Industry Shorts: Eddie Jordan, UK Athletics, Samba Digital

Guestia, a first of its kind app which aims to change the way event and travel professionals manage and communicate with their guests, has launched with the backing of former F1 team owner Eddie Jordan.  

The app, developed by hospitality professionals, houses details such as tickets, itineraries and bookings in one secure platform, allowing organisers to communicate information directly to guests, removing the need for printed documents and enabling organisers to make real-time amendments.

Already tested in Formula One by McLaren Racing, the app helped the team manage its complicated travel arrangements throughout the 2020 season.

UK Athletics has announced it will commence the recruitment of a new Board member, after its Chief Financial Officer, Mark Draisey, volunteered to stand down from his position to facilitate greater diversity.

The move will allow UKA to recruit a new member of its Board, and says it will focus on appointing a female applicant from ethnically diverse communities.

The news follows the governing body’s decision to increase its Board members from eight to 12, following the addition of a Director nominated by each of the four Home Country Athletics Federations – all four of which were men.

Draisey will continue in his role as CFO, Company Secretary and Executive Champion for Race supporting the equality, diversity and inclusion agenda. 

Team Liquid and Alienware have announced an extension to their partnership, which is already the longest gaming hardware partnership in esports. 

The pair will commemorate their ten years together through the introduction of a series of new programs platforms for aspiring esports players to ‘push the industry forward in 2021 and beyond’. 

These include the launch of Liquid+, a new fan engagement platform for which Alienware will serve as the Official Launch Partner. The new product will be a ‘virtual stadium’ for Liquid fans, and will aim to bring them closer to their favourite teams, athletes and personalities.

UK communications agency Vero has begun working with the Baltimore-Maryland bid committee as it seeks to host matches at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The pair have announced the launch of the bid’s new International Football Development 2026 initiative, designed to create strong local and international football legacies for the tournament.

The initiative has also announced the signing of its first international partner, Benin. The pair will work on developing football programmes for women and girls across the west African country.

Samba Digital has launched Sports Translate, a new online translation platform designed to match translators specialising in sport with the wider industry.

The new online translation platform aims to support sport organisation in their ability to expand internationally, allowing clients to manage their translation, subtitling, voice-over and interpretation projects.

The platform provides nearly 150 translators covering more than 20 languages, and Samba Digital says it covers the needs of ‘all departments of an organisation’, including communications, sales, marketing, financial, medical, HR, and legal.

The USPGA has announced that the 2022 PGA Championship will be held at Southern Hills in Tulsa, Oklahoma. 

The event had originally been scheduled to take place at Trump National in Bedminster, New Jersey, but was pulled from the course after the USPGA moved to disassociate itself from former US President Donald Trump.

Southern Hills has hosted the tournament on four other occasions in the past, most recently in 2007 where Tiger Woods took victory. It has also hosted three US Open tournaments.