Eurosport & Fisu Sign Long Term Deal
The Eurosport Group and FISU (International University Sports Federation) have signed a new six-year agreement, starting in September 2012, that will see comprehensive television coverage of FISU’s global multi-sport events, the Summer and Winter Universiades.
Eurosport will also produce a monthly TV show called CAMPUS dedicated to the World University Championship events, and will also see the creation of a dedicated university sports section on Eurosport.com which will include the latest results, sport news and videos about the World University Championships and Universiade events.
This section will be launched initially in English and French by end of September 2012.
In an official press release, the pan-European broadcaster announced that Eurosport and Eurosport 2 would broadcast 60 hours for each Summer Universiade and 40 hours for each Winter Universiade, all in HD.
The Summer and Winter Universiades, held every two years, gather student athletes aged 17-28 and are second only to the Olympic Games in terms of number of participating athletes and countries represented.
The Universiades have proven to showcase future stars who have gone on to perform at World Championship and Olympic level, including Australian swimmer Cate Campbell – a gold medal winner in the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay at the 2011 Universiade, who became Olympic Champion at the same event in the London 2012 Games.
CAMPUS goes on air for the first time on Eurosport on 26th September, and will include a special focus on the FISU Gala in Kazan on 22nd September.
FISU President Claude-Louis Gallien commented: ‘I am extremely pleased that FISU has signed a multi-year partnership with Eurosport for our upcoming events. Like FISU, which strives for Excellence on the academic campus and on the sports field, Eurosport has been pursuing excellence in bringing the major international sports events in the homes of many sports fans. I am confident that with the help of Eurosport the International University Sport Movement will continue to grow in popularity worldwide.’
Laurent-Eric Le Lay, Eurosport chairman & CEO added: ‘We are delighted to have this opportunity to bring Eurosport’s unrivalled expertise and multi-media credentials to this long-term partnership with FISU, which will enable fans to follow the upcoming athletes of the future. We are committed to being the first to showcase the best young rising stars in sport as we do with football for example with the NextGen Series and other international youth competitions.’
‘We are looking forward to developing a strong relationship with FISU which will give a platform to its highly respected events, commercial partners and key messages. Eurosport is committed to ensuring action from the Universiades and its associated events are accessible to sports fans across Europe.’
