FUTURE WAT PROJECT
Presented to the Euromeetings Organisors
Amsterdam, 17th October 2008
by IAAF & Mindspring AG
1
BACKGROUND
2
OUR BRIEF
• Presidential mandate to review and improve WAT in
line with the his Manifesto
• Embrace the global potential of athletics
• Create opportunity for more Athletes to participate
professionally in athletics
• Appeal to the youth
• Deliver an economically sustainable project
• Investor guarantee
• All stakeholders to benefit
3
OUR
CREDENTIALS
• Senior leadership positions at both TEAM Marketing
and Octagon Worldwide
• Prior Involvement with athletics
IAAF World Championships
Mobil Grand Prix
IAAF World Cup
Athletics South Africa
• Specific experience with investors in the creation of UEFA Champions League, IIHF Champions Hockey
League
4
WINNING
CONCEPTS
• Strong involvement by Federation
• Win-win for all stakeholders
• Strong free to air broadcaster platform
• Centralised marketing programme for worldwide
sponsors
• Strong brand identity and branding execution
5
WAT PROJECT
6
PROJECT WAT
STATUS
• Step 1 - Identified objectives:
• Step 2 - Developed new concept
• Step 3 - Conducted feasibility study
• Step 4 - In depth review of concept and feasibility
study led by IAAF President
• Step 5 - Recommendation to IAAF Council
7
FEASIBILITY
STUDY
12 Month process to date
Broadcasters
• European Broadcasters Union
Stakeholders
• Meet organizers
• Agents/Athletes
• BBC (UK)
• BSkyB (UK)
• Setanta (UK & North America)
• ZDF (Germany)
• IAAF and Council
• DSF (Germany)
• Ambassadors
• Sky Italia
• France Television
Sponsors
• Carlsberg
• MasterCard
• Nestlé
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• Canal+ France
• TVE (Spain)
• Sogecable (Spain)
• Eurosport (pan-European)
• NBC Universal (USA)
• Nike
• Fox (USA)
• Shell
• TBS (Japan)
• President, International
Sponsors Council
• Al Jazeera (Middle East)
• GTV (Africa)
CURRENT
SITUATION
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• Strong consensus across the board that there is a
need for change
CURRENT
SITUATION
• Olympics and World Championships are premier
events
3 PILLARS OF
ATHLETICS
WAT
Olympics
World
Champs
WAT
Golden
League
1,151,821,00
0
10
98,787,860
KEY PRINCIPLES
11
KEY PRINCIPLES
• Do what is in the best interests of Athletics
• Reinforce IAAF leadership
• Elevate the status of the Golden League and athletics
as a whole
• Extend reach beyond Europe
• Guarantee top athletes and enhance the earnings
capability of more athletes
• Create more meaningful events - shift focus away from
individual performances to great competition
• Bring new investment into the sport
• Create a strong global brand
• All stakeholders to benefit
12
WAT STRATEGY
13
REVISED WAT
STRATEGY
Sales
Revenue
Top
Athletes
Build
Brand
Improve WAT Format
Investor Funded
14
STRATEGY
Sales
Revenue
Top
Athletes
Build
Brand
Improve WAT Format
Investor Funded
15
FORMAT
Key Changes:
• Simplified format
• Two-tier approach
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GOLDEN
LEAGUE
SEASON
SCHEDULE
Rationale for 12 events
• Maintain strength of European events
• Target key global markets
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
17
GOLDEN
LEAGUE
FORMAT
Programming Block
20:00-22:00
• Two-hour programming block
• Consistent Golden League disciplines
•
•
10 standard for entire series
4 events of local interest
• Simple, meaningful points system based
on order of finish
Local Interest Discipline 1
Local Interest Discipline 2
Local Interest Discipline 3
Local Interest Discipline 4
GL Discipline 1
GL Discipline 2
GL Discipline 3
GL Discipline 4
GL Discipline 5
GL Discipline 6
GL Discipline 7
GL Discipline 8
GL Discipline 9
GL Discipline 10
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CHALLENGE
LEAGUE OVERVIEW
• 12 meetings out of tender process
• Europe and outside Europe
• Open to all disciplines
• IAAF solidarity fund: considerably higher than current
IAAF grant
• Consistent branding
• No grant of marketing rights to the IAAF
• Can be scheduled any day except on or around
Golden League days
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STRATEGY
Sales
Revenue
Top
Athletes
Build
Brand
Improve WAT Format
Investor Funded
20
KEY CHANGES
• IAAF guarantees top athlete participation and finances
incentive plan
• IAAF central athlete contracts
•
•
Guaranteed contract for 20 to 30 top athletes
6-9 appearances per season
• Standings Bonus for each discipline to replace current
Jackpot
•
Benefits many athletes as opposed to just 1 or 2
• Considerably more money for more athletes
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NEW
PARTNERSHIP
IAAF
• Prize Money
• Appearance Fees
Meet
Organisers
Athletes
• Appearances
22
STRATEGY
Sales
Revenue
Top
Athletes
Build
Brand
Improve WAT Format
Investor Funded
23
BRAND
• Make Golden League instantly recognisable
• Consistent implementation across all events
• Much stronger vs. individual event brands
• Reviewed best practices from other sports and
propose the best solution for Athletics
24
STRATEGY
Sales
Revenue
Top
Athletes
Build
Brand
Improve WAT Format
Investor Funded
25
MARKETING
• Current decentralised marketing approach leaves
money on the table
• Need to access all available budgets
•
•
•
Global / Regional
National
Local
• Need to keep benefits of current sponsors
•
•
Ticket promotions
Hospitality
• Combined centralised / local sales allows access to all
levels
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SPONSORSHIP
CONCEPT
Series Partners
Individual Event
Partners
4
Golden
League
Partners
(4 x $5m)
1
National Event Sponsor
($0.5-1m each)
1 Host City Partner
National Sponsors
National Suppliers
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BROADCAST
SALES
• Centralised sales of all broadcast rights
•
•
Splitting TV rights leads to weaker product/loss of leverage
Obligation to be host broadcaster
• Priority to free-to-air coverage
•
•
•
•
…in order to create broadest coverage to build sport
…and therefore build value of sponsorship
Target gradual increase….starting with 2 or 3 meets on
terrestrial in key markets
Additional coverage on thematic sports channels
• Broad programming
•
•
•
•
Live
Delayed
Highlights
Magazine (centrally produced)
• Broad distribution
•
•
•
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TV
Internet
Wireless
FEASIBILITY
STUDY
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• Feedback from EBU
•
Key Partner of IAAF
•
EBU strongly wants to keep its commitment to athletics
•
Conducted complete review of proposed project
•
EBU says this is going in the right direction and they
want to partner the IAAF in this development
STRATEGY
Sales
Revenue
Top
Athletes
Build
Brand
Improve WAT Format
Investor Funded
30
INVESTOR
FUNDING
• This project will be funded by investors on a long term
basis
• Allows for massive new financing of the sport
• Strong interest is being shown by potential investors
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SUMMARY
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SUMMARY
• Revitalise athletics
• Strongly addresses key issues
•
•
•
•
•
Confusing format
Meaningful competition
Athlete participation
Commercial appeal
Financial viability
• Feasibility study indicates concept is feasible
• Investor interest in the concept is strong
33
NEXT STEPS
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2007
2008
2009
2010
TIMING
Product Development
Implementation of
Commercial & Event Plan
New IGL
Season
9/07
1/08
1/09
1/10
Design - A
Broadcaster
Search
Event Plan
Implementation
Feasibility
Study - B
IAAF President Briefing
Bidding
Process - C
Pre-Season
Build-up
Pre-testing with Champions
IAAF Approval
35
Signature of Agreements
Sponsor
Search
Investor
Closing - D
NEXT STEPS
• Have now received IAAF Council “In Principle”
approval to proceed
• Investor search now underway with a view to securing
interested parties by next IAAF Council Meeting in
November
36
THANK YOU
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