Shorts: Sanzaar Rugby, Sportradar, Beyond Sport

London-based B2B sports intelligence agency Twenty First Group has partnered with southern hemisphere rugby governing body SANZAAR to explore how it can improve and maximise the value of The Rugby Championship, the premier international rugby competition involving New Zealand, South Africa, Australia and Argentina.

TFG’s Managing Director, Asia Pacific and Project Lead Ben Marlow said, “I am delighted that we have been able to further expand our portfolio of sports with the addition of rugby union.

“It was exciting to have had the opportunity to work with SANZAAR in their quest for maximising the value of The Rugby Championship and applying our experience and expertise in competition structures to our newly developed rugby intelligence.

“Exploring ways of improving and maximising the value of competitions should be a continuous best practice amongst governing bodies and rights holders in all sports”.

Sports data specialists Sportradar has announced an exclusive multi-year partnership with XLMedia, which sees the global digital media company become the company’s official sports data provider.

XLMedia will leverage Sportradar’s real-time sports data products across its international owned and operated digital properties.

In addition, Sportradar will provide a suite of visualisation tools, including widgets and live match trackers, to help enhance XLMedia’s editorial content.

Brian Josephs, Head of Regional Sales, North America at Sportradar, said, “This partnership highlights Sportradar’s ability to be a one-stop shop for exclusive betting data and sports content for XLMedia’s high quality publisher partner brands and highly engaged audiences.

“The dynamic, relevant and engaging products that XLMedia will receive through this partnership will not only resonate with fans and bettors alike, but also aid XLMedia in further monetizing their audiences.”

Premier League football club Newcastle United is set to appoint Peter Silverstone as its Chief Commercial Officer, with the club continuing to restructure following its takeover in 2021.

Silverstone will join from OneFootball, despite only joining the streaming and content platform five months ago.

Silverstone has also spent seven years at Arsenal, four of them in a Chief Commercial role.

British football clubs Middlesbrough and Rangers will wear shirts with bespoke branding during this year’s Safer Gambling Week, as part of an agreement with online gambling operator Kindred Group, the shirt sponsors of both clubs.

Middlesbrough FC will wear shirts with a newly designed logo highlighting Kindred’s ‘Zero % Mission’ in its EFL Championship fixtures against Wigan Athletic on 19th October and Huddersfield on 22nd October. The branding will replace the standard Unibet logo.

During its Premier Sports Cup game against Dundee on 19th October, the Gers will also replace the Unibet branding and wear kits with the same campaign branding.

International foundation that focuses on social change through sport Beyond Sport has partnered with WWE to announce that applications are open for its Courageous Use of Sport Award.

Applications are open to young people using sport to lead their communities to brighter futures in the face of personal and societal hardships in the following five countries: Canada, India, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The honourees will be connected to a network to further expand their reach, receive opportunities to participate in global sport for social change events and be featured across Beyond Sport and WWE’s channels.

WWE will also provide the winners with a grant to support their work.

NSE (National Student Esports) has announced the NSE Winter Cup featuring Fortnite for UK university students. NSE will host a two-stage online duos tournament with an online qualifier and finals. 

This is the first time that Fortnite will be featured in the British University Esports Championship (BUEC), which is operated by NSE, the official body of UK university esports.

Sam Hibbert, NSE Business Director, said, “Given that Fortnite is one of the most popular games globally, we’re really excited to offer this opportunity to Fortnite players within the UK university community as part of the British University Esports Championship.”