The event completed its first edition in Argentina and confirmed the date of its return to Brazil, where it will be held at the Pacaembú Stadium and with the support of the São Paulo government, while it will also have a new edition in Mexico, the country where it launched.
The Sports Summit Leaders 2023, held at the Usina del Arte in Argentina, completed its second and last day with great success, thanks to an excellent attendance motivated by the exceptional level of its exhibitors and panelists, as well as the possibility of networking with the more than 150 clubs and companies represented in this edition.
The largest B2B event in the sports industry had more than 4,000 attendees in the two days, +150 clubs and companies, +80 speakers from more than 20 countries; and brought together executives from confederations, leagues and clubs, renowned sports personalities and technology companies, among others, to share and address the latest in innovation, digital transformation, audiences and platforms.
The great news of the second day was the confirmation of the return of the Sports Summit to São Paulo, on May 7, 8 and 9, 2024, at the Pacaembú Stadium, a historic building in Brazil that is undergoing a total renovation, to become a one of the main entertainment venues in Brazil.
“After the success of the first edition in Brazil and the recent one in Argentina, and following in line with our strategy of making the Sports Summit the benchmark event for the sports industry, we will return to Brazil to the Pacaembú stadium, with the support of the Government. of São Paulo and the Prefecture of São Paulo,” shared Fernando Young, CEO of Sports Summit São Paulo.
“We are very excited to confirm the return of Sports Summit Sao Paulo,” said Sebastián Lateulade, founder and CEO of Sports Summit. “We will work to make the 2024 edition the largest meeting point for the sports industry in Latin America.”
“The Sports Summit Sao Paulo will be the king event of our organization,” said Lateulade.
The desire for a 2030 World Cup in South America
Gianni Infantino, President of FIFA, was part of the event thanks to a special pre-recorded interview in which he shared his views on multiple current issues, including VAR technology, the rise of MLS and, of particular interest to Argentina and Uruguay, the possibility of hosting the 2023 World Cup, the centenary of the competition, in South America.
“We’ll see where the 2030 World Cup will be,” said Infantino. “It is a very important tournament and we are looking at how to celebrate and make the 2030 edition the most important World Cup in history.”
Getting fans’ attention
LaLiga had its special presentation, with the participation of its president, Javier Tebas, who spoke with Pablo Giralt (DSports), about the “new era” of the global brand, the innovation that has catapulted the tournament to become part of the elite of the football and the competition that exists for the public’s attention. “Our product fights every weekend against other forms of entertainment for the preference of our fans,” Tebas explained.
Regarding the constant evolution of the broadcasts of LaLiga games, which continue to innovate in the way of presenting their audiovisual content, Tebas assured that there has been a change in the formula: “Before, video games were very similar to sports broadcasts, but now we look for what video games have achieved.”
The president of LigaPro Ecuador, Miguel Ángel Loor, led a top-notch presentation on the “Evolution and growth of a different league in the region.” “We have a dream, which is for Ecuador to be the best league in the world,” said Loor. “The clubs in Ecuador understood that the competition is on the field.”
In a similar vein, Marcos Senna and Gustavo Oliveira, Director and Vice President of Marketing at Flamengo, respectively, gave a talk on “Flamengo, modernization and expansion of a Brazilian giant”. “Our strategy is focused on bringing fans closer,” said Senna. “We have a partner program with more than 100,000 members. We know what they know, what they feel and what they buy. This way we have a new way of knowing the audience.”
The Bundesliga also had its space, with a panel entitled “Innovation to connect with new fans in Latin America”, where the journalist Francisco Cánepa, from ESPN, spoke with Robin Austermann, head of Europe and Latin America for the Bundesliga.
MLS, which is experiencing a spectacular moment after the arrival of Lionel Messi, also participated in the event with the presence of Nelson Rodríguez, MLS EVP Competition & Sporting Product, who spoke with Diego Macías, Olé’s deputy director, about the impact of the arrival of the legendary argentinian playerdestination, as well as expansion plans for the American competition. «In Argentina football is lived all day. There, football does not dominate the conversation. In this month that Messi is here, football is part of the conversation, but for the culture to change, that has to happen every day”.
The Argentine Football Association (AFA), which on the first day was represented by its president, Claudio Tapia, was also present on the second day, with the panel “AFA, the global expansion of the Argentine brand”, with Leandro Petersen, Chief Commercial & Marketing Officer of the AFA. The talk was moderated by Rafael Veljanovich, director of Zoomin.
Argentine clubs were represented in two panels. One of them was “Club marketing: creativity and sense beyond sports results”, which included Roberto Martínez, from Racing Club; Matías Marasca, from Talleres de Córdoba; Leandro Martín Muscio, Independent; Mariano Vázquez Mangano, Students of La Plata; Lucía Bonfanti, from the Córdoba Institute Club.
Later it was the turn of “Argentine football and behind the scenes: function and social responsibility of the clubs”, with the participation of Eduardo Spinosa, from Banfield; David Garzón, from Hurricane; Gastón Laville, from San Lorenzo; and Sebastián Ordoñez, from Platense.
River Plate closed the day with a panel focused on the “Modernization of the study and management for a club of the future”, with Ignacio Villarroel, vice president of Club Atlético River Plate.
Mercado Libre is a new sponsor of Conmebol
The main ecommerce platform in Latin America, Mercado Libre, also accompanied the Sports Summit Leaders 2023, leading the panel “Mercado Libre: new sponsorship trends and the launch of Mercado Play”, hosted by Sean Summers, Chief Marketing Officer of Mercado Libre .
During his participation, Summers highlighted multiple initiatives of the platform related to sports, providing details of his negotiations with Flamengo and Chivas, as well as announcing the most recent agreement: the agreement that makes Mercado Libre the new official sponsor of the competitions of Conmebol clubs.
The agreement, which will take effect during the semifinals of the 2023 cycle and runs until December 2026, includes the Copa Libertadores, for women and men; the South American Cup; and the Cup Winners’ Cup.
The search for the right player
Nicolás Burdisso, sports director of AFC Fiorentina, opened the day with a talk focused on understanding the current transfer market, shaken, among other things, by the multi-million dollar arrival of the Saudi league. “The players continue to choose because of their passion,” commented the former Argentine player, who assured that the challenge of assembling the squad is a “craftsmanship and the most beautiful part of the job.”
In a similar vein, the panel “Scouting: model clubs in detecting and training talents” included the participation of Santiago Morales, general manager of the Independiente del Valle club, and Cristian Malaspina, president of the Argentine Juniors Athletic Association.
In relation to sports rights, the panel “New businesses and rights in the era of multiplatform sports” featured Oliver Seibert, director of Group Mediapro’s Sports Law Department; Diego Reck, Vice President of Strategy at Paramount; Hernán Donnari, co-founder and CEO of 1190 Sports; Nicolás Berges, manager of Audiovisual Rights and Transmissions of the International Olympic Committee; and Gustavo Minaker, head of Sports Latam at TNT Sports.
As for technology, the panel “Artificial Intelligence to optimize sponsorships and meet audiences”, led by Agustín Giménez, co-founder and Digital Director of Big Data Sports, included the participation of Nicolás Clemente, Head of Global Commercial at QSport, and Enrique Clemente, founder of QSports.
Other notable presentations from the second day of the event included “Monetizing content and knowing the behavior of Fans on the networks”, given by Emilio Fernández, regional manager for Latin America at Videocities; “Telecom: enabler of the digital experience of sport”, by Roberto Nobile, CEO of Telecom; “Video tracking data to identify talent and make smart decisions”, by Pablo Nogueira, SkillCorner Business Development Manager; “Streamers: the growth of a way of communicating and a different bond with the audience”, with the streamer Momo Gerónimo Benavides.
