Post by QPR Report on Oct 29, 2008 15:06:06 GMT
Opprtunities in sports business in india
UKIBC highlights opprtunities in sports business in india
- In India, no doubt, cricket is next only to God, but according to the emerging trends in the sector, other sports are also gaining a strong foothold. English Premier Football Clubs like Chelsea FC to Formula One, all eyes are set on India. To highlight the sports business opportunities and launch a report by the Sports Business magazine, the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) is hosting a seminar ‘Opportunities in Sports Business in India' on Wednesday evening at the Oval Cricket Ground, London.
NEWS RELEASE - UKIBC highlights opprtunities in sports business in india
Commenting on the event, Sharon Bamford, UKIBC CEO said 'We have identified sports industry in India as a sector where UK-India business can develop strong partnerships. The UK sports sector is a very mature market and it could share its expertise with India. The Indian sports sector - from TV rights, sponsorship, talent management to legacy- offers a lot of opportunities for UK business. Moreover, two of India's mega cities, Mumbai and New Delhi, made it into this year's Ultimate Sports Cities ranking on the back of considerable investment and a strong programme for the upcoming events. As an industry, sports marketing in India is growing at 20 per cent annually. We will highlight these opportunities and more at the UKIBC seminar.'
The event will celebrate the growing interest in the Indian sports business with a focus on investment and partnership opportunities. Expert panellists from Chelsea FC, Williams F1, Mittal Champions Trust and Sports Business magazine will share their experience and opinions on the growth potential in the Indian sports business and highlight investment and partnership opportunities in the Indian Premier League, Indian Football Clubs, Talent Management, Sponsorship, Marketing and TV rights. They will share their knowledge and highlight their work in the field. Is the Indian market nascent or mature? How should you approach it? What are the challenges?
Commenting in the Sports Business magazine report ‘India: Opportunities in the business of sport', Lalit Modi, IPL commissioner, said, 'India's well documented expansion into information technology and outsourced service industries have created a burgeoning middle class with money and leisure time available in while to spend it. This new found freedom has been seen in several ways: in retail, in entertainment and of course in sports. The Twenty20 and the IPL really caught everyone's imagination and put Indian sport on the world agenda.'
It is understood that whist cricket will always enjoy a special place in the hearts of Indian sports fans, there is growing interest in football, and record levels of viewership and sponsorship in tennis and golf.
Speakers:
Sharon Bamford, CEO, UKIBC
Sharon Bamford took up the position of founding Chief Executive of the UK India Business Council (UKIBC), formerly the Indo-British Partnership Network (IBPN), in August 2007.
Sharon has founded and grown five start-ups ranging from English language schools, Montessori pre and pre-prep schools, through to project management consultancy, and drilling technology in the oil and gas sector. She has worked in countries as diverse as Libya, China, Western Siberia, Vietnam, Brazil, Australia, Singapore and Indonesia.
Combining her interest in academia and business, Sharon has spent the last seven and a half years working in Scotland's higher education sector. Her roles have included lecturing in entrepreneurship, managing the University of Edinburgh's incubator (developing and growing academic spin-outs), and Director of the Edinburgh Technopole.
Ben Wells, Chelsea FC
Ben joined Chelsea FC as Head of Sponsorship in November 2005 from highly-respected strategic sponsorship consultancy Redmandarin where he had spent the past three years running its relationship with Philips Electronics.
Ben is responsible for Chelsea's relationship with Samsung Electronics which has seen the South Korean giant receive recognition for the sponsorship at successive Sports Industry Awards. Since 2007 Ben has been charged with developing the club's brand and business in the Asia-Pacific region and was responsible for the club's successful tour of the region in July.
Formerly with Octagon and Sportal, Ben has more than eleven years' sponsorship and brand consultancy experience, working with brands such as adidas, Toshiba, Carlsberg, Philips, Allied Domecq, Zurich, Samsung and GlaxoSmithKline. Ben lived for thirteen years in Hong Kong and is a regular visitor to Asia.
Joe Bruce, Williams F1
Joe Bruce is a member of the Commercial Alliances team at Williams F1. A senior role responsible for the acquisition and retention of world class sponsors for the company. He plays a key role in the development and execution of the short and long term strategies to secure the financial future of the company.
Mr Bruce joined Williams F1 from the England and Wales Cricket Board where he was Head of Sponsorship for 7 years. Previous to that, he was at PRISM LLC where he managed the UEFA Champions League account for Ford Motor Company. Through working in a variety of sports, he has extensive experience building commercial partnerships, sports rights and sponsorship negotiation, branding and intellectual property, sponsorship servicing including both agency and rights holder experience. Through a key role in cricket he has had first hand experience working in the Indian market place.
Arunava Chaudhuri, Founder & Editor-in-Chief India's Premier Football Site Indianfootball.com
Arunava Chaudhuri is the Founder & Editor-in-Chief of IndianFootball.Com, India's Premier Football Website. Since its foundation over 10 years ago IndianFootball.Com has been the only real source of information on Indian football on the web.
Arunava, who has a journalistic background, has also been working to promote the cause of Indian football in Europe and across the globe. He has worked for the German Bundesliga, FC Bayern Munich and Southampton FC on India projects.
Currently Arunava is working to make IndianFootball.Com a multimedia platform not only for Indian football, but also those interested to reach football fans in India besides using his team's knowledge in a football consultancy on the Indian market and taking Indian football global.
Amit Bhatia, The Mittal Champions Trust
Amit is an alumni of Ivy League School Cornell University in Ithaca New York, where he studied Economics and Investment Management. After graduating Bhatia worked in merges and acquisition at Morgan Stanley in New York City and also at Credit Suisse First Boston in London. Subsequently he incubated Swordfish Investments- a private equality fund and Swordfish Capital Management- a hedge fund, both of which he owns and manages. Additionally he is involved in a number of private businesses including education, media, telecom and real estate. In 2007 Amit Bhatia joined the board of directors at Queen Park Rangers FC in London as Vice-Chairman. Amit co-owns QPR with Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone.
Kevin Roberts, Editorial Director, SportBusiness International
Kevin Roberts is the Editorial Director of SportBusiness International which he helped launch in 1996. Since then he has overseen the development of the monthly magazine as well as Sportbusiness.com, the world's leading on-line source of information about the business of sport, and a specialist customer publishing service.
Kevin was previously a director of Plus Public Relations Ltd in the UK and cut his teeth in the business of sport in the early 1990s. As deputy director for communications at CPMA group, he was involved in projects including the 1991 Rugby World Cup, and the World Student Games.
He has written for a variety of UK and international publications and is a media spokesman on a variety of sports media and marketing issues.
He has chaired and spoken at numerous international conferences including the International Olympic Committee's Conference on Sport and New Media, the General Association of International Sports Federation's SportAccord , the FT Sports Marketing Conference, Marketing Magazine Sports Marketing Conference, the Australian Leaders in Sport Conference and various editions of Sportel in Monaco and Miami.
Kevin combines his role with SportBusiness Group with wide-ranging communications consultancy within sport. He was one of the founders of the International Sports Event Management Conference and Sports Security Summit and is currently working with World Mind Masters to realise the social and commercial potential of traditional 'mind sports' in the 21st century digital environment.
About UKIBC
The UK India Business Council (UKIBC) is the lead organisation supporting the British Government in the promotion of bilateral trade, business and investment between the two countries.
UKIBC seeks to play an influential role in creating and sustaining an environment in which free-trade and investment flourishes. A key objective in this regard is the highlighting, and dismantling, of bureaucratic and regulatory barriers to entry.
Through the facilitation of partnerships, and with the support of an extensive network of influential corporate and individual members, UKIBC provides the resource, knowledge and infrastructure support vital for UK companies to make the most of emerging opportunities in India.