Shorts: ECB, DAZN Group, Millwall FC
Sanjay Patel will step down as Managing Director of The Hundred after this year’s tournament, and leave the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).
Having joined the ECB in 2015, Patel has led the creation and development of the 100-ball competition since 2018.
The Hundred, a format that was designed to attract new audiences to the sport, began in 2021, with the third edition of the tournament due to start on 1st August.
The news will cast more doubt over the competition’s future, following rumours that the ECB is considering scrapping the format and setting up a Twenty20 competition.
Patel, commented, “I would like to thank Sky, the BBC, and all our commercial partners for their support.
“I would also particularly like to thank my whole team for their hard work and dedication in launching the competition. I will always be grateful for their support and friendship. We have come a long way in a short space of time and it is down to their brilliance.
“I will miss this job and the people immensely but once we’ve completed the third season of The Hundred I believe the time will be right for me to look for a new adventure.”
Dazn Group has partnered with Videocites, a technology company specialising in automated content detection solutions over social media.
The strategic partnership is set to focus on Dazn’s ‘battle against intellectual property (IP) theft and illegal social media streams of its live sports content.’
The pair have described their collaboration as a ‘shared commitment to combating online piracy and promoting legitimate live sports streaming services’.
Videocites’ solution uses AI-driven video recognition algorithms, enabling the identification of unauthorised streams amidst vast amounts of user-generated content on social media platforms, even when the video has been manipulated or distorted as part of the pirates’ efforts to circumvent defence mechanisms.
Chief Technology Officer at DAZN Group, Sandeep Tiku, said, “By swiftly removing pirated streams from social media platforms, we disrupt the viewing experience, which in turn demotivates consumers from accessing them in the future and encourages them to seek a legitimate service.
“Ultimately, this will deter intellectual property theft and maintain a fair and sustainable digital environment, safeguarding the interests of broadcasters, rights owners, and athletes. The potential upside is remarkable.”
English Football League (EFL) Championship club Millwall FC has partnered with TrainHugger.
Train Hugger, which aims to restore the British countryside by rewarding individuals and businesses for booking train tickets, will contribute portions of profits to sustainability causes for every train ticket Millwall fans book.
Mark Fairbrother, Chair of Millwall Football Club’s Lion Living committee, said, “We’re delighted to have Train Hugger on board as our newest partner. “Step by step, initaitives like this will contribute towards making the planet a greener place and we are only too happy to help towards reaching that goal.”
Global sport and entertainment agency CSM has confirmed a number of new hires to bolster its digital and data offering.
The UK agency has also introduced a formalised product team and an expansion of services to deliver solutions that aim to ‘combat some of the core challenges rights holders and brands are facing today.’
Joining the existing team of 30+ people, recent new hires will support CSM’s product offering to deliver experiences for fans on behalf of brands and rights holders.
Dean Drury, Head of Product and Innovation – Digital and Data, at CSM said, “With our growing team of experts, supported by our state-of-the-art technology infrastructure, we firmly believe that we offer the only cost-effective, end-to-end first-party data solution in the sports industry. We know that it’s costly for brands and rights holders to hire a team of digital experts, developers, solutions architects, and operations teams. We can provide organisations with the resources and the tools to do everything in-house.”
Global sports brand has launched the Forever Faster Cup – a brand-new concept for runners.
On Friday 20th May, Puma hosted the inaugural Forever Faster Cup in Leeds. This world-first track concept pitted Leeds Beckett University against arch-rivals from the University of Leeds.
As the culmination of a full evening of trackside entertainment powered by PUMA (supported by Red Bull, Hyrox and Days Brewing), three teams from each University took on the 10,000m race in front of hundreds of supporters at the Leeds Beckett Track.
The event format, developed in partnership with Threshold Sports, saw mixed teams of 5 male and 5 female runners covering 10,000m on the track in 23 high-intensity relay legs ranging from 100m sprints up to 1,600m.
