Sponsor Spotlight: IOC, IPC, Airbnb Team Up for Athletes

(ATR) The IOC, IPC and Worldwide Olympic partner Airbnb are joining forces for a first of its kind event to help support athletes as they chase their sporting dreams.

A five-day summer festival of Olympian and Paralympian Online Experiences will feature some of the world’s best athletes virtually hosting more than 100 separate activities.

The festival will kick off on July 24, when Tokyo 2020 was originally scheduled to begin, and is an opportunity for athletes to generate income while they share their passion for the Olympic and Paralympic Games and their sport with guests.

Bookings open on July 22 on Airbnb for fans interested in supporting their heroes ahead of Tokyo 2020. Spectators can also watch select Online Experiences live or on replay on the Airbnb Olympic and Paralympic YouTube channels.

Naomi Osaka, Yusra Mardini, Rui Hachimura, Allyson Felix, and Lex Gillette are among the athletes already signed up.

"This festival is a great platform to unite and inspire the world in the spirit of friendship and solidarity this summer," IOC president Thomas Bach said in a statement.

"The IOC puts the athletes at the heart of the Olympic Movement and supports them at every stage of their journey. We are delighted to collaborate with Airbnb to provide innovative economic empowerment opportunities for Olympic and Paralympic athletes around the world."

FEI and ClipMyHorse.TV Partnership

The FEI and ClipMyHorse.TV (CMH.TV) have entered into an agreement that is set to change the future landscape of the global governing body’s live streaming services to millions of equestrian fans worldwide. CMH.TV is one of the world’s leading providers of live streams for equestrian sports.

"This is the first time the FEI will have an equity stake in a company which will allow us to actively contribute to shaping the narrative around the coverage of equestrian events," FEI President Ingmar De Vos said.

All major FEI Series and Championships have previously been live streamed by FEI.TV providing fans with an extensive range of replays, bonus features and coverage of past events available both live and on-demand. But now subscribers enjoy coverage of international, national, and local equestrian events with commentary offered in local languages. They will also have access to the equestrian video archives and database with extensive information on athletes and horses.

At the moment, FEI's online television platform is offering past coverage of events and special equestrian features for free while the sport is on hold due to Covid-19.

Birmingham 2022 Announces Broadcast Partner

Birmingham 2022 and Commonwealth Games Federation Partnerships (CGFP) have chosen a host broadcaster for the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England.

Sports broadcast production company Sunset+Vine won the bid for the Games, which will be held July 28-August 8 2022. Roughly 4,500 athletes are expected to compete.

"We are delighted to have prevailed following a very rigorous bidding process. The contract award further establishes the company as one of the few worldwide businesses with the creative and technical expertise to handle large scale events. We thank Birmingham 2022 and the CGFP for placing their trust in us and look forward to delivering best in class production for all broadcast rights holders at the Games," Jeff Foulser, CEO at Sunset+Vine, commented.

Sunset+Vine will be responsible for providing coverage of the Commonwealth Games to an audience of more than 1.5 billion. The company has also provided coverage for the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast in 2018 and Glasgow in 2014, the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Paralympics, the 2017 World Athletics Championships in London and the 2018 World Equestrian Games.

Sunset+Vine’s coverage also will include the Opening and Closing Ceremonies in addition to providing preview series, support programming, highlight shows, and short-form content.

Written by Gerard Farek and Greer Wilson

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