Industry Shorts: Booking.com, Rallycross, Rugby Europe

Booking.com has unveiled a new Stadium Suite (pictured above) at Wembley ahead of England’s UEFA EURO 2020 semi-final against Denmark.

Lucky winners of a competition will be treated to what the brand – an Official Partner of the tournament – calls the ‘ultimate overnight football experience’, which will also be in place for Sunday’s final.

The suite – which containing a huge double bed, football themed soft furnishings and private balcony – debuted during the first semi-final between Italy and Spain, offering the competition winners the chance to watch the match before sleeping in the stadium and then waking up to breakfast pitchside – as well as the chance to freshen up in the players changing room the next day.

The FIA World Rallycross Championship has launched a new RX+ broadcast platform, which will take fans behind the scenes of the dual-surface discipline and also screen races, during the 2021 season and beyond.

The platform will show every race will be shown live from qualifying right through to the final of the World Championship, as well as the new FIA RX2e Championship, Euro RX1, Euro RX3 and visiting CrossCar series. It will offer fans a choice of viewing angles, as well as playing host to ‘hundreds’ of hours of live and on-demand content aiming to showcase expert analysis and special features, as well as bringing out the ‘personalities behind the helmets’.

The platform will not include geographical or device restrictions, and will offer season passes as well as single event passes.

Rugby Europe, the regional governing body for rugby in Europe, has joined forces with World Rugby to launch a new club competition for emerging nations across the continent.

Starting in September 2021, Rugby Europe will host the Rugby Europe Super Cup, which will see a mix of eight professional clubs and franchise teams take part in two conferences.

The competition aims to create a ‘high-performance pathway’ for the development of ‘pan-European rugby talent’, and hopes to help elevate the level of performance for national teams as well.

In future years, Rugby Europe says its ambition is to extend the Super Cup to new teams and new countries to increase the standards of the game across the continent.

Therabody has signed UFC star Dustin Poirier as its latest athlete ambassador. 

The move comes as Poirier prepares to face Conor McGregor in his next bout, in one of the sport’s most high-profile clashes.

He joins the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Romelu Lukaku, and Maro Itoje as Therabody ambassadors.