Review of SPORTEL Miami 2020
Laurent Puons, chief executive of SPORTEL, and Nick Volante, SPORTEL’s exclusive marketing agent, review the 2020 edition of the spring market in Miami.
Q. You tweaked the format for 2020, with a one-day conference preceding the convention. What was the reason for this?
Volante: “We have tried for some years to get the best format. Everybody previously knows Sportel as the place to trade, to buy and sell, with meetings every 30 minutes and we were having some really good conference programme events, which people wanted to attend, but they were clashing with sales meetings. Of course those meetings took priority, but the one day conference gave our community the opportunity to attend and to network.
Puons (pictured): “This is the format I would like to put in place for the future because it is an opportunity for our community to attend the conference with no parallel meetings, so we could have a lot of attendees.
“We will develop this format next year for sure. But the goal is certainly to have a conference with a high level of speakers.”
Q. This was the first Sportel in Miami since 2017. Will the market have a similar wait to return again?
Puons: “In 2018 and 2019 I made a decision to stay in Asia. Unfortunately for me, and it was my responsibility, I made a decision to go to Macau last year and it was not a success. Now we are back to America and of course I would like to come back to America again next year. It is very important for us to provide an opportunity for our European community to do business in America.
“So we will be back, most likely in Miami or New York, or maybe South America. We will listen to our community’s needs.”
Volante: “The Sportel community is international and we had a number of years in Asia, successfully so. But going to a Miami or a New York or a San Francisco or any other major hub in the US just provides an excellent opportunity and a very high-quality experience.”
Q. Sportel Monaco is an established event, but the spring convention appears more adept to innovation. What are the early plans for 2021?
Puons: “I think we have a huge potential to develop the spring market in the future. We are constantly looking at ways to provide our community with new initiatives to do business. We started the buyers’ breakfast this year, and that was a great success. Next year maybe we will create a new market, and adapt the package to attract different companies so that everyone gets something out of it.
“It is mandatory for us to do the necessary to provide the best business, not in terms of quantity but in terms of quality, for the spring market.”
Q. What major issues coming out of the market do you envision being part of the conversation for the industry over the next 12 months.
Volante: “The exciting thing is we don’t know. Things are changing so quickly, but ultimately it’s about the consumer. That is why the decisions Sportel and Laurent made to change the spring convention was about what does the industry and our community need. We listen to our community and we are changing. Ultimately of course everything is becoming more diverse, the bundle has been broken. Strategies are more diverse. It’s not one size fits all anymore. If you want a successful sports media property, everything has to be tailored.”