AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017 NO.235 BEIN SAYS IT’S THE FIGHT TO SIR CRAIG REEDIE THE POLITICAL ‘BUSINESS AS USUAL’ LEGALISE US ON WADA’S FOOTBALL THAT IN QATAR SPORTS BETTING LATEST CHALLENGES IS CHINESE SPORT PAGE 8 PAGE 12 PAGE 38 PAGE 69 SportBusiness • Issue International number 235 • August/September 2017 AS BROADCASTERSNew AND RIGHTS-HOLDERSrealities GET TO GRIPS WITH VR, IS THE TECHNOLOGY FINALLY READY TO LIVE UP TO THE HYPE? [ PAGE 20 ] N o . 235 : AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017 3 CONTRIBUTORS FRANK DUNNE Chief sports writer Contents/1FEATURES Frank Dunne is a specialist in media rights hav- ing formerly edited sister publication TV Sports Markets. He also regularly covers the subject 38 of sports sponsorship for stablemate Sports Sponsorship Insider. @frankdunneTVSM 8 KEVIN ROBERTS BUSINESS AS USUAL Founding editor, SportBusiness International BeIN says Saudi blockade will Kevin Roberts is the founding editor of have limited eff ect on operations SportBusiness International and has worked for the publication since its inception in 1996. Before working for the magazine, he was the communications director for the 12 London-based CPMA agency. BETTORS FROM AMERICA @krobsportbiz Coalition comes together to make betting legal in US 30 ROBIN JELLIS TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS Editor, TV Sports Markets Robin Jellis joined SportBusiness Group in The B2B activations changing February 2013 as a reporter for TV Sports sports sponsorship Markets and Sports Sponsorship Insider. He began writing solely for TV Sports Markets in December 2013 and became editor of the publication in June 2015. 38 @robinjellis HEADLINER Wada president Sir Craig Reedie discusses the challenges that sport faces in restoring public trust MATTHEW GLENDINNING Editor, Sports Sponsorship Insider Matthew Glendinning has been writing on the 60 business of sport since 1996. He joined the SportBusiness Group full-time in 2007 ATTENTION TO DETAIL and now edits sister title How Wimbledon sweetens the Sports Sponsorship Insider. fan experience @mattglen 46 69 THE STRATEGY BEHIND A SMILE 46 RICHARD CLARKE A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN Digital correspondent Academic Simon Chadwick on Richard Clarke is a digital and social media the state’s role in Chinese sport The Europa League is emerging as a consultant. He has run the social media major brand in its own right accounts at major football clubs in the UK and USA having worked for EPL club Arsenal and MLS club the Colorado Rapids. 72 @MrRichardClarke STICK OR TWIST 20 The new international league NEW REALITIES set to revolutionise hockey’s Is virtual reality ready to live up to calendar its promise in the sports sector? MARK DREYER China correspondent 77 Mark Dreyer is a specialist in the growing ARMCHAIR FANS sports sector in China. He is based in Beijing and founded and edits China Sports Insider. Rugby spectators take a ride on 20 Before working for this publication, he worked the Samsung Slider as a football reporter for Sky Sports. @DreyerChina 08/09.17 : SportBusiness International 4 N o. 235 : AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017 Editor Ben Cronin [email protected] Contents/2REGULARS Chief Sports Writer Frank Dunne Founding Editor Kevin Roberts 80 Head of Content Kevin McCullagh Creative Director Andy Medley 37 Production PEOPLE Squires Media Industry moves, promotions Production and Distribution Manager and departures Craig Young Media sales [email protected] 56 Robin Hume SECRET FAN Information sales Ben Cronin visits the Wimbledon [email protected] Championships Max Frew Laurence Burton Scott Longhurst Patrick Odling 61 Director of Sales ESPORTS NEWS Tom McMullen Gamer and influencer Liam Head of Group Business Development Thompson’s regular round-up Paul Santos Head of SportBusiness Group Ben Speight 67 www.sportbusiness.com/sportbusiness- CHINA NEWS international 56 Mark Dreyer’s update on the Published by: emerging sports sector in China SportBusiness, a division of SBG Companies Ltd, 133 Whitechapel High St London E1 7QA 11 76 T: +44 (0) 20 7265 4100 COMMENT VENUES & FACILITIES F: +44 (0) 20 7265 4220 Kevin Roberts, founding editor, The latest news on sports stadia, Printed in the UK by Pensord Press SportBusiness International venues & facilities www.pensord.co.uk The paper used within this publication has been sourced from a Chain-of-Custody certified manufacturer, operating within 18 80 international environmental standards MEDIA NEWS AND ANALYSIS such as ISO14001 and EMAS. This is to ensure CONFERENCES & EVENTS The best of TV Sports Markets sustainable sourcing of Sports industry event calendar the raw materials, sustainable production and to minimise our carbon footprint. 24 SportBusiness International is published monthly © SBG 82 Companies Ltd 2017. All rights reserved. No part of this DIGITAL COMMENT publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any EXECUTIVE HACKS form or by any means, or stored in any retrieval system Richard Clarke on the latest of any nature without prior written permission, except 28 Sport industry executives share for permitted fair dealing under the Copyright Designs innovations in digital and social media the secrets of their success and Patents Act 1988. Application for permission for use of copyright material including permission to reproduce extracts in other published works shall be made to the publishers. Full acknowledgement of author, publisher and 28 source must be given. ISSN 1757-5346. BRANDS & MARKETING The best of Sports Sponsorship Insider 61 08/09.17 : SportBusiness International (population between 1.3mil - 3mil) SportBusiness Ultimate Sports Cities Awards 2016 6 SNAPSHOT Snapshot Off-field and left-field stats, stories and soundbites from the world of sport WHAT THE....? OPEN SEASON In a case of a sport truly bringing itself up The R&A, organisers of the Open NUMBER CRUNCHER to speed with the digital age, the World Championship golf tournament, have Taekwondo Federation has completed a launched a campaign to prevent the rebrand to World Taekwondo in an effort American media referring to the event as to shake off the negative connotations ‘the British Open’. According to an article associated with its former acronym in the Wall Street Journal, NBC Sports has m ‘WTF’ – text speak for something entirely had to agree in a contract that it would The amount Microsoft is different. It could have been worse for only refer to the tournament as ‘the Open’ $100 the sports body. For instance, numerous or ‘the Open Championship’ in order to reported to spend on sports companies, institutions and even people secure broadcast rights. So far, the campaign sponsorships every year have chosen to rebrand after the name has had limited impact. Analyst Johnny (PAGE 30) ‘ISIS’ came to represent something other Miller is said to repeatedly correct himself than the Egyptian goddess of fertility. The on air while referring to the tournament. Institute for Science and International Insistence on the name has also complicated Security, however, has decided to stand rights negotiations in Japan. “Business GOOD MONTH: its ground and thinks it is the murderous partners in Japan are saying ‘Please call it the BARCELONA jihadist group that needs to change. It British Open because it will mean more to has requested, somewhat ambitiously, people here,’” IMG’s Alastair Johnston told Spanish LaLiga football club Barcelona that all of the world’s media and NGOs the US publication. For the record, the Open has posted record turnover of €708m stop using ‘ISIS’ to refer to the terrorist Championship was established in 1860, ($815m) for the 2016-17 financial year. organisation.Z while the US Open started in 1895. Z The club generated a profit after tax of €18m to reduce the club’s debt by €24.5m to €247m. The results indicated that the club’s strategic plan to become the first TWEET OF THE MONTH football club to reach €1bn in revenues by 2021, announced in the February issue IOC MEDIA IOC MEDIA @iocmedia Jul 11 of SportBusiness International by Manel IOC makes historic decision in agreeing to award 2024 and Arroyo, its vice-president of media, marketing and communication, remains 2028 Olympic Games at the same time on course. Z http://bit.ly/2t1wz81 #IOCSession 08:29 am - 11 JULY 2017 11 375 465 BAD MONTH: BRITISH RACING DRIVERS’ CLUB The British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC), the owner of Silverstone racing circuit, has formally triggered the break clause in its contract with Formula One, stating that the British Grand Prix is no longer “financially viable”. The timing of the announcement, just before the start of this year’s Grand Prix, did not go down well with Formula One Group, which accused it of using the announcement to “posture and position” itself. If BRDC triggered the break clause as a negotiating strategy, it would not have been happy to see London Mayor Sadiq IOC president Thomas Bach holds aloft the hands of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Khan later announce that he would be Mayor of Paris, Anne Hildago, after the decision was taken to award the 2024 and 2028 receptive to the idea of an F1 race on the Olympics at the same time. Paris is expected to go first. Z streets of London. Z 08/09.17 : SportBusiness International 06-07snapshot.indd 6 26/07/2017 09:51 SNAPSHOT 7 NFL DOMINATES US RATINGS AT HALF-TIME UNKNOWNS AND KNOWN UNKNOWNS The NFL has secured the 10 largest sports TV audiences in the USA at the halfway Ben Cronin, Editor point of 2017, according to the Sports Media Watch website, www.sportsmediawatch. com. Unsurprisingly, the site, which aggregates data from different sources, claims Super Bowl 51 is the most-watched sports event of the year to mid-July. The viewing Human beings are hard-wired to dislike figures do not include streaming. Outside of the NFL’s stranglehold on the top 10, the uncertainty. Psychological studies have shown Clemson-Alabama college football national championship earned a ranking of 11th that given the choice between receiving a definite electric shock now or taking the risk of overall with 25.3 million viewers.