Sportel CEO David Tomatis. (ATR)(ATR) The recession is being blamed for a more subdued level of deal-making this week at Sportel America in Miami Beach. The meeting provides a marketplace for sports TV programming, the little brother of the annual Sportel held in Monaco.
Sportel CEO David Tomatis tells Around the Rings that just under 500 delegates from more than 40 countries turned up in Miami Beach, a number he says is down from the last Sportel America in 2007.
“It’s totally transparent, the connection between the economic crisis and attendance. Fewer delegates, fewer stands,” he says.
“It’s still a good market. Business is being conducted. It’s a good marketplace when you have a group of 500 executives,” says Tomatis.
But for Olivier Strebel, TV rights and sales manager for FIG, the International Gymnastics Federation, the lower turnout for Sportel America is a disappointment.
“Where is ESPN, others from the U.S.?” he asks from the FIG stand in the exhibitor hall. The federation is a regular presence at this meeting as well as Sportel in Monaco.
He says the absence of U.S. dealmakers is a clear sign that economics are weighing on the sports TV business. HBO, selling its boxing programming, was the only major programmer from the U.S. with a stand.
Across the aisle from FIG at the more modest stand of the International Judo Federation, the mood was more upbeat. The only other Olympic sport with a Sportel presence, two staffers from the federation were enthusiastic about the first serious effort by the IJF to sell broadcast rights to its events.
Instead of a world championship every two years, the judo lineup now includes The stand at Sportel for the International Gymnastics Federation. (ATR)four major events on the annual calendar.
“Judo has never been sold as a media product,” says Stefan Marinescu, assistant to IJF President Marius Vizer, who says there is high interest in TV coverage of judo in Netherlands, France, Brazil and Japan, home of the sport.
The biggest stand at Sportel belonged to Eurovision, home to Eurosport, the eminent sports channel of the European Broadcast Union.
The EBU focus was on its wide ranging inventory of sports events, with little mention of the Olympics.
“We have Manoela Penna and Stefan Marinescu of the International Judo Federation. (ATR)them until 2012, then let’s see what happens,” said a Eurosport executive. He was referring to the loss of the rights to the 2014 and 2016 Olympics, the first time in 50 years of Olympic TV that EBU has been shut out of the Games.
Other big stands included World Wrestling Entertainment and Globo TV, selling its Brazilian football coverage. Swiss marketing agency Infront, runner up to SportFive for the European Olympic rights had a small stand, while SportFive did not.
Sportel’s Tomatis says economics regardless, he has received assurances that regular exhibitors for Sportel Monaco are planning to be back for the October meeting, the 20th anniversary of Sportel. Monaco draws as many as 2500 delegates and 80 exhibitors. The 2009 edition is scheduled for Oct. 12-14.
As is customary, Sportel moves to Asia in 2010 for the spring meeting, alternating with Miami Beach. Tomatis says he is hoping to be able to confirm Singapore as the 2010 host by the end of this month.
Written by
Ed Hula
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