host city

Category: Event Management

  • China’s PPTV pays most ever for Premier League TV rights

    China’s PPTV pays most ever for Premier League TV rights

    The English Premier League has sold its broadcasting rights in China for a record sum to online streaming service PPTV.
    The Chinese internet broadcaster is paying US$700m for the rights to screen the 2019-20 season, according to an anonymous Associated Press source.
    The figure dwarfs the US$145m reportedly paid by Super Sports Media Group for the broadcast rights to the Premier League for six years from the 2012/13 to 2017/2019 seasons.
    “We were successful in our bid, but it hasn’t formally been signed yet,” PPTV spokesman Sun Xiaobo told Reuters.
    PPTV is the media division of Suning retail group, which also owns Italian club Inter Milan and the broadcast rights to Spain’s La Liga games live in China .
    China is investing $850bn in sports by 2025 and is looking for global partners to develop its entertainment and cultural sectors.
    The rapid development of sports, entertainment and digital media in China is high on the agenda at Host City 2016, which kicks off in Glasgow on Monday 21st November.
    Speakers from China include Wang Dong, Vice President of Alisports – which has the online broadcasting rights from World Rugby – and Olivier Glauser, CFO and co-founder of Shankai Sports.

  • Challenges for brands running their own events

    Challenges for brands running their own events

    Sponsorship will often be a brand marketing director’s first thought when considering a sports-related campaign. Thankfully, the old school “brand slap” model is dying a death and the sponsorships of today tend to be significantly more sophisticated than those we used to see in the “Noughties” and before. Companies seek increased authenticity and better connections with their ever more fickle and savvy target audience. And so the partnerships themselves have become subtler, deeper and more cleverly activated.
     Some brands, rather than seeking an association with someone else’s event, bravely decide to run their own. The advantages are clear. Much greater control of the event and the branding associated with it, better access to the data generated and the increased sense of authenticity that comes from running the event rather than linking a brand to it.
    But there are also significant challenges. For the most part, the planning and execution of a sporting event requires specialist skills, knowledge and contacts. These can all be hired in but good advice does not come cheap. Even if volunteers can be used to help “on the ground”, they need to be identified, trained, kitted out and managed.
    Venue is of course a key issue too. Deals may need to be done with the owner of a stadium or with a host city or local authority. Roads may need to be closed and traffic plans drawn up and implemented. With some events, the police may need to be consulted.
    There may be a need to confer with the relevant sports governing body too, for example to secure official sanction for the event.
    Away from the operational nitty gritty, there are IP issues to consider too. What will the event be called? Is the name capable of trade mark protection and if so, in what territories should filings be made? Trade mark searches may be necessary to see what prior marks are on the register that may cause problems. Even generic sounding terms like “WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS” or “10K” may be incorporated into third party registrations.
    Customer data is likely to be another vital issue. How is the business to go about obtaining the details of new potential customers? With respect to those already on its marketing database, does the business have the necessary freedom under its privacy policies and under electronic marketing laws to promote the event to them?
    Any brand running its own sports event will want to maximise media coverage. Some companies may have the facilities and skills in house to arrange their own audio visual production. For many though, it will be necessary to appoint a specialist production company or, if more appropriate, a host broadcaster. The question of distribution must then be tackled. For bigger events, deals may need to be negotiated with broadcasters, potentially internationally as well as locally. Alternatively, the organisers may prefer to stream the event online, either through their own media player and website or potentially through a third party site like YouTube or Facebook.
    In a short blog post like this it is hard to do much more than touch on a handful of the key issues a brand must consider and address in order to run its own successful sports event. There is a huge amount to be taken into account and the challenges can be immense for a business whose core focus is in another area, be it selling soft drinks, cars or insurance. Many a wise person, though, has found an eloquent way of making this point: Nothing truly valuable was ever easy.

  • The risk manager

    The risk manager

    HOST CITY: Marsh is more than an insurer – the aim of your work is also to analyse risk and to evaluate risk. What sort of risks are you looking for?
    Patrick Vajda: We are an insurance broker but we are also a risk manager, and for big sports events our speciality is in fact to analyse risk and propose solutions – not only to place insurance.
    As an insurance broker we place insurance. We cannot avoid this, particularly because a lot of event “owners” such as the IOC, FIFA, UEFA and the majority of the international federations are obliged to ask for high levels of insurance included in the host city contract.
    But we prefer for example to find solutions to prevent the risk happening, than to settle a claim and to cancel the event. This is the real philosophy we have in sports: to avoid risk and to decrease the global cost of the risk.
    We have developed a unique risk management especially for mega events which we have implemented for several Olympic Games and World Cups. We also have expertise on the ground on more than 300 events.
     
    HOST CITY: What is your view of the current level of instability in world cities today?
    Patrick Vajda: The risks are always moving – it’s not a new story. Now they are moving faster because of the internet and the quality and speed of information. Some risks are totally new. When you spoke about the cyber risk five years ago it was more or less a joke; now it’s not a joke, it’s a serious matter. If you take drones for example: five years ago nobody knew anything about drones, now it’s a risk and a real one.
    Therefore, on the one side we have some new risks and on the other side, old risks but with a higher level than 20 years ago. If you take the example of terrorism, the security budget of Salt Lake City has increased by almost 10 times as a result of September 11.
    In the past you allocated U$30m or US$35m for security; now you need several hundred USD. This is completely crazy, but we need to expend those amounts – we have no other solution to be able to protect the public, the athletes and to protect the event.
     
    HOST CITY: What is the aim of risk management in major events?
    Patrick Vajda: When managing risk for sport events, you have three targets. We try to protect the life of human beings; to protect the finances of the organising committee, and to protect the time schedule. Terrorism is a risk that can impact on all three.
    With regard to security, there is not only a question of security in the field. With modern means, one can easily detect upstream specific movements of someone who you would perhaps prefer not to see at the event. Security is not only a question of “heavy muscle” on site, but also carrying out studies long before the event and cooperating closely with the world’s different police forces.
    We have fewer problems with counterfeit tickets or credentials and increasingly more problems with fan zones, because they are free. I heard recently that if you want to go to a fan zone, you go on the internet and get a free ticket by filling in your name, credit card number and so on. It is a very good protection and prevention system since you need to complete a form giving your personal information.
    You register your data and it is therefore possible to know who is at the venue which is very important for security reasons. We can also check to see if somebody has a false or stolen credit card – it’s an interesting system. Though it does not provide 100 per cent protection, all the same it is a good system.
     
    HOST CITY: Have you been working with fan zones for the 2016 European Football Championships?
    Patrick Vajda: Yes, we have done several risk analyses for this particular area. It was clear that this is particularly dangerous and to protect it correctly, it will require heavy expenditure and a large security team.
     
    HOST CITY: What if the worst case scenario happens and an event has to be moved or cancelled?
    In terms of cancellation, it’s becoming an incredible problem for several reasons. The first is the pricing of the cancellation policy, which before September 11 was around 1.5 per cent of the sum insured. Just after September 11 it was 3 per cent without terrorism, and now is between 2.8 and 3.8 per cent with terrorism.
    Imagine, if you have an event which costs 600 million, the price of the cancellation policy is the price of a small stadium. So perhaps you will hesitate to buy this policy; it’s very costly and does not cover 100 per cent of the risk. Nevertheless it is useful. Insurance is always expensive…..before the claim.
     
    HOST CITY: So there is no legal obligation for organisers to buy a policy?
    Patrick Vajda: In substance, no, except for FIFA and UEFA who ask for a compulsory cancellation policy.
    Take the example of the Olympics. The price of the Olympics – what we call the internal budget, of US$2.6 billion – it’s impossible to find this on the insurance market. The total capacity worldwide is perhaps US$1.5bn– if you took all the insurance companies in the world, you couldn’t find more than this.
    Even if you could find it, the price of the policy would be a little less than $100 million just to insure cancellation. So you wouldn’t spend US$100m to insure cancellation, it is incredibly costly. The fact that the capacity is extremely rare has a very high impact on the pricing of this policy.
    Capacity is very low and is often taken by the owners of the event. Therefore the organiser is often faced with a predicament: buying insufficient cover at a very high cost. In other words cover that will not protect you 100 percent.
    Knowing this, the question is whether to insure cancellation? The answer is not simple. And a risk analysis is compulsory before making any decision. For example do we need to insure the total cancellation of the event? Or do we need to insure just ticketing? Or just TV rights? As you can see the answer is not automatic and the risk analysis will give us the answer.
    I personally feel it is much more useful to spend money on risk management, to find the best possible solution, to eliminate the risk and to decrease the global cost of the risk.
     
    This article first appeared in the Summer 2016 issue of Host City. Patrick Vajda is speaking at Host City 2016 conference and exhibition in Glasgow on 21st November on the panel “How Cities Can Be Secure Hosts”

  • Glasgow to host leading International Meeting of Cities and Sports, Business and Cultural Events

    Glasgow to host leading International Meeting of Cities and Sports, Business and Cultural Events

    Glasgow prepares to welcome a unique collection of city and government leaders, cross-sector rights holders, event owners and suppliers to explore the challenges and benefits of bidding for major global events on 21st and 22nd November.
    Sir Craig Reedie CBE, President of the World Anti-Doping Agency will give a keynote address on Monday morning followed by other headline speakers Jean-François Martins, Deputy Mayor of Paris and Angela Ruggiero, IOC Executive Board Member.
    Prof. Dr. Ugur Erdener, President of the World Archery and NOC of Turkey and Vice President of the IOC will give a keynote address on “Rio 2016 and Beyond: How Events Showcase Cities” and Attila Szalay-Berzeviczy, Chairman of Budapest Olympics Foundation will address the topic “Creating Safe and Engaging Events”.
    Other speakers include Francesco Ricci Bitti, President, ASOIF (Association of Summer Olympic Sports Federations); Sarah Lewis, Secretary General, FIS and AOIWF (Association of Winter Olympic Sports Federations); David Grevemberg, CBE, CEO, Commonwealth Games Federation; Dimitri Kerkentzes, Deputy Secretary General, BIE (World Expos) and Yves Le Lostecque, Head of Sport, European Commission.
    The format of Host City 2016 is structured into separate segments with Day One dedicated to panel discussions and keynote addresses including ample opportunities for networking and a dinner reception in the evening. After three opening plenary sessions on Day Two, participants will split into concurrent roundtables discussing “Hosting Opportunities: How to Make Your City and Event Stand Out” and “Delivery and Legacy: How to Maximise Sustainability, Security and Revenues” which will be interactive sessions actively encouraging audience participation.
    Other topics on the agenda include:

    What Does the Future Hold for Major Events?
    Has Sport Lost Its Integrity And How Can It Win Confidence Back?
    Building Sports and Entertainment Brands; China’s Investment Strategy
    Transformations in Multi-City and Multi-Sports Events
    A Safe Pair of Hands: How Cities Can be Secure Hosts
    Creating Entertaining Experiences for Visitors
    Making Event Infrastructure More Sustainable
    Business Events and Economic Development

    For further information about Host City 2016 please visit www.hostcity.com or contact Ben Avison, Editorial and Conference Director, Host City ben.avison@hostcity.com.

  • Major WADA and Host City conferences touch down in Glasgow

    Major WADA and Host City conferences touch down in Glasgow

    Many of the leading decision makers in the events sector gathered in Scotland in recent days, as the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and annual Host City conferences took place in Glasgow.
    In a first for WADA, one of the most important bodies in sport, the decision was taken to hold its Executive Committee and Foundation Board meetings at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre from 19-20 November.
    Around 100 delegates attended the weekend-long event, among whom were members of the International Olympic Committee, International Sports Federations and National Olympic Committees, to discuss how to combat doping in international sports. 
    The event, supported by VisitScotland’s Business Events team, reflects Scotland’s world-wide reputation as the deliverer of successful major business events and conferences and a world-leader in staging sporting events.
    This occasion was closely followed by the annual Host City 2016 conference, where hundreds of event owners, city representatives and suppliers from across the globe enjoyed a busy programme, including top-level speakers from some of the most influential organisations across the spectrum of sporting and cultural events.
    The event at the University of Strathclyde’s Technology and Innovation Centre, from 21-22 November, is well established as the perfect opportunity for cities and event owners to network with and learn from peers in the business of bidding for and hosting cross-sector events, from mega sporting occasions to live entertainment and congresses.
    Paul Bush OBE, VisitScotland’s Director of Events, said:  “The decision by both WADA and Host City to bring these crucial and high-profile conferences to Scotland at this time is representative of our status as the Perfect Stage for events of all varieties.
    “Scotland has a wealth of state-of-the-art facilities which allow us to host major conferences year round, generating significant value for the national economy, and I am delighted we continue to offer the ideal solution for many of the world’s most important organisations.”
    “In its third year, Host City conference and exhibition is firmly established as the leading international meeting of cities and sports, business and cultural events. We are delighted to see Host City continuing to grow in Glasgow, Scotland,” said Matthew Astill, CEO of Cavendish Group and Host City.

  • International major event leaders debate future at Host City 2016 in Glasgow; Asian edition announced

    International major event leaders debate future at Host City 2016 in Glasgow; Asian edition announced

    Leading figures from the world of sport governance and major event ownership convened in Glasgow on Monday and Tuesday for the Host City 2016 Exhibition and Conference to discuss how to attract and host secure and engaging sports, business and cultural events.
    It was also announced that an additional “Host City Asia” event will take place in Beijing on 18 October 2017. 
    “In its third year, Host City conference and exhibition is firmly established as the leading international meeting of cities and sports, business and cultural events. We are delighted to see Host City continuing to grow in Glasgow, Scotland,” said Matthew Astill, CEO of Cavendish Group.
    “In response to incredible market demand, we are pleased to launch an additional Host City Asia event in Beijing in 2017, where international event owners and suppliers will meet Chinese and Asian hosts and investors.”
    Speaking at Host City 2016, Wang Dong, Vice President of Chinese sports media company Alisports: said “This is the spring of the Chinese sports industry… we want to get more people involved in the beauty of sport.”
    Host City is the largest and fastest growing international meeting of its kind. At the third edition, the topics of future major events and integrity of sport were high on the agenda.
    In his opening keynote address heading up a list of world-class speakers, Sir Craig Reedie CBE, IOC member and president of the World Anti-Doping Agency talked about how in an ever-more competitive field, hosting events is a “very active place” in contrast to the major multi sports events like the Olympic Games and the Commonwealth Games who, he said, have struggled to attract bid cities in recent years.
    During the first panel discussion on the topic “What does future hold for major events?” Dimitri Kerkentzes, deputy secretary general, BIE (World Expos) said: “World Expos cannot be viewed from home. They must have participation and support from the public… We need to ensure that the event will benefit people from the host cities, and that it doesn’t leave white elephants behind.”
    Simon Clegg CBE, Chief Operating Officer, World Expo Dubai 2020 highlighted the large ticket sale expectations and expansive physical set-up of World Expo Dubai 2020.
    Francesco Ricci Bitti, President, ASOIF (Association of Summer Olympic International Federations) said: “The tangible and intangible impacts of sporting events on the community are very important.
    “We need to be cautious about the fairness of the bidding process.”
    He also commented that the level of flexibility afforded by the new bidding rules set out in IOC’s Agenda 2020 programme of reform needs to be carefully considered, saying “Changing venues from the bid book is taking it too far.”
    Sarah Lewis, Secretary General of the international Ski Federation (FIS) and the Association of Olympic International Winter Federations (AOIWF) said: “It is necessary to maximize the usage of existing facilities that would change the focus on having compact events. Compact events are convenient but don’t offer the best legacy opportunities”. She said “multi-city and multi-country events may be the future”.
    Paul Bush OBE, Director of Events, VisitScotland said: “The benefits of hosting major events are both hard and soft. The soft benefits, which you have to articulate very carefully, are becoming very important.
    “The importance of transparency in the bidding process is crucial right now and is growing every year”.
    The issue of good governance was further explored in the following panel session on “Has sport lost its integrity and how can it win confidence back?”
    Dr. Bridget McConnell CBE, Chief Executive, Glasgow Life said: “A city’s values must shape and drive what you bid for and how you do it. If you lose public confidence in sport integrity you lose countries and cities bidding.”
    When asked whether cities would turn their back on hosting events that can’t prove their integrity, she said “I can certainly say this of Glasgow. We would not want to be connected to any sport that had major controversy associated with it”.
    Yves Le Lostecque, Head of Sport, European Commission said “In Europe we are defending values and we have to promote them. Integrity and governance are key parts of the EU mandate for sports. Our member states are keen to have the values maintained and we can help through policy cooperation and financial support.”
    Adam Pengilly, IOC Member, VP of International affairs, International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation (IBSF) said: “Sport has an inherent value. The Games is loved all over the world… but sports politicians are sometimes lowly viewed.”
    He also said “the perception of sport as a utopia needs to be changed. We need to be more realistic when looking at it”.
    Risto Nieminen, President, Finnish Olympic Committee said: “We need to create standard for doping control that spans across all countries” and added “business and entertainment are not the basis of sport. Instead, inspiration, well-being, optimism, and happiness.”
    Ignacio Packer, Secretary General of children’s rights charity Terre des Hommes said: “The sport sector is opening up increasingly to the human rights sector”. He also questioned the tendency to limit the definition of “success” in hosting events to financial outcomes. “We believe that success is about people”. Ignacio also commented on his participation at the Host City Conference saying “I like coming to Host City because I am not with usual colleagues. I learn a lot here.”
    The delegates, which included several IOC members, were also addressed by senior figures involved in bidding for the 2024 Olympic Games from Budapest, Los Angeles and Paris.
    The Host City brand began life in China in 2003 as a bilingual magazine for the Beijing Organising Committee of the Olympic Games. The Deputy Mayor of Beijing in 2009 presented the CEO of Cavendish Group with the “Great Wall Friendship” award in recognition of Host City’s role in bringing foreign technology content to China and creating an Olympic infrastructure partnership.
    Cavendish Group is also known as the owner of the ICC (www.internationalcapitalconference.com ), China’s largest outbound investment event that is now in its seventh edition.
    Host City’s Editorial and Conference Director Ben Avison said: “China is investing $850bn in sports by 2025 and is looking for global partners to develop its entertainment and cultural sectors. Host City Asia provides the platform to connect the international industry with this booming market.”
    All the Host City 2016 Conference keynote addresses and plenary session content be streamed at www.hostcity.com/hc2016/audio – provided by sound-sharing platform audioBoom.

  • China’s foreign minister visits IOC president, strengthening cooperation

    China’s foreign minister visits IOC president, strengthening cooperation

    The Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, met with International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach in Lausanne on December 11 to discuss how China can strengthen its cooperation with the global sports organisation.
    On his visit to Switzerland Wang also met with the director-generals of the United Nations (UN) and the World Health Organisation (WHO), as well as the president of Switzerland.
    According to China Daily, Wang told Bach, “China is willing to strengthen cooperation with the IOC while upholding the Olympic spirit.”
    Wang also expressed his confidence in the Beijing and Zhangjiakou’s ability to stage the Winter Olympic Games in 2022, highlighting the success of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games.
    “With the all-out efforts of the Chinese people and the substantial help of the IOC, I am confident that the 2022 Winter Olympics will be another huge success,” he said.
    According to Yutang Sports Marketing, Wang stressed the importance of sports in human and national development, recognising the great contributions the IOC has made to promoting global sports development and strengthening the friendship among people from different countries.
    Bach reportedly said China’s plans for sports development are at one with the IOC’s, noting the tremendous contributions China has made to the IOC and expressing gratitude to China for its cooperation with the IOC.
    The IOC also looks set to strengthen this cooperation beyond the hosting of the Winter Games. “The IOC will be a full helping hand in delivering a fruitful 2022 Winter Olympics, while expecting to team up on further cooperation with China,” Bach said.
    In the meeting with UN Director General Michael Moller, Wang said “Against the backdrop that the global situation is continuously becoming more complicated, the role of the United Nations can only be strengthened instead of weakened.”
    Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization, told Wang “China has set an excellent example in poverty alleviation and health undertakings, and I believe it will contribute more to improving global public health and sustainable development.”

  • Glasgow 2015 World Gymnastics Championships named Sport Event of the Year

    Glasgow 2015 World Gymnastics Championships named Sport Event of the Year

    The 2015 FIG World Gymnastics Championships, hosted by Glasgow, received the award for Sports Event of the Year, one of several awards issued at the International Sports Awards 2016 in Geneva.
    The 2015 FIG World Gymnastics Championships had already been hailed as superlative by the most influential figures in world sport. In his keynote address at Host City 2016 in Glasgow in November, WADA President and IOC member Sir Craig Reedie CBE – who was himself the recipient of the “Lifetime Achievement” award – described it as “the best presentation of indoor sports that I have ever seen”.
    FIG President Bruno Grandi described the event, which sold more than 55,000 tickets, 60 per cent of which were sold outside Scotland, as “even better than the Olympic Games”.
    This award marks a hat-trick for the 2015 World Gymnastics Championships, as the event already collected The Sunday Mail Scottish Sport Award for Event of the Year 2015, and the West Regional Scottish Thistle Award for Best Sporting Event of the Year 2016/17. 
    Other awards at the International Sports Convention included: International Equestrian Federation (FEI) for “International Sports Federation of the Year”; STAIRS for the “Sports Community of the Year”; IMG Productions for “Sports Media”; Laureus for “CSR Campaign of the Year”; and Parc des Princes Stadium for “Sports Venue of the Year”.
    The 2015 World Gymnastics Championships were held in The SSE Hydro from 23 October – 1 November 2015 and delivered in partnership between Federation Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), Glasgow Life, Glasgow City Council, EventScotland, British Gymnastics and UK Sport.
    Not only was the Championships one of the largest single-sport events ever to be hosted in the UK, with a record 594 gymnasts from 87 nations travelling to Glasgow to compete, but it also provided a number of historic moments for gymnasts including record All-Around titles for both Japan’s Kohei Uchimura and USA’s Simone Biles.
    Following the event, Glasgow cited a dramatic increase in participation levels at gymnastics clubs and development programmes across the city. Attendances at pathways programmes went up by 15% between 2014/15 and 2015/16, and participation at the city’s seven gymnastics clubs increased by 28%. 
    Councillor Archie Graham OBE, Depute Leader of Glasgow City Council and Chair of Glasgow Life, said: “To win the International Sporting Award for Sports Event of the Year only reinforces what we’ve known all along – that the 2015 World Gymnastics Championships truly was one of the best sporting events Glasgow has ever seen. 
    “Bringing more than 50,000 spectators and a massive £4.9million economic benefit to our city, it’s safe to say the event was one of a kind and more than worthy of the many rewards it has received to date!
    “Here in Glasgow we’re still feeling the benefits of the 2015 World Championships, with participation in our gymnastics classes and programmes significantly increasing since the event – showing that major sporting events really do deliver lasting legacy benefits for the local community.”
    Paul Bush OBE, VisitScotland’s Director of Events, said: “The World Gymnastics Championships was supported through EventScotland’s International Programme and is without doubt one of the most successful events that Scotland has ever seen. 
    “Not only did the event promote Scotland as the perfect stage for events to a worldwide audience through widespread broadcast and media coverage, it raised the bar in terms of the championships’ delivery, speaking to Scotland’s ever-strengthening capacity as an elite host of major events. 
    “I am delighted the event now has the International Sports Awards Sports Event of the Year to add to a growing list of accolades and would like to congratulate all partners on their outstanding contribution to the historic success of the event.”
    Jane Allen, CEO of British Gymnastics, said: “The 2015 World Gymnastics Championships, held in Glasgow’s SSE Hydro, was a historically successful event for British Gymnastics and for the sport as a whole. It is also a breath-taking example of an excellent world-class event that was so successfully held in Scotland, with the help of many, including the FIG, UK Sport, Glasgow City Council, through Glasgow Life, and EventScotland. 
    “We delivered an event that has propelled gymnastics into a brand new and exciting era in the UK. We also delivered an event that has set such a high standard for future World Gymnastics Championships events to aspire to.”
    Simon Morton, Chief Operating Officer at UK Sport, said: “The 2015 World Gymnastics Championships in Glasgow was genuinely a pioneering event that set new benchmarks in the way this inspiring sport is showcased.
    “Its success demonstrated the enduring power of hosting big sporting events in the UK, with packed crowds, outstanding British athletes, many of whom went on to make the nation proud at Rio 2016, and an incredible economic impact.”

  • The reinvention of sports events

    The reinvention of sports events

    The number of sports events worldwide has been growing rapidly since the beginning of the 21st century. And with new markets comes the appetite to create more competitions, or redesign existing competitions.
    Right holders, cities and companies invest large amounts of resources from early stages in feasibility studies and more, but one thing is usually left off the table – even though it is crucial for making a tournament profitable: the competition format.
    Since the original Olympics Games in Ancient Greece, tournament formats have remained the same: Round-Robin Groups and Direct Elimination (Play-Offs). Practically every competition world-wide that involves two competitors in each match uses these formats, even though it has caused several issues, supposedly unfixable – such as score-manipulations, low competitiveness and above all an inability to optimise number of participants, matches and match-days.
    What do we mean by this inability to optimise the number of participants? Well, try to come up with a short tournament that has 10 competitors. Can’t think of any? Neither can I. Yet Googling the phrase “Top 10” shows 350 million results, while the phrases “Top 8” and “Top 12” returns around 20 million.
    Obviously branding an event as a Top 10 would then be much more beneficial for all the stakeholders. Then why don’t we see more tournaments of 10 competitors? Probably because we can’t really imagine a tournament that doesn’t use the traditional format, so the number 10 is a “weird” number.
    So in order to avoid having two groups of five teams, organisers opt to reduce the number of participants to eight as the ATP World Tour Final does (in a sport that is obsessed with Top 10 ranking), or increase the number of participants to 12, even at the expense of hurting the brand by including unattached teams, as Copa America does with Japan or Jamaica instead of just the 10 CONMEBOL teams.
    There is an alternative. MatchVision, a game-changing company that helps federations and competition organisers to fulfil their competition objectives, has developed numerous simple, fair and transparent tournament formats that best fit the reality of the tournament, either new or re-branded.
    Using innovation in formats, the parameters that define the competition (e.g. number of competitors, matches and match-per-competitor) are flexible, and changing one does not impose the other. For instance, increasing the ATP World Tour Finals to 10 players can be done without changing the number of matches-days or matches per player.
    How would that tournament look like? There are several ways, but a simple example would be to divide players into two “zones”, instead of groups. Each player would face three opponents from the opposite zone, depending on previous ranking, and all players would be placed in one general standing. After everyone has played three matches, the best four players in the general standing would continue to the Semi-Final, with the first facing the fourth, and the second facing the third.
    This simple system has many other benefits as well, such as a better tournament calendar that uses the first weekend of the tournament to its fullest, or having all players competing against all others, encouraging fans to follow all matches and not just the ones played by their favourites.
    Another optimisation is the number of match-days. Under the groups format it is mathematically impossible to have an even number of match-days – a group of four teams would have three match-days, the same as a group of three teams, while having groups of five teams (or six teams) requires five match-days, and so on.
    That is a death-blow to some competitions, due to issues such as the calendar and player endurance. Between 1987 and 1995 a tournament involving ex-players of World-Cup winning nations was played biennially, yet in spite of interest it ceased to exist. All recent attempts to create a similar tournament have failed for one major reason: finding players.
    Very few important ex-players have shown willingness to join a tournament that would force them to play not less than three matches, not only due to the physical effort required but also due to time commitment of having to stay at least two weeks in the host nation. Yet with an innovative format that requires not less and not more than two match-days in the first round, and with the correct number of teams, this tournament could become a reality.
    Last but not least, the competition format also affects the infrastructure costs of the tournament, not only due to the number of participants and matches but also the number of venues required and travel expenses. A multi-hosted event usually means long and numerous travels for competitors, fans and press. For instance, in the 2014 FIFA World Cup the United States national team travelled more than 10,000 miles inside Brazil alone. Yet with an optimised competition format, number of travels could be reduced to a minimum, even allowing smaller events to be held over few countries.
    Whether you’re a rights holder, a city or a company looking to endorse a tournament, analysing the competition format is of your interest. With an innovative design, you could create a highly competitive tournament, deciding the number of participants, matches and match-days based on your requirements, breaking the restrictions imposed by the usage of traditional formats.
    Itay Ingber is Chief Operating Officer of MatchVision

  • The thrill of the Laser-Run

    The thrill of the Laser-Run

    Take Modern Pentathlon and remove the dynamism of Swimming, the dexterity of Fencing and the heroism of Horse Riding. What do you have left?
    What you have left is a sport with two disciplines, Running and Laser Shooting, and too big an audience to be counted.
    A sport that can take place on a beach, in a park or in a city centre.
    A sport where Olympians, beginners and veterans can test themselves on the same terrain, in the same conditions, with the same equipment and with the same sense of enjoyment through competition.
    A sport whose compact format creates the possibility for organizing cities to enjoy extensive outreach and exposure, aligning sport with culture and entertainment.
    What you have left is Laser-Run.
    This sport, this new offspring of the core Olympic sport of Modern Pentathlon, was conceived in 2014 and born in 2015, when the 1st UIPM Laser-Run World Championships were held in the south of France.
    There, in downtown Perpignan, the sun shone through the fountains to create a kaleidoscope effect in harmony with the diversity of the competitors: women, men, girls, boys, competing individually and in concert, all ages, nationalities and races.
    Twelve months later, in the capital of Portugal, another armada of athletes – 421 from 22 countries – gathered once more to transmit the message that this is a sport for everyone, and that rule applies to spectators as well as athletes.
    Perpignan 2015 and Lisbon 2016. The Laser-Run World Championships. Two disciplines, two cities, two success stories.
    So why does this format work so well?
    By common consent, for spectators the most gripping stage of a Modern Pentathlon competition is the Combined Event. The Run/Shoot. The climax.
    Laser-Run is the Combined Event with the slate wiped clean. It is Modern Pentathlon stripped of the complications of water, epees and horses. Laser-Run is not about elegant posture on horseback or razor-like reflexes or continuity of stroke, it is back-to-basics sport and it pulls off the trick of generating a thrilling spectacle with a simple format.
    Everyone starts at the same time and the winner is he or she who finishes first. The laws of combat are straightforward. Run smartly, conserve energy, pick up your pistol and don’t miss. Don’t get stuck on the range, or you will be left behind and there will be no second wind. No tired legs to hunt down.
    It is a concept that marries the most attractive aspects of running and gaming. Laser-Run combines outdoor athleticism and electronic fun to offer the best of both worlds.
    What more could an active young audience wish for?
    Well, they might also wish to be able to try out their Laser-Run skills against their friends, and ultimately chase national and international titles, and they might wish to do this in front of their families and other spectators and receive the acclaim on the finish line that they see elite athletes enjoy on TV.
    Dr Klaus Schormann, President of UIPM, says: “As we saw during the inauguration of this competition in Perpignan in 2015, and again in Lisbon in 2016, the combination of Running and Shooting which replicates the climax of a Modern Pentathlon competition creates its own exciting World Championships.
    “The Laser-Run World Championships has been another big step for the development of Modern Pentathlon and UIPM Sports.”