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FIFA Master Alumni shine at Soccerex USA

Last week, two FIFA Master alumni took the centre stage at the prestigious global football convention, Soccerex, which took place at the Marlins Park in Miami, USA.

FIFA Master Alumni Pedro Trengrouse, Academic Coordinator of the FGV/FIFA/CIES Executive Programme in Sports Management, led the panel about THE GLOBALIZATION OF SPORTS SPONSORSHIP at SOCCEREX USA 2018 with Cinto Ajram, Johan Cruyff Institute Consulting Manager, Tiago Pinto, Gatorade Global Marketing Director and David Hornby, Mailman Group VP of Sport.

Brands have long recognised the value in forming alliances with athletes, teams and other sporting properties as means of engaging with their customers. Driven by the rise in televised sports and the digital transformation of the media landscape, the complexity and global potential of sports sponsorship has grown inexorably with brands now able to reach bigger audiences worldwide, in more sophisticated and more targeted ways. This has brought more brands into the market place, creating a more international landscape than ever before, and the panel shed light on how these sports partnerships should work to deliver value to all parties.

Professor Pedro Trengrouse's remarks raised further questions regarding sports current business model based almost exclusively on TV rights, pointing out that Sport must find out a new business model online, much more based on real engagement than on pure visibility as 2017 was the first year with more advertising investment online than on TV: US$ 205 billion against US$ 192 billion.

He mentioned sports betting as the strongest trend in fan engagement, claiming that Sport should get funds from it and illustrated his argument with the fact that the total FIFA's revenues with the FIFA World Cup 2018 were less than €6 billion whereas total global betting turnover was estimated at €136 billion.

In another session, Fernando Roitman, alumni from the 15th edition of the FIFA Master officially launched the CIES Sports Intelligence with a presentation of ‘Governance Structures at National Association Level’, the first report produced by the newly created division of the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES in French), headquartered in Neuchatel, Switzerland.

The CIES Sports Intelligence has been created to respond to an increasing demand from sport organisations for independent reporting and informed advice. As sports bodies are required to be more accountable than ever in their activities and in facing the challenges of managing their sports, information and data have become essential. The CIES Sports Intelligence aims to deliver substantial value for stakeholders in the industry, by supplying them with factual information that helps them benchmark their organisations and sports, as well as support their decision-making processes and orient their strategies.

The first Sports Intelligence report focuses on a selection of 20 countries from all six confederations and provides insight into one of the crucial aspects of world football. The study analyses five main areas: General Assembly (GA), Executive Committee (ExCo), President, judicial bodies and reporting activities. During the session, Fernando presented to the audience the comparative analysis included in the report, pointing out specific case studies and explaining some of the trends that were identified looking at data from different regions of the world.

With services that focus on spreading new insights and knowledge, CIES Sports Intelligence's objective is to support stakeholders in the promotion of better governance and management of sport based on informed decision-making.

To know more about the CIES Sports Intelligence, click here.