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Business of Sport Summit 2008
2008 is the single biggest year of world sport in Manchester since the XVII Commonwealth Games in 2002 and at Insider we are delighted to have played our part with a unique sports business event held at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall on Wednesday 14 May.
Sir Howard Bernstein opened proceedings, before the main business of the day started in earnest. Dan Jones, a director in the Manchester-based sports business group, hosted a panel debate featuring James Jennings, Alistair Mackintosh and Jim Cumbes, respectively the chief executives of Sale Sharks, Manchester City FC and Lancashire County Cricket Club, and Ann Thompson, head of the sports cluster at the Northwest Regional Development Agency.
Jennings made a presentation on how his club operates and the debate was followed with a presentation by David Burns, ex-boss of the Football League and now chief executive of the Chill Factore.
Burns was joined for a panel debate on participation by Dave Edmundson, chief executive of the Football League Trust, and Paul Horrocks, editor of the Manchester Evening News.
The first speaker after the half-time interval was Matt Appleby, sponsorship director at Barclays, who provided a fascinating insight into how Barclays gets value from its backing of the Premier League, for which it has been the title sponsor since 2001.
Appleby was followed by Paul Rawnsley of Deloitte, who spoke on global trends in football – focusing on media rights - ahead of the publication of the Deloitte football finances report. Rawnsley was joined in a panel debate by Alec Craig, senior partner at law firm Halliwells and a director of sports and talent agency Formation; and Phil Townsend, Manchester United’s head of communications.
The next keynote speaker was Chris Ronnie, chief executive of JJB Sports. Further presentations came from Steven Broomhead, chief executive of the Northwest Regional Development Agency, and Andrew Stokes, chief executive of Marketing Manchester.
Closing remarks came from Mike Finnigan of Advance Performance, the Preston-based motivational group used in recent years by Bolton Wanderers and Everton as well as many businesses.
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