{"id":798,"date":"2020-01-22T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-22T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/sport-business\/reports\/lessons-from-leaders-six-takeaways-from-the-leaders-sport-business-summit-abu-dhabi\/"},"modified":"2021-08-10T09:59:50","modified_gmt":"2021-08-10T09:59:50","slug":"six-takeaways-from-leaders-abu-dhabi","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/sport-business\/articles\/six-takeaways-from-leaders-abu-dhabi\/","title":{"rendered":"Lessons from Leaders: Six takeaways from the Leaders Sport Business Summit, Abu Dhabi"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\n Jan 22, 2020 <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>Articles<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

Lessons from Leaders: Six takeaways from the Leaders Sport Business Summit, Abu Dhabi<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n \n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The second edition of the Leaders Sport Business Summit, Abu Dhabi, took place on 21st and 22nd January at Yas Marina Circuit. Here are six takeaways from an action-packed two days.<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
By James Emmett<\/h6>\n

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Fit for purpose<\/strong><\/p>\n

The UAE has launched a new brand identity \u2013 and a smart new pin badge to go with it – and while the marketing messaging has been refined, the role that sport is playing in building this nation, and its capital here in Abu Dhabi, remains central.<\/p>\n

As HE Aref Hamad Al Awani<\/strong>, General Secretary of the Abu Dhabi Sports Counci<\/strong>l, outlined in his opening address, Abu Dhabi is now an experienced major event host \u2013 with judo, cycling, triathlon, athletics, tennis, and of course motorsport all having cemented major Abu Dhabi meetings onto their calendars \u2013 and the effects, both projected outwardly and trickled down inwardly, have become established. The 450 international delegates here at the Yas Marina Conference Center would testify to the first, and the thousands of people \u2013 expats and locals alike \u2013 taking advantage of the open evening at the Yas Marina Circuit to cycle, run, or walk around the track are evidence of the latter.<\/p>\n

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Royal approval<\/strong><\/p>\n

HRH Prince Abdullah bin Musaad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud,<\/strong> who recently took full ownership of Premier League side Sheffield United<\/strong>, brought a dynamism and a personality not overly constrained by a corporate communications line to his turn on stage on day one of the summit. Giving his views on sports ownership, Prince Abdullah, who made his money in Saudi in the paper industry, articulately expressed a kinship with the people of Sheffield, the city of steel whose industrial history is ingrained in its people.<\/p>\n

He was also forthright on every issue that was put in front of him: the potential for Premier League broadcast revenues to dip in the next cycle? No chance, \u201cnews and sport are the only two things that people still watch live, so they have an edge with the advertisers.\u201d A World Cup in the region in 2022? Bad news for that summer, where we\u2019ll have to forego football to \u201cspend more time with the family\u201d, but good news for the game \u201cbecause the best players will be at their peak\u201d. And while we\u2019re on the topic, burnout, he believes, is a real issue in English football. \u201cI think we can do without the Carabao Cup; players get exhausted and there are too many games.\u201d VAR in the Premier League? \u201cI think we have to find a solution; it\u2019s ridiculous now. Every time I watch the goal that was disallowed against Spurs I feel pain.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Gerry the pacemaker<\/strong><\/p>\n

RedBird Capital <\/strong>Founder and Managing Partner Gerry Cardinale<\/strong> sees athletes as the next big finance opportunity in sport. He\u2019s put his money where his mouth is by investing in a new vehicle called OneTeam Partners, a joint venture between RedBird and the players associations of the NFL and MLB focused on commercialising athlete IP.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlayers, teams, leagues; that\u2019s the value chain in sport,\u201d he explained in a session on sports investment. \u201cTwo thirds have evolved and matured with capital. One third has never touched capital and that\u2019s the players. But we now have a platform where we can show the players how to build their own businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Redbird watching<\/strong><\/p>\n

Spurred, perhaps, by fellow panellist Javier Alonso<\/strong>\u2019s tale of how Kosmos Sport<\/strong> had bought a fifth tier Spanish football club based in Andorra and brought them to the brink of the Spanish second division in a matter of of two years (and within a very favourable tax environment), Cardinale also opened up on what he\u2019s setting his sights on next: \u201cWe\u2019ve been spending the last two years going deep thinking about soccer. The one thing we can\u2019t do in the US is own a team. They don\u2019t allow professional or institutional investors to own teams.<\/p>\n

In Europe you can actually own the team; but there are challenges; it\u2019s very difficult to invest offshore when you don\u2019t have a presence on the ground. In Europe, you don\u2019t really own the team, the fans do, and they see the owners as just passing through. We have looked at teams in London, Madrid, France and the Netherlands. I\u2019m not looking at the big teams \u2013 I\u2019ll never write a cheque for Chelsea or Tottenham \u2013 but we\u2019re looking at teams in the 6th<\/sup> to 11th<\/sup> category [in the league] \u2013 a multi-team, multi-country model, like City Football Group have done – partnered with a strong analytics firm, set up to be stable and consistent cash flow wise. We just haven\u2019t been able to find the right grouping yet on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Future-proofing<\/strong><\/p>\n

Innovation was the name of the game for several of the panel sessions, particularly the ones exploring the future of golf, cricket and esports. The times they are a-changing, and golf and cricket are working hard to change with them. Esports is already there. First, in golf, where a panel featuring Navin Singh<\/strong> of the USGA, Peter German <\/strong>of IMG<\/strong>, and Guy Kinnings <\/strong>of the European Tour<\/strong> pinpointed what they believe will be different in their sport in the not too distant future. \u201cThe concern around the aging demographic,\u201d said Singh. \u201cAnd for us to not be having that conversation anymore.<\/p>\n

There are so many different modes and platforms by which golf is consumed that we put out of our minds this idea that traditional consumption is going down.\u201d Kinnings agreed with him. \u201cPeople need to start acknowledging that you have played golf if you have chipped and putted or played golf on a computer. We also need home-grown talent competing against global superstores around the world.\u201d While German put sustainability at the core of his prediction. \u201cIt\u2019s an issue that golf will have to address,\u201d he said, \u201cand perhaps by having not so many events worldwide.\u201d<\/p>\n

In cricket, the ECB\u2019s Sanjay Patel<\/strong>, MD of The Hundred, the new format and competition being rolled out this summer, explained how a huge research project underpinned the modelling of the new tournament. To reach new fans, Patel said, cricket needs to become shorter, easier to understand, and more exciting. And, without taking any of the established competitions out of the current calendar, The Hundred is focused on doing just that. OverActive Media <\/strong>CEO Chris Overholt<\/strong>, meanwhile, sees 5G and VR as the two new technologies that are poised to allow esports to scale at the level many believe it capable of, with both set to democratise new and deeper experiences in digital gaming.<\/p>\n

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A nudge in the right direction<\/b><\/p>\n

The word \u2018translation\u2019 is banned in the Manchester United<\/strong> offices, Ian Nolan<\/strong>, the club\u2019s Global Head of Content and MUTV explained, and that\u2019s because an effective international engagement strategy relies on true localisation \u2013 localisation that speaks in an authentic voice to different people in different regions on different platforms. United run 15 digital accounts across the world \u2013 and have not yet taken the jump into TikTok \u2013 and are still focused on driving engagement back towards their owned platforms. One of the club\u2019s engagement measurements, Nolan revealed, is fan emotion, with tactics in place to nudge those fans disappointed with, for example, a bad result back towards positive anticipation of the next game.<\/p>\n

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The second edition of the Leaders Sport Business Summit, Abu Dhabi, took place on 21st and 22nd January at Yas Marina Circuit. 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