Sportel continues to be where sports rights business gets done

SportelAmerica is the leading conference in the Americas where buyers and sellers of sports TV and streaming rights meet to get business done.

In the recent Sportel convention in Miami this month, all of the key players were in attendance to network with buyers and sellers. For example, when it comes to soccer rights, just some of the companies at the show in downtown Miami included the Premier League, FOX Sports, Bundesliga, beIN SPORTS, La Liga, Univision Deportes, Ligue Un, Sling TV, MLS, ESPN, Turner Sports and IMG. Plus, there were hundreds of other representatives from many other sports.

When asked what makes SportelAmerica different, Sportel Global Sales & Marketing Agent David Jones said, “That’s what’s great about Sportel. You can actually sign contracts. It’s not just about making the contact and then we make a deal somehow by negotiating afterwards. No, you can make deals at Sportel. That’s what’s so great about this show.

“You have the decisionmakers here. You have the people here that can sign the contract right away. That’s the base of Sportel and why it’s so attractive and important to people. You can get stuff done here.”

The three day convention allows key decisionmakers from around the world (but mostly North, Central and South America) to meet face-to-face with the executives that buy and sell media rights. Plus, there are many technology companies both in attendance and exhibiting who are able to partner with rights holders for aspects such as content distribution and rights protection.

One of the biggest announcements to come out of the SportelAmerica conference this month is that Sportel will return to Miami in May 2018 for the first-ever SPORTEL Decision Makers Summit, which will be an unprecedented two-day meeting designed only for an exclusive circle of international deciders of the sports marketing and media industry. This summit will provide the luxury to really “Meet The Elite” in special networking sessions and build new business relations with real deciding partners.

“Our goal is very clear,” said Sportel CEO Laurent Puons. “The Summit will only be devoted to the CEO. So we will offer to these people the platform and opportunity to meet together with people who are only on the same level. They could discuss doping issues, political issues, media, marketing, etcetera.

“It’ll be an important opportunity for only them to discuss the topics together.”

“There’ll be no exhibits. We will have a networking lounge,” said Jones. “There’ll be a maximum of 200 people. We’re also going to be very selective about who are invited. We will bring in high level speakers as well. In these panels, they will inspire people to start a discussion with each other.

“Each part of the business has an issue with the other. So we have the federation, the media, the marketing, the host cities — you have all of these different things, and everybody has their own needs. And there are many points where they collide. It’s hard to have a conversation about this and solve these issues if you don’t really have the opportunity to sit together, face to face and discuss certain issues. This is what this show is about. We bring these people together and get things solved for the sport and for the fans.”

The Sportel Decision Makers Summit expects that celebrities, influencers, federation presidents and politicians will be in attendance to present new projects and speak about their side of the business, which will later be elaborated in detailed discussion sessions.