Shorts: Pto, Bt Sport, St Mirren
The Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) has renewed its broadcast deal with SPOTV, a South Korean linear and digital sports service to Southeast Asia.
Building on two years of partnership since the inaugural Collins Cup in 2021 and the first PTO Tour in 2022, the deal for 2023 includes live coverage of all PTO Tour races as well as countdown preview programmes and event highlights.
All events will be shown across a combination of SPOTV, SPOTV2 and SPOTV NOW app, which is distributed across territories including Indonesia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore.
PTO Chief Marketing Officer, Tim Godfrey, commented, “It is a great testament to our first PTO Tour season that SPOTV want to renew their broadcast deal and join us on the start line for 2023. With the PTO Tour expanding into Europe and Asia and the updating of our PTO World Rankings system, we’re building up a good head of steam and starting to create a season-long schedule and narrative around our amazing athletes.”
The 2023 PTO Tour will start in Ibiza on 6th May with the inaugural PTO European Open before going to Milwaukee on 4th to 5th August for the PTO US Open and then to Singapore for the first-ever PTO Asian Open.
BT Sport has secured the broadcasting rights to the 2023 World Baseball Classic, an international tournament featuring the world’s best national baseball teams, including Great Britain, USA and Japan.
BT Sport will broadcast coverage of Great Britain’s Pool C game against reigning champions, USA, as well live coverage of Great Britain’s following games against Canada and Mexico.
The tournament, which has been postponed from 2021 due to COVID-19, is expanding from a field of 16 to 20 teams this year. It will again feature baseball’s most successful nations, such as the USA, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Japan, Mexico, Puerto Rico, South Korea, Venezuela and more, and include some of MLB’s biggest stars.
Newcastle Rugby Foundation (NRF) has partnered with Sage Foundation, the social impact division of British accounting software business Sage.
The partnership will see the pair launch a five-week programme entitled ‘Tackling Insights’, aimed at making STEM subjects more accessible and engaging for regional school pupils.
The programme, launched at Fawdon Primary School in Newcastle, will involve nine other North East schools and will reach 600 pupils aged 9 to 11, with a particular focus on girls.
Sage, the official insights partner to Six Nations Rugby, will use data and insights provided by the smart ball technology, currently used for the first time in both the Guinness Six Nations and the Tik Tok Women’s Six Nations championships, to show ‘the power of STEM in sport.’
Melanie Magee, Head of Newcastle Rugby Foundation, commented, “Combining the inspirational event at Kingston Park as England’s Red Roses take on Scotland in the Tik Tok Women’s Six Nations, while using the exciting smart ball technology, alongside the schools’ sessions, is a unique way to promote STEM learning in schools. We know this project will make a positive difference to hundreds of the region’s young people.”
Electric motor racing series Extreme E has appointed Peter Gallagher as its new Commercial Director.
Gallagher joins from Premier League football club Arsenal, where he most recently worked as its Head of Partnership Development.
Gallagher commented on LinkedIn, “I’m looking forward to working with our partners, Ali Russell, Alejandro Agag, and the whole Extreme E team to help push the agenda for environmental sustainability, equality and innovation forward.”
Scottish football club St Mirren marked International Women’s Day by matching its men’s side’s sponsorship deal with Kibble to the club’s women’s team.
The three-year package will help ‘grow the women and girl’s academy’ at the Scottish Women’s League One side.
St Mirren Chairman, John Needham said, “Our aim is to help create stability which will enable the women’s team to push to the next level. As a board, we recognise the value the women and girl’s academy brings to our football club.”
Janette Swanson, Chairperson of the St Mirren women’s team, said, “The investment will bring stability and the basis from which we can grow our pathways and opportunities for female players across our region.
“It’s also an opportunity to become more integrated into the football family of St Mirren.”
