BEST SPORTS EVENT OF THE YEAR
2022/23 Cazoo World Darts Championship – Professional Darts Corporation
The World Darts Championship has evolved into the festive period’s most popular sporting event, and the 2022/23 event proved to be the biggest ever, with its impact felt across the globe.
The event saw almost 90,000 fans attend London’s iconic Alexandra Palace from December 15-January 3 and enjoy an enhanced experience at the event, while global TV audiences included record-breaking figures in Germany.
The final featured an iconic nine-dart finish from Michael Smith just after Michael van Gerwen missed double 12 for the same feat, and “the greatest leg of all time” saw the PDC achieve its biggest ever day of social media interactions as the moment become a global news headline.
Post-event analysis has seen the World Darts Championship receive hugely favourable ratings when compared to sports industry standards, reflecting the record interest for ticket sales and improved delivery of the event.
2023 Wheelchair Rugby European Championship – Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby
The 2023 Wheelchair Rugby European Championship set out to raise the bar for Paralympic sport delivery Challenging the ‘it’ll do’ attitude by making the ‘impossible’ possible, the event saw Europe’s top teams battle for gold on one of sport’s most famous stages, the iconic Principality Stadium, Cardiff.
Committed to making the event an authentically inclusive experience for all, the delivery team transformed the home of Welsh rugby into the home of wheelchair rugby, creating a ‘stadium within a stadium’ with an intimate feel against the famous impressive backdrop.
By creating the incredible platform this unique sport deserves, the event engaged hundreds of thousands of new people with wheelchair rugby through live broadcast, national media coverage, social media, live attendance and a wide-reaching legacy programme.
The impact of this event will be felt long after the champions lifted the trophy – from the 7,000+ young people who have tried wheelchair rugby for the first time, to the 1,500+ schoolchildren who attended, businesses engaged in accessibility training, and the development of more opportunities to play.
By pushing the boundaries, the event has shown how sport can be a platform for societal change: changing perceptions of disability and what it means to be
BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 – BLAST
In May this year, BLAST delivered the BLAST.tv Paris Major, which is the biggest and most popular esports event of the calendar year. 24 of the world’s best teams descended on the French capital to compete for a $1.25 million prize pool and a chance at claiming the title of the world’s best Counter-Strike team.
The Paris Major became the biggest esports event in France’s history, drawing over 50,000 fans to the Accor Arena across four days of action-packed esports, posted the third highest peak viewership of all time at 1.5 million viewers and was broadcast globally in more than 100+ territories and in 24 different languages.
Hyderabad Black Hawks – The Hype Night – Havas Play India – Havas Media
Volleyball is one of the most practiced sports in schools. However, a lack of investment in the elite game has held it back. Prime Volleyball took the mantle to change this by introducing a nation-wide league. But the Hyderabad Black Hawks’ fans were still not volleying with the idea.
So, we had to get their attention!
Get them excited. Get them cheering by making the Hyderabad Black Hawks the most talked about team in the league.
We had to shed some light on this game. So, we decided to do the exact opposite thing.
TURN THE LIGHTS OFF!
Introducing HYPE NIGHT – A one-night showstopping volleyball experience where the game was played in the dark.
India’s First Blackout Volleyball experience. Neon balls. Neon costumes. Neon bands. A visual spectacle unlike any other. Fans were seated in a completely dark stadium, to witness the first-ever UV and LED-led showdown. The audience elevated the experience with glowing headbands and wristbands.
2000+ people attended the Hype Night event.
Instagram followers grew 400%. Impressions went up by 500k+.
The new-found passion for the game resulted in Hyderabad attracting the highest viewership across all cities, marking the beginning of a Volleyball revolution for the city.
Inaugural Walking Football FIWFA World Nations Cup – FIWFA
The unique sport of Walking Football is only 12 years old. It is a non-contact sport, and has proven mental and physical health benefits; it has prolonged and saved many people’s lives including those with a myriad of impairments including Parkinsons, Cancer, transplants and dementia.
Over 400 players and officials from all corners of the world will be participating in this historic inaugural amateur event, showcasing the best of this wonderful sport, which is now being played in over 70 countries, with an incredible 200,000 players in England. 27 teams are participating in the two age groups from 19 nations.
This is indubitably the fastest growing sport in the World and deserves such a World class international showcase for the growing fanbase.
This inaugural innovative and prestigious event will be a magnificent showcase for this important sport, and the event has already received a hugely positive response (including presold tickets, Nations ‘engagement and feedback) as well as enhanced brand awareness.
Matches will be screened on the new non-subscription platform www.RECAST.TV/ FIWFA
WALKING BACK TO HAPPINESS
LFC Foundation Legends Game – LFC Foundation
The LFC Foundation is the official charity of Liverpool Football Club. Our mission is to create life changing opportunities for young people and families. To do this we need to raise funds.
In season 22/23 we set out to host not one but two of our Legends fixtures at Anfield, using former Liverpool FC players as a hook to entice fans of the football club to experience Anfield, enjoy reminiscing and rewatching their favourite ex-players and ultimately raise much needed funds to support LFC Foundation and local charity beneficiaries.
The two games saw the Foundation raise a huge £1.45 million in net proceeds, with attendances of over 76,000 across the two games and broadcast to over a million fans worldwide.
London Landmarks Half Marathon 2023 – Tommy’s
The sixth edition of London Landmarks Half Marathon (LLHM), organised by Tommy’s, took place on 2 April 2023 with over 17,200 runners. The largest LLHM to date, a whopping £10.3m was raised for charity, bringing the grand total raised since the inaugural event to an outstanding £37m.
New for 2023, the LLHM officially welcomed wheelchair participants, a real milestone in the event’s continued commitment to inclusivity. 2023 also saw a new route, taking in even more iconic landmarks such as Westminster Bridge, Leicester Square and China Town.
Charity remains at the heart of LLHM, a 100% not for profit event with the number of charities benefiting increasing from 102 in 2018 to 450 for LLHM 2023.
The event is unlike any other half marathon. As well as an iconic, central London course, runners experienced ‘The Grand. The Quirky. The Hidden’ of the capital. In total, 437 activations lined the 2023 route, giving runners an experience like no other.
Following six successful years of the LLHM, this gave Tommy’s the platform to launch its second Landmarks event, the London Landmarks Skyscraper Challenge, taking place in September 2023. Like the LLHM, this event will benefit both Tommy’s and other charities too.
Netball World Cup 2023 – World Netball
The Netball World Cup (NWC) is World Netball’s (WN) flagship event. It is held every four years around the world. On its 60th anniversary, The Netball World Cup 2023 (NWC2023) was held on the continent of Africa for the first time in history. The success of the event exceeded expectations and was the culmination of four years of planning by WN, NWC2023 (Local Organising Committee) and Netball South Africa.
• Most successful commercial programme (sponsorship and broadcast) in NWC history.
• In key broadcast markets reach exceeded 11m people.
• For the first time in history, the event was recorded and produced by an all women crew from SuperSport.
• WN’s OTT Platform, NetballPass, allowed global reach and provided fans with a digital home for the NWC2023. 460,000 unique users visited the platform
• 109,437 social media posts referencing the NWC2023 reached 3.3bn potential impressions.
• 1,718 social media videos referencing the NWC2023 generated 12.1m views.
• 8,052 Online Press articles referencing the NWC2023 reached a potential readership of 1.9bn globally.
• 63 fan parks and 30 viewing centres across the nine South African provinces.
• Provision of 12 sprung wooden netball floors by South African Department of Sport.
The Ashes – England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB)
The 2023 Ashes, and the Ashes, Two Ashes campaign made history as the ECB’s first joint ticket sales campaign for an England Men’s and Women’s Ashes series.
For the first time, the men’s and women’s international scheduling for 2023 was conducted at the same time, allowing England women’s fixtures to be prioritised alongside England men’s to drive parity at the elite level and to allow optimisation of the women’s schedule for high attendance growth, including some of the most iconic grounds.
The results speak for themselves. A record 655,000 people attended the Men’s and Women’s Ashes Series this summer. Every day of the Men’s Ashes series sold out in advance, with total attendance topping 545,000 – after 110,000 watched the Women’s series – and fan feedback on the event experience ‘in-ground’ reached new heights.
At home and on the go, 17.8million watched the action live on Sky or BBC highlights, and ECB digital channels saw more than 609 million video views from both series.
Perhaps more importantly, it’s created dream-like opportunities for women to play on the same stage as men and will inspire the next generation of girls to want to do the same.