Industry Shorts: Sportradar, Formula 1, Continental Tyres

Sportradar will be valued at $10 billion (£7.2 billion) if it goes public in deal with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) led by Todd Boehly, the LA Dodgers minority owner, according to reports.

According to Sportico, Founder and CEO, Sportradar, Carsten Koerl is expected to remain in his position.

The reports follow the news that sports data company Genius Sports was valued at $1.5 billion when it went public after making a deal with a US-based SPAC back in 2020.

Formula 1 will launch an updated version of its F1 TV OTT subscription service.

Developed with Accenture’s Industry X group, the Accenture Video Solution and AWS Products & Services, the latest version of F1 TV will feature an enhanced underlying platform, higher video quality and improved user experience in the biggest update to the platform since its launch in 2018.

Fans will be able to find new and archive content more easily, find out more about their heroes past and present through in-depth documentaries, and get a glimpse of the stars of the future with the latest series of F2: Chasing the Dream.

Continental Tyres will celebrate the 10-year milestone in its partnership with The FA, at the tenth consecutive FA Women’s Continental Tyres League Cup Final.

The brand first signed up with The FA as a Founding Partner of the Women’s Super League, which launched alongside the inaugural Continental Tyres League Cup competition in 2011.

The unbroken run of the Title Partnership is a milestone for the pair, with this year’s final taking place on Sunday at Watford’s Vicarage Road when Bristol City take on reigning champions Chelsea.

Sports marketing agency rEvolution has announced the hiring of former IMG Golf communications specialist Tom Benbow as Senior Account Director to lead on its portfolio of golf clients. 

Based at the agency’s Central London offices, Benbow joins from the Ladies European Tour (LET) where he was Interim Communications Director, responsible for PR and marketing of the Tour’s global tournament schedule and its 300-strong player membership. 

Prior to the LET, Benbow spent more than seven years at IMG, specialising in golf, specifically the planning and implementation of IMG Golf’s global PR & communications strategy across a portfolio of international events and high-profile clients, including HSBC’s tournament portfolio, the AIG Women’s Open and the Solheim Cup.

He will be tasked with expanding rEvolution’s golf expertise and capabilities in the UK, where he will also work closely with the agency’s Executive Business Consultant, Jamie Salmon, who was previously Head of European Golf at Lagardère Sports.

Extreme E has announced a new partnership with Karcher, which will become the series’ Official Cleaning Supplier.

The German professional and domestic cleaning equipment company will work alongside Extreme E to ensure its fleet of ODYSSEY 21 electric SUVs are kept clean at each of five X Prixs to take place in 2021. Cleaning stations will temporarily be set up at each of the events courses to keep the cars clean during X Prixs, beginning with the series debut in Saudi Arabia. 

The brand will also be tasked with maintaining the interior cleanliness of the championship’s floating centrepiece, the St. Helena, home to the championship’s vehicles, 50 crew and its on-board laboratory, which will be home to a variety of scientists.

The Karcher equipment will use modern resource-saving products with optimised water and energy consumption fed by St. Helena’s own on-board water maker or the water by product from Extreme E and AFC Energy’s revolutionary hydrogen fuel cell charging system to ensure that no environmental damage will take place.

Racecourse Media Group (RMG) – the media and data rights holding company for the UK and Ireland’s leading racecourses – has appointed Martin Stevenson as its CEO.
 
Stevenson joined RMG as Group as the Finance Director in 2007, and previously worked as Managing Director of the Newspaper Licensing Agency and Group Financial Controller of Trinity Mirror. 

He succeeds Richard FitzGerald, who left the post of CEO at RMG in September 2020.

Norwich City have announced vibration training and recovery equipment provider Pulseroll as their Official Training Ground Partner.

The Championship leaders will use Pulseroll’s range of products as part of their daily routines as the club chases promotion back to the Premier League. READ MORE

Cryptocurrency platform Gemini has been announced as the Principal Partner of the 2021 Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race. 

The partnership will fund the high performance rowing training at both universities as well as launch The Gemini Boat Race Bursary Scheme – a £75,000 bursary which will aim to provide rowing instruction and education to ‘disadvantaged students’ by removing the financial barriers that often prevent them from taking part.

Gemini was set up by brothers Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, who both competed in the 2010 Oxford Blue Boat and at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Final.

Kerzner, the owner of the Atlantis Resort & Residences and ultra-luxury One&Only Resorts worldwide, has today announced GB Olympic gold medalist Adam Peaty as the first member of TEAM SIRO – a new ambassador programme for its SIRO Hotels chain.  

Peaty, an Olympic, World, European and Commonwealth champion, who is favourite to win Olympic gold again later this year in Tokyo, will play an advisory role to SIRO as it develops the fitness and wellness elements at the heart of the new SIRO immersive lifestyle destinations.