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SPORTEL 2010LOVING IT LIVELAURENT-ERIC LE LAY, CHAIRMAN AND CEO OF EUROSPORT, TELLS KEVIN ROBERTSHOW TECHNOLOGY IS CREATING THE POTENTIAL FOR INNOVATION AND IS ENHANCINGLIVE COVERAGE AT THE CORE OF ITS PAN-REGIONAL OFFERING.WHEN JAMES CAMERON’S 3D film Avataropened in Paris, Laurent-Eric Le Lay was at thehead of the ticket queue.Not that the 43-year-old head of Eurosport wasinterested in booking two seats together in theback row. Instead he booked the entire cinemain a special Friday morning showing for many ofEurosport’s 700 or so Paris-based staff.Le Lay saw the Avatar experience as a glimpse ofthe future and was determined to share that visionwith the staff who help keep Eurosport in thetechnical vanguard of sports media.It was, say the people who work with him,typical of the man. Le Lay may be the heir to apioneering French broadcasting family, but hisfocus is firmly fixed on the future.His staff say he never ceases to be excitedabout the way that technology is impactingon the way the public can share the sportingexperience - both in terms of quality and depthof coverage.When senior staff were recently issued withcompany iPads, their instructions were neitherproscriptive nor designed to limit and controltheir use. Instead they were encouraged togo out and discover for themselves what themachines could do and how they could helpthem do their jobs.It is this enthusiasm for the possibilities oftechnology and the ways they can be employedthat has distinguished Le Lay’s years at the headof an organisation which has, he believes, becomemore than simply a broadcaster.After receiving an Advanced Diploma inFinance from the Université de Paris 2 in1989, he went on to obtain a Masters in MediaCommunications from the École Supérieure deCommerce in 1990. Le Lay’s career began in1990, working as a Management Co-ordinatoralongside the Director General of Carat TV.Le Lay joined Eurosport in 1993 after protractedbirth pangs which had seen it launch in 1989 asa joint-venture with the European BroadcastingUnion and go off the air in 1991 before being rebornunder its current owners TF1.Today Eurosport operates six channels, is seenin 59 countries and is available simultaneously in20 languages. Perhaps ironically for a broadcasterwhich carries the geo-defining Euro prefix, it hasbecome a global brand with Middle Eastern andAsia-Pacific operations….so far.And there’s more. Eurosport has becomea significant event promoter in areas such amotorsport and continues to play a central role inintroducing its far-flung audiences to new sports.The sum of all this equates to something thatrather defies the limiting definition of “sportsbroadcaster”. Instead, today’s Eurosport is a true“multi-media” platform that places huge valueon innovation and improving the experience ofits audience.In the potentially intense and sometimes bloodyfinancial battles for exclusive sports rights to theworld’s major properties, Eurosport is more or less anon-combatant. At the negotiation table, Eurosportdoes not enter into inflationary bidding situationsfor certain sports rights such as major domesticfootball league rights, for example, but it doescontinue to deliver a vast portfolio of sports contentacross its broadcast, mobile and online platforms.In doing so it has contributed significantly tothe popularity of HD and the development of3D TV while remaining one of the few placesviewers can be sure of finding a broad range ofOlympic sports outside Olympic years. You wantbiathlon, for example - you know you can find iton Eurosport.Le Lay has fundamental beliefs in Eurosportas an entity, its mission, and the growing role ofsport. “Major sports events are becoming morethan just sport - they are important social eventsand media is playing a key role of reinforcing thevalue of these events,” he says.“Interest is growing everywhere. Fascinationfor sport used to be confined to smaller groups,but now everybody is part it - whole nationsbecome involved. Because of this I feel sport ismore important than ever before.“Today sport is not just about the match itself.It is about the press conference, the build-upand everything else that goes with it. That iswhere new media and social networking becomeso important. They help create more and more44 SportBusiness International • No.161 • 10.10