Inaugural Events in Asia, USA -- Conferences & Conventions

(ATR) Limited passes remain for Asia’s inaugural OTT Summit.

The SportsPro OTT Summit Asia, which will be held in Singapore on March 27-28, is dedicated to the over-the-top (OTT) industry in Asia. SportsPro says it will unite 200 senior executives from all areas, including broadcasters, rights holders, content distributors, social platforms and technology providers.

Among the 18 scheduled session topics are "Creating Australia’s first premium sports only streaming service", "Beyond linear: What is the future for traditional broadcasters in this era of digital evolution?"" and "Gaming the system: How esports is conquering the Asian mass media market".

The rapid growth of the SportsPro OTT Summit in Madrid certainly was an impetus to creating an Asian edition. The second version of the Madrid convention was held on November 28-29 at the headquarters of the Olympic Channel, which was a partner in the event.

Los Angeles Sports Summit Debuts in June

The inaugural Los Angeles Sports Summit will be held from June 24-26 in downtown Los Angeles.

The three-day event featuring owners, athletes and dealmakers is presented by the Los Angeles Sports Council and the Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games (SCCOG).

"Los Angeles is the place for sports — teams, leagues, owners, venues, events and players — so it’s only natural that we convene a yearly conference that brings them all together," said Sports Council President David Siegel. "The LA Sports Summit will do just that."

The Los Angeles area is home to 11 professional sports teams, eight NCAA Division I schools, 14 stadiums with at least 10,000 seats, 11 arenas with 5,000 seats or more, dozens of smaller sports facilities, and millions of fans.

Organizers expect more than 350 high profile attendees from the region, across the country and around the world. Among the topics to be explored at the LA Sports Summit include what’s new in sports innovation, fan experience, fantasy sports and esports; women and sports leadership; and upcoming events such as the 2022 Super Bowl, 2028 Olympics, and anticipated 2026 FIFA World Cup matches.

Interviews and panels with team owners, star athletes and the executives behind the art of the deals will be featured.

Host City Asia Announces More Speakers

Host City Asia announces the latest confirmed speakers for its second edition at Beijing’s Four Seasons Hotel on April 11.

Paris Deputy Mayor Jean-Francois Martins, who is in charge of Tourism, Sports and the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and Yasunobu Nishimura, Deputy Director General of Bureau of Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 Preparation, have joined a list of speakers who will be representing future Olympic host cities.

Organizers say 200 international event rights owners, Asian event hosts, organizing committees, and experts are set to participate under the conference theme of "Faster, Higher, Stronger: Growth through Event Hosting".

Agenda topics include the impact of AI, big data and blockchain on the events sector, integrating event infrastructure planning into city plans, and how to engage young people in sports and culture events.

With a mix of panel discussions, keynote addresses and case studies, Host City Asia will highlight the issues and opportunities facing everyone in the major events business.

THE SPOT a Showcase for Start-Ups

The second edition of THE SPOT will again feature opportunities for start-ups in the fields of sport, physical activity or technology to showcase themselves.

ThinkSport’s sport and innovation event will be back at the the SwissTech Convention Center in Lausanne on May 28-29. More than 1,000 people from the words of sport, academia, and business are expected to attend.

About 80 start-ups are expected to line up in a head-to-head battle, operated by Venturelab. Organizers say they will compete for prestige, financial support and attractive opportunities to work with respected companies. The judges for the competition will be experts from the academic, business and sports world.

There will be two different categories, one for early stage start-ups who will pitch their innovative ideas as discovery projects and another one for more mature start-ups who will present their ready-to-use products.

"The start-up battle at the first edition of THE SPOT got a lot of adrenaline pumping and was a big hit. This year, we are keen to give even more young entrepreneurs from our region and abroad the chance to present their innovative ideas and solutions," said Anna Hellman, Director of ThinkSport.

THE SPOT will also feature a conference program around four topics featuring athletes, industry, society and entertainment.

Tickets at an early bird rate are still available here.

SportsPro Live Transformed for 2019

Organizers for this year's SportsPro Live say the event is undergoing its biggest transformation to date.

More than 700 delegates are expected for the sixth edition, which will be held at The O2 in London on April 30 and May 1.

There will be 75 speakers across 50 sessions and tech demos.Former IOC member Angela Ruggiero, who is the CEO and co-founder of Sports Innovation Lab, will be speaking on tracking trends in sports investment.

The event will feature what organizers say is "a future-focused sports agenda looking at the meeting point between tech, business and fandom".

Alongside the main agenda, five new specific forums have been added, including finance, artificial intelligence, esports, digital transformation and broadcasting.

SportAccord Releases MediaAccord Program

SportAccord has confirmed its MediaAccord conference program for the next edition in Gold Coast, Australia.

The program, entitled "Media’s Ever Important Role and Contribution to Sport and Society" will take place on May 9. The focus will be on women in sport. Discussions and presentations will include the challenges to normalizing participation in sports and sports media for women.

Jennah Wootten, General Manager Partnerships and Communications for Sport New Zealand, will present a case study of initiatives in her country and how they are changing the status quo.

"Sport New Zealand is leading our sector’s response to a new central government strategy designed to empower women and girls to reach their potential through sport and active recreation," she says.

"Like many other countries we have concerning underrepresentation of women and girls being physically active, occupying leadership roles and lagging behind men in terms of value and visibility.

"This new strategy has energized the sector and builds on recent successes such as securing the hosting rights for International Working Group on Women in Sport Conference 2022. It is an exciting time to be a female working in sport within New Zealand."

The conference program will also include a debate on Major Event Bidding and Media and a discussion on how cities can get the public onboard. The program wraps up with the Case Study: Brand Architecture and Social Media Monetisation for federations and athletes presented by Ben Parsons, Founder, Ministry of Sport & Playa Power.

The Gold Coast edition of SportAccord, which runs from May 5-10, will host more than 50 conference sessions with around 100 international speakers and panelists taking part. Besides MediaAccord, the four other conference streams include: The Summit, CityAccord, LawAccord, and HealthAccord.

Other Conferences:

April 11: HIVE Esports Business Conference in Berlin

May 23-24: Soccerex China inHaikou, Hainan Province

May 29-30:Intersport Brand Engagement & Content Summit in Chicago

June 13: Sports Digital Business Networking Seminar in London

June 24-26: Los Angeles Sports Summit

June 25-27: Major Events Summit in Birmingham, UK

Aug. 29-31: Sport India 2019 in New Delhi

Sept. 4-7: VISTA 2019 in Amsterdam

Sept. 5-6: Soccerex Europe in Oeiras, Portugal

Sept. 10-12: Esports Business Summit in Las Vegas

Nov. 14-16: Vietnam Sport Show 2019 in Hanoi

Nov. 18-20: Sports Business Japan/Stadia & Arena 2019 in Saitama, Japan

Nov. 25-27: Host City 2019 in Glasgow, Scotland

Dec. 10-12: Regional SportAccord Pan America in Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Written by Gerard Farek

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