Press release re: Tour of Britain and Women’s Tour appoint Sport Collective

Media release dated: 5 June 2019

OVO Energy Tour of Britain and OVO Energy Women’s Tour appoint Sport Collective to assist with the development of commercial programmes

SweetSpot, organisers of Britain’s leading professional cycle races, the OVO Energy Tour of Britain, OVO Energy Women’s Tour and OVO Energy , has appointed sports rights and marketing agency Sport Collective to assist with the development of its commercial strategy in order to secure new sponsors for its major events.

Each year the OVO Energy Tours attract over 2 million spectators making them the largest free-to- attend sporting events in the UK, and they also enjoy significant TV exposure with over 50 hours of live and highlights programme broadcast on ITV, Eurosport and in over 100 countries worldwide. The six stage OVO Energy Women’s Tour, featuring the world’s top riders, begins in Suffolk on Monday 10 June and finishes in on Saturday 15 June. The OVO Energy Tour of Britain begins in on Saturday 7 September, concluding in on Saturday 14 September

Sport Collective, using its strong network of industry contacts and commercial experience, is currently working in partnership with SweetSpot to demonstrate the unique reach and audience engagement of the UK’s premier professional cycling events. The Women’s Tour and Tour of Britain are unique in cycling because they enjoy equality in terms of rider welfare, event infrastructure, coverage and prize money.

Hugh Roberts, from event organisers SweetSpot said: “We have ambitious plans for the growth of our events over the coming years and we are delighted to be working with Sport Collective to support our commercial activity. They have a proven track record and a wealth of experience we can benefit from, both in terms of strategy and brokering agreements, and already have a number of partnerships lined up to be announced later in the year.”

Sean McAuliffe, Director of Sport Collective said: “We are incredibly proud to be working with SweetSpot to develop their partnership programme. Cycling offers brands the opportunity to connect with active, highly engaged male, female and family audiences and we look forward to expanding on the roster of partners already in place for the UK’s biggest free to attend events”

ENDS

Sport Collective

Founded by The FA’s two former commercial heads, Sport Collective is a specialist sports rights and marketing agency working with major sports rights holders and brands to maximise commercial strategy and value. Sport Collective has vast experience of managing and executing global commercial programmes and business planning. Sport Collective’s training workshops support the sport business leaders of tomorrow. For more detail visit www.sportcollective.com

Contact : Peter Daire, [email protected] +44 (0) 7713 189519

Sweetspot

SweetSpot Group are a sports events and marketing company specialising in the creation and execution of high-quality, annual sporting events.

Having overseen the successful revival of the OVO Energy Tour of Britain in 2004 after a five-year absence, the company went on to launch the OVO Energy Tour Series (2009) and the OVO Energy Women’s Tour (2014). The latter is Britain’s flagship professional women’s cycle race and forms part of the prestigious UCI Women’s WorldTour series.

SweetSpot Group were also part of the team behind the successful 2007 Grand Départ of the Tour de . Along with partners The London Marathon Ltd (as the London and Surrey Cycle Partnership) they have also helped deliver the Prudential RideLondon, the capital’s Olympic legacy cycling event, since 2013.

Visit sweetspotgroup.co.uk for more information.For further media information please contact Peter Hodges (07970 526 519 / [email protected]) and Nick Bull (07977 151 184 / [email protected]).