Shorts: Destination Sport Group, Sro, EA

Sports travel group Destination Sport Group has acquired The Mike Burton Group.

The acquisition of the sport travel and fan experience company, which delivers major rights holder branded supporter travel programmes with a special focus on rugby, follows the announcement Destination Sport Travel’s similar deal with Sportsworld last week.

The Mike Burton Group, which operates Lions Rugby Travel, was founded by former Lions, England, and Gloucester prop forward Mike Burton in 1981. Burton is now set to retire following the takeover.

Destination Sport Group Managing Director, Paul Hemingway commented, “We are delighted to acquire The Mike Burton Group, a move which supports our ambition to set the global standard in sports travel.

“The Mike Burton Group is renowned for delivering unrivalled sports travel and event experiences, with a major emphasis in rugby, and plans progressing already for the British & Irish Lions Tour to Australia in 2025.

“This complements Destination Sport Group’s existing presence within rugby, where we have a successful track record in managing team travel and supporter travel for eight domestic rugby teams and Scottish Rugby, plus an established rugby tour programme for schools and clubs.

“We look forward to welcoming The Mike Burton Group and its staff into Destination Sport Group and continuing the growth of both businesses.”

SRO Motorsports Group, the London-based motorsports promotion, has extended its long-standing partnership with Pirelli.

As part of the five-year deal, Italian tyre manufacturer Pirelli will continue to fulfil the role of exclusive tyre supplier to the SRO series competing across the globe, as well as all standalone GT4 licensed series until at least 2028.

It will also remain the sole supplier to the Fanatec GT2 European Series, which will become the Fanatec GT2 European Series Powered by Pirelli from 2024 onwards.

Stéphane Ratel, SRO Motorsports Group founder & CEO, commented, “Success in motor racing requires the very best partners and, in Pirelli, we have exactly that. For the past decade they have provided a world-class product to our teams, while also adding considerable commercial and technical support to our series and one-off events around the globe. It was natural, therefore, that we should extend our cooperation by a further five years.”

Mario Isola, Pirelli Motorsport Director, added,”It is a source of great satisfaction for us to continue to provide such exciting and increasingly popular championships. In these years of collaboration with SRO, we have supported the evolution of cars and race formats around the world, and we will reinforce this commitment over the next five years, confirming the spirit that has always distinguished us and associated us with the organiser: a strong focus on customer and fan satisfaction.”

The Hexagon Cup, a new padel tennis event series, has appointed Tim Godfrey as Strategic Advisor.

Godfrey’s most recent endeavours include the successful launch of the PTO Tour, the leading triathlon tour from the Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) where he served as Chief Marketing Officer and SailGP, the international sailing series, as its first Chief Media and Marketing Officer.

In the new role as Strategic Advisor, Godfrey will work closely with the Hexagon Cup’s founders and leadership team to provide guidance across media rights, marketing and distribution.

The news comes ahead of the inaugural event at the Madrid Arena from 31^st January to 4^th February 2024 which will see male, female and ‘next gen’ players combine with team owners from global sports and entertainment to compete for a share of a €1m prize fund.

Godfrey commented, “I am thrilled to reunite with my former colleagues from Formula E and the other Hexagon Cup founders, on a new concept which will revolutionise Padel.”

The British & Irish Lions has announced the appointment of Clare McMonagle as Chief Financial Officer.

McMonagle will assume her new role in October, joining with less than two years to go to the Lions’ 2025 Tour to Australia.

Clare has extensive experience within the financial industry and prior to joining the British & Irish Lions, worked with CarTrawler, a global B2B provider of car rental and mobility solutions to the travel industry.

McMonagle commented, “I am delighted to be joining such an iconic and globally renowned sporting brand as The British & Irish Lions during what is an extremely exciting period for the organisation,” said Clare McMonagle.

“As a keen rugby fan, this role is a very exciting milestone in my career. I look forward to working with Ben and the wider executive team as we build towards Australia in 2025 as well as supporting the delivery of wider strategic priorities for the organisation.”

London-based marketing agency Pitch Marketing Group has been appointed by Electronic Arts (EA) following a competitive pitch process to work on EA Sports FC’s social-first content remit.

The account is being run by Pitch’s specialist Pitch Platforms team, along with the Pitch Productions content studio.

Edward Brittain, Head of Pitch Platforms, said, “EA SPORTS FC is the World’s Game, we’re proud to be working alongside at the start of the journey with FC 24, TikTok culture is a unique area of opportunity, and many can struggle to navigate. We’ve developed with EA a fast insight and deployment process that has us working as one team. It is what Pitch Platforms is here to do, great to see the continued wins.”

London-based professional esports organisation Tundra Esports has announced Scotch whisky Ballantine’s as its official spirit partner for The Dota 2 International 2023.

The partnership will see Ballantine’s make its debut on Tundra’s new The International official jersey, that goes on sale in October.

Carleton Curtis, Chief Executive Officer of Tundra Esports, said, “We are honoured to be the first esports team in history sponsored by Ballantine’s the official spirit partner of our Dota 2 roster for the International 2023. This is a brilliant opportunity for us to work together in creating exciting new content and bring fans together around the world.”

Birmingham City Women has partnered with sports equipment brand Precision Training for the remainder of the 2023/24 season.

The Women’s Championship side will benefit from the use of Precision Training equipment throughout the season.

Birmingham City Commercial Manager, James Corrigan, said, “We are delighted to welcome Precision on board as a partner of our women’s team this season. With the support of Precision, the Women’s team will have access to elite training aids aimed to benefit their performances throughout the campaign. We are looking forward to bringing to life this partnership through engaging social media content and competition giveaways.”

Marketing Director from Precision Training, Andy Griffin, added, “It’s an absolute honour for us to be supporting Birmingham City with equipment and training aids. Our partnership has always been strong, with Precision supporting Goalkeepers within the team, so adding equipment into the mix enhances opportunities even further. Here’s to a longstanding relationship and more exciting things to come.”