SVG Soccer Summit Americas Brings Together Leagues, Networks To Discuss the Sport's Exponential Growth

SVG Soccer Summit Americas Brings Together Leagues, Networks To Discuss the Sport's Exponential Growth The event was hosted at Mediapro U.S. in Miami By Kristian Hernandez, Associate Editor

Thursday, August 22, 2019 - 7:00 am

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SVG's inaugural Soccer Summit Americas this week welcomed more than 200 soccer-production and technology professionals from across North, Central, and South America to Miami for a full day of networking, informative panel discussions, one-on-one conversations with industry leaders, and technology exhibits.

Throughout the event, which took place at Mediapro's U.S. headquarters, attendees discussed the challenges and opportunities facing the industry as the number of competitions grow, digital technologies transform the industry, and much more.

More than 200 soccer-production and technology pros gathered in Miami for SVG's Soccer Summit Americas.

Mediapro U.S. is pleased to join Sports Video Group for what will be the first of many Soccer Summit Americas. I hope this event spurs ideas and technologies for sports production, said Mediapro U.S. CEO Irantzu D ez Gamboa. Today, we will be addressing the challenges and difficulties that currently face the industry. As technology and soccer competitions continue to grow, events like this that promote innovation and collaboration are really important.

The day-long event commenced with two industry leaders engaging in conversation about the state of soccer in the Americas. The first conversation featured CONCACAF Chief Commercial Officer Heidi Pellerano, who shared her experiences with the Confederation and further explored the growth opportunities for soccer across the hemisphere, like the Nations League and Gold Cup.

More competitions are the catalyst for development, she said. Allowing nations to compete on a more regular basis provides fans with a better product and more countries to become engaged with the game. We have incredible commitment [to this mission] throughout the organization. We believe there is tremendous upside for a federation that continues to invest.

In the second, LaLiga North America CEO Boris Gartner discussed the league's ambitions in North America and how it plans to increase its presence and fan base on this side of the Atlantic.

LaLiga North America's Boris Gartner chatted with SVG's Ken Kerschbaumer about capturing the American audience at the SVG Soccer Summit Americas.

[Our initiative] is competing for attention and time, he said. We understand that our product is an entertainment product, and we need to be in front of as many people as we can. It's about leveraging our weekly matchups, so comparing El Cl sico [Real Madrid vs. Barcelona] to the Super Bowl for the U.S. audience. Ultimately, what we can do collectively to grow the game is beneficial for all [soccer organizations] involved. It'll translate into more focus and investment on the game of soccer and raise the value of what we're doing.

Following the three conversations, a panel discussion on soccer's AR and virtual-advertising future featured representatives of technology leaders Ncam Technologies, Supponor, TUDN, TV Azteca, and Vizrt. A panel addressing the state of the game from the broadcaster perspective offered representatives of Major League Soccer, Fox Deportes, National Women's Soccer League, and Mediapro.

After a networking lunch, automated workflows and artificial intelligence were spotlighted, with panelists from United Soccer Leagues, TVU Networks, Tedial, and Mediapro exploring how leagues and teams take advantage of technology to cut production costs without compromising the on-air product.

The day concluded with a special look back at the summer of 2019, which was highlighted by two major soccer events: the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup in France and the 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup in the Americas. The hour-long session featured production leaders from both events: key personnel from Fox Sports, Telemundo Deportes, CONCACAF, and IBM Aspera took center stage to discuss their impressive efforts.

SVG Soccer Summit Americas was made possible through the support of its sponsors: Title Sponsor Mediapro; Diamond Sponsors IBM Aspera and TVU Networks; Gold Sponsors AJA Video Systems, Avid, CIS Group, Glookast, IPtec, LiveU, Quantum, Ross Video, and SOS Global; and Event Sponsors Lawo, Primestream, Signiant, SMT, and VISTA Worldlink.

Stay tuned to www.sportsvideo.org for continuing coverage from the SVG Soccer Summit Americas.

LINK:	https://www.sportsvideo.org/2019/08/22/svg-soccer-summit-americas-brin...
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