Industry Shorts: Uefa, Itf, SailGP

UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin has said that the Champions League and Europa League tournaments could be abandoned if coronavirus lockdown restrictions are still in place in September and October.

Ceferin said it would be better to play games behind closed doors but to ensure they were broadcast on TV, rather than abandon the competitions outright, but that if games weren’t able to take place before the autumn that could be on the cards.

“We are waiting for the development of this terrible situation in the world, and mainly in Europe,” he said. “It is still better to play the game behind closed doors and have it on TV, which is what the people need and want because it brings positive energy to their homes, than not playing at all.

“That’s what the people want, that brings positive energy, and it will be July or August.”

The ITF has released a new Rules of Tennis App as part of its wider education drive during the coronavirus pandemic.

The app, which also includes the rules of beach and wheelchair tennis, as well as practical examples of how those rules should be applied, covers everything from the obvious rules of the game to the more obscure: like what happens when a bird interferes with play, or can a player use a racket with broken strings?

The app is available for free and has been released as part of the ITF’s wider initiatives to educate the tennis-playing public, where it has also made its ITF Academy educational platform available for free.

SailGP has suspended its season through to end of June at the earliest, with the New York and San Francisco events both called off.

The San Francisco SailGP, which was due to take place on 2nd and 3rd May, had previously been called off, while as a result of the latest announcement, the New York SailGP will not take place on June 12-13 as scheduled.

SailGP says ticket purchasers will be automatically refunded in full by the end of June.

BT Sport will dedicate a whole night to Conor McGregor on Monday 6th April.

McGregor Monday will see the broadcaster mark the anniversary of Conor McGregor’s UFC debut.

McGregor entered UFC’s Octagon for the first time to take on Marcus Brimage on 6th April 2013, and since then has become a global superstar and a history-maker for MMA. From 9pm, the broadcaster will screen all of his fights back-to-back on BT Sport 3 to allow fans to relive some of his biggest and best moments.

Arsenal have partnered with cloud video editing platform Blackbird to enable their in-house media team to remotely produce a wide variety of short-form video content to its social media channels.

The content, which will include match highlights, press conferences, training sessions and punditry from former players, will be used across the club’s own digital channels as well as social platforms including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. 

Wimbledon-based events company based Arena Group has secured an additional £4.75 million facility from HSBC UK to provide its employees, suppliers and customers stability and support as it prepares for coronavirus lockdown-related disruption and uncertainty.

HSBC says it has announced a package of support for businesses which includes measures such as £5bn to help those in need of support; preferential financial solutions for ventilator businesses; a Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, and providing trade finance solutions to support customers with their supply. The bank has also launched a helpline to support customer queries, while it says relationship managers will proactively contact customers to see what help their businesses will need.