Month: July 2016

Football Federation Australia have extended their major partnership with Hyundai Australia for a further four years.

This will see the Hyundai remain as the A-League’s naming rights sponsorship until the end of the 2019-20 season.

Hyundai has been the naming rights sponsor since the start of the A-League in 2005, and this renewal will see the partnership extend through to a 15th season.

Hyundai has also increased its involvement to now include rights to the Westfield W-League, Caltex Socceroos and Westfield Matildas.

The renewal will see a continued investment into the Goals for Grassroots program.

FFA chief David Gallop said about the renewal. “Hyundai has been a fantastic supporter and partner of the A-League since before the competition’s inception and it is great news they have agreed to continue the relationship for a further four years.

“Hyundai’s support now runs through the pyramid of Australian Football from the grassroots to our flagship competitions.”

Hyundai Motor Company Australia Chief Executive Officer, Charlie Kim, added: “A commitment to be title sponsor for 15 consecutive years is a rare thing in any sport, and there is no better measure of how much Hyundai loves the game – we are as much fans as we are sponsors.

“I extend my thanks to David Gallop and the team at the FFA for the great work they do for football in this country. We will continue to support the Hyundai A-League, along with the Westfield W-League, the Caltex Socceroos and the Westfield Matildas, because we know that when we grow football, we grow our brand.”

Despite Hyundai maintaining their naming rights deal over the league, A-League clubs are allowed to negotiate their own into automative partnerships over an agreed threshold.

Melbourne City is the first club to complete a motoring partnership, sealing a deal with Nissan in July.

“The Hyundai A-League has grown to become one of the most recognisable mainstream sporting competitions in Australia and Hyundai should be congratulated for their role in allowing the league and the 10 clubs to maximise future growth by allowing clubs to enter into automotive sponsorships of a significant nature,” Gallop said.

The post Hyundai to motor the A-League for four more years appeared first on Sports Business Insider.

New regulations, an evolution of their image and a massive social media and content strategy has ensured that the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is one of the most valuable sports properties on the planet. Their athletes have become international, mainstream sports stars which has helped to drive UFC’s growth.

The growth from fledgling promotion to mainstream was completed in July when UFC fetched a $US4 billion price tag when sports and entertainment giant WME-IMG led a takeover group to buy the promotion from UFC’s majority owners brothers Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta.

While domestically business is booming. The much talked about UFC 193 held at Etihad Stadium in Melbourne in November 2015 grossed $9.65 million at the gate off the back of a UFC record attendance of 56,214. That attendance eclipsed the previous highest single-event attendance of 55,724 set at UFC 129 in Toronto, Canada.

Helping to drive these events locally is Tom Wright, who is UFC’s Executive Vice-President and General Manager for Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Wright leads operations and development of the UFC brand and business across the three markets. His position calls for supreme negotiating skills, especially as different jurisdictions have or did away with octagon bans, and the need to drive significant pay-per-view, broadcast and sponsorship business in each market.

With 35 years experience in the sports industry, Wright spent four years as Commissioner for the Canadian Football League and was President at Salomon North America, adidas Canada and Spalding Canada.

He spoke to Sports Business Insider about UFC’s local operations, working with Australian state governments and what makes the promotion the preeminent MMA company in the world.

Can you offer insight into plans to entrench UFC as the leading mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion in the Australian and New Zealand market? Keeping in mind there is competition from the likes of Bellator and ONE Championship in a competitive space.

“Wherever we are in the world there’s always competition but our approach has always been to be the premier, number one and most progressive MMA organisation in the world and we take that seriously in all of the markets that we compete in. We feel strongly that if you position yourself as the best and you deliver on providing the best environment for your athletes to compete, the best events for them to display their skills and athleticism as a mixed martial artist and provide them with the highest level of competition, then you’ll continue to be the most elite MMA company in the world.

“It’s no small wonder that the best athletes in our sport want to compete with the UFC as they know they’re going to be tested to the highest degree.”

The way UFC has raised their image as a mainstream sport, has that helped raise the legitimacy of pursuing MMA as an athletic pursuit?

“I agree completely and in the end if you are a world-class professional athlete, regardless of the sport, you always aspire to have that pathway to excellence and that pathway is going to allow you to compete for a world championship at the highest level.

“If you’re a professional mixed martial artist the only ‘Australian Open/Wimbledon’ of our sport is a pay-per-view event that might happen in Las Vegas.”

UFC has been fortunate to take become the pinnacle promotion despite all competition.

“We’ve always had that position. Competition is going to come and they have their own positioning but we don’t spend a lot of time looking into the rearview mirror, we have to look forward and build upon our position as the preeminent MMA organisation in the world. How do we build upon that? We do that by taking our sport into new places, by holding a stadium event in Victoria, who would have thought that we would get 56,000 people into a footy stadium (Etihad Stadium) and feature a main event and co-main event featuring four women.”

Did the success of that event, UFC 193, surprise head office?

“I think they were pleasantly surprised. I’ve spent the last three and a half years working on our Australian business, travelling to the country many times and I know we have a really strong fan base there, we’ve got passionate, smart, engaged, knowledgeable fans that we felt that if we brought them a world-class event that fans across the entire country would come.

“There’s a reason why Melbourne is the sporting capital of the world! Formula One, Melbourne Cup, the first tennis Grand Slam of the year, Australian’s and Victorian’s are lovers of great sport.”

Do you believe there are nuances with marketing big events and engaging fans in Australia and New Zealand? And trying to deliver an event that has a local feel to it.

“Absolutely there are but there’s a couple things I could say to that. One of the nuances is providing an opportunity for local athletes to compete on a global stage. Fighters like Jake Matthews, who is very young, in his early 20’s and from Melbourne having a chance to compete in front of his hometown I think was really important. The same with Dan Kelly, who was at the other end of his career, a four-time Olympic judoka Australian representative, and for him that’s what we want, an opportunity to compete in front of his family and friends in his home country because Australian’s, like Canadians, we like to cheer for our own.

“I bring up an example of an event we had in New Zealand where they performed the haka and there’s never been a haka performed before a fight before. It was a little hat tip to what makes sport special and unique to New Zealand. The crowd loved it.”

Just staying with the Australian and New Zealand market, how economically important are they as both a PPV market and a live audience market?

“Right now Australia and New Zealand together rank fourth or fifth in the world, which is  a pretty big number when you consider the size. On a buy-rate percentage – we have different metrics we use around the world. How many pay-per-view buys per 1000 people. On a PPV buy-rate, Australia has the highest buy-rate in the world.”

You had success in Canada, but can you shed some light on the challenges of getting MMA fights legalised and sanctioned in Australia? Has it been a delicate process?

“Delicate is the wrong word. It’s been a very frustrating and in many ways bewildering challenge. And I’ll tell you quite specifically, there were two states, Victoria and Western Australia, and only one now (Western Australia) that we’ve had huge challenges with.

“In Victoria, the state has always sanctioned and regulated professional MMA but since 2008 they have only allowed competition in a boxing ring. Up until 2015 we’ve spent the better part of six to seven years trying to convince the then Liberal government to change their policy on our sport to no avail. It was only when we convinced the then opposition government, which back in 2014 was Labor, to adopt a policy if they were elected to lift the octagon ban. And once they agreed to that policy we said if you lift the ban we’ll bring a major event to Victoria.

“In November 2014, the Labor government under Daniel Andrews was successful and three months later in March they lifted the octagon ban and lived up to their commitment, and on that same day we lived up to our commitment and said ‘we’re going to bring a major event to Victoria.’ And we brought UFC 193 to Melbourne.

“That process took the better part of five years and it was crazy! A lot of people thought that MMA was banned except you just couldn’t compete in an octagon. At the heart of our argument was that we only will allow our athletes to compete in an environment that’s safe and fair. Allowing mixed martial artists to compete in a boxing ring is not only unfair but more importantly unsafe. Athletes and referees can be thrown under, over or between the ropes.

“At the heart of our regulatory efforts it has always been the health and safety of the athletes. We were successful in having the octagon ban lifted in Victoria. We face the same issue now in Western Australia. The current Premier of WA (Colin Barnett) has no intentions of lifting the octagon ban. Those are the challenges that we face. But it is a matter of when not if.”

If WA lifts the ban, would you bring an event over to the state?

“Absolutely, and that’s a commitment we would make. Perth Arena is a lovely arena it would be perfect for a UFC event.”

In your opinion then, how should UFC innovate as a brand to ensure that it remains the number one MMA promotion?

“Innovation is part of our DNA. We innovate in terms of how we produce our events, we’re starting to produce them in 4K, virtual reality as well. We innovate in terms of embracing digital and social media. We think we’ve been innovative in terms of our commitment to providing a fair and drug-free environment for our athletes to compete in.

“You can see how we’ve extended our brand beyond the octagon to a partnership with EA Sports. We’ve partnered with one of the largest gym organisations in the world and are taking UFC gyms to cities around the world, we have one already in Sydney but we’re looking to expand them around Australia.

“We introduced Fight Pass two-and-a-half years ago. That’s our over-the-top content distribution methodology. We have one of the largest MMA/combat sports libraries in the world available on Fight Pass which includes K-1, jiu jitsu, wrestling, boxing. A lot of content people might not have ever seen.”

The post Outside the Octagon: One on One with Tom Wright appeared first on Sports Business Insider.

Adelaide United have signed a three-year exclusive partnership with South Australian based retailer Independent Grocers of Australia.

The deal between the Metcash owned IGA and the club means their branding will be visible on the front of the club’s strips from the 2016-17 A-League season.

IGA replaces former front-of-shirt sponsor Veolia, who first partnered the club in September 2013.

Adelaide United will wear their new Macron sponsored, IGA branded strips for the first time in their round of 32 FFA Cup clash against Redlands United in Brisbane next week.

Madeleine Fitzpatrick, Metcash GM Marketing Supermarkets, said. “With football being the number one sport played by children aged 6-13 in Australia, IGA is looking forward to further raising the profile of the sport and the Reds, especially in regional areas of South Australia.

“Through the support for Adelaide United, IGA retailers will play a major role in getting behind the local community whilst also growing this sport across the entire State. IGA retailers are the heart and soul of many of their local communities as family owned business’ delivering products and services tailored to their shoppers across South Australia.”

Adelaide United CEO, Grant Mayer, added: “This is an exciting relationship and one that will provide broad reaching benefit for all involved with our great club.

“Football participation in this state is on the rise and following our success in last year’s grand final, we very much look forward to working with IGA in developing stronger ties to the community.”

IGA will help the club with a new initiative called the IGA Regional Challenge, which will see local regional teams play against the Reds. To continue the comprehensive nature of the deal, IGA will also sponsor the IGA Regional Challenge, and IGA Family Park, as well as participate in the AUFC Community Program and supporting the Adelaide United Football Schools.

Other aspects of the deal include in-stadium signage at Coopers Stadium for each of Adelaide United’s home matches and other community-based activations.

The post Adelaide United seal exclusive IGA partnership appeared first on Sports Business Insider.

Source: AAP

Adelaide United chairman Greg Griffin has warned Football Federation Australia against loosening the A-League salary cap to accommodate Tim Cahill, while Ernie Merrick reckons it should be scrapped altogether.

As the wait continues for official confirmation of Cahill’s high-profile move to Melbourne City, Griffin has revealed his reticence towards the deal, saying FFA shouldn’t be bending the rules or contributing any money to A-League signings.

“My personal view is if you don’t fit in, you don’t fit in,” Griffin told reporters on Monday.

“I don’t think FFA should be determinants of which so-called marquee players come into the competition, and I don’t think they should be contributing, unless there was an extraordinary event.

“Probably, Tim Cahill is an extraordinary event – I just don’t like the fact that salary cap tends to become diminished in this process.

“I think the fairer the playing field, the better the competition.”

FFA specifically created the full-season guest player position – essentially a third marquee slot – in the off-season so City could sign Cahill, a wildly popular figure who will boost their poor home crowd numbers.

But City will receive financial assistance from FFA because the Socceroo great will also take on a marketing and promotional role for the A-League itself.

Griffin described Cahill as a “gift” for the rich City Football Group but said Adelaide, the reigning A-League champions, would continue to live within their means.

“Businesses fail because people spend more than they have. We’re one of the two profitable clubs in the A-League, and we’re very proud of that,” he said.

Wellington Phoenix coach Merrick, meanwhile, is at the other end of the spectrum.

Merrick says he can’t figure out why FFA are still bothering with the salary cap – particularly now clubs can do so much outside of it.

“I think we’ve grown up. It’s been 10 years now, let’s just get on with it,” Merrick told Fairfax Media.

“I don’t know if it is a salary cap anymore … there are all these special, little loyalty bonuses and first-year player bonuses. There are that many I have lost track.

“Why not let people invest big? It just makes the league grow rapidly. That’s what’s happening in the MLS.”

The post Opposing views of A-League’s salary cap appeared first on Sports Business Insider.

Twitter Australia and the Seven Network have announced a partnership which would see highlights of events and other clips produced by Seven shown on the social network.

The online coverage through Twitter would include programs across sports, news and entertainment.

The Australian has reported that Seven will utilise Twitter Amplify. Viewers can watch Seven’s Rio content with pre-roll ads up to six seconds, helping to boost the exposure of Seven’s Olympic sponsors.

Seven’s chief digital officer, Clive Dickens, is quoted in The Australian: “This extended partnership is an important part of our objective to bring our content to every Australian, wherever they are, and for the Rio Olympic Games, allows us to make this the first truly unmissable Olympic Games.”

Seven have also announced a paid, online subscription service for the entirety of the Games via the Seven Olympics app.

Seven’s agreement with the International Olympic Committee stretches to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics with all-encompassing coverage across free-to-air television and subscription television rights, as well as online, mobile and radio.

Read more at The Australian.

The post Twitter and Seven partner for content for the Rio Olympics appeared first on Sports Business Insider.