The new Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai – recent winner of a Mondo*DR’s 2020 EMEA & APAC Awards – unites three dynamic, industry-leading lighting brands from Cooper Lighting Solutions – Zero 88 for entertainment-style control, iLight for architectural-style control and Ephesus LED sports lights. The interior lighting and control systems together with all associated infrastructure were delivered as a turnkey solution during last year by Eaton Lighting Systems – now known as Cooper Lighting Solutions (CLS).

Blackbird plc (AIM: BIRD), the developer and seller of the market-leading Blackbird cloud video editing platform, announced today that esports trailblazers, VENN, have selected Blackbird for ultra-fast and efficient remote video production. The deal is for 3 years and was brokered by Blackbird’s new US systems integrator partner, ASG. VENN is a new kind of TV network for the streaming generation, aimed at gaming, pop culture and esports audiences. Founded by gaming visionaries Ariel Horn and Ben Kusin, VENN broadcasts live from studios in New York and Los Angeles with content distributed across a broad range of media platforms.

A new virtual version of the 4K 4Charity Fun Run traditionally held in collaboration with the NAB Show concluded this week, with sponsors and supporters raising over $21,000 in net donations for organizations that provide COVID-19 relief and non-profits focused on increasing diversity and inclusion in the tech industry. Today, 4K 4Charity Fun Run event organizers also confirmed the virtualization of the entire 2020 series of 4K and 8K runs, including those planned for the IBC Show in September, a community event in Portland, Oregon, and the SMPTE Annual Tech Conference in November.

Developer and publisher of the world’s most player focused video games, Riot also leads in the field of esports. Riot’s games portfolio includes League of Legends, the most-played PC game in the world with over 80 million monthly players and a key driver of the explosive growth of esports. Riot continues to evolve League of Legends while delivering new experiences to players with Legends of Runeterra, League of Legends: Wild Rift, Teamfight Tactics, VALORANT and multiple work-in-progress titles.

The planet's toughest test of motorsports endurance returns to Saudi Arabia in the New Year as a brand-new Dakar Rally route will push committed petrolheads to the limit over diverse landscapes. Here is all you need to know: - After four decades of desert action in Africa and South America, a stunning debut in the Arabian Peninsula earlier this year saw the Dakar capture the imagination of adventurous rally fans the world over once again. In January 2021, the world's toughest rally is heading back to Saudi Arabia for another fortnight of exhilarating offroad action.

Building on their successful collaboration in providing ‘Refcams’ - helmet-mounted cameras worn by referees - at last year’s Champions Hockey League, Movicom and Vislink continue to expand the line-up of ultra-small wireless wearable cameras for use in live sports production. The most well-known Refcam kit includes a mini-camera, Movicom’s specially designed and engineered camera mount with Vislink’s IMT Dragonfly wireless transmitter, which can be quickly mounted on almost any type of protective gear, including referees’ preferred personal helmets. The kit weighs just under 7oz/190g and has no external wires which speeds and facilitates mounting and dismounting it. This year’s innovation is the addition of cameras with C-mounts which opens up the lens options for the system – providing higher quality optics and thus better-quality images.

Prudential Center, the world-class sports and entertainment venue located in downtown Newark, New Jersey, has replaced its aging signal and communications infrastructure with an all-new signal routing and intercom backbone based on Riedel solutions. Riedel’s MediorNet real-time signal transport, processing, and routing technology is integrated with an Artist digital matrix intercom mainframe and Bolero wireless intercom to enable seamless and high-quality communications throughout the facility.

12^th Man Productions is the broadcast and post facility for Texas A&M University, one of the major players in college athletics in the USA. Across our College Station campus, we have seven major venues, which between them host as many as 110 events a year. For those events, we provide the infrastructure for broadcasters like ESPN, and we create the fan experience through big screen shows at each venue. Those big screen shows include sponsorship fulfillment within the venues. We also provide separate video feeds to each venue, for applications like official replays, concourse feeds, talent monitors and team recordings.

With competitive sport now returning ‘behind closed doors’ in several countries, a key problem is how to recreate the experience of passionate supporters, both for sporting participants and those cheering them on. To address this, two of Japan’s top professional football clubs recently helped Yamaha to trial its Remote Cheerer powered by SoundUD* system at the 50,000-seat Shizuoka Stadium ECOPA.

Infront, a Wanda Sports Group company and the exclusive marketing partner of Top 14 rugby club Stade Toulousain, has brokered a renewal agreement between Nike and the French side. The sportswear giant will continue its role as the club's official supplier through to the 2025 season

Ekstraklasa SA, the exclusive global media rights holder for the top Polish professional league, PKO Bank Polski Ekstraklasa, and Dugout today announced that bespoke Polish football content will be distributed across Dugout’s Embed video products to a global audience of 60 million football fans. The partnership marks Ekstraklasa’s highly anticipated return to live football on May 29th with content now shared in markets excluding Poland and the Balkans. The new collaboration will ensure Ekstraklasa clubs build an even deeper connection with their fans and reach new audiences with high-quality, original and archive football content delivered worldwide via Dugout and its global network of 85 premium publishers.

2020’s Formula One racing will start with two historic firsts – Austria will host the opening race of an F1 season for the first time, and two races will be held at the same circuit on consecutive weekends. The Formula 1 Rolex Großer Preis von Österreich is to open the season on July 5, while the Formula 1 Pirelli Großer Preis der Steiermark is to follow on July 12.

The news was announced at a press conference held at the National Stadium in Warsaw with the participation of Prime Minister - Mateusz Morawiecki, Minister of Sport - Danuta Dmowska-Andrzejuk, president of Ekstraklasa S.A. - Marcin Animucki and president of the Polish Football Association - Zbigniew Boniek.

The International Hockey Federation (FIH), the world’s governing body for the sport of hockey, and NAGRA, a Kudelski Group (SIX:KUD.S) company and the world's leading independent provider of content protection and multiscreen video solutions, have signed a ten-year partnership that brings together the established sports leadership of the FIH and NAGRA’s market-leading digital media solutions to deliver a ground-breaking fan engagement service. The new platform will be the “home of hockey”, creating a central community for the 30 million players, fans, and officials worldwide. It will also benefit the global growth of the sport through new awareness, expanded fan engagement, and new sources of revenue for the FIH.

Financial impact on postponed and cancelled events

It is hard to pin down the financial implications. Some events have been postponed and others have been cancelled and will not be repeated this year. There are a range of factors that will still influence how much of a financial impact COVID-19 will have. One needs to consider the situation in each specific country and how the governments act towards that. Also, whether there is room in the calendar as well as the insurance situation for each specific sport.