown to in besomethingofapathfinder de Hockey itself (FIH)hasproven traditional broadcast buyer. isno monetise rightsforwhichthere into and viewers audiences meaningful long-tail content, aggregate dispersed opportunitiestowith new stream their sports processes, smaller are providing delivery, alliedto automated production ofdirect-to-consumercost efficiencies among lower-tier rights-holders. The for free Mycujoo delivered new OTT platform with Revenue-sharing partnership The Fédération Internationale greatest ofanimationexists level streaming,top the perhaps (OTT) ofover-the- theadvent in sportby n alloftheexcitement generated @SportBusiness need another three-to-fourneed another months, work from thefirst year,” hesays. “We monetisation oftheplatformwould product toevolving market. to prepared both partieswere take an to establishtheplatform,headmits success.be acommercial In theirhaste too earlyto will gaugeifthepartnership director ofmarketing –thinksitisstill joined FIHafter a ten-year spellasFifa’s chief executive Weil Thierry –who playersgames uploadedby andfans. user-generated content level oflower toadditional depth with thecoverage A longer-term objectiveisto create sinceJanuary.no broadcast partner marketin every is forwhichthere oftheleadingFIHcompetitions coverage revenues. advertising for free inreturn forashare offuture to theFIH-branded product deliver streaming lower-tier football,agreed first year generated from 60 countries in the 329,000 live video views were “We didnotanticipate thatthe yearonfrom thedealandFIH One live providing The platformhasbeen streams or not even captured,” he streams ornoteven just competitions, which are either confederation from continental even filming becausewehave alotofgames, can show. ofmatcheswhich limitsthenumber it production costs, itsown FIH covers inthefuture. Presently,audience the alarger hockey thatattracts coverage will helpitto acritical massof deliver with anautomated production supplier generated content andplansto work he thinkstheadditionofuser- countries. in60different But users a total from of329,000videoviews , WeilReview says FIH.livehadgenerated At thetimeofspeakingto SportBusiness Automation potentially monetising.” oftheyearmaybethe end wecanstart towards thesecondhalfofyearand potentiallyas wewish.Andthen in2020,toeven have itupand running boost audiences of FIH Pro League expected to India’s in second year participation “The nextpartwillbeautomated

MEDIA says. “If you can install two or three fixed cameras at each game, that will dramatically reduce the cost and will dramatically increase the number of games you can put on the platform. And by doing so, you have naturally other fans coming to see their teams, their friends, their family members playing those games.” He adds that more work needs to be done to create an intuitive taxonomy for the platform, with sections for international, continental and national matches, which explains why the FIH has so far stopped short of allowing fans to upload their own content. “The amateur footage which was planned to be on the site is also a development which needs to happen,” says Weil. “We had an option to just put it randomly on the OTT, but then it FIH chief executive Thierry Weil (Lea Weil) would be hard for people to find among all the other games.” to quote this figure to sponsors, same time as FIH.live last January, and For now, the platform exists to attract admitting that it is nothing more provides a large share of the content on advertising revenues rather than paid scientific than the number generated by the site, was to build a regular home- subscriptions. To provide a clearer a Google search. In creating a one-stop and-away competition around the nine picture to advertisers, the FIH will add a community for hockey enthusiasts at men’s and women’s international sides login function and attach a CRM system FIH.live he hopes to get a clearer idea of with the most commercial potential. to evaluate the types of audiences the actual figure. The FIH ignored the world rankings that are watching. Weil says he would and handpicked the participating also like to create a mechanism for FIH Pro League teams based on factors that included registering hockey players because in The federation can certainly count their ability to market and host bold most cases national associations don’t on a strong following in India which and engaging events as well as develop know exactly how many people are contributes the largest number of commercial strategies for the sport in playing the game. The terms of the deal FIH.live viewers. This explains why the their countries. Rather than staging with Mycujoo are such that the FIH will FIH was so keen to include the country competitions in single destinations, have access to all of the site data. in the inaugural edition of its new top- there will be 144 ‘home’ matches, which Weil speculates that there might be tier international competition: the FIH will allow fans in various countries more as many as two billion field hockey fans Pro League. opportunities to watch games. Previous globally, although he would be reluctant The concept, which launched at the FIH chief executive Jason McCracken said the federation wanted to leverage ‘the power of home’ to create more partisan atmospheres and stoke rivalries between teams. After initially being selected, India withdrew its men’s and women’s teams with some reports blaming a possible scheduling clash with the domestic Hockey India League. Weil believes concerns that the event would harm the development of the lower-ranked Indian women’s team were a bigger factor. He says an agreement was eventually reached to include the country’s men’s team in the Pro League in 2021, but this was brought forward to 2020 when Pakistan was removed from the Weil believes automated production will allow the FIH to post more content on FIH.live (Pixellot) competition for being unable to fulfil

@SportBusiness | www.sportbusiness.com 53 54 MEDIA with promotion and relegation between with promotion andrelegation between League2) initial workingtitlewasPro division, theIntercontinental Cup(the stage theFIHwillintroduce asecond competition until2023atwhich quite costly.” tribunes, temporary toilets, andthat’s temporary seating, temporary VIP hadto singlegamethey for every do of hockey fieldsandnostadiums,so infrastructure inthecountryisalot hockey andwomen’s men’s butthe Belgium isoneofthebestteams in possibilities,” hesays. “For example, the Twickenham Stoop. game to ground 12,000-capacity rugby using aportablehockey pitch to bringa toproven beoneofthemostinnovative, league, Weil says Great Britainhas participate inthefirsteditionof League].” itisnotparticipating[inthePro when platforms andonsocialmedia,even India oneonallour isalready number youwillgetbecause many eyeballs of it,”says Weil. “You canimaginehow theNetherlands.powerhouse hockey18 inafixture againstfellow debut inthecompetitiononJanuary funds. Theteam hassincemadeits its firstthree matches dueto lackof www.sportbusiness.com | Weil believes India’s inthe2020FIHPro Leaguewillboostaudiences. participation The Pro Leaguewillbeaclosed The Pro “It completely opens new countriesselected theother Of to “For me,it’scrucialthatIndia ispart @SportBusiness “You many canimaginehow India is already number one on India oneon isalready number Thierry Weil |chiefexecutive, FIH we needto usethecontinental weightings.with different events mixofdifferent bewildering isdeterminedand Olympics a by qualification fortheFIHWorld Cup while organisers, the behestofevent athas changedthetimingofevents Too often, hesays thefederation and nofixed position inthecalendar. withnoclearnarrativemix ofevents the FIHschedule–acomplicated Fifa executive says hewantsto simplify away fixtures around theworld. financial resources to teams send to was necessaryto selectteams with the initial fouryears,explainingthatit for having aclosedleagueforthe of theleague.He makes noapology matches forteams reaches inthelower to avoid meaningless‘deadrubber’ a greater ofjeopardy andhelp sense the two. Weil thiswillcreate believes eyeballs you will get because youwillgetbecause eyeballs media.” all our platforms and on social all ourplatformsandonsocial “When itcomesto“When qualifiers, League,theformer thePro Beyond associations’ relationships withlocal draw national oneachofthedifferent to buthewouldprefer sub-continent, equipped to selltheFIH’s rightsinthe He canseewhy Starmightbebetter- if youmanagethisyourself,”hesays. his Fifa background. “It’s always better given understandable house isperhaps his supportfortakingtherightsin- pre-dated Weil’s tenure attheFIH but the Indian sub-continent. this in2017, withStarretaining rightsin estimated $25m(€23m). Butitcancelled from 2015to 2022,foradealworthan broadcaster StarIndia foreightyears, excluding to Argentina, pay-television soldtheglobalrights, had previously media rightsin-housesince2017. It whichhassoldits thefederation, by concept. Alloftheseare agreed directly ofthe thestrength League proves with ateam participatinginthePro media dealsinmostofthecountries Weil thefactFIHhas believes Media deals competitions.” importance to thecontinental one familyandweshouldgivemore “That doesn’tmake We sense. are competitions,”hesays.continental completely competingwiththe whichare series qualifier our own competitions instead oforganising The termination oftheagreement MEDIA

broadcasters to help the in-house sales “Potentially towards the second “You have most probably another effort outside of this region. 20 international federations which are half of the year and the end of all trying to convince everybody of the Sponsorship the year maybe we can start same thing. They all come with the Weil’s Fifa’s experiences have also potentially monetising [the same PowerPoint presentations, they all been brought to bear in restructuring claim to have so many fans and so many the FIH’s sponsorship categories. At platform].” players,” he says. his instigation, the federation has Thierry Weil | chief executive, FIH “At Fifa it was mainly that you got done away with trying to find a title the right number for the product and sponsor for all of its competitions, that reduced the number of potential choosing instead to create five main participating in the Pro League. candidates which could afford a sponsor categories and three suppliers Further evidence of the popularity of sponsorship. In our field it’s the below this. “I found it complicated that the sport in the Indian sub-continent other way around. There are so many somebody else would buy a product can be found in the fact that Indian federations which are trying to sell the which is named with another company motorcycle and scooter company Hero same thing.” name,” he says. MotoCorp is the federation’s only global He believes the opportunity created However he says National Associations sponsor at this stage, with rights to all by the Mycujoo partnership to know will be permitted to work with a of its events. The FIH has filled out all more about its audiences and become presenting partner at the local level, of the slots in its supplier categories, a more of a direct-to-consumer business as was the case with the 2018 Vitality list that includes fantasy game supplier will provide the point of differentiation Women’s World Cup in England. Below Dream 11. Weil says the game is played the federation needs. this they will have the same structure of by millions in India and the company “I decided to not go to the market five main sponsors and three suppliers will soon make the game available in a strong way before we have those that the FIH has at a global level. He globally, which will also help the elements because usually you only get says the FIH wants to provide every federation’s fan engagement efforts. one chance,” he says. “And if you come opportunity for the associations to It’s a far cry from managing the and you want to sell something, but strike local deals to pay for the cost sponsorship rights of the world’s most you don’t know what you have to sell, of putting on memorable events and popular sport, but Weil says he enjoys then the discussion starts quickly to be to foot the cost of their team’s travel fighting it out in the more competitive a nice and friendly discussion, but not a and accommodation expenses for substrata. commercial discussion.” Z

@SportBusiness | www.sportbusiness.com 55 56 MEDIA T Frank Dunne steady inUK rights risesinUSandFrance, holds Value ofChampionsLeaguemedia www.sportbusiness.com | do their homework on every market onevery do theirhomework markets play out. salesinthe following that affectshow createcycle apsychologicalbenchmark early dealsinamarket-by-market sales is thatthe the rightsare sold.Theother those characteristics atthemoment upon and thevalueearnediscontingent market hasauniquesetofcharacteristics Uefa getsoffto winningChampions League start butcautionprevails League start The more sophisticated rightssellers to reconcile. One is that every to isthatevery reconcile. One at firstglanceappeardifficult sale ofsportsmediarightsthat are twotruismsinthe here @SportBusiness tough testslieahead pessimism aboutsoftmarketbut to cyclebelies Strong start US forthe2021-22 to did 2023-24cycle results comingfirst. those markets likely to thebest deliver determined rigour, withscientific with League isthe Europa Conference Europa Leagueand,asofthiscycle, media rightsto theChampionsLeague, are approached forthesaleof competitions. rightstothe commercial Uefa’s club Team Marketing, for thesalesagency nonemore sothan And perhaps still putgreat faithinbenchmarks. pitch they where theirtent. Butthey Team’s decisionto launchearlyinthe inwhichglobalmarketsThe order methodology puts spotlightonsales Mediapro complaintinFrance increase inthevalue ofitsEnglish- in theUKinvites scrutiny. further become mired incontroversy. Thedeal caveat thattheprocess inFrance has vindication ofTeam’s choices,withthe the USandFrance look like astrong potential banana skin. reasons, lookedEach, foritsown like a in theUKandFrance raised eyebrows. Butgoingearly ortwobeyond. cycle hosted 2026Fifa World Cupanda sountiltheNorthremain American- phaseandwill the USisstillinagrowth in not comeasabigsurprise.Soccer In theUS,Uefa secured a67-per-cent The dealsdoneinNovember in (Matthias Hangst/GettyImages

) MEDIA language rights and 43 per cent for its Spanish-language rights. CBS acquired the English-language rights for about $100m (€90m) per season and Univision the Spanish-language rights for a fee thought to be close to $50m per season. Long-form agreements are still being finalised for both. In France, the rights were won by pay-television operators beIN Media Group and Canal Plus, with commercial broadcaster TF1 picking up the rights to the final. The total fee of €375m per season is almost 20 per cent more than telco Altice pays for the Champions League in the current three-year cycle. The UK delivered another massive deal, albeit it with a modest 1.5-per-cent bump. Telco BT renewed for a further three years, paying €466m per season. In football parlance, Uefa is three up after 15 minutes. And reports of the death of the sports-rights market appear to have been greatly exaggerated. Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappé (Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images) But European football’s governing body knows the remaining 75 minutes “You can’t extrapolate a general rule “warming up” the market. could still see an heroic comeback by for football rights from three very “The product has been performing that amalgam of giant-killers: piracy, different markets, but Uefa and Team well and Team knows exactly what cord-cutting, mature pay-television will be happy with the numbers so numbers BT has been doing. Team has markets, collusion and the changing far. They’ve done a fantastic job, sophisticated calculations about how consumption habits of younger fans. particularly in France.” BT can capitalise on the rights, directly The champagne will stay on ice in Uefa’s and indirectly. On the basis of their Nyon headquarters and Team’s Lucerne Flat is the new up models, they know BT’s business case. offices until the final whistle blows. Going early in the UK is perhaps the In talks with BT they would have got And many experts see this early most intriguing choice Team made for a sense of whether that was realistic sequence of deals not as a repudiation this cycle. The market fundamentals as an expectation this time. So, they of the market’s Cassandra figures but as are strong but there has been little would have put the choice to BT: we can confirmation of a trend that has been competitive dynamism since pay- launch now, you can secure the rights under way for years: the polarisation of television platforms Sky and BT opted through to 2024 and don’t have to think value between a small number of must- for collaboration over confrontation. It about it – but you have to do the right have properties and everything else. was always likely to be the biggest single thing. Or we can wait, which means Consultant Pierre Maes, who was deal, as it is in the current cycle, but insecurity.” responsible for buying sports rights did not look like a market that would While flat looks curious as a marker for pay-television group Canal Plus in deliver a large percentage increase. And for the rest of the industry, it makes the Benelux countries, the Nordics and it is percentage increases, rather than sense in the UK, the expert believes. Poland from 1996 to 2002, argues the absolute value, that sellers look to as “The percentage increase in the first results to date are not surprising. benchmarks. two markets has always been crucial to He tells SportBusiness Review: “In One executive with a lot of experience Team in terms of the following markets. every single European country you get selling rights into the UK provides the But the fear of doing worse in a year’s two strong properties. The strongest is following reading: “Launching now time was strong. The competitive the local league, usually football. Then meant two things. They knew they dynamics are not good and are slowing it’s the Uefa Champions League. And weren’t going to get a bloody nose and down. The UK is a big worry market the gap between these two and the rest they felt that if they waited, market for Uefa. To do badly in the UK is the is getting bigger and bigger.” conditions were more likely to get worse worst possible signal. Securing a very Maes, author of the 2019 book Le than better.” important deal – and that sheer amount Business des Droits TV du Foot, which Team would have known exactly of revenue – was an imperative for examines what he calls the “explosive what it was doing, he argues, from its Uefa, even if it was a minimal increase bubble” around football rights, adds: pre-sale talks – sometimes referred to as percentage-wise.”

@SportBusiness | www.sportbusiness.com 57 58 MEDIA 21 season, when Mediapro21 season,when plansto The dealtakes effectfrom the2020- season. league, Ligue1,for€780mper live rightsto France’s top domestic financial securityandwideexposure.” both givesarights-holder of clients guarantee youcanhave. Thatnumber are thebest thedeal.They underwriting has nothing. It whoare isthe clients whoare paying,clients today. Mediapro have base.They their client millionsof guarantee from beINandCanalPlusis is notjustaboutbankguarantees. “The conclusion: financialsecurity. rightly orwrongly –willdraw thesame – thatmanyobservers believes Maes is invitingthemarket to askwhy. rights, theSpanishproduction house and CanalPlusstilldidn’tgetthe claiming publiclythatitoutbidbeIN Mediapro goal.By hasscored anown intheworld.” property it wouldbetheabsolute one number anymarket not suffer correction because Leagueitwould was aEuropean Super iftomorrow thingiscertain: there One Uefa and2024willbehuge. now between are happy. Thepressure oftheclubson theclubs in allthesedealsiswhether have madeaquiet note. elite European clubcompetitionwill jobthanUefaa better ofrunningan coulddo they Those clubswhobelieve bid, Uefa onthetable. hasleftmoney to Mediapro allow backinforafurther notprolonging theprocessis thatby itself onitstransparency. Thesecond form ofimpropriety, andUefa prides Nyon. wassome Thefirstisthatthere will make uncomfortablereading in contained inMediapro’s complaintthat should have won. Canal Pluscomplainedto Uefa thatthey picked uptherightslasttime,beINand unprecedented inFrance. Altice When to gopublicwithsuchthreats butnot France. It isunusualforalosingbidder offTeam’ssome ofthesheen successin it wasthelegitimate –hastaken winner rights auctionwashandled–claiming against Uefa fortheway inwhichthe Mediapro’s threat to take legalaction Playing safeinFrance? www.sportbusiness.com | In June 2018,Mediapro acquired For hesays, rights-holders, security are alsothosewhoaskwhether There pointsout:“Thereal question Maes As are twoimplicationsThere @SportBusiness “The real questioninallthese in several ChampionsLeagueauctions in several left to Team’s discretion. but always concluded that itshouldbe and Team have discusseditmanytimes asked theyearsandUefa forthisover choosing awinner. Broadcasters have thetwohighestbids–for between difference threshold –apercentage Team andUefa have hadafixed never intheauctionprocess.themselves of flexibilitywhichTeam andUefa allow outcome arguably pointsto thedegree the tworounds ofbidding, theeventual outbid beINandCanalPlusineachof the ChampionsLeague. “to for getagoodprice from theothers” aggressive arrivalontheFrench market inusingMediapro’s clever” “very platform inFrance. carriers. For now, thecompanyhasno negotiating positionwiththird-party strong put thecompanyinavery Champions Leaguerightswouldhave launch subscriptionchannels. Adding happy.” deals is whether theclubsare deals iswhether Pierre Maes |media-rightsconsultant An executive involved who hasbeen Unlike, say, League, thePremier If Mediapro isrightinitsclaimto have suggeststhatTeamMaes hasbeen from 2024onward. Z shapingEuropean clubfootball when of all–theoneclubswillbeguidedby become themostimportantbenchmark to-15 thistime.Thattotal cent per will for10- process, wouldprobably settle one executive familiar withthesales club competitions,but,according to forits cent 30per increases ofover emerge. pictureare willstartto done,aclearer EastandNorthand theMiddle Africa territory. Germany, When Italy, Spain including Germany, litmustest another markets,options inmultipleother round oraborttheprocess completely.” towhether goto asecondandthird alloptionsatthatpoint, consider an outcome. You needflexibilityto taking thepiss,tryingto engineer they’re butyoustillknow the others, alotmore than mightbeoffering One havebecause they spoken to eachother. three players, are alllowballing andthey is risky. You could have amarket with which generates anautomatic winner target –say, a10-per-cent – difference bidders.collusion between “Having a especially inmarkets is there where this kindofflexibilityisnecessary, deadline are abadlook” forUefa. “allegations ofphonecallsafter the in thetender process andaddsthat istooargues thatthere muchdiscretion Uefa is used to cycle-on-cycle Uefa isused to cycle-on-cycle Team its considering iscurrently counters rightsexpert Another that (Michael Regan/Getty Images ) MIAMI SPORTS MEDIA 36 MARCH & TECHNOLOGY 2020 CONVENTION

#SPORTELMIAMI SPORTELAMERICA.COM

SPORTBUSINESS_210X265.indd 1 18/07/2019 10:40 60 MEDIA T John Duerden pooled their media rights and theKorean Football Association Earlier this year, Korea’s K League www.sportbusiness.com | – pooledtheirmedia rightsinthehope season selling nationalteamper rights –whichearns about $8.5mAssociation the leagueandKorea Football So inNovember,rights revenue. KRW5.9bn ($5.1m/€4.6m)inmedia- record inKorean sports. fiveyears,arights for$97mover soldapackageofdigitalOrganisation to– closer home –theKorean Baseball ten$2bn (€1.8bn)over years. over KLeague’s domestic media strategy Unsuccessful initialtender raises questions In 2019,theKLeaguereceived just It thisyearas did thesameinMarch broadcast rightsto DAZN for J.Leaguetier solddomestic in2016,asJapan’senvy top he KLeaguelooked onin @SportBusiness attracted no firm bids price equivalent to $21m per year, But an initialtender, with a reserve too high:“Sowedidn’tbid.” broadcaster. Systems (KBS), thenationalpublic and planningatKorea Broadcasting hyun, headofstrategic programming of theirproducts,” says BaikJung- market situationbutalsothereal value misunderstood notonlythecurrent 6 deadline. theDecember madeby firm bidswere of20interestedreports parties,butno fouryears. were There yearover per with thepricebeingatleast$21m domestic andnationalteam games, their parts. of becomingmore thanthesumof KBS thought the reserve pricewasKBS thoughtthe reserve “The KFA andKLeague Broadcasters invited were to bidfor consortia to bid consortia 2020, and the terms changed to allow The deadlinewas extended into from 11,638in2011 to 2018, 5,381by fellfrom scandal of2011, attendances professional league. oldest a decadeofdeclineforAsia’s past seasonisjustaslightreturn after average to attendance 8,013inthe manager,. tells SportBusinessReview jin, theKLeague’sbroadcasting rights and 75 respectively,” cent per SaDoo- cent second divisionsincreasing 50per nificantly, withtheKLeaguefirstand and television ratings increased sig to season,attendance theprevious K Leaguewouldhelp. “Compared inthe2019 race andrelegation battle washopethatthethrillingtitle There A bumpydecadefortheKLeague After themassivematch-fixing But whileencouraging, therisein MEDIA and also because clubs were told not to the K League too.” the mammoth 2002 World Cup arenas include free tickets in their figures. that saw clubs like Incheon United and Viewing figures are also not high. What now? Daegu FC play to four-figure crowds in KBS, SBS and MBC, Korea’s three big On December 9, the league and stadiums with over 50,000 seats. They free-to-air broadcasters, signed a four- association extended their deadline have constructed much smaller boutique year deal for K League rights in 2016 for bidding to January 13, 2020. “The stadiums and Daejeon Citizen FC is but rarely broadcast games live on their rebidding process is likely to be thinking of following suit. free-to-air channels. Less than ten games livelier,” says Lee Jung-seop of the KFA. More can be done. The J.League has were shown on terrestrial television “Consortiums will be allowed this time been aggressive in promoting itself per season and with little publicity or and we are going to push hard to get the across Southeast Asia and recruiting promotion, ratings were low. best deal.” top players from Thailand, Vietnam, “The average rating of a K League It was a consortium including giant Indonesia and Cambodia. game is below one per cent on free-to-air internet portal Naver, popular messaging Only Malaysian OTT platform media and below 0.3 per cent on cable service Kakao and telcos LG and SK that Sportsfix currently shows K League networks,” says Baik. “In baseball, a paid $97m for Korean baseball’s online games elsewhere in the region, and the K normal game gets around two per cent rights. League will be hoping for fruitful returns but in the post-season championship But Baik is not convinced that the K from its recently-signed international series it is six per cent. Baseball has League can achieve something similar. rights deal with sports data specialist more spectators, more games, more “It is not a matter of deadline but a Sportradar. commercials and more ratings.” matter of market value. And in the “We still believe that the K League has “It has been a struggle for the K current Korean media industry, all its place in the sports industry, but it is League to get enough exposure because the traditional broadcasters are now not sufficient for major broadcasters to it has same time schedule as the Korean experiencing tough times, so we need to pay substantial money,” says Baik. Baseball league,” says Sa. be very careful when investing in sports.” “If the K League had popularity in In the longer-term, the league needs other countries then at KBS we could A failed attempt? to focus on improving the fan experience change our strategy,” he adds. “At the Tying the K league in with the national and building interest in the wider region. moment however, there is not much team seemed like a winning move. K League teams are slowly leaving possibility of that.” Z Earlier this decade, national team games – even outside World Cups and Olympics – could still pull in 10 million viewers. The belief was that – if Tottenham Hotspur star Son Heung-min (the 2019 Asian Player of the Year) could tempt broadcasters to the national team matches – the league could leverage this to ensure more prime- time live coverage, and thus greater promotion and a better pitch to sponsors. But even Son’s appeal may not be enough. “Son is an exceptional player, but his value and popularity has not converted into commercial output for broadcasters,” Baik explains. “Definitely without Son, it would be a disaster but with Son, the ratings of national team matches are lower than the Park Ji-sung period [around 2005 to 2011] by about 30 per cent. “Since the early 2010s, the Korean national team is mostly composed of players who are playing in foreign leagues. The connection between the K League and the national team has grown weaker and that weakens the Lee Keun-Ho (L) of Ulsan Hyundai and Km Dae-Ho of Pohang Steelers compete for the ball during a K-League match main connection between KBS and between Pohang Steelers and Ulsan Hyundai. (Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

@SportBusiness | www.sportbusiness.com 61 62 GOVERNANCE W becoming an IAAF Council member inbecoming anIAAF Councilmember I canremember, since andcertainly the changewasneeded:“As longas andtellhis footdown thecongress elected to asthebody’spresident, put it wouldmeanalossofidentity. didn’t translate saying wellandothers delegates name complainingthenew opposition thanexpected, withsome September, wasmore internal there Kelvin Tan governing bodyneeds to iron out and itsathletes is somethingthe Friction between World Athletics www.sportbusiness.com | what 2020holdsforWorld Athletics Building bridgesandbreakingground – It took SebastianCoe,freshly re- itself World Athletics last Federation renamed ofAthleticsAssociation theInternationalhen @SportBusiness at the Mass Participation attheMass Review executive. Speakingto SportBusiness Jon Ridgeon,World Athletics’chief thenamechange, explainsfar beyond withmore youngpeople.” engage thiswillhelp us believe genuinely Committee…and we doOlympic than theIAAFandInternational recognition brand ratehad ahigher existing, withoutitcurrently Even it brand Athletics)isdetailed. (World explain whatitmeans. takesit then three orfourminutes to what organisationIaminvolvedwith, anyonehasasked2003, whenever me to Asian shores breadth ofitsDiamondLeague events World Athletics is keen to expandthe This focusonyoungpeoplegoes “The workwehave donearound the World Athletics chiefexecutuive Jon Ridgeon( work closer with them inpromoting withthem work closer millions offans –ourstrategy is to haveand women dailycontactwith mouthpieces forthesport. Thesemen athletesgiven are themostpowerful workingcloselywith them,we’re now forwarddigital platforms,butmoving thingonsocial anddoing theirown athletes, really been andthey’ve withourworking closelyenough decade. this new part oftheWorld Athleticsplaybook in fansdigitallywouldbeacrucialengage tech-savvyusing younger athletes to thatSingapore lastmonth,herevealed World whichtook Conference, placein curbing health costs moved beyond medals and towards KPIs forAsian nations have Sporting “In the past,wehaven’t been Philippe Fitte) GOVERNANCE the bigger messages on what World conversations with the athletes “I’d love to see a handful of Diamond Athletics is about.” themselves, and they’ve started to League meetings in the big cities this Friction between World Athletics come around [to see] that innovation decade. We’ve still got quite a long way and its athletes is something the is necessary for the future of the to go, but we’re motivated to achieve governing body needs to iron sport, but want to be in the room that given the growth and market in out, especially after the World when big decisions are made. Seb Coe Asia, and athletics needs to be a part of Championships in Doha last year raised has personally called several of them that, or we’ll get left behind.” much criticism from stars furious to make sure they feel engaged and He revealed how potential host about poor attendances and welfare explain how and why these changes cities and countries are asking more concerns in the heat. Other changes by have to be made.” and more about how these events will World Athletics, axing events like the help in their public health agendas – a steeplechase and long-distance races “In the past, we haven’t been change Ridgeon says is way overdue. from the Diamond League, have also working closely enough with “Local governments used to regard been slammed by its athletes. events as a platform of taxation to raise The chief executive said fences our athletes.” revenue, but the fact is they should would be mended: “It does not fill Jon Ridgeon | chief executive, World be investing in athletics and running us with pleasure when some of our Athletics events because of the downstream leading athletes are not happy with value of their population’s health. what we’re doing, but it was necessary, There is a trickle-down effect on with the markets responding positively Engaging Asia participants, and how these events to some changes. In fact, some of these In the near future, World Athletics affect their family and friends in terms changes are what led to the Diamond is keen to expand the breadth of its of inspiring them to begin a fitness League successfully acquiring Wanda as Diamond League events to Asian shores. regime as well. a title sponsor.” Ridgeon says: “The starting point has “Usually our marketing goes towards Chinese conglomerate Wanda Group to be the major cities. If you look at the converted masses – those active agreed a deal to become the new title WA at the moment, yes there are quite in running and athletics – but that’s sponsor of the Diamond League, from a number of mass participation events where our new aims converge together 2020 in September 2019. Electronics like the Standard Chartered Marathon with governments which are looking giant Samsung was the Diamond in Singapore, and that’s great, but if at greater health aims. We’ve found League’s title sponsor from 2010 to you look at track and field events, that in China, with their initiatives 2012 and World Athletics launched a which are a big part of the athletics towards getting more of their renewed search for a new title sponsor ecosystem, while there are some big population healthier, and reaching out two years ago. events in China, and the upcoming to their “unexercised”, so to speak, the Ridgeon reveals: “We’ve also started Diamond League meeting, there aren’t commitment the government is making to have very constructive, but difficult many big meets across Asia. is huge.”

World Athletics Continental Tour meeting organisers at the Monaco WA council meeting (Philippe Fite)

@SportBusiness | www.sportbusiness.com 63 64 GOVERNANCE www.sportbusiness.com | host citiesandnations’ population canhelpincrease ourevents how detailistoenough beableto tell canhelp. thattheirevents assertions of quantifiabledatato backuptheir and World Athleticsfaceisthelack populations.largely sedentary physically activelifestyleamongtheir tohow successfully promote amore accumulation andnationalpride,to have started to medal beyond move and socialsecuritycostssurging. populations plungingandhealthcare policies, withtheirworking-age business strategies andgovernment changetheirsocieties,fundamentally anticipating theiragingpopulationsto countriesare SoutheastAsian other South Korea, China,Singapore and need to curbhealth costs. Japan, Runners competeatthe2018Wuhan Marathon inChina( “What I’mnotableto“What dowith But onekey Ridgeon challenge Sporting KPIs forthesenations Most countrieshave Asian anurgent @SportBusiness Wang He/GettyImages “As body, the sporting governing Jon Ridgeon |chiefexecutive,World Athletics the answers.” we’re supposedtobeproviding as insurance and healthcare, and companies inindustriessuchheld by investment.” the caseto fortheir governments andmake theanswers, be providing body,governing we’re supposedto thesporting As cynicism. a certain goingtothey’re cometo thetablewith perspective or nationalgovernment butfrom alocalthings mustensue, benefits. healthand long-run;themental itcansavespending inthemedium- muchhealth how life expectancy; But thesedisparate datasetsare “We allinstinctively feelthese ) Z back thecase.” Z datatolifestyles, ifwe can getbetter theirhealth andthat willimprove contribution anddutyto citizens start to aspartoftheir seeourevents started says withourevents,” Ridgeon. the athleticinterest wehave kick- infrastructure thatwillhelpmaintain the grassroots runningcommunity, or interms either ofincreasingevent, tobe along-term activelegacy the are insistinginthefuture thatthere toand ourevents hostcountries,we we pitch theworldchampionships closely withhostcountries. “When to working by future-proof itsevents these datasynergies.” platforms to congregate anddiscuss to comeinto cross-industry provide need governments that’s alsowhere prime mover, addsRidgeon.“Perhaps collaboration, ultimately, needsa “Hopefully, thiswillhelpcities For now, World Athleticswilllook ä æ 1163215333, Dan Istitene Brunskill 1171191390, Clive

We cover 50,000 sports events every year bringing unrivalled, specialist coverage shot by the world’s best photographers. AT Our partner relationships with over 60 of the most prestigious brands in sport guarantees unique access. THE Partner with us for editorial or commercial use gettyimages.com/sport HEART @gettysport OF SPORT â 1164815360, Justin Setterfield ä 1168368237, Stu Forster å 1168573630, David Rogers - RFU 1168573630, David 66 GOVERNANCE A Perak FA andSelangorFA into Perak thecountry.and down variousstate up funded by governments City). Themajorityare directly runand Ta’zim andPetaling (JDT) Jaya City(PJ are fullyprivate Johor entities: Darul the Malaysian leaguehierarchy, onlytwo sustain mostteams. to notenough sponsorship revenues longer,rather withbroadcasting and from publicfundswilltakeseparation more intheorythanpractice. Total John Duerden private entitiesby September 8, 2020 agreed with the FAM to become Malaysia’s 24 top footballclubshave www.sportbusiness.com | Johor Darul Ta’zim isoneofonlytwoprofessional footballclubsinMalaysia( Malaysian FA pushesfor club privatisation but teamsstillrelyon statesupport Turning 100-year-old teams like the24teamsOf in thetop of twotiers soon beprivatised,albeit Malaysian football clubswill state by governments, fter decades of being operated @SportBusiness Malaysian clubspay thehighestsalaries of accountability isareason why in chargeforjusttwoorfouryears.” work isshort-term, withpeopleplaced the way forward. Theway thestates is . “Privatisation SportBusiness Review tells IMGandDentsu, sporting agencies Ramalingam, consultantwith aformer the worldinsuccessfulleagues,” talk to businessandfootballpeople. communicates withclubs,hewantsto he when politicians orcivilservants make Instead ithappen. ofdealingwith of Malaysia (FAM), isdetermined to secretary oftheFootball Association years butStuartRamalingam, general It talkedchallenge. hasbeen aboutfor FC andSelangorwillbeabig state governments for over 100 years owned; some clubs have been run by Only two clubsarecurrentlyprivately Short-term thinking andalack “We around cansee what happens Stanley Chou/GettyImages ) clubs are fully privatised, they can then canthen clubs are fullyprivatised, they website TwentyTwo13.com. “When sports consultantandeditor ofnews says aKuala Haresh Deol, Lumpur-based forthestate becashcows longer teams,” offootballintheir states.”development running clubsandbeableto focusonthe FAs. of willbefree oftheburden They of FCs butthisdoesnotmeantheend adds. “We wantto turntheseFAs into forfootball,”he stable environment MYR 6.4m(€1.4m/$1.6m). August thetotal figure inarrears was andin in 2019,thehighestAsia, league had262casesofunpaidsalaries wages. Ramalingam says theMalaysian headlines forlate ornon-payment of yetoftenin SoutheastAsia, hitthe come off state support anytime soon come off state support sponsorship revenues iftheyare to Clubs will need to grow broadcast and “The state governments should no “The state shouldno governments amore willprovide “Privatisation

GOVERNANCE invest in proper infrastructure instead football club, comprising four stakes. “It is a fact that many teams do not Malaysian FA pushes for club privatisation of relying on government facilities. For One stake – of 30 per cent – will be held have sustainable revenue channels, they the sport and industry to grow, it needs by the Selangor State Development fail to transform into commercially to think and act like a business and not a Corporation, one by the FA itself and a viable entities and continue to rely but teams still rely on state support government entity.” third by the crown prince of Selangor heavily on state funding,” says Sri Vijay – leaving room for other investors to Eswaran, the owner of PJ City. “Many The deadline come in. clubs have failed to secure lucrative September 8, 2020 is the deadline advertising contracts or commercial recently agreed by Ramalingam and The challenges deals with the private sector or the respective general secretaries. On For clubs to achieve self-sufficiency, sponsors.” The Executive Chairman of that day, the organisations running the broadcasting and sponsorship revenues QI Group, a Hong Kong-based multi- teams will become private entities, at will have to increase. There are level marketing company, wants to least officially. difficulties in both aspects. see more businesses, sports marketing “We believe that this will happen Just in December, the Malaysian agencies, merchandising agencies, from a documentation standpoint,” Football League announced that a sports lawyers and insurance companies says Ramalingam. “We want to ensure scheduled payment of MYR 3m, due to enter the Malaysian football industry. that the split in management actually all clubs in the top two tiers, would not happens. Once we get there, we will see be paid. The league was hit hard by the The future where we are.” March 2019 collapse of its media and Johor Darul Ta’zim FC is the model The FAM hopes that seeing private marketing rights deal with Telekom to follow on and off the pitch. Since clubs run professionally will encourage Malaysia, which had been worth MYR turning private in 2013, the club has Malaysian businesses or tycoons, such 60m per season. Media revenues from invested heavily in players, facilities, as Cardiff City owner Vincent Tan, ongoing deals with OTT platform iFlix and training staff as well as in other to invest in local football. There is a and public-service broadcaster RTM are fields such as social media marketing, recognition, however, that the state worth significantly less than the TM deal. resulting in 2.3 million followers on financial involvement is not going to “It is unfortunate for us in Malaysia Facebook. Champions every year since end in the near future. “We see the that the broadcasting industry lacks 2014, JDT are the only Malaysian team split hopefully incorporating a lot of competition,” explains Ramalingam. to participate in the AFC Champions government and state support as it will “There are not many players and not League and its new 40,000 capacity be needed in the initial years,” says everyone in Malaysia can afford to pay stadium is due to open on January 28. Ramalingam. for sport.” “With strategic planning, JDT Selangor FA, traditionally one of With clubs traditionally reliant went from being a simple club to a Malaysia’s biggest teams, exemplify the on state funding, marketing and powerhouse,” says the FAM’s marketing early stages of the change. sponsorship efforts have been patchy. manager Rehvan Arumugam. “They In January, Selangor FA secretary- Some clubs have just two or three show the flexibility private clubs will general Johan Kamal Hamidon outlined partners. Even for those with more, have in building revenue streams: the ownership structure of the new revenues are not large. sponsorship, broadcast, gate receipts, merchandise & events.” Other clubs can follow in building such emotional connections, he insists. “Great teams like Kedah, Selangor and Perak have big fan bases and if there is a planned marketing and communication strategy, more sponsors will want to work with them. “If I am a team owner then I would focus on the Gen Z of this next market share, which will have the most disposable income in time and get to know what attracts them emotionally. “The traditional media doesn’t work effectively with this group. We have to sell fans a deep emotional connection. The more awareness and stories being shared about the teams in the digital media landscape raises the level of audience eventually progressing Teams of the Malaysian Super League towards revenue.” Z

@SportBusiness | www.sportbusiness.com 67 68 EVENTS W officials thatthe Californiancity’s Committee (USOC) some USOlympic wasafeelingamongst there Olympics, Bradley Rial securing IOC’s support LA’s perceived reliability was crucial in Fireworks over Rams( theMemorialColiseumbeforeagamebetweenChicagoBearsandLA www.sportbusiness.com | takes longrunattheOlympics Reliability thewatchwordasLosAngeles the race to hostthe2024 in January 2015to enter Los Angeleswasselected Bostonhen than rather @SportBusiness escalating hosting costs,asoutlinedin Committee’s (IOC)desire to rein in tallied withtheInternational Olympic proposal, which fiscallyprudent LA’s unravelled andtheUSOCturnedto six monthslater asBoston’s bid donethat”. there, “been of asense by efforts wouldbehampered to a strategy offinancialcaution Local organisersdetermined to stick That fear of familiarity was forgotten That fearoffamiliaritywasforgotten Meg Oliphant/GettyImages ) international PRandcommunications. whose JTA supported thebid’s agency tested” hosts,according to Jon Tibbs, switching itsfocusbackto “tried-and- thebodywas support atatimewhen was crucialinsecuringtheIOC’s earlier. 2020reforms justmonths the Agenda venue infrastructure $1.464bn hasbeensetaside for Ultimately, reliability perceived LA’s EVENTS reportedly splashing out $12.6bn on the important in the coming years. 2020 Olympics, while a report by the “LA’s approach of minimising French government last year said that Olympic infrastructure developments the cost of hosting the Paris 2024 Games makes it infinitely easier to ‘sell’ the could reach €7.3bn, €500m more than benefits of the Games to the public, anticipated, unless plans are revised. especially as there are a number of vital However, LA is determined not to fall transport improvements taking place into the trap of many previous Olympic across the city and southern California host cities by increasing the Games’ in parallel with the build up to 2028. central budget to swallow up broader However, I’m sure we will see the infrastructure developments. City narrative build up surrounding the LA Council members have been in talks Games’ social benefits from Paris 2024 with local organisers about projects that onwards.” could improve the Games experience, and are expected to present an updated Olympic venues plan in autumn 2020. But there are Of the latest Olympic budget already separately-funded major projections, $1.464bn has been set aside initiatives in the pipeline that will boost for venue infrastructure, with University LA’s hosting capabilities. of California, Los Angeles serving as the According to Mayor Eric Garcetti, Olympic and Paralympic Village and who has said that “instead of trying to the University of South California lined fit the city into the Olympics, we ask the up as the main press centre and media Olympics to fit into the city”, increasing village. Other existing venues that have travel “options” will help to ease been earmarked for the Games include chronic traffic congestion by 2028, with LA Memorial Coliseum, which hosted LA drivers currently spending more the 1932 and 1984 Olympics, as well as hours in rush-hour jams than any other Staples Center, The Forum, and Dignity city in the world. Health Sports Park. When the Games arrive, a new rail LA 2028 has consistently described line connecting the city with the airport the Games as “privately funded”, with will have been built, as will a subway income set to be generated by domestic connection slashing the journey time sponsors, ticket sales, hospitality, between western LA and downtown licensing, merchandising and a to 20 minutes. LAX airport itself will “significant contribution [of $1.8bn] undergo a $14bn upgrade, while other from the IOC”. technological innovations are currently Such pledges are especially important being explored, including people- in the context of heightened public carrying drones and “new underground scrutiny, with LA facing a spiralling modes of transport”. homelessness crisis, partly due to a lack However, at a time of significant of affordable housing. public investment in infrastructure, as In June, the scale of the problem LA 2028 chairman Casey Wasserman was revealed. Following a 16-per-cent has stressed, “no complex and costly year-on-year increase, those living in construction projects or Games-related tents, makeshift shelters, cars or on the public infrastructure” will be required, streets, as well a minority in official Reliable partner with the bulk of events held at venues shelters, had reached 36,000; nearly one With reliability as the watchword, local that already exist as part of a “realistic in every 100 people in a city that has organisers appeared to be determined and fiscally conservative” budget. just under four million inhabitants. to stick to a strategy of relative financial So far, Tibbs thinks the organisers In November, the Los Angeles Times caution ahead of the 2028 Games. have succeeded in keeping Los Angeles newspaper called on city leaders to tackle Even when the hosting budget citizens onside about the value of homelessness with the “same urgency projections were revised upwards in hosting the event. and humanity that we will treat the April, the $700m rise to $6.9bn (€6.2bn) “Opinion polls [for the Olympic visiting rowers and gymnasts” in 2028. was largely put down to unavoidable and Paralympic Games in LA] have inflation, extra staffing costs and an been consistently strong,” says Tibbs. Social impact enlarged $616m contingency fund, given “Minimising taxpayer involvement and With the financial outcome of the that the Games will take place four years being clear in explaining the benefits Games set to be scrutinised closely later than originally expected. Tokyo is of the Games consistently will be very it is vital that in parallel with a cost-

@SportBusiness | www.sportbusiness.com 69 70 EVENTS World Urban Gameswouldberelocated Federations announcedthatthe2019 ofInternationalAssociation Sports months. inthespaceofthree sport events hosting rightsto twoinaugural multi- interestcommercial isnotguaranteed. of levels sufficient nation, generating asovereign largest economyifitwere that wouldhave theworld’sfifth- not required to anyshortfall. cover portfolio to taxpayer ensure dollarsare isalsoathrivingcommercial there conscious approach to hostingtheevent www.sportbusiness.com | LA’s StaplesCenterhostedtheNBAAll-StarGame in2018( In March, when theGlobal In when March, thisyear,Earlier Californialostthe However, intheheartofastate even @SportBusiness Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images hours south of LA, failedto generate the hours southofLA, in theUScity, located justacoupleof to afterDiego Doha thelocalorganisers the 2019World BeachGamesfrom San National Committeesswitched Olympic of theAssociation the issuewhen initially proposed. sponsors to thecosts,as helpcover hadconvincedadditional inLA, event who hadpledgedto underwrite the Patrick Dr Soon-Shiong,entrepreneur It local wasnotdisclosedwhether programme wascited as a key reason. onthesports theevents over organisers andlocal therights-holder between to Budapest,asquabble from LA However, fundingwasunquestionably ) expected to beshared withthe city. in international thatare revenues a$180madvanceon the$1.5bn provided up to theGames,withIOChaving annually into youthsportsintheyears 2028haspledgedto invest$160m LA aresult, surrounding theevent. As deals struck oncommercial depending hostingcosts, and $2bntowards LA’s agreed to contribute $1.8bn between theIOC the firstoftwoOlympics, children. upgrades to more thanthree million coachingandfacility equipment, itto$93m injection,allowing provide Foundation alone benefited from a totalling atleast$225m.TheLA84 generated anunprecedented surplus, chief executive Kathryn S.Schloessman. culturally”, according to and president and communityimpact,socially that“generate majoreconomic on events Foundation,youth-focused LA84 focuses philanthropic organisationssuchasthe organisations, willbecrucial. for thecity’ssportsteams and other Council, whichactsasanassociation Sports 2028andtheLA with LA incollaboration Commission (LASEC) Los AngelesSportsandEntertainment parts ofsociety.” investing more inyouthsportsacross all a well-thought-out plan,including and themunicipalauthoritieswillhave says. “In thatregard, Mayor Garcetti aheadof2028,”Tibbs delivered benefits canbe‘legacy’ in advanceisthatthere able to fortheGamessofar prepare communities. initiativesfor so-called ‘pre-legacy’ relation to theGameswillbethrough inthecomingyears of investment Perhaps themostnoticeablelevels Local benefits target. asanachievable $4bn seen with domestic sponsorshiprevenue, forecast of$2.5bnfor “conservative” will“smash”its LA in believing isnotalone TimCrow expert andsportsmarketing level, different required private-sector financialbacking. As partofthedealthathandedParisAs Famously, the1984Olympics with whichworksintandem LASEC, Against thisbackdrop, theworkof oftheadvantagesbeing “One ofcourse,isona The Olympics, EVENTS

LA last hosted the Olympics in 1984.

LASEC, which is officially designated Jerde was also recently hired to The opening of SoFi Stadium will be by Los Angeles Tourism to attract, brainstorm renovation options at “an absolute game-changer”, according secure and support high-profile events, the 92,000-capacity Rose Bowl in to Schloessman, who adds: “The new is focusing on more than the bottom neighbouring Pasadena, northeast stadium has allowed us to go after line, though. of LA. The stadium hosts the annual events we were previously unable to bid “We actively bid for events that will college American football Rose Bowl on due to stadium requirements not garner significant media attention Game and staged the finals of the 1994 being met by our existing venues.” and impressions, thus raising the and 1999 men’s and women’s Fifa World LA, with its Mediterranean-style global profile of the destination,” Cups respectively. climate, is an enticing destination for Schloessman says. Like the Rose Bowl, the under- sports. In golf, the Los Angeles Country On this point, an independent study construction SoFi Stadium is in the Club will host the men’s US Open for of the 2018 NBA All-Star Game held at running to host matches during the the first time in 2023 and the Ladies Staples Center, highlighted economic 2026 Fifa World Cup, which will be co- Professional Golf Association last year benefits of at least $116m for LA County, hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico. returned to LA for the first time since of which $90m was related to tourism. The new stadium, due to open next 2005. Meanwhile the public’s appetite summer, represents the most significant for events was illustrated when the Opportunities development within LA’s sports venue 2015 Special Olympics World Games The conservative approach landscape for a generation. attracted 10,000 volunteers and more underpinning LA 2028 does not mean The prospect of playing at SoFi than 500,000 spectators. the city is automatically opposed to Stadium lured the Rams and Chargers Given the legacy of the financially expanding its plentiful portfolio of franchises to LA, ending more than two transformative 1984 Olympics in venues that host 11 professional major decades without an NFL presence in the Los Angeles, there is already an league sports teams. city. Additionally, the 70,000-capacity acknowledgement of the role the The $350m, 22,000-capacity Banc of venue will host the Super Bowl in 2022 Games can play in driving positive California Stadium opened last year as and the College Football National change within and beyond the city’s the new home of Major League Soccer’s Championship in 2023. Worth more boundaries. However, establishing Los Angeles FC, while the NBA’s LA than $30m annually over 20 years, an events portfolio that helps rather Clippers franchise is hoping to move to the deal with digital personal finance than hinders the Games, as well as a new 18,000-seat arena in Inglewood, provider SoFi has reportedly set a new communities, is a challenge that just east of LAX, by 2024. worldwide benchmark for a stadium requires a measured approach if the Renowned local architect Jon naming-rights agreement. opportunity is to be fully-grasped. Z

@SportBusiness | www.sportbusiness.com 71 Introducing a new report from

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2020 Youth Olympics give Lausanne chance to take lead in driving ‘new Games’ era

‘Olympic Capital’ is the global hub of Local sites have used YOG as an Previous failed event bids underline sports administration opportunity to invest and develop importance of Lausanne 2020

Bradley Rial Even before the arrival of the IOC, the watch the Tour de Romandie cycling picturesque city in the canton of Vaud race when it passes through each ven though there is no other had a proud sporting heritage, with year – the city’s modest size imposes a city on Earth as closely aligned Lausanne Football and Cricket Club natural cap on Lausanne’s major-event with the modern Olympic established as continental Europe’s first hosting potential. movement as Lausanne, the such sports club way back in 1860. But But the Olympic Capital is Eimpact of the 2020 Winter Youth Lausanne is largely viewed as a place unaccustomed to allowing diminutiveness Olympic Games on the Swiss city where sport meets, rather than plays. to stifle its ambitions, whether sporting promises to be pivotal. or otherwise. Home to around 60 international Challenging realities Like in 2008, when Lausanne became sports federations and organisations, The reason for that is partly the smallest city in the world to launch Lausanne is the hub of global sports geographical: Lausanne is flanked by a full metro system. Or the four failed administration. Pierre de Coubertin larger cities, with Geneva to the south bids for the Summer Olympics during set up the International Olympic and Bern and Zurich to the north. the 20th Century. Committee’s headquarters here in And though it’s well suited to The city has also failed four times 1915, and in 1994 the IOC granted the outdoor pursuits – Lausanne hosted in the last 50 years to land the Winter city its status as ‘Olympic Capital’ – a the International Triathlon Union Olympics, most recently as a joint moniker that has helped to attract and World Championships in 1998 proposal by the cantons of Vaud and retain sport’s decision-makers, as well and 2006 and the Sprint World Valais under the Sion bid banner. Such as more than 50 other companies that Championships in 2011, while the joint efforts are rarely uncomplicated, work within the sports industry. Of a Marathon of Lausanne and 20km and the bid was scuppered by population of 140,000, at least 1,500 are of Lausanne running events bring an unfavourable referendum in thought to work in the sports industry. thousands onto the city’s streets, and neighbouring Valais. thousands more pack the roadside to These challenges underline the

@SportBusiness | www.sportbusiness.com 73 74 EVENTS hosts thefamousAthletissimameetat Lausanne events, Among recurrent Accelerating ambitions we wouldhave donea goodjob.” itwouldmean ambition,then Olympic creates apositivefoundationfornew Games. We focusonthat. Ifwhatwedo andsmartYouthinnovative Olympic said aheadofthestartGames. VirginieFaivreCommittee president way around,” Lausanne2020Organising fully adaptsto itsregion, nottheother skiing events. jumping, biathlonandNordic combined host theWinter Youth ski Olympics’ and Paris 2024,whichseesFrance Lausanne2020 collaboration between cost-effective hostingstrategies. cities to adoptmore sustainableand points introduced in2018to encourage norm”reforms –the118 IOC’s “new tofirst IOCevent the bestagedunder The Winter Youth wasthe Olympics New norms to Switzerland. January 9-22,to Lausanne,to Vaud and whichtookOlympics, placefrom importance ofthe2020Winter Youth www.sportbusiness.com | Gina ZehnderofSwitzerland prepares to light the flameat the Opening Ceremony of theLausanne 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games( “Our goalisto“Our puttogether an “We have aGames that developed impactisthe The mostobvious @SportBusiness “We aGames havedeveloped for tourism andsports development”. an opportunityto solutions invest innew “local hostsites have usedtheGames as while infrastructure developments, has helpedto accelerate several that theWinter Youth Games Olympic infrastructure. a timelyboostto thecity’ssports of CHF220m(€202m/$222m)to provide inSeptember lastyearatacost opened 9,600-seatVaudoisenew which Aréna, Games willbestagedatLausanne’s World ChampionshipwithZurich. the International Ice Hockey Federation city hosted Grand Final. theITU took amonthbefore the placejustover whose theinaugural editioninJuly 2019 tennis women’s tournament,Open – andhaslured theWTA Tour’s Swiss Federations’ Leaguecalendar Diamond International ofAthletics Association de laPontaise –akey date onthe the 16,000-capacityStadeOlympique 2020 OrganisingCommittee Virginie Faivre |president,Lausanne that fullyadaptstoitsregion, not the other wayaround.” not theother Against thisbackdrop, Faivre says In May 2020,Lausannewillco-host official song,” Faivre says. “Our pictograms, ourpodiumsand to ourmascot, schools develop people asapost-Games legacy. also beusedastraining hubsforyoung will venues Lausanne 2020andseveral toenrolled competitionsduring attend who have withtheevent. engaged ofyoungsters the significantnumber involves notonlytheathletes, butalso focus talents’ ideas, whilethe‘new incubator movement Olympic fornew on theYouth asan serving Olympics Switzerland’. and a‘new talents’ Games’,‘new pillars ofa‘new focusingonthethree aspirations by to inlinewiththecity’s settheagenda sought to auniqueopportunity leverage Lausanne 2020’s marketing campaign has New Games expertise.” speed skating, makingthemostoflocal lakewe useafrozen inSt. Moritz for because itmakes forusand more sense venues. We goto France forsomeevents solely usingpublictransport to goto Games to have athletes, coachesandfans ways; beingthefirst forexample,by “We’ve worked local withadozen More than70,000 were schoolchildren centres Games’concept The ‘new She adds:“We alsoinnovate inother Matthias Hangst/Getty Images ) EVENTS volunteer, hospitality, athlete education programmes…everything is made by the youth, for the youth. “We’ve also created a lot of synergies between the various institutions as well as strong sporting legacies in terms of skills and the renovation of infrastructure in the Vaud Alps and the French Jura.” A part of this is a cross-border agreement between the French department of Jura and Switzerland’s Nordic teams, who for the next 20 years will be able to use the refurbished facilities in Prémanon, including the Stade des Tuffes, a world-class ski jumping, cross-country skiing and biathlon venue. In terms of a ‘new Switzerland’, Faivre added: “People will come here for what Team GB curling at the 2020 Youth Games (Linnea Rheborg/Getty Images) they know about us: mountains, snow, and maybe chocolate and cheese. That’s fine, but when they are here, we want to show them that Switzerland is also a country of youth, of education, of innovation – and of sports.”

Power cluster Lausanne is keenly aware that its USP is the benefits of agglomeration between the countless international federations and the IOC – which in 2015 agreed a lease to remain in Lausanne for another century – and the various companies, organisations and institutions on the fringes of the Olympic movement that have established roots in the city, such as the Court of Arbitration for Sport and the International Testing Agency. ThinkSport, founded by the city of Lausanne, the canton of Vaud and the Several events at the 2020 Youth Games were held in France to make the Games more cost effective (Matthias Hangst/ Getty Images) IOC, is keen to maximise networking opportunities by bringing together medium-sized enterprises,” she adds. sharing opportunities with other sports different organisations in the sports “With this rich sports ecosystem, there organisations added to the pulling power sector, with a focus on businesses, start- are more and more start-ups emerging in of the Olympic Capital. ups, investors and academia. and around Lausanne, many of which are “The chance to exchange experiences According to ThinkSport director spin-offs from the Swiss Federal Institute and to grow the team and contribute to Anna Hellman, who served as executive of Technology in Lausanne and the the sporting community in which we director of SportAccord from 2004 to University of Lausanne.” are based is a major plus,” says Gaillard, 2012, the high concentration of sport- In July 2018, European Professional the former director general of GAISF, focused federations, organisations and Club Rugby, the organising body of the which itself moved from Monte Carlo to enterprises tallies with the region’s 12 Champions Cup and Challenge Cup Lausanne in 2009. universities and two hospitality schools, rugby union competitions, relocated “Being situated in Vaud has given our with a multitude of their courses to Lausanne from the Swiss city of team the chance to share experiences overlapping with sport. Neuchâtel. with other sporting federations; EPCR “There are also a large number of According to EPCR chief executive representatives have attended their commercial organisations in the region Vincent Gaillard, the main reason for the events and they have attended ours as working within sport – mostly small- and move was logistical, while knowledge- we both seek to develop best practice.” Z

@SportBusiness | www.sportbusiness.com 75 SPORTACCORD SportAccord puts diversity and inclusivity at the heart of events in Beijing

Back in Beijing for the first time in 12 years, SportAccord will bring with it the third United Through Sports festival, which will focus on encouraging people of all ages and abilities to enjoy the benefits of sport

iversity and inclusivity will Members of Sport, which has been provided a platform for over 50 sports. be at the heart of the wide- granted patronage and highly praised What was really impressive was the In association with ranging sport festival which is by the IOC for its vision and mission in commitment of the international set to be one of the highlights driving the project. and national federations towards the Dof SportAccord in Beijing. “From the outset, the idea was project. This close communication and United through Diversity is the third to integrate physical sport into collaboration ensured that the event festival under United Through Sports, SportAccord utilising the powerful facilitated the evolution of sport in which has become umbilically linked platform to promote social general to the region,” she explained. to the SportAccord Sport and Business responsibility and sport’s role in Fox summed up the ethos ahead of Summit. Now in its third year, following creating opportunity to change lives. To the Bangkok event: “Sport is central to a hugely memorable debut in Bangkok date, the two festivals have been great every culture and society; it is core to an in 2018 and last year’s focus on youth successes and proven the value they individual’s health and happiness. I truly in Gold Coast, Australia, the festival bring not only to SportAccord but to the believe that, through sport, we have the was designed to “put the sport into community and to the public. Now we power to change lives.” the accord,” according to UTS chief are all looking forward to bringing not And United Through Sports has a executive Julia Govinden. only sports, but potentially novel sports mission that goes far beyond creating Actively supported by the to Beijing ensuring the region gets sporting showcases. Working in International Olympic Committee, the active,” said Govinden. collaboration with the International Global Association of International “Discussions over bringing a new Federation Muay Thai Associations Sports Federations and a host of other layer to SportAccord began back in 2017 and the renowned Right to Play sports and NGOs, the festival concept and were shaped by Stefan Fox’s vision. organisation, the focus in Bangkok was inspired by Stefan Fox, vice- The inaugural festival event, alongside was on refugee and migrant issues, president of GAISF and president of SportAccord in Bangkok the following something which Thailand and its the Alliance of Independent Recognised year, tested the festival concept and people remain all to familiar with

76 www.sportbusiness.com | @SportBusiness In association with

following the exodus of Rohingya entertainment events, the festival Teams will raise money through Muslims from neighbouring Myanmar. included Opening and Closing participation and funds raised will be A group of refugee youth leaders Conferences, with discussions and donated to support a local project. played a major role in the event’s presentations drilling down into key “There will be a whole range of sports SPORTACCORD opening ceremony and several globally issues facing young people in society activations in the festival many of which recognised athletes gave up their time and the important role sport can play to will demonstrate easy-to-approach to run workshops with these youths, realistically address them. activities. These will include activities providing and sharing tools for life to “With many of the collaborators for the mind as well as the physical.” take back to their own communities. from Bangkok still on board, we added With IOC president Thomas Bach In addition, partners Tissot assisted an entire layer of new educationally- due to address the Opening Ceremony, fundraising through a series of raffles, focussed workshops with Australian to be held outside the iconic Birds Nest money which was invested in a sports Olympic athletes and renowned sports Olympic Stadium, the status of the facility in Bangkok and sport equipment family figures, including IOC member event appears to have been cemented. for refugees in the Tak Province. HRH Prince Feisal taking the time to get “I have been delighted with the support And, says Govinden, the impact didn’t up close and personal with the youth,” we have received, it has been quite end when SportAccord left the region. said Govinden. overwhelming,” said Govinden. “Our aim is to leave a legacy, to start Now she is firmly focussed on United Bach eloquently summed up the a fire that continues to burn bright,” Through Diversity in Beijing, which ambition for United through Sports in she explained. “Last year, a year after promises to build on the tremendous a written introduction to the Bangkok SportAccord, we saw the Bangkok momentum which has been created. event and his words remain as relevant Urban Youth Tournament come to life “United Through Diversity is focused today as they were then. featuring six different sports, all being on enabling and encouraging people “It is an opportunity to remind played by youths from differing socio- of all ages and abilities to enjoy the ourselves of the power of sport to make economic backgrounds to promote benefits of sport,” she said. a difference. In sport everyone is equal, friendship, fun and games. That’s an The festival will include some 70 no matter who you are or what your example of what can be achieved when sports across 10 different sports ‘zones’. background is. The festival, with its we join resources.” It will focus on sports for people of focus on promoting physical activity When Gold Coast hosted SportAccord different mental or physical abilities, as for people from all walks of life, send 2019, the theme for the sports festival well as sport for older generations. the powerful message that sport can was United Through Youth, integrating Another highlight of the programme overcome all barriers. It is a tangible the indigenous population in all will include a charity football example of how our vision of making elements of the festival activities. tournament that will see some of the the world a better place through sport In addition to live sports and world’s sports leaders take to field. can become a reality.” Z

@SportBusiness | www.sportbusiness.com 77

SPORTACCORD Looking ahead to LawAccord

This year’s LawAccord session includes panels on Chinese sports policy, esports, changes to the Wada Code and – for the first time – a mock CAS hearing, in response to feedback from stakeholders.

ver the years LawAccord, the specialist legal summit, has developed to become a cornerstone of the In association with OSportaccord Sport and Business Summit. New technologies that are changing the dynamics of the business of sport, the emergence of critical doping and safeguarding issues and the geographical spread of major events to new territories and jurisdictions are among the factors which have conspired to create a more complex legal environment for federations and their legal advisors to navigate. This year’s LawAccord will continue to help those at the heart of global sport

to operate effectively by delivering (IJF) insight into and understanding of a range of key issues they may face today and in the future.

SportBusiness Review asked Michael Michael Lenard OLY, vice-president of the International Council of Arbitration for Sport Lenard OLY, who has played a key role in the evolution of LawAccord, about and we always strive to match that both topical and fundamental for some of the topics to be discussed in with presenters and panellists who international sport federations and Beijing. Michael is vice-president of the are leaders, decision makers and others involved in the business of International Council of Arbitration for practitioners in the world of sports law. international sport to understand the Sport, the body which oversees the Court Chinese regulatory environment and of Arbitration for Sport, and president of Why is it important to have a the legal aspects of how they can “do the CAS Ad Hoc Division for the Tokyo thorough understanding of the legal business” in and with China. 2020 Olympic Games. framework for sport in the country in order to succeed? Are athletes an underused resource How did you select the topics for Given the strength of the Chinese in governance? this year’s program? economy, that almost half of the 20 Simply answered, yes. I was a leader of Following the successful 2019 edition of largest cities in the world are located in the US Olympic Committee’s athletes LawAccord in Gold Coast, Australia, we China, and China’s passion for sport, commission in the 1980s, a pioneering canvassed the SportAccord stakeholders it is no surprise that China has been a stage in elite athletes’ push to become and various expert practitioners in prolific host of world class sport events. integrally involved in all decisions made sports law for their ideas about what It also has been an increasingly large by the US Olympic Committee. These should be the topics for this year’s consumer of sport programming and athletes were successful in their efforts LawAccord. The fruits of this effort goods. China simply cannot be ignored and demonstrated to the US Olympic resulted in this year’s session topics. by international sport - and it is not: Committee and its stakeholders that they The power of SportAccord springs international sport’s interest in China could and did bring value in their new primarily from bringing together and China’s interest in international role, including in some ways and areas the leaders and decision makers in sport continues to grow. Therefore, that surprised the sport administrators. the international sport federations, in order to succeed in China, it is Unfortunately, this role faded with the

78 www.sportbusiness.com | @SportBusiness In association with

US Olympic Committee’s adoption of a in business, government and society This is a popular staple of LawAccord “corporate” governance model. Whether continues to grow. For younger because the leaders and decision in response to this model or due to the generations these expectations have makers in international sport evolution of the European Model of become requirements. If sport does federations can and want to directly SPORTACCORD Sport and the North American Model not embrace and deliver gender equity, hear from and interact with the leaders of Sport, which are starting to overlap, diversity and inclusion, then it fails to and decision makers of CAS. finding the appropriate role for athletes do so at its own peril and courts some But this year, emanating from has become even more important and form of public action, divisiveness our canvassing of the LawAccord perhaps more challenging. and even crisis. The well-intentioned stakeholders, we also have something Athletes are restive, and we are seeing embrace of these ideals is not enough, unique: we will hold a “mock CAS increased public discussion and an and this Session intends to provide hearing”. This session - essentially impassioned call to provide athletes with practical advice and examples on how to a scripted play – will present an meaningful substantive involvement deliver on them. abbreviated CAS hearing. in their sports and the decisions which We have cast it with an experienced affect them. Our panellists are going What can we expect from the CAS CAS arbitrator and two lawyers to discuss different models of athlete Sessions? experienced in representing parties involvement and the roles athletes do, My colleague, Matthieu Reeb, the in front of CAS. We previously can and should play in the decision- secretary general of CAS, will present presented a mock CAS hearing in a making processes of sport bodies. an update on the potential impact lawyers-only legal seminar, and it on international sport federations of was very well received. I hope we get How can and do international sport any recent CAS cases and discuss any the same reviews for this LawAccord federations use eSports? new or upcoming CAS developments. version. Z Esports have presented a challenge to the established sports ecosystem and to traditional notions of sport. The global esports market has shown a more than LawAccord 2020 Topics 20 per cent compound annual growth in PANEL SESSION AND Q&A: YOUR ANNUAL CAS UPDATE: HOT TOPICS, its key metrics and is forecast to surpass SPORT AND THE CHINESE SPORT RECENT CASE IMPACTS, AND ANTI- $1.8bn (€1.6bn), with more than 200 POLICY ECOSYSTEM: DOPING DIVISION million players of various games and Moderated by: Presented by: frequent and occasional viewers of the David Eades, Conference Host Matthieu Reeb, Secretary General, competitions surpassing 600 million. and BBC presenter Court of Arbitration for Sport This generationally driven phenomena can’t be ignored, and PANEL SESSION AND Q&A: ATHLETE THE REVISED 2021 WADA CODE: PARTICIPATION IN GOVERNANCE EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW international sport federations have Moderated by: The essential to ensure lawyers and been watching with some trepidation. Michael Lenard, Vice President, sports administrators are aware of Although many sports have esports International Council of Arbitration for Wada Code changes coming out of the versions, some international sport Sport 2019 World Conference on Doping federations have taken it a step further by creating esport competitions in their PANEL SESSION: SOCIAL MOCK CAS HEARING: AN INSIDE, sports. RESPONSIBILITY IN SPORT INTERACTIVE, AND PRACTICAL LOOK Prior editions of LawAccord have Scene Setter provided AT AN ARBITRATION HEARING had sessions discussing esports, but and moderated by: Presented by: this session intends to take a different Catherine Ordway, Assistant Professor Michael Lenard, Vice-President, and Course Convenor in Sports International Council of Arbitration tack and focus on this relatively new Management, University of Canberra for Sport development. PANEL SESSION: ESPORTS Arbitrator: How do the concerns and priorities OPPORTUNITIES FOR INTERNATIONAL Jeff Benz, Arbitrator and Mediator, of an increasingly ‘woke’ modern SPORT FEDERATIONS: JAMS Inc. society impact sports federations Moderated by: and their responsibilities? David Eades, Conference Host The public demand and scrutiny for and BBC presenter gender equity, diversity and inclusion

@SportBusiness | www.sportbusiness.com 79 80 ESPORTS E game lastsfiveminutes, isjust andthere the content isinstantlyaccessible. Each major esportslike and LeagueofLegends inlow-gravityupside down arenas. carscan fly gamewhere vehicular soccer professional teams into Rocket League,a expanded theirrepertoire entering by than others.aren’t growing at all. Others blanket term. faster Someare growing . Esportsisnota EvolutionSoccer Pro outside theircomfortzoneofFIFA and football clubsgetinvolvedinesports exactly why thatis. cantellentertainment’, butfew you ‘thefuture of industry’ andrepresents the linesthat‘esports’isa‘growth Callum McCarthy with huge, unfulfilled potential. examines an esport so is shaky at best. Callum McCarthy Barcelona, but the businesscase for doing Paris Saint-GermainandAS Monaco have all invested in RocketLeagueesports, www.sportbusiness.com | Football andRocketLeague’s young relationship isalreadyontherocks The cost of entry is low compared to islow The costofentry European clubshaveSeveral when This becomesaproblem 35. Most have learnedto parrot theageof indeed anyoneover European footballexecutives, or sports canbeconfusingfor @SportBusiness tier Rockettier LeagueChampionshipSeries ofRockettiers Leagueesports:Thetop- thetopresponsible foroperating two gaming giantTencent. Psyonix isalso Chinese by Epic Games,itselfowned Fortnite acquired by recently publisher tournament prizemoney. have $6.5m (€5.9m)in received over ago, Rocket Leaguetournament winners increased. Sinceitslaunchfouryears havepopularity andprizemoney thepasttwoyearsasesport’s over professional Rocket Leagueteams territory. straying into orcontroversial violent theagesof14and30without between males from Europe andNorth America group ofaffluent a slightlydifferent theopportunitytogives them access looking to getinto ‘real’ esports. It halfwayperfect houseforfootballclubs one aim:puttheballingoal. The game’sdeveloper, Psyonix, was Eight European clubshave fielded Rocket as a Leagueisthusseen participation. RCLS in2019,after fourseasonsof markets, from professional withdrew from clubbossesto findprofitable pressure whichisunder department, Paris Saint-Germain’s esports Shredding money commercially. are yetto findaway to make itwork thegameandfootball,clubs between but despite synergy theobvious withEpicandTencent’sbigger backing, isabouttoesports scene getmuch millionaire isn’tfaraway. and Twitch, thefirst Rocket League from YouTube revenue and advertising sponsorships,donations from personal top players. Alongwithaddedearnings $3,000 to monthfor $10,000per over range from League ChampionshipSeries League RivalSeries. (RLCS) Rocket andthesecond-tier There are signsthatthegame’s There Player salariesinthetop-tier Rocket ESPORTS Rocket League is incredibly popular in France and this drove PSG to take part. But the lack of centralised revenue, sponsor interest and access to Asian and Chinese audiences led the club to release its entire roster in August. PSG said this would not be the end of its Rocket League participation, but the club’s esports department had become exasperated at the lack of commercial upside and did not return for this season. Spanish clubs Getafe and Villarreal also shut down their teams this year, having failed to qualify for the second- tier Rival Series due to a lack of investment in quality players. Of the five clubs that remain involved in professional Rocket League, AS Monaco and Espanyol have just completed their first full seasons in the second tier with Monaco winning promotion to the RLCS. Swiss clubs Servette and Lausanne have decided to scale their investment back to competing in amateur local leagues and tournaments. Servette gained promotion to the RLCS in 2018 but could not agree financial terms with its players, eventually losing its roster to esports organisation Mousesports. In the current Season 8 of Rocket League esports, Barcelona is the only football club with a team in the The Rocket League Championship Series Trophy (Rocket League Esports twitter @RLEsports) top tier. Since the team’s inception in April, Barcelona has earned just to qualify for the event, finishing 6th out which received $50m in Series B funding under $100,000 in prize money. It is of eight teams during the regular season in October, has been a long-time understood between 85 and 90 per cent and crashing out of the playoffs in the participant, alongside other esports of this went to the players, on top of first round. stalwarts such as NRG, G2 and Dignitas. their monthly salaries of approximately With little-to-no benefits in terms of Centralised revenue-sharing models $6,000-$7,000 per month. revenue or in 2019, the club must now are a new phenomenon in esports, Barcelona’s Rocket League jerseys consider whether the six-figure annual restricted to regional and global are not for sale and bear no sponsors. investment can be justified in 2020. franchise leagues such as the League of The team earns no centralised or self- Legends Championship Series and the derived revenue from sponsorship, An alien model Call of Duty World League. In Rocket media rights or matchday. All regular- As an independent game developer, League, there simply isn’t enough season matches are played over the Psyonix has done well to grow the revenue to share among the 32 teams internet with no physical venue game’s esports scene as much as it has. that take part in its top-tier competition provided by either Psyonix or any of The first Rocket League Championship each season. the teams. Series was held in February 2016 after Esports organisations are used to With the season-ending World Psyonix saw how popular its game had this. Almost every single multi-esport Championships to be held in Madrid become on live-streaming site Twitch. organisation is reliant on venture capital this weekend, the club would have had The initial tournament had a prize pool and sponsorship in order to fund their the perfect opportunity to showcase of $55,000, almost 20 times smaller operations, often using investment its esports involvement to potential than today’s. from one sector to entice more from the endemic sponsors – such as gaming Now that the prize pool stands at other. equipment manufacturers and tech over a million dollars, major esports Team Vitality, another long-time companies – as well as to its existing organisations have become a fixture of Rocket League participant, partnered fans in Spain. However, Barcelona failed Rocket League’s esports scene. Cloud9, with French car manufacturer Renault

@SportBusiness | www.sportbusiness.com 81 82 ESPORTS football worlddoesnotautomatically inthe the prestige theseclubsenjoy esports-specific sponsorships. Firstly, courting clubsfacewhen problems esports sideofthebusiness. limitingtheiroptionsonthe operations, uponthefootballsideoftheir sewn majorsponsorshipcategoryevery margins. their thangrow rather money spend competitive nature pushesclubsto is already amature market andits Firstly, top-level professional football work forelite European footballclubs. revenue. theirown for generating prize pools,whileteams are responsible for courtingparticipationwithlarge tournament are responsible organisers esports suchasRocket League,inwhich inlessmature seen arrangements are comfortablewiththekindof most investors andtheirteams deal wascompleted. across three rounds offundingsincethe gave Vitality a platform to secure €36.5m commitment and themanufacturer’s 2018and2019, a two-yeardeal,covering title sponsorofTeam Vitalitythanksto to motorsport esports. Renaulthasbeen for allitsactivitiesinanythingrelated www.sportbusiness.com | FC Barcelona took onParis Saint-Germain inRLCSSeason7–Europe ( In are multiple addition,there Secondly, elite clubshave almost However, thismodelsimplydoesn’t In theshort- to mid-term, @SportBusiness viewers onTwitchviewers alone. Finals peaking ataround 200,000 This isdespite fourRLCS the previous Snickers andmotor oilbrand Mobil 1. chocolate sponsored by were barbrand major orminor, after seasons previous notpartofthisinitiative. were teams inRLCS. PSGandBarcelona in-game items theprofessional usedby shop inwhichplayers couldbuyspecial attempted Psyonix by wasanesports initiativethe onlyrevenue-sharing esports opportunities. Thusfar, – footballclubswillseekoutother Psyonix to make feelwelcome them – oratleastagreater effortfrom something backfrom theirinvestments ofmainstream legitimacy.a sense It has lent their game and esports scene massively from theclubs’participation. boost forPsyonix, whichhasbenefitted Rocket Leagueisahugemarketing Monaco have competed inprofessional That clubssuchasBarcelona, PSGand Change mustcome pricepoints.much lower agreeing esportsdealsat sponsors by Secondly, football clubsriskangering appealing to esportsbrands. endemic tocarry over less esports,makingthem Industry sources say the lackof Last season’sRLCShadnosponsors, theprospectWithout ofearning RocketLeague Esports VODs YouTubeRocketLeague Esports ) Z that.” Z are startingtopublishers understand of themonth?Theclub. Someofthe who ispaying thesalaryatend becausemeans ofexposure forthem, not to be named.“We can’tjustbea marketing executive, whowished games publisher,” says onefootball from thea clearsplitofrevenue forward. move for Rocket to League’sesportsscene proof thatsuchamodelisthebestway isnoconclusiveexplaining thatthere time”,league isa“questionforanother itmakeswhether RLCSafranchise saidthatadecisiononDunham ofpublishingJeremyvice-president sharing.based modelwithrevenue Psyonix RLCSto moves afranchise- and Monaco –are saidto hopethat top teams –aswellPSG,Barcelona its esportsactivity. Thecompetition’s teams are hopingPsyonix willdevelop released inChina,participatingbeen EpicandRocketby Leaguehasofficially of itsesportstournaments. the gameitselforsmoothrunning almostallofwhichworkonemployees, – itisestimated to have around 200 and culture ofPsyonix asacompany tosponsors ispurely down thesize “Football clubsneedto have However, inOctober, Psyonix’s Now acquired thecompanyhasbeen Innovative activations from the world's biggest brands in sport Sponsorship Works 2019

22 case studies detailing best practice sponsorship activations from adidas, Budweiser, Coca-Cola, KFC, Rakuten, Visa and more.

Each case study provides insight to: • The campaign objectives • The activation • The inventory • The outcome, with data

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For more information on how to get this report visit: www.sportbusiness.com/sponsorship-works-2019 or email [email protected]