Top Speaker Jürgen Lenz Confirms Attendance

With Champions League co-founder and marketer, Jürgen Lenz, one of the most influential, leading representatives in the sports business industry will put in an appearance on the Main Stage. The man to have a decisive impact on the early years of sports marketing at Adidas is also considered the founder of the UEFA Champions League (UCL). Lenz recognised early on that major sporting events are the ideal platform for international brands. Thus the former ISL manager conceived the marketing model for the UEFA Champions League with the agency he founded, TEAM – and this pioneering model is often copied to this very day. Jürgen Lenz can not only lay claim to having pioneered the international sports business industry, but also to have given it a face.

SPONSORs to also confer the Sports Media Innovation Award in 2012
Sport has always been a driver of new technologies, yet never before has it been as versatile and varied as it is today. While the industry players are continually facing new challenges, they are at the same time being provided with countless opportunities through the new world of media. It is before this backdrop that SPONSORs is to confer the “Sports Media Innovation Award” for what is now the second time.

Entrepreneurs, clubs, associations, developers, and all those active in the sports media industry with an innovative idea are invited to submit an application for the award by March 23, 2012 – regardless of whether it is their own project or that of a third party. Restrictive criteria are intentionally foregone – all proposals are warmly welcome! As a driving force within the industry, SPONSORs wishes to give aspiring industry players the opportunity to showcase their innovations to leading sports media representatives. Not only a project’s degree of innovation is decisive, but also its potential to provide new impetus.

Submit an application by March 23, 2012
All industry players have until March 23, 2012 to submit a project for the “Sports Media Innovation Award” using this application form. A brief summary (PDF; max. 2,500 characters) and detailed outline (or PPT; max. 5 MB) of the concept must be provided. Restrictive criteria are intentionally foregone during this phase – all applications are warmly welcome!

Nomination of the five best projects by the start of April
The jury comprising top editors along with SPONSORs’ editor-in-chief will select the five best projects by the start of April 2012. Public voting, which everyone can get involved in, will then begin on this website in mid-April 2012.

Announcement and honouring of the award winner at the SPONSORs Sports Media Summit
The three projects deemed the best in the online voting will be showcased on the Main Stage at the SPONSORs Sports Media Summit on May 24, 2012. The winner of the Innovation Award will then be announced and honoured in a ceremony on the Main Stage. Moreover, the winning project will also be featured in the post-event review of the conference in the SPONSORs magazine.