Industry Shorts: SailGP, Everton, Premier League
SailGP has confirmed that its second season will feature eight global events across three continents.
Eight national teams will compete in the expanded calendar, which saw five events take place in the inaugural 2019 season.
The expanded schedule will kick off in Bermuda in April 2021, and will stop in a total of seven first-time venues across five countries, with Taranto, Plymouth, Aarhus, Saint-Tropez, Cadiz and Christchurch all leading up to the Grand Final in San Francisco at the end of March 2022, where the champion will be determined in a single $1 million winner-takes-all final.
Everton has announced a deal with Clarity Sports, which will become the Premier League side’s Official Team & Business Travel Partner as well as its Match Break partner.
Part of travel management company Clarity Travel, Clarity Sports facilitate Everton’s team travel for all fixtures, as well as its business travel.
Meanwhile, as official Match Break partner, Clarity’s sporting arm, Sportsbreaks.com, will also offer the club’s fans access to specially-designed Match Break packages when fans come back to stadiums in full.
The Premier League will continue to broadcast all of its games live in February as fans remain unable to attend games.
The UK’s lockdown measures put in place in early January to stop the spread of the pandemic look set to continue until at least March, with the Premier League confirming that all games will continue to be screened on Sky Sports, BT Sport, Amazon Prime and the BBC until at least 1st March.
Sky has set target of filling 20% of its role with employees from a Black Asian and Minority Ethnic background by 2025, with at least 5% of roles filled by Black employees.
The broadcaster says the move follows research into the demographics of the local areas the business operates in, which it says shows that among its UK and Ireland staff who disclose their ethnicity, BAME representation is currently 14.7%, with Black representation at 2.7%.
Sky’s announcement follows recent moves to diversify its organisation, with the launch of a new Diversity Advisory Group. The broadcaster has also pledged to invest £10 million per year across its markets to increase representation of minority ethnic groups, and recently signed a partnership with anti-racism charity Kick It Out to commit £3 million to combatting discrimination alongside the charity.
Jordan Henderson has been named as the Official Champion of NHS Charities Together.
The Liverpool captain says his relationship with the organisation began in April 2020, when he was an integral part of launching the Premier League’s #PlayersTogether campaign which saw players aid NHS charities through personal donations.
Henderson will highlight the valuable fundraising work being done for the NHS, with the money raised by NHS Charities Together going to help provide support for staff, volunteers and patients.
UK-based agency Blueprint Sports & Entertainment has announced that new West Bromwich Albion signing Robert Snodgrass has joined its portfolio of talent.
Blueprint will work with the Scotland international, who has made over 580 professional career appearances and scored 117 goals, on developing his brand partnerships and broadcast work.
Snodgrass, said: “I’m really pleased to be working with Blueprint Sports & Entertainment. Their experience, skill set and contacts are first class and I’m excited for what’s ahead.”
George Woffenden CoFounder Blueprint Sports & Entertainment, added: “Rob fits our mould of talent perfectly. He is hugely charismatic and is enjoying a hugely successful playing career both domestically and internationally. We are proud to be his partners.”
Italian sports apparel brand ellesse, owned by Pentland Brands, has partnered with fitness brand BLOK to become its Official Apparel Partner.
The global deal, which also sees ellesse partner with BLOK’s online digital platform BLOKtv, will see the pair co-create a series of content throughout the year to promote new season ranges, and showcasing BLOK instructors with exclusive content used across ellesse’s social channels.
As well as supplying high quality branded fitness product to BLOK instructors for studio and BLOKtv classes, the partnership will also see various joint promotions for ellesse customers, who will be offered bespoke discounts for BLOKtv subscriptions and for BLOK customers, who will receive exclusive ellesse offers.
Goodyear Tyres has extended its partnership with TOCA, the series organiser of the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC).
The new deal will see Goodyear continue its long-standing partnership with the BTCC for another five years, through to the end of 2026, which will take the pair into a third decade of partnership.
