Date: Wed 9th September, 2009
Venue:
Number of Guests Attended: 150
Insider welcomed leading sports, business and political figures to its second Business of Sport Summit at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall.
It was fitting that on the day England secured a resounding qualification for the 2010 World Cup that one of England and Manchester’s finest joined us at this year’s summit.
Bryan Robson, who heads Lancashire stadium and academy developer Robson Lloyd, kicked off proceedings by announcing a new partnership with property adviser GVA Grimley.
But we couldn’t resist grilling him about England’s chances to host the 2018 World Cup too. “You look at the structure of our league and at our facilities and they are second to none. It is a case of everyone pulling together to make this happen,” he said.
There was silverware on show courtesy of Warrington Wolves, which lent us the newly acquired rugby league Challenge Cup.
Club deputy chairman Steve Broomhead said the victory had had a “phenomenal” effect on the club and its bottom line, and that the victory had put both the club and the town “back on the map”.
Broomhead, chief executive of the Northwest Regional Development Agency, underlined the wider significance of sport to the regional economy, saying it was now roughly the same size as its aerospace industry and worth around £6bn.
He was one of more than 20 speakers during the day, which also featured panel debates on commercial innovation in sport, sponsorship, and the impact of new media. The latter prompted a fascinating debate about who could be broadcasting live sport in the years ahead.
As Moz Dee from Talksport said: “In this environment anyone can be a broadcaster. It’s all about brands and exploiting every single platform.”
Paul Nugent of Umbro took the stand with a polished presentation on the story behind the new England football kit, while design consultant Chris Mather also gave a fascinating insight into the sporting museum industry.
An overriding theme of the day was that no one could rest on their laurels in such a fast-changing environment.
Manchester City Council chief executive Sir Howard Bernstein said the same went for cities: “The Commonwealth Games proved a great sporting platform for us but the one thing Manchester can never become is complacent.”
