Shorts: Harlequins, Blackpool, Leeds UTD

Gallagher Premiership rugby union club Harlequins has announced a new partnership with Conrad Energy. 

As per the agreement, the Conrad Energy logo will feature on the sleeves of the Harlequins women’s and men’s shirts for the 2023/24 season.  

The collaboration will also see Conrad Energy branding feature throughout Harlequins home stadium, Twickenham Stoop, alongside a range of key initiatives which support the club’s commitment to driving sustainable energy growth. 

Steve Hardman, CEO of Conrad Energy, said, “We’re delighted to partner with a world-famous club like Harlequins. The values they hold dear such as teamwork, commitment, performance and creativity are similar to our own, so it feels like a really great match. We look forward to a strong and successful relationship.” 

Laurie Dalrymple, CEO of Harlequins, added, “We’re thrilled to announce our new partnership with Conrad Energy. Conrad Energy are leading the power transformation in the UK and their determination to improve efficiency aligns completely with the Club’s commitment to drive smarter and sustainable power solutions. 

EFL League One football club Blackpool has extended its partnership with Fuel Hub.

Fuel Hub, which is a provider of performance meals nationwide, will continue as an official supplier to the first team.

Michelle Laithwaite, Founder of Fuel Hub, said, “Fuel Hub are proud to be the official supplier of Blackpool FC, a club with a rich history and loyal fanbase.

“Through our premium performance meals, we will be fuelling their training and powering their performance on the field, for what we hope will be a successful season at Bloomfield Road.”

Sam Napier, first-team Lead Sports Scientist at Blackpool FC, added, “As a club we have been working with Fuel Hub for the last two seasons, as they guarantee high quality, great tasting meals which is brilliant when training at a high level across the week.”

Leeds United’s Paul Bell has left his role as Executive Director after nine years.

Bell, who led all commercial operations, decided to pursue new opportunities.

The former Executive Director has agreed to maintain his association with the club, by acting as a consultant to work with our existing and new partners, through a transitionary period.

Gallagher Premiership rugby union club Gloucester Rugby has expanded its relationship with Raging Bull.

After initially becoming a partner at the start at the 2020-21 season, the Gloucestershire-based clothing brand will continue to supply the club with off-field wear.

As part of the renewal Raging Bull will now also kit-out the Gloucester-Hartpury team with a specially made off-field outfit.

Shannon Mercer, Managing Director of Raging Bull, said, “We have been working with Gloucester Rugby as their official off field clothing supplier for a few years now, so when they asked us to extend this to their highly talented women’s team, we were delighted to step in and dress the players. Both Phil and I felt very proud when we saw the team dressed in the product for the first time.”

Event gaming business Piing has appointed Lorraine O’Brien as Non-Executive Director.

O’Brien has been in the sports industry for more than 25 years and held executive and board positions with major international brands including Chelsea Football Club & Chelsea Village PLC, where she was Global Group Commercial Director.

She will support Piing in sales and marketing to sports organisations and its partner brands.

CEO, Gareth Langley, said, “Lorraine comes with an enviable background in commercial partnerships and sports brand marketing and is in an ideal position to help us leverage the unique commercial opportunities we can provide for rights holders and brands.

“With Lorraine on board, we’ve got someone who can give us global reach, employing her experience in working with rights holders to commercially activate and drive value.”

London-based agency Redtorch has announced its international expansion with the opening of a new office in the Maison du Sport International, Lausanne, Switzerland.

Since its management buyout in early 2015 the research, content & creative agency has delivered a lot of work for the Olympic movement, with many clients located in Lausanne.

The new office location will help Redtorch to service Swiss-based clients.

Jonny Murch, Redtorch CEO, “This is an exciting, new chapter for Redtorch.We have grown the business organically since day one. This new office represents our successful approach and the continued organic growth of our business.  We already have many clients and friends in Lausanne we have visited over the years. In the future we look forward to hosting them in our new office.”

National Basketball Association (NBA) has confirmed multi-year deal with UK streaming platform Screech to bring live games to Europe. 

In the NBA’s first collaboration of its kind in Europe, Screach will stream hundreds of NBA games to fans in Malta beginning with the upcoming season. 

The agreement will enable commercial venues to stream NBA games in HD quality, both live and on demand, to their existing TVs with no need for a satellite or cable TV connection. 

Robert Rawlinson, CEO of Screenreach, commented, “By collaborating with the NBA, Screenreach is raising the digital bar once again to fully leverage the value of the enterprise space as both a source of commercial subscriptions and a powerful way to reach individual fans. 

“The NBA is a leader in connecting millions of fans through live games and programming, and we’re delighted to be helping the NBA accelerate its growth. We hope our initial launch in Malta will be the first step on a long and successful strategic journey together.” 

Steve Nuss, Director, Global Media Distribution at the NBA, added, “Making NBA games and programming available to fans year-round, wherever they are, is a key strategic priority for us. 

“As we continue to develop ways to engage with new and existing fans, our collaboration with Screach broadens our reach by streaming the excitement and drama of live NBA action direct to fans in a variety of commercial venues, in turn creating an effectively free-to-air showcase for our games in front of a new audience.” 

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