4 - FIFA/CIES International University Network

IRVIN IAN RITCHIE KHOZA
Behind On the far-reaching
the scenes at
Wimbledon, impact World tennis’ Cup 2010 most
prestigious will have on tournament South Africa
JIM RICHARD BROWN PHILLIPS
Targeting On delivering £100m FIFA’s in turnover big
event for Silverstone, and the colour host of and
passion the British unique Grand to Prix Africa
DANNY EELCO VAN JORDAAN DER NOLL
How On World AB InBev’s Cup ticket sponsorship sales
strategies and the excitement paid dividends around
the at the US 2010 travelling World contingent Cup
ISSUE No. 157 160 • 06.10 09.10
ANYONE FOR TENNIS?
INTRODUCING THE NEXT GENERATION
OF WOMEN’S STARS
INFORMATION, INSIGHT AND ANALYSIS FOR THE GLOBAL SPORTS SECTOR

09.10 CONTENTS
SportBusiness International • No. 160 • 09.10
REGULARS
08 Agenda
Looking ahead, comment
and analysis
14 Brands and Marketing
P&G’s Olympic agreement
and the best performing
licensing brands in Europe
20 Media
Industry expertise from sister
publication TV Sports Markets
VOICES
PAGE 30
“There is a significant risk of major
properties pricing themselves out of
the market. Current price levels for
major events are just astronomical
and very difficult to justify.”
Eelco van der Noll,
Global Director, Sports &
Entertainment, AB InBev
30
27
26 Events
Horse play in Kentucky, the
ATP World Tour Finals and
pressure on Brazil 2014
30 Headliner
Eelco van der Noll
Global Director, Sports &
Entertainment, AB InBev
80 Big Debate
How will HD and 3D TV and
other technologies impact
the live events sector?
82 Most Influential...
Promoters
90 People
Richard Lewis
Chairman, Sport England
34
FEATURES
34 Let Battle Commence
Preview of next month’s Ryder Cup and the bids for 2018
41 On Track for Success
How women’s tennis is progressing on all fronts
57 Ultimate Sports Apps 2010
The inaugural recognition of best mobile sports apps
64 The Home of Tennis
Anatomy of an Event: Wimbledon
69 Racing Revolution
Anatomy of an Event: British Grand Prix
74 Europe’s Northern Stars
International focus: The Nordics
PAGE 64
“We look more at quality and values than
cost - we won’t go for the cheapest option.
The contractor must understand what we
want them to do. Failure to deliver is not
accepted. They see us as a trophy contract
and this means they give us special
attention. They are under no illusions.”
Ian Ritchie,
CEO, All England Tennis Club
PAGE 69
“Silverstone is equally as good, or better
than most of the European circuits.
The issues Silverstone has faced in the
past were down to the fact Formula
One contracts have only been for five
years, and this wasn’t sufficient to
assure us it was worth investing in
better facilities...We’ve now moved on
lightyears from that.”
Richard Phillips,
Managing Director, Silverstone
69

UPDATA 09.10
www.sportbusiness.com
deal of the month
The American multinational
giant became a top-tier Olympic
sponsor in a ten-year deal
through to the 2020 Games.
About the deal
Dow Chemical became the
official “chemistry company” for
the Olympic movement - signing
as the IOC’s tenth global sponsor
one week before Procter &
Gamble was announced as the
eleventh (see p. 14).
The Dow deal covers the 2012
London Olympics, the 2014 Sochi
Winter Games, the 2016 Summer
Games in Rio de Janeiro, as
well as the 2018 Winter and
2020 Summer Olympics. In 2011
Dow’s sponsorship campaign
will cover the values of the
‘International Year of Chemistry’,
highlighting the role chemistry
must play to help meet human
challenges of the future.
What drove the deal?
“As a global leader in the chemical
industry and an innovator in
sustainability, Dow will not only
provide critical financial support
to the Olympic Movement, but
also bring industry-leading
expertise and innovation to the
Games themselves,” said IOC
president Jacques Rogge.
What’s it worth?
$250 million.
Top 30 Sponsorship Deals: JULY 2010
Sponsor value Duration Deal
No Sponsor Industry event or Activity type ($m) (years) type
1 Dow Chemical Chemicals IOC 2010-2020 Event 250 10 N
2 Procter & Gamble Household Products IOC 2010-2014 Event 100 4 N
3 Aviva Financial Services - Insurance Premiership Rugby Event 30 4 N
4 Autonomy Information Technology Tottenham Hotspur Team 30 2 N
5 Everbank Financial Services - Banking Jacksonville Stadium Team 25 5 N
6 Gazprom Energy/Power/Gas/Electricity Red Star Belgrade Team 19 5 N
7 Zon Telecommunications Liga Zon Sagres Event 17.4 4 N
8 CBS Outdoor Media/Press/TV London Olympics Tier Three Event 15 2 N
9 Technogym Sports Equipment London Olympics Tier Three Event 15 2 N
10 Turkish Airlines Airlines Euroleague Basketball Event 13 5 N
11 Red Bull Drinks - Energy Central Stadium in Leipzig Team 10+ N
12 MasterCard Financial Services - Credit Cards Saudi Premier League Event 10+ 5 N
13 Henkel Household Products Arizona Diamondbacks Team 10+ 3 N
14 Orangina Drinks - Soft Drinks Liga Orangina Event 10+ N
15 Rogers Communications Telecommunications Vancouver Canucks stadium Team 10+ 10 N
16 Mahindra Satyam Information Technology FIFA World Cup Event 10+ 4 N
17 Bwin Gambling/Lottery Serie B Event 10+ 2 N
18 Insurance Office of America Financial Services - Insurance Orlando Magic Team 10+ N
19 HP Information Technology San Francisco 49ers Team 10+ N
20 Bridgestone Cars/Automotive Super Bowl Half Time show Event 10+ 5 R
21 Toshiba Information Technology Rugby World Cup 2011 Event 10+ 2 N
22 Continental Cars/Automotive Bayern Munich Team 10+ 5 N
23 Thomas Cook Travel Manchester United Team 8 4 N
24 Alands Penningautomatforening Gambling/Lottery Athletico de Madrid Team 7.5 1 R
25 Singha Beer Drinks - Beer Manchester United Team 6 3 N
26 City of Edmonton Government Authority Edmonton IndyCar race Event 5.5 3 N
27 BMO Financial Services - Banking Toronto FC Team 4 6 N
28 Blue Cross Financial Services - Insurance Jaguars practice field Team 4 1 N
29 Marriott Hotels USA Swimming Team 3.75 3 N
30 Rolex Watches/Timing Sydney-to-Hobart Yacht Race Event 3.75 5 R
Notes: Fees are reported/estimated. (N) - New deal; (R) - Renewal
Source: The World Sponsorship Monitor produced by Sports Marketing Surveys. Contact: nigelg@sportsmarketingsurveys.com
snapshoT
Level of interest in Golf in USA and 5 European key Markets
“Despite all the commotion
surrounding Tiger Woods, the
interest in golf is still quite
high in the relevant markets of
USA and Europe,” says Marcel
Cordes, Executive Director
SPORT+MARKT. “However for
the first time in recent years, the
popularity of golf in the UK is
higher than in the USA.
“Very interested“ and “interested”
20%
27%
“Compared to last year, the
popularity of golf in the UK has
gained 5 percentage points, while
in the US the level of interest has
been steady in the last couple
of years. The level of interest
has also increased a lot in other
European countries such as
France and Italy. This shows
clearly that golf is reaching out
to fans in new markets where
traditionally the sport had low
penetration levels in the past.”
11%
10%
6% 6%
USA UK France Italy Germany Spain
43.1m 11.4m 3.6m 4.2m 3.5m 2.6m
Source: SPORT+MARKT Sponsoring 21+ 2010
4 SportBusiness International • No.160 • 09.10

UpdAtA 09.10
toUr GetS AUdIenCe BooSt In tIMe for eBU neGotIAtIonS
GerMAn And SpAnISh television
audiences for the Tour de France
surged this year, but dropped in
some other top European cycling
markets, according to an audience
survey by TV Sports Markets and
Eurodata TV Worldwide.
Audiences on German publicservice
broadcasters ARD and ZDF
were up 25 per cent, vindicating
their decision to almost double
their hours of live coverage. ARD
and ZDF had slashed coverage last
year to 20 hours, from 60 in 2008,
in protest at the doping scandals
that dogged the race.
In Spain, audiences for state
broadcaster TVE rose 23 per cent,
spurred by Spanish rider Alberto
Contador’s second Tour win in a
row. The jump was impressive
given the reduced amount of
coverage on its main free-to-air
channels, TVE1 and La2, from
almost 47 hours in 2009 to less
than 14 this year. Coverage on
free satellite and digital terrestrial
sports channel Teledeporte rose to
almost 72 hours, pulling an average
tour de france live television audiences
Market
audience of 578,000 viewers and
a 5.3-per-cent share, up from 60
hours last year (307,000 viewers
and a 2.9-per-cent share).
The audience lifts are good
news for Tour organiser Amaury
Sport Organisation, which will
start negotiating a new pan-
European deal with the European
Broadcasting Union before the next
Tour. In the absence of France and
the UK, which have separate deals,
Germany and Spain form a key part
of the EBU contract.
2010 2009
Channel 000s Channel 000s
2010 v
2009 (%)
France France 2/France 3 3,286 France 2 3,763 -12.7
Germany
ARD/ZDF 1,257 ARD/ZDF 1,009 +24.6
Eurosport 396 Eurosport 675 -41.3
Italy RAI 2/RAI 3 1,090 RAI 2 1,161 -6.1
Spain
TVE1/La2/
Teledeporte
769
TVE1/La2/
Teledeporte
625 +23.1
UK ITV4 227 ITV4 228 -0.4
Sources: Kantar Media (Spain), AGF-Gfk Fernsehforschung (Germany), Barb, Attentional
(UK), AUDITEL - Nielsen Audience Measurement (Italy), MEDIAMETRIE (France)
Audiences fell 13 per cent in
the Tour’s home market. Publicservice
broadcaster France
Télévisions showed some live
coverage on secondary channel
France 3 this year, having shown
coverage only on main channel
France 2 last year. The top French
rider finished in 19th place.
Italian state broadcaster Rai’s
average audience fell 6.1 per cent
to 1.1 million after a 27-per-cent
cut in the number of hours of
coverage.
Eurodata TV Worldwide is the leading
provider of sports television audiences,
with access to ratings and programming
details for 2,000 channels over five
continents. Eurodata TV Worldwide
offers a range of services to help clients
successfully market TV programmes
and monitor their broadcasts.
Florent Simon
Eurodata TV Worldwide Sport Manager
Email: fsimon@eurodatatv.com
Tel: +33 171 099 307
TVSPORTS M A R K E T S
TV Sports Markets is No.1 for the
business of TV sports. With its unrivalled
knowledge of TV rights deals and
markets around the world, it provides
market-leading analysis of the sector
in a range of publications and bespoke
research products.
Paul Santos
TV Sports Markets Business Development
Email: paul.santos@tvsportsmarkets.com
Tel: +44 207 954 3483
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1 November 2010
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“India should become a natural host for
prestigious events. But that can’t happen
until international companies can
operate there confident that a deal is a
deal and a contract will be honoured.”
KEVIN ROBERTS ON THE DIFFICULTIES INTERNATIONAL AGENCIES ARE
EXPERIENCING IN DELHI AND NEW OPPORTUNITIES IN SPONSORSHIP.
IT’S NOW LESS than a month before the Commonwealth
Games are due to get under way in Delhi.
It should be a time of celebration for sport in India and
the country’s National Olympic Committee says it intends
to make a bid to stage the Olympic Games, with Delhi
2010 portrayed as a stepping stone towards The Big One.
But with Olympic bid campaigns costing anything
upwards of $100 million, they might consider better ways
of spending their cash. Because, as things stand, you
would have to be very brave to predict Delhi landing any
major sports event in the foreseeable future.
It’s not simply that construction of facilities and
infrastructure for the Delhi Commonwealth Games has
gone right down to the wire - we’ve seen that before,
notably with Athens in 2004.
More significantly it is about the atmosphere of
exasperation, fear and distrust which has developed
around the experience of the major international sports
sector consultancies working on the Commonwealth
Games and other projects in India.
IMG, World Sports Group (WSG), Sports Marketing
and Management (SMAM) and Great Big Events are
among the companies which have encountered problems.
IMG, which had done so much to establish and operate
the Indian Premier League, had its contract arbitrarily
cancelled by the Board of Control for Cricket in India
in what appeared to be an internal power-struggle while
WSG had its IPL rights sales contract axed.
SMAM could take a massive bath over its involvement
in the Commonwealth Games after being axed from its
sponsorship sales role despite bringing in $85 million,
while Great Big Events - an acknowledged leader in sports
event presentation and ceremonies - was reported to be
off the project as SportBusiness International went to press.
Even Fast Track, which is selling the Games’ TV rights, has
had its name dragged through the press after allegations -
vehemently denied - it had been handed the contract without
going through a rigorous selection process (see pp. 12-13).
With its massive population, booming economy and
democratic tradition, India should be set on becoming
a major power in sport and a natural host for many
prestigious major events. But it is difficult to see how that
can happen until international companies can operate there
without feeling like they are battling through a quagmire
of bureaucracy and hostility, and with the confidence that a
deal really is a deal and that a contract will be honoured.
There are, of course, massive differences in business
culture between nations and it would be naïve to assume
international best practice is universally followed. But in
sport, as in other sectors, those who work internationally
are able to adjust to local conditions and expectations.
This doesn’t seem to have been the case in Delhi, where
international businesses have been left not simply frustrated
but surprised and shaken at what they have encountered.
Delhi 2010 really was an opportunity for India to
demonstrate its ability to deliver major international sports
events but in reality they have blown it. As ever, the public
will lose sight of these issues once the competition starts
and we can only join the organisers in hoping for some great
performances and a true celebration of the best in sport.
But once the lights go out after the closing ceremony, it
will take some time for the commercial sports world to get
the bitter taste out of its mouth and that could well affect
the world’s appetite for taking events to India.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Congratulations to Deepdale Solutions, providers of
‘creative solutions in aluminium and glass’ and the first of
a new generation of shirt sponsors of big (ish) spending
English Championship football club Middlesbrough.
Boro’s commercial department looked for a creative
solution when Garmin satellite navigation decided not to
renew its shirt deal. They came up with the idea of selling
the space in 10 monthly blocks for rest of the season.
We don’t know whether the cumulative sponsorship take
will be greater than expectations from a single deal, but it
does represent a willingness to think beyond the established
orthodoxy of one sponsor, one shirt, one season.
Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur has also
expanded its sponsorship inventory by selling shirt space for
league matches to one brand, and cup games for another.
The trend raises a number of issues. How will parents
of Boro fans respond to the pester power of their offspring
when they demand their tenth replica shirt of the year? And
what sort of financial structure did Spurs put in place for its
cup shirt deal which could deliver as few as four matches?
Should this trend continue, there may be some value
in considering pooling the shirt sponsorship rights for
lower league teams playing away from home. This would
provide an opportunity for a national or international
brand to reinforce its presence in football without seriously
detracting from the visibility of the home shirt sponsors,
which are generally local businesses anxious for visibility
within a relatively small and well-defined area.
SportBusiness International • No.160 • 09.10 7

AGENDA
SHORTSTOP
Gambia: The country’s leading
Olympic official, Langtombong Tamba,
was sentenced to death for treason,
conspiracy to murder and participating
in an act to overthrow the government.
According to insidethegames.biz,
Tamba, the president of the Gambia
National Olympic Committee, was given
the penalty after being found guilty of
trying to stage a coup in 2006 while
head of the Armed Forces.
MotoGP: Valentino Rossi announced he
would switch to Ducati from Yamaha
next season.
Blackburn Rovers: The English Premier
League club confirmed it was in serious
talks with a financial services company
which wants to take over the club. If
successful, Western Gulf Advisory
(a Swiss-Bahraini enterprise which
manages investments on behalf of an
Indian entrepreneur called Ahsan Ali
Syed) says it will release £80m to £100m
in funds for the purchase of players over
the next five years.
China: Deputy sports minister Cui
Dalin, the man behind the country’s
medal table-topping triumph at the
2008 Beijing Olympics, retired.
ICC: Following last month’s monsoon
floods, the International Cricket Council
announced a World XI team would visit
Pakistan as a gesture of support for
the country - which is unable to stage
international cricket at home because
of security threats.
Arsenal: The English Premier League
club launched a new shares-buying
initiative for supporters. Supporters will
be invited to pay a minimum of £100 to
buy one fanshare – one hundredth of
an actual share. In return, the member
will secure full shareholder’s rights,
including the chance to attend the
annual general meeting.
IndyCar: Drivers will compete in two
races in one day for the first time in 30
years from next season. The ‘Two-Step’
at the Texas Motor Speedway will feature
two races of 275km, replacing the
550km event previously staged there.
RFU: The English Rugby Football Union
told clubs they will face tougher financial
sanctions next season after complaints
last season that three clubs went into
administration or liquidation only to
re-emerge as phoenix companies.
AND HERE’S THE NEWS
A new editorial offering is being
launched for sports broadcasters.
DIGITAL SPORTS SPECIALIST PERFORM is
launching sports news service, OMNISPORT,
offering multi-platform broadcasters over
15,000 news stories a year with fully integrated
video, editorial, imagery and data, SportBusiness
International can exclusively reveal.
PERFORM, which says the first-of-its-kind
operation is “the most comprehensive rights
and territory-cleared multi-format sports news
service available on the market”, has spotted
a commercial opportunity to cater for today’s
multi-platform sports broadcast requirements.
OMNISPORT stories will link video, editorial,
data and images and will be available in a range
of flexible delivery options to enable broadcasters
to publish sports news content across their TV,
online and mobile services. Ninety per cent of
video stories will be cleared for all platforms.
To test the market for the service, PERFORM
launched a beta version for the 2010 FIFA World
Cup, which was taken by over fifty broadcasters,
internet service providers, mobile operators and
publishers including BBC, CBS Sports, Univision,
Sky New Zealand, Vodafone and Orange.
“Sports fans are consuming sport wherever
and whenever they can across any device and we
understand that sports news broadcasters need a
THE HEAD OF A leading sponsorship
consultancy which could take a multimillion
dollar hit after being fired from the
Commonwealth Games has been left frustrated,
upset and dreading the prospect of lengthy legal
proceedings to recover the money.
Mike Bushell, CEO of Sports Marketing
and Management (SMAM), says there were no
grounds for dropping his company after it had
raised some $85 million in sponsorship.
It is the latest in a string of incidents which
have seen international sports sector companies
run into stormy waters while working in India.
SMAM, which has worked on every
Commonwealth Games since 1982, had been
working on the Delhi 2010 project for three
years with 10 to 12 staff involved at any time.
The company developed a sponsorship sales and
servicing strategy and had already generated more
revenue than either the 2006 or 2002 Games.
But, says Bushell: “We were summarily
dismissed without being paid a single Rupee. We
were told we were being fired on performance
grounds but that was just made up. There were
no criteria for dropping us.”
flexible sports news solution that can be tailored
to their service,” said Oliver Slipper, joint-CEO of
PERFORM. “We have spoken to multi-platform
broadcasters who at present are using providers
that deliver only editorial or video formats and
often only clear rights for one platform.”
OMNISPORT will be broken down into four
content packages: UK Football (including news
from the Premier League, Cup competitions,
England internationals and English teams in
UEFA competitions), Global Football (which
combines the UK Football package with in depth
news, previews and round-ups from the rest of
the world’s leading football competitions), Sport
(combining all the content from the Football
package with breaking news from all the top
global sports) and Special Events (major events).
SHAM FACES DELHI DEFECIT
Agency dropped from selling Delhi
sponsorship reacts to its difficulties.
Football-focused operation - Getty Images Sport
Opening of Melbourne 2006 - Getty Images Sport
The issue came to a head after Indian
Railways, one of a number of public companies
to sponsor the Games, said it would pull out if
SMAM received any commission on the deal.
SMAM’s initial proposal was based on around
half of sponsors coming from the public utility
sector. That level of public sector involvement has
become the norm and other events, including
Sochi 2014, have exceeded that level.
When it became an issue SMAM agreed to
lower its commission on deals as a gesture of
goodwill but was shown the exit. The company
is now waiting for a date for mediation to reach
an agreement. If that’s unsuccessful a potentially
lengthy arbitration process, in India, will kick-in.
8 SportBusiness International • No. 160 • 09.10

INSIGHT
MATT CUTLER
Deputy Editor
SportBusiness International
COURT-SIDE ACTION
TEAM OWNERS in the United
States and beyond were due to
discover in late August whether
the competitiveness of their teams
could be determined in a new arena
- the divorce court.
The prospect was raised by a bitter
split between the owner of Major
League Baseball’s LA Dodgers, Frank
McCourt, and his ex-wife, Jamie,
which prompted her to seek half the
club as part of her settlement.
Jamie McCourt married Frank in
1979 and the couple has four grown
sons. But she filed for divorce in
2009 when acting as CEO of the
team and drawing an annual salary
of $2 million. The terms of an award
were due to be thrashed out in a Los
Angeles courtroom as SportBusiness
International went to print.
The acrimonious divorce has
already been blamed for wrecking
this season for the Dodgers, MLB’s
fourth biggest franchise. McCourt
installed his ex-wife as Dodgers CEO
after buying the team from Rupert
Murdoch’s News Corporation in
2004. Their marriage imploded
and she was sacked as the Dodgers
exited the end-of-season play-offs in
October 2009.
The impact of the courtroom on
the ballpark parallels two previous
cases - the LA Lakers and San
Diego Padres, both of which were
ultimately sold to help settle divorce
pay-offs - by paralysing team
operations and limiting the amount
of cash available to strengthen the
playing roster. The $19 million
spent by the McCourts on legal fees
during their divorce are equal to
the 2010 salary of the Dodgers’ star
player, Manny Ramirez. Instead of
high-profile young recruits, general
manager Ned Colletti has been
forced to recall a clutch of older
players who had been sent out on
loan to other teams.
Lawyers claim circumstances
in the case are not necessarily
unique to the US but represent
the latest example of a developing
trend that could endanger sports
teams worldwide.
James Brown, associate with
Manchester-based law firm
Pannone, says one consequence
of sports organisations being run
along business lines is that stakes
in sports clubs are no longer treated
differently to any other asset to be
divided on divorce. Pannone has
handled many big-money divorces
in the world of sport, including
backers, boardroom members, star
players and athletes.
Judges have the power to divide
a sports club as they would any
other asset and, if a husband doesn’t
have sufficient ready cash to settle
a pay-out, can potentially order the
sale of a club to raise the money.
The implications for many clubs are
acute, Brown argues, particularly
for those reliant on support from
banks: “No-one should be under
any illusions that a football team is
a ‘safe’ asset, immune to the reach
The McCourts during the the 2009 Playoffs - Getty Images Sport
English Premier League club owners will be among those reflecting on
the outcome of a US divorce case with potentially significant ramifications.
of a divorce court. It is very possible
that the situation being played
out in Los Angeles could be
repeated elsewhere.
“Many Premiership teams
are heavily leveraged and the
prospect of seeing ownership
fought over can cause banks to pull
funding in the same way that they
can do with businesses in other
sectors during marital battles.
“That eventuality would, of
course, have serious repercussions
for the running of the club and
even the on-field performance
of the team by limiting the cash
for wages, new players, stadium
developments and so on.”
Only last year, Veronica Lario
was reported in the Italian media
to be seeking a stake in AC Milan
as part of her strategy in obtaining
a generous pay-off from her
ex-husband, Silvio Berlusconi.
Brown adds the UK’s reputation
for awarding settlements that are
especially favourable to wives meant
that even sport’s richest and most
powerful figures are under pressure.
In divorcing his wife, Slavica,
Bernie Ecclestone was reported to
have last year reached a generous
settlement in order to retain his
grip on world motorsport.
Much of his $2 billion wealth had
been built up during the couple’s
24-year marriage and Slavica had
been entrusted with looking after a
family trust which controlled 10 per
cent of the value of Formula One.
Ryder Cup Director for The
European Tour Richard Hills told
me in May that golf’s biennial team
event is the “transatlantic bridge
in the world of sport.” He’s right
– seldom do the sporting cultures
of the USA and Europe cross other
than at the Olympic Games.
That said, the future growth and
development of the Ryder Cup is
unquestionably being driven from
Europe. Bidding to host the event
in eight years time is becoming the
most competitive in golfing history,
with several European nations
willing to build bespoke courses
and promising spectators a Ryder
Cup that will raise their golfing
experience to the next level.
Interest in the USA has waned
over the past 20 years, partly
because of the strength of the
European team (the USA’s record is
two wins from the last seven played
and Europe are strong favourites
for Celtic Manor), but also from
a significant proportion of the
US golfing elite downplaying the
event’s importance, believing the
professional golf year is over once
the PGA Championship is over.
Add to that the Tiger Woods
factor, a major draw for US
television audiences. He didn’t play
in 2008 through injury and despite
still holding the number one
ranking (albeit precariously), there
are calls for him to not be part of
the 2010 USA team given his poor
form since his return from the
extra-marital affair scandal.
As you’ll see in our Ryder Cup
feature starting on page 34, this
year’s match is primed to have a
positive economic impact of €100m
to host country Wales, thanks in
part to an influx of high-spending
US sports fans, who at the 2006
Ryder Cup in Ireland, spent on
average €600 per day (compared
to the €350 per day average)
according to research by Deloitte.
It’s a two-way relationship and
the Ryder Cup relies on the US
public’s engagement, and their
desire to cross the Atlantic to
come and watch.

AGENDA
SHORTSTOP
2020 Olympics: The International
Softball Federation rejected an
offer from its baseball counterpart
to submit a joint bid for Olympic
reinstatement in 2020. The two
sports were dropped from the 2012
London Olympic Games programme,
then rejected last year when the
International Olympic Committee
voted in golf and seven-a-side rugby
for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Athletics: International Association
of Athletics Federations president
Lamine Diack told the sport’s ruling
Council in Kiev that prize money at
major events will not be cut as part
of $20m in cost-saving. The IAAF
announced the planned cuts - which
include $4m in 2010 – in May, saying
they were needed for the sport to
weather the global financial crisis.
NASCAR: Atlanta Motor Speedway
revealed that next season it will
host only one of the two races it has
been staging since 1960. Atlanta
will keep its Labor Day weekend
race. NASCAR chairman and chief
executive Brian France said in July
there could be “impactful changes”
to the Sprint Cup schedule to
address low attendances.
Baseball: North America’s Major
League agreed a deal with the
Australian Baseball Federation to
create a new league in the country
to serve as a pathway for Australian,
Japanese and Korean players to
break into the game. The Australian
Baseball League will relaunch in
November with six teams from each
major city in the country.
Portsmouth FC: The English
Championship club won its High
Court fight with Her Majesty’s
Revenue and Customs (HMRC),
which claimed it was owed £13m
more than the £24m the club
acknowledged. According to the
‘Football Creditor Rule’, footballrelated
creditors should be favoured
by the clubs when paying off debts.
HMRC said it plans to question the
status of the rule legally, but will not
appeal in the Portsmouth case.
Texas Rangers: The group led
by Hall of Fame pitcher and team
president Nolan Ryan won the
auction to buy the bankrupt Major
League Baseball franchise.
WASTE OF SPACE
Sponsors of the 2014 World Cup could be hit after
220,000 of a total 3.1 million tickets were left available
at the 2010 tournament. Alistair Grant reports.
SPONSORS OF FIFA World
Cup 2014 could have their ticket
allocations trimmed after two-thirds
of sponsor tickets for the 2010
tournament went unused, leaving
empty seats at most matches.
FIFA has pledged to ‘rip up’ its
ticket structure as it looks to ensure
that stadia are full In Brazil.
Each of the 18 World Cup 2010
partners had the right to buy and
distribute some 30,000 tickets for
the tournament. Traditionally they
2010 World Cup Individual Ticket prices ($)
A desperate fan’s plea - Getty Images Sport
are used for client entertainment,
staff or as prizes for promotional
offers and competitions.
But some 360,000 of 550,000
available partner tickets were
returned before the tournament
and efforts to re-sell them on the
local market were thwarted because
of their high price. Category one
tickets cost $160 for the group
stages and $900 for the final.
Although some observers
claim to be surprised at the level
Matches Cat. 1 Cat. 2 Cat. 3 Cat. 4 Wheelchair
Opening Match 450 300 200 68 70
Group Matches 160 120 80 19 20
Round of 16 200 150 100 49 50
Quarter-finals 300 200 150 73 75
Semi-finals 600 400 250 97 100
3rd/4th Place Match 300 200 150 73 75
The Final 900 600 400 146 150
Source: FIFA
$1=ZAR7.2; Category 4 tickets reserved for South African citizens
of take-up most had predicted that
it would be lower than at previous
tournaments. South Africa’s
isolation from the major markets
of Europe, North America and Asia
which meant sky high travel costs.
The price of accommodation in
South Africa was also a major issue.
Richard Marke of Lawrence
Graham solicitors, who specialises
in sponsorship work, said: “People
will be surprised sponsors’ tickets
are down, as the World Cup is a
premier event and no sponsors’
tickets are usually left over.
“But sponsors do not have
the appetite to spend the money
associated with giving tickets away
tickets, such as flights and hotels.”
Rupert Pratt, managing
director of the Generate
Sponsorship consultancy, added:
“The economic climate means
sponsors may have dropped ticket
competitions. They also need
to be seen to be cutting back on
corporate hospitality activity.”
Simon Rines, publisher of the
International Journal of Sports
Marketing and Sponsorship, said:
“Sponsors’ ticket reductions were
down to the practical difficulty of
having a World Cup stuck out on a
limb in South Africa.
“It wasn’t near the world’s big
economies. Sponsors offer tickets
to distributors, but the big markets
are Europe, Asia and North
America - all an expensive flight
from South Africa.”
Multinational firms are also
understood to have made the
decision it was just not worth
running competitions which usually
see them give away eight out of
every 10 tickets to fans, with the rest
going to staff and business contacts.
Most of the 13 principal sponsors
refused to reveal how many tickets
they had returned. However, a
spokesman for Continental tyres
confirmed the trend, saying: “The
number of tickets we used was
much lower than for previous
events such as the 2006 World Cup
and Euro 2008.
“Associated costs were much
higher, so we decided to offer
more local activities in different
countries, such as public viewings
of games in connection with a
product presentation.”
10 SportBusiness International • No.160 • 09.10

SPORTS EVENTS
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AGENDA
DON’t GIVE uP ON DElHI
Matthew Glendinning talks to Commonwealth Games chief Mike Hooper
as he responds to yet more troubles in the lead up to Delhi 2010.
tHE MAN At tHE HElM of the Commonwealth
Games Federation (CGF) says he has not
lost confidence in the Delhi 2010 organising
committee (OC) despite the high-profile
suspension of key personnel following
corruption allegations.
Along with delays on venue construction and
questions over sub-standard materials used in
some venues, recent charges against officials
high up in the Delhi OC have painted a picture
of an organisation spiralling out of control with
little more than a month to go before the start of
the Games in October.
Despite calling the latest episode - in which
the OC’s joint director general and deputy
director general were suspended for financial
irregularities over a promotional event in
London - a “massive distraction”, CGF chief
executive Mike Hooper believes the OC has
taken the right course of action on the issue.
“There have been allegations of overpricing
and allegations relating to venue construction
that must be properly investigated,” Hooper
told SportBusiness International. “In terms of
FACT OF THE MONTH:
EUROPE LOOKS AT FOURTH CONSECUTIVE HOME-SOIL WIN
the former, the OC themselves looked into the
matter, starting with an internal enquiry. But
the OC board is not a court of law so they have
rightly passed on the case to the appropriate
[government] authorities.
“I hasten to add that the recent CVC (Central
Vigilance Commission) report suggesting that in
some instances sub-standard building materials
were used in venues is not the OC’s direct
responsibility, but we have asked them to follow
up with the relevant government agencies…to
ensure that all venues are fit for purpose.”
With the October Games looming, Hooper
maintains there is work to be done by all
stakeholders in the Games - from the police to
the authority that cleans up Delhi’s streets - and
not just the OC.
“If we all focus on the job in hand there’s a
good chances of a successful Games,” Hooper
adds. “Let the judgement come after the Games
and from the athletes themselves. In Greece at
the 2004 Olympic Games, people were asking
similar questions and, at the end of the day, it
went off very well.”
On October 1 the 38th edition of the Ryder Cup will tee off at Celtic Manor in Newport, Wales.
Having won five of the last seven ties, Team Europe will be confident of an 11th victory having
won the last three Ryder Cup editions in Europe (1997, 2002 and 2006). Defending champions
Team USA aim for back-to-back Ryder Cup wins, a feat they last accomplished in 1993.
Overview of all Ryder cup matches
Year Venue Location Home Away Result Series
2010 The Celtic Manor Resort City of Newport, WAL EUR USA
2008 Valhalla Golf Club Louisville, KY, USA USA EUR 16.5-11.5 USA lead 25-10-2
2006 The K-Club Straffan, IRL EUR USA 18.5-9.5 USA lead 24-10-2
2004 Oakland Hills CC Bloomfield Hills, MI, USA USA EUR 9.5-18.5 USA lead 24-9-2
2002 The De Vere Belfry Sutton Coldfield, ENG EUR USA 15.5-12.5 USA lead 24-8-2
1999 The Country Club Brookline, MA, USA USA EUR 14.5-13.5 USA lead 24-7-2
1997 Valderrama GC Sotogrande, ESP EUR USA 14.5-13.5 USA lead 23-7-2
1995 Oak Hill CC Rochester, NY, USA USA EUR 13.5-14.5 USA lead 23-6-2
1993 The De Vere Belfry Sutton Coldfield, ENG EUR USA 13-15 USA lead 23-5-2
1991 The Ocean Course Kiawah Island, SC, USA USA EUR 14.5-13.5 USA lead 22-5-2
1989 The De Vere Belfry Sutton Coldfield, ENG EUR USA 14-14 USA lead 21-5-2
1987 Muirfield Village GC Dublin, OH, USA USA EUR 13-15 USA lead 21-5-1
1985 The De Vere Belfry Sutton Coldfield, ENG EUR USA 16.5-11.5 USA lead 21-4-1
1983 PGA National GC Palm Beach Gardens, FL, USA USA EUR 14.5-13.5 USA lead 21-3-1
1981 Walton Heath GC Surrey, ENG EUR USA 9.5-18.5 USA lead 20-3-1
But the controversies don’t end there. The OC’s
handling of its commercial programme has also
become a source of dispute with Sport Marketing
and Management (SMAM), the Australian
company commissioned by the OC to sell the
sponsorship rights, dismissed in August on the
grounds of non-performance.
Among the sponsors signed up are the
big international names of Coca-Cola, adidas’
Reebok brand and Hero Honda Motors, a local
motorcycle joint-venture. The rest, however,
consist of Indian public-sector firms such as
Indian Railways, power generator NTPC and
Air India, which critics in the OC say were
contracted without SMAM’s assistance.
The decision to offload the well-respected
sports marketing firm appears difficult to
reconcile with a statement released in May this
year on the OC’s own website, where Hooper
himself praised the company for its effort in
raising a then total of $74 million.
“We were particularly pleased with the
in-roads being made in the area of sponsorship
and the results achieved to date by the
organising committee and their appointed
agent for the Games, Sports Marketing and
Management,” he wrote.
Does Hooper stand by that comment?
“Absolutely,” he responds. In fact, a recently
released statement from SMAM suggests that
the final figure will be nearer to $85 million -
more than the total for Melbourne 2006.
As for broadcast revenues for the Games,
valued at $64 million, Hooper asserts that the
OC-appointed Fast Track agency has exceeded
sales expectations.
“Fast Track have done a tremendous job for
the OC,” he says. “Remember that Ron Walker,
chairman of Melbourne 2006, congratulated
12 SportBusiness International • No. 160 • 09.10

COMMUNIQUE
AUGUST 2010
SINGAPORE
THE INAUGURAL YOUTH OLYMPICS: BRINGING
THE games TO A NEW GENERATION.
Queen’s Baton Relay outside Buckingham Palace - Getty Images Sport
them on the work they did with Melbourne
2006, which exceeded targets and was the
most successful sponsorship campaign in
the history of the Commonwealth Games by
a significant margin. Well, it’s the same for
Delhi: they have blown the doors off the [2006]
figure with much better sales than anticipated
in a global context.”
Meanwhile, ticket sales are set to hit around
$13 million, making the Delhi Games worth well
over $160 million for the organisers who are the
beneficiaries of all three main revenue streams.
Finally, the New Zealander who admits to
a “glass half full” viewpoint on preparations
remains firm on the priority-point of security:
“We appointed our own security advisor and have
regular feedback from, and interaction with, the
Metropolitan Police on an informal basis.
“John Yates, the Assistant Commissioner in
the UK Metropolitan Police, has been out here
and is happy with the plans in place.
“The Indian government is committed to
a safe and secure Games and nothing has
happened to dissuade us that they have backed
off from fulfilling their commitments. Delhi is
a government city with a strong police presence
and there will be a lot of police both in and
outside the venues.”
Despite the scepticism, it is unlikely that
the Indian government and its agencies will
allow the event to fail. The OC was handed a
$345 million budget for the Games, all via an
unsecured government loan.
But outside estimates put the total Games
costs, including stadium infrastructure,
anywhere from $2 billion to $6 billion.
As Hooper concludes: “[India] invested a
massive amount of money in these Games, and
we want it to succeed.”
A rock tune is playing and green
laser beams illuminate the interior of
a revolving box on the corner of the
wrestling arena.
The door to the box opens and a
wrestler emerges to face his opponent,
introduced in the same fashion just a
few seconds earlier.
This isn’t a scene from the WWE,
it’s the high-octane presentation of the
Greco-Roman finals at the inaugural
Youth Olympic Games in Singapore.
The International Olympic
Committee has long been confronted
by the challenge of rejuvenating its
audience.
Recent research shows that today’s
fans of the Olympics are
practically the same as ten
years ago. And cruel as
it may seem , many
of them will not be
around for many
more Games.
The
introduction of
more extreme
versions of classic
sports to the
programme, like the
ski and snowboard
cross or BMX cycling,
have already shown how
the Olympic movement is reching
out to youth. And five years ago, IOC
members were persuaded by a London
Olympic bid that promised to inspire
youngsters around the world, over what
was seen as a technically flawless
Paris candidature.
The concept of the Youth Olympic
Games, first announced by IOC
president Jacques Rogge in 2007,
follows in this trend.
Without the weight of tradition
on their shoulders, international
sports federations have been able to
experiment freely with different formats
in a quest to attract new audiences.
The most innovative of them all is
certainly three-on-three basketball
which, inspired by the street version
of the game, had two games played
at the same time on either half of the
court to the sound of songs picked by
a DJ on site.
Other sports have also been
audacious enough to feature mixed
and continent-based teams, building
bridges between genders and countries.
New media has been wisely explored
by a 12-strong team who tweeted live
commentary of sailing races from
powerboats to a screen set up at the
National Sailing Centre on shore.
You can’t help but think it would have
been the perfect occasion for FIFA to test
the long-awaited goalline technology,
with all football games taking place at
the same Jalan Besar Stadium. But the
football’s world governing body stuck to
the conventional format in a women’s
and men’s tournament for 14 and
15-year-olds.
Singapore budget was already well
over the amount estimated by the IOC
and the Games will end up
costing $290 million,
almost three times the
amount originally
allocated for
staging the event.
Nevertheless,
restrictions on
new builds - the
IOC required
the Games to be
held at existing
facilities to keep
costs to a minimum
- forced organisers
to come up with creative
solutions that could be used to ensure
sustainable Olympic Games in the
future.
Adopting mixed or combined
teams has allowed competitions to
take place with fewer athletes, and
international federations have been
more prepared to be flexible and work
with what was available rather than
make any costly demands.
And in Singapore, the Youth
Olympics had an ideal first host
country. With the wealthy city-state
keen to use sports to promote itself
as not only an Asian business hub
but also a fun place to live, the
enthusiasm and involvement of the
population was evident.
From university students to
government ministers, the sense of
pride was summarised in the same
sentence: “We’re a small country, but
we can still do big things like this.”
Bernardo Domingues
SportBusiness Group
SportBusiness International • No.160 • 09.10 13

BRANDS & MARKETING
SHORTSTOP
BRANDS + MARKETING
Singha Beer: The Thai brand signed
a four-year ‘platinum partnership’
to become Chelsea’s official beer
sponsor. The brand will be sold
exclusively across the club’s Stamford
Bridge from 2010-11 to 2013-14.
Channel 4: BT and Sainsbury’s signed
deals to become joint sponsors of UK
commercial broadcaster’s coverage
of the 2012 Paralympics. Sainsbury’s
and BT will share sponsorship equally
across a variety of programmes
broadcast across the Channel 4
network both in the lead up to and
during the Paralympic Games. The deal
started on August 29, exactly two years
to the Opening Ceremony of the London
2012 Paralympic Games which Channel
4 marked with a weekend of dedicated
programming.
Football Association of Ireland: Mobile
phone operator 3 became primary
sponsor of the Irish national team in a
four-year deal is worth €7.5 million The
operator will offer customers access to
match tickets and other football-related
initiatives and will support grassroots
initiatives across the country.
Milwaukee Brewers: The Major League
Baseball team extended its relationship
with PNC Bank to include the naming
rights for the club level at Miller Park
stadium. It is the first time the team has
had a sponsor for its club level.
Swiss Indoors: Tobacco brand
Davidoff’s sponsorship of the ATP 500
tennis tournament in Basel will end
after the 2010 event this November,
tournament organiser’s said. The ATP
World Tour told the Swiss Indoors in
June that the existing sponsorship
could not be extended because of
worldwide laws restricting tobacco
advertising on television.
Suzuki: The Japanese car giant
Suzuki Motor Corporation renewed its
agreement with the Asean Football
Federation to continue as title
sponsorship of the AFF Suzuki Cup for
2010. The agreement was brokered
by the Singapore-based World Sport
Group, the exclusive marketing
partners of the AFF and organiser of the
tournament. Suzuki first title sponsored
the tournament in 2008.
Toyota: The car producer extended its
sponsorship of Munster Rugby in a new
three-year deal worth €5.75m.
AN OLYMPIC EFFORT
ENCOURAGED BY THE RESULTS of a $15m
partnership with the National Football League
and a similar-sized deal with the US Olympic
Committee for the 2010 and 2012 Olympic
Games, P&G has committed a couple of
hundred million dollars to be an official partner
of the Olympic Games.
Twenty-two of P&G’s brands, like Gillette,
boast $1 billion or more in annual sales and are
powerful enough to sustain a global sponsorship
campaign in their own right. But in all the these
sponsorship deals, P&G is the umbrella brand,
and the marketing rights that come with the
sponsorship are shared amongst a range of its
subsidiaries - 13 of them, for instance, became
NFL’s official locker room products.
For its Olympic partnership, the company
will be mirroring the activation around Team
USA in Vancouver, says Marc Pritchard, P&G
global marketing and brand building officer.
“The way the partnership works and the way we
market it is we have actually three major pillars,”
he tells SportBusiness International. “One is our
brands. We had each individual brand create an
Olympic-themed idea and they tend to partner
with or sponsor an athlete.”
During Vancouver speed-skater Apolo Ohno
endorsed cold and flu medicine line Vicks
while ice skater Tanith Belbin was supported
by women’s deodorant Secret. In the lead-up to
London, at least 50 P&G brands are expected to
partner with individual teams and athletes.
Snowboarder Lindsey Jacobellis - Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble’s 10-year Olympic sponsorship will see it leverage sales
across its whole multi-brand portfolio, Bernardo Domingues reports.
A second element of P&G’s Winter campaign
was activated on site. It set up a ‘Family Home’ in
Vancouver, where US athletes could meet up with
their families without having to face the access
difficulties of the Olympic Village. There they
could enjoy ‘branded services’ such as the Pampers
playtime village and the Tide laundry centre.
Post-Games research showed families engage
strongly as an audience during the Olympics and
this had clear consequences in the outcome of its
television campaign.
“Our advertising was thirty-to-forty per cent
more effective during the Games than otherwise,”
explains Pritchard. “A lot of that is because you
have the entire family watching.”
The company also flew a number of US
athletes’ mothers to Vancouver who otherwise
could not afford the trip. Its TV ads explored
the concept of the Games seen through the
eyes of a mother and at the end of the spots, as
on in-store advertising, some of the company’s
brands and products were displayed under the
‘P&G - Proud Sponsor of Moms’ tag.
Tim Crow, CEO at sponsorship consultancy
Synergy, says the key is playing the “mom card”
- something P&G has been doing since signing
its NFL deal - because a mother “doesn’t just buy
for herself: she buys for the family.
“And if a consuming family passion is the
NFL - which it absolutely is in the US - then
connecting P&G’s products to that family
passion is absolutely on the money.”
14 SportBusiness International • No. 160 • 09.10

EYE ON THE
INDUSTRY
GREAT HAUL OF CHINA
For years the West has coveted the Chinese market, often using sponsorship
for entry. Now traffic is flowing in the opposite direction, writes Barry Wilner.
SPONSORSHIP OF sport in China by major
global brands peaked before and during the
Beijing Olympic Games. But now a new trend
is emerging as Chinese companies become
sponsors on the international scene as they look
to build share in global markets.
Li Ning, a sportswear company founded by
the Olympic champion gymnast and six-medal
winner at the 1984 games in Los Angeles,
reached an agreement with Shaquille O’Neal in
2006 and since then has sponsored Sweden’s
Olympic teams, plus Spain and Argentina’s
basketball teams.
Additionally Anta sponsors tennis star
Jelena Jankovic, Xtep partners English Premier
League football club Birmingham City and most
recently, Peak, which eventually hopes to be the
Nike of its homeland, signed a five-year deal
with the women’s tennis tour that is worth more
than $1 million annually (see pp. 44-45).
The idea is to use sponsorship of foreign
athletes to boost brand image within China’s
sporting goods market, which is worth more
than $6 billion and is projected to grow 14 per
cent a year.
“More than 30 Chinese firms partnered with
the Beijing Olympic Games, including PC-maker
Lenovo as a global Olympic sponsor. Chinese
electronic gadget-producer Aigo sponsored the
McLaren-Mercedes Formula One team and
Manchester United,” says Zak Brown, CEO of the
Just Marketing International agency.
“This trend will continue with more Chinese
companies getting involved in international
sports sponsorships, with an increased emphasis
on activation beyond just having signs in the
field...Motorsports would be among the naturals.
“The massive global audience and gateway to
Li Ning at the NBA signing ceremony in 2005 - Getty Images Sport
eager buyers of automotive, consumer and tech
products and goods should drive expansion of
investment in motorsports.”
But basketball remains the top target of these
Chinese sponsors.
Peak is the official sponsor of the NBA
in China and is most competitive in the
marketplace with its basketball shoes. It opened
more than 1,000 new stores in the past year,
with total revenues doubling to $456 million,
and has deals with a dozen NBA players,
including all-stars Jason Kidd and Ron Artest.
“We just want to extend our brand name
from basketball to tennis,” says Peak CEO Jim
Xu. “China is our top market. Signing deals with
international sports competitions is to attain
our goal of becoming more global and more
professional. But, of course, the primary impact
will be on China and then the global market.”
Still, attracting big names across a wide
spectrum of sports eventually would be a
wiser approach. “In general terms, the major
international sports that have a big following
in China are NBA, soccer [football] and golf
- the latter among the sought-after wealthy
professional Chinese demographic,” adds Brown.
“As such, they attract foreign sponsorship
and brands seeking penetration in the Chinese
consumer market. English Premiership clubs
such as Manchester United have established
permanent relationships in the country through
demonstration tours, academies and exchange
programmes. This is a trend that will continue.”
Next to look for might be more widespread
involvement by Chinese food, beverage and
transportation services. Eventually, it is also
predcited, investment firms, banks and
automakers will become big players too.
BRANDS + MARKETING
BACK THE BID?
Adam Paker asks whether
sponsoring bids to host major
sports events is worth it.
In December FIFA will, for the first time,
select the host countries for not one but
two World Cups.
All of the bids have sponsors but is it
worth backing an event bid considering
the risks associated with it? The question
was asked in England in May, when
the country’s 2018 backers braced
themselves for the fallout from then
chairman Lord Triesman’s accusations of
bribery against rival bids.
Bid sponsors gain limited rights and
a short time in which to activate them.
Worst of all, sponsors of unsuccessful bids
face reflected embarrassment – and live
in fear they will be tarred with the same
brush as the failed (and in the public’s eye,
incompetent) bidding committee.
Moreover, even sponsors of
successful bids cannot be complacent,
since the period of public jubilation
is finite. Some brands (EDF Energy
in relation to London 2012) choose to
extend their relationship by sponsoring
first the bid, then the event itself. But
this inevitably entails much higher costs
than may initially have been envisaged.
Ultimately, backing a bid is a gamble
and the smartest sponsors will treat it
as such - in the first instance by paying
an amount that reflects option pricing
and a dispassionate assessment of the
bid’s chances.
Then, sponsors must activate their
rights hard in the run-up to the decision,
develop a game plan to capitalise on
success and be prepared to turn the
page and move on quietly to other
marketing campaigns if the bid flops.
The attractions are obvious. There’s a
record 11 countries bidding or co-bidding
for the 2018/2022 World Cups, and
with no clear front-runner for either
tournament, levels of interest should add
up to a bonanza for the bid sponsors.
A brand has the chance to appear
both patriotic and public-spirited, while
tapping into the public elation that comes
with success - who can forget the scenes
in London’s Trafalgar Square in 2005
when the city celebrated a successful
campaign to host the Olympics?
It’s also a gilt-edged opportunity
for some ‘legitimised ambushing’.
Morrisons is sponsoring England’s
2018 bid, even though the food retailing
sponsor of the English Football
Association (which is meeting most of
the bid costs) is arch-rival Tesco.

ands brands & Marketing
& KETING
BRANDS + MARKETING
United - LiCensed tO ring tiLLs
Manchester United is the
best performing sports team
brand in the European licensed
products market according
a survey conducted exclusively
for SportBusiness International
by Brand Licensing Europe,
the major exhibition showcase
for the industry.
sOMe 400 seniOr licensing industry
executives took part in a survey which aimed to
create a snapshot of trends within the sector by
examining which types of products sell best and
through which channels.
United was voted the most successful sports
team licensing across Europe. They captured
90 per cent of the vote and came in ahead of
European rival Real Madrid.
The sheer diversity of the European licensing
market is demonstrated by the inclusion of a
raft of US sports brands in the top eight. They
are the New York Yankees, LA Lakers and Dallas
Cowboys, all of which came in ahead of Serie A’s
AC Milan and Formula One team Ferrari.
Teams were voted the best performing sports
licensing category, recording 65.3 per cent of
the vote ahead of sports personalities (20.8 per
cent), tournaments and competitions (11.6 per
cent) and sports associations and governing
bodies (2.3 per cent).
Former England football captain David
Beckham was voted the most successful sports
Brand Licensing Europe’s Exhibitor Hall
licensing personality in Europe, ahead of fellow
football players Lionel Messi of Barcelona and
Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo.
Golfer Tiger Woods was placed fourth in the
category and experts believe his licensing value
has been adversely affected by the scandal over
his complicated personal life, which has been
followed by a significant loss of form.
The US list was topped by the long-retired
basketball star Michael Jordan with the
NBA’s LeBron James and Indianapolis Colts
quarterback Peyton Manning finishing higher
than Kobe Bryant.
The dominance of football in Europe was
further underlined in the events category with
FIFA World Cup topping the vote ahead of
UEFA Euro 2012, the 2012 London Olympic
Games, Formula One races, the Tour de France,
Wimbledon and the Rugby World Cup.
In the US the vote was headed by the NFL
Super Bowl and followed by the NBA Finals
and motor racing’s NASCAR. The omission of
baseball’s World Series from the top three is
16 sportbusiness international • No. 160 • 09.10

ands & Marketing
What do you think are the most productive
routes to market for sports brands?
Supermarket
13.19%
Fernando
Torres
4.9%
Landon
Donovan
7.0%
Kaka
10.4%
Online
17.85%
Sales at
sports events
18.16%
Other
6.2%
General
retail stores
29.9%
Club/stadium
shops/
concessions
20.8%
Who do you think has the most commercial
licensing value from the following list of world
cup players?
Christiano
Ronaldo
39.9%
BRANDS + MARK
Mayur Pattni,
Managing Director,
Pattni Imaginations
Pattni Imaginations
designs and
manufactures toys
under license,
including Premier
League football
action figures.
“The future for sports licensing is a very
exciting one. Pattni Imaginations will be
developing a range of football player action
figures under license from Arsenal, Chelsea,
Liverpool and Manchester United, cobranded
with Match-Stars. We believe
football fans are extremely passionate,
loyal and the level to which fans engage
and interact with the club-brand is
phenomenal. It is this level of engagement
and interaction that not only football fans
but sports fans in general have, which makes
sports licensing an attractive option.”
Chris Protheroe,
Executive Vice
President, CPLG
Europe’s largest
licensing agency
working across sport,
entertainment and
brands.
“The huge visibility that football has created
since, really, the dawn of the Premier League and
Sky’s broadcast of it has dominated the sports
licensing market. Not just clubs but events and
national team brands. Football fans at all levels
love to identify with their club and country.
“In the UK there’s a golden decade of sport to look
forward to, starting with the Olympics in 2012
which have already ignited consumer interest and
created a retail appetite for sports brands. Then
we move on to the Rugby League World Cup in
2013, the Ashes in 2013, Rugby Union World Cup
in 2015 and perhaps even the FIFA World Cup in
2018. This unprecedented number of tournaments
will give retailers and their consumers an ongoing
relationship with sport for years to come.”
Wayne Rooney
15.8%
Sports
associations
Major
2.3%
tournaments
11.6%
Sports
personalities
20.8%
Diego Maradona
3.1%
Pele
28.1%
Ronaldo
4.4%
Lionel Messi
18.7%
Which element of sports licenced merchandise
performs best?
Others
3.4%
Sports
teams/clubs
65.3%
Who has the most commercial licencing value
from the following list ot World Cup legends?
David
Beckham
61%
surprising given the popularity of other baseballrelated
branded product.
Turning to the 2010 FIFA World Cup,
respondents were asked to identify the players
who delivered most commercial licensing value.
Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo topped the poll
(39 per cent) ahead of Lionel Messi of Argentina
(18.7 per cent) England’s Wayne Rooney
(15.8 per cent) and Kaka of Brazil (10.4 per cent).
Interestingly Landon Donovan of the USA
received seven per cent of the vote, perhaps
reflecting football (soccer)’s growing popularity
across the Atlantic.
The extent that David Beckham’s personal
brand transcends sporting achievement is clearly
indicated in a poll to identify the footballer with
most commercial licensing appeal. Beckham, who
never progressed beyond the quarter finals of the
World Cup, recorded 61 per cent of the vote, way
ahead of Pele, twice a winner of the tournament
and widely considered one of the finest players in
history. Ronaldo of Brazil received 4.4 per cent of
the vote and Diego Maradona, the main rival for
the ‘Best Ever’ crown - just 3.1 per cent.
Finally, respondents were asked to select the
most productive routes to market for sportsbranded
products. General retails stores were
considered most important by 29.9 per cent,
while sales at stadia and club shops accounted
for 20.8 per cent per cent. Sales at sports events
were voted by 18.16 per cent.
There were two surprises in this category.
Given their domination of the retail landscape
in many key territories, supermarkets received
only 13.19 per cent of the vote while online sales
accounted for just 17.85 per cent.
Brand Licensing Europe takes place at Olympia,
London, from September 28-30.
SportBusiness International • No.160 • 09.10 17

BRANDS BRANDS & MARKETING
& KETING
BRANDS + MARKETING
NO BULL APPROACH
Professional Bull Riders talk to Rick Burton about growth prospects in Brazil, a
market primed to be more commercially significant than even the United States.
The 2010 PBR Troy Dunn International in Australia - Getty Images Sport
MANY GLOBAL sports business
industrialists might think that
professional bull riding is
something only a handful of
American cowboys take part in
during sleepy State fairs and smalltown
rodeos far off the beaten track.
To the contrary, the Professional
Bull Riders (PBR), which launched
as a professional American circuit
in 1992 - when 21 bull riders each
tipped in $1,000 to start a brave
new concept - now has more
than 180 domestic US events
with 30 major market events in
its nationally-televised Built Ford
Tough Series. With 800 riders
worldwide and more than 400 of
those athletes hailing from Brazil,
Mexico, Canada and Australia,
the PBR is rapidly becoming an
international entity.
That’s quite a jump forward for
any sports property but the PBR,
headquartered in Pueblo, Colorado,
has taken the premier event of the
traditional American rodeo circuit
and not only built a significant
domestic presence but expanded
notably into Brazil, Canada and
Australia. Mexico and parts of Asia
may not be far behind.
You could say the PBR has taken
the bull by the horns. In fact, since
expanding internationally in 2006,
the PBR now stages nearly 200
events annually overseas and sees
Brazil as the next frontier.
“Brazil is currently at a place
similar to where PBR USA was
five to seven years after breaking
away from traditional rodeo,”
David Cordovano, chief global
events officer for the PBR, told
SportBusiness International.
“Further, we think Brazil has the
potential to be larger than our
domestic business.”
That’s quite a growth projection,
particularly for a US-based property,
but it’s driven in large part by
Brazil’s rapidly-developing economy
and growing appetite for hosting
dynamic sports competitions such
as the 2014 FIFA World Cup and
Rio de Janeiro’s 2016 Summer
Olympic Games. In that sense,
Brazil, not China, is the new and
expanding frontier.
Brazil now features more than
300 riders and has expanded
from staging 27 events in 2009
to almost 100 in 2010. They also
have 30 televised competitions (10
of them live) and will expand to 20
live TV events in 2011.
“Our combined worldwide prize
money has increased to over $11
million with $3 million coming
internationally and we now reach
more than over 400 million
homes with international
TV distribution,” adds
Cordovano. “Thirty million of
those homes are in Canada,
Australia and Brazil, so if you’ll
pardon the pun, we’re pretty
bullish on where our international
expansion can take us.”
But what accounts for this
growth? The answer may lie in
two critical areas. The first is that
every bull ride places the rider at
extreme risk to serious injury and
possible death. There is no telling
how high a bull might jump,
when it might turn suddenly and
whether the rider will stay on for
the full eight seconds.
Secondly, and perhaps more
importantly, the PBR has turned
their single-focused attention to
the comprehensive spectacle of the
event. Big PBR events, sponsored
by Ford trucks (‘The Built Ford
Tough Series’) are akin to familyfriendly
NASCAR weekends with
musical concerts, pyrotechnic
explosions and numerous
interactive moments when riders
can meet their fans.
“The PBR is truly a gem,”
says Jeffrey Pollack, the PBR’s
new Executive Chairman. “It’s
authentically American, fiercely
competitive and yet there is
nothing else like it anywhere in
professional sports. What the
PBR has achieved since
its founding less than 20
years ago, is remarkable
but we’re about to take
it to an entirely new level
of excellence by going both
digital and global.”
Dynamic words and
yet in a sport where
a 2,000-pound bull
can crush a man,
whether he’s American,
Australian or Brazilian,
in seconds, why
shouldn’t the PBR’s vision carry
some international kick and snort?
Rick Burton is the David B. Falk
Professor of Sport Management at
Syracuse University. He was formerly
the Commissioner of Australia’s
National Basketball League.
18 SportBusiness International • No. 160 • 09.10

THE FUTURE OF FOOTBALL
The Future of Players’ Agents
∑
The Future of Football Stadiums
∑
The Future of Global Football Sponsoring
∑
The Future FIFA World Cup Hosts 2018/2022
FOOTBALLS GLOBAL PLAYERS MEET AT THE DOLDER GRAND HOTEL
IN ZURICH FROM OCTOBER 25–26, 2010.
Participation is by invitation only. To apply please contact Antje Hembd on ah@internationalfootball.com
For Sponsorship contact Michael Stracke on mps@internationalfootball.com
For Sponsorship contact Michael Stracke on mps@internationalfootball.com
w w w.internationalfootball.com
M A I N PA RT N E R S : S U P P O RT I N G PA RT N E R :

MEDIA
SHORTSTOP
Total Sports Asia: The rights agency
agreed a deal to distribute media
content for Olympic boxing. The
worldwide rights, which cover TV,
broadband and mobile, were acquired
in a deal with the International
Boxing Association. TSA will start by
distributing this September’s Women’s
World Boxing Championship.
News Corporation: The global media
company sold a controlling stake in
Chinese television network Star China to
investment group China Media Capital.
ESPN STAR Sports: The Pan-Asian
sports broadcaster appointed Wenjia
Fang, formerly with mobile phone
producer Nokia, as Managing Director
and Chief Representative of its China
office. Wenjia will responsible for the
strategic direction and growth of ESS’
operations in China.
Kentaro: Frederick Ness was
appointed German managing director
at the sports media agency.
ITV: The UK commercial broadcaster
announced an October launch date for
high-definition versions of its ITV2, 3
and 4 digital channels. The three will
be marketed as pay-TV services, the
first step in a five-year strategy to
reduce its dependence on advertising
revenues.
EA Sports: The North American sports
video game developer signed a deal with
Sportfive for the agency to activate its
‘official sports technology’ sponsorship
of the English Premier League.
TVSPORTSMARKETS
This month SportBusiness International showcases a selection of articles from sister publication TV Sports Markets,
the specialist publisher providing information and analysis on the sports media industry. For more information about
the newsletter or specialist market intelligence reports, contact Paul Santos on +44 207 954 3483 or paul.santos@
tvsportsmarkets.com, or visit www.tvsportsmarkets.com, where you can sign up to a free weekly email news bulletin.
HI-NOON FOR AFRICAN BOOM?
Nigerian broadcaster HiTV’s loss of English Premier League rights has
raised questions over how long the boom in African rights fees can continue.
PAY-TV BROADCASTER HITV lost the rights for
the English Premier League in Nigeria, for the
2010-11 to 2012-13 seasons, in July after failing
to provide bank guarantees to cover the fee in
time. It was the second Premier League deal in
Africa to fall through in the last two years - sub-
Saharan operator GTV went bust in early 2009 -
providing further evidence that the phenomenal
rights growth on the continent in recent years
has shaky foundations.
Imtiaz Patel, chief executive of longstanding
pan-African broadcaster Supersport, which has
bought the Premier League rights in Nigeria that
HiTV dropped, told TV Sports Markets that recent
fees paid had created “an artificial bubble”.
“There has to be a realignment of expectation
in Africa,” Patel said. “The days of 1,000-per-cent
increases are over. That kind of growth is just not
sustainable. Rights-holders have got to start valuing
a combination of reasonable increases and surety
of delivery and start seeing deals as a partnership.”
HiTV had committed to pay $125 million over
three years for the Premier League rights, over
three times what was paid in the previous Nigeria
deal. It had successfully made a large up-front
payment, and was hindered in providing the bank
guarantees by new banking regulations in Nigeria.
But sources close to the Premier League suggested
it had “been more than lenient” with HiTV, which
had missed several payment deadlines for the
2007-10 contract.
Nevertheless, some observers argued the
league could have been more patient with HiTV,
with a view to fostering long-term competition
for Supersport. The South Africa-based company
has now re-established the pan-regional hold on
the Premier League it had up until 2007, after last
year securing the rights for the next three seasons
in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.
But the Premier League’s main concern was
securing for its shareholder clubs the monies it
had been promised for Nigeria this time round.
The next international sales process is over two
years away and there is plenty of time for new
players, or indeed HiTV, to challenge Supersport.
Despite the collapse of GTV in 2009, Premier
League rights in sub-Saharan Africa for the
upcoming three-year contract still rose 135 per
cent, with Supersport facing a strong challenge
from Beijing-based Star TV. The league and
other rights-holders can take some comfort from
Supersport’s reputation as a fair partner and from
the growth in recent years of the Nigerian paytelevision
market.
Formula One: The sport’s 2010 midseason
report boasted a resurgence
in Germany with viewing figures at a
three-year high. The return of Michael
Schumacher and success of Sebastian
Vettel meant nine of the first 10 races
achieved a larger TV audience than
their corresponding race in 2009, with
an average improvement of 27 per cent.
MP & Silva: The agency signed a
six-year deal with Arsenal Broadband
Limited to co-produce the English
Premier League club’s official
international TV programming and new
multi-platform content.
Sogecable: The Prisa-owned paytelevision
company agreed a deal to
carry telecoms operator Orange’s
flagship premium channel Canal Plus
on the Orange IPTV network.
Nigeria and Chelsea star John Obi Mikel - Getty Images Sport
20 SportBusiness International • No. 160 • 09.10

DEAL OF
THE MONTH
KEVIN McCULLAGH
Senior Reporter, TV Sports Markets
The Nimbus Communications agency,
holder of the worldwide media rights for
international cricket in India, agreed a
carriage deal with US cable-television
operator Comcast for new cricket
channel Neo Cricket.
PAY-TV MUST UP ITS GAME
Christian Seifert, chief executive of the Deutsche Fussball Liga, told
TV Sports Markets in an exclusive interview in July that Germany’s weak
pay-television market was the biggest challenge facing the Bundesliga.
GERMANY, Europe’s largest television market,
must develop a genuine pay-television culture
if its top football league, the Bundesliga, is to
match the broadcast revenue-generating power
of Europe’s other top leagues, the league said the
week ending Friday July 2.
The league will also need the national
cartel authority, the Bundeskartellamt, to relax
its restrictions on the league’s collective sale of
rights, if it is to have a chance of realising its
media value.
Speaking exclusively to TV Sports Markets,
Christian Seifert said that the weak German
pay-television market was the single greatest
challenge facing the league.
“This is the biggest challenge - whether it
will be possible to strengthen the pay-television
culture. The growth rate on our international
sales has been good, but this has not been
reflected in our domestic sales,” he said.
International sales for the present cycle will
reach almost three times what was generated in
the previous deal. Domestic broadcast fees, in
contrast, rose less than two per cent - and the
DFL won praise even for that.
Seifert said the onus was on German paytelevision
operators to create products that
challenged the strong free-to-air operators in
the market: “There is potential for growth for
our broadcast revenues. But it is related to the
ability of pay-television providers to address the
German customer. Pay-television has a chance to
grow as long as it offers a product which reflects
the specific needs of the German market.”
Pay-television penetration in Germany is at
Christian Seifert - Getty Images Sport
only 12 per cent, about a quarter of that in the
UK and Italy and half that in Spain and France.
That is partly a reflection of the strength of the
German free-to-air market, which is a powerful
brake on pay-television growth, but also on the
past mistakes and failures of Germany’s leading
pay-television broadcaster, Sky Deutschland,
formerly Premiere. Losing the Bundesliga rights
to cable operator Unity Media’s Arena operation
in the 2006-07 season set back Sky’s growth by
at least two years.
The DFL is hoping for a more benign
regulatory environment for the next round of
sales. Last time it was forced to ditch a
500 million per season, six-year deal with media
mogul Leo Kirch that hinged on increasing the
value of pay-television rights by pushing back
the Saturday night free-to-air highlights from
6.30pm to 10pm, similar to the English Premier
League model. To the astonishment of competition
lawyers, the cartel authority insisted on an early
evening free-to-air highlights programme.
“The last process was very much influenced
by the fact that we had the obligation to show the
free-to-air highlights programme before 8pm on
Saturday”, said Seifert. “When it was clear that
was fixed, there was only very limited competition
on the most important live packages.”
Seifert said that the league and its broadcasters
were pleased with the new structure of Bundesliga
coverage last season, the first of a new four-year
cycle. New live match and highlights programme
slots helped drive up revenues and have delivered
good increases in total audiences for the
Bundesliga on both pay-television and free-to-air.
A cricket channel in the US? Where is
the demand?
The channel will cater mostly for the
South-Asian expatriate population in the
US. It will be included in pay-television
channel bundles created specifically for
this demographic. Nimbus is aiming to
start with 200,000 to 250,000 subscribers,
rising to around 500,000 after one year.
There is demand for the channel from
US pay-television companies - as well as
the deal with Comcast, deals are in the
pipeline with Time Warner, Cabelvision,
Cox, Echostar and DirecTV.
Why launch a channel? Why not just sell
the rights to a US-based broadcaster?
Nimbus sold the rights to satellite
broadcaster Echostar in the previous fouryear
cycle, 2006 to 2010, in a deal worth
over $50 million. However demand for
cricket content from US broadcasters has
flat-lined since then. Competition between
Echostar and DirecTV for control of the
South Asian ex-pat market has faded, and
the value of the rights was undermined by
rampant internet piracy. Nimbus thinks
that launching Neo Cricket will be more
lucrative than selling the rights, but it
arguably had no other option.
Nimbus is also considering launching
a UK channel, targeting around 200,000
subscribers to South-Asian pay-television
channel bouquets there. As in the US,
Nimbus may be able to earn more from a
channel than from selling the rights.
What are the US channel’s prospects
for success?
Nimbus’s subscriber targets are
considered ambitious. Echostar showed
the Indian cricket rights on South Asian
sports channel Zee Sports America last
time. The channel attracted around 100,000
subscribers. Potential barriers to growth
include competition from Willow TV, which
has the rights for World Cup cricket and
the Indian Premier League. Also, Nimbus
only has non-exclusive broadband rights
for Indian cricket, meaning the Board of
Control for Cricket in India could also sell
these to another US broadcaster, or even
exploit them itself.
SportBusiness International • No.160 • 09.10 21

SHORTSTOP
MEDIA
English Premier League: Sports
broadcaster ESPN sublicensed a
number of games in the US from rival
Fox Sports in a three-year deal from
2010-11 to 2012-13. The deal covers
rights for 74 matches per season on
ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, ESPN3.com,
and ESPN Mobile TV.
Supersport: Imtiaz Patel, chief
executive of the pan-African paytelevision
broadcaster, was promoted
to group chief executive of parent
company Multichoice South Africa,
effective from October 1.
Olympics 2010/2012: Venezuelan paytelevision
operator Telesur acquired
the free-to-air, cable and radio rights
for the two Games in a deal with the
International Olympic Committee.
Formula One: Pan-regional
broadcaster Modern Times Group
acquired the exclusive rights in
Denmark, Norway and Sweden from
2012 to 2015.
Corinthians: The Brazilian top-flight
football club announced its own TV
channel would launch in October.
Pay-television broadcaster Rede TV+
was the winner of a tender process to
become the club’s production partner.
Ashes cricket: The IMG-owned CSI
agency put out to tender the UK freeto-air
highlights rights for cricket’s
Australia-England series this winter.
The bid deadline is August 31.
Wimbledon: German-based paytelevision
operator Sky Deutschland
acquired the rights for the tennis
championships in Germany and Austria
in a three-year deal, 2011 to 2013,
brokered by the IMG agency.
Speedway: London-based media rights
agency GSI acquired the media rights
for the Polish Ekstraliga league in a
three-year deal. The agreement gives
GSI exclusive international rights
across digital TV, internet and mobile
platforms from 2010 to 2012.
LeBron James: The live announcement
confirming where the basketball star
would be playing from 2010-11, shown
live on sports network ESPN on July 8,
peaked at a 9.6 overnight rating between
9.15pm and 9.30pm. The rating was
higher than any NBA regular season or
play-off game during 2009-10.
TVSPORTSMARKETS
WORLD CUP GAME-CHANGER
The 2010 Fifa World Cup in South Africa produced some record television
audiences in the US, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands, according to data
compiled by TV Sports Markets and Eurodata TV Worldwide.
THE FACT THAT viewing records keep tumbling,
despite continuing audience fragmentation
across not only multiple channels but multiple
platforms, is a testament to the remarkable
pulling power of top sport, and in particular the
World Cup.
FIFA, world football’s governing body said
that it was “very happy with the preliminary
figures which we have from selected television
markets, with extremely high market shares and
high audience figures in general.”
Niclas Ericson, FIFA’s director of television,
said: “The FIFA World Cup is an extremely strong
TV product. As someone said, it empties the
streets in cities during the matches. Everybody is
watching. Very few events manage that.”
In Spain, with the national team winning
the World Cup for the first time, the 30 minutes
of extra-time in the final attracted the country’s
highest ever television audience at 15.6 million,
combining pay-television and free-to-air audiences.
Commercial broadcaster Telecinco drew an
average of 13.4 million viewers for the final.
That is higher than Spain’s highest audience for
the 2006 event, when a combined audience of
12.2 million watched the second-round defeat
to France on free-to-air channels Cuatro and La
Sexta. But it is down on the 14.5 million viewers
that watched the Euro 2008 final, in which
Spain beat Germany.
World Cup 2010 TV viewing in selected territories
In the Netherlands, the national team’s
progress to the final attracted huge audiences, up
nine per cent on average on the 2006 finals. The
final produced the highest-ever Dutch television
audience of any genre, with 8.513 million viewers
and a 90.6-per-cent audience share. It pipped
the previous record of 8.512 million (an 86.9-percent
audience share) for the Euro 2004 semifinal
between Holland and Portugal. Holland’s
semi-final against Uruguay recorded the thirdhighest
audience ever, with 8.501 million viewers
and an 86.2 per cent share.
Positives and negatives in Germany
Germany also recorded its highest ever television
audience of any genre with 31.1 million (an
83-per-cent audience share) watching the
national team’s semi-final defeat to Spain on
public-broadcaster ARD.
However, average audiences for the
tournament were down on the 2006
tournament, which Germany hosted. ARD’s
audience over 25 matches fell 12 per cent, sister
channel ZDF’s (24 matches) by eight per cent
and commercial broadcaster RTL (nine matches)
by seven per cent.
In the US, the World Cup final drew a record
audience for a football match of 24.3 million
across free-to-air network ABC and Spanish
language-channel Univision. This beat the
Country Channel No. of matches 000s
South Africa SABC1 56 4,329
SABC2 8 1,060
Spain Cuatro 17 4,113
Telecinco 8 10,707
Germany ARD 25 10,886
ZDF 24 11,363
RTL 9 9,359
United Kingdom BBC1 29 6,341*
ITV1 28 5,740**
Netherlands NED 1 56 2,887
NED 2 4 159
NED 3 4 213
Italy Rai Uno 25 8,705
France TF1 27 7,106
France 2 19 3,253
France 3 10 2,456
* combined average audience for BBC1 (5.809m) and BBC1HD (0.532m) ** combined average audience for ITV1 (5.248m) and ITV1HD
(0.492m). Figures are overnight figures
Sources: Eurodata TV Worldwide, TV Sports Markets; SAARF, Nielsen Audience Measurement (South Africa), Kantar Media (Spain),
AGF-Gfk Fernsehforschung (Germany), Barb, Attentional (UK), Stichting Kijkonderzoek (Netherlands), AUDITEL - Nielsen Audience
Measurement (Italy), MEDIAMETRIE (France).
22 SportBusiness International • No. 160 • 09.10

MEDIA
Extra-time gave Spain its highest ever TV audience - Getty Images Sport
previous record of 19.4 million, set in the
second round by US-Ghana.
Before the 2010 World Cup, the highest US
audience for a men’s football match was
18.1 million for the US-hosted 1994 World Cup
final between Brazil and Italy.
In host country South Africa, public-service
broadcaster SABC’s average audience for the
tournament was 129 per cent higher than for
2006, when the Bafana Bafana did not qualify.
Free-to-air World Cup audiences in Italy fell
by 24 per cent on 2006, when the Azzurri were
crowned world champions. This time round
the team was eliminated in the group stages.
Audiences for Italy’s group games were down
13 per cent on the 2006 group matches.
France also fell at the first hurdle, crashing
out at the group stage amid dressing room
discontent. Ratings on commercial channel TF1,
which showed 27 matches live, were down
36 per cent on 2006.
In the UK, 57 matches were broadcast freeto-air
on public service-broadcaster the BBC and
commercial broadcaster ITV. BBC1 and ITV1
between them, including audiences on their
respective high-definition channels, attracted an
average of 6.046 million per match, six per cent
down on 2006. HD audiences accounted for
about nine per cent of the total audience.
Huge appetite for internet sport
World Cup broadcasters in both Europe
and the US hailed the 2010 World Cup as a
breakthrough event for sports internet coverage.
Dominic Coles, chief operating officer at the
BBC, described the success of the corporation’s
online audiovisual World Cup content “a turning
point.” He said the medium has now become
“a common part of a user’s daily broadband
experience, especially for the major events.”
The BBC had 38.1 million requests to view
audiovisual content during the tournament,
smashing the previous high of 5.1 million for
Euro 2008. US sports broadcaster ESPN, a
pioneer of online sports coverage, said that the
World Cup had been “truly a breakout event” for
its ESPN3 broadband service.
ESPN3 generated 942 million minutes of
World Cup viewing, with 7.4 million unique
viewers each watching over two hours coverage
on average. The semi-final between Spain
and Germany drew ESPN3’s largest-ever live
audience, 355,000 people per minute.
ITV said that its figures for World Cup
internet coverage illustrated that there was now
“a huge appetite for consuming live action on
the television and online simultaneously.” ITV
attracted two million unique users to its online
coverage during the tournament.
Ericson said that the additional content FIFA
had made available this time was a factor in the
amount of online viewing.
“We wanted to offer more content than ever
before from the event and we placed the rights
somewhat differently in 2010 so broadcasters
had more flexibility,” he said. He also expects
FIFA to deliver even more online content for the
2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Other European broadcasters reported
record numbers for their internet coverage. In
Germany, public-service broadcaster ZDF had
35.9 million unique users on its main website
during the tournament, almost 50 per cent
above normal traffic volumes.
The website zdf.sport.de had 12.7 million
visits, a 381-per-cent increase on its average
monthly traffic. Live match streams drew
an average of 102,000 viewings, peaking at
190,000 for Germany’s victory over Argentina.
In Italy, state broadcaster Rai’s main website,
Rai.it, had record traffic levels during the
tournament, with 116 million page views and an
average of 460,000 unique users daily. The
Rai.tv website, which carries audiovisual
content, had 37 million page views and a daily
average of 233,000 unique users, a 289-per-cent
increase on the same period in 2009.
Rai’s total World Cup coverage, including
match coverage and news, recorded 20 million
page visits, with 250,000 unique users on its
website every day during the competition. Rai’s
peak audience for live streaming was over one
million, for Italy’s group stage defeat to Slovakia.
In France, TF1 had 31 million unique users,
with 10 million videos viewed on its dedicated
site. It drew 334,000 bets, and 40,000
registered users, to its EurosportBET website.
Several World Cup broadcasters were able to
successfully expand the reach of their coverage
through different forms of mobile coverage.
One million unique viewers used ESPN’s
mobile TV, registering 93 million minutes of
viewing, and setting viewing records on major
mobile TV platforms MobiTV and Flo TV. In
total, World Cup content on ESPN’s mobile
offerings generated 98 million visits and
520 million page views. ITV reported 800,000
downloads and two million content views of its
World Cup iPhone app. TF1 recorded 250,000
iPhone apps downloaded.
Eurodata TV Worldwide is the leading provider of sports television
audiences, with access to ratings and programming details for 2,000
channels over five continents. Eurodata TV Worldwide offers a range
of services to help clients successfully market TV programmes and
monitor their broadcasts.
Florent Simon
Eurodata TV Worldwide Sport Manager
Email: fsimon@eurodatatv.com
Tel: +33 171 099 307
SportBusiness International • No.160 • 09.10 23

MEDIA
TRIUMPH LOOKS TO THE FUTURE
Thomas Martens’ Triumph Media Group has signed new business across each of its
operating divisions in a range of sports including football, boxing and hockey.
THE ANNOUNCEMENT earlier this
year that Triumph’s CEO Martens
had completed a funding deal with
a major German private investment
fund signalled not only a new
chapter in his own career but, he
believes, in the way that the global
sports and entertainment rights
market operates.
Martens, a serial entrepreneur
who has twice built and moved
on from significant rights-base
businesses, said he is delighted
to be back in action after leaving
Global Sportnet, a company he
built from the ground-up before
taking it into the global WPP
communications services empire.
He believes that the industry is
crying out for fresh perspectives
and new ways of operating and says
that Triumph Media Group is just
the vehicle to do that.
He promises a new style of
relationship with rights holders
and says that, long-term, there is
the potential for growth through
acquisition of other agencies.
“We have an initial five-year plan
to grow Triumph Media Group,” he
says. “In that period there are sure
to be a lot of changes in the sector
and we will be there to help rights
owners and brands take advantage
of them. The agency sector had
changed radically over the years
and I have spoken to rights owners
who feel they have been dealing
with dinosaurs.”
“They told us they didn’t feel as
though the agencies really cared
about them or what they wanted.
That’s why we aim to do things
differently. We don’t just want to
sell rights but to work alongside
and on behalf of federations to
develop the value of those rights as
well. We will be their partners and
will put our money into projects to
prove that.
“We feel that many rights
in sports and entertainment
are currently undervalued. Our
role will be to develop a brand
strategy for the federations and
clubs we work for and to develop
a commercial strategy to build
and fully unlock the value of
existing rights and create new
opportunities.”
To deliver on these plans
Martens has built a team of
experienced sector specialists
including Christian Weddigen
(former Chief Financial Officer
of Sportfive), Daniel Schlösser
(ex-FC Barcelona Chief Marketing
Officer), Frederik Lütt (formerly
Sportfive) and Liliana Martorel
(former Vice President of
Rights Acquisitions at Octagon).
Additionally the team consists of
Robin Taylor (VP Sponsoring),
digital specialist Maurizio Barbieri
and Caroline Furness (VP of the
entertainment division).
Triumph operates in five
distinctly defined sectors across two
markets, sport and entertainment.
They are rights trading - a
business model which
Martens helped to establish
nearly 20 years ago at UFA
Sports - digital media, business
consulting, bartering and branded
content as well as brand consulting.
Martens has long been a
champion of the potential of
bartering as a means of monetising
rights when cash would otherwise
be a barrier: “This is an area we
have developed significant expertise
in and I feel it has significant
potential for further development.
The same is true for the creation of
branded content which is another
part of our offering.”
Triumph, which has
representatives in London, Paris,
Moscow, Istanbul, Athens, Dubai
and Zagreb, has also set up an
operation in India and is currently
exploring partnerships in South-
East Asia, Brazil and the US.
Triumph is already working
on a variety of projects including
media rights to boxing, where it
has provided the digital platform
and has sold the exclusive and
worldwide media rights for a
number of Klitschko world title
fights. In field hockey Triumph
developed a digital platform for the
World Championships in India in
February this year.
The company also represents
the marketing rights of the oldest
football club in the world, Sheffield
FC, as well as representing some
overseas rights for two of Europe’s
leading football clubs. Triumph
has also acquired the exclusive
marketing rights to the World
Team Cup, the international team
championship of the ATP.
It’s a solid start and Martens is
convinced that he has the team and
the infrastructure to make Triumph
a genuine challenger to the current
global agency hegemony: “I believe
we will impact on the way that the
business operates.
“We will create new rights
streams from existing events
and increase the inventory of our
federation partners and other
clients to create new revenues.
It is all about creating new and
additional revenues. I am excited by
the prospects and looking forward
to the journey ahead.”
24 SportBusiness International • No. 160 • 09.10

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EVENTS
SHORTSTOP
Rugby World Cup: Rugby Travel and
Hospitality, the joint-venture between
Sodexo and Mike Burton Group, was
awarded the exclusive contract to
create, implement and market the
official corporate hospitality and travel
programmes for the tournaments in
2015 (England) and 2019 (Japan).
Youth Olympic Games: Singapore
2010 chief executive Goh Kee Nguan
defended the cost of staging last
month’s event. It was originally
anticipated the Games would cost no
more than $30m to stage, a figure that
rose to $90m in February 2008 to an
eventual cost of $286m.
2018 Winter Olympics: The
PyeongChang bid to host the event
appointed South Korean bobsleigh
coach and athlete Kwang-bae Kang as
its sports director. Kwang-bae Kang,
who competed in luge and skeleton at
past Olympics and was his country’s
flag-bearer in Vancouver this year, had
been working with the bid committee
since May as a member of the
organisation’s athletes committee.
2012 London Olympics: The
International Olympic Committee’s
broadcasting agency said it wants
to black out the London velodrome’s
360-degree glass wall during the
Games so that it can be lit by artificial
light. The Olympic Broadcasting
Service wants to prevent natural light
from coming in to the venue because
artificial light is easier to control for
television purposes.
UEFA Europa League: The Georgian
capital of Tbilisi has emerged as
a contender to host the 2013 final.
UEFA president Michel Platini made a
protocol visit to the city last month to
discuss the possibility of the Black Sea
country hosting the game.
IAAF: The International Association of
Athletics Federations chose the city
of Kavarna in Bulgaria as host for the
2012 edition of the World Half Marathon
Championships. Kavarna is a major
tourist resort attracting more than
500,000 people a year.
Women’s Cricket Challenge: The city
of Potchefstroom in South Africa was
chosen by the International Cricket
Council to stage the inaugural event.
The host country will compete against
West Indies, Pakistan, Sri Lanka,
Netherlands and Ireland in a series
of one-day and Twenty20 games from
October 6 to 16 this year.
2006 World Equestrian Games in Aachen - Getty Images Sport
HORSE PLAY IN KENTUCKY
Adrian Hill assesses the commercial success of the FEI’s World Equestrian
Games, strategically-positioned held in between Olympic Games.
NEWS THAT A major multi-national company
is interested in sponsoring a putative `European
Games` in horse sport may be seen as evidence
that the FEI’s decision to market major, multidiscipline
events has proved its commercial value.
The forthcoming World Equestrian Games
(WEG) - hosted this year outside of Europe for
the first time in the heartlands of equestrianism
in Lexington, Kentucky, USA - suggests the
FEI got it right when it decided various horse
sport disciplines should hold their World
Championships at one time and place.
The first WEG was held in Stockholm in 1990
with six disciplines - Show Jumping, Dressage,
Eventing, Driving, Endurance and Vaulting.
Reining (the North American cousin of
Dressage) joined the spectacle in 2002 and this
year Para Dressage comes on board.
“The purpose of hosting one major event
such as the World Equestrian Games was not
only to attract a wider audience but also to
promote the sports among potential sponsors,”
Alex McLin, the FEI Secretary General, told
SportBusiness International.
“The World Equestrian Games also helps
to promote the non-Olympic disciplines. It is
not always easy for Vaulting or Reining to gain
wide public attention, but the World Equestrian
Games offers a stage for these disciplines to
present eye-catching, highly technical and often
breathtaking performances.”
A 30,000-capacity outdoor stadium has been
developed for the Games, but it is the temporary
structures in the Hospitality Village, Trade Show
and `Kentucky Experience` where much of the
revenue that could secure the future of the less
well-known disciplines must be earned.
The first-ever title sponsor of a WEG is animal
health company Alltech in a $10 million deal,
with others including luxury watchmaker Rolex
backing individual disciplines. The FEI receives
revenue from TV rights sales including NBC
Sports in the host territory. There is no funding
from federal or state governments but the Games
are expected to have an economic impact of $167
million in the state of Kentucky.
Equestrianism seems to have led the way
in developing the concept of one festival for
many disciplines.
The first SportAccord Combat Games,
for example, will be staged in Beijing this
month, featuring 13 different sports ranging
from Martial Arts through to Olympic staples
Boxing and Wrestling. Other candidates for the
approach could be snow, cue and racket sports.
“A collective approach is becoming more
popular,” says Simon Chadwick, professor
of Sport Business Strategy at Coventry
University. “We’ve seen from the UEFA
Champions League how a constellation of
brands can be assembled around a new
product...It’s a tacit acknowledgment that sport
is in a different environment.
This collectivisation in the free market context
to ensure commercial appeal says something
about the dynamics of the market place...Creating
allegiances between events that have some
affinity or synergy can generate value for the
whole, but also for the individual parts.”
The World Equestrian Games was dreamt
up long before the Champions League and
Twenty20 cricket. So can Equestrian sport
be lauded as being visionary? “It’s the sports
under most pressure that are being the most
innovative,” argues Chadwick.
“We’ve seen some of the most innovative
marketing in rugby union since it went
professional and Equestrian sport has also made
a statement with the World Equestrian Games
concept. It’s almost as though these sports have a
cultural tension that means they have to change,
or they will die.”
26 SportBusiness International • No. 160 • 09.10

EVENTS
SHORTSTOP
2018 Winter Olympics: Financial
services giant Allianz became a
partner of Munich’s bid to host the
event, joining a group of sponsors that
includes adidas, BMW and Lufthansa.
2012 London Olympics: Bidders
interested in taking over the Olympic
Stadium after the Games were due to
submit fully costed and financed plans
by the end of September. West Ham
and AEG, which owns the O2 arena, are
two of the frontrunners.
2009 winner Nikolay Davydenko serves - Getty Images Sport
ROCK CONCERT ATMOSPHERE
Bernardo Domingues talks to ATP World Tour chairman and president
Adam Helfant about plans for the second Finals at London’s O2 this November.
HARVARD LAW GRADUATE and former Nike
executive Adam Helfant was tasked last year with
steering the ATP World Tour, the professional
tennis circuit organised by the Association of
Tennis Professionals, through its biggest overhaul
since its inception in 1990. With a large number
of fundamental changes already decided before he
took office, his concern has been to better promote
men’s professional tennis and broaden its fanbase.
“This year we’ve already seen attendance
records at Indian Wells, Miami, Rome and
Madrid, so we’re optimistic that we will
equal or better the mark that we set last year
(4.4 million spectators),” says Helfant, speaking
to SportBusiness International as the Tour reached
News York for this month’s US Open.
One of the biggest achievements of Helfant’s
initial year was the success of the ATP World
Tour Finals at the O2 Arena in London. The
year-end tournament, featuring the Tour’s eight
best players and eight best doubles teams of the
season, moved from Shanghai in 2009 and will be
staged in London until at least 2013 after last year’s
triumphant showcase. The creation of a unique
and compelling event - in what the executive calls
“a rock concert-like atmosphere” - was crucial to
building an environment that surprised tennis
fans and attracted first-timers to the ATP offer.
The 2009 Finals broke the record for
most spectators at an indoor tennis event:
256,000 people over 15 sessions in eight days.
Additionally non-ticket holders were catered for
with a practice court outside the main venue to
engage the 5,000 to 7,000 people that visit the
O2 everyday. This year there will be two practice
courts instead of one set up outside the main
venue and a new 6,725-square-metere fanzone
will be introduced, with seating for 400 people
accessible to non-ticket holders.
“It’s our jewel event and in the first year the
bar was set pretty high, but we’re working hard
to make sure we surpass that,” he says. “We do
want to give greater access to the sport and it
was a big deal last year.”
This May organisers sold 100,000 tickets for
the 2010 edition within 12 hours of going on
sale and research conducted during and after the
2009 event showed 98 per cent of those who
attended would buy a ticket again and 95 per
cent would make a recommendation to a friend.
Helfant has also pushed through a change based
on negative feedback. Session start times will
be brought forward by 45 minutes to allow fans
enough time to catch regular public transport
after the last evening match.
The re-naming of the Tennis Masters Cup
to ATP World Tour Finals in 2009 and its
move from Shanghai to London were part of
a series of significant adjustments to the core
product - the tour itself- decided under Helfant’s
predecessor, Etienne de Villiers, who left amid
criticism that he excluded players from the
decision-making process.
De Villiers introduced a re-vamped top tier,
the Masters 1000; a new brand look and identity
linking the tournaments to the number of ranking
points awarded to their winners (1000, 500
or 250); and the centralisation of media rights
distribution for the ATP World Tour 500 series.
The results so far have been pleasing, but
those changes are all still being evaluated and at
the same time a good look at the calendar
is taken. Ideas like a season launch to create
more buzz at the start of the year or an NBAinspired
all-star event with skills competitions
and pro-am celebrity doubles matches have been
put on hold until a way can be found to create a
longer off-season.
“That is a Tour issue, not just a player issue,”
says Helfant, “ We want to give the guys a better
chance to staying healthier longer and therefore
play more years on the tour.”
World Cup 2018/22: Russian Prime
Minister Vladimir Putin told Fifa the
country will waive visa requirements
for participants if it wins the right to
host either tournament. Russia has
axed visa requirements for sports
events before, allowing Manchester
United and Chelsea fans at the 2008
Champions League final to simply show
their tickets at passport control.
Youth Olympic Games: The Netherlands
said it will consider launching a bid
to host the Youth Olympic Games if its
joint bid with Belgium for the 2018 or
2022 FIFA World Cup fails.
2012 London Olympics: The All
England Club said it will drop its allwhite
clothing rule for the Olympic
tennis tournament.
World Cup 2018/22: Event branding
specialist Icon was appointed as an
official supplier to England’s bid to
host the event. The company will
supply city and venue brand dressing
for FIFA’s inspection visit.
FIBA: Basketball’s 2014 World
Championship for Women will be held
in Australia, Brazil or Turkey, the
sport’s governing body has announced.
The FIBA Central Board will make a
final decision, following a close review
of the bids, in spring 2011.
2022 Winter Olympics: Sergey Bubka,
President of Ukraine’s National Olympic
Committee, announced plans to bid
for the Games. “Usually it takes seven
years to get ready to host the Olympics.
Other countries have also started from
scratch - and we will do the same.”
FIFA: World football’s governing
body was revealed to be budgeting
$16m for the London 2012 Olympic
football tournament, according to
insidethegames.biz. The figure is less
than the $22m of expenses incurred
by FIFA for the football tournaments at
the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
SportBusiness International • No.160 • 09.10 27

EVENTS
PRESSURE ON BRAZIL EXTRAVAGANZA
Before the sports world sambas down to Brazil for the 2014 World Cup and
2016 Summer Olympic Games, the hosts must answer some difficult questions
and overcome some significant obstacles. Barry Wilner reports.
SOME CRITICS would suggest there are billions
of roadblocks, all carrying dollar signs, to the
first football championship in South America
since 1978 - and the first Olympics ever staged
on the continent.
“Just four years away from the 2014 World
Cup, Brazil remains drastically behind in terms
of both infrastructure and stadium development
or improvement,” says Scott Minto, director
of the Sports MBA programme at the San
Diego State University. “Major challenges that
Brazil faces are improving its airport passenger
capabilities, network of trains connecting major
host cities, lodging capacity and other tourismrelated
industries.”
The Brazilian government recently addressed
the issues with a series of numbers. Minister of
Sports Orlando Silva Jr., scoffing at those who say
the nation is in way over its head, promised an
investment of $18.7 billion in infrastructure - a
staggering amount of money that even the most
developed economies would struggle to meet.
More than 75 per cent and as much as 80 per
cent will be allocated by the public sector, while
the rest will come from the private sector.
“These are the opinions of those who ignore
the reality of the country,” Silva said of the
doubters, adding that FIFA will soon “see the
reality close up. They will be surprised by the
preparations for the World Cup.”
Football’s world governing publicly criticised
Brazil’s preparations in May, saying “it is amazing
how Brazil is already late” and that a number of
stadium projects were facing “red lights already”
despite four years of construction still to go.
The government created an executive group
to supervise preparations for World Cup 2014,
which will have matches in Rio de Janeiro, Belo
Horizonte, Brasilia, Salvador, Porto Alegre,
Recife, Natal, Manaus, Curitiba, Fortaleza,
Cuiaba and perhaps Sao Paulo.
Included are representatives of the Office of
the Chief of Staff and the ministries of sports,
planning, finance and tourism. Each of the
host cities signed an agreement that defines the
responsibilities of each for the organisation of
World Cup. So FIFA will know who is carrying
their weight and who is falling short.
A breakdown of those expenditures goes like
this. Urban Mobility will cost $4.4 billion, added
to $2.1 billion from states and municipalities.
This money will be applied to the development
of monorail lines, subways, light rail transit
systems, transit terminals and other modes of
transportation. Some of these projects, Silva
notes, are already well under construction.
Airports will cost $3.1 billion. The federal
government predicts a 10 per cent increase in
traffic at Brazilian airports during the World
Cup. Brazil’s civil aviation agency will speed
up renovation of 13 airports expected to be
heavily used in the 12 host cities. Because other
modes of transportation are so lacking in the
large country and roads between cities range
from problematic to non-existent, a strong air
travel system will be vital. “Now we have the
investments for some of the sensitive areas such
as the airports,” says Silva.
“We expect 600,000 international visitors and
another three million Brazilians to travel through
Brazil and to the matches.”
The hotel sector will receive $556 million of
investment. Brazil’s National Bank for Economic
and Social Development allocated the money to
finance construction of new hotels or remodel
others, offering lower interest terms than the
market price at the time. Those resources could
be expanded according to demand from the
private sector. Ports around the country will
receive $420 million in investment.
28 SportBusiness International • No. 160 • 09.10

EVENTS
Mané Garrincha Stadium (L), Arena da Baixada (C), Vivaldão Stadium (R) - JorgeBrazil
Stadia
The stadium issue is the most contentious
criticism of Brazil’s preparations and will likely
remain so. The overall cost of stadia stands at
$2.7 billion: $226 million for each.
“In terms of stadia, the plan was to keep
government funds restricted to infrastructure
improvements and create partnerships between
stadium owners and corporations to fund
stadium expansion and renovation plans,”
Minto notes. “However, with football club’s on
task to meet FIFA deadlines to raise funds for
renovations of their stadia, progress was slow,
and recently Morumbi, a major stadium in Sao
Paulo, the financial centre of the country and
Brazil’s largest city, was crossed off of FIFA’s list.”
FIFA would like to have Sao Paulo, the
largest city in Latin America, as a site, but
none of the current proposals has met with the
world governing body’s approval. The idea of a
completely new stadium was floated - local club
Corinthians would be the primary tenant and the
national team would frequently play there - but
Sao Paulo officials will not commit municipal
monies to the project.
Another major local club, Palmeiras, is
renovating its stadium along FIFA guidelines,
but it has been proposed only as a training
ground, not as a venue. Capacity at the Palestra
Italia will increase from 30,000 to 45,000 by
2012, big enough to be the site of some games,
but not the opening match. Morumbi would seat
about 70,000 post-renovation, but after a May
deadline to commit $135 million to the project
was not met FIFA dropped the venue. One other
stadium in Sao Paulo, Pacaembu, seats about
40,000, but has not been part of planning for
the tournament.
Yet optimism abounds in the city. “We will do
everything possible for the opener of the World
Cup to be in Sao Paulo,” said Brazilian soccer
federation president Ricardo Teixeira says. “We
will find solutions, there is still time,” adds Sao
Paulo state governor Alberto Goldman, although
not as much time as Teixeira and Goldman
might believe. Silva claims additionally that
Sao Paulo is “the only bottleneck” in the 2014
preparations because the other 11 cities are
“preparing at a very good pace”.
Budgeting for several other areas of concern
has not yet been announced, but Brazil will
almost certainly face heavy costs for security.
South Africa spent millions more dollars in
that area than was projected and South African
organisers will help Brazilian security advisers
in their planning.
“Brazil may be the world’s eighth-largest
economy, claim the most World Cup titles in
history, and boasts an undeniable passion for
football, but its infrastructure may just be too
far behind to give FIFA what it expects of a
host nation for the spectacle that the World
Cup has become,” adds Minto. “President
Lula won international acclaim and generated
nationalistic fervor within Brazil with his
successful bids for both the World Cup and
Olympic Games, and for Brazilians, hosting
their first World Cup since 1950 will be three
weeks of unparalleled celebration.
“However, with the current administration
funding many of the required investments and
his term set to end in October of 2010, Lula’s
successor, and future generations of Brazilians,
will be stuck with a very expensive tab.”
For all of these expenditures, what will Brazil
get out of hosting the next World Cup - and then
the Olympics beyond it? The federal government
forecasts the 2014 World Cup will generate an
additional $104 billion in economic activity for
Brazil through investment, tourism, an increase
in household consumption, and the recycling
of resources. If Brazil pulls it off, the Olympics
could be even more lucrative for Rio.
“We will work in a timely and transparent
manner to prepare Brazil for the World Cup
and for the future,” adds Minister Silva. “We are
focusing on sustainable development, which will
not only result in Brazil successfully hosting the
2014 matches, but also improve the country for
the Brazilian people.”
SportBusiness International • No.160 • 09.10 29

BUD BLOOMS AT
THE WORLD CUP
Eelco van der Noll, Global Director, Sports & entertainment at AB InBev,
tells Kevin Roberts how the brewer’s multi-brand approach and digital
strategy paid dividends at the 2010 World Cup and urges rights owners to
step up to the plate to add value.
While the football played at the 2010 FIFA
World Cup may not linger long in the memory,
other aspects of Africa’s first football world
championship certainly will.
South Africa didn’t simply host the
tournament; it left an unforgettable African
stamp on it. This was a tournament in which
the host nation - not its Bafana Bafana team
but the country itself - took centre-stage. It was
a tournament whose signature sound was the
monotone drone of the vuvuzela and which was
characterised by a spirit of friendly co-operation,
leading most of the hovering international media
to wonder what all the pre-event wailing and
gnashing of teeth had been about.
In short, South Africa had done it. In the
face of significant doubt, and predictions of all
manner of chaos, it had pulled it off. South Africa
had justified FIFA president Sepp Blatter’s faith
and taken its place in Word Cup legend.
And according to Eelco van der Noll, global
director, sports & entertainment at FIFA partners
AB InBev, South Africa still hasn’t received all
the plaudits it deserves: “I was in the country for
six weeks and South Africa simply exceeded all
expectations.
“They are not getting nearly enough credit
for what was achieved by a country that is still a
young democracy.
“The world may take a World Cup for granted
but South Africa as a nation absolutely delivered.
It was as smooth an operation as it could possibly
have been.”
That’s praise indeed from a man who has seen
the Word Cup and many other events from both
sides of the sponsorship fence. Van der Noll has
worked for major brands including MasterCard
and Canon and for FIFA itself, giving him a
fascinating perspective on the nature of the
relationship between properties and their partners.
South Africa 2010 was Van der Noll’s first
World Cup at the helm of AB InBev’s sponsorship
operation, and it is one which highlights the
complexity and sophistication of modern day
partnerships in sport and the ways in which
rights owners are recognising the realities of 21st
century business needs by being more flexible in
the way that their rights are utilised by brands. All
of which requires a little background.
AB InBev was created by the $52 billion
takeover of leading US brewer Anheuser Busch by
InBev, the world-leading Belgium-based brewer.
The company’s portfolio now includes Stella
Artois, Becks andBudweiser.
The acquisition became a major issue in
the United States where Anheuser Busch is
something of an institution. But today the
company is not only the world’s biggest beer
company (with revenues of $9.2 billion and a
profit of $1.15 billion in the second quarter 2010)
but one of the five biggest consumer goods
corporations on the planet.
Merging these two mega-corporations was
never going to be a straightforward exercise and
one of the areas that needed attention was the
legacy of sponsorship deals on the AB books.
Over the years Anheuser Busch has become
one of the world’s biggest spending sponsors as
it promoted its Budweiser and Bud Light brands
heavily in the United States and worldwide. The
brand was everywhere, from NASCAR to the NFL
and, of course, the FIFA World Cup.
“The issue we faced was transferring the rights,
which AB held through to 2014, to the new
corporation and to make sure that they could be
used in a way which offered AB InBev the best
possible value,” explains Van der Noll.
In essence that meant enabling AB InBev to
harness the power of the World Cup to meet
specific needs in individual markets around the
world - something which had never done before.
And naturally, FIFA “took some convincing” to
take what some felt was a fairly radical step.
Van der Noll was ideally placed to do the
convincing. His four years at FIFA as head of
marketing and a member of the federation’s
management team gave him a unique insight
into the way the organisation works which, he
says, gave him “a better understanding and
respect for FIFA and the reasons they sometimes
push back against brands.”
“Our strategy was to maximise the footprint
of our sponsorship. Overwhelmingly that meant
30 SportBusiness International • No.160 • 09.10

promoting the Budweiser brand but there are
certain markets around the world where we
wanted to activate on other AB InBev brands.
These included Brahma in Brazil (the brand
already sponsors the Brazilian national teams),
Jupiler in Holland and Harbin in China.
“We are not like Coca-Cola which has one brand
across all territories. The creation of AB InBev
opened the floodgates to a number of brands and
this became the cornerstone of our strategy. To
make the sponsorship worthwhile we simply had
to involve multiple brands and, naturally, FIFA was
initially very protective because it was concerned
about the possibility of clutter around the beer
category,” Van der Noll said.
With the agreement of FIFA in place, AB InBev
developed a two-phase approach. In-country
activations for key individual brands made full
use of the World Cup assets while Budweiser,
which was promoted across some 80 territories
worldwide, was supported by a global digital
overlay built around the concept of Budweiser
United, a social network-based programme
drawing the world together around its love of
football, reality shows and, of course, beer.
Here was an example of how partnerships
between brands and sports properties have
delivered over the years and how the apparently
limitless potential of the digital universe is
encouraging creativity.
The Bud House was an online reality show
Eelco van der Noll
Global Director, Sports &
Entertainment, AB InBev
A marketing graduate from Rotterdam’s
Institute for Business Administration &
Economics, van der Noll joined Japanese
multinational Canon in 1990 where he
developed several integrated marketing
programmes for the company.
He joined global payments solutions
company MasterCard in 1995, where
as Vice-President he negotiated and
contributed to multi-million dollar
partnership agreements with sports bodies
including FIFA, UEFA, Jordan F1 and
Manchester United. He also developed
programmes to promote the FIFA World
Cup and Pelé-themed payment cards.
FIFA soon came calling, and van der Noll
assumed the position of Head of Marketing,
overseeing the development and the
commercialisation of football worldwide.
In his four years with FIFA he generated
incremental revenue of $80 million through
the sale of sponsorship packages.
After a brief spell at Momentum
Worldwide, van der Noll joined Anheuser
Busch InNev in June 2009.
along the lines of Big Brother, but with a
difference. The inhabitants of the house, in Cape
Town, represented the 32 nations which qualified
for the World Cup finals. As the teams were
eliminated, so was their Bud House counterpart.
Available on and linked to the leading social
media platforms, it quickly created a global
community united by its engagement in and
willingness to talk about the project.
This online offering was complemented by a
global Man of the Match vote, while the Bud Cup
was organised to bring teams of consumers to
South Africa for their own knockout competition.
“This was a truly global programme based
around a beer to unify soccer fans, and the huge
digital platform we created was certainly one of
the highlights,” says Van der Noll.
The programme delivered results on a range
of measures, including ensuring that Budweiser
was the top-selling drink - soft drinks and bottled
water included - at World Cup stadiums.
In addition, Budweiser’s Facebook fanbase
added one million ‘likes’ during the five weeks
of the tournament, while over 2.7 million fans
showed their colours using the brand’s ‘Paint Your
Face’ application on Facebook.
Bud House attracted more than seven million
views on syndicated channels while more than 1.5
million fans voted for their Bud Man of the Match
after each of the 64 games.
In a press release issued along with the
SportBusiness International • No.160 • 09.10 31

There is a significant risk of major properties
pricing themselves out of the market.
Current price levels for major events are just
astronomical and very difficult to justify.
company’s second-quarter and half-year results
for 2010, World Cup-related activity was credited
with enabling AB InBev to maintain sales levels
in a difficult global market and gain significant
traction in key territories worldwide.
Not least of these is the hard-to-crack Russian
market, where the American icon Budweiser was
successfully launched on the back of its World
Cup involvement.
And it was the success of the digital strategy
which most clearly highlights the potential for
a gap to emerge between properties and their
sponsors as fast-moving brands continue to
embrace digital opportunities, leaving rights
owners trailing in their wake.
The rationale for and execution of
sponsorships is changing and Van der Noll
believes that will be a major factor for companies
seriously reflecting on the opportunity to renew
deals with major sports properties.
“The situation is different now. In the 1970s
and 80s, these brands were involved in major
sports events because they were in the process of
building global brands.
“Most of them now have close to 100 per
cent awareness and, quite simply, brands are no
longer in it for exposure.
“There are two key elements which need to be
linked into sponsorships, now and in the future.
“The first is that marketing is all about
building a relationship with consumers.
Brands want to be able to tell their story and
have customer tell them theirs. We want to tell
the world who we are, what we stand for. The
sponsorship should be a platform to allow the
brand to do that.
“While major sports events like the World
Cup are a passion point which provides the basic
connection with consumers, FIFA and other
rights owners have to recognise the transition
which is taking place and look at how they can do
more to facilitate this story-telling.
“Where I think FIFA still has room to add value
for partners is in the whole social media space.
That is where the fish are, it is where we need
to be fishing and FIFA could do more to help us
connect with consumers in the online world.
“They don’t technically allow us to use their
marks in the social media space and that is
something we would like to see changed. They
could also do more with their own digital offering
which is run by real professionals but which, at
the moment, provides only limited opportunities
for partners.”
Van der Noll believes that the future is
bright for those properties able to embrace the
marketing realities of the digital age and move
away from traditional methods of evaluating and
selling sponsorship.
“The bigger properties need to become more
realistic about pricing,” he says.
“At the moment there is a significant risk
of them pricing themselves out of the market.
Current price levels for major events are just
astronomical. For example the fees for the World
Cup rose 250 per cent between the 2006 and
2010 tournaments and that sort of increase is
very difficult to justify.
“I see massive prices for the Sochi 2014
Winter Olympics and future Olympic Games as
well as the World Cup, and I just don’t believe
that trend can continue.”
In fact, Van der Noll believes high prices may
simply force brands away from sport and into
taking a more creative approach to the use of
social media: “Our Bud House programme was a
tremendous success during the 2010 World Cup
and the fact that we were associated with the
event certainly helped us.
“But the point is that the association was not
critical. With new media it becomes easier to
develop programmes without paying expensive
rights fees.”
It’s a view which might just send a shiver down
the spine of some rights owners who have become
accustomed to year-on-year increases in sponsordriven
revenue, and might just act as a wake-up
call for those properties that continue to offer
much the same package of sponsorship rights that
was on the market a couple of decades ago.
Times have changed. And the question is
whether or not sport has the ability or appetite
to change with them. Away from the World
Cup there are likely to be further changes to AB
InBev’s approach to its Budweiser partnerships
in the United States. But, as Van der Noll is quick
to point out, there will be no reduction in the
company’s appetite for sport any time soon.
“It’s simple. Beer, sports and entertainment
go hand-in-hand so while there may be changes
in the way we activate our sponsorships there
will be no change of direction in terms of
commitment to sports.
“We have to engage with our customers
through their passion points and sport is key
among them.”
In the United States that change of approach
marks a shift away from the massive, “in your
face” Bud-branding exercises of the past towards
what van der Noll describes as a “smarter, more
sophisticated and creative era.”
“The US is by far the biggest market for
Budweiser and the brand has associations with
many properties. The NFL ( for Bud Light) is our
biggest sponsorship in sport - bigger even than
the World Cup and was secured at the expense of
Coors Light.
“While we have reviewed our US properties
and may lose some smaller ones, in the main it
is a steady portfolio which, of course, includes
two other massive properties in Major League
Baseball and NASCAR.”
Outside the US it is likely that the AB InBev
portfolio will expand further with the emphasis
still on football.
“We want to build on the momentum of the
World Cup and will be looking at events and
leagues rather than clubs or individual players,”
explains Van der Noll who believes that the
sponsorship sector continues
to mature and, when executed effectively,
continues to have much to offer unique
opportunities to marketers.
“Sponsorship is no longer a surrogate media
buy. It is a discipline that can deliver measurable
results in its own right,” he adds. “At AB InBev
we have developed the most sophisticated
measurement dashboard I have ever seen.
“A lot of money and human resources have
been invested in the system and at the core of
it is a brand tracking system in 10 key markets
which measures not only awareness but also
preference and brand health.
“These are areas we take very seriously and
are at the heart of everything we do. As for the
World Cup, it has been the proof point for a new
era in marketing at AB InBev.
32 SportBusiness International • No.160 • 09.10

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RYDER CUP
LET
BATTLE
COMMENCE
Over the past two decades the Ryder Cup has become established as one of the
world’s truly great global sports events. Development of the Ryder Cup brand has
been accompanied by ever-growing media interest and has sparked bidding
battles between cities and nations anxious to host future editions of the event.
Andy Fry examines the growth of the Ryder Cup against the background of
the 2010 edition in Celtic Manor, Wales, from October 1 to 3.
THERE’S NO QUESTION The Ryder Cup, the
biennial showdown between the US and Europe’s
best golfing talent, is a spectacle comparable to
Grand Slams, NFL Super Bowl, The America’s
Cup, Formula One and The Tour de France.
The competition jointly-run by the PGA of
America and PGA European Tour is regularly
cited as one of the world’s top ten sporting
events and is beamed into 750 million homes
worldwide. No doubt this is partly down to
the quality and depth of the individual talent
on display, but European Ryder Cup director
Richard Hills believes the real key to the event’s
popularity is its team component.
“Fans of The Ryder Cup recognise there’s
something very special about players who
normally compete with each other coming
together as a part of a US or European team,” he
tells SportBusiness International. “The passion of
the players is partly explained by patriotism - but
it’s also because many would have started their
careers pulling together as part of teams.”
The headline numbers underline the growing
appeal of the event. Back in 2006, TV rights
sales meant that around 480 million homes in
40 countries were able to watch the Ryder Cup
in Ireland. Roll forward to 2010 and 750 million
homes in 195 countries will be able to tune in -
courtesy of broadcasters including pay-operator
Canal Plus in France and Spain, state-broadcaster
CCTV in China and NBC in the US.
NBC, to cite one example, consistently
secures robust ratings for the event - with
particularly impressive figures when the US
won the event in September 2008 without
the aid of Tiger Woods (up 22 per cent on the
2006 defeat at K Club, Ireland albeit with a
time-slot difference). UK pay-platform Sky is
another which secures strong viewing figures
for the event, and it plans to use The
Ryder Cup as the launch-pad for
its ambitious new residential 3D
offering. This widespread fan appeal
means that The Ryder Cup is generally
able to deliver a robust commercial
story. Hills is frank enough to admit that
the recession has made selling the 2010
edition tough, “but we are certainly not
dragging along the bottom.
“In line with other leading sports
franchises, hospitality has been a
difficult market in the current climate
- with the result that we have released
some corporate ticket inventory to
the general public. But we have sold
sponsorship packages to brands including
BMW, Emirates Airline, KPMG, Rolex and
financial services company Citi.”
BMW’s recent renewal was a particular boost
for the event - since it runs right through to the
2014 edition at Gleneagles in Scotland.
“We see golf as an ideal environment through
which to communicate with our customers
and promote BMW values such as precision,
dynamism and sportsmanship,” explains Ian
Robertson, a board member for BMW Group
with responsibility for sales and marketing.
“Having been involved in golf for more than 20
years our commitment is long-term.”
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of
this latest edition of The Ryder Cup is that it
is being held in Wales for the first time - at a
purpose-built course on the Celtic Manor Resort.
The brainchild of Wales’ first-ever billionaire,
entrepreneur Sir Terry Matthews, the arrival of
The Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor is being heralded
as the biggest ever sports event to come to Wales
- with both the country and the nearby city of
34 SportBusiness International • No. 160 • 09.10

RYDER CUP
Celtic Manor’s 18th hole - lhourahane
Ian Poulter (Europe) and Phil Mickelson (US)
- Getty Images Sport
Newport expected to benefit. The decision to
award the event to Celtic Manor was made
before the course had been built.
Although this may have been viewed as
something of a risk, there are clear upsides
says Celtic Manor marketing director Gareth
Rees Jones: “There’s always been an issue with
getting 45,000 spectators close enough to
see the action at a Ryder Cup - because of
the nature of team play. So Celtic Manor has
created a stadium course - which provides
fans with maximum viewing opportunities at
key points on the course.
“Because we were designing the
course with The Ryder Cup in mind, we
were also able to work with the rights
holder to
make sure we selected the best
hospitality and camera position.
There are vast platforms for
corporate hospitality running
almost the entire length of the
final three holes.”
‘The Twenty Ten Course’,
running along the floor of the
Usk Valley, combines nine new
holes with nine holes from the
Wentwood Hills course which
have been remodeled. Because it
was new, there were numerous
factors to take into account. “It
has been a great privilege to
create a golf course that is not
only capable of challenging the
world’s greatest players but can also deal with all
the requirements of staging a Ryder Cup,” says
course designer Ross McMurray of European
Golf Design. “It has been interesting to balance
the requirements of engineers, archaeologists,
ecologists and the European Tour Staging
Department with the need to create a golf course
that will host both The Ryder Cup and The
Celtic Manor Wales Open as well as provide a
high quality golfing destination for visitors to
the resort.”
Putting Wales on the map
Celtic Manor’s Rees Jones estimates that Sir Terry
has spent about £120 million on the resort - of
which £50 million was about bringing The Ryder
Cup to Wales. All of which begs the question -
how will Celtic Manor generate a return on an
event which only lasts for three days?
“Clearly with that level of investment, Sir
Terry wasn’t simply looking at recoupment
for the resort. He was interested in helping
Wales attract inward investment - both in
terms of tourism and support from industry.
Not to be overlooked either are infrastructure
improvements that derive from Ryder Cup
investment - notably the transport network.”
In terms of golf tourism, there’s no question
that winning The Ryder Cup is having a positive
effect. “We have some great courses here,” says
Rees Jones, “including links courses. But Wales
just wasn’t on the map when compared to Ireland
or Scotland. Now, The Ryder Cup means it now is
and we are getting more people coming.”
SportBusiness International • No. 160 • 09.10 35

RYDER CUP
Captains Corey Pavin (US) and Colin Montgomerie (Europe) - Getty Images Sport
This claim is borne out by figures from
Ryder Cup Wales (RCW), the public-private
partnership which has driven the agenda in the
run up to the Celtic Manor event. According
to John Jermine, chairman of RCW, golfing
tourism contributed around £34.7 million to
the Welsh economy in 2009 - an impressive
increase of £18 million on 2002 - and in 2009
Wales also enjoyed a 15 per cent increase in golf
visitors - against the overall UK trend.
This is exactly the kind of outcome that Hills,
as a Ryder Cup director, is looking for: “Wales
has done a very creative job of delivering long
term benefits for the sport. They’ve even gone
as far as using golf as a tool for the national
curriculum for six-to-10-year-olds.”
Raising interest at home
Highlights of the pre-Ryder Cup period include
a range of initiatives from Golf Development
Wales which have introduced around 75,000
seven-to-17-year-olds to the sport. At the same
time, the £2 million Ryder Cup Legacy Fund
has funded 41 pay-and-play facilities that will
include 200 holes and 32 greens across Wales.
In terms of encouraging the widest possible
fan engagement, there are also plans for a
fanzone in Newport. Here, 2,000 spectators
who can’t get tickets to the event will be able to
watch it live on big screens.
All for which makes for good golf-based
headlines. But when public money is involved
in bringing sports events to countries, how can
stakeholders be sure there is a tangible benefit
to be had? Well, to its credit, Europe’s Ryder
Cup team has worked hard to try and deliver
some hard facts regarding economic impact.
After 2006’s edition at K Club in Ireland, for
example, Ryder Cup Europe and Fáilte Ireland
commissioned Deloitte & Touche to produce
a report which claimed the event generated
spending of around €240 million across the
FACTS AND FIGURES
Celtic Manor expects 45,000 spectators
to watch the match on each day of the
competition. A further 7,000 on each day
will be made up of members of staff and
course marshals, emergency services
and the media. Similar numbers will
attend official Practice Days. Around
1,200 representatives of the media are
expected to attend in 2010. Four TV
studios will be built, along with 30 outside
broadcast vehicles and 30 scaffolding
camera towers at strategic points on
the course, all served by 80km of TV
fibre cables. The 2010 event is likely to
be covered by 50 TV stations, beaming
pictures into 750 million homes in over
195 countries. On course infrastructure
includes: 195 mobile offices/toilets,
a 2,000-square-metre merchandise
tent, 40,000 sqm of other tentage,
3,700 metres of perimeter fencing, 18
grandstands with over 15,000 seats, nine
electronic screens on the course, practice
ground and tented village displaying live
coverage and scores, 13,000 chairs, 300
flag poles 90 BMW courtesy cars and 240
Club Car electric buggies.
country - much higher than the pre-event
prediction of €130 million.
The fact that Sir Terry was the driving
force in winning the event for Wales is to
be applauded. But with the likes of France,
Germany, Portugal, Spain and The Netherlands
all now interested in hosting this prestigious
event in 2018, it could be decades before Wales
gets another look in (particularly as hosting
is shared with the US (Medinah, Chicago,
in 2012). So how will Celtic Manor justify its
existence going forward?
The answer, says Rees Jones, is the
diversified structure of the business: “Our
main revenue streams are the conference
and leisure markets - with many companies
and families using our facilities. But we
also recently extended our contract with the
European Tour for The Celtic Manor-sponsored
Wales Open until 2014. That means highprofile
golf will continue to play a part here for
at least another three years.”
Of course, one of the biggest innovations
was the decision to go to Wales for the first
time. If the event is a success, then the way
is open for other non-traditional markets to
present a new kind of blueprint to The Ryder
Cup’s organisers. To cite an example, the 2018
Germany bid (see pp. 38-40) is based on plans
for another custom-built course - to be financed
by car giant Audi.
Leaving aside the potential for commercial
conflict between Audi and Ryder Cup partner
BMW, the move towards purpose-built courses
in a more diverse range of countries could
reinforce the Ryder Cup’s profile as one of the
great international events in the calendar.
36 SportBusiness International • No. 160 • 09.10

DELIVERING TOTAL EVENT SOLUTIONS
FROM THE RYDER CUP TO THE
COMMONWEALTH GAMES IN 2010
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TOTAL EVENT SOLUTIONS

RYDER CUP
2006 Ryder Cup at the K Club - Getty Images Sport
EUROPEAN PRIZE
The Ryder Cup has only once taken
place in Europe outside the British
Isles, at Valderrama, Spain, in 1997.
However European nations are
increasingly recognising that golf’s
flagship team event, which rotates
from the USA to across the Atlantic
every two years, as a vehicle to bring
both economic and social benefits
and global exposure as a host nation.
SportBusiness International profiles
the five bids for 2018 and asks them
why Ryder Cup should choose them
as hosts in April next year.
FRANCE
The French government
has created a special body,
‘Interministerial Commission
for Major Sporting Events’, for its intention
to regularly host major sports events. This
commission has three primary objectives: Euro
2016 (won this May), Winter Olympic Games
2018 Annecy (announced mid-2011) and of the
Ryder Cup 2018.
Ryder Cup 2018 France would be staged at
Golf National, a course situated half-an-hour
outside Paris in Guyancourt, surrounding the
historic Chateau of Versailles. The course can
accommodate up to 70,000 spectators per day,
20,000 above the capacity normally required for
a Ryder Cup venue.
“Hosting the next Ryder Cup is a natural
evolution of the ‘boom’ of golf in France,” says
Pascal Grizot, President of the French Ryder
Cup committee. “Ryder Cup 2018 France will
leave a long-lasting legacy and will be utilised
as the key inspirational driver to boost the
growth of French golf: our objective is to go
from 400,000 members in 2010 to 700,000
in 2022 and to drive significant participation
beyond this through the development of 100
short courses in urban areas.”
Grizot adds there will be an “outstanding”
opening ceremony at the Eiffel Tower, where
the two team captains will be pitted against each
other in a driving contest from the first floor of
the Eiffel Tower trying to reach greens in the
shape of Europe and the USA.
France’s bid is funded in partnership
between the country’s national federation and
the nation’s golfers. Each registered member of
the French Golf Federation (410,377 members
at the end of 2009) has agreed to a €3 levy on
their membership fee up until 2022. The French
government and major French firms have also
contributed to the bid fund.
GERMANY
The German proposal is being led
by RC Deutschland, the specialist
body formed in October 2008,
and is supported by specialist engagement
marketing agency GMR Marketing. Six-time
European Ryder Cup winner Bernhard Langer is
patron of the German campaign.
A new tailor-made golf course will be built
38 SportBusiness International • No. 160 • 09.10

RYDER CUP
to host the event, as will a high-performance
training-centre, a German hall of fame for golf
and a high-class hotel. The new venue will
accommodate more than 50,000 spectators
per day. The bid team says German efficiency
and reliability will serve as an engine to drive a
smooth-running 2018 Ryder Cup.
“Spectators arriving by air, rail or car can
expect smooth passage into Germany,” the
bid team told SportBusiness International.
“International airports in Munich, Nuremberg
and Frankfurt will speed visitors on their way,
as will modern rail stations all over the country
and high-speed ICE trains will make travelling a
pleasure. The iconic German autobahns need no
introduction for drivers.
“Hotel accommodation comes in all
categories, from five-star deluxe palaces to the
typical Bavarian Gasthaus - something for every
possible taste and budget. The Land of Bavaria
will also offer visitors a beautiful surrounding
with a lot of historical cities, the alps, the lakes
and castles, including nice weather in fall, to be
compared with the Indian summer. And due to
fortuitous timing…the world-famed Oktoberfest
beer festival takes place in Munich at the same
time as the Ryder Cup.”
HOLLAND
Holland’s bid proposes hosting the
2018 Ryder Cup at the
Colin Montgomerie-designed
course, The Dutch, currently under construction
45 minutes from both Rotterdam and
Amsterdam. The bid team emphasises that
the course-design concept, which will provide
spectators with clear views of multiple holes, will
increase viewer satisfaction of the Ryder Cup and
allow for a higher number of spectators on site.
Smart ticketing will allow spectators to prebook
seating locations and upgrade to other
tickets on-site. This way, says Niek Molenaar,
Director of the 2018 Dutch Ryder Cup bid,
Holland will get more revenues out of ticketing,
which represents around the 35 per cent of the
bid team’s total budget. The majority of revenues
(40 per cent) will come from the support of
long-term business partners with 25 per cent of
funding from the Dutch government.
Molenaar says “bonding corporate Holland”
is the key factor that puts the Dutch bid on a
different level from the four other territories
vying for 2018: “We have developed a sponsor
programme that attracted a diversified and solid
portfolio of our many business partners for
Ryder Cup 2018 and in the process realised longterm
sponsor commitments for future Dutch
European Tour events.”
Molenaar adds: “The Ryder Cup will give
a huge boost for golf in the Netherlands. It
has already grown fast to become the third
participant sport but is still underdeveloped in
attention from the media and the government.
AN EXPERT’S VIEW
A study commissioned by the European
Tour and the Irish Tourism Development
Authority estimated that the 2006 Ryder
Cup, staged at the K Club, generated
€143 million of direct expenditure for
the Irish economy.
“The Ryder Cup has proven to generate
significant economic benefits to its host
nation,” says Andrea Sartori, head of
KPMG’s Golf Advisory Practice in Europe,
Middle East and Africa - whose latest
study about the professional tournament
golf sector will be launched during the
2010 Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor. “Besides
the organisers’ expenditure, the event is
known to attract a considerable number
of international visitors, whose spending
before, during and after the event
contributes to the national economy.”
“In addition to these tangible economic
benefits,” adds Sartori, “the event enables
the host nation to position the country as a
golf tourism destination and showcase its
tourism offering to a worldwide audience
through the extensive media coverage,
available to approximately 500 million
homes across 180 countries.
“The Ryder Cup also has a significant
legacy effect and may help to grow golf
locally by introducing new players to the
game. This in turn may facilitate further
investment in the supply of golf courses.
Furthermore, the 2018 event will see the
Ryder Cup return to continental Europe
for only the second time in history,
adding an additional prestige factor to
securing the bid.”
The Ryder Cup will motivate more juniors
to play golf which eventually will lead to
Dutch Ryder Cup stars of the future. From an
economic perspective we see the direct positive
impact of a large-scale sporting event for the
Rotterdam area, but also in the longer term it
will help to develop golf tourism.”
PORTUGAL
Portugal’s 2018 bid promises to
host the event at a venue in “one
of the last unspoiled pieces of
land in continental Europe”. Comporta is a
12,500-hectare area that incorporates two tourist
areas of approximately 365 hectares each. The
proposed golf course, the Comporta Dunes,
designed by specialist architect Tom Fazio
and European Golf Design, will be built over
140 hectares.
“From a sporting perspective the 2018
Ryder Cup would serve as catalyst to develop
the number of golf players in our country
and turn golf into a popular game, such as
football or athletics,” says Miguel Franco de
Sousa, Technical Director of the Portuguese
Golf Federation. “Portugal has great natural
conditions to play golf and many golf courses,
if we have a tool like a Ryder Cup to develop the
game of golf in our country we believe we can
grow from 15,000 players exponentially.
“Golf has a tremendous impact in Portugal’s
economy and currently represents 20 per cent
of tourism revenue and is growing. Golf is
a strategic tourism product which has been
marketed over the last 15 years in Portugal. Now
is the opportunity to promote a new concept of
golf tourism where sustainability and quality will
play major roles.”
Portugal’s bid costs are being financed
through the Portuguese State through Turismo
de Portugal, the promoter Herdade da Comporta
and the Portuguese Golf Federation.
SPAIN (MADRID)
The strongest asset of Madrid’s
2018 Ryder Cup bid is the purposebuilt
course at Tres Cantos, situated
26 kilometres from the centre of Madrid. The
course’s pinnacle hole, the 16th known as the
‘Bullring’, will be able to accommodate up to
25,000 people around the green.
“Celtic Manor has rebuilt the course in order
to meet all of the requirements for a Ryder
Cup so in this sense there are similarities with
our proposed purpose-built course at Tres
Cantos,” says Gonzaga Escauriaza Barreiro,
President of the Royal Spanish Golf Federation.
“We will be visiting Celtic Manor to watch the
Ryder Cup this year and will be looking at all
of the organisational and logistical elements
closely to hopefully learn some important facts
for our own bid.”
Barreiro adds: “Our infrastructure is as
good as any city in the world, as shown when
we presented a strong bid to host the [2016]
Games in Madrid - the public will be able to
travel from the centre of Madrid to our course
in the space of 28 minutes. We also have a
range of support across all major institutions
including the Royal Family, Government of
Madrid, National Sports Council, the media
and the Spanish players.”
Madrid has 10 former European players
supporting its bid, including Severiano Ballesteros
as its bid patron. The golf industry already
generates €2.375 billion per year for the Spanish
economy and, says Barreiro, “hosting the 2018
Ryder Cup would provide the focus and attention
necessary to continue attracting investment at
all levels of the game and support our existing
calendar of events on the European Tour.”
Despite announcing an intention to bid for the
2018 Ryder Cup, Sweden withdrew its application
in March this year.
40 SportBusiness International • No. 160 • 09.10

eastern
promise
china moves to centre stage of THE sony ericsson wta TOUR

SONY ERICSSON WTA TOUR
stacey aLLaster
ON
TRACK
FOR SUCCESS
Stacey Allaster - Getty Images Sport
Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Chairman and CEO Stacey Allaster tells Kevin Roberts how women’s
tennis is progressing on all fronts and bucking economic trends.
IT’S NOW LITTLE MORE than a year since
Stacey Allaster became Chairman and Chief
Executive of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour. And
what a year it has been.
While much of the world took cover from the
fall-out of the recession, women’s tennis appears
to be emerging fitter and commercially stronger
as the Tour continues to reap the benefits of its
SportBusiness International • No.160 • 09.10 43

SONY ERICSSON WTA TOUR
stacey aLLaster
restructuring under the continuing
Road Map programme instigated under the
stewardship of Allaster’s predecessor Larry
Scott, who is now at the Pac-10 Conference
in the USA’s National Collegiate Athletic
Association (NCAA) .
“As the global economy has gone backwards,
women’s tennis has gone forwards,” says
Allaster. “There is no doubt that we are in good
shape and that the future is bright. The Tour
has become truly global in every respect. We
stage events in 33 different countries and there
have been as many as nine nations represented
among the top 10 players at any one time.”
She believes that level of globality delivers an
enticing matrix of opportunities for sponsors,
something born out by recent events and the
signing of key commercial partnerships in both
Asia and Europe.
“We have an incredibly strong product on the
court and the streamlining of the circuit under
the Road Map means that we have been able to
deliver more of our top players at the top events,”
she adds. “Withdrawals (of players) are down and
attendances are up by 11 per cent at our premier
events. That has to tell you something.”
Strong partnerships
The statistics certainly seem to have told sponsors
something. Of a total 53 tournaments, only one
title sponsor has been lost and that was quickly
replaced - a record which other sports properties
must envy in these more trying times.
Critically, Sony Ericsson - the mobile
telecoms brand which had become almost
umbilically linked with women’s tennis
over the past decade - renewed its association to
include the 2011 and 2012 seasons earlier this
year. The new agreement frees-up the naming
rights for the end-of-season Championships
- which move from Doha, Qatar, to Istanbul,
Turkey, from 2011-13, and allows the WTA to
build its own brand equity.
Elsewhere Allaster and colleagues are
delighted at signing Chinese clothing
manufacturer Peak and the Swedish beauty
products company Oriflame, the latter of which
has signed a two-year partnership covering
Europe, Russia, the Middle East and Africa.
“The thing about the WTA is that we are
a team organisation,” explains Allaster. “The
athletes are the stars both on and off the court.”
And the stars of the WTA are critical to
its efforts to build a strong and commercially
compelling brand. Tennis, like so many other
sports, has been player-driven. And nothing, it
appears, drives interest in a player or the sport
more than a national affinity. In the days when
Steffi Graf ruled the women’s game and Boris
Becker was king of the men’s domain, tennis
rivalled football for popularity in Germany,
such is the level of identification with a fellowcountryman
at the top of their sport.
Now with the spread of talent better
reflecting the broad geographic footprint of the
circuit events, the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour is
exceptionally well-placed to develop traction and
commercial strength in a range of new markets.
But none of these, says Stacey Allaster, is
currently as important as China.
“China is our number one strategic priority
right now. We need to develop the opportunities
we currently face in that huge marketplace. But
that doesn’t mean we intend to neglect those
which exist elsewhere.
“Naturally we are looking at India, where
there is strong interest to stage a new event as
early as 2012 or 2013, and of course we would
love to have a stronger presence in South
America, particularly Brazil which is such a
massive market.”
While it is certain that new territories
will be added over time, the WTA calendar is
already fairly jam-packed and, given the struggle
to streamline the competition in recent years,
it would make little sense to start adding new
events which could once lead to a dilution of the
competition.
Tricky balance to strike
This is just one of the tricky strategic
development decisions facing Allaster and her
team and the glamorous end-of-season WTA
Championships provide a case in point.
Next year the event switches homes from
44 SportBusiness International • No. 146 • 06.09

SONY ERICSSON WTA TOUR
stacey aLLaster
“The thing about
the WTA
is that we are a
team organisation.
The athletes are
the stars both on
and off the court.”
Doha - where it has been something of a
feather in the cap of the resolutely-focused
and determined Qatari sports authorities - to
Istanbul, the major city in another country
where sport is beginning to play an important
role as its economy develops.
“We have some important decisions to
take,” adds Allaster. “After 2013, should the
championships return to a more robust media
market or be used to break new ground?”
Whatever the outcome of this discussion,
one thing is for certain. The continued growth
of women’s tennis will be driven in part through
the channels of social media, making the
continuing relationship with Sony Ericsson
particularly pertinent and valuable to both sides.
“The focus is certainly on social media and
encouraging people to share video, pictures
and editorial content through Facebook and
YouTube,” Allaster explains.
“The Williams sisters and Maria Sharapova
already have around five million fans on
Facebook while users of the WTA’s own
Facebook offering have accelerated from just
5,000 to 250,000 very quickly.
“The packaging of the product in digital
mini-bites is a given and, of course, part of the
reason Sony Ericsson renewed was our existing
digital strategy. Just look at their products. We
are able to provide a great network or them!”
So when she reflects on the past 12 months
in women’s tennis, what have been Stacey
Allaster’s highlights?
“Having Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin back
on the tour and the emergence of players like
Victoria Azarenka and Caroline Wozniacki means
that we have had a very deep bench,” says Allaster.
“This is probably the best product we have
had in the history of the WTA. Our athletes have
stepped up to support the Tour and all know
their responsibilities and the role they can play
as individuals in the development and continued
success of women’s tennis.”
“Attendance is up at our events and there
is more sponsorship and prize money in the
sport than ever before. To have renewed our
relationship with Sony Ericsson and have signed
two new sponsors makes it a hat-trick.
“In fact, it has been a great year both on and
off the court.”
Focus on the future
But while she is happy to reflect on the last 12
months or so, as Chairman and CEO, Allaster’s
focus is naturally on the future: “Taking the 2011
Championships to Istanbul presents us with
a great opportunity to take our sport and our
athletes to a new territory and to engage with
new audiences.
“Much of my focus will be on the
development and exploitation of our digital
platform because that is a priority for growth.
“And, of course, we have to maintain and
build on the momentum we’ve established
in the last year and make sure prize money
continues to increase.”
As the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour and its
galaxy of stars prepare to battle for the China
Open title in Beijing, they are likely to be
focused on their game rather than their role
in making history.
But their Chairman and CEO remains
confident that the Tour is in better than good
shape and that this current crop of players really
does have the whole world in its hands.
SportBusiness International • No.160 • 09.10 45

SONY ERICSSON WTA TOUR
UP AND COMING
MOVING ON UP
Around 2,200 players currently represent 96 nations on the WTA. We’ve picked out
10 of this year’s top performers primed to hit the headlines in the not-too-distant future.
Li Na
Li Na is spearheading the Chinese tennis revolution.
Born in 1982, she turned professional in 1999 and now
ranks 10th in the world - highest of three Chinese in
the top 50. Li Na is coached by Thomas Hogstedt and
husband Jiang Shan. She was introduced to tennis
aged 9 after playing badminton for two years.
Zheng Jie
The 27-year-old is number 23 in the WTA Singles
Rankings. Born in Cheng Du, China, she took up
the game aged 10 - inspired by her older sister.
Coached by husband Chang Yu, Zheng Jie graduated
from Si Chuan Sports Academy in 2000 and turned
professional in 2003 after which she had a storming
few seasons before an ankle injury blighted 2007.
Caroline Wozniacki
One of the most exciting young talents on the WTA,
Danish golden girl Caroline Wozniacki has
won seven titles and is ranked fourth. Coached
by father Piotr and Morten Christensen at the
National Tennis Centre in Denmark, 20-year-old
Caroline began playing tennis aged seven and turned
professional in 2005. In addition to her seven wins,
Samantha Stosur
Australia’s top female tennis player, Samantha Stosur,
was born in 1984 and turned professional in 1999.
Long regarded as a doubles specialist, she defied
critics in 2009 when she won the WTA event in Osaka,
Japan. This year, she showed Osaka was no fluke by
winning in Charleston. Samantha was introduced to
Aravane Rezai
Rising French star Aravane Rezai was born
in St Etienne in 1987 and would have been an
astrophysicist if she hadn’t pursued her love of
tennis. Proof she chose the right path are four WTA
singles titles wins since turning professional in 2005.
The 2009 season was her breakthrough with two
Described as a baseliner who prefers hardcourts, she
has won three WTA events - including Birmingham
in 2010. Her ambition is to win a Grand Slam though
she describes Miami as her favourite tournament.
This year, she donated prize money from Madrid to
earthquake relief efforts in Yushu, China.
Prior to that setback, Zheng Jie won two Tour events
in 2006 (Estoril, Stockholm) and one in 2005 (Hobart).
She came back strong in 2008 - reaching a Grand
Slam singles semi-final at Wimbledon. The year
2009 saw her consolidate her status while 2010 saw
her reach her second Grand Slam semi-final at the
Australian Open. Her favourite shot is her backhand.
Caroline has been in seven finals - underlining her
ability to perform under pressure. She won Junior
Wimbledon in 2006 and was voted Tour Newcomer of
the Year in 2008. Regularly seeded at major events,
Caroline is much younger than any of the other top 10
women players in the world. Victory for her in one of
the four Grand Slams seems imminent.
tennis aged eight and is now coached by David Taylor.
A happy, easy-going person, her relaxed manner
hasn’t stopped her storming up the rankings to
number five. Outside her wins, the career achievement
to date came at Roland Garros this year where she
reached the final, losing to Francesca Schiavone.
event wins and a top 30 ranking. This year she has
recorded victories in Madrid and Bastad and has
reached a ranking of 20. Aravane, coached by Patrick
Mouratoglou, is a right-handed baseliner whose
favourite surface is hardcourt. Her favourite player is
22-time Grand Slam winner Steffi Graf.
46 SportBusiness International • No. 160 • 09.10

SONY ERICSSON WTA TOUR
UP anD coming
Agnieszka Radwanska
Agnieszka Radwanska is Poland’s top female tennis
player. Born in Krakow in 1989, she is coached by her
father and turned professional in 2005 - the same
year she won the Junior Wimbledon title. In 2007,
she received the Tour Newcomer of the Year Award.
Agnieszka began playing at age four when her father,
Victoria Azarenka
Victoria Azarenka, 21-years-old, is destined for great
things. Born in Belarus, she trains in Scottsdale,
Arizona, with coach Sam Sumyk. Victoria started
playing aged seven and turned professional at 14.
Now ranked 18, she showed great promise as a
youngster - winning Junior Grand Slam singles
a club pro in Germany, introduced her to the sport.
She is a baseliner whose favourite shot is the
forehand and favourite surface is clay. She has won
four singles titles - most recently in 2008 (Pattaya
City, Istanbul, Eastbourne) - and one doubles title.
Consistent performances have kept her ranking high.
titles at the 2005 Australian Open and 2005 US Open.
In terms of the WTA, 2009 was an exceptional year -
with Tour title wins in Brisbane, Memphis
and Miami propelling her to a top 10 ranking finish.
In Memphis, she also won the Doubles title with
Danish player Caroline Wozniacki.
Yanina Wickmayer
Belgian star Yanina Wickmayer is 21-years-old. She is
coached by father, Marc, and does off-court training
with Marc Frey. She trains at Mouratoglou Academy
in Paris. Yanina started playing tennis at the age of
nine and cites Kim Clijsters as the person she most
admires. Ranked 17th, she turned professional in 2004
and was last year named the WTA’s Most Improved
Player - the result of winning two singles titles and
reaching the semi-final of the US Open. Her good
form continued with a title in January 2010 - this time
in Auckland. Success on the court has won Yanina a
sponsorship deal with with Belgian telco Telenet.
Andrea Petkovic
Brought up in Germany, 23-year-old Andrea Petkovic
was born in Bosnia in 1987. She turned professional
in 2006, played Roland Garros in 2007 and is now a
top 40-ranked player. A baseliner who prefers clay,
Andrea started playing at the age of six. Today she is
coached by Glen Schaap. At the Australian Open in
Alexandra Dulgheru
Romanian star Alexandra Dulgheru was born in 1989
and introduced to tennis by her parents at the tender
age of four. Having turned professional in 2005, she
won two WTA titles at her favourite tournament,
Warsaw, in 2009 and 2010. Ranked 28, Alexandra is a
baseliner whose favourite shot is a high backhand.
2008, she suffered a cruciate ligament rupture which
kept her out for eight months. But 2009 saw Andrea
bounce back with a WTA win in Bad Gastein, Austria, a
result which propelled her up the rankings. Her most
admired people are Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and
Argentinean revolutionary Che Guevara.
There is also more to Alexandra than tennis ability.
After her professional sport, she would like to be
a designer or architect. Romania is very proud
of Alexandra’s achievements and has given her
numerous awards - including one from Romanian
Tennis Federation president Ruxandra Dragomir.
SportBusiness International • No.160 • 09.10 47

SONY ERICSSON WTA TOUR
china
CHINA: LAND OF
With its booming economy, burgeoning middle class and rich tradition in racket sports such as badminton
and table tennis, the WTA has been targeting China for tennis ascendancy for nearly a decade.
IN THE PERIOD since the WTA first entered the
mainland Chinese market in 2003, with
the launch of Beijing-based event The China
Open, the Tour has made the kind of in-roads
most leading international sports franchises
can only dream about.
Whether you measure the WTA’s
performance by TV ratings, sponsorship
revenues, digital media engagement or event
attendance, there’s plenty to be proud of, says
WTA president David Shoemaker - who showed
his own commitment to China by spending two
years in Beijing.
“It was quite a culture shock moving from
St. Petersburg, Florida,” he recalls, “but it was
an amazing experience to see first-hand how
passionate people are about tennis. I learned a lot
personally and professionally during that time.”
Shoemaker, who continues to oversee the
WTA’s strategy in Asia-Pacific, says the Tour’s
rapid growth in China is closely linked to the
success of a handful of women tennis stars
affectionately known as the ‘Golden Flowers’.
“We had a sense that China could be an
important market for the WTA - which is why we
were keen to establish The China Open. But the
turning point was when Li Ting and Sun Tiantian
won doubles gold at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
“After that, we saw a wave of top female
talent come through - culminating with Li Na
who is now a top 10 ranked player in the WTA
singles rankings.”
As a groundswell of local support developed
around the Golden Flowers, who also include
WTA star Zheng Jie, the Tour decided to raise its
game in China: “In 2007, we took the decision to
upgrade the China Open and make it one of four
WTA mega-events alongside Miami, Indian Wells
and Madrid,” says Shoemaker. “That meant prize
money jumped from $600,000 to $4.5 million
and it became mandatory for our top 50 players
to participate [see panel for more details].
“We put in place a series of measures to
make women’s tennis front of mind all year
round - not just the nine days of the Open,” he
continues. These included the creation of a WTA
Asia-Pacific HQ in Beijing, a comprehensive
media strategy and the launch of Chinese Tennis
Festivals in Beijing and Guangzhou - the latter of
which is also home to a WTA event.
“The Festivals were a great success - drawing
crowds of 200,000 over three days,” adds
Shoemaker. “We’re so pleased we’re looking at
expanding the concept across China, starting
with a third Tennis Festival in Cheng Du
[Zheng Jie’s home town].”
As for media, a key development was a fouryear
exclusive rights deal with state broadcaster
CCTV which now airs the WTA’s top 20 events.
“CCTV has a reach of 330 million households,
which is great for us in terms of exposure,” says
Shoemaker. “Not only that, we’re one of the few
sports rights holders to have secured a fee from
CCTV - which goes to show the massive appeal of
top players like Li Na, Maria Sharapova and the
Williams sisters. We’ve reached the point where
women’s tennis is out-performing traditional
favourites like table tennis and badminton.”
The WTA’s media activities in China aren’t
just based around TV however, says Shoemaker:
“One of the big stories in China is the rapid
expansion of the digital space - which has been
very fertile ground for us. There’s massive
interest in social media among Chinese
consumers which has made destinations
like Sina, Sohu, Tudou and Youku extremely
important. We’ve seen a huge audience spike -
particularly around fans who are interested in
the lifestyle of the players off-court.”
All of this activity has not gone unnoticed
by sponsors. There’s no question the WTA’s
expansion in China was one reason Sony
Ericsson renewed its partnership with the
Tour - since it regards China as a crucial growth
market. In its turn, Sony Ericsson has played a
key part in activating the WTA’s strategy.
Perhaps even more significant in terms of
establishing a presence in China was the recent
news that the WTA had managed to secure a
sponsorship deal with sportswear company Peak.
The deal is covered in more detail on pp. 48-49,
but Shoemaker says it will contribute hugely to
the 24/7 exposure the WTA aspires to: “It’s hard
to overstate what this partnership will do for our
brand both in China and across Asia-Pacific.
Peak has taken a view that tennis will play a key
role in its activities right across the region, which
is great news for us.”
While the existence of world-beating Chinese
talent has been critical to the WTA’s success,
so has the federation’s warm relationship with
Chinese stakeholders: “It’s been said many
48 SportBusiness International • No. 160 • 09.10

SONY ERICSSON WTA TOUR
china
OPPORTUNITY
“We’ve reached a
point where women’s
tennis in China
is out-performing
traditional favourites
like table tennis and
badminton.”
Chinese star Li Na - Getty Images Sport
times before by sports marketers - but doing
business in China requires a real commitment
to understanding the local culture and
delivering mutual benefits. There was never any
question of the WTA trying to impose a plan on
China. Instead, the key was developing a good
dialogue and relationship with the Chinese
Tennis Association - for which the Golden
Flowers take a lot of credit - and the Beijing
municipal authorities.”
Fortunately, the WTA has made some friends
in high places - notably Wang Qishan, the former
Mayor of Beijing who is now Vice Premier
of China with responsibility for financial and
economic affairs. An avid tennis fan, Wang
Qishan has been highly influential in the
development of the China Open - and is even
known to have played the odd set with WTA stars.
Clearly, such activities are useful in opening
doors. But there’s a much more serious side to
what the WTA is giving back to China, explains
Shoemaker: “The expansion of the China Open
means that Beijing’s fantastic Olympic tennis
facilities are being put to good use. There’s often
a problem making sure facilities are still put to
use after major events, but the expansion of the
China Open has created a legacy.”
So does Shoemaker think the WTA is on track
in terms of hitting its targets? “Before I went to
China I was warned by people to be patient and
have modest expectations in the
short-term,” he asserts.
“I can safely say we have
exceeded our targets by some
margin thanks to the work we have
done with our partners in China.”
So what would it take for the WTA to reach the
next level in terms of fan support and revenues?
“There are various things we’d like to do - such
as expanding our Festival programme across the
country and developing our relationship with
fans through digital platforms. I also expect our
relationship with Peak to make a difference at
retail. But the thing that would transform our
fortunes is if China could get a world number one
- though we don’t have control over that!”
SportBusiness International • No.160 • 09.10 49

SONY ERICSSON WTA TOUR
china
National Tennis Centre
- Getty Images Sport
THE 2010 CHINA OPEN
C
M
SINCE OCTOBER 2009, the China Open has
been one of the crown jewels of women’s
professional tennis. With a prize fund of
$4.5 million it is playing a central role in
growing the sport in the fast-emerging China
market, says WTA president David Shoemaker.
The Open’s venue is the Olympic Green
Tennis Centre, a state-of-the-art complex
purpose-built for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
The fact the Olympic Green Centre hosts
a high-profile WTA event is important -
since there is a keen desire to keep legacy
venues busy. Underlining this point, Beijing
Sports Bureau director Sun Kanglin recently
explained how, after the Olympics, “the
utilisation of all stadia and manpower has
become a long-term strategy to grow Beijing
as a sports centre.” To support this goal,
Beijing has set aside $62.5 million to host
international tournaments. The former
Olympic venue is also now home to the
Chinese Tennis Federation (CTA).
Unsurprisingly, the new-look China Open
is well-supported by sponsors, suppliers and
other commercial partners. Among these are
Mercedes-Benz, a premier sponsor, while
Kappa, Sony Ericsson, ThinkPad, China Citic
Bank and Rolex are Platinum Sponsors.
Those lucky enough to get tickets to this
year’s WTA event will find a 10-court venue,
with features that include state-of-the-art aircooling
technology for spectators.
Situated just 2.7 kilometres from the
Beijing National Stadium (‘The Birds Nest’),
the largest court can seat 12,000 spectators
and is shaped like a lotus flower. Total venue
capacity is 17,400. However a sign of Beijing’s
faith in the future of tennis is the news that
another 10,000-seat court, with a retractable
roof, is being built at the venue.
Also interesting to note is that renovations
have been undertaken to transform the
venue into a fully-functioning commercial
enterprise, with designated zones for players,
sponsors and VIPs. As Sun Kanglin has
acknowledged, this kind of detail can prove
decisive when Beijing is faces off against
other Asian cities for the right to host events.
Dubai, Japan and Thailand were all on the
WTA’s shortlist as potential venues for an
Asian mega-event.
For 2010, Beijing’s Tennis Centre will host
both the WTA Premier and the ATP World
Tour 500 China Open between September 25
and October 10 (total prize fund $6.1 million).
The reigning WTA champion is Svetlana
Kuznetsova, after she defeated Agnieszka
Radwanska 6-2, 6-4 in October 2009.
Y
CM
MY
CY
CMY
K
50 SportBusiness International • No. 160 • 09.10

SONY ERICSSON WTA TOUR
sPonsorshiP
BUCKING
SPONSORSHIP
TRENDS
It’s not hard to see why the WTA is such an attractive sponsorship property for blue-chip
international brands such as Sony Ericsson, Peak, Dubai Duty Free and Oriflame.
FOR A START, there’s the
WTA’s global spread. With 52
tournaments a season held in 32
countries (the itinerary for the
2011 season), the WTA reaches a
huge audience via TV, online and
attendance at its events.
Not only that, but because
the Tour is played in multiple
locations it means there are
numerous opportunities to
activate and engage locally with
fans. From the Americas to
Asia-Pacific via Europe, there’s a
high-profile WTA event in almost
every major city.
Not to be overlooked either is
the massive appeal of the players
themselves - who are inspirational
icons to many young people. While
the Williams sisters and Maria
Sharapova have been grabbing
the headlines in recent years, the
likes of Jelena Jankovic, Caroline
Wozniacki, Samantha Stosur, Kim
Clijsters, Francesca Schiavone and
Li Na provide fans in numerous
territories with a focal point for
their enthusiasm.
Factors like these explain why
lead global partner Sony Ericsson
has just signed up with the WTA
for another two years - despite the
financial pressures caused by the
recession. In doing so, it means the
WTA and Sony Ericsson will have
been working together for eight
years by the end of the contract
(from 2005 to 2012).
Of course, the big difference
this time is that the WTA will not
be branded with Sony Ericsson
in its title. But this should not
be regarded as a dilution of the
partnership, says Aldo Liguori,
Corporate Vice President and
Head of Global Communications
& PR at Sony Ericsson.
“The new structure makes
sense for both sides,” he explains.
“For the WTA it is an opportunity
to focus more on their own brand.
For Sony Ericsson, it’s a sign the
company has moved on.”
So what has changed? “One
thing is that we have made a lot
of progress in building brand
awareness - so don’t need the same
kind of association,” adds Liguori.
“There have also been internal
changes which have seen us fall
in behind Sony’s new marketing
strap line - ‘make.believe’ - which is
about interactivity, playfulness and
innovation. As far as the WTA is
concerned, that means our focus is
more on how we can work with the
WTA and its top players to engage
with their fans.”
Reaching young women
Since starting work with the WTA
in 2005, Sony Ericsson has gained
access to properties such as the
FIFA World Cup - thanks to a deal
done by parent Sony.
However the unique profile of
the WTA continues to make sense
for the Sony Ericsson brand, says
Liguori: “The WTA is a great way
of reaching young affluent women
- whereas most sports properties
have a strong male bias.
“Not only that, but fans are
interested in what the players
do when they are away from the
tennis court - in terms of fashion,
food and health choices. That’s an
added social dimension we are also
able to tap into.”
While Sony Ericsson remains
the WTA’s top-tier partner, the fact
that it is no longer a title sponsor
is helping the WTA win over new
partners - since there is less of a
perception that the mobile company
is overshadowing the entire
property. Timing-wise, for example,
it’s no accident the WTA has been
able to sign-up two important
new sponsors since Sony Ericsson
elected to change its approach.
One of these is Swedish beauty
brand Oriflame, which has just
signed a two-year deal with the
WTA. Like Sony Ericsson, it is
attracted by both the on-and-off
court activities of the players,
according to Magnus Brännström,
CEO of Oriflame.
“Women’s tennis combines the
perfect balance of athleticism and
glamour, and through this new
partnership Oriflame wants to help
inspire women around the world to
look great, have fun and be the best
that they can be,” Brännström says.
Oriflame, which will become
an official partner of the Tour from
the start of 2011, has done a deal
which covers Europe, Russia, the
Commonwealth of Independent
States (a group of former Soviet
Republics), the Middle East and
Africa. This is typical of the WTA’s
approach, which is generally
awards of regional partnership
rights (with the exception of Sony
Ericsson’s global deal).
The other big new partnership,
for example, is an Asia-Pacific
sponsorship deal with Chinese
sports shoe and apparel firm Peak.
This seven-figure annual deal,
which lasts for five years, will see
Peak receive a rich package of
entitlements.
Aside from being the official
shoe and apparel partner at a series
of WTA events in Asia-Pacific, it
will become a partner of the Tour’s
mainland China Tennis Festivals.
In addition, it has secured
licensing and merchandising rights
to develop a co-branded WTA-Peak
line of apparel.
Learning from Nike
From Peak’s perspective, the deal
is an opportunity to hold off the
mounting challenge of foreign
sportswear brands, at a time when
the Chinese middle-class is earning
enough money to start pursuing
more leisure activities.
“Right now we’re learning from
Nike,” says Peak’s entrepreneurial
young chief executive Jim Xu. “But
we’re different because we have
products that are better suited to
the Chinese market…We can give
consumers another choice.”
At the same time, the deal is
also of massive importance to the
WTA - which wants to increase its
exposure in the world’s fastestgrowing
economy (see story pp.
44-45) - so there’s no question that
the deal with Peak is a key element
of the WTA’s strategy.
The WTA’s regional
sponsorship structure also
encompasses a deal with airport
retailer Dubai Duty Free, another
partner with a focus on the fastgrowing
Asia-Pacific region.
52 SportBusiness International • No. 160 • 09.10

SONY ERICSSON WTA TOUR
sPonsorshiP
When the initial contract was
signed in 2004, a few eyebrows
were raised. But Dubai Duty Free
was quick to identify the way
in which WTA players straddle
the worlds of sport, lifestyle
and digital media (the digital
component of the deal is explained
more fully on pp. 50-51).
An interesting example of how
the two partners have worked
together is ‘The Best of the Sony
Ericsson WTA 2010 Zagat Guide’
- a must-have handbook detailing
the best shopping and dining in
24 of the world’s top tournament
cities.
In the guide, popular welltravelled
athletes such as Serena
Williams, Maria Sharapova,
Venus Williams, Dinara Safina,
and Caroline Wozniacki offer
suggestions ranging from five-star
“Fans are
interested in
what the players
do when they are
away from the
tennis court...
That’s an added
social dimension
we are able to
tap into.”
Russia’s Maria Kirilenko - Getty Images Sport
restaurants in glamorous capitals
to boutique shops in such Tour
destinations as Miami, Dubai and
Doha. This guide is available both
in hard copy and digitally on
www.sonyericssonwtatour.com.
“Dubai Duty Free is known for
luxury and innovation,” says Dubai
Duty Free managing director Colm
McLoughlin says. “By partnering
with the Tour, we’ve been able to
continuously offer its stars and
tennis fans around the globe new
experiences.”
Dubai Duty Free’s satisfaction
with the partnership was
underlined in 2008 when it
extended the sponsorship to
2011 in a multi-million dollar
agreement. This deal, which
positioned Dubai Duty Free as
the WTA’s premier sponsor in
Asia-Pacific and the Middle East,
is another one with elements of
mutuality which go beyond
a simple financial transaction.
Aside from any revenues
generated, there’s a halo effect
that benefits the Tour and its
players, explains Stacey Allaster,
chairman and CEO of the Sony
Ericsson WTA.
“Dubai is one of the world’s
most exciting destinations, and by
partnering with Zagat and Dubai
Duty Free to create this Guide, we
are able to offer the stars of the Tour
a unique opportunity to get closer to
their fans by sharing their personal
experiences,” she says.
“It is because of Dubai Duty
Free’s belief and commitment to
women’s tennis that we can produce
such exciting products.”
Opportunities in Istanbul
Another interesting upshot of
the new partnership between the
WTA and Sony Ericsson is that it
frees up the rights to the Tour’s
prestigious end-of-season WTA
Championships - which until now
has been wrapped up as part of the
title sponsorship deal.
No decision has been made
on a partner yet, but WTA
marketing chief Andrew Walker
believes the event represents
another valuable way for leading
brands to buy into the WTA.
“From 2011 to 2013 the end of
season event is in Istanbul, which
is an exciting development both
for the WTA and for international
brands seeking to establish a
foothold in this fast-emerging
market,” he says.
SportBusiness International • No.160 • 09.10 53

SONY ERICSSON WTA TOUR
meDia
EMBRACING
THE DIGITAL
OPPORTUNITY
Sports rights holders have taken a lot of wrong turns and gone down many dead ends in pursuit
of a workable digital strategy. But the WTA’s approach to new media demonstrates a very effective
grasp of how to engage with audiences via emerging platforms.
THIS IS EVIDENT in a number of ways.
Firstly, there is the sophisticated editorial
offering available at the WTA’s website www.
sonyericssonwtatour.com. Next, there is the
Tour’s progressive approach to social media.
And finally there is a realisation that brands
have a key part to play in helping harness the
power of digital media.
Andrew Walker, the WTA’s senior VP in
marketing and communications, says there
are both promotional and revenue-generating
opportunities in the digital space. Looking first
at the promotional side of the WTA’s activities,
he says: “We’ve shifted our marketing spend
almost entirely into the digital space over the
last two years. It’s gone from something like
85 per cent investment in traditional media to
around 85 per cent in digital media.”
He cites a couple of key reasons for this:
“I think digital platforms are better suited to
our global structure than broadcast media -
because it is easier for us to keep up a day-today
relationship with fans. At the same time,
we’ve noted that we reach a much younger
demographic via digital. Around 75 per cent of
our fans online are aged 13 to 24 whereas TV
delivers us an older audience. There’s a seismic
shift in media consumption patterns that’s very
attractive to our brand partners.”
A large part of the WTA’s energy goes into
making sure they have a presence on landmark
sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube:
“Facebook has been a very powerful medium for
the WTA’s players,” says Walker. “All told, the top
players have in excess of five million Facebook
fans who are equally interested in their off-court
lifestyle as their play on the court.”
This kind of fanbase has positive
implications for the WTA’s commercial strategy,
adds Walker: “Audience engagement and
accurate targeting is attractive to sponsors -
and can be used as part of our ticketing and
licensing strategy.
“The kind of activity we engage in on
Facebook is also valuable for our TV rights
holders, because it means we can drive
audiences to their services from the internet.”
As for YouTube, “we have a partnership
based around an ad revenue model,” Walker
says. “They sell the advertising space around our
content and we collect a share of it.”
SuperFans meet online
One of the WTA’s most interesting social
networking innovations has been the creation of
SuperFans, a one-stop hub showcasing the top
stars (www.WTASuperFans.com). In a nutshell,
SuperFans is designed to become the key
destination for women’s tennis fans to get close
to their favourite players. The initiative, which
is the first time a major sports franchise has
endorsed, promoted and aggregated the social
media channels of its athletes, brings together
all of the conversations and content produced
by its players into one place - which is a pretty
heavyweight proposition when you look at the
number of online fans collected by Venus and
Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova.
According to Walker, the SuperFans
platform is then made available through Twitter
and Facebook, while videos and images attached
by the players are visible via YouTube and
(photo-sharing platform) Flickr. Players will also
have the opportunity to interact with each other
and tag one other in photos while promotion of
the initiative will be supported through a series
of online viral videos.
Of course, the industry trend towards digital
content partnerships hasn’t negated the need
for a strong WTA-branded web presence which
can act as an anchor for the WTA’s advanced
media strategy. Working in partnership with
digital solutions provider Perform Group, the
WTA has constructed a rich media website
which offers fans a mix of news, statistics,
event data, video and retail. In video, there’s
a combination of live pay options and free
archive and highlights. There’s also an off-court
section which reinforces the link between
player lifestyle and fan aspirations.
The website is run as a complementary
medium, supporting rather than competing with
the WTA’s TV rights partners, says Walker: “The
real purpose of a service like this is two-fold.
“Firstly to provide fans with video content
they can’t get elsewhere - for example WTA fans
in countries where there isn’t broadcast coverage
of a live event. Secondly, to provide a platform
which allows the most enthusiastic fans to
immerse themselves in the life of the Tour.”
With the latter point in mind, the WTA
website is constantly upgraded to make sure
it meets fan expectations. Earlier this year,
for example, the WTA unveiled a new mobile
website and a Spanish-language version of
its main site, adding to existing versions in
English and Chinese. For WTA chairman
and CEO Stacey Allaster, both were obvious
enhancements which mean “fans can stay
connected to the sport and its stars anytime,
anywhere in multiple languages.
“With billions of mobile users worldwide,
it is a natural extension for the WTA to create
a deeper level of engagement and interaction
with our fans and literally place the sport in the
palms of their hands.”
In terms of content, the Spanish-language
version of the site will feature most of
the elements available on the English version -
such as weekly rankings updates, player
profiles and statistics, latest news, live match
scores, player blogs and video highlights. In
many ways, it is a no-brainer when you consider
the size of the global Spanish-speaking market
(330 million) and the fact the Tour has events in
destinations such as Colombia and Mexico. When
you also factor in the WTA’s close links with
Hispanic HQ Florida, then the Spanish version is
a timely development which will provide a richer
and more personalised experience for the current
fanbase while offering new fans engagement and
interaction in their native language.
54 SportBusiness International • No. 160 • 09.10

SONY ERICSSON WTA TOUR
meDia
Later this year, the WTA is planning to launch
a Russian-language version of its website as
well. Given the strength of its Russian talent
pool (currently nine players in the top 40) and
the global appeal of Maria Sharapova, such a
decision has obvious logic to it.
Given the close allegiance between the
WTA and Sony Ericsson, the addition of a
mobile site also makes a lot of strategic sense.
Echoing the website, the new site will provide
fans with content options such as live scores,
weekly rankings, player profiles, rolling news,
video highlights, player features and wallpapers
and information on the Race to the WTA
Championships - Doha 2010. Other features in
the pipeline include recorded messages from
players, games, and animations of WTA stars.
Overarching maketing programme
As mentioned at the outset, the WTA’s
emphasis on linking digital content with brand
communications and objectives is one of its
strengths. So it’s no surprise to note that the
Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 mobile phone is being
used by players to create photo, video and text
content for SuperFans.
This in turn fits into the overarching
consumer marketing programme developed by
Sony and Sony Ericsson, says Lennard Hoornik,
Corporate Vice President and Global Head of
Marketing at Sony Ericsson: “For millions of
tennis fans around the world, SuperFans is a
service that delivers on our brand promise of
make.believe, which aims to build a fun, playful
and inclusive interaction with consumers.
SuperFans will bring audiences closer to tennis,
giving them a greater access to unique fan
experiences.”
In a similar vein, Dubai Duty Free sponsors
the WTA’s video-on-demand service as part of the
renewed partnership in 2008. It puts the airport
retailer at the heart of a service which features
on-court match highlights, off-court player
personality features and a host of new content
designed to enhance behind-the-scenes access
to players. In addition, benefits to Dubai Duty
Free included a link with the WTA’s expanded
television news service which brings the brand
to fans throughout the world through highlights,
interviews and off-court coverage.
The key to all of the above activities is
relevance, says the WTA’s Walker: “You need
valuable and relevant content which can’t be
sourced anywhere else,” he stresses.
“If you’re not adding value then you’re just
overloading people. But if you deliver unique
and compelling content then there is real
revenue-generating potential for the WTA
and its players.”
SportBusiness International • No.160 • 09.10 55

Ultimate Mobile Apps for Sport 2010
Exploiting New Mobile Media Opportunities
Philip Savage
This fast moving media opportunity
offers huge potential to connect with
new audiences for sport.
The Ultimate Mobile Apps for Sport
review and report is the latest technology
resource from SportBusiness:
l Exploit new commercial models for
paid-for and sponsored mobile content
l Learn from the best with our ranking
of top sports apps for events, teams,
federations and portals
l Understand how new generations are
connecting and communicating via
mobile technology
l Explore opportunities for mobile video
on iPhone and iPad
l Discover how your sport can use this
new medium to best advantage
Unless you put your sport literally into the
hands of users you risk being overtaken
by those that do. Use this valuable
resource to avoid being left behind.
For further details and an executive summary call the SportBusiness
team on +44 207 954 3514 or email infoteam@sportbusiness.com

SPORTS APPS
THE ULTIMATE SPORTS
APPS AWARDS 2010
The explosion of apps - small pieces of software optimised for mobile devices
- has continued across all content types in 2010. Downloads reached the three
billion mark at the turn of the year while the launch of the iPad tablet computer
instantly set pulses racing. Phil Savage, author of the SportBusiness 2009 Mobile
Apps for Sport report, analyses 2010’s best sports apps and delivers his final
verdict with the first edition of the SportBusiness Ultimate Sports Apps Awards.
WHEN COMMENTING on such a fast-moving
area as mobile technology, stopping to draw a
line in the sand can be a hazardous business.
When the 2009 Mobile Apps for Sport
report went to press in September last year,
consumer electronics manufacturer Apple was
on track to hit one billion downloads, tennis
was leading the field in event applications and
Arsenal had just released the first Premier
League club app.
Barely nine months later and the landscape,
although not unrecognisable, is quite markedly
different. In many cases the first movers of
2009 are still leading the pack but what has kept
them ahead is continued innovation.
A great deal more events and sports
properties have managed to clamber aboard this
speeding wagon, but in too many cases they
have simply presented something reminiscent
of those trailblazers.
They have often been saved, however,
by being able to provide genuinely new and
compelling content and today no self-respecting
event is complete without an app. As predicted
in last year’s report, audiences in both the
stadium or on the move now have a rich menu
of ways to interact via this mobile technology.
Our 2009 review highlighted business
models from other sectors which have yet
to be explored in sport, suggesting there are
commercial possibilities still to be exploited even
for the most advanced of sports apps.
Final Judging
In determining the SportBusiness Ultimate
Sports Apps Awards 2010 many hundreds
of downloads were reviewed in four major
categories: sport/league/tour; event; club/team/
athlete; and multi-sports portal.
The categories were chosen to cover the
different types of application whilst allowing for
sensible comparison between them. Points were
awarded up to a maximum of five according to
the following eight criteria:
(1) Content: SportBusiness’ ranking of the
quality and comprehensive nature of the
editorial, photo, data and other content.
(2) Video: Points awarded for value, immediacy
and uniqueness as well as simply providing video.
(3) Design: A recognition of attractive, clear
and functional design as well as innovative
navigation or layout of features.
(4) Audio: Many apps have recognised the
weaknesses of video at the present stage of
technological and infrastructure development.
Radio or other audio can be a useful and
attractive add-on feature.
(5) Extras: Many apps demonstrate remarkable
creativity and provide unique value-added
services which are recognised separately from
other features.
(6) Download: Corresponding to the actual
cost users pay to download the app which
is typically up to £5 or equivalent in local
currency. The one exception to this is in
the sport/league/tour category where some
products command a premium price of up to
£20. Here points have been awarded on a scale
where £20 would score a maximum 5 and a
£9 app would score 2.25.
(7) Sponsors: Business models often involve
exposure for sponsors who may be the technical
or financial supporters of the product.
(8) Monetisation: Where a product is not
supported by a sponsor or provided for a
download fee, there should be some other
commercial rationale underpinning the
provision of information. For some apps this is a
subscription model, some accept advertising and
others cross promote other products.
SportBusiness International • No.160 • 09.10 57

SPORTS APPS
SPORT/LEAGUE/TOUR AWARD:
F1 TIMING
IT WAS A PHOTO FINISH for the top two
places for this category although more data on
downloads could have indicated a clear winner.
However, leaving aside which app has made
most money, both the top-ranked apps - the F1
Timing and Major League Baseball’s At Bat -
offer innovations of a different kind, making
each worthy of a winning score.
Ultimately the exceptionally high value of the
Soft Pauer-developed F1 Timing App (£19.99),
combined with its technical excellence, make it
both the winner of this category and, on a the
basis of total points scored, overall winner in
the 2010 apps ranking.
For the Formula 1 racing aficionado this
download offers the ultimate value-added
experience to both practice and race days. On
television or at the racetrack in particular there
can be frustratingly little information as to
timings and standings.
The F1 Timing app offers the chance to
follow the cars around the twists and turns
of the track in real time. There is wealth of
background data, statistics and facts, archive
video and an audio commentary option.
Design is clear and functional giving users
the chance to select and follow their favourite
1. F1 Timing
2. MLB At Bat
3. Euroleague Basketball
3. Aussie Rules football
5. UEFA
6. NBA Game Time
7. FEI
8. F1 app
9. World Rally Championship
10. NHL
team. New for the 2010 version is a unique
playback feature where the action can be
delayed and replayed.
A close second place in the category went
to MLB’s At Bat app (MLB Advanced Media,
£8.99) which has also received a makeover for
2010. When it launched last year, MLBAM set
a new standard in mobile service by offering
video to subscribers for the first time. Not
content to stand still in this fast moving field
- and perhaps reflecting the limitations of
mobile video that remain - the 2010 version
sports a radio option which survives the
vagaries of cellular networks that are creaking
with demands for data.
Also new for this year is a considerably
lower price point although users are asked
to pay a premium for the iPad version. What
does remain in 2010 however is MLB’s
blacking out of coverage in the city of teams
playing home fixtures, despite there being
little evidence of cannibalisation.
There is no football in the top three
although UEFA does make an appearance at
number five overall. Golf, tennis, cricket, rugby
(union or league), athletics and American
football are also conspicuous by their absence
from the top spots, however these major sports
leave the way open to two sports in joint third
place: Euroleague Basketball (Genera Mobile,
£1.19) and Aussie Rules Football (AFL, £2.99).
Euroleague is the warmer and friendlier of
the two, delivering all the usual features plus
an unusual ‘Devotion’ section with blogs,
interviews and podcasts.
58 SportBusiness International • No. 160 • 09.10

SPORTS APPS
EVENTS AWARD:
WIMBLEDON 2010
ALTHOUGH WIMBLEDON 2010 is the winner
of this year’s top event app award, just ahead
of Australia Open Tennis 2010, the real winner
across this category is IBM, which produced
both tennis apps as well as the golf apps in
third and fourth spots.
Whilst not the most technically innovative
this year, these products offer a great service
for the fan in the stands and in the office.
When they first appeared in 2009, the
navigation was ground-breaking and sponsors
IBM set a standard that has been followed by
many other apps in the sports space.
In 2010 the design still looks fresh,
particularly the Australian Open Tennis
interface, but the Wimbledon app pipped the
others by offering a slightly better range of
services including ticketing and debenture
information and travel updates.
The app, which was free to Apple iPhone
users and those tennis fans with phones
running Google’s Android operating system,
combined live video streams from showcourt
matches, ‘Murray Mount’ (a spectator site
on the Wimbledon grounds also known as
‘Henman Hill’) and even taxi queues.
The software was also able to determine
1. Wimbledon 2010
2. Australia Open Tennis 2010
3. US Masters Golf
4. US Open Golf
5. Giro d'Italia 2010
6. Vancouver 2010
7. NBC Olympics
8. Volvo Ocean Race
9. Commonwealth Games 2010
10. Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games
a user’s location and supply geo-specific
information on everything from the length
of queues for strawberries and cream, to the
location of the nearest cash machine.
This year is an ideal time to be reviewing
apps in the event space as it includes some
of the giants of major sports events, namely
the Winter Olympic Games and the FIFA
World Cup - and it is important to explain why
neither the Vancouver nor South Africa event
hit the top spots.
The FIFA event is easiest to explain: there
was no official app other than an Electronic
Arts World Cup game, leaving the market wide
open for literally dozens of products. Perhaps
the most downloaded was ESPN’s Soccernet
2010 (ESPN, free) but this reflects the unique
size of the US market and the company’s reach
elsewhere. In the UK, the Telegraph World Cup
app was popular and the England App provided
some unique behind the scenes video from FA
TV, but both were created with the domestic
market in mind.
In contrast, Vancouver 2010 dominated the
app downloads for the event but made it to just
sixth position in the rankings. It had a bright
intuitive design and, as we might expect,
offered good exposure for its sponsors, but
on the downside the content was surprisingly
limited despite the event comprising dozens
of individual championships and thousands
of competitors. Other apps have showed what
the media can do in providing the chance to
drill down to a very granular level and this one,
whilst of a high quality, simply did not.
SportBusiness International • No.160 • 09.10 59

SPORTS APPS
CLUB/TEAM/ATHLETE AWARD:
MERCEDES MCLAREN F1
TOP OF THE LEAGUE TABLE in this category
is the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes F1 team
app. It packs a huge amount into a tiny space
and for a free app offers great value for iPhone
users and the team sponsors alike.
Navigation is clear and the information
comprehensive with some beautifully produced
video interviews with drivers Jenson Button
and Lewis Hamilton. There is some useful
background on tracks and standings and the
obligatory news feed, but the app really comes
alive on race days when users benefit from a
unique real-time feed of the in-car telemetry.
Nothing like this has so far appeared
elsewhere and the feature is a significant
enhancement for racing aficionados who
can see RPM, gear selection, speed and
breaking force. A couple of tiny niggles:
accessing video takes the user out of the
app and multi-tasking on the iPhone can be
irritating. Finally, fans could have been given
more information about the car.
It should be noted that the Vodafone
McLaren Mercedes F1 team also launched a
bespoke app for individuals using hospitality
facilities at this year’s British Grand Prix at
Silverstone. On arrival at the racetrack, those
1. Vodafone Mercedes McLaren F1
2. Chelsea FC
3. Istanbul 05: LFC Glory
4. Real Madrid
5. England
6. FC Barcelona
7. AC Milan
8. Tottenham Hotspur
9. Arsenal FC
10. Liverpool FC
guests with the app, designed for the Android
platform, were able to download exclusive
team content and access a guide featuring a
number of bars and on-site attractions.
Despite a plethora of club and team apps
there are precious few that stand out from the
crowd. By no means do the majority of clubs
or teams have an official presence in the App
Store and the ones that do bear a striking
similarity to each other. The winners, however,
are worthy of the prize, each displaying
an originality and flair that lives up to the
reputation of the teams they represent.
This category’s second placed app is
Chelsea FC’s download (CFC, £1.79), which
stands head and shoulders above the rest in
the genre. Its landscape orientation and glossy
design are immediately striking and much
more reminiscent of its Flash-rich website.
The app scores well across the range and
has some nice added extras including chants,
ticketing information and travel assistance
to away fixtures included in the price of the
download. On match days there is a live text
commentary and as we might expect with this
most commercial of clubs, there is opportunity
to purchase extras and merchandise.
Taking an honourable third place is another
football app, although one that is unique and
shows the way for others to follow. Istanbul
05: LFC Glory (Liverpool FC, £2.99) captures
the memory of one of the team’s greatest
ever moments when Liverpool came back
from 3-0 down to AC Milan to steal their fifth
Champions League title on penalties in 2005.
C
M
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60 SportBusiness International • No. 160 • 09.10

Consumer Insights
Sponsor Valuations
Strategy & Evaluation
Econometrics
Opinion Polling
Feasibility Studies
Consultancy
Media Analysis
Benchmark & Audit
SPORTS APPS
We are delighted to join up with SMG Insight.
Their deep understanding of the sports sector
combined with our unparalleled ability to
pinpoint and monitor consumer behaviour
in this area will provide the sports industry
with a great new stream of insight.
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CEO UK, YouGov
powered by
50 Featherstone Street
London EC1Y 8RT
www.smg-insight.com
info@smg-insight.com
+44 (0) 207 012 6000

SPORTS APPS
PORTAL/MULTI-SPORT AWARD:
ESPN SCORECENTER
MULTI-SPORT PRODUCTS tend,
unsurprisingly, to focus on the markets for
which the parent company’s media provides
content. This can make them hard to compare:
one market’s perfect news source is another’s
tedious irrelevance. However, our scoring
system allows us to award a ranking.
Top in this category is an app which is
a long way from providing the best service
or experience but does give us the chance
to acknowledge the absolute best in the
exploitation of mobile sports content.
ESPN launched its ScoreCenter app in June
2009 and proceeded to attract over five million
downloads in the following months pushing it
comfortably ahead of nearest rival, Sportacular.
Users can personalise the product with their
teams and get push notifications, results and
data from a wide range of sports.
What sets ESPN apart is the follow-up
approach they employed to turn this enormous
subscriber base into a powerful revenue stream
for the company, one which has contributed
to a 78 per cent growth across the channel.
Not content with one successful app, ESPN
followed up with several premium products
(ESPN Radio is particularly noteworthy) which
1. ESPN Scorecenter
2. Sky Mobile TV Sport and News
3. ESPN Radio
4. NBC Sports Mobile
4. Eurosport TV
6. ITV
7. Gazetto dello Sport
8. Racing Post
9. Le Monde
10. BBC Sport
effectively monetised this lucrative database.
According to Nielsen Mobile, ESPN’s
mobile web traffic now averages 8.93 million
unique visitors a month, up 35 per cent
year-on-year. Visits to ESPNSoccernet Mobile
grew 379 per cent over 2008, and visits to
ESPNCricinfo Mobile increased 113 per cent.
ESPN Mobile TV delivered almost 850 live
events in 2009, and total viewership minutes
increased 186 per cent over 2008 totals.
Not all ESPN’s apps are centred
around sport but each is focused on a
key demographic represented among its
ScoreCenter downloaders. There are a number
of fantasy games based on football and
basketball complete with draft versions, but
there is also a money competition, Streak for
The Cash, and a Spelling Bee app. Each uses
powerful, cross-selling links to migrate users
from one app to another and the collection of
personal information along the way enables
the company to target users cleverly.
In an environment where there is a morass
of free content and many question the value,
ESPN ScoreCenter has shown how the
provision of sports content can drive its brand,
enhance knowledge of its customers and
generate real and sizeable profits.
In second place is Sky’s popular Mobile TV
Sport and News product (Sky, £6 per month/
£35 per month on the iPad). With clear sound
and video, subscribers get unlimited access
to four Sky Sports channels plus Sky Sports
News and Sky News making it tremendous
value given Sky’s extensive rights portfolio.
62 SportBusiness International • No. 160 • 09.10

SPORTS APPS
3 steps to being a part
of Sports Marketing 360
1. Book your place at www.
sportsmarketing360.com
2. View the video highlights
at www.youtube.com/
sportbusinessgroup
3. Be a part of the debate at
www.twitter.com/sbgevents
16th September 2010, BT Centre, London UK
Now in its third year, Sports Marketing 360 is established
as the must-attend event for sports marketing
professionals from around the world.
It is the ultimate interactive forum for a sector which never
stands still.
At Sports Marketing 360, influential, respected and thought
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and issues influencing the worlds of sports, media and marketing
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ANATOMY OF AN EVENT:
WIMBLEDON
THE HOME OF TENNIS
For two weeks each year the sleepy London suburb of Wimbledon becomes the epicentre of world
tennis. Adrian Hill looks behind the scenes in the planning process and tells the story of Wimbledon in
the words of the organisers, contractors and suppliers responsible for tennis’ truly iconic event.
WIMBLEDON IS MORE than just
the leading tennis tournament in
the world, it’s a British institution.
When Rafael Nadal claimed
his second men’s singles title
this July it concluded the 124th
Championships...and almost
immediately the planning for the
125th edition was underway.
The need to cater for hundreds
of thousands of spectators, deliver
a massive hospitality operation,
implement significant temporary
facilities and overlay, carry out
intense but unobtrusive security,
and facilitate thousands of media
personnel from around the world
make organising and delivering
this event a major management
challenge for the organisers.
“We do not rest on any laurels,
we want to stay at the top of
the pyramid,” Ian Ritchie, chief
executive of the All England Club,
tells SportBusiness International.
“I’ve done five Championships
now and you need to make every
year different, and to innovate. We
try to improve the experience for
everyone who comes here - both
players and public.”
Ritchie has overseen the
landmark redevelopment of the
Centre Court with the installation
of a roof during his tenure of one
of the most prestigious roles in
British sport.
“People said to me when I got
the job: ‘That’s great - two weeks
preparation and two weeks for
the Championships.’ But it’s a
year-round job...Even without
structural improvements we have
185 countries taking television
coverage which means that there
are always contracts up for renewal
and negotiation.
“September and October starts
a whole series of detailed review
meetings of what happened the
previous year. A chunk of research
comes in, committee members
state their views and we review
correspondence from the public.
If I, or any of my management
colleagues, get a letter and there
are improvement ideas in there we
take them away and look at them.
“When we get towards
Christmas we start to work on
improvements; that last quarter
of the year is also about strategic
improvements, January and
February sees the practical
implementation.”
Ritchie is coy about revealing
how much this huge operation
costs but the level of commitment
required from his organisation,
and the group of suppliers and
contractors involved, indicates a
massive financial outlay. After all,
each year in excess of £25 million
is handed over to British tennis
from the ‘surplus’ generated by
the Championships.
The club employs 150 fulltime
staff and has nearly 10,000
accredited to work during the
Championships as it plans to
deal with 500,000 spectators,
3,500 members of the media, 560
players and over 300 court officials.
The multitude of personnel
required range from carpenters
to cleaners, and from honorary
stewards to physiotherapists.
“People come back year after
64 SportBusiness International • No. 160 • 09.10

what we want them to do. Failure
to deliver is not accepted. They see
us as a ‘trophy’ contract and I hope,
and believe, this means they give us
special attention.
“They are under no illusions. It’s
a two-week event attracting half-amillion
people here. Everything has
to be of the right quality and price,
and everyone needs to feel that
they have been served well with an
attention to detail.”
‘Henman Hill’ (left) and No. 1 Court - Getty Images Sport
year. I met someone who said that
he had been coming here to work
for 48 years,” adds Ritchie. “A large
number of volunteers take holidays
to work here - they just love it.”
For all the valuable assistance
provided by those who give their
time for free, Wimbledon would
not work without the specialists
who are hired to create the ‘nuts
and bolts’ of the event.
“We have over a dozen
suppliers. Our view is that
longevity is not a bad thing but
that they also move with the times.
We are a commercially astute
organisation and we have to keep
them all up to the mark,” says
Ritchie. “We look more at quality
and values than cost - we will not
go for the cheapest option.
“The contractor must understand
Henman Hill
For the past 10 years Creative
Technology has been responsible
for the production of video content
shown on big screens dotted
around the Wimbledon complex.
They do something similar at all the
LTA and ATP tournaments held in
the UK and the 45 PGA European
Tour golf tournaments each year.
Having tested the set-up in
the spring, the team move in 10
days before the Championships
start to lay two-to-three kilometres
of cables from a central area to
each screen, situated on the show
courts and at three other locations
around the grounds. During the
Championships 12 people are
involved - eight arriving in the
morning, with the remainder
starting at lunchtime each day.
Creative’s handy work has
become a familiar sight during the
fortnight, in particular in recent
years the now iconic viewing area
at ‘Henman Hill’ (or ‘Murray
Mount’ as it has now been dubbed).
“For Henman Hill we use a
Panasonic 12mm LED, which is
a new system coming on stream
in preparation for London 2012.
It’s about 8.5 metres long and
5.5 metres high,” says managing
director Dave Crump.
“We base ourselves in the
broadcast centre, recording up to 12
matches at any one time and put up
graphics saying everything from the
score to advice on using sunscreen.
Essentially our operation does not
look any different from any of the
overseas broadcasters as effectively
we are providing a television
programme for Henman Hill for up
to 15 hours per day.”
The evening after the men’s final,
weather permitting Creative moves
its equipment over 400 miles to the

ANATOMY OF AN EVENT:
WIMBLEDON
Centre Court’s roof, opened in 2009 - Getty Images Sport
Loch Lomond golf tournament in
Scotland. “Any rain delay can cause
a problem but we work around
that,” adds Crump. “We could fly
up to Scotland if required and our
engineers can get the equipment
up and running in two hours if
necessary. But if you give them two
weeks, they will take two weeks.”
A major challenge for both the
All England Club and Creative
occurred in 2006 when the
scoreboards on the Centre and
No.1 Courts had to be changed
to be able to deal with Hawkeye
technology and the now famous
video review system for line calls.
“I thought I was going to get
sackload of letters about it but the
general response to Hawkeye was
unbelievably positive, and when we
did the scoreboard changes they
looked good and the quality was
high, so no-one bothered about it,”
says Ritchie.
Planning never stops
Within the range of suppliers there
are also key relationships. Creative
could not show the range of
information on its screens without
the input of IBM, a multi-national
giant that has developed and
managed IT systems and provided
statistics for the All England Club
and its showpiece since 1990.
“IBM supports a number of
properties and among those are
all the four tennis Grand Slams,”
says Alan Flack, IBM’s Wimbledon
programme executive. “Planning
never really stops, what we learn
from Wimbledon is taken on to
the US Open, but we really kick on
with Wimbledon from the end of
each calendar year.
“Each year there seems to be
subtle, or major, changes in lay-out.
Hawkeye was an innovation that we
had to adapt to and there are always
new statistics coming on stream, but
the great thing about Wimbledon
is that they have long-term
relationships. There is not much
chopping and changing each year.
“We bring the kit in straight
from Roland Garros. The main
infrastructure which drives the
IBM systems is in the US but
there are local servers and scoring
servers which need to be installed.
“We have 100-120 people on site
during the Championships, largely
made up of technicians, statistical
experts and data collectors (who
are all at least county-level tennis
players or above).”
Flack confirms Ritchie and his
team are keen for innovation to be
given its head: “The All England
Club looks to IBM to be at the
forefront of technology and I
think we have proved that over
the years. In the 1990s we
created the first website
shop and now we
have the award-winning IBM Seer,
the world’s first augmented reality
app using live data feeds.”
The Seer allows a smartphone
with a compass to show the user
what is happening around the
complex. It offers information on
queue lengths, where food and
drink stands are located and can
also be held 500 metres from
Centre Court, asks if the user
wants to be able to see what’s
happening inside and can then
stream live video.
“It’s all about added value and it
will now become a core part of our
offering. It has really caught the
imagination,” adds Flack. “People
ask me if IBM would ever want to
cut Wimbledon from its portfolio,
and I always say no. It’s a great
showcase and allows us to take a
lot of clients behind the scenes to
show them our ‘wow’ technology.”
IBM and Creative work in
partnership with the BBC, the UK
public-service broadcaster that has
been showing Wimbledon since
1927. Their cameras have seen most
things but no-one was prepared
for this year’s world record match
between John Isner and Nicolas
Mahut: Ritchie allowed the BBC to
interview the exhausted duo on court
at the end of the 11-hour contest,
breaking the normal practice for
matches outside of the finals.
“We always try to accommodate
broadcasters. If, for instance, NHK
Japan wanted to show a Japanese
player at a time and on a court that
will help their coverage we would
try to do that,” Ritchie reveals.
“There is a huge benefit to us of
being broadcast on a station such
as NHK, so we want to help them
because it helps us.”
Japan is one of the countries
where the All England Club has
licensees who sell tennis-related
equipment and luxury products, so
exposure on a national broadcaster
is good business. Broadcasting
rights are also the biggest
constituent of the Club’s income.
Ritchie’s numerous tasks
during the year include upholding
the great traditions of Wimbledon
- white clothing for the players
(he personally approves each
new design sent in by the
manufacturers) and ensuring the
ground staff have what is
66 SportBusiness International • No. 160 • 09.10

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ANATOMY OF AN EVENT:
WIMBLEDON
required to get the grass courts in
first-rate condition for the start of
the Championships.
“We are the only professional
tennis tournament in the world
to insist on white clothing - in
business terms it’s a classic
unique differentiator. You know
automatically it is Wimbledon,”
says Ritchie. “The ground staff’s
absolute priority is the two weeks
of The Championships. We also
have turf consultants who look at
the condition of the courts. When
you have the eyes of the world
upon you the most important thing
is to get that (the courts) right.”
A matter of safety
Security has become one of
Wimbledon’s biggest tasks and
for the past 20 years its long-time
partner has been G4S. The UK’s
largest firm in the field. employs 750
staff during the Championships.
“Even before 9/11 there was a
recognition that Wimbledon was
an event that needed an increased
level of security due to its global
profile,” explains G4S managing
director Mark Hamilton. “It’s a
two-week period but we start the
debriefing process during the
Championships.
“If I’m asked [by specators] for
directions I use it to my advantage by
asking them about their experience -
how have they found getting around?
How have they found access to
the grounds? It’s a really valuable
process. We have to think years
ahead - will there be any changes
required due to building works?
What does the All England Club
want to be implemented? At the
end of The Championships we
consolidate the relevant points and
are part of the formal de-brief in
August and September.”
G4S and the All England
Club liaise closely with London’s
Metropolitan Police, meeting
every couple of months to discuss
accreditation of staff and searching
procedures. This year had the added
pressure of a visit from The Queen.
“Over the course of the
Championships I meet the Police
twice per day,” says Ritchie.
“You are relieved when nothing
happens. You always worry, but
with 400 people from the armed
LONDON 2012 CHALLENGE
The players have praised
the decision to stage the
2012 Olympic tournament at
Wimbledon, but it does cause
some logistical headaches.
The event will officially be run
by LOCOG, but Ritchie and his
team face a number of hurdles
to cross, not least getting
the courts ready for topclass
action again just three
weeks after the close of the
Championships.
“As an event, the Olympics
are about half the size of the
Championships so we can
rotate the courts a little bit
more,” explains Ritchie. “We
did some tests this year and
we are confident we can get
the courts back in that length
of time. We will do some more
tests next year.”
The Olympics present the
conundrum for Ritchie of
wanting not to interfere
in another organisation’s
event but to also make sure
it is staged perfectly: “Our
management team spend a
lot of time with LOCOG - there
is extra work, and pressure.
However, I will have no
responsibility for the running of
the Olympic tennis apart from
providing the facilities and
personnel, if required.
“That said, because it’s here at
Wimbledon, we have a vested
interest in making the event an
enormous success.”
forces here in addition to the police
and G4S you know that you have a
group of people who know how to
deal with particular situations.”
“At Wimbledon we believe that
the key is evolution not revolution,”
adds Grahame Muir, Managing
Director of Arena Structures.
Arena provides temporary seating,
scaffolding and furniture for the
Championships and in 2010
installed peaked roof retail outlets
and the hospitality village. It also
supplies the trademark green
seating around the outside courts.
“Arena has become much more
involved in the design element
of the clients interiors giving
an opportunity for a company
to stamp their own mark on the
Championships.”
Muir adds that Wimbledon’s
infrastructure has changed
almost every year since Arena
became associated with the
Championships, athough a variety
of factors determine how far
infrastructure changes can go:
“The AELTC is a club and therefore
we must work around the needs
of the members, be cognisant of
the residents in terms of noise
and hours of work and also the
requirements of the building
contractors who work year-onyear
providing new permanent
infrastructure and who generally
start immediately after the end of
the Championships.”
For all the diverse ingredients
of the Wimbledon recipe, the
Championships are about the
players and Ritchie is unequivocal
Back-to-back winner Serena Williams - Getty Images Sport
that the happiness of the racketwielders
is one of his most crucial
tasks. He employs a team of
liaison officers who care for their
every need, from theatre tickets to
clothing and accommodation, with
many of the top performers having
houses or flats close to the complex
organised for them.
“You want this to be the event
they want to win, but you also
want them to feel they have been
well treated,” states Ritchie. “We
want to improve their facilities yet
further - create more space and
develop quieter areas for them to
have a break. They are the stars, it’s
hugely important that the players
feel it’s special.
“Roger [Federer] has apparently
been spotted coming out of Tesco
with a carrier bag. For someone
who spends much of his life in a
hotel suite, to be able to pop out and
come back to have cornflakes sitting
in a kitchen is just nice.”
Five years into the role, Ritchie
shows no signs of tiring from
his objective of upholding the
standards set at the All England
Club: “The beauty of what happens
here is that there is a focus and
it’s that focus that makes it works
well. Our aim is to have a great
Championships, and we work yearround
to achieve that.
“It’s a serious business but it’s
good fun...The volunteers come
back here year after year because
they enjoy it as well and I think
that’s crucial; if you have a lot of
grumpy people that’s not going to
translate into a successful event.”
68 SportBusiness International • No. 160 • 09.10

ANATOMY OF AN EVENT:
BRITISH GRAND PRIX
Webber and Vettel at the 2010 British grand prix - Getty Images Sport
RACING REVOLUTION
While many see Silverstone as the rightful home of
British motor racing, the Northamptonshire circuit
nearly lost its place on the Formula One calendar
after once being described by supremo Bernie
Ecclestone as more suited to a village fete than a
major international sports event. But times have
changed and the future looks bright: Silverstone
has a 17-year contract to stage the British Grand
Prix and has undergone significant investment in
upgrading the track and surrounding facilities.
Matt Cutler looks behind the scenes at the
redevelopment of Silverstone for the British Grand
Prix and talks to the executives, contractors and
suppliers who make it one of the biggest and most
remarkable events on the motor racing calendar.
THE YEAR LEADING UP TO the
2010 British Formula One Grand
Prix, held this July for the 24th
year in a row at Silverstone, was
arguably the most important in its
history. The circuit - built on the
site of a World War II Royal Air
Force bomber station - boasts a
new £5 million track layout, with
additional construction nearing
completion including new elevated
viewing banks, improvements to
existing grandstands, and notably a
new pit and paddock complex.
But the significance of the 2010
Grand Prix, which experienced
a near-capacity crowd of 115,000
on raceday this year, needs some
background. Bernie Ecclestone,
a long-time critic in the lack of
investment in the facilities of
Silverstone, ran out of patience
with the Northamptonshire venue
in July 2008 when he announced
the British Grand Prix would move
to Donington Park from 2010.
However Donington, a track
synonymous with MotoGP, failed
to raise the £135 million it needed
to fund redevelopments to stage the
Grand Prix, leading Ecclestone into
a dramatic about-turn a year-and-ahalf
later that resulted in a 17-year
contract for Silverstone to host the
British Grand Prix until 2017.
“Silverstone is equally as
good, or better, than most of the
European circuits,” Silverstone
managing director Richard Phillips,
told SportBusiness International
when asked whether Ecclestone’s
criticisms of the circuit in recent
SportBusiness International • No. 160 • 09.10 69

ANATOMY OF AN EVENT:
BRITISH GRAND PRIX
The new track layout - Silverstone Circuits Ltd
years had been fair. Silverstone is
understood to be paying Bernie
a fee of £12 million each year for
the right to stage the race in the
new contract, a figure subject to an
annual escalator of 5 per cent. “The
issues Silverstone has faced in the
past were down to the fact Formula
One contracts have only been for
five years, and this wasn’t sufficient
to assure us it was worth investing
in better facilities.
“We have spent millions
and millions on infrastructure,
including roads and carparks, but I
think the criticisms in recent years
were about the fact we didn’t have
a new pit and paddock building.
We’ve now moved on lightyears
from that - our new pit building is
nearly half finished and we’ve also
made a lot of investment on the
track in the last 12 months.”
The new pit and paddock
complex, scheduled for completion
by summer 2011, is understood
to have been a guarantee made by
Silverstone to Ecclestone in the
new contract. The building will
feature new garages, a race control
building, media centre, hospitality
and VIP spectator zones.
Plans for the complex - the old
version of which was criticised for
its 1970s design - were first put
together around three years ago.
The complex, says Phillips, will give
teams, sponsors and guests a worldclass
experience and reaffirm the
circuit’s position as a premier racing
destination. The new building is
also a conference and exhibition
centre which Phillips says will
be “iconic” but perhaps more
importantly, will bring in additional
revenues from non-motor racing
avenues (see box page 72).
Ongoing track development
has been a central feature of
Silverstone’s - and its rivals’ -
evolution to remain one of the
best venues on the European
motor racing circuit. On one hand
redevelopments have been done for
a matter of safety - following the
deaths of Ayrton Senna and Roland
Ratzenberger for instance (at San
Marino and Imola respectively
in 1994), many tracks were
modified in order to reduce speed
and increase driver safety. For
Silverstone this meant modifying
the entry from Hangar Straight
into Stowe Corner in 1995 to make
it less dangerous. The flat-out
Abbey kink was also modified to
a chicane just 19 days before the
1994 Grand Prix.
“Safety is always at the top of the
list, in accordance with guidelines
set down by the various motorsport
authorities,” says John Barrow,
Senior Principal of Populous, the
architectural firm chosen to do the
design and planning for the circuit
and pit building in late 2008. “We go
through an obligation process where
all of the run-outs on the track are
designed to a certain formula.”
Get the pitch right
Phillips ranks the circuit
redesign as the most
important development
of Silverstone for the
new British Grand Prix
contact: “The thing
people always forget
to do is get the pitch
right: venues spend
money building the
grandstand but then
find out the grass doesn’t
grow on the pitch.
“This is what we
concentrated on last winter
- if we were going to redevelop
the circuit, we needed to get it as
right as we possibly could so that’s
what we did. We spent quite a lot
of money just making sure that the
circuit is the best one it can be. The
riders and drivers like it and there
has been plenty of overtaking in
the new section.”
For the new-look circuit,
Silverstone and Populous knocked
down the grandstands and
repositioned them further away
from the track, and extended
the lap distance by half a mile to
3.66. Instead of the iconic Bridge
and Priory corners, the new
circuit redirects cars right at
Abbey and through an S-bend
into the new Arena complex
heading up towards Becketts.
The circuit design was produced,
says Phillips, using Populous’
architectural experience and
the motor racing knowledge
of the British Racing
Drivers’ Club (BRDC) -
the owner and operator
of Silverstone.
“We decided we
wanted to have some
control because,”
70 SportBusiness International • No. 160 • 09.10

ANATOMY OF AN EVENT:
BRITISH GRAND PRIX
says Phillips, “with my boss being
the BRDC - a club made of very
notable racing people - we wanted
to put together a design with the
help of some ex-Grand Prix racers
and MotoGP riders, in addition to
what the fans want and of course
crowd logistics.
“We thought working with
Populous - who were quite new to
[motor racing], they’d done a bit of
track design but not much - was the
best thing to do because it gave us
a bit more control over the creation
of a really good racing circuit rather
than an architectural circuit. It
worked - and in addition to that
we worked with our contractor
Buckingham and during the
construction we changed bits to
make sure the racing line would
be improved from the provisional
plan. It’s a huge track and the plan
and the actual circuit are two very
different things.”
It is also worth noting that the
new Silverstone track layout was
not initially designed with Formula
One in mind but MotoGP, since
the British Grand Prix was formally
moved to Donington Park after
the 2009 race. This played into
Populous’ hands as Silverstone’s
design partner, says Barrow:
“Instantly we had a problem to
solve, that being the motorbikes
were really uncomfortable using
the run through to the Bridge
corner, which was the most
dangerous part of the track for
high-speed bike racing. A new
arrangement we suggested fitted
the bill so we progressed on that
basis - we increased the length of
the track, increased the average
racing speed and created more
opportunities for overtaking.”
Formerly known as HOK Sport,
Populous grabbed the attention
of Silverstone through its costeffective
plan and construction of
the Dubai Autodrome race track
in 2004. Barrow says the Dubai
circuit was built for around half
the price of others at the time and
when some tracks were costing
north of $300 million to construct.
The whole development - which
included the track, 7,000-seat
grandstand and pit complex, plus
a marketing and management
building - cost $95 million.
An important 2011
“Next year is going to be a real
testing point,” says Barrow,
“because the Formula One start
will be at Abbey, and all the new
facilities will be finished by then
including the four hundred metrelong
pits complex and hospitality
area we’ve already started building.”
Redevelopments have also
focused on Ecclestone’s criticism of
the quality of its spectator facilities,
with new elevated viewing banks
under construction and existing
grandstands set to be moved to
bring fans closer to the action.
Phillips adds that although
the new track was designed
with safety in mind, so too was
spectator engagement a serious
consideration: “We needed to
engage with the public by making
sure we got the grandstand heights
right and the sightlines correct -
getting people as close to the action
as possible whilst also making sure
the infrastructure behind it was
right. We’ve being doing that and
will be doing more in the next 12
months or so and probably in the
years following. This isn’t the end
of the story for us at all.”
However even with great
investment in permanent
grandstands, temporary structures
at the British Grand Prix are still
used in force. Silverstone’s 25-year
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ANATOMY OF AN EVENT:
BRITISH GRAND PRIX
The new pit and paddock complex - Silverstone Circuits Ltd
temporary structure partner GL
events Owen Brown provides
temporary high-end hospitality
suites, general admission and
catering areas, in addition to
administrative facilities, including
changing areas, helipad terminals
and media centres on a year-byyear
basis. Additionally Owen
Brown provides private hospitality
facilities at all BRDC events they
have a presence at, including the
annual ball held during the Grand
Prix weekend.
“We work hand-in-hand with the
Silverstone Operations team and
their designers to provide support
months in advance of our arrival
on site,” Alex Robertson, Managing
Director of GL events Owen Brown,
told SportBusiness International.
“We are fortunate to have a long
build period which allows us to be
flexible on site and to be able to
tweak plans and specifications to
suit a changing brief.”
Attention to detail
In 2009 Owen Brown supplied
12,000 square metres of
structures, and in 2010 their
operation included 270 linear
metres of their new ‘Absolute
Pavilion and Ultimate Pagoda’ - a
range launched off the back of
a £4.5million investment into
modern high-end structures.
“The 25-year relationship we
believe is down to us acting as more
than just a supplier to the circuit,
STRONG FINANCIAL POSITION
Silverstone boasted a turnover of £38.2 million and an operating profit
of £662,000 in 2008 and turnover, says Phillips, currently stands at
around £45 million, compared with £23 million five years ago.
By diversifying Silverstone into a successful multi-purpose venue,
within which the new developments play a significant role (the new
conference centre should bring in an extra £3 to £4 million in turnover
by 2013), and the turnover target is £50 million for the year 2012.
Barrow says that Populous’ masterplan “envisages a university, a
medical and high-technology research centre - as well as the obvious
things like corporate hospitality and spectator areas. It’s a complicated
equation but very satisfying when you get it right. We often have clients
who look back at buildings built 20 years ago and say they are still
working beautifully - why is that? It’s just because they were made to
be flexible.”
The ultimate target is £100 million in turnover, Phillips bullishly states:
“We are the only profitable Grand Prix circuit in the world that stands
on its own two feet. You’ve just got to make a realistic investment and
be commercial about it. The 17-year contract [signed with Bernie
Ecclestone in December 2009] was certainly a huge move forward. Add
to that MotoGP [five-year deal from 2010] and World Superbikes [oneyear
deal for 2010] - which make up most of the major international
motorsport events - we’ve got a great calendar.”
we share Silverstone’s enthusiasm
for this important sporting event,”
adds Robertson.
“We have a dedicated project
management and build team, some
of which have worked on the site for
the 25 years. It is fair to say that they
know the site extremely well and
deliver the attention to detail that is
required on a project of this scale.”
Given a three-day attendance
in the region of 300,000 and
considering the huge scale of
developments still ongoing,
preparing Silverstone to host
the British Grand Prix is a
massive logistical and operational
challenge, says Phillips.
“When you break it all down
it’s all relatively straightforward,”
he coolly states.
“The first thing we do is make
sure more people aren’t put into
the venue than it can cope with.
We do this by putting a cap on the
number of spectators and looking
at the logistics of how people
move about - where the toilets and
catering areas are.
“Then it’s really access and
egress in the venue: traffic
management and car-parking, the
park-and-ride situation, heliports,
camping - all the other parts of the
infrastructure across Silverstone
- because we need to get people
both in and out quickly and make
sure they are happy they do so. It
sounds easy but there’s a lot of work
involved in it.”
“Traffic management issues are
something Silverstone has dealt
with very well over the past five or
six years,” adds Populous’ Barrow.
Spectator traffic management
was a traditional issue to the track
on the raceday weekend, a problem
largely eliminated with the
completion of the A43 Silverstone
bypass, a dual-carriageway road
just to the north of the circuit.
“I can honestly say that getting
to Silverstone is no longer a
problem. I usually drive up from
Surrey [around 100 kilometres]
and can get there in a two-hour
period every time with absolutely
no problems.”
72 SportBusiness International • No. 160 • 09.10

F1 BRITISH
GRAND PRIX
DESIGNED
WITH FANS
IN MIND
New Pit Lane and Paddock facility
Silverstone, UK
Populous is the official designer of the new Silverstone
track for the 2010 British Grand Prix. We designed it to
bring the fans closer to the action.
Populous have been appointed to design the new
iconic pit lane and paddock complex with the flexibility
to accommodate conferencing and exhibitions along
with academic facilities, that maximise the usage
outside major event days, optimising the commercial
opportunities available.
The new pit lane and paddock is due to be completed in
time for Silverstone hosting the 2011 British Grand Prix.
For further information contact:
14 Blades Court Deodar Road London SW15 2NU UK
T: +44 (0)20 8874 7666 F: +44 (0)20 8874 7470
E: sophie.therouanne@populous.com www.populous.com

INTERNATIONAL FOCUS
NORDIC REGIONS
EUROPE’S NORTHERN STARS
Scandinavia, the collective term
for Sweden, Denmark, Norway and
Finland, is one of the most complex
and fascinating regions in the sports
marketing business. Andy Fry looks
at the region’s complex television
market and the region’s bold attempts
to attract major sporting events in a
competitive bidding environment.
ALTHOUGH RELATIVELY small compared
to other European markets (a population of
24 million), Scandinavia is home to many
innovative and entrepreneurial brands and
media companies. This means it is an important
contributor to the global sports marketing
scene. At the same time, it boasts good sports
facilities, interesting topography and excellent
urban infrastructure. The result is that the
region is high on the consideration list for sports
federations when it comes to choosing venues.
Understanding why the market works
the way it does requires some historical and
commercial context, however. It’s worth noting,
for example, that Scandinavian (or Nordic)
governments were very late in permitting the
launch of free-to-air commercial television.
The upshot of this is that public broadcasters
like SVT Sweden, NRK Norway, YLE Finland,
Danmarks Radio and TV2 (both Denmark)
continue to be prominent players - both on their
own terms and via rights-buying collectives such
as the European Broadcasting Union.
YLE, for example, invested a record-breaking
€20 million on sports rights this year -
underlining its commitment to events such as
the Winter Olympics (always a crowd-pleaser)
and the FIFA World Cup.
This pro-public service broadcaster
environment has not, however, deterred
74 SportBusiness International • No. 160 • 09.10

INTERNATIONAL FOCUS
NORDIC REGIONS
Swedish tennis star Robin Soderling - Getty Images Sport
companies launching commercial TV services
into the Scandinavian space. So starting in the
late 1980s, the result was a wave of free-to-air
and subscription launches via satellite, many of
which were based beyond the borders of local
governments (thus evading regulatory controls).
Critical to understanding today’s rights market
is the fact that those which survived now operate
across the entire Nordic space - offering a mosaic
of pan-regional and territory-specific services.
The classic case is Modern Times Group,
which offers both wholly-owned and third party
channels via its Viasat direct-to-home satellite
platform. MTG constantly finesses its channel
portfolio to maximise performance. But in its
current incarnation it has a pan-regional golf
channel (Viasat Golf), two Swedish sports
channels (Viasat Sport Sweden, Viasat Fotball),
two Norwegian sports channels (Viasat Sport
Norge, Viasat Fotball) and two Danish sports
channels that it runs in partnership with publicservice
broadcaster TV2 (having previously
operated its own sports channel).
To complicate matters further, MTG has two
channels airing across Norway and Sweden
(Viasat Motor & Viasat Sport HD). The upshot is
that MTG - which also has free-to-air networks
(more of which later) - can be a buyer of both panregional
and territory-specific rights - depending
on a) its own needs and b) the competition.
The situation is broadly the same with MTG’s
major rival C More Entertainment, which runs
Canal Plus-branded pay-TV services across
Scandinavia (though Canal Plus itself is no longer
part of the platform’s ownership structure).
New player on the scene
The ownership history at C More is complex,
but the business today belongs to Swedish
media giant TV4 in partnership with Norway’s
Telenor, which acquired 35 per cent of the
business in May. This joining of forces is
expected to make C More a stronger player in
the Nordic sports TV market.
Aside from the fact that it brings various
Telenor rights into the Canal Plus line-up, C More
also used the merger to announce an expanded
sports content offering. In particular, it outlined
plans to add football from La Liga, Serie A and
Major League Soccer in the US; basketball from
the NBA; and Swedish ice hockey.
As with MTG, the fact that TV4 also has
a powerful Swedish-based free-to-air network
(as well as a free-to-air sister service in
Finland) means it is looking for both territoryspecific
and pan-regional sports rights.
Furthermore, Telenor is a major crossplatform
operator which means there is also a
compelling need for rights which cover digital
platforms such as mobile.
All major football rights holders (FIFA,
UEFA, national leagues) are faced with this
kind of market complexity (see box) when
dealing with the Nordic region. So it’s perhaps
not a surprise to see that rights agencies have a
prominent role. For UEFA, rights are managed
by long-term partner TEAM - while emerging
Swiss outfit Kentaro made a big splash in the
market when it snapped up Norwegian Football
Association and Swedish Football Association
rights in 2006 (previously broadcasters dealt
directly). Also worth noting is that Lagardere is
active via its 2007 acquisition of Sweden-based
agency IEC in Sports.
Perhaps most significant has been the
arrival on the scene of Medge Consulting, a
start-up agency which secured all Nordic rights
to the English Premier League in December
COMPLEX TV SCENARIOS
The Nordic TV market results in some
complicated rights scenarios - particularly
in football, which, as in the majority
of European TV markets, is the most
in-demand sport. This is evident in the
case of UEFA - which has a variety of
deals for the Euros, the Champions
League and the Europa League. The most
straightforward is UEFA’s partnership
with MTG for the Champions League -
which the broadcaster controls exclusively
in Denmark, Norway and Sweden across
both free-to-air and pay-television.
However it’s worth noting that in Finland
MTG shares rights with YLE. The situation
with UEFA’s Europa League (2009-2012)
is more complex - since MTG has rights
in Denmark and Norway while TV4 has
Sweden. In both cases, the deals allow
the broadcasters to air games on free and
pay-TV channels.
This can lead to unusual scenarios. In
Denmark, for example, the first-choice
live match airs on MTG’s TV3+ - a rival to
TV2. However other live matches air on
TV2 Sport - the joint-venture between the
two [Note - you get a similar situation
with Danish Superliga football which airs
on TV3+, TV2 Sport and Canal 9, a pay-TV
channel which belongs to TV4]. Further
evidence of the Nordic market’s complexity
comes in the case of UEFA’s Euro 2012
rights - which were recently licensed to
TV4 for Denmark and Norway as well as
its home market Sweden. In Sweden, TV4
is sharing the rights with SVT while in the
other markets it is effectively acting as a
sub-agent - dividing up fixtures between
its own channels and third parties in order
to give UEFA the optimal mix of free and
pay-TV coverage.
SportBusiness International • No.160 • 09.10 75

INTERNATIONAL FOCUS
NORDIC REGIONS
2009 (live, repeat, highlights, news, mobile
and internet rights across 380 fixtures).
The emergence of Medge is an interesting
development - since it represents an attempt
to extract greater revenues from the region by
selling rights country by country.
Previously (from 2007-08 to 2009-10),
pan-regional Premier League rights belonged
to C More/Canal Plus, but under the new
arrangement Medge is paying upwards of
$120 million for the period 2010-11 to 2012-13,
according to TV Sports Markets, around double
the value of the previous contract period.
Carve up the territory
Medge has set about recouping its investment
by doing individual deals with MTV Finland,
TV2 Norway, SBS Denmark and MTG for
Sweden. In the case of the TV2 deal, pay-TV
rights were then passed on to Canal Plus
(creating an EPL-Medge-TV2-Canal Plus chain).
As for Sweden, MTG plans to air games on its
Viasat Fotboll, Viasat Sport & Viasat Sport HD
pay-TV channels and a new Viasat Premier
League HD channel.
Medge co-founder Peter Liljestrand is
reported to be looking at whether Medge can
negotiate a similar role with regard to Serie A
and La Liga rights. But the jury is out on whether
this would be possible.
Amanda Evans, general manager at Eurosport
Nordic, says the arrival of Medge has certainly
shaken up the market “but the EPL is possibly
the only property outside domestic sport which
could generate the necessary commercial
interest. It has a history here which goes back
many, many years.”
According to Evans, rights holders looking to
maximise their financial return by replicating
the Medge model have to weigh up two
opposing factors: “There are definitely different
tastes between the four countries - which
makes grouping them together a risk. But that
has to be balanced against economies of scale.
After all, these are not big countries when
viewed separately.” (Sweden, the biggest, has a
population of around nine million).
Pan-regional sports broadcaster Eurosport
currently operates a Nordic version of its main
channel and a Nordic/Eastern European feed of
its Eurosport 2 channel (as well as an HD feed in
Sweden and Denmark).
Like its rivals, it views football as a critical
part of the mix - and recently acquired exclusive
Bundesliga rights for use across the Nordic and
Eastern European regions. “We took over those
from Viasat,” says Evans.
“That move showed that we were serious
about acquiring top quality football rights. It
also changed the dynamics of the Nordic market
because it means Bundesliga is the only one of
the top international leagues that can be viewed
on basic pay not premium.”
While soccer is the biggest sport in the
broadcasting space, it’s not the only one which
draws crowds, adds Evans. “Winter sports are
very popular and we are very strongly associated
with biathlon. We also do well with tennis,
a sport where we have three Grand Slams
and coverage of the WTA Tour. With Robin
Soderling (Sweden) and Caroline Wozniacki
(Denmark) doing well, tennis has been a big
audience puller for Eurosport.”
The Soderling factor has not been lost on
free-to-air either. This year saw SVT Sweden
sign a four-year deal with IEC in Sports for
rights to the Stockholm Open ATP Tennis
tournament, held in October.
Against the backdrop of Soderling’s progress,
SVT will air 10 live matches on nationwide
terrestrial SVT1 or SVT2 with complementary
coverage, on SVT24 or SVT Play. “With Robin
Söderling entering the top echelons of the world’s
elite we are delighted to extend the contract and
to continue to develop our coverage,” confirmed
SVT head of sport Per Yng.
Handball is another sport which has
developed a strong fanbase in the Nordic region.
In recent times, rights agency Infront has
managed to extend exclusive rights agreements
for the EHF European Championships with TV2
Denmark, TV2 Norway and TV4 Sweden.
With all three now committed until 2015, TV2
Norway head of sports Björn Taalesen sums up
the mood when he says: “The European Handball
Championships, with their high-intensity drama
and strong Scandinavian participation, are some
of the most gripping and captivating sporting
events watched by TV viewers and internet users
in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark.”
Other sports in heavy demand by the main
players include motorsport and golf. As outlined
above, MTG/Viasat has a Nordic golf channel -
so it was no real surprise to see it extend rights
Sweden at the 2009 Handball European Championship - Getty Images Sport
to the American PGA Tour until the end of 2015.
Similarly, Viasat has held the Scandinavian
rights to Formula One since 2005 and exploits
them in various ways across the territories.
In Sweden and Norway, live coverage is on
dedicated motor sports channel Viasat Motor
and in Denmark it is on TV3 Puls - a general
entertainment channel launched in 2009.
Free-to-air sports channel
MTG has also just announced plans for a
new free-TV sports channel in Sweden, TV10,
launching on September 7.
Available to 50 per cent of Swedish homes via
cable and satellite, the channel will target men
aged between 25 and 59 and will offer content
including the UEFA Euro 2010 qualification
game between Sweden and San Marino, coverage
of NHL, HockeyAllsvenskan ice hockey games,
UEFA Champions League matches and Formula
One qualifying sessions and race highlights.
TV10 will also broadcast Swedish and
Euroleague basketball, NFL American football
and ATP tennis, all of which is currently on
Viasat Sport’s generic pay-TV sports channel.
MTG president and CEO Hans-Holger
Albrecht says TV10 is designed to complement
Viasat’s PayTV sports channels and will “enable
us to optimise the use of our extensive portfolio
of local and international sports rights. Swedish
viewers will now be able to watch even more high
quality sports entertainment than ever before.”
On the face of it, a free sports channel looks
like a threat to Eurosport’s basic tier proposition
- but Evans is not unduly worried: “I think TV10
is a promotional channel for Viasat’s pay-TV
bouquet - with the best of their content kept for
the premium tier.
“The fact is that the real trend in the Nordic
region is for sport to move into premium tiers
and pay-per-view. So our basic-tier proposition
is actually of interest to platform operators,
particularly now we can reinforce it with a
strong HD offering.”
76 SportBusiness International • No. 160 • 09.10

INTERNATIONAL FOCUS
NORDIC REGIONS
THE NORDIC MARKET’S low
population density means it is a
relatively modest player in the
sponsorship market. One of the
most dynamic segments of the
market is naming rights - a sector
gaining in importance over the last
three-to-four years.
Top player in this area is
Swedbank - which acquired
naming rights to Malmo’s
football stadium in 2007 before
securing a 17.5 million, 16-year
naming rights deal for the new
national stadium near Stockholm.
Swedbank also used to control
rights to the Ornskoldsvik ice
hockey arena.
Elsewhere in the Nordic region,
a notable trend in naming rights
is the rise of telecoms companies
- seemingly at the expense
of airlines. Already we have
mentioned the Ericsson Globe
in Stockholm - named in 2009 -
and in Norway Telenor has just
secured the rights to the state-ofthe-art
Fornebu Arena. However
airline SAS has just ended its
partnership with the Denmark’s
Messecenter Herning and in
Finland Helsinki’s Finnair Stadium
has just been renamed the Sonera
Stadium in a deal until December
2013. Echoing naming rights
deals in other parts of Europe,
TeliaSonera Finland president
Juha-Pekka Weckström said the
deal “provides us with an excellent
framework for marketing of our
services, client events and also
internal events.”
One area of strength for
Scandinavian sport sponsorship
is sailing. While the ultimate
expression of this is the
Volvo Ocean Race (won by an
Ericsson-sponsored boat last
time out), there are a number
of other commercial activities
around the sport.
One of the most interesting,
signed in May, sees car-maker
Audi backing the ISAF-backed
Stena Match Cup which takes
place in Sweden - just 12 miles
north of Volvo’s global HQ.
Regarded as one of the best
sailing events anywhere in the
world, it fits well with Audi’s
strategy of cherry-picking highimpact
sailing sponsorships
around the world.
And it’s not just sailing which
has proved it can attract sponsors.
In Sweden insurance group IF
is the title sponsor of the ATP
Stockholm Open while Denmark’s
Nordea backs Danish handball.
Because of their size and
location Sweden and Denmark
dominate developments in the
Scandinavian sponsorship market.
But there are opportunities
in Norway and Finland for
companies which go looking.
Nutrition company Herbalife
is best known right now for
deals with Barcelona and Lionel
Messi, but prior to that it signed
sponsorship deals with Team
Hoydahl, Norway’s premier
professional mountain bike
team, and the Finnish Ice Hockey
Association - thus associating
with the single biggest sporting
property in this country.
Opportunities in Norway are
limited by law; the country bans
alcohol sponsorship and until May
2009, it also had a ban on energy
drinks (Under the Dangerous
Beverages Act 2004).
Norway’s biggest sponsorship
property right now is downhill
skiing star Aksel Lund Svindal who
has deals with Head and Red Bull
among others.
The latter deal is not
universally welcomed in Norway,
where there is still some
resistance to energy drinks
despite the lifting of the ban.
Critics fear that the deal sends
out a negative message to Lund
Svindal’s extensive young fanbase.
Even before the
dust has settled
on the last great
sporting spectacle,
preparations are
well underway to
ensure that London
will surpass all its
predecessors.
Road to London – a sport magazine show
with 130 episodes, 26 minutes each.
Contact:
www.iec.se Tel +46 8 666 04 02
SportBusiness_199,3 x 127_100818.indd 1 2010-08-18 15.55

INTERNATIONAL FOCUS
NORDIC REGIONS
The 2009 NHL Premiere Stockholm match between St. Louis Blues
and Detroit Red Wings at the Ericsson Globe - Getty Images Sport
PUTTING NORDICS ON THE MAP
Scandinavia’s size means it is rarely
on the consideration list for hosting
mega-events like the FIFA World
Cup and the Summer Olympics -
though the Winter Olympics did
come to Lillehammer, Norway, in
1994 and Sweden staged Euro 1992,
a tournament won by neighbours
Denmark.
BIDDING AS CO-HOSTS is an option that
Scandinavian nations have recently employed
to boost their bidding prospects although recent
attempts have not come to fruition.
First, a four-nation Euro 2008 bid was
rejected - then a Sweden-Norway bid to host
Euro 2016 collapsed due to lack of government
support. This isn’t the only example of a Swedenbacked
initiative coming unstuck. The Swedish
Golf Federation was also forced to withdraw its
bid to host the 2018 Ryder Cup due to a weak
economy and trouble getting government funds.
However such setbacks have not dampened local
enthusiasm for hosting events.
Currently, Stockholm is in the midst of a
massive stadium construction programme which
will see two new venues ready for action by 2012.
Sweden lining up sport
In terms of recent and upcoming sporting
events hosted by Sweden, the World Figure
Skating Championship in 2008, this year’s
FINA Masters World Championship, the
2011 Men’s Handball World Championship
and the 2013 European Indoor Athletics
Championships are all firmly written, or will be
soon, into the country’s CV.
Stockholm’s Ericsson Globe has also hosted
sports events including NHL season openers
for the last two seasons. While Stockholm
looks set to enter a dynamic new phase of event
hosting, it’s interesting to note that the four
major events mentioned above have strong
southern Sweden connections - with the cities
of Gothenburg and Malmo both playing pivotal
roles as hosts.
Gothenburg has an illustrious track record
hosting events while Malmo has one of Europe’s
most modern sporting and entertainment
arenas (and will be the venue for the final of the
2011 Men’s Handball World Championships).
The success of Malmo and Gothenburg is
partly down to the fact that they are relatively
close to the continental European mainland - a
factor which has also played well for Sweden’s
southern neighbour, Denmark. While Sweden
has struggled to get government support for
some ‘A-list’ events, the Danish authorities
have made it clear that they sees sport as a
political priority.
Last year, for example, was Denmark’s ‘Year
Of Sport’ - a publicly-backed initiative designed,
in part, to attract major events to the country.
“It is crucial for Denmark’s potential to host
international sport events,” said Minister for
Sport and Culture Carina Christensen. “Our
goal is to raise awareness of Denmark through
the sport events we host. In the long-term it will
78 SportBusiness International • No. 160 • 09.10

INTERNATIONAL FOCUS
NORDIC REGIONS
lead Denmark to a position among the top 25
ultimate sport countries.”
The overall strategy is co-ordinated by public
body Sport Event Denmark - though SED is the
first to admit that winning the right to host an
event requires buy-in from every tier of society.
SED CEO Lars Lundov made this point clear
when he told delegates at SportAccord that:
“We believe in close co-operation between three
parties - Sport Event Denmark, the host city and
the national federation organising the event.”
Fortunately for SED, everyone from central
government to the general population has been
willing to pull together to deliver events. The
upshot of this is that 54 sports events took place
in Denmark during 2009 - an impressive figure
for a nation of just 5.5 million.
Highlights from 2009 included the
International Olympic Commitee Congress,
UEFA Congress, Archery World Cup Finals
and WTF Taekwondo World Championship.
Looking ahead, Denmark has lined up World
Cup trampoline in 2011, the European Table
Tennis Championships 2012/2013, the
World Badminton Championships 2013, the
European Volleyball Championships 2013, FEI
jumping and dressage 2013, the ISAF World
Championships 2014 and the Men’s European
Handball Championships (EHC) in 2014.
Denmark has also put its name forward as
host for the World Ice Hockey Championships
2016 - and SED’s Lundov is optimistic that his
country has the right mix of experience and
expertise to succeed: “Sport Event Denmark is
used to working with long-term strategies, and
we know the importance of being well-prepared
for both bidding and eventually also the hosting
of international sports events.
“Our commitment to deliver a world-class ice
hockey event to benefit both the event owner,
players, media and fans is immense. Next year we
are hosting the UCI Road World Championships
and UEFA European Under-21 Championship
in Denmark, and staging these major events will
give us an invaluable experience to the benefit of
future events in Denmark.”
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DAN ATKINS
GENERAL MANAGER,
IGNITE MUSIC & ENTERTAINMENT
THE SPORTBUSINESS DEBATE
“The possibility to integrate
graphics and statistics adds a new
dimension. Add the drama of
the lighting and audio effects to
the live event mix and given the
choice, there is no way you would
want to watch at home.”
WITH THE INCREASE of sports events being held
at modern stadiums and in entertainment venues,
such as the O2 Arena in London, long gone are
the days where it is acceptable for the in-stadium
‘screens’ mix to be an afterthought, with lower
production values than one would expect to see
on television.
New technologies have developed alongside
high-definition (HD) television such as super
slow-motion replays and tiny HD mini-cameras
that provide ‘point-of-view’ coverage. These shots
can be used to enhance the audience experience
during breaks in play.
The possibility to integrate graphics and
statistics such as Hawk-Eye and win/loss/
accuracy information also adds a new dimension
for the live event viewer that was previously only
available to the broadcaster. Add the drama of the
lighting and audio effects to the live event mix and
given the choice, there is no way you would want
to watch at home.
At ignite we believe the in-stadium audiovisual
presentation is of paramount importance
to the live audience. At the Barclays ATP World
Tour Finals event (see page 27), we use multicamera
television directors to ‘call’ the screens,
lighting, presenter and music cues, as if it were
a live television show. In order to do this, we
work closely with the Association of Tennis
Professionals and their live broadcast television
director in the lead up to the event.
Having complete integration with the live
broadcast team, sharing control of cameras and
replays, and not working in isolation, it is now
very possible to bring television production values
to the live event audience and allow spectators
to share in aspects of sports coverage that were
previously only seen at home.
“How will HD TV, 3D TV and other
technologies which enhance the
quality of the television sports
experience impact on the live
events sector, and what needs to
be done to ensure that the
in-stadium experience matches
that offered by broadcasters?”
The 2010 FIFA World Cup marked a significant development in the
evolution of live 3D sports coverage.
And while the broadcast sector learned many lessons about what works
and what doesn’t from a technical perspective, the wider implications of
yet another enhancement to the armchair/couch sports experience are
worthy of discussion.
The media-delivered sports experience has never been richer. That’s not
simply the result of the quality of the pictures but the way broadcasters are
able to tell the story of an event. In just about every respect, the armchair
becomes the best seat in the house. What’s the incentive to pay big money
for tickets, travel and catering when you can relax at home or with friends at
a bar for the fraction of the cost and potential inconvenience?
It is an issue that should be taxing not only for the people who sell tickets
to live events, but also to broadcasters themselves. It can be argued that sport
is a four-dimensional experience and that the fourth dimension is the crowd.
The crowd provides the vibrant colourful background and spontaneous
ever-changing soundtrack to live broadcasts. Try watching with the sound
turned down or, as in the case of the World Cup, the natural sound drowned
out by the buzz of vuvuzelas - and the product becomes poorer.
So if sport needs a crowd, what can be done to ensure that fans will
still pack stadiums when there are other less expensive and more
comfortable options? Is ensuring that stadia remain full an issue of
pricing - once again the FIFA World Cup indicates this is an important
factor - or is there more to it than that?
Are we simply burying our heads in the sand if we continue to believe
that the status of the live sport event will remain unchanged during a time
when household budgets are under strain and when there is no shortage of
entertainment opportunities?
That’s the question we put to our panel of experts this month.
80 SportBusiness International • No. 160 • 09.10

NIGEL CURRIE
DIRECTOR,
BRANDRAPPORT
KEVIN ROBERTS
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR,
SPORTBUSINESS GROUP
NIGEL RUSHMAN
FOUNDER,
RUSHMANS
“There is much more that needs
to be done. Younger generations
of fans have grown up with the
developing technology in sports
coverage and see it as an integral
part of sport and entertainment.”
“While the sports events sector
clearly has work to do to enhance
the live experience, they have one
thing very much in their favour.
It’s the passion, bordering on
madness, of fans.”
“In the past the received wisdom
was that you couldn’t beat being
at a major event because of the
atmosphere. But that alone is not
really enough any more.”
IT IS HUMAN NATURE to want the biggest and
best available - and it is that which is turning the
committed sports fan into a very demanding one.
Armchair sports fans now get a very good
service while fans attending a sporting event have
a lot to contend with. Of course television can’t
match or replicate the atmosphere (yet) of actually
being at a major sporting event but certainly
questions are being asked of events organisers
and whether they are offering enough to the fans
coming through the turnstiles.
Ticket prices need to be looked at closely but
in particular there needs to be a major effort to
provide a much broader experience. If you go to
a major live event now, the minute a significant
incident occurs the whole crowd look to the
“Big Screen” for clarification and are invariably
disappointed that the particular incident can’t be
replayed in case it compromises the officials or
upsets players, official or fans. However there
must be alternatives.
Modern stadiums have improved out of all
recognition and facilities much better than a few
years ago. But there is much more that needs
to be done. Younger generations of fans have
grown up with the developing technology in sports
coverage and see it as an integral part of the
sport and the entertainment. They expect it to be
incorporated at the live event.
Options such as referee links and live TV/radio
commentaries are available but it is yet another
cost for the long suffering fans. Venues need to
be looking at ways of cutting prices and providing
better value. Match programmes could be scaled
back in terms of production and provided free
with the seat.
But most importantly venues need to find a way
of giving the paying spectator some of the benefits
on offer to the ‘stay at home’ fan. There must be
ways of incorporating pictures and sound consuls
into the backs of seats at matches. By doing this
fans at matches would get all the information,
sound and pictures that they would get at home
while being able to experience the genuine
atmosphere and excitement of the live event.
IT’S TUESDAY NIGHT and it’s cold…and raining.
The food you’ve bought is also cold but the beer is
strangely warm. The massive guy next to you more
or less envelops your own seat and the stadium PA
system is so distorted don’t know whether they’re
announcing team changes or the outbreak of war.
Oh…and on the field your team is getting
slaughtered. Just what’s needed before a sodden
trudge towards a 40 minute wait to get out of the
car park before an hour-long drive home.
Welcome to the wonderful world of live sports
events. You get all this and the chance to pay
upwards of $60 each for the privilege. Why wouldn’t
you stay at home and watch in high-definition on a
big screen with the help of expert commentators
and pundits, action replays and all the other
gizmos that make sport such compelling
television? Who wouldn’t choose the couch, the
remote and the fridge full of beer and snacks
against this self-inflicted misery? What’s not to like.
But let’s fast forward.
Another Tuesday night and it’s cold and raining.
The fat bloke next to you is still invading your space
and the food is still rubbish. The PA’s not been fixed
and there’s that tedious journey home to look
forward to. But your team is winning…creaming it.
Now the cold doesn’t matter and the food hasn’t
actually killed you. You hug the fat guy and anybody
else you can get hold of. You wouldn’t have missed
this for the world!
You were there and that’s what it’s all about.
While it would be mad to suggest that the
continuing attraction of sports events can be taken
for granted, there is something very special about
being part of the experience, of sharing moments
of triumph or despair with other fans. It’s about
being there when history is made, and when
records are broken.
And while the sports events sector clearly has
work to do to enhance the live experience, they
have one thing very much in their favour. It’s the
passion, bordering on madness, of fans.
THERE IS NO DOUBT that advances in technology
are changing the way that live sport is viewed, but I
believe the issue goes way beyond the introduction
of 3D television and other breakthroughs.
We live amid a whirlpool of change which
is being felt across every aspect of our lives.
Critically, we now have an ‘experience economy’ in
which we don’t simply buy a car or a cup of coffee,
we buy an experience.
This means sports of all kinds have to establish
themselves as a valuable and meaningful
experience in the broader scheme of things,
whether it is consumed on television, on a
handheld device or at a stadium.
And because consuming sport via various
media has become so rich and immersive, those
of us who operate in the live events business have
to ensure that the experience we offer is distinct
and memorable.
In the past the received wisdom was that you
couldn’t beat being at a major event because of
the atmosphere. But that alone is not really
enough any more.
We have to offer a live experience that is built on
a series of additional benefits for the stadium
audience. That means bringing the crowd closer to
the action by making sure that the technical quality
and level of service delivered by stadium big
screens is exceptional, by ensuring that the talent
(competitors and management) make themselves
more available before and after competition to
engage with the crowd, and making sure that
press conferences are shared with ticket holders.
These are just a few of the things which could
be done simply to give live events the intimacy
that is achieved through the media and there are
many other practical steps around seating,
queuing, catering and transport which must also
be addressed as the live events sector evolves.
It is important that we get it right because I feel
we are entering an era in which live events will
become particularly important. With so much
communication and conversation taking place via
social networking sites, there is a growing
appetite for opportunities for where these
communities can meet face-to-face. Sports events
have an opportunity to be an important part of this
trend, but only if we ensure that the experience we
deliver not only matches but exceeds expectations.
SportBusiness International • No.160 • 09.10 81

THE WORLD’S 20 MOST INFLUENTIAL
Promoters
While promoters have long played a major role in sports, the dynamic of the job has changed
notably from the earliest days when American fight promoter Tex Rickard was arranging bouts at
Madison Square Garden for heavyweight Jack Dempsey. Today, promoters must move globally,
think digitally and generate fans in the arena as well as eyeballs for TVs, movie screens, laptops
and phones. Not surprisingly, these entrepreneurial ringmasters - some well known, some
emerging - are masterful in their command of the corporate and spectator domain.
SportBusiness
International’s
monthly take
on the 20 most
influential
people or
companies
within specific
sectors of
sport...
Bernie Ecclestone (Formula One)
Not always loved nor fully
understood, he has withstood
all comers and challenges to
his racing empire while keeping
constructors and cities with skin in
the game. His ability to attract cities
like Singapore, Kuala Lumpur,
Istanbul, Sakhir (Bahrain) and
Shanghai showed he was one of the
first promoters to fully grasp Asia’s
enormous capacity and financial
wherewithal. The fact teams now
spend more than £105 million
annually, sponsors queue up to
underwrite teams and international
drivers and cities virtually beg for
the right to stage races is proof
enough that a weekend with Bernie
is still enormously relevant.
Lalit Modi (Indian Premier League)
Educated at Duke University
in North Carolina, Modi took
cricket to record-shattering
heights throughout Europe, Asia
and Oceania before the Board
of Control for Cricket in India
(BCCI) suspended him in June
over allegations of improper
actions including corruption. Modi
constructed lengthy management
and broadcasting deals with
companies such as IMG and
World Sport Group then made
sure world cricket’s superstars
were paid handsomely to attach
themselves to three editions of the
IPL. That India is emerging as one
of the true centres of the sporting
universe is no longer a surprise
to global practitioners. Modi’s
suspension shouldn’t suggest he is
finished as a promoter.
The Singapore Sports Council
Many cities have longed to emerge
as sporting hubs but few have ever
done more in a shorter length of
time … particularly in a country
that had long eschewed sport in
favour of education and the arts.
Singapore’s decision to re-invent
itself through sporting events
such as the annual Formula One
race, FINA Swimming World Cup
and the just-completed inaugural
Youth Olympic Games is testament
to the concept of city branding.
Singaporean development of
valuable real estate for sports
venues and a willingness to test
foreign concepts (such as joining
the Australian National Basketball
League) shows this council and
its CEO, Oon Jin Teik, to be far
ahead of the curve.
David Stern and
Heidi Ueberroth (NBA)
How Stern and Ueberroth were
not included on this list in 2009
is a notable mystery and serious
omission. The NBA commissioner
has long understood the advantages
of staging events in new markets
and then distributing that product
aggressively. From games in China
to a burgeoning presence in India
and the United Kingdom, Stern has
demanded his organisation attract
players (if not owners such as
Russian tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov)
from around the world, and then
take the NBA’s product back to
those breeding grounds. The NBA’s
international acumen has been led
by executives such as Ueberroth
(president of NBA International)
and Tim Chen (CEO of NBA China)
and Ueberroth is already one of the
most powerful women in sports.
Her role will only grow in the
coming years.
Jeffrey Pollack and Grupo RBS
(Professional Bull Riding)
To some observers, this sport
wouldn’t logically warrant a
listing among the world’s top
20 promoters. But to present
a global list and not include a
Brazilian promoter would be a
travesty … particularly at a time
when Brazilian sport is exploding
through the acquisition of both
the 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2016
Summer Olympic Games. Pollack,
the PBR’s chairman and former
commissioner for the World Series
of Poker and Grupo RBS, the sport’s
Brazilian partner, have seen to it
that hundreds of events are staged
annually and they are doing so with
the flare often associated with rock
concerts and major fight cards.
Rick Dudley (Octagon)
Dudley’s name may not be on
everyone’s lips but his stewardship
of Octagon Worldwide, and
promoters such as Phil de Picciotto
(president of Octagon’s Athletes
and Personalities), mean this
Connecticut-headquartered outfit
can suggest they are the world’s
largest sports and entertainment
sponsorship consultancy. And
with the ultimate responsibility
for representation of hundreds of
athletes and celebrities, Dudley’s
time at the NFL, MLB and NHL has
served him well since taking over
as CEO in 2003.
ESPN (X-Games)
To efficiently run a TV network is
one thing. To invent sporting events
that compete with the Olympics
and nudge the International
Olympic Committee into bringing
‘new’ sports like snowboarding
into the fold is another. But ESPN
hasn’t just developed content
in the area of extreme sports.
This American sports cable giant
(the self-proclaimed “Worldwide
Leader in Sports”) is constantly
designing new channels such as
ESPN 360 (or programming like the
acclaimed 30 for 30 documentary
series) and layering its offerings of
print and internet journalism with
international expansion and sportproduct
creation.
Paul Dainty (Dainty Consolidated
Entertainment)
His name won’t ring a lot of bells,
but Australia’s Paul Dainty is
rapidly building a diverse portfolio
of sports (like WWE), concerts,
exhibitions and special events. He is
already one of the most influential
players in Oceania’s booming live
entertainment industry and has
presented some of the biggest
brands in the world including the
82 SportBusiness International • No.160 • 09.10

Rolling Stones and Bon Jovi. He
is also the co-owner and global
promoter of the leading freestyle
motocross brand, Crusty Demons,
and is a co-founder and director
in the rising Australian sports
marketing agency Twenty3.
Mike Helton (NASCAR)
While the France family has
rightfully been acknowledged in the
past (for building America’s largest
auto-racing circuit), it is now
Helton who oversees a vast empire
of race tracks, teams, drivers and
media outlets that keep Americans
connected to their cars. NASCAR
boasts that more than 75 million
attend roughly 1,500 NASCARsanctioned
stock car races in
the US, or watch the nearly 40
televised ‘big’ races that comprise
the Sprint Cup Series. Helton’s very
firm hand on the NASCAR throttle
means the France Family dynasty
continues to expand (in more than
140 countries) without missing a
shifted gear.
AEG (Various Sports)
It was said in 2009 that AEG needed
little introduction and that remains
the case in 2010. This giant of the
sports and entertainment world
operates largely out of Los Angeles
under the guidance of CEO/president
Tim Leiweke who supervises the
management (and promotion of)
stadiums, arenas, theatres and
events around the world. It is
not enough to reference AEG’s
operation of the Staples Center in
LA and O2 in London since AEG, by
its own admission, now owns more
teams and events than any other
company in the world.
Simon Fuller (19 Management)
Long associated with footballer
David Beckham and tennis star
Andy Murray, Fuller is never idle
and has combined musician/athlete
representation with event and real
estate promotion to frequently take
centre stage. His engagement of
Major League Soccer commissioner
Don Garber to deliver Beckham to
LA Galaxy should warrant serious
Promoter Hall of Fame votes.
George Pyne (IMG)
No list of legendary promoters
is probably complete without a
reference to IMG (with a tip of the
hat to deceased founder Mark
McCormack) and its current CEO
George Pyne. Overseeing sports
projects and offices in more than
30 countries, IMG remains, despite
past predictions of its demise when
McCormack died, a vital and intuitive
agency in 2010. If anything, IMG
is again growing and undoubtedly
taking market share from other
agencies and promoters. If that is
the case, give NASCAR-influenced
Pyne (he was formerly chief
operating officer) the credit.
Barry Hearn
Hearn made this list in 2009 and
returns again as he keeps various
niche sports like darts and snooker
on the world sport radar. He
long-ago made his mark in boxing
but can also count football team
ownership (Leyton Orient) and poker
tournaments in his promotional
portfolio. Having recently agreed
to chair the World Professional
Billiards and Snooker Association,
he immediately promised to shake
snooker to its well-entrenched
roots. Have no doubt this wily
veteran will capitalise on China’s
potential while growing his
respective sports in Eastern Europe,
Scandinavia and South Asia.
Peter Gilmour (Yachting)
It seems unfair to list a man who
not only can promote a sport (the
ISAF’s World Match Racing Tour)
but also win his own events or
reflect on crewing in six America’s
Cups (winning as coach in 2007
with Alinghi). But that’s what WMRT
acting president Peter Gilmour
brings to the wheelhouse as he sets
his sights on sailing to Philadelphia
and the rest of the USA. The WMRT
may not yet be the Volvo Ocean
Race but give this Australian
captain time to fully hoist his sails.
Bob Arum (Top Rank)
The long-time chairman of Las
Vegas-based Top Rank controls
the action on seven-division world
champion Manny Pacquiao’s next
fight (likely his second at the new
Cowboys Stadium) against Antonio
Margarito (assuming Margarito gets
a license to fight in Texas). Arum
has not always been everyone’s
cup of tea and promoters like
Don King, Dana White (UFC) and
even HBO have all found reasons
to bristle when Arum’s name is
mentioned. Still, it can be argued
that no fighter at the moment
matters as much as Pacquiao.
The NFL
Given this league’s willingness
to create shoulder programming
events such as their Draft, player
scouting Combine and Pro Bowl,
let alone their own TV network, the
NFL certainly warrants a mention.
The only problem with listing this
formidable league as a promoter is
that it virtually requires the same
treatment for the IOC, FIFA, UEFA
and every major football league in
Europe. Still, it is difficult to deny
this titan of gridiron is pretty good
at getting the word out into the
sporting industry and beyond.
Patrick Magyar (Athletics)
Another repeat from 2009, the
“Hardest Working Man in the
Athletics Business” keeps the track
and field world humming. The
director of the Weltklasse Diamond
League has kept Olympic stars
hungry but also well compensated
for years. And by keeping the
best of the best on the track, he
has helped keep athletics from
being a ‘once every four years’
consideration.
Carmelo Ezpeleta (Dorna Sports)
A recipient of Spain’s gold medal
of Sporting Merit in May, Ezpeleta
is the CEO of Dorna Sports, the
rights holder to the MotoGP World
Championships. It is a sport
Ezpeleta is well familiar with having
previously staged 10 MotoGP
events at Jarama in Madrid. He has
more than 30 years of motorsports
experience and it’s long been
suggested he holds a long-standing
gentleman’s agreement with Bernie
Ecclestone to ensure schedules for
Formula One and MotoGP do not
conflict. Dorna also holds the rights
to Supercross GP and the British
Superbike Championship.
Vince McMahon (WWE)
Chairman and CEO of World
Wrestling Entertainment, McMahon
is the man who has made things
rumble in the pro-wrestling ring
for just under 40 years. He is a
true business descendant of the
American legend Tex Rickard
since Vince’s grandfather, Jess
McMahon, served as a business
partner in the 20s to Rickard.
Since 1971, McMahon has done
it all including serving as ring
announcer and on-site promoter
extraordinaire. He has built the
wrestling game into a billion dollar
business with broadcast deals in
more than 100 countries.
Kenny Huang
Many have wondered about China’s
emergence as a sporting power
following the completion of the
Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics. One
of the questions was whether the
Chinese government would allow an
entrepreneurial promoter to thrive.
Into that void stepped a number of
players, the most notable of which
may be Hong Kong billionaire
Huang who, with his company QSL
Sports, was until late August in the
mix to purchase English Premier
League’s Liverpool FC. It may be
too early to suggest Huang will
someday run with promoters like
Ecclestone, Fuller and Hearn - but
casual observers should not make
the mistake of believing China
and Huang are not rapidly moving
forward in sports promotion.
SportBusiness International • No.160 • 09.10 83

conferences www.sportbusiness.com/marketplace/conferences
TV CONVERGES
ON MONACO
SportelMonaco 2010
11-14.10.10
Monte carlo, monaco
The annual SPORTELMonaco event is
recognised as the most important
gathering of high-level executives from
the international sports television and
sports content industry.
SPORTELMonaco is organised by Monaco
Mediax, the Monaco Governmental entity
that additionally organises and develops international media events such as the
Monte-Carlo Television Festival, imagina, SPORTELAsia, SPORTELAmerica, WIMA and
Monaco iGaming Exchanges.
The SPORTELMonaco offer includes:
• A market of intensive meetings, deal making and rubbing elbows with the highestlevel
executives in international sports content in one venue
• A series of International Symposia, conferences, special press events and round
table discussions to learn about the latest trends
• A cost-effective way to promote your business or your brand through high-visibility
advertising and on-site promotional opportunities specifically designed to get your
message directly to your target audience
• A way to identify yourself as an important player in the sports content business
• SPORTEL’s 20-year experience in managing top-level executive events
The 2010 market will, as ever, consist of four days of intensive meetings, deal-making
and rubbing elbows with the highest-level executives in international sports content,
all in one venue. The Georges Bertellotti GOLDEN PODIUM AWARDS Ceremony also
highlights the best international TV sports images and slow-motion sequences. Entries
for the sports sequence of the year - from October 2009 to September 2010 - can be
submitted until Monday September 27.
Last year’s SPORTELMonaco attracted 2,247 participants, representing
938 companies from 68 countries.
Sports Marketing 360
16.09.10
London, UK
Now in its third year, SportBusiness’ conference
Sports Marketing 360 is established as the
must-attend event for sports marketing
professionals from around the world.
A vibrant, challenging and highly relevant
conference, Sports Marketing 360 is the
ultimate interactive forum for a sector which
never stands still. Influential, respected and
thought-provoking speakers will discuss,
assess and analyse the major trends and
issues influencing the worlds of sport, media
and marketing and the way they impact on the
relationship between sports and brands.
Confirmed speakers for the coneference
include Tom Fox (Arsenal), Jeff Nathenson
(Google), Nic Fletcher (O2) Mark Foster
(Five-time Olympian and the most-decorated
British male swimmer ever), Mark Osikoya (Coca
Cola GB) and Patrick Nally (West Nally Ltd).
RUGBY EXPO
9-10.11.10
London, UK
The only global rugby exhibition and conference
that brings together the professional and grass
roots game returns this year at the RHS
Lawrence Hall, Westminster.
Rugby Expo 2010 combines the highest quality
conference programme alongside the industry’s
only live exhibition - producing the ideal
environment to make new contacts and find new
business while debating the key issues affecting
the game both today and in the future.
The inaugural event in 2008 had 45 exhibitors
and boasted over 1,000 people over two days.
Speakers already confirmed for this year’s
conference include Mark Evans (CEO,
Harlequins RFC), Paul Kimberley (Commercial
Director, RFL) and Ross Young (General
Manager of the Rugby World Cup, IRB).
Date event Location organiserS contact
september - DECEMBER 2010
September 16 Sports Marketing 360 London, UK SportBusiness Group +44 207 954 3439
October 6-7 Leaders in Football London, UK Executive Sports Ltd +44 208 545 1595
October 11-13 European Outdoor Forum Annecy, France Outdoor Sports Valley +33 450 675 391
October 11-14 SPORTELMonaco Monte Carlo, Monaco Monaco Mediax/Sportel +37 793 302 033
October 19-23 TEAMS 2010 Charlotte, USA Sports Travel Magazine +13 105 773 715
November 3-4 Sports Event Management Conference London, UK Rushmans Ltd +44 126 485 2010
November 4-6 2010 International Sports Management Conference Lausanne, Switzerland World Events Forum +17 737 848 134
November 9-10 Rugby Expo London, UK Rugby Ventures Ltd +44 845 074 0752
November 10 Sport and Gaming London, UK SportBusiness Group +44 207 954 3439
November 20-24 Soccerex Global Convention 2010 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Soccerex +44 208 742 7100
December 14 International Events Conference Fife, Scotland EventScotland +44 131 472 2313
84 SportBusiness International • No.160 09.10

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your organisation in our directory and to receive details of the annual Marketplace Global sports services
yearbook. For more information contact Cyril.Dujacquier@sportbusiness.com or call +44 20 7954 3482.
smg-sbim-45x42mm-170810.ai 1 17/08/2010 13:48:58
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sportBusiness international • No. 160 • 09.10 87

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88 sportBusiness international • No.160 • 09.10

classified www.sportbusiness.com/marketplace/organisations
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EVS Broadcast
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Mitsubishi Electric Europe
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Sports Statistics & Information
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Contact SportBusiness Team:
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+44 (0) 207 954 3415
SportBusiness International • No. 160 • 09.10 89

PEOPLE
Who do you admire most in the industry?
Lord Coe has to be right up there for what he
has achieved as an athlete and for bringing the
Olympics to London. Mark McCormack always
impressed me when he built IMG.
What have been the best moments in your career
in the sport industry?
As a player it was winning my singles match in
Christchurch in the quarter-finals of the David
Cup in 1981. I won from two sets to love down
and we went on to beat New Zealand. Having
two very successful outcomes from the TV
negotiations for the RFL and Super League rates
very highly for me as they were critical for the
future of the sport at the time.
LIFELONG ALL-ROUNDER
Rugby Football League and Sport England chairman Richard Lewis
reveals his expectations for the 2013 Rugby League World Cup and
gives his view on the merger of Sport England and UK Sport.
A former Davis Cup player and international
tennis coach, Richard Lewis worked at the
Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) from 1988 to
2000 and was team manager when Great Britain
won men’s doubles silver at the 1996 Atlanta
Olympics. He joined the Rugby Football League
(RFL) in 2002 as executive chairman
and became chairman seven years later
following his appointment as chairman of
Sport England. Under Lewis, the RFL saw a
174-per-cent rise in television revenue to
£27.2 million in 2009 and a substantial increase
in the number of people playing the sport -
which now stands at around 60,000.
How did you get involved in working within
the business of sport?
I first started importing tennis accessories when
I was a player and felt I had some spare time on
the tour. I loved working out profit margins and
cold-calling sports shops in the area where the
tournament was being held. After a successful
playing and coaching career I joined the LTA as a
director of junior tennis and the rest is history.
What attracted you to sport?
I have played sport all my life, captaining
(football’s) London Schoolboys on a three-week
football tour of America when I was 11 years old,
before training with Tottenham Hotspur and
then quitting football to concentrate on tennis.
At school I was an all-rounder, half-mile county
champion and district champion of high-jump as
well as doing okay at cricket and rugby union. I
just love sport, the competing, the social side, the
opportunity it gives people to excel and improve
their self worth - I could go on. I just think sport
is as good as anything society has to offer.
Who have been the biggest influences on your
career so far?
So many people I could name. The great
Australian tennis coach Harry Hopman - I
spent three weeks at his New York tennis camp
and he helped me get back from one of my
long-term injuries. I always appreciated his
help at a time when I was down.
Paul Hutchins at the LTA was another big
influence, as my Davis Cup captain and as
a successful businessman who had great
organisational skills and high personal values.
Above all though it has to be my parents, they
let me make the choice between tennis and
football and most crucially supported me when
I left grammar school at 15 just to play tennis.
It was a big risk.
And the worst?
Some people might expect me to say it was
when I left the LTA but it never was remotely
that - I had been wanting to leave for two years.
Probably the worst as a player were my serious
injuries that on two occasions sidelined me for
a year. Most recently though it was England
underperforming at the 2008 Rugby League
World Cup, it would be good to put the record
straight in 2013.
What is on the horizon for you next at the RFL and
Sport England?
The 2013 Rugby League World Cup is a huge
opportunity for the sport. I just hope the
government get behind our World Cup and
the other major events of the golden decade. It
is one thing having the events - it is another
thing altogether making them a success and the
current economic climate could make for some
very bad short term decisions if we aren’t careful.
At Sport England we have just been given
full responsibility for the community sport
legacy for the 2012 Olympics. This is great
news and allows for some very focused plans
and activity. We are going to be announcing
these at the end of the year and I am looking
forward to us playing a really positive role
around the 2012 Games.
How do you view the proposed merger of Sport
England and UK Sport?
Undoubtedly merging two organisations
with different cultures is a challenge. One is
focused on a few (sports) and making sure
they develop and deliver to their maximum in
major competitions. The other is responsible
for increasing participation, increasing
opportunities for the masses to play sport and
improving general coaching standards. And
ironically both organisations are perceived to be
really well run nowadays. Only last month the
sports minister said the current management
at Sport England had achieved a remarkable
turnaround in only two years.
90 SportBusiness International • No.160 • 09.10

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Phillips Idowu of Great Britain on his way to winning the gold medal in the Mens
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103157494, Stu Forster/Getty Images
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