Sponsor Spotlight: World Athletics Appoints First Official Research Supplier

(ATR) World Athletics adds a valuable partner in its effort to grow the sport over the next four years.

The federation this week selected Nielsen as its official supplier of Consumer Market Research Services.

Nielsen is the first affiliate appointed in this product category. The company will be providing World Athletics with sports data and insights across both the sport and specific events including the next two World Athletics Championships in 2022 (Oregon) and 2023 (Budapest) and the next two World Athletics Indoor Championships in 2021 (Nanjing) and 2022 (Belgrade).

The research program includes consumer surveys, brand tracking, spectator experience evaluation, social and economic impact assessments for host cities, and consumer research surveys for sponsors.

World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said Nielsen would be a valuable addition to the sport’s global network of commercial partners.

"Evidence-based intelligence has become increasingly important in informing the commercial decisions we must make to steer our sport successfully in this ever-changing world. Nielsen is uniquely positioned to help World Athletics deliver on its mission to grow the sport of athletics and create globally appealing and accessible competitions," Coe said in a statement.

Mount Gay Rum Partners with World Sailing

The world’s oldest running rum distiller and World Sailing will be working together for the next two years.

Mount Gay, located in Barbados, signed on this week as the federation’s Official eSailing Partner.

In addition to raising the profile and awareness of eSailing globally, Mount Gay will become a supporting partner of the eSailing World Championship and eSailing Nations Cup with six weeks of challenges incorporated into the gameplay.

Mount Gay has been a decades-long supporter of sailing worldwide and will work with World Sailing to use eSailing to bring global sailing communities together virtually, raise the profile of eSailing and support nations to develop their competition structures and eSailing National Championships.

The federation says eSailing has grown dramatically with more than two million global players participating in Inshore and Offshore games.

"The eSailing World Championship has grown twentyfold in the last year and the newly established eSailing Nations Cup has added another exciting element of competition and opportunities for global eSailors and member nations," Scott Over, Commercial Director at World Sailing, said in a statement.

"The partnership with Mount Gay will enable deeper levels of community engagement in a thriving environment and enable World Sailing to continue eSailing development with new classes, venues and participating nations."

Thirteen nations have launched eSailing National Championships in 2020 and with Mount Gay's support, Barbados has become the 14th with more countries expected to join.

FIBA Renews with Schelde Sports

The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) appoints Schelde Sports as the FIBA Global Supplier of backstop units until 2024.

The partnership means the company will continue to supply and install basketball backboards for all of FIBA’s top-level international competitions including the 2023 Basketball World Cup, Eurobasket 2022 and the Paris 2024 Olympic tournament.

Schelde Sports, which is owned by sports and leisure equipment maker ABEO, has been an official partner of FIBA since 1994. It has provided the backstop units for leading competitions since 2014, including the upcoming Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

"FIBA places great importance on long-term partnerships and we are pleased to announce a new agreement with Schelde Sports, particularly after the great collaboration we had with them at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019," Andreas Zagklis, FIBA Secretary General said in a statement.

"Schelde Sports is globally renowned for its distribution excellence and we are delighted to continue to provide our players with these state of the art backstop units at numerous FIBA flagship events, as well as the Olympic Games."

Written by Gerard Farek

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