Industry Shorts: Pca, Super League, Wrexham

The Professional Cricketers’ Association has announced that current Chair Daryl Mitchell will take up the newly-created role of Director of Cricket Operations within the organisation when his tenure ends on 25th February.

The new Cricket Department will cover the operations and administration of both the men’s and women’s professional game, and will see a five-strong team will continue to work with members on areas including contractual and commercial rights, domestic structures, insurance, and operational elements of the Team England Player Partnership (TEPP) and England Women’s Player Partnership (EWPP). 

The department will also manage relationships with agents and management companies. 

Super League Executive Chair Robert Elstone will step down from his role, after handing his resignation to the league’s Board.

Elstone had been in the role since June 2018, having previously served as CEO of Premier League side Everton.

His decision to leave comes ahead of the 2021 Super League season, which was set to begin on 11th March, but was pushed back in the hope of being able to allow fans to attend games throughout the season.

Hollywood stars Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds have completed their takeover of non-league side Wrexham, and have made a £2 million equity investment into the club.

The RR McReynolds Company LLC has taken 100% control of the club, and funds will be immediately channelled into new initiatives at the Racecourse Community Foundation, including £50,000 to enhance the women’s football programme and increase participation at all levels. 

MotoGP team Ducati has announced technology company Lenovo its new Title Partner.

The deal builds on Lenovo’s technology partnership with the team which has already been in place for three years, and will lead to a name change which will see it race as ‘Ducati Lenovo Team’.

The pair say the partnership attests to the growing significance of advanced hardware technology in powering extensive data analytics as well as artificial intelligence and smart software solutions in the sport as well as in the development of commercially available road bikes.

Special Olympics GB has announced US lifestyle expert Jessie Pavelka as a Health & Wellbeing Champion. 

The health and fitness specialist is best known for his TV work on NBC’s The Biggest Loser and Sky’s A Year to Save My Life, and has built a business and lifestyle based around his Four Elements of Health – Eat, Sweat, Think and Connect. 

Pavelka will work with Special Olympics GB’s Athlete Leadership Team, including Global Health Messenger and Special Olympics GB two-time triple gold medallist Kiera Byland to develop a version of his Four Elements specifically adapted for people with intellectual disabilities to help athletes maintain healthy lives both mentally and physically.

Sportradar has partnered with football technology firm Forza Football, who will utilise the sports data and intelligence provider’s ad:s platform to manage the advertising inventory within its live score app. 

Sportradar will connect its global network of betting operators with Forza Football in order to reach their audience of fans and create long-term commercial relationships, and will also use its knowledge to optimise Forza’s advertising placements, prioritising native, odds-first integrations and enabling a high level of personalised messaging through its Marketing Cloud platform. 

The deal will also see Sportradar supply its API based statistics data, providing Forza with the tools to further develop their content offering. 

IRONMAN has announced a new partnership with Supersapiens, which will become the series’ Official Real-Time Energy Management System Sponsor in Europe, including the UK. 

The brand’s suite of platforms is powered by the Abbott Libre Sense Glucose Sport Biosensor, which helps endurance athletes manage their fuelling strategies in training, racing, and recovery. 

It also provides an app and a wrist wearable device to display data from the biosensor in real time as well as continuously track glucose data and allows athletes to better understand glucose and the impact it has on their performance.